Aiden navigated through the hallways. "You know, finalists get to go somewhere else for the finals. We didn't get in the finals, but they got to go to Barcelona."

"Barcelona?" Aru repeated excitedly. "You know, that's where the Shadow-"

"Of The Wind was set? I know. You were obsessed with that book 3 years ago."

"Still am. Are we going this year too?"

"I don't think so," Aiden replied. "We could go somewhere else this time. But that's only if we get to the finals."

They entered the hall. It was packed with people on all sides. "There," He pointed to the table labelled Augustus Day Junior High.

As they sat, Aru seemed to recognise someone. "Look! That's Karina, the girl I met!"

Aiden checked his watch. "There's still 5 minutes, so if you want to talk, go ahead."

"You sound like a parent," Aru noted. Then she leaned back in her chair. "It's fine. Not now."

Someone came on the stage.

"It's starting," Aiden glanced at her then looked back at the stage.

"Good evening to everyone present here," They said. "I am Lucarios, but please call me Admin Luca. I will be administering the Championship this time around. We are welcoming everyone participating to the 28th English Story Championship! We have 3 judges- Let us welcome Ms. Galetino, Mr. Sharma and Mrs. Decallo!"

As the three people entered on stage, everyone clapped. The first woman spoke, "I am Ms. Galetino. I am so, so excited to welcome all of you to the Championship! I am the judge in charge of the use of wording, so look out for that!"

"I'm Mr. Sharma, and I judged last year's Championship too," Mr. Sharma said. Aiden smiled and nodded, remembering him. His eyes twinkled, "I recognise a couple people here. Anyway, I am in charge of the story flow."

Then finally, the last woman spoke, "I am Mrs. Decallo. I am in charge of the plot and plagiarism. That is to say, when you guys plagiarise someone else's story, I will find out immediately."

Admin Luca came to the mic again. "Thank you so much, judges, for introducing yourselves! I will now run over all the rules and regulations."

"Firstly, there are ten of these meetings, and every one of them is compulsory for both participants to join. If you cannot, you must file a pass with detailed reasoning on why you are not attending. Same goes for the Battles,"

"Speaking of the Battles, 15 Battles will take place over the course of 30 days. The other days, you are welcome to do what you want, whether it's prepping for a Battle or if it's touring the place; it's your choice,"

He took a paper. "These are the rules for the Battle: Before the Battle, you must fill a form, entering the details of your short story. Every team must come up with an original story, plagiarism will not be tolerated. If you have taken inspiration from a book, you must mention it in the details form. One team will go first, then the other team goes. Best story wins the Battle."

"There will be four final teams. All four receive a prize and medal, but then only two will be the Ultimate Battlers. The finals this year-"

Admin Luca reached into a bowl with papers. He pulled out one and read it aloud. "-In Paris!"

Excited whispers arose from the crowd. Mrs. Decallo shushed everyone with a glare. Admin Luca continued,

"And finally, have fun! You can back out any time and understand that if one person backs out in the team, the team is disqualified. If anyone is hurt at all during the Championship, the one who caused it will get disqualified along with their team. Be respectful and civil with each other. Shake hands after the battle. Thank you so much for participating and we hope you have a wonderful time here in London."

Admin Luca clapped his hands. "And now. We have 10 minutes remaining in the meeting, so we ask everyone to socialise with one another! Get to know your competition. Again, respect and civility! Thank you."

Everyone waited for more, but he stepped down, so everyone started talking. Aru got up first. "Wanna go talk with people?"

"Uh, I'd rather not."

"Don't be an antisocial teenager," She said. "Come on."

"I'm an adult, actually."

"Big difference," Aru rolled her eyes. "Let's go. Be my supervisor or some shit, I don't know."

"Fine. Coming."

AND THATS IT.

BLEH.

I had to edit both chapters of 100% and TLEOT at the same time and I'm physically dying.