“Aww man...it’s snowing now...” Caterpillar complained lightly while Arma picked himself off the snowy ground for the umpteenth time. He brushed off the snow from his head, face and coat with his numb red hands and eventually sat beside the other lad, utterly defeated. For the past half an hour, the tall lad had been constantly using his Minor of Flight. Jumping didn’t help when he didn’t have a solid ground to jump from so instead of popping out the pit like he hoped, he was sent hitting head first to the walls of the pit instead. Caterpillar had tried to refrain himself from having a fit of laughter but it was too funny. Thankfully for him, Arma wasn’t in the mood to tackle him.

Then he had tried flying. Arma thought about it deeply since basically when he flies, he didn’t need to use solid ground if he started slow at first. Even when there were some jumps that were successfully vertical, the pit was too deep. Caterpillar watched in awe when he saw grey-blue wings in the shape of a jet appearing behind the tall lad’s back, sparkling in its glory. Nodding to no one in particular, Arma’s wings started vibrating gradually, emanating a buzzing sound as it did so. Once the tall lad’s feet were above ground, he then flew higher.

That’s when more misfortune tumbled upon him again. He was just a few feet away from getting out when his wings suddenly started shrivelling up. Confused and startled, Arma looked back to find it buzzing even more loudly than ever and the colour of the wings slowly fading away. Then all too soon, the tall lad landed back in the pit beside Caterpillar once more, shell shocked and wingless with what had happened.

Caterpillar had guessed it was due to the temperature of the arena which backfired his Minor quite up a notch and Arma couldn’t help but recall what his partner said about how all the conditions are not fulfilled for his Minor to work. However, stubborn as he was, Arma had kept on trying till now. Arma turned to his new friend to find his face was now rosy due to the cold and he was shivering as well. Arma fared better than Caterpillar due to him having more body temperature than normal. Sometimes he would hear Phoenix complain that the tall lad was like a walking Bunsen burner and sometimes Stabs would constantly worry whether he had a fever or not.

“D-don’t tell me there is going to be a snowstorm soon?...” Arma asked as the mortifying thought popped in his mind out of the blue when more snowflakes came raining down on them, showering their hair with it. He saw Caterpillar shudder lightly beside him before shaking his head negatively.

“L-let’s hope n-not...I am sure s-someone is going to find us...” Caterpillar stuttered lightly, making Arma wonder whether it was due to the cold or the fear and whether he was trying to convince himself too. Just then, they heard the second loud gong ever since the third stage started, representing that one team had been knocked out and there were now six teams left standing.

“Do you think it’s the work of Team 14?” Arma asked curiously to which Caterpillar simply shrugged, too cold to answer back with words. A few seconds later, Arma thought he heard something. Straining his ears to listen, he would have sworn he heard it again but he was still wasn’t certain. Standing up which caused Caterpillar to momentarily flinch and straining his ears once more, Arma was then certain that there was someone calling out for something.

“I can hear someone.” Arma noted out loud, causing Caterpillar to jump up and stare up as well, his deep brown eyes with those grey rings at the edge of his pupil longing for someone to save them both. After a few minutes of silence, they could hear the muffled voice screaming louder than ever, indicating that anonymous person was close, but yet pretty distant as well.

“CATERPILLAR! .....ARMAGEDDON!” When the voice was crystal clear now and seemingly belonged to a female player, Arma saw Caterpillar’s eyes lit up like a young child’s eyes when they had won the grand prize of a game. Just by looking at it, Arma felt something click in his mind, but he couldn’t exactly place what.

“Sophie!!!” Caterpillar cried out. As if on cue, Sophie’s voice rang out again.

“WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!!” Arma and Caterpillar almost coiled back in fear at the acidity in the girl’s tone. She sounded furious, murderous even. It was as if the minute she finds them, she would give her a piece of her mind and soon the pit would be replaced with a lump of blood and flesh instead. Arma glanced at Caterpillar who mirrored his facial expression as well. Dread was dawning on both of them.

“I-Is she always like that?” Arma stuttered, suddenly finding comfort by staying in the pit instead.

“Only when she is mad...” Caterpillar laughed nervously. Something told Arma that this wasn’t the first time this girl, Sophie got mad. It only came to his notice a few seconds later that Sophie was also calling out for his name. Had she known that he was with Caterpillar? Or was Zessica with her? The latter seemed hardly possible but then, this was Zessica, the one who makes the impossible happen.

“Oh well, we’ll talk later so for now...SOPHIE! WE ARE HERE!” Arma almost jumped out of his skin when Caterpillar screamed without warning. Soon, he found himself screaming along as well. The girl’s voice should have become closer than ever but to the two lad’s horror, the voice ceased again and they were replied back with an eerie silence.

“Don’t tell me...” Arma couldn’t even finish his sentence when Caterpillar started screaming hysterically.

“SOPHIE?! SOPHIE THE EIGHTH?! SOPHIE THE OH, WISE ONE?!” Arma would have burst into a fit of hysterical laughter and rolled on the snow floor without any care in the world but given in to the circumstance they were in, he pitied him. Though, it was not enough to let a small chuckle escape from his lips. He couldn’t help it, it was too funny.

Out of the blue, a window popped out before Arma, catching both of their attentions instantly, causing them to stop short. In it, one glow stick was displayed and Arma wondered where it came from when he had left it back in the cabin. When he blinked, he was baffled to find there were now two glow sticks, then three, then four. In lightening speed, soon fifteen glow sticks were transferred to him and the tall lad is left bamboozled at where in the world it had come from.  

“Zessica must be with Sophie right now. She must have brought it with her when she escaped the cabin. Since you both are partners, you can transfer things at ease to each other no matter where you are.” Caterpillar mused out loud and that’s when Arma realised something.

“Hey, what cabin did you get? The torch? The  pitchfork?” Caterpillar stared at him wide eyed and Arma would have sworn his face grew even rosier than it already was.

“The thread...” Arma gaped at him with a baffled expression on his face. So this was the poor guy who got the cabin of thread, who would have thought that the tall lad would just happen to bump into him just like that? As he continue to mull over the fact that his new friend was the one who got the least valuable item, an idea clicked into his mind and Arma surprise both Caterpillar and himself by grinning broadly.

“Perfect! Do you have it with you right now?” Caterpillar stared bewildered at him before nodding and taking it out in his inventory. Arma did the same with his own, taking one glow stick at a time and bending it excitedly to make it kindle more. The two lads were surprised that even with one glow stick, it was enough to light up most of the pit hole and shower both of them with luminous green light. Caterpillar seemed to have figured what Arma was up to and soon started unnwinding the thread from the cylinder.

After fifteen glow sticks were bent and glowing brightly, Caterpillar wrapped them around tightly with his thread by tying it around nine times before knotting it by three. Nodding at each other in synchronisation, the two of them launched the eye scorching bundle of glow sticks in the air and caught it once again only to throw it back up again. After several throws, eventually, they heard several footsteps nearing in. Then after a while, Arma and Caterpillar saw the silver haired girl at the edge of the pit with an overstuffed human snowman, Zessica.

“SOPHIE THE GREAT!” Caterpillar cried out in relief and Arma only then allowed himself to laugh out loud.

“Shut up! Some place you picked to fall!” Sophie answered back annoyedly. Before anyone could cherish their victorious moment, out of the blue, the edge at where the two girls were slowly crumbled. Without warning, it suddenly gave away and two girls slid down to the pit to join the others as well, leaving the other two guys silent and dismayed.

“You...YOU FELL TOO? WHAT DO WE DO NOW?!” Arma cried out, panicking at the next second. What good would it do now when all four of them were in the pit together? Before he could let the anxiety to fill in with his despair, Arma noticed Zessica holding out her gloved hands at both of them, impassive as ever.

“You were saying?” She asked calmly, showing that she had a rope in her hand. Arma recognised the rope as the one that tied both him and Caterpillar together. He let his eyes trail up to where the other end of the rope came from the edge of the hole, probably tied up to a tree somewhere. Sophie got up, brushed off the snow from her body and flicked her index finger on Caterpillar’s forehead, hard. The lad instantly flinched back in pain but to Arma’s amazement, he was chuckling as well. What a light hearted guy. 

“Where have you been Arma? You told me never to leave out of your sight but you were the one that left” Zessica spoke out loud, causing Arma to glance at the shorter girl. Her eyes failed to show emotions but after being together with Zessica for a while, he was able to guess what she was thinking. He could sense that she was slightly feeling betrayed that he had left her as Arma gulped nothing but air, regretting his rash and stupid decision.

“I am so sorry; I didn’t mean to leave you in the cabin alone. I promise I won’t do that again. Forgive me, please?” Arma begged politely, watching her expressions which as usual bore no feelings. After several loud heartbeats later, the short girl took a deep breath and sighed, as if there was nothing to help with.

“I can never stay mad at you for too long...now let’s go up” Zessica tugged the rope as Arma beamed brightly.  Nodding in agreement, all four of them then set out in climbing out of the hole. First it was Sophie, then Caterpillar and thirdly it was Arma. Knowing all too well that Zessica wasn’t fit enough to climb up a rope, Arma had tied the other end of the rope around her waist and then proceeded to pull out with the other two to help in. Once the short girl was out and panting for air, looking slightly blue, Arma heard something, no someone clapping behind all of them.

“All of you guys are such idiots...Fog was right when he said that you all would be cooped up over here...” Arma turned and vaguely recognised the other person to accompany them as Silver. He had a pocket knife leisurely in his hand and was grinning in a crazed fashion at them. Arma felt a shiver run down his spine. For some reason, Silver didn’t look like he was in his right mind with that smile of his.

“Where’d you get that? There was no cabin with a knife icon and the games don’t allow anything in the inventory back in town to arrive in the arena.” Sophie said sternly, her eyes narrowed down to slits. If looks could kill, Arma would have swore that she would have slaughtered Silver then and there. A slightly terrifying aura was lingering around her. She looked clearly ticked off.

“Jeez, how stupid can you get? I hacked it into my Exoskeleton.” Silver answered in a matter of fact tone. Arma heard the ground crackle lightly underneath the silver haired girl. Caterpillar stared at her for a moment, then back at Silver, then back at Sophie again. He placed one hand on her shoulder, smiling warmly before whispering into her ear which was loud enough for Arma and Zessica to catch it as well.

“I will let you deal with him. One on one. That’s what you want right?” Sophie then grinned and crackled her knuckles. Arma then realised that despite having some sort of warm comforting air around her, she was also stern and confident, something Arma never would be. As she stepped forward alone, Arma asked concernedly at Caterpillar whether it was alright for her to fight alone.

“She will be fine.” Was all he said. Arma still wasn’t so sure but he kept quiet, mentally preparing himself to lunge in if he finds the silver haired girl in trouble. However, what he didn’t know was that he was in for a big surprise.

“What? Only you Sweet Cheeks?” Silver asked with one eyebrow raised and the knife plucking on his right eyebrow gently. Sophie laughed back in return with sarcasm, very much disgusted with the nickname.  

“Oh please, are you one of those guys that won’t land a punch on a girl?” Sophie asked challengingly. Silver grinned more broadly and brought the knife to his hands, stroking the edge of the knife casually. Sophie saw it was sharp enough to draw blood when bright red liquid started oozing out of his finger tips. Was this kid sick in the head?

“Hmm, no.” Silver spoke which was barely audible and before Sophie could catch on what he said, he lunged himself at her, knife in hand. Although this threw her off guard momentarily, Sophie was ready. She sidestepped to the right, missing the stab that was supposed to land on her right shoulder. With lightening speed, she twisted the arm which held the knife tightly around his back, causing Silver to wince in pain and drop the pocket knife. Using this chance, Sophie kicked the knife away furiously where it landed somewhere distant in the snow, safe from Silver’s hand.

Grunting, Silver twisted his body and punched Sophie in the gut with his free hand. Sophie yelped in pain and let go of Silver’s arm only to recover quickly and grab his hair. She pushed the head down and brought her left knee up abruptly till she heard something snap. Silver groaned in pain and stepped back a few feet away from the silver haired girl when she let go. He was clutching his nose which was now crooked and bleeding heavily thanks to the blow of the impact. Sophie allowed herself to grin and poised herself into attack mode. Her smirk faded when Silver activated his Minor and disappeared from her sight, making her metaphorically speaking, blind.  

“Why that little piece of-

“Three o’clock! Spinning kick coming to your right!” Zessica’s voice cut through the silence like a knife through soft butter. Startled and somewhat confused, Sophie automatically lifted her right arm to block and was stunned to find something smacking into it, something hard too. After years of unarmed combat training back in her younger years, she knew it was a kick that she blocked just then but invisible instead. How had this short girl known he would attack with a spinning kick?

“Jump!” Zessica ordered and Sophie found herself obeying much to her surprise. Sure enough, the snow underneath her slid away, as if someone tried to give a low kick to knock her off balance. Arma and Caterpillar stared at the shorter girl with a mixture of awe and admiration. It was clear that she wasn’t able to see Silver too since her eyes was only focused on Sophie. Caterpillar didn’t know what she was doing but the taller lad knew. She was betting all the odds and merely guessing. However, the accuracy of it all still amazed Arma to this day.

“Left! Block!” Zessica cried out again and Sophie knew what she had to do next. She activated her Major, Genesis and conjured up several dozen of ice planes, cocooning herself from the invisible guy’s next attack. Some of the smaller panels shattered but the larger once withstood it all. Sophie allowed herself to grin once more, excitement rushing through her veins as she blocked the next attack once more with her ice panels. Ten seconds later, the panels faded away to tiny pixels to the silver haired girl’s surprise, Silver materialised again, looking rather dishevelled and irritated at the same time.

“What’s this? Where did all that confidence and cockiness go?” Sophie pressed on cheekily, knowing that this would hurt her opponent’s ego. She couldn’t help it since it made things all the more thrilling. Instantly, Sophie saw Silver snarling furiously at her while the silver haired girl simply smiled back innocently. This was going to be fun.

However, her fun was short lived when Silver activated his Major instead, Aura Chocking. Sophie’s smirk was instantly wiped clean off her face as she quickly conjured a huge ice blade that was approximately twenty five centimetres long in length and sent it soaring at her opponent. Silver’s eyes widened from fear and dodged it by jumping away, missing it by just a hair. As he did so, he didn’t realise that he was buying Sophie enough time to run straight at him and land a jab straight into the guy’s gut before he could use his Major on her. Silver groaned and fell on to the snow on his back, wincing and moaning in pain.

Poising herself to attack once again, she gritted her teeth as she waited for her Major to cool down. That was the drawback of Genesis. The more amount of energy she used to create an object, the slower she can conjure up the next thing she wishes to use and the more tired she gets. As Silver groggily got up once more, his eyes glinting more than ever, Sophie conjured up another ice weapon, a sword. The reason for the objects for her to conjure being ice was if she orbit something else that is foreign to the environment the arena she was in, she will have to wait till she gets the AI’s permission to do so and she wasn’t exactly patient at the moment to wait.

She attacked again, swinging her ice sword at her opponent who swiftly dodged it with sheer dumb luck. Silver looked as if he wished he didn’t lost his pocket knife so early so he could have deflected Sophie’s sword at ease. When the ice sword drifted away again Silver thought the silver haired girl would finally give him enough slack to activate his Major but no, he was dead wrong again. Sophie, not in the least bit fazed about how her weapon disappeared into tiny pixels did a spinning kick with her left leg which struck Silver’s head.

“She doesn’t strike as a person who woke up from a deep coma and went through rehabilitation.” Zessica noted out loud as Sophie conjured out two ice maces in her hands, duel wielding it and attacking Silver once again. Arma had to agree. Sophie was strong, incredibly strong. She didn’t seem like to have a slightly lower power than before due to the trauma. If anything, she looked like a professional fighter, back in the games to get what was truly hers.

“Well she is Sophie. She is a tough girl to beat down since her skin practically made out of alligator skin hehe..” Caterpillar mused lightly.

However, the excessive use of her Major finally made a toll on Sophie. She was soon tired, trying to catch a few breaths and waiting for it to cool down. Silver, finally finding his chance, activated his Major to its full potential. Sophie suddenly felt her body tense lightly; it was as if something was pressing down on her. Having no intention of giving up just yet, Sophie deliberately kicked the snow, causing a chunk of it to lift up. With all the strength she had left in her body, Sophie caught it and activated her Minor, Enchanting the chunk of snow to get the power of Repulse, dispelling Silver’s Major by a fraction of a second.

Silver snarled even more now, his eyes now more furious than ever. He had the look as if he wanted to chew Sophie’s head out. The silver haired girl saw his eyes glinting, activating his Major once more as Sophie readied herself with another object, a stone this time when she noticed that Silver wasn’t exactly looking at her. She froze when she realised that it wasn’t aiming at for Sophie this time, but rather than the other three who were watching instead.

“Oh no you don’t!”

Adrenaline unfroze silver haired girl from the stiffness as she ducked down low, catching Silver off for the billionth time by surprise. She touched the snow beneath them and as swiftly as she could, she circled around Silver and stepped back, her fingers snapping at the next second. Silver frown dumbfoundedly at her when the circle Sophie made crackled with electricity, shocking him with thousands of voltage before it burst, sending him flying to the air and landing straight into a tree. From where he made impact, there was a huge crack behind him and for a moment Arma thought he was stuck on the tree till he slid down along with the snow on the branches falling, coating him one by one.

“Woah...” Arma mused out loud. The power of her Minor and Major as well as physical power was so strong; Silver had been out cold before he could manage to leave some serious damage to Sophie. So this was what Zatch meant by not underestimating her. She didn’t even take long to finish him off. It was like as long as she envisions something and when it comes to her hand, she would use it against her opponents. In addition to that, the way she fights was extreme. It reminded him of something out of a military training. Her moves were clear-cut and precise. If Arma happened to face this girl in a duel, there was no doubt she would have sweep him clean off the stadium, if he didn’t look at the reflection on her Exoskeleton and getting his Major control him once more that is.

Sophie came back, clapping her hands lightly as if brushing off dust in them. She then placed them in her jacket pockets and smiled amusedly at Zessica. Though in all honesty, Arma saw that her smile was forced, as if in pain and she was cringing lightly. Then he remembered she had just gotten out of rehabilitation. Maybe she wasn’t fully recovered yet?

“Thanks. I want to ask how you saw through his attacks when he was invisible but meh, later.” Zessica simply nodded curtly. Caterpillar chuckled while Arma took his time to process it all.

“So  one down, Fog is left” Caterpillar noted to which Sophie glanced back to Zessica again, both eyebrows raised as if she was waiting for her to speak.

“Can I have the torch?” Zessica simply asked politely. Arma didn’t know whether it was possible but he saw Sophie’s pale eyebrows raised even further up. Checking her inventory, she passed the unlit torch to the small girl’s hand. Zessica stared at it for a moment, and then shook it, causing it to burst into flames at the head. She stared at the fire which reflected in her bright emerald green eyes which was almost mesmerising.

“You can create living things with your Genesis, right?” Zessica asked suddenly. Sophie frowned a bit before nodding, still having her suspicion towards the girl. Even Caterpillar seemed interested to what the girl had in mind. Arma on the other hand felt something ridiculous was going to happen in the next few seconds.

“Hmm...It could work...but the time limit...” Zessica spoke softly, more to herself than to the others. Now Arma was even more curious to what sort of crazy plan she had in that complex mind of hers. Whatever it was, he knew the chances of it working were slim, but it was a start anway.

“If it’s about the time limit, maybe I could help with that.” Caterpillar suddenly pitched in, grinning ear to ear. All three pair of eyes turned to him who simply chuckled light heartedly.

“How so?” Zessica asked apathetically. Caterpillar beamed at her.

“Why, they don’t call me the Time Keeper for no reason...”

When Silver was fighting a one on one battle with Sophie, Fog had been surveying around somewhere distant where he couldn’t hear the fight. Though once he reached back to find Silver not where he was supposed to be, he had heard one voice in that person’s mind; the tall lad’s cheering very faintly in awe at how Sophie had knocked Silver out without a sweat.

Fog crinkled his nose in disgust when he heard nothing in Silver’s mind except darkness. He was so useless! All Fog asked him was to trap all four of them together by choking them, even if he was able to choke three at the most. Just that only, simple as that but no; he had to be the jock to face all of them all, prolonging his agony! He will have to make note that Silver never repeat the same mistake again or he will have to find another partner and sign off as a stranger instead.

However, after half an hour later from Silver’s great blunder and knocking out the third team with his hardened blood inside snowballs, he saw the night was creeping in. A few dozen of trees away from him, there was orange light flickering wildly. Frowning, he activated his Minor once more, and was more or less surprised to find it was the voice of the short girl. She wasn’t trying to hide, she was beckoning him to dare and come to her. 

A part of Fog told him it was a trap but due to his overly huge ego, Fog smirked widely, knowing with full confidence that he won’t be trapped easily. He was the one that traps others and not the other way around. With his grin still pasted to his face, he trotted through the woods with his heart pounding against his chest from excitement and came face to face with Zessica who had a torch in her hands, expecting him.

He stepped closer, like a panther lazily stepping towards its prey. Usually, people would have stepped back in fear for what he was infamously known and for what he could do but this girl; she stood her ground, facing him expressionlessly. That’s when he stopped short, amused at what he had heard within the short girl’s mind at the moment.

‘I will fry both our brains...’

“And how are you going to do that?” Fog asked cheekily. He cocked his head to a side, noticing the shade of colour of the short girl’s skin and he heard her groaning loudly in pain mentally and something about how one hour had passed. She needed the next shot to prevent herself being frostbitten again.

“What’s this? Aren’t you a little bit blue in the face? Hehehe, how are you going to fry my brain when you are in that state you shrimp?” Fog asked, laughing maniacally at himself when without warning, the short girl’s thoughts came rushing in like an overflowing flood. There were pictures but it came by so fast, Fog couldn’t register what was in it. Even voices were there, not one, but many, all unifying to one huge voice that uttered nonsense.

Fog tried to listen to one voice at a time but it was too fast, and the pictures he was seeing in his mind were blurring his real vision as well. She was also thinking at the same time with the voices and pictures, crowding her mind so much that it was like listening to a hullaballoo inside her head. A headache soon appeared, indicating signs that his mind was not strong enough to handle so many thoughts and pictures all at once.  This girl, she wasn’t thinking straight herself. She was letting all thoughts; memories and the pain overlap her, concealing what her plan was completely. So this was what she meant by frying his brain, she was going to make his Minor go overload.

Fog tried to shut his Minor away and activate his Major to knock this wretched girl out, he really tried but there were too many thoughts to silence, too many things to confine off. She wasn’t going to let him off her hook too soon. Groaning at the pain that was splitting his head apart, Fog clutched his head and hunched down low, almost at the brink of begging her to stop thinking so much. For a girl who didn’t speak much, she had too many thoughts to herself.

Several hundred feet away, Sophie watched the two on top of a pine tree, witnessing the boy who trapped her brother and Armageddon succumb into Zessica’s mind. She then glanced down at the other two lads who had successfully bent a tree’s top down to where it touched the ground. On top of the tree, was the snow monster Sophie had made using her Genesis, just like what Zessica had requested her to do. It wasn’t exactly as huge as the others, just a couple of feet shorter actually but it will do. Since her Genesis last for only ten seconds, Caterpillar had filled in the part to avoid the time limit.

He was touching the very still and obedient snow aberrant, holding his breath for as long as he could. He had revealed to Zessica and Arma that his Major was stopping time as long as he held his breath. Once he breathes again, time flows once more. He had been stopping the life span of Sophie’s genesis creation for twenty seconds straight and Arma wondered whether he was going to suffocate if Zessica plan didn’t succeed any time soon.

Arma on the other hand felt his hands shaking furiously for holding down the bent tree. How you may ask? They had tied the snow monster with the rope and he had been holding them down on it ever since twenty seconds ago. His arms threatened to let go and let the snow aberrant catapult straight into the sky but he held on, waiting for the signal, which was any second from now.

Soon, when Zessica was also having a headache from making her mind take over her, she let her feet buckle beneath her and let the torch fall down from her hands. She too was clutching her head with hands but not allowing her thoughts to stop. After practically forcing all the thoughts and memories of what she had only then and voices in her head, it didn’t take long for Fog to at least try and use his Major. With the wound on his palm, he let the blood flow out and hardened it into the form of a large bullet. He aimed at the girl painfully and shot at her.

Zessica, seeing the bullet aiming for her way finally shut off all thoughts and deflected the bullet with her Telekinesis. Fog smirked in triumph as the headache finally faded away. He was about to remark back something smart, something that would annoy the girl but to his surprise, he felt the world around him spin and all the colours merge together. What was happening?

“Ha...ha...I thought so...” The short girl panted lightly, seemingly tired. Fog’s vision wasn’t blurry enough for him to find the girl now taking the next dose of the shot. She cringed lightly before tossing the empty syringe away. However, despite all this, Fog was baffled. What had she thought? What was going on in his body? Was she the reason why he was feeling...dizzy?

“For a person with such a big ego like yours...I figured that you would forget the fact that you are using your own blood to use dirty tricks throughout the game. One would feel immortal, till anaemia strikes.” Zessica spoke out loud. Fog’s eyes widen but it was too late. He was seeing several short girls before him. She was right, he had forgotten about the drawback of his own Major. He had forgotten that sooner or later, he was bound to become anaemic. What had he done?

“But, oh well...it was nice meeting you.” Zessica shrugged lightly as she raised one hand in the air. Using her Minor, she shot out an illusionary firework in the sky, indicating the signal.

“Now!” Sophie cried, flailing her arms wildly. Arma saw the signal as well, just barely since it was getting darker by the second and nudged Caterpillar with his foot. Caterpilllar nodded and gasped, relieved that he could now breathe again. Arma let go, sending the smaller version of the snow man to soar through the sky. By then, Zessica then collapsed into the ground, letting sleep finally overtake her. Fog glanced up and almost shrunk back in terror to find five or so snow monsters launching straight at him.

“Oh sh-

He didn’t finish for he was cut off short when the smaller version of the snow monsters landed straight into him, engulfing him with its snow. No sooner as that happened, the final gong rang out in the arena.

Overcome with excitement and happiness, the silver haired girl slid down from the tree and landed not too far off from the two lads. She didn’t know what came over her but the doubts she harboured for the tall lad was temporarily forgotten and she found himself hugging both of them tightly. Caterpillar chuckled gleefully and hugged back while Arma was left stunned with the sudden show of affection. Hesitantly, Arma awkwardly hugged back as well.

“Congratulations! The four of you Teams will advance to the Second Trial of Blessed Combat! Take a bow!” Zero’s voice boomed through the stadium, the tone of his voice very chipper and happy as well. Sophie then broke the hug from the two guys and smiled at both of them with tears at the end of her eyes. This was it! She had a chance in Blessed Combat again! She will have her chance in getting her revenge on the Rising Star. The victory was so sweet, Sophie allowed herself to abandon her icy shell of composure and jump up and down like the excited girl she was.

Caterpillar simply chortled lightly before ruffling her hair as if he was proud of her. Arma found himself smiling too. At that point he realised he had forgotten something.

“Zessica...” As the name left out of his lips, the tall lad was then running towards where the orange flickering lights were. He could hear the other two trailing after them, also worried about the condition of the girl was. Zessica had risked not taking the shot in order to make the chance of succeeding higher. Of course Arma was against the idea but Zessica had used the fact that Arma had left her alone in the cabin to her advantage. Sophie and Caterpillar objected too but she, like Arma, was a stubborn girl.

The moment when the woods cleared away and when Arma caught sight of the tiny girl, he made a beeline straight to her, panicking whether she finally kicked the bucket. Fortunately for him, she was only dozing off on the snow covered ground. Sighing in relief and happy to be finally finishing the game, leaned down and picked her up in a piggy back. Zessica merely yawned, and nuzzled her head next to his neck, trusting him that he wouldn’t let any harm come her way.

“So...we did it huh?” Zessica asked in a sleepy tone, half asleep as Arma chuckled. He had seen how Zessica was like when she was sleepy and most of the time it was amusing, such as putting orange juice in her cereal bowl full of Choco Stars.

“Yea. That was one hell of an obstacle. I hope we never face that sort of trial again.”

“What do you mean? You still got one huge obstacle to face tomorrow...” Zessica yawned again, rubbing her eyes tiredly as Caterpillar and Sophie finally made it up to him. They both were now panting for air, wondering where the tall lad got the energy to run so fast from. Arma stopped short and stilled. If Zessica wasn’t laying her head on his shoulder he would have glanced back to look at her.

“What do you mean by one huge obstacle tomorrow?” Arma asked, wondering whether the next trial was on the next day. If it was, then he was sure he would be sore all over and wouldn’t be on his best. After all, the first trial itself was a walking nightmare.

“You got that date with Titania...don’t you...remember...?” Zessica soon drifted off to sleep once more, leaving the tall lad speechless and blushing furiously.

Authors note: Oh dear, I have forgotten to add something important in the earlier chapters. Sophie isn't a character I made. She was a character that this amazing FrozenKeys made so all credit of the character Sophie goes to her xD I dedicate this to a friend who i don't know personally but was a good listener to my...uh..problems hehe xD

As usual, I did this in a rush. Didn't bother with the grammar mistakes so I leave notifying any errors up to you. Oh and don't forget to vote! xD