Maddy

Our free hour was spent stretching, hydrating, catching our breath, and joking around. The others students had been sent to some bleachers where they'd be able to watch the race.

     We'd all gathered in a circle, and were talking idly. Charlie and Kathryn were chatting with the green eyed guy (Dustin) and puppy guy (Chase). The two had been here since they were ten and were partners. Keanu sat on my other side making sarcastic comments that made the group chuckle. When Sara and I joined in, the group went near hysterical. Sara and Griffin were on Keanu's left. On their left were Jared, Adhya, and Kyla in that order. Kyla was talking to the neon twin (El) ant the twin was nodding along in agreement.

     "Hey, may the best player win," I said to calm the group down as Mr Draggerd came over.

     He glared as the giggles died out. "Ready?"

     "Yes, Sir!" We called out in reply (except Sara who I elbowed for her fowl language).

     Luckily Mr. Draggerd didn't hear her, "Get moving then!" Soon, the twenty of us were lined up against the wall again, ready to go. "GO!" A few of us (including me) hesitated at the sudden word, but we all launched over the wall. The wall had grown since last time, and many kids hit their gut on the wall. Those of us who didn't landed on the muddy ground below.

     After doing an army crawl through barbed wire, trying not to fall into a pit of fire, almost getting mauled by a bear, and tight roping across a raging river, the five top times were revealed. Keanu came in first. Kathryn was in second. Sara came third. I was in fourth. Kyla was fifth. I smiled knowing I could work well with this team. Kathryn congratulated Charlie as he crossed in sixth. Dustin helped Chase limp across the finish line because of his bleeding leg; apparently there was something in the barbed wire put after all. Chase simply put his hand on his leg, a blue light spreading across it, his leg healed, but he looked exhausted afterwards. Disappointed, Griffin stormed across the line, but Sara was the one doing the calming this time. El came across happily seconds later; the bear's cub was doing great.

     "Top five," Mr. Draggerd boomed, "get some water and rest; you're up again soon, and I won't make the course so easy this time. The rest of you hit the showers: you smell terrible." He walked away after that along with those who hadn't placed. Charlie gave Kathryn a good luck hug before leaving. That only left the five of us.

     "We did it," Kyla said with a smile.

     "Of course we did," Sara remarked. "We're amazing."

     "We need a plan for the next round of we want a chance at winning," Kathryn stated.

     "Agreed," Keanu said as he plopped to the ground. The rest of us followed suit."

     "Okay..." I felt my mind go into overdrive: I like plans. Plans are good. "We need ways to put ourselves ahead, but also put the others behind..."

     "I have an idea!" Kathryn said as she stood. "Wish me luck."

     "What do you think she's doing," Keanu asked.

     "I don't know," I said, "but I trust Kathryn."

     "I just hope she doesn't get killed because we kinda need her," Sara said.

     Kyla rolled her eyes. "Not like she's our friend or anything," she said sarcastically. We all chuckled, but Kathryn showed up.

     "I confirmed the rules with Mr. Draggerd," she stated. "They basically boil down to no killing or purposeful maiming."

     "Okay," I said. "What's that got to do with anything."

     "I can see the future," Kathryn bluntly stated. "Usually I just see things like 'take one step left to avoid dog poop,' but if I focus, I can see more helpful things."

     "Avoiding crap seems pretty helpful to me," Sara said.

     Kathryn rolled her eyes, "Yeah, but I can figure out what the course is going to be-"

     Keanu grinned and cut her off, "We can come up with a plan."

     "Exactly," Kathryn said as she sat cross legged and closed her eyes. "Everyone stay quiet. I need to focus." I covered Sara's mouth as a precaution; I was shocked when she didn't bite me.

     Kathryn's eyes shot open and were glowing a gold pink. Her fingers began to drag through the dirt, creating an image. I soon recognized it as a rough map. After a few minutes she stopped. She blinked and her eyes returned to their natural blue color.

     "Okay, let's get planning," I said.

     "Of course the wall is first as always," Kathryn started.

     "I can launch Kathryn over," I said.

     "That will shave a significant amount of time off," Kyla said.

     "It's settled then," Kathryn said. "After the wall we drop straight into a maze made if hedges."

      I furrowed my eyebrows, "I'd tell Sara to burn through it, but then the other teams could just follow us through..."

     "No worries," Keanu said. "I'll just regrow them behind us. As long as someone gives me a way to concentrate, it should look exactly the same."

      "Maddy, could you hover him through on a rock?" Kyla asked.

      "Good idea, Kyla, I'm sure I could make it work," I said.

      Sara raised her hand, "So I get to burn our way through?"

      "I thought that was pretty clear," Keanu said. "And why did you raise your hand?"

     "I felt like it, and I just wanted to make sure, idiot," Sara shot back. "I get to use burn a bunch of crap. Im excited, sue me."

     "No time for arguing," Kathryn said, "there's still a few more obstacles."

     "Okay," Kyla said. "Let's hear them."

      "The next is a chasm that spans five hundred feet. There's no plank across this time either," Kathryn said.

      Keanu smiled, "No big deal, Maddy can just form a bridge."

     I shook my head. "I appreciate the compliment, but I'm nowhere near strong enough for that."

     "What if Keanu formed a grass rope, and Kyla teleported across with one end?" Kathryn suggested.

      "I could do that," Kyla said.

      "I could stake down the rope too," I said.

      "I could burn it once we got across," Sara suggested.

      "Sounds doable," Kathryn agreed.

     "Anything else?" Keanu asked.

     "Unfortunately," Kathryn said. "The last obstacle really shouldn't be allowed, there's no way it's safe, especially for the younger groups."

     "This sounds like it's going to be fun," I said sarcastically.

     "Each team will have to walk across a spinning log to reach the finish line. The log reaches across a vat of some liquid, hopefully just water with green food coloring. The teams have to avoid getting hit by giant, swinging hammers, saw blades spinning out of the log, a metal sheet flattener, and a chopping block."

     "Oh yeah, that's such a great idea for a school," Sara said. "What idiot came up with this crap?!"

     "It doesn't matter," Kathryn said. "We still have to do it."

     "It's the final stretch," Keanu said, "Let's smash our way through."

     "And cause the entire rig to collapse," Kathryn said. "No."

     "Okay, so what do we do? One of us is bound to fall on a blade or something," Sara said.

     "We go under the log," I said.

     "Green stuff, remember?" Kyla said.

     "We build a bridge thing," I said. "Keanu makes ropes out of the grass, and Kyla teleports to the other side like with the chasm, but this time we do it pulley system style. Kathryn goes across first and helps Kyla pull us all across and back onto ground level, then we have Sara burn it."

     "That sounds like a great idea," Keanu said.

     "Agreed," Kyla said.

      "Remember to put as many people behind as possible," Kathryn said. We all agreed as Mr. Draggerd came over.

     "Get moving! You have a course to run," he yelled. We were soon waiting to go over the wall once again. It seemed like there were more than seventy kids at the wall, but I knew that was just nerves. "GO!" I hadn't even heard Mr. Draggerd speaking before that, but I launched myself and Kathryn over the wall.

     We landed right after Sara who had just sent a ball of flames shooting through the hedge. The oldest group had grown plants over the top, and ran across it, but that left the rest of us in the dark (literally). I pulled a chunk of earth from the ground, and had Keanu sit on it. He mended the hedges as we passed through. Unfortunately, the ten year olds had made it through a few of our burnt walls before he could fix them.

     It didn't take long for us to meet up with the older team at the chasm, they had stopped and were trying to find a way across. We had an advantage. Keanu instantly set to having the grass around us form into a rope. Once he was sure it was long enough, he tossed it to Kyla.

     "Go ahead and get started on another one," I whispered to him, and he nodded before getting started. By this point the ten year olds had showed up as well as the seventeen year olds and twenty one year olds. One of the ten year olds placed his hands on the rest of his teammates, and they turned into bees and flew across the chasm. I shook off my shock and staked my end of the rope into the ground, and handed Kyla a stake too. She teleported across, and I felt the line go tight. We all crawled across as quickly as we could, but I noticed a few other groups were using our line.

     "Behind us," I warned.

     "I've got this," Sara assured. "Hold on for your life!" She burned the rope behind us, causing us to swing towards Kyla, and the others to go back. We climes the rope, and Kyla helped pull us up.

     "Nice thinking back there," Keanu said to Sara as we sprinted to the final obstacle. The ten year olds were already halfway across when we got there; seriously, how was that even possible. The twenty three year olds blew past us as Keanu was making the circles and bars for the pulley.

     The second he was finished, Kyla took the supplier and teleported across. I set mine up, and smile when I noticed the rope was already moving. Kathryn grabbed on and began to pull herself across. The system had the same effect as running up an escalator, so she got there fairly quickly. Keanu grabbed on next. As he was climbing across, the pulley started going faster: Kathryn made it. I went next, followed by Sara. She burnt the system when she made it across, dumping the seventeen year olds into the green stuff.

     "It's just water," one of them yelled. "Seriously?!"

     We all laughed as Kathryn helped pull us up to ground level. We hugged and jumped around (yes, Keanu included) when we realized we had come in second. At some point the twenty three year olds had passed the ten year olds who came up right behind us.

     "Congratulations to our top three times," Mr. Draggerd boomed. "You will all be rewarded later, but, for now, go shower and get to your next class!" We smiled and did as we were told. For once, Sara didn't roll her eyes at an order.