~ Part 4 ~ | Uncomfortable Encounters

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** Dig Down Deeper (Pixie Hallow Games)**
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"If you're wanting to win then you better begin to get a little bit dirty and dig deep down"

~ Zendaya

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This chapter is dedicated to all of you for being so patient with me! 🩷🩷

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Darkley's had been a part of the Tournament of Elements for many years but Lloyd had never been selected to be a part of it. This was for a variety of reasons. Some examples are: getting blamed for things that weren't his fault, being generally hated by all his classmates, and becoming a target for both the other schools and his own classmates. But he'd never cared much about being excluded. He saw it as less of a negative and more of a way to avoid being pummelled in physical challenges by jock kids. On days for sports events, Lloyd would watch teams leave with something akin to glee inside of him before he'd scramble to the newly empty dorms to enjoy his graphic novels.

So, when Kai convinced Wu to let their school join the tournament, he'd been ready to stay behind once more. Lloyd wasn't the most academically smart, given that Darkley's was more known for sabotage rather than strong education, and while Lloyd was well adept in a few martial arts, he wasn't nearly as athletic as some of the big brawny kids Skullkin brought. They had muscles quite literally bursting from their shirts. That would be attractive if they didn't only focus on their physical strengths and abandon both academics and personal hygiene (Gross!). Unfortunately, Kai would not take no for an answer and seemed to be very confident that Lloyd would be able to contribute.

"There are many different events that cater to different skill sets," Kai told him. "You're annoyingly good at things. I'm sure you'll be able to help us win."

Hence why Lloyd was stuck in a foreign school and was watching all-too-familiar classmates pick fights with a scrawny freshman from Soto Academy. Brad was in the forefront, unsurprisingly, lips twisted in the same ugly sneer that used to greet Lloyd every morning. His little cronies fluttered around him, sniping at anyone who passed. Gene was the only one saying anything remotely intelligent, using his unusual amount of wit to verbally demolish anyone in his path. Lloyd grimaced, flashbacks coming in quickly, and turned back to where Nya was trying to wrangle their own kids. Perhaps if he just ignored them everything would go smoothly. Unfortunately, the universe liked to shove problems in his face like Cole liked to shove food in his mouth. Just as he was encouraging one of the younger girls to stop clinging to the car door, he looked up to see a very familiar face. With a squeak, Lloyd ducked down and pinned his back against the side of the vehicle, praying he hadn't been seen.

"What's up with you?" He looked up to see Toni looking down at him curiously. She'd also wanted to stay behind at the school but Nelson had been so excited to see the tournament. Unsurprisingly, she ended up being dragged along with him. The little shadow was with her, as expected, wearing a homemade sign he'd made. On it was a drawing of a ninja, decked out in a purple gi with two long swords in their hands. He'd proudly said that it was his self-designed school mascot and no one had the heart to protest against it. At least it wasn't as obnoxious as the growling pirates.

"Nothing!" Lloyd said in reply to Toni's question, voice oddly strangled. She looked at him like he was the dumbest person she'd ever met. Which was fair given that he was a grown boy cowering behind the car like a wimp.

With a little more drama than needed, she rolled her eyes up to the sky, and to Lloyd's horror, marched toward Nya. "Lloyd's being weird again!"

"Again?" Lloyd sputtered incredulously as the dark-haired girl turned towards him, eyebrow raised at how he was crouched beside the wheel, red-flushed and frantic.

"What are you doing?" Nya said gently, her voice holding the same cadence of a toxically positive kindergarten teacher.

Lloyd scowled. "I'm not doing anything. Toni's just crazy."

Toni smirked. "And don't you forget it." She snorted, grabbing Nelson by the back of his hood and guiding him away.

Nya huffed and turned back to Lloyd, crouching down beside him with a curious tilt of her head. "Seriously, dude. What's going on? Are you sick? You know, I told you not to eat too much sugar in the morning-" 

"No!" Lloyd interrupted indignantly. "It has nothing to do with that! And that was not too much sugar-"

"Lloyd?" A new voice piped.

Nya sucked in a breath as Lloyd froze, suddenly aware of the fact that he was squatting beside a van and pinning himself against it like a complete weirdo. With a self-deprecating laugh, Lloyd slowly looked up, an awkward smile fixing itself across his face.

"Mark! Markus- uh hey, hello." Lloyd said, hating his life.

"I thought I'd heard you," Markus said, a lot smoother than Lloyd had been. He smiled. It was only slight, a small little curve of a smirk. But there was something so endearing about it. Markus' smile had been one of the things that had made Lloyd attracted to him in the first place. That and the fact that charming, hot Asian men were hard not to fall for.

"I... can't believe you're here. Funny little coincidence." Lloyd rose to a stand, a little too slowly given the uncomfortable silence that followed.  Nya popped up too, eyes flicking between them like she was watching a tennis match.

"Uh, yeah. I'm surprised to see you here too. You never liked these kinds of things at Darkley's." Markus pointed out.

So we're bringing up all the uncomfortable topics today, Lloyd grumbled to himself. "Yeah, well, our sports teams weren't the most welcoming. Clubs even less so."

To Lloyd's surprise, the other boy barked out a laugh. "They really were intense, huh? The sewing club was super competitive for some reason. Probably not a smart move to give those kids needles."

Lloyd laughed too. "Among their other bad decisions."

There was another too-long stretch of silence before Nya stepped in, looking the newcomer up and down. "I don't think I've introduced myself. I'm Nya." She said in a strange, emotionless tone.

"Markus," He replied pointing to himself.

"What an interesting name," she said waspishly. "Tell me, is that the name of a jerk?"

"Okay-" Lloyd quickly cut in before she could say anything else, laughing nervously. "That's a weird joke, Nya. Wow. Sorry. We- we better get back to the kids, huh?"

She smirked. "I could keep talking."

There was no way Lloyd was going to let that happen.

"I'll see you later, Markus!" He said quickly, grabbing Nya by the shoulders and holding on tight. "It was... I'll see you later." Hurriedly, Lloyd shoved the other girl away, dragging her to where the kids were gathered around Misako. Nya let him, rather reluctantly, looking a bit too pleased with herself.

"What the heck was that?" Lloyd hissed as soon as they were far enough away.

"What was what?" Nya blinked innocently. Lloyd wasn't stupid enough to believe her of course, sending her a salty glare.

"That! That!" Lloyd waved his arms around nonsensically. "We're fine now, Markus and I! Why are you trying to dig up trouble?"

"I'm not trying to dig up anything!" Nya snapped. "He's a turd so I'm going to treat him like one!" Lloyd took a deep breath to try to retain his sanity. Sometimes Nya can seem so sharp and eloquent. Other times she's a pain in the arse. "He's not a turd, Nya."

"Yes, he is! He let you get bullied! Then ran away like a baby! That's turd behaviour if I've ever seen it!"

"It was never that simple at Darkley's." Lloyd tried to explain to her. "Call it... self-preservation if you need to. It was hurt or be hurt. If Markus hadn't left then there would've been some sort of outcome that would suck for both of us."

Nya scrunched up her face, clearly not liking the idea of sympathizing with Markus. Lloyd huffed, reaching up to pinch his nose to stop the budding headache. "Can you at the very least try not to interact with the ghosts of my past from now on? I don't need any drama right now. Please?" The girl sighed but she was weak to Lloyd's puppy eyes.

"Fine." She said but she didn't bother to hide her annoyance.

Lloyd smiled. "Thank you."

"Are you two ready?" They both turned to see Misako looking at them curiously.

"Yup!" Lloyd wheezed. "Everything normal!"

His mother didn't seem to believe him for a second but to his relief she dropped the subject. "Why don't we bring all the kids inside?"

"That's a good idea." Nya agreed. Misako turned to go direct the other students towards the building and Nya linked arms with Lloyd to follow.

"Hey," she said with a smile and a nudge. "You know I don't mind dealing with a ghost or two of yours, right?"

"I know," Lloyd let the fondness seep into his tone. "But not every day needs to be worthy of a soap opera with us."

Nya shrugged. "Maybe the others are having a more normal time."

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"How the heck did you manage to get stuck in a locker?" Kai grumbled, not looking up from where he was fiddling with the lock. He sighed when yet another combination didn't work.

"It's not like I wanted to." Jay snapped, voice echoing from inside of the locker. "It was my old school bullies. Apparently, they still remember me. Unfortunately, that also means they remember the time I destroyed the football field with a lawnmower I was experimenting on." There was a nervous laugh and he shifted in his cramped position, letting out an "ow!" when he hit his head on a shelf.

"Hold on. I'm still trying the lock." The other boy let out a curse as he jiggled at the door. Still nothing.

"Did you do 1-2-3-4?" Cole asked helpfully.

"Only an idiot would put that as their locker code." Kai rolled his eyes.

Cole shrugged. "That's what my locker code is."

"Oh my god."

Zane sighed as he approached, interrupting them. "Still no luck?"

"No," Cole paused as Kai screamed and kicked the door. "Did you find a teacher?"

Zane shook his head. "They were all busy getting ready for the tournament. They did not appear to be listening."

"Damn," Cole sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hello? Guys? Uh... it's getting a bit tight in here." Jay called from within.

"I'm trying, okay?" Kai yelled back, resorting to trying to pry the door open.

"Here, let me." Cole rolled up his sleeves. Kai stepped back, gesturing in a way that seemed to say "Be my guest". He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow as his friend geared himself up. The dark-haired boy rolled his shoulders, doing a few puffed-up breaths, before launching himself at the locker. Cole grabbed onto the handle, yanking with all his might. The door creaked and whined from the force. Cole grunted as he adjusted his grip, continuing to pull despite the metal digging into his palms. He squeezed his eyes shut, muscles straining as the lock started to give...

"Now what do we have here?" A nasal voice spoke up.

Cole let out an unmanly yelp as he hopped back from the locker. Kai snorted but quickly smothered it when the newcomer regarded them all with an unimpressed stare.

"Is there a reason why you are all... manhandling the school property?" The man asked with a sneer. Cole glanced at his friends, unsure what to do. He assumed it was one of the teachers at Chen's. He certainly had the pretentious attitude of one. The man was tall but wiry but because he stood a bit hunched he appeared shorter. He had longer black hair, tied back into a greasy ponytail, and he only had a few long whiskers of a moustache on his lip. Despite his odd appearance, he held himself with confidence, looking down his nose at the students with disdain.

"Well, uh- we-" Cole fumbled, he glanced at Zane for help.

Unfortunately, it was Kai who spoke up first. "We're trying to get our friend out of the locker. Some kids thought it would be funny to put him in there and the careless teachers here aren't offering any help!" The boy snapped.

A thin, dark eyebrow quirked up. "Oh? And you thought that yanking at the door was the best solution?"

"What else were we supposed to do?"

"Our faculty is very busy trying to prepare the school for this event. If we seem careless that is because the teachers are working hard to make this tournament enjoyable for all of the students, despite how ungrateful you may be." The man said with a sniff. "I would advise you all to be more patient in the future and perhaps stay with your school to avoid any more of these... problems." He said the last part with a vague flick of the hand.

Kai looked about ready to explode, thankfully Zane quickly stepped in. He bowed respectfully to the stranger. "Thank you for your advice, sir," the blonde said pleasantly. "If you could help us retrieve our friend we will return to our class."

The man simply turned away, looking towards the locker. "I believe this is Griffin Turner's locker." He said, disinterestedly. "From what I recall from the last time he got locked out of his locker, the code was 1-1-1-1. Once you retrieve your companion, you best be off to the second auditorium. Mister Chen wants to begin the tournament soon and I expect he'll want to do an elaborate speech." With that, the man turned on his heel and left, striding down the hall swiftly without looking back.

"Seriously?" Kai complained. "That's all it took?"

Embarrassed, Cole turned to the lock and rotated the dial. The lock released and he pulled open the door. Jay came tumbling out with a thunk, wincing as he hit the floor. The ginger sat up, rubbing the back of his head. He turned to watch the adult leave, squinting in confusion.

"Who was that?" He asked.

"Some jerk." Kai huffed.

"I'm sure he is just trying to do his job," Zane said, raising his hands placatingly.

Kai rolled his eyes in response. Cole nudged him scoldingly before saying, "Jerk or not, he's right. We should be getting to the auditorium. We don't really know what we'll be doing for the tournament." He nodded to where many of the other students were heading towards where he assumed the second auditorium was.

"As long as we stay together, I'm fine with that," Jay said with a shiver.

"Don't worry, buddy," Cole bumped him in the shoulder with his first. "We're right here with you."

"Just don't get stuck in a locker again," Kai added with a smirk. The four of them followed the flow of the crowd towards where the auditorium was. It was hard not to get separated with the amount of kids trying to get inside, they all crashed and shoved into each other, shooting glares whenever they did. As the boys made it towards the door, Kai caught sight of a familiar orange hoodie struggling to get through the sea of people. Acting on impulse, the brunette shoved his friends to the side, much to Jay's complaint, and barred them from passing through the auditorium doors. Kai waited and allowed Skylor to pass, throwing her a friendly smile.

"Ladies first," Kai said, leaning to hold the door open.

The girl's frown deepened upon seeing him and she tugged her hood further over her face with one sharp motion. As soon as she passed by him, she ducked inside the room, quickly getting lost in the crowd.

"Nice one," Cole commented dryly.

"You're on my foot!" Jay whined.

"I'm unsure if your attempts at courtship are working," Zane added thoughtfully.

Kai shot them all glares. "There is nothing wrong with helping someone." Someone behind him began to shove, the students getting rowdy from being held up and he threw them the middle finger as he pushed inside.

"Yeah," Cole agreed, as they started forward again, turning to the side to avoid getting squished. "But you're not exactly the type to clear the way for any random stranger."

"Ah!" Kai wagged a finger at him. "But she's not a stranger. We met her already!"

"For five seconds!" Jay scoffed.

"You weren't even in the room with my sister for one second before you started fumbling around." Kai shot back.

"So you admit your interest is romantic then," Zane said with a small smile, voice teasing.

Kai sputtered and was about to protest when a hand reached out and yanked him into one of the audience chairs.

"Hey!" Kai yelled, turning angrily, ready to throw hands, before a fierce glare made him pause. "Oh. Hi sis."

"Don't 'hi sis' me!" Nya said furiously. She and the rest of the group were all piled together in their seats. Misako and Wu were desperately trying to get the younger ones to settle down while Lloyd was progressively sliding lower and lower in his seat the more of his former peers he saw. "I texted you to meet us here fifteen minutes ago!"

"No, you didn't!" Kai snapped immediately before he reached into his pocket and realized that, yes, his sister did text him.

He looked back at her unimpressed face sheepishly. "Sorry?"

"In our defence, Jay was stuck in a locker," Cole said, sliding into the row behind them and propping his shoes up in the gap between the two siblings.

Nya blinked a few times. "Pardon?"

Jay's face was as red as a tomato as his girlfriend turned her attention to him. He shot a nasty look at his friend. "You didn't need to mention that." He hissed.

Cole shrugged. Zane waved for the group's attention. "It looks like Headmaster Chen is about to start."

The lights began to dim as they all turned toward the stage. The curtain pulled back, revealing an elaborate set. It was styled after a traditional Japanese building, complete with a sloped roof and detailed architecture. The stage lights were fixed onto the front of the building, a soft beat of drums rising from the orchestra pit at the front of the stage. The drumming began to get faster, and faster as the lights began to flicker and flash and a rumbling seemed to roll throughout the room. The audience held their breath as the drumming reached its peak and the lights shot off with a final crash of the cymbal. Gasps exploded around the auditorium before one singular spotlight flashed on and a full band began to play, the sound rising like it was announcing the arrival of a king. The set had split open at the cymbal, revealing a huge ornate chair, covered in decor featuring bones and two golden snakes curling at the top. On it was Headmaster Chen, sitting sprawled to the side with a self-satisfied grin on his face.

The music faded off as the crowd stared, silent and shocked at the display. The headmaster did not seem bothered by the quiet and simply rose to his feet. He took a few steps forward, raising one of his thick black brows as he surveyed the room before him. Then, with a flourish, he raised his hands.

"WELCOME TO THE TOURNAMENT OF ELEMENTS!" He announced.

There was beat. Before the room erupted into deafening cheers. Students rose to their feet, fists pounding against the backs of the chairs, banners and signs shaking, and screams piercing through the air.

Headmaster Chen's grin only spread wider the louder it got. "Now we will see who is the real winner. And who is the loser."

NOTE****
Sorry if there are typos. I only proofread it once, I have work and need to get some sleep.

Thank you all for being so patient in waiting for an update! I'm sorry that I'm so all over the place with updates 😅. I want to start an update schedule but I'm trying to figure out school stuff first.

I also apologize this is more filler. I was hoping to get more of Master Chen's assembly into this chapter but I also wanted to get this part out as soon as possible.

I hope you all have a lovely night,

LuckyBugBooks 🐞