Author's Note: Wow its only been a few days and I had to go back and review what I wrote….my memory is going kaputzki. Anyone heard Mayfly by Nagi Naoe's (Weiss Kreuz/Weiβ Kreuz) voice actor? It's strangely soothing. Or maybe it's just me. Oh well, so here is chapter 2, and I apologize before hand because the quality of this chapter is far worse than that of the first.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Summary:Earth, 3015 A.D., humankind over populated, government corrupt. Enter 'The Race' a ploy by the government to reduce the population with each annual event. The winner becomes one of the wealthiest people alive, and the losers perish- you fight or you die.
Trials of Fortuity – The Race
Chapter Two – What It Takes To Win
They jumped, the girl suddenly wishing she'd thought her options over more as they began plummeting towards the ground. Her self-preservation instincts kicked in, and she did the first thing her mind thought of: Scream. She knew it was pointless, but something in her clicked and she could do nothing to override the primal urge.
But before she realized it, she had stopped; she fell silent. Gravity was still pulling on her, she could feel it gripping her ankles, yanking her down, and there was no ground beneath her feet. When her adrenaline rush subsided, she felt a light pressure around her waist, and opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a pale hand, and a gray sleeve wrapped about her waist, she tilted her head around slightly and found the boy hanging off the cliff, one hand and both feet gripping small ledges, his knuckles turning white from the pressure.
The boy turned his head and looked down at her, "Could you, please, never do that again? You have no idea how painful that was to my ears." She nodded, dazed.
"How did you…?" The girl began, still slightly stunned.
"Later. Can you climb?" The boy asked, looking slightly annoyed.
"I've tried occasionally at the TRec Center in Capital Ci…"
"Good enough. Now go, I'm right behind you." He flashed a small smile.
"But…" She whimpered slightly, causing the boy to sigh and stare down at her, annoyed. He moved her towards the cliff face and held onto her until she had a decent grip and began climbing on her own. The pair began scaling the wall, occasionally one losing their grip and either grabbing onto the other, or simply falling down onto them.
After nearly an hour and well over 35 falls-that-nearly-were-but-weren't, the girl managed to pull herself up over the edge and turn around, offering a hand to her new companion.
The boy looked up at her hand and took it without a second thought. He was pulled up next to the girl and was about to thank her, only to have her fall backwards, panting. He moved closer to her, beginning to worry about her state of health. "Are you alright?"
She opened her eyes and looked at him, raising a hand and setting it on her forehead. She smiled slightly and nodded, before closing her eyes again and trying to regain her breath. "You know, I think you're too young for this race…."
The boy glared at her briefly before moving over to her, curiosity getting the better of him, "How so? Is that bad?" He moved back a bit as the girl sat up and shook her head. "You're too trusting… if I was a lesser human being I could've let you fall…or stabbed you with.."
"My own sword, which you stole from me back on the carrier." He finished her statement and smiled, holding his hand out, silently requesting that it be returned. She silently starred at him before pulling the weapon out from under her shirt and handing it back to its original owner.
The boy smiled, "Were you a thief back in Central? You're pretty talented…" He paused, his smile fading at the glare he was receiving from the girl. "I've only been to Central once before, and then again for the past week before the Race. I come from Capital City, and I just have a knack for that sort of thing…" she let her anger ebb and sighed, before she stood up and began to take in their surroundings.
They were just above a large canyon which appeared to stretch on for miles, there seemed to be a series of caves built in the cliffs in front of them, but the land directly in front of them was hidden by a tarp, held up by metal poles, vaguely reminding the girl of a tent that was missing it's other side. She smiled at a passing thought of a book she'd once read about a family's mishaps during a camping trip.
The boy stood up and moved next to her, eyeing her thoughtfully, 'Naturals are such strange people.' He watched as she moved over to the tarp and gave it a light tug, causing the whole thing to come down towards her. The girl squeaked and jumped back.
The sight revealed to them was rather strange, there were at least a dozen or so children between the ages of 4 and 6, sitting in a straight line; looking slightly insane, or at least possessed, creating a short wall between them and the caves. There were small stuffed animals and plastic toys littered about, along with small splotches of blood on the ground. The girl turned to look at the boy and smiled "This cant be too hard."
The boy shrugged, "You never know.."
"But they're just kids!"
"Judging by the numbers on the sides of their necks, I'd say they're either cyborgs or psychics.." The boy walked over to where the metal poles stood and looked at the children. The girl moved towards the children, with an overly sweet smile on her face. "Hey there. What are you kids doing here? Don't you know that this is Trial territory?"
All of the children looked up at her and spoke in an eerie mechanical voice, "We are aware. Are you? You should be. Be welcomed, this is level two."
The girl stepped back, and grabbed a small stuffed rabbit off of the ground and pulled her yo-yo from around her arm. She quickly pressed a small switch on the side of the yo-yo, causing twin blades to flip out on both sides of it. She held the blade to the neck of the stuffed animal and looked at the kids "Alright, munchkins. Let us pass or Mr. Fluffums here goes to the big carrot-patch in the sky." Tears began streaming from one of the children's eyes, but the child's face remained emotionless.
The girl suddenly felt a light pressure on her fingers; she glanced at her hands only to find the boy standing next to her, tugging the furry packet of stuffing from her hand. He pressed the switch on her yo-yo, causing the blades to retract. He walked over to the child and placed the stuffed animal in its lap, when the kid didn't take it from his hands.
As soon as the stuffed animal was safely back with it's child, an unseen force erupted, knocking the boy backwards and sending the girl backwards over the cliff's edge. But it was over just as soon as it had started.
The boy jumped up and ran over to the edge of the cliff and looked down, the girl was hanging by a thread, her yo-yo firmly planted in the side of the cliff. He sighed and smiled slightly before kneeling down and tugging on the yo-yo's string. "I sure hope that thing isn't something you bought for half price.."
"Shut up and help me."
"I always thought a gust of wind would blow you away."
"Quit cracking poor jokes and help me!" The girl began panicking slightly as the boy just sat there for a minute, starring down at her.
"You're really bossy…" The boy pulled the yo-yo out of the crevice it had created and held it in his hand, watching as the emotions played over her face.
"Don't….please.." A pang of guilt hit him as he looked down at her; she looked as if she were about to burst into tears. He sighed and pulled her up next to him. "I told you they were psychics.." He handed the yo-yo back to her and stood up, walking over to the children, who promptly stood up, their eyes glowing red.
The girl stood up, wrapping her yo-yo around her arm once again, "Alright genius, any ideas?"
"Just one" was his only reply as he moved in front of her, grabbing her wrist tightly.
The children all held their hands out in front of them, palms facing the pair. The toys, along with small stones and other ruble began to float in the air, the children obviously preparing for an all-out assault on the pair. "Any last requests before you are sent over the edge with the others?" Came the simple, but incredibly predictable question.
The girl rested her head on the boy's shoulder and smiled at the children. "How about you let us pass?"
The children merely stared at them, before the boy finally spoke, "How about you close your eyes and count to ten? I can't remember all the numbers…I get to six and then I forget.."
"Why should we close our eyes?"
"Because I want to die with pride and if your eyes are open it will make me feel like a failure…"
"As you wish, but you ARE failures." The children closed their eyes and began counting. "One"
"Two"
The girl stared at the boy, "What the hell were you thinking?!"
"Three"
The boy just smiled at her and began running, dragging her along behind him.
"Four"
The pair began to sprint, jumping over the small wall of children like a hurdle.
"Five"
The girl stopped, and ended up being pulled over and falling on the ground.
"Six"
The boy looked down at her, glaring slightly "Why'd you stop?!"
"Seven"
The girl was looking up at him, "Because we got passed them! Level completed!"
"Eight"
The boy growled, "That doesn't mean they wont still attack!"
"Nine"
The girl jumped up, and the pair once again began their mad dash for the caves.
"Ten" The children turned around and aimed at the pair. A second later, several red beams erupted from the children's palms and hit the cave walls. The children looked around confused after finding no blood, only to find the boy clinging to the rocks just above a cave's entrance, the girl clinging to him for dear life. "Don't get any perverted thoughts about this, kid."
The children took aim once again, their eyes glowing a more crimson shade, the boy dropping down and running inside the cave, just as the telekinetic blasts hit the wall, causing several stones to come down and block the cave entrance.
The girl released him from the death-grip she had around his neck, allowing him to breathe easily once again. He looked down at her, surprised that something that looked so much like a stick could have such a strong grip. "Well now I believe its safe to assume we've passed level two."
The girl glared at him and stood up, brushing the dirt off her scraped knees and heading for the bright light at the other end of the cave.
A/N: Alright so there you have it, chapter 2. Crapola, ne?Ergo Schmergo – Um…thank you!! I really think its one of my newer more…I dunno, grammatically up-to-date stories, but it still needs a lot of work. Oh well.