Ezra gasped for air as he clawed at the cold stone. “The… other … side.” The raspy words barely left Ezra’s mouth as he slapped the rock, hoping that Milo would get the message one way or another.

Milo lept into action, but another bolt of lightning thundered across the clearing. “No one’s there!” Milo said panic filling his voice as he tried to tear the hands from Ezra’s throat. “I couldn’t get a good look.”

The rock is the only thing protecting us; if I let off my skill, we’ll be wide open. Ezra felt his vision fading as Milo wedged his fingers into the iron grip. He didn’t have much time, and if he didn’t do it now, he would be forced to release Time-Scale.

As energy flowed out of his body, the stone crumbled and the hands faltered. Ezra’s body instinctively convulsed as it took in all the air that could fill his lungs. Before he could utter a word, Milo slammed into him as a beam of light arced inches overhead.

“Move! Move!” Milo dragged Ezra as he came to his senses.

The sound of a rifle echoed through Ezra’s half-aware consciousness as he thrust Milo’s hands off and hastily crawled for cover. Glancing behind him, he saw the boy with shaggy black hair standing where the rock had disintegrated. But Milo said he couldn’t see anyone; was he in the rock?

Before he could continue the thought, another burst of light flashed across the clearing. Particles of dirt erupted behind them as Milo and Ezra crowded behind Erik’s hiding spot.

“What was that?” Milo shuddered as if his heart were about to leap out of his chest.

Ezra looked at their previous cover and noticed the boy was gone. “I think it was him. The one with black hair. He merged with the rock somehow.” Where is he? Every rock seemed like an enemy. What if it’s not just rocks he can merge with? The tree, only a few paces away, appeared to be looking at him in malice. Come on! Screw your head on. You have to think through this rationally.

Erik peeked around the rock and quickly pulled back as white-hot energy whipped past. “I think I saw the edge of her cloak,” Erik said as his clammy hands clutched the pistol grip. “She backed up and is probably about a hundred paces away. Right behind the split tree on the other side of the clearing.”

“She’s cornering us,” Ezra realized. “She knows we’re all behind this rock, but not once has she tried to destroy it. We know her teammate can’t slip into objects too small, so they’re giving us two options. Fight in the open and get blasted by her skill, or hide and get picked off one by one.”

Erik winced as another bolt of light passed. “S…So what do we do?”

The rusted ticket machine stood only a few paces away. Not far from our previous hiding place, and she can’t destroy that. It’ll be risky, but it could give us more time. Ezra tapped his index finger rapidly on his knee as he charted a path to the machine. “I say we let her have both.”

“What?” Erik’s eyes widened in terror.

Ezra shifted towards Milo. “The limit on your skill is twenty seconds, right?”

“Yeah?” Curiosity spread across Milo’s face as a smile flickered. “What are you getting at?”

“That's our limit. Erik, once we get to the ticket machine, I want you to fire on the girl in red.”

“But I’m not sure I can hit her at that range.” Another spread of light smashed into the ground in front of the boulder as Erik hugged his rifle like a child under their blankets in a thunderstorm.

“Just get close. I don’t need you to hit her. Also, Milo, see those three rocks between us and the machine. I need all those up in the air before we hide behind the machine.” Milo nodded, and Ezra flinched as another bright beam of death rained from above. "Alright, on three, we get to the ticket machine as fast as possible. Three, two, one!”

In the brief silence between blasts, they all lept from the hiding place. Milo dashed ahead as Erik stumbled and Ezra pulled him along. Heat rubbed Ezra’s back, and Erik finally found his footing as Milo tapped the first rock. The boulder tumbled into the air, and Erik picked up his pace while stealing a glance at the cloaked girl. Woosh. Another ray of plasma sliced through vegetation. Milo tapped the second and was halfway to the third. The machine was so close. Ezra felt like he could nearly reach it. A third rock shot into the sky, and all three of them dove for cover.

“Erik now!” Ezra commanded as the cold metal of the machine made his hair stand on end. We made it in seven seconds, just thirteen more.

The jittery boy settled his nerves and quickly balanced the rifle between his knee and forearm. Eleven left. Fingers emerged from the rusted surface as Erik took his shot.

“You knew we would go here. You were right.” Ezra backed off, and once the hands couldn't reach their target, more of the boy with black hair appeared. Half of his body was out, and fury creased his face as he reached for Erik’s throat. “Time-Scale!”

An image of the bullet was clearly fixed in Ezra’s mind as he tackled Erik to the ground. The air popped as the bullet traveled back to a muzzle that was no longer there. The boy’s skull cracked, and he fell limp. Only one side of his head bore a wound as the bullet had completed its trip.

The beams of light ceased, and Milo understood what he had to do. The floating rocks, about the size of Milo’s head, speed towards the girl, and she yelped as they slammed into her. Ezra let out a cautious sigh, and the clearing fell silent.

“So that’s it,” Erik said, his arms still shaking from the rifle’s kickback.

Ezra glanced at the info screen before putting his pocket away. Five minutes left. “The test is far from over. Let's see if either of them had tickets.”

The boy’s pants pockets barely stuck out from the machine, and Ezra avoided thinking about what the rest of his legs looked like. Delicately sticking his hands into the boy’s trousers, Ezra felt a few slips of glossy paper. He pulled out two purple tickets and a yellow one.

Milo sprinted over to the girl's body, and Ezra followed with Erik close behind. “One purple and one green,” Milo yelled as he waved the tickets in the air.

“T… That's like a hundred and eighty-five points.” Erik remarked as he counted off the numbers on his fingers. “Do you still think we have a chance?”

Milo handed the tickets over to Ezra, and he hid them from sight. “No, until we put the tickets in our machine.” The ground vibrated with another shock from somewhere across the arena, and Ezra steadied himself as he looked ahead. “Let's try to avoid getting into any more fights. We don’t have time, and our number one priority should be finding machine seventeen.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Ezra took off towards the center, dashing around mounds of stone and crooked trees. The top of the arena was more crowded than he expected. Too many blind spots, Ezra thought as he rounded another boulder with sharp edges. Ahead, the rocks and foliage parted to reveal a clearing larger than the last. The trees around the clearing rocked violently as a shockwave ripped through the air. Hana held tightly to the back of a man in gleaming white robes. Rapidly, the man began his descent and touched down with a spring in his step. She hopped off and sprinted towards a rusted machine slightly offset from the center.

“We should leave,” Erik whispered beside Ezra. “She’s the voyager’s kid, right?”

“Just a second longer. See those machines.” Ezra pointed across the clearing to three rusted rectangles along the far edge. “Anyone of those could be number seventeen. I think they’ll leave soon, and it’ll be quicker to go across than around.”

Hana dropped two red tickets into the slot. So it’s not her team’s machine. As she turned back to the man whose robes flowed like clouds, a knife whirled from a bush in the center of the clearing. It struck Hana’s calf, and she stumbled in pain.

Ezra pushed Erik back as he noticed Jason emerging from his leaf-covered hiding place. That idiot. He should know who she is. The man’s feet left the ground as he dashed towards Jason. Just in time, Jason parried the man’s first blow as he staggered back. Raising his right arm, he took another swing as he yelled with bold fury.

“What’s going…” Milo pushed past Ezra as he froze with his mouth wide open. “Is that Jason? Why’s he picking a fight with them?” Jason pressed forward, causing the man to back off as Hana tended to her wound. “And why does it look like he’s winning?”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that yet,” Ezra replied.

Erik timidly took a glimpse of the battle. “Should we help him?”

Ezra didn’t truly know Hana, but something didn’t feel right about killing her. He had talked with her, and even with Milo’s exaggerations, they had weathered the same trails. “I… We’ll see what happens.”

Jason dove in for another strike, barely slashing at the edge of the man’s cloak. The spiraled symbol on the man’s jacket immediately indicated to Ezra he was an abyss jumper. Leaping through the air, the man flipped over Jason as if the sky were his ocean to swim through. Jason parried another strike, the steel hissing as it slid off the man’s dagger.

A knife lodged into the dirt beside Jason, and the man in white pushed off layers of invisible air as he returned to where Hana was sitting. Freezing at the unexpected retreat, Jason locked eyes with Hana. The knife sticking out of the ground was the knife he had thrown only minutes ago. Hana’s face was deathly calm as her stare pierced through the space between them. Unheard words slipped from her lips as a ring of air around Jason coalesced into thick, mirky water.

Two fish, one black and one pearly white emerged from the water. Their elegant fins swayed with the motion of the stream as Jason took a defensive stance. Ezra could see another person pressing against Jason’s back. That looks like … Jason felt the pressure and presence of the mysterious person and lept to the other side of the circle.

“Who the…” Jason went rigid as he saw his own face reflected back at him.

His copy wasted no time and aimed for Jason’s right shoulder. Jason threw himself against the ring of water. Discovering he couldn’t escape, he ducked, rolled under the swing, and left a passing wound on the copy as he stood back up.

“We should help.” Milo urged Ezra.

“We can’t. Look at Hana’s teammate.” Beside the women in turquoise robes, the man in white fixed his gaze upon them. “He knows we’re here. We make any move, and we’re all dead. All we can do is wait. Right now they only see Jason as a threat.” But how long can we afford to wait? Three and a half minutes remained.

Jason cautiously circled his duplicate as he tightened his grip on the sword. The water around them sounded like a gentle stream. A calming sound that slowly invited its captive to death. The duplicate jerked forward and then pulled back as if he were taunting Jason. His breathing became deeper despite neither of them moving much. A drop of sweat dripped from Jason’s forehead, and he swung with clean precision as the duplicate moved with surprising speed. Jason wavered but followed through. He glanced at Hana, but her face was molded into a frown. It said nothing to her foe, but Ezra understood. She was not one to kill lightly.

Jason turned to face his equivalent self but nearly fell as a gash appeared on his left shoulder. Panic flashed across his face, soon followed by anger. He charged as the illusion sidestepped with speed faster than anyone Ezra had seen. It was unnatural, something Ezra knew Jason couldn’t replicate, and as Jason’s face turned pale, it was evident he knew it too.

The fish swam faster as Jason narrowly avoided another deadly strike. Strength, will, and determination all slowly receded from Jason as his opponent outmatched him at every turn. It was like his confidence was being sapped only to give more power to the duplicate. Jason slammed into the ring of water, desperate to escape, and Ezra felt his body urge him forward upon seeing his teammate's cocky smile turn to terror. Hana frowned as if, only for a moment, she had sympathy for the boy caught in her trap.

A sword tore through Jason’s ribs as an airless cry was ripped from his throat. The light left his eyes, and the illusion faded to a fine mist. Hana stood up with help from the man in white and adverted her gaze from the corpse. Once she was comfortably saddled on his back, the man bent down and then took to the sky with a burst of energy that left ripples in the air.

“Is it over?” Erik whimpered.

“I’m sorry,” Ezra said as he stared at Jason's lifeless body.

“I met him a few days ago, and I knew something like this could happen. It can happen to any one of us.” Erik stood up, and his legs briefly buckled. He caught himself on a branch protruding from a stone and gave a weak smile. “But knowing doesn’t make it easier.”

Ezra waited a moment for Erik to properly stand. He knew Erik was still processing what happened, but they couldn’t afford to wait any longer. “Two minutes left. Let's go.”

Leading the charge across the field, Ezra knew everything rested upon one of the three machines being number seventeen. His heart pounded in anticipation and urged his legs to go faster. Every second flashed by in his mind as he counted down.

“Two on the right!” Milo called from behind him.

Ezra spotted two humanoid figures on the edge of the clearing. Any more detail he didn’t have time to absorb. “Keep going! Don’t worry about them.”

The ground shook and the world lurched sideways. Slamming another foot to the ground, Ezra regained his balance. The arena seized again, but all he could do was keep moving forward. Past the bushes a few paces ahead, past Jason, past anything that wished his demise. The burning desire to win fueled every stride as everything swayed again and Erik fell to the ground. I can’t go back. It's so close. The ground rolled and slipped beneath his heels as unfamiliar voices shouted in the distance. No distractions. Falling, Ezra clawed his way back up. Those rusted boxes were his only salvation. He was so close he felt like he could smell their sharp metallic scent. Even as he was paces away, he couldn’t slow down; if he faltered for a second, the energy within him would dissipate.

Crashing into the box, he scrambled for the tickets as he looked at the number printed on top.

Fifteen.

Fear crept into Ezra's chest as he gasped for air. No. No. Thirty seconds remained.

“Over here!” Milo screamed over the crashing rock and rumbling earth. “Seventeen! This is our machine!”

Pulling stamina from deep within him, Ezra kicked off the rusted machine and dashed towards Milo. Every number clicked like clockwork in his skull. Every second pounded by with his footsteps. The glorious number seventeen came into sight, and he shoved the tickets through the slot, no wider than his fingers, as the world came to a stop.

“The test has concluded.” A voice boomed over the loudspeakers. “Final scores have been distributed to all pockets.”

Ezra’s chest rose and fell as he took in breath after breath. We made it. That's over two hundred points that has to secure us a victory.

Erik limped to the pair, exhaustion finally apparent on his face. “Did we make it?”

The information screen floated in front of Milo’s hands as his smile faded.

“What does it say?” Ezra couldn’t wait any longer for an answer and pulled up the info screen himself. The top five appeared, and Hana’s name stood at the top of the list. No surprise there. We don’t need to be first just in the top eight. He scrolled down to the next five and scanned the list several times until he realized where their name was.

10. Ezra, Milo, Erik, Jason, 275 pts