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CHAPTER 2-EPISODE 1: Minako’s Challenge


Though it weighed heavily on their minds the previous night, yesterday’s events were old news. The pair had no time to focus on that. Today was the day of the fighting tournament and they needed to be in top shape!

“Come on Kimi! Not much longer now!” Terick called over his shoulder. They’d decided to take a morning run around the park where they first met the mysterious woman named Minako.

“I’m right on your tail Terick!” Kimi whined. She was not at all a distance runner like her friend was. She was slowing down the further they ran, but the boy seemed to not let up at all.

Little did they know that in a tree on the side of the path, Minako had just woken up. Hearing two familiar voices, she looked down to see the two from yesterday. "Look at you two! Getting ready for the tournament today, huh good lookin’?” Minako teased the young man as she dropped down and easily kept pace with him.

Blushing a bit, Terick kept his eyes straight ahead and simply replied, “Yeah, so what? I guess you’ll be there, too?”

“You’re a smart one, aren’t you, hun?”

Kimi had had enough of this; the girl had pushed her a bit too far. Kimi’s body moved her ahead of the two and stopped in front of them.

“What the hell, Kimi?” Terick asked almost crashing into her.

“Yeah, what the hell?” Minako chimed in. She ended up getting two confused looks.

Kimi finally came to her senses and spoke. “His name is Terick! Mine’s Kimi, by the way. What’s yours? Minako?”

Minako raised an eyebrow at Kimi’s defensive display and giggled, “Yes, Minako’s the name. Bounty hunting is my game!” she formally introduced. Giving up on running, the two runners looked her over, as if searching for some ulterior motive.

Honestly, there wasn’t one. Their running into Minako was purely coincidence. She just had this air about her that attracted people to her, or her to people. Either way, it was certainly odd.

“Why are you following us?” Terick finally asked.

“I’m not, really. I like to sleep in trees. Very peaceful. It also saves on money,” she replied. By the way she answered you could tell that she wasn’t even joking. This girl was already weird, so why put it past her? “You’d better get back to your workout! “You aren’t going to come close to beating me in the tournament if you’re slacking off~!”

Kimi frowned, “How do you know you’ll win? Either of us could take you down no problem! Hell, one arm tied and all that junk!” she bluffed.

“Stop it, Kimi. It’s not our fault we’re so kick-a**. No one likes a show-off!” Terick joked, high-fiving Kimi.

Minako laughed with them, but for a different reason. She was enjoying the amazing amount of confidence they shared. “How ‘bout we make this interesting? Both of you join the tournament, try to fight, and beat me! If either you win, I’ll give you a special gift. How ‘bout it?” she offered with a sly, cat-like smile.

“Deal!” Terick blurted immediately.

“What?! Whoa, Terick let’s talk about this first,” Kimi protested. She was definitely the more cautious and paranoid of the two.

“What’s there to talk about? We got nothing to lose! Do we?” he asked turning back to Minako.

With a shrug of her slender shoulders, and a shake of her red head, she simply answered, “Nope! You lose we part ways, and probably never see each other again. This’ll just be a fond memory for the both of us!” she assured them.

Hearing this, Kimi took a few more seconds to think it over. Finally, she tossed her hands up and sighed, “Ok, deal! But you better not rip us off!” Kimi warned folding her arms across her chest. Again, Minako assured them that nothing bad would come of this. She even went as far as to say that it would be incredibly worthwhile should they win. That being said, Terick and Kimi shook Minako’s hand, making it a legally binding verbal contract.

The tournament started at two o’ clock that afternoon. It was an hour before that now. A little over a hundred people had signed up. When they registered, they could choose from one of two categories: hand-to-hand, or armed. Spotting Minako’s name on the latter, the two travelers scribbled their names down and were then added electronically in the computer system.

“You ready, Kimi?” Terick asked her. She’d say yes, but he knew that it wasn’t complete truth.

"Completely ready! Minako’s going down so hard!” she replied not even looking at Terick. Her eyes were focused and straight ahead. This surprised the young man, as the girl always got the “pre-show jitters”. Now there was no sign of it. Truth was Kimi couldn’t stand the thought of losing to that man-stealing weirdo. Kimisa had never told anyone of her immense, yet well-hidden crush on Terick. She wasn’t the least bit surprised that he didn’t catch on. He wasn’t very observant when it came to things like that. Besides, she never did anything that was really overt.

Suddenly, it was time for the tournament to start. All of the participants were rounded up and paraded out into the massive coliseum-like arena where the battles would take place. The stands were packed with spectators from all over. The mayor of the town then stood at the podium in front of the competitors and gave a lengthy speech that no one really cared much about. It was just a formality. The mayor only did it for tradition and all.

Once he finally shut his mouth, the hand-to-hand fighters, as well as their spectators, were moved to a smaller venue more suitable for their purposes. With them now gone, a young woman wearing an elegant red dress and high heels stepped out into the middle of the arena. Her honey blonde hair came to her shoulders, her hazel eyes sparkling in the afternoon sun.

“Good afternoon, all!” she shouted into the microphone. The crowd cheered wildly, ready for the fighting to begin. “My name is Isabella, your hostess for the Annual Armed Fighting Tournament!!”