Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Angel ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2

The first event was archery so Ebony went to her place with the other contestants while the others went to their seats in the stands.

"The first part of this event will be distance." The announcer called into his microphone. "Will the contestants please step up to the white line? The contestants will have three chances to hit the target at the other end. For each hit they will receive one point. If they do not hit the target, they will be disqualified from this part."

Ebony stepped up to the line, fitted a bolt into her crossbow, took aim and fired. The bolt hit exact centre. Her friends in the stands cheered her on but weren't too impressed. They knew she would hit it: they had seen her do better.

All around her the other contestants were shooting. Almost all hit their targets. Ebony fired her other two bolts and hit the target both times.

After everyone had fired their three bolts they were told to move back to the blue line and shoot again. Again Ebony hit the target all three times. At the end of that only twelve of the original sixteen were left. After the next line only six were left.

Finally it was down to Ebony and a boy named Kitto. They were both tied with eleven points each and were on their last shots. Kitto loaded his crossbow and took aim. He fired…and hit.

Ebony stepped up. She took out her favourite bolt and loaded it. The bolt was pure black, unlike her normal brown ones, and it had a gold point. Ebony had used it for her last shot in every completion and it had always hit the target. Ebony lifted up her crossbow and took aim. She fired and the bolt flew through the air. It hit. All of Ebony's friends jumped up and cheered.

"And that concludes the first part of archery." The announcer said. "The next part will be moving targets. Would all contestants with six points or more please step into the arena?"

Ebony, Kitto and six others went into the above-mentioned arena. At one end there were three rows of circular targets. All were on posts, which were attached to a motor that moved them.

"The contestants will have five minutes to hit the targets as many times as possible. To avoid confusion, each contestant will be given different coloured bolts."

As the announcer spoke a man came out and gave each person a package. Inside was a quiver filled with bolts. Ebony's bolts were black; Kitto's were white. The others received green, yellow, purple, orange, blue and red.

"At the whistle…start. Now, load your crossbows." The announcer paused as the bolts were loaded. "Now…TWEEETTT." He blew his whistle.

A large clock started the countdown as the contestants fired. Ebony aimed and fired as fast as she could. By the time one target had been hit, another bolt was on its way to another. Beside her Kitto was doing just as well. He was firing faster than her, but not all his shots hit.

"And…STOP!!" Every archer stopped firing. "There will be a short pause as the number of hits are totalled up."

Ebony hopped over the fence surrounding the arena and went to talk with her friends.

"Great job, Eb!" Angel said as Ebony walked up. "You're sure to have won."

"Yeah. No one could've beaten you." Zire said as he clapped her on the back.

"I don't know. That Kitto is pretty good." Ebony replied uncertainly.

"Yeah, but he missed a lot of shots." Kay told her.

"But he also shot more than me."

"Hey, listen up." Zire said before Ebony could continue. "They're going to announce the scores."

It was easy to tell it was now a two-person competition. Everyone else's scores were too low to even challenge Kitto's or Ebony's.

"And the score for white…Kitto Karee…is 24! That's the highest score in history! It'll be hard to beat."

"That's high." Kay mentioned.

"And the score for black…Ebony Darkare…is 24!

"WHAT?!" Four heads snapped up at this announcement.

"Oh…sorry. There has been an error in tabulation. The actual score for black is 25!! That makes Ebony Darkare the winner!!"

"Ya did it!!" Zire jumped up to hug Ebony.

"YEAH!!!" Angel started jumping up and down.

"Excellent!" Kay smiled as he stood up to congratulate Ebony.

The four friends were jumping and yelling with excitement when Kitto walked up.

"Good job Ms. Darkare. It's too bad I lost, but it was an honour to be beaten by someone as cute as you. Why don't we get together sometime to work on our…technique?" Kitto draped his arm over Ebony's shoulder and leaned in to give her a kiss.

"Umm…excuse me but…" Angel started

"No. It's okay, Angel. I can handle it." Ebony grabbed Kitto's hand and flashed him a sickly sweet smile. She pulled her arm down, bringing Kitto's hand with it. She pushed her weight forward and threw him on the ground.

"Sorry, I've already got a full schedule." Ebony smirked. Kitto's only response was a groan. "Come on, we should get ready for the next event."

"Glad to see those martial arts lessons paid off." Kay said as they walked away.

"Well, you're a great teacher." Ebony responded, making him blush.

"Aww, look. Kay's embarrassed." Zire joked. "Ka-ay's embarrassed. Ka-ay's embarrassed."

"Shut up, Zire." Angel said waving a gloved fist under his nose. "Unless you want to be beaten up by a girl."

"Whoa, easy girl. Your throwing stars are in those gloves. Anyway, we're in the next event. Come on."

"WHAT?! Well don't just stand there! Hurry up! If we're late we'll be disqualified." Angel ran towards the arena as her friends laughed behind her.

"Better catch up, Zire." Ebony said. "Kay and I can get back to our seats ourselves."

"M'kay. See y'all later." Zire took off after Angel.

"Come on Kay." Ebony said as they went back to their seats.