Chapter 17: Jegoball
Only one word: FUCK. I am fuckin' screwed. I wasn't too worried about beating Jarun—no offense— but Ziya was the problem. I still feared she was too fast for me. I wasn't the only one who had been training during the year. Jarun had come a long ways, and Ziya would also be faster and stronger. Shit, this was bad. How the hell am I gonna beat a level 1,000, maybe more?
'Calm down. You're level 800, so you don't have to worry as much,' I reminded myself. I could do this, easy. All I had to do was find the ball and make it back safely without anyone seeing.
People were now crowding around the area, even though it was late at night. More kids had already begun coming in to join us. Within five minutes, Jarun, Ziya, and I were up against at least fifteen other kids.
"Allright, everyone know the rules? No peeking, no skills besides dashing, and absolutely no chasm. If you break any of these, then you're automatically out, losing the match. Understand?" Thomas said tiredly. He rubbed his eyes. It took him awhile to wake up and get here, but nevertheless, Thomas was still running a game. Gotta give him props, Thomas was a tank.
What I didn't like is that he said none of us could use our chasm. Which meant a disadvantage for me, because the only way I could get a slight upper hand was only if I stopped time. I was still faster than these other kids, but there were a couple who looked seriously ripped. One of them was a girl. But the guy had my attention. He had an evil glare in his eye, as if plotting something to cheat.
Thomas yawned before starting. "Alright, gimme a sec and I'll go hide the ball."
Thomas picked up the cyan ball and chucked it at Bruce, who was also barely awake. "Think fast."
Bruce waved his hands and a portal sucked in the ball. It all happened with one quick motion, the portal opening and closing in less than a second.
"Alright. Everybody ready?" Everyone nodded in a silent agreement.
"Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" Thomas paused, then yelled, "Go!"
Everyone started in a dead sprint. As suspected, Ziya was slightly faster, but not by much. I was only a foot behind her now, whereas in the hunt, she could easily jog and be at least twenty meters ahead.
Both of us were racing in the front. None of us knew where the ball was, so we all split off into different directions. The evil kid with his hair messily cropped to the left went with the girl to the right. They both had the skin of a leopard, but the guy had a more of a darker tone. I went in the opposite direction, towards the mountain. Ziya and the others kept going straightforward.
I knew the ball was over here. I had a gut feeling it had been to the left. My sense stats were paying off. What I didn't understand though was why Ziya kept going straight ahead. She either had terrible sense, or someone was illegally using their ability against the others. The second option could only make sense, because Ziya was well over level 1,000, and her senses were keen. Which meant that someone was using their ability on me to take me out, but little did they know that I'm not that stupid.
I launched to left, moving at intense speeds back towards the group. Whoever was using their ability was messing with the more vulnerable people, which meant me and the other kids. Only Ziya would be a high enough level to be unaffected by the ability. I had to tell Ziya and warn her and the others about this. Jarun was nowhere to be seen, which meant he was one of the few to split off. I hoped that he was still okay.
Within a few seconds, I had caught up with Ziya. I was starting to wear down, but that wasn't going to stop me.
"Oi, Ziya."
"Yeah?" She asked, not even seeming to be out of breath, unlike me.
"Someone is cheating. Their using chasm to mess with the other kids' senses. That's why Jarun and the others split off from your group."
"But Jarun was still with me when you split off. I made sure he was in the group."
The same idea flashed in our mind.
"We need to look for him, now," we said at the same time.
"Effect 'Dash' is being used. One stamina will be used every two minutes," my watch announced.
Both Ziya and I were using 'Dash' to look around the city for Jarun, even if it meant we missed a glance at the ball and leaving the others to themselves. I mean, they were big enough to make their own decisions. But why Ziya cared about Jarun? Or the group? I had no clue. Maybe it was because she had special memories with Jarun and them, or maybe some emotions, but I highly doubted that. She always put on a neutral face, even if there was something exciting or cool going on. Ziya never changed her face, which was honestly kind of sad.
A trail of lightning followed us, mine electric cyan while hers was a neon yellow, just like her crystal. We hopped from roof to roof of each house, occasionally from the poles that stuck out the sides. I was hoping I hadn't waken anyone up, then again, half the village was watching from the hill, so there was a less likely chance. Still, I made sure I was quiet as my feet leapt from roof to roof.
We were now in the center of the city, where a purple clay fountain stood. Ziya and I were both about to zip past it when I spotted a body in its water. I immediately shifted my body and slammed into the wall of a large hut. The force made me think I bounced— which I probably did— off of it. I slid to ground and ran towards the fountain.
"Effect 'Dash' has been deactivated: Forty-two chasm remaining."
It wasn't a surprise to me when I found Jarun's unconscious body floating in the little fountain. I touched his neck to feel a pulse.
I sighed with relief. "Oi Jarun, get up. I don't want you to get hypothermia, and you also need to heal those cuts of yours."
Wait a minute. There were cuts on his hands and slash marks on his coat. Blood stains dotted his shirt and fur. That meant someone had attacked him. Could it have been... those leopard kids? Either Jarun broke off from the group because someone was messing with his senses, or someone picked him off from the back and did this to him. Both ways were definitely an option, but I doubted anyone could have caught him so easily without making a single noise.
"Heh, so someone around here finally does have keen senses."
I dropped Jarun and turned around. I came face to face with the leopard kids, although the girl was hiding behind the older kid. He had dark fur, while the girl had a light yellow to her fur. The older kid's green eyes gleamed with evil, but the girl had yellow eyes that gave off the hint of fear, her eyebrows furrowed with worry.
I stood up from my crouching position. I did my best to look intimidating. At the moment, I was using anger to create a vicious aura to try and scare him. "What the hell do you mean kid."
My plan didn't work at all.
The kid laughed, as if I was a joke. "Nice try bro, but that trick isn't gonna work on me. You wanna see a real trick?"
His nails started to elongate and sharpen. His hands were a dark brown, like he dipped them in a liquid. Like blood. It must've been how Jarun got those cuts.
He laughed maniacally. "I WILL SHOW YOU TRUE POWER! THESE HANDS WILL REMOV—"
"Time stop."
This kid at first honestly looked intimidating, but now he was just annoying as hell. Having said that, I drew three kunai from my waist and chucked them. They froze in the air, the invisible hand of luck holding them there. I let out a large breath of air. Now it was time to show him what 'power' was before he went on bragging like the annoying prick he was acting as. He was acting way too confident in himself. People like that deserve to get a little ass-whoopin.
"Skull Smasher," I said to myself. I thrust out my hand, and I could see an invisible white line that went straight through his head. That line could teleport me instantly behind my opponent. As soon as I would teleport, the enemy would be momentarily incapacitated because the line went through there head. If I touched their head, the move dealt more damage. I didn't have to grab it, I simply just needed to touch their head.
The moment I teleported behind him, I went directly for his head. The thing is, I still had about fifteen more seconds. I swung my fist right into his gut.
"Gravitational remover!" I yelled into the colorless world.
"Speed has been increased by 50 percent," the watch announced.
I threw my fists everywhere in front of me. I made sure that the barrage of fists landed into his face and chest. For the last five seconds, I went back to the spot where I stopped time and picked up Jarun.
"Move 'Time Stop' has been deactivated."
The kid flew through the air and smashed through the clay wall of someone's house. He must've been in a lot of pain because not a single scream came out of him. He just groaned. The girl on the other hand let out a scream of terror.
"Y-you killed him! Your gonna pay for that mister!" she screamed. She wasn't scary at all, but I made sure I had my guard up. Her short stature was actually quite amusing.
"Shut your little ass up. I need to help my friend here who you two bastards could've killed. So what makes you think that I don't have the right to knock YOUR friend out, hmm?"
She stopped dead in her tracks, tears filling her eyes. They didn't even think about that. The girl looked down, ashamed of what they did, all of it for just a fun game of Jegoball. This was my last night here, and this was definitely not how I wanted it to go. I just wanted to hang out with the people I called family for my last hours of living.
After a minute of silence, I grabbed Jarun from the ground and threw him over my shoulder. I needed to win this still. I wasn't even sure if Ziya was looking for Jarun. She could've easily just went off to look for the ball by herself.
"I-I'm not done with you yet. Bastards like you can't go u-unpunished." I heard a voice wheeze from behind me. I turned to see the kid barely standing in front of a cloud of dust. His will to keep going was strong, gotta give him credit, but he was in no shape to fight. I was sure I obliterated most of his stomach, so he had to have been bleeding internally as well. Not as bad as the cuts from crashing into a solid wall of clay and wood, but he shouldn't even have been awake.
"What's your name kid?"
The dude wheezed again, clamping his fists together in pain. "You referring to me as 'kid'?"
"Yeah I am. You're in no condition to fight, so tell me your name."
He was surprised for a split moment, but he understood. "Ezra. My name is Ezra, and this is my sister Lily."
"Well then, Ezra, you took out the only healer here. That was your plan, wasn't it? To take out Jarun so that you could hurt the rest of us with your chasm. Not a bad idea, if you knew a little bit more about the others strength levels."
Ezra fell down to his knees, Lily already crying and rocking herself on the ground.
"If you remove the pain from Jarun, he can help you, ya know."
He looked up, completely shocked. Don't think I couldn't tell what his ability was. Judging by how he messed with Jarun and my senses, and him yelling something about removing something, my guess was that he could 'remove' from objects. Perhaps remove gravity around him, or the friction in the ground, but it seemed like he could only remove senses. So his chasm was probably weak.
"I can't. I can barely walk and you know it."
I sighed. "I have to do everything myself, don't I?" I walked over and lightly plopped an unconscious Jarun on the ground. "There. Remove the pain from his body so he can wake up."
"But, that isn't going to wake him up."
"I know that won't, but if I slap him a few times, and then you re-add the pain, it might make him wake up."
"I guess that could work..."
He put his hand over Jarun's body and waved it around like he was taking something from the air. His body slowly rose and then fell.
"It's done bro."
"Good. Now I can smack him til' I think he could feel it."
I lifted my hand into the air and brought it down like a hammer, making a loud and eerie slap noise across his cheek. The two kids just stood there, horrified at loud the smack was. Even I was surprised, considering he had fur for skin.
"K. Add the pain so he can heal you and we can get back to this game. I'm not gonna lose."
"Alright."
Jarun flew upwards and screamed like he was having a nightmare.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA."
"Dude calm down, how else were we gonna wake you up hmm? Hurry up and heal your wounds, don't need ya getting frostbite."
"You saying you slapped me!?!" he wailed. I felt kinda bad because I slapped him a little too hard hard, but it was the only way to wake him up.
"Err.. well... yeah I did. But hey, at least you didn't die. Now please hurry and heal everyone bro."
"Heal this, heal that... fine. Just gimme a second to wake up from y'know, passing out."
Within mere seconds, Jarun had healed everyone at once, including himself.
"New move you been workin' on?"
"Yeah. I call it mass heal, although it takes a lot of chasm for me to do."
That move could actually be incredibly useful. Jarun didn't realize it, but he potentially could heal someone far away from him.
A dead and shameful look had entered Ezra and Lily's eyes. They had never been caught cheating every time they played this game, yet for some reason, Andrew had changed that. The two didn't know what kind of ability he had, but they both knew whatever it was, it was too powerful for them to see.
"We'll be on our way to look for the ball now. Good luck you two."
The duo stood there as Jarun and I split off in opposite directions to search for the ball. It had to have been found by now, so to me there honestly was no point in looking. I went directly for the hill from where we started.
Exhausted, I pushed on up the hill towards the starting point. I looked up at the stars which shone bright like every night. Like usual, I couldn't get enough of the glowing trees. That's when I noticed it. In the trees, there was a round cyan object hanging in the branches.
I ran towards the finish line now, the ball I climbed up the tree to get now in my hands. Nobody would have expected it to be at the finish line, not even me. It was simply pure luck. Jarun's hymn had actually worked.
I dunno how I did it, but I collapsed on the ground with the ball in my hand. It had probably been three hours, maybe four of running around the city, looking for a ball half the size of me. My legs were giving out. I was almost at the finish line, ready to win, but that was the final fatal mistake.
Ziya popped out of nowhere and snatched the ball from my hands, the crowd cheering her on as she crossed the finish line. I slammed my fist against the ground in anger at myself. I shouldn't have been so lazy to cross the finish line.
"Dammit!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
LeFrenchDrip
LeFrenchDrip Yo bros, you like it? I've recently got a lot more time on my hands and am gonna probably have more chapters. Sorry for not posting the 2-3 chapters a day like I said I would, but at the time didn't make very good planning. Anyways bros, yeah imma try and do more often. Thx again for reading my books. Also sorry for the long chapter but "Jegoball" to me is kinda worth the time, so ye.
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