Chapter 22 Air Challenge

I went out of my hiding place and approached Hera who was still stunned. “Uhm Hera,” and I patted her shoulder.

She was surprised and turned to me. “Uhm Yani. Uhh what are you doing here?” she asked in shock.

“Uhh well, it made us wonder because you suddenly disappeared so uhm… I followed you,” I replied.

“I'm sorry I didn't ask for permission. It will not happen again. I just talked to someone,” she apologized.

“I know.”

She was shocked and looked at me. I just smiled at her foolishly saying 'I saw everything that happened'. She was speechless and obviously just blushed. I approached her. “Don’t worry. It's just for the two of us,” I whispered and winked at her.

She smiled back at me. “Thank you Yani.”

“Let's go. There is another challenge. They might start to wonder that we are not there,” I said and we walked back to our place.

When we arrived at the bleachers, “Yani, Hera, where did you go?” Femme asked worriedly.

“Oh in uhm just went somewhere,” I replied.

“Where?” Femme asked again.

“I just talked to someone and then Yani accompanied me,” Hera replied.

“Who?” Donna asked.

“Ah uhm it’s a metal girl too,” I replied.

“One of Hera's bullies?!” Donna suddenly asked.

“Huh? No. Well uhm she wants an autograph because she saw how amazing Hera is from earlier.”

They all raised an eyebrow at me and wondered.

“Okay. Welcome to this year's Air Challenge...” said Prince Turuki so we all turned our eyes to the field.

“Hey it’s about to start,” Femme said excitedly. Whew. Thank goodness. Yes I know I’m not a good liar.

“First of all, I would like to thank my brother Feesy for making this event happen. A round of applause for him...”

We all applauded.

“So for our first challenge, an air battle with the use of animals. For the instructions, we will release nine flying animals and it's up to you to choose which and they are all wild so it's also up to you to tame it. After you picked and tamed one, bring down the animal of the other. The 5 persons left with their animal will be the players for the second challenge. So, are there any questions?”

No one spoke and the players just looked at each other.

“None. Well then, let the challenge BEGIN!” At the same time the large doors opened and some animals came out. Every animal has wings but some are just on the ground walking while others are flying.

Seriously, they are all ferocious. Some are very large birds, some dragons and then some are huge serpents with wings and so on. One emits fire, one ice, the other is very fast at flying, the other attacks with lightning and so on. Kyrie began to search. I hope she finds a sensible one.

As she searches, she encounters the fiercest of all. A dragon full of enormous spikes on its body and wings. Its teeth are so large that anything, even a stone, will be destroyed once it will eat it. Scary.

Just a look at Kyrie's face, that's what she chose so she immediately approached it. She struggled at first but she gradually tamed the dragon and soon, she was riding behind it. She's great.

“Infairness. She is very friendly with animals because even with a fierce dragon she was able to tame it but to humans, she’s bitter,” said Jessy.

“Yeah. She’s always that person that is KJ (kill joy) at something,” said Donna.

“You said it,” Flare agreed.

Due to the extreme ferocity of Kyrie's choice, any animal that faces it, just one attack, it loses immediately. Well not totally dead. Apparently, it just fainted. So it is expected that she won.

When there were only five of them left, the animals calmed down and the players went down.

“Congratulations to our top 5 players of our first challenge,” said Prince Turuki and we applauded. “The animals can now go back to their cages.”

The animals have been sent back to the cage and even in that short time, the dragon doesn’t want to separate from Kyrie. Good for her.

“So that ends our first challenge. Let's have a five-minute break.”

We immediately went downstairs and met Kyrie. “You are great Kyrie. You were in the top 5,” Femme praised while Kyrie sat down and we gave her a water bottle and a towel.

“Of course I am,” Kyrie replied and drank water.

“*cough* Arrogant,” Jessy coughed.

Kyrie looked at Jessy. “Did you say something Jessy?” Kyrie asked seriously.

“Nothing,” Jessy replied while wearing a fake smile. “I said, you're good.”

“Pssh,” and Kyrie rolled her eyes at her.

“Kyrie I have a question,” Donna said.

“What's that?”

“How does it feel to ride on a dragon?”

“Oh that. Well it’s beautiful. That feeling that you are flying but you are riding on an animal... something like that.”

“Wow. Nice explanation,” full of sarcasm Jessy said.

“Uhm how is that?” Donna asked.

“In short, it's hard to explain okay?” she let out a sigh. “Great, I’m missing Uppa.”

We looked at each other after she said that.

“Wait, who's Uppa?” Femme asked.

“Uppa, my dragon earlier.”

There was an awkward silence in the room.

“Pfft…” Jessy and Flare laughed but they held it back.

“What are you two laughing?”

“Hahaha Uppa? Where in the world did you get that name?” laughing, Jessy said.

“Hahaha yeah. Uppa, you’re like a tenant,” Flare said laughing. “But apparently you have a point. You are RENTING the dragon anyways hahaha.” (A/N: “Mang-uupa” means in Filipino is renting so to get the joke, Kyrie named the dragon Uppa like she was renting it)

Jessy and Flare laughed and honestly, that was really funny.

“Hey hey, excuse me. At least I have a friend that is a dragon who is not like that one person out there who is scared of butterflies.”

Flare fell silent immediately after that.

“Hahaha. Whatever. But I admit. You are really good at taming animals,” said Jessy. Kyrie stopped talking and just drank some water.

“Okay 5 minutes is over. May I call the top 5 challengers to come back here on the grounds.”

“It's the second challenge,” Kyrie said and stood up. “Okay. I'll be going.”

“Kyrie uhm well...” I said so she turned around.

“Ah yes. What is that Yani, words of wisdom? “

“Uuhh not really,” I replied. “But uhm just remember what I said and then uuhh good luck.”

“Of course. As long as you say so, I will never forget that,” Kyrie smiled as she went to the grounds.

We also immediately climbed back to the bleachers. When we saw the grounds, it was normal as usual but there was a table at the end of the field and there were some things lying on it. I don't know what those things are because it’s not clear from my place.

“Okay. We're all set. Now for our second challenge, we will have something as simple as… photography…”

As soon as Prince Turuki said that, we were all surprised here. “The instructions are simple, take a picture of anything, any place, any view just in this oval only and explain why you capture that picture and how important it is for you. I'll give you 5 minutes to do that. Don't worry, cameras are provided on the table opposite to all the players.”

Everyone in my group was silent.

“Is it true that I heard that photography is the second challenge?” asked Jessy breaking the silence.

We all went back to reality but we just looked at each other.

“The second challenge, STARTS!”

“Shacks! This is not good!” Donna panicked.

“Why of all the possible challenges that go to Kyrie, it has to be photography?!” Jessy panicked as well.

“You said it. So, what are we going to do Yani?” Flare asked. Well, I was still shocked but I just came back to reality when Flare asked.

“Huh? Uhm... well... uhh…” I stammered.

“Don't say trust again Yani,” Jessy said. “We are talking about Kyrie here and we all know that she is a CAMERA MONSTER!”

“Eh uhm...” I just scratched my head. What can I say to them? Huhu. I also don’t know. I never knew that photography will be the second challenge.

“Not because she’s our leader, you must depend on her for everything.”

We were all surprised when Callie spoke again and we all looked at her.

“We can't do anything because Kyrie is already there. Even if you think about substituting her in her place, you know that is against the policy so it is up to her to endure not to destroy the cameras if she wants to win. In the end, all you can do is really trust the players,” Callie said coldly.

We just looked at each other.

“Oh yeah,” said Femme.

“Why is it that even though Callie only speaks once, she always has a point? Is that a talent?” said Donna.

“Yeah. How to be you Callie?” said Jessy.

“Uhm we can cheer Kyrie to entice her,” said Hera.

“You’re right Hera. Okay,” said Femme stood up and took a deep breath. “YOU CAN DO IT KYRIE!! BE PATIENT FIRST IN HOLDING THE CAMERA!”

“YES! JUST FOR NOW! YOU CAN DO IT!” Donna shouted.

“GO GIRL! JUST RELAX!” Jessy shouted.

Whew. That was close. It's good that Callie is here. I don't know what I'm going to do. It's such a hassle to be a leader.

The first challenge was against the animals and for the eight of us, Kyrie was the best player here but... God. I forgot that Prince Turuki is the facilitator. Why didn't I think photography could be the second challenge?

All the challengers are already holding a camera... well except for...

“Kyrie! It started! You have to get a camera!” Femme shouted.

She didn’t move at her place and just bowed her head. “Why isn't she walking yet?” Femme asked us.

“Maybe she didn't hear you Femme,” Donna said.

Femme and Donna continued to shout.

“That’s it. She already gave up,” said Jessy and sat down next to Flare. “She really can't stand holding a camera. Maybe any minute now, all the cameras down there are broken. Good luck to her and to us too because we will be blamed if she made a scene.”

I just watched Kyrie restraining herself. Kyrie, I know how angry you are with cameras but you have to face your weakness now. Please walk. Just for now.

“Wait, are those vines?” Flare said so I was shocked and looked at the field.

Shacks! There are indeed and they are rising from the ground! I got up immediately and went to the edge of the bleachers.

“Kyrie, what do you think you are planning to do?!” I shouted. “GEEZ, it's just a camera and this is the only time you will handle that all for this challenge! It doesn't matter if you win or lose as long as just for now, at least you will learn how to hold the camera and not embarrass yourself!”

There was silence for a few seconds after I shouted that. I just looked at her and she lifted her shocked face and looked back at me. I don't care if I'm getting embarrassed because of that.

“What, are you going to walk or not?!” I shouted again.

Kyrie looked at me and I just looked back at her seriously. She also gave me a serious look but she also let out a sigh and ran to get the last camera on the table.

I also sighed in relief at what she did. Thank goodness. I turned around and saw their faces startled and their eyes widened.

“Oh why are your faces like that?” I asked.

“What is it with you?” Jessy asked back.

“Huh? Why? I just shouted,” I replied.

“Yeah Jessy. She just shouted. That is all,” said Donna.

“And then?”

“Nothing Yani. You are great!” Femme said and made a thumbs-up to me and smiled.

“Okay. Uhm thanks?” I said in hesitation and just sat down.

They looked back at the game. Kyrie began to look around while holding the camera.

“Okay challengers you have a minute left. I hope you are all finalizing your pictures,” said Prince Turuki.

We immediately looked at Kyrie who was now staring at us. She looked serious but she suddenly smiled at us and positioned the camera in her eyes and focused it on us at the same time... Click!

“Okay time's up. Please go back to your places with your cameras.”

Kyrie ran to the said place while we were here shocked by what she did.

“What's wrong with that woman?” Flare asked.

“God. That was something new,” said Jessy. “It's like I was dreaming that she’s holding the camera and took a picture of us.”

“Why did she take a picture of us?” Donna asked. We just looked at each other and shrugged.

Each player showed Prince Turuki the picture in the camera that they had taken and explained why that was the case. He will ask questions like 'Why did you capture this?' and 'How important is this to you?' Their answers are loud because Prince Turuki gives a microphone for them to speak to.

“…and lastly we have…” Prince Turuki stood in front of Kyrie. “…you. So let's see the picture.”

Kyrie handed the camera to him and looked at it. When Prince Turuki saw it, his face showed surprise. We saw it because his face is displayed on a large screen.

“Uhm it's blurred,” Prince Turuki said. Kyrie didn't say a word and just avoided looking at him.

“Well uhm maybe you can—”

“I'm not good at holding a camera that's why it's blurred,” Kyrie interrupted him. “Just give me a low grade if you don't like it.”

Prince Turuki was slightly surprised by Kyrie's answer but he also immediately smiled. “I'm not saying anything but I understand what you mean. Then kindly tell me what picture is this?”

“That's my group in this event.”

“Oh okay,” Prince Turuki looked in our direction at the same time. “…so why of all the things in the oval,” he looked back at Kyrie. “…why is it that this is the one you took?”

“Because…” Kyrie first looked at the picture and at the same time looked at us and then he also looked back at the picture.

“Because what?”

“Because everything around here is useless to take and it doesn't have a single meaning to me. This picture is the only part in this event that is important,” she replied.

“Really? And how important is this picture to you?”

Kyrie looked at Prince Turuki and smirked at him. “That picture has no importance to me,” she replied.

Prince Turuki was surprised by what she said and so were all of us here in the bleachers. Deep down, I made a face palm. What is she doing? Or should I ask, what is she planning?

“Oh… that's… uhm…” Prince Turuki could not answer back.

“That picture is not important to me because it cannot measure how important my friends are...” she added suddenly.

We were surprised again and so was Prince Turuki. Kyrie looked at us and smiled at the same time looking back at Prince Turuki.

“So even though I tear apart that thing right in front of you, and whether I win or lose in this challenge, my friends will be there waiting for me,” with confidence Kyrie replied.

We can no longer speak here because of the last things she said. There was a smile on my face. That was probably the best answer I heard.

I looked at Prince Turuki who was also shocked. Hah! Where are you now Prince Turuki?! Do you want me to tell you that the woman in front of you is your fiercest opponent?

There was also a smile on Prince Turuki's face. “Not bad,” he said and positioned the camera at the same time…

Click!

Shacks. Shacks! He just took a picture of Kyrie. Kyrie was surprised and again, us here too. He just took a picture of the CAMERA MONSTER! This is not good! This is bad. As in, B-A-D.

“That was a splendid answer. Thank you for participating,” said Prince Turuki as he walked away.

Kyrie bowed down her head to restrain herself.

“Shacks! Just a moment guys,” I got up immediately and went down. Just great. Why is it that when Prince Turuki and Kyrie just face each other, a lot of bad things could happen? It's already getting good, but Prince Turuki didn't know that if he took a picture of someone like Kyrie, she would destroy the camera right in front of him. Kyrie can make a scene.

When I got there, I was a few meters away from Kyrie, “Wait Ky—”

“Prince Turuki,” Kyrie called. I stopped when she spoke. Prince Turuki had not gone very far yet so he stopped and turned to Kyrie.

“Yes?”

“Kindly delete that picture,” Kyrie said while still bowing.

“Which picture?” Prince Turuki asked.

“The one you took of me,” Kyrie replied.

He wondered. “Why?”

“Just please... delete it.”

“I'm sorry I can't,” he bluntly said. “I'm going to save this for my next photo album.”

Kyrie's hand began to tremble with anger that was now a fist.

“Kyrie, wait a minute—” I walked closer again but, “Can I ask then...” at the same time she raised her head with a serious face. “... how important is that picture of me to your photo album?” she asked calmly.

I stopped to move forward again.

“Nice one. Throwing back the question to me so I wouldn't mind answering it,” Prince Turuki replied while smiling. He even managed to smile. Does he not see Kyrie's face or even feel her angry aura?

“These are all important to me because I keep them for memories,” replied Prince Turuki.

Kyrie's serious face disappeared. “Memories?” she wondered.

“Yup. You see we have a lot of things to do and we tend to forget some important events in our lives so I'm taking pictures not because I'm having fun doing it or making fun of it but for me to remember something I forgot…”

Kyrie could not speak and they just stared at each other while Prince Turuki smiled.

“And I think that you're one of my memories,” said Prince Turuki. “You're different from what I used to think and you're interesting. So, your name is Kyrie... I'll remember that,” at the same time he turned around and walked away. Kyrie was stunned.

I was shocked as I watched them but for some unknown reason, I smiled after hearing that conversation.

A woman known as a 'Camera Monster' because she really doesn't like cameras and another man known as a 'Camera Prince' who loves to take pictures and now their paths meet. I thought everything would just get messy but… maybe there are sparks as well.