Chapter Ninety-One of Doom

The ninety-first chapter of Eternal Destiny

Professor Nilstrim's Gathering: Part Three
''"What do you mean?" Layla asked. "What drove us to do what? What did we do?"''

CHAPTER NINETY-ONE OF DOOM
"Alright," Apollo announced. "Let the competition begin!"

Rune, Roy, Caitlyn, Dana and Yliaster felt a rush as the scenery changed. They were in a cave of gray rocks, light pouring from one side to reveal a green triangle painted on.

"We're in a cave," Rune said. "Now what?"

"I just realized something," Yliaster said. "We never did find out the nature of this competition. Is it a race? A fight? A scavenger hunt? Trivia?"

"With all due respect, the best way to find out would be to find the other teams," Roy said. "The fact that Apollo suggested we beat Wood as soon as possible suggests that the competition has a last-team-standing deal. Perhaps by watching another team get eliminated can show us what to do."

Caitlyn nodded and started to walk out of the cave. The others followed her. The setting outside the cave appeared to be a forest, with a thin river near them.

"Well, this looks familiar," Caitlyn muttered.

"Yeah, it does," Rune agreed. "We're in the woods by Camp Half-Blood."

"That's great," Dana said. "It means you two give us a homefield advantage. This might just be easier than we thought."

Rune smiled at that prospect and started climbing further out of the cave. Roy blocked his progress by putting his arm in front of Rune's body, then pointing at the river.

"With all due respect, look."

They looked at the river, where another team was wading through. Most of them, Rune didn't recognize, but he knew one. Torrin Wood.

Yliaster clenched his fists. "Wood's here. This is bad... yet at the same time, good."

"It would be good if we could use this opportunity to eliminate him," Caitlyn said halfheartedly. "One way to make it bad though would be if one of us were to charge in without thinking first and completely blow our location." She pointed about halfway between the river and the cave, where Rune was already running.

"Rune," Torrin said when he saw him. "Didn't take long to find you."

"How are you even competing anyway?" Rune demanded. "You didn't show up at Doyle's meeting until the lights went off!"

"I signed up after the fact," Torrin explained. "Technically, I was in the lounge last night, I was with the other teams this morning, and the Supernovas said it was alright, so I can compete here."

"Why the Supernovas, of all the teams?" Rune asked, ignoring the angry glares that the other Supernovas were giving him.

"I liked the name."

A shot whizzed past Rune and Torrin before opening with a shout of "With all due respect, Anoichtó!"

The portal opened, and Roy, Caitlyn, Dana, and Yliaster stepped through. "See?" Caitlyn asked. "This is how you set up an ambush. And in an open free-for-all like this, it's infinitely better than running right into enemy sights."

"Gotta ask," one of the Supernovas said. "Is this kid really qualified to be your team leader?"

Rune glared at the Supernova. "Dolphin."

The Dolphin emerged from Kaleséi and landed in the river. "Hey, a forest! And there's new people here! Hi new people! Hey, Rune, are we fighting the new people? Or are they friends? Or are we fighting our friends? What are we doing?" All of this was said in less than ten seconds.

"Caitlyn, Dana, and Yliaster are friends," Rune said, pointing to each of them. "The other new people are enemies. That guy right there is the one we're about to fight." He gestured to the one who had just questioned his qualification.

"Okey-dokey!" Dolphin cried. It leaped from the river and smacked the Supernova with its tail. He started flying through the air, straight at Rune. Rune grinned and knocked him into a tree with one punch.

"Jamal!" another Supernova shouted.

"That's the Beast Ring Kaleséi," Torrin realized.

"Still wonder why we answer to him?" Dana asked. "An idiot, sure, but an unstoppable idiot nonetheless."

Links
Eternal Destiny

Previous Chapter: Chapter Ninety of Doom

Next Chapter: Chapter Ninety-Two of Doom

Trivia

 * This chapter was written by DarkCyberWolf on 1 September 2013.
 * Characters met this chapter: Jamal Kuma