“Marisola!” Lala cried out as the Ferris wheel tilted to its demise.

  Before Lala could react, The right face reached the lava. Lala held onto the spoke she was on as best she could but the face of the ferris wheel slammed into the lava with a thud, spitting up lava everywhere. Lala covered her face as she held on, the explosion of lava would hit her in a milisecond and completely disintegrate her. Lala was happy to die, knowing that she’d reconnected with Marisola.

  Lala opened her eyes. She was not dead, or melting, or melted. She was holding onto the strug and looked down. Ironwood pivoted on and placed herself between Lala and the lava. The heavy magma had splashed onto Ironwood’s front half. Despite the heat resistance, the contact of molten rock directly onto the armor had warped. Worse yet, was that Marisola had not had the opportunity to place her helmet back on before the fall. Lala reached out and touched her back. Marisola swung herself around, the magma on her armor cooling. She pulled Lala by the hand. The wheel was sinking into the lava pit, eating the metal like a light snack. The face they were on was sinking quickly.

  “Come on! We have to get out of here!” They ran along the frame as the heat got closer and closer to their feet. One of the stands bent and Marisola took a tumble. Lala grabbed her armor and pulled her back up. They both ran to the end of the wheel and jumped onto the platform. Lala and Marisola turned around, watching the last of the Ferris wheel get eaten by the lava pit.

  “Well,” The announcer said, “That’s the last time we use the Flaming Ferris Wheel, but we have our winners!”

  Lala smiled as she turned to Ironwood. Her expression dropped.

  “Marisola, your face!”

  A globule of magma had attacked her pale cheek. There was a burn stain along her left side.

  She smiled, “Don’t worry about it. If anything, it makes us look more like twins. Come on!”

  Ironwood took Lala’s hand and pulled it up as she faced the crowd. The audience hooted and cheered all at once. It hit Lala’s ears like a rapterous thrumming.

  “Wow. Feels a lot different then their booing,” Lala said.

  “You have to give them someone to love. Today, it’s both of us.”

  The cheering was enormous. Lala had never had this many people worshipping her. They both took a bow, but more than anything, Lala was happy to be back with her sister. They hugged.

  They both exited the stage as the field prepared for the final battle. They were both smiling as they approached Kip and the others.

  “Lala!” Kip said, I’m so glad you’re okay!” He went up and hugged her, only making it to up to the height of her waist. Lala bent over and hugged him back.

  Kip turned to Marsiola and bowed, “Thank you for protecting her when you did. The Dark Lord owes you a debt of gratitude.”

  Ironwood waved her hand, “I was also pretty close to killing her, so why don’t we call it even?”

  “Yes. Of course… there is the sticky matter of our bout.” Said Kip, “It seems there’s the awkward problem of us two fighting to the death.”

  “Right.” Ironwood said, “I don’t mind dropping out. I already have the thing I could have hoped for. My sister back.” She squeezed Lala’s hand.

  “Right then,” Kip said, “Guess that’s that! We’ve won the games!”

  “What about the critical information?” Storm asked.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Critical… information?” Jasssper was wiping the drool off his fangs, “you don’t mean.. L-l-l-leverage?”

  “Not as important.” Said Kip, “We’ll take our win with Julio entering the school and all of my team being safe and sound.”

  Lala turned to Marisola, “Can I ask you something?” She said,

  “What happened to mom and dad?”

  “I want to ask about them too but… what happened to Cadie?”

  “Cadie?” Marisola turned to looked confused for a second, “Oh… that neighborhood girl we would play with. Right… not sure. We haven’t talked since primary school. We just fell out of touch. Were you two close?”

  “Uhm, no. No, we weren’t close. She was closer to you, I remember.”

  Marisola shrugged her shoulders. Lala nodded her head.

  While the two were catching up, Kip had met with his two advisors.

  “It isss very good that we are not fighting Ironwood,” Jasssper mentioned.

  “Too right,” Kip said, “Guess we got out of that one. Sometimes you get a freebie.”

  “Right, my boy.” Said Stormbristle, “I can’t imagine you fighting against her even with your wits and such. She’s just too bloody powerful.”

  Kip waved his hand and said, “You don’t have to sugarcoat it. I would have perished!”

  Kip, Storm, and Jasssper all burst into laughter. Jasssper even wiping a tear from his eye with his tail. Storm chortling thunder with every laughter.

  “You know,” Kip said, “I was spending this whole match just building bombs out of anything I could get my hands on, and the whole time I’m gong… yeah, this ain’t enough.”

  “I know!” Said Stormbristle, “And the whole time I’m thinking, ‘This definitely ain’t enough.’”

  The two laughed. Jasssper said, “The whole time I was fighting against her I wasss like, ‘I’m dead. I’m dead. I’m dead.’”

  That’s what we kept saing!” Storm said, “We were like… should we have given a proper goodbye to jasssper? We think he’s dead.’”

  They all laughed. Tamas stepped in and said, “Are we talking about how we don’t have to fight Ironwood anymore?”

  Kip settled a laugh and said, “yes. We are sooo glad that’s over.”

  “The whole time I’m fighting her I’m going… Kip’s gotta fight this!?”

  “Well! I’m glad to see you’re all in such good spirits!” the king came down with his guards in front of him, “Two sisters reunited! Are you kidding me? Now it’s Lala’s adopted sister against her loyal monarch. The underdog Dark Lord against the returning people’s champ, Ironwood. The people are going to go nuts! This is just too good,” He placed his large arm around Kip and his other arm around Ironwood, pulling them both in.

  “Uhm… right. About that.” Kip said.

  Ironwood nodded her head at Kip, “I’ll tell him.”

  “Tell me?” the king said, “You haven’t said a word to me and now suddenly you’re the world’s biggest talker? This I gotta hear.”

  “I’m pulling out of the third match. I am injured and am not interested in fighting anymore. KIp has won.”

  “Hip hip, hurrah!” Said Tamas.

  “Hip hip, hurrah!” Yelled all the others in unison.

  The king’s plastic smile faltered just a little, “No. I don’t think so.”

  “Yeah,” Said Kip, “I’m sorry, King Sezami. But Ironwood has decided to pull out, which means that the monster team wins! Yipee!”

  “Hip, hip, Hurrah!” Tamas said.

  “No more of that.” The king said.

  “But we-”

  “The game is happening. The crowd loves this. Imagine if I had to go out there and tell them all that the third match wasn’t happening? Guess who they’d be mad at. Me. They want to see more of Ironwood. They want to see Kip. Don’t you dare tell me it’s not happening. These are the most thrilling games we’ve ever had.”

  “I’m.. sorry,” Said Kip, “But we don’t need to fight anymore.”

  The king turned to his two guards, “Seize her.”

  The two guards grabbed Lala on both sides.

  “Hey!” Ironwood yelled as she pushed away from the king’s embrace. More guards came by and stuck their swords up at Ironwood.

  “Sorry,” The king said, “But even if you kill those guards. And these guards. And the guards above us and below us. You still are no match for my army. Including my magician. Now… put the sword down.”

  Ironwood held her sword up, pointing it right at the king. Sezami glared at her. Her sword shook and she stared at the guard who had placed a knife to Lala’s neck. Ironwood put the sword down.

  “Now.. you said before I got here, and YES I was listening. It’s not eaves dropping if you’re just on your way down and none of you control your volume. You said that the thing you want most in the world is your sister. Okay, fantastic. Those are the stakes. This will still remain a battle to the death, but if you win you get your sister. Doesn’t tha sound fair?”

  “You bastard,” Ironwood said.

  “I knew you’ve always wanted to say that to me,” The king said, “But your little silent act prevented that, huh?”

  “What if I win?” Kip asked, “Does she get to stay alive as well?”

  The king smiled, “That wouldn’t make things very interesting, would it? How about this, if you win, she stays alive… but she stays with me. I’ll give you everything I promised. Call it a dowry.”

  “You’re not actually suggesting…” Said Irownood.

  “I think you know exactly what I’m suggesting.” Said the king, “Also, if I sense that you two are pulling your punches… I’ll kill her.”

  The king flashed another smile and turned, the guards taking Lala with her.

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