Johnathan leisurely made his way back to his territory. He was in a happy daze. As he approached the hill leading up to the flag Johnathan noticed two figures trying their best to stealthily make their way up the hill. Jonathan quirked his mouth to the side and scrunched his eyebrows.
'Did they really think that they were stealthy?'
Jonathan began to soften his steps to the point not even the rustle of the fake grass could be heard. Not expecting the ambush, the opponents continued their treacherous walk up the hill, swearing and cursing with their might.
On the other side of the field, the girl from the yellow team had made it to the top of the hill. She too was stealth enough to not be detected by the green team. She smiled devilishly and quickly tiptoed her way behind Smilia.
'The girl who's guarding the flag seems to be nervous,' the girl thought.
She was correct, Ahira was nervous. Her eyes kept dancing everywhere but to her sides. The girl from the yellow team almost squealed from delight, this was her chance to prove to herself that she could do things solo.
She continued to creep behind Smilia until she was a hair away from Ahira who had yet to notice her presence. Her thin fingers slowly reached for the flag and she clenched the silky fabric. In one swoop she removed the flag from Ahira's grasp, turned, and ran down the hill with all her might.
Ahira stood dumbfounded. She wanted to cry at that moment. She had one job and it was to protect the flag; she couldn't even do that. She opened her mouth to scream, shout, anything but all she managed to convey was a squeak.
On the flip side, Smilia took charge. She ran after the girl from the yellow team like a lioness chasing her prey. Her long legs treading the grass like a stallion.
"I got her!"
Auo saw the scene unfolding before it even happened. He had pretended to not see the girl trying her best to stay silent. Unlike his teammates who forgot to look at their sides, Auo remained vigilant.
He didn't want to foil the girl's plan so early and he also wanted to see how Ahira and Smilia would act. Auo looked over to his right and saw that Logan was already gone.
He swiveled his head to see that Logan was chasing after Smilia and the girl, already reaching the girls in a matter of seconds. Auo grumbled in response.
'If Johnathan hadn't come back and Logan had made the same move I would've scolded him for leaving only one person to defend the flag keeper!'
Meanwhile Ni had managed to successfully retrieve the flag from the red team albeit it wasn't easy. The boy guarding the flag seemed to be quite the challenger. Every attempt that Ni or Bryan made to get the flag was deflected like two swords clashing together.
Many times the two were so close to getting tagged that it was scary. During that time Ni couldn't help but wonder how such a short and lanky kid could hold his ground against two teenagers that were both taller and stronger than him.
The answer was simple, tactic. The boy managed to position himself so that no one could come from behind him and no one could come from the right of him. He had backed himself into a corner making it seem as if he were a cornered animal. However, never underestimate a cornered animal for they become the strongest when so.
Bryan, near the end of their scuffle, had taken the flag from the ground and turned to run away but felt a small hand press on his back. Incredulous, he turned around to see the boy smiling brightly at him.
"I got you," he said in such a deep voice he jumped from surprise.
Thanks to that Ni was able to take the flag from Bryan and run down the hill with all of his might. The boy from the red team had used most of his energy defending the flag so he didn't bother chasing after him. Instead he took a deep breath and yelled.
"It was nice playing with ya!"
Ni huffed in response. He wasn't proud of himself, not in the least bit, he had met an opponent on his level and he almost lost. What Ni didn't know at the time was that he would've won had he used his brain and not his innate strength.
He stopped once he reached the middle of the field and sucked in the air greedily. He didn't think he would get this tired just playing a game. He finally looked up at the "sky" and noticed that it had gotten darker, almost as if the sun was really setting.
He then began to speed walk his way back to his territory.
O o o O
Ha Eun and Kelya were having a battle among themselves. They had been at a standstill for the past thirty minutes using every form of psychology one could think of.
"You know you're very tall for a girl, I like that," Kelya had started.
"Why thank you, you're pretty tall yourself. I love your hair by the way."
Kelya giggled and fluffed her afro out.
"This thing," she began, " girl you do not want to deal with it. It's so difficult to maintain."
Curious Ha Eun tilted her head.
"How so?"
"How many products do you use for your hair?"
"Well, I have shampoo and conditioner and then I have anti-frizz spray."
"So three, well, I have five at least."
Ha Eun opened her mouth with an "O" shape.
"Five!"
"Yep, I have Jamaican Castor Oil, Shea Butter cream, Leave in Conditioner, African Sheen Spray and gel to tame the stray parts of my hair."
Ha Eun nodded her head and slowly inched forward. Kelya noticed this but didn't show she did and kicked the flag a ways behind her. Ha Eun giggled.
"I wasn't going to take the flag, at least not yet!"
Ha Eun dashed forward, meeting a flying brown hand and almost collided with it but she swerved to the right. Kelya leaped back to meet face to face with Ha Eun and smirked.
"You won't be getting this flag."
Ha Eun dodged another attempt at getting tagged and lunged towards the flag. She scooped the flag within her hands and turned just to find Kelya inches away from her.
Ha Eun juked towards the left but went to the right of her, expecting Kelya to be surprised, she ran at fifty percent of her speed. She made her way down the small hill and entered the free for all zone.
Kelya was a few feet behind her, her hair flowing in the wind.
Ha Eun began to run in a zig zag motion and Kelya almost stumbled from the sudden change of movement.
Kelya increased her pace and it almost caught Ha Eun by surprise.
Almost.
She too increased her pace and the cat and mouse chase continued.
Kelya grit her teeth and decided to actually put in effort. She was now just an arms reach away from her, she wasn't going to let her take her flag.
She put most of her pressure in her left foot, raised her arm and leaped forward. Ha Eun and Kelya collided and they tumbled on the ground, the fake grass uprooted and the prickle forming on both of their skin.
Ha Eun yelled in surprise and Kelya giggled.
"Tag you're it."