Chereads / Inner Core (Book 2) / Chapter 18 - Chapter 18 *Nearly Done*

Chapter 18 - Chapter 18 *Nearly Done*

(The tournament is tomorrow. Everyone has been working hard on their jobs for this to work. Ruri, Shurui, Dai and the clones made the entire stadium. It was big and there were columns of seats after seats in a big oval. It wrapped around a cement rectangle for the competitors to fight. They didn't have time to plant any grass around it or anything so it's just sand and maybe some scrap metal hidden in it too. Ruri found some bits and pieces, but she didn't know if she got it all out. Mr. Clone and Yui made Mexican food and will have some of the clones pass stuff out during the tournament. She didn't get any guacamole because of Reo, but everything else she had. Mr. Clone tried to help, but he didn't do much. He helped pay for everything, so she can thank him for that. Reo, Sara, and Selene spread the word out to lots of people. The entire city is talking about the tournament. They all seemed very excited. Times have been rough with all the Cloak and Kage stuff going on, but this seemed like a great distraction from it all. Plus, Kazu will be able to pay off all his debt with his money. The entire team was in the living room looking at Kazu waiting for him to speak. Even Mr. Clone, Protector, Kirenia, and Shurui were there too.)

Kazu: "Well it looks like this whole thing was a success. It took a lot of hard work, but we finally did it. We'll get the money, and maybe a few more teammates."

(Kazu nodded to Kiriena and Shurui. Kiriena rolled her eyes and Shurui smiled.)

Kazu: "Everyone get a good night's rest tonight because tomorrow will be a nice day."

Reo; "Hey, what are the fights?"

Kazu: "Huh?"

Reo: "Who's fighting who to begin?"

Kazu: "Oh right sorry. Depending what the first letter of your hero name is, will be what place you're in."

Reo: "Soooo, who am I fighting?"

Kazu: "Well I don't know everyone who's joining. So whoever is paired up with you."

Reo: "Ugh, so I won't know til tomorrow."

Kazu: "Correct."

Reo: "That's stupid."

Kazu: "Just go to bed. Tomorrow you will know."

Reo: "Ugh, whatever."

(Reo walked upstairs to his bedroom.)

Kazu: "Well, I'm headed to bed too. Goodnight everyone."

(He gave a quick wave and headed upstairs too. Then everyone else headed up there too. Everyone fell right to bed, except for Selene. She was nervous. Afraid she would do bad. She didn't know who she would be up against. She wouldn't know their core, weakness, fighting style, nothing at all. She would have to be cautious of what they could do. She fell asleep thinking deep about this, but not everyone was asleep.)

(Jiko was staring at a flyer stapled to a pole. It talked about the tournament.)

Jiko: "Tomorrow?"

(He looked at his right arm. He then made it get covered with flames and closed his fist. He looked determined, he was ready for this. This is how he will be shown as a hero. This is how he'll get noticed. He was rea-)

???: "Hey, no using cores without a hero license!"

(Jiko turned to see one of Mr. Clone's clones yelling at him. He stopped the fire.)

Jiko: "Sorry!"

Clone: "It's ok. Don't let it happen again."

(The clone left and Jiko was by himself again, but he was still determined.)

Kage: "One more day."

(Kage had everyone bunched up looking at him. He had a few new faces too.)

Kage: "Now I understand we don't have the same people we usually have. So i'll say who everyone is. You all remember the brat Blue Princess."

Blue Princess: "Hey! Don't talk to a princess like that!"

Kage: "Yeah, yeah whatever."

Blue Princess: "Hmph."

Kage: "Next we have Card Master."

(A man with a hat with a brim stood up. He had long brown curly hair, but it was hidden under that hat. He wore a long sleeve blue button up with a white undershirt. He had on jeans, tennis shoes and a fanny pack.)

Card Master: "Greetings to all. I am the Card Master. Master of the cards. You can not beat me for I am the master. I help you with your battle and you can thank me later. Once we win of course, because no one can beat the Card Master. I'm pretty much undefeatable. My core is stronger than everyone's combined, so come at meeeee."

Kage: Alright. "Next is Lust Lady."

(A lady wearing a very exposing purple and black outfit stood up. She had on black devil horns and black bat wings. Both fake of course.)

Lust Lady: *giggles* "Hi boys. Come with me and we'll have a great time."

Kage: *sighs* "We never get any smart recruits. Next is Diva and Chul. I'm saying you both because I wanna get this over with, So hurry up."

(A girl stood up. She had tanish skin with green eyes. She had blond hair and wore nothing but leaves that covered her whole body. She also had gold beads around her waist. She was next to a man who also had tan skin a little but paler though, blond hair, and green eyes. He wore leaves too, but had a gold necklace around his neck and had a beard)

Diva: "No need Kagey wagey. We don't have to say much. It's all ok."

Kage: "Call me Kagey wagey again I'll rip your arms off and beat you to death with them."

(The room got silent except for Zazz and Cho's laughter in the background.)

Kage: "I haven't slept in forever. Talk amongst yourselves, or don't. I don't care. Be ready for tomorrow. If you're not then I kill you. It's simple."

(Kage walked into his office and closed the door. It was quiet for a moment, then everyone started talking.)

Smoke: "So Z. How many will you kill?"

Z: "Huh? I don't know. As many as I can get."

Smoke: "I bet I can kill more than you. Waaayyyyy more than you. Wanna bet?"

Z: "I have a feeling you will forget this bet. So sure."

(Zazz and Cho were sitting on a bed talking with each other. )

Zazz: "Hey, I don't think I even know your core?"

Cho: "You don't hehe. It will be a surprise for tomorrow, duh. It'll be so funny. I bet you'll never guess it at all."

Zazz: "Hmmm, light?"

Cho: "Nope."

Zazz: "Uhhhh, fire?"

Cho: "Nope."

Zazz: "Purple?"

Demon: "Will you two shut up damn it."

(They both looked at Demon, who covered his head in fire."

Zazz: "Hehheh, hot head over here wants us to shut up heh heh."

Cho: "hahaha, I get it, I get it, hahahha."

(They both fell over laughing and Demon stopped the fire.)

Demon: "Idiots."

Card Master: "Hahahaha, do you know who isn't the idiot? Me, because I am the master. Not just any master. Master of-"

(Destroyer punched the card master, making him fly across the room and landing on a mattress.)

Demon: "Thank you."

(Destroyer nodded and walked over to this punching bag and started punching. Lust Lady walked over to Chul.)

Lust Lady; "Hey big boy, looking for a good time?"

Chul: "Uhhhh."

(Diva stopped the conversation.)

Diva: "Move it lady. No one wants you here."

Lust Lady: "Hmph, rude."

(Lust Lady walked away leaving Diva and Chul.)

Diva: "Ok, so we need a plan for this. How can we get to the top of this?"

Chul: "Uhhhh, I don't know. Fight them?"

Diva: "No idiot. We can't take them all on. We'll need something to happen that we need to take over on. Something big that messes up the team."

Chul: "If you're going to come up with the plan, why do you ask me?"

Diva: "So I can make fun of your plan of course. Now come on, let's head to bed. We got a big day tomorrow."

(She gave him two tiny slaps to the face and headed to the bed. She made him extremely mad sometimes, but she was his sister, so he couldn't do anything about it.)

(Suko was at a hotel with everyone. They all had their own rooms so Shuyuno didn't have to deal with kids messing around like that. He was alone in his one bedroom. It was nice, Shuyuno really did show how much money he had. All Suko could think about is how Qui would get in with him, but as he was thinking this he heard a knock at his glass patio door. He turned to see a girl with dark skin and blue hair standing there. She had her robe on and she had it closed, but Suko knew what was under. A sports bra and jean shorts. Yup, it was Qui. She knocked again and Suko let her in.)

Suko: "What took you so long."

(She walked in and closed it behind her.)

Qui: "you should've hurried with the door. It's freezing out there."

Suko: "That's your fault for wearing practically nothing."

Qui: "Yeah yeah, whatever. Where's your mask?"

Suko: "In my bag. Don't worry. The sword is there too."

Qui: "They let you bring the sword?"

Suko: "Shuyuno doesn't care what you bring. As long as it helps you with your core, it's ok. I've heard rumors he carries a gun on him."

Qui: "You haven't been at this school for a month yet and you already know so much."

Suko: "It's not hard. The kids are super talkative and everything about this school is always on the news."

Qui: "that's true."

(She looked around the room.)

Suko: "Why do you want to go to this tournament so bad?"

Qui: "Hm?"

Suko: "Why do you wanna go so bad?"

Qui: "Well you'll see when we get there. There is someone I know, that I want to have a word with. Someone that knows too much."

Suko: "Too much?"

Qui: "Let's just say if we went on doing what we wanted and this person found out who I was. They could take me out very easily, because they know my past."

Suko: "Why does that even matter?"

Qui: "If someone knows your past they can tell others and then you have tons of people knowing who you are. Then they can find your weaknesses, now people you know, then it all goes down faster than it took to build up."

Suko: "So can you at least tell me who we're looking for?"

Qui: "No I can't, but…"

(Qui looked at Suko.)

Qui: "I can say they are on a popular hero team."