Narrated by Alex
A huge wave of students pushed me forward. I almost lost my balance, but managed to keep myself straight, and began running.
I didn't know where to go, and just followed the extremely long line of students in front of me. This race was going to be long, and I had to save stamina for the last few hundred metres or so. I began speeding up, but very slowly. Many had the same idea to save stamina, but most of them wanted the first place as early as possible.
I began overtaking a few students, and soon, I'd reached way further than I was before. We ran along the main road of the city. It was pretty wide, around ten metres, and the crowd had spread out, so we got some breathing space.
The people in the front began thinking, and soon, many of them fired energy blasts and beams at us to slow us down. This was apparently allowed. A few even began fighting with the ones behind them.
I hadn't seen anyone from our class yet. A boy with black hair and a good looking face sped past me, shoving me down to the ground. He glanced at me, a mischievous glint in his eyes, before disappearing into the crowd. I quickly got up, and began running again.
That shove had shoved me way behind in the race. I was definitely fifty places behind where I was, and slightly increased my speed.
I spotted Anne on my far left. She used her small body to her advantage, and sneaked past the gaps between the other people. My body was too big for that, so I had to power my way through, and began shoving people out of the way.
I pushed a guy to the side, and he wasn't happy about that. He grabbed my arm, pulled me towards him, and smacked my face.
"You'll regret that!" He shouted, but I shook my head, and my fist sent him backwards, colliding with another runner, and that guy collided with another, and soon, people fell like dominoes. I laughed, and began running again.
That encounter had again pushed me back. I increased my speed, and began moving forward with a constant pace. I looked behind. A huge pack of racers was aiming to overtake me, and very getting close. I had to slow them down.
I pointed my right palm to the ground behind me, and fired an energy blast. It worked, and a number of people were sent up into the air, and slowed the crowd behind me to a good extent.
However, the ones in the front hadn't stopped their blasts, and as I went forward, I found myself dodging all the blasts and rays that the front lines were firing.
Suddenly, the people in front of me took a hard left. I followed, and we entered a sort of an alleyway. Two huge walls with multiple holes were on either side, and the path sloped upwards.
We started moving again, but suddenly stopped, when a boom was heard, and a huge metal cube slides towards us from the top. The front liners were caught off-guard, and the cube collided with them, sending many of them behind us. The cube was still moving though, but many of the people began punching it, and stopped it.
A helicopter hovered above, and we heard Jimmy's voice,"You've made it to the first obstacle! We call this The Smasher, because you'll have to smash your way through, or else you'll get smashed! Those metal cubes don't hurt much, but they definitely don't tickle either! This obstacle mainly tests your raw strength. Let's see who's gonna smash, and who's gonna get smashed!"
Multiple booms occured, and an array of metal cubes made their way down to smash us. I didn't see the need to do anything, since the front liners could handle it. What a test. I just had to stay a bit behind the front liners, and I'd be good to go.
Or so I thought.
Again, many booms occured, but no cubes were sliding down. Suddenly, I heard a thud behind me, and saw that one metal cube had landed right behind. But how?
I looked up. So that's what those holes were for! They fired metal cubes, and those holes were spread all across the path.
I ran, and looked up again. One of those cubes was heading for me. I had no choice, but to try and smash it. As it came close to landing, I thrusted my fist against it, and sent it flying behind, where it landed with a thud, slowing down the people behind me.
It didn't hurt at all, and actually felt like I was hitting a cardboard box, but a very heavy one.
Cubes kept firing, I kept smashing. I overtook, a lot of people, and had gained quite a few places ahead.
I smashed my way through, and many had reached the top, though I wasn't far from reaching the front line. I was probably around at one hundred and twenty.
I reached the top of the slope, where the ground was flat, and a forest lay in front of us.
Jimmy's voice said,"Obstacle number two! Well, we don't have a name for this. It's just a simple forest, but the trees grow very close to each other, so it's like a maze of trees! This one tests your speed and agility, so are you nimble enough?"
The movement started again, and many people were having problems with this obstacle, including me. The trees were very close to each other, and I couldn't go fast, as wherever I went, there was a tree in front, I had to turn. It was slowing me down, and was getting annoying.
I caught glimpse of John, a few places ahead of me. He had no problem in getting past the trees, and effortlessly went through them without losing any speed. He went ahead, and was close to catching up with the front liners.
I looked at my clenched fist. There was one way. One way, but a crazy one. I stepped back, and ran at full speed towards the tree. I turned my shoulder towards the tree, and covered my face with my forearms.
Crack!
The tree snapped into two. It fell behind me, and slowed down the people. I began increasing my speed quickly. I had to catch up at any cost.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
I smashed my way through the trees, and this was working. I was gaining speed, and was moving pretty quickly. Even though many of the ones in the front were way more fast than I was, I was still advancing, and could reach the top hundred soon.
Soon enough, I could see the front line. It was far, but I had a good chance of catching up. We reached the end of a forest, and came in front of a building. It had only one entrance.
The people ran towards it, but fell down in front of the entrance. I ran towards it too, but collided with something, like an invisible wall.
What was going on?
Jimmy hovered above us again, and said,"Obstacle three! We call this the A-Maze-ing Labyrinth. It's a maze, but what appears to be, is often not what it actually is! You would have to focus here! As mentioned, this one would test your focus! Can you beat the maze?"