Survival of the Fittest Preview

by Daisy Brooks

of that ninja that constantly whines, yet is really smart…thought Kendalion to himself.

  Kendal laid in his bed and stared at the stone ceiling, bored. He tried recalling some of his more notable martial arts contests from his younger years, before bandits burned down his town. On the whole, Kendalion tried not to think about it, as he had lost his entire family, and thought Karuka had also died until now.

  Time continued to flow slowly. Kendalion was still staring at the ceiling lost in thought when the guard came in with an odd smelling, mushy food.

  “What is this?!” Tokonami said with disgust.

  “Your dinner. Eat.” The guard replied and walked out.

  “Urf! Karuka gulped. “What did they put in this? Wood shavings?!” she grumbled.

  “It’s better than nothing,” Kendalion shrugged, beginning to eat, then making the same face of dislike as Karuka.

  “Agreed,” Karutoshi sighed.

  Everyone ate dinner, feeling rather full afterwards. By this time, it was about five thirty, as Tokonami judged from the position of the sun in the huge window.

  “Kenaaaaal! I’m boooored! Can we have another match?” Karutoshi whined.

  “No! I’ve got a headache!” Kendalion lied, remembering he hit his head last time.

  “Gaaah!!! I’m gonna go insane because there’s nothing to do!”

  “Just go to sleep!” Karuka snapped.

  “But I don’t wannaaaa!” yawned Karutoshi.

  “But you just yawned,” said Kendal.

  Karutoshi grumbled off to her bed and son fell fast asleep, not realizing how tired she was.

  Kendal also fell into a deep sleep rather quickly, and so did Karuka.

  The sunlight shined through the window, casting a dim glow over everything. In the distance, Kendal could hear the guard coming down the hallway. The door creaked open and he put down the tray of food he was carrying.

  “Good morning,” Kendalion said, hoping to acquire information as to what they would be up to later.

  “G’morning,” the guard said. “Please cover your ears. I am going to wake the others up.” Kendalion was confused, but he covered his ears anyway. “WAKE THE HECK UP!”

  “Gwah!” shouted Karuka and Karutoshi in surprise. They were in so much shock that they both fell out of bed.

  “I think I’m gonna be deaf for the rest of my life…,” Karuka mumbled.

  “Breakfast is here. Eggs, bacon, toast and orange juice,” the guard continued, ignoring everyone’s complaints.

  “Well, at least he woke us up for breakfast,” Karutoshi said happily, picking up the tray and taking a seat in the center of the room.

  “What about Tokonami?” Karuka questioned, looking at the still snoozing Tokonami.

  “I dunno,” replied Karutoshi, shrugging her shoulders.

  “He should have breakfast though,” Kendal said, walking toward Tokonami’s bed. Kendalion pushed with all his might and Tokonami fell out of bed.

  “What the--?!” Tokonami started, but then he sniffed the air and smelled bacon. “Breakfast!” Tokonami darted to the center of the room, grabbed a plate, utensils, and dug into the bacon.

  “Well, that solves that problem!” Kendal said grinning and joined the others for breakfast.

  After the most important meal of the day, the guard came back to take the dishes, but this time everyone was instructed to follow him.

  On the way the guard passed the dishes off to someone who appeared to be a chef. Upon arriving at the room with the grand door, Master had everyone sit on the floor once again.

  “Today, you shall set out to your first round of the tournament. It is in the land of Marsheliolialipai. The foes you must face are marshmallians. There are two and look like this:” the Master pulled a poster out of his cloak and handed it to Karuka.

  The two figures were short and looked like-

  “Marshmallows?!” Karuka yelped. “We’re supposed to fight marshmallows?!”

  “They are no mere marshmallows. They are the warriors of Marsheliolialipai,” the Master said simply.

  The marshmallow with glasses had a burn on the side of his head and no weapon, but the other marshmallow had a sword.

  “They don’t look very threatening,” Karutoshi said.

  “Exactly. How many times have I told you not to underestimate your enemy?” Tokonami replied.

  “Are you all ready?” Master questioned. “The marshmallians should be in Eluria field. I will give each of you a horse.”

  “I guess we’re ready,” said Karuka, who looked at the others as if saying “Are we ready?”

  “Lead them to the stables,” Master instructed.

  The guard got up to move the heavy doors and said “Come.”

  “Is that all he can say?” Tokonami whispered to Kendal.

  “No, I said good morning to him,” Kendalion replied.

  The guard glared at Tokonami as they walked through the doors. Soon, they were in what appeared to be a courtyard. The guard continued past the gates and then Karuka saw the stables first.

  “Oooh! Can I pick my horse first?” she asked enthusiastically.

  “No. Master picked one out for each of you, but is letting you name it if you like,” the guard replied.

  “Aww…,” Karuka grumbled.

  The guard pointed each of them to their horses. Kendalion’s horse had brown hair, while the bottom of it’s strong legs were white and so was it’s mane.

  Tokonami’s horse was all brown with a black mane, while Karutoshi’s was as black as a shadow.

  “I’m gonna call you Nene!” Karutoshi said excitedly.

  Karuka’s horse was as white as snow, and appeared to glow in the sunlight.

  The guard led them back through the courtyard and toward the gates they had seen earlier. Then he opened the gates for them and just when they were about to set off, the guard handed Tokonami a pack and a large, rolled up sheet of paper. “You will need this,” he said with a wink and waved off the four to begin their journey.

  They set off through the gates and rode for a while, until they realized something they should’ve checked in the very beginning.

  “We’re lost Kendal! We have to stop!” Tokonami shouted over the gallop of the horses’ hooves.

  “No! Let’s see if we can find those darn marshmallows!” he replied stubbornly.

  “It’s getting dark and we haven’t made camp yet!”

  “Like you know anything about camping, you stupid, rich, whiny-”

  “SHUT YOUR PIEHOLES!” Karuka yelled. “I agree with Tokonami: We should make camp. Besides, we don’t know what’s in that bag either!”

  “Fine…,” Kendalion grumbled.

  Tokonami dumped the contents of the bag on the ground. In the bag there was some cooking supplies, a bow drill for making fire, a few large cloth pieces, and some rope. The most intriguing item in the bag was a jade, shimmering runny liquid in a average sized glass bottle. Tokonami turned the bottle around and found the label: Healing Potion it read.

  “Ummm…why would we need…,” Tokonami began.

  “MARSHMALLOWS!!!” yelled Karutoshi, shattering the near silence.

  “Huh?” a voice said from the darkness.

  “Bern, I think they found us!” another voice whispered back nervously.

  “WHAT?!! Nonsense!” yelled the other voice.

  “We might as well come out.”

  “Yes I do suppose so…,” The two marshmallows came out from the ridge they were hiding behind and introduced themselves.

  “I’m Bern and this is my partner Katsudo,” said one of the marshmallows. This one was the one with the slight burn on his head.

  “Good. You’re exactly who we were looking for,” said Tokonami standing up, wielding his staff.

  “Somehow, I don’t think this will end well Bern!” Katsudo said apprehensively.

  “You’re probably right. Run!” Bern yelped.

  “After them!” yelle
d Kendalion, saddling up on his horse.

  “I’ll pack up! You guys go!” Karuka said, shoving the contents of the pack back in.

  “You’ll be alright?” Tokonami asked, looking slightly concerned.

  “Yes! Get going already!”

  So Kendal, Tokonami, and Karutoshi set off into the shadows after Bern and Katsudo.

  The three caught up with the marshmallows easily, and in a few seconds they had them surrounded. Kendalion dismounted his horse and drew his sword.

  “What’s this all about? Are you guys mercenaries or something?” Katsudo asked in a panicky voice.

  “Don’t you know about the Eluria Contest?” asked Kendalion in a confident voice as he aimed his sword.

  “Yeah…what about it?” said Bern.

  “That guy was right when he said that they didn’t know they were in the tournament,” Tokonami mumbled while he got off his horse and got ready to fight.

  “What? We’re in the-” Katsudo began.

  “Eluria Contest of Honor?” Bern finished. “That means we gotta fight ‘em,” Bern whispered to Katsudo.

  “What? Aww man,” groaned Katsudo, reluctantly drawing his sword.

  “Heh. Let’s get this started then,” said Karutoshi said, getting off her horse, Nene. “Crap. I forgot my axe.”

  “Oh my gosh…” Tokonami said, putting his head in his hands.

  A TEMPORARY “THE END”

  And that would be all I have typed! I will be uploading an updated version as soon as it is typed! You can also see some images from the story at my devianart!