Chan-Juan Wei
Anticipation caused Chan’s body to quiver with excitement. Her brow furrowed and stance straightened as she surveyed the other challengers in line. There must have been hundreds, no, a thousand others. She couldn’t wait to get started.
“Excuse me, sir!” A young raven headed attendant ran up to her from behind, a small satchel in hand. “Here, you’re a challenger, right?” She put the bag in front of her, awaiting Chan to accept it. The attendant’s eyes radiated with glee and unforced cheeriness. Even those who weren’t challengers seemed to be caught up in all the excitement. “This is to get you started, inside you’ll find a few essentials,” she added, again with over zealous cheer. Chan accepted it and slung it over her shoulder, she would check the contents once outside the city. “Good luck!” The attendant bowed and ran off to go get another bag for another challenger.
“Uh...thanks!” Chan called after her, her voice dipping into the lower register. Mei Li looked up at her from the ground, she had been dodging getting trampled on all morning.
“Larva, lar lar,” she cooed up at her.
“Fine... Come on up,” Chan responded with exasperation. The little Larvesta crawled up her leg, past her chest and rested on her shoulder. She issued a contented little mew as she secured her position. “You finally situated?” She asked with put on aggravation. The little Larvesta simply nodded in response.
Walking out with the masses, she found herself on the road. The great expanse and shade of Houshan’s walls looming behind her. This was the real start to her journey, the prerequisites were over. Curiosity eventually overcame her sense, a medium sized rock protruded from the Earth, a perfect seat. She made her way effortlessly and opened the bag with tempered enthusiasm.
“Ok, let’s see here,” she said to herself and Mei Li, the little bug paying not the slightest bit of attention. “Wow! They really gave these to us!” The little ball shaped objects were nestled into the pack, a perfectly safe place for them to be for ones so valuable. If each challenger had them, it must have been quite a considerable expense. Pulling out the other object in the bag, the map, she scrutinized it with considerable attention. “So...we need to go here.” She pointed at Zongwu Tower. “But we’ll never make it through that desert. Alive anyway. Looks like our best bet seems to be....Ah! Tunzi first! That way we can get some supplies and stuff. What do you think Mei Li?” The Larvesta simply uttered a guttural acknowledgment, apparently she wasn’t even paying attention.
Carefully packing away everything the way it was, she hoisted herself up and began to walk. The main pack of people already a fair distance ahead of her. She put a good distance between Houshan and herself before two young men flanked her on either side. Each carrying two of the contestants’ satchels. Something wasn’t right, they should have only had one satchel a piece. Before she could finish that train of thought, the youngest one on the right pulled out a small knife and held it to her throat.
“Hey boy, you know, those satchels have some real nice goodies in there. Why don’t you just go ahead and let me take care of them for you?” He extended his free hand, almost as if expecting her to give it up peacefully. “It’d be a shame for me to mess up that pretty face of yours. I’d imagine you’d have a real hard time with the ladies after that.” Chan let out a stifled laugh, the current situation humorous to her given her circumstances.
“You have no idea,” she replied, her voice taking on a severe tone of aggression. Quickly batting the man’s hand out of the way, she ducked, sweeping the legs out from under him as he crumpled to the ground. His partner recovered quickly, drawing his own blade as he charged her. Pirouetting out of his path, she tripped him also. His body smacking face first into the ground. Bending over the ring leader before he could recover, her blade extended from under her right sleeve. The tip puncturing just the slightest bit of his skin on the throat.
“I think you had better leave before I mess up your face. Trust me, you can’t afford to get much uglier.” She gave him a wink and kicked him in the chest. The man scrambled to his feet and ran in the opposite direction. His partner calling for him to wait up as he trailed behind. Watching them leave she let out a slight sigh, resigning herself to the trials and tribulations that lay ahead.