the hunger games (part 13): tournament of champions(1)

"Move!" A male guard shouted with disdain, pushing Kyle and falcon forward. After the little encounter with troy, they were now on their way to what Kyle presumed was a teleporter, to transport them to the forgotten desert.

For some reason Troy had asked Aurora to stay, she refused but there wasn't anything neither of them could do about it.

"Move fox!" The guard shouted, hitting falcon on the back with his rifle.

"Fucking idiot. why don't you free me and do that again." Falcon retorted only to receive another strike to her back, causing her to grunt in frustration of not being able to do anything.

Kyle glancing to the side could see Luna murmuring some inaudible words, as her face had gotten a bit pale. He couldn't blame her infact he blamed himself, as she'd only tried to help him and falcon but as always trouble never seemed to be far from him, and everyone around him.

'They're still fighting.' With his advanced hearing, Kyle could still hear faint noises of battle sounds from the arena. The numbers of the contenders had reduced greatly by a wide margin, as he estimated only about no more than 5 or fewer to remain after the fight.

'Fuck. I can't watch them die like this, but what can I do?' Ona had a bitter expression on her face, watching the group of three being led to their doom. Her heart stung in pain as her hands were tied but still, her inner instinct urged her to do something.

'How could he do this to his own daughter.' Ona was definitely shocked, when the king had ordered the banishing of Kyle and falcon to the forgotten desert. But his own daughter? She didn't expect it at all.

Shaking her head she decided to maintain her calm attitude, her mind racing on what she could possibly do. The group led by multiple armed guards headed to a particular spot in the castle, mainly the east wing.

They passed many doors and different rooms with all sorts of stuffs, until they reached a particular door. Unlocking it by swiping a red card to the scanner by the side, the door clicked opening.

'It's empty?' Kyle had expected to see another room or a pod or something, but all he could see was a brick wall. Nothing more nothing less.

"Set course for the forgotten desert." Ona said with regret in her voice. Nodding a guard then went to the scanner, placing the red card to it and focusing. Soon the empty brick wall then made a hissing sound, as a white light materialized in it.

"Ha! I can't fucking wait to throw them in." A guard snickered grinning.

"She's royalty, but now she's being treated like a fucking dog she is." Another chuckled in a low tone staring at the group, unbeknownst to them someone heard all what they said.

Turning Kyle gave a creepy smile towards them, causing them to be stunned a bit feeling a cold sensation crawling to their hearts. He hated and despised cocky people like this, always thinking they were better and others were trash.

"Am sorry.." ona softly spoke with sadness, as she stood in front of luna. This is all I can do. Ona then swiped her card over the power cuffs disabling them, as they fell to the floor.

"Team leader-"

"Silence!" Ona yelled to which the guard nodded stepping back in line.

"It's not your fault." Luna softly spoke with a light smile, ona then glanced over at falcon who stared with complex emotions.

"Don't die or I won't make you my disciple." Ona softly said causing falcon's eyes to go wide in surprise, as some tears slipped down from the side of her eye. She then nodded sharply, to which ona responded with a slight nod of her own.

"Team leader, it's time." A voice broke up the little farewell. Nodding, ona then hugged each of them from Luna, falcon, and lastly Kyle.

"Don't hold back, bring out your inner demon or you all won't survive." She softly muttered in Kyle's ear, causing him to raise a brow slightly. he didn't know if it was just a metaphor she used, or if truly she meant it. but he was going to follow her advice, and made sure they all survived.

'Here goes nothing..' with that Kyle falcon and Luna then stepped forward, into the bright light as they were transported to a different location.

.....

On a deserted planet, where the air was a bit dense and hills of sand stretched far and wide with the sun scorching hot, heating the sand more. A bright light suddenly formed up as three figures fell from it to the burning sand.

[-2 HP]

"Ouch!" Falcon shouted, feeling the immediate effects of the hot sun on the sand jolting her body up.

"Are you alright?" Kyle asked, looking over at Luna who'd also suffered the same fate.

"Yeah.. it's just a slight burn." She softly said placing her hand on her cheek, that had been burned a bit. A faint purple light then glowed underneath her palm, removing her hand Kyle couldn't see the burn anymore like it had suddenly vanished.

"Your ability, it's healing right?" Kyle asked to which she softly nodded.

"Though it's greatly limited as am still weak. That's why my father keeps me locked up in the castle all the time, because to him am just his healer now." Luna gently said getting up. Now things were starting to become more clearer to Kyle, as he'd a suspicion Luna's ability was healing during when they first met and in the dungeon, but he wasn't that sure. But now that she'd confirmed it, he knew why Troy was so overprotective of his daughter.

"Is this hell?" Falcon muttered looking round. There was no single sign or traces of lifeform or beasts in this strange place, only the harsh sun that didn't show mercy to their skins and the lava like sand.

"You could say it's something like hell. This is the forgotten desert, where nothing survives for a day." Luna softly said and they knew why.

"So how do we get out of here?" Kyle asked, seeing no exit or escape route anywhere.

"We don't until we survive for a whole day."

"D-didnt you just say nothing survives here for a day?" Falcon frowned, furrowing her brows.

"Yes.. but if we kill one of the beast living here then we can earn the right to leave." Luna retorded with a slight frown.

"Beast? What beast." Kyle was surprised to hear Luna say a beast dwells here, cause he couldn't possibly imagine what creature would be able to survive in such habitat.

"It's-"

'Rumble...'

Luna's words were cut short, as the sand beneath their feets started rumbling sinking in fast. It was like a mini earthquake was happening, as something looked to be protruding from underneath.

"Quick, move away!" Luna yelled, running away from the sinking sand as Kyle and falcon followed suit. They passed some distance from the place the sand sinked, as they stared at the uprising threat.

Out from the ground rose a giant brown worm, reaching up to 7 feets high and four meters long. It had no eyes or nose, only a wide mouth with countless rows of multiple razor sharp teeths going down a bit.

[Quest received!]

[Defeat the lv10 desert worm!]

[Reward: ?? Penalty: death]

"W-what is that?" Falcon stuttered a bit, staring at the menacing creature. She could feel it's dominating aura pushing her back a bit, as she'd never faced such beast before.

"That is a desert worm." Luna answered falcon's question. "And judging from it's height, I'd say it wasn't long it was born." She said causing Kyle and falcon to look at her awkwardly.

'Not quite long my arse! Do you see the size of that thing!' Kyle inwardly screamed. There was no way he'd ever believe such terrifying creature, was given birth to not quite long.

"We have to attack." Luna said stepping forward.

"A-attack.. are you crazy? The size of that thing is more than ours by a margin, and your saying we should fight it!" Falcon sarcastically spoke, pointing at the desert worm.

"Look there's no other way, if we try to run it'll only make it an easy kill. The only way to survive, and get out of here is to face it head on." Luna calmly said.

"She's right falcon." Kyle chipped in.

"What! don't you dare take her side over mine." Falcon grumbled, darting her eyes to Kyle. "There's no way we could possibly take down that thing."

"You're right." Kyle softly said causing falcon and Yuna to raise a brow.

"I am? I mean.. of course I am!"

"We can't beat it because we're weak. But if there's one thing I've learnt over these past few days is surpassing my limit. If we accept death now then what's the point of all this? am willing to die in battle, than wait for a fucking worm to take me out!" Kyle shouted a bit, causing a smile to form on Luna's lips.

"Argh! Fine.. but if I die and one of you makes it out, I want you to tell space god how much it was an honour to be by her side." Falcon dramatically spoke, causing Luna to roll her eyes while Kyle just chuckled lightly. He was more than used to falcon's childish and naughty behavior.

"Do you have any ideas if it has a weak spot, or somewhere we should focus our attack on?"

"Am not sure, but I think it has a brain by it's left side of where the heart is. That's it's weak spot. But I must warn you, the worm's hard thick skin would be a challenge to break through." Luna said to which Kyle just nodded. They weren't given their weapons, but Kyle wasn't fazed. since they'd removed the power cuffs at the castle, he could easily ask falcon to make weapons from her poison ability.

"Falcon-" she'd already tossed him a green hardened sword before he could finish his words, seemingly reading his mind.

'Roarr!!!' The creature roared loudly, making them struggle to stand properly skidding back a bit.

'You're in my way..' Looking at the creature Kyle pointed the sword to it, anger written all over his face as his blood boiled more.

[Reach level 50 to evolve!]