Great, just fantastic. I had plenty of points right now, a whole two hundred and twenty. That would definitely help my ranking. The trick was going to be actually getting to my arch. Because the other three all knew I had those points, and they were all right there, ready to stop me. Right at my feet, Tumbleweed was already trying to push herself up, while Liqueguy and Split were at either end of this pipe. The other two were obviously waiting to see which way I would try to move to get out of here. For just a second, I stayed where I was, frozen by a bit of indecision. But that couldn’t last. I had to make a choice, or Tumbles would finish getting up. I had no doubt that the second she started distracting me with her own attack, the other two would jump right in.

  I had to think quickly. Fortunately, I had spent the past months getting a fair bit of practice at doing just that. So, barely a second passed as I processed all of that before coming to my immediate decision. I wasn't going to try to go past either of them. Instead, I immediately raised my hands up to send shots of black and pink at the part of the pipe directly above my head. At the same time, I triggered green-blue spots on my shoes to launch myself upward. Before any of them could adjust, I had sent myself flying through the ceiling of that pipe. A ceiling that had been liquefied by my paint combo.

  Just like that, I was out in the open air above the pipe. But I didn't expect that little move to take those three by surprise for long. I was already disabling the paint behind me so Tumbleweed couldn't follow the same way. At the same time, I extended both hands towards the part of the pipe where Split had been. While I was still coming back down from that jump and before I could land on the pipe, I sent a shot of blue that way. While it was still flying, I shifted into my liquid form and used my other hand to send rainbow paint right in front of it.

  Instantly, I teleported there, my new body forming out of the paint I had sent that way. I arrived just in time to see Split’s torso and head rising into view. But before he could do anything, I was already turning solid again while lunging forward to land on the blue puddle, propelling myself into a flip up and over him.

  Okay, so I was past the pipe, and past at least that part of Split. But I sure as hell wasn't home free yet. Even as I was coming back around from the flip so I could see where I was going, I caught a glimpse of a flying, disembodied hand coming right at my face. Fortunately, I was ready for that and immediately tucked my chin down so the hand smacked into my helmet. Or it would have, except I had a blue star right there, so the hand literally bounced off and flew several feet away before it could recover.

  And there I was, at the highest part of the arena. The pipe had been at the top of the area they were using, and I had just come out right above it. As I came out of that flip, I was essentially free-falling all that way toward the ground. And with my current speed, it wouldn't take long to hit. Not that the people behind the event would actually let me be hurt assuming I screwed this up, but still. I could hear cries of mixed delight and alarm as my body went plummeting through the air.

  And yet, I felt safer right then, and more at ease than I probably should have. It wasn't just the fact that I knew the event organizers would keep me safe. Sure, maybe that was part of it in the back of my head, but this feeling really wasn't about that. I wasn't thinking about all the complicated feelings I had about everything that was going on. I wasn't thinking about my family's business, or about everything that was going on with Cup, or the fight club gang, or any of that.

  I sure as hell wasn't thinking about all the things I still needed to deal with somehow. All I was thinking about was what to do in the next second, or just how to get myself to the arch. I was thinking one second ahead or ten, nothing beyond this event. I couldn't think about anything else. And I loved that fact. This was what I lived for. Shutting off the long-term thinking part of my brain and just reacting to what was in front of me. I loved the danger, the immediate threat, the fact that I had to react instantly rather than sit there and stress. The danger was immediate and something I could deal with and move on from right then.

  Was it weird that I saw all that as a relaxing break? Was it weird to feel totally at ease as I was plummeting through the air at the sort of speed that would have left me with a completely shattered body if I hit without any protection? Maybe, but quite frankly, I didn't really care how odd it might have been. This moment felt completely right for me.

  It was in that moment, as I plummeted that way and came to terms with how peaceful it felt, that someone out there decided to be cute. There was a very brief sound of static through the public address system, before the familiar sound of Yakety Sax began to fill the arena. Immediately, the audience began to laugh and cheer.

  Letting those sounds wash over me, I didn't slow myself down. Instead, I used green paint to make myself fall even faster. The ground was really rushing up to me by that point. But before I could actually hit it, a quick shot of red toward one of the curved platforms nearby sent me sideways. The thing I had hit was essentially shaped like a sideways banana, the interior smooth and curved. I made the wheels of my skate shoes pop out, bending my knees a little bit and using a spot of orange to protect myself from the impact. And just like that, I landed sideways against the curve, my momentum sending me hurtling forward at literal breakneck speed. On the way, I glanced down into the side, getting my bearings. I needed to see where the arch was. Maybe it would be as simple as sending rainbow paint that way so I could teleport there.

  But, of course, this wasn't the time for anything simple like that. During my quick glance while I was hurtling along the side of that banana shape, I didn't see my arch. Instead, I saw walls. Specifically, Liqueguy’s walls. That whole part of the arena was full of them now. It looked like he had simply stretched a wave of his liquid from one obstacle to the next, solidified it, and then done the same for the next bit of open space, and the next.

  The guy had obviously realized that I could only teleport to an area I could hit with my paint, and now he'd constructed as many of those walls as he could, lining them up between various obstacles to block my line of sight so I couldn't just teleport my way to banking all those points. For some strange reason, he didn't seem to be all that eager to just let me win this event. Weird, that.

  No sooner had I taken in the sight of all those new walls blocking my way to the arch, and realized what they were, than I found my way blocked even more immediately. A wave of liquid came into view right at the end of the obstacle I was skating along the side of. It immediately spread out to completely block my way forward, and I caught a quick glimpse of Liqueguy himself landing on top of it, giving me a cheeky wave. At the same time, he thrust his arms forward, sending a new wave straight at me along this obstacle. I had no doubt that he would turn it solid the moment I tried to pass through it. We were basically in a game of chicken. Except he had the advantage, because it wasn't like me colliding with his wall would hurt him. And because he was keeping all of that liquid until the last second, I couldn't use my pink paint to make a hole in it or anything. Yeah, he had definitely been paying attention to how I worked.

  I knew what he expected me to do. I was supposed to launch myself sideways off this ramp before running into his wave. But Split and Tumbleweed were both right there. I had caught a quick glimpse of the pair from the corner of my eye. Tumbleweed was poised to fling herself off another obstacle the second I jumped, while Split had his floating arms and legs spread around ready to hit me from any angle I tried. All three of them clearly had some sort of quick truce going on, probably just to stop me from taking all these points in and banking them. That was what I would've done if I was in their position.

  So, I changed the game. Instead of letting myself continue straight forward to hit that incoming wave, or jumping right into their trap, I quickly made purple-pink stripes appear along my left arm and triggered it. That limb became incredibly stretchy and strong, which I used by flinging it out as hard as I could. My arm stretched and became very thin, like pulling on taffy. But it made it, reaching all the way out to where one of Split’s arms was. Immediately, I grabbed onto his wrist before canceling the paint. In the instant before I would have collided with the wave, I was snapped that way, bodily yanked off the obstacle and hurled toward the hovering arm I was holding onto.

  For a second, it might have looked as though I wasn't just falling into their trap, but actively throwing myself into it. After all, I was holding onto one of those arms and letting myself be pulled right to the thing. But with my purple strength, the arm couldn't move. Split had been depending on each of his limbs being able to cover a different part of the open space, and now that I was holding onto one of them, it couldn't exactly grab and stop me.

  Of course, there was still Tumbleweed, who had launched herself off her perch and was flying at me like a cannonball. Or rather, flying at the spot where I was heading. If nothing changed, she would collide with me and probably knock me straight down onto one of those other obstacles, scoring the tackle.

  Well, I sure wasn't going to let that happen. Which was why I had also painted my other arm purple and pink. Right as Tumbleweed committed herself to that jump, I was already thrusting that arm out the other way to grab onto one of Split’s other limbs. His leg in that case. I grabbed hold even as it was coming around to try and hit me from the side. My Gumby arm was stretched to its limit, as far to the right as it could go. My fingers grasped it, and I immediately canceled that paint as well. For just a second, I was being pulled in both directions equally, suspended in midair with my arms stretched out to either side. My left hand was still holding that disembodied arm, while the right was holding onto that ankle. I could feel myself being pulled painfully both ways.

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  Then I did the only logical thing. I let go of that arm. Instantly, I was snapped the other way with blinding speed, toward the leg. Which was enhanced even more by the green monkey image I activated on my back. Behind me, in the direction I had been going before, I heard a blurted curse from Tumbleweed as she passed through empty air and realized their ambush hadn't worked.

  Just like that, in an instant, I was yanked all the way over to where that leg was hovering. I released it and simply let myself fly past. I was going the wrong way, unfortunately. My escape was carrying me in the opposite direction than where I wanted to go. My arch was back there. But at least I hadn't been tackled. And even better, in what was quite honestly almost a complete accident, I found myself passing through several rings as I flew through the air. I wasn't even sure what color they were, but I did definitely hear a voice announcing that I was up to two hundred and sixty points.

  Okay, yeah, I definitely needed to get these points turned in. Seeing a hovering cube looming right in front of me, I shifted back into my liquid form and turned myself blue. I collided with the cube and instantly rebounded off of it. I hadn't lost any of my momentum with that. If anything, I was going even faster. And now, I was headed in the right direction. That was the good news. The bad news was that I had all three of the others lined up to stop me. All of those walls from Liqueguy were still in my way, spread through every obstacle between me and where I needed to go. None of my opponents were just going to let me get to the arch. Not if they could help it.

  One bit of good news, at least, was that I could actually sense those walls that Liqueguy constructed. My special environment detection power or whatever was instinctively taking them into account. It would've been pretty awkward if I tried to rely on that, only to smash into one of those walls that it didn't notice. Especially at this sort of speed. Talk about an embarrassing way to lose all my points.

  It was a quick thought that passed through my mind even as I rocketed through the air, moving so quickly I could barely track what was going on. I didn't have time to actually think about what was happening, all I could do was react to it. Just the way I liked it. I could shut everything else out and simply put everything I had into what was right in front of me. If I won, it would be sweet, but even if I didn't, even if I failed right now, it wasn't the end of the world. No one would die, no one would really get hurt. This was just a game. And honestly, all of it was the most fun I'd had in a long time.

  Still, I did really want to win. I wasn't just going to take it easy on these guys simply because I was having fun. So, remaining in my liquid form, I shifted myself from blue to red and hurled a blob of my jelly-like body to one side, right down at the top of another one of those giant, hovering cubes. Just as one of Split’s hands tried to fly in to grab my arm, I was yanked the other way, flipping over in the process and turning myself solid so I could land on the cube.

  There was already one of those extra Liqueguy walls around the edge of this box to stop me from going straight forward. But it didn't matter. I had already hit the ground in front of me with blue paint, jumping forward before using that as a trampoline to bounce myself right up and over the wall.

  They knew I could only pull myself to where my paint landed. They had already shown that they could plan for that. Plus, I could already feel my paint reserves getting low. Though maybe ‘already’ wasn't the right word, considering how much I had used throughout this. No, I definitely had a hell of a lot more paint than I used to. It was like the more I used it, the deeper my reserves got. But even then, I was starting to run out. Actually, even knowing that was an improvement over the way things had been before. At least I recognized that I was getting low.

  I needed to give the paint reserves a chance to recharge. If I pushed things too far and completely ran out, I'd have to sit around with no paint for almost a full minute. That was way too long in a situation like this. I needed to take it easy for a few seconds.

  But hey, at least I had all the speed I needed. And I still had emergency paint on the inside of my costume for just such an occasion. I used that, activating both orange and green images to give myself speed and enough toughness to survive landing against anything at this speed.

  And speed was really the right word for it. I was a blur of motion flying through the air. Ahead of me, one of the large pyramid shapes was looming. I twisted a bit in mid-flight, kicking out with my leg to plant my foot against the side of that thing before using it to push off of. That sent me to the left, narrowly avoiding the Split foot that had been flying at my face right then. but it also sent me directly into the path of Tumbleweed, who had rebounded off two other obstacles and was careening right for me. I could hear her shout of gleeful excitement. Or wait, was that me?

  It was both of us. We were both squealing with joy and exhilaration as we flew right at one another. We were going to collide, and then whichever one of us came out on top of that would probably score the tackle on the other. And given how her powers worked, she was probably going to be the winner of that sort of thing.

  So, I didn't let the collision happen. Instead, I canceled that green paint and used a yellow bell that was already painted on my shin under my clothes. Instantly, I was slowed just enough that she flew past me. She shouted something that sounded like a challenge, but I didn't catch most of it.

  The yellow paint may have slowed me down just enough to avoid colliding with her, but I was still going pretty damn fast. Fast enough that even with my orange protection, I still felt it in my legs as I landed on a long, curved spiral slide shape. I was going to feel all of this later, that was for sure. For the moment, however, I ignored it and simply let the wheels of my skates carry me along that slide.

  Liqueguy appeared at the end of the ramp, letting one of his waves carry him into view. I kicked off before reaching him and flew right over his head. He reached out to me, but I managed to kick my foot out to knock his hand out of the way before he could grab my ankle. In the same moment, one of Split’s hands tried to grab my arm, but I twisted around and avoided that as well.

  It continued like that the entire way, with that Benny Hill music coming not only from the PA system, but also from a fair number of audience members who were doing their best approximation of it with various vocalized ‘nuh nuh nuh’ sounds. I let myself jump from obstacle to obstacle, my skates maintaining my momentum while I did my best not to use any paint other than what I already had on me. I rolled across obstacles, bounced back and forth, flipped and twisted and did everything else possible to slip past their every attempt to stop me. At that speed, the slightest mistake would have left me splattered against one of those walls, or even tangled up with one of my opponents. Fortunately, I managed to keep going, even if it did get close a couple times. Close enough, actually, for the audience to cry out now and then, completely convinced that I was about to turn into a fly against a windshield.

  But I didn't. I squeaked through those close shaves, bouncing from spot to spot and even fighting along the top of one of Liqueguy’s walls momentarily before he could turn it liquid again.

  Finally, there was one more problem to deal with. Namely, the dome that Liqueguy had constructed over the spot I needed to get to. That felt like cheating, personally, but I wasn't going to complain too much. They probably all figured that a lot of what I had done should be considered cheating. That was part of the game.

  Maybe there should've been a more delicate and sneaky way to get through there. Maybe I could have distracted the guy himself and made the dome drop. But I wasn't in the mood for being sneaky, or for taking even more time. Instead, I hit the last obstacle above that dome, a tube that was much smaller than the one I had fought Tumbleweed in, with green-blue paint. I wasn't sure I’d taken enough time for my paint to recover, but it was now or never. I might as well use all the paint I had if I was going to turn these points in. The time limit was steadily ticking down, already reaching the last few seconds.

  Using red paint to yank myself to the green-blue spot I had made, I inverted in the air and turned myself liquid blue just as I collided with it so I would be sent rocketing in the right direction. Between my own blue bounciness and the green-blue spot I had just hit, I was careening through the air about as quickly as I ever had. Ahead of me, that Liquefy wall loomed. I was about to hit in… oh, one point two seconds or something.

  Fortunately, I was already focusing from the instant I’d rebounded off that tube. At the last possible moment before I hit the wall, my paint-body shifted to orange. I just hoped the durability bonus was actually enough for me to uhh, not die.

  A series of cries went up through the arena as I collided with that wall. And… broke right through it. Ow. I was going to feel that for awhile, but I did break through it, smashing a hole right into the dome. A second later, the whole thing dissolved, turning into liquid which then splashed out of the way.

  Which left everyone in the stands able to see as I landed hard on the ground before half-lunging and half-stumbling through my arch, banking my points barely a couple seconds before the time ran out. As soon as I heard the chime, my legs went out from under me and I face-planted, unable to keep myself up any longer, just as the song cut out almost comically abruptly.

  Nqobile’s voice filled the air, calling an end to the competition. Around me, the others all arrived, looking just as tired as I felt. I pushed myself up and stood a bit wobbly next to my arch, following their lead while the woman announced the final tallies.

  “In fourth place, Split with ninety-two points!

  “In third place, Tumbleweed with one hundred and forty-three points!

  “In second place, Paintball with two hundred and sixty points!”

  “And in first place, Liqueguy with two hundred and sixty-four points!”

  The audience roared, as I let that final tally wash over me. Second place? I could live with that. Yeah… yeah, I could definitely live with that. Besides, there were still other matches to come.

  And I was sure as hell going to make Liqueguy fight to keep that top spot.

  Joke Tags: To Be Honest Cassidy? After A Quick Glance At The Longterm Stuff You Have To Deal With? I Don’t Think Anyone Could Blame You For Seeing This As A Vacation