FireLeaf

Chapter Twenty-Three- Crystals

"What was your contest?" Basketball asked as Tennis Ball and Golf Ball walked, tired, out of their classroom door. "I saw the sky above your field turn dark!"

"It was this thing that to do with killing monsters. I'm so tiiiiireeeeeed!!!!!" Golf Ball complained. 

Tennis Ball agreed with her. It had been tiring to fight those monsters. 

"How many monsters did you kill?" Basketball asked excitedly.

ATTENTION, STUDENTS! THE SCOREBOARD HAS BEEN SET ON THE PROJECTION STAGE IN THE LOBBY. CHECK IT OUT TO SEE WHAT PLACE YOU ARE IN. Four's voice blared out of the loudspeakers.

"What are you waiting for?" Basketball asked, "Let's get going!!!!!!"

...

Basketball stared at the scoreboard. "WHAT THE HECK?! FIREY GOT FIFTY-NINE KILLS?!"

"Yeah." Tennis Ball said. He felt jealous, since he only got six. Unfortunately, Golf Ball was in an even worse mood, since she only got one.

"Golf Ball, you only got-"

Tennis Ball covered her mouth.

"Okay, geez, sorry!" Basketball complained when Tennis Ball let go. She went back to observing their scoreboard.

Announcer's Class Scores- Monster Fighting

Firey 30- Fifty-nine kills.

Leafy 29- Twenty-Eight kills.

Pin 28- Twenty-Six kills.

Snowball 27- Twenty kills.

Needle 26- Seventeen kills.

Teardrop 25- Fifteen kills.

Match 24- Seven kills.

Pen 23- Six kills.

Tennis Ball 23- Six kills.

Blocky 22 - Five kills.

Eraser 21- Four kills.

Coiny 20- Two kills.

Ice Cube 20- Two kills.

Pencil 20- Two Kills.

Flower 19- One kill.

Golf Ball 19- One kill.

Spongy 19- One kill.

Bubble 18- Zero kills.

Rocky 18- Zero kills.

Woody 18- Zero kills.

"Golf Ball, are you sad that you don't have the highest score?" Basketball asked. Golf Ball turned away, pouting.

"Basketball!" Tennis Ball hissed. She looked at him apologetically. 

"Hey, why don't we check out Basketball's contest, Golf Ball?" Tennis Ball asked.

"Sure." Golf Ball perked up a little.

Tennis Ball took her hand and they wandered to check the scoreboard.

...

"Is Firey okay?" Pin asked worriedly as she and Leafy watched over Firey, who was still sleeping.

"I hope so." Leafy clutched firey's hand. He had been sleeping for two hours already and he still didn't wake up! He missed lunch, which they had after the short contest today.

Pin munched on a chip. "Well, do you have any medicine to wake people up?'

"Yeah, but I want to save it for emergencies. He's probably just tired." Leafy said. She observed Firey's face, and his eyes still didn't open.

"He saved us." Leafy said, "We couldn't have handled all of them without him. And now... he's just not waking up!" She felt tears in her eyes. She wiped them away. It couldn't have been her fault Firey is like this- couldn't it?"

Firey suddenly twitched.

"Firey?" Leafy asked, leaning closer.

Firey twitched again, and started convulsing. 

"FIREY!" Leafy shook him desperately. 

Firey let out a cry of agony. Fire spread along his arms, and Leafy had to let go. The fire flickered at first, then turned brighter and stronger. The flames consumed him, and heat spread along Leafy's entire body.

"FIREY!!!!!" Leafy yelled, "WHAT'S HAPPENING?" 

Firey gasped and started thrashing miserably as the fire died down. 

Leafy tentatively leaned over him and touched his forehead. He was cooling down to his regular temperature. Hopefully that was a good sign.

"What happened?!" Pin cried.

"I-I don't know." Leafy said. Firey was still smoldering a little, but his breathing was back to normal. That let Leafy to one question: What happened?

...

Deep in a cavern, a white sphere glowed with light. Inside where two crystals, one red, and one green. They glittered there peacefully, but then... the green started to break apart... and something from deep within started to spread into the flame crystal... 

Firey screaming.

A Shadow Leafy sinking into his soul... trying to break in...