Doodle Champion Island Journeys!

6.

What a place for a challenger-athlete to meet a Champion: both balancing on a rope hanging across a backyard, a few meters above the ground, and none of them seemed to be bothered by their current position.

"Hi there, athlete. Up for a game?"

"Of course I am!" Lucky would've bounced, had she not been on the rope, "I've found you, so that means I can challenge you in skateboarding, isn't that right?"

"Ding ding ding! You're correct!" the tanuki pointed at Lucky with his fan as his grin widened, "But this is just the first level, Lucky. Think you can really catch me? Meet me at the Red Gate and let's skate together!" he then jumped down from the rope and opened his umbrella pointing upwards. But before he met the ground, he vanished in a thin veil of green smoke.

"Yess!" Lucky threw a fist into the air and cheered to herself, then also jumped down, landed perfectly on two and was about to rush to the Torii, but stopped herself after a few steps. Her expression changed to that of hesitation when a very certain thought crossed her mind. The feline turned to Toby and Kugo, and she could tell the why-are-you-still-here looks in their eyes.

"Nee, Toby-san, Kugo-san, I heard the dojo lends out skateboarding equipment?" Lucky said, but raised her voice at the end, making it sound like a question.

"I should've thought there's no way you'd have a skateboard in that little pack of yours," Kugo laughed, gesturing to the small cylinder attached to Lucky's belt, "We do have a collection for situations like this. Follow us."

The elk and the Shiba-inu lead her back into Tanooki's room, then opened another well-hidden door on the left to a storeroom the size of a gardening shed. Skateboards of several standard sizes were lined on a shelf to the right. Helmets, also in different sizes were put on display on the opposite shelf. Knee pads, elbow pads, and some other weird-looking-shaped protection pads filled a few boxes on the ground.

"You can pick whichever you see fit for yourself during the contest," Toby said sternly, "But you must return it afterward. You wouldn't like what'll happen if you don't."

"Got it," Lucky replied as she scanned the skateboard shelf. She picked a plain red one, a bit too big for her size but in good condition. Then she chose a matching red helmet with a white fish design which had holes that fit her ears, but skipped the protective pads.

Toby and Kugo didn't go to watch Lucky's performance, saying they had to stay in case someone else came to borrow some equipment, but they wished her good luck and gave her some good advice: basic points for skating on the rails, applause-scaled points for tricks, and extra for finding Tanooki somewhere around in the park, hiding as a tea kettle.

Lucky exited the dojo by the backdoor and took the chance to try out the borrowed board. She glided to the front ground, easily using her feet to change directions, and when at the stairs, she sped up and did a basic kickflip - well not really basic since she jumped higher and made the flip last longer than usual so that she wouldn't land on a step, trip and face-plant onto the street. And, well, except for that risk, which she already had under control, Lucky enjoyed the airborne time. In a good few seconds, she felt no gravity, and winds seemed to crawl under her fur.

She landed leaning a bit back to utilize the flip's momentum and skated slowly through the crowd to reach the Torii.

The vermilion gate looked like when she last checked it: a few competitors came and passed under it but nothing happened, so they ran off, probably to find Tanooki. Now that she thought about it, maybe Tanooki had sent that Ushi to the crossroad to mislead competitors, and see if anyone could find him first to be the first skateboarding challenger of the Championship. And if that theory was correct, then Lucky and only Lucky herself should be able to enter the game by passing under the Torii.