Doodle Champion Island Journeys!

19.

Lucky stepped forward and went under the Torii. Scenes shifted and she felt like being attacked by a blinding light from underneath. The feline knew that she was being teleported to her competing destination, it wasn't something new to her anymore, but it was fascinating all the same.

She also saw them: the spirit, very vaguely, they glided in front of her eyes, circling as if examining her worth. Blazing orange, pure red, stone grey, leaf green, dim purple, abyss blue, and shining golden

Then they cleared out, leaving her space to take in the environment. Lucky blinked. At first, everything was just a blur of shadows. Then they started to materialize. Lucky realized she was standing on a glass stadium. Underneath it, the ground was covered with grass and pebbles. Laid on it, the same red table, looking good as new. By the four edges of the stadium stood four stone standlamps, shining the fire she had lit, and glowing the radiance of powerful spirits. The place was surrounded by bamboo trees so tall, she couldn't see the top of some. Lurking among them were other, less vivid spirits in black and white, though seven of them had colors that stood out: neon purple, aqua cyan, wood orange, icy blue, sunset red, lava yellow, and ocean green - they represented the spirits of the champions, watching her.

Wherever she was, it wasn't raining, and that's a good thing.

There was a bat on the table. Naturally, Lucky came to pick it up.

The moment she closed her fingers around the object, light purple flare-like streamers came flying out as if reacting to her touch.

"So the color of your spirit is light purple, how intriguing," she heard some voices say in unison, "We thought it would be golden, like your eyes."

On the other side of the table, the spirits merged and transformed to bear the appearance of the Tengu, holding a fan like his. "He" opened "his" mouth to speak, but the voice came out echoing just like before. The spirits took shape of the reigning Champion, but they could not mimic his voice. However, this "Tengu" seemed bigger and stronger somehow, the pressure made Lucky feel like she shrank - not that she wasn't small already.

"You have the will to light a fire in the rain and a great fighting spirit. Show us what you've got, challenger. You know the rules. The winning score is 50."

Lucky nodded, signalling that she had understood, and took a stance. She stood on the tip of her toes so as to move faster, lowered her body, eyes locking on the "Tengu"'s movements, and her hand gripped tight on the bat. The sound of a whistle twittered in the air. The match had started.

Whoosh

Lucky moved on the nick of time to hit the ball by the edge of her bat, unable to comprehend. It was so fast. Too fast. She reacted just in time before she lost a point within one second short. However, the panic hit didn't get the ball to where she wanted. The spirits easily returned it, and it dropped to the ground on her side with a cold 'ping'.

The feline checked the wooden scoreboard hanging on a tree nearby: 0/50 - 1/50

"The Tengu" pulled out another ball and served. The spirits showed no mercy, they gave no warning at all. It's either face the challenge with the best of everything you'd got, or get creamed. Though this time, Lucky had got herself ready. She returned with a delicate swirl to the opposite corner and it actually scored her a point by missing the blow from the fan by a the tip of a hair.

Third serve. She thought she was getting to it. The pace, the power, she was adapting to the match. Lucky scored another point by a special hut that took a lot of risks: she would hit it directly to where she predicted the opponent would move to, but make it swirl in a way that the ball would change directions in a v-turn as soon as it hit the table. There were chances that the ball wouldn't change directions, or the swirl backfired and landed the ball on her side, but it's the beginning, which meant that risks where to be made.

Lucky : 2/50 | Table Tennis Spirits : 1/50

Although she had earned points to her advantage, Lucky had the feeling that it was merely the warm-up. That feeling was proven to be true when the spirit-made Tengu served a second ball.

Here comes. Do NOT panic. Lucky reminded herself repeatedly while dealing with the two balls. Gusts had started to pick up, accelerating the balls' speed further. On the other hand, it was hard to swing a flat object when standing before the wind. At first, due to being served continuously, the balls landed on almost the same spot that Lucky took the least movements to counter, but two exchanges and they ended up on the two corners. The feline aimed yet another tricky, twisty ball from her right side, knowing that it'd fly to their left which was frail against swirls, before rushing and stretching the best she could to at least make a blind hit rather than giving it up. And believe it or not, both hits actually made it.

After that, the number of balls increased to three, then four, every time she scored, it went up drastically until it reached as much as eight. During that time, Lucky managed to score, obviously, but struggled greatly in the process to the point that she went subconscious and let her instincts take over. Her orbs shrunk and wavered. Her tail twitched. Beads of sweat rolled down on the sides of her ears, touched the corners of her blurry eyes, tipped her pink nose and wetted her cheeks. Her breath was fast and shallow, she felt like her heart had popped its way up her throat. Once a while, when she felt herself building up enough energy in her body, she sent them to the balls, stopping them midair in a split moment as she took a big leap, her eyes flashed white and she swung her arm holding the bat in a diagonal arc, sending all the balls to her opponent's side. The power she forged into this iconic move of hers toppled the spirits' speed, but it also put a toll on her stamina. Lucky needed to end the match, quick. She had been missing way too many balls to hold. She knew it would end soon anyway, without looking at the scoreboard. It's either she pulled out her final move, or the spirits with their eight balls sent her on a frantic.

The sound of a whistle twittered in the air again, signaling the match had had a winner.

Lucky dropped to the ground and lay flat, trying to catch her breath. Her arms were shaking and numb from intense actions. She might've blacked out for a while as well when she closed her eyes, but when she reopened them, nothing changed. The spirits, bearing the appearance of the Tengu, stood above her head, staring down at her expressionlessly. She widened her eyes and immediately sprung up on two feet at a safe distance.

"Looks like I lost, didn't I?" Lucky smiled sadly, wiping the sweat off her face using her arm. While she couldn't handle all the balls, the spirits could, and landed the deciding hit when the feline hadn't built up enough energy for her shot.

"Quite close, but not yet. There are unnecessary movements, wasted opportunities, and there are flaws in your breathing pattern when you shifted to pull off your move," they commented, "However, good concentration, agility, and strength itself. We can consider not dismissing you as a challenger, yet. Come back when you think you are able to stand your ground against us."

Lucky nodded as a circle of light arose from her feet and turned everything to a bland white.

"So, how did it go? How did it go??"

The sound came even before the creature. Kitsune was showering her with questions, seeming more excited than usual. Lucky shook her head:

"I lost."

"Haahhhh?? Seriously? Those spirits are that strong? Oh I'm so so jealous with you now," Kitsune whined.

"Mind giving me details or you wish to keep the story to yourself?" Ume said nonchalantly, though a hint in her voice showed that she was curious. And so Lucky told them the whole thing: the spirits taking shape of the Tengu, the spirits lurking among the trees like the Champions and other creatures watching, and the intense match. Well, the legend never said that it would be easy. Lucky placed her hand on the table, staring at it longingly, forgetting the rain on her head for the moment. There was something she would never say out loud, but this journey, this place...

It was like the world of miracles in her wild dreams.