Second went out of balance earlier and thought First's hands that were holding her legs got stuck and... she was falling. She was unsteady because Fifzen's dracodile spewed fire that they didn't expect. Their dracodile suffered damage, which is why it twitched in pain while avoiding the fire. That explained the heat she was feeling. The light burn she got made her twitch. She wasn't sure, but when she fell, she saw the grin of one of the gold team's members riding on Fifzen's dracodile.
"Ahhh!!!" she squalled out loud.
This was even worse than their elevator ride. Was this it? The end of her? She still wanted to get to know herself and gain all her memories back. She couldn't die yet.
As her tears rolled down her cheeks before she completely landed on the ground, she saw a dracodile approaching her. Was that Third? With so much distress she was feeling, she just closed her eyes. She was waiting for them to catch her, hopefully.
***
"Hey! Second, hey!"
Second could hear a boy's voice. She opened her eyes, and her vision became blurry. She blinked and saw them all around her.
Ninezen? Why was he here with her? She was lying down, and her head rested on his lap. Aeizen, Sectwen, and Thirtwen were also there.
Why am I with the gold team? What happened after I fell?
"Second, are you okay? How do you feel?" Thirtwen sounds worried.
"Good thing we caught you," Sectwen commented.
"Yeah, just on time," Aeizen added.
She smiled at them. She sat down and coughed. Indeed, this was a miracle. She thanked them for saving her. If it wasn't for them, she'd be dead. She did not expect that the enemy team would save her. Friendship beats this game, huh?
She sat up straight. "Where are they?"
"There," Ninezen pointed at her group, who had just landed. First, Third, and Fourth ran closer to them.
"Second…" Fourth was crying and hugged her. This girl had always been tearful. "Please don't do that again." She pleaded like she was begging her not to die.
She checked herself, and she had no severe wounds. Just a few scratches, her tracksuit was dusty, and her hair was messy.
"Thank you," Third expressed his gratitude to them.
She got up and shook herself. "Thank you. Words might not be enough to express my gratitude, but…" She bowed to the four of them. "Really, thank you!"
They smiled at her, and Aeizen, Sectwen, and Thirtwen got on board. Ninezen talked to them before boarding. "Pardon our team's behavior." Then he ran and rejoined his group to fly.
Third just nodded, and they left speechless. "Let's go," he commanded. Even though they acted as two teams, the gold team had a certain gap from each of their own.
"Oh, Third," Third turned to Second. "This is it." She handed him the gold necklace she had gotten earlier. Well, she managed to hold it tightly as she fell into the thick air. Thank goodness. Her sacrifice was for something.
He looked surprised. "I didn't foresee you claiming the necklace from them despite you falling off." He adjusted his eyeglasses. "Good job." He smirked, and he took the necklace and hid it in his pocket. She was glad because Third praised her. She felt like her boss commended her and promoted her to the job. "But next time, try to be more careful. Stop digging your own grave, okay?"
She chuckled at what he said.
Had she always been this reckless? This was the second time she had almost gotten scolded for being one. The first was when First and she were in the maze. She should really reconsider her actions to protect herself and her team. First patted her back and gave her a warm and reassuring smile. He seems like he agreed with what Third said.
They ran because they had one more necklace to seize to finally clear their goal for this category. To be honest, she felt guilty for stealing their necklace because Ninezen's group helped her from the instant death fall. Did she deserve this second life of hers? Did they deserve to lose like this? She was doing such dirty work. She didn't deserve their kindness at all.
They stopped running in front of their silver dracodile to ride when…
"Oh my! Our silver necklace is missing!" Fourth shrieked.
Huh?
Second saw that the necklace hanging from one of their dracodile's feet had gone missing.
"Sh*t! We're tricked. D*mn!" Third cursed angrily. His fist clenched, and he frowned.
Because of her accident, they hadn't kept an eye on their dracodile and the necklace on it. The gold team took that chance to steal and trick them. She didn't know if it was Ninezen's group that, while Third parked their dracodile to check on her, or the other gold team of Fifzen who did it.
She did not anticipate this happening, but it was not impossible. Ninezen's group as a culprit rendered a higher chance of doing it since she didn't recognize Fifzen's group's landing near their dracodile. She abruptly remembered the grin she saw earlier before she finally fell. An accident happened on their team, but it gave the gold team an unprecedented chance. Now, she felt worse. She didn't know whether she helped her team or got baited, which could lead to their loss. She bit her lower lip out of frustration. Not a bad move, gold team.
"Argh!" Third was trampling on the sandy ground out of annoyance. "Hop on, we still need to seize the remaining one."
The frustration was evident in Third's voice and tone. Only now had she seen him become troubled like this. He was her type of leader, who was competent and afraid to be beaten, but in the right way.
They obeyed his command, but even before the dracodile spread its wings and flapped them in the air, they saw Fifth's group land by their side.
"Fifth, what happened?" Third was in disbelief as he questioned Fifth. They were all surprised.
Fifth frowned as if he were troubled. "We landed when the gold team said that you guys are in danger, but you guys weren't even there, so when we were about to go back to fly…T-They got ours."