It was nearing the end of the final round, and everyone had their own thing going on.
At the start, Dillon thought he had a master plan, but it turned into a disaster. After that disaster, he managed to pick himself up and get some plastic balls until Destiny robbed him. The outcome wasn't the worst possibility, but it was still a blow. Nearing the end of the challenge, he wanted to find a plastic ball or two before the end. He knew the end result would be disappointing, but he was going to fight until the end. That was the least he could do.
His teammate Kayla had a quiet round. She got a couple of plastic balls and had no encounters. The first encounter she had was with Malakai. In her books, this was a good thing. She wanted this. The outcome that came from this encounter, she didn't want. The outcome wasn't a total loss, as she ended up scratching his face and getting his earpiece. However, she wasn't satisfied. She wanted more, and there was still time to get more.
Both Nada and Justin had quiet rounds, too. Justin had it easy, seeing no one. The only thing that happened in his round was that he walked into a room where a face-off between Malakai and Kayla was happening. Other than that, Justin did his own thing.
Same with Nada. The start of the round was exciting for Nada as she infiltrated 1-B's safe zone and popped a few of their plastic balls, but after that, she focused on getting plastic balls. She'd hoped she'd see Malakai so they could raid 1-B's safe zone, but their paths didn't cross.
Speaking of 1-B, after that minor setback at the start, they've been secretly grinding. With the UAV at their disposal, it was pretty easy to locate plastic balls. Retrieving them was a different story, but they were doing it silently. Neither Ryan nor Akari bumped into anyone. Akari got close, nearly bumping into Alexander, but she ran away when she saw him from behind. Run may be the wrong word because Akari was still exhausted. She was glad to hear the round was nearly over.
Delilah was also secretly grinding and gathering plastic balls. She didn't want any drama and only wanted points. She had that little scare with Dillon at the start of the round but persuaded him to go to 1-A's safe zone. She didn't know what happened after that, and she didn't care. From this description, you would think she had a chill round, but it wasn't chill. She was stressing about Malakai the whole time. Firstly, hearing him give a ball to Justin, which she let slide because Nada had given him one before, but hearing he lost his earpiece was what made her stressed. Then, shortly after, hearing him stop in the middle of a hallway to watch Destiny and Dillon play tug of war with a bag. It wasn't pleasant hearing her teammate mess around while she was trying her hardest. She asked for Malakai's location so she could tell him to go back to their safe zone, but Malakai was constantly moving. Delilah was planning to return to their safe zone for the final stages of the round to protect their plastic balls. She'd rather Malakai do it as he had the paintball gun, but Malakai decided to lose his earpiece, so she had to do it herself. Overall, her round was successful but stressful.
Malakai's round was a weird one. It started off fine. He encountered no one and got a few plastic balls, but after his first encounter, it turned upside down. He gave away a plastic ball, got scratched, watched two people he didn't like fighting over a bag, helped one of them get a plastic ball from the bag, and lost his earpiece. A lot happened in the space of ten minutes for Malakai. Nearing the end of the challenge, he still had no communication with his class, and he couldn't find Delilah. He thought about going to his safe zone and camping out the rest of the challenge, but he knew if he did that, he would get cooked by his classmates for not finding enough plastic balls. So he continued to search. He was speed-running every room to find plastic balls. The one problem he had was that he had no idea when the round would end, so he was just going off vibes.
Moving to 1-A, Destiny had a dull round with a sprinkle of excitement in the middle. The excitement being stealing Dillon's bag. The mission didn't exactly go to plan. She wanted to make out with the bag unnoticed, but Dillon turned around at the last moment. From then on, she knew making out with the bag would be hard work, but it was not impossible... Until she saw Malakai. Malakai ruined her plans but ultimately helped her get one plastic ball. Now, she was waiting for the challenge to end. She was confident that their class had the most points because she knew Alexander was putting in a shift.
And he was. Finally, the last representative of this challenge, Alexander. His round went efficiently. The little altercation at the start was a little hurdle, but after that, it was plastic ball after plastic ball after plastic ball. He didn't run into or see anyone in this round. He felt like everyone was avoiding him, but he didn't care. He was just doing his job.
Right now, he was going back to his safe zone. He had two plastic balls in his arms and was going to drop them off before going on one last quick search. That was the plan, but as he got closer to his safe zone, he noticed a figure opposite him. All of a sudden, he was facing up against someone.
A matchup was made. A matchup everyone wanted to see.
Alexander Burrell and Malakai Junior stood before each other in front of 1-A's safe zone.
Everyone in class 1-A sat up. A matchup that everyone wanted to see might be happening just before the challenge ended.
First place vs second place.
They were all watching Alexander's angle comfortably before, but now it was different. Alexander was in front of their safe zone with the guy who was at the top of the leaderboard. Not to mention, he also has a paintball gun, so if they did get into an altercation, Alexander would be at a disadvantage. Everyone saw Alexander's fighting abilities, but fighting against a paintball gun would make anyone doubtful.
Frank, who was on the mic, didn't know how this would turn out. At the start of the round, when Dillon was in front of Alexander, he was confident in Alexander. This time was very different. He would be confident if Malakai had no weapon, but that paintball gun changes everything.
Many people in the class were eager to watch what happens next. They still believed in Alexander, but their reasons for doubt weren't unreasonable. One thing for sure they knew was that something exciting was going to happen because Malakai was involved.
"Heh. This is going to be good".
Alexander made eye contact with Malakai. He saw Malakai holding his paintball gun in his right hand and a plastic ball in his left.
"Yes, Alex. What you telling me?" Malakai opened the conversation, smiling and talking like they were friends.
Alexander looked at him with his resting straight expression. He didn't give him an answer. He also didn't like how familiar he was being.
"I don't think you've properly spoken to me yet", Malakai continued. "You probably don't want to. I don't blame you, though. I know you don't like me cuz I'm first".
"This situation has become annoying", Alexander thought, not wanting to conversate.
To avoid being annoyed, he ignored Malakai and started walking forward.
"Yo relax", Malakai said, instinctively raising his paintball gun.
Alexander stopped walking after seeing the direction the paintball gun was aiming. Not because he was scared but because he was smart. He knew that Malakai wasn't hesitant to shoot after seeing Destiny's clothes.
Malakai glanced at the door to his left.
"This is your safe zone innit?" Malakai said, stepping closer to the door and keeping his eyes on Alexander.
Alexander didn't answer.
"Imma see what you got", Malakai continued to speak while slowly walking to the door and ensuring Alexander was a distance away.
Malakai managed to open the door and walked backwards into the room to make sure Alexander didn't sneak behind him. When he was inside and saw Alexander was out of sight, he turned around and went to where the plastic balls were.
Alexander came back into Malakai's view and stayed at the doorway.
"Bro, why are all your balls on the floor?" Malakai asked, switching views from the floor to Alexander.
"This moron isn't going to stop talking to me", Alexander thought.
Alexander didn't want to talk to Malakai, but Malakai did interest him a little. He didn't think Malakai was interesting. His mind didn't care. It was more like a feeling of wanting to know more. All he thought was Malakai was a talkative idiot.
"You don't need to know", Alexander condescendingly replied. "The better question is, why is your face bloody?"
"Bloody?" Malakai rhetorically asked. "Oh shit!"
Malakai immediately put his fingers on the right side of his face, where he got scratched. He totally forgot that he got scratched because of the Destiny and Dillon incident. He felt his face, and it wasn't wet until he peeled off some dried blood. Malakai looked at his fingers, which were stained red. He kept touching the right side of his face, and it felt like he bled a lot. The blood felt like it flowed down to his jawline.
Malakai looked at Alexander, "How bad is it?" he asked, tilting his head to the side giving Alexander a better view.
"There's a stream of red down the side of your face", Alexander uncharacteristically answered.
He was curious about how that happened to him, but he didn't want to ask.
"Damn, I wanna see", Malakai said, still touching his face. "Wait, why did no one tell me this?".
He was referring to Destiny and Dillon. It was weird that neither of them mentioned it to him, but the two of them were busy with their own thing, and by the time it ended, Destiny ran off, and Dillon was too pissed at Malakai to have a conversation with him. Despite the amount of blood on Malakai's face being prominent, Dillon was too angry to care.
"Eh, forget it. I can sort that out later. It doesn't hurt", Malakai said, taking his hand away from his face. "Anyways, how many plastic balls should I take?" he directly asked Alexander.
"I'm not going to let you take any", Alexander bluntly told him.
Malakai grinned, "It's not up to you though, is it?".
He slowly went to the floor, picked up two plastic balls with his left hand, and balanced them on his left arm while his right arm locked on Alexander. Alexander watched as he did. He didn't feel panicked or worried because Malakai was trapped in his safe zone. If Malakai wanted to get out, he had to get past him. Alexander did think about the possibility of getting shot, but he thought if he did, he could handle it. Handle it enough that he could still stop Malakai. He knew it was going to hurt, but he didn't know how much it was going to hurt.
"Let me close the distance".
Alexander started walking closer to Malakai.
"You're coming closer?" Malakai rhetorically asked a little shocked Alexander was coming towards him. "You wanna get shot?".
"This guy is trigger-happy. He shot that guy and her. If I egg him on, he'll shoot", Alexander thought. "I'll get this shot over and done with and stop him".
"Whatever I do, you're going to shoot", Alexander said. "You might as well get it over with".
Malakai didn't expect that response. It was something different. Then again, everyone he's pointed the gun at said something different.
"Does this guy think he can take a bullet?" Malakai thought.
"Heheh", Malakai giggled. "You know this is the last round. You're the last person I'm gonna shoot, so imma use every bullet I have left".
For a split second, Alexander's expression slipped. His eyebrows raised, and his eyes widened. Alexander calculated and predicted that Malakai was going to shoot him, but didn't calculate how crazy he was. Hearing Malakai was going to shoot him multiple times changed everything.
"What? You thought I was gonna shoot you once? You thought you could recover after one shot and stop me?" Malakai asked, smiling. He noticed Alexander's slip. "Bro, imma shoot you in the same place I shot your teammate. And if you're still standing, imma shoot you in your right leg. And if you're tryna chase me after that, expect a shot to your left leg".
Alexander didn't know what to do. His face didn't show it. His body language didn't show it. But he was clueless. He could tell Malakai was deadly serious. Alexander could tell when people were lying or talking a big game, but hearing Malakai speak, he knew he meant every word. He wanted to ask Frank about Destiny's whereabouts, but his situation made it difficult.
"I probably shouldn't waste time", Malakai said, remembering the round was ending soon. He glanced at the plastic balls on the floor near him. "I'll pick some more up after I shoot you and make you watch".
Malakai tightly gripped his gun and aimed straight at Alexander's belly. He wanted to shoot Ryan the most in this challenge, but getting Alexander wasn't bad. He didn't dislike Alexander, but who wouldn't want to shoot the 'best' student in the year group?
Alexander was helpless. All he did was stand there and wait for the impact of the bullet. Whatever happened next, he'd have to do his best to stop Malakai no matter how much it hurt. He had no clue how this was going to pan out. The only thing he could do was find out and improvise from there.
"Haha".
PAP!
"Huh?"
PAP!
Malakai checked the side of the gun to check if it was on safety.
It wasn't.
"What?"
PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP!
Malakai kept spamming the trigger, but no bullets came out. He shook the gun to check if there were any bullets left.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
The sound of balls hitting each other was still present in the hopper.
"Why's it not shooting? There's still bullets inside", Malakai frustratedly thought, looking at the gun angrily.
PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP!
"Is it jammed?"
A wry smile appeared across Alexander's face. He got saved. That wasn't all. He heard some good news while Malakai was desperately trying to let off a shot.
"All bark and no bite", Alexander said. "You ran out of bullets. What a shame", he condescendingly continued.
That was the end of the road for the paintball gun. Malakai was pissed inside that he didn't get to shoot Alexander. Nevertheless, he shamelessly smiled with his teeth showing. He couldn't fold here.
"Who cares? I don't need bullets. I can still pistol whip you", he jokingly said, not feeling intimidated.
"Hah. The one advantage you had is gone. Now it's even you stand no chance in one-to-one combat", Alexander replied, feeling confident.
"Combat? We fighting now?" Malakai asked, surprised to hear that he was serious about fighting.
"No, but I can trap you in here until the challenge is over", Alexander said. "And just by looking at you, I can tell you know nothing about martial arts, so I'm fine".
Alexander was going to do the same thing he was going to do to Dillon, and it looked like it was going to be easier.
"Fuck sake, this neek (nerd) knows martial arts. Of course, he knows martial arts, his parents are rich. He probably knows how to play piano or some shit as well", Malakai thought.
Alexander watched as Malakai stood and glanced around the place, trying to figure out what to do next. He knew Malakai was helpless right now. The tables turned.
"Are you sure you want to waste time like this?" Alexander asked, putting down the two plastic balls he was holding.
Malakai tried talking down to him earlier, and now it was his turn. His pride didn't want to leave that scoreboard 1-0.
"Don't worry bout me", Malakai replied, sounding like he had a plan.
"I'm not worrying. You should be worrying. My teammate is in your safe zone. I don't know why you're not urgently getting out of this room", Alexander told him.
Malakai's face dropped, and his eyes widened. Destiny was in his safe zone, and he didn't know if Delilah was there or not. Destiny could empty out their safe zone, and he couldn't do anything about it because he was stuck here. He couldn't tell Delilah, too, because he had no earpiece.
"It looks like he's heard some bad news. Why does he look so shocked?" Alexander thought. "His teammate is in his safe zone. He should know that". Alexander slowly thought about it. He looked at Malakai's face again. "He doesn't have an earpiece...", he realised too late. "How did I miss that? I should've realised it after seeing his face like that. It's the same side his earpiece should be on. I didn't have to tell him". Compared to his encounter with Dillon, Alexander had a lot more going on in his mind this time. "No matter. He can't get past me. I'll keep him here until the challenge is over".
"I need to go back. Shit!" Malakai thought. "He's blocking the door, though. I can't get past him. I mean, I can force my way through, but I'm not gonna have any plastic balls. I can't go back with nothing. Shit, man!".
Malakai had to think of something quick. He backed up a little and accidentally moved some of the plastic balls on the floor with his moving foot. He looked down at the pool of plastic balls, and an urge came over him.
"It's worth a try", Malakai mumbled.
...
POP!
Alexander's body twitched at the pop. It was like he had a little PTSD from the third round when Nada popped his plastic ball. He looked to the floor next to Malakai and saw the remains of a plastic ball and a card.
Malakai popped a plastic ball.
Alexander watched the whole process. He saw Malakai put two of the plastic balls he was holding into his hoodie pocket. Then he saw him lift his right leg and forcefully stomp on a plastic ball beside him. Malakai didn't think it would work, but he was wrong. It worked perfectly fine.
Malakai looked up at Alexander and crazily smiled before lifting his leg again and,
POP!
Stomping on another ball.
"This animal", Alexander frustratedly thought, furrowing his eyebrows and charging towards him.
"Hehe".
Alexander rapidly rushed towards Malakai and extended his arms to grab Malakai. There was no doubt in his mind. Alexander wanted to incapacitate him. Malakai just about managed to sidestep and narrowly miss the grab. After dodging, Malakai lifted his right leg and tried to stomp on the left side of Alexander's right knee to make him fall. Alexander quickly saw his intention and moved back, giving Malakai a chance to run for it. Now, all Malakai had to do was run out of the room, but it wasn't that easy. As Alexander forced him to the right, Malakai had a slightly longer route to the door. It wasn't a straight beeline to the door. Now, It was more like a right curve. If he had wanted to make it out, he had to make it around the right-hand side of the table. He couldn't go on the left because Alexander was there. If he tried to squeeze through, he would definitely get grabbed.
Malakai made a break for it towards the door. Malakai was quicker than Alexander, but Alexander was still fast. He could catch Malakai and cut him off with his better position. Therefore, instead of chasing him, Alexander ran towards the door. Malakai saw Alexander on his tail in the corner of his eye. In the spur of the moment, Malakai threw the one plastic ball in his left hand towards Alexander. Alexander swatted the ball away with ease. It didn't slow him down one bit, but that ball was a distraction because now Malakai was running inwards towards the exit. He made it round the table, and Alexander saw something different in his left hand. Malakai's left hand was dragging one of the chairs. On his way around the table, Malakai had the opportunity to snatch up one of the chairs. Malakai kept running with the chair in his left hand. The chairs were plastic, so they weren't heavy, but they weren't easy to throw. Malakai was nearly out, but he had to make sure he didn't get grabbed because Alexander was close by. If Alexander lunged towards him and tackled him to the floor, it was over. That was the approximate distance between them. To prevent that possibility, Malakai pushed the chair behind him in front of Alexander's path. Alexander saw the chair bundling straight to him and quickly reacted by jumping over it like a hurdle. After hurdling over the chair, Alexander looked back up, and his eyes were met with the barrel of the paintball gun pointed at his face. He saw the eye of the paintball gun and, behind that, Malakai's smiling face at the door.
PAP!
Alexander opened his eyes after instinctively closing them and saw an empty doorway.
Malakai was gone.
Alexander stood still. He didn't bother to look out of the room and see where Malakai went. He knew Malakai was gone. There was no point in chasing him. He turned around and looked at the state of the room. It was a mess. It's been a mess since the start of the round, but this was annoying for Alexander to look at. Alexander looked down at his hands.
"I could've caught him", Alexander thought, reflecting on what happened. "I'm annoyed, but I feel like I should be more annoyed. I was more annoyed when that girl popped one plastic ball. Why am I not more annoyed?".
Meanwhile, Malakai was having his own thoughts.
"I don't know how I did that. That was the first time I came up against him, and I had to run away. Tch, I didn't even get to shoot him".
While running, he looked at his paintball gun. He looked at it in disgust and shook his head.
"Five bullets. The same as a .38. You're taking the piss man".
The first matchup between these two left them both unsatisfied with the outcome. There was no clear winner, and neither felt like they won. Malakai and Alexander were very different, but right now they were thinking the same thing.
"I felt like I lost that".