The Ameruld League Competition

Riley

So. Now we had to decide whether to go over the cliff or around it.

I turned to Indie. "I don't know about you," I began, "but I'm tired of trying to find my way through that grass. I vote we go over. What about you?"

I grabbed a harness and started looking at the various straps while I waited for her reply. How did these things work, anyway? Huh. I supposed, if I couldn't figure it out, I could just tie all those ropes and clips to my belt and hope something didn't slip...

Indie looked up at the cliff, deep in thought. For some reason, it looked steeper from here than it had from back in the field. Weird. What was up with that?

James Levent
"Let's have a go at climbing, probably be quickly this way too. I'm not that bad at climbing either, what about you?" She answers looking up at the mountain confidently.

I watch as other teams start climbing and nod.

."It looks like there's a ledge up there," she notes and gestures to a rocky spot on the mountain "Let’s try to get up there as a target, have a break then carry on. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good," I say, thinking that about it, then I grin at her, “Race ya'?"

I ask and she smiles at me confidently.

"Sure, although we are meant to be working together, “

"Don't worry I'll come back and get you if you fall," I say, attaching my harness and begin climbing at a moderate rate knowing that she will take the bait and catch up.

I grin when she does, “I think it'll be me going back for you."
‘Want to bet?” I ask and turn to smile at her, noting that we are catching up to the others.
We make a good team.
I look up to see how far away the top is and nod.
We have a long way ahead of us- 50 metres at the least.
There is one team ahead of us, one right behind us and another still at the bottom of the massive rock.
“Wonder what will be at the top...” I ask aloud as we climb.

Indie


Riley stands looking up at the cliff for a moment and I eye the grassy path not wanting for a second to go back in there.
I’m halfway through wishing that I’ll never have to walk another grass maze again when Riley turns back to me. “I don’t know about you,” he begins eying the path with disgust,’ but I’m tired of trying to find my way through that grass. I vote we go over the mountain. What about you?”
Then he walks over to where the harnesses lay and picks one up without turning back around.
I look up the cliff trying to determine how high it is, knowing that that is the way I’ll be getting to the top when Riley takes a step back.
“Does it look taller to you then it did before?” he asks, sounding somewhat confused. “I don’t know,” I say, not knowing what else to say, “Maybe it just looked smaller from the field.”
He nods; not looking completely convinced and I pick up a harness, slip it on and attach the clips on the belt to the rope leading up the mountain.
I turn back to Riley.

Max Barkat


I feel my teeth grinding against one another as Tam tries to figure out the harness. Why is she doing this? The cliff face is like 150 feet high!
"Tam, are you sure about this?" My hand darts to my lucky bandanna as I speak. Please change your mind...
"I can do it, Max," she says fiercely and my heart sinks.
"Allrightythen." We start climbing.
Tam holds up much better than I expected, and we get a good headstart on the others. The pulling myself up is as easy for me as running was for Tam. All the same, sweat had begun to toll down my temples within minutes. I wish I could take off my jacket, but then where would I put it? I'll just have to suck it up.
I stop, clinging to the rock, to wait for Tam. She is panting too hard to say anything.
"Looks like you're getting beat by a boy," I smirk at her. She doesn't reply.
Craning my head to get a good look, I try to measure how far we've gone. To my surprise we're already halfway up. This was easy, almost. We are totally going to win.
That's when I see it. The long, scaley tail disappearing into a small crevice in the rock right above me. Every muscle in my body freezes; I can't move. If I was out of breath before, it is nothing compared to how close I am to hyperventhilating now. How could a snake live up here? Where would it go? What would it eat? And most important, what am I going to do now.
"Max?" Tam has climbed a good ten feet ahead of me, and she turns back when she notices I have stopped. "Are you okay?"
"Erm," I say in a whimpery voice as I stare at the crevice. "There's a snake in there."
"Max, it's fine." Tam calls down to me. "I went right past it and it didn't touch me. Come on, the other teams are catching up."
It's true, I can hear them climbing close. But I can't move. There is no way I am going any nearer to that snake!

Riley

"What the heck," I said to myself, shrugging. "Let's go for it." I started putting on my harness. It was actually easier than I thought it would be--all of the straps seemed to go somewhere, at least.

Once Indie had her harness on, we started climbing. I'm sure these things were designed for rock-wall-type climbing, where you pulled yourself up with the little pieces of rock that stuck out, but I preferred to just hold onto the tether and walk up the face of the cliff. The stone was slick, but Indie and I were both wearing good walking shoes, so we got decent traction. I only slipped once, and I was able to catch myself before I fell very far.

There were Tam, and...what's-his-face...just a short way above us. "Come on!" Indie shouted down to me. She was a faster climber, and although I could keep up, she had been out ahead of me for the past fifty feet.

"Snake!" Indie called. I followed her closely as she skirted around Tam's partner--Max, that was his name. Poor Max was paralyzed with fear, clinging to his harness for dear life. Tam looked really irritated.

"Sorry," I muttered to Tam as Indie and I climbed past her. Sure, I wanted to win, but I didn't want her to lose--she was only thirteen, I couldn't root against her.

"Almost to the top!" Indie shouted. "Just a little farther!"

Tam Raven

I finally manage to strap my harness and turn to the mountain; Max is staring at me oddly.
"Tam, are you sure about this?" He asks, sounding worried and I wonder if he thinks I will slow him down.
"I can do it, Max," I tell him, trying to convince both of us by these words.
"Allrightythen." He replies, not sounding convinced but managing a tight smile as we start to climb.
All that is passing through my head to start will are the words ‘please don’t fall, please don’t fall, I’m going to do this, just please don’t let me fall.’
Max is puffing as he climbs ahead of me and I wonder if he’s purposefully going slow so that I can keep up or it I’m actually a half decent rock climber.
I somehow doubt it’s the latter.
"Looks like you're getting beat by a boy," He turns to me and smirks.
Then he turns to stare at the top of the mountain.
“We’re halfway there,” he breathes, sounding somewhat exhilarated and all I can think is ‘Yes!!!!! I can get out of here soon.’
Then I almost crash into Max as he stops suddenly.
I peer around him to see what’s up ahead.
He is staring intently at a small crevice right ahead of us with what looks like a tree snake disappearing into it.
I climb around it slowly, knowing that it won’t bite us unless we attack it first.
I turn back to him, about to tease him for stopping in the middle of the rock when I see his face.
He looks nothing less than terrified.

"Max?" I call out to him, “Are you okay?"
"Erm," He says, and I strain to hear him "There's a snake in there."
"Max, its fine." I try reassuring him, "I went right past it and it didn't touch me. Come on, the other teams are catching up."
Or rather one other team is: Riley and Indie- I think that’s what their names are.
They aren’t having any trouble with the mountain and make rock climbing seem really easy.
They pass us easily and as they go Riley looks at me pityingly.
“Sorry,” he mutters and then they are gone.
I turn to Max and climb down the rock to where he is.
“Come on, we can still make It,” I say, trying to be encouraging.
He nods slightly and starts moving again, though slowly and I peer down the rock and almost pass out.
We are so far up.

Aster Levian

I watched the climbers' progress on the big holographic display in Marina's control room. Only two of the teams had made it to the cliff so far--Riley and Indie, and Tam and Max. I chuckled a little. Max seemed to be having some trouble with a snake. Well, Max, there's more where that came from.

I gazed intently at the holograph, my chin resting on my hand, and Indie and Riley passed Tam and Max. They were making this look too easy.

"Marina," I said, turning around to glance at the moderator. "What do you think about rain?" I looked back at the holograph. "Yes, I think a little rain would be nice. Those two need a bit more of a challenge."

Arrah

"Wonder what will be at the top..." He mused as we climbed.
"Camp?" I replied,
"What makes you say that?" I shrugged in response.
"Well, there's a becon up there which means it has to be maintained in case anything happens, and I have a feeling the repair crew or whoever wont fancy climbing up here every time it needs to be fixed. And also, I have a feeling that this is going to take us the better part of this afternoon to climb and I don't think they'll set us out on another task, game, thing whatever you want to call it, at night," We both nodded as if agreeing with unspoken words that that was what was actually at the top waiting for us. I noticed James stumble a little and trip uphill out of the corner of my eye, causing me to smile.
"What your step," I said, but he had already recovered and was on track once again. He smiled back in return. "What other trials do you think they'll have us doing?" I asked.

Amos

Liz had reluctantly taken the rope and tied around her waist too, and together we had made a start at climbing up the slope of the mountain. Not even 5 metres up she began stumblling and slipping as if she were on ice but credit where credit's due; she was persistant. I, myself, found this no more difficult than walking on a flat surface. Glancing up, I saw my sister and her partner making good headway, each slipping every now and then but working together. He looked reliable enough. Even futher up I saw another two teams who were getting really close, looks like we wouldn't be winning.
"Come on," I said, not perticularly meanly, "Let's see if we can get forth,"
"But that's last place..." She repplied.
"Well, it doesn't look like we'll be coming first, or second. Or third for that matter,"

Marina

Things are going well in the ‘Time Game’ so far.
Only two teams have reached the mountain and the other two- Amos and Liz, Arra and James aren’t that far away. These contestants are good; we’ll have to see how they fare in the next challenge.
I glance at the holograph on the wall noticing the times and checking on the contestants.
Indie and Riley are in the lead with Max and Tam not far behind, although right now Max is paralysed with fear staring at a snake.
Aster chuckles when he notices this, “Well, Max, there’s a lot more where that came from,” he muses quietly.
I turn to gaze at the holograph once again, noting on how easy they are making this challenge look.
It seems Aster was thinking along the same lines when he glances at me and says, “Marina, what do you think about rain?”
Inwardly I nod, these contestants look like they could use a challenge.
"Yes, I think a little rain would be nice. Those two need a bit more of a challenge,” He remarks and I nod, looking along the control panel, finally pressing the button Marked H.R. (Heavy Rain.) then sitting back in my chair to watch the holograph to see how they cope.

James

“Watch your step,” she warns after I get back onto the track and I smile at her.
There is silence for a minute before she asks, “What other trials do you think they'll have us doing?"
I shrug, “I don’t know but I have a feeling that they probably won’t be getting any easier than this.”
I look down the mountain to see how far we’ve come, and then back up to see how far away we are from the others.
It doesn’t look like we will come first or even second though Tam and Max- I think their names are aren’t that far ahead.
A few seconds later Arra almost slips over a rock, but before she can fall flat over she grabs at a rock and keeps on walking, not looking back to me.
“Careful,” I say and I see a hint of a smile curve on her face.
I look into the distance and see that soon we will approach a steep part of the mountain then I turn to see the other team, Liz and Arra’s brother Amos are catching up.

Indie
We’re ahead of the other teams and although Riley is behind a bit we do make a good team. “Come on!” I shout down to him, trying to be encouraging but not sure he needs it anyway.
I look up the mountain, to see how much more we have left.
It’s a straight drop from the top of the mountain, much steeper than what we have been climbing but the top doesn’t look that far away.
I turn to Riley, who has caught up a great deal while I have been looking up at the top.
“Almost to the top,” I call to him, “Just a little further!”
I watch as he catches up to me and peers towards the edge of the cliff, then I turn to look back down the mountain and almost gasp- we have come so far.
“We will probably be at the top in an hour- or less,” Riley says and I smile- relieved- we are nearly done!
“Let’s go,” I say and grin at the thought of getting of this mountain.
We begin to climb the cliff and that’s when it begins to rain.

Riley

Finally--just one more cliff, and we'll be at the top.

"Let's go!" Indie shouted, smiling triumphantly.

And then it started to rain.

Like, really rain--huge drops pelting the side of the cliff like little hailstones. It was raining so hard we could barely climb the same way anymore. We had been leaning back against our ropes and walking up the side of the cliff, but the rock was too slick for that now; our shoes just slipped right off. We had to switch back to the traditional method of climbing--groping for handholds and footholds. It was slow going. Sometimes, when we couldn't find anything to grab onto, we had to resort to pulling ourselves up the rope, like little kids are forced to in gym class.

Frankly, it was humiliating to get beaten by some stupid raincloud.

"Come on!" Indie grunted. "Almost there!"

Indie

As we climb- or try to (we’re practically crawling up our ropes at this point.) the rain- which I though as heavy before- begins to pelt down even harder.
It is almost impossible to see anything that isn’t right in front of you and everything- even the ropes- is slippery.
It makes climbing almost impossible but still we do- or try to.
We aren’t doing too well, (Once we climb a bit we end up sliding back to where we were in the first place.) but slowly, very slowly we are progressing.
It’s hard to keep hard to keep going but how can we not?
I almost fall again, but manage to grab at a small crevice in the rock and pull myself up. It’s a small ledge on the mountain that (that looks like it might fit around three people at the most.) I can stand on without slipping and I try to look around to see where Riley is and recognise him after a little while struggling around the slippery cliff below me a bit.
“Hey!” I yell to him, “Climb up here.”
“Where?” he yells back and I realise that he probably can’t see me.
“Just… follow my voice,” I tell him and a minute later he crawls onto the ledge looking about as hopeless as I felt moment ago.
I try to peer through the rain to see how far we have to go and gasp, the rest of the cliff just above us looks about as steep as the rest but the top is only about ten metres away- fifteen at the most.
“Look!” I tell him and he too peers up at the rock.

Max Barkat


I stare at the hole, not tearing my eyes away even when I hear another team pass us, or when Tam starts begging me to keep moving. It is only when the first fat raindrop hits my whitened knuckles that I realize we need to keep going. I instantly forget about the snake; this new danger involves my teammate as well.
I look up at her. She is looking down desperately at me, her arms shaking; she must be exhausted.
"Okay," I say nodding tensely. "You go on ahead. I'm coming."
Tam turns the right direction and starts scrambling as fast as she can go. I look back at the hole. Please don't let it bite me, I beg silently. Please let me pass it safely. Taking a deep breath, I start moving upward. My arms are even with the hole, then my face. If the snake is having any thoughts of killing me, now is the perfect time. The funny thing is, even though I want to just rush past the nasty thing, I ease myself forward as if I was a turtle. A snail. Molasses. My arms are shaking harder than Tam's; my whole body is shivering as I pull myself over the whole. The rain is coming harder, dappling the dull reddish rock. I force my self to focus on the patterns that are forming and not the demonic creature hiding right next to my leg.
Suddenly it's over. I am up, safe, out of biting range. Thank you thank you thank you.... I start racing up to Tam, who is a good fifteen feet above me. It's a good thing rock climbing was a popular pastime in my town: I am quite good at it if I do say so myself. Soon I catch up to her. She is breathing hard and I notice her hands are starting to crack.
"Finally," she pants, looking glad to see me. "I thought you'd been glued to the rock. What happened."
"I hate snakes, " I say, repressing a shudder. "They're evil."
We climb in silence for awhile. At first she was keeping up pretty good, but now I need to slow my pace to match hers. I don't mind though; after all, it was me who lost us first place.
"Hey, look at them!" Tam risks letting go of the rock with one hand to point at the team above us. It's that short boy and his teammate. I try to remember their names and fail. No matter. The point is that instead of clambering over the rocks they are using their ropes to walk up the cliffs.
"Brilliant!" I quickly maneuver myself so I am in the same position: feet to the wall, leaning back, and holding onto the rope. It gives me an unpleasant tilting feeling but it will be easier than trying to grab the rocks, which are now rather slippery. I look over and Tam has done the same. We nod to each other and start this weird climb-walking action.
We start going twice as fast, and I am thinking maybe we can magically catch up and tie for first. And that's when, without warning, the clouds explode. To say it's like a shower would be an understatement. Everything instantly becomes enshrouded in a cloud of water. I can barely make out the small blue that is Tam, but I can see she's still beside me. Please, let her get up safely. I whisper, then add, and me.

Tam

It is starting to rain.
Standing on at the edge of the massivest mountain I’ve ever seen in my entire life while being drenched with buckets of freezing water is not my idea of fun.
Then Max appears over the edge of the ledge and I force myself not to shriek with relief.
He looks about as tired and freaked out as I feel.
“Okay, he tells me solemnly, “You go ahead and I will catch up.”
I turn in the direction I saw the other tem go and climb as quickly as I can- just wanting this t be over and hoping he will catch up.
The mountain reaches a flat where you can just walk straight along and I start pacing along it, trying not to look back too often.
Then Max catches up.
"Finally," I pants, feeling insanely glad that he caught up and isn’t still hanging over the edge of a cliff "I thought you'd been glued to the rock. What happened."
"I hate snakes, "He tells me "They're evil."
So he’s scared of snakes and I’m scared of heights and right now we’re around both.
Great.
We start climbing again.

Everything is silent for a while, and then I notice something above us.
"Hey, look at them!" I say and point to the tem on the cliff above us.
Riley and Indie.
We both stare, wide eyed, at them for a moment.
Instead of clambering over the rocks they are using their ropes to walk up the cliffs.
"Brilliant!" Max yells suddenly and manoeuvres himself in the same position, feet to the wall, leaning back, and holding onto the rope.
I attempt to do the same and soon find out that to start off with it is kind of easy, though it makes me feel kind of nervous.
What if I fall?

We start going twice as fast as before and soon are catching up to the other team, though they are still in the lead.
Then it starts pouring- No that’s wrong- pouring is an underestimation of how hard it was raining.
Just think of the heaviest rain you have ever seen and times it by 10- that is about how hard it is raining right now.
I can barely see anything, Max is just a dim shadow to my right and everything else is a bear outline. I try squinting but all that does is make my head throb.
Now I can tell why the other team were going so slow.
It is impossible to go fast in this weather.
Soon it becomes impossible to climb against the wall anymore (I can’t say I’m disappointed about that.) so I let go and begin trying to clamper up my rope instead
It makes things a bit easier.
I peer around looking for Max but the rain disables me from seeing far so I try to keep climbing instead, hoping that he's okay too.