The world was black.Standing on a floor he could not feel, in a place he could not see, Rusty was perplexed but unfazed bythe blankness that surrounded him. His mind told his limbs to twitch but they would not budge. Therewas no movement in this place, not the blink of an eye or the flaring of his nostrils; he wasnt evenbreathing. He stood this way, a living stone statue, for an eternity, because time didnt exist.Then there appeared a flicker of light.It was a pinpoint of red, far in the distance. Captivated by the only other object in existence, Rustystared with frozen eyes as the light seemed to grow closer and larger. As the light travelled it took onshape, morphing into something at first rectangular and eventually not unlike the fuzzy outline of ahuman torso. As it drew nearer it began to dart around erratically, popping up into the air before fallingsilently back down to the invisible ground and then dashing off at another angle.Finally the form came into focus and Rusty could see that it was in fact a red shirt, void of anyone oranything inside, but glowing with an ethereal light. It moved as if attached to a running man, the clothshifting and stretching in accordance to the mans movements. When the shirt was less than a stonesthrow away the word RISE suddenly exploded into sight, a triggered bomb of brilliant white on theshirts front.Racing ever closer to Rusty, the young man came to the realization that the shirt was much larger thanhe had originally thought. In fact, its size dwarfed Rusty, making him appear like an insect before amountain. Rooted to the spot, Rusty watched in horror as the monstrosity barreled toward him, pickingup speed and threatening to smash headlong into him. Wanting to scream but having no mouth withwhich to speak, Rusty could only stare as the massive, ghostly figure collided with him and, in a silenteruption of destruction, completely obliterated even the faintest hint of his existence.Rusty simply ceased to be.Rusty, wake up!Jenna pulled back her foot and delivered a swift kick to Rustys side, awakening him with a rush of shockand pain. Jarringly snatched from the dream world back to reality, Rusty sat up with a start, breathingheavy and coated in sweat. In the next instant he felt the pain in his gut from Jenna kicking his bruisedribs and he doubled over, holding his stomach tight and hissing loudly through his teeth. Looking aroundfor the first time, he saw that he was on the floor of the school gym, still wearing the same clothes hedbeen practicing in, still in his shoes, still in the same spot where hed passed out a short while before.Glancing up at Jenna, Rusty groaned. He had been practicing so hard he must have fallen asleep in themiddle of a rest break. The gym was mostly solid walls and the few windows it had were covered over.The dim light that came down from overhead made everything seem exactly the same as hed left it. Hespoke in a raspy voice, saying, What the hell, Jen? Did you really have to kick me awake?

bviously in no mood to play games, Jenna grabbed Rusty by the arm and started yanking him up,forcing him to stagger to his feet. Yes you idiot, its nearly half past noon! If youre not at the Amateurstage in six minutes theyre gonna disqualify you!Half past noon? Rusty lurched forward, wincing as his tight, sore muscles awoke even slower than hisbrain. Running past Jenna to a nearby window, he threw open the blinds and cursed loudly as blazingsunlight streamed inside, blinding him. The situation finally starting to make sense, Rusty ran to his pileof belongings and began frantically stuffing everything he owned into the duffel bag. He slipped his jacket over his grimy shirt and snatched his cell phone from the bags side pocket, slipping it into hispants pocket. He threw the duffel over his shoulder and headed for the gym exit at a desperate sprint.From behind, Rusty could hear Jenna running after him. Bursting through the gymnasium doors into thefrosty January air, Rusty chastised himself for forgetting to set an alarm. The pair sped across the schoolgrounds, hightailing it to the Amateur Freestyle Stage.Luckily, it wasnt exactly hard to find. The school grounds had transformed into a human zoo, crawlingwith thousands upon thousands of spectators, competitors, media crews, and contest staff. The wholecity turned out for the event. Forget the Freestyle Round; it was a battle in and of itself just for the twoto pick their way through the mobs, resorting to shoving on more than one occasion. As he ran Rustypulled his phone from his pocket and turned it on to find that he had over a dozen missed calls from Lee.Hitting the auto reply button, Lee picked up on the very first ring.Damn it Rusty! Lee screamed on the other end, Where have you been? The show starts in, like, twominutes!I know Lee, I know, Rusty said apologetically, I got held up but Ill be there any second. Are you inplace? Is everything ready?Yeah, I think so. Lee said. But this security is no joke. They could find me any second. I cantguarantee Ill still be able to do this when the time comes.Rusty elbowed his way past an overweight woman gnawing on a chicken wing and saw the stage deadahead of him. He was going to make it on time. If anyone can do it Lee, its you. Just be ready.Famous last words. said Lee. And then he hung up, leaving Rusty to stash his phone away as best hecould while at a flat out run.Reaching the competitors-only gate, Rusty flashed his Runners pass and stopped barely long enough toturn and wave goodbye to Jenna. Jenna rushed to the edge of the barrier and leaned over the fence, herface red and flush. She called out to him, Wait, I forgot to ask! Did you nail the sideflip or not?But Rusty was already too far inside to hear her over the blare of the loudspeakers.

It was practically a repeat of yesterdays entrance. He arrived simultaneously with the horn blast thatsignaled the official briefing, receiving a few wary glances from fellow competitors who had hoped hewouldnt show up. Standing at the back of the collected group, Rusty folded his hands on top of headand did his best to get his breathing back under control. His muscles ached from being pushed too hardand too fast. His skin felt oily and his hair was a tangled mess of red ropes. He could hear the whispers of the boys around him and hoped they were at least positive comments.Moments after the horn went off the same grey-haired man with the mirror sunglasses climbed thesteps of the judges stage and declared loudly, Welcome back everyone! This is the briefing for theAmateur Boys 18 and Under, Freestyle Round. There are only two stages so if youre in the wrong spotyou are seriously bad at directions.Heres the deal for today. As per Pro/Am rules, all Runners will begin their runs from the same startingposition on the stage. Todays event is being held in Jam-style: each competitor gets 60 seconds for theirrun, best of two rounds counts. Runs are scored according to style, variety, proficiency of Techs, speed,and creativity. Runners will begin their jams immediately following the end of the previous Runner.Youll have 10 seconds to clear the stage before the next guy goes so, gentlemen, be prepared to move.Failure to begin or clear on time, use of out-of-bounds obstacles, and serious injury are all grounds fordisqualification. Your best score is added to your placement from the PK round to determine the overallwinner. Unlike yesterday, run line-ups will be chosen at random by drawing lots. Any questions you mayhave regarding the event should be directed to me. Any issues? No? Than here we go.A young girl in a bright yellow event staff T-shirt wheeled in a tumbling raffle cage and set it up next tothe grey-haired announcer. Filled with slips of paper that had each competitors number on them, theman spun the cage several times and then opened the trap door, pulling out the first number.22!A lanky kid with a

Libertas

beanine in the front row groaned. Going first was a huge disadvantage in theopening round, particularly during Jam-style competition since each competitor usually built his run onthe one that came before. Huge points could be scored for brand new uses of obstacles and byperforming a Tech the other guy might have failed.The raffling continued for quite a while before Rustys number was finally called. Positioned seven runsbefore the final man, it was a good slot but not fantastic. Rusty knew the men behind him wouldcapitalize on his largely flip-less run, especially if he happened to fail any of the inverted moves. Thecards were further stacked against him when he saw that the final slot was given to the Runner whotook second place in the speed round, a powerfully built kid with a dark, five oclock shadow beard. Helooked like he should have been twenty-five, thought Rusty.The raffle complete, the announcer bellowed, Get yourselves ready boys. Youve got the customarythirty minutes to look over the course and then runs begin. Good luck.