"Good let's get going then." They closed in steadily on the tower. When they reached it was almost night and the tower was deserted apart from a few proctors standing around. Inside was a long hall and at the end an inscription on the wall. "I think we are supposed to open the scrolls now." He handed one scroll to Kan and one to Mira. When they did open them their was a puff of smoke, and their sensei was standing there.
"Hey you two, I'm glad you made it through. I thought you Nicole heads would never make it." He looked at Kan, "What cat got your tongue?"
"Snake sir," said Kai, "This person using snake summons kicked him in the chin. He bit off his tongue." Their Sensei's expression changed. "I see. Well you all have made it through, but barely, you were one of the last teams."
"What?" Kan was shocked, how could that be?
"Yes, it's not because you were running out of time, but out of scrolls. They weren't distributed evenly, most teams got heaven scrolls, six got earth scrolls, and they have all come in already. Because so many have gone through we will be doing preliminary eliminations which will begin immediately, of you will follow me. He then lead them to the center of the tower where there was an Arena and five other waiting squads, one sound, one sand, one mist, and two leaf.
"Alright everyone, line up by squads, randomly selected matches will be beginning now."
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As Riu was jumping by the grabbed Haruki head band and pulled she not only pulled her off balance and set her darling but too the headband too. She looked back and sent out her tongue. "Now we're even, and I'm winning." Dajin took off after her and was hot on her heals all the way to the tower. Riu landed on the first step and stoped and turned all in the same motion. "I win Slowruki," she tossed the girl her headband back "Better luck next time. Inside they found an empty hall that ended in a wall with an inscription on it. When they opened their scrolls as instructed their sensei appeared.
"Hey kids, miss me?"
"Sensei?" Riu said.
"No I'm Santa Clause here to tell you that you passed, your the third squad to make it through. While we wait on the others you can follow me to the arena. We'll be having the preliminary eliminations for the final there but you can also rest and recharge while we wait. So tell me, how did it go, and what took you all so long? I exspected better from you all. And why is Riu missing a shoe?"
"Haruki murdered it." Said Riu, and she's posion gas happy and paralyzed us all."
Their sensei sighed "nevermind. Just tell me how things went." She opened a door and they stepped into the arena room where a leaf and sound squad was waiting as well as a few proctors.