As some of you may know, Peanut and I are crazy about Roleplaying, and it's clear, since this is the second one on this site that belongs to us. And we aren't even done with the first one! Regardless, that won't stop us from starting this new roleplay, Rude Awakening!

 

Kinda dark and mysterious title, eh?

 

As stated in the title, this RP is one on one, no exceptions. Please refrain from posting in the RP. Instead, follow us on this new journey!

 

Peanut, my amazing friend, let's begin!

Sora looked over at Kairi, flashing her a trademark smile and a thumbs up. He would do his best, that was for sure. He couldn't look like a wimp in front of his girl. So what if he didn't go to the gym lately? He was still in good shape...Sort of. When he heard the announcer blow the whistle to get everyone's attention, he shifted his gaze to him.

 

"Participants at the line in the sand," he said. "The triathlon is about to begin!"

 

Further down the line, Lightning got into her position as Serah walked away to join the rest of the crowd. She hadn't originally planned on doing this, but when Serah found out she had the day off, she insisted that Lightning take part. She wasn't one for showing off her strength, but this was a good opportunity to exercise, so she'd accept it.

Riku lifted a leg behind him, stretching his legs once again. He would be using them most in the triathlon. It was swimming first, followed by biking, and then finally running. It would be interesting, and hard, but it would be fun all the same. Besides, he was always up for a challenge.

Lightning heard the countdown. Three. Two. One. The whistle went off, and at the same time, so did she. The other participants also ran into the water and then started swimming as soon as they could. She wasn't here to win. She was here to push herself hard and get a good workout. She was going against herself, not these people. She was her own best competition.

"See you at the finish line, Sora!" Riku mocked, then diving into the oncoming wave and beginning to swim. He and Sora could do the swimming bit with no problem, as the rest of the Islanders could. They all had a natural ability for swimming well, since they lived in such a tropical area. And it showed with how everyone was evenly paced. Of course, when it came to the biking, he was sure everyone would spread out a little more.

"Yeah, I'll be waiting for you!" Sora managed to call before they were all swimming as if their lives depended on it. As they went on, he did notice that most of the people were even with each other. They lived on an island; of course they were going to all be good at swimming. He allowed himself to fall to the middle of the pack (or so he told himself), seeing others getting closer to the land than he was. That was alright; he'd catch up.

Riku controlled his breathing as he swam, not bothered by the salt-water that got into his eyes. He didn't bother looking at the competition yet, aware that he could slow himself down by doing so. Instead, he focused on his goal: land. It was about a hundred yards away, not that far at all for a triathlon. He could definitely do this portion.

Lightning was among some of the first to reach land once again, after another hundred yards of swimming. She walked up onto the land and wrung out the hair danging over her shoulder before she grabbed the shoes that were waiting for her. She sat down at a bench and began to put them on, seeing a few others already biking away. Oh well.

Riku tugged his shoes on, not bothering to sit down to put them on. He managed to tie them quickly, and as he grabbed his bike, he glanced back at his best friend. He laughed in good nature. "C'mon, Sora! Keep up!" he encouraged. As competitive as he was, he wanted to finish this race with his friend. Of course, he wasn't sure how that was going to go. Like he said earlier, Sora hadn't been going to the gym with him as much in the past few months.

Lightning didn't hear a response from Sora, but she did look over and see Riku. Why wasn't she surprised that he was a part of this? Regardless, she picked herself up off the bench and went for a nearby bike. She didn't bother with a helmet as she threw her leg over and started peddling. She had to do her best today, and not let herself get distracted by others.

Riku got on the bike trail and started peddling, moving his legs quickly in order to catch up with the other riders. When was the last time he actually biked? It felt like a while, but his sense of balance was just fine, thanks to the Keyblade. He noticed pink hair ahead of him, and he instantly blinked. No way... She was doing the triathlon?

Lightning glanced down at her waterproof watch as she rode, having been timing herself from the start. Not bad so far, she thought as she shifted her gaze to the path again. If she could keep up this pace the rest of the race, then she'd be happy. But at the same time, this pace was going to be hard to maintain.

Riku lowered himself on his bike, controlling his breathing again as he peddled hard. This pace was brutal, but he was starting to pass people in the race. He didn't necessarily have to win, but he was aiming for the top five. If he met that goal, he would be satisfied.

Lightning didn't dare glance behind for a while, just because she didn't want to see people pass her. Just because she wasn't racing to win didn't mean she wasn't competitive. Eventually, she saw silver hair in her peripherals. That was enough to encourage her to keep up her current pace, and even pick it up a little. She really didn't want somebody as egotistical as Riku winning the race.

Riku continuously glanced at Lightning as he rode his bike, witnessing her slight boost in speed. His eyebrows furrowed at her competitive side. Why hadn't he recognized it before? Maybe he wasn't as good at reading people as he thought. He continued to pedal, ignoring the sweat that trickled down his face. He was aiming for the top five, not to beat a teenager. He needed to focus.

Lightning ignored her bangs in her eyes, still seeing Riku out of the corner of her eye. "Competitive?" she managed to ask, surprising herself by even talking to him. She guessed that talking to him could be a good way to unnerve him, but then again, what did she even care? She was doing this to beat the time she set for herself, not Riku.

Edited June 2, 201213 yr by Peanut

Riku smirked, glancing over at Lightning as his pace matched hers, the two of them near each other. "A little," he admitted. He signed up for the competition, though going against Sora was just a bonus. Glancing behind him briefly, he noted that his friend was nowhere in sight. Told him so.

"Hmph," Lightning hummed with a small smirk. So her judgments about Riku had been right so far. Sort of. She hadn't expected him to have the decency to walk her and Serah home last week. That random act of kindness threw her for a bit of a loop in trying to figure him out. Not that she was dwelling on him. She just thought about it whenever she saw him around the island this past week. She worked quite a few jobs, so she saw a lot of people everywhere, including him.

"Yourself?" Riku asked, focusing ahead. They were going around a bend and up an incline on the trail, something that would require more energy. He braced himself, tightening his grip on his handlebars and pushing harder on his pedals. People were slowing down because of the incline, but he knew he had to push past it. He doubted Lightning would let it stop her, either; she seemed like the determined type.

"Mostly against myself," Lightning said as she too braced herself. Keeping up the pace on this incline would definitely be difficult--no, it would be impossible. Even the people in front of her couldn't keep going at their paces. They'd have to slow it down a little bit. She wished she paced herself a little more earlier; she was starting to feel worn out now.

"Any particular reason why?" Riku grunted, feeling his leg muscles straining as he made it up the steep hill. Everyone was closer together now, since some people had to slow down. He tried to focus on something else, and Lightning just happened to be that distraction. It was working, at least.

"Yeah," Lightning said, humoring Riku in conversation for the same reason that he was humoring her. It was a distraction. "Can't always top others, but you can always top yourself." Like today, she probably couldn't beat some of these people because they were older and stronger. But if she could beat the goal she herself set, then she'd be happy.

Riku's smirk returned, but it disappeared as he reached the peak of the incline. "Makes sense," he agreed. Wasn't that what he was doing? He set his goal today, and that was the top five. He didn't have to beat others, just his own expectations. He must have already been living by that motto.

"But I'll have no problem leaving a few people in the dust," Lightning panted with a faint smirk. She liked it when she came out at the top of something, because that was opposite to what she felt in other aspects of her life. In the real world, she felt like she was always losing. This was something she excelled at.

Riku managed to chuckle as they rounded a bend. "Is that so?" he asked, glancing over at the girl next to him. At that moment, though, he heard multiple gasps and shrieks. Naturally, his head whipped forward, his eyes sharpening as he searched the area for Heartless or some other being of Darkness. What he saw instead was multiple people falling into the dirt, kicking up dust from the impact of their bikes and their bodies. He grunted, realizing he was going too fast to stop. He jerked his bike to the side, going around the crowd of people, barely missing the handlebars of another's bike. He glanced over his shoulder as he continued to ride, curious as to what happened. Somebody must have fallen and tripped the others up...right?

Miraculously, Lightning managed to go right through the tangled mess of people on the ground without getting caught in the wreckage herself. Just as confused as Riku, she glanced over her shoulder once she was past them. They had been going at the same pace as each other, but there had been plenty of space between the bikes when she saw them just two seconds before... Weird.