Teras Seminary Sporting Event: Zhonya's Steeplerun

Zhonya stepped up to the starting line of the 3000m steeplechase event.  She inhaled and exhaled slowly as she dropped down into the starter position.  To her right was a dryad from Gaia Academy, the girl was a full head and shoulders taller than the porcelain girl and she had a confident grin on her wooden face.  To Zhonya’s left was a sleek, silver werewolf from Luna University who was in her full beast form.  The wolf scoffed, “Don’t feel bad if you lose, dolly.  You never had a chance.”

Zhonya felt her eyes burn red but she didn’t say anything.  She was better than that to give into such goading.  She scanned the crowd for her sister, the one who stuck with her and helped her train for this event.  The teal-haired girl floated above the crowd and a giant sign floated above her, cheering on Zhonya.  The porcelain girl smiled and thought back to the weeks preceding the event…

~~~

Zhonya dropped to her knees hard enough to crack them, panting.  “How long was that, sis?”  She panted.  Natasha checked the clock.  

“Three minutes, thirty seconds for 800 meters.  Just barely average for humans.”
Zhonya groaned.  “I’m not going to be able to compete with monsters at this rate.”  She forced herself to her feet before going back to the starting line.  “Let’s go again.  I’m going to try for three minutes this time.”

Natasha pouted.  “Tell me again why you don’t just bring out the steel skeleton?  You’d be able to absolutely wreck the competition.  At least try it here when it’s just you and me.”

Zhonya rubbed her arm and winced.  “I’m just afraid that I’m going to like it too much…”
Natasha punched her on the arm playfully.  “Why is that such a bad thing, Zhon?  You’re still you and you happen to be the most awesome girl I know.  I’ll be rooting for you.  Just try it out.”

Zhonya sighed.  “Okay, you win.”  She walked over to the starting line once more and dropped to all fours.  Natasha gave the signal and Zhonya took off.  As soon as she took her first step, the porcelain exploded off of her, leaving a cloud of white dust floating in the air.  Her speed and the size of her strides were impressive.  Natasha turned off the clock with a cheer as Zhonya walked back to her, rapidly shrinking as the porcelain reformed on her body.  “How did I do?”  She asked, panting.

Her sister flashed the time.  Thirty seconds.  “You weren’t running, you were literally leaping with each step.  You cleared, like, fifty meters per step.  You, my sister, are awesome!”  Natasha was grinning ear to ear.  “You want to know what I think?  I think you need to step up your game.  An 800 meter dash is nothing.  You should try for the steeplechase.”

Zhonya cocked her head.  “Steeplechase?”

~~~~

Zhonya shook herself out of her reverie and looked at the track.  Five laps of 600 meters, all along the track were barriers that came up to Zhonya’s chest.  The barriers moved up and down at random and after each of them were small ponds filled with tangleweed, plants that grab anything that steps on them and holds them in place.  The monster running the event was just finishing up explaining the rules.  The gun was fired and as she took off her mind wandered back to the last practice run.

~~~~

“What do you mean that you don’t want to use your steel side?”  Natasha asked confused.
“I think it’s cheating… it might intimidate the others and make them make mistakes…”

“Zhonya, do you really think your porcelain will stay in one piece for this event either way?”

“I know… but I want to run this race legitimately as long as I can.  I won’t turn until I’m forced to.”

Natasha sighed and smiled.  “Alright, I’ll stick by you.  Let’s try for a five minute run without the steel.”

“Five and a half.  We need to start small.”  Zhonya laughed.

~~~~

Zhonya didn’t think about running the race, she just did.  She had run a regulation for her practice and the motions were instinctual to her.  She came to the first barrier, jumping on top of it, balancing for a split second before leaping over the grasping weeds.  She landed in a roll and kept running.  The dryad cleared the barrier completely, landing after an acrobatic front flip.  The wolf simply bounded over the barrier and kept going.  Zhonya was in last place and quickly losing ground.

She could feel the eyes of her schoolmates on her, willing her to win.  Her eyes burned red as the steel part of her begged for release.  Several fractures cracked open on her arms and face, but she ignored them and kept running.  She picked up speed gradually.  The dryad was in second and two hundred meters ahead of her.  Two hundred and ten, two hundred and fifteen, two hundred and five, one hundred and ninety…  Rather than losing ground, she slowly began to gain it.

After a minute she broke even with the dryad, running alongside her.  The fractures grew in size and numbers, her normally blue eyes a deep crimson.  Suddenly, Zhonya jumped too late on a barrier and her foot clipped it, breaking the porcelain and throwing her off balance.  A weed grabbed her ankle and smashed her into the ground.  The sound of shattering porcelain was painfully clear over the sound of the cheering crowd.  All went silent as a cloud of dust covered the scene.  The dryad hesitated for a split second, the wolf did not even slow.

Then something blurred out of the dust and sprinted past the dryad.  The crowd was confused before they recognized the Teras Seminary uniform on the thing.  “That’s my sister! Whoo!” Natasha screamed from the crowd.  The Seminary supporters in the crowd broke into a deafening roar as the dryad was left in the dust and Zhonya rapidly gained on the wolf.

Three hundred meters, two hundred fifty, one hundred, ten meters.  The wolf glanced backwards in disbelief.  They were on the last 600 meter stretch.  Zhonya hopped on top of one of the barriers and used it as a springboard to propel her halfway to the next barrier.  The wolf growled and picked up speed, matching the steel skeleton in stride and speed.  But while Zhonya was an automaton and did not actually tire the same way living creatures did, the wolf began to slow down.  The finish line was in fifty meters and the wolf made one final lunge for the ribbon.  Zhonya made one final leap, her left leg all but tearing off as the stress from running took its toll.  She cleared the finish line and hit the ground hard.  She did not move for a few seconds and the stadium went silent.

She rolled onto her back after a few seconds and forced herself into a seated position, propping herself up on one hand.  She threw her other hand into the air and cheered, the stadium joining with her as the porcelain began to reform over her body.  She lifted what remained of her left leg and winced at it.  One of the ‘bones’ in her shin had popped out of her knee.  That was going to need to be welded in place.  The porcelain did not reform over her busted leg, leaving it disproportionately longer than her other one.

The rest of the track team and a large portion of the crowd rushed out to her and lifted her up.  She was not used to this much attention, but she liked it.  She looked up and saw her sister looking down.  The two flashed each other two thumbs up with giddy grins.