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It was an ordinary and peaceful day in Parkour Civilization—much like every other day, now. Ever since Evbo took over as the Parkour Champion two months ago, things have been going great. Noobs don't have to parkour for food anymore and are provided with cooked instead of raw food, the dirt sky that used to cover the upper layers is gone, parkour prison has been abolished, and respawn is back. Things are going back to how they used to during The Old Man's era. What's more, there's been a redecoration of the Parkour City. Instead of the blue and white colors, it's been replaced with different shades of greens and white. A bit narcissistic to use your own colors, but that's just my opinion. But alongside all that, there were more trees, and spaces of grass for community gathering with water features that were added. How long has it been since we saw this many trees together? It's a refreshing sight. Many players would come by the area just to hang out here. Back then, the only places people could gather in were their houses. Really, this is nice. To have the beautiful blue in the sky like this after so long of having to look at an ugly dirt sky...
...It's such a nice day...
That it would be a waste not to spend it trying to beat being with Evbo.
This will be the 3rd time this month. I've been challenging Evbo to parkour battles for the seat of the Champion, you see. Why? Because that's what we do. We start from the bottom at the Noob Level, and parkour our way to the top to be on the Champion's seat. In Parkour Civilization, the only way forwards is upwards afterall. I haven't been able to beat him once though. If I had, it'd be me on the Champion's seat.
He's a monster, that Evbo. He joined Parkour Civilization so much later than me and was even held back by so many obstacles; Yet he managed to claw his way to the top like a beast hungering for the biggest prey imaginable. There's a huge gap between him and I, and I doubt it'll be any time soon that I'll beat him. But I'm going to keep trying. Like during the time I had with the Old Man, I'll keep going for the jump, no matter what.
I've already made my appointment and I now await his arrival to the parkour battle grounds. There's no spectators today, since Evbo prefers to have our battles together just be between the both of us, even though I don't mind an audience.
Thinking on it a little more, maybe this is him rubbing some light salt on what happened when we first met on the Pro Level. You wouldn't want people see how horribly you'll lose like last time, now would you? I can imagine him laughing at the end... Damn brat. I'll beat him this time for sure, and become Parkour Champion.
And so, I wait. Aaand wait... And wait. What's taking him so long this time? All the pent up frustration I have from losing to him so many times already is gonna blow at this point.
And then, the clank of Diamond Boots hitting the ground is heard, "I'M HERE!!" Ah, he's finally arrived, his messy golden locks and striped green hoodie in all his... tired and sweaty glory. He has his hands on his knees and is panting like crazy, trying desperately to get back the air he lost from parkouring all the way here. "Give-- hol on, give me a sec-- HAaaaa..."
I hand out some water to him (not from the bucket) and give him a moment until he relaxes. Soon enough, he calms down enough and takes the water.
"HAaagh-- Thanks," He chugs the water down, and releases a sound of relief.
"You good now?" I notice that his dark circles are heavier than normal.
"Better than ever!" Is he sure about that? Well, if he wasn't, he'd have said something. "Sorry for taking so long, by the way. I was busy with the command blocks, and time just sorta flew by... You're not mad, are you...?"
Ah. The reason he's asked this was because the last time he was late, I was so angry at him that I almost threatened his position as the Champion. I've never had much affection for people who had no respect for time.
I simply squint my eyes at him. "You're here now, and that's all that matters."
"Man, come on! It wasn't THAT long." He wipes the sweat off his face and tries to defend himself with his excuses. "I was really busy, I swear it wasn't because of anything else!"
"Mhm." I turn around and hop onto my side of the parkour battle field. "And like I said, all that matters is that you're here now."
"I really should've paid more attention to the time..." Evbo slumps over and sighs defeatedly. "Alright, let's just get this over with."
An ordinary person wouldn't have been able to recover this quickly from being so tired, but this is Evbo, the Champion of Parkour Civilization. Maybe it was from the Champion Boots, or maybe it was just his natural strength. In any case, I ready myself with my blocks, and steady my breathing. I've come close to beating him before, and I can go even further than that. I want to win against him. I can't call myself his equal if I can't.
"Evbo, I challenge you to a Parkour Battle!"
"I—Evbo—accept your challenge, my friend!"
And so it begins. As the challenger, I have the advantage of attacking first. And I'm going all out. Evbo's a powerful parkour player, and if I attack him with a parkour that's easy for him to defend against, he'll get the chance to counter attack. And giving Evbo the chance to attack you with one of his stupid 360s is a fatal mistake you should never, EVER do. Not unless you're one of his fans, I guess.
Placing down my blocks, I construct a parkour with continuous jumps, a neo or two, and even blocks that I have trouble with. This is a combo I've been practicing day and night with in secret. Evbo quickly imitates the course I've set up, but I pay no mind to it. I must focus on perfectly executing this parkour, or this challenge is instantly over. High risk, high reward. Focus. I must focus.
Parkour Battles are life or death. You must take advantage of your opponents weaknesses and never let your own weaknesses be taken advantage of. It's your own fault if you don't prepare properly.
I make a run for it and step onto the parkour I've built. Like I've practiced before, like I've practiced before. Don't think about the jumps and let muscle memory take you higher. Jump and a jump, I fly. Let the time I spend in the air be more than the time that I have my feet planted on the ground. I'll go higher than this. Another jump, and another. And finally, the landing. It went just about as perfectly as it should have!
With my attack successful, it's now time for Evbo to defend against... it...?
"Evbo??" I call out to the limp body on the other side of the parkour battle field. He's finished building the course, but he's... sleeping.
"EVBO!!!" I scream at him. He jolts awake like an idiot. "What, is battling against me so boring that you've fallen asleep or something!?" I TRY to keep my tone playful and Not annoyed, but I am. He's played a joke or two before, but this is a bit too far. "The least you could do is take this seriously." I mumble under my breath.
"I'm awake, I'm awake!! I'm sorry!" His voice sounding extremely remorseful. Now that I listen closer, his voice is more hoarse compared to how he usually is.
"If you feel like sleeping, sleep. It'll make my life easier, you know." I say this both out of concern and as a taunt.
"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. I'm going, I'm going!" He doesn't make a witty comeback like usual and he furrows his brows, starting the course after a breath out.
I watch him closely as he makes his jumps. Like I've said before, Evbo is a monster. He's insanely good at Parkour, hence the reason why he's Champion. But even monsters start to falter at some point... I'm praying that he'll fail, or at least make a mistake on this course.
Evbo jumps from block to block with effortless ease... is what usually happens... But this time, Evbo jumps to another block, and misses the block, entirely overshotting it. It was a 3 block jump that transitioned into a 1 block jump.
BAM!
"EVBO!"
His face hits the floor.
"Evbo!? Hey!" I charge straight to him. Evbo groans in pain, and I support his body as he struggles to get up. He's not only just faceplanted on the floor, but he's also taken major damage from the course that I had built. He's 4 hearts, at minimum. "You okay?" I handle him as gently as I possibly can. Checking his face, I see blood streaming down from his nostril, and a bad bruise on his forehead. Shit... "Stay here, Evbo. Take my carrots and recover your health, take my totem too, just in case." I take my cape off and lay it down on the ground for him to sit on.
Evbo groans, "I'm fiiiinee," he says while literal stars are in his eyes.
"No you're not, Evbo." I'm fine, He says. I take the Ice Blocks I have in my inventory and crush them up to make an ice pack. "Here, relax." I place the cold compress on his head and keep his head tilted forwards, so as to not let the blood trickle back in from his nose.
Evbo touches his face for a second and the blood transfers onto his hand. "Oh... Oh no..."
"You realize how bad it is now, Champion?"
"Have I lost, then??"
With a sigh, I say, "You haven't. I surrender." I would hate to win like this, especially when it's clear that there's something wrong with him. "Don't worry about it too much, Evbo." I keep my voice gentle, so as to not provoke him and make his situation worse.
His face reads like that of a guilty looking rabbit. An astounding comparison, I'm aware. "Em," He starts, "I'm really sorry, man." His voice on the verge of breaking. "I really was excited to do this with you again, but I got distracted, and- and then the time, and it- it all just-"
I interrupt him before he continues any further, shushing him. "I get it. Eat the carrots first. You need to heal up."
His eyes trail over the whole of my face, "You sure you're not mad...?" Seriously, those dark circles are darker than the night right now. When did he last sleep? Whatever the case, this guy needs rest.
"Really, I wouldn't want to win against you like this, Evbo." I pull out a little joke, "It's no fun if you're not at your best, you know?"
He sheepishly laughs and mutters a joke in response. The bleeding has slowed significantly thanks to Evbo's status as Champion, but...
"Evbo, when was the last time you had a break?"
Evbo hums, thinking. The silence prevails for a while... a little too long while. This is extremely worrisome.
Our dearest Champion spits out another chuckle, and gives me a look that screams "found guilty of not taking a break".
What to do about this, I wonder. Whilst I think, I'm giving Evbo a little lecture about proper rest and sleep. The Champion Boots are making him a lot less aware of his own body... Maybe he should take the boots off for the day.
"Absolutely not!" He shouts at me. Did I say something? "I'm the Parkour Champion! I shouldn't be taking my boots off at all, they're like my symbol, or something." Ah, I said that outloud, did I?
I sigh. This, indeed, is a problem. Evbo has been working non stop to bring Parkour Society back from the brink, but he's too overworked.
"Regardless of the boots, you need a break, Evbo."
He just retaliates with another "I'm fine, Em." And then he'll say what? That he has a lot of work to do today? "And I have a lot on my plate right now." I'm going to kill this dumbass. We argue back and forth about this situation, the bleeding has stopped a while ago now, his bruise is much less noticable, but Evbo is still convinced that he can go to work when his physical and mental wellbeing is already so fucked.
"Just ONE day, dude. One day! Think of it like a day off--Hell, it IS a day off!"
"Remember that one time I tried to take a day off a long time ago? Yeah? In the Pro Layer??"
"That was forever ago; I'm sorry for trying to kill you back then, you won the battle anyway! And it's not like someone's-"
"Oh, I get it. So if I just win the battle and not die, it's all okay? Wooooow, dude. Just WOW. You really didn't care at all did you?"
"Don't put words in my mouth, Evbo. You need a break, and no one's going to try and kill you for taking the day off now."
"You--"
"Not as long as I'm here."
That's right. I've thought about it and finally came to a conclusion. To give Evbo what he wants, and, at the same time, lighten his burden by even a little bit;
"Let me be your escort for the day." I'll carry him around while he's doing his Champion duties and keep challengers off of him to keep him safe and restful. "Please, Evbo. Let me help you, even if it's only this much."
Evbo hangs his head low, obscuring his face. He's thinking about my offer, I'm sure. God, let me help him. I just want to help him, in any way I can.
It takes him a while, but, eventually, he says "Fine," reluctantly.
"Thank you, Evbo," almost sounds like a whisper. I excuse myself as I pick him up on the underside of his knees and back.
"Wait, hold on a second. You're carrying me like this?" He seems embarrassed by this arrangement. I just nod in reply. "...Can we change this?"
I am now carrying him on my back instead, piggy back style. I noticed this when I first picked him up, but he's a lot lighter than I expected. Does he eat enough? I hope he does. More stuff to keep track of, I guess.
He is warm though. Very warm... It's difficult, though not impossible, for me to feel temperatures due to my constitution as a voidling, an enderman. So, to be able to feel someone's warmth like this... it's nice. Really nice. This must be how the sun feels, I imagine.
Evbo tightens his grip on my shoulders a little, and I hum.
"Just so you know, Em, I can handle myself just fine alright?"
"Mhm. I know. Just for today, 'kay?"
"Mn... thanks, dude."