The Fastest Finish

by Catherine Hapka

  Thirty-One

  “This is fun,” Kevin said, reaching for another handful of pretzels. The whole team was hanging out in the hotel suite he shared with Ty and JJ. Most of them were sitting on the couch or the floor so they could reach the pizza and other snacks that the Santiagos had dropped off for them a little while ago. But Izzy was lounging in the chair by the window, sipping on a water and flipping through the channels on the TV.

  “Hey, check it out!” she called suddenly, interrupting Mackenzie’s chatter about the top contenders from the first day’s competition. “We’re on TV!”

  “What?” Kevin hopped to his feet and hurried closer. The others followed.

  The local news was on. A reporter was standing in front of a big sign with the JNC logo on it.

  “. . . and we’re not even allowed to show our viewers a peek at the course,” she said with a smile. “You’ll have to wait until the show airs to see what devilish tests the producers have concocted for their young ninjas this time. I’ll definitely be tuning in—​I hope you all do, too!”

  She said a few more words about how much local businesses were enjoying having the junior ninjas in town. But Kevin wasn’t listening anymore.

  “This is so cool!” he exclaimed. “I’m really glad my mom let me come.”

  Mackenzie stepped over and gave him a hug. “Me, too,” she said. “It wouldn’t be the same without the whole team here!”

  JJ nodded. “I’ll definitely need all of you cheering me on tomorrow,” he said. “Otherwise I might die of nervousness.”

  “No, you won’t.” Ty laughed. “You’re going to do great. Especially after Iz and Noah showed you how to do it. Right, guys?” He grinned at Izzy and slapped Noah on the back.

  Kevin raised an eyebrow. He’d noticed that Ty and Noah seemed friendlier toward each other today. What had happened to change Ty’s mind about the newest member of their team? Kevin had no idea, but he was glad.

  When the news segment about the show ended, Izzy yawned, clicked off the TV, and stood up. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m tired,” she said. “We should all get to bed early so we’re ready for tomorrow.”

  Kevin was a little disappointed that the party was breaking up. But he knew Izzy was right. JJ, especially, needed some rest.

  “See you in the morning,” he said. “I can’t wait!”

  Thirty-Two

  Ty whooped as Vince, the red-haired kid from semis, raced up the Crazy Cliff. The final day of competition had been under way for a couple of hours, and Ty was having a great time. He still wished he could be competing himself, of course. But cheering his friends on was fun, too.

  “Oh, no!” Mackenzie cried as Vince wiped out on the very first ball of Round and Round.

  “That one looks really hard,” JJ said, sounding nervous as he leaned on the metal fence that separated them from the course. “A lot of people are going down on those balls. Even Noah.”

  “You can do it.” Ty clapped him on the back. “You’re getting better at the balance stuff all the time.”

  JJ didn’t say anything. Ty turned to watch the next ninja on course, a girl with freckles and wild, curly brown hair. She did pretty well, but fell on the Loco Ladder.

  Mackenzie had grabbed a copy of the run order on the way in that morning. She consulted it, then gasped.

  “Guess who’s up next?” she said. “Benny the Beast!”

  Sure enough, Benny stepped up to the start mat. He looked strong—​he looked confident. Ty thought back to the luncheon on Saturday, when Benny had bragged about winning. But that was just trash talk. Lots of athletes did it, including Ty himself. It didn’t mean that Benny was really as confident as he seemed.

  “Maybe he’ll choke,” Ty said. “This is a lot of pressure. I bet he’s super nervous.”

  “He doesn’t look nervous,” Izzy commented.

  That was true. Benny smiled and waved to the crowd while his package played. Then he leaped onto the course, finishing the first few obstacles so fast that Ty barely had time to react as he watched.

  “Wow, he’s super speedy!” Mackenzie exclaimed.

  “I wonder if he’ll beat Chen’s time,” Noah added.

  The Mighty Mini had had the fastest time so far. A couple of ninjas had come pretty close, but no one had been able to beat her.

  Benny started scaling the Loco Ladder. “Did he just skip a level of holes?” Noah exclaimed.

  “Yeah.” Ty was amazed. He knew how hard that obstacle was even if you used all the holes. Benny was really strong if he could reach up and skip a level!

  Benny had no trouble with the Crazy Cliff, and he sped through the next few obstacles as well. Before Ty knew it, Benny was powering up the Wall Crawl. When he reached the top, the whole place exploded in applause.

  “Wow! Wow!” Mackenzie yelled. “That was amazing!”

  Kevin was squinting at the timer. “He did it!” he cried. “He beat Chen by like four seconds!”

  Ty noticed that JJ was the only one not cheering. His face was pale and he looked anxious.

  “You okay?” Ty asked.

  “Not really.” JJ laughed, but it sounded weird. “I mean, should I even bother to take my turn? Some of these people are incredible! There’s no way I can beat a performance like that.” He glanced toward Benny, who had his arms raised in a victory dance atop the Wall Crawl.

  “Are you kidding me?” Ty frowned at him. “You’d better not even think about dropping out!”

  “Why not?” JJ stared at him. “If I do, maybe you can take my place.”

  For a split second Ty hesitated, thinking about that. What if . . .

  But Mackenzie was already squealing with dismay. “No way!” she exclaimed. “JJ, you have to compete!”

  “She’s right,” Ty said, knowing it was the right response even as he said it. “You made the finals. You earned this, you can totally do it. Don’t psyche yourself out!”

  “But . . .” JJ began.

  “But nothing!” Ty poked him in the chest. “JJ, you’re a great ninja. You’re better on the climbing wall and the ropes than anyone—​even me. Even Benny, I bet.” He waved a hand toward the other ninja, who was finally climbing down from the last obstacle. “I want you to get out there and show us all how it’s done!”

  “Really?” JJ looked slightly less pale as he glanced at the course. “Yeah. Actually, I kind of want to try that ropes thing . . .”

  “That’s more like it!” Kevin said, sounding relieved. “Ty’s right—​you can do this, JJ!”

  “Go, JJ!” Mackenzie cheered, pumping her fist.

  Ty noticed that Benny was about to walk past them on his way to the locker room. He nodded. “Nice run, bro,” Ty said.

  “Thanks.” Benny stopped, sounding a little out of breath, and glanced at JJ. “Yo, you haven’t gone yet, have you?” When JJ shook his head, Benny added, “Be careful on that Door to Door thing. The second one doesn’t swing as far as the first one—​kinda threw me off for a sec.”

  “Got it. Thanks,” JJ said. He raised his hand and fist bumped with Benny. “You looked great out there.”

  “Thanks.” Benny grinned. “It was fun. Have a good trip—​and may the best ninja win!”

  “May the best ninja win,” Ty chorused with JJ and the others.

  Thirty-Three

  “You’re next,” Ty told JJ a couple of hours later.

  JJ nodded, a wave of nervousness sweeping over him. “I know.” He watched the ninja on course, who was rushing through Touch and Go. Two steps in, the guy crashed and fell, taking two or three vases with him, and JJ winced. “Everyone’s trying to do the course so fast!”

  “Blame Benny.” Ty grinned. “Nobody’s even come close to beating his time. You could do it, though!”

  “Says who?” JJ shrugged. “You know me—​nobody’s ever going to tell me my nickname should be the Speedy Ninja.”

  That was true. Izzy had once joked that JJ should call himself the Torto
ise Ninja—​as in the story of the tortoise and the hare—​since his runs tended to be slow and steady. He wasn’t very fast at anything other than the climbing wall.

  “Still, you should just go for it,” Ty urged. “Push yourself, see how fast you can go. Who knows?”

  Tara arrived just in time to hear him. “Don’t listen to him, JJ,” she advised. “Just go how you’re comfortable, okay?”

  “Sure,” JJ said, but as he took his place on the start mat, he kept thinking about what Ty had said. Should he go for it? Throw caution to the wind, try to beat Benny’s time?

  “Whenever you’re ready, ninja,” the PA said.

  JJ realized that his intro package had already finished and it was time to begin. He’d been so busy thinking about what Ty said that he’d forgotten to get nervous!

  The nerves hit him as soon as he jumped onto the first balance step. He had never been particularly strong on balance obstacles, and he wobbled and almost fell immediately.

  Picture yourself doing it perfectly, he thought, remembering what Noah had told him about overcoming stage fright. And remember that you love this.

  He pushed off, somehow landing much better on the second step . . . and the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth ones, too. Soon he was on the mat, relieved to have survived Stepping Out.

  Then he remembered that the timer was running. He almost leaped forward immediately so he wouldn’t lose even a second. But he shook his head and forced himself to wait, to catch his breath and his balance. He was going to do this his way—​slow and steady.

  He studied the setup for Monkey Business, ignoring the cheers and whistles from the crowd, making sure he knew exactly what he had to do. Then he jumped up and grabbed the first rope.

  At the end of the obstacle, he was smiling. That had been fun!

  I really do love doing this, he thought. Okay, what’s next?

  Bar None was a blast, even though it was hard and JJ’s arm muscles were aching by the end. Touch and Go was even harder, and he almost knocked over the third vase. But it stayed upright, and he made it to the other side without getting eliminated. He’d been pretty good at the Loco Ladder, and today was no exception. He suspected he might even have made up some time on that one.

  “Climb that Cliff! Climb that Cliff!” he chanted right along with the audience, glancing up to the top of the next obstacle.

  He made it up easily, and then just barely made it through Round and Round by skipping across the balls as fast as he could so he didn’t have time to lose his balance.

  That will help with my time, too, he thought.

  But he stayed slow and careful on Door to Door, which was a little tricky, just as Benny had warned him. He also took his time on the Funky Fishnet, which involved jumping from a trampoline onto a swing and then climbing across a rope ladder.

  Before he knew it, there was only one obstacle left: the Wall Crawl. JJ stared up at it, wondering if the tired muscles in his arms and legs would hold out.

  “Only one way to find out,” he murmured.

  He pressed his palms against the two smooth walls. Then he lifted his legs, jamming his feet onto the walls. Crawling like a spider, he inched his way up . . . up . . . up . . .

  And then he was at the top! “He did it!” Mellie cried over the loudspeaker as the audience went wild. “JJ beat the course! Good going, JJ!”

  JJ was so tired he could barely lift his arms in victory. But his smiling muscles felt just fine, and he grinned so widely he thought his face might split in two. Everyone was cheering and looking at him—​and it felt great! Maybe it really was okay being special once in a while if it felt like this. Because he knew he’d earned it. He’d beaten the course, slow and steady.

  “I did it!” he whispered.

  Thirty-Four

  “He did it!” Izzy exclaimed, so proud of JJ she could burst. She glanced at the timer. “He won’t beat Benny’s time or Chen’s, either. But he did it!”

  “Yeah.” Mackenzie was filming the whole thing with her phone. “That was amazing!”

  “Come on, let’s go meet him.” Ty was already pushing his way through the throng of spectators.

  By the time they reached JJ, his parents and sister were there, too, along with Tara and the Santiagos. For a few minutes everyone just danced around, hugging and babbling excitedly. Izzy was looking for her chance to move in and give JJ a hug when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw that it was a text—​from Jess!

  Izzy gulped, almost tucking the phone back into her pocket right away. She didn’t want anything to ruin this amazing moment. But she couldn’t resist clicking to read the text. Normally Jess’s texts were very short. But this one was pretty long:

  Hey Iz, I know your at the ninja thing, sorry to interrupt. But I feel bad about the other night. I know this ninja stuff is your new thing, guess I was just feeling a lil left out or whatev. It was dumb, OK? Sorry for being such a jerk about it . . . Anyway, the party wasn’t much fun w/o u. I hope u have a blast ninja-ing today and totally slay your course!

  Izzy’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Then she smiled, texting back quickly:

  No, it’s OK, I get it. Maybe I was kinda ignoring u too—​sorry!! But hey—​u don’t have to feel left out. How about u come to the gym when I get back and try out this ninja stuff for yourself? It’s as much fun as parkour, I know u will love it!!

  She sent the text, then held her breath, wondering how Jess would respond. She didn’t have to wait long—​within seconds, another text popped up from Jess.

  Sounds like a plan. See u then.

  Izzy grinned, feeling happier than ever. Jess was so cool, so tough—​Izzy never would have guessed she could feel left out.

  Okay, so maybe she could’ve handled it better and not been such a jerk about it, she thought. But hey—​I guess I could’ve noticed she was feeling left out and invited her to the gym earlier, too. Nobody’s perfect, right?

  She tucked her phone away and finally saw her chance to duck in and give JJ a big hug.

  “You were great,” she told him, shouting into his ear so he could hear her over the noise of the crowd. “You were great!”

  “Thanks.” He laughed, hugging her back. “I couldn’t have done it without all of you. I mean it!”

  * * *

  A few hours later, the results were in. Benny was the winner, with Chen second . . . and JJ had ended up in fourth place! He’d been one of only six ninjas to beat the course.

  “That’s amazing!” Mackenzie cried. “You’re amazing, JJ! Happy dance!”

  She started jumping around, waving her long arms and legs like a puppet. Ty joined in first, then JJ and Kevin. Finally Izzy laughed and started dancing, too.

  “Is that what you guys call a happy dance?” Noah said, grinning as he watched. “You could use some new moves. Here—​like this . . .”

  He joined in, doing some funky steps and spins. Izzy smiled and imitated him, quickly picking up on the moves.

  “Hey, you’re pretty good,” Noah told her. “Did anyone ever tell you you should be a dancer?”

  “Sorry, no time,” Izzy replied with a laugh. “I’m too busy being a ninja!”

  Thirty-Five

  * * *

  MACK ATTACKS . . . . . .

  MY BLOG ABOUT INTERESTING STUFF

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  By Mackenzie Clark, age 10½, nerdgirl extraordinaire! (← that last word means fab!)

  Today: MACK ATTACKS . . . . . . ninjas and ratings and the future, oh my!!!

  Can you believe the summer’s over? I’ve already been back at school for over a week, and it’s getting kind of chilly at night. But never mind that—​I have much more interesting things to talk about than the weather! I’m sure my loyal readers are already wondering what I thought of last night’s season finale of the very first season of Junior Ninja Champion.

  Actually, scratch that—​loyal readers will already know what I thought—​that it was FAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAB!

  Seriously though, it was super fun to see my teammates on TV (again). Wasn’t JJ the coolest? He didn’t let the pressure go to his head, just kept it slow and steady and totally dominated a super tough course. Amazing!

  The ratings for the show were pretty amazing, too, by the way. The producers already announced that JNC will be back next season. Will yours truly try out again? Will the Fit Kidz ninja team stay together and go for it next summer? Stay tuned to find out . . .