This is another random word prompt. My word this time was start.

“Ready, set, start,” the overseer roared.  Sunny bolted.  Today was her chance.  A chance to get a new start, a new life, and become something more than just an unwanted beggar on the street.  She had been training non-stop for the past year for the pairing trials and she would not lose.  The first leg of the trials was simple really, a race.  Be one of the first fifty through the forest and to the Doors of Combat.  

Sunny smirked to herself.  She had grown up on the streets, always running for her life, this would be easy.  She stuck to the outer edge of the group of contestants.  Too many people all together was more of a hazard than the forest.  With even strides Sunny jumped over a small divot in the dirt and ducked under a tree branch.  Her breath was calm and even.  She glanced over to see a group of kids, a little younger than her, go sprawling in the dirt. The first had tripped and the other’s had tumbled over the first.  “That’s why you only rely on yourself,” she murmured.  

Sunny caught herself as she almost tumbled down a small hill and turned it into a slide.  She let out a huff as she scolded herself to focus.  Her breath turned more ragged as the forest became denser and she had to duck and weave almost every step.  Duck here, jump over the log, slide down the incline.  Over and over again until she found her center.  Sooner than she would have thought she found the trail thinning and the Doors of Combat came into view.  With a final burst of speed she flew towards the boundary circle, her feet pounding against the new even ground.  The line that created a half circle around the Doors of Combat glowed a bright white indicating that participants could still enter.  With a rush of adrenaline, eyes focused only on that line, Sunny crossed the threshold and gave an inward burst of triumph.  She had made it.

Breathing deeply Sunny tried to catch her breath and slow her heart as she looked around.  She wasn’t the first of the contestants in the ring but she was close.  Only five others so far had entered.  Four of the kids she didn’t know.  One looked younger but the others were her age or older.  The last contestant to have finished was Arrow.  Sunny scowled.  Arrow was a rich kid from an old family of warriors and a bane to her group of street kids.  He was straight laced and snobbish and didn’t care a damn about anyone else.  Just as Sunny was thinking how annoying it would be if she was grouped with Arrow he caught sight of her and gave a lopsided smirk.

“Well, well, well,” Arrow said as he sauntered over to Sunny.  “It seems like someone let some trash in.”
Sunny rolled her eyes.  Stupid boy couldn’t keep his mouth shut if his life depended on it.  She ignored him.  “I don’t know,” Agate said.  “I wouldn’t call anyone who placed in the top ten trash.”  Sunny gave Agate a small smile.  She had always liked him.  His family was also a warrior family but they weren’t as strict as some of the others and they even sometimes gave food out to the street kids on holidays.  

“Yeah,” Arrow grumbled.  “She’s always been fast, damn nuisance, but we’ll just see how good she is once we’re inside.”  Arrow leaned in towards Sunny.  “You should leave now, before you get hurt,” he half-whispered.  

“No way,” Sunny said.  “You aren’t going to scare me off.  Just you wait and see.  I’ll do just as well as you.”  Arrow clicked his tongue at her before saunturing off to talk with the other’s.  Agate gave her a small nod but stayed where he was.  With a huff Sunny went to the opposite end of the half circle and settled in to wait for the rest of the first fifty to join them.  It shouldn’t be long.