A/N: Sorry it took so long to write. I was busy and short on inspiration.

Just a Scratch

Gnomeo's POV

It started out as a normal day... well, about as normal as my life could be. There was another lawnmower race about to start, and guess who's in it, representing the Blue team? That's right. Me.

I revved up the lawnmower so loud that I couldn't hear the crowd. I looked over at my opponent from the Red team, none other than the big, the brainless, the ugly. Tybalt. In my opinion the fattest gnome alive.

This wasn't my first race against Tybalt ever since my father was smashed, so I knew that by now he would either be snarling or planning how to cheat. Since he wasn't snarling at me, I figured he was preparing a sabotage. My sabotage plan was enforced by the fact that I saw Tybalt hiding a burlap sack behind his back.

I shrugged it off. None of his sabotage plans before this had ever hurt me, so why should this one be any different?

The race began. I pulled out ahead, and stayed ahead until the turn. Tybalt caught up to me at the turn, and we were now neck and neck with each other. Tybalt hadn't tried any clever moves before, so I guess he was saving them for the end. Unfortunately, I was right.

On the final stretch of the race, Tybalt grabbed the bag from behind his back. He opened it up, and I saw that it was filled with rocks, small enough to be called pebbles, but heavy enough to do some serious damage.

Tybalt did something I didn't see coming at all: instead of throwing the rocks, he emptied the bag in front of HIS lawnmower! I didn't know what he was planning until it was too late.

The blades of his mower picked up the pebbles and flung them out in all directions, including right at me! I ducked down as far as I could, but not before one of the pebbles nicked my shoulder, leaving a small scratch.

Suddenly, my mower lurched as something crashed into it. I looked up to see Tybalt's mower falling to pieces. The rocks must have damaged something on his mower, and now he didn't have any control. His mower veered to the side, right at mine. It hit mine and sent it spinning. I could hear the spectators running for cover from the out of control mowers.

After what seemed like an eternity, my mower finally stopped spinning and came to a stop. I was so dizzy that I couldn't see anything. But I could still hear. I heard applause.

My vision finally cleared and the dust settled, and I saw what was going on. About half of my mower was over the finish line, while Tybalt's had been destroyed, pieces of the mower everywhere. All the Blue gnomes were clapping. I won the race.

Shakily, I stood up and raised my hands in the air in victory, because even after Tybalt's dirty tricks, I had still beaten him.

Hearing a clatter behind me, I turned around just in time to see Tybalt's fist connect with my stomach. I fell backwards off my mower as the scene around me turned into utter chaos. The Red and Blue gnomes were fighting so fiercely that to my dizzy eyes, they all looked like they were purple.

I saw a shadow looming over me and I rolled to the side just in time to avoid being kicked in the face. I heard a thump as Tybalt lost his balance (kicking thin air will do that) and landed flat on his back. Laughing probably wasn't the best idea.

Tybalt jumped up, grabbed a pipe (probably part of his destroyed mower), and came at me. I grabbed a pipe too and we fought, swinging the pipes at each other as if they were swords. We fought for what seemed like hours until I tripped backwards over a piece of mower and lost my balance. Before I even had a chance to fall, Tybalt smashed his pipe into my hand, making me drop my weapon.

I hit the ground and looked up, scrambling backwards. I was more agile, but Tybalt was a lot bigger and, even though I hate to admit it, stronger. Probably because of his weight. I bet if he sat on me he'd smash me. Anyways, he smiled evilly and tossed his pipe over his shoulder. And then, to my absolute horror, he reached behind his back and pulled out a long thin blade, which had probably come from his mower.

I gasped and scrambled to my feet, backing away quickly. Tybalt advanced on me, and since I was weaponless, I had to use my agility to my advantage and avoid him. He took a swipe at my head, but I jumped backwards. Being me, I couldn't help but tease him.

"Missed me!"

He lunged forward, trying to drive the blade into my chest, but I jumped to my left. "Missed me again!"

Tybalt looked furious now, his face almost as red as his hat. I was ready for a vertical swipe, but I was caught off guard when he made a horizontal swipe at my chest. I stumbled at the blade miraculously missed me, but my luck had run out. He swung the blade again, right at my face. I closed my eyes just in time as I felt a burning pain streak down the right side of my face.

I fell back and I must have hit my head on something, because I started to black out. I looked up and saw Tybalt standing over me with the blade, ready to kill me, but something stopped him. Just before I lost consciousness, I saw Tybalt get hit in the face with a berry, but then it all went black.

xxx

I stood in front of the mirror in the Blue garden, staring at the long scratch going down my face. A new battle scar, I guess. I wasn't thinking about the scar though. I was wondering who had hit Tybalt with that berry. Whoever that was had saved my life.

After I had woken up a few hours ago, I had asked everyone who was there if anyone saw who shot the berry, but no one saw. However, some of the others did say that they saw it coming from the direction of the Red garden. What did that mean? Was there a traitor in the Red garden? Maybe someone was trying to hit me, but they missed when I fell and hit Tybalt.

I sighed and shook my head, wincing at the headache I was sure to have for days.

I walked over to the fence, thankful for the darkness. Peering through one of the holes in the fence, I could just see someone. I couldn't see their face, due to the foliage and the fact that they were facing away, but I could see their hand. It had berry juice on it. There had only been one berry fired. This must have been my savior.

"Whoever you are, thank you for saving my life," I whispered. With that, I backed away from the fence and went to find a quiet place to sleep. All the while wondering who the owner of that hand was.

After a while, I found a dark, quiet place and fell asleep. Tomorrow I would show off my battle scar. Even if it is only just a scratch...

The End

A/N: So, what did you think? Sorry it took so long. Writers block sucks. And yes, it was Juliet who shot that berry. She saw the whole scene unfold from her pedestal and she couldn't see Gnomeo's face, but she didn't want anyone to die, so she grabbed a berry and a rubber band and knocked Tybalt out before he could do anything stupid-er. R&R please! =D