"She's taking a quick nap. She will see you later. Plus she's naked."

Race was prepared for the icicle this time around, and managed to deflect the spike of frozen water with the back of his hand. Thankfullly Benoit didn't actually seem like he wanted to hurt the monk, so he wasn't aimly to kill. Race did falter a bit when Benoit said that his partner was naked, blushing lightly as the mental image filled his mind's eye.

"Oh...well, yes, I guess I could wait till later. Thing is, you're collecting black badges, correct? I've had the bad luck of obtaining one, while I need whites. I'd be willing to give it to you if you need it, or better yet trade it for any whites that you have. I only need one more to be finished." Suddenly much more interested in the appearance of Ailara after learning of her current state, Race tried to peer through the mist and get a better look. If anything, the mist only thickened, much to the frustration of the monk.

"Oh...well, yes, I guess I could wait till later. Thing is, you're collecting black badges, correct? I've had the bad luck of obtaining one, while I need whites. I'd be willing to give it to you if you need it, or better yet trade it for any whites that you have. I only need one more to be finished." Benoit immediately woke up after hearing Race. The monk had something to offer after all!

"Hey champ! Sorry about my rudeness earlier! I'd gladly take that black badge off of your hands! Hey, and since I like you so much, I'll give you the extra white one we have! How 'bout it?" Benoit promptly stood up and Ailara slid off his back. Luckily, Benoit's arms and legs were close to the ground so Ailara wasn't too hurt. The fall did wake her up and she was still dazed.

"Sorry Larry...But guess what? The stupid monk has a black badge! We are in some kinda luck!" Benoit cheered. Ailara perked up at the thought of Race and looked around. She saw two shadows west of her and slowly stumbled towards them. Benoit was trying to get the white badge out of his stomach, so his attention was diverted. When he spat it out of his mouth, Ailara was gone.

"Race!" Ailara yelled when she saw him and his dragon. A sudden wind made her shiver and grab her arms for warmth. When she felt bare skin, she suddenly remembered she was naked. She could hear Benoit laugh from behind the mist but Ailara was frozen in embarrassment. She was struck in the back of the head with something and she quickly turned to see a white badge. "You are already out there! Just give him that and get his black badge! And ask him for his money! And tell him he's ugly! And don't forget the fish!" Benoit called out, still too lazy to actually get up. He was fairly amused with Ailara walking out of the mist naked. She deserved it after prancing around earlier, she was all too proud to seduce the man from the fire nation but now when she is with the monk she became embarrassed. Women.

Ailara blushed, she was still too muddled to create a good mist around her so she molded some of Benoit's mist around her private areas. She picked up the white badge and handed it to Race, her white eyes on the floor. Benoit could have at least stopped her from walking out.

[Sorry, double post by mistake.]

"Hey champ! Sorry about my rudeness earlier! I'd gladly take that black badge off of your hands! Hey, and since I like you so much, I'll give you the extra white one we have! How 'bout it?"

Oh, that got his attention. Before he had been so eager for them to go, but now the sound of his voice said much the opposite. Race grinned a bit to himself and turned to wink at Valoo. The earth dragon just shook his a bit, amused at the way this was going. Fighting that troll would have been worth it despite the wrong badge if it allowed them to trade for a white one. A touch of humor in his voice, Race said "Well gosh, I didn't know you liked me that much Benoit. I have to say, I'm rather touched." If he could milk this enough, he might even get Benoit to say please...

Race heard a small thump, and was unsure what it was until he cought Benoit telling Ailara about their badge situation. That must mean Ailara was up now...but the thud? Some mysteries could only be solved if one can see thorugh mist.

Ailara walked out from the cover of the mist, her feet padding lightly on the damp ground. Race's eyes had been diverted to some stray plants that were tangling at his feet slightly, so when he raised them back up to meet her he got quite a shock: she was still naked, and he could see her. Race flushed at the sight of her, knowing that this was a view that most men would kill for. Ailara's dress from the other night had left little to the imagination, but seeing her like this only confirmed Race's early assesment that Ailara was rather very well endowed.

Race released his held breath only when Ailara managed to get enough of a grip on her embarassment to fold some mist around her more womanly parts, shrouding them while not completely hiding them. He hear Benoit spout some more more excited words, but didn't put sense to any of them. Valoo also made a few quiet comments, mostly about Ailara, but Race didn't pay too much attention to that either. His eyes focused on the white badge that Ailara was holding out to him, her eyes turned towards the ground as her cheeks blushed.

For the first time since he'd fallen in, Race realized that he was still treading water. Ralizing how stupid that was, he floated over to the edge of the lake and crawled up on the solid ground, balancing on his knees. He reached down to the slightly wet sheathe of his scimitar, and pulled the black badge from the troll off the botom. He took the white one from Ailara's soft hand, and then pressed the black one into it. Quickly fastening the new badge to his sheathe, he looked up at her and grinned, happily showing Valoo their now complete collection. Now that he'd recovered his wits that he'd lost at seeing the girl naked, he pulled the sash off his robe and slid the loose shirt off his shoulders, turning it around and wrapping it around Ailara's shoulders. "Sorry if it's a bit wet, but I just went for a dip in the lake."

Ailara felt something warm and damp being pulled over her shoulders, it was Race's robe."Sorry if it's a bit wet, but I just went for a dip in the lake." Ailara could now see Race's bare chest and boy, did she like. There was no hesitation when she reached to trace his muscles. From his jawbone to his navel, her white eyes, glowing more profusely with each groove of muscle, followed her index finger. Now fully awake, she took the sash from Race and jumped on him, her partly covered chest against his bare one. She used the sash to wrap their waists together, just incase Race decided to escape.

"HUNK!!" Ailara cried, planting Race with kisses. Over and over, from ear to ear, forehead to chin. To put it lightly, Ailara was pleased with Race's body. She threw more compliments in between her kisses, such as 'beefcake' and 'hefty', while curling her toes in pleasure. She grabbed the sides of his face and pulled him into a long and lust-filled kiss. While pulling away, she gave a slight bite to his bottom lip, feeling satisfied.

"The hell is this??" Ailara panicked and took off the sash that bound her and Race. No sooner than that was she covered with her dragons tail. Ailara kissed Race again on the lips before being jerked into the air. "Fucking monk!" Benoit yelled and fired a large icicle at Race. The icicle immediately melted and turned into water, it was a fake. "Gotcha!" Benoit roared with laughter as he flew away towards the waterfall. Ailara immediately put her armor back on and folded Race's shirt. She would see him soon and apologize for her behavior, though they would both know she wasn't sorry. She wasn't sorry at all...

"Nothing, Zindra's completely blocking me out. not sure how but she is."
"drat, OK we'll have to do a little bit of searching on our own." The forest was green and lush, birds chirping away, each singing its own song. Huge fruit littered the forest floor, and a few of them had bite marks unlike any forest animal Rogarsh had ever seen. They moved silently towards the bases of the mountain where they would have a greater vantage point to see where everyone was. He didn't know how far each player was in the game and he hoped that he wasn't to late to meddle in the first task, "Haunter, lets speed up the decomposition of the medallions hmmm?"
"Finally something fun to do, i would love to see the riders faces when they realize they don't have any medallions left, hehehehe." She sat, concentrated for a few seconds and then got up, it was done. Within the next 10-15 minutes the medallions will slowly breakdown. If he was lucky he caught all the players out, but he would settle for 3 quarter's.

Rogarsh found a nice cave and he and Haunter sat in it. it was overlooking the forest but it was hidden so no one could know he was there. He spent the next 10 minutes looking at the scroll that forest spirit gave him, what could it mean, what did it say, was it a message? a technique? There were so many questions Rogarsh wanted answers to, but he remembered the spirit saying not till sundown or the scroll will be useless. That obviously meant a new technique, but it still could be a message that can only be read at night. He put the scroll away, the medals by now must be nearly all gone, he waited for a sign, any sign. Why wasn't there a sign yet?

J. doesn’t know if he should sigh from relief that the fight was over for now or be worried that Ares is going to start suspecting something once the dragon settled and thinks about the person Blink is here with. However, for now, he thought it was best to proceed with his plans rather than worrying about the inevitability of the future to come. Moreover, if he doesn’t start his plans now he may never get it done in time. Part of J. really doesn’t want to send his baby sister off to the Earth Nation. Though a power nation, J. knew her home is with the Lights and she would miss it terribly.

Sometimes he really regrets for raising Lexi to be so alike their mother, someone with honor, sense of justice and duty. If she had grown up as the spoiled princess she is supposed to be, then it would not only make J.’s job easier, he would also be less worried that she would throw herself away for the better of others. Knowing the type of person Lexibelle is, J. couldn’t help but think through all the possibility she had planned for accepting the proposal. None of them has a good ending.

“Take me towards the center of the island Blink.” J. said as everyone leaves for the mountain.

Blink looked at him quizzically, J. doesn’t seem at all worried about the white badge appearing on his chest. “If you don’t compete in the race, you’ll be kicked and the whole plan is over…” Blink warns.

“Don’t worry” J. replied as he jumped onto Blink’s back after he pulled out four badges to show Blink,Rogarsh got that part taken care of. We just have to concentrate on the plan. [b]

With one powerful flap of his wings, Blink took off into the sky. Unlike other dragons, he pointed himself to the opposite direction, a forest in the middle of the Island. [b]”You seem to have thought about this a lot” Blink said with a hint of sourness through his words.

“you’re right she…no We did died in this stage…” J. replied feeling the same acidic emotion in his chest. For the rest of the way, the two had said nothing.

Upon arriving at the designation he bounded for, the two shadowy figures disappeared into the trees. J. knew he have to act swiftly If he doesn’t want to be caught. Furthermore, he’ll need a diversion, something to keep the Committee busy while he searched for the Prize right under their noses. Likely, J. doesn’t have to worry about Ares finding out because J. was sure that he’d known by now. This means J. can use his original plan to cause a commotion.

J. took out a potion he had sneaked on to the island, the little veil contained the liquid that would amplify his powers for one hour, a steroid banned on the games because of the toll it takes on the Knight. But this was J.’s best shot to hold the Prize as hostage. He drank all of the slivery blue content and felt power caress through his body. He then called out to both Ares’ and Blink’s power and began to draw out his masterpiece of illusion.

He watched as the vast illusion began to blend itself among the scenery, swallowing the mountain where the mini-games are held whole. He constructed this pseudo-reality and knew soon enough his illusions would the riders enough trouble. They would be trapped in a never ending maze without realizing it. They will not reach the next point of the games till J. allows them to. Of course he had thought it out if someone were to think it is weird that J. is nowhere to be found, so he had constructed himself as well in the illusion.

Now, with the riders trapped and the Committee bustling around to solve the problem of where the riders had gone to, J. can begin setting up the basics to his plan.

~~~

Lexibelle and Ares sat on a huge rock at the foot of the mountain. The young girl eyed the black badge pinned to her emerald dress as she thought hard about how to find the rest. Lexi had spent many days and nights in the Lumiere Library and she remembered reading about Illusion trolls, nasty little creatures that uses their power to run the innocent off cliffs for fun. Most of the time, their poor victims doesn’t even know they had stepped to their death when they were just chasing after a loved one on a beach or in a field of flowers. Not many untrained eyes can separate the illusions from reality and some chooses to stay in the illusions even. The only bright side to the situation was that troll’s element bend wasn’t as strong as a dragons and plus they are not that bright, their illusions are riddled with mistakes and weak mending.

Lexi knew she doesn’t have much time to play with the creatures, because being inexperienced with dragons had already put her in a great disadvantage. “If White reflects light, and black absorbs, then we can use that to our advantage. “ She waved her hands and sent firefly looking bunch of lights into the forest. The sparkles roamed the forest with speed of light, some getting refracted, some getting reflect, but Lexi’s attention turned only to those that are absorbed. Having now a general idea of where the badges she needs are, Lexi thought about how she is going to tackle the killing part as she walked towards the first troll holding a white badge.

If he had expected Ailara to react to his robe, he most certainly didn't expect her to react like that. Her hand reached out to trail down his body, her finger running along the contours of his muscles. He shook slightly from her touch, heat rising to his skin where her finger touched to leave a burning line down chest. Any of the wits he had gathered again from seeing her naked was shattered again as she jumped on him, knocking them both to the ground and tying their waists together with his sash. That was a use for the strap of cloth that Race had never thought of before, but now realized that was much more useful than its actual purpose.

"HUNK!!" With that flattering description, Ailara set about kissing every part of his face that she could, leaving yet more burning spots where her lips touched. Between kisses she breathily described him with a number of other words, but Race didn't understand any of them. His arms snaked around her waist, holding her to him tighter than the strap was, as her breath became pants. She grabbed the sides of his had to hold him still and pressed her lips to his. This kiss was even more heated than the one they had shared last night, and after a moment of shocked pleasure, Race responded in turn. He had to hold back his groan when she bit his botom lip as she pulled away.

Benoit's voice rose up as she finished, and with a rush of motion Ailara untied them and removed Race's arms from around her. Benoit's tail wrapped around her (amazing) body, and pulled her away from him again. The dragon shot another icicle at the monk, and it looked like it was seriously going to run through him before it melted, dousing the monk in freezing water. The splash of cold water roused the man from his kiss-induced stupor, allowing him to rise from the ground in time to watch Benoit fly away with Ailara on his back.

Valoo gave Race a minute to shake it off, then took a large robe out of one of the packs strapped to his side and draped it over Race. The monk nodded a quick thanks and slid his arms through the sleeves, not bothering to tie the sash and just letting the robe hang naturally on his torso. Valoo laughed amusedly at his partner, and then said "Maybe next time you should give her your pants..." Race stood up and got on Valoo's back again, slipping in his seat and prodding Valoo to go towards the finish. Valoo shook his head, looking up at the monk out of the corner of his eye. "What? You didn't think that was funny?" "No, I didn't say that. I was just thinking that it sounded like a good plan." "Oh, I see. Heh, I think she's starting to have an effect on you." That done, Valoo started moving towards the finish, all their badges in tow.

She was proving to be a real challenge, not letting herself be intimidated by him. Altrom smiled, not a warm and friendly smile, but a sadistic and unnerving one.
"Talk when you're talked to dragonkin!" Altrom sneered at her dragon. He hadn't been talking to it, and wouldn't. He knew that he couldn't intimidate a dragon, and certainly not one of theat size. With that kind of size, it must have a matching ego.

"Listen up missy, if you son't throw that black badge there down to me, within the next pair of seconds, then I'm afraid I'll have to either chase you and your dragon, till you hide behind the island officials, or I might have to come around when you're sleeping, and stomp the very essence of life out of your miserable being." Altrom's voice was cold, yet with a genuinely annoyed tone. "Do you feel like challenging fate, or are you going to throw that badge?" he said it, forwarding his hand, as if she should come place it in his hand.

His gaze was hard and he really hoped that she wouldn't be taking up a fight, it'd really ruin the rest of his day. He wasn't feeling like running around at night, killing people in their sleep, and he certainly wasn't feeling like fighting in his current state. But it was up to her, which was actually quite annoying.


Zindra looked out from her hiding, she was certain that Altrom was going to pick up a fight with this girl. He'd been in a bad mood since his day started, and after her little joke, she could feel that he was as close as ever to the edge.
She tensed her muscles, and readied herself for a jump, in case the girl had plans about letting her dragon try to snap him in two.
Her innards felt like churning icechunks, which they actually were. She'd been converting water into ice in her stomach, to create some ammunition for coming battles.

Moira looked down at the rider, who continued to spout threats, despite his position to argue. She thought for a moment, taking in what he was saying. Moira wasn't stupid. She knew anyone chosen for the games would know when to stop bluffing. He obviously had some trick to back him, probably his dragon, who was nowhere to be seen.

She spoke up. "Yeah yeah, killing me in my sleep wouldn't do much. From the looks of it, we've only got a half an hour left." She looked down at the badges in her hand. They were beginning to disappear, disolving right in her hand! Maybe that's what they do at the end of the time limit. Regardless, she'd have to hurry. She smiled a bit at the thought of giving the man dissolving badges. "Alright fine, fine, take the badge." She dropped one onto the the ground at her dragon's feet, to close for comfort for most people, and had Whisper swallow the other two. The badge on the ground was dissolving more rapidly now, it would be gone within twenty minutes. "See ya later, kid." With that, Whisper pushed off, leaving one black badge for the man, and took flight, heading to the waterfall. It was a short flight, lasting only a couple of minutes. On the way, she noticed her own white badges were dissolving, though only at the early stages. The pair sighted the landing zone, noting carefully how many riders there were; 3. Race the monk was talking with Ailara, who was dragged off by her dragon, and flew towards the finish. The monk followed after her, and Moira decided simply not to land, and trailed Ailara. She felt a pang in her side, sharp, but not painful. It was quick, and the layman wouldn't notice it; but, being a shadow rider, she had an affinity for illusion magic. She didn't notice any visible changes, but the alert put her on her guard. Whisper felt it stronger, and made a gruff grunt acknowledged her. The two would settle it when they landed.

As Takeo and Varjo both rested near the end point he awaited other riders to appear so far it looked as if only four people had been able to pass the first test. Thankfully Moira was one of the four so far to appear at the finish point. And that's when Takeo noticed that his pocket containing his badges appeared to becoming lighter and less bulky. It caused him confusion because since the moment he had placed them in his pocket they were nothing more than a pain in the ass...literally. He hadn't done anything to lessen the annoyance either. Disturbed Takeo removed all four badges to make sure that he still had all four of them and to his surprise the badges had started to disintegrate slowly. Oh what the hell is this? He questioned in annoyance as it appeared that the badges might end up turning to dust before the first round was over. Being as pessimistic and suspicious as he was he immediately thought that someone had played dirty using some kind of magic to get him out of the games early or that something else was going on. Not helping the situation was the sense of impending doom that he had begun to feel a short while ago as well. Although a normal rider might not have felt this way, Takeo being a competent shadow nation rider was very attune to other shadow magic as well, but because of the extra power amplification of J's magic Takeo wasn't able to full tell that the entire thing was now an illusion he only felt as if something was wrong.

And then that's when he came up with the perfect plan. His medal's that he needed to collect were black and he was after all a shadow rider and he had his dragon with him who was able to put out a fairly large amount of energy towards magic.
"Varjo do you think you might be able to conjure up a replica of my medal?" He asked quietly so as not to be over heard by someone who might try to out his clever plot. For a moment Varjo was silent as she studied the medallions in his hand soaking in the detail of the item, discovering it's every curve and bend and gleam. After a few minutes she closed both her eyes and began to concentrate and soon enough floating in front of them a small ball of darkness appeared and began to take the form of a black medal. As soon as it was finished Takeo was ecstatic and tried to immediately grab it but instead his hand only went through it.

"It is only a minor illusion, people will see it and when worn on your chest it will look and act like the real thing. But if anyone tries to touch it their hand will go straight through. I could attempt to make them solid but that magic would take more power and may alert other riders in the area that someone is using a decent amount of power." Regretfully and slightly annoyed though Takeo nodded in agreement. Making a perfect replica of an item and then making it physically real required more power than a physical tendril of shadow and Takeo knew it. But soon enough four perfect black medals were upon his chest as if nothing was affecting them at all and his four now half way gone medals were placed back in his pocket like they weren’t even there. At least one problem is solved although I still have a feeling of...of...I don't know if a word can describe it. He quickly questioned Varjo on this feeling he was having and she agreed mostly that she felt the same way and that it felt and tasted of Shadow magic but she didn't quite understand it for the same reason that Takeo was unable to understand it the magic had been amplified and powered high enough to cause them both to be on edge but to not be able to sense what it was, at least not yet.

Staring at the decomposing badges, Ailara tried to think of a solution. Benoit had spat the badges out when the chemicals were burning his stomach. Behind her, a troll was being ripped to shreds, he was unfortunate enough to attack Benoit when he was fuming. Ailara noticed that one of the badges were not decomposing as fast. It was partially disintegrated from before but now it seemed that the chemicals inside were frozen. It was the same badge she took from the fire nation rider and it was still glaciated. Now noticing another badge that was not congealed in ice, Ailara saw that it was being eaten away at the edges. Ailara froze the badge and it stopped decomposing. Now feeling accomplished, she did the same for the other badges and walked over to Benoit, who was chewing on the troll's arm.

"I solved our badge problem Benoit." Ailara showed Benoit the frozen badges. Benoit incased the badges in another layer of ice and swallowed them. "Ok, but what about us being lost? We've been flying in a freaking circle!" Ailara sighed, a stream of mist coming out of her mouth. "I don't know Benoit.. Maybe we should just sit and observe, this seems like a trap of some sort. There's no way we could pass by the same lake over and over again, so we shouldn't waste our energy. Besides, if we get disqualified..."

Ailara turned to face Benoit, the two smiled at each other. They both knew the tournament's record of double dealing. So they were prepared to win, by hook or by crook. Benoit laughed loudly, pleased that Ailara was willing to be sly. "Oh Larry, I love you.." Benoit puffed out a giant heart made out of mist, taller than the surrounding trees, and wider than the clearing. Ailara broke the heart, not wanting to draw attention to the two.

And suddenly Rogarsh got the sign. Now to most people, heck the rest of the universe may have taken a few more years to see it but Rogarsh saw it as clearly as daylight. He saw, a tree. Again and again and again (yea a forest duh! no) it was the same tree, the same birds,nest the whole package again and again. Rogarsh was feeling a little on the edge but he marked that up to his breakfast (you can never trust what people say about the freshness of fruit). "Well haunter it looks like everything's going according to my plan"
"You mean the one you just came up with, that's right!"
"ha ha ha" She was right, he just came up with it. But it was good nevertheless, he knew J. wouldn't be able to attend it (its like when you know your date's not coming). The second stage, the slightly more dangerous one (and by dangerous i mean death defying dangerous), when the other contestants saw what they were up against next, they would need a costume change.

At this point the dog scrappy (remember him from the forest?) Was profoundly confused as to why he had left the forest with a mouth full of delicious mango to be replaced with the most bland, disgustingly without taste, juiciest steak in the history of meat. Now you may think that in this backwards forest that mango is steak and steak is mango, but of course it is. And watermelon is chicken, onions are banana's and i am a fly. There is no reason as to why this happens, it just does, and with the endless time the forest provides no one has been able to crack it. It just goes to show how unhealthy the universe really is (mango for steak? Really?).

Rogarsh was reveling in the glory which is meddling in others affairs and getting away with it while they flail around hopelessly and try to figure out why their pocket is feeling a little lighter. It was glorious, and what made it better was chicken the size of a watermelon on a grill ( special coal, no smoke, no wives storming into the backyard to see why there's smoke in her yard). After the best chicken of his life Rogarsh set off with haunter to the underground bunker which was under the arrival area of the second stage. He wanted to see how many had made it after his medal prank. Twenty miles from arriving he dove into the ground and went spelunking for a while, and found him self in that same bunker. Two of his spies currently occupied it, Jerg and Jrog. Not twins not even remotely connected other than working for him. "Whats going on?"

Altrom gasped when the girl had left. His arm was still too beaten to be good in a fight, and Zindra would never be able to take on oth a dragon and a rider by herself, so he was happy that she'd taken the bait.
He hurried over, and grabbed the badge, noticing that it was falling apart, slowly dissolving itself in his hands. "Rogarsh." he sneered under his breath. "Why doesn't he tell me stuff like this!?" he said, angrily throwing it at Zindra. Zindra had just come out of hiding, when the badge was thrown at her.
"Hey!" She snapped at him. "Don't take it out on me, that you're having a bad day!" Her blue eyes had a dangerous gleam, that made Altrom's throat dry, and gave him a nervous twitch in his neck. She didn't seem to be in a much better mood, since they'd flewn around looking for those badges.
It was probably because that troll had tricked her earlier. At the thought Altrom was about to smirk at her, but he quickly decided against it.

He walked over to her, picking up the black badge on the way. And when he got to her, he jumped up in the saddle, and looked in the saddlebag where he'd put all the other badges. He could see that fragments were falling off, and bits of white were actually staining the insides of his saddlebag.
"We'd better hurry." he said quietly. "Oh, NOW you're calm! Seriously Altrom, pull yourself together! It's just a girl after all!" Zindra said sharply, as she lifted off from the ground.
Altrom looked at her. How the hell could she know such things!? She'd been out "playing" with another dragon after all. "Yeah, yeah Zindra. I'll be focused, I'll be focused..."

As they drew nearer to the rallying point, Altrom leant in to check the badges. the white ones were as good as gone, only bunches of white dust, with unexplainable chunk in. The blacks one were harder to see, but he could still make out the four of them.
They were only a little away from the waterfall... they'd probably make it... probably...

Ares~
Ares looked up at the sky as his powers are being called upon from another force. His nostrils flared as he felt his powers being amalgamated into that of Blink’s. However, before his annoyance could flame into full anger, a fact suddenly hit him square in his face. Blink and J. ... Blink is J.’s dragon. J.’s attitude... J. was in love with.... The gold dragon’s stared went a rather odd blank looking glaze. He then looked at the young girl concentrating quizzically before looking down to make his decision. His allegiance is still with his master. Is not like Ares has an animosity towards Lexibelle and he felt kind of guilty for doing this to her. After all, he didn’t mind the days spent with the girl, but his true master is the one he knows he must obey.

Lexibelle~
Something strange was happening, that’s the best Lexi could explain it. It was an eerie alien feel, as if her lights are being refracted and reflected not according to the laws of physics, as if something pseudo-physical is covering the forest like a thin blanket of fog. Some of the badges that she had originally searched for with her lights had dissolved to dust before the next oscillation hits them. “Let’s go Ares, Something is not quite right.”

Seeing the dragon jerk at her words, Lexi looked at him closer. She had never seen Ares being so aloof. Granted that he doesn’t speak much to her anyways, but he always had a focus and directed gaze. Now to her, the proud beast seemed rather lethargic. The young girl was sure that she hadn’t use that much of the dragon’s powers. It is, after all, just some minute element bending. However, Lexibelle doesn’t have the time to ponder on such small principles, she needs to move fast if she want to move to the next round.

Locating the abominable creatures had been the easy task; she just has to figure out how to get the badges away from them. Fighting them one by one, would have been a good idea if she had more time. However, she doesn’t have such luxury. Instead, with only thirty minutes left, Lexibelle need a fast working plan to get what she needs before it’s too late. Foraging through the landscape before her, Lexi pinpointed the four with still stable badges. Her lights dug and felt through the trees like her extended hands. Then an idea hits her. A small smile crept on to her face as she thought, Why fight when I can just take what I need?...

“Ares, you feel the two trolls to the north?” When Ares nodded, Lexi continued, “Lure them over to the east, be careful they’ll make illusions to trick you. When they do, refract the lights and shadows forward to the east and watch my little magic trick happen.” As her words feel, Ares lift off towards the north, while she, herself, walked towards the south.

Not too far to the south, she noticed the two trolls that she had felt with her lights. The two had yet to notice her. Using the dense vegetation as a shield, she hid behind the massive trunk of an ancient tree. Taking a deep breath in to prepare herself, the young princess picked up two stones from the forest floor and stepped out from her hiding stop into the clearing where the two ugly boars like creatures roam.

”Hey ugly!” she yelled at them while throwing the two stones at them. One of the stone bounced off one of their heads, while the other wasn’t as accurate and had landed right beside the second troll. “Why do trolls cross the road?” She yelled at them and paused for effect, “because they’re pa-trolling the grounds for shiny glass!” She laughed and pointed. “Ohoh try this one! Why did the farmer shovel trolls into his field? ... because it was so ugly and stinky that the farmer mistook it for a pile of manure!” Once again she laughed obnoxiously. This time she realised, the two fuming trolls had closed in on her dangerously. Image around her switched from the calm forest to a threatening dark canyon with hissing lava below her feet. She realized, this is the time to run.

Knowing her eyes would only put her at a disadvantage; she closed them and let her lights be her guide. Daringly ignoring the blaring warning her mind is screaming, Lexi took a step into the canyon. Half expecting a grand fall resulting in agonizing death, the young girl was relieved when her foot hit solid ground. She dashed with the trolls right at her heels. It was unfortunate that she was moving too fast to sort out the details her lights sent her, as branches and leaves tore at her clothing and whipped her body. Lexi knew though, she rather have the wooden whips beat her to scratches and bruises than to trip and have the two trolls at her. She can’t even imagine the horrid death she would go through with the spiked clubs the trolls held.

Heart thumping, knee popping, muscle cramping, brain ringing, lungs squeezing...and star seeing? Lexi knew she doesn’t have long before her knees would buckle beneath her and she would be served to the two fuming trolls steps behind her. Then her lights felt the shape of the dragon. Never in her life had she been so glad to see Ares. Her footfalls quickened and her eyes flashed open. With a blinding moment, she saw the clearing border, where the blanket of trees end and the carpet of grass start. As she approached the edge, she gathered her strength to her calves and with a deep plié, she launched herself into the air. Her legs kicked from fifth to second position and with an assemblé she returned to fifth position this time with her back leg forward, executing a perfect blisé. Her ballet madam would have been proud. However, he rush of accomplishment soon fell to horror as her body began to drop, where is Ares? Suddenly a knock took the air out of her lungs; the pain was met with relief as the hardness that hit her stomach was the claws of the golden dragon. She watched as the four trolls ran into the clearing and fall through the deep grass into the actual cliff their own illusions had covered.

Smilingly brightly, Lexibelle was glad to feel the wind running through her hair. She let Ares to swoop down to the edge, on the top of the escapement. She climbed down to the ground and watch the trolls groaned and moaned below. Ares, glided down to pick out the badges as Lexi cheered. Then suddenly something caught her eyes, one of the trolls seemed to have dissipated a little and snap back to its original form. The young lumieré rubbed her eyes, thinking it might have been her eyes messing with her, then remembered with horror that the trolls are masters at illusion. However, before she could open her mouth to let out a cry for the dragon, the back of her head was met full on with the accelerated hardness of a club. Everything went blank.

Race and Valoo were nearly to the finishing point by now, with all badges in tow. Race was satisfied with their performance in this stage, but he was even happier that they wouldn't have to deal with anymore trolls. Laughing at himself slightly, he knew that he'd walk away from this game with a new hatred for trolls that he'd harbor for the rest of his life. He leaned back on the spine that he used as a chair and looked up at the sky, enjoying the calm while he could.

Race felt a sudden nag in the back of his head, and he sat up in attention as he patted Valoo's side, telling him to stop. But Valoo just shook his hand off, and with a start Race realized that the dragon had already stopped. Valoo sniffed at the air, turning his head from side to side, and after a moment he said "That Lexi girl, you put tabs on her, didn't you? She just blinked out." Race's breath hitched, glad not for the first time that Valoo's ability to sense his surroundings was better than his own. Farseeing worked by picking up the signals that everything gave off, sort of like echolocation. Race had memorized Lexi's signal so that he could find her easily, a trick that Valoo and him and dubbed 'Tabbing'.

Apparently, Lexi was in danger; if her signal got muted, it meant that she was either knocked out or hidden by magic. Neither of those seemed like a very good state to be in given the circumstances, so Race's danger alarm was flaring. "Yeah, I tabbed her. She's in trouble, we have to help her." Valoo nodded and turned around, charging through the forest in the direction where her signal last flared.

It was true, they had to help her, it had become their mission. They may not have gotten the message yet, but as soon the prince got her acceptance, Race knew he'd send orders right away for him to guard her with his life. She may not have known it, but the second she had accepted the prince's proposal, she had made her life more important than Race's in the Earth Kingdom's eyes. That was a depressing thought...but Race didn't mind too much. The prince and him had a streak of bad blood that stretched quite a ways back, so this wasn't anything new. Besides, Lexi seemed like a nice enough girl, so hopefully it wouldn't be that bad watching after her.

Valoo halted in the spot just below where Lexi had been attacked, and the dragon and rider noticed the corpses of several trolls around the place. Race whistled as he looked around, and said "Well, at least she didn't go down without a fight." Valoo just snorted as he sniffed around, trying to find a trail without much luck. Race patted Valoo on the neck and told him to fly up so they could get a better view, and the dragon did so, flying around a little bit above the tree level. Race scanned the ground, picking out several trails leading from the spot of that attack, and knowing that the troll (Race had guessed that a troll had taken Lexi) could have taken any one of them.

Race didn't know if the troll would actually hurt her or if it would just hold her until the end of the round, but because he didn't know, he couldn't afford to waste time checking each of the paths. He had Valoo fly higher so he could see where each of the paths lead to. Most of them just branched off into the forest, but one of them led into a cave set against the cliff face that looked promising. Race motioned for Valoo to check it out, and the dragon dived down and into the cave. It was quite a large cave, big enough for a dragon to curl up in. And that was exactly what was happening: Lexi's dragon was curled up around the girl protectively, both of them chained to the ground with thick chains like they use in dungeons. Lexi had her feet and hands bound together while the dragon was held by a chain collar that was fixed to a spike in the ground. They were both asleep and breathing normally, looking for all manner and purposes as though they had fallen asleep naturally.

Because the cavern was already filled with Ares, Valoo had to wait outside the cave while Race went in and tried to rouse the girl and her dragon. The troll was nowhere to be seen, but that didn't mean he was far away; they needed to get Lexi out of there now, while they had a chance. Coming up to the sleeping dragon, Race tried shake the sleeping Lexi awake, taking hold of her shoulders and shaking her softly at first, then rather roughly when she didn't respond. He patted her cheek, and when she still didn't come to, he pulled her eyelids up to reveal milky eyes. The troll must have put her to sleep magically, which meant that he likely did the same to the dragon.

Race then tried to remove the chains bonding them, but that didn't seem to work either. The cuffs on Lexi didn't have any joints or hinges to exploit, the whole thing one flawless piece of continuous metal. No matter how much he tugged, and he could tug pretty hard, the spike keeping the dragon tied down wouldn't budge from its spot. Valoo was watching Race intently, so he wasn't prepared when someone ran into his side with enough force to knock him down. It didn't matter if he had been ready for it or not, since he couldn't see what it was that ran into him anyway, but Valoo knew what it was without seeing it. Turning back to the cave, he shouted "Race, the Troll is back! Watch yourself, I'm coming."

Thanks to Valoo's warning, Race was able to turn around block the strike from the invisible troll just in time. He spun around and held his arms above his chest in an 'X', and the troll's punch struck right in the center of the cross. The force of the punch nearly threw Race off-balance, but he stood his ground as the troll materialized in front of him. This one wasn't the same kind of troll from before, it was far taller and bigger, and looked quite a bit stronger.

Shaking the beast's fist off, Race leaned back and kicked the troll straight in his chest; it did get thrown back, but because it was so big and heavy, Race felt as if he'd just kicked the cave wall. As the troll stepped outside, shaking off the momentum of the kick, he came into the Valoo's range. The dragon wasted no time in pouncing onto the troll, throwing him to the ground and embeding his claws into the troll's thick skin. The creature howled and shoved the dragon off, then stood up shakily as Valoo prowled around a little ways from him like a predatory cat.

The troll raised both arms above his head, getting ready to crush the dragon with a sledgehammer punch. Sadly, the troll was not nearly as fast as it was strong, so Valoo pounded the ground with his foot, causing a pillar of rock to extend from the ground and pierce into the troll's chest. Both wounded and stopped from attacking, the troll just stood there stunned as Race ran out of the cave, scimitar drawn. The monk ran straight for the pillar and didn't break speed when he hit it, running straight up the face of the rock. He halted when he got to the top, swinging his sword around and then struck down, stabbing it straight through the troll's neck. He pulled the blade back out of its throat and jumped off of the rock, spinning once in the air and landing back on his feet near Valoo.

Once again choosing to burry an enemy, Valoo thumped on the ground again, turning the ground beneath the troll into quicksand that hardened back up when the thing was completely submerged. Race didn't stay to watch the show, already running back into the cavern to see if there were any changes in Lexi's prison now that the troll was dead. Everything looked the same for a moment, but then everything flickered out: Lexi, Dragon, and chains. He was staring at an empty spot, and he would have just walked away angrily if he hadn't looked up and seen Lexi hanging from the roof of the cavern.

Race grinned when he saw how high she was, and backed out of the cavern to give himself some running room. Once he had enough, he sprinted forward, again not stopping when he reached the cave wall. He kept running straight up the wall, trusting his momentum to keep him straight, and after a few seconds of running, reached Lexi. Her feet were chained to the ceiling making her hang upside down, so as he passed, Race cut the chain with his scimitar, shattering the weak links of the chain with his blade. He pushed off from the ceiling so he fell with her, and he caught her in mid-air. Landing safely on the ground with the girl in his arms, he let out a happy sigh; that was more fun than fighting the troll.

Carrying Lexi bridal-style, Race stepped outside of the cave and walked up to Valoo. The dragon used his power to raise the platform of land Race was on to create an elevator up to his seat, which the monk used to climb into his seat while his hands were full. Once he was in his seat, he lifted the girl's torso up so he could get a better look at her head. She'd been struck by something, and there was a bit of matted blood where the bump was. He reached back into the pack strapped to Valoo's side and pulled out his waterskin, and used the water to clean the blood from the wound. That done, he took the sash from his robe that he currently wasn't using and used it as a bandage to tie around her head.

Satisfied with the amount of first-aid he could do given the circumstances, Race motioned for Valoo to fly towards the finish of the round. Lexi's dragon hadn't been anywhere in sight, perhaps he had gone to the finish to get help for his rider. If so, they'd find him there, but if not...Race's job was only to protect Lexi, not her dragon. Either way, Valoo took off towards the finish, and this time he took off flying rather than charging, knowing that a bumpy ride through the forest wouldn't be ideal for a princess with a head injury. Especially if said princess was in the hands of a monk who didn't know the meaning of the word "delicate".

People weren't arriving as quickly as Rogarsh thought they would. This was going better than he thought, far better than he hoped. He wanted to prolong the fun for as long as possible killing off one or two riders each stage, but now it seemed he was going to completely wipe half of the competition in one blow. Vici would be proud, oh so very proud. That reminded him of the scroll he was given, he took it out again. It was normal parchment with black taboo ink design making it seem that much more magical. But the biggest attraction of the whole thing was the seal, it was made of a strangely of a slow burning blue flame that seemed to give off no heat, but it had died a little since he last saw it. And he wondered what it could be, he really thought it out. He sat down on the ground and began to mumble to himself while using a stick to make strange patterns in the ground. If you put a beard on him and gave him a marker and cardboard you'd have a man who can't get a job to save his life.

After a while of this he moved, to itch his back then got back to the task at hand. "Uh sir, you okay? said Jerg.
"No use Jerg he won't budge once he starts. The boss hit him a few times a while ago to no avail."
"right, were being ordered around by a man with the opposite of an attention deficit, I don't know what to think now."
"Well all we know is that in a hour or so he'll jump up, scream ureka for a while and then go all serious and do a bit of ordering around."
"Right, lets get ready to muffle him." And if fact after about and hour or so Rogarsh made no attempt to jump up and run around like a girl. he continued to sit there. A little boring eh?

People weren't arriving as quickly as Rogarsh thought they would. This was going better than he thought, far better than he hoped. He wanted to prolong the fun for as long as possible killing off one or two riders each stage, but now it seemed he was going to completely wipe half of the competition in one blow. Vici would be proud, oh so very proud. That reminded him of the scroll he was given, he took it out again. It was normal parchment with black taboo ink design making it seem that much more magical. But the biggest attraction of the whole thing was the seal, it was made of a strangely of a slow burning blue flame that seemed to give off no heat, but it had died a little since he last saw it. And he wondered what it could be, he really thought it out. He sat down on the ground and began to mumble to himself while using a stick to make strange patterns in the ground. If you put a beard on him and gave him a marker and cardboard you'd have a man who can't get a job to save his life.

After a while of this he moved, to itch his back then got back to the task at hand. "Uh sir, you okay? said Jerg.
"No use Jerg he won't budge once he starts. The boss hit him a few times a while ago to no avail."
"right, were being ordered around by a man with the opposite of an attention deficit, I don't know what to think now."
"Well all we know is that in a hour or so he'll jump up, scream ureka for a while and then go all serious and do a bit of ordering around."
"Right, lets get ready to muffle him." And if fact after about and hour or so Rogarsh made no attempt to jump up and run around like a girl. he continued to sit there. A little boring eh?

As Altrom was close enough to the waterfall, he began decending. Slowly and most of all, with a grace.
He was more than certain that he'd have to explain something about this to the judges. That'd be interesting indeed.

As the circled down, he took out one of the badges to examine it a little closer... Liquid. A liquid was dissolving the thing slowly. That could work to his advantage.
As he landed, judges and officials came running to make sure he didn't need any medical assistance whatsoever.
"Trickery and cheating!" Altrom bellowed as they drew closer. "Someone's been modifying these! They're dissolving in my bare hands!"
The officials nearly all stopped at that, looking at the young man in disbellief. "What did he just say?" one of them muttered.

"I doubt they're supposed to do this!" Altrom yelled, as he threw the remains of a pair of white badges on the ground.
A single official gasped, but the rest became very quiet. Cheating was very serious, at this competition.
"We must investigate this imediatly!" one of the elder officials said, taking charge of the group. He was a little taller of the others and had an aura of authority.

"No need to investigate! It was done with liquids, and certainly swapped with the real ones in the darkness of night. Obviously it was done by sneaky Dark Nation riders, and masterfully crafted by a water nation rider! Then you're down to five people!" Altrom said, putting the group on a false trail.
"But there is 3 Dark Nation riders and YOU are one of the two water nation riders!" One of them called.
"Indeed, but I was more than immobile yesterday, as I was hit by the searing lights of a Light Nation rider! I was of course taken away together with Rogarsh and J. which might seem suspicious. But as the saying goes; Innocent untill the opposite is proven." Altrom said, trying to head of the disastrous accusition.

"I say that you ought to investigate right away!"