I wanted to replace the word rocket with something so badly, but there are no freaking synonyms for rocket!
"And the first match is, SHARPSHOOTING!"
"IZUMI-CHAN!!" GLOMP!! Take one guess as to who that was. Anna, of course, she was rubbing herself against the queen's huge chest. Every guy in the crowd had a nose bleed.
A man from the audience spoke up, "Don't you plan on doing something, Mitzuki-sama?"
"Like that could happen. Once she's on she ain't getting off! I might as well ask the earth to stop spinning and the rain to stop falling! Anyway, let's just continue, again, the first match is, SHARPSHOOTING!!"
You could see all the robin hood copies leap in joy with woops and applause. You could also see all the buff macho guys go like "AH SHIT!" Mitzuki reacted to it simply.
"Now, the match is set up in the grassland, follow."
Everyone believed that the princess had something up her sleeve, but that became less and less believable as all she gave them was their bow and arrows, then they saw it. A giant case, covered in a huge yellow cover. Only Mitzuki and God knew what it was.
"Everybody, spread out and prepares yourselves! This is not going to be any normal shooting range, because the targets aren't going to be still. They're going to be FLYING!! Remove the blanket boys!" The two men summoned tugged on the gigantic sheet and revealed an even more colossal box of set rockets and explosives.
Mitzuki continued, "You see, the Chinese have invented this new thing called gunpowder, which creates small controlled explosions. They figured out a way to put this 'gunpowder' into tubes in order to create a whole new invention called a rocket, or something like that. I bet, if they put these things into production on a much bigger scale, they can get a man on the moon!"
Murmurs raced through the crowd like, "Oh yeah right!", "I don't believe you!", and "That could NEVER happen!"
"Don't believe me? Jack, light one of the rockets!" One person did what was ordered and sure enough, a little red tube shot through the sky, leaving a trail of smoke and going so far no one could find it.
The populous was astounded. Even Izumi, whom Anna eventually let go of and went back on her throne, was amazed too.
"These are the things you will be shooting in this challenge!! If you have no confidence in your abilities, then give back your weapons and leave now!" Many discouraged men left the crowd, their hopes crushed, halving the crowd. But those who did stay were praying, except for Yoshitaka, as a bandit he didn't rely on god.
"Your arrows are engraved with your name. When a rocket is shot down it will immediately fall. My faculty will find the rockets, if you've shot down just one and the arrow in the rocket has your name on it, you are in the next round!"
"READY!!" Everyone took a quiver and saw there name engraving.
"SET!!" Everyone placed the arrow in their bow and aimed.
"GO!!" The two workers started lighting every last rocket. The sky was filled with red, brown, and silver, barely any blue to be seen. Then the sky came back, only to be dashed with tons of spread out arrows rapidly.
The archers took time to reload, aim, fire, and repeat. Although some warriors broke this pattern, including Yoshitaka and Anna. They shot and reloaded with the same speed as their targets, finally hitting one eventually.
But one person did even better than all of them, his name was Ryan Anarame. He was a legendary hunter. Ryan had been shooting and hounding since he was nine. The man's brown hair was shaved at the very top and faced forward. He had big green eyes and wore a plain white shirt and navy blue sweatpants. The marksman would look like a young man in his late teens, were it not for the battle scar on his cheek. With one easy, careful fling he had hit a rocket.
The endless barrage only continued until every rocket was fired. The land in front of them was covered with brown darts and red tubes that felt a quick end. Mitzuki's large crew quickly ran to the scene to collect the arrows stuck in rockets. They hurried to pile them at princess' side. The stack still accumulated as she spoke again.
"Well folks, let's start going through the names, Ryan Anarame! Yoshitaka Nakabayashi!..."
The first just smirked and left, satisfied. Although Anna felt something suspicious about Yoshitaka, because he was the kind of guy to go around mocking everybody, not just leave. Something was up, and she was determined to find out! So when her name was called she followed the ronin. First he just stopped at a bar.
There must be more than that, he is probably just there to lose anyone who might be following him! But no, it's not going to work on the great Kurauchi Anna!
She had a bad feeling about this Yoshitaka Nakabayashi, and she must find out. So she waited, and waited... and waited.
...one hour later...
The thief left the bar completely sober and found Anna lying on the ground fast asleep. He thought he was successful and started going after his true goal, the palace. Once he was out of sight, Anna's eyes opened and she starting trailing him again.
Sucker! Thought you could trick me, but I tricked you! The knight stalked the ronin, turned a couple of corners, then followed him to the castle.
He just stood there, staring at the tower.
"What are you doing here rogue?!" Anna angrily put her sword to his throat.
"Hey! Watch where you put that thing Anna-chan!"
"Don't you use chan with me you filthy little scavenger! I'll-"
"You'll what? Throw me in jail? I know the law and I know you can't do that without proof! Only the royalty has that power! Besides, all I'm doing is sight seeing."
"I may not be able to get you now, but I know you're up to something!"
"So what? You still got nothing on me! Both of us know that!"
Sadly, he was right. Anna couldn't do anything. And Yoshi saw the defeat in her eyes. Her rage rose again.
"From this moment on Yoshitaka, you are my enemy! And I will do whatever I can to bring you down!" She seethed her rapier. "I'm going to sleep"
Then she disappeared into her sleeping quarters in the castle. She had lost.
