Chapter 80: Eating Diamond Dust (Part 1)

This was it... December 24th, Christmas Eve. The day that I looked forward to since planning out the special date… I prepared to have a blast for the day and night ahead of me. Once me and Ringo were both ready to leave, Lemres was waiting for us. "Yo, headin' over to Primp again?" He asked us. "Yep, we wouldn't just spend Christmas Eve doing nothing, you know." I nodded. "Yeah, we have friends to meet up with and things to do." Ringo told Lemres. Well, I guess that's what we're TECHNICALLY doing... but that's pretty vague. "Right, gotchu. I'll take ya there now." Lemres accepted. He brought us over to the town and it was absolutely packed. It didn't take me long to notice that. "...? Jesus... People have grouped up in the streets like a school of fish. What's up with that?" I looked. "Dave, it's Christmas Eve, man. Peeps are goin' over to shops to buy stuff for Christmas at the last minute to get discounts on them." Lemres explained. "Is that so? ... I wouldn't want to get in the middle of that chaos." I sighed. "Hi guys!" A familiar voice rang out. "...! Amitie!" Ringo noticed.

Amitie came over to us, and some more of our friends came with her: Raffina, Lidelle, Klug, and Tarutaru. "*sigh* Honestly, Amitie... how do you not choke yourself with that scarf wrapped tightly around your neck?" Raffina questioned. "Uh... what do you mean, Raffina? My scarf isn't choking me, I'm perfectly fine." Amitie turned to face her. "... Alright, if you say so... Don't say that I didn't question you on how tightly wrapped that scarf is." Raffina gave up. "Anyway, it's good to see you guys here today." Amitie turned over to us. "Same for you all." I smiled. "Heeeey! Guuuuys!" Another voice rang out. "...! Arle!" Amitie turned around to see. "I can see that all of you are here today. What're your plans?" Arle came to us. "Well, me and Lidelle are going to have fun doing stuff. She actually asked me yesterday to hang out with her tonight, considering that this is Christmas Eve." Raffina mentioned. "What? Really? Lidelle asked you to hang out with her?" Amitie was surprised.

Well, isn't that revelation shocking... "Yeah, I was surprised that she ended up asking me to. She was blushing at the time, but I could tell that it was what she wanted. And so, I decided to accept her request and have us do whatever she wants when night rolls around." Raffina described. "I-I-I was blushing when I asked...?" Lidelle questioned. "Yep, your cheeks were rather red. But because I didn't want to embarrass you, I chose not to comment on that after you asked me." Raffina told her. "...! Oh, you're so nice to me, Raffina." Lidelle smiled at her. "... Anyway, I also have plans for tonight, actually… It involves me, Ringo, Feli, and Draco: A special date that can't be replicated." I revealed. "A-A special date?!" The others freaked out. "Yeah, a guy and the three girls he's had sexy times with in the past, all going out on this one-of-kind date." Ringo nodded. "Wh-what the heck, Dave?! You didn't tell me about this!" Amitie was upset. "...! S-sorry, Amitie! I didn't think you would want anything to do with the other girls while sharing a date with them..." I realized my mistake before telling her.

Please don't begrudge me, Amitie... "Y-you mean that you thought I would've just wanted you to myself for a date?" She waited for me to answer again. "I thought you would've wanted a more wholesome one, and the other girls here probably want something sexier out of the date than just pecks on the cheek. So this date may not be suited for you, Amitie... I'm really sorry." I explained. "I-it's okay, I understand. ... Besides, I already had a plan for today that is really hard to skip. I wanted to spend some time today with Arle and Ringo as a trio of best friends." Amitie nodded before admitting. "R-really? You didn't tell me about that, guys." Ringo was surprised as she turned to them. "I was gonna tell you that, Ringo, but then Raffina mentioned her thing, and Dave mentioned his right after..." Arle said to her before stopping. "... Anyone else here have some sort of plan in the works for today?" I asked around.

Everyone stayed silent for several seconds before someone spoke up. "... Not me. I haven't come up with much of anything to do today." Tarutaru answered. "Me neither, sadly. I've actually been thinking of any possible New Year's resolutions for me to work towards." Klug said. "Really? You're already tryin' to come up with some, Klug?" Lemres turned to him. "Yes, Lemres. Why? Was I a bit early with that?" He nodded before asking him. "... Nah, this is prolly somethin' that we should all think about now as well. Don't ya think, guys?" Lemres shook his head before facing us all. "... Maybe…" Ringo said. "... We might have time to focus on thinking of New Year's resolutions the day after Christmas. With that said, we should be having fun today and tomorrow, right?" I suggested.

The others nodded as we stood around in the middle frost-covered town. "... Say, where's Feli?" Ringo noticed. "Oh, her? She's spendin' some time with Baldanders right now, Ringo. Don't worry, she'll come by at some point later on today." Lemres told her. "Oh, really? Well, her pet has to feel happy at this time of year too, I guess…" She accepted what was told. Feli's spending some time with Baldanders, huh? Alright then, I hope she doesn't lose track of time... "Well, I'll be going now. I still wish to focus on thinking of possible New Year's resolutions. I might see you all at some point tonight, though." Klug said. "Okay. Bye, Klug." Amitie waved to him. "Goodbye." He returned the farewell. We watched him walk away until we couldn't see him anymore. "And he's gone..." Raffina commented. "So, um… What should we do now?" Arle brought the question of the day to us. "... …" We all struggled to come up with something to do.

For it being the day portion of Christmas Eve, there's not a whole lot to do… "Oh? Hello there, everyone! It looks like Primp Town has been faring well since that fire." Another voice came by. "...!" I recognized the voice right away. "M-Mr. Ex?" Lidelle saw him approach us. "What brings you all here together today?" He wondered. "Well, a few of us have plans for this evening, Ex. Though, there's not much to do right now, since it's daytime." Ringo explained. "Really? … Actually, I heard that there's going to be a sled race happening somewhere in town today. Yui became curious and wanted to enter it with Ess." Ex placed his hand on his chin before telling us. "Huh. That's interesting... … But where are your daughters, Ex? Shouldn't they be with you right now if that's the case?" I looked around. "Oh, don't worry, Dave. Tee's looking after them while they walk around Primp Town in the hopes of finding the event's location." The captain explained.

Well, that's good to know. "Hey, maybe we can participate in the sled race! It'll be fun, I'm sure of it! And, it'll be a good way for me to spend the day with Arle and Ringo!" Amitie got excited. "Woah-ho-ho... Hold up, Amitie. We don't know where this supposed sled race is. That's IF there even is one 'round here in town..." Lemres spoke up. "... If Tee finds it, then he'll probably tell me. That'll validate whether there is a sled race or not. Anyway, that's not why I'm here in town today." Ex said. "Then, what IS your reason for coming today, Ex?" I asked. "Well... I was going to talk to Ms. Accord alone about something, but then this whole thing came up and it distracted me. So, uh... Can you all tell Ess and Yui that I'll be somewhere on my own when you run into them and Tee?" He answered before asking us. "Yeah, of course." We collectively said. "Thank you. ... Now, if you'll excuse me... I must go and see Ms. Accord." The captain bowed before walking away from us.

After that, we lost sight of Ex from all the people walking about. "... Um... Should we try and find Tee then, guys?" Ringo suggested. "Yeah, why not? Standing here isn't gonna do much good for us." Arle nodded. "So that means we should get going!" Amitie smiled. With that, we all walked around town in the hopes of finding Tee. It took us a bit of time, but not too long. When the time came: Ringo saw Tee, Ess, and Yui around Oshare's clothing store, donning their own winter outfits. "...? Hey, Tee!" Ringo looked and called out to him. "Huh? ...! Ringo? What are you doing here?" Tee looked about before noticing her. "Me and the others here happened to meet up in town today. We were looking for you, actually." She answered. "So, the peanut gallery is here and accounted for…" Ess muttered. "Hi Tee, Ess, and Yui." I greeted them. "Oh. Hey, Dave." Yui plainly said. "Okay... why were you all looking for me?" Tee wondered.

At this point, we told him about Ex mentioning to us that there was this supposed sled race and whatnot. "And so, we thought that you might find where it would take place. But it looks like you three haven't found anything of the sort." Ringo finished. "Oh, that makes sense… And yeah, we didn't find anything so far that looked like the grounds of some sled race." Tee said before nodding. "Should we try and find it together, Tee? With all of us here, we might be able to in a short amount of time." I suggested. "... I suppose that's really the only way we'll find the sled-" He went before... "You guys are looking for the sled race, hm? It's just outside Primp Town, in the opposite direction of that of the forest." Another familiar voice came up. "...! Hohow Bird?" I saw him walk over to us. "Well, if it ain't the avian hero of Primp Town... There's actually a race that's gonna happen today?" Lemres said before asking for confirmation.

Is there really one happening today? Well, this is a surprise. "You better believe it. To be honest, I came up with the idea for Primp Town to host the race as a way to make sure the citizens can be in high spirits for tonight and Christmas. After all, that fire did make everyone glum. I figured this could bring everyone back to their happy lives, like how it should be. Speaking of which... I'll be participating in it to excite the citizens and everyone else watching from home in both Primp Town and in Suzuran." Hohow Bird went on. "It's going to be televised?" I questioned. "Of course, Dave. Any time that Primp hosts an event that has someone like me participate, that event is going to be televised; it's just like the fighting tournament we had. Though, there IS one small problem that I have right now…" He answered before mentioning. "What is this problem?" I pressed for an answer.

I just hope that problem isn't bad... "Well, uh... How do I put this? ... In order to participate in the race, you need to be a part of a three-person team. Even though I AM the famous hero of Primp Town, I haven't secured two teammates for it yet. ... So, it sounds like at least some of you are planning to be in this race as well." The bird elaborated as he looked at all of us. "That's right, Hohow Bird. If this is really a three-personed thing, then I can be with Arle and Ringo here! Uh, sorry for not joining you for it." Amitie said. "It's alright, Amitie. I was actually thinking that perhaps Dave could join me. Since he and I fought against each other in the fighting tournament, I figured it would be a nice change of pace if we teamed up for the race. ... So how about it, Dave? Are you in this with me?" Hohow Bird said, then he held his wing out to me.

You're reeling me in for this kind of handshake again, huh? ... Heh. I suppose I can't just turn Hohow Bird down. And considering everything that's happened, it would be nice to team up with him for this race. "Why not? ... I'll join you in this race, Hohow Bird." I accepted. Me and him replicated the handshake that we did during the fighting tournament and smiled. "Thanks. However, we still need one more person to fill the empty slot." The bird said as he let go. "Ya know... I could go with ya two. I'm sure that it won't be a problem." Lemres volunteered. "I don't have a problem with that, dude. How about you?" I nodded before turning to Hohow Bird. "I'm perfectly okay with you joining us. After all, I remember you basically turning that vampire lord into a statue for the rest of us to demolish!" He said to Lemres. "I'm honored." The comet warlock bowed.

Alright, so that makes Hohow Bird, me, and Lemres a team. "Raffina, are you gonna join the race too?" Amitie asked her. "... I guess, as long as Lidelle is fine with it." She answered. "I-I'll be fine as long as Raffina's on the same team as me. I kind of wanted to join the race too after hearing about it initially from Mr. Ex." Lidelle stuttered. "Then I'll join you two. I believe this sled race will be quite fun." Tarutaru walked over to the two girls. "So that's three teams right there: Hohow Bird, me, and Lemres. Amitie, Ringo, and Arle. And... Raffina, Lidelle, and Tarutaru." I counted off. "Nuh-uh. Four. Tee's gonna join me and Ess to make up another team. Isn't that right?" Yui shook her head before turning to him. "W-wait, what?! I never said that I was going to join you two in the race! I didn't know that a team in this sled race had to be made up of three people. I-I need time to think and-" Tee reacted and insisted.

Then, some hostility began to rear its ugly head. "Rrggh! Dammit, Tee! I'm gonna force you to join us if you don't come with us willingly! Yui was wanting to participate in this race and you can't just rob her of this experience!" Ess became angry. "U-u-um... …" Tee stuttered and shook. "C'mon, Tee, just join their team. It can't hurt to be with them…" Ringo told him to. "Th-that's not exactly what I'm concerned with, Ringo…" He said to her. "Tee, I thought you would treat me well at times like this now... *sigh* Were you actually not committed to doing just that?" Yui crossed her arms. "N-no, I was! I told you that I would treat you well and I wasn't lying when I said that! … You must understand that I'm the assistant captain and I can't afford to be lollygagging a whole lot, even during this time of year. Who's going to watch the ship without me or Ex being there? I doubt Ai could do it." Tee insisted

What...? But, it's Christmas Eve today... I'm sure you can afford to relax and have fun for the time being. "Oh, that's funny... because Papa currently isn't doing much of anything that's related to his duty as Captain. He even said that he doesn't have anything to do that requires his immediate attention. So what you just said shouldn't have any bearing on whether or not you'll skip out on us. God, even when you're reforming yourself these days, you act like a JERK! And for your information: I think Ai CAN watch the ship, with the help of the twins and O. In other words, you have no excuse to just ditch us here, Tee!" Ess brought up, then scolded him. "... …" Tee stood afraid. "Hey, Ess. Want me to drag him around with my power until we get to the location of the race?" Yui suggested the idea to her. "Absolutely~! That'll make sure he doesn't get away from us. Isn't that right, Tee~?" Ess smiled, which turned into a terrifying smirk.

Holy shit, Ess is fucking scary when she wants to be! "Eyyaah! Please don't forcibly drag me around! I-I'll go without any further fuss, I promise!" Tee screamed and spoke out. "You better..." Yui glared at him for a bit. "... …" The rest of us stood silent. "Huh? What are you guys looking at?" Ess asked us in an irritated tone. "N-nothing." We answered in unison. "... A-anyway, let's get to where the sled race is going to start. I'm the only one out of all of us that knows the location." Hohow Bird stumbled in his words for a bit until he regained his composure. We all followed him to the place that hosted the sled race. Over there, we all saw a familiar figure wearing a thick and beautiful scarf as the only piece of winter clothing. "...! Is that-?" I stopped to see. "It's Oshare Bones!" Amitie was happy to see him. "Oh yes, I forgot to mention this earlier: Mr. Oshare Bones will be making some colorful commentary for this event, just like in the case of the fighting tournament." Hohow Bird told us.

Oh, hell yeah! "That's great!" I said. "Heh. This is gettin' more and more interestin' as time goes on…" Lemres commented. "Oshare Bones!" Amitie ran up to him. "...? Ah! Amitie! And I can see that your friends are here, too! What brings you all here?" The skeleton noticed us and wondered. "We're all going to join the race with teams of three in mind. So, where's the registration?" I answered before asking. "Is that so? Well, the sign-up papers are over there on that foldable table behind me. Just write down the names of your team's members and a team name. After doing that, there's a tray to put your completed paper in. And when it's almost time for the race to begin, the person who oversees the table will give me the papers. Is that a good enough answer for you?" He detailed. "Yes. Thank you, Mr. Oshare Bones." Hohow Bird said to him. "Anything for you, hero of Primp Town! ...? ... Oh-! My apologies, but I need to rush over to another part of this area for something. I'll see you all when the race is about to begin!" Oshare said before running off.

He must have his hands full right now... "With that, we should start filling up some papers." Hohow Bird suggested. The rest of us nodded and my team was the first to fill out our paper. Hohow Bird listed himself as "the thrower", which I wasn't sure what these three different roles were for, so I asked him. As it turned out: Each member is set to do a different thing to help the team win the race. The thrower is someone who throws snowballs at the other teams, in the hope of slowing them down. The other two roles were "the navigator" and "the driver". The navigator is someone who rests in the front of the sled and gives the driver directions. And of course, the driver is behind the other two members. They're the one that pushes the sled forward and tries to keep it moving. Now knowing these roles, I decided to be the driver. I probably had the most muscle strength out of myself and Hohow Bird, so I thought this was good for me.

And Lemres was listed as the navigator, because he had the least muscle strength of the team. After that, we had to come up with a team name. "What would be a good name for us…?" I thought out loud. "I figured that since we were the three most notable people that stopped the vampire lord, I thought about giving us the team name: Team Hero! It only makes sense." Hohow Bird suggested. "Yeah! Let's go with that!" I nodded. "Definitely." Lemres agreed. "Then it's decided! Team Hero!" Hohow Bird wrote the team name down. After that, he placed our paper in the tray and we walked back to the others. "Alright, who'll write down their paper next?" I asked. "Us." Yui answered. She, Ess, and Tee went over to the table to fill theirs out.

The whole process repeated until all of our teams were registered. "Soooo, how long is it until the proceedings for the race go underway?" Raffina asked. "Hm... it should start in about twenty minutes. Not a whole lot of time to prepare, but it's something. Let's get our sleds in order." Hohow Bird looked at the time as he said. We went along with that and got some sleds, one for each team. Once we came back to where the race was going to start, other teams were getting themselves in the race as well. Some faces I recognized and briefly greeted, like Samurai Mole and Nasu Grave; other ones though, were new to me. However, there was one notable face that struck me the most. Jarne. …? Is that...? ... Jarne?! "Jarne!" I called out to her. "Hm? Oh hi! I haven't seen you since the tournament, Dave! Are you in the race too?" She was excited to see me again. "Yeah." I nodded.

I can't believe that she's in this race... "Heh. Well just 'cause you're on a different team, doesn't mean I'll go easy on ya." She gave me a smirk. "I don't intend to go easy on you either, Jarne." I told her. Soon after that brief exchange, all the teams placed their sleds somewhere behind the starting line. Cameras were also being stationed on certain points along the sled course and spectators began to stand about in spots outside the course. Then, Oshare prepared a microphone to speak through. And once that happened, the event started for everyone. Alright, it looks like things are about to start. Not sure how it'll all turn out, but it should be fun. Regardless, we all get to hear Oshare colorfully speak through a microphone again.

The talking began after I spoke to myself in my mind. "Heeeeello, everyone! Welcome to the first ever Primp Sled Grand Prix! Here we have ten teams of three preparing to speed off through this course here. Each team has a driver, a snowball thrower, and a navigator. And, every team here has a team name of which we will go by. So how about I introduce you all to the members of each team? The first team that signed up is Team Exotic: This one consists of the djinn, Jarne. The swordsman with instinct, Samurai Mole. And the eggplant with glasses, Nasu Grave! They are the driver, thrower, and navigator respectively. Coincidentally, these three have all appeared somewhat recently in the Primp Town Fighting Zone Competition. You might remember them from back then…" Oshare began. The crowd cheered a little at their appearance.

After introducing Team Exotic, the skeleton went over a couple of other teams that weren't related to us. Then… "And now here's the fourth team: Team Beauty, consisting of Tarutaru (the driver), Raffina (the thrower), and Lidelle (the navigator). The fifth: Team Peace, featuring Ringo (the driver), Amitie (the thrower), and Arle (the navigator). The sixth: Team Tetra, featuring Tee (the driver), Yui (the thrower), and Ess (the navigator). Fun fact, I know Yui thanks to her being a... special customer for my shop in the past." Oshare went through. That is she... The rest of the teams were being shown off before our team was the last one to be mentioned. "We're the last team to be introduced to the people?" Lemres questioned. "Of course, the best was being saved for last. And we ARE the best, aren't we?" Hohow Bird nodded. "We'll see for sure…" I said.

I expected us to get some cheers from the crowd when we were being presented. "... Ahem. And last but not least, Team Hero! Team Hero consists of Dave, who you probably remember from the Primp Town Fighting Zone Competition as the grand champion of it; he's Team Hero's driver!" The skeleton hyped the crowd up. *crowd cheer* As the crowd did their cheering, I opted to wave briefly at the people. "Next, we have Primp Town's hero himself: Hohow Bird! He will be Team Hero's thrower. And lastly, we have Team Hero's navigator: Lemres, the comet warlock!" Oshare finished that bit. The crowd cheered more as Hohow Bird showed off a little, but not going overboard. And Lemres had a few fans in the crowd as well. I'm guessing he's going to talk about the rules and stuff next…

What I had guessed was mostly right on the money. The roles of driver, thrower, and navigator were properly explained to everyone before more things were shown to us. "Now that we have introduced the teams and such... let me go over the race course and rules. As for the course itself: It stretches on for a while, circling around Primp Town and going past a few parts of the forest... all before making a return trip to where the starting line is. But, that isn't quite it... The course is also filled with plenty of obstacles, either visible or hidden. These will attempt to slow down any and all teams that come near them. Some will be traps that launch snow at the teams, others will be fake trees that must be maneuvered around. Those are just a couple of examples though. As for how you know whether you're on the right track or not, the course will be segmented from the rest of the outside world with flags posted all over on each side." The skeleton went on.

Okay, so there's stuff that we have to watch out for. "Oh, and speaking of segmenting: The course itself is divided into several smaller sections with spots called "checkpoints". Once you pass the first checkpoint, your team's thrower is quickly given a small supply of snowballs in a burlap sack by a checkpoint guard. Stopping the sled isn't required, but it certainly helps if you really want the snowballs. When you reach the final checkpoint the amount of given snowballs will be doubled because it's just before you go up and down the mountain, and there was no place for us to put a checkpoint anywhere at the bottom of it. So think of that last one as a point in the race where things will ramp up." Oshare added.

Checkpoints, huh? I wondered how the thrower of each team was going to get the snowballs... "And soon after you go down the mountain, you'll pass by the remaining parts of the forest covered in this course and enter the final stretch. And the final stretch leads back to the starting line, where your team's placement will be recorded by the staff here. And that's it for the course itself, so it's time for some explanation on the thrower role. The thrower's job is to throw snowballs at other teams to slow them down. For example... throwing snowballs at another team's thrower could prove to be useful, since it could prevent them from throwing snowballs for a bit." He continued.

If that's the case, then Hohow Bird has his work cut out for him. "And finally, let's touch on some rules! The rules of this race are simple: If your team's sled completely breaks apart at any point in the race, then you are out. Also, throwers are not allowed to throw snowballs at navigators of other teams. Other than that, drivers can only push their team's sled forward and turn it whenever they need to. They cannot launch it into the air or anything else. Don't purposely bump your sled into another team's... And don't use magic either; this race was designed for any kind of person to participate. The teams that finish in the top three positions will each receive a trophy of sorts after the race is over. ... And I think that's it. Am I missing anything else here? … ... No? Alright, then! Teams! Get prepared to go because the count to three starts in ten seconds, as you can see above with that timer." Oshare finished.

Oh boy, here we go... "Dave, prepare to get us going! Keep a nice grip on the back of this sled!" Hohow Bird told me. "Got it!" I grabbed hold of the back. "I got the front, as I should as one of these navigators." Lemres sat down. Hohow Bird sat behind Lemres in an awkward pose. I guess these sleds weren't really made for Hohow Bird's kind of body... As I waited briefly for the count to start, I looked at our friends in other sleds. Tarutaru was raring to go, making some charging bull-like motions in place. Raffina had this smirk on her face, as though she was confident in winning this. Lidelle was shaking a little, but she smiled when Raffina didn't seem to be worried.

Across from my team was Team Peace, the one with Ringo, Amitie, and Arle. Ringo looked like she didn't feel good about being their driver. I honestly couldn't blame her, since she was sadly the best runner out of the three. I saw Arle clutch the front handles of the sled, appearing as though she felt uneasy. And as for Amitie, I came to the conclusion that she was daydreaming. Arle snapped her out of it and got her to focus. And finally, Team Tetra... Geez... I feel bad for Tee being a driver, especially since the navigator of his team is Ess. Ever since she got into a bad mood today, she took her frustration out onto Tee. Not like I can blame her either though, Tee was... Before I could finish my thoughts, the count to three had started. "One. Two. THREE!" A robotic voice spoke. As soon as "three" was spoken, everyone took off and the sled race truly began.

Author's Notes: Dave and his friends thought that there wouldn't be much to do during the day portion of Christmas Eve. This was the case until they heard of there being a supposed sled race from Ex, who then left to see Ms. Accord. They got curious about it as they looked for Tee. When they did, some talking was done. After Hohow Bird suddenly appeared before Dave and the others, it was revealed that the race was actually going to be taking place. He led them to where the race was to start at.

As it turned out, Oshare Bones was there to act as the commentator for the event. He explained to everyone the method of registering in the race before running off. And then preparation for the race began, with some familiar faces rejoining the fray and more things being explained by Oshare. So now, all the teams got themselves going as soon as the count got up to three. What will happen in this sled race? Which team will end up finishing the course in first place? Next chapter, Chapter 81: Eating Diamond Dust (Part 2)