Tournament of Anime Heroines
Part 3: Race to the Finish
So, the eight contestants and the Mistress of Games were transported to a lonely desert road. Lighting bolts struck the path, leaving Kagome, Sango, and the other young woman in their place. The Mistress of Games appeared before them. They were all in a blazing hot desert badland with only a single, wide strip of road in it. The ground was dry, cracked, and barren. The sky above was bright blue with many clouds dotting it.
"The rules for the first test are simple" The Mistress instructed, facing the eight contestants.
She then raised her amulet up in the air. A thin red line then appeared before her and the eight girls.
"The Test of Speed is a simple race to the finish" she continued, "The six contestants to reach the finish line at the end of this road will continue on to the next challenge. Two shall be eliminated from the tournament. You shall all ready yourselves behind this line. I will then give the signal and the race is on! The only thing forbidden is teleporting to the finish line, which I believe no one here is capable of. There are no other rules: Do whatever you must in order to reach the finish line. Anything goes. You all have one minute to warm-up."
The Mistress then disappeared in a flash of light. All the young women were a bit confused by the sudden exit. They shrug it off and split up in order to warm-up. Sango does a few toes touches in one spot. Kagome walks up to her.
"Well," Kagome said, "I guess this is wishing you good luck in the race."
Sango stood up and faced Kagome.
"Same here!" she said, shaking Kagome's hand, "I know we'll both make it!"
They then heard a low "hmph!" behind them. They turned to see Kagura walking past behind them.
"You two definitely need the luck!" she sassed, "Don't be disappointed if I win!"
Kagome and Sango just glared at her angrily as she made her way to one side of the road to fan herself.
Meanwhile, Pan and Sakura face each other. The two silently circle around one another, looking interestingly at the other. They then stop and face each other again.
"You look great!" Pan said, pointing to Sakura. "I love that Chinese dress your wearing!"
"Thanks!" Sakura said, "Its pure satin silk! You have a cool outfit yourself! You don't look half bad!"
"Course I don't!" Pan replied, extending a hand to shake. "Name's Pan!"
"Sakura" Sakura replied taking Pan's hand a and shaking it.
"May the best girl win!" Pan said.
Meanwhile, Sailor Moon was obliviously walking along, busy daydreaming.
"Oh I wonder what the prize will be?" she squealed to herself, "I hope It's a lifetime supply of Rice Balls!"
Without looking where she was going, she tripped on a pebble in the road. She clumsily fell over, screaming in panic. She was soon face flat in the pavement. She picked herself up and began to sprout waterfalls, wailing. Lina and Zoey looked on in embarrassment with giant sweatdrops behind their head.
"What a crybaby!" Lina commented.
Zoey just shook her head in shame.
"Am I that bad, or worse?" she thought to herself.
Just then, the Mistress of Games appeared before the starting line. Everyone shifted their attention to her.
"The race will now begin!" The Mistress said, stepping to the sidelines, "Ladies, take your places!"
Everyone jogged or walked to the line and took their places.
"On your mark!" The Mistress announced, raising her hand in the air.
"Get Set!" she continued.
Before she could say anything else, the earth began to rumble. Everyone except the Mistress began to panic. Fissures appeared along the roadway. They stretched along the road for as far as it went. Suddenly, the road magically separated from the ground and began to float up into the air. Most of the girls braced themselves from the sudden launch while others fell upon the road. The roadway began to rise higher and higher into the air, until it reached the clouds.
It then stopped suddenly. Most of the girls were in awe at the spectacle. The road was now floating in the sky, going amongst the clouds. The ground was far down below, very far below. Many of the contestants were a bit shaken by this. None the less, the girls remained in their starting places. As for the Mistress, she floated in the air next to road.
The Mistress then threw her arm down.
"GO!" she shouted.
With that, everyone sprinted off; everyone, that is, except for Kagura. She sat down by the starting line, waiting a bit.
"Consider this a head start!" she said silently, laughing to herself.
Everyone else ran down the road with all their might. Many dashed ahead just fine, while others lagged behind a bit.
In the lead so far was Pan, who ran swiftly like a gazelee. She was in the start for some time, until Sakura and Sango came sprinting up behind, catching up.
Right behind the trio was Lina and Zoey, who were tied neck to neck each trying to outrun the other.
Behind them, jogging jadedly, was Sailor Moon.
Kagome was dead last. She ran as fast as she could, but she wasn't as able-bodied as the others. She trailed behind, panting slightly.
Pan, Sakura, and Sango were tied for the lead. Each would overtake the other two, but then another did the same.
This went on for some time.
Suddenly, In the middle of the race, the road began to crack and fissure in the center. Some of the girls, mainly the ones up front, were standing on said ground and thus stunned by the turn of events. The others lagging behind watched safely at this freaky situation.
The road suddenly broke into two halves. The first half stayed as it was while the other half rose high into the air. Many fragments from both halves broke off and formed floating platforms between the two. The last half of the road was now fifty feet higher than the other half. The road segments in between the two varied in height, forming a somewhat way up from the lower half to the top.
Sango, Sakura, and Pan were standing on a separate floating road segment. They were disoriented at first, but came back to their senses momentarily. The other girls stopped and stood at the latter half's edge, gazing at the floating segments.
Suddenly, Pan leapt up to a higher road segment. She continued, hopping from fragment to fragment.
The others followed suit.
Most of the girls (Sango, Sakura, Lina) hopped from one segment to another easily. Others struggled a bit (Zoey, Sailor Moon), sometimes losing grip or balance and thus falling off; although they managed to fall onto a lower segment or caught their segment's edge.
Kagome was the only one who didn't follow. She gazed down at the ground below, which was really far away. She was struck slightly with fear, hesitating to jump. She finally found the courage to hop up to a nearby segment. However, she couldn't jump high enough and almost fell. She managed to grasp onto the edge. She hung on to dear life.
"SANGO!" she called in terror.
Sango was almost to the higher half of the road when she heard Kagome. She turned around and looked down. She gasped as she saw Kagome in danger.
"Hold on, Kagome!" she called out.
She then dove off her segment, falling past the other road fragments and contestants. She landed safely on the segment Kagome was hanging off of. Kagome's finger's slipped. She yelped as she began to fall backwards.
Suddenly, Sango took hold of Kagome's arm, catching her. She lifted her up and onto the platform.
"Okay?" Sango asked.
"I Guess!" Kagome replied.
Sango then pulled Kagome on her back.
"Here! I help you out here!" she said.
With that, Sango leapt segment to segment, Kagome hanging onto her back.
Pan was the first to reach the higher half of the robe. She was then followed by Sakura, Lina, Zoey, Sailor Moon, and then Kagome and Sango.
The girls made their way down the road either sprinting, running, dashing, or jogging. Kagome was finally off Sango's back. Both of them ran hand-in-hand, Sango pulling along Kagome.
"Don't worry!" Sango said, "I think we'll make it!"
"Guess again!" a voice called from behind.
While continuing to run forward, Sango and Kagome looked back. They saw in shock as Kagura came flying towards them upon her large feather. She then surpassed them both!
"Hey!" Sango cried out, "You can't do that! It's cheating!"
"Anything goes!" Kagura called, gazing back.
Kagome was a bit frustrated.
"Why are you even in this tournament?" Kagome shouted, "You're not a heroine! You're anything but!"
Kagura laughed manically, making her way past Sailor Moon and Zoey.
"I'm going to win this thing for sure!" she haughtily exclaimed, passing Lina.
Lina was ticked off by this.
"Oh no you don't!" Lina cried, "Not if I can't help it!"
Lina then threw her hand forward. A fire ball suddenly appeared in her hand. She took it and threw it forward towards Kagura. The fireball hit Kagura's feather, catching it ablaze. Kagura shrieked as she was thrust back by the burning feather. Unfortunately for Lina, Kagura flew into her, knocking her over. Both of them fell of the road's edge, screaming in panic as they fell towards the earth below.
As for the others, the finish line lay ahead. It was close, but everyone made it across. Pan was the first one across the finish line, followed by Sakura, Zoey, Sailor Moon, Sango, and Kagome.
As each girl passed the finish line, they were stuck by a red lightning bolt. Each girl disappeared in a flash until no one was left.
End of Part 3
Next: Legends of the Hidden Temple
Don't hate me if this fic seemed a bit choppy. I'm new to doing race scenes. I'm not sure just how to sucessfully do one. Oh Well!
So ends the first test. The next test comes soon!
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