A horrible, unbearable agony flew through Crimson's body. Immediately snapping out of her dream, she felt an extremely heavy weight on her back. She struggled to push it off, and after about ten seconds succeeded. She got up and looked around; there was a huge boulder next to her and an Earth Dragon and a Swamp Dragon were running off giggling.
Crimson turned around. The boulder didn't seem to have inflicted any serious damage. Stupid pranksters.
Memories of the last day flooded back into Crimson. She winced. "I hate you! I hate you!" Blizzard screamed. She struggled to replace those memories with kinder ones. "What happens if I win the Dragon Games?" Crimson asked. "Well, unimaginable riches. I suppose our Breeder would get millions of gems that he would use to buy many of every dragon there is. And he'd probably give you the best things of all." Crimson smiled, remembering Stoney. I need to win. If I lose, everyone will be disappointed in me.
Crimson began to scan the crowd for dragons she knew. She quickly recognized Luna, flying above the others regally as if they were bugs. No surprise that she's still in. But it is surprising that she's still in this quadrant. Crimson continued searching, and was both relieved and disappointed when she found that Cucoo wasn't in the crowd. Either eliminated or transferred.
Crimson looked cautiously at the swamp dragon and earth dragon that had dropped the boulder on her. At the moment, they were approaching a sleeping, snoring reindeer dragon. Crimson turned away, remembering the past three rounds in vivid detail. Down to 1,024. Only 256 in this quadrant. It's almost…homely. Don't the quadrants merge after this round?
Crimson yawned and went over to the pond. A Mud Dragon was inside. There goes any chance of swimming…Instead, Crimson took to the sky and flew overhead, watching an Ice Dragon chase the Swamp and Earth dragons that had pranked her earlier. She grinned. Hopefully they'll get what they deserve.
After waiting for a long while, Crimson finally heard the long-awaited sound of the ceiling magically flying away and the central pedestal rising up. Took them long enough…
"Hello, spectators and dragons alike! Congratulations on making it to the fourth round of the games! After this round, the number of competitors will go down into the triple-digit range. Also, the quadrants will merge. However, only half of the dragons hearting this speech will experience the fifth round." That's nice, now what's the event?
"We hate to admit that one of our dragons suffered an injury in the last round. Unfortunately, she has not recovered, and one dragon in Quadrant Three will get a free pass to round 5." Lucky! I wish it was Quadrant One…still, Stoney said things get more dangerous as we go on. Will it become easier and easier to be injured? Another wizard stepped up, and out of his wand came a steady beam of light. Three Rainbow Dragons came out of nowhere and rushed around the beam of light, creating the illusion that there was a rainbow-colored twister around it. A dragon beside Crimson gasped, and the crowd started cheering.
"This round, a brand new event will be added to the games. It is a bit of a strange one. For dragons that can walk, this event will be the Long Jump. For dragons that can fly, it will be an air race; and for those that can swim it will be a water race. If a dragon can do more than one of these, it is free to choose between them. However, be warned! Dragons that can fly and walk and that want to participate in the Long Jump will have a spell cast on them that prevents them from flying for this event." No way will I do the Long Jump!
The rainbow dragons in the air dispersed, leaving trails of rainbows behind them. The starlit night sky suddenly lit up with a flash. Crimson watched eagerly as two Firework Dragons came into the sky, and wizards let off displays of fireworks around them.
"Note that even if you choose one event, you may end up in another one. Dragons that can only do one of the events have already been matched up. Other dragons will select their event afterwards." The floor below Crimson began opening up. She continued watching the firework show above her until the floor completely closed. My Breeder had a firework dragon, didn't he? It was in the fire habitat on that other island.
As Crimson curled up to go to sleep, she found a strange case of insomnia come over her. Judged on the sounds of the other 255 dragons, it seemed most of them were restless, too. A spell? But why? Suddenly, Crimson saw a dim light in the center of the room. A wizard was walking around, peering at the sleeping dragons (there weren't many.) When the wizard raised his wand, all of them just vanished. Crimson edged away from them. What's going on?
After the wizard disappeared, the light went out, and Crimson found herself sleeping as normal. What did I just witness?
Crimson woke up in a small metal room. She opened her eyes, but the room was much smaller than the one she had previously been sleeping in. For some reason she smelled Dragon Fruit. Am I imagining it, or is there really dragon fruit in here?
The wall in front of Crimson lit up. She looked at it curiously as the light arranged itself into three symbols and some letters. It read, SELECT YOUR EVENT. The symbols were an earth element symbol, a water element symbol, and an air element symbol. Crimson stared, bewildered, at the wall. That's a cool spell. The symbols flashed, and Crimson realized she was supposed to touch one. She thought. Water or air? The choice seemed obvious. I'm clearly a better flier. How was I supposed to learn to swim in a hot desert with Stoney? She whacked the air symbol with her tail. It instantly vanished and was replaced with: CHECKING TO SEE IF YOU HAVE A COMPATIBLE MATCH…
COMPATIBLE MATCH FOUND.
MATCH Q1#69: SIERRA VS. CRIMSON WILL BEGIN IN A MOMENT.
Crimson waited patiently as the last message came onto the wall. She waited for a minute, and then two, and then fifteen. This is taking forever…She continued staring at the wall, and when it finally opened she suspected it had been hours and hours.
She flew out proudly, and then turned to see what kind of dragon Sierra was. She found herself looking at a smiling Sandstorm Dragon, hovering in the air. It grinned at her.
"You're my match for round four, eh?" Sierra asked. "Hope you're better than that Cactus. He didn't hit the target once! He was a free pass to this round, and I even got transferred to boot."
"Transferred from what quadrant?" Crimson asked, knowing she would have to crush every hope that this dragon had in the upcoming race. I have to do it. For Wocky. For Blizzard. For Stoney.
"Three, but I was transferred there from four," answered Sierra. "In fact, I was 3,779th in the first round. Very nearly got cut. But I think my last two performances have proved that wrong."
"I'm sorry," Crimson murmured to her.
"Sorry what?"
"That I have to kick you out of the Dragon Games."
"Oh, you think you can beat me in the air? Think again, friend. You have no chance against the great Sierra." Crimson turned to the crowds. My breeder has to be watching this…right? She failed to locate her breeder, and turned back to the wizard that was floating above them, sensing that he was about to start.
"To win the event, you must be the first dragon to complete three laps around the racetrack. Some areas will have a headwind, and some areas will have a tailwind. The event will start in three seconds. Three, two, one, race!" Sierra immediately zoomed ahead, and Crimson struggled to catch up. Bad start…She came to the first turn, and put all the magic she had into going faster. Crimson felt her energy sapping. Already? However, she ended up zooming ahead of Sierra by the time the first turn ended. A powerful breeze started up behind her.
The first tailwind. Sierra glided easily on the tailwind, barely moving her wings but still outspeeding Crimson. Crimson snarled angrily as the Sandstorm Dragon got farther and farther ahead. She has wings! She can easily outspeed me on the tailwinds. I knew I should have picked water! The tailwind petered out and Crimson came to another turn. She sped around it, trying desperately to catch up to Sierra. I can't lose! Stoney would be so disappointed! Blizzard and Wocky would have been eliminated for nothing!
Crimson slowly began gaining on Sierra. The Sandstorm Dragon huffed and put on speed, once again zooming ahead of Crimson. Crimson steeled herself and pushed her magic even further than she had intended to. She turned the third corner and met a strong wind from the front. Sierra began flapping her wings doubly as hard to get through the headwind. She wasn't even going at full speed before, Crimson thought faintly. She's conserving her energy. However, Crimson could easily see that the headwind had less of an effect on her than it did on Sierra, although it still slowed her down. That's my chance. I'm faster than Sierra in the headwinds. Her confidence renewed, Crimson surged towards Sierra right as the headwind ended. She turned the fourth corner.
"Lap two," called out a wizard as Crimson and Sierra crossed the line, head-to-head. Sierra laughed at her and began flying with renewed energy, once again surging ahead of Crimson. Crimson slowed down a little, trying to conserve her energy for the headwind. She turned and came to the tailwind. Sierra flew ahead once again, but this time she was working a lot harder and ended up out of Crimson's sight. Agh! Crimson put full energy back into flying and tried desperately to catch up.
Crimson turned the second turn, utterly exhausted. Halfway through the race. I'm way behind. Have I just lost? Crimson remembered the happy face and voice of Stoney, trying to inspire herself to go faster, do anything to give herself more energy. I can't disappoint everyone! I can't! Crimson had thought that she would lose because she felt sympathy for her opponents and let them win. It hadn't occurred to her that it might happen like this.
Crimson rounded the third turn and sailed right into the headwind. She used every last bit of energy to soar through the headwind. It was no use; Sierra remained firmly ahead of her. This isn't going to work. If I'm going to win, I'd better come up with a good plan, and fast. She thought desperately, searching for any opportunity that would allow her to win. She came to the fourth turn and went around.
"Lap three," announced the wizard. Crimson shot a blue fireball to Sierra's right on an impulse. As Sierra rounded the first turn, the fireball zoomed ahead of her. She jumped back in surprise, and that gave Crimson the opening she needed. She took the lead. Sierra laughed again as they came to the tailwind. Crimson spun around, trying to get any momentum she could. It failed and Sierra once again surged ahead of her.
Crimson took the second turn. She was much closer to Sierra now, but she was still a good distance away. I can't do the same trick twice. She'll be expecting it. I'll have to catch up in the headwind. Sierra flew at the highest speed she could go, but she seemed tired and Crimson managed to keep pace with her, although remaining behind her.
They came to the third turn, and Crimson's exhausted body begged her to stop. She ignored it and sailed onwards, putting the full force of her magic into the race. Sierra began to lag behind, seemingly even more exhausted than Crimson. Crimson took the lead, and with a mad, frenzied grin, rounded the fourth turn and won the race.'
"I did it!" Crimson screamed. "I did it!" She did a happy little spin and then turned to see her opponent. The look of crushing humiliation on Sierra's face withered Crimson's happiness.
"I…lost?" Sierra collapsed to the ground, and Crimson's found herself flying down to help the poor dragon.
"I told you I was sorry," she whispered as the wizards came to take her away. "I'll win it for you."
"You'd better," Sierra whispered back. "You'd better."