Thursday, Atlantean Royal Palace

I wondered if I should participate or not. I mean, in the sports competition after my coronation. Which was held in the town square. I'll be wearing purple and gold robes and this heavy crown, and all that. And afterwards there's this racing competition.

Lia thinks that I shouldn't. For all I know, I might get shot during the competition. Contrary to popular practice, Atlantean Sports events are kinda like the Olympics. Only they don't shoot when the event starts. They shoot when the first person finishes.

Here's the ceremony:

It starts at dawn. The whole army of Atlantis is gathered before me. The Navy, Airforce, phalanxes… Then I have to call out to their divisions, and all of them will hit their chests and shout: Hail, Michelangelo! Which Lia says is the formal version of my name.

I mean, Michelangelo?? Luckily I was only plain Cal in New York.

And then the parade. We must walk around the square (hey, it's very big, like the size of Olympic tracks), which takes us nearly an hour, marching. I was sweating profusely already.

After that I was allowed to sit down in my throne, made of ivory and amber (I have told Roy repeatedly that I do not want anything made of ivory, as it's cruel to elephants, but he said that my ancestors have been sitting on that throne for ages), and then this archpriest will remove my makeshift crown for the full ceremony gold crown (hello! Big, and made of pure gold! I'm going to get a migraine), saying, "Fellow Atlanteans! The day has come! Atlantis has a new King!" And then everyone fell on their knees and genuflects.

I mean, that is so Troy, or Alexander or King Arthur. I mean, seeing thousands of people bowing to a scrawny boy, sweating under all that fur (again, I said it's cruel to animals, but Roy just don't seem to care) and whose crown is lopsided on the head, blinking up at the sky under thick lenses, is an entirely different experience.

Like, Alexander, King Arthur, and those likes are big and muscled and tanned and hairy, while I'm not all of that.

Then came the feasting. I mean, exoctic foods like peacock meat and platypus eggs? Um, not my favourite exactly. I mean, eew. Platypus eggs?

Which carries on until the afternoon. Then came the race. You see big, muscled, tanned and hairy men, poised on their various automobiles. In the end, I decided to enter. I had never flown alone before on my steed. Plus, it is a symbol that the King is nice and skilled in sports…

…Not.

Anyway, I buckled on my seatbelt and whistled. (OK, I don't really know how to whistle. But I can pretend to, you know.) In Atlantis, boys started driving when they turn into young men, which was the age of thirteen. Unlike America, which must be sixteen years old.

"On your marks, get set, go!" The referee shouted! I guess once the satellite television was connected, the referee was addicted to racing.

I geared up and was off. I was the only one flying, because I'm the King. Also, as I explained, the air resistance is much more greater than ordinary driving, and I sounded very professional and all, so they gave in. Anyway, it looked like I was winning…

…Or not.

Because my battery is dying. I thought the Royal Mechanic had assured me that the faster I went, the more chemical energy stored? I guess something was wrong. That's because there was no battery. Oh, and did I mention that the sun was setting now? That means no solar energy either, dude.

Already my headlights were dimming. I was rocking from side to side. A total crash off. But that wasn't the worst. The worst was that my pet terrapin, Terry, which I'd brought for luck in the race, had slided out from my open glove compartment. And was now falling, ten feet down.

I did what any pet lover would have done. I jumped right off the automobile. I mean, it was only ten feet high. It wouldn't have killed me. Plus I was so skinny and all, so the impact won't be too great. Oh, and at least Terry would be safe. Because it was the last thing my father gave me that I still had. And I'd been with Terra for like, five years or so. Longer than I'd been with Atlantis, anyway. So what if I'd crashed their one-and-only prototype of this kind of automobiles? It was totally worth it.

I landed on my ones and knees, crouched into a type of position like those of cats. I looked up and saw my automobile slowly losing control and crashing to the floor. A large piece of scrap metal had flown up because of the impact and ricocheted towards the referee, who was just proceeding to shoot into the air. Well, that thing hit his arm and his aim was off. It shot Roy instead. Well, Roy's hair, anyway. Which turned out to be fake, make of horse mane. Another topic Roy had on animal conservation.

But things were not looking too good here. More automobiles were gaining at me. If I don't move, I'd get knocked down. And believe me, the cars were moving at such velocity, that I'm sure my skull would burst if they hit me head on. And I couldn't run away either. I mean, it was the final round now. They were all gearing up for

the final sprint. And the track was twenty metres wide. I had only two seconds before they crash. And then suddenly I was swooped up into the air.