Man, I'm on fire with these chapters! Actually if I'm being honest, I just want to get this arc over with. Not that I don't like it, but The next little bit is when shit starts to pick up.
Enjoy!
Elise prided herself in her endurance, but even she was feeling the fatigue from all the running she was doing. Having to drag Sammy behind her for the past ten minutes didn't help either. Monitoring her breathing carefully, Elise's felt her legs starts to go numb. She paused and started to breath deeply, attempting to get some air into her lungs.
"Are you okay?" Sammy asked through his own labored breathing. Elise coughed in response and felt herself almost throw up, causing her to double over even more.
"I..I...I can't...anymore..." She managed through her coughing and keeping your lunch were it had been originally. "I can't...run anymore..."
"I told you to pace yourself, moron." Sammy scolded, and Elise flipped him off as she spat in the bushes next to them. "If you need to take a break, it's fine. You already trapped Nashi and Rocky, so one way or the other, one of us is guaranteed a spot in finals...What the fuck?!"
"What?" Elise asked, before she focused and heard it too. Both of them turned to face where they had come from and found the source of the sound. A giant wave of dirt, rock, and earth was roaring towards them at speeds earth should not have been able to reach. The wave was being propelled by columns of fire protruding from the back. "Hit the dirt!" Elise shouted, tackling Sammy out of the way if the incoming wave. As it reached them, Elise looked up to find quit a sight.
Both Nashi and Rocky were grinning cockily at them, a smug look that sparked Elise's irritation.
"See ya Elise!" Nashi voice came. "I've got a race to win!" Both laughing voices disappeared into the distance, and Elise growled.
"Great!" She shouted. "Now we're going to lose to...!" Elise jumped back as a circular board of magic appeared in front of her. She looked over at Sammy to find him climbing onto it. "What the hell?"
"What?" he asked. "It's a circle of negation magic. We can ride it to catch up with the others."
"Why the hell didn't you say that ten minutes ago?!"
"I didn't think of it ten minutes ago!" Elise was a little bit taken aback at how Sammy defended himself, but it made her feel less terrible for constantly yelling at him. He offered her a hand. "Now, I believe we have a finish line to cross before everyone else!" Elise smiled and grasped his hand, climbing onto the board.
"Get this thing moving then!" Elise replied, and the board shot forward at speeds Elise wasn't ready for, almost causing her to lose her balance completely. Regaining it and taking a lower stance so she wouldn't get blown off, Elise could see the wave of earth ahead of them, and the flames propelling it.
"Are we faster?!" Elise asked over the speed of the wind.
"Right now, yes." Sammy replied. "When they see us passing them? Probably not."
"It's a wave of earth though."
"You haven't seen Rocky maneuver a wave of earth, especially if Dragneel's handling the propulsion." Just as Sammy said this, they caught up to the earthen wave, and both people on board looked over in relative shock.
"What were you saying about passing the finish line ahead of me, Nashi?!" Elise demanded, extending her arm into a club and taking a swing at the wave.
"Damn it Redfox!" Rocky shouted as the wave slowed temporarily and they almost fell. "Take this!" Rocky waved his hands, and nothing happened, making Elise laugh.
"What the hell was that Rocky?!" She demanded. "Seems like a dud...!"
"Shit!" Sammy served the negation surf board into a hard right, causing Elise to almost fall over. Looking ahead of them, Elise saw pillars of earth rising up, blocking their path and forcing Sammy to take some rather hard turns to avoid them. "Hold on Elise, this is going to get rough!" Grabbing onto his shoulders as instructed, Elise barely held on as he swerved in and out of the pillars Rocky raised, and sped up to match the earth waves speed.
"How are you so good at this?!" Elise shouted over the wind. Sammy laughed.
"I've done it a lot!" he replied. "Hold on, I don't think it's over yet!" Sammy went over a rising pillar, and poured more speed into the board, and they caught up.
"You're not a half bad surfer, Sammy!" Nashi shouted over the roar of earth, flames, and the hum of negation magic. "Can you surf on fire, though?"
"...!" Elise cowered as Nashi moved the earth waves propulsion flames far to close.
"What the hell Dragneel?!" Sammy hissed. "Are you trying to cook us alive?!"
"No, not really!" Nashi shouted back, wiping her brow of sweat. "I just like winning and rubbing it in Elise's face after she tried to keep us in with the grave!"
"had I known doing that would result in a high speed chase across Tenrou," Elise roared back with a grin. "I'd have done it years ago!"
"River!" Everyone looked ahead at Rocky's warning to find the river indeed right ahead of them, and Rocky winced. "Keep those flames hot Nashi, that thing looks deep.!"
"You just focus on keeping us out of it and I'll do my own thing!" Nashi shouted in reply. While the two of them coordinated to make it through the river, Sammy just deadpanned as they crossed over it with ease. The Tenrou tree's base was easily visible from there, and Elise grinned.
"This is going to be close as hell!" She told Sammy, and he laughed.
"Not as much as you might think." He replied. Elise didn't bother asking what he meant, she just looked around for any sign of the other two competitors. While it was totally possible Drake and Asuka had been passed a millennium ago during the race, she didn't really see Drake giving up that easily. Especially with S-Class on the line like it was. She didn't see anything around them that would indicate either were even close. Maybe they had already passed the finish line? That was entirely possible too.
"Last stretch!" She heard Sammy shout. "This us, uh, where I get off!"
"...Wait, what?!" Elise shrieked as Sammy jumped off the negation magic surf board, but it didn't dissipate. "What the fuck Sammy?!" She shouted, trying to keep her own balance as best she could.
Drake could see the base of the tree from where he was, and a certain blonde master waiting for them. As there could only be three finalists, the possible exams meandered through Drake's conscious as he pushed more and more pushes out of his way.
"We're almost there!" Asuka shouted happily.
"Don't get too excited." Drake replied. "We still haven't gotten there."
"But no one else is even in sight, Drake." Asuka replied, a hand on her hip. "How could anyone possibly..."
"What the fuck?" Drake demanded, turning around as his ears picked something up. His eyes widened as he honed in on it. "You've got to be kidding me right now..."
"What? What is it?" Drake walked to the edge of their vantage point and looked down across the open, rocky plain to the base of the tree. Down below, approaching the finish line, was a earth wave propelled by fire. The other was much smaller in size, what appeared to be a surf board of negation magic. Asuka walked up next to Drake and gasped.
"Wow, look at that!" She said. "They're going so fast!"
"...Run." Drake said, backing to keep running.
"What?!"
"They're going to beat us! RUN!" Asuka realized what he was talking about and sprinted with him, both doing their best to keep ahead of the other contestants. They exited the forest and ran right into a cliff near the Tenrou tree, the finish line directly below them. "Great, how the hell are we going to get down from here?!" Drake question was answered as Asuka fired a grappling hook from her gun, the hook flying through the air and latching on to something below. Asuka backed up a little and tied to rope to a tree, testing its firm tightness.
"That'a how." She replied. She pulled out a hook from her belt and handed it to Drake. "Go."
"What about you?" Drake demanded.
"We don't have time!" Asuka shouted, pushing Drake towards the edge and making him latch the hook onto the rope. "Just go! You deserve it more than me, anyway!"
"I..." Drake realized Asuka was giving up so he could keep going. He smiled. "Thanks, Asuka." She smiled widely back.
"That's nice and all, but if you don't hurry up, you won't make it!" Asuka pushed him off the side of the cliff, and Drake panicked. He only just managed to get a firm grip on the hook's handle right before his fall picked up to much speed, and he rocketed towards the finish line.
Nashi was still pouring a lot into the fire rocketing the earth wave, when Rocky appeared next to her.
"It's time." he told her. Nashi didn't have any clue what he was talking about until the frontal half of the earth wave crumbled into nothingness, leaving them on a much smaller one.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Nashi demanded.
"Both of can't cross the finish line."
"Why not?" Nashi watched him gesture to Elise riding the negation surf board solo, and he then pointed upwards. Nashi's eyes landed on a small, white trench coat wearing dot in the sky riding a grappling hook.
"Only one deserves to pass that finish line." he corrected himself. "And I don't think I have to tell you who that is."
"..." Nashi remained silent s Rocky smiled at her, and she chuckled. "Alright, thanks."
"I'll keep the wave up." he told her, preparing to jump off the back of the wave and ride another to slow down. "Good luck...Nashi." her first name rang in her ears as Rocky jumped off the wave and landed hard, but hers did not falter.
He called me Nashi...
"Nashi!" Nashi looked over to find Elise casting her a look out of the corner of her eye. "Don't expect me to go easy on you in this final exam!"
"I'd never forgive if you did!" Nashi replied, looking forwards. They were so close, neck and neck, Drake just above them. All of a sudden, Nashi felt her foot lodged in some of the earthen wave beside her.
She tripped and fell forwards.
She flew through the air for a little bit before she felt herself make contact with Elise, who had pulled ahead slightly. This sent them both flying through the air, Elise glaring at Nashi, totally unimpressed.
"Hehe," Nashi said weakly. "Oops"
"Damn it Nashi." Both of them looked forward as they were about to cross the finish line.
Until Drake landed right in front of it, who hadn't clue.
"DRAKE!" Nashi shouted, putting her hands out to soften the impact.
"MOVE YOUR ASS, CYANIDE BREATH!" Elise roared. Drake turned just in time for both of them to see the panicked expression on his face, and Nashi impacted him, sending all three over the finish line at the same time.
"Ow." It was Drake's voice Nashi heard first as she came was lying on her back, staring up at the sky, slightly blotted out by the Tenrou tree. "What happened?"
"We crashed." Elise replied.
"Sorry." Nashi mumbled.
"Leave it to you three to mess up simply passing a line." All three of them looked up at the voice to see Laxus standing there, arms crossed. "You did, however, get here. So you can't be completely incompetent."
"Where's everyone else?" Nashi asked, looking around for their partners.
"Already went back to base camp." Laxus replied. "Now, you three have to follow me."
"What for?" Drake replied.
"The final test, obviously." All three of them remembered why they were there at the same time and sprung to there feet, following their master who has already begun to walk away. Following him closer and closer to the actual base of the tree, Nashi felt as if she was getting closer and closer to something holy. It sort of unsettled her. Laxus disappeared into the brush in front of them, and the three of them followed suit, showing up right at the true base of the giant tree that dominated the island.
"So, what is this final test?" Drake asked, pocketing his hands. Nashi realized he'd discarded his shirt somewhere.
"Ah yes, the final test." Laxus said, turning to them. "Are you ready for it?"
"Yeah." They all responded, and Laxus got an evil smirk on his face.
"The final test, it seems, is Drake vs. Nashi vs. Elise. A Last Dragon Standing match."
And the final test is revealed! Probably two more chapters left. Anyway, the question today is:
take a wild guess at who the antagonist is for the End of the World ;)
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, leave a review! Let's try and get ten!