Author's Note: Unedited Chapter -------------------------------- "Those are portals and we have to run in the mud eh?" Abestos muttered with a taken aback look. "Yeah I'm not sure I understand the rules of the challenge," Phinx voiced. "It's not difficult really... the portals in the surroundings, links the Varlins to this location... you guys just need to make sure they don't make contact with you till the countdown ends," Gustav explained. "When the countdown ends, we successfully qualified for the next stage, right?" Angy questioned. Gustav nodded in response. "I hope you don't mind," Phinx moved closer to Angy and placed her lips on Angy's neck. "Hnnghh!" An uncontrollable moan escaped her lips as Phinx drew blood. In the next second, Phinx body transformed and another Angy appeared in front of Gustav. -"That's kinda unnerving," Abestos voiced from the side. "We have better chances when there's two of her," Angy shrugged. There was no way to.tell who was the real Angy. Her entire appearance and presence had been copied. "Stop acting like you're me," Angy voiced. "Technically I am," The second Angy who was originally Phinx replied. "It's time for you guys to get in the circle," Gustav reminded while pointing at the time left before the competition began. Up ahead, a barrier of light had surrounded a massive piece of land, whose circumference was unknown. On this land mountains, plain lands, rocks, gloomy clouds and even streams could be seen. It was really massive and obvious that the Varlin Chase would be taking place there with the visible light barriers that sounded the place. A major observation within the barrier of light wss the extremely muddy grounds. Mud could be seen everywhere except for the streams and mountains. Ths blue portals scattered across the place was another observation. < The Varlin Chase Will Be Commencing In... > <...5...> <...4...> It was finally time for the Varlin Chase to begin. Angy, Phinx and Abestos had already found their way into the expanse of land within the light barricades. Many other species participating could also be spotted within, ready to begin. Gustav had chosen to be an observer here despite the fact that another sub category was currently ongoing. ---- In another location, a cone shaped rock could be spotted piercing into the clouds. It was quite long and rough looking. The clouds arounds it were dark and emitting occasional sparks. It seemed like lightning bolts was a common occurrence around this cone shaped tall rock. Thrrriiihhhhhh~ A streak of lightning bolt flashed across the east side of the rock and slammed into a green scaled figure who was climbing. "Tiaaahhhhh!" The creature screamed in pain a the petal shaped object in his hand got released, while he fell helplessly. Another creature beneath with a square shaped head grabbed hold of the petal with a joyful look and kept climbing. All around the cone shaped rock, thousands of species could be seen climbing. It seemed like a dangerous endeavour but they climbed with determined looks. Some were climbing at very fast pace since they had multiple limbs. Some had Activated abilities that caused them to be surrounded by energy that couldn't be breached while they climbed so as to protect themselves. A particular set of species that looked like spiders with multiple heads seemed to be having fun as they sped across the cone shaped rock and grabbed as many petal like objects as they could find. On a part of the cone shaped rock a trio could be seen climbing together. One had a dark aura oozing from his figure which had formed another pair of arms on his back. These pair of dark arms were responsible for climbing while the figure they were attached to used his actual hands to pluck a petal like object hiding within a small dark caved in part of the rock. The instant he pulled two of the petals out, a cloud far above crackled with light and in the next instant... Thrrraahhhhh! A strong lightning bolt descended upon the figure. Fwwhooorrrmmm~ The dark energy oozing forth from this figure expanded and covered him entirely. Bang! Small parts of the rocks crumbled and rolled down but the figure remained unaffected after the lightning strike. The darkness rescinded to an extent and the figure kept climbing. "Lucky bastard, he has that protection... we will have to be careful when plucking the Triskets," Yonda stated from underneath as he stabbed his glowing red fingers into the rock before pulling himself upwards. He repeatedly did this while climbing as his fingers seemed to be so strong, they cleanly stabbed into the rocky surface which he used in pulling himself up. "Well, we have our own means of avoiding the repercussions of taking a Triket too so don't be too jealous," Fildhor voiced from the side. His entire skin was currently the color of tar but looking so smooth, one could use Fildhor as a mirror. Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! As Fildhor climbed, chunks of rocks would be smashed due to his intensive grip. Falco, Yonda and Fildhor were currently competing in the Seismic Climb sub challenge and so far it had been a crazy venture. The petal like item everyone was trying to grab as they climbed up was said to give extra points and it was called a Triket. However, whenever a person took it from whatever spot on the rock, there would be repercussions. Despite the warning, participants still tried to get the Trikets because one could still win points for their planets which might supercede the points the winner from the Seismic Climb got. Fildhor spotted another petal like item about twenty feet towards his left and began climbing in its direction. Once he arrived before it, he reached out with a hand and grabbed it. However, the instant he did... Ghrrrriiihhh~ This part of the rock began quaking intensely and a gigantic mouth suddenly phased out of this part of the rock, swallowing Fildhor whole. It was unknown how this monstrosity had been existing there but its massive jaw began to sink back into the rock after it successfully swallowed Fildhor. Both Falco and Yonda eyes widened as this occurrence took them by surprise. "Fildhor!!!" Yonda yelled with bloodshot eyes as he began to climb in the direction of the massive monstrous mouth. However in the next instant he paused as a loud crash began to ring out from within the rock. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! This part of the rock began quaking intensely, causing many protruding parts to pull out and roll down. The loud crashing sounds intensified like a collision was occurring within the rock. Suddenly, the jaws of the creature which had been sinking back into the rock got blasted open. Along with the blast, a wide hole was formed within this part of the rock and a tar skinned figure jumped out of it. Thrriihh~ Thrriihh~ Blood poured down as Fildhor grabbed hold of a part of the rock above Falco after leaping out of the hole. "Hey that creature had more in its belly," Fildhor jubilated as he held a bunch of Trikets in his palm. "Bastard! I thought you were dead!" Yonda yelled from beneath. "Huh? That thing is not nearly enough to cause my death," Fildhor yelled back in response. "Since you're fine, let's keep going," Falco stated as the darkness surrounding him created another pair of arms. "Who died and put you in charge creepy bastard!" Yonda voiced but in the next instant, Falco's figure turned blurry... Fwwhiiii~ "Can't hear you..." Falco's voice trailed off as the arms made of darkness pulled him upwards with speed, increasing his climbing pace by over ten times the initial amount. "Creepy bastard! It's on!" Yonda yelled and began climbing upwards with speed as well to catch up with Falco. Not wanting to be left behind, Fildhor did the same as well. ----- In the other location where the Varlin Chase was taking place, ball sized creatures with string like tails and cat whiskers sped across the muddy environment. These little animal like creatures, chased the participants across the vicinity at high speeds. They were called Varlins... It was only over an hour since the challenge began and nearly a thousand participants had been disqualified already. The Varlins first appeared in twos from the portals all across the place. Although their speed was high, due to their numbers, the participants were able to easily evade them. However, another set appeared fom the portal fifteen minutes into the competition. When this happened, the speed of the Varlins suddenly doubled. The participants were taken by surprise and this was how some of them got disqualified. In another fifteen minutes another set appeared from the portals and their speed tripled. The participants realised at this point that the increase in the number of Varlins in the vicinity also caused their speed to increase. The time interval at which they appeared from the portals was also fifteen minutes which meant the difficulty would increase by a couple of notches every fifteen minutes. "Shit, these things are everywhere!"