Author's Note: Unedited Chapter ----------------------- 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!" Abestos voiced as he sped across a muddy terrain. About fifteen Varlins could be seen chasing him from behind. They were moving very swiftly as they glided atop the surface of the muddy terrain. The countdown displayed in the middle of the challenge venue showed how much time was left; << 00 : 54 : 07 >> "At this rate I won't last till the end of the first stage," Abestos complained as he kept running forward while the Varlins behind were starting to catch up. "I need to make sure I survive pass the next fifteen minutes at the very least," Abestos eyes gleamed with determination as he made a left turn. Fweeeeiii~ The Varlins also swiftly turned as they remained locked onto their target. Some even drifted across the surface of the mud due to their high speed. For the next five minutes, Abestos still managed to keep enough distance between himself and the Varlins till he noticed another participant heading in his direction. A horde of over thirty was chasing this participant. Abestos eyes widened in shock as he tried to make a turn quickly. "This is bad! This is bad!" Abestos was well aware that contact would lead to his disqualification. Just as he made a right turn in the direction where a mountain could be spotted, the other participant grinned with a nefarious expression. 'I can't let him get away. I can shake some or all of the Varlins on my tail with him,' The participant who was a Draconet thought as he turned to run in Abestos direction as well. The Draconet happened to be a little faster so in just a couple of moments, he was already a few feet away from Abestos. "Shit..." Abestos turned to his side after sensing a weird energy. Pah! The Draconet clasped his hands together and an unexpected phenomenon occurred. His body which was only a few feet ahead of the Varlins floated about six inches above the muddy surface as he emitted a bright blur glow. Hhhiiinnnn~ A silhouette suddenly slipped out from his back and instantly appeared a hundred feet behind the Varlins chasing him. However since his body which floated a little above the ground didn't move for a split second, the Varlins had already pounced upon it. To Abestos surprise, the Varlins phased through the Draconet body which suddenly turned illusionary and began to float backwards. Zzhiiiiihhh~ The body floated straight towards the silhouette that slipped out from it and they combined once more before returning to solid state. "Shit!" Abestos cursed again as he noticed the Draconet had distanced himself from the Varlins chasing him by a couple hundred feet. The Varlins which were close to catching him earlier turned to Abestos now and identified him as their new prey. Fwwwhoooommm~ Abestos yelled as he kept running with over fifty Varlins chasing from behind. In another part of the location, Angy could be seen standing on a mountain and breathing profusely. "I should probably reduce how I use her abilities if I wish to maintain this form for longer," She mumbled while the two horns on her forehead reduced in length. "Never has a form drained me like this one... this girl is truly a monster," She voiced again while turning around. Fwwweeehiii~ Fwwweeehiii~ Fwwweeehiii~ She suddenly spotted multiplr dark streaks cutting across the muddy terrain beneath from her view on the mountain top. They were heading in her direction and soon sped across the slopppy mountain path, arriving before her in a few moments. "Got to go again," She voiced as she stared at the Varlins leaping towards her figure in slow motion. Their fast speed was really nothing to her. Turning around, she took a step forward and quickly arrived more than two hundred thousand feet ahead of her previous location. Fwhaammm~ The Varlins only caught air as they fell to the ground of the mountain top in confusion, wondering where the prey they were after had dissappeared to. In another location, a second Angy could be spotted. She skipped playfully on a small green colored stream, ignoring the chaos around her. At the edges of the stream, up to fifty Varlins had surrounded the vicinity. They didn't need to lie in wait as their speeds also allowed them to run on the surface of a water body too. However, at the moment, it looked like they had been frozen in time as Angy played on the stream. They were barely moving and the surface of the stream seemed still as well. Whenever Angy stomped on it, even a small splash of water hadn't been able to completely form. It was still slowly forming... "Hihihihi," Angy kept gigling as she moved from place to place across the stream while everything around her still looked frozen in time. She paused in the middle of the stream and looked towards the northern sky. << 00 : 42 : 37 >> "This is too easy," Angy muttered as she watched the time countdown normally. << 00 : 42 : 36 >> << 00 : 42 : 35 >> << 00 : 42 : 34 >> The timer wss counting down normally but the time in her surroundings seemed to have been altered. "Hopefully things will become more interesting in the next stages," Her left horn which had been emitting a silver glow all this time, suddenly dimmed. Just as that happened, the time in the vicinity returned to normal as water splashed upwards and the Varlins sped towards her across the surface of the stream. However, in the next instant... Thwwwooossshhh~ An outburst of wind caused the Varlins to get blasted backwards, as a pillar of water also rose to the sky, the instant Angy moved. Her figure dissappeared into the distance instantly as not even a single one of the Varlins managed to get close to her. Although it was against the rules to attack the Varlins with your abilities, Angy action wasn't counted to be rule breaking since it was the wind effect from her speed that caused the Varlins to be blasted away. Angy speed was so much beyond their level, it didn't seem like the Varlins could catch her without some sort of handicap. In other parts of the sub challenge location, other species could be seen running helter-skelter as well. Abilities were only allowed for the purpose of running, not attacking the Varlins who were giving chase. Flying was also not allowed as a rule was given, stating that participants couldn't be above any surface for more than three seconds. The rules didn't stop participants from attacking each other so, several of them already sabotaged other participants with their abilities, causing them to get caught by the Varlins. Some of the participants realised this might be counter effective since lesser participants meant more Varlins chasing a single person, so they decided to refrain. This was why the Draconet, Abestos encountered earlier only tried to pin the Varlins chasing him to Abestos, instead of engaging in any battle. At the moment, Abestos could be seen jumping and swerving sideways, as the Varlins caught up to him. His only option at the moment was to dodge them as much as he could. As he approached a forest area, more Varlins appeared from up ahead and he was soon surrounded. Fwwhii~ Fwwhiii~ Fwwhii~ Fwwhiii~ Fwwhii~ Fwwhiii~ Fwwhii~ Fwwhiii~ Fwwhii~ Fwwhiii~ They leapt towards him with speed and it looked like Abestos was done for. All of a sudden, a small ding was heard as the portals in the vicinity brightened up. "Finally," Abestos rejoiced as another fifteen minutes had successfully went by. "I can use it now..." He muttered while pointing his index finger towards the northeast at a mountain that was within the forest area. It seemed like time had frozen as Abestos feet suddenly bursted into flames and he reappeared at the top of the mountain he pointed at. Thewiiissshhhh~ A small blast rang out a moment later behind him as a blazing trail could be spotted on the ground leading from his initial to present location. "Phew~ That was close," He heaved a sigh of relief. "I can use it six more times... I should be able to evade the Varlins for the rest of the countdown," His face showed determination and excitement as he looked down the mountain. ######### Hour later, nightfall had arrived and the participants all over the planet were headinh back to their accommodation areas. As Gustav and the others descended from the eight disk, he praised the team. "Good job guys," He voiced within the sky elevator. "We didn't even take first," Falco said with a tone of disappointment. "It doesn't matter. You three managed to gather more points for the group and also qualified for the next stage. I would have liked to lesve the rest to the substitute team but I'm going to need you three to participate in the next stage as well," Gustav responded lengthily.