Chapter 4: Rules Not Made to be Broken

The gem bristled with light and a gravelly male responded, “A likely story. It’s a coincidence in the same way the attempted assault she suffered was a coincidence.” Silence followed, then, “I’ve worked too long and too hard on forging this treaty to see things fall apart because of your flights of fancy.

That got the charizard’s tail flame crackling. In the corner of the room, Arianna glanced up from her notebook, but Vortex held his hand up. When he was sure she’d relaxed, he tented his fingers together in front of his snout. “You forget, Demerzel, that I’ve been working with Her Eminence far longer than you have.”

“Then tell me… why was I the one standing at Queen Isola’s side while she was quelling fears in Parliament?” The gem dimmed, then abruptly lit up. “The Ministers aren’t dumb like those meltan servants of yours. I could tell none of them were buying the story that Douglas died in an accident.”

Vortex wanted to issue a snide remark about whether that was Demerzel’s ESP or intuition talking, but shoved that thought aside. “Well, you already erased the memories of those who saw Douglas’ assailant, right?”

A long silence followed. “I did.”

“Then there’s nothing to worry about.” Even though he tried to sound cheerful, Vortex’s voice was strained. The Aeon Princess was turning into a trouble magnet and he did not need that on his plate.

“Au contraire, monsieur,” Demerzel scoffed. “There is plenty to worry about… even if we sidestep your asinine decision to hold the Crowne Cup despite—”

Again, Vortex’s tail flared. “As I’ve told you multiple times, the Crowne Cup is essential to morale throughout the Kingdom. Without it—”

“Yes, yes, the people will lose hope and all that happy nonsense.”

“You could try saying that less mockingly.”

“I’m not calling to debate the semantics of your glorified reality show,” Demerzel said. “I’m calling because of the Diva Project. As I understand it, you pitched it to Her Eminence. Parliament approved the funding. And now it could jeopardize this essential treaty. So, how do we fix it? You’re running the project. I demand answers.”

“Isolated. Incident.”

“I don’t buy that for a second,” Demerzel huffed. “I read through the documents you gave Queen Isola. Starlene’s songs are supposed to pacify anyone who listens while strengthening their spirit so they can work harder. The Aeon Princess had the exact opposite reaction: pain and a loss of consciousness.” He paused. “You can’t really call that a coincidence.”

Demerzel had a point, but Vortex refused to acknowledge that. Clearly, he’d have to do some digging. As memory served him, no one else had ever had such a reaction to Starlene’s music. Which meant the problem lay with Princess Yuna, not Starlene. He wished Yuna’s parents were still here, but they’d already departed. So, he couldn’t test Starlene’s music on them to see if they had the same reaction.

“Well… are you going to say something? I don’t have all night.”

“The treaty won’t matter if our kingdom falls into an energy crisis.” Vortex rose from his seat. “Why didn’t Parliament approve the budget extensions for Icarus? I only have enough funding to last the next month or two and it won’t be ready by then.”

A sneer echoed through Vortex’s office. “Don’t patronize me. Your manufactured energy crisis is small potatoes when there’s distortion threatening to overrun the kingdom and make it one giant mystery dungeon.”

Vortex slammed his hands on his table. God was Demerzel annoying. Again, Arianna looked up and again he waved his assistant off. Deep breaths. Steady hands were needed. Anger wouldn’t get him anywhere.

“Icarus can put a stop to that, too. I just need proper funding for it. All the Ministers were on board last time I spoke to them, so what gives?”

“It’s the MPs. They’re skeptical. They think you’re playing things too close to your vest,” Demerzel replied. From his tone, Vortex assumed Demerzel agreed with them. “They want details… like what this energy source you claim Icarus can tap into is.”

Before he could dig his claws into his expensive desk, Vortex raised his hands and balled them into fists. “I see.”

“So, what are you going to do about the Diva Project?”

Vortex was not in the mood to continue this conversation. “I’ve got it under control.”

“Are you kidding? Do you really expect—”

“I do.” The charizard picked up the crystal and twisted the bottom. The glow subsided and Demerzel was cut off mid-sentence. Groaning, Vortex slumped back in his chair and undid his bowtie. Snapping his claws, he croaked, “Gin and tonic.”

Arianna flicked her right hand. A desk drawer opened to Vortex’s right and out came two bottles and a glass. Arianna telekinetically prepared the drink and set it down on a coaster beside Vortex. The charizard swallowed the glass’ contents in a single gulp.

“What’s the plan here, sir?”

Vortex put the glass on the coaster. “We intercept any and all mail to or from Yuna and her entourage.”

Arianna quirked a brow.

“We can’t give Yuna’s parents the impression that she’s having anything less than the time of her life here,” Vortex continued. “Because we have to keep them as far away from Horizon Gardens as possible. If they think she’s enjoying the school, they won’t be inclined to visit and she can’t tell them about what happened during Starlene’s performance.”

“And what if the parents get suspicious?”

“That’s where you come in.” Vortex flicked a hand in Arianna’s direction. “I’ve seen all of these dragons’ penmanship. It’s… crude. I have no doubt you can mimic it perfectly.”

“You want me… to forge correspondence between Princess Yuna and her family?” Arianna’s expression remained as stoic as ever.

“Not just them… between all the Aeons at this school and their counterparts back home.” Vortex rested his elbows on his chair’s armrests and clasped his hands together. “Will that be a problem?”

Arianna nudged her glasses. “Not at all, sir.”

“Good. Now, go check on Starlene. I can’t have her feeling glum over Yuna’s fainting spell when she has another concert tomorrow.”

When Yuna finally pried her eyes open, she wasn’t staring up at the gym’s rafters and glass dome. Instead, a blue tile ceiling hung above her. A long, cylindrical light cast a red and orange glow all around her. She found it odd. While not used to the electric lights the school had access to, all the other ones she’d seen until now were much brighter.

“What happened?” Her voice cracked. Yuna’s throat burned. It was as if she hadn’t had a drop of water in ages. She blinked a few more times. Her bearings returned to her. With them came the gentle touch of soft linens against her head and back.

Yuna knew she wasn’t in her bed. Her room had a higher and darker ceiling. However, Yuna’s attempts to float up left her dizzy. Her head thumped back against the pillow. It was then that she noticed a blue curtain beside a set of metal shelves.

“Am I… in a hospital?” she wondered, spotting a small stand on top of the metal shelves holding a bag of clear fluid. She followed a rubber tube from the back to her hand.

“If, by hospital, you mean the school’s clinic, then yes.”

The dreepy was too tired to be startled by another unfamiliar voice. Her gills tensed briefly, but relaxed while she rolled to her left to see who was talking to her. However, like with Starlene, she’d never seen the pokémon standing beside her bed before. His black-furred hands held a clipboard and a pen, which he looked down at with his large, red-and-yellow eyes while he scribbled away.

Yuna squinted, then blinked a few times. Was this some sort of Radiant-native evolution for Shiftry? It was the only explanation she could think of.

“What’s with the look?” Her visitor looked up from his clipboard. “Let me guess… first time seeing a zarude?” He chuckled. “I’m used to getting that same curious stare from all the new students.”

“Zarude?”

“That’s my species.” He ran his claws through the black tufts of fur on his forehead. “We’re native to the Armour Archipelago, but I immigrated here to practice medicine.” He paused. “Ah, sorry. You’re not interested in that. Where are my manners? I’m Doctor Rafique.” He pivoted to show off his name stitched into his white coat. “I run the student health center.”

Yuna again tried to sit up, but to no avail. Not that it would’ve done her any good, since she was surrounded by the blue curtain. “I was… at the Crowne Cup Ball. How did I get here?”

“It seems you fainted in the middle of Miss Starlene’s performance.” Rafique looked down at his clipboard. “Professor Vegna brought you here. He was… concerned, I think? It’s hard to tell with him sometimes.” A beat. “Okay, all of the time. But don’t tell him I said that.”

Yuna opted not to press Rafique further on who Professor Vegna was. “So, how long have I been out?”

“It’s nine in the morning.”

“Nine in the morning?!” Her gills shriveled. “But that means classes are st—”

“No, classes start tomorrow. Chancellor pushed them back for this new preliminary Crowne Cup round he invented.”

“Oh, okay.” Yuna’s relieved sigh quickly gave way to another frightened gasp. “But wait… if I’m here, how can I participate? Is my team gonna have to forfeit?”

“You’ll be ready to compete this afternoon.” Rafique walked over to Yuna’s right. “As far as I can tell, there isn’t anything wrong with you other than a touch of dehydration, so I’ve been giving you some fluids.” He tapped the tray atop the metal shelf that, on closer inspection, was actually a cart on four wheels. “I’ll be clearing you for discharge soon. My only recommendation is not to try and turn yourself intangible for the next day or two. It might cause you to pass out again.”

“R-Right.”

With that out of the way, Yuna looked down at her wispy torso. Why had she immediately gravitated toward her classes and the Crowne Cup when there were more pressing matters to attend to? Like…

“What about my parents? Do they know what happened?”

At that, the curtains opened opposite her bed and Noctum poked his black-scaled head in. “I’m sorry, Princess, but we weren’t able to reach them before they boarded the Intercontinental Express to return home.”

Sighing, Rafique rubbed his temples. “I thought I told you to wait until I gave the okay to come and see her.”

Noctum flinched. “Apologies. I heard her voice and assumed it was okay.”

“It’s fine.” Rafique waved him off while Yuna tried to sit up in her bed.

“So, um, what’s going to happen? Are we going to send notice to them?” she asked.

“Baraz and I think that’s best.” Noctum looked at Rafique. “We thought a doctor’s note would be most helpful in assuring them everything’s okay.”

“I can arrange that.” Rafique stepped toward the curtain. “Give me a moment to fetch my letterhead.” He pulled the curtain back. “In the meantime, you have some other visitors.”

Other visitors? Yuna figured it was Baraz and Dimitry, so she was surprised to see Cid hovering behind Noctum on the other side of the curtain. Chiaki was also there, standing with his back against a wall and watching the toxtricity seated opposite him intently.

“O-Oh. Hi.” Yuna blinked slowly. “I wasn’t expecting to see you guys.”

“I saw Professor Vegna carry you off. Wanted to see if it was anything serious,” Chiaki said, tipping the bridge of his cap over his eyes. “Professor Cid brought her.” He gestured to Nikki, who glanced at Yuna’s bed, then yawned and shifted her position so she was sitting sideways in the chair.

Hearing that from Chiaki was surprising. After their introduction, Yuna assumed the grovyle wanted nothing to do with her. Chiaki seemed to pick up on her line of thought as he gave her a side-eyed look and said, “Don’t get any ideas. I just want to make sure we don’t have to forfeit this preliminary round.”

“Right.” Yuna sighed. “Well, the doctor said I’m okay to compete this afternoon.” She wanted to move around more, but figured doing so would disrupt the tubing giving her fluids.

“… heh.” Nikki rubbed the bridge of her nose. “It’s not like we need your help or anything, but the rules are all ‘You’ve got to have a full team of three for this round.'”

“I see.” Yuna’s gills constricted.

“Now, Nikki, that’s no way to talk to your teammate,” Cid scolded, hovering in front of the toxtricity to show off his disapproving look.

“What? I’m just being honest.” Nikki shrugged. “She looks as frail as a sunkern. And, like, dragons don’t get a lot of decent attacks in their base forms. Ain’t that right, Twiggy?”

“That’s… correct.” A vein bulged out of Chiaki’s head. He wasn’t a fan of Nikki’s nickname.

“Yes, it’s true.” Yuna couldn’t rub her hands together without knocking the tubing loose and her pendant had been removed, so she had nothing to fidget with. She settled for clutching her blanked with her free hand. “But I bought a bunch of wands and stuff. So, like, I can disrupt everyone. Since, y’know, this is a race. And we need to make sure we don’t come in last place.” She laughed nervously.

“I appreciate the sentiment, Princess, but it won’t be necessary.” Nikki smirked and crossed her legs. Yuna frowned. She didn’t need to read auras to tell Nikki wasn’t calling her “Princess” endearingly.

The toxtricity hopped out of her chair and looked at Chiaki. “You got a means to avoid attacks? Y’know, like Protect or something?”

“Of course I do.” Chiaki tipped his cap up. “People like me need Protect at their disposal.”

Nikki laughed and clapped Chiaki’s shoulder. “Then we’ve got this in the bag, Twiggy!”

Scowling, Chiaki stepped away from Nikki. “Forgive me if I don’t share your confidence.”

“Yeah. How can you be so sure about this?” Yuna hadn’t even met the other competitors beyond Shimmer and had no idea what kinds of techniques they had at their disposals.

“Trust me.” Nikki strummed the purple, gelatinous gills on her chest. “If Twiggy throws up a Protect the moment the starting bell sounds, then we’ll be golden. We may even have a chance to take first place.”

Yuna raised a skeptical brow. That sounded way too good to be true. She remembered Chiaki saying that Nikki was strong, but there’s no way she could put the team in a position to win the race instantly… right? “Um… how exactly will we be golden?” she asked.

“Ah, ah.” Nikki wagged an index finger. “Trade secret.”

Cid’s spots flickered pink. “Nikki, we’re a team, remember? If you have a strategy, then you should key your teammates in so they can support you.”

“I don’t need their support.” The toxtricity continued strumming away at her gills. “Once it’s go time… I’m going to blow the other teams away. Then we can waltz through the labyrinth and avoid the punishment for finishing last.” She smirked. “Since we can’t use revivers for this race, if I knock those dolts out, they won’t even have a chance to enter the labyrinth.”

Yuna gasped. “Knock them all out? You can do that?”

“Leave the finer points to me, Princess.” Nikki tapped the side of her head. “Trust me… it’ll all work out.”

Yuna wished she found that reassuring. “Oh, wait. I don’t know Protect. Should I be worried?”

“Nope. You’re a ghost. My plan won’t affect you.”

Chiaki poked his cap up a bit further. “And what about the other ghosts in our year?”

“They won’t be able to do much with their teammates KO’d.” Nikki flashed a toothy grin. “The rules say all three team members have to cross the finish line.”

“I’m surprised you actually read them,” Chiaki said, leaning back against the wall.

“Well, I wanted to be sure my plan would work.” Nikki rubbed her hands together. “Any other questions?”

“I have one, actually.” Yuna raised her free hand. “What’s our team name gonna be? We’re supposed to come up with one, right?”

“We did. We’re Team Bastion,” Chiaki replied.

“I came up with it,” Cid chirped. “See, a bastion is a part of a fortress’ design. It allows you to spread defensive fire in all directions.” He pivoted to look at all three students. “Since you all come from very different walks of life… I thought the name fit.”

Wouldn’t something like ‘Team Diversity’ make more sense, then? Yuna kept the thought to herself. Frankly, it was better than anything she could imagine her teammates coming up with.

“I helped with the name, too.” Noctum’s tail flame burned bright. “And your teammates liked it.”

“Okay. So, Team Bastion.” Yuna looked at Nikki. Though she still wasn’t sure what the toxtricity had planned, she had to admit that the thought of the preliminary round going smoothly sent an excited chill down her backside. “Yeah, I can get behind it.”

She offered the group a smile. “Let’s… let’s give it our all this afternoon, okay?”

Noctum puffed out his chest. “That’s the spirit, Princess!”

Chiaki crossed his arms and looked away. “Whatever. I just hope this plan of yours works, Nikki.”

“Trust me. Those clods won’t know what hit ’em.”

Yuna wasn’t sure what she found more surprising: the fact that the gym had been cleaned following the banquet so quickly or that the glass ceiling and plastic walls could retract into the ground and give way to a wide-open field. She hovered next to Cid, staring at the crystal walls jutting out of the floor to form the labyrinth her teammates had mentioned.

“Why are you still wearing that eyesore of a jacket?” Chiaki asked, drawing Yuna’s attention over to Nikki. “It’s going to weigh you down.” The grovyle still had his pokébase cap on, but was wearing a black jumpsuit.

Nikki waved him off. “Why are you still wearing that emo hat, huh?”

Chiaki briefly drew his lips back in a snarl. “That’s…” He pulled the cap down over his eyes. “It’s personal.”

“Guys, can we ease up on the bickering?” Yuna still couldn’t fidget with her pendant. She’d given it to Baraz for safekeeping. “I know you said you had a plan, Nikki, but I don’t think this is going to help us.”

“Agreed.” Cid hovered toward the chalk starting line. The other teams were grouped up on either side of Team Bastion. Most were in huddles. “Remember… the labyrinth walls will shift every few minutes. And the Crowne Committee placed traps throughout the maze. Anything can happen.”

“Psshaw. You worry too much, Chrome Dome.” Nikki stuck her right hand into her jacket pocket and pulled out a pair of camo goggles.

Yuna tilted her head. “Wait, what are those?” She didn’t remember seeing any eyewear on the list of approved items.

“My good luck safety googles.” Nikki slid the strap over her head. Yuna marveled at the band phasing through Nikki’s mohawk. It must’ve been pure electricity.

“Don’t tell me that’s your big plan.” Chiaki crossed his arms. “A superstitious trinket won’t help us out in the slightest.”

Yuna glanced down the line of teams to her right. Shimmer stood at the very end of the starting line next to a sylveon and a sirfetch’d. The former adjusted his lavender workout shirt with a ribbon.

“Yo, Princess, you still with us?” Nikki reached her hand into Yuna’s line of sight and snapped her fingers.

“Yes. Just… checking out the competition, I guess.” Yuna squinted. Was the sylveon with Shimmer the same one who had shined that light on her last night? If they were friends, Yuna wondered if Shimmer had gotten some sort of preferential treatment with team selection. He was the Crown Prince, after all.

“Curious. Professor Vegna isn’t with his team.” Cid floated up to Yuna’s side and scratched his chin. “Maybe he got stuck answering questions about your fainting spell last night.”

“Erm… what kind of person is Professor Vegna, anyway?” Yuna asked.

“Pfbt. You haven’t heard?” Nikki had to contain her laughter.

“Heard what?”

“Vegna’s nickname: ‘The Grim Reaper.'”

The dreepy’s tail scrunched up. “What kind of nickname is that? Do lots of people fail his classes?” She recalled seeing his name on her schedule.

Chiaki shook his head. “Nah. It’s because of his other job. He’s an inquisitor for the Ministry of Justice.” The grovyle spat his toothpick out of his mouth. “But that’s got nothing to do with this race. Drop the subject.”

Yuna eagerly nodded. Sure, people made jokes about death when it came to ghost-types. But that nickname didn’t sound like friendly teasing. She turned to Nikki. “So, are you gonna tell us your plan now?”

She expected Nikki to answer with a snide retort, but instead Yuna heard the crackling of speakers. It didn’t startle her as badly as last night. However, she had some ringing in her frills as she turned toward the stone stage. She expected to see Vortex and was surprised when it was Arianna who stood clutching one of those magical talking rods.

“Good afternoon, students.” The gardevoir nudged up her glasses. “Chancellor Vortex apologizes, but he’s unable to join us for this preliminary round.”

“Huh. Wonder what’s got ol’ Flamey’s panties in a bunch?” Nikki scratched her right horn. “He eats, sleeps, and breaths this Crowne Cup baloney. Must be something big if he’s missing the start.”

Yuna frowned. “I… didn’t need that mental image.” She shivered.

Nikki smirked. “I’m surprised you’d even know about that kind of clothing, Princess. I thought you dragons liked doing things au naturel.“

The dreepy’s cheeks burned.

Arianna cleared her throat. “With the Chancellor busy, I asked for some assistance to introduce the Crowne Cup. Presenting last year’s winners… Team Striker.”

The gardevoir blinked away seconds before clouds of smoke and confetti shot up onto center stage. “Are you all ready to have crowning good time?”

Behind the stage, bleachers of students erupted in applause. Yuna and her fellow competitors stayed quiet. Evidently, she wasn’t the only one gripped by nerves.

The smoke faded away to show a cinderace standing at center stage, right arm thrusted upward. His checkered, gold and silver shirt sparkled under the afternoon sun. An inteleon and lucario in matching uniforms stood on either side of him, hands drawn up to point at the participants with fingerguns.

“That’s what I like to hear,” the cinderace whooped, breaking his pose and striding across the stage. A fiery-orange cape fluttered behind him. Yuna couldn’t believe there was a student dressing flashier than Vortex, yet here one was.

“Welcome to the brand-spanking-new start of the Crowne Cup.” Cinderace bowed to the competitors. “I’m Cinderace Reno.”

The lucario thumped his chest. “I’m Rufus!”

“And I’m Vincent.” The inteleon ran his fingers through his head frill and winked at the bleachers. A few girls shouted their approval.

“Together… we’re Team Striker! Ch-yeah!” Reno posed with his right arm up again while the students in the bleachers cheered. Yuna raised an eyebrow. Aside from them winning the Crowne Cup last year, what made these three so special? She supposed it didn’t matter. Like Chiaki had said, dwelling on it wouldn’t help the team do well in the race.

“Now then, I’m sure y’all are eager to get this thing underway.” Reno rubbed his hands together. “But we’ve gotta lay out a few ground rules.”

“It’s especially important since we have some esteemed new blood in our midst.” Vincent snapped his fingers and pointed right at Yuna. She rolled her eyes. Everyone already knew her situation. What good was drawing attention to it?

They’re trying to throw me off. She took a deep breath. Yuna glanced toward Shimmer’s team. Could the ponyta have put Vincent up to this? She hoped not. He was supposed to be a prince. Unsportsmonlike behavior wouldn’t suit royalty.

“So, let’s bring out good ol’ Rotom Tutor to give us a hand.” Reno held his hands up and clapped. A smatter of applause followed.

Yuna drifted back toward Cid as a large screen floated up behind Team Striker. It had a striking orange glow to it save for the white eyes and big white grin. “That’s… a rotom?” Yuna glanced at Cid. “The only ones I’ve seen are these tiny little bolt-shaped ghosts.”

“Rotom can inhabit energy-powered machines like that screen,” Cid explained.

“Energy-powered.” Yuna crossed her arms, trying to think if there was anything like that back home.

“Shh.” Chiaki put a claw to his lips. “Pipe down and listen. This is mostly for your benefit.”

“Greetings, competitors. It is I, Rotom Tutor, here for a lovely rules explanation.” Pixelated party poppers shot pixelated confetti on either side of Tutor’s face. “The Crowne Cup is a year-long competition divided into two phases.” Tutor’s face disappeared to show two images: one of a sprinting falinks formation and one of a podium with rotom hovering by each place. “The first phase is the ‘Cup Chase.’ It is divided into the preliminary round and ten competition legs.”

A blue background spread across Tutor to display the number eleven. It quickly disappeared and gave rise to eleven boxes. “In the competition legs, you will all compete against one another in challenges devised by the Crowne Ministers. Every challenge is partially based on the typing the Minister represents.” Ten of the boxes flashed, then started bumping into one another. “In each leg, the team that performs the worst will be eliminated from the Crowne Cup. When the Cup Chase concludes, eight teams will remain.”

One by one, the boxes broke apart until the one in the top left corner remained. It expanded into a pink window with eight sylveon figurines. “Next, we move into the Group Play phase. There will be eight challenges that the eight remaining teams can choose whether or not to take part in.” As Tutor spoke, the figures hopped across a pixelated track and jumped over pixelated hurdles. “Depending on how you perform in the challenges, your team will earn points used to determine your seeds for the finale: the Crowne Cup Tournament!”

The eight figurines split apart, branching out to form a tournament bracket. “Nothing complicated here. Just old-fashioned, three-on-three battles where the winning team moves on to the next round.” Figurines slid along the bracket until one reached the center. “Aim high, work hard, and you’ll come out on top!” Pixelated streamers and confetti fell on the screen and Tutor’s face returned.

“And that’s the gist of the Crowne Cup!” Tutor chirped. “Any questions? Well, I don’t care! My function’s explaining, not answering. Heh heh. Good luck!”

Yuna watched Tutor retreat back under the stage. The explanation made enough sense, though it left an uneasy feeling in her gut. “Hey, uh, Chiaki? What happens if your team gets eliminated in the Cup Chase?”

Chiaki scowled and pulled his cap down. “You’re stuck doing remedial lessons during Cup challenges for the rest of the year.”

“And if you’re one of the teams bounced super early, you’re pretty much the laughing stock of the school,” Nikki added, strumming her chest-gills. She looked Yuna in the eye, and when the dreepy’s gaze fell, slapped her knee and laughed. “Kidding, Princess! Cripes, you’re nervous. But you don’t got nothing to be scared of. I told you… we got this.”

“Now then… let’s talk about this new preliminary round,” Reno said. “As you can see, there’s a big labyrinth set up behind you all.” He pointed forward. Yuna turned to size up the handful of purple, crystalline walls jutting up from what used to be the gym floor. “The goal’s simple: get your whole team to the end.”

“But if it was really that simple, it wouldn’t be any fun!” Rufus cut in, suppressing a chuckle. “So, to spice things up, every few minutes the walls of the labyrinth are gonna shuffle like a gang of ludicolo.” When Yuna turned back around, she found the lucario shimmying left and right and rolled her eyes.

Vincent nodded “And there are traps set up inside the labyrinth, too.” He held his right index finger up. “Stay vigilant.”

“Well said, you two.” Reno nodded approvingly. “And remember… all you’ve got to do is not finish in last place.” He paused, then held up his left hand. “I can already see it in your eyes. ‘Reno, you dashing cinderace, what happens if we do come in last?'” He smirked. “Well, first off, thank you for the compliment. And second… the team that comes in last will have to start the first leg with a five-minute time penalty!” Reno spun around and struck his raised-arm pose. “It’s a Crowning way to ramp up the stakes, don’t you think?”

Yuna gulped. She did not want any extra disadvantages for the first leg. Nikki needed to be right about her plan. She looked at the toxtricity for any sign of nervousness, but Nikki’s expression hadn’t changed. She did catch Yuna eyeing her, however. “You still getting worked up about this?” Nikki strummed a chest-gill. “We’ll be fine, Princess.”

“I sure hope you’re right,” Yuna whispered.

“Oh, by the way, don’t think of trying to climb or fly over the labyrinth, either,” Cid said. “There are rotom drones up there that’ll disqualify you the moment they catch you.” The orbeetle looked at Nikki, who raised her hands innocently.

“It ain’t my plan, Chrome Dome.”

“Now then… let’s get this Crowning good show started!” Reno cheered. “Get in position, teams!”

“That’s our cue.” Chiaki approached the starting line with Yuna floating beside him. “Whatever you’re doing… it better be good.”

Nikki stood at Chiaki’s side and pulled her goggles over his eyes. “Remember, Twiggy, throw up a Protect shield right away.”

“On your marks…”

Yuna did one last check of her bag, making sure the items were in place.

“… get set…”

Bahamut, if you can hear me, please let Nikki’s plan work.

“… and go!“

Nikki smacked her chest gills as hard as she could. Loud, off-key electrical cords blared, drowning out Yuna and Chiaki’s screams.