"What the heck is Greg doing?" Timothy asked.

"He mentioned traps before, maybe he's getting more when he defeats a gorilla?" Helga said.

"Aye, I think so," Burtrum said. "I think Gregory is stocking up. He must know Cooper has a lead on him and is trying to even the playing field. I'm not sure if it'll be enough though. That dog is fast."

"He is fast," Olivander chimed in, "but his flexibility is limited. The fights thus far have been pretty simple. If he encounters something tougher, Gregory may be able to close that gap. Assuming he doesn't spend too long waiting for gorillas to revive."

On the display, they could see Gregory doing just that. They seemed to reappear once every twenty seconds or so. Gregory had put down two so far and a third had just spawned. Olivander estimated he could fight one more before Cooper got too far ahead for him to catch up.

With a few decent swings and a Mana Bolt for good measure, he took down his current target.

"Oh nice!" they heard Gregory say. Then he took off running back towards the moving platform section.

"He must have got what he wanted," Timothy observed. "Will it be worth it though?"

"Surely he wouldn't have gone back without a plan?" Gloria asked.

"In my experience, Gregory does like to make plans. His execution has been a little spotty, so we'll have to see," Olivander said, turning his attention towards Cooper. "It looks like Cooper is about to run into some trouble."

* * *

Cooper was panting hard. After finally getting off those cursed moving floors that were just a little too slippery, he was finally back on dry land. He put on full speed, sprinting through a field of low grass. As soon as he entered the grass, water started shooting out of hidden holes.

The blasts hurt. The water shot out at random times and random angles. He was glad he put on his leather armor. It didn't cover his vulnerable belly entirely, but it had deflected a few of the blasts. Even with the water harassing him, he kept up his pace. He cleared the area in just a little more than a minute.

When he entered an open clearing, he slowed, wary. This was about halfway through, and he sensed it was the perfect time for a more challenging fight. The dungeon obliged.

Rays of light blasted down from the sky, and coalesced into a winged figure with two heads and a pot belly.

What is that?

He tried to scan the strange creature, but all he sensed was that it had a power that prevented scanning. He wouldn't be able to get a read on it unless he was significantly stronger. Since that didn't seem to be the case, he guessed the orge-angel monster would be about his own level of strength.

"Greetings little pup!" the left head said.

"Welcome to our little game!" the right head said.

Cooper liked games. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

"What game?"

"An eager pup!" the left head said.

"He's ready to play!" the right head said.

"Tell us, little one, what is your name?" they asked in unison.

"Cooper."

"Welcome, Cooper! My name is Right!" the left head said.

"And Left is my name!" the right head said.

Cooper was already confused.

"What brings you to us today?"

"What a silly question, Right! Clearly he came to us to play!"

"Come now, Left! He might not have even known we were here!"

"I'm afraid that if that is true, I may shed a tear!"

"I'm trying to beat my friend in a race."

"Oh ho!"

"A race!"

"What fun!"

"You know, Right, I wish we could run!"

"It is a shame we're trapped together as one!!"

Cooper was beginning to doubt that talking to the pair had been a good idea. Maybe he should just blast them with a lightning bolt?

They apparently noticed his doubts.

"Oh no!"

"What's wrong?"

"I think perhaps, we've been talking too long."

The heads nodded to one another.

"If it's a race you want to win."

"We have a gift to make you grin."

"To be granted this boon, then prove your might."

"It's all yours, if you can beat us in a fight."

Cooper was confused by the twin headed ogre, and he really just wanted it to stop talking to him. He didn't really want to fight it.

"If I don't want to fight, can I just leave?"

"What do you say, Right, should we let the pup go?"

"I'm so sure, Left, would it be bad if I said no?"

"I think the matter is worthy of debate."

"Perhaps we should leave his choice to fate."

"Okay, nevermind. Let's just fight. This is taking too long."

"The pup had decided!"

"Then it's time for—"

Cooper blasted the Ogre with a bolt of lightning.

* * *

"I have to ask Celuria if she'll teach me to summon that ogre. It's delightful," Olivander said.

"You could just give me a second head," Sous said.

"Hmm. Maybe. How are you at rhyming?"

"I have no idea!"

The rest of the people watching the dungeon run tried to ignore Olivander and Sous' chattering.

Cooper was fighting the ogre. It had conjured a flaming bone club. One of the heads was able to shoot beams of water and ice out as well, so the fight wasn't going as well as Cooper might have hoped. He dashed around and bit at the ogre, but it would just fly up and out of range.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"He won't be able to bring that down fast. He'll have to rely on his lightning bolts, but he doesn't have enough mana to keep them up for long," Burtrum said.

Gregory was making his way across the plains with the hidden water blasts. He flashed with green every time he was hit. The combination of Endure and his armor made the damage negligible to him, so long as he didn't run too low on stamina.

"Greg's catching up!" Helga said.

"He might enjoy talking to the Ogre, maybe he won't have to fight it," Fezzic suggested.

"It's probably not actually skippable. It's most likely there to waste time," Burtrum said.

"Olivander, can you switch the sound back to Gregory?" Jeremy asked. "I want to see if the ogre says the same things."

"I shouldn't have to switch. They should both have sound projections. Hmm, maybe some magic to allow you to hear the one you're actively focused on would be good. That would be a challenge."

"Maybe don't mess around with it during the dungeon," Burtrum said. "I want to at least see them finish without you breaking anything."

"It feels like you're doubting my abilities, Burtrum."

"It's not your abilities that I doubt, it's your random guesses."

Olivander shrugged.

"If you want me to change the sound over, Jeremy, you'll have to take it up with Burtrum."

Jeremy eyed Burtrum. "I guess this is good…"

Gregory arrived at the ogre while Cooper was still battling it out with his own. He only spoke with the ogre for a few moments before they began fighting.

"Oh wow, now I wonder what he said," Timothy said. "His ogre looks mad."

* * *

Gregory eyed the angelic two headed ogre with some trepidation. Until it started talking.

"Oh look! A young Guardian approaches!"

"I wouldn't believe that title, given the number of gorillas that he poaches!"

Gregory perked up at the rhyming banter.

"Forgive me gentle ogre, I didn't mean to come enroach..es. Oh that didn't work, did it?"

Both of the head's expressions turned sour.

"If you mean to mock us, I would stop."

"Or else you'll see your health begin to drop."

"Oh, no no no. It's nothing like that, I simply wanted to…talk shop?"

"Alright, that's it. I've heard enough."

"I hope you're ready, little human, because things are about to get quite rough."

A beam of ice shot from the open mouth of the ogre straight at Gregory.

Gregory returned fire with a few mana bolts. He dodged around the ogre, trying to get close enough for a sword strike. The orge was relentless. It seemed enraged and shot out blast after blast.

Gregory finally pulled out his newest item, the Behemoth's Bulwark. The bark-like shield blocked an icy beam. He pushed mana into the shield, triggering the spell contained within.

----------------------------------------

Behemoth's Bulwark

* Can call forth a dense wall of fog around you and your allies, hiding you from magical senses and mundane sight. You and your allies can see through the fog.

----------------------------------------

The fog flooded the area they were fighting, and the ogre cut off its attacks immediately. Gregory crept around the side of the clearing, aiming to ambush the orge, who spun around in the air.

"What is this, some kind of trap?"

"This little human fears a direct scrap!"

Gregory charged his sword with a mana bolt. He lunged out and empowered his swing with an extra surge from his strike skill. The blow caught the ogre in its midsection and it launched away.

Gregory pounced on his fallen foe, hitting the ogre with repeated slashes.

He drew back after a moment. The ogre attacked him first, sure, but he wasn't comfortable with just outright killing something that could talk to him like that. He was a guardian after all.

"Surrender!" he said. He held his sword to one of the monster's necks. Then he switched to the other. Then back. Finally, he held up a hand and pointed at the other head, allowing mana to collect in the palm.

"Oh, ho! Well done, it seems you have us beat!"

"We must admit defeat, but shall reward you with a treat!"

The ogre faded away, and a power flowed into Gregory.

----------------------------------------

You have been granted a random major trap.

----------------------------------------

Darkness Trap

* Bound Consumable Item

* Use within a dungeon race to shroud the enemy in darkness.

----------------------------------------

"Perfect. I guess it's time to trigger all these traps. I bet Cooper already finished this fight."

Gregory concentrated on the four powers he contained. He triggered the darkness power first, followed by the other three.

"Let's see how you deal with that!"

Gregory took off at a run. He could taste victory. The end of the dungeon was in sight. The pyramid grew larger as he approached.

* * *

Cooper jumped back as the ogre fell over and stopped moving. The monster had asked him to fight for a prize, so he didn't feel too bad. It faded into essence and a power flowed into him.

He was rewarded with a trap. It didn't seem quite as good as the last one, but it would still be useful.

He started dashing in the direction of the pyramid that marked the end of the dungeon.

Then the world went black.

Cooper skidded to a halt immediately.

A trap?

The world was black. He couldn't see at all. He condensed some magic on his nose, but the magic didn't illuminate anything around him.

Guess I'll just take it slow.

He sniffed around and crept forward slowly. When his paw sank into a pit, he pulled it back and walked around the edge.

Something howled at him in the darkness. It sounded like some kind of monster. He activated his advanced search, looking for a monster. A blue figure appeared in his vision, rushing quickly towards him. He jumped to the side, and the monster fell into the pit. He spun around and forced his last scrap of mana into a lightning bolt that hammered into the pit.

Ha! Nice try Gregory.

Cooper turned to continue, but his paws slipped. The ground was covered with ice. He scrambled around, but ended up just sinking to the ground. He got back up and walked slowly forward. With the world still dark and his advanced search expired, he had no idea which way the end of the dungeon was.

He had no choice but to wait out the darkness trap.

As soon as it expired a minute later, Cooper sprinted towards the pyramid.

* * *

As the spectators watched the gloom around Cooper faded. They had been able to see what happened better than he could.

"I feel like the traps would have worked better if Gregory hadn't used them at the same time," Fezzic said.

"Agreed. He was trying to put them together to stop Cooper in his tracks, but he really ought to have just tried to slow down the pup," Burtrum said.

"He's doing his best! He's in the lead anyway," Helena said. She didn't coddle Gregory too much, but she was very protective of all her children.

"I don't know how long that will last, look at how fast Cooper is running!" Timothy said.

Indeed, Cooper was flying over the course, putting on extra speed any human couldn't hope to match without some kind of power. Olivander knew the race would come down to seconds.

Gregory flagged as he climbed up the stairs. He had kept his shield out, and the stamina drain of carrying it around when he wasn't really trained in it yet was taking a toll. He had to roll to the side to avoid the rush of water that came out of the stairs higher up on the pyramid.

Cooper hadn't quite reached the base of the pyramid just as Gregory crested the top. All he had to do was enter the rune circle at the top.

Then the ground beneath his feet changed, and he lost his balance, falling over.

"What is that?"

"I think it's sticky. Look! He can't get up!"

Four feet from victory, Gregory was helpless to move as he tried flooding magic into the sticky coating, as evidenced by a blue glow around his body, but it didn't help. Everything that touched the trapped floor was stuck fast.

"COME ON GREG! GET UP!" Timothy yelled.

"GO GO COOPER!" Fezzic yelled.

Cooper reached the pyramid and rushed up. Compared to Gregory, he barely looked winded. He effortlessly dodged the random flows of water. As Cooper neared the top, the ground beneath Gregory returned to normal. He lurched to his feet as Cooper reached the top of the pyramid.

As one, they entered the circle of runes on top of the dungeon.

"WHAT!" several people exclaimed at once.

"Who won?" Helga asked.

"It was too close!" Zeke said.

"I think Cooper had it," Fezzic said.

"No way, Greg was a step ahead of him," Timothy said.

The view of the top of the pyramid faded away, and then both sides of the display were replaced with a view of a single room. A voice carried through the display, hushing the continued arguments.

"It is fitting that on our inaugural run, we had a race so close that only my absolute authority over the dungeon allowed me to know who finished first. Truly this was a fine display of competition."

As they watched, the dungeon spirit manifested in the room. She looked different. She still had the same blue dress, green hair, and black eyes, but now all the flowers in her hair were a brilliant gold.

"In honor of this occasion, I will present the rewards in person. First our victor. His display of incredible speed and uncanny luck with trap usage at the end pulled out the victory by a razor's edge. Come forth, Cooper."

Fezzic cheered the loudest, but everyone else clapped along with him, yelling their congratulations at the construct. Fezzic had formed a special bond with the dog over the last few weeks, so he was happy to see Cooper come out on top.

White light drifted together, and Cooper appeared in the room.

The viewing construct did not pick up the dog's thoughts, so they were left staring at a dog who was staring at a dungeon spirit.

"Cooper has expressed his surprise at victory. It was closer than you know, young pup. Now, you may choose your prize."

Celuria swept her hand to the side, where two chests manifested.