“Since I won’t be able to keep up with you all, I’m going to explain the first three events,” Nachi started once they were up in the skycraft. “As you can probably tell now from the view, we’re along the southern coastline. Mountains and beaches. Normally pretty treacherous for everyday tourists, but it shouldn’t be an issue for you four.”
“Obviously, the entire pentathlon is a race to the end. For each event, you’re allowed to use your Curses as much as you want as long as it doesn’t negate the spirit of the event. That means no flying or teleporting over the course to skip the entire thing. And you can only use your Curse to move yourself directly a few yards at a time, but other than that, each event will only have a few restrictions.”
“The first, as I said, is skydiving. You’ll be jumping out of this craft and landing on top of a mountain just off the coast. If you miss your mark, well you’ll just have to climb back up. Pretty much anything goes for you to land safely.”
“At the top of the mountain will be four bikes waiting for you. Hop on one and then ride down to the bottom of the mountain. Doesn’t really matter what side you go down, as long as you survive. Either way, you’ll end up in the sea below. Additional rules for this section are that you must be on the bike at all times, and it can’t be off the ground for more than a few seconds.”
“And for the third event, swimming. Once you’ve crashed into the ocean, you have to swim back to shore. I’ll have made it over to land by then and will set off a flare, so it should be obvious where you need to go. The only condition here is that you must be touching water pretty much the entire time. If you jump out of it, you better let gravity pull you back.”
“That’s it for now. I’ll let the fourth competition stay a secret until we get there. But as an incentive to do well, the last person to arrive will have to do the fourth event in a very tight outfit that doesn’t leave much at all to the imagination. Good luck, and jump whenever you feel the time is right!” Nachi led the charge, doing a backflip out of the craft.
The others waited a bit longer, needing to wait for the proper window to make sure they hit the mountain. Xard went first since he would have the easiest time redirecting himself in midair. Drim and Phon went about the same time, also not having to worry too much.
Kada on the other hand really had to line up the shot. If she didn’t aim correctly and entirely missed the mountain, there wasn’t much she could do but sadly swim back. She dove out of the plane headfirst, wanting to get her body’s direction right from the get-go so she wouldn’t have to fight the wind resistance. Her goggles flipped down, to keep it out of her eyes, so she could see her target better.
The initial trajectory had been pretty good, but she still tried to shift in the air slightly to hit higher up on the mountain. As long as she hit land at all she’d be fine, but the higher she started, the less she’d have to make her way back up.
Kada couldn’t help but flinch when she impacted the rock, though it had to turned into soft—well not that soft—liquid that broke her fall. She probably went halfway into the core of the mountain before the friction stopped her movement. But then, she used her Curse to rocket herself back up to the top, shooting out of the mountain with almost as much speed as she’d hit it.
In fact, she almost collided with Xard who had landed first, knocking him off his bike in panic just as he’d gotten onto it. Phon joined them next. She’d learned how to cancel momentum using her Curse, basically just having Phonscience hold that piece firmly to a spot so it couldn’t move for a few seconds after. So she merely blinked out of the air and onto solid ground.
Drim came in last, only a few moments behind. He didn’t really have much of a way to increase his speed since he had to use a proper parachute. Because this was a genuine freefall and not just jumping off of a tall building, he’d fully detached his cloak and had vines tie all four ends so he could steer it. Once he got close to the mountain top, he shot another vine at the peak to reel himself in.
Within only about a minute or two, they’d all hopped onto their bikes and started speeding down the mountain. It was an insanely fast and bumpy ride. Just maintaining their balance took most of their strength. Rocks and ridges sent them flying every few seconds, but they all had ways to readjust in the air so that they’d land safely.
Kada was the only one who didn’t take that approach. Instead, she clung onto the bike for dear life, letting one of her feet dip to the ground to melt it. Only about an inch or so turned into liquid, but it was enough to change the entire slope into one big water slide.
Steering didn’t matter since gravity would do all the work at this point. She only needed to worry about staying upright, which wasn’t completely successful. More than once, she’d tip over, and to avoid a painful crash, she melted the ground more into giant puddles to catch herself and then used the liquid to right the bike before she carried on.
Since it was the most reckless method, Kada reached the water first. But she was also at the biggest disadvantage in the water, despite being called The Mermaid. Even though she was by far the strongest swimmer of the group, and could clear the distance with relative ease, her Curse was practically useless in the ocean.
This meant she had to swim the entire length purely with raw ability. She briefly floated the idea of swimming down to the ocean’s floor and melting that to make footholds that she could propel herself with. But she didn’t know how deep that was, and thinking cost precious time, so she just started swimming.
Even though she had a big head start, it wasn’t long before Xard rushed past her. He had the clear advantage here, blasting energy out of his feet like they were turbines. Since he was only keeping his head above the water, it didn’t count as flying, and thus well within the rules.
Phon was also very narrowly skirting the line of her teleportation limit. Her power was also quite useless in the sea, since she couldn’t move herself onto water. It had to be solid footing, and the only solid thing at the moment was bodies.
She of course went after the fastest ride and had latched herself onto Xard’s back. But the speeding man didn’t take that lightly, constantly wrestling to throw her off his back. Everytime he managed it, though, Phon teleported right back on before he could get too far away.
Eventually, he gave up entirely, saving his last trick for the end. Just before reaching the shore, which was a slight cliff face they’d have to climb, Xard leapt into the air, doing a flip to dump Phon back in the water before he landed at the finish line where Nachi was waiting. Even though she now had to climb back up herself, Phon still easily secured second place.
Having been slightly distracted by the spectacle, Kada glanced backwards to see how Drim was doing. His Curse also wouldn’t be too useful in the water. It’s not like he could just make a boat or something, since that wouldn’t count as him being in the water. Or could he?
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What crazy friends she had, since Drim was yet again doing something she never would have thought of. The basic idea was simple. He was using his makeshift parachute from before as a sail now to pull him across the water.
But there was no way the wind would work so well in his favor, so that’s where the creativity was coming in. Kada guessed he probably had wood under his feet to keep him upright to begin with. With one hand, he was holding the sail, and with the other, he was keeping a portal open.
Several giant leaves had spawned partway out of the portal and were spinning like a propeller, constantly blowing wind into the sail. It wasn’t the fastest thing in the world, but it was certainly better than if he just chose traditional swimming.
While impressive and ingenious, Kada’s pride was on the line and she just couldn’t lose to it. She summoned all of her might and swam like her life depended on it, straining her muscles to a point that she almost reached speeds similar to when she was fused with Tize.
On the verge of passing out, Kada crossed the finish line, just a hair before Drim. A waiting Nachi gave her a quick congratulations before grinning devilishly at the loser. Before he could recuperate, he was already being handed the skintight bodysuit he’d have to change into. It only covered his torso and halfway down his thighs, everything else was out in the open. And the next activity would only flaunt his form even more; yoga!
After Drim got changed, he joined the others over on the mats overlooking the ocean. Any other time, it’d be the most majestic yoga class in the world, leaving them feeling serene and powerful. But this would be more stressful than relaxing since it was a race to complete the list of poses up on the screens in front of them.
The screens also had scanners that told them when they’d successfully performed a pose. Basically, the goal was to match the shape as closely as possible even if the form wasn’t completely perfect. And unfortunately for the Fiends, these weren’t beginner poses either. They weren’t the hardest in the world, but definitely best saved for an advanced class.
At least they wouldn’t hurt themselves if they twisted wrong or pulled a muscle. But it would still be a pain to try and flex into those shapes with no prior experience. Yoga definitely wasn’t part of their usual workout routine. But as a sign of solidarity, Nachi participated along with them and outclassed them all.
The sets they were working through were mostly named after animals. Like the ‘Big Stretch’, ‘Ball Curl’, ‘Self-Bathe’ poses from the Cat set, and ‘Soar’, ‘Swoop’, and ‘Fan’ from the Bird set. But there were also a few named after everyday tasks, to give people a good idea of what they were without having to see them first. This included ‘Tie Your Shoes’, ‘Lift a Heavy Box’, and ‘Catch a Fly’ which involved lunging forward and clapping above the head.
Phon was the only one out of the group who didn’t have an advantage because of her Curse. But she was innately the most flexible, so she still finished first. The rest were all forcibly moving their limbs in ways only they could. Kada, who finished second, had the ground sprout up into pedestals that she could use to rest her limbs.
Xard, who finished third, expelled energy to hold certain parts of his body in place and bend farther than he’d ever be able to otherwise. Drim probably would have finished second or third if he didn’t have to change. He used his vines to grab his limbs and contort himself like a marionette. Combined with his super tight and skimpy outfit, it really looked like he was participating in something else.
“I think we might actually have to blur some of that,” Chorus commented from their spot on the sidelines. But thankfully, all the other participants were too enraptured with their own struggle to notice.
The next event didn’t start immediately since Nachi would need to explain the rules to all of them. However, how quickly they finished yoga determined their starting order. “The last game is a classic among the rich and powerful, yet none of you play it. Probably because you’re still young and have literally anything else to do,” Nachi introduced it.
“That’s right, it’s golf! All 18 holes of it. But today, we’re not playing for score. No, this is speed golf. First one to get their ball into every hole wins. And I honestly don’t care if you go in order as long as you complete all 18.”
“For this event, there’s literally only one rule. Once you set your ball down to tee off, you can’t pick it up again until that hole’s complete. Otherwise, you’re free to use your Curses as much as you like. We’ve reinforced the balls too, or else they’d probably just break from a single hit. Feel free to tear up the place as well, since we’ll just have you all repair it when we’re done.”
The four of them all started at the same hole. Once the first person had gone, then the next could tee off, and so on down the list. But after that, it was a free-for-all.
Phon went first, hitting the ball normally with her club since she couldn’t do much else. It was obvious she’d never played before, well overshooting the hole. But with her ability to teleport immediately to where her ball landed, she was swinging again within a second. Her aim and power didn’t matter too much, as long as she kept getting close to the hole. And as the game went on, her control only got better.
“Liquid ball, go!” Kada dropped a small speck of melted dirt on her ball so she could liquify it after the initial hit. The liquid ball mostly kept its shape, but also melted the ground beneath it, and Kada repeated a similar trick as before with the mountain and the bike, creating a slip-n-slide to the hole.
Xard forgoed using a putter entirely. Instead, he laid on the ground and fired a blast into the ball, almost as if he was playing a round of pool. Before he’d set the ball down, he’d loaded it up with dozens of specks of stored energy on all sides, each spot containing varying levels of energy.
After the ball was in the air, he released the spots to make corrections mid-flight. This let him get it on the green easily on the first shot. Then as he flew over, he released bits more to roll it into the hole before he got there.
Drim went the more slow and steady route. It could also be considered outright cheating since it let him get a hole-in-one on every single hole. If they weren’t playing for speed, he would be the de facto winner by default.
The boy created a long pipe made out of wood and bamboo that arced all the way across the course. At the green, to make sure to sink the putt, and to try and not get in the way of the others, the pipe ended a few feet directly above the hole and then fell straight down into it. All Drim had to do was hit it into the pipe, which was impossible to miss, and then the plants took care of the rest.
Since he had to set it up for each hole, it certainly wasn’t a speedy process. But it was concrete, and on average, it put him above the others since there were never any obstacles, unexpectedness, or wind that he had to deal with.
On the very last hole, he was primed to win, a smile already on his face after he hit the ball into the pipe. But moments before it was set to exit, another ball rolled onto the green, mere inches from the hole. Phon then instantly appeared and lined up her shot.
Instead of a soft putt which would be all she’d need to sink the shot, she hit it significantly harder, to the point that it would certainly bounce over the hole. But she’d timed it perfectly. As Drim’s ball fell from the pipe, hers collided into it, knocking it away, and sinking her own ball with a resounding ring of clinks.
“Congratulations to our grand champion!” Chorus held up Phon’s arm once everyone had gathered. They then began some long speech that no one really paid attention to about the thrill of sports and everything they’d just gone through.
“So what do I win?” Phon interject eventually, getting impatient.
“Oh yes, of course,” Chorus smiled at her. “Since these events are all hobbies that people do regularly for fun and not really anything else, what you win is the fun that you had along the way!”
Everyone else went to go clean up the golf course and then have a meal at the clubhouse, leaving Chorus behind to try and unravel themselves from the golf club wrapped around their head.