"So...what do you want to do?" Wu asked, flipping over the Chariots railing as his fellow Illiol college students waved at him upon exit. Fatera stood up and stretched her arms before backflipping over his head and landing right opposite him. Then, she grabbed onto Wu's wrist and started making a run for it before she was recognized by the other students.
Running past the crowds that formed pairs of massive lines outside the roller coaster, Fatera then dragged Wu onto the nearest unoccupied Chariot before driving it straight up into the air towards the upper levels of attractions.
"Anything that's fun and competitive," Fatera said, handing over piloting duties to Wu, though there really isn't much to pilot beyond setting a destination, and Wu had learned how to interact with most of the basic Casts in this world through his One-Shotter.
The outfit he is wearing right now is a more casual version of his Void suit, containing the same functionalities as his light armor Void suit, minus the physical protections. It's a black shirt with a brown trouser bottom, incredibly uninspiring and just the way he likes it to be.
"This is a Cultural festival...not a tournament..." Wu said, scratching his head and looking around the stalls, "Let's get something to eat first."
And so they did, as Fatera once again dragged Wu around the dozens of food stalls after buying festival tickets from one of the Union stalls. Going from fried fish to roast beef, stewed vegetable and sweetbreads, Fatera's quickly filling up Wu's stomach as she tossed those meals down her bottomless pit inside.
Inevitably, she was recognized by the pedestrians as the winner of the Winter Wars, and a few jealous looks were shot Wu's way.
Fortunately, he wasn't exactly remembered by the crowds, so he enjoyed the peace while other people hit on Fatera. After a little while, she had resorted to the tactics of holding onto Wu's hand as a means of keeping others away.
"Don't get it twisted, Wu." Fatera said, yanking Wu along the crowds, "I ain't got no time for love because I am too busy winning. Plus, ya already got Lera, don't ya?"
"Lera?" Wu tilted his head slightly before sighing, "I don't even know what's going on with Lera, to be honest."
"Have ya seen the way she looked at ya?" Fatera laughed, "She would even fight me over you!"
"What happened on the island was more than that..."
"I know I know..." Fatera conceded, dropping Wu's hands as they sat down on a conveniently placed bench right in front of a massive floating tent, "You have seen the schedule for the cultural festival, right? The Night of Love is on the night of the fourth day!"
"Night of Love? The heck is that?"
"Don't know." Fatera shrugged, "Don't care. Only heard others talk about it."
"Well, I have seen you getting rather close to Augen~" Wu teased, and Fatera's eyes shot open before she quickly shut that idea down.
"Nope, he's just a nice guy helping me train," Fatera said, her face closing into Wu as her crimson eyes became wide. Wu observed her with amusement and when she shrugged with a smirk too, "A very nice guy, actually...nice body too after I whipped it into shape!"
"Sure sure..."
That was when a pair of students walked out from the tent, their body drenched in sweat, and one of them started commenting on they almost winning the fight...
That drew immediate attention from both Wu and Fatera, the two of them then shot up onto their feet and headed to the front of the massive tent where the pair came from and they saw massive drawings of what looked like bows and arrows.
"Welcome to the Arrow Tag stall, hosted by the Eternal Xia society!" One of the students dressed in festive clothing said, "This is one of the most popular activities from the Eternal Xia! Would you like to play for just one ticket each?"
"Is it a game I can win?" Fatera asked before Wu interrupted her and stuffed two tickets into the student's hand and pushed her into the tent. They were then given a red bow each with Cast written into its body before being put at one of the ends of the obstacle courses, "I am winning this."
"Yeah yeah..." Wu said, drawing the bowstring back and releasing as a small jolt of Wave was sent flying away out of the bow's tip, "This is just like the One-Shotter, but...a lot tamer."
"And a lot more like an actual bow." Fatera joked, "Don't turn this one into a pistol."
"If I do, we will be paying more than just a ticket, I think..." Wu smiled, when one of the student helpers leaped up onto the top of the pole that supported the entire tent, his voice booming out through a projection Cast written onto his glove.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"All contestants of the blue and red teams! The rule of the game is simple! This is a game of team-based tag, and once you hit someone on the opposing team, you score points based on where you hit them. Once you are hit, you will feel a certain tingle that will make your movements more difficult if you are moving farther from your base. However, that tingle will aid your movements if you are moving towards your base, and that effect will be cleansed once you stood under the revival point for three seconds."
"So that's the incentive to you heading back after getting hit?" Wu asked, and the helper nodded before spinning around the pole.
"You will only score points if you land a hit with the bow, simply pull, aim, and release! Doesn't get any simpler than that!" The students continued, "The timer will be 10 minutes! And it starts...now!"
"CHAAAARGE!" Fatera shouted, her body instantly coated with the Wave as she dashed forward and a massive blast of air sent Wu's frail body flying back into one of the soft and squishy obstacles.
"Great." Wu picked himself up as the rest of the soldiers on his red team offered him looks of sympathy before also heading off.
He had played laser tag before, though the superpowered Arrow tag is something a little different. There is nothing in the rules that suggested you cannot use your own Wave abilities, only that you cannot score that way. But what about defensive Wave abilities...?
Wu wondered as he saw Fatera bounce off one of the Wave obstacles towards a loving couple who's just walking casually in the courses. The girl glancing around casually as the guy kept the bow drawn. Clearly, the girl was only here because of the guy's insistence. And then, Fatera rained fire on them, drowning them with fire and making them run for their lives.
"FATERA!" One of the blue team member recognized her by the way she moved, as her naturally crimson red Wave matched the colour of her team, "I have always wanted to face off-"
Splash!
Before he could even finish, Fatera had already fired off a blast from her bow, however, the blast bounced off a shield Cast as the man chuckled and swung his big furry jacket over his shoulder, "Remember me?!"
"Nope." Fatera said as the man nearly choked on his own words. Grounding his teeth into one another, he then reached his hand over, conjuring up the head of a red dragon in his hands before he was about to blast Fatera with actual fire.
"Hey! You can't score points like-" The Xia student helper warned from above when Fatera absolutely blitzed through the man's shields, shattering it with her bare knuckles before she pinned the bow against his forehead, unleashing so many blasts of Wave that the instant build-up of tingles nearly knocked him out on the spot.
"Don't ya worry." Fatera said, pointing a finger up into the air, "I win even against cheats!"
That was when the first shot landed onto Fatera's body, and the blast of Wave stuck to her shoulder like a parasite, draining away her energy from inside and weighing her down like a slab of metal. She turned her head slowly and nearly scared off the girl with a blue bow with her angry stare. Then, the sound of a bowstring whizzing through the air came from behind, and shots nailed onto her back as she stumbled forward.
"NO! FATERAAA!" Wu shouted from behind her, but the moment he poked his head over the obstacle, cover fire from blue team were able to pin them down right then and there.
"Get back!" His teammates shouted, pressing his head down, "She broke formation and we can't afford to lose anymore because of that!"
"But she is out there alone!" Wu said, providing cover fire that didn't even come close over the obstacle as blue team moved methodically to surround Fatera, "We need to help her!"
As more and more blasts of the Wave splattered over her body, Fatera started to feel her arms and legs becoming heavier and heavier. Then, she collapsed onto her back knee, her shoulders dropped as if she's wearing the heaviest backpack on the world as her eyelids started to become lowering, her eyesight becoming blurry.
"Hang in there!" Wu shouted as Fatera glanced towards him with great effort. He shouted a battle cry before charging out from his cover, avoiding the long-range shots from across the map before retaliating, knocking one of the snipers right in the forehead and sending her stumbling backwards. However, he didn't make it far before he was mowed down by an array of shots.
Is this...it for them? Fatera wondered, looking at the ground before the blue teams moved over her and continued to advance, ready to take this game away. Then, they chased down Wu, continuing to score points on him even as he tried crawling back to their base.
"Is this...the game?" Fatera murmured, pressing herself up with so much effort that a headache exploded within her head and her heartbeat loudly in her chest with great effort.
Of course not. Those arrow tag blasts are designed to disable the ordinary, not some wild animal like her.
A massive pulse of Wave exploded from within her body, and all of a sudden, the dark red aura from her body seemed to have washed away all of the residue effects of the blasts from the specially-made bows. Then, Fatera rose up from the dead and free-fired on the blue team from the back.
"ATTACK!" The surprising pincer from the downed Fatera and red team caught the blue team off guard, and as the red team pressed forward, the blue team scrambled to retreat, only to be pinned down by Fatera from behind. The individual blasts from the opposing team are supposed to provide you with a movement bonus when retreating, but with Fatera in the way, there is nowhere for the blue team to go.
"HAHAHAH! TAKE THAT!" Fatera laughed, running rampant around the battlefield and shooting down the harmless festival goers until ten minutes are up, and red team ran away with the match as the people of the blue team grumbled in their defeat.
"Hey baby! I will make it up to you! I promise..." One of the boys shot Fatera a venomous glare before he went ahead and comforted his upset girlfriend. Fatera tossed the bow back onto the stack and laughed as Wu approached her with the match MVP trophy.
"Here...Hope you are happy..." Wu said, shoving the trophy in her hands before he rolled his shoulders around, his body still feeling the sting from the blasts, "I should have left you to die out there."
"Aw, how sweet of you~" Fatera laughed, slapping Wu on the shoulder and nearly breaking it, "Augen would have just let me do my thing."
"Yeah, I can't see the future." Wu said, heading out first.
"Hey! He can't see it either!"