My Dream

🦁 Stampede

Ace and Deuce came by soon after Floyd left. They convinced Gwen to take a break and come watch the games with them. Gwen agreed and shut down her booth, walking around with her boyfriends, Grim on her shoulders.

"Fffaaah!! Look at it all!" Grim said in awe. "There's so many things to eat! Churros, fried cake, and there's smoked chicken, too!"

Gwen smiled. "Yeah, it smells yummy. But... after what happened... I had Trey pack me a lunch today."

"Don't worry Gwen!" Grim assured her. "Anything you buy, I'll take the first bite of to make sure it's safe to eat."

"You just want to eat more of my food!" Gwen accused.

"Tch~ In the end I didn't get picked..." Ace complained.

"Same..." Deuce moped.

Gwen patted them on the back. "There's always next year. Let's cheer on our classmates."

"But we've got an important job to do today." Deuce reminded. "We've gotta focus on that."

"You're right." Ace perked up. "We'll give it out all."

"What's that takoyaki thing?" Grim asked. "I wanna eat everything."

"I think it's octopus." Gwen answered.

"Eat. It. Later!" Ace snapped. "We have to go!"

***

"It's almost time for players to enter the stadium." Leona said to Ruggie.

Ruggie held up the bottle. "We're ready to go, give the signal anytime."

"The top batter is least year's champion, Diasomnia." Leona said. "Hmph... makes your heart race. Right?"

"Shishishi!!" Ruggie snickered. "Time to get things done!"

***

"Eh... ahem." The Announcer cleared his throat over the loudspeaker. "Welcome to the Night Raven College Inter-Dorm Magical Shift Tournament." He began. "We apologize for the long wait. It is finally time to welcome our competitors to the field!"

The audience cheered through excitement, their cries echoing everywhere throughout the school grounds.

"First up, last year's victor! Can they make it a three-peat?" The Announcer asked, building up the team. "The reigning flash. Dia~~somnia~~~~!!!"

The crowd cheered as the Diasomnia Dorm made their way to the stadium. Leading the group was Sebek and Silver.

Ruggie sneered as he watched. "Ooh. There sure are a lot of people." He pulled the potion out of his pocket. "If we have this... Shishishi! First, the potion I got from Azul." He chugged it down.

Ruggie immediately regretted it. It felt like fire going down his throat and tasted like a festering corpse. "What is in this!?" He gagged. "It feels like it's trying to rip me apart from the inside!"

Ruggie leaned against a booth, taking deep breaths, trying his hardest not to black out. He slowly stood up. "Get my head in the game. Time to go. My unique magic! Run like a herd of wildebeests! Laugh With Me!"

Up front, near the entrance to the stadium, a visitor looked around. "Hm? What's that sound?" He wondered. His eyes widened in fear. "W-what is that!? There's a bunch of people running down the street like a parade!?"

Someone at the front of the stampede screamed. "My body is... get outta the way! Move!!!" They screamed out in warning.

A woman shrieked as she was swept up in the crowd. "Don't shove me!"

"Get away!" Another man in the stampede shouted, trying to warn everyone away. "You're gonna get trampled!"

"Ooh no!?" The Announcer gasped. "What exactly is happening here!? The audience has started running headlong down the street and dragging others into their charge! Calm down, everyone! Please calm yourselves!"

Ruggie was finding it very hard to concentrate. That potion was supposed to help, and it did, but it was a constant fight to keep his hold on this many people. Sweat beaded down his brow as Ruggie moved the crowd like puppets. He was starting to wonder if Azul had sabotaged him somehow. But why? Unless... "Oh, shit!" Ruggie cursed. "He knows about Gwen!"

It was like hell in the tournament grounds. People were scrambling to avoid getting trampled and the crowd was growing larger. Parents scooped up children, and people shouted and cursed as they ducked out of the way. Countless items were knocked over and destroyed, and it was a miracle none of the booths had been knocked over yet.

Cheka screamed in fear as his mother scooped him up tightly in her grasp. Queen Amina was no child, however. She climbed on top of one of the booths, noticing her guards following her lead and helping people up as well. She had no idea where her husband was, but she trusted his own guards to keep Farena safe.

Ortho scanners detected the danger even before his brother warned him. Using his rocket booths and sensors, he was able to get to safety as well. "Ortho!" His brother screamed once the call connected. "Just stay there until it's safe! Then you're coming right back to the dorm!" Ortho didn't fight his brother on this.

Azul was not expecting the crowd to get that large. "What the hell!? How's Ruggie getting that much use out of the potion!? He should feel like he's dying!"

The three dashed through the crowd, trying to make it too safety. Floyd, the best runner of the group, was well in the lead, Jade right behind him. But Azul had never been as fast as them, even in merform.

With a gasp, Azul tripped and fell. His glasses fell off and shattered. The crowd was almost on top of him. Two sets of strong arms plucked him up.

"This is just like that shark!" Floyd remembered as he and Jade carried Azul in between two of the booths, safe from the crowd.

"That was your fault! You wouldn't stop messing around with that crab, and the screams attracted the shark." Azul panted curling into their arms.

The eels nuzzled into him, all three grateful to be safe. Azul momentarily mourned the loss of his glass, but they had been purely for the aesthetic anyway. "Great Sea Witch, I hope our Angelfish is alright."

Ruggie wearily laughed. "Azul... even though you sabotaged that potion... this is amazing! I can't believe I can control this many people at once!"

Ruggie honestly felt ready to die. "But it took a lot outta me... since we've come this far! Can you use magic on all these innocent bystanders? Even the great Malleus, prince of the Fae, couldn't use it if he wanted to, huh!" Gathering up his remaining energy, he sent the crowd directly for the Diasomnia students. "Get trampled! Shishishi!"

"The panicked audience is heading straight for the Diasomnia team!" The Announcer shouted. "Get out of the way, everyone! Please get away!!"

"This is bad, we'll be crushed by the crowd at this rate!" Silver shouted. "Protect Prince Malleus!"

"This way Prince Malleus! Prince Malleus!!" Sebek directed, only to gasp in terror. "We won't make it! We're going to be trampled!!!"

Silver screamed as the crowd converged on them. "Prince Malleus~~!!"

Ruggie mouth gaped as he watched the team go under the mass of people. "I did it... we succeeded!"