Spiritmal, By The Light Of A Star

3. Across the water

"Can you handle fifteen more minutes on Fang?"

"Are you kidding me? Of course! It's totally the ride of my life!" I squealed. I could already see the islands ahead of me. One of them had to be Seamon Town.

Me and Tim have been riding on Fang for the past three hours non-stop and I had enjoyed every part of it. I felt a little sad that the ride was going to end but I guess everything good has to. Besides, I think Fang deserved a break. How he had managed to survive three hours of non-stop running at a pace fast enough to run on water was beyond me. The combined weight of me and Tim made the run across water even more miraculous.

"We're here!" Tim slid down the side of Fang, reaching out a hand to help me.

"Thanks but I think I can help myself." Sliding down Fang, I stretched a little. After all, I've been sitting still for the past three hours and fifteen minutes.

"Do you need help finding the racing area?" He offered as Fang turned back into the little puppy I know.

"Thanks but I think I found it already! I replied, looking off to the distance. There stood a humorous building with a few beams of light emitting from it.

He chuckled, "I guess I better get going then. Oh and here's my number if you want to call me anytime soon." Tim wrote down something on a piece of paper and handed it to me.

"Thanks Tim! See you!" I waved, leaving him and Fang at the shoreline

"See you too"

As I was running, I suddenly realized how fast exactly Fang was. Dad said that I would need a day to travel. However, it was currently only one o'clock in the afternoon. Fang sure was fast. The race was set to start tomorrow night so I had plenty of time to look around.

I reached the gates of the race venue and looked up in awe. It was slightly different from the stadiums that were used for sports. It had a wide door leading to a gate near the dock. Most races between spiritmals do not happen in the stadiums themselves and instead on uninhabited lands. However, the starting point was usually connected to the stadium itself. I was guessing that tomorrow's race would be on the ocean as the stadium gate lead down to the dock, with floating buoys seeming to mark out a clear path. My guess was further backed up with the evidence of rental boats in the area, most likely for spectators to view the race. The entire area was blocked off by a wired fence and the only way down to that part of the beach was via the racing area itself. Looking at this scene, it was pretty obvious that the race was going to take place over the ocean.

I better sign in, so that I won't forget to do so later or lose my tickets walking around here. With the race being tomorrow, I may actually meet a few of the racers!

I walked closer to the gate of the racing venue, taking in the big doors that were leading to a world I would never have seen before. On the doors were carvings of various spiritmals.

Cool! That's a lionblitz. I thought, spotting a lion like spiritmal on the door.

"Is there anything I could do to help you?"

I turned around and spotted a security guard looking at me, his face seemingly emotionless.

"Oh. I was just wondering if I could sign in already." I took out my ticket remembering my purpose of coming here in the first place.

"You can." The security guard answered. "However, you wouldn't be able to leave the compound till the race is over. It's the same for most spectators even and the races usually do the same. There's entertainment inside like the hotel, the shopping mall, the beach and many others."

"Ok." I answered as the guard checked me in.

"You're all set now. Enjoy watching the race." The guard answered as he allowed me into the corridor.

At the other end of the corridor was a whole new world. Ok, not quite. However, for a girl that hardly ever seen any spiritmals, it seemed amazing to see nearly everyone with one all in one place.

They were everywhere. Some of them flying through the air as others walked beside their trainers or sat on their shoulders. A few of them were even in their true form with their trainers riding on them. Both trainers and their spiritmals seemed busy as they raced around the mini town doing whatever they needed to do.

According to my mother, this was actually a familiar sight in most towns. Too bad that the one I was raised in had so little.

Taking out my camera, I proceeded to take a few photos of the busy scene as a keepsake. Even though I knew this would become a common sight as I continued my journey, I wanted a photo of the first place I had seen such a sight.

The photos actually turned out quite good. Maybe I should try to get a job in photography.

Spotting a flyer stand nearby, I ran towards it and had a look at the papers it had.

"Prima Pizza Place... Spiritmal Daycare Center... The Tasty Treat... ah, there it is!" Finally finding what I needed, I picked up the piece of paper.

It was the map of the race venue, just what I needed. Looking through, I scanned it to find the stadium's location. Apparently, it was North to my location. I had decided to head there as soon as I signed in. After all, I had grabbed a quick lunch while I had been riding on Fang and had always wanted to see a stadium for real. Perhaps I would even find a few races preparing for tomorrow's race!
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About fifteen minutes later, I looked up from my map to see the stadium looming above me.

"So... this is it."

Walking in, I was greeted with the sight of a few trainers and their spiritmals doing warm up exercises inside. I assumed that most of them would be racing in tomorrow's race, seeing that they were practicing so hard.

Most of them were in their disguise forms, a few running around obstacles and dodging balls that their trainers were throwing.

I figured that they were training for the event if they encounter wild spiritmals along the way. Wild spiritmals were not always friendly and may attack at times if they feel threatened. As such, races would usually also teach and practice battle moves with their spiritmals. Even though races were seldom battlers as well, they still had to be prepared as anything could happen in a race.

"Dodge this! Dodge that! Pathetic! How could you let both hit you?"

I froze upon hearing those words, wondering who had been cruel enough to say them. Looking to my left, I saw an angered trainer with a lionblitz and another spiritmal that I couldn't recognize in their disguise forms, the lionblitz seeming to be mocking the other spiritmal alongside its trainer, giving the unknown spiritmal a hard time. Looking at the Spiritmal's pleading eyes, I just knew that I had to do something. Something to help out that poor spiritmal.