Chapter 39: Prelims Day 2 (Part 1)

[Good morning ladies and gentlemen! I hope you had a night filled to the brim with fun and excitement in our illustrious city! Just a reminder that their will be a open dance on the premises after or event closes tonight! And for those of you that are here for the first time this event is open to all comers with contestants being the star attraction! And who knows... maybe one of you lucky guys or gals will get some attention from that special someone!] - Judico

[Now without further ado I'd like to remind everyone what the rules of this...] - Judico

Tuning out the rest of the announcers speech that was more for the benefit of any newcomers than anyone else Karen jiggled lightly as she shivered from nervous energy, dreading the announcement of her name. Feeling shame from her reaction she tried her best to hide it but she knew she was doing a bad job as some of her fellow contestant's were whispering to each other while watching her. Grabbing her left hand with her right she squeezed but the soft material she was made of provided no relief making her miss the comforting firmness of a flesh and blood person.

[Where are you Austin?] - Karen

[Hmm? Was Mist... Miss Karen speaking to me?] - Kurata

[N-no no, don't worry about it.] - Karen

Waving off a concerned Kurata she focused once more on reining in her fear, not wanting it to interfere with meeting Austin once more.

[Ahem! We's been told that an animal was getting uppity. Thinking she was as good as us normal folk.] - Stereotypical Thug

[Yeah maybe we's should put trash like you's back where you's belong!] - Absolute Moron

[Hmm? What do small-fries like yourself want?] - Karen

[We're here to tell ya that you's that you's better lose from now on. Or else.] - Stereotypical Thug

[Yeah or else!] - Absolute Moron

Rolling her eyes at the absolute unimaginative scene in front of her Karen shook her head slowly. She'd initially left the arena waiting room to get some air, hoping that the freshness would make her forget about her anxiety. And just when she'd started to calm down, while walking through a nearby park, she'd been approached by the two morons in front of her. And to make matter's even more moronic they knew who she was and were too stupid to realize that she was so far above her league that it wasn't measurable yet they still threatened her like she was some damsel in distress in an alleyway. It was like they were trying to become fodder for the hero of this story. Luckily for them however she was no more interested in being rescued than she was with dealing with them for more than a few seconds. As such she stepped forward threateningly about to beat them within an inch of their lives then let the guard deal with what was left but she was interrupted by a voice from the trees.

[What exactly are you doing to this maiden?] - Stereotypical Galant Hero-type

<Are you shitting me? Is this a fucking script?> - Karen

[What do you want pretty boy?!?] - Stereotypical Thug

[Yeah! Who are you?!?] - Absolute Moron

Suddenly springing forward out of the leaves the wannabe hero jumped down and swiftly dispatched the two of them in an instant. Karen, still gagging internally at the absolute stupidity of this entire thing, was still impressed by the dexterity displayed by the man that was "saving" her and whistled in surprise at his skill. Soundly defeated by the newcomer the two would-be thugs turned-tail and ran, the man then turning the check her condition. Man this guy was following all the steps to a "T", it was kind of impressive. In a, "This is stupid." way.

[Are you safe my lady? I have driven off those ruffians.] - Stereotypical Galant Hero-type

[You took my punching bags you moron. Now who are you and what do you want?] - Karen

[Ah! Apologies young lady, how rude of me. I have the privilege of being the Prince of this country, Julias de la Abelis. It is an honor to meet you miss...?] - Prince? Julias

[It's Karen. Just Karen. Not that it means anything since we'll never meet again. Does that nonsense actually work? Well whatever, anyways why don't you leave me alone, I was trying to get some fresh air.] - Karen

[Oh you wound me Miss Karen, I only saw a young maiden in distress and felt it my duty to assist. But if you truly wish me to leave I will do so with a heavy heart!] - Prince of Fools Julias

Bowing so deeply that it was either entirely faked or this "Prince" was actually a moron the man quickly grabbed her hand before she could react and kissed the back of it before turning to leave.

<Tch! Disgusting. Come back when you're half the man Austin was you moron. Not like you'll have a chance regardless though...> - Karen

Turning away from the moronic Prince while whispering to herself she never noticed the man wiping his mouth and spitting onto the ground behind her, a look of complete disgust on his face.

[And another win for our Fluid Beauty, Karen, The Lightning Flash! Can anyone halt her ascendance untouched?!? Will anyone measure up?!? We'll find out soon!] - Judico

[With less that a quarter of our initial contestants left the field is narrowing quickly and soon we'll know who is moving on and who is going to have their dream stop here! So without further ado let's bring out our next fighters!!!] - Judico

Slinking off the stage as soon as her match was over, Karen was glad that her fights so far today had been simple in the extreme, giving her the chance to recover from her earlier nerves. Her first fight, against someone with 2 losses already, had taken far longer than it should have with her body not moving exactly like she expected it to. Luckily by the second round of the day her adrenaline had started pumping and had helped to ease her fraying nerves. Now, her third fight had ended within seconds. With her knocking out another contestant, getting the total closer to the number that would be allowed to participate in the actual event.

[This one is impressed, Mistr... Miss Karen.] - Kurata

[Why? Everyone I've fought against today was utter garbage. Hell I'm surprised any of them actually thought they had a chance.] - Karen

[No Mistress. What impresses this one isn't the quality of Miss Karen's opponents but the improvements to one's form.] - Kurata

Shaking his head slightly at her question Kurata beamed at her with awe.

[Huh? What do you mean?] - Karen

[Miss Karen hasn't noticed? One's movements have become more smooth since this one fought Miss Karen. If this one fought now this one would not be able to even touch Miss Karen.] - Kurata

[R-Really? I hadn't really noticed a difference...] - Karen

[This one is curious. Where did Miss Karen learn one's form? This one is unfamiliar with it.] - Kurata

[Oh that... Hmm...] - Karen

[Miss Karen?] - Kurata

[It's a secret form, I may train with you some day but that'll wait till the tournament is over.] - Karen

Nodding sagely at her non-answer Kurata face broke into a smile at her promising to possibly train together. Surprised at the man's normally unexpressive face showing such a genuine smile Karen just stared at the samurai.

[Look in the Underdeep they said, it's in the sewers they said. Damn my sense of smell.] - Arlen

In all the places someone would expect to see someone that was set to inherit a country the last place anyone would look would be a sewer. Unfortunately for the young Dragon-kin Prince that was exactly where he was.

After speaking with countless pedestrians and getting more doors slammed in his face than he cared to count he'd finally gotten a hint. Apparently there was a well-known gang in the Underdeep, called Hope's End by the locals. This gang was known for several reasons but the largest is that they were extremely prejudiced against Demi's of all kinds. If he was going to find the missing beastmen it'd behoove him to check out any group that would have a grudge against them, especially when said gang was known for slave trafficking in the past. The only thing that seemed strange to him about this incident is the size, there was no way a gang would have been able to pull off something of this magnitude without significant outside help, probably from a powerful noble or merchant group. After picking up the trail of the group itself his next goal would be searching for evidence of who helped them. This was all assuming that they even had anything to do with this of course. But something told him that he was on the right track.

Now he only had to hope the smell didn't kill him before he found his prey.

The first thing that Moon saw was bars. She was in a cage. Struggling to her knees she realized that her hands were tied behind her back, most likely to keep her from using her claws. Quickly looking around to find her little brother and sister she realized that while she wasn't alone in the cage neither of them were with her. Looking out into the gloom of their surroundings she saw several cages, many of which were filled with glowing eyes looking back at her but no children.

[W-Who are you?] - Nervous Wolfgirl

[The name's Moon. Did you see any children? A wolfgirl and a bearkin, around 7 years old?] - Moon

[N-No you were alone when the guards tossed you in here. I haven't seen any children since I was captured.] - Nervous Wolfgirl

[Damn. They're probably being stored elsewhere. Children are worth more afterall. Did the guards let anything slip when they brought me here? Anything we can use?] - Moon

[I heard them say something about shipping us out during the finale of the tournament. I'm not sure why.] - Nervous Wolfgirl

[Hmm... If I had to guess I'd say they planned on using the commotion from the excitement to slip out without anyone noticing.] - Moon

[But how?!? They can't just waltz us down the street and out the gates, don't the guards check all merchandise? They'll realize who we are and...] - Foxy Lady

[They probably plan to ship us down the river, less checks to deal with and the sewer leads right down to the docks.] - Moon

[And how do you know that!?!] - Foxy Lady

[Because I live down there! I know the place like the back of my hand, if they're going to be selling us as slaves the only way they can move such a large number is by ship.] - Moon

[Wait but I...!] - Foxy Lady

[Shut up! Now let me think, oh and can one of you guys loosen these ropes. Don't untie them yet though, we might need to catch our captor's off guard to get out of here.] - Moon

The affluent looking Foxy Lady finally quieted down as Moon lapsed into silence and she tried to think of a way out of her current situation. She'd have to find her little one's after escaping and a plan for that was starting to form in her mind.

[That Slimegirl is doing pretty good.] - Veronica

[Yeah, I doubt we would have been able to win as easily if I'm being honest. Especially against that Kurata guy.] - Malaise

[...We'd win.] - Shade

[You tell her Shade! What the hell Mal you saying we would have lost or something?!?] - Veronica

[Hah... You too Shade? And you! Consider the outcome if a ranged fighter like yourself fought against someone like that... alone.] - Malaise

[...oof.] - Veronica

[Yeah oof, the only one among us that would have a chance is Shade. My spells take too long and you'd only be able to get off one shot at the most before he cut you in half.] - Malaise

[I-I could get two!] - Veronica

[...] - Shade

[Well whatever, just watch the rest of the fights. Maybe we can learn some new tactics from them at the very least.] - Malaise

Shaking her head and the obstinate succubus in front of her Malaise turned back to the arena, the last few fights had been woefully inadequate but the field was narrowing quickly and for the most part only the strongest contestants were still in the fight. In fact there were only a few more fighter's left until the Prelims were over at the rate they were going currently. Watching the current fight the three of them continued to try and keep their minds off their still absent friend.

Blasting his firebreath at the swarm of lesser water dragons in front of him Dragon Lord Mortem Restisis smirked as the bay boiled, cooking hundreds of screeching snakes nearly instantaneously. He'd been hibernating in the Cape of Broken Stones when he'd sensed his granddaughter in the Place Beyond and gone to meet her. What had followed was the most impressive showing that a hatchling had accomplished that he could remember. Even his son had paled in comparison to her potential. It was also the reason he'd decided to rouse himself and head to pick up this promising hatchling despite his usual hands-off attitude around his kids.

Sure he'd complained when his son had left to go adventure on his own and he'd complained even more when that same kid had said that he was getting married to some lesser being on top of that, but he generally left it at that. If fact he barely talked with most of his grandkids, only opting to check in on them periodically to make sure they were coming along fine. When you'd had as many grandkids as he did it was inevitable that some of them fell through the cracks. Hell he'd had so many children personally that there was nearing 100 of his own flesh and blood kicking around at the moment, although most of them were hibernating for the next few hundred years and had been doing so for a couple hundred already. At the moment only 3 of his kids were up and about, 2 of them were among his youngest while the other was a bit more worrying as he'd lost track of him. His oldest.

[Die trash!] - Mor

Opening his maw once more as a fresh wave of gigantic sea snakes writhed towards him the old dragon laughed as death spread out from him in a wave of destruction, reveling in the carnage.