D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Kat ---

Kat breathed out a long breath as she stood on the teleporter. Burgandy and Burnice were standing next to the activation button and everyone else was getting ready… in their own way. Kat had managed to force through a few restrictions for herself. She was keeping the limiter on, and she wasn't going to use demonic fire. Both Lily and Kat weren't to use their wings, and further, Kat wasn't going to use her ability to turn into and control water to just float over everything. Kat and Lily had also made the agreement not to speak mentally to each other during the event. It would be too easy to work together that way. 

On the far left was March doing stretches, she had a slightly sour look on her face but hadn't said anything just yet. Next to her was Kat, rolling her shoulders and flexing her wings, despite them being banned, it just felt nice to let them spread out. Next to Kat, was Vanya who was looking herself over. She'd run off to get some better boots but no weapons or anything else. Lily was next she was stretching herself out in her human form. Marigold was bending herself into odd shapes. Calling it stretching seemed like an insult to rubber bands. If only she wasn't making awkward noises as she did it, Kat would be much less embarrassed. 

"I still think those restrictions are silly," said March. "Except perhaps the limitations on your wings. I'll admit that might have made things a bit unfair, but I feel like the rest of the restrictions are unnecessarily harsh," 

"Eh, I think Kat made a good point," said Vanya. "If Thyme imposed those limits on her, then they're probably quite reasonable. Though the demonic fire thing is new, I think. Still, I can see why. Kat seems almost designed to destroy this test. She's got so many ways to make this unfair," 

"Bah, if it's 'unfair' that just means you're not strong enough yet," said March with a huff. 

Marigold shrugged and said, "Look, I wouldn't have forced Kat to go along with any of it, but she suggested it herself so I'm not going to complain. Though if I'm honest, I'm pretty sure I know a way or two for most people here to abuse the rules as they stand. It'll be… interesting to see," 

*Hmm, I wonder what sort of abuse Marigold is thinking of.* Kat waited a few seconds for a mental reply from Lily before remembering they'd agreed to shut off the link and started pouting. "So are we going to start or what?" said Kat in a completely normal tone of voice with no bitterness whatsoever. 

March gave Kat a quick glance but the demon just shrugged back and waited. Burnice and Burgandy shared a look before shrugging as well. "Is everyone ready then?" asked Burnice. After a round of nods Burnice slapped the button and they were teleported away. 

Kat blinked the light out of her eyes more from reflex then necessary as she started out with her punches. With everyone already knowing how this worked, they were all attacking the barrier. Lily had transformed into her Memphis form and was taking her claws to it, while everyone else just punched away at it… except March. 

The obstacle course had been reset since the earlier run. Everything was back to how it was originally, with floating platforms scattered around the place, no intense cloud cover and no obvious end in sight. Kat was curious to see who would trigger the final showdown this time. Then again, it was technically possible that the change in scenery was on a timer, but she didn't really believe that. Not unless Thyme had changed things since the first run. Which was a distinct possibility.

Kat turned to face the large woman as she kept up her assault on the barrier wondering what was going on. Her question was answered when March started steaming, pulled back her large fist and crashed into the barrier shattering it in one punch. *WHAT. THE. FUCK.* Kat stared open mouthed at the sight. She kept up her own assault for a few more seconds before the barrier broke but she was still shocked. 

Kat slapped herself in the face to get back in the game. Even that moment of hesitation was costing her time. March had just ploughed through the next few steps. She was rushing from platform to platform and any question boxes that came up were dealt with. Kat was actually a little concerned because she could see a small trickle of blood leaking from March's hands. 

*How is she so strong? I mean… if I didn't have this band on me I might have been able to do the same… but I do have the band, and it's supposed to limit me to peak Rank 2 strength. If so… what the fuck was that? Because it sure as hell wasn't 'peak Rank 2 strength' I'll tell you that much.*

March was also getting quite lucky with her jumps. So far she hadn't been teleported away. A lot of question boxes, but no teleportation yet. Kat slapped herself once more and started to run. As she did so, Lily's box shattered and the Memphis took off, just about matching Kat's speed. Vanya and Marigold were still stuck in their started boxes for now. 

Kat was considering swapping up her route a bit when suddenly she was whisked away to a small room with a bunch of balls on a table with a little paper sign that read 'Juggle for twenty seconds without dropping any balls'. Kat shrugged at the note and grabbed three of the balls on the table and started to juggle. 

It wasn't all that hard with her reflexes, and a slightly faster than normal perception. Kat did wonder what the trick here was… but perhaps it was just meant to delay everyone for twenty seconds. It wasn't as though juggling was all that hard for someone at Rank 2. Not when you could choose the number of balls. Kat couldn't even imagine that the note was implying you needed to juggle all ten balls on the table. 

Once that was done Kat got back into the run… only to be stopped quickly by a question box. It was a question about the native wildlife so she didn't even bother trying to guess the answer and just started to hammer on the walls. She considered pulled out her fans for a moment before dismissing the idea. *I'm not even sure how the box here works. Slicing into it might not be better then just punching it. Well, Lily's quick escape using her claws might contradict that… unless her claws are special in some way? Perhaps it's not faster, but she didn't want to punch? Could be any of the above really. I want to ask… but we agreed not to try.*

Kat glanced over at Lily and saw that she was heading for the checkpoint up in the air like Burnice did. Marigold also seemed to be trying to catch up to her, moving towards Lily's trail for some reason. Kat wanted to go and help out… but new that was unfair. This was a friendly contest, it wouldn't be right of her to go out of her way to help Lily specifically. Perhaps if they were close by working together would be possible, but for now Kat held off. 

*You know… I wonder what Lily is doing over there anyway? We agreed not to use our wings for anything, not even gliding. Which, admittedly might have been a bit overly restrictive, but in the end probably for the best. So what exactly is she doing going for Burnice's strategy? She's not a wind mage… eh I'm sure she has some idea.* 

Kat stepped forward into a question box, this one wanted to know about the basic runes used in both fire and water magic spells at Rank 1. So off she went to punching her way through things again. *I wonder if this would be faster if I was kicking things down? Sure I can get more power in a kick but it takes a lot longer to wind up. Then again, March proved these things can be broken with just one punch so perhaps?*

With that in mind, Kat looked around to see where everyone else was. March was in front by a long way, her skin was bright red and really steaming now. Her breath was coming in heavy but she didn't seem to be slowing down. Kat wasn't sure how long March could keep that state up, but she clearly wasn't done with it just yet. On the other hand, Vanya was heading forward alongside Kat. She was a couple places behind, but only a couple. Vanya might not have been able to break down the barriers as quickly… but she could answer the questions unlike Kat, and she was catching up. 

Over to the side were Marigold and Lily, still heading for the raised checkpoint. Kat wasn't sure what the plan there, but she was confident Lily had something in mind. Marigold… Kat was less sure about. Kat wasn't sure what the plan was there.