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

--- Kat --- 

*Not to disparage Green just after she won the day for us… but does that laughter sound a bit unhinged to you? Should we be worried?*

[Nah. That's the sound of someone so completely exhausted and thankful an assessment is done that they can finally rest only to realise that they're too keyed up to be able to sleep. It's the laughter of joy and resignation.]

*Why do you know that?*

[Surprisingly not me. I didn't struggle to fall asleep even before turning into a Memphis… though admittedly I didn't have the same amount of skill in it. No, this is what my Dad sounds like at 3AM when he collapses on the couch but can't quite get to sleep.]

*Why do you know THAT?*

[Look, just because I could fall asleep easily didn't mean I always decided to fall asleep at a reasonable time. I stayed up and researched all sorts of stuff. I was awake for this sort of breakdown once or twice.]

*Wait is that why you always slept in on weekends? I thought you just liked sleeping!*

[And I told you multiple times that you just go to bed early… but perhaps I didn't properly consider why you'd always go to bed so early…]

*Probably? I mean, I stayed up later then most of the kids, but if I really wanted time for myself I had to get up early instead. Well that and I took it upon myself to wake them up most days. So I had to be awake and ready before they were. It just sort of happened.*

[Urgh. Damned morning people.]

*Lily, I don't even know what you count as anymore. Not sure you can really complain.*

[I sleep during the day regularly thus I am a night person.]

*You sleep through the night most of the time too.*

[Look, I don't make the rules here Kat. That's just how it is.]

Kat rolled her eyes but chose not to comment on Lily's silliness. It was too cute to complain about, and a bit too silly to go along with… but still it was quite fun. Kat glanced over at Thyme as the stage shrunk down to nothing and the other judges all merged into gorilla Thyme, increasing the size of that Thyme as they did. "What a round. A close finish for the first match of the final day!

"Now, before I let you all go on a short one hour break, I've got to give you some news. As you might have calculated, Green has just won her team a place in the grand finale of the tournament. I momentous achievement so give her a hand!" Kat was surprised when a round of applause rose up from the other contestants. 

*Huh… not that I thought they'd be bad sports but this is something else. Everyone seems happy for Green. Really genuinely happy. We got a good set of competitors this round didn't we?*

[Yeah. Yeah we did.]With that thought in mind, Kat and Lily joined in the round of applause for Green. The fae in question started to sniffle a bit as tears leaked from her eyes. "Thanks guys," mumbled Green. 

When the clapping died down Thyme spoke up again, "Now, just because the biggest prize is gone doesn't mean you should just throw in the towel. For getting it this far, everyone will be provided with a coupon to stay at any hotel I set up for an entire week. This is on top of the free week you've already gotten allowing your team to stay here and rest for some time after the trials are over. 

"On top of that, I have four prizes to hand out for first and second place in the next two events, just to encourage you all to try your best. The next event is going to be a water based triathlon, where you will need to swap through different methods to progress. We have a swimming section, followed by a jet ski section, followed by a rapids section, then finishing up with another swimming section. Should be fun. The top place prize is a slightly customisable boat or jet-ski for each team member. Second place prize is the same, but to be shared amongst the team. 

"Then will come our final event, an underwater treasure hunt. There will be a number of treasure chests scattered around with various things inside them. The treasure inside might not always obviously be treasure and some are especially fragile. The winner of the contest will be the one with the most treasure on them at the end of two hours. Though a word of early warning? Breaking or stealing treasure is completely on the table, and likely encouraged. 

"Winning that round will let each of your team members chose from the surviving treasures, and second place is the same, though obviously second place will have to go second, meaning that most if not all of the good choices could be taken. Think of it as an incentive not to simply destroy all the treasure in an attempt at winning," 

"Now, one final thing. While the event isn't taking place here, I'll be shifting everyone to the event here. So make sure you're all gathered before it's time to go!" When Thyme finished speaking they bowed and sunk into the sand, disappearing from sight. In their place a large clock appeared counting down from sixty-minutes. 

*I think that's a super cool idea for the last round… but I don't think I'd have any idea what any of it was actually worth. Hmm… which round do you think I'd be better at? I'm the strongest combatant… but also probably the fastest. Though I have no idea how to work a jet-ski. Though actually… you think it's a 'Jet-ski' or just a close equivalent with a completely different name that get's translated to jet-ski.* 

[Obviously the latter, unless it's based on some type of fish known as a jet or something like that. As for which round… I'm not sure. If we needed the points I'd definitely send you to the final round. You could just bully everyone and take the win that way. That being said… we're not competing for points. Though… I'm not sure we should be competing for prizes either.]

*Oh?*

[Yeah… we've already won, and sure we could probably compete and win both of the top prizes on offer… but I'm thinking it might be best just to have fun with the next two rounds, heck if everyone is cool with it I might even give it a shot. Just… winning is one thing, and everyone was happy we did that… but winning and then scooping up the bonus prizes just feels like bad sportsmanship.]

*Ah that's a good point. I wasn't really thinking of it that way. Should we like… sit out completely then?*

[We could… especially if everyone is too tired… but I feel like that would also be bad sportsmanship. I imagine it would feel quite insulting. Heck, even just having me participate might be insulting, but eh, I want to participate and now that it doesn't matter I feel like I CAN participate without worrying myself into a complete mess.]

*In that case, I'm perfectly happy with sitting this one out and letting you have a chance to shine. Though, realistically, you already showed off quite well yesterday when you and Marigold managed to get that win.*

[Bah, that was mostly Marigold it doesn't count.]

*I very much don't believe you there, but I'm not going to argue about it. You're too cute for that.* Lily gained a deep blush but didn't rise to the bait. *Right well… which of the two events did you plan to enter? If Kress is fine with things he'll probably take the second event. Heck, he could probably team up with Stan and get their team the win. Though Nixilei might want to help Asteodia's team win… or maybe not because Asteodia's not participating? Hard to say. Enough of that though. What do you WANT to do.*

[Probably the treasure hunt? It's not like I couldn't participate in the race, but I just don't care for it. Not sure I care all that much about combat either, but I think I could have a lot of fun sneaking around and snatching treasures from people or something like that. Honestly the cannon even is the most interesting one today… but well… I'll admit it, I just chickened out. The pressure was too much… and hey Green WON IT ALL for us. I don't think I could've done that.]

*Lily… you can fly. You could've taken the chance to just hover in the air and do tricks.*

[Yeah but Thyme might've made a rule about that. Probably did. I mean, it makes sense to do it like that to prevent the flyers from dominating.]

*Eh… probably, but also probably only on one or two judges max. I think there's a decent chance you could've won it all*