<div style="text-indent:1em;">The duo of Tails and Garsot watched the tiles begin to drop in the room that they now found themselves to be in, Garsot recognizing the setup of the tiles and spikes underneath as the final stage of the Dog Race from Deadman Wonderland, wondering if this obstacle course was set up with the ball or not. His attention, however, was focused more on Annie who was standing at the far side of the room with Natsu trapped in some kind of cage behind her that was in continuous motion causing Natsu to gain motion sickness and incapacitating him. The cage was not only hanging high above the ground but was also set behind some kind of glass that separated it from the obstacle room, tiles falling all around the contestants as they eyed each other, Annie with a sickly smirk playing on her face.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"I do not know if you recognize this obstacle but as you can see the tiles around us will constantly fall as time passes. Obviously the point of that is to avoid falling and impaling yourself onto the spikes below. Aside from that," she explains the course to her two opponents as a hole opens up in the middle of the ceiling and a basketball sized sphere drops down, "you must also have possession of the ball at the end of the round. If both of you fall or fail to possess the ball when that time comes you lose and your friend here is dropped into a pit of toxic liquid that will eat away at his flesh." She points at the caged Natsu to emphasize who she was speaking of before dropping her hand back down to her side, tiles around her falling as she stood perfectly still, "And don't think you can avoid the course and try to rescue him. This glass is incredibly durable and if impacted will trigger a sensor in mechanism holding the cage, dropping it should you attempt to break through. Your only option here is to play the game and try to win."</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">A shiver ran through Garsot's spine as Annie was explaining the rules of this event, though he was already familiar with them. It was the thought of Natsu's life hanging on a victory here that made his skin tingle. He was forming the plan in his mind to just break through the glass until the little fire child mentioned the issue with doing that, causing a loud sigh to come from Garsot. Before he could think up something else the tile beneath him and Tails lit up just seconds before falling towards the ground below. A smirk of his own was shining on Garsot's face as both Tails and himself were levitating above where the tile had previously been. The two looked at each other and then back at Annie while Garsot let out a quiet chuckle, "You must have known that something like this is quite easy for Tails and I."</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"Yeah," Tails added in, "I can keep myself afloat for quite a while and even if I start getting tired I can always use the chaos emeralds to replenish whatever energy I lose.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"And I can use the power of sound to send pulses through my body and keep myself in the air. You, however, possess no such ability that allows you to rise above the ground. All we have to do is wait for the tiles to drop while watching you frantically run around avoiding death." Garsot was gleaming with self-confidence as he kept himself stable in the air before speaking more, "And as far as that ball..." he extends his arm forward and with concentration sends out a shock-wave that propels the ball towards him, catching it in with ease in his hand, "I will just keep a hold of it for now."</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">The smirk on Annie's face was quickly replaced by a glare that could cut through steel as the young fire wielder listened to the over-confident Garsot gloat about his ability to stay in the air. "You are quite arrogant," she stated as she moved away from the tile that had lit up underneath her, choosing the tile directly in front, still without showing any signs of concern towards her opponents.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">As more tiles fell around the room the duo held their confidence as they stayed above harms way as any safe places to stand in their area had all fallen down, the deadly points of the metallic spikes below glinting from the lights in the room. Suddenly, Annie ducked down as arrows started launching from holes in the walls; long, iron-tipped, projectiles that were heading straight for Tails and Garsot.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"Watch out!" Tails called out as he attempted to cover his head with his arms as there was no room to try and escape their trajectory. He thought he was done for and held his eyes close as the arrows were about to make contact. Holding himself like this for several seconds, he did not feel any pain as he opened his eyes up and saw that the remains of the arrows were scattered all about the ground below. Another volley shot out and Tails watched this time as they were shattered when they reached the two of them this time. "What.."</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">Before Tails could complete his question, Garsot interrupted to explain, "We are safe. I can use the power of sound to create a shield around us that these arrows can never penetrate. With this power I can sense the vibrations created by the arrows as they move. More so than that, I can feel the very vibrations caused by the resonation of the arrows' physical mass, meaning I can predict how fast they fly and knock them away at exactly the right moment. They may be fast, but they can never be faster than my awareness of them." He kept his gaze on Annie who has not yet broken her glare. "Face it," he gloated, "with my newly acquired powers you stand no chance against me. And with those chaos emeralds of his, Tails will easily out-power you as well. You may have gotten the jump on Natsu earlier but that will not happen a second time. You can just surrender and walk away without having to fall victim to this twisted game."</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">Annie's eyes began to burn with an intense fire as she listened to the man talk as if she had already been beaten. Her composure had started to falter as she was getting irritated by this foolish man's mockery of her. The fire in her eyes turned bright red as her body began to become surrounded in a sphere of heat that grew into an intense fire that could be felt throughout the entire room. With the shield around her the little girl started walking towards her opponents before eventually turning into a full on sprint.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">A look of surprise came across Garsot as he watched the girl running towards him, noticing the speed at which she traveled was a bit faster than he expected but not nearly fast enough to be able to harm him. It was the mere idea that she was attempting to confront him that was so shocking. 'Well,' he thought to himself, 'she is just a program who is coded to fight me. Perhaps it does not register to her that she is severely outmatched here. Either way, at least we can get this over with quickly.' Just as he prepared to engage her his jaw dropped as his opponent vanished completely from his sight. Not even a second later the fiery child appeared directly above the over confident Garsot who did not have enough time to evade what he knew what was coming. "Look out," he screamed to Tails while simultaneously using the small window of time he had to propel the fury fox out of the area using a shock-wave, sending the animal across the room before getting himself caught in Annie's flash-stun combo as she lets loose her Incinerate which was meant to catch both of them with the stun.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">Using the momentum of the flash and her ability, Annie propels herself to safety, with the ball safely tucked under her harm, landing on a far off tile before looking back and watching her stunned foe fall beneath the tiles and become impaled on the spikes below while still on fire, laughing viciously at the sight, "Burn!" She turns her eyes to the small, fury creature that was picking itself off the floor, unaware of what had just happened.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"What was that?" Tails asked, still not knowing the fate of his companion as well as what exactly happened in that split second. He looks over to see Annie standing several meters away with the ball in her possession as smoke rises from the behind her, taking a few seconds to piece it all together. "Garsot!" he yelled out while frantically running towards the area, ignoring Annie who let him by.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">With a giggle she watched Tails fall to his knees at the sight of Garsot's motionless body having a large, steel, spike driven through him. "It's always the ones that talk the most that end up dying first. I suggest you get yourself off the floor and play. Natsu's life is still in your hands."</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">Realizing that she was right, Tails stood up straight and jumped back as the tile he was standing on lit up and fell just like all the others, turning himself around and placing his sight on the ball in the little girl's hands. He began to twirl his tails in a windmill motion, letting them build up speed before launching his body forward in an attempt to snatch the ball away which fails miserably as Annie flashes just in time. Without skipping a beat, Tails follows up with another attempt at her new location, failing once again before chasing her all over the room as she continues to flash away, all the while making sure to avoid the falling tiles, using his tails to keep himself afloat.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"Uh uh...did you already forget?" Annie teased as she ducked down, anticipating the arrows that were launched from the openings in the walls once again.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">The arrows zipped through the air at incredible speeds, intending to connect with anyone attempting to use flight to keep themselves safe from the dropping tiles. Fortunately for Tails, though he had forgotten about them, he had enough time to react and activates the seven chaos emeralds to transform himself into Super Tails in order to easily deflect the oncoming projectiles before using his new speed to chase down Annie who tries to Flash away again but is caught this time, Tails ripping the ball from her hands and sending her flying with a strong kick to the gut.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">Annie hits the ground hard as she bounces a couple times from the kick before landing face down on a tile that just lights up. Quickly she pushes herself up and flashes off the falling floor just in time before making a charge at her opponent.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">The two clash for several minutes going at incredible speeds as the ball exchanges hands throughout the bout. Annie, using her Flash, is able to keep in pace with Super Tails who tries desperately to keep the ball with him while trying to dodge both arrows and falling platforms. Even with the power of the chaos emeralds, Tails finds himself falling behind the young pyro who is proving to be tougher than he thought.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"Get 'em, Tibbers!" Annie calls out as she uses another Flash-stun combo, this time in the form of her ultimate ability which calls forth the powerful stuffed bear. The stun causes Tails to fall to the ground while being charred by the flames of the bear who picks up the ball that was dropped and throws it to Annie. "Throw him away," she commands with an innocent tone in her voice. This prompts Mr. Tibbers to pick up the momentarily paralyzed fox, hoisting him overhead while walking towards the edge of the platform.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">Before the fiery bear can finish off his opponent, a loud explosion echoes throughout the room a split second before a giant metal spike is planted into the midsection of the stuff animal, killing it in the process which makes Tails fall to the ground with a hard thump, slowing coming out of the state of stasis caused by Annie's stun, the two combatants looking in the direction the explosion and spike came from. To their disbelief, Garsot staggers on top of a platform breathing heavily while the hole in his shoulder has been shut, having used the mechanical arm to cauterize the wound.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"We...are not...done...here," the injured Garsot struggles to speak as the pain from the wound is breaking his concentration.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">Annie giggles innocently while turning her body towards the revived menace, completely ignoring Tails who has come out of his super charged state thanks to the stun using up the remainder of his available time in it. "I don't know," her child's voice masking the brutal warrior that she is, "you seem pretty done to me but if you still want to play..." she vanishes with another Flash.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">Anticipating the Flash this time, Garsot lets out a yell that sends out a powerful shock-wave all around his body, catching Annie in the blast just as she was about to strike, only a foot away at the time. He watches the child propel backwards and land on her feet as if she too anticipated what Garsot was going to do, that same wicked smile spreading across her face as she straightens herself up.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"That flash makes you undetectable from me momentarily," Garsot explains, "but luckily it still takes time, even if only a fraction of a second, for you to reach me. You caught me off guard before but now I know that you have that move. You won't be taking me down again." He scanned the room using his peripheral vision to see that very few tiles remain and that Annie still had the ball under her arm. He is finding it difficult to keep his focus straight as the pain from the wound pulsates throughout his body but he is determined to see this through, his eyes growing wide while a smirk growing on his face.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"Wha..." Annie is cut off as the ball springs forward from under her arm and bounces forward. She turns to see Tails still in his regular form before getting knocked back with another kick, though not nearly as much as before, yet enough to stagger her and lose focus of the ball. Angrily she plants her foot down to stable herself before firing a ball of fire at the fur ball, missing as her target just dives out of the way.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">Scooping up the ball as he completes his tumble, Tails throws it with all of his might towards Garsot, "Here," he yells as the sphere leaves his hand and makes its way across the room.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">Annie gains her focus back and Flashes in an attempt to seize the ball. "Too slow," Garsot says as he explodes from his position and catches the ball right as Annie was about to intercept. He watches as the last of the tiles to fall does so and Annie goes flying over the only safe tile left, having overshot herself and now falling towards the spikes below.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">She closes her eyes as she is about to make impact but then feels a sudden jerk from above. Looking up, she sees the two-tailed fox hovering in the air with his tails while holding her with both hands, smiling gently as he floats her over to the platform that Garsot is now sitting on, dropping her down safely. Looking between the both of them she stands firmly on her feet and lets out a laugh, "Aww man, I can't believe you won. That was fun though, we should play again some time, yeah?"</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">Garsot couldn't help but let out a laugh of his own at the demeanor of this young child. His attention was guided over to the far end of the room where the glass wall was beginning to slide down, the sound of gears turning rumbling underground. He notices that not only is the wall lowering itself but also the spikes below are going underground as well. 'I guess the game is over,' he thought to himself while standing up, wobbling around as he does. "I don't know if I can ever do this again," he replies to the young girl's genuine question.</div><br/><br/><div><hr style="height:2px; width:100%; border:0; color: white;background:white;"/></div><br/><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">A little while later all four contestants, Garsot, Tails, Natsu, and Annie are now back above ground and making their way towards the finish line. After the battle underground, the rest of the obstacles end up being a piece of cake for them all who are now working together to get through the rest.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"So if the point of all this is to recruit help then what would have happened if you guys lost?" Annie asked, having been filled in on the events that have transpired so far.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">The question made the trio stop abruptly in their tracks, looking at each other with an expression saying that they never thought about that. Garsot looked at Natsu and Tails as if they would have the best answer, seeing as how they were born from the same circumstances but their faces showed that they knew just as much as him about that.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"Well," Annie continued as she read the expressions of her new companions, "I guess that doesn't matter at this point."</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"Yeah, I guess you're right." Garsot agrees before posing a question of his own, "I have to ask though; how were you able to Flash so much back there? I mean aren't you supposed to have some kind of cool-down between uses?"</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">The small pyro nodded in response before explaining, "Normally yes. In the universe I come from we have cool-downs between spells uses. But here is different. The limitations of that world do not affect me here. At least not in the same way. It's a way to even the odds, so to speak. As you even said, as powerful as I am in the League of Legends universe, I could not normally match your power unless I was given some kind of buff."</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"I see," replies Garsot, understanding just what she means, "that can come in handy with later battles then. From what I understand there are going to be plenty of powerful warriors who need to be stopped while this is going on. Those who would seek to use their powers to cause destruction here.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"That's silly," the innocent voice says.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"What is?"</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">A giggle is let out as she responds, "If the universe is already going to be destroyed by this catastrophic event, why waste the energy trying to do whatever damage they are looking to do in the meantime? Just doesn't make sense to me."</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">Garsot grunts in agreement before adding his own opinion, "I agree but perhaps they are trying to do as much as they can before it happens. Like one last hurrah sort of thing."</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"I guess," Annie says.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">The four participants finally come to the end of the race and make it across the finish line and are then transported back to the cabin where the rest of the group were already at, along with a couple of additions; one of which Garsot recognized as the Prince of Saiyans, the other he had never seen before and wondered what character she was supposed to be. He skips the introductions as he lets himself collapse to the floor in exhaustion, placing a hand on the wound that had been left from the fight in order to feel how it was doing. It still hurt quite a bit but it seemed to have closed up well enough. He looked over at the rest of the group and felt his eyelids getting heavy as he laid on the floor, slowing slipping into a calm sleep.</div>