"Hmm... this actually looks kind of cool." Star pointed at a picture in the magazine I am reading.

"We could try it I guess." I replied the bird, flipping to the next page.

It was then I heard the door open, looking up from the magazine just in time to see the grumpy, blue-haired trainer returning back to the hostel, his hyper cousin still prancing around him even as they entered the building.

Star, Winter and I had decided to await the boys' return, opting to read up a book about contests in the waiting lobby while we were...well... waiting.

Topaz and Jacky had been busy catching up on matters beside our group, but the two spiritmals immediately stopped their conversation the moment the two boys walked into the lobby.

"So, how was the shopping trip?" I asked them, though it was painfully obvious that one of them enjoyed it tremendously while the other didn't.

"A waste of time." Felix grumbled.

"Oh come on! Maybe you'll have enjoyed it more if you picked out a bow tie for Topaz while I was trying to find one for Jacky." Richard countered.

"Richard, how many time must I tell you that I'm not a coordinator? I've no use for bow ties!" Felix continued.

"You don't need to attend a contest just cause your spiritual wears a bow tie. It's something called fashion Fels!"

"I know the definition of fashion, thank you." Felix folded his arms, signing once more as he turned his attention towards me. "Thanks for looking after Topaz."

"Oh, that wasn't a problem at all." I replied as Felix picked up his spiritmal, walking back to his room with a protesting Richard and a bouncing Jacky behind him.

"Geez... how does he put up with Richard 24/7?" Star asked no one in particular after they had left the area.

"To be honest, I don't even think he does." Winter replies.

"Em, I think we should go to bed early." Star changed the topic as she looked up at the clock in the lobby. "We'll have to be early if we want to catch Felix for a battle tomorrow."

"You're right Star, but I think we should have half an hour of training before that. Are the two of you up for sparring?"

"Sure!" Winter agreed immediately, her tail shaking vigorously and nearly slapping Star in her face.

"I guess I'm up for a bit of sparring..." Star agreed, flying up to avoid the tail wag.

With that, I leaded the two spiritmals out of the hostel; Winter starting off the match with a blizzard/ fairy wind combo...
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"He usually wakes this early on his own?" I yawned a little, drinking a sip of instant coffee and looking up at the clock. It was roughly five thirty in the morning, a full hour before the time I usually woke.

"Um... actually, I don't really remember..." Star looked thoughtful. Winter was asleep, the wolfabeast would take nearly any opportunity to get some rest, and sometimes I wondered if it was due to the training she had endured under Sleet. Caring for the spiritmals after team Alchama's disbandment thought me a thing or two about life under the evil organization. About how the spiritmals are expected to be alert at all times, and how they tried to rest as much as possible whenever they weren't out on the field.

An excited chirp from Star brought me back to reality. Seeing Felix and topaz entering the waiting lobby, I quickly finished up my coffee and dumped the paper cup in a nearby bin.

"What are you doing up so early?" The male questioned as he approached us.

"We wanted a battle, that's all." I replied him, Star chirping excitedly in agreement.

"A battle huh? That's sudden." He looked up at the clock, almost as though he couldn't believe what time it was.

"We never got that battle from yesterday." Star's eyes twinkled.

"Ok then, I accept your challenge." Felix agreed, his blue lionblitz wiggling slightly in excitement at the reply.

"It'll be good for self defense either way..." he continued, already heading out of the lobby.

Before we knew it, me and Felix were at the opposite sides of a nearby clearing, Star and Topaz getting ready to pounce on one another.

"You get the first move." I insisted, and Felix wasted no time in getting Topaz to start off with an ice beam.

"You know what to do Star!" I nodded at the yellow bird. She nodded back, before taking to the sky and using a slow-speed ultra space rush to grind through the ice beam, creating a bunch of ice shards sparking with infused 'space power', making them levitate in the air. Star then started up an electric terrain, electrifying the ice crystals and causing them to glow.

Felix seemed confused at the sudden terrain change, but quickly called out a rain dance. The ground under the spiritmals' feet started glowing yellow and purple, the raindrops falling reflecting the light off of the crystals.

"Topaz, you know what you have to do." The boy smirked, Topaz catching on to the excitement of the battle and letting out a roar.

"Star use agility!" I called out. The bird zipping near effortlessly through the clouds, rain, and electrically charged crystals, a glowing trail of yellow and purple behind her.

"Thunderbolt!" I punched a fist in the air as bolts of lightning reflected off the crystals and rain, concentrating to hit the lionblitz. Despite that, however, Topaz shook it off with no problems, even glowing for a few seconds while he shook the electrical sparks out of its fur.

"That didn't do anything?" Star seemed confused, gliding above the lionblitz in confusion.

"It doesn't look like it did anything..." I was impressed. Wasn't Topaz a water type?

"Topaz, merge with the rain." Felix called out his next move without skipping a beat. The lionblitz jumped into the rain, a watery, electrified version of it prancing around the entire area.

"Star! Out speed and dodge it!" I initiated another ultra space rush. This time, however, it didn't work as well, as Star had a harder time fighting against the now controlled rain.

"Zap it." Felix announced. I noticed how both he and Topaz were in complete sync, almost as though they could read the other's thoughts thoughts perfectly. Topaz immediately swam through the storm at its trainer's command, electrified ice shards were now connected by bolts of electricity, zapping everything other than Topaz himself in the electrified storm.

"Star!" I exclaimed as Topaz landed an electric-water tackle on the bird, knocking her out of the sky.

"Are you ok?" I quickly switched to telepathy.

"I'm mostly fine Em... but I think I'm paralyzed." The bird replied by our link as she picked herself off the ground, barely dodging another supercharged tackle.

"Star, use swift!" I called out the move, sharp stars cutting through the surrounding electrified water.

"I don't think this is working Em." The bird continued speaking in my head. I could tell that she was getting tired from trying to power through the paralysis, and that she would soon be out of energy trying to break through the status condition.

"Topaz, charge up the crystals." Felix called out once more. Star called a protect, which worked against the electrical wave, but didn't last long enough to block off the watery tackle that followed after. The bird attempted to dodge, but was too slow with the paralysis to move out of the way on time. Star got knocked to the ground once more, this time clearly exhausted.

"I forfeit." I quickly announced as Star shook out her feathers, walking out of the rain and over to me. I quickly gave her a parazolic herb, which does wonders in healing paralysis. Star then retracted her electric terrain, and Topaz his rain.

"Thanks for the battle." I thanked Felix, reaching out a hand to shake his.

"Actually, I should be thanking you for it. I haven't had quite an... interesting battle in a while..." he pushed away my hand, declining the handshake.

Come on Felix, admit that you had fun during that battle and stop trying to hide that fact.

"Seriously though." Star used her link with me. "He's literally radiating with excitement currently."

"You enjoyed that battle didn't you?" I asked Felix. The boy seemed to be taken aback by my question, as though he didn't know how to reply.

"Your true passion lies in contests, doesn't it?" I pressed him further. He didn't reply immediately, seemingly deep in thought.

"That battle... was a contest battle wasn't it?" He finally said something. "You knew that that electric terrain would hinder you, yet you went ahead with it anyways for artistic purposes."

"Actually I was trying to use that terrain to my advantage." I disagreed.

"Emily?"

"Yea?"

"Please don't tell me that you're in this contest business too." He seemed to beg.

"What contest business?" I tried to pretend that I didn't know anything.

"Don't play dumb Emily, you literally just asked me if my true passion lies in contests."

"Well... yea... I guess I'm kind of in the business." Well if that wasn't obvious enough...

"To answer your question, I hate contests Emily; and I'm not planning to ever enter another again."

"You don't really hate them, do you?" Winter spoke up. "I've been watching that battle, and I could tell that you were truly in your element while you were having that battle. You do your research don't you? I trust that you know why Winterwhite wolfabeasts are so rare."

I didn't understand Winter's last two sentences at all, but Felix and topaz seemed to know something about it.

"You've been..."

"Yes." Winter agreed with the unspoken sentence.

"I can't believe I forgot about it." Felix sighed.

"Forgot about what?" I asked, confused at how things were escalating.

"To cut things short, he knows  that what I'm saying is the absolute truth. The truth he's been trying to hide from even himself for the past few years." Winter explained, if you could call that an explanation.

"Emily please... can you please try not to bring up contests again?" Felix was definitely begging now. He even seemed to be shaking a bit, but that may have been just a figment of my imagination.

"Hey Felix, it's ok to enjoy contests you know?"

"I-it's not." He simply replied. The two simple words revealing how he was truly feeling about the matter.

"You know Felix, Star got you clearance."

"Clearance?"

"I got you permission to enter contests." Star shrugged.

"I can vouch for that." Winter agreed.

"It doesn't matter." Felix immediately replied.

"What?"

"I'm not attending a contest anyways. Why should it?"

"Why not?" Star demanded.

Winter's ears twitched, and suddenly, I think I understood.

"You're scared, aren't you?"

Felix looked up sharply at my words; however, he didn't deny that they were true.

"If it's your passion, you should follow it." I continued. "You wouldn't want to wake up one day regretting all that you didn't do, would you?"

"You quit being a racer." Felix tried to rebut my statement.

"Oh, that's different. I found a new passion I enjoyed. As for you, it's clear that you still long to enter contests." I objected his statement.

Felix seemed to have nothing more to say.

"Maybe you should have some time to think about it." I suggested. He nodded, beginning his slow walk back to the hostel.

Author's note:
Welp, it's been a while since I published anything from this book. Not like it matters anyways, no one reads this but myself lol.

In case anyone in the future sees this (press x to doubt). There's more in the drafts, and I'll just release them if a reader comes by I guess... (I'll still release them all eventually but I'll just take my time with them since no one reads this anyways.)