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Due to the small number of people on their team, the members of Team Oopson each had their events on the same day. They were lucky, then, that none overlapped, allowing them to see each of their friends compete. They were currently in the staging area, a location where teams could go to warm up and discuss last minute details for their events. Lydia wasn't with them, unfortunately; she technically wasn't part of their team. As a result, she was watching the tournament from the stands like normal, but promised that she would cheer extra loud for James, Algon, and Delta. And if Lydia said loud, she meant LOUD.

"So," Algon said as he raised and lowered the temperature of a flame. "Still no indication for who you're going to fight?"

"Nope. At this point, I'm thinking they'll tell us when they announce it the audience: right before the event."

"Shame," said Delta. "If we knew who you were going up against, then it might...mph...give you a better idea of what to do." He finished his stretches and stood up, bouncing lightly on his toes. His armor sparked with energy and he took off, running slow laps around the staging area. Of course, slow laps for him caused everyone else to only see a blue.

James shook his head and smiled. "Such high energy. I hope he doesn't get tired out for his event."

Algon laughed. "This is Delta we're talking about. There's no way he could burn through all of his energy in such a short amount of time."

They went back to practicing, with James running through the spells he could cast and Algon building his confidence. He knew that he needed to do well in order to provide a good showing for his planet, otherwise, his species would be displaced. But after his friends spent time helping him, he had a much greater amount of faith in his abilities.

Just then, a sound echoed through the room. "Attention competitors. The Obstacle Course event is about to begin. All participating mages must head up immediately. Team members will also be allowed to view the event."

"Well, that's you."

"Good luck, Delta."

"Wait, aren't you coming with me?

"No, we can't go that way. But we'll be cheering you on from the viewing area; you can count on that!"

Delta smiled and responded with confidence, "Well, then make sure you're in a good spot to see me win!"

He headed to where the competitors were lining up and James and Algon each headed up to the stadium floor. The floating arena now had a huge sphere made from interlocking platforms suspended inside. It was obvious that there were also many more hidden traps; this would not be just a simple course, otherwise, the Aetherlings would always come out on top. Raw speed was not the only thing important here.

"AND WE'RE BACK! AFTER THAT STUNNING DISPLAY BY FERDAL AND SFUN IN THE TACTICAL GAUNTLET, WE MOVE ON TO THE CHALLENGE COURSE!" Strike appeared to be particularly excited for this round. "THE COURSE OUR MAGES WILL BE RUNNING TODAY IS A SLIGHTLY WATERED-DOWN VERSION OF THE SAME COURSE OUR DRAGONS USE IN TRAINING, SO LET'S SEE WHICH OF OUR MAGES CAN MATCH THE AGILITY, STRENGTH, STAMINA, AND REFLEXES OF THE TOP WARRIORS IN THE UNIVERSE!!!"

Each of the competitors walked out of a door on the side of the stadium and lined up on a platform. In this round, there were only about 50 mages, but often competitions were reused multiple times in the same tournament. After everyone had emerged, the platform lifted off the ground. As it flew up to the arena, Strike explained to the audience what the round would entail.

"THE MAGES WILL ALL ENTER THE COURSE TOGETHER. AS YOU CAN PROBABLY GUESS, IT'S BEEN SPECIALLY ENCHANTED TO BE BIGGER THAN IT APPEARS, BUT IT ALSO HAS ANOTHER NIFTY FEATURE. AS THEY ENTER THROUGH THE GATE. EACH MAGE WILL BE ABLE TO SEE FAINT OUTLINES OF THEIR COMPETITION, BUT WILL BE UNABLE TO INTERACT WITH THEM. HOWEVER, THE OBSTACLES WILL REMAIN THE SAME FOR ALL COMPETITORS. POINTS FOR THE EVENT WILL BE BASED OFF SPEED, EFFICIENCY, AND OF COURSE, PLACEMENT!"

The audience, James, Delta, and Lydia included, cheered wildly as the mages lined up in front of the starting gate. A massive screen appeared in front of each side of the crowd to project the events occurring during the competition to the audience and everything was ready to start.

"MAGES, ARE EACH OF YOU READY?" After a quick count by the judges, who were watching intently from inside the arena, a thumbs-up was given.

"Then...3...2...1...BEGIN!"

The mages were off, instantly using their magical affinities to try to gain an advantage in the race. Delta pushed forward almost instantly, using his speed to gain a slight advantage over the rest of the pack. He, however, was not the only Aetherling and the others caught up quite quickly, bearing down the currently-straight path neck and neck. Strike decided to use this time to narrate.

"UNSURPRISINGLY, THE THREE AETHERLINGS HAVE TAKEN THE LEAD, PUSHING THEIR SPEEDS TO THE MAXIMUM! THEY OBVIOUSLY EACH WANT TO BE THE FIRST ONES TO FINISH!"

"Holy cow, the other mages have no chance against such speeds!" Algon exclaimed, looking very excited.

James, however, shook his head. He could clearly see what Algon had missed. "This isn't only a race about speed. Otherwise, Aetherlings would have the uncontested victory."

"What do you mean? I'm not seeing it."

"And neither has Delta, judging by the looks of it. This isn't a race, it's an obstacle course. That means there will be many hidden dangers and challenges that will need to be passed, and there's a very good chance that not even super speed will get you safely through."

Algon looked back at the course, now much more worried for Delta's chance of success. Judging by his expression, he was completely focused on beating the Aetherlings next to them, to the point where neither of the three had realized the dangers they were fast approaching!

BOOM!

Out of nowhere a massive steel wall rose up to block their paths. Delta and one of the Aetherlings managed to skid to a halt just in time, but the other wasn't so lucky. Caught unawares, he smashed into the wall!

"OUCH! THAT MUST HAVE HURT. DUE TO SUSTAINED INJURIES, OLIQ IS OUT OF THE ROUND AND WILL BE SENT TO THE INFIRMARY FOR RECOVERY!"

While Delta had taken the time to stop and analyze the wall, a Space mage blew past him.

"Sorry, coming through hotheads."

With a small wave and a sigil, he created a hole in the wall that allowed him to pass straight through. The hole immediately began to close, but a Temporal Mage slowed time just long enough to slip in behind. Before Delta could even react to that, many of the other mages had caught up. They used their affinities to fly over the wall, tunnel under it, or build paths to other platforms. With their slower speeds, they were able to plan out their strategies ahead of time and thus were able to bypass this minor obstacle with no trouble at all.

"Come on Delta! Snap out of it!" Lydia's voice cut through the cheering crowd. They weren't sure if he actually heard her, but either way, Delta pulled himself together and backed up slightly before running straight up the wall and down the other side. He was far from the lead, but he wasn't out of the game yet! With his better understanding of how the course worked, Delta utilized a much slower pace than before, one that allowed him to analyze potential obstacles so he could better counter them. Slowly, he moved up closer and closer to first place.

Still, the course was absolutely brutal and well deserving of its reputation as a dragon's personal training course. Even the easier version that was being used for the tournament was nothing to scoff at; it made every attempt to stop the contestants in their tracks. One Fire Elementalist made a tiny misstep, shooting a ball of fire at the wrong spot, and got violently blasted with a deluge of water and ice. Later, the Space Mage that had so arrogantly passed Delta earlier was knocked out when an anti-magic field was created and his portals collapsed, leaving him suspended hundreds of feet above the ground. Failure did not mean death but was usually very humiliating and sometimes a bit painful.

James and Algon were cheering loudly as Delta finally entered back into the top 5. He had already gotten bumped back a few spots after a nasty encounter with a platform that had jumped out of the way when he had tried to step on it, but slowly he had made up the progress he had lost. Dodging several incoming fireballs, he stepped onto the final stretch of the course, just behind the other 4 mages. This was a straight run, an environment where an Aetherling would have the uncontested advantage! Delta was going to win!

However, the final challenge showed itself with extreme force. With a screech, the metal that made up the final platform violently shattered into a vortex of pieces that whirled around in a huge ring. Delta froze on the edge.

"What am I going to do? There's no way past!"

When confronted with this situation, Delta knew that he would never figure out the solution on his own. So, he went to the next best thing.

"What would my friends say to do? Algon would say something like 'never give up', James would say to slow down and take your time, and Lydia would insist that I'm missing something important, like usual. But what? The pieces are spinning too fast for me to even see!"

Suddenly, Delta's eyes shot open. "That's it! The pieces are moving too fast to see, but I'm an Aetherling. I'm the fastest thing there is; my magic is based on speed!" He concentrated and channeled a large about of magic, increasing his speed further and further. "When I was training with Lydia, I remember that I was able to see the individual dust particles frozen in midair. If I push my speed to the maximum, I should be able to see the pieces' movement! But I need more!"

Delta's eyes narrowed as he focused on the spinning vortex. His armor crackled as energy rippled along his limbs, channeling magic straight into his body. The pieces began to appear more and more visible as the rest of the world slowed down to a crawl. Then, a pattern appeared. On a regular interval, the pieces in front of him all became much closer together than usual, creating a path for just a few seconds that led to the finish line.

"Breathe," Delta thought. "I just need to breathe. I've got this!" Not wanting to waste any more time, he backed up, charged his magic, and prepared to run.

"WE APPEAR TO HAVE A WINNER! ASDEK IS BLASTING HIS WAY TO THE FINISH LINE. HE'S USING HIS MAGIC TO SLOW DOWN THE PIECES IN ORDER TO CROSS WITH EASE. WHAT A FANTASTIC USE OF TEMPORAL MAGIC! CAN NO OTHER MAGE BEAT HIM NOW?"

"Aether DRIVE!"

A boom echoed through the stadium as Delta erupted with a massive amount of energy. He blasted off from the edge of the platform, shooting at lightning speeds towards the first metal piece as it came flying towards him. Touching down on it for only a moment, he abruptly changed his direction and jumped towards a different chunk. From the outside, it seemed as though he was a ball of light crazily bouncing across the spinning vortex, moving so fast that no one could see him clearly and making tremendous headway!

"ASTOUNDING! DELTA HAS FOUND A PATTERN THROUGH AND IS RAPIDLY GAINING ON ASDEK! THERE'S NO GUARANTEE ON WHO COULD WIN THIS. BOTH OF THE MAGES ARE NOW NECK AND NECK!"

Asdek looked up at Strike's words and saw Delta rapidly approaching. He picked up his pace, moving faster and faster towards the finish, but eventually, Delta was right behind him. With nothing else to do, and knowing he was about to lose, he sent a frantic wave of temporal energy crashing through the vortex, managing to slow every piece down a tiny bit.

Delta was completely focused on the finish line ahead and wasn't paying any attention to Asdek nor the pieces around him, confident that he had found the pattern. Because of this, he was shocked when his foot slightly slipped off the piece when he made his next jump. Snapping his gaze to the metal flying around him, he saw that the pattern was gone. If he had been paying better attention, he might have noticed when Asdek cast his spell, but now it was much too late!

Dela frantically jumped for the nearest metal piece, but he had misstepped and was nowhere near safe ground. His fingers just barely managed to brush the edge, but in the end, he hurtled towards the ground.

"DELTA!" James, Algon, and Lydia all yelled, seeing their friend fall. To their great relief, he was caught by an Air Mage before he hit the ground. But that was the only good news.

"ALTHOUGH HE HAD AN IMPRESSIVE DISPLAY, DELTA WAS UNABLE TO REMAIN ON THE COURSE AND HAS BEEN KNOCKED OUT. THIS MEANS THAT ASDEK TAKES FIRST PLACE! CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF OUR COMPETITORS FOR THEIR STUNNING DISPLAYS OF MAGIC ON THE COURSE TODAY! RESULTS WILL BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY AFTER OUR JUDGES ARE FINISHED WITH THEIR DISCUSSION."

James and Algon watched Delta walk off the field with his head hanging low. "Man, I think he's really pissed. He came so close to first place."

Algon nodded. "Let's go comfort him and let him know that he still did amazing. I think he needs it right now."

They both headed back down to the staging area to meet Delta and see where he placed in his event. Although he didn't get first place, they figured that he still did a pretty good job and therefore wouldn't be hurt too bad by the loss.