At 1.5K, Alya, Loyd, and Myra are fighting one of the golems.
"Take this!" Loyd shouted as he punched one of the golem's feet, making it topple over.
"I'll take it from here!" Alya stated as she jumped onto the golem and struck it right in the head.
"Guh!" the golem grunted before turning into dust, leaving a white ribbon on the ground.
"Finally!" Myra yelled joyfully. "After killing 15 golems, we finally have one ribbon!"
"Yeah, but I think you should have it!" Alya said as she handed it to Loyd. "You're the reason why most of the golems were a piece of cake!"
"Oh, thank you!" Loyd said as he grabbed the ribbon and tied it around his arm. "But are you sure? We might not find another one."
"It's fine! Even if I don't qualify, I have two teammates who can definitely win for us!" she said with a smile on her face.
"Who are they?" Myra asked.
"Cinister! Our leader, and Ragna, our brave knight and co-leader!" she exclaimed, praising both of them.
"Don't you get tired of dragging them down, though?" Loyd questioned as he looked into her eyes.
"I don't mind at all! Cinister is the best mage I've ever seen, and Ragna is probably the bravest knight!" she exclaimed excitedly.
"Well, just try not to drag them down," Loyd said as he and Myra started walking ahead.
After walking for a while, the three friends noticed that things seemed unusually quiet.
"Is it just me, or is something supposed to happen right about now?" Myra asked as she placed her fingers against her cheek.
"Yeah, you're right—" Alya began, but she was cut off by a rumbling in the ground.
"What the heck is that?" Loyd asked as they all stepped back.
"What's that shaking?!" a guy shouted as he felt the ground tremble.
"Yeah! Is something coming to get us?!" a woman screamed in horror.
"Oh, yeah! One thing I 'forgot' to mention: I put an extra surprise on the track!" Draen smirked as he stood calmly.
"Wait, guys! Check out screen 10!" a kid shouted, pointing at the screen broadcasting Alya, Myra, and Loyd's race.
SHAKE!
A giant rocky golem with flowers blooming on its head emerged from the ground.
"This is going to be bad!" Loyd said as he tried to punch it in the foot, but it didn't budge.
The golem looked down and kicked him hard in the gut.
"LOYD!" Myra yelled.
BOOM!
The golem moved behind her and punched her into the ground.
"Well, it's my turn!" Alya said as she sliced the golem ten times in one second.
BUT…
The golem didn't even seem fazed.
"I'm not done yet!" Alya shouted as she jumped onto its head and used [Star Sign] to weaken it.
"Thanks for weakening it, Alya!" Loyd replied as he punched the spots where Alya had made the slices in the golem.
"Beep."
The golem made a strange noise before launching Alya and Loyd away.
"Alya, grab Myra and go ahead! I'll defeat it!" Loyd shouted as he punched the golem one more time.
"Okay!" Alya yelled as she picked up Myra and started running toward the finish line.
After a couple of minutes, Alya and Myra reached the finish line, but someone was waiting for them.
"Well, hello, you two!" Gary said as Simone stood behind him, radiating an immense aura.
"What are you two doing here?" Alya asked, her eyes widening.
"Well, we figured it would be easier to steal ribbons instead of wasting energy on the golems!" Simone exclaimed as he jumped in front of them.
"We don't have any," Myra said weakly as she opened her eyes.
"So, is your plan the same as ours?" Gary asked as he scratched his head.
"No, we forgot to get any," Alya said, lowering her head.
"NO, WE DO HAVE SOME!" Loyd shouted as he appeared out of nowhere with four ribbons in his hand.
"Where did you get those?" Myra asked.
"The big golem dropped three!" Loyd replied, breathing heavily. His eye was bloody.
"Well, give us two, or you'll die!" Simone said as he prepared his lightning attack.
After Loyd handed Gary and Simone two ribbons, he turned toward Alya and Myra.
"But, Loyd, what about—" Alya began, but he interrupted her.
"You two take these. They're my last two ribbons," Loyd replied.
"But—" Myra tried to say something.
"It's fine. I don't mind. I'm sure you girls will find a way to pay me back somehow," Loyd said as he crossed the finish line, eliminating himself from the race.
"And that's basically what happened," Alya explained as we cut to the cafeteria, where she was recounting the race to Cinister, Ragna, and Enots.
"Interesting. So, the locks drain your energy when you run? Fascinating," Enots noted as he leaned back.
"Okay, but you qualified for the Crown Game, so how was that?" Cinister asked, curiosity in his eyes.
"I'd rather not say because I got steamrolled by Simone," Alya said with a sigh.
"Well, you can't blame her too much," Ragna said with a mouthful of food.
"Speaking of the race and the Crown Game starting soon, shouldn't you prepare for it?" Enots asked.
"Yeah, I'm going to train," Cinister said as he left the cafeteria.
"I'll go, too," Ragna said, following suit.
"Jeez, I wish those two weren't so hardworking! I miss when we used to go on silly adventures and explore floors," Alya said with a sad expression.
"It's because they're guys," Enots replied. "They want to be strong because it's in their nature."
"Should we check out the shops?" Alya asked.
"Sure," he replied.
We cut to Cinister, who is now with the student council.
"Can you train me a bit more? I want to be ready for the tournament," Cinister asked Kaecha with a plea.
"Fine! What would you do without me?~" she replied. "But first, I want to change your clothes since you have absolutely no style!~"
"Damn, you really don't hold back, huh?" he replied as he looked at his clothes. "They aren't that bad."
"No, they're terrible! I don't know how people even look at you," Luck chimed in. "Go change, and then I'll beat your ass."
"Fine," Cinister replied.
Kaecha and Cinister are now in the shops next to the academy.
"This is the shop where everyone gets their supplies, clothes, and so much more!~" she explained, showing him the many different stores. "But we're going here!"
She dragged Cinister into her favorite clothing shop.
"Hey, this jacket doesn't look too bad," Cinister said, pointing at the blue jacket.
"I can work with that!~" Kaecha said as she shoved Cinister into a dressing room and threw ten T-shirts and ten pairs of pants at him.
"Try them all on and see which ones you like!" she said with a smile on her face.
After 30 minutes, Cinister came out wearing a white T-shirt with a black, goo-like pattern at the bottom, the blue jacket tied around his waist, and black pants.
"Why did you tie the jacket around your waist?" Kaecha asked, tilting her head to the side.
"Because I don't like long sleeves," Cinister said as he brought his hand up to his face, revealing a hair tie around his wrist. "Also, why do I need this hair tie?"
"Who knows? You may take a liking to it," she said.
"I'd need at least two years to grow my hair out before I could use it," he replied.
"Whatever! Let's go train!~" she said as she pulled him out of the shop.
"Wait, we didn't pay!" Cinister reminded her.
"Don't worry, I already did!" she said, showing him her credit card.
We cut to Ragna, who is sitting on a mini-boss monster in the Land of the Beasts.
"1,045," he mumbled to himself. "That's 1,045 beasts I've slain in one minute."
Grrr…
A loud growl echoed behind him.
"I guess it's time to test my new technique, huh?" Ragna said as he pulled his sword out of the mini-boss's head.
A huge wolf leaped into the air, ready to attack Ragna.
"Kuro Trust!"
Ragna quickly thrust his sword once to create a weak spot. In that exact same second, he thrust again, piercing through the wolf as if it were nothing.
"I hope you're ready, Cinister, Choi, and Scrappy. I will win this tournament!"