87TH GEAR – IT’S ALL ABOUT AXOLOTLS AND FLASHBANGS
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87TH GEAR - IT’S ALL ABOUT AXOLOTLS AND FLASHBANGS

After riding the train for one and a half hours, we finally made it to the Dragon Festival. Since it is still daytime, there are only a few people around. I bet people will come flooding in when the sun sets.

It was almost lunchtime when we arrived. We looked for restaurants to eat at first. We had a good plate of maggi goreng and dragon fruit ice cream, Flu’s favorite. Since we are forbidden to talk about Speed Battles, our chosen topic mostly falls on animes we watched. Having an otaku girlfriend like Flu is bliss, as she is a complete chatterbox that never runs out of topics. She is even knowledgeable about hentai, but I will not touch on that topic.

After lunch, we started to walk around to check some stalls. On the way, we found a stall that has a huge aquarium of axolotls, and there is a magical crane that can be controlled by a joystick to capture one. I think it is a popular crane magic game for kids where you get to keep the axolotl as a pet.

There was a kid who was struggling to catch one, and he is quite depressed. Flu immediately approached the kid and smiled.

“Don’t worry, kid! Big sis will catch one for you!” Flu said as she puffed her chest.

Flu gave a coin to the game master, and then she grabbed the joystick. The crane moved and tried to grab one of the axolotls, but the axolotl evaded!

To our surprise, the axolotl opened its mouth and talked!

“Stooopid!”

“Ah, Mister Agumon talked!” Flu gasped in surprise!

Wait, why did the axolotl talk? And why is Flu naming the axolotl Agumon? It’s not even close!

“Stoooopid!” The axolotl said once again.

“A-Are you calling me stupid, Mister Agumon?” Flu asked.

“Stoooopid!” The axolotl answered.

“Wow, rude much! I may be stupid, but you should not call people like that out of the blue!”

Flu pouted with her cheeks puffed. Her face is now red because of anger, and steam is coming out from her head. She made a heavy stomp to the ground and than pumped her fists out of hatred.

“That’s it! I am going to catch you, Mister Agumon!”

Flu gave another penny to the game master and then tried the joystick once again. For the second time, the magical crane missed, and the axolotl sneered at her!

“Stooopid!” The axolotl said.

“Ah! Stop calling me stupid! Hnnnnnnngh!”

Flu cried as she gave another penny to the game master and had another try on the crane machine. For the third time, Flu’s attempt failed and the axolotl teased her once again.

“Failuuuuure!” The axolotl laughed.

“Grah!” Flu scratched her head vigorously as she opened out her pouch to get more money!

But instead of getting a coin, she now proceeded to grab a bill and gave it to the game master!

“One hundred tries, please!” Flu said.

“O-Okay.” The game master forcibly nodded.

I wanted to stop Flu from doing this stupid thing, but it was already too late. My girlfriend has already made up her mind, and I know very well that she will do whatever it takes just to achieve her goal!

Flu pumped her fists and smiled with cemented resolve. There was a glint in her blue eyes, a sign of unwavering determination that I can only see when she participates in a Speed Battle.

“Here I go, Mister Agumon!” Flu said as she controlled the crane. “Take this! Yah! Yayayayayah!”

“F-Flu! Chill down!” I cried.

<>

It was already sunset. We spent a considerable amount of time just to capture that talking axolotl, but at least Flu’s efforts bore fruit.

After ninety-eight tries, Flu finally managed to catch the axolotl which she named “Agumon.” She happily gave it to the kid who was crying earlier.

“Thank you, Big sis!” The kid happily waved her hand goodbye, his other hand holding a mini aquarium cube that houses the poor axolotl.

“Take care!” Flu waved back with a smile. "Don't forget to feed Mr. Agumon some dune worms!"

When the kid exited, Flu relaxed her shoulder and sighed.

“Phew! That was exhausting.”

“And that was time-wasting and darn expensive too,” I said with a sarcastic tone.

Flu opened her pouch and looked at her wallet. It does not take a genius to see that she’s quite depressed about her remaining balance.

“Uwuuuuuuu…” she cried. “I’m so sorry, my dear wallet. I’m so sorry for you too, Jonathan. I wasted our time.”

“It’s fine. I find you enjoying a lot while capturing that axolotl.”

“Tahahaha!” Flu switched to a cheerful tone. “Mister Agumon gave me a hard time.”

“I don’t think he resembles Agumon at all,” I said.

“But he looks like a dragon, and he’s so cute!” Flu squealed.

We started walking around the Dragon Festival bazaar and spent our time debating about the name of that axolotl while holding hands side by side. Soon, we changed topics when we saw dragon kites being displayed in one of the stalls. We also watched people doing a dragon dance with a long fluffy red dragon mascot. We also had fun trying the rides of the festival, including the Dragon Roller Coaster, the Dragon Carousel, and the river cruise using a dragon boat.

There was also a circus play where they trained wyverns and dragons to do obstacle courses, fly and initiate a dogfight in the skies, and even cook awesome dishes using their dragon’s fire. It was a weird but awesome experience to watch dragons in a carnival event like this.

As I thought, the Dragon Festival is filled with dragons. What did I even expect?

The time I spent with Flu passed by so fast that the darkness engulfed the skies without us knowing.

It was already 8 PM, and it is now the time for the closing event of the festival. They call it the Dragon Fireworks which is an open-house event that any mage could participate in and enjoy. Spellcasters were already lined up on the riverbank, reading their grimoires and spell books.

Flu and I positioned at the topmost part of the riverbank to have the best view of the magical fireworks display. When it is almost time, Flu joined the loud countdown.

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

“Happy Dragon Festival!” The crowd celebrated out loud.

The spellcasters enchanted their hands with elemental energy, and they shoot out beautiful different-colored fireballs up in the skies. These fireballs blasted into thousands of colorful pieces like shooting stars!

“Woooow! Awesome!” Flu’s eyes glittered as she witnessed the magical sparks fly.

I only looked at the magical fireworks with amazement. I have seen magical fireworks made by mages before, but this is the very first time that I truly appreciated it. For the past eighteen years, I hated and envied mages with all my heart. But now, I came to realize that those negative emotions I felt have no basis.

I have met so many mages during my stay at Saint Crusade Academy. The Merry Knights accepted me for my flaws. The Cool Escape and Eaglecrest mages became my friends and rivals. The professors of the academy taught me a lot of things. The Speedmages in the tournament became our stepping stones and obstacles to reaching our goal. All those mages I met for almost a year since enrolling in the Saint Crusade have greatly affected me as a person.

And of course, it is all thanks to the first mage who acknowledged my existence, took me as a friend, and loved me for who I am.

“Thank you for everything, Flu. I love you.” I muttered with a smile.

“Huh?” Flu tilted her head. “Did you say something? I can’t hear you because of the fireworks!”

“N-Nothing!” I said as I turned away to hide my blushing face.

There is no way I could repeat those cheesy lines! I just blurted what I am feeling right now, and even though I have told her a thousand times that I love her, I’m still embarrassed to say it out loud in public!

“Oh!”

All of a sudden, a light bulb lit on Flu’s head as if she just thought of something. She reached into her pouch and revealed the Speedmage Tactics book. I never thought she would bring it on our date considering the space of that thing, but then I realized that her pouch is magical that stores any object in hammerspace.

The magical fireworks are getting fewer and fewer as minutes pass by, so we can now converse normally without shouting like an idiot.

“Heeey, are you going to practice speed spells in this place?” I asked. "It's forbidden on this date, remember!"

“I'm not going to practice! I just remembered that there was one specific spell written on this book that can create fireworks.” Flu started to skim through the pages of the book.

“A speed spell that can create fireworks?” I tilted my head in confusion.

“Oh, there it is!” Flu happily clapped the book close and gently gave it to me. “I think I can do it! Watch!”

Flu ran towards the casting ground of the magical fireworks while charging fire energy on her palm. When she reached the site, she threw the fireball from her hand up to the skies!

The fireball transformed into a burning bird familiar as it reached the atmosphere and then exploded in a blinding flash!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The deafening screeches of the atmosphere echoed throughout the riverbank! All mages who were participating in the magical fireworks, as well as the audience who are watching just to have a good time were blinded because of the solar explosion in the sky!

“Ack! What was that!?” Most people cried. Some even shrieked “I’m blind! I’m blind!”

“Ah! I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!” Flu vigorously bowed in all directions.

When my eyes are no longer blinded, I opened the page of the book where Flu must have learned the weird spell.

“Firebird Flashbang.” I read it out loud.

It is a speed spell mainly used for discombobulating the opponent. It was an outdated speed spell already, and nobody is using it in the meta especially in Speedmage Tournaments.

A smile peak through my lips.

After Flu has finished apologizing to everyone, she approached me with a sorry smile on her face.

“Tahaha! That was an epic fail.” Flu laughed as she scratched the back of her head.

“Thank you, Flu,” I muttered.

“Eh? For what?” Flu’s eyes went wide open.

“I now know what I wanted to do in the future. I am going to make this.” I presented her with the Speedmage Tactics book.

“Are you going to write one too? That’s awesome, Jonathan!” Flu pumped her fists excitedly.

“I will ask my father for his permission to publish this book in my name. I am also planning to add one integral part to make it more interactive and inspirational.”

“What are you going to add in there?” Flu asked.

I smiled.

“Our journey in the Speedmage Tournament.”

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