The Intense Fight for Second Last

Mint · Aug 4, 2019

Physical Education. When Carmin was still a human just over six years prior, this was his favorite class. Sports, especially swimming and soccer, were some of his favorite things to do. He didn't just enjoy them, he was pretty good at them. Stamina type exercise was always his element. Well, before the curse at least. Now his previous idea of phys ed was reduced to a happy memory. His body just wasn't meant for it anymore. The teacher seemed to be pretty accommodating, ensuring him that he'd be graded based on effort and participation rather than physical prowess, but it was still humiliating. He was the worst at everything. His body lacked coordination as well as strength and it had become abundantly clear just how pointless exercise was for him. No amount of exercise was able to change the state of his body.

He was pretty sick of the humiliation at this point, just trying to make it through the course so he could get this grade. But that's when the new girl showed up. A white haired girl with pointed ears and, most importantly, a body that was even more diminutive than his own. She didn't really look like an eight year old the way he did, but that didn't matter. He was totally going to be able to beat her at something.

Just then, the phys ed teacher turned on the large timer on the score board in the corner of the gym then walked over to the class. She explained a pretty common warm up, where the class was to run around in a circle for twelve minutes, from the time she started the timer to the time it hit zero. She then went to explain something to the new girl. Carmin couldn't make it out, but he knew it was the same talk he'd received when he started a week and a bit ago. Telling her about how the class would be graded fairly and not to worry about falling behind the other students. After the teacher finished talking, she started the timer and everyone suddenly began to jog. As Carmin passed by the new girl, he couldn't help but tease her. "Good luck short stuff."

He then continued with his rather sad and pitiful motion, with other students quickly running past him at much greater speeds. But at least he was confident that one student wouldn't be passing him.

@Eternal Cyan

Eternal Cyan · Aug 5, 2019

Gym, Starlight Academy
Wearing: Sports Bra, Compression Shorts, Running Shoes

It had been a long day of firsts for Lianala Raindance and so far, she had taken on every challenge set before her in stride. However, physical education was the class that she feared the most. Although she needed to get into shape so that she could make the cheer squad, she loathed the idea of competing against eight-foot tall demons and other hulking individuals in physical activities where she clearly stood no chance at beating them. She had also been deeply anxious about how she would maintain a good grade in the class. Initially, she had thought that getting an A was simply out of the question, since she could not hope to compete against the bulk of her peers. However, when a statuesque Angel in the girls’ locker room told her that the class was graded based on effort, rather than physical ability, that fear was somewhat assuage. The Angel had also gently informed her that there was a student of similar height in the class who she could compete with.

Lianala was among the last students to enter the gym. Upon seeing the diminutive elfess out of the corner of her left eye, the gym teacher approached her and lowered herself into a squatting position, as if she were talking to a small child.

“Hello! You’re Lianala Raindance, yes?” The teacher said cheerfully as she looked down at her clipboard and jotted down a few notes.

“I am.” Lianala answered softly, feeling as if she were being stared at by the other students in the class.

“Good! I realize that the school can be a bit difficult to navigate for new students, but you’re right on time, Lianala.” She began as a gentle smile came across her pink lips. “I’m Ms. Smith, but you can also call me Helen. So, Lianala,” Helen paused for a moment, in order to consider the politeness of her words to the diminutive elfess standing before. She did not want to insinuate that she was explicitly making her point because of Lianala’s height, but she also wanted to assuage any fears that the girl may have held regarding how she would obtain a good grade. “The goal of this class is to nurture a passion for exercise.” Helen continued. “I don’t really care about how fast you can run, how strong you are, or how high you can jump, but rather...I care about how much fun you’re having while doing it and how hard you are trying.” Helen finished as she placed a reassuring hand on Lianala’s right shoulder. “So, don’t worry about trying to keep up with the bigger students, just do the best that you can and the rest will take care of itself, okay dear?”

“Yes, Ms. Smith.” Lianala responded in a soft voice. In spite of the teacher’s best efforts, Lianala was quite aware of the reason why Helen was explaining the class in such a tame manner. “I’ll try to do my best.” She added, as her delicate features shifted into a nervous smile.

“Good, now go have fun, Lianala.” Helen finished before standing back up to her full height.

A few minutes passed, during which Lianala took the time to stretch her body. Then, Ms. Smith called the class together and briefly explained the warm-up activity before starting the timer. Immediately, every one kicked into a jog. Lianala made an effort to keep up with the group, but the towering bodies of her peers easily passed her before continuing on their way. There was a brief period of respite during which no one else passed her.

Suddenly, a green-skinned plant boy sprinted past her with a tease on his lips, which immediately ignited the fire of competition within Lianala’s soul. With a few deep breaths, Lianala kicked herself into a faster pace in an effort to catch up with him. She immediately realized that this was the student that the Angel had told her about in the locker room. Though the boy was still almost a full foot taller than she was, Lianala was bulkier than him. He held a small advantage over her when it came to speed, but she intended to make him pay for every second-to-last place that he got over her. However, when it came to strength, Lianala suspected that she would have him on the ropes.

“Bring it on, stick boy!” Lianala teased in turn as she slowly caught up to the green-skinned boy. “Don’t make this too easy for me.” She added in a coy tone.

@Mint

Mint · Aug 5, 2019

Stick boy? Stick Boy?! He didn't even have any sticks to speak of on his body, just leaves, flowers, and whatever his body was made of. Unless she was talking about his build rather than the plant matter covering it, which was in fact reminiscent of a bunch of sticks. Realizing that he accepted that particular fact caused him to get a little flustered and try to shake the thought out of his head. It didn't matter anyway, she wouldn't be so confident by the time he'd lapped her. The idea of finally getting to lap someone sent joy through his body. It was going to feel so good.

At least, he thought it would. His happy daydream was suddenly interrupted by the purple girl behind him. He glanced back a little while running and quickly went wide eyed as he saw her gaining on him. "Eh?!" His head whipped back to his front, suddenly losing the heaps of confidence he'd recently obtained.

The entire class passed by, lapping him one by one as they always had. But they didn't matter, all that mattered now was beating one person. He just had to avoid being the slowest. If he didn't establish himself as the faster one right here and now, then he'd always be considered the weaker of the two.

Unfortunately, things weren't looking good. As much as he desperately wanted to beat this girl, he couldn't get his body to speed up. The pathetic shuffle he'd been doing was already his top speed. He moved his arms faster, becoming a little more frantic looking, but the motion of his legs remained unchanged. She was inevitably going to pass him, he could hear the footsteps coming closer. Her speed was faster than his, and he couldn't do anything about that. But perhaps if she got tired and slowed down, he might be able to overtake her in the long run. After all, there was still eleven minutes of running.

The idea of getting passed by this small purple elf at all was still humiliating though, especially after calling her short stuff. At least when the larger students passed him it was the expected outcome.

He had to say something to make sure she didn't think that she'd won just by passing him. "There's still a long ways to go, be careful not to pass out before that timer goes off." He smirked, though it was more of an annoyed one than the smug look he wanted to have.

@Eternal Cyan

Eternal Cyan · Aug 5, 2019

Gym, Starlight Academy
Wearing: Sports Bra, Compression Shorts, Running Shoes

She was already starting to feel the first winds of exhaustion as she slowly caught up to the skinny plant boy. In all likelihood, he was faster than she was, but his awkward stride seemed to limit his speed and made his running motion less efficient. However, Lianala didn’t intend to tell him that. Instead, she planned to exploit it. However, that idea immediately fell through when the pair of shorties passed by the teacher after completing their first lap.

“Good effort you two! Great form Lia! Keep your head up and pump your arms, Carmin!” Helen called out to the pair as they passed by, though her last piece of advice was specifically meant for the green-skinned boy. Once she was out of view of the gym teacher, Lianala frowned. Nevertheless, she continued to follow Carmin around the gym, as close as she possibly could, while also letting him set the pace. However, her pride was slowly getting the best of her. The desire to attempt a pass was irresistible, even though she had already used a lot of energy just to keep up with him. She didn’t want to suffer the indignity of being last, even if it did exhaust her reserves of energy.

With a deep breath, Lianala kicked her stride into high gear until she was alongside Carmin and on his left. When the next corner came up, the short elfess established position on the inside line of the turn and passed the green-skinned plant boy.

“Thanks for the advice, but it looks like you're last now.” She replied in a sarcastic tone as she pushed herself down the long straight. However, her elation at having passed the plant boy slightly dissipated when the tall Angel girl Lianala had met in the locker room gracefully jogged past the pair of short runners. She seemed to be giving no effort at all, in spite of the fact that she was running more than twice as fast as Lianala and the green-skinned boy.

“Go Lia, go Lia, go! Go Lia, go Lia, go!” The Angel cheered her on with a wide grin spread across her pale features, pumping her fists as if she were holding invisible pom poms. Suddenly, Lianala felt a second wind arise within her lungs. She immediately took advantage of it to push herself harder, though without regard for how she would feel near the end of the race...

@Mint

Mint · Aug 5, 2019

Carmin raised his head slightly and tried to get a proper form going as the instructor called out to him. He was slightly annoyed by how the purple skinned girl beside him, who he now knew was named Lia, had been given praise while he was given advice. But despite this, he figured he'd try to listen and follow the advice. Though it really just made him feel slower and look a little less ridiculous. He wasn't actually moving slower or faster with the small corrections to his form, it just felt that way since he wasn't moving so frantically.

Carmin could do nothing but glance at her with an annoyed face as she released the finishing blow, letting him know he was moving into last as if he didn't know that already. He watched the girl go on ahead and felt a little angry as he watched her get cheered on by a classmate. It wasn't fair, that was supposed to be him.

She only got further ahead of him as the time went on. Sure, she sped up and slowed down, but her average pace was still above his. He couldn't really do much about it aside from keep moving at his same dumb speed and hope that she wouldn't come back around to lap him before the time ran out.

Perhaps she was better than him at running, but this was just the warm up, perhaps there would be something else after that he could beat her at. Though he couldn't honestly think of anything that would give him much of an edge.

He glanced up at the timer, five minutes left. Most of the students weren't really slowing down. This was a warm up after all, none of them were trying too hard from the beginning, saving their energy for the rest of class.

@Eternal Cyan

Eternal Cyan · Aug 8, 2019

Gym, Starlight Academy
Wearing: Sports Bra, Compression Shorts, Running Shoes

With only five minutes left, Lianala had already burned through her second and third wind. By now, she was running mostly through sheer will and determination to not be last. In spite of her exhaustion, Lianala made an effort to maintain a good running form so that she didn’t look tired while running. The last thing that she wanted to happen was for Carmin to smell blood in the water before pouncing upon her while she was exhausted. Especially because she was starting to run slightly slower than before. It would only be a matter of time before the race became close once again. With only five minutes left and counting, there was plenty of time for Carmin to make up the distance, in spite of the fact that the elfess had created a significant gap.

“Five minutes left everyone! Keep pushing!” Ms. Smith called out before returning her attention to the clipboard in her lap.

Bearing a strained grimace on her features, Lianala continued to push herself. She had been told that the best way to deal with exhaustion while running or doing any type of physical activity was to focus on maintaining her form, rather than maintaining speed or power.

Although it felt more like an eternity for Lianala, five minutes quickly became two minutes, one minute, and finally, forty-five seconds.

The final sprint to the end was just underway.

@Mint

Mint · Aug 8, 2019

It wasn't until Lia was half a lap ahead of him that she seemed to stop gaining distance on him. But it wasn't good enough, there wasn't much time left and they were really just going about the same speed now. She seemed tired though, so the plan to beat her at whatever came next wasn't out of the question. For now, he just watched as the clock counted down, finally reaching zero and letting out a loud buzzer noise.

Carmin stopped running, and so did the rest of the class. He wasn't tired, or at least he didn't think he was. It was hard to tell, sometimes his body just up and quit on him when it ran out of energy. But it was sunny enough outside and he'd kept hydrated so he figured he should be good.

He avoided the girl for the time being as best he could. He didn't want her to rub the victory in his face. As the class crowded around the phys ed teacher again, Carmin positioned himself on the opposite end of the crowd to where the girl would come from, so that she'd have to go out of her way if she wanted to poke fun at him.

the teacher simply dismissed them to get water and take a breather for the next five minutes before returning to the center of the gym. With that, Carmin walked to the side of the gym and grabbed his water bottle, sitting down and taking a few sips to stay hydrated. Some students did the same, while others who didn't have water bottles went to a nearby fountain. They all cherished the grace period before the teacher would reveal her plans to them.

@Eternal Cyan

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The Intense Fight for Second Last

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