Book 2 - The Usurper from the Wilds: Chapter 29; The Exhibition Rally

The screen turns on as the chapter title plays "Chapter - 29; The Exhibition Rally".

Grim shouts at the headmage reminding him "Hey, Headmage! We caught your guy! You know what that means… Time to cough up the reward you promised!" Crowley says "What?" confused before making some oohing noises as he remembers and asks "...I did promise you that, didn't I?"

The headmage then goes into a slight panic as he says "But it's far too late. The tournament brackets have already been announced. What to do…?"

This makes Grim shout angrily at him "WHAAAAAAAT?! You wretched, backstabbin' swidler! I am gonna make it rain fire, you liar! MYAAAAAAAH!" As he starts to prepare his magic. Which makes the headmage exclaim desperately "Stop, please! Restrain yourself for a moment! I will… come up with something! Uh…"

His voice trails off as he hurriedly tries to think of a solution that would allow there to be no raining fire. He then exclaims "Ah! I've got it!" Before asking Grim "What would you say to playing in a special exhibition match?" He then explains what that means "If it were held before the tournament itself, it wouldn't interfere with anything. And the eyes of the world would be squarely on you!"

Grim shouts happily but still with some doubt "On me?!" As Crowley stutters out "B-but of course."

Grim stops with his fire entirely as he says "Well, so long as I'm the center of attention, I guess that will do." He then happily exclaims "This'll be great! After the scouts see me kickin' tail on TV, they'll be swarmin' all over me!"

But Yuu asks Crowley a question about the logistics of playing "How do you plan to fill out our team?" as she thinks 'Spelldrive teams do need seven players after all.' Crowley still hadn't thought this far ahead as he says "The other players… Ah, right. And we'll need an opposing team as well. Perhaps we could cobble one together out of faculty members…" as he thinks aloud at the end.

Grim then shouts at him again "Myah?! You haven't given this any thought at all!"

But then Ace and Deuce walk up as Ace tells them "Hey, so, couldn't help overhearing…" As Deuce leans on Yuu's shoulder and tells them "If you need some teammates, we could help you out."

Which causes Riddle to exclaim at their declaration "What are you doing?! You're members of Heartslabyul!"

But Ace looks back as he answers with a proud smirk "There's no tournament rule that says we can't play for another dorm's team." His smirk goes wider after saying that, since he beat Riddle at his own game with rules.

This makes Trey burst out laughing as he puts a hand on Cater's shoulder for support as he then exclaims "He's right! I guess no one thought that would ever happen, so no one ever wrote it down!" Cater smiles as he then yells "Ooh, now this sounds totes fun! I wanna be on Yuu's team too!"

Riddle is nearly broken at this as he shouts stuttering out at Cater "B-but you're an actual member of our team!" Cater frowns as he says "Oh. Poo."

Ace says "I didn't go through all that just to sit back 'n cheer for you guys. If I'm getting the chance, I wanna play!" Deuce is more embarrassed by Ace's confession as he shouts "I'm not like him, okay?! I just want to have my friends' backs."

Jack then volunteers "If you need someone to play against, Savanaclaw will be happy to help." Grim happily exclaims "Myah?! You will?!" Jack answered "Of course. Playing against the faculty would be no fun. We'll give you a proper match."

Ace teases Jack as he says "Sa-weeet! Guess you ain't such a jerk after all!" But Jack still isn't as open to their friendship and Ace's caring teases as he shouts back "Don't get the wrong ideas– this is just payback! I don't want that debt hanging over my head."

He then turns to his dorm as he asks them " You don't got a problem with it, right?" Ruggie sighs before saying "...Yeah, sure, what's one more game when we're already at the brink of exhaustion? You're a monster, Jack." Leona groans but says "I don't even care anymore. Come and take your best shot, herbivores. It may be an exhibition match, but we ain't gonna be playin' footsies' here. You better be ready for us."

Crowley then happily says "Ah, splendid. And here I was bracing to endure another three-hour scolding from Professor Crewel."

He then turns to the Ramshackle team as he says "Well, I believe that's four members on your team now, Yuu. You only need three more!"

Grim groans as he loudly complains "Hey, that's still not enough! And that's WITH people comin' from whole other dorms to join us! Why does our dorm only have two people in it?!" Yuu smirks as she thinks of something and mysteriously asks "Are you sure our dorm's just the two of us?" Grim thinks for a second before shouting "Oh… That's right!"

Before asking "If they live in the dorm, they're our dormmates, right?" Which makes Ace answer "Sounds like solid reasoning to me."

This makes Grim shouts "Then there are more members of Ramshackle House than just the two of us!"

Yuu then gets everyone else in the loop as she shouts "The ghosts!"

Crowley is confused as he asks in confirmation "Pardon? Are you telling me you intend to register ghosts as members of your team?"

But Grim still isn't really paying attention as he shouts "One of 'em said he used to be a real good player! They'll be perfect! Sit tight, I'm gonna go get 'em! Wahooo! I'm gonna be on TV!" as he floats away.

Jack then asks "Seriously? A match against ghosts?" although slightly excited by the prospect of it.

Ace then says "Hey, Yuu is playin' despite having about as much magical talent as a box of crayons, so what's the problem?" Deuce is in his own world as he says "I'm actually going to be on TV? S-suddenly my knees won't stop shaking…"

But the headmage is even happier with this turn of events as he tells them "Hurry off to the tournament site, now."

But he stops them as he asks "Ah, but first, has anyone spotted a black, stone-like object on the ground?"

Ace asks "Huh? A black rock?" Deuce then asks "Did you lose something like that, sir?" But Crowley tries to avoid the question as he says "No… Simply wonderly if anyone had noticed one. Right, then. Let's all hurry to the coliseum now."

Jack stays behind a little as he says "C'mon, Yuu." as he was waiting to be able to walk with her.

This makes her smile as she shouts "Let's all do our best!" Which got a happy smile from the other first years as they walked to the tournament together.

The screen then fades to black as "To be continued" plays on screen before it fully turns off.