A Race with Anikia.

"Guess I should go there too…" I say.

I think Vejetar has been keeping the hero busy. I mean, he can swat him like a fly but it seems he's playing with him. It's been a while since they arrived and Vejetar seems to have taken him on, while the others are keeping the other two party members busy.

"Mom? Are you going outside? Can I come too?" says Anikia.

What? I brought her here to show her this world.

"Is that something you need to ask? I brought you here so you could see a Green World once again. You can tell me if you wanna do anything else." I say.

"Okay!" she says with her hands in the air, with excitement.

Now that's a behavior that would suit a kid like her. Not the melancholic princess in distress. She's way better this way.

"Let's go then shall we?" I say facing the way they are in.

"Should we race there Mom?" says Anikia.

"Hoo? You want to race me? You won't be able to beat me you know?" I say.

"We don't know that until one of us loses right? Let's race.." she says.

Maybe I should lose on purpose…

"Ha-ha! Let's do it!" I say.

We both get in a line facing in the direction where Vejetar and my people are fighting the hero and his party.

"The first to get out of the barrier and punch the hero wins," I say.

"Do we really have to punch him…?" she asks.

"Yup. He's a scumbag." I say.

"Eh… language Mom…" she says.

"Ah. Sorry." I say.

Maybe I should be careful about my language in front of my daughter…

We get in a stance ready to dash off in an where our takeoff won't hurt the soldiers. You think that this much precaution isn't necessary? We aren't normal people you know.

[That's for sure.]

Right? What if our dash blows away the whole forest?

[Don't say such horrible things. Think about the ecosystem.]

That is what I am thinking about. And the demons sleeping there.

"On three! One! Two! Three! Go!" I shout.

The distance between us and the Place we need to be is quite big, about 6 Kilometers. It should prove to be a decent challenge.

Just as I said go, the ground shakes. We take off. The land beneath our feet, where we had just been standing cracks, and a crater forms.

"[Boom]!"

A shockwave goes through the air. The shockwave cracks several trees and makes them fall.

"Mom! Don't lose okay!" says Anikia who is surprisingly keeping up with me.

"Hoo? You can keep up? What about this?"

I say as I speed up. The speed is so intense that the vision around us had gone vertigo.

"That's easy!" she says.

"HA-HA! You're faster than I thought!" I say.

Honestly…. Even I haven't run this fast before. I didn't have to run up to this point. I'm scared that I might trip and lose the race. It would be pretty embarrassing if that happened…

"I'm gonna go faster! Keep up!" I say.

I don't want to go faster…

[Scared?]

Of course! If you were going this fast and running on top of that! You would be scared too! I'm like a fighter jet on land! Look at the land behind us! It's cracking where we pass!

[What's a fighter jet?]

Ah! Forget it!

[So you'd rather not be cool in front of your daughter then?]

Ah, shut up! I'm going faster! It's your fault if I trip!

"Yah!" I shout as I speed up my legs.

All of this happened in such a short time that more than half of the distance is already gone between the finish line.

"[BABAAAM!]"

A pure white circle of air booms behind me.

"Did… I just break the sound barrier?!" I shout.

[What's that?]

It's when you travel faster than the sound itself!

[That's the first time I've heard of it… It's cool either way.]

No! it's even more dangerous if I trip now!

"Mom! I'm catching up!"

"Huh?"

"[BABAAAM]"

Another boom sounds in the air. The trees behind her blow away and she gets faster.

She broke it too! Look! She's amazing!

[Impressive. To travel faster than the sound itself.]

This race is a matter of seconds. And everything that happened up until now has been in milliseconds. Even much faster I think.

"Be careful not to trip Anikia!" I shout.

Talking in a normal voice with this much wind isn't possible. So I have to shout.

"Okay! You be careful too!" she says.

"Yea-! *Trip* Shiiiiit!"

Just as I was about to agree with her, my foot gets caught in one of the tree roots. I don't know how it's possible to be caught by a root when traveling at this high speed but the root unbalances my whole body.

"AAAAAHHH!" I shout as I trip over.

"Mom!" shouts Anikia.

I trip and go down with such force that the ground beneath me shatters.

"[BOOOOM]!" sounds in the air.

"[CRACK]!"

I roll and roll and roll.

"[Boom!] [Boom]! [Boom]! [Shtak]!"

Until I get out of the barrier, I kept rolling at the same high speed I was running with, so most of the ground where I tripped over and rolled up to this point is nothing but a crater.

"Mom! Hold on!"

"I am holding on! I should use my wings somehow!" I say.

Just as I say that, I see Vejetar's face close to mine. His pupils contract as if he's scared.

"Velkraaaaa! What-! [Boom]!"

Ah, I see. I've crashed into him.

Both of us go flying in opposite directions. Vejetar travels quite a distance, the same way you hit a football for a shoot. The force I was traveling with was transferred to him. I fall on the ground.

"Whew…" I say.

"Great Velkra! Are you alright!" I hear a familiar voice running up to me.

"Ah, Albart… It's nothing. I just tripped…" I say.

"Tripped?! This is not just tripping! Are you hurt anywhere?!" he says.

"Come on. You think this would hurt me?" I say.

I'm an elder dragon.

[We know.]

Shut it. It's your fault.

[Nope. I can't even touch you from here.]

Hah~

"But I definitely felt pain here!" I hear.

It's Vejetar. He's here, out of the crater he was in.

"You're fine," I say.

"No I-Am-Not!" he says.

"You are. Or a normal person would be pulp if hit by that speed." I say.

"I know! That's why! My back hurts!" he says.

"What are you? An old man?" I say.

"I can't believe it… I meet my beloved sister like this. I thought you would praise me first…" he says.

"Praise? What praise?" I say.

"You see—" he's interrupted by someone.

"Oh! Look! It's the bitch from before!" I hear.

It's a familiar voice but not in a nice way. It's the scumbag Hero.

"Ah. So you were here? Sorry. I thought you were a bug or something." I say.

[Ohhh! Burn! Burn hero Burn!]

"Listen here you whor-! [BOOM]!"

He's interrupted by a punch to his pretty face. It's Anikia. She must have been traveling at a Mach or two.

"[Crack]! [Shtaaak]!" the Hero goes flying in the opposite direction.

"Kuro!" shouts the same hunter we had seen before.

I wonder why they have come back. Did they come to take revenge?

The hunter goes after The Hero in a frenzy. She crouches down.

"How dare you…. Kuro… are you alright…?" she says.

I take a peek at his condition… oooof… his face is messed up.

"Don't you dare badmouth my Mother." Says Anikia as she comes up to me.

"That was quite cool I should say. And you won the race." I say.

"Didn't you get here first?" she asks.

"The finish line was to punch the Hero. You punched him, I didn't." I say.

"Ah. I see." She says.

"Umm…. Great Velkra… Who might this be…?" asks Albart in a timid voice.

"She's my new Daughter," I say.

"What?! You got married in there?! How much time did you exactly in there?! Who is the Father?! The Demon Lord?!" he spouts strange things.

"Calm down Albart…. She is the Demon Lord." I say.

"This… Is the Demon Lord…?" he says.

"I took her in as my daughter. I'll explain everything once we get home." I say.

"Where are Carmine and… Felia…?" he asks.

"Ah. They're tending the sick Demons in the Demon Realm." I say.

"I see… We have a new family member then…" he says.

"Umm… C-Congratulations Great Velkra!" says a man with green-emerald eyes.

"Oh. Zanim? You sure changed didn't you?" I say.

"Thanks to you Great Velkra. I am grateful." He says.

"Yay! We've got a Neice now! Welcome to the Family!" Vejetar jumps at Anikia.

"Wait, Wait, wait. Who said you were family?" I say.

"Velkra…? " he says with tears in his eyes.

"Ah god damn it! You are family!" I say.

"Yay!" he says and hugs Anikia.

"I-I's nice to meet you… Uncle." She says.

"Ah! I love the sound of that! Say it one more time!" he shouts.

"Uncle." She says.

"I might die of overdose! This Cuteness!"

Are all the Elder Dragons weird cases like him?