The Finals (1)

By the time the judges finished their bickering, the empty arena had suddenly become far fuller. 

Every seat now had a bottom attached to it and those who could not find anywhere to sit simply stood where they could find the chance with seemingly no complaints. 

The amount of excitement generated in one room was immense—  had the sweat been swept from their palms, it may have even satiated an entire basin of water. 

"Elizabeth! And… Kai?" Hikari called out, waving at the two figures slowly approaching in the distance. 

"Hello!" Rupert waved and took a seat where his allies had been saving for him. 

"Nice to see you finally doing better…" Artorias remarked. 

"There was nothing to worry about! I shall take on any and all responsibility for my failure! But that's not my main concern right now… By the way, where's Regrit? He late or something?"