My Vampire System (WN)

There was a first time for everything, and it was the first time the Penswi had seen Stark lose an event. The thing was, there wasn't an unsatisfied look on his face, instead there was a smile. It wasn't the look that Jun was hoping to see.

It was the same for the audience that were watching everything. The audience were able to hear the conversations that went on between Jun and Spark at the beginning. At times trash talk between contestants would allow them to make things more interesting.

So they had heard the taunts that Jun gave, on top of that, it was clear that Stark had won the event regardless, because he had reached the finish line before the others, yet had refused to go over it.

To all of them it didn't feel like a big loss, and instead the crowd were waiting for something interesting to happen. Even though Stark was a star, a hero to the Penswi, they too had grown bored and tired of the events always ending the same way, they had become predictable.

When returning back to the Dark Reds' room, Jun was greeted with cheers and multiple quick high fives from his teammates that made it sound like clapping.

"Jun... I hate to say it, but you're a genius!" The coach exclaimed, as he ran over and lifted Jun into the air.

"Hey, hey my work has only just begun and besides, we don't even know if it's really going to work." Jun said, as he was being placed back on the ground. "The last two events, they need to be something that the two of you are good at. Since I won the last game and we have done fairly well, for the Dark Reds to win you need to come second and first in an event each."

It was good news that they didn't need to beat Stark twice, but it still meant that they would have to perform extremely well over the other contestants in a game they weren't particularly good at.

All they could do was wait, and eventually they got their answer as to what the next event was.

"Is that the button game!" Russ exclaimed, as he stood up.

It was the first game that they had played in the arcade and the one both Quinn and Russ were familiar with, but now there was another question that they needed to answer, who would take part.

"Quinn… I told you before, but the score you got last time, are you confident that you can beat that score, that you can beat him in this event?" The Coach asked.

"I am… but what I'm concerned about is what the next event is going to be." Quinn replied. "Russ is good at this event as well. Even if I did beat him, then what about the one after that."

This was true, and so the question fell on Russ, whether he was confident or not.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?" Russ asked as he stood up. "I will go out for this event, and I know what you are all thinking, you are counting on me to get second place, but I'm telling you all now, I'll be getting first."

With such confident words no one questioned him, and just encouraged him as he went through the hallway out to the arena. Quinn had learned that Russ wasn't a man of empty words, which meant he had to have had some sort of plan.

When heading outside into the arena, it had been set up for the game. There were around fifty different button stations set up, all out for the different teams. In the centre, where most of the cameras seemed to be positioned, was where Stark was set up, and there was a space for the Dark Reds team just by his side.

"Haha." Russ started to chuckle as he approached his station. "It seems like the event people know what's going to be interesting, so why don't I show them something interesting."

Russ first looked to see where the camera was and he made eye contact staring down the middle, before looking at Stark. Oddly, it seemed that even the other contestants were more interested in what would happen between this alien and Stark than concentrating on doing the best themselves.

"When you are directly in front of me, with your own mind, it is a lot easier to get a more accurate representation of you." Russ said.

Stark was obviously left confused by the comment, but who knew how other aliens acted.

"Everyone I have met so far, the strongest person they could think of was you, but I could tell that they have been underestimating you, so let's see how you think of yourself."

At that moment, before the event had even started Russ' body started to change. It was similar to the time he had changed before, but now all of the Penswi were witnessing this, in the arena, in their homes, and the King and Queen.

On top of that, there were subtle changes, Russ' body was forming more accurately, the muscle sizes were identical to what was in front of him and it almost looked like a Penswi twin of Stark was standing side by side, if it wasn't for the fact the face was a bit different.

"The Penswi people, did you see that! Our alien contestant just transformed his whole body into a Penswi!" The announcer stated. "Of course, the only way an alien could ever hope to beat us Penswi when it came to speed was to transform into one of us! No wonder they were confident, but just because they look like us, does that mean they can perform as well as us?"

It was the question on a lot of people's minds, including Stark who turned to focus on his board of buttons, before saying a few words.

"Don't disappoint me." Stark smiled.

The event was ready to start, and usually the screens in the arena that would be focused on multiple contestants, just had Stark and Russ in them.

*BEEP

The event went off, and both Stark as well as Russ were going at it. Their forms were fast and Russ was better at optimising and using his speed, knowing what to go for. He was hitting well and the two of them looked to be neck and neck.

Their points were already relatively past all the others, so they had no fear when it came to Russ at least coming second, but something was becoming quite obvious, it was the fact that Stark was still faster.

"He turned his head." Quinn commented, while watching the match. The others hadn't really seen it. Because it looked like Stark had just turned his head to hit a button but he had done so to see the scoreboard and in that moment, the point difference started to increase.

Just like Quinn back then, Stark was so confident in himself that he was able to look at his opponent and pick up speed.

"Stark! Stark! Stark!" The crowd started to cheer.

It was the closest match they had seen, but they were happier that Stark was proving himself as one of the greatest against an alien. That's when there was only 20 seconds on the timer.

'Now.' Russ thought.

Using his powers, by his side, the ground started to light up, and a figure had popped out from it. Everyone could see, it was purple skinned and looked like another Penswi, but it wasn't just any other Penswi, this one looked like Jun, one of the Dark Reds.

'Quinn didn't know it, but Bliss had been teaching me to absorb nest crystals for a while. She told me about the fight against the celestials and wanted me to increase my power.

'While they were living in the settlement, I didn't just do nothing on Earth. I have more MC cells than you can imagine, and with you giving me the other nest crystals you can find… it won't be long till I am as strong as I was before, but first it's time to win this!'

The Jun that had been summoned started to hit the buttons away and now there were two fast Penswi against one.

*****