Spiritmal, By The Light Of A Star

6. A race to remember

"Eat something? Please?" I begged star as she turned away her head once more, looking in another direction.

"Please?" I pleaded once more. Star, apparently, had enough of my nonsense as she kicked the food bowl out of my hand.

Sighing, I reached down to pick up the yellow food bowl, wiping up its spilled contents.

Star had been refusing to eat anything at all since morning and it was starting to worry me. At this rate, Star wouldn't be able to recover from her injury properly.

I sighed once more. "Ok then. If that's how you want it. Do you mind accompanying me to the Spiritmal race?"

"Starrrrr..." she nodded slightly, confirming her my thoughts.

"Thanks Star."  I smiled slightly as I picked her up and gently placed her on my shoulder. Seeing Star upset was also having an effect on me, dampening my mood more than I thought was possible. Taking one last look at my room, I ran out of it towards the contest venue.
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Sitting down on one of the seats in the newly set up floating platform, I placed Star on my lap as I looked out towards the empty area. It was a two sided race, meaning that I would be able to see the spiritmals wizz by twice before the race ended. It wasn't exactly ideal but it was good enough for me to be able to see them twice. There was a big screen every few meters anyway, allowing me and the rest of the spectators to see most of the action on screen. Today's race would be on a long track, meaning that it may take a while in between the time I would get to see the Spiritmals. Well, at least there was the screen...

"Starrrrrr!" I could feel star squirming slightly in my lap. Reaching into my bag, I brought out a container of unseasoned popcorn.

"Want some?" I asked as Star excepted the offering, finishing the piece of popcorn quickly. The excitement must be getting to her, making her forget about her trainer... at least for a moment. I decided to just enjoy seeing Star happy and deal with her sulking, if she starts to, later on. After all, the race was something to be excited about.

Passing Star another piece of popcorn, I looked at the screen to see the racers lining up. Dark blue hair caught my eyes as I saw Felix in row seven, alongside his magnificent lionblitz in its true form. I found myself staring at the creature for a moment before pulling away, looking at the other spiritmals instead. Luckily, Star didn't seem to have seen him. If she did, she was sure doing a good job on being happy. There was quite a variety of competition tonight, with wolfabeasts, Darkrancruels, mothinnites and many other spiritmals lining up for the race. Just looking at the wolfabeats, I could already spot many sub-categories of them. Monotone, tri-color, nightbright, shimmerite and many other kinds were in the the mix. Maybe I hadn't seen many real spiritmals before leaving my village. However I'd read up a lot about the many species in existence.

All of the spiritmals seemed well groomed as their coats shimmered in the starlight, giving off a bright glow.

Well, they were called spiritmals for a reason.

Just then, the honking of a air horn split the air.

The race had started.

Looking at the gigantic screen, I could see the many spiritmals sprinting as they tried to overtake each other. Some of the more unfortunate racers fell behind from the rest, instead competing among themselves to ensure that they wouldn't come in last. The excitement increased as me and a few other spectators spotted bright lights in the distance. Most likely the spiritmals. The bright light got bigger and bigger, confirming our earlier predictions.

A few of the fastest spiritmals zoomed past us, causing the crowd to cause an uproar as cheers erupted from the nearby vicinity.

"Starrrrrrr! Starrrrrr!"

"What is it Star? I asked the little spiritmal as she flapped both her wings in what looked like an attempt to fly.

"Star... you're hurt... maybe you could try flying another day." I tried comforting Star as she beat her wings faster and faster. Looking closer, I saw little specks of bright starlight swirling around her, forming a tiny tornado of stars that grew more violent with each flap.

"Star?" I gulped as bright light engulfed her, making her glow so brightly that I had trouble looking straight at her.

"Look at that spiritmal!" A random spectator called out. I looked around me to see many of the spectators staring in awe at the bright light, no longer concentrating on the race in front of them. A few of them engaged in hushed murmurs as many fingers were pointed at the bright light. Everyone's attention was on Star as they started guessing whatever that was going on.

"Girl? Is that your spiritmal?" I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning to my left, I saw a freckled old lady, her glasses pushed up her nose in a way that made her look extremely wise. "You should be proud. It's evolving! And by the looks of it, it's its first evolution as well!"

"How... how do you know?" I asked as a used one of my hands to shield against the overly-bright light emitting from Star.

"First evolutions tend to take longer. The subsequent ones wouldn't be as long." The old lady continued as the bright light faded from Star.

I frowned, Star looked the same as before, with absolutely no difference in her appearance.

The old lady laughed quietly, making me wonder if she could read minds.

"When a spiritmal evolves, only their true form changes. Their first evolution is where they gain the first stage of their true forms. Your little spiritmal would be able to transform from now on." She nodded her head slightly while saying so, her grey bun bobbing with the motion.

"Starr?" Star questioned, still slightly confused with whatever that had happened. Meanwhile, a few of the nearby spectators started clapping to congratulate Star on her first evolution, making the poor Glowstaride even more confused. However, Star seemed to except whatever that was going on and clapped along with them, making all of them laugh.

Just then, the spiritmals raced by once more, attracting the attention of the crowd. We quickly settled back into their seats, as we all awaited the last few hundred kilometers of the competition.