Episode 9: Part 2

<Amarant & Lani: Coworkers>
     "Wait," Amarant said, pulling on Lani's yoshi's tail.
     "Red, you'd better have a damn good reason-" Lani started, then she looked over her shoulder at Amarant, who was looking intently at the map and gesturing with his hands. "What? What's all the hand waving about?"
     "This map," Amarant said quietly, more to himself than to Lani. "It's wrong."
     "You gotta be kidding," Lani said as she backed her yoshi up towards Amarant.
     "I remember last leg," Amarant said. He pointed to Star Hill and then to Moleville, which was to the left of Star Hill. "Everthing is backwards except for the text."
     "Well I think that kid did hate me," Lani muttered to herself. "So... what? Are we going the wrong way? Is it all exactly backwards?"
     "The places we've been, yes."
     "So you're saying I was going the right way," Lani said.
     "No, but turn around and go the way you were going."
     "I knew it!"
     They flipped their yoshis around and had them run as quickly as possible in the opposite direction. After only a short sprint they passed by Steiner and Beatrix, who were heading the exact same way.

     "They've found it already!" Steiner announced. "They were not too far ahead. The clue box must be just up ahead!" He holstered a map exactly like the map Lani had obtained from Marrymore.
     "Can these things go faster?" Beatrix asked.
     "Mine is under enough stress from my armor," Steiner said. He patted his yoshi on the head. "It is doing a fine job."

<Rikku & Yuna: Cousins>
     Yuna held all three items to the man in black and wiped the sweat from her forehead at the sight of the clue exiting his jacket. He handed it to her and she quickly ran outside, not forgetting to bow upon exiting the church.
     "About time!" Rikku shouted to Yuna as she watched her run closely.
     "We're going to Land's End," Yuna said as she caught her breath. "Which way?"
     Rikku looked up and saw Amarant and Lani's yoshis in a half-sprint heading to the west.
     Yuna and Rikku just stared silently.
     "I'd guess that way," Yuna said.
     "Yeeeeeah," Rikku replied.
     Both mounted their yoshis and gave chase to Amarant and Lani.

<Shinra & Rufus: Father/Son, Currently in 1st>
     Rufus and Shinra both sat silently and stared ahead as their yoshis ran as fast as they could. For smaller creatures, they carried weight very well and despite a size difference, Shinra's yoshi was going just as fast as Rufus's. Both Shinra and Rufus looked on ahead with the same worried look in their eyes.
     They soon came across a tall mountain with large rectangular chunks of stone leading up one side. The stones were separated by large gaps and were essentially impossible for a human to scale without the aide of ropes and bridges. Just in front of this rock path was a clue box.
     "This must be Land's End," Rufus said.
     "I suppose my keen sense of direction paid off again," Shinra said.
     "You only have a keen sense of smell," Rufus said as he opened the clue box. He looked inside and sighed as he pulled a clue from the box. "Dammit, they overloaded the clue box with clues. I have no idea what place we're in."
     "It doesn't matter. We know the girls are behind us. I know you like them -hell, I like them- but we need to at least beat them."
     "I know," Rufus said as he ripped open the clue. He pulled a yellow detour card from the envelope. "Detour: Cross or Fire."

<Announcer Gippal>
     "A detour is a choice between two tasks, each with its own pros and cons. In Cross, teams must travel a short distance into Land's End where they must cross a bridge made of a special material known as 'donuts.' These donuts can support any amount of weight, but if that weight remains on one spot for too long, the specific piece of the bridge will fall. In addition, large but completely harmless bullets will be fired to push back their progress. The task is difficult and if teams fall they must climb a long ladder to start again, but agile teams could finish quickly. In Fire, teams must fire a spikey creature known as a spiny high up a mountain and into a small hole using a cannon. The cannon is very sensitive and cannot be aimed, only fired, as it cycles quickly through many different angles. The task is simple, but due to a difficult cannon, it takes a large amount of skill as well as a large amount of luck to fire it correctly." 

<Shinra & Rufus: Father/Son, Currently in 1st>
     "Cannon for sure," Rufus said.
     "You sure?" Shinra asked. "I know you're a bit squeamish around cannons."
     "You actually know one of my phobias!?" Rufus asked with a great deal of surprise in his voice.
     "Umm, no," Shinra lied. 
     "But there's no way you're crossing that bridge," Rufus said.
     "True. Then let's be off to the cannon."
     Rufus and Shinra mounted their yoshis and rode a short distance around the mountains by following a series of arrows labeled "Fire Detour". They found the cannon along with several brown sacks that wriggled and poked at the sides. Next to the bags were a couple mushroom-headed men wearing Amazing FF Race t-shirts that handed them each a pair of thick gloves.
     "You'll need them," the mushroom-headed man said.
     Rufus put the gloves on and dragged the sack toward the cannon, where Shinra was already watching the cannon's movement patterns, which were very sporadic.
     "We may be in trouble," Shinra said without taking his eyes off the cannon.
     "Very much," Rufus said as he reached into the bag and pulled out his first spiny. It was a turtle-like creature roughly the size of his two outstretched hands with a red shell covered in large spikes. The spiny was obviously sedated, but still proved to be a painful and difficult creature. Rufus shoved the first spiny into the cannon and Shinra held the long string to launch the cannon. He waited for what seemed like an eternity, then yanked on the string and fired the spiny straight forward into the stone wall where the spiny stuck to it by his back and wriggled its feet helplessly.
     "This might take a while," Rufus muttered to himself as he pulled another spiny from the bag.

<Amarant & Lani: Coworkers, Currently in 2nd>
     Amarant and Lani hopped off their yoshis barely in front of the clue box and Lani quickly snagged her clue. "Detour! Cross or Fire." She read for a minute and did not read the options to Amarant, who only waited along side his yoshi. "We're doing Cross. Mount your Kooshi! We're off!"
     "Fine," Amarant replied as he sat back on his yoshi and the two rode along a path of arrows reading "Cross Detour".

     Only seconds after Amarant and Lani departed, Yuna and Rikku rode in and hopped off their yoshis to receive their clue.
     "Detour, Yunie," Rikku said, reading the clue. "Cross or Fire. I'm leaning toward Cross, but it's up to you."
     "Why me?" Yuna said as she read the clue over Rikku's shoulder.
     "I could cross a bridge quickly," Rikku said, pointing her thumb at her chest. "I'm quick like that. I'm just not sure about you though."
     "Well I really have a bad time with aiming," Yuna trailed off. "Okay, Let's Cross."
     Yuna and Rikku rode their yoshis the same direction as Amarant and Lani and soon found themselves looking across a long bridge made of several thick yellow blocks that looked like four-foot wide tires placed end to end, then flattened on the top to make a generally smooth surface. On the other side was a cannon that shot large bullets with faces and arms with little white gloves. They hardly moved the pace of a speeding bullet and were closer to that of an elderly man power walking, but they were wide enough that they practically took up the entire four-foot width of the bridge.
     "We're doomed," Rikku blurted out as Yuna just stared with a nervous look on her face.
     "Feel free to go first," Lani said politely to Yuna and Rikku. She was sitting on the cliff's edge facing the bridge alongside Amarant, who did the same. Both meerly watched the bullets fire every few seconds at an inconsistent pace as they looked to the large patch of grass atop the opposing cliff connected by the bridge.
     "That's way too kind of you. What's the catch?" Rikku asked.
     "We'd just rather watch you fail to know what not to do," Amarant said.
     "Nice," Lani said to Amarant, offering her hand for a high-five, which much to her dismay, he complied with as he slapped her hand. Then, as though that were not weird enough, both slid their hands along each other's and upon release, snapped their fingers.
     "Oh we are so ON today!" Lani said loudly. "Screw these girls, let's just show them how it's done!"
     "Good," Amarant said as he stood up and stretched his arms above his head.
     Lani stood as well and stretched her legs out briefly, then stood tall and walked to face the bridge while scratching herself inappropriately. 
     Lani and Amarant stood on opposite sides of the bridge entrance as they watched a large bullet fly by them. It's diameter was almost as tall as Lani, but despite the gigantic size of the bullet, neither seemed too shaken as they looked each other in the eyes.
     "Top or bottom?" Lani asked Amarant.
     "Bottom," Amarant replied.
     "Heh, I knew it," Lani muttered with a smirk.
     Once the bullet passed, Amarant and Lani both sprinted onto the bridge with Amarant trailing Lani by inches. A bullet approached them. Between their running and the bullet coming from the opposite direction, the speed of the bullet seemed a lot faster. Lani bit her lip nervously as the bullet was only an arms length away from her, when suddenly Amarant grabbed her by the back of her shirt and the seat of her pants and tossed her high above the bullet, then in the same motion pressed himself against the floor. Lani landed on the other side of the bullet and immediately began running for the other side of the bridge as the bullet passed over Amarant, who was already crawling forward on his chest. He rose up after the bullet passed and ran for Lani, who was several yards ahead of him as the next bullet fired.
     Lani glanced behind her and saw Amarant quickly approaching, then watched forward as the bullet came at her quickly as well. She suddenly stopped running and bent down on all fours as Amarant ran to her and stepped on her back, then jumped high into the air and landed on top of the giant bullet. He ran a couple steps as if it were a treadmill and hopped down and began running again. Lani pressed herself against the ground, but as the bullet passed overhead, she suddenly felt the donut begin to drop. She cursed vocally as she sprung to her feet and grabbed the edge of the donut in front of her and started to pull herself up.
     Amarant reached the other side of the cliff and watched Lani struggle to pull herself up. He sighed as he leaned against the large cannon firing the bullets. A bullet fired at Lani and she attempted to run at it to make up some ground before making another desperate attempt dodge the bullet, all the while failing to notice that her donut had slightly begun to sink and her foot caught the next donut. She fell face first but spring up quickly, only to see a bullet bearing down on her. She instinctually attempted to jump over the bullet, but only cleared the first half as her body flopped lifelessly against the large bullet with her outstretched hand slapping the top of the bullet. Suddenly her entire body was yanked violently in the direction her arm pointed as Amarant pulled her as he rode the back of the giant bullet. He pulled her from the bullet and helped her run across the bridge where they both dove out of the way of the next bullet, where Amarant landed directly on top of Lani.
     Lani was briefly silent, until finally her muffled words could be heard. "We were so in sync until this. Why didn't you dive left? I picked right first."
     "You owe me already," Amarant said as he stood and pulled Lani to her feet. It wasn't until she was fully standing that he noticed the bright pink color of her neck and arms from where she had collided with the bullet, which was paired with a gushing nose bleed.
     Amarant handed her a tissue from his back pocket and took the clue that a strange figure cloaked in blue robes handed him. He ripped open the clue and read it aloud. "Travel by cloud taxi to the pistop in Nimbus Land. Warning: the last team to check in here may be eliminated."

<Announcer Gippal>
     "Teams must now travel a short distance to the pitstop in Nimbus Land. To aide them in reaching Nimbus Land they must walk a short distance to a cliffside in Land's End where recently cloud taxis have begun picking up clients. Teams may walk to Nimbus land and climb the difficult path to reach the city, but taxis are provided and likely quicker. The last team to check in here, may be eliminated."

<Amarant & Lani: Coworkers, Currently in 1st>
     Lani waved across the bridge, where her wave was returned by Yuna and Rikku. "I wasn't waving at you!" Lani screamed. "I was waving to my Skoshi!" Rikku and Yuna just shrugged and kept waving.
     "Let's go," Amarant said sternly as he placed his hand on Lani's shoulder and led her toward the taxi location.

     "We can't do that," Yuna said as she looked at the bridge.
     "We're more in sync than them!" Rikku argued. "We'll be fine. Let's go for it!"
     Rikku and Yuna stood to opposite sides of the bridge as Amarant and Lani had before them as they waited for the first bullet to pass. Yuna's heart skipped a beat as she watched it pass, then both she and Rikku ran as fast as they could along the bridge. A bullet shot at them and met them about one third of the way across the bridge. Yuna and Rikku both slid head first onto the ground with their faces planted into the ground as they prayed the bullet had passed. Both opened their eyes and got to their feet, only to find the bridge was no longer there. They both looked up at the bridge which was high above them.
     "Crap," Rikku said.
     "I hope we can do this," Yuna said as she and Rikku headed for the tall ladder leading back.

<Steiner & Beatrix: Dating, Currently in Last>
     "Beatrix-dear?" Steiner asked. "You're thinking as I am, correct?"
     "They tricked us," Beatrix said.
     "Indeed," Steiner replied. "Although I fail to see why they would travel all this distance out here to trick us."
     "Maybe they were lost too?"
     "I highly doubt that," Steiner said. "Those two are evil and dastardly. I am sure they did it intentionally to deceive us!"
     Steiner and Beatrix turned their yoshis around and kicked at them until they began to sprint back the way they had come. 
     "It is lucky we had such a lead," Steiner said to Beatrix.
     "I don't think we're so lucky right now," Beatrix sighed.
     "I am eternally lucky because I have you," Steiner said with a smile.
     "Oh, Adelbert, you're so naive. We're losing here. It is not time for romantic words."
     "Indeed you are right," Steiner responded. He scrunched his face and shouted at his yoshi. "Go faster, vile creature! Even my Knights of Pluto run faster than this, and they're all wastes of existence! Become useful or become dragon-feed!"
     Steiner and Beatrix's yoshis both began to speed up, though both were unsure as to why. Beatrix smiled at Steiner's regained aggression and decided to assert herself as well as she slapped the hind end of her yoshi. "Giddyap!" 

<Shinra & Rufus: Father/Son>
     "It's too bad we can't switch detours," Rufus said as he looked at the cliffside speckled with spinies, all wiggling their feet wildly.
     "I'll get it right soon," Shinra said. He pulled the string again and a spiny soared high into the air. Both Shinras shielded their eyes with their hands as they watched it fly up, then followed it as it fell straight down and landed back in the cannon.
     "You said soon, right?" Rufus mocked.
     "I hope so."

     Amarant and Lani waited by a tall, wide cliff as a taxi made of clouds pulled up. Both got inside the taxi and showed the driver the clue. He simply nodded and drove off slowly. The sun began to set as Lani leaned against Amarant's arm and stared out the window of the cloud taxi. The taxi pulled into a city of clouds and Lani stepped out of the taxi where Amarant joined her. They spotted the mat in the distance where a small, round ball of puff wearing colorful striped pants awaited them. Lani and Amarant walked to it and stepped onto the mat.
     "Welcome to Nimbus Land!" the cloud-boy Mallow said.
     Amarant and Lani looked around for Gippal but couldn't see him.
     "I don't think he expected anybody so quickly," Mallow said. "So I now pronounce you team number one! You've won! Good job! And as your prize, you can enjoy a nice bath in the hot springs here. You can go in there now if you'd like. Nobody is in there."
     "Thanks, Puff," Lani said as she patted him on the head and followed his finger, which pointed to the hot springs.
     "Tell him we were here and keep track of the time," Amarant ordered Mallow as he followed Lani to the hot springs.
     "I will!" Mallow said with a smile.

     "Ouch!" Rufus screamed as a tiny red dot appeared through his gloves. "Damn spiny poked me through my gloves."
     "Ha HA!" Shinra cried out as he watched the spiny soar through the air and land in the directed hole.
     "Why do you always laugh at my pain?" Rufus asked until he noticed the mushroom-headed man handing Shinra a clue. "Oh YES!" Rufus yelled as he threw the spiny against the wall as hard as he could. "I know we're totally eliminated, but still! I'm just tired of holding these pokey bastards."
     "Never doubt the luck of the Shinras," Shinra said. "We'll make it. Hurry up."
     Shinra ran to his yoshi and hopped on, when suddenly Rufus pushed him off the yoshi. Shinra fell to the ground and immediately stood up with an angered expression on his face.
     "It's not time to horse around," Shinra said sternly.
     "I know, fatass, but we have to walk to the taxis," Rufus explained. "Now just stop talking and go as fast as those stumps will take you."
     The anger left Shinra's face as he trotted behind Rufus to find the cloud taxi.

<Steiner & Beatrix: Dating>
     Steiner and Beatrix rode up to the clue box in Land's End and dismounted from their yoshis.
     "Detour: Cross or Fire," Beatrix read.
     "Fire," Steiner said. "I have always enjoyed warfare in all its forms. It is far from a specialty, but I observed it often."
     "Okay, let's hurry," Beatrix said.
     Steiner and Beatrix followed the signs pointing toward the Fire detour.

     Rufus and Shinra exited the cloud taxi and ran to the mat where Mallow and Gippal greeted them. They stood on the mat and looked on with expressions that tried to imply an indifference to what Gippal was about to say, but in actuality, both looked extremely frightened.
     "Shinra and Rufus," Gippal said. "You're team number two!"
     "You're kidding!" Rufus screamed happily.
     "Number two, yep," Gippal said. "You're actually the first team I checked in. My flight was delayed and another team snuck in before you."
     "The girls?" Rufus asked.
     Gippal shook his head. "Guess we'll just hope for the best with them."

<Yuna & Rikku: Cousins>
     "Eighteenth time's a charm?" Rikku asked Yuna as both huffed and wheezed at the beginning of the bridge.
     "Well first through seventeenth times weren't charms, so it must be eighteenth," Yuna said. 
     They approached the bridge on opposite sides once again and waited for the first bullet to pass by them. As it began to pass, both Yuna and Rikku placed a foot against the back of the bullet and pushed off to use the bullet for a pushstart. They ran confidently and both watched the approaching bullet, then stopped on the same donut and stood still. The donut began to fall as both girls jumped for the next donut and grabbed onto the side and pulled themselves up slowly. The donut began to fall and they repeated the process by jumping to the next donut. They progressed in this fashion and crossed the majority of the bridge approximately five feet below the actual path of the bridge. Upon reaching the final jump, Rikku jumped up and caught the cliff's edge as Yuna fell slighly short and began to fall with the donut until Rikku reached down and caught her arm as she fell. The girls hanged lifelessly from the ledge for a few moments as Rikku attempted to pull Yuna up the cliff.
     "Come... on.... Yunie," Rikku grunted as she attempted to pull her up with no success.
     "Eighteenth time is a charm," Yuna replied. She took a deep breath and pulled herself up and with Rikku's help, managed to get onto the cliff. She reached down slowly for Rikku, just as Rikku's grip completely gave out. Yuna reached out quickly and caught both of Rikku's wrists and pulled her up quickly.
     The cloaked man handed Yuna her clue, which Yuna promptly dropped.
     "Oh, I'm so sorry!" Yuna said as she bent down and picked it up carefully. "I can't really feel my arms right now."
     "Me neither," Rikku said. "Hey, cloaky! Open our clue for us?"
     The cloaked man ripped open their clue and handed it to them. They both smiled at him and took the clue. "Pitstop!?" the girls screamed. 
     "Run!" Yuna yelled.
     "I already am!" Rikku yelled mid-stride. Both girls ran for the cloud taxi location.

     Beatrix dropped a spiny into the cannon and Steiner held the string tightly as he watched the cannon's movement intently.
     "You can do it, Adelbert," Beatrix said. She was about to offer more words of encouragement, but Steiner interrupted by yanking on the string and grunting. The spiny flew into the air and landed in the designated area.
     "First try!" Beatrix said happily.
     Steiner simply saluted her. "Now let us continue before it is too late."
     Beatrix read the clue. "Pitstop. Hurry, Adelbert."
     Steiner and Beatrix ran quickly toward the cliff to wait for the cloud taxi.

     The remains of the sun's light reflected off the bottom of the cloud city as a single cloud taxi pulled up to Nimbus Land. The team exited the taxi and ran full speed to the mat where they hopped on and awaited Gippal's favorable response.
     "Yuna and Rikku," Gippal said, "you're team number three!"
     "We're still in!?" Rikku yelled. "That's so awesome!"
     "But the Shinras," Yuna said softly.
     "Checked in a while ago, what took you?" Gippal said.
     "Oh good! Then who?"

     With no light left in the sky and the moon rising behind the Nimbus Land palace, Steiner and Beatrix exited their taxi and ran to the mat where Gippal and Mallow waited. They stood on the mat and looked on.
     "Steiner and Beatrix," Gippal said quietly, "you're the last team to arrive." He paused for a short time, then resumed his speech. "I'm sorry to tell you that you've both been eliminated from the race."
     "It was a difficult journey," Steiner said. "It saddens me to end it."
     "Yes," Beatrix said. "I really hoped to make the top three, but this is where it ends."
     Steiner simply nodded in agreement.
     "You can resume using romantic words now, Adelbert-honey," Beatrix said.
     "Thank goodness," Steiner said. "I am happy to depart from this race with a greater trophy than any other racer could ever hope to achieve. Beatrix is all I need, all I want, and all I have. I could not be happier."
     Beatrix smiled. "And my trophy may be covered in rust, but I see through the rust to the glory it is."
     Mallow's eyes teared up and soon he began bawling as the sky opened up and rain poured down as Steiner and Beatrix made their exit.
     "That isn't helping the rust," Beatrix said jokingly to Mallow. Steiner smiled and took her shoulder and pulled her close as they walked away.