Episode 4: Early Show

INT. STUDIO

Baralai sat behind his large wooden desk with the oceanic backdrop. Beside his desk was a large golden couch.

BARALAI (to camera): That cat sure loved spaghetti... Okay, let's get to something less interesting than a cat eating spaghetti. We have last night's castoffs from The Amazing Final Fantasy Race. Please welcome Sir "Iron Tail" Fratley and Freya Cresent!

Fratley and Freya entered from the left and took their seats on the couch. Fratley sat closer to Baralai.

BARALAI: Welcome to the show. You too comfortable sitting? I've never really dealt with guests with tails...

FRATLEY: We are fine, thank you.

BARALAI: Okay, good. So let's start dishing. I've got a lot of questions for you two. You two took a beating in this race. In the first couple legs, I thought you two were gonna win hands down. Then in the third episode I thought you were gonners. Then I thought you'd be making a comeback, but you lose. I guess I'm mostly wondering what happened in that third leg? Do you know, Freya, who knocked you off and if it was really on purpose?

FREYA: As much as I would love to say it was Dona, it was not. Nobody was to fault for it. I think the biggest push I received was from Zell, but it alone was not enough to send me over the edge. It was also not on purpose.

BARALAI: Since we're on it, let's continue with Zell and his mother. He may have been the reason you were injured and fell to the back of the pack, then he's the reason you were eliminated with his yield. Any sore feelings?

FRATLEY: None whatsoever. He is a friendly kid and did what he thought he had to.

BARALAI: I see. So now let's get into the big issue: Dona. You two did not like her, yet you seem very easygoing. Tell us her thoughts.

FREYA: We disliked her strongly when she did not respect the line all other teams had agreed upon. Not that it helped her, since apparently Reno and Rude took advantage of our fight and phoned in for tickets. But perhaps what I found most appalling was her treatment toward her partner.

FRATLEY: Barthello is a kind man, but for all those muscles, he is certainly lacking a spine to support them.

FREYA: We wanted to clone him to make team Barthello/Barthello because even though he is the stronger of two competitors, he is the lesser of two evils.

BARALAI: That's kind of what it seems like watching it on TV. Dona is mean. I know of her in real life as well and it sounds like that's just how she is. So tell me about the detour. You chose to walk?

FREYA: Yes, and it put us a lot futher behind than we'd have liked. If we could have gotten to the roadblock sooner, things might be different.

FRATLEY: There was a line anyway. It would not have mattered.

BARALAI: So Fratley. You aided Brahne in getting through the whip. Do you regret that?

FRATLEY: No. We could not have progressed further until she moved, so to keep as close to the leaders as possible, we had to help her. Also, I had the hidden agenda of aiding others and not aiding Dona. I hoped to cause their elimination by pushing all teams forward, if I could, and leaving them behind.

BARALAI: It looked like your biggest problem was the whip.

FRATLEY: The whip was indeed difficult to use. I had no prior experience and causing it to wrap the pole was troublesome. The gap we had to cross was very small and even with my injuries, it would have been easy to simply jump, but they would not let me continue without catching the pole.

BARALAI: Since Nooj just left and he took the camera equipment with him, I'll end this by asking one last question. Who are you two rooting for, now that you're gone?

FREYA: I like the sisters. They are strong and I like to support the female teams. I also enjoy Garnet from the days when we worked together, but I have my doubts about her mother.

FRATLEY: I am cheering for Zell's team. Also for Balthier and Fran. We had our differences before, but they have good hearts.

BARALAI: Thank you both for coming down here. Sorry to see you go, mostly because I lost money to Nooj since I picked you to win. When Nooj returns, we'll do our story on Proctology. We're always digging deep to find a good story.