Episode 6: Part 2

     Biran and Yenke reached Sunset Station and approached the ticket counter. A train was currently waiting at the station and two gummi ships remained in the distance: theirs and Brahne and Garnet's.
    "Ronso need two tickets back to Hornless Town!" Biran demanded, slamming money down on the counter.
    "One-way or roundtrip?" the teller asked.
    "BOTH way!"
    "I... I'll put you both down for roundtrip."
    Biran and Yenke paid for their tickets, then boarded the train, which departed soon after for Twlight Town.

<Brahne & Garnet: Mother/Daughter, Currently in 6th Place>
    Brahne finally reached the top of the Spooky Steps and waddled over to their gummi ship. Garnet walked slowly behind her. Despite being out of breath, Brahne immediately demanded she drive.
    "If you must, Mother," Garnet replied. She knew what she said made no difference to her mother, who had already entered the gummi ship and started adjusting the driver's seat to her size.
    "I must, dearie," Brahne replied.
    "Okay, let me ask directions first." Garnet found a station attendant and started to ask for directions, when she was interrupted by the gummi ship's horn.
    "Hurry up!" Brahne shouted from the ship. "We're in a race!"

    Fran and Balthier flew their gummi ship toward a nearby world and landed. They disembarked from their craft and walked into the city. The architecture was an older style with cobblestone streets and wooden doors, but was not anything too strange. They entered a city square, where many stores surrounded an empty center, with their counters merchandise facing the square.
    "We need directions," Balthier said to Fran.
    "It was foolish to take off without them," she replied.
    "I honestly couldn't wait to get out of there. So many people on the same set of stairs. Besides, there was hardly a person to ask for them."
    Fran nodded. She and Balthier walked to the closest merchant and waited at the counter. Fran rang the bell as Balthier leaned on the counter as the man approached.
    "How can I help you?" the man asked.
    "Directions," Fran said bluntly.
    "We need to find a 'Radiant Garden,'" Balthier added.
    "You're in it!" the man replied happily. "Can I interest you in some potions?"
    "Err, no thanks. Can you instead point us to a Mr. Scrooge McDuck?"
    "The popsicle guy? He's right over there!" The man pointed to his left, then motioned for them to round the corner.
    "Thank you," Fran said. She and Balthier walked in the way the man indicated and found the man, or actually, the duck. He was a white, anthropomorphic duck wearing a blue outfit with red trim, a top hat, and a pair of glasses, which rested on the end of his bill.
    "McDuck seems to be more a description than a name," Balthier mumbled to Fran, who nodded. He turned his attention to the duck. "Greetings. We've come in search of the Fast Forward."
    "Have yeh then?" Scrooge McDuck said. "Well yeh be gettin' it when yeh eat some of my famous Sea Salt Popsicles!"
    "I don't suppose those are made of-"
    "Indeed they are! Sea salt! Salt straight from the sea!"
    "We must both eat them?" Fran asked.
    "Yup! One apiece!" He handed Fran and Balthier each a large, blue popsicle. "An' don't worry. The sea salt makes it so they don't melt so quickly! So yeh don't gotta be crammin' it down yer gullet too quickly!" He leaned in close to them and brought his hand up to his mouth as if to tell them a secret. "But yeh might just want to, seein' as how yer in a race."
    "Sound advice," Balthier said. He took a lick of the popsicle, then quickly retracted his tongue and shut his eyes tightly. "Bugger all! That's powerful! Fran, you'll want to turn your taste buds off for this one."
    "If they're as bad as they smell, I think my taste buds will be broken by the end," she remarked. She took a lick and reacted much like Balthier, only worse. Her knees started to buckle, but luckily, Balthier was there to grab her and keep her from falling.
    "Perhaps we should sit down while eating," Balthier said.
    "Or perhaps we should look at the detour and save our Fast Forward for later."
    As they sat and tried to decide whether or not to continue, another team rounded the corner and spoke with Scrooge.
    "We be requirin' yer Fast Forward," Faris said to him.
    "Here yeh are!" Scrooge handed Faris and Reina each a popsicle. Faris took the first lick, then sighed. "Reminds me of the sea. Best dessert I ever did have."
    "Detour it is," Balthier said. He reached into their clue pouch and pulled the Detour card out and read it to Fran. "Detour: Swim This Way or Search That Way."
    "We should search," she replied. She stood up and handed her popsicle to Balthier.
    He placed both in a garbage bin and waved to Scrooge. "Sorry, they're just not our cup of tea." They ran back to their gummi ship and hopped inside, but just as Balthier was about to take off, Fran opened her door and hopped out. "Where are you going?" he asked her.
    "Where are you going?" she replied. "I'm getting directions."
    "Good idea."

<Biran & Yenke: Comrades, Currently in Last Place>
    Biran and Yenke left the train station and retraced their steps to the mansion, running the entire distance. They found the Wonder box and read about the Lonely Girl rumor. "It says there a girl in mansion, but cannot be! Mansion is empty!"
    "Girl right there!" Yenke said. He pointed to an upstairs window, where the former greeter, Namine, was brushing her hair.
    The box opened. Biran grabbed the clues and first pulled the Fast Forward. "Ronso definitely need Fast Forward."
    "Ronso will get it!" Yenke replied. They raced back to the train station, where they boarded the train that waited their to take them back to Sunset Hill to find their gummi ship.

<Ma & Zell: Mother/Son, Currently in 1st Place>
    Ma flew the gummi ship through space and finally found the underwater world of Atlantica. She parked in a designated area, where there was a small patch of land labeled as parking. Once they parked and exited the ship, Ma and Zell walked toward a sign labeled "Swim This Way." Next to the sign was a set of wetsuits and a couple of staff members prepared to help the teams suit up.
    "Okay, let's do this!" Zell shouted. he grabbed a wetsuit, but was quickly told to put it down. He agreed and waited for instruction. "What's the deal?"
    "We don't know which suit you need yet," the instructor said. "We need you to sit on the edge of this platform and dip your feet into the water."
    "To get used to the water or something?"
    "Yeah, sure. Whatever. Get them in."
    Ma and Zell both removed their shoes and socks, then walked to the ledge and sat down. Zell was first to stick a foot in the water, when suddenly his foot turned gray with a very smooth texture. He quickly pulled his foot out and shook it off, turning it back into a human foot. "What the hell!?"
    "Zelly!" Ma scolded.
    "Okay, you'll need this suit then," the instructor said. He pointed to a suit with a mask, and a strange airtank that was designed with a vertical slit through the middle of it like a vertical doughnut hole.
    "What's with the hole? Is it a handle? Do I have to carry my tank?"
    "Not at all." The instructor stood up and asked Zell to remove his shirt. When he did, the instructor took out a black marker and drew a line along Zell's spine, starting about three inches from the bottom of his neck, and continuing for about a foot. He then strapped the airtank to Zell's back, lining the tank up with the line he'd just drawn on Zell.
    "Shouldn't I put on the wetsuit first?" Zell asked.
    "You won't need a wetsuit. Here." He handed Zell a mask and the breathing apparatus connected to his airtank. After a quick explanation of how to use it, he told Zell to crawl into the water, feet first.
    Zell nodded, then slowly put his legs into the water. His legs instantly turned gray and slammed together, then, slowly absorbed each other until they became a long, slick, gray tail. "This...is normal, right?"
    "Perfectly," the instructor replied. "Now dive in the rest of the way."
    He slid into the water and suddenly, yet painlessly, a giant gray fin shot out his back and through the slit in the tank. Most of Zell's upperbody remained normal, though the area around the fin had turned gray.
    "Turns out, you're a shark!" the instructor said. "Well, half-shark anyway. Ready to find out what you are?" he asked Ma.
    "I'm not so sure," Ma said. "I guess so." She stuck her foot in the water and watched it turn green and pop out several green scales.
    "Okay, that's enough. You can pull your foot out." The instructor searched for her equipment and handed her a normal tank. "You're a normal mermaid. That's pretty lucky."
    "Of course I am." She turned to Zell, who was currently learning how to swim with his new tail, and shouted, "Zelly! I'm a beautiful mermaid!"
    "Of course you are, Ma!" he replied.

    Dona and Barthello landed at Radiant Garden and headed to the Fast Forward area, where Faris was already halfway through her popsicle. Reina, on the other hand, had made very little progress in eating hers. Her face seemed permanently scrunched as she slowly took another lick.
    "Hurry up, Barthello," Dona ordered. He stepped forward and took two popsicles from Scrooge and listened to the lecture about the task. He took a lick and nobody could tell if he liked or disliked it, since his face is typically scrunched up anyway. Dona took a lick and started making gagging noises.
    "Should we give up?" Barthello asked Dona.
    "I can't just let another team have a Fast Forward. We should try to beat them."
    "No, Dona," Barthello said forcefully. He took her popsicle and handed it back to Scrooge along with his own. "We should do a detour and not put ourselves out of this competition."
    "Well aren't you Mr. Big and Powerful. Take the lead then, Barthello."
    He pulled out the clue bag and found the detour card, then read the options to Dona. "Swim This Way or Search That Way."
    "You're being the man, finally. You decide."
    "Swim," he replied. They walked back to their gummi ship and, after a stop to get a map, flew toward Atlantica.

<Zone & Watts: Resistance Fighters, Currently in 2nd Place>
    "So you and umm, Reina," Watts said. "What's happening there?"
    "Nothing!" Zone said.
    "Whoa whoa, I wasn't asking about how much you like each other --though I might ask soon. No, I was curious about the secret planning you're doing. Something's going on."
    "Oh, right. Reina wants to share information to put both of our teams in the finals."
    "Not a bad thought," Watts said. He paused for a moment. "But you know we came in with a strict 'no info sharing' policy. We don't want to be wrapped up in crazy alliance wars or anything. We wanted to float under the radar, and alliances are not under the radar."
    "I know... But we might not have a choice now. Not after that stunt they pulled at the train station."
    "Yeah. Well, let's just play this thing out a bit and see what happens. But just remember: her sister is a pirate, and pirates aren't exactly people we should be trusting."
    Zone nodded, then at Watts's instruction, began holding onto his seat tightly as they pulled in for a landing. They landed in a campsite, where several warriors walked around. Zone and Watts exited their ship and began weaving through the numerous tents until they finally found a trail marked as "Search That Way." It led them to a mountain range only a short distance away. There was little there besides dirt and rocks, but the rocks were large and several ledges obscured their vision.
    "Let's get started," Watts said. He took a piece of paper and an ink pad from a small table at the entrance, then he and Zone started to search through the many blind cliffs of the mountain.
    "There!" Zone said quickly, pointing to a nearby man hiding behind a large rock. They ran to him and held out their piece of paper and ink pad. He took the paper, stuck his thumb in the ink, then pressed it against the paper.

    Zell and Ma swam through the water until they finally reached the bottom. There were several fish and other oceanlife, some of which held musical instruments. Others seemed ready to perform in others ways. A mermaid with red hair swam up to them and explained how it would work.
    "We need your help in our performance," she said. "We have a small, waterproof computer screen that will show you all our dance steps and musical cues. When we wait for a cue, we need your help in telling us when to start. So please, when you see a note coming up, give each other a high-five! That way we'll know when to jump in! If you get five perfect cues, we'll give you a clue! But remember, for a bad cue, we have to take a point away..."
    Ma gave a thumbs up, since she and Zell were speechless underwater with their breathing apparatuses in their mouths. She and Zell each held their hands up to high-five, but kept them a few inches apart.
    Suddenly, the fish began to play their musical instruments and the computer screen began scrolling musical notes from right to left. On the left was a vertical line that was labeled as the "high-five line." A note appeared on the right of the screen and slowly began to make its way to the high-five line. The mermaid, accompanied by another dolphin-like merman, sang and danced in a large, open clam shell. "Swim this way we'll dance and we'll play now-" As they sang "now," the note crossed the line and glowed as it touched it. Zell and Ma attempted a high-five, but had not factored in the slow movement underwater, so they did not get a 'perfect' attempt, though not 'horrible,' either. The performance continued and the computer continued to display "0 Perfect Notes" at the top.

<Biran & Yenke: Comrades, Currently in Last Place>
    The train pulled into Sunset Hill, where the Ronso disembarked. They headed to the last remaining gummi ship and headed out toward Radiant Garden for the Fast Forward.

<Brahne & Garnet: Mother/Daughter, Currently in 3rd Place>
    Brahne and Garnet reached Atlantica and parked beside Ma and Zell's ship. They got out and headed toward the ledge, where they followed the same instructions that Ma and Zell had previously. Garnet dipped her foot in and watched it turn a silvery blue color. She pulled her foot out with a surprised look, then watched as Brahne did the same. Hers turned a grayish brown.
    "I see," the instructor said. He handed each of them their designated equipment and, once their gear was on, watched them dive into the ocean.

<Fran & Balthier: Sky Pirates, Currently in 4th Place>
    Fran and Balthier exited their gummi ship and headed through the campsite and out to the mountain to join in the search for the eight warriors. Balthier picked up the paper and ink pad.
    "I hope that nose of yours comes in handy," Balthier said.
    "It would if you wore less cologne," she replied.
    "Well...do what you can."

    "A musical for everyone to have a lot of finny fun," the mermaid sang. The song ended and the sea creatures concluded their performance. Ma and Zell tried to clap, but it was difficult to do underwater. The mermaid swam closer and looked at their screen. "Let's see how you did!" She looked down at the screen, then looked up and smiled. "Congratulations, you had seven!" She handed them their clue, which was wrapped in plastic to keep from getting wet. Ma and Zell swam toward the surface, when suddenly they passed two other half-humans swimming their way. Garnet had a long, silvery blue tail, a tall, black crescent-shaped dorsal fin, and a long, pointed nose. She was half-human, half-swordfish. Behind her, swimming very poorly, was a fat, brown half-walrus, half-Brahne creature. Her two large tusks stuck out on either side of her breathing apparatus. Zell and Ma admired their forms for a moment, then continued swimming to the surface. They both emerged and swam to the platform to take their equipment off. They finally (with help from the instructor) came out of the water and turned back to themselves. Even their clothing returned.
    "Did you see that?" Zell said to Ma. "Brahne's a walrus- well, she kinda was before, but Garnet. Man, my fin sucked, but she has a fin and a long, pointy nose."
    "This was an amazingly fun detour," Ma replied. "Thank you for indulging this old lady, Zelly."
    "No prob, Ma!" Zell picked up their clue and ripped it open. "Travel by gummi ship to the Olympus Coliseum."

<Announcer Gippal>
    "Teams must now travel by gummi ship to the Olympus Coliseum. They will find their next clue by the large gates in front of the coliseum."

<Ma & Zell: Mother/Son, Currently in 1st Place>
    "We're on a roll, Ma!" Zell said happily.
    "I think we can win, Zelly!" Ma said. "I hope the Fast Forward is difficult..."

<Biran & Yenke: Comrades, Currently in Last Place>
    Biran and Yenke landed in Radiant Garden and made their way to the Fast Forward location. Faris had almost completely finished her popsicle, while Reina was still working on hers very slowly.
    "Biran want that!" Biran said. "One for Yenke, too!"
    Scrooge handed them each a popsicle and they both immediately licked them. After two licks, Biran bit his in half and started chewing it. Both girls and Yenke stopped eating theirs to watch as Biran's expression turned to horror. He spit out the entire half of his popsicle and started grabbing at his own throat. "Biran's brain so cold! Make it stop! Biran want eat fire!"
    "No, Biran!" Yenke shouted, dropping his own popsicle to help Biran. "Remember that time Biran eat fire before? Biran was in hospital!"
    "Biran refuses to eat more popsicle! Yenke! Drag Biran back to ship and go to detour."
    "Which detour?"
    "Biran not care which detour!"
    "Okay! Ronso doing," Yenke closed his eyes and pointed to the card. "Swim This Way!"

    "Our competition keeps leaving us," Reina said as she continued to lick her popsicle.
    "Ahh, I like it that way," Faris said as she swallowed the last bit of popsicle. She kicked her feet up onto the table and tossed her popsicle stick to Scrooge. "It be up ter you now, sister."
    "I'll do my best!"

<Zone & Watts: 6 Fingerprints>
    "This is tough," Zone said. "There's one! -err, no, we got him already."
    "I know," Watts mumbled. He climbed onto a rock and began looking around for the next warrior. On the back of his card, he had drawn a map of the area and put x's where they had already found warriors. He pointed to an area in the middle of the mountains. "Try there, Zone. We haven't found anybody over there yet."
    "Okay!"

    Brahne and Garnet began to instruct their underwater band. The first cue started to come up, so Garnet waited patiently with her hand raised for a high-five, when suddenly Brahne slapped her hand early. Garnet looked at Brahne with a confused gaze, but Brahne just shrugged. The song continued and, once again, Brahne jumped the gun. Their score remained at 0.

<Fran & Balthier: 7 Fingerprints>
    Fran sniffed the air as Balthier stayed a fair distance away, trying his best to fan himself so his cologne wouldn't mask any smells from the Viera. She pointed a short distance away. Balthier followed behind her as she rounded a large rock and found nothing.
    "Not here," Fran noted.
    "Nope, but he is there," Balthier said, pointing across a gap in the mountain. He followed the trail with his eyes. "This way." He and Fran ran along the path to their final warrior. He gave them his thumbprint, then, they headed back to camp. Once there, the warrior leader, Li Shang, looked over the list of thumbprints. He examined them closely, then handed the team their next clue.
    Fran ripped open the clue and read it to Balthier, then, headed back to the gummi ship to find Olympus Coliseum.

    Dona and Barthello reached Atlantica and walked to the ledge, then followed the instructions. Barthello put his foot in first. It turned black with a white patch. Dona put her leg in and it suddenly broke into several transparent strands. She pulled her leg out of the water quickly and backed up from the water.
    "What the hell is wrong with your water?" she asked the instructor.
    "People turn into half --well, sometimes full-- human, half-sea-creatures," he replied. "For example, your friend here is part killer whale."
    "And me?"
    "Ummm.... You... You're part jellyfish. When you get in, your entire lower half will turn into transparent tentacles. Oh, but your top half will be just fine!"
    "Wonderful. Barthello! We're leaving."
    "We'd leave the whole race to switch detours, Dona," Barthello said. "Please, let's not switch."
    "Fine, Barthello, but you're doing all the work."

    "Oh, sorry," the mermaid said to Brahne and Garnet. "Only two. But you can try again! We love to practice!" Garnet nodded and Brahne gave a thumbs up. "Wonderful! Places, everybody!"
    Garnet grabbed Brahne's hand and held it up, but held it very steady. She tried using body language and eye contact to imply for Brahne to keep her hand steady, but come the first note, Brahne again high-fived too early.

<Zone & Watts: 8 Fingerprints?>
    Zone and Watts headed back to the campsite with what they thought were eight unique fingerprints. Watts handed their card to Li Shang, who analyzed the card carefully. He hesitated for a while, then, finally, handed them their next clue.
    "Yes!" Watts said. "I told you that last guy wasn't a repeat! He wasn't marked on our map!"
    "Okay, okay, good," Zone replied. "Now let's see. Travel by gummi ship to Olympus Coliseum. Okay, let's go!"

    Yenke landed the gummi ship at Atlantica with a now fully recovered Biran. They sat on the ledge as instructed and stuck their feet in the water. Yenke's turned gray, while Biran's turned a combination of white and brown. They put on their gear and jumped into the water. Both watched in horror as each of their horns fizzled away, but Biran's was replaced by a horn-like object. It was not quite as firm as a horn, but it had a light at the end of it that dangled in front of his face.
    "Biran hate this shiny thing!" Biran shouted. "It bothers Biran! Distracts him!"
    "Biran..." Yenke mumbled. When Biran looked at Yenke, who was hiding his face from him.
    "Yenke, what wrong?"
    "Yenke... Yenke horn...gone!" He turned to look at Biran and sure enough, his horn was completely gone. He did, however, have many whiskers on his face. "Yenke is catfish!"
    "Most hornless of all creatures," Biran said somberly. "Now even little Kimahri and little Kimahri's little horn stump bigger than yours."
    Suddenly, both Ronso stopped their conversation as the holy grail of horns began to slowly emerge from the water. It was a long, shiny blue and gray horn that seemed to go on for miles to the two Ronso, though in fact it only went on for a couple of feet. Biran and Yenke averted their eyes as the sun shined brightly off of the horn's owner as she emerged from the water. The adjusted their eyes and looked over the horned-one.
    "It," Biran started to speak, but then took a long pause. "It hornless summoner!"
    "Not hornless at all! Horn longer than all Ronso horns!"
    Garnet spit out her breathing apparatus and turned to the Ronso. She had a clue in her hand, despite Brahne's poor start. "What's wrong?" she asked the Ronso.
    "Hornless summoner have mighty horn!"
    "Oh... Thank you." Garnet swam toward the platform with Brahne, leaving the two Ronso floating in the water. She and Brahne, with help from the instructor, exited the water and took off their remaining underwater gear.
    "Sorry about the detour, dearie," Brahne said to Garnet. "I was so enjoying the show, you see! I tend to clap to music and well, that does not work when clapping is their cue..."
    "It's all right. We barely made the required five, so now let's find out where we're going next." Garnet ripped open the clue and read it to her mother.
    "Off we go!" Brahne said. She entered the gummi ship and strapped herself in, while Garnet did the same. "Swim this way we'll dance and we'll play!" Brahne sang as the gummi ship fired off into space.

    "There!" Reina finally said. She handed Scrooge her popsicle stick and he handed her a clue. She ripped it open and read it to Faris. "Make your way to the Pit Stop at The Dark Depths in Radiant Garden."

<Announcer Gippal>
    "Having won the Fast Forward, Reina and Faris can now skip all tasks and go directly to The Dark Depths in Radiant Garden, the Pit Stop for this leg of the race."

<Reina & Faris: Sisters, Currently in 1st Place>
    "Wow, that's even right here in this world!" Reina said.
    "Aye. Let's capitalize on this lead!" Faris replied. The spoke with Scrooge about directions, then took off running through the town.

<Ma & Zell: Mother/Son, Currently in 2nd Place>
    Ma landed the gummi ship at Olympus Coliseum. There was a large coliseum with golden statues and marble pillars to one side, but a large gate on another side. Beside the gate sat their clue box. Ma and Zell jogged to the box and Zell pulled out their next clue. "Roadblock: Who's going to hell?"

<Announcer Gippal>
    "A roadblock is a task that only one team member may perform. In this roadblock, that team member must travel through the underworld and find Hades's Lair. Once there, they will find several pieces of thread on the ground. Each of them has a small label attached to them saying who they belong to. Teams must find their partner's thread, then take it to the three ladies, who will give them a pair of scissors. Then, they must take the pair of scissors and cut the piece of thread, symbolizing the death of their partner. Then, they will receive their next clue, which they can read once they return to their partner. The task is both physical and luck. The path to Hades's Lair is very long and uphill. Then to sort through the thread, could take a long time.

<Ma & Zell: Mother/Son, Currently in 2nd Place>
    "How rude!" Ma remarked. "I should hope neither of us are going to hell!"
    "I'll do it, Ma," Zell said. He read through the roadblock details, then handed his things to Ma before jumping through the large gate. He went down a large set of stairs into a gloomy world with dark paths lit by blue fire. Under the paths and to the sides was a large body of water, where dead souls floated lifelessly.
    "And I thought it was a metaphor," Zell mumbled to himself. He ran along a path marked by arrows through a large, creepy gate, where more creepy paths and lifeless souls awaited him.