Episode 6: Part 3

<Reina & Faris: Sisters, Currently in 1st Place>
     Reina and Faris walked through the caverns on the outskirts of Radiant Garden's settlement. They finally came to one cliffside, where they looked out over a large gorge and saw Gippal and another person standing at the Pit Stop mat. The mat, however, was down in middle of the gorge, while the girls were on a cliff with no way down.
     "They don't expect us to climb, do they?" Reina asked Faris.
     "I should expect not, though I be willin' if we must," she replied.
     "Let's continue to search then!"

<Fran & Balthier: Sky Pirates, Currently in 3rd Place>
     Balthier landed his gummi ship at the Olympus Coliseum. He and Fran hopped out of the ship and found the clue box near the door and beside Ma, who was waiting for Zell to complete the roadblock. Balthier found the clue and opened it.
     "Unless this has something to do with hopping down the bunny trail, I think I'll take it," Balthier told Fran. Fran glared at Balthier. "Roadblock: Who's going to hell? Nice. I suppose comments like mine aren't helping me out of that."
     "I don't think many people are sent to hell for making fun of Viera," Fran said.
     "Either way, I'd do anything to keep you from hell, so I'm doing it. Also you've done far more roadblocks than I." He read through the details, then bowed to Fran and Ma before making his way through the large door to the underworld.

     Dona and Barthello were underwater, watching the performance. Dona was trying her hardest to cover her ears, but was finding it difficult to do with only one free hand (Barthello was high-fiving the other at critical times) and with the echoes carried through the ocean water.
     The performance ended and, despite the finny fun Barthello was having, the mermaid informed them that they only got four notes. "You can try again though," the mermaid said cheerfully, "but those two are next." She pointed at Biran and Yenke, who slid into the director's spot and began their attempt. Both Ronso started dancing as the music began, then high-fived to get a perfect point at the first opportunity. Dona and Barthello waited to the side, where Dona made use of her jellyfish tentacles and lightly stung Barthello in the arm. He was not pleased.

     Zell started to walk when he hit an upward part to the journey through hell. "Man, this is a long way!" he commented to himself. He saw Balthier approaching and had a sudden burst of motivation as he changed his walk to a jog. He continued up the path until, finally, he reached Hades's Lair. He opened the door and inside saw three old ladies sharing a single eye to see. They traded it around as they spoke to Zell.
     "Welcome," the tall, blue-colored one with a large, pointed nose said. "Please search among these hairs to find your partner's."
     Zell looked around at the ground, which was covered with hair. He noticed that they were separated by color, but that was hardly helpful among the several hairs. Each hair was marked with a small tag saying who it belonged to, but the tag was very small and hard to read the names.
     "Here," the short, pink-colored one said, handing Zell a magnifying glass. He took it and headed over to the pile of brown hair.
     "I sure hope you have brown hair, Ma," he said to himself.

     "Very good!" the mermaid said to Biran and Yenke. She handed them their next clue and called Dona and Barthello back to the detour.
     The Ronso swam back to the platform and got out of the water, turning back into their old selves. Both admired the return of their horns and even tried to kiss them, but failed.
     "Ronso have wonderful rhythm!" Biran said to the instructor, who helped them take their gear off.
     "I didn't ask," the instructor replied, though Biran was hardly listening.
     The Ronso read their clue before jumping into their gummi ship and flying off to find the coliseum. Both sang the song they'd just heard, although neither was 100% sure about the lyrics, so there was a lot of mumbling. There was also a lot of substitution of the word "fin" for "horn," which was especially disturbing with their final line: "A musical for everyone to have a lot of horny fun."

<Reina & Faris: Sisters, Currently in 1st Place>
     Reina and Faris found a path leading to the gorge and ran to Gippal at the Pit Stop mat. They jumped on and were greeted by a man with shaggy brown hair and scar across his nose. He wore a short, blue jean jacket, black pants, and a several red belts, all of which were purely decorative.
     "Welcome to Radiant G-" he said.
     "Wow, it's Squall!" Reina said. "You were on season one!"
     "I'm not Squall," he replied. "My name is Leon. Welcome to Rad-"
     "Yes you are! We loved watching you and Rinoa! Too bad about-"
     "Gippal..." Leon mumbled.
     "Err, right," Gippal said. "It's Leon, but it doesn't matter because, Reina and Faris, you're team number one!"
     "Ya-har!" Faris cheered. "The Tycoon sisters be settin' themselves up ter win this here race!"
     "This is your second win," Gippal commented. "Think people will start to fear you? Remember, we still have three more delay points in this race."
     "We've conquered worse situations," she replied.
     "We'll be fine," Reina said. "We'll ride this victory all the way to the end! And neither of us will throw the other into a portal and spend the rest of the race trying to find her and-"
     "Gippal..." Leon said through gritted teeth.
     "Reina, please," Gippal said. "It was hard enough to get him to come here. He doesn't want Rinoa to know that he came back to help out."
     "Gippal... Not helping..."
     "Well, congrats, you two," Gippal said to Reina and Faris.
     "Thanks!" they replied.

<Zone & Watts: Resistance Fighters, Currently in 4th Place>
     Zone and Watts hopped out of their gummi ship at Olympus Coliseum and joined Ma and Fran, who waited beside the clue box and chatted. Zone slipped in between them, looking very uncomfortable as he did so, and grabbed his and Watts's clue. He handed it to Watts, who read it. "Roadblock: Who's going to hell?"
     "You're still behind in roadblocks," Watts advised Zone. "I say you should do it."
     "It sounds scary," Zone said. "I think I'll wait this one out. Good luck, Watts!"
     "Oh, okay. You feel like standing here with these very chatty women? Okay then."
     "Err, wait." Zone patted his stomach. "Yeah, I just realized that I'm behind in roadblocks, so I think I'll do this one if that's okay."
     "I thought so." Watts handed Zone the information about the roadblock, then sent him on his way. In the meantime, Watts headed over to chat with Ma and Fran.
     "Here, we'll ask him," Ma said, pulling Watts in. "Now Watts, who is more attractive: Fran or Garnet?"
     "This must be why Zone avoids you people. I don't think there's a good answer to this question."
     "No, there isn't, but your silence will lead us to make our own guesses about your answer, which could be worse," Fran added.
     "I see. I'll pick Garnet, actually. I like black hair and your bunny ears, no offense, but they confuse me."
     "I was wrong then," Fran said to Ma. "But he is definitely nervous when around me."
     "Afraid, actually," Watts butted his way back into the conversation. "I've heard you're very powerful, so I'm afraid to look at very much of you. You wear revealing clothes and I'm afraid you'll hurt me if I look in the wrong spot."
     "I'll give advice then. Never look a Viera in the eyes, it drives us mad, but never look at our bodies as objects."
     "No eyes, no bodies, got it... Anything else?"
     "No ears."
     "...I see. I'll be over here, looking at the dirt then," he said. He walked to the other side of the clue box and sat against the wall. Ma and Fran both chuckled.

<Brahne & Garnet: Mother/Daughter, Currently in 5th Place>
     Garnet and Brahne finally landed at Olympus Coliseum and hopped out to join the crew at the clue box. Garnet reached inside and pulled out her clue, but was distracted by Ma, who shouted, "Look who's here!" to Watts, then pointed not-so-subtly at Garnet. Ma laughed, Fran chuckled, Brahne laughed (though she didn't know why), and Watts started bumping the back of his head against the coliseum wall. He repeated, "What's wrong with women?" to himself while bumping his head.
     Garnet opened the clue and read it to the still laughing Brahne. "Roadblock: Who's going to hell?"
     "Oh well, dearie, I believe that's you," Brahne replied.
     "I- What? Me? Why?"
     "Not too good at studying commandments, are we, dearie? Honor thy mother? Obey thy mother, even when she wants you dead? Ringing any bells?"
     "I don't think I have it in me... Whatever this task requires. Perhaps you should do it?"
     "Dear, you just might be going to 'heck' for recommending that your mother go there."
     "I just think that, well, by this clue, it really might involve doing something I would not be happy with myself for doing..." Garnet trailed off. "But I guess I can-"
     "No, you're right. This might require a strong woman, and I'm just that woman! I'm doing it!" Brahne read through the details with Garnet. "Uh oh, dearie..."
     "Good luck?" Garnet said with a shrug.
     Brahne stretched her legs, then waved toodaloo to everybody as she trotted inside to the path to Hades's Lair.
     "We should've looked at who was already doing the detour," Garnet said to herself. "It's all my fault."
     "It's not your fault," Watts said from his position seated on the ground. "You never know how she'll do. Best to just sit and wait it out."
     Garnet hesitated, then nodded. "Yes. You're right. Would you mind if I wait with you?"
     "Not at all, pull up a umm, dirt," Watts said, scooting to one side, despite the fact that there was already plenty of wall space for her.
     "Oooooohhh," Ma squeaked in the corner quietly. Watts just rolled his eyes.

<Dona & Barthello: Summoner/Guardian, Currently in Last Place>
     Dona and Barthello high-fived on the final note of the performance and were rewarded with a clue and a smile from the friendly mermaid. They immediately swam to the surface and headed toward the platform.
     "That was so annoying," Dona complained. "Who ever heard of 'finny fun?' Or anything in that performance for that matter."
     "It was-" Barthello started, but he was met with a light sting to his butt. "Ouch! Dona!" he whined.
     "I like these tentacles. They make you stop talking and start swimming. We're behind, if you haven't noticed. Hurry up, Barthello."
     "Yes," he replied stoicly.

     "Wow," Balthier said as he entered Hades's Lair. He saw Zell scouring through the hair-covered floor with a magnifying glass and the three women standing in the corner, waiting with their pair of scissors. "I suppose I'll just dig in then." Balthier grabbed a magnifying glass and began searching among the white and silver colored hairs.

<Biran & Yenke: Comrades, Currently in 6th Place>
     The Ronso landed at Olympus Coliseum beside the four other parked gummi ships. While parking, Biran's ship scraped against the side of Ma and Zell's ship. They jumped out and grabbed a clue. "Roadblock: Who going to hell?" Biran read.
     "Yenke not," Yenke replied. "Yenke been very good Ronso. Santa visit Yenke almost all Christmas!"
     "Biran too! Biran thinks Yenke should do it."
     "Okay, Yenke will do it." Yenke read through the clue, then jumped through the gate and headed through the underworld. He jogged along the path and watched all the souls floating along beneath him. It was obvious that he was afraid of the souls.

     "Yo Balthier," Zell shouted to Balthier. Both were on all fours, searching through different piles of hair. "Any luck?"
     "Not yet I'm afraid," Balthier replied. "This is quite the mess of hairs. I never in my life pictured myself doing this."
     "Same here. This kinda reminds me of my shower when I forget to routinely unclog it."
     "I see. I'm just trying to make the connection between 'threads of life' and hair... Would've been much nicer to find threads, I suppose. Although, with hair, we can rule certain things out like hair color and..."
     "And what?" Zell asked.
     "And texture. Aha! I've found it!" Balthier stood up with a strand of hair labeled as "Fran." He took it to the women and handed it to them. The short, pink one gave him the pair of scissors while the tall blue one held the hair tightly between her fingers.
     "If this somehow hurts Fran, you know I'm coming right back here to make you pay.." Balthier cut the hair and handed the scissors back to the pink one. The tall, green-colored lady with a large, pointed chin handed him his clue. He took it and raced out the door, almost colliding with Zone, who had just entered the room.
     "Oh man," Zone said. "I don't know what color hair Watts has! He always wears that stupid blue beanie thing!"
     "I'd suggest you start quickly then," Zell said. He was hidden from sight, but a bundle of hair in the corner where the voice came from was moving up and down.

<Dona & Barthello: Summoner/Guardian, Currently in Last Place>
     "Great, everybody is here," Dona said as Barthello parked the gummi ship. They exited the ship and walked to the roadblock, where Dona grabbed a clue. "Roadblock: Who's going to hell?"
     Barthello was silent.
     "Barthello. Do it."
     "Yes, ma'am," Barthello finally said. He read through the clue, then walked through the door. Dona, meanwhile, headed back to the gummi ship to wait in silence.

     "Found it!" Zell shouted. He jumped up out of a giant hairball. Several hairs went each direction and he presented the hair with the "Ma" tag on it to the three women. He cut the hair and took his clue, then raced full-speed out of the room. As he ran down the path, he saw Brahne at the uphill section of the path, with Yenke slowly closing in on her. His target, however, was Balthier, who was almost halfway back to the start. Zell raced as quickly as he could, passing Brahne and then Yenke.

     Balthier ran through the door and grabbed Fran by the arm, leading her away from the group. "Sorry, Fran, but we really must be going." Once they were near their gummi ship, he read the clue to Fran. "Make your way to the Pit Stop at Radiant Garden. Warning: the last team to check in may be eliminated."

<Announcer Gippal>
     "Teams must now make their way to the Pit Stop at the gorge at Radiant Garden. The last team to check in...may be eliminated."

<Fran & Balthier: Sky Pirates, Currently in 2nd Place>
     "Let's hurry, I could swear I saw that Zell fellow catching up to me." Balthier jumped into the driver's seat as Fran slid into the passenger's seat. She opened up her map, but Balthier shook his head. "I know where we're going. It's the same place as the Fast Forward that we changed our minds about."

     Zell slid out of the gate and waved his clue in the air for Ma to see. She clapped and walked with him back to their gummi ship. Ma read the clue, since Zell was out of breath, then, the pair boarded their gummi ship and took off in the direction of Radiant Garden.

     "Oh my that's a lot of hair," Brahne said. She was not, however, in Hades's Lair. She was merely commenting on Yenke's back, since he had just passed her. Both were nearing the lair, though, and Yenke, being the gentle-Ronso that he is, held the door open for Brahne as they both entered to see all the hair.
     "Oh my," Brahne gasped when she saw the room full of hair. "I suppose I'll be in the black section, since I know my dear Princess Garnet has black hair."
     "Where Ronso section?" Yenke asked. "Biran have two color hair: yellow and Ronso-color!"
     "Well whichever you choose, good luck with it, sweetheart."
     Brahne dove into the black hair quite literally, since she slipped on some hair and fell into it. Yenke started searching the oddly colored hairs in search of a "Ronso-colored" hair, referring to a Ronso's blueish fur color.

     Barthello stomped up the path and finally entered Hades's Lair. He quickly found the black hair section with Brahne and started searching.

     "How do you think it's going?" Garnet asked Watts.
     Watts shrugged. "Not sure. I know Zone is a really methodical guy, but that almost might hurt him since it's such a random luck thing. Your mother seems pretty smart, but I'd be afraid of a temper tantrum in there."
     Garnet chuckled. "Me, too."
     "Then there's Yenke and Barthello. A couple big guys looking through tiny pieces of hair. Seems kinda funny when you think about it."
     Biran stood out a short distance from Garnet and Watts. He paced back and forth and only looked up from the ground to check the gate and see if anyone was coming through.
     "He seems nervous," Garnet commented to Watts.
     "We all are."
     "Yes, but he's not making 'hornless' comments. This is really bothering him."
     "It's hard because we can't see our partners doing the roadblock."
     "That's true," Garnet said, somewhat deep in thought. "I think all the roadblocks where we could not see the action have been done by Biran, actually."
     "Wait, you can tell them apart?" Watts joked.
     "They speak in third person. If you hear it enough, you know them."
     "I can imagine."

     "Got it!" Zone and Brahne both shouted at the same time. They glared at each other, then both leapt up and ran to the three women. Zone, however, fell ill to his stomach at the idea of racing Brahne for a pair of absurdly sharp scissors, and fell to his knees, clutching his stomach. Brahne gave her hair to the women and cut through it. She was handed her clue and quickly stormed out of the room to get back to her partner. Zone, finally, stood back up and approached the ladies with his hair labeled as "Watts." He took the scissors and cut the hair, then took his clue. He raced out the door and, within seconds, was already past Brahne, who had already slowed to a walk to catch her breath.

     "They're landing," Zell said to Ma. He was behind the wheel, following closely behind Fran and Balthier, while Ma was beside him making sure they were on the correct route to Radiant Garden.
     "This should be Radiant Garden," she added. "Follow them."
     Balthier landed his gummi ship and started to open his door, when he noticed Zell landing directly beside them. "It'll be a footrace," he told Fran.
     Once Zell landed completely, all four raced out of their seats and headed for the gorge. It was not difficult to figure out the path, since one side of the town was completely blocked off, leaving only the one possible direction for the gorge. Both teams raced through the town and through the cliffsides, where Ma finally started to show her age and lose speed. Balthier and Fran took a bit of a lead as Zell hiked Ma onto his shoulders and ran with her, though he started to show severe fatigue as well. He finally put Ma down by one of the cliffs and they walked together toward the Pit Stop, which they could see from their location. They watched Fran and Balthier step onto the Pit Stop mat in the distance.
     "Fran and Balthier," Gippal said, "you're team number two!"
     "Thank you, Gippal," Balthier said as he hugged Fran. "Certainly glad we had some competition on this run to the Pit Stop as well. Running is always good for shaving a couple minutes off of our potential time."
     "So you two sure made quick work of this leg," Gippal said. "You even stopped to attempt a Fast Forward."
     "Well, luckily, we talked ourselves out of it quickly. Even if we would've been able to finish it, it would have taken time. It's better we save our Fast Forward for later in the competition anyway."
     "Probably a smart move. So you two seem unstoppable now-"
     "Don't say such things," Fran interjected. "The unstoppable team before was Reno and Rude. The Turks. But one thing to not underestimate this season is the group. Together, lesser teams could bring down a powerful one. And we are now without the ability to use a delay, and we are possibly the largest target."
     "I see. Well, congratulations, you two. I see two of your opponents now, so if you wouldn't mind..."
     "Not at all." Balthier led Fran from the mat as Zell and Ma jogged the rest of the way to the mat and hopped on.
     "Ma and Zell," Gippal said, "you're team number three!"
     "Thanks, Gip," Zell replied. "You know, one of these days, we're gonna beat those two."
     "You have before, haven't you?"
     "Well, yeah, but I mean consistently. And when it counts. Like at the end."
     "I wish you both the best of luck in doing so."
     "Thank you," Ma said.

     Yenke and Barthello continued to search the piles of hair. Finally, Yenke stood up and dusted his arms off from all the hair that had clung to him, then switched over to search through the bright yellow hairs that closely resembled Biran's hair/mane. As he started searching through the hairs, Barthello jumped up and down and smiled as he held Dona's hair in his hands. The hair, suddenly, slipped out of his fingers and floated down to the ground as Barthello watched in fear. Luckily, his eyes never left the hair, so he grabbed it from the floor along with only two other hairs and quickly sorted through them to get Dona's. He took it to the three women and handed the hair to them. He quickly cut it and took his clue, then raced out the door.

     Zone made his way through the gate to return to Watts, whom he found sitting beside Garnet. Both were chatting and smiling. "Watts!" Zone shouted at his partner, who hadn't even noticed his return.
     "OH!" Watts jumped to his feet. He turned to Garnet and quickly said, "Nice talking to you- gotta go- bye!" He joined Zone in reading the clue. "Make your way to the Pit Stop at Radiant Garden. Warning, the last team to check in may be eliminated."
     Watts jumped into the driver's seat and flew them toward what he hoped was Radiant Garden, based on the map Zone found in the glove compartment.

     "Yenke has found!" Yenke shouted. He held the hair high in the air and ran to the three women. He presented the hair to them, but before cutting it, they handed it back to him. "This is your hair," the blue one said.
     "Oh... Oh! Yenke is sorry, Yenke hand you wrong one!" He handed them the hair that was in his other hand, which belonged to Biran. The ladies took it and gave him the scissors to cut it, which he quickly did...after two attempts. "Human-made scissors no doubt," he said. "Ronso scissors much stronger." He took the clue and raced out the door to return to Biran.

     "Dona!" Barthello shouted as he returned to the start of the roadblock.
     "Get in the ship, Barthello!" Dona demanded.
     "But-"
     "We're leaving, trust me."
     Barthello entered the ship and handed the clue to Dona. He already started to fly the ship to Radiant Garden based on Dona's command as she read the clue to the camera instead of Barthello. "Make your way to the Pit Stop at Radiant Garden. Warning, last team blah blah blah."
     "How did you know we were going here?" Barthello asked.
     "A lot of teams insisted on reading their clues where it was 'private.' Apparently they didn't notice me sitting in the ship the whole time, right by them."
     "That was very smart of you, Dona!"
     "Don't even start. I just didn't want to speak with anybody. They were so talkative out there. It was disgusting."

     Zone and Watts landed at Radiant Garden and raced for the Pit Stop. They reached the gorge and ran out into the vast emptiness to jump onto the mat.
     "Zone and Watts," Gippal said, "you're team number four!"
     "Yes!" Watts and Zone shouted, high-fiving each other.
     "You're back to the middle, I see," Gippal noted.
     "Yeah, well, sort of middle. A bit more to the back than we'd like," Zone said.
     "Besides, our middle strategy is still blown, so now we're racing for the best position we can get. We're just going to hope it isn't only fourth place in the future."

     Garnet and Biran stood side-by-side as they waited to see which of their partners would emerge. Garnet held her breath as she heard footsteps approaching. Finally, Brahne came through the gate with her clue in her hands.
     "It was so hard, dearie!" Brahne said. "But stop talking, we have to go!"
     Garnet smiled as Brahne read the clue, then both jumped into the gummi ship and headed toward Radiant Garden.

     "Hornless Yenke is worthless Ronso!" Biran yelled as Yenke came through the gate. He took the clue and read it with Yenke, then, the two Ronso jumped into their gummi ship and headed for Radiant Garden as well.

     Dona and Barthello reached Radiant Garden and were soon in the gorge with Gippal and Leon.
     "Dona and Barthello," Gippal said, "you're team number five!"
     "Yes!" Barthello shouted. His shout echoed in the gorge, which made Gippal a bit uneasy, but not as uneasy as Dona was when Barthello picked her up for a giant bearhug and kiss.
     "Oh my," Gippal said. He looked to Leon, who shrugged. Barthello finally put her down and faced Gippal again. Dona seemed a bit weak in the knees as she held onto Barthello's arm. "If that's just the reward for a fifth place, then I'd love to see what you have planned if you win the million."
     "Me too," Dona replied with a wink to Barthello.

     Brahne landed the gummi ship at Radiant Garden and jumped out of the ship. She and Garnet looked around the town for where to go, but both were unsure. Finally, they found the only direction that was not a dead end and followed it through the town.

     Biran and Yenke landed at Radiant Garden only moments later, though they also had difficulty navigating the town. Biran ran to a store clerk and shouted at him. "Quick! Where did hornless summoner and her mother go!?"
     "I'm sorry?" he asked.
     "Two women! No horns! What direction! Hurry!"
     "I'm sorry, you need to be more specific. There are many women here with no horns and-"
     "Large blue woman!" Yenke piped in.
     "Oh. That way," the clerk pointed in the direction that Garnet and Brahne had gone. The Ronso quickly ran in the specified direction and found the cliffs leading to the gorge. They looked down to the Pit Stop mat, where Gippal and Leon waited for the next team to check in.
     "We jump?" Yenke asked Biran. They continued to follow the path while they considered jumping down the cliffs.
     "Maybe," Biran said. "But Biran could hurt self and not race anymore!"
     "Then Ronso just run!"
     They followed a path, which started to finally head down toward the gorge. At the base of the slope was Garnet and Brahne, the latter of which was moving very slowly and was sweating profusely.
     "They're behind us, Mother!" Garnet shouted.
     Brahne looked over her shoulder and gasped. She tried to increase her speed, but unfortunately, it was still not much more than a walk. Garnet even tried to help by pulling her by the arm, but it was only throwing her off balance. The Ronso also were starting to sweat as they ran down the slope and eventually ran around Brahne and Garnet toward the Pit Stop in the middle of the gorge. They reached the mat, but Biran stopped Yenke from stepping on.
     "Wait. If this leg not eliminate us, Ronso could get back on feet faster than hornless summoner and large mother. We could help them again."
     "Yenke not sure. It very risky."
     Biran looked over his shoulder at Garnet and Brahne, who had now started to jog. "No, Ronso cannot take risk." Biran stepped onto the mat and was quickly joined by Yenke.
     "Biran and Yenke," Gippal said, "you're team number six!"
     "Ronso know," Biran replied. "Biran and Yenke checked in now, right?"
     "You are."
     Biran nudged his head in the direction of Brahne and Garnet, then, they both ran to Brahne's aid and each ducked under an arm and helped her walk to the mat. Garnet walked just in front of them, a bit confused by what was going on.
     They released Brahne once she was finally on the mat, then started to walk away.
     "Not sure if that's entirely legal..." Gippal said. "Whatever. Thanks, boys." He turned his attention to the ladies on the mat. "Brahne and Garnet," Gippal said, "you're the last team to arrive."
     "We know," Garnet said.
     "I am....sorry to tell you that you have been eliminated from the race."
     "We assumed as much," Garnet said, but when she heard her mother weeping beside her, she revised her statement. "Err, I assumed as much anyway."
     "We- tried- so- hard- Gippal!" Brahne said between sobs.
     "You really did. If not for the Shinra victory last season, I really would've said you stood no chance. And this season, you really tried to prove me wrong." He looked to Garnet. "Are you proud of her?"
     "Very much," Garnet replied. A tear ran down her cheek. "It was very nice to finally connect with my mother. We've had a rocky past, but she is a very special woman of several talents. Running just isn't one of them." She smiled at Gippal.
     "What about you?" he asked Brahne. "You proud of your daughter?"
     "Yes," Brahne choked out. She was still bawling her eyes out. "She's- my- favorite- daugh- ter."
     "Isn't she your only daughter?" Gippal asked. He and Garnet both seemed highly confused.
     "Yes. But if she weren't- she would be!"
     "I guess that's... good." He turned his attention to Garnet. "Well I'm sorry it had to end here, you two."
     "It's okay. I am eager to return home, anyway. I miss my friends there."
     After a few more incomprehensible words from Brahne, Garnet and Brahne slowly walked away from the Pit Stop mat.