Episode 8: Part 1

     Gippal walked through a small cemetery, then down a flight of stone stairs. Behind him was a small house with a giant wall beyond it. "This is Arias. This city stands on the border between two empires, Aquios and Kirsla, and has seen a lot of bloodshed because of it. But now, it serves as the seventh Pit Stop in a race around worlds. Teams began their journey in Radiant Garden of the Kingdom Hearts 2 verse, then traveled through a computer system to Gemity City in the Star Ocean 3 verse. There, they placed horrible bets on adorable bunnies, where some teams got very lucky, and others fell short. Then, they headed to a roadblock that required navigating a strange beast around some mine tracks, but the deal breaker for one team, Fran and Balthier, turned out to be a missed clue box right before the roadblock. This setback caused them to land a position in last place, but, luckily for them, it was the first and only non-elimination leg of the race. Now, can Fran and Balthier overcome their last-place finish and the Speed Bump set in place for them? And will Ma and Zell hold onto their first-place position? Ma and Zell, who were first to arrive at 10:10 am, will depart at 10:10 pm."

<Ma & Zell: Mother/Son, 1st to Depart: 10:10 pm>
     "First place, first place, woo-hoo!" Zell shouted.
     Ma smiled as she ripped open the clue to such excitement. "Make your way to Peterny. Five teams will receive 600 fol for this leg of the race. One team will receive zero."

<Announcer Gippal>
     "Teams must make their way to the nearby town of Peterny. Once there, teams will find the clue box in the city's square."

<Ma & Zell: Mother/Son, Currently in 1st Place>
     "Quite a bit more dough than normal," Zell said.
     "Wonder what that converts to in gil?" Ma replied. They headed out the front door of the building used previously for the Pit Stop, but soon realized they had no idea where this "Peterny" was. It was on their map, but the map was very poorly-written. They made a quick circle of the town and quickly realized that there were three large gates leading out of the town. One was the gate they had entered through from the Bequerel Mountain path. Then one, according to the map, led to Aire Hills. The last exit remaining, they assumed, would lead to Peterny. They headed out the gate and down a fairly straightforward path. They were mostly unable to see the green grass, healthy trees, and blue river that made up this path, though they could tell when they were on the bridge over the river because of the sounds. They finally reached the Peterny entrance, which was not far from Arias, but there was a gate that blocked their path. A sign informed them that: "For the safety of Peterny, these gates will open at 8:00 am and close at 10:00 pm."
     "Already lost our lead," Ma said as she pulled a blanket from her bag and sat near the gate.
     "Man, this is the pits." Zell joined her, pulling his own blanket out and laying it a couple feet from Ma. "Now I know why the first-place team always hates these catch-up points..."

<Reina & Faris: Sisters, 2nd to Depart: 10:19 pm>
     Reina ripped open the clue and read it to Faris. "Make your way to Peterny. Ooh! We get 600 fol for this leg! Wow! That's a lot!"
     Reina and Faris found the path to Peterny and followed it to Ma and Zell. Reina waved to them as she approached. Ma waved back, but Zell had already fallen asleep in a matter of only minutes. The girls sat beside Ma and waited for the gates to open. They each pulled a sleeping bag out to prepare for a nap.

<Dona & Barthello: Summoner/Guardian, 3rd to Depart: 10:41 pm>
     Dona read the clue to Barthello, then walked out of the building in search of Peterny. Barthello pointed the way and they began walking down the path.

-------------------------{Dona & Barthello: Interview}-------------------------

     Dona and Barthello stood in front of a window in the dining hall of the Pit Stop building in Arias.
     "It was our highest finish ever this week," Barthello said. He seemed more excited than usual, but that wasn't saying a lot for the constantly stoic man. "We've been averaging around sixth, and now, sixth is elimination. We will continue to be in third or better from this point on."
     "First on the final leg, of course," Dona added. "But what was more exciting than our third place, was Fran and Balthier's last place. Just like our alliance took out Reno and Rude, we will ensure this leg eliminates those two."

-------------------------{End Interview}-------------------------

     Dona and Barthello reached the area where the previous two teams waited, but decided to wait further out. They found a small tree not far from the entrance and set up camp under it. Dona whined whenever a leaf fell on her.

<Zone & Watts: Resistance Fighters, 4th to Depart: 10:59 pm>
     Zone ripped open the clue and read it to Watts, then headed out to Peterny.
     They found the group awake, even Zell, and chatting about random things. Reina and Ma waved to the boys as they tossed down sleeping bags and joined in the group discussion.
     "Nice to see you," Ma said.
     "Likewise," Watts said. "So what's going on?"
     "We're discussing ways to knock out Fran and Balthier!" Zell said excitedly.
     "It be a fine opportunity," Faris added.
     Zone and Watts sat across from the group by the gate and joined in the conversation. Right as they sat down, Reina stood up and moved to sit by Zone. He tensed up. A lot. The only thing moving was his left hand, which rested on the ground beside Watts. It nervously twitched almost constantly. Watts smiled, then put his backpack on Zone's hand to hold it still. He grinned from the pain, but mouthed "thanks" to Watts nonetheless.
     "Any plans?" Watts asked. "I don't think we can just 'team up' and eliminate them."
     "Maybe we can!" Zell said. "If we all just do well...they lose!"
     "We can't count on other teams ter lose," Faris said.
     "Let 'em lose! I mean, I think we all want the Ronso to stay in because they're good, fun competition, but umm... Aside from all of us and the Ronso," he started to speak in a whisper and cupped his mouth with the back of his hand, "I wouldn't mind seeing either of the other teams go."
     "I second that," Watts said. "But Zone and I are pretty solo. Not much for alliances."
     "Don't count on that," Ma chuckled. She subtly pointed at Reina, who had fallen asleep with her head on Zone's leg.
     "What do I do?!" Zone whispered loudly to Watts.
     "Har!" Faris laughed. "Best leave her be, mate. Don' want ter be wakin' a woman when she's picked 'er sleepin' grounds."
     "All right, so we're all flying solo?" Zell said to confirm.
     "I think that's best," Watts replied.
     "But maybe we can give tips if it looks like any of us three teams are struggling or something?" Ma suggested.
     Everybody agreed and turned in for the night. Zone slept sitting up with Reina still using Zone's leg as a pillow.

<Biran & Yenke: Comrades, 5th to Depart: 11:28 pm>
      Biran ripped open the clue and read it to Yenke. "Make way to Peter Town. Ronso get 600 fol. One team howls alone."
     The Ronso exited the building and looked around. They tried their hardest to figure out where to go, but failed. Biran finally found somebody out for a midnight snack and asked directions. The man, scared stiff by the beasts demanding the location of Peterny, pointed with a shaking finger to the gates to the town.

-------------------------{Biran & Yenke: Interview}-------------------------

     Biran and Yenke were outside the Arias Pit Stop at night, so obviously not long before their departure. They stood and faced the camera.
     "Biran proving to be powerful racer!" Biran said. "Breaking down stereotype that all Ronso stupid and worthless!"
     "Yenke doing that, too!" Yenke said.
     "Yenke kinda doing that. But mostly Biran. Going to prove that Ronso are strong! Ronso are wise! Ronso are good at blitzball! Ronso good at everything."
      "Yenke just glad hornless ones here have good soap. Yenke wash away all markings on body. Hornless ones claim Yenke mock them because they like to write on themselves. But Yenke was not mocking. Yenke understand why people write on their bodies. It for cheating on test. Woman at Pit Stop talk about her notes being for her Symbology. Ronso know a thing or two about cheating on tests, but Yenke not know what Symbology class is. But Ronso know notes on Ronso body not help. Teacher catch it easily and blame Yenke. So Yenke write notes on back of Ronso in front of Yenke! That way Yenke get to cheat, and other Ronso get in trouble!"
     "Hey!" Biran shouted, then punched Yenke hard in the arm. "That for boring Biran!"
     "Yenke was just trying to explain!"

-------------------------{End Interview}-------------------------

     Biran and Yenke finally reached Peterny and found the other teams sleeping. They decided it best to rest as well, so they found a hill a short distance away and rested on the other side of it for a better view of the moon.

<Fran & Balthier: Sky Pirates, Last to Depart: 11:54 pm>
     "Let me guess," Balthier said as Fran ripped open the clue. "No money?"
     Fran pulled out the clue and read it to Balthier. "Make your way to Peterny. Five teams will receive 600 fol for this leg of the race. One team will receive zero."
     "Well aren't we special." Balthier picked up his backpack and followed Fran as she led him out of the town and toward Peterny, where they found the other teams asleep. Balthier did a quick head count. Then a second head count.
     "Something wrong?" Fran asked.
     "Seems we're missing our Ronso friends," Balthier noted, not knowing the Ronso were on the other side of the hill. "We may be back in this race already."
     Fran and Balthier pulled out their own blanket and slept.

<8:00 am: Gates to Peterny Opening>
     They teams were all awake and ready to enter the gates as an armored man came to unlock the entrance. The city was large and, despite the locked gates, already full of people. The crowded streets led to a large city square, where several carts were set up with merchandise. People cycled through the carts and also walked into several of the nearby shops. This trading town was already very, very busy.
      Balthier nudged Fran and pointed to the Ronso, who were sleepily moving from their hill to the entrance. "Figures," Fran mouthed.
     In the middle of the city square, all teams noticed the bright red-and-yellow flag on their next clue box. The man opened the gates and the teams headed inside. Zell, the sisters, and the Ronso were the most aggressive as they sprinted to the clue box, which required dodging and shoving their way through the endless mess of people. The other racers chose to stay out of the intense footrace and instead jogged to the box.
     Zell was the first to reach the box, but not the first to open the clue as he needed to return to Ma to open it. The Ronso barely edged out Faris and Reina for the first opened clue.

<Biran & Yenke: Comrades, Currently in 1st Place>
     "Detour: Invent or Patent," Biran read.

<Announcer Gippal>
     "A detour is a choice between two tasks, each with its own pros and cons. In Invent, teams make their way to a nearby craft shop, where they must invent a new item. They can make any kind of craft, ranging from electrical devices, weapon and armor crafting, or simply baking a delicious treat. Any craft will work, but the item must be decent and rank at least a rating of 30, as determined by the guild master's rating machine. Achieving the rating of 30 can be very difficult, but teams with strong creativity could finish quickly. In Patent, teams must search through the guild master's shop and search through several already-created items and find enough items to have the combined sum of their ratings add up to exactly 1000. The items are not labeled, so teams will have to check their rating with the guild master's machine, then remember their value and calculate the sums. There are several items in the shop, so teams with a bad eye for quality or bad math skills may take a long time."

<Biran & Yenke: Comrades, Currently in 1st Place>
     "Biran and Yenke will invent!" Biran announced. "Ronso very creative. Ronso invent 'The Horn.' Pathetic humans only invent round rolly thing."

<Reina & Faris: Sisters, Currently in 2nd Place>
     "I've got a decent eye for crafting," Reina said. "But I think we could probably team up with Zone and Watts easily on the patent one."
     "Aye, an' that patent reminds me o' treasure huntin'. A pirate doesn't make 'er own booty, she takes someone else's!"
     "Patent it is, then! Should we try to talk Zone and Watts into it?"
     "D' ye really think they won't be pickin' it fer themselves?"
     Reina smiled. "Okay, let's find the shop!"

<Ma & Zell: Mother/Son, Currently in 3rd Place>
     "Patent? Booooring," Zell said. "Err, unless you wanna do it, Ma."
     "What do you take me for, Zelly? A 'boooooring' mom?" Ma smiled and punched Zell lightly in the arm. "Let's invent!"

<Fran & Balthier: Sky Pirates, Currently in 4th Place>
     "I haven't the foggiest," Balthier said. "I suppose we're good with our hands, so...invent?"
     "Sounds much more interesting at least," Fran added. "I suppose we'll invent."

<Zone & Watts: Resistance Fighters, Currently in 5th Place>
     "I think we're good at crafting items," Zone said. "Maybe if we made a model train set!"
     "That took us hours, remember?" Watts replied. "If we invent, we need to invent something quick and easy. I think we might do better with the other detour."
     "What do you suppose Reina is doing?"
     "Doesn't matter. Don't lose focus on the race now."
     "Right. Of course not. Sorry. Let's do what you said. Let's do patent."

<Dona & Barthello: Summoner/Guardian, Currently in Last Place>
     "What do you think, Dona?" Barthello asked after reading the clue.
     "I'm a shopper, Barthello. I'll shop. We'll do Patent. I can pick out highly-rated objects easily."

     All teams raced down the crowded streets of Peterny and followed either the subtle arrows pointing toward the craft shop or following a team that followed these arrows. Biran and Yenke were first into the shop, where a shop full of very random supplies and tools awaited them. There were several stations, but only one station of each type. The types were alchemy, cooking, crafting, compounding, engineering, smithery, and writing.
     The Ronso seemed a bit confused, so Biran poked at a short, old man in the corner, who was sleeping in a chair. He awoke with a start, then became even more startled at the sight of Biran and Yenke.
     "Goodness!" he said. "What do you want from me!?"
     "Biran is confused. Which station for making weapon?" Biran asked.
     "Smithery, of course."
     "Of course," Yenke replied, as if he had just solved a Scooby-Doo mystery. He and Biran made their way to the smithery station and turned over a card that read "in use," which claimed the station as theirs for the challenge. They found hammers, an anvil, a furnace, and several other smithery materials. They began working immediately on crafting a large spear. A very large spear.

     Reina and Faris entered the shop of previously-crafted items and immediately regretted their choice. The walls were packed with crazy inventions, and there was a sliding ladder on the wall to reach those that were on the high parts of the shelves. Reina ran in and grabbed the first item she could find, which was a small bomb. She looked around and finally found a blonde woman, Welch, with long pigtails carrying a stick with a pointing, gloved hand on the end. She stood beside a machine that looked like a slot machine, only it had only two reels, both of which were numbers. It began on the default setting of 50.
     "How do I check this item's rating?" Reina asked her.
     "Wha? Oh! Hi!" she said in a high, cheery voice. "You can just set it here," she pointed to a small table beside the machine, "and pull the handle on the rating machine. And that's it!"
     "Okay, thanks!" Reina placed the bomb on the table and pulled the handle. The ones digit began cycling down quickly and the tens digit fell every time the ones spun around ten times. The numbers finally started to slow around 4, then stopped when the machine hit the absolute low of 1.
     "Ohh, I'm sorry, that one's not very good," the blonde said.
     "This might take a while," Reina said to Faris. She placed the object back on the shelves, then walked to Faris, who was drawing something on a piece of paper. "What're you doing?"
     "Makin' a treasure map," Faris replied. "I drew a quick sketch of the shelves and put a '1' on the spot where we found this bomb."
     "Ooh, good plan! You do that, I'll pick items!"

<Ma & Zell: Mother/Son, Currently in 3rd Place>
<Fran & Balthier: Sky Pirates, Currently in 4th Place>
     Ma, Zell, Fran, and Balthier all entered the craft store at the same time. They noticed that the stations were first come, first served, so they looked quickly to try to pick before their opponents chose. Fran and Balthier didn't hesitate in the slightest as they approached the engineering station.
     "Man, that's what I'd have picked!" Zell told Ma.
     "Now Zelly, let your mum carry her own weight for once," she replied. "Remember my recipe for Beanie-Weenie Casserole?"
     "Oh, heck yeah!" Zell raced to the cooking station and turned over the card to indicate the station was in use. Ma quickly searched through the cabinet for supplies, just as Balthier and Fran were doing the same.

<Zone & Watts: Resistance Fighters, Currently in 5th Place>
<Dona & Barthello: Summoner/Guardian, Currently in Last Place>
     For possibly the first time in the entire race, Dona was rushing to reach the patent shop, driven by her ambition to shop. She and Barthello caught up to the Forest Owls as they all entered the shop together. Zone saw Reina and went right into stomach-ache mode while Watts started to assess the wall of inventions. He tried to look at Faris's map, but she tucked it away under her arm and shook a finger at him. He chuckled, then pulled out his own paper to do something similar.
     Dona, meanwhile, had already grabbed a pair of slippers on the wall and checked it with the machine. She pulled the lever and the numbers began cycling up until finally hitting 60.
     "Very good, Dona!" Barthello said.
     "Can it, I have work to do," she said. She handed the slippers to Barthello with a one-word order: "Hold."

     "Ronso finish!" Biran shouted as he heaved their mighty, horribly-crafted spear into the air. It was a standard spear and had no special qualities except that the weight was horribly distributed. Biran showed the spear to the guild master, who simply shook his head and pointed to the patent shop across the street.
     "The patent shop has the machine that will evaluate that," he informed Biran. "Take it over there and see if that thing gets 30 or higher."
     Biran and Yenke proudly ran their spear across to the patent shop and fought through the three teams that were busy searching through objects and checking them with the machine. When Biran finally got a chance to use the machine, he pulled the handle and watched the numbers fall at a very rapid pace. It finally reached a score of 1.
     "Yenke shocked!" Yenke said.
      Biran angrily took back the spear and ran across the street to continue working on it. Neither had any ideas until finally a brilliant idea came to Biran. "What if spear had more horns!?"
     "Biran is brilliant! Why Yenke not think of it?"
     "Because Yenke not brilliant. Now get Biran more horns!"

     Ma threw her casserole into the oven and set a timer for fifteen minutes. Zell took a seat to wait, but Ma quickly pulled him to his feet. "We're not resting yet, Zelly. We need to make a side dish, just in case."
     "I guess that makes sense. What can I do, Ma?" he asked.
     "Think of what you like to eat with hot dogs." Ma knew what Zell would reply and cut him off just as he opened his mouth. "And no, not more hot dogs."
     "Geez, Ma. Well I dunno. Maybe garlic bread?"
     "Sure, we'll make some garlic bread. I don't see it going wonderfully with beanie-weenie casserole, but garlic bread does complete any meal. But let's also steam some vegetables. Always have a few backup plans, Zelly. It's the Dincht way."

     Balthier grabbed several items from the engineering cabinet and placed them on the table where Fran was busy welding things together. He had a big smile on his face. "I'd like to come back here someday. This workshop has quite the selection of tools."
     "It is nice, but try to focus," Fran reminded him as she put the welding equipment away and took one of the microchips Balthier had brought over and installed it in the device.
     "What's to focus on? It's just an airship navigational radar. I've made so many that I could do this with my eyes closed."
     "You'd be wise to not let me catch you with closed eyes. Do not forget we have a Speed Bump ahead."
     "Wish I could forget that," Balthier said. "Makes me think we should add something to our navigational radar so that it definitely makes the minimum rating. Perhaps a built-in communicator?"
     "If you can build that and not bother me, then by all means, add one in," Fran said.

     Watts continued to search among the items for a new, hopefully high-ticket item. He looked over his shoulder at Zone, who seemed to be unfocused on the task as he and Reina were discussing something privately while waiting behind Dona at the rating machine. Watts sighed, then grabbed a device called the Ultimate Bomb and lined up behind Zone. He poked Zone in the back mid-laughter.
     "What is it?" Zone asked. The smile on his face quickly faded when he saw his partner looking mildly upset, likely at him.
     "We need to be focused on the race," came the reply. "Whatever you have going on with Reina is great, but we can't be throwing the race away for it."
     "Of course not," Zone said. He showed Watts a piece of paper he'd been writing on during the challenge. He had three columns, each labeled as one of the three teams doing the Patent detour. He had written down each of the items that had been scanned by any of them and the value of the object. "I know I should've mentioned it before, but I've been working with Reina to make this chart." His voice got quieter as he spoke further. "I haven't been looking for good items, I'm just grabbing any item from the shelves and standing in line to look at the ratings of each object. Just in case somebody throws back an item, or, the case I'm really hoping for, so that I can find a new arrangement of the objects so that we can strike a deal to help us and one other team to get out of here quickly."
     "Wonder what team you're hoping that team is," Watts smirked as Reina put her object on the machine. "Just don't lose focus, okay?"
     "Okay." Zone turned around to watch the machine and take notes.

     Fran and Balthier entered the patent shop and waited in line to use the machine. Fran held a small device that fit in the palm of her hand. They watched as Zone removed his small book from the table beside the machine, which ranked as a 1 on the scale. Next, Watts placed his bomb on the scale and they watched as the numbers shot up above 50 and finally landed on 80. Watts cheered quietly as he moved his bomb and allowed Fran to place her device on the table. Everybody watched eagerly as Fran pulled the machine's handle. The numbers started to go down, but at a slow pace. The machine stopped at a value of 40.
     "That it?" Balthier asked.
     "Wow, good job!" Welch told them. She handed Fran a clue and took Fran's device from her.
     Fran started to rip it open, but stopped when she realized all eyes were watching them. She motioned for Balthier to follow her outside, which he did.
     Once outside, she read the clue. "Make your way to the Aquatic Garden in the Surfario Ruins. Caution: U-Turn ahead."

<Announcer Gippal>
     "Teams must now travel to the Surfario Ruins located to the north through the Irisa Fields."

<Fran & Balthier: Sky Pirates, Currently in 1st Place>
     "Glad to be getting out of here in first," Balthier said. "I'd rather not have to deal with a U-Turn and a Speed Bump." Balthier quickly took to the streets, asking the locals for the direction to the Surfario Ruins. Fran followed closely behind, also asking some of the locals for directions. They stopped a man in the central area of Peterny and asked him for directions.
     "Surfario? Or the Surfario Ruins?" the man asked for clarification.
     "Oh, the err, ruins," Balthier clarified, double-checking with the clue. "The ones with the Aquatic Garden."
     "Ah, that's to the north," he said. "Head through the fields and veer west. Can't miss it."
     "Good to know. Cheers." Balthier and Fran headed through the crowded streets to the north exit of Peterny.

     "We have too much, Dona," Barthello said. He was guarding a pile of objects in the corner of the room and holding a pad of paper covered in addition. The total was 1,030. "We need to put back something worth 30."
     "We don't have anything worth 30. Not anything less than that, either," Dona said. "Best we have is this Amulet of Freedom, which is 50."
     "So we would need to find something worth... 20?" Barthello checked with his math on his paper, then nodded to confirm.
     "I already know something worth 20," she replied, making a sideways glance at the piles of items being collected by Reina and Faris. All teams had been piling the objects around the room and cataloging them, but Barthello was the only person in the room actually guarding their pile. The other teams were grabbing items, putting them in their piles, and adding the item and the value to a list. "Barthello, look through the rules for the task. Are we allowed to take items from others?"
     "It doesn't say," Barthello said. "There is nothing about holding onto items."
     "That's what I thought. Nothing says we needed to make piles. We were supposed to probably just put all the items back, which means there is no rule against taking from other piles."
     "But it's-"
     "Can it, Barthello. We need that Badge of Intellect that Reina found earlier. Now, distract everybody so I can grab it."
     "Yes, Dona." Barthello stood up and started grabbing for an object on the shelf that was just out of his reach. He slowly pulled at the corner of it while Dona moved across the room, seemingly to line up for the rating machine, but the line curved very closely to the pile Reina and Faris were making. She gave Barthello the cue she was ready by scratching her ear. He gave the large Battle Sphere one final tug, then acted as if he were trying to catch it as it fell to the floor with a loud crash! As the object hit the ground, Reina, Faris, and Zone moved their gaze to the site of the loud noise as Dona reached down and grabbed the Badge of Intellect. She hid the badge and walked back to the pile to pretend to yell at Barthello.
     "You oaf," she said, hitting him in the arm. "Put that back, we have our thousand points already. Just get rid of this stupid thing." She grabbed the Amulet of Freedom and tossed it out of the pile while subtly adding the Badge of Intellect to it.
     Welch sorted through their pile and counted the objects with her pointing stick. After a very quick count, she pulled out a clue and handed it to Dona. "Very good!"
     "Thanks," Dona said dryly. She grabbed her things and headed outside with Barthello to read her clue.
     "Not exactly playing fair, are we?" Watts said quietly as they walked by him.
     "Don't know what you mean," Dona replied.
     "Of course not."

<Dona & Barthello: Summoner/Guardian, Currently in 2nd Place>
     Dona and Barthello stepped outside and read through their clue. "Make your way to the Aquatic Garden in the Surfario Ruins. Caution: U-Turn ahead," Barthello read.
     "You," Dona said, pointing at a local woman walking in front of them. "We need to find the Surfario Ruins. Where is it?"
     "The ruins? To the north, ma'am," she replied, then continued walking.
     "Okay, let's go, Barthello," Dona said.
     "Yes," he replied. He took her backpack and they pushed through the crowded streets to use the north exit.