Episode 9: Part 1

     Gippal approached the camera while standing in a stone hallway. His voice echoed as he spoke. "These are the Ancient Ruins of Mosel. They are feared for their connection to a strange culture of advanced mechanics and futuristic technology, but now they are only feared for being the dreaded eigth pitstop in a race around worlds. I...suppose. Zone and Watts fear them anyway, as they were eliminated in this very spot. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
     "Teams raced from Arias and entered the famous trade city of Peterny. Teams either invented items or sorted through previous inventions at the detour, where Dona and Barthello grabbed an item Reina and Faris intended to use, which not only pushed Dona and Barthello ahead, but caused a delay to Reina and Faris. Continuing their domination of this leg, Dona and Barthello reached the roadblock in only third place, but due to some extreme luck, Barthello completed the difficult puzzle and left in first. Fran and Balthier ran a great leg, but lost a lot of precious time during their Speed Bump, which they received after losing the previous non-elimination leg. In a desparate race to the finish that came down to less than a second's difference, Fran and Balthier barely edged out Zone and Watts, who as I mentioned earlier, were the seventh team eliminated from the race.
     "Now, can Dona and Barthello maintain their lead and newfound amazing racing abilities? Will Reina and Faris be okay without their pseudo-alliance? And now that they are without a Speed Bump, will Fran and Balthier be able to take back a top position? Or will their recent string of low finishes continue and take them out of the race? Dona and Barthello, who were first to arrive at 3:14 pm, will depart at 3:14 am."

<Dona & Barthello: Summoner/Guardian, 1st to Depart: 3:14 am>
     Dona smiled like she had never smiled before as Barthello opened up the clue. She clutched his arm as he read to her.
     "Find and enter the mystical portal in the ruins and teleport to a mystery location. Prepare for the ride of your lives."

<Announcer Gippal>
     "Teams must now walk a short distance to a portal believed to hold mystical properties. Once through the portal, teams will-- Actually, I'd rather not spoil the surprise. Ride of their lives is right though. Wheehaw!"

<Dona & Barthello: Summoner/Guardian, Currently in 1st Place>
     "Ride of our lives?" Dona said. "I do not like the sound of that."
     "I'll keep you safe," Barthello reminded her. He resumed the reading of the clue. "Teams will have 20 gil for this leg of the race."
     "I'm so glad to hear the word 'gil' again, but only twenty?"
     Barthello shrugged. He and Dona began to wander the corridor of the Ruins of Mosel dungeon. It was not long until they found a strange, technologically advanced control panel near a wall made of one large slab of stone. The stone had a very precise crack down the middle.
     Luckily for Barthello, the control panel only had one button. He pressed it and the two halves of stone slid to either side, revealing a blue vortex. The two entered and shortly after found themselves in a strange spaceship. The walls and floor were all a steel material on this very bland ship. In front of them were large plates of glass that overlooked outer space. From this ship, they could see a new world not too far from them.
     "That was our ride?" Dona asked. "Please. I've had better rides on a shoopuf."
     Barthello pointed to a sign nearby that read "Prepare yourself" and had an arrow pointed beside it to a green teleporter on the floor. It was a small teleporter that swirled around, waiting for two people to stand on it. Three, if you counted the cameraman.
     "Wonderful." Dona replied. She walked to the teleporter and stood on it. Barthello joined her.
     The teleporter did not respond right away. Then, suddenly, they disappeared and reappeared in what seemed to be a very rocky cave. The floor rumbled and both lost their balance immediately.
     "What's going on?" Dona demanded of Barthello. She looked around for an exit, but was unable to locate one.
     Barthello found a safety guide on the wall nearby. It was labeled "Meteor Safety." Barthello read the title to himself, leaving a very disturbed Dona to eavesdrop.
     "WHAT?!" Dona shouted. She jumped to her feet, but promptly fell down. Luckily for her, Barthello caught her in his lap. "We're in a meteor!?"

<Ma & Zell: Mother/Son, 2nd to Depart: 3:35 am>
     Zell ripped open the clue. "Find and enter the mystical portal in the ruins and teleport to a mystery location. Prepare for the ride of your lives. Teams will have 20 gil for this leg of the race."
     "Sounds exciting," Ma replied.
     "Yeah. Too bad all the teams left are pretty brave and stuff. I don't think any of us five teams will back down from...whatever a 'ride of our lives' is."
     The Dinchts searched the ruins and found the stone entrance, which teleported them to the spaceship. They looked out at space and both started smiling wildly. Zell also started jumping around like a madman. "I've always wanted to go to space! I never got a chance to before this! Squall went, but did Zell go? Noooo-"
     "Zelly, you're rambling."
     "Oh, sorry, Ma," Zell said.
     He and Ma walked to the green teleporter and stood on it. They waited for a split second before being teleported to a meteor of their own. They, like Dona and Barthello, immediately fell over.
     "Look, Ma!" Zell said, pointing to the safety guide. "We're in a meteor!"
     "My goodness!" she exclaimed. "This really is an exciting ride! So what happens next?"
     "According to this guide," Zell said while quickly skimming the safety guide, "it'll crash into the planet below at very intense speeds."
     "Zelly, you might have to bear with your mother for a moment. She is, apparently, hard of hearing. Did you say 'crash'?"
     Zell noticed a small screen in the corner with a countdown. It was at 00:35:05 and ticking down. Directly under the countdown was a sign reading "Time until impact." He pointed it out to Ma.
     "Maybe this race wasn't such a good idea," she said nervously.

<Dona & Barthello: Summoner/Guardian, Currently in 1st Place>
     The counter on Dona and Barthello's meteor was at 00:00:09 and Dona was trying to keep her cool, but desperately seeking some sort of comfort. Barthello finally reached an arm out and pulled her in tightly. She pretended to struggle, but put up very little fight as the timer hit zero and the meteor landed. The impact inside the meteor was almost non-existant. Barthello released Dona from his protective grip and stood up, then helped Dona to her feet.
     An exit to the meteor suddenly appeared in a door-like form. They headed outside and found the clue box just a few meters beyond the steaming meteor crash site. The area where they had crashed was a large plains, but only a short distance later was a forest.
     Barthello took the clue and read it to Dona. "Search the forest for Mirage Town, then search the town for a hidden chocobo corral."

<Announcer Gippal>
     "Teams have landed in the Fantasy 5 verse near a mystical town created by a void. The town is hard to find, since you don't even notice it until you set foot within it. Once they find it, they must search the town for a hidden passage to the chocobo corral to receive their next clue.

<Dona & Barthello: Summoner/Guardian, Currently in 1st Place>
     "We have to find a hidden city at night. . . ." Dona mumbled. "Wonderful."
     Dona and Barthello entered the forest and began searching around. There was a faint, trampled foot-path, but it broke off in several directions. Dona and Barthello picked one of them, shining their flashlights along the paths, and followed it.

<Reina & Faris: Sisters, 3rd to Depart: 4:02 am>
     Reina ripped open the clue and read it to Faris. "Find and enter the mystical portal in the ruins and teleport to a mystery location. Prepare for the ride of your lives. Teams will have 20 gil for this leg of the race."
     The sisters walked through the corridor and found the teleporter. After teleporting to the ship, they immediately made their way to the teleporter and were teleported into their own meteor.
     "This be familiar," Faris noted after both had fallen over. "We're not goin' ter-- I dare not say. I won't be the one ter jinx it."
     "I'm hoping so, too," Reina replied. "It's about time we won another leg." She winked at Faris, who pinched her in return.
     "That's fer jinxin' us!"

<Ma & Zell: Mother/Son, Currently in 2nd Place>
     "Here it comes," Zell said, watching the countdown closely. It hit zero as both Dincht's braced for impact. They also both screamed. When the impact was little more than a nudge, both looked to each other with embarrassment, said nothing, and left the meteor.
     Ma found the clue box and grabbed their clue to read to Zell. "Search the forest for Mirage Town, then search the town for a hidden chocobo corral."
     "I'm all over this, Ma! I can sniff out a chocobo from miles away!"
     "Really? That's amazing! SeeD training I take it?"
     Zell scratched his head. "Err, well...I'm actually just trying to talk big. For confidence. I always like to do it to prepare for something tough."
     "Oh, well, that's okay, Zelly! You didn't get that from me though. I'm a worrywart!"
     Zell took a couple flashlight headbands out of his backpack. He stuck one on himself and tossed the other to Ma. She fumbled and eventually dropped the light, but put it on after a quick dusting. They made their way to the forest to begin looking for the town.

<Biran & Yenke: Comrades, 4th to Depart: 4:34 am>
     Biran tore open the clue and read it to Yenke. "Find and enter mystical portal in ruins and teleport to mystery location. Prepare for ride of your Ronso lives. Teams have 20 gil for leg of race!"
     The Ronso navigated the corridor and followed the two teleporters to the meteor. Neither Ronso even seemed to notice the beautiful view of outer space when they walked to the second teleporter.

<Dona & Barthello: Summoner/Guardian, Currently in 1st Place>
     The forest seemed endless as Dona and Barthello walked in no particular direction, hoping to stumble across some city. It was only when Dona was ready to start whining about the forest when a town suddenly formed around them. They were suddenly in an grass field. A building was to their right and a staircase leading to the majority of the town not far beyond that. Perhaps the most awkward thing about this town was that it was daylight. Both Dona and Barthello turned off their flashlights and put them away.
     "I don't see a chocobo corral anywhere," Dona said.
     "But, listen closely, Dona," Barthello said. In the distance, they could hear a faint wark. "Let's search carefully."
     They followed the stairs and found the pub, a magic store, and an armor store. The town was odd because they could see more places to go, but only a few buildings they could actually get to. The rest were blocked off, and yet, it was possible to see people using the distant weapon store.

<Fran & Balthier: Sky Pirates, Last to Depart: 4:41 am>
     Fran opened the clue. "Find and enter the mystical portal in the ruins and teleport to a mystery location. Prepare for the ride of your lives. Teams will have 20 gil for this leg of the race."
     "I'm not terribly fond of starting in last again," Balthier said.
     "Then let's not do it again," Fran said.
     The sky pirates followed the corridor to the teleporter and traveled through. Both stopped for a second to stare at the vast space view. Fran seemed eager to move on, but Balthier was intent on staring at the magnificent view. He tore himself away after a few seconds and followed Fran to the teleporter.
     "Sorry. Not everyday you get a view like that though," he said.
     "Not everyday you win money like this game offers, either," Fran replied before they teleported away to their meteor.

<Ma & Zell: Mother/Son, Currently in 2nd Place>
     Ma and Zell reached the town and were both in awe when the town appeared around them. They asked around for directions to the corral, but nobody seemed to know what they were talking about. They finally wandered into the pub to get information and found Dona and Barthello, who were doing the exact same thing.
     "Chocobos, eh?" the bartender said to Dona. "Hmm. Can't say I know where they are, but I do hear 'em occasionally. Somewhere behind the pub, by the sounds of it."
     "Please speak quieter," Dona insisted. "Another team is here. We don't want them to hear."
     "Yeah, no prob. Listen, if you're really wanting to find the chocobos, why don't you hop over to this side of the bar and use my hidden staircase? It'll lead you to another section of the town."
     Dona looked over to Zell and Ma, who were both casually sitting at the bar with an ear facing Dona and the bartender. As subtle as they tried to make their eavesdropping, it was very obvious. Dona pulled Barthello aside.
     "Is there any way we can make them not follow us?" she asked him quietly.
     "No," Barthello said. "I think we should do the opposite."
     "The opposite?"
     "Tell them what we're doing. Pretend to be allies to get information from them later."
     "That's dumb," Dona said. "But okay. You tell them though. They'll never believe me."
     Barthello nodded, then waved Zell and Ma over. When they arrived, he explained to them about the secret staircase. "You'll owe us one, though," he added.
     "Yeah, you bet," Zell replied. He started to hop the counter when the bartender stopped him.
     "Whoa whoa whoa!" he said. "Please, footprints on the counter are hard to get out. Can you use the backdoor?" he pointed to another door behind the counter that led outside. The four racers agreed, then raced outside and around to the back entrance to the pub. They came in and raced down the stairs in the back of the pub and traveled a short distance to another building.
     "This doesn't look like a chocobo corral," Dona said.
     "This town is quite a maze," Ma replied.
     Barthello held the door open for the other three, then followed them inside. They ran through to a staircase to a basement with narrow hallways. They raced around a turn and found a door and a hallway that continued around a corner. Zell quickly grabbed for the door, but it was locked. They continued down the hallway, which led them to a staircase that took them into an armory, only it was behind the counter of the armory.
     "There a chocobo corral here?" Zell asked the armory employee.
     "Not this way, nope," he replied. "Little tip though. This is Mirage Town. Not everything is what it seems. Check the passages really well."
     "We'll do that, thanks!"
     They headed back down to the basement and started looking around. They stopped at the locked door and tried to open it again, thinking this was what the armory employee meant.
     "Do you hear that?" Ma said, backing away from the door that Zell and Barthello were brutally trying to pry open.
     "Sounds like a piano," Dona said. "Coming through...the wall?"
     Dona and Ma walked in the direction of the music, where they met with what seemed to be a solid wall; but, when Dona reached out a hand, it slipped right through the wall.
     "A fake wall," Zell said. "That must be the way then!"
     Ma and Dona started to slowly walk through the wall, but Zell ended up taking the lead since he didn't seem to mind running through a blind corridor. They eventually found a staircase that led up. Zell and Ma were the first to take it and they soon found themselves in a grass pasture that was blocked off by trees and a gate. Inside the pasture was a field of black and yellow chocobos. Just before the large pasture of chocobos was a clue box.
     Zell was first to the box and took the first clue, but handed it to Dona. "As thanks for helping us at the pub, you can have the first clue," he added.
     "Whatever," Dona said. She took the clue and read it to Barthello. "Roadblock: Who's ready to take a ride around the world?"

<Announcer Gippal>
     "A roadblock is a task that only one team member may perform. In this roadblock, that team member must first choose a yellow chocobo. Then, ride that chocobo around the entire world. The world is small and because it has merged with another world, it is possible to ride a non-flying chocobo around the entire map, roughly. Teams can decide whether they would like to travel clockwise or counterclockwise. It will require a keen eye to find passages that a yellow chocobo can take and may require a fair amount of patience."

<Dona & Barthello: Summoner/Guardian, Currently in 1st Place>
     "If it's just a ride, then it sounds easy. We'll save you for the harder roadblocks," Dona said to Barthello. "I'll do it."

<Ma & Zell: Mother/Son, Currently in 2nd Place>
     "May I?" Ma asked.
     "All yours, Ma!" Zell replied.

     Ma and Dona headed out to the pasture and each found a yellow chocobo. Dona seemed a bit more confident on a chocobo and was the first out the gate. She headed east and, once out of Mirage Town, was quickly reminded that it was still dark outside. Ma came to the same realization as she started to catch up to Dona. She pulled out a flashlight headband and put it on before continuing on. Dona did the same.
     They started riding slowly along the narrow strip of land with water on both sides of them. Their chocobos occasionally stepped a foot into the shallow waters and started warking. Dona seemed irritated that Ma was apparently trying to go the trip alongside her, but was biting her tongue.

-------------------------{Ma: Interview}-------------------------

     Ma sat on an unidentifiable bench in a sunny location. She was alone.
     "There was really very little point in riding our chocobos at that time of day. We could barely see anything. I was trying to keep up with Dona so we would have two flashlights watching the road, but even that much light wasn't enough. It was mostly us just trying to keep any sort of lead on the other teams and waiting for the sun before the roadblock really began."

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

<Reina & Faris: Sisters, Currently in 3rd Place>
     The sisters crashed down in their meteor and raced out to the clue box. Reina grabbed the clue and read it to Faris. "Search the forest for Mirage Town, then search the town for a hidden chocobo corral."
     "We were right!" Faris cheered. "We be home. This leg be as good as ours!"
     "I know exactly where that chocobo corral is," Reina said. "Let's go!"
     The girls searched the forest and found Mirage Town with little difficulty. They immediately raced for the back entrance to the pub and ran through the secret wall to the chocobo corral. Faris seemed a bit lost, but Reina was leading the way with no difficulty.

-------------------------{Reina & Faris: Interview}-------------------------

     Reina and Faris sat in a grassy area in front of a stone wall, addressing the camera.
     "Bein' back home gave us a great sense o' victory," Faris said. "I wasn't thrilled when I heard 'bout the chocobos since I couldn't remember that hidden city that well, but Reina never fergets an animal. She knew right where it were, so I just followed and hoped I could make up fer it with some pirate ship drivin' er somethin'."

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

     Reina and Faris found the clue box in front of the chocobo corral. Reina was still very hyper and beat Faris to the box. She opened their clue and smiled very happily when she saw the roadblock card. "Oh please please please!" she begged Faris.
     "Gonna even read the description?" Faris asked.
     Reina shook her head. "It doesn't matter. It's gonna be something with chocobos!"
     Faris laughed. "Okay. Go fer it."
     Reina cheered and hugged Faris. She eventually read the clue and chose her chocobo before leaving on her quest around the world. She, unlike Dona and Ma, chose to go west and take the clockwise route around the world.

<Biran & Yenke: Comrades, Currently in 4th Place>
     Biran and Yenke came out of their meteor slowly and looked around nervously.
     "Where Ronso now?" Yenke asked.
     "Biran not know," Biran replied. "But Biran is scared. Maybe on world of aliens!"
     "Yenke hopes not." Yenke took the clue from the box and read it to Biran. "Search forest for Mirage Town. Then search town for hiding chocobo coral."
     "Coral like in waters?"
     "That what it say!"
     "Give Biran clue!" Biran grabbed the clue away from Yenke and read it. "That not say coral! That say...something else!" Biran pondered the word for a quick moment. "Well, it probably pronounced same as coral, but not same thing. Because chocobo coral not make sense!"
     "Yenke go search forest," Yenke said. He walked to the forest with Biran. Both fumbled around in the dark as they found their handheld flashlights.

<Fran & Balthier: Sky Pirates, Currently in Last Place>
     "Quite a ride," Balthier said, stepping out of the meteor. He helped Fran out, then grabbed the next clue. "Search the forest for Mirage Town, then search the town for a hidden chocobo corral." He turned to Fran. "I don't suppose the forest can talk to you here."
     "Unfortunately, no," she replied. She pulled out a couple headband flashlights and handed one to Balthier. Both put them on before continuing on to search the forest.

     Dona and Ma continued side-by-side on their chocobo ride around the world. The sun started to come over the mountains as the women clicked off their flashlights and rode by sunlight.
     "This'll make things easier," Ma said to Dona. "Good luck!" With that, Ma rode her chocobo faster and left Dona behind.
     "Oh hell no," Dona said to herself. She made her chocobo speed up as well, but struggled to stay on the bouncing chocobo, so she was forced to slow down. She cursed under her breath as she watched Ma speed on ahead.

<Biran & Yenke: Comrades, Currently in 4th Place>
     Biran and Yenke found Mirage Town and searched for the chocobos, but after searching what they thought was the entire town, they were horribly lost. And the locals were of little help since they had no idea what a "chocobo coral" was. They watched as Fran and Balthier entered the town and began searching.
     Yenke seemed fixated on watching Fran and Balthier search, not noticing Biran had struck up a conversation with a local.
     "Chocobo coral?" the man asked Biran. "Ohh, you must mean the coral rings! Just go to the armory and search the room for a hidden passage to the back area. They sell them there."
     "Yenke!" Biran shouted, startling him. "We looking for coral rings?"
     "Yenke not think so, but Yenke not sure," he replied.
     With that, both Ronso entered the armory and searched for "chocobo coral." It didn't take long, however, for them to realize they were in the wrong place. They walked outside and watched Fran and Balthier enter the pub from a rear entrance.
     "What you think?" Biran asked. "Nobody has chocobo coral! Only coral ring!"
     The Ronso paused for a short while when, suddenly, Yenke made a keen observation.
     "Rabbit-lady and fancy-man not leave bar," he said. "Not come out yet. Maybe something in bar that Ronso missed?"
     "Good think, Yenke." Biran and Yenke entered the pub and, sure enough, Fran and Balthier were not there. Biran flagged down the bartender.
     "Where lady with rabbit ears go?" he asked.
     "Ah, just head outside, find the back entrance here, and down the stairs," the bartender replied. "Seems a popular destination today."
     "Why not tell Ronso earlier!?" Biran shouted. He took a couple deep breaths and calmed down. "Biran means: thank you, hornless-one." He and Yenke exited the building and ran to the back entrance to search for the chocobos.

<Fran & Balthier: Sky Pirates, Currently in 4th Place>
     Fran and Balthier walked up the stairs and into the chocobo corral. Fran took the clue and read it. "Roadblock: Who's ready to take a ride around the world?"
     "Well, it should be my turn, what with my roadblock count being lower," Balthier said. "But why don't you have a go?" He motioned to Zell, Barthello, and Faris, who were waiting for their partners. "Seems it's a lady's game."
     "Very well." Fran picked a yellow chocobo and began riding to the east.

<Biran & Yenke: Comrades, Currently in Last Place>
     Biran and Yenke finally reached the corral and grabbed their clue. Biran read it to Yenke. "Roadblock: Who ready to take ride around world?"
     "It Yenke's turn," Yenke said. He found a chocobo and started his ride to the east.
     Biran joined Zell, Barthello, Faris, and Balthier in waiting for the racers. They sat in a grassy area just outside the chocobo corral and watched the remaining black chocobos walk around inside it.
     "Race sure is getting intense," Balthier noted. "Honestly, this is not the group I expected to be in the final five with me, but after seeing how strong you all are, I feel I've greatly misjudged you. Save for the Ronso, we've all won a leg. And ironically enough, the Ronso are possibly the team I'm most afraid of."
     "Ditto that," Zell said. "I'm kinda surprised Ma and I are still in this. Not that I didn't believe in us, but I really haven't seen Ma do much besides cook, clean, and play cards. I thought I'd have to carry her this whole race, but she's kicking some butt!"
     "Biran feel same way about Yenke," Biran said. "Yenke always just followed Biran. Normally hide behind Biran. But now, Biran sees Yenke is leading Biran. Make Biran proud."

     Ma found herself getting increasingly confused at an intersection. There were several different paths to take. A couple went through the mountains and one went by the ocean. Not to mention the fork in the road she'd already passed.
     Dona rode up and found Ma stuck in her debate. "Why couldn't we just have route markers?" she asked Ma.
     "It'd be nice," Ma replied. "I suppose we just pick one, then?"
     Dona spotted something in the distance and immediately turned her attention back to Ma. She rode her chocobo forward a couple steps to be closer to Ma and slightly ahead of her. "What if we both picked different paths? Then, if they're wrong, we'll come back here and mark an x on the ground to mean our paths didn't work."
     "You'd do that?" Ma asked.
     "Only if you would."
     "I think that's fair. Okay, which route will you take?"
     "I don't know. I suppose this middle one," Dona said, gesturing over her shoulder to the path of which she was intentionally obstructing Ma's view."
     "Okay, I'll go by the water. Good luck!"
     "And to you," Dona replied. She watched Ma ride off to the water, then, when she was out of view, she drew an 'x' on the ground before heading off to the middle path. She rode between two mountain passages and passed a small Amazing Final Fantasy Race flag, indicating her current path.