Festival: Monster Race

It might not be known to everyone, but the Quick-Feather Peko Ranch also offers monster handling services. To promote this side of the business (without forgetting to also promote the main side, of coruse), the Peko Ranch has decided to set up a promotional Shadow Festival event. It's held at a certain distance from the Ranch proper, to avoid upsetting the Pekos, but it's still close enough that the Ranch itself can be seen in the distance. Artists have prepared illustrative drawings and paintings, and those interested can book a tour.

There are festoons all over the place. Of course, this being the Shadow Festival, they are black, purple, and other dark and ominous colors. But still, they are festoons.

The atmosphere is cheerful: stands sell all sorts of crafted items, from candy to candles, from candle holders to candy holders, and so on. Paths around the fairground are illuminated by candles within carved pumpkins.

Monster pens have been set up, to safely hold in a number of monsters while still allowing visitors to take a close look at them.

Uta even finally got over management forbidding her from setting up a slime petting zoo for the children.

"Hello, and welcome to the Shadow Festival Monster Race!", a cheerful Sylph young woman announces. "Today, our contestants will race their monsters through the Island of Beginnings! Please reach your spot at the starting grid, and wait for the signal!"

    Merek is on the back of the snail, with the partner, a female cait sith that will be racing. The man nods a bit while he begins to prep his equipment, the man wearing the longcoat in addition to settling into the saddle. The snail is armored while it begins to roll about and prepare. The man places on the goggles which he had made just for racing, then he nods a bit, "Alright!"

    Setsuna is standing off to the sideline as he tries to give his dire wolf some positive speaking, " Ok Roki, you got this. You can do this." It would appear the slime employee is without any of his other monster compatriots today , focusing all his attention on riding today. "Just think about all the others, and how you bringing home the gold medal will look for me...I mean us...I mean you." As he talks Roki is , well not really paying attention. Infact he laid down at his owners feet and is cleaning his paw. Setsuna sighs, " Yep, seems about the right response." Noticing the call for the finish line he climbs on top of the wolf, "Ok come on." With a gruff the wolf stands and moves to the starting line.

The weather is sunny and clear, the air crisp. Young monster handlers from everywhere have eagerly signed up, and await the race with breathless anticipation.

Well, most young monster handlers. One poor sod--the one who's been saddled with SpritesHero--is wearing the expression of one whose life's hopes have been abruptly flushed, along with the pet goldfish, down the toilet. His ears, once perky, droop. His tail is limp against his saddle. Is the problem the mount? No, it is not the mount. The mount is most excellent, and appears to be a giant white rabbit with blood-red eyes. And fangs. And a tail that seems to be sparking ominously. It is a mount that will likely be competitive.

No, the problem is the person behind the handler: SpritesHero himself. Sprites is not a racer. Sprites knows nothing whatsoever about animals. Or riding. He knows that the point of racing is to get to the finish line first, but that's about it. Why is he even here? Who knows. Judging by the way his gaze keeps scanning the crowd he's here for a reason not directly related to the race proper. "Relax," he can be heard to reassure his companion, chest out, arms folded in a display of utter confidence. If only he hadn't physically tied himself to the animal. If only he didn't have a giant knife at his side. "We'll be fine! How do you feel about winning this thing?" The companion ooks skeptical at best.

Rori has been looking forward to this race for awhile now, not so much from her competitive spirit but instead just for a chance to see all the different monsters. She'd picked a giant centipede from the lot of available mounts earlier, entirely sure that more legs equal a faster monster, "Whoa, easy there." the roly poly inspired cait sith voiced, steering the reigns of her beast over towards the starting line as she gave it a few head pats for good luck, "Just remember, it's not about who wins or loses, it's about having fun." the whimsical words hit the ears of the oversized insect below her while she began eagerly looking around at the competition, checking out all of the neat monsters everyone else had brought to the event.

--BEFORE--
"Uta, you yourself couldn't even pet a slime safetly until after a LOT of training from Rylen. A petting zoo for Lander children would just be asking for chaos. And while I'm typically all for chaos, I don't think Rylen would appreciate us getting lawyers invented just to sue the Ranch." A shudder. "Lawyers are a horror even *I* don't want to deal with."

That was Kauchemar's input on dissauding Uta from the whole petting zoo idea. She figured it was easier to get her to realize it would be trouble for a friend than to specifically tell her 'no'. Which seems to have worked. Thank the Goddesses, it means she can focus on the important part of the event -- riding.

--NOW--
She may be an experienced Monster Handler, but as a Messenger (and monsterous equine) she spends more time running herself than riding, so she's still using a rental... and someone has a sense of humor. Because the Nightmare Were Fang rides up on... another horse. Granted this one has small spined, fin-like growths on its legs, and it's mane and tail are constantly dripping with moisture and strands of kelp. But it's still very clearly a monster horse. The probably figured with her familiarity with both monsters and water element Kauchemar can keep the creature from trying to... do what kelpies do. Or survive it does.

"I'm still not entirely sure if I should be amused or insulted by this arrangement."

Earlier:
    Mizuki looks at the available monsters and... DIRE CORGI. Once assured it's friendly enough she hugs it. "OH GOSH THAT IS ADORABLE I PICK THIS ONE."

Now:
    Mizuki rides up on a giant corgi! Sitting behind her holding the reins is a serious, scholarly-looking Cat Sith man in a white duster. Mizuki is dressed in what she has been *told* is traditional dire corgi rider garb, a green, sylph-looking dress. If it was a joke, the handler has an excellent poker face.

    As the giant corgi trots up to the starting grid, Mizuki leans down to hug its neck and pat its head. "You don't have to win, just try your best, Cydymaith." "Cydymaith." The handler corrects. "Isn't that what I said...?"

    Mizuki looks over at the other racers and spies Kauchemar. "That's a kelpie, isn't it? Is that safe...?"

"You can't. Keep. Me. Out," Uta yells, punching her fists on the table. "I /demand/ to know why you refuse to sign me up!"

"I am sorry, Madam," a very tired Lander sitting at a table covered in paperwork replies with a sigh. "I, Mister Clerk, do not know how to explain it to you. You have been signed up long in advance by someone else as part of the organization process, so you do not need to be signed up again."

"That is a terrible excuse! I demand to speak with your manager!"

Another sigh. "Ma'am, you are my manager."

"...I am?" She looks pretty confused.

When the slyph lady calls everyon to the starting blocks, Uta perks up. "Uh... I forgot what we were discussing. Let's put this on hold, and continue after the race, ok? I have a thing to do."

She darts to the starting positions, and leaps on a slime the size of one of those ridable giant wolves. It's not a slime with a particular morphology yet -- just a blob of goo. "Time to shine!"

Speaking of shining -- today Uta seems to have slipped into the spirit of the holiday, and has changed into a shiny white armor (with black, and cerulean trimmings -- her usual color scheme), with a plume on her helmet. It's a costume, not /actual/ armor, but it's a movie set quality costume. Moonlight Crafter level.

"Ready... Set... GO!"

A giant version of a festive party popper is, well, popped, and that is the signals for the monsters to start!

-- CHALLENGE: Cartography --

After gallopping (or slithering, or scuttlign...) through relatively plain terrain, the race takes the contestants at the entrance of a hedge maze. Trees grow among the plants,and gnarled branches attempt to grab the Adventurers and their monsters. The main challenge is not being stopped by the obstacles, so it is vital to find one's way out of this labyrinth!

    Merek looks to the obstacles while he points to each of them for the driver of the snail, the snail which is racing along with speed, "Alright, it's turbo snail!" The man smiles while he begins to weave along with the cait sith, and making sure they know all of the obstacles within their way.

SpritesHero clearly gave this event exactly the amount of thought someone who is not at all interested in it might. That is to say, none at all. Indeed, it becomes readily apparent that, however competitive giant rabbits might be in the speed department, they are a pain in the butt to ride.

Quite literally. They haven't made it more than a couple hops before Sprites is already heartily regretting at least one element of his choice. He'd also made the mistake of gritting his teeth in order to push through these difficulties, which--predictably--resulted in getting his skull rattled. Thus it is that, by the time they're at the maze, he's looking ten sorts of woozy, and has jammed a strip of fabric between his teeth. "Mmfrrf" he commands, pointing off in some random direction. The monster handler sighs, and visibly facepalms.

"Yes it is, and it's probably not," Kauchemar replies to Mizuki. "And that's probably why they gave it to me, instead of one of the rookies." She doesn't elaborate farther than that.

Partially because of the interruption going on at the entrance. She turns to look over her shoulder. "Uta, get over here, the race is about to start! You're suppose to be part of the demonstration! And practice your training." Sigh, why is she always the Uta-nursemaid?

Oh well, there's the starting popper. Uta being late... is nothing new. At all. She'll manage.

The loud pop is enough to spur the kelpie into motion, taking off at a hearty gallop from the get-go. This version seems to be pretty apt at running on land as well as traversing water... Though Kauchemar does have to repeatly pull its attention ahead, and not veering aside likely in search of it's preferred environment/means of assult.

When they entire the hedge maze though, it's different. Maybe the walls of plant life is close enough to the fields of kelp the creature gets it's name from. Maybe it senses water somewhere ahead of them. Maybe it just wants to get to the end and get the other equine off it's back? Could be any or all of these, but the point remains that the kelpie seems to have a determined sense of which way to go through finding the maze.

    The Dire Corgi is a fearsome beast...

    This one just happens to have resting derp face. With no target to attack (or rather, the serious cat sith on its back imposing his will on it to ensure it doesn't decide any of the racers or audience is a target,) it LOOKS like a giant cute dog! It goes bounding down the track! And into the maze! The trainer speaks up, "Cydymaith can sniff his way through the maze, just keep the plants off us." Mizuki doesn't reply, she's too busy breathing fire to wither any plants that reach too close!

In her usual state of ADD distraction Rori managed to miss the GO signal, vastly too preoccupied with petting her enormous centipede that was chittering away in protest of the unwanted affection, "Awe, you're so cute." she toothily beamed, mirthfully rubbing her palm across it's exoskeleton entirely oblivious to it's dismay concerning it's handler. As the other contestants took off like a shot Rori's antennas bolted up, she'd almost forgotten that this was a race and not a petting zoo and now she had some catching up to do, "Go go go." she urged as the multitude of centipede legs took off down the track trying to make up for lost time.

    Setsuna looks over at Uta as she approaches the finishline to and looks at her mount for a moment, " I didn't expect to see you making use of it so soon. You realize just because you are my employer doesn't mean I can let you win, my pride as a monster handler is on the line. " With that the word go is given and he is off to the races so to speak, with the dire wolf and companion running as fast as they can. Eventually they run into the labryinth and are racing through the hedge maze to end up t a dead end and then another, and another and another. Eventually they wold get free but it wasn't the easiest approach ,and a few walls of hedges may have wolf shaped holes in them.

"It goes without saying," Uta replies to Setsuna. "We are here to do our best. May the better handler win- wait, no. May /I/ win," she says, and-

The 'go' signal is given! Spurred to action, the large slime bounce-bounce-bounces forward. Riding it must be like riding a skippy ball.

Uta tries her best to hold on. She's clearly one of the rookies here, and her attempts, while respectable, do not match those of the best racers in the group.

Next challenge: ALCHEMY

The road is interrupted by various... holes in the ground... filled with substances of different colors? It's impossible to walk /around/ them, too many, and the rims are to narrow. One will have to wade them, or downright /swim/ in them, and make sure they pick one which isn't dangerous. Which, considering how many of them are bubbling or fuming, might not be easy...

    Merek watches while they approach the places to swim in and wade along. The man points to one of them in particular, "I would like you to follow that path, if you would." With that, they will maneuver that way, with the one being probably the best one that any might be able to pick. It's nice to be with a Moonlight Alchemist when you need to deal with any Alchemy.

    Setsuna and Roki are finally moving again as they get out of the hedge maze, and doing their best to make up for lost time. "Ok Roki next up comes pothole corner, I mean I can't really tell how potholes will stop us but..." He sees the potholes each filled with random liquids and most as big as Roki. "UTA THESE AREN'T POTHOLES!" He shouts into the air as he has Roki dodge the first two before they dive into a purple one when they come out, both Roki and Setsuna are hairless. Fortunately Setsuna chooses wisely for the next one and they land in the hair growth potion so by the time it's over, they are completely fine.

"Lff. Rff. Lff. Lff. Lff." Sprites totally has this one down, and issues authoritative commands around the wad of fabric stuffed in his mouth. Bubbling cauldrons? No problem. Fuming acids? Like mother's milk. Leaving aside the fact that he's perhaps spent a bit too much time around organic solvents in his online life, he has no difficulty whatsoever plotting the optimal path through that obstacle-field of concoctions.

At least in his opinion. As he, his handler, and his mount nimbly bounce their way to the opposite side, he looks pleased as punch, and offers an expansive gesture of victory to his comrades. His comrades who, perhaps sensing the momentary smugness, turn their warty, discolored, mildly singed, cotton candy-maned faces around to give him twin homicidal looks. It would appear that his definition of 'safe' and 'optimal' do not generalize well.

Alchemical hole traps that need to be avoided don't bode well for the Roly Poly girl who isn't known to be either attentive or terribly knowledgeable about alchemy. If she would have seen the pools of whatever they were through the fumes and smoke she might have been able to skirt along the outside of one, but she was vastly too focused on scuttling the legs of her centipede faster to catch up with the pack that she was starting to fall behind. As the pair barreled into one of the pools it became clear that mistakes were made, bubbling liquid splashed all over, drenching them both as the mount tried desperately to escape the sticky crater with it's less than useful slew of legs. "Almost there, you can do it." Rori encouraged, but verbal encouragement seemed entirely lost on her monstrous mount.

The pair emerge from the hedge maze pretty much unscathed. The kelpie pretty much ran fast enough for none of the leering plant life to catch ahold of it. Kauchemar's mane and tail were flailing in the air behind her from the speed... and unfortunately she kept getting slapped in the face by the kelpie's own soggy mane every time it raised it's head. Probably on purpose to try and distract her.

Okay, chemical puddles ahead. That's no big problem. Most compounds can be neutralized by water, so all Kauchemar has to do is conjure what is essentially a giant water balloon and throw it into the liquid pit, stablizing it enough for the keplie to run across. Easy peasy.

The Kelpie on the other hand, apparently decides that pools of weird liquid are 'close enough', and after passing the first pool, abruptly skids to a stop, which throws Kauchemar forward with the bucking motion. She's leaning forward over the monster's head, looking down. "... You just tried to drown me, didn't you?"

The response is Kelpie flicking up its tail, which has some considerable weight due to being drenched, and smack the Were Fang off the weird angle from its back. *SPLASH* Kelpie snorts some foggy mist and turns to trot away... Only to stop as Kauchemar wades up from the pool (being tall has it's perks) and trying to wring glittery chemical out of her mane.

"Cute. Real cute. But you'll have to do better than that to drown m--UGH!" Kauchemar is interrupted by Kelpie turning back and charging to headbutt her, knocking her into a different pool farther along. This time getting a big plume of foaminess as the reaction is triggered, and a more irrate Nightmare emerging. "These. Are. NOT WATER." She stalks over to grab the reigns of the monsterous equine... and only gets halfway on before the Kelpie takes off again. "GODDAMIT."

They finally get to the end of the pool path, but not without the Kelpie constantly trying to dunk Kauchemar in several more pools. It's what Kelpies do, after all.

    The maze straightens out as they find the exit. "Good dog!" Mizuki pats her mount's neck affectionately. Up next are... holes? Of suspicious liquid? It's coming up fast, and Mizuki tries something impulsive: She spits a fireball ahead, which hits one of the holes and flashboils it! The handler asks, "Why did you think that was a good idea?!" Mizuki replies, "I don't know!" Just before the resulting mist spreads to adjacent holes and the interaction sets off sprays of foam and goo! The two are thrown from the dog's back as it starts rolling around in a puddle of dognip foam, and Mizuki gets covered in some sort of slime. The handler continues to look dourly serious even as they're made a mess. "We have to get rid of this stuff..." they explain. Mizuki groans, and has to stop and magically manipulate water and air and fire to wash them off and dry them enough to continue. At least it wasn't acidic slime eating away at her body this time...

"WHAT?!", Uta calls out at Setsuna, but it's too late. Her slime has dived face-first into a pool full of the terrible chemical known as dihydrogen monoxide.

"*GURGLE* WATER!", she foams at the mouth. "Why did it have to be water!?" "Help! Help!", she calls, but she disappears deeper and deeper, and soon it's only bubbles that are seen, and shortly later, not even those.

Silence.

A loud splash, and the unprimed slime bounces out of the poo, with a drenched knight on its back. She seems knocked out and a bit blue in the face, but after a few bounces which force water out of her lungs, she begins to cough and come to, and resume a more healthy color...

Challenge: Physical

A steep incline awaits the Adventurers and their monsters! They will have to climb a steep wall of rock, and this might include jumping like rams, pulling your monster up with a rope, or just take the long way around (still quite a steep climb), and have to run faster than before...

    Merek looks to the steep wall, then he takes a rope while he begins to use that to assist with climbing. "Turbo snail, you are doing wonderful!" he offers. The man pats the snail on the side. Just because it's a monster does not mean you don't care for the thing. He smiles a bit, "You all, try to win!" There's a thumbs up to the party, he seems to be having fun, and in his mind, he doesn't care about winning, he wants to make bonds with people, he wants to make friends, to enjoy things. "You can do it Uta!"

What's this? Bouncing up a rock wall with a giant bunny? What could POSSIBLY go wrong, especially with Sprites in charge? Nothing. Nothing, that's what. It is in no way Sprites's doing that his mount suddenly seems to be landing with earth-shattering whumps. It is no way Sprites's fault that the occasional mini-rock slide may start. And it is most certainly in no way, shape or form, Sprites's intention to interfere with the other challengers. That would be mean and unfair, see.

No, he's just making their day more exciting, and as his mount effortlessly springs upwards he turns half-way around to offer a cheery wave over his shoulder.

    Setsuna and Roki are doing well, they are neck and neck with the dire corgi and then they can kinda mke out Merek up ahead. If they can keep pace they will easily be catching up until they come to the wall. " Ok lets go, straight up. " Roki looks at his owner like he is nuts , he is no Wyvern. No he is not doing it and lays down. It's as if Setsuna's doubt in his own physical ability is bleeding through the magical link and the monster is emulating it for a moment. Finally after a lot of begging and pleading and treat promising they start to go the long way.

By the time they get back on track (pun intended) they're lagging towards the back of the pack. But once they're away from the pools to tempt the Kelpie's natural murderous instincts Kauchemar is able to better exhert her strength of will over the creature's and get back into the race.

Just for the next challenge to be a steep climb, the polar opposite of the Kelpie's prefered state of affairs. It takes some extra gloading for Kauchemar to get the amphibious monster to finally climb up one of the lesser slopes. It'll take them a little longer to get by, but at least this is a grade of slope the creature can handle without slowing down as much.

It took a moment to shake off the goop from the alchemy pools that had managed to further slow Rori and her trusty insectoid stead down, but after they had it was time to kick things into high gear. Being at the back of the pack meant there was a lot of catching up to do and she'd finally manage to hit a bit of a stride and at least closed a little of the space as her dire centipede crawled over the rocks down the littered path, "We've still got a chance, hang in there." she reassured, not ready to give up.

    Mizuki watches Kauchemar and Uta with concern. Having to let the other racers go ahead and see them struggling with that wall in the distance does make it clear that the track doesn't curve before it, though... So she has a little more time to prepare a plan:

    "Gotta go fast!" Mizuki summons up wind at their back, accelerating the corgi as fast as she can, and then focuses on rapid earthbending to help it use its gathered speed to run UP the wall like freaking Sonic the Hedgehog, the stone softening just enough to grip without holding it in place!^T

Uta, who was still trying to come to her senses, snaps out of it. "Yes. YES. Merek believes in me! I CAN DO IT! Thank you, Merek!"

As uncomfortable as it might have seemed at first, a bouncing monster is actually useful in this case. Like a chamois, it can quickly leap from jutting rock to jutting rock, reaching a flat rocky area.

Challenge: -- SHIELD --

As they pass through a forest of trees the size of multi-story buildings, the adventurers will start to notice something strange... hanged corpses. Hanged corpses dangling from branches, at all heights, a massive number of them. As if the sight wasn't unsettling enough, soon the empty eyesockets of the corpses glow dark. They open their mouths, raise their hands, and with a low growl, they begin to cast dark spells at the racers. There is too many of them to dodge them all, one must find protection!

    Merek keeps racing along with the cait sith leading, and him assisting. The man takes a look along the path, then he sees the spells coming about. The Knight lifts up a hand while the magic begins to shield away the dark arcane magic which is coming their way. "Alright, we might at least place. I wonder who will catch up if anyone does. Mizuki and Sprites seem to be managing well," he mentions. There's a nod to Uta, "You're welcome!" Then he notes that she seems to be making progress as well in the field.

It would be easier to find protection if one didn't have a vampire-bunny mount intent on greeting its new-found brethren. Not that Sprites has ever leaned towards the protection side of things anyhow, but it would at least be -easier-. Sprites? Does not look enthuased. His handler looks upwards with positive dread. But their mount thumps its hind leg a couple times, and leaves the trail entirely in favor of launching upwards. Into the trees. With the mannequins. Where it cuddles up to them like a dog greeting the return of its long-lost owner. And all the while, Sprites and the handler are getting nailed by pulses of dark magic, which Sprites returns in as best he can. For the second time in two days, he finds himself in the midst of curses, corrosion, you name it, and reflects that maybe picking up a bit of light magic wouldn't be the worst idea in the world.

It's a trek to get past the mountains, but they make it. Still lingering towards the back of the pack, but that's besides the point. What's important is that Kauchemar is giving an unintentional lesson in some of the other hardships one has to deal with when handling monsters. They don't just tame like animals do. It's a constant struggle of wills, determination... and sometimes a bit of understanding.

They reach the forest, and even the Kelpie slows it's gait, ears raised and nostrils flared, sensing something wrong. "Yeah, I feel it too. It's like that one place with the dolls strung up in trees. Even I don't jive with a place called 'Suicide Forest'..." Kauchemar's own attunement with the forces of darkness alerts her to the terrible vibes of the forest even before the hung figures start to move.

Just seconds before black magic starts slinging she puts the other monster handling art on display, summoning her Binder posessed shield to intercept the spells and even reflect a few back at the dolls. "Now, run!"

Despite their differences the Kelpie agrees this is a terrible place to be, and takes off at a thunderous gallop while Kauchemar and her ghostly shield focus on repelling the cursed attacks.

    Setsuna and Roki finally get to the top of the hill and damn was the dog tired. They sit for a moment and rest and know they are losing time but after a few moments they get back to the race. Into the forest they go, nothing creepy to be seen here. Just corpses, given this entire week, the undeed queen, the crazy uber vamp, stupid dolls, nope the corpses just seem par for the course. Even when they come to life and start dropping magic spells Setsuna seems prepare as he blocks and counters the spells as he goes.

    Mizuki needs a moment to rest after that... fortunately, she can as long as Cydymaith keeps running. And then... forest of corpses! Mizuki gets ready to fight... but instead of the expected fight, it turns out to be a projectile-dodging challenge! Mizuki motions for the handler to have Cydymaith retreat for a few seconds to get her time to cast:"Chill frost, protect me from my foe's strikes as you protect my heart. Condensation Disc!"

    The spell is more like a shield-shaped forcefield with mist VFX than an physical disc of ice, but the important thing is it's a shield! "Go go go!" She urges, the handler guiding the giant dog through parts of the danmaku pattern where she can block most of the spells!

Into the forest it was and soon enough Rori and her mount were under assault on all sides from arcane forces. The isopod cait sith curled into her mount, using her innate armor plating to shield the creature from some of the onslaught of eldritch power as they rushed through the trees, still trying to catch up with the bulk of the group who were all just within sight. The dire centipede zipped this way and that winding around as crushing arcane blasts whizzed by, assaulting the forest floor as they managed to just miss their intended target and she made it beyond the creepy place.

Boing. "Nope!" Boing. "Nope!" Boing. "NOPE!"

Let's face it -- Uta is a martial artist, her body is her own weapon, and the most she can do is evading, deflecting, and parrying. So the most she can do is using her long knightly lance to beat away the incoming blasts of dark magic, and- well, good thing she's wearing a suit of armor. It might not be a /real/ suit of armor, but even a high quality Shadow Festival costume is better than plain fabric, right?

Challenge: -- CRYPTOGRAPHY --

Finally out of the forest, the team finds now itself having circled all the way around and almost back to the starting point. They are still on a really elevated platform, but the rocky path now slopes gently downward, in a wide circle whose bottom is almost exactly below the top point. Given the lack of railing, one could theoretically jump straight down the starting point, but the drop is massive. That'd be suicide. Instead, one has to face a path paved with massive tiles, each of them with a different magical rune on them. Stepping on them in the wrong order is bound to activate elemental trap spells like stone catapults or powerful winds, bound to blown the adventurers sideways!

Somehow Sprites makes it out of the forest. It's no credit to him, mind. Partial credit to the mount. Full credit to the handler, who managed to trigger the mount's tail. There's a colorful explosion, a high-pitched "Eeeeeeeeeeeeee" as Sprites, Handler, and Rabbit shoot through the air, trailing sparks behind them. They land. Sort of. But the tail is still going. They don't even have a chance to decrypt anything before they sail smack dab into the middle of the tiles, where they begin their game of living pinball. They're tossed violently to the side, bounce off a pile of bouncy green goodness, and rattle onwards through a tunnel formed from air. Before launching into the air once more, courtesy of a fire lit under their bottoms.

"THERE IS NO WATER AT THE BOTTOM!" is the first thing Kauchemar shouts upon reaching the edge, and the Kelpie is already leaning suspiciously to one side as they arrive. The creature snorts, but shifts back upright. It keeps trotting though, until it steps on one of the tiles. *WHOOOOSH* a blast of wind erupts from no visible source to blast them backwards, and wet mane into Kauchemar's face. "Ugh!" She slaps the soaked locks down. "I'm starting to regret that running gag. Hold on a moment."

Kauchemar leans forward, spectral flames erupting around her eyes in the shape of spectacle frames as she utilizes some manner of supernatural sight, which starts pinging the runes on various tiles ahead of them. "Well, if you want to follow water so much..." Kauchemar starts casting plumes of water ahead, using it to mark which tiles are safe to step on. They're not deep enough to drown anyone in, but it's enough for the amphibious equine to jump from puddle to puddle. And this is how you use a monster's natural tendancies to your advantage!

It's just not particularly fast, since Kauchemar has to slowly rescan the path ahead as they go and drop new marker puddles.

    Setsuna and Roki comes to the high peaks and the track then leads them down but that is one hell of a down. No no instead it is a matter of choosing the right places to step a large dire wolf, that isn't exactly easy , they weren't built to play twister. So Setsuna goes slow and it takes him a few minutes to figure out where to step and they almost get to the end when they trigger a water trap. Now they will be crossing the finish line, smelling of wet wolf.

    "Phew..." Mizuki doesn't get a chance to relax yet after they leave the forest, though! "Are we in second? Come on, faster Cydymaith, we can do it!" As the track slopes downward, she slings ice onto the track ahead to let her mount build up speed -- which becomes a problem when suddenly, the runed tiles approach faster than she can decipher them "Uhh... there! There! There! Whoops!" She calls out where to leap, but gets it wrong and has to scramble to use elemental magic, creating ramps or having winds blow Cydymaith back towards the track! It's kind of exhausting, though, and slows down their progress...

The dire centipede was obviously starting to get tired, struggling along trying to get it's second wind as it ran through the rune ladien pavement below. Even oblivious Rori could tell it was a trap of sorts that had been etched into the stone below, but knowing how to navigate it was another thing entirely, "Oh golly, I'm not very good at this." she confessed under her breath, doing all she could to make it beyond the trial. Almost at the end one of lanky insects legs pressed down on the wrong piece of pavement, causing a vortex of highly powered wind to tornado the pair backwards all the way to the start and setting them well behind the leaders of the pack, "Darn." she huffed, not letting the setback keep her down too long as she dusted herself off from tumbling away and hopped back on her trusty centipede as fast as she could to get back in the game.

    Merek looks to the field, while he seems to think about it. The man dodges along while he finds a path and magical runes with the cait sith, pointing to each. The man manages to make a way along without any of the traps being set off, though Mizuki is probably close to him in finishing. "Alright, let's see what you can do!" he calls to the woman.The two face off then to see who wins first and second.

The race has gotten close to the finish, and the setup of the slope is perfect for the waiting audience at the finish line to have a good look at the final leg of the competition.
When the others take the correct turn to go down the slope, Uta launches into a loud cackling.
"BEHOLD!", Uta exclaims, loud enough to be heard all the way below, while holding something up in her fist. "Biological samples from a Snow Wyvern, from the last tower push! Mark this down in your calendar, because you are going to see..."

Bounce. Bounce. LEAP! The slime does not turn for the slope like the others, but she launches STRAIGHT INTO THE VOID. The audience (and possibly some racer) look, gasp, let out vocalization of surprise, and point. Uta is quick to slap the samples into the morphologically plain slime's mouth, and since a slime's main instinct is seeking food, it is quickly swallowed down.

Something almost magical happens in mid-air: the slime, still blobby, now gains a vaguely Wyvern-like appearance, and unfurls a pair of draconic wings. The silhouette stands out majestic against the sky, and even the color matches Uta's knightly outfit. "BEHOLD! For I, Uta Furore, like a Wyvern Rider of Londonia, have finally achieved something which has escaped Adventurers until now: a FLYING MOUNT!"

The slime gives its wings a powerful flap, to propel itself fowrard, and a second one, while Uta, an uncontainable smile on her face, sucks in to savor the sweet, sweet taste of victory!

...It's soggy crackers?

She tries again. Nope. Still soggy crackers. How could it-

The slime gives a third, a fourth, a fifth powerful flap of its wings, but the monster's smile quickly turns into a panicked expression, as it loses inches, then more inches, then feet. The monster does not fly, but not for a lack of trying. It seems like it's physically incapable to.

There is screaming, and Uta hangs onto the slime for her (and the slime's) dear life. She spreads her Spriggan wings with a loud FLAP, and the speed is reduced for a moment, but only a moment -- her wings FLOP again, like an umbrella in a storm, and what follows is a Wile-e-Coyote style plummeting to the ground of both rider and mount (feel free to imagine the camera pointing down from above, and them shrinking in apparent size)

SPLORTCH! The slime lands first, and Uta arrives immediately after, DIVING right into the wyvern slime (who, apart of having lost a bunch of HP, seems otherwise fine), and promptly imitates a chunk of pineapple floating in jello, just inches away from the finish line; finish line which everyone else crosses, while Uta is still there, floating, her HP bar decreasing (and the slime's increasing).

Quick! Time to poke the slime to free Uta! (but not too much -- don't want to /kill/ her wyvern-slime mount...)

SpritesHero at least has the grace to not cross the finish line. He draws his knife, slashes at his bindings, and not-so-neatly hops off his mount as it and its handler careen past, tiny flames still flickering off the rabbit's bare bottom. Sprites lands, heavily. Rolls a few times. Stands up as though this had been the Real Plan all along, and makes his way over to the slime. "Huh," he intones, succinctly if not particularly helpfully. "So. Um." He pauses again, bringing his hand to his chin to rub at it thoughtfully. No, apparently heat-of-the-moment improvisation is far from being his strong point. He just sort of stands there, glassy-eyed, watching hp transfer.

They made it to the finish line. Towards the end. But still finished. That was the point. And to show that summoning and monster handling isn't as easy as some people may think.

Kauchemar tries to see what is going on with Uta, but ends up unintentionally rubbernecking because the Kelpie, realizing she's not paying attention, isn't stopping. "Hey, where are you going no--"

*SPLOOSH*-- To again dunk the Nightmare in the pools, apparently.

With a sigh this time Kauchemar just stays at the bottom of the pool, casting Bubble around herself to be able to breath. The Kelpie on the other hoof thinks it's finally succeeding in drowning her, making it a bit more compliant in being led away by the Ranch handlers.

Finally Kauchemar slinks back out of the pool once it's clear. "This is why I typically don't bother with a mount," she grumbles to no one but herself.

    Setsuna could of won, he absolutely could have but obviously there would have been discussion if it was fair for someone to win that was directly working for the company hosting the race. So instead he stops to help Uta, first he stares at her , second he looks at the Slime and baps it, "Cut that out!" Is all he says as he looks at the slime disapprovingly, and judgingly. Eventually Uta would be free and Roki would clean Uta's face of any slime remains.

    Merek makes a way along and manages to reach the finish line, while Uta begins to try and fly. He takes a look back, "Ah, what are you doing!" The man will take a look to everyone and nods a bit while he begins to dismount, nodding to the Cait Sith, "Thank you!" He might not be the one to actually race the mount, though the work which he managed to put in assured a general victory. The man dismounts, then he makes a way to Uta, to begin poking the slime.

Just as Uta was about to take that third place spot the epic fail of slime tangling caught her her descent and halted her progress, giving Rori just enough time to pass her up. Skidding to a halt immediately after crossing the finish line the centipede's legs dug into the ground as it's rider turned it around to check on the other competitor. "Uh oh." she meeped, her big bug eyes widening at the sight as she froze in place for a moment and everyone else approached trying to save Uta from her fate. "Hey Mr.Slime! Be nice please." she yammered, quickly rushing back to give Uta a hand getting out of the slime's stomach? Do slimes have stomachs? Probably not, but lets call it that.

    Mizuki's persistance is rewarded with second place! "Good work! Thank you!" She pats and shakes hands with her mount and its handler... and then Uta's trying a thing. Flight... fails? Is it forbidden by physics after all? She winces as images flash through her head of people trying to use flying vehicles in FM World and crashing... but Uta needs help now! She rushes over to the slime, but... is uncertain what to do. She can't risk killing Uta's prized wyvern slime! "MONSTER HANDLER! UTA'S IN TROUBLE, WE NEED A MONSTER HANDLER!" She calls out.

After some poking and some coaxing (the latter on Rori's part), Uta is disgorged; she tumbles a few times then lands face-down on the ground. Once again, even if just a costume, that armor helped slow down damage a little bit. At the cost of the long, red feather, alas. Such a loss.

As Setsuna predicted, the dire wolf does lick Uta clean of slime remains (what he'll think of an ultra-acidic substance it remains to be seen -- but who knows, maybe slime goo is equivalent to wasabi in dire dog years?).

"Aw, what a pity!", exclaims the perky Sylph young woman announcer. "We are sorry, but the rules are pretty clear -- that means disqualification from the race."

Eventually, still visibly stunned but conscious, Uta raises a hand, and failing to make her eyes converge properly, says to Mizuki, "I am a monster handler! What do I need to do?"

"Yes, you are now," Kauchemar remarks as she walks up. "So let this be a reminder that no matter how much you learn, how much you train, experience will still be your best teacher."

She leans down to Uta's level, lowering her voice to more of a mock whistle. "You just need to survive the trial and error."

    Mizuki hugs the slobbery Uta in relief, then quickly backs off, unsure how she feels about hugs. The catgirl blinks. "...Wait, you heard me say THAT through the slime, but not 'Uta's in trouble'? I was calling for a monster handler to *rescue* you without hurting your prize slime. I'm glad you're okay... it sucks that your slime didn't fly, though."

    "...Wait, then why can wyverns fly in the first place...?"

Uta keeps silent at Kauchemar's comment, but it's clear she's internalizing the lesson

"Beats me..." Uta says to Mizuki, also a bit confused by the hugging, but returning it. "Ever since I've been stuck with wings, I've tried to find a way to fly. Everything seems to fly."

She gives Mizuki a puzzled look. "What really baffles me is why everything else can't fly..."

Uta looks crestfallen as it's announced that she's been disqualified. "I suppose I deserve it," she mumbles. "That stunt might have scared the audience. I /hope/ they managed to minimize it as some sort of 'business as usual' kind of slip, if not that could be bad publicity for the Ranch." She gets up, and staggers towards her slime. "It's okay, Vern!", she says, hugging her mount. "You'll always be a champion to me!"

After it turns out that what happened to Uta was nothing but a quickly solved incident, the celebrations resume as before. The three winners are invited on the podium, with Merek and his monster handler on the highest platform, followed by Mizuki (and her handler) and Rori. "Let's all celebrate our champions!", the announcer exclaims, and the audience offers them a round of applause. "In addition to the normal prizes for the race, tonight we'll be glad to offer you a meal on the house!"

Well, it turns out that there /is/ such a thing as a free lunch?

Kauchemar holds up a hand. "To be fair, Uta, you've made an important discovery." Then points at 'Vern' as the giant ball of slime with wings has been dubbed. "That certain abilities won't transfer to a slime even if they developed the physical traits from being primed. Clearly flying monsters takes more than just some kind of magic wings. Or it may be an ability in the wings that the slime doesn't know how to utilize."

    Merek looks along to Uta when all of that is finished, and nods a bit, "You did well. I am enjoying the slimes. You know, we need to take time to see the Chim Chims again," he will note, while he takes a moment to look about to find where the food will be, then he begins to try making the plate for himself, while he thinks about it, "I always enjoy the festival. It's nice to take a break from everything!"

Uta points at her back, and exclaims "I have /natural/ wings!" She spreads her gauzy dark appendages as wide as they get to prove her point. "They work as a sort of built-in parachute at most!", she grumbles. It's clear the thing annoys her. "That is what I meant with wanting to know why everything else doesn't fly. We Spriggans, accoring to legend, used to be able to. But then were cursed to the ground..."

Her breathing accelerates, so she has to flick her menu open and materialize...

A red ball.

She squeezes, releases, squeezes, releases it, while doing breathing exercises. Seems like she's upgraded from a crudely sewn leather one to a fancier model.

"...yes, Kauchemar. I suppose we have," she finally concede, now that she's calmer. "The question is, where do we go from here?" She turns to Merek. "...Yes. Yes, we should do something like that, I agree. In fact..."
She taps her chin. "...I'd have to do a few things before that, but maybe we can go there again and see if we can learn more..."

"Because one or two races having the power of flight over the others would be unbalanced," Kauchemar notes, stepping out of character as it were for a moment. "Though seeing as avian Were Fangs also cannot fly..." Good thing she picked nightmare and not something like pegasus or hippogriff. That'd be all awkward. "Oh well."

She settled on crossing her arms, followed by a soft snort. "Though if I find out which ranchhand thought it'd be funny to give me the Kelpie just because it's also a monsterous equine I am going to give them a month's worth of nightmares of drowning."