Festival: Mountain Peko Race

The Hot Springs festival brings many people to the mountain regions of Yamato, seeking out elusive locations known for their mineral waters or healing properties. However, it also brings out animals and monsters, ready to defend their territory from those who may wander off the beaten path.

This makes the Mountain Peko Race one of the more dangerous ones, as not only is the terrain difficult for even the strongest of runners, but the chance of being attacked by monsters is unusually high. It leaves many racers and fans with a nervous sort of energy.

As the racers begin to make their way to the starting gates, it is obvious that there fewer than in some of the previous races. It seems that the chance of injury or death has kept many from being willing to risk it. Even so, there are still a good three dozen racers, including many of the strongest pairings from across the lands.

"R-r-riders t-t-to your s-s-starting gates!" Calls out a stuttering voice of a young Pooka who seems to have been made the master of ceremonies, simply by the fact that there were no other volunteers.

Deciding to have a bit of fun, Giganpor had borrowed a Peko for the race. Mostly 'cause they said his Nightmare wasn't a Peko, so couldn't use it.

His was a bit bigger and stouter as he sat proudly, having stashed his weapon in his inventory and just kept to his usual armor in this case.

The Were Fang was even in lion form, since this was a race might as well get it all out there from the start, right?

Reaching down to pat the bird on the side, Giganpor gave a bit of a grin, "Alright, big guy. Let's see what we can do. First time in this."

    Rizadoman steps up to the starting line, leading his Peko behind him. Pulling the racing goggles down over his horns, and settling them on to the eyes he takes a moment to look at the track before climbing on to his peko, "Ok bird. We shall do this. Your ancestors use to run wild through these mountain passes, we shall call upon them to give us strength and be guide. Together we shall find victory today. " As if the peko understood this all the golden feathered mount replies , "KWEEEEH!" Then they both lean forward and get ready to race.

Rising star of the Nero circuit, Thalia Maxwell is here! She's mounted atop a Peko, and only looks mostly uncomfortable. She's not much of a rider. Still, she is absolutely acting as if she is livestreaming this, and that it would probably get a ton of views, if only for comedy's sake.

The bird is spirited, stamping and snorting as she tries to keep it soothed enough that it won't throw her off.

"Please don't throw me to my death, 'kay?"

Prophylaxis has come! And not just because he is determined to finally win one of these damn races. He's also here because there's something about the mountain air and charging boldly across the hills and valleys like an absolute madman filled with far too much crackling magical energy than he knows what to do with.

But MOST importantly, this... is a dangerous race. Possibly the MOST dangerous race. A niggling voice at the very back of his head reminds him: hey, psst, if you do this, you might be able to find nearly-dead people to do science upon.

And so he is here, riding astride a by-now familiar peko with a permanently blissed out expression on her face. "Alright Konpeko," Prophylaxis says, patting his bird's neck. "Just keep running, I'll handle the... problems."

    Injury or death? Pffft. That's never stopped Yuuki. Whether she's fighting bosses or avoiding paperwork, she's always giving it her all in her usual, fearless way. So it's should be no surprise that Yuuki is at this race today as well, despite the circumstances.

    Yuuki guides her peko up to her assigned starting gate. It's a rather buff looking peko. Like seriously, what has it been benching? Other pekos? Yuuki chuckles from above her mount, "Hehehe, with this big guy, I can't lose!"

    Yuuki leans forward, getting ready for the start. A enthusiastic shine in her eyes.

Syx is once again out with Meteor, and once again has a cowboy hat on that he probably got from Gwen, "Yee haw! Lets get a move on, little birdies! Yah!" He spurs the Peko along and then pulls himself up to the starting line. Sure he's never won one of these, but it's always because his arch rival Shiruba wins them instead. He quickly scans for her presence while sizing up the competition.

Gwen did enjoy the races she never runs but she always had fun with it. She looks to see who the Pooka had been saddled with the job. She'll have to make them something nice later for now she's got a race to win or try to win. She's on her bird for a moment and whispers. "You'll extra greens if we do good..."

Also if people are paying attention her bird has some very fancy-looking Barding.

Schneider has volunteered for the race. He's in a borrowed peko named, aptly, Fire. He is orange, red, and yellow, hence the name, and seems to have some spirit to him, which Schneider is hard put to control. In light of the fact that this is related to a hot springs festival, he has arrived suitably attired in what, on Earth, would be called board shorts, and bare-chested, though he's slender rather than muscular. He grins, and while his teeth do not make a *ting*, one could be forgiven for expecting it. His long white hair flows loosely down his back, and he waves to the crowd, such as it is.

    Merek will make a way to the place with his peko and begin to wait. The man takes the time and begins to work on preparing.

Shiruba trots up to the starting line on the back of her Peko, who's sporting a bit of extra barding to make sure he stays warm enough to race. Shiruba, on the other hand, is dressed little different than usual. She's a Cait Sith of a Mountain Wolf species, so the cold doesn't bother her very much. She looks over the gathering, seeing both familiar faces at the races, and some new ones as well. Cool.

She leans forward and pats the side of her bird's neck. "I know it's a little chilly, but just do your best as always Tradewind."

That's gotten her two victories before, after all. Just trying. Though with mountains being a familiar environment, hopefully it'll mainly be possible monsters she has to worry about.

    Mizuki's kept to her usual ninja outfit for today, a midnight-purple gi and long red scarf. She's riding Poppy, the trusty, easygoing peko she's ridden in many of these races before! She smiles and waves to the crowd. "May the best racer win!"

Stage 1: The Stone Climb

Rather than the usual starting whistle, there is a low, mournful sound of a horn that plays, echoing far over the mountains. It causes a moment of confusion amongst many of the riders who don't seem to realize that this is the signal to start the race.

After that moment of confusion, there is an amplified shout from the nervous boy running the race, calling out, "G-g-go!"

The racers take off out of the gates, after a few uncertain steps, starting the to follow the flagged path up along the rocky expanse. It's quite a difficult trek for birds mostly used to running along flat ground. There are huge bolders in some places that need to be weaved around or moved.

However, racers with the right inclinations can make things a lot easier on themselves. Moving rocks out of the way, or placing them more firmly underfoot, allows those with a bit of skill in Earth magic to take advantage of the situation and get an early lead over the rest of the pack.

Challenge: Earth

Giganpor unfortunately isn't used to Peko racing. The bouncing is a bit different than a horse, and he's not able to focus fully so he tries to get a handle on it and just goes around boulders, rocks, and the like as much as he can with his stout looking peko.

    Merek will begin to climb the stone mountain while he begins to weave along. The man takes the time to make sure that he can guide his peko about.

The horn goes, and Thalia thumps her bird. It squwaks in alarm and bolts in a weaving pattern. She barely manages to hold onto the reins. "I'm gonna diiiiiiiie!" She yelps as the Peko does exactly what it wants to.

In this case, it wants to bob and weave its way around the rocks in the way. It's slower than magic but, hey. She's barely holding on, here.

Schneider gets a good start, unlike in previous races, nudging his peko, Fire, at the first sound of the ululating horn. He leans low over Fire's neck as the bird makes good time up the difficult terrain, zipping easily between the boulders, talons scoring the earth with each crumbling step. He looks left and right, then sighs, maybe he hadn't gotten as good a start as he thought, he's not really close to the front by any means, though at least he's still a contender.

As soon as the starting horn sounds Shiruba gives Tradewind a light spurring with her heels. It's all it takes to get her reliable Peko moving. Then tilts her head back to look at the slope rising up already to greet the first leg of the race. She squints a little, scanning ahead, and then smirks a bit as she leans forward to reduce her wind resistance on his back. They will need it to pull this off. Closer, closer, she weaves around some of the racers stumbling over the rough terrain, and then a boulder coming up.

"Now!" Shiruba commands, and her peko uses some great leg strength to leap into the air, land on top of the boulder, and then leap off to the next one, and another. Using what was suppose to be a terrain obstacle to their advantage and make a much straighter climb up the slope instead!

Konpeko blinks with simple befuddlement and utterly fails to react to the horn as it sounds. It isn't until a TASTY CARROT drops into her field of view does the peko begin charging off after the rest of the pack. Sadly, this sets Prophylaxis back just a bit. But then...

They come upon a FIELD OF ROCKS!?

Prophylaxis is having none of that. Winter may be coming, but the plants up here in the mountains are mighty, hardy things. His eyes flare with deep, azure light as he leans down and drags his staff across the ground. It starts slowly at first, a few shoots of grass and tufts of wildflowers springing from the earth... But then comes a veritable tide of sprawling roots and vines! The overgrowth worms through the difficult terrain and forges a direct route from one end to the other!

"Go, Konpeko!" Prophylaxis says, dangling that carrot tantalizingly in front of his mount's beak. With a 'hewk!!' the peko hops up onto the surging vegetation and sallies forth!

    Bwoooooooooooorn.

    The horn blows! Yuuki blinks in confusion for a moment. Was that the signal? Then the pooka confirms it. Yuuki kicks her peko into high gear, "Go, buddy, go!" The two are out of the gate and running!

    The initial challenge doesn't seem that bad. Yuuki's confident the two of them will be able to make it through just fine. Even if it's not terrain especially suited for pekos.

    Unfortunately, it looks like her choice of peko is already backfiring on Yuuki. As its large claws appear to be having trouble finding good purchase on the rocky ground! As a result, the peko is stumbling around a little, slowing it down and also make Yuuki a little uneasy. She clings to the big bird, "H-Hey! Watch it! You're going to send me tumbling at this rate!"

    Rizadoman and Bird move forward with a strong start as they run towards the first challenge. The mournful sound of the horn giving him brief reminders of his early life as a hatchling when the horn of his village would be blown to fight off the yearly migration of snakes. Fortunately his reminiscence doesn't distract him to much as the sight of the rocks in the way provides the perfect opportunity to show off how much Bird and him have been training. A single magic spell encases the Peko's head in a stone helm and Rizadoman's as well as they both lean forward head first plowing through the boulders. Heads undamaged...mostly.

    The music starts with a horn. ...Wait, there isn't background music anymore. ...Was that the starting signal? As the pooka starts to call out, Mizuki is just urging her peko onward!

    Mizuki sees the boulders up ahead, and tries to raise up a ramp over one of them... but her peko balks, knowing it won't clear the boulder because it can't understand that the ramp under it will finish forming by the time it gets there. "Hey, come on! Let's go, Poppy!" Mizuki urges the bird onward once the ramp is in place, but that cost her time... and now any racers coming after her have the ramp to use, too!

As the group takes off, Syx pulls his Peko up and rears back, before charging ahead. As they find the massive field of rocks in front of them, Syx frowns, "Just stick close, buddy!" He calls out to Meteor, before leaping over the front of the Peko and charging ahead on foot.

Using his strength and technique, Syx begins to throw rocks out of the way of his Peko, clearing a path, although probably making the path even more treacherous for some of the other racers in the process without thinking about it.

Gwen Sees quite a few people she knows she'll wave and then it's time to get hauling with her peko. The moment the signal is given? Off she goes with a very loud rebel yell for a lack of a better term. She's having a good deal of fun with this and she's not trying to hide it. The Stone Climb is shockingly not an issue for her as she and her Peco just keep on going like some sort of feathered SUV.

Stage 2: Keepers of the Mountain

The mountain path leads them up into a flat bit of land between two of the peaks, allowing a bit of open running. Some of the faster Pekos may start to pull ahead at this point, but things are never quite that simple.

A group of large ape-like creatures start to appear out of ledges along the sides of the racetrack, looking irritated at the invasion of their territory. Soon enough, they start to scoop up rocks and hurl them down towards the riders below.

It makes it not only a test of speed, but a test of their defenses. An unwary rider may just end up knocked out if they are hit too hard, and a larger boulder could injure a Peko if their rider can't keep them out of harm's way.

There is safety, though, should they reach the far edge of the field, as it seems beyond the reach of the monsters' throwing range. But first, they have to get there...

Challenge: Shield/Evasion (Choose one)

Oh boy, monsters! Thalia twitches the reins, trying to get her Peko to move like she wants to. It turns out that she is Not Good at this. The bird continues to do what it wants. Once again, what it wants is to barrel forward through the hail of rocks.

Luckily the bird has a shield named Thalia on its back.

Rocks of varying sizes peg the Spriggan, with one impressive number clipping her upside the head, giving her a bit of a daze. ... More than a bit. Something, something probably has a concussion.

Getting past the first challenge and to the second part, Giganpor moves his Peko to avoid boulders. He's near the tail end of the pack, but apparently decides to give the others a helping boost in a way.

"Don't worry about this, friend." He tells his Peko.

Then he stands up in the stirrups a bit, and calls out, "Hear the Heaven's Roar!" The entire canyon shakes as a tremendous roar comes from him and his peko. It's not only something to frighten the apes, but also other Pekos by accident to speed them along a little. If it scares other riders as well, oh well. They're Adventurers mostly! The roar's sound waves even push an incoming boulder or three away before Giganpor settles back into the saddle and spurs his Peko on.

What is with the hotspring season and monkeys, anyway? Could it be that their king is acting up? Is there something /else/ drawing monkeys from all across the world to Yamato specifically when everyone else wants to use the hotsprings?

Prophylaxis clings to Konpeko's reins, tugging the peko this way and that as rocks and dirt and worse are hurled down onto the track. Miraculously, the pair manage to get through unscathed, though the weaving and bobbing does delay them somewhat compared to some of the others...!

Schneider acks as the gorillas start hurling rocks. After a near miss, he shouts out, "DAMEDO! Magic Shield!" and indeed, a shield springs up, a mostly invisible, shimmering field, that goes bright for a moment when each rock strikes. "C'mon, Fire," he urges the bird, who seems to be making good time, keeping up with the pack as the wizard leans across his neck. The flying rocks are not a danger, but the risk of stepping on one has Fire's pace down a bit as Schneider tries to motivate him. He hums, "Roses are red, violets are blue, pekos that lose are made into glue." He saw it in an old movie, hopefully it'll help!

Being towards the head of the pack Shiruba is one of the first to spot the simians shimmying their way onto the ledges, and going all Donkey Kong on the racers below. "Just live up to your name, Tradewind, and keep moving swiftly!"

Shiruba sits up, raising one hand over her head as she does, and conjures one of her elemental barriers to form a dome over herself and her peko. Rocks and snapped roots bounce off of it, doing little to styme her mount's progress through the area.

Being the nice girl she is Shiruba tries to not bounce any rocks into the path of others, but the angles are coming on the fly so she's not 100% in control of the ricochets.

    Merek looks to the creatures that are throwing rocks to them, while he takes a moment to begin lifting up a hand to bring about a magical shield!

Gwen is not at the back of the park nor is she at the front, still thing are going prety well and she's seem to be ready for what might be coming. She'll make use of her shield to deflect anything coming in at her quite easily and keeps on going. "Oh Shiruba! I'm comming for you o/~"

    Yuuki is looking a little green after coming out of the previous leg of the race. All the stumbling of her peko has apparently taken its toll. But seeing the relatively flat, clear run ahead, Yuuki perks up, "It's okay! We can use this time to make up for-Ow! Hey!"

    A small rock strikes Yuuki in the shoulder. She looks around, before noticing a bunch of monkeys throwing things at them! How rude. Yuuki guides her peko through the hail of rockfire, zigging left, right, jumping over large boulders and even drifting around a turn at one point to avoid the impromptu projectiles.

    Finally Yuuki and her mount make it to safety, Yuuki breathing a sigh of relief as she says, "I'm glad it's only rocks they were throwing."

    As the land flattens out Rizadoman urges the peko on, to take advantage of the flat terrain, however the large apes , princely as they may be do not look as welcoming as Rizadoman hopes. "Keep running Bird, I shall protect us. " Protect them he does as the lizardman lashes out to break the stones and protect the peko. He would not let a single stone harm his peko today. At the same time he trust his mount to get him out of the danger he is in.

Syx's plan is working up until the moment where it's not. As soon as the rocks are cleared, he goes to mount onto Meteor again, only to find himself being pelted by rocks from multiple directions, "Augh! The rocks that I threw have sent their children to get revenge! Noo!" He tries to fend off the rocks, and also chase after his peko who has run ahead instead of standing around like an idiot trying to swat rocks out of the sky. Eventually when Syx does get back onto Meteor's back, they're far behind.

    "Come on, Poppy!" Mizuki looks a bit unhappy with such poor performance so early in the race! She urges the bird to go faster... and then IS THAT THE YETI THAT TRIED TO KIDNAP UTA? Wait, no it's smaller and THERE ARE MORE OF THEM?! "Who directed the track through here?!" As she sees a boulder about to head her way, she decides for a risky tactic... taking a hand off the reins to make some hand seals, she summons up wind to boost Poppy's speed, trying to simultaneously dodge the boulders AND get ahead, weaving through close calls but... they're making progress! They're almost to the middle of the pack now!

Stage 3: Geyser Point

Beyond the reach of the ape-like monsters, the ground starts to become unusually unstable. There are little rumblings beneath the surface that cause some of the rocks to slip beneath peko feet. Strange mounds seem to burble slightly as they run by.

Then, suddenly, one of the mounds explodes in a torrent of water that shoots skyward. Steam rises off of the ultra-hot water, threatening to scald those that it falls upon or those who get too close. At the edges of the race track, more of these geysers start to burble.

It will be difficult to avoid them entirely, but a little magic might just keep the water at bay and prevent peko or rider from being burned. Those who are devious, might even look to divert one of these streams of boiling water towards their opponents, trying to take them out of the race, entirely.

Challenge: Water

Giganpor, after the apes, is just trudging along mid-pack. At least until a geyser bursts. His hands go blue as he starts to direct water away from himself. Like a lot of it. Seriously, who made this track!? Water geysers!?

"I got you, my friend. Let's go!" He says towards his peko as he focuses on defense while guiding the peko along the course.

    Merek doesn't manage to avoid all of the water, which begins spraying that peko while he tries to weave.

Thalia manages to come out of the daze just in time to see a geyser blow in front of the pack. Luckily, she's far enough back to have time to see and prepare. She shakes her head to clear it, counts a rhythm and boots the Peko in the ribs.

Her bird takes off into the rumbling ground, twitch-steering just out of the way of the boiling water rockets.

"It's not over yet!"

It's a hot springs festival, Shiruba was expecting water of some kind.

Boiling hot geysers was not quite what she was expecting, but at least she's prepared for the general scenerio.

She dismisses the wind magic she had just used, and instead forms a shield of ice. "Follow me." She jumps off, runs up, and pushes the frost shield down over one of the mounds as it's about to burst. The cold counteracts the hot, and together its only hot steam that belches out of the sides. Tradewind jumps over her, and then she runs up to do it again on another. And another. Before finally getting to the end, the peko slowing only long enough for Shiruba to jump back on.

That was slower than they would of liked, but it was at least safer, for the both of them. Sometimes you've got to take the cautious route to ensure to actually make it to the finish.

    Hah. Magic? Where we're going, we don't need no magic!

    Plus. Yuuki doesn't have any magic.

    Sooooo. Yeah. Yuuki just ends up playing dirty, moving her peko in behind one of her competition and using them to soak up the scalding water. This is totally a legitimate racing tactic. She saw it in a car race once.

    Still so far behind. The next challenge is... HOT WATER. But seriously, it's steaming. Mizuki distantly recalls hearing about industrial accidents involving steam in the real world and does not want to experience that! She holds up a hand and begins casting: "Chill frost, protect me from my foe's strikes as you protect my heart! Condensation Shield!" The spell is more like a shield-shaped forcefield with mist VFX than a physical disc of ice, but it does the job... almost. It protects her and Poppy from the steaming rain, but it turns out the water is hot enough to trigger the spell's weakness to fire -- though made of magic, the shield rapidly 'melts', getting thinner in size and in how cloudy the mist is. Mizuki has to divert focus from getting ahead to dodging the rain instead, feeling a bit stupid for trying that, honestly.

Schneider nudges Fire for some extra speed. He can feel that he's ... sort of in his element. For all that there's water everywhere, it's boiling hot water, and that's a bit like Fire. Fire, he likes. And Fire, the peko, seems to like hot water, trundling along across steaming mud and through hot showers like a day at the park. Schneider, in his flame-decorated board shorts, seems well-suited to getting a hot shower also, and he hangs tough. He's not leading the race, but he's certainly gaining, with only Prophylaxis ahead of him now. He's looking for his opening, and then Fire will shine. "H'yah, h'yah!" Seems like his little poem has kept Fire in the race!

You never know what monkeys might be throwing on any given day. In any case, it's best to avoid their ire-- to do anything else is absolutely unhygenic!

Though if any of them /are/ covered in filth, the next leg of the race will see that sorted in no time at all. A blast of superheated water erupts from underfoot, geysers blasting left, right and center. An attempt to bathe in /these/ springs will result in third degree burns or worse! Konpeko squawks in surprise and recoils from the heat... shortly before a wave of chilling magic sweeps over the area. Prophylaxis holds his staff aloft, a cool, bluish-white glow surrounding him as more of that gelid power ripples outward. One by one, the geysers slow as a good portion of the underground spring is abruptly flash-frozen, leaving a clear path for Konpeko to charge through unimpeded!

The others, though, might just have to deal with the aftermath: An unexpectedly slippery surface and a sudden drop in temperature!

    Rizadoman and Bird seem to hesitate after the first geyser of water almost cooks poor poor bird but Rizadoman's mother was a storm weaver, a little magic and the water is mostly going to bend against them. It almost seems to be an easy if not a cautious section of the track before he is knocked off Bird. Some dirty rotten scoundrel knocks him off his Peko and sends him to the ground. With an ooff he sits up ready for a fight but it seems instead that whoever did it had run off already. So he simply does his best to get back in the race.

"Ah! Crap! Ahh!" Syx is clearly having a ton of fun back there as he tries to weave in and out of the geysers, "I already took a bath this week!" He yells to nobody in particular, as he tries to force his way through. At least Salamander scales are relatively heat resistant, so he probably won't need to see a healer once this is done.

This is far from over she takes note of all the other racer and is just having a grand old time of it. Her peco seems to be having a grand old time about it to. It seem nbot bother by the water as they dart in and about it while Gwen uses several water spells to deflec the hot water assault. "mmm The guild needs a hot springs and or a bath house...."

Stage 4: Kill it with Fire

The strange shift that seems to bring more boiling water to the surface during the Hot Springs Festival also seems to bring with it a number of monsters who are aligned to those related elements. At the edge of the plain of gesyers, there are a little gathering of creatures that look to be small fire elementals.

They look almost like gremlins, small and close to the ground, with curved horns and flames that linger along their bodies. Where they touch the ground, magma-like footprints are left behind.

As the Pekos draw clsoer, the fire Imps begin to leap towards them, grabbing onto legs and launching themselves at Adventurers. They hurl fireballs and chitter in some unknown monster language.

But you know what they say... fight fire with fire...

Challenge: Fire

Thalia clears the geysers and keeps on trucking.

Then the imps show up. Well, gremlins, but what's the difference?

She draws a sword as they start to swarm her Peko, swinging down at the little jerks to make them stay clear. She manages to do so, but it hampers her speed a bit.

Also not helping is her yelling at Syx. "Only bathe once a week!? Disgusting!"

    Merek looks to the creatures that look to be throwing fire at them, while he throws a potion that will explode into all of the ones that look to be aiming to him.

Syx laughs as he hears Thalia yelling back at him, "That's because I clean things with fire! Watch this!"

He spurs Meteor on, and then the fun begins, as both Syx and his mount are engulfed with flames, the peko living up to his namesake as Syx rushes forward, blasting past any hostiles that try to get in his way. He's showing no signs of stopping now!

Shiruba turns to look over her shoulder. "Don't loose focus Gwen!" Then turns her attention back ahead, just in time to duck her head as a fireball wizzes past. "Oh, there we go, now we've got both water and fire covered for hot springs."

Fire isn't the strongest of her elemental alignments, but it's enough to charge an arrow and that's all she needs. Shiruba nocks on, the runes on the shaft lighting as she does, and then fires. It lands wedged in the ground behind a pack of the fire gremlins, seeming to do nothing.

Until one of them tries to throw more flames... and it's sucked back past them and into the arrow. It does this several times, more of the runes glowing each time it absorbs some fire.

Until the entire arrow is full, and it explodes, releasing the elemental energy back out in a superheated shockwave that scatters gremlins hither and yon.

"Fight fire with fire... And now your magic is imp-otent!" Shiruba retorts over her shoulder as her peko keeps bounding ahead.

Seeing the incoming fire gremlins after avoiding getting boiling watered, Giganpor urges his peko onward. Then he decides to fight fire... with fire!

"FLAME WALL!" He calls out as he brings his hands up and down.

A corridor of flame erupts either side of his Peko, protecting it and shoving the little gremlins back as he races on.

    Yes the little fire imps decide to attack the lizardman and his peko with fire. So Rizadoman fights back as he rears his head back and launches a streams of fire at the Imps, spraying them with intense flames trying his best to avoid his own ride. " Keep going Bird. We can still catch up!" Rizadoman says as smoke comes out around the edges of his maw and looks forward. He can almost make out the doctor's bird ahead of him in the difference.

Amidst the blasting geysers and the squawking Pekos, Prophylaxis overhears something he simply cannot ignore.

"Syx, you absolute goblin, we're going to have words about your bathing habits. We have a bath house now! With hot water! There is no excuse for not bathing every day!" Speaking of hot water, though...

Well, they all managed to survive the geyser fields, for one. But waiting for them /beyond/ the jets of scalding water are... Imps? Prophylaxis hasn't seen the likes of them for a long while. He knows how to deal with them, fortunately. The cool radiance pouring from him is replaced by a blazing inferno of vermilion and red. He gathers together a mote of elemental flame and then crushes it to his chest. Fire pours across his body and down into his Peko's, imbuing them both with the elemental energies of flame.

...Which largely serves to protect them from the firepower EVERYONE ELSE is unleashing, rather than contributing anything to the offense themselves. Still, it works out. Konpeko continues her steady advance...!

    Use fire against fire elementals? That's... What... What crazy ass game has backwards mechanics like that!? Everyone knows it's Water > Fire > Earth > Air > Water.

    Not that Yuuki has any real choice in the matter. Seeing as how, as previously established, her magic is quite lacking. So she resorts to what she knows. Besides. Everyone knows that Sword > All.

    Yuuki draws her sword as the imps start to cling to her peko, "Don't worry, buddy! I've got this!" Yuuki starts hacking away with her blade. Her peko looks nervous.

    It's doesn't know Yuuki.

    The imps are fought off with relative easy and barely any lost time! Yuuki sheathes her sword with a smug smile, before pointing forward, "Let's gooooo! We're almost there!"

Schneider will show them fighting fire with fire! He spurs his peko on in a mad dash, chanting, "Kaizard, aruzard, kisk! Hansay Glossik!" Evil darkness seems to surround him as he chants, "Unleash total destruction! Sage of Hades use the seven keys to open the gates of Hell! HALLOWEEN!" And all hell breaks out, fire sweeping away the elementals in a torrent of liquid annihilation. Seems that killing fire elementals with even more fire is possible, at least in certain circumstances. He's caught up with the doctor now, his peko pounding forward like a creature possessed.

Gwen says "Give me fuel give me fire give me that which I desire o/~" Gwen is just going along as now there's somethign to fdeal with. She'll start casting fire spell as she shift song to Great Balls of fire, no she does not have song and Gwen does not give a damn as the fire bolts go flying at the monsters.

    Mizuki chuckles overhearing someone shout 'I already took a bath this week.' "You can always come to the one in Tolbana, you know!" She shouts to Gwen.

    At last the edge of the field of geysers is reached, and there are... fire gremlins? But she can't fight those with fire... wait.

    Mizuki stands up on the peko's back, trusting it to keep running. Her fur begins to wave like flames. As fireballs approach she shoots them out of the air by spitting her own plumes of flame, and when the imps leap in to attack she GRABS them out of the air and hurls them behind her! "Oh no you don't! I'M the fire monster here!"

Stage 5: The Descent

The last few lingering fireballs follow them down the path which weaves back out of the mountain and across a bridge which connects back towards the finish line. However, this section of the mountain seems to be made up entirely of loose stones.

Rocks tend to slide underfoot, causing even the most sure-footed of birds to stumble. Unwary steps might cause entire sections of the rock face to start to tumble away, taking both mount and rider down with them.

It will take a steady hand and nerves of steel to navigate across this section and make it to the finish line. The sound of cheering carries over clattering rocks. Those gathered are certainly ready to cheer on those riders who have actually managed to make it to the end of the race.

Challenge: Handle Animal

Thalia hits the home stretch. She's got a headache, and her Peko has some singed feathers, but mostly, everyone is intact. Mostly.

She sends the bird at full tilt, footfalls pulling up just as rocks start to fall away. She's going to finish by the skin of her teeth, but she's going to finish and not be dead, so that's a bonus.

There's something to be said for slow and steady winning races, but the real trick is making sure you go just fast enough that your mount doesn't tumble at the very last minute and go absolutely ass-over-teakettle just before the finish line.

But as always, Konpeko does what Konpeko has ever done. The ground under-claw slips just a little bit...

And both Peko and Rider abruptly (and simultaneously) squawk before turning into a veritable cartwheel on the way to the finish line...!

"It was a joke!" Syx yells back at Proph, "But the bathhouse does sound nice, I'll check it out!"

Now is probably not the best time for that though. Once his fireball charge ends, he finds his Peko on unstable grounds, "Easy Meteor, easy. We got this buddy, just a little further, we'll be on solid ground and you can run it out!"

Shiruba lets out a sigh of relief as they leave the imps and geysers behind. Though it's not over quite yet. They went up at the beginning, so it's only logical they have to go down at the end. Though the slope looks loose and unstable.

Enough that Shiruba doesn't nudge her bird to go much faster than he already is. "Watch your step, Tradewind! Steady beats speedy at times like this."

Shiruba is no expert at this, but the experience from running previous races shows in Hunter and Peko working together to make their way down the slope. Pebbles and stones scatter and dirt is kicked up by talons, but they manage to avoid any of the bad soft spots that would make them take a tumble.

    Bird seems to hesitate only a moment before Rizadoman begins to urge the peko on. " Come now Bird, we only need to move forward. Just keep running and the moment that a toe touches step again. Let your ancestors guide you. " The bird responds with a , "KWEEEH!" Then does exactly as suggested, after a few moments the peko raises it's wings and flaps every now and then, loose or not the peko begins to break into long strides, pushing off the stone from one to another. The hot air from the fireballs and the wind in the mountains only helps to steady the peko, for a moment Bird seems to be flying it is said. Whether this is true or not is up to debate.

Schneider caroms forward as the fire elementals fade into the distance behind him. The rocks sliding makea his peko, Fire, stumble, and reluctantly he reins in, slowing so that he doesn't stumble and fall. It'd be a shame to crash and burn after overtaking the lead. He's no peko-questrian, so he's got to take this last stretch easy to remain astride Fire and to keep Fire from tumbling head over tailfeathers across the course.

    "This is it! We're in the last leg! Don't give up now! We might be a bit behind, but as long as we don't come last!" Yuuki's not afraid of losing. She just hates to lose a lot!

    Yuuki's certainly got the nerves to press through the final, unstable leg of this race. Her peko certainly has the nerves too. After all, you don't get that buff without some serious dedication. However, once more it turns into a bit of a disadvantage, if only a little bit.

    The two are forced to slow down in a few parts, dropping them back just a little relative to the pack. But still, judging by some of the wrecks they're passing, they're still doing better than some!

    Merek will begin to guide his peko along although it doesn't seem to be wanting to do a lot for him in the place. All the same, he seems to be enjoying the thing while he will cheer for anyone that's winning!

"Alright, listen to me and we can do this!" Giganpor says to his bird as they start the descent, bounding and twisting as they go. One thing's for sure, somehow Giganpor knows how to at least guide the peko pretty well. He doesn't push people over, but even goes so far as to keep people from going over completely as he steadies himself on his peko. Leaning this way and that as he moves quickly on the path downwards.

    Unfortunately, with Mizuki focusing on defense, she couldn't urge Poppy on, so the peko wasn't running its fastest. Finally, the home stretch...! She pushes the peko to run fast, but it stumbles, and only her ninja cat agility keeps her from being slammed into a rock face or trapped under the fallen bird. "No! Get up, get up, we can still--" She urges, but the words die in her throat as the peko makes a distressed WARK and has some trouble getting up. She dismounts and sees it's moving like one leg is hurt.

    Mizuki looks at the other racers getting ever further away, then back at Poppy, disappointment and resignation briefly flashing across her face. She hugs the bird's neck and urges it to lie down. "There, there. Just rest. We'll win another time." Unfortunately, it's a panicked animal in pain so it's not very cooperative with her attempts to get a healing potion down its beak. Eventually she thinks of soaking greens in it and offering the bird food.

Well now they need to get down, thing are going a little rough for Gwen and he bid there's a stumbl things are looking bad the good news is she manages to not fall to her doom. The bad new it it's really slowed her down so she's going to lose some time. It's still better than going splat however...

By the time that the racers begin crossing the finish line, it becomes obvious that there are a fair number of casualties from this race. Just looking back, there are a number of missing pairs, meaning that only about two thirds of those who began the race, have made it all the way to the end.

"L-l-looks like the racers are coming in! S-s-search p-p-parties, head out to l-l-look for the f-f-fallen!" The nervous boy calls out, even as his voice is nearly drown out by the cheering for the racers that have managed to finish. Many are sodden, burnt, and definitely looking worse for wear after the race.

"The w-w-winners are... R-r-rizadoman and b-b-bird in f-f-first. Sh-sh-shiruba and T-t-tradewind in s-s-second. And Sch-sch-schneider and F-f-fire in t-t-third!" That seems to take a lot of effort just to get out the names. The poor boy really shouldn't have been nominated to do this. Somehow, he manages to get through it, though.

Soon enough, runners are sent down to the field with prizes for the racers, with Rizadoman being handed a strange blue stone, while amber colored stones are handed to Shiruba and Schneider for their efforts.

"T-t-the last r-r-race of the y-y-year will be at the W-w-winter S-s-snow Festival!" The boy announces. "W-w-with a s-s-special prize for s-s-some of our v-v-veteran r-r-riders. L-l-look f-f-forward t-t-to it."

On the downside, she didn't win. On the upside, she didn't die. Thalia hops from her Peko at the end of the race and pats the big bird on the flank.

It snorts and trots off. It drops a feather, though, which she picks up and stuffs in her inventory. Might be useful. She dusts her hands off, waves to the winners and then saunters off to find a drink and a snack.

Mmm. Snack.

Giganpor hums.

Didn't win, but he also didn't come in last. More mid-pack, maybe? He was still looking considerate, then shrugs, "Maybe I'll hit that one at the winter festival. This was fun. Might have to get my own."

He looks at the peko thoughtfully as he dismounts, looking it over.

    Yuuki and buddy cross the finish line! It's not first. But it's also not last. In fact, fourth isn't bad. Even if it's shared with a certain cartwheeling Doctor.

    Yuuki jumps off her peko, patting the bird, "Not bad, buddy. Not bad. Maybe next time. And don't slouch on the legups either!"

    As the last race of the year is announced, Yuuki hmmmms as she rubs her chin, "I'm going to have to make sure to pick a special peko for that one. Maybe one that's red and green and a little chubby. Or possibly one with a glowing nose. Or a smaller, green one with pointy ears. Tough choice..."

    Rizadoman jumps off his bird as they cross the finish line and cheers. "You did it Bird! You did it. " For a moment, a brief parting moment ,he even tries to pick peko up but the peko says no as it pecks the lizardman in the head. As he lets go over to stand in the winner circle and collects his reward. Once the awards have gone out the lizardman steps forward and throws his head back to let out an echoing roar of success that all could hear. He was a happy Rizadoman.

Fourth place, tied with Yuuki Konno. This is probably some kind of hilarious twist of fate. Still, it's better than most of the rest of the competition, particularly the ones who may in fact have died in the attempt.

Denied a victory once again. Prophylaxis sighs as he dismounts his poor Peko, patting her gingerly on the wing. "We'll get them next time. Winter is a good time of year for us, eh? Maybe I'll be able to call in a few favors."

Konpeko gets a carrot, because she was a good peko, even if bad luck dashed their chances of victory at the very last...!

That poor announcer.

As Tradewind trots to a stop after the finish line Shiruba punches a fist in the air and cheers. "Congratulations Rizadoman!" Upset at not winning first place? Anything but! She's happy to see someone else get to have their moment on top. And she still placed in the top three, so that is more than good enough for her. "You did great as usual too, Tradewind." Shiruba accepts the prize, taking a moment to inspect it, and then drops it into her inventory.

Then turns Tradewind around and spurs him back up towards the track. She's going to help look for the people/birds that didn't make it to the finish line yet. She is a scout by hunter trade, after all.

    Mizuki ineffectually tries to soothe her bird while waiting for the rescue parties which hopefully have animal handlers.

    She overhears the announcer mentioning the last race of the year, though.

    She looks down at her hands. Has it really been almost a year, already...?

    ...Once Poppy is calmed down and able to be escorted to safety, she'll help one of the search parties. May as well help protect them from hazards and monsters.

Schneider hops off his peko and shakes his fist in the air, grateful to have hung on to third place. He looks around, smiles, and pats Fire on the neck. "Good race," he tells it. "You could have hung tougher at the end, but you did good."

After Syx gets into the finish line, he looks at the results, "Good job, Meteor! That's our best finish yet!" He seems happy despite not having won.