Asimona glanced around at the competition. A lot of them were starting to get ahead of her. She breathed heavily as she ran, realizing that her heaviness was probably playing against her. However, her muscles were strong and, as she reached the spire, she turned, her claws digging into the rock and dirt as she ran around the perimeter. She almost slipped a few times, setting her back a little bit, but she managed to get through it okay, though slightly disappointed in her performance.

"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

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Vaguely, Envy was aware that they were pulling ahead of their adopted mother, who appeared to have fallen at the first hurdle. The little weasel, drunk on the thrill of it all, was unable to resist turning back and letting out a smug cackle before continuing, their short legs carrying them onto the next leg of the race.

Like a noodly blur, the weasel's legs whirring and their heart pounding, the tiny creature felt exhaustion begin to tug at their limbs, but managed to keep going and soon enough, the quick little creature had completed the next round and was charging onwards. they were gonna win this, and soon the caves would look at them with all the reverence they deserved. the weasel's heart leaped with yearning, and before they knew it, they were approaching the riverbank.


"speak."

Llamrei whickered, surprised to find she'd actually made it over the hurdles. Could she do this? Maybe she could! It was no guarantee, though, she knew that.

Unfortunately, she was a bit too quick to celebrate. The filly stayed out oft eh way of the majority of the pack, running slightly off to the side to keep from being crushed. Unfortunately, this put her at a bit of a slant and, as she tilted to follow the curve of the Spire, she stumbled over her own hooves, tumbling head over hooves.


"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

He did it!

The young Fossa cheered mentally as he managed to clear the hurdles, despite his rather giminutive size. This would be fun! Certainly more fun than he'd had in the caves yet.

Mongo stumbled at a sudden loud scream, but managed to keep his stride. There was a sudden, loud voice, irritating yet familiar. Wait, he knew that voice! It was Vinnie! He risked a moment to look up, seeing the black and white bird flying overhead. The seagull's encouragement spurred him odd, and he sped up a bit.

There, the Spire! He twisted to follow the curve...

Aaaand that's where everything went wrong.

The Fossa was forced to leap out of the way of a much larger Gembound for fear of being trampled, only to find himself way too close to a filly losing her balance. A hoof clipped his side, sending him flying through the air. The Gemling twisted, before tumbling along the ground. He sat up, head spinning, stunned.

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

SPLOTCH

The Wild Dog yelped as the failed on the jump, colliding with the hurdle chest first. Her hind legs led her tumble, rolling over the hurdle. She yelped as she collided with the ground chin first, and had to take a moment to regain her senses.

The Wild Dog scrambled to her feet, groaning quietly. But the other Gembounds were far ahead of her, and she desperately needed to catch up. So the Wild Dog scurried forward, rushing to clear the rest of the hurdles.

"I'm speaking..."
'I'm thinking...'

The moment Howl had cleared all of the hurdles, he was off again, his heart guaranteed to be swelling out his chest as pride surged within him. The pink diamond through his ear seemed to jingle reassuringly as he turned his head back, finding the weasel still in the race. He wouldn't slip up around them again. He was going to win this. Sharp teeth bared in a grin, he galloped ahead, easily lapping the Spire. He drew to the front of the race as his fellows slipped, tripped, or fell. If he wasn't so worried about ruining his winning streak, Howl would've yelled mean things back to them. But talking and running? A bad idea unless he wanted to bite his own tongue off.

Okay, he was still at the start. Bremen felt a little silly for getting distracted but there was still plenty of time. The little hybrid repositioned himself behind the line again and looked forward with uncharacteristic intensity.

"Ready..." he said aloud to himself, digging his webbed claws into the ground. A good grip would make for a good start.

"Set..." he continued after a couple seconds of silence. He tucked his wings in tight against his body so he wouldn’t be tempted to use them.

"Go!"

Dust went flying into the air as the housecat-sized hybrid rocketed away from the line toward the obstacles again. His pace stayed constant, not even faltering slightly as he kicked off for the first hurdle. No need for acrobatics this time, he needed to see how fast he could go!

Bremen cleared the first hurdle with mere centimeters of clearance, almost all his energy poured into the forward momentum. The feat was repeated a second time, then a third, and again for every obstacle in his path. With his low trajectory and reckless speed the hurdles might as well not have even been there in the first place!

A dolphin-like squeal of excitement and adrenaline sounded out from Bremen's throat as he finally landed in the next section and continued running. He probably wouldn't win but he was certainly having fun!

---

’Thinking... thinking... thinking…’
"This is my voice, isn't it neat?"
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Gypsy raced towards the river to the next part of the obstacle course. It appeared she was doing well; she had noticed some other creatures falling behind at the spire. Being small had its advantages after all; she didn’t have to lug around all that body weight. Adrenaline was pumping in her veins and offered her amazing energy. She had never run so fast. She approached the shore of the river and noticed a bundle of rocks and branches. That was it! She just had to search for a rock with a red mark on it. ‘Okish! I got this!’ With her beak and talons, she scrambled through the pile, tossing all the non-marked ones aside. At first she panicked, because she couldn't see any red markings, and the hard rocks were rather hard for the small bird to grip and push away. One time she thought she found one, and realised the marking was just a water stain. Finally, she found it! Grabbing the little marked stone in her beak, she turned tail from the pile and rushed back towards the spire. There was no time to look around to see how everybody else was doing. It felt like she had spent an eternity digging through the pile. "Gypsy speaks" 'Gypsy thinks'

Envy reached the pile of stones and sticks and spent a while catching their breath as they searched the lower parts of the pile. They dug and looked and turned and peered, keeping to the smaller stones which they'd have a chance of fitting in their mouth to carry around the rest of the course. But as they swarched and frantically searched, Envy felt themselves growing more and more impatient as despite all their efforts, there was no sign of red.

still, they searched and dug, burrowing themselves in among the larger, sturdier stones and burying themselves among the crevasses.

Red, red, red... fucking... I can't even see my own paws in here.

the disgruntled weasel soon emerged and continued scouring the nearby earth.

"speak."

Damn!

In the few moments it had taken the Puma to find his feet, he'd been surpassed by a good number of the race participants. Sebastian scowled, but shook it off, and began to lope around the spire again...

only to be rammed into by another of the participants. The puma grunted, not able to see who it was, as he was knocked to the ground.


___________________________________________________________

"Speech looks like this."
Thoughts look like this.

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