Llamrei groaned as she struggled to gather her hooves under her, unaware that she'd sent a smaller Gemling flying. Her knees were scraped up pretty badly, but she managed to get to her hooves.

However, the filly only managed to get a couple strides before her legs buckled under her, sinking back to her knees.


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

The fossa moaned quietly as he sat up, the world spinning around him. His everything smarted and stung, and he knew he'd have a killer bruise when this was over. He bristled, snarling at the filly, but struggled to his feet.

Mongo took a few hesitant steps, not wanting to aggravate anything that may have been broken. Thankfully, nothing stung or felt stabbed, so he began to stagger around the Spire.

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

SPLOTCH

Finally! She'd cleared the hurdles!

The dog yipped excitedly, digging in her claws and running to the Spire. The vast majority of the contestants seemed to have reached the Spire, or even beyond, so she strained herself to run around the Spire.

Unfortunately, her paws slipped, and she tumbled away from the Spire. The pup groaned quietly, feeling frustrated and embarrassed, and slunk away from the race course.

EXIT SPLOTCH

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

The small hybrid slid along the ground as he zoomed past the spire, his paws not getting quite enough traction to make a smooth turn. The minor setback wasn't going to stop him though! Bremen was smart, he'd paid attention when the little white snake had yelled out the rules. He couldn't use his wings in that first part, they didn't say anything about this part!

With his grip on the ground unstable and his forward momentum still solid Bremen unfurled his oversized wings and cut into the air with a great leap. The blue glow of the big crystal thing shone on his glossy silver skin as he rose to what would have been eye level with that big white dragon and began to swim through the air around the circuit.

Any time he might have lost form slipping was quickly made up by the fact that he had less distance to travel in the air than he would have had on the ground. Even so as he made his second lap and shifted toward the river he could see a birdie making its way back with a stone stones of its own.

"Good job!" he yelled out in support as he waved forepaws at them from the air.

---

’Thinking... thinking... thinking…’
"This is my voice, isn't it neat?"
Tags:

(Mature for lots of swears)

VINNIE THE VOICE
Vinnie was opening his beak to shout further when something struck him--something wet, something gross, something heavy enough to stagger him to the side. It took him a moment of startled glancing about to spot the newborn llama-thing.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" he shrieked. He lifted off, soaring a bit away, ruffling out his feathers as he took a new perch well out of range. "YA THINK YOU'RE A WISE-GUY, KID?! DID YOU SPIT ON ME?!" He glared back, then, disgusted, turned his attention back to the race.

It took him a moment to get back into the swing of things, but again he began shouting, again trying to amplify his already considerable volume with magic. It worked, though not as loud as before, and his raucous screaming rang through the air once more.

"Eugh. SORRY about that, folks-... Right! The black cub's taken a tuuuumble! Oh, that doesn't look good, but li'l blue bird there's shootin' past like a ROCKET! ...Whatever a rocket is! And--OH NO!" He hopped closer, peering at the little black and white bird.

"That bird's smashed right into the fence! She looks hurt, folks, do we have a medic?! And our beautiful dragon, ehh... She's losin' her grip! This race is TIGHT! Little weasel's slippin' too, oh it's neck and neck there, and--" And then everything went to shit. Vinnie stared in horror, and immediately began to broadcast what he was seeing at full volume. The black horse looked hurt, really hurt, and he was worried at once.

"FOLKS DO we have a medic?! That black horse has taken a NASTY spill and it looks like she can't get up! MONGO! SHIT--Mongo, buddy, you okay?! --Good, back on your feet, kid, you can do this but we got someone to help that horse?! She's droppin' like crap from a bat in a tree!"

He hopped forward, then flew toward the Spire to get a better view. He still had llama spit on him, but the show must go on. He ignored it, for now, disgustedly, but his mind was on other things. "That pretty dog's made it, barely, but ouch that chin-smack had ta hurt--no, what, don't give up just 'cause ya fell, kid! Don't--right--okay bye!" He peered after Splotch as the dog slunk away from the course, giving up. "That crazy monkey thing with the ear stuff's movin' like a FISH! --But in the water! I mean fish in the water--I mean he's SMOOTH! And we got that shiny silver fella like ANOTHER fish! But in the air! I mean he's--I'm bad at metaphors, shit or--similes, those are similes--never mind, he's SMOOTH right?! And now he's flying! Look at him go! Colors-bird's got her rock! Ahhh and the weasel ain't so lucky, looks like it can't find its stuff! Brown-big-cat's gone DOWN, man, this is a FIASCO!"

The gull looked over everyone falling, the filly still trying and failing to get to her knees, and tilted his head back, taking a deep breath. He then rocketed it forward, bellowing. "MEDIIIC?!"

________________

Rounding the spire, Howl slunk easily over to the pile of sticks and stones, not breaking his bones. Intentionally putting some amount of distance between himself and the weasel, he scavenged, deft fingers snatching up the stones. He eyed each one quickly, inspecting it for even a flash of red before throwing it back into the pile. Unfortunately, he missed the rock of choice and managed to chuck it back into the pile, continuing to search in deep frustration.

Mongo beamed as he, finally, managed to make his way around the Spire. His rounded ears twitched, picking up on Vinnie's voice, and he called up, "I'm fine!" to try and reassure the flying Gembound. He felt concerned for the filly that had downed them both, but didn't dare to stop for fear of being trampled - again.

He scrambled away from the Spire, racing at full speed towards the river. Looking around, he realized he'd neared the front of the pack, and came to a skidding stop in front of the pile of rocks and stones. He used his small size to worm through the pile, pulling out stone after stone. Finally, he found a stone with a red mark on it, and took that in his mouth.

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

The filly groaned quietly, feeling her knees sting as the bird overhead cried out, broadcasting what was going on. See? This is why she didn't go out of her comfort zone! Nothing good could ever come of leaving her comfort zone!

She groaned quietly as she stood, getting up on her hind legs first before standing on her front. Llamrei took a few stumbling steps, feeling her rather-delicate knees ache painfully. But she was determined to finish the race, and trotted forward, finishing her loop around the Spire. She sped up to a careful, if somewhat awkward, canter as she made her way to the pile of stones.


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

Well, he was having some truly awful luck, wasn't he? Sebastian groaned, getting back to his paws. He really, really hoped Rift didn't see this. That would be... very embarrassing. He shook himself, taking a moment to make sure nothing was hurt, finding nothing other than a broken claw. It would hurt, but not hamper him.

The Puma began to run once more, loping around the Spire easily and beginning to make his way to the pile of stones and sticks.


___________________________________________________________

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

tags:
notes:

Envy continued to burrow their way through the stone pile, turning over small rocks and glancing over big ones that they knew they wouldn’t be able to carry. With a thrill of rage, Envy couldn’t help but wonder if someone had taken theirs and left only a bigger stone behind. But they gritted their teeth and kept looking, knocking stones aside and eventually oozing out of the pile like a snake out of a bottle and looking around. They took their search to the top of the pile, clambering over rocks and pebbles and peering closely at each.


"speak."