pumpkin eventually gathers his bearings and gets up, and tries to head forward again.

the large wall of fire intimidates him but he hopes he can catch up enough to not be left behind.

he begins running again, running outward past the hair-balls, dodging them as they come his way, and getting to the other side, hoping he's not totally let in the dust

Tupu approached the section of crackling hairballs, with little issue. She galloped, almost graceful, avoiding slipping. She was still following Sorda's voice, but it was unclear how long that would last. Tupu paused when she arrived at the hairballs. She lowered her head, sniffing out out of curiosity. It sparked in her face. She shook her face, ears flapping, and started to run after Sorda's voice once more. Tupu barely noticed anything. Had Tupu been slightly slower, slightly more distracted, she would've seen a sprout of grass on the side of the tunnel. But, luckily for her, she continued to gallop, as unaware as ever.

[Madhukar is spectating + CALLING SOMEONE TO HELP THE FALLEN]

Next.

Fire.

Madhukar recalled the... frankly gigantic scaled creature that came to help them set up. Yeah, she was glad she got the heck out when she did.

Unfortunately for the runners, if they chose to leave now, they'd be giving up a far greater prize than... I guess in Madhukar's case, more time to be annoyed by everything around her. Yeah they'd be giving up much better stuff than that, if they left now. But honestly, Madhukar wouldn't blame them for such a decision.

As her eyes locked on Sniffles and the Wiggler, Madhukar began to realize that this was TERRIFYING.

Her fur bristled and her head craned forward, eyes wide like she was hunting. And she was, in a way, hunting. For hope that they'd make it out at all. The kitten knew of the existence of the fire extinguisher nearby, but boy oh boy did that not help one bit. As soon as she saw them both make it through, Madhukar let out a huge sigh of relief. She would neglect to punish herself for the worry; so much fire was super scary! She was allowed to be scared!!!

A bit further back in the course was a very uncomfortable cry. Madhukar's ears swiveled in that direction, panic had not yet left her face. Was that... oh no. OH NO! TAHI! "HEY, THERE'RE SOME GETTIN' HURT BACK THERE! SOMEONE HELP 'UM!" Madhukar tried to call for someone; a healer perhaps? She hadn't really been paying attention before, but Tahi had caught her attention. Then she'd begun to notice.

Madhukar couldn't really do anything about it, was the issue. If she'd known who, exactly, was there to heal the hurt ones, she'd be huntin' 'em down already. But she didn't. So in a desperate attempt to yet again keep herself calm while waiting for someone to help, she focused on her paw. Ready...? No-- but aim! And-- OH GOSH NO--

Her spell went completely out of whack. Blasted emotions!! She winced as the spark flickered and died as soon as it came.

Not much for comfort here.

Bug's ears flattened to hear the shouts of someone in pain. Wait, is this game fatal!? she thought to herself--was it like Hydra, and nobody'd warned her?! WAS SOMEONE GETTING EATEN!? It sure sounded that way, and she bolted faster, fur puffing out along her tail as she scrabbled at the ice, trying again to avoid the angry hairballs.

She made it, this time, but noted--with some concern--that up ahead things seemed to only get worse.

Everything was on fire.

Oh, no...

She galloped onward, swift and heavy, her head lowering as if about to gore an opponent. Ears flattened back and, just before she hit the flames, she put on an extra kick of speed and squeezed her eyes tight-shut.

Surely, she could just barrel through the fire in one swift rush, taking the icy wind of the tunnel with her-?

She could, as it turned out, not. A bellow of pain escaped her as the first flames licked at her legs and she turned, bolting out of instinct--fell off a ledge, hit a wall--scrambled around and tried, through thick smoke, to blink her vision clear to see just where the heck she'd ended up.

Up ahead was gross - but since when did a dog care about gross?

So ahead she went, still skidding and sliding, yapping and yipping as loud as she could, only to step straight into an electrified hairball and squeal as she began to skid, yipping "NONONONONONOOOO!" and losing her balance, banging her chin with a whine.

Oh no fire!

The bird stuttered, stumbling, and fluttered her wings, knowing that they couldn't carry her to fly, could barely carry her in a glide any more after M-Jayberry had taken out a mouthful, and anyways there was nowhere for her to get the height needed to leap from.

Somehow, she managed to dart easily through the flames, tucking her beak low to her chest and her wings tight to her back.

the   thorn produces delicate roses
sharp

Oh. Oh. Fire? Ice was okay, the hairballs were okay, but how was she gonna get past fire? Sharp skidded to a halt right before the pyre. She saw some of the others leap past, but she was a mere 8-inch lizard with no particular jumping ability. Electric eyes scanned the flames. Maybe there was a gap she could squeeze through? Maybe?

There it was! A tiny space between the kindling just big enough for her to squeeze through. It wouldn't be an easy ride, surrounded on all sides by fire, but Sharp just took a deep breath and went for it.

It did not work. Sharp misjudged the size of the tunnel poorly. She tentatively stuck a scaled paw in, only for the flames to leap, making her jump straight back. That hurt, and now the sparks were way too close for her to attempt again. She'd better just find a different way through.

♠ ♥ ♣ ♦

Wait what?

"Freaking FIRE?!" She shouted, staring at the huge wall of fire looming in front of her. What the HECK were the people who set this course up were thinking? The previous obstacle was just gross, but THIS?

Well, at least she could fly. With a deep breath, she took a few steps back, before taking a running start and attempting to soar right over the flames.

Thankfully, she soared over the fire without a single burnt feather. She landed on the other side and continued running. The end was so close, she could win this!

coding by wulf for template purposes

It was still pulling ahead of most of the others, eyes now focused on the raging fire in front of it. Eyes narrowed as it approached, still thinking of the best way to get across this particular obstacle. Some of the others tried to fly, some just jumped, some just tried to...run right through it. Well that sure wasn't what Beta was going to do.

It tensed its muscles as it began to run faster, shooting towards the fire. It eyed a spot on the ground - that was where it would jump from. Right as it got close to the spot it had chosen, it bunched its muscles, giving a small jump and landing on its spot before it gathered all of its strength and lunged forward with all its might. The cat-like beast soared over the fire, feeling the heat licking at the fur on its stomach, before it landed on the other side, unharmed, but feeling a little warm.

It landed with a heavy thud before immediately taking off and continuing its race.