Eco-Challenge FS (3)

...as the leader of the mermaids softly patted her on the back. *But when we came outside EVERYONE was gone! They left us behind...and all we had was..<sniff>..was..<sniff>...this TUB! <sob> We can't win in a T..T..T..T..TUB!*

"Shhhh...don't you fret little one. Everything will be all right. We're here now and we can help you! Can't we girls?!" The leader asked the others. The other mermaids all agreed and began to propel the Tub full of Scooby misfits forward.

The red headed mermaid lifted the rubber duckie back into the boat. "Here you go...Thor." When she didn't get a reply "It is Thor isn't it?" she asked. But Thor just continued to stare at the mermaid as if in shock.

"Duh...it is Thor. Ahhh...I don't know what's wrong with him. Duh...he isn't usually like this!" Elvis nudged Thor with his shoulder to no avail except to drop some of Thor's drool into the Tub. "Ahh...Kitten will be mad if she sees that!" Grabbing a hold of Thor's head, Elvis laid it over the side of the Tub so his drool would drip into the water instead of the Tub.

Thor just continued stare at the red headed mermaid as his drool dribbled down the side of the Tub. The mermaid feeling sorry for him smiled and patted him on the head which just made him drool even more...for in his minds eye he saw 6thy instead of the mermaid and he was beside himself with happiness.

Having gotten her way Kitten stood at the front bow of the Tub. The Tub flew by the 'Real World' and 'Road Rules' boats as if they weren't even moving. Kitten caught just a glimpse of their shocked faces as they blew by them leaving their boats rocking in the Tub's wake. Kitten thought smugly to herself *We are going to Win! Win! Win!* A maniacal grin on her face.

"Misser Ragnar need to work on his breathing. Slower..in and out, in and out..." Mr. Lee lounged back in the bow of the little boat resting comfortably.

"When Misser Ragnar come to Mr. Lee and ask Mr. Lee to help, Mr. Ragnar promise to provide all Mr. Lee need. Mr. Lee need rower. Mr. Ragnar provide very well..."

...the IQs were sitting in a circle discussing strategy. Suddenly, they noticed loud drum beats. Some time later they noticed their camp had been encircled by odd looking tribesmen with spears.

"Look", said Rae pointing from their hill out towards a speck in the distance. Kay took the binoculars and looked in the direction of the speck.

There was Mr. Lee and Ragnar in a rowboat. And Ragnar was doing all the rowing. He wasn't looking really pleased about it either. Then, her eyes spotted something moving fast on the water. She focused the binoculars for a better look. "Huh?!" There was Kitten and the three kittens along with Elvis and Thor in, of all things, a tub! Kay started really laughing, and then stopped short. "What?" they were speeding along at full speed. "How in the ...."

"What? Who is it?" said Rae. Looking herself she says again, "Well, I'll be frelled. It looks like some really bright fish are helping them. Can't quite make out the shapes. Well, let's get moving. We have a lot of ground to cover."

"Rae, Sunny is having problems, I think. I can't tell, she has her back to me." Kay said, trying to get Rae to slow down. Kay really didn't want to lose Sunny. Some times, Kay found understanding Rae, a little difficult. It was nice to have Sunny there, to translate.

"I wished they had dumped crackers on my head. At least those would be edible." Sunny was heard mumbling, as she pull out a blob that resembled part of an enchilada (made out of cardboard).

"Sunny, what is the frellin' hold up?" Rae demanded, turning Sunny around just as Sunny had fished the last of the cardboard enchiladas out of her vest.

"What the frell, let's get moving. We can't stand around all day. We've got to get past the zone before dark." Rae said, taking the lead.

"I sure hope there is a shower set up at the next stop. I could really use one. I have enchilada sauce in places even I can't see." Sunny said, falling in behind Rae.

The lead mermaid announced as she adjusted the straps to Kittens backpack. Others of her group were busy along the small dock doing likewise for the rest.

"When you get back on the open water you just blow on that and me and my sisters will come help. The dolphins will be watching out for you as well. Over the land you'll have to use the parchment."

The lead Mermaid rolled her eyes. "All true little one, but just you relax. If this race heads back over open water my sisters and I know all kinds of ways of evening that problem." Spoken with a genuine smile and a glint of mischief in her eye.

..setting up the next check point, Jila realizes that she has nothing to do until the teams start coming in to restock their packs and refresh themselves. At this check point Crais and Velorek have set up Showers with HOT water. Larraq, with Jila's permission, has sent Geradan back to the Dominion to bring back some special foods. A hearty meal will be served at this checkpoint. The teams won't get this luxury again until the check point at the far side of the third island.

Opening her own personal backpack, Jila rummages through the few things she allowed herself to bring on this trip. There it is, her bathing suit. Might just as well catch some rays while she's out here. Next stop, Fluffy and the supply tent. With her suit slung over her shoulder Jila Tries singing a song that she heard on the radio not long before this adventure started, "Hair". She can't remember all the words so bits and pieces of the song is all she's going to be able to do.

"I hope you've got what I'm looking for Fluffy." Jila says walking into the tent. Silly thing to say really as Fluffy has Everything the teams could really want on this trip. Grabbing the items she needs Jila decides if she's going to do this, she might just as well do it right. After going into the shower and putting on her bathing suit, Jila fills a pail with water and sits down in the sunshine to shave her legs. As she gets one leg done and starts on the other Crais sits down in the shade to watch. He looks quite nice in a white cotton shirt, white shorts, and sandles.

"<sigh>" Jila tries hard to remember that even though he's a Mandroid he's also a Sebacean and a Peacekeeper and probably has no idea about Human female preferences on body hair. "Okay, if you believe the evolutionist theory then Earth Humans are descended from Apes, then you know that because of this both Males and females have a chromosome that give them hair all over their bodies. Now Most Earth females prefer to rid themselves of the hair on their body to look more attractive. And since I have nothing important to do right now I'm going to go lie out in the sun with my bathing suit on, and quite honestly it would look a lot better if I didn't have hairy legs when I did it."

"No really," Crais chuckles (now there's a sound you don't hear everyday, lol) "Rae had us pack some depilatories in case WizMick, Spyral, and the IQ's wanted a fast shave. You could have used that."

"And you didn't tell me about the depilatories before I finished cutting my legs up with this razor...... WHY???" Jila asks Crais with just a hint of sarcasm.

"Ha ha ha." Jila dumps the pail of water into one of the shower stalls, grabs her towel, and walks over to where Geradan is lying in the sun and gets comfy.

"Is this another trick question?" Jila sighs. Well at least she wouldn't fall asleep in the sunshine. That may be okay for dragons but definitely Not for humans. "What am I thinking, of course it's not. They're at their grandmother's while I'm here."

"Yes, Grandmother." Jila sighs again. Another explanation. "That would be a parent of your parent. Your mother or father's mother. I guess Peacekeeper children wouldn't know much about grandparents, would they?"

"No, we don't." Crais' voice was suddenly very quiet, as if he knew that Grandparents were something wonderful to have and that he had missed out on the experience. "Tell me about them please."

Jila sits up on her towel and turns toward Crais, and she realizes that he Does have the memories of the original Bialar Crais. Anger shows quickly on his face, (He will Never forgive those who took him from his family at such an early age) but it disappears just as quickly (He is a Peacekeeper and he is proud of it. So he missed out on a few things, look where he is today), and then a hint of sadness crosses his face. Jila doesn't know if she should try to explain grandparents or not. Will he be sad and angry for missing what he never had, or dismiss it as being in the past.

"Perhaps I shouldn't be the one....." Jila tells him, lying face down on her towel to try and tan her back side. "I tend to get rather emotional on the subject."

Crais gives a slight shrug as if to say "Fine. I didn't really want to hear about it anyway." but something inside him tells him he does want to hear about it. He'll ask Rae someday. She would tell him. He looks at his patch of shade which is slowly diminishing and decides to go see what Larraq and Velorek have been doing.

"Kitten??" Jila is amazed. But then again, not really. It would be just like her to get upset over being left behind. "Who is with her? Who's her crew?"

"Thor..." Raegun checks his scanner, pausing for a microt or two. "Elvis, and the three black kittens from the Ballroom. You call them Mischief, Fidget, and Trouble."

"Oh Heavens to Mergatroid (sp???)" Jila laughs. She could almost hear Bugs Bunny saying this again. "Well let's hope they all make it here in one piece."

Rae asks, looking around in some confusion. "I don't recognize this part of these woods. I can't see the sun because we are so deep under the trees. Kay, do you have the compass? I can't tell north from south at this point."

"Well", Kayde replied, "Notice the green moss growing on this side of it? That is the north. Moss grows on the north side of the trees. If you know what to look for, you won't get lost in the woods."

At first light, Team Holy Rollers hit the road. With all their stuff packed up safely in Spyral's wing they hiked through the jungle, avoiding ruined temples and giant snakes and the other hazards one finds in an adventure movie jungle. Following the map, they pulled into checkpoint 2 just after lunchtime.

"Yeah." Jila told her, dabbing at some cuts on her legs with tissue paper. "Team Heat Delerium went around the dark zone to gain time but went a long way out of their way to do it. The IQs ran out of large vines to swing on and had to walk (horrors!) so they lost time. And Team 98 hasn't checked in with us yet. Maybe they lost their comm in the jungle. Want a nice hot meal?"

From that strange little man. Team Deviants still didn't quite understand what the heck Rae was laughing about. All they knew was that the man had run off, probably to get his friends. By unspoken agreement, the team was still running. 'ghost had mapped out a great route and they staggered into the checkpoint #2 just as the other team was leaving.

'ghost answered, "there were some strange drumming sounds" Jila nodded that she had heard them too. "Well, when we set off this morning, there was a strange brown man who dropped down from the trees. He saw me and ran off. We decided to get the hezmana out of there before he brought back any friends."

"I'm in. We need a break to recover from all the running anyway. Make sure there's lots of liquids. We're still dehydrated." said Chryse before she disappeared into a shower.

Team Deviants showered and ate. They were surprised at how good the food was. Jila smiled as she heard them compliment Velorek and Crais. She'll get to eat like this during the whole race.

"Oh yeah, you haven't met them. Well, Artickitten is a kitten, but very intelligent and mischievious. Elvis is a hound dog, Artickitten's best friend. He's very nice and very loyal, but not too bright. Thor is a T. Rex. a baby though. He's also quite intelligent and telepathic. He belongs to 6thy, you haven't met her either, she's been MIA for a while. Probably on a super secret mission. The 3 kittens are all black, 2 females and a male, siblings. Their names are Mischief, Trouble and Fidget. Artickitten is their "teacher" and they adore her." explained Chryse.

"Thor isn't exactly a housepet, but I agree. Thanks for the shower and lunch guys. The extra supplies too. Let's get going." said Chryse.

of Forbidden Peak, team Holy Rollers came to a halt. The face of Forbidden Peak rose almost straight into the sky. The grayish/black stone, whose peaks, outcroppings and ledges, seemed almost carved by a large and ancient hand, reminded Spyral of The Dark Tower, and his long-ago travels with Roland, the last Gunslinger of Gilead.

"If you two are like, FINISHED, with the 'touchy-feely' thingy, y'know, I think I'll scout ahead a bit," Twig said, fluttering up the cliff-face in a huff.

"Yeah, more water tablets, another set of flavor-packs, recharged coils for the lanterns. And fresh clothes." Rae strips out of her shirt and pants, wrinkling her nose. "Gods, I reek!"

"I'll be fine, Gunny." Rae assures him, smiling fondly. She helps herself to another bottle of water, drinking more slowly this time. She walks over to the shower. "Ladies!" she barks. "Let's get a move on! Daylight's wasting! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"

Thor stood on the dock with that sloppy grin plastered about his mighty gums and sharp teeth. Silly looking to say the least. A little puddle of drool was steadilly congealing at his feet. If his eyes were had labels they'd read 6 in the left and thy in the right.

Out in the water the Mermaid of his eye turned and waved one last time. His little t-rex hands did their best to wiggle back. She blew him a parting kiss then vanished under the water.

This isn't good. Elvis look back towards Kitten who was now standing with her hands on her hips in mock patience. The Three Stooges scurried about her feet playing tag with their tails.

Elvis thought hard. Kitten said First Mates had Resp---respond--responsibilities. His was to get Thor going. He really didn't want to disappoint Kitten. She'd be upset! He didn't want that.

A sore, exhausted, worn out Viking stumbled into the surf and with a great heave drug the little baot ashore. His immeadiate chores done he promptly fell face first into the sand.

With a light but dainty step Mr. Lee exited the craft, walking atop Ragnar with the last step off the back of his head, thus getting his feet wet not at all.

A short time later team rainbowmonkey ran up to the checkpoint followed by a large group of angry natives waving spears. The IQs quickly grabbed their gear and headed for the mountain.

Fluffy zooms out of the supply tent, and dodging this way and that to avoid being skewered by a spear, manages to find the leader and shoot the translator microbes into him. Just as quickly as he got there, Fluffy dodges back Out of the way.

Velorek, Crais, and Larraq position themselves directly into the path of the natives, effectively preventing them from chasing the IQ's straight up Forbidden Peak.

"STOP!" Larraq commands, and the natives screech to a halt. The leader looks at Larraq trying to figure out how this Non-tribesman knows their language. "What is the problem? Why do you chase our people?"

"They have tried to use their magic on us." The leader says shaking his spear, and forgetting about the language question. "Magic is forbidden. To only be used by the Shaman!"

Oh Frell! This is more or less what Jila and the Mandroids have done, used a little Science/Magic on the natives to make them understandable. Jila hopes that if she stays silent that the natives will believe, without questionning, that the Mandroids really are fluent in their language.

*Duh.* "No, no." Jila remembers that sometimes Raegun can be quite literal. "What I mean is can you communicate with them like you communicate with Rae? Like Telepathy."

"Great." Jila thinks quickly. "Tell them that the translator microbes are going to be thought of as magic, so don't mention them, and to Please make it Look like they are speaking the natives own language."

As Raegun starts to relay the message Jila interrupts him. "Raegun.... Gunny..... Please..... don't try out your sense of humor right now. Just give them the message like I said it. I don't really want Crais or Velorek getting crazy on me now." Raegun tries to resume the message but Jila interrupts him again. "By the way, Geradan will protect me even if it means leaving you four here to get ripped apart by the natives." Jila tries to sound deadly serious.

After a few minutes the Mandroids have the situation well in hand and even invite the natives to finish up the food that the Teams didn't. Jila decides that the only safe place for her is in the role as tribal female; bringing out the food and drink, and eating after the men are finished. She then quickly clears away the mess of empty dishes and such, and goes back to her place beside Raegun.

"Yeah, ha ha." Jila sticks out her tongue at Raegun and then feels completely foolish for doing it. *He's a pulse rifle, for Heaven's sake, and I'm sticking my tongue out at him. Duuuh!*

But Larraq has no problems with it. All of the Mandroids are quick learners and he copies the leader exactly, as do Crais and Velorek. Satisfied, the leader gathers his men and bids farewell to all. He elbows Crais in the thigh and speaks quietly. Crais laughs loudly and turns to look directly at Jila.

"The leader says that if we ever get sick of you to let him know," Crais says with his ever present 'serious' face "and he'll trade us for some of the women of his tribe. He says that you look like you could bear fine sons."

"Fine!" Spyral called down. The whistling wind made it a little difficult to hear. "I'm going to hammer in the next piton now. Release your caribeaners one at a time and attatch them to the next rope!"

"Which he can still use to glide." Kara said. "Besides, he was a creature of the air for hundreds of years. And he still thinks like one."

Kara reached for the rope and began to pull herself up. Her foot slipped a little and she instinctively looked down. The huge forest trees looked like toothpicks. It was a LONG way down.

She had to, otherwise she would drop the rope. It tends to be rather difficult for an immaterial being to handle solid objects, but she had agreed to try to secure the rope for the rest of her team.

Grack, Wiz and Chryse watched as she slowly floated up the cliff face. When she reached a height near the end of the rope, 'ghost very carefully tied it the way Wiz had shown her. She floated down quickly and the other 3 tugged on the rope, testing the knot.

The 3 solid members of the team were already geared up and packed up and ready to go. Wiz went first. He was the most experienced mountain climber. Grack second and Chryse last. 'ghost floated along next to them whispering words of encouragement as she gathered the rope behind them.

None of team spoke except when they needed to. Wiz would shout down directions to the other two from time to time, but that was all. The 2 girls would shout up acknowledgements or clarification and not a word more. They were saving their breath and strength for the climb.

It seemed to take forever, but they finally reached the end of the first length rope. 'ghost repeated her performance, floating up to the next level with the other end of the rope. She had gained back her strength as the others climbed and seemed to be doing well. Grack, Wiz and Chryse took the opportunity to rest, eat a snack and drink lots and lots of water. This was their plan to climb the mountain, and so far, it seemed to be working quite well.

Mouse cried, "Could you guys PLEASE try and NOT dislodge any more ROCKS! I'm getting pelted here as it is!" Mouse looks up to see more debris coming down towards her and curses herself again for being the last up the mountain. Just then, as more rocks come barreling down in her face, Twig flies close to her shoulder and whispers in her ear, "That's what you GET for being so 'touchy-feely'!"

Mouse wonders if she's gone off the deep end and then remembers her little snit when Mouse was getting the gear out of Spyral's wing. *So it's like that, huh? Well, you just wait, my little firefly. When I get up off the mountain face, you are going to get a good eyefull of what this Mouse is capable. Hope Spyral will play along, or at the very least he doesn't think I've gone insane...Maybe I'll let Kara in on it too and we'll see who's 'touchy-feely'!"

"If the frelling checkpoint weren't on top of the mountain, I'd sya go around..." Rae sighs, pulling herself back to her feet. "Let's get going."

from whatever was in the pipe (definitely NOT tobacco), Crais begins disassembling the camp. He drops a box of supplies on his foot and curses. Larraq begins laughing. "Get frelled!" Crais suggests, picking up the box and throwing it at him.

finally reached the cliff's top, Kay was able to steel a look at Rae to make sure she was okay. She was still white around her mouth. Knowing now, that Rae was afraid of heights, Kay's admiration for her climbed to great heights.

There was no time to stop and think though. They were gaining on the lead easily, and if they could take it, they would finally be able to gain some distance, and take a much needed break. Kay knew they could not go the full distance on adrenalin alone. They would need to rest their bodies, and soon.

Sweetiepie told Sunny, Rae and Kay. "The Holy Rollers are about two thirds of the way up. Team Deviants are about a third of the way up. Team Rainbow Monkey has already reached the top and is checking into checkpoint 3 with Jila who is just arriving on dragonback. No sign of Slewfoot."

"Look, I'm sorry I've been joking with you two about the heights problem. I was just trying to lighten things up a bit." Sunny apologized.

"Sorry Kay...I know that it's kind of freaky for humans to have someone else talking in their minds. I didn't want to freak you out." Sunny offered.

"Ok, here's what's going to happen. I'll head up first, Kay then you. Sunny will bring up the rear. Sunny will be able to help us IF we freeze on the climb up." Rae said, taking most of the climbing gear from Sunny.

"We do...but it's not allowed, the rules." Sunny grinned. She would have no trouble levitating them to the top...but that would be cheating.

They were all sweat drenched and gasping for breath. That last leg had been a real killer. They slowly drank water and regained their breath. Still not speaking, they silently agreed to rest here for a while and eat some food.

'ghost also needed a rest. Hauling the rope up was taking a toll on her too. She shimmered and whispered, "I'll be back. I need to dematerialize to rest properly."

The others nodded and watched silently as she disappeared from sight. When she was gone, they turned their attention to food. No one was energetic enough to even want to try to start a fire. They ate a cold lunch. Grack set her alarm on her watch and fell asleep quickly. Wiz and Chryse also napped.

'ghost had come back and reported on the state of the next leg up. "It's not as bad as the last leg. Pretty good in fact. Just watch out for some loose rocks. They're little and shouldn't affect your grip, but they'll get in the way of the person below you."

"No we're not. We're in 3rd. Team RainbowMonkey is in first, and we are behind Team Holy Rollers. Rae's team is still behind us, but not for very long." reported 'ghost.

And up the mountain they went. They covered the next leg quickly, and the leg after that as well. It seems that the route they took was easier on this side the higher they got.

Jila grumbles sliding out of her harness on Geradan's back. Larraq had ridden with her this run and he had giggled the whole ride. Jila sighs and growls. *If this doesn't wear off soon I'm going to have Raegun blast all Three of them.* She takes off on a run to where Fluffy is trying to sort the supplies. Team Rainbow Monkey picks through the mess to replace their supplies.

"Sorry we're late guys." Jila apologizes profusely. "I won't bore you with details but Crais, Larraq, and Velorek are Not with it right now and the didn't repack the supplies very well. I hope you find everything you need."

The water, of course, is in a large container so that's no problem. Energy snacks, and other little things take a bit longer to find. But, with the efficient nature of the IQ's, all the necessities are found in short order.

"Raegun," Jila walks back over to Geradan where Larraq Still hasn't quite managed to release himself from his riding harness. "Is there anyway you can check their systems to find out just how long this is going to last?"

Monkey grabbed the hang gliders for the next challenge. That was a hang glider flight from the top of Forbidden Peak to the African Plains down at the bottom of the mountain's other side. The African Plains were swarming with lions and zebras and water buffalo and other large African game as well as hostile African tribes and British Colonial governments. Threading through it all would be quite the trick!

The IQs talked together as they put their gliders together, wondering aloud how they could improve the gliders through the available technology...