"BEGIN!" both shouted at the same time, after which everyone tore past the starting line as fast as they could.
I ran forwards as quickly as I could, running at the galloping gait of a Vaporeon, due to the counterweight of my tail. The first stretch of the race was flat ground, something that Espeon and Clover were taking advantage of. They were pulling ahead rather quickly.
I increased my pace as Surf started to approach my position. I glanced back at him. "We may be mates, Surf, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to let you win!"
His only response was a determined smile. I glanced ahead. The first obstacle was coming up, and it was something that might help me catch up to the leaders: the first bend on the river. It was a bit thin, but it would have to be enough.
Inferno's voice rang out as we ran, his announcer voice nearly perfect. "They're approaching the first bend in the river, and Espeon and Clover both have a nice lead, but our two aquatic racers aren't too far behind! Here come the front runners..."
Espeon put on a massive leap, easily clearing the obstacle in front of her. Following suit, Clover took a big jump, and opened her wings to glide the rest of the way across. "Nice show by Clover there!" Inferno shouted. "Way to use what's at paw!"
"Or that be what's on wing?" Bolt added with a grin that I could hear in his voice.
I hit the river just after he finished, diving in easily, pumping my tail three times as hard as I could, and then leaping back out in a huge, graceful sweep, arcing a beautiful trail of water droplets behind me. Surf was just behind me. He was a faster swimmer than I was. I'd have to watch my back.
As we raced on, Inferno called out what was happening behind me. "And here comes the rest of the pack... Umbreon barely manages to clear the river in one leap, and Snow just freezes that part of the river, running across with no trouble at all! Nicely done!"
"That's some cold calculation!" Bolt shouted. I rolled my eyes.
Next on the obstacles was Umbreon's favorite: the darkness run. The hole in the ground was big enough to easily fit a Rapidash, leading into a dark tunnel with very little light. Espeon hesitated at the entrance, giving Clover just enough time to pass her and the rest of us a chance to close the gap. I entered the dark tunnel just behind Espeon, who was falling back slowly. She summoned a light in her gem, creating a dim light by which she could see. Noticing her strategy, I followed her closely, using the light to my advantage.
Inferno called out the others' activities. "Umbreon's going in now... And turning off the lights! This Pokémon does not need any headlamp! He can see just fine with no light whatsoever!" I ran faster. If Umbreon was in the tunnel, he was going to gain some serious ground. I was sure of that. Following Espeon as best I could, I noticed that Clover was fairly far ahead. How did she know where she was going?
Finally, I spotted light not emanating from Espeon. I took the advantage, bolting ahead and, hopefully, into second place.
But I was still in third, it turns out. True to my expectations, Umbreon had somehow passed everyone, and now held a seriously commanding lead, as Inferno shouted. It would take some effort for anyone to catch him now! Next obstacle, mud flats.
Umbreon reached them first, taking it in large leaps and bounds. Even if jumping dimensions were allowed, it wouldn't help him here. Clover arrived a few seconds after Umbreon, using the same technique that she did at the river, but it wasn't quite far enough to get her the whole way across. However, it seems that she had prepared for that, growing clumps of sensitive plants right under where her paws would be. She touched them just long enough to push off into another jump-glide, after which, the leaves curled up, making them unusable to anyone else. She knew what she was doing.
"A beautiful display of moves from Clover really helps her gain ground on Umbreon..." Inferno shouted, running his commentary as he and Bolt took the easy route along the race course. I looked dead ahead. If a display of moves is what they wanted, then I'd give it to them.
I fired up Stone Edge just as I reached the mud, creating a series of rock pillars that I could run across and disappeared behind me after a few seconds. However, it seemed that I wasn't the only one using them. "Oh, Espeon pulls some serous agility stunts, running behind Splash on her ingenious rock bridge!"
I heard her voice not too far behind me. "Sorry, Splash. No hard feelings?"
"None at all," I called back without turning around. Suddenly, the entire mud flat froze solid, throwing everyone, including the rocks that Espeon and I were standing on, off balance. Snow dashed ahead, her soft paws solid and steady on the slick surface. In the second or two that everyone else had stopped, she had gained speed on the ice, passing me by a nose by the time that we exited the mud flats.
I pressed back in for the speed as we approached the halfway point. I passed Snow by a nose just as the second, and slightly larger bend in the river presented itself, this one dotted with small stones that one could use to jump across. Umbreon, still ahead of Clover, but not by much now, leaped onto the first stones, reasonably confident in his agility. Clover did the same as I reached the bank. I knew what Snow was going to do. Putting on as much speed as I could and gauging the Glaceon's distance carefully, I dove into the water, swam for a tailstroke before jumping back out, just as Snow froze part of the water.
"Snow seems to have cut Splash off-" Inferno started, just before I used Surf directly underneath me, swamping the entire ice bridge, carrying me to the other side with additional speed, and washing Snow off of the ice. "NICE MOVE BY SPLASH! I think Snow's back in the rear, if not out of the race!"
"Sorry!" I called back as I reached the other side. I wasn't too far behind Umbreon and Clover, who were now neck and neck. Up next came the tree-hop, where we had to jump from tree to tree to pass through. Three guesses as to who came up with this one.
Both Umbreon and Clover tore up the ramp into the treetops without hesitation, and from there, I lost sight of them. I galloped up the ramp myself shortly after, using my tail as a counter weight to balance me as I jumped from branch to branch. How did Bolt do this with such ease!?
"Clover and Espeon seem to taking this obstacle in stride!" Inferno announced. "Clover really hasn't been afraid to use her wings in this race!"
"Which is totally unfair," I heard Surf dimly mutter from behind me. I smiled and leaped again, hoping that I could catch up to someone. Finally, there was the exit ramp.
Clover, Umbreon, and Espeon were ahead of me now, but Espeon was close. She wouldn't be in front of me for long! The final part of the race was in sight, the biggest part of the river yet. It was too far to jump, even for Clover and her wings. But I had to be careful. Surf was still a faster swimmer than I was.
"Here they come... What will they do to clear the river?" Clover seemed to know. As she neared the edge, a series of vines and roots sprouted from either side of the river, converging in the middle to for a near-perfect bridge, which she easily ran across. Umbreon was close behind her, using her bridge as well, but he had another trick up his sleeve. As she touched the bridge, he began shedding toxic chemicals, making the plants wither and crumble behind him, something unfortunate for his mate, who was also using the bridge! Just as I dove in the water with Surf closer behind me than I had thought, the frail vines snapped beneath even Espeon's light weight, causing her to crash into the water below rather unhappily.
Surf and I were once again fin on fin as we exited the river, but I pressed the advantage on land. He was a faster swimmer, but I was a faster runner. Everyone in the Clan dashed as fast as they could across the last stretch of bare ground before the finish line, from which, the cheers of five Eevees could be heard.
"Go Daddy!"
"Run faster!"
"You can do it!"
"You're almost there!"
"Yaaaaaaaaaaay!"
Finally, we all crossed the finish line as Bolt called off the final standings. "And it's Clover, Umbreon, Splash, Surf, Espeon, and Snow!!" he yelled loudly, ending the race.
Bolt approached me after had and Inferno had congratulated Clover and Umbreon for first and second place. We and Inferno stepped towards me as Umbreon was bowled over by happy and proud Eevee kits, minus Two, of course, who wasn't much for affection. Bolt grinned. "Congrats on third place, Splash! There was a lot of place changing there, but you stayed pretty constant from start to finish!"
I laughed a bit as Inferno continued. "Nice job on the mud flats and the rocky river, by the way! I don't think Snow appreciated the second one, but I thought that was brilliant."
I glanced back at the Glaceon, who smiled and nodded at me. "We worked it out. It's just a game. No hard feelings."
Surf walked up behind me, still a bit out of breath, and rubbed my fin. "She's quick, my Splash." There was a brief pause in which I rubbed Surf back, and Bolt and Inferno looked marginally uncomfortable. "I think next year, though, wings should have a restriction."
Bolt nodded. "Probably," he agreed.
I sat down. "Good to know that she's getting better, though. I still remember when she tried to pull them off by force."
"True," Surf nodded thoughtfully.
For a while, everyone talked about the race, congratulated each other on their performance, and asked how someone did this, or thought to do that. I had approached Clover. "Speaking of winning, Clover, how did you navigate the cave so easily? You seemed to know exactly where you were going."
She smiled and grew a tiny vine down from the leaf on her forehead, which then sprouted into a tiny mushroom. "I could sense the roots of the plants around the edges of the tunnel, so I knew when to turn, and..." She focused some more energy into the mushroom, and it began to glow faintly. I tilted my head in wonder. "I have a glow-shroom!"
"Nice!" I smiled. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask you, I was on a hunting patrol for Night when you got Bolt down from your roof. What did he do?"
Clover sat down and rolled her eyes with a smile. "What do you think he did? He blasted around camp at maximum speed and nearly ran everyone over for two hours!"
My fins twitched happily. "Typical Bolt!"
Suddenly, Espeon sprang to her paws. "TRAINER!" she yelled, grabbing One by the scruff and Two and Three with telekinesis and dashing back towards camp, with everyone else close behind her. I ran towards the back, making sure that no one was left behind.
I stopped short as Four tripped beside his father, falling behind the clan just as a female trainer walked past. "FOUR!" Umbreon shouted, still with Five in his mouth. Umbreon's shout and Four's glow gave the tiny Eevee away. Umbreon passed Five to Snow as he and I jumped back to protect the radioactive Eevee. I heard Surf take charge, telling everyone to get back to camp.
The trainer's eyes went wide as I grabbed Four, ignoring his buzzy energy. "Woah! A family of Eevees!" she shouted in surprise. She removed a Poke Ball from her bag.
Umbreon called to me. "Run! Get Four to safety! I'll hold her off!"
I didn't want to abandon him, but she released her Pokémon, the light faded as I turned to run, and I stopped short as the trainer yelled her command. "Go, Staraptor! Don't let them get away!"
The recognition was immediate. The bird Pokémon looked back and forth between Umbreon, Four and me. "...Splash?" she asked quietly.
I stared back, a scared Four still humming away in my jaws. "Night!?"
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