Twisted Wonderland 2

Widen the Gap

The sled race begins and the racers tear across the snow. All of the four of the dwarves' sleds are being pulled by deer plushies. Epel and Grum charge past all the others and get a major head start. Epel starts taking the lead with his rabbit plush.

Epel glances over his shoulder with a grin. "You're not gonna pass me!"

"Think again!" Grum charges forward to catch up.

"Oh my!" Dominic says. "Grum and Epel took off at full speed!"

Idia rolls his eyes. "Oof. IRL hot-blooded archetypes are so cringe."

"We should be mindful of our pacing." Jade advises.

Sebek grins. "Now THIS is a race! I shall match their speed!"

"Sounds like fun!" Hop laughs cheerfully.

The two push ahead to catch up to Epel and Grum.

Dominic shakes his head. "Not you too, Hop!"

Further down the track, the sun only dips further into the horizon and the sky turns into a mix of purple and pink. Signs along the track light up so the racers can know they're going the right way. The four races who charged ahead early have slowed down and are trying to catch their breath.

"All four of them just slowed to a crawl." Idia says. "We caught up right away."

Jade hums. "Sustaining a full sprint must really drain your physical and magical reserves."

Dominic slows his sled and lags behind the Night Raven boys.

"Grum, Hop, let's pull back on the speed a little!" Dominic calls out.

"All right..." The two respond a bit tiredly.

Grum and Hop slow down to join the others and the Night Raven boys keep going ahead.

"The Seven Swords have slowed down." Jade points out. "What's our play now, Epel?"

"We're in the lead, so I say we widen the gap. Follow me, everyone!" Epel speeds up. "Single file!"

Jade tilts his head in thought. "I assume you're thinking the forerunner will reduce wind resistance for the others, correct?"

Epel nods. "Yeah, it's a racing technique called slipstreaming."

"Interesting. Since you and Sebek were both just going at full speed, allow me to take the fore." Jade brings his sled to the front.

Sebek hums. "Very well, Jade. I'll follow behind you." He moves his sled behind Jade's. "Hey, this is nice! It's as if the sled in front is just carrying me along!"

"I guess I'll bring up the rear." Idia shrugs, slowing down to be the last in the line. "Whoa, talk about EZ! It's like we got the VIP seats out of the wind."

"It may be easy back here, but the person in front has to invest extra magic to push their plushie against the wind." Epel says. "So we'll have to take turns at the front."

"I'll be leading you all for a while." Jade glances over his shoulder with a grin. "Do make sure to keep up-"

A low hanging tree branch smacks Jade off his sled. Sebek gets hit by the same branch and is knocked off his sled. Epel, seeing this happen, pulls his sled out of the collision course but Idia isn't as fortunate. Idia's sled crashes into the other sleds and sends him into the snow.

Epel pulls his sled up beside the boys. "Guys... Yer just too tall, Ah tell you what!"

Sebek sits up with a scowl. "Maybe the staff should do a better job at clearing the course of obstacles!"