-------------Written By: Reality Obscured-------------
It takes a lot of skill to raise a racing chocobo. It's not something someone expects a common criminal to know or understand. I'm not honored by my own past, but at least one would consider me... Good thing nobody's supposed to talk about the past here.
I've seen skill. Those I've seen work their way up from Class C to Class S have skill. In Cloud Strife's case, I'd call it luck. He appears seemingly out of nowhere and makes himself known as my biggest rival on the chocobo track. Others may think this, but I don't. Cloud's come and gone with many a chocobo, each different than the last, while my chocobo, Teioh, hasn't changed that much at all. I have skill, and he has luck.
Even now as I sit mounted on my regal black chocobo, Cloud is nearby, himself mounted on a green chocobo I don't remember seeing on the track before. It looks fit enough to be in Class A, and its stats boast the same as well. 120 speed and 999 stamina.
I have to admit, it's no wonder Ester seems to have taken an interest in Cloud. She had given him partially untamed chocobos to race with when she had offered to be his manager just to see how he would handle them. Sure, it amazed me to see that he had come back in one piece, but it amazed me even more to see that he had won after just one try.
I can feel Teioh tensing up beneath me. He knows the race is about to begin. All the racers are ready and lined up. I shift my weight forward a little and tighten up my grip on Teioh's reins. I pull the brim of my hat down slightly. Don't want to lose it. This is my favorite hat!
Holding on is all I can do as Teioh leapt foward in a quick burst of speed, but it was Cloud's chocobo who sprang forward to become neck to neck. I pulled Teioh back, settling him into a fast but steady pace. No need to sprint just yet. Let Cloud tire his chocobo out with that pace. Teioh had more than enough stamina and speed to pass him in the last stretch. I've done it many times before in the past, and this time was hardly any different than the last.
It was the short stretch, and it went fast. I could hear the chocobos and their jockeys somewhere far behind me, but why should I pay attention to them when my target wasn't at all that far ahead. Pushing Teioh to go faster, I kept pace right behind Cloud. I saw Cloud glance over his shoulder once to see who it was there. Yes, Cloud, I'm here, but not for long. Soon you'll be glancing forward to see me.
I could see the home stretch just ahead. Teioh could see it, too, and I didn't even have to urge him forward before he started sprinting. We passed up Cloud and that annoying green chocobo as if they had stopped. In just a few more seconds, the finish line whizzed by in a blur. Teioh stopped and threw up his head in a loud wark. As for me, I was standing on Teioh's back, my fists in the hair and a victorious grin on my face. Cloud came in second of course.
But I had won.
I showed once again that skill came before luck.