Flight 2:
"In the first flight of the Winged Migration Race, the Bird racers had to use their migratory instincts to get to the Bird's Nest," said Tutulu. "But they had to do it in whichever time of a 24-hour period was more appropriate for their species to migrate, day or night. Today, the Birds will race during the day, and they will continue to use their instincts, but this time, there will be an obstacle partway to the Bird's Nest: a Predator challenge, if you will, which will be explained further when the first racer is closing in on it.
"Gando the goose was eliminated at the end of the last Flight of the race. Searuff the tern finished the last Flight first, and will depart first at 1100 hours in the morning from the mountaintop next to the Tigers' village."
Searuff took off from his perch and began the second Flight. "This is going to be great! To be in first place excites me, and to have the Feather Beacon in my possession as well, I'm not going home anytime soon." The Bird's Nest was said to be located at the Elephant village farther south from the Tiger village. He watched the landmarks, as before, and noted that the Great Canyon led through much of the territory between the Tigers and the Elephants.
"Let's see," he said, "I estimate the Elephant village is about sixty miles away, west by southwest. Yep, that's the course I want to take."
Rubie the hummingbird was second to take off. She could feel the warmth of the sun on her, and it invigorated her enough that she could find her way anywhere. Shortly afterwards, Sidewind's turn to leave the starting point came, and he was looking forward to showing his strut at the Bird's Nest.
"I'm third, I'm ready to go, and I'm a force to be reckoned with," he thought to himself. "I need A$100,000. I need all the candy I can get my beak on!"
Frendo the warbler was fourth to go, and he was raring to go. A few minutes later, so was Forkera. Frendo promised himself that he would concentrate on the task at hand, and not get distracted by Forkera's show-off ways. Forkera knew she looked beautiful for a female swallow, and was darn well proud of it, and she didn't care if she couldn't turn the heads of all the racers.
"Hope you enjoy your fancy feathers in the light of the sun, Frendo!" she shouted at Frendo as she started to catch up to him. She soon overtook him and flew a little farther ahead.
Frendo shook his head. "Ridiculous lady," he thought to himself. "She thinks she's so cool just because she's from a swallow colony. I'll show her that slow and steady really does win the race."
Vulturky took off last, a while after all the others, but she was ready to catch up, too. As before on the first Flight, she allowed the sun to warm the air so she could soar on its currents, and flying took little effort for her.
Searuff navigated as carefully as possible. He spied a tall cliff and landed on it for a moment. From there, he scanned the landscape and found a river a ways to the south that would lead him near the Elephant village. Deciding this was a pretty good bit of strategy, he took off again and headed for the river.
Forkera was second to get to that area, being a fast swallow and all. Since she was a Tree Swallow, she managed to find a tall tree to perch in and observe the land below. She found a different route, a deeper part of the canyon where she could fly low and in the shadows, being harder to see from above. This too led to the Elephant village according to her vision. It had a lot of twists and turns and boulders to ram into, but it was a little more direct than Searuff's route, and Forkera was pretty agile, so she took it.
"How did Forkera get so far ahead of us so quickly?" asked Rubie as she was flying alongside Frendo and Sidewind. "I didn't think she was that good."
"I don't know," said Sidewind, "But she sure is a good flyer. A damn good flyer."
"She's a swallow," said Frendo, "You have to expect fast flight from birds like that, don't you think?"
"Yeah, I guess so," said Rubie. "But it's still a little unnerving. If she can outfly all three of us that quickly, she might make it to the Bird's Nest well before any of us do."
"Don't worry about it," Frendo offered, "She's a show-off. Her flamboyance will be her downfall sooner or later."
"Thanks," said Rubie, "Now you've made it sound like a beautiful Bird such as myself will also go down."
"That's up to you, not the Race itself," said Sidewind, "You're a show-off too, but you're a gothic show-off, and people aren't as attracted to that."
"Whatever," said Rubie, "Can we just continue the Race now? If I get all jittery, I definitely won't win!"
"Fine," Frendo shrugged, "But you started it, remember?"
Rubie rolled her little eyes but said nothing.
They didn't notice it during their talk, but Vulturky had also passed them, silently soaring above their bodies and getting a head start to the end. When she got past them, she hissed and chortled to herself.
"Ha, ha! You spend too much time chatting, you get behind on the race! Besides, they're supposed to be racing each other, not banding together into a group."
She was third to get to the cliff. There, she landed and surveyed the ground. She decided that the canyon was a better bet for someone like her. That way, she could continue to soar on warm, dry air currents and get there a lot faster than if she flew over water like Searuff.
Speaking of Searuff, he was getting close to the end of his route, but when he still had about fifteen miles to go, he reached a flashing box in the sky. He popped it open and found a clue to the Predator challenge.
"Predator: It isn't like taking candy from a baby," he read.
"In this Predator challenge," said Tutulu, "racers will learn what actual birds have to go through when faced with a dangerous animal in their own feeding territory. Racers must go down to the hives of the wraiths, a large, strong insect species that steals fruit from the Elephants from time to time, fly within them, and using only their beaks like a real bird, they must peck fruit out of the wraiths' storage chambers and eat them on the wing. After ten pieces of fruit have been successfully taken and eaten from the wraiths' hive, they will be given the go to proceed to the next Bird's Nest."
"Hmm, fruit," mused Searuff. "My preferred food is fish, but I suppose it couldn't hurt to get some fruit from the wraiths."
Searuff soon located the hives of the wraiths, a couple of miles north of his route. Sure enough, plenty of wraiths were buzzing around their home. Searuff darted in very fast and grabbed one piece of fruit, quickly swallowing it.
"One down, nine to go," he said.
But his first excursion was enough to rouse the wrath of the wraiths. They became more aggressive and gathered together to protect their hive from further theft.
"Oh, goodness," Searuff groaned, "You've gotta be kidding me! I have to get past that big swarm nine more times?"
Forkera had reached the clue box by this time. She believed she could handle this any day, and flew down with confidence. She saw Searuff making very cautious flights back into the hive to get more fruit without getting stung.
"Ah, that's nothing," said Forkera, "I can get those fruits a lot faster than you, Mr. Tern." She flew in very fast and got the first fruit without any problem. Searuff noticed this and got a little uneasy.
"If she can get those fruits faster and easier than I can, I'm not going to win this Flight!" he said, trying to speed up his wings and beak, as well as his courage.
But Forkera was too quick for him. She took out and ate one fruit after the other, one by one, until she had eaten ten, at about the same time Searuff had six. She perched on a safe spot on the rocks for a moment and wiped her beak and preened her feathers.
"See you at the Bird's Nest!" she said cockily as she flew away. As she noticed Vulturky flying in next, she couldn't resist shouting, "And you too, Vulturky!"
Vulturky hissed at Forkera as she came in to do the Predator challenge, but Forkera was undeterred. She flew on to the Bird's Nest, which would take her just a few minutes.
The three smaller Birds, meanwhile, had been using the sun as a compass to find the location of the Elephant village. For the moment, Sidewind was in the front of their group, with Frendo in the middle, and Rubie falling behind. They were coming to the point where they were in sight of the Elephant village, and carried on flying to their destination.
"I think I can see the clue box not far away," said Sidewind.
"Good," said Frendo, "Let's get there as fast as possible. Every Bird for himself!"
"Or herself," said Rubie.
"There isn't time to worry about gender relations right now," said Frendo. "Himself, herself, whatever. Let's just get going."
"Picky, picky," said Rubie as she followed them. "No wonder we're losing the Race. Misery loves company. I've gotta get ahead of those bums!"
At the wraiths' hives, Searuff finally managed to get his tenth fruit as Vulturky began to take fruit herself.
"I can already smell those fruits," said Vulturky as she soared into the hive.
"Hope you can smell the wraiths sneaking up on you from behind, too," said Searuff as he flew away. He had received a minor sting from a wraith, which had snuck up behind him.
The Elephants were in their circle, meditating quietly, when Forkera arrived at the Bird's Nest, right above one of their temples, on a cliff. A peacock named Abheek was standing up there with Tutulu, waiting to greet the first-comer.
"Welcome to the Elephant village," he said in an accent much like that of the Elephants themselves.
"Thank you," said Forkera courteously, bowing her head and folding her hands and wings.
"Forkera," said Tutulu, "You are racer number 1!"
Forkera cheered and chattered for herself. She was very glad, indeed, for getting this victory.
"And I have some great news for you," said Tutulu. "As the winner of this Flight, you have just won a Wing-Sling exercise kit."
Forkera cheered again.
"With this," continued Tutulu, "you can keep track of the number of miles you've flown a day, you can have your own health food cooking classes for a year, and you may stay as fit and trim as a Bird ever can be. I don't doubt that it's something you'll love."
"Oh, yeah," said Forkera, "I may not have the Feather Beacon, like Searuff, whom I outflew getting here, but I can navigate anywhere in night or day, and my speed can outstrip his well and good, especially when he's tired!"
"Must make you feel good," said Tutulu.
"It does," replied Forkera. "It sure does."
Vulturky had to admit, fruit wasn't one of her more favorite things to smell. Carrion and similar meats were more her forte. But she had to do her best on this, nonetheless, and she wasn't going to let her preferred tastes get in the way of winning A$100,000. Fortunately, as a bird of prey, she could take the fight to the wraiths to some extent, and the big bugs soon became less interested in messing with her.
As the three smaller Birds arrived, close ahead of or behind each other, Vulturky was wrapping up her work, and, while hoping to find some water to wash her beak and throat out with, she flew on to the Bird's Nest.
Searuff made it to the Bird's Nest second, and Tutulu had The Winged Migration Race's medics look at the sting scar on his back. They bandaged it, and said he would be all right as long as he didn't strain his wing muscles too much for the rest of the Race.
"How do you feel about coming in second this time?" Tutulu asked him.
Searuff shook his head and smiled. "I'm not going to be first all the time. It's all right. Second's just the first loser, but I'm sure I'll come in first again, including at the end of the Race."
Right behind him came Vulturky, who landed on the ground a few feet away and imitated Abheek's peacock posture as she waddled over to the rug. Abheek laughed, unoffended. Tutulu declared her racer number 3.
Back at the hives, Sidewind was rather enjoying this challenge, tasting the fruits with relish, and it motivated him to try harder to finish the Predator challenge quickly. He was done in almost no time at all, and was on his way.
With that, it was a race to the end with Frendo vs. Rubie. Frendo, being a warbler, wasn't used to dealing with giant wasps, and it took all his courage and all his strength to get in each time and snatch a bite. Rubie, on the other hand, was faster on the wing, but the fruits were tricky for her to pick up in her thin little beak. In fact, she was having so much trouble picking them up that she couldn't devour a single one each time she went in, and she was getting tired.
Frendo, however, seemed to be making progress. He wasn't under as much stress as she was right now. She wondered how Frendo was doing it, and she noticed that he was sucking the juices from the fruits with his own little beak. She told him, "Hey, Frendo! That's not the way you're supposed to do it!"
"In my case, it is," Frendo replied, "And I think it is in yours, too. Read your clue again."
Rubie read the full clue, which she hadn't thought to do before, and it said that for Birds with very small or thin beaks, they were permitted to suck the juice out of each fruit instead of trying to force a giant fruit down their small throats. Feeling really dumb, Rubie flittered into the hive again, sucking up the juice from the fruits, and avoiding the wraiths the entire time, which was tricky, to say the least.
She panted a sigh of relief when she was finally finished, but after she caught her breath, she saw that Frendo was nowhere to be seen.
"Blast!" she moaned, "He must have finished before I did! I've got to hustle!" She took off for the Bird's Nest.
Her fears were well founded, for Frendo was a couple minutes ahead of her. He was taking full advantage of the opportunity he had to stay in the Race.
Sidewind pulled into the Bird's Nest fourth, and he commented on how Abheek's feathers reminded him of delicious candy. He thanked him for the compliment.
Frendo was putting all the muscle he could manage into making it to the Bird's Nest next. Warblers were not very enduring flyers when they were in haste, but he wouldn't give up.
Rubie, meanwhile, knew that hummingbirds could fly in little bursts of speed, making them slightly faster than warblers, sometimes. This gave her hope that she could make it.
The two little Birds kept on racing, never giving up, hoping not to come in last, until…
Tutulu pointed into the air as somebody approached the rug. A slight gust of wind flew by, and Frendo the warbler was the one to land fifth.
"You are still in this Race, Frendo. You are racer number 5!" Tutulu announced.
Frendo trilled in the manner of Cerulean Warblers, happy to still be in the Race. "Oh my gosh, it's so good to still be able to race! This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I'm so glad I took it!"
A few minutes later, Rubie came fluttering in, still hopeful. But Tutulu's sad look told her all she needed to know.
"Rubie, I'm sorry to tell you that you are the last racer to arrive," he said. "And you have been eliminated from the Race."
Rubie wiped away a small tear. "I thought I was going to do a lot better in this Race. I was so good at what I did! I guess I should've just remembered to read the whole clue from the beginning, and not just the first part of it."
"What do you think your friends back home will say about your stories of The Winged Migration Race?" asked Tutulu.
"Oh, I don't know," said Rubie, trying to cheer up, "I guess my fellow hummingbird goths, including my boyfriend, will have some laughs about it. I didn't want to lose because of wraiths and large fruits, but I don't think it's vital that I take everything in life so seriously. I think we'll all enjoy my time in the Race, and I'll cheer for whoever wins it, too."
End of Flight 2