Due to being sick and not having as much time as I did during the holidays, I haven't had a chance to write. I am back to write the next leg. Hope you enjoy and thanks for your patience. Sorry this chapter will be a little bit longer because I fell a little behind on the story.
Standings beginning of 4th Leg:
1. Tigerstar and Scourge (Fast Forward)
2. Squirrelflight and Bramblestar
3. Lionblaze and Crowfeather
4. Leafpool and Hollyleaf
5. Reedwhisker and Mallownose
6. Millie and Blossomfall
7. Jayfeather and Willowshine
8. Tigerheart and Dawnpelt
9. Leafstar and Echosong
The teams departed for the airport. Tigerstar and Scourge had a 3 hour lead on any of the teams. However when they got to the airport, they were told the ticket booths would not open for another 3 hours. So Tigerstar and Scourge went to the Internet station and looked up the flights. Tigerstar and Scourge were disappointed to find out that the flight that would get them there the earliest would not leave until 9. So not only would they have to wait 7 hours, they would lose their lead. Perhaps only the last two teams would not make it on time. Tigerstar yelled at the computer. "You are going to scare the people", said Scourge.
"There's no one here", said Tigerstar.
"That won't help", said Scourge. They did a little more searching and found a 6:00 flight with one stop on KLM that would get in earlier than the 9 o'clock flight. "This is better than the 9 o'clock flight. Only possibly one team could make it", said Scourge.
"Good job", said Tigerstar.
Indeed only Squirrelflight and Bramblestar were able to get on the same flight. By the time Lionblaze, Crowfeather and Leafpool and Hollyleaf got there, they were told they were too late and the next flight, the one that left at 9, was available. They were disappointed because they had to wait for a few hours but at least it was a direct flight. It would get in an hour and ten minutes later than the KLM flight. Tigerheart, Dawnpelt, Millie and Blossomfall, Jayfeather and Willowshine were able to make the next flight. Reedwhisker and Mallownose were disheartened that they were not able to get on the flight but decided to do standby.
Leafstar and Echosong had to take a flight from Czech Airlines that arrived an hour later. So these are the flights and arrival times:
Flight 1: KLM 6:00 AM..arrives at 12:35 PM
1. Tigerstar and Scourge
2. Squirrelflight and Bramblestar
Flight 2: SAS leaving at 9:30 arrives at 1:00 PM
1. Tigerheart and Dawnpelt
2. Leafpool and Hollyleaf
and Lionblaze
4. Millie and Blossomfall
5. Jayfeather and Willowshine
6. Reedwhisker and Mallownose (via Standby)
Flight 3: 10:15 arrives at 3:45 PM Luthansa
1. Leafstar and Echosong
There was a little scuffle when the teams on the second flight were trying to book the flights. Tigerheart and Dawnpelt cut through the ropes and were able to get ahead of the other teams. Hollyleaf was arguing with Dawnpelt saying it was not fair. There was arguing back and forth but after all that, they were able to get on the same flight anyhow.
Now all teams are making their way to Moscow, Russia. Tigerstar, Scourge and Squirrelfight and Bramblestar leave the airport. They had read their clue on the flight. We now see Autumnsplash telling us about it. "To do this Route marker, teams must go to the landmark with a Saint's name in it". Tigerstar and Scourge found a cab first but their cab driver did not know any English. They tried to ask others around them but no one spoke English. Scourge tried to pantomine a sign for telephone. The cabbie looked confused at first but finally handed him the phone. They looked up the clue and found out it was Saint Basil's Cathedral. Scourge told him that and he seemed to understand.
Squirrelflight and Bramblestar were lucky to actually get a cabbie who knew English. He even told them that the place was Saint Basil's Cathedral. So they ended up leaving about 5 minutes earlier even though they got the second cab. Tigerstar was throwing a fit in the cab. At a light, the cabbie looked at them shocked and a puzzled look. "See what you are doing? You are scaring off the cabbie. He probably thinks all cats are maniacs", said Scourge. Tigerstar rolled his eyes at Scourge but was quiet.
Squirrelflight and Bramblestar found the box quickly. The clue was for a Detour. When they read the clue, we see Autumnsplash saying, "This is a Detour. It is a choice between two challenges, each with their pros and cons. The first one is Cheer and the second one is Sing. In Cheer, teams get to do a Russian cossack tradition where they drink Vodka off a sword. In Sing, they must sing the famous Russian folk song, Kalinka-Malinka. This task is a lot closer to the cathedral but it may be more difficult to learn. The vodka challenge may be easier but it is further away.
Tigerstar and Scourge were not convinced the cabbie knew where they were going but luckily he did and got them there about 8 minutes later than Squirrelflight and Bramblestar.
Squirrelflight said, "Yeah no one wants to hear a tone deaf cat sing".
Bramblestar said, "Well two tone deaf cats".
Squirrelflight said, "Speak for yourself". But then smiled and said, "Well I'm not that bad but yes I should not be on Cat Pop Idol. So Cheer it is".
As Squirrelflight and Bramblestar left to go to their detour, Tigerstar and Scourge were trying to decide which Detour to do. "No question. Cheer of course", said Tigerstar.
"Hmm. I'm not sure about the distance but the Cheer does sound kind of fun and it should be quick. Cheer it is", said Scourge. For one of the few times on the race, both team members were very happy.
Bramblestar and Squirrelflight told their cabbie that they needed to go to Archikov Palace. The cabbie seemed to know where it is. They arrived there and did the task. They had so much fun. "I wonder how some of the other teams will do", said Squirrelflight. "I remember hearing someone could not hold their liquor".
"Yeah that was because a certain someone snuck a second Guinness. That won't happen here", said Bramblestar. Both teammates had big smiles after they finished the task. As they received their clue, Tigerstar and Scourge arrived at the Detour. The cabbie was a little slow but at least he knew how to find the location. They were thinking of getting another cabbie but they were risking getting someone who did not speak English and did not know where anything is. They arrived and also did the task. Both Scourge and Tigerstar were even more jovial after the task than they were when they found out about it, if that is possible. They received their clue and left.
At this time the teams on the second flight raced out of the airport. Leafpool and Hollyleaf had the good fortune to get seats close to the front, so they reached their cab first. And even though their cabbie did not know English either, it was also easy enough to pantomine "telephone" and borrow the phone to look up the clue. They also decided to look up the Russian word for cathedral to try to make things easier. The second team to get to a cab was Millie and Blossomfall. However their cabbie did not speak English and did not understand that they were trying to ask to borrow the phone. So they rushed to find another cab. Next was Jayfeather and Willowshine. Their cabbie spoke a little English and Jayfeather had the idea to get a Russian/English dictionary, which was a great investment. Lionblaze and Crowfeather's cabbie spoke a passable amount of English.
The other two teams then found a cabbie and they were able to use the phone to find the clue and location.
Leafpool and Hollyleaf had looked at the clue and thought that they should do the Cheer task. Even though the song one was closer, pronouncing the Russian words and memorizing the song would take longer. They told their cabbie the location. Since there were no other places with the name Archikov in it, the cabbie knew the place just by knowing that word. Crowfeather hated liquor, so Lionblaze and Crowfeather were the only ones to opt to do the song challenge. Luckily their cabbie spoke enough English because the location they needed to visit had a name similar to another location.
Therefore Crowfeather and Lionblaze got to their location first, but they did not finish first. They heard the song first and got the words after. It was so difficult to pronounce they were getting frustrated. Finally, Crowfeather said, "Fine, I don't want us to fall behind. I will have the vodka". Lionblaze was worried because the place was far away and they were already behind. They hoped that someone else had trouble getting to their location.
Meanwhile Leafpool and Hollyleaf were at the palace and did the detour and shortly after Jayfeather and Willowshine were there. Jayfeather was nervous and said to Willowshine, "I don't think I could do this".
Willowshine said, "I know you are worried and I was thinking about it, the other task will be so much more difficult for us for obvious reasons. I had saw two guys there and asked about the task and one of them told me that I am to do two shots off the sword. I hope you don't mind".
Jayfeather said, "I'm not a big fan of liquor anyway, so enjoy. (This was another way that Jayfeather took after his father)
Willowshine was so excited she gave Jayfeather another hug. Jayfeather was shocked again but did not back away. Willowshine did the task, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Being a medical cat, she did not have much time to drink and when she did, she made sure she enjoyed it.
Millie and Blossomfall saw their cabbie was slowing down. "What's going on"? exclaimed Millie.
"I'm not sure", said Blossomfall. She tried to ask but the cabbie did not understand her. Finally they realized the cabbie needed gas. Millie smacked her head in frustration. She wanted to say a few choice words, but she was going to be on TV.
Therefore the next team to get there was Tigerheart and Dawnpelt. They were surprised that Millie and Blossomfall were not there. They had no idea if Crowfeather and Lionblaze were going to do this task. They did the task and got their clue and left.
As they left the last two teams on the second flight got there.
Next time stay tuned for what happened with Millie and Blossomfall and Crowfeather and Lionblaze. And also see how Leafstar and Echosong manage being in last place.