The race is halfway through but now comes the tricky part where most jaquins start feeling fatigued: everyone's endurance is tested.
Being in seventh place now, Nico finds himself in a sweet spot; there's no one directly in front of him or right behind him. For a moment, the yellow-and-green prince experiences no pressure to be fast-paced. This ease of mind makes Nico feel unhurried. His body becomes less tense and that feels good. He slows down a little to recuperate from boosting himself to his limits earlier, in which he managed to overtake some notable jaquins like Skylar and Vestia. But now his wings need a little resting, hence him slowing down a little.
This provides Nico with the perfect opportunity to think ahead. Without someone flying in front of him, he must remain vigilant to not take any wrong turns. He, therefore, decides to peer ahead for what's to come. The speedy youngster notices a member of the King's Guard sitting on a standing rock not far away, gesturing caution by making a repeating pattern using one of his wings; he's notifying each approaching participant of a sharp turn to the left. Furthermore, the youngster sees two jaquins in front of him slowing down as they approach that turn behind the standing rock. *That is where the zigzag part must be. I bet I can retain my speed better than they can. Maybe even better than anyone else. This is practically a win for me!* he thinks in elation.
The yellow-and-green youngster had heard some jaquins speak of this part of the race as being the most challenging: the zigzag turn kills a lot of speed. To regain it once through both corners is difficult when hampered by increasing fatigue, which is affecting most jaquins this far into the race. Attempting to retain speed in both corners requires a delicate balance of skill and flexibility. That is if one doesn't desire to hit any obstacles like rocks or trees.
But Nico knows well that there are only three jaquins that can excel in retaining most of their speed under such difficult conditions: Skylar, Tudor, and himself. And with neither his big brother nor Tudor in sight, the pressure is off for Nico – for the time being.
When arriving at the first of two sharp turns, Nico leans into both corners as he makes the left turn followed by a right one swiftly. Upon reaching the apex of the final turn, Nico starts beating his wings again to pick up speed. A sly smirk finds its way onto his face; he closes the gap between him and the two jaquins in front of him. It won't be long before he'll be flying in fifth place.
To the other end of the race is Dulce. She has officially taken second to last place. The pink-and-blue jaquin doesn't know and neither does she care. She continues flying behind the youngsters who decided to participate in the race but aren't fast. For some, it's even the first time and are happy with Dulce's guidance, even though her encouragement comes from behind. Seeing to their safety is her priority, one Dulce took upon herself at the start of the race when her motherly instincts kicked in. Despite her current position in the race, she's enjoying herself greatly and this matters to her most.
Far behind her, the last place is reserved for Cruz, who had voluntarily put himself there. His goal of emerging as the winner by cheating without anyone noticing had backfired. The ring around one of his fingers was meant to instantly translocate him to near the finish line, yet only the ring teleported there. Now The purple-and-plum jaquin is trying to figure out how to win by cheating differently. After all, the Navegera should win this race given that with the title comes a combination of strength, endurance, and agility, moulded into a perfect mix of talents that no one else has. Or so Cruz would say. The only form of cheating that he can think of is using shortcuts. It requires him to leave the race's boundaries, which is against the rules and will disqualify him. With members of the King's Guard on strategic positions along the race, it'll be hard for Cruz to cheat while remaining unseen. Especially with the one on top of the vertical and narrow fissure further down the course who's watching him. After all, all other jaquins still participating in the race are all long gone. With the odds against him, Cruz still decides to go for some shortcuts against better judgment…
Somewhere in the middle of the race is Shaniqua, having just reached the 17th position. But a moment ago, she managed to overtake Sienté. It was quite a struggle between the two females, during which both of them caused intense stress on their wing muscles. Of course, Sienté didn't want to give up her position so she manoeuvred in front of Shaniqua several times, effectively preventing the violet-and-pink jaquin from overtaking her.
This tactic, however, only fueled Shaniqua's dedication to acquiring 17th place. At one point during their struggle, Shaniqua remembers Tudor and Dióntan training some days prior, in which Dióntan feigned a swoop and prevented himself from being tagged by the green-and-maroon jaquin. Inspired by the feigning, Shaniqua performed a similar move and feigned an attempt to overtake Sienté on her left side. While the beige-and-lemon jaquin closed the gap between her and the left side of the track boundaries, Shaniqua quickly moved to the right side and managed to overtake Sienté that way.
With no one directly in front of her, Shaniqua feels herself slowing down. Each stroke of her wings becomes increasingly difficult, while heat is starting to build up inside of her. Together with breathing more heavily, these three things are signs of increased fatigue. Overtaking Sienté has cost her dearly. And on top of that, it's a long way to get to first place. However, advancing one position at a time is one way to win a race, even though time and the build-up fatigue aren't by her side.
Fortunately, by now Shaniqua's next target has come into view: Migs. The yellow-and-orange jaquin has just entered a narrow passageway behind a female jaquin in the 15th position. This slows him down a bit and renders Migs unable to increase the distance between him and Shaniqua. The violet-and-pink jaquin locks her gaze at him and she only cares to lose sight of Migs when overtaking him. It motivates her to continue racing despite the sore wings.
With Shaniqua having found her next target, Dióntan has managed to advance several positions in the race, despite being overtaken by a few jaquins. He currently holds the ninth place. He's well ahead of his brother Veje, who has fallen to 23rd place despite having briefly held the lead position. In contrast to popular belief that Veje is just slow, Dióntan blames the loss of positions on his brother's laid-back nature. This makes Veje seem less competitive, though his bursts of speed shown during Migs' hunt with Skylar and Tudor prove him to be a capable flyer.
A smile appears on Dióntan's face as he reminisces about the moment when he was in the middle of overtaking his brown-and-taupe brother, waving to him sarcastically with a grin plastered on his face. Veje smiled back in a sarcastic manner, signifying their healthy brotherly relationship. Despite their teasing, they never get into a quarrel.
However, Dióntan's fond thought is interrupted as he gets snapped back to reality: Skylar just flew past him and he's followed by Luna in close pursuit. *Wow! They are going fast. I need to stay close to them if I want to make it to the front of the race.* he thinks to himself and starts speeding up.
As he tries to keep up with both notable jaquins, Dióntan senses that he's being watched. It's an uncanny feeling that he cannot shake off. Curiosity gets the better of the green-and-blue jaquin and he cares to know who's watching him. He peers past Skylar and Luna but spots no member of the King's Guard, nor anyone flying in front of him, who's paying attention to him. Dióntan looks back and immediately startles: Vestia is dangerously close to his tail and has her gaze locked on him like a predator does when targeting its prey. Her conniving glance makes Dióntan feel anxious, which he betrays via the stunned look on his face. The way the purple-and-red jaquin looks at him makes Dióntan feel hunted, even though jaquins don't prey on their own kind. Regardless, this situation that Vestia just created makes Dióntan scared for his life. On top of that, it's completely unclear to the blue-and-green jaquin what she wants from him. And honestly, he doesn't care to know because, at this point, Vestia makes things come across as personal, turning this race into a scary chase.
The increasing uncertainty has Dióntan's heart racing inside of his chest and he starts breathing heavier but more shallow. It derives not only from Vestia's frightening glance but from the adrenaline rush as well. He feels a burst of energy and tries to speed up. Not only does he dislike being eyed like this, but he also has had enough of being overtaken. He wants to get away from Vestia. He cares to flee somewhere safe. Right now, that safety is flying in front of him. All he needs to do is speed up and keep Vestia behind him until he catches up with Skylar and Luna.
With Vestia occupying his mind, the blue-and-green jaquin wonders what happened to his training buddy Tudor. Dióntan clearly remembers him starting several positions before Vestia. However, with her on his tail now, Tudor is nowhere to be seen. He also cannot remember being overtaken by the green-and-maroon jaquin, which begs him to wonder where Tudor might be.
Tudor is flying in 19th place now. After having been sent astray by Vestia, he sped down to the race track and returned to within its boundaries. It has cost him dearly in terms of position and endurance. Not only had he fallen back nine positions, but the increase in speed to get up the mountain slope next to the race course had cost him precious time and stamina. He'll need to recuperate somehow while trying to get back to his former position. Either choice negates the other. Thus, he's confronted by a decision. *Argh! I have to beat Vestia. That was so low of her, sending me the wrong way. Darn that girl!* he thinks in bitterness of being misdirected.
Tudor's sulking mind is utterly focused on getting back to the tenth position. He's determined to win the race before Vestia as a form of retaliation against her. Only then will he feel better about this situation.
However, Tudor feels exhausted from the continuous strain on his wings. Not only do his muscles start aching, his body is heating up as a result of exertion and it's spreading throughout his body slowly. Despite him being adored by most for being very fast, if not the fastest, he cannot seem to be making this true now that he's physically hitting the limits and his juvenile body starting to protest the continuous strain. Fortunately for him, though, there's a distraction ahead in the form of Sienté flying in 18th place. It'll be the first jaquin he will overtake on his way back to tenth place, even though it'll become a troublesome effort with low stamina…