{"sf1_id":1010822,"sf2_id":"keNpXyMn","title":"Nice To Meet You, Man","author":"houndlover56","words":3304,"posted_at":"2016-05-24T20:32:00.000Z","tags":["Library","Relationships","books","clay","cricket","race","reality","vase"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1010822-nice-to-meet-you-man","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/keNpXyMn","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/c8/80/c8808d7b-89d7-46d4-a8ed-bae0e362f1e3","description":"#6 of The Amazing Race 3","content":"Previously on the Amazing Race, the teams traveled to St. Kitts. After being separated, they had to make a colorful costume fit for a local festival. Chris may have realized a little something about his partner. The mothers finally came out of last. The cab drivers took first. And an alliance between the geeks and telephone operators ended before it could get started as Arnold \u0026 Bert became the third team eliminated. With only 15 teams left, do any of them have a shot? Let's find out. It's time for... the Amazing Race.  \n\\*\\*\\*  \n\"Time to say goodbye to sunny Saint Kitts,\" Toner says. \"Yesterday's end point is today's starting line. Up first is the cab drivers...\"  \nDonna steps up to the tip box, happy to be in first and reads it to her partner. \"'Take a flight to Kingston and find your next tip at Sabina Park'.\"  \nJamaica! Home of many beautiful rainforests, resorts, and British architecture. Today the teams must travel to Kingston, the capital of the nation and take taxis to Sabina Park, where the next challenge awaits for them.  \nTips in paw, the first eight teams collectively gather on flight one. However, the second plane won't be leaving for another 45 minutes, an obstacle that could be difficult to overcome. With this in mind, the rest of the teams race to catch the next flight out.  \nZack looks out the window of his cab and sees the magicians. He waves to them and they wave back. \"I seriously think we should form an alliance,\" the fox suggests. \"With... say... the magicians!\"  \nChris wakes up from his half-dozed state and immediately growls, \"No!\"  \n\"But, why?\"  \n\"Because, I already have to deal with you enough. With another team to think about, we'd fall in last for sure!\"  \nThe mothers, although behind, are pretty excited about today. \"I'm feeling really good about our chances,\" April says. \"We went from last place to thirteenth. We keep this up, we'll be in first in no time.\"  \n\"I'm just worried something bad will happen,\" Maggie says suddenly. \"Thirteen is the most unlucky number on the planet; right up there with six-hundred sixty-six.\"  \n\"Do you really believe all that superstition stuff?\" When she asks that, they hear a pop and the taxi starts to wobble.  \n\"Flat tire,\" the driver explains.  \nThe YouTubers try to shake off the penalty from yesterday and keep their main focus on the race. \"Starting out in last is bad,\" Echo says, reaching into one of her bags. \"But you know what isn't? Getting to see the most tropical places in the caribbean!\" She pulls out her sunglasses and throws them on.  \n\"How do you pronounce that?\" Majira asks. \"Is it caribbean or cari-bbe-an?\" Echo shrugs.  \nA couple hours later, the first plane lands in Jamaica. The teams quickly get out and flag down taxis to get to the park. \"Still in first!\" Donna shouts out the window, the wind flying through her fur and tail. She looks in the rear view mirror and sees the officers behind them.  \n\"Step on it!\" Vito calls to the driver. They get to the park first and find the tip box next to fifteen sets of bases and weird looking boards.  \n\"It's a Roadblock,\" Donna reads. \"'Who want to play with... Crickets'?!\"  \nNot actual crickets (that's gross). For this Roadblock, whichever teammate didn't drive around go karts in Florida must use a Cricket bat and ackee fruit to smash open a vase with the next tip inside. The catch? The bat cannot come in contact with the vase at all. Once the tip can be retrieved, they will be allowed to move on.  \nSoon the rest of the teams arrive, with the fight for first place going strong. Or is it?  \nCarla tosses one ackee into the air and tries to swing at it, but misses. \"I'm better with my feet than my hands,\" she giggles nervously. \"This could take a moment.\"  \nSince he got to admire Toby in spandex, that means Felix has to do this. The issue is that he's never been good at baseball, let alone Cricket. \"This can't be too bad,\" he tells himself. \"Can it?\" He tosses one and manages to hit it, but it does go far enough to his the vase.  \nVito snickers. \"That was pathetic. Watch and learn, fox.\" He tosses an ackee in the air and whacks. It goes flying directly into the vase, but only breaking it partially.  \nAs soon as Cinnamon makes a shot and misses, his paws go directly for a new guitar to swing. His strategy? Keep his paws moving or else he could slip up. Eventually, he'll get the thing open.  \nJosee is a fitness tiger. She's been good as baseball for years. Of course, she's mostly the pitcher, but give her a bat and she dominated. \"This is for you, Ryan!\" she shouts. Josee tosses one up and hits it hard. The fruit goes through the vase, shattering it to bits.  \n\"Babe!\" Ryan shouts. \"You did it! First place!\" He runs over to the tip amongst the broken glass. \"It's a One-Way: 'A thirst for knowledge'?\"  \nTeams must run north to The Kingston and St. Andrews Parish Library. Once inside, they must search through the display of bookcases to find a golden Amazing Race pamphlet. Find one and it's a foot race further north to the children's hospital, which acts as this episode's checkpoint. Last team to arrive could be saying, \"Goodbye-man.\"  \nWith the daters taking the lead, the second plane has landed which means the race to get out of last is on. While those seven teams struggle to catch up, more are completing the Roadblock.  \nAnother case smashes. \"Yes!\" Carrie says. \"Nice job!\"  \nVito repeats the same demo shots, eventually chucking the whole top off. \"Fini!\" he claims.  \nAlthough sweaty and exhausted, Cinnamon keeps up his gameplay and eventually knocks the whole thing over. \"Alright, dude!\" Pepper hoots. \"On to the next challenge!\"  \nThe teams seeming to struggle the most are the officers, emperors and the engaged couple. \"I didn't exactly have a good childhood,\" Nick explains after several shots. \"After that was ruined, I didn't have time for baseball or most sports. That's why I'm not exactly good at these kinds of challenges.\"  \nCal watches from the sidelines as Ren keeps trying to hit their vase. \"Ren hasn't played baseball in ten years,\" Cal discloses. \"He was good then; I guess he lost his mojo.\"  \n\"I did not!\" Ren argues. \"I just... need more practice is all.\" Though the black fox knows that isn't the issue at all.  \n\"The most popular sport in the Fox Empire is soccer,\" Lucius reveals. \"So Cricket is not something Max is very familiar with.\"  \nSmash! \"I did it!\" Max whoops. Although sometimes he does impress me, the wolf thinks to himself.  \nThe teams from flight two begin to show up, leaving the other three more urgent to complete the task.  \n\"Are you gonna goof off with that bat?\" Chris asks when his partner makes a few practice swings.  \nZack chuckles. \"No. Real baseball players be prepared to hit the ball no matter what.\" He grabs some ackee fruit and starts aiming.  \nMajira stands to the side and watches the Echo plays the game; like a pro. \"She's always been better at sports than me,\" he says. \"Maybe because when she was younger her parents made her sign up for all kinds of these crazy teams in her hometown.\"  \nSindy sits aside, nibbling her fingertips as Sally tries to break her vase open. \"Hurry! We're in last place!\" The former yells out.  \nAlthough Sally is slightly annoyed, they were close to being eliminated yesterday and with their only friends eliminated, they're going to need all the help they can to catch up.  \nApril steps up to the plate for her team. The mothers did better yesterday; hopefully they can get better. \"Here goes nothing,\" the blue cat says. She tosses fruit into the air and swings, but misses by a long shot. One of which hits Nick in the face.  \nThe fox wipes it off him and snarls slightly, but Judy holds a paw to his chest. \"Nick,\" she warns and shakes her head. They have other issues to worry about.  \n\"Don't think about him, April!\" Maggie calls. \"You can do this!\"  \nShe collects her focus again and grabs more ackee. When she swings the bat, her sweaty fingers allow it to slip out of her paws and hurdling towards the vase. It smashes open. \"Oops,\" April says. \"I didn't mean to do that. Oh well.\" She grabs the tip and her and Maggie run out.  \nKaren watches as Mac participates beside her. \"You're pretty good at this,\" she says.  \n\"My dad and I play this sort of game every day,\" Max explains. \"It's almost like we're a stereotypical family.\" Kaleb and Carol watch, the wolf with a spare shoelace in his fingers as a nervous habit.  \nChloe glances over at the far end of the field where the marines are. Once she completes the challenge, she quickly jogs over to them and sees Zack is almost done. \"Hey,\" she speaks up. \"How're you guys doing?\"  \n\"Just fine,\" Chris growls.  \nZack pants, but he smashes a vase open in a matter of seconds and gets the tip. \"Great!\" the fox squeaks. \"In fact, we're heading off to the next challenge too.\" He winks at his partner and the four of them head out together; some happier than others.  \nEcho breaks her vase next and grabs the tip. Mac follows. \"Hey, dad?\" he asks. \"How come you brought your spare shoelace into the race with us?\"  \n\"Oh it's just a habit,\" Kaleb explains. \"Gotta have it because you never know what could happen and I need something to do with my fingers every time I can't do something with you.\"  \n\\*\\*\\*  \nThe daters reach the library and find no other teams there. \"Yes,\" Josee mutters. \"Still in first place.\"  \nShe hears someone clear their throat and turns her head to find the cab drivers giving their irritatingly bright smiles. \"I believe you are in second now,\" Donna brags. Both run inside and begins searching in and around the books as more teams arrive to start the next challenge.  \n\"Ok, I have a plan,\" Max says. \"If we split up and search different sides of the library, we'll find one in no time.\"  \n\"Good idea.\" Lucius gives him a small kiss and then they head in separate directions.  \nThe strippers and actors arrive together. \"Oh my goodness!\" Carla exclaims when she sees the jeans Cinnamon wears. \"Is that a real pair of Calvin Klein jeans? You know those show off your hips, right?\"  \nCinnamon nods. \"That's kinda the point,\" Pepper speaks for him. \"We're strippers; were supposed to show off our body.\"  \n\"Well good for you two. I wish I wasn't self-conscious about how I looked.\"  \n\"Carla! Focus!\" Carrie snaps her friend back into the game. The four head in and start looking for the pamphlets together.  \nThe mothers come in next followed by the marines and magicians. \"Ok, what should our plan be?\" Zack asks.  \nChris steps in before either Chloe or Parker can say anything. \"The plan is you two go look somewhere else while I search with my teammate.\" Secretly, he just wanted to have the fox to himself, but doesn't have anytime to say anything. They have a race to win.  \n\\*\\*\\*  \nThe rest of the vases smash one by one. \"I did it!\" Sally squeals. The operators run out with Sindy adding, \"That was for you Arnold \u0026 Bert!\"  \nNick's arms hurt after so many tries but he doesn't want to give up yet. Not when he's almost there. He strikes another ackee at the vase and it finally knocks over. \"Finally!\" he says, relaxing his sore shoulders.  \nFelix bites his lip, yet keeping his calm. \"Come on, Felix!\" Toby cheers. \"You can do this, buddy!\" The fox blushes. His focus becomes much larger on the task at hand. Seeing the end in sight, he swing the Cricket bat hard enough to send the fruit through the clay ceramic.  \nRen soon finishes after breaking the whole top off. \"I can't believe we fall back into dead last,\" he complains.  \n\"Relax, we're not in last,\" Cal says to cheer his fiancé up. They hear one last smash and see the shop owners are done with the challenge. \"Ok; now we're in last.\"  \n\\*\\*\\*  \nWith all 15 teams still in the library, the race for first is still up for grabs and it really is anyone's game. Toby \u0026 Felix decided to search the higher shelves, knowing Toner would put them up there. Father and son search in a corner away from most of the competition. Nick mostly looks underneath the books more than he does in between them while Judy looks behind the cases against the wall in case there are some that Toner placed there. Cal looks within aisles that are more roomy because of his larger size. The mothers even have trouble searching.  \n\"Find any yet?\" Felix asks Toby from the top of a ladder.  \n\"Not yet, homie,\" Toby calls back out. The tiger digs through some baskets and thinks he sees one at the bottom, but it wasn't what they're looking for.  \nZack pulls some books out of one shelf while Chris flips through the pages. He glances over at Parker and waves at him. The black tiger smiles and nods in acknowledgement. \"Focus on the race!\" Chris growls.  \nThe fox grabs ahold of Chris' arm and asks, \"Why won't you consider an alliance with the magicians?\" he asks. \"They're good people and good competitors.\"  \n\"Yeah right,\" the wolf/husky says. \"They act they're on our side now and the next minute, whamo! They're sending us home.\"  \n\"We would never do that!\" Parker exclaims.  \n\"We're you eavesdropping?\"  \n\"Dude, you're literally standing a few feet away from us.\" Chris looks around and sees that they are.  \n\"Whatever. I'm not forces with you. C'mon, Zack.\" Chris grabs his friend's paw and drags him away to look elsewhere.  \n\"What's taking so long?\" Josee asks in an irritating manner. \"We had first place and now we're tied for last!\"  \n\"I'm sorry!\" Ryan shouts back. \"But this challenge is not as easy as it looks!\" He pounds on one of the cases and a gold pamphlet falls from one of the shelves, landing in Maggie's paw.  \nHer face lights up. \"April! We're in first!\" The blue cat quickly appears and runs out of the library with her.  \n\"Vito! I got one!\" Donna holds it up and the cab drivers follow.  \nCarrie looks around the middle of the building as she didn't want to attract too much attention. \"Hey, Carla! How're you doing?!\"  \n\"I don't know!\" she calls back. \"This stupid book doesn't help us any at all!\"  \n\"What book?\" Carrie walks around to the next aisle and sees Carla holding a gold pamphlet upside-down. She sighs and says, \"First off, we were looking for that. Second, you're holding it upside-down and thirdly there isn't any words on it.\"  \nCarla looks over it again. \"Oh.\"  \nSindy looks under the front desk, much to the librarian's dismay. \"Found one!\" she exclaims. \"Sally! We've gotta go!\"  \n\\*\\*\\*  \nThe mothers see the checkpoint and find the rug straight ahead. They can hear the cab drivers right behind them. With enough adrenaline, they step on the carpet first. \"Yes!\" Maggie cheers. \"From last place to first in two days!\"  \n\"And we deserve it.\" April hugs her partner until an obnoxious voice interrupts them.  \n\"No. You guys deserve a thirty minute penalty.\" They turn their heads to see Toner standing on the rug with them.  \n\"Why?\" April argues. \"We won fair and square.\"  \n\"No you didn't. You were supposed to open the vase with your ackee fruit, but April used the Cricket bat.\" Maggie groans as they hop off the rug. Then another pair of feet land on. \"Cab drivers, first place. Again.\"  \nDonna hugs her partner. \"Yes! In your face, mothers!\"  \n\\*\\*\\*  \nBack at the library, Mac uses his smaller arms to reach underneath one of the cases and finds a gold pamphlet quickly. Pepper locates one on the ceiling and uses a ladder to get it down.  \n\"Got one!\" Zach exclaims.  \n\"Good. Now let's go!\" Chris pushes.  \nAt the checkpoint, Tomer waits and is shocked by the next team he greets. \"Woah! Major improvement!\" he says happily. \"Telephone operators in second place.\" Sindy \u0026 Sally shriek and hug each other.  \nCarla \u0026 Carrie- 3rd place  \nKaren \u0026 Carol- 4th place  \nCinnamon \u0026 Pepper- 5th place  \nKaleb \u0026 Mac- 6th place  \n14:56  \n14:55  \n14:54  \nAs time counts down and pressure increases on the mothers, more teams complete the library task. \"Found one!\" Ryan shouts.  \n\"It's about time!\" Josee complains. The daters run to catch up on the lead they have already lost.  \nJudy reaches behind a shelf far enough and finds one. \"Alright, let's go check in,\" she says.  \nFelix slides down the ladder without using its rungs with a pamphlet in paw. \"Got one, honey,\" he says. Toby lifts the fox over his shoulder and carries him off.  \nThe marines run without noticing the magicians were right behind them. Chloe motions to the two boys ahead of her and Parker catches on to what she's going to do. They wait until they're within reach of the rug and quickly zoom past them and hop on themselves. However, they end up tripping and falling at the same time.  \n\"What the fuck?!\" Chris yells.  \n\"Sorry.\" Chloe puts up her paws in defense. \"We thought it'd be funny if we pushed you down onto the rug before is. We didn't anticipate you guys slipping by.\"  \nChris lifts Zack off the ground. \"You think it's still a good idea to team up with them?!\"  \nThe fox looks over at the two sorry magicians and shakes his head no. \"Looks like a crazy way to tie for seventh place,\" Toner interrupts. With only seven left, who's going to come in last?  \nThe mothers nervously watch as Echo \u0026 Majira run up to the rug. \"Ninth place,\" Toner greets. Ren \u0026 Cal approach but the bear trips and falls pretty hard on his foot, making him since and groan in pain. The daters run by. \"Tenth place goes to Josee \u0026 Ryan.\" Then the beneficial friends. \"Toby \u0026 Felix, eleventh.\"  \n01:40  \n01:39  \n01:38  \nNick \u0026 Judy come running. Ren sees this and pulls Cal slowly to the rug. \"Twelfth place,\" Toner declares. \"And officers take thirteenth.\"  \nMax \u0026 Lucius leave the library and run fast.  \n01:01  \n01:00  \nMax pants, exhausted. They see the mothers by the checkpoint and realize they're waiting out a penalty. \"Come on, sweet cheeks, I'm not leaving this race yet!\" Lucius hurls Max over his shoulder and, using his wolf inner strength, Berlines for the carpet.  \n\"Mothers,\" Toner states, \"your penalty ends in three, two, one...\" The emperors show up out of nowhere and they leap onto the carpet. \"Max \u0026 Lucius, fourteenth.\" The mothers look up and pin their ears down. \"Sorry ladies, but as the last team to check in, you're cut from the race. So long.\"  \n\\*\\*\\*  \n\"That money could've helped our families so much,\" April says. \"But I'm happy we did this together. Our husbands are definitely going to have something to talk about once we get back.\"  \nMaggie laughs. \"Yeah. It was fun, you know? Racing karts, zip lining, and getting make a costume that we got to keep. You'll look so adorable for it if we ever go back to St. Kitts.\"  \n\"Yeah. Oh well. I guess we aren't meant to win everything.\"  \n\"Amen. Now let's head home and see our families.\"  \n\"You bet!\"  \n  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"The Amazing Race 3","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1003519-square-costumes.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1016915-dive-to-thrive-and-survive.json"}}