A Crown of Broken Runes (ACOBR)

The Plan

"3... 2... 1... GO!"

Xisuma's voice rang through the jungle, and they were off.

Nine Hermits zoomed through the jungle, feathers and rocket trails swirling through the air.

Xisuma took off and watched from above as his friends soared through an elytra course of his own making.

The first was False, who had reacted to Xisuma's countdown the fastest.

With his agility and small form, Grian was in second, fast approaching False.

In third, having almost fully recovered, was Tango. He was only a bit behind Grian, but he could not seem to overtake the speedy bird man.

Only a few metres behind Tango, Ren was beginning to catch up, trying to push Tango down to fourth place.

Zed was in fifth, trying his best to catch up.

Cub and XB held 6th and 7th. Cub was drifting through the loops, carefully avoiding any contact, and XB was doing much the same.

Xisuma flew along with them, watching events play out. Since he didn't have to make it through the hoops, he could easily keep up with False. She was focused like no one else, her goggles fastened and her normally loose hair tied up and tucked behind her. She was in it to win it. Xisuma slowed down a little to watch Grian. They had considered making him wear an elytra for the sake of fairness, but now the wings were too large to fit underneath an elytra comfortably. However, the use of his wings still couldn't seem to get him into first.

A yell behind him made Xisuma turn, and he saw that Tango had smacked into one of the hard concrete rings. Ren had taken the opportunity, and leapt into third.

Cub began to approach Tango, and at this, the hermit rubbed his face and leapt back into the air.

Ren's small success seemed to boost his speed, and he began to get closer to Grian. Grian didn't seem to notice, absorbed as he was in the twists and turns of the course.

Xisuma saw False hesitate some ways ahead, forgetting the route for a moment. Grian took full advantage of this, racing forwards and gaining on False quickly. Tango had damaged his elytra a bit when he hit the ring, and was now far behind, contending with Cub to get fourth place. XB simply seemed to be enjoying himself and, despite his slow speed, still softly ran into several hoops.

Xisuma heard a yell, and returned his attention to the front of the race. Grian and Ren were right beside each other, but Ren seemed to be struggling. The gusts from Grian's wingbeats were setting him off course, and he wobbled dangerously close to some of the rings. False was still in the lead, but not by much. Slowly but surely, Ren and Grian were catching up.

As Xisuma followed them, he glanced up for a moment and was surprised to see a wall looming before him. He lost track of the race for a moment, trying to right himself. He laughed, and spammed his rockets, catching back up. However, now Grian was right behind False, and Ren was a ways behind. Looking back, he saw Ren frantically using rockets, regaining altitude.

Ah. he must've hit that ring.

Now, with Ren too far behind to catch up, they were in the final stretch. False looked back quickly, and seemed to be surprised by how close Grian was getting. She fired off a few more rockets, and began to widen the gap between them.

Grian seemed frustrated, and his face was beaded with sweat. It looked like every wingbeat was a struggle. False let out a laugh of exuberance as she soared through the last hoop, and headed straight for the finish.