"Hey everyone, I'm Lexia and here at the last event for the Year of the Snake Competition: the Race up Zodiac Mountain. As with previous years, Zodiac Mountain has been modified to best suit the contestants. As such, there's no point where they are required to jump. However, there are sections where contestants can climb up to the next tier. Not every snake is best suited for climbing and it may be slower progress than simply slithering the whole way. But that is up to individuals to decide if they want to take the risk or not.
"And before we start the race, there's a small announcement. Traditionally, the winners of last year's Zodiac competition present the crowns to the winners of this year. However, Sophie and Roland Luwrie are unable to be physically present due to schedule conflicts. So instead, Dakota will be the one crowning the winners this year. Of course, that doesn't mean Sophie and Roland won't be appearing at all."
At this point, a small window appeared next to Lexia, obviously a webchat transmission as both Sophie and Roland were sitting close together. "Sophie, Roland, it's good to see you again," said Lexia.
"It's nice to see you too, Lexia," said Roland, "We'd be here in person, but college schedules aren't always so flexible."
"Do you have any comments to make before the race starts?" asked Lexia.
"Well, I'm sure we all have our wagers on who's most likely to win the race," said Sophie, "I'm sure the most popular choice for Ms. Zodiac is Muxing, and there's plenty of good reason to expect that."
"Because of how she's been leading in most of the events?" asked Lexia.
"That and she's had longer experience with her snake body than several other contestants," said Roland, "She knows exactly how to move her body for maximum speed. But another big factor is her determination. I'm sure all the other ladies competing for Ms. Zodiac wants to win, but she just wants it more."
"And would you expect similar success with her mates Li-Wei and Fang?" asked Lexia.
"I'm not sure if she and Fang are mates, though I don't know them personally enough to know how their dynamic works," said Sophie, "But they also have significantly less experience than Muxing. I know they've done reasonable well, but that may not be enough to win the titles. After all, Arcelia actually beat me in the Race up Zodiac Mountain last year, but I had won more than enough points to come out in the end."
"Interesting," said Lexia, "Any projections on who may come through instead?"
"I'm not really sure. It could be anyone's game one way or another," said Sophie.
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The overall course of Zodiac Mountain this year was not dissimilar to the Year of the Dragon before. There were some obvious differences, aside from the rearrangement of zodiac symbols. Obviously, there were no flying or swimming courses, though part of the race required swimming into a waterfall-fed pool in order to get one of the symbols. That was the contestants were wearing the same leotards from the Trial of Speed. And there were the aforementioned climbing areas, which were in the form of wooden poles with knobs along their sides.
As was tradition, the men went first. It was hard to say who was the most likely winner as they were pretty neck-and-neck with the scores so far. Of course, the slower snakes were unable to keep up with the faster ones. The dive into the pond did slow quite a few down. Harold was able to get a major edge there as he was capable of seeing underwater much better than the other snakes, which helped him find the zodiac symbol. He was able to get ahead of the others by a considerable amount, though he didn’t try climbing. And there were some who fared better at climbing than the others. Li-Wei was able to climb up very well thanks to their four arms and being a tree viper. However, Drew was also able to climb up quickly as the black mamba is adapted to moving fast both on the ground and in the trees. In the end, it came down to a close end between, Harold, Drew, and Li-Wei. The judges will have to determine which scored enough points to be crowned.
In contrast, the women's race was considerably more decided. As Sophie had predicted, Muxing was the most driven and among the most experienced. The dive into the pond was only a brief slowdown for her before she moved up the mountain. Unsurprisingly, she climbed the poles with great proficiency and made it to the top well before the others. That being said, she acknowledged that both Sylvia and Angie were hot on her figurative heels and complimented them as worth opponents.
However, the third (fourth?) member of the Chinese tree vipers didn’t have it as easy. While Fang had done a lot of training since September, she was still less experienced to some of the other herm snakes. Iphis and Ianthe did better this time, being able to get the zodiac symbol in the pool quickly (two heads being better than one here). Though obviously, they were too big to even try climbing up the poles. Silixera was a bit of a slower climber, but having four arms helped hir climb up in time to tie with the two-headed anaconda.
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"Well, that was a race that didn't go as most people would have expected," said Al.
"Sometimes, just winning the race isn't enough," said Teddy, "Like Sophie said, point distribution may be the deciding factor here. The real question is would winning the race have won enough points to win the whole competition?"
"Well, unless I've been miscounting, it looks like Muxing is going to be Ms. Year of the Snake," said Al.
"In all likelihood, you're right," said Teddy, "She has been outstanding in the other events, asides from Sylvana doing better in the pageant portion."
"Well, the judges will be doing the final tally shortly. Stay tuned as we see who's crowned Mister, Miss, and, uh... Hir Year of the Snake. You know, there ought to be a proper term for herm- Are we still rolling?"