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Previously on the Amazing Race, our teams saw the desert up close in Arizona. Josee & Ryan fought; a lot. Everyone got a free skydiving lesson and tips on how to NOT eat pizza blindfolded. With a little encouragement from Zack, a new alliance was confirmed. The haters surprisingly came out on top and although the emperors came in last, it was all for nothing. Which eleven teams will avoid coming in last this time? Oh, who knows? This is... the Amazing Race.

***

"We're back in one of the hottest regions in the world," Toner introduces as he holds a very iced coffee. "And thank goodness we're leaving; not sure how much longer my fur can tolerate this heat." He looks up at the sun, which is practically set on high today. "Anyways, yesterday's first comers (a.k.a. the haters) are the first ones to leave."

Josee & Ryan cover their eyes. The tigress grabs the clue from the box and reads it. "I guess we're going to Oregon," she croaks, voice dropped from the heat.

More specifically, Portland, Oregon! This large eco-friendly town is known for its extensive works of art, its love of coffee as well as leisure activities such as going to the park and bike riding. Teams must take a plane to Portland International Airport to find their next tip.

The hates continue to take the lead while the other teams fight to make it onto the first flight out. Yesterday in mind, the bottom three teams are more worried about being stuck on the second plane. "The last four days we've been doing awful," Mac states while him and his father ride towards the airport. "Right now, we're in tenth, but if we don't start getting anywhere anytime soon, our chances of winning are going straight out the door."

"I wouldn't say that, son." Kaleb wraps an arm around the little cub. "It only takes second-last to stay in this game and... so far, so good."

Seeing as how their alliance could still be intact, the emperors and telephone operators share a cab together. The bitter-sweet thing, though, is that they're in last place. Max just stares out the window, his heart starting to jump out of his chest with anxiety. Lucius rests a paw on his shoulder and asks, "How are you feeling, hun?"

The fox just sighs. "I'm ok. I'm just a little disappointed that we came in last place. I thought we were doing great, but now I'm not so sure."

"It wasn't an elimination round; that's good, right? Why, I'll bet you back home that Kuhlman and Hans are rooting for us right now." Admittedly, that made Max smile a little. He wonders how his friends are doing back at the Fox Empire.

Sindy snaps her fingers patiently in front of the boys' muzzles. "Guys, I think the pep talk is cute; but we're in dead last. It would take a miracle for us to get on the first plane, let alone first place."

When their taxi stops in front of Tucson International, the four of them rush out, inside and in line to get seats on the next flight. Sally looks up and sees that the next available flight to Portland isn't for another thirty minutes. However, some familiar faces are around the joint such at the marines, the cab drivers, and the YouTubers. If they're waiting around, that can only mean one thing. "All the teams are on the same flight," Sind & Sally realize at the same time. This makes Max & Lucius a little more hopeful.

And the girls are right. All twelve teams board the same four-hour flight to Oregon. To pass the time, they either talk strategy, sleep, and snack on the horrible airline food.

Zack is one of those who like to sleep on the plane. Got to be well-rested, he thought to himself. Meanwhile, Chris sits with his arms crossed and one leg raised over the other. Occasionally, he glances over at the sleeping fox next to him. He thinks to himself, it's so adorable the way his ears flicker when he's dreaming and the way his paws twitch. As if on cue, Zack moves his paw out some and utters a small murr.

"He's so cute," Chris whispers to himself.

"What was that?" A foreign voice asks. The wolf/husky jumps and turns to see Felix looking at him with curious eyes.

He sits up, trying to think of anything to cover what he just muttered. "Uh, I-I said 'Someone put this kid on mute'."

Felix gets up then slides into the seat next to him. "No; you definitely said 'cute'." The brown fox sneaks a look over at Zack for a second then starts to put the pieces of the puzzle together. "Wait! You're calling your partner cute, your ears are halfway down, you're pinching the tip of your tail nervously and your sweating..." He gasps as he realizes that... "You like him!"

Chris clamps both paws over his muzzle, shushing him. "He doesn't know that!" Chris whispers/shouts. "Are you trying to ruin my life, fox?!"

"Why haven't you told him, yet?" Felix asks.

"Because if I do, everyone knows where that goes: we start dating, get engaged, have sex, start getting frustrated of each other because he'll be sick of being around me, then break up with me, and I'll spend the rest of my life crying in the ocean because I let go of the one fox who makes me feel HAPPY in life!"

Felix holds Chris at arm's length. "Buddy, you are WAY overthinking things. Besides, look at that cute fox." He nods towards Zack. "I bet you that he's thinking the same thing about you right now."

"No way, that's very unlikely." Although, it would be exciting if he really did...

The plane lands at 11:58am and the race to come in first begins. Surprisingly, the magicians are the first ones out of the airport and the ones to reach the clue box. "One-Way," Chloe states, "'All Steamed Up'?" Teams must take taxis all the way to a local sauna, Steam Portland. Once there, four teams must cram inside one of three booths for a fifteen minute steambath. Afterwards, they must head towards Willamette River and jet ski south until they hit Newberg in order to find their next tip.

Nick whistles. "Taxi!" Clues in paw, everyone scrambles to hitch a ride to get to the sauna. Thanks to the magic of not having the describe EVERY detail in this story, the first few teams arrive at the sauna... now (in reality, it's twenty minutes later).

A certain large black tiger helps Chloe out of their taxi and into the building first. "Sweet! First place!" Parker chants. "Now, who are we sharing our steambath with?"

Chloe shrugs. "The next few teams, I guess."

Cal & Ren arrive next, but the bear stops him before he goes in. "Shouldn't we wait for the marines to show up before we start without them?"

Ren rolls his eyes. "I guess so. They did let us take the spot before them upon check in yesterday." So, they decide to wait for the marines to come, which shouldn't be that bad. That is, until the emperor/operator alliance arrives, bumping them down. Are they coming anytime soon? We're now in fourth place."

"I'm sure they will," Cal reassures. "Besides, fourth isn't too bad. Right?" He regrets those words as soon as the drivers, beneficial friends, and officers make it next, yet still no signs of their allies. "Where are they?!"

When another taxi shows, both boys ready to beat them inside, only to realize that it's finally the marine furs! "Sorry, guys," Zack apologizes. "But traffic is apparently bad this time of the day. Where do we stand?"

"Seventh," Ren growls. "But if we head in now, we might be able to catch up." The four head inside a full minute behind the first group. This leaves father and son, the strippers, haters, and YouTubers tied for last place three minute behind the others.

Inside, the steam is on and already bathing the contestants in a heated bliss. Some teams pass the time getting a quick shut-eye. For example, Vito & Donna are already wearing sleep masks (don't ask) fast asleep but not too asleep. Others have caught on to something different about this sauna. "If I had known that we were going to a gay sauna, I'd have planned to bring condoms," Toby jokes. The only one who lets a giggle is Felix.

Zack sighs. "So... we just sit here and do nothing?" he asks. Chris shrugs. The fox yawns and curls up next to him. "I'm just going to rest here for a second." When he closes his eyes, Chris smiles, but thankfully stops himself before reaching out to pet those cute ears.

In the last booth, those eight just sit there in awkward silence since none of them have really talked to each other. (Except for Josee and Cinnamon but he doesn't really like her.) "Anyone know how to play Canasta?" Kaleb asks out of the blue. When no one responds, Mac facepalms.

"My dad always tries to find someway to make us look humiliating," Mac explains to the others.

"What? That's not true," Kaleb claims. He stands up, unzips his jacket, and opens it up for everyone to see. Taped onto either side is all kinds of playing cards from Bicycle, to Uno, to even Pokemon. "I just collect card games. Is that so wrong?"

"Nobody wants to play cards," Cinnamon says with his paws. Mac looks a bit confused until Pepper steps in to elaborate.

"What my friend is trying to say is that no one is interested, Kaleb. But thanks for the offer." Though the words were meant to be kinda, Kaleb's ears and tail droop to the ground.

Fifteen minutes later, the first group of eight exit the sauna (some a little bit sweaty) and they start to run towards the river. "Whoop! First place!" Chloe chants.

"Not on my watch!" Donna calls out.

At the river, twelve red jet skis are tied down to ensure that they don't drift off. The magicians continue their lead with the cab drivers not far behind. This makes the emperors and telephone operators tied for third. A minute later, the next group is free to exit. The officers surprisingly catch up and make it there first.

"Have you ever driven a jet ski before?" Nick asks when he sees Judy in the driver's end.

"No," she replies. "But how hard can it be?" The bunny revs up the engine and they go speeding south.

Toby has Felix climb onto his back before climbing onto their own. The tiger grabs the handlebars and says, "Hold on, tight!" Those teams take off with Chris and Cal secretly trying to outdrive the other as they move along.

By the time the last group exits, most teams are halfway downstream. Kaleb mostly sulks as his feeling were hurt back inside, but luckily his son manages to keep them focused. "Come on, dad! We're starting to lose!"

Though Mac doesn't really have an issue because the haters are having another argument. "Is if I'm going to let you drive," Josee states. "You're just probably going to slow us down into last place again."

Ryan rolls his eyes. "Woman, we are in last place. Now move!" He jumps into the driver's end and revs up the engine. Josee growls as she hops in behind Ryan and holds onto him. It would almost seem nice to get to feel up his body again, but it's ruined when he drives off.

Downstream towards Newberg, the first team arrives and they hop off their jet ski. However, they're soon followed by a few more. "There's the tip box!" Parker points. The magicians reach it first with the tiger reading it out loud. "Roadblock: 'Show what you know'?"

For this Roadblock, whoever didn't push their partner in a wheelbarrow must make their way to 99W Drive-In Theater where they will find an already set up stage and an audience that consists of mostly Toner's cousins. The task? Amaze the audience in some way. If they get a round of applause, they may head straight for the checkpoint. Last team to arrive, though, could be cut from the race.

"Well, well, looks like it's my time to perform," Vito says. The two teams run off to the Drive-In with Max & Lucius and Sindy & Sally not far behind. By the time the cab drivers arrive, Chloe has started to take her turn, which just makes Donna mad.

The grey cat feels confident; doing magic tricks has been her thing since she was younger. She can already taste first place as she says, "Ladies and pups! I, Chloe S. Patterson, will do one of the most complicated tricks in history!" She reaches into her shoe and pulls out a pair of handcuffs.

"Oh! Looks like she's doing the get out of the cuffs trick," Parker says to himself. Chloe puts both paws behind her back and takes a minute to cuff herself.

"As you can see, both of my paws are restrained behind my back." Chloe turns around for a moment so everyone can get a clear view of the silver that links them together. "Well, watch as I get both cuffs... off." She starts wiggling her fingers around for the safety latch that's secretly placed on the side. However, without knowing, she accidentally bends the latch backwards. Finally she finds it and pushes on it, only it won't move. She tries again and it still won't budge.

Parker looks out in concern. "Umm..." Chloe mutters. "It seems that something went wrong!" She pulls and yanks against her restraints, but they won't move. Her partner quickly hops onstage and drags her off to help her. "I don't know what went wrong. I've practiced this trick hundreds of times in the past."

"Here's your problem," Parker points out. "The safety latch is bent." He bends it back and frees her, but by then, Vito is already onstage to take his turn.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Vito introduces. "As I am sure, you probably have never seen a ribbon dancer perform live, no?" No one responds (except for one cough). "I don't not think so. Without further ado... Donna?"

He cues for her to turn on the music. When she does, Vito takes out a stray ribbon from his pocket and starts twirling it around like he has before. Both foxes can sense first place victory once again. Until Vito accidentally slips on his own ribbon and goes crashing into the ground. He groans, "Who build this stage?!"

The drivers are sent to the back of the line to try again. More and more teams begin to arrive starting with the friends with benefits. "I don't know if I can do this one," Felix says. "I don't have any special skills that would knock the sock off of people."

"Don't you worry," Toby says. "I can show you a few dance moves real quick. It'll be easy." He grabs his friend's paws and guides him through a few simple moves that he learned before.

"What are you able to do?" Judy asks her partner.

"I'm pretty sure scheming and being sly won't count in this one," Nick says. "Hmm... I can do this one thing that I've been practicing since I joined the force." Judy already knows where this one was going and she didn't like the sound of it so far.

The engaged couple get in line next. "It's your turn," Cal mentions. "What can you do again?" Ren tries to think of something that he's been really good at that he can display... but he can't really think of any.

Chris & Zack arrive, right behind their semi-allies. "A talent contest basically," Chris notes. "I don't ever recall you having talent."

"What're you talking about?" Zack asks. He reaches down into his pant leg and gets out a silver flute. "I'm a four-year flutist. My dad made me sign up to play some sort of instruments. What better than to play something easy to play as well as easy to turn into a weapon." He playfully swings it like a bat to demonstrate. If he wasn't cute I'd take that and stick it in his neck, Chris thinks to himself.

Max heads onto the stage next. He straps on a set of goggles that fit just perfectly over his eyes before taking out a set of three rubber balls. "For my act, I'm going to be juggling like you've never seen before."

He tosses one in the air and soon enough, the three starts going around from the air to his paws and back. The audience seems somewhat impressed until each rubber ball starts to emit some sort of smoke; one purple, one yellow, and one red.

Lucius just looks back surprised at what he sees. "Uhh, Max?"

"Yes, honey?"

"What in the world is happening?" Before he can answer, some of the cousins begin to applaud. The wolf quickly drags his mate offstage and onto the checkpoint a few yards away.

Toner just looks at the boys in shock. "Well... that was... interesting. Oh well, you followed the rules fair and square. First place goes to the emperors."

Lucius pulls the goggles off Max and gives him a big kiss on the muzzle. "We won!" he squeals. "But seriously, what was that back there?" He indicates the three rubber balls, which have deactivated at that point.

"Remember that idea Kuhlman was talking to us about?" Max asks. "He wanted to take his favorite cigarettes and turn them into ball form incase someone were to invade his palace. Or he just needs an emergency smoke. See? I got one for Royal Red, Hyper Yellow, and Nakamura Street Purple."

"Awesome."

The race for first is done. This leaves eleven more teams in the race to get out of last place. Speaking of which, the last four teams arrive to get prepared to get onstage. "The only thing I'm able to do is a handstand," Mac says. Kaleb still says nothing and just kicks a rock around with his foot.

"This will be easy for you." Pepper throws an arm around Cinnamon's shoulders. "You're pretty much an expert at charades. Go out there and knock them dead, partner." The brown fox nods and smiles.

Josee cracks her knuckles. "This will be so easy," she says. "Back when I was at school, I used to play the Glasses."

"The... what?" Ryan asks.

"Oh come on! You know that trick where you dip your finger in water and run it around the rim of a stem glass? It makes music. In fact, I learned how to play a whole song using stem glasses."

The next fifteen minutes are full of weird acts until Felix steps up to the stage. He takes a deep breath and starts doing the dance moves Toby showed him earlier. The audience nods and mutters approval, locking up second place for them. When it's Nick's turn, he takes a few glass plates and shows them off to the crowd. He tosses them into the air all at once where he takes a BB gun out of his pocket and aims at each one. The sly fox fires at will and one by one, they break in mid air, even pulling off a few spy-movie sneak attack moves in the process. It impresses everyone so he gets third for the officers.

When Vito finishes his ribbon dancing routine with little-to-no flaws, he is greeted with appreciative applause and him and Donna run to the carpet. "Cabbies, fourth place," Toner announces.

Record scratch! "Fourth again?!" Donna whines.

Chris & ZACK- 5th place (The fox performed an awesome flute solo)

Kaleb & MAC- 6th place (The wolf cub managed to stay on his paws)

CINNAMON & Pepper- 7th place (The brown fox got the audience to guess "take me to the checkpoint" in ASL)

Sindy & SALLY- 8th place (The vixen beatboxed, which impressed even Toner)

JOSEE & Ryan- 9th place (The tigress performs Amazing Grace with stem glasses)

This leaves three teams still itching to get to the checkpoint in time. After the magicians fail again, the YouTubers take a crack at it. "Oh man, we've tried everything," Ren panics. "My voice is too deep to sing, I have two left feet so I can't dance. What else can other people do?"

"I'm not sure," Cal says. "But at least we might have a chance with the YouTubers. I mean, what are the odds that they have a talent other than being on camera." They turn back to the stage and they think twice when they see Echo balanced on a beach ball in a bird-like pose with four spinning plates on her paws and nose. The crowd definitely cheers and they get tenth place.

"Ok, I think I know exactly what trick I want to do," Chloe says. "I'm going to do the classic disappearing cup trick."

"Might be a good idea," Parker says. "You've already tried two different tricks. It's like we're in some back luck haze or something."

Ren goes onstage to take his turn, nerves on and heartbeat racing. It's either he gets these people to like him or him and his future husband are going to be sent home. He recalls one thing that he can do, and it will probably live with and haunt him for the rest of his life, but he has to try.

The black fox backs up towards the left side of the stage to get a running start. The next thing Toner's cousins knew is that the vulpine was flipping end over end off the other side, landing perfectly on his feet in the middle of the carpet. "Huh," Toner says. "Not the weirdest thing I've ever seen. But, let's hear from our judges..." The red dog indicates his visitors, a few of which have perked up and are clapping a little. "... Good enough. Eleventh place."

"Yes!" Ren cheers. "Now, Toner, if you ever mention that I'm able to do gymnastics to anyone, I'm gonna-"

"Dude," Toner interrupts, "what part of live national television do you not get?" His muzzle turns upwards in a taunting smile and the black fox blushes.

Off to the side, a certain tiger and kitten are already packing up their magic stuff because they know the bad news. Toner walks over to them anyways with a little sincere on his expression. "Chloe & Parker, I've got to admit, you're pretty good magicians. But looks like it's time to find another crowd to please. You're cut from the race."

***

"So we didn't win." Parker gives Chloe a side hug as they walk away. "But I've got to admit, I'm pretty darn proud of us. No one would've ever guessed that we would ever make it this far. I mean, my grandpa only thought we'd last a few days."

Chloe smiles. "I had a lot of fun doing this with you. I think that we've managed to show that we've got skills outside of magic. Plus we've got some new friends for when this whole thing is over." Her tail gently sways and her ears flicker some. "This race has definitely shown that though we can be pretty silly at times, we're pretty good at what we put our minds to."

"I completely agree. So, want to head home and book another act?"

"Yes!"