It's only a race if you win

Malik walked by some of the absolutely massive trees that made up the forrest of oaks with his little sister and he couldn't help but look up at them in awe—almost tripping himself on a half buried tree root and falling flat on his face in the process. They were just so big and majestic! They had done a bunch of traveling around Auster already and he had seen everything from huge waterfalls to big fossils that poked out of the ground, but this was the first time he had seen trees that were this huge and over grown. It made him wonder if there was anywhere out there that had trees even bigger than this or if this was as big as a tree could physically get.

He blinked with surprise as they reached one of the trees that had fallen and peeked inside with Sierra, standing behind her and easily looking over the top of her head down the length of the hollow tree. It was more than big enough for even him to fit inside so when Sierra stepped in so did he, staying just behind her as he looked around curiously. Her voice echoed around them and he grinned, his tail wagging gently. When she looked back at him his attention was pulled away from the natural wonder, looking at her curiously as he tried to figure out what she had up her sleeve with the mischievous look she was wearing. To no surprise, she quickly challenged him to a race and bolted, making Malik laugh and start loping after her with long legged strides.

He tried to at the very least to not over take her right away, letting her get some distance on him so she could maybe start thinking that she was going to win. After a few moments though, he picked up the pace from his easy lope to a full on run, jumping over roots and clumps of things in their path as they went. He knew he had a pretty big advantage when it came to races, but Sierra always challenged him anyway and he certainly couldn't turn her down!

"Malik of the Sea"