Rainer and the Island Challenge

"This is so exciting!" said Fret.

"Yes, yes," said Brrrrr. "It's a big day alright."

"And who knows what lies ahead?" asked Fret.

"Well, I don't know about that," said Brrrrr. "But we can always hope for the best."

"I wonder if there will be many geckos on the way? I do love a good gecko snack," said Fret. "Just the right amount of crunch and chew to them."

"You're thinking like a cat now," said Brrrrr. "I prefer my snack with a little more personality."

"But you can't really expect a parrot to have any personality," replied Fret. "So I'm allowed to think like one."

"Fine, fine," said Brrrrr dismissively. "We'll see what we'll see."

Rainer stood alone on the edge of the great cliff that loomed above the island of Geuwana. The sun had just peeked over the horizon and was beginning to light up the sky with its pink and orange glow. The gentle winds rolled around Rainer, making his bones ache with their chill as they sent chills through his body. He didn't mind much though - it was worth it to experience this moment for himself before he set out on his journey. He took in deep breaths of air and let them out slowly, feeling relaxed but excited at the same time. All his life he had dreamed of this day, when he would finally be allowed to go off and explore the world on his own (and maybe learn some riddles along the way). The years had passed quickly as he grew from an infant into a young man, and now here he was standing on a cliff ready to embark on his journey to learn riddles at one of the highest schools in all of Geuwana.

As he reflected on these memories and thoughts, Rainer began to feel his legs get tired and heavy with fatigue. He hadn't slept much last night; too excited by tomorrow's great adventure to get any real rest before leaving home early this morning. It should have been obvious to him that running across several miles of cliffs while expending most of your energy lifting yourself up onto each ledge would tire you out pretty quickly. So he decided it was probably time to sit down and rest for awhile before continuing onward.

He scanned around him looking for a good place to sit down and rest for awhile, but there wasn't much in terms of flat surfaces or decent footholds nearby so Rainer got creative instead: he hopped up onto his toes and spread out his arms as far as they could reach before bending them at the elbows so that his hands were pointing towards the ground beneath him where his feet were standing on. Then he jumped up higher, bringing both feet together so that both feet were where both hands used to be when he leapt into the air in front of him, before spreading out his arms again as far as they could reach and bending them at the elbows again so that his hands were pointing towards the ground beneath him once more while his feet were once again where they had started when he first stood on two feet instead of four then jumped again so that both feet landed once again where both hands used to be before repeating this process over and over until Rainer eventually found himself high enough in midair that only a small hop was needed in order to reach down with one hand towards a ledge that had seemed unreachable earlier, grab hold of it with ease, pull himself up onto it without stumbling (as if it were no harder than hopping), sit down comfortably on its smooth surface, lean back against its rocky wall, close his eyes (feeling relaxed now) and drift off into sleep...

...until suddenly waking up half an hour later from being shaken awake by someone saying: "Hey kid! You gotta wake up!" Rainer opened his eyes groggily and saw before him an old turtle resting on top of its shell who was speaking with another parrot perched atop its head who was talking back at it with its distinctive squawky voice: "Yeah kid! You gotta wake up! We're almost there!" Rainer sat upright in surprise: "Wait what? Almost where?"