In the vast land of Trulalo, where the greens were lush and the waters were sparkly, there lived two best friends; Raby the rabbit, and Turtee the turtle.

For some reason, these two could not seem to get over each other. Sure that they had their up, and some down moments. But everything ends up in a competition.

Everything's a competition.

They liked to compare who was taller, or who was richer. They compared whose house was nicer, or who had the most harvest. They even compare whose dong was longer. They went to that extent.

For some reason, Turtee always won their measly contest. Raby who didn't know how to accept defeat would sometimes turn violent. Of course, Turtee being a fighter would not let it pass. They would spend the day wrestling, not one would stand down.

They're still alive somehow. It would be safe to assume that things went well between them at the end of the day.

It was one day when Turtee, and Raby decided to have a picnic at the top of Mount Trulalo. Not only that it was the name of the island, but it was also the name of the solitary mountain proudly standing high and mighty.

Turtie, being a turtle and carrying a heavy food basket on top of his shell was lagging behind Raby.

The rabbit on the other hand was hippity hoppity hopping, singing as he went. He was in a very good mood as he was looking forward to the cheesy, spicy macaroni that his best friend prepared the night before. It was his favorite, their favorite. If there was one thing that these two could agree upon, it was munching the cheesy, spicy macaroni while admiring the view on top of Mount Trulalo.

Raby was already midway when he noticed that Turtee was no longer behind him. He turned his head left, then right, but no sign of the turtle.

"I must've walked too fast," he thought. So Raby hippity hoppity retraced his steps.

"Oh, there you are, Turtee. Can you pu-lease hurry? We don't have all day." Raby found his friend not far from the foot of the mountain. He rested his hands on his hips while looking at the turtle crawling in a painfully slow pace.

"If you could at least help me with the basket," Turtee said, his sweat dripping down his nose.

"Why would I? You are stronger than me."

"Because Raby...this basket is slowing me down. Can you please take this off my back?"

"But that's heavy. You know what, I'll go ahead and wait for you at the top. Stop being a slowpoke, 'kay-'kay?" Raby waved goodbye and was about to hippity hoppity hop again.

Turtee's face contorted and it turned red. He stomped his one foot loud enough for Raby to hear.

"How dare you call me slowpoke!"

Raby stopped and looked back at the turtle.

"But you are. You are the slowest turtle I've ever known in my entire life. Get over it."

Turtee's volcano erupted. He almost dropped the basket from trying to get near the rabbit and wanting to bite off his fluffy ear. If there was one animal that could poke his turtle ego, it was Raby.

"I bet I will be there first, like always," said the frustrated Turtee. He calmed himself down. He wouldn't want to make Raby think that he was affected by it. It would invite more unpleasantries.

"What do you mean always? It was just one time." Raby's eyes squinted.

"Oh, yeah? Like you always lose." Turtee's brow raised in return of the rabbit's squinted eyes.

"Are you challenging the fastest runner in Trulalo!"

"I'm just sayin' that you always lose." Turtee smiled, feeling proud of himself.

"How about if I get there first, I will have all the macaroni to myself. You can have all the sandwiches. Macaroni, mine--sandwiches, yours. Deal?"

"But if I win...again, you will have the sandwich. Deal?"

Raby stopped and thought about it for a second. He wouldn't want to miss the cheesy, spicy macaroni. But then again, he was the fastest runner of Trulalo.

"Okay, deal!" Raby agreed. The thought of him having the delicious pasta to himself was already replaying in his head. All he had to do was to not mess it up.

"Alright. The deal has been sealed. Start!" Turtee shouted.

Raby zoomed. He ran as fast as he could. He jumped over dead branches, dead trees, some pile of rocks. He made sure not to look left or right. Those directions were distractions.

Meanwhile, our dear Turtee, slowly but surely made his way around the dead trees, the dead branches and some pile of rocks. He knew that he would win the race.

And he was about to be right. For the fastest runner in Trulalo accidentally shifted his gaze to the left.

It's not a big deal to shift one's gaze. It was just unfortunate for Raby that he saw a tree in the direction he mistakenly shifted his gaze upon.

There was nothing special about that tree in his opinion, just any other tree. What caught his attention were the stalks under its shade. Green, luscious leaves with its glorious orange-colored crop popping out of the soil.

Raby's mouth watered. He swerved out of the road and unto the tree, completely forgetting the cheesy, spicy macaroni.

He pulled one stalk, brushed off the soil and took a bite of the one fat carrot.

Hmm, juicy!

He finished it fast, then pulled another one. And another, then another. Until Raby was too full to move. He felt sleepy as well. He dropped himself to the grass and smiled.

"Those were the best carrots!" he thought. Raby smiled again as his eyes were closing. With the help of the soothing breeze, the little rabbit drifted off to sleep.

It was almost midday and the sun was too hot on Raby's cheek. He woke up with a jolt. He suddenly remembered the macaroni and the race with Turtee.

"Oh, please he's not there yet. Oh, please," Raby prayed as he zoomed to the road again.

He ran as fast as he could, trying to save his face as the fastest runner, and the macaroni. Actually, it was just the macaroni.

It wasn't long before Raby saw Turtee near the finish line. He reckoned that he won't be able to make it. In his desperate moment, Raby took out his skateboard.

He zoomed faster than earlier. He pushed even harder trying to shorten the gap between him and the turtle.

Raby did a great job. An inch away and he swooshed past the turtle.

"Bye-bye, Turtee!"

"How dare you, cheating rabbit!" Turtee's face turned red again at the sight of the skateboard. From inside his shell he took a wand and shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The mischievous rabbit slowly levitated. He jumped up and down to get back to the ground, but the incantation pinned him and hung him in mid-air.

"Hey, no fair!" he shouted.

"Look who's talking," Turtee gave him a sly smile as he stepped forward past Raby.

"Oh, yeah? Eat this!" Raby took out his M16 and started firing on Turtee.

Turtee saw the bullets raining his way. He turned around to face it, then ceremously closed his eyes, "There is no spoon."

Turtee was certain that the bullets would've stopped by now. But he can still hear the sound of stray bullets everywhere. Raby was not good at hitting targets.

"Your mojo is not gonna work this time, Turtee!" Raby laughed as he was firing more rounds.

The bullets were to many, surely Turtee would get hit.

"There is no spoon. There is no spoon. There is no FREAKIN' spoon!"

The bullets stopped at Turtee's face. Swear, he almost peed his pants. He sighed and looked up at Raby still dangling in the air.

"See you later." Turtee stuck his tongue out and turned his back from the rabbit.

"I'm not done yet, you turtle!" Raby fired his last round. The spoon-spell's effect vanished, it was raining bullets. Turtee hid inside his shell.

Inside the coziness of Turtee's shell, he heard a familiar pling above. It was followed by him feeling lighter. For some reason, he also noticed that Raby had stopped laughing.

Turtee's heart lurched. He immediately popped his head out only to find the food basket was dropping to the ground.

"No!" the two shouted in unison.

Turtee, in his turtleness tried to catch it. Raby, in his rabbitness managed to get out of the levitating spell.

But it was too late. The pasta they were so looking forward to splattered on the ground. The sandwiches were scattered everywhere.

"Now look what you've done!" Raby tried to salvage what was left of the macaroni in the basket.

"Me? You're the one who was trying to kill me." Turtee stomping his way towards Raby, still wanting to bite his fluffy ear off.

"Ahh, what a waste!" Raby kicked the basket. There was nothing to salvage. In his frustration, he dropped his ass to the ground.

"Well, at least we are at the top now," Turtee said. He reckoned that there would be no point to continue fighting.

"Yeah, just in time for sunset," Raby agreed. He smiled as his turtle friend was sitting next to him.

"Anyway, here. I saved one for you." Raby fetched one juicy carrot from his pocket. He handed it to Turtee who was trying his best to hold back his tears.

"Aww man, you're the best! Come on, let's share."

And so Raby, and Turtee shared the one carrot while admiring the sunset on top of Mount Trulalo. Both of them were still alive and kicking. It went well at the end of the day after all.

***

This is my entry for the writing prompt Cheating of @JonicaBradley

I know that this is a bit late for the horde of cheating articles in the past few days. My hands are full. Super full that it took me 5 days to finish this. I also didn't realize that it could be this long.

A little note on something in the story that you might not be familiar with.

Wingardium Leviosa - a levitation spell in Harry Potter.

There is no spoon - this is from The Matrix movie. This is a line said by a little boy to the protagonist (Keanu Reeves). It might have a lot of interpretation, but for me it means nothing is impossible. If you haven't watched it yet, you should. It's a cool movie.

If you enjoyed this article, you might want to try my other entries of this writing prompt.

SIMILARITIES - The Curious Case of Fried Towel

DARKNESS - The Ghost and The Tree

QUESTIONS - What's your name?

Thank you for reading.

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