The next day, Sofia and Minimus were just about to hit the race course.

"This is so exciting—our first championship race at the Corinthian Sports School," Minimus beamed.

"And the best part is I actually get to do it with you—not like the last championship race I did at Royal Prep," Sofia told Minimus.

Sofia's magical amulet allows her to talk to animals, and ever since she stopped the evil Vor, everyone knew about her amulet and the fact that she and Hugo are Protectors of the Ever Realm. Now she doesn't have to worry about anyone thinking she was crazy any time she was caught talking to animals. Sofia and Minimus met up with Hugo and his flying horse, Electra.

"Good morning, Hugo," Sofia waved.

"Hi, Sofia," Hugo smiled.

"Isn't this great, Electra?" Minimus asked. "We're actually going to race in the championships, compared to the last one Sofia and Hugo participated in at Royal Prep."

"Well, I'm mostly happy that Hugo won't be doing anything that'll make him pull a muscle again," Electra grinned.

Sir Gerald, the flying derby coach, came by. "Good morning, young majesties," he smiled. "Now listen up: the Senior Knights are the toughest riders anyone has ever faced—even the Junior Knights don't stand a chance against them. If you're going to win the Flying Crown, you need to practice your team plays."

"Well, I don't know if it'll help us beat the Seniors, but when we were at Royal Prep, we had a special team play to help us beat the Junior Knights," Sofia said.

"What would that be?" Sir Gerald asked.

"The flying slingshot," Sofia replied.

"With this team play, we always beat the Junior Knights," Hugo chimed in.

"That's good," Sir Gerald smiled. "It should help you beat the Senior Knights easily. I'll leave you to it." Then he left the riders alone.

"Ready to practice?" Sofia asked.

"As I'll ever be," Hugo smiled.

Sofia and Hugo took off into the sky, ready to practice the flying slingshot. They lined up side by side, reached across their horses, and grabbed hands. They spun in a perfect circle, but then Hugo let out a big hiccup and wound up slinging Sofia backwards.

"Whoa!" Sofia cried. She turned Minimus around only to find that she was headed for a tree. She pulled on the reigns and evaded a crash in time. She and Hugo landed their horses safely.

"Oh, gosh—I'm so sorry, Sofie," Hugo gasped. "I really didn't intend for—hic—that to happen."

Sofia could tell that something was wrong with Hugo. "Well, no wonder you goofed up—you just have hiccups," she declared.

"Hic! I know," Hugo sighed. "It started last night. Hic!"

"Did you bring a water bottle?" Sofia asked.

"I did," Hugo nodded. He took out a water bottle and drank down some water. In no time, his hiccups appeared to be gone. "Ah, that's better."

"Great, now let's keep going," Sofia said.

Sofia and Hugo tried their slingshot again, but as he was about to fling her, he let out another hiccup. This time, Sofia was sent flying sideways. Luckily, she managed to fly Minimus straight. Throughout the day, Sofia and Hugo kept practicing the flying slingshot, but his hiccups kept getting in the way.