At some point during the first stretch, Rude is either enlightened or has a mild case of hypoxia, because he comes to realize that no amount of pushing from Tseng could even come close to how far he's willing to push himself. This wouldn't be easy, but it wouldn't be impossible either. The only difference is that now there's someone there to witness him struggle rather than help him through it. He wonders what Reno's doing back home.

The thought leaves his mind as soon as they reach the plateau and he has a hard time catching his breath. When Tseng offers him the water, he manages to grab it, but feels a little light-headed. The serious kind of light headed, not like his mini panic attack when they first started. The scenery must have been beautiful, but the periphery of his vision is blurring too much for him to even appreciate it.

When Tseng approaches, he almost crumples into him, leaning against his superior for support. "I can't... I can't breathe." Well, there was nothing physically stopping him from breathing. He's taking in air just fine, but the air doesn't seem to be enough to feed his body.