[03] Desire for Velocity!

[Tamsin]

The burning of rubber, the stench of petrol, the roaring of engines...the race that Gamer had set up so diligently for the sake of his own amusement was well underway. The four contestants speeded through the streets, the deserted metropolis representing their own personal playground. It did not matter how they got to the finish line, just as long as they did. That was indeed what they were doing....or at least were trying to do. Beacuse for all their efforts, the ride was going far from smoothly. Ander and Piper were having the least amount of trouble, both of them experienced in driving at least to a certain degree, while Sophia was starting to figure out how to operate her glider without unwittingly crashing it.

Tamsin, on the other hand, had not even begun to make heads or tails of the motor vehicle in which she was situated. The small go kart was out of control, seemingly running completely on it's own accord. No matter what she did with the steering wheel and padels, the small racing car seemed to have a mind of it's own and followed it's own path as electronic beeps emitted from it. The result of this was that the vehicle twisted and turned madly as it struggled to keep up with the other racers. With the act of fastening her seatbelt being the only thing she was sure she had done herself, Suzaku was in full panic mode as the fast-paced "joyride" continued unabbated.

Encountering a crossroads, the traffic lights continuously blinking yellow, the majority of the group turned to a wide merchant street while the red motorcyclist sped off into his own direction. Thankful for the slight decrease in intensity the relatively straight path provided, the maid realised yet another unusual, yet obvious, characteristic of her racer....and that was it's performance. Although the go kart, by all logic, should not have been able to do so, it's speed far behoved it's size and it had little issue keeping up with it's larger peers even with all the twists it has been doing. But even if such a thing were realistic, it also held the question whether the vehicle would even have enough fuel to complete the trip.

Abruptly, a crackling noise could be heard in the driver compartment. It was coming from a small black radio that was installed into the dashboard. Coming to life, a voice came out from the speakers....the voice of Gamer, dissatisfaction heavy in his manner of speech: "What the hell are you doing?! Stop fooling around and start driving properly!"

"I....I don't know how! It's like it's driving itself!" Tamsin shouted, desperate for any information on how to handle the go kart properly.

Sighing in discontent, Gamer explained: [i]"The car you are driving isn't just any regular go kart.....it's THE go kart! Not only does Speedy have enhanced speed and combustion system, it also has an AI program installed. But it won't reach it's full potential unless you help. So stop glaring like an idiot and start driving!"

As the radio went silent, the girl was left entirely speechless.....so the car DID have a mind of it's own! Serving only to confirm this, the go kart, which seemed to go by the name of "Speedy", beeped vehemently. Although the maid was fluent in three languages and semi-fluent in several others, none of this helped her much as she was entirely clueless as to what Speedy was trying to say. However, it seemed like it drew someone's attention as the rodent-shaped car driving nearby came closer.

"Hey, wait a minute! You are a smart car too?" a nearby voice adressed them. The teenager gasped....it seemed like it was the yellow car itself talking! Speedy responded to this with it's standard beep, leaving everyone but Pikachu clueless as to what it was saying.

"Well, buzz off! This race is mine! My intellect is superior to yours and there is no room for the two of us!" the unusual passenger car adressed it's smaller counterpart. The go kart again responded to this, only this time with a low, almost angry-sounding whiz. Suzaku just sat on her seat in disbelief at what she was witnessing. She was unable to tell what was more insane....the race itself or the fact that two automobile's were communicating between each other. The servant looked at the blond-haired woman driving the car next to her, but Piper merely responded with a deep shrug......at this point, she could care less about bothering herself with talking cars. Like the other contestants, she had a race to win.

"Oh yeah? Well, take this!" Pikachu responded in an irritated fashion. The yellow car suddenly swirled to the left, bumping the go kart into a different direction. This sent Speedy, along with Tamsin, to the side of the street where the shops were located. Much to the dismay of the silver-haired human, various products were on display in front of them and layed right in front of them, making collision inevitable.

As the small racing car proceeded to smash it's way through the stalls and display panels, items of various sizes and material began to rain down upon them, from food and radio equipment to clothing. Tamsin particulary had a nasty encounter when a purple pullover latched itself onto the visor of her helmet. But as she disposed the sweater into the wind, her navy blue gaze was able to see that they were fast approaching an alley at the end of the street....an alley which was too narrow even for the go kart. Realising that they no longer had the time to slow down and prevent a serious accident, the maid hopelessly screamed.

But Speedy appeared to have a plan of it's own. Sounding another beep, it raised it's right tires and shifted it's entire weight onto the left side, thus positioning itself diagionally and narrowing the amount of space it took. This sudden stunt caused the driver to almost instinctivly grabbed the side of the go-kart....which was fortunate, as she was mere centimeters away from smashing her head against the wall as they entered the narrow alley.

Reaching the other side, the racer fell back into it's normal position. However, the sudden impact at a high speed caused the motor vehicle to go completely out of control and it spinned many times before it came to a sudden halt. Tamsin set mesmerised in the open compartment, feeling her heart beating in her throat. Taking a few deep breaths from the insanity that was the race, she felt trickles of sweat pouring from her forehead. She recalled how she thought this event was better then defusing bombs and slaying dragons....but after experiencing what she did, Suzaku had to admit to herself that it was not much of an improvement.

Taking a glance, she noticed that she found herself in the middle of a long five-lane street. Placed right at the very far end, just barely within sight, was a black and white square banner.....the finish line. Wanting nothing more then to put an end to this madness, the maid calmed herself down and took firm grip of the steering wheel. Focusing, she pressed onto the pedal as hard as she could. Tires screeching from the pressure of the sudden acceleration and leaving even bigger marks on the pavement, the go kart sped off towards it's destination.

However, the other contestants had caught up with silver-haired girl. The glider and yellow car suddenly appeared from one of the side streets, racing each other as they found themselves at the sides of Speedy. Then, just as unusually as he disappeared, Kaden landed with his motorcycle not far from them, having made another one of the plywood jumps that Gamer forced onto him. Swiling dangerously from the landing, the red motorcycle nevertheless accelerated and soon caught up to them.

"You can't beat me! I'm lighting incarnate!" the yellow car proclaimed, racing at full speed towards the bolded line on the concrete, and Speedy responded with his usual beep. But none of the competitors were paying any attention to them. Their sights focused on the finish line, they gnashed their teeth at how close they were to each other.

Clinging onto their handles and wheels until their knuckles turned white, time seemed to slow down as they covered the last meters of ground. To say it was going to be a photo finish was very much an understatement....