[03] Desire for Velocity!

[Kill Town]

Desire for Velocity!

4-player competitive

Summary: The players are teleported to a large race track, where they are to drive a vehicle (any car you want, really) around a large track. The object is to be the first to cross the finish line first. Pretty simple, eh?

Hint: The event is pretty straight-forward in that it’s a standard race. That said, as long as it involves you racing and as long as you don’t knock out another player, you can roleplay pretty much whatever you want.

Players:

• Piper
• Tamsin
• Sophia
• Kaden

[Kaden]

By most accounts, the short-lived search hadn’t gone particularly well. While Belle/a’s perpetual freak-out about his swapped genitalia provided a great deal of entertainment, Kaden was too distracted to really make the most of it. While he appreciated the hybrid’s willingness to lend an ear, his closing hypothesis about the courier’s deficiencies didn’t really put his mind at ease. Finally, with a long sigh, Kaden brought his already slow pace to a complete halt. Bella, who had been following almost knocked the courier over, distracted by a mirror they had passed.

“You stopped,” she stated.

“We just went in a huge circle,” Kaden explained. Raising his hand, he pointed out the entrance to the water park. “Just as well. I don’t even know what I’d say if we found her.”

“So? Does it matter what you say as long as you say something?”

“Yes, actually it matters a lot.” Shaking his head, Kaden turned to Bella. “I can’t just start stammering like an idiot.”

“It wouldn’t matter to me,” the girl shrugged.

“Belle… there are so many things wrong with that statement, I don’t even know where to begin.”

In some ways, Kaden envied Belle’s complete disinterest in the opposite sex. Well… that wasn’t being entirely fair. While the courier would pass on the paralyzing fear, he wouldn’t mind a little detachment. Of course, by Bella’s previous logic, that was part of his problem to begin with. Being detached. The winding tracks of Kaden’s train of thought came to an abrupt end when a portal appeared behind Bella. Apparently their next events were beginning.

Curiously, Kaden reach to the PAGER on his belt. It made no noises, had no flashing lights, bore no message for its owner. For whatever reason, it seemed like Kaden would be starting his event later… or something. The machinations of a teenaged punk who had the funding to build a ridiculously elaborate video-game weren’t something the courier was really prepared to guess at. Bidding Belle farewell and good luck, Kaden simply watched as she stepped through the portal. As the portal closed behind the hybrid, though, a surprising sight lay in wait.

About a dozen yards in front of Kaden stood Sophia and… someone. The face looked familiar, but Kaden had an admittedly tough time placing it. They exchanged a few words and the black-haired man stepped into his event, a look of apology flashing across his face just before he vanished from sight. In the wake of his presence, Sophia shook her head.

“Hey!” Kaden called out as he made his way to the priestess. “Sophia!”

The blonde tensed at the sound of Kaden’s voice, but turned to face him nonetheless. Slowing as he approached, Kaden stopped a few away from the girl, unsure of what to say, or where to begin. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to have any real opener prepared, either. So what felt like hours, Kaden’s eyes darted from Sophia to… anything else, and then back again. Finally he let his head turn to the portal beside Sophia and his curiosity got the better of him.

“Who was your friend?” Kaden asked, nodding to where the black-haired man’s portal had been.

“You mean Juno?”

“Juno…” Running a hand through his hair, the courier crewed up his face in thought. “Oh! Yeah! We totally fought on a rooftop in Central City.”

“You… what?” Sophia cocked an eyebrow at Kaden. “Why were you fighting?”

“Ok, so, there I was… uh…” Cutting himself off, Kaden tilted his head to the side. “Y’know… I’m still not really sure how that all went down. One second I was in a truck with Piper, and the next I’m being carried off to some rooftop and challenged to a fight. It was… odd.”

“I see. Well, yeah, that was Juno. He was also in Friend or Foe.”

Once again silence fell between the two. Any small talk would fall flat, and Kaden had exhausted the least awkward avenue of conversation available to him. Really, the last thing he wanted was for things to continue being uncomfortable between himself and Sophia. There was no way that would end well for him. Sucking in a deep breath, Kaden began.

“Ok, Sophia, we need to talk. We both know it. I think… in some ways… I owe you an apology. You’ve been through… some shit. And… I dunno. I’m not saying I should have been, like, reading your mind or anything, but I could’ve been more... what? Supportive? Or at least sensitive. But yeah, so there’s that.” Taking a second, Kaden searched a segue, but was unable to find one. Taking another breath, he leapt right in. “More importantly – well, maybe it’s not more important… I dunno – you kind of left at a bad time. I mean… ok… I understand how you feel – I really do – but - -“

That was the last word Kaden said. His PAGER, as though saving up all its beeps and buzzes, let out a shrill ring and a portal appeared directly beneath the courier’s feet. As everything around him seemed to rise into the air, understanding dawned upon his face. In the split second before he was whisked into his event, he wasn’t sure whether he’d rather laugh or cry.

~~*~~

“Are you kidding me?!” Kaden screamed at the ceiling. “Who ends a conversation like that?! Y’know what, Gamer? Fuck you! That’s right. Jackass…”

Growling more obscenities to himself, Kaden cast a glance at his surroundings. He was in a small… garage, maybe? There was an assortment of toolboxes and chests against the walls, the space was big enough for a car to fit in, and the only conceivable entrance or exit was blocked by a segmented door the likes of which you’d probably find on a garage.

The most interesting thing in the small space was positioned directly in the middle. Allowing his anger to abate for the time being, Kaden couldn’t help but let out a low whistle as he ran a finger along the bright red paint. He noticed, much to his enjoyment, that the paint matched the color of his jacket. There were even black and white trims to complete to the coordinated paint job. With a nod, Kaden slung a leg over “his” new motorcycle.

As he looked the bike up and down, the courier realized he had no idea what he would be doing with it. Reaching down to his PAGER, he scanned the small bits of information that were scrolling across the display. Each person had a vehicle and it looked like all they needed to do was get from point A to point B first. No fights to the death, no drowning by-standers, no lashing tongues from normally timid girls… Kaden found himself on the verge of thanking Gamer – despite his previous outburst – for something so incredibly straight-forward.

Reaching down, Kaden turned the key to the sports-bike, which had been conveniently left in the ignition. As the engine roared to life, the courier suddenly realized there was no helmet in sight. That was probably part of the game, though. What fun would it be to watch if someone couldn’t paint the street with their brains? Just as the courier was getting settled, the garage door slowly rose.

Stretching out before Kaden was a sprawling city, the size of which he had never seen. Sky scrapers littered the horizon and, though there was no sun in the sky, the entire landscape glowed with the hum of neon and fluorescent lights. If they were going to have an entire city as their race course, Kaden could only imagine what else might lay in store for them.

Positioned between Kaden’s garage and the cityscape was a traffic light of some kind. Presumably, it would let the courier know when he would be free to break his new ride free from the confines of the small garage. With the garage door all the way open, he could hear the growling of other engines nearby. The din of the engines became almost painful as the indicator light flashed from red to yellow. Gripping the handlebars tightly, the courier braced himself as the light turned green.

They were off.

[Piper Juunanagou]

Since obtaining the virtual nutrition, Piper hadn’t really done much of anything with the rest of her downtime. Sure, she’d hopped onto a few of the smaller, less intense rides, and she had even bothered to take a ride on the log flume despite the fact that the majority of water rides were boring and uneventful. Fortunately the woman’s pessimistic thoughts were put to an end when the ride turned out to be less of a plastic log floating down a water-filled flume and more of a horrifying rollercoaster submerged almost completely in water.

At the ride’s terminus, the woman disengaged the four different safety harnesses and slowly disembarked from the metal, log-shaped cart. Despite the throbbing agony in her skull from the shakes and jolts of the ride, Piper couldn’t help but smirk like an idiot as she made her way across the wooden, sawmill-themed boarding/exiting station and began to descend the wooden logs that had been sawed in half to serve as stairs.

Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!

Furrowing her brow, the woman popped her pager off her belt and shook it to remove some of the plump water droplets that still clung to its plastic surface. After a few good shakes, Piper tilted the screen out of the sunlight and noticed that the continual beeping was accompanied by a large warning icon. Unsure of what to do, the woman simply pressed one of the buttons below the screen. All at once, the beeping and the flashing icon vanished, but without much of a delay, they were replaced by a rather amusing string of words.

“‘Your event, Desire for Velocity, is ready. Please proceed to the boarding portal’,” the statement on the little device served only to augment the grin on Piper’s visage. Despite her distaste for this entire situation and her overwhelming urge to break free and kill Gamer, she couldn’t deny the fact that she’d rather be stuck in another inane scenario than wandering around the oversized carnival in search of gems like the log flume and the alien shooting game.

“Well if this gets me one step closer to wringing that little bastard’s neck, let’s get this shit going,” Piper chuckled as she clipped the pager back onto her belt and promptly crossed her arms across her chest.

Any day now…

After a brief silence, space and time just a few feet in front of the impatient soldier were ripped apart by the swirling blue vortex that formed to usher her to her next ‘event.’ Leaning toward the churning maelstrom with a pair of squinted eyes, the woman was able to catch the slightest peek of what looked to be an old junkyard before the portal suddenly expanded to incorporate more of its surroundings—including Piper.

Unlike the previous portal she’d stepped through casually, this lovely vortex dropped the woman down a swirling pit of vibrant, neon colors all melding together like a really poor piece of artwork. The more she fell, the faster the colors whipped passed her, until the entire thing resembled nothing more than a very poor acid trip. Fortunately for Piper, her psychedelic journey came to an abrupt end with her being deposited—in a rather calm manner despite her previous rate of acceleration—in a dark room atop what smelled like a mound of dirty mechanics’ uniforms. After all, it wasn’t that often that you could smell transmission fluid and grease on the same outfit.

Oh, great. Piper thought as she pinched her nostrils shut and stood up out of the pile of greasy, oil-stained clothes. Just what I want to smell like... a grease monkey. Now my milkshake is totally going to bring all the boys to the yard. An amused smirk spread across the woman’s visage as she reached out with her gauntleted right hand and felt around for the closest door. After a couple moments of groping in the darkness, Piper’s metal fingers fell around a door handle.

“Now what does this entail?” Piper spoke out loud as she opened the door and stepped out into the back office of what she could immediately identify as a mechanic’s. If the inventories of miscellaneous car-related items and the gutted parts of cars hanging from the walls weren’t enough, then the fact that there were several vehicles elevated on platforms in the main room served to paint the picture quite well. Was Piper supposed to fix up some cars or was there something more to this whole spiel?

“You ready to race, Speed?” A voice interjected from the outside room—answering any questions that Piper might have still had swirling in her head. It was at that moment that Piper turned to look at the large attached to the back of the office door. Once again, her officer clothes had been replaced by (apparently) more aptly themed garments. Instead of her comfortable green dress slacks and matching suit, Piper was wearing a pair of white jeans and what looked and felt like a blue polo shirt. Instead of her black military gloves, she was wearing orange racing gloves, and oddly enough, she was still wearing the metal gauntlet beneath one of the gloves. Although most of the changes were bearable, her stylish and comfortable headband had been replaced what looked to be…

An ascot? A damn ascot? What am I, a gay man? Piper frowned heavily as she grabbed and tugged at knot on her neck only to find that it wasn’t even remotely removable.

“Are you ready in there?” The voice remarked with some evident irritation, prompting Piper to divert her attention away from her attire and back toward address the event at hand.

“Yea, I’m good,” the blond remarked as she pushed open the swinging door and stepped out into the garage proper. Immediately, her eyes fell upon the hefty man in the white ball cap and the red t-shirt. Hidden beneath a tarp next to the overweight man, Piper could note the outline of a vehicle of some design. The man was sweating bullets—his oversized belly heaving with every accelerated breath as he paced back and forth in front of the only working vehicle. “What’s up? You gonna to be okay?”

“How can you be so calm with the Mac 5 on the blocks?” The man sputtered as he reached up to wipe the sweat from his brow with the hairy backside of one of his pudgy hands. “This new car hasn’t even been road tested,” he spoke as he grabbed two handfuls of the tarpaulin and yanked it away to reveal the four-door vehicle underneath. Piper stifled a fit of laughter when she saw that the car was designed—paintjob, added effects, and all—after the strange “pocket monster” she had fought alongside during the first event. “Seriously, Speed, do you even know what this is supposed to be? It certainly doesn’t look like a race car to me,” he groaned as he ran a sweaty hand across one of the giant ‘ears’ projecting from the roof of the car.

“Did you just call me ‘Speed’ again?” Piper asked as she reached out and closed a hand around the driver-side door of the bizarre yellow car.

“Don’t tell me you hit your head, Son,” the chubby man said with a nervous chuckle as he walked over to a nearby bench and scooped up a white helmet with a small glass visor. Without much of a warning, he tossed the helmet at Piper, who only managed to catch it because she had looked up in enough time to see it coming. “Make sure you wear your helmet. I wouldn’t want the Racer family to go out of business because you wrecked and couldn’t compete anymore,” he said with a faint, almost forced smile.

Does he not realize that I have breasts? Piper mused as she looked down and verified that she was still, in fact, a woman. If she wasn’t vehemently opposed to inflating her own ego, she’d probably go as far to verify that was actually quite a woman... But then why the hell did no one ever notice her? To everyone on the base, she was just 'one of the damn dudes.' The only one who ever really gave her any attention for being a woman was Private Reckner, and her motives were questionable at best…

“Focus!” Piper’s ‘father’ suddenly shouted, yanking the woman out of the downward spiral that was her current train of thought and back to pseudo-reality that was Kill Town. “Keep your head in the game, or you’re going to lose, Speed!” He added with a softer tone as he moved over to her position and ushered her into the leather interior of the vehicle. Once she was seated, her ‘dad’ pointed to the helmet she still had clenched in her hands. With a groan, the blonde slid the helmet down over her head and shifted it around until it sat straight.

“Can I at least get out of wearing this ridiculous ascot-thing?” Piper groaned as she tugged at the red accessory that clung to her neck like a soft, fluffy vice.

“It’s a racing bandana, Speed!” Her ‘dad’ said with a boisterous laugh that he punctuated by slapping his large stomach with both of his hands. “You need to get out and race, son,” he said with a chuckle as he shut the door and walked around to the other side of Piper’s ‘race car.’

“I guess this is better than zombies or mountain climbing,” the soldier-turned-racer remarked to herself as she snatched the key off the dashboard and turned on the ignition. As the car’s engine thrummed with life and power, the woman watched as the large garage doors slid up on old, shaky tracks. With a smirk, Piper noticed that the garage, which had shown numerous inklings of being an old, rundown country location, was actually in the middle of a giant city.

Moving her car to the edge of the garage, the blonde noticed that there were three other garages positioned along a wide city street. From each of the structures, Piper could hear the roar of engines, although she couldn’t see well enough to actually get a look at anyone.

“Engines sound irritating,” the soldier muttered as she reached down and gave the stereo power button a light tap. After a few seconds of static, the woman heard the sound of someone clearing their throat—an amateur DJ unaware that he was back on the air, perhaps?

“Well if it isn’t Sergeant Piper Juunanagou. This is such a wonderful pleasure,” the voice, albeit slightly manipulated by the audio equipment, was familiar enough (and bitter enough) that the woman didn’t need any clues when it came to guessing its origin.

“What’re you doing in my race car, Pikachu?” Piper asked with a smug smirk as she flicked on the air conditioner and reved her engine. In front of her car, a traffic light stood as her indicator for when the race was to begin.

“Based on the fact that I can’t actually feel my damn limbs, I’d say I am your race car, you monkey,” the rodent groaned as the numerous lights and meters on the dashboard flashed in synch with his voice. “I guess this doesn’t say much for my argument that I’m real, does it?” The pocket monster asked in an uncharacteristically somber tone.

Instead of responding, Piper merely let the silence speak for itself.

“Well,” Pikachu remarked as the light switch from green to yellow. “At least we can beat these stupid bastards!” With that declaration still fresh in the air, the light turned from yellow to red, and before Piper could so much as hit the gas, the car erupted forward—turning on a dime and proceeding down the empty city street.

[Jesper]

Sophia felt bad upon realizing what she had actually said to Kaden, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it at the time. She just needed to spend some time away from people, to collect her thoughts, to actually calm down a little bit, but fate had something else in mind. Juno, perhaps the last person she wanted to see considering past experiences with the man, felt it necessary to impose himself into the situation, and she had done everything from chiding to slapping him in the face to fend him off. To his credit, though, he stuck with her until his portal appeared. He disappeared within it, the distortion closing as soon as he disappeared from sight.

The healer was about to do the same, until another call came her way.

“Hey! Sophia!” Every conversation started the same way, and they all ended with her steaming. She found herself surprisingly cordial as hi dialogue progressed, however. “Who was your friend?”

She was actually surprised by the question, tilting her head to the side. “You mean Juno?”

Kaden wrenched his face in contemplation—was he serious? Sophia was too dead to know most of what had gone on after Friend or Foe, but he was pretty sure that they had at least met during the game that led to her actual demise. That little tidbit, however, meant very little in the long run, and she found herself drowning in and out of thought, replying to any question or statement almost unconsciously. Besides, she was too busy focusing on trying not to cry, instead drawing her heavily practiced smile on her face. In some ways, she was hoping to avoid talking about what was actually on both of their minds.

Unfortunately, the courier pressed the issue. “Ok, Sophia, we need to talk. We both know it…”

Yeah…we do, Sophia thought. But I don’t know what else to say.

“I think… in some ways… I owe you an apology.” Sophia was struck by the comment, opening her mouth slightly though nothing but air came out. “You’ve been through… some shit. And… I dunno. I’m not saying I should have been, like, reading your mind or anything, but I could’ve been more... what? Supportive? Or at least sensitive. But yeah, so there’s that.”

Sophia couldn’t believe her ears. Kaden had always been so…removed from the situation before then that she almost thought that he was just toying with her. Such a stunt would have ruined their friendship for good, she thought, but he started talking more before she could dwell on that notion any further. “More importantly – well, maybe it’s not more important… I dunno – you kind of left at a bad time. I mean… ok… I understand how you feel – I really do – but…”

Is…is he really…? Her thoughts were hopeful for the first time in years.

Then, as it seemed, fate suddenly remembered its purpose in the healer’s life. Before Kaden could speak any more on the matter, and in consequence, on what was “more important” as the jaws of his event portal opened right under his feet, the sight accompanied by the loud beeping and blooping of his PAGER. His eyes widened and fixed themselves nearly in the same instant as realization dawned upon his features. Before Sophia could match any such revelation, the courier was gone from her sight.

The healer, along with the strange girl who had tagged along with Kaden, stared at the spot that the courier had previously occupied with wide eyes and open jaws. Sophia’s own PAGER made a piercing sound a few seconds later, the same concept as if a person cleared his throat to gain another person’s attention, providing a brand new timer on the screen. There were no signs as to what it was actually counting down to, but if it provided the same kind of surprises that Gamer had shown capable of handing out, she had no reason to stick around to find out.

“Well…I should go,” Sophia found herself saying, though she had no obligations to speak to this stranger.

“Wait! You…you know who I am, right? Right!?” the girl started to panic. “We know each other! Well….kind of. I mean, we’ve never hung out or anything, but I at least know your name I think. It’s, uh, Soapie, or something, am I right? Hey!”

“I don’t have time for this,” the former priestess sighed and turned towards her portal, stepping through it without so much as a glance over her shoulder.

“I’m not actually a girl!” she heard the stranger scream right before she progressed through.

*

“What the heck? Gamer did that on purpose!” Sophia fumed as she stepped through the portal, finding herself in some sort of garage. “At the most important part!”

The rest of her rant didn’t come in words, but rather by a series of sounds and grunts as she stomped onward. She made it far to the other side of the massive complex, in fact, before she even realized that she had no idea where it was that she had landed. Taking a quick glance at the PAGER display, she gathered that she was supposed to pick a vehicle and drive it in a race. Point-to-point, it was fairly straight forward, something that she was surprisingly grateful for. This only extended so far, both in that she hated the teenager for what he had done to her and that she struggled to focus on anything other than her problems with Kaden.

“Why did…that of all things have to happen?” she sighed. “Now I have to wait until I finish the event to…to…”

With each “to,” a loud engine noise cut her off. The healer twitched with every time she was cut off, eventually to the point where she turned towards the center of the room, the origin of such a noise, ready to yell in its direction. When she turned, however, she was met with the sight of Kaden riding a motorcycle. She raced towards him, waving her hand, hoping to finish their conversation, but he drove off before she could even distract him. Sighing, she lowered her head and paced back to where she had been standing.

“Men and their toys,” she groaned. He might not have stopped even if he had noticed him. Looking up, her eyes seemed to flare. “Alright, then. I’ll just have to catch up to him and make him notice me.”

She glanced around the garage area to try to find a vehicle. It seemed like there was little to pick from at that point—the other participants likely didn’t wait to enter their respective portals. The only thing she could find, in fact, didn’t look like a vehicle at all. She had no idea what the device even did, from the looks of it. It was shaped largely like a metal big with giant wings. Her best guess was that it hovered and she was supposed to ride on top of it. Inching closer to it, she inspected the machine closely, leaning over to examine the finer details. There didn’t appear to be any buttons or switches to press on the top, so she reached underneath to feel around for something to pull. When she found her something, she flashed a toothy grin and flipped the switch.

A high whine filled the air, and the vehicle began to light up. Slowly, it lifted itself off the air, but only a few inches. Sucking in a deep breath, she prepared herself to step onto the machine, but before she could, it burst upward like a geyser, catching her body as it was bent over and carrying the healer with it. It shot towards the ceiling and cracked her frame against the concrete before it slowly made its descent. Sophia groaned and rolled off the metallic beast as soon as it stopped moving, gasping breaths as she gazed into the cracks that her body had made on the ceiling.

A sting in her chest caused her to wince as she sat back up, a second-long process that easily cost her ten extra. She shook her head free from the cobwebs that seemed to consume her, glaring at the glider sitting next to her. She would get on this contraption and win with it, even if she broke every bone in her body in the process. Hesitantly, she pushed herself to her feet and crawled onto the vehicle once again. It whined again, something that forced Sophia to brace herself on the sides, but instead of shooting upwards, it raced forward. All she could do to stay on was to grasp the front edges and lay on her stomach, just letting the machine carry her in a random direction until she figured out how to maneuver it. The glider, along with Sophia, zoomed out of the garage and towards the track as if it had been thrown from a slingshot.

As she faced the city ahead, she could only pray that Kaden didn’t see her until her moment of glory.

[Tamsin]

Her footsteps resonated in the hallways of the hotel building as Tamsin ran away from Kazuya's room. However, she was not so much running away from the Japanese woman as she was running from the feeling that was tearing her apart inside. She wanted to help Uzumaki, that much she was certain. While she did not know what prompted the samurai woman to do so, Kazuya entrusted Tamsin her darkest secret...a secret that she must have kept hidden for a very long time. Not taking this lightly, the maid felt obligated to assist her and justify the faith the adult woman had put in her. No matter what happened, one thing was certain...Suzaku was unable to simply turn her back on the matter.

Yet, the more she desired to help Kazuya, the more she pondered whether she would be able to do so at all. Her master represented an enormous enigma in the matter as it was uncertain how he would react to the whole situation. But regardless of how he may think of the matter, Maleficus had his own demons to fight and his own path to take. Due to her loyalty and the values she had been taught her entire life, the maid intended to aid him in this journey without question. However, would this preclude her from aiding Kazuya? Since that was a strong possibility, could she really promise to aid the woman like she had intended to....a promise she was uncertain she could keep?

For the first time in her life, the girl has encountered a problem where her sympathy and loyalty conflicted against one another and the issue was eating Suzaku alive. She continued to mull over it in her mind when she unwittingly stepped into the portal that appeared in front of her...

----------

An oily smell hung heavily in the air as the servant realised she was somewhere else entirely. The room she found herself in was mostly dark, a single light bulb eluminating a small space in the center. Prominently positioned there was what appeared to be some sort of red miniature vehicle that was completely unknown to the adolescent. It reminded her of a racing car, except this one was much smaller and had a completely open driver compartment. A helmet was also conveniently placed on the seat. The teenage human was perplexed as to what Gamer exactly wanted her to do. Was she supposed to engage in some sort of race? The maid sighed....at least it was better then defusing bombs or fighting dragons.

Hesitantly, the adolescent seated herself in the vehicle and put on the helmet, which, like all clothing in Kill Town, seemed to fit her perfectly. Although the transport seemed much simpler from a regular car, the maid still had little clue as to how to operate one of these. She did recognise the ignition, which contained a small black key. Figuring that was as good of a place to start as any, she turned it on...

With a suprising roar and a hefty amount of beeping noises, the small motor vehicle burst into life. Much to the prodigy's shock, the transport seemed to have a will of it's own as it immediatelly took off towards the garage door. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the door opened themselves. The last thing she could hear was some sort of voice calling out from behind her: "Girl, wait! There is something you need to know about that go kart!"

But whoever it was, they were too late. Much to her horror, Tamsin had already found herself caught up in a race....and she was unsure if she was even operating the vehicle.

[Piper Juunanagou]

“I can drive, you know,” Piper muttered as she squeezed the sides of the steering wheel and tried in vain to turn it either direction. “In fact, I have a fancy certificate hanging up on the wall of my quarters that clearly states that I am an awesome driver,” the mildly disgruntled soldier argued as she tried to slam down on the brake pedal. Like the steering wheel, the brake was locked in place and even though Piper had been able to kick her way through most steel doors, she was unable to budge one stupid pedal.

“Suuure, Pikachu snickered, his voice coming at Piper in crisp, high definition surround sound. A beat later, the vehicle that he had transplanted into (or transformed into—Piper or her pilot didn’t have the slightest clue) swerved to miss a rather large puddle of water that had formed around a damaged fire hydrant. “I bet’cha didn’t even see that puddle there, did ya?” The rodent joked as the woman rolled her eyes and smacked her palms on the steering wheel.

“I’m licensed to pilot helicopters!” She shouted as she moved to dramatically smacking her palms against the dashboard. “What’s on your driving experience résumé? RC cars? Perhaps one of those plastic pickup trucks that you see the three-year-olds cruising around in their driveways?” With a grin, Piper crossed her arms over her chest and waited for the mouse’s rebuttal. After a couple of moments filled with nothing but awkward silence, the soldier was almost ready to return to prying at the steering wheel when the car came to an abrupt halt. If not for the elaborate safety harness strapping her into the driver’s seat, Piper was quite certain the impromptu braking would have reduced her to an interesting sidewalk painting.

“If I could figure out a way, I would electrocute you right now,” Pikachu rasped through the surround sound, his voice echoing through the rather spacious interior of the car as the formerly roaring engine died down to an almost mute purr. Glancing around, Piper noticed that her car was now sitting idle next to the sidewalk.

“Oh, come on,” the blonde groaned as she looked up at the rearview mirror and noticed that someone was quickly gaining up on her. “The rest of the racers are going to catch up and pass us if we just sit around and twiddle our thumbs,” Piper pointed out with the utmost irritation as she cricked her neck back in an attempt to spot the approaching racer.

“Well what do you say?” Pikachu asked, immediately prompting the woman to roll her eyes and sag down into the rather cushy leather seat.

“I’m sorry,” she grumbled. “I’m sure if you were tall enough than you’d be able to drive real well,” the woman added with a certain underlying degree of sarcasm. After a couple beats, the engine roared back to life.

“Next time, I’ll pop out your harnesses,” the mouse-turned-race car snickered as Piper reached out and grabbed the steering wheel with both hands. “Just don’t hit any of those buttons,” he muttered as the woman’s gaze fell to the seven buttons arranged in a hexagon (with a much larger button surrounded by six smaller ones) in the center of the steering wheel.

“Why shouldn’t it?” Piper asked as she moved her thumb and let it hover over the slice of the circle labeled ‘C.’

“Because they all have some inane function that’s supposed to help your race,” the mouse barked as the woman pulled her extended digit away. “I think they’re supposed to be adapted from the vehicle you were originally supposed to drive,” Pikachu theorized, prompting the driver to simply shrug her shoulders as she slammed the car into drive and pushed the gas pedal to the floor. With a jolt, the car shot forth—its engine now droning like a huge, metallic bumblebee as it was propelled full tilt down the street. Stealing a gaze at her rearview mirror, Piper saw her pursuer initially fall back only to suddenly explode forth with renewed vigor.

“High-tech bike,” Pikachu spoke as a sly grin spread across the woman’s countenance.

I wonder… The woman mused as she suddenly let off on the gas. Once the car had slowed down enough, Piper grabbed the top of the steering wheel and swung it to the left as hard as she could as her right foot found the brake pedal. With a violent screech, the brakes clamped down as the vehicle swerved violently to the left. Grabbing onto the steering wheel, Piper leaned to her right and bit down on her bottom lip as the right-side wheels left the ground and the entire car threatened to roll. The rider, who had quickly been gaining ground on the strange, mouse-themed vehicle, hit his own brakes and nearly toppled off his bike before managing to come to a sloppy, desperate stop just a few feet from the vehicle.

With a very confused look on his face, Kaden slid off his sports bike and watched as the large yellow car plopped back down onto all four of its wheels. A moment later, the driver’s side window slid down to reveal Piper, who had tossed her helmet into the adjacent seat to avoid any awkward remarks about her wardrobe.

“Nice mini-scarf,” Kaden chuckled as he hopped back onto his motorcycle.

“It’s a racing bandana!” Piper said with mock anger. “At least I actually have a wardrobe,” she added, prompting the courier to glance down at his usual attire.

“Just because it takes me a lot less effort to sort out my whites doesn’t make me any less fashionable,” Kaden retorted as he took a moment to brush off his jacket. “But hey…can you move out of my way, there’s sort of a race I want to win going on right now,” he added, his tone conveying far less sarcasm than Piper had expected. Narrowing her eyes at Kaden, the woman suddenly began to pick up on tinges of duress hidden beneath the façade the courier had erected. The emotions weren’t suffocating or overwhelming, but neither did she feel they belonged in the mind of someone who was usually so unclouded.

Maybe this stupid computer reality is messing with my mind? Maybe I should just ignore…

“You all right?” The soldier suddenly blurted out despite the protests of her internal monologue. “You…sort of feel stressed. You want to get anything off your chest?” She added as what had once been a grin collapsed into an almost deplorable frown.

“Surprisingly, that’s not the most unsettling thing I’ve seen or heard today,” the courier replied with what sounded like a genuine laugh as reached a foot down and lifted his kickstand up off the asphalt. “I’m sorry, Piper, but I’m…ahh, never mind,” Kaden added as his motorcycle and he suddenly shot forward. Banking to the left, the courier was quickly clear of Piper’s car, and a beat later, he was almost gone down the empty street.

“Damn it, he played us!” Pikachu growled as the car put itself in the right direction and began its pursuit of the courier. Although Piper closed her hands around the sides of the steering wheel, her car and the mouse that served as its consciousness did most of the work. Pikachu continued to prattle on about Kaden’s ‘sly planning,’ but his words fell on mute ears. In Piper’s mind, she was still wrestling with the strange reading she had picked up from Kaden even long after the sensation itself had drifted into memory.

Don’t you fret it, girl. Gamer’s little experiment is taxing all of us in one way or another. Kaden is no different from any other schmuck trapped in this stupid prison…

“We both know that's a lie,” the woman whispered as a smile once again returned to her face.

[Kaden]

The screech of rubber echoed off the nearby buildings as Kaden’s motorcycle zipped past Piper’s pokemobile and rounded a corner. Normally, the courier would have been somewhat worried about making so much noise at such a late hour, but the city around them seemed to be empty. There were still sounds and signs of life, but not an actual person to be seen anywhere. It gave the event an unnerving ambience when he let his mind wander from the race at hand.

Admittedly, his mind had plenty of places to meander, and the race was destined to not receive the bulk of his attention. Normally, that would have been detrimental to any effort he made to come out in first, but there was a nice blinking arrow on Kaden’s motorcycle that seemed to be showing him the path he needed to take. Initially, he was somewhat dubious of such a convenient addition, but he realized he had, presumably, a lot of ground to cover and know way of knowing which direction was the correct one. With no better ideas springing to mind, he decided to go with the proverbial flow.

In his rearview mirror, Kaden could see Piper’s bright yellow car rocket around a corner and make a visible effort to gain on him. Smiling to himself, the courier gunned it, so to speak, hoping to gain more distance. Sadly, that ended up being a mistake. While he wasn’t completely incapable at handling a motorcycle, controlling one at, literally, break-neck speeds wasn’t exactly his forte.

As he watched Piper slowly gain on him, Kaden couldn’t help but replay their conversation in his head. It irritated him that she had been able to read him so easily; he wasn’t annoyed at the soldier herself, but rather his apparent inability to put up an appropriate front. Perhaps he should have taken her up on her offer. Just talking to someone… maybe that would go a long way.

It was no secret to Kaden that he generally had difficulty sharing his feelings with people. He had no problem telling someone about things that had happened in his life – for the most part – such as unfortunate events or bad experiences, but actually explaining the feelings that went along with them wasn’t really his thing. It was easier to rely on one’s self than hope that someone will be around to listen to you whine; fact of the matter was that, at the end of the day, you’re always going to be around, someone else might have taken off long ago.

Letting himself get wrapped up in those thoughts, Kaden’s mind decided, was exactly what he didn’t need to do. As though watching a mighty dam swell before bursting, the courier found himself thinking about a memory long-since past. A memory of a time in his life that was actually happy… a memory of a family he had tried so hard to forget.

~~*~~

“Awww c’mon, you can go way faster than this!” came Kaden’s ten-year-old voice.

“Not on your life, kiddo. If your mom found out you were with me at all, she’d have my head.”

Though he tried to frown, the child simply couldn’t hold back an elated grin as his father flashed a quick smile over his shoulder. Kaden’s father, long interested in motorcycles, had finally caved to his son’s ceaseless requests to go with him for a ride. Luckily enough for Kaden, his dad had been in an exceptionally good mood, and the matriarch of the family had been out of the house with their daughter. His father had to admire both his son’s persistence and carefully planned timing. A short ride on their motorcycle seemed like an appropriate reward.

Shaking his head, Kaden’s dad mulled over his son’s continued requests to go faster. He wasn’t really afraid for his son’s safety, he knew the kid was far tougher than most, but he knew exactly how scary his wife could be when she got mad. Though… he was already going to be in the dog house, might as well let the kid have some extra fun. Revving the motorcycle, Kaden’s delighted cry of surprise was drowned out by the roar of the engine as it shot down the road.

The joy ride hadn’t lasted a particularly long time, much to the younger Kaden’s disapproval, but it had been in a failed attempt to beat his mother home. As they pulled up to their house, Kaden watched his dad hang his head in defeat when he saw their mother’s vehicle sitting in the driveway. To the child, this simply meant he would have one more person to brag to about the exciting experience he just had.

As the motorcycle came to a stop, Kaden leapt off, tossed his helmet back to his father and raced inside the house. He would spend the next couple hours regaling his mother with exaggerated tales of his outing – despite his father’s protests – and taunting his sister with exciting details of something she wouldn’t be able to do until she was much older.

The last details of that memory were of Kaden’s sister chasing him about their house, trying to get him to shut up. Though the girl was faster than her brother, he had grow quite accustomed to slipping away from her. Their father got them both to settle down and, clearly caught between the rock of his daughter’s plight and the hard place of his wife’s warning glare, promised that some day she would get to go on a ride with him.

~~*~~

The shrill cry of Piper’s horn broke Kaden from his surprisingly pleasant memory as she sped past him in her awkward-looking car. He was actually thankful for the jolt back to reality: he had spent a lot of time and effort forgetting… the past. There was no telling what would have happened if he had been able to continue drifting off like that. His mind was in a spiteful mood, it seemed.

Looking down at the bike he was sitting on, Kaden couldn’t help but wonder why Gamer had chosen that particular form of transportation for him. It was clearly the reason he had thought about… things, and he would have loved nothing more than to simply get off and drive something else… if there were anything else to drive. Shaking the thoughts from his head, the courier renewed his grasp on the situation.

It quickly became clear why Piper had overtaken him so easily. A byproduct of his daydreaming seemed to be allowing his speed to plummet. He probably could have jumped off and started running faster than he was driving, and that was saying something. As he brought his speed back up to the appropriately dangerous levels, movement in his sideview mirrors drew his attention. Two more racers seemed to be gaining ground on him.

The first vehicle was rather small, the size of a go-kart if Kaden had to guess, and it was swerving about the road dangerously. Whoever was driving it either had no idea what they were doing or simply couldn’t control their vehicle. Regardless, they were doing an admirable job of gaining ground, and that didn’t bode well for Kaden. As far as he knew, only one person could win a race.

The second racer cause the courier to a double – and then triple – take. Their vehicle seemed to actually be flying above the ground, though he would not call their flight particularly graceful. The person perched awkwardly on top was of much more interest, though. Clinging uncomfortably to her flying… thing seemed to be Sophia. The blue-and-white dress combined with the surprisingly long locks of golden hair was a fairly dead giveaway. It also seemed to support Kaden’s initial thesis upon entering the event: Gamer was a jackass.

Don’t give them an event where they might actually be able to have a conversation, or an event where they might get to work together. No no no, that would be asking far too much. Kaden supposed he should be thankful that the two of them were only racing against one another and not locked in some kind of mortal combat. There, Gamer couldn’t say Kaden was never appreciative.

Regardless of who the racers actually were, it was still a race and Kaden still needed something to distract himself with. Taking a deep breath to steel himself, the courier let his bike do the proverbial talking as he rocketed down the street.

[Jesper]

When you’re desperately holding onto a flying object going at an incredible speed, it’s easy to forget that you yourself can actually do the same thing. Sophia had learned what seemed like so long ago to manipulate her ki so that she could fly through the air like this glider that she was trying to cradle, but in the face of impending danger, every technique and skill that she had ever learned, flight or not, immediately flew out of her head as she sped through the city. She found, somehow, that if she turned her arms with as much strength as she could muster, the vehicle moved with it, though at the slightest of angles. The little maneuverability that this provided did nothing to soothe her troubled soul, and all she could do was scream in the face of an oncoming building.

Sophia flexed the muscles in the arm, attempting to bend the glider just enough to make it actually change directions. If she had realized that she was pushing just as much left as she was right, she might have actually gone somewhere, but as it stood, she flew right through a window, ducking behind the wall of steel that she held onto. Somehow, by some stroke of luck or the sudden appearance of positive karma in her life, she had flown into what looked like an abandoned office building. Just a sheet of gray concrete floored the level, with a few pillars and an accumulation of window on the other side meeting her sight. The collision, though it shattered the glass, caused the nose of her machine to take a dive towards the floor and skid to a screeching stop.

The healer let go of her death grip on the glider and allowed her body to roll to a stop, holding her head as pain filled her senses, a likely result of her collision with the hard ground. Rubbing the fresh scrape on her elbow, she stood up, her body shaking in anger. Why was this stupid machine so hard to conquer when she had overcome so many obstacles to get to this point? Valuable seconds were ticking off of the imaginary clock that she kept in her head, but she made a point to inspect the glider more closely. There had to be some catch to using the thing—she found it hard to believe that she was supposed to cling on for dear life and scream at the top of her lungs until she accidentally crossed the finish line.

Kneeling down, she felt along the smooth exterior of the vehicle. There were a few creases where the metal came together, but little in the way of buttons or hatches on the top. Wrapping her touch around to towards the sides, her fingertips brushed against the outline of a small compartment that had previously escaped her notice, though from the looks of it, it was too big to skip over. Frowning, she leaned her head over in order to see it more clearly—there was an indent in the panel which she was supposed to pull on to open. Doing so, she reached inside to feel around and decide what sort of item was stored inside.

“What the…” Sophia breathed as she pulled something out of the compartment, examining it as she dangled it a few inches away from her face. “What is…it’s a glove?”

Gamer didn’t strike the healer as the type of person who would be into fashion. After all, there was a name for that kind of kid among the more liberal tenants in her childhood temple, but Sophia couldn’t say it. What was odd about the glove, however, wasn’t it’s placement within the glider, but the technology that seemed to be integrated into it. Wires wrapped around the fingers and connected to small pads on the finger-tips, with a larger pad on the palm of the accessory. It took a bit, but the wheels within the woman’s head began to turn, generating the light bulb of thought as she made the connection.

She smirked. She had been going about it all wrong.

Sophia slowly stepped onto the glider once more, and turned it on. The lights on the glove matched the ones she had seen on the machine earlier, and touching her fingertips together and moving her hand left, right, and forward gave her much more mobility and maneuverability than she had access to previously. She began to cackle devilishly, imagining the look on everyone’s face—his face in particular—as they found her to be the victor. Her eyes lit up with newfound vigor, she whipped her hand forward, prompting her “ride” to vault forward towards her imminent victory.

Unfortunately, her feet failed to follow.

The glider zoomed ahead, but pushed Sophia backward as she was unable to match the momentum with any sort of solidarity. As the machine crashed through the glass on the other side of the floor and rocketed towards an adjacent building, a smoke trail the only thing allowing Sophia’s eyes to follow it on its path of destruction. As it exploded into a giant plume of smoke, the blonde woman sank to her knees. “No! No, no, no! What the heck happened! Ahhh!”

Her scream wasn’t as loud as it was intense, a sort of guttural sound that escaped her mouth as she let her frustration take over. She pounded the concrete floor as hard as she could with her fist, providing a large crack that protruded around the area of contact. Her hopes of finishing the race fell as the glider fell further within the depths of the flames, completely consumed by heat and any aspiration of victory that Sophia went with it.

“My, my. This is a pretty pathetic sight,” a voice filled the air. The nasally pitch gave Gamer away, it seemed. “The other racers seem to be doing fine, and you, my good woman, are off the race track entirely. Why is that?”

“It’s impossible to fly that thing!” Sophia argued, looking up towards the sky. “I can’t stay on it even for a second. You’re just a…you’re just a…big meanie!”

“Words cut deep,” Keith chuckled. “For one thing, you can fly, remember? You should be able to keep your balance just fine. Secondly, there are feet straps on the damn thing. Did you not look at the glider at all?”

“What does it matter now?” the healer sighed. “My…thingy’s wrecked.”

“That’s what he said,” Gamer responded curtly.

…why would anybody say that about themselves? Sophia thought with a frown.

“Anyway,” the mastermind continued. “I suppose I could just be a nice guy and give you something new.”

“R-really?” Sophia’s countenance improved instantly. Instead of responding verbally, a glider spawned from the ceiling, apparently, and floated towards the ground. Nodding to herself in resolve, Sophia leapt onto the machine and bent over to strap her feet in. Gamer was right in that she could have used her ki to maintain balance, but…well, she didn’t quite trust herself, not when there was a perfectly acceptable countermeasure already in place. Taking a deep breath, she forced her hand forward again, and the glider made its way through the opening in the window with Sophia as its capable guide.

Three drivers had rounded the bend and had made their way down the street in front of her, but her little mishap didn’t seem to put her out of the race permanently. She sped towards her competitors, trying desperately to close the gap.

[Kaden]

As streetlights, fire hydrants, and even the occasional parked car whistled past Kaden, he kept his eyes focused on the road ahead. Or at least he tried to. Mounted onto the dash of his bike was a nice blinking arrow. Kaden had decided that this arrow was most likely leading him towards the finish line. While his deduction was based on virtually nothing, it felt oddly comforting to be driving in the same direction it was pointing. That, however, was the distracting part.

Every now and again, the arrow would flick to one side or the other for a second before returning to its proper place, pointing straight ahead. Initially, the courier only saw this when there was an apparent turn to take, but when it began occurring more frequently, a thought ran through his head. As he sped along the street, he watched and waited, patiently anticipating the next movement of his assumed guide.

The next time the pointed light blinked, Kaden’s motorcycle came to a screeching halt. Trying to come to a dead stop at the speeds he was traveling, though, proved to be an incredibly bad idea. The bike fishtailed wildly before smashing into a parked car and throwing Kaden clear. After tumbling across the concrete for several yards, Kaden managed to flop onto his back and wince against the pain that had decided to run rampant through his body. With a weary moan, he pulled himself to his feet and dusted himself off, thankful that his jacket didn’t bear any lasting damage.

When he made his way back onto his ride, he was surprisingly satisfied to see that the arrow continued to blink towards the sidewalk. Casting a glance around, the courier’s eyes finally fell upon a narrow alleyway that he had just stopped short of. Steering his bike carefully onto the sidewalk, he was shooting down the alley in short order.

On the other side of the alley was a wide five-lane street that appeared to serve as a main drag of their makeshift race course. Screeching into the center lane, Kaden was about to gun down the road when he noticed that the little arrows was, once again, pointing off to the side. Scanning the buildings, it was easy to see what it was trying to point out. Swerving once again, his bike began speeding for another alley.

Unfortunately for Kaden, though, his second would-be shortcut was not cleared out for a racer such as him. Instead, a seven-foot tall cyclone fence had been erected at the exit. That, in itself, wouldn’t have been too big a concern, but the massive sheet of, what appeared to be, plywood that was resting against it at an angle, was. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together.

As the apparent ramp came rushing towards Kaden, his mind simply blanked as it processed what was about to happen. He didn’t hit the brakes, he didn’t try to turn around, he didn’t even leap desperately from his bike. Instead, he simply screamed. Rocketing off a ramp at two-hundred miles per hour, Kaden flew over several more lanes of the next street before crashing back to the ground.

Try as he might, his grip refused to loosen on the handlebars of the motorcycle. He stared at his white-knuckled fists, begging them to release the bike. When it was evident that his body was not in the mood to give in, the courier turned his focus to the route ahead. He had a fleeting fear that he would be crashing full-tilt into the front of some random building. Sadly, he had no such luck. Instead, another alleyway loomed before the courier, eagerly awaiting as he dashed into its gaping maw.

Launching off of the second ramp, Kaden thought he was much more prepared for what lay in store for him on the other side of the alley. Unfortunately, he had no clue what diabolical course Gamer had plotted for him. Instead of being shot over another five-lane throughway, Kaden found himself soaring over a tiny one-way street and onto the roof of a building.

Atop the one-story mom-and-pop shop that had suddenly become Kaden’s new race track, the courier found himself physically trembling atop his sports bike. The last time he had been higher than about ten feet off the ground, he had blasted in the back and left to die – if it hadn’t been for Sage, he might have. Nonetheless, his surroundings continued to blur by him as he sped towards the roof’s termination. To his horror, it took him a little too long to realize what was waiting for him.

Instead of simply falling off the side of the building – which would have been preferable at that point – Kaden’s eyes, wide as physically possible, locked onto a third ramp that had, no doubt, been erected in his honor. Clamping his eyes shut, Kaden couldn’t even muster the strength to scream some kind of obscenity at the self-proclaimed God of Kill Town. As he leapt off one rooftop and onto another, taller building, he simply whimpered to himself.

[Piper Juunanagou]

With a grin, Piper adjusted her rearview mirror and flashed a smirk at the complete and utter abscense of any followers. Kaden had veered off in another direction just a short while ago, and if the other racers were still following the main drag than they must have ran into some sort of delay. Either way, Piper couldn’t help but feel a slight confidence welling up within her as she returned her view to the wide street that lie in front of her like a ripe feast for the taking.

Looking down at her steering wheel, the woman traced the tip of her gauntleted thumb across one of the glossy plastic buttons. Inside her mind, the woman found herself wresting with the decision to simply smack the button with all her might. What harm could it do? Obviously the buttons had been installed into the car to serve some sort of purpose.

Or maybe Gamer fudged with them to make sure all of them blow up this bucket of bolts or cause the transmission to fall out… For the time being, it was finally pessimism that won the day. And at last suppressing her urge to press the button, the woman returned her thumb to the rim of the steering wheel and tried to focus on the road.

Ahead of her current path, the soldier noticed that the series of store fronts whizzing past her abruptly gave way to a few big warehouses. Beyond the storage facilities, the woman noticed that the ground to both sides of the road dropped off. With a frown, she leaned over her steering wheel and squinted to get a better look at what was creeping up on her.

Yes, Piper, that’s a bridge. A voice in the woman’s head groaned as Piper let out a soft chuckle and relaxed back into her seat. The more astute observation would be that it’s moving, you ninny.

“Shit,” Piper rasped as she realized that the end (or possibly the middle) of the bridge was slowly rising up. It would only be a matter of time before it reached a ninety degree angle and provided the woman with a nice vertical surface to crash into. “It’s a bascule bridge,” she remarked as she glanced down at the gas pedal and proceeded to promptly slam it the rest of the way to the floor. With a violent jolt, the car shot forward and rapidly began to accelerate toward its maximum velocity.

“A what?” Pikachu barked as Piper clicked the cruise control button and telekinetically summoned her helmet into her hands. Dropping the gaudy, oversized helmet over her head, she snapped the chinstrap closed and gave it a quick yank to tighten the slack. “What’s going on?” The Pokémon-turned-vehicle shouted louder as the woman clasped her hands around the rim of the steering wheel and tried to press the pedal deeper into the ground.

“It’s like a drawbridge,” the woman snapped as her mind tried desperately to extrapolate whether or not she’d get to the bridge before the angle became too steep for her to circumvent. “And if we’re not fast enough…” she muttered cryptically as she took a minute to glance at her surroundings. Even without analyzing everything, Piper realized it was too late to try and veer off and take another route around the bridge, and by the time her car was beginning its rapid ascent up the slowly rising surface, the color had already drained from the woman’s face. The car managed to get about halfway up the nearly forty-five degree platform before Piper and her pilot noticed they were gradually losing speed.

“Gravity’s not our friend!” The soldier growled as the vehicle noticeably began to decelerate.

“Button F!” Pikachu screamed through the speaker system as Piper glanced down at the steering wheel and smacked the F button. The button clicked into place, and a beat later, the car twitched a little before suddenly zipping up the sloped bridge with renewed vigor.

“What the hell did that do?” Piper asked as the car approached the end of the bridge. Before Pikachu had a chance to respond, the vehicle he had been converted into left solid ground. Although she wasn’t afraid of heights, the soldier didn’t dare look out the window to see how high above the water she was. She simply clenched her eyes shut and waited until the car slammed down on the other side of the bridge and began to descend the opposing side of the bridge.

“Spiked tires,” Pikachu finally responded—his tone laced with an air of arrogance as the woman opened her eyes up to see that they were almost at the bottom of the decline. Unfortunately, there was a rather tall safety fence jutting up from the base of the sloping bridge. “A button.”

Nodding her head, Piper smacked the aptly labeled button and let out a gasp when the car jolted up off the bridge and soared over the safety fence. With a thud, the car landed back on solid ground. Looking down, the woman noted that the F button was no longer depressed.

“And those would be the jump jacks,” the rodent spoke in a haughty tone as Piper let her foot off the gas pedal a little. Ahead of her, the road seemed to carry on much the same as it had before the bridge. There were several smaller alleyways and a few cars that were intermittently parked next to the sidewalk. Other than that, it was nothing more than an abnormally wide city street.

[I]When does this end?

Then, as if Gamer had been listening in on her every thought, a giant wall seemed to emerge out of nowhere. Shouting more out of shock than fear, Piper instinctively slammed the jump jacks, and with a pneumatic hiss, they managed to nearly propel the vehicle up over the brick wall. With a grating shriek, the bottom of the car scraped violently against the wall, and the mixture of high speeds and solid brick wall acted to tear away most of the car’s floor as if it were forged from aluminum.

Fuck. The word looped in the woman’s head as the car slammed down onto the road. Looking down, Piper realized that there was nothing but asphalt beneath her feet—the pedals and the rest of the space between her chair and the front-end of the cab were gone.

“How are we moving still?” Piper asked with manic eyes as she watched sparks sprinkle down from twisted piece steel dragging along the street where her clutch had been. Looking back through the rear window of the car, she noticed that several chunks of broken, twisted metal were scattered behind them. Even if she didn't have a nearly intimate relationship with most vehicles, Piper was certain she could deduce that they were in dire straits.

“I have it under control,” Pikachu wheezed—his voice sounded as if he’d been winded or injured in some way. “Just… keep steering, I can handle what’s missing,” he added between what sounded like gasps for air. “Except the brakes…those are useless.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t quick enough on that one,” Piper whispered as she took a hand off the steering wheel and placed it against the dashboard.

“Don’t get sentimental on me now, Sergeant Juunanagou!” Pikachu barked as the car swerved to both sides before straightening out. “I’m still... y’know, programmed to want to slaughter your entire species,” he added weakly as a frown spread across Piper’s visage. The frailty that now plagued the rodent’s voice was a stark contrast from the fire and brimstone of his earlier tirades and random outbursts.

“Hang in there,” Piper muttered softly as she returned her hand to the steering wheel and focused on the task at hand. “The end can’t be far off,” she added a little louder as she clenched her hands tight enough to drain away even the scantest flecks of color from her knuckles.

If he doesn't make it, Gamer, I promise that you will follow him to his grave.

[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....

[Kill Town]

A red motorcycle, a yellow car in the shape of a Pikachu, a glider, and a go-kart named “Speedy.” Clearly, none of these were a Honda RSX with VTEC, carbon fiber hood, Jacsport supercharger, D2 suspension, Falken Azeni tires, and Spoon pillows for good measure, but they would have to do. The spirit of the event, after all, was racing for the thrill of racing… he guessed…

It indeed did come down to a photo finish, with all four racers giving it their all despite their respective problems and distractions. Pikachu gave every last effort for Piper despite his weakening power (and homicidal tendencies), Kaden was just holding on for dear life, Sophia had something to prove, and Tamsin rounded out the fold with her wide-eyed uncertainty.

Piper barreled forward, unable to do anything but accelerate with her disabled brakes. Somewhere behind her, pieces of the vehicle lay strewn about the road, leaving their potential victory in questionable odds. Tamsin and Speedy kept on them, the fragile little go-kart completely dwarfed by the electric rodent’s mechanical form. Nearby, Kaden leaned forward, his competitive spirit returning in the wake of solid footing on ground level. High above them, Sophia swooped in, gaining closure from her recent wreckage.

“Hold on, Pikachu!” the sergeant ordered as the finish line rapidly approached.

A sudden draft of wind propelled Sophia’s glider forward in a burst of speed, sending her in front of her competitors. To Kaden’s surprise, a ramp leveled up from out of nowhere directly in his path. The former priestess sailed over, feeling victory within her grasp. The courier’s motorcycle hit the ramp and launched off with surprising velocity. He pulled on the handlebars at the last second, an unconscious reflex that started to jerk the hog upwards. He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a wail as his motorcycle flipped backwards, performing an aerial acrobatic. Sophia looked above her, and from her limited vision, saw Kaden sailing right over her head, guaranteeing a loss of the woman’s advantage.

Meanwhile, back on the ground, Pikachu decided to pull out one final gambit.

“We’re not gonna lose!” he cried out adamantly.

Using every last ounce of energy, the mouse-like car burst forward with unprecedented and impossible speed, rudely jerking off to the side and cutting Tamsin off, causing Speed the go-kart to enter into a stomach-plummeting and dizzying spinout. Piper’s heart hammered wildly, feeling Pikachu go all out to secure their victory in the event despite incredible odds. Sergeant Juunanagou crossed the finish line first, a well-deserved triumph. Kaden’s flailing motorcycle landed right behind it in a rather inglorious crash. Fortunately, the bike took most of the damage, leaving the courier relatively unscathed save for a few unpleasant bounces. Sophia swooped in unceremoniously, landing much more smoothly than her jacketed companion, albeit in beneath both of them in the rankings. Tamsin rounded out the fold, spinning wildly over the finish line before coming to a mercifully abrupt and dazed halt.

An announcer rang out, dutifully narrating their placements in an overly enthusiastic and somewhat 16-bit voice.

“Piper scores a first place knock-out! Kaden finishes second! Sophia takes a weak third. Tamsin is in another time zone!”

The only thing missing from that notable account was some 80’s rock-and-roll music and colorful alien characters, yet again another game reference mixed in with the wrong one.

Piper placed a hand on the dashboard, Pikachu’s presence having faded completely as the engine suddenly cut out. “Hey, you still there?”

“Are you okay?” Sophia asked as Kaden picked himself up off the concrete.

“Yeah,” he murmured, brushing the dust off his jacket.

Tamsin said nothing, as the poor maid had to suppress the urge to vomit and get the breath that had been sucked out of her lungs.

“Well, well, well,” Gamer crowed. “I suppose that was entertaining… a little. And now the fun begins again, because your roles are far from over.”

Keith opened up their portals, drawing them in without even a chance to protest, and without giving Piper and opportunity to full assess the damage to her paradoxically faithful-yet-destructive companion. Tamsin’s, unfortunately, was red. She had some servant duties to fulfill… down in prison.

1st: Piper - 40 monies
2nd: Kaden - 30 monies
3rd: Sophia - 20 monies

Tamsin is re-routed to the prison.