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Starbound Flotilla     There once was a band of Unstoppable Warriors. Blessed by their Treasure, they roamed the world, unable to be defeated. For thousands of years, they roamed, and were never struck down. Nor did they tire, nor did they die. They were Unstoppable. There once was an Immovable Kingdom. Blessed by their treasure, they stood steadfast through wars, through famine, through drought, and through turmoil. Their citizens never experienced great want. Their nobles were never usurped or plagued by corruption. Their positive ideals of peace, understanding, and freedom were never changed.

    One day, the home world of the Unstoppable Warriors unified. One day, the home world of the Immovable Kingdom unified. One day, the former was sent to end the latter. Neither Treasure could bear to surrender. What was unstoppable could not be stopped. What was immovable could not be moved. These were facts and absolutes.

    What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? Both stop moving -- unstoppably. In a normal universe, this would mean suddenly "moving" closer to the center of the universe at a rate precisely matching the spin and expansion rate of the universe itself. In the Multiverse, it meant something different: Moving in a direction precisely perpendicular to the axis of the rotation of the superplanet, ever westward, completing its circle once per rotation of the vast multiverse planet.

    On that day, The Line was formed.

    This race shall be the End of the Line.
Starbound Flotilla     "Hello again to all the racing fansss out there! After this agonizing week of political wigglesss and jumpsss, the wait isss over! I'm Kura, Head Ssstatesman of Sssunseeker City and your broadcassster for today! The voicesss you'll be taking a good lisssten of are our hossst, Gilgamesh, King of Heroesss and the generousss sssponsor of the firssst and hopefully lassst Line Grand Prix, and our eyesss, Orchid, veteran data-gathering expert, here to give usss insssight on the race itssself!"

    Both teams have been instructed to gather at the deck of their respective Fuel Ark. These Fuel Arks are rushing at unspeakable speeds right at the edge of Fifth Gear, which appears to be some sort of massive half-pipe sort of shape, carved clean out of the earth by the passage of the Treasure of the Line. On the deck: Huge mass accelerators, ready to blast the vehicles amassed there straight into the halfpipe at even more unthinkable speed, as well as arrays of mass drivers ready to fire the insanely over-refined packets of high-energy particles that provide the huge speed boosts that will get them to match pace with the Line.

    They are readying up. The Treasure will pass by shortly, which will be the "gun" that signals the start of the race; catching up to the Treasure will be its finish line. Both the Priestess and the King have their respective Dragster Thrones ready, though the Priestess' is more subtle, sleek, and seems inspired by supersonic jets more than muscle cars. She's also flanked by a real jet, the Saint of Carbon, and another Linerunner, the Saint of Fire. The former is being supported, it seems, by Albert. The latter has Biteblade aboard to provide support. The Priestess is joined in her car by Moonfin and Pavo, each in a support station aboard.

    An estimated countdown timer has something like a minute left. Announcers on either Fuel Ark direct all racers to their cars. Both Fuel Arks are full of spectators here to watch the End of the Line.
Gilgamesh      The King of Heroes is not here to race.

     Frankly, the King of Heroes already won. However the race for the Line shakes out, the King receives the Prize. The Line will be shaped, the war will end, and the Treasure will be taken and vanished into the impossible Gate of Babylon, where it will remain for all time, lost with all the other ancient artifacts and wonders that belong to Gilgamesh. The King sees no need to compete in a race where the outcome is a trophy he is presenting, after all; it would be gauche, and while it might amuse him for a time, he'd rather other people amuse *him*.

     That's why he provided the money. It's why he provided so much money, to every racer on the circuit, in the form of gold and jewels. It is for that express purpose - to make the race as Exciting as possible, to entertain the King to the utmost as they all race for his trophy. This is *his* victory lap.

     And he has the best seat in the house for it.

     The teenager sits upon a golden platform hanging high in the sky. Glowing green wings sweep outwards like a crescent moon, attached to a long, beautiful golden spike. At the center of the golden spike is a high red throne, in which the King is relaxing, one hand on the lush armrest, the other against his cheek. He is in full regalia today, the same imperious image he wore when he hosted the party, gold armor bottoms and shirtless with red tattoos, his crimson eyes alight. The King's role as a symbol is as important as that of a warrior, and today he is a symbol of peace, reconciliation, and public authority. He brokered the treaty that is leading to this. He must appear regal in all ways.

     Except for the color commentary. Gilgamesh is *super* interested in that.

     Around the Vimana, opulent gems have been placed. Each gem shines with a mystical screen, projecting the race from every conceivable angle for the Vimana, Gilgamesh, and his passenger. In front of the throne lies a table of delicious-looking food, a spread of heavenly wonder that only the King of Heroes could possiby offer, because enjoying a race without food is a pointless endeavor.

     At his name being called, the King of Heroes raises a hand. He mutters something to his passenger, then sighs, gives up, and simply puts on his best smug face.

     His best smug face is super good.

     His voice carries, magically, thanks to the Vimana's power. "Hear me, Racers. I am Gilgamesh, King of Heroes, King of Babylon and of Uruk, King of all that is, was, and ever shall be. You have but one goal - to win."

     "I am expecting a race of the highest entertainment for the chance to use my prize." Gilgamesh drums his fingers against the red cushion of the throne. "Do not disappoint me, hopefuls. Show me what your chariots are capable of. Show the King of Heroes that he has spent his money as wisely as ever."
Orchid      Ah, the grand Race. Perhaps the final Race, even. Orchid's preparation has been different from some others; her goal is not to participate in the race, but to document it. This has involved some extensive math and modeling to figure out where along the Line this race would occur... and not just from the frame of reference of the super-planet. Orchid has worked hard to coordinate cameras across all of the gears, putting them on vehicles moving at all the various speeds the Civilizations of the Line move at. Given her own status as an outsider to the conflict, and the current truce, 'asking nicely' was enough to get her most of the permissions needed. Slightly more complex was getting the communications network set up to bring all these feeds to where Orchid will be watching, and giving her own color commentary, but not too hard.

     Of course, while Orchid's feeds will be put into the historical record, her true purpose is to help bring an end to the conflict, by giving both sides a spectacular show, one too amazing to besmirch with further conflict. So that both sides will be able to say "That was good enough."

     Of course, when you want glory, to write a new chapter in the book of legends, there are few better suited to that task than the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh. Which is how Orchid wound up riding with Gilgamesh, even sitting in his lap, wearing the short skirt and brief top that are the halmarks of a race queen. She's actually providing good eye-candy. "Grand story aside, we've also got an amazing field of competitors today, both those who have been on the Line for years, and those newly arrived. It's going to be an amazing show people, and you won't want to touch that dial."
Corona Arclite For Corona Arclite it was never about The Treasure. Yes, putting an end to it's temptation and the disruption it causes amongst the inhabitants of The Line and the bizarre disruption of reality to the areas it passes through is all well and good.

But for her the 'treasure' was the Line itself. The challenge it presented. Surviving in it, surmounting it's trials, the constant reworking of ideas and rejiggering of machinery to endure it's nonecluidian speed obsessed existance. Tonight that all reached it's apex.

Though for sake of thematics, she's essentially in the Engine King's court. It's his followers she's been assisting get the supplies to do this to, and his effort she promised to help. And Arclites don't go back on promises, even if her interested is in more The Race than the shiny at the end.

As for her ride, at this point, the vehicle resembles nothing of the buggy it once was. From the hoverpods that replaced the wheels to massive rebuilds of the chassis, from the original additional mods to endure the rediculous speeds to the newest hardware to utilizing the particle boosts when they come. That, combined with some specialized engineering, the pulsarium core that normally supplies the craft power, and a very specific trick up her sleeve, as about as ready as Corona was going to get.

One last check to make sure her vehicle was properly set in the launcher, and Corona climbed up into the cab, which was more of a cockpit at this point with the reinforced shielding around the rollcage. "Ready back, Hopalong?" A few metallic thumps from wherever the jackalope-bot was stowed was her answer. "A'right."

Corona lacked in the saftey harness, then pulled off her normal work goggles and hat. Those were tucked into a storage bin. Then replaced with a proper racing helmet, giving it a few tugs to get her fennec ears through the slots for them. She pulled the special goggles she had gotten down over her eyes, grinning as the hyperglass innards spun up to speed and mechanical readouts flickered to life.

"Let's do this."
Riva Banari Today is the day.

Riva didn't have long, but the Law of Acquisition dictates you can get something good, cheap, and fast (pick two).

With Gilgamesh backing her with his immense Wealth, Riva gets the ability to pick the best combination. The Templar rolls out with an amber-colored bike, Hyperglass infused into the machine with Anima Circuits, creating a stark angular pattern in the golden finish. There's a forward windshield of megadiamond with HUD insets. The hubcaps are hexagonal golden combs, with thick wheels for traction. The rear of the machine holds the essentials, the complicated engine, fuel storage, and a pair of deployable heavy thrusters. Pop-out weapon storage is built in, as well as rocket launcher mounted to the front.

Most important is the license plate. It reads: BEEZ

Riva slides into positon on the Vespid under the Engine King's banner, the machine thrumming and leaving faint glowing trails beneath as the Anima Circuits pulse.

She promised the man that she would guarantee his chance herself if it came down to it. She's making good on that promise. She will fight for him until the end, regardless of her desires.
Leyanne The Megamouse is aways a fan of the underdog. And while the Engine King's got a bit of an excessive style - she finds his over-the-top greaser look to be grating, he's leading a bunch of crazy freedom fighters, so she kind of sees in him a mirror of herself.

She's got her Line-built hovertrike, but it's been modified with the angular, boxy style of Arkadyne Foundries - an extra set of rocket engines, along with 25mm cannons, some missile launchers, and it's been decorated withthe 19th Polar City Moto-Cavalry's traditional red and black, with black-and-white chequer details. She's flying the flag of the Engine King from her radio antenna, whatever that happens to be.

The Cavalry Charger, according to the name painted on the front hover-unit, pulls up to its spot at the 'start line', the mouse at the handlebars - now raised, more cruiser-styled - grins, looking left and right at the other racers.
Yang Xiao Long     Yang sits astride her bike. It's completely different from before. Looking at it from above, one might mistake it for a large arrowhead. The front is a wicked point, gliding out around the forward repulsor unit, further out around the cockpit area where the blonde is settled. The Hyperglass and Megadiamond frame expand out further to the aft repulsor unit and a bank of thrust boosters. It's a sleek, elegant machine, as if someone took an explanation of The Line, and turned it into a vehicle to run along it.

    The blonde's helmet has a few retrofits to it as well, likely to allow her to function within the hyperluminal Fifth Gear.

    She's on the Engine King's rig, more out of familiarity than any real loyalty to the greaser-like monarch. She's sat on one of the launchers, going over her systems one last time, flicking switches and then bringing her engine up to speed and temperature, the nozzles at the back beginning to glow, going from red, to orange, to red, to white, to blue.
Kotone Yamakawa So the race has come, with the amount of money she was givne to buiuld her ride? Kotone had poured a lot of credits into the craft she had it was based on her Knight frame but it was the first hover machine she's made, what also of note about the sleak craft and custom riding suit is the number of cables plugged into Kotone's body. She's go the form fitting suit tagged with the name of her sponso which is only one man. So she's got Gilgamehs' snamed in stylized letters on the suit as well as she had to burn up the leftovers somehow. The Lift system of the bike comes to life and the heavy duty thrusters flex as Kotone gets ready to roll. The bike it self is sleak very well detialed too she's really gone all all out on it after all the King of Heroes wnated a show and bank rolled it so Kotone damn well did.

She looks at hte HUDD and right now the bike is more or less her body, also here and there there seem to be several weapon systems built into it. Even drone launching bay, missile pods and front mounted lasers. She's been damn busy and she'll gun the engine and then be ready to go.
Starbound Flotilla     The varied racers run their fingers anxiously around the wheels. Everyone's got their foot on the pedal, ready and rigged to blast them into the main halfpipe. The countdown timer is precise, as precise as it can be, and within the limits of natural neurology, though someone might notice it's updating with the uncertain nature of the Treasure's position and velocity.

    "RRRRRACERSSS, GET READY!" Kura's voice calls out, Kingside.
    "Prepare yourselves to sortie." The Saint of Glass says, opposite.
    "GET SSSET!"
    "Treasure incoming!"
    "GOOOOOOO!!!"
    "DEPLOY!!!"

    The Treasure blasts by, between the two massive Fuel Arks, trailed by a huge cloud of blinding white plasma. The Flotilla, aboard their respective Empire vehicles, and the Saints and Priestess, are launching right at the first moment they can, BLASTING hard into Fifth Gear and rushing ahead as fast as they can! The Saints particularly seem keen on barring the path, focused less on getting there themselves and more on separating the race into two clusters of racers, trying to keep the heat off their allies ahead... Whatever those allies may be, there were a few rather weird launches. A 20s-looking hovercar, and... Something that undulated in rather familiar ways? They're speeding off into the front, but matching them would mean getting around THE SAINT OF FIRE and THE SAINT OF CARBON, as well as the refined, sleek DRAGSTER THRONE of the PRIESTESS OF THE HOLY COMBUSTION!

    Once the Engine King racers join in, they're likely to experience... Something terrifying. In Fifth Gear, the gathered light ahead warps more and more into a smaller and smaller dot on the horizon, turning everything from a strange fisheye into near invisibility, until... The process of light itself seems to turn inside out. Reaching this speed seems to entirely invert the geometry of light itself, turning the view of the world into a strange, surreal photo-negative, spreading back out until the fish-eye effect is gone and all it seems to be is a sea of gleaming white glass in a massive half-pipe, over a shining white sky and a deep black sun.

    Welcome to Fifth Gear. If you want to progress, you'll have to take down the potentially strafing high-speed jet fighter, the Saint of Carbon, the massive robotically-enhanced three-story-tall combat tank, the Saint of Fire, or the precision armed high-speed super-car, the Dragster Throne.
Orchid      Orchid goes over the racers, giving an introduction to each for the viewers at home. "Let's see who we've got today... Racing under the name of the Engine King is Corona Arclight, with her hover buggy suped up for action on the Line, a marvel of engineering, looking fast and secure. Riva Banari, on her bike, and with actual wheels. The technology of the Line is out in full force there. Leyanne, also known as Tiny, is piloting the Cavalry Charger, a modified Line-built hover-trike, with some powerful rocket boosts, and some nice gun pods, so we can predict her tactics include some more 'direct' action. Yang Xiao Long is astride her bike, updates with Hyperglass and Megadiamond, and from this angle it could be the head of a giant's spear. Kotone Yamakawa is another of those on a bike that looks like it's an extension of her body, which could be true; let's see how she moves in it. And certainly not least, the Engine King is riding his Dragster Throne."
     "On the flip side, the Sleeping Empress is represented by the Priestess, riding her own throne. At her sides are the Saint of Carbon and the Saint of Fire, who are in their own sleek vehicles."

     "It's almost time for the race to begin, so make sure you have your popcorn ready, you won't want to miss this."

     Then the Race starts. "And the Empire is off to a fast start, a new racer entering the field, rocketing away from the pack. Meanwhile, the Priestess and the Saints are... blocking the way, it looks like it's going to be a wild race people, just WILD."
Gilgamesh      They're off.

     Above them flies the Vimana. The flying throne-ship is nimble, agile, and fast as hell, keeping pace with the center of the pack. There's no visible control device - Gilgamesh appears to just be *willing* it to move forward, not even using hand motions or something. He raises a gold cup to his lips as Orchid talks. When she's finished, he sets it down.

     "I would expect nothing less for a chance at my Treasure!" Gilgamesh declares, "I look forward to seeing the first fall behind. There are few moments sweeter than watching the desperation on the face of a racer falling behind, and the determination and skill that such desperation brings. I am thankful that modernity decided to offer so many open-air vehicles. It would be miserable if this race were conducted in submarines or some such."

     How does he even know what those are.

     "Who shall be the first to be left behind at the starting line? Who will be the first to drop off in the Great Gilgamesh Rally, and show us the sweet taste of their desperation?"

     Yeah he's just...he's just doing that.

     He's just gonna keep calling it that.
Yang Xiao Long     "A massive energy signature is approaching fast. NO REFUGE! Sramble, scramble!" Yang's vehicle alerts, some component providing driver updates in a verbal format. "Man, That better not get annoying, I got that board for the processing speed." she grouches, as the Engine King's launch platform rockets her out into Fifth Gear.

    Her hoverbike soars, almost like it were an aircraft, before slowly arcing down to 'ground level'. She swerves then guns the engine, producing a plume of plasma behind her as she moves to catch up to the racers ahead.

    "Deploying weapon systems. Twin-Gattling online." A pair of rotary cannons fold out from the front of the wedge-shaped vehicle, beginning to spin up as their Megadiamond ammunition stores spool into the feeds. "Ready. "YOU BETTER GET OUTTA MY WAY!"
Riva Banari GO!

The Vespid bolts off the starting line with a wave of glowing light, streaking behind her as she drives at ridiculous speeds. Riva cries out in joy at the sense of unrelending, unadulterated /speed/. This is unique. This is a glory that one can probably never sense anywhere else thanks to the nature of the Line. Roaring forward, she sweeps back and forth into Fifth Gear, accelerating to a place so ridiculous that light itself shifts.

Riva rolls back and forth through the Halfpipe, working to get a feel for the local physics, as bent as they are. For now, she simply works to accelerate as fast as possible, working to beat the Church affiliates to the punch!
Corona Arclite Despite being ready Corona isn't watching the countdown, or listening to the announcers. This wasn't something that could be started just with precision timing, not with the way The Treasure would warp reality and leave a violent wake behind it. This took instinct, reflexes, and gut faith in the rediculous contraption she was sitting in, revving, waiting...

The Treasure roars by. Corona hits the throttle and the engines (yes there's two of them amongst all those thrusters) roar as they whip up to speed, and the launcher releases to catapult the vehicle. The combination of hyper-energized particles and Pulsarium energy gives the exhaust flames spewing out of various ports a freakish green-blue hue.

As the modified buggy hurtles out of the launcher at ludacris speeds and is lobbed through the air towards the halfpipe, there's only one thing for Corona to do -- Let out a whooping "YEHAH!" and punch the horn. Due to the dilations of screaming to speeds faster than light and sound the horn isn't actually heard until after they're already blasting into Fifth Gear. But being the Southern Fried Genius IN SPACE that Corona is, when it does come through there is only one sound that horn can appropriately blare. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez3CW1ipaBY )

And then reality goes fucking bizarre on the visual spectrum. Her goggles, being made for the Line from regeants of the Line, help some in not getting a massive seizure or vertigo, but it still very disorienting for everything to go photo-opposite.

They're in, moving at speeds even her father would of only dreamed of. Through the bizarre visual effects one picks up the vehicles already managing to get ahead of them. Which, to Corona, is no surprise. Of course the Saints would get in their way, of course they'd somehow manage to jump in front of them to do so.

This would be a boring challenge if they didn't.

"Reckon they're expectin' us to be more worked up for speed than fer fightin'..." The vixen grins a little as she shoves a side-console back and a second set of controls ratchets into place. "But just cuz Ah care more 'bout the race don't mean Ah didn't come prepared fer a brawl!" One gloved fingertip jams down on a button.
A device clicks out from the buggy and fires, sending something shooting along the ground of the Line. It's some kind of hyper buzzsaw, microboosters on the sides of the inner disc keeping it spinning at a gyroscopic speed to match the insane Fifth Gear velocities as it hurtles at the back of the race-tank.

Leave it to Corona to take an interested in the biggest, most mechanical target.
Starbound Flotilla     Yang's doing her damndest to catch up with the first-group racers, and her speed is certainly enough for it, but what bars her way is another Saint. The first one she's defeated, the Saint of Glass, but now comes the Saint of Fire. His massive Linerunner is almost exactly like the Flotilla's own Linerunner, but attached to it are a series of flamethrowers and massive mechanical arms, threatening to strike out! The man inside is emitting a sound, over speakers, of deep grief and pain, while he gushes fire into the surrounding road, barring Yang's way! She'll have to be careful in navigating it, or take out some of those heavy fire-blasters! The bulk and size of this is properly like one of those monsters she fights in her homeworld, isn't it? The crying, less so. "No!! No!! Don't!! You can't interfere, you can't stop them! Only the Priestess can reach the finish line! We need the Empress, we need it to bring her back!"
Kotone Yamakawa Orchid is right on the money the bike is extention of Kotone's body, it relally is she feels it's systems like her normal body aprts today and there's a thril, there is a big damn thrill. Whatever happens they have hopefully kept several hundred to thousand people out of the graveyard and are settling this with a race as it really should have been in the first place. THe machine kicks it up into gear as she move ahead going not full bore yet, no she need to get a feel for the pack for a mment and who pulls out first is going to be. She has the intent ot win and she's moving as fast as she can for the moment, she is however being flashy with how she's manouvering.
Leyanne Leyanne grins and opens the throttle, although the Cavalry Cruiser isn't the first off the line. In fact, it kind of sits there for half a second or two, as the rocket engines pressurize their chambers, build up and then...

And then the mouse is off like she's been shot from a gun. Pure speed is the mouse's plan for now, and she guns the throttle, pouring on the power as the Arkadyne boosters ramp up to full power. Air intakes open as they reveal themselves to be air-augmented rocket engines, pushing the mouse yet faster. "YEAH BABY"
Starbound Flotilla     Accelerating as fast as possible, Riva nearly pulls ahead too, getting dangerously fast and zippy as she adjusts, but the area ahead of her is blasted hard by some kind of heavy megadiamond cannon -- it's the Saint of Carbon, and his fighter jet! The ace fighter is blazing away, trying to make sure Riva can't provide the King any support, trying to force the group into its disparate segments of the race. His strafing could tear into her vehicle, or it could just slow her down, but either is fine. "Tally, bogey sighted. Fox four away. Sorry, Red, we've /got/ to make sure." The calm voice can be heard calling pleasantly at her over the radio.
Yang Xiao Long     Yang built her ride for maneuverability, and she uses that now, though the sheer amount of flame being poured out onto the track is impossible to evade fully. She swerves away from one gout of flame, but gets caught in another, causing the outer layers of Hyperglass to ablate away, dulling the impact. "I don't want to destroy it!" she calls back, sweeping around, trying to find an opening so she doesn't /have/ to fight the Linerunner and the obviously distraught driver. "If I get to it, I'll use its power to bring her back for you." she adds, but has to open fire with the twin-gattlings to break some of those flamers, aiming to cripple the attack options of the large craft. "You have my word as a Huntress!"

    If she manages to cause a 'gap' in the flame coverage she guns the engine, kicking in the turbo unit and causing another 'pulse' of plasma to surge her forwards, through the hole.
Orchid      "Yang takes an early break, and seems to be going for first blood against the Saints. Still, that thing can jump. Riva isn't far behind, and now ahead of Yang, attempting to skate around the empire. She'll need to be carefull, straying too far into the gutter risks a collision with Fourth Gear." Yep, Orchid is giving her color commentary while lounged across Gilgamesh's lap. "Corona certainly came loaded for bear, or at least for the tree the bear is behind, firing a very nice looking buzz-saw blade. Oh, the Saint of Fire has taken Yang's shots, and returning with signature fire, flames filling the track. Kotone is moving well, very smoothly as she settles in for a long race. Riva's break for the front is stopped by the Saint of Carbon with the cannon blasts to the track. Yang is maneuvering for another break, and I think she's trying diplomacy again.
Starbound Flotilla     Corona goes after the massive madman of the line, the huge battletank blocking the way of Yang. The entire thing begins to shift, undulating like a tremendous body, as if the huge thing is writhing in pain. It takes a "hunched" posture and cries out, lashing out with a gush of fire, but also... Biteblade! She's up there, and while she isn't firing on Corona, she tries to blunt the impact with heavy shots from her bow. Looks like the little Floran is there to give the Saint of Fire some support. It's not enough, it plunges in, but not before the Saint has a chance to gun some heavy columns of fire at Corona in kind! He's /urgent/ to make sure she doesn't get past, but the pain is motivating a vengeful tone to that grieving sound he's always making.
Gilgamesh      "Diplomacy!" Gilgamesh laughs, his hand going to his head. "This is a race! There can be no compromise, no agreements! Whosoever wins is the winner! Whosoever loses is the loser! That is the way of such a competition! What would you do - share the prize?"

     "Come on! Show off your strength! The time for talk passed upon the Preserver of Life! Now is the time for determination!"
Riva Banari Riva might exult in that speed a little TOO much. It's easy to forget just what kind of race this IS, as the megadiamond cannon tears up the ground in front of her! With a yelp, she swerves, losing speed and taking some hits to the reinforced chassis, breaking off chunks of the armoring as she grimaces.

"Nothing personal!" She yells back to Carbon. "We're all in this to win it! Fight with everything you've got! Let's see how bad you WANT this!" As Riva yells, a compartment pops open and she pulls up her shotgun, one-handing it in Carbon's direction.

Oh right, Riva /is/ a turret. A moment later, circuits flare orange on the gun as it barks, firing blastwaves of glowing shot back up at the Saint of Carbon in an impromptu display of anti-air!
Starbound Flotilla     Kotone dives in, and begins to adjust. Her cautious approach means the greater body of racers doesn't have her stand out. Unfortunately for Kotone, this also means the greater body of racers can accelerate to match her. As others make harder pushes straight ahead, the cluster are trying to keep up -- and it looks like they're trying to keep pace with her smaller surges!
Starbound Flotilla     Leyanne surges ahead, hard! Her heavy thrusters add tremendous acceleration, and it's not long before she's pulling up too fast for the Saint of Fire to stop her! By the time he gushes a line of fire her way, she's gone. But the Priestess' Dragster Throne is far faster than her tanky friend, and she pulls up close near Leyanne's bike. One of her turrets is being manned by Pavo! That damned cultish scum. The bird-girl calls out, "You've traveled a long way, but you're seeking a thrill too many there, and eventually your blessings are bound to run out!" She opens up with a burst of anti-vehicle spray-fire, trying to rattle the machine and its driver, and make sure they can't outpace the Priestess!
Corona Arclite The damage done is limited, but it got the Saint of Fire's attention. As well as someone riding shotgun for him. No surprise, and won't be the first time Corona didn't let friendship with the Flotilla stop her from getting in a brawl when their objectives were different.

Main consern is still the massive tank-racer as it swivels part of it's arsenal back towards her and opens fire with, well, fire. This would be the point where one is probably expecting Corona to veer away to try and keep from getting roasted.... And like most times, trying to expect anything an Arclite does is a fool's errand. Rather than dodge Corona hammers down the gas pedal and heaves one of the larger levers forward. Even with multiple screaming machines present the sound of engineering at work can be heard as the spoilers and hoverpods retract into the rest of the buggy. Maybe some attempt to protect them as Corona screams her machine right INTO the streams of fire. The intense flames start to burn into the exterior, plumes of smoke and steam hissing from amongst the fires. Machinery roars and clatters, and there's another plume as something explodes! Bits of the buggy come tumbling out of the rear of the inferno! Was the attack too much?!

Then smoke and flames swirl frantically across surfaces as a machine comes roaring out the devestating attack, but it's not the hoverbuggy! It's the Foxtrotter, the steampunk mecha sporting the hoverpods on it's limbs for maneuvering and the conglomerationg of spoilers and thrusters jutting out of it's back like a sci-fi mash-up of a jetpack! Where did that come from?!

What happened is in a stroke of ingenuity Corona rebuilt the buggy's chassis and ablative plating -around- the ride armor so it would fit appropiately into the mass launchers and remain hyper-aerodynamic to reach the Fifth Gear superluminal velocity like a big vehicle shaped SABOT casing. The intensive flame damage just blasted off all that additional plating and machinery now clattering down the Line behind them.

"SURPRISE YA SUNOFABITCH!" As the Foxtrotter rockets up behind the tank-racer once more Corona heaves on the controls, pistons and gears in the arm clanging away as it sweeps forward and fires it's shotgun-like weapon at the tank, peppering the flamecannons with razor flechettes to try and disable some.
Starbound Flotilla     There's a sound sort of like a rusted door, but very /confused/. Yang's overture of collaboration may be late, but it's not as though she signed on entirely to the King. The gushes of fire around her abate lightly. The voice calls out, "I'm not... We can't..." He starts, before Gil's theories prove a SORT of correct. "You can't be the first to the finish line to begin with!!" Up ahead... Something odd. A shining red light falls from the sky, like a comet; it's an ENERGY DELIVERY from the Priestess' Fuel Ark! The Saint of Fire serves into it and starts rushing ahead hard, trying to obviate the issue of fighting Yang in the first place, and forcing her to spend valuable boost fuel -- or swerve into one of those fuel deliveries from either Fuel Ark herself -- and suffer the intense g-forces required to be able to stay in this race!
Leyanne Leyanne yelps as she sees the Priestess coming up behind her. She snarls as the turret fire that sprays the back of the Charger. "Already happened!" She calls out cheerfully. "Several times!" As she speaks, her left hand dropsfrom the handlebars to tap commands in for a moment. A big red 'COURSE LOCKED' warning flashes across her hud before the mouse wrenches the handlebars sideways, turning the trike until it's facing the incoming Dragster. She flips the bird-girl the bird, before stabbing that finger down on the fire button. A swarm of small missiles bursts from the bike's panniers, slamming into the road ahead of the Priestess' dragster in an attempt to make craters. At these superluminal speeds, being hit by a bug is devastating enough; a pothole is (she hopes) going to hurt!
Orchid      "Oh, half of them are still worried about what will be done with the treasure," Orchid publicly replies to Gilgamesh, King of Heroes. "But I think Riva is somewhat more in the mood to WIN. Corona as well, going for a very interesting... wait, her buggy just changed into a ride armor! And those look like some nice flechette guns there. And Leyanne... wow that's a lot of missiles. This is quite the display of action on all sides."
Starbound Flotilla     "Break twos! Break twos! Stop tone!" The Saint of Carbon says, in an abrupt, tense version of his eternal Cool, Chill Tone. "Guns zero angels. Star One, bring it in!" He punches his afterburner, blasting forward and low to the ground, trying to lodge himself firmly in front of Riva's advancement or at least threaten to crush her if she doesn't maneuver right.

    Albert's on some kind of turret in the back too! "Tally at your six, fox four. I've got good tone." Really they're just like two peas in a pod in there, except the pod is unleashing a heavy rain of bullets backwards to try to slow down Riva's gradually increasing acceleration!
Gilgamesh      "Good, good. Riva Banari is one whose name is known to me. She distinguished herself well in battle against me aboard the Preserver of Life, and her will was stronger than even her blade." Gilgamesh raises the cup. "It only makes sense. A race is not just a contest of speed. It is a contest of wills, clashing against the arena itself."

     "What is a ride armor?"
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa sees that the greater body of racers are ahead her plan has worked out so far but now she's got to deal with them all keeping pace or pulling ahead with this handled at this point. She checks her hud diplay and in a strange way it feels like she's running rather than driving given she feels every part of the craft like it's her body and she's also getting fancy again she does several loops, a barrel roll and then floors it, she feels the speed against her body and it's nothing like anything she's ever felt before. She also keep tabs on Leyanna and Corona in this mess and she knows Riva's out there somewhere too....
Yang Xiao Long     "Well, I tried..." remarks Yang to herself, her face contorting into a scowl behind the megadiamond faceplate of her reworked helmet. The energy packets raining down, and the sudden burst of speed from Fireboy tell Yang all she needs to know about them. She taps off the throttle just a bit, turns into one packet, then guns the throttle into another, then another, chaining them together and causing a massive plume of hyperlight plasma in her wake. "LETS. END. THIS!" she crows, folding her weapons in and compacting her craft down into Sprint mode, all power put into amplifying her speed.
Starbound Flotilla     Those flamecannons are quickly blasted, creating tremendous gaps in the field of fire. The Ride Armor was a surprise, one that the disoriented Saint of Fire already wasn't ready for. He can't let Corona get ahead of him and manage a long stretch of acceleration, though! His own tremendous thrusters create a solid column of plasma that prevents maneuvering around him, but maneuvering to his sides is certainly quite fine right now. He intends to obviate that with the acceleration he just got from those fuel deliveries -- can Corona do the same?!

    Aside from whatever myriad turbo systems are built into her ride on their own, she'll be able to sight the fuel-energy deliveries arcing in from above, fired by each faction's Fuel Ark, one of which just gave the Saint of Fire a turbo-boost!
Orchid      "Will, wit, speed, or might, however this works out, it's amazing to watch this," Orchid says. "We've got the Saint of Carbon trying to block a bike with a jet, impressive flying there. Kotone seems to be going back around to the pure speed approach, weaving through the pack, trying to sneak through to the front. Yang seems to be following that lead, but she may be going for a ram, using the blasts around her to get that extra oomph. The Saint of Fire is maneuvering against Corona again, with a burst of speed from the refueling."
Gilgamesh      "I concur," Gilgamesh says, raising another golden goblet of sweet alcohol to his lips, "Now that we have gotten past foolish arguments, the fires of desire are stoked, and the ambitions are burning bright. This is indeed the entertainment I sought!"

     "Though," Gilgamesh pauses as the Vimana shoots forward, turning around and lowering itself to give them a closer view of the track, "I wonder how many of their rides will survive their passion. Even vehicles have their limits, and the will to win may outstrip even their bodies. I should hope to see that. Once the track is anointed in blood, it will be a *true* race."

     He pauses. "Vehicles that don't belong to me, of course."
Starbound Flotilla     Clang-CRASH. Leyanne slams heavy craters beneath the wheels of the Dragster Throne. Drag-racing being the operatinve paradigm here, it seems clear that Leyanne's found a vulnerability.

    "What did we hit?"
    "Some /roadkill/ in a second. HARD LEFT!"
    "Engaging hoversystems! We cannot allow the suspension to suffer such damage if we intend to grasp the finish line!"
    "Ghhh... Alright. Eyes out for more, fire the hovers if we need them."

    Leyanne's clever impact dealt a fair chunk of damage, but something gleaming under the body of the car is shining and humming in that hovering sort of way where it'll hopefully be counteracted a little. The Priestess shoves her pedal to the floor and accelerates, trying to use the slack to give her enough room for a hard left and the chance to run Leyanne up the wall of the halfpipe or crush her vehicle into the ground!
Corona Arclite Yes! That was exactly the sort of surprise Corona was hoping for. Thrusters and aerlions adjust their angles after fighting, and the ride armor takes full advantage of not being bound to just above the surface of the track. It jets up and spirals to the side under Corona's dexteritous controls to avoid the streams of plasma thrust spewing out of the back of the tank like a giantic star fart.

But more importantly, be it skill or luck (or likely both) the maneuver also arcs the Foxtrotter right into perfect position to catch one of the energy deliveries. The hypercharges particles mix with her own engineering and the rearward thrusters erupt once more with green-blue plumes of fury that keep the machine rocketing along and to the side of the Saint of Flame's tanky racer.

Corona has something in mind, but for the moment, she's focusing on keeping up with the opposition. "Time to punch it hard!" She slaps a hand down on a large button. In the heads-up display of her goggles --REDLINE ENGAGED-- briefly flashes, as she dumps -all- that energy into the propulsioin systems.
Riva Banari Riva is indeed in the mood to win. No matter what happens, she's here to compete, and to give less than her all would be a disservice, not just to those organizing the race, but to the Engine King and the Priestess. If she doesn't push to the limit, there's no way to know how bad THEY want to win, too.

And that's why when Carbon and Albert come downi n front of her, trying to scorch her off the road with afterburners and a tight blast of megadiamond bullets, Riva's already in motion. She rears back, hitting a wheelie as she balances amidst the fire and gun, and hits a control.

The jet boosters promptly pop out. "ANIMA CHARGE, GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She yells, blasting forward in a sudden surge of golden light, streaking into the air to jump Carbon...

And then bring her Vespid right down, trying to stomp it down into the ground! "Eat pavement!" Riva cries!
Starbound Flotilla     Moonfin sights Kotone, pulling too far ahead. "Ahhh, our old friend. A dangerous maneuver to surge so far ahead. Perhaps you would do well to understand the nature of crabs trapped within buckets." He lines up his own turret... But what he fires out of it isn't bullets. The stream of energy that he's trying to paint Kotone with is something she's probably a little more familiar with, it's Flotilla teleporter technology! Unless she can break or dodge out of it, he's going to try to blink-teleport her -- yanking her back behind the Dragster Throne to keep her from getting ahead, and to force her acceleration to slow down, hopefully even disorienting her!
Orchid      "Would this be the first time blood was spilled in anger in the half-pipe?" Orchid wonders. "And given that this is color commentary, painting the track counts. The Priestess's throne seems to have taken the hit from Tiny, and is doing some fancy moving to scrape the mouse off her tail. Corona's ride armor just caught one of those refuel packets, and is now going full speed. Riva just took some heavy hits, but she's still in it, jumping over.. no, trying to jump ONTO the Saint of Carbon. And at these speeds, impacting the ground could spell game over. Elsewhere, Kotone has to deal with... the sensors say it's a teleport beam. A nasty trick, but let's see where she winds up."
Starbound Flotilla     Slamming right through one of those fuel energy drops causes the readings on Yang's bike to spike, and then fritz with stylish rainbows. For a moment, she's free to boost all she likes! The acceleration matches and swiftly exceeds the acceleration from the larger linerunner. Biteblade has to launch from her own hoverbike, rushing into more of that fuel, bringing the charge onto her vehicle, and trying to gather it onto the Saint of Fire to speed him up and keep the pace! "Woah! Burning friend isss going too fassst! Gotta keep up! Go go go!" The grieving sounds turned to stressed, straining sounds, like the man inside is experiencing unspeakable G forces over his whole body as he tries to catch up properly to Yang and her rush. The robotic machine is rattling, shaking, buzzing, even emitting metallic shrieks as it's pushed to match her speed!
Yang Xiao Long     Yang is feeling the G's, hunkering down as close to the bikes frame as she can. She can feel the pressure building as she holds the booster full open. Just a little bit more, hold the line... She can't lose her momentum. Not yet.

    She manages to pull in front of the FireRunner, letting her plasma wake wash over the massive machine. "Caltop. Caltrop. Dispenser deploying." announces the bike, as it starts dropping little globules of 'anti-speed' meant to drain power out of anything it hits.
Starbound Flotilla     The machine that's trying as hard as it can to keep pace with Corona does manage to scream its way just barely ahead; while it can't safely dispatch her, with the inherent risk of coming into /contact/ with her, and thus the danger that she'll disassemble something crucial, the Linerunner can at the very least sort of make it harder for her to use the full strength of that propulsion! If she wants to pull that far ahead, she'll need to amp up her engine with even more, out-maneuver the heavy tank, or fight it off, but right now, it's doing its god damndest to hold her true acceleration back!
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa has certainly got Moonfin's attention, she knows very well about the bucket of crabs story. Crabbing is a thing where she was born and raised but teleporting? Well, he's forced her trying to break free, which she does, however, he slows her the hell down in the process he doesn't get her disorientate given her senses are hyper augmented at the moment. She keeps on track but is set back a fair bit by Moonfin's own action. Still she's trying to kepe in the race as her engine guns it again, she's got a few ticks left to her but she's got ot make ready.
Starbound Flotilla     Slam-crunch-CRASH. A chunk of megadiamond armor is punched right through by high-speed vehicle structure, and the men aboard cry out angrily. The jet surges down, scraping the ground; a wave of sparks fly through the air, and another sheet of armor is torn off badly, lopsidedly adjusting thrust to keep speed up with the increasing damage. "Bandit on me! Bandit on me, I'm hit, I'm locked." The pilot calls out.

    His co-pilot regards this development with his usual sense of rage. "/Engaging/." He declares, pulling out a heavy emergency service revolver from the side of his chair, undoing his own seatbelts, bracing himself as much as he can, and blasting away clean through the cockpit glass as hard as he can at Riva's mounted cycle, trying to force it off, or at least disable it so that Riva will be knocked out of the race when the pilot rises and tries to roll and dislodge the dangerous tank!
Gilgamesh      "Do I need to add more color to this commentary?" Gilgamesh asks after a moment. "I do not know how this works."

     "Gold. Gold. Gold. Gold. Gold. Gold. Gold. Gold."

     He repeats this about four more times before he waves his cup in the air. "And red."

     It's the oldest joke in the book, but the oldest hero might just predate it.
Starbound Flotilla     There's that megadiamond effect. The Saint of Fire knows that sort of thing. His roar changes from strained by gravity to strained by something flowing through him, the heat of his intense desire to push forward as hard as he can. As those globules pulse, though, one can feel a loss of endurance creeping into his voice. His rocketry flickers and his machinery rattles. He's in urgent, urgent need of improvements to his momentum, and it's hard for him to find it! Biteblade is the one who's having to swing down and try to kick those anti-speed globules off the structure, and give him a sporting chance at accelerating HARD!
Leyanne Leyanne is in the middle of turning her vehicle to face the right way when she's slammed up onto the halfipe walls. She struggles to maintain control of her vehicle, looking side-on to see the Princess in her side mirror. She grins, widely, suddenly drawing a shotgun from somewhere.

As her vehicle is forced to the lip of the ramp, she hits the jump-boost button, sending her /over the top/ of the Pricess' dragster. As she goes over, she aims for one of those hover units and discharges both barrels into it, before throwing the shotgun towards the dragster in the hopes that, before it's ripped away by the slipstream, it might make it near something vital, like an intake.

Then comes landing. This... isn't so pretty; it's a hard, bouncing landing - the hovertrike actually cartwheels once - before the mouse has it back under control.
Corona Arclite The tank-linerunner is keeping up, and that it's trying to drive in to obstruct her from just rocketing forward isn't lost on the quick-witted machinist. Corona leans to the side as she twists on the controls, making the Foxtrotter spin in place as the flaming Saint's machine muscles into interveining. This swings it's limbs into the angles to point the hoverpods on it's legs towards the other vehicle, effectively pushing off it's side with their repulsion while the upper-arm pods work to keep the steampunk mecha stable as it jukes away mid-air, though there's an ominous rattling as some of the systems are being forced to work in ways not quite intended. To his credit the Saint of Flame did stop her from just speed-boosting her way ahead and out of reach.

But he might also get the impression that outrunning him isn't her intention.
Corona said she was here primarily for the Race... But she never said it was to -WIN- the race.

If anything instead of racing ahead the flying steampunk armor seems more intent to stay right in the Saint of Flame's proximity, like a giant and extremely annoying pest. "It's time to knuckle down!" She reachs over to the console to slap one of the other controls. ---ROBOT CLICHE INCOMING---

The Foxtrotter swings around as turbines and gears churn in raisings it's arms. A heavy thud is heard as the thick digited hands clench, and drill bits buzz out of the knuckles. Followed by little exhaust fumes hissing from the wrists. Followed by brighter flashes of ignition as minature versions of the thrusters fire, sending both hands shooting towards the tank-machine! Those drill knuckledusters may not seem immeadiately dangerous, but it's less how powerful they are and more how deep those rocket fists can drive them in!
Yang Xiao Long     As she pulls ahead thanks to the Caltrops slowing the FlameRunner down, Yang sets to autodrive, allowing the computer to maintain her acceleration profile, while she does something crazy. Her seat swivels around, allowing her to face backwards. A split in the rear opens that plasma vent to allow her to see behind her.

    The Brawler then slams her fists together, as her weapon extends over her hands. The cartridges glow faintly in the weird physics of Fifth Gear, but she punches them out in a barrage at the FlameRunner, aiming not at the craft's main body, but at the tracks and movement systems, trying to disrupt them with the explosive, electrical bolts.
Orchid      Orchid chuckles at the King's joke. "I guess that counts. Anyway, Yang has also grabbed one of those fuel pickups, and has unleashed... call them caltrops and it's not far wrong. Elsewhere Kotone is dodging the teleport beam. But that'll cost her seconds. Riva's target is... yes, I do believe he's going for a one-on-one. Tiny has... oh my, look at that jump, and with the shotgun blast at short range, that HAS to hurt, oh, and Tiny's landing... she's got it under control. Quite a show, quite a show."
Gilgamesh      Gilgamesh wasn't joking. There's a moment of confusion on his face when Orchid laughs at it.

     "A dramatic showdown on dirt road is indeed a finer display than any other."
Starbound Flotilla     Leyanne slips above! "She'll wipe in just... Just... Grrrrrrrh! NO!!" There she goes, somehow up and ABOVE the thing! While the hover-units are on the underside, the Dragster Throne is currently almost sideways, and that means they're exposed; Leyanne fires quick and fast, taking out one of them in an explosive blast, leaving the machine vulnerable to more potholes, and shaking the whole shuddering machine dangerously! "Moonfin! Incoming!" She's just as worried as Tiny is confident about that thing; luckily, while she couldn't stop the /explosive/ shotgun fire, Moonfin at least manages to leap out of his seat and slice the thing in half in mid-air, preventing even more of a disaster!

    "That was disasterous."
    "You're telling me! Maybe if I... Alright Priestess, leave her in the dust, I've got some ideas."

    The Dragster Throne leaves the trike alone, but only so that it can focus on speeding up, trying to accelerate far ahead of her. Meanwhile... Pavo's hooked a grappling line to the back, and brought out a set of her wing-packs. With a confident grin on her beak, she spreads it, and suddenly, she's parasailing at superluminal velocities, just like Leyanne herself once did! They're taking inspiration from her! She's pulling low as she does, trying to bombard Leyanne from above with impacts from huge metal spheres to try to keep her from managing any sustained acceleration and keep her from abusing that weakness she just made in the hover-system!
Leyanne Leyanne yelps as alarms begin to go off; those metal spheres are pummeling her bike and it's really starting to punish her poor bike. And Pavo's doing her own trick... aw hell no. She can't allow that to happen without doing something about it. She hits the boost button to keep pace with the Dragster Throne, managing to draw ahead just a tiny amount, riding one-handed while tying a line to her waist. She also starts loading up with grenades and, finally, an aluminium baseball bat is slung over her shoulder. "Skrat." She says. "Trusting you to keep me straight, defend yourself. Gonna need you to swing me close to Pavo when I give the go signal..."

And then she undoes the harness holding her to the bike, popping her grav harness. Aerial duel at super-luminal speeds? Fuck yeah.
Riva Banari The bike is in a dangerous spot, but it's dangerous for the Saint of Carbon too. Riva is basically playing things by ear, not really able to have a coherent plan when everything is moving at the speed of WTF. Go fast, smash people. The danger, however, gets a proper response. The copilot begins trying to blast Riva off while the Saint DOES A BARREL ROLL in an attempt to fling her off before she bounces the plane into the ground. A wipeout at this speed would be disasterous.

Unforunately, Riva is quickero nthe draw than the man with the revolver is. The gun fires, and spangs off oif Riva's Ajoran Cross, the reinforced weapon deflecting the bullet as she grins. "Not so fast!" She says... But then the jet lurches. "OH CRAP!" She yells, the bike losing traction and beginning to slide. "BOOSTERRRRRRRS!" She yelps, and hits them again, launching her off the wing of the jet in an erratic direction while front-flipping off! It's hilariously dangerous, but the motion also provides her with an unsual opportunity as the front of her bike lines up with the jet.

"FINAL DESTINATION, NO ITEMS, FOX ONLY!" Rive yells in an incoherent attempt at mimicking the callout of the Saint of Carbon, and she punches the firing button for the rocket launcher, a heavy Anima-infused payload firing at close range!
Starbound Flotilla     The huge Ride Armor blasts those ROCKET PUNCH impacts right for the Saint of Fire, punching through one of the heavy robotic arms that move up to block them, and ripping them cleanly out as it goes limp. Another roar of pain can be heard when it rips into the main body, tearing out crucial fuel lines and significant parts that come tumbling out. Exhaust pipes scream and gush rows of fire, and the whole thing shifts from an effort to accelerate and take out Yang to an effort to fight the both of them; first, another pair of arms is coming crashing down over at Corona, trying to knuckle her right back down, and box her Ride Armor with heavy machine arms of its own!
Starbound Flotilla     The tracks and movement systems are a suite of hover-thrusters, physical tracks, large wheels, and traditional automobile mechanisms. Also, coincidentally, none of these are inherently resilient against ballistic, explosive, and electrical discharge, and all of them are detonated badly. Something about the Saint of Fire looks unsteady, and Biteblade is immediately having to dive in to repair things. "Gaaaah! Big tank friend! Wait! Floran hasss to fix you!" She calls out, while the massive structure shudders and shakes unsteadily. Part of his front structure shoves into the glass below and he lets out an angry cry, /accelerating/ with his rocket to try to roll clean over Yang, or at the very least consume her in the heat of a pair of massive flaming fists his tank is bringing down over her! "Woah woah woah woah! Wait! Let Floran fix!"
Yang Xiao Long     Yang sees the damage, sees Biteblade frantically trying to fix the tank... and said tank trying to roll right over her with giant flaming robofists coming to smash into her as well. "NO YOU DON'T! NOT NOW. NOT TODAY!" she howls, banging her fists together as she absorbs power from the Line itself. The wind rushing past buffeting her Aura, charging her all the while. Her Aura explodes, knocking the flaming fists aside and stopping the advance of the FlameRunner dead in its tracks, relatively speaking. "THIS RACE IS OVER FOR YOU... but you fought well. I'll win this, for you, so you can have your Empress back." She reaches out, pressing her palm against the front of the Flamerunner. "I promise."

    The palm clenches into a fist, is brought back past her head... then swung forwards once more, slamming into the metal and discharging a kinetic shell from each of four barrels, lined up with her knuckles. "GIGA HAMMER!" "Accelerating to attack speed. Large Enemy Battleship is approaching."
Corona Arclite Clockpunch machinery click-clacks as a new pair of hands assemble and lock into position to replace the fired ones. Just in time for one of the other massive arms on the Tank-Liner to swing at them. The heavy machinery slams into the Foxtrotter's front in a sickening crunch of metal on metal, smoke pluming out of gaps from the damage.... But instead of flying off from the impact like the Saint of Fire likely expected, the ride armor -grabs onto- the assaulting limb.

He's no longer trying to speed into the race, he's focusing on fighting them. Mostly what Corona was hoping for.

It was really having those hyperglass displays in her goggles, Corona could watch as several of the readouts at the edges of her vision starting to go red and spit dangerous numbers at her without taking her eyes off the tank-liner and it's crane-arm she was grappling. While damage wasn't too critical yet, a lot of the Foxtrotter's systems were starting to show the strain. It was never really made for intense velocities, and even with all the modifications and the best intuition she could muster, it was going to wear down eventually especially if it kept taking hits like that. Maybe she should be a little more conservati--ahahaha I can't even think that thought completely.

Corona stomped a foot on the floor of the cockpit. "Hopalong, give me everything you got!" In the almost literal belly of the machine the construct fires up, using his internal furnance to produce even more energy, which generates multiple arcs of electricity up and along his antlers and into the conductors attatched to them. On the exterior sparks can be seen crackling along the various mechanical bits as the additional energy surges through the machine. Readouts in the HUD started to blurr as the spike in energy came at such a sudden point.

Energy roared out of the thrusters as they readjusted their angles, and instead of launching away the steampunk mecha arced upward, grappling to pull the offending arm with it. Metal digits creaked as they dug in and locked down, intending not to let go. Corona watched the HUD gauges flicker, most of them remaining red but the numbers were in flux as more energy, between Hopalong and the pulsarium core, surged through the machine. Sparks and smoke hissed from the turbines in the arm as they overspun to keep power in the grappling limbs.

Brow furrowed, but when Corona gritted her teeth it wasn't in in a sneer, but in the sort of slightly unhinged smirk only a mad engineer can pull off as superluminal light glinted off her goggles.

She reached over to turn a dial. "The power surges through the turbines in a din." Most of the readouts were redlining now, or just reading '11'. "My soul is spiraling like gears and sprockets spin around." The exhaust stacks beltched out great streams of superheated vapor and flames with such force it sounded like two airhorns blaring. "And one thought galvanizes in the furnace blast..."

Corona grabs both control sticks. "Ah'm never backing down..."

The Foxtrotter heaves under the power influx, all it's thrusters flaring and sizzling to push the ride armor with enough force to hopefully twist the arm it had been grappling with...

"MY FATE HAS BEEN DIE CAST!" Corona shoves the controls forward, and the Foxtrotter surges to slam said arm right back into the tank!
Starbound Flotilla     Kotone still pushing on! But now the Dragster Throne, in its fights with others, is having to accelerate more! Maneuvering all around, it's trying to surge up ahead of Kotone. Tailwinds are tearing up chunks of glass; if she's planning on getting ahead, she'll have to punch it a little more, or, well, the others will be punching shortly too.
Starbound Flotilla     Leyanne and Pavo duel in the skies, diving up and down with their respective parasailing solutions! Her own cutlass is drawn, and begins swiping back at Leyanne angrily. "Come on you little heathen! You want to make a play at hitting the heavens, I'll show you why I can put you in hell! Rrrraaaah!" She squawks, golden armor gleaming even when it's battered and dented with heavy bat impacts, and swinging hard even when her arms are badly jarred by the blocks.
Leyanne Leyanne grins "And three, two, one, go!" She orders her bike, which swings her on her parasail into Pavo, and her parasail. Fighting while parasailing, as they're both discovering, is very tricky; the mouse takes several quite nasty hits, delivering many more of her own in return - and then, the lights on her left arm turn yellow.

Suddenly the mouse's batting arm is moving even faster, swinging in hit after hit, pummeling that golden armour and granting it quite the pretty burnished finish with the aluminium bat. Pavo gets some good hits in...

But let's face it. The Martian Mouse is the more experienced crazy out of the two. She goes for the windup, intending to smack Pavo back down onto the Princess' dragster. Of course that'll probably cause them both to collide into her bike, which is currently being remote-piloted by her /other/ bike's AI. But that's a new problem, and she can deal with it when it actually becomes a problem. If it becomes a problem.
Starbound Flotilla     The jet fighter is fast on the draw. "SAM! BREAK HIGH, CRANK ITS RANGE!" Albert is screaming out as he braces hard. His whole body is damaged badly by the intense G-forces involved in trying to pull UP so hard as the rocket launcher threatens them, and they zip up and around trying to evade it. It doesn't work as well as they'd hope. A wing clips it, and for the Saint of Carbon, everything goes white as he hits the acceleration as hard as it goes, trying to zip out of range between the moment it makes contact and the moment its explodes. The impressive thing is that he actually almost does it, and while it rips off a dangerous chunk of the body of the jet, it doesn't quite kill it. The less impressive thing is that he immediately blacks out, and Albert -- kept awake only by the excruciating pain -- has to briefly take over while the Saint of Glass recovers.

    "Ghhh... Nnnnhhh... Skies are mine, low-rider. Don't you try to take that from me with an RPG like that." He mutters softly into the radio as he tries to pull back enough to deploy rockets of his own! "Fox three. Hear that ringing in your ears, girl?" The rockets scream hard towards Riva's bike, but the pilot seems calm only as a byproduct of training and near-unconsciousness!
Kotone Yamakawa The race is now reaching its peak well for this portion of it, at the very least. She guns her engine there's no other word for it right now, she's had a few little tricks she's been saving for the race, she knows she's got two shots of this and it's time to drop the first. It's called Nitro still even if that's not quite what it is in an engine like this thing has. It doesn't matter though the effect is more speed the material is let loose into the thing's engine and the power output spikes, Kotone feels every ounce of it she's not really felt a rush like this before in her life.

Even as she picks up speed the Dragster Throne is still in a fight and she's got to try and get ahead she's going all out now.

The road her that's about all there is as her thruster change to a blight blue and the flare gets even bigger as Kotone takes flight her bike mode shell is just now going the speedometer is just about ready to give up at this point as she's charging on ahead. She may also draw a lot of fire but she does not care right now.

She's been hampered in starting up but now is the time to try and push on ahead.

"Must go faster."

She mutters to herself.
Starbound Flotilla     Corona's opponent is fighting at its very core. The arm is coming off in inches, desperate screaming inches. Built-in hyperglass circuits and megadiamond bone of the robotics make noises that no material should make when she tears at them. Shockwaves of released energy, blasts of arcs of electricity and other esoteric things, surge up and down, and into the environment, in waves of wind or light or crackling static energy. Fists clench along the entire body of the Saint of Fire. His roar becomes more and more intense, enraged, focused -- it's impossible for the man to conceive of anything else but struggling to focus on this race.

    This gives Yang plenty of room to work. Yang does something very, very impressive. It's not quite a kill in its own right, but it /is/ quite a show. When she delivers the punch, braced as she is against the front of the thing, her insane semblance seems to briefly tap into the structure of the Line itself. Whatever it is her Semblance does, however it does it, the Line recognizes it briefly and acknowledges it: The force of her impact is immovable, and the Saint of Fire /stops/ when she punches it dead in the "face", leaving Yang herself heading forward -- now unimpeded.

    But that wouldn't leave the Saint of Fire defeated, no. What does leave him defeated is the massive swipe, as the impact is the straw that tears the camel's back and lets Corona rip the arm out of its socket and cleanly SMASH it directly into the body of the massive construct, punching right through its midsection, leaving the massive robotic forearm smashed into it like it'd been fired out of a gargantuan cannon and crushed directly through the hull of the halting, slowing supertank!

    THE SAINT OF FIRE HAS BEEN KNOCKED OUT OF THE RACE
Riva Banari Riva cackles as she sees her idiotic assault do some damage. However, there's an issue: She hasn't landed yet AND SHE'S FACING THE WRONG WAY.

Just as she's trying to hit something in order to try to flip again, that screaming of rockets rushes into her ears. "Aw, hell." She mutters.

A moment later, there's a massive detonation, the flaming impact point spitting out a burning, sparking, severely damaged bike. Riva's leaking energy and fuel all over the place, the highly volatile mix spraying behind her and igniting on impact with the absurdly high-speed atmosphere, leaving trails of light and heat all over.

Also, she's on fire. That's inconvenient. As she tries to pat herself out, she lurches back and forth, grimacing. "Oh yeah, I heard that all right." She mutters. "BUT I'M NOT DOWN AND OUT YET!" She yells, looking for something to equalize the mobility issue, even for a moment...

She looks over at the wall, and grimaces. "Time to put the pedal to the metal." She says, and then guns it, her engine screaming as she sweeps up one side of the Halfpipe...

And flips, sweeping through the air as she vaults overhead. As she spins, Albert might notice Riva pointing a pistol straight down, aiming for the cockpit control bank.

She's going to have one shot.

Trying to time it precisely, she pulls the trigger, trying to catch the jet in that space between moments, a single burning bullet ripping downwards as she flies past, trying to stick the landing on the other side.
Corona Arclite It doesn't matter how much damage it initially does as the two machines struggle. What matters is it gives Yang the opening to slam her fist into the front and rocket-punch-rebound herself off the behemoth. Somewhere in the reverbrance the giant mechanical arm finally wrenches free with an unearthly cacophony.

Corona can be made out fenetically screaming "QUIT HITTING YOURSELF!" because it has to be said, rediculous or not, as she uses the seperated arm like a giant version of her breaker hammer and SMASHES it back into the Fire Liner.

But it's not without cost. For the second time tonight Corona's machine is on fire, this time from it's own internal mechanisms suffering from the overexcertion they've been put through. Smoke belchs out of broken seams in the exterior hull, vapors hiss as a few pnuematic lines pop. The left arm has literally twisted in on itself from how much torque the power turbine in it was creating with it's super-charged spin, rending it little more than a mangled club. The electrostatic boost crackles and dies down, as Hopalong collapses so to speak in his hold, his furnace burned down to just enough embers to keep him functioning in stand-by.

Fortunately the thrusters are still working but they sputter and flicker erratically, only able to mainly keep it cruising to prevent a superluminal crash. And Corona is still grinning like the crazy fox she sometimes is, though at least she's stopped shouting lame memes. "Sometimes it ain't 'bout winning the race... It's just making sure someone else loses."

She moves one of the control sticks to back off... And winces as she pushed forward so hard on them that one snaps off in her hand. "... Bloody hell." She sighs, and turns in her seat to peer out the back of the cockpit. She wiggles the remaining control, and half of the thruster respond to swivel forward and bleed off its own speed, until it comes to rest and settle down on the supertank as it skids to a stop. Then hunkers down in a heap of strained machinery to wait until the Arks can catch up to retrieve them. That move redlined every damn system in the ride armor, it's not going anywhere on its own power any time soon.

Corona pulls up her hyperglass goggles, and pats the console. "Good job, ya stubborn ol' mule." Then leans back in the seat, retrieving the flask from her boot and popped the cap off. What? She's not going to be driving any more at this rate.

Time to sit back with a cold one and watch the rest of the race.
Starbound Flotilla     Pavo is slammed back to the Priestess' heavy Dragster Throne, dazed and gasping. No more witty cultisms from her, she's reeling and barely kept on by the fact that Moonfin briefly hopped up to yank her grappling line back towards her support seat, crashing hard against it and scrabbling to hold on with what little of her mind isn't a disoriented mess.

    "Priestess, it would be best we break off and accelerate as hard as we can. We have thoroughly lost control of this separation situation."
    "Ghhhh. We need to keep them from... Alright.
    "We need to intercept the King."
    "Agreed."

    Leyanne won't see much more interference from the Priestess, as she's broken off to a different track of Fifth Gear to get clear and head towards that first group up ahead!
Yang Xiao Long     Yang watches the machine recede from view, turning back around and reconfiguring her bike to take over the controls again. She made a promise.

    Now she has to keep it.

    The Huntress is feeling the strain, though is desperate not to show it. She /has/ to get that treasure now. Not only her own desires ride on it now. She's bearing the burden of the Saint of Flame's intense need to get his Empress back too. "Overdriver, online. Boosting!" Plasma arcs from the back of her sleek little hoverbike, and she surges forward, aiming to catch up with the lead pack now her way is clear. "I. Burn."
Leyanne Leyanne watches Pavo smash back into the dragster throne, giving a satisfied growl. "Bitch." She spits, before reeling herself back in and strapping herself back into the chair. Then she pours on the power, attempting to get back into the race itself... after all - what's the point in racing just for the thrill? The biggest thrill comes from victory.

And maybe keeping the treasure out of Gilgamesh's hands for just a few more hours.
Starbound Flotilla     How in the world Riva manages to do what she does next is something that analysts in both of the factions of the Line will never quite get right. When Albert sees her above, something in his brain slows the moment, and he works through things in his genius Apex mind.

    The probability that Riva can land that shot is astoundingly low. She should know that -- and if she does, she should know a way to get around it. So the chances of her landing that shot are /actually/ more like 100%. If he assumes that, then he has to figure out how to prioritize response. Shove his arms between the console and the bullet? He'll lose at least one arm, and be unable to assist, and he might not move fast enough or judge the angle right. Try to move the jet? No, it's fast, but it's not faster than an anima bullet moving at relative FTL due to inertia.

    And if the console goes down, the plane splashes. With a twitch, he checks to one side and sees... The emergency eject.

    The bullet pierces. "Mayday! Mayday! Carbon One actual going down, lost control! Mayday! I--" And both, due to Albert's quick thinking, are swiftly ejected up, parachutes opening swiftly and leaving them flying back in the "wind" of the air left behind in the race. They'll... Probably be fine. As for Riva, she'll find that at least a few of those supply drops coming in from mass accelerators will contain exotic nanomachines or magical spells or... SOMETHING that seem to repair some of that wear and tear enough to keep her in the race, as long as she's not shot at in the next segment, as she accelerates ahead.

    THE SAINT OF CARBON HAS BEEN KNOCKED OUT OF THE RACE
Starbound Flotilla     Kotone might have been interfered with by Moonfin again, or otherwise impeded by the Dragster Throne's presence and acceleration ahead. Unfortunately, as soon as Moonfin tries to get another lock, he finds that he very much can't get one. Now, this time, Kotone's surging ahead with such intensity, such acceleration, such /high speed/ as she puts so much of herself so far into her cycle, that it becomes hard to lock on at all. In fact, the Dragster Throne briefly rattles when Kotone passes by too fast, whooshing further ahead, provoking the Priestess to grit her teeth and put the pedal to the metal harder, calling for Moonfin to help her overclock some crucial systems.

    Up ahead, the group is closing in on the ones further ahead, who have been accelerating towards the Treasure unimpeded. The Treasure isn't quite in sight, but over the horizon, one can see the milky white clouds of light that are its plasma wake. They're getting there. No matter what happens, this level of speed without the interference of war may finally be the chance that the Line needs to end, if they can just put their hands on that Treasure.

    Trails of light speed off from one sunset towards another sunrise. Unlike all other places, here, at this speed, it sets in the east and rises in the west, and the night is haunted by a black moon against a gray night sky. In the darkness of sorts, they leave trails of shades of red, gold, cyan, and the other colors, filling the halfpipe and visible for miles around, that will one day come to be known as at least a few of the colors of those who ended the Line.
Riva Banari The Saint of Carbon goes down. They all live. This is optimal. Riva doesn't have to have the weight of dead friends on her soul today. She never wanted to kill them in the first place, just force them to do exactly what they did.

The Vespid hits the 'ground' of the Halfpipe, and Riva begins focusing on collecting some of those supply drops so she can get enough of her machine repaired that she won't detonate on contact from the next shot.

She still has a race to (help) win.