Scene #6877: *Wipeout on the Line

Owner	Pose
Priscilla	With the sponsors settled and Elites brought in at the last minute to fill slots, the sixth Psygnosis high-stakes anti-gravity Racing League's race of the season is finally accounted for. Making use of the ideal geography of The Line, an entire track has been picked out and cleared, extensive stands set up, camera equipment placed all over, monitors readied, pit crews deployed, and the special, proprietary equipment of Psygnosis make scattered along the route, all in the space of only a few days. The reason for six missing contenders in a twelve man race? Drop outs. Mostly citing fear for their lives. Not important! What's important is the thunderous cheer of the crowds packing the ten level bleachers to capacity! They're practically spilling out in their enthusiasm, waving banners, glowsticks, and merchandise of their favourite racers (some even appear to have shown up just because they heard a particular Elite is subbing in). The air is swelteringly hot. Its heat and humidity have the qualities of a rave club far from up to code, and the way the multicoloured lights strobe and flash across the starting line, under a sky that's almost pitch black already, only contributes to the illusion. The skyline ahead is thick with fumes, owing to the highly active volcanic region dead ahead, and the low clouds of ash are lit hellish red underneath. Tiny cinders fall occasionally on top of you, as you're ushered out to your craft, waiting on a length of white and black track, striped diagonally like a hazard sign. Splitting off from it, a more circuitous, red and black track, curves around to meet at the same discharge area. It seems you're also in the replacement racers' seeds. Mikoto starts in 4th with a sleek, fragile-looking white and red hovercraft with stubby wings, while Gawain is in tenth with a yellow and blue, sword-shaped craft with angled armour, a heavy gunport, and a shielded cockpit. Ash is somehow in seventh with his ridiculously tricked out Delta buggy, upgraded by the staff with the Line's famous Hyperglass in tread form, which they assure him shouldn't wear out before the end of the race. Sarracenia's Sundew Stinger is placed in sixth, and Staren's sponsored Northern Gun cycle in fifth, and Yang's late entry in twelfth, with the indigo and red, formula one-looking hovership, with forking X-shaped stabilizers. After a lengthy starting announcement in a variety of languages, that, so close to the speaker array, all yell and babble over each other, your craft are all activated at once. A huge set of crude lights, hung over the track just ahead, blare glaring danger red, so intense that it becomes a solid beam in the polluted air. Two more flashes lead up to emerald green, and a blaring, electronic horn so loud you can hear it in the cockpit, announces the start.
Priscilla	The CIRCUIT lies directly ahead. A winding series of sharp and wide turns, rolling inclines, steep drops, splits and rejoinders in the course, and short straights are marked out with tall, ring-shaped checkpoints studded with camera and scanner gear, and occasionally, reinforced barricades, taken from salvaged starship armour, placed along one side or another, so that a racer who flubs a turn only smashes up their craft, instead of going flying eight miles into lava. There is plenty of it, still. Several spots require hair-raising jumps over streams of molten rock. Pyroclastic vents spew on and off at intervals, firing jets of superheated and acidic gas across the course. Showers of smouldering rock come loose off the cliffsides at the slightest provocation, and there's little stopping you from careening off a kilometer long drop. Along the course, flat, square 'pads' have been dropped down, scintillating in arrow shapes with the pulsing glow of hyperglass in. In other places, the pads are merely LEDs to mark a high speed drone waiting in position to fit randomized weapons onto the craft's hardpoints. Exciting! The other contenders have no compulsions about slamming the acceleration as hard as possible! Get going! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkGnYhZeHJM
Yang Xiao Long	Yang sits in the cockpit, checking buttons and switches and gearing up for the start buzzer. As soon as the horn blares, she kicks the throttle and squeezes it out, overcharging the thruster to get a little extra speed on the go. She jinks into a cental line and aims for a WEAPON PAD, scoring herself a MISSILE, which she decides to hold onto for the time being. She angles the nose around the corners, lifing it to put thrust into the deck to get her around just a little bit tighter. Aelerons extend and a tight bend is taken drift-style, the blonde pushing her craft to its envelope, but not testing it beyong, once she's gotten used to how it handles.
Sumiko	Mikoto was very excited to get into the very dangerous world of high speeds racing. She wore a white racing suit, with a helmet and a pair of goggles resting on the helmet. The goggles were emerald tinted, as she decided to go for the look of the people she was flying for. Sitting in the cockpit, she, of course, took the time to wave to her audience. Also Sarra and Yang. Looking out ahead, there was already the most dangerous part of the track before them, and there was a feeling in her chest. Excitement! She could bank her worries about her problems for new problems that also might kill her! Oh, wait. Regardless, sliding her goggles onto her eyes, and slipping fully into the cockpit. Hands rest on the controls, including the throttle and wait for the light to slowly move to the emerald green to go. A little sweat forming on her brow. A grin on her face as finally, the light goes... And she throws the throttle fully to the max and moves to try and expand on her early lead. Slamming the craft into full gear, she recklessly charges ahead into the CIRCUIT! Already, things do not seem to go as well as she might have hoped. A volcanic rock falls down in front of her, causing her to try and avoid it. She does not quite get there, as the hovercraft soars into the air and makes an uncomfortable scraping noise when it hits the track again. Losing some of that early speed, but still in the running. The magical girl's heart is beating in her chest, but it was still fun!
Staren	https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/632436328163704853/648746254603386882/unknown.png Is your hovercycle not fast enough? Does it mount too few weapons and get slowed down when you add aftermarket ones? Does it not have enough wings?! Then you need the NG-277 Jouster! This is no ordinary hovercycle -- with the wings it can fly up to a thousand feet high, and not only can it mount mini-missiles under the wings without messing up the balance, it also mounts a 360-degree swivelling laser turret with a sturdy enough body to use for ramming attacks, to unseat rival riders!* All this and with a top speed of 290 MPH, it's faster than any non-rocket-based hovercycle on the market! Available in gas, electric, solid oxide, and nuclear models. NORTHERN GUN: WE'VE GOT YOU COVERED! Northern gun does not guaruntee safety if you fly over 200 feet The wings mess up the normal car-style handling so it's hard to control anyway *Staren's not crazy enough to do this. Staren sits astride the hovercycle. In 'walk mode', it hovers over the ground silently, especially with the electric engine on this particular unit. Given the surroundings and the danger he's wearing heavy armor. Speaking of which, do you need stylish apparel you can wear in combat while riding a hovercycle? Well with Northern Gun's line of ride armor you can-- <snip> --with the Northern Gun Cannonball ride armor! <https://i.pinimg.com/originals/99/02/fd/9902fd887188d96b3abfaab2aff60605.jpg> NORTHERN GUN: WE'VE GOT YOU COVERED! It's not environmental armor, though, and the air here is /sweltering/. Staren's very glad he has magic to keep himself cool. He looks ahead at Mikoto, wondering what her strategy might be. As the countdown comes he shifts in his seat, leans forward, and grips the controls. GO! Staren goes straight for the boost pad, pouring on the speed to try and get an early lead! It doesn't go as well as he hopes. Hovering low to the ground to hit the pad, a wing scrapes the track as he turns (and possibly gets clipped by the other racers!) Well, at least he can benefit from the boost pad!
Gawain	As each racer is ushered to their crafts, Gawain is there. He's dressed in a gold and blue jumpsuit, matching his car, a gloved hand waving to his adoring fans with a genuine smile as he enters. Once inside, he concentrates briefly, and then grabs the right controls, having Servant Knowledge on how to pilot this vehicle properly. As the lights flash, Gawain gets into gear. "Time to ride..." "Now!" The horn blasts right as he says it, and his foot stamps down, the Feisar boosting forward with the other cars. DRIVING CAREFULLY, the knight grins in his cockpit. This is going to be fun. Gawain instantly makes good speed. He knows how to drive, but that might make him a little careless, even if he's not driving that way, as he starts humming to himself. Molten rocks fall down, and as Gawain tries to drift out of the way, they scratch against his car, doing light damage to the shields and slowing him down. Trying to regain speed...the knight hits a boost pad, keeping his smiley face up despite the damage to his ego. Tapping his radio, Gawain speaks to his competitors. <"Well, this sure is fun, isn't it?">
Sarracenia	Despite the noxious atmosphere of heat and humidity and falling embers, Sarracenia is ready to go! Her whining about her hair and outfight being messed up by the weather can probably be heard even in the crowd up until those announcements start. At which time she grins and gives her hair a toss before posing in her bright red leather racing jumpsuit with its golden streaks meant to remind someone of something going fast. The Sundew Stinger is also ready. The quad-rotor hovercraft is built much like a bobsled. Sleek, polished, and bullet-shaped. Which is no surprise given her love of Bullet Bills. In fact, it is even styled to look like one, with the shark-face decals on the front. But, it is colored like her outfit. Bright red with gold speed streaks. As that horn goes off she takes off in her Sixth seed place. She has a bit of trouble despite trying to take things carefully at first, scraping along a wall for a short distance before she gets control again. With her hair whipping in the wind she heads toward a weapon pad. And grins as a small cannon pops out on both sides of her craft. "Go, my precious bob-ombs!" she exclaims...and suddenly there are explosions raining down in front and behind her as the cute little explosive creatures rain down.
Ash Williams	Ash Williams isn't afraid for his life. He's gonna live forever, baby! (He isn't.) But even if he isn't, he'd rather go out in a blaze of glory--while he's still young. Ish. His car is a '73 Oldsmobile Delta. The paint is faded, where it's visible. Where it's not visible, it's because he's affixed DIY armor plating to his car. Despite the fact that it's made from whatever he could scrounge together (or steal), the craftsmanship is... actually impressive, despite the absurdity of seeing an aging Oldsmobile in Hyperglass treads. Of particular note is an unusually narrow cow catcher, which looks intentionally built to force obstacles above the car, rather than away from it. Atop the cabin, there is some heavy, decidedly after-market modification. It looks like... yes. Ash has clearly salvaged or otherwise obtained what used to be the blades of a news helicopter--he's spray painted the name of the station. When the race begins... his car doesn't. It's not that it wasn't on! It's that he was busy eating an uncooked Pop Tart. When his car rumbles to to life, he nearly chokes on dusty, room-temperature imitation pastry. It isn't until the snack hits the floor that his foot hits the gas, and as a result, he's not off to a great start. Nevertheless... he's not out! As the CIRCUIT approaches, Ash drives defensively, searching for one of those WEAPON PADS to help him close the gap. He manages to find one, <"Yeah, it's a real laugh riot,"> says Ash in response over his CB unit. He acquires TURBO! The other racers are using their weapons, which means... it's the perfect time to smash the turbo.
Priscilla	The second you hit the accelerator, you realize the speed of the race you've gotten into. A dozen engines whine at volumes that'd puncture your eardrums were you stood outside. Reactors spool up. Antigravity pods sizzle and crack. White hot flame jets from the back of the hovercars. The starting line roars like a battlefield, and you're going hundreds of kilometers an hour in instants. The lead racer was obviously seeded that way for a reason. His slick purple craft rockets off at an insane speed, kicking off a Hyperglass boost pad, and then seamlessly chaining to the next several in sequence. He makes absurd leaps, skates almost sideways along the barricades, and winds impossibly close to danger by barely moving through a field of falling rocks, leaving all of his competition in the dust --except Mikoto. The mystery craft from the mystery team flies like it weighs nothing, and is swiftly on his tail in second. Yang holds her own in third without incident. Tearing over a weapon pad, a tiny, arrowhead shaped drone matches speed over her, latches onto the top back of the car, and loads a steel canister glowing with cyan energy. A female voice in her ear notifies her with a cheerful "SUPER WEAPON!", and her HUD lights up with the charge indicator and targeting reticle for Auricom's ENERGY SPHERE. She is neck and neck with another racer who zips over the same weapon pad, then comes up beside her, though he holds steady on the trigger, saving it for later. Staren comes up in fifth, and a pair of drones flit under the bike's wings, attaching heavy duty rockets with flashing red warning lights on them, already armed and dangerous, into the missile mounts. Sarracenia immediately ruins the careers of the second and third seeds though, because the pile of bob-bombs stacked into her vehicle blow the track to smithereens ahead of them, causing their shields to flare hot, and their craft to spin out viciously through the rear ranks, until they end up at the back of the pack. The eighth seed closes in behind her. Ash is now in eighth, with drones stuffing his engine cylinders full of glowy orange caps, ready to be fired for a TURBO boost. Gawain gains on the seed who was ahead of him into ninth place, while the second and third go crashing and tumbling past him, chewing up the rock and asphalt, and taking the previous ninth place with them, all the way to twelfth. The HAIRPIN is up next. Here, the road begins an insane series of zigzag slices all the way up a volcanic mountainside, and back down the other. A wrong turn will result in a head on crash into a barricade, a flight into certain doom, a plunge into active rivers of lava, or worse! You have to fight gravity on the way up, and then handle its acceleration on the way down!
Sumiko	The mysterious craft was the lightest thing Mikoto had ever been in, and that was saying something as she rode a bike. It flowed over the air like it was meant to be there, and as natural to drive as anything ever was for her. And because of this, she was neck and neck with the lead driver, who just barely had a lead over her. That's fine, she had a plan, but right now she had to play her cards carefully. This is why she ONLY drives aggressive through the next leg. The weaving through the dangerous terrain was enough to make her heartbeat in her chest, so she tries to control her speed just a little bit more. Of course, things do not go according to plan through this part of the track. She nearly spins out, losing control of the craft as her focus was trying to catch up to speed wagon. She scraps terribly across the edges of the weaving track, damaging more of the craft, and having to compensate for the thrashing. However, she's still in this game, despite the bad turn inside this place. Narrowing her eyes in determination, she readies herself to try and make it up on the next stretch.
Yang Xiao Long	Yang glances to the side at the ship that pulls up alongside her. This causes her to almost miss the upcoming turn, but a quick wingover, a deployment of airbrakes on one side and a kick of the burner cause her to just scrape along the curve, grinding down the shield just a little bit. As she rounds into the next strait-ish section she angles to run down a booster pad, dipping the nose to hug the track and get the most out of the increase. As the boost ends, Yang flicks the cover off her weapon control, and primes the ENERGY SPHERE for firing, beginning the charging sequence.
Gawain	Gawain gains on the seed ahead of him, desptie the damage he took, as a horrible set of zizags come up the mountainside. As the Sunshine Knight fights gravity, he loses control briefly, nearly headfirst plunging into a barricade, but is able to shift right out of the way, dinging his car and his shields, and pushing back up the zigzag. He once again goes for a SPEED BOOST - there's no need to attack the other competitors, yet. Not that he's completely unwilling... It's just not time. "This is great!" He speaks into his radio again, laughing.
Staren	Staren's flown a supersonic jet fighter. He, at least, is prepared for the speed. Although not for the handling and control system. He's still trying to get the hang of it going into the zigzag, driving as carefully as he can -- which pays off, since his wings only graze the road a /little/. Maybe he's getting the hang of the Jouster... As he comes down the mountain, he tries to sight the lead racer in his HUD and fires the homing missile. Taking out the lead might push him closer to first if Bob has any trouble with this leg of the race!
Ash Williams	Ash's HUD consists of a repurposed stereo equilizer display, and a switchboard that looks like it was salvaged (again, or stolen) from an old personal aircraft. The switches each have a little red light above them, and a hand-written label in Ash's handwriting. There is one for each power-up available. TURBO! is lit up--the exclamation point was of utmost importance. He hears the notification before he sees it--because he's still getting over the sheer speed of this race. You'd think that, seeing the stark difference in the design and sophistication of the other cars and his, he'd realize what kind of race it really was. But, then, this /is/ Ash Williams--the man who thought that Princess Sarracenia's 'Pipeland' was a hardware supply store in his shitty Michigan hometown. "Holy shit!" This is a LOT faster than he was expecting... but it's not a 'bad' holy shit by any stretch. He's loving it so much that, once he gets used to it, he decides to go even faster. Ash flips the TURBO! switch on his console... then smashes the power button on his radio. It says something about his personal responsibility and care for the safety of others that this isn't the first time this man has gone speeding up and down a mountain--it's just the fastest. Unfortunately, he isn't quite used to all that power. His ascent up the volcanic mountain is fine--impressively so. But when he starts getting back down, he turns too late, overcorrecting. The Hyperglass treads on his Olds pull it into a sick-ass powerslide... that ends up slamming his back end into one of the barriers. With a dramatic shredding sound, the ablative scrap metal plates on his car fly off, clattering down the mountain as he narrowly escapes falling off.
Sarracenia	Well, at least she didn't lose her spot! Sarracenia would really prefer to go faster, but with her relatively fragile car she doesn't feel like she should take chances. So, she drives carefully, managing to just scrape a barrier as she moves to collect another weapon pod. But, with her car's acceleration it hardly slows her down! She lets out laughs of excitement and grins throughout the leg as she races down the volcanic mountain. "You better look out, Staren!" she exclaims, since he is closest in front of her down the leg. The weapon pod is accessed. And immediately Sarracenia fires off an Electrobolt at the next closest racer in front of her! Staren may not be the target once she actually gets a chance to fire, but she doesn't really care who she hits as long as there is chaos!
Priscilla	The blind twists and knifepoint turns of the HAIRPIN are insane, up and down Mt. Sokanos. Letting off the accelerator for a moment on the way up causes you to rapidly halt, between air resistance and gravity with your lack of real friction on the ground, but gunning it too hard means careening into hazards! Even the lead driver has trouble, scraping by turn after turn, nicking his shields, but staying well ahead, until the bleeping lights of Staren's rockets fly up and track and blast him in the wing! He spins out, but through expert driving corrects himself almost immediately, allowing only Mikoto and Yang to blaze past, the latter charging the crackling energy sphere into a massive ball of coruscating plasma, held barely in check at the nose of her craft! Now nobody is in front of her though! Somehow, the eleventh seed has made it all the way up to fourth, and is holding steady! His electrobolt fires a homing blob of ball lightning, but the driver ahead nimbly dodges! Back in the rear though, the vengeful driver Sarracenia hit picks up a weapon from a race drone, and lets loose with dual pop out chainguns from the sides of his craft, showering Sarracenia back, as well as Staren and Ash for merely being in the peripheral! Huge 50 calibre slugs scream through the air around them, tearing up the track into a tapestry of pockmarks and hammering on shields at a terrifying rate! Gawain manages to hold steady in ninth, driving carefully as Sarracenia falls behind him, and the third seed Sarracenia hit before desperately puts the pedal to the metal, only to crash spectacularly and come to a dead stop, left in the dust! Ash's turbo pushes him to sixth, as the molten scenery blurs by, and Staren's bike brings up the pace again at eighth, barely ten meters from Gawain's bumper! Next comes the STRAIGHTAWAY! Down the side of the mountain, will all your speed built up, the track loses most of its turns altogether, becoming a gradually winding snake that forks and rejoins, running over fields of smoking coals, raining ash and cinders on your windshields, and cutting under great stone arches, past weathered cliff walls. You can see the starting line ahead again! Both the white and red lanes are open, and waiting to check your times!
Sarracenia	This time there is a bit too much chaos, even for Sarracenia! Steve's bullets pelt her car pretty badly, and she is sent skidding and bouncing along. When she finally recovers, she feels like she hasn't moved forward at all! At least she isn't Mike, though! Still, her shields are dangerously low, and Sarracenia growls as she considers her options. And then just steps on the gas, aiming for every boost she can get. She's going to need as much speed as she can get if she is going to have any chance at all after being forced into the recharge lane so soon. Could it be that all out offense isn't always the best policy? She shakes her head at that thought. "This is not going well..." she mutters to herself once she is in the recharge lane. Her own pride and the pride of the Sundew Kingdom are on the line and she is likely to end up in last place after this! At least she manages to not hit any walls this time.
Sumiko	Yang out of nowhere zooms by Mikoto, just as she manages to overtake the leader. The magical girl, all sorts of high on rolling dangerously and fast, continues to push her luck every which way to try and take the lead and maintain it! She'll have to chance a weapon eventually, but right now she goes for pure speed to try and keep a healthy distance just in case. Using the mountain for a speed boost, she soars down the mountain. Even as ash aims to slam into her windshield, she moves at just the right angle (probably not on purpose) to cause it to roll off. She can see perfectly, as she soars through the stone arches and towards the end of the first lap. She is giggling in excitement as her heart pounds in her chest the whole time! Win or lose she is having a /blast/...buuuuut... She wants to win.
Gawain	Gawain is probably too cautious for his own good. He stays in the same spot, and maintains that careful driving and aiming for boost pads. They're only at the end of lap one - he can push ahead and go aggressive next leg. He winds the course carefully and professionally, avoiding going off the side, as the straightaway is much easier to drive on. He moves to cross the finish line again, and looks through his controls. Which one is the weapon press? He'll need it for later.
Staren	Bullets rain into Staren. This is nothing new. Northern Gun's hovercycle construction is reasonably sturdy, though, so it'll take more than dents and a few bullet holes to take it down. Staren's CANNONBALL RIDE ARMOR won't go down to a few bullets either. He pumps his fist when his missile hits and takes Bob out of the lead! At last, it's clear sailing down the straightaway! Staren pours on the speed and dives over the track... And then suddenly, a breeze picks up across the Line, and as a hoverunit with wings, Staren is blown into the only tree on the track. It's a tree made of rock with crystalline leaves, a glassy, shattering crash and the screech of metal ring out across the track as the Jouster barrels through, substantially more scratched up and struggling to regain lost speed! "Oh, COME ON!" Staren diverts into the recovery lane and flies over a weapon drone. Maybe a powerup will give him the opportunity he needs...
Ash Williams	The Turbo wears off, and Ash isn't in a great spot--one of his opponents is lining up a shot! "Oh, no, you don't," says Ash, barely audible over the high-speed psych rock blasting in his cabin. His eyes dart to and from his rear view mirror, watching the movements of the weapons. The Olds jukes left and right with surprising control and rapidity--it might look like an old hunk of shit, but the old hunk of shit driving it is a pretty decent driver, despite his egregious and dangerous habits both on and off the wheel. As the slugs tear into the asphalt and the shields of other drivers, they fail to pierce the Delta's armor--but Joe's car is still menacing his rear view mirror. The moment his car straightens out from the juke and he's on the STRAIGHTAWAY, Ash guns it. Ash's windshield is dirtied by... well, ash. He turns on his wipers, just in time to see the guy who just shot at him overtaking him! "C'mon, baby, c'mon..." With one hand on the wheel, the other turns up the radio and then begins comforting the console, patting it with his prosthetic as he mashes his foot down. As the car drives over a WEAPON PAD, the voice chimes in his ear. 'MISSILE.' "Hell yeah!" Using this at the HAIRPIN could really fuck someone over...
Priscilla	Along the ashen plains and cinderfall, Mikoto breaks into first! Yang's ultra charged energy shot will vapourize her in one hit --but the insanely nimble Piranha craft flits out of the way like a feather! The #1 seed is catching up quickly though, right on Yang's tail, not set back nearly enough! Lucky #11 surges to fourth, with drones stapling a SHIELD array to his craft! Close behind him, a contender is loaded with a massive THUNDER BOMB, still almost neck and neck with his adjacent seed behind! Ash trucks on, now picking up a MISSILE launcher magnetized to the hood of his car, waiting for the transmission to signal it to fire, and the lock-on projected on his windshield! Gawain somehow maintains exactly the same place, unharmed, and yet he creeps up bit by bit, now close to the middle of the pack. Staren is right beside him now, the two able to even look into each other's eyes! A surprise rocket nails Sarracenia from the last behind, tumbling her into the pit stop lane, where red lightning crackles between the floor and her Stinger, leaping and crawling all over the chassis with a dull, electronic hum, but her shield indicator creeps just above the red line! She's still good to go! You have the choice of either blazing over the starting line, or taking a detour into the pit lane to recharge! Then once again, you return to the CIRCUIT!
Yang Xiao Long	Yang comes out of the hairpins but has lost quite a bit of speed. The plasma ball seethes under the nose of her craft, and as Mikoto comes screaming past her, she fires, and the bolt goes just wide as the nimble craft flits away from it. Yang just grins as Mikoto peels away further down the track, then grunts as the #1 starts bearing down on her from behind. The drone of a weapon pad locks in a new weapon, and the AI chirpos: "ELECTROBOLT" in her ear. "Perfect..." She flicks the cover immediately, priming the bolt to fire and locking in Bob as the target. As the first lap comes to a close she angles directly through the start/finish, and guns the engine, though backs off in the corners, pushing the AG ship around as the first time through, at its envelope, not beyond. Unfortunately, she misjudgest the third corner in the cirsuit and slams hard into the wall, but manages to recover and gun the burners again to regain speed. She then fires the electrobolt at Bob.
Sumiko	Right as Mikoto turns out from the hairpins. Zipping past Yang as she flies down the hill in a massive rush of speed. Perhaps a bit too fast, but fast enough to outrun Yang's electroball. Breathing a bit easier, and nearly having lost the race right there she pushes it. Once more into the circuit, she tries to gain some control of the speeding and light hovercar again. Coming off another tight turn, she grinds the shield against one of the turns, and narrowly avoids some bad lava gushes that belch out steam. This time, instead of purely going for speed, she runs over one of the weapon icons and gets herself... A boost. Well now! That'll be helpful!
Gawain	Gawain drives by Staren, looking him in the eye and giving him a thumbs up. Then, Gawain pushes the pedal to the metal, playing aggressively to gain speed. He does not go over a speed boost, however. Instead, he hits a drone, unlocking his minigun hardpoint. Controls swivel in front of the knight, as he grabs the triggers, points the minigun... And begins firing on those directly in front of him. <"Time to play hard! Excalibur..."> "GUNATINE!"
Sarracenia	Being knocked into the recharge by a missile wasn't her goal, and it turns out to be very lucky that she was headed that way anyway! Sarracenia's shields crackle at barely functional as they are almost simulaneously drained and charged. It takes her a while to get out of the lane after that, and even when she does she is left near the back with Mike. And catching those in first is starting to look pretty much impossible. "This is unacceptable!" she exclaims as she once again carefully makes her way around the Circuit and once again moves to grab a weapon. But, apparently not carefully enough as she once again scrapes against the walls. And once again those cannons pop out on her Sundew Stinger! She looks at her shield gauge, lets out an annoyed mmph...then just fires them! No way is she going to let Mike be ahead of her! "I hope you enjoyed the fireworks!" she exclaims as she races past. And a small platoon of bob-ombs wanders back and forth on the Circuit now, awaiting the next time the racers make their way through.
Staren	Staren pulls out of the repair lane and Gawain's eyes reflect on the mirrorlike visor of the Cannonball Ride Armor. Staren watches Gawain ride past, but as he maneuvers through the track, at one point he passes Gawain, and fires his missile at Joe in revenge -- only to suddenly have another hail of gunfire sweep past him! Staren does a goddamn loop-de-loop to dodge it, holding up a hand and shaking his head in a 'what the hell?!' gesture at Gawain as he picks up another drone! YOU GOT BOOST POWER! And then he gets caught in another THUNDERSPLOSION, only able to glare impotently at whoever used that. Their time will come.
Ash Williams	Ash blazes across the finish line, his aging engine roaring but failing to get enough speed to overtake. He is, however, going fast enough that, when he drives over the BOOST pad, he clips the back end of his car as he makes the first of the CIRCUIT's serpentine turns. As he corrects himself, he sees another hail of bullets in his rear view mirror! This time, the other driver had the courtesy to yell the name of his attack--and Ash's PA broadcasts 'Gunatine' just in time for him to purposely overcvorrect. The Delta powerslides around a corner and goes into a controlled spinout, presenting a target too erratic for the hail of minigun fire... He's in the midst of raucous, mocking laughter when he sees the shockwave of the Thunder Bomb. "Ah, no--NO!" For a moment, Ash's car seizes up as the explosion passes over it, the force of the blast ripping off some of his shielding. A good chunk of it, actually--but underneath, the car seems more or less unharmed. This machine is one of those from before the age of plastic, and far before carbon fiber.
Priscilla	In fourth, a tremendous flash of light and sound blazes on the track. A wall of fire and thunder erupts outwards in all directions, spreading in a gigantic, churning sphere of destruction. Racers swerve to avoid the THUNDER BOMB, taking jumps and skidding right off the road, but half a dozen take massive damage, shields flickering more than halfway to failing, and shunted in all kinds of directions. Gawain's MINIGUN, he finds as he presses the firing stud, is insanely powerful, and tears one of the racers ahead of him nearly to pieces with its much more focused, high velocity bullets. Sarracenia is rapidly reloaded with Bob-Ombs, which she showers all over the track once again, knocking the racers ahead of her once again into the dumpster, and leaving a special present behind. Staren's missile flashes forward, but the #1 seed dodges it effortlessly, crawling back up to seocnd place --until another Electrobolt zaps his controls! This isn't good! The HAIRPIN is right up ahead again, and the last place racer's spite motion was to fire a flickering ember of amber and black energy way past the racers, shooting far overhead, and striking a jacknife turn near the peak of the mountain. A clean miss --except then it unfolds into a solid wall of rippling energy! Right in your way! There's only mere feet of clearance around it, and bubbling lava doom right next to it!
Yang Xiao Long	Yang scrapes walls, dings up her shield more, and then gets hit by something... this is looking bad. She shifts from her aggressive style to a more defensive driving style as that wall of pain comes hurtling down the track. She jinks over a weapon pad, and the drone attaches a secondary shield module. "REINFORCEMENT." Yang's quick to click that on, and drives straight through the incoming wall of pain, letting it wash over the reinforced shield.
Sumiko	Mikoto pushes it even harder as a flash of a lightning bomb hits. She didn't look behind at it, because the moment she did she was finished. Either she got hit or she didn't! Sliding across into the next zone, she narrowly escapes the lightning blasts and then... TRAP. "Oh, crab baskets..." She says, pulling into a defensive, driving position, to try and skid from point to point. Despite the nets, she still MANAGES to not crash the light ship. However, she does scrape it quite a bit across the various turns. Rock falls down, causing yet another scrape. However, the Pirana makes it another leg and pushes into the straightaway. Today, rocks may fall, but she does not die.
Staren	This leg of the race is relatively simple. Staren struggles to make the turns, gritting his teeth as his wings scrape the road, and then he tries to fly OVER the energy snare, only for a sudden downdraft to slam him into the track and the snare. The Northern Gun Jouster emerges... heavily scathed, but still functioning, though beat up and with its aerodynamic nose smashed in! Staren's saved his turbo for the straightaway, but will it be enough?!
Ash Williams	"Ah, shit!" When Ash gets back up to speed, the fact that he's up in placing is cold comfort. Through the spots cleared by his wipers, he makes out the looming HAIRPIN, and the rippling wall of energy that definitely wasn't there before. Normally, he wouldn't give a dangerous mountain any respect, out of principle--but... maybe, MAYBE the lava is a little scary, and he does actually wanna win this thing. In trying to avoid it, Ash does excellently, on the way up--better than last time! But it doesn't matter, once he gets to the energy snare. He tries an ill-advised handbrake turn to shimmy the car into a wheelie on the right side. This... Almost knocks him off the edge, when one of the treads hits the snare. Slamming his shoulder onto the driver's side door, he brings the weight of the Delta slamming back down onto the antigrav track, only to ram the cowcatcher at the front of the car into one of the barriers! The impact slows him down, which is preferable to going off the cliff, but definitely not ideal. Less ideal is the cutesy, but nevertheless recognizable clockwork bomb he witnesses flying overhead. Ash waits for it to clear his car, then continues, gunning the engine and trying to make up time downhill--but that impact cost him. The best he can do now is try and get clear of the clusterfuck that snare will undoubtedly cause!
Sarracenia	It seems Mike gets some revenge for all the things Sarracenia has thrown at him! The energy snare slows her down, and her already barely adequate driving means she scrapes the safety barriers quite a bit, and even flies off the track at one point and crashes quite badly before managing to get back on the track, lava dripping off her shield. But, she gets more of her precious bob-ombs! This raises her mood. And she might even actually make it to the finish line! Just one more straightaway left! Being so far back she gets a wonderful view of the mayhem up ahead, and grins as she watches her cute little bob-ombs wander across the track, those hyperglass boosterpads ensuring that someone...perhaps a few someones...will have a surprise on this last leg! She isn't even all that upset that she didn't hit anyone!
Gawain	Gawain pushes ahead, grinning after using his Gunatine, but then, as they push ahead, the Energy Snare comes up, and as rocks hit the Feisar as the knight slows, he's forced to slow to a crawl to divert around the barrier without falling into lava. Frowning, he looks over the contestants, and decides he should spice things up a little. It's all fun, after all, and there's no dishonor in using his missiles. Especially not when he fires them at Mikoto.
Priscilla	The race course rapidly becomes chaos! The air is rent with the roar of gunfire over the whine of rotary motors, the sizzling crack of lightning discharges, the hideous grind of craft cornering low to the ground and close to the walls, carving furrows in the earth with their stabilizers, the roar of engines overclocking, the incendiary whoosh and screeching boom of missiles streaking back and forth up the track. It all comes to a head when the pack reaches the rippling wall of the ENERGY SNARE, and a hideous pileup occurs all around it! A couple of the racers only manage to smash into it sideways, causing the wall of energy to flare white hot at their speed, and draining their shields to a sliver! Others barely wind around the sides, crashing and bumping on the rough terrain, or having to immerse their craft in lava to get through! Mister #1 is lucky enough to have a shield rapidly assembled onto his craft at the last second, and ploughs straight through, protected by a polygonal grey barrier in an oblong around his sleek craft. Electric bolts and missiles fly up the track for Mikoto, and then the earth all around you groans and shudders, when a pulse of green energy is fired into the ground. Just behind its scattering wave, the ground ripples like water, heaving upwards in unnatural, ocean-like waves, launching craft into the air and scattering contenders like marbles! It's the QUAKE DISRUPTOR! Just as the crowd favourite is about to overtake Mikoto, he's flung all the way back into the middle ranks! But the STRAIGHTAWAY! is just barely ahead again! The Venom-class only has two laps! This is your last shot! Mikoto is miraculously at first place, with Yang closest in second, a contendor right behind her, then Ash in fourth, with Sarracenia in hot pursuit just barely in fifth, and Gawain bringing up sixth place, with the former #1 right behind him! It's a steady pack all the way back to Staren in dead last, but with his TURBO still rady to fire! Except, all those scattered bob-ombs had to go somewhere! In absence of anything to blow up on, the walking explosives have waddled aimlessly onto the straightaway!
Gawain	Gawain starts to play aggressively at the last leg, after eating that electricity, but there's bombs ahead. He tries desperately to swerve around them, but it looks like they're going to explode in his face, so he shouts over the radio. <"Well, looks like I'm not winning this. Thanks for the race, everyone!"> And then moves to push through the bombs he's going to hit, trying to ride the explosion past the finish line instead of burning out in the middle.
Sumiko	Mikoto turns from the last stretch of the last difficult part and heads down the straightaway. Weapons fire at her from every conceivable angle and she maneuvers tightly. Missiles, bombs...EVEN THE GROUND ITSELF OPENING UP! "Hahahaha! Not this time boys!" she says before there were ba-bombs! "Oh no." Weaving right and left she tries to avoid them, and as she clears the third one she breathes a sigh of relief. Until she turns her head up. A single ba-bomb sitting on the top of the glass dome. "Crab baskets..." She says before the car explodes.
Staren	Staren lines up to hit the boost pads and fires the turbo right before passing over a weapon pod, which arms him with mini-missiles! This results in Staren speeding down the track, firing a macross missile massacre, cackling a doppler-shifted "AAAAAAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA!" as his hovercycle, shaking wildly, strains to hold together!
Sarracenia	As she races along in the middle of the field, Sarracenia makes one last push to at least finish the race in a respectable position. She manages to not hit any walls on the straightaway...only to see Mikoto explode up ahead, and then Yang shield through the rest of the bob-ombs. The princess almost drives off the road. She blew up the person she told to win for her /and/ didn't get to blow up anyone else?! Not even Mike?! This causes a deep pouting frown to appear on Sarra's face. She continues forward, the Sundew Stinger barely holding on. She shakes her head as she passes the wreckage of Mikoto's racer and picks up...the very thing that would have let Mikoto win! This just makes the frown even deeper! When she finally sees Mikoto again, there is going to be so much apologizing. So much.
Priscilla	The racers blitz over the finish line at the highest velocity they can muster! There's no point in holding back at this stage! Boosters are fired, nitro is injected, reactors run to the meltdown point! The earth behind each craft turns into lines of molten glass, glazed from boosters or flattened from hyper wheels! The air shudders over and over as sonic booms erupt in front of the craft! Two massive fireballs erupt so close to the finish line as Staren adds one to the tally! The same female voice announces into his helmet: "CONTENDER ELIMINATED!" and a picture of a pilot helmet, crossed out, increments from 0 to 1. Two more contenders scream over the finish line on the absolute last slivers of their shields, the slightest impact away from becoming flaming wrecks themselves, but it's decided! Batteries of cameras snap all at once, catching frames in unfathomably small fractions of a second! The crowd somehow drowns out even the scream of the engines! Mikoto crosses the finish line first, flying over it in the remainders of her vehicle's seat! It's a record time for the course, and the MYSTERY TEAM behind the Piranha II should be proud! Unfortunately, since she has no wheels to speak of, she's disqualified from winning, even though she got the top time. Ash Williams, in his hastily retrofitted shitty Delta '73 has somehow ploughed into first place with the boosters and zombie-slaying battle drill! Right after him, Staren and Yang finish at precisely the same time! A silver medal is both theirs, but due to Staren coming in with lower shields than Yang, the technicality is decided in favour of Yang Xiao Long for superior driving, adding to her point total! The #1 seed comes in a respectable third --an upset in its own right, but every other racer from the starting line is filling in fifth to ninth place! Sarracenia and Gawain are similarly tied for fourth, though in this case, the shield bonus goes to Gawain, rewarding his slow and steady driving, just barely ekeing out Sarracenia's hefty point bonus for eliminating another racer, due to the huge difference over 70% shield between them. #9 finished in 5th due to all these ties and explosions, but #2 and #3 come in a pitiful 7th and 8th, and one of them even then only due to the 8th place having been blown to smithereens by Staren. #8 finished essentially where he started, according to the adjusted rankings. You're immediately rushed out of your cars by both sponsor teams and medical professionals, examining your vitals for trauma caused by heat and g-forces, having water and sports drink thrown all over your heads even while they're trying to work. The craft are shrouded in a rippling mirage from the heat they've built up, and their metal pings and groans as they settle down, and are fussed over by pit technicians. The TOP THREE get their PRIZE MONEY, and the TOP FIVE their sponsor bonus! Ash has a nice cool 200 grand to blow on something incredibly stupid, all the way down to Sarracenia who picks up a nice 30k on a giant cheque. Then . . . comes the photo shoot.
Gawain	When the race is finally over, Gawain gets out of the car. He's overheated, sure, but he's otherwise fine - it was a swelteringly hot day, and he has insane durability in this situation. He takes both water and sports drink happily, waves to his fans when he gets a chance, and his vitals are found to be generally fine. When he takes his big cheque and has the photoshoot, he's all smiles. Sure, he didn't win... But he did have fun.
Staren	That guy Staren blew up is okay, right? Right? After how the race was going up until now, Staren is surprised and elated to make it to the top three! He gives a thumbs-up to the other racers, then tries to calm down the medics, "Geeze, I'm fine!" and takes off the helmet to show, inadvertently ending up as the model for the cannonball ride armor in this Christmas's Northern Gun catalog! Also, some cool money to squirrel away in his bank account for a rainy day.
Ash Williams	Ash's Tunes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NRbycO0O_k As they come into the final leg of the second lap, Ash wants to gun it. He wants to just floor it. So badly! He wants to hear that V8 singing its swan song amidst all these high-tech supercars, the miracle of Hyperglass on anti-grav tracks allowing it to compete with them. But after the /serious/ cluterfuck at the HAIRPIN, he knows much better. As they advance towards the STRAIGHTAWAY, his decision proves wise! Explosions rock the track as the front of the pack collides with wandering bob-ombs on the field. Ash makes precise, but minute adjustments to avoid the shrapnel. Weapons from behind zoom and explode, but Ash is in the zone right now--this song is his jam! He reaches over and flips the MISSILE switch, firing at his nemesis, the nefarious Jim. As it flies through the air, Ash cackles. "Hey, here's somethin' else for ya, jackass!" He drives over a weapon patch... and his face lights up like it's Christmas. Blinking on his console is the BATTLE DRILL, his unique special weapon--a design of his own making! Iron Maiden rattles his windows. The helicopter assembly on the top of the cabin extends, angling downwards to match the angle of the cowcatcher mounted on the front bumper. A compartment opens at the edge of the assembly, and out comes an industrial-grade drill bit. The rotor fires up, the blades remaining folded--he must have welded them--but the drill bit spins rapidly. A separately installed can of nitrous slides up through a compartment in the passenger side, and the car lurches forward in a burst of speed! Ash bellows triumphantly, and pulls a cord on the driver side--a train horn sounds, letting everyone else on the track know that he's about to ram the shit out of someone. He rams the back of Jim's car, scooping it up with the cowcatcher and forcing the drill bit into the back of it. His patience and excessive violence reward him a first place spot as he roars across the finish line! As he's whisked away for the photo op, he does his best to wave away the medical professionals. "Hey, beat it, guys, I'm uninsured. Okay? Besides, I wasn't even drinking this time. I'll be fine." Whether that's successful or not, he loves the photo op, and loves the praise of the S-Mart representatives for the freedom it will allow him--but most of all, he loves the money. "Holy shit," says the aging stoner, looking at his aging sedan from the 1970s. "I'm gonna pay off my car loan!" How is this man still alive?
Yang Xiao Long	Yang submits to the medics, for just a moment, then just wades out of the group to go find Mikoto. The blonde brawler wants to make sure the magical girl is alright before anything else, even ignoring the prize money and photoshoot until she's certain. After that though, she's more than happy to jones for the camera, striking some seductive and sassy poses, and even holding up the silver medal and flashing a V for Victory sign in front of Auricom's logo board. "Aww yeah, you know it, I'm Unstoppable!"
Sarracenia	Sarracenia doesn't need a check for 30K, and so when it is handed to her she laughs a bit at the thought of people who might think this is a lot...then she follows after Yang in search of Mikoto. Sarracenia is rather banged up all things considered. Cut and bruised and frizzed out hair and sweaty...and still she does not take any of the offered drinks, instead pulling some out of her purse and downing an entire bottle of a rather pretentious brand of mineral water. She lets out a satisfied 'aaah'...and then there are cameras! She almost flees from them, but some insistence and possibly a grab by Yang ensure that the princess appears on camera. She starts to try and wipe the grime from her face, but Yang's charisma is infectious. Soon she is following suit, smirking smugly despite only getting second fifth. She even poses with Yang a could of times and gives the V-sign, assuming Yang allows such. "I would say the Sundew Kingdom racing team did quite well considering this was our first race in such a power-packed racing format! And it was of course all thanks to my own brilliant piloting and our powerful weapons~" Once that is all over and they do find Mikoto, Sarracenia immediately addresses her. "Here. By all rights you should have taken the gold. It is little consolation I am sure, but...I certainly do not need such a modest amount of money. And I will still buy an entire shop's worth of ice cream for you!" she says, handing the check to Mikoto.