Lurking here in silence but liking stage 10 so far, keep it up.
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Garda Winn, Crugandr
Local time: 2-55 Sun
The Clear Mind
This chapter has been written in cooperation with @Madrias
The journey down the steep hills had gone without issue, even with the abuse the Oil Tanker had taken. The smaller blue speedboat that was the Claussient 25 had managed to get in the way somewhat, but it didn’t really matter, it didn’t have the most power and was piloted by two people who weren’t really familiar with the whole shitbox rally thing. Other than being held up, and stopping to top up the two fuel tanks, the drive was pretty uneventful.
The aftermarket stereo system still had a downloaded Toolroom records playlist coming through the speakers as the car rolled into the camp. Most of the teams were there, but the IP Van was parked on the other side of the camp, in the bushes, its bright atomic pink paint not doing any favors to camouflage it.
Unlike yesterday, the Magistrate did not fly into the camp like a space shuttle, but instead cruised slowly past a few of the cars that were already there, and rolled to a gentle stop next to the Bricksley Highwayman, leaving a sort of open space between the two cars.
Kivenaal looked up as he heard the sound of the Claussient and the Magistrate arriving. The blue wagon cruised across the campsite while the Magistrate rolled slowly and smoothly into a spot nearby to the Bricksley. He looked toward the Claussient, parked near his chosen tree stump, and then over to the Magistrate, parked close to the Bricksley. “Had they been the other way around, I would have chosen correctly,” Kivenaal said to himself. He finished his cigar, stubbing it out on the old tree stump before getting up, only to realize one of the members of Team Oil Crisis was heading his way. The one he wanted to talk to anyway.
Kameron stopped short of Kivenaal when he saw him getting up from the tree stump. “I had a feeling that you wanted to speak to me.”
Kivenaal nodded. “Yes. I saw, a while back, that when Jayde had constructed his weapon of light, you talked with him,” Kivenaal said. He reached to his hip and unclipped his own hilt, holding it in such a way that it showed he knew this was a weapon of great power, even if it hadn’t turned out quite the same as a traditional lightsaber.
The gleaming brass, silver, and copper hilt looked more like a fantasy sword hilt than a traditional lightsaber hilt, even if the blade was currently missing. Kivenaal realized that most of the other teams were dealing with curious townsfolk, that they were far enough away for a safe demonstration, and gave a light smile. His thumb slid the power switch one notch forward, to the On position, producing a quiet high-pitched ringing note, mere moments before Kivenaal slid the switch another notch further. The high-pitched note deepened into a low, rasping buzz as the purple sword-shaped blade ignited. The edges of the blade shivered and rippled, not quite stable thanks to the unusual power system, though the blade was certainly steady enough to fight with, to cut with, even against a proper lightsaber.
“I think it’s different enough, then, to simply call it what it is, a plasma sword, rather than trying to beat it into the definition of being a lightsaber,” he said.
Kameron nodded, “Well, that makes sense. It’s shape and construction don’t really match an actually lightsaber.”
Then he fired up his lightsaber, the blue glow and ominous hum filling their ears. It stayed like that for a moment before it was shut off. “The differences are pretty clear.”
Kivenaal nodded softly, then clicked the switch two notches down to the Off position, where the blade swiftly vanished. “Do you think it would work the same, though?” Kivenaal asked. “I sense there is a certain amount of Darkness out there,” he added, motioning to the clear sky and the stars beyond it, “that you have been tracking down.”
“A touch of that Darkness brought someone here, someone who, if my feelings and intuition are right, was close to you. A mentor, perhaps. Someone who interacted with Jayde. The past is a tangled web of threads, all interwoven into what we all know,” he admitted.
“If we are facing a greater evil that must be stopped, then I want in. Before you go believing that there’s no way that I can help, I don’t have the skill or the training, I do have a few natural talents. One of those talents is that I can’t be burned. I’ve found that out a few different ways. Hot pans, lit charcoal, my own fire, molten metal, even covered my own hand in thermite once when I was younger and wondered if I could generate a fire hot enough to set it off. Even been hit by a plasma rifle once, and all it did was ruin my favorite shirt.”
Kameron sighed, glanced at Jayde who was returning from fixing the windscreen of the IP van, before reverting is gaze back to Kivenaal. “I suppose that your blade could function similarly, but since it’s not fully bound to the force it may be difficult to work with, and not being able to be burned will be significant advantage in a fight.”
“That makes two of us, then,” Kivenaal quipped. “Neither myself nor my blade are fully bonded with the Force,” he explained. “When… When this world ended, far in the future, I felt the pain and the death, and I closed myself off to shield myself against it. It’s only now that I’ve begun to open myself back up to it again.”
Jayde wandered over to Kameron and Kivenaal after putting his supplies away in the truck. “Heard that ominous hum, K’,” Jayde said, playfully shortening Kameron’s other nickname down to just the first letter. He then spotted Kivenaal’s blade and looked back and forth between the two. “Let me guess, our training is soon to start?”
A nod. “Yeah, soon. I was just demonstrating what a true lightsaber looks like for Kivenaal. Before we start we’ll need to find a quiet place where we can focus, and so no one sees us and thinks we’re having a dispute over something and tries to intervene, the last thing we need are people getting injured.”
“Makes sense,” Jayde said. “The last thing we need is people trying to get involved when all three of us have weapons capable of removing limbs in an instant.”
Kivenaal nodded, in agreement. “Injuring civilians would definitely be a bad thing. It’s going to be bad enough trying to find a place out of the way-”
“There’s a clearing in the woods, not far from here. It’s, perhaps, secluded enough to not be noticed, but close enough that once we’re done, we can just walk back to camp,” Jayde said. “It’s quiet enough there.”
“That’s perfect, lead the way.”
Jayde nodded, then headed toward the woods, occasionally looking back to make sure that Kameron and Kivenaal were following.
After a 15 minute hike through the woods, however, the three found themselves in a large clearing, far enough from the camp to cover the sounds of their training, but close enough to not leave them exhausted by the time they were all done.
“Well, it certainly looks big enough,” Kivenaal said. As they walked toward the middle, Kivenaal removed his heavy duster, his hat, and his gun belts, setting them in a neat pile and getting ready to fight.
Jayde, likewise, removed his robe, standing in a pair of linen shorts that left his brass-and-metal leg exposed from just above his knee down.
“Alright, so dueling with a lightsaber is like dueling with a regular blade, but you have the force on your side. The most important thing you should do is just let the force flow through you and let it guide your moves and attacks. Now, Jayde, what I want you to do is to block an attack from me with your eyes open and then with them closed, and Kivenaal, I want you to watch very carefully. I’ll try to go easy so as not to overwhelm you.” Kameron explained.
Jayde nodded, grabbing his lightsaber and igniting the vivid green blade before sticking his staff in the dirt and taking a two-handed grip on the hilt, naturally picking up a classic dueling stance as he listened to the Force.
Kivenaal watched, hilt in hand with the weapon still off, watching as Kameron ignited his blue blade, swinging it up in Jayde’s general direction. Jayde responded instantly by striking out at the blade with everything he had, clashing blades with a blinding flash.
“Well done, Now with your eyes closed.”
The second attempt, with Jayde keeping his eyes closed, was a lot less aggressive, with Jayde moving more in tune with the Force, only moving enough to block the attack, rather than trying to knock the weapon out of Kameron’s hand. They continued this from several different angles, eyes both open and closed until they finally stopped.
“Alright, Let’s see how you do Kivneaal. We’ll start with open eyes and then we’ll try with them closed.”
He gave a respectful nod and ignited his purple blade, stepping forward with the weapon held in his upper right hand. The low rasping buzz contrasted with the ominous hum as both Kameron and Kivenaal raised their blades, with Kivenaal adopting a classic sword-fighting position and naturally keeping his edge aligned.
Kameron made his first strike and Kivenaal crossed it with his own blade, a flash of intense light flaring from the point of contact. Unlike Jayde, however, Kivenaal was more in control, using far less physical strength behind his attacks. Also unlike Jayde, when Kameron tried again with Kivenaal being eyes-open, Kivenaal not only blocked the blade, but immediately countered, causing Kameron to have to block instead. Kivenaal seemed to be surprised at how easy the move had come to him, as if he’d spent decades or centuries training in sword-fighting.
When Kameron had Kivenaal try with his eyes closed, however, Kivenaal was a lot less adept at blocking, instead often times moving out of the way, making clumsy attempts to block, and in one case, completely missing Kameron’s blade altogether and attacking the dirt.
Jayde grimaced and said, “Kivenaal, clear your mind and listen to the Force. Otherwise, you’re likely to get hurt during this training.”
Kivenaal took a deep breath and nodded, and Kameron tried again with a simple, relatively easy to block strike. Kivenaal missed it with his blade, but instead of dodging out of the way, he grabbed the blue blade, stopping the strike. He opened his eyes, fingers still grasping the blade a moment longer before he slowly let go. While the dirt on his hand had been burned away, Kivenaal’s upper left hand was still fine, and after shaking off the still-hot ash, it seemed that Kivenaal wasn’t entirely shaken up by the experience. “Well, I can say that touching that was among the least fun things I’ve done,” Kivenaal admitted. “It’s warm, but that hum resonates through your bones, and it tingles.”
Kameron gave a small chuckle. “Well, you did say that you weren’t able be burned and the saber uses heat primarily to cut through materials. It’s basically a big cutting torch. Anyway, you seem to be far more comfortable with this than Jayde over there, but there are still some things to work on, and there’s also the fact you aren’t 100 percent connected with the force. But, you have got potential.”
Jayde smiled. “He fights like he’s been to a swordfighting school. You can see it in the way he moves, his edge alignment, the way he counters every attack you make and has to stop himself from just continuing it.”
“I’ve never been to one, though. But, it’s like my muscles and body know how to do it, even if I have never done it. It’s almost like I have an instinctive understanding of where to put my feet, how to hold the blade, when to strike, when to block, all just running through my head without having to think about it,” Kivenaal explained.
Jayde chuckled. “You have the physical sword-fighting side figured out, so when your eyes are open, you’re in full control. I’m more in tune with the Force, so when my eyes are closed, I’m at my best for this. I’d guess that K over there,” Jayde said, motioning to Kameron, “will probably have to work on teaching me to sword-fight and teaching you how to use the Force more effectively.”
The three stood there for a moment, blades all still ignited as Kivenaal and Jayde awaited their next lesson.
“That’s how my master trained me, sword fighting and using the force effectively, it shouldn’t be any different. Now, I’d like to see what happens when you swap blades. Out of curiosity, of course.”
“As in, Kivenaal uses my green blade, and I use Kivenaal’s purple one?” Jayde asked.
Kivenaal shrugged lightly, then said, “I think so. Sounded like that’s what he wants us to try.”
Kivenaal and Jayde both extinguished their blades, handing their respective weapons to the other person. Kivenaal had no issue getting Jayde’s green saber to light, but Jayde scowled as he clicked the switch on Kivenaal’s purple plasma sword and only got the high-pitched ringing. “Push it all the way forward, Jayde,” Kivenaal said.
Jayde pushed the switch a little further and the blade suddenly ignited, the high-pitched note deepening into the low, rasping buzz that they’d all gotten used to hearing. “The balance on this is definitely off for me. However, it’s not so disconnected from the Force that I couldn’t use it if I had to.”
Kivenaal, on the other hand, seemed a little disoriented with a weapon that had no defined cutting edge. “Am I even holding this thing right?” Kivenaal asked, trying to find the right way to hold Jayde’s green saber.
“Like this,” Kameron pointed out, flipping the saber to face the right way up.
As Kameron pointed out to Kivenaal how he was holding his own saber, Kivenaal tried the same grip, still finding it to be an unusual weapon with no proper edge.
Like before, Kameron had Kivenaal blocking strikes, starting first with his eyes open. Kivenaal, this time, took a completely different stance, as if fencing, keeping as much distance between him and Kameron as possible, making small, quick strikes from the wrist to block Kameron’s blade using Jayde’s lightsaber. When Kameron had Kivenaal try with his eyes closed, however, Kivenaal’s fighting form again completely fell apart, showing that it was Kivenaal’s weak connection with the Force, and not his choice of weapon, that was causing his issues.
When Kameron had Jayde try the same thing, it became even more clear that Jayde was trying to rely far too much on muscle, swinging Kivenaal’s purple sword as if it were a medieval claymore. When Jayde tried with his eyes closed, like before, he improved, though it showed he was having a hard time with Kivenaal’s rather weighty hilt.
“I get the feeling,” Jayde said, grimacing slightly, “that this little experiment didn’t quite go to plan.”
“He probably did learn something from it, though,” Kivenaal said, switching off Jayde’s saber and handing it back to Jayde. Jayde fumbled with the controls on Kivenaal’s blade until he eventually got it switched off and handed it back over.
“Yeah, he probably figured out that I wasn’t joking when I said I had no clue how to sword-fight,” Jayde quipped.
“Hey, you fight well enough with your eyes closed. I’m flailing around like a fish out of water, trying to figure out how you manage to do that,” Kivenaal shot back.
“Well, that’s why were here.”
“So, what do we try next?” Kivenaal asked, looking over at Kameron as he stood there.
Jayde waited patiently for an answer, though he did comment, “If it weren’t likely to be hazardous, and we had enough sabers, I’ve almost got a curiosity to see how Kivenaal would handle using multiple blades. He is surprisingly well-skilled in at least more than one style of sword-fighting.”
“Yeah, just give me a month and I’ll make three more of these,” Kivenaal quipped. “Somehow, I don’t feel that our trainer really has the time, nor the patience, to wait for me to do that. Especially for something that, let’s be honest, very few people likely do.”
Jayde chuckled, then said, “Somehow, I think you’d manage.”
Removing his saber, Kameron tossed it towards Kivenaal. “Well, let’s try then.”
Kivenaal caught Kameron’s saber in his upper left hand, cautiously igniting the blue blade as well as his own purple one.
Jayde looked between Kameron and Kivenaal, seeing that Kameron was now unarmed, while Kivenaal had two blades in hand. Jayde gave a light look of mild concern, then said, “I hope like hell you’re not planning on having him duel me like that. I’m not good enough to face him with one blade, let alone when he has two.”
Kivenaal gave Kameron’s lightsaber a casual twirl in his hand, before naturally choosing a fighting stance that favored a heavier blade in one hand and a lighter blade in the other.
“I won’t have you two go against each other, but I do want to see how you feel when you swing them as if you are fighting with some one. Just do some attack moves you already know how to do. Ok?”
Kivenaal nodded. “I don’t know how I know them, but I’ll do them,” Kivenaal admitted.
He stepped back to a safer distance, making sure that he could freely move with the two ignited blades without catching anything in his path by accident, then took a deep breath and focused.
Jayde watched as Kivenaal swiftly moved with both blades in hand, favoring quick and precise stabs and slashes with Kameron’s lightsaber, while also still dealing out heavier and more powerful sweeps, thrusts, and cuts with his own purple blade. To him, at least, it was fairly clear that Kivenaal had at least been trained in combat as Kivenaal’s attacks against an unseen enemy were fast and fluid, using no more force than was necessary. Even more particularly interesting was the number of times that Kivenaal turned just enough to deliver a powerful high-kick with a cowboy-boot-clad foot, aimed certainly high enough to catch someone normal in the throat, or someone Jayde’s size solidly in the chest.
Kivenaal had found a natural rhythm where he wasn’t thinking about what move to make next, it was just what felt right in the moment. A left thrust with the slimmer, lighter blade, a heavy slash where an enemy’s legs would be with his heavier, broader blade, a boot to the throat, his twin tails tipped with sharp quills slashing through the air in what would have been an unpleasant strike, even without his brother’s pain-inducing venom. He had a slight blue haze in the corners of his vision, his twin hearts were racing, and in that moment, he felt powerful.
A stick came flying from the side, “Look out!”.
As the stick came flying toward Kivenaal, he barely responded to the vocal warning. Kivenaal brought Kameron’s blade up just at the right time to reduce the stick to little more than ash.
Jayde looked over at Kameron with a grin, lifting a rock from the ground, floating it over his palm, and firing it at Kivenaal, who slapped it out of the air with his own purple blade. He looked more than a little shocked as he hadn’t expected Kivenaal would be able to block that in time, let alone to do so with his heavier and harder to wield blade.
“You’re pretty good, especially, for someone with as little as sword fighting experience as you. I have a feeling it won’t be very difficult to train you in some sort of improvised version of the Jedi arts.”
Kivenaal shut the blue saber down, hissing as it went. “Glad you think so.” he said, before tossing it at Kameron.
After Kivenaal tossed Kameron’s saber back to him, he looked over at Jayde, who gave an innocent smirk, only to look shocked as Kivenaal picked up a similar rock and returned the favor. Jayde ignited his saber just in time to cut the rock in half, getting hit by both pieces of the projectile and grimacing. “Not fair,” Jayde grumbled.
“I wasn’t expecting a rock, neither were you. We’re even,” Kivenaal quipped back.
Chuckling, Kameron clipped his saber back on his belt. “That went a lot better than I had expected, you two already demonstrate a good amount potential. We have quite the journey ahead of us.”
Then a distant voice called, one that Kameron recognized as one of his team.
Kivenaal’s ears twitched as he heard the distant voice, while Jayde recognized it and the presence of the person arriving. “Aedan, over here!” Jayde called out, helping him find the clearing more easily.
Kivenaal switched off his purple blade as Aedan wandered out of the forest and into the clearing. “Have we been gone that long?” Kivenaal asked.
Jayde checked his pocket watch. “Not really. Well, not from my perspective, anyway,” he mentioned.
Kameron looked in the direction of the bushes. “I think he just noticed we were gone so he’s gone looking.”
Soon, the blue eyed and tan colored lombax stumbled out of the bushes followed by his shorter brother, before Orlen tripped and took his brother down with him. Aidan grumbled to himself, as he stood up and dusted off his clothes.
“Is this where you disappeared off to?” Aidan asked, somewhat annoyed that he’d been knocked over.
“Well, yeah. We came here because we needed a quiet space to focus and not hurt anyone.”
“Lightsaber training? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I did?” said Kameron, clearly confused by the question.
“No you didn’t, but it doesn’t matter, now I know. So, Jayde and Kivenaal over here are training to become Jedi, right?”
Kameron nodded. “Yeah,”
“I just came out here to make sure you guys were okay. Kaylie was wondering and a bit worried about where Jayde had gone so, Orlen and I set out to look for you guys.”
The inside of Jayde’s ears paled slightly as he realized Kaylie was wondering where he’d gone. “Ah, shit. I forgot to let her know I was going with the two of you,” he said, sheepishly.
“She’s a keeper, Jayde. Anyone who worries about you when you’re gone, but sends friends to look for you is worth it,” Kivenaal said.
Jayde only shook his head. “It’s too early to know,”
“Hey, I know the two of you have been doing the horizontal mambo, so, no, it’s not too early to know,” Kivenaal quipped.
“How do you… Never mind, I probably don’t want to know,” Jayde grumbled.
“I hardly sleep around here. And contrary to what you might believe, the two of you are just loud enough to be heard through that spell of yours if I’m sitting outside my tent, which is right next to yours. So, consider that next time,” Kivenaal said, lightly smirking.
Aedan raised an eyebrow and had a certain look on his face, but before he could say anything Kameron interjected. “You’re married and you’ve told me about your experiences in grotesque detail, so don’t give them that look. I didn’t tell you about mine even if I am also a family man.”
“Really? You just had to say that in front of them, didn’t you?”
Kivenaal laughed. “Whatever the two of you have done, I almost guarantee you, I’ve seen, or heard, or done it all. Yes, despite my form. Apparently there are people around who are curious about someone with multiple arms and fur.”
Jayde grimaced. “Okay, yeah, we definitely don’t need to hear any of your war stories either.”
Kivenaal chuckled, then clipped his plasma sword to his right hip and pulled his duster over it. “Well, Kaylie’s definitely not one to keep waiting. I’ve seen her kick her brother in the crotch a few times when sparring with him. Wouldn’t want to be on her bad side, and if she’s looking for Jayde, it won’t be long before she sends someone out to make sure I haven’t gone to sleep in a den full of Dyre.”
Nodding, Aidan began walking towards the entrance to the clearing. “That would be bad, and plus, Pavel and Malcolm decided to help out Rukari with dinner because, eating military MREs kind of gets boring after a while.”
With that, the five of them began their journey back to the camp.
Kivenaal nodded, making sure he had everything before they left the clearing, and once he had his four pistols, his plasma sword, his duster, and his hat all back on, he followed the group back into the camp.
As soon as Jayde came out of the forest, Kaylie sprinted over to him and collided with him like a white-furred cannonball, knocking the wind out of him. “You should have told me that you and Kivenaal were leaving the camp. I’ve been looking all over for the two of you,” Kaylie said. “Rukari said he keeps smelling Dyre nearby.”
Kivenaal responded with, “Has Rukari forgotten that Oil Crisis has a couple of Dyre pups, and even when clean, they still smell like Dyre?”
“Yeah, I’m not sure Victor and his sister are a threat to anyone, unless its a pair of shoes or the seatback of a rear bench from a Union Magistrate.”
Kivenaal smirked. “So they’re about as wild as I’ve come to expect. They’ll gladly rip apart an old boot or pull half of the stuffing out of a car seat, but they know better than to claw or bite things that are alive,” Kivenaal said.
“Oh, guaranteed, if they’re hungry they have one hell of a good hunting instinct,” Jayde said, “Pups their size often take down turkeys.” he paused for a moment as he thought, then said, “So, the male is now Victor. Have you considered a name for the female yet?”
Kivenaal chuckled as he wandered back over toward the Bricksley, in a bit of a good mood after having gotten a little exercise in. He could hear the record player in the truck still quietly scraping away, playing another record as Malavera lounged back in the front bench seat, both heads resting lightly against the radio control console behind the seat.
Aidan turned to Jayde. “Well, not really, I still have to consult my wife about the names. I might have Malcolm open up a portal for me to our dimension and home world so I can speak with her.”
Jayde sighed. “That makes sense, I think you and your mate would be great parents.”
“Thanks.”
With that, the two teams gathered round the camp fire Rukari had set up and patiently waited for their dinner.
OOC NOTE:
After some careful consideration, I decided to improve the Union Magistrate now that more mods from 4.1 have been ported to 4.2. Most notably, the Magistrate is now very rusty like it should have been from the beginning, there are now wraparound markers on the tail lights and the headlights, the indicators are also now wraparound, headlights have been changed to fit the 1979 Malaise Regulations and the stuff in the roof rack has been rearranged to make space for stuff that I can't really replicate in automation without taking too long. I also cut the mufflers off because someone decided that the Magistrate needed more ground clearance (I'll include this in my next camp post)
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TEAM HILLBILLY ROLLERS
Earlier parts
PART 0.1 - A prologue to the prologue
PART 0.2 - Another piece of the prologue puzzle
PART 0.3 - Viva la IP 4Z!
PART 0.4 - Robotman
PART 0.5 - Interference problems
PART 0.6 - Can I play Tetris?
PART 0.7 - Tangerine and familiar
PART 1.0 - Now things got serious!
PART 1.1 - Hello, Thibault and friends!
PART 1.2 - Poor kitty
PART 1.3 - Curse you, Team Oil Crisis!
PART 1.4 - Interlude
PART 2.0 - Bird bird bird, bird is the word!
PART 2.1 - D. Head
PART 2.2 - Good night!
PART 3.0 - Freeway Rockstar
PART 3.1 - DISCO TJO DISCO HEJ
PART 3.2 - Van-Werewolf 1-0
PART 4.0 - Calm after the storm
PART 5.0 - Mirror mirror on the…oh, crap!
PART 5.1 - Hello, little puppies!
PART 6.0 - Speed
PART 6.1 - GIMME OXYGEN! (feat. Madrias)
PART 6.2 - Steamin’ hot! (feat. Elizipeazie)
PART 7.0 - The Kayak
PART 7.1 - Marie the valkyrie?
PART 7.2 - Vegetables
PART 7.3 - Time to tie things up.
PART 8.0 - The hangover
PART 8.1 - The new team member
PART 9.0 - From pink to brown
PART 9.1 - Co-op with Madrias and Elizipeazie
PART 9.2 - Where is Sonic?
PART 10.0 - First at last!
PART 10.1 - Co-op with Variationofvariables
PART 11.0 - Why is this van so damn fast?
PART 11.1 - Co-op with Madrias
PART 11.2 - Demons and dragons bullshit
"I am tired of this Demons and dragons bullshit now! I want to go home!", Andreas yelled.
"And I am tired of hearing you saying Demons and dragons bullshit!", Janne sighed. "Have you ever thought about the fact that it could be called, well, Dungeons and dragons maybe?"
"If you care about what it is named, you are as full of Demons and dragons bullshit yourself!", Andreas yelled.
"Relax, for fucks sake!", Janne answered. “I don’t care whatever you say, I can sense that you are scared!”, he waited for a couple of seconds and continued, “and so can the dyre, so you better calm down if you don’t want to become their breakfast!”, he said and laughed.
"Yeah, you are really good at calming me down. REALLY good!", Andreas said with a great deal of sarcasm.
Jayde was only looking at their fighting and when they finally had calmed down, he told them to go and check in the back of the van.
"Yeah, Marie is passed out here", Janne said. "Not that the chances for that happening was actually low…"
"I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS! I WANT TO GO HOME! HOW COULD HE KNOW?", Andreas yelled, close to the border of a breakdown.
"Now, can you just admit that you have seen magic in action, several times? And have it hurt you this far? No. It has repaired our oil pan, cleaned up our interior and now repaired our windshield. Why are you nagging?", Janne sighed and shook his head.
Someone that did not know Marie probably could have suspected that she was beyond rescue, but the condition was not really unknown in this team, and she would probably be fine the next morning.
"How the fuck could she manage to drink all this beer in such a short amount of time?", Janne said with confusion in his voice.
"So, Jayde, USE YOUR DAMN MAGIC TO MAKE HER SOBER AGAIN!", Andreas yelled.
"You should really do like Janne says and calm down!", Jayde told Andreas. "No, it is very much against my principles to use magic on another person unless if it is a matter of life and death. And from what I have seen, Marie have survived worse conditions than this."
"Do you really want her sober?", Janne asked. "It is after all very calm this way."
"Yeah", Andreas said, "but I don’t want to be here when she wakes up."
"By the way…", Janne said, "Do you realize that you have more or less admitted that magic exists and works by now?"
"STOP THAT DEMONS AND DRAGONS BULLSHIT!", he answered.
"OK, I give up!", Janne said. "By the way, where is Sonic?"
"I don’t care about that spikey little pest!", Andreas said. "Enjoy that he is gone, just let him go!"
"No fucking way!", Janne said. "You can’t start feeding a wild animal and stop all of a sudden. We have to find him…"
TO BE CONTINUED
OOC
Jayde used with permission from @Madrias
If someone wants to encounter Sonic by now, feel free to do it (but don’t hurt him, lol)
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Team Mravolinski-Chitco
BEEEEEEEEE BEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERREEEEEEE
-BEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
-BEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
You are prob wondering how we came into this situation.
Well, it all starts early into next day compared to where last part ended.
First BEEEEEEE of the day
Chicota checked level of fuel in spare tanks and found it lacking, prompting him to wake up doggos and take place behind wheel.
Now car had got into town, getting thrown around until…
-BEEEEEEEEEEEEE
-WHAAAAT (uses brake a lot)
-BEEEEEEE
Soft thump was heard
Car almost stopped, happily not damaged.
-HEY YOU BUMPED INTO MY GOAT
-BEEEEEEEEE
-I DONT CARE ABOUT YOUR GOAT, IT WAS IN WAY!!!
-BEEEEEEEE
Chicota exited the car and confronted sheperd of goat, along with goat.
-Ah, she is fine…and YOU…you will pay for this
-Oh my, you do happen to be potentially intimidating…if you were, ya know, intimidating in first place.
-I HAVE A STICK.
-I have ability to make fireball (makes fireball, scaring sheperd away)
Suggestion: leave sheperding to parents.
Little children arent fit to that role.
-Im not little child. Im 8y old.
-That…isnt many years tbf. To me you are small.
-Im. Not. Small.
-Little girl, i literally dont care (leaves in some random direction)
-Should have seen this happen: Chicota is in no way used to dealing with children…look she is running away now.
-Our potential hero reputation is ruined
-We might find her parents and apologise for this, Aydar. So its not all lost…
Girl went around group of houses and saw something scary, which means she basically returned back running, straight into car, closely followed by goat.
-WHAT
-DYREEE?!?! Pls dont eat me pls dont eat meee
-BEEEEEEEREEEEEEEE
(Goat bumped horn with ass)
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP
-BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
(Chicota returns to see screaming child in Klimentols lap, goat screaming into Klimentol’s ear from one end and beeping with other along with poor Klimentol losing patience and utter confusion of Aydar.)
-ENOUGH
EEEENOOOUGH
-BEEEEEEEEEE
-I SAID ENOUGH
-BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP
-(To goat) MOVE YOUR REAR FROM THERE
(Composed himself to confront girl)
Now, why exactly you thought this was good idea: just barreling into unknown carriage of unknown ppl?
-BEEEE…
-(turns to goat) I wasnt talking to you.
(Back to girl) You are aware this isnt characteristic of good sheperd?
Imagine if we WERE actually willing to hurt you or your goats.
Aydar: Yes.
(Girl now noticed Aydar and decided to leave…NOW
Goat recognised this as sign to abandon its activity of shitting over driver part of front bench and steering wheel and left
Without much thought, girl ran out of car, goat running after her)
-She is now someone else’s problem…and now im sitting on toilet seat…holding toilet wheel.
This havent really turned to be correct, since group One-girl-five-goats has returned and placed itself in front of car.
-Move
-No. In fact, we want to join you.
-We have no space for you alone, much less for your friends.
-That carriage is very big and i dont like liars.
-Your house is even bigger and, would you believe it, seeing you with parents wouldnt be seen as issue. We are basically strangers to each other, not to mention we have other stuff to attend to anyway-like getting fuel for this.
-I know where to get fuel…but means we gotta join you…just saying. My older brother works there btw.
-Deal
Fill up fuel and dozen, please
This is part where me, VerBanka and Pi get woken up, joined by few goats in bed.
Also is part where we may mention team led by @Elizipeazie, even tho those fellas are technically just conversation theme and interesting background at best
Other goats were in cab, along with their sheperd.
Girl gave directions and they got to empty part of train station with only one guy.
After exchanging basic info:
-You need our fuel for your carriage? Weird…still, as i have nothing better to do, i will serve you.
-I hear noise on other side.
-I heard some dude plans to set new rail record in his botched-up train. I have no idea how he thinks that his amateur job would fare up against actual trains and im not willing to find out.
-Is he by any chance named Valentin?
-Lemme think…yes.
-Nice. We will say this much: we know Valentin. We also had chance to look at his train: its kinda done in hurry and out of necessity, but was done with great passion.
Thanks for information, so we aint getting surprized when entire next town gets into our camp. We would like to transfer your sister and goats to you.
-No, i have lot of job as it is. Our parents tho live in Garda Winn, which also happens to be your destination.
-So we consider that as approval for us to take care of her until parents pick her up?
-Yes, doing me big favour in that way.
-I need to get some stuff from home before we get into that camp of yours and would need help to carry it to carriage.
-Oh no…
Opinion was changed when we got there and started loading up.
Some amount of dairy products (ofc made by very goats joining on journey), food for said goats, local fruit, some money, drinkable water in whatever locals prefer to hold it etc.
Somehow we crammed into car and somewhat slowly made progress.
BEEEEE CLANK CLANK CLANK BEEEEE
We took advantage of fact there is lot of fruit in car-“we” including, but not limited to, goats.
Girl noted that this saves quite a bit of money that might have gotten stolen from her, seeing that she was most likely to be at home.
Parents had expected brother to take care of her but, as you may conclude yourself from earlier part, he isnt very interested in that.
Chicota: So little girl, how you are enjoying this ride so far?
-Its faster than any carriage i ever was in…and dont call me little.
-Not like i have much of choice, seeing you havent introduced yourself.
-Malavera
-So you are still small
-No?
-In our native language, we can identify two words that happen to form your name
One of them does indeed kinda mean “small”.
-Explain
Mrdja: I will take this.
Words in question are “mala” and “vera”, pronounced in exactly the same way as in your name.
VERA has only one meaning, that being faith or hope.
MALA on other hand would be used to note that something or someone is
a) small
b) female in some way
Language explanation
(Serbian does differentiate in this fashion; we tend to genderise even objects in language)
MALI would be used for male cases
and
MALO would be used when genderisation isnt important or is hard to apply.
(Mali is said as likewise named IRL country, malo is pronounced as mal-oh)
VerBanka: Mind you, thats not the only way to say “little faith”…in fact its not very likely to happen since it isnt in spirit of our language.
I dare to say that our names mean exactly the same thing.
(VerBanka’s first name is Verica, pronounced “Very-cza” and indeed means “little faith”)
-Thats cool, i guess.
Aydar: There is one thing that attracted my attention. You werent exactly surprized at our note that our carriage needs fuel, not to mention you KNEW what kind of fuel is needed.
Care to explain somehow?
This is greater knowledge than almost all, if not all, locals we encountered so far…coming from 8y child.
Malavera: Uhhhh…you should ask my dad when we meet him in that town. I dont know how his horse-less carriage works, but it works.
It needs similar fuel and is kinda powered in same fashion as trains, but goes on road.
Klimentol: How he got it? I dont recall seeing any other such thing, atleast not driven by local.
We are part of certain group that comes from other world. As you prob saw yourself when we strolled into camp to be ready to go, all of us use such things. Differing shapes and sizes aside, they all work on same principle.
Malavera: He built it himself
-Oh boy, seems that not only we wouldnt get rid of girl, but the father might join too
(Collective laughter from all that can physically laugh)
-He would annoy you for quite some time, yes. I have heard that someone made steam-powered carriage from brother…wait, you said you know him.
-Yes, we had pleasure to meet the poor guy.
Their carriage started in similar fashion as rest but some part failed during journey.
Valentin, as this slim tall fella is called, had came up with steam conversion in order to continue the journey.
He unfortunately became quite a celebrity for this, not really bad by itself, but he doesnt strike me as someone who would really revel in kind of attention he is likely getting.
Before you ask, he prob havent did it alone: at very worst, their team has 3 other members.
Thats still quite the achievement and materialisation of his strong passion towards trains: could tell he was passionate about it in way he explained his work when we took interest in it.
Some sounds were heard and vehicle was stopped.
-Damn cargo, must have come lose over time.
-BEEEEEEE
-Shut
Upon stopping the vehicle, cargo indeed came loose and that needed to be solved.
There was some small amount of duct tape avaiable, so it was scarcely applied in order to preserve it properly.
Unfortunately, at some point, holder of the tape was attacked by one of goats that desired some love and attention.
-FUUUUUUUUUUCK
I yeeted the tape outside
-You did what
-Yeeted the tape
-BEEEEEE
Tape bounced off some rock and went downhill, increasing its speed.
Good thing it went beside the road, so no other team was disturbed by need of avoiding a person chasing the tape roll
-Finally
-BEEEEEEEEEEEEE
-Oh no…
(Goat crashes into person with tape; prompting for yet another chase
Crash could have been repeated, but goat was swiftly avoided this time around)
Fix was applied and journey continued.
In, on and around the camp
No regular member of group felt particularly happy when introduced with fact they finished poorly this time around (fourth from behind, if you must).
Malavera and goats did had great time tho.
Time has came to an end tho, since she recognised certain man getting into camp for that sweet sweet chance to see legendary Dione.
Chicota: Hello there, we heard that Sophie is your daughter and she expressed interest in joining you here, along with goats that we also transported.
-Uhhhh…
-Please Sophie, let your dad speak.
-Is this some kind of challenge?
-Thats on you to figure out.
-She is called Malavera, not Sophie.
-Thats exactly kind of answer we were looking for.
-Hmmmm…oh…i get it. You intentionally said wrong name so you would be able to see if i would correct you.
-…yes, bcos only people she knows would be likely to do so. Also explained why i shushed the girl.
Malavera: You could have told me of that plan.
-My bad, should have done that.
Anyway, how do you enjoy this sight of many lizard-less carriages?
-Very, especially considering one of my hobbies is making exactly that. All of these are equally interesting, but some are more so than others.
-Ye, i have idea tho. We should transport goats, girl and stuff she had taken on journey to your place.
Not to mention that there is some plan we have on mind, plan that requires us heading into town anyway.
-I would rather check out everything else but your vehicle, then we could head into town to our place.
Would allow me to ask as many questions as i want about your vehicle and part of your team needed for that plan could be immideately deployed. Not to mention we could have dinner together; sadly our house is nowhere big enough to fit big group of ppl, but we would happily help as much as we can otherwise.
-Having some locals avaiable would indeed be useful for what we are planning to do.
We are making camps outside of town and sleeping in that manner: some teams had got tents while others, us included, sleep in carriage.
Man soon dissappeared in crowd surrounding Dione, eager to find out more about this impressive engineering achievement.
After that was done, he showed us the way to house.
To no surprize, wife wasnt happy at all when she saw husband returning with some big group of dozen members.
Once again neither VerBanka or Chicota proved to be professionals in kitchen, but their help was nevertheless strongly appreciated.
Dinner being done, it was decided to concentrate all forces on part of plan that could be done right here.
Hint of plan
(Author’s interpretation on specific part of journey of character thats mentioned elsewhere on forums
Lets say something similar, but in greater detail, can be expected from one of our team members)
Im sorry, very sorry, that you cant understand what im about to do.
Look, dont get me wrong, i deeply enjoyed my purpose on this world even tho its now…hmmm…“completely different” doesnt seem to cut it, but it is prob most similar.
Enjoy that you knew me at all, as my existance could have been cut short by my superiors, in preference to some other way of spending resources.
Instead, i was put in position from which i could rise up and progress, to expand above these stormy clouds of uncertainty.
Standing on the top, i see that nothing really changed since i first assumed the position.
Others would not complain, but im looking for proper challenge
So much preparation, so little time to do it.
For the last time, im absorbing the light i knew so well…
1
2
3
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5
Oh, there is blank notebook? Lemme grab a pen and write something in it…
4 Likes
A whole lot of BEEEEEE, loving the storyline
i am confused:
- Malavera in this part only refers to the child accompanying the team, not the member of Shift Happens?
- is anyone of the team (including child and cargo/ goats) actively talking/ approaching members of mine
- if yes, what exactly do they want?
1 Like
Refers to child.
No, noone is approaching your vehicle or teammates.
Well, if we exclude Malavera’s dad, but he is one of those “20-30 locals being in camp bcos of interest in Dione” and on your part is seen as such.
4 Likes
YOUREYES...........................................................BENOTAFRAID...................................................................................................SPARKLE..........................................ILOVEYOU............................................................COMPANIONSHIP.....................................................................................................VIRTUE....................................................................DEATH..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
2022
SHITBOX RALLY
SHITBOX RALLY
BLAZERS
STAGE: 10
The angel of speed longed to be awoken by the children it gave birth to, thus it invited the soft touch of its child to come closer.
BE NOT AFRAID
”Be not afraid, my child… “
“Please don’t run away! I’m sorry my dear! I don’t want to hurt you…
”Why are you so scared… Won’t you come…
”… to your mommy?”
The purest form of love, is one between a mother and her child. A bond such as that can never truly be severed.
”So why did she go then?!”
”Do you blame the car, my son…?
”It was the fault of that stupid rock!”
”Come closer, Raymundo! I’m here to take care of you, after all… I am…”
Romulo’s heart thumped fast as he jumped up from the floor of the tent, nearly hitting his head on one of the supports that held the fabric up from the ground. The dream continued to replay in his head as he scanned the floor, where he was startled by a still awake Watson who lay where he was, his eyelids wide open to reveal his green irises which glimmered from the small lamp that hung above their heads.
His pulse unchanged and still breathing in and out heavily, Romulo got up towards the tent’s exit and out towards the clearing. From the depths of his mind, he still clearly recalled the visions from earlier, and was nothing short of disturbed. Even more so when he stood up, legs still trembling as they attempted to stand still on the loose gravel floor, and looked at the sight before him.
The Yamada, which to Romulo’s remembrance, had been parked parallel to the tent, was now standing right before him, the hollow halogen eye sockets staring deeply into him as he looked in dreadful awe. He looked behind him, to see Watson emerging out of the tent as well, the dim moonlight barely illuminating the blonde man’s silhouette.
“What is it now?” Romulo asked in a hoarse voice, his heart still audibly beating fast as his mind raced to come to a conclusion. “Watson, what the hell did you bring us into?”
“I should be the one asking you that, should I be not?” He responded as coldly as ever.
“Fuck off! If it wasn’t for that fucking clock of yours, we wouldn’t be here!”
“You’re going to awaken the camp, won’t you hush?” Watson walked over towards Romulo, his eyes beginning to tower over the other man. The detective’s gaze was as sharp as ever, piercing into Romulo’s own with a distinct emotion pang. “That automobile… No… That thing you brought us with, is that not something from you? You knew what it was hiding before anyone else here, did you not? Why do you shift the blame towards someone else?”
“Bullshit! This car is normal!” Romulo retorted, trying to raise himself higher than the other man, yet these efforts were futile as Watson continued to maintain eye contact and look down upon him.
“Then, why are you so afraid of it?”
It remained quiet for a while, with only the sound of Romulo’s blood pumper in his chest creating a distinct but low noise that barely could be picked up by even the most sensitive of ears. Romulo began to shake as he slowly backed away from Watson’s face. He felt something was wrong, but couldn’t put the blame on himself. He looked back at the Yamada as it continued to lock gazes with him.
“You could run away at any time, Raymundo.” Watson lifted his hand to show the ring they were provided at the beginning of the race. “Have you misremembered? At the commencement of the rally, we were all given this option. Yet, in our toughest times, we persevered as a team, did we not?”
Romulo remained silent as Watson moved over towards the side of the Yamada, standing close enough to feel the unusual warmth of the vehicle’s metal. Romulo looked down towards his fingers, the ring glowed slightly as the subtle glimpses of illumination landed upon its surface as it wrapped around his skin. His fingers began to shake as he moved his other hand over towards the ring. He felt his fingertips graze the cold metal that was now beginning to get drenched in the sweat of his palms as his heart continued to move even faster. His breathing became erratic as he continued to think of what to do.
“Even then, are you going to do it just like that? Run away without ever consulting anyone about anything? Do you know where that ring will take you?”
Romulo raised his head, Watson still stood where he was, yet the Yamada’s headlights were now turned on, and bathed him in an off-yellow white as he stood where the beams of light crossed together.
“What the people who run this don’t realize, is that there are exceptions to magic, even ones such as this.”
Watson lifted his hand before Romulo, and with his other he turned the ring around his finger. Romulo’s eyes grew wide, and braced himself for what was about to happen to Watson.
Yet nothing came of the ring. There was no magical effect that would have engulfed them in a spell that would make the man before him disappear. Watson still stood there before him, his arms in the same position as they were.
“W-what… in…?” Romulo stood there in shock, and looked down at his own fingers and took a gulp before he twisted the ring as well. He braced for what could have possibly been a mind trick by the cunning man before him, but still he stood where he was, the quiet rustling of the leaves, the movements of small animals in the distance, and the eerie howling of the alien wind still continued to engulf him, as he was still in Aetherii. Romulo turned back towards Watson, confused and slightly angered. “What the fuck does this mean?”
“Our situation is not magic.” The detective pulled out his golden stopwatch, still stuck at the same time as when they first met. “It’s beyond any possible explanation. And I believe so is this car of yours. If we want to go back, there is no easy way out. Even if we asked them to send us back to Nevada, what then? We would be stuck in the same predicament as we are in now.”
“It started because of your goddamn clock. There’s no denying it!” Romulo insisted, a certain rage was in his voice that seemed to be amplified by the lightening up of the Yamada’s headlights. “If you hadn’t made whatever jump that was, you would be from whatever era of thirties Italy or whatever, and I’d be back at my hometown! Not wherever the fuck we are right now! Yet you, you choose to shift the blame towards the car, towards me?!”
“Can you really say for certain?” Watson sighed as he moved the watch closer towards the Yamada, and once it made contact with the fender, the hands began to move in an erratic pattern, the hour and minute hand jumping between numbers at a speed no human eye could ever hope to track. He lifted the watch away, and in a blink of an eye, the hands snapped back to where they were. “It’s not as elementary as that, I am afraid.”
With the blonde man’s words coming to a draw, a silence now engulfed them. Romulo and Watson simply stood there for what seemed like an unending eternity. No movements would come from the two men for hours that passed like a never ending lane of highway. All the way until sunrise did they stand there, seemingly frozen in time. Only until the rest of the team had woken up did one of them move. As the team went to pack things up, they simply left Romulo to stand there until he could come back to his senses. Right now, his mind was a near empty shell that only thought about their scenario.
Charlotte went out to reach towards him, weary of the town’s clock beginning to signal once more the beginning of yet another stage, but was stopped after she felt Watson’s large rough hand land upon her shoulder, on his face was his ever calm look, but it was evident there was something lingering behind that he was suppressing to the best of his abilities. They all eventually got into the vehicle, without any sinister feeling harbouring, yet even then Romulo stood there before the faint glow of its headlights in the morning sun, his hesitance pricking at his skin like an inverse hedgehog that dug into his own insecurities.
The vehicle was calling to him, not in a demanding, nor cursing tone, but it was an affectionate tone of uncanny familiarity. A glimpse shot into his head like those of days past, when he too rejected a tone as close to him as this one. The days of dread following a harrowing discovery that stuck with him for the years that came by.
”It’s not the speed that kills, my dear.”
”What is it, mama?”
”Raymundo, is that you?”
"You’re my only child… my only beloved one… The speed…
“It won’t replace you.”
“Your eyes so tender, and your skin so smooth. My child, what could ever replace you?”
”Come closer, my beloved. Join… me…”
COME CLOSER
JOIN ME
THE CHILD
SPEED
THE ANGEL'S CHILD
CAR NUMBER
48
Have you ever run away before? So fast that you can see your own mirage as you turn your head back towards your origin?
“Have you ever run away before? So fast that you can see your own mirage as you turn your head back towards your origin?”
Said a soft voice that broke Romulo’s train of thought.
“Why did you choose the name Blazers?”
Romulo looked down before him, the Yamada’s headlamps had turned off and all the other vehicles had left the campsite. In the distance was the muffled rumbling of the metal instruments that lie within the engines of their competitor’s machines. Before him stood the ever straight-faced Ga’araiya, her long streaking silver hair flowed as the gentle breeze sent strands of it across her small, soft face.
“Why do you choose to race with strangers?”
Emily seemed as though ready to stop the small girl from doing anything else, but Watson held the other blonde back, with a face almost saying to hush down and ‘watch’. Romulo only stared at the small girl before him, still unable to move, and even moreso with her words that resonated within the depths of his soul as the sound waves of her dulcet tone reached his eardrums.
“You’ve gone this far with beings you have met for only a few days. You have no way of returning without first dealing with the problem beforehand. You are choosing to run away now at the sign of a new life joining you.”
Romulo felt as though he was shrinking at the sight of her. He was unable to move a muscle as he was forced into eye contact with the Atlantean princess’ deep blue eyes. In her eyes he found a never changing image that looked as though it was beginning to cloud. The purity was washing away, yet he did not know why.
“Why do you give up now? When companionship from beyond is beginning to reach you? Who is it you fear that resides in the vessel you pilot?”
Still, he remained quiet. The sounds that came from the Yamada and the noise that broadcasted into his head disappeared at once. Ga’araiya’s eyes shifted from the blue it always was, to purple, and now a deep crimson red like that of human blood. Her hair slowly lost strands, and in their place, red streaks emerged like that of her own eyes, and her irises began to glow as she turned away.
“You are to keep driving, Raymundo. If it is the beast within this machine that scares you so, in the interests of the companions I have made here, I shall be the one to tame it. You shall be the only witnesses to this ceremony.”
A trident emerged from behind Romulo’s back, and he looked in intense consternation as the red-covered three-pronged tool phased through his chest, slowly making its way towards Ga’araiya’s hand, and being caught firmly in her grasp. She aimed directly at the center of the Yamada’s hood, and the team stepped back from the vehicle. Romulo felt blood pour out of his nose and land onto the ground, painting it with a small splotch of maroon where he saw his own reflection from below as the liquid swirled on the ground.
“Mother…”
With the uttering of a single word, Ga’araiya retracted her tri-tipped spear away from the red metal of the vehicle. She turned her head slowly which revealed a distinct shape in her glowing irises. She released the trident, and it quickly jumped towards Romulo, stopping before his face and turning vertically and manifesting into the ground below him.
“I see the case now.” The red glow in her gaze began to dissipate. “I have no business in your family’s history, even though I do now see you as a comrade after all these days. If you wish to move forward, you cannot allow the past to grapple you back. Tame this beast on your own terms, let us no longer lose what we have gained…”
Before she could finish her sentence, the small girl’s glowing eyes began to flicker out and move back towards the sea blue, her legs beginning to give out.
“…keep driving…”
In a swift move, Watson reached out and caught the collapsed girl as her eyes shut. The only sounds that now came out from her mouth were the deep, quiet breaths that she took.
The sharp-faced detective glared at him as he picked Ga’araiya back up and moved towards the car. “Raymundo, get in the driver’s seat. As it is, you are the only one who can pilot this. Settle whatever issue you might have with it, otherwise…”
“I’ll drive, then.”
Romulo moved towards the driver’s door, looking at his own reflection in the window for a moment as he contemplated it. All around him were his team mates, awaiting his decision. With a gulp and a deep sigh, he placed his hand on the door handle, and he felt a shock from it, one that resonated down towards the inner plateaus of his ego. He has to do it, he has gone this far, he has enjoyed the time he has spent, and there is no point in wasting what he has.
Yes, my child.
There is no fear to be had.
There was no reason for fear to be had.
Mother will protect you, like she always has.
The purest bond there is, is between a mother and her child.
“Angels are said to bring calamities. But a calamity is only one depending on who goes through it.” Said a deep voice from behind Romulo as he opened the door.
As the team buckled up once more, the feline in the seat next to the driver looked around for the clock, only to find that a great deal of time had passed already. The distant sounds of the machines that had gone ahead were no longer audible, and the only sound that they would hear was the ghastly roar of the Yamada as Romulo turned the key. Puffs of white smoke emerged from around them, and the air began to wave as it heated up. Romulo pressed the pedal and the engine screamed in response. The blood once again trickled out of his nostril and to the top of his lip, his vision reddened and he moved his feet to get the vehicle to lurch forwards.
“This is what you want, is it not?” He said calmly. “All you ever want is for me to follow in your steps. Disregarding what I desired for my own, even with your destiny playing out before me and father’s very eyes.”
Charlotte frantically shifted through her notes, but she was unable to keep up with the sheer pace of the vehicle as it weaved through the road which only continued to lower with every metre that the car ran down.
“To follow up your legacy after your passing. What a peculiar scenario for you to awaken, mother.”
A vehicle was spotted up ahead, the cabin’s occupants likely heard the howls of the crimson crossover’s engine as it clawed its way closer. The station wagon was quickly passed by Blazers, leaving only the white aura of the Yamada in its view. Other vehicles followed that one, all the while Charlotte kept rearranging her papers before finally landing on the page they were at. “P-pacenotes…”
She continued to say them even towards the end, unsure if Romulo was even able to hear her from his sheer focus at the wheel. They were not unstoppable, and it was only a matter of time until fate would grab them by the heel, but for this moment, they sure felt like they were. Romulo, for the first time in a while, felt as though he was in perfect control of his own machine, and all his fears seemed to have gone away now.
The camp neared, and at last the driver slowed down, his eyes stopped reddening, and the blood had dried on his nose as the vehicle pulled into the clearing, puffing steam all around it and gathering the attention of the people who had already come before them. Romulo moved the car over towards one end of the camp and put the car to a full stop as it idled with a distinctly loud groan, before collapsing on the steering wheel to the rest of the team’s alarm.
“Ray!” Charlotte called out as she tried to lift his head from the wheel. His body felt extremely heavy, almost as though he was now glued onto the car. She heard a small laugh come from him as she saw a droplet of blood land down onto the vehicle’s carpet.
“So that was it, huh…?” He said as he now lifted his head, his eyes were bloodshot as he stared back towards his feline co-driver. She was astounded and frightened, for Charlotte had never known that something she thought of as simple, was now beginning to be something beyond what she could comprehend. Romulo turned his head back towards the steering wheel, and a most disturbing smile grew upon his face. “You guys can set up camp for the night. I’ll join you in a bit.”
Charlotte couldn’t believe what she was witnessing, but when her shoulder was tapped by Watson and she saw a satisfied seriousness on his face, she unbuckled her seatbelt and left him in the vehicle.
The campsite was as lively as ever, yet she couldn’t help but notice the ominousness of the Yamada even as they parked a small bit away from the rest. Watson took out the tent from the vehicle’s rear and began setting it up with Emily’s help. The feline felt restless however, she peeked back into the window to see Romulo still at the helm, unmoving but sitting straight. In the seat behind him, Ga’araiya was seated and saying something to him that she couldn’t hear, for the vehicle had seemingly shut out all noise from within.
“It surprised you, I presume.” Called out Emily from behind her. “Ga’araiya suddenly saying so much just like that.”
Charlotte looked at Emily and sighed. “I guess it did. But all I’m wondering is… why…? Why speak up so suddenly…?” There was a distinct anxiety in her twin-coloured orbs. The long-haired blonde was silent, but Watson spoke up all of a sudden.
“Ga’araiya is not who you think she is. Like I had once said before and said by someone else,” He looked towards Emily. “She’s plenty older than all of you here. As much as I would not like to say this, she might have more knowledge than me with this. She acts immature and selfish, but ultimately that selfishness allows her to act when it is ultimately needed. I suppose now she began realizing something now that she has been cornered into a scenario that she deems regretful.”
“Hey, Watson… Why is it that you are being so open all of a sudden?” Charlotte asked as she looked up at him. “Whatever happened to that cold detective play you were doing at first.”
He sighed as he looked into the window of the Yamada, Ga’araiya seemed to have a smile on her face as she was talking with Romulo. “Death comes sooner for beings like you, regrettably Ga’araiya has taken a liking towards this group. I live for the princess’ happiness, if it means opening up to you lot for even this short time, I’ll do that.” With that, Watson began to walk away towards the tent to continue propping it back up. The black-furred cat girl could only stare as she processed Watson’s piercing words.
“It’s the unfortunate truth, Charlotte.” Said the blonde as she went back towards Watson.
And they were not wrong, all of them not coming from the same place, from a different time. There was no denying their time would be short together. A cloud of gloom seemed to cover over Charlotte even in the broad daylight. A camaraderie such as theirs being so short lived. “A selfish cause…”
“Being a princess, I get where she’s coming from." She sighed as she leaned onto the Yamada’s warm body. "I guess that’s what makes it precious, huh? In order for something to be precious, it must be finite.”
Charlotte rested her arms on the door, feeling peeling edges of the pinstripe decal as her fingers ran over it. The mist still continued to eerily pour out from between the hood lines of the red vehicle, but at this point she was getting used to it.
But that didn’t stop her from being alarmed upon feeling the vehicle shake beneath her, where she immediately took a step back, only to calm down upon seeing that Romulo and Ga’araiya had finally exited the car. She hesitated slightly, but eventually walked over towards the driver’s side door towards Romulo. He turned his head towards her, and as he did, the sight of dried blood beneath his nostrils still remained.
“Ray…” She called out. “Are you okay now? Your nose…”
Immediately, he moved his wrist up towards his nose to try and wipe whatever remnants of the iron-scented liquid that still clung onto his face. “Y-yeah, I’m okay.”
Charlotte could only sigh as she looked up towards him. “I’m sorry…”
“For what?” Romulo looked back down at the black-furred feline.
“If I didn’t drag you into this… then maybe…” Her voice had a hint of uneasiness in it, and the words that came out of her mouth were audibly distressed. But before she could say another word, she felt Romulo’s large hands land upon her head, ruffling through her thin fur softly as she felt her eyes begin to water.
“I think this would have happened anyway, in Aetherii or not. I’ve always held the demons of the past back from reaching me. It’s my fault I never prepared myself for this.”
Charlotte felt something was up with the way he phrased that, and she quickly lifted her head back up. “Demons of the past?”
“That’s a weird way to put it I guess. But this car is something far more than it should be.” He said, moving his hand away from the cat girl’s head. “I’ve kept it bottled up since I could remember, but there’s always been something bugging me about this. Do you mind if I tell you, Charlotte?”
Her eyes glowed with skepticism, but she nodded to let him continue. With that, Romulo turned towards the car as he began to tell his tale. At first, his voice seemed hesitant, as though something was trying to restrain him from saying something, but still he continued to speak.
“My mother was a rally car driver, a spectacular one at that. Some called her the fastest woman in Asia, faster than even some of the men of the era, but she humbly denied anything of the sort. She started off young, back in the ‘70s, it was largely unprecedented that she’d ever be someone like that, but she wowed everyone with that first race of hers. She probably flipped our entire country’s reputation on its head for a short amount of time.
“To make a long story short, she built up quite a reputation to the point where factory teams had begun scouting her out. She made her way up the ranks, local, international, and eventually the World Rally Championship. When I look at my father now, he definitely seems lucky that he was ever able to find a woman like her. Someone so incredibly out of his league, but apparently she saw something in him that most people didn’t, her family was opposed to it, but she went forward with it, and that’s where I arrived.
“When I was born, she still raced. Not like how she did during her golden age, but still a spectacle to behold. Eventually, she made a deal with a budding rally team from a major company you might know. They had absolutely zero experience, but rumour was that their vehicle was just that good. So she signed that contract…
“The vehicle was good, very good. But even as I saw her, something felt off with the car she drove. The onboard footage showed her struggling with the machine, and how that machine seemingly had this aura of dreadful spirit that was unwashable no matter who was behind the wheel. It was all so eerie, and my father simply thought it was just my mother who was struggling in her later years.
“But I don’t think that’s the case. Fate works in unusual ways, Charlotte. Maybe it was me being clouded by childish thoughts, but it couldn’t be at all. There was something wrong, completely wrong.
“I’ll never forget it, the way she stood in front of that accursed machine before the race. It was like she was trying to say something. Something I’ll probably never comprehend. Her usual cheery self was completely gone after she took the helm of that beast. As far as her engineers were concerned, it was just a very fast car. But no car like that would just make someone desire retirement.
“My mother wanted me to become a rally driver just like her, but for whatever reason, that wish vanished. I’ll never forget how she looked at me that one last time, her eyes glinted differently from how I usually knew them.
“To say that this car is a reincarnation of my mother is blasphemous. She’s above in heaven right now with our guardian angels, but I don’t think she would ever watch over me. Not with how she left, and certainly not with those regrets. The feeling might be similar, but it’s not. Whatever is hiding within the blood red body panels is something that my mother saw within the machine she piloted.
“If anything, it might just be a curse. 48, if you’ve ever known Eastern tradition, you know that four is the number of death, eight is a multiple of that number. And the significance of it to me beyond death?
“Well, that’s the number my mother drove her last.”
6 Likes
RK Series Racing; Stage 10 Camp
partially written by @Madrias
With the Dione parked, a small grouplet of people immediately approached the vehicle as the de-steaming process was started. Their curiosity was high, currently too high in Connor’s mind.
“Please stand clear of the surrounding area.”, he ordered, followed by them retreating a fair bit. Though it didn’t exactly leave a good first impression in their minds, until the steam main was purged of it’s pressure, scaring all three of them shitless.
“HOLY TWIN MOONS!! Fucking hell…”, one of them exclaimed as he heard the explosive hiss of the pipe.
After that, both right-side doors opened, with three of four members shuffling out of the car. The fourth one was extracted as usual, which, while nothing special to the team members, sparked even more curiosity with the local visitors.
As soon as Valentin was out as well and supported on his pair of crutches, they clearly saw the reason as to why the extraction was done that way.
“Any of you need help?”, Valentin said as Constantin got the tent-building underway, helped by Tim as best he could.
“We want to have a look at that carriage you built. I heard you are now the rail speed record holder and figured i’d look around in hopes of getting some insight.”
The other two nodded in agreement and the conversation soon devolved into a simple question-answer game that took the better part of 20 minutes.
During this time, other locals started to arrive, joining in on the questioning from their end.
At some point, the method was switched with groups of ten being taken for a small tour around the vehicle, while any other visitors were asked to wait for their turn.
During the first tour of the car, which described the basic inner working, controls and other things, the very noticeable roaring of the Bricksley’s V8 was heard as it rolled into camp. The current round of visitors was finished up, after which a small break was called for the following round to discuss some internal things.
To everyone’s delight, they seem to take no immediate issue with the break, allwong Valentin to head on over to the Bricksley.
Once there, he was looking for the first member of Shift Happens present. That one member happened to be Kayden, who he slowly approached.
“Uhm… hello? We may have a bit of a problem for the next campsite…” Valentin said, still not having made the full trip over to the Bricksley. At least he was in earshot and direct line of sight was present as well.
Kayden looked up as Valentin mentioned there might be a little problem heading into the next campsite. “Oh? Are the roads closed?” Kayden asked, going for the first logical answer he could think of. In the background, the radiator continued its fierce tirade of hissing and spitting like an angry cobra. “Don’t mind the truck. Kivenaal had his foot on the damn floor most of the way here. We’re waiting until it’s cooled off to add coolant. Apparently if you put cold water in a hot aluminum radiator, it cracks. Kaylie’s learned that the hard way in the past.”
“Yeah nope. As far as i am aware the roads are fine. But once again i… and the others… cannot really attend camp tomorrow. Some big party is being thrown and i am apparently the reason for it…”, he explains both sheepishly and annoyed.
The radiator is noted, but not exactly of interest to Valentin at the moment.
Kayden nodded. “A party in the next city?” he asked. He opened up the truck door, grabbing the hand drawn maps off of the dash and flipping through to Trugarde. “Hey, Malavera, I need your help with something,” Kayden called out.
Malavera looked at the stack of maps in Kayden’s hand and sighed. “What is it this time?” Malavera asked.
“In Trugarde, if you had to hold a party, where would you put it?” Kayden asked. Malavera grabbed the maps, grimaced as he could barely make out Rukari’s handwriting, then sighed, rummaged in the pocket of his cargo shorts, and put on a pair of reading glasses.
“There’s a lot of space around the train station. It’s also very close to the modern city center. If I were going to hold a party, I’d do it there,” Malavera said. As he saw Kayden’s smirk at seeing Malavera wearing glasses, Malavera took them off and pointed at Kayden with one of the earpieces. “When you turn 300, I hope your eyes are as good as mine are, for your sake. That I need them to read is irrelevant.”
“I just didn’t picture you as the kind of guy to prefer tortiseshell glasses, Malavera,” Kayden quipped. He then looked back to Valentin. “Looks like there should be enough room for us to move our camp into the City of Trugarde. Otherwise, for everyone to attend your party, it’s a good long walk from outside the town to the center of town.”
“As far as i know it’s gonna be at Queen’s Station in Trugarde… At least that’s where we are being diverted to instead of whatever little siding we would’ve used to head to camp. Also, wouldn’t the capital city have at least some public transit?”, Valentin explains/ inquires after listening to Malavera and Kayden doing a 10/10 impression of Holmes and Watson.
“As per your radiator… the cool water will have it contract in places but not in others, hence the cracking. Aluminum expands a lot with temperature. By metal standards, at least…”, Valentin comments on top, referencing the earlier note about how Kivenaal was sending the Bricksley hard during the day.
Malavera sighed, putting his glasses back on and studying the map again. “Trugarde does have a tram line, and it does go to the station, with stops at the market, near the inns and taverns, and the main gate. So, yes, it’s possible we would be able to use whatever they have for trams in that city instead of walking,” Malavera said.
Kayden shrugged. “So, Queen’s Station in Trugarde? And, yeah, that makes sense. Aluminum is weird. One moment,” Kayden said, before studying the radio panel and cranking the knob over to the PA system, turning the volume up quite a bit, grabbing the microphone and climbing up onto the Bricksley’s toolbox. Not that he needed to do this, but he’d seen his sister Kaylie stand on the toolbox and make an announcement, so now he felt it was necessary for all future announcements. He clicked on the microphone and it squealed until Malavera, scowling at him with one head while he turned the volume down, told him, “You jackass! All the way up? Seriously?”
“It seemed like the right idea,” Kayden said, having let go of the button already.
“You have a strong enough voice to not need amplification, Kayden,” Malavera grumbled.
Kayden shook his head, then clicked the microphone again, this time not causing an ear-piercing squeal of feedback. “Okay, people, looks like there’s a small change of plans for the next camp. Instead of being stuck on the outskirts of Trugarde and wandering in for fun, we’re going to be camping inside the city. Valentin has made a big enough splash in Crugandr to have a party thrown in his honor, so we’re going to be there. All of us. On your maps, you’ll see Queen’s Station, there in the middle of Trugarde. Next to it is the City Center. Now, I’m just guessing here, but I think there’s some room near the Station building itself where we might be able to park for the night. We’ll be going up…” Kayden switched the microphone off and looked to Malavera, who grumbled and mentioned, “Station Street.”
“We’ll be going up Station Street and parking in, Malavera, can you help me out here?”
“Queen’s Garden. It’s just outside the station,” Malavera replied.
“We’ll park in the Queen’s Garden. It’s the big area outside the train station. So, to recap, we’re going to a party in the Queen’s Station in Trugarde. To get there, go up Central, turn onto Station Street, and park in the Queen’s Garden,” Kayden announced.
Valentin simply watched as Kayden prepared the large-scale announcement to all of at most 15 people. He had a feeling that he wasn’t gonna be fond of what will happen, but that though was drowned by massive feedback noises deafening him. As a result, he instinctively ducks down covering both ears in an attempt to make the noise less annoying to listen to. Even the other members and locals over at the Dione looked over to see what the commotion was about.
A bit later, Valentin made a cautious attempt at re-establishing his hearing, which, to his delight, was not filled with a high-pitched squealing ringing anymore.
Still, his feelings soon were confirmed as the announcement was made, thus moving the entirety of the camp into the middle of Trugarde, solely because Valentin accidentally broke a speed record and a party was held to honor the record.
While remaining silent, his body language made it rather obvious that he was both uncomfortable with how he now had the attention of everyone and mildly annoyed at how it was delivered, seeing as Valentin was not a party animal by any stretch of the imagination.
Kayden gave a nervous, apologetic smile as he realized Valentin was uncomfortable and annoyed after his announcement. “Sorry. It’s… not often I have to speak in front of a crowd.”
“Yeah, good going, Kayden. You are aware,” Malavera said, “that there’s not many people here right now? Shift Happens is all over the place, we know RK Series is going to be busy as hell, while Hillbilly Rollers and Black Rabbit might be able to pass on the message, we’d be asking a lot from them.”
“Oh, great, so I’m going to have to repeat that for everyone who gets here?” Kayden grumbled. “If we had a recording device, I’d just put that message on a loop and play it over the CB, but I don’t have one.”
“Yeah, and Rukari would outright kill you if you erased one of his tapes to play a message on a loop,” Malavera said.
Valentin was still visibly annoyed, having crossed his arms at how the shakedown run became an intentional stab at the existing speed record.
“Seriously? Neither of you have phones to record that shit onto? Either way, we got the lack of attendance sorted on my part, i guess…”, Valentin grumbled as he started to turn around in preparation to making his way back over to the Dione.
Nova, finally acknowledged in the most loose of terms, finally spoke up. “Thank you! I was getting tired of waiting to see which of these two idiots would figure it out first that they have a recording device.” She materialized in her full-size form standing next to Kayden, and after a few milliseconds to make sure her form was stable, smacked him over the back of the head.
“Hey! Really, Nova? In this heat?” Kayden grumbled.
“Making sure your brain hasn’t cooked in there. Let’s see… Okay, first draft of the repeat message is complete,” Nova said, before speaking it for Valentin to hear. “Attention ‘Insert team here’. We have all been invited to a party in Trugarde. As a result, our camp has been moved to the Queen’s Garden, next to the Queen’s Station, in the center of Trugarde. Thank you for listening.”
After a few moments, she looked to Valentin, her translucent form rippling slightly as the temperature of her chassis increased, introducing some slight instability into her hard-light projector. “Your thoughts?” Nova asked, before grabbing ahold of the Bricksley’s wooden bed rail, pulling herself up, and shrinking her size down to that of the average house-cat.
Having hobbled the first step away from the Bricksley, a female voice made herself know, catching Valentin off guard. In curiosity, he turns around to Nova assuming her full-scale rendering, even getting to witness the smack onto the back of Kayden.
Remembering the first encounter with Nova during the card games a few days prior, he took a bit to process her presence, followed by her reciting the template of the message that was to be transmitted to the other teams.
“That’ll do, i guess…”, Valentin commented, delighted at how Nova managed to pull him out of the equation, but still less-than-pleased about having been put in there in the first place.
Seeing her change in scale, propped up on the bed rail was less off-putting than expected. After all, he’d seen more intense cases of otherwordly happenings during this event.
“Ah, good. Give me a moment… Okay, I’ve identified the four most commonly used frequencies, so I’ll broadcast to the teams as they arrive,” Nova said. “I’d ask you to save me a dance, but… Well, I don’t think either of us will be doing much dancing,” Nova quipped. “I’d overheat too fast out here to enjoy it. And I’m not exactly agile when in Kayden’s armor.”
Valentin patiently waited for Nova to do her thing in locating the four main frequencies.
Her attempt at humor completely flew past Valentin’s head, prompting visible confusion.
“Erm… okay? I think we have stuff sorted now. Definitly, this time.”, Valentin answered, taking a look back at the Dione, where a sizeable crowd has started to form.
“Seems like demand is growing… time for me to head back, then.”, he mumbled, scanning the behavior of the group, who seem to have near-infinite patience, casually chit-chatting and/ or taking laps around Robert solo.
Before starting the return to the Dione and his duties as an impromptu ““tour”” guide, he waited another moment to see if anyone present had something to discuss with him.
As none of them reacted, he went back to the Dione, much to the delight of the locals who have been waiting to get to know both him and the car a bit.
What followed was the usual process of explaining the same stuff over and over, which, while not exactly exciting, did end in some decent tips.
In the early afternoon, demand died down almost completely, as people went back to work after their lunch break, granting Valentin some breathing room, which was spent generously brushing his hair behind some bushes while Tim went about preparing some food for their own lunch break.
Kaylie wandered over to the Bricksley to do some basic maintenance on it, starting by popping the hood and checking the oil. “Oil’s still good,” she said, sliding the dipstick back in and looking up at the under-hood light, which hadn’t turned on. “You’re a problem, but one to solve later,” she muttered to herself. “Driver’s front tire is low,” she added, before grabbing the air compressor out of the toolbox, plugging it into the cigarette lighter, uncoiling the air hose, and flipping the switch.
Silence came from the box, instead of the usual obnoxious buzzing and rattling of the cheap air compressor. She looked back into the truck and saw the tone-arm of the turntable was settled neatly at the halfway mark of a record.
“ARE YOU FUCKING JOKING RIGHT NOW!?” Kaylie bellowed, startling Malavera awake as she yelled in his ear.
“Fucking hell, Kaylie!” Malavera snapped.
“You killed the battery again!” Kaylie snapped back.
“I fell asleep!” Malavera grumbled. “Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but this heat is miserable, so I’ve been getting rest when I can.”
“With the turntable set on repeat, the engine off, and the battery slowly dying,” Kaylie said.
“I’m going to bed, you can deal with getting the battery jump-started again,” Malavera said, getting out of the truck, slamming the door, and crawling into his tent.
Kaylie sighed and looked around the camp for someone who wasn’t doing anything. She couldn’t find Kayden, and Malavera wouldn’t help at that point. Rukari was busy making food. Jayde was deep in meditation, and she knew it helped him after a long day, both to clear his mind and keep him from focusing on his pain. Then she spotted Kivenaal. “Hey, Kivenaal, mind coming over here and lending me a hand with something?”
Kivenaal nodded, then wandered over. “What do you need?” Kivenaal inquired.
“Malavera killed the battery, I’m going to have to remove it. I need you to go over and ask Valentin if he’d mind either trying to charge this one, or if he’s got a spare battery by any chance, because honestly, I think this one’s dead. Oh, and while you’re over there, if you could mention to him that I’d really like to get a ride in there at some point, it’d be nice,” Kaylie said.
Kivenaal grimaced and Kaylie immediately noticed. “What? It’s a simple favor.”
“Yes, and I already owe someone a life-debt that I can never repay. You might think it’s a simple matter, Kaylie, but I’m honor-bound to repay my debts. It’s how I was raised. I’m doing you a favor, yes, by asking a favor from Valentin. I’ll do it, but I don’t like it,” Kivenaal said, not exactly keeping his voice down in the process, but not shouting either.
Kivenaal turned toward the Dione, taking a deep breath after a few heavy steps to try to calm down, because he’d do far more harm than good if he stormed his way over to the Dione in a fit of irritation. After a few seconds, he managed to calm just enough to make his way over at a more calm, measured pace, looking around for Valentin. Not immediately seeing him, Kivenaal mentioned to Tim, who he was able to spot, “I need to speak with Valentin, if that’s possible right now.”
As soon as Kayle shouted across camp, both Tim and Constantin looked over toward the Bricksley in an attempt to figure out what was going on.
“What’s going on over there?”, Tim asked, already looking back onto the pot of MRE in front of him to avoid fucking up the preparation process.
“I dunno… somebody drunk again?”, Constantin answered, equally unsure as to what was happening.
“Apparently a member of Team Shift Happens involuntarily depleted the battery of their vehicle.”, Connor calmly commented, also intently watching the commotion unfold.
Constantin simply kept watching Kaylie’s rage-fit while Tim couldn’t stop a cheeky smile from forming on his face.
Afterwards, some more discussion on the Bricksley’s end followed, this time entirely unintelligible to anyone at the Dione due to reduced volume, followed by Kivenaal approaching them, asking about Valentin.
“Erm… last time i saw him was a moment ago, wielding his brush.” Tim replied, only briefly looking at who was asking in the first place.
“He went that way, behind this bush.” Connor added, pointing at a nearby group of vegetation, behind which Valentin had ‘hidden’ to tend to his haircut in piece and quiet.
“Then I will wait,” Kivenaal said, understanding that Valentin had likely gone to find a bit of peace and quiet in the chaos of this camp, especially after a long day of answering questions. It was, however, a little obvious that Kivenaal was uncomfortable with something, and kept giving light glares in Kaylie’s direction as she continued working on disconnecting the battery from the Bricksley.
“Oh, why the FLYING FUCK are these completely corroded!?” Kaylie yelled. “I SWEAR, BY THE TWIN SUNS, I AM GOING TO TIE HIS TAIL IN A KNOT!”
Kivenaal rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you’re not the one having to ask favors,” he grumbled under his breath, though his voice was powerful enough to still potentially be heard with how close he was to the others.
Tim, Constantin and Connor simply acknowledged his intentions and returned to the process of making food, which once again was interrupted by Kaylie shouting.
While Constantin and Tim were acutely aware of what, or rather, who Kaylie was angry about, Valentin just now took note of her violent shouting.
“Cannot get some peace and quiet, even god-knows-how-far away from earth…” Valentin mumbled, retreating a bit further into the shrubbery to continue freshening himself up.
Back out front, Kivenaal didn’t seem comfortable at all, which was very, if not blatantly obvious to the others present.
“Favors? Need anything?”, Constantin asked, trying to break the ice a bit. Unfortunately, getting straight to business was the only way that came to mind.
Kivenaal grimaced. “Yeah, I hate having to ask about this, but…” Kivenaal sighed. “Malavera killed the battery in our truck, so we have to ask around and see if anyone has a spare battery. Otherwise, I’m going to have to see what I can do to make something that can keep a truck running. And, well… Kaylie’s been wondering about getting a ride in the Dione at some point.”
“As per the dead battery, we do have a spare that we kept out of the Dione i left in Nevada. Dunno how good that one is or if it even fits into that massive truck of yours, but we have that one. For Kayle and her ride… ask Val. His ‘car’, his rules.”, Tim explained, as he turned the gas cooker off and went ahead in portioning the meals for everyone.
Almost as if on cue, Valentin returned with only minimal delay, approaching the others while rearranging his haircut by hand to allow some degree of sight.
Upon spotting Kivenaal, his face was filled with confusion.
“Uhm… hello. Something wrong?”, Valentin muttered.
“Something about their battery being dead and Kaylie wanting a ride aboard the car… Anyway, food’s done. Want some as well?”, Tim said, holding up a small bowl of soup to at most waist-height, as he was sat on the floor next to the cooker.
Kivenaal grimaced lightly, then said to Valentin, “I’m here to ask a couple of favors, and I really hate that I have to do it, but… Malavera completely killed the battery in our truck, so Kaylie sent me over here to ask if you had a battery we could have. And, she’s curious about getting a ride in the Dione at some point.”
At that moment, Kaylie finally wrestled the battery out of the truck, cursing the entire time as she dropped it into the truck bed with a loud crash.
“Great,” Kivenaal muttered. “That’s probably split the casing, so the truck’s going to stink, too. My day just keeps getting better.”
“Can’t say that my day has been great either…” Valentin grumbled. “All the attention you get when you accidentally break multiple record in a three-day hackjob conversion is exhausting…” he added, turning around to inspect the roof rack for it’s contents. Eventually he spots the spare battery that Tim mentioned earlier. He returns to the group afterwards.
“We have this spare flooded lead-acid one we took out of the Dione that pooped it’s brake lines across some Nevadan highway. The one we have installed is a practically new AGM unit, as far as i am aware. Probably overkill given the lack of starting amps needed to get us going…”, Valentin explained.
The fact that Kaylie wanted a ride in the Dione was willingly ignored for the time being, seeing as a more pressing issue was at hand that needed solving first.
“No soup, then. Val? You want some?”, Tim repeated, now addressing Valentin instead of Kivenaal. By that time, Constantin had already begun digging into his meal.
“Meh… Maybe later… steaming soup in this heat isn’t my thing…”, Valentin answered, looking at the less-than-delicious looking pot of grey-ish brown mass.
Kivenaal looked at the battery settled into the roof rack’s contents, then said, “Well, it’s a battery. We’ll have to start push-starting the truck, but we could make that work,” Kivenaal admitted. “It’s better than trying to figure out how to make the engine run without spark, at least. Honestly, I don’t think we’d have the ability to pull off what you did, Valentin. Nor do I really think we have much hope of finishing this ourselves. Our truck overheats all the time, we’ve twice run the battery down to nothing, we have team members who break the truck and won’t do their part to make things right.”
After a moment of silence, Kivenaal said, “Well, if you give me a moment, I’ll just get that battery out of your roof rack and break the news to Kaylie that getting going just got harder.”
“Necessity is the mother of invention, right?”, Valentin said, visibly less annoyed as time goes on. “If you want, a jump start in the mornings isn’t a logistical problem anymore. Robert is now running as a class 1 train since we ‘purposefully’ broke that record. We basically can hop on and off the line wherever and whenever we want at this point. Regarding the battery, have fun with it. I don’t know how good it is exactly, though it should beat a proven-dead one…”
Kivenaal nodded and picked up the battery with his upper right hand, then carefully shuffled it over to his lower left hand to make carrying it a little easier. “That it is, Valentin, that it most certainly is. We’ll make this work. Thank you,” Kivenaal said.
Kivenaal walked back over to the Bricksley carrying the small 40 amp-hour lead-acid battery in his hand, then said to Kaylie, “They had a battery.”
“Kivenaal, I don’t know how to tell you this, but that’s not going to work,” Kaylie said.
“First gear, four-low, and push the truck. Someone dumps the clutch, the engine will run. We just can’t afford to kill this one, too. I don’t think any other teams have a spare, and unless you want me trying to power our truck with lemons, this is our best option right now,” Kivenaal replied.
“And what did Valentin say about a ride?” Kaylie asked.
“He didn’t. I did mention it, but he had a lot on his mind today, so I didn’t pressure him,” Kivenaal said.
“Damn. Well, I’ll have to ask after the party, then,” Kaylie said.
“Party?”
“Yeah, there’s a party in Trugarde tomorrow. Nova’s been telling everyone-”
There was a muffled thud as Kivenaal banged his forehead off of the water jugs on the roof with a groan. “Great. A party. Wonderful,” Kivenaal said sarcastically. “At this point, I’m going to be in another life-debt for all the favors I have to ask just to avoid things like this.”
“It’s not that bad, surely?” Kaylie asked.
“It’s that bad, Kaylie. It really is,” Kivenaal said. “Now I’ve got to go find Jayde and ask him for a favor tomorrow, and eventually I’m going to have to pay all of them back.”
As Kivenaal walked off, Valentin returned to Tim and Constantin, both enjoying their meals. With the soup not scolding hot anymore, he also took his serving. Well… he got handed one after taking a seat on the trunk edge.
Still, for a bare-bones field-grade meal, it was rather pleasant and soon after, the “kitchen” was taken down again.
The remaining afternoon and evening wasn’t all too special, save for the occasional local joining the group from time to time.
to be continued
3 Likes
Team Shift Happens
Previous Chapters:
Send It! - Stage 8 Drive and Camp
“Curiosity” - Collab with Knugcab and Elizipeazie
“The Investigation” - Collab with Elizipeazie and Interior
“We Need Water” - Collab with Elizipeazie
“Drunken Karaoke” - Collab with SurrealCereal
A Team Goes Home / Ideas Brewing in Camp - Stage 9 Drive and Camp
“A Little Shakedown Run” - Collab with Elizipeazie
Mirrors Made From Bumpers / A Vivid Purple Glow / Time to Eat - Stage 9 Camp
The Magistrate Arrives / “Are those bullet holes?” - Stage 9 Camp
Making Donuts / Speed Demon / Arrival in Camp - Stage 10 Drive and Camp
“A Pinch of Glass, a Dash of Magic” - Stage 10 Camp (Written with permission from Knugcab)
“The Clear Mind” - Written in collaboration with TheYugo45GV
“Demons and Dragons Bullshit” - Written by Knugcab
“Power Failure” - Written in collaboration with Elizipeazie
Garda Winn Campsite, 10-and-75 Sun
As the sun began to sink below the tree line, Kaylie closed the hood on the Bricksley after installing the vastly-undersized car battery. She opened up the fuse box and started pulling fuses for non-essential items, namely that damnable radio, so that they wouldn’t kill another battery. Malavera had long since gone to bed, leaving her to fix the mess he’d made. Kivenaal was understandably irritable as he’d had to go ask favors and then found out there was a party to have to deal with tomorrow. Kayden had helped her where he could, but that had mostly been in using a spare toothbrush and a borrowed can of cola to help scrub corrosion off of the connectors. Rukari had finished dishing out bowls of beef stew to everyone who asked for one, and had long since scrubbed out his cooking utensils. Jayde was busy working on a disguise for Kivenaal. Which meant she was really the only one left to fix the truck. She put her tools away, picked up the dead battery from the truck bed and placed it into a couple of plastic trash bags to keep it from shorting out on anything else in the bed, and put the handful of fuses into a plastic food bag and duct-taped them to the back of the passenger’s side sunvisor.
Now, she could sit down and get a little rest. She’d seen many of the team sit on the stumps and logs over the last few hours, and she figured it was as good a place to rest as any other. She pulled a sealed pack of beef jerky out of her pocket and sat down, only to jump right back up again with a pained yowl as she sat on a spiky pincushion. “YOW!” Kaylie yelped, turning around to see what she’d sat on. There, on the log she’d planned to rest on, was Sonic, the little porcupine pet of Team Hillbilly Rollers, now having several quills tipped red with blood. “Right. Come here, you, you’re going back to their van,” Kaylie said, picking up Sonic as carefully as she could with her left hand, moving quickly over to the van and setting the little bundle of misery down in the driver’s seat before heading back over to the Bricksley. (@Knugcab)
“So, yeah, as much as I hate to ask for your help, can you do that?” Kivenaal asked, sitting across from Jayde in the tent.
“Of course. You do know, however, that the spell will be very temporary? About 10 Aetheriian hours at best,” Jayde said.
“That’s all I need. I don’t need people trying to worship me, I just want to be normal for one day at a party. To look as different as I can without physically changing my form,” Kivenaal replied.
“I can do that. I’m thinking, golden tan fur, black jaguar markings? It’s about as far as I can go from being black fur with red tiger stripes without being wild. So unless you want some purple highlights in your mane-”
“No! Golden-tan and jaguar pattern should be fine. I’ll pay you back when I can,” Kivenaal said.
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Jayde replied.
“I’m honor-bound, Jayde. I have to, whether I want to or not,” Kivenaal said, before leaving the tent. “I’ll return in the morning, after we get the truck running.”
4 Likes
Garda Winn, Crugandr
Local time: 4-40 Sun
No Muffler, No Problem
A high pitched whirring came from the direction of the Magistrate, and naturally it sparked some curiosity from the two teams parked side by side. Some didn’t think too much of it, but for the “captain” of Team Oil Crisis, it was enough to get him out of his chair. As he got up and rounded the corner of the Bricksley, he was greeted by a familiar lombax laying on the ground with his entire upper torso under the big green wagon, with several sparks flying out from underneath.
“Orlen, what the fuck are you doing?”
The name bearer flinched when he heard his name and bumped his snout on the frame rail. “Ow! What does it look like? I’m trying to give us extra ground clearance.” he said making no attempt to get out from underneath.
“By doing what? Straight piping our car?”
“No.”
“You clearly are trying to cut off the exhaust. Move!”
A boot nearly hit Aidan in the face.
“Hey, stop that!”
“When you get out of my way.”
“No!”
A sigh. “Then I have no choice.”
Orlen grabbed the frame rail when he heard that, knowing he would be dragged out by force and like always, the struggle started. But, the frame rails of Union Magistrates were very difficult to hold onto especially with combat gloves, and the gloves, despite their design, had very little grip on the rusted metal.
“H-- Hey! No, let go of me!”
“I’ll only do that when I get you out from under the car,”
“Piss off.”
“No.”
“Well then go and fu–.”
“What’s going on here?” A female voice said. Aidan froze and then let go of his brother’s ankle, and saw a certain tiger standing behind him.
“I’m trying to stop him from cutting the exhaust off the car.”
The blue eyes suddenly darkened in anger, though not full fury.
“Exhaust! Please tell me you didn’t cut off the cats. Because if you did, I’m going to force feed them to you.” Kaylie hissed.
“Woah, calm down there Mrs. EPA. I didn’t even go near the converters, I left like 5 inches.”
“That better be true.”
“See for yourself.”
Before the brothers knew, she was on the ground looking under the car. Five tense seconds passed before Kaylie sighed in relief.
“Oh thank the stars, I’m thankful that you actually seem to care about pollution.”
Orlen grunted as he pulled himself out from under the car. “Of course we do. Eh, well, I do at least. I’m not sure about the others…” He trailed off when he saw the look his brother was giving him.
“I’m glad. Anyway, are you sure it’s wise to cut your exhaust off?”
“It gives us extra ground clearance.”
Kaylie shrugged. “I guess? But you just made the car a whole lot louder, I feel like the next stage will be total misery for you guys.” and with that she left.
“This is your doing, Orlen, if I hear you complaining, I will leave you by the side of the road. Do you understand?” his brother said.
A sigh of exasperation came from him. “Loud and clear.”
“Let’s get back to the others now. There’s no need to be all the way over here.”
The leaves crunched under foot as they walked back to where everyone was sitting, still neither of the two couldn’t help but look in the direction of the Yamada ASR-4. A sense of dread washed over them, but not the kind that was triggered by fear or uncertainty, but by suspicion and indignation. The big eyed, innocent looking crossover sat dormant across the camp but deep down the brothers knew it was a possible threat. Even the Magistrate with its stoned, emotionless, thousand yard stare, and the gaping grill that would be drooling if it were a mouth, seemed to have a bad feeling about the small car.
A slow but sharp inhale filled Aidan’s lungs. “I’ve got a bad feeling about that thing over there.” he said, making sure to keep his voice down and indicating the direction of the Yamada with a small nod. “Something tells me that it doesn’t appreciate our presence.”
The second set of blue eyes fixed their gaze on the red crossover, and the voice also made sure to keep itself low. “You think it’s a living creature as well?”
“Yeah, but there’s no way to know what that car’s intentions are. Does it want to kill us, put our car out of commission, or judge us from a distance?”
“Suppose if it wants to kill us? Do we have anything that’s powerful enough to fend it off?”
Aidan shrugged. “Only thing I can think of is Pavel’s wrench and its gate crasher setting.”
“That’s pretty overkill for a midsize crossover SUV, I’ve seen that thing turn a three ton armored door into a pile of mangled scrap metal.”
“Well now we know what power setting to use when there’s an altercation.”
Rolling his eyes, Orlen rounded the corner of the Bricksley, still keeping his voice low enough not to be intelligible to others. “It’s best we stay alert, just in case, because shit could hit the fan real quick.”
Aidan didn’t respond, for he had a thought of his own. If only there was some way to figure out that car’s secret. However, there was a thought deep down, that whatever that crossover was hiding would not remain hidden any longer and the Magistrate would somehow be involved.
Whatever it was, Aidan hoped all hell wouldn’t break loose.
To Be Continued (Like Always)
4 Likes
UZMK.....................TMI......................................FUTILITY..................DEATH.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
written alongside @TheYugo45GV
cring warning: vehicular bodily horror (???)
2022
SHITBOX RALLY
SHITBOX RALLY
BLAZERS
STAGE: 10+0.5
Secret
The clock struck to the middle of the night, every movement of her cruel hands resonating the ticking of a second within any being’s heart. But as serene as the humid darkness was, dread and sorrow was not easy to wipe away, even with the howling of the wind through the forest leaves and the crackling of the twigs that coincided with the murmurs of fauna.
Garda Winn’s camp was asleep, or it seemed most of them were. A few outcasts here and there, but none significant enough to bear witness to anything that would happen at this time of darkness. Huddled in their tents was everyone except for a single fellow, determined by what could perhaps be his curiosity, or possibly even an unlikely fear at one team’s vehicle. Whatever the case was, there was something that he felt needed to be done.
Orlen couldn’t sleep, something had been troubling him constantly since his conversation with his brother that previous afternoon. Sure, the Yamada ASR-4 had a secret and its intentions were unknown, but he felt that he needed to find out what that secret was before everyone else did. He didn’t understand why, but Orlen only knew that he had to and that there would be no hesitation. The sky blue eyes stared at the nylon ceiling of the tent. Malcolm would be asleep and he would remain sleeping until morning and the three in the Magistrate wouldn’t hear a thing. At least, this time something was done right. Enough stalling, now was the time to make the move. A glance at the watch on the furry wrist showed 1:05AM. The only reason no one would be sleeping at this time of night was that they suffered from insomnia or if they also had an urge to go poking around another team’s car.
The lever action rifle was leaning against his backpack, and a box of .58 Pointed ammunition sat next to it. Did he really want to take that with him? Of course, it was unwise considering the incident that happened during the second stage of the rally, but all hell could easily break loose. He sighed, yes he could go and try to get the omniwrench from the car, but that risked waking up the three sleeping in it.
As quiet as the breeze outside, Orlen slung the rifle over his shoulder, grabbed 10 spare rounds from the ammunition box, stuffing them in a pocket and the flashlight from the backpack inserted in its spot on the belt. Was this really wise? Was it really worth it to risk his life to satisfy the overwhelming curiosity? The hesitation vanished as quickly as it had formed, and the tan furred lombax dragged himself out of the tent.
The Bricksley Highwayman stood dormant and darkened in the clearing, and it didn’t appear that whoever was inside was awake. Across from his position, beside the passenger side fender of the pickup truck, was the yellow Dauer coupe, which was the next piece of cover he had from anyone who might have been awake. Crouching and using the gust of wind to mask his movements, Orlen jogged quietly across the road and laid himself into the prone position right next to the Dauer. In the distance was the Yamada crossover, its red paint glistening in the moonlight. Again with the same stealth and agility, he moved closer and closer towards his destination.
Soon there was only one car that waited between him and the Yamada. The EAAC Aphrodite of Team Witchlight. This was the opportunity to see where Team Blazers’ tent was set up. On the far side of the car towards the camp entrance, not ideal but still better than expected.
The red car sat dormant, the headlights looked as though they were closed like the eyes of a living creature, its glossy and metallic red paint seemed alive, like blood flowing through a thin layer of skin. From afar, one might have mistaken the flakiness of the paint to be iron like that in a creature’s vital life fluids, yet up close it was very clearly metal flakes.
Orlen dropped his act and slowly crept over to it, with curiosity now at its peak. This thing sure looked alive, it heaved as though it were breathing. The lombax kneeled down on one knee, next to the driver side front fender and waved a hand in front of the grille. Heat, but not the dry engine heat, moist heat that felt like a gentle mist.
Without any sort of second thought, the lever action rifle was no longer hanging from his shoulder but in his hands, with the muzzle facing upwards and away from him and the shoulder stock facing the tire wrapped around the wheel.
“Here goes nothing.”
The shoulder stock impacted the tire, with a dull and gentle thud which didn’t have the strength to force anyone out of their sleep. The thud sounded like any noise a wooden stock firearm would’ve made when hitting a hollow piece of rubber, and he stood back in anticipation of something happening.
Yet, nothing did. He breathed a sigh of relief for a moment, but still the skepticism was there. Slowly, he crept around the vehicle towards the front end where he met eyes with the vehicle. The halogens and its filaments creating a round shape that vaguely resemble orbs of a living organism felt as though it was staring back at him, creepy but not a telltale sign of life.
“‘Alive’ my ass. What the hell were we so worried about?”
Orlen once again took the stock of his rifle and with a swift whack, made contact with the auxiliary lamps that rested atop of the crimson vehicle’s hood. The sound it made was plasticky, very much like you would expect from anything that isn’t alive. He looked back at the tent, not sensing any movement despite the volume of the impact between his weapon and the vehicle. He continued further, relatively sure the car was just another car, but with a slight hint of uncertainty nonetheless. He aimed for the headlamp this time, the disturbing gaze which seemed to follow his every move, and with another hit to its plastic frame, the headlight came off its mounting.
“Quite shoddily made… this… thing…” His voice began to trail off as his eyes caught something.
He looked at the stock of his weapon, there were droplets of a viscous liquid that stuck to the end of it, and his eyes grew wide as he quickly shifted his gaze back towards the car. The Yamada’s headlight still clung onto the vehicle partially, held on by a fleshy strand of pink and red fiber that looked biological in nature.
“What the hell is that?!” He wasn’t able to see it clearly, but instantly recoiled from the ungodly sight before him.
He looked closer at the rest of the vehicle’s front, the bumper began to slowly slide off, and unusually coloured liquids began to drip onto the ground below the blood-red crossover. The auxiliary lamp that he had delivered a swift hit from his rifle was beginning to sag off of the hood, and with it came the fibrous material that matched the headlight’s. The darkness made it hard to see all of this happening, but with a certainty he could tell that something was definitely not right with this vehicle.
The vehicle’s lights suddenly turned on, and he was nothing short of flashbanged by the sudden arrangement of lamp fixtures that illuminated his peripheral vision. Now with the addition of radiating light from the vehicle, he could see clearly the sight before him. Incisors like that of a live creature, that were flanked by pairs of canines covered in a disturbingly tinted liquid. The bumper had fallen off of the front entirely, along with a twitching bunch of fleshy substances that had gathered all around.
Yet again, that same material that clung the headlight onto the bodywork was present as it stretched out before him, extending out onto the vehicle’s front bumper as it lay on the ground, twitching and pulsating erratically.
From behind the headlight which slowly fell down, landing onto the muscular fibers that held the bumper, he could see something stare back at him, a gazing pair that seemed to look deep into his soul. He could see an aqueous reflecting his own self in the pairs of gazes as they blinked right back at him.
The lower set of tusks slowly began to move in a disturbing creak that sounded like bone marrow merging and steel warping, and from within, more various bits of flesh began to appear that slowly leaked out of the apparent mouth of the being. More stares began looking at him from within this black abyss, covered in the same pink, veiny muscles that covered most of the so-called machine’s front end without the bumper’s covers.
The light, despite pointing in multiple and many directions, all seemed to focus on him at the moment. Orlen was nothing short of frozen at this very moment, he had the urge to run, or draw his weapon, but whatever being ahead of him right now simply kept him locked in the same position, immoving as a voice began to call out to him. The voice was unrecognizable, but feminine, seemingly coming from every direction all around him, whether it was in front of him from the red car ahead, or behind, above, or below, it was indiscernible, for the voice was coming from his head. Words that broadcasted into his head made no sense, either a foreign language, or he was too dazed in the moment. Letters of unrecognizable origin all flashing right before his very eyes as streaks began running past his face.
He felt as though his vision was suddenly transported to another place, he was seeing flashes of areas he had seemingly never seen before. Horrific sights that casted into his head and made him want to scream out loud from the gore that was all laid out in his mind but filled his psychological vision. Laboratories, experiments, blood, flesh, veins. All of these were rushing into his mind as he fell onto the ground below, his head still locked towards the Yamada. His mouth ran agape, but no words could come out, not even a sound.
From visions of unknown locations and horrors, it shifted towards his own memories, from his past, there were flashing amber lights, lighting up the sides of the buildings in the night, a starship running from him, then the vision changed as the ship Orlen was piloting, was T-boned by some unknown craft which shifted into the falling from the bridge where he nearly killed himself and his friends, then it was the shooting, the silhouetted figure dropping to the ground, the ambulance rolling up, then it was the forest in Crugandr, the M16 and the grenade launcher and then the shooting at the Dyre.
A girl’s voice called out, it was soft, unfamiliar to him for he had never heard a tone as sweet as this one. From his surroundings, a blue aura began to glow around him, and he was able to break the lock that the Yamada was holding onto him. He quickly turned his head around, and there stood a silver-haired girl no taller than a child. She chanted words that sounded incredibly foreign to him, almost seeming like gibberish. In her hand, a large trident that stood almost twice her height was being pointed towards the red vehicle.
He looked back at the car as it began to glow blue, and he heard a ghastly howl that came from between its jaws. It was a yowl that sounded vaguely like that of a church hymn, but was still so alien he wasn’t able to immediately tell the difference between it, and the being’s true figure of speech. The girl behind him he was able to now recognize as wind seemed to blow her hair away from her face, it was none other than the fish girl from Blazers, who he had never gotten the name of. She continued to chant more words at the vehicle ahead of him, and she moved her other hand towards the trident, holding it horizontally now, perpendicular to the vehicle’s front.
“Consummatum est! Daina!”
With a final chant from the girl, a faster wind began to move all around them in a seemingly cyclone-like pattern, and the blue aura followed around towards the vehicle as the knocked off bodypanels began to reassemble themselves onto the car’s front. The fluids that ran on the ground looked as though they were now flowing in reverse back towards where they came from, and the ground was now spotless. Before the headlight closed the vehicle back up, Orlen could see the eye that was once staring at him begin to squirm in almost a pleading way as the light covered it back up. Before long, the vehicle returned the way it was, except for a spot of tear-like liquid that lined the bottom of the headlight that had fallen off. Eventually, the car had seemingly shut off entirely, and the only thing illuminating them now was this mysterious cyan light that shone from what looked to be beneath them.
Orlen readied his weapon as he got up, but as he turned around, he saw the trident’s three prongs pointed right at his face, not being held by the girl whatsoever. In her eyes was a cloudy look, unreadable and indecipherable.
“You are not to speak of this incident no matter what, for it did not happen. Return to your team at once and enter into a state of slumber.”
She stood completely still, and the aquamarine trident continued to be pointed at his face. He could see her eyes glow a slight red, which quickly began to glow in a near flame-like look as her piercing gaze deepened. The trident eventually disappeared from his sight, and the light that illuminated them began to fizzle out, leaving behind a fine blue mist of sorts, but the girl still stood there, her eyes and certain streaks of her hair glowing a red that was just enough to illuminate her face.
Orlen simply stood there with a cold look on his face, but simply removed something off his belt, put it to his neck, and activated it. A puff of air came from the device followed by a mechanism clicking. There was an interval of 10 seconds before the cold look on his face vanished, and then he began to walk, pushing past the girl and disappearing off into the night.
Arriving back at the tent, he put the rifle, ammo and flashlight back in their respective places and laid back on his sleeping bag. He waited a moment for the dream inhibitor serum to take effect, preparing himself for the all too familiar sudden blackout that came with it. Then all consciousness disappeared, as though something had struck him in the head. He made no movements, no murmurs, he just lay there, immobile with his chest rising and falling with the breaths he took. In the unconsciousness, his memory would reset to the moment right before the visions began during the encounter, with everything past that being erased from existence. But, unbeknownst to anyone else, even himself, there was only a matter of time before another car would go berserk, at the press of a button and label the red crossover, an enemy.
9 Likes
mf that car with all its parts falling off revealing the flesh feels like looking at an EVA without its armor
1 Like
Machinas Con Passione’s Shitbox Adventures Part 8 - We tried so hard.
>Be Giacomo
>Get fast stage
>Car is Aerodynamic and engine is Stronk, if nothing else
>EZ win boys
>inevitable fuel issue
>Bill, our beloved cat-alien-thing, took the liberty of slashing our tires mid stop, maybe I shouldn't have taken his lunch earlier
>Chad renders me crippled by using the patented jackswing again
>Be threatened by both Benjamin and Maria into helping with the next stop, because apparently having my shins shattered by the tire jack isn't a good reason to lie around and do nothing for the rest of the stage
>Next fuel stop
>Tires 'splode again.
>Apparently, chewing gum isn't the best way to fix all of your problems. Who coulda guessed.
>Use the last of my hair gel to seal the holes in the tires for good.
>Now I'll have to look like the 50 year old man that I am
>Cry the rest of the way back to camp and all throughout our stay.
>Didnt even win the stage.
>A rare L for the Scarfiottis.
5 Likes
TEAM HILLBILLY ROLLERS
Earlier parts
PART 0.1 - A prologue to the prologue
PART 0.2 - Another piece of the prologue puzzle
PART 0.3 - Viva la IP 4Z!
PART 0.4 - Robotman
PART 0.5 - Interference problems
PART 0.6 - Can I play Tetris?
PART 0.7 - Tangerine and familiar
PART 1.0 - Now things got serious!
PART 1.1 - Hello, Thibault and friends!
PART 1.2 - Poor kitty
PART 1.3 - Curse you, Team Oil Crisis!
PART 1.4 - Interlude
PART 2.0 - Bird bird bird, bird is the word!
PART 2.1 - D. Head
PART 2.2 - Good night!
PART 3.0 - Freeway Rockstar
PART 3.1 - DISCO TJO DISCO HEJ
PART 3.2 - Van-Werewolf 1-0
PART 4.0 - Calm after the storm
PART 5.0 - Mirror mirror on the…oh, crap!
PART 5.1 - Hello, little puppies!
PART 6.0 - Speed
PART 6.1 - GIMME OXYGEN! (feat. Madrias)
PART 6.2 - Steamin’ hot! (feat. Elizipeazie)
PART 7.0 - The Kayak
PART 7.1 - Marie the valkyrie?
PART 7.2 - Vegetables
PART 7.3 - Time to tie things up.
PART 8.0 - The hangover
PART 8.1 - The new team member
PART 9.0 - From pink to brown
PART 9.1 - Co-op with Madrias and Elizipeazie
PART 9.2 - Where is Sonic?
PART 10.0 - First at last!
PART 10.1 - Co-op with Variationofvariables
PART 11.0 - Why is this van so damn fast?
PART 11.1 - Co-op with Madrias
PART 11.2 - Demons and dragons bullshit
PART 11.3 - Oops, thank you, Kaylie!
"SOOOONIC! WHERE ARE YOU? SOOOONIC!", Andreas was shouting.
"Stop shouting", Janne said. "He is not exactly a dog, you can’t call him in like that."
"I bet that little pest is just hiding from Marie anyway.", Andreas answered.
"Well, I don’t care, as I said, if you start feeding a wild animal, you have to keep doing it.
The team kept looking for Sonic that seemed to be nowhere. Finally, they gave up, and headed back to the van.
"How are we going to explain to Marie that the little spikey pest is gone?", Andreas was wondering.
"Well, I will just blame it on you, and she will believe me since she knows that you hate Sonic", Janne said cynically.
Approaching the van, they saw Kaylie walking around near it. Maybe she knew anything?
"Hey, Kaylie, have you seen Son…", Andreas started to ask her, when she gave them a dirty look without saying something. Then she turned around and showed some traces of dried blood.
"Oh…"
"I put him back in the van, Kaylie said in a sour tone. "Keep better track of him now!"
With the porcupine problem out of the way, they took a look at passed out Marie again.
"Did she really drink ALL of the beer?", Janne asked.
"Uhm…no, there is two cans left", Andreas said.
"Fine. She won’t remember them anyway", Janne said. They both grabbed a can, popped it open and started drinking from them.
"Cheers!", Janne said.
"I bet she will be a PITA tomorrow!", Andreas said a bit worried.
"Well, WHEN she wakes up, yes.", Janne answered.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Kaylie used with permission from @Madrias
4 Likes
Shitbox Rally
Stage 11 – Garda Winn to Trugarde
Stage Start: 1 Sun, 29/7/3251, Garda Winn Campsite
Weather at Stage Start: Warm (30C), cloudy and humid, a light breeze.
Weather at mid-stage: Slightly warmer (32C), less cloudy, still humid, the wind has increased mildly.
Weather at Stage End (First Car): Warm (32C), slightly fewer clouds, mild humidity, a good breeze.
Weather at 5 Sun: Hot (34C), the sun peeks through the clouds on occasion, humidity fading, calm wind.
Weather at Stage End (Last Car): Hot (35C), though rapidly transitioning to Warm (33C) as the sun gets blocked by clouds.
Stage End (First Car): 3 and 51 Sun, 29/7/3251, Trugarde, Queen’s Station
Stage End (Last Car): 5 and 41 Sun, 29/7/3251, Trugarde, Queen’s Station
Weather at end of day: Warm (31C), cloudless sky, humidity has dropped significantly as the wind picks up.
Like many of the other major cities, the road leading into Trugarde is beautifully smooth cobblestone. Unlike the other major cities, however, the thing that’s most noticed on this road is traffic. Between lizard drawn carriages, people riding lizards, a couple of wizards in robes riding giant six legged cats, and a multitude of primitive self-propelled carriages, the road is actually what some might call “busy.” An ear-shattering four-cylinder droning echoes through the forest on a fast approach, and (almost) everyone gets to see what looks like an old Model-T Ford roadster with a tractor-pulling header spewing blackish-gray smoke into the air, coupled up to an old open carriage, racing along with the engine backfiring and spitting fireballs out of the exhaust as the driver hits bumps in the road. Those with keen eyes might be able to notice that the Valraadi in the driver’s seat has orange fur, but black stripes that match the pattern on Rukari’s body almost perfectly, and are so dangerously close to Kivenaal’s stripes that it’s almost obvious they are related in some way. The passengers in the carriage wave to the contestants, with one being a human female with lively red-scaled pythons for hair, another being a lion shifter sitting on what used to be the driver’s seat with a pump-action shotgun in his hands, the third being a huge black wolf the size of the Dyre some teams fought, but wearing robes similar to Jayde’s robes, and the fourth passenger being a large tiger-shifter who had a miniaturized three-headed dragon perched on his left shoulder, as a pirate might do with a parrot. The mysterious contraption, clearly named the “Little Monster” courtesy of some gold lettering on the black hood, thunders on down the road, heading for Garda Winn.
As everyone on the road approaches the campsite, they are instead directed by the City Guards of Trugarde into the city, guided toward a large area surrounding the massive train station almost at the perfect center of this thriving Victorian-style city. The more curious of you might ask a guard to know how many people live here, and would be surprised to learn that more than 750,000 people, both humans and shape-shifters alike, live in this city. Signs are posted everywhere, welcoming our teams to use the taverns and inns to get some food, drink, and much needed rest. Steam-powered trams shuffle around a large loop of track running through the city, offering an easy way to get from place to place without driving. Folk music is being played surprisingly loudly from a couple of different bands, and every so often, a group of Valraadii join the musical rotation to belt out a sea shanty or two before surrendering the stage to music once more. Settled neatly in the center of the station is Team RK Series Racing, the Tangerine Tank Engine resting neatly on the rails as people stared and asked questions while photographers took pictures. An elegant lady has settled in a relatively comfortable looking chair behind an easel with a palette, paintbrushes, and tins of paint nearby, currently sketching out the basic outline of the Dione so she could paint it along with the crew later.
Notes: Randomization is active. Breakdowns are active. Time is in Earth Time.
Team Shift Happens
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 04:33:23
Average MPH: 77.9
Randomizer: 13
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3552
After discussions about who should drive, there was an unexpected and unplanned-for volunteer: Nova, the Class 3 AI with Mobility Support that often helped out Kayden. When fitted into Kayden’s 500-pound suit of powered armor, Nova fired up her hard light projector to at least show her head in the right place, helped start the truck, then climbed up into the driver’s seat for her first real time behind the wheel. With the rest of the team haphazardly piled into the truck, and Kaylie already on her way to Trugarde in the Dione, Nova put her foot down and woke up the mighty V8. In a furious flurry of wheelspin, the Bricksley storms out of camp like a Dyre with its tail on fire.
As they hurtle down the road, the big V8 engine under the hood responds eagerly to Nova’s heavy right foot with a menacing roar, sending the truck screaming down the road and hurtling into what would have been their campsite at a great rate of speed. Inside the city, however, she’s calm and collected, as well as constantly keeping her sensors on high alert so that she doesn’t bump into anyone with the big-ass truck. Crawling along at walking pace among crowds of people, bicycles, primitive motor cars, and Trugarde’s steam trams, Nova manages to get the Bricksley all the way down Station Street with only a minor incident, and parks in the Queen’s Garden, where the crew gets out.
Unfortunately for Kivenaal, Jayde’s little camouflage spell ended up making him both quite easily noticed thanks to his bright golden-tan pelt and jaguar spots, and even worse, had the appearance of Xelth from the Old Stories when he would hide out among mortals.
Team Wayfarers
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 06:21:52
Average MPH: 55.81
Randomizer: 10
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3552
Sure, it’s not fast, but Jack agreed that not turning the engine into a molten puddle of goo was probably better than mashing his foot into the firewall and possibly hurting the engine of the truck. Especially with a certain sentient Yamada sitting around.
@Executive
###Team Gearknobs
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 06:41:14
Average MPH: 53.1
Randomizer: 7
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 3 (Tires)
Total Distance Traveled: 3552
Blam Blam Blam Blam! A moment of inattention lead to a mild off-road excursion. Returning to the road revealed, all too late, a line of jagged, sharp rocks that you ran over at speed, popping all four tires. Luckily, the group of heroes with the noisy-ass motor-car pulling a carriage behind it stopped to help out. The huge wolf who towered over your car and the team at 10 feet tall, calls himself “Russell” and offers to use magic to fix the blown out tires of the poor little Hakaru Carica. After levitating it off of the ground to his eye level, he waves a wand the size of a goblin’s staff and the tires seal up and reinflate in seconds. After gently returning the car to the ground, they continue onward, leaving team Gearknobs to get back in and finish the stage.
Team Fallen Angels of the Past
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 06:32:43
Average MPH: 54.2
Randomizer: 8
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 4 (Team Caused)
Total Distance Traveled: 3552
There were two brief stops on the way. The first was to rescue a poor turtle that was laying on its back in the middle of the road by carefully picking it up and setting it back on its feet in the grass. The second was when they slammed on the brakes to stare at the unusual crew cruising by, cheering and waving. Did that woman really have snakes for hair!?
Team Oil Crisis
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 05:14:15
Average MPH: 67.8
Randomizer: 10
Refueling Stops: 2
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3552
After the sprint yesterday, it was agreed on to keep the Magistrate’s speed under control so as to not risk blowing up the Narrowblock’s head gaskets again. A small duel with the Bricksley on the road increased their pace for a short time, at least until they had to stop for fuel. During the first fuel stop, the two pups both managed to catch a couple of rabbits. After making sure they ate their food outside of the car so as to not stain the seats with rabbit blood, the two were cleaned up and loaded back into the Magistrate.
Team Hillbilly Rollers
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 06:34:11
Average MPH: 54.0
Randomizer: 7
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 1 (Powertrain)
Total Distance Traveled: 3552
The van really didn’t appreciate spending almost 180 miles on the rev-limiter the day before, and expressed that lack of appreciation in the only way it could. With a quiet twang, snap, and clatter, the IP 4Z rattled to a halt. Janne smiled, expertly popped the engine apart enough to change the broken timing belt, and had Andreas try cranking it again. There was another snap, and after removing the engine cover, quite a lot of swearing as Janne realized it had broken another timing belt. Luckily, some really strange looking heroes showed up in an equally strange-looking vehicle, offering them a tow into Trugarde. Andreas was freaking out because the woman had “fucking snakes” for hair, the wolf was as big as a Dyre, and the Valraadi clearly had some sort of rather-quite-large rifle cannon sitting in the front bench seat with him. After some basic negotiations for taking them as far as Trugarde’s gate, the wounded IP Freeway Star had the driveshafts disconnected and was chained behind the flat carriage. The way back was ear-shatteringly loud as every bump forced the driver’s foot off of the gas pedal, producing a deafening, echoing bang from the exhaust, as well as a dirty great fireball each time it happened. On the plus side, as they rolled into the camp and were disconnected from the mysterious “Little Monster,” one of the guards hitched a lizard up to the tow hooks and, after climbing onto the giant iguana’s back, towed the van smoothly into the party area with the rest of the cars.
Team Witchlight
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 04:42:23
Average MPH: 75.4
Randomizer: 11
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3552
With Ambay snoring in the back, Finne cleaning and polishing weapons, Kira reading her spellbook, and Elist driving their car, Team Witchlight’s witchy-cruiser thundered on down the road. All of them appreciated, after seeing so many humans on the road lately, getting a glimpse of the Five Heroes of Aetherii as they went by.
Team Mravolinski-Chitco
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 05:47:16
Average MPH: 61.3
Randomizer: 10
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3552
This was, for all intents and purposes, a very boring stage for the team. After using up the last of the dusty roll of duct tape to make sure their cargo was secure, Mrdja set off at a reasonable pace, and after deciding this was fast enough, he set the cruise control. None of them were exactly surprised to see even more weird people cruising on by in their deafeningly-loud vehicle, but they politely waved back.
Team Blazers
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 04:17:27
Average MPH: 82.7
Randomizer: 11
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3552
Romulo climbs behind the wheel of the Yamada, and man and living machine again become one as they set off with a remarkable and surprisingly proud squealing chirp of tires from the AWD crossover. The Yamada’s mechanical heart pounds several thousand times per minute, the wheels roar across the smooth road, the lights almost appear to look ahead at where they’re going. Air rushes in through the intake in a loud hiss, like a runner desperately trying to breathe through their mask, while air rushes out through the exhaust with a loud snarling roar. Every gear change is smooth and fluid and crisp, right at the peak of the engine’s power. The brake pads bite into the rotors like Dyre on the hunt, dragging their speeding prey down to a halt. Tires scrabble for grip like clawed paws as they go around corners at a speed greater than most would dare. And, by the time they reached Trugarde, it was as if the beast had been satisfied for now, a low, muted, almost-content growl coming from the exhaust as they cruised smoothly through town, over the tram tracks and up to the area surrounding the train station.
Team Machinas Con Passiones
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 05:18:09
Average MPH: 66.9
Randomizer: 11
Refueling Stops: 4
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3552
Team MCP’s Aerodynamic Wedge-Shaped Beast becomes a musical concert on wheels as everyone with an instrument attempts to play it while hurtling down the road. Surprisingly, they’re not too bad when they’re sober, and soon, they start really getting into it. Even stopping for fuel wasn’t so bad, as while Thibault had to handle fuel cans, the rolling band van entertained anyone left crawling along at a normal pace, at least until the tank was full.
Team Quick Rally 47
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 06:17:41
Average MPH: 56.4
Randomizer: 7
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 1
Total Distance Traveled: 3552
As the Mara’s engine shudders to a stop once again with the oil light flashing, the two Xenoarchaeologists get out to perform the same routine maintenance they’ve done several times before. Except, this time, the oil pressure sensor is still plugged in, courtesy of the high-strength industrial-grade, space-resistant tape you used the last time. This time, the sensor itself has come out of the block, and the engine has piddled away most of the oil between the moment the sensor came out, and the moment the engine finally shut down. After carefully screwing the sensor back in and refilling the oil, the Mara Kanyon thunders on ahead. That’s three times the crafty folk in the Mara design department have saved an engine, even if two times were just false readings.
Team Mrezhari
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 05:36:49
Average MPH: 63.2
Randomizer: 9
Refueling Stops: 0
Breakdown: 4 (Team Caused)
Total Distance Traveled: 3552
Despite traveling around in racing helmets and full fire suits, the team proves themselves to not be heartless as they stop traffic long enough to let three young Dyre cross the road. The hunting pack gives a howl of thanks as they disappear off into the woods on the other side, while the team piles into the Dunav, unaware or uncaring that they just stood across the road to let three apex predators cross safely.
Team Jockey
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 04:37:43
Average MPH: 76.7
Randomizer: 11
Refueling Stops: 2
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3552
Despite being often mistaken for an unusually large rolling cheese wedge, the tiny Yinzer buzzes right along without any incidents for once.
Team RK Series Racing
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 03:55:17
Average MPH: 90.5
Randomizer: 13
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3552
It’s a fast cruise at line speed for Robert, the Redneck Railcar, finally getting a priority spot on the line. This section of track is rated at a particularly high speed, and the delays are thanks to having to stop at a station to let Kaylie off, combined with all of the necessary shunting at the end of the run, shuffling into the center of the Station platform. With a squeal of brakes and a hiss of steam, the Tangerine Tank Engine claims first place.
Team Black Rabbit
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 04:43:24
Average MPH: 75.2
Randomizer: 13
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3552
It’s a long, flat, relatively smooth road with only a few turns involved, which means Melanie is able, once again, to really open up the Dauer’s throttle and let the six cylinders scream. As the Five Heroes pass, Tanuki wanted to fire a warning shot for fun until she saw the rather large guns being carried by most of the crew onboard the carriage.
Team Spy Kids
Distance Traveled: 355.2
Time (HH:MM:SS): 04:35:54
Average MPH: 77.2
Randomizer: 11
Refueling Stops: 1
Breakdown: 0
Total Distance Traveled: 3552
Having learned in the last stage to keep it between the ditches, the AST Elbrus is guided along the road like the world’s slowest cruise missile.
Stage Finishing Order:
Earth ET – Aetheriian ET – Arrival Time – Team
03:55:17 – 2h and 51m – 3 and 51 Sun – Team RK Series Racing
04:17:27 – 2h and 71m – 3 and 71 Sun – Team Blazers
04:33:23 – 3h and 05m – 4 and 05 Sun – Team Shift Happens
04:35:54 – 3h and 08m – 4 and 08 Sun – Team Spy Kids
04:37:43 – 3h and 09m – 4 and 09 Sun – Team Jockey
04:42:23 – 3h and 13m – 4 and 13 Sun – Team Witchlight
04:43:24 – 3h and 15m – 4 and 15 Sun – Team Black Rabbit Corporation
05:14:15 – 3h and 42m – 4 and 42 Sun – Team Oil Crisis
05:18:09 – 3h and 46m – 4 and 46 Sun – Team Machinas Con Passiones
05:36:49 – 3h and 63m – 4 and 63 Sun – Team Mrezhari
05:47:16 – 3h and 72m – 4 and 72 Sun – Team Mravolinski-Chitco
06:17:41 – 4h and 20m – 5 and 20 Sun – Team Quick Rally 47
06:21:52 – 4h and 24m – 5 and 24 Sun – Team Wayfarers
06:32:43 – 4h and 33m – 5 and 33 Sun – Team Fallen Angels of the Past
06:34:11 – 4h and 34m – 5 and 34 Sun – Team Hillbilly Rollers
06:41:14 – 4h and 41m – 5 and 41 Sun – Team Gearknobs
So, normally, there’d be my team post here. However… Well, let’s just say that I had an idea that required a little collaboration to get things started, and while there will be a team post, it’s not going to be bundled in with the stage details this time.
7 Likes
RK Series Racing; Stage 11 Drive
once again, in collab with @Madrias.
Jayde groaned as Kivenaal woke him up. “Really? Before breakfast?” Jayde said, wincing as he slowly got up into a seated position. Kaylie had already gotten up and dressed, going over to the truck to make sure things were ready to go.
“You know I can’t sleep,” Kivenaal said. “But, we planned for this the other night, that disguise thing. The,” Kivenaal pulled a slightly annoyed face before grumbling out the word, "favor.”
“The disguise? As in changing your face?”
“Nothing too dramatic. Remember, we still can’t freak out Valentin. Same physical structure, but a new color,” Kivenaal said.
“I can do that, but as I said, it’s temporary. 10 hours at best,” Jayde said.
“Ten hours is all I need. By morning, we’ll be out of Trugarde and I’ll be able to rest and relax.”
Jayde nodded, then quietly muttered an incantation. Kivenaal’s fur rippled as it changed to a beautiful golden tan with black jaguar spots instead of his heavy black with red tiger stripes. “It’s as far from what you look like as I could manage without doing something wild,” Jayde said.
“Define wild,” Kivenaal replied.
“I mean, I could give your mane some purple highlights, maybe add a bit of red as an undertone, give you a somewhat menacing vibe-”
“No thanks, this is good enough,” Kivenaal said.
At the BricksleKaylie sighed as she checked the fluids one last time on the truck before preparing to get the day started. She looked at the undersized battery sitting there, taking up about a third of the space the original battery had filled, and realized that getting going was going to be a pain, even with an initial jump-start from the Tangerine Tank Engine. “Twin Suns, I hope we don’t stall it,” Kaylie said.
She looked over at the tents as Kayden, Rukari, and Malavera joined them. Kayden was busy arguing with Nova, and as they got closer, she heard Kayden saying, “-haven’t been taught to do that yet.”
“I have 1500 hours of drive time in Malavera’s simulation rig, in that armor. I know how to drive,” Nova said.
“So, who’s driving today?” Kaylie asked.
“I volunteer as tribute!” Nova called out. Kayden sighed.
“She’s been at this all night,” Kayden said, “and won’t listen to reason regarding the fact that she’s never actually driven a car before. And no, simulations don’t count because you can’t just reset when you trash our truck.”
“I’ll have you know that I’ve participated in 2,753 races without an incident. PIT maneuvering the asshole who kept using my car as his brakes does not count,” Nova replied.
“The other problem is seating,” Kayden said, “and it’s the bigger issue.”
“Well, if Valentin agrees to let me ride along on this stage,” Kaylie said, “it won’t be an issue.”
“You can’t seriously be on her side!” Kayden grumbled.
“I can be, and I am,” Kaylie shot back. “Seriously, she can’t do any worse than we did in the old Sinistra Traville, either in that cross-country event or in the 24 hours of clunkers.”
Kayden groaned, then started assembling the armor from the disassembled pieces in the bed. “Fine. But when she wrecks the truck, I’m blaming you,” Kayden said. After getting the armor assembled, Kayden clipped Nova into the left forearm and closed the panel. Nova, a few moments later, turned on her hard-light projector, put her head where it should be, and upped her visual quality a touch now that she had both passive and active cooling in the suit of armor. She wasn’t quite as translucent as she usually was, though still had a purely digital aesthetic to her, as if someone could see the code she was running if they looked just beneath the surface.
“Well,” Nova said, taking a few steps and resting a hand on the truck bed, looking over at the Dione, “it looks as if our friends have arrived to give us a hand.”
At the Dione, the morning wasn’t exactly ideal.
Constantin, as usual, got up early, filling the gap with his usual routine, albeit more limited in variety due to his dress uniform being less than ideal for sports/ training.
Valentin, however, did not have a pleasant night. He also was forced out of bed early by the ongoing pain and discomfort of his left ankle. Unable to get back to sleep, he drags himself out of his tent, followed by multiple attempts at getting up with aid from his crutches.
“You’re up early.” Constantin commented, heading over to aid the slender giant onto his one useable foot.
There is little in the way of a response, as Valentin’s morning slumber was as bad as it could be.
“Well you certainly are no early bird…” Constantin continued as he walks Valentin towards the redneck railcar.
Once there, Valentin was sat down, his back leaning against the front passenger door of the car, allowing Valentin some time to mentally get going.
Constantin took the opportunity to pack up tents and associated equipment, now that both tent residents weren’t asleep anymore.
As he finishes up, Tim also joins the realm of the awake, but is prevented from getting out of the car by Valentin, who was still sat leaning against the car.
“Huh?” Valentin exclaims as he is pushed a bit by Tim trying to open the door.
“Let me out, you muppet.” Tim countered half jokingly, followed by Val shuffling over, now leaning against the front right tyre and fender instead.
The remaining morning wasn’t all to special, apart from a marginally more intricate breakfast courtesy of the extra time gained by having packed up camp already.
With Robert steamed and the team satiated, they piled back into the car, which then was driven all of 15 yards over to the Bricksley.
Carefully parking almost directly in front, but facing sideways after which the one working electric window was rolled down.
“Uhm… i think i still have to bank in some promises made yesterday.” Valentin said to whoever was the first to react.
Kaylie looked over as Valentin mentioned he still had to bank in some promises made the day before. “Ah, hello Valentin. Let me finish topping up the radiator, then I’ll get the jumper cables out,” Kaylie said. She poured the better part of a water can into the Bricksley’s radiator, then handed the can over to Nova, who settled it back up into the roof rack.
Nova looked over at Valentin, then said, “I’ve volunteered to drive today. I’m quite excited.”
Kaylie grimaced. “Yeah, but we have a slight… problem. Nova really wants to drive, and, well, we don’t have enough seats in the Bricksley for seven of us. So, I have to ask you, Valentin, do you mind if I ride along? I’ve looked at the maps, there’s a station before Trugarde where I can get on a tram and just take that into the city,” Kaylie mentioned, before grabbing a large rubber glove to cover her left hand as she picked up the jumper cables.
“Sure…” Valentin replied to Kaylie as she turned back around, ‘topping up’ the coolant loop with copious amounts of straight water.
As Nova made herself known and voiced her excitement about driving today’s stage, Valentin remained surprisingly calm, seeing as he has a late 2030s android for a fireman. Kaylie’s concerns about seating were valid, though.
In response, Valentin simply turned around to those in the back, who both immediately knew what was going on.
“Fine by me.” Tim said, followed by Constantin thinking a step further, already opening his door and exiting the car for Kaylie to enter once the jump-start was taken care of. Connor, naturally, made no attempt at voicing his opinion, not that he had any to begin with.
“Welcome aboard, then.” Valentin said, reaching down below the dash to pull the hood release latch.
With a muffled metallic ‘plunk’, the windshield-side edge rose about an inch off of the surrounding panels.
“We don’t have any jumping cables, as far as i know… hope you brought some.” Valentin added, sheepishly smiling a bit as he forgot about the lack of cables up until now.
Kaylie pulled her glove on, then pulled out a set of long-cabled jumper cables. “Yeah, we’ve had to use these before,” Kaylie said. She carefully lifted the hood on the Dione and made sure it wouldn’t fall on her, then carefully hooked up the jumper cables between the two vehicles.
“Okay, Nova. Go ahead and start the truck. And don’t snap the key off in the ignition, either,” Kaylie said, tossing the keys in Nova’s general direction. Nova caught them, then walked around to the driver’s side of the Bricksley, opened the door, sat down in the driver’s seat, and made sure the truck was safe to start. After ensuring the Bricksley had the parking brake set, the gearbox was in neutral, and then put her foot on the clutch. She cautiously turned the key, one notch at a time, until the Bricksley’s engine roared to life.
Kaylie then disconnected the jumper cables, carefully closed the Dione’s hood, put the jumper cables back away in the truck, and closed the Bricksley’s hood with a heavy thud. She walked three steps toward the Dione before realizing she still had her glove on, carefully pulled it off of her left hand, and tossed it back into the Bricksley’s toolbox with the jumper cables.
Kaylie smiled as she walked over to the Dione and climbed in, getting settled into the middle seat, her tail curled around to Tim’s side of the car.
Valentin and the others simply watched the jump-start of the Bricksley unfold, involuntarily flinching a little as the 7 litre V8 roared to life through the menacing, unmuffled-sounding exhaust system.
As Kaylie ‘closed’ the hood, however, it was almost painfully obvious that it didn’t latch, which went unnoticed initially.
Valentin turned around to watch Kaylie make herself as comfortable as she could, followed by Constantin squeezing his way in beside her.
Once he turned back, the unnoticed became noticed:
“Erm… That hood didn’t latch.” Valentin commented, pulling the hood latch once again as proof of it not being latched.
Much to his surprise, however, this ended up latching the hood from within, negating the need to get out and manually smash it shut.
“Well… Nevermind, then…” Valentin muttered in a state between confusion and amazement, followed by a moment of relative silence as Valentin collected himself a bit.
“Last chance to get whatever you may want to take along.” Valentin said, inspecting the second row occupants through the interior mirror.
“Well, that’s a clever feature,” Kaylie said, seeing Valentin pull the hood latch and watching the hood close afterward. “I’m going to have to keep an eye out for an Anhultz once this is all over, they’re well built cars.”
When Valentin said it was the last chance to get anything she might want to bring with, Kaylie smiled, checked to make sure she had everything she needed, then chuckled as Kayden knocked lightly on Constantin’s window, holding a water bottle for Kaylie.
“Yeah, you always forget to bring water with you, sis. Every time,” Kayden said. Kaylie grabbed the bottle and shook her head.
“I don’t forget every time, Kayden,” Kaylie replied.
“No, just most of the time,” Kayden quipped, sticking his tongue out as he returned to the Bricksley.
“Oh they’re amazing! They are usually expensive, even used because of how unkillable they are, but get a decent one and it won’t fail you. Ever.” Tim said smiling at how he has owned three Dione’s so far, of which two have been traded and the third gifted to the guy in front of him.
As Kayden knocks onto Constantin’s window, he rolls it down, allowing Kayden to hand the bottle to Kaylie through the gap created in there.
After Kayden returned to the Bricksley, Constantin rolls the window back up.
“Looks like we can go now.” Constantin said, glancing at Valentin, then Kaylie to make sure that both of them were actually ready.
“Ready when you are.”, Kaylie replied.
With preparations done, Valentin thought of blipping the whistle, but refrained from doing so as other people might still be asleep for whatever reason.
Quietly (by the Bricksley’s standards, anyway), Robert rolled across camp and away from it, onwards towards the point on which they would transition from road to rail.
to be continued
2 Likes
Team Shift Happens
Previous Chapters:
Making Donuts / Speed Demon / Arrival in Camp - Stage 10 Drive and Camp
“A Pinch of Glass, a Dash of Magic” - Stage 10 Camp (Written with permission from Knugcab)
“The Clear Mind” - Written in collaboration with TheYugo45GV
“Demons and Dragons Bullshit” - Written by Knugcab
“Power Failure” - Written in collaboration with Elizipeazie
Preparations for Tomorrow / OUCH! / A Favor - Stage 10 Camp Final
Stage 11 Details
“Beginning the Day” - Stage 11 Start (Collab with Elizipeazie)
Garda Winn Campsite, 1 Sun
With Nova looking excited to drive and sitting behind the wheel, the team packed up their camp supplies into the Bricksley’s bed. Kivenaal, however, looked less-than-thrilled to allow an AI to drive the truck today.
“Great, an AI driving a car. This day is going to be an exceptional pile of suck,” Kivenaal grumbled.
There was a brief moment of chaos as everyone piled into the truck with Nova behind the wheel. Rukari sat in the front middle seat, with Kivenaal to his right, Malavera sat in the rear bench window seat, Jayde in the middle as usual, and Kayden took the radio seat.
On the Road
“Here we go!” Nova said cheerfully, mashing the clutch, engaging first gear, and managing to simultaneously dump the clutch and mat the gas pedal. The Bricksley’s 427 cubic-inch V8 roared enthusiastically as they chased down those who had gotten a slight lead on the way out of the camp.
“Do I even want to know where Nova learned to drive?” Kivenaal asked.
“Apparently, a few thousand hours of racing games,” Kayden replied. “She’s borrowed my armor and Malavera’s sim rig on more than a few occasions.”
After a while of driving, Nova encountered a certain olive-drab wagon lumbering down the road in the middle of the lane.
“Look, up ahead, that’s team Oil Crisis,” Kayden said, grabbing the radio and calling out to them. “Hey, Oil Crisis, we’re on your left!” he taunted. Nova changed down a gear and mashed the accelerator, the V8 screaming in rage once more as the truck charged for the gap in front of the wagon… Right up until they swerved to block.
“Oh, a rolling chess match, then,” Nova said, lifting slightly, swerving to the right, and stomping the throttle again. Again, the Magistrate swung in front and blocked Nova’s attempted pass. Just behind the two dueling vehicles, the Yamada approached, seeking a way past the two rolling road-blocks. Nova swerved and again stomped the throttle, the Magistrate again cut in front, but this time, Nova didn’t lift. The push bar on the Bricksley’s bumper made contact with the Magistrate’s bumper with a dull thud. She lifted, then did it again, before calling out over the CB, “Payback’s a bitch! Remember the bumper tag in the Rift? I do!”
Malavera groaned. “Nova, back off before you get us all killed.”
The Yamada took that opportunity to sneak past with a muted growl, while both the Bricksley and the Magistrate were locked in a mild duel of “you shall not pass” on the road. This continued until the Magistrate had to pull off to the side for a refueling stop, while Nova was able to keep going for a while longer. After a quick pit-stop where Kayden fueled up the Bricksley, they were back on the road again, leaving the Magistrate in their dust.
This left the Bricksley chasing down the more agile Yamada, with only Nova’s wired reflexes and the Bricksley’s oversize V8 giving them any advantage in closing the distance. “You know, that vehicle of theirs is unusual. I swear, I keep getting a life-sign reading from it. I’m fairly sure it’s a faulty sensor, or some critter has invaded the vehicle, though. Probably a critter,” Nova said.
“I’m not so sure,” Jayde admitted. “I get a sense of it being more than just a car. It wants something, or needs something, but I’m not sure what.”
The tires squealed as Nova tried to match the Yamada’s pace in the few turns leading into what used to be the planned campsite, though the red crossover eventually ran away from them. They arrived at Trugarde not long afterward, and Nova had to slow way down.
“A tip for you,” Malavera said to Nova. “Put it in 2-low and just idle it through here.”
Trugarde Camp, the Queen’s Garden / Queen’s Station, 4-and-5 Sun
Nova slowly made her way through traffic, already starting to regret taking over driving duties now that she realized why no one else wanted it on this stage. “Must they really… HEY! Don’t stop right in front of the truck!” Nova yelled, shaking a black-metal fist out of the window as someone stopped to tie their boot right in front of the Bricksley.
Jayde groaned as another person ran up and pointed a pistol into the cab. “Your money, all of it!” the man demanded. Nova, on the other hand, responded instantly and violently, grabbing the gun out of the man’s hand with a sudden twist, grabbing his wrist with her other hand, and threatening to smash the would-be robber’s already wounded hand between the Bricksley’s heavy metal door and the butt of his own handgun. Jayde then spoke up, “I’d give up if I were you. Not just did you pick the wrong day to rob carriages, you couldn’t have picked a worse one to rob.”
“Fuck! I just tried to rob Jayde Malradi,” the man said, shaking his head in a mix of pain and disbelief. “So, she’s some sort of conjured spirit in a suit of armor?”
“To a degree of truth, perhaps,” Nova said. “Now, give me one good reason not to mangle every bone in your hand for threatening me with this pitiful weapon of yours.”
“We don’t have time for that, Nova,” Jayde said. “Plus, we’re not here to start a fight. I have this feeling,” he added, “that these robbers would much rather turn themselves in to the city guards than face your wrath.”
“We’ll all go and pay our bounties, just, please, let me go?”
“Very well. But I am keeping your gun. Run toward the guardhouse, and do not look back, or I will use this weapon against you,” Nova said. As the men disappeared into the distance, Nova snapped the weapon in half and tossed the parts out of the truck window.
As they pulled up to the Queen’s Garden, Nova parked the truck and everyone climbed out. Kaylie rejoined them after stepping off of a tram near the station.
Unfortunately, Kivenaal’s disguise very quickly gathered a lot of unwanted attention. Whispers soon began to spread from those who knew Valraadi mythology that Xelth was here, using one of his favored pelt colors for ‘blending in.’ Worse, Kivenaal could barely walk without people running up to him and asking for blessings, or worse, inquiring about whether he was interested in going to their bedroom. After a few of these moments, it was Jayde who realized he’d created this problem, and he could help fix it. When the next person asked about sharing a bed, Jayde said, “You are aware that he has a mate, yes?”
The look of shock on her face was exactly the response that Jayde was hoping for, followed by her running off begging Yawli for forgiveness.
“Sorry, Kivenaal,” Jayde admitted.
“You didn’t know. Not your fault. But today is going down the shitter in a hurry,” Kivenaal said.
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TEAM HILLBILLY ROLLERS
Earlier parts
PART 0.1 - A prologue to the prologue
PART 0.2 - Another piece of the prologue puzzle
PART 0.3 - Viva la IP 4Z!
PART 0.4 - Robotman
PART 0.5 - Interference problems
PART 0.6 - Can I play Tetris?
PART 0.7 - Tangerine and familiar
PART 1.0 - Now things got serious!
PART 1.1 - Hello, Thibault and friends!
PART 1.2 - Poor kitty
PART 1.3 - Curse you, Team Oil Crisis!
PART 1.4 - Interlude
PART 2.0 - Bird bird bird, bird is the word!
PART 2.1 - D. Head
PART 2.2 - Good night!
PART 3.0 - Freeway Rockstar
PART 3.1 - DISCO TJO DISCO HEJ
PART 3.2 - Van-Werewolf 1-0
PART 4.0 - Calm after the storm
PART 5.0 - Mirror mirror on the…oh, crap!
PART 5.1 - Hello, little puppies!
PART 6.0 - Speed
PART 6.1 - GIMME OXYGEN! (feat. Madrias)
PART 6.2 - Steamin’ hot! (feat. Elizipeazie)
PART 7.0 - The Kayak
PART 7.1 - Marie the valkyrie?
PART 7.2 - Vegetables
PART 7.3 - Time to tie things up.
PART 8.0 - The hangover
PART 8.1 - The new team member
PART 9.0 - From pink to brown
PART 9.1 - Co-op with Madrias and Elizipeazie
PART 9.2 - Where is Sonic?
PART 10.0 - First at last!
PART 10.1 - Co-op with Variationofvariables
PART 11.0 - Why is this van so damn fast?
PART 11.1 - Co-op with Madrias
PART 11.2 - Demons and dragons bullshit
PART 11.3 - Oops, thank you, Kaylie!
PART 12.0 - Snap, crackle and pop!
In the morning, Marie was still sleeping in the back of the van, which didn’t seem to bother Janne or Andreas a lot, they closed the (stiff) sliding door and went away.
“She will wake up sooner or later”, Janne said.
“Yeah, and we don’t have the time to wait for her!”, Andreas answered, while the raspy little four banger woke up to life again. And once again, they were quite far forward in the pack, something made this van go just better and better for every kilometer, but one that would never have admitted that strange behaviour was Andreas.
“Hey, no doubt that Fireball Roberts is one of your heroes”, Janne laughed.
“Sometimes I do wish I was a NASCAR driver in the 60s instead of doing stupid shit like this”, Andreas answered a bit annoyed.
Something that was less happy about the pace, though, was the fuel gauge. The needle was pointing towards “E”, and Andreas was steering the van to the side of the road, opening the rear doors to reach the jerry cans.
“Hyuuurggghhhh…”
“Did you have a good nights sleep, Marie?”, Andreas laughed.
“What the fuck happened and where are we?”, she asked.
“You got drunk for probably the first time in your life, and you are i a pink van in Crugandr”, Andreas sighed. “Now, get into the van while I fill this damn thing up.”
Marie entered the van through the driver’s door and slid over to the mid bench position.
“Uhhhh…Janne…is there any beer left?”, she asked.
“No, you drank it all yesterday”, Janne answered.
“FUCK!”, Marie said and banged the dashboard hard enough to scare Sonic that was sleeping peacefully and quiet there, making him jump into her face that just had started to heal from the headbutting incident.
“NO…STOP SCRATCHING ME YOU LITTLE BEAST…YAAARGH!”, she was screaming until he jumped down on the floor again.
“MAYDAY, MAYDAY, SOS, AND ALL THAT KINDS OF BULLSHIT, WE ARE STRANDED WITHOUT BEER!”, she was yelling into the CB until Janne switched that thing off.
“That thing is no fucking toy, it is meant for important stuff!”, Janne said.
“What is more important than beer anyway?”, Marie asked, while Andreas jumped into the drivers seat and started the thing up. He put the column shifter into “D”, took his foot off the brake pedal and…
“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
He was staring at Marie with an angry look to his face. “ONE MORE TIME, AND I WILL THROW YOUR GODDAMNED PORCUPINE TO THE DYRE!”
“Just don’t listen to him, my little friend!”, she said to Sonic.
Coming closer to the finish line, all of a sudden strange noises were coming from under the front seat, then everything went dead quiet and both oil pressure and charging warning lights were lit up on the dash.
“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?”, Andreas said, and tried to crank the engine. Obviously it was still turning around, but something sounded really strange.
“Absolutely no compression, it sounds like”, Andreas said.
“Yeah. Hopefully it is just the timing belt”, Janne answered.
"The 4Z is a non-interference engine, right?, he asked.
“Yup!”, Janne said and went out to get a new belt and some tools from the back of the van. “Get out so I can remove the front bench, it has to be done to reach the timing cover easily”.
With the cover removed, he could absolutely see that he was indeed right, there was nothing left of the old cam belt. Strange, since it was still well inside the interval, and it was of course a genuine IP spare part, but oh well.
“What is the odds for this?”, Janne said. “The camshaft stopped when it was exactly on the marking! Oh, well, now I just have to put the crank in the right position I guess, swap the belt and then we are good to go.”
He turned on the CB again. “Team Hillbilly Rollers here, we are far from stranded, just some minor repairs needed that should be finished very soon”, and indeed team after team was passing the pink van with its hazard flashers turned on at the side of the road, while Janne was swapping out the old timing belt.
"Should be good to go now I guess, let’s do a startup attempt before we put everything back in place!, he said, and cranked the starter again.
SNAP CRACK KAPOW!
He observed that the gear for the camshaft was indeed not moving at all, which seemed to have killed the new belt, too.
“CRAP!”, Janne was shouting and threw the tools out of the door, barely missing Team Mravolinski-Chitco’s Kontir while it passed by. “The camshaft is jammed and we have no spare belt left either. We could as well end the race here and now…”
TO BE CONTINUED
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Team Mravolinski-Chitco
Enlightening plan put into action, flying tools and Trugarde party camp
You will excuse the fact that this is still going to start in same day as previous post (this being reply to said post, like always)
There was little bit of something we needed to get to support that plan
Klimentol: Hmm, do we want single-piece or multi-piece?
Mrdja: I vote for single, we are doing custom work anyway and its likely going to be better protection against likely cold she might experience
Aydar: Its useless protection of cold if it gets wet…which it will, knowing how both she and weather generally work.
Mrdja: Problem im seeing here is that she is going to be very limited in her ability to change clothing…and there is going to be shortage of ppl ready to assist her with that.
Pi: Im not going alone tho.
Mrdja: True, but neither Tatica(1) or Andrea would be much of use at first. Andrea will when/if she adapts, which takes some fair bit of time most likely.
Maybe some water-proof material?
Klimentol: Thats rather doubtful. Even if we do manage to find such thing, still stands that it would be out of place and likely very hard to maintain.
Not really convinced that we would put that amount of care ourselves.
Mrdja: True.
We do have some more breathing space to go and refine everything.
Better we here than them there.
Beauty of this place is that we can send Pi to deal with it.
Pi: Do you really want me to do something that requires thinking?
Mrdja: Only one here getting taste of your mistake would be you…so yes.
Aydar: We should gather some basic material, worthy of our beloved creature.
Pi: 
Ok? I have a feeling that material would not be that easy to identify as clothing material.
Aydar: Maaybe, but we shall get it cheap.
(1) Tatica (said as Tha-tee-tza) is denoting certain imaginary character of mine.
“Tatica” can be translated as “small dad” or “daddy”; it literally IS diminutive version of “dad”
Party?
Chicota: I intercepted some message when noone else seemed to be concerned about it
In case you have forgotten, message would be transmitted by Nova:
(Below is version for our team)
Attention Team Mravolinski-Chitco. We have all been invited to a party in Trugarde. As a result, our camp has been moved to the Queen’s Garden, next to the Queen’s Station, in the center of Trugarde. Thank you for listening.
K: Can you repeat that message again?
C: (Repeats)
K: Perfect. Why tho?
C: Like i would know. I just hope there would be some local booze to be…evaluated.
K: Ofc you do.
Aydar: Seems that these were particularly impressed for our Dyre fight
Klimentol: You know celebrating that makes no sense.
Aydar: True. Wait…remember that dude from previous town, worker on station that filled us up?
Klimentol: Oh my…they did it
(In previous part of story, we were filling up when on other part of station, Railway Robert prepared to get that record. We were informed about this by that guy.)
Aydar: Yes…so they are throwing party in that name.
Chicota: I like how that sounds…
Someone should congratulate them and maybe ask about speed they did.
Mrdja: Ok.
Klimentol: With that sorted out, we are ready to return our thoughts towards more pressing issues…even tho these affect total of one member
Great progress in that regard was achieved when certain local got contents of “beer” tank in place of some old rags he had around
(One of tanks intended for Chicota’s beer was filled by sweaty water by accident; VerBanka was also helping him back then)
With this great success, it was time to get back into camp and prepare for next day and stage.
Driving car, flying tools
Morning came and with it, new stage.
This is one of those stages where Mrdja took the hot seat…which was mechanically cleaned from goat residue beforehand.
Not bothering too much, after obtaining comfortable pace, cruise control was set.
VerBanka took middle front and Pi filled that row.
Klimentol, Aydar and Chicota were busy in unlikely scenario of clothing designers.
All three of them had proven time and time again that they are experts in vast amount of fields (especially applying to first two) but this is one of those areas where…its not so great.
Klimentol had experience in choosing clothes for some other character, which was made using very precise specs to achieve utmost similarity with reference person.
Resulting clothes were sweatpants and shirts that can best be described as
50 shades of grey with questionable quality
Where first part refers to color of them, going from white to unmistakably grey.
Not dissimilar to said color choice, drive was almost as boring
Well, apart from that part where we were joined by very special locals, driving “Little Monster” if hood lettering is to be believed.
Occupants were quite unusual as well, but that hardly comes as surprize.
There was some inconclusive racing to be had with them, inconclusive refering to results of said racing which was of kind “You see that thing there? Lets race to it. Winner gets bragging rights and nothing else.”
They needed to step down on their pace at some point, making us pass them by quite the margin.
Its now as good time as ever to mention @Knugcab and seeing that his post is directly above this one, i find no need to further explain.
“MAYDAY, MAYDAY, SOS, AND ALL THAT KINDS OF BULLSHIT, WE ARE STRANDED WITHOUT BEER!” , Marie was yelling into the CB until Janne switched that thing off.
Chicota released heavy sigh at this. He related to Marie’s struggles quite deeply and for same reason, being without beer for quite some time.
-This reminds me, i should definitely fill up those two tanks for my beer in this next town. I kinda dont care about cost, i will find way to do it.
Klimentol: Thats very ambitious plan, considering we are talking about lot of space in those…and i have feeling you would want to fill them to the brim.
Considering rest of us will prob also use them very occasionally, we might allow you to bring some money to fill them, but dont expect much: Marie would be more consistent company in that regard anyway.
Chicota: Yes, would invite her to hang out occassionally or something, but to serve her plain water is…not exactly sign of good host, knowing her as i kinda do.
We could even get into beer hunting together, could be fun.
Aydar: Probably, but either she or her teammates might have plans for later
Turns out, they would get kinda busy on road
Team Hillbilly Rollers here, we are far from stranded, just some minor repairs needed that should be finished very soon
(Pi had clicked some button on radio)
Klimentol: Very well, we have chance to overtake them on this stage.
VerBanka: Kinda heartless claim, isnt it?
Klimentol:
We want to be first by all reasonable means neccessary,
one that has no such desire cant grasp about what this is partially all about.
But we all do, pushing as much as we can to better the rest and maybe overcome our own expectations.
I have no doubt that they will fix that up, but even if not, someone (maybe even us) can help
Pi: I kinda clicked on this button few moments earlier…what does it do?
VerBanka: Thats CB radio, means of communication between teams on the move.
Now its in “off” position, meaning that what we are talking isnt transmitted to rest of them.
Now concerned Klimentol: When exactly you clicked on that?
Pi: First i wanted to turn it off after their message, only to notice it was turned on while you were talking.
-See, thats what concerns me, seeing that cutting off what i said can give very different view on matter, DEPENDING ON WHEN YOU CLICKED THAT BUTTON.
PI: (Gulping)
(I used Details capability: title of it reveals what could have been heard through CB radio and opening it up reveals rest of what he said.
That part was AFTER ending the transmission)
Klimentol: Nevermind, i will clear that up with them when we arrive in camp
WATCH OUT
(Thrown tool was barely missed)
Look at what you have done by being finger-happy!
-Sorry…
Arrival and spread
Journey through town itself provided no significant news or anything else worth mentioning.
After fair bit of asking around, team had established themselves in adequate place.
Ofc this also means they have arranged themselves accordingly:
-Mrdja plans to congratulate RK Series Racing on record and ask what speed they achieved. @Elizipeazie
-Klimentol and Chicota are visiting Hillbilly Rollers when those potentially arrive: Klimentol to clarify and potentially apologise and Chicota planned to invite Marie on trying to get themselves some beer
-Pi and VerBanka are trying to sort out clothing for Pi
-Aydar will manage accomodation, food and drinks of non-alcoholic kind
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