Stage 5
teams mentioned or/and included (in order of appearance): Chitko by @MrdjaNikolen, Shift Happens by @Madrias, Firulais by @Angelustyle, Hillbilly Rollers by @Knugcab
In the night, a suspicious animal sneaked into the engine bay of the Legacy 320 - and it was hungry. Hungry for rubber, and it seems that the brand new spark plug cables of the Rhinos smelled the most delicious.
In the morning, Thomas wakes up with a terrible hangover, but … Chanty is nowhere to be seen. As he is not in the state to have any clear thought until he got some non-alcoholic beverages and maybe an aspirine, he decides to care for himself first, before he could be of assistance for Chanty.
Jan got up, too, and made Thomas something healthy to drink, and then started walking around the camp to find his girlfriend.
Chanty sat lonely in the grass and was crying terribly while hitting her head with a small rock, and Pi passed by, immediately running to her friend and stopping her from doing such things.
“Oh, no, Chanty, please do not do this, what happened?”
“I miss my mother, but Jan told me there is no way I can call her… but… I miss her so much!”
“Oh, I can totally understand this. Maybe I can ask Shift Happens if there is a way… they are capable of some magic, so… let me try. Andrea is also here, should she stay with you here while I am away?”
“Yes…”
While Andrea did her best to make Chanty feel better, Pi rushed to the campsite of Shift Happens, but they told her that they won´t help Chanty, but have valid reasons for that. They picked Lauren to explain to her, because that´s the friendly “camp mother” of them and would propably be able to comfort Chanty.
“You are Chantal? I am Lauren… finally I get to meet you, I heard so much about you.”
“Propably that I am a terrible person.”
“Not at all, in fact, I was told you are very lovely, maybe a bit weird, but not in a negative way at all. And I got some information about the issue you have, and I can understand it.”
Chanty smiled a bit after these kind words.
“Some of us could get you home if they had to, but it’s a huge use of magic power to do that, and you’d be asking one of them to risk not having any energy for the rest of the day in order to have a phone call.”
“So… you can´t help me?”
“No, sadly not in the way you asked, but… if you need a bit distraction and company, here are many kind individuals willing to give you support. So, I am afraid, if it´s really too much for you, you would need to use the emergency teleporter ring, but then the event is over for you. Just opening a rift for that is…not what we would do unless it is a real emergency.”
“BUT I WOULD MISS JAN AND MY FATHER AT HOME!”
“Well, this is why I think you should stay with us, and if you feel bad, we will find ways to cheer you up.”
“Or I need to have an emergency, correct?”
“Chantal. Please. Don´t even think about it. I like you way too much for you doing such dumb shit. Take my hand and promise me.”
“Ok… yes, you are right… I think I need to sleep over it I guess.”
Andrea guided Chanty back to her campsite, where Thomas was yelling at the car.
“Ah, there you are. Jan is gone looking for you. Damn, you look terrible!”
“You too, dad.”
“Yeah, a bit too much booze last evening. But well, now the car won´t start, some rat or marter has chewed the cables!”
“Don´t we have spares?”
“We do, we do. But my headache is too much to be able to do the change, fuck.”
“Let me do it then, I think… I can do it.”
Chanty changed the cables, but noticed that Thomas picked the wrong ones when packing their spares back in his garage. The cables did fit for the engine, but not the car: They are those of a 1988 Imperator 320 with that engine - and therefore too long.
“YES, CHANTY! I KNOW THAT THEY ARE TOO LONG! But let me try a fix here. How about… a paper clip? The previous owner has left some in the glove compartment.”
“I don´t know. But I ruined my t-shirt, damn. I liked it!”
Andrea, being a bit stressed with her own preparings for the next stage, proposed Chanty to hurry up a bit.
“Oh, eh, grab some fresh clothes, we better go showering, as we have to start in a little more than an hour, hm?”
“That is a good idea.”
When both came back, a hungover Thomas was still throwing tools around, but Jan was finally there and greeted Chanty with a morning kiss, and Andrea was happy to see that her friend is in good hands. With a few words, Andrea told Jan what happened, as Chanty herself was still not in the mood to say something, and Jan gently hugged her.
“Well, I think, if you can neither do without your mother and Thomas and me, we might quit as a team and go home.”
“ARE YOU MAD? DAD PAID SO MUCH MONEY FOR US TO TAKE PART! He will hate me!”
“I think Thomas will be grumpy about it, but he will never hate you.”
“I can´t do this to him.”
Jan walked over to Thomas, asking him about his opinion, and Thomas promised to discuss the matter with his daughter, asking Jan to continue packing their stuff.
“What can´t you do? Leaving? Come on, I miss your mother sometimes, too. It´s a shame it didn´t work well for long, but we will soon be at half the time we spend here, it´s not that you will have to wait ages.”
“So you do hate me now!”
“Eh, not at all, you are my daughter, I will never hate you. I might be pissed yes, but I was that already a 1000 times and it will all be fine again. So if you leave, we all leave. Can you please pass me the duct tape?”
“Here is it…Why are you just not running me over with the car, so that you can finally get rid of me?”
“Now that´s enough”.
Thomas sighed deeply, and his facial expression was serious. He decided to make use of the duct tape that Chanty passed him.
“I know you all have enough of me. So then just end… MMMMMMFFF!”
“Thomas, what are you doing there?”
“JAN! DON´T SAY ANYTHING! I KNOW THAT THIS IS A BAD METHOD BUT I CAN NO LONGER HEAR HER SAYING THIS SHIT WITHOUT BECOMING SAD MYSELF!”
“MMMMMFFFF!”
“But…how to get that tape off without ripping out her piercings? Thomas, that was dumb as fuck! This will hurt her a lot.”
“I know, I know! Shit.”
The crying continued, but was now a lot more silent, and Thomas regretted his drastic methods already.
“Come on, Jan, you drive. I am not feeling good, and she propably shouldn´t drive, too. While you two are in the front, I will try to fix the spark plug cables here in the backseat… and figure out how to remove the tape without hurting her, ok? I did the shit, so I will fix it, I promise.”
“m-hmm”
“Chanty, please, don´t worry. It´s just that I can´t stand it when you talk so negative about yourself, don´t you think that I as your father don´t suffer with you, too?”
“m-mh.”
They went off, and everything seems “normal”, at least for their habits, for a while: Thomas repairing the marter bites in the original cables in the backseat, Jan being totally focussed at driving, and Chanty silently dropping a few tears while cuddling with Rudolph.
“Thomas, do you have any idea how to get that damn duct tape off her?”
“Well, usually I use paint thinner…”
“MMMMHHHH!”
“Calm down, I said USUALLY. Alcohol or oil might work, too.”
“ENGINE OIL? DO YOU WANT TO POISON HER?”
“Of course not. Vegetable oil might work, too, and we are heading to the capital. I can buy anything there that could be helpful.”
Suddenly, they were interrupted by the radio, it was the Firulais having driven their car into a ditch. But when the Rhinos arrived at the scene, Angel was already pushing it out, so no need to bend the fenders here.
Not much later, they passed the stranded IP of the Hillbilly Rollers, with Andreas and Janne yelling at Marie.
“MFF!”
“Yes, I see it, I wonder what that gollum has done this time.”
“Propably it involved alcohol and rage.”
“I agree. Well, we better don´t stop for assistance, Thomas, they don´t look as if they would want to offer us some cookies at this moment.”
Only a few kilometers away from the finish line, the Legacy started to shake and vibrate.
“EH, Jan, what is it?”
“The computer says misfire, I will stop…”
“NO! WE ARE ONLY A FEW MINUTES AWAY FROM THE FINISH LINE! KEEP GOING! I can fix this directly after then.”
“But that feels not healthy for the car, its really… urgh.”
“Increase the revolutions of the engine by downshifting, it will cure the imbalance at least a bit. It feels like we lost all power at low rpm.”
Chanty saw that Jan had no clue what to do, and moved the lever from D to 3, forcing the automatic to lock the top gear.
“Oh, that … works with an automatic?”
“Jan, you really need to get driving practice, so it´s good that you are competing here. Shift manually between 2 and 3 depending on the road situation, and keep the rev counter at at least three, below that I will loose my tooth filling!”
“MMMMMMH!”
“Yes Chanty, I know you wish exactly this happening to me now.”
But after maybe three minutes and the problems getting worse and worse, with a bang the engine went out.
“Great, Thomas. This happens when listening to a mechanic. Great.”
“Come on, it was worth trying. Pop the hood, I need to see what happened.”
Well, Chantys warning seems to have been legit: The longer cables got tangled in the radiator fan and were properly chopped off, one after the other, resulting in one cylinder leaving after the other - and a short circuit that totally blew the alternator and the battery, and most fuses were thrown out of their housing. Thomas used the old cables he more or less repaired and a new alternator that he had as spare, but for the battery, Thomas had no replacement, but the car started with the help of a jump starter, then the new alternator took over, and after an hour of repair, the car was ready to finish the stage - if they found the hotel.
“How is that damn street called? I thought people as old as you are used to road maps?”
“Jan, don´t stress me! I have other things in mind!”
“MMMMMHH!”
“Yes, exactly that, but I have a plan. Looks like we are in a hotel, and… THERE IS IT! Finally, I thought our fuel would run out before we find that damn thing.”
Having a hotel with a warm bathtub, electricity and a comfortable bed made Chanty feel better instantly, and Thomas warmed the duct tape with a hairdryer, then using vegetable oil to get the glue loose, and after an hour, Chanty regained her ability to speak.
“See? I promised to remove it without pain, and I did it… Now, let me buy some car parts. You two could use the time for sightseeing, as we won´t propably come back here again.”
“You are mean. Really. But I propably don´t deserve better for being an useless daughter.”
“CHANTAL JOLINA NILFERT! NOW THAT I KNOW HOW TO REMOVE IT I CAN APPLY IT AGAIN IF YOU FORCE ME TO!”
“BUT YOU ARE REALLY MEAN, I AM NOT LYING!”
“THAT IS NOT THE PART OF YOUR SENTENCE THAT I AM TALKING ABOUT AND YOU KNOW IT!”
While Jan grabbed a few of his savings, visited a hairdresser with a still very sad Chanty (his hair was now grown impractically long) and bought himself a few clothes he considered interessing but good enough for a fancy restaurant, as he also took his girlfriend out for a romantic dinner to make her feel better, and it worked very well.
Thomas was meanwhile fascinated by parts that he never saw at home. In fact, he felt like scrutineering more of the local car models to understand how they work. Even if most of the parts he bought would not work on “earth cars”, he wanted to get them as souvenir of Holsia.
When finally arrving at a store that sold fitting 12 Volt Batteries, as most Holsians vehicles were stuck to 6 Volt, he met Angel.
“Oh… you are Chantys father, right?”
“I am.”
“I… am Angel.”
“I know.”
“Because you remember me for my… unfortunate incidents.”
“More for your apocalyptic cooking, but you sound as sad as Chanty.”
“She is not well?”
“Totally not, a bit her fault, and a bit my fault, so keep away from her if you are in danger of reading her mind by accident, you won´t survive that today. I know that I am sometimes harsh to her, but my points are valid, so I refuse to really apologize, but I also want her knowing that I support her in everything and that I see that I am also doing things wrong.”
“That… sounds complicated.”
“Anyway, have you ever seen such a thing? It looks like an inverter, but it isn´t one. Fascinating!”
“Or this one. What is that supposed to be?”
“Seems like something for a sidevalve engine, it doesnt surprise me that somebody as young as you has never seen that.”
“It might be of no use for our cars, but I could build some kind of… fascinating artistry out of all of that in your basket.”
“Eh, Angel… I might too, but I totally lack imagination and creativity. I don´t even make drawings or such things. Here is a bit of money for your own car parts. Can you build that piece of art today as fast as possible? And make it some kind of trophy, with the title “Best daughter of the world?””
“Of course, Mr. Nilfert. It will be ready by tonight.”
“Excellent. You can join me for dinner in the hotel restaurant then. Jan and Chanty are eating in town so I´ll be alone there. I think they need a bit time for themselves.”
After dinner, Jan and Chanty walked back and wanted to get a rest, but she stopped at the hotel restaurant.
“These fancy restaurants really taste great, but…”
“But what?”
“They… serve … for mice, not for rhinos”
“You are still hungry?”
“Yes…”
As Chanty ate more or less like… a large grey animal that is not an elephant, Thomas stared at her in disbelief from a few tables away.
“Angel, … it is like an accident. I don´t want to look at this, but I also can´t look away.”
“We also don´t eat formally.”
“Yes, also true.”
“So, I have prepared what you asked for.”
Thomas checked the “trophy”, considered it as good, thanked Angel and walked upstairs to get a rest, too, but found a notice attatched to the door of the Rhinos hotel room.
“We need some privacy, please knock first”
Thomas, returning from the hotel restaurant, didn´t feel like disturbing them as he was well aware what he might get to see then, walked off and knocked at the Hillbilly Rollers room.
“YES, COME IN!”
“How without keys?”
“Oh, it´s you Thomas, I thought it´s Janne. Marie wouldn´t knock first.”
Andreas opened the door, and told Thomas that Janne and Marie are at the bar getting drunk, and that he was about to join them, and Thomas agreed, but directly adressed Janne.
“So, Andreas told me that you are into… occult stuff?”
“Could be.”
“Maybe, having supernatural abilities and such?”
“Yes.”
“Hm, it is technically impossible for my daughter to call her mother, and … do you think you can call aliens to make that possible or even beam her to her mother for an hour or so, then bringing her back?”
“Thomas, WHAT? IS YOUR DAUGHTER “ET” OR WHAT THAT THIS BULLSHIT IS THAT URGENT?”
“I have booze left.”
“In this case, let me think if it is possible, but we need to use the old computer in my IP.”
Meanwhile, Chanty opened the hotel room door in order to get to the smokers area, finding the … trophy… Angel built in front of their room.
“What is that?”
“Let me see… Seems to be made of mechanic parts.”
“Detective Jan Conan, or what? I see this myself… but there is something written on it.”
“Shitbox Rallye 2024, 1st place…”
“Its not even over yet and we are barely in the top 10, what the fuck…”
“Could you please let me finish reading it then? I was about to solve the mystery. It says 1st place in being the best daughter.”
“Awwwwwwwww!”
Chanty ripped it out of Jans hands and cuddled with it as it was Rudolph.
“This is MINE then, get your hands off it.”
Jan sighed, but was somehow relieved that the issues between Chanty and her father seem to be cured again, and that the team´s morale is finally improving.
