Disclaimer
„No story, no characterisation and no idea is original anymore. Everything exists somewhere already. A writers job is to create an interesting world, that satisfies both himself and his readers."
For anyone who might find some similarities between my and some other story: I don´t copy/steal ideas or stories. Any similarities are purely coincidental. If you do find a story that's extremely similar to mine send me a PN with it´s name and author. I want to read it, when I finish my own.
Feel free to leave constructive critique (exactly where and what or which scene) and inform me about typing or grammar mistakes. Feel also free to leave your own ideas on how to make the story interesting. I`ll reply to every review. Oh and don't worry I don´t bite… not always.
Never abandon your stories. - MWE
"But Dad, I want to race!" a young girl with short red hair shouted at a man in his forties.
"No means no. I told you a hundred times. You are too young." the man with black-white striped hair said calmly, each word empathized. Although this conversation wasn´t unusual for the household of the Wei family, it still had its bite.
"I am already 17!" the girl countered. She put her hands on her hips and looked her father straight in the eyes.
"You just got 17. You haven´t even finished school." Don Wei sighted. Ever since coming back to earth his daughter couldn´t stop talking about racing. He heard from her, that she originally wasn´t interested in racing herself till she joined his team as Molly, but began to gradually like it more with each race.
"I don´t even want to have this conversation every day." Don Wei gave his final argument. "I know I can´t stop you from racing, but we agreed, that you would learn a proper job before. Racing is no secure job route. There is always someone, who will eventually surpass you."
"But I won the gr-"
"I know and I´m still not happy that I had to allow this, Eva." His features hardened. The face that relaxed over time, went hard and dark as stone once again.
The girl went silent. She knew how much her father felt guilty for bringing his last family member in danger and not being able to do anything against it. Even after 2 years he wasn´t able to forgive himself. "..."
There was an awkward silence in the room. Father and daughter couldn´t look the other one in the eyes, none of them brave enough to argue further. Eva fiddled with her T-shirt while Don clenched and unclenched his fists. Minutes passed until the older one of the two decided to break the suffocating atmosphere and shift the attention to another matter.
"You probably should get ready."
"Huh?"
The girl stared confused into her dad´s eyes. She had no idea what he meant.
"I promised you to take you to this U.S.R. as your birthday present."
"!"
"Since you jumped around like a little kid when I gave you the tickets on your birthday, I thought you would be more stressed given that it starts in one hour and we need 30 minutes just to get there." Don Wei smiled, as his daughter´s face went from shocked white to angry red before she decided to run into her room to get changed, the argument totally forgotten now.
The parking lot of the Wei-household was dimly lit. A simple black spacecar stood beside a tuned and colourfully painted starcycle. The two couldn´t be any different, except for the little bunny symbol, that graced both of them.
Eva shifted impatiently in her seat. What could take her dad so long to change? He simply had to put on the baggy pants and the brown leather jacket she gave him to wear instead of his suit. Heck, he was able to put on a suit, shoes and tie inclusive, in less than three minutes. The girl tapped her fingers on her leg and stared at the clock in the spacecar. "10 minutes..."
A knocking sound from her window stopped her from rumbling random curses and she looked pissed out of the window. She expected her dad, so when a man with fully black hair, sunglasses and a silver-chain around her neck appeared instead, she screamed and locked the doors of the vehicle.
"Eva open the doors."
"Who are you?"
Eva scrambled back from the man at her window. How could this stranger even get into the garage? Security was one of her father's top priorities after all. It was nearly impossible to break in without activating the alarm, not that the redhead already new each opening.
The man looked as confused as the girl, who looked herself into the car. After a moment the confused face was replaced with a goofy grin.
Don Wei practically heard his daughter gasp for air, as he took down his sunglasses.
"Dad!?" The short-haired girl stared shaken into the face of none other than her father.
"Yes, so open the door we are already late."
The lights passed by the window of the simple black spacecar and his occupants. Eva couldn´t help but stare at her dad in awe. He looked so much like the time, when her mother was still alive. Well except the clothes. Speaking of which, where the hell did he get them?
"Dad, where did you get those clothes? They are so... so..."
"…wild? It´s not exactly my style, right?" Her father completed the sentence without taking his eyes of the road.
"Well yeah. But where... Why...?" Eva couldn´t stop her thoughts from rumbling in her head. She had so many questions, but couldn´t complete one.
"I´ll have you know, that I was a punk, at the time I started dating your mother. At the time I became her manager, I had already adapted to the rules of business society. I simply kept this clothes as a memento of better times."
Eve looked impressed and shocked at the same time. She started living together with her father, right after the Great Race of Oban, but 2 years can´t make up for 10 years without interaction. The short-haired girl always learned a little bit more about her dad and his past.
"Although I did die my hair as a sign to start over and simply forget about your mother and you when she passed away, I kept some things. I figure I couldn't completely let go."
There was an awkward silence in the car. Eva couldn´t bear to look at her father anymore. He subconsciously told her a very heavy to digest part of his live. She wanted to cheer him up, but she couldn´t think of a way. Oh, how she wished the radio was turned on by now. The silence in the car was suffocating.
Minutes seemed to pass by until her dad started to speak up again. "As for your question, why I chose to wear the clothes I´m wearing now, instead of the ones you gave me is simple."
The young girls head shot up. It was obvious, that her father was trying to change the topic, but she was very grateful for it and therefore simply went along with the conversation. "Yeah. I gave you those clothes to disguise you. Don´t understand me wrong. I´m proud that you are my father, but at the U.S.R.´s elite members of the spaceracing community aren´t … gladly seen."
"I know."
"You knew? How?"
"I´m not stupid Eva. I know that these Underground Space Races are illegal. Did you believe I would buy you something for your birthday, without confirming what exactly it is? It even has Underground in its name, nothing suspicious here. Even the hooded guy in the alleyway I bought these tickets from seemed friendly." The sarcasm at the end of Don Wei's sentence was apparently his idea of funny, no one could tell it was sarcasm though, because he said everything with such seriousness, that you would believe him if you didn´t know better. The driver of the spacecar glanced at his daughter and a small smile appeared on his face. "Although I´d like to talk with you about what you find entertaining, but I guess you are like your mother in that aspect."
Eva gulped. "Good one." She realized that her father was really sharp sometimes and he could figure her out very easily. It´s a wonder, that her didn´t realize her conflicted feelings these two years ago. "About the clothes…" She didn´t want to seem rude, but they clashed with his personality more than anything she knew. Even exams and fun would fit better together than… this.
Don Wei turned his head to the side. "Don´t worry I won't start wearing them frequently. All this leather and chains are even more uncomfortable than my suits. It just feels…"
"… off?" the young girl completed the sentence of her father. She was glad she didn´t have to talk something out of him again, like the one time he insisted that Eva should start ballet. Awfull memories indeed. The pink tutu should still be somewhere in her closet. "I think you are right." Play it safe. "This just isn't your style." And now something to make him feel good. "I like the suits much more."
The rest of the drive consisted of Eva telling about her day at school. The girl had the habit of telling her dad everything she experienced there. Maybe it was to make up for the lost time or simply the feeling of finally being able to talk to her dad. She told him almost everything she could remember. The guy who played a prank on her professor, the girl who got sick and the "prince of the school" who she had to hide in her locker three times this week, cause those bitches of classmates wouldn´t leave him alone.
Her father teased her for only having boys as friends and told her to make some female friends as well. This ended in another of the Wei´s friendly family quarrels. The mood was finally up again and no heavy feelings bugged them, as they drove towards the entrance of a seemingly rundown downtown building.
The spacecar silently entered through the gate of the garage at the bottom. The motor got turned off and the window was opened. "The blue mouse hides under the table." Don Wei confidently said out loud. For a moment no sound was heard.
After a few seconds two men appeared behind some seemingly random put boxes and walked to the car. Eva stared amazed at the procedure. She had been to URSs often enough, a thing she would never tell her father, but she went there by foot and used one of the many secret passageways. Appearing with a car demanded a complete different procedure.
The black-haired father of the family, calmly gave the tickets in his pocket to the man in black. A quick check though the windows, to see if there were any more passengers and they passed the first check. The men retreated and the floor started moving. The garage was actually an elevator to the underground arena.
The car arrived on the ground and the family was asked to pay the second part of the tickets and leave the car in the parking lot. Eva knew from her previous visits, that the tickets were paid in two parts. The first one at the dealers and the second one directly at the stadium. It was a safety measure for both sides. The customer's couldn´t be so easily tricked and the organizers could keep tabs on the income. Every vehicle was left in the parking lots, to prevent any disturbances during the race.
With the car safely parked in the parking lot the red-haired girl practically stormed to the big main hall. "Slow down dear. It seems you know the way very well despite being here the first time. Wait for me. We don´t want to get lost." Oh how Eva hated that tone. Although her father said he didn´t know about Eva's nightly adventures, he clearly implied that he did. The girl wouldn´t be surprised to find out that her father followed her every time, or at least sent a bodyguard after her. She didn´t even dream of how protective her father would get, once they returned to earth.
Caring father, good. Overbearing father, bad.
Getting past the last security check, the one for weapons and possibly dangerous substances, the Wei pair found themselves in a big mass of humans and some other specimen. The event was well-organized and could even be passed as legal, if there wasn´t one problem. The race wasn´t held in an arena. It was held on the streets and in the alleys of the city and thus there was the chance in meeting civilians on the route. More often than not the police was involved. There were several cases, where one participant was caught and arrested.
Eva wanted to race to the front row of the crowds to see who was racing today. Her studies for the semester-exams kept her busy for a while and she hadn´t had the chance to check onto the schedule till today. Her little trip was cut short as her father grabbed her at the shoulder and rattling something about staying together and not losing each other. The girl got shooed to some stands with food and even some souvenirs.
She would be embarrassed to have her father display such caring actions, but she enjoyed them nevertheless, not that she would ever tell her father how she really thought about it. Instead she set on minor resistance, but the mention of food and drinks changed her mind. Yeah changed, officially in the least.
Equipped with two giant baskets of popcorn, a maxi tray of nachos and two at least on and a half litres of soft drinks father and daughter fought their way through the crowd. They couldn´t get luckier and managed to snatch seats with perfect view on the start/finish-line and the giant screen that displayed the rest of the race, that the viewers wouldn´t be able to see otherwise.
The time couldn´t pass fast enough and Eva found it harder to stay still in her seat. Every attempt for conversation from her father was cancelled. The girl could understand and clearly appreciated the effort of her father on distracting her, but she couldn´t keep her focus on anything but the racetrack.
As the speaker finally announced the beginning of the race and the participants of the evening, Eva let out a squeal. Don Wei looked shocked at his daughter, only ever hearing such a girly sound the second time, after he had taken her in again, the first one being the time he gave her this present. "What is the matter dear?"
Glowing eyes met confused ones. "Nothing. It´s just that 3 of my favourite racers are racing today! That´s the first time they all race together for the first time!"
Don Wei smiled at his daughter. "And who might they be? As you see I clearly know nothing about such races, except the fact that they are illegal and that people make money out of them."
The black-haired father let the fact slip, that Eva clearly wasn´t watching this stuff in person for the first time, but who was she to blame? He didn´t take part in most of her life and she developed her own unique ways.
Eva looked at her father with a rather appalled expression. "You never heard of them?! I know, this stuff isn´t liked in society, but being part of the spaceracing-world you should at least know the big ones."
Eva turned in her seat, so she could look her father straight in the face. "First of all we have Team Propero. They are the fastest ones and win almost all of their races, but they are bad at races bad with narrow turns. Their spaceship is the white one. Their racers are Anwar and Taisia. Next to them is the ship of their rivals, Team Valens. It´s the red one with the flame print on it. They are strong, but fight with rather underhanded methods. Their racers go under the names bull and snake. They also win almost every race they participate in. Last but not least there is Team Shadowwolves, they are the newcomers and expected to win this race, but no one knows for certain, since they never faced either one of them."
"And what are the names of the racers?" asked the disguised man before the red haired girl.
"Black and White, funny ne? Their spaceracer is… let`s see… Ah there!" Eve pointed her finger into the shadows. "You almost can´t see it, when it´s in the shadows."
A loud BING interrupted the happily chirping girl and the speaker of the race announced a delay of 20 minutes, since one of the participants hasn´t shown up till now. Eva groaned and slumped back in her seat. "Why now? I can´t wait any longer!" the childish side of the kid was showing and she was desperately searching for a way to let off some steam.
"Why don´t you go buy some chewing gum for the nerves? We already have some good seats and the line must be very short right now."
"Good idea." The girl sighted. This day was really great, first the argument with her dad and now a delay of the probably most exiting race of the year. Making her way down to the foot stands she grumbled angrily and didn´t realize a person running in front of her till said one hit her, literally. With a loud shout both persons crashed onto the floor.
"Sorry are you okay?" Eva opened her eyes and was ready to start bickering until she caught sight of such a beautiful blue she had only seen once before.
"Yeah, kind of." The girl took the offered hand, brown eyes never leaving those of her opposite. It was shocking how much these eyes remembered her of a friend so many stars away. A wave of loneliness overcame her and she averted her eyes. She couldn´t get depressed over a little thing like this.
Her eyes didn´t keep away for long. The boy standing in front of her had long white hair. The wild curls were tied into a big thick braid over his left shoulder. Black trousers atoned his slender legs and a belt with a chain was tied around his upper leg. A dark green scarf hid parts of his face. A brown coat, which had to be at least 3 sizes too big, was simply thrown over his shoulders and covered a great part of the beige pullover underneath. The combination fit the boy strangely well and he was also a head bigger than her, which was always a plus point when searching for a good looking boy.
"If you say so." The man or rather teenager before her stated. "I know this is kind of sudden, but I need your help." His speech sounded a bit awkward, most probably a foreigner, given his accent. The seriousness's in his eyes and the urgency in his voice made it clear, that this situation was grave.
"What do you need? I want to get back to my seat quickly." The girl forcefully snapped out of it, but sounded a little bit too harsh trying to do so. "Sorry, what do you need?"
Blue eyes widened and the boy hugged her suddenly. "Thank you! Thanky you so much! You don´t know how long I´ve been searching for someone as kind as you!" He quickly let go of her and looked dead serious in her eyes. "You know I´ve been trying to find the toilet for half an hour now."
Eva stood in line at the food stalls waiting for her turn. Thinking back now made her chuckle. She never met a person with so little orientation skills before.
"You what?" the girl was taken by surprise by the strange request and stood there dumbfounded. Of all things, that this person in front of her could have asked her he asked for directions to the toilet.
A pale hand waved right before her face and brought her attention back to the man standing before her. "Helloooo? Earth to punkgirl. Can you show me now, pleeeaaaase? I need to get back before the race starts and it´s really urgent."
"… Yeah right. Follow me." Eva pulled herself together and started walking through the mass of people. The boy followed her closely and the pair soon reached the mobile WCs and parted ways.
"Next one, please." The teenager took a step forward and gave her order. The chewing gum was placed in her hand and she got her purse out to pay, but someone beat her to it.
"One lemon soda a beer and a coke lolly, please. I´ll pay for her." A bill was put on the counter and a strong hand took the ordered goods.
Eva turned to see who was behind her, but the line behind her was empty. This day was really strange. First she met a boy whose eyes looked exactly like Prince Aikaas and now she heard the voice of her old coach Rick Thunderbolt.
Thoughts of looking around the place and searching for the long lost person were pulverized as the 5 minute countdown for the race was announced. "Shit! Why now?" The girl just had no luck today.
"Shit!" the redhead couldn't believe her eyes, "They lost. They really lost. I thought they would win."
"Come on dear, we can´t change the outcome. It´s a pity, but that's life."
*Flashback*
Eva fought her way through the crowd and managed to get to her seat just in time to see the participants entering their spaceracers. The siren shrieked and thus signalled the start of the race.
"Five!" The participants got seated.
"Four!" Engines howled and got ready to start.
"Three!" The audience stood up.
"Two!" The excitement reached a peak.
"ONE!" The vehicles drove of at to speed and the audience shouted their cheers. It had finally begun.
Long version:
The race went well. Everyone was at their best and the first two rounds were rather eventless. The current top racers had a certain lead over the others and tried to outrace each other.
Ever looked at the heated battle between Valens and Propero. They stayed true to their name and each used their own style of racing.
Valens used every kind of trick one could pull and didn´t hold back their punches, while Propero avoided most of the attacks with its speed.
"It seems like a close race. Who do you think will win Eva? Valens or Propero?"
"He He. You are forgetting a team." The young girl pointed at the screen. The device showed an empty alleyway.
The blackhaired father focused his eyes on the screen. "I see noth-"
"And there they are. Shadowwolves has surpassed our current top racers, without them even noticing!" The narrator shouted.
Some ahhs were heard, but a great part of the audience seemed like it was already clear, that this would happen.
The narrator didn´t keep quiet and even the ones not looking at the screens knew what was happening: "And now for our big finale. For the last round our participants won´t take the east road. A maze was made for this special occasion. The racers got the map for it 5 minutes before the race. There are many ways to choose from."
The race got more exiting with each passing moment. Propero had no problems catching up to the Shadowwolves and Valens followed closely, but the difficult task was jet to come.
Only moments before the beginning of the maze-part of the race something surprising happened. Propero and Valens ganged up against Shadowwolves and took their spaceracer between them. The newcomers were attacked from both sides and some bad looking damage was done.
The teams split up as soon as the maze part started. The screens split and now showed each of the leading tams, as well as a map with their position.
Team Propero, well known for their speed chose the longest road, due to their inability to take narrow turns, without losing too much time. Their path was long and had many long and straight parts, but their strength was getting really fast on such roads.
Team Shadowwolves was forced to take the path with the most turns. They managed to cleverly avoid taking to many detours.
Team Valens used their bulky spaceracer to literally crash though any obstacles, that were on their way. The many collisions seemed to have no effects on their performance.
The race was nearing its end and most people in the audience stood up and cheered for their respective teams.
Team Shadowwolves managed to get an advantage over the current top racers, they used their flexible flying style to take many narrow turns. Everything went well for them, till they reached a very special turn.
"Seems like they´ll lose." Don Wei stated. The newcomers took some unusual turns and faced away from the finish line and needed to turn around, but the only possible way was, turning in an extreme narrow alleyway and the spaceracer was too big, even if they would stop. It was obvious that, nobody could take that almost 150° turn without completely stopping ones space racer and driving backwards. "They´ll lose too much time, driving back.
"They aren´t the runner ups for nothing." The girl wolfed down some popcorn and watched the screen closely.
The camouflage painted space racer didn´t slow down, even as it was nearing the hard wall of an abandoned building. It seemed like they would crash but some engines pulled out at the front of the vehicle moments before the seemingly unavoidable crash.
The audience cheered, as the machine of Team Shadowwolves seemed to stop mid-air, before driving of in the opposite direction, they did before, backwards, and twice as fast as before.
"I´m impressed." This was an amazing compliment coming from a word class spaceracer manager.
Team Shadowwolves exited the maze first. Team Valens exited second, leaving a trail of destruction and Team Propero right after that. The race heated up with every moment. The participating top racers didn´t hold back their punches and tried getting the last shortcuts.
Team Shadowwolves were sure to win before making a fatal mistake. One wrong turn was all they needed and they were stuck at a dead end. The mistake was so stupid and simple, that even a novice racer wouldn´t make it. With their lead lost and unable to win, they stopped.
Team Propero took first positon and kept speeding up. They only had a few more blocks to go, only one turn was keeping them from their win.
The last turn showed both weaknesses and strengths. Propero had to slow down, because they couldn't take narrow turns very fast and Valens took their chance. With a deliberate bump the winner was decided even before anyone reaching the finish line.
"And the winners are Team Valens!" The narrator began his congratulation speech and left the audience stunned. "Bull & Snake please come up here and receive your award…
*Flashback end*
(Flashback Summary:
The race goes well and everyone is at their best. During the first two rounds the two experienced top racers Valens and Propero slowly get a lead and concentrate on themselves. At the beginning of the third and last round Shadowwolves emerge from the shadows and take the lead. A few foul plays later comes the special part of the race, a maze. Team Propero uses the longest way, without many turns. Their ability to be fast on rather straight roads hinders them from operating well through narrow turns. Team Valens make use of their bulky and strong machine and literally crash thought the maze. Team Shadowwolves are the most flexible ones, even able to take an almost 150° turn. At the end of the race the Shadowwolves seemed to win before making a novice mistake. They take a wrong turn and land at a dead end, unable to win. Team Propero take the lead and are one turn away from their win when team Valens bump them and cause them to get into an accident. The winners were Bull and Snake, from team Valens. The audience was left shocked.)
Eva squashed the empty soft drink-cup in one hand and stomped to the exits.
"Eva wait! The congratulation speech isn`t finished jet!" Don Wei stood up and followed his daughter out of the busy main hall.
"Like I care!" The redhead stopped in the corridors and faced the wall. "I wish I could have raced here."
"Ev-"
"I would never make such a stupid mistake and these treacherous guys form Valens never would have won. I hate racers who play dirty! Only because you can't use guns in this race doesn't mean, you have to race so savagely and consciously cause accidents."
Don Wei wanted to say something to his daughter, but he was interrupted before he could start speaking again.
A pair of rather young men walked through the corridor and talked about the race. Their voices were loud and angry.
"You said they would win!" "I know, it was sure they would!" "And why didn't they win? I lost 100 (please insert currency) cause I bet on these shitty Shadowwolves." "Don´t blame me. I lost money too. It should have been a safe choice. Mazes are their speciality. Did Black sleep? He is the navigator."
The men passed and threw some ugly looks at the father daughter pair and went on. Said ones looked at each other.
"Wait a moment. You don´t think that- ?"
"I think so too." This time it was Don Wei's turn to interrupt his daughter. "It certainly looked fishy. If I think about it."
Note: This is the rewritten version of "A new adventure begins" (at least the first two chapters). I´ve rewritten them, because I was unsatisfied with the quality, pace and so on. This is my first fanfiction and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing.
Thanks to neomoon585, ShiroKuro OokamiRyu, Snowlarks and for motivating me and special thanks to those, who pointed out some flaws with the story itself.
I hope some of the readers manage to find some of the hints I´ve hidden. By the way, most of you won´t understand my humour. Think like this: "What would I expect and what happens?" If you find all you`ll get a cookie ^^
Since I'm already calling it: Eva's hair is red in this story. She either died it completely red or the black in the show is just a poorly drawn shadow, you decide. I'm sick of writing red-black, it's so complicated.