Few characters and few concepts (vehicles, tracks and environments) belong to Wipeout and are not my own.
I do not make money from this.
Chapter 2
Rajko looks from the observation area at the track below, the ships have all began to line up on the grid. He is distracted by the reflection from a boat out in the bay travelling at some speed; he snatches a pair of binoculars from the shelf of the window and looks on. Sung sits on the speeding boat wearing his shades with the wind thrashing through his hair. "Tech De Ra" Rajko whispers to himself, he doesn't realise he did more than think out loud…
Tech De Ra
Years ago
"My Father invented the side-shift device used in every Anti-gravity ship; he got me into AG-Systems. Look at this, man. We're in the desert, THE DESERT! And it's raining."
"Rainy season, I hope it clears up by race day."
"And if it doesn't?"
"Dangerously low friction on the track, not great news because there are breaks in the side wall, and it's a long way down. The rain is thinning, let's go…"
Rajko pads open the handle less door to the echoes of heaving and heavy breathing. Tidy, straight, black hair hangs over the toilet with shoulders arched, one hand pressed against the cubical side and the other on the handle, prepared to flush away Sung's nerves from his sight.
Rajko rinses his hands and wipes his face before Sung staggers over to the sink, dreading the mirror.
"I don't know if I can do it, what if I blow it?"
"You won't"
"What… makes you so…sure?" Sung stutters in his shaken breathing.
"Look at me."
Sung looks up at Rajko who stares back with confidence and composure, Sung, his longest and most loyal friend looks past this to his fierce eyes and devious smile. Sung raises his head a little higher and smiles back, but still cannot bare to look at himself in the mirror while his nerves and anxieties haunt his reflection.
Rajko drags a red and white leather jacket from beside him and hurls it at Sung's face.
He pulls it off and looks at it.
"What's this?"
"THAT is yours" Rajko points.
Sung flips it around to view the back, his eyes light up when he reads "SUNG" printed across the shoulders and the AG-Systems logo on the lower back.
He punches his hands through the sleeves and pulls the collar to his neck.
Rajko flicks his head towards the mirror.
Sung turns and looks at himself, the jacket is a perfect fit and suits him down to a tee.
"Let's go superstar."
Tech De Ra
Flash
Sponsor-ship Tournament.
6 laps.
"Goteki 45 are blitzing the opposition, could this be the start of a ground-breaking season for them? Heh, the fans seems to think so." The announcer's voice along with the roar of fans seems to rattle the track itself, creating a catastrophic atmosphere of competitiveness at each turn.
"Ohh, look out! It's the red and white knight!"
Rajko watches as Sung tucks inside the turn and hugs the wall around the Geo Asis dome, overtaking him.
"Watch out you got plasma coming your way, hold it and shift at the last moment."
Heck-no, I'm moving now!"
"Trust me, hold on!" Sung does so and just as the Plasma is upon him he shifts out of the way, it hits the unwary Icaras ship just in front of him, it spirals off the edge of the track, and the ship finally explodes against the rocks.
"whow! It worked!"
AG-Systems 1st
Lhotus-Akkan 2nd
Auricom 3rd
Goteki 45 4th
SemteX 5th
Icaras --
Harimau –
Colony AI –
The leader board smiles on Sung as he flies under it at full speed
"Okay okay, final lap, lets finish this."
"Yeah, so get up here, Rajko!" Sung yells excitedly. He ignores the smart missile ricocheting from wall to wall hunting him down.
Suddenly his ship halts to a stop and the opportunistic over-sized, teal-green Feisar look-a-like craft overtakes him, almost trading paint. Sung resets steering trim and drags the thruster throttle to his right all the way back, he regains speed almost instantly.
Meanwhile Goteki sways from wall to wall avoiding the cannon fire on his already depleted shield, a round penetrates the cockpit beside his head and exits through the glass at the front.
"Damn it; get off me, fucking trigger-happy American." Rajko says to himself with one eye on the track and one eye on his rear-view monitor. He packs a weapon pick-up of his own and itches to use it.
Rajko glides around the Geo Asis dome wide in the hope that Auricom will try to overtake him on the inside. It does.
As it passes Rajko drags his ship around more so he travels side-ways, one short burst from the cannon fired into Aurciom's shield, a second well-placed burst penetrates the hull. With no more than 8 rounds spent Rajko witnesses oil and smoke pollute Aurciom's paintwork as it drops out of the race.
But as Rajko straightens his ship up, a silver and black X-wing chassis style craft peer from behind him and fires missiles his way. With his superior thrust, Goteki manages to pull away from the missiles out of the curve.
"C'mon gimme' a chance, c'mon."
"Trouble, Sung?"
"I'm almost at the final turn and I can't overtake this guy. I got a thrusters boost pick-up but he'll just block me.
"Take him in the corner."
"Are you kidding, it's too tight. I can't do it."
"Yes… you can."
"I'll ricochet off of the walls and flip out of the track."
"Hey! You can do it; you're better than this guy. Position yourself wide and take the corner as close as you can and slingshot across the base. You invented that move, remember."
"Ok, Sung, think." Sung mutters to himself whilst taking a firm, solid grip with his hands on his steering control. He lets out a stuttered sigh, revealing his nerves.
"No, don't think! Let impulse take over, let go and trust yourself, you can do it Sung."
Sung activates his thrusters giving him a phantom-like thrust for a second as he edges passed the first part of the slalom and takes the final corner tight as he can, his nose screeches across the metal plate of the track as he drifts the apex, and his ship slingshots across the base of the track, closing in on the teal-green ship at blazing speed.
Sung's ship – still side ways takes 1st place with his rear now generating sparks on the track wall. His ship kisses the teal ship on the cheek as it passes.
Within the cockpit, Sung has one hand on the steering and the other next to his lap controlling the throttle to keep his side-ways action all the way across the finishing line.
"Here I come." Rajko shouts though immediately after he is staggered by an alarm warning him of weapons lock-on. With the final turns in sight he guns his thrusters and makes a final sprint.
A beam of white light envelops his cockpit, his instruments start to flash.
Almost there, almost there
Goteki 45 goes dead less than 700 meters from the finish. The colossal craft glides like a rock; the impact on the ground rattles the whole ship, cracks the glass of his cockpit and bends up one of the forks in front. The damage causes several pipes to split and plasma fuel splashes up the side of the ship and trickles on his cockpit window.
Rajko opens his eyes and leans up to look at the ground, his ship faces backwards but the line is in sight.
The X-wing flies overhead with a roar in 4th place.
"I did it." Rajko whispers.
A brief moment of utter silence, after the constant clicks, beeps and hums emitted by the craft his ears need to adjust to the silence.
He even peels his hand away from the stick and holds it in front of him; it stands still, though his heart beats like a revving V8.
"I DID IT!" Rajko shouts to himself
Then he gives himself another silent moment to reflect on what just happened.
"Man, you got damaged" Sung allows AI control of his ship for the victory lap and watches the video feeds on his monitor panel.
"Wait a second, your ignition coils are firing."
"What?" Rajko leans up; Sung was right, there is a hail of sparks coming from the damaged fork.
"Ohh that can be repaired, how're you doing?"
"I'm serious it's like an artillery. Did you close main fuel valves before you crashed?"
A mantra from his younger days ran through his mind like a rusty knife.
The two main fuel valves of this chassis are surrounded by ignition coils to warm the fuel before it hits the generator, this results in sharper thrust. Rajko remembers having to sit through a basic engineer's course about his ship before actually sitting inside of it for the first time.
Rajko fiddles with his harness in a frenzy to take it off.
As Sung pulls around the corner he has Goteki in sight. He is blinded by a bright explosion as parts of the ship scatter the area.
"NO!" Sung screams
He sits there, overwhelmed by what he has just seen as the remaining crafts line up to be taxed into the hangar.
Once docked, Sung punches the cockpit latch and elbows the door open. He slides down the ship, ignoring the incoming ladders.
He wonders towards the crowd of Goteki crew members.
After pushing and scraping his way through them he reaches the centre of the commotion.
There sitting on a barrel is Rajko with a charred face and overalls, though his teeth are white peeking through his grinning lips.
Sung grabs him by the shoulders and drags him off the barrel. "What the hell… don't ever do that again, you stupid, wreck less idiot!"
Rajko smiles more when he watches his best friend feed off of his emotions of fear and concern.
"Sung, look at me, I'm okay." Rajko sniggers.
Sung drops his weight into Rajko and hugs him.
Shortly after, Sung backs away and wonders into the middle clearing of the hangar area sighing in relief and running his hands through his hair.
He looks at the garages and he has never seen so many without ships in them, which brings his attention to the giant teal-green craft. Underneath are two women side by side looking up at the dent revealing the true colour of steel on the cheek of the craft. The shorter of the two women with pony-tailed black hair turns around and delivers to Sung a stern look with a short shake of her head.
Sung watches her with interest only shortly as Rajko's arm hooks onto his shoulder, he is guided around and strolls alongside Rajko, knowing they have made the Sponsor-ship qualifier and the next time they sit in any cockpit will be as a professional Anti-gravity pilot…
Vineta K
Present day
Rajko is distracted by an explosion on the track and Piranha gnaws through the flames and wreckage.
"Piranha is making tons of enemies out there today"
"Nothing changes; they make tons of enemies everyday. It comes with the logo. The two announcers banter over Piranha's savage play tactics.
Suddenly Rajko's pocket begins to ring and vibrate; Rajko pulls out his phone and holds it to his ear.
"Hello? …Good…. Okay it shall be done." Rajko talks on his phone before sliding it back into his pocket and walking towards the monorail station.