Chapter 6
Flareon VS Penelope
Once Scott was finished tuning the Mustang for speed and handling, including putting in a NOS boost system, Flareon pulled out the cellphone Nitro gave him from his pocket. Flareon then turned it on and went to the contacts where he found Penelope's number. After Flareon selected it, he waited a few seconds for her to answer it. Not a moment later, she finally picked up.
"Hello?" Penelope asked.
"Hey Penelope. It's me Flareon. I'm ready to race," Flareon replied.
"Okey Dokey! Meet me at Sunset Boulevard downtown. I'll be waiting," Penelope said. After she hung up, he put the cellphone back in his pocket. Just as Flareon turned around, Scott tossed him the keys to the Mustang.
"Well...I've done all I could do to her. The button for the NOS system is located on top of the shifter," Scott said, "Don't worry about Twilight, I keep an eye on her. Good luck." Soon after, Flareon got into his car, turned it on, and drove out of the garage. He then headed to where Penelope was waiting for him. Later on, Flareon found Penelope's pink Eclipse. As he pulled up beside her, she rolled down her window.
"Hey there Flareon!" Penelope exclaimed happily, "Turn on your GPS so I can upload the race map to you! By the way...this is going to be a three lap race. Hopefully you're able to finish the race without crashing." As Penelope giggled, Flareon started to get nervous. They would be racing through traffic after all. If he made one mistake, it could cost him his life. A few seconds later, Flareon's GPS began to display the map of the race and then showed the number five. In response, he and Penelope began to rev their engine's as the GPS counted down.
"5...4...3...2...1 Go!" the GPS yelled as both cars rocketed from the starting line. As expected, Penelope easily took the lead thanks her to car's high acceleration and light weight. As a right turn came up, Flareon tapped the brake and turned his steering wheel hard right as his Mustang went into a drift, just like Penelope's car did. Immediately, they found themselves faced with traffic. It wasn't long before Flareon saw Penelope's Penny Sense in action. It didn't matter what came her way, Penelope was easily able to avoid it as if she knew it was going to happen. Flareon however, didn't have a sixth sense like Penelope, so he had to make due with trying to dodge the traffic the best he could. As both cars made it to a crowded intersection, a large truck suddenly appeared in front of Flareon's path, which forced him to take drastic measures. He then slammed on the brakes and turned the car quickly to the left. If it wasn't for Flareon's fast thinking, he would have hit the truck head-on. That would have been game over. As Flareon was trying to recover, Penelope gained a huge lead on him. He then forced his car into next gear and tried to catch up to her. However, that part itself would be very difficult. Every time Flareon would gain up to Penelope, traffic would get in his way, which kept him from going faster. As the third lap started, Flareon was going to have to do something different if he was going to win this race. The only thing that could possibly beat Penelope's Penny Sense was to just wing it, take dangerous risks, and hope for the best. This meant there would be a very high possibility of him crashing, but considering how desperate things were getting, Flareon was left with no other choice. Making a bold decision, Flareon pushed the petal down harder and veered his car into the oncoming traffic in hopes of gaining ground on Penelope. As dangerous and crazy as his plan was, it was actually working. It wasn't long before he finally caught up with her. Just in time too as the finish line shown on the GPS was only a mile away. However, just as Flareon was about to pass Penelope, he noticed ahead that the right lane was closed. The only shot to make it through would be to take the middle lane. Unfortunately, only a single car at a time could fit through.
As Flareon was about to take the middle lane, Penelope suddenly appeared out of nowhere and veered in front of him, blocking his only chance at victory. Unless he found another way, there was no chance of him getting in front of her. Flareon then noticed on his right that there was an open sidewalk path. He quickly decided it was now or never and turned his car right and went down the path. However, a short distance down the path there was a flat bed tow truck with it's bed slanted up in an angle. It looked just a ramp. It was at that moment Flareon was hit with an idea.
"Here goes nothing!" Flareon yelled as he reached down and pressed the red NOS button. Immediately, the car's speed shot up as orange flames emitted from the tail pipes. A couple of seconds later, the Mustang made contact with the truck ramp and was seen flying off it. Penelope was in complete awe as the Mustang was shown flying above and landed right in front of her. Soon after, the finish line came up and thanks to Flareon's last minute miracle jump, he managed to win the race.
"Drat," Penelope muttered as she pulled into an empty parking lot where Flareon was just getting out of his car. Once Penelope parked her car, she got out and shook Flareon's hand. "Great race Flareon. That was so much fun! Let's race again sometime ok? Well...here you go." She slowly unhooked the Element of Laughter that was around her neck and gave it to him. Flareon smiled in return as it was one element down and five more to go. After he thanked Penelope, Flareon got back into his car and headed to Canterlot Mechanics to tell Twilight and Scott the good news. As Flareon turned around a corner, Penelope was seen reaching into her pocket and took out her cellphone. She then went to the contacts and selected Nitro. Not long after, he picked up.
"I'm sorry Nitro...I lost," Penelope muttered in a disappointed voice.
"I expected better from you Penelope," Nitro replied. He clearly wasn't happy with her lose against Flareon. "So much for your legendary Penny Sense. You're pathetic." Before she had a chance to reply, Nitro disconnected the call. As a result, Penelope sighed as she got back in her car and drove off. Meanwhile, in a run-down apartment somewhere in Miami, Nitro was sitting on a couch watching TV. There were two big and bulky guys that looked exactly like Snips and Snails present in the room. They were called Matt and Male, or more precisely, Nitro's personal muscle backup. This was their apartment room that they were letting him stay at, but as of now, it was Nitro's apartment room.
"Um...are you mad Penelope lost to Flareon boss?" Matt asked. In response, Nitro burst out laughing.
"Mad? Why would I be?" Nitro asked sarcastically, "All Flareon did was beat some stupid little girl that can't even put two and two together. I actually don't know why the others think Penelope should be allowed to be part of the crew. They say she's their best friend, but like I could care!" As Nitro began to laugh again, Matt and Male decided to join in too. Now that Penelope was defeated, Flareon was setting his eyes on the next target in Nitro's crew, the Drift Queen Rebecca.
