The Ballad of Team Black Egg
Disclaimage- I don't own IGPX. I mean, I don't even own the DVDs, I mean I saw them at the store and thought "I could use these to make a clever disclaimer", butI decided against it. Having to pay money to be clever, really sucks...
Junk- Well reviewer by the name of David, I can't say I knew that. I figure that makes it time to unleash the excuse I've been saving for when any technical errors arose.
This story takes place almost two decades after the series of IGPX we know, you can expect some things will just change.
If you don't buy that, than maybe you can believe that I'm just too lazy to change it at this point. Certain rules have changed for a reason, which will be revealed why and how later.
Kale traded punches with the talented racer known "The Quack".
"I'll admit little Rocket, I underestimated you. You just might survive this match…" The Forward told her arrogantly. Kale heard a female voice laugh over the communication frequency.
"But please, don't rush to your death for our sake." The canary told her.
"Yes," Donald replied, playing off his partner's line, "We can arrange a nice slow one for you, quite easily."
Kale broke off their staring match and pulled up along side the Windy Bird mech. She decided to give him the privilege of seeing one of her favorite maneuvers. She feigned the first punch and slipped a foot out in front of the enemy Forward. As she had hoped, he stumbled and quickly got a claw around the back of his head and slammed it into the track. It felt differently when she did it with her new machine, which was a lot more agile, but it still felt good to pull it out once again. She released the machine and let him fall behind. It wasn't really unexpected that he recovered faster then the pilots she had used it on in the IG-2.
"Cute, little Rocket, very cute." Donald said, obviously pissed at being played so well, "Zé! Francis! Maneuver; Peacock!"
The two pilots didn't need to be told twice as the quickly ended their own little battles and sped between were the two Forwards were and the other two. The aligned themselves side by side, facing opposite directions and after a bit of mechanical reworking, positioned a powerful engine on the top of each arm.
"Ready, sir!" The pilots repeated as they had trained. Donald's own mech reworked itself and a large fan-like sail opened on his back.
"Adios, little Rocket." Donald said and gave the signal to his team-mates. A huge burst of wind exploded from the two Windy Bird pilot's mechs. The wind made it impossible to coordinate oneself and by the time the heavy gust had died down Donald was far ahead.
"Dammit!" Kale yelled and charged as fast as she could to catch up the pilot and his companion whose' laughing could still be heard over the communication frequency.
"Incredible, I think this is the first time I can honestly say one of "The Quack's" plays was a complete success. I'm shocked…" The energetic announcer relayed to the general public.
The two Windy Bird pilots once again took on their corresponding opponent who had been seriously shaken by their attack. Donald removed his sail as the effects of the maneuver started to wear off.
"Do you think we should enter Speed mode and finish this one, Daffodil?" Donald said as he chuckled over his eminent success.
"I thought we were going to make this one slow and painful for our little, rookie friend." Daffodil responded to her partner.
"I don't think there's anything 'slow' about what we've done to her now, but I think I agree with you on one point. Let's bring on the pain…"
Kale tried her best to close the gap between her and the other Forward, but it seemed like a lost cause much to her frustration. She listened to her opponent babble with his bird on the open frequency. The Forward shouted in her anguish as she pulled forward going as faster than she ever had. Her teammates were a long way behind her now and there was little chance she could help them if they were in trouble.
"Little Rocket, you know that right now Zé and Francis could be tearing your teammates to scrap-metal and there's nothing you can do?" Donald said as if reading her thoughts.
"Maybe you should go back, it's not like you're going to beat us anyway." Daffodil said; the two of them completely content with their taunting.
Kale thought about what they were saying, it was looking pretty dim for them right now and Amelia and Rye were more important than a race. She was just about ready to give in to their taunts when a voice buzzed over the communicator, "Don't worry about us Kale, teaching these guys a lesson could be tough, but if any one can do it, you can Kale."
The Forward knew it was true; right now there were two pilots who she could count on and two who really needed to be taught a lesson. With her mushy moment of enlightenment complete she shouted over the communicator at her foe, "You know what Donald? You should shut the hell up!"
Rather than have the effect she had hoped for, the two pilots began to laugh, "You hear that Daffodil, she's tired of listening to us? You know what that means."
"Right, let's give her a little squawk-talk…"
Kale's cockpit started to buzz. "What was that? Hello? Hello!" The Forward called out.
"Ooh that's low, Team Windy Bird seems to be jamming Team Back Egg's communications. I see no rules against it, but that's really dirty." The announcer declared.
"If you keep your wings clean and white, people will think you're an angel. But we are no angels, we are HUMAN ANIMALS!" Team Windy Bird's Forward proclaimed.
"Um… Donald that's really poetic and everything… but… no one can hear us." Daffodil told her partner.
"Shit, I forgot."
"It seems that Kale Ricarro has switched into Speed mode and has nearly closed the gap with her opponent. This is really impressive; I never thought she'd actually catch up."
Donald growled and switched into Speed mode himself, but the black machine was already on his tail.
"She's using our wind-resistance. Shake her dammit!" An infuriated avian shouted to her partner. The Windy Bird machine strafed around the track, but couldn't get the pilot off. Kale suddenly pulled forward, the beauty of her chosen maneuver. Before pulling completely ahead she turned hard and cut off Donald's mech. The machine spun out and Kale used the chance to pull forward and complete the last leg of the race and pass the finish line.
"Incredible! Donald has wiped out and Kale Ricarro takes the checkered flag. In second place it's Zé Carioca and third is Amelia Bestride. Team Black Egg wins their first race in the IG-1. We really have seen the 'Black Rocket' in action today folks. It looks like Vance had better look out for this girl!"
The three Black Egg pilots congregated on the finish line. Amelia gave their Forward a hug as the crowd cheered. Kale didn't miss an opportunity to punish Rye for disobeying her and gave him a quick punch in the stomach. She called over the roar of the crowd, "And don't think for a second you didn't deserve that.
Two men approached them, the shorter of the two held out a hand and Kale shook and smiled as if they were old friends. Amelia and Rye stared questioningly and looked at the other pilot's taller and darker friend, but the Defender just shrugged.
"So where are your friends?" The winner of the race asked noticing the two pilot's birds missing and not to mention their team-captain.
"Animal treatment associations have been breathing down our necks since this team was started. The only way we could calm them down is if we scheduled each of our partners with an emergency vet at the end of each race. I'm sure they're fine though," Zé told them with a strange flare of innocence for someone of twenty or so years old. Francis put his hand on his team-mate's shoulder and nodded silently.
"It's not that this has been the first time Donald's been beaten or anything, but I really thought he had you this time. How'd you do it?"
"Well, I guess once I got his voice out of my head and could focus on the race… I don't know; it just seemed so simple then." Kale told the Midfielder truthfully.
"Well I guess I have to thank you. Don's been rambling through the whole off-season about this how this one was going to be his year. I'm glad someone finally him a reality check."
The taller man lumped on to his partner's shoulder as if a huge weight had just been lifted from him and was sore as hell from the ordeal. "You can say that again…" Francis Romero said as the first time Team Black Egg had heard him speak alone. In an unusual display of affection completely unlike anything they had seen from him so far he wrapped his arms around Zé's form and smiled.
The partially Hispanic man blushed and squirmed a bit. "Not here…" He whispered.
Kale's mouth fell open wide at the display and realized her team-mates were as equally stunned. She chuckled and looked up to the sky and wondered if Team Windy Bird's Forward knew about this.
Next Time: Rocket T
