With the bomb placed underneath the circuit, everyone might be in danger. Ryan already ran off to get hi stuff, but is he on time?
Chapter 7: Sabotage the sabotage
The orange morning sun rises slowly behind the G-Zero Colosseum on Papetoon. On the upstanding pillars, birds gather around, staring into the sunrise. The front of the Colosseum and the grass-field in front of that are hauled in the shadow, which the birds contribute to. The weather report said that today was going to be rather hot, so people tend to stay in the shadow of the Colosseum. Scattered about in small groups, they sit on the grass or lean against trees. But all of them do the exact same: watching YouTube with their smartphones or wristpads. What are they watching? Numerous videos about Sahara burning the rising stars on stage yesterday with already 200000 views for the original video, counting in total for around 500000 views for just Papetoon City alone. The sound of the bars in front of the ticket counters is heard as everyone comes towards them like a fly to a Venus flytrap, putting everything else aside for the first tickets. Friends included. The big screen a la times square lights up above the counters as big LCD letters spell out in orange: Sahara VS Dyam VS Falcon: TODAY! As the first tickets are sold and the first fans hastily make their seats, the rows at the counters aren't getting smaller at all. A relative silence around and inside the stadium, is shattered as the commentator tabs his microphone twice.
'*long beep* Test 1, 2, 3... ahum... *haggle* test 1, 2... okay it's fine. Last one... *haggle* Alrighty then... *suddenly very loud as nearly all speakers burst* WELCOME everybody to the G-Zero Grand Prix! Held in the G-Zero Colosseum in our beautiful Papetoon City. *crowd cheers* In this race, the standing champions have to defend their tickets to the G-Zero Master Series... in the famous... *presses a button on his control pad* RING TO AEROSOL!' screams the commentator through the microphone as the still standing 8-track breaks in two. The bridge going over the road is hauled to their respective right, like the staircases in Harry Potter. As they descend down into the opened up ground, a standard NASCAR circuit is formed, looking like a '0'. The large pole lights up and starts up to the screen.
'The tickets are within their grasp *displays the tickets on the screen with Dyam and Falcon's hand reaching for it* but they are getting competition... *sudden explosion on screen blows the tickets away* Ladies and Gentlemen, I present Dyam and Falcon!' introduces the commentator as the two walk out of the garages underneath the penthouse/'commentator spot. Dyam and Falcon walk up proud towards the track under guidance for a public going wild. Falcon goes completely showoff again while Dyam retains his fairly neutral expressions. Intense 'party hard' music mixed with the audience blasts through the stadium as they stop in their tracks as they hear a shrieking whistle behind them. It makes them turns around as the front of a black-orange boot sets itself in the light while the rest remains in the shadow of the garage. The music and the screaming of the audience (for the most part) is suddenly cut when the screen shows something different and the music turns to more ambient and rather clamped down tone, filling the stadium in a mysterious atmosphere. The smoke from the previous explosion makes way for flames formed out of pure sand, made by CGI, as Sahara's face appears on the big screen above the sand flares. Some of the tattoos she extended appear next to her face on both sides, as if they mean anything. She smiles a bit at it. As if the screen didn't add to the atmosphere, recorded sounds of the wind blowing are played jointly with the ambient music as the commentator comes closer to the microphone in a lower and slower manner:
'And then, on to the challenger. *A hard bass a la Slenderman comes in which shakes everything and everyone throughout the stadium* From the barren desert planet of Titania, *Bass* from an unknown tribe since we can't decipher the tattoos, *Bass* comes the young lady that robbed many fans' hearts, *Bass* when she 'burned' the champions in public... *Bass and the music is gone followed by a long silence* put your paws together *hard again* for SAHARAAAAAA!' screams the commentator through the microphone.
Men could swear the Colosseum exploded the moment Sahara walks out of the garage like a supermodel. She is quasi-impressed by the size of the stadium and the size of the crowd.
*Ryan was right. It seems all those people are bored beyond believe. *small smirk* Geh... I'll give them a show.* she states to herself as she head for the track. However, Dyam and Falcon stopped about a few meters before the actual track, while Sahara goes a little further than that, showing off her confidence in her victory and rubbing her bravery and popularity into Falcon's angered face and Dyam's face hiding a fierce indecisiveness between himself. She stomps her left boot on one of the track-lights, making the sun underline her appearance as she wips her hair back with her left back. Falcon can't believe she gets most of the attention.
'*points at her* Are we just gonna stand her and let her do whatever she wants!?' asks Falcon to Dyam.
'For now. Let her have her moment. She is probably too stubborn to realize she's going down when I race her out!' encourages Dyam to himself.
'Oh yeah. That's right. You gotta win. Otherwise, it's just me leaving for the Master Series and you'll be stuck here until the next change comes up.' remembers Falcon.
'Exactly. So we must take her out at all costs.' Falcon couldn't agree more as they both turn to Sahara, still standing on the track-light. However, a beep is heard coming from the garage, signaling everyone to get back. Dyam and Falcon enter first and Sahara follows in a faster pace.
'Now that everyone is seen in person, we'll take a 5 minute break from all this stuff. Within these 5 minutes however, the racers will be busy laying the last hand on their racers before they'll preform the 'Route of Honor' around the circuit. See you after the short break.' ends the commentator. In the garage, things are about to get somewhat agitated as Sahara cuts off Dyam and Falcon in their way.
'Good luck on the track *swallow* boys.' she says with some inconvenience. *What the... I almost went back to my accent. Probably because I said 'boys' in my accent before. On Sauria it was if I remember correctly.* Luckily, Dyam and Falcon barely noticed it.
'We don't need luck!' bites Falcon harsh as he pushes her left right shoulder away. Not tolerating that she is used as the left side of a door from a classic bar in cowboy movies, she grabs Falcon's arm and throws him against a close wall.
'Ouch!' comments Dyam. *Remain focused on the race. Don't let her fool you like she did! These chicks aren't worth another broken heart, believe me!*
Sahara continues and places Falcon's arm on his back and turns it into the opposite direction it's supposed to turn to. Falcon himself is too confused about the surprise attack and in too much pain as well to return any favors. She places her chin on his left shoulder, close to his left ear and whispers: 'Go molest some other girl Loverboy.'
With these words said, she lets go of Falcon who drops down on the ground like a immovable ragdoll.
'See you at the finish line Cockblock.' she flirts towards Dyam as she 'shoots' him again with the finger gun before leaving Dyam behind with his mouth open and frozen in his place. *Holy mother of... Ahum... first of all: close that mouth *mouth closes* Second: I would facepalm you if I could. And the last thing: WAKE THE FUCK UP!*
A few minutes later...
The cockpit closes around her as she starts up the procedures. She checks the G-Diffuser stats and their movement, the Fuel Cell count and finally the connection with the other racers, which is somehow installed for convenience. It appears as a blue, holographic and oblong speech-balloon showing Dyam and Falcon's faces. She holds her finger on Dyam's as she enlarges it, kicking Falcon's somewhere in the top corner. Might as well be in the map 'Not important'. Dyam is busy strapping himself down as he already went through all the procedures. He sees the connection between him and Sahara and greets her friendly with a salute by just his index finger before closing the channel.
*Was that Fox... or Dyam?* thinks Sahara confused. *Anyway... I'll make sure that Fox returns out of the depths I made him plummet into. But that Falcon *glares at this picture* he's nothing but an annoyance when it comes to my mission. I think I'm gonna use that point system to Falcon's disadvantage. How? Not sure yet... *grabs the control stick* but I'll figure something out eventually.* she ends her thoughts when the engine exhaust lights up in a white flare before the Desert Storm starts to hover. The garage door opens and lets a lot of light in as she is partially blinded until her eyes are starting to get used to it. She paces forward and sees that Dyam is on her left and Falcon on her right as they hover towards the track. The crowd goes berserk again as the microphone shrieks through the audience. The racers start their 'Route of Honor' as they parade around the track.
'Up front...' starts the commentator. '...we have one of the rising champions: Dyam. A neutral guy with a strong will when it's about G-Zero. He pilots his Arwing III.' says the commentator as the big screen shows all action scenes.
'Wouldn't I be delighted if I show a close-up of his final action scene...' grins Wolf somewhere in the audience as he watches the racers pass by.
'At number 2 we have Falcon Lombardi. Mister popular with the ladies... except for Sahara. *laughter* Anyway, he pilots his Bird of Prey.' Falcon's over the top action are shown on the big screen as Falcon himself is proud of it. The screen cuts to static as a large circle with a question mark appears.
'As last but most certainly not least, we have Sahara, the mysterious girl that come out of the blue by challenging our champions. She pilots her Desert Storm.'
While Sahara waves at the audience, she is actually scanning throughout the crowd, as if she's looking for someone in particular. When see accidentialy spots Panther, she pulls her face away as if he was the ugliest thing ever to roam the Lylat system.
*YIKES! He can't see me! Dyam might not or not completely recognize me but Panther will. *focuses on the crowd again* Now... were is he? Between all that blue in the audience it should be hard to find his yellow fur, right?* thinks Sahara as she searches for Ryan. She is disappointed as the Round of Honor is over and she hasn't managed to spot Ryan. She gets a little angry and blows away a string of hair that was hanging before her eyes.
*I hate it when people say they show up and then they don't!*
But Ryan is certainly there. Even closer to Sahara then she would ever think. Under the racers, Ryan maneuvers through the pipe system in order to find the bomb within the 'straw' leading upwards to the circuit. He squeezes his nose with his fingers against the awful smell of shit and gasoline.
'Where the hell is that thing!?' complains Ryan. 'Bleh! It's fucking gross here.'
The moment he finished that sentence, the ground starts to rumble a little as the G-Zero racers left their starting positions with Dyam up front and Sahara being number 3 as they go into the first turn. The screen shows once more the total of 80 laps. For Panther, it's the signal to arm the bomb. He grabs his remote from the inside of his breast plate and presses the button. The beep is loud but mostly drowned by the water surrounding it. It bleeps every time a large amount of movement, in this case the racers coming by. In total counting up to 80, before violently exploding. This is proven as the ground above bomb starts to rumble to and the bomb bleeps once. A small oscilloscope-like LC screen above the button shows the intensity of the rumbling caused and also shows the beep as sharp sting shooting upwards. The line goes flat again as the racers pass by but Panther keeps observing it.
*Addicted freak.* insults Leon in his mind. Wolf is on the contrary very fond of Panther's determination. Another thing is pretty impressed about is the challengers sudden burst:
Sahara sees Dyam and Falcon racing up front, next to each other with fairly large space between them as they enter another turn to the left towards the finish line.
*How do I get past those guys? Wait a minute... control like an Arwing... *exits the turn* that means that I can tilt as well! *activates camera at the back as the video-feed appears on the holographic screen* In triangle position, two pointed downwards to the ground and one up in the air. Like a Wolfen always had. Hopefully this thing hovers high enough to preform this trick!* she thinks as she 'breaks' the control stick's knob and pulls the emergency brake while enlarging the G-Diffusers. Her whole ship goes James Bond and passes right between Dyam and Falcon. While Falcon is greeted by the underside, Dyam sees Sahara wink at him for a brief moment before she blasts off in front of them, under heavy support of the crowd.
'What the hell?' comments Dyam surprised. 'Did she just...? In a turn!?'
'She's crazy! But... I got a plan to take care of her.' smirks Falcon.
'Like where that maniacal smirk is going Falcon. Tell me.' says Dyam, looking forward to see Sahara fail in her attempt to knock him off.
'Her G-Diffusers!' states Falcon.
'What about them?'
'In triangle position is mostly for speed purposes. However, these things contribute on more then just the exhaust flow, steerage skills etcetera, but also keeping the ship itself hovering stable. When we the destroy or damage the two on the underside of her Desert Storm...'
'...only the top one will remain functional. *realization followed by a strong enthusiasm* That means... that she'll borrow her own ship into the track!' concludes Dyam.
'Indeed. So, how about it?'
'Let's ram this bitch into her own grave!' states Dyam as the two set in the pursuit on Sahara's racer as they enter the 3rd lap.
'Ladies and Gentlemen, this is unbelievable! The challenger, Sahara, just topped off the champions! And that in the 3rd lap already! If Dyam really wants to go to the Master Series on Aerosol with his partner Falcon, he needs to win this race.' comments the commentator. This gets Sahara thinking...
The thinking is however short lived as the camera to the rear sends out an alert. She quickly snaps out of it and opens up the video feed. She is shocked to see that Dyam and Falcon are trying to ram her.
'What are those fools think they are doing!? Why just my sides? *evades a bump caused by Falcon by tilting her ship* Hey! *evades another by Dyam by tilting the other way* Cut it out!'
'You think she's getting it?' asks Falcon.
'No... not yet. We need to do this at the same time. She on to us, know our plan, but she got nowhere to go. Time to slam her down!' states Dyam while his words and facial expression hide his inner conflict with the passenger of his own body.
*Watch as I borrow your ex's look-a-like into the ground McCloud! It seems you're pretty interested for her... so let's put on some nice fitting music for when she breaks down... literally!* states Dyam harsh as he puts in a cd.
*Cool Without You by DI-RECT plays*
'This song is very fitting. How about you Falcon?' But Falcon is already gone up in the song's mood to react. 'I thought so. Let's take her down!'
The Arwing III and the Bird of Prey catch up with Sahara's Desert Storm, which Sahara notices. '*Grumble* These guys are very determined. They really want to mess my racer up, don't they? *looks behind her* Yup... those faces speak volumes. *idea* Good one Sahara. Pushing telepathy aside for a brief moment is a good way to clear your mind... same as at Ryan's garage.' she says to herself when suddenly she decreases in speed, scaring the living hell out of Falcon and Dyam, who are barely able to evade Sahara.
'WHAT THE HECK!?' screams Falcon as he tilts his ship over Sahara's side-stabilizers and passes her by. 'I told you she was nuts!'
'*gasping heavily* That was one adrenaline rush! And you how much as a rush fucks up my temper!' states Dyam confused and angered.
'Easy bud... where up front again. She has problems of her own I see...' claims Falcon as Sahara looks like she's trouble.
'Oh no! Sahara's Desert Storm is having some problems! Her G-Diffusers are going completely nuts!'
*giggle* It seems my plan is working. Everyone thinks I'm having trouble while in fact I'm charging up. But let's give them a show...* thinks Sahara as she starts to act as if her racer indeed was breaking down. The G-Diffusers are going in all directions while the races itself tilts slightly to the right and left. They energy starts to build up again. This causes unwanted shock-waves going over the tracks... and underground. Panther suddenly notices a slight change in the flat line of the screen.
'Hm?' notices Panther.
'What's up Panther?' asks Wolf.
'Probably... *sharp sting indicating another beep* No... that's not possible!'
'What not?'
'Whatever Sahara is doing, it is triggering the bomb's beep! It needs 80 in total and already 5 have been registered!'
'But that means that...'
'Indeed.' adds Panther. 'If this goes on for any longer... it will explode without Dyam in the blast!'
Suddenly, when the counter hits 47, Sahara's Desert Storm blasts off towards Dyam and Falcon as the bomb counts 48. In the rapid dash that follows, the crowd is almost blown away from their seats.
'Unbelievable! Sahara, whatever she did, is back in the game!' The crowd goes completely insane as Wolf whispers to Panther. 'Manual override. They'll never hear that shrieking noise with all their own noise.' Panther nods and flips a switch on the side of the controller. The shrieking noise is drowned by the crowd, but in the underground, it echoes towards Ryan's ears.
'GOTCHA!' he states as he crawls through the right pipe this time. '*notices the block closing it off* Oh great. Hrrrrrr... *pushes it out as it splashes into the water* This most be it. *looks up to see the racers pass over the grate* Closed off pipes, one way... bomb... those Starwolf goons are using the design of this cylinder to blow the immense firestorm coming from the bomb upwards to roast Dyam's ass. Now... let's see what kind of bomb it is.' says Ryan to himself as he takes a deep breath before bending over into the water.
'Now.' commands Wolf as Panther pushes the button as the racers, with Dyam still up front, approach the end of the turn.
Ryan sees the bomb and it's bleeping red light as it is armed.
*Simple bomb design.* he concludes. *TNT and C4 hardwired together to a motherboard with a motion-sensor. Easy to make, *grabs a pair of small bolt cutters* and easy to dismantle.*
He cuts off the wires connecting it to the motherboard. However, the light doesn't die. On the contrary, it starts to blink in an unremitting pace as Ryan notices a small device attached to the motion-sensor.
*A delayer! FUCK!* scares Ryan as he retreat back into the pipe he came in. *Well... I've done what I could. Now the firestorm will come through the nearest hole. Guess who's!?* He exits the narrow pipe and comes down to a crossroad while standing in a pool of dirt. Knowing that he can't escape, he falls face down into the pool. The rumbling begins again as Panther triggers the bomb. It explodes the moment Dyam races over the grate, but the firestorm follows the nearest hole indeed as it flows right over Ryan's back. A few seconds later, Ryan is relieved to breath in fresh air and seeing that he's not in heaven. He stands proud, until the smell and disgust of the substances he has on his body wipe the floor with his hero moment. He leaves the sewers to take a long shower.
Wolf and Panther, who sat on the very edge of their seats, look very disappointed. Panther's expression turns from worst to 'wait, it gets even worse' in a blink of an eye.
'Leon...' he says very restrained. 'I though your bomb was fail-proof...'
'Nice plan Caroso.' mocks Wolf. 'Now it's gonna be that Ray guy... or what was his name again... nevermind!'
Sahara is up top again in lap 27 and doesn't give away her position until the last lap. She has been thinking about what the commentator said.
*If they both want to go to Aerosol together, Dyam must win. That means Falcon is number 1 in the rankings with Dyam on place 2. I must win against Dyam but lose to Falcon. That's a plan! Falcon finishes first and goes to Aerosol. I'll finish second and remain in the G-Zero and Dyam needs to start all over! I love my own ideas!* she thinks as she sees Falcon trying to pass her from the right and Dyam is coming in hot from her left. The final lap is called in as they enter the first turn. Her heart starts to pound, same with Dyam. This is something he haven't felt in very long while: adrenaline and the will to win. The McCloud spirit!
*It's time!* Sahara sees her change as they exit the last turn when Dyam boosts up towards her left side. She brakes left out of nowhere and blocks off Dyam. This forces him to brake too while Falcon goes with full throttle over the finish. Sideways, Sahara finishes second with Dyam on the third spot.
Everything goes the right way. Ryan took care of the bomb, Panther is pissed off and Dyam stays within the G-Zero with Sahara. Her changes without Falcon in her way of returning the real Fox, are a lot bigger. How will Dyam react?
