Chapter 10: The Invincible Car (Part 2)
"Ahhhhh!" Trixie screamed, as the Mach 5 slid towards the edge of the mountain cliff! No matter how hard Speed pressed the brakes, the car wouldn't stop, even the emergency brake didn't do anything to help, but he couldn't see his button cluster and didn't want to press another button that wasn't the B Button. There was nothing that the two could do until a bright yellow car came up to their right side and sandwiched the Mach 5 between it and the mountain! As the cars ground to a halt, Trixie looked up to see the familiar Shooting Star, the car driven by Racer X. Now known to Speed, Racer X is his older brother, Rex, who ran away from home years ago.
Racer X jumped from his car and made his way to the Mach 5, "Are you two alright?" he asked.
"Rex? Is that you?" Speed asked, his eyes still closed.
"That's right, Speed. But don't open your eyes to see me, we've been through this before but it doesn't seem as bad as it was last year. You'll be fine."
"You came in the nick-of-time as always, Racer X. Thank you." Trixie said as Racer X made his way back to the Shooting Star.
"Rex wait! I thought you said you were going to stay away from racing."
Racer X stopped as he opened his door, "I am, Speed. I'm not participating in the No Limit World Race, because if I was, I'd be winning." Racer X chuckled.
"Inspector Detector said you were working with him, is he here, too?" Trixie asked.
"I dropped him off at the Denver Airport because I knew as soon as the Three Roses showed up, it was going to be trouble. Listen, Speed you better not mess up like this again, because I might not be around to save you. Same goes to you, Trixie." Racer X scolded.
"I understand, Rex. Thanks." Speed said as Racer X got back into the Shooting Star, performing a very careful three-point-turn back to Denver.
"Don't thank me, Speed; win." Racer X ordered before speeding back off into the distance.
"We're lucky that we have Rex around." Trixie commented.
Speed the opened his eyes slowly, wincing at the pain from the sun, but he smiled and answered, "We are." Before looking back to the road, activating the belt tires and launching the Mach 5 up the hill, seamlessly conquering the incline and getting back on track. Morning turned to afternoon as Speed and Trixie went along the mountains.
"Look!" Trixie notified, pointing towards Left Roardon being harassed by two members of the Three Roses.
"I see, they must've gotten Smoke Wheeler so now they're focusing on Left! We've gotta help him!" Speed said as they gained ground on the two cars.
"Hey, it's him! It's Speed Racer!" Zoomishi said over his radio.
"Get him, then you stone heads, don't you want that money from Ms. Flux?" Rosie Blaze commanded.
"Let's box him in, I'll be in front, you go to the left side and we'll shuffle him off of the cliff!" Kaikko said, the two cars slowed down, letting Left go, to get to the Mach 5.
"They're gonna try to knock us off! Someone is definitely after us!" Trixie said.
"I've got a surprise for them if they try anything." Speed chimed, looking ahead as the cliff portion of the track started to snake around.
"Speed…" Trixie said nervously as the three cars sped towards a sharp bend. Speed's eyes sharpened and became focused on that bend as the two cars surrounded him, Kaikko pulled in front and Speed let Zoomishi pull along the left side. Kaikko then slammed on his brakes, and Zoomishi pulled a hard right which was Speed's cue as he slammed the A Button, sending the Mach 5 soaring into the air! "Speed, it's too far!" Trixie shouted.
"I haven't used this since, I hope it'll work." Speed thought as he pressed an unmarked white button next to the steering wheel which deployed the mini-wings under the Mach 5 which helped it glide, this was first installed when he raced the Car Acrobatic Team in the Alpine Race almost a year ago. The Mach 5 landed with a *thunk* and Speed continued as Sparky chimed over the radio.
"Hey, Speed. I'm reading a malfunction with the auto jacks." He notified.
"I felt it, I think one of them is stuck." Speed replied.
"Next checkpoint is coming up at Yellowstone, so I'll meet you there so I can fix it."
"Thanks, Sparky. It got very exciting down here." Speed said.
"I can tell. Well, I'm signing off for now, keep going!" Sparky said as he and Pops went straight to Yellowstone.
Meanwhile, in Anchorage, Oriana Flux gets off of her flight and heads to a hotel looking over the finish line, "Perfect view of my victory." She chuckles to herself as there is a knock on her door, "Who could it be? I just got here a minute ago, can't a girl get some rest?" she said while grabbing her gun and going to the door. Looking through the peep-hole she saw the new boss of the Three Roses Club, Mr. Trick Idler, Oriana put the gun behind her and greeted, "Mr. Idler, I'm glad to see you could make it." She stepped aside, letting him in.
"How do you get so much money? You must be a slippery one, too." Trick idolized, looking around the expensive hotel room.
"Is there any news from the Three Roses?" she asked.
"Kaikko took out Smoke Wheeler, but when he and Zoomishi tried to take out the Mach 5, Speed Racer pulled one of his tricks and Zoomishi fell off of the cliff."
"Idiots!" Oriana shouted, "Your job was to take out the Mach 5, not someone insignificant to the mission like Smoke Wheeler!"
"Hey! Your driver couldn't take out Speed Racer, either!" Trick yelled back.
"That was only because Speed got help from an outside source that we did not consider!" Oriana argued.
"You can never be wrong, huh? Typical…"
"Typical what? It doesn't matter what I am, what matters is that the job gets done, Mr. Idler!" Oriana interrupted. "Now, leave me, make sure your remaining two roses get the job done." She commanded, waving off Trick.
"Yes, Oriana." He grumbled, slamming the door to her room and storming off. Oriana lit up a cigarette and put it in her black cigarette holder and took a puff before turning the TV on and watching the race which focused in on Lovelace and Rosey.
"I'm glad we're finally faster than someone." Lovelace jeered over the radio to her assistant, Halfdollar.
"Very good, Ms. Goldminter. But I warn you, the Three Roses Club have ways of getting their jobs done. Smoke Wheeler has been taken out by one of them, but not so long after, the Mach 5 returned the favor. Best be quick, Left, Speed and that GRX are gaining on you two."
"Thanks for the update, Halfdollar. I see the clearing, we're about to leave the mountains and go on to a smooth and winding road. This oughtta be fun." Lovelace grinned as she and Rosey Blaze left the mountains and entered something more familiar and less life threatening.
"What do we know about this Lovelace chick?" Rosey asked as Trick Idler came onto the radio.
"She's rich and her car is fast." He huffed.
"What's with the attitude? I'm asking for intel." Rosey questioned.
"Our client is very unhappy with our performance. The other two took out Smoke Wheeler just because they could and then Zoomishi was taken out because of Speed Racer. But oh no, you're' not focusing on him, you're focusing on Lovelace Goldminter!" Trick yelled over the radio.
"Dude, come on!" Rosey shouted back.
"You're supposed to be going after Speed Racer, pull over and help Kaikko!" Trick demanded.
"Fine!" Rosey conceded as she pulled over, letting go of her possible lead. Not long after, Left Roardon and the GRX passed by and there in the distance was the Mach 5 and Kaikko, "Let's see how you like this." Rosey grabbed a gun that was tucked in the door of her car and shot three shots at the Mach 5!
"Oh!" Speed yelled as he brought the Mach 5 to a screeching halt and pressed the D Button, deploying the deflector shield. Rosey continued shooting at the Mach 5 until she ran out of bullets in which Trixie left the Mach 5 and leaped towards Rosey, grabbing her arm, and stopping her from loading another full clip! This allowed Speed to open the glove box of the Mach 5 where a .45 caliber was kept, after all of the times they've been shot at, he made sure to prepare himself for anything on these kinds of races from now on. Rosey, being a little stronger than Trixie got a hand free and punched her away but still, before she could reload, Speed pointed the gun at her and shouted, "Drop it!"
"Alright, dude. No need to cause such a fuss." Rosey said, dropping the gun. Just then, Kaikko showed up with his gun drawn.
"Stop right there!" He yelled but without hesitation, Speed shot in his direction, causing Kaikko to be thrown off-guard; this also relayed to him that Speed meant business. He threw his gun to the side and raised his hands as well, Trixie picked up the gun and covered Kaikko, making sure he didn't make any sudden moves.
"Who do you work for, what's all this about?" Speed interrogated.
"This is about a few very powerful people wanting revenge on you and your family. We're just hired muscle, doing what we get paid to do."
"Why would you agree to do such a thing?" Trixie added.
"As I said already, we're getting paid handsomely to do this. Enough to get an upgrade for these old cars so maybe we can finally keep up with the front runners like you. It'd make this job so much easier." Rosey explained.
"Well, we won't let you." Speed said, shooting out Rosey and Kaikko's tires. "Let's go, Trixie." He said, Trixie still pointing the gun at Kaikko, cautiously made her way to the navigator seat of the Mach 5. "You two need to find a new racing team. One that'll pay you for racing, instead of hurting others and losing because of it." Speed lectured.
"Yeah, whatever." Rosey huffed as Speed got back into the Mach 5 and drove away.
Rosey and Kaikko lowered their hands as Rosey looked towards Kaikko and said, "I'm gonna need your healthy tires, bud."
"That was close." Trixie sighed, slumping in her seat.
"That girl will be back, but I think we ended Kaikko's race for sure." Speed replied.
"How do you figure Rosey will return?"
"I bet she'll ask Kaikko to give up his remaining tires to her. I shot three of Kaikko's tires out, but only one of hers."
"Why'd you do that? Didn't you hear her? She's been hired to stop us!"
"True, but instead of waiting with her team, she went ahead and raced Lovelace for the lead, I think she's more invested in the race than she is in trying to stop us. I think we can convince her to be on our side, if not, then its cutter blades for her new tire." Speed explained.
"Oh, that's a good idea. Hey, we need to report this to the Inspector, we should use the Homing Robot!"
"Good idea, you record the message, this road is winding so I need to focus."
Trixie opened a compartment in the middle section where there was a recorder and the robot controls, "This is Trixie in the Mach 5 calling Inspector Detector, the Three Roses Club and the GRX appear to be working together, when we entered the mountain pass, the GRX sped through and almost knocked us off of the cliff, if it wasn't for Racer X, we would've been history. Soon after, the Three Roses Club tried to stop us twice, once trying to knock us off the cliff and another trying to shoot us; there's definitely something going on here."
"Inspector Detector, we need you to stop the GRX if you can, there's something definitely going on with it and its driver. We'll try to find out what it is when we catch up to it!" Speed added.
"Alright, the recording is full, time to bring the robot out." Trixie chimed as Speed pressed the G Button and the Homing Robot flew out of the car's hood, Trixie took its delicate control stick and landed the bird on her lap as she attached the recording. She then pressed a new button marked "I" which sent the homing robot directly to Inspector Detector.
"Alright, we're almost at Yellowstone, we can't be far behind." Speed announced as they drove into the night and arrived in Yellowstone when it got dark.
"What did you do to her?" Sparky cried, putting his hands on his head as he saw the scratched and dented Mach 5.
Speed rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed that he damaged the Mach 5 so badly, "We got into a tangle with the GRX and the Three Roses one after another. We were lucky Racer X was there or Trixie and I would be at the bottom of a cliff. Sorry about the damage."
"Well, I can get the auto jacks back up to working order, but I can't buff out all the rest of the damage." Sparky sighed.
"I know it's hard to see the Mach 5 like this, Sparky. But I've been working on a list of things I want to do for it when the race is over, we'll read them over when we win, okay?" Speed promised, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Alright, Speed. You and Trixie go get some rest, I'm gonna be up late tonight." Sparky said.
"Where's Pops and Spritle?" Speed asked.
"They went into town to get supplies, they'll be back any minute now; I wouldn't be worried."
"Alright, we'll be in the helicopter if you need us." Speed said as he and Trixie made their way to the helicopter and got in. Speed closed the door and the two sighed and Trixie leaned over, resting her head on Speed's chest.
"After all of that, I could use some rest." She sighed.
"Yeah. This is the most tiring race I've ever been in. Perhaps one of the most dangerous, too." Speed said, shutting his eyes to rest them.
"Well, don't worry about being tired because the next stint is mine, so you can sleep."
"Mmm-hmm." Speed replied, but he began to doze off, remembering his nightmare from when they were in San Angelo. Remembering how he felt when the Mach 5's gadgets failed him.
"Speed?" Trixie asked, looking up at him.
"Huh?" Speed answered.
"Is something wrong? Your heartbeat got very fast. Is there something I don't know about?"
"Never mind that. We should have something to eat." Speed deflected as he left the helicopter to go to the Mach 5 and grab their lunch basket.
"Speed, I wish you'd tell me what's wrong." Trixie sighed to herself as she looked on.
An hour later, Sparky was pressing the A Button over and over, testing the Mach 5's auto jack repair, "The malfunction is fixed, Speed. Just be careful because I don't know how long it'll hold out. The damage was very extreme, but I did my best."
"Alright, Sparky. We won't let the GRX get the drop on us again." Speed said, climbing into the passenger's seat, handing the keys over to Trixie.
"Good luck, you two, I'll see you in Canada for Stage 3!" Sparky said as Trixie turned the keys and gunned it.
As they drove, Speed gave Trixie the update, "Alright, Trixie. Up ahead, we're going to be entering a heavily wooded area with branching paths along the way. But in order for our stop at Stage 3 to be valid, we need to make it to Calgary, which is where the final stage begins. The average drive from here to there would be nine hours, but if you keep pace, we can shave that down to seven."
"That's a long drive." Trixie commented.
"We'll switch out eventually." Speed said.
"Sounds good to me." Trixie agreed as she drove the Mach 5 through heavy woods and around mountains.
"Sparky calling the Mach 5! Looking good, Trixie; you're going faster than the set pace!" Sparky rang out through the radio.
"Thanks, Sparky, what's up?" Trixie asked.
"Lovelace, the GRX and Left Roardon have stopped in Montana, but they're almost at the border. Rosey Blaze is still behind you guys by thirty-minutes, so you shouldn't be seeing much of her." He updated.
"Thanks for the update, Sparky." Trixie thanked as Sparky turned off the radio.
"You're getting much better, Trixie, before long we're gonna have to build a Mach 6." Speed said.
"Well, I do have one of the best coaches in the world. But, I'm more of a 'Lucky 7's' girl, I don't think Mach 6 would suit me very well." Trixie smiled.
Speed laughed, "Sounds about right. Well, I'm going to get some sleep, keep it up and wake me in a couple of hours so I can take over."
"Alright, Speed. I'll do my best!" Trixie guaranteed as she gave the Mach 5 a little more gas as they crossed the Wyoming/Montana border, eventually switching out two hours later.
Meanwhile, in Great Falls, "Ms. Lovelace, the GRX has taken the lead and the Mach 5 is on its way!" Halfdollar rang through a radio as Lovelace slept in her car in Great Falls. Lovelace shot up in her car and turned it on.
"Oh jeez, I think I should've brought you along, Halfdollar." Lovelace said, rubbing her eyes. She heard the Mach 5's distinct exhaust note and then saw it hauling down the road.
"There are the others!" Trixie called out.
"Yeah, all of them except for the GRX. Whoever drives that car doesn't seem to sleep at all!" Speed replied as the Mach 5 passed Lovelace and Left, entering second place, but a battle was brewing between the drivers as Lovelace was right on them not long after they passed by. Speed looked in his rear-view mirror and grinned.
"Not this time, Speed Racer." Lovelace thought aloud as she applied a draft on the Mach 5, a move that she learned from Left earlier in the race. She stayed there for a moment before pulling out and alongside, but Speed knew her trick, he wasn't using the Mach 5's full potential, so as she attempted a slingshot, he compensated for her gained speed and was able to match it until he pulled ahead bit by bit, little by little.
"Lovelace's car is still very fast." Speed commented.
"Well, her father is rich, I'm sure he spent a lot on her car and career." Trixie added, as she looked over and realized something, "Hey Speed, how come no one else brought an assistant?"
"To save on weight, having an extra person with extra supplies can weigh you down, but I chose you because it's better for the long run, so I'm not driving by myself and making more frequent stops; we can cover more ground by switching out."
"Don't you just like having me around?"
"I thought that was a given." Speed chuckled as he pulled in front of Lovelace again.
"Look, Speed! It's the GRX!" Trixie pointed out.
"You're right, Trixie, we'd better keep our distance at this point." Speed responded as the two came up on the GRX. "I wonder why it's going so slowly, I remember the GRX being able to pull on the Mach 5 easily." Speed commented.
The three cars passed through from Montana to Canada and continued to Calgary, but the Mach 5 had to let Lovelace pass because Speed stopped to switch with Trixie again. "Alright, Speed. I'm ready to really race now." Trixie said as she gunned it and in no time was back on the tail of Lovelace and the GRX.
"Be careful, Trixie. Lovelace is very skilled at applying blocks, so patience is key against her."
"Ms. Lovelace, the Mach 5 is looking to challenge. I do believe that they wish to win Stage 2." Halfdollar radioed.
"Well, they're not gonna get it without a fight!" Lovelace said as she blocked the Mach 5.
"Sheesh!" Trixie exclaimed, moving left and right, swerving around to find an opening.
"Patience, Trix. You have to handle the Mach 5 like… like it's a person. It has wants and needs like a person. It thinks and feels like a person."
"What're you talking about, Speed?" she asked distressed, not really having had raced anyone this hard before.
"Listen to her, Trixie. Just listen." Speed instructed, placing his hand on hers, stopping her from swerving all around the road. "You know the Mach 5's capabilities for the most part, but there is a power that the Mach 5 has that you have to learn from driving it, something that isn't on the blue prints." Speed looked ahead where there was a series of snaking turns, sharp curves one after the other.
"What do I do, Speed?"
"Don't panic, just think. The Mach 5 can do anything."
Trixie became focused, realizing what Speed meant and what she had to do. Her grip on the wheel tightened as she followed Lovelace into the snake turns, but when Lovelace stepped on her brakes to take the turns, Trixie pressed the B Button, deploying the belt tires for grip and she swung the car hard enough that it swung onto two wheels! The Mach 5 went around the sharp corner passed the side of Lovelace's #1 and passed in front of her! "Excuse me?" Lovelace shouted, not believing her eyes.
The Mach 5 landed back on four wheels with a *THUD* and Trixie quickly disengaged the belt tires and swung the car into the next turn, giving it more throttle, causing it to drift around the turns! Sharp curve after sharp curve she drifted the Mach 5, finally understanding what Speed meant; the Mach 5 wasn't just the fastest racecar on Earth, or the most advanced; but when treated with respect, it's versatile. The curves led out to a long straightaway that led to Calgary. But if they wanted to win the stage, Trixie would have to get passed the GRX! She quickly gained ground on it but then, a sinking feeling, the GRX gassed it as hard as it could and it gained a lot of ground on the Mach 5, that's when Speed put his hand on her shoulder, "Trix, it's alright. Just go for second, don't try to defeat that car. Leave that part to me."
Crowds cheered as the GRX, Mach 5 and Goldminter #1 crossed into Calgary one after another. Only a few minutes behind, followed Left Roardon and Rosey Blaze, who missed the whole race upfront.
Trixie let out a deep breath, "How'd I do?" she asked Speed as she turned off the Mach 5 and got out of the car. Speed said nothing but instead hugged her, a rare gesture from her normally stoic boyfriend.
"That was amazing, Trixie! Exactly the right moves all the way!" Speed congratulated.
"Hey, Trixie!" Lovelace called out, walking over to the Mach 5, "That was impressive coming from a rookie."
"I'm lucky that I have one of the best instructors in the world." Trixie smiled.
"Yeah, don't get all mushy on me. You wanna come with Left and me for dinner later? Stage 3 doesn't start until tomorrow so, we have time to celebrate."
Trixie and Speed looked at each other and both answered, "Sure thing!" as they secured the Mach 5 and walked over to meet the rest of the team.