Rough Sonic Riders
Episode 10: The Highway In The Plains!
Part 3d: A Rough Rushed Finish!
As some questions in the previous part still aren't answered really, the answers are going to be in here!
Who's going to go through to the winners' finals?
Who's going to go through to the losers' finals?
And who's going to have their efforts paid off in this race and who's going to leave with their hands completely empty?
That's going to be answered in this part of the tenth episode, complete with some serious effort, as the points aren't tallied, but the real guessing game is already done!
Four teams are about to either move on to the winners' finals...
...or the losers' finals with some controversial teams...
...and one of them was for sure, out of the competition all because of their skills being somewhat lacking...
...there was a bit of sabotage from a certain team that would have to be investigated for a long while, especially since said mini-bombs were a track gimmick before.
But that all mattered more than ever was that this was a good race, as the crowd was just going wild for the teams that were making their way to the finish line at an incredible speed.
Sonic was just trying to be business as usual, which wasn't working too well when you've got some of your bigger rivals against you near the finish line.
Mephiles and Jet were being their most ruthless, as the bird and the enigma was just racing right besides him.
"I'm not ready to lose." Sonic stated to himself, ready to give himself a last-minute boost.
While Jet wasn't out of the cold yet, as he still had a few turns to go and Mephiles knew that this race wasn't a sure deal, the top three was pretty unshakable...
..and so was Knuckles, as the echidna wasn't about to make his own moves without staying in the same place.
"The final moments of the race are upon us, as there's three different ways that these four teams could go and one of them's about to be knocked out of the competition!"
With that said, Sonic, Jet and Mephiles were all scurrying for first place, even if they were playing things relatively clean and Knuckles just wanted to be in 4th place.
There wasn't going to be anything crazy done, but the sun was still bright, the glasses were still on and the riders were just letting their sweat drip past their eyes.
Someone actually had to be first and all of the all-stars were more than ready to take that and with the last corner drifted on, it was going to be pretty close with the speed riders.
"...Who's going to hit the finish line flag first?"
Jet actually shared a mean grin on his face, as he blew past the finish line with more audible cheers coming from his own supporters, as Sonic cleanly went in second and Mephiles went in third.
"And it's Jet, the bird whose name is well known for riding his best, but Sonic and Mephile aren't far behind in second and third respectively!"
Knuckles kept his grimace up, as the three finished riders were just stopping themselves further up the racetrack.
"Knuckles gets a great fourth place!"
With the top four set, it was now time for the rest of the racers to finish, as there was a lot of craziness below the top six, who were also set to finish soon.
While Wave and Storm were way clear of the racers that were dishing out some Extreme Gear shoving, they weren't in the clear yet.
Tails, Perci, Eggman Nega and Sticks were far from being in the clear, even if two of the members were part of a team that was more than likely to lose their chance.
Tails, in particular, didn't want to follow up his friend's performance with being in 9th, considering that he was still on lower level of the wooden double-decker track.
Sticks and Perci were not too exactly with their position, as they knew for sure if there wasn't a miracle happening, they were pretty much out.
"While Wave and Storm is very much on their way to being in fifth and sixth respectively and Soar is destined to be in last, the rest of the positions are very much up in the air!"
He wasn't wrong about that, as the two Babylon Riders who were just speeding around the corner were sure that they were make their places.
"Huh, where's the competition now?"
While Wave was jokingly answering that, the rest of the competition were fighting it out trying to get at least eighth, as none of their teams were safe.
Tails was more than determined to make it through for his own team, trying to take advantage of his light weight to basically swerve around Eggman Nega, who was surprisingly hard to deal with.
Seventh definitely belonged to Perci, but it wasn't that hard to deal with her, but Eggman Nega was ready to kick his teeth in.
"As Wave finishes in fifth and Storm finishes in sixth place, it's not looking good for Team Bygone with Perci barely being in 7th!" Omochao announced. "That doesn't mean that Tails isn't getting off scot-free!"
Considering that he had no head phones, Tails heard all that and got to work...for the last two corners, as Perci and Eggman Nega were also fighting for seventh.
Wherever it was to keep it or steal it, it was all very important to those three, as the last few corners were actually in front of them and as Perci and Tails had the most chance to get into front.
"I've got it." Perci said, I guess. "Sounds rough."
"This is just going to be rough." Tails said.
The yellow fox and the lilac bandicoot were just getting closer and closer to making sure that the seventh place a little bit harder to obtain and Eggman Nega was flying comfortably in 8th place.
The steep u-turn were more than determined to speed some riders up, as Tails was just flying through in seventh or eighth and Perci came from an expected place, considering that she was a speed type.
"Perci nails being 7th place, as Tails rides in 8th place and then Eggman Nega speeds into 9th...barely missing eighth!" Omochao shouted, as the final three riders were more than fired up to not lose.
Zavok was plain angry at his own teammate for the lacklustre position, but then he calmed himself when he realised that a certain team had no chance.
"Sticks finally gets tenth and helping her team in the best way that she could, as Zavok gets 11th place for his evil efforts! And finally, Soar gets dead last...as he's not soaring."
Sticks was just feeling pretty bittersweet about something, as the jungle badger wasn't in the best mood to make some serious judgement.
Soar just groaned, as he knew that he lost completely by being a second behind even the next best place.
"Well yeah, it's not looking that like there's going to be much of a surprise from some teams! As the losers' semi-final match has finished, one trio will be sent home...probably ready to come back for the next WGP!" Omochao announced. "Who know what a little bit of perspective is going to do?"
Team Sonic was just feeling quite a bit happier than in Sandopolis, as they didn't just throw away the match...or rather, Sonic didn't throw away the chance for a good race.
And it couldn't have been better for everyone, as Tails was just making his relief apparent.
"Great job, Sonic. You really pulled it out against that spiky guy." Tails complimented the confident hedgehog.
"Yeah, me and him kinda go quite a ways back."
"Didn't you say that I was involved in that...mess?" Knuckles asked.
"Sometimes, you've gotta save the world and not remember it."
Knuckles was just looking at him like he was just a plain fool, as the echidna was just back in the air conditioned workshop with some random extistential questions thrown in.
"That actually makes sense, but I don't think this is the right time for those questions. We performed pretty admirably, as you didn't just think you'd auto-win."
"Geez, thanks, Knuckles. Probably wouldn't be here if you guys didn't do good last time." Sonic was just giving a happy smile.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you didn't try your hardest last time. Just did a dumb strategy." Tails made a commment.
"Eh, don't worry about me, I've got my head on the right way."
"Well, thanks, Sonic. I hope you learned something stupid."
Tails was just making some minor changes to the Gear to essentially make it a little more consistent than before and he was just trying to nail it.
"Man, I can't believe you just said that!"
"Yeah...didn't mean to say it, but it's fine. You okay, Sonic?"
"Okay's a pretty big understatement. Feeling good because the villains aren't dominating and Jet really deserves what his team's solid win." Sonic was just stretching his arms. "Not gonna lie, Jet's gonna get what he deserves."
"A good old humbling and maybe some unique teamwork is all we need to compete against them." Knuckles was just cracking his own knuckles, as the echidna was more than happy to make it. "Hehehe, Storm's gonna get a little bit more."
"No problem, Knux. You kinda answered for me, dude." Sonic was just shrugging his hedgehog arms quite simply.
Team Babylon...was in a very different mood to keep it simple, as the three riders weren't too sad with their genuinely good performance and Storm was a little bit mad that he lost to Knuckles.
Meaning that they were a little bit giddy...besides Wave.
"Look, I know that the competition is actually quite a bit stronger now, but getting sixth ain't that good." Wave explained. "Heck, Mephiles' team definitely cheated with those track explosions."
"Come on, we're all within the top six. It ain't the greatest thing, but it's still a good day for us future champions!" Jet boasted, being the picture of a egotistical bird.
"Yeah and Knuckles is going to feel my knuckles hit him." Storm boasted. "Settling it next...whenever."
"The matches air at least two weeks from now, though I suspect we're in the winners final."
"Yeah, it's the finals-"
"WINNER'S finals. The losers' finals actually comes after this match."
"So, why don't they call those matches the semi-finals, because that's what they are and it's a plain fact." Storm just crossed his arms with a serious pout.
"Because the requirements to get through require getting a certain amount of points to qualify for the seperate match. Basically, get third...get into losers' finals, get first and second in this match, get into winners' finals." Wave was just struggling to not roll her eyes.
"Man, why is this so complicated? Get it through your head that points matters."
"Come on, Storm, we've got better things to argue about. Like how good that diamond's gonna look in the stash." Jet proclaimed, thinking of the riches. "Dunno about that Master Emerald, though."
"I mean, we do carry the Arks of the Cosmos...replications, but still. But the Master Emerald literally powers an island and last time I checked, security's still acting up."
With that being said, it was close enough to the time that there was just going to be some pretty impressive talk that followed the pretty impressive race that just happened.
To be continued in Part 4a, where there's going to be some results being heard and it's not going to be a surprise who's out!