Before we start, I like to give a shout out to JMbuilder.
I recently beta-read's his one shot. 'Not as Naughty as we Thought'. An extended and alternate ending to Sounds of Silence where instead of Lola being the planner of her false scare stories bringing Lincoln to task, she is framed for the scare stories and must work together with Lana, Lincoln, and Lisa to find out why that is. The story is up on his profile and I suggest to give the story a read and show him some support.
"Ugh, I think I'm going to be sick from all this spinning." Lincoln says inside the rotating car while the checkered flag background and music plays from before.
"Looks like this is going to be point to point just like last time." Lisa says upon looking at the next race map displayed on the TV screen. "Just keep your cool and you'll make pole position."
"Got it." Lincoln confirmed. Then a silence as the game continues to load with its looping music and background.
"Any thoughts, Lincoln?" Lisa spoke out.
"Yeah, It's just that how games work, it can only get harder as you move on."
"We just have to keep fighting and see what's up next."
Suddenly, he hears a ring-tone. Lincoln wonders where it comes from until he feels the vibration from his pocket. He picks his pocket to find some cell phone that flips open. He flips it up and on it's screen it says ONE NEW MESSAGE. Just like any curious phone user, he presses the message button to see what it is.
The message which is displayed on the phone and on tv screen reads as follows.
I don't know who u r but I rule dis raceways.
If u kno whats good 4 u then quit da nex race.
U R gonna regret it if u don't. Ta-ta bye!
XOXO
MESSAGE END
"Geez, that was a mess of grammar and spelling." Lisa said as she got through the cell phone speak. "I'm guessing that from that message that an enemy AI doesn't want us to win."
"Yeah." Lincoln says as he has to worry about another boss trying to stop him. The racer then gets determined. "Whoever game AI it is, we'll take 'em down and save our sisters."
"You got it, elder brother."
Suddenly, the music fades out and the background stops, in indication that the loading had completed. The car suddenly does a quick single spin on the other direction before it stops. Lincoln wonders what's happening before he sees a grid form in front of him and then a bit of color before the course renders. They're in the beach environment as before except this time, there's water and sand to his right and billboards to his right and the road he's in has grown to four lanes. A sign that he's in a freeway.
Lincoln proceeds to get out and get a better look at the environment, but the fails to get out of the car as the door is locked. He becomes slightly worried but then comes to the realization that this is a car racing game and drivers aren't programmed to come out of their cars.
"Huh, if I wasn't stuck in this car, I would get a better look at the beach."
"It may probably be the programming. Since it's a racing game, you can't leave the car."
"I figured." Lincoln groaned as he can't help feeling a bit disappointed.
"Hmm." Lisa hummed as she checks the map. "The game says that that there will be traffic ahead."
"Hopefully they're not as hard as the rival car I had to fight off in the last race."
"Ditto."
Drivers to your marks!
The announcer says as Lincoln scrambles to the driving position.
Ready?
Lincoln puts the gear shift in drive before gripping the wheel. Lisa and Lily watch in anticipation.
Get Set.
Lincoln revs his engines in increments as he hears the other cars engine rise in tone...
Go!
The cars goes off in an instant, their exhaust pipes spewing blue fire as they leave starting gate in a slight fire trail.
"Wow! Blass-off!" Lily says upon seeing the enemy cars take off.
Lincoln watches this in surprise as his car peels from the starting line. "How did they accelerate off the track like that?" Lisa said in surprise.
"I don't know!" Lincoln says as the car finally goes off. "Grah. I need to catch up." He shakes off the confusion as the car nears it's top speed, picking up the pace for a few yards and also passing through other cars that shared the same unfortunate fate of not rocketing off the starting line. Bad for them but good for Lincoln!
"Right, I just remembered. There is a trick to getting a rocket start off the starting gate in racing games like this. Grr...If only I known what it is."
"Worry about that later, you just need to win this race."
"Ok." Lincoln says upon refocusing on the track "Let just see if we can catch up to them."
"Go! Inkin. Go Inkin." Lily cheered on.
The rallies of the two girls bring this boy the determination to drive as he speeds along. As he passes a couple few cars, he worries that the cars may make a counterattack like the rival car from the last race considering video game rules of stage progression, but so far there was no such opposition... A couple of car passes later, a bunch of more cars appear in his vision, but they're of the varying models. Upon close inspection, these aren't race cars. These are just regular cars. Sedans, Taxis, RV, and an occasional civilian car. Thankfully, they're a less of a threat from the race cars as they not only make no effort to attack the car or even lane hog, they go at a much slower speed allowing the boy to pass them easily. However, the numbers, while not as big, may be a hassle to weave though when attempting to continue at this speed. He just has to not be reckless and bump into the-
Beep Beep Beep!
Suddenly, the windshield HUD beeps out. "WARNING! LOCK ON ALERT!" The HUD displayed.
"Locked on?" Lincoln wondered. "By what?"
"Strange.." Lisa too wondered about this strange warning. And Lincoln is usually the one Locking on to..! 'No way..' Lisa snapped. "Lincoln! Check the rear mirror!"
Lincoln checks his rear mirror and sees a missile? A missile! He quickly swerves to the left with the missile whizzing past his right and making a small explosion at the road.
He wipes his brow from that close call and checks his rear mirror again to see where it came from. He checks to see that it's an enemy car, and from the looks of things, it's roof is open, displaying smoke. The roof then closes before the car moves towards an item box. It grabs the box and the roof opens again...
It's missiles! "The enemy car can get items too!?" Lincoln says.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Lisa yelled as the enemy car fires another missile. Lincoln then does another swerve causing the missile to miss again and making contact on a traffic car.
Surprisingly, the civilian car leaves unscathed.
Recovering from another close call, Lincoln looks ahead, he sees an item box...Score! He successfully touches it. Now he can get an oil slick to make the enemy car spin out.
The item HUD lights up, it's a missile instead! And as feared, it pops up from Lincoln's hood, there's no way to fire it from the back.
"Dang it. This isn't what I want." Lincoln has no time to lament as one more missile gets launched. Lincoln quickly moves to the right..
Bump!
A traffic car blocks his right. He rotates the steering wheel towards the other direction...
Boom!
Too slow...
An explosion comes from his wake as Lincoln's car pops high in the air, before landing on the ground, bringing the car to a stop.
"Lincoln, are you okay?" Lisa called.
"Yes... A-ok." Lincoln says as he promptly restarts his car; shaking off the impact of the explosion as the car re-accelerates. Then, a few enemy cars whizz by costing him multiple positions. He's going to have to find some way to catch back up.
Then off in distance, to the left, alternating to the main road..A tunnel. Fortune may soon shine upon him. "Hey there's a tunnel! This may probably lead to a shortcut." Lincoln says as he goes for the alternate route. As Lincoln closes in, There's a big sign walling off the entrance.
"I don't know, Lincoln. It says Do Not Enter." Lisa said reading the sign. "It probably has that sign for a good reason."
"I don't think we have much choice, Lisa." With that, his car vaults towards the hill and enters at the tunnel, smashing the sign upon entry!
...
Lincoln's car bumps a little bit up and down before his car smooths out. Darkness fills him before he gets some light to figure out where he is. It's a concrete tunnel with it being mostly dark, but not dark enough thanks to a few lights lighting the area in intervals.
"A bit dark, but I'm away from the chaos of freeway at least." Lincoln says. "Lisa, you have any idea where this leads?"
Lisa hummed as she checked the mini map. "You're right, This is a shortcut. By my calculations, if you keep going at this speed, you'll be able to reach first!"
"Nice! I was right!" Lincoln chimed. "This may be an easy win after all."
Suddenly, a ring tone plays again. Turns out it's another text message from his phone. Lincoln pulls it out and reads the message.
I see u r still in this race. Well I gess I hav to bring someone out 2 teach u a lesson.
XOXO
MESSAGE END
Lincoln can't help but sweat a bit. What exactly has the game AI cooking up this time?
HONK! HONK!
Honking blares from behind sending Lincoln in surprise. Then big lights covers Lincoln's entire car.
"Look out!"
Lisa warned as Lincoln is already swerving out of the way from the dangerous light. Upon the turn's completion and away from the light, the vehicle looms to the side of him making its presence known, and it's huge! The what looks to be a car is bigger than him and behind it is a huge container that stretches on in a few yards, all in it's 16 wheeled glory. Turns out that vehicle is a big semi truck!
"A semi truck? What's it doing here? Surely, it can't be plausible to be here in this tunnel considering the height limit?" Lisa said as Lily gets miffed seeing this car take over like that.
"This must be what our little messenger has sent us but what is it going to do?"
HONK HONK! The truck blares out as it moves a 10 or so yards in front of Lincoln. The trailer door then opens...
From the shadows of it's compartment space, spawns barrels; rolling out from the road and heading towards the car. Lincoln dodges left and then right, wanting no part of barrel upon car action. It's barrels seemingly aims for Lincoln's position, but thankfully they don't spawn as fast which gives him ample time to dodge.
As soon as the barrels finish, the trailer door closes to probably reload. Lincoln wonders how to retaliate... until he remembers the un-fired missile from his storage. Lincoln brings the missile up and locks on the truck. He locks on, then fires the missile at the truck. The missile whizzes by and then makes contact with the truck.
A direct hit!
The explosion goes, engulfing the trailer door. But as the smoke clears..
The truck suffers no damage!
As a way to give thanks, the truck door opens and it slowly pulls out something big. A big turret that has a big barrel. The turret makes a loud whir upon aiming it's barrel towards the car. "Uh-oh." Lily says as the it's turret then charges; it's barrel lighting up in yellow.
Lincoln freezes for a bit before deciding to move to far out of the way. The cannon fires and it makes an explosion upon it's wake, forcing the boy to move a couple of feet towards the tunnel wall from the expanding explosion. The radius then recedes as the trio comprehends its power.
"This isn't good!" Lisa sweats. "Conventional means wont work and it's offensive capabilities are too high. There has to be some way to take it down." Lisa says as the turret retracts from the ajar door.
Suddenly, Lily notices something, she points forward bringing Lisa's attention. "Flash! Flash!"
"Lily, what are you talking about?" Lisa says initially confused until both she and Lincoln both look to where Lily is pointing. The inside of the trailer is left open and now it's flashing white. What could it be doing?
"Of course!" Lincoln notices. "It must be showing it's weak spot!"
"A weak spot?" Lisa says.
"Whenever there's a boss and it's invincible, then it has to have to do something to show off it's weak spot. The flashing door must be it!"
"No way, something as obvious as flashing door can't be a weak point." Lisa says as Lincoln sees an item box.
Lincoln grabs it and wouldn't you know it, it's a missile! He's take careful aim. Locks on. Then fires at the truck's door... BOOM! The truck pops from the ground in a explosion as it flashes red.
"Yes, It worked!"
Lisa blinked in astoundment as the truck speeds forwards in the tunnel before she recovers. "Sigh. Sooner or later, I'm gonna have to stop questioning you about these things." The truck then quickly returns to it's position as the door opens again. This time, it spawns two cars; the cars in question are no bigger than Lincoln's wheel. The cars roof's then pop open revealing mini turret guns. They then fire their bullets at Lincoln; Lincoln promptly moves left and right accordingly dodging the bullet on car action. The cars then moves to the sides of Lincoln's car before resuming fire. Their new positioning is making their mark as his car is being riddled with gunfire.
"Augh. I'm being hit!" While the car is thankfully not being damaged from the bulletstorm, sustaining them is making him lose speed. Lincoln tries to speed up trying to get out the way but his speed is constantly dropping.
"Lincoln, Ram them! Ram the cars!"
Taking Lisa's advice, Lincoln proceeds to ram the cars from the side; easily, they skid out of control and crash to a wall.
"Phew. What can we do without you, Lisa."
"Much obliged. Considering the size difference between both cars I figured that-"
Suddenly, the truck opens the pops out of the cannons again, cutting Lisa short. Lincoln dodges out of the way before the cannon fires. It misses and the turret goes back to reload having the car door flash again, just what Lincoln needed. Lincoln grabs an item box and firing another missile at the confirmed to be flashing door. It makes it mark as the truck makes it's damage animation the second time.
Upon recovery, the truck goes ahead, except it disappears in the darkness. Some odd seconds pass as the trio wonder what's up. Suddenly from ahead, It's headlights is shines behind Lincoln.. The truck is now behind Lincoln!
"Dodge! Dodge!" Lincoln moves to right in time before the truck speeds by with it's massive frame threatening to run him over. The truck disappears into the darkness momentarily before it doubles back and tries to run over for Lincoln from ahead. Lincoln dodges again and it misses. One more time, the truck goes from behind. Misses. The truck then goes back to the neutral position before it prepare the turret.
Lincoln was a bit rattled from dodging the the truck. Fortunately, it wasn't rattling enough for the truck to successfully hit it's target. Upon one more dodge, Lincoln grabs an item box and he fires on the door once more. It makes its mark and the truck starts making mini explosions before finally a big explosion.
"And that was close!" Lincoln said as he blows past the explosion. Then there's a light at the end of the tunnel. "Hey, this must be the exit!"
He makes it to the tunnel light..
...
And he's back in the main road! Back at the freedom of the four-laned freeway. "Looks like you're near the end of the course." Lisa says reading the mini-map upon the initial surprise of the 11 year old racer.. "And you have moved up a few places!"
"Nice! So which place am I at?"
"You're in Third." Not the rank he wants. Fortunately, he sees the enemy cars in distance, so he still has a shot of winning. But also in the viewpoint is the traffic..
Yes, the traffic from before returns, except this time is heavy. It's so heavy to the point that it could turn into a traffic jam. The enemy cars weave through the traffic easily before the traffic closes. This give the boy some trouble moving past the traffic. And due to the damage from the truck battle earlier, he's even slower.
"We may not make pole position at this state, we need a some sort of opening." Lisa says as Lincoln's current speed is too slow for any push-back.
"Or need one more power up." Lincoln says upon seeing a item box in the distance. "Come on, there has to be something." Lincoln says upon touching which may be the last item box of this race. This one better count.
As the roulette stops. It's..some sort of flaming wheel. "A new item!" Lincoln noticed.
"What does this item entail?" Lisa says.
"Whatever it is, it has to be something good." Lincoln then presses the button. Suddenly, his car suddenly begins to shake.
Lincoln feels his car jolt back and forth and then a pop upwards. He wonders what just happened.
From Lisa's POV, Lincoln's tires has grown huge, and it's lower body has changed to accommodate the bigger tires. Lincoln's car has turned into a monster truck.
"MONSTER MODE DEPLOYED!"
Suddenly the back wheels begin to spew fire and then.. "Whoa!" Lincoln goes as the truck blasts off at hi speed.
The car now turned monster truck proceeds to blow through traffic. The puny cars pops in the sky from the might of the truck before they fall down and resume their drive.
He reaches the two cars in the distance. And upon passing the two cars, they too blow out of the way from the might of Lincoln Monster truck mode. Through no time at all, he reaches the checkered flag in first.
Congratulations. You win!
"And that's another victory!" Lincoln cheered as the truck reverts back to the car.
"A fortuitous turn of events at the last minute! Though, I'm not a fan of having that monster truck item pop up to win the race for us. "
"Hey, whatever the game can give us to save our sisters."
"I guess so, considering current events...Now lets see what the next course has and attack accordingly.
"Ditto." Lincoln says as he drives off to the next course.
Unknown to the both of em, The mystery driver comes by seeing the events at play.
And the mystery driver is not pleased.
Wow...Hard to believe that we reached a new decade.
Omni Spectator: That mystery driver could be Lynn...It could be not.
Since Lincoln did that epic crash back in the previous chapter and suffered no damage and was too late to change that I figured hey, he may lose speed.
Sorry if it's late and sorry if you were expecting a three lap course but instead was a point-to-point one and have it turn into a mini boss fight. But don't worry, we'll get a normal race...if possible.
Hey, if you don't want to hit by some obvious weak points, leave some constructive feedback if you wanna see this author improve his writing and possibly deliver this author determination to bring the next chapter a bit faster.
And if you like what you are seeing, Follow and/or Favorite.
Until Next Time!
