Chapter 44
After getting accustomed to our new vehicles, Rayne then signed all of us willing to race for Team Krew for the races, which is when we noticed that there were two other teams that would be competing. One was Team Mizo, who apparently were the ones that had those thugs chasing after us all the time, including the ones who tried to kill Daxter at the bar. And as for the other team? It was Team Osmo, who was made up of some of Daxter's old friends from when he was in the bug extermination business as well as Metal Fridgion and Metal Speetunc, who were both in human disguises.
Metal Fridgion looked like he was definitely from the frigid Icelands, as his human form was coated in thick layers of furry clothing and his head had a hood on it that concealed where his skull gem was. And as for Metal Speetunc, she was actually dressed in some more tomboyish clothing, not unlike Kiki, only she had brown skin, white hair, and she had some obvious scrapes and scars on her body that looked like burn marks.
Osmo himself was racing, who was actually a very old man that looked very nice, which Daxter attested to. And his son, Ximon, was almost like a cool older brother kind of character. And then there was Taryn, who was nonstop stone-cold serious for everything, though she was relieved to hear that Daxter was done chasing girls since getting married to and being loyal to Tess... who she was surprised to see in her furry form. Apparently Taryn was an old colleague of Tess, which made me smile.
We were then waiting in the wings in our own hotel suite in Kras, since our cars could actually go through special teleporters to arrive at the starting line in Spargus when it came time. And the television showed a very pompous blonde host that was the host of the Kras City Racing Championship.
"Helllloooo, race fans! This is GT Blitz coming to you live from Kras City with the start of the next season of the Kras City Racing Championship! Be ready to see some new faces racing off to see who will get all the marbles! So stay tuned for all the upcoming thrills, chills, and spills!" the guy said, me smirking at that name.
"GT Blitz is a bit of a big-headed numpty, in my honest opinion. He's always caring more about how popular he and his show is, not usually caring about the race contestants at all," said Rayne with an annoyed frown.
"I fear that this affair will end badly," Samos frowned. A wise man once said to watch out for those in front of you, but be wary of those behind," Samos said.
"What wise man said that?" Daxter asked.
"I did!" Samos exclaimed, Sasha laughing at that, as did Kiki.
"Look, none of us is happy about this, but we all want to help out an innocent person," Torn frowned.
"Agreed. Besides, it gives us an excuse to actually do something eventful for a change. It's been awhile since our last adventure," I said with a smirk.
"For once, I agree with you," Errol said, his frown on his face as usual. And then we were surprised when the guy on the television came into our wing.
"Hello there, competitors! I heard we'd gotten some fresh new rookies this year, so I had to come in and see them for myself," GT Blitz smiled at us with a floating camera next to him. "I hope you're made of better stuff than last year's racers. Go out to the race track and make the crowds scream! Fastest man... or woman, wins!" Blitz smiled while looking at Sasha and Rayne.
"Okay, I think that I'll compete in this first race," I smiled.
"Same with me," Sasha smirked.
"Don't forget us," Sammie and Minnie both said.
"And that should do it, then! Let's get the show on the road," Blitz smiled as we then proceeded to the garages and to the race track of Spargus, where we saw that we'd be racing in most of the newly-built portions of the city and that the road was mostly dirt, as expected. We then had the lights flash thrice before the green light, which I hit the gas the moment it turned green and I was surprised when I got a burst of turbo upon doing that as well as getting in the lead! I then looked at the weapons that were available for my car and saw that I had the ability to drop some oil slick behind me to make the other competitors get slippery tires. I then deployed it by the first turning area while I drifted, making a large stream of oil that got everyone into the skids behind me, including my teammates.
"Nice moves, Jak! Now to get rid of the competition," Minnie smiled as I then heard an explosion from behind me and saw that a driver from Mizo's team was trying to Plasmite grenades at me! I then decided to lay down a Red Eco trail of Arc Wielder lightning. And shortly after it connected with the driver's car, I saw it actually made it explode in an instant!
"Sweet! That's a Mizo driver out of the race! And now another one of 'em from me," Sasha smirked as I heard another explosion from behind ,e after I had gotten halfway through the race after making a single lap.
"Take that, Mizo driver! How about one for the double dames?" I heard Ximon ask through the communicators as I then heard another explosion while Sasha rushed past me with a smile on her face.
"Dammit! They got us, guys!" Minnie exclaimed in her radio as I actually then saw here from the sidelines in the area with the long straightway with a center divider. Sasha and I ran the rest of the race unopposed, but not before she let down a trail of fiery oil that actually caused Ximon and Taryn to explode while Osmo dodged it at the final bit, which made me smile.
"We have a winner!" Blitz smirked as I then got to the sidelines and got a gold medal as well as a ton of Precursor Orbs, which had actually become much more plentiful since the Precursors left the planet and more of them popped out of hiding. How many did I get as a reward? Upwards of 5 grand! "You saw it here, folks!... At least any of you who didn't die of boredom and switch to the bran channel! Our newbie racer lady has won her first big race... in lackluster fashion," Blitz said, Sasha frowning at that.
"Hah! If the crowd wants to see excitement, then I'll bring it to 'em by winning the whole shebang! Just you wait and see, Blitz boy!" Sasha smirked.
"Ooh, we get to see a bit of fire behind you today. Do tell, what is your name?" Blitz asked.
"Sasha Mar, happily married to Jak Mar and ready to kick some serious butt in this racing contest and prove to everyone that our team of racers are the best ever!" she smirked.
"Okay, you heard it hear first, folks! Now let's go down to Greaser in pit row!" Blitz smirked as he then turned the camera off and looked at us with a smile. "That's a wrap. Listen, I'm not getting too much smoke out of your friends, miss Sasha. Ratings were down 14 points in that last race. Not. Happening. If you want to compete with the big boys, you've gotta win more and you gotta win big! And maybe you can get some sweet rewards for your efforts. I hope to see good things out of you guys this year... if you're still around by the end of it," Blitz said, Sasha frowning as he then walked away and she looked at me.
"I don't like him," Sasha said bluntly.
"I don't like him either. He's mean," Sammie frowned.
"I think all of us can agree on that much. Let's go back and see what the next event is," I said with a smile.