PART TWO

CH.9: Timed course

Rivet was back in her racing uniform as she strode into the garage. Time laps were currently on the table which meant she had to beat certain records just to make it. Looking around her she sees only Grim and Kit as familiar faces while the rest are made up of a crew picked out by Rex. "No pressure Rivet, you got this."

She walked over to her racer and climbed in and placed her helmet on. Settling in she makes sure the harness like buckles are connected and she flips a few switches to go through the pre-flight checklist. It wasn't just a ground track she was dealing with as she would also be taking to the sky, kind of a dual combo thing.

"Listen up Rivet, this track, isn't meant for the faint of heart. You are going to have to take some big risks just to make the time you have before you. I have faith you can pull it off, having never seen you race, but this pit crew here will also be evaluating your performance and whatever they see is going straight to Stone."

Rivet was glad her helmet was on cause right now she was extremely nervous. So she didn't trust herself beyond a thumbs up.

"Racer Rivet is good to go. The time to beat is-." She pushed the button to bring the canopy down atop her and she steered out onto the race track. Her heart was hammering away in her chest and she pushed down on the pedal for throttle.

"Rivet, can you hear me? Look, this may seem daunting but you got this in the bag. Rely on what you have done so far and do not worry about the time."

"Gotcha, alright, here goes...something," Rivet waited for the light to turn green before pushing forward. Her back was thrown into the seat behind her and she felt acceleration pick up fast. Her hand holds onto the wheel before her as she made the first sharp turn, so far she hadn't upended or turned over so she was holding her speed.

"You are doing great Rivet, ok, this is where you are going to launch into flight mode. There should be a button on your steering wheel that should configure the vehicle to an easy transition. Remember to keep your speed up and any rings you can find will help your acceleration."

Rivet saw how the path up ahead was now ascending up and as she touched the button she kept her foot on the pedal keeping the throttle up and as she removed her hands from the wheel briefly she was now holding onto a joystick.

Gripping it she immediately heads into a ring and feels a burst of speed added to her vehicle. Navigating past one of the taller buildings she grit her teeth. No doubt anyone who worked in such a building would catch sight of her racing and stop and stare, and, long as it was just that and nothing too blinding she should manage.

"Alright Rivet, so, this next half of the race is all about keeping up that speed of yours. The acceleration rings scattered around Sybon will provide you with the necessary boost to get past your opponents, but, miss one and you will have to double time it."

Rivet kept up her speed hitting as many rings as she can. She was thrown back into her seat as she saw just how fast she was going out of the corner of her eye. The speed alone was making it difficult to hit each ring without drifting or pulling out. The racer was sturdy enough but there was a bit of shaking in the small confines of the ship.

"G-Grim...how much l-longer do I g-got?" She strained against the joystick feeling like her eyes were going to peel back into her socket.

"There is a break up ahead...and...drop!" Wait, did Grim honestly expect her to drop? She didn't want to question him though and relying on that insider knowledge she drops the nose of her vehicle and begins a steep ascent. The rings appear to vanish and she fights for control pulling out of the steep dive and pushing her speed up again as she shot through a narrow gap in the building ahead.

"Phew, that was a close one, and you did this back in the day Grim?" Rivet wasn't sure how she would deal with the other racers but she knew that the racer would be ready by then.

"A story for another time, but, the short end of it is...yes, and, much like you I had the same jitters. There will be a total of 8 racers in your first race, by the end of it, two will be cut and two more will be brought in. Each race is built around points and for every racer that is cut their score goes down, but, they have a chance to get back into the race through redemption rounds."

Rivet hears him out as she continues flying through obstacles and growing familiar with the course. She was still trying to set a record or a best lap so she had to make sure she didn't pull any risky move that might get her disqualified.

"So you are telling me that I have a chance to stay in the race even if I don't get within the top three or something?"

"Yes, however, Rex is only going to allow you so many of those so my advice is avoid getting that low. Alright come on in."

Rivet finishes up her round and descends into the garage before pulling to a complete stop. Popping the hatch she sits there a beat getting her bearings before she climbs out of there and once her helmet is off she walks off a bit before throwing up.

"Yeah, I remember that too, couldn't eat ramen for weeks after that. Your time is good to qualify which means you can properly race. There are a few pointers though...but...that can wait. I'll be over by the monitors when you are ready."

Rivet holds up her yellow bionic arm a bit examining it before she hurries over to meet up with Grim. She sat down on one of the available chairs and looked at a monitor that was setup to show her getting into the racer. "Any tips on how to get in without it looking so...sloppy?"

"No need to worry about the little things, besides, back when I was younger I had some muscle to me so it was a tight fit on my end. The race is starting...so...something I noticed is you have a tense grip on your wheel, what this means is if you need to make any sudden changes it is going to cause the vehicle to stall or worse yet cause whatever vehicle collides with you to get out of lane. Relax, make course adjustments as you go."

Rivet nods her head looking at the rest of the race. Grim would sometimes throw her nuggets of wisdom based on his racing days while the rest of the time it was the pit crew telling her that she would need to watch certain obstacles and even if she was in the air there were still points that could derail her or cause a loss of altitude. The pit crew also told her that if she started to lose fuel to immediately press the gold button which would take her back to the garage.

"So you telling me that in the middle of the race if something is wrong I go all the way back here? I mean, doesn't that take away from the race itself?" Rivet fixes her blue eyes everywhere.

"Technically you would still be taken back to where you were last, but, at that time the other racers would be in front of you and your time will be deducted. These are the rules here on Sybon, and, the rules setup by Rex himself. I believe he wishes for it to be a believeable enough race and testing the pilots to see if they can maintain speed and fuel without crashing and dying before having to go in to get their vehicle examined."

"Well that is just cruel," Rivet folds her arms. "Honestly the amount of speed put into these babies alone is going to cause quite a calamity out there."

"Yes, yes it will...though I suppose that about does it for this. You should go and get some shuteye, as for me, I need to report this back to Rex himself and get you registered."

"Are you telling me after all the hoops I had to go through I still wasn't even registered to race?" Rivet was stunned at this.

"Rex has his ways about him, and, you aren't the first to be in that position. Take Kit and go back to your apartment, something tells me Rex will be in contact shortly."

Rivet sighs some but figures there is no point in giving Grim a hard time about this. She should take this up with Rex but not even sure Barry would grant her access. So instead she picked up Kit and placed her on her back before heading out.

Authors note: Next chapter Ratchet arrives at Sybon. As of now I am working on chapter 11 but instead of wait till whichever chapter part two ends on might as well show I am still here and getting things out there. Thank you all for reading and tuning in with this, Rivchet is honestly one of my favorite ships and glad I can put this out there to celebrate these two.