Author's Note: I'm not even going to bother wasting my or your time with an Author's Note... You guys wanted this chap for a long while and here it is. Besides, that's why you're here, correct? Just excuse my spelling...
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Venue 11: The Battle of Metro City
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"GO!!!!"
The moment the word rang out the competitors waiting shot out of the starting gate and down the huge opening drop to the city below. While most tricked out to their leisure, two of them didn't. Mac and Hiro were still locked together by thick tension as they kept their watch on the other through the corner of their eyes, checking to see if any sudden movements would arise. Lucky for both of them the start was fairly clean as the 6 racers touched snow with no problems, Kaori in the lead with Mac & Hiro tied for second. That quickly changed on the first right turn as Allegra rocketed past the two rivals using her body to boost and while Hiro didn't notice it, Mac did.
Alright, Mac! Focus! he reminded himself. You didn't come all this way and did all that trash-talking over the radio just to be distracted by this guy!
Slightly smirking at himself, Mac gave Hiro one more glance as they came towards the next left turn, this time not of hate and tension, but of a bit of more relaxed one. Rest assured Hiro was a bit taken aback, but before he could even comment on it, Mac pushed himself to take the next turn inside, passing Allegra and quickly making regaining ground to catch up to his girlfriend.
"What the...?" the Japanese pilot let out, not only because of Mac's sudden move, but also since Griff's little body sped past him within a blink of an eye, also playing catch-up by taking a rail to the right of the course with Seeiah not too far behind. Finding himself planted in 6th place as the track split up, Hiro followed Seeiah on the pipe with some questions on his mind.
That look... What was he trying to do? Taunt me? He's really asking for it...
Meanwhile, Mac was already well ahead of his rival, moving up the incline to a huge jump leading up to another fork in the road where the track twisted all around the Metro City buildings. He eased up on his adrenaline boost as he rode side by side with Kaori, giving her a quick glance.
"Kaori! Last one down buys lunch between us, eh?" he belted out quickly. Kaori only got a chance to look at him before the two lifted off and started tricking out. However, as she went through her twists and turns, Kaori managed to compute what Mac said, then as the two landed, Mac with a Rodeo 900 Seatbelt and Kaori with a Triple Front Flip Shifty, she opened her mouth to reply.
"Mac! You're o—"
"Outta my way, ladies!!!"
Breaking up the two, not only in conversation but also in making the two go down different paths was Griff, who just came down and sliced through the two like a knife through butter, heading down a narrower third route that was located between the two main roads. His little interruption caused Mac to head left and Kaori to head right, but quickly Mac regained his focus. He'd have to figure out what was Kaori's response later. As he made his way through the hair-pin turn, Mac motioned his eyes on Griff, who lifted off of another ramp in between two buildings and flipped upside-down slowly, obviously on purpose, flying over the road that Mac was on. As he grabbed his board to do a Method trick, Griff used his free hand to pull down the eyelid of one of his eyes and stuck his tongue out, taunting Mac as he rode under him. He didn't get to see Mac's reaction as he focused on landing his trick so he could maintain his first-place position and in a way he didn't miss much. Mac only twisted him mouth as he kept his eyes on the little jump in front of him. Instead of launching himself, Mac stayed low and just rode over it just as Allegra passed him while soaring into the air, spinning around while tricking out herself. Mac's decision paid off as he sped past Allegra on the ground as took the next hairpin turn sharply, moving fast towards where the roads joined again.
"Heh..." Mac let out as he clearly saw the little Peak 1 boss make his next route choice by going up a small ramp and over the boundary of the track onto an upper route. "He took my path... Best follow the little twerp."
Sure enough that's what he did, not tracking Griff down movement for movement like a heat-seeking missile, gradually closing in on him. He followed him through jumps and narrow shortcuts through the buildings that not even the people who established the course knew existed, even under the subway tracks towards the middle of the track. Occasionally Griff would look over his shoulder but all he would see was Mac's stalking smile, and in return he'd make comments.... like the most recent one that he dished out towards the park section of the course.
"How uncool, Mac!" he yelled out semi-annoyed & semi –mockingly. "You're supposed to be handling your business with Hiro, not following ME around!"
"I can handle my business with him any day of the week!" Mac yelled back as he was now literally breathing down Griff's back, "but there's only one chance to win gold on a course, and I plan to take that chance to heart!"
"No matter, pal! I'm still doing to win this race so you keep dreaming! Better yet, since you like seeing my back so much, why don't you take a picture at the finish line? It'll last longer!"
Mac started to reply, but he looked ahead of him and Griff... and changed what he was about to say.
"How about you look where you're going!?"
"Huh? AHHH!"
Griff quickly spun around and due to his trash-talking, he failed to realize the turn coming up and paid for it by running into it face-first. He instantly fell on his back, hating himself for both not wearing a mask and not paying attention to where he was going... and all he could hear was Mac's fading voice.
"Oh, and I'll tell Allegra to take a picture of your back for me later! I'm going to miss it since I'm in front of you now! Later!"
Griff quickly regained his senses as struggled to pick himself up, but by the time he got up, both Seeiah and Allegra managed to catch up and pass him. Mac, in particular, was way in front, navigating the trees and cutting his time by not taking the main route. He had a big smile on his face since he knew he was a sure shot to win now, and an even bigger smile once he saw the last big incline in front of him. Mac sped onto the main track and headed up, bracing himself for a huge uber-trick...
"MMAAAACCCCCC!!!"
"Uh!?" he let out, snapping his head up to see someone in the sky moving across his eyesight. Although he could barely see who it was, the trick that she was doing was enough to identify who it was.
"Kaori!?"
She only laughed in response as she performed her Pirouette Grind flawlessly, spinning around on the edge of her board with only one foot. Mac had to take his jump lightly as he kept his eyes on his girlfriend as she jumped off the board and started to land back on it... but something went wrong... Kaori missed her board. Her legs went to the left of her board instead of on it...
"HEY!!!! KAORI!!!!"
Kaori wasn't paying much attention. As she appeared to be falling to the bottom route below and definitely played with spending the rest of the competition in the hospital, she instead grabbed her board with her right and... spun it around her neck like a lawnmower blade.
What the...!? That's Psymon's Guillotine!
Indeed it was. Stealing a page right out of her 'rival's' playbook, Kaori merged her own signature move with Psymon's and although it did look a bit sloppy, it still was amazing to see. Definitely thrown off his game due to the distraction, Mac lost sight of Kaori as she smashed through a massive window to the building to his right and obviously stealing first place from him. Mac didn't realize that fact until a few seconds later as he dropped to the lower route of the track and the pushed himself.
It was oddly quiet as he approached the little obstacle course. It was due partly because he forgot to put on his headphones like he does at the start of each race and partly because the only other person at this part of the course was Kaori, who just exited it and headed down the final stretch of the course. Mac let out a sigh and steadied his pace, trying not to push himself too much even though he was in second place. In a way he was a bit surprised that he was cooling down and not pushing himself like he would normally do. It sure wasn't because he was tired...
What am I doing...? Ain't I supposed to be winning this race?
Mac took a look behind him to see a glance of Allegra and Seeiah coming down from the huge drop off and then turned back to focus on the rail in front of him. He jumped on it and boosted down on it, moving as fast as he could to make sure no on else passed him. However, despite what he was trying to prevent, he wasn't thinking on preventing Kaori from winning. By the time he got to the last bumpy road to the bottom of the track, he knew why... sort of.
"YATTA!!! I WON!!" Kaori shouted out while crossing the finish line, throwing her hands into the air in joy and welcoming the crowd's reaction. A few seconds later Mac followed, picking up the silver. He smirked as he got his own welcome cheer but his focus quickly went to Kaori, who was now blowing a few kisses to the crowd above her. He took himself off his board, picked it up, and walked behind Kaori, tapping her on her shoulder.
"N.... nani? Oh, Mac! You saw me, ne?"
"Yeah, I did. Nice race, Kaori... and nice showing off Psymon back there. I swear he better had been watching that... I can just see his face now."
Kaori took a tiny pause before smiling happily.
"I guess that means that you're going to by buying lunch, right?"
Mac twisted his face, quickly remembering the wager he put up earlier and then nodded. "Yeah... I guess I am. Come on... Let's get on out of here."
Kaori let Mac wrap an arm around her and the couple started to walk down the side passage to the main street heading downtown. Before they got far, Kaori stopped.
"What's up?" Mac asked.
"Um... the SSX commission does know where to drop off my prize money & stuff, right?"
"...yeah... Why ask that? You know how long you've been racing with this circuit?"
"Oh, I don't know..." Kaori smirked again. "Aren't you going to wait for Allegra to catch up?"
Mac took a pause to think about it then looked behind him to see Allegra take a rest on the snow, just barely missing third place to Seeiah. The moment he laid eyes on her, she looked their way, and then raised an eyebrow.
"Come on!" Mac called, waving at her to come. "If you're late, I'm not paying for your end of the food tab!"
Allegra smirked and grabbed her board from her side and ran to join the two, just missing and eyes of Hiro. The race itself didn't mean much to him (regardless of the fact that he came in 5th), but once he stopped to confront Mac, neither he nor Kaori was in eyesight. He let himself off his board and heaved a slightly frustrated sigh
"Now where did he go...?" he asked himself, crossing his arms and closing his eyes to think. After a while he looked to his right, saw tracks in the snow, and decided to follow them...
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End of Venue
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Venue 11: The Battle of Metro City
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"GO!!!!"
The moment the word rang out the competitors waiting shot out of the starting gate and down the huge opening drop to the city below. While most tricked out to their leisure, two of them didn't. Mac and Hiro were still locked together by thick tension as they kept their watch on the other through the corner of their eyes, checking to see if any sudden movements would arise. Lucky for both of them the start was fairly clean as the 6 racers touched snow with no problems, Kaori in the lead with Mac & Hiro tied for second. That quickly changed on the first right turn as Allegra rocketed past the two rivals using her body to boost and while Hiro didn't notice it, Mac did.
Alright, Mac! Focus! he reminded himself. You didn't come all this way and did all that trash-talking over the radio just to be distracted by this guy!
Slightly smirking at himself, Mac gave Hiro one more glance as they came towards the next left turn, this time not of hate and tension, but of a bit of more relaxed one. Rest assured Hiro was a bit taken aback, but before he could even comment on it, Mac pushed himself to take the next turn inside, passing Allegra and quickly making regaining ground to catch up to his girlfriend.
"What the...?" the Japanese pilot let out, not only because of Mac's sudden move, but also since Griff's little body sped past him within a blink of an eye, also playing catch-up by taking a rail to the right of the course with Seeiah not too far behind. Finding himself planted in 6th place as the track split up, Hiro followed Seeiah on the pipe with some questions on his mind.
That look... What was he trying to do? Taunt me? He's really asking for it...
Meanwhile, Mac was already well ahead of his rival, moving up the incline to a huge jump leading up to another fork in the road where the track twisted all around the Metro City buildings. He eased up on his adrenaline boost as he rode side by side with Kaori, giving her a quick glance.
"Kaori! Last one down buys lunch between us, eh?" he belted out quickly. Kaori only got a chance to look at him before the two lifted off and started tricking out. However, as she went through her twists and turns, Kaori managed to compute what Mac said, then as the two landed, Mac with a Rodeo 900 Seatbelt and Kaori with a Triple Front Flip Shifty, she opened her mouth to reply.
"Mac! You're o—"
"Outta my way, ladies!!!"
Breaking up the two, not only in conversation but also in making the two go down different paths was Griff, who just came down and sliced through the two like a knife through butter, heading down a narrower third route that was located between the two main roads. His little interruption caused Mac to head left and Kaori to head right, but quickly Mac regained his focus. He'd have to figure out what was Kaori's response later. As he made his way through the hair-pin turn, Mac motioned his eyes on Griff, who lifted off of another ramp in between two buildings and flipped upside-down slowly, obviously on purpose, flying over the road that Mac was on. As he grabbed his board to do a Method trick, Griff used his free hand to pull down the eyelid of one of his eyes and stuck his tongue out, taunting Mac as he rode under him. He didn't get to see Mac's reaction as he focused on landing his trick so he could maintain his first-place position and in a way he didn't miss much. Mac only twisted him mouth as he kept his eyes on the little jump in front of him. Instead of launching himself, Mac stayed low and just rode over it just as Allegra passed him while soaring into the air, spinning around while tricking out herself. Mac's decision paid off as he sped past Allegra on the ground as took the next hairpin turn sharply, moving fast towards where the roads joined again.
"Heh..." Mac let out as he clearly saw the little Peak 1 boss make his next route choice by going up a small ramp and over the boundary of the track onto an upper route. "He took my path... Best follow the little twerp."
Sure enough that's what he did, not tracking Griff down movement for movement like a heat-seeking missile, gradually closing in on him. He followed him through jumps and narrow shortcuts through the buildings that not even the people who established the course knew existed, even under the subway tracks towards the middle of the track. Occasionally Griff would look over his shoulder but all he would see was Mac's stalking smile, and in return he'd make comments.... like the most recent one that he dished out towards the park section of the course.
"How uncool, Mac!" he yelled out semi-annoyed & semi –mockingly. "You're supposed to be handling your business with Hiro, not following ME around!"
"I can handle my business with him any day of the week!" Mac yelled back as he was now literally breathing down Griff's back, "but there's only one chance to win gold on a course, and I plan to take that chance to heart!"
"No matter, pal! I'm still doing to win this race so you keep dreaming! Better yet, since you like seeing my back so much, why don't you take a picture at the finish line? It'll last longer!"
Mac started to reply, but he looked ahead of him and Griff... and changed what he was about to say.
"How about you look where you're going!?"
"Huh? AHHH!"
Griff quickly spun around and due to his trash-talking, he failed to realize the turn coming up and paid for it by running into it face-first. He instantly fell on his back, hating himself for both not wearing a mask and not paying attention to where he was going... and all he could hear was Mac's fading voice.
"Oh, and I'll tell Allegra to take a picture of your back for me later! I'm going to miss it since I'm in front of you now! Later!"
Griff quickly regained his senses as struggled to pick himself up, but by the time he got up, both Seeiah and Allegra managed to catch up and pass him. Mac, in particular, was way in front, navigating the trees and cutting his time by not taking the main route. He had a big smile on his face since he knew he was a sure shot to win now, and an even bigger smile once he saw the last big incline in front of him. Mac sped onto the main track and headed up, bracing himself for a huge uber-trick...
"MMAAAACCCCCC!!!"
"Uh!?" he let out, snapping his head up to see someone in the sky moving across his eyesight. Although he could barely see who it was, the trick that she was doing was enough to identify who it was.
"Kaori!?"
She only laughed in response as she performed her Pirouette Grind flawlessly, spinning around on the edge of her board with only one foot. Mac had to take his jump lightly as he kept his eyes on his girlfriend as she jumped off the board and started to land back on it... but something went wrong... Kaori missed her board. Her legs went to the left of her board instead of on it...
"HEY!!!! KAORI!!!!"
Kaori wasn't paying much attention. As she appeared to be falling to the bottom route below and definitely played with spending the rest of the competition in the hospital, she instead grabbed her board with her right and... spun it around her neck like a lawnmower blade.
What the...!? That's Psymon's Guillotine!
Indeed it was. Stealing a page right out of her 'rival's' playbook, Kaori merged her own signature move with Psymon's and although it did look a bit sloppy, it still was amazing to see. Definitely thrown off his game due to the distraction, Mac lost sight of Kaori as she smashed through a massive window to the building to his right and obviously stealing first place from him. Mac didn't realize that fact until a few seconds later as he dropped to the lower route of the track and the pushed himself.
It was oddly quiet as he approached the little obstacle course. It was due partly because he forgot to put on his headphones like he does at the start of each race and partly because the only other person at this part of the course was Kaori, who just exited it and headed down the final stretch of the course. Mac let out a sigh and steadied his pace, trying not to push himself too much even though he was in second place. In a way he was a bit surprised that he was cooling down and not pushing himself like he would normally do. It sure wasn't because he was tired...
What am I doing...? Ain't I supposed to be winning this race?
Mac took a look behind him to see a glance of Allegra and Seeiah coming down from the huge drop off and then turned back to focus on the rail in front of him. He jumped on it and boosted down on it, moving as fast as he could to make sure no on else passed him. However, despite what he was trying to prevent, he wasn't thinking on preventing Kaori from winning. By the time he got to the last bumpy road to the bottom of the track, he knew why... sort of.
"YATTA!!! I WON!!" Kaori shouted out while crossing the finish line, throwing her hands into the air in joy and welcoming the crowd's reaction. A few seconds later Mac followed, picking up the silver. He smirked as he got his own welcome cheer but his focus quickly went to Kaori, who was now blowing a few kisses to the crowd above her. He took himself off his board, picked it up, and walked behind Kaori, tapping her on her shoulder.
"N.... nani? Oh, Mac! You saw me, ne?"
"Yeah, I did. Nice race, Kaori... and nice showing off Psymon back there. I swear he better had been watching that... I can just see his face now."
Kaori took a tiny pause before smiling happily.
"I guess that means that you're going to by buying lunch, right?"
Mac twisted his face, quickly remembering the wager he put up earlier and then nodded. "Yeah... I guess I am. Come on... Let's get on out of here."
Kaori let Mac wrap an arm around her and the couple started to walk down the side passage to the main street heading downtown. Before they got far, Kaori stopped.
"What's up?" Mac asked.
"Um... the SSX commission does know where to drop off my prize money & stuff, right?"
"...yeah... Why ask that? You know how long you've been racing with this circuit?"
"Oh, I don't know..." Kaori smirked again. "Aren't you going to wait for Allegra to catch up?"
Mac took a pause to think about it then looked behind him to see Allegra take a rest on the snow, just barely missing third place to Seeiah. The moment he laid eyes on her, she looked their way, and then raised an eyebrow.
"Come on!" Mac called, waving at her to come. "If you're late, I'm not paying for your end of the food tab!"
Allegra smirked and grabbed her board from her side and ran to join the two, just missing and eyes of Hiro. The race itself didn't mean much to him (regardless of the fact that he came in 5th), but once he stopped to confront Mac, neither he nor Kaori was in eyesight. He let himself off his board and heaved a slightly frustrated sigh
"Now where did he go...?" he asked himself, crossing his arms and closing his eyes to think. After a while he looked to his right, saw tracks in the snow, and decided to follow them...
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End of Venue