"Well, Terry, it looks like things are all wrapped up here," said Jody as she stood up with Terry's registration form. "If you go through the door in the back of this room, you'll end up in a waiting area. There you can meet some of the other new racers. You will be notified when and where the first race will take place."
"Thanks," replied Terry.
"Oh, and one more thing, Terry... you may not know it, but I'm a racer, too," remarked Jody. "Good luck out on the tracks!" With that, she walked out of the room, her long, brown hair flowing behind her. Terry thought for a moment, got up, and went into the waiting room.
Almost immediately, he was bowled over by a short, white robot. It paused, turned toward Terry, and said in a low-pitched, electronic voice, "Pardon me, sir." It did an awkward little half-bow and continued running around the room.
Terry stood and stared at the robot for a moment before being run over again, this time by a short boy in an aviator's helmet. "Daigoroh?" he asked.
"Get bent, four eyes," Daigoroh said briefly before turning to chase the robot again. "Come back here, rust bucket! I want to see what you can do!"
Terry stood back up and glanced around the room. It looked for all the world like they were in a doctor's waiting room – small chairs, old magazines on tables, even a height chart on the wall. In addition to the two that he had already seen, there were several more new racers in the room. Daigoroh's father was sitting over in the corner, next to a flashy-looking man, donned in a white outfit, a red and white cape, and a white helmet, fiddling with some futuristic device. A young woman, clad in a red top and poofy red pants, was sitting a few seats from the man, teasing her hair. A few seats from where Terry was, a very tall, very fat man with a jewel inset in his shirt and several inset into his pants turned toward Terry and glared at him, revealing the nasty scar on his cheek. A man decked in a green shirt, black pants, and a black top hat was sitting behind a folding table, offering to gamble with anyone who passed him. A greasy man sitting next to the gambler, who looked like a mechanic from the 20th century, was asleep and snoring very loudly. The final person in the room was a young man reading "Fantasy Video Games Monthly." He had to stop reading occasionally to move his messy black hair out of his eyes.
"Rust bucket! Hold up!" Daigoroh yelled at the top of his lungs. This seemed to work, as the small robot stopped and turned around. As Daigoroh got closer, the robot held out one of his arms and placed its hand firmly on Daigoroh's chest. "Hey! What are you-"
ZZAAPPP! The robot delivered an electric shock to Daigoroh and ran over to the man in the corner with the red and white cape. Daigoroh followed him, slightly smoldering, and went to his father. The man in the cape spoke up. "QQQ, what have I told you about shocking innocents?"
The robot replied, "Sir, under the circumstances, I perceived the boy as a threat to my well-being and I took what was the logical course of action. Had I not, I would have been damaged."
The man in the cape sighed and turned toward the elder Goroh. "Look, I'm sorry, but maybe you could keep your kid under a little more control?"
The elder Goroh turned toward the man. His eye twitched. "No one EVER tells me how to raise my child." Quicker than Terry could blink, Goroh had a katana out and pointed right at the man's nose.
"You, sir, have made a very big mistake..." replied the man.
"Oh?" replied Goroh. "I am Samurai Goroh, fool! I don't make mistakes!" he continued while sneering at the man. The man brought out the device he had been working with and touched it to the tip of the blade. The sword vibrated for a moment and then shattered into pieces. Goroh stared at it for a moment.
"I am Phoenix! I am a time detective! Pull anything like that again and I will arrest you!" Phoenix calmly sat back down and fiddled with the device some more, while QQQ shut itself down and entered a rest mode. Goroh collected the pieces of his katana in one hand and picked up Daigoroh in the other.
"Come, Dai. We don't need to stay around these halfwits. We're leaving."
"But, Dad, what about the announcement of the Prix's courses?" Daigoroh whined.
"We're leaving," said Goroh coldly. He walked back out through the entrance, while Daigoroh made obscene hand gestures at Terry behind his father's back.
Soon after that exciting event, a deep, male voice came over the loudspeaker. "All new racers, please enter the door to the back of the room." Everyone clamored around the door, except for the mechanic, who was still asleep. Terry had the poor fortune to be stuck at the back of the crowd. Even more unfortunately, he was standing behind the tall, fat, jewel-encrusted man, who, much to Terry's disgust, also smelled of cheap cigars. The first through the door was Phoenix, carrying QQQ on his back. The red-clothed woman followed him, and soon everyone else went through as well.
Inside the adjoining room, there were several seats, which immediately got filled up. Terry was dismayed to find that the only available chairs were at the back of the room and directly behind the fat man he had stood behind in line. Terry was more distressed to realize that he could not see over the man. He leaned far to the right, just as the door opened again and two brown-toned aliens in blue suits walked through, one short and fat, the other tall and skinny. They walked to the middle of the room (where Terry could not see them) and began talking.
"I am Gomar..." said one, "...and I am Shioh!" said the other. "We will be your guide for the final stage of racing registration." Here, Terry noticed a seat where he could see and moved to it. The tall alien looked at a clipboard, then looked up and began counting the crowd. "Hmm... let's see... 20 new applicants total... 11 are via the AXGX league... 4 are forwarded from the ABT tournament... and 5 are from the PMFT league." He continued counting. "11 have already registered and Mr. Goroh told us about Dai not being here... that should leave 8. But I only see 7... Will you go check the waiting room, Gomar?" Gomar nodded and walked out. Moments later, he re-entered with the sleeping mechanic in tow.
"Man, Shioh, this guy can sleep," remarked Gomar. Shioh looked at the mechanic for a moment and walked over to the wall. He hit a panel on the wall and suddenly, the wall in the back of the room lit up with a picture of a very burly man in camouflage.
"Get up, private!" the image yelled. "This is no place for slacking!" The mechanic jolted awake and glanced around.
The image shut off and Gomar murmured to Shioh, "Just as I thought. This is the temporally misplaced applicant. He was in the 20th century army." Shioh nodded knowingly. The mechanic took a spare seat at the back of the room as Shioh began to speak.
"In this part of registration, you will learn the courses in this year's Grand Prix, and you will also be assigned a private sector of Mute City for your own personal racing practice. I trust you all know the basics of racing?" The entire group nodded simultaneously. "Good," continued Shioh. He gestured to Gomar, who pulled a small electronic device out from behind his back and handed it to him. Shioh pressed a few buttons on the device and spoke again. "This year's Grand Prix will be held in the AX Cup. Some of you may be familiar with those courses, but for the benefit of those who don't, we will explain them." A wall lit up behind the pair and displayed a model of their galaxy, the Milky Way.
"The first few races are all held on Earth," said Shioh as the picture zoomed in on the familiar green-and-blue planet, "and the first race his held very near here, in Aeropolis." The screen zoomed in again to reveal a very light-colored city with cars rushing all over the place. A large computer terminal was set in the middle of the city. "The name of the race is Screwdriver. The next race is on a course that is currently floating above our very heads," continued Shioh as the entirety of the group looked up. "No, no, I meant in outer space," he said while rolling his eyes. The screen zoomed back out and focused on a strip of metal that was contorted into oddly bent positions, floating peacefully in space. "Because this area of space is famous for its meteor showers, this course has been dubbed Meteor Storm." The screen zoomed back in on Earth, this time focusing on a very industrialized city with a brown sky. "The third course is held at Port Town, which many of you know as the hometown of the enigmatic Captain Falcon." At this, the man with jewels in his clothes clenched his fists. "This course is entitled the Cylinder Wave."
Gomar stepped in front of Shioh. "Your fourth race will be in the Lightning metropolis." The screen scrolled over to a dark town with bolts of lightning striking several buildings. "This one is the Lightning Road. Be careful here, as you never know if you'll be the lightning's next target." The screen scrolled once again, this time to a lush, green course with plants growing onto the road. Terry recognized it as one of the routes he thought of taking to get to Mute City in the first place. "This is Green Plant. Since it's the fifth race, you can bet that it is also the hardest. Although Shioh and I have raced on the Lightning Road a few times and it is flippin' hard." Shioh cleared his throat. "Oh, right, the course. This track is named Spiral, and you can guess why."
Shioh stepped back in front of Gomar. "Sorry for the long speech, but your orientation is now over. While we were briefing you, your crafts have been programmed with directions to the section of Mute City that you can practice in. The first race, in Aeropolis, will be held in three days exactly. Make sure that you get there at 1100 hours sharp, or you won't get to race. Happy practicing!" With that, he and Gomar walked quickly out of the room.
The man with the jeweled clothes stood up and immediately charged for the door. Unfortunately, Terry happened to be in his way and was promptly knocked over. Phoenix immediately stood up and grabbed hold of the man's shirt, while QQQ helped Terry back up. "Hold it, sir, we don't tolerate public violence in the time force. If you show another outburst again, you will be... forcefully incarcerated."
"Ha! Like you could catch me! Even the legendary Captain Falcon can't keep me and my mafia – I mean, um... bye!" The fat man bolted out of the room.
"Kid, are you all right?" asked Phoenix.
"Yeah, I think I'm okay, except for a bruised ego," replied Terry.
"Good. That man is Don Genie. We are currently investigating him for connections to the mob, and I'd say we just got something like a confession. Anyway, look, kid, if he or Goroh gives you any more trouble, talk to me, okay?" Phoenix left the room. QQQ waved to Terry and followed suit. Terry smiled to himself.
"This is already shaping up to be an interesting Grand Prix..."