Chapter 12: Neotropolis Races…Round 1
Entering the rusty garage the purple chameleon and the red echidna furiously shouted for the small bee. Charmy flew down in a flash and threw her wrench into the hard metal floor.
"THE RACE IS ABOUT TO START! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU?" Charmy screamed while wailing her wrench around furiously.
"We had some girl trouble." Knuckles replied.
"Wow! You got captured too?" Said a familiar voice.
"Oh no…that voice." Espio shrugged while fearfully turning around.
Everyone turned around to find an average sized pink hedgehog with a headband in a red scantily clad dress that stopped way above her knees and showed more than enough of her chest. Everyone knew it was Amy, and everyone feared that it was Amy.
"Since when did Rouge possess you?" Knuckles laughed taunting Amy.
"Very funny Knuckles! I grew tired of that old dress…so I modified it." Amy giggled, "Do you like it?"
"How'd you know it was me?" Knuckles wondered, concerned as to how she could tell so easily.
"Well…not too many Echidnas hang around. Your species is quite rare now you know." Amy answered, "How did you get here?
"That's none of your damn business. I have a race to do; we can have this useless conversation later." Knuckles rudely snapped.
Knuckles walked over to Charmy and grabbed the small black goggles resting on the dashboard of a table cluttered with tools. Amy scowled as the red guardian stormed out of the room leaving the 3 alone.
"You'd better win! Better not trash my racer either!" Charmy screamed while picking up a cloth and tossing it onto Espio's shoulder, "Start cleaning."
"…" Espio whimpered as he held up the small cloth.
"What his problem? Seems like he got it up the butt or something." Amy pouted.
"Beats the hell out of me. Knuckles' has been having some anger problems as of late. Try to ignore it." Espio said while slowly inching for the door.
"Oh…well might as well watch the race." Amy giggled while leaning against the doorway blocking Espio's escape.
"…I'm stuck with her…damn…" Espio thought, as he sighed out of shame.
The coliseum was full of spectators; the track shimmered in the sun as the mind shattering roar of the crowd echoed everywhere, Knuckles quickly made his way to his racer, it was a dark red motorcycle-hovercraft-extreme bike hybrid with a black stripe going across its sides, lots of metal piping connecting to the large engine with a small thin glass just over the steering wheel, Knuckles jumped into the leather seat and turned on the ignition, the back of the seat extended till it created a small barrier behind his head, a small bar extended and connected with the front of the craft, Knuckles put his hands on the handles and began to violently rev up the racer, its massive engine was the size of Knuckles himself. Knuckles grinned as the engine roared, he pulled the goggles down till they covered his eyes; he threw his hair back and grinned as the other 14 racers prepared themselves. Knuckles looked through the thin glass in front of him at the light, which was still on triple red…
Announcer: Welcome to the Neotropolis City Races! Sponsored by Emperor Robotnik! This year the grand prize is a rare Emerald Ore refine right from the Master Emerald! As well as a tour of the Capital Tower!
The crowd cheered as the announcer started to announce all the racers. Sitting in the special boxed seats Espio, Amy, and Charmy watched, as the racers got ready.
"Knuckles had better not crash! I refuse to build another racer!" Charmy growled.
"These races…are deadly…is Knuckles really going to drive in it?" Amy asked Espio full of concern.
"We have no choice. He has to race…" Espio replied, "I'm just praying that he survives…they're announcing us!"
Announcer: Finally…driving for Team Chaotix…is Knuckles…can this new racer break the Chaotix losing streak?
"Losing streak?" Espio grumbled while slowly glancing at Charmy who was trying to sneak out of the booth.
Announcer: Will the Chaotix Racer fall apart this time?
"Fall apart!" Amy shouted while quickly turning towards Charmy who was trying to crawl under the doorway.
Announcer: Will this racer make to the finish line? Last year it did explode on the 6th lap incinerating its driver and most of the other racers…as well as 20 of the crowd!
"…explode…incinerating…" Knuckles gasped as the announcement was beginning to rattle even his nerves.
"…I know I built that racer right…" Charmy said wiping some sweat from her forehead, "I hope I did…"
"…fuck…Knuckles' is screwed…" Espio and Amy sighed.
"No he isn't! It will work! Just watch!" Charmy roared.
The racers drove up to starting line, the massive engines roaring so loud it seemed as though the air was being violently ripped apart by the mere presence of the racers.
Announcer: Ready?
The lights slowly when from triple red…to double red…to single red…
Knuckles swallowed his spit and licked his lips as he tightened his grip on the handlebars of his racer, its engine roared almost as viciously as his temper…
Double yellow…single yellow…and…finally…
The crowd grew silent; the excitement in the air was so thick it could choke a school of children to death…
…GREEN!
The bell rang and the racers shot off into the distance faster than the eye could see, the roars of the engines suddenly grew silent as the race craft broke the sound barrier. Knuckles held on tight and turned sharply as the world around the racer was literally distorted and blurry, the rush of wind caused his dreads to point back perfectly straight. The engine roared louder than anything Knuckles had ever heard before, he gripped the handles tightly and put all his strength into his arms as and forced the handles to move, the racer quickly made a sharp turn scrapping its side against the wall of the long tube that was shooting up into the sky, the tube quickly came to an end an the racer flew through the air due to its intense speed, Knuckles quickly swung his body in one direction forced the airborne craft to turn and spin around passing the other racers, landing with a bone crushing trash the craft sped down the long track, Knuckles' eyes widened as he saw what looked like a jungle of metal pillars littering the track.
"Damn! So they put traps into the course!" Knuckles growled while weaving through some of the smaller traps.
Knuckles gritted his teeth even harder as the pure velocity of the racer made it hard to move, he grunted and growled with every forced turn as the racer swerved through the pillars. The other racers quickly caught up, the young lady in the red helmet screamed at the top of her lungs as her craft met with the pillar. KA-BOOM! The fiery explosion filled the tunnel, her charred skeleton was sent flying through the pillar and rushing in front of the fiery blast inside the tunnel by the pure speed of the craft's impact, the skeleton hit the ground and rolled around like a curled up armadillo being kicked down a steep hill, the bones crunched and crumbled as they shattered across the track while more race craft speed over them. The blue racer smacked his back repeatedly as the flames from the blast set his racing suit on fire, he gritted his teeth and swerved through the other racers with a thick billow of smoke trailing behind him. The Yellow racer roared in fury as he tried to navigate through the thick smoke, the smoke cleared just in time to reveal the flat wall he was heading for, the racer gave out a scream that was instantly silenced as he hit the wall of the course, his body was instantly flattened into paper as his craft exploded in a fiery mess that threw debris out everywhere causing the other racers to bump into each other.
Knuckles crossed the starting line starting beginning the 2nd lap of the race, as the crowd roared. Small robot with screens showed a lady putting in earplugs, the crowd slowly put their earplugs on. Amy looked at Espio with pure confusion as the purple chameleon inserted his earplugs.
"What are you doing?" Amy asked as she watched Espio put earplugs into his ears.
Espio stared blankly at Amy as the roar from the engine finally came, she covered her ears and screamed as the intense noise filled the arena, the sound of sound trying to catch up to the racer was louder than anything she had ever heard in her life. Espio took out the plugs when the machines prompted, he stared at Amy who watch his lips move and wondered what he was saying as her ears rang with the loud echo of the thunder.
Orange Racer: Move over bitch! This is MY track!
The man turned hard and knocked Knuckles' racer and pushed it against the wall, the sparks began to fly as the racer scrapped against the long wall at mach 20. Knuckles growled and gritted his teeth as he turned to try and push the other racer off of him.
Knuckles looked at the racer and blurted out "FUCK YOU!" Knuckles then drove his fist into the motor of the racer's engine "Have fun in hell bitch!" Knuckles then pulled his fist out holding various metal debris from the racer, the driver looked on in terror as his racer began to spin out of control, his eyes widened as he saw another racer go head on him…BOOM! The fiery blast shook the track, Knuckles glanced behind him and tossed the sharp debris in the air creating a floating trap of death for the upcoming racers, the racers screamed in pain as the debris cut through them in an instant due to the pure speed that they drove pass the falling debris. The racers spun out of control and smashed into the barrier of the track exploding instantly, Knuckles scowled and press down on the throttle more as he started the final lap. The few remaining racers began to creep up the red guardian. The driver in the purple craft pulled out a pistol and ignorantly fired a clean shot at Knuckles, the shot flew forward but soon ripped through the very person who fired it at the speedy craft charged right through the shot from behind, the dead driver fell off and bounced like a rag doll off the rough track, the corpse bounced up and exploded when another craft charged through it, the blood and guts littered the other racer who swerved blindly and crashed into the unmanned craft causing a fired blast that took out a passing by racer. Knuckles looked to his side to see a smoldering skeleton with no lower jaw drive past him and crash into the wall he was turning to avoid. Knuckles grinned as the finish line was drawing near, the only other racer sped up to catch him, Knuckles glanced back and held out his fist and hit his brake, the other racer sped by and spun out, Knuckles grinned as he held the head of the racer in the hand of the arm he extended. Knuckles carelessly tossed back the head and crossed the line with a skidding stop.
Announcer: It's been a long time but team Chaotix wins! They will be moving on to the next race! What an amazing driver!
Charmy and Espio got up and cheered as Knuckles grinned and waved at them. Amy danced where she stood prompting the fellow spectators to throw money at her, she giggled as the coins and bills of various amounts rained down on her.
Putting the small trophy on the wooden shelf Knuckles grinned and looked at Charmy. Charmy wiped the bottom of her nose and glared at Knuckles.
"I must admit, you did really good! Hopefully you can do that…2 more times." Charmy said trying to hide the joy she was feeling.
"I can and will. I've gone through much worse. We've up held our end of the bargain…now it's your turn to uphold your end. We need that damn tower door opened!" Knuckles said remembering the promise they made.
"…FINE! I'll open the door, go to the door and wait there, I have to restore its power through a fuse in the sewers…and…" Charmy said until Amy rudely pushed Charmy aside.
"Oh Knuckles that was AMAZING!" Amy shouted.
"Damn she got her hearing back." Knuckles grumbled, pushing Amy back.
"You grumpy asshole! Can't you be nice just once?" Amy pouted.
"I see no reason why I should be nice to you." Knuckles snapped back.
"Nice job there Knuckles…I was really impressed." Auree said patting Knuckles on the shoulder.
"And who the hell are you?" Amy rudely asked.
Auree glanced at Amy and sucked her teeth for a split second. She turned to Knuckles and gave a slight grin, she quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him close…
"This card will help you get past some of the tower's security." Auree said while placing the card into Knuckles' palm.
"Don't you suck your teeth at me! I'll bash your head in you whore!" Amy screamed in fury, "You can't just barge in here and…"
"Anyways, becareful crossing the pipeline to the Capital Tower, you looked great out there, I hope to see you in action again." Auree said while running her finger up Knuckles' chin, and finishing with a peck on the cheek
Knuckles stared at her as she waltzed out and ignored the fuming hedgehog.
"…someone has the hots for a certain Echidna." Espio whistled.
"Whatever lets head over to the tower." Knuckles growled, pretending not to hear Espio's remark.