Episode 8: The Rage of Crank
Having Zack back on the team was a real reunion for NiGHTS. Unfortunately, Randy was killed once again, but this time, he's gone for good. Cream still mourns the death of her best friend, but remains persistant of everything else around her. Also, Tanzanite is no longer Tanzanite. He's now known as Tanzanikyte, the ultimate Armored Dragon.
At sunrise, Zack was the first to wake up. He was in NiGHTS' bed, laying right next to her. She had a smile on her face as she slept, telling him that she had an enjoyable night. He chuckled softly as he slowly sat up and slipped his boxer shorts on as he stood up. He walked towards the door that led to the command lobby and opened it. He saw Tanzanikyte, Tikal, Cream, Croc, and Shadow all sleeping in the room, having Tanzanikyte laid on his back with Croc and Shadow sleeping on his stomach. He shook his head as he walked towards the front door and opened it. He was shocked to see…
"Xia and Greck?" He exclaimed, waking everybody else up. "You're… you're not in your kinetic suits. Wow!"
"We came to inform you about your next mission. May we come in?" Xia replied.
"Sure, come in." He allowed them to do so and he closed the door as soon as they were inside.
"Who's here, Zack?" NiGHTS asked, then grew shocked. "Oh, my God! It's Xia and Greck from Kinetica!"
Minutes later, at breakfast…
"One of our competitors, Crank, has gone insane and we need your help to regain his wits again." Greck explained.
"Did he have a system malfunction or something?" Cream asked after gulping down her piece of her pancake.
"I guess you could predict that…" Xia replied. "…it's just that we don't know how this happened. The others believe that while he was racing one day, he accidently met his twin counterpart, Gore. After that, things went wrong. Maybe it was something Gore has done to upset him, but it's a baffling mystery."
"Well, it's not that much of a mystery, isn't it?" Tikal asked.
"No. Thank goodness." Greck replied. "We just need four of you to attend our 6 races champinoship. The locations are on this sign-up sheet." He laid out a sheet of paper on the table in front of NiGHTS. "You need to meet us at the Kinetica Setup Area by 3:30 pm. The four that are coming are the only ones that should come. Nobody else! Understand?"
The entire team nodded simultaneously.
"Good. Well, we gotta get moving." Xia said as she stood and drank the last of her orange juice and set the glass down. "Thanks for the delicious breakfast. See you at 3:30." After that, the two racers headed for the door and exited.
Hours later…
The whole team was in the living room, watching tv. NiGHTS was reading the sign-up sheet in her head as she looked at it.
"Dear Team NiGHTS,
We, the racers of Kinetica, have a desperate crisis on our hands. Crank has gone extremely insane since his first time encounter with his twin, Gore. We don't know how this has happened, but we need your help to get Crank's attitude system back to normal function. Our 6 tracks are as follows:
1.) Macropolis
2.) Gabriel's Horn
3.) Emerald Eve
4.) Neocropolis
5.) Orbital Junction II
6.) Suicide Slide
These 6 tracks are set for our big 'Get Crank back to Normal' championship, if we may. Only four of you will be chosen to race these intense tracks while 8 of us tag along to help get Crank back in a normal pace… but be warned. Not only is Crank the subject of our championship, he's also RACING with us as well as Gore. So, be careful. His reckless behavior can cause a race to become a fatality, so choose your racers wisely. We need members of your team that are both fearless and competitive at the same time. We'll await your arrival at 3:30 pm in our setup station. Be sure that the four racers that sign this sheet will be the only four coming. Good luck!"
When she finished reading, she was in deep thought. It was difficult to choose which four could go. The letter said that she had to choose wisely.
"Hey, NiGHTS. Have you decided who's going to that championship?" Zack asked, interrupting her thoughts.
"Yeah." She finally spoke. "I'll choose… Shadow, Croc, Zack, and myself."
"Are you sure about that? Did you read the letter?" Cream asked as she muted the tv.
"Yes. It said that I must choose wisely… and it also said that I must choose people that are fearless and competitive at the same time."
"Well, you made good choices… but one thing though." Croc replied.
"What?"
"Why am I going? I'm not brave enough to race with an out-of-control robot that has removable wheels!"
"Tanzanikyte could go then."
"No, I can't. I'm too big." The armored dragon protested.
"Well, I know that Cream can't go. I guess it'll just be us three and tell them that we couldn't choose a fourth racer."
Later, at 12:57 pm…
NiGHTS was sitting in her bedroom, watching her favorite soaps. There was a knock on the door and she regained herself, wiping a tear from her face as she opened the door. It was Cream.
"I just called Kinetica's supervisor, Lemar Weasel. He said that it's a good thing you guys couldn't choose a fourth person." Cream announced.
"Really?" NiGHTS asked.
"Yeah. He said that one of the racers that's attending can't race."
"Which one is that?"
"Zinon. Due to attempting a new, but difficult stunt in the air, she ended up breaking her leg."
"Thay have a replacement?"
"Yeah… and he wants to be our team."
"Another member! We already got enough! If he's coming, then one of us has to leave."
"WHAT! When did you hear that?"
"From Sonic. I just talked to him on my cell phone and asked him how many members I can have. First, I told him that I had 7 members, counting myself. He told me that I can't have more than that number."
"What are we gonna do? He's a cute little guy."
"Still. It's Sega's rule and we gotta follow it. Either Tanzanikyte goes or Shadow go…"
"Shadow."
"Huh?"
"Shadow can go."
"Why him?"
"Because he's on the bad side of Sega, remember?"
"Yes, but did you have to reply so sudden? I'm guessing that you want him to leave because he's not as well as a racer as he looks."
"'Racer'?"
"Yeah. He's racing with us."
"Oh. Well, can he leave after this mission?"
"Cream…"
"Please! I would let Tanzanikyte leave, but he's kinda like Randy to me."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. After this mission, Shadow goes. Undertstand?"
"Yes."
"Good. Is Lemar still on the phone?"
"Yeah."
"Tell him we'll be there early, but not too early."
"Okay. Thanks, NiGHTS."
"No problem." She slammed the door by the time Cream walked towards the phone. She sat back down on her bed and looked at the tv with disappointment.
"That black hedgehog's only been here for a couple of days. Why the hell does she want him to leave so soon?" She thought outloud. Seconds later, Zack walked out of the bathroom with a red towel wrapped around his waist. He was wet from his steamy, hot shower he just took, making his chest and abs look sexy to NiGHTS, who looked at him with wide eyes.
"Did you just get out of the shower?" She asked in a dazed voice. Zack nodded. "Damn! You look hot!"
"Look who's talkin'." Zack protested. "You be lookin' fine naked and I ain't lyin'!"
"Really? Why don't you take that towel off and tell me whose sexier?"
"How about you make me?"
NiGHTS showed a seductive smile on her face as she stood up and walked up to him, grabbing his towel in the process.
"As you wish." She replied smoothly as she slowly loosened the towel from the back. She was this close until…
"NiGHTS, the racers of Kinetica are expecting us to be at the setup area in 1 hour." Shadow yelled from the closed door. NiGHTS stopped for a second and raised an eyebrow.
"1 hour. Hmmm…" She said softly as she wrapped her arms around her husband's neck. "I'm sure you can handle a little sexual touch for at least 30 minutes."
"Bring it on, baby." Zack complied as he stroked her long hair from her back.
Meanwhile, in the lobby…
Cream was playing a game of Sonic Heroes while Tikal and Tanzanikyte was watching. Minutes later, Shadow came from Croc's room, showing an impatient look on his face.
"What's taking NiGHTS so long?" He asked as he sat next to Tikal on the couch.
"Well, you said an hour until you leave. She might spend 30 more minutes watching the rest of her soap opera. You know how she loves those when they're on tv." Tikal replied. Cream was focused on her game, but was still listening.
"I didn't know NiGHTS loved soaps." She pleaded.
"You didn't know? Ever saw how she acts if she doesn't watch her favorite soaps?"
"No."
"When you ask her 'How are you doing?', she says 'Why did he have to murder that girl?' When you say 'Thank you', she says 'How could she!' Finally, when you say 'have a good day', she says 'How could you do that to Tina? She was this close to being your husband!'."
Tanzanite, Shadow, and Cream laughed hysterically after that long remark. They couldn't stop laughing for 10 minutes. Seconds later, Tikal laughed at herself. When they finally calmed down, Cream spoke.
"That was… hee, hee! That was so wrong, Tikal." She laughed. "Don't be talkin' about NiGHTS like that."
"It's the truth, though. You should hear her voice message. It says 'I'm not available at this time, so if you see Jason, tell him he can kill his brother for all I care bacause I don't give a shit! So, call me back at the dramatic beep… he'll be cursing his brother out at that time. Thank you.'"
Shadow and Tanzanikyte were still laughing, but louder. Cream kept her laughter in.
"C'mon now, Tikal. You can stop now. Are you planning to be a comedian someday?" She asked. Tikal wiped a tear.
"Okay, okay. I'll stop. By the way, I am planning to be a comedian any day now." She replied as she sat back. The boys were still laughing. Cream couldn't take it anymore.
"Guys! SHUT THE HELL UP!" She screamed, which made the two boys immdeiately stop laughing and grew extremely quiet.
"Sorry." They apologized in unison. Cream nodded with satisfaction as she turned back to her game and resumed playing. Tikal shook her head as she looked at NiGHTS' door.
"I wonder what she's doing in there…" She thought to herself.
Meanwhile, in NiGHTS' room…
Zack was the only one moaning with passion as he felt a pair of slender hands massaging his erect member sexually. He was laid back on his back on the bed while NiGHTS was between his legs, sitting on her knees with a smile on her face.
"Had enough yet, baby?" She asked seductively. Zack managed to lift his head up as he spoke.
"Ohhhhh, good god! No! I ain't through with this bullshit!" He replied between groans as he laid back down.
"Good… because I'm really enjoyin' this myself."
She continued for 25 more minutes before she finally stopped and stood up, staring at his member, nearly drooling. Zack noticed as he sat up.
"Damn, girl! Where'd you learn to do some bullshit like that?" He asked.
"I learned myself, I guess." She replied as she went to the bathroom to wash her hands. Zack silpped on his boxers and straightened up his clothes, which NiGHTS took off and tossed on the floor. He put on his purple vest, his white jeans, and his gold chrome watch with a blue face and gold numbers. NiGHTS came back out with clean hands as she looked at her watch.
"We got another 30 minutes until we depart for Kinetica's setup station. How about we spend the rest of our time with the rest of them?" She suggested. Zack sighed with relief in response as he walked out the room. NiGHTS just shrugged it off as she left with him and closed her door on the way out.
Minutes later…
The two came to the lobby and sat down on the floor next to Cream to watch her play her game.
"Enjoyed your soaps, NiGHTS?" Tanzanikyte asked, holding his laughter.
"Yeah." She replied.
"Good. I don't what you to be replyin' by saying stuff like: 'You were this close to being his wife!'."
"What?" The human nightmaren looked at Tikal, who immediately looked away. "You told them about my personal issues with missing my soaps, did you?"
"Now, why would I do that?" Tikal asked in a nervous tone. NiGHTS gave her the I'm-so-pissed-off-at-you glare, which made her nervous. "Okay, so I did. I was pretty funny though."
"Not to me. Do that again and I just might kick you out of the team."
"Okay, okay. I won't do it again."
"Good. Shadow, isn't 1:30 a bit early to leave? I was actually planning to leave at 2:00."
"2:00? Why didn't you tell me?" Shadow asked back.
"Well, if you could've given me a chance to speak, then I could've told you sooner."
"My bad. So, since we've heard that another new member is joining our team, who's leaving after the mission?"
"You, Shadow."
"Me?"
"Yeah. Somehow, you don't fit Cream's interests. She'd rather have Tanzanikyte stay and you leave. Besides, you're supposed to be the bad guy, remember?"
"Oh. Well, I guess what Cream says, Cream knows. I'll leave after the mission."
"Good. Remember, at 2:00, we're leaving."
Later, at the Kinetica Setup Area at 1:57 pm…
"Sorry about your leg, Zinon." A light brown rabbit-kinkajou mix creature similar to Slugger said to the black female racer.
"That's okay, Tyeebo (pronounced tee-bo)." She replied weakly as she rubbed her casted leg. "As soon as Team NiGHTS gets here, you'll be able to join in a group you'll be happy to be with."
Right on cue, Team NiGHTS came right on time. Lemar Weasel walked up to them and saw that there was the three that they expected. NiGHTS handed the short, orange weasel the sign-in sheet and he looked over it.
"NiGHTS, Shadow, and Zack. Welcome to the world of Kinetica. Since I've heard about your shortage of racers, I found a perfect addition to your team. Say hello to Tyeebo." The weasel introduced as he picked up Tyeebo. NiGHTS adored this adorable creature and embraced him.
"Cream wasn't joking. He IS really cute." She said to herself.
"I just received word from Sonic. He says that you can't have more than 7 members in your team, am I right?"
"Yeah. We already decided who I want to release from this team permanently."
"Who?"
"Me." Shadow replied.
"After the mission, right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. Now, luckily, I've created kinetic suits just made for each of you, including Tyeebo. Follow me please."
The four of them followed the weasel to a kinetic suit factory. He went to a closet and pulled out four unique kinetic suits.
"This kinetic suit allows you to hover right over the ground, NiGHTS." He started, holding an armored suit that was purple in some places, white in others. It came with purple vision goggles that show info on what lap she's on, what power-up she has, her current place, etc. NiGHTS' eyes grew wide as she looked at the suit and allowed Lemar to continue.
"You can also do any stunts that comes to your mind, if you wanna raise up some boost." He finished as he gave the suit to the human nightmaren. She admired it for a minute before she went into a changing station and tried it on.
"Shadow, yours hovers as well… but it's you feet that has the hovering ability. This suit can also allow you to perform massive stunts that only you can do." Lemar continued as he handed over a black and red kinetic suit for the black hedgehog. He took it and went to his changing room.
"Zack, since you have a lot of muscle, I'm gonna give you this specially designed kinetic suit. It symbolizes your dragon wings and it runs on four removable wheels, one on each hand and one on each foot, so you can do stunts similar to Ava, Crank, and Gore. Understand?" Lemar continued as he handed the gold and silver dragon kinetic suit to Zack. He took it and went to the changing room. Lemar looked down at Tyeebo. He was already dressed in his specially designed kinetic suit.
"Looks like you're ready to go." He complied as he patted Tyeebo on the head. "I wish you all good luck and be careful. Crank may be on a random target from race to race."
By the time NiGHTS, Zack, and Shadow arrived at the first track, Macropoils, all of the other racers: Tyeebo, Vigor, Xia, Dusk, Razzo, Maddox, Cyan, Crank, and Gore. NiGHTS and Tyeebo looked over at Crank. He was mad as hell by the way he was vrooming his engine.
"We'd better be careful, Tyeebo. If Crank tried to hurt anybody, we have to react quickly. Understand?" NiGHTS commanded. Tyeebo nodded as well as Zack and Shadow, who heard her.
"There is one more thing I have to tell you before we start…" Gore warned. "…you four need to protect me from him as well. He's been hunting me down ever since the malfunction started."
"We'll try, Gore. Thanks."
All 12 racers were ready to go. NiGHTS and Shadow began hovering as soon as the robot counted for the race to begin.
"3… 2… 1… GO!" It announced and everybody zoomed off.
As all of them were racing, NiGHTS was well in the lead, followed by Tyeebo. NiGHTS perfomed a majestic twirling move on her toes, yet she was still hovering. Then, she combined it with a triple backflip, a hand leap(meaning that she backfliped on her hands, then launched back up to her feet with her hands), and finally, the tornado move. Her boost meter was way up by the time she went back to her regular hover mode. Tyeebo was speechless at her moves and squealed with surprise. NiGHTS heard him and looked towards him.
"You liked those, huh?" She asked slyly. Tyeebo nodded as he did his classic stunts he learned from Spyro. This impressed her. "Ooh. Nice."
As they continued, they were now at the 3rd lap and Crank was catching up to Zack, who was in 4th place. Crank's malfunction showed by flinging one of his wheels toward Zack and it knocked him to the side of the track, making his face bleed, due to electric shock.
"AHHH! SHIT!" He screamed as he regained himself and continued, having him in 5th place. "I hope NiGHTS and Tyeebo will survive."
Back in the front…
They passed the starting line and it was now their final lap. NiGHTS was completely in front of Tyeebo, but he was still able to keep up with her. Crank was coming up behind Tyeebo in rage as he went up right beside him. Tyeebo noticed and he quickly boosted foreward. Crank's engine roared in anger as he saw this and he boosted up towards him. NiGHTS sensed this little quarrel that was happening behind her and she held her hands out and chanted:
"Guardian Nightmaren, grant they small creature some protection from this raging robot."
After she said that, a blue sphere was flashing for 5 seconds around Tyeebo, then it stopped. When Crank attacked with his wheel, it just bounced off the invisible forcefield and Tyeebo sighed with relief.
"YES!" NiGHTS exclaimed in a whisper. 2 minutes later, the race was over. NiGHTS came in first, Tyeebo came in second, Crank came in third, and amazingly, Zack came in fourth. Tyeebo hovered up to NiGHTS and gave her a hug.
"Thanks for protecting me, NiGHTS." He thanked. NiGHTS blushed as she embraced back.
"Your very welcome, Tyeebo." She replied.
All through the rest of the races, Crank managed to almost murder Zack, Shadow, and Tyeebo every now and then. NiGHTS still remained first throughout all of them, not having Crank touch her once. It was down to the final race track: Suicide Slide. A track with tricky ramps, turns, and mysterious explosions. Since NiGHTS was winning 1st place most of the time, they decided to let her start in 1st place. Tyeebo was placed in 2nd, and Zack was placed in 3rd. As for Crank and Gore, Crank was placed in last place while Gore was placed in 4th. This made Crank really furious. NiGHTS sensed it from the very front and looked behind her to face Zack, Tyeebo, and Gore.
"Crank's more pissed off now, guys. We need to plan a secret strategy to keep him off our backs. Here's the plan…" She started before she was whispering for about 20 seconds before Tyeebo squealed and Zack geered in a whisper. Gore just raised up in agreement. "…that's the plan. Got it?" The three boys nodded. "Good. As soon as Crank gets to his raging limit, we do it. Undertstand?"
"Yeah." Tyeebo and Zack replied at the same time Gore nodded.
"3… 2… 1… GO!" The computer announced and everybody zoomed off again. NiGHTS started out in the lead and stayed in the lead. Same for Tyeebo staying in 2nd place. Gore moved up past Zack and was now in 3rd place. As for Crank, he got up to his anger limit. His alarm sounded and that was their cue. He took his first five yellow crystals and he got the first attack power-up. When about 6 racers were in target, he launched the attack, shocking and stopping everybody, including Shadow. Crank continued towards the last four, who were up front. NiGHTS looked back and winked at the three boys, telling them when to start. They nodded once simultaneously as they got into position. By the time they started their second lap, Crank was this close to destroying Gore until…
"NOW!" NiGHTS yelled. Zack powered up his laser whip that came with the suit. He had a yellow whip in one wristband and a purple one on the other. He stood on his feet and looked like he was skating in a hover. He skated backwards and whipped Crank straight on one of his wheels, causing it to sizzle with electric surge. This made Crank even more furious. It was now Tyeebo's turn. He started flying up and forming into a yellow laserbeam as he sped up towards him. He went right through the angry robot and he was 50 percent close from shutting down by the time they made it to their last lap. NiGHTS was preparing for her attack, but Crank was tougher than she thought. He whipped one of his wheels towards her and it knocked her down towards the ground face first. Zack, Tyeebo, and Gore gasped at this.
"Goddamn! NiGHTS, get up, girl!" Zack yelled. NiGHTS managed to sit up, but just barely. She slowly turned on her back and collasped on her back on the floor when she winced in pain, due to her bruised right side. She laid there weakly, closing her eyes, preparing for the worst. Tyeebo couldn't take it anymore and he flew up and charged at the robot with a cute little roar. He kicked Crank straight on his chest and he flew towards the ground, sending him unconcious. He continued to beat him up while Zack hovered up to NiGHTS' safety. She weakly opened her eyes and smiled half-heartedly.
"Zack… you can… finish… the race… without… me." She pleaded weakly as Zack picked her up and held her in his arms.
"No! We started together, we're gonna finish together." He said deteriminely as he went back into hover mode. He gently placed her on his back on her stomach when he made his spikes on his back go in his suit. She was barely concious, but pretty much alive. He continued on, having Gore, Shadow, and all the other racers following.
As for Tyeebo and Crank…
Crank was almost beaten up completely. When Tyeebo delivered the final blow, which was a plasma shock blast from his mouth, it automatically rewired Crank's circuits until he was normal. When he was, Tyeebo smiled as he zoomed off with his superboost to catch up with the rest of the racers. Crank regained himself to his good side as he zoomed off as well. In the end, Zack won, followed by Tyeebo, and then Gore. Their mission was successful.
Later, back at Team NiGHTS HQ…
Zack and Tyeebo came back, having NiGHTS in Zack's arms. Cream, Tanzanikyte, and Tikal were happy to see them.
"I'm guessing that the mission was a success." Tikal said.
"Yeah… and Shadow left on the way." Zack replied as he gently placed NiGHTS down on the sofabed that was already set up, due to the fact that Zack already called Cream and told her that NiGHTS was hurt.
"Good. So, where's the new member at?"
"Right here on my shoulder." Zack looked at Tyeebo, who was perched on his right shoulder. He squealed in response as he leaped off to lick NiGHTS on her cheek until her eyes fluttered open a little. She smiled.
"Thanks, Tyeebo." She said softly. Cream sighed as she saw this.
"Well, another mission complete. We better tell Sonic how we've been doing so far… and Argos, too." She said to Tanzanikyte.
"Yeah. They'll probably be surprised about my new look." He agreed as he laid down like a dog in front of the sofabed. "Let's hope the next mission will be just as exciting as all the others."
"So, will NiGHTS be okay?" Cream asked in a concerned tone as he looked at NiGHTS, who was asleep with Tyeebo in her arms.
"Yeah. She just needs to rest." Zack replied as he headed to he and NiGHTS' room and closed the door. Cream and Tikal sighed as they saw this.
"Someday, he'll marry that lucky woman." Tikal said as they went to their rooms, leaving Tanzanikyte, NiGHTS, and Tyeebo alone and asleep.
Later, at around 12:55 am…
Zack woke up and quietly went out the door and slowly walked up to NiGHTS. She was curled up under the covers with a smile on her face. Tyeebo was on the other side, drooling on his pillow with his mouth wide open and his tongue out. Zack couldn't help, but admire her for a moment. Her shiny purple hair was swaying with the cool midnight breeze and it was shining with the moonlight. He smiled as he went to the front of the bed carefully, without waking Tanzanikyte. Then, he slowly and silently crawled into the bed between her and Tyeebo. He got comfortable under the covers as he placed an arm around NiGHTS' waist and fell asleep after giving her a small kiss on her cheek.
Awww. Cute ending, wasn't it? Anyway, on episode 9, the next mission will be involved with Mortal Kombat. Reptile's been decived by one of his closest comrades, Kitana. Now, with her being on Shang Tsung's side, things get a little ugly. Plus, a loving surprise from Zack to NiGHTS. What is it? Find out in the next episode.