A/N: Wow. Yugioh has been making a lot of appearances in the series. Three times in a row! This one takes place at the rare Outer Space circuit, in the 10th Lap of the anime, not the AX Cup. But rather, the Crystal Cup. I'm not including the Christmas Cup since that was an idea in the Japanese version... So, here's the last Lap in the tense trilogy!
Final Lap
Tinsel was assisting Rick who was on janitor duty for his month-long probation; she had to make it quick since Jody didn't want her to do so since this was Rick's severe punishment. He disobeyed orders at that lethal incident in Mute City last week. Just then, Dr. Clash came over, alerting Rick that the captain had something for him to see.
He went to the large office Tanaka always hung out, with Tinsel following him.
"I got here as soon as I could, Jody. What's up?"
"I have something interesting to show you, Rick." Both he and Tinsel grew curious, as she inserted the golden cartridge embedded with the emblem of a falcon on it. A large plasma screen buzzed behind the two rookies as they looked up. On it were the schematics and the striking image of Miss Killer to the right and the Moon Shadow to the left! Both pilots were incredibly shocked as their minds flashed back to that incident when Rick was losing consciousness as he hardly saw her leap out of the window in his apartment; Tinsel also saw her escapade too as she raced away on top of the Sonic Phantom!
"That's her. I'll never forget her face." Tinsel looked over to her best friend.
"She was the woman that attacked you?" the captain queried.
"Yeah. Definitely. I'll remember that face forever." Tinsel sobered at the thought; however, Tanaka was stupefied.
"After what she did, I don't blame you, Wheeler." He stuttered for a moment. "Uhh, who is she, Jody?"
"Her name's Luna Ryder. She's the new pilot who won the last F-Zero race." She then faced Rick, "And, I have evidence she's also working for Black Shadow." Rick was in shock, then she warned him, "She's entered in the Crystal Cup race. We've got to stop her."
His demeanor turned serious as he nodded. "Right." Then he looked up at the flat screen again. So Tinsel was right, after all. So she's not the damsel I once knew... She seems to be a very formidable opponent.
Tinsel followed his gaze. Rick, do not let her intimidate you. Somehow, I believe she is...
"Tinsel?" Jody interrupted her reverie.
"Yeah, Jody?"
"I know you'd be interested in the next race, for Wheeler's sake, but sadly like the race last week, this one has also been overbooked."
Her face fell. "What..? Oh no, not again..! How could this happen?"
"The racetrack takes place in the Outer Space circuit just above Earth and near the gateway; it's a popular and new attraction, but also experimental. This is a very special race, and spectators and pilots had enlisted rapidly. I had already recruited Rick, Lucy, Jack, and EAD. Dark Million would go all out on this one."
She sighed at Jody's words. Then, the leader perked up. "I'll tell you what, since you're that concerned over Rick's welfare, I'll have you as one of the spectators instead. I'll be counting on you to keep a close eye out."
"Right. Thanks, Jody."
Little did she know, Jody had an ulterior motive as this reminded the cyborg of another similar incident...
Tinsel was so ecstatic to be watching an actual race, only this was in space. Not only that, but the arena was pretty breathable, and the watchers were comfortably bemouth some energy shields protecting the pilots and the brown circuit from devastating meteors. She was so excited as she had never heard of this track before!
She watched the competition as closely as possible, but the machines had already hid themselves as they emerged into the ice tunnel. It was quite a shame since Tinsel was barely able to see the spectacular blue tiles sparkle! A few moments later, the Dragon Bird, Astro Robin, and the Blue Falcon finally rushed out of it, resulting in a tag between the former and latter machines. The track began to split in two!
"Take the shortcut! Take the shortcut!" Tinsel cried. But the two warring cars dragged toward the longer route, while the Robin made its way, much to her dismay. However, a few moments made her cringe as she noticed the lethal Moon Shadow, taking Jack out of commission! "Come on, Rick, be careful! Don't let her catch you off guard!"
The three vehicles were neck-to-neck, and Tinsel was nearly so into their battle that in her peripheral vision, she noticed the shields dissipating! The deadly meteor showers began to fall onto the Meteor Storm track!
"Oh no! How can this be happening? Rick, please be careful!" She almost instantly stood up, hoping to have a better vision of the Dragon Bird, but the pilots were too faraway, even for her nearsightedness. She then started to panic and her breathing went shallow! Then, she desperately took out her secret weapon beneath her seat, the Duel Disk!
The lethal rock show continued to bombard the course as it was too late to call the Duelists again and they were so faraway. In addition exposure in space is just like an instant death! So, it was up to her now! She stormed behind the rows of seats and drew a few Monsters into her gizmo! Unlike last time, though, this was more accustomed to her skinny arms; Yugi and Joey regretted on giving her a larger size earlier. But Tinsel had no choice and she immediately summoned several Monsters at once, such as the Giant Soldier of Stone, Baby Dragon, Time Wizard, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, Catapult Turtle, Kuriboh, and the Winged Dragon aka the Guardian of the Fortress; every one was positioned in Attack Mode with the Cards facing tall ways, while the Soldier was positioned longways showing him in Defense Mode.
She then hollered into the contraption, and the Monsters obeyed. "Duel Monsters! Protect the pilots from the devastating meteorites! Everyone, attack the falling rocks while you, Stone Soldier, defend from them!"
The colossal golem roared as he stood up straight, bracing itself. The rest of the gang went all out toward the volley of deadly space rock. "Time Wizard! Use your time manipulation to slow down the meteors, and fast-forward to transform the Baby Dragon!" She figured the docile creature won't stand a chance and perhaps cower beneath the onslaughts. So she figured the best way was to use his altered form, just the way Joey did!
"Time magic!" it replied in a digital tone. Its arms rapidly rotated making the Duel Monster transform gradually into the Thousand Dragon! Its stats changed, displaying on Tinsel's Disk! Then, the clock rewound its arms as it faced the meteors attempting to slow down the menace! Tinsel figured that Dark Million can be behind this crisis, no doubt!
The Slow effect helped. but had little effect; however, the Monsters were able to reach and break their targets a little easier. The Winged Dragon kept using its Fireballs while avoiding other advances with ease. Thousand Dragon let out a volley of flames disintegrating them, while the Catapult Turtle continually launched the expendable Multiplying Kuriboh into the fierce melee! The Darkness Dragon blended into the environment, making it a stealth fighter as it dodged some space rock while incinerating others! Although, Tinsel's troops weren't entirely invincible...
Several times already, the Monsters were hit by more meteors and their Life Points kept dwindling, one after the other. Especially one particular Spirit; the gallant Giant was losing its stamina as it was in the line of fire while towering over the pilots! But it still managed to hang in there! Then, the worst was yet to come...
Tinsel saw the Black Bull bash into the lead, heading straight for the three leading pilots! She gasped, "Oh no, Black Shadow!" Sensing her fright, the Duel Monsters noticed the commotion and the humongous bringer of disaster. She wondered if HE'S responsible for letting this terror happen! She almost instantly cancelled the thought of attacking it; what mattered most was, "Forget about the Black Bull! Protect the pilots!"
They did just that as they bravely continued their valiance, but Tinsel was beyond terrified as she saw a large meteor head straight toward the rear of the track, and the three leading machines were heading for it! "Oh NO! Rick! Captain Falcon!" She didn't care too much of the Moon Shadow, either.
As if it heard her screams telepathically, the Giant Soldier of Stone responded as it gazed toward the oncoming storm! While remaining in Defense Mode, it simply secured its feet deep onto the lower layer of the course and raised its arms over its head, bracing for the worst! Willing to sacrifice itself, it took the destructive onslaught like a tree as a few meteors hit its arms! Then, the incoming large meteor impacted the Giant's chest, and it roared in agony as it fell back toward the further portion of the road! Simultaneously, the signal went dead, and the pic faded, replaced by a red X.
"I lost the Giant Soldier of Stone! NO!"
Tinsel sunk to her knees, never wanting to bare to see the pilots get murdered by the continuous storm nor behold Black Shadow winning! If anything should happen to Rick, Lucy, Falcon, EAD, and all her Monsters she might...
Her Monsters gave their all, but each one caved into the might of the meteors; she ran out of Kuriboh leaving the Catapult Turtle nothing to launch, the Thousand Dragon was clobbered by a meteor making it sink to the unforgiving terrain and separated into two: the Time Wizard with its gears popped out, and Baby Dragon unconscious. Even the Darkness Dragon was eventually wiped out, and all that was left was the Winged Dragon! It still let out all its fireballs toward the line of fire, but it was too exhausted to avoid any more. It gazed on an oncoming meteor, and Tinsel broke down.
...
Then, a miracle happened!
While Tinsel was wallowing in her despair, the Meteor Stream became deathly silent, even the audience as they beheld the devastated race, and the shields are back online again! Rumbles were heard above, and she nearly heard Mr. Zero tallying the results from the 7 Laps the pilots made, although it turned out the Blue Falcon, Moon Shadow and the Black Bull disappeared with no signs of damage!
The Guardian nuzzled her, and she gradually came to. She saw its toothy smile, assuring her that it did its bidding. She barely listened to the cyborg's announcements and the race had been cancelled due to severe track damage. She also saw the Dragon Bird safe and intact as a skinny Black Shadow robot crumbled into dust while it left a wrecked machine. It seemed the Emperor of Brutality made a copy of itself to avoid the onslaughts. The Robin, Great Star, and Elegance Liberty were also unscathed.
"And it's Lucy Liberty in her first F-Zero victory!"
"Ah, no way! She did it!" Tinsel cried with glee. She withdrew the Winged Dragon Card, the Monster dissipated and she ran to the stadium! She was overjoyed Lucy won by default, even when she was giggling while Clash was cheering for her and raising her high!
They eventually met up with Jack, EAD, and Rick as they carefully trekked back to the starting line.
Moments later, they arrived at the Falcon House and Burt set up the festivities specially for Lucy!
"Guys, you didn't have to do this."
"Sure we did, Lucy!" Rick said.
"Yeah, it's not everyday you get to win an F-Zero race, y'know." Jack added.
She simply just admired all the dazzling banners lighting up, and a tall strawberry cake towered over them at the center of the table. Tinsel could barely resist to eat some of it. In addition, a large red banner had white, bold font saying, Congratulations, Lucy!
"Well, Lucy, here's to hoping it's the first of many. To Lucy!" Rick cheered.
"To Lucy!" Jack and Tinsel followed as they also raised their glasses.
"Congratulations, Lucy." Burt said.
"Here, here!" Jack added.
"Yeah!" Tinsel cried.
The new champion and young apprentice just laughed with admiration.
Little did the heroes know that this victory was only a blessing and a start to a curse. Especially some great tumultuous trials ahead for Tinsel...
A/N: Dang! Finally got this trilogy of error out of the way at last! Well that's it, futuristic racing fans! That's all the crossovers for F-Zero GP Legend and Yugioh. At...least till my all-time favorite epic. Though, Lucy's victory is a sure sign of tremendous trouble for Tinsel as it starts her curse on losing several races, she actually quits dueling and works for the Task Force all-time as Yugi and his posse deal with the Great Leviathan and a menacing 10,000-year curse. Plus, I'd rather here the extended version of the DDR song, Drop the Bomb, at the end of that episode!
There was an error here... The Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon was a Duel Monster that didn't belong in the original Yugioh. But rather from GX; I saw an actual Card of it, and I thought it was one of Joey's Monsters, like a polar opposite to the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon. I was wrong, but I still thought it was a cool Duel Monster.
Again, like the last two, it was tense, as I thought my favorite pilots would be destroyed by the endless meteors. Heck, I thought that Zoda was actually killed when Black Shadow ripped off his...yellow tube, or whatever it was. Sadly he wasn't, damn! So this is the prelude to Tinsel's curse as well as my F-Zero epics ahead.