Old School Swordsman to New School Rider
Chapter 2 - From 0 to Not a Noob in 12 Hours (Hopefully)
The following morning Sonic and Tails came for Bedwyr and Knuckles in the Tornado and brought them to Metal City to begin teaching Bedwyr the basics of Extreme Gear racing. While Tails got to work tuning everyone else's boards in a makeshift lab, Sonic brought out his Blue Star and handed to Bedwyr the Beginner.
"Now Bedwyr, before you can even begin racing, you have to know how to start," begun to explain Knuckles while Sonic got ready at the starting line. Soon enough the marker passed through with Sonic chasing close behind, throwing his board at the last second for a perfect start.
"Whoa... What happens when you screw up the start though?" asked Bedwyr. To demonstrate, Tails took a mint from a bowl right next to him and chucked it at the starting line when it reset, creating an electrifying jolt that shattered the mint into bits. "Ouch... Guess I'm up..."
Bedwyr slowly approached the track with Aquarion in one hand and the Beginner in the other hand. The countdown begun as Bedwyr tried to imitate Sonic and backed up, but he backed up too far and took a full second after the marker hit the starting line before taking off... and swerving into a wall 30 meters later. "Owww how do you control this thing?!"
"You gotta be careful," replied Tails while tuning the Red Rock's circuits, "the boards are self-propelled, but the slightest movement to a side will make them turn. They also hold you in place, so there's no fear of falling off of them; however you have to loosen up when you do tricks or you'll never get any air back! Um... Did you catch any of that?"
Bedwyr, now slowly standing up all wide-eyed again, answered slowly, "I think so..."
"Sir Bedwyr," intervened Aquarion, "Think of it as when you engage in combat. You need to have a proper stance to maintain your equilibrium, correct Sir Tails?"
"EXACTLY! Hey Knuckles, heads up!"
Tails closed up the circuits to the Red Rock before pushing it over to Knuckles. Mid-push however it transformed into a high-tech version of it's bike forme from the 'Ark of the Cosmos' adventure, sporting a new, sleek design with a glowing, matching red paint job, neon-green lights as the stripes, chrome plating, and a simple yet sophisticated dashboard displaying the gear's specs. "Dang I thought you were just going to tweak it, not turn it into this rocking bike!" exclaimed Knuckles as the Red Rock came to a stop at his feet.
"I was, but after some looking over at my lab last night, I thought 'Why not personalize the gears more towards everyone else's style?'"
"Must've taken you forever to do this to everyone else's board though..."
Tails picked up his coffee mug as he said, "I stayed up all night to tell the truth, but hopefully I can catch a nap before the race! The board that actually took the longest to tune, or make I should say, was Bedwyr's."
"You actually made me one?"
"Of course, that Beginner is good for learning but you'll need your own board to have a chance against the Rogues and keep up with us! Anyways, while I finish tuning yours, how about you and Knuckles skip the boring step-by-step and try a practice lap? Best way to learn is by trying it yourself after all."
"Yeah, plus I wanna see what this baby can do!" shouted Knuckles as he grabbed the Red Rock, reverted in its board-forme, for the start. Bedwyr and Knuckles lined up at the start as he muttered, "When the countdown starts, only back up for a second or two max before running ahead. If you think you're going to hit the electric wire, just slow down."
"Got it! Here goes..." The countdown begun as Bedwyr and Knuckles backed up for a second and a half before taking off full-tilt towards the start and landing a great start. After a shaky transition Bedwyr held a firm stance as they approached the first ramp.
Knuckles, now sitting in the Red Rock's bike-forme when it transformed at throwing it down, called out, "Crouch down when on the ramp and jump right before you hit the edge!" Bedwyr and Knuckles both did so with Knuckles executing a solid S-rank trick and Bedwyr roughly landing an A-Rank, nearly swerving off-track.
"Take it easy Bedwyr!" shouted Sonic, who had joined them after soaring into a series of perfect X-rank tricks, "And let loose!"
Sonic boomed ahead, leaving Knuckles and Bedwyr in a powerful turbulence for them to ride. As they approached the first turn though, Sonic took to the rail, disrupting the helpful turbulence. "Whoa you can grind too?" shouted Bedwyr as he made a shaky turn.
"Only if you're a Speed-Type," corrected Knuckles as he smoothly drifted out of the same turn, "There are 3 Types: Speed, Flying, and-" Knuckles paused briefly as he punched a chain of 5 cars out of his way, "Power, which I am. Don't try any of them until Tails gives you your own gear and tells you what type you are."
"This is so much to take in... I wish I could just have fun like you guys do..."
"In time Bedwyr, but wanna see something funny?" Knuckles suddenly rushed forward, fists drawn and puffed out as he sped towards Sonic and punched him out of their way.
"Ow way past uncool Knux!" shouted Sonic as he lost his rings.
"Ha ha! Now what was THAT?!" cried out Bedwyr in a fit of laughter.
"A boost. Sonic isn't the only one that can boost; anybody can when on an extreme gear. However, when you run into somebody when in the middle of a boost, you'll hit them with a unique move that grows more powerful the more rings you collect on-track. When Sonic tries to counter-attack me, back me up!"
Just as Knuckles finished this statement, Sonic was already charging towards them, using a Spin-Dash as his second-stage boost. Before he could land a hit, Knuckles and Bedwyr slightly braked before taking off in their own attack, Knuckles landing another punch to disorientate Sonic followed by Bedwyr smacking Sonic with the flat end of Aquarion as his first-stage boost, making him lose his momentum, according to Omochao anyways. "Now that was cool!"
"I must say it's... a guilty pleasure..." admitted Aquarion with a cough, "Perhaps with more ring energy we can use Soul-Surges as boosts."
"Now we're talking! Come on, just this stretch and we're done!" exclaimed Knuckles as they went into the homestretch.
About an hour later Knuckles and Bedwyr came to a stop after completing nearly 50 laps, their lap-times exponentially getting smaller. "Heh, not half bad Bedwyr," said Knuckles between breaths, "There may be hope for you yet. Now to see if Tails has the gear to match your potential..."
"I don't think that'll be a prob; check me out!" exclaimed Sonic as he ran up to them with his upgraded Blue Star, shining from upgraded material, glowing blue panels, and a yellow stripe on each side. Furthermore, the board itself was extremely slim and lightweight, with the creases of the panels making some sort of pattern.
"Ok it's another Blue Star, how is it any better from my beauty here?" joked Knuckles as he rested his hand on his Red Rock in bike-forme.
"Because it does this." Sonic ran up to the starting gate, getting ready for another perfect start. However, when he threw his board into the air, instead of hopping onto it, the board itself transformed into a sleek pair of skates with the same color scheme and features. "What do you think?"
As Knuckles and Bedwyr stood in amazement, Tails came up to them, drinking yet another mug of coffee as he explained, "The description of the last Blue Star said that I optimised the gear to suit Sonic's physical skills, but I asked myself: 'How is that possible when Sonic's greatest skill is the ability to RUN faster than the speed of sound?' So, I took a look at some specs of Sonic's Power Sneakers and Shadow's Hover Shoes and created a lightweight set of skates that are legitimate Extreme Gear, but allow Sonic to incorporate SOME of his natural speed. Now if I incorporated ALL of his speed, then his gear would be OP and banned... Anyways, Bedwyr, I have your gear ready. I assume you want to check it out?"
"Yeah! Let's see it!"
Tails ran over to his makeshift lab, shifting some things around before coming back with Bedwyr's own Extreme Gear. The board somewhat resembled the original Blue Star in shape to provide a simple, easy to learn design with additional stabilizing flaps on the underside, two Tails-tuned thrusters with aerodynamic wings above them, and even a blue and green color scheme to match the owner down to the golden spiral decorating the edges. "Behold Bedwyr: The Aqua Knight."
Sonic and Knuckles whistled as Bedwyr stood wide-eyed, "Whoa..."
"This Extreme Gear is designed to match the power of our Modern gears and of the Babylon Rogues yet provide the balance of the Originals. I also tuned the thrusters to provide a smooth yet stable ride. Are you catching what I'm saying this time?"
"I think I'm getting used to it... Anything else I should know?"
"Two more things, then we can all finally take a break!" yawned loudly Tails, "First of all, boosts are dependent on the user and their skill set. With your skill set I would assume that your boosts will be connected to your Soul Surges so hone in on them. Secondly, and I think this is what makes this gear as unique as you, is this feature. Bedwyr, get on the board and shift forms."
With a curious look from the others, Bedwyr took the board and hopped on, making his shell disappear as he shifted into Cavalier-Forme. As he did so however, the gear underwent a transformation of its own, slimming down into a sleek surfboard-like shape with golden, aerodynamic wings to replace the stabilizing flaps. "It can shift into a Speed-Type?!"
"Not just Speed-Type... Swap into your other form."
Bedwyr recalled his shell and morphed it into heavy-plated armor as he shifted to Paladin-Forme, once again causing the Aqua Knight to shift into a sturdy bike with additional support at the cost of speed.
"Hold up... So Bedwyr's Gear can transform into a Speed-Type," started Sonic.
"AND a Power-Type?!" finished Knuckles.
"Like I said, I wanted to design our Gears with our true abilities in mind, so I made sure Bedwyr's Aqua Knight was easy to use yet harness the capabilities of his alternate forms. Knight-Forme maintains the Aqua Knight as a standard board, Cavalier-Forme will transform it into a Speed-Board, and Cavalier-Forme will transform it into a Power-Bike..." And with a final yawn, Tails went to pack up his makeshift lab to go home and rest before the race as well as Sonic, Knuckles, and Bedwyr.
Author's Note: Hey guys! Sigh things refuse to let up for me as I have to catch up on Summer Homework (since I kinda procrastinated lol sigh) and now that I have my first job, it's only going to get tougher. But just wanted to get a post out an let you guys know what's up.
In addition to this update, within a day or two I'll post something for Mobius Cerulean Version and I'm in the middle of another Oneshot with SonicFanaticInc.
See you guys around, and let me know what you thought of the chapter!
-Werehog20