The preliminaries are winding down.
Last time, Team Berserker beat Team Star in their preliminary race, moving on to join Teams Babylon and Dynamic. Armand and Emily also seemed to have a thing for each other (Read between the lines in the last chapter).
Who will join them in the main tournament?
The fourth preliminary race will be between…
Chapter 6: Virtex vs. Music.
The next round of the preliminaries was set. Team Virtex would be going against Team Music. Team Virtex, consisting of Rector, Howl, and Raine, were expected to win, yet they didn't count out Team Music, consisting of Cloud, Angie, and Shaun. Cloud was Jet's younger sister, and as such, was the one Jet expected to win.
The racers took their places at the start.
Because Rector was chivalrous, he didn't want to go up against girls. Shaun noticed this, and decided to face him.
"Hey, Rector, I noticed you can't hit girls, right?" Shaun asked.
"Yeah. What's it to you?" Rector asked.
"If you want, you and I can go at it." Shaun offered.
"Alright." Rector accepted.
Howl was talking to Cloud.
"I hope you can defend yourself." Howl told Cloud.
"Don't worry. I can handle myself just fine." Cloud responded.
Raine decided to be polite to Angie.
"Are you ready to race?" Raine asked.
"More than you'll ever be." Angie replied rudely.
"Angie, control it." Shaun told her.
The countdown started. Howl, Cloud, Rector, and Shaun moved back, while Angie and Raine moved forward.
3…Howl, Cloud, Rector, and Shaun started forward.
2...
1…Angie and Raine almost crossed it.
BZZZZZZZT!
Something went wrong with the electric gate. It didn't shut off when it was supposed to and all six racers slammed into it. As if that wasn't enough, the electric gate was at a higher voltage. Someone quickly shut it off.
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!?" Rector yelled.
"We're checking right now…ok, it seems someone tampered with the controls. If we hadn't shut it off right away, you may have died." The maintenance head told them.
Meanwhile, a shadow looked on from the side. Two other shadows looked on as well.
"Drat. My plan didn't work." The front shadow said.
"You know, it's going to end badly for us if they're killed. They'll find us and arrest us, then maybe kill us for attempted murder." The shadow behind him said.
"I don't care. At one point, they shall die. I'll make sure of it, my friends." The first shadow replied.
Soon, the electric gate generator was back up and running properly. The countdown restarted.
3…
2…
1…
GO!!
The race started. Rector and Shaun took an early lead, followed by Howl and Cloud, then Raine and Angie followed. The track had changed back to its triangular form with 3 loops, one on each straightaway, with a grind rail going through the first one, accelerator rings leading past the second, and an alternate blockaded path leading through the third one. The track also had a transformation feature that allowed it to transform to a different form. What this track did, was it swapped the alternate shortcuts after each lap was completed.
Rector and Shaun were the first to reach the loop. With Rector and Shaun being power and flying types, respectively, they had to go through. Howl and Cloud, being speed types, took the rail, while Raine and Angie, who were flying and power types, respectively, followed Rector and Shaun.
The first attack came afterwards, with Rector attacking Shaun.
"How do you like this?" Rector said as he punched Shaun, who retaliated.
"WATER WHIP!" Shaun called as he swung it at Rector, knocking him off balance.
"See ya later!" Shaun called as he pulled ahead.
Rector recovered, then caught up to Shaun as they continued their battle.
Back in the middle of the field, Howl and Cloud were battling it out.
"I would attack right now, but I'm feeling generous." Howl told her.
"Well, be generous after this!" Cloud said. "WATER WHIP!"
Cloud formed a water whip and hit Howl with it.
"Ok, now you've done it." Howl said.
He boosted to Cloud and howled in her face, causing her to lose concentration. Howl sped on by.
"Ok, now try to catch up!" Howl called back.
"Oooh, that wolf has done it." Cloud said in a rage.
She picked up a 30-ring capsule, sending her to level 2. She then attacked Howl by hitting him with her palm, making him spin.
"Whoa." Howl said as he recovered.
Howl then noticed a 100-ring capsule. He picked it up, which sent him to level 3, then sped past Cloud to where Rector and Shaun were racing. They were going through the loop, so he held off his attack. Once they were through, he boosted and attacked Shaun.
"STRIKE OF THE BUSHIDO!!" Howl shouted as he performed multiple sword slashes on Shaun, stunning him. He then caught up to Rector.
"Did you have to do that?" Rector asked.
"Well, they didn't say anything about not helping your teammates, did they?" Howl replied.
In the back, Raine had reached level 3. She threw a paralysis potion on Angie, stunning her. She got ahead. Angie tried to attack, but she was too hotheaded and missed. Raine, on the other hand, knew Angie would attack after that, so she moved out of the way. Things went like that for the next 2 laps. Halfway through the third lap, an electric gate came online all of a sudden. The racers were going too fast to stop, but the maintenance crew noticed this and shut it down, since the control box could deactivate any electric gates online in the stadium.
The end of the race was near. Everyone was at level 3 by this time. Shaun and Rector attacked each other, Raine and Angie attacked at the same time, and Howl and Cloud did the same.
"CHAOS FIST!!"
"WATER VORTEX!!"
"PARALYSIS POTION!!"
"POWER PUNCH!!"
"STRIKE OF THE BUSHIDO!!"
"ICE PRISON!!"
All six attacks hit at the same time. All six opponents were stopped where they were at. Raine recovered first and crossed the finish line first, followed by Rector, Angie, Shaun, Howl, and then Cloud..
"And the winner is…Team Virtex."
Everyone cheered. Team Virtex turned towards Team Music.
"That was some race." Rector said.
"Well, you won fair and square." Shaun admitted.
"Oh, I don't even want to face my brother." Cloud said, worried.
"Don't worry. Shaun will handle him." Howl told her.
"Right." Shaun said.
"Hmph. Good luck, I suppose." Angie said, rudely.
"Thank you." Raine said politely.
Up in the stands…
"Hey, Jet, isn't Cloud your girlfriend?" Sonic asked.
Jet hit Sonic in the head.
"She's my sister, dumbass!" Jet remarked.
"Sorry I asked." Sonic replied with sarcasm.
On the ground…
"I guess it's time to head to the stands." Rector said.
"Let's go. I can't wait for the next race." Shaun told him.
The six racers left for the stands. At the entrance, Cloud ran into Jet.
"Jet, I'm sorry I lost." Cloud said, sadly.
"Cloud, I oughta…" He then looked at Shaun, who had less than friendly intentions in his eyes.
"…You know what? Never mind." Jet told her.
They headed for the stands.
"It's time for the final race of the preliminaries." The announcer said. Everyone quieted down. "Since there are only two teams left, we will not activate the randomizer. So, the last round of the preliminaries will be between Team Legendary vs. Team Triple Threat."
Alexander and Zeus looked at each other.
"Bring it on, you reptilian freak." Zeus taunted.
"You would do best to give up. After all, when the race is over, you won't be able to do anything, Zeus." Alexander said without hissing.
"Will the two teams report to the start line?" The announcer requested.
End of Chapter 6.
Uh oh. Looks like Alexander has less-than-pleasant intentions for Team Legendary. What could be those plans? Find out in the next Sonic Riders: Ultimate Tournament.
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