It's time for the next race.
In the last race, which was a Survival Race, Team Virtex dominated, throwing them in the top three positions. But will they keep it?
The next race takes place in Eggman's blast furnace.
Chapter 14: Egg Factory: The Competition Heats Up.
It was time for the next standard race. After the Red Canyon Survival Race, the standings look like this (those in danger of being knocked out of the tournament will have their name in bold): Howl (43), Raine (42), Rector (41), Jet (39), Sonic (36), Galeon (36), Tails (35), Armand (35), Basil (35), Nightscream (33), Wave (30), Knuckles (29), Axel (27), Storm (26), and Rampage (26).
Wave, Knuckles, Axel, Storm, and Rampage were in danger of being knocked out of the tournament after the Snow Valley Survival Battle. But that was in a few days.
Right now, the door opened at Eggman's factory. The track had been set up in the blast furnace. The boards had been equipped with a coolant tank to keep the boards from malfunctioning due to the extreme heat. The racers had cold water bottles and heat-resistant gear, courtesy of Eggman himself. Not only was the gear durable and able to resist heat, but it was also flexible, so the racers had total movement. Also, the gear was colored to match the racers' colors, and had a team symbol.
Team Sonic's symbol was what looked like a spin-dashing Sonic.
Team Babylon's symbol was the golden Babylonian lamp.
Team Dynamic's symbol was a black Babylonian lamp.
Team Berserker's symbol looked like Tobias, Armand's father.
Team Virtex's symbol was Rector's black kanji symbols, representing strength and heart.
The stands had been encased in cooling glass, so the spectators could stay cool.
Gerald was in his own heat-resistant uniform. He began the pre-race announcements.
"Welcome to the Egg Factory track, everyone. Eggman himself preserved the track in the case that a tournament would take everyone to the track. Well, here we are. As you all know, this place is a blast furnace, so everyone has heat-resistant gear, and the boards have coolant tanks. The race is expected to go smoothly. Also, care has been taken to make sure nobody falls in the lava. There are propulsion fields over the lava, so if you fall off, you won't fall in the lava, but you'll lose all of your rings, since you fell off, so watch out for that. We've also placed a 100-ring capsule on the track, but it's in a dangerous area, and you may lose it just as quickly as you get it. The rules are standard racing rules, so I won't go over them. Well, that's all you need to know, so get ready to race, and stay cool."
Gerald finished up, and headed to the announcer's booth. The racers got ready, checked their boards and gear, and got into position. The countdown started.
5…4…3…2…1…
GO!
The race started. Jet was first off the line, and the rest followed. Just after the start/finish line was a steep slope that led to a ramp at the bottom of it. Being the first one out, Jet was the first one to reach it. He jumped off and went high into the air. Some of the others did as well, but some didn't get a good jump and took a couple more seconds to land.
At the landing, there were a couple of yellow security robots, ready to attack anybody passing by. Because they were considered obstacles, power types would have no problem. At the end of the straightaway, there was a drop-off that doubled as a ramp. By hitting the ramp, speed types could access a rail that allowed them to bypass a sharp corner, and flying types could access a couple of accelerator rings to cut the corner. Power types had no choice but to take the corner with an air slide. After a short straightaway, there was a hairpin turn. Using air slides, the racers bypassed it with no problem. There were a couple more robots to complicate things.
After the turn, there was a ramp. If you went high enough, you could take a shorter path to the propulsion fan. The lower route had a longer path, and included an extra 90-degree turn. Nobody could hit the top ramp, so Jet, who was still in the lead, started a turbulence pipe for the others to follow. Actually, he was going at high speed, so the turbulence pipe started on its own. He led everyone into the propulsion fan, which shot them up to the next level.
"Up we go!" Jet said.
They all hit the next level at a low speed, courtesy of the impact from the landing. There was a steep incline on the left, but flying types had an advantage.
How? On the right was a flight starter that led to a few accelerator rings. This led to the upper area better than the slow incline. Raine, being the first of them, took that path, as well as the others. They took the lead, from 1st to 5th. Jet wasn't too happy about that.
"Damn. Flying types ahead of me? Not for long." Jet said.
At the top, there was a barricade of barrels that power types could smash through. In the area, there were lava falls, which were waterfalls of lava. If you were hit by one, you'd get a serious burn. Fortunately, the heat-resistant suits would protect them. The lava falls would only slow them down. There was a quarter-pipe on the right. If anyone needed a quick refill of air, they could use that for that little job. But its biggest attraction was a huge advantage to speed types. There was a rail that led around the double 90-degree turn and bypassed a short area of the track. That led to another rail that would take them to the next ramp.
Sonic, who was in 8th place, had just reached level 2, so he saw an opportunity to go bowling.
"I guess it's time for some bowling." Sonic said.
With that, Sonic started his level 2 attack, and bowled through the racers in this order: Armand, Jet, Nightscream, Tails, Wave, Basil, and in first place, Raine. Sonic, after doing this, took the lead. But Rector wasn't too happy about that, what with Sonic attacking Raine.
"That hedgehog has done it now!" Rector told himself.
Rector attacked Sonic during the double 90-degree turn. He was at level 2, so the attack sent Sonic spinning…straight into a wall. It took Sonic a while to recover, and the time lost put him back in last place. He wasn't too happy with Rector and what he had done.
"That Rector's going to pay. I know he cares about Raine, but this IS a competition. There's no rule that says you can't hit specific people. He's the only exception, since he's so chivalrous."
Sonic regained his balance and previous speed. The next part of the track was a short upward incline, then a few dash plates led to a large, wide curve. There were spinning capsules, and they were spinning very fast. But Sonic saw the 100-ring capsule near the edge, past the spinning capsules. He weaved between two of them, picked it up, and weaved between two others to get out. He saw a crooked sign on a slightly different colored wall, and he knew it was a power type shortcut. But nobody had bothered to take it.
Around the curve was a split in the path. To the right was a ramp. Past that was a tight turn, a couple of robots, and purple robots that looked like the robot Zero being taken to the next area of production. After the tight turn was a short straightaway that led to a mechanical zip-line like in Metal City. On the left was a few rings, but the path led to another zip-line and looked much shorter than the right path. Sonic took a quick look and saw that every racer had taken the right path, so he took the left. He hit the zip-line.
At the end of it, Sonic took the lead. Nobody could believe it.
"No way! Sonic actually got the lead when he wasn't taking the same path as us?" Rector questioned.
"Well, of course he did. Otherwise, he would still be in last." Galeon told him.
"Zip it, blue jay!"
"Shut up, hedgehog."
As they continued to argue, Knuckles took the time to speed past them. Armand did the same. But Wave came up and took the lead as they rounded the sharp corner. The upcoming drop-off would lead them back to the start/finish line to begin the second lap.
"Alright. I'm finally in the lead." Wave said to herself.
The second lap began. Everyone jumped off of the ramp and landed on the main track. Nightscream, after landing, attacked Wave to take the lead for himself. That didn't last long, as Armand attacked and took it. After the drop-off and the 90-degree turn, Rampage attacked Armand. The lead was constantly changing, with attacks and overtakes. This would probably be the most exciting part of the race.
After the sharp turn and the ramp, everyone landed on the top track. This piece of track had a shorter straightaway, as well as only one 90-degree turn. It led to the fan that boosted them up to the upper level.
Later, in the area with the spinning capsules, Storm noticed the lopsided sign. He wondered what was behind it.
"That sign looks weird. I wonder…"
Storm decided to push through it, and found a shortcut. There were only two problems: He busted the wall in full view of the other racers, and he was going at high speed, so there was a turbulence trail that the others followed.
"Aw man, I guess they saw me." Storm complained.
The shortcut was an upward straightaway, followed by a 180-degree turn, then a 90-degree turn after another short straightaway. This led to a high ramp where if you jumped high enough, you could touch the ceiling. The ramp jump led to the hairpin turn that led to the start/finish. Storm had the lead.
It wouldn't stay that way for long. Sonic took the lead, and the lead changes started again. Near the end of the final lap, Galeon took the lead, and kept it until the finish line.
Well, until Wave passed him at the last second.
"And in the last second of this race, Wave wins." Gerald announced.
"I won. Yes!" Wave said, happy that she won.
"Way to go, Wave. I knew you could do it." Jet said as he kissed her.
"As my brother said before, get a room, you two lovebirds." Sonic said.
"Don't push it." Jet said.
The results were like this: Wave (+15), Galeon (+14), Rampage (+13), Armand (+12), Axel (+11), Jet (+10), Sonic (+9), Rector (+8), Knuckles (+7), Basil (+6), Raine (+5), Storm (+4), Tails (+3), Nightscream (+2), and Howl (+1).
"That's it for this race. Come back in a little while and the factory will be frozen and changed for the Ice Factory Survival Race. Everyone will have cold-resistant gear for that track. All gear and stands will be given heaters to stay warm in the cold. See you all then."
Gerald wrapped up the announcements, then left.
Everyone went to the gear locker room, where they found their cold-resistant suits waiting. They were still the same color as the racers, and the team symbols remained the same. They put up the heat-resistant gear and rested up for the next race.
End of Chapter 14.
Well, that ends the Egg Factory Race. The results are as follows:
Galeon: 50
Jet: 49
Rector: 49
Armand: 47
Raine: 47
Wave: 45
Sonic: 45
Howl: 44
Basil: 41
Rampage: 39
Axel: 38
Tails: 38
Knuckles: 36
Nightscream: 35
Storm: 30
Axel, Tails, Knuckles, Nightscream, and Storm are on the bubble. From these results, Sonic may lose the others on his team. They'll have to race harder than ever to get back up. Galeon has the lead, but will it last?
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