Alright, it's time for the tournament to continue. The Wipeout story I plan on doing will not be canceled. I'll try to get the first chapter up. It will tell you all who's participating, as well as the challenges I have planned.
Last time, Rector beat out Rampage for a win, and Wave won her battle. But Jet has the lead thanks to gaining bonus points for 4 attacks in a row. But those standings won't last. And you all know that (if you've been reading).
Let's continue.
Disclaimer: OCs belong to their respective owners. Sega owns Sonic and co.
Chapter 19: Dark Desert: Racing in the Eclipse.
After the last Survival Battle, the standings looked like this: Jet (6), Rector (5), Wave (5), Raine (4), Rampage (4), Armand (3), Galeon (2), Sonic (2), Basil (1), and Knuckles (1). It was time for the first Survival Race in the second half of the tournament.
"What's up, everyone? It's time for the Survival Race. As you all may know, in a few minutes, the moon will block out the sun, and it will turn dark. An eclipse will be perfect for this. Now, how does a Survival Race go? I've missed the last survival races." Damien said. Gerald rolled his eyes.
"Here's the quick version. They get a Chaos Emerald, pass through a gate, and try to score 5 points in 5 minutes. Points are awarded by position at the end. 1st place gets 5 points, a tie results in the same number of points, and if they don't get a goal, they score 1 point for their total. You'll figure out the rest as the race goes along." Gerald said.
"Thanks, G-man. Well, let's see who will participate in the first race." Damien said.
The randomizer came up and started shuffling the racers. It wasn't long before the first 5 pictures appeared.
"And it looks like Basil, Rector, Wave, Sonic, and Rampage will go at it in the first Survival Race." Gerald announced.
The 5 racers took their positions at the starting line. Gerald and Damien headed up to the announcer's booth. The countdown began.
3…2…1…
GO!
The race began. The sun had been blocked out by the moon, so it was dark. As the racers left the start, Basil, who was first, raced up the steps, where the emerald was located. Basil picked it up and jumped off of the ramp. The others followed. Down below, there was a large expanse of desert land. It was hard to believe that this would be the race course.
"Man, what a rip-off!" Sonic complained.
"This is so going to be boring." Wave said.
But it was not to be. As they were coming down, a large fissure appeared, opening the way to a sub-underground area.
"Holy…" Basil began.
"What is this?" Rector asked.
They landed on a tiled floor. It was obvious that Gerald and Damien knew of this, because there was a gate up ahead. They launched off of the first ramp, though there were a couple of paths down the side. Those paths were slow, however. Just before the second ramp, there was a gate. Basil passed through it, gaining his first point, before launching down to the third ramp. After that, there was a small cave that led to two hairpin turns. One of the gates was in the area. Basil passed through it and was on his way to an actual win. He couldn't believe it.
"If I keep this up, I may just win this one." Basil thought.
But Sonic came up and bumped into him as they were coming out of the second hairpin turn. As they moved on, they could see two walls up ahead. If it were a normal race, there would have been flight accelerator rings on the yellow path, obstacles on the red path, and a grind rail on the blue path, which was the main path. Everyone followed the main path. There was a gate just before the ramp. Sonic got his first point, then hit the ramp. As he was flying through the air, he saw a bunch of ancient writing and devices. Tails would have a field day in this place. But he had no time. He landed, headed for the second ramp, and launched off of it. He saw a third ramp. He launched off of it, landed, and headed for a warp chamber. He saw a gate before the entrance. He sped through it, and headed into the warp chamber. Here he found himself in a green orb, speeding around the chamber. He looked around and saw the other racers in green orbs as well. It wasn't long before Sonic was shot out, along with the others. They landed in Desert City, which was located near the city. Some of the onlookers took up positions along the buildings to watch the races. If this were a normal race, there would have been a grind rail on the right, and flight accelerator rings on the left. Shortly after the slight right turn, there was another gate. Sonic almost passed through it, but Basil stole the emerald, so he got the point instead. Basil and Sonic were schooling their opponents. Basil had the lead with 3 goals. Sonic had 2, and the others had none. It would definitely be between them.
"You might as well give up. You can't beat me." Sonic taunted.
"Yeah right. Like my best friend Armand, I never give up." Basil retaliated.
Basil and Sonic rounded the sharp corner and shot towards the coliseum. They had passed a power type shortcut, which would have been open in a normal race. But then Rampage came out of nowhere and stole the emerald. How he had caught up, nobody knew. Basil looked back and saw that the barricade had been broken. Rampage had cheated.
"He can't do that!" Basil complained. There were no cameras in the area, so the only proof was if anybody saw it besides Basil. A few others had seen it, but they didn't reveal their identities.
Rampage stormed through the coliseum, earning his first point, and launched off of the ramp. He landed in the area below, and started to dominate. He launched off of the first ramp in the series of three, sped through the gate before the second one, launched off of it, then the third one, and then sped through the next gate. Rampage now had 3 points. He sped through the hairpin turns, sped through the small cave leading to the ancient room, passed through the gate before the ramp, made his way to the warp chamber, and secured his final point in the race. Everyone headed back to the coliseum.
"I don't believe it. Rampage wins." Gerald announced.
Everyone started cheering. Well, everyone except Basil.
"THIS WIN DOESN'T COUNT!!" Basil yelled, catching everyone's attention. "Rampage cheated by going through a shortcut that was blocked off. Therefore, he should be disqualified from this race, and his score should be reset!"
"Oh yeah? Well, can you prove it?" Rampage asked.
"He can't. But we can." Someone said from the side.
They all turned and saw Charlie the Bear, Cloud the Bluebird, and Vash the Wolf. They were watching the race from one of the buildings and managed to catch Rampage going through the illegal shortcut.
"We were watching from atop a building in the city. We saw Rampage bust the barricade and speed through." Cloud said.
Gerald and Damien were amazed by this. Galeon didn't look too happy with what his teammate had done. Damien had received a quick call from one of the track inspectors, and it confirmed the illegal action.
"I don't believe it. One of the track inspectors has confirmed that the barricade has been broken. Rampage, you're score will be reset to 0 points, and you will not be credited with the win. Plus, you will not get any points for this race. With that, Basil is credited with the win." Damien announced.
Galeon went to Rampage and punched him.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Galeon asked.
"I just wanted to win." Rampage said.
"I know, but we are not cheaters. We don't pull stuff like that to win. Never…do…that…again." Galeon told him.
"Alright." Rampage responded.
The results were: Basil (+5), Sonic (+4), Rector and Wave got 1 point each as consolation, and Rampage got no points for his disqualification. Their standings were: Basil (6), Sonic (6), Rector (6), Wave (6), and Rampage's score was cleared due to cheating.
"Let's continue with the survival races. Jet, Armand, Knuckles, Raine, and Galeon, it's time for your race." Damien said.
The 5 racers took spots at the start line.
3…2…1…
GO!
The race began. Jet took the lead, and grabbed the emerald at the top of the stairs. After launching off of the ramp, with the others in pursuit, Jet saw the area previously hidden by the fissure. It was still accessible, and he saw the first gate sitting right where it was in the last race: just before the second ramp in the 3-ramp series. He jumped off of the first ramp, passed through the gate before the second ramp to gain his first point, hit that ramp, and launched off of the third one before having the emerald stolen by Raine. She headed through the hairpin turns, passed through the gate to get a point for herself, then headed towards the ancient room. She passed through the gate just before the ramp, and after she landed, Armand took the emerald from her. He kept the emerald all the way to the warp chamber, so he got a point by passing through the gate before it. They sped through it, with Armand getting out first, and landed in the city. Armand passed through the next gate to gain a second point. Then Knuckles stole the emerald for himself.
"It's my turn to score some points in this thing." Knuckles said.
And how right he was. He sped through the city and entered the coliseum. He gained his first point by passing the gate right in front of the start/finish line, then he jumped the ramp to land in the sub-underground area. He sped his way down the ramps to gain a second point from the second ramp, then landed in the lower area. He was being careful about his air, and not getting overconfident. He passed through the third gate before the hairpin turns, and headed towards the ancient room. But that was where Raine took back the emerald.
"Sorry, Knuckles." Raine apologized as she stole the emerald.
Raine sped into the ancient room, and launched off of the first ramp, sped through the next gate for her third point, launched off of the second and third ramps, and headed to the warp chamber. But before scoring her fourth point, Galeon came up and took the emerald. He scored his first point, then headed into the warp chamber. He launched out of it, and when he landed, he sped towards the next gate. He passed through it to earn his second point, sped through the city, passed through the entrance, gained a third point, and launched off of the ramp. As he landed, he saw the sun start to emerge. This was trouble. If the sun came out fully, the area would close up, and they would be trapped. They had to finish this and get out. Galeon called the other four to him.
"Listen. We've got trouble. The sun's coming out. If it emerges fully, this area will close, and we'll be trapped." Galeon told them.
"What do we do?" Armand asked.
"The important thing is getting out of here. Just let me win so we can end the race, and let's focus on getting out of here." Galeon said.
"Deal. Let's move!" Knuckles said.
With that, Galeon kept the lead. He hit the 3-ramp series, passed through the gate for a fourth point, sped to the hairpin turns, and ended it by getting his final point.
"Galeon wins the Survival Race!" Gerald announced. The results were: Galeon(+5), Raine (+4), Knuckles (+4), Armand (+3), and Jet (+2). Their standings were: Galeon (7), Raine (8), Knuckles (5), Armand (6), and Jet (8).
"Wait a minute. Look!" Damien said. Everyone looked up and saw the sun start to emerge. "Damn it! The sun's coming out! The racers better get out of there!" Damien said in a panic.
Down in the sub-underground area, the racers had just reached the ancient room. If the sun emerged fully, the warp chamber would close down, leaving them trapped. They had to escape, and quickly. They saw the warp chamber door start to close.
"The door's closing!" Raine said.
"Let's get through it!" Galeon yelled.
Galeon went in first, followed by Knuckles, Jet, and then Raine. As she went into the chamber, she saw Armand lagging behind. Something was wrong with his board, and he lost a lot of speed.
"Armand, hurry!" Raine yelled.
Armand tried to get through, but the door had closed too far. He slammed into the door and was knocked out. His board, the Crimson Laser, managed to get through. Raine grabbed it as it came by her.
"NO! ARMAND!" Raine yelled, but it was no use. Armand had been trapped. And since his communicator wouldn't work due to underground interference, there would be no way to know if he was okay.
Raine shot out of the warp chamber. If the area happened to close, anyone in the warp chamber would be shot out as usual. She caught up with the others.
"Raine, where's Armand?" Jet asked. Raine just shook her head.
"No. It can't be." Galeon said.
"We have to tell the others." Knuckles told them.
They reentered the coliseum. Gerald was waiting.
"Glad to see you all made it out." Gerald said. Then he noticed someone was missing. "Wait. Where's Armand?"
Raine pulled out Armand's board. As soon as Emily saw it, she ran down to where they were.
"Where's Armand?" Emily asked.
"He tried to escape, but the door had closed too far. His board managed to get by, but he couldn't." Raine told her, as well as everyone. Nobody could believe it. Emily, who was hit the hardest by this news, started to cry. She managed to keep herself from roaring out.
"No. He can't be trapped. He just can't be." Emily said while in tears.
Sonic just looked on in disbelief. Basil just dropped to his knees, speechless. Raine just looked out at where Armand got trapped, wondering if she could have done something to help him. Galeon couldn't say a word. The other racers just stayed quiet and looked out at where the incident happened.
"Attention everyone. This race may have ended, but a dark event has happened. Armand did not manage to escape the underground ancient area in time." Gerald announced. There was a huge gasp from the crowd. They couldn't believe it.
"With Armand out of the tournament, I'm afraid we have to cancel it." Damien said.
"NO! We're not canceling this tournament! We're getting Armand out!" Basil said.
"What are you talking about? We can't get him out of there. There won't be another solar eclipse for another 5 years." Rampage said.
"That's where we come in. We're going to create our own solar eclipse."
End of Chapter 19.
Armand has been trapped, but Basil has a plan. But how are they going to create their own solar eclipse? And what went wrong with Armand's board? Find out in the next chapter. The next chapter will not hold a race. Instead, that chapter will feature a break in the tournament.
As for the tournament standings, here you go:
Jet: 8
Raine: 8
Galeon: 7
Rector: 6
Wave: 6
Armand: 6
Sonic: 6
Basil: 6
Knuckles: 5
Rampage: 0
Jet and Raine are tied for the lead. But will it last?
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