AN: Big thanks to the only guy to read and leave a review, MWDarigan. And to all WipEout fans, enjoy!
X
The One In Everything
X
POST RACE
WINNER: BERKUT UNITED
NEXT RACE: 3 H 13 minutes.
TRACK: TO BE DISCLOSED
S-CLASS: TO BE DISCLOSED
With the roar of the crowd humming deep through the walls of Pit No.4, the wrecked and battered Lhotus-Akkan sat quietly amongst an array of hi-tech but still outdated mechanized tools and other junk. Every crack and sparkle of azure energy lit the bare grey walls of the hanger for fractions of a second at a time. Milli Norfair, still dressed in her faded green racing overalls with the an indistinguishable logo on the back, was seated on an upturned munitions crate; swaying her legs playfully over the edge whilst she took ginger sips from a silver can of Liverpool Cola. Her chief engineer, Yuno Maeda, a 26-year old girl from Osaka 2 with noir black hair in a bobcut trim and pine-green eyes was in the seat of the Akkan; flipping switches with earnest and slamming the occasional balled-fist onto the console. A HTV mounted on the wall of the hanger was playing back the highlights of the previous race. The five-craft collision had replayed about four times already, and if the sound wasn't muted, Yuno and Milli would've heard the commentator ranking it as one of the worst crashes in a qualifying event. There were no casualties, as was nearly always the case since refined and near-unbreakable cockpit designs had become mandatory. It was actually common to see a craft blast apart in an explosion to only leave the scorched but intact cockpit amongst the wreckage.
Another silent replay appeared on the screen. It showed the Akkan flying in a dead-straight line as a plasma bolt chased it down effortlessly before connecting and throwing the craft in the air. Milli watched the spectacle solemnly, before Yuno piped up suddenly, taking Milli's eyes off the screen.
'Load of shit, if you ask me.' Yuno scowled, her eyes still studying the control panel before her. 'Daisy could've taken an Hiiten Missile, a 30 barrage of 50 cal, even a Quake Disruptor without losing control. But it just had to be a stupid Plasma Bolt.'
BANG! Another well-placed punch from Yuno fixes the flickering weapon gauge.
'Under----hwa!-----normal circumstances...' She continued, having ripped out some random instrument before tossing it carelessly over her shoulder. 'Daisy would shrug it off. But the fact that the AGR was sticking out after that macho prick from Cisca Foundation fried the rear shielding with that Leech Beam, it was just unlucky.'
Unlucky.
A word that had sprung up its fair share of times when it came to evaluating Milli's piloting ability. To most, there was comfort to be found in such a word, but Milli was too stubborn to walk down that path. She'd seen it herself on the screen a few moments before. It had taken almost 1.7 seconds for that Plasma Bolt to smash into Daisy. Some might think that not enough time to react, but Milli knew better. She had known, but still couldn't do a bloody thing.
CRACK!! One more impact. Something beneath the plating audibly snapped and fell to the bottom of the hull with a deep clank.
'Hey, Mil.' Yuno said gently, craning her neck upwards to see over the rim. 'Stop it, ok?'
Milli's eyes widened. But of course, she was terrible at hiding her feelings. And Yuno understood her more than anyone. So she just smiled, but meant it.
Yuno grinned back before dissappearing into the cockpit again. A wrenching sound of metal screeched out from the hull shortly after. A second later, the left airbrake promptly popped out and puked out some neon-green fluid that splattered to the floor.
'There ya go! Cheeky bastard...' Yuno muttered.
'So how long?' Milli asked, hopping off the crate and stretching her arms out.
'About 22 minutes. I'll rig the repair drones and reboot the system. You should go relax for a bit.'
Milli nodded. 'Ok, see you later.'
A hand popped out from the cockpit briefly and waved goodbye.
With that, Milli left Pit No.4 as an array of hovering sphere-shaped repair drones started buzzing about the Lhotus-Akkan.
'That won't fit, jackass! Hand it over!' She heard Yuno scream at the drones.
Giggling to herself, Milli headed out the door.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxX
The Omnileone, a gigantic hotel-slash-pilot keep, sat in the very middle of Inandantia City; acting as a hub to the various tracks that composed the qualifying segment of the Unlimited League; the largest so far event of its kind, due to its broad acceptance of any and all AG Teams...who qualified that is. Already, several of the big name teams had already secured a place in the huge event, one which was rumoured to have a reward payout of about 1,000,000,000 Credits, again the largest such thing ever.
Omnileone was really only a three-star hotel, somewhat bland but comfy. When events popped up, a few floors of the hotel were specifically reserved for AG pilots, their crew and miscellanous team members. It helped that the vast basement of the hotel was really a network of Hangars, Pit Bays, and pretty much everything else an AG Team would need. Conveniance was key. And since the qualifying races were only a few hours apart, it gave everyone ample time to prepare for whatever lay ahead of them.
On the 21st floor of the hotel was the cleverly named WipEout Bar; a haven for any and all AG personell to wind down and have something to drink. Every now and then, some of the brasher pilots would start talking big and generally piss everyone off, but luckily, since a race was just around the corner, they weren't allowed to serve any alcohol yet.
'Damn.' A male pilot wearing dull ashphalt-grey racing overalls muttered as he eyed the glass of pineapple soda in his hands annoyingly. He had an incredibly ordinary physique, clean but unremarkable features hidden beneath a sky-blue Taidan Arms cap, and just generally attracted almost no attention.
His name was Lars Richtofen. 22 years young. One and only pilot of the brand-new but still third-party team Ghost Original.
Ghost...
That's what some people called him. Granted it was a cool sounding name, but not in the context of what it implied: That he had almost no prescence, able to move around without catching anyone's attention without even trying on and off the track.
Grumbling again as he sat on the swivel stool in front of the bar, with the cyborg barkeep naturally ignoring him, Lars looked about himself at all the other pilots and crew seated at random tables or just wandering aimlessly.
They were all buddy-buddy with each other, Lars thought drearily, watching two young pilots exchange lame jokes before belting out forced laughter.
But...he didn't hold it against them. It was mostly his fault, his nature to remain under the radar. Maybe it was just paranoia, but it was who he was.
He spotted someone, alone, sitting at a two person table at the far end of the room. A girl, who looked like she should've still been in high school, but her faded green racing suit said otherwise.
Compared to everyone else in the room, she stuck out like a sore thumb. As he thought this, some of the men would keenly eyeball her, exchanging possibly lewd comments with their friends. Female racers weren't really a rarity but that didn't stop people from taking notice.
She was cute though. What with that pixie-like face and short black hair tied back in a ponytail...
'Woah.' Lars shook it off. He'd been staring at her, just like those other guys. One of which, to his horror, was sleazily shifting towards her; reeking of pompous arrogance.
Lars didn't think. He just abandoned his pineapple soda and quickly closed the distance, his heartbeat rising in tempo the closer he got.
He arrived just in time to hear the faux-sauve macho bleat out a weak pickup line.
'---flying for about three years. She's a beauty, but nothin compared to a little thing like you.'
The girl stared at the intruder, eyes almost bulging, her tiny mouth agape; like a kid who'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
Lars made his move, cleanly, efficiently, and without any idea of what he was doing.
'Yo Stacy!' He greeted cheerily. Both she and the guy stared at him incredously as he took the vacant seat, as the guy had been lecherously leaning over on the table. 'I got here as fast as I could! It sure is crazy here nowadays, huh?'
The guy awkwardly shifted away, pretending like he had just been passing through. The girl was still staring at him though; the lemon soda can in her dusty gloved hands gripped tight.
A tense silence hung in the air. Whatever momentum Lars had before withered away under her unblinking stare. Feeling like a complete moron, Lars was about to leave quietly before....
'Thanks for that.'
She spoke! Her words shy but clear with a hint of silent determination.
Lars felt his body relax, the hot flush in his neck fading.
'Hey, no problem.' He smiled.
'Who are you?' She asked almost immediately, though the question itself was direct without being rude.
'I'm Lars. Lars Richtofen. I'm a uh---' He instinctively coughed, feeling his cheeks burn. That innocent glimmer in her eyes...it was too much, dammit! '---pilot for the...the ship underground.'
She raised an eyebrow. 'Huh?'
Real smooth.
'...Ghost Original. An AG Team.' Obviously.
She smiled a little. Lars was obscenely thankful that the bar was somewhat dim. He felt his face burn up like a red plasma bolt.
'My name's Milli Norfair. I'm a pilot too.' She introduced herself politely, raising her soda can. 'I fly the Lhotus-Akkan.'
Oh, he'd heard of that one. The race just before, she'd come in 3rd place. Lars recalled that a lucky shot had almost destroyed her craft, but had cost her the race.
'I saw you before, on the HTV. The Vineta-K Flash race, right? Man, that was just unlucky!' He laughed a little to himself.
Then, Milli Norfair's mood took a sharp 180 flip. Her now-darkened glare made the hairs on the back of Lars' neck stand on end.
'Nice meeting you.' She monotonously replied, avoiding his puzzled gaze, before turning on her heel and dissappearing through the exit. She'd left her drink.
What'd he do?
When a bout of laughter from around him embarassed him further, Lars knew this was one race he'd definately lost.
'Bye, Milli Norfair...' He sighed, hanging his head in defeat.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
As Milli stormed out of the bar in a huff, ignoring the surprised patrons she passed, her cellphone hummed to life in her pocket.
'Ho!' She yelped as she almost fumbled it to the floor, clumsily pressing the talk button.
Yuno shimmered to life on the screen, her face smeared with bluish gel. 'Mil! I got good news, bad news and news that's probably bad.'
'Give me the good first.' Milli groaned.
'The info for the next race is up on the Boards.'
'Already!?' She exclaimed, turning around a sharp corner to come to a large HTV board on the wall by the main elevators. Several pilots were already there, crowded around it so she couldn't see it clearly. After gingerly shouldering her way through, she stood in front of the bright neon-purple screen as it displayed the information for the next race.
In brief, it read:
UPCOMING RACE
NO.28 OF UNLIMITED QUALIFIER
TRACK: AMPHISEUM (REVERSE)
S-CLASS: SUPER-PHANTOM
TYPE: 40 LAP ENDURANCE
PARTICIPATING TEAMS ARE AS FOLLOWS BY GRID POSITION.
1. ICARAS
2. NEO LILIM
3. BELKAN-G
4. WAR-TALON
5. BERKUT UNITED
6. SATTAHRI
7. GHOST ORIGINAL
8. CISCA FOUNDATION
9. SHISHIGAMI YOMA
10. LHOTUS-AKKAN
'No fair!' Milli yelled, drowned out by everyone elses collective outcry.
She'd raced in Phantom Class in the past, raced horribly. And now, a 40 lap Enduro in Super-Phantom?? On a Track she'd never raced on before?!
'You've noticed the ship first on the grid, right?' Yuno piped up, her voice loud enough to pierce through the other screaming pilots.
Milli looked over the info board again.
No....no...
Icaras. An A-Class Team, who had qualified and even won a few championships in the past, and piloted by none other than "Phantom" Adam McTavish, was competing.
The time left until the next race had just ticked over to 59 minutes...59 minutes left to live.
'Mil. Daisy'll be ready for you soon. What're you gonna do?'
Milli didn't know how to respond. So...
...she just screamed. Loud.
'Mil!? You ok?!'
She wasn't. But nothing was going to stop her.
'I'm ready to lose, Yuno.'
Her friend laughed over the line.
'Sounds like a plan!'
X
AN: Race up next. Tune in.