Inside the garage, Hayden comes up to the tarp covered vehicle before he pulls it back, emitting some digital dust, showing the vehicle. Unfortunately, it was in a bit of a bad shape. "Nice." Geoff said as they look at it. "A little banged up, but it could work. How much credits did you spend to get this?"
"Sadly, I stole it." Hayden replied, shocking them. "I know. An honest cop, turned temporary ninja, committing grand theft auto in a video game. Also part of the reason the Red Visors were after me. This hunk of junk is also the reason why I lost my first life. Did a few reckless moves trying to escape them. Almost would've been caught and probably cubed, if it weren't for Scott."
"Well, trust me, with the way I saw him handle it before it wrecked, she's fast." He said.
"So, whose car was it before you stole it?" Cole asked. "Do you know?"
"Didn't get a good look, because I was desperate to get away from them." Hayden replied.
"It belonged to the Sub Woofers." Scott said. "They're one of the teams participating in the Speedway Five Billion. I doubt they would care about this one at all."
(A/N: Sub Woofers is an original racing team for this story. Say they have speakers on their vehicles, and would use them to blast their opponents aside)
"I came across it when I found myself at the racetrack running from the Red Visors. The driver wasn't around, so I had to take it if I wanted to get far away. Did a few turns, until I came across a landmine, took a spill, turned it a few times, and ended up nearly wrecking it. Hence, why I lost my first life. Scott here found me and I asked him to repair it, which he would do if I did a few favours for him. Then I went on to do some side missions for other players or NPCs, until I had enough credits to purchase the blasters, the avatar, and the cloak. Before long, I became a wanted man, under the alias, 'Cloaked Character.'"
"Well, this, plus the other three..." Scott said, pointing out to three other wrecked vehicles and a perfectly good car. "...plus my car, that's five vehicles. That gets you in the race."
"Uh, I don't know." Jay replied, looking at Hayden's wrecked car. "This needs a lot of work. You think we can fix it up in time?"
Nya sighed as she took a look at it. "New engine, transmission, brakes, shocks, wheels, timing belt, windshield." She said.
"Yeah, it's in bad shape." Scott replied. "But it's the best I got." He rubs the front of it. "She did pretty well. Until, as your friend explained it, he flipped it a few times trying to escape. Which is why I don't drive. I've only got one life left and I value it. I'm not risking it for anything or anyone."
"Some things are worth fighting for, Scott." Geoff said.
He walks away. "Yeah, yeah, you guys can be heroes if you want." He sarcastically spoke as he walked. "Not me."
"He's been stuck in this game for a long time." Jay said. "Too long."
"If any of us want to get out of here, we need that Key-Tana." Nya replied. "We need to win the race."
"Then we better get started." Cole said before turning to the others. "Come on, what are we waiting for?"
They start to split up as Lloyd and Hayden head over to Nya. "I'm gonna check out the Speedway." Lloyd said. "See what I can learn. The more we know about it, the better our chances."
"I'm coming too." Hayden replied while folding his arms. "I may not be a Ninja, but I have moves of one."
"Very well."
Hayden turns to Nya. "Nya, I leave repairing my vehicle to you."
"You got it, Mantis." She said. "Be careful, guys. The race track will be crawling with Red Visors. Plus, you have a bounty on your head, Mantis. I just found out it is now 300,000 credits."
"Dragon's turd. We'd better hurry." Lloyd nods before he and Hayden take off while summoning their hoods.
The others get to work repairing the four vehicles as Jay fits a part to a speeder that has been repainted blue. Kai welds an exhaust to another speeder that has been repainted red. "Wish I had my powers." He muttered. "Makes this quicker."
Nya and Gewuji observe the damages done to Hayden's car before Nya presses a button, which a robotic arm lowers an engine on the back of it. "Really did a total number on it." Gewuji muttered as she moved to put the engine in place. Scott checks underneath it before Cole hands him an electrode and Geoff rolls a wheel away.
At the racetrack's repair bay, a quad bike stops by a mechanic with many players or NPCs casually moving about while Lloyd and Hayden hide between some containers to look what was ahead as two people pass them by, not stopping to look at them. They soon notice some Red Visors about to approach before they quickly rush toward some nearby tyres to hide behind. "If we're gonna check out the race, best we change our avatars." Hayden said.
"Good idea." Lloyd replied before they both open their displays and swipe along them until they reach their avatar selection option and press them. They then briefly glow before flashes of pixelation flashed out and then fade away, showing them in their avatars. Hayden was back in his Cloaked Character but with the hood up in an attempt to hide his face, while Lloyd's avatar consisted of a gold mohawk, wears a green jacket with a right gold sleeve, green bandanna, green gi pants and gold boots. As he looked at himself, Hayden scoffed in amusement at Lloyd, who frowns. "What?"
"And to think mine was awful, yours is worse." Hayden chuckles a bit.
"Well, I don't see you with a mohawk." He sarcastically spoke.
"I wouldn't be caught dead with one."
"Never mind, let's check out the Speedway before the Red Visors find us." Lloyd raises his bandanna over his mouth and nose.
"Right." They immediately rush toward a nearby set of stairs and move up them.
They reach the top to find themselves at a seating stand, where the crowd was cheering for the racers down at the track, watching it on a holo-board. "Oh, big hit!" The announcer said as a car was struck and spun out of control before being hit by another and flown off the track. "Good thing he's wearing a seatbelt!"
Lloyd and Hayden reach the bottom of the stand before they lowered their bandanna and hood respectively. "Whoa!" Lloyd said.
"Amazing." Hayden said.
"Ooh, here they come!" A nearby person with blue hair said as they both turn to him. "I can see them!" The two were soon surprised to see the racers pass by as a red vehicle with big wheels ram another car into a wall before a green buggy passes by over it. A quad bike with a wrecking ball strikes another car before it swings around and strikes it off the track, swings again, and strikes another one on its right.
A blue car hits a glowing cylinder with Unagami's signal, which makes it briefly glow before it fires bombs out of its exhaust pipes. They hit two cars behind it, stick to them and explode, blowing them up. "Two teams out of the race, three remaining, coming up on the fourth mile marker, and here come the Whack Rats!" The crowd soon cheers for them.
The blue haired spectator nudges Lloyd a little. "Awesome!"
The buggy passes by the Whack Rats on their quad bikes until two of them come on each side of her, and one of them holds up molotov before throwing it. The driver quickly skids to a halt, letting the molotov hit the other quad bike before the driver moves faster, hitting the effected quad bike and making it spin. "That was incredible." Hayden said.
"Who's that driver?" Lloyd asked.
"Racer Seven!" The blue haired spectator replied. "Uh, she's been trying to get the Key-Tana for years. Never makes it to the finish line though. Looks like today won't be her lucky day neither."
"What do you mean?" Hayden asked.
"Just watch."
The racers make a right turn before one of the Whack Rats presses a button on its steering wheel, conjuring some rockets at the front before firing them. The rockets fly over to Racer Seven's buggy, but flies overhead and hits the path ahead, making her slow down as a Whack Rat's quad bike came up to her right and rams her into a wall, making her spin out of control before another one hits the front right wheel, sending her rolling and lands upside down, with digital smoke emitting from it. Lloyd was immediately concerned for her while Hayden tries to put on a brave face. "Dragon's turd." He muttered.
Racer Seven gets out of her wrecked buggy before turning to it, groans in anger and slams it. Turning away from it, Racer Seven takes off her spiked helmet and throws it at the stand. Lloyd and Hayden quickly move to the side to avoid the helmet flying between them, which hits a player behind them, causing him to disappear, but immediately respawned. The player walks away as Lloyd picks up the helmet to look at it. "There he is!" Someone called out. They turn to the right to see a player with pink hair and three diagonal tattoos over his left eye pointing some nearby Red Visors out to Lloyd and Hayden, but mainly at the latter. "That's Cloaked Character!"
"Hey, you two, freeze!" One of the Red Visors yelled, pushing a crowd member back. They turn to the stairs, only to find more Red Visors at the top, aiming their blasters before they rush down the left.
"Where's my reward?!"
"Hey, stop right there!" Another Red Visor yelled. The order gains Racer Seven's attention, who turns to see Lloyd with her helmet.
"My helmet!" She yelled and took off.
The crowd started to scream with some cowering or moving aside as Lloyd and Hayden kept running, until they come to a sudden halt when some Red Visors show up in front of them. "Split up!" Lloyd said to Hayden, throwing the helmet at a Red Visor to knock it down, making the helmet bounce off it and catches it. Hayden somersaults over the others in their path to keep running as some turn around to aim at him. Lloyd turns around to throw the helmet at the Red Visors that chased him and catches it before backflipping to avoid a Red Visor's blaster fire and runs along one row to keep avoiding the shots.
Hayden rushes along the path as a Red Visor appears in front of him. He quickly stops to see it aim its blaster at him, briefly turning to see some more from behind him. He turned back to the Red Visor in front as it was about to shoot him before quickly taking off his cloak and throws it at it, blinding it. He then vaults over it before turning to kick it into the others. He soon places his hand on the railing before bouncing to the right to kick a Red Visor down, sending it crashing into others before jumping onto it, and runs along it, trying his best to avoid the other Red Visors' shots. He then summoned his blasters before turning around to fire at them, taking a few down, until his blasters click, due to running out of ammo, shocking him, and a Red Visor's shot soon hits the location underneath Hayden's feet, sending him flying over the racetrack and losing his blasters before another shot soon hits him, causing him to yelp, and he disappears, losing his second life. Lloyd runs across the stand, coming across three Red Visors before jumping on one to bounce off it, then bounces off another, and lands on the side railing, where he slides along it before jumping over to an archway on the racetrack. Hayden soon respawns, still over the track, as he lands on the back of a Whack Rat's quad bike, the driver oblivious at his landing. Looking up at the archway a few meters ahead, Hayden sees Lloyd on top of it as he crawls up it and sees Red Visors chase him. Quickly thinking of a solution, Hayden grabs hold of the Whack Rat driving the quad bike, surprising it. "My turn, sucker." He sarcastically said, throwing it out before getting in the seat and floors the accelerator to reach Lloyd. As he ran along the arch, Lloyd comes to a complete halt, surprised to see a Red Visor in front of him before it fired its blaster at him, which makes him use Racer Seven's helmet as a shield to block it before somersaulting over it, striking it with the helmet as he did so and kicks another one behind it. As more Red Visors start to surround him, Lloyd notices Hayden coming towards him in the quad bike. "Lloyd, jump!" Lloyd backflips off the arch, narrowly missing getting shot at before landing on the back of the quad bike as the Red Visors start shooting at it, hitting the back of the quad bike before Hayden soon turned left into the track's exit.
Hayden drives the quad bike into the repair bay before making a right around a corner and stops as the back of the quad bike starts emitting digital smoke. "Thanks, Mantis."
"You're welcome." They get off the quad bike. "Let's get out of here." They immediately take off, unaware that Racer Seven spots them leaving.
"I showed you where Cloaked Character is." The voice of the pink haired player made her turn to see him confront two Red Visors before walking away. "Now, I demand my reward." They both look at each other before raising their blasters and fire, hitting him and he falls back while turning into orange pixels, which soon forms into an Energy Cube.
"There's your reward." One of the Red Visors sarcastically replied as a drone comes up to the Energy Cube to absorb it.
