Chapter 116 – The Beginning of the Third Trial
"WELCOOOOOOME back folks!" the crowd heard the announcer call out, "Today is the third official race of the finals of the Terranuilian Races. We've only have ten contestants left, things are heating up quite a bit." Her camera drones circled the starting area, another nearly full circle of garage buildings with only a single entrance to the track, a rather long beach stretched out with the ocean waves gently crashing onto the shore and what looked like stone paths stretching into the water down the middle of it all.
"Ooh!" Pinkie said as she let her excitement bubble to the surface, "I'mjustsoexcited!Areyouexcited?I'veneverbeensoexcited,well…exceptforthetimewearivedandIwaslike,'I SEE A BAKERY!' But come on…"
"THAT'S IT!" Twilight suddenly announced with pride and glee as she interrupted her pink friend.
"What's it?" Blade asked in a serious yet quizzical tone.
"Who the voice of the announcer reminds me of…Pinkie Pie!" the alicorn mare announced.
"I don't hear it." Pinkie drawled in uncertainty.
"Just listen to it; the pitch, the energy, the wild fluctuations in notes; it's almost a carbon copy just a slightly different sound." Twilight announced.
"Let's hope this race has a bit more action than the last one did." the announcer's voice suddenly called out, catching the attention of everyone in the garage.
"I cannot unhear it now." Rarity said as she listened to the similar voice her face in pure shock of the revelation.
"This is our third race and the fourth time we've heard her voice." Blade said with an unimpressed tone, "Why did it take you this long to come to that conclusion?"
"A lot has been happening." the mare argued in a low growl, her glare could have rivaled his own when angered.
"Noted." he said in response as he turned his head away from her, his eyes shifting back to her as if she were going to pounce.
"It comes to no one's surprise that Rainbow Dash is still in the races, helping friends out of tough situations and looking awesome while doing it." the announcer added as her drones circled the stadium, "And I'm happy to announce that a decision has been made about the questionable way Kklesstic has used his drones. Incorporating them into his racer, although clever in his approach, I'm afraid the sheer number of them has put too many contestants at too big of a disadvantage, so the council has deemed it necessary to place a cap on the number of drones any single ship may have equipped at one time."
"A cap, huh?" Applejack asked, "Bout time. How big a cap we talkin?"
"I do hope it is small in number." Rarity added in.
"Me to." Fluttershy added, "Poor Syls and Tris were both swarmed with them the last time."
"I'm with you!" Pinkie said in her excited anger, "He had soooooooo many, that the two of them couldn't do a thing, and they got her cornered waaaaaaaaaaaaay too easily, it was like a wall of angry little bugs. It took Rainbow Dash's ultimate weapon to knock out Kklesstic's power to them to save them."
"So, for those wondering what kind of cap, I wouldn't worry too much, I don't think a maximum of 5 drones are going to cause that much of an issue." the announcer suddenly said.
"Whew!" the five mares sighed together.
"That makes things easier." Twilight said, looked to the screen, and giggled as if taunting a rival, "Kklesstic doesn't look happy about that ruling." she added in with a smirk. She was right, the bespectacled Sunik sat in his chair growling at the camera that hovered right in front of his windshield. His arms crossed and a growl of disapproval on his face. Twilight chuckled a little at his anger, just a little satisfied that his influence was slipping.
"So without further ado, lets reveal the special rule for this race." the racers heard the announcer say, and again four drones came together to create the roulette of symbols. The symbols went by in the blink of an eye cycling through until it landed on what looked like a fence made of lightning, "OH, look at that, it's the hidden Special Rule for this planet's races, 'Edges'!"
"Hidden special rule? Edges?" Rainbow Dash asked as she turned to the picture of Tri-Tiner. He instead only shrugged in his response.
"To clarify things a bit, each planet has a secret special rule that's only available on that specific planet, but it shows up so rarely, that most Terranuilians can easily forget that they even exist. Edges are the secret special rule for Hyl, so instead of being point-based, this is going to be more of a combat-style race. Don't worry though, we've hired several teams of Hylops to rescue anyone who falls off the track, though if you can get your ship back onto the track, you might not need to be rescued at all. You see, there are going to be electrical currents along the edges of the track, or at least the parts of the track that don't go under the ocean, however, the gates come in importance here, you will be docked time if you miss a gate, but going back for one might just cost more time, you'll all just have to stay and find out. The three contestants who have the most time at the end of the race or need to be rescued will be eliminated from the competition. Good luck to all the racers out there. Hope you all learned how to swim. Ready?" The racers all revved their engines, focused on the road ahead of them as they all anticipated the start of the race. The Egas called out, its majestic echo ringing through the air, "GO!" the announcer finished, the racers rocketing through the starting ring and into the ocean.
'Hey Rainbow.' she heard her gunner's voice echo inside her mind, a memory of earlier that morning, 'Can I talk to you for a bit?' She could still remember it, just before they were teleported, the two of them sitting at the door, gazing out to the world of Hyl, a paradise planet.
'Sure, what's up?' she'd asked, though she was, for some reason, nervous about how he had said those words.
'It's about Tusk's plan.' he clarified. Inside her mind she sighed, relaxing the frantic thoughts as they tried predicting the worst, 'I think it's too broad. We need to narrow it down a bit if we're gonna get this right.'
'You wouldn't bring this up unless you had something, care to share?' she asked with curiosity.
'Oh, I've got a few ideas.' he teased.
She forced herself to focus her mind instantly coming back to the race as she skirted the outside of the stone track, "What was that?" Tusks asked as he appeared on her HUD. She sighed as she came out of the turn, "You ok R.D.?" he asked, "You seem {snort} distracted."
"Still not used to racing underwater." she said, it was an excuse, but she wasn't lying, "It's different than moving through space."
"Just try to stay {snort} focused, ok?" he asked her.
"And remember Rainbow." Twilight said as she moved into the frame with their coach, "You can't use the M.S.P.C. underwater when it opens up it'll let the ocean flood the engine compartment, and we have no way of safely knowing what happens when Aura comes in contact with salt water. However, Kklesstic can't use his drones underwater either, they can't produce the thrust needed to keep up with him."
"Good to know." Breeze said, "Can I still use my stun bolts?"
"At a severely reduced range maybe." Blade said, "The salt disperses the bolts too fast, so Rainbow has to get up close under the water."
"Figures." Breeze said and watched as the road turned back to an upward slope.
"But that goes for all the others as well." Writch added in, "Combat will be set to a minimum while underwater, but be prepared for some heavy fire once you surface."
"Gotcha." he said in response and waited until the Rainbow Trail broke the surface, the second to do so, with Tri-Tiner in front. He instantly started firing at the water line, the shock spreading out in a thin sheet as another racer emerged, one of the random factory models. The shield flickered a bit as it emerged. "It worked!" he called out in excitement.
"How did you do that?" Kklement asked in surprise.
"It's something I learned to do while on the Genesis Arc." he admitted, "If I can time my shot just right, I can use the water to spread out the charge like a small blanket, but only for a split second."
"So, if you time it right, you can lay down a trap?" Pilit asked.
'I can't tell them it was used as an assassination tactic, that'll just freak them out.' he thought.
Rainbow instantly recognized the look on his face, and grinned with confidence to calm his nerves, "Just another thing we've got that the Sunik Generals don't." she said in a cocky voice, and happened to glance right at the three Suniks that were on her team, "No offense."
"None taken." Sselekk said with a shrug of his shoulders, "We kind of proved the stereotype at first."
"Still." Twilight said in his defense, "You're here with us now, a friend to the end."
"That's right, now let's stomp the bad guys and finish this race." Rainbow said as she focused on the road, Breeze returning fire as she dodged several of the shots that came their way.