Chapter 15; Dude Buggies, Part 1
"Last time, on the Ridonculous Race…"
A montage began as Don narrated the previous events; the plane unloading contestants into Indonesia, the Komodo stuck in the taxi, the Surfers and Cadets arriving at the carpet pile, Mickey disguising himself as a komodo using shedded skin, the Ice Dancers scheming, Loki and the Goths getting venom, and Carrie searching through rugs before holding Devin's hand.
"The final eight teams went to Flores, Indonesia. There were dragons, poison and great displays of bravery. The Ice Dancers fought for gold but the Goths won by a hare, which is a fancy word for rabbit. In the end, the Best Friends failed to find a rug, but not before Carrie finally admitted her feelings for the one she loves. Today's a new day and anything can happen, because this is the Ridonculous Race."
Don flashed a smile for the camera.
[cue intro]
[after intro]
"Welcome back to yesterday's chill zone in Flores, Indonesia where the Goths, still giddy from their latest win, wait for the first tip." Don began.
Not long thereafter the Goths arrived, Crimson took the tip and read it, still monotone as ever. "We're going to Las Vegas."
A montage began, showing off the city of a Las Vegas hotel at night, dancers similar to the Brazilian local on a stage, and a picture of a bird and worm wedding.
"Located in the state of Nevada in the US of A, Las Vegas is famous for its bright lights, bold entertainment and very, very poor judgement. And they won't see any of it! Instead, the remaining seven teams will drive past Las Vegas out to this desert Don Box."
A travel montage began of the teams running over the flight attendant, the plane taking off, flying and landing before running forth in Las Vegas's airport.
"The teams are off, and with some stock footage and the power of editing, an eighteen hour flight only lasts only eight seconds. You're welcome!"
Several teams were shown running out of the airport, clamoring to get cabs and riding off.
The scene showed the Goths in their taxi.
"Not the worst place we've been." Crimson commented.
"Agreed. We particularly like the city's overwhelming feeling of sadness." Ennui added.
A crunch was heard behind them, they flinched briefly as they turned around; Josee was driving the cab behind them, screaming in anger as she rear-ended them. Jacques, next to her, looked on with anxious concern, as the taxi driver in the back looked terrified.
Interview; Ice Dancers
"Coming in second is best enough. Losing to the Goths is unacceptable, I'm onto them now, and I will do whatever it takes to bring them down. That's why I got these-" She got out the items from down below her. "Garlic and a wooden stake!"
"Sacre siciles, are you losing it?! They're goths, not vampires!" Jacques told her.
"Aren't they, Jacques? She pointed the stake towards him. "Aren't they?!"
End Interview
The cabs were pulled over and damaged; Josee hissed as she threw a garlic bulb or two at the Goths, which didn't hit them and had no effect either way.
A cab dashed by the scene, showing the Surfer Dudes.
The Surfers were seen in a cab, talking about their previous struggles.
"Last week we got preoccupied by the dragon thing." Geoff admitted.
"Yeah. But this week we'll be more focused." Brody looked around nervously. "There's no dragons in Vegas, right?"
"Dragon free bro- we're gold!" Geoff told him.
They quietly fist-bumped in joy.
Interview; Mickey
Mickey was shown facing the camera. Jay was shown in the background on a sidewalk, flailing his arms around desperately trying to get a cab.
"Taxi!"
A couple cabs passed by him.
"I… I have to admit, I have a problem…" Mickey began.
"Taxi!"
"I think I like Kitty. But I'm not supposed to be distracted by love or girls. Not to mention her older sister is kinda mean…"
"TAXI!"
"What do I do? What should I say?" Mickey asked himself.
End Interview
Eventually, a light green taxi showed up, but it looked like it was about to fall apart at any moment.
"Finally, we got one!" Jay cheered.
Mickey looked anxious. "I don't know; It looks kinda slow. Maybe we should wait for another."
"That could take half an hour." Jay reasoned. "We should move."
He took his younger brother into the cab and they took it, with both of the brothers briefly screaming as the engine sputtered and spattered.
Soon the Sisters got a cab, with Emma getting in first as Kitty stood around anxiously.
"Those weak twins. What fools."
At that moment, Kitty got into the cab. "Emma? What fool?"
"No one," she lied. "No one at all."
"You're lying. What's gotten into you?"
"You were standing around needlessly," she responded back.
"If you're gonna be a lawyer, you need to learn to be more specific. And more honest."
Emma sighed, trying to carefully think of her next response. "I'm just thinking of our competition. My bet is that the twins will go next."
The cab suddenly accelerated, passing by the twins without a problem. Kitty looked out the window, trying to hide her worry.
The Surfers arrived at the Don Box and took the tip.
"Over there!" Brody called out.
Geoff pressed the button and got a tip. "It's an Either-Or; Dune Buggy Bonanza or Magic Show. "
A montage began as Don explained the challenge; "Dudes, in this Either-Or, teams can either race dune buggies around this course and collect three flags in under a minute, or perform a classic trick for a magic show and make a lion disappear for this judge. Complete either task and it's a footrace all the way to…" The lion roared, scaring him half to death. He screamed in terror, his hair standing up as he was shown at the Carpet of Completion. "...the Chill Zone. As always, the last team to arrive may be heading home- empty-handed and ashamed."
Back at the Don Box checkpoint, the Surfers were getting excited about their challenge.
"Whatcha think, dude?" Geoff asked.
"Dude!"
"Dude!"
"Dude buggies!" they cheered in unison. Followed with a fist bump. "Boom!"
Soon after, a quick montage was shown as many of the other teams made their choice.
MacArthur punched Sanders in the arm, unknowingly hurting her partner. "Punch buggies!"
Crimson answered in a deadpan tone, "Magic."
Josee took the tip from behind Jacques's ear... "Magic!"
...Much to his amazement.
The Father and Son team got their tip.
"Buggies!" Junior cheered.
Dwayne agreed, "Aw yeah!"
The montage came to an end as the Sisters thought about their choice of challenge.
"Let's do magic." Kitty suggested. "It can't be that hard, right?"
The scene switched to the dune buggy track as Geoff read over the instructions.
"Okay, so we gotta collect three flags in one minute or less. One dude controls the buggy with the remote from that tower, the other dude is in the buggy holding on while collecting the flags."
Brody reminded him, "And try not to crash!"
"I know right? So awesome! And, if the buggy crashes, or loses its passenger, we got to start over."
"Get in bro, I'll do the remoting!" Brody cheered,
"You're letting me do the dangerous part? Best friend ever!"
Not too far from the stage, the Sisters discussed the challenge.
"So, what do we do?" Kitty asked.
A demonstration with a silhouette slide-show appeared as Emma told her younger sister the challenge's instructions.
"It's simple. The assistant goes one side of the cage, the lion is in the other, separated by a glass divider. The cage is covered and the magician pulls the lever to the correct position to drop the divider and the lion off stage." Emma answered. "With the assistant unharmed, the judge gives us the thumbs up, and we move on. I'll be the magician."
Kitty looked shocked. "What? Why do I have to be the assistant?"
"I don't trust your fidgety-selfie taking fingers to get the lever to the right position."
"That's pretty mean you know," Kitty remarked.
"Just get in your outfit!"
The scene switched to the Twin's cab, still sputtering and driving slowly but now with two vultures on it.
"As the challenge is well underway, the twins lose valuable time." Don narrated.
"Man this cab is slow…"
"Maybe this was a mistake…" Jay admitted. The twins were struggling with their choice, and sat in a brief moment of awkward silence. "What do you think the challenge will be?"
"We've gotten a lot of All-Ins, so it's probably going to be a Botch or Watch."
"Or an Either-Or."
"But what sort of Either-Or would cause us to drive through the desert?"
The driver was shown to be an old man with a bumpy chin and thinning gray hair.
"Oh no, no, no…" the driver quickly spoke.
"Sir, is something wrong?" Jay asked.
At that moment, the car shook one more time before coming to an abrupt halt.
"Curses! Blasted engine finally gave out!"
Jay exclaimed, "Aw man!"
Mickey groaned, more in sorrow than exasperation, "Oh no! I was worried this would happen. I don't suppose you have a phone to call for help?"
The driver fished his mobile device out of his pocket, but the screen didn't light up. "Phone's dead too."
Jay sighed. "Looks like we have to get there on foot."
"Yay…" Mickey said, clearly not happy.
The twins dashed out of the broken-down cab, leaving the old man behind.
"Hey, what about me?!" the old man called back.
Interview; Jay
The twins were shown to be running, their faces being in front of the camera.
The cameraman was shown skateboarding, being several feet ahead of them.
"Okay, in hindsight, this was a really bad idea," Jay admitted. "If the next challenge involves anything dangerous, I'll do it."
Mickey breathed in and out. He looked like he wanted to say something, but was too out of breath to say it.
End Interview
Back at the race track, the Surfer Dudes began their first attempt at the challenge.
"Ready dude?" Brody asked.
"You know it bro! Driving like Malibu Street Racer Five!"
With this, Brody revved up the engine with a button and Geoff went around the race track. Soon Geoff grabbed the first flag, cheering all the while. A few remote flicks later, he had the second flag. And moments later, he got the third flag, cheering again as he crossed the finish line.
"Woah! Nice driving bro! What's our time?"
Brody cheered as he saw the time. "Woah! Eighteen seconds!"
"Excellent!" Brody cheered.
"Yeah, sweet!" Geoff cheered at the same time.
Interview; Surfers
"You know what I hate?" Brody asked. "When people say that video games don't teach you any real life skills."
"Totally! Take that every teacher I never listened to!" Geoff retaliated.
Brody lifted his arms and fists in the air as he responded, "To those people, I say; 'Did you see how much we killed that challenge?'"
End Interview
"Dude, I know we should head for the chill zone, but since we're way ahead of everyone else…" Brody began.
"You wanna go again? Me too man! If we get enough speed off that big dune, I think we can totally nail em!" Geoff told him.
"Double grab no-footo-rodeo!" they exclaimed.
Brody was shown activating the remote, the buggy took off and Geoff was shown smiling with the sun by his side.
The Cadets arrived on the scene.
"Strap in Sanders, I'll do the driving!" MacArthur ordered.
The brute cop smirked as the scene transitioned to the interviewer room.
Interview; Cadets
"As police cadets, we've been trained to ignore all the rules of the road." MacArthur spoke. "Speed limits, the right of way, paying attention. Those rules are for civilians."
Sanders looked nervous and tried to smile. "But you'll pay attention, right?"
MacArthur flashed a grin, much to her partner's worry.
End Interview
The camera zoomed in on the outdoor stage as the scene transitioned to the backstage, where the Sisters were getting ready. Kitty, wearing the purple dress, walked out nervously as Emma adjusted her black tie and put her top hat on.
Kitty looked at Jacques in surprise, no longer wearing black but a purple v-neck dress. "You're the assistant?"
Jacques smiled. "I know, I look great."
Interview; Ice Dancers
"I have no problem being the assistant. When we skate I'm always the magician."
Josee looked at him, perplexed. "Say what?"
He made motions with his hands. "I lift you, carry you, twirl you around. All you need to do is smile and not fall down."
"Wow, I hope I do this trick right." She glared at him as she stood up. "I'd hate to see you get eaten by a lion!"
End Interview
Jacques was suddenly shaking as the camera zoomed up and out to show his terrified face. The lion growled before the lever was pulled, putting down the purple curtain as Josee stood with confidence.
"Abraca-gold!" Josee cheered, turning the lever at a certain angle.
The curtain was lifted, only to see the divider gone, but not the lion.
"The divider, Josee! Could you put the divider back?!"
He screamed in terror for his life as the camera faded to black.
When the camera was rolling, Jacques was shown screaming as Josee waited for the verdict. The judge gave a thumbs down.
Josee growled out sarcastically, "Great!"
As the scene cut to her and her partner in front of the stage, with Jacques being slightly injured.
Interview; Ice Dancers
"The worst part is that we have to wait until the other teams try the challenge before we can try again." Josee complained, folding her arms.
Jacques was very angry with her, lashing out, "That's the worst part? Really?!"
End Interview
Onstage, Emma was shown in her attire, putting on the short gloves on her hands. Inside the box, Kitty was shown wearing the purple dress and gloves, her legs trembling.
Kitty whispered to herself, "Oh this isn't good…"
The lion growled.
With a flick of the lever, the curtain went down.