Realms: Iced Treat
"You're sure that she's human?" Ronnie questioned his friend.
"Sure enough." Aidan replied, staring at his sister from across the dining hall. She was lying face up with the soft serve ice cream machine above her, pouring chocolate vanilla swirl directly into her open mouth for the past five minutes.
"I get that we all get bored between realms but how can she eat so much ice cream in November? It's too damn cold for ice cream." Ronnie said.
"I don't know, she just likes it that much. Back home, most of our used bowls were from ice cream. I'm surprised she hasn't eaten out of the tub." Aidan explained. The noise of the ice cream machine stopped, and the two looked over to see Marie getting off the table.
"I think that's enough for now." She said, sitting next to her teammates.
"How can you eat that much ice cream?" Ronnie asked. Marie just shrugged.
"Sweets go in a separate stomach." She replied calmly. While Ronnie sat in his seat flabbergasted, Marie took her Accelecharger out of her pocket. The aptly named 'Turn & Burn' made her an absolute beast around corners, beating Connor on the test track with ease in the hairpin section. Sure it might have worked better with a car like Mirror which had higher top speed, but it was her Accelecharger and she wouldn't trade it for the world.
Turning her attention to the dormant Wheel of Power, she wondered which of the other unexplored realms she would win, and how they could make her a better driver. 'Maybe I can even match my brother thanks to these realms.' She thought.
–
As an explosion rattled Will's workshop, Luke ran over to make sure Will was still breathing. Opening the door to a plume of smoke and engine pieces strewn around, Will was safe behind a wall of soot-covered ballistic glass.
"Well crap. Test four failed. Note to self; dial back the amount of fuel used for Dragster Mod." Will spoke into his wrist recorder. Noticing that Luke was in his room, he took off his goggles and waved at his friend.
"What happened this time Will?" Luke sighed
"Why do you always assume something happened?" Will accused.
"Probably because of the explosions and debris." Luke said.
"Fair point. Well I'm alive so it's ok!" Will exclaimed with a goofy grin.
"Stop blowing up your workshop several times a day and I'll believe it. I need a drink." Luke replied, walking out of Will's room.
–
"Cliffside realm was too boring for views?" Ethan asked.
"Yea, there was no huge threat or anything super cool so it's generally unpopular among fans but has a small cult following who focus on sheer skill instead of powers or danger." Connor explained.
"Well then I hope the next realm is better for view retention." Ethan replied. He was hoping for a more intense realm too, but more for the challenge than view count. Leaving Connor to his devices, Ethan left the control center to make sure Beast was working well. The next realm could happen any time, so it was always a good idea to frequently check your vehicle.
As he began walking to his garage, the realm alarm began blaring and the hallway lights turned red. Breaking into a full sprint he nearly slid past his doorway, before setting his glasses down on a table next to his helmet.
Securing his forest helmet to his head and climbing into Beast, the inner ring of the Wheel of Power slammed into place. The symbol that lit up was made up of three lines. It almost looked like a K on its side. The first line was flat horizontal. The other two stuck up out of it, pointing in opposite directions, although the left line had a harder angle than the right line.
Starting his engine, he pulled up to his slingshot, ready for action.
–
As the alarm went off the Light Speedsters jogged down the hall to the garages before splitting up. Ronnie and Maire took a right to their garages while Aidan entered the first door to his left. Entering their cars and pulling into their slingshots, the second ring slammed into place. The new symbol meant nothing to Aidan, but he thought it could have something to do with spikes. Leaving his speculation behind, he readied himself for the realm to come.
–
While Luke ran to his room to prepare, Will dropped what he was doing, ripped the failed experiment off the bed of Scrapmobile, and latched a working bed mod in place. Deciding that his trusty Sheet Shooter would work, he checked that it was loaded and locked it in place. Sitting in the driver's seat and putting his helmet on over his goggles, he pulled his ignition lever and pulled into his slingshot. As his chains scraped against the ground, the final ring spun around the Wheel, building anticipation.
As the ring spun and twisted once more, the drivers checked that their Accelechargers were in place. Seeing their colored cartridges in their holders, except Luke, who had yet to win, they looked back to the Wheel to see it finally lock into place. As the portal opened, the drivers shot forward, vanishing into the realm with a flash of light.
–
A light blue rift tore open in a white wonderland, depositing the seven drivers into the realm. While there was a track below them, it was completely covered by a thick layer of ice.
Immediately switching their treads to 'spikes' and slowing down to maintain traction, Will took the lead, his chains digging into the thick ice as the septet began following the track.
"I think I get the symbol now. A flat sheet with spikes definitely portrays ice." Aidan said. As the edge of the ice sheet came into view, Ronnie and Connor lost traction from a bump in the ice, sending them careening off the right side of the ice.
"Oh shit!" Ronnie cried as Connor yelped, and they fell into a valley of snow. Speeding down with Connor in tow, they shot off a ramp of ice, over a drop and into an ice cave, vanishing from the view of the other drivers.
As Ronnie and Connor nearly turned backwards and accelerated to turn on the ice, they barely managed to weave between the ice spikes on the floor. Slipping through the curved ice cave, they reached the other end, falling down into the snow.
–
Landing on the track, it was immediately discovered that ice covered the entire orange track. The slippery track sloped down before curling into a small loop. As Will took the right turn after with relative ease, the other four were trying to not fall off the frozen track. Slowly turning 270° to the right, the drivers now faced a set of descending hairpin turns. On ice. Barely accelerating and riding the brakes all the way, the quintet slowly but surely made their way to the final left turn, leading them to an upward slope. This track was challenging, but clearly not like the other realms were challenging.
Driving up the steep track and avoiding large spikes of ice, the falling snow was becoming annoying.
"I hate this realm already." Luke stated. Luke could barely drive on ice as is, adding snow into the mix simply made this an icy hell for him. Turning gently left at the top of the hill, the track spiraled up and left around a large ice pillar, ice spikes protruding from its sides directly into the track.
Marie decided this was her time to shine. Placing the Cliffside Accelecharger in the port, it locked into place. As the car erupted in an orange glow, Marie's tired glowed the brightest, leaving an orange trail behind her. Turning to the left with the spiral, Marie easily avoided the ice spikes and lost no speed or traction on her way up, creating good distance between her and the quartet behind her.
Deciding to ride it out, she sped along the snaking track ahead of her, keeping speed and traction. As the others came out of the spiral, she reached the other side of a set of hairpin turns. Removing the now strained Accelecharger from its port and placing it in the holder, Marie was happy with her progress.
–
Waking up in your car partially buried in snow was not something Connor had done before. It was hard to tell if Ronnie was the same though. Looking around, Connor saw nothing but snow, ice, and Ronnie's car next to his. Fortunately, he was angled up at a small wall of ice. Pressing his Grappling hook button, the metal claw shot forward, digging into the ice and pulling him free. He made a note that Flame exhaust might be a good investment in the future. Ronnie looked around before pressing a button to turn on his Magnets. Getting pulled down to more packed snow, he drove out of the fresh snow with Connor.
"It's fucking cold here. I hate it." Ronnie said, turning his heater on full blast.
"Agreed. Any sign of the track?" Connor asked.
" I can't see shit. I say we drive away from the ice cave. We'll probably gain ground that way. Worst case we use the EDR." Ronnie replied.
"Well then, let's get to it!" Connor exclaimed. The duo set off across the snow before them to hopefully find the track.
–
The track ahead split and weaved between large ice pillars. Seeing no difference between the paths, Marie took the right fork. As the drivers behind her were slowly catching up, they also split for the forks. Will, Luke and Ethan drove left, while Aidan followed her right. The turns were not sharp here, letting the others gain on her.
'Curse my lack of top speed!' Marie thought. As the tracks rejoined into a snow valley and the drivers behind her nearly caught up, the track ahead was straight enough that everyone pressed their Nitrox buttons. As engines roared and the track behind them melted, Ethan and Aidan sped ahead of the others thanks to their Nitrox 3. Losing her lead was disheartening, but it wasn't over yet.
As the snow dropped out beneath them, revealing a huge area of ice spikes far below them, the track remained suspended. Turning right into a tight vertical loop before banking back to the left, the slippery track felt precarious. Curling around a larger spike and into another tight vertical loop, the track banked right down a different snowy spike before looping again.
'The Accelerons have to be fucking with us at this point.' Aidan thought. He may have thought the Metro realm was too easy, but these tracks were getting much harder. If they didn't have EDR's, mistakes would mean death. Maybe they were all just adrenaline junkies. Shaking the thought out of his head, Aidan refocused on the track.
–
"What the actual fuck is this?" Ronnie asked, staring out at a field of small ice spikes.
"I don't know, but it does not bode well for us. There is more open space on the other side though, and I can see the track above us. But how do we get over there?" Connor pondered. Nitrox wouldn't help, and his Grappling hook wouldn't stop him from being skewered. Glancing up at a green light in his car, he grabbed his Swamp realm Accelecharger. This was the time to use it.
"Hey Ronnie! Your Accelecharger repairs your tires, right?" Connor asked.
"Yea, why?" Ronnie replied.
"Well, couldn't you then drive over spikes without consequence?" Connor proposed. Ronnie thought about the idea, before grabbing his red Lava realm Accelecharger.
"Let's find out." Ronnie said. As the drivers placed their Accelechargers into their ports, their cars erupted with Green and Red light. Connor drove forward, creating a bridge of vines beneath him, letting him drive over the spikes unimpeded. Ronnie drove onto the spikes cautiously, before seeing that his tires were unaffected. Seeing Connor's theory come to fruition, Ronnie accelerated, driving over the spikes like they were nothing. As they reached the other side the duo removed their Accelechargers, placing them back in their holders and speeding along the snow.
–
The iced orange track banked to the right, spiraling around a huge pile of snow. Marie and Will were neck and neck in the front, Ethan was behind then, and Aidan and Luke were lagging behind. Will looked forward, seeing an ice spike. Without any room to maneuver, he flipped a switch on his dashboard. A metal plow deployed from the front of his vehicle, letting his smash through the ice with ease.
Behind him, Luke was less than lucky. Hitting the bump Will created, he lost control, and spun on the ice and off the track. Pressing his EDR, he vanished from his doomed car in a flash of light.
The track stopped banking and broke off from the snow, turning left into a tunnel of ice, filled with spikes from the ceiling and walls. Snaking with the track while weaving between the spikes was difficult for Marie, and was accentuated by the fact that Will was simply smashing through the ice with his plow.
The farther the track went, the bigger the spikes got, to the point where Will had to avoid them instead of smashing through. They were simply too thick to break easily, but Aidan had other ideas.
Grabbing his Metro realm Accelecharger, he put it into the port. As his car began to glow a vibrant yellow, a bubble appeared around his car. Driving directly into the large ice spikes, he smashed straight through them like they didn't exist, letting him begin to catch up to Ethan.
Twisting through the icy cave, the quartet was spit out into a rocky valley. Aidan removed his Accelecharger for the time, the yellow glow fading from his chrome car. Driving straight, they could see the rocks end in the distance. As the track plunged under solid ice, leaving the drivers without a guide, they drove straight, hoping the end was past the rocks ahead.
–
"I literally want to install flamethrowers on my car." Ronnie complained. Driving along the snow and seeing nothing was boring. It had been roughly forty-five minutes, so there was still time, but they both accepted that they probably wouldn't win.
"That sounds impractical." Connor said, looking around for anything useful.
"Suck my nuts, I don't care if it's impractical!" Ronnie replied.
"Hey what's that over there Ronnie?" Connor asked. There was something shiny buried in the snow. Driving up to the metal, Connor could see it was a large wheel with chrome insides.
"A Hyperpod?" Ronnie asked. Connor shook his head.
"Two Hyperpods." Connor answered. There were two caterpillar Hyperpods next to each other.
"Sweet! Let's go!" Ronnie said. Driving up the snow and into the cockpits, the vehicle transporters whirred to life, locking the cars in place. As the huge wheels spun, they began to traverse the snow much faster, carrying them onto a huge frozen lake.
"What's that thing in the distance?" Ronnie asked. To their left were a lot of tall rocks, but to their right there was an elevated track that ended abruptly in front of a large beige circle. The portal.
"It's the portal! Maybe we can still win!" Connor exclaimed.
"Then let's go!" Ronnie cheered as they sped across the ice in their machines.
–
As the sun peeked up from over the horizon and the quartet passed the rock walls, an elevated bit of land stuck out of the frozen terrain under them. The track emerged from the ice onto the land, with the realm portal at the other end.
"The portal!" Marie said. Everybody knew it was now or never. Will pulled his lever, the Sheet Shooter dropped the sheets behind him, making Aidan spin out by turning too sharply on ice, and turning Ethan sideways. Looking to the right, Marie could see two caterpillar Hyperpods headed for the track too.
'That must be Connor and Ronnie!' She thought. Not wanting to lose, she and Will used their Nitrox, speeding across the ice and toward the track ahead. As Marie and Will hit the ramp, the Hyperpods stopped, quickly ejecting Connor and Ronnie onto the track behind them.
Connor pressed his Grappling hook, hoping to slow down the racers or tag a ride, but only succeeded in latching himself to Petal. Being slowed by the extra weight, Will gained a slight lead.
The portal displayed the realms symbol in a very light Cyan-white color, and the sun behind the portal only made it look more heavenly. The four drivers sped down the straight, as Will hit the portal first.
As the realm symbol disappeared with him and the other three drivers hit the portal, a wave of energy swept across the realm. The sides of the orange track opened, melting the ice on the track, and Aidan and Ethan drove over to the portal.
–
Will flew out of the realm, excited that he won. His stupid decision to always use chain tires was useful somehow. As he came to a stop in his garage, a Cyan-white glow emerged next to him. The realm Accelecharger appeared, with the realm symbol on display. The bottom read 'Ice'. Taking his prize, the light died down.
After Aidan and Ethan came out of the realm behind him, the portal closed and the Wheel of Power spun back to its dormant state. Shutting off Scrap Box, Will detached the Sheet Shooter, and decided to get some rest, locking the garage behind him.
–
Aidan's Music Playlist:
This chapter's music choice is: Pimped Out Getaway from Payday 2. Enjoy!
–
W.C.F. Lore:
The Ice realm is short in the movies, so this layout was based off two different Ice realms from the Distance workshop. I added an extra Hyperpod too. The ice cream at the start is partial truth as well, Marie eats ice cream often.
–
Will's Accelecharger Study:
"Do you know what your Accelecharger does you Will?"
"Of course. The Ice realm Accelecharger gives the users tires perfect traction regardless of terrain."
"So even your chained tires will have perfect traction on any surface?"
"Yes, that is right."
"What's its name?"
"I've named it 'Slip Grip'"
"Very cool Will."
"Was that an ice pun?"
"Unintentional, but yes."
–
I totally procrastinated writing this. Got wrapped up in games and unrelated ideas I wanted to work on. I'll probably start working on the next one sooner, I'm excited for it. Well, have a good day and I'll see you in the next chapter!
Next Chapter: Realms: Space-Lined