_{[ ♫ ]}

Mevalo City was as busy as ever. Not to be confused by the planet of the same name, of which any who was worth their salt would be walking on, the grand metropolis was stir-crazy for the sport that made up their culture. Indeed, the 45th Cosmic Grand Prix was all that anyone was talking about. And with gossip of the races came gossip of the Ark Riders who populated said races as well. Hailing from every corner of the known star system, they gathered here and now for their grand entry into glory.

For while Mevalo-that was to say, the planet, not the city-had been fully converted into a grand racing track by Mevalo-the company, not the planet-the city of Mevalo was still highly suitable for leisure wear for the visiting Ark Riders. The grand city scape promised all manner of wonders and activities to bide one’s time, so long as it was geared towards Space Races. For the Ark Riders though, their focus would lay in either preparing for the first of their many racing trials or, in some unfortunate cases, scurrying to place in their applications with Mevalo.

With the encouragement of third-party companies to sponsor their Ark Riders, it was only natural someone forgot to sign in when they should have. Whoever they may have been, all were captured in the snapping lens of small drones that paroled and zipped through the air. With all the ferocity of native hornets, they dashed about, the sounds of snapping heard from their bodies as they captured footage and photos of the grand spectacle, Ark Rider and fan alike. All information was of course relayed to their source-

“Gooooood morning Mevalo! What a beautiful day for the first of our many Space Races! Welcome to the 45th Grand Cosmic Prix!” came a loud, almost impossibly shrill voice from the drones. Some citizens covered their ears and reclined back from the microphone output, knowing all too well it was time for Wave’s Broadcast to begin. “As your resident go-to for all news Ark Rider related, and personal cover girl for Mevalo I might add, it’s looking like a heated battle of wills and rivalries this year!” continued the voice. The fact it came from all of the drones didn’t help much in terms of tolerance.

All the same, she did her job, and most of the rowdy brand were pumped up by her words of encouragement. Indeed, the day seemed ripe for excitement for both racer and spectator alike. Already the majority of crowds were filing into the many grand stadiums that dotted Mevalo City. Each one would soon take to the skies once the races began, powered by Mevalo engines to ensure the maximum spectacle for their viewing pleasure. So far, everything seemed to fall into place. Everything was going in order. What could possibly go wrong?

---

"Bob, stop staring. You are sooooooo much better and I'm not thinking of replacing you!" A voice rose, high and panicked, as the floating red companion normally just over her shoulder had floated off to seemingly glare intently at one of the many drones. It was only natural there would be cameras on the racers, maybe even a few pre-flight interviews to drum up some interest, so the pirate swallowed her nerves at the idea of millions of eyes on her and tried to wear a wan smile as she gave the Dogma a last minute check.

Then Bob had to go feeling inadequate next to the bulkier drones, and Claudia screeched in alarm as the red ball charged up it's Kinetic Strike Module, or to anyone sane, it planned to ram it. Making a sudden lunge and leap, she flung herself upwards and enveloped her own drone against her chest, leaving her face to lens with a very public camera.

The captain is going to flay me.... She thought miserably, Bob straining to keep her aloft with an audible Brrr! of repulsors that saw her slowly creeping down to the ground with the camera following her.

"Umm, don't mind us, we're just so excited for the race. We're gonna, uh, take home the gold!" The redhead gave out a half hearted cheer, hoping the crowds would think she's eccentric. Eccentric was far better then being a crazy woman with an unstable robot operating her ship.

Rema Tiberius is preoccupied with some very last minute adjustments on Belladonna. She is hunched over with a sonic wrench to adjust some bolts and screws that constantly fell out of tightness if not constantly updated. It caused endless irritation to the easily riled gladiator as she resorted to kicking the hulking metal chariot when a screw refused to cooperate. The gladiator hadn't bothered to sign herself in yet, deciding that was the work of pencil pushers and born losers.

"Curse that manufacturer. All his kin too! How dare this infernal thing fail in the moment of my impending triumph!?" The gladiator cursed, right as a flying drone came from above to get a shot of the frustrated Rema. All that rage immediately latched onto that annoying buzzing machine. In the moment the drone appeared to mock Rema during her troubles. It's high speaking pitch and shrill cheerfulness immediately made it a target.

"Oh you hope to make a fool of me!?" The woman lunged out a hand to snatch that drone right from the air. Her hands would squeeze onto it with extreme pressure, causing the pitiful robot to be crushed into dozens of tiny bits and pieces. Rema would clean her hands of the oil residue left from the machine, suddenly feeling much better.

"This race is mine to win and mine alone! I will tolerate no competition, and deliver a swift and quick death to any that oppose me! Rema Invicta!" Rema would shout into the dying light of the drone's smashed camera, uncaring if it still recorded her rant or not. She'd then kick it far and wide across the stage and into the sky.

"A good sacrifice to Jupiter." With a smirk, Rema would hop up onto the seat of her war chariot. Her mechanical horses would rise up and kick their front hooves up in a excited manner, their nostrils flared and bodies itching to move. Flames shoot up from the sides of the chariot as the super powered engine revved up to life.

"Carpe diem, et permitte divis cetera." She'd whisper to herself, in a quick prayer.

The contrast was dazzling. Even for Aurora’s hungry mind and senses - the overload was too heavy, all too much. She thought she could never get used to it; she also thought that she has to get used to it, otherwise she would just miss too much for herself. It was thrilling most certainly and Aurora loved that feeling, that sensation of flashes and neon flickering against the yes in a language of their own, the noise of machinery and machines, the seemingly never ending, constant, endless hum of crowds of various sentient species gathering and moving around like a living wave of a conscious liquid reshaping and shifting, filling up the gaps in the streets and passages in the great celebration of the incoming race. It was nothing like she had ever seen before. Compared to her home planet especially - if she could of course call it a home. A planet of junk and sand - that planet of garbage and waste was a vocabulary definition of boredom compared to everbusy city of Mevalo.
Compared to anything, honestly. As well as anything else compared to Mevalo was a vocabulary definition of boredom.

It was a thrill on its own to walk through this city and *do things*. Simple as that, though of course it was obviously not enough of a means to spend a day for Aurora. Oh no, it only served as an introduction to what this city could offer her. Bleeps and flashes, crowds of various kin blended into one. Noise and cars. But most of all.
It had towers.

Long, tall skyscrapers. It seemed like they were endless, piercing the skies themselves like knives or needles. Highways were coiling around some of these at their base like snakes, but only at the bottom - the rest of these towers were untouched by anything just reaching upwards and further beyond. The act of looking at them was breathtaking enough; but was most certainly even more breathtaking was an act of climbing them up. And that was exactly what Aurora was busy doing the whole day. Her android body, limbs specifically were of course way more endurant and stronger than of a typical human for example; but of course it was coming for a price of a heavier weight of her synthetical shell. Which was taking its toll mostly on the various objects on that tower she was using as points to hold herself onto. She was not any less agile than anybody else, used to climbing things up; but it made every jump and pull up of hers more stressful on the wires, ledges and pipes shaping the tower all around its massive and tall body. Every jump and pull was counting in double of the force Aurora was putting on, but it was also counting as a double of the heart spikes to burst in her chest. A tight and tense pack of nerves in her synthetic body was glowing with every jump and a pull, glowing with a redness which filled her whole breath as well. Jump and pull, each one of them was only getting the distance between her and the ground larger, larger more and the larger that gap was, the brighter was the redness inside of her.

It was at this moment when she could see into a distance, where all the objects of the city appeared only as their own shapes in the distance of a landscape stretched towards the horizon, Aurora saw the stadium, the heart of the city - if to be judged by the mass of people slowly filling it up.
“Oh shit.. the race!”

She did spend too much time climbing up the tower. She was also to discover that climbing down is even harder than climbing up.

***

“I got caught up watching the view of the city so much, that I almost forgot I have to be here! So pretty of a city!”, Aurora said to the drone eyeing her as she awkwardly lied about her physical appearance - which mostly her whole clothes covered in spots of dust and dirt, as well as her face too suffered from some of these stains of rush too. She thankfully could run fast and with of little fatigue thanks to her synthetic body, so she made it time, even in time for drone to spot her near her racing kit.

“Built it myself! Big angry stingy machine! I made it out of junk, and look.. it still kinda looks like a junk, but what a pretty piece of junk it is!”, she cheered into a drone’s camera showing off the “Spike” and patting it like it was her domestic animal. In a sense though it was even more than that - a continuation of herself.

“You will see how fast it can ride soon enough! Like really soon enough!”, she said, chuckling, still energized from her climbing session and rather nervous run she did in order to the place where she actually needed to be in the first place, the tension inside of her chest twitching with redness still, which made her appearance and voice tone as twitchy as well.

In contrast to a number of other participants, Lydia had already signed off and prepared herself for the race pretty much as soon as she laid feet in Mevalo. Now that she had no one to look take care of other than herself, she could fully dedicate herself to the life of racing, make money, and spend it on herself and her ship.

Ultimately, it was kind of a wasteful lifestyle, but it fit Lydia quite well.

"I guess I could grab something to eat before the race begins?" Lydia thought as she left a body modification shop and grabbed an energy drink from a vending machine.

Lydia found what she was looking for in a food stall where she practically became a regular at this point, selling some cheap, deep-fried... things. "This isn't half bad, actually. Better than the bugs you had last time," she said to the owner of the improvised shop as she munched on the unknown treat. In a world like Mevalo, it was hard to have a full picture of where everything came and went from, but at least there were tasty.

"By the way, who are you betting on, old man?" she asked casually as she watched the pre-race show, gauging the competition, hopefully from a place where they couldn't get a read on her.

---

“And what a start we’re having for today’s race folks! Seems we’re missing quite a few competitors and no shows though, but I’m not complaining; especially when it looks like our cast are a bunch of cuties~” The Ark Riders unfortunate enough to be under Wave’s scrutiny would be bombarded and focused on with drones circling them. The click of their cameras whirred and buzzed, getting all the best angles Wave knew would entice her viewers.

She wasn’t wrong. There were quite the handful of newcomers to the Cosmic Grand Prix, let alone in Mevalo. “Oooh, I love a dimwit redhead when I see one. Don’t you all?” Of course, she referred to Claudia, the drone unabated by Bob’s near-kinetic bristling. Claudia scrambling to hide its true intention only wooed the unseen crowd more, Wave’s drone closing in on her flustered face. However, not all racers were so friendly. “There always has to be one of those bad apples,” Wave mused, the camera cutting to Rema now, who had just got done smashing a drone.

Where one was downed, more came in its place, this time hovering above to avoid the faux-Roman’s wrath. “Hey you. Yeah you. Keep giving us that bad girl attitude! The crowd loves that kind of thing, don’t you?” Again, another round of applause from an audience unknown by Rema, though Wave no doubt interrupted her prayer. Good, good. The camera feed switched over to Aurora now. “Well, aren’t you a better sport than that blonde shortie. Yeah yeah, keep up that cheer, we love an underdog around here, don’t we???” Another round of applause.

The final Ark Rider to pop up in the crowd was a fan favorite, indicated by the crowd cheering even before Wave could zoom in. At most she got Lydia’s back facing towards the camera from the food stall. “And who could forget Space Race veteran Lydia Warpstar. Let’s give her a big round of appl-woooooah, that’s a big reception~” The food vendor took note of the camera and before he could answer Lydia, Wave’s voice suddenly rang out everywhere. A monitor screen hooked up above the food stall flared to life and so too did many of the screens placed in Mevalo.

Static became audio that transitioned into picture before Wave herself snapped into view. “Ahem. All Ark Riders, the first race is about to start. Better waddle your butts on over to the main track area so we can all get started! Any late attendees will be severely be punished by our sponsors, Mevalo~” She gave a wink right into the camera, cozing in what appeared to be her own private streaming space. The first track was just to be expected, the starting point bringing the Ark Riders deep into the heart of Mevalo City.

---

"Oh well, I guess it can't be helped now, can it?" Lydia said, sighing deep after being spotted by the ever so tenacious camera drones. Perhaps she should get an electronic camouflage upgrade next time, who knows? For the time being, she beamed a smile at the lenses before taking a bite of her food, channeling the best of her star power. "I guess my secret spot is busted now. That's right, these are the best treats in the entire Mevalo. You may not know where they come from, but you'll know where they are going. Come while they're hot!"

"I guess you're gonna have a lot of new customers now, Mister. You can consider that some free advertisement," Lydia said, flashing the same saleswoman smile at the owner of the food stall, before walking away without paying for her food. Just as she predicted, it wouldn't take long for the rumors about the place to spread across all kinds of social media, flooding the poor merchant with way more customers than he could ever hope to deal with. He would probably be beaten to death by the time his stock runs dry, but — Hey!— business was booming, right?

Anyway, Lydia would find herself at the track before she could run into any other unexpected encounters. The last thing she needed was being late for the race. It looked like the competition was going to be fierce, judging by the other participants she saw on Wave's pre-race broadcast, Lydia couldn't afford to cut them any slack.

---

After having punted another camera drone far into the sky, Rema felt she had made her message very clear to being harrassed by those hovering tin cans. She then realized she could do some poses and flex her muscles, which she eagerly began to do for the survivors. She had to make sure a proper image of beauty and power is presented to her upcoming fans.

Though, she could not waste time. The race was starting and she would not suffer being the last to the track. Following Lydia's example, she's arrived next to her with her war machine Belladonna with it's monstrous steeds. Castor and Pollux snort fire and brimstone with hot red fiery orbs in place of eyes. Their metal hooves dig up the track underneath and stomp through the material. They are hungry and thirsty for fame and blood and are not picky in what order it came in.

"Easy, easy boys. There's going to be plenty of fresh meat here. With their cute little star cruisers built for maximum comfort instead of victory." Rema would cast a smug smirk over at Warpstar, eager to make some new rivals already. She'd climb aboard the side of her chariot, checking the dashboard and making sure all of Belladona's systems were fully operational.

A small green amulet that was held over her neck held a gold medallion with an eagle imprinted on it. She'd pull the medallion from her neck and give it a kiss, whispering a battle prayer before putting it back into it's place.

"I will honor you all, as I promised. This triumph will be dedicated to you..."

It was just Claudia's rotten luck that the plucky commentator for the event and annual hype woman just had to bring attention to her first and foremost. She tucked her head inwards with a vibrant blush of embarrassment at being referred to as the cute dimwit. It was far easier to curse and grumble beneath her breath when her hair fell like a concealing curtain between herself and the cameras.

"We'll see whose a dimwit when I buy your ass with my prize winnings. My vengeance will be the stuff of legends!" She growled with a pout as her feet finally hit the deck, Bob's bloodlust mitigated for a time and two dashing off to join the wacky races at the track. A starting location dominating by the wildly varying ships and crafts of unusual design used by the racers.

Having been streamed by the camera drones and being adjacent to her starting position, it was easy for Claudia to see the chariot racer and her fire breathing horse. Granted, those would stand out anywhere, even the most backwards feudal world would balk at such a means of conveyance. Opposite her was a far more well known figure, a popular career racer known as Lydia Warpstar. The family name felt a bit too on the nose to be real, but Claudia's business was rather known for nom de guerre's getting out of hand already.

It wouldn't matter. Wrapping her knuckled along Bob's exterior, the dimwit felt her victory was assured as the trotted inside and readied themselves for the big day.

“Yea! Yea!”, Aurora too cheered, unsure to whom and why. Given the energy of the masses cheering up with applauds and yelling - a yelling which formed up from many voices into one gigantic yell of a city itself - and the broadcast showing the image of Aurora to be looked at by many, by the crowd so massive that it took a shape of a sea, arms motioning in the distance in the clapping movement like waves in endless waters - it was very easy to just get caught into all this impossible to comprehend amount of energy and just follow the flow of it, whenever it made her to go in her actions. And actions were rather simple - to mirror all this affection and cheer given: it was a flash of a smile, a few gestures of “piece” - of index and middle fingers on both hands shown to camera bots, a chuckle and a gaze confident and determined.

Even though it hid a need to grasp some thrill. Being pinned by the gaze of thousands was enough of a thrill on its own, and Aurora fed upon it quite eagerly, giving back in that feedback loop with her raw emotion. That took a while, and so she took quite some time appreciating the crowd and appealing to its amusement. Though of course with a voice rocking through the arena, through the skies, giving a command to move on, Aurora too, among the rest of the racers, followed to set final preparation for the race.

The collected energy of the crowd and the moment started to pulsate in Aurora’s head, the carbon of her body lightly shivering - or so she could feel, or at least she thought she felt - as the electric tensity like a lightning coursed through her - and again and again, repeatedly, with every coming second to pass and start anew.

“Pssh. Amateurs.” Wave made no attempt to hide her voice as the drones flitted away from the gathered racers. She had long since muted Claudia’s little verbal threats and cut the feed early to Rema’s show off before she got too full of herself. As expected, all of them followed their heed and arrived to the first track with little need for direction giving. That was fine by her and, given everything was running smoothly, Mevalo as well. “Alriiiiiight, we’re nearly ready to begin~”

Now that every racer was assembled, the roar of the crowd and sheer size of their scope became more apparent to each Ark Rider. Thousands of bustling fans and eager watchers filled the arena with half a thousand more drones flying around like buzzing insects to capture the sporting occasion. It might have reminded Rema of similar grand spectacles on her home planet in their eagerness for bloodshed but that was neither here nor there. “Wohoho, and look who we have today! A surprise face for this year’s grand tourney~” The crowd ooohed and awed in response.

The large monitors overlooking the mass arena revealed a helmeted figure walking back to his vehicle. The electricity in the air doubled down at once. “It’s the infamous Skull Rider! No one knows his name or his deal, but seeing him always spells doom! This high-risk Ark Rider is known for always surviving impossible situations: The Skull Rider and his Skulldugg!” The Skull Rider ignored the hype of the crowd, silently flitting to his Skulldugg, patiently waiting for the races to begin. He wouldn’t have to wait long.

“And we’re set to begin racers!” Wave announced. “The 45th Cosmic Grand Prix is set to roll so Ark Riders, start your engines!” She paused. “Brought to you by Mevalo,” she added. Mass lights above the Ark Riders’ vehicles counted down in coded coloration, from red, to yellow, and finally, to green. Time was quick and time was money, Mevalo wasting neither in burning through both. And so, the first race began, carried into the heart of Mevalo City. Naturally, the air churned with smoke thicker and blacker than oil as the Skulldugg took off first.

“Woah, what a stunning beginning! The Skull Rider takes the first leap of faith and is already speeding ahead of his opponents! But wait, what’s this!?!” Wave gasped. Indeed, the Skulldugg was already depositing a trail of splayed and scattered orbs protruding spikes in its wake. Each one latched onto the ground like a mine, perhaps magnetic in some impossible way. Whatever they were, they rested in wait for any Ark Rider daring to trail behind the leading Skull Rider.

---

The race began with a band and a belch, a thick plume of smoke trailing behind the black horse of the day's race. Right from the start racers were at each other's throats, a field of magnetic mines scattered by the lead racer before anyone had a chance to get ahead. Yet such tricks were child's play for an experienced navigator and breaker of intergalactic authority blockades.

A chirp from across the console opposite her brought a vicious sneer to Claudia's lips, her faithful drone recognize the problem and responding with a staggered trio of the Dogma's low yield missiles. They detonated over the minefield, triggering them ahead of the Dogma as it zipped by through the gap she'd created.

"Not thirty seconds in and we're already detonating bombs without anyone batting an eye. Damn are these some fun races!" With a cackle she poured on the speed, focus on the Skulldugger's ass with her hands tensed against a second round of booby traps tumbling out.

The moment will soon pass and transit into the final preparations; Aurora’s cheeky gestures did attract some attention from the crowd and so she filled her mind with that energy of the audience ready to enjoy the spectacle - in so making her ready to enjoy the incoming spectacle of the race herself. Energized - and due to that a little jumpy - Aurora proceeded to her racing bolide, getting to walk around it first - in order to check the stability and if all the details are fitting each other, before getting to climb up behind the wheel.

It is there at this moment the announcer introduced another racer: yes, the Skull Rider himself, the one famous and infamous rider steering the car more massive than it should for the speed it usually gains. Aurora’s heard of him - doubtedly there was a person who decided to invest their time or interest into racing and did not hear of that name and the vehicle of his. To Aurora it was a silent legend - minimum of words, no actions aimed at the crowd, the man just went straight to his car and got inside. No comment or even a gesture aimed at anyone around him - his full focus seemed to be the race only. Aurora thought that this approach she should probably take for herself as well; but not in the world she could keep herself as cold blooded as he was; ironically so, given her android body.

The time of thought, pondering and reflecting soon to be over though; as the announcer declared the start of the race to come soon. Aurora could only close her eyes for a moment, losing herself in the heartbeat of her artificial heart rhyming together with the cheering of the crowd and the noises of all the vehicles around her. The ambience of the engine put into “Spike” - the humming drone of the roaring energy collected inside of it, ready to explode. She opened her eyes and looked above: red.
Tension of her fingers squeezing onto the wheel reflected on her palms in red. So on her cheeks. So on her lips.
Yellow.
The color of desert she left behind her, the color of horizon, the color of attention. The time froze still it seemed as she exhaled and all of the sound died out in her head. Nothing left in her, besides the color, the overwhelming bright color of yellow and the heartbeat of her Spike. They were one and together in this.
Green.
And so she was on the road. Once again.

The Skull Rider of course took the momentum and appeared to be the first right off the start. Both his reactions and capabilities of his racing vehicle were quite amusing. Of course what was more amusing is just after the initial dust lifted up by the speed pick up of all the cars settled down again, it was exposed to Aurora that the road in front of her now was all filled with mines - spiky orbs waiting for their prey, sprayed all over in front of her.

There was a little time to think, given Aurora needed not only not to slow down, but also to speed up - to gain that inertial collected into the Spike’s wheel. Some of what she already managed to gather was enough for a quick field activation - more of a brief blast to scatter some mines out of her way than actually using it as a defensive mechanism - but it was enough to dart through that mine mass and continue the race, aiming to get right behind the current leader and catch the momentum to get past him.

Rema waited impatiently for the announcer to announce the start of the race. Her finger tapped idly against her side as she sat on her chariot with her legs stretched out and hanging off the edge of the seat's rim. Things could never move fast enough to match that frantic beating for action in her mechanical heart. Designed and built for bloody competition.

The cry to 'start your engines!' is heard, and Rema jumped into position. Her hands gripped the reigns of Castor and Pollux who reared up their steel limbs and neighed out war cries that sounded like distorted roars of a bear through a subwoofer instead of a horse. They stomped the ground and left craters from the impact, just as merciless as their master. Jet blue flames shot out from the back of the chariot as the specialized engine roared to life. Black plumes of smoke shout out through the tall exhaust. A entire industry of war rolled up into one vehicle.

At the sight of green, Rema would crack the reigns of her steed and with o further orders needed those war beasts galloped into a incredible sprint. Dirt would fly into the air as the wheels of the chariot carved a path with breakneck speed, quickly pacing over 100 mph in the first 30 seconds of riding alone and nearing 300. An incredible display for such a antiquated ride.

However, not fast enough it seemed. Skull Rider emerged in the lead immediately, leaving behind a trail of spiky mines. Rema hated this time of foul play. Where was the honor in relying on gadgets to destroy your enemies!?

"Coward!" Rema barked at the leader. She'd hunker down and brace for impact. The chariot of war needed no fancy maneuvers, shields or even evasive. It was a tank built of steel and bolts. Those spike mines would shake the chariot around with their explosions, the entire chariot and horses pulling it disappearing in clouds of smoke. Debris from the explosions scattered everywhere. The infernal machines are not effected in the slightest by the shrapnel, not even staggered in their step. They merely pick up speed as Rema laughed with a shine of mania in her purple eyes.

"That's not enough to stop me! Weakling!"

She reached into a side compartment to pull a electrically powered javelin, bursting with shocking energy at the barbed tip.

"The closest one to me gets this first~!"

Speed kept on building further on - such was the design of Aurora’s machine, it fed on speed and in feeding upon it it only produced more of it. Speed was everything, speed was a way to achieve the goal, and the goal itself. Spike was cutting through air and the explosions of the landmines left by the trail of Skull Rider like a razor blade; in a similar way to razor blade the wind was to leave its marks on Aurora’s skin in a shape of reddening marks as if sliced against her cheeks. The sensation filled her with thrill.

“Now onto… oh, woah woah!”, Aurora started to speak to herself in order to produce a plan to reach to the leaders of the race; that just was a moment before another contestant arrived just beside her: a wild android - similar to her in many ways - with the difference being her representing some old culture of times beyond the reach of scope for many living beings. Seemingly in both manners and appearance she represented it. Rema was her name. Yelling and shouting she appeared quite nearby on her extravagant racing bolide.
And picking up a javelin to throw at Aurora.

“Not so easy, you roman!”, android replied seeing that electric charged javelin aimed at her and further thrown at her. It was a matter of avoiding the projective - Aurora wanted to collect more of that inertia energy to use it for the boost later on, in order to reach the first rows; so instead of activating her magnetic shields she simply twisted her wheel and turned sideways. Since her bolide had actual spheres instead of wheels, she barely lost any speed, continuing to drive sideways for some time, while javelin was to pierce into the ground of the track and quickly disappeared from the view.

“I have some tricks too!”, she yelled at Rema and showed her a tongue.

Even with the inertia dampeners working optimally Claudia swore she could feel the wind even in the cockpit, the Dogma surging trough the minefield and slinging past the Skulldug with a shriek of pulse pounding excitement. If she'd known flying in-atmosphere was this exciting she'd have gone down a very different career path!

"Yahooo! See that Bob? No one even looked at our tail lights!" With a cackle she leaned forward in her seat, perched on the edge like a bird of prey eager to swoop down on its meal. With an ease of familiarity with the actions she armed a rear facing missile tube and fired it at the race's Dark Horse with a premature detonation timer. It shrieked beneath the backwash of Dogma's engines and went off with a plume of cosmetic black smoke that masked the low yield of the actual warhead. It would mask the boarding android fired out of the second rearward launch tube, it's fist reared back to come down in a classic three-point landing aboard the front of the bone-themed speedster.

"Come on, clobber his ass and I'll get you those upgraded combat chassis you girls always wanted!" The redhead hollered into the android's command net, as the desire to motivate possibly self aware automatons and her own want to smack talk drove her to rampant boasting. The heat of the moment with her hands on the throttle and the roar of an engine raging beneath her brought out a wild side that Claudia had no restraint in indulging.

"This race is as good as mine!"

"Well, it seems like I got a bit of a slow start," Lydia said to herself as she noticed that she ended up being one of the last to leave the starting line. It would be a long way to reach the first place, but since the other competitors were mostly busy engaging one another, Lydia thought that she could slip by undetected and recover some of the lost time, at least for a while.

With a plan in mind, Lydia zoomed forward, putting all the power of her ship in the engines and shields, trying to go as fast as she could while playing it safe for the time being. It wouldn't be easy. On the other hand, Lydia had the cheers of much of the public on her side. A race was as much about popularity as it was about skills and equipment. And if there was a thing the public loved was an underdog.

If only Lydia could capitalize on it and get some special boosts during the race, she could turn the tables. But first, she had to get through the first obstacle in her way, that being none other than Aurora.

Now was the time to see which machine had the best legs between the two of them.

---

“Woooooooooooah! Now we’re getting started!” A roar of applause followed Wave’s commentary, hounding the air as much as they hounded the actual Ark Riders’ heels and wheels. “The Skull Rider looked like he had a steady lead but every racer caught up and caught on quick! Aurora and Warpstar are neck in neck with everyone’s favorite Roman knockoff getting in a death match with the other android! But what’s this? The Dogma’s got a personal grudge on the Skulldugg! Who’s gonna make it out alive!?” Wave’s voice was dripping in enthusiasm.

She was right however. The Skull Rider’s opponents passed him one by one with their own ways of avoiding the mines. It left him in last place, somewhere between Claudia and the open road lead. However, the race was far from over. The mines that once stuck to the ground like sticky adhesive rose out from their spot just as hard, floating momentarily in their rooted position before zipping forward. With a flip of a switch in his Skulldugg, the mines suddenly shot forward instead of back, magnetically attracted to each vehicle.

The Dogma and Spike were both hit with a spray of the spiked mines, attached to their back sides before detonating in a cascade of explosions. The same phenomenon occurred for the Aegis and Rema’s war chariot, although if the initial explosions didn’t deter her before, it was doubtful they could do much damage now as they clung to the rears of Rema’s mechanical steeds. But destruction was just a byproduct when distraction was the key to victory. The Skulldugg continued at its steady pace, bursting forward with a pulse of its back thrusters to surpass both androids and Warpstar, aiming for the Dogma.

A crack of sound and black smoke filled the air with the herald of Claudia’s launched attack, a weight crashing into the front of the Skulldugg. There was little damage, the tanky vehicle treading with wheels that burned the road, just as little as the Skull Rider’s care for the android currently crawling on his ride. Shattered glass met Claudia’s ears as her android successfully smashed one of the Skulldugg’s front shields. She probably expected a second to follow.

Instead, another, denser crack of sound hit the air and the android slouched lifelessly with a hole seared through its head. Only the racers closest to the skeletal vehicle could see the smoking firearm being holstered back by the Skull Rider. The vehicle sped up once, zoomed past Claudia and sent the useless android flying back with all its momentum. Back in the lead, the Skulldugg twisted and turned on the road as the track dipped into hard rights and lefts of looping curves on either side. One wrong maneuver meant plummeting off the side of the track.

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"I'll have you hung along the Appian way!" Rema snarled. The adrenaline made her neural networks go haywire. The AI consciousness that dwelled within her sung in the same tune. Fight, race, kill. Risk it all. The mantra in her head was like that of the chariot wheel bouncing against the ground. With the snap of her enhanced gladius, she'd get to work on cutting away any clinging obstacles to her steeds in the meanwhile. She was beginning to hate that Skull Rider most of all.

Rema knew then and there that this current speed was not enough. She'd stand up on her chariot, held firm with her android strength. She'd reach up into a compartment for a small capsule. Contained within was an explosive cocktail of various fuel energies all mushed together in one single pill. Rema would reach out over to Pollux, feeding the mad race machine as he stared ahead on the race track. Once the pill went down his throat, he let out a pained screech that was akin to a malfunctioning air raid siren. He burst ahead in a rapid increase of speed, quickly zooming by Rema's android competition.

"I have bigger challenges to slay. I'll be sure to save you a spot in second place, inferior model!" Rema would wave to Aurora as she zipped past her. Determined to take on her real target, the Skull Rider. She had more pila, shields to defend and a willingness to jump on Skull's ride to tear him from it if necessary.

"Now that I think about it, aren't you the only dude in this race, Skull? Unless..." Lydia said over the radio as she passed the mysterious dark rider. She once heard of another skull-themed racer who everyone thought was a man until it turned out to be a girl. But, then again, maybe he wasn't even human but just a cold, computing machine. Who could know what happened behind that stone-faced helmet?

Anyway, such questions were of no importance to Lydia now. Not when she was almost catching up to Aurora and Rema.

"I don't wanna be a third wheel, so I'm just gonna go ahead while you girls duck it off, ok?" the aqua-haired girl said as she tried to move blitz past them only to be hit by Skull's mines. If the Aegis didn't have its shields up it would have been in for a much worse time, but as it turned out, all it did was throw Lydia's timing off for a while, allowing Skull to take the lead once again.

"Ok, if we are going to do this the hard way... Let me give you a taste of what I can do," Lydia said as they entered the looping section, showing off the Aegis' superior maneuverability while forcing her way through with a volley of hypervelocity aimed primarily at the Skulldugg.

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