[center][h2][color=D34C25]Primrose[/color], [color=BC8DBF]Therion[/color], [color=gray]&[/color] [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]Pit[/color][/h2]
[color=D34C25][u]Level[/u]: [b]10[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 234/100[/color] [color=2e2c2c]------[/color] [color=BC8DBF][u]Level[/u]: [b]7[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 284/70[/color]
[color=gray]𝙱𝙿[/color] [color=gold]●[/color][color=gray]●●●●[/color] [color=2e2c2c]----------------------------[/color] [color=gray]𝙱𝙿[/color] [color=gold]●[/color][color=gray]●●●●[/color]
[color=lightgoldenrodyellow][u]Level[/u]: [b]5[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 254/50[/color]
Word Count: 1921 (+3 exp)[/center]

Taking second place was a surprise for Primrose, especially because she didn’t particularly feel she contributed much. Therion had at least been “eaten” on camera. Still, she wasn’t going to argue the result. Figuring much of it had to do with Roland’s know-how, Primrose glanced at the Fixer and gave him a small nod. She accepted the prize, now at a total of five tokens. Beside her, Therion was sitting at nine - which officially made him the most token-rich player at the moment. He could have been smug about it, but instead he drew no attention to that fact. 

And then there was Pit, who snapped up his consolation token with a petulant frown. It wouldn’t last long, because he really had been having fun so far, but while the results were being tallied he couldn’t help but feel that this was [i]so unfair![/i] Rushing through levels (though it had been some years since he could call himself a true platformer), bypassing obstacles, dealing with creepy monsters… it was all stuff he regularly dealt with! So how was he doing so poorly? It was easy enough to blame his teammates and partners, especially since he preferred to work alone, but a true captain could compensate for his squad. So Pit sighed, wallowed for a second, and then tried to psyche himself up for the next game.

He missed something that Ballyhoo said, which did not go unnoticed by the two Orsterrans. A new name among the victorious players: Juri. She had a very distinctive look, so it was easy to spot her with a quick scan of the area. There was no fuss over her - she’d just been added to their group for the games like Capt. Falcon technically had been, it was just an interesting development. Especially after poor Sectonia had been partnered with a rock in the first game.

And speaking of games, the next one was swiftly announced. The most popular event in the big top, although the explanation made little sense… at first. Once she parsed through the words, context clues led Primrose to believe they would be transporting people akin to a rented carriage… although she did raise a brow at one word. [i]Non-lethally…?[/i]

Without further ado, they were transported once more.
[hr]
While he may have lost the first two minigames there was no way that Pit, Angel Land’s strongest soldier, captain of Lady Palutena’s royal bodyguards, and all-around super cool heroic guy, was going to lose three in a row! Not if he had anything to say about it! And though he hadn’t really grasped Ballyhoo’s explanation, once they were in the minigame for real and he saw the taxi cab everything sort of fell into place. The goal of this game was to drive around town really fast while getting passengers from point A to point B. That sounded easy enough!

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Alright,"[/color] the angel said to himself as he hopped over the side of the cab into the driver’s seat. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"This can’t be any harder than using an Aether Ring! So this time, I'm definitely placing!"[/color]

Throughout his life (as short as it was compared to the gods’), Pit had seen a lot of different vehicles. From the primitive horse-drawn buggy, to the modern day car, to the futuristic spacecrafts of mortals, as well as all sorts of divine vehicles ranging from chariots to mechas. Theoretically, a taxi cab should not be beyond him. Once behind the wheel, he immediately realized that he was right: this would not be as hard as using an Aether Ring. Its controls seemed to be more like an Exo Tank’s, which he could definitely handle. It was fortunate too that the taxis were sized for their drivers, so he didn’t have any issues reaching the pedals. The rest of the intricacies of driving the car… he’d just figure those out as he went.

With newfound determination, Pit started the engine and grabbed the wheel. For good measure, he imagined what Lady Palutena might say to further encourage him. [i][color=springgreen]”Start with the green fares to get used to the taxi’s handling, but remember this is a race against everyone else too. So once you’re comfortable go right for the red! Okay Pit, show them why we deserve to be invited to the next Mario Kart!”[/color][/i]

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Yes ma’am!"[/color] Pit replied to the vision his brain conjured up, then stepped hard on the gas pedal towards his first client - and very nearly ran them over. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Hop in!"[/color]

"Thanks! Get me to the courts!"

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Okay! That's... where is that?"[/color] Pit squinted at the mini-map in the form of a GPS. It was all lines, colors, and squiggles. He had never needed to read a map before... but thankfully a big yellow arrow appeared in the air that let him know where to go. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Oh! Alright, hold on!"[/color]

His destination wasn't that far away. The next passenger wanted to go back to where the first had been. The start of the game saw Pit driving back and forth between easy green fares while he got used to the car. When he eventually felt good enough to start taking jumps and crashing into stuff on purpose for once to make shortcuts, he blasted onto the freeway with his sights set on the red fares.
[hr]
When Therion had practiced driving back in Twilight Town, it had only been a way to pass time. Sure, he figured it might come in useful in a pinch, but he didn’t expect to be using the knowledge so soon. Once everyone was transported to the island (separated, he noted, so no teammates this time) and he inspected the taxi, he realized it wasn’t entirely different from the vehicle he’d practiced with. It looked much more put together, so it was probably sturdier, and there were a few more handles and levers, but otherwise for a medieval guy like him? Practically the same. The taxi also featured two displays on the dashboard, one being a map and the other showing zeroes. 

[i]The total fare I’m guessing,[/i] Therion thought. Though it took him slightly longer, he came to the same conclusion as Primrose. The concept of a “taxi” was not foreign to either of them, the word itself was just unfamiliar. Well, and the car they’d be expected to use. So in this case, Therion actually had a leg up on the dancer. [i]I could give her some pointers through the pearl, but… nah.[/i] 

This was only a game after all, so he left his friend to fend for herself. She would hardly be the only one struggling with this anyway. With half a shrug Therion entered the car, turned the key, and felt the engine rumble to life. He wondered for a moment how well he would realistically do; of the Seekers he knew best, he couldn’t imagine any of them doing that well save for the Koopa family who seemed versed in a wide variety of random things. Then of course there were those that they had split up from, who mostly seemed more familiar with this kind of thing. Lastly, the professional racer they’d immediately found and the dark horse that was dropped into their group last game. Therion’s odds weren’t terribly great, but at least he wouldn’t be the worst.

[color=BC8DBF]"Let’s see…"[/color] he fiddled with the map, coming up with his strategy in a few moments: rather than fight for fares in the larger, more populated city area with more experienced drivers, he would first go across the bridge connecting the two islands and collect some passengers where there was less competition. 

He set off, stopping at a few people to see if they were going the same direction and turning them down until he found a yellow fare with a destination on the volcanic island. Unfortunately he ran into trouble almost right away. As expected the city was full of of Seekers making the most of the game, whether they were playing the right way or not. Therion had started off near some junction, and had to dodge not only the maniac drivers actually trying to ferry passengers but the rogue elements of Blazermate and Ms. Fortune who seemed to have decided that ramming others off the road was the goal. He passed plenty of scenes of destruction until finally making it across the highway's bridge. 

To his chagrin, the passenger he'd picked up was long gone - driven away either by the long drive time or the hasty, jerky movements he'd needed to take in order to avoid obstacles and other players. [i]Oh well, whatever,[/i] he thought. At least now he could drive in relative peace.
[hr]
The game’s precious starting minutes, the time when everyone that was vying for first would set out to get as much of a headstart as possible. Though for Primrose, she spent that time in the cab’s driver’s seat. She had one leg crossed over the other, a manual she’d found in the glovebox spread open in her hands. She had been deposited near the heart of the city on the edge of Mixed Martial Park where she could see a few others getting their start or driving by, but she paid them little mind. She'd seen some crashing already and figured out that the players, their vehicles, and their passengers were immune to damage, so there wasn't much need to pay attention to what everyone else was doing just yet.

Like with the first game, Primrose discarded any notion of placing first, second or third. Even the previous one she wrote off as more or less a fluke. And since she wasn't playing to win, she could take her time and figure out how the car worked. She flipped through each page of the instructions, appreciating the "dumbed down" language used in them. It served its purpose: making it so almost anyone, from any walk of life, could understand how to play. Putting the knowledge into practice was a different thing entirely, but the dancer made progress incrementally. She figured out how to turn the car on, how much pressure to put on the pedal to convince the two tons of steel to move, and on the other pedal to get it to stop. Her time limit was really running down since she wasn't picking up any passengers, but it really didn't bother her much. It wasn't until Nadia drove back around her way and rear ended Primrose's taxi (causing a major lurch that pushed the dancer's car into the side of a fountain) that she decided to actually try and play. [color=D34C25]"Alright, I get it,"[/color] she said, flipping her ponytail out of her face. 

Unfortunately the cat burglar had already driven away by the time Primrose pulled her car around, so she couldn't return the favor. Instead, she slowly drove toward the first green fare she could see. It was a nondescript man who was only headed around the block, though when he hopped into the back of the cab he smiled brightly. "Yowza, I lucked out with my driver!"

Glancing into the man's eyes, she could see that he wasn't exactly all there. The people in this city were basically props, designed to play a human-like role. How deep did it go, Primrose wondered. How well could they emulate a person? An idea came to her mind, one she'd test as soon as she dropped her fare off. If she didn't plan on winning, anything she did could hardly be counted as cheating, right?