Xera

20|Stay Tuned

Solise secured her mask to her face as the platform ascended to the track. She was surprised to see that the track had not changed in layout. What gives? She thought. Every race had a new track. She wondered if the Inquirer had gotten lazy in his design plans. She took notice of increased hazards that indicated a slight change. The number of cannons and pitfalls had increased. The entire underside of the track was now lined with spikes. A red glow indicated that there were now heated. Solise couldn't shake the feeling that the Inquirer was willing to take out every other racer to get to her. But not Galene. She reminded herself.

She could see the Vawe racer idling behind her. She was unable to read his expressions. Something about this lack of visual confirmation of their allyship sent a chill through her body. Win the race, expose the Inquirer. She repeated, internally. Everything else is a distraction. At the time, here thoughts wandered to Bix and Meg. She could already sense that things had not ended well for them. She shook these thoughts away as the countdown came into view. It ran its course and the racers were off. The Inquirer was instantly on Solise's tail. He attempted to knock her into the first pit of the track. He was thwarted by Galene drifting across the path.

The Vawe racer nearly smashed into Solise. She was caught off guard and eased on the throttle. This created just enough of a slip for the Inquirer to ram the back of her bike. He started to fire his charges. Solise sped away and leapt off one section of track and onto another. This daring move gave her a considerable lead and placed her further from the Inquirer. Maybe you shouldn't put so map gaps in! Makes it real easy to do that! She shouted, in her head. Gurd took notice of this maneuver and perked up from his seat.

"That's a crafty move from the Raiyfian. Not sure it's allowed but something tells me anything goes, at this point." He announced.

As the words left his lips, he could feel unwelcomed eyes on him. He looked to his left and noticed several of the Inquirer's goons outside of the announcer's booth entryway. Something else drew his attention. There was a small red light blinking on one of the terminals. He shifted his gaze and noticed one of the henchmen do it as well. Instinct took hold and he turned his head quickly enough to divert attention from the console. The growing peculiarity of the situation was putting Gurd on edge.

This was nothing compared to what Solise was going through, down below. The Inquirer had followed her shortcut and was gaining on her. His artillery was at full blast as the distance closed between them. Galene shot past him and attempted to block. This attempt, from Solise's vantage, came off as an attack. She swerved to avoid it, only placing her in the Inquirer's new trajectory. He fired off a charge that broke through a heavily battered part of her shield. A fragment of the blast struck her in the shoulder. The shot of pain was enough to briefly release her hand from the throttle.

Galene had to swerve to avoid slamming into her. This also caused the Inquirer to divert from his course. This sudden change caused a collision with Huzmul, who was gaining from behind. His craft spun out, as did the Inquirer's. This allowed Solise to regain her balance and speed forward. She was now slightly trailing Galene, who was in 1st place. In a quick flash of rage, the Inquirer open-fired on Huzmul. In no time at all, his shield depleted and his craft began to take massive damage. The Inquirer's ship rammed into Huzmul's and began to push it forward. He increased his rate of fire until a loud BOOM sounded. This engulfed the ship in a burst of flames.

The Inquirer continued to push the burning heap around the track. Soon, the weakened metal gave way and he burst through it. The ship was reduced to nothing more than a burning pile of twisted steel. There was no question of Huzmul's survival. Whatever remained of him was now ash. The Inquirer divested from his show of rage. He was now a good distance behind the others. He made short work of cutting through the remaining three racers that stood between him and Solise. Only six total racers were now left in the competition. Galene still had the lead; Solise trailed behind. The Inquirer was shortly on her tail, following dangerously close.