A/N: Next chapter is here everyone! Even if the updates are slow, they're there.
ZaineRaye(Wattpad): Already addressed it in a reply but I want to go further detail into this. As much as I would like to work on this more, with school now in session, updating as often as I used to(which was everyday or every 2 days) is very unlikely. The other stories I have that are also in progress are another story(no pun intended) but that's not a factor. This still would be the case regardless of if I was just doing this one only. I promised I would finish it but I did not say when or how long it would take for it to be done. Not just for this, but for all of my stories. While I appreciate you for liking the story, I would ask you and all others that are waiting for updates on stories to be patient. Again, unless stated in the title or description, none of my stories are on hiatus or dead. I'd rather have one good update once a month rather than an update every single day that isn't my best writing. It would be a disservice to you and myself if I did the latter. And this goes both ways as a reader and a writer. The same quality that I want to see out of some of the best stories is the same quality I want to bring to my stories.
Vert was at the skate park, deciding to go skateboarding as it was something that hasn't been able to do for a while. He put his skateboard down and got on it. While starting off slow at first, he was able to get into a rhythm or a "groove" as Tone would say. This caught the attention of some of the other skateboarders and spectators. Eventually, he stopped and called it a day.
One of the skateboarders walked up to Vert. He was a biracial teen. His hair was in cornrows, and he had on a yellow shirt. On the shirt was a picture of some sort of thunderstorm happening in an unknown location.
"Hey man, those were some sick moves." The teen said.
"Thanks." Vert said, giving a bit of a grin before getting ready to walk away.
"Moves like that, I'm surprised you're packing it in now. You looked like you could do that forever." The teen said.
"Yeah. Just a little tired is all. Calling it quits for the day." Vert said.
But in reality, that wasn't the case. He was bored out of his mind. It's been 17 days since he returned home. But for him, it felt like it was way longer than that. More like 17 months. He thought skateboarding, something that he loved doing, again would make him feel better. But it didn't. It just didn't feel the same without Alec there with him. And while it was great to know he was okay, he still was nowhere to be found in the skating rink due to him being with the Silencerz.
Vert returns home and glances at his purple motorcycle before going in. He thought about turning on the TV but decided against it. He could only sigh. He got Reverb back. He got to go home. And he got to see his friends again. And while those things were great, they came with some negatives that Vert did not want to have to deal with. And he couldn't go street racing either. Things have slowed down a bit in that area.
He saw a picture of his dad. He stared at it for a bit before deciding to go take Reverb out for a drive. He goes to open the door to walk out but was surprised to have been greeted by one of the last people he would expect to be at the front door of his house. Even if they were on the same racing team.
It was Karma.
"Karma? What are you doing here?" Vert asked, eyebrows raised in surprise.
"I just came here to check on you is all." Karma said before adding more to explain herself. "I know the time in the Silencerz base must have been a lot for you."
"Yeah." Vert said, thinking about his father. While he was talking, a spider-like creature was crawling. It crawled under Vert's car. It was about to latch onto it, but before it did, it noticed something else that was pink and silver in a ball-like form latched onto it. Instead of latching onto Vert's car, it latched onto the object. While it became black and green at first, its normal colors were restored. The spider-like creature was nowhere to be found. "So how's the rest of the team doing? You heard anything from Kurt?" Vert asked, wanting to change the subject.
"They're doing fine. The usual when it comes to racing. Nolo says he wants new recruits. Not sure how that's going to go." Karma answered. "As for Kurt. No, I haven't. Haven't seen him around in any of the races either." It was Karma's turn to ask him a question now. "What about Tezla? Have you heard anything from him?" Karma asked.
"You're asking me of all people that question? Besides, if he was still doing something, we wouldn't know." Vert said.
"I'd say out of everyone you have the best relationship with him. Other than maybe Lani at times. Everyone else is somewhere in the middle. Or in the case of Kurt, a negative one." Karma reasoned.
Vert took a couple of seconds before responding. "No. I haven't. Pretty sure he's doing fine though. Knowing him, he's doing more research on the Accelerons."
"Yeah. You're probably right." Karma said. "Whenever you're ready to get back in it Vert. Just know we'll still be here." Karma said, referring to the Teku before getting ready to walk away.
"Thanks." Vert said.
"Hey, it's Nolo's team. Thank him." Karma said.
"Not that. For coming here. It means a lot." Vert said. This surprised Karma a bit but she quickly returned to her normal cool composure. She nods before going back to Chicane and eventually, driving off. Vert watches as she drives off in the car before looking in another direction, being lost in his own thoughts.
Tezla's Ultimate Cube
A car is heard pulling up into the entrance. Vert looks around. Not a single thing was on when he entered. Which he had to admit was unusual for Tezla. There wasn't a time where at least some light wasn't on. He gets out and looks around more. Still nothing.
Although he wouldn't say it out loud, he was starting to really feel uneasy. Something was wrong. No lights, no movement. The entire room felt more silent than it should be. Especially if someone was present.
Vert quickly got into Reverb and drove out of the headquarters. A camera secretly observed him driving back out of the headquarters.
Vert was worried. For someone like Tezla, to not be in some place, working or researching was not a good sign. And he had to wonder how long it's been like that.
Drone's Headquarters
An RD-L1 and two S1 units walked into the room where Kadeem was, who was sitting on a throne.
"General, more news has developed." The RD-L1 unit said.
"I would assume that it is about the Wheel." Kadeem said.
"No. Sir. Unfortunately not. We haven't made much progress regarding that." The drone said.
"Then, you wish for your destruction." Kadeem said, now sitting upright, not wishing to hear any news other than anything related to the Wheel.
"We haven't made any progress regarding finding the wheel. But-" RD-L1 started before Kadeem got up and instead of throwing him, tore out the wires that were in the middle of him. It collapsed onto the ground. The Lieutenant unit no longer looked like a feared enforcer in the Racing Drone army, but more of a pile of scraps, as it lay lifeless on the ground.
"Unless you want to be like him, you will either bring me more news I am interested in, or you will leave and go and make more progress." Kadeem said, losing his patience at the lack of progress being made toward finding the wheel.
The RD-S1 units only kneeled before leaving.
Kadeem looked at the remains of the RD-L1 unit before going back to his throne.
"What are you looking at old man?" Kadeem said to the figment of Haziz appeared once again. Haziz shook his head at Kadeem's display.
"A man that has thrown away the values that made him that. A man." Haziz said.
"Because I am losing patience? I want progress!" Kadeem said angrily, slamming his fist onto the throne. The strength of it being so hard that the sound of him slamming it echoed throughout the room he was in. "And I am not above using force to emphasize that. When you don't meet complacency with a strong arm, they will continue to be just that: complacent. This is why our people have not made any progress! Grace! Forgiveness! We continue to reward bad behavior! Mediocrity!"
"I was blind to these values too. Before Gelorum opened my eyes. Soon, you will too." Kadeem said, before holding his head again.
In another room, a dot was beeping as one of the RD-W1 workers observed the monitor. While it was too zoomed in to know exactly where it was, some roads were shown. The dot continued to travel across the screen.
*Cue Screen Change*
Vert heads back home, deciding to crash for the day.
Before he went to sleep, he looked up at the ceiling. He couldn't get the thoughts of what could have happened to Tezla out of his head, no matter how hard he tried. But eventually, he was able to fall asleep.
XXXXXX
Vert was in a realm he had never been in before. It looked to be some industrial-like place. The tracks were pretty straightforward other than some twists and turns and a few branching paths here and there. But the challenge was avoiding the several construction vehicles and hazards, and being wary of the chance that a building could come crashing down at any second. And because of how some of the track was, if a racer wasn't fast enough or wasn't attentive enough, they would be crushed by the debris.
"Vert, I'm seeing a lot of activity around you. Lots of construction. The buildings don't look to be stable either. Make sure you keep an eye on your surroundings." Lani said.
"Okay. I got it." Vert said, as he continued to drive. Just as he said this, he had to quickly swerve out of the way of a wrecking ball. Although this was something he had to deal with in the junk realm, the narrower track compared to the snake-like twist and turns of the junk realm track that required you to find the fine line or hit "apex" of the track was a different challenge. It was a test of reflexes and always being aware of your surroundings at all times while having to juggle the possibility of other racers on the track as well.
As he progressed, he was making good time. When he had to go into a building, he decided to use his nitrox to boost his way through, which turned out to be a good decision as a wrecking ball hit the building, causing it to come crashing down, a couple of seconds after Vert got out. The final leg of the race was coming up, where drivers needed to ascend a skyscraper under construction. The building, and even the track itself was unfinished. There were gaps, different parts of the track were missing or didn't have much support holding them up. Vert ascended his way up the building, still being wary of his surroundings. As he was driving, a large crane lifted the entire building up.
Vert was in the air as a wrecking ball hit the building. He had to get off, and quickly. Putting his foot on the gas, Reverb sped up and jumped off the building as it was being destroyed. He was able to land safely.
"I don't know if you're getting any of this Lani but this is insane! It's like the Storm Realm and the Junk Realm combined into one!" Vert said as he had to avoid the pieces of the building that was destroying that were coming down from above.
"Vert, you're almost there, but you need to watch out for the-" Lani said before static was heard.
"The what? Lani?" Vert said, trying to reach her while still paying attention to the road. As he sped through the track, something came to life as he sped past it. Lights came on and it started to move. It was a bulldozer. But like the metro realm, no one was driving it. Vert saw lights in his rearview mirror. And it wasn't the lights of a racer he saw.
"I think that's what she was talking about." Vert said, trying to stay ahead of the bulldozer. And avoid all of the nails in the road.
He had to make a right corner turn, and while he didn't lose that much speed he barely avoided the nails on the ground. He saw the portal straight ahead. He continued to swerve around the nails but one of them got in his top right tire. Although Lani wasn't there to alert him of this, so he wasn't aware. All he knew was that he needed to get to the portal to avoid the bulldozer. Willing to put everything into one boost, he decided to throw all caution to the wind and use the nitrous to get to the portal. Reverb was airborne. And so was the bulldozer. It seemed like forever. Vert was looking in anticipation of making but also saw the bulldozer behind him who followed him off the track. But in the end, it was Vert that made it in, not the bulldozer. The weight made it too heavy to follow and it fell into the tracks below and exploded.
Vert emerged from the portal, accelecharger in hand. He shook his head in approval before getting out. He saw his tire was punctured and was losing air before it eventually was flat, and lowered the front side of the car to the right.
"Hey Lani! I don't think you and Tezla accounted for nails." Vert said.
Lani, Tezla, and the maniacs and Teku all greeted him. But they were silent.
"Something wrong?" Vert asked.
"Yes. Something is very wrong." Lani said before her eyes turned green. And so did the others'. "Human." She said, her voice becoming more metallic.
To Vert's horror, their skin seemingly came apart, opening up as if it was a pod opening. And in it came versions of all of them, with different parts of them having been replaced by drone parts. Gelorum stepped in front of them all.
"Gelorum? But you were defeated by the Accelerons! I saw you!" Vert said.
"Fool. I wasn't defeated. Only sent away. Did you really believe that I wouldn't return?" Gelorum said.
"What did you do to my friends?" Vert said.
"I only made them better. Stronger." Gelorum said.
"Gelorum showed us how weak the human flesh is. So she set us free." RD-Monkey said.
"Hello! Hello!" Sparky said.
Vert was about to run but Porkchop jumped in front of him.
"Where do you think you're goin'?" RD-Porkchop said.
"The accelerons showed you something. Tell me everything." Gelorum said.
"I'm not telling you anything." Vert said.
"The hard way's fine by me." RD-Porkchop said, putting one fist in his other hand.
Gelorum held up a hand, signaling him to not do anything before going up to grab Vert by the neck, choking him.
"The Accelerons chose you. They believed you are an Acceleracer. You were able to keep up with me despite me having an advantage with the Accelechargers. Tell me human, what do you race for?" Gelorum asked.
"To-" Vert started, struggling to breathe. Gelorum decided to let go of her grip a little to let him speak.
"To be the best. And for fun. Something you drones would know nothing about." Vert said.
"To be the best? Then, we are not so different. You see, we were created to race." Gelorum said before getting RD-Mark to restrain him. She put her hands behind her back and walked for a bit. "To win. To survive. By any means necessary. You were able to survive the Ultimate Race. The ultimate test of the Accelerons. Without the assistance of any Accelechargers. Or even experience in some of the realms. You understand what it means to survive." Gelorum said before going to him and grabbing onto his face with one hand, from the chin to the cheeks.
"But this. This is what holds you back." Gelorum lets go of his face. "You claim to want to be the best, yet you declined a race to prove this. Just to help them." Gelorum said, gesturing to his friends.
"Allow me to rid you of this." Gelorum said, pointing to his face. "Then, you will truly become the best." Gelorum said.
"If that's what it takes to be the best." Vert started.
Gelorum smiled, pleased that Vert accepted her offer.
"Then I guess I'll never be the best then." Vert said.
Gelorum frowned, realizing what Vert meant by that. "Fool."
RD-Porkchop took this as a signal for him to do something and punched Vert, knocking him unconscious.
"You acted without my order. Do so again, and your memories will be erased." Gelorum said.
"Yes Gelorum. I'm sorry." RD-Porkchop said.
"Ha! Porkchop's in trouble!" RD-Monkey said.
"Shut up!" RD-Porkchop said.
"Quiet! Both of you!" RD-Kurt said. "What should we do with him?"
"Take him." Gelorum said.
Unknown Location
Vert wakes up. As he was trying to move, he couldn't, realizing he was restrained. He saw that he was off the ground.
"You should be thankful that you are still breathing human." Gelorum said.
No response from Vert.
"I still have use for you. Which is why you are here." Gelorum said.
"You already know my answer." Vert said.
Gelorum shrugged.
"You humans like to discover. To learn. It is one of the reasons Dr. Tezla pursued the wheel. And continued to study the Accelerons." Gelorum said.
Vert wasn't sure where Gelorum was going with this.
"Soon, you will know what it truly means....." Gelorum said as some sort of chamber lowered in front of him.
Hot Wheels Breaking Point Captured/Kadeem's Death/Transformation theme plays(A/N: Carnivorous Vegan has a playlist of music from the movie, check it out and you'll see what I'm talking about)
".....to be the best." Gelorum said.
As the chamber got closer and closer, Vert tried to get himself free, but to no avail.
"AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Vert screamed as the chamber got closer before his screams were muffled.
When everything was said and done, Gelorum and RD-Tezla greeted him when he stepped out of the chamber. His goatee was green, his left arm was replaced by a drone arm and his right hand was replaced by a drone hand. Both of his legs were replaced as well. His eyes were green. Even the shirt he had on now had the Racing Drone insignia on it instead of the Teku symbol.
Vert grinned.
"You said you would teach me how to really be the best." RD-Vert said. "Show me."
Gelorum could only grin.
"AH!" Vert yelled, suddenly waking up out of his sleep. He was breathing hard. He looked at his hands and breathed a sigh of relief, calming down. He saw the time on the clock and it said it was 9:30 AM. He decided to get out of bed and start his day. After eating, he got in Reverb to go and find Lani. He needed to talk to talk to someone about Tezla. And what better person than one of his former Wave Ripper teammates and one of the people that Karma described as having a more "positive relationship" with Tezla.
Drones' Headquarters
An RD-W1 unit showed up.
"What is it?" Kadeem asked.
"We have had time to analyze the locations of the moving object and the potential location of the human base." RD-W1 said.
Kadeem sat up, interested. "Continue."
"Looking at both, the movement pattern of the moving object and where the base is, along with the signals of both sources of technology, we have all but confirmed the location of the base. California. United States of America."
"Excellent! What is the status of our forces?" Kadeem asked.
"Production rate is at optimal speed. Current estimation before satisfactory conditions are met: 3 days." RD-W1 said.
"Good. Keep me informed of any further developments." Kadeem said. "In the meantime, I want you all to build something for me." Kadeem said.
A/N: And there's the end of the chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! I apologize for the slow updates, but I don't expect a consistent schedule to update stories anytime soon. Doesn't mean I won't try my best to give you all a great story though!