01 : BEYOND TUNDRA DOME

DRONGO VIK : "All right race fans! 50km into our dash South we see only a deep red glow in our rearview.

Our racers are *motivated* to keep going before they get caught up in the fighting now spreading across the entirety of Kanadia.

With throttles fully open and widening flat terrain, our racers are cruising at top speed!

STANDINGS:

01. SUICIDE TANK
02. SHADOW WING
03. HELLRACER
04. CHAOS MK II
05. IRON GRIFFIN
06. FIRST CLASS
07. SHADOW BLADE
08. SHADOW CYCLE
09. SHOWSTOPPACHOPPA
10. SILVER STREAK
11. DRAGULA
12. ARCLIGHT HAMMER


Another 50km South and the leaders are beginning to see the foothills of the Kanadian Rockies.

A star-filled sepia sky delivers them unto ...

02 - DARKNESS AT NOON

DRONGO VIK : "A punishing all night ride with no promise of daybreak, our leaders ascend the shadowy mountain!

The straggling last-placed riders are not surprised by flashing red lights in the distance. Gaining on them is a pack of AI Security Drones! Armed with electron pulse weapons, they could easily disable anything electronicly controlled!

On my infrared screen I can see all the action:

STANDINGS:

01. SHADOW BLADE
02. ARCLIGHT HAMMER
03. SUICIDE TANK
04. SILVER STREAK
05. SHOWSTOPPACHOPPA
06. FIRST CLASS
07. CHAOS MK II
08. SHADOW WING
09. SHADOW CYCLE
10. IRON GRIFFIN
11. DRAGULA
12. HELLRACER
---

With straggling riders just now at the base of the mountains, the SECURITY DRONES close in, DRAGULA AND HELLRACER are fired upon and hit!

DRAGULA AND HELLRACER ARE OFF THEIR BIKES

Getting shakily to their feet, they stand back to back against the encircling security forces ... with RATFINK baring all the fangs ...

As the SECURITY DRONES move in for the capture, a ROARING tears through the night ...


!! FROM BEHIND THE SECURITY DRONE FORCES COMES LUGG THE OBLITERATOR ON FIREBREATHER !!

STEERING ONLY WITH HIS LEGS, HE'S SWINGING PARTS OF BROKEN SECURITY BOTS LIKE WEAPONS, TAKING OUT THE AI FORCES RIGHT AND LEFT AND ROLLING OVER (AND THROUGH) THOSE HE DOESN'T CONNECT WITH THE WEAPONS

WE CAN'T SEE HIS FACE, BUT I WOULD ASSUME HE'S GRINNING

BOOGIEMAN takes advantage of the distraction, mounting DRAGULA and tearing out of there, only to realize he'd left teammate ..

!! CANNIBAL GIRL HAS BEEN CAPTURED !!

Overtaken by AI SECURITY, but putting up a *LASER* of a fight!

THE SECURITY FORCES GO FOR RATFINK, who begins to scramble up the top of the ever-growing pile of SECURITY AI FORCES ... as he gets to the very top ...

A MIGHTY LEAP AS LUGG TEARS THROUGH THE WHOLE PILE OF BOTS ... RATFINK REACHES OUT AND GRABS ONE OF LUGG'S HORNS ... RATFINK IS NOW PASSENGER ON FIREBREATHER !!


All of this action allowing the rest of the racers to slip away and out from under ...

Race Radio Channel BR-549:

--Alright brother, you gotta keep on keepin' on, this race is a garden, now dig it!! You got a long way to go and a short time to get..

---Hayseed, be quiet and watch that camera, things ain't gonna get any easier. Havok, keep your head up and your eyes on the prize. I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy winning or get busy dying.

---I got it Daddy, this race is good as won. The CHAOS is handling awesome after I got used to the extra speed. I got Fire-Eater watching my six and Hayseed with the eye in the sky. I ain't gotta beat the other racers, I just gotta beat the track.

---Just remember boy, dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our competition that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our checkered flag!

---Uhhhhh, yeah.......

_________________

Channel BR-549 patching in to the race intercom:

----Listen up!!! This is Cross Country, crew chief and mechanic of Team Blais.

Can you count, racers? I say, the future is ours... if you can count!



Now, look what we have here before us. We got the Shadow Blade sitting next to the ShowStoppaChoppa. We've got the Shadow Wing right by the Iron Griffin. Nobody is wasting nobody. That... is a miracle. And miracles is the way things ought to be.



You're running right now with twelve racers from 100 gangs. And there's over a hundred more. That's 20,000 hardcore members. Forty-thousand, counting affiliates, and twenty-thousand more, not organized, but ready to race: 60,000 soldiers..I Mean racers! Now, there ain't but 20,000 drone forces in the whole town. Can you dig it?



Can You Dig It??



CAAAAN YOU DIG IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT??????

---END TRANSMISSION--

_________________

Yeah baby, coming to you live on every vid screen in the broadcast zone. AVE came to win and The Main Event is proving what he said. This is The ShowStoppaChoppa and its doing work out here. All these pitiful excuses losing their lives thinking they had a chance at this title. Just wanted to give all you lucky ladies a close up of The Main Event mugging for the camera as he blows past all these ridiculous robots and drones, idiotic racers, and what is supposed to be treacherous obstacles. Don't worry dolls, The Chick Magnet is on his way with a little more gold to make your hearts melt. From high speed to light speed to ludicrous speed, AVE is in it to win it and he's out here TCB....

Stay tuned for the next Main Event update, same Show Stopping channel, same Show Stopping time....

_________________

All of this action allowing the rest of the racers to slip away and out from under ...

03 - THE IRON HEEL

This steep decline through a narrow crevasse is called The Iron Heel.

With loose and crumbling sheer embankment, riders must watch out for hazards both from above and each side!

Here it is a great advantage to have obstacle censors, echo location, or an arial surveillance drone!

The pack leaders out in front are betting all on picking a safe track!

If they bet wrong they may end up paying for their mistake WITH THEIR LIVES! 

COMING UP ON A THREE WAY SPLIT ...

SHADOW BLADE TAKES THE LEFT FORK

ARCLIGHT HAMMER BLAZES STRAIGHT AHEAD

SUICIDE TANK TAKES THE RIGHT FORK

SILVER STREAK SLOWS ... THEN FOLLOWS ARCLIGHT HAMMER INTO THE STRAIGHT AHEAD CHANNEL

SHOWSTOPPACHOPPA SCREAMS AFTER THE SILVER STREAK

FIRST CLASS PULLS A HARD RIGHT AND FLIES UP, NARROWLY MISSING AN OUTCROPPING

CHAOS MK II PAUSES (AS IF LISTENING TO SOMETHING) AND THEN CAREENS INTO THE LEFT FORK

SHADOW WING AND SHADOW CYCLE FOLLOW INTO THE LEFT FORK

IRON GRIFFIN TAKES THE MIDDLE LANE

DRAGULA FLIES AFTER SUICIDE TANK INTO THE RIGHT FORK ...

FIREBREATHER chases the AI FORCES into the Middle Track

Radio static crackle“RamJet Racers, this is your good buddy Super Cop, slow and out of the race still chugging along the Divide with this stupid AI in hot pursuit. I don’t know who is leading this revolt, but things are bad back here, real bad. You aren’t racing for yourselves or your teams anymore. You’re racing for all of humanity. Don’t hold anything back. I’ll keep them occupied as long as I can. You guys finish the race. Over and out!”static

_________________

THE RIGHT FORK IS A DEAD END

DRAGULA POWERS DOWN TO A HALT ...

SUICIDE TANK HAS NO SUCH LUCK ...

Trying to pull a fast 180, CAPT SPAULDING IS THROWN FROM HIS BIKE

CAPT SPAULDING IS DOWN ...

DRAGULA RACES BACK THE WAY HE CAME

THE MIDDLE FORK IS A FUNNEL WITH A HARD LEFT TURN

ARCLIGHT HAMMER, in complete control, makes the hard turn!

THE SILVER STREAK MISSES THE TURN, CRASHING INTO THE EMBANKMENT

seeing this, SHOWSTOPPACHOPPA makes the turn with ease.

NOT SO FOR IRON GRIFFIN, WHO WINDS UP IN THE RUBBLE ALONGSIDE SILVER STREAK!

will these riders be able to get back into the race?

HERE COME THE AI FORCES ... THEY SWARM SILVER STREAK AND IRON GRIFFIN !!

BUT WAIT ... HERE COMES FIREBREATHER !!

Slamming into the AI FORCES, FIREBREATHER offers IRON GRIFFIN a chance to re-mount and continue the race!

SILVER STREAK is overcome! the AI FORCES HAVE SILVERSTREAK !!

SILVERSTREAK IS OUT OF THE RACE

FLYING OVERHEAD :

FIRST CLASS sees all of this action happen ... but can't find a way to get back to the track ... the Twins' comlinks are cutting out ... they're off-course!

THE LEFT FORK

Although not without it's own peril, the LEFT FORK is the best route through THE IRON HEEL!

SHADOW BLADE radios back to the other members of TEAM RED SHADOW on how to navigate the channel the best, and they do so with minimal problems ...

not quite as easy for CHAOS MK II, but he's not only holding his own, he is making remarkable distance on the leader, as if he's got some kind of divine guidance !

SHADOW WING AND SHADOW CYCLE are trying to play catch-up ... possibly they have another play to take this rider out?

!! STAY TUNED !!