Lunar Raceway - License Roleplay

[Strife]

All right, folks! I'm sure you're here because you want to earn your official Spacefleet Driver's License. The Lunar Raceway is an obstacle course located on the surface of the blue moon orbiting the green moon orbiting the world of the NTWF.

o oo <- you are here

Anyway, i'll spare you the geography lesson. Here's how you apply for your driver's license:

The Lunar Raceway is a looping track, with checkpoints that are marked by bright orange cones. In addition, there are large orange-colored rings hovering above the track, where spaceships must fly through. It is your mission to show off your driving/flying skills and prove that you have what it takes to pilot Spacefleet vehicles. ^_~

Before you begin, you have your choice between two different types of vehicles: a racecar and a small spacecraft. After you choose one, get ready to roleplay! You'll need to write a very short story about your persona as he/she drives/flies around the raceway, crossing the various checkpoints and encountering other strange things along the way. As a guideline, it should be at least 200 words or so in length, but you can make it as long as you want. ^^

SPOILER: Click to show

LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO LOL ROFL ROFL LOL POTATO

That's 200 words right there. Oh, and please don't post that as your roleplay. xD

After you've posted your roleplay, i'll take a look at it, and if it's interesting and shows off your personality, i'll PM you and give you your license, as well as add your name to the list below.

PEOPLE WHO HAVE A SPACEFLEET DRIVER'S LICENSE:

Echo --- Ice --- Leoness --- Nocturne --- Shade --- Strife --- X --- Zari --- Bacon --- Keng --- Fraze

[Ice]

Ice grinned as she strapped herself into her car. Call me old-fashioned, she thought, but there's nothing like racing on solid ground. Grinning, she twisted her key in the ignition slot. The car revved up, a comforting sound, and she was on her way.

Driving along peacefully at 90 mph, under a gorgeous midnight sky... it was hard not to lose focus on the racetrack and let her mind drift to the pinpoints of light above.

That was when she went off the track. Aww, crud, she grumbled. A sharp swerve sent her back onto the road, and she vowed to keep her mind on the track, not the sky. There, a few meters ahead, were some bright orange cones. The first checkpoint!

Wait. Was that NSQ, dancing around in the middle of the track? I didn't think this was an obstacle course... Alarmed, she slammed on the brakes, removed her seatbelt, and got out for a closer look. Yup, that was NSQ alright. One couldn't miss her rainbow scarf.

"What are you doing out here?"

NSQ had stopped, and was approaching the car with an expression of awe. "Shiny..." she whispered, gazing at the sleek midnight blue body, which shimmered, mirroring the skies above.

Ice grinned. "It's beautiful, isn't it? Want to join me inside?" It was an invitation NSQ could not refuse, since the interior was every bit as shiny as the outside, and there were plenty of buttons to keep her busy. Sure, most people wouldn't have taken their chance with NSQ, but Ice wasn't most people, and got along excellently with the girl. Besides, the buttons were for show and part of a removable panel; the real controls were few and on the driver's side.

The two were silent as the car cruised on, Ice content with stargazing (having already forgotten the previous accident) and NSQ with pushing buttons. Three more checkpoints passed without incident, and a spaceship zoomed through the rings overhead.

A giant party hat, made of pink and green striped foil, stood in the way of the next checkpoint. That was no problem. Ice simply drove through it, her hoarding instincts kicking in as she opened her window to tear off a large piece of the foil. It'll make for a nice piece of origami or gift wrap, she thought as she put it in one of the many compartments inside the car.

Actually.. She pulled out the foil again, and gave it to NSQ, who squealed with joy. A smile spread across her face once more, and she returned her attention to the steering wheel.

Several checkpoints later, Ice spotted a massive muffin on the side of the road. Ooh, chocolate chip! She stopped the car, letting both herself and NSQ out. The two happily attacked the muffin. After eating her fill, Ice left NSQ munching the confectionery and drove on, now finding muffin-shaped constellations in the sky.

Some time later, she broke through the finish line ribbon. Well, that was fun. Wish I had more muffin, though.

((Sorry it's a little long ^^; 200 was only until the NSQ encounter))

[zhunter]

((So an entire obstacle course in one post? Should be easy...))

*VROOM VROOM*

X revved his spacecraft to life & charted his course to the end of the obstacle course. The pinging orange fluorescent lights bounced lightly on his viewfinder, keeping him active in his diagnostics check for the simple yet sleek craft. Easier than lubing a Class V cruiser... X thought to himself. No way could a normal air-pusher maneuver this like it was a race track.

A simple test of patience now as the lights hovering in space held their mark on red while he waited for a mark on green. Would this challenge him finally?

*PING*

The yellow light blared on & he clutched the controls tighter as a trickle of sweat ran down his forehead.

*DEET...DEET...DEET*

His chronal timer got ever closer to the green as he pushed the brake & pedal at the same time to ease his timing on the 'go'.

*PING*

"Hit it!"

*VRRRRRRRRROOM!!!!!*

He let go of the brake as he pushed the controls forward in tandem. This black spacecraft I'm piloting isn't such a bad machine, X thought, After all...Who back on NTWF gets a chance like I'm getting? He came around the first turn, marked by orange, floating cones, & he pushed the brake to a stop-on-a-dime turn so he could push forward through the edgy circular barrier.

His timing was as precise as he expected as the dip down-wards brought him to the edge of a crater he expected would have intertwined with the race track below. Which it did. He flung the craft around the sharper of turns & accelerated through another orange circle.

*DING*

His onboard steering platform alerted him to a drive acceleration on auto-pilot. He of course didn't drive the specified computer-checked course now, so he payed it no mind. For now the drive capabilities ran smoothly, & that was good enough for him. Another turn, only upwards this time, in a loop as he flipped upside down through the pulsing circle.

He ran through a long strip now & eased his concern on the path. He could keep this up under more stressful conditions, he was sure. But this track not just tested his abilities...But his character as well. The long & sharp turns could allow him to "ease" out of the path for a wider maneuver, and thus an easier maneuver. But he didn't want to take the easy way...& not just because he would get booked off his future license because of it.

Another swift acceleration & he brought himself down, around, upwards, & then forwards into the second to last orange ring. He had gone through this so quickly he had barely registered all of the many orange rings in the obstacle course, but he had gone through them already. Time sure does fly when your on the fly, X thought.

*ANHHHHHH!!!*

A red alert popped up on his viewfinder, which was connected too his red & black, onboard helmet. A systems failure?! He thought to himself. Can this be possible? I thought I had checked everything. But nonetheless he was slowly decelerating to the point where the computer was telling him he wasn't going to make the final jump into the holographic finish line.

He flipped the onboard computer off & located the system malfunction, manually using a wrench out of the back of the seat. He cranked the engine blot through the wiring connecting to the onboard platform. He knew this technique would work because he had used it twice before on a larger craft.

*DEEt DEet*

Come on...

*Deet deet*

Just one more second...

*deet deet...*

"Come on!!!"

*BLING*

"Yes!"

A booster pulse off the ramp sent X's craft straight through the middle of the last ring & then the finish line. He skidded of the waiting platform & quickly set the dampers on then cooled down the system. He parked & turned the engine off as the cockpit view clicked upwards & he stepped out on to land. Taking off the helmet he shook out his shoulder-length, black hair onto his white flight suit & breathed the fresh air.

"Perfect."

((Sorry for the really long post. I forgot about the 200 words until after I finished. I think I did more though.))

[Strife]

Try not to worry about the length, if you're absolutely sure that it's going to exceed 200 words. =) I just don't want people posting only a few sentences.

[Strife]

The moon was blue, sparkly, and weatherless, just like it had always been. Despite the fact that he'd been here for weeks, it seemed as though he never grew tired of the scenery, and the twinkling stars in the sky seemed to dance around in his pupils as he looked up at them. Strife calmy made his way towards the starting gate while slipping on a pair of plain black driving gloves.

Being the Commando of Spacefleet, he could have just bought himself a license, but he preferred the honest method of racing around the lunar surface. He marched towards the sleek, futuristic-looking racecar planted on the road in front of him. He stepped into the car, and with the push of a few buttons and levers, the engines were activated.

As he did so, the large neon banner ahead of him briefly displayed the the word "READY" in bold orange letters. It then began to emit a loud beeping noise as it counted down the seconds before Strife could zoom off and begin his trial.

"3"

"2"

"1"

Strife pushed his boot into the accelerator.

"GO!"

After a brief skid, the racecar darted away, leaving behind a trail of smoke and light. Strife spotted a left turn in front of him, and attempted to steer the car in the appropriate direction. Unfortunately, the car was moving too fast, and it bounced against the barricade surrounding the track, causing him to lose the burst of speed. He made a mental note to himself not to use a speed boost at the start of the race, and he continued on his way, passing through a checkpoint of orange cones.

Strife was about to come to his favorite part: The ramp. His racecar zoomed across the track, and began to climb up a hill. Now HERE'S a good place to use a speed boost, he thought to himself. Slamming on the accelerator once again, he felt his body jolt back into his seat as the racecar soared into the air, passing through an orange ring in the sky that indicated another checkpoint. Because of the reduced gravity, the car remained suspended in the air for several seconds before landing on the ground again, right next to yet another checkpoint.

Strife made another quick left turn, passing his fourth checkpoint, and crossed the finish line! He heard the familiar beeping noise that indicated the race's conclusion, and he slowed the racecar to a stop. He gazed into the sky for a moment, and then carefully hopped out of the car, making his way towards the main entrance.

Before he got far, however, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Leoness, smiling at him as if he just did something silly.

"I was good, wasn't I?" said Strife.

"You sure were!" replied Leoness, smiling sweetly at him. "But you did two things wrong."

"And what would those be?" Strife scratched the back of his neck.

"First, you collided with the barricade at the start of the race. ^_~"

"Yeah, I know. What else?"

"Second... You forgot the turn off the engine." Leoness giggled.

"Wha? I'm almost certain I did..." Strife turned back towards the track. But just as he did, he felt his weight shift, and he collasped onto the ground. Leoness tackled him and began to tickle his entire body, laughing joyfully as she did so.

"Heeeyyy! Stop! Stop eeettt!! Not in front of the recruits! Eeeee!!" Strife laughed uncontrollably, and the two wrestled on the ground for a while.

[Deleted]

Needless to say, Echo was nervous. Sure she had been under a ship, fixing it, but never had she actually driven a real ship. She could faintly remember childhood memories with her brother, driving those little toy ships, laughing happily. She missed him alot. And so, he was her motivation for the license.

She put on her helmet and zipped up her suit before entering the vehicle. She placed her hand on the sensor, and relished the familiar "whooosh" sound the door made as it swung up, revealing the hi-tech interior of the vehicle. She debated switching to the racecar at the moment, but she wasn't as comfortable with the fast machinery. She knew how tempermental they could be.

Echo stepped into the ship, scooted her seat foward, pumped it up, and lowered the steering wheel, so she could see the course before her. Once the instructor had joined her, she buckled and started the engine. It sounded in pretty beat condition, but driveable. After the test, she concluded that she would offer a tune-up. With a nod from the instructor, and thankful she was wearing her heeled boots, she eased into a steady but fast pace.

The first turn came up. She turned a little too quickly, hitting a cone before correcting herself. "Errmmm...sorry..." she said weakly to the instructor. He scribbled on his screen with his stylus. She was slightly more nervous, but she tried to keep her cool behind the wheel. She avoided the popup obstacles in her path with ease, and followed the winding curves exceptionally. Her parellell parking could have been better, but she did alright. Finally she came to the last part, she had to come to a complete stop at the line. She was going too fast...she wasn't going to make it...she wanted to close her eyes, but she kept them opened, and eased into the brake, flooring it at the last moment.

"So...how'd I do?" She asked, turning off the ship, easing it gently back to the ground.

((LOL. Wandy's my "brother" by the way. xDDDDDDD Lol. Hope this was ok...I haven't taken my driving test yet. XDDD))

[Deleted]

.oO(Right! You can do this...)

A drop of sweat ran from her forehead and down the left side of her face. She grinded her teeth, and held tightly around the steering wheel. Her knuckles turned white.

"darn it! I can do this! Why am I so nervous?"

.oO(Maybe because the whole guild is looking at you, at this very moment... not to mention... your husband is the judge)

"Okay, okay... gotta focus now!"

She put the key into the ignition, turned it, and felt how the roar of the awakened engine soared through the whole vehicle.
A thought crossed her mind, and made a cocky smile cross her lips.
Then Bag knocked on the window, and she rolled it down.

"Mum... drive carefully, okay? I don't wanna scrape you up from the surface somewhere..."

"It's okay, dear. I'll drive safely"

At the back of her head, she could hear Thundy laughing, calling her a slow driver.
She'd show him 'slow' alright.
Only... it was too bad he wasn't here to see it.
We'll she'd show him anyway.

She rolled up the window, and drove the metallic-blue racecar to the startline.
The light from the sun made the surface of it shimmer and sparkle, and she noticed all the guild members was standing at the side of the track, but she couldn't make out their expressions, because the heat was blurring her view.

She pushed the speeder a few times, making the engine growl like a furious lion, turned on the stereo and put in her favorite drive-music CD. And as the beating of the music filled her ear, along with the rumbling of the car, she started to focus.

Giving the clear signal to the flag-boy, every muscle in her body tensed up, and her keen, feline eyes focused on the light.

Going red - "C'mon... c'mon..."

Going orange - *wroum WROUM*

Going green - "Alright, let's DO THIS!!" *ROOAARRRR*

And she was off, leaving poor Bag covered in a layer of blue dust.

She saw the first checkpoint ahead. This was uncharted area, so every twist and turn of this track was new to her. But she was determined to do this. She wanted to make Strife proud of her.

With a loud *BONG* sound, she passed through the first checkpoint, and she started to feel more confident, as the movements of the car became more and more easy for her to control.

A few more checkpoints was passed, and she was starting to wonder if Strife had made this course easy for her, so that she'd pass for sure...
The heat from the surface blurred the road, but she kept going and going and going.

"This is too easy, love...", she thought to herself.

But then suddenly, beside her car, she saw a slight shimmer of light, and it grew in size and intensity, only to reveal a perfect hologram of Strife's favorite car - with himself behind the wheel.

"What the...?!"

She had a hard time concentrating on the track.

"Okay, -that- was a surprise...", she smirked.

Strife waved at her from beside, and gave her his cocky smile as he speeded up and got infront of her.
A slight noise over her radio indicated that someone was getting through to her:

"Thought I'd make it easy for you, dear?"

She looked at the rear end of Strife's car with a smug.

"Oh no you don't..."

With a pedal to the metal, she roared through the hologram, only to realize that infront of her was the peak of the course:

The sky jump!

Fast approaching, her heart didn't even have time to get scared. All she could do, was go with the car, and hope for the best.
In the rear mirror she saw Strife's hologram in fast pursuit.

The sky jump came closer and closer, and seemed higher and higher.
As if in slow motion, she felt the car starting to move up... up... up, and she kept the speeder down.

"I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna d....IIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!"

The car went out into the air, floated for a few seconds, before gravity started to pull it down towards the ramp below.
Her hands cramped around the wheel, trying to keep the steering steady. She didn't want to end up going off-road all of a sudden.

While still in the air, she glanced in the rear mirror, and saw the hologram dancing in the air behind her. She bet that Strife was enjoying this muchly!
We'll she'd have her 'revenge' later, she thought and smirked.

With a thump, the car landed on the ramp, bumping up one time before settling, and the speeding continued. She was still in the lead.

Not far away she could see the finish line, and darted for it.
With a gasp she could see that the hologram behind her was gone now.

"Poor loser, love?", she thought, and contiued through the last couple of checkpoints.

What was that she saw by the finish line?

NO! It couldn't be! How did he...?

As she passed the finish line, she pulled the hand brake, making the car spin around in a perfect U turn, leaving poor Bag covered even more in blue dust ((I'll clean you up, dear. Don't worry ^^;; )).

Leaving the car idling, she got out of it.
Strife was there in person to greet her.
He was giggling.

"You cheated!", she mumbled, crossing her arms with disapproval.

"Well... to be frank, dear... this wasn't a 'race' to begin with...", he grinned.

"Whaaaaa?"

"Yeah. You just had to get through the course. But since you took it as a race, I thought I'd give you some competition. And besides... what's the fun in having a holo-cube, if you can't use it fully?", he snickered. "How did you like my air jump by the way?"

At first she was stunned. How could she not have gotten the fact that it wasn't a race? She had made a fool of herself!
But then she saw Strife's smiling face, and he held her tightly and said:

"You did great, dear".

She blushed.

"Well, we should get home. I prepared some cookie dough, and I promised Goosh that..."

"Leonessy?"

Strife stood behind her as she was about to leave the course, and she turned around as he interrupted her mindless babbling.

"Yes?"

"Didn't you forget something?"

"Uhm...."

"The car, dear... it's still running."

[nocturne]

Nocturne glanced at the stretching track ahead of him. “We could cross this track in a minute if we changed the mech to LFO mode,” Noc said, rubbing his eyes. He didn’t get much sleep the previous night, due to anticipation of the license test.

Frenzy stared up at Noc from his seat (Frenzy had his own miniature chair in front of Noc) and shook his head, which The rules were that we had to drive in a racecar or spacecraft. This is pushing it as is!

“Fine, fine.” Noc gazed coolly at the stars all around him. Frenzy sighed and frowned, which meant something along the lines of You’re so ill-tempered.

“Haha, just joking.”

Frenzy didn’t have time to retort, as they were already speeding down the track.

“Checkpoint coming up,” Noc shouted over the roaring wind. “I have an idea.”

Having lived with Noc for 85% of his life, Frenzy had a special telepathical bond with Noc. Frenzy shook his head wildly at the ‘idea.’

Noc passed the checkpoint and produced a cylinder. He inserted it where a key for a normal motorcycle would have been and twisted it.

The motorcycle seemed to explode. In a burst of fire, the motorcycle’s wheels elongated into arms. The pedals morphed into legs, and Noc and Frenzy were enveloped in a sphere of color. When the light vanished, they were seated in a cockpit, inside a human-shaped robot.

“Now I can have some fun doing this!” Noc pulled back the stick of the mech and the afterburners of the mech kicked in. It did a hard loop the loop and passed through the orange ring in the sky. The mech rocketed with twice the speed of the motorcycle around the bend of the track and passed through the second ring in almost no time at all.

“Wait, did we fill the LFO up with gas yesterday?” Noc said suddenly. His eyes shot towards the gas gauge, and he groaned as the needle indicator shuddered towards the empty side of the gauge. Noc felt the mech drop in altitude.

“We have to go manual,” Noc cried. Frenzy rolled his eyes, which meant Oh, come on. You need exercise every once in a while.

Noc twisted the cylinder another 180 degrees and watched as the cockpit transformed into a small platform. Two armbands fell from the ceiling and Noc strapped them to his wrists. He shuddered as the mech collided with the ground, the paint tearing away from the bottom. Noc raised his arm experimentally, and nodded as the arm of the mech moved. He started running in place and smiled as the mech sprinted down the track.

Several checkpoints later, the mech fell in a heap at the finish line.

“Never…again,” Noc panted. “I hate…that method…of transportation.”


((Also, do mechs count as racecars or spacecraft? It's sorta both. >>))

[Strife]

Well, here's what I mean about your choice between racecar and spacecraft: The Lunar Raceway has a garage which contains several different types of racecars and spacecraft used for the test. It is my assumption that each of the people who apply for the license have chosen one of these "preset" vehicles.

This is strong recommendation, but not a specific rule. So you didn't break any rules or anything. ^_~

[zarikrahia]

((Zaha is Zari's cat. She can turn anthro due to a freak accident))

Zari regarded the spacecraft, prodded it, then strapped herself in. 'Let's hope thi-YAAAAH!' It appeared that she'd accelerated by mistake, shooting forward at top speed. 'Whoa!' Zaha, you’re sitting on the accelerator!'
'Oh, sorry.' Zaha hopped onto Zari's lap. 'Hey! What the?' Standing in the middle of the track was a monkey. 'Teletubbies, teletubbies, I love you, you love me we’re a happy family!' it sang. Zari stopped for long enough to jam some earplugs in her ears, before zooming away. 'I fear the kid’s shows.' she muttered, swerving to avoid a Kathy who attempted to paint her windscreen purple. 'Kathy, not all of us love purple!'' she shouted, attempting to turn on the windscreen wipers. 'This isn't funny, go away! You shouldn't be here anyhow!' Kathy disappeared with a small pop. 'Holograms.'
'Yes, i KNOW smarty-cat.'
‘Watch out for that…OUCH! No, go left, left, LEFT there’s a barrier there!’
‘I’m trying as hard as I can!’ Zari swerved, tipped upside down, but managed to navigate, even though she was upside down. Righting the ship, she ducked under the steering wheel, opening a small door, letting Zaha turn Anthro to take temporary control of the ship. ‘Someone rigged the accelerator on this thing!’ She yelled. Zari removed five wires and repositioned some others. ‘There. All done.’ Zaha shifted smoothly back to quadruped, While Zari stopped the ship and walked out. ‘Did I pass? She asked hopefully.

[bag]

Once upon a time, in the magical land of the racetrack, there once was a kitsune named Bag. He liked to drive, as evidenced by his 1337or skills in Gran Turismo, or something like that. So, anyway, he got into the car, turned the key sideways, and heard the engine rumble, and then-

WOW! KABAM! KABOOM! KAWHAMBOOMBAM! Etc.

The car broke down. Aw, what a pity. Well, actually, the car broke down shortly after the magnificent (and loud) fireworks display overhead.

Well, anyway, after using his 1337or mechanical skills (okay, so he went to Midas, but whatever) Bag went back out onto the racetrack and drove and what else do you expect? Just then though, as he got to the finish line, there was a kitten in the road. An unusually cute kitten. So cute that the car melted. Haha, kidding. Actually, it was so cute that it just stood there and looked into the car. Then Bag got some form of road rage. But he knew that as a driver, he couldn't let this poor animal get run over. So he had someone else do it-KIDDING! So he got out of the car, and in a very "d'awww" moment, he brought it to the side of the road and then crossed the finish line and am I over 200 words yet-ANYWAY-so that's how the story ended and we're all happy and YAY!

[Shadaras]

Hades settled in to the small spaceship, suppressed memories of his Illyshian training coming back is flashes. ”Zatar! Come on, let’s race!” Trying to ignore the memories, he eased the ship forward, letting it drift up to the starting line. Sitting in a ship, very like the one he was in now. But his left arm was flesh and bone, not metallic. A light on his HUD flashed red, then yellow, and finally, it turned to green. ”Go!” The voice rang through all three of the ship simultaneously. He pressed the ignition switch and the ship came to life, engines roaring.

Hades aimed straight towards the first obstacle, a ring suspended above him at an angle. Twisting, he shot straight through its center, already aiming for the next ring. Past the ring was a drifting ship, burnt and broken. There was a hole through the middle of the ship, just barely large enough for his small ship to pass through. He aimed for it, hoping that his skills hadn’t diminished too much in his years of ground combat. He twisted, just barely missing his friends ships as he passed below them, controlling his ship with an expertise none of them could hope to match. And he was through the hole, already aiming at the ground, the red and white poles marking what he needed to pass under.

Red and white, traditional markers in a race, he thought, spinning the ship so that it was orientated correctly. Nice and easy to see. He was under the bars, coming up on a crater. The course information he had been shown before the test started said that this part was testing his ground skimming abilities. Well, he thought, they chose a good crater for it. The crater was covered in rocks of varying shapes and sizes, and there was no good route to follow. No good route, but there were easier and harder ones, if you knew what to look for.

Spinning through the asteroid field, dodging pieces of rock that were as big as his craft. But he was at the top of his class, and he knew it. Hades grinned, enjoying the freedom of space as he spun through the crater, taking one of the harder routes for no reason other than to test his skills. And have fun, of course. The Hades modification hadn’t gotten rid of that, thankfully. He pulled the little spacecraft over the edge of the crater, the black and white markers at the end clearly visible. What’s the challenge here? Hades slowed, made cautious by the apparent simplicity of the remaining track.

As he neared the end, he saw the trap. It was a hologram. A very good one, he had to admit, to cover the thin rock face with the illusion of stars. Hades soared over it, seeing the actual end in front of him. The final obstacle was in front of him as well, an underground tunnel complex. He dipped in to it, changing the reception of his left eye to heat instead of light, and pulling a sensor over his right eye as he flew. They had worked this perfectly, he had to admit. The first part was easier than the last, and the trap one of the best he had ever seen. But still, a heat-sensing eye made the tunnels much easier.

Out of the tunnels, he switched his left eye back to normal with a thought, not bothering to put the HUD away. He could fly just fine with only one eye, on a short straightaway, at least. Pulling his spaceship to a stop right at the finish line, Hades retracted the HUD, turning the engines off as he did so. Pulling the safety harness off, he opened the ship up, safe in the forcefield that surrounded the endzone. Pulling to a stop, he turned his ship around and waited for his friends to catch up. He had beaten them, fair and square. They had known he would, of course, but that didn’t diminish his satisfaction at being first again.

[Strife]

bag said:

Once upon a time, in the magical land of the racetrack, there once was a kitsune named Bag. He liked to drive, as evidenced by his 1337or skills in Gran Turismo, or something like that. So, anyway, he got into the car, turned the key sideways, and heard the engine rumble, and then-

WOW! KABAM! KABOOM! KAWHAMBOOMBAM! Etc.

The car broke down. Aw, what a pity. Well, actually, the car broke down shortly after the magnificent (and loud) fireworks display overhead.

Well, anyway, after using his 1337or mechanical skills (okay, so he went to Midas, but whatever) Bag went back out onto the racetrack and drove and what else do you expect? Just then though, as he got to the finish line, there was a kitten in the road. An unusually cute kitten. So cute that the car melted. Haha, kidding. Actually, it was so cute that it just stood there and looked into the car. Then Bag got some form of road rage. But he knew that as a driver, he couldn't let this poor animal get run over. So he had someone else do it-KIDDING! So he got out of the car, and in a very "d'awww" moment, he brought it to the side of the road and then crossed the finish line and am I over 200 words yet-ANYWAY-so that's how the story ended and we're all happy and YAY!

As he emerged from the racecar, Bag peered into the distance and saw Strife approach him. He clasped his hands together, anticipating his brand new license.

"Hey there, Bag!" Strife said as he approached.

Just as Bag was about to speak, Strife answered his unspoken question. "Well... it appears that there was a bit of an issue during your testing."

Bag raised an eyebrow.

"You see," Strife continued. "We had some technical difficulties during the race. Don't worry, it wasn't your fault... Apparently, the lights at the starting line failed to initialize, and we also had some problems with the track's internal timer.

No worries, though... By the time we reset the track obstacles, things should be in working order. You'll just need to take the test again."

Strife began to walk away, but he turned around once again, smiling. "Oh, and try not to break the racecar again, eh?" He gave Bag a friendly wink, and then returned to the main hangar.

[Bacon]

Bacon landed the Stellar Eye outside of the garage, walked out of it, and into the garage. He showed Strife his ID and jumped in a sleek racing spacecraft. He powered up the junction circuit first to make a pre-flight test of the systems, then, when he was satisfied, clicked the ignition on, released the brake, and eased the ship into the levitating track, and off he went.

The first few rings were easy, but the track got much harder as it went, especially because Bacon was more familiar with the slower, more maneuverable Stellar Eye. Fortunately, though, he found adapting to the faster ship easier as he went along, and, except for once, when he barely scratched the paint of his ship against one of the rings, he never touched an obstacle.

It even got to the point of familiarity where, when a life support circuit burned out, he fixed it with one hand while keeping his eyes on the track, even though he probably didn’t need life support online for the short time the track would take to finish.

He reached the end of the track without serious incident, landed the ship in the garage and hopped out, waiting for his commanding officer’s reaction.


Word count (not including this word count): 206.
Word count (including these word counts): 221

[emmhwal]

Ink tapped her foot nervously. She was about to apply for her license, and was not very confident in her driving abilities. She loved to fly... but the last time she tried driving anything was the neighbor's golf cart. Ink absentmindedly rubbed the scar on her chin as she boarded the spacecraft.

"Let's do this," she said under her breath. She routinely went through start up - engines on, make sure it's not in reverse, and get ready. Deep breath. More deep breaths. The starting light came one. Ink's muscles tensed and the light turned green. She floored it, and the engine sputtered as she raced along the course.

Ink spotted the bright orange cones quickly; the stuck out from the grey racecourse. Still taking deep breaths, she turned sharply to avoid crashing. It was a bit close for comfort, but she came away unscratched. It's a lot less bumpy than that awful cart I used to ride in . . . she mused as she dodged a little old lady who was crossing the track. Ink failed to question the logic of this - what was a little old lady doing on the blue moon of the moon of the NTWF?

Then again, Ink was often illogical herself. Allowing her muscles to finally relax, she started to enjoy the scenery. She began to enjoy the ride - it wasn't all that difficult, thankfully.

There was a sharp turn coming up. Ink could even see the finish from here. Confidently she turned, only to hear the engine giving out. Ink cursed vehemently as she climbed out of the spacecraft. The close call at the beginning and the sharp turns must have done some damage to the engine. And Ink was no mechanic. So, she decided to do the only mechanical thing she knew. She began to kick it.

One stubbed toe later, Ink climbed back in wearily. Glancing at the control panel, she realized she was just out of gas. Pushing her glasses back up on her nose, she searched the spacecraft for any sign of extra fuel. Behind some rather large boxes, she found a half-gallon box. It’ll have to do, I suppose.

After filling up the gas tank, she raced on her way, only to bypass the finish line, and crashed into the same wall as before. The spacecraft was smoking. Grinning, she climbed out of the vehicle, only slightly shaken, and walked away; leaving some very confused mechanics behind.