childofrebellion | The Race

Entry tags:

The Race

The stands are a mixture of good quality and finding seats where you can. Thanks to the help of Pan, Cassian was able to get Barry, Cisco and Gabe seats with a good view of what's visible of the track and then the screens showing the other sections.

Cassian's down with the ships with Yamato, Pan came by to help them but is now up in the stands.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Gabriel whoops as they clear the first set of obstacles and Yamato passes yet another ship.

"He's got this," he tells Barry confidently, keeping any worry out of his own voice. "Cisco saw to that, right?" He gives the engineer a grin, then boos at the field as a shaky ship slips past Yamato somehow.

Yamato holds his own during one or two flashes of light and one or two violent shudders of the cave -- it's when both come at the same time, a flash of light bright enough to momentarily blind him, and a sharp shaking of the cave, that he's in trouble.

He just barely avoids a pillar of rock, a shower of sparks flying from the hull of his ship as he skates across it. The force of it nearly sends him careening into the nearby cave wall, and it takes all of his skills to control the ship enough not to crash straight into it, instead scraping one wing over the wall with another shower of sparks.

It all only takes maybe two seconds at most, and then he's back in control, zooming ahead through the caves, but that's still enough time for the fourth place ship to put some distance between them.

As the ships emerge from the cave system, Cassian radios out, "Status?"

There's space now to gather up speed as they head back towards the starting line.

"Paintwork's looking pretty bad, cladding's taken some damage, and the stabilising flaps on the left wing are banged up," Yamato rattles off in reply. "Nothing too bad, though, the ship's still fully operational."

He's gaining on the fourth place ship, but since it's picking up speed too, Yamato doubts he'll be able to overtake it before the second lap of the race starts.

"Good, if you need it, I'm ready to do any quick repairs."

A couple of ships are pulling away into their garages for some fast fixes.

"Oh yeah, if he doesn't die he's totally going to win," Cisco says confidently.

"How 'bout you, Gabe? Would you get in one of those and race?"

Used to ignoring Cisco's brand of unassuring reassurance, Barry tries to ignore him and nods to Gabriel.

"Yeah, no. I know. He's totally got this."

No sooner does Barry say that then Yamato starts his steep dive towards the ground, getting closer and closer without any sign he's going to pull out of it.

"Oh, man... "

"Yeah, let's get some of the cladding damage sealed shut and replace this stabilising flap," Yamato says, pulling into the garage for a pit stop.

The cladding on the bottom and wing of the ship was scored pretty badly, after all. He doesn't want to get up to space and find that the damage is bad enough for the ship to start losing heat.

By the time that Yamato lands, Cassian has the supplies he needs out including a spare flap.

He's working as fast and efficiently as he can, "Test the flap and then you're good to go."

Yamato gives the flap a quick test, then gives Cassian a thumbs up to indicate that it's working.

Then he accelerates out of the garage, rejoining the race for the second lap as the other ships also accelerate out of their own pit stops.

He's still in fifth place, with a significant gap between him and the fourth place ship, but over the first leg of the lap, he works on closing the distance.

By the time they're at the first obstacle section, he's practically alongside them, and as that first obstacle section finishes and they start their ascent up towards space, he overtakes them with a burst of speed.

Fourth place, he mentally notes, readjusting his mental map of the race and its competitors.

Up ahead, speeds change once again as everyone adjusts to space. Afterburners come out and one ship has stronger ones, that they'd been holding off using.

Gabe's grin turns a little dubious. "It's a little more intense than BMX but I could give it a shot."

Then he's holding his breath as Yamato dives, knowing the kid has to pull up and fearing he won't in time. "Yeah!" He shouts as the craft levels out, shooting forward past two other ships just before they enter the caves. "Fucking daredevil, Jesus."

"Sweet, dibs on being your mechanic," Cisco calls. "But hey, give me a little more than last minute's notice, alright?"

Cisco is literally on the edge of his seat watching the dive, then hollers, and loudly, when Yamato pulls off the stunt.

"YEAH, MAN! Fearless!"

"Holy cow," Barry breaths, but he can't help laughing as well because that was nuts.

He raises his voice with Cisco and Gabriel and pumps an arm in the air to cheer Yamato on.

The lighting in the caves is almost a strobe effect with the random flashes going off. Gabriel sucks in a breath through his teeth as sparks fly off Yamato's plating.

"That's a ruined paint job."

"OH!" Cisco gasps when he sees the sparks fly. "My ship!"

"Not really yours, dude," Barry notes, watching the screens over the race course.

When Yamato gets out of the cave and starts to pull away from the race Barry nods.

"Think he's taking a pit stop."

"I hope he doesn't lose too much time."

He taps a finger on rail, slow and steady, as Yamato drifts off the track.

"How much work you put into that?" He asks Cisco.

Yamato growls as that ship pulls ahead of him, leaving him back in fifth place as it rushes ahead.

He kicks his own afterburners into maximum output, giving chase and managing to keep on its tail, even if he doesn't catch up just yet.

It's when they enter the descent back down towards the surface that he starts making gains. He keeps his afterburners activated, gaining more and more speed, far more than his last dive down, and as he does he starts overtaking ships.

Fourth place, he notes as he overtakes one, before spiralling around and overtaking another. Third place.

He keeps getting faster, and when he pulls out of the dive -- as late as he did in the last lap, but with the added speed this time around sending dust and rocks flying up in his wake -- he slingshots ahead of another ship.

Second place.

He can see Altax's ship now, as they enter the caverns, although it still has a hefty lead over him. He does, at least, switch off his afterburners as he enters the caves, letting himself slow down a little.

Edited 2019-08-16 04:25 (UTC)

Cassian holds his breath during that perilous entry down and waits for the comms after the caverns. In the caverns, Altax is taking a slightly different route that shaves a few moments off his time.

"I should be down there," Cisco grumbles. Although Cassian and Yamato both know their stuff pretty good, so he can't begrudge the situation too much.

"I did as much as I could in the time that they gave me," Cisco replies to Gabriel.

"I think him and Yamato have got this," Barry says, watching as other ships pull in as well.

Listening to Cisco, Barry shakes his head and says to Gabriel, "He made some tweaks, but Cassian and Yamato definitely put that ship together."

"You guys got some talent."

It's pretty impressive to put a ship together, more so on a time limit.

He keeps tapping out his slow beat, watching, and suddenly sits up sharply. "Here he comes."

"You know it," Cisco brags.

He hops up and climbs onto his chair, waving and cheering like a madman as Yamato approaches.

"YEAAAAAAH! GET IT!!!"

Barry's on his feet, cheering loudly over the crowd, but also on watch in case Cisco falls off his chair.

"GO MASTER ILO!!!" Barry shouts.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 4 of 8

The Race

Re: In the stands

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Re: In the stands

Re: In the stands

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Re: In the stands

Re: In the stands

Re: In the stands

Re: In the stands

Re: In the stands

Re: In the stands

Re: In the stands

no subject

no subject

Re: In the stands

Re: In the stands

Re: In the stands

Re: In the stands

Re: In the stands