The canopy of the forest dispersed as the raceway raised up and out onto a craggy slant. This portion of the track involved uneven ground and rivers of lava. The magma oozed across the raceway as a wall of molten death, and made traversal nearly impossible. The racers would have to utilize mushroom trees along the right, or boost up and over the lava channels. Either would consume time and speed.
"Easy," Sonia accelerated at the magma wall. A small lid near the handlebars opened and Sonia dropped a bead into it. This activated her nitrous, and she blasted forward. Her rash action worked up onlookers, but she popped a wheelie on her motorcycle and hopped. It gave her some air, and then she de-summoned the vehicle. She took out a chaos gem and fused it into her hand. The same neon blue glow she had from yesterday enveloped her right when she torpedoed into the lava. She wowed the crowd and emerged from the other side in the blink of an eye. The damage she took forced her out of her neon form, but the speed she flew meant the damage didn't register fully until she was out of the lava. She re-summoned her bike, landed, and zoomed forward. The crowd erupted in cheers.
"That's one gem gone," Talis tallied.
"There's plenty more where that came from," Sonia sang.
"I have to get me one of those!" Gamer's envy melted out of him like lava.
Captain Vulcan and Master Chaffe zipped by Ego. Chaffe sped over to an incline on the mountain and ramped off it. Thanks to the hover mechanism of his stolen vehicle, he glided over the dangers and landed safely. Vulcan, on the other hand, drove right into the lavafalls. His vehicle withstood the intense heat and came out the other side undamaged.
"How did he survive that?!" Gamer didn't see a powerup.
"Burning passion!" Asterion and practically the whole world shouted in unison, as if the answer were a catchphrase. Even one of the councillors cheered, which earned him judgmental glances from his cohorts. He settled himself down.
"We're going to need a little something more than passion if we want to find a way past the lava," Gamer examined the environment. Rock formations could be used for ramps, but how well they'd work and what speed they needed to avoid each lava stream wasn't clear. The mushroom trees might work...
"If we drift just right, we can use the momentum to hop across the mushroom trees," Asterion directed.
"Drift? I don't know if that would work with so little room," they'd be threading a needle.
"Not if we snake it," the minitaur said confidently.
Gamer floored the gas pedal and headed for a rock formation. It ramped them off the race course and towards some of the mushroom trees. They landed, and Asterion manipulated the handbrake while Gamer focused on cutting the wheel. They tickled the rounded edge of the mushroom tops with a healthy drift. The drift generated blue sparks, and when Gamer stopped drifting, the sparks gave the beetle a boost of speed. The momentum flung them to the next mushroom. Gamer and Asterion repeated the snaking drift boost as they fell to each mushroom cap at lower elevations. However, the trio could tell that if they kept falling, they'd end up below the track. They'd careen off course.
"I got this!" Minnie leaned out the window. She cocked her arm back while holding onto a hammer. She slung it at the next mushroom tree below. It clipped the top and broke the cap, bending it upwards like a ramp.
"Nice thinking!" Gamer called out. When they landed on the bent treetop, he punched the nitrous button and Ego rocketed upwards towards the course. Gamer buttonmashed the nitrous to soar over the final lava stream. If there were a giant soccer ball, they'd surely be able to score a goal with their aerodynamic beetle. Cheers showered the group when Ego landed safely on the other side of the crags.
"'Atta boy!" Asterion patted Ego's dashboard.
"Good job, everybody! We'll get S-rank for sure," Gamer metaphorically patted his team on the back. He checked the gauges to see how much nitrous they had left. As feared, they were at zero.
"I hope the ladies find a way past the lava," Asterion glanced over his shoulder. The Vtubers were completely out of sight thanks to the lava flow. He worried for his friends, "We all know the mountains don't give back what they take."
Gamer shrugged, "Ah, it's not that big of a deal. They don't really seem like a threat unless they're in that Vtron form."
Samira popped up, "＼(°o°;) BATTLESHIP BABE INBOUND!!"
The gargantuan form of a bodacious beauty eclipsed the angry sun. Her shadow covered the mountainous side of the raceway. Vtron had been fused, and she dove across the entire section of the course.
"Me and my big goddamn mouth!" Gamer metaphorically kicked himself.
When she landed and rolled, the amount of damage brought on to the foothills and forest were equal to an earthquake's. Even the audience at the beginning felt the ground rattle beneath their feet. She rolled sideways past the curve of the course that led into the final stretch. She propped herself into a sprinter's ready position, and glared seductively at the oncoming racers.
"Sorry, fellas, but I'll be taking home the prize!" Vtron stuck out her tongue. She bounded from her position and caused a tectonic shift beneath the island. The road and earth segmented and splintered up in different parts.
Vulcan, Chaffe, and Ego rounded the corner and were meters behind Vtron. They veered along the segments of road and avoided crashing. Vtron's sprint startup was slow due to her size. Ahead of her was Sonia, who had a comfortable lead against everybody. She listened to music and nodded her head lackadaisically. She checked her minimap every so often to keep an eye on the competition, but nobody could beat the best speedrunner.
Gamer fired a rocket to the backside of Vtron. It exploded on her behind and caused her to flinch. However, it was nothing but a bee sting.
"Hey! Watch the goods, sugar!" Vtron complained, and at the very least, faltered.
Gamer gritted his teeth. Their weapons didn't work, they were out of nitrous, and had no other options.
Captain Vulcan drove up next to Chaffe and opened his cockpit, "Master Chaffe, I need you to rocket jump me!"
"That trick was banned long ago due to a bunch of team-killing fucktards. It could kill you!" Chaffe pointed out.
"If it means avoiding a loss, I will gladly accept death!" Vulcan put a fist to his heart. His fans cried out with tears of pride. Asterion fanned himself in Minnie's lap.
Chaffe cycled through his inventory until he equipped his rocket launcher. He aimed ahead and Vulcan lined up with the shot. When Chaffe fired, Vulcan leapt. He landed right where the rocket met the ground and detonated. Vulcan timed it right and used the concussive force to send him flying towards the back of Vtron's leg.
"Megaton Vulcan..." Vulcan cocked his fist back while flying over a hundred miles per hour. Veins of molten power surged through his arm and body. The intensity ripped his jacket off and exposed his finely toned torso.
"It's his Ultra! It's his Ultra!" Asterion cried out while his minitaur hands patted Gamer's face.
"Would you stop..." Gamer fought the fanboy's hands away. Minnie gawked at Vulcan with stars in her eyes.
"PAWNCH!!" Vulcan threw the seismic punch at the back of Vtron's knee. It connected and exploded with glorious power. Vtron's kneecap imploded into mulch and sent a shockwave up the titan's body. She cried out and collapsed to her knees and elbows. The earth shook and the raceway was now framed by the giantess. Her luscious thighs and hanging Garden of Eden arched over the track.
Vulcan backflipped and landed perfectly in the Red Roman. The audience jumped up and down at his triumphant attack. Vulcan, Chaffe, and Gamer zipped under her.
When Vulcan and Chaffe were out from under Vtron, and Ego passed under her breasts, she stammered, "Don't think...we're out of this...yet!"
Vtron focused and activated her magical melons. The gravitational well that was her cleavage began to pull the three vehicles from the track. They were powerless to her superior powers.
"V I L E G A M E R!!"
A damnable voice roared from the heavens. A bolt of black lightning crashed through Vtron's body and out her chest. The bolt solidified like a spike of judgement. Vtron let out a horrifying cry and her gravitational pull stopped. The vehicles landed, but swerved to a stop to take in the new threat from above. A storm of charred clouds gathered.
"That voice..." Gamer, as well as everybody else, cast their sights to the skies.
A sawblade of dark energy traced the lightning bolt and punctured through Vtron's chest. The sawblade crashed between Vulcan and Chaffe. Erratic lines of darkness branched out in all directions, and impaled the two players. Gamer nimbly put Ego in reverse and sped back to avoid the tendrils. The darkness didn't reach, but was damn close.
"No way..." Talis checked the feeds. The chat cried, almost like a chant, the name of the darkness.
Sonia skid sideways and slowed to a stop. She lifted her helmet and gazed up at the nearest broadcast board. The in-game audience were nearly silenced to gasps and whispers. The atmosphere dimmed and a heavy evil brought the race to a complete standstill.
Each councillor, except Chad, stood to their feet. A new surge of excitement answered their anticipation. Chad broke his stoicism and gave a prideful smirk at the darkness captured onscreen.
Gamer glared at the entity that formed from within the epicenter of the darkness, "Shade."
Perfectly silhouetted in blackness, aside from his lethally hateful eyes, Shade made his haunting return, "Gamer."