She sat in her locker room, going over every last bit of race prep. Her custom airboard had never looked more beautiful—freshly shined, new light blue neons along the side, a bit of chrome outlining the afterburner nozzle, and a scratch-free electric purple paint job with gold trim lining the edges. She checked the tightness of the new intake manifold pipe and intercooler she installed a few days ago, confident her improved compression ratio was going to smoke the competition. She took a deep breath and called it good, a slight grin forming on her face as she felt the ship begin to slow down. It was almost time. She put her headphones on, grabbed her airboard, and went out into the dark, neon-lined main hall.
The ARKS Grand Prix—an up-and-coming racing circuit across multiple ships in the ORACLE fleet, where competitors race airboard technology across multiple courses across three planets—Naberius, Amduscia, and Lillipa—plus a few courses within the civilian habitats. While beginning to gain enough attention to receive more funding from the ruling bodies (and more rigid rules with each passing season), it was mostly a rogue-ran operation by several of the leaders in airboard technology. Airboards are just what you think they are—surfboard-looking apparatuses powered by micro-photon engines that utilize localized gravity wells to keep the user’s feet firmly attached to the surface of their board, and a small wrist-worn throttle control. This season was only a couple of races underway, fresh off last season’s shocker—the young prodigy that was making a mockery out of the vets.
Cocona Bartel, younger sister of General Croix Bartel of the ARKS Darker Research division, took an interest in racing from a young age. Preferring to spend more time in the shop than the classroom, she worked as an assistant to revered craftsman Master Gengai until she earned enough meseta to buy her first airboard. She joined the ARKS Grand Prix last cycle at age 14, and became the youngest to ever win a race. Her progress was as fast as her airboard, nearly claiming the championship in her first season, and spectators eagerly awaited to see what she was capable of in her second season. Her youthful, naive confidence earned her a growing fanbase, and respect among most of her competitors.
The ship transporting the twenty participants began its descent toward the surface of Lillipa, to a course laid out along a huge coolant pipe. Cocona walked down the hallway cool and collected as always, jammin’ to some hip-hop pumping through her headphones with a confident grin on her face that nothing was going to wipe away. She wore her usual purple Heartbreaker, a bit of glowy neon material embroidered into it, strutting past other competitors with a confident bounce in her step. Her thin, sporty frame and her meager height of 4’9”/145cm belied her fierce competitive spirit. This was hers for the taking. This was her proving to her brother that she didn’t need to go the way of the ARKS academy to find success. This was her freedom.
“Yer goin’ down, little girl…” yelled a rugged-looking fellow competitor.
“Y’thought you could slide in under the radar last cycle, huh? We’re all gunnin’ for your ass today!” added another.
“Heh..” muttered Cocona, flipping her twintailed purple hair in defiance. “Catch me if you can, boys~”
As the competitors stood ready in the main lobby of the transport vessel, all eager with anticipation of the looming competition, the long-awaited announcements began booming out of the PA system. “WELCOME, RACERS! RACE FOUR IN THE ARKS GRAND PRIX CIRCUIT IS ABOUT TO GET UNDERWAY!”
The broadcast cameras went live, previewing the desert course and showing a few profiles of the awaiting competitors. The commentator girls began going over their predictions and expectations for the race. The front of the ship finally began to open, the doors unfolding into a starting ramp as the racers looked down onto the sandy surface of Lillipa. Cocona fired up her airboard, put on her racing shades to shield her vibrant purple eyes, and took her place near the back of the starting grid. She didn’t qualify all that well and knew she had to make up a lot of ground, especially with the current championship leader starting at the front, but every scenario that played in her head had her standing at the top of the victory podium. It was hers to lose, even with everyone gunning for her.
“RACERS, ON YOUR MARK!”
---END TRACK 01---
Cocona lowered herself on her board, arms extended, keeping a low center of gravity as she prepared to get a good take-off. A set of lights above the starting area began to flash red, and the lights went off one by one.
Three.
“Heh…”
Two.
“Now you see me…”
One.
“…now you don’t.” grinned Cocona, as she blasted out of the ship and down to the demarcated course.
Many considered the best part of these events to be the very beginning—competitors shoving and banging against eachother as they battle for position out of the starting grid, but the smart ones waited out the chaos. Cocona let the pack get somewhat ahead of her and then clinched her throttle, blasting her and her airboard down to Lillipa’s surface. Skimming only a few inches above the coolant pipe that laid out the majority of the course, she began picking her way through the masses with agility and grace. She lightly steered her body out of the way of a damaged airboard falling behind, slid in between two other competitors, and made a hard turn up against another racer, blasting by them in the turn exit using her superior momentum. Before the pack knew what hit them, Cocona slithered her way through the initial conglomerate and sped her way towards the leaders.
You could almost feel her grin getting wider as the top five positions came into view. Using a drafting technique that involved her keeping her body low on her board and flying right in the wake of the former’s afterburner, she easily caught up to the fifth-place racer and blasted by them with a slingshot-like maneuver. The course dove down into an underground corridor through an abandoned mine, prompting Cocona to dive down and pick up all the speed she could. She squeezed the next competitor up against the wall of the shaft and passed them without too much trouble, and took advantage of the next two racers battling hard for position, just barely able to fly past them through a sharp turn that they weren’t prepared for. That’s when the leader came into view…the current championship leader, preferring only the name “Ryo”. The two entered a narrow shaft at blinding speeds, Ryo almost intentionally slowing down to let Cocona catch up.
“…damn kid. This league goes through me…bout time I teach you that the hard way!” yelled Ryo, immediately slamming his airboard violently into Cocona’s.
She gasped, startled, and lowered her body to attempt to regain her balance and to not slam into the walls of the corridor. He couldn’t quite shake her though.
“Wh-what the hell are you doing?!” yelled Cocona, fighting for position as the two racers exited the tunnel back to the Lillipan surface.
“…finishing what I shoulda done last cycle. Showing you what I do to every young punk that shows up on my turf!!”
Ryo kept slamming his board into Cocona’s, red-hot metal shavings being flung into the sand dunes below as Cocona struggled to stay with him. She tried to fight back, gritting her teeth while pressing back into his board, not giving an inch, but his moves were almost calculated, and experienced. He didn’t want to just beat her in a race—he wanted to end her career and any hope of taking his throne.
“Hey..!! Y-you’re gonna get us both--“
She was cut off as Ryo’s board smacked right into her ribs, making her scream in pain and throwing her board completely out of control as she sputtered with it over a dune, and out of sight. Ryo sped off, with a wretched grin and an evil glint in his eye, as Cocona and her board tumbled helplessly down a deep desert ravine…
---END TRACK 02---
- - - - -
Dry sand blew over the wreckage of a purple and gold airboard. A few sparks still emitted from the strewn-out debris, but it was surely totaled. It seemingly fared only slightly worse than the unconscious young girl laying in a heap some distance away, letting out a pained groan as she slowly began to stir. Cocona shakily tried to brace herself up on her arms, and cringed when she attempted to move her left leg, which was bloodied and had several gashes throughout. With no airboard and several severe injuries, Cocona was truly marooned in this deep Lillipan ravine.
“Uhhhgg…owww…” moaned Cocona, very slowly able to get herself mostly upright. Her twintailed hair was disheveled and dirty, her top had several tears in it revealing some injuries, and a fair amount of blood covered the side of her body she laid upon when she finally came to a rest after rolling down the slope. She glanced to the sparking wreckage and her mood got that much worse, as she began to realize the gravity of her situation.
“Oh, man…this…this is so boo!”
She kicked at a piece of her airboard as she whined, wincing as she realized what a terrible idea that was in her current state, but happened to catch glimpse of something in the distance—a run-down stone structure? Either she was going delusional from the blood loss and pain from her injuries, or she had literally stumbled upon some kind of ruin. She limped over to take a closer look, and that’s when she heard a booming voice ring out in her head.
“Cocona…”
“W-WAAAHHH!! Wh-what the…?!”
Her shock came at a price. She must have done a number to her ribs on impact because it hurt to breathe too hard.
“Come… closer…”
“U-um…who are you…? Can you…help me…?”
“Step… into… the temple…”
---END TRACK 03---
AR PHANTASY: The Story of Cocona Bartel (Side Story III up / 05-21-14)
Cocona Bartel
Croix Bartel
Ryo
The Heart of Gaea
Gengai Tesshou
Sasha Fitzgerald
Aoto Papenbrook
Kasera Cresscen
Dr. Luphan Ayatane
Astra
Dr. No
Layrinn
Lisette T. Kall
Tatsumi
Ce'Nedra
Raphael Tanaka
Raki
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. Although now I really wish they implemented an airboard race mode like the race you described.... c'mon sega you know you want too...
I agree with Vintasticvin that airboard racing is an interesting and unique theme to start with. We really don't know that much about the PSO2 world so it's fun to see what kind of sports they might enjoy.
I also think you implemented your songs really well (i.e. you even specified when to stop them!).
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