Let the Race Begin!

Hey, peeps. Thanks again for indulging my whining last week. I'm actually doing much better this week. I've even worked on some writing!

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Yeah. I know! To be frank, though, I have absolutely no clue when this story will be ready for the light of day. If it ever is. My brain was fried one day. Nothing held my attention. So I just read through some of my WIPs, and something sparked. I started working on this story last August or September. Then I promptly abandoned it. Worked on it a bit more in December or January. Lost it again. And I did a bit more chipping away this week. I managed to finally finish the opening chapter! I also feel like I have said chapter fairly polished. I'll most likely do one last edit before publishing, but I think it's pretty good as of right now.

I even wrote and polished a second chapter! How about THAT productivity increase? Takes me a year to write one chapter. Takes three days to write the second one. Now I need to figure out the rest of the story. I feel like this will be another of my normal 8-chapter stories in order to get the pacing right, but I can only think of 4 more chapter themes. That's it. No actual plot of what happens, but the basic FEEL of what I want the progression of the story to be. And I still feel like I'm jumping things a bit between the first half and the back half of the story. I'll definitely need to pad with more chapters to keep the pace I want and to make the story not feel rushed.

I have a vague idea of what I want to do with the next chapter. I might know what I want to do with the one after that as well, but I'll have to see if I'll need a buffer chapter between those two. If the characters' reactions seem too abrupt. It all depends on how things conclude in chapter 3. I also have the final chapter planned out, but I have no clue how to conclude the whole story. Maybe I'll need one more chapter beyond what I THINK the final chapter will be. And the one before it? Well, I have a "theme" in mind for the penultimate chapter, but I also don't know if it should be before the final chapter, or if I'll again need a buffer chapter.

This story may need another year or so to marinate for all I know. Once I have something a bit more concrete I'll be sure to not be so vague about this project. Until then, though, I wouldn't want you fine folks to get excited about a project that - well, who knows when it will see the light of day?

Instead, let's switch gears and focus on a story I am proud to present to you. It's Scum and Villainy time! Specifically, it's time for the Stardancer crew to participate in their first ever Gravity RIP official race.

Artwork by Colin Craker

First, a quick recap of what I covered last week.

The Stardancer crew picked up a job from their info broker Maggie. They need to smuggle highly monitored crystals off of the planet of Vos, and deliver them to the Turner Society, a drug cartel, to use for their main product: Haze. The crew decided to bypass Customs by getting a patsy to cause a ruckus so they'd be waved through quickly with barely a check. They found naïve minor noble Mevakor Nagan. TI'kæl almost instantly liked the guy, but knew they needed him for a fall guy. So she conned him and his bodyguards to join the Stardancer crew on a trip to tI'kæl's home world Mem in order to see the beauty of Mem's frozen moon Yuura. As tI'kæl sweet talked Mevakor (whom she nicknamed Mev), Demarcus distracted the bodyguards and Quinton slipped drugs in to the bags of useless crystals Mevakor purchased. Lucky for Mev, Quinton was able to properly charm (re: exasperate) the Customs agent enough to just get waved through. So no fall guy needed!

The crew decided to keep Mevakor with them in case they were caught on their way to delivering the crystals. They'd pin the stolen crystals on Mev, and hopefully get away with the theft.

The Turner Society has a "society house" (re: drug den) on the tidal-locked planet of Sonhandra, which happens to be in the same star system as Vos. Also, the other job the crew picked up from Maggie was to help smuggle her friend Ishi off of Sonhandra. Easy choice. The crew headed to the tidal-locked planet under the pretense of needing to refuel before continuing on to Mem. Mevakor was content, already picturing what he could pick up at the famous Sonhandra auction house.

On the trip from Vos to Sonhandra, tI'kæl took on the task of keeping Mev entertained, and did so by showing off her carving ritual. In the process, the two bonded a bit more, and tI'kæl accidentally let it slip that the crew were smugglers. Excited to be on a real-life, honest-to-goodness smuggler ship, Mev searched the ship to see what the crew could be smuggling. Not really knowing much about the RIP races, when Mev found the crew's RIP Machines (the tank-sized hovercrafts used to race) he thought THOSE were what the Stardancer crew was smuggling.

The crew and Mevakor parted ways on Sonhandra, but Mev almost instantly gloated about how he's traveling with smugglers. It was one of the most exciting things he's experienced his whole life, and he figured it would earn him "street cred", as it were. Now having to lay low further, the crew snuck their way to the Turner Society's society house Wildside. There, they were barred entrance to the club, halting their attempt to finish delivering the Vosian crystals. Quinton demanded a higher-up meet with them, and while one was being fetched the crew spotted some waifs pickpocketing the crowd. Trying to scare the waifs into leaving them alone, Demarcus wielded his large pistol. It worked, but the kids wanted to prove they weren't truly scared, so they pelted Demarcus with stones from a safe distance before scurrying off. When Demarcus whipped around to try to fire off a warning shot to get the kids to stop, his aim was off and he accidentally killed a nearby shopkeep.

Trying to discreetly duck out of the area before the authorities figured out who fired the headshot, Demarcus was loudly stopped by a local who excitedly asked about the awesome gun he had. Demarcus quickly sold the murder weapon to the local and slipped away into the crowd. He later got lost and somehow ended up in the desert on the daylight side of the planet.

Meanwhile, minor noble Vallis (who clearly partook in her own product) met up with Quinton and tI'kæl. The duo handed over the crystals, and Vallis quickly paid them before rushing off to bring them to the Society's "chefs". The duo was granted access to enter Wildside, but they opted to look for Demarcus instead.

Using communicators and landcrafts, the duo managed to find their captain and bring him back to the ship. Once there, they prepared to pick up Maggie's friend Ishi, only to hear of an official RIP League race to start later that day on Sonhandra. With no true time frame for when Ishi needed to be smuggled off the planet, the crew decided they'll sneak in a RIP race first.

And now we're set for the rest of that session.

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Pathetic green flag edit
(it was checkered originally)
by LycoRogue

Also hearing about the race, and excited to see which racing team the Stardancer crew "smuggled" the RIP Machines for, Mevakor talked his bodyguards into escorting him to the track.

The race track isn't just on the day side of this tidal-locked planet, though. It's also close to the equator. The constant sunlight has created not only desert as far as the eye can see, but it's also dried out the surface to the point where it's cracked and actual rivers of lava flow through. The track itself is about 5 or 6 feet (~152cm or ~183cm) above the planet's surface; not terribly too high, but high enough to not be affected by the surface's heat. Part of the track even crosses over the lava rivers. (I checked after the session, and one can actually safely stand about 5 feet away from slow-moving molten lava. So I was surprisingly scientifically accurate as I pulled measurements out of my butt. Neat.) The track is "fenced" in with high-density hologram walls designed to keep these fast moving, tank-sized vehicles from flinging off the track. These "walls" are like laser cheese graters, according to the official Gravity RIP rulebook. They will NOT be gentle against the vehicles if the Machines slam, slide, bounce, or otherwise interact with The Side (what these hologram walls are officially called).

A couple meters away from The Side (on either side of the track) are heat protected, extremely climate controlled, and light-shielded observation towers for in-person race watchers. These VIP luxury boxes are reserved for RIP League members, their guests, and for the most elite of elite; those willing and capable of paying a hefty sum for a seat. Somehow Mev still managed to snag himself a few seats for himself and his bodyguards.

Most RIP fans watch the Sonhandra races from the safety of their own homes via the helicams that fly around the track (I meant to say "hundreds" of helicams, but I accidentally said "millions" so canonically there are at least 2 million helicam shots the director can choose from for the broadcast... whoops... a bit overkill....). Each helicam used at each RIP race is specifically fitted with gear to help it withstand whatever harsh environments the races take place in, so these drones can easily handle the extreme heat of Sonhandra's day side.

While the crew is getting ready for their first official RIP League race, two human males walk past them. Poet (AKA Quinton) and Sanic (AKA tI'kæl) recognize one of the two as Kai, AKA AirJack, the pilot of Victory. This "cocky bastard" (as I described him during game) had been podiuming in most of his races in the underground circuit, and so he was already someone Poet and Sanic had butted heads with quite a bit. Much like Chaos Theory, AirJack was also recently invited to officially join the RIP League, and he joined the Echo Wave Riders' team Gravity Blades. AirJack's companion is his teammate Oron, AKA Iceheart, the pilot of The Gremlin.

While Victory is built for speed, Gremlin is mostly beefy and made to move people out of his teammate's way. “A big, bulky thing, kind of like the Slambulance.” I couldn't think of anything for a description of Victory, but The Gremlin is painted green, and has a large, hideous smile painted across the front. The Machine is covered in racing battle scars – dents and scrapes in the paint job – that were purposefully left there because Iceheart thought it looked cool. There are spikes designed to look like ears coming directly up from the cockpit, and “Gremlin” is written in large lettering across both sides of the Machine.

Originally, Demarcus wasn't really feeling a race, and was prepping himself to be pit-crew (as it were), but the moment he saw the gaudiness of the Gremlin, he decided he wanted in so he could try to take that monstrosity out. He quickly prepped the Slambulance and threw on his gear. 

Quinton completely switches up his look (how TBD) so he's not recognizable at all as Poet. TI'kæl unbraids her tentacles and instead spikes them out a little, and she wears a blue racing jumpsuit with blue racing goggles that hide most of her face. Demarcus, on the other hand? The group is still trying to figure out what he does to try to hide his identity, or if he even does. After a race of me calling out Space Jam as Demarcus' racing name, the joke got old quick. So the new racing name placeholder is "Doctor", but we're still workshopping the racing name and get-up. For all we know, Demarcus simply takes off his hat and calls it a day as he climbs into the Slambulance.

Anyway, RIP races don't have qualifiers to figure out the starting grid of a race. Instead, when the vehicles are teleported to the track, they are randomly placed within the starting grid. The addition of luck in setting up a racer's starting position helps add to the drama and make sure the grids don't get too "stale" by having the best racers ALWAYS qualifying to start in the front. (All of this randomized grid bits are canonically part of the Gravity RIP rules) As their first race begins, Iceheart in the Gremlin got the best luck of the group, starting in 9th place. Poet in the Dark Soliloquy started in 14th, Sanic in Da Wey was in 16th, Space Jam in the Slambulance started in 19th, and AirJack in the Victory started all the way in last place; right behind the Slambulance.

For the rest of this post, I'm just editing down the official racing commentary I gave in-game after everyone took their turns.

As the first lap starts, Poet shoots forward. He easily passes the competitors directly in front of him. About half-way through the lap, Dark Soliloquy catches up with Gremlin, and the two are neck-and-neck. The two battle for quite some time, Gremlin holding Dark Soliloquy back for most of the back-half of the lap. Each move Dark Soliloquy makes, Gremlin counters. Just before the final turn, Poet spots a weakness in the Gremlin's defenses. Taking a hard turn, Poet practically upends Dark Soliloquy so it's nearly vertical. The bottom of Poet's sleek Machine just barely misses The Side as the thick, shatter-proof windshield of Dark Soliloquy scrapes against one of the spiked “ears” on The Gremlin. Most of the paint is scraped off the roof of Poet's Machine, and Gremlin avoids damage from Dark Soliloquy's razor-sharp wings. As Poet passes, he drops Dark Soliloquy to its natural position, but rattles his RIP drive a bit more than intended.

Da Wey struggles to pass anyone for most of the lap, but eventually Sanic gives up on traditional racing. She purposefully slams towards The Side, tipping her spherical Machine on its side, very much like Poet did with his. Riding on her momentum, Sanic skates Da Wey up The Side like a skateboard, and flips off of it and over the Machine in front of her. When she again has difficulties passing someone, she does the same thing again and again. Most of the back half of the lap is Da Wey skating up The Side to flip over the top of the competitor in front of her, landing onto the track, and flipping over the next guy the same way. The crowd is going wild and eating this spectacle up! The problem is that The Side is made up of an almost chain-link-style hard-light hologram specifically designed to keep these massive vehicles inside the track. It's like a molten-hot cheese grater against Da Wey each time Sanic tries this maneuver. By the time the final turn is in view Da Wey is hurting from all the scrapes against The Side. The RIP Drive is pretty jostled. Bits of the underside of Sanic's Machine are scraped raw and exposed. There's a hairline crack where the windshield meets the body of the Machine, and water from the cockpit is trickling out, sliding along the spherical body, and whipping at sonic speeds against the Machine behind her.

The Slambulance spends the whole lap at almost “cruising” speeds compared to everyone else (i.e. about 650 mph (1046 kph) compared to the other competitors going roughly 768 mph (1236 kph)). Demarcus has no cares over the other Machines pulling away. He cares about the pissed off pilot of the Victory trying desperately to get around him. He isn't very swift, but he expertly cuts Victory off at every attempt. “If RIP Machines had horns, AirJack would be laying on his the whole lap.”

Coming around the final turn, Dark Soliloquy feigns to the left. As the pilot in front of him – Smog Prime – takes the bait, Poet hard banks around the right of the Avenging Angel. Sanic struggles with Da Wey; trying desperately to push forward in the pack. As she attempts to overtake Rando in the Cardrissian, he spots her loop-the-loop wind-up, and manages to pin her against the Side for a brief second; stopping the momentum she needed to make the flip, and also scraping more off of the orb-like Machine. Struggling to keep Da Wey steady, and water leaking like crazy through the windshield seal, Sanic ops to slow down slightly; dropping back a spot as she crosses the start/finish line. All the way at the back of the pack, Demarcus takes joy in how annoyed AirJack seems to be in Victory, and decides to up the agitation. He abruptly slams on his brakes, forcing Victory to also pull back. Victory fishtails for a moment; the back end of the Machine bouncing off the Side a couple of times. Smoke now billows from the thrusters, and there's a concerning rattling as the RIP Drive becomes unstable. Pissed off at how poorly he's doing, and trying to get away from the Slambulance, AirJack uses the random movements of his fishtailing to throw off Demarcus' visual tracking of him. Finding a new hole, AirJack punches it and squeaks Victory past the Slambulance finally.

Dark Soliloquy is “full-on NOS-ing this shit” and black flames are just ripping out of the turbine. He's easily zipping past the front of the pack, weaving around everyone as he makes his way to first place. As everyone nears the final turn of the 2nd lap, a previously unknown racer from the underground leagues is now in first.

Gremlin's pilot is agitated that his partner is stuck at the back of the pack, and knows that one of them has to try to podium in order for the race to be worth it. So, despite wanting to focus on taking out competitors, the Gremlin charges forward, bumping Machines out of his way, one of which is Smog Prime in the Avenging Angel. The Gremlin nears the final turn of the lap in 7th. As he bumped his way through the pack, the Gremlin is starting to get a few scratches. That's perfectly fine for Iceheart. In fact, he WANTS the scratches and battle scars; it's part of his Machine's aesthetic. He just wishes he didn't have to focus on podiuming so he could instead focus on beating up some of the other Machines more.

Sanic just wants to 'Go Fast' and attempts to weave her way through the crowd. Da Wey is certainly worse for wear, however. There's now “waterfalls of water” spilling out of the cockpit area and large dents in the sides of the otherwise spherical Machine. There's still enough water inside the cockpit to keep Sanic well hydrated and protected from the heat of the Day side of Sonhandra, but she's going to want to finish this race quickly, despite Da Wey kind of puttering towards the final turn. She continues her dangerous maneuvers of trying to swing her Machine up and over the other racers, but she gets a bit ping-ponged between the Machines and the Side. For every Machine she overtakes, another bumps her to the side. The pack wrestles for position, and in the end, Sanic only improves her standing by one, and in desperate need for the race to end. Surprisingly, Da Wey didn't seem to receive any further damage, although that's hard to truly say with it as beaten up as it already was.

At the back of the pack, AirJack in the Victory is having similar struggles. His battles with the Slambulance has left his Machine hurting. One of the wings is dented and creating a lot more drag than he anticipated. Every time he gets some headway around a bend, the Machine he passed is able to overtake him again on the straights. There's this back-and-forth game of tag for most of the lap, pushing Victory back into 19th place as the pack approaches the final turn.

As Demarcus sees the start/finish line approaching, and sees Victory pushed back in front of him once more, he takes his chance. Attempting to piss off and insult AirJack even further, he punches the gas on the Slambulance; not to slam into Victory, but to pass it. AirJack sees the flame bursts explode from behind the Slambulance, and braces for impact. He swerves out of the way, unknowingly opening a path for Demarcus to easily slide through. As the Slambulance gets ready to pass the racer in 18th, he realizes how far ahead of Victory he is. One final insult: he pulls back just before passing the second racer in order to make sure he's nice and cozy right in front of the Victory.

Pissed to be passed by an Unknown, the pilot of the 2nd place Machine (unnamed) aims for the inside of that final turn in a bid to take 1st place back. Poet pushes his Machine a bit more to get far enough ahead of the opposing machine to easily hold the inside and prevent anyone else passing him. It was a dangerous gambit, though, and now Dark Soliloquy is rattling and struggling to hold speed as the RIP Drive wobbles uneasily.

Back in 7th place, Gremlin decides to be “a complete dick” and just slams on his brakes to collide full-on into Avenging Angel behind him. Smog Prime was following too close to move out of the way and gets CRUSHED by this maneuver. Debris is now showering everywhere from Avenging Angel as Smog Prime loses nearly half of his Machine. Smog Prime is purely focused on keeping the Machine steady and on the track; almost ignoring everyone else for a few seconds.

As the vehicle behind Avenging Angel swerves to try to avoid the showering debris, Rando in the Cardrissian takes advantage of the distraction and slips past them.

Back in 13th, Sanic also tries to overtake the racer in front of her. The two fought for the inside curve, but with a quick feign, Sanic was able to psych out the other pilot and sprint past them.

Back in 19th, Demarcus eyes up Victory, already barely holding together. With a mischievous grin, Demarcus pulls the e-brake equivalent on his Machine, purposefully fishtailing the back of the Slambulance so the Machine does a 180. AirJack panics, and tries to move out of Slambulance's way. Demarcus, on the other hand, fully thrusts towards his new rival. The Slambulance easily finds its target, nearly crunching the nose of the Victory into the cockpit itself. In fact, Demarcus would have just folded the cockpit right into the RIP Drive if AirJack didn't instantly pull his own e-brake to get away from the Slambulance. The moment the two machines broke apart AirJack slammed on his Retire button. The lap ends with the massive magnetic drone dropping down to pick the crumbled remains of Victory off the track and off to safety. Inside the claustrophobic cockpit, AirJack prayed the RIP Drive would hold steady until he's at least out of his Machine.

Dark Soliloquy is comfortably out in first, but Nonamé (racer name? Machine name? I was tired and just BSing at this point in the session) is doing everything he can think of to try to steal the 1st position back from Dark Soliloquy. That's when Poet just opens up the throttle and rushes forward until he sees the back of the pack in front of him. The 2nd place racer tries to follow suit to catch up, but is also trying to dodge slam attacks and block against overtakes. It's a bit chaotic at the front of the pack, and he's too distracted holding back everyone else to properly focus on taking back the lead.

Gremlin and Avenging Angel are continuing to battle back and forth. Every time Avenging Angel overtakes Gremlin, the huskier Machine pushes back, bumping more panels off of Avenging Angel; scattering more shrapnel. Avenging Angel, in kind, bumps against Gremlin in an attempt to bust up its exhaust. They tousle for most of the lap. As the duo approach the final turn of the race, Avenging Angel manages to swing ahead of Gremlin. Just behind them, Rando tries to advance, but there's just too much happening with Gremlin and Avenging Angel taking up too much track. Despite all of the movement in the center of the pack, as they near the final turn Rando just couldn't manage a better position within the crowd. On the flipside, during all of this shuffle, and the other pilots getting distracted by even MORE shrapnel coming off of Avenging Angel, Gremlin, and Cardrissian, Sanic sees her opening. She opens the throttle all the way and snakes Da Wey through the pack. She had the determination and power to blast far enough to podium. Unfortunately, as she avoided being ping-ponged any further than she had already endured, she had to slam on the brakes more than she'd like. For every two Machines she overtook, one was able to pass her on a straight away. Still, she managed to weave her way through enough of the cluster to go into the final turn in 7th place! The finish line in sight and Da Wey holding together on a prayer.

Now that Slambulance managed to take out Victory, Demarcus eyed up the other member of Gravity Blades. Majorly overclocking his RIP Drive, the Slambulance roared as it jettisoned forward through the tail of the crowd. It's faster than Demarcus is used to going in his Machine, and he quickly lost control. Slamming into the Side, he scraped off a few panels, a stablizing wing, and part of his cow splitter. The Slambulance rattled violently, and Demarcus quickly realized he won't be able to reach the Gremlin after all. Pulling back down to a more comfortable speed, he willingly fell back into 17th place; disappointingly missing pilots behind him as they zip past.

The finish line in sight, Poet punched Dark Soliloquy one last time. He zipped easily around the final turn and across the finish line. He nearly lapped the pack in his victory lap. Barely a second behind him, Nonamé slid in at 2nd.

Sanic knew her Machine was barely holding on, so she did everything she could to finish the race before her RIP Drive completely gave out. Taking the turn dangerously close to the Side, she slipped past the pilot in 6th – who happened to take the turn a touch too wide anyway. Catching Da Wey coming from their left startled the driver, causing them to also fall back a touch. Sanic comfortably finished the race in 6th, and instantly hit for a pick-up so she could get out of the heat of the track before her cockpit completely depleted of water.

Meanwhile, as he rounded the corner, Smog Prime attempted to pass Da Wey for one last-ditch effort to get a better racing prize. As Sanic's relatively smaller Machine took the turn too tight for Avenging Angel to follow, Smog Prime reset his sights on the previous 6th place pilot. However, this racer is so shaken up by Da Wey seemingly popping up out of nowhere that they instantly dropped speed and shifted to dodge out of her way. This ended up unwittingly blocking the track, and Smog Prime just couldn't wiggle his way past after all.

Gremlin's pilot Iceheart knew he wasn't placing high enough to really make much in Volts, but he could still at least get some more Crits out of this race (racers get bonuses for successful slam attacks against competitors). Plus, he was pissed that his partner had to bail. Revving his engine, Gremlin went to sideswipe Avenging Angel. He sidled up to the Avenging Angel's left as they made the final turn. As Gremlin moved to slam the Avenging Angel against the Side, Smog Prime dodged the 7th place racer's swerves to avoid Da Wey, unwittingly also dodging out of Gremlin's attack. Unable to stop his momentum fast enough, Gremlin collided hard against the Side instead of his intended target. He coasted along the Side as he finished the turn, finally peeling off as he hit the straight away. The paint had been completely scraped off the right side of the Gremlin, along with the right stabilizing wing and one of the “ear spikes.” Free of his pursuer, Smog Prime in the Avenging Angel crossed the finish line in 8th place.

As Gremlin tried to recover from his failed aggression, Rando in the Cardrissian saw his opportunity to make some extra Crits. He lined himself to the Gremlin's left, and easily checked him back against the Side. Pinning the already banged up Machine against this hologram wall, Cardrissian ended up tearing more from Gremlin, dissolving metal off the Machine as the panels heat up to nothing. The walls of the cockpit started to crack and whine with strain, and Iceheart could hear the RIP Drive whirling wildly as it started to overheat. Slamming on his breaks, he pulled back and out of the pin. Rando nearly slammed into the Side instead, but quickly righted himself, just barely scraping his one wing before pulling away from it.

Smelling blood in the water, the Machine behind Gremlin attempted to take the smoking-but-still-moving vehicle out of the race. They attempted to just collide full-on into the back of Gremlin, in hopes of disabling the RIP Drive fully. Iceheart was already watching how much smoke was billowing out of his Machine, so he noticed the rev up to slam, and quickly shifted so the still-solid left side of his Machine took the brunt of the attack. The other vehicle's nose crunched in, and the pilot quickly back away; realizing their greedy mistake.

The Cardrissian finished 9th, with the barely-holding-together Gremlin closely following in 10th, and the nose-crunched vehicle in tow for the 11th position finish.

Back in 17th, Demarcus also tried a last-ditch effort to earn more Crits - and maybe steal a position - by slamming into the vehicle in front of him. The pilot was in a much faster Machine, however, and easily dodged as they took the final turn. The Slambulance bounced off of the Side, lost the other cow-splitter, and had its nose caved in a bit.

With the Slambulance now looking like it's fresh out of a demolition derby, the pilot in 18th attempted to overtake him. Demarcus wasn't about to lose more money by falling further back. Besides, he was liking the profit he was making with all of these slam attack photo-ops. He allowed the Machine to come up beside him, but then he rerouted some of his RIP Drive's power to his side; making it crackle with a lethal wave of electrified gravitrons. With a jerk, the Slambulance smacked hard into the side of the passing Machine; short-circuiting its RIP Drive. The opposing Machine instantly dropped the five feet Machines hover above the track, crashing onto said track for a second before the RIP Drive rebooted, and the Machine hovered back up to finish the race. That second-long shut-down was enough to drop it back into last place as the previous 19th-place holder zipped past.

Just as greedy as the former 18th place racer, the new pilot tried to use their last-minute burst of acceleration to try and pass the Slambulance. Their Machine was pretty banged up as well, however, and could only keep nose-to-nose with Slambulance. Meanwhile, the side of the Slambulance was still crackling with residual electrified gravitrons. It won't be enough to disable this opposing vehicle like it did with the previous one, but it might be enough to keep them at bay. Demarcus again crashed his Machine into the other. The Machine rattled and wobbled, slowly sliding back along the Slambulance, but it tried to keep pace. One last bump from Demarcus, and the challenging vehicle got shaken off like drops of water.

The Slambulance then passed the finish line in 17h with the 18th-place finisher right on his tail. The last place vehicle sped past a second later and the checkered flags finish waving. The race is over!

The race concluded, everyone was brought back to the hangar. AirJack, despite retiring before the start of the 3rd lap, was still cursing up a storm and throwing things. This wasn't the showing he wanted to present in one of his first-ever official RIP League races. Beyond frustrated, he started kicking at the Victory.

(Hubby joked that with only 1 integrity point left on the Victory, AirJack better be careful that kicking his Machine doesn't blow it up. I rolled to see if it would. Sadly, no. AirJack's kicks aren't that powerful, but there was probably a real chance there.)

As Demarcus climbed out of the Slambulance, he called over to AirJack. The rival racer growled back at Demarcus and started raging at him about the poor racing etiquette of purposefully driving so slow at the start of the race. Demarcus quipped back, "Thought you were good at this." AirJack replied that he is good, but the starting position lottery screwed him over by placing him in last place and behind the Slambulance. To which, Demarcus teased, "Oh! So you're only good when you're lucky?" Instead of replying verbally, AirJack picked up a wrench and hurled it at Demarcus, who easily ducked back into the Slambulance to avoid the hit. Laughing to himself, Demarcus finished pulling the Slambulance into his Machine's docking bay.

He now personally has a rivalry with any and all racers on the Gravity Blades team.

Jumping to the audience, Mevakor sprinted around all of the merchandise booths looking for anything and everything available for team Chaos Theory. One race, and the knowledge that his "smuggler friends" brought the Machines to Sonhandra (he doesn't know that the Stardancer crew IS Chaos Theory), is more than enough to solidify him as a hardcore fan.

The only real snafu with Mev being such a fan is that he was also whispering to anyone willing to listen, "And I know the guys that smuggled those Machines onto this planet, but I won't tell anyone because it's a SECRET! But I was on a smuggler's ship – DID I TELL YOU I WAS ON A SMUGGLER'S SHIP? - and they smuggled those Machines in, and it was FANTASTIC- I mean, I don't know anythiiiiiing.....”

Luckily, RIP racing isn't illegal, especially when the racers are official League members participating in official League races. So just about all of the audience members and merchandisers simply thought Mev was delusional and didn't really pay him much heed.

Thus endith our first session of Scum and Villainy with Gravity RIP added on for extra flavor.

Clearly recounting these races takes a lot more detail than I originally thought it would, so I'm going to hold off on describing the 2nd session. That can be next week's post.

Also, we held a session last night, and we'll have another one next week to make up for all of the missed ones we've had to do. So I'll have stories about the Stardancer crew for quite some time. Let me know what you guys think of these shenanigans below. Are you interested? Would you like me to talk about something else? Let me know.

In the meantime, I guess I'll catch you guys next week with more spacefaring shenanigans as the crew attempt to smuggle Ishi off of Sonhandra.

Scum and Villainy rule book cover designed by art team:
Brett Barkley, Tomasso Renieri, Juan Ocha,
Michaela DeSacco, and Tazio Bettin
(Cheesy Batman-series-joke edits by LycoRogue)