⛭ Chapter 9 ⛭

Glancing from the window to see Revv’s thick dystopian atmosphere came with a sense of both fascination and dread at the exact same time for Chelbie. Its largest populated futuristic city known as Hypercity made it unlike any other planet they had the experience of getting a better glimpse of.

Somehow, it managed to look a lot more technologically advanced while remaining unsettling in terms of how its societies were structured.

When they exited the space carrier, bright lights shined all around them as they entered what looked to be a gigantic auto mechanic station. It seemed to play a pivotal part in helping to get the vehicles that were transferred into this world, adjusted for the purpose of getting them ready to race.

As most of the new racers stared around in awe, an AI voiceover from the building’s speakers began to introduce them to where they were.

“Welcome to Daylight Stadium, the world’s largest racing arena. Home to the oldest sporting event of all time, The Blazethon, founder Keath Daylight created it in the hopes of inspiring athletes from every walk of life to compete in order to achieve the Raceblazer status. As an important reminder, you must pair with a previously established team if you have no more than two participants in your group.”

After the announcement, two muscular male participants from another group began to complain.

Their names were Brosxi and Broskl Chadstorm.

“Yo man what the hell! Are they serious right now?! That means we have to pair up with some old ass douchebags that ain’t even on our level!” yelled Brosxi.

“This game’s been rigged from the start man… We’ll still come out on top big bro. Let’s not worry about it right now,” replied Broskl.

From an off-handed perspective, Chelbie could easily see that these two were brothers. However, because she and Hisa would also be the only other ones that fit the criteria for having to join another team, this made her wonder both why it was necessary and how they were going to be choosing.

During such a tense moment of thinking, a sudden shift of urgency filled the room as a pale-skinned man with dark hair wore this black suit and tie. Stepping into the room with a calm demeanor about himself, whirring noises could be heard each time he put one foot in front of the other. Beside him was a strange lady that none of them had ever heard of being mentioned before

She looked to be some sort of humanoid machine. The color of her skin was a brownish tan. Along with that, the white hair that flowed down to her neck, complimented the minty green business dress she wore.

Whoever these two were, it was made clearly evident that something was off about them to both Chelbie and Hisa.

“Greetings newcomers to the Daylight Stadium. I am Keath Daylight, founder of these games and president of Daylight Industries. Today is what we’ve been anticipating for the last three months. To show every world that anyone is capable of greatness. What better way to do that than with the innovation of technology? I introduce to you all, my first artificial intelligent assistant, Cyphra.”

Everyone faced Cyphra as she began to speak with an unexpectedly more human-like voice.

“Hello. I am happy to help answer any questions you may have about The Blazethon. My task is to provide you with the options, resources, and information needed to make your experience here a smooth one. We will start by giving you these after you submit your applications to me.”

Immediately into this introduction, one staff member of the stadium handed Cyphra a four-pack of these large metallic disks with an open center. All the while, a car designed for testing purposes pulled up next to her without a driver inside.

“This is a MOZ-RE Ring. The capabilities of these electromagnetic devices are simple. Place it on the side of each wheel and press the circular button on the side of the ring to activate it until an outline of blue light can be seen surrounding the outer area.”

Watching the process of how she managed to do it with each of the wheels, it became clear to them now that a ring could latch onto the side of a wheel securely as it glowed a bright blue.

“Now, once your vehicle has all of these rings on, they will stick closely to your wheels. Make sure when pairing the rings together, their arrangement matches the label. You have Front Left, Front Right, Back Left, and Back Right. If you happen to have one wheel balancing the front, back, or both, press the square button to open a half of the ring and insert them on the left and right sides of the same wheel.”

Although most racers were starting to get the gist of it, Brosxi interrupted out of impatience.

“Enough with the Pre-K crap. Me and my bro get it already. Can we get our fucking trucks out now?”

Cyphra stared at the two of them with discontent, continuing to ignore their complaints despite how desperate they were acting.

“If you want to lose the first round, be my guest and get it yourselves. If not, learn to shut the fuck up.”

The Chadstorm Brothers grunted out of confusion as they looked back at one another. They knew how risky it would be to make that decision seeing as the founder’s assistant wasn’t going to make it work out that way.

They had no choice but to listen.

“Now, these rings serve three distinct purposes. One, to track your progress across each race. Everything from your status to the statistics of your vehicle will be featured for everyone to see as per the agreement. Two, to verify that you are officially part of The Blazethon. MOZ-RE Rings are like a registered ID. As stated previously, you will only receive your packs after you give us your applications to submit that information into each one. And three, to moderate your electromagnetic force to the track. With these rings also comes a MOZ-RE Remote which can regulate that electromagnetic level so you can lock in on loops of all sorts. However, it will take skill to adjust and time its use properly when racing. Any questions?”

Mostly everyone was silent due to the prospect of understanding what it was going to take to adapt to their new conditions of racing competitively with both new and old racers alike.

With no one interfering to address anything else about the terms of racing with these devices, the next big step was yet to come.