⛭ Chapter 14 ⛭

Today was racing day for The Flaming Cones after they had gotten their rest from the previous night.

Chelbie, being the last one to wake up, was laying down on the carpet’s soft surface. She never expected that something which covered a floor would feel so good for sleeping.

However, even with that in mind, she was a heavy sleeper.

“Hey Chelbie, it’s 4:40 in the morning now. Everyone’s ready to head out,” said Hisa as she patted her on the shoulder.

The tapping got her attention as she flung up and looked around to see her MadCyke was now safely inside of The Flaming Cones’ Lounge.

However, it was becoming clear that she needed to get up and start moving.

“This girl’s up and revvin’ to go!” shouted Chelbie out of nowhere to pry herself awake even further.

Heading outside with the other three members who seemed to be standing and chatting, Trax noticed them come from out of the lounge.

“There’s the girls of the hour,” he said as a compliment to them arriving.

When they got closer he held up two leather jackets, caps, and red t-shirts in his hands that interested both Chelbie and Hisa.

“These are your special gifts from The Flaming Cones. You get to keep these, even after you leave us, if that ever happens for some reason.”

The two ladies analyzed their new team outfits, thanking Trax before finally walking with them to the train station that would take them back to Daylight Stadium.

Upon entering the main entrance where customers were lined up outside, security let the team inside, even acknowledging Trax himself as he had a good relationship with the staff there for having been a Raceblazer.

“Dang, we get to enter Daylight Stadium before anyone else gets to. That’s crazy,” mentioned Chelbie while staring around in awe at what coming past the entrance had to offer.

This part of the stadium seemed to be the shopping center where all sorts of merchandise and souvenirs were lined up. Even Raceblazers that had won solo got their own shelves. She was able to find that the names of each team correlated specifically with the ones that had a reputation for winning as well.

She was able to find Trax’s merch section, but The Flaming Cones themselves didn’t seem to have one at all yet. Regardless of this, imagining the possibilities of being recognized in that way was more of the extra benefits to come if they were to win the tournament.

Of course, in comparison to themselves, The Holo-Girlz section was pretty packed and even featured remote control toy cars of the Blue Corvettes that Trax talked about.

It was starting to become more irritating for her to see Lucila’s face plastered on any sort of merch at all though.

Skipping past that area was in her best interest.

Eventually, the team found their way into the station where all of the heavier vehicles had been lined up and spaced out by a special crane that floated above the thousand of wheelers that would be racing.

Trax and the team helped Chelbie find The Flamethrottle Fury alongside getting The Spedflare and Krashing Kavalry started so they could direct her to their terminal station which was like a garage for these types of places. Upon parking their racing vehicles in the terminal runway, the team began to introduce Hisa and her to different parts of it like the workshop tables.

He also mentioned that new tools would often be placed in a package next to the door. He showed this to be true by pointing at the white marking which had the new MOV-RE rings and remote placed within proximity of its own corner.

After unpacking all of the things she would need, Chelbie was able to set up the system as she had been taught before.

She was now ready to tackle the race head-on as she watched and waited on the sunrise to deliver on the promises of her dream being realized.

Coming over to see what Chelbie was doing, Zadz leaned on the workshop table with his skateboard in hand after watching Hisa and Trax talk about cleaning the vehicles.

“You know, you say that you can protect people’s realities. What do you do when you can’t save everyone?” asked Zadz.

“What is all of this crap you keep talkin’ to me about is the bigger question? Also, by the way, I’m not the one being heartless here. I lost plenty of my family that I loved back in my world. There is no reason for me not to honor their deaths. They took care of us when we needed it the most. Even when it wasn’t what we were expecting…” replied Chelbie.

“I didn’t ask what you do when you lose your family. Anyone can easily answer that question. I’m talking about the ones you never really get to see. Maybe in passing, you meet them as a stranger, online, whatever the case may be. What happens next?”

The thoughts that came to Chelbie’s head started to dwindle but she figured up an answer that reminded her of when she met Styra for the first time.

“You treat them like family I guess?” she answered with a slight sense of hesitation, not knowing if the answer was right or wrong by Zadz’s standards.

Zadz, on the other hand, suddenly laughed at her words.

“That sounded like bullshit. See, you’re over here telling me that you already have everything laid out. Going according to plan. Then you talk about honoring them, yet never actually committing to it. Trax over there can tell you plenty of times he left people in the dust. He doesn’t know how to lead anyone. The only reason I came to join him was to try and pull him out of his ass. He was just like my sister. Now tell me, what do you think would happen if you were the one being left behind?”

A dark cloud settled inside of Chelbie’s mind as she had begun to feel the same exact way she did when she woke up to the sight of losing her legs.

Anxiety.