Sorry about this one being a little shorter, but I decided to write it quickly after neglecting it for too long. Now, when an outside force tries to influence the race, the racers fight back with drastic measures.
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The next day, the race began simply. We had a little victory dinner before, having fun and food, before we needed to get to sleep. Before the second leg began, crowds were already gathering. Noir and Teran were talking to a few fans, and Bix was chatting casually with an anthro in a dirty suit. No one else was out, but everyone’s vehicles were parked, side-by-side on the starting line. I approached Bix, and the anthro he was talking too left. I watch him go, then turned to Bix.
'You ready? Race begins soon.’ I asked.
'Yeah, I am. Good job out there yesterday, Erran.’ Bix replied, finishing off his breakfast. He tossed the paper plate in the trash can nearby.
'Thank, but our local couple over there kinda did better than me.’ I replied. I had already eaten.
'Eh well, we’ll see how well they do this time.’ Bix replied. 'See you in the dust.’ He walked off to his car. I stretched, and proceeded to my buggy myself.

'Today’s another great day in the wastes, folks! The sun’s glaring down on us, the avians are singing- I think it’s them, anyhow-, and all of our racers are ready to roll! The storm’s passed, and the clouds are no where to be seen. At all. Actually, it’s a bit hot in here... Anyhow... racers, start your engines!’ Nadek announced. I heard some whispering on his side.
'Well, I’ve just received news that there’s a band of thugs traveling out there, causing trouble along the racetrack. It seems that they’re looking for new vehicles... I was hoping we wouldn’t have to ask this- racers, what defenses do you have? Obviously, some of you guys have armor that looks like it could withstand a large bullet, but a way to fight back? Does anyone?’ Nadek asked.
'I have my sword.’ Emily responded. Both Shamrock and Bix had a small pistol each for self defense, that neither wanted to use in the race. I had that one pistol from before the race in my glove-box, which I mentioned.
'Alright, the rest of you, be very careful. We don’t know what’s going to attack you out there. But the race must go on. And hey, you guys raced through a monsoon, a few raiders shouldn’t cause trouble. Alright then, our starting line lady got injured in the storm, so no fancy starting flare for us this time. 3... 2... 1... GGOOO!’
And we were off.

This stretch of the race went down a two-lane road in the mountains, surrounded by trees. Everyone was constantly pushing and shoving, but trying to avoid the trees. This time around, Noir and Teran had split up, with Teran taking a side road that we passed awhile back. I think some others had taken that road as well.
We sped into some ruins of a long-forgotten town, Myst in the lead, Dorado close behind, and Emily trying to keep up. I was in fourth, and pushing ahead alongside Emily. Her car actually pulled back for a moment to start shoving me.
'Hey, watch it!’ I shouted, pushing back. We were speeding down the main street of the town, and one of those car carriers was quickly nearing. It had rusted away to where its ramp was at an angle- I would probably do a barrel roll if I hit it. And hit it I did. I corkscrewed through the air, only barely managing to land on my two left wheels. What I had also done was land past Emily, who was astounded.
'I’ll catch you, you know...’ Emily said.
'Best of luck with that.’ I replied. I had quickly overtaken her when Monty, Tango, and Teran came flying from a side road. Emily appeared again and quickly rammed Monty.
‘Oh no you don’t!’ Monty shouted, slamming Emily’s car into a light post. She spun out, but from the groans we heard, she was alive.
‘Who’s in the lead?’ Teran asked.
‘I am!’ Myst said.
‘Not for long.’ Dorado said. ‘I intend to get back for that last place!’ We heard him laugh shortly after.
‘...And he got past me. Come on!’ Myst shouted.
‘Noir hun, where are you?’ Teran asked.
‘Coming in hot, haha!’ He replied. We were speeding down a side where there was a large, wooden fence between a large gap between two buildings. Noir slammed through the fence, sending boards flying and one actually bounced off my helmet and landed in my lap. I tossed it away. Zak had come in behind Noir, and Rose was nearby too.
'You sure know how to make an entrance.’ I said.
'I do, don’t I? Hehe.’ Noir replied, quite happy. Most of the racers were together, but Bix was somewhere we didn’t know, Emily was behind, and Dorado and Myst were duking it out for the lead a good distance ahead.
'Is it just me or should we be watching out for those raiders Nadek mentioned?’ Tango commented.
'Probably.’ Myst said.
As he said that, Bix came drifting in from a side road, several unknown vehicles hot on his tail, firing machine guns at him. The rear end of his car was riddled with holes.
'To late, I think I met them!’ Bix shouted. I fumbled for the pistol in my glove box, almost crashing my buggy as I did so. The Bandit vehicles were battered things- a pair of box trucks with metal plating over most of the windshield, snow plows attached to the fronts, and an anthro on a mounted turret that was haphazardly attached to the roof. One was a sports car with similar modifications, but without the turret. Bix was blind-firing backwards at the raiders.
'Holy shit!’ Teran shouted.
'I don’t think they’ll be getting through my armor. Watch out, everyone!’ Noir shouted. He honked his horn as he caught up alongside one of the box trucks, calling all the fire on him. But the bullets hardly dented his vehicle’s thick armor. 'Take this!’ He shouted, and sawblades came out from slots on his sides, buzzing loudly.
'Look at this, ladies and gentleanthros! Noir is using concealed weapons! If this wans’t a life or death situation, he’d be out of the race pronto! My my, this is exciting.’ Nadek commented. 'But don’t worry, as long as those aren’t against the racers, you’re staying in!’
Noir slammed into the side of the truck, shoving the sawblades deep into its side. He slammed the brakes, and the blades sliced a long gash in the truck;s side, slicing its left tires and cutting open the gas tank on it. It spun out, and quickly exploded.
'I say again, holy shit...’ Teran muttered.
'What’d I miss?’ Dorado asked. They were still ahead.
'Oh, just those raiders.’ Zak said. He was in the back, keeping well out of the way of the gunfire, Rose nearby. One shot and either of them would be out. The other two raiders focused their gunfire on Noir. Tango had disappeared before, but them rammed the side of the sportscar, actually driving over it due to his high suspension. I heard the driver scream, and the car spun out and crashed into a wall.
‘Did I just kill that guy?’ Tango asked. I adjusted my rear-view mirror to see the driver getting out, holding his arm awkwardly.
'No, looks like you just injured him.’ I said.
'Should’ve killed him.’ Emily said. She hit something in the way that debris went flying towards the maimed raider.
The last raider drove erratically. Shamrock was driving alongside the other side of it, his pistol held outside his window, gunshots cracking through the air from his silver revolver. The last shot from his six-shooter created a loud splat when it landed, and the truck swerved over to the left, away from Shamrock. It almost wrecked Noir, but he straightened himself out. The truck exploded in a massive ball of fire in the trees.
‘God damn it, what the hell are you guys doing back there?’ Dorado asked.
‘Fighting those sonsabitches.’ Shamrock responded.
‘But we heard two explosions.’ Myst said. I could see the pair ahead.
‘Perhaps you shouldn’t think about it and concern yourself with racing? I’m not to far behind.’ I said. Dorado looked behind and waved, I presume Myst must of used his mirror to see us.
‘Damn, you’re right!’ He shouted as Dorado used his overdrive function. We zoomed over a hill, and down its dirt far side. Hopefully the rest of the race should go fine.

Of course, it doesn’t.

A short while later, I was trying to hold a lead, where the other racers were forcing their way up behind me. By lead, I meant second, Dorado was out ahead somewhere. Myst had been slowed down by slamming into a thinner tree, damaging his car but he was still able to drive it. We were nearing the end of the second leg when a fucking stolen APC comes flying over a cliff, slamming into the ground without stopping. It was once ADF, but now the gun was removed, spikes covered its front and back bumpers, and iron plates armored it even more. A large, muscular lizard was where the gun once was, loudspeaker in claw.
‘Give us all your vehicles now, racers, and we’ll let you walk away mostly unharmed. Mostly. So stop now, or face our wrath!’ He shouted at us. I also noticed Zak up on a ledge above us, racing along and looking like he was trying to jump down...
I gave the lizard the finger to distract him, he roared, and then got Zak’s front tire in his face. Zak sped across the roof of the APC, landing alongside it, out of the range of its deadly-looking spikes.
'That does it.’ The lizard said, clenching his injured snout. 'Ted, get the machinegunners ready.’
'Machineguns? Watch out, guys!’ I shouted. Several plates of the sides popped off- four in total- revealing large machineguns in each. One put a few holes in Teran’s jeep, which enraged Noir.
'Oh no you don’t!’ Noir growled, activating his sawblade again and slamming them into the armored covering that protected the wheels. Sparks flew, and a few hit me because I was just alongside Noir’s car. 'Toss me that gun, Erran!’ He shouted to me.I threw it through his open window, and he started shooting at the machinegunners through their peep-holes. One machinegunner stopped firing.
'Um, you guys, watch out...’ Rose said of the radio. A helicopter was coming in! This one was another raider-mobile.
'Drive drive drive! Don’t stop, and try to stay under cover!’ Bix shouted, rattling off some shots at the helicopter.
'Be safe, Teran.’ Noir said.
'You too.’ He replied, as they scattered in the trees. Myst, Rose, and I were the only ones within radio range. Nadek’s signal still got in somehow.
'This just keeps on getting more suspenseful, folks! Will they make it to the finish line, where we have ADF troops waiting to take them down, or will the crash and burn under these raiders’ guns? We’ll find out!’ Nadek shouted.
The machineguns thundered through the trees, kicking up dirt and knocking off branches, but very few bullets actually hit us. Two had hit my rear, but no big deal.
'Why the hell must racing always be like this around here?!’ Myst shouted.
'No clue!’ Rose replied, her bike struggling to keep up. The Helicopter was following us, but the APC had gone a different direction, seemingly after Noir.
'Come on, we have you!’ Someone from the helicopter shouted, from a loudspeaker.
KA-Boom!
There was a sudden explosion of glass from the helicopter’s cockpit, and it started falling. It exploded behind us in a ball of fire. We all breathed a sigh of relief as the finish line neared us, surrounded by some ADF troops. With half of the racers already parked there, sadly. That wasn’t quite as nice.
Finishing positions-
1.Tango
2.Monty
3.Teran
4.Dorado
5.Bix
6.Noir
7.Erran
8.Myst
9.Rose
10.Zak
11.Emily
12.Shammrock