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The Great Race VII: Third Round by Kiradawea

Merit for August 2009

Third round

Emirie jumps carefully from foot to foot, looking over the crowd one more time.
It was almost time for the final elimination round to start, and Ester and Ista
were still nowhere to be found. Worry filled the heart of the young furrikin as
she desperately hopes to catch a glimpse of her companions. In the distance she
sees Thunkin and Trickle approaching, however from the look of disappointment on
their faces, it's quite clear what they are going to say. "You didn't find them
either did you?"

"Afraid not ms Winterfur." Trickle responds, a hint of worry apparent on his
usually calm voice.

"We've searched all over the place, but none have seen them either. It's odd.
Why would they just vanish like that?"

Emirie sighs. "Well, you two go in. I'm going to look after them a little
longer."

Trickle and Thunkin glance one last time through the crowd before they climb
into the ship, leaving Emirie to stand alone looking for her two gunners. As
time ticks away, the rabbit-like furrikin gets increasingly worried until a
familiar soft yell echoes through the crowd. "Emirie. Hey, wait up for us!"

"Ester?" Emirie turns towards the direction of the noise, and notices two small
creatures bounding down the crystalline pathways. "Ester! Ista! Where have you
been?"

The two young elementals swiftly make their way to Emirie with light steps,
almost knocking her over as they slide up next to her. "Whatcha mean?" Ista says
with a playful innocent expression.

"Oh don't..." A frown creeps over Emirie's face. "Ester? What's that?" Emirie
points to a thin red line visible through Ester's white fur.

"Hmm? Oh that?"

"Yeah, did you get into a fight or something?"

"Yeah..." Ester glances to the side, clearly a bit uncomfortable. "Well, it
just so happened that we were exploring the bubble and... well, there are
dangerous creatures out there."

"Ester..."

"What? We're fine. Never any need to worry. Besides, we're here now and that's
all that matters or what?"

Emirie sighs. "You shouldn't take any unnecessary risks. What possibly
possessed you to go out there? Don't you know it's dangerous?"

"Ah. An flyin' aetherspace ain't?" Ista interrupts. "Dun bug her. We're here
now, so let's go win this final elimination round."

Emirie opens her mouth to object, but Ista and Ester give her no time. The two
run into the ship, leaving her all alone. With one last look at the crystalline
workshop, she climbs into the ship and walks up to her command chair, locking
herself into it. "Okay everyone. This is it. Are you guys ready to fly?"

"Of course." Kristen responds through the empathic channels of the ship.

"We're both locked in." Ester responds for both her and Ista.

"And I'm healthy and aware. Today we're going to win." Trickle responds calmly.

"Excellent. There'll be no holding back this time. We'll show the world that
the Snow Arrow crew can fly aetherships."

Soft hums echo all around her as the aethership starts to power up. Emirie's
paw grasps at the edge of her seat as her heartbeat quickens noticeably. Time
seems to slow down to the unbearable as the timepiece ticks closer to midday.
The other ships are getting ready, and finally. "Good day to everyone. This is
it folks. The four quickest racers from today will be advancing to the finals,
and not even I know where they will be flown. Rumour has it they'll be battling
amongst themselves in the depths of the Astral plane. What say you folks? Let's
take a look at our remaining flyers. From Celest we've got the Hammer and the
Cosmic Star. Piloted by the Prince of Celest and the Guild Archivist of the
Celestines respectively. From Magnagora, we have the aggressive Crimson Wings
whose crew consists primarily of Magnagoran Champions. Serenwilde has given us
the Emerald Heart and Ellindel's Pride, who have done quite well so far, coming
in the top three in the past two races. From Glomdoring, only the Black Stinger,
the ship belonging to the Nekotai guild, is still in the running. They came in
eight place yesterday. Will they be able to pull themselves together and reach
out to be one of the top four? Then we have our current leader. Pilot Jeanne and
her crew have won twice already, and most are thinking that they'll win again.
But someone who can be giving them a run for their money is Snow Arrow. When
they signed up, no one thought this crew with a young pilot, inexperienced
gunner and a crippled empath would ever get past the first round, yet they
managed to become one of the top three yesterday. As the dark horse of this
tournament, it'll be interesting to see how they'll fare today. But I'm talking
the day away. In fact, you guys get ready, because now it's three, two, one
LIFTOFF!"

The roar of engines flare to life as eight ships launch into the aetherways.
For once the Snow Arrow quickly takes to the lead and as the positions become
clearer, Emirie and her crew have reached a third place, though with blasts of
energy beaming all around, it's hard to see who is in front. With a quick
manoeuvre, Emirie manages to roll the ship over an incoming blast and watches it
strike into another. "Nice move." Kristen echoes through the aethers.

"Thanks, but we're nowhere near the goal line yet." Emirie turns the ship
again, but a bit too slow. A blast strikes right into Ista's turret. "Augh.
Ista, you okay?"

"Ahm fine." The Windmuse mutters. A hum crackles through the ship as the module
starts to repair itself.

"Hey look behind us. It looks like the Hammer and the Crimson Wings have
started fighting."

Emirie glances behind herself one moment, and it appears to be true. Two large
ships seem to have engaged in an all out fight, thus slowing down drastically.
Beams of aethric energy fly wildly as the two fighting ships are left behind in
the dust. "This is great. And from the looks of it, we'll make it again. We'll
just have to keep this up."

Silence returns to the ship as everyone returns full focus on his or her
duties. With aetherblasts shooting back and forth and beasts lurking in all the
dark corners, there is no room for error. The ship speeds swiftly across the
aethric currents, and though they do at times trade hits with other ships,
Kristen's excellent empathing means that they lose very little time from damaged
modules. Slowly the environment change as Elemental flows over into Prime and
the six ships approach the rift leading into the Cosmic subspace. However, as
they get steadily closer, an uneasy feeling grows within Emirie. As if something
powerful and dangerous awaits just behind the rift. Her vision starts to falter
slightly, which becomes apparent to the others. "Ms Winterfur. Go left!"

"Huh?" But Emirie is way to slow as a powerful blast strikes straight into the
ship, pushing it of course. "Ah, sorry. It's just... something feels wrong."

"Ah'll tell ya what's wrong. We ain't in first place. So git yer tail inta
gear. We're gonna win today. Full speed ahead!" Ista cheers loudly, and her
childlike enthusiasm manages to push Emirie's doubts to the back of her mind.

"Okay. Hang on, I'm gonna Sluice ahead now." Emirie mutters as she focuses the
power of the ship into a burst of speed, zipping straight past the Cosmic Star
to run head to head with Jeanne and her crew. Emirie glances out towards the
rival ship. Those guys were truly skilled, but Emirie had an advantage in better
empath and being less reknown for her skill. Still, there is that odd feeling.
But it's too late to back out now. The cosmic rift seemingly beckons for Emirie
to charge through it, and she does as the first of the eight. Instantly, a
bright flash fills her vision, blinding her. And when the light fades. "Oh no...
no, no, no. No way."

"What? What are you... wait, how's that even possible?" Trickle mutters in
disbelief as all eyes are focused on the humanoid form hovering in the middle of
aetherspace with an aura of power so strong around her that nearby aetherbeasts
are torn apart just from her presence.

"That... Oh no. I thought... it's Mind." Emirie says, almost on the verge of
crying. "It's Mind."