Heat 1
The night had passed by in an uneasy peace, once the excitement of the racers arriving had worn down everyone settled. Pearl and Rusty decided it would be best if GB and Dinah spent the night there. Dinah didn’t want to impose but Greaseball had already passed out on their couch. So Dinah conceded and curled up next to her. Dinah and Pearl were both up long before Greaseball or Rusty.
“Oh you woke up early Dinah!” Pearl said quietly as she wandered out of her bedroom.
“Hehe in order to wake up I would’ve had to sleep first.” Dinah answered.
“Oh well.. at least I’m not the only one.” Pearl responded anxiously. “You have any ideas for what we’re gonna say to Electra?”
“Not really, they’re just… really hard to talk to.” Dinah heaved a sigh. She’d really hoped this racing season would have been smoother and less drama filled. Unfortunately the universe conspired against her. “No time like the present I suppose.”
“What about Rusty and Greaseball?” Pearl asked Glancing at the unconscious engine on her couch.
“Nah they’ll be fine, I’m sure we can leave them alone for five minutes.” Dinah shrugged. Pearl gave an uneasy smile and they both left.
The guest sheds were set closer to the racetrack. Each one was fairly well kept since they’re used all year round. Luckily it was easy to see which shed Electra was in. Since the two girls could see Electra’s bright blue lights from outside. Cautiously Pearl knocked on their door. Killerwatt was the one to open it.
“State your business here, Electra doesn’t take many visitors.” He said sternly, his back ramrod straight.
”We need to speak to Electra! It’s urgent.” Pearl said trying to sound as professional as possible. It was agreed that she’d take the lead on this since she had the friendliest relationship with the electrics.
“I’m going to need something more specific than that!” He responded curtly.
“It’s a matter of life and death killerwatt!” Dinah jumped in “Your boss is in serious danger.” That seemed to get Killerwatt’s attention, he nodded and stepped aside. The two girls cautiously took that as in invitation inside the shed. Their entrance had immediately caught the attention of Electra who was getting into their racing gear. They glared at the two coaches with a raised eyebrow.
“Unless you’re here to address the complaints I have with my lodgings I don’t want to be disturbed.” They said, their voice ice cold.
“Well hello to you too.” Dinah muttered grumpily to herself. Pearl loudly cleared her throat.
“Electra we need to talk!” She said the urgency evident in her voice. “There’s an incredibly dangerous engine on the track this year, he’s taken lives before! You’re actually racing against him today!” Pearl dared herself to look Electra right in the eyes.
“Accidents happen, you saw that first hand last year.” Electra dismissed her, waving their hand.
“No not like that! This guy is way worse than Slick ever was!” Dinah snapped “Look I’m sorry about everything that happened last year, but we wouldn’t be bothering you with this if it wasn’t important!” Electra rolled their eyes and stood from their spot. Rolling right up to them and forcing Dinah to look up since Electra was so damn tall.
“I learned my lesson about you meddlers from last year! I will not get involved with you schemes again.” They said crossing their arms. “Whatever it is you want fund it from someone else!” They waved one of their hands and suddenly Killerwatt was behind them.
“Electra has spoken, the two of you must leave!” He said moving to grab their shoulders.
“No need, we know the way out!” Dinah snapped. As they turned to leave, but as they left they noticed Killerwatt was still following them. They rolled through the same door they’d just crossed though, no closer to stopping Sargent than they were before.
“Well that was a dead end.” Dinah moaned as they left.
”Yeah, thought after everything that happened I do kinda get why they wouldn’t trust us.” Pearl said back.
”Well hopefully nothing bad happens to them, I’d hate for them to leave our yard broken again.” Dinah muttered as they left. Maybe since Sargent didn’t have any history with Electra he wouldn’t go after them.
The rules of racing had changed since last year in two major ways. New safety precautions were being taken and new mechanics were introduced. Now engines can have a secondary racing partner waiting by the trackside incase their main partner was unable to finish a race. However if you do lose your main partner you have to pick up your secondary in the same lap, otherwise your disqualified. So if you lose your main partner in the first lap you have to pick up your secondary before you start your second lap.
Rusty had obviously gone with Pearl and Hydra, though who was primary and who was secondary was yet to be determined.
Electra had decided to exclusively race with their components, not trusting those outside their group after last year’s events.
Sargent was racing with that coal truck from earlier, aswell as a gravel truck called Bedrock. They both looked like big hulking brutes with not much going on in their skulls.
Greaseball had opted out of having a secondary, saying quote “I race with Dinah, or I don’t race.”
The other new rule is that available engines that aren’t racing are to be hitched up to the emergency response trucks. This way they can take care of crashes quicker
Rusty was currently hooked up to Sludge the diesel repair truck. He calls himself that but he can fix pretty much every engine, coach, and truck in this yard. The only ones he’d have trouble with are the electrics. While yes coaches have electrical components they don’t run on them the same way an electric engine does. Rusty doesn’t quite get it, he was never that savvy with his inner workings, let alone that of others.
Greaseball was partnered up with Poseidon, the firefighting truck. He’d been in the yard a good couple years. Seen his fair share of wrecks, saved Greaseball’s ass on more than one occasion. A steady truck dedicated to safety.
Orange flash had coupled up to a flatbed trailer, incase a racer needs to be rushed off to the repair shed. Blue lightning was coupled up to Wrench, the electric repair truck.
As the race was gearing up the competitors took their place at the start line, and their secondary’s took their places at the track side. Greaseball’s engine was already fired up as she knew Sargent was gonna pull something.
The tension was palpable as Control announced each racer. “First on the track we have Golden Eagle racing with Lumber!!” He announced, both Golden Eagle and Lumber pulling a fun pose.
”Next to him is Manga, pulling along Ashely the smoking car!!!” Greaseball noted this was one of the few rare moments Ashely didn’t have a cigarette in her hand.
“Sargent steps up to the plate with Bedrock the gravel truck.” Dinah glared daggers at him from the stands. Sargent simply flashed that disgusting, slimy grin.
”Finally we have the engine of the future Electra with Joule the freezer truck!” Electra’s confidence radiated off them as they came up to the starting line. Pearl only hoped it wasn’t misplaced. Dispite herself she flinched as the starting horn sounded.
Greaseball listened intently as Control announced every development in the race. So far it had gone by without too much incident. Electra was out in front, Golden eagle and Sargent not far behind.
“Uh oh Sargent is catching up to the rest of the pack, and he doesn’t look happy!” Controls voice echoed through the track, followed by the sound of screeching metal on pavement. “CRASH ON THE TRACK!!! CRASH ON THE TRACK!! EMERGENCY SERVICES MOBILIZE NOW!!” At that announcement Greaseball took off, knowing if one of the electrics crashed their sparks could start a bad fire.
“Golden eagle is down! Both Electra and Sargent lost their partners!” Rusty heard control announce, trying to figure out how bed the crash was.
They reached the site of the crash fairly quickly. Golden eagle was unconscious, Lumber was trying to shake him awake. Joule was laying in a crumpled heap a fair distance away, their body sparking and twitching. Greaseball heard Wrench cry out when she saw her. Bedrock had got up on his own and was already sitting on the trackside. He gave Greaseball a dirty glair as she rolled by. Lucky Golden eagle wasn’t leaking any fluid and Joule landed a fair bit away, so there wasn’t a fire risk. So Greaseball uncoupled from Poseidon and helped the others get Joule and Golden eagle off the track before the racers came around again.
“Electra has managed to pick up Volta their secondary partner. Can Sargent keep up?” After a quick pause Controls voice announced again “Yes he can! He’s hooked up to Carbon and is hot on Electra’s heels.”
“We need to get these guys off the track, NOW!” Sludge called out. Greaseball and Rusty worked together to get Golden eagle on the flatbed.
”Come on Wrench, we gotta go!” Poseidon called out, but Wrench wouldn’t budge.
”NO!! I gotta get her stabilized first!” She snapped back “The marshals can reroute the racers if they come around before I finish.” Greaseball heaved a sigh and rolled up, kneeling down on the opposite side of Joule, there was a large rip in their chassis and Greaseball could see a lot of her innards. While most of it was foreign to her, there was some things she recognized.
“How can I help?” She asked, Wrench looked taken aback for a second, but nodded.
”Uhh see that tube there?” She pointed at a tube that was leaking what Greaseball assumed to be some kind of lubricant. “I need you to pinch it off while I put a patch on it.” Greaseball nodded and did as she asked. After about a couple seconds of emergency repair Joule was stable enough to move. They managed to clear the track just as the racers were coming around the corner. Now Sargent was out in front, with a generous lead on the rest of the pack. After the sped by the emergency squad pulled out and headed to the the repair shed. Greaseball managed to overhear Control announce that Sargent won the race and Electra came in second.