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Post by Josh Devlin on Mar 29, 2020 5:34:55 GMT
This was it - the season opener. While the stands near the starting line weren't exactly packed (yet), it was still qualifying. The big crowds would come the next day, when there was a checkered flag to compete for. Josh was a bit nervous, having been unable to make it to practice. Twilight, the Pokémon he had intended to enter, was at his side, her face emotionless - nothing unusual. The two sat in the lobby, Josh on his phone viewing a video of a lap around the course.
Bass Islets - Intersection | Difficulty: ★★★★☆☆
"Man, they don't mess around - a Federation-rated level 4 for the opener. Never seen the Johto leagues have their season opener on a track rated this high." Playing the video back, the triangular course started out innocuous enough. After two shallow turns, it took him into a tunnel beneath the waves. It appeared the season opener was originally going to be an aquatic race, but the track had to be retrofitted into a land one on fairly short notice.
Each lap was effectively a run around two triangular sections - first, a wavy tunnel that crested above and dipped below the surface several times; second, sandy terrain that led to a long, surface-level bridge where the tunnel intersected the track several times. This was completely outlandish track design - though there was an appropriate amount of safety foam surrounding the intersections, a collision with one would still hurt. "Man, what did I sign up for," Josh mumbled.
Around two hours later, Josh heard his name called, along with the phrase "Silver League Qualifying." Of course he qualified for Silver League and not Bronze. He was also one of the last to make his qualifying run, so he had a good idea what the time to beat was. A Vaporeon on the pole surprised him a bit - to draw that much speed out of a Pokémon like that took a strong bond and a lot of skill from both parts of the team. Around 50 racers came to qualify today, and only 24 would advance to race day. Top half was all he needed - how hard could that be?
---
The walk to the starting line wasn't as far as Josh thought. He groaned upon seeing the terrain - he had failed to notice that aside from the bridge on the backstretch and the tunnels themselves, most of the track's terrain was beach. Twilight turned his face to one side and smiled - a rare sign of confidence. "We got this!" The two lined up at the starting line, getting a few cheers and shouts from the small crowd that was watching qualifying. Josh leaned low on his Pokémon, flipping his helmet visor down as the three red lights above the line illuminated, one after another. When all of them turned green, he squeezed at Twilight's sides, and they were off.
The track was a simple double triangle for the most part - all the turns were right turns with a single exception at the end. This opening stretch would be great to push Twilight to her limits with Quick Attack, but not right away - those kinds of techniques were not permitted during the first lap. It gave her plenty of time to get up to speed before descending into the well-lit tunnel.
Once Twilight had ran through the first quarter-mile or so of the tunnel, the first real obstacle was upon the two - the enclosed track crested above and below the surface, rising about 15 feet above the surface before submerging below the waves again. The tunnel's ceiling followed its floor as well, making jumps from peak to peak impossible. It was a straight shot, but going up and down the slopes was surprisingly hard on Josh. He only wondered how Twilight was holding up. He couldn't hear any heavy breathing yet, but was certain it was coming on boost laps.
S2yLi|xkp_
The course gave Josh and his Absol a surprising amount of time to relax and just run, but the difficult elements were...intense, to say the least. After emerging from the tunnel and onto the wide bridge, he instinctively yanked hard on his Pokémon to dodge the first intersection point. He let out a loud grunt as his mount started skidding past the outside of the tunnel, losing a lot of speed but avoiding a crash.
Josh was in panic mode when he realized the five spots the tunnel intersected the track were placed so that there was not an easy way around them. How the Federation's safety commission approved such a hazard bewildered him, Twilight forced to skid back to the opposite side of the bridge to avoid the next two intersection points. He was starting to feel mild whiplash after dodging the final one, the end of the bridge depositing the Absol onto the side of a hill.
p_
The course's final obstacle was a wicked, blind left turn against the grain of the hill, and the only left turn on the course. A giant safety net cast on the inside of the track around where the curve was - a testament to its difficulty. Immediately after the blind turn, the track curved back sharply to the right, into the home stretch. Even after watching footage of that particular curve five times, Josh still misjudged it, letting out a yelp as his mount didn't get turned around quite in time. The foam wall surrounding the track's bounds lessened the impact on his leg. He still felt like he could finish, but he would need to give that leg a rest if he managed to qualify. His Absol was okay, and that was what mattered more.
All things considered, Josh was pretty happy with how the first lap went. A mistake here or there, but he gave himself a chance. The words "Boost OK!!" flashed on the display above the starting line as he crossed it into the second lap. He did not hesitate one bit, immediately calling for Quick Attack chains the moment he crossed into the second lap. He would need to be more cautious with others on the track, but during qualifying, racers ran solo and were encouraged to go all-out. His peripheral vision became a blur, even the shallow turns feeling a lot more intense with the added speed.
---
Mod note: The 359-word exposition sequence before the start of the race will not be applied to this thread's word count.
{WC: 695; 695 total}
{PC: 1}
·
Bass Islets - Intersection | Difficulty: ★★★★☆☆
"Man, they don't mess around - a Federation-rated level 4 for the opener. Never seen the Johto leagues have their season opener on a track rated this high." Playing the video back, the triangular course started out innocuous enough. After two shallow turns, it took him into a tunnel beneath the waves. It appeared the season opener was originally going to be an aquatic race, but the track had to be retrofitted into a land one on fairly short notice.
Each lap was effectively a run around two triangular sections - first, a wavy tunnel that crested above and dipped below the surface several times; second, sandy terrain that led to a long, surface-level bridge where the tunnel intersected the track several times. This was completely outlandish track design - though there was an appropriate amount of safety foam surrounding the intersections, a collision with one would still hurt. "Man, what did I sign up for," Josh mumbled.
Around two hours later, Josh heard his name called, along with the phrase "Silver League Qualifying." Of course he qualified for Silver League and not Bronze. He was also one of the last to make his qualifying run, so he had a good idea what the time to beat was. A Vaporeon on the pole surprised him a bit - to draw that much speed out of a Pokémon like that took a strong bond and a lot of skill from both parts of the team. Around 50 racers came to qualify today, and only 24 would advance to race day. Top half was all he needed - how hard could that be?
---
The walk to the starting line wasn't as far as Josh thought. He groaned upon seeing the terrain - he had failed to notice that aside from the bridge on the backstretch and the tunnels themselves, most of the track's terrain was beach. Twilight turned his face to one side and smiled - a rare sign of confidence. "We got this!" The two lined up at the starting line, getting a few cheers and shouts from the small crowd that was watching qualifying. Josh leaned low on his Pokémon, flipping his helmet visor down as the three red lights above the line illuminated, one after another. When all of them turned green, he squeezed at Twilight's sides, and they were off.
The track was a simple double triangle for the most part - all the turns were right turns with a single exception at the end. This opening stretch would be great to push Twilight to her limits with Quick Attack, but not right away - those kinds of techniques were not permitted during the first lap. It gave her plenty of time to get up to speed before descending into the well-lit tunnel.
Once Twilight had ran through the first quarter-mile or so of the tunnel, the first real obstacle was upon the two - the enclosed track crested above and below the surface, rising about 15 feet above the surface before submerging below the waves again. The tunnel's ceiling followed its floor as well, making jumps from peak to peak impossible. It was a straight shot, but going up and down the slopes was surprisingly hard on Josh. He only wondered how Twilight was holding up. He couldn't hear any heavy breathing yet, but was certain it was coming on boost laps.
S2yLi|xkp_
The course gave Josh and his Absol a surprising amount of time to relax and just run, but the difficult elements were...intense, to say the least. After emerging from the tunnel and onto the wide bridge, he instinctively yanked hard on his Pokémon to dodge the first intersection point. He let out a loud grunt as his mount started skidding past the outside of the tunnel, losing a lot of speed but avoiding a crash.
Josh was in panic mode when he realized the five spots the tunnel intersected the track were placed so that there was not an easy way around them. How the Federation's safety commission approved such a hazard bewildered him, Twilight forced to skid back to the opposite side of the bridge to avoid the next two intersection points. He was starting to feel mild whiplash after dodging the final one, the end of the bridge depositing the Absol onto the side of a hill.
p_
The course's final obstacle was a wicked, blind left turn against the grain of the hill, and the only left turn on the course. A giant safety net cast on the inside of the track around where the curve was - a testament to its difficulty. Immediately after the blind turn, the track curved back sharply to the right, into the home stretch. Even after watching footage of that particular curve five times, Josh still misjudged it, letting out a yelp as his mount didn't get turned around quite in time. The foam wall surrounding the track's bounds lessened the impact on his leg. He still felt like he could finish, but he would need to give that leg a rest if he managed to qualify. His Absol was okay, and that was what mattered more.
All things considered, Josh was pretty happy with how the first lap went. A mistake here or there, but he gave himself a chance. The words "Boost OK!!" flashed on the display above the starting line as he crossed it into the second lap. He did not hesitate one bit, immediately calling for Quick Attack chains the moment he crossed into the second lap. He would need to be more cautious with others on the track, but during qualifying, racers ran solo and were encouraged to go all-out. His peripheral vision became a blur, even the shallow turns feeling a lot more intense with the added speed.
---
Mod note: The 359-word exposition sequence before the start of the race will not be applied to this thread's word count.
{WC: 695; 695 total}
{PC: 1}
·
