Outskirts

[Giichi Twinkieland]

[Giichi hasn't actually jumped in the car yet and left. I was kind of hoping you'd just interrupt him before he started up the car. But oh well, I'll roll with this. By the way, in the future, don't control the actions of other characters like that. For the most part, you only control what your characters do, and nobody else. It's the general policy of our board.]

Giichi grinned as he heard the engine fire up, before he shifted into first gear and released the clutch while accelerating. Man did that feel good! He didn't realize how much he'd missed the sensation of this thing's speed.

After spinning the car to the left and going into a slight drift, he shifted into second gear and pressed on the accelerator. His smile just spread from ear to ear...but then he heard a very loud clang, like he'd suddenly run over something, and the car came to a sudden, violent stop.

Instantaneously, the smile dropped completely from his face, as Giichi felt himself flung forward. Thank goodness he reacted fast enough in throwing his arm out, to keep his head from banging on the steering wheel. It looked like he was okay...but now what? The nose of the car appeared to be stuck up in the air, like he'd run over something.

####...#### #### ####...was there a big rock or something in the road I didn't see? Oh god...baby...please don't tell me I hurt you! Please don't say I broke such a priceless piece of automotive art!

Immediately, Giichi got out and looked under the vehicle, and his jaw dropped. How in the world could it be possible there was suddenly such a gigantic hunk of rock right in the middle of the road, and big enough to push the car slightly up into the air? It would have been impossible for him to miss that.

Then...a light tapping on the passenger side window. Giichi's mood now made another gigantic shift, with this one to absolute terror. Whirling up into a standing position, he immediately appeared on the other side of the Ferrari from Terra, holding up his twin sais in defense.

To his surprise, it wasn't a robot at all, but some sort of echidna. Still, he didn't lower his defense, because who knew what kind of intentions someone else out here might have?

"Who...are you? And step away from the car, please."

[Terrador Bellator]

(Sorry. Just know this is a first time incedent so far. We all make mistakes occasionally, right? I was a little rushed when I posted that so I just put what was on the top of my head. My apologies for the inconvinience )

Terra wasn't suprised of Giichi's hostility. It was to be expected considering the circumstances. He simply raised his hands in the air to show he wasn't going to do anything to cuase harm and took a few steps away as he wished.

"No need to worry, I'm not part of Robotniks's forces. My name is Terra Bellator, once a resident of Station Square." he replied slowly lowering his arms in a non-threatining manner.

[Giichi Twinkieland]

[Yeah, I know you're new. That's why I'll forgive you this time ]

Giichi eyed him a little longer, before slowly lowering the sais. "Giichi Twinkieland. Sorry to cut this short Terra, but I need to get out of here right now."

He put away the weapons, before he examined the rock underneath the car. The cat clenched his teeth, wondering how he was going to get out of this mess. He wandered around to the front, gingerly lifted on the front bumper, and pulled up on it. But for all the grunting, and straining, and sweating, it was useless. Giichi by far did not have the physical strength to lift the car off of this rock and back onto the ground.

Nervously, he turned his attention to the surrounding skies. If he didn't get this bright red car out of this drab place soon, it'd soon be drawing a lot of attention from passing spy bots. And then he'd probably lose his baby forever. Like it or not, this new stranger would be the only person who could help him get out of here before the cavalry showed up.

Sighing, he turned his attention back to Terra. "Listen stranger, how about helping me get this car off this rock? I'm rather attached to my girl here, and I really don't want to leave her behind after coming out all this way to get her. I'll give you a little reward if you help me out."

[Terrador Bellator]

(Alright, won't happen again)

Terra, with his arms hanging freely at his sides now, sighed deeply in releif.

"I'm with you on that." he replied, his emerald eyes scanning the skies. The sound of the car colliding with the rock mad an ear-splitting noise. It would be soon before any SWATbots arrived to investigate. The green, ring shaped marking on his right foot glowed breifly as he sent the foot onto the ground with a swift stomp. The ground slightly shook and the car decended back down.

"I apologize for that. Do you think I can hitch a ride?" he asked with a somewhat guilty tone in his voice.

[Giichi Twinkieland]

Instead of answering his question, Giichi just watched with wonder as the rock descended back into the ground. He'd actually forgotten to close his jaw again after letting it drop. When the action passed, he looked Terra square in the eye.

"You...you put that rock there."

Wonder gave way to blazing anger, as Giichi marched around the car and pointed his finger squarely into Terra's face. The cat seemed to have briefly forgotten about the need for quiet and stealth, instead wanting to take out his rage on the spot.

"Why did you do that?! Don't you know what this car is?!" He gestured to the classic sports car. "It's a 1969 Ferrari Dino! A priceless antique! What if you damaged something on it?! You have no idea how much it cost me to--!"

A loud humming noise in the distance disrupted his thoughts. Giichi had already been around Robotropolis before, so he knew what that was. The sand cat turned around and looked into the sky, towards Robotropolis. There in the distance, a SWAT pod aircraft could be seen heading towards them.

"Oh ####... We gotta go. Get in, fast."

Giichi ran around to the driver's side, hopped back in and buckled himself in. He would wait for Terra to get in on the passenger's side, and then he'd gun the engine to get them out of there.

[Terrador Bellator]

Terra faced the relentless fury, witholding his instinct to fight back, be it verbal or physical, completely oblivious the cat was cuasing attention. His vexed temperment dimisnished at the low humming sound filled his ears. Usually where he was this sound seemed to echo in the distance. But now this was close, way too close. He did not hesitate to hop in the passanger side.

"Floor it!" he shouted while closing the door. Fear was something he did not feel quite often. Something about this fear game him a rush, or perhaps it was the fact he was about to take a wild ride in this beauty of a machine.

[Giichi Twinkieland]

"Here we go!"

Immediately, Giichi went to first gear, clutched out, and gassed in. The Ferrari's back tires squealed for a second, as they struggled to find traction on the eroding pavement. However, the Dino's mid-engine configuration put most of the weight on the back tires, so they found purchase quickly. Soon they were rocketing down the street, as Giichi quickly rowed through second gear, and then third gear.

As he built speed, the cat looked in the driver's side mirror.

"That's something you don't see every day."

Giichi was referring to how the gunship in hot pursuit showed up in his mirrors. Usually it'd be a cop's flashing lights, but that'd be child's play compared to the military aircraft after them. Several laser blasts flashed from its under-slung cannon, blowing dust and smoke all over the road in front of them.

It's okay...pretend this is autocross and that the craters are cones...

Giichi rotated the steering wheel left to avoid the first hole, then shifted back right, sending the car into a shallow slide around the second hole. Regaining control, he said to his new passenger.

"I don't suppose there's anything you can do to stop that thing? I mean, this is a genuine Prancing Horse, but amazing as they are Prancing Horses can't fly yet."

[Oh, and for the record, this is me participating in an autocross event if you don't know what one is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akOryL8dGXY]

[Terrador Bellator]

(I know what you mean, that's pretty cool. It bears slight significance to the RP, excellent choice.)

The geomancing echidna buckled himself in, nearly forgetting to do so. However, upon hearing the cat's quetion he unbuckled and sighed deeply.

"I'll see what I can do. Just no sudden turns." he pointed out standing straight up, heading for the back of the car. Using the earth that lay on the sides of the car, he utilized his power to form and luanch projectiles. This was an airborne enemy, not exactly his specialty. Not to mention his connection to the earth was interupted by the car that lay between them. Nonetheless, he never even thought of giving up.

[Giichi Twinkieland]

The rocks pinged off of the ship's metallic hull, leaving some small scratches. A few managed to find the windshield, and also left behind a crack or two. In any case, it appeared to disturb the pilot enough to make the ship slightly wobble from side to side. Because of this, the incoming fire halted briefly.

Giichi chewed his lip as he continued to watch the road ahead. How were they going to lose an aircraft in a car? Yeah, this was a fast one, but the SWATpod had the luxury of being able to fly over all the obstacles he had to drive around.

Maybe my best shot is to head for the downtown area. The buildings are taller, so he'd have a harder time keeping me in his sights, plus there's more places to hide.

Giichi looked ahead, and spotted a major thoroughfare at the end of the street. That looked promising. City planners always had those heading through important areas.

"Terra, sit down. I'm about to make a sharp turn."

The cat moved towards the left side of the road, followed by braking hard and downshifting to second gear. After that, he swung the wheel to the right. The car went into a slight drift, with the rear tires chirping slightly from being on the edge of their grip. If Terra had time to look ahead, he'd see they appeared to be heading for a light pole at the street corner. But instead, the car's line just slightly clipped the curb in front of the light pole, signified by a very light bump from the front right tire. Despite the situation, Giichi smiled when he felt the bump.

A perfectly executed out-in-out line. Hit the apex just right there.

Immediately after touching the clipping point, Giichi pressed down on the accelerator, sending them shooting ahead down the five-lane thoroughfare. Taking that line allowed Giichi to carry the maximum amount of speed possible out of the turn, so they were soon going fast again.

Meanwhile, the SWATpod, having no ground to push off against, shot straight ahead as Giichi made his turn. Promptly, it slammed on its air brakes, attempting to get turned around again to catch up with the car. But it would need a few seconds to do so, since the Ferrari had a much tighter turning circle with having the ground to grip against.

"Thanks for stopping him shooting for a sec!" Giichi shouted to Terra over the road noise. "Wouldn't have been able to make that turn otherwise."

[Yeah, you can tell I really enjoy racing, can't you? ]

[Terrador Bellator]

At first, Terra's concentration on the enemy muffled the cat's comand to sit down. When he executed the turn he barely kept on. He quickly covered his arms with rock to weigh him down to prevent slipping off. This also cuased him to slam his arms down, reating a small dent, only visible if you were actually looking for it. He was aware of the cat's love for the car and kept this to himself considering his reaction before. Now standing straight up he saw the SWATpod having difficulty in the turn.

"Looks like it's far behind us. I'm not too worried about it for now." he said plopping back in the seat,buckling himself back in. "That was some exeptional driving back there. You're pretty good." he pointed out with a feeble smile.

(XD, no doubt.)