Drawing: A well-shaded, curved piece of metal with little electric bolts coming off it.
Associated Spell:Big-Ass Magnet.Casts at level 14.
Just before the race started, I found Dong in the pet stables. He’d brought Porky with him, and he was showing him Gonk the swamp yak, who was in her pen, happily munching away at something, while Simoom the rhino snorted beside her. Rend was also in here playing with Penelope the pig, though he started whining the moment he saw me, likely upset that I wasn’t bringing him out adventuring more.
I unloaded a ton of frozen chicken patties on the ground, and he let out an excited grunt before he started to devour them. I patted the meatball on the head. “Don’t worry, buddy. We’ll get you out there soon. It’s too dangerous right now with all the potatoes everywhere.”
Penelope was also excited about the chicken patties.
Porky was staring at the food on the ground, but then I realized he was actually staring at Penelope the pig, licking his lips with his half tongue, which looked especially lascivious due to the white gimp suit. I sighed.
“You are a good mount,” Dong was saying, patting the oblivious Gonk on the side of the head. “I used to dream of one final charge into the unknown astride a beast such as yourself, but, alas, some dreams are impossible indeed. Still a worthy quest, I say.”
He turned, seeing me waiting.
“To battle, then?” he asked.
“To battle,” I said.
And five minutes later, we were in the truck, approaching the starting line.
Carl: Akuma, are you still on this floor?
Akuma: I am still here. I will be leaving soon. Stop messaging me unless it’s important. Don’t you have a race right now? Focus on that and not annoying me.
I was about to send him a snide reply when another message came in.
Zhang: I just got a notification that she’s left the party and has been disqualified. Then I got an Uh-Oh achievement for being a solo driver. I hope this Bodi guy knows how to ride an octopus.
Mordecai: The cactus is holding steady. I’ll let everyone know if something changes.
“He said that would only happen once,” Donut complained from the passenger’s seat. She was talking about Mordecai’s cryptic proclamation. “But that’s twice now. It’s really scary. I don’t like it.”
“If someone is making you uncomfortable, it’s best to cut them from your life,” Dorota said.
“He said we need to ignore it,” I replied as I eased up to the starting line. I was the last one here. The race would start in two minutes. We were two spots over from the Lady Dominators. We had Osvaldo between us and team Free Love on the other side. At the far end, Dwight, alone, sat within his vine, staring straight forward.
“Let’s get through this,” I said. Ahead, the massive factory loomed. The place didn’t really look like a factory but the entrance to an industrial-themed amusement park ride. The enormous entrance door was large enough for us all to drive in side by side. I knew that once we entered, the tracks would narrow.
There was a total of twelve heats entering this race, but none of the other heats were teams from our guild except Prepotente and Jurgen aboard their tapir, Sweety. I didn’t see them now.
I knew Louis, Imani, and Zhang—who was riding behind Bodi—were all on a track called the Infected Gravity Well. Florin was on a track called There’s Something Wrong with the Zoo.
Behind us, Dong, Porky, and Grigori sat strapped into their newly installed seats, all placed in a row. Dong’s health was in the deep yellow, about to turn red. He insisted that he actually felt fine, though I could see in the mercenary tab that he was suffering from fatigue.
Porky sat directly behind Dong, and he had his hand on Dong’s shoulder. Dong reached up and held it there.
Grigori was also looking a little green around the edges. The tall human looked very out of place in his seat at the very back, sitting stiffly. Hedy said he hadn’t taken well to the driving lessons.
“You doing okay?” I asked the man.
He let out a little cough. “Will you be driving this fast for the whole event?”
I exchanged a look with Donut. “This fast? All we did was go to the starting line. I was just coasting.”
“I don’t think my stomach agrees with this sort of conveyance.”
“You have a sink next to you,” I said. “If you gotta hurl, do it in there.”