“Welcome to the jungle!” the announcers and the PA systems blared out, as the Valentian trio and the pit crew landed at the airport, then transported to the Cocoabo Park.
“Ooooh, finally!” Clarissa exclaimed once again, this time with more happiness, “Wildlife, nature, and everything else! Isn’t this wonderful?”
“Heh, yeah… Provided they don’t have mosquitoes around, of course,” Jolyn added, hastily applying insect repellent to her arms and legs.
Gwen was reading at the map of the course, anticipating the crazy amount of turns that are required of this course.
“So, this is the course…,” Gwen said to Clarissa and Jolyn, while holding out a big map.
“Oh dear, it’s a road course,” Jolyn muttered to herself, “I don’t handle them too well.”
“Well, we just gotta try our best, then!” Clarissa said optimistically, “May the three of us get into the race once again. Best of luck to you, Gwen!”
“Thank you!”
And with that, the qualifications are on. Given that this is a longer road course, the race itself took around 2 minutes to complete. Gwen would find herself placed in the qualifications, 2nd in the list of drivers who needs to be qualified.
“Woo-hoo, and she is back in the race!” Gwen exclaimed to herself, elated and happy.
“You have got to be kidding me,” exclaims Jolyn, who found her name at the bottom of the list, “Did I seriously did that badly? You know, that last turn was a real pain in the neck.”
Jolyn was referencing Turn 14 of the road course, which featured an extremely sharp turn that Jolyn managed to mess up for the qualifications – one time she managed to slow down too much, and another time, she managed to slow down too little and scratched the outside walls.
“Don’t worry, you will get the hang of it,” Gwen reassured Jolyn, trying to cheer her friend up, “I mean, look on the bright side! These are just qualifications! I am sure that you can take back all those positions for the race tomorrow!”
The Valentians - Qualifications @ Cocoabo Preservation 300K presented by twii.tur, Cocoabo Park Circuit, Cocoabo Park, Cocoabo Forest, Tropicorp
The Valentians woke up to a cooler morning breeze in the tropical setting; they decided to turn off the air-conditions in the lounges and threw open the windows to enjoy what Mother Nature has to offer in this part of the world. The results were… mostly cooling breeze as aforementioned, the chirping of the birds, and perhaps the occasional mosquitoes and insects. Clarissa did not mind them, and for the rest, they have to use mosquito nets to prevent themselves from getting sucked dry of blood. They are not exactly sure of the mosquitoes (or other insects, if any) in this nation, but the Valentians are not going to take that chance.
After a hearty breakfast involving bacon and eggs, and one full charge-cycle for Clarissa, they were surrounded by 6-8 birds of some kind.
“Ooh dear me!” Jolyn exclaimed, “Certainly can’t get a peaceful breakfast with these birds around. What on Valentian’s Earth are they?”
“I think they are wild cocoabos,” Clarissa answered back, while trying to access the internet from her head, “Yeah, that was what I got. And they are my friends too, haha!”
“Wait… friends? Clarissa, did you feed them?” Gwen asked confusingly, while trying to gently shoo one or two away.
“Yes! “ Clarissa shouted excitingly, while holding one of the bird and stroking its head, “Aren’t they lovely? Who’s the good birdy? Tch tch, who’s the good birdy?”
Jolyn: “Err… rule of thumb; if you fed them, there’s always a good chance that they will come back to you, and follow you like you are their mother.”
Clarissa: “I will keep them in mind, haha! But aren’t they cute?” [While holding a bird towards Jolyn.]
Jolyn: “Yeah, lovely… as long as they don’t poop and makes a mess.”
Gwen: “We are going to be here for only a few days, so… thank goodness for that. Now, let’s go! We got a race to finish.”
With that, the Valentian trio (and some cocoabos) made their way to their race cars, with Jenny and Jared carefully picking these cocoabos away from the cars and away from their own harm.
“Well, good luck to you all!” Jared announced proudly on the comms, “Jolyn, this is where your A/C will come in handy!”
“Thanks!” Jolyn replied back as she put the A/C on full blast, embracing the cold air that comes out of it, “I miss Russia’s winters.”
Jolyn looked behind, only to find no other cars behind her; she has to start from the very last position for the race and felt a little ashamed about that; how can she mess up the qualifications so badly? Still, qualifications did not mean much, and she was confident that she could finish at a higher position. After all, she made it to the top on one occasion.
“And they are away!”
The first segment was great for the Valentian trio – Clarissa graced the 7th place by the end of it, while Jolyn would try to adopt and try her very best on the last turn; she knew that she needed to keep some speed, but at the same time, it has to be so that she did not slow down excessively. After a few laps of trial and error; she had it figured out - she would shift to the inside walls, followed by breaking and turning to the outside wall.
This would ensure that she did not slow down excessively, and it worked – by the last lap of the first segment, she climbed up to the 18th position. Gwen, on the other hand, would linger around the 22nd position, and just like Jolyn, she would be struggling to keep the turns, slow down efficiently, and-
“AAAAAA, WHAT THE FUCK,” Gwen said in the most inelegant manner into the comms, “How the hell did you get in here?!”
“What, what was it?” Jolyn asked confusingly, “What is inside your car?”
“There’s a freaking bird in my car! And it’s on the dashboard, panicking and flapping its wing- STOP IT, I CAN’T FREAKING SEE!”
“Haha!” Clarissa would chuckle a little, while showing some concern for her friend, “I think you will need to be gentle with it?”
“Yeah, you are right…”
“Would you like me to take care of it?” Jared asked, wondering if he could remove the bird out of the car during a pit stop.
“Yeah, I will give that a try later. I will try to hold on for the next few races.”
Second segment came, and it got relatively worse for Clarissa and Jolyn – they are not used to the road course, and they have been trying their best to find the right tactics of slowing down. Jolyn would go for the traditional “slow down gently”, while Clarissa went for the more daring “drifting” approach – powersliding her car when the coast is clear. Drifting tactics didn’t work so well, given that it has tacked on 1-2 seconds on Clarissa’s lap times. As for Jolyn, she was getting increasingly careful, and perhaps too excessively; she was slowing down too safely and too much that she was losing precious seconds over it.
Gwen did rather well, at least for someone with a bird in her vehicle. She climbed up to 16th, trying to one-hand drive her car – one hand petting on a bird that is now sitting on her lap, and another hand on the steering wheel.
“All right, Valentians, pit stop time!” Jared announced on the comms come the third segment. The trio made their way slowly to the pit stop and had a change of tires, as well as gas. The tires did not have the worst of wears, since the slower speeds also slowed the rate of wear-and-tear. The gas topping was most definitely needed.
When Jared and the other Valentian crew tried to get the cocoabo out of Gwen’s car, the bird flapped wildly and nested itself on Gwen’s lap yet again.
“You have GOT to be kidding me,” Gwen remarked with a sigh, “I will have to switch to an Automatic Transmission, then. Do you think we can do it quickly?”
“Might take some time, but it seems doable. I mean… the car is advanced enough to do it, but you will need to take some time to get used to it.”
“Uhhh, hmm… I think I will stick to the manual transmission, then,” Gwen said, while trying her best not to lash out on the poor bird, “As long as this little creature stays still.”
After they got out of the pit, they have started to do their own thing again, of racing, slowing down, and making sure that none of the wild animals made it onto the course; so far, there was none of that happening, but the Valentians like to make sure and prefer that there is zero roadkill as much as possible.
Clarissa and Jolyn skyrocketed to 9th and 10th respectively, while Gwen lost precious seconds because of her struggle against the bird. She placed at 30th by the end of it due to her slightly scratching and bumping on the walls… which in turn was attributed to the bird walking around the dashboard and flapping about.
“Oh my GOODNESS!” Gwen exclaimed loudly on the comms, which in turn startled the bird a little and somehow, maybe it got the hint. It stopped flapping and instead would just sit on Gwen’s lap yet again.
“Everything all right?” Jolyn and Clarissa asked at the same time.
“Yeah, I’m fine, don’t worry…” Gwen turned off the comms for a while, then decided to go on with a slightly-annoyed-but-not-losing-temper tirade, “Look, just stay on my damn lap, and don’t do anything else, all right? It’s so freaking hot here, but you chose to stay with me, so deal with it! Besides, if I am here, you are not going to be cooked. You can handle temperatures as well as I can… at least, I hope so. Do we have a deal? I can’t believe I am trying to negotiate with an animal.”
The cocoabo simply made some birdly noises and sat comfortably on Gwen’s lap yet again, with Gwen’s larger-than-normal-human stature making it comfortable for the cocoabo to rest on.
“Heh, don’t get too comfortable,” Gwen said, as she turned back her comms and resumed racing, “Everything is fine, no worries. Just had a… talk with the bird.”
“The bird can understand English?” Clarissa asked, though without a hint of sarcasm; she was as curious as the others.
“Nah, but it does seem to understand me, so… that counts, right?”
Still, driving a racecar one-handed, for the most parts, didn’t work so well for Gwen.
The fourth segment was the typical trading of positions for the Valentians – Clarissa dropped back to 15th, while Gwen gained back to 18th. On the other hand, Jolyn dropped to 31st from 10th, mostly because she overestimated the last turn; she turned too much and this in turn caused the front bumper of her car to get caught with the inner wall. The entire vehicle shook, with the front bumper nearly fully crumpled.
“Crap, crap! I shouldn’t have turned too much!” she muttered to herself and in turn talking on the comms, “Don’t worry, I will be fine! Just hit too hard on the front bumper.”
This moved caused her to lose 4 seconds of precious time as she slowly sped back up and went back into the pits once again, to get her vehicle checked. After some checks, Jared informed her that her vehicle is still fine to drive; it was simply just damaged in terms of cosmetics.
The fifth segment was more or less average for Clarissa – she lost a place to 16th. Jolyn and Gwen, on the other hand, made it to 9th and 8th as they roared and zoomed out of the last lap of the 5th segment. Jolyn learned her lesson, and also realised that with the front bumper partially crumpled, it made the turns easier as she didn’t need to worry about turning too far; of course, this was at the expense of the worse aerodynamics, so her vehicle now has a slightly slower top speed. Not that she would need it that much, since the road course doesn’t demand high speeds.
The sixth segment would have Clarissa climbing to 10th, and then 9th. Jolyn and Gwen made it to 2nd and 1st respectively, happy that for once, perhaps they would reach the top 10, all of them.
“We are going to make history, girls!” Clarissa announced on the comms, “We are going to finish in Top 10, all of us!”
“Ohh, yes, that’s what I am talking about!” Gwen exclaimed.
“Finally, some win like this will be good-“
Suddenly, the comms were filled with the weirdest of sounds… from Gwen’s cocoabo who apparently panicked for an unknown reason.
“What the hell are you doing- NO WAIT, STOP THAT!” Gwen was heard screaming, and flaps of wings were heard in the background. The cocoabo beat the steering wheel with its wings and caused Gwen to swerve… right towards Jolyn. The bad news was that the two got hit with each other and had a slowdown; the good news was, it was not a spinout, and they still managed to control their car.
“OH MY GIDDY AUNT, WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK!” Gwen was heard screaming once again, and much to the surprise of many, many Valentians in the comms; they never heard (or see) her that angry, and at that moment, it looked like she wanted to murder someone in cold blood.
Though, on the bright side, the side-to-side crash and slowdowns happened on the turn, so the cars were already sufficiently slowed down before they hit. They didn’t lose much time, but the damage was done: Gwen finished 16th, Jolyn finished 22nd. Clarissa, on the other hand, made it to 4th, away from the hazards.
Clarissa would come out of the vehicle, singing a little tune to herself and having a big smile on herself. Jolyn was a little disappointed, but once again, she definitely know that it was an accident that is bound to happen.
Gwen got out of her car and pounded the side of the car a few times with her fists out of frustration (not out of rage, thankfully), while she gave a death glare to the poor cocoabo. Gwen took a few deep breaths, petted the cocoabo, and simply went back to her lounging.
“Ahh, Gwen, are you all right?” Clarissa asked.
“Ugggh, I gonna take a shower, and sleep later,” Gwen answered back, her voice soft and low, “Oh and hey, save some beer for me. I want to get wasted tonight!”
Clarissa quickly ran up to Gwen and tried to apologise, but the latter assured her that it’s not her fault.
“No, Clarissa, it is not your fault… if you feed them, then you should be the one that they are flocking to; I don’t know why that cocoabo is attracted to me.”
“Maybe he loves you,” Jenny replied back with sass.
“Ugh, no thanks!” Gwen said, looking at the cocoabo, who in turn was following her back to her lounge, “Fine, follow me back… And hey, Clarissa… feel free to celebrate, don’t worry about us!”
“Are you sure? I mean… I can come with you, cheer you up.”
“Nah, it’s fine. I know it’s not your fault, and you just wanted to feed these things; it following to my car doesn’t relate to you feeding them.”
Jolyn simply followed Clarissa for the celebration, after checking to make sure that Gwen is indeed fine and is not going to go into a tirade of insults… or worse, cook the poor cocoabo. Clarissa, on the other hand, celebrated her victory at the 4th position, making her the very first Valentian to finish Top 10… Top 5, actually. These were all massive improvements from the previous races where she would end up between 30th and 40th. Clarissa also tried to hug everyone involved.
Gwen, in the meantime, took a quick shower, ate a meal, and slept it off in her room, lying face-down. The cocoboa, in the meantime, climbed onto the bed, stood on Gwen’s back, and pecked her head gently.
“Uggggh, not now! I know you are sorry, but stop it, I want some sleep!” Gwen spoke out, her voice muffled by the pillow, “Also, get off my back, you are a little too heavy.”
The bird, as if understanding what she meant, got off her and slept inside Gwen’s helmet, which was placed upside-down on the table. Clarissa and Jolyn simply watched the hilarity from the door.
“Good night, Gwen!” both of them exclaimed happily, especially Jolyn; she should be understandably mad for losing 13 places, but she was well-aware that all these things happen. There is nothing much from being angry or losing a friend over races and events that they have no big expectations toward; after all, it’s all for fun.
“Good night…” the muffled voice of Gwen came up once again, “Bloody hell, I could have been first.”
The bird then made a few birdly noises.
“Shut up!” Gwen retorted back at it, after which the bird quickly quieten down.
