Tale of a Pup: MK8D Fzero Circuit

[Isabelle]

Continued from Tale of a Pup: In the Dog House

When Isabelle rematerialized, she was standing in the middle of a dirty neon lit street, droves of people, in outfits that ranged from street leathers to thin cloth that barely left anything to the imagination, crossed paths with the confused dog.

She was more confused about the sudden change of location than she was of the location itself. One of her apartments was located in a place like this back when she lived alone in the city. When her mind accepted the change of scenery, the painful memories started to flood in like a wall bursting at the Hoover. Unlike the land of lava and the white void before, she knew this kind of area way too well.

While the rich and the blissful sat on the testaments of civilization in the business district, those that were less fortunate would wind up either in the slums or worse, the neon lit hovels of debauchery and gambling. It’s a place where animals would come to prey on one another, either by betting all their money on the fastest horse, or to purchase another person for a night of pleasure.

All of her jobs out there were filling out documents for clubs, being in the backroom was far better than whatever happened out in the dance floor. But when she was between jobs and the money started to dry up, she cried every night fearful that she may wind up like one of those scantily clad girls on the street corner.

Not wanting to spend another minute in wretched hole like this one, she pulled out her phone and poked around for the recall station app.

However, in the corner of her eye, she saw something. She froze her place and turned her head to peek, to ensure she wasn’t imagining it.

A familiar old man in a bowler hat and chocolate colored suit, stood across the street on the stoop of some run down building.

“Mr. Wayward?” She asked under her breath.

He was looking straight at her for a moment, then he turned away, made his way up the rest of the stoop and went inside.

Isabelle, now curious, slid her phone back into her pocket, and crossed the street in pursuit.

[Isabelle]

The door swung open before she could even rap on the door after scaling the steps. The entry opened up to a hallway that was perpendicular to it, on the wall straight across was a painting of a boy and dog playing in a field.

Cautiously, she looked around one corner and saw only rows and rows of doors that broke through the flower print wallpaper and trim. She twisted the other direction and saw the hallway over there stops short and turns off into another room. Taking a gamble, she took the turn off, hoping the simplest solution was the correct one and she didn’t have to spend the time opening every single door in this place.

It lead to another hallway full of doors.

She sighed heavily at the tedious task ahead of her. But before she began to do a scooby sketch trying to find her way, she spotted him. At the far end of the hall, a single door was open, and from the portal, she could see Rovin, sitting in a large red armchair sipping tea. He spotted her and waved at her. Suspicious of this scenario, she proceeded down the hall, careful of her every step. She was in that part of town after all, it’d be foolish to be careless.

Eventually, she made it to the doorway where Rovin showed no sign of impatience with how much time she took. He finished his sip before placing the teacup down and reached for the teapot.

“When you feel ready, feel free to sit down and join me!” He said politely, not even looking away from his task.

Isabelle stood at the doorway, trying to decide whether to run or put her faith in the man. He was the same guy that helped her back in the white void, he still had that charm that made her trust him in the first place, but what kind of person intentionally lives next to a bordello?

Eventually, she decided she just wanted to hear him out. She stepped forward and swiveled in place in front of the seat the other side of the table before plopping down, squishing the cushion of the matching large armchair with her little rump.

“Try some of the tea if you like,” he said as he reached over, grabbing a chocolate chip cookie from the tray in front of him, “or the cookies, it’s all good.”

He shoves the cookie into his mouth and takes a big fearless bite out of it. Proves that the cookies were okay at least, not that she could eat chocolate anyways. She picked up her teacup and inspected it. No pills at the bottom, no mysterious powder coating the glass. Even as she poured herself some tea, even knowing that Rovin had already taken a sip, she couldn’t help inspect the fluid that came out, even sniffing it, trying to pick up anything.

“You don’t have to drink any if you don’t want to.” He said politely.

With that, she just let the cup sit. More just watched it than anything.

Rovin eventually finished his glass and placed it gently on the teacup plate. He straightened his tie and cleared his throat, catching the attention of the dog across from him.

“I have to admit, you impress me.” He began with a smile. “When you took off before I finished, and when I realized where you were headed, I almost had given up hope. Imagine my surprised when you not only survived the steppes, but also popped up in Coruscant. I really had to rush over here. Luckily you weren’t far from one of our locations.”

Isabelle cocked an eyebrow, but he continued.

“I work for the Wayward Foundation. Agent 035, designation: Rovin Wayward. We are a group of secondaries that help other secondaries that have been abandoned by their Primes.”

He stood up and started walking around the room as he explained.

“We help them find a community they’d belong in as well as make sure they settle down and successfully start their lives anew. It’s a dangerous world out there and our kind are often the ones left out defenseless, weak. Considering we are the ones that can die, people like us are the ones that need us the most.”

Isabelle pondered his words. She didn’t realize that she was so invested in this concept, she had completely forgotten her fears and started drinking the tea. Thankfully, she didn’t start to pass out.

“We usually don’t take on primes as clients, but after a higher up scanned you, she decided to make an exception.”

“There was another person with us in the white area?” She asked, her head poking out from behind the half finished tea.

“You never checked the pond for fish I’m guessing.” He said jovially, almost like he was bragging. Issy simply tilted her head in confusion. “Don’t worry about it. Anyways, I’ll be sticking with you for a while, just serving as your guide as you get used to the Omniverse and all it entails. We usually provide protection as well, but I’ve been ordered to only be an observer in your journey.”

“Why?” Isabelle inquired.

He finally sat down and began to pour himself another drink.

“Because they don’t see the value of risking the life of an agent for someone who can’t die.”

He sat back as he enjoyed another cup of tea and left Isabelle to her thoughts. She processed what Rovin had explained to her. She loved the idea of the vulnerable protecting each other. If the city back in her world had more people willing to do that, it may not have been as bad as it was.

However, she couldn’t help be nervous about the idea that out of all the primes in the Omniverse, she was the first one to require said help. Did that mean there were far more powerful primes out there? She didn’t quite like the thought of super powered beings, just eager to exert their dominance over her.

She sighed and gave a little prayer of protection in this trying world. She’s just happy her new friend was at least good company.

Not that she could 100% fully trust him.



She had another cup of tea.

[Isabelle]

Isabelle sat her desk early in the morning, the sun had barely come up and she was eagerly waiting next to the intercom, eyeing her digital clock as it counted down the seconds on what is 5:59 am.

As soon as it flipped to 6:00 her face lit up. She pulled off the receiver from the intercom device and, with a smile pulling across her face, spoke with confidence.

“Good morning everyone! Time to rise and shine!”

She loved doing the morning call out, and no amount of soul searching could ever answer why. Maybe it’s the single indulgence in her life that didn’t involve the needs of others, or maybe she just secretly enjoyed being noisy. It was probably something the dog would never know.

Much to her surprise, she heard the jingle of the front door. She never got visitors this early. She rolled her chair with her tiny bottom paws so she was positioned behind the front desk. She authentic smile of a second ago quickly shifted to her business smile as she turned to greet the new arrival.

“Greetings! How may I- Mayor!”

There they were, messy brown hair, green eyes, black t-shirt with red trim, and mud brown camo pants.

Just seeing him so unexpectedly made her heart shoot like a rocket out of her chest, she could have sworn it would have punched a hole in the ceiling and went into orbit.

“M-Mr Mayor!” She cried out in surprise. “I wasn’t expecting you so early!”

“Yes, I won’t be very long.” He began. As he got closer, she began to notice bags under his eyes. “I was just up all night catching beetles on the island.”

“Beetles?” Asked Izzy, cocking her head on one side.

“Yes, I got over 100,000 bells worth, once Re-Tail opens for the day, we’ll have enough to pay off that coffee shop.”

Isabelle gasped, she never knew beetles made so much money! It’s not shocking someone as amazing as him would figured out such a thing! Also the idea of the town having its own coffee shop, it’s exactly what the city needed to make it perfect!

“Congratulations! You’re so amazing, Mayor!” She said gleefully.

“Well, to be honest, I didn’t just come here to give good news.”

“Oh?‘ Isabelle’s expression changed. The vagueness of his statement made her nervous, fearful to her core. She was used to tragedy, so she couldn’t help expecting it at every variable in life.

But to her surprise, the mayor pull up and sat down, meeting her at eye level.

“If I don’t do this now, I won’t have the courage to do it later.” He said. She was surprised at his sudden candid tone. “Isabelle. I was thinking, maybe later today, we can got to the beach, just you and me.”

It only took seconds for her face to immediately turn red.

“I-is this a platonic thing o-or are you… are you asking me out on a...” Her entire body was shaking, she could barely speak straight.

“The latter..” He said, he appeared to be as disheveled as her.

She couldn’t believe it, SHE COULDN’T BELIEVE IT. The MAYOR was asking her out on a date! THE MAYOR WAS ASKING HER OUT ON A-

She pinched herself, uncertain if she was dreaming, it had to be a dream. Nothing THIS good ever happened to her.

“W-well, do you need time to think on it or-” He began.

“Yes!” She shouted words coming out sporadically. “I will! I will go to the beach with you, on a date!”

The mayor was silent for a moment, but his doofy nervous smile began to match that of his ditzy secretary’s.

“Would 3pm be good for you? We can meet by the docks.” He asked as he stood up and desperately tried to compose himself.

“3pm would be perfect!”

It would not actually, she would have to cancel an appointment with the alpacas, and she knew she would get flack for blowing it off for a date, but for once in her life, work was abolished from her mind. To her, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, one granted down by the titans themselves, and she’d be a fool to pass it up.

“Alright, see you then Isabelle!” He shot her one last smile before leaving through the door.

Isabelle’s heart was pounding like a motor engine, she had to take deep breaths to keep from having a heart attack from the sheer wave of emotions that plagued her. She couldn’t believe what just happened, but at the same time, she was thrilled it finally was.

With a new vigor, she turned to her work, now glowing with a new inspiration. She was going to finish the paperwork for that new coffee house in record time so she can for once have the afternoon off. It was no time for dreaming, the golden beauty that is reality was just one mountain of paperwork ahead of her.




Isabelle shook awake, the dream still fresh in her mind, and yet the mayor she just envisioned was already gone from her memory again. She wasn’t sure if what she experienced was a lost memory or just a fantasy of her’s. She wasn’t sure if either result was any comfort whatsoever.

She had fallen asleep on a ratty rundown couch located in what was one of the buildings owned by the Wayward foundation, at least that’s what her new companion told her, she still wasn’t sure if she could fully trust him.

Of course, despite knowing this, she did still fall asleep around him.

She sat up, her mind fixated on the shadow that she envisioned as the mayor. She knew she had to find him, but how could she find someone when she can’t even remember what they looked like?

Tears started to roll down her face as she whimpered, confused, alone, uncertain.

[Isabelle]

After she had some time to calm down, she tapped around her phone looking for more help. She had to find the mayor, she knew she had to. But declaring a goal wasn’t the same of accomplishing it.

It was after a stunt on twitter why she posted an embarrassing photo that she would get her inspiration. She noticed the attention she got from it and while most of the notices she received in response were… disparaging, she couldn’t help but see the long line of retweets to followed in it’s wake. Every single one of those were going under the eyes of new people with each reposting. More and more, her mayor could be one of those pair of eyes.

She knew what she had to do.

She marched from her couch and looked around the building for Rovin. She eventually found him in front of a desk down one of the hallways. His desk covered in photographs of many different beings. Halfway through typing a paragraph, he finally since the dog’s presence in the doorway. He turned and gave her a smile

“Ah! You’re awake, good morning!” He said as he clicked around a few menus with his free hand. “My apologies, I was doing some paperwork, how can I help you?”

She walked into his room, Rovin’s eyes following her the entire time, and she took a seat across from him. She wiggled around a bit to get comfortable before she turned her attention to her companion.

“I want to get well known.” She said, stating it with purpose. “I can’t remember the mayor, but maybe he remembers me. I need to be everywhere, If people are talking about me all over the place, then he can’t even miss me from the darkest reaches of the Omniverse. Maybe he’ll be the one to find me!”

“Quite an ambitious goal!” He said, almost mockingly. “Well, I do not doubt you have what it takes, but you’ll be under much more scrutiny, you’ll have people pawing at you everywhere. You sure you could handle that?”

She hadn’t considered that. She wasn’t the most social person in the world, having fans walk up to her, inflicting their expectations on her, she wasn’t sure if she could handle that. And that’s not considering the real perverts. She already got really dirty tweets just a few minutes ago, the concept of encountering that in real life; shivers to the bone.

But, it was the mayor. If she was doing it for him, it’d be okay.

“Yes, I’ll do anything to be reunited with the mayor.”

Rovin rose a brow at her before turning to tap away at his computer again.

“Well, you’re the boss.”

Suddenly, a projector that Isabelle failed to notice in the back of the room flickered on and covered the wall behind Rovin with his screen. It displayed a long list of showbiz jobs found all over Coruscant.

“Not sure how good you are acting or singing.”

“I had a band back home.” She stated, a little bit of her ego shining through the discomfort.

“Well, that definitely helps! So we can try some acting gigs, modelling might be good for you. Your non-human nature might impede your career though. Would have so many more options if we were in Ambrosia.”

He scratched his chin trying to think, but she broke the silence before he could discover his words.

“F Zero racing?” She asked.

Rovin looked up at the screen and spotted the entry titled “Newbie drivers wanted for F Zero Racing in Coruscant. No experience required.”

“You wouldn’t want to do that. Have you ever even driven in a race before?”

“Yes, we did a lot of kart racing back home.”

“This is not quite the same Isabelle, we’re talking 250 mph or more.”

She had to admit, she had never gone that fast before, though she wasn’t foreign to the concept of high speed racing.

“Well, I have gone like 100 mph on my scooter in a race before. And I’m guessing the tracks in F Zero actually elevated to the turns while ours rarely ever did so maybe it’s just easier.”

“Wait, you went 100 mph on a scooter?”

“Then again not sure what kind of weapons F Zero races have. Might be hard to dodge fire on a normal track.”

“You were racing 100 mph on a scooter while weapons were being fired at you?!? Did you at least wear a helmet?”

“What? That would have messed up my hair something fierce!”

[Isabelle]

Isabelle stepped her way into the office, her knees shaky, her posture curved forward, she can’t imagine it had been a good first impression.

It had been hours since Rovin helped her put in her application for F Zero, it had been hours since they sent out the call for sponsors. Now she was appearing in person, here to present herself to one of the men that pay the bills.

He was huge! It was difficult to tell from him sitting, but he must of have been 8’0” at least! He was wide, too! He was almost triple Isabelle’s width! His desk alone towered over her like a skyscraper. She had never felt self conscious about her height before, but now she felt like an insect in a world of boots.

The man had a face that looked as if it were chiseled out of stone, with two sunken and dead eyes that scanned the dog top to bottom. He didn’t have a single hair on his head, not even eyebrows. Every other inch of his body was covered from head to toe in a magenta suit, with exception of his hands which adorned a brightly decorated rings on each finger.

She began to wonder if the man really was made of stone. Outside of of his eyes, whose gaze gave her chills, nothing about the man seemed to react to her presence whatsoever. He just sat there, his arms resting to the side as he just watched, and watched, and watched.

She gulped hard.

“Mr. Steady, sir?” She said, shakily.

“Please have a seat Ms. Belle.”

She stepped cautiously towards the nearest chair. Even this seat took a bit of a hop to get into. It took a minute to get herself centered, her butt didn’t even take up half the seat! She had a nervous thought about what kind of guests this man was expecting that could possibly fill seats like these.

“Ms. Belle.” He stated, his voice booming over her head.

She straightened out, her posture suddenly upright like a student in front of a strict teacher. She fixed her gaze on the man, even though he still gave her the willies.

“F Zero racing is not for the faint of heart. It is dangerous, and you may die. I hope you understand that.”

“That I do, sir.” She said, bowing in her seat.

“What is your aim? If you are desperate for money, I’m sure the place across the street was looking for girls like you.”

She remembered seeing the strip club that occupied the space across from there, “Animal House” it was called. Suddenly, the name of the place started to make a lot more sense. Honestly, she thought it was related to the movie somehow.

She felt her face go warm as she shook her head.

“I don’t care about money, I’m… doing this for love.”

Mr. Steady showed the first sign of a reaction the entire time since she had entered the room, he furrowed his naked brow ever so slightly.

“There’s this man I’ve long been separated from. I’m hoping if i’m famous he’ll be able to find me.” Her explanation behind her motives sound sillier under the weight of Mr. Steady’s sheer presence.

“So let me get this straight,” he began, he lurched forward to inspect her closer, “you’re risking your life entirely so a guy will notice you?”

She nodded quietly, feeling an odd blend of nervousness, terror, confusion, and depression all at once.

He leaned back in his chair which squeaked loudly under his weight. He was silent as the tension brewed in the air around him. Isabelle eyed him nervously, trying not to do anything to offend the man. Then, finally, he spoke.

“Friday, 9 am. Six days from today, is when you get you race.”

Suddenly, as the words landed in her head, all her anxieties washed away in one fell swoop as she leapt up in her chair with a huge smile on her face.

“One of my associates will show you to your car as well as the garage you may live in if you prefer. Modify the vehicle all you like as long as it abides by regulations.”

“Thank you Mr. Steady! You won’t regret this!” She said gleefully. She hopped off her seat and marched towards the door. “I won’t let you down!”

“I’m sure you won’t.” He said, watching the dog disappeared behind the exit.

He sat there alone in silence for a few minutes, before a strange squirrelly kind of man in red hair and writer’s vest entered the room. He stood at attention in front of his desk.

“This is not the army Mr. Belvet.”

The man took the hint and leapt up into the seat, plopping down and making eye contact with the man.

“So this Isabelle character, will she serve our purposes, sir?” He asked politely.

“She’s a moron, a grade A moron.” He began as he pulled a box out of the desk. “Anyone who takes a look at me and not immediately backs out is too dumb to live. She’s most likely not smart enough to even know she’s been had after seeing the car.

He pulled out a cigar from the box and sniffed it. He started feeling around one of the drawers

“I have to say, that plan of her’s must be top on the list of idiot plans. All the long timers race for either pocket money or for the kicks, no one here does it for love, nor do they do it entirely for fame.

“I only seen the champs get famous around here, and no way a rookie like her is going to take the gold. Even with a full deck of cards, she’d have better luck at getting famous by shaking her naked ass on the dataverse, and the sooner she realizes that’s where the real money is it, the better.”

He finally pulls out the matches, and strikes one, holding it up to the cigar in his mouth.

“What about her love story?” His associate mentioned, desperate to change from an uncomfortable subject matter. “A romantic angle, we could get some audience favor out of that!”

“You disappointment Mr. Belvet. Tier 2 had fogged your judgement.” He said sorrowfully as he took a long puff of smoke. “Tier 4 sold it’s heart for poker chips a long time ago.”

He took another puff as he looked off into space, his dead eyes burning a hole into a random spot in the adjacent wall.

“This is the town all poets go bankrupt.”

[Isabelle]

A man in a blonde flock of seagulls hair cut, draped from head to toe in brightly-colored spandex, lead Isabelle and Rovin through the central hub of the F Zero circuit. Izzy didn’t get a good look of the place when she first came in, too nervous and too much in a rush to meet her sponsor to really drink in the place. She couldn't help but be stunned at the sheer size of the building. They could probably fit three town halls in here and still have so much more room.

But while the size of the place was amazing, the cleanliness left a lot to be desired. She could see birds nesting in the rafters, dirt collecting on the walls. She considered how difficult it was to keep Town Hall clean, she couldn’t imagine taking care of something this massive.

“Ms. Belle, I’m asking you a question!” Cried out a distressed Rovin from behind her.

“Oh I’m sorry, I was just admiring the scenery.” Said said. She spotted a gooey piece of bird crap falling from the rafters and into the crowd around her. She didn’t want to imagine the person that got hit by that.

“What was Mr. Steady like? Did he seem trustworthy?” Asked Rovin again.

“No, not really.” She said honestly. The associate didn’t even react to her blunt answer.

“Wait, then why did you take his offer then?”

“I have my reasons.” She stated. Honestly, she didn’t want to publically say anything quite yet, and Rovin wasn’t entitled in knowing.

The strange spandexed man led them down a long corridor, each door leading to an octagonal shaped room, three sides of each area protrude out of the wall giving the hall a very unconventional look. One of the doors at the other end was open and someone inside was blasting rock music on high, allowing it to travel all they way to her sensitive little ears.

She never got to see what was in the open room, as her guide stopped in place, swiveled, and opened a door in front of him, one that was labeled “42.”

“This is your personal garage, you’ll find your car inside. Work on it as you please. You’ll find a bed and kitchen area in the corner, so make yourself at home.”

Isabelle took a few steps in, followed in suit by Rovin. She looked around her and spied eight walls of mechanical supplies and tools, all neatly organized. Then in one of the corners, the concrete floor turned into hard wood and a little living unit was adorned with a worn out bed, tiny kitchen, and even dressers for her clothes.

“You’ll have to use the shared bathroom down the hall. Woman’s room is on the left you can’t miss it. The simulators can be found the next room over. if I were you, I’d train up as much of possible.” He gave her a smile and waved as he clutched the door handle. “Good luck little doggy! Bye!”

And he slammed the door, his shoes tapping hard against the concrete as he walked away.

His apparent attitude reminded Izzy, she wasn’t special in all this. She didn’t trust Mr. Steady, she figured he might be screwing her over. With this in mind, she finally took a look at the car.

It was a strange lavender color, and it had the same number as her room. She noticed it was shoddily put together, the fins were flimsy at best, the glass looked like it was made of normal glass instead of anything remotely protective. She could imagine her face caving in if anything happened to fly off her opponent’s cars.

Most importantly, she got on her knees and looked under the floating vehicle. Some wire was loose. She became worried that maybe the brake lines.

“Looks like Mr. Steady really wants me to die on the track.” She said, understatement of the year.

“Ms. Belle, now that you know this is a trap, you could always back out. I mean, this all looks like a wash anyways.”

Izzy only gave him a smile of reassurance.

“I’ll be fine! I just got to fix up this car.”

Rovin was taken aback by her answer. He knew she was determined, but this appeared kind of dim, even by her standards.

“You don’t have to play his game. You can just summon a better car.”

“And how would i learn anything doing that?” She stated as she plopped herself down on a rolling board. “How am I supposed to be expected to race in one of these things if I don’t know it front and back?”

“Do you even know this technology?” He asked.

She leaned back on the board, lying flat on it.

“Nope, but I have six days to find out!”

She rolled herself underneath the car, disappearing entirely from view.

[Isabelle]

Isabelle was in the bathroom taking the greatest leak in her life. How she forgot to use the restroom at the agency and back at the geode was beyond her. It just kind of hit her an hour or so working under the car. Thankfully Rovin went back to file a report. She wasn’t sure if he was required to follow her into the bathroom. The thought gave her shivers.

She noticed she somehow already had an oil stain on her clothing. Fantastic.

“Hello new girl!” Called out a voice from one of the other stalls.

She was never a fan of socializing while on the toilet. Some of the villagers would try to do that and it would always turn into an awkward experience.

Seriously, bathrooms are NOT conversation places.

“I know you’re there! No need to be shy, I just want to talk!”

“How did you know I was the new girl?” Inquired Izzy, asking all the important questions.

“Oh, I didn’t recognize your pee sound.”

“Wh-what?”

“Yeah! You know, the sound you make when you pee?”

She felt her stomach tie into knots. Her paw instinctively go between her legs at the thought of this woman actually listening that closely to her urination, as if blocking off her privates would stop the sound retroactively. She couldn’t put up with this creepy shit anymore.

“I’ll be um, I’ll be heading off now!” Said Izzy as she reached over for the toilet tissue so she could wipe herself and hurry out.

“Hey, chill, I was only kidding. I saw you walk in before I did. I was only messing with ya.” She said, almost surprised at how offended the dog got.

“Oh, well, you shouldn’t joke like that with new people. It leaves a bad first impression!”

“Woah, sorry mom! Geeze, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No, wait.” Isabelle dialed back her frustration. She knew she couldn’t refuse the only friendly interaction she had gotten from this place so far, even if it was a tad creepy. “Let’s just start over. My name is Isabelle.”

“Heart Candy! My name is Heart Candy!” She said, cheeful of the second chance. “Nice to meet ya, Isabelle!”

“Nice to meet ya, too! You have a very unique name!”

“Thanks! My mama gave it to me!” She stated excitedly. “I think… I don’t remember exactly.”

“Ah! Did you lose your memories in the Omniverse, too? I got a bad case of that going on right now.”

“Oh know, I’ve always been kind of forgetful, my whole life actually.”

“Well, maybe that can be a blessing in disguise sometimes.”

“Not really, I’ve forgotten my whole family.”

And awkward silence befell the stalls. Izzy tried desperately to think of a way to mend the situation, but she underestimated the power of her new friend’s ability.

“So why did you get into F Zero racing?”

Surprised at the sudden shift of tonr, the pup could only think to be honest.

“I’m trying to attract someone’s attention.”

“A lover? A would-be lover?”

“K-Kind of.”

“Wow, that’s an odd reason to risk your life! But I don’t understand love really”

Isabelle leapt off the toilet, pulling her underwear back up and made her way out the bathroom stall door. She could barely reach the sinks as she went to wash her hands.

“Who does?” Said isabelle as she spread suds all over her paws. She turned towards the stall the voice was originally hailing from. “Well, it was great meeting you Heart-”

Suddenly, the door to the stall flung open and a dim light filled the room. Standing there was a woman in a purple tank top, black skirt, and purple police cap. But what was most odd about the woman was her body was made of a glowing pink substance, and her face was nothing but a wire mended into the same of a heart that just stuck to the glowing featureless mug of hers.

“W-whoa! What are you?”

“Oh! I’m sorry! I forgot not everyone knows, hehe.” She said, running a finger across the wire on her face, she totally expected this. “I’m a novakid! We’re like, living pockets of gas.”

Isabelle had a million questions right now, she couldn’t possibly choose one to start with. Instead, she just chose one at random, like a first meeting equivalent of the lottery.

“Why would a pocket of gas need to use the restroom?”

“Oh, no, my kind don’t need to do that. I just wanted to say, ‘Hi’ to the new girl!”

She didn’t know if to feel charmed or weirded out by her new acquaintance. Conflicting emotions seemed to be a running theme with the people she's met in this universe.

[Isabelle]

Heart Candy would inform her about her opponents, about Son of Thor being the top ranking of this race, about the rivalry between him and Kracken the Quick. About Jubilant Johnny’s recent overtaking of Sarah Soundwave. After the inevitable dizziness of so many theme names wore off, Izzy got a devious plan, a dangerous plan, one that could give her an advantage. She knew she was putting her life as risk by doing it, but there was nothing she wasn’t willing to do for her mayor.

Leaving these here in the middle of a post for no reason:
http://omniverse-rpg.com/showthread.php?...#pid105958
http://omniverse-rpg.com/showthread.php?...#pid107484

She spent the week working on her car and hitting the simulators. For the repairs, she’d constantly switch between looking up things on the dataverse and spending time under the hood, getting her paws dirty. She went to the boards for suggestions. It took a while to wade through the troll comments and the people clearly trying to get her killed, but eventually she found ways to optimize her vehicle. She summoned the parts she needed, she looked up instructions when she didn’t understand something. She got way more oil on her clothes.

Her time in the simulators were a trick. They were designed to recreated the G Forces of a ride as well as the sense of weight and gravity that comes from F Zero racing. The lightning speeds were a lot more getting used to, but eventually her years of Karting had taken a hold of the wheel. She felt like she had been in millions of races.

Of course, that’s impossible.

F Zero, much like Kart Racing, was about maintaining control of the vehicle, being aggressive on the track, and keeping your energy up. But unlike Kart Racing, where you want control because most tracks want you dead, you needed that control for F Zero because of the immense speed. It was adjusting to the new philosophy of play that was the hardest, but hitting the simulators three to four times a day was really doing the trick.

And that was her week, fixing, then simulating. Sometimes Heart Candy would drop by, filling her ears with gossip. Apparently, a twitter war had erupted that escalated several rivalries on track. Of course, she wouldn’t know anything about that, would she?

What surprised her was the lack of presence of Rovin. He only appeared the first day, but he made himself scarce for the rest of it. She was beginning to think he had given up on her, but much to her surprise, the night before the big race, he reemerged.

She was during finishing touches under the hood when she heard someone step through the door of her private garage. She thought it was Heart Candy at first, showing up to share more of the latest gossip, but a peek up from the engine revealed the grey mustachioed man, standing over her.

“Where have you been?” She said bluntly. She felt no nostalgia for the man she only knew for like a day.

“I thought no reason to hover over you while you camped out in one place.” He said, resting the hook of his cane on his shoulder. “I also hoped you’d see some sense. Again, you don’t have to do this.”

“Well, goes to show you don’t know me. I do have to do this.”

“There’s other ways to get attention from your mayor, you don’t need to get yourself killed.”

“There probably is, though most of them will be much slower.” She said, pulling her head out of the carapace of her car to look him in the eyes. “I could become a showgirl or actress, but I’d be another face in a crowd of many pretty girls. Meanwhile, a dog, despite having everything against her, pulls out on top in the big race. Wouldn’t that spread just a bit faster?”

She tucked her head back under the hood and pulled a wrench in with her.

“No one would expect this old gal to take such risks, that’s my biggest advantage in the Omniverse.”

Rovin almost gave a quip about how he was much older than her, but decided to drop it.

Instead, he inspected her car. It didn’t look as busted as before, in fact, it looked brand spanking new! If it didn’t look like the same car, he would have sworn she just summoned a new one.

“You fixed all this? You learned how to fix all this in a week?”

“Yeah, well, once you know what everything did, it was just a matter of replacing the bad parts.”

“Even so, it would take years of technological know how to pull that off.”

“Well, I do have Nineteen degrees in Engineering.”

“Ni-nineteen? What?”

[Isabelle]

The next morning, she ate a breakfast of sushi and she took one last bathroom break. She was dressed up in her green jumpsuit and a helmet was fastened onto her head. Her car was already transported to the track while she was still sleeping.

She and the other racers were riding the tram to the front lines, where their vehicles were lined up.

Izzy was lead by a crew to her car, which was placed far in the back of the pack. She wasn’t shocked, considering everything, she would have been more surprised if she wasn’t in the tail end. As the crew slid her into the solo seat and fastened her in, she watched the crazy homeless man, in dirty clothes in the slot up ahead of her, making revving noises with his mouth while pretending to steer the cardboard box he was seated in.

She saw the camera droids whirred into life and she saw the screens flicker on, displaying small clips of each racer. It was now she noticed the people in the stands, sitting in rows in columns. She couldn’t make out the details, but she could tell that there were at least a thousand of them, watching. She had performed many times to the crowd, concerts and the like, but she could never get used to being viewed by that many people at once. She could feel the ever growing lump in her throat.

Well, at least she knew they were in for one hell of a show.

She nearly jumped out of her suit when her engine abruptly started. As her heartbeat raced, she felt kind of stupid, she had experienced this a hundred times in the simulators. She excused her jumpiness on account of her nerves.

The voice of the host run through her onboard speaker system.

“On my count, racers!”

Adrenaline pumping through her veins, she grasped the wheel. She felt like she was leaving indentations into the leather.

“3!”

Her heart was pounding out of her chest, she tried to swallow, but her throat was dry.

“2!”

She took a large breath, then refocused on the track.

“1!”

She veered her wheel to the left.

“Go!”

All the cars launched forward in an instant, jumping immediately to 200 mph, but then they immediately hit the breaks. The cars in first to fifth place all tried to attack each other at once, creating an immediate five car pile up in the middle of the road, creating an obstruction in the track. Some hit the pile up straight on, joining in the already large mess.

However, Isabelle was hoping this would happen. She took off already aiming for the leftmost side of the track. She barely made it passed one of the downed cars as she zipped by. Heart Candy was quick to see what she was doing and took off after her, barely squeezing through the tiny space as well.

The third car to try this wasn’t so lucky, he scraped against the wall which span him around, wedging his car between the barrier and the other downed car.

As the road crew rushed to clear the obstruction, Isabelle was already off, holding first place. Only time would tell if she could keep it.

[Isabelle]

By the time the obstruction was cleared, Izzy was more than halfway through the first lap. Every turn, every leap in the air made her heart skip a beat. Even though she spent the week in and out of the simulator, she still wasn’t fully ready for the real deal. Thankfully, the fact she had so much time alone on the track allowed her to get her wits about her.

She can’t imagine the federation was very happy with her, she can’t imagine the fans of those people that just wrecked are very happy either. But it was behind her, she needed to make it to the end of the race.

It was around when she reached the finish line to complete the first lap that someone caught up with her. A driver that was nothing but a gelatinous cube squished inside a car. He moved in to ram her, bumping against her side, taking a bit of damage to her shield.

She knew she needed to be aggressive if she were going to survive. She moved in herself to ram.

In that one hit, the car spiraled out and slammed into a barrier.

Little did she realize, and even the cube failed to realize, he burnt up all his energy just catching up with her. Absolutely nothing was devoted to his shields. Her head start apparently gave her an advantage she hadn’t realized.

For the rest of the race, she would use her boosters sparingly, planning for the next charge station, and as soon as someone caught up with her, they’d be out of juice, just ripe for her to go on the offensive.

One racer caught up to her just after a charge station though, a bar full of energy, she couldn’t hope for him to go down as easy. However, just up ahead, she could see a ramp sending them for yet another mid air flight. She tilted her nose up as she took off, soaring through the sky. Her opponent followed suit. Then she tipped her nose forwards, her opponent mimicked her movement a few seconds later, not wanting to let up on her at all. Then she lifted her nose again landing parallel to the ground in the last second. Her opponent proceeds to crash his ship straight into the roadway, halting him to a stop. By the time he had caught up to her, he was all out of energy, and out of the race.

She was more than halfway through the final lap. A car hadn’t caught up with her for a while now. She couldalready feel the rush from the serotonin in her blood as it looked like she was home free, the finish line was in sight.

But, then she saw her, Heart Candy riding just beside her. Her car had no energy either. She knew the novakid was close behind her throughout the race, so she couldn’t have burnt it all on boosting. Was she fighting off the other cars, too? Was that why this has been so easy? Had she been helping her all along?

Her opponent vulnerable, she knew what she had to do now.

She pressed the breaks.

Isabelle took in a close second.

[Isabelle]

After the races, the crowd was frantic, dealing out a combination of cheers and jeers. Isabelle, Heart Candy, and the only other racer to finish the race lined up to receive medals for their victories. The novakid took this moment to ask:

“You could have easily taken first, why did you let me by? What about the mayor?”

“You’re the one that wants to make a career out of this. Everything else would be enough to get attention on the dataverse.”

A man in a business suit and a clean haircut placed a medal around her neck.

“Congratulations on your victory Miss Belle.”

”Thank you!”

“Now I ask you to never compete in F Zero ever again.”

“That’s fair.” She said, looking at her feet.

After getting her medal, she was ushered out of the building by staff. She didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to Heart Candy, uncertain if she would ever even see her again.


Kicked back onto the street, Izzy ran into Rovin again who was apparently waiting for her. He looked perturbed about something, but whatever it was, he wasn’t letting it slip out. She thought it was best not to question it.

“So what are you going to do now?” He asked, his enthusiasm sounding particularly off today.

“Go home in the Ashen Steppes, rest off this entire experience and hope the mayor calls me.”

“Well, in that case, I’ll leave you alone. No point following you all the way to your house. Plus I have reports to write.”

“Alright, good bye Mr. Wayward!” She called out

The aging man walked away in the direction of the headquarters she first met him in this verse. But before he even could cover a distance of a few feet, he stopped in place and swiveled on the spot.

“What you did, was disgusting.” He said sternly. “What you did is why I hate primes. Us secondaries can’t come back, you can’t gamble our lives over a stupid game like that.”

He turned part way and gave her a menacing glance.

“I really hope you consider that the next time you decide to be tactical.”

Isabelle’s heart sank at his blunt words. Without saying another word, he swiveled back around and walked away, leaving her with a mountain of guilt

She pressed the recall center app on her phone. She watched as the numbers flashed on the screen. She thought about it, she had hurt a lot of people today. Even if that was part of the game, wasn’t it her responsibility as an immortal prime to avoid that? Rovin might be right to be furious with her.

She could feel tears well-up, she couldn’t believe she had been so thoughtless. Would the mayor even approve of what she did?


Then suddenly, three guys grabbed her and pulled her down an alley. Standing amongst the trash and filth was a familiar stone faced man. He glared disapprovingly at the dog.

“Mr. Steady!” Cried out izzy, her heart in her throat.

“You made a fool of me! You made a joke out of my business.”

“I guess I did.” She said, shamefully, she tilted her head to face the ground.

“Now you must pay the price, doggo.”

The three men shove her down onto the concrete and start kicking her repeatedly. She felt blows all over her body, her face, her stomach, her legs. She was so guilt stricken, she could barely feel any of it. To her right now, it was like it was hardly doing anything to her.

Eventually, the men clear a path and allowed Mr. Steady through. He pulled out his pistol and aimed it directly at the dog’s head.

“I’d hate to put down old yeller, but Tier 4 has no room for mutts.”

Bang!

The gun flashed, followed by a deafening silence.

Mr. Steady smiled.

“All too easy.” He said as he holstered his gun. “Come on boys, we’ve got a large mess to clean back at the office.”

And the group left, leaving the dog’s body on the ground. She thought about how she was dead now, how she’ll be resurrected by Omni, and how she didn’t deserve a second chance like that. Why did he pick her for primehood over so many others? Why was she given immortality? All she did today was hurt people.

Then she wondered, why was death so much like life?

She reached a paw around the back of her head to feel for a hole. What she found instead was metal object embedded into her skull. She yanked on it, wincing in pain, and sat up, holding it up to her face to get a better look.

It was the bullet, bent and deformed, like if it hit something really really hard. She tilted her head at it, confused.

But suddenly, before she could contemplate at this revelation, she was suddenly teleported, recalled to her base back in the Ashen Steppes.

How did Isabelle survive a bullet to the head? What is she going to do with her new found guilt? Tune in next time in Tale of a Pup: In the Dog House found in the Ashen Stepps!