[CyberCubed]

(Part 2)

~*~*~

“We’re still in possession of that Electrode, right?” Precita asked.

“My Gorebyss has it ready my dear,” Dan said.

An Electrode encased in ice was being pushed along by Gorebyss’ mouth. The Electrode was in the middle of an explosion, but the Ice beam managed to freeze it in its tracks before it exploded. The electric Pokemon could do nothing as it was being helplessly pushed along against its will. It tried to maneuver its body and break free of its icy shell, but it was completely immobilized.

Precita peered to her left where she spotted two young boys racing with their Tentacool. She licked her lips as she instructed her Pokemon to pull their surfboard closer to their opponents.

“Hey, boys!” Precita called out, waving her arms.

The two boys looked no older than 12, they appeared to be twins, with each boy having the same features as the other boy. They looked at Precita with child-like innocence wondering why the nice lady was calling over to them.

“We’re going to beat you, lady!” the first boy said happily.

“Our parents are watching from the stadium, they’re cheering for us to win this race!” the second boy said.

“Your parents sure put a lot of faith into you kids, they’re still watching now I assume?” Precita asked with a smile.

The two surfboards continued to race side by side with a few feet of distance between them, Precita instructed her Pokemon to keep up with the same pace as the Tentacool.

“Yeah they are! I’m just so happy we’re in this race, especially on a day like today!” the first boy said naively.

“Oh, and what’s so special about today?” Precita asked.

“It’s our birthday!” the boys cheered in unison, “We’re twins, and we both turned 12 today!”

“Twins, eh?” Dan muttered.

“Happy Birthday, kids!” Precita said jovially.

The Electrode encased in ice was getting restless, it appeared as if the energy built up inside was ready for an explosive release. Gorebyss continued to push it along with its snout gently, knowing that if it tapped it too hard it might trigger an explosion.

“Thank you, miss!” the second boy said, “You’re a really nice person, it’s great having friendly competition.”

“Since it’s your birthday I might as well give you boys a present,” Precita grinned.

“REALLY?” the boys said in unison.

“Sure,” Precita cackled, “Happy Birthday!”

She pulled on Gorebyss’ tether which instructed the Pokemon just what to do. Gorebyss used its snout to pick up the encased Electrode on its nose, and then tossed the Pokemon in the air over in the direction of the two boys. Before the twins could react, the giant ice prism holding the Electrode crashed down on top of them, and a second later the Electrode exploded in their faces, sending the boys ricocheting off the surfboard and destroying their board in the process. The boys screamed from the pain as tears cascaded down their faces until they finally plummeted back down into the water, Tentacool and all. All that could be seen was remnants of the shattered surfboard in a dozen pieces.

“I hope they enjoyed their present,” Precita laughed.

Gorebyss and Sharpedo swam at breakneck speed, pulling their surfboard along in the distance.

~*~*~*

“There’s a sharp right turn here!” Ash yelled.

“I know! I know!” May panicked.

Corphish and Squirtle nearly bumped into one another as they attempted to turn the surfboard without crashing into the stone walls. The surfboard scraped against the walls during the turn which again broke off a few pieces on the right side of their board. May gripped the tethers with all her might, preparing to go in a straight line again, as the twists and turns appeared to be behind them.

“Phew,” May said relieved, wiping her brow, “I hate all these curvy turns, they should just make the race course go straight!”

Their surfboard continued to ride along the waves and between buoys until the came across an open man-made canyon with green specs flying in the sky. Ash and May squinted, trying to make out what was flying in the sky, hoping that it was nothing for the obstacle course.

“My eyes are still a little strained from the sand, can you make out what those are, May?” Ash asked, struggling with his blurry vision.

“They looked like green dots to me,” May shrugged.

“After entry #16 was wiped out by an unsuspecting Electrode blast, we now have 14 participants still on the course!” Fredrick projected, “Hmmm, let’s see now….FOLKS! It looks like the “Little rookies” have entered Slash Valley!”

The crowd roared in anticipation, some knowing what was going to happen due to earlier participants already making it through that segment.

“That’s right my faithful fans, will the “Little rookies” be as unlucky as the other contestants?” Fredrick said.

“It’s kinda quiet at this part,” May said softly.

“Maybe a little too quiet,” Ash said.

“Don’t say stuff like that, Ash! It gives me the creeps,” May retaliated, “Every time in the movies when someone says something like that, something bad happens!”

“What could possibly go wrong?” Ash whined.

“SCY-THER!” a green Pokemon screeched from above.

The Pokemon swooped down toward the surfboard and raised its scythe, aiming for the two tethers that were tied around Corphish and Squirtle.

“Stop the surfboard!” Ash yelled.

May instructed a halt frantically as the winged Pokemon missed its mark and slashed the right side of the surfboard instead. The two trainers gasped as they looked behind them to see what happened.

“That was a Scyther!” Ash said astonished.

“I can see that!” May said, “It looked like it was trying to cut the tethers off our surfboard!”

“That was a close call for the “Little Rookies,” but it looks like they managed to get by a striking Scyther through some quick thinking, with only a piece of their surfboard slashed off instead,” Fredrick said, “That was just a taste though, are they ready for the eye of the storm?”

“If the tethers are cut then we get disqualified from the race,” Ash reminded her.

“Well at least he missed then, so we don’t have to worry about that anymore,” May said relived.

“I dunno, usually when something bad happens it doesn’t just happen once,” Ash pondered, “Something tells me that there’s going to be a hundred more of them, and they’ll all appear out of nowhere and when we least expect it!”

“You watch too many movies, Ash,” May sighed.

“SCYTHER!” was screeched across the skies above.

Ash and May were startled as they looked above at an entire school of Scyther soaring down toward them! The Scyther were all in formation, with about three on both sides, and two in the center. They all had their scythes raised, ready to be triggered into a primitive slashing release.

“There’s a whole lot of them!” Ash cried.

“You and your big mouth!” May yelled.

Without hesitation, Squirtle and Corphish quickly pulled along the surfboard without their trainers orders, knowing full well what would happen if the tethers were cut. Ash nearly fell off the back of the surfboard when they started moving again, as he was still staring up at the sky at the wave of green forming above them.

“SCY-THER!” cried out the leader, twisting its body into a circular motion with one scythe extended.

“IT’S GOING TO HIT US!” May shrieked.

“We gotta keep moving!” Ash panicked.

Fredrick continued his dictation of the race, “It seems like the “Little rookies” were taken by surprise in the valley, and are now at the mercy of a dozen Scyther ready to slash their surfboard – and their hopes of winning the race – into pieces! Will the young trainers manage to escape the Scyther’s wrath in time and keep going in the race, or will they only find themselves in the losers circle after they’re torn to shreds? It’s going to be a split-second and heart pounding moment here folks, stay tuned for the next exciting installment!”

Fredrick took a deep breath, covered the mic with his hand and muttered to himself, “Jeez, I could probably get a job narrating a children’s cartoon show with this voice. I am just THAT good.”

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This is my first time ever scripting a race in a story, I hope it's exciting enough. As usual, comments about anything in the chapter are welcome! The more you critique only helps me to write better, so I look foward to them!