ic Quirk Kart (IC)

[Thevshi]

Claremont Academy

Freedom City, New Jersey

December 1, 2023, 3:05 PM

 

The final class of the afternoon had just ended for what had been Vicki Adams' first day at Claremont Academy. After her rather eventful tour of the campus, Lawrence had gotten her to her classes for the afternoon and things had started to take on a bit of a normal routine. Of course, she was coming in at the end of the semester, so the school was working with the Atom Academy to provide semester finals that would cover what she had been working on there.

 

As she exited the classroom, Vicki found herself in a crowd of students that included Lawrence Harrow, Mizuki Iwasaki, and Consuelo Nunez. The crowd the four teens were just exiting the building into the main quad when there was a flash of white light.

The teens found themselves standing in the main parking lot for the school, or at least, it resembled the main parking lot. What appeared to be a wide racetrack ran through part of the parking lot, leading off into the wooded area around the school. The teens were still wearing the clothes they had worn for the day, but their bookbags were no longer with them. Each was standing next to what appeared to be a combination of a race car and a go-cart, each of a different color.

 

The sound of cheers and applause filled the air, and glancing behind them there was a large stand of bleachers filled with almost cartoonish figures dressed in Claremont colors and bearing various banners and signs for "Team Claremont." Lawrence's eyes narrowed slightly as he regarded the scene, when suddenly a voice rang out.

"Hey! Lawrence!"

 

Glancing out onto the racetrack, there was a large figure with a spike shell on its back driving by on a four-wheel ATV, however, the odd figure's head seemed completely out of place, as it was a blond-haired man that looked to perhaps be in his early thirties, but with an impish, childlike grin. "You and your friends should hurry up, or you'll lose the race!"

 

Following alongside the bazar figure was a small, pink racecar/go-cart, which was driven by a girl that looked to be five or six, with long blonde hair and wearing a pink princess dress. She had a similar impish grin to the other figure as she giggled as the two drove past the four teens and called out, "bye Law-werence!"

"Quirk?" Lawrence said as he watched the two figures go by, before muttering, "oh, bloody hell."

 

Lawrence looked over to the three girls and gave them an apologetic smile. "I am sorry you three got caught up in this, but we have been pulled into a game by a very powerful extra dimensional entity. I can tell you from experience, the best thing to do is play along, until we can find a way to beat him at the game." With that, the blond teen climbed into the car that was next to him and started up the motor.

[BitCook]

Vicki looked around, taking a few moments to realize the fairly obvious unreality about the situation.  The day so far had been amazing, getting both to know some of the students as well as sitting in on some classes.  To say that she was very excited for the upcoming year was an understatement.  Somehow her mentor and Lawrences family had managed to get her in a school that she had only dreamed about in her wildest crazy thoughts.  She had been looking forward to heading to dinner with some of the people she had met when they ended up here.  Wherever that was... although, bonus, it wasn't nearly as cold as the campus had been a few hours earlier, so Vicki in her British school clothes was at least comfortable.

Which, left the matter of the strange cars.  Thankfully, this was not some American custom that she didn't understand.  This was some riff on Mario Cart, of which Nintendo was a universal language.

She looked around at the Kart's that people had near them.  Like many people her age, she had sunk a fair number of hours into the cute game and nodded as she saw the Karts others were getting into.  Turning to hers, she sighed and frowned a bit, Booster Seat?!!!  Really?  

"Oh come on..." she said resigned to her fate as she climbed into the baby stroller like pink Kart.  As it only had one seat, at least she didn't have to worry about the controls on the wrong side...

Edited December 3, 2023 by BitCook

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

Consuelo blinked. She blinked again. Then she closed her eyes, counted to ten, and opened them again. "What the actual heck is going on? Fancy Lawrence? You're not Fancy Lawrence anymore. You're, uh . . . Freaky Lawrence now . . . Uh, hey, wait-a-minute, this is like Mario Kart! I'm pretty good at this." Consuelo excitedly swoops over to a kart, but then stops short. "Uh oh. Not good. There's no controllers. It's just steering wheels. I don't know how how to drive. How do you start these things?

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass

 

Mizuki sighed.

 

"First Holodecks, now Q? What's next, Klingons?" Mizuki said hopping into a Gokart-like kart. "At least this isn't too odd a control scheme."

 

She starts the engine by turning a key on the steering column. "Just turn the key, Consuelo!"

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

As Mizuki pointed out the key on the steering column to the green haired girl, Lawrence also called over to Consuelo, his tone hurried, but not impatient. "Turn the wheel to the left to turn left, right to right. The more you turn the wheel, the sharper the turn will be. Right foot to accelerate, left to break. I expect you will the hang of it quickly."

Bue even as the two offered hasty instructions, Consuelo heard a faint *POP* in the Kart, and glancing back inside, she saw the steering wheel was gone, replaced by a game controller attached to one of those displays that you might see in a Target or similar store.

 

As the four teens got into their karts and prepare to join the race, they momentarily seemed to leave their bodies as they had a bird’s-eye-view of the start of course, like what you might expect from a cut scene of a video game. A small box appeared in the upper right hand corner, as you might see during a sports or news broadcast, and inside was the man that had spoken to Lawrence before, only now he was wearing a tweed jacket and a hat with a piece of paper sticking out of the band, which had the word "PRESS" written on it (only the "E" was backwards).

"Well race fans, Team Claremont appears to be ready to get started. This is sure to be a fabulous race. There is a bit of snow about the city, but the course is clear, for the most part, and the weather is looking good for the moment, isn't that right Vic?"

The insert box in the upper right corner disappeared, replaced by another box, this time in the upper left corner. Again, inside was Quirk, only now he was wearing a grey sweater and no hat, but he did have a very obviously fake mustache on his upper lip. "Oh, most diffienetly Rick. There may be some treacherous conditions out over the Century Narrows, but with some ingenuity, the contestants should be able to avoid that."

 

"Well, we will just have to wait and see how they do there Vic!" The right corner insert had reappeared with the hat wearing Quirk. "Now, let's give a brief rundown of the course for today. The race begins at stodgy Claremont Academy." The main part of the "screen" went white, like a piece of paper, and a cartoonish drawing of the main quad of the school appeared in the middle of the bottom of the paper, behind which stuck out a cartoon drawing of an angry Headmistress Summers, who was shaking her right hand in the air. "And where does the course take our racers from there Vic?"

 

The insert flipped back to the mustache wearing Quirk in the upper left hand corner. "Well, from there Rich, the course winds through parts of Bayview and Port Regal, wrapping around the southern edge of Lake MacKenzie." As Quirk spoke, cartoon drawings of karts began to move away from the drawing of the quad, heading towards the right side of the "screen," swerving slightly too and froo as it headed slightly upward as well. As the cartoon karts went, a dotted line appeared behind them. Then, a cartoon lake appeared, with the karts and line going around the bottom of the lake and turning sharply to the left to head straight up. "It then passes through Ocean Heights Amusement Park." Up in the direction the karts where going, a cartoon drawing of a roller coaster and a merry-go-round appeared.

 

"Let's hope the contestants don't get distracted by any of the attractions there Vic."

 

"Certainly a risk Rick!" The cartoon karts passed between the drawings of the roller coaster and merry-go-round, continuing upward as squiggly line waves and a buoy appeared around them (along with a shark fin moving among the squiggly lines). "The course then heads out over the Century Narrows, where as we said the conditions could be treacherous, we will see if the contestants have any trouble there."

 

"Could be dicey Vic! Well, that will take our racers up into part of North Bay, Lawrence's old stomping grounds, first passing by the yacht club." The cartoon karts came to a drawing of a pier, with several cartoon boats (although, one appeared to be sinking, as one end was turned up and it was slowly descending into a squiggly line wave). The karts then made a wide turn to the left, passing some carton mansions, and then began moving down to the left, towards the center of the screen.

 

"Hopefully they won't get too complacent going through North Bay Rick, because after that they will pass through Kingston and past the defunct Doom Forge." The karts continued the direction they were heading, passing by a cartoon drawing of the massive Terminus machine that lay among the ruins of the Kingston neighborhood, cartoon drawing of a large figure in red armor with a flaming skull head could be seen next to the Doom Forge, stomping his feet in frustration.

 

"If the contestants can make it through there, the course next heads into the City Center Vic." Ahead of the karts, several cartoon drawings of skyscrapers began to appear as the karts moved in among them, heading to a location a little was above where the drawing of Claremont was. "Which will of course take them around the headquarters of the Freedom Losers (nothing personal against your mom of course Lawrence)." The karts came to a cartoon drawing of Freedom Hall, over which stood cartoon figures of Gabriel, Fluer de Joie, Gaian Knight and Velocity, all initially looking heroic and confident, then dropping their shoulders and looking sad at Quirk's name for them. Looping around Freedom Hall, the karts turned right and began heading toward the upper left hand of the "screen."

 

"That will lead them up toward the Wadding Way and through Pyramid Plaza Rick." The karts continued on their path through more skyscrapers, coming to a cartoon drawing of the familiar twisting three towers that made up Pyramid Plaza. Standing next to the iconic building was a cartoon ancient Egyptian, who kept looking between the trio of skyscrapers to one side, and an Egyptian pyramid to the other and scratching his head, over which there were several question marks.

 

The karts again made a sharp left turn and began heading down towards the lower left hand corner of the "screen." "Well Vic, from there it is through Liberty Park as they start making their way to the final stretch." The karts began to pass through a green area with carton trees, and bushes, and lions, and tigers, and…what looked like a fire-breathing T-rex.

 

"That's right Rick, after that it is just a short hop back across the South River, and through the Boardwalk and back to the finish line!" The karts then turned back to the left, now heading back towards Claremont, passing by cartoon drawings of bright, gawdy casinos, behind which stood a cartoon drawing of a mobster tossing a coin in the air. The karts then reached the Claremont quad again, as checkered flags began to wave.

 

"Well Vic, let’s get back to the action!"

Suddenly everything was normal again, or as normal as seemingly being inside a video game could be and the teens were back in their vehicles. Lawerence stepped on his accelerator and pulled out onto the track, turning to the right to start along the first leg of the course.

[BitCook]

As Lawence pulled away Vicki called out towards his retreating form, "does this happen all the time... and are we graded on this?"

 

Despite her apprehension and confusion, it was pretty clear what they should do.  With a little trial and error, she was able to get the car moving and chasing after the others.  The pink Baby Buggy maneuvering far more like a racer than it's appearance might suggest.  'At least you are not dressed as a baby...' she thought to herself.  First day being viewed in diapers?  No coming back from that.  Might as well just find another country to go to school.

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

"What the heck, Lawrence? You need to learn to keep your stalkers to yourself, bro! Wait a minute, isn't there supposed to be a countdown or something before we start? What kind of a race is this? Get back here, you cheater!"

 

Brimming with confidence now that she had an actual game controller instead of that sketchy steering wheel thing, the festively-dressed teen peels off with a squeal of tires and a cloud of smoke.

 

"Oh, you're going down, bro!"

[The Sailor]

Torpedo Lass II

 

Mizuki grinned, putting on the headset and goggles that were hanging on her wheel. "Just like that one Kart game with all the cartoon characters." She said, adjusting the sailor collar of her shirt. She pulls out, hitting the gas. "Question is what sort of Gimmicks Quirk is planning to use..." She wondered as her blue and white Kart took off behind the rest of her team.

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence gave a small smile at Vicki’s question before answering into the headset he had put on. "Well, with regard to Quick specifically, last time I saw him I was twelve, but my understanding is that it is not at all unusual for Claremont students to get caught up in all sorts of unusual events. And no, I don't believe they are typically factored into grading." At Mizuki's question, the blond teen added, "Knowing Quirk, it could be anything, just have to be ready to adapt as best we can."

 

The four teens guided their racers down the course, passing through some of the wooded parts of Bayview, passing a few homes as they went. "Quirk and....whoever that was with him are somewhere up ahead, so we have to catch up." Lawrence stated.

 

But just as he did, the teens saw four smiley face-teacup cars driven by Koopas pull up nearby. Up head, the course made a wide turn, and visible in the distance were a pair of multicolored translucent cubes with a question mark inside. "Looks as if Quirk has included powerups, anyone game for trying one out?"

[BitCook]

Magic 8 Ball

Okay... this wasn't so bad.  Regardless of it's looks, Booster Seat was pretty easy to control and was fast enough that she was starting to make up ground on the other drivers.  At least this wasn't a graded assignment, so that was good at least.  It would stink to be graded for video game work.  Or would it?  That was something she was going to have to think about when she wasn't trying to stay on what appeared from first person view to be a far more narrow track than it ever appeared when she had played it on switch.

She rocketed around the first shallow curve, taking a good line and maintaining her speed, one of the opposing team looked like they were gunning for the same power up she was.  With a little juke, she dipped inside of the opposing cart, cutting them off just enough to sneak past them and run over the power up.  Instantly, her little baby mobile accelerated with head snapping power.  She was thrown back in the seat as the track blurred all around her.  

"Whoah!!! Maaaakkkeeeee it stop...." she pleaded as water leaked from the corners or her eyes.

Edited December 7, 2023 by BitCook

[The Sailor]

Mizuki hit the gas lining herself up on the outside to anticipate the turn and take the lead, while also calculating a way to hit a power up, but the sound of one of Quirk's Kooplas was heard too late, bumping Naomi off course away from a power up and off her intended path. It took everything she had to keep on the track and not going out as a result. Losing speed. "Well... they're getting aggressive... sounds more like F-Zero is what Quirk's aiming for." She thought, she noticed she had dropped behind the pack. But then she had an idea.

 

"All I need is some offensive tool... if I can get a powerup on the next set, I can start playing rearguard for the team..." She kept her new pace, observing the enemy racers.

Edited December 7, 2023 by The Sailor

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

When playing Mario Kart, Consuelo plays to win. So she holds down the "A" button and aims straight for the power up. It kind of bounces and makes a gratifying sound as she plows right through it, and her kart is surrounded by a swirl of protective turtle shells. "Okay, okay, not bad"

 

The teen surveys the field, deciding her next strategy. I should probably try bumping some of these Koopas while I've got the shells active, I guess.

 

But something feels wrong. Why isn't this as exciting as it seems like it should be? . . . . Oh wait, I know what's missing. The music! We need the music!

 

"Hey, Mister Quirk - any chance a girl can get some peppy music to to make this race a little more festive?"

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

One of the Koopa's had been heading towards the power up Consuelo started towards, but Lawrence veered his racer over to knock that Koopa of course, sending it careening across the track as it struggled to regain control. By the time it had, it had fall well behind the rest of the racers.

 

As Lawrence straightened himself out again, another Koopa came veering in from the other side, trying to do to Lawrence what he had just done to the other Koopa. The second Koopa's racer was headed straight towards Lawrence's, when suddenly there was a temporal distortion similar to ones Consuelo and Mizuki had seen during training sessions in the Doom Room, and suddenly Lawrence’s racer was about a car length’s ahead of where it had been, causing the Koopa trying to sideswipe him to pass harmlessly behind the blond teen’s racer. By the time that Koopa had regained control of its vehicle, it had also fallen some distance behind Lawrence and Consuelo.

 

Up ahead, the course seemed to mostly straighten out, only waving slightly a few times. There did not appear to be any power ups in their immediate path, but there was a low hill up ahead, splitting the course into two branches that wrapped around it.

It was at that moment that Vicki's racer began rocketing forward at much higher speed….

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

Seeing she had a lead on the Koopas already, Consuelo decided to just press the advantage. She smashed down on the A button and took as straight a course as possible, to try to extend the lead and catch up to Quirk.

 

She's not alone, though. With a burst of speed, Vicki pulls up alongside her. "Oh, hey, make-believe-magic-eight-ball-power-girl. This is the kickinest dream! I hope I don't wake up soon!"

Edited December 8, 2023 by Huckleberry

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

As the racers were continuing down the course, Lawrence glanced back to see Vicki's racer start to accelerate somewhat uncontrollably. Turning the wheel sharply, he spun his racer back around so it was heading in the opposite direction and then tried triggering his powers, which allowed him to shunt his racer through time and close quickly back towards Vicki and the Koopas.

The blond teen then spun his racer back around to start in the correct direction again as he tried to pull up next to Vicki to help her get the hang of the acceleration. But as he tried, one of the Koopas came veering towards him, and just as the other racer was about to make contact with Lawerence's there was another temporal distortion and Lawrence was suddenly just behind where he had been, causing the Koopa to veer wildly off to one side.

 

But then the other lead Koopa towards Lawrence from behind as well. But once again, just as the two racers were about to collide, there as a temporal distortion and Lawrence was again shifted to a different place and the Koopa failed to connect.

 

But all this shifting had caused the blond teen to fall a bit behind, which for the moment suited him fine as he looked back again to see how Mizuki was doing.

[The Sailor]

Mizuki was coping. But seeing Timeout do his best Tracer impression made her realize something as she was jousting with one of the enemy karters... all she needed was for this persistant one to get off her case! She couldn't just cut throttle and fall back further, but it could get the bogeys in front where she wants them...

Edited December 12, 2023 by The Sailor

[BitCook]

As the g force inducing acceleration abated somewhat Vicki relaxed just a small bit.  Perhaps it was a good idea to let others grab the power ups in the future!  She straightened out the buggy and realized she was up in the lead along with Consuelo.  Turning to the festively decorated girl she gave a little wave, which sent the cart weaving one side to the other, before putting both hands back on the wheel with a bit of a white knuckled death grip.  Scanning the track ahead of her she lined herself up to stay out of the way of the Koopas who seemed to be more into mucking about with the pack than they were with catching up with the two leaders.  Which begged the question, what happened if they won?  Or worse, if they lost.

Keeping the throttle down fully, she continued to race down the track keeping a good eye out for more power ups.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

As Consuelo and Vicki crested a hill, the could see the course ahead of them head down towards the banks of a large lake, before turning slightly south to follow one edge before wrapping around the far side and heading due north/northeast. From their vantage point the pair could see at least two power ups along the stretch of the lake.

 

Just as they were starting down the slope with the others close behind, the Quirk insert box in the right hand corner (with the tweed jacket and hat reappeared). "Well Vic, they have reached Lake MacKenize."

 

"That's right Rick!" Replied the opposite corner Quirk with the fake mustache. "Just around the south bank and then a straight shot up to Ocean Heights."

 

"Could be some real surprises there Vic!" Answered the tweed jacket Quirk before both disappeared once more.

 

As Mizuki crested the hill behind the majority of the pack, she saw that where the course turned to head around the south bank of the lake, there was a pier that went out into the water…

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

Consuelo turns to Vicki and does her best Quirk impersonation: "Could be some real surprises out there, Vick! Hahaha, haha! This guy is crazy. I already have the turtle shells, but I'm going to go for a power-up just to keep the Koopas from getting it. How about I take the one on the left, and you take the one on the right, huh?"

[The Sailor]

Mizuki decided to just let the Koopa pass and see what she was driving into.

 

"Well... that's interesting." She thought, seeing the pier getting closer and closer as she followed the road. "Either there's something planned there... or Quirk doesn't intend for us to win..."

 

More and more she wondered just how she was even going to survive this.

Edited December 14, 2023 by The Sailor

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Lawrence saw what was lying ahead and could see Vicki and Consuelo steering toward the two powerups along the track. The two koopas between him and the two girls seemed to be starting to try to ram them, so the blond teen reached out with one hand and a temporal distortion erupted between the two koopas, washing over both of them. One of them managed to pull away from the distortion, but the other was caught it in, coming to a complete halt and frozen in time.

 

With that at least partially successful, Lawrence stepped on the gas as he sought to catch up with Vicki and Consuelo. His red racer speeding along the course as he steered toward the inner part of the turn, turning sharply as he did not slow down.

 

The Koopa that had resisted Lawrence time stop speed toward Vicki, only to have her disappear from its view, causing it to slightly loose control as it tried to get back in course. With no opponents to challenge them, the two teen girls each got one of the power ups, while Lawrence caught back up with them.

 

Further back, Mizuki began making ground as well, outpacing the Koopa that had been playing bumper car with her, so she was past the time frozen Koopa, and had two other Koopa’s behind her. Now there was only one Koopa between her and her teammates and she had close the distance with them.

 

As the racers all rounded the lake and started to the north, up ahead loomed a seemingly oversized Ocean Heights Amusement Park, the course going right through the park, with its rollercoasters and other rides. But the racers also noticed something else as they drew closer, riding out on to the track from the park were several clowns on unicycles, each juggling pies and seemingly focused on the racers as they approached.

 

"Looks like the first twist from Quirk." Lawrence commented over the headset comms each racer had.

 

 

[BitCook]

As Vicki tossed the bomb, she was delighted to see it impact on the brightly colored course and in a comical explosion, blast two of the clowns off and presumably to their 8 bit doom.  It was however then that she realized why her driving instructor had always insisted on '10 and 2' for keeping her hands on the steering wheel.  At the time it had just seemed like one of many little things to nit pick about.  As she had thrown the bomb, she had subconsciously pulled on the wheel, causing the cart to veer wildly out of control.  As the pink pram teetered precariously on two wheels, she quickly got her hands back on the wheel and wrenched it back.  This of course caused an over correction, a drift and released a very unladylike squeal from the teen.

"Ten and two!  Ten and two!" she shouted as the pram flopped back onto four wheels and at least seemed to be heading mostly in the right direction.  Sadly, all of this maneuvering, or lack there of, squandered her lead in the race and caused her to fall back into the pack with all of the other racers.  That is, other than Consuelo who had rocketed out to a commanding lead.

[Huckleberry]

Rot

 

"These are the clowns you send to stop me? You wound me, Quirk!" Consuelo steers her go kart directly at the approaching circus troupe, nudging her ride subtly left and right just barely enough to avoid the tossed pies, doing nothing that will slow down her acceleration. As she bore down on the pack of physical humorists, the air verily filled with pies to the exclusion of all else. Still keeping both hands on the gaming controller, Consuelo gritted her teeth and made a low growl. The air around her warped and turned black and all of the tossed pies flaked apart into absolutely nothing, with a soft slurping sound.

 

"Ha! Nobody likes you guys!" Consuelo yelled as she blasted past the clowns. "You scare children!"

 

A lot of bad things had happened to her in Consuelo's young life, but being caught by a clown on a unicycle while she was racing at top speed on a gaming controller driven go kart was apparently not going to be one of them. "Alright, Quirk - stop messin' around. I'm comin' for ya!" The teen bellowed in challenge as her go kart ate up the track ahead of her, still more-or-less assuming this was a dream she was having.

Edited December 28, 2023 by Huckleberry
Might be a problem with image web service for graphics. My apologies.

[Thevshi]

Timeout

 

Seeing Vicki veering towards one group of clowns while Consuelo was focused on the other, Lawrence glanced back at the koopas that were trailing him and around Mizuki. Focusing on those, the blond teen sent a burst of temporal energy out towards the koopas, the distortion warping around Mizuki to avoid her. While the distortion struck each of their opponents, they all managed to avoid being frozen in time and continued after the four teens. One of the koopas sped towards Lawrence and managed to ram into his racer, knocking him briefly off course and causing him to fall back some, while Vicki also lost control. Soon, it was all of the teens but Consuelo where driving among the group of koopas as they wound their way through the amusement park and the course opened up in front of them going out over the Century Narrows towards North Bay.

 

Out in front Consuelo thought she might have a glimpse of Quirk and the girl that was with him out ahead when she heard him respond to her challenge. "Oh, confident are we? As I recall you are in this because I accommodated you." The voice said as the controller the green haired teen was using disappeared to be replaced by the steering wheel. But it was only for a moment before it changed back to the controller. "But I like the spirit."

 

"Oh yeah, you had asked about some music before, how does this grab ya to start?" Quirk stated with a laugh as Rihanna's Shut Up and Drive started playing from…seemingly everywhere.

 

"Hey Lawerence, should we check out the cheerleading routine your mom used to perform to this song back in high school?" Quirk then called out with another laugh.

 

"Rather not." Lawrence muttered as he watched the koopas that had been right with him and the others suddenly fall back and out of sight, just as three new koopas with red shells came veering on the track. Up ahead, a red shelled koopa pulled out near Consuelo.

 

As the racers approached the section of track that went out over the Century Narrows, Mizuki saw a turn off that seemed to go down into the water. As the teens approached the elevated track, the saw giant tentacles rise up out of the waters along the entire stretch of track over the Narrows, which then proceeded to slam down onto the track before rising back up to prepare to strike again!

[BitCook]

There were downsides to being pampered.  Vicki's entire life had been plotted out and measured for maximum political effectiveness for her father.  So her driving instructor had been private and she had learned in very nice cars on private roads.  Which, when in a pack with many other vehicles, some intent on smashing you, was a very sudden and cold dose of reality.

 

As her pram weaved and dodged around the Kooplas and her fellow students Vicki was very intent on not smashing into them or anything else.  Still, while she was in over her head, if she was being fair, this would likely not have been anything they would have taught.

 

With both hands gripping the wheel she navigated around the tentacles, clowns and other racers.  Terrified to take her hands off the wheel again, she came up with a bit of an idea.  Her mentor, Synapse, had been helping her work with her powers and this seemed as good a time as any to put that experience into practice.  Reaching out with her mind she latched onto one of the Kooplas steering wheels and when it was aligned with another of the turtles, she wrenched it to the side hoping to cause them to smash into each other.

 

Her mind proved to be strong enough and she cried out in joy as the two carts smashed into each other, making the way forward far easier.  Even better, the out of control Koopla couldn't avoid one of the massive tentacles as it smashed down on the cart, causing it to explode in a digital shower of pixels.

 

"Woo!  That actually worked!  I don't think I've ever used my powers like that before," she called out in excitement.