At the bottom of the ramp, I was greeted by a sign that welcomed me to the Mimic’s Dirt Track, much like a sign on a state border would. Underneath the words was a map of the track. It had the shape of a smiling mouth with a large arc to represent the bottom lip and two arcs at the top with a smaller one in the middle that I think represented the groove of the lip that went under your nose. At the very bottom of the sign was an arrow with the words, “Starting Line This Way.”
I turned down the road that the arrow pointed to and was greeted by the outside wall of an arena which curved out in either direction with a tunnel that was just big enough for the beetle to drive into. On the other side was, unsurprisingly, a dirt bike track, much like the ones used in motocross. The arena surrounded the entire track with empty stadium seats in a wide oval making it look like a smaller version of a football stadium.
The starting line was not too far from the entrance tunnel. From what I could tell, the line was at the point where the bottom and top lips met on the left cheek of the smile shape. I drove up to the checkered banner that hung itself over the line and stopped. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do, but with it being a race track, this was hopefully the right move. As soon as I stopped a voice boomed in the area.
“Well well well, it looks like we have a new challenger.”
The voice echoed, but was then drowned out by cheering and crowd noise. The arena seats then became populated with, well they weren’t people. They were flat cardboard like approximations of people. None of them moved except for the jerky up and down motions of their arms. It reminded me of old sports video games where they would use simple polygons to give the illusion of a cheering crowd.
“Tell me challenger, are you here just to race or are you here for the queen.”
It took me a moment to realize he was talking to me. “Uh, the queen.” I had no idea how anyone heard my answer, but when I said it the crowd’s cheering grew louder.
“That’s what we like to hear,” the voice said.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Me? I am the announcer. Who else would I be? Now here is what you need to do to take on the queen.”
Several motorbikes drove up to the starting line and stopped next to me. Each of them were bright colors with numbers painted on the side, and everyone one of them had a mouth where the seat should have been. The closest one to me had rows of jagged teeth and a long slimy tongue that hung out to the side like a panting dog. On my windshield six identical sets of the enemy data appeared on either edge with arrows pointing to the side.
Mimiccyle: Enemy: Combat Danger: 1
“Beside you now are six Mimiccycles. While racing around the track, you must kill each one and collect their teeth. Once you’ve done so you will be able to summon and challenge the queen. But here’s the catch. If you don’t kill them all within three laps, you will be fed to the queen as a sacrifice. Now, get ready.” All six of the mimiccyles spun their wheels kicking up dust, and growled similar to an engine revving up. “Get set.” I gripped the steering wheel with one hand and the rocket launcher control with the other aiming it down the track, but in the path of the mimiccycle on the far left. “Go!”
A thick cloud of dirt blocked my view as the mimiccycles took off. I pressed the gas pedal, fired my rocket and hoped for the best. I came out of the cloud just in time to see the rocket clipped the front of one of the mimiccycles and sent it careening into the air. The explosion from the rocket was small compared to the column of fire that spouted out as the motorcycle monster disintegrated. The force of the explosion pushed the beetle to the side as I passed by it.
“Holy hell, how flammable are these things?” I asked.
“Very,” Tooty answered.
“And how do I collect the teeth?”
“Why are you always asking dumb questions Mr. Walker? You drive through them and they go into your inventory.”
I wanted to retort, but I felt like it was better to concentrate on the race. Especially when the other five mimiccycles had a good headstart on me. I stomped on the gas pedal and the engine protested before kicking into the next gear and speeding forward. As I raced down the arc track a thought struck me, and I cursed myself for not asking about it earlier.
“Does this car ever need gas?”
“No Mr. Walker, now concentrate on the race.”
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
The track curved down and connected with the next curve via a dirt ramp. The mimiccycles launched through the air with practiced ease. Had there been a rider on those bikes, I could easily see them doing tricks to entertain the crowd. I fired my next rocket. It sailed right over the bikes as they lost altitude and disappeared behind the ramp.
I approached the ramp, and while the beetle was lighter than most cars, it was not light enough to take the ramp the same way as the bikes, especially with the added weight of the rocket launcher. The engine whined as it went up, but thanks to the heaviness I was able to descend faster. Unfortunately, the mimiccycles were already near the end of the upper curve with the lead one about to turn the corner.
For a moment I had the urge to use my Nitro 1 boost. It was already queued up on my console and I could’ve probably taken out a couple of the bikes like I did the dragon’s minions, but there’s no way I would’ve been able to steer properly. Instead I aimed the launcher at the other side of the track right after the turn and fired. The rocket fired slower than I would’ve liked and the first three bikes managed to speed past it. The fourth one wasn’t so lucky and the rocket caught it center mass.
The explosion engulfed the mimiccycle and the fifth place one as it tried to pass increasing the size of the firestorm. I had to look away to avoid being blinded by the bright flash of light from the explosion. I made a mental note to see if they had any sunglasses in this world that would help with that.
As I approached the fireball the smoke dissipated enough that I could see two pairs of floating teeth where the cycles had been before. They looked like large plastic vampire fangs except that every tooth was sharpened to a point. I drove through them and they dissolved into nothing. A doorbell-like chime came through the radio as I did.
“Congratulations,” Tooty cheered. “You have completed one of your objectives for your quest, ‘Paying My Debts: Harvey.’”
The other three mimiccycles were now farther down the track, and were rounding the curve that made up the bottom part of the elongated smile. With three of them down it allowed me to concentrate on trying to cover some of the distance I lost. I gunned the engine and shot down the track, doing my best to keep the car steady. The dirt was compact enough that I could drive on it well enough, but it was still dirt so the beetle did slide a bit. It was almost like hydroplaning while driving during a rainstorm.
Cresting the bottom of the curve, I pressed down harder on the gas pedal. The two lead cycles turned the corner with expert ease and pulled forward without losing any speed. The third one behind them wasn’t as smooth and steered themselves off the track almost hitting the arena wall. They were the weakest of the three and like a lion going after an antelope I made that one my target.
I passed through the starting line and the announcer proclaimed the results of the first lap which was followed by another roar from the crowd. I also collected the next set of teeth from the first mimiccycle that I had blown up. As I turned the corner onto the top part of the track there was a click and the beetle momentarily vibrated.
“What was that?” I asked Tooty.
“That was one of your rockets being reloaded.”
That meant that it had only been two minutes since I fired that first rocket. I didn’t realize I had been traveling that fast. Since my menu was set up so I could access Nitro 1 when I needed, I wasn’t able to check my speed.
The third place mimiccycle was getting ready to take the hill when I decided to fire the next rocket. It missed but managed to put a hole into the front of the hill. The cycle was unable to avoid it in time and fell into the hole causing it to flip forward and bounce over. As I approached the hill I did not see the cycle drive away.
I approached the hill with a greater amount of speed than last time and managed to fling myself somewhat into the air. Looking out my side windows I couldn’t see the mimiccyle anywhere and it wasn’t until I started to descend that the realization came to me.
My teeth and bones rattled as the beetle slammed into the ground and I was engulfed in a fireball. I expected the windows to be blown in or the car explode in some way, but it didn’t. Instead the inside heated up in an instant burning every part of my body that was touching the surface of the car and I screamed in pain. It felt like being cooked inside a cast iron skillet. As I drove out of the fire the heat quickly dissipated and I was left sweating and breathing heavily.
By the time I reached the next corner the two remaining mimiccycles were already past the bottom curve of the mouth. I realized then that no matter what I did I would not be able to catch up to them. There was no way I could win this race. Slamming my fist on the steering wheel I wallowed in my eventual defeat and almost began to cry again.
However, before I could shed one tear something struck me about what the announcer had said at the beginning. He had called this a race, but the object wasn’t to be first place, it was to be the last one standing, and I had to do it in three laps. Smiling, I jerked the car around and headed back to the hill.
“Mr. Walker, you’re going backwards.”
Ignoring Tooty I drove to the top of the hill, parked and aimed the rocket launcher at the corner. I only had one shot at this, maybe two if I was able to turn the launcher fast enough to aim at the other corner if they passed me, but that was a theory I didn’t want to test out.
As I waited another rocket reloaded itself which threw off the crosshairs and forced me to reposition them. I was glad to see that both mimiccycles were still near each other as they raced down. It was like they were having their own competition to see who was faster and they kept overtaking each other by inches.
I held my breath and fired the rocket as they approached the turn. I aimed low to try and hit them as they drifted. Both mimiccyles turned together, mirroring each other's movements with ballerina-like grace and came out of the turn straight into the rocket.