[ti]scenario[/ti]ASPER CUP: Thunder Road

Even after the vibrations stopped, the tingling in Shalin's skin remained. She knew bugs beat their wings fast, but this was intense! It was unlike anything she had felt in her life, almost as though she was high on her own adrenaline. She loved it, but now was not the time to experiment with it. They had a race to win, and her Pheromosa looked like the fastest Pokémon of the right.

Holding onto the wing beneath her, Shalin leaned into the wind growing in ferocity from the Ultra Beast's acceleration. The bouncing motion was not as harsh as she expected, the lithe and long-winged insect a master at keeping his body streamlined for high-speed runs. She had hoped the wind would overpower the screeching noise Alkaid 's Celesteela made, though it was not the case. The whistling was just too piercing and harsh on the ears. She hoped to pass the steel-type as to not have to deal with the noise any more.

Her eyes on a gap between Josh Devlin 's Zebstrika and Alicia Westfield 's Bayleef, the girl's eyes zeroed in on it, looking to take advantage of the insect's extreme acceleration and make an early pass!

Asper Cup: Thunder Road

Audio: Osc-Sync Carnival

At the green light, the eight Pokémon leaped and thrust off the starting line. ARAVAN ESCHER's KYOGRE was slow to accelerate, left behind the other racers that burst off the line much faster. He wouldn't be in last place for long; a downdraft blew ACE SHEEKE's CHARIZARD toward the ground, forcing the fire-type to run with his trainer awkwardly clinging to his back during the opening stretch before they could get airborne.

Dizziness set in for Shalin Nariya as her PHEROMOSA darted off the line in a white blur, taking an early lead that she held until the course's first curve. The whiplash behind the sudden and powerful acceleration further impaired her ability to react to turns on top of recovering from the vibrations' disorientation. The Invasive Species leaned around the outside of the wide turn, over half the field passing her. She battled Josh Devlin 's ZEBSTRIKA fiercely, the bug-type's narrow body letting her attempt a dangerous passing move despite the narrow track in front of her. The two ran alongside one another, each waiting for the course to widen again before attempting to pass the other.

The rest of the field went four wide rounding the first curves, the thrusters of Alkaid 's loud CELESTEELA drowning out the snapping noises coming from the BAYLEEF's feet as they rounded the outside. On the inside, ERON IUNIS' ABSOL weaved around the rapidly-slithering tail of Altair 's ONIX, the Sky Trainer getting a great view of the competition below. It sure was nice being atop a Pokémon that was taller than the flying height limit! He couldn't lose focus for long -- not unless he wanted to lose his slight lead!

As Alkaid and Alicia Westfield 's eyes shifted, looking for a passing opportunity to break the stalemate, the CELESTEELA's whistling would grow unbearably shrill, to the point where he might be able to feel it rippling upon his skin...

Due to using an INVASIVE SPECIES in the race, Alkaid will need to roll one additional die in the next round. The lowest two of the three dice will be applied.

LAP 1 | OBSTACLE 2

NOTE: This Obstacle has more than one Target Number. Please indicate in your ROLLING POST which Target Number you are challenging.

Prompt: One of the course's titular turns loomed ahead, and fast: four rapid-fire, right-angle turns in the rough shape of a striking lightning bolt. Two approaches would work well for this unique challenge found nowhere else on official Federation race courses, and each came with their pros and cons.

The first would be to treat the whiplash-inducing turns separately. While less risky, the speed at which the turns came would flick the riders back and forth harshly without significant braking.

The second was that there was a small space between each pair of corners. If executed properly, it would result in taking much more shallow turns and be faster overall. The downside was the much higher degree of difficulty that came with it, on top of the greater consequences for failure. Tripping on one corner would likely send Pokémon and rider flying to the opposite corner of the next turn, resulting in an abrupt crash that could be race-ending for a team.

Target Number 1: 135 (Reaction)

Special 1: Pokémon apply only half their Speed ranks (no rounding) to this Obstacle.

Target Number 2: 150 (Speed)

Special 2: Pokémon that meet or exceed this Obstacle's Target Number gain 75 TP in addition to any normal TP gain. Any TP loss resulting from a Pokémon rolling beneath this Obstacle's Target Number is multiplied by 1.5.

STANDINGS & COURSE MAP

If you cannot view the image, click here to view it at full size!

RULES

PLEASE HEED THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES. These rules are also subject to change.

• Your Pokémon are now LOCKED IN and STATIC for the remainder of this thread. You may not upgrade mid-thread.
• The Asper Cup guidelines can be referenced in this thread's first post.
  
• Your character's Pokémon can only use ONE move at a time. Remember that moves that could conceivably be used to make your Pokémon go faster are PROHIBITED DURING THE FIRST LAP OF THE RACE.
• Please provide a TL;DR summarizing your character's actions and/or BOLD moves/abilities used with each post.
• Missing too many posting rounds will result in YOUR CHARACTER'S DISQUALIFICATION.
• You MUST ROLL THIS ROUND in the Story Mode Rolling thread. The roll will be 2d100.
• Please POST ONLY ONCE THIS ROUND.

DEADLINE

JULY 26, 11:59 PM CDT (9:59 PM PDT)

The moderator post is expected to go up around July 28.

Okay, riding the Onix was a lot harder than it looked!

He was currently riding near the head-horn, so hanging on was a challenge in and on itself!

“B-be careful!” he exclaimed as—wait, where was everyone else? Weren’t there seven other people—unless…

He knew better than to look behind him and get distracted, so he would hang on for deer fucking life with his other arm wrapped around the head-horn and then point ahead.

“Go, go, go! I know you can do it! Show me what you got!”

And maybe earn your permanent place on my roster, he would add in the back of his mind as the whipping tail lashed in reply; making his field of vision shake a little as they then headed towards the first obstacle, bracing himself for whatever insanity awaited them!

link to roll; challenging first obstacle

Altair entering with Onix!

Shalin's keen eyesight found a gap, though the electric horse on her side was persistent! She and Josh Devlin were within milliseconds of one another, impossible to tell at a glance who was ahead. Was he trying to play a Chicken Game with the glitch hunter? It sure seemed like it. While she could use her knowledge of UNOVR's inner workings from what she reverse engineered, abusing her knowledge of the collision engine was something she felt would trigger an anti-cheating mechanism. Plus, what was the point? All the prizes on the line were cosmetics -- little items in their inventory showing their achievements. Ultimately, this was just for fun!

When it looked like Shalin was going to have to rely on the whippy turns a PHEROMOSA could make, she noticed Josh pulling back on his ZEBSTRIKA, giving her the green light to gun it. She pulsed at the sides of her PHEROMOSA's saddle, holding his antennae as steady as she could. The bottleneck wouldn't be Nymris' reaction time; it would be her own. "Alicia Westfield , I'm coming for you!" the girl shouted, aiming to keep the Ultra Beast as centered as she could.

Asper Cup: Thunder Road

Audio: Osc-Sync Carnival

True to its name, the course contained multiple series of right-angle turns in succession, mimicking the pattern of a lightning bolt. Teams had to make a split second judgment on whether they could thread the needle between each pair of turns or they would swerve back and forth around them. The former was high risk, high reward, for it was easy to trip on one of the corners. Such an impact would put racers so far behind that they might not be able to recover, both from the immediate speed loss and the impact with the opposite corner. Dashing around the perpetually storm-enveloped course was hard enough with how much the wind shifted. Doing so while dealing with a throbbing injury would be bordering on the impossible.

Those confident in their Pokémon's ability looked for a window to take the coveted center line. ACE SHEEKE had a unique advantage over the rest of the field: with the ability to fly, his CHARIZARD soared over much of the rest of the field. Once he had passed the swerving ONIX under Altair 's command, the orange lizard let loose. The hothead's partner burned bright, gliding on the extra propulsion from its tail's fiery discharge. The burning tail hung uncomfortably close to the face of Shalin Nariya 's PHEROMOSA, the bug-type easing up on its speed without a command and preventing her from passing Josh Devlin 's ZEBSTRIKA. She would need to find another window to make good on her threat of passing Alicia Westfield .

By a miracle, there was not one collision from the eight racers fighting for space! Those who took the narrow and risky path were rewarded handsomely, Alicia Westfield in particular on cloud nine as her BAYLEEF entered the narrow straightaway with the lead. They all gained time on the half of the field that took the more conservative approach, ERON IUNIS' ABSOL closely tailing the bug-type Invasive Species in front of him. A second after the dark-type sent sparks flying with how harshly its claws dug into the metallic course, a primal screech would echo from behind: ARAVAN ESCHER's KYOGRE had stubbed one of its wide fins on the final corner, the aquatic legendary bleeding time during its slow recovery.

Alkaid 's CELESTEELA would cease whistling, perhaps much to the field's delight. One distraction would be replaced by another, as Shalin Nariya 's PHEROMOSA began to flutter and buzz mid-race. Unable to see a thing, she was at her unusual mount's mercy for the next moments...

Due to using an INVASIVE SPECIES in the race, Shalin Nariya will need to roll one additional die in the next round. The lowest two of the three dice will be applied.

LAP 1 | OBSTACLE 3

Prompt: Seconds after the brutal, right-angle curves, the course narrowed to be only wide enough for three Pokémon to run. At the end of the narrow stretch was a big jump that it was important to get as much distance as possible, because the track below, while wide, featured mogul-like terrain its entire width. While there wasn't a common Pokémon out there likely able to clear all of it, the farther the leap, the less of the rough ground the Pokémon would need to handle!

Target Number: 165 (Endurance)

Special: Each rank in Speed adds 15 to your roll on this Obstacle instead of 10.

STANDINGS & COURSE MAP

If you cannot view the image, click here to view it at full size!

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Three announcements I would like to make going forward:

1) You may have noticed I made an oopsie in transcribing the amount of boost power one of the NPC racers had. This has been corrected in between last round and this one, and is now displaying properly in the current round's standings.

2) Accuracy when posting in the ROLLING THREAD is extremely important for organizational purposes. Please read over your posts there to ensure they are formatted correctly before making them, as it makes it easier and faster for me to ensure the numbers have been properly run. This is not directed at any one participant (in fact, it was my mistake that triggered this - when rolling for Josh last round, I forgot to specify which Target Number he was challenging!)

Going forward, if you need to reroll for any reason due to a mistake in the rolling thread, all rolls except the lowest set of rolls will be ignored. This is to provide an incentive to double check your work before posting. This may seem a little heavy handed, but I want to ensure both maximum fairness and maximum transparency when moderating these kinds of threads.

Note that this rule has been retroactively applied to Josh Devlin 's roll for this Obstacle.

3) If all participants are able to get their posts in prior to the deadline, I reserve the right to make the mod post prior to the stated mod post deadline. This will help keep the event moving and make things more exciting for everyone involved.

RULES

PLEASE HEED THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES. These rules are also subject to change.

• Your Pokémon are now LOCKED IN and STATIC for the remainder of this thread. You may not upgrade mid-thread.
• The Asper Cup guidelines can be referenced in this thread's first post.
  
• Your character's Pokémon can only use ONE move at a time. Remember that moves that could conceivably be used to make your Pokémon go faster are PROHIBITED DURING THE FIRST LAP OF THE RACE.
• Please provide a TL;DR summarizing your character's actions and/or BOLD moves/abilities used with each post.
• Missing too many posting rounds will result in YOUR CHARACTER'S DISQUALIFICATION.
• You MUST ROLL THIS ROUND in the Story Mode Rolling thread. The roll will be 2d100.
• Please POST ONLY ONCE THIS ROUND.

DEADLINE

JULY 30, 11:59 PM CDT (9:59 PM PDT)

The moderator post is expected to go up no later than August 1.

The good thing was that the whistling had stopped—for now.

The bad news about all of this was the fact that there was a jump—and wait a second, wasn’t he riding a Pokémon that could, by all accounts of the word—fly into the sky?

That Charizard should be technically illegal… but then again so is my own ride so… he thought with a grumpy look on his face as he realized there were a lot more people in front of him than what he’d wanted. Nope.

Absolutely not.

“Come on, you hunk of junk, let’s get moving!” he would hiss under his breath as he hung on for deer fucking life to the Celesteela’s shoulder as they then took the jump—

Would they clear it?

He had a bad feeling they wouldn’t…

---

link to roll; time to die lawl

lap 1, obstacle #3