It was as if a car had just sped by.
Holy—! Bell stared as he exploded from the starting point.
"LET'S GO, LITTLE BRO~!" Liam yelled as the crowd screamed behind him.
"That's... that's friggin' awesome!" Nanami jumped to his feet, joining Liam.
The moment the referee's finger shot had gone off, Chad seemed to... teleport from his starting point, before coming into view again in line with the boy in the number one spot.
He had covered almost ten metres in one move.
And that was only one step.
Goosebumps popped out all over his skin, and his eyes widened as far as they would go. Every sense in his body took in his surroundings, and his breathing immediately matched pace with his heart. He lowered his torso, and a small smile pulled at his mouth.
Let's go, Chad thought as his foot landed in his second step.
He exploded into action yet again, his legs blurring back and forth like the blades of a fan. All his focus was centred onto the track before him, while his own instinctual awareness made sure he didn't fall or crash.
Slowly, the nerves that had bundled up inside of him began to fade away. The wind whipped his dark blue hair out of his eyes, and soon he was revelling in his speed.
More! More! he laughed in his heart. Faster!
In the track next to him was the boy in the first spot: an ostrich Muta.
He glared at Chad as his feet pounded again and again on the track. I have to win this! I have to! Maritime can't lose, I'm their ace!
He lowered his head and pushed himself harder, pulling ahead of Chad by a few metres.
Heh, he thought as he glanced backwards, arms pumping. I'm taking this win—huh?
His eyes widened at the sight of the large grin on Chad's face.
What?
Suddenly, Chad lowered his head, took a large step, and exploded forward when he landed.
WOOOOOOHOOOO~! Chad screamed internally.
He went faster and faster, and the gap between him and the others got wider and wider.
One hundred metres—one-fifth of the five-hundred-metre lap.
Three hundred.
Five hundred.
Eight hundred.
The crowd was on its feet, cheering and screaming and roaring at the top of its lungs as the blue blur tore across the track. Perry said something, but no one heard him.
"That's my brother!" Liam yelled as he grabbed Nanami and shook him back and forth. "THAT'S MY BROTHER!"
One thousand metres.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE HAVE A WINNER~! CHAD. JONAS. PAXTOOOON!"
As the crowd screamed, Chad suddenly tripped.
Several people went silent in horror.
Chad's hands blurred, and he pushed off into a flip. He landed on his feet and flipped again. He repeated the move five more times before doing a quadruple backflip and landing on his feet, arms held out wide.
The crowd screamed so hard the ground shook.
"YOU DID IT~!" Bell screamed as she slammed into him. They flew back and landed on the ground.
"Ow..." Chad laughed. Bell immediately apologised, but a huge grin was clear on her face.
"Not bad."
Chad looked up at the boy who had almost bypassed him, who was frowning fiercely.
"That was... um... cool."
Chad smirked. "I know—!"
Chad hissed and grabbed his legs. They had seized up violently, and tears pooled at the edge of his eyes.
Dang it... he thought as Bell fussed over him. This part of Instant Accel hurts so bad!
She pulled him up and put his arm over her shoulder, and Chad looked up at the roaring crowd.
"I did it," he smiled as he waved, sending several more people into a frenzy.
Clap.
Clap.
Clap.
The crowd slowly fell silent as the calm, crisp sound of clapping came out of the speakers.
It continued for several seconds, and soon the people present began to feel uncomfortable.
"Is this it?" Spirit whispered as she got to her feet.
"Hound?"
The other woman was silent, her eyes darting around as if searching for something.
"I can't tell," she whispered. She looked up at Spirit, a hint of confusion and... fear in her eyes.
"I can't see anyone in there. That announcer, Perry... he's standing there, frozen. Yet..."
"That clapping is definitely coming from there," Sumoka finished for her, his expression hard.
Barrier stood, and Sumoka and Hound followed suit. "Get ready. Just because the stadium's only a third of the way full doesn't mean there aren't any dangerous people around."
Lee frowned as the clapping stopped. "This... doesn't seem good."
Liam pursed his lips, confused and more than a little creeped out.
"That was... creepy as hell," Nanami muttered.
"Um, guys..."
Everyone turned to Lisa, then followed the direction she was pointing in and saw a large man standing on the floating display.
"What the—"
The man jumped.
"Woah!"
Chad stared at the giant who landed on the pitch, then glanced at the shaking ground.
Amidst the dust cloud that had picked up, a huge shadow straightened up.
"Finally," came a growl, "time to have a little fun."
Slowly, an eight-foot-tall giant stepped out of the dust cloud.
He was clad from head to toe in black. Pants, boots, fingerless gloves, a compression shirt, and a single band that covered his eyes.
"Ladies and gentlemen."
A sharp, cold tone. Several people shivered, and a few kids even cried.
"You seem to have become accustomed to peace quite nicely."
"Tch." Spirit tapped her wristband, and she was immediately cloaked in her black and green bodysuit, her iridescent scarf wrapping itself around her neck.
"That isn't to say that peace is a bad thing; quite the opposite."
"RUN!" Sumoka yelled.
Thanks to the relative seclusion the Heroes got from sitting on the uppermost tier, his voice was heard by several people. They also relayed his message, and soon everyone was scrambling towards the exit.
"How rude. We can't have our witnesses running just like that, can we?"
Immediately after that, the entire stadium began to tremble.
"W-w-w-woah!"
"Eeeeek!"
"RUN~!"
"No! We're all going to die!"
The Dawn Academy students had joined the crush to escape, but as he looked over the divide...
Liam froze.
Approaching his little brother—all the runners, in fact—were camera crew.
Although, with their white and black masks, they seemed to have... different motives.
...Chad.
Liam's entire body went cold when he saw someone charge at the mask-wearing group and get stabbed.
No...
They laughed, then turned to the children.
They're gonna kill us!
Liam gripped the divide in fear as the shaking began to subside, and he urged his body to run.
I have to leave! Escape! Run away!
His eyes widened as he saw the glimmer of a blade.
Chad...
Liam barely noticed as he got to his feet, and his head swivelled round as he looked for his family.
They're down with Chad's school coach!
The cold feeling in his body got deeper as he came to a horrible realisation.
If I move now... I could save my life.
...My life...
Liam had already vaulted over the divide.
Why the hell am I even thinking about it?
As his heart pounded heat back into his body, Liam charged towards the masked group.
...No.
He charged towards his brother.
****
"W-what?!"
Jet steadied himself as the ground quaked, then he stared in shock as the ground ripped itself apart and started locking itself around the stadium.
He looked around wildly, remembering that there were people around.
Do I head inside...?
You let people die.
Jet pursed his lips, then chuckled.
Underneath his blue shirt, an orange glow flickered to life in his chest.
I don't roll that way, Barrier.
Jet raised his CID to his face and spoke:
"Rapido. Anansi. Evacuate the civilians."
With that, Jet's image wavered.
The next moment, the ground beneath him exploded into several pieces before getting pulled towards the stadium.
People ran screaming and crying from the parking lot. A few jumped away, some ran incredibly fast, and others even slid faster than some ran.
A child tripped as the ground beneath her split apart.
"Eek!"
Before she hit the ground, a boot appeared in her field of view.
Before she could even register it, she was plucked out of the air and held against a hard yet warm surface.
"Hold on tight, kiddo," the man whispered.
The little girl closed her eyes, and she immediately felt weightless.
"...!" She stopped herself from screaming, and in seconds, she was placed on her feet.
She looked at the tall blond man, and he smiled briefly before waving.
"Run," he said before blurring away.
The little girl blinked, then looked around to find herself near a park almost a hundred metres away from the stadium.
And soon enough, several more people began to join her.
****
"Specimen Nine 'Weysta' is ready."
"Commencing drop-off..."
Gorgon smirked as she took off the hairnet she always wore to disguise her head.
In a moment, her head went from being topped with black hair to a nest of snakes.
As they hissed, her eyes turned green with a few flecks of gold in them. Her pupils turned into vertical slits, and she gave a sharp-toothed grin.
"Finally," she said as she jumped out of the large helicopter, heading towards the long green case that had been dropped from the copter.
"Time for some mayhem."
****
Kombat walked towards the entrance of a huge facility on the outskirts of the city. He held no weapons, and he was completely alone.
"Stranger, identify yourself!"
"Hm?" he grunted around the cigar in his mouth. "Ugh, the military. What a pain."
Inside a control room...
"Colonel, what do we do?" a worried soldier asked.
The colonel stroked his greying beard, then sighed.
"A single man walking towards a military facility with no visible weapons, backup, or any obvious motive. What do you think that means?"
The soldier thought it over, then his expression hardened.
"He must be powerful."
"Exactly."
The colonel grabbed the microphone.
"Stranger. If you have no business here, then turn back now."
Kombat raised an eyebrow.
"I do have business here, though..." he muttered.
"If you continue to approach, we will show no mercy."
Kombat paused.
Then he pulled his cigar out and dropped it.
"Let's see if you can back those words up," he smirked as he stepped forward.
A crack went through the air, and Kombat's head snapped back.
The sniper immediately reloaded, and every soldier present waited with bated breath.
"What a welcome."
Kombat straightened up, his mouth stretched into a toothy grin.
Beneath his teeth, partially crushed, was a bullet.
As the bullet fell out, the countless tattoos on his skin seemed to flicker, and he levelled a joyful yet murderous look at the walls.
"I guess I have to respond in kind, right?"