Hondo (本土) stage STAGE 1: Lift Off (Hien VS Nova Expert)

MLP: FiM: Team AA Hondo Stage

STAGE 1: Lift Off (Hien VS Nova Expert)

Race day…

Hien, Nova, Zero and Civic gathered on the base of Mt. Mitsubishi route, hinting that the hillclimb race was to commence first. The locals that gathered yesterday have also gathered for the race that day.

“We meet again, hothead. Ready to lose badly?”

“You’ll be eating those words right after you eat my dust!!”

“Hmhm… That’s one great comeback if I ever heard one.”

“SHUT IT, CIVIC!”

“Just payback for threatening the locals here at Mt. Mitsubishi… So, which match will go first?”

Zero cut in to answer after a brief moment of silence between the flyers. “Since we’re at the base of this route, how about the hillclimb match go first?”

Civic nodded politely in acceptance, living up to his name. “Alright, the hillclimb shall go first. Behave yourself, Nova. Your poor manners are starting to annoy me.

"Downhill challenger, let’s go to the top of the route. You know, to prepare for the downhill.” Civic then flew to the top of the route, with Zero following suit.

The hillclimb was about to commence. The crowd that gathered round were cheering loudly at Hien, their possible saviour that might just send Team Mugen scurrying away, but the cheering also pumped Nova up. There were informers scattered everywhere on the route to keep track on the race progress, mostly on the corners, keeping in touch with the announcer at the starting and finishing point through fully functional walkie-talkies.

Hayabusa, the pegasus in dark green with a maroon, tidy mane, and a peregrine falcon for a cutie mark, was with one of the informers in this race at the first hairpin of the route, along with his friend Kamikaze, a jade pegasus with red, messy mane and a cherry blossom cutie mark that flies along Mt. Nakajima for leisure with his subpar skills.

Hien and Nova, standing right behind the starting line, waited for the pony to start the hillclimb. The starter pony then walked towards the front of the starting line. Walkie-talkies ready, the starter pony shouted to the crowd: “Let’s Begin!!” and started counting down from 10.

“I’ll make you wish you kept your mouth shut, hothead. You’re toast against me.”

“Speak for yourself.”

“3!...2!...1!...GO!!!”

The flyers boosted into the pass as they run through the first corner, with the screaming crowd behind them. Nova thought correctly that he’d burst into the lead, but didn’t expect the one thing that happened just after the initial boost.

'What the…?! She’s keeping up…! How could this be?!'

Nova made a serious mistake, what he thought would be a walk in the park became an intense hillclimb battle, as Hien began to aggressively catch up to Nova into the first hairpin.

Nova was the first to tackle the hairpin. Hayabusa observed closely to Nova’s cornering technique, and subtly showed a sense of displease. His reply to Hien’s cornering was very different – she cornered very close to the inner apex, nearly touching the rain gutters. Hayabusa could have smiled if the cornering was near perfect.

“Those two are very good flyers, yes?” Kamikaze spoke out.

“Nova’s approach to the corner was anything but good. He went in too quickly and didn’t turn hard enough for the hairpin. As a result, he left the hairpin noticeably slowly.”

Hayabusa then tilted his head slightly down and squinted his eyes, showing that there was a good side in Nova’s flying.

“What does save his back is his knowledge of the Throttle Burst technique, a common technique mastered by the pegasi of Team Mugen, where the user flaps his or her wings twice as fast for a brief period of time whilst exiting a tight corner to fling him or her back into speed. The effect isn’t too subtle, but if used correctly, can significantly influence the outcome of a race, especially in a hillclimb. That alone, however, won’t save him, not if he is taking on the corner that badly. Strange, since flyers from Team Mugen tend to do it very well."

“So you’re saying that Nova is just one of Team Mugen’s students?”

“Maybe, Nova’s flying is a bit novice, or at least, that’s how I see it. Team Mugen’s leader, Civic, knows better than to send a novice into a battle. But I know him well, and I know that it’s easy to convince him to do things. Yesterday, Nova seemed very pumped up to challenge someone and Civic wasn’t even thinking of stopping him. That, and with his unbearable behaviour, it isn't a surprise Civic followed his direction. Obviously, it’s ending up in disaster for him because Civic knows better than to blindly challenge the locals on a mountain and expect to win, just because the mountain has no racing team. One must take into account if he is able to hold his or her own in a selected course without too much difficulty, and must also be weary that the mountain they are about to attack houses pegasi that almost always has the home advantage.”

“I see. And the challenger?”

”The challenger managed to tackle the hairpin quite well. A few rough edges to smoothen up, though, like her timing when on the approach, and the magnitude of her braking. I could see that she isn’t from here. Through careful observation, her flying style is more suited to the faster, but more relaxed Mt. Nakajima than to Mt. Mitsubishi.”

“Well, I leave it to you when it comes to figuring out how well they’re racing.”

“There’s more, and it’s to do with their bodies. Did you see Nova go out of control during that corner?”

“Out of control like…?”

“As he is exiting the hairpin, I saw him bank wildly to the right just to avoid hitting the mountain, just scraping the rocks, before doing a Throttle Burst.”

“No. Why?”

“Nova’s body is built to be stable only at high speeds, as I see it. In Mt. Honda, it won’t be a problem because that route has a near lack of any very slow corners. As such, Nova should be able to dominate Mt. Honda’s hillclimb.”

“But this is Mt. Mitsubishi, and the route here doesn’t allow a lot of room for high speed cornering, with all the tight hairpins here, especially after the second section.”

“Exactly, which is the very reason why Nova is struggling in this course. He is not very well trained, and his body just isn’t made for technique-based racing. If he did have proper training, he would have been able to cover his physical weakness with a technique, like the infamous “free drift” technique, or the easier “hoof slide” technique. Any frequent slow cornering and he’ll end up racing on hoof. Though it won’t matter anyway because his body isn’t given training enrichment in the field of wing stability. In other words, he is nothing more than a novice. A very pumped up novice that is racing for an already lost hillclimb.”

By the time they finished the talk, the match was already into the Second quarter. Hien was starting to close the gap even more. What stopped Hien from overtaking was that this quarter has very few tight turns and only one hairpin, which gave Nova a bit of breathing room as he tried in vain to think of a strategy.

'Even with this breathing space, it’s all going to disappear at the third section. I would be weakest at the twin hairpins of Mt. Mitsubishi, where the hairpins give a lot of room for an overtake. A simple Throttle Burst will only delay the inevitable… If I am to keep my lead throughout the touge, I need to pull away faster than this, much faster, or think of a strategy, something that time gives me little room for…!'

Nova started to perspire. He hadn’t been so tense in his life.

'Maybe Civic was right. I am not ready for a real touge yet, even an easy one. I shouldn’t have mocked that mare and threatened the locals with my shouting. I really did need practice before jumping straight into a battle… If only the great Hakuba-san could give me a restart on this week, maybe I could have stopped all this mess from happening in the first place…'

Nova prepared for one last stand for the third quarter.

'But, there are no restarts in life. I started this, I said I’ll win, I WILL win!'

Nova’s soul started burning ablaze, as he pushed himself beyond his limits, determined to win, soaring through the hairpin of the second quarter.

The informer on that quarter's hairpin spoke through her walkie-talkie, her face bright with joy and dying to tell the news to the locals listening with concerned, open mouths.

“This is informer of second quarter hairpin! The flyers have passed our position! The challenger is scavenging the situation for an opening and is leaving Nova’s pride shaking down to the ground! Our only question would be, will she ultimately put his wings to sleep? We are all rooting for our hillclimb challenger!”

Those who heard the broadcast were brimming with invigoration and excitement. Their silent prayers have been answered, and Nova is getting desperate.

The route returned into its winding state, with Hien aggressively charging at Nova, as they reached the end of the second quarter.

'This is crazy! Her cornering is so much better than mine. We’re nearing the middle of the third quarter and she’s tailing me like a shadow… My throttle burst technique can only take me so far and the final kilometres of the route are mostly short straights and tight corners… She’ll overtake me at any moment and the next overtaking point is 2 corners away. What do I do?'

'I might be able to pass him in the twin hairpins at the third quarter, then block him using the aerial drift technique to keep him there. The first hairpin at Mt. Mitsubishi’s hillclimb third quarter should allow for very easy overtaking if I’m fast enough…'

Meanwhile, at the top end, Civic and Zero were all ears to the informers through a local’s walkie-talkie. It was difficult to comprehend what the informers are saying with the crowd around them screaming with joy that Nova was sweating in the suspense. They did, however, manage to pick up what one informer is saying.

“This is informer on the section 3 hairpin 1, we’re currently picking up the sounds of 2 flyers. It seems like they’re very close together.”

Civic looked down with a hoof against his face: “I knew this would happen. That newbie wanted to participate in this campaign so badly and I accepted. He really doesn’t know how tough a touge can be, especially when you have to face the suspense of being tailed, which you simply have to ignore if you don’t want to make a mistake.”

Zero's mouth was still sealed shut, as always, understanding how Civic felt.

2 medium left turns passed and the forest cleared for the hairpins. Hien lied in wait for Nova to make a move and tackle the approach.

'He has nowhere to run now. Everything is set for the overtake.'

Nova was unaware of the upcoming danger that he was about to face. He blindly performed a “slow in, fast out” cornering, giving a critical opening for Hien’s setup.

'Now!'

Hien lunged to Nova’s side as they entered the hairpin. Nova skewed his wings to a vertical position to brake for the corner. The pace of the hairpin was enough to keep him aloft. Hien, on the outside curve, twitched a braking position as she cleanly overtook Nova, and before he had time to perform a Throttle Burst, Hien prevented the comeback with an aerial drift.

Nova started panicking the very moment he realised what just happened.

'Wh… What’s with this mare?!'

'Me? Shut up after you shouted at nearly everyone at Mt. Mitsubishi? Don’t make me laugh. I may be from Mt. Nakajima, but I also care for the locals over here!'

The same informer that informed Civic started showing great enthusiasm.

“This is informer on the section 3 hairpin 1! The flyers have passed this corner, with the challenger in the lead! She challenges Nova through the outside curve, and stops his comeback with a well-placed aerial drift! What technique!”

Hayabusa also picked up the news through the nearby informer’s walkie-talkie, smiling.

“And so, the truth unfolds.”

With Hien in the lead as the match reached the final quarter, Nova started to panic and was losing hope fast.

'Please make me snap out of this dream. I admit it. I admit that you’re fast, skilled and whatever. Just let me snap out of it, please!'

It wasn’t a dream, no matter how much Nova wanted it to be one.

The Final quarter of Mt. Mitsubishi’s hillclimb route was where Hien would completely demolish Nova. Tight, blind, consecutive corners are everywhere, absolutely no long straights and little room for Nova’s Throttle Burst, wasn’t Hien’s cup of tea, but it’s certainly not Nova’s. His bad dream was about to turn into a horrendous nightmare.

Back at the first hairpin, Hayabusa and Kamikaze was informed that the match was reaching the final quarter.

Kamikaze shivered in goose bumps: “Man, I hate that quarter…”

“It is no doubt that the final quarter here may be the ultimate separator between the flyers. The straights are near non-existent, and the corners are nearly all blind and directly connected to one another, not to mention that it’s the slowest part of the course. One must be careful not to bank too hard on this quarter, or it will have a serious effect on his or her overall time, as well as give him or her a bit of a concussion.” – Hayabusa made a small giggle – “Even I have issues trying to clear that part. Heck, not even Kyuu Roku can clear it without a single flop. He would always make that one mistake in trying to corner through that nearly impossible-to-master chain of corners.”

Hien entered the long chain of tight corners, struggling to even keep herself stable. As she banked hard continuously to the left and right, Hien started getting dizzy and began to teeter whenever she was on the straights. It was worse for Nova – he started to lose control of his flying at the first few blind consecutive corners and had no choice but to actually run on hoof on some of them just to keep going. Eventually Hien cleared the final obstacle of Mt. Mitsubishi’s hillclimb and headed into the last corner, with Nova still in the midst of the saw-jagged corners.

As Hien pulled out of the final corner, the crowd went crazy for her, cheering as loudly as they could, nearly completely dampening Civic and Zero’s voices, when Civic realised that Hien was on an imminent collision course towards Zero. Even when she saw that she was clearly about to crash into Zero, she sped on, afraid that Nova may be just behind her – afraid to look back.

Hien charged towards the finish line and crossed it, marking a victory in the hillclimb, with the crowd cheering even louder. Turning his head to the finish line, Zero turned his head towards Hien and saw her charging at him like a missile. In an attempt to screech into a halt, Hien curved her wings into a cup and slammed her hooves onto the track, but by then it was too late to prevent a collision. She bumped Zero, both falling to the ground.

Hien immediately got back up to her hooves, and quickly and sincerely apologised to Zero, while Civic helped Zero get back up on his hooves.

“Oh by the great Hakuba-san, I’m so sorry! Are you ok? Where does it hurt? Can you still move?”

Zero checked literally every limb of his body. His wings, legs, head, even his tail. “I’m fine.”

Seconds later, Nova arrived running along the final corner, filmed with sweat, with the crowd still cheering wildly, as he weakly flapped his wings to propel himself to the finish line. Too tired to stop himself with his hooves, he trotted to a halt.

“See what I mean? I don’t do comebacks for show, you know.” Hien started to light heartedly tease Nova with a pout and a slap of his face with her tail, giving a smooth, low giggle as she walked to Zero’s side, all the while softly catching her breath. It’s very much her way of showing off if she beats an annoying pony in a race. “Not so ‘Expert’ now, huh?”

Nova had no more energy to spend on mocking her back, so he went to Civics’ side, and spoke to him.

“ok… The hillclimb is done. You guys better start the downhill, and I need a good and long rest after this.” And with that, Nova dropped down to the ground, panting, his mouth wide open.

Civic, knocking himself in the head,

“He doesn’t even have the energy to complete a touge. He’s going to need serious help, and intensive total training.”

Then, towards Zero,

“So…, are you ready?”

“…ready.”

The downhill match prepared themselves as they walked towards the starting line.