Challenge (6 of 8)

The Scooteria Kids face a Challenge

The lights turned to green and Tommy Typhoon was away! He easily saw
off the Aerox from Japan in his heat of the main event, the ? km
sprint.

It was the Southern Scooter Speed Trials organised by the Scooteria
Kids' local scooter shop, Skoot.

Tommy Typhoon was one of the Scooteria Kids who had become well known
on their arrival in England because their scooter form had been
'childrenised' by a strange red glow on the ship bringing them from
Italy.

The rest of the gang cheered him as he returned, and the girls, Emily
T2, Sally Skipper, Emma T4 and her sisters, Lucy Liberty, Alice Zip,
and Rebecca Runner, all hugged him.

Lucy Liberty had easily won the handling event, a timed run, up and
down the Zig-zag path. She had beaten her nearest rival, Japanese AY
Katana, by over 10 seconds. Her slim, silver body was so agile.

Rebecca had also won the long-distance speed contest, leaving the
French Elle Elyseo for dead, away from the line in the Final. She was
the fastest of the gang, and one of the prettiest with her purple and
yellow body.

Another of the Scooteria Kids, NickyNRG, looking good, and feeling good
as he always did, in his black and green, now lined up against the
favourite, Serge Speedfight from France. Although he was the race
favourite, he certainly wasn't the crowd's!

Nobody could understand what it was about Serge. Maybe it was the oil
he used which gave off the strange smell, but there was something going
on which didn't seem right.

NickyNRG and Serge Speedfight were headlight to headlight as they sped
towards the finish when, to the crowd's horror, the French scooter
deliberately moved over on Nicky, leaving him no room.

The sickening crash stunned the crowd, which ignored the wild
celebrations of Serge Speedfight as he crossed the line. Nicky was
smashed to pieces - he appeared lifeless. The Scooteria Kids raced to
help him, but he looked so bad, they just watched in tears as he was
lifted on to the recovery truck. The IceMan, Nicky's brother, was held
back from seeing the wreckage by AleX9, who had looked after the pair
of them since they left the factory.

Nicky was just able to force a couple of words out to his friend and
team-mate, Tommy, and the Chief Race Marshal before he passed
out.

"Tommy," he struggled, "go and win it for us, and Italy!"

The organisers of the Trials thought about abandoning the event, In
their office they had just banned the French team from the event when
Tommy Typhoon, his bright red body still shaking from seeing Nicky,
burst in to plead with the organisers not to abandon the event until
the Final had been run.

"But we've banned the French team, Tommy. You've won it anyway, now,"
said Will, the Chief Marshal.

"I don't want to win it that way. Come on, Will, you heard Nicky before
he fainted. He wants the Final to go on," pleaded Tommy.

Will picked up the microphone to address the crowd, which by this time
had grown with the news of the big crash. Along the track, every
vantage point had been taken, even a flotilla of small boats had
assembled in the bay to watch.

"Ladies and gentlemen," announced Will, "NickyNRG's request was for the
Final to go on. The two finalists will therefore be, Serge Speedfight
&;#8230;"

He was interrupted by the loudest booing ever heard in motorsport. When
order was restored, he continued, "and Tommy Typhoon from the Scooteria
Kids' team!"

The crowd, still growing, cheered the news. The Scooteria Kids tried to
settle Tommy down - he needed to be calm if he was to win. Sally
Skipper promised that she would go for a ride with him if he won.

"Shut up, Sally," said Emma, "that's not going to settle him
down!"

Her remark had broken the tension, and the Scooteria Kids were able to
laugh again.

There was now just five minutes to go before the start. Tommy,
alongside Serge Speedfight on the line, tried to shut everything from
his thoughts. It was difficult, as the tension had returned as the race
approached.

One minute to go, and a red glow entered Tommy's mind, the same red
glow which had brought them all together.

With a few seconds to go, the two engines revving, and Tommy's eyes
were full of tears. Was it the thought of Nicky, or the smell of the
French scooter next to him?

It didn't matter now, as they were both lowered from their stands. Even
above the engine noise, Tommy could hear the crowd screaming for him.
He couldn't let them down!

"Go, Tommy, go!"

His insides spinning like they had never done before, and struggling
for grip, Tommy just concentrated on the finish line ahead. The smell
coming from the French machine, which had leapt ahead at the start,
suddenly disappeared, because Tommy, having found his grip, had managed
to get ahead! As he crossed the line, he was swamped by the crowd at
the finish. All along the track, the rest of the crowd was going
berserk with joy!

NickyNRG was checked over and, although he had suffered some terrible
injuries, it was found that, because of his strong frame, he would
recover in time. He would eventually learn about Tommy winning. The
IceMan assured him that he would be looking good again for the
summer!