Little Pilot Academia

Chapter 66

Hannah sat patiently. The race would start when some random fish decided to jump over the track, but she was focusing her attention on the daemons. They were in first place this time. That was fine. They had a timer attached to the new Shooting Star that, after a couple test laps and a tank refueling, had proven itself to be perfectly functional. This timer was attached to the windshield, so there was no way it could interfere with anything else on the ship. Constanze had checked anyways to make sure. It was a simple timer that would start when the race did.

This was easily the worst part of every race. The calm before the storm. She wished it could be as simple as the three-two-one from the simulations.

The racing track had been limited. Only three fourths were going to be used for the race. That was perfect. It left at least twenty seconds on average for Amanda to reach the finish line. It might not seem like much, but in racing terms, twenty seconds was an absurdly long amount of time. The sinuous white path was exactly the same as the simulations otherwise. It was big, long, and one couldn't actually see the entire thing from the starting point. The audience stands this time had been set up in floating platforms around the track, though many spectators were just swimming. There were also a lot of different people - from all races - jumping around and enjoying the almost null gravity of the planet.

Hannah was probably going to join them before getting out of this planet. She wanted to experience what floating like that felt like.

"Hey, Hannah," Amanda said.

"Focus," Hannah said.

Amanda sighed, but said nothing more. Hannah felt slightly guilty for snapping at her like that, but the comment had been so sudden that it had caught her off guard. Damn fish, could oneplease just jump already? She wasn't an impatient girl but at this rate-

A fish finally showed up, for the Shooting Star shot forward at obvious high speeds. Hannah kept her side guns active for now, though if she saw someone approaching directly from behind she'd activate the front and back ones. The start of the race wasn't that different from the simulations. Amanda quickly took the first place. The timer made sure to remind them of the five minutes they had to finish the race.

Hannah aimed to the back of the ship. They were being followed by daemons, who were a little busy dealing with the shapeshifter. One of those smokey projectiles managed to hit the Blood Sailor, a sudden burst of smoke attaching to the whole ship and blinding them. In this track blindness was particularly dangerous, so Hannah made sure to keep an eye out for those.

The daemons, however, spun one time with their ship glowing. They got rid of the smoke and retaliated in full force, the space between their knife-like wings shooting a constant stream of Inferno towards the dark arrow. The group of three quickly left behind the others, Amanda making sure to dodge the occasional attack from any of the two pursuers.

Hannah didn't attack. At the moment the daemons and shapeshifter were engaged with each other, so calling attention to the Shooting Star wouldn't be the smartest choice. The white stone below them created a strange effect as they moved, the speed creating the impression that the track itself was changing, like waves. It had been kind of nauseating at first, but after practicing for days Hannah had gotten over it.

The shapeshifter's mobility was something Hannah always found impressive. It moved more like a bird than like a ship. The way it was constantly flying around the daemons while dodging, the acrobatics it displayed in its spins and twists and turns, everything about it was so graceful. The shapeshifter weapons had never been impressive, but they had managed to stay on the top four almost purely on their maneuverability.