Faster Than Angels

[Ace3000]

Well, looks like my schedule has gone up in smoke, only because I don't follow it. Have a new part today.

The referenced album title of Part 21 was 'How I Learned to Stop Giving A Sh*t and Love Mindless Self Indulgence' [takes a breath] by Mindless Self Indulgence

[s2_14.1: Part 22.1] The Eliminator Brings Rivalry

---

<22120531>

Sunday, May 31st, 2212

Angelus HQ, Perth, Australia

20:50:17

The team were preparing for an otherwise ordinary eliminator event of the season, taking place on Sol 3. The simulators were warming up, as the one pilot that qualified got ready.

Gareth walked up to Kyoko, opening his mouth to speak to her. She instantly held her hand up.

"Stop. You always attempt to speak to me at the most inconvenient times. Why?"

"Isn't it obvious? You are never here unless there's a race! You disappear for days, then turn up when a race is on. These are the only times I can speak to you!"

"Hmph... thank you."

"A-... what? 'Thank you'?"

"Yes, thank you. You have gotten me angry enough to actually do well in this event. I am now in the right mood for an eliminator event. I thank you!" She bowed at him.

Gareth had a surprised expression on his face, which turned into a frown. He opened his mouth one more time, then walked off. Kyoko then turned around, entering her simulator, ready to race...

3, 2, 1... GO!
<21:00:00_>
<sol 3: short fwd_>
<eliminator: lap 01_>
<system error | andy hunter°_>

All 26 craft set off, all aiming for destruction. Despite qualifying, Kyoko was at the rear of the pack, only just being able to qualify for the 26th position. This event was not going to be gentle on the team known for pure racing due to their somewhat weak shields. Somehow, though, Kyoko wasn't eliminated as much as Brandon had anticipated, as her racing skill allowed her to avoid a lot of her opponent's attacks.

The event went as planned, but every so often, Kyoko had to flip around and slow down so she didn't go too far ahead of the pack. Once she got a feel of the rhythm, though, her racing style changed, now focusing on attacking the competition, venting her anger at Gareth into her opponents.

"HAADADADADADA!" She yelled as she fired weapon after weapon into the various craft.

Brandon's constant smile wavered a bit, his eyes widened slightly.

"This... does not seem good." He muttered, looking closer and observing her actions more carefully.

<contender eliminated_>

It wasn't the first elimination in the match, but it was Kyoko's first kill.

<contender eliminated_>

Instantly, though, she was eliminated by Crinale.

"Hah... of course. Where were you this whole time?! I had to wreck someone else!"

Finally, the rivalry began, the race splitting into two: Angelus vs. Crinale, and the rest of the teams against each other. With that, the eliminations suddenly started to rise tremendously. Despite that, however, the two teams had more or less equal points with each other.

"Give up, Angelus! You can never defeat us in battle!" Lucia taunted.

"Our similar scores say otherwise." Kyoko retorted.

"Pure coincidence!..."

<contender eliminated_>

"...you are nothing but our plaything, a mere toy we can destroy over and over again! UGH!"

<contender eliminated_>

"Rethink your strategy, prodigy. Your current one is getting you nowhere."

"I need to rethink nothing! Everything is perfect!"

"Perfect? Allow me to show you why it really is not!"

The female racers continued their battle; the perfectionist prodigy, hell bent on destruction of the one team in particular; and the helmeted purist, shrouded in mystery, being forced to play to the tune of the race's rules. They continued their battle, getting even more forceful as they progressed, all culminating in the inevitable, a final attack by both teams that would bring the entire race – and much more – to a grinding halt.

Crinale were ahead of Angelus by a fair amount, speeding over a weapons pad and getting their super-weapon. Kyoko already had Angelus' super-weapon at the ready, knowing that she'd be able to attack them with the high speed of the railgun charge. What she wasn't counting on was Crinale using their weapon.

The instant they picked it up, they flipped their craft around, firing the Quantum Destabiliser the instant the white craft came into view. However, Kyoko saw the black craft and had fired her EMP Railgun at the exact same time. The instant the charged pulse hit the energy beam, the simulator stuttered, then all visuals began to warp as the physics engine broke from attempting to process the attacks' collision. Finally, it gave up, and the entire ser///__

<FATAL SYSTEM ERROR: STOP command at 0x00000080_>

*** WPNCOLLS.OPD - Address 16AD874F base at FC7F0000, DateStamp 0001C7F70564

---

The final line has some data that isn't just random hexadecimal, even though it looks like it. Running the DateStamp through a hex to decimal converter, it gives a value of 7649822052, which is Unix time for Sunday, 31 May 2212 14:34:12 GMT, or 22:34 in Perth. The other numbers? Random typings that make it look like hexadecimal, so only 0-9 and A-F are used.

The file that caused the error is in a short filename, or 8.3 format (8 characters for the name, and 3 for the extension, or file type). The name is just Weapon Collisions. The extension, however, gives a little insight into a certain thing to do with the F12000. The PD means Physics Data, but the O? I'll let you try and figure that out, shouldn't be too hard