"The Eurobeat Continues" Story Thread

[Tinkerer]

"The Eurobeat Continues" is a "super-archetype" thread composed of five separate archetypes tied together by a group of "Drift" Quick-Play Spells.  The card thread can be found HERE.

When I had originally begun designing the archetype, I had also started writing a story alongside the cards.  The new thread is now called "The Eurobeat Continues", because I had an older thread with all of this set-up and spoiler'd so it was nice and neat.  I posted the story bits every week when I "bumped" the thread, however, when the site was updated, the post got way out of hand since the spoilers weren't working.

All that said, it was one of my personal favorite projects, so I plan to repost the whole thing in weekly installments just like I had done last time.  This thread will have the story while the other will have the cards.  On the whole, I am going to try to write these independently so if you are interested in the story, you don't need to look at the cards, and vice versa.  However, for maximum flavor and lore, I would recommend glancing at both threads.

Thanks for looking through and I hope you enjoy!

[Tinkerer]

List of cards is HERE.  You can see the characters as cards.

Don't worry about the brevity of this post.  Just like last time, the story intentionally starts off slow and without much information.  Background will be built up as the story progresses.

~~~

“Daddy, can you tell me a story?”
“Ok, sweetie, get comfortable.  Did I ever finish telling you the story with the racers?”
“Oh, I like that one! But you never finished it though.”
“I guess I should start at the beginning then…”

~~~

“The Blazing Racers were a team that burned up the track and the mountain passes alike with their high-speed drift techniques.  Together, this team of elite racers were indisputably the best group of drivers in the world.

One day, their old mentor, the enigmatic Master Draft, calls the team back to her underground racing dojo.  She had received a warning and a challenge.  She had received a message from one of her sources.  “A threat looms over our planet from the stars.”  She said, “That threat is far off for now, but you all need to be ready to race against the best in the universe.”  She looks over to the corner.

The Blazing Wheels’ financier, Ms. Elara Erie moves into the light and drops a note onto the table for the team to read.  “It seems as though the racing world is a lot bigger than we expected.” she said, smiling.

Captain Young, the leader of the Blazing Wheels gave a huge grin, “Alright team, it looks like we’ve got some work to do!”
 

[Tinkerer]

Bump~

Dunno how I forgot to update this last weekend.  Probably just blown away by all the site changes, but I do plan to post the second archetype (hopefully) tomorrow but definitely before the weekend.

Third set will not be posted this weekend though; something's come up that needs taking care of by early next week.

 

[Tinkerer]

List of cards is HERE.  Check out the racing clones!

~~~

"While the Blazing Wheels were perfecting their skills aboveground, an undersea civilization was thriving and began developing their own racing techniques.  100 years ago, the king - Orichalcum - sired a child whom the oracles claimed would save the galaxy.  The child, however, was interested only in racing and seeking better and better challengers - completely forgoing his father's instruction.  His father, angered, exiled the boy and his mother.  However, the people loved him and even without his father's help, the boy became influential and his skills took him to the top of the undersea's racing world."

"10 years later, recognizing that the prince was a racer unlike any that was ever seen, undersea scientists came to him and offered him a unique opportunity.  They would preserve him in cryosleep and create clones of him so that he would always have a true challenge.  The prince agreed.  He did not realize that his father had talked to his mother and - recognizing his error - had hired the scientists to place the prince in cryosleep so that the boy could be awoken when his destiny finally caught up to him.  As the prince slept, the lab's clones took the racing world by storm. Soon the entire racing circuit was clones racing each other, each racer and car tweaked to specialize in certain racing techniques.  The people did not care; they loved this new entertainment."

"Back in the present, Orichalcum and his undersea civilization had finally been "discovered" by the surface peoples.  Seeing this as an invasive force, Orichalcum sent diplomats to the surface.  The diplomats returned with amusing news.  The people on the surface were peaceful; however, they were curious if these legendary "clone racers" were any good.  They insisted that the undersea peoples bring their best racing team to the surface and face off against the dominant Blazing Wheels team."

"Orichalcum, flabbergasted at this development, had the lab awaken his son for the race of a lifetime..."

[Tinkerer]

 

[Tinkerer]

List of cards is HERE.  Check 'em out and you might very well see the direction the story is heading.

~~~

"And so the world race began: the Blazing Wheels versus the clones and their Prince of Destiny.  The Blazing Wheels worked together to overcome obstacles but they began to fear the undersea visitors and their tactics.  The Destiny Racers were like lemmings... the clones didn't care for their own lives, going so far as to take themselves out as long as they traded their own chances with the members of the Blazing Wheels.  Soon, the only racers left were the Prince and the leader of the Blazing Wheels, Captain Young."

 ""Could these undersea racers be the threat Master was warning us about?" Captain Young thought as both cars ran neck and neck over the desert sands. "I know she said 'from the stars', but..."

"Before either car reached the finish line though, both racers were enveloped in a white light and the racers found themselves and their vehicles in a spaceship flying over their planet.  They were approached by a tall, thin, humanoid alien in a racing suit who introduced itself as Sunstreak, leader of the noble Galactic Flash team."

"Eons ago, intelligent life began venturing into space.  Peoples began making contact with other peoples and, after rough initial encounters, a galactic unity was formed.  To bridge the differences between the peoples, competitive games formed with the most popular being racing.  Many teams formed.  Some represented single planets or solar systems, others tried to gather amazing racers from lots of different races.  The Galactic Flash was one of the latter teams.  They raced their way to the top, always aiming to find the best racers, honorably racing with their opponents whether as a group or in one-on-one races, and stopping racing teams that shamed the competition or used racing for their own gain."

"The Galactic Flash had always been successful until... the Яeverse.  The Яeverse appeared to be racers unlike anything any team had ever seen, and their power drew in many other racing teams.  They became a plague, unable to be beaten and constantly growing stronger with every race."

"The Galactic Flash, now desperate, turn to underdeveloped planets, hoping to find new blood who might be able to bring unique racing techniques to the universal track and defeat the Яeverse once and for all."

"After listening to the dire situation, both The Prince and Captain Young agreed to assist Sunstreak.  The duo joined the leader of the Galactic Flash as they flew off together to challenge the Яeverse..."
 

[Tinkerer]

List of cards is HERE.  Characters and their stat interactions are important and are more fully explained in that thread.  There is a "Design notes" post that you can see HERE.  It should help cover certain character interactions.

~~~

"The three made their way to a distant planet where Sunstreak, the leader of the Galactic Flash, said they had tracked down the Яeverse.  The trio prepped their cars and Sunstreak set the ship to bring them down."

"Being beamed down to the planet's surface, the trio immediately found themselves surrounded by sleek, black, amorphous-looking cars that slowly circled them until they parted.  A single large car, as amorphous as the rest, drove up the gap.  The goo that seemed to make up the car twitched and bent, pulling itself inward and forming itself into a humanoid figure that stepped over the skeleton of the vehicle and made its way to the trio."

"Sunstreak exited his vehicle and pointed at the robot.  He declared a final race; them three versus Ignition for the fate of the galaxy."

"Ignition jerked its head in assent, then returned to its car, its skin once more melting onto the frame of the vehicle.  Two of the black cars moved between the trio and the six cars set themselves up on the starting line.

~~~

"The race was grueling.  Neither Captain Young's car nor the prince's car was built for the harsh conditions of the rocky planet.  They quickly fell behind Sunstreak and the trio of Яeverse cars.  It wasn't until they reached maintained roads and began running through sharp mountainous passes that their skill at the wheel enabled them to catch up with the others."

"'These beings are robots, Mr. Young.' The prince warned.  'Much like the clones that we employ, they may not care for their own lives as long as they win.  We must work together if we don't want to crash here'"

"The captain agreed and as they moved to overtake the Яeverse cars, each of them assisted the other to knock off the other two Яeverse cars, only leaving Ignition."

"The end of the race was close.  All the trio needed to do was pass Ignition and not careen down the mountainside."

"'I'm going to go for it,' Young said to the prince and Sunstreak, 'draft and cover me'"

"The trio aligned themselves and, with a perfectly timed parallel drift, Captain Young overtook Ignition."

"'Yea--!'"

"A fireball erupted in Young's rear view mirror.  His mouth opened as he saw Sunstreak's car plow through the smoke.  His car, normally a flashy orange and yellow, was morphing, streaking itself with black and silver.  The face of the kind alien was breaking apart, opening to reveal a bright red robotic eye.  The half of its face that was intact was grinning as his car accelerated and crashed into Captain Young's bumper.  The young captain lost control of his vehicle and his car began flipping end over end off the mountain."

~~~

"Back on their home planet, people began gripping their heads and writhing in pain before standing up, stock still with glowing red eyes.  The time had come.  Who knows how many people were now Яeverse?

"Master Draft sent an emergency message to the Blazing Wheels and got in contact with the undersea scientists who gathered the remaining clones and sent them to assist the Blazing Wheels.  As the Blazing Wheels and the remaining clones drove back to Master Draft's dojo, they encountered multiple glossy black cars that tried to stop them.  They escaped, but before they reached the dojo, the entire group was beamed up into a spaceship.  A racer in full body suit and a helmet covering his face stepped to the cars and introduced himself as Parallapex, and explained who the Galactic Flash were to the two teams."

"The teams were wary of this man until he took off his helmet.  He was the splitting image of Captain Young, just with more lines on his face.  Their fears were completely eliminated when Master Draft stepped from the shadows and gave him a kiss."

"Mr. Young gave a small smile before turning back to the racers.  'We have work to do.  I believe my son and your prince are in danger.  If we're going to save the galaxy, we may only have one chance.'"

[Tinkerer]

Bump

Been really busy over the last few weeks.  Will update this weekend.

[Tinkerer]

Final part to this arc of the story.  Last* few cards are HERE and in the following post.

~~~

“Young the Elder introduced the two teams to what remained of the Galactic Flash.  Having lost so many races to the Яeverse, only a small elite core of the group remained.  They had believed that when Sunstreak had lost the first race, he had been spared from the Яeverse’s corrupting influence, but when he had struck out on his own, they realized their mistake and chased after him.  Unfortunately, he seemed to have gotten to the racer’s planet first and nabbed the two best drivers.”

“‘We do have one secret weapon though’ Commander Zenith had told the racers.  ‘If we can rescue your team’s captains, we might have enough people to use it.’”

“The teams touched down on the Яeverse planet and split up, driving across the endless rocky terrain.”

“It took a few hours, but the ship buzzed down to the racers, noting a heat disturbance at the foot of a mountain and calling for the nearest drivers to find it.”

“One of the prince’s clones and Nebulous of the Galactic Flash made it to the mountain.  They radioed the ship and noted that they found the captains and they were both in dire condition.”

“The ship beamed everyone back up and Dr. Madoka immediately went to work.  The teched-out cars had taken the brunt of the fall and neither man took permanent damage, but both were in critical condition for a few hours before she was able to stabilize the duo.”

“In the following weeks, the Galactic Flash received report after report of Яeversals on many planets.  It seemed as though the robots had dug their nails deep into any sentient species that had any capacity to race.  What they were doing beyond that was a mystery.”

“In the meantime Zenith explained the plan.  The Galactic Flash was not merely a racing team and peacekeeping organization.  Zenith’s grandmother had established the team because of a legend, one that had been passed down on their planet for generations.  This legend spoke of racing as a universal constant and it even stood as a core aspect to the creation of their universe.  By bringing together racers of significant enough skill, it may be possible to access that core nature of the universe and even bend its laws to one’s will.  She did not want to use this power for her own, but sought it for the purpose of true enlightenment.”

“‘This universal power may be our only hope to stop the Яeverse’ Zenith said.  ‘We need a small group of our most elite racers to make the leap.’”

“So when Captain Young and the Prince recovered, it was time.  The group traveled to Zenith’s home world.  I don’t know what happened.  All they told me was that they raced through a course Zenith’s grandmother had built and… they leaped.  They called the place Horizon and… They said the feeling was indescribable.  They felt… everything.  They saw all, they knew all…”

“My biggest regret to this day is that I did not go with them.”

“Regardless, when they beamed back into the ship, they were clothed all in silver and their eyes appeared to glow.  It was time.”

“We all returned to the Яeverse planet.  It was time for the final race.  Although most of the teams had not gone with Zenith, each team in full went down to race.  The Яeverse had their legions and were ready.  The three teams looked pathetic in comparison.  Elder Young, younger Young, and the Prince stepped out of their new cars (dubbed “First Tachyon”, “Enflame”, and “Thread of Fate” respectively), and challenged Ignition to a three-part race.  If the Яeverse won any leg of that race, the teams would surrender, but if they lost all three portions, the Яeverse would be forced to deactivate.”

“Ignition agreed, but on the single condition that it got to race in all three legs.”

“And so… it began.”

…

*So what happened, daddy?*

“You should know what happened little missy!  You aren’t a Яeverse, are you?”

The little girl giggled and squirmed in her father’s arms as he tickled her.

“They won… we won, of course!”

He did not tell her the details.  How could he?  How could he tell her that to win against the Яeverse was truly a testament of sacrifice?  How could he tell her about how in the second leg of the race, the Prince sacrificed himself to allow one of the clones to win instead of the Яeverse?  How could he tell her that Lady Young sacrificed herself in the first leg of the race so her son could squeeze past Ignition and win.  How could he tell her that the Elder Young - the grandfather of the little girl… and the fornicator who had abandoned his firstborn - had sacrificed himself when Ignition did not accept defeat?  How could he even describe the aura that surrounded the younger Young - his own step-brother - when both his parents died?

How could he begin to describe how his step-brother became the Final Horizon?

Further, how could he tell her the universal consequences of the race?

…How could he tell her that defeating the Яeverse was the death of everyone they had infected?  How could he tell her that by saving the Universe, they caused the deaths of trillions?  How could he tell her that the beautiful constant - racing - was no more?  Would she understand?  Could she understand?

Could he bring himself to believe it himself, even after all these years?

“It’s a big day tomorrow.  Time for you to go to sleep.”

*Daddy?*

“Hmm?”

*When I get bigger, can I be in the Blazing Wheels?*

“…”

 

Blazing Wheels NX - Captain Young
FIRE ****
Scale: 2<>6
Machine/Pendulum/Effect
PE: If a “Drift” Quick-Play Spell targets a monster you control, you can Special Summon this card, and if you do, add the “Drift” Quick-Play Spell to your hand instead of sending it to the GY, but you cannot activate cards with the same name as the added card for the rest of the turn.  If Special Summoned this way, all “Blazing Wheels” monsters you control gain 300 ATK.
ME: If this card’s battle position is changed by the effect of a “Drift” Quick-Play Spell, gain 200 LP for each “Blazing Wheels” monster you control, then if you gain more than 500 LP by this effect, you can target 1 monster you control: It’s ATK becomes the combined original ATK of all monsters you control until the End Phase, but any battle damage it inflicts is halved.
1600/800

[Tinkerer]

Epilogue and Other Story Info:

How the Яeverse infected the Atlanteans

The Яeverse, much like most of the rest of the main planet, did not know that the atlantean peoples existed.  It wasn’t until they infected the Blazing Wheels’ financer that they found out about the atlanteans.

The financer was the wife of King Orichalcum and the mother of the Prince who was exiled.  She had wanted to convince the Prince to come to the surface, but he wanted to stay underwater and live as a racer.  She went to the surface and, recognizing there was a racing scene, she used her riches as an exiled Queen to finance a racing group that showed a lot of promise.  She thought her son would enjoy the surface if he recognized it held a challenge for him.

Before she could invite him up though, she was hijacked by the Яeverse who realized there was a lot more to the planet than the surface racing scene.  She went underwater to convince the King to accept his son back.  It was in that private moment that the King was hijacked as well.  It was only because the Prince never returned at the King’s request that he was spared.

Because they were husband and wife, I made their stats the same.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The D.S. and their knowledge

The people who went to the Horizon and became the Dimensional Speedstars gained knowledge about certain inner workings of the universe.  They found out that the Яeverse could not be defeated conventionally or even with the cold impartial sacrificing that the Clones did for the Prince.  The sacrifice had to mean something.  They also found out that defeating the Яeverse would not save the infected peoples, but would doom them.  However, the alternative was the Яeverse’s complete control of all the sentient species in the universe.  The Dimensional Speedstars also figured out why the Яeverse existed and their purpose, but they never shared that information, even after the race.

The Prince could not live with himself knowing that he was simultaneously saving the atlanteans but dooming his parents (who he still loved despite everything).  Before the race with the Яeverse, he pulled aside the only clone that he had taken with him to the Horizon (“The First Clone” - The only clone the scientists had actually let the Prince interact with before freezing him.  Essentially the Prince’s son).  The prince told the clone that he would sacrifice himself and that he wanted the clone to return in his place.  No one on their home planet was to know that it was the real Prince who died and the one who returned was a clone.  He was also to abandon the clone project; clones were bred to be fodder, not people, and it seemed that - according to the Horizon - their net universal value was 0.  The prince knew his sacrifice would have value and he wanted his first and final clone to have a life that would have value as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Young Family Tree

The speaker of the story is “Blazing Wheels - Rogue Racer X”.  Unlike his step-brother, Captain Young, he was the bastard child of a one night stand between the elder Racer Young and an unnamed female fan.  He grew up always fascinated by racing, but was too poor to have his own car.  Via a series of fortunate events and a lot of hard work, he was able to purchase his first car at eighteen and he was able to make connections with street racing teams.  He had a natural talent, but his driving style was always punctuated by his own hard work and keeping an exhaustive knowledge of the roads he raced.  In a word, he could be described as: cautious.  He almost never raced people unless he knew the road.  He gave himself the moniker “Rogue Racer” to both keep his identity secret and to give off the air of spontaneity when he performed carefully practiced maneuvers during his races.

After the business with the Яeverse, he got to know one of the Galactic Flash, the mysterious alien known as Nebulous, and they settled down on his home planet and had a daughter.

 

Captain Young was the progeny of the elder Young and Ms. Draft (daughter of a race car manufacturer and an expert driver in her own right).  He was raised in a loving home until the elder Young was recruited into the Galactic Flash.  Wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps, the younger Young became a racer.  He was a great racer with amazing instincts and impeccable technique, however he was impulsive.  He didn’t take practice seriously, but his raw skill usually compensated.  He didn’t lose many races except to his step-brother, and even then, he’d always know his own mistakes and improve significantly in the next race.

Until he became a D.S., Captain Young didn’t know that X was his step-brother.  After the Яeverse, the two finally came to know each other, however, Captain Young told him that he had to go: it was the cost of becoming one with the Horizon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Next Generation

The Яeverse were defeated and this story is now over, but many mysteries remain.  The next generation of racers are ready.  Will they be able to pull together the pieces of the past and drive forward toward a brighter future?

 

When I first wrote all of this, I had a lot of fun with the whole story and premise and I couldn't let it go even when the site went down.  I continued writing thoughts, ideas and directions for a few weeks and I have the whole thing plotted out in my head.  However, unlike this series, I did not actually truly write out the story itself, so posting will be a lot more time/effort than copy-pasting what I had for these.

In general, I would like to move forward with a renewed story that continues where this leaves off.  I already previewed one of the cards of the next series (Blazing Wheels NX - Captain Young) but I haven't actually made much past the Blazing Wheels NX cards and 1 other archetype.  Continuing from here actually requires a certain amount of time and dedication that I just cannot commit to right now, so for now, this story will have to come to a close.