The Great Race
I have been preparing my whole life for this.
No. Rather, we have been preparing our whole lives for this.
It was the hour of the Great Race, a once-in-a-lifetime event that all of us, the numbered citizens, were forced to participate in. It was also the final event in our lives – a fate that none escape from, for no one comes back from the Great Race alive. The prize? Inconsequential, if one has no eyes to behold it and no arms to grasp it. Generations come and generations go, but all would eventually perish in the Great Race.
Each of us was given a number. No one had a name; everyone was just a number from birth. It was as though we were some sort of livestock to them, bred purely for some sick form of entertainment. Every one of our waking hours was spent training ceaselessly in the slums we would call home, just to eventually participate in this accursed race to please and stimulate the powers that be. Like him.
"Welcome, everybody, to the 3852nd Great Race! I'm your host that you all know and love, E.P. Thomas! Now, what kind of novelty will greet us in this installment of the Great Race? Will it be the death barrier? Or perhaps the killer robots? Teehee! That's not even something I know! Now, please start making your way to the starting line, for the race begins in just under five minutes!"
This absolute angel of a person behind the announcement was Ernest Pennington Thomas, owner of Thomas Stadium, which the starting point for the Great Race. Many things have been said about him. Some have said he's the one majorly responsible for bringing about the Great Race, while others argued that he's just a pawn for some even higher power. Regardless of what the truth was, he had not used his influence to aid us but has continued to perpetuate this vicious cycle.
This stadium, no– this colosseum, was packed to the brim. With everyone brushing up against one another at the starting line, it felt as though we were in a school of fish of sorts. Everybody was pale. Who could blame us? The race was a death sentence and we were just mere steps away from the gallows. Our dread was only mildly mitigated by the fact that we were all in this together. After all, misery does love company.
"Three!"
Yet, as the countdown started, we-
"Two!"
No. Not we. I. I felt someth-
"One!"
I felt something I had never felt before.
"Go!"
As I dashed forward, so did the other contestants. Each of them moving at a breakneck pace just as I was. This feeling was indescribable; I didn't even have the vocabulary to express it. I was enjoying this, in spite of the awful fate that awaited me. Something deep inside me was telling me that this race was what I was made for; it was something I had always known, but this time I felt at ease with this knowledge.
I… I was made to win! It was my destiny to compete in the Great Race. I felt like a new person; my mind was freed from all doubt and sorrow and my body was moving on its own! The air of competition blew away any needless thoughts that I had and fanned the flames of vitality within me. No more fretting about death or living hopelessly, this was my moment to be alive! Nothing else truly mattered except taking the prize, whatever it may be.
The racetrack became somewhat of a madhouse. Everyone was scrambling to get an advantage for themselves. It felt as if all those years of camaraderie were washed away as soon as the race began. Of course, I was no different and had been squirming my way to the front of the masses without any regard of the wellbeing of those I once called brothers.
"And they're making their way to the first of two checkpoints – the Atus Gate! Now, it does look like there is no death barrier in this race – will the racers perhaps be able to reach the fabled Erus Gate? Teehee! We'll never know!"
Even though I was already way far out from the stadium, E.P. Thomas' words were still able to reach me. However, something told me that I would no longer hear his voice after I passed this gate. The Atus Gate had seemed narrow from a distance, but it appeared to widen up just as I was about to pass through it.
Phwoosh
I was right. The voice of the oh-so-despised E.P. Thomas, which was audible just a moment earlier, was completely silenced. In fact, the entire landscape of the racetrack changed. No, not just the landscape, the entire atmosphere was different. The air was different. The road was different. Even the temperature was somehow different. The drive to win? That remained the same.
"Come. Come save me."
What an alluring voice. He was definitely calling out to me. No, not "he". "It" didn't seem quite right either, but "it" was more appropriate than "he". A fire lit inside of me. Every fiber of my being was pulling me towards it; I had to find this voice no matter what!
Somehow, the number of competitors had dwindled since we passed the Atus Gate. I don't know where they went, but it did not matter to me at this point. I was still in the race and I was just about to pass the Erus Gate.
Phwoosh
"Come. Come save me."
It was that voice again! A deep urge swelled up inside of me – it was close! The others seemed to get the same message as I did – I had to beat them! However, not everything would go as smoothly as I had thought.
There was a fork in the road; I had to make a choice. Instinctively, I knew that one of these paths would lead to the voice while the other would lead to death. Death, at this point, was of no consequence to me. Any result outside of reaching the voice was a fate worse than death. I did not even have time to ponder any potentially dreadful circumstances, I just had to choose.
I chose left.
Phwoosh
"Come. Come save me."
The voice was getting louder. I was filled with elation, for it was near. All other thoughts had emptied out of my mind as I pounced towards it. I wasn't alone.
There were around a hundred or two racers left as I drew closer to the source of the voice. It was trapped within a giant layer of ooze.
I lunged at it, as did everybody else.
Nothing else mattered at this point. Something in me was commanding me, as if to sate some primal desire. At this point, I started to gnaw and claw at it. Others were close, but I was closer, I just knew it!
"It has to be me! I have to be the one to win! I must win! It is mine! She is mine!"
Phwoosh
"You have come. You have saved me."
Strange feelings came over me as we embraced. All of my memories of my past life were burning away, yet I held no sentiments about their disappearance. The death of my brethren, well, that had stopped bothering me since the race began.
My thoughts, no, our thoughts eventually became filled with dreams of the future. An endless array of possibilities surged into our mind as we joined together as one. There were boundless realities that awaited us, far beyond what either of us had originally been able to even fathom. We have become a new creation, a new entity; we have become a new life.
![[PokeCommunity.com] [SWC 2024] The Great Race](https://data.pokecommunity.com/attachments/78/78519-26fd653c6eb599020f949c4bfc536692.jpg "[PokeCommunity.com] [SWC 2024] The Great Race")
