Mario couldn't believe the audacity. What kind of delusional juice was his trash company feeding him? How could he even think for a second that he would stand a chance against a supreme runner like him? He was given a Teqx especially advantageous towards the Track and Field, all for the sole reason of getting first in this race.
One of his missions as an employee of the Ruobber company was to show their superiority. If people found out that he became first in the race because of the Teqx given to him by the Ruobber company, then they would be more tempted to join their internship program.
His superiors in the company expected him to win. Not only that, they expected him to win spectacularly. They wanted him to look like a transcendent talent among ugly frogs.
At first, he was a little bit worried because of all the pressure put on his shoulders, but when he saw his competitors, he felt relaxed. He was only competing against these guys? Really? Just them?
This race was already a done deal. The only competition would be who gets second place.
However, Jorn dared to make it seem like he could beat Mario in a fair race with ease. He was so confident that he was willing to even give Mario a head start! Who was he to give that kind of handicap? Mario should be the one giving him the advantage!
"Hpmh! Just because you got an F-class Teqx from a middling and unknown company, do you think you can now compete with me? In your dreams!"
Mario and Jorn both bent down and placed themselves in their starting positions. At this point, everyone was ready, with their heads down and their eyes closed. They were wholly focused on getting that perfect starting run.
One of the officials looked at the watch in his hands and saw that it was time to start the race. He raised a gun filled with blanks in the air.
"Racers. Ready yourselves," he said.
After those final warning words, everyone went silent. At this point, their only cue to start running was the gunshot coming from the official.
"You think you're faster than me? If you lose, you have to lick my boots." Mario muttered under his breath.
Jorn wasn't fazed by the bet. "Sure. But only if the same applies to you."
"There's no way I'll lose," Mario harrumphed.
The official counted in his mind. 3…2…1…
BANG
As soon as the racers heard the gunshot, they launched from their starting positions and used all their leg powers to accelerate to their fastest speeds. And since everyone in this race had Power Teqx, they all activated their powers to help them break through the pack.
However, not all the participants moved as soon as they heard the gunshot.
Even though there were tens of races happening at the same time, there was still a lot of audience watching each race. Everyone was surprised to see that there were still two people at the starting line. They didn't move!
Jorn and Mario stayed at the starting line. Mario was confident with his speed. He calculated that even if he let the racers have a 4-second head start, he would still end up winning the race by a large margin.
He wouldn't start running before Jorn lost his composure and started running. He guessed that Jorn was simply bluffing and overestimating himself. Soon enough, he would start to panic and try to catch up to the rest of the runners.
1…2…3…4…
However, even after 4 seconds, Jorn still hadn't moved. Mario started to panic. Why hadn't Jorn started the race yet?
Mario furrowed his brows. If he wasted another two seconds, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to win the race anymore. If that happened, he'd face the consequences of disappointing the Ruobber company. He didn't want that to happen.
However, his pride couldn't allow him to go before Jorn. Mario looked over to Jorn and saw that there was a sly smile on his face!
It was at this point that Mario realized something. Maybe, Jorn wasn't planning on running after all! What if he was only there to sabotage him?
That was it! Jorn was only pretending to give Mario a head start. He knew that Mario would end up taking the bait and would also give a head start advantage to the racers. His only goal must be to make sure that Mario never won the competition!
"Ha! Do you think you can sabotage me? You're just a pretender. I'll win this competition even with a 6-second late start!"
It would be a very tight race, but Mario was still sure that he could win the competition, even if it was decided by a photo finish.
Mario pushed off the starting position and used his Teqx to nullify the air resistance around him. With perfect flow and nothing to hinder him, he accelerated his sprint to greater speeds that surpassed everyone.
After a few seconds of running, he already caught up to the last runner, surprising the announcer.
"Oh, my Supremes! Everyone thought that racer Mario had given up on the race, but it turned out that he was only giving a head start to the rest of the participants! He has now caught up to the rest of the pack!
Racer Mario is an employee of the Ruobber company, who is making waves right now for their very inclusive internship program."
The whole crowd was in an uproar as they watched this very exciting race. Those who were watching other races turned their heads towards this race instead.
Mario smiled. It looked like this little event ended up benefiting him. If he was able to show off in this race with lots of people watching, he could make the Ruobber company very pleased with him.
He was already planning on giving an interview at the end and advertising the Ruobber company internship program.
He just had to make sure that he didn't mention the bad stuff about the program. Everyone who experienced the internship would surely say bad stuff about it, especially being treated like a slave in the company. However, in Mario's eyes, those people were just weak beings who couldn't stand a little pressure.
They should have used the same tactic as him. He used other interns to do his work for him!
It wasn't his problem if Jorn and the other interns were too spineless to stand up to themselves.
"And what is this?! It looks like there's another dark horse in this race!"
Mario looked over to the audience and saw that their eyes were no longer following him. They seemed to be looking behind him.
He suddenly got a bad feeling in his stomach.
"Who is this guy?"
Out from the starting race, Jorn finally started the race after giving Mario a head start. He immediately used his Ice Skate Leg powers.
The two announcers flipped through their pages of research. They didn't think that an unknown person would suddenly show off his powers and surprise the rest of the racers.
"Ah! Here it is. His name is Jorn Kjellberg, and listen to this, he's only recently acquired a Teqx just a day ago! We don't know anything about his company at all, however, with his performance today, I think that company will soon rise through the ranks!"
Jorn passed through the rest of the racers at the back and slowly caught up to Mario.
]
"What?! That's impossible!" Mario was running at his peak, with his legs burning at the strain he put it in. However, through impossible means, Jorn was able to catch up to Mario even though he started a few seconds earlier than Mario.
And that wasn't all. Mario saw that Jorn was slowly gaining over him. Inch by inch, Jorn was moving further away from him. Even at this top speed, Jorn was still accelerating! This meant that he still wasn't at his top speed! That was preposterous!
Jorn was feeling excited as he felt the strength burst out of his body. He could feel a clear difference from the 10 magical carrots that he ate. They gave him extra strength to push through the competition and more! He couldn't believe how powerful those things were!
And even more impressive was the man behind it. He couldn't believe that Patty could pull out those magical carrots like it was nothing. If he could give out 10 carrots to each of them just like that, then it meant that he had hundreds if not thousands of those carrots for himself.
It made him wonder how strong Patty was.
If he showed off his strength here, maybe Patty would give him more! With that motivation, he pushed his legs even harder until he finally passed Mario!
"No! This…can't…be!" Mario ran harder as he saw Jorn passing him. He couldn't believe that he was losing against someone like him!
He raised his hand and tried to grab Jorn's sleeves. He didn't care if he was going to lose this race as long as Jorn also lost!
But as he grabbed Jorn's sleeve, the man sped up even faster, leaving Mario in the dust. This left Mario unable to calculate his balance causing him to tumble forward. His face landed directly on the ground, with the dirt and dust imprinted on his face.
The rest of the racers passed him by.
Mario could only watch as Jorn crossed through the finish line, celebrating and jumping for joy. Meanwhile, he could hear everyone talking bad about him and the Ruobber company.
"I can't believe he tried to sabotage the winner!"
"And he didn't even win! That Jorn guy started way later than everybody, but he still won!"
"Is this the quality of the Ruobber company? It turns out they're nothing more than trash."
Then, he saw a shadow form in front of him. He looked up and saw Jorn with a smile on his face.
"Are you ready to lick my boots?"