Sakura
As soon as Irisviel pressed the button to select the map, Sakura found herself teleported into a small, white room.
Eh, what? What happened to the race?
Looking around, Sakura quickly found her answer. Written on one of the walls was a set of instructions.
How to build the awesomest vehicle.
Step 1: Squat
Step 2: Think about your vehicle really hard
Step 3:
Step 4: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Sakura looked at the wall with confusion for a moment.
What the hell?
Sakura was expecting at least some kind of rules here. What sort of car was she supposed to make? How fast should it be? She didn't want to get hopelessly beaten, but nor did she want to make the race dull for Irisviel by totally outclassing her. Sakura thought for a moment, pondering what to create, before she recalled what Togan had said when describing the tracks.
Racing inside a volcano? Eruptions and meteor showers? This sounds like that "Mario-Kart" game that Kiyoshi likes.
Sakura had, of course, played it with Kiyoshi a few times. She wasn't actually that bad at it. She considered how best to design her car, in light of that information.
Well, given the nature of the race, I need weapons. And, my vehicle should be something personal to me.
Sakura thought for a moment, before she had a brain wave.
Of course. What could be more personal to me than my very own servant? she thought.
Sakura obeyed the instructions and squatted, a vision of her ideal vehicle coming to mind.
Well, nothing in the instructions forbids flying, and Mario Kart does have aeroplanes....
After a few moments of hard thinking, a vehicle began to appear. If you could call it that, anyway. What materialised was, in fact, a winged horse, almost an exact copy of Rider's Pegasus. And, sitting in the front saddle was a simulation of her servant and friend, Rider. Pegasus was, of course, blisteringly fast, although it had a relatively poor turning circle at top speed, and was extremely durable, with exceptionally high HP. She could travel even quicker if she used her super-boost move, Bellerophon, which would also allow her to knock any enemies out of the way. It was much like the bullet power-up from Kiyoshi's Mario Kart game, only it couldn't go around corners. It would be exceptionally useful in the right circumstances, although she wasn't sure how the game mechanics would support what clearly should be a limited-use move. Possibly it would attach some timer or other requirement to its use.
For weapons, aside from the super-boost attack, Rider also possessed her chains, which could be used to attack any nearby opponent in various nasty ways. Additionally, the simulated Rider had her counterpart's signature ability. However, since Rider's usual power would have been totally game-breaking, Sakura had mentally nerfed it. Instead of turning everything in her vision to stone, Rider's eyes could be used to fire a petrification beam in the direction of her opponent. It could, of course, be dodged, but if it hit it would petrify parts of their vehicle, slowing or even stopping them entirely. And, of course, since Sakura had control of the set-up, her own avatar possessed all of her standard magical abilities. She could produce shadow tendrils, create magical shadow entities that could absorb some projectiles, and fire a shadow arrow that would be very corrosive to anything it hit.
Now ready for the race, Sakura mounted the horse behind the simulation of her servant.
