“What!?”
Jazz ignored his sister and accelerated toward the ring.
“Are you thinking clearly!? There are tons of debris in that ring! They’ll crush us into scrap metal in the blink of an eye!”
“Not if I crush them first!”
Jazz quickly pressed a few buttons and brought up an aiming screen. “Pulse cannons ready,” the computer said. Lori didn’t know what her brother was up to, so she could only sit and watch as Jazz shot the debris pieces in front of the spaceship one by one. The pieces hit by the white beams exploded into smaller pieces and scattered out, no longer blocked the ship’s head. Obviously Jazz was trying to create a path through the ring, but what was the point when the pursuers could use that path as well? The answer was revealed when Jazz pulled out two wires from the console and swapped them with their sockets. Mysteriously outside the Raven-III, the scattered debris began to regroup and followed its trail, thus effectively filled up the hole on the ring created by Jazz. The two other ships had to stop at once when they saw it. They intended to turn back, but the debris behind them had already returned to its orbit, closing the entrance behind them as well, so they were stuck in that ring.

“It’ll take them a while to get out of there.” Jazz looked back while rearranging the wires.
“How did you do that?” Lori asked.
“Well, those debris are made of metal, so I just reversed the electric polars to create attraction. Kinda cheap trick.”
“Not to me. I’ll remember to use it when the time comes.”
“You’re going to see more when you see me at the FCT” Jazz smiled.
The spaceship went on for several more minutes. Jazz turned around to ask Lori: “How much time left?”
“Ten minutes.”
“Earlier than I thought. Maybe we can slow down a bit. This speed is currently exceeding the limit, you know.”
“Jazz, look out!” Lori suddenly pointed ahead.
Jazz turned his eyes to the front. There was a large net made of green-matter rays about to ensnare the spaceship. Jazz grabbed the control stick right away and tried to avoid the net, but it was too late. As the net covered the ship’s engines, they died instantly and wouldn’t come back no matter how hard Jazz tried. A smaller spaceship with a top flashing with blue lights then appeared next to the Raven-III. Another voice came from the speakers:
“This is the Spatial Police. You have exceeded the speed limit in this area and we are taking you in.”
Great. I was just about to slow down too. Jazz were very annoyed at this apprehension.

A few minutes later, at a nearby SP station...
“What’s your name?” The police lizard asked.
“Jazz. Jazz Jackrabbit.” Jazz was sitting exhaustedly with his cheek propped up in his right hand, the other hand was pressing on the table.
“Your occupation?”
“Let’s make this quick, shall we?” Jazz lifted his head up. “You guys want a fine, right? Just say the amount!”
“Of course we’ll fine you, but we also have to keep your ride for a few days and put a mark on your spaceship piloting license. Speaking of which, do you have a license?”
Jazz couldn’t answer this question, because he only had a skyboard license. I’ve never hated these prolix procedures as much as now. He held his head in his hands. Meanwhile, Spaz and Lori were sitting outside waiting for their turn. Spaz took a peek into the room and noticed Jazz’s despair state.
“Three minutes left. Looks like we aren’t going to make it after all.” Lori looked at the clock on the wall.
“Jazz seem sad.” Spaz said.
“I know, he’s disappointed. But this is for his own good.”
“Please don’t talk while waiting.” The police rabbit watching Lori and Spaz spoke. “It’ll be done soon.”
Just then, a loud grumble of Jazz echoed out from the room, “I risked violating the rules for THIS!??”
“He should have thought of that earlier.” The police rabbit looked into the room and shook his head.
After listening Jazz’s wail, Spaz was silent for a while before suddenly bursting out of the long chair and running toward the port area. The police rabbit was completely surprised, “Hey, come back!” and he was about to chase after him when the door next to him was bashed open and Jazz came out flying with a kick aimed at his face. He was immediately knocked out cold, just like the lizard lying in the room. Hearing the noise, other police units from further rooms came out and noticed Jazz and Lori standing there as well as Spaz making his escape. Jazz shouted to Spaz: “Just get on the ship and launch! I’ve already set the coordinates for you!” before turning back to face the police. “Ok Lori, it’s time to rock the house!”
“Once again, you’ve got me involved in a sitch.” Lori said as she drew out her blaster and then loaded it with her Upgraded Freezer cartridges. The battle began...

Spaz, although being a simple-minded one, managed to find where the Raven-III was kept, and incredibly, set off with it. The coordinates were entered, so everything Spaz had to do was speed up the ship and avoid any obstacle in its way. After all it’s a complete miracle, so don’t ask me how he arrived at the FCT space station only 10 seconds before the deadline. The receptionist cat greeted him:
“Welcome to the FCT. It looks like you’re the last one. What’s your name?”
Like I said, he’s simple-minded, all he was thinking of was to speak the name of his team. So there it went, “Jazz...”
“Jazz who?”
“Jazz Jackrabbit.”
“Oh, that famous rabbit!” The cat seemed excited, “He’s actually here!”
“Spaz Jackrabbit...”
“Huh, what, you’re making a reservation?” The cat scratched his head. “Don’t know if it’s allowed, but... Ok, Spaz Jackrabbit.”
“Lori Jackrabbit...”
“Lori Jackrabbit, here it is.” The receptionist wrote the names on a list. Then all of a sudden the bell next to him rang loudly. He smacked it away and laughed: “Ding! Deadline’s here! You’re pretty lucky. If you’re just 10 seconds later...” He stood up and walked into the rather crowded corridor, not forgetting to tell Spaz: “Come. I’ll show you to the preparation area. Don’t worry, your brother and sister got their spots.” Then he clapped his hands to get the attention. “Ok everyone, let’s move. The tournament will begin shortly.”

As for Jazz and Lori, they had frozen all the police units, but it still cost them several minutes. They stole a police spaceship and headed directly to the FCT station.
“I hope Spaz had registered for me.” Jazz said anxiously.
“C’mon, what’s the big deal? It’s just a tournament. There’s always next year.” Lori shrugged.
“By that time I may have already died of boredom.”
Lori said nothing in return, she thought it’s best to just let this conversation end. Finally they arrived at the space station. Jazz rushed out from the port and proceeded immediately to the main entrance, Lori followed him closely. No one was there. Jazz focused and heard some noise from the hallway to the left. He quickly ran to it and saw a big room at the end of the corridor. A cat with glasses was standing next to the entrance, with some kind of a list in his hand. Jaz came to him and asked:
“Excuse me, did a red rabbit with ruffled fur come by earlier?”
“Oh yes, he did. You’re his siblings, right? He registered for you.”
“Thank goodness.” Jazz sighed in relief.
“You must be Lori Jackrabbit.” The cat looked at the list, then pointed at Lori.
“What?” Lori was surprised, “But I don’t fight!”
“Sorry, no changes allowed.”
“C’mon, it’ll be fun.” Jazz gave his sister a clap on the shoulder.
“And you are Spaz, are you not?”
“WHAT!?” Lori and Jazz replied, in chorus.
“I know that expression. Like I said, no changes.” The cat fixed his glasses, then turned and walked away.
“But... I’m Jazz! He’s Spaz! Hey, do you hear me?” Jazz screamed out loud, but the cat ignored him.
“You’re right. This turns out to be fun after all.” Lori laughed enjoyably.