This is the second fanfiction I have written, but the first in the Oban Star Racers category. Hence, I may not be the best. Constructive reviews are much appreciated!

This is set five years after the ending of the series. Eva is twenty, out of school, and racing for her father's team. It's the anniversary of the day the Earth Team left for Oban, and Prince Aikka has recently arrived on 'ambassadorial duties'. Unfortunately, the party's about to be crashed...

I don't own Oban Star Racers or any of the characters, sadly. If I owned it... the ending would have been much different.

Surprises

Eva smiled when laughter broke out in the garage. She finished rummaging through the fridge for everyone's drinks and lugged the armful of cans and bottles out to her friends. "Hey, drinks're up!" she called, tossing Rick his cola. Two mechanics and her father relieved her of her burden, so Eva found a clear crate and plunked down on top of it. "Man, it sure wasn't this hot out last year!" she grumbled, prying open the bottle of cherry pop she held. "Aikka, how'd you get here, anyway? Don't you have prince stuff to do?"

Aikka grinned and chuckled, an unusual sight from the reserved prince. "Supposedly that is what I am doing—ambassadorial duties." He shrugged. "Besides, I have much time to myself. It will be a while until I must take my father's place."

Eva gaped. Now there was a side she hadn't seen before! "Man, you're brave! My dad would have my head if I just up and left for Nourasia like that!" she guffawed, winking at her father. Don Wei gave her a wan smile, knowing full well how many times she had tried to trick him into leaving Earth. Vacations to Alaska turned into vacations to Alwas, trips to Eurasia turned into trips to Nourasia... the starship lines probably wondered if he was insane, booking and then suddenly unbooking flights.

Stan snorted. "Pfah, he's a robot anyway." Koji elbowed him, but Stan was already laughing.

Eva smiled, glad to see even her father laughing at Stan's old crack. Ah, but she had to defend him somehow! "Nothing like Sul. Now there's a robot."

Aikka nodded his agreement. "What happened to Sul, I wonder?" he mused aloud. Eva fell quiet and the two mechanics shrugged.

A shriek came from the right hangar of the Wei garage, followed by loud clacks and more shrieks. Aikka sighed and stood; G'dar wasn't going to calm himself.

Over the shrieks, which would not abate despite Aikka's efforts to calm his mount, Eva could swear she heard some kind of high yell... that was getting louder...? Looking around for the source, Eva grumbled and stood; she stomped over to the water tanks and peered into each, checking the purifiers. Odd... neither seemed to be the source of the noise.

Eva straightened just in time to hear the explosion as the ceiling above her imploded, whereupon it started raining wood and metal. A particularly big chunk splashed into the tank she stood in front of, drenching her. Sopped, shrapnel-sprinkled, and shocked, Eva stared up at the ceiling. An oblong hole about six and a half feet long and three feet wide had been punched into the ceiling. What the...?

"Aww, man..." a man's voice groaned. Eva shut her eyes.

"You said it," she retorted smartly.

"That... was not something I have experienced before..." a much different, stranger voice said. Eva's crimson eyes snapped open. Who...? She looked down at the water tanks, the source of the new voice, and was dazzled by brilliant blue and gold light. The gold light disappeared suddenly, leaving only the blue to reflect off of everything painfully. Blinking owlishly, Eva finally managed to make out the figure next to the shining blue blob.

"Well, speak of the Avatar." Don Wei said weakly from somewhere behind Eva. She could only stare into the dark brown eyes that stared back at her equally dazedly.

"Uh... hi M-Molly... you... you're all w-wet..." Jordan Wilde stuttered.

A much disheveled and rather nonplussed Sul threw his arms over the edge of the water tanks and regarded Jordan and Molly with a haggard, disbelieving stare. "You said you would get us home," he accused Jordan, looking back at the young Avatar. Jordan nodded very slightly, at which Sul sighed. "At least we are in the correct dimension. Thank you, Avatar, for retrieving me and for taking the shock of our landing. I suggest next time you transport anyone you try to avoid structures." With that, Sul vanished in a shower of little blue lights.

There were about five seconds of nothing but beetle shrieks before anyone did anything but stare.

Eva was at the tank before she knew she had even moved. She grabbed the miraculously unharmed Jordan and dragged him bodily out of the tank. Plopping him on the crate she had occupied a moment ago, she pulled up another and stared. Jordan stared back.

"I, um, I think I'll go get a towel..." Koji muttered. Don Wei nodded his thanks.

"That would be good, Koji." With a nod to his two recently re-hired mechanics, Eva's father strode over to Jordan and Eva. He bent at the waist so he was on eye level with both, arms folded behind his back and business face on full power. "Jordan."

Despite his Avatar status, it was clear that Jordan was still the employee in this relationship. "Yes sir?" he asked meekly. Don Wei raised an eyebrow.

"This," Don Wei said flatly, "was a surprise." He smiled. For some reason, Jordan was reminded more of an alligator. "I hate surprises."