She was so late. Damn, she was very, very late.

Karisa was literally sprinting through the village right now. Ethan would be racing soon, and he would never forgive her if she missed it! But it wasn't her fault- Gracie kept fighting with the new Swanana in the garden, and it had taken her forever to separate the two. It didn't help that the Swanana lost and got terribly ill, and Karisa had to wait for Patch to hurry on over to her garden. She couldn't leave the Swanana there in the garden alone. What if he came, and Patch hadn't made it?

Needless to say, she was having a very chaotic morning.

Please don't start without me, please don't- her thoughts were ceased as she collided into something, or someone by the feel of it. Why, oh why did all of this had to happen on today of all days?

"I'm so sorry, I'm just in such a hurry and I-" She was speaking quickly, as if all the words were one. Karisa quickly moved her blonde hair from her face, and her words, or word rather, then halted with a squeak.

"No, no, it should be me apologizing. I wasn't looking where I was going," says Eddie Lizard, the son of the owner of the P-Factor. He was looking down at Karisa with his gorgeous purple eyes, while his nimble fingers worked to move his purple bangs from his face. Karisa's whole face turned as pink as the pattern of a Galagoogoo, as did her blue eyes became so big in shock it would have put a Galagoogoo to shame. Lord have mercy on her, because she had just bumped into the cutest guy in the whole village.

"Miss, are you alright?" Eddie asks, staring at the younger gardener. He was a little worried that he may have hurt her some how, because of the way she was so silent and staring at him with a flushed expression. Karisa shook her head, so quickly that it might have fallen off if she wasn't careful.

"Y-yeah, I'm okay," Karisa squeaked, quickly running around him without a look. Lord, oh lord why did this have to happen to her on all days? Why did she have to make herself look like a fool in front of Eddie-freaking-Lizard?

Ugh, this is all Ethan's fault! She concluded, since it was his race she was trying to hurry too.

Ethan had no idea of his friends problems, because he was having some of his own. He wasn't one to be nervous about little things like this, especially over a little race.

But this was a little more important than a simple race. It was his Flapyak up against a Horstatio and a Zumbug, some of the faster pinatas around. Not to mention that they both belonged to gardeners who didn't even live nearby, therefore he didn't know a whole lot about them. He didn't want to worry about the fourth runner though. It was just another one of the crazy lady's Whirlms, so there was no way he would lose to it, but at the same time, it would be an embarrassment to only beat a level 1 pinata.

"Don't worry boy, you've got this, okay?" Ethan decides to stay confident as he pats his Flapyak on the side. If he started to act doubtful, then Flapjack would too. This was the pinata's first race, and he knew they were going to win this.

"Hey, Ethan!" a voice calls from behind him. The Builder turned around, and saw Sahari standing a few yards away. She was quite a good friend of his, and unfortunately lived all the way out in the desert. She was in the village today, probably to watch his first race.

"Hey Sahari," Ethan called back, waving his hand up in the air. Sahari ran right on over, stopping just in front of Flapjack. Her wiry brown mop swishes around her head as she came to the sudden stop. She looked upward, and let out a low whistle.

"Wow, he looks pretty pumped," Sahari mentions with a slight laugh. Ethan nods, petting Flapjack's back.

"He should be. It's his first race, and knowing him, the big fella wouldn't like to come second to a Zumbug," The builder says to the desert dweller, having to look down at her. Sahari shook her head, punching Ethan's side lightly, kind of in a playful manor.

"Oh please, don't even start with that. Like he would lose to a stupid Zumbug," Sahari says quite loudly, as if to make sure the Zumbug's owner had heard her. Ethan glanced over at him, and received the dirty look the other gardener. He turned back to Sahari, glaring at her slightly.

"Keep it down Sahari. They don't allow any kind of trash-talk here," Ethan said in a hushed voice. Sahari rolled her eyes, turning away from him.

"Whatever. I'm going to go wait in the stands," she says as she walks away. Ethan lets out a low breath, rolling his eyes slightly. As much as he loved the little desert dweller, she always had a mouth as big as her own ego.

Sahari crossed her arms under her poncho, shivering slightly. She didn't know why, but it always felt a little chilly whenever she would come to the village. She walked along the colorful stands, looking for a good place to sit down. The stands had quite a few people on there, probably people from the neighboring villages where the Zumbug was from. Sadly, the races were always open to people from all around, meaning that random people from all over would appear. Thankfully, there was many people from the village that she knew, such as Lottie and Willy, here to watch their son race, as well as Bart the tinkerer, because he always enjoys betting at the races due to the lucky streak he always seemed to have. To Sahari's surprise, Gretchen, the Pinata huntress, was there at the races, as well as Patch, the pinata doctor. There must not be much going on at the moment for those two to be at a simple pinata race.

Sahari looked over a little more and finally noticed Karisa. The gardener had just walked in, panting as if she had ran three marathons. Little strands of hair had fallen loose from her braid, and her cheeks were so flushed that you could have mistaken it for a sunburn.

"Oh thank goodness it hasn't started yet," Karisa breathes out, bending over with her hands on her knees. Sahari raised a brow, holding back a slight snort as she scampered on over.

"What happened to you? Did you get attacked by a Tigermisu or something?" Sahari asked, examining the gardener a little closely. Karisa looked at her, a tired look on her face.

"No, I had to run all the way here. I have had a terrible morning," Karisa started, and she continued to babble away about the morning she had. Sahari, sadly, had to hear about it from every last little detail. Even though Karisa was quite shy when it came to meeting new people, she had a tendency to babble away when she had an issue going on.

"Alright everyone, the race will begin soon," The voice over the intercom booms, causing the ruckus to settle down. Karisa lets out a little squeak and rushes over to a seat, sitting next to Willy Builder. Sahari hurries over as well, not wanting to miss her friend's race.

"Haha, those other contestants don't stand a chance against my son," Willy gloats, reaching his fist out into the air. The excitement that radiated off of the father was enough to share with everyone around, as he was very proud of his son. Lottie just smiled, rubbing her hands together as she looked at the track.

"I just KNOW my son will bring home the GOLD. Imagine how that trophy will look in MY store," Lottie gushed, smiling as she did so. Willy turned his head towards her, a brow on his mask raised.

"The trophy isn't going into your store. It should be going into mine," The builder states in a clear tone of voice. Lottie now shoots him a look, her blue eyes like daggers.

"Why would it go in YOUR workshop?"

"Because, that's where Ethan works, so it would make sense for it to go into mine. Besides, I already built the case."

"Well, then you should put the case into MY store, because you would only make it look like a DRAG in your store."

"What, are you saying my workshop isn't a nice place?"

"Yes! It LOOKS like a shed!"

"Hey Karisa, wanna move down that way?" Sahari asked, pointing to the right of the stands. As soon as the blonde nodded her head, the two scooted down as far as they could, away from the bickering married couple.

Meanwhile, Ethan was preparing for the race still. As a little person took his Flapyak up to the starting line, he couldn't help but start to feel a bit worried about the competition. Normally, Ethan wasn't one to worry, but at this point, it would be stupid not to be. If he didn't win, not only would he disappoint his dad (possibly), but he knew his mother wouldn't let him sleep in his own bed if he didn't give her a golden trophy.

"Hey bro, mind if I stand here?" asked a sarcastic, yet very familiar voice. Ethan almost jumped at the sudden outburst, as it interrupted from his thoughts. He glared down, knowing exactly who that voice belonged to.

"Maddie, what are you doing down here? Shouldn't you be sitting with mom and dad?" Alas, it was his younger sister, Madeline, or Maddie as she was always called. She was much shorter than him, coming up to his torso. With her light brown hair and brown eyes, you wouldn't even know that she was related to him, other than the tanned skin they both shared. Maddie was standing beside him, looking over the tracks with a soda in her hands.

"Sure, because I would love to listen to them bicker about which shop the trophy is going into," The younger Builder says with a slight eye roll. "Besides, I can see better from down here."

"Ugh. Fine," Ethan decided to let her do whatever. Maddie was quite stubborn, and it would be a waste of breath to even try to tell her leave. Maddie leaned against the railing, and couldn't help but smirk as she looked over her shoulder into the crowd.

"Well well well, I see your cheerleaders are here," she says in a teasing tone, shooting a snarky little look at her brother with her Macaraccoon mask. Ethan was a little confused at first, not knowing what she was talking about, and with a glance, he shot her another dirty look.

"Whatever Maddie. Sahari and Karisa are just good- wait, when did Karisa get here?" Ethan asked, turning all the way around. Maddie sighed, lowering her head slightly.

"Oh for the love of Jesus, Ethan, did you even invite any of your guy friends?" Maddie asked while she propped her head up with one hand. Ethan shrugged.

"Not really. Eddie has the P-Factor to worry about, and Sparcticus prefers to stay in the Arctic."

"Mm-hm. I'm sure that's why you didn't bother to invite them," Maddie muttered quietly. Truth was, Ethan probably didn't bother to invite them was because then Karisa and Sahari wouldn't bother paying attention to the race. Sahari would be too busy teasing Sparcticus, and Karisa would just sit there and stare at Eddie till he got really uncomfortable. Which hasn't happened yet, but it was only a matter of time.

"And their off!" The announcer suddenly calls out. Ethan's attention whipped around, just in time to see the Pinata's take off. The Whirlm was already lost in a cloud of dust as the other three ran fast and hard. Ethan whistled right away.

"Go Flapjack, GO!" He cheered, watching as it was starting to leave the Horstaschio behind, and how the Flapyak was already closing in on the Zumbug. Oh, how proud he was, and how excited he was getting at the thrill of it all. He began to grin widely, and was expecting to hear Karisa and Sahari's cheering.

Only problem was... they weren't paying attention at all.

"It's not funny! Quite laughing at me!" Karisa exclaimed, blushing furiously. Sahari was slapping her little knee, her head hung back as she laughed like a Pieena.

"Oh my God, I can't believe you just ran away like that! He must be all 'Oh my goodness, what was that girl's problem? Can she not handle my girl pants or something?'"

"That is not true, and he does not wear girl pants!" Karisa argued as she buried her face in her hands. She was so embarrassed right now. What made her think it was a good idea to tell Sahari about the first encounter Karisa probably ever truly made with Eddie? All the other times she gets to flustered to even be within a few feet of him, let alone utter a word in his direction.

"Oh, so you do look downward, huh? Sorry to break it to you, but with Eddie, I doubt he has a whole lot down there," Sahari said, as to sound really sorry about it. Karisa gave her a slight glare, which was hard for her to do with her sweet face.

"Why are you insulting him anyway? Isn't he your best friend?"

"Nah, he doesn't care. I call him Girl Pants all the time," Sahari answers slyly. "Then we laugh and drink some soda." While he gives my an annoyed look, Sahari almost added as a joke.

"... I'm sure you do," Karisa says wearily, putting her hand in her pocket to get out her alert system. Her hand felt nothing but the soft fabric of her skirt, and she tried the other pocket.

"Oh no," she whispered. Sahari raised a brow.

"What?"

"I think I lost my alert system..."

Meanwhile, Eddie was quite confused. For a slight moment, he had forgotten what he was doing, seeing as how his clipboard was knocked out of his hands. He also wondered why that girl seemed to be so nervous around him. After all, the bump was just an accident.

Eddie bent over on the sidewalk, reaching down to pick up his discarded clipboard, covered in purple pen with notes for the next P-Factor. Although, he noticed something right off the bat.

An alert system? He thought to himself, picking it up. It was a light lavender color, covered in little stickers of Juicygoose and other little things, and written on the back with permanent marker was the name Karisa Vanfloss. It took him a moment to realize that it was probably the girl's alert system, and she must have dropped after bumping into him.

"Oh dear... she was heading for the races, wasn't she?" He mutters to himself, turning around and heading the same direction.