==Lap 3=

The following day, Chiya had awoken as she normally would—curled over her bed at 4 PM. The horror movie she had seen didn't hinder her sleeping this time, the excitement over the upcoming auction race put her to sleep. Interestingly enough, the potential prizes for winning wasn't what sparked her interest; rather, it was the very thought of getting back on the track for her second attempt. If victory is achieved, she could pick between an F-Zero luxury ship or two hundred thousand credits—either reward was well worth the effort. While the luxury ship would be perfect for Seppuku's organization, they were in severe need of money; thus the cash prize would be the better option. This truly was the only option, given that they had nowhere to store a ship nor did they have enough money to rent a hangar.

The main issue Chiya faced was that this would be only the second race she ever entered, this time there would be more racers and combat would be allowed on the track. A natural fear was whether or not the more professional racers would bully her around—perhaps even retire her machine from the race. Either way, this was the career Chiya dreamed of pursuing; such fears had to be conquered if she planned on becoming a great F-Zero pilot.

Earl came walking out of his bedroom with a stack of clothing in his grasp, he was still very shiny looking after getting in a spray fight with Chiya in the garage. It was unknown to him what had triggered the fight with Chiya, the two acted like playful teenagers. Chiya found the ordeal very humorous, Earl to a lesser extent.

The Korean approached the bathroom door, but all of a sudden, Seppuku blocked the man's path. Earl gave the man a respectful bow, "Can you be quick? I want to take a shower."

Seppuku crossed his arms, "You can." He snapped his fingers, "After I shower."

"Wh- What? Hold on a minute! I've had this shiny texture all day, I need to get rid of it, now."

"I'm going first."

Earl stomped his foot down and sarcastically lectured, "The Hell you are!" Seppuku only raised his brow in response. "Look at me, I look like a girl's toy or something!"

"You are Chiya's toy."

"Not only do I look funny, but the texture's causing me to slip and slide. You can't leave me like this."

The Man of Darkness snickered, "Your story makes my heart bleed. Doesn't change the fact that I want the hot water."

"Bastard, I'm not taking a cold shower! I don't know why, but the water in this structure gets freakishly cold when the hot water's out; and I'm not dealing with that."

Earl threw his hand over the doorknob, Seppuku responded by putting his hand over Earl's. The two exchanged tempered growls.

The Korean dipped his head down with fierce eyes, "Who the Hell are you showering for, anyways? You're not going anywhere today."

"Nor are you!"

"Not true," Earl raised a finger and explained, "Chiya and I are going to be up in the Upper City-"

The arguing was brought to an abrupt stop, for the doorknob began to turn. Both men looked at their hands, then up at their faces. Neither man was behind the turning. They let go of the door with somewhat shocked faces as the door opened; this revealed Chiya, wrapped in a white towel. Her initial reaction was to gasp with wide eyes, Earl and Seppuku stood before her—staring.

"Oh! Um, okay then…" she muttered.

Earl glanced over her bare shoulder and found that the bathroom mirrors were fogged up—Chiya was the one to conquer the hot water.

"Oh no... Chiya did you-"

"Sorry, I used up all the hot water; but there's plenty of cold water!" she explained with glee.

Following this, Chiya rushed into her room and locked the door behind her. Earl couldn't bother thinking about the awkward moment, his mind still revolved around the shower.

"Okay, when the hot water returns, I want-"

Seppuku walked into the bathroom without hearing Earl out. "Whatever, I can deal with cold water." The door closed and locked behind him. Like it or not, Earl would be the last one to use the shower.

The Korean sighed and stuck both hands into his pockets, "For God's sake..." he whined before retreating to his bedroom.

Following the disturbing encounter in which a naked Chiya walked into two arguing men, the Mysterian prepared for what would without a doubt be an action-packed day. Her towel was tossed into the air and her turtleneck shirt was put on. Mauser looked up at the white towel with excitement, even the feline knew that something was different about today—Chiya's optimism was showing. A prize, prestige, and a possible key to acquiring an F-Zero license; there was much to gain from this auction race. Considering she almost won the bet race the previous year, victory was not a far-fetched concept. Despite that combat would be allowed, Chiya had made the decision to become a non-aggressive racer; only hostile racers would be targeted.

"I could have a fan base, soon…" she fantasized aloud.

The idea of there being a Chiya Flower fan base was a dream, but not improbable. Being a female racer would give her the benefit of acquiring particular fans, given the low amount of female racers.

Chiya proceeded to stretch, reaching down for her feet in consistent patterns—she was pumped for this upcoming race. The race track was going to be very simple, nowhere near as dangerous as the bet race's track. The most dangerous part of this track would be a jump pad—which would propel her machine into the air—but the jump was so short that initiating the airbrakes wouldn't be necessary. If things went as planned she would have Earl speaking to her during the race; he was both a motivator and source of guidance.

"Alright, Mauser; I'm leaving for the big race. Wish me luck."

She proceeded out the door. While the race wouldn't begin for a while, she was too anxious for it to start and thus wanted to get to the track ahead of schedule. The first thing she wanted to do before leaving was make sure that Earl was still coming; unsurprisingly, he was not very happy with the shiny look he had.

Chiya approached his door and knocked a few times. Earl opened the door within a second or two; he did not appear angry with her.

"Yes?" he answered.

The Mysterian responded, "Ready to go?"

Earl groaned while rubbing his rubber-like hair, "I guess…" he answered with lacking motivation. "This is going to suck… It'll be a miracle if I can get through this without being laughed at."

Chiya laughed, "Too late!" The man closed his eyes with both a humored and pestered look. "At any rate, I'm very sorry for spraying you…"

He sighed, "It's all good."

The girl tried to calm him by rubbing his arm and explain, "Don't worry, you look re—eal…" Chiya gritted her teeth while trying to think of a compliment, Earl raised an eyebrow at her, "You look like, uh… a piece of popcorn..."

"What? Popcorn?"

"Erm, yes, I love popcorn!" Chiya panicked.

Earl face palmed, "Oh, great…" He turned his head and muttered. "I'll just meet you at the track in a bit. Wait for me in our private booth."

Chiya was somewhat saddened by the mentioning of the private booth. Chiya and Earl had spent every race together in the private booths watching Seppuku the past Grand Prix. If she were to become an F-Zero racer, she'd never watch a race in the booth again.

"Aye," she acknowledged.

Moments later she entered the garage by herself, the Purring Kitten was now very shiny—very competition worthy in appearance. She moved her hand across the slick body of the machine in awe, she could see her reflection on the body. Without further ado, Chiya climbed aboard the Purring Kitten and turned it on; once strapped in, she checked over the dashboard indicators.

"Boost power—true, engine—true, energy level—full; system working…"

The steering wheel was turned a few times to ensure that everything was in perfect condition, she then set her chair back to a more comfortable position. As a final procedure, she checked the headset that was inside her machine. As long as the headset was still connected to Earl's headset, they would be able to communicate during the race. The headset had a faint green light which indicated that there was a working connection established with Earl's headset.

Chiya nodded and began her departure from the garage; her second moment to shine in the F-Zero universe was here at last.

It wasn't until driving outside that Chiya realized how amazing her machine appeared sunshine, it was very glossy; she tried to keep her eyes on the road, however. It was one thing if two normal cars got into a collision, but she was for the most part driving a war machine; in that case, she wouldn't be hurt in a collision, but the other driver would be dead on impact.

She smiled at the sight of poor pedestrians, the people of the Lower City were still nervous to roam the streets again. Nevertheless, the people were beginning to understand that the oppressive era of the Lower City was over with Michael Chain and Brock Blaskovitz now gone. The horrors of the gang war were over, yet there remained craters, broken buildings, and a destroyed infrastructure. To make matters worse, the unemployment rate of the Lower City was almost 100%.

"Those bloody Federation blokes need to hurry up and fix this city…"

Many minutes later, Chiya parked the Purring Kitten inside of a garage alongside other F-Zero machines. She scouted the garage for her competition; both the Golden Fox and Iron Tiger—belonging to Dr. Stewart and Baba—were present. These were the two who beat her in the bet race. So, I'll be getting a rematch, after all… she thought with a smirk.

She went around examining all of the machines, she had a plan that was both fair-yet unfair. She spotted and examined the Crazy Bear, a machine belonging to Dr. Clash. He would be a new opponent to her.

"Dual-core boosters," she pointed out. "This machine should be able to keep up with me pretty well, then." She pushed down on the machine's body and hummed with intrigue, "The plating should be the shortcoming; it may be durable, but it's both heavy and difficult to accelerate with."

Chiya had a special skill that not many racers possessed; her obsession over F-Zero made her a very knowledgeable sort on the subject, thus, she could identify the pros and cons of a machine within seconds even while racing. This skill helped her almost secure the win on her first race.

The girl proceeded to do a close examination of the Golden Fox and Iron Tiger, desiring a review of the two machines. She was, for the most part, alone in the garage. Unknowingly to her, she was being watched from above.

Through a rooftop window, the very muscular Brock Blaskovitz gazed upon the innocent Mysterian. His face was bland and almost conveyed disinterest, despite having his target marked. The lens of his cybernetic eye shined for a moment, then zoomed in on Chiya. Black Shadow had a recording device installed within his artificial eye, this way, the emperor had a live feed of Brock's line of sight. Despite Black Shadow being the primary audience member, it was Blood Falcon who Brock was on the line with.

"The Mysterian has been located," he announced.

The cybernetic eye relayed Blood Falcon's voice into Brock's mind, "Good, grab her and let's get out of here."

The Russian puppet blinked his one eye, then hummed. Chiya was indeed alone and in a very vulnerable position to be snatched; however, this very scenario had been accounted for. Despite the power and immense strength Brock had, he would surely be killed if the F-Zero committee were to deploy their doomsday security units.

Brock soon answered, "All it would take is for her to scream. The committee is too powerful to play games with."

Blood Falcon grunted, "You're not even going to try Plan A? You're jumping straight to Plan B?"

"Indeed," Brock smirked to himself and muted his cybernetic part. "I will obtain the woman, by beating her in her own game…"

Chiya had finished examining most of the present F-Zero machines; all others were non-licensed machines. Some, like in the bet race, did not contain boosters; a common and foolish mistake. Though perhaps overconfident in her abilities, Chiya only labeled the licensed F-Zero racers as threats.

All seemed well, and so Chiya was to reach the private booth as Earl requested. Just before moving away, one final F-Zero machine had been spotted. This machine enlisted an immediate shock down her spine.

Fire Stingray—the legendary F-Zero machine of Samurai Goroh, an F-Zero legend; arguably one of the greatest racers. Goroh had stabbed Earl the past year right in front of her after a failed attempt to raid a transport ship they were travelling on. Along with stabbing Earl, he had later kidnapped Chiya, planning to extradite her back to Mysteria for a bounty she had at the time. While Seppuku and Goroh were now on neutral terms with each other, Chiya still viewed him as a mortal enemy.

Chiya continued to stare at the Fire Stingray with a balanced level of fear and despise. She answered her thoughts with a mischievous grin on her face as she held up an artist marker from her pocket.

"I'll show you, Goroh…"

She began to draw on the side of the Fire Stingray. Much force was exerted onto her drawing, little hesitation was put into her decision to vandalize the side of his machine in black ink. When dealing with a mass murdering pirate leader, Chiya was willing to set aside morals. She chuckled as she filled in the outlined letters.

"And… there…" With pride, she put away her marker and gazed upon the graffiti with a grin.

'Fat Sammy' had been put on the side of the machine, short slang for 'Fat Samurai'. She laughed at the machine, no one would know that she had been the one to write this.

"I'd love to see his face when-"

"That's not very nice. I'm not fat."

Chiya widened her eyes and looked up, Goroh was sitting in the cockpit of the Fire Stingray—she had not noticed before performing the vandalism. The girl was sent into an immediate state of shock. Goroh pulled up his shirt, which revealed a very thick chest and stomach.

"As you can see, I am not fat, merely large in body size."

Chiya grunted at the sight of his chest, "Whoa, I guess you're right, then…"

Goroh chuckled and wiped the graffiti off his machine with a single swipe.

"I could make a similar insult toward you," he said pointing at her breasts.

Chiya jumped up in shock, "Hey, come on, I'm not fat!"

Goroh nodded at her in agreement, then looked away. He proceeded to tap his fingers along the railing of his cockpit in a very calm manner. "So, you have declared war upon me, then. I accept your challenge with honor."

"What!?" she jumped back while shaking with much intensity. "No, no, no!" The pirate raised a brow. "I wouldn't stand a chance against you! You've been F-Zero racing since I was in high school!"

"Ho, ho, ho!" the man laughed. "In that case, you better go find some quick allies, 'cause I'm coming for you!"

Chiya's bottom lip quivered in immense fright, while she did want to combat Samurai Goroh, she was hoping she could do this in the Grand Prix when she had someone like Seppuku to back her up. She had no allies on the track and would easily be retired from the race by Goroh—a professional.

"Uh..! Err..! Um..!" Chiya forced an unrealistic smile onto her face. "I like your glasses!"

"You're wasting time. You best go find some allies before the race starts, or I'll kill you dead for sure."

Chiya gasped, then turned around to flee. She had no idea what was going on at this point; Goroh was either being honorable by recommending her to get help—or found thrill out of her fear. Chiya was running with her teeth grinding in fear, she knew of no F-Zero racers besides Seppuku who could aid her, thus leaving her with one person to turn to…

"Ea—ar—rl!" Chiya panicked into Seppuku's private booth.

A surprised Earl spun around to face his panicking companion, she hadn't even regarded the fact that he was wearing his visor cap—a strange attempt at hiding his shiny hair.

"Whoa, what's wrong, Chiya?"

She stopped in front of him, "Samurai- he wants to- Goroh wants- I'm scared, Earl!"

Earl grabbed her shoulders, "Speak clearly, Chiya," he insisted. "What does Goroh want?"

After swallowing, Chiya dipped her head in shame, "I got Goroh mad and now he says that he'll kill me on the track!"

Earl released her and stepped back, "Alright, we're done. Let's go home."

"No!"

The man raised a brow in surprise, "So, you still want to try and win the race?"

"Not 'try'—'do'," she corrected. "I'm going to win this."

"He won't kill you. He might bust your machine up, though."

Chiya nodded, "Then I'll just have to try my best in avoiding him."

Earl hummed while thinking of a solution to the predicament, Chiya began to contemplate as well. Earl knew of one advantage Chiya had over Goroh; she had Earl watching and speaking to her, he could warn her whenever Goroh was approaching.

"If Goroh tries to get you, try to bring yourself in front of the friendly racers. Someone like Dr. Stewart would, hopefully, intervene on your side."

Chiya smacked her fists together, "Brilliant. Surely, the Federation would help me against a murderous pirate."

Earl snickered, "Don't tell Seppuku that you're looking for Federation assistance, he'd blow his stack."

She added, "Especially if it were Jody Summer helping me…" On the topic of Goroh, Chiya hatched another idea. "Antonio Guster, I saw his machine parked down there. He hates Goroh and as I recall, he had a somewhat friendly opinion of us."

"I wouldn't count on him. He may still be angry at Seppuku for 'betraying' him in that fourth race last year."

Chiya snapped her fingers and sighed, "That's right, he probably hates our guts after that Grand Prix…"

Seppuku and Guster had formed a temporary alliance on Sand Ocean the previous year with the mutual goal of keeping Goroh from winning the Grand Prix. Guster sacrificed his chances of winning the third race to stop Goroh and allow Seppuku to take first; but afterwards, Seppuku decided to end the alliance. Guster took great offense to this, feeling that Seppuku took advantage of Guster's third race sacrifice. Henceforth, Guster proceeded to combat Seppuku in the final race—which played a small factor in Seppuku losing the Grand Prix. All in all, Guster was in all likeliness still sour and unwilling to trust Seppuku and his associates.

Chiya crossed her arms and shrugged, at a loss for what to do. "Want to take a walk with me?"

Chiya and Earl walked down the lobby of the race track gathered here were many F-Zero fans, auctioneers, and merchants. This was, in fact, the main event of the auction race—the race itself was more so an attraction. Of course, neither Chiya nor Earl enlisted any interest in the auctions—not that they could have afforded to partake in the first place.

Though the auction race was attached to a non-F-Zero event, it was still categorized as a 'preseason' race—which not many cared much about. The Grand Prix was where the fans would make their debut in the billions.

A walk around the track was relaxing, and thus succeeded in calming Chiya down a fair bit; she no longer believed that Goroh was serious. The general thought she had was that Goroh would not devote his full attention on her; not with Antonio Guster aiming for him and a prize at stake.

Earl glanced at Chiya, his eyebrows were covered by the black visor of his cap.

"Chiya, have you considered-"

A man suddenly bumped into Earl, no doubt with intent. "Terrorist…" he remarked.

Earl closed his eyes in response and sighed. While he wasn't a very well-known person in Japan, he was known by most in his own country of Korea. Given his dark and confusing past as a war criminal and terrorist, he was banned from entering Korea and Manchuria; if he were to enter, he would be arrested and perhaps sentenced for his original crimes.

Chiya frowned at Earl; he had been only twenty-three—like her—when he made the very controversial order to bring down a Manchu tower over a village, it was a rushed order the man now lived to regret with full sincerity. Earl expressed deep regret for his decision and often spoke negatively of his existence as a result—he saw through the perspective of a Manchu, indeed, viewing himself guilty. This was to Chiya's dismay, for she couldn't imagine being without Earl.

Many moments went by, in which Chiya tried to push away the sad moment. "Have I considered what now?"

Earl tilted up his cap, trying to brush off the hurt feeling, "Have you considered what you'll wear when you become an F-Zero racer?"

She waved down at her current attire, "This."

"Oh, come on, Chiya. You're not going to wear that, you need something professional looking."

Chiya sighed, she didn't like the idea of wearing a uniform or suit while she raced. She had a good feeling, however, that she would for the sake of a future fan base. The issue was that the girl was picky in what to wear.

"I am not wearing a helmet or anything, I'm using this same hat no matter what."

Earl nodded, "Alright, it's an iconic hat, for sure." He raised a new proposal, "What about pants?"

Chiya looked down at her bare legs with slight discomfort, "I guess I don't like the idea of people focusing on my legs, and these are some pretty small shorts…" She looked down at her body with a look of discontent, "I just don't picture myself wearing something-"

"Hey, you doing anything Friday night?" Chiya widened her eyes. "I got these two tickets for the Mute City bowling alley, and I was thinking…"

Chiya looked at Earl flattered and in shock, but of course, he was speaking to a woman with red hair. The woman was holding back the urge to laugh.

"I like men with smooth skin, but… you're a bit, too, smooth…"

Earl face palmed as she walked away; as was expected, his shiny appearance was presenting him with problems. Chiya found a fair deal of offense in his desperate attempt to get on a date.

"I really wish you wouldn't do that, it's offensive..."

"What? I'm just trying to go on dates, it's not like I'm trying to have sex or anything."

Chiya formed a half glare, "But you're not interested in actually wedding with any of those girls."

"Nope."

Her glare intensified in small increments with every second, "That's just mean…"

Earl rejected this comment, "I look at it as a lesson to be learned." Chiya rolled her eyes. "I pay for the date—free food and service—and then they never see me again. I'm basically teaching these ladies to be vigilant when looking for boyfriends."

"You're misleading them, crushing their hearts!"

"I am teaching them to be more vigilant," he repeated.

Chiya stopped moving after hearing this. Earl faced her with a somewhat frustrated face, but was surprisingly sent into fright upon meeting Chiya's glowing face. The Mysterian clenched her fists and grinded her teeth.

"So if, say, you and I were hypothetically dating-"

Earl widened his eyes and shook his head, "Tha- That would be entirely different, though!" Chiya looked away from him, now tempered a fair bit. "I would never break your heart! …if we were in a relationship…"

"But for all I would know, you could be out locking lips with other girls behind my back… …if we were dating."

"Chiya..!" Earl fumbled with his words, then soon surrendered, "Okay, look, I'm sorry. It's just an addiction I have, okay? As a teen I found entertainment in collecting girlfriends, I'm still good at doing so, so I have yet to stop."

The Mysterian closed her eyes and exhaled in discontent, "Well, I sure hope you find that 'rare card' and stop 'collecting' women, soon…"

Earl placed a thumb over his bottom lip, "…perhaps I should have used better terminology…"

Chiya walked away from him with watery eyes. Earl took a few steps toward her, but stopped; his decision was that it would be unwise to further attempt to justify his unusual hobby. While Seppuku found some degree of prestige in what Earl does, Chiya did not—quite the contrary.

The Korean kicked his foot down and let out a powerful sigh, then turned for a nearby stairway. He would isolate himself into the private booth and give Chiya time to calm herself.

Chiya later on returned to her machine, Goroh and all the other racers were in the garage as well. After her brief engagement with Earl, she now found herself checking over her machine to make sure that Goroh hadn't sabotaged it while she was gone. Everything appeared to be working fine. Many of the professional F-Zero racers were giving her machine looks, but none approached it.

A few moments of silence ensued as Chiya gazed upon the competition she'd be facing. Both Stewart and Goroh were of the original four F-Zero racers, two of the most veteran. She knew this would be a tough race. As time went by, her headset began to glow blue and vibrate. Chiya picked it up and secured it around her head.

"Hello?" she greeted.

"Testing…" Earl muttered.

"You're good."

Earl hummed into the microphone, "Alright, it looks like they're getting ready to call up the racers. Make sure you're ready to drive as soon as you hear your name, they have to introduce all of you by random selection."

Chiya puckered her lips with excitement, "Do I get a cool introduction?"

"No, this isn't the Grand Prix."

She snapped her fingers with a grin, "Soon… soon…"

"This is a much easier track to handle, just keep your eyes on the race and the baddies. Of course, you do have a combat module, but don't ruin your reputation before the Grand Prix even starts by destroying everyone in your path."

"Right, I'll only attack those who oppose me."

"No, just use it solely for self-defense this time around. You could really ruin your chances of the F-Zero committee giving you a license if you act imperialistic on the track." He continued to explain, "The committee may enjoy dramatic and violent racers, but you're not exactly the belligerent type of person. You fit the 'princess' role, more so."

Chiya nodded, "Understood, I'll try staying away from Goroh. This race is ours!"

Earl was very proud of Chiya's high spirit, even if she was, at times, beginning to sound egoistic. High enthusiasm was good, but the mindset that there is no possibility of losing is bad. This could only help her, however, as it would give her the adrenaline to put herself in the lead.

With a cute smile, Chiya asked, "You think I'm the princess type?"

"Not a lick of doubt."

Before Chiya could respond to the compliment, the track loudspeakers had turned on. "At this time, we will call up the auction race contestants!"

Chiya shivered in last minute fear, the time had come at last—her second race.

"Good luck, Chiya."

Chiya spun her machine toward the opening door and prepared for her introduction.

"F-Zero legend, Dr. Stewart!"

The Golden Fox blasted out of the garage and onto the track, Chiya nodded, having an idea of what her introduction would sound like.

"F-Zero racer, Dr. Clash!"

The yellow machine joined the track and approached the starting line. It appeared as though they had about ten seconds between introductions, this meant she had to be out of the garage the instant she heard her name.

"F-Zero racer, Silver Neelsen!"

The Night Thunder drove out onto the track from a different garage. The fact that there were two separate garages was a sudden surprise to Chiya; this very well meant that there could be more F-Zero racers she did not know about.

"F-Zero racer, Antonio Guster!"

The Green Panther took off, Goroh gave the rivaling machine a heavy stare. Chiya was still questioning whether or not Guster would aid her. She felt safe believing that, at the very least, Guster would give her unintended support by roughing up Goroh.

"F-Zero legend, Samurai Goroh!"

The Fire Stingray took off like any other racer, but almost appeared to be trying to catch up to the Green Panther.

"F-Zero racer, Baba!"

Chiya stuck her tongue out at Baba's introduction. The two had a bad start with each other back in the bet race on the account of his trash talking toward her. She could expect a similar encounter with him if she were to lose again.

"Novice racer, Chima Flower!"

What? Chima Flower..? Chiya's mood boiled as a result of the incorrect introduction, nonetheless, she took off from the garage and brushed it off.

"Chima?" Earl repeated.

"Forget about it. I can't let that deter my attitude."

Chiya was concentrating on where to stop, she was supposed to stop beside the Fire Stingray—possibly the worst place to start in her current situation.

"Good work, Chiya. Try and get away from Goroh as soon as you start, though. He's starting in a perfect position where he could side attack you after five seconds or so."

Chiya acknowledged the guidance with a nod, "Don't worry, I have preplanned-"

"Novice racer, Brock Blaskovitz!"

Both Chiya and Earl shouted, "What!?"

Chiya whipped her head around with a rapid beating heart. A black hover bike was coming up the track behind her. Chiya dropped her jaw in absolute shock—she was looking at a dead man.

On board the hover bike, Brock retained a cool face. As always, he lacked expression; his gaze was centered on Chiya's machine. The crowd cheered for Brock as he approached the starting line; for whatever the reason, the fans were treating this as normal—as though the news that Brock had died a year ago never emerged.

The former gang leader stopped a row behind Chiya's machine, where he kicked his foot down like an anvil. From here, he sat waiting; his attention was solidified on Chiya Flower.

"But you killed him!" Earl shouted in disbelief.

"I- I did kill him!"

The bike he drove was identical to the Stalin's Might, and in fact, carried on the name 'Stalin's Might II'. The combat module Chiya was using, ironically, was from the Stalin's Might. Brock's bike was, again, equipped with all the essential F-Zero parts, thus making him the one and only living F-Zero biker. For a moment and a half, Chiya and Brock exchanged stares—eye to eye. Even when looking straight into her Mysterian Blue eyes, not the simplest of emotion was conveyed.

"Impossible…" she muttered.

Brock blinked a single time, but refused to take his eye off of her. The man was acting like a zombie who had spotted fresh blood. In no less than a minute, Chiya's game had completely changed.

Samurai Goroh was the least of her concerns.

To be continued…