==Lap 6=

New York City—the heartland of the Galactic Space Federation and location of the highest command—including the commander himself. Had it not been for the sudden influx of population and opportunities in Mute City that led to such futuristic developments, New York City would have become the universe's greatest metropolis.

In the center of this great metropolis, a stadium of Federation politicians and title owners—including the commander and his top men. The commander presided over the gathering from a platform down the center of the stadium—much like a judge's desk. Surrounding the stadium were many other platforms that made up three floors. Each platform was present with at least one person.

Standing in the very center of the stadium was the Chief of Big Blue—this elected man held the entire water planet as a possession. There he spoke to the commander and all other Federation officials.

"And so..." he prepared to conclude. "Despite the regulations set forth for all planets of the Galactic Space Federation, I believe Big Blue should be exempted from the duty of producing war machines and ships of all kinds. The manufacturing is harmful to the ninety-nine point nine percent of water embodying our planet. The production of such machinery is almost impossible to maintain with such a dwindling economy, and ultimately, our platform-based terrain has no use for tanks or armored cars—henceforth we are only constructing such machinery for the purpose of handing over to Federation reserves on Earth."

The commander hummed, "Indeed."

The man continued, "I propose that instead of offering war machinery, we compensate the Federation with a regular shipment of exotic plants and aquatic life."

As old and frail as he was, the commander stood up and grabbed his chin, "Hm..."

From one booth, Jody and Stewart sat alongside one another. The original plan was for only Jody to come for this gathering, but Stewart had tagged along to speak about Brock Blaskovitz and the mystery that surrounds him. As of now, Jody was skeptical of Stewart's suspicions, but willing to take his side on the matter.

As the Big Blue chief continued speaking, Jody bumped Stewart's shoulder and brought her face up to his ear.

"As I expected," she whispered in an almost muted voice. "Megan Valhalla is present at this gathering..."

Stewart tilted his head her way and responded, "Where?"

All Jody did was strafe her eyes to the left, this was enough direction for Stewart. Up one floor to their left was a balcony with various politicians, each bearing a purple and gold color scheme. Sitting in the center, like an empress, was a Spanish looking woman with long brown hair, a purple and gold outfit, and only the most alluring of lipstick. Megan was offering a fair amount of attention to the Big Blue chief and his situation, most of her attention interchanged between the commander and Jody Summer.

"She'll give us trouble today... or, more so, give me trouble," Jody explained.

Stewart offered a slight nod, "Is her party really that belligerent?"

"I wouldn't use the term 'belligerent', Megan is hostile and ambitious; there's no doubting her envy of my position as Chief Commander of the Federation. I believe it to be true that if it were her choice, she'd see me hanging from a noose as she usurps my title."

With a fake smile, Megan scrolled down at Jody and Stewart, able to see a discussion between the two and nothing else. Both Jody and Stewart were gazing at the woman, though the distance between the two groups were too great to spot eye contact.

"Is her entire party hostile toward you?"

Jody nodded, "The Mjolnir Party is a far-right conservative group; dare I say, borderline fascist. But to say that is unprofessional of someone of my rank, so I'm going with radical conservatism." Stewart nodded with much concentration on Jody, who was giving her rival a robotic stare from across the stadium. "Everyone knows me as a more liberal sort; however, I have implemented many common conservative ideals into my own platform. This is why I have many left and right-wing parties backing me up as chief commander. The Mjolnir Party is amongst some of the few to disapprove of my eventual rise to power."

Stewart leaned forward and cupped a hand over his mouth, "You've legalized gun ownership on a universal scale, taxation is at a record low for the universe, free trade flourishes... what more could she want?"

"Power." Stewart glanced at Jody for a moment, who refused to take her gaze off of Megan. "She is the Major of Europe—controller of Britain, France, Spain, Scandinavia, Italy, and even my home of Germany. If she is not content with lands containing almost two billion people, that is proof enough that she wants it all. She aspires to usurp my chief commander title. Her tactic involves slandering, which you may very well see today."

The doctor closed his eyes in confusion, "Slander you? Here? But none of the topics being discussed at today's gathering pertains to you."

"Exactly."

The stadium was made echoing by the strike of a bell, sounded by the commander. He stood back up and spoke, "The proposed resolution to have Big Blue exempted from required military manufacturing, fails; on the ground that there is no scientific evidence backing up the claim that the production of ships and tanks will affect the planet at high proportions."

Tempered, the Chief of Big Blue walked off empty-handed. Big Blue was a colonial planet of the Federation with only so many miles of platform-based cities making up the planet's civilization. The planet was wealthy enough to afford such military productions, however, could benefit immensely from being exempted from such expensive builds; namely, in that Big Blue could expand their cities at a much faster rate with the extra money. Alas, the proposal fell flat.

"Next," the commander continued. "Doctor Robert Stewart, lead scientist of Mute City, Japan; addressing the issue of a returned threat to the Federation."

Stewart walked past the Big Blue chief and assumed position in the center of the stadium. All eyes were brought upon him, not often would someone of such standard rank bring an issue upon high command—however, Stewart was an exceptionally gifted scientist worthy of anyone's attention.

"I come before you today suggesting that the Federation take note of former Red Star gang leader, Brock Blaskovitz-"

The commander interrupted, "Ah, yes. There was discussion about his return. Long have we thought him to be dead, apparently not."

"Sir," Stewart stepped forward with a concerned face, "I would like to assert my truest thought on the matter. I believe it to be true without a spark of doubt that the former gang leader returns from what should have been his death. Someone rescued him..."

"A surviving member of his gang."

The doctor shook off the commander's suggestion, "Impossible. Intelligence found that Red Star worked off of certain drugs, medical kits, and in some cases—amputation. By no means did they have the potential to create him an artificial eye, fix what bones may have been broken as he fall, and above all, fix whatever damage the bullet to his brain had caused."

"Hm..."

In a surprising twist, the first objection came from the very person Jody and Stewart had just been speaking about. The Major of Europe stood up from her seat and forced everyone's attention onto her.

"With all due respect, doctor, we live in a century of technological miracles. I fail to see truth in your statement that his gang could not have performed such a medical operation."

Stewart turned to face Megan, then offered a response, "That's another thing. What gang? The Lower City had been overrun by the Japanese military at the point of his fall; no sane man would have attempted to save Blaskovitz with so many armored cars and soldiers roaming the streets." He then shrugged, as though he found Megan to be of no threat to him. "And regardless, they had nowhere to run. Red Star owned no holdings outside of Mute City, and even if they were stowing his body inside a structure, a full search had been performed of the Lower City—there was no Blaskovitz."

Megan quirked her mouth and sat back in her chair, the commander hummed once more and reassured control of the conversation.

"What exactly are you suggesting, doctor; that this man did in fact die?"

"It is illogical, yes. But on the other hand, we have seen other strange cases; take Sterling LaVaughn, for example." Many brows were raised at the mentioning of 'The Skull', an F-Zero racer and dark magician—a walking skeleton. "Sterling has far exceeded the common human lifespan, and he walks among us with no flesh. Likewise, we have the strange case of Blood Falcon—a clone of Captain Falcon."

"Strange, yes," the commander acknowledged. "But how does this prove your point?"

Stewart brought a fist over his chin and further explained, "I am not suggesting that Brock died, but I am not ruling out that his return is the work of... unnatural cause."

"I see."

"Blaskovitz, however, is not the center of my concern, believe it or not."

Megan raised an eyebrow, still tempered by Stewart's success in pushing her back. Jody had already heard of Stewart's concerns, but was still expressing some degree of surprise.

"Commander, I fear not of what this one man can do, but the facts remain. He survived a shot to the eye and brain, a fall from many feet, the fracturing of all his bones... not even a year later, he returns in full condition. He returns with an F-Zero bike of unmatched power, using technology I have never witnessed before..."

Before he could get his true thought across, a persistent Megan stood up with another opposing remark, "Commander, Brock Blaskovitz is a side effect of the chief commander's lacking innovation to maintain control of the Lower City." Jody's eyes lit up on the spot, Megan then crossed a hand over her heart and proposed, "Be that as it may, it can be understood that handling the universe's greatest metropolis is both stressful and complex. Given that the Lower City is, essentially, a sovereign city state; I request permission to assume control of that particular Mute City district."

Jody launched up and shook her fist, "Sir, contrary to what my 'friend' says, the Lower City is not a sovereign district of Mute City. In fact, there is more of a police presence down there than there ever has since the gang war ended."

Megan shook her head and chuckled, "Ms. Summer, Ms. Summer... you make it sound like I am proposing the annexation of Mute City. I merely suggest splitting Mute City, for a time. I will station more than enough soldiers in the Lower City, use my diplomatic influence and power to restore order to that particular district, and at a later date we reunite Mute City."

Jody struck her fist down, "Mute City is in no need of split ownership!" Megan dropped her fake smile in place of a pestered expression. "Lower City violence has dropped almost sixty percent since last year; the Lower City must rebuild itself slowly, through peaceful means. We needn't drop a heavy military presence down on the streets like some authoritarian regime."

The commander looked down at the silent Dr. Stewart, then up at Megan, "What does the Lower City have to do with Brock Blaskovitz?"

"Blaskovitz is living in the Lower City, is he not?"

Stewart sighed in irritation before facing the commander again, "If everyone will let me conclude my thoughts, you will find that the Lower City is irrelevant in such a topic." Jody and Megan sat down in response. With a slow head turn, Stewart looked upon the commander and explained, "I believe Blaskovitz belongs to an organization, one that has a technological edge over the Galactic Space Federation."

The commander repositioned himself with an alert face, "Oh my."

"It's just a theory I've come up with, but I am well-convinced that, perhaps, there is a more serious danger looming where we cannot see."

The Major of the Americas stood up to press his thoughts, "A performance F-Zero bike and life support system doesn't suggest much; your claim that the Federation cannot match such is preposterous."

Stewart's finger came up as he then rebuttaled, "The Federation's greatest doctors and technicians united, perhaps. But take note, the Federation is a collection of planets; Brock was most certainly not returned to reality by the Federation." The man rubbed his chin in contemplation. "Somehow, the former gang leader has achieved what even the entire Galactic Space Federation would struggle in doing. If I were to suggest further investigation into the matter, I believe the results would find that there is no possibility of Brock acting alone in this. He had help from a certain power."

The Commander nodded and closed the argument down, "I've heard enough." All eyes came back upon the leader, who made his decision. "It would be ridiculous to act on nothing but speculation, and thus I will not allow for the universe to panic by initiating a manhunt."

Stewart gulped and shook his head, "With all due respect-"

"Be that as it may," the Commander continued. "I will nod at the suggestion of a Federation investigation on the matter. I expect all title owners within the Federation to stage an independent, and discreet, investigation on the reemergence of Brock Blaskovitz and who he may be linked to."

Clapping ensued around the stadium, applause for Stewart's decision to bring up the issue. The doctor, however, did not express any joy as the Commander motioned for him to leave.

"Next," the Commander continued. "Lieutenant B., on the issue of... 'Jewel Luger'..?"

Jody ceased her applause as Stewart rejoined her in the booth. Though it would seem to be a victory, Jody was met with a discontent doctor, who proceeded to motion his jaw left and right in anger. His companion and boss put a hand over his back with an acknowledging nod.

"You succeeded," she acknowledged.

The man returned a sarcastic smirk, "Pfft. Sure I did..."

Two days had passed since the discovering of Chiya's new ship. Seppuku had but one day left to find an area in Red Canyon to put Chiya's ship; if he failed to get the ship out of the starport hangar in time, a fee for storage would be placed on Chiya, the owner. Neither of the three had enough money to afford an Upper City hangar, failure to pay such a fee would result in the confiscation of the vessel. Seppuku was in charge of resolving the predicament; in the meantime, Chiya could relax and continue pampering herself over her recent F-Zero victory.

On that note, Chiya came walking down the hallway of the base with happy thoughts; she hummed the signature tune representing Mute City races—even days after the race, F-Zero was on Chiya's mind. The Mysterian walked by the two bedrooms, stopped, then backed up with a surprised face. Her humming had been interrupted by manly sounds of struggle; the source of the sounds, of course, came from Earl's room.

Oh my, what's wrong with Earl..?

She got up to the wall and inched her way up to his door; the more she listened to him, the more relaxed she became, for the distressed grunts did not seem to suggest panic. There was no doubting that Earl was safe, but even so, Chiya's curiosity continued the push to his door.

Blimey, I hope I'm not going to regret this...

Peeking her head through the door revealed an interesting sight; fortunately, nothing of lewd nature. The Korean had a blue gym mat spread out across the floor and his couch pushed back to the wall. In the center of the mat, the man attacked thin air with very swift swipes, punches, and occasional kicks. The general theme of his combat exercise was 'speed', as each attack made was swift.

What is he doing? I thought we only used guns in this organization...

Earl was training in hand-to-hand combat, but not in a way she had ever seen. He used only his index and middle fingers and backhanded the air rather than punching it. Chiya was amazed by the swiftness between attacks; as soon as he threw one hand in front of him, the other hand reacted by grabbing forward—as if he was grabbing someone's arm. This was an unusual practice in the eyes of Chiya; even having been born on a planet that treats military practice like religious prayer, the young Flower had never seen anything like this before.

With one last punch, Earl turned his head toward the door. Chiya gasped with the intention of retreating from the door—but she had already been caught.

"You can come in."

Chiya dipped her head in shame for having eavesdropped, "I'm sorry…"

He grinned, "You can enter as long as the door is open. If it's closed, I'm either sleeping, naked, or very drunk." He resumed punching the air after making this explanation.

Her Mysterian Blue eyes met with the blurred fists of the Korean. She took note of his hands, which still had a curved index and middle finger, "What are you up to?"

"Practicing 'Seoli Idong'."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows, "Uh, wh- what? Holy dong?"

"No, it's pronounced, 'hally dung'."

"Seoli Idong…"

"Yes, Seoli Idong."

Then, with bloated cheeks, the woman laid down an insult, "Looks kind of stupid, no offense. What's the point of it?"

Earl's initial reaction was to glare, taking offense, but he soon closed his eyes and chuckled. "Only the most defensive of fighting techniques, straight out of the Korean-Manchu Military School." Chiya's interest peaked from low to high with only a sentence of explanation. "Seoli Idong may not win you a title, but it'll keep you from getting mugged. I see the importance of this art in that it involves both awareness and skill; I embrace the art, even though I no longer live in Korea."

"What about Karate? Is that better than Seoli Idong?"

The man almost reacted with a growl, "Karate is a prestigious art, no doubt; preserved for only the most mentally and physically gifted. Seoli Idong focuses solely on defensive maneuvers, the idea being that if you can tucker out the opponent and get inside their head, they'll lose."

"Interesting."

"Seoli Idong has never failed me in a rough spot. The only person that could possibly match me is another person who knows of this art." Chiya raised an eyebrow, in which he concluded, "It's just math; Seoli Idong beats common fighting practices, but cannot defeat itself in a fight. Ironic, I suppose; considering both sides of the Korean Civil War, both Koreans and Manchu, fought each other using Seoli Idong."

Chiya smirked at him, still unwilling to buy his talk, "Sure didn't seem that way with Blood Falcon on Aeropolis…"

Earl whipped an objective finger up and argued, "Blood Falcon has powers—he's supernatural. It wasn't a fair fight from the start." He then looked up at her with a grin, "So if we're ever cornered in hand-to-hand combat, just let me deal with the threat. I'll protect your pretty face."

Chiya laughed his heroic comment off, "Yeah right, you're exaggerating…" Earl raised an eyebrow at her with a smirk, she then raised her fists at him and got in a combat stance. "Watch, I'll give you a fight!"

Earl stepped back with wide eyes, "Wh- What?"

Chiya had a confident grin—a duel that would test Earl's claims. Given that there was a gym mat under them, falling down would not provoke too much pain. Regardless, Earl remained frightened by the suggestion to have a friendly spar.

"Come on, then," she taunted. "Whoever hits the floor first is the loser."

Though Earl understood how serious she was being, he still treated the situation as a joke. "I- I can't do that, Chiya. You're a girl…"

Chiya took this in with a glare; then she made her decision. She would force the duel onto him. Thus, the Mysterian dashed forward with a locked fist, which she thrust forward. Earl dodged her with no more than a second to spare. A tempered Chiya turned around and made a cute growl, seeing that he still refused to fight.

"A female can be just as strong as a man!"

"I'm not making an opposing claim, I just don't want to be the sorry bastard who hurts-"

"You're just scared that your Korean moves won't be able to save you from getting floored."

Earl couldn't believe what he was hearing—unprovoked belligerence from Chiya Flower. She wasn't mad or anything, rather, there was a sudden urge to fight him.

"Just one round," she challenged.

Ensuing a sigh, Earl accepted. "Very well, but I warned you…"

The two now stood adjacent from one another, each looking the other straight in the eye. Chiya had a dark looking smirk on her face—prepared to put him to shame. Earl remained still with his arms crossed together—a flavoring of intimidation. The calmness of his person indicated to Chiya that he may not be exaggerating; he truly believed that his Korean arts would lead him to an easy victory. He appeared to have no intention of making the first strike, so much could be conceived by the way he stood. Along with this, he had no facial expression, as if he didn't have a concern in the world. Chiya's eyes quivered while trying to see through his defense.

He seems so relaxed and unprepared, he isn't showing any signs of confidence, fear, or anything. He isn't a book that can be read…

The Korean proceeded to lecture, "You need to think quicker than this. If I were a real foe, I'd have attacked by now."

Chiya widened her eyes at him for a moment, before narrowing them again. He sounded confident in himself, meaning, he's probably expecting me to do something boneheaded… Earl then smirked at her for a second, but was quick in returning to his serious look. Chiya smirked back at him and nodded. That was a legitimate smirk, now I know he's expecting me to do something obvious… Earl continued waiting for her to strike, he knew that she was strategizing in her head, something he respected; only she was wasting a lot of time in doing so. So let's do the unexpected and wrap my arms around him, then kick his legs down..!

With a nod, Chiya charged at him with barred teeth. Earl remained still, but was beginning to unfold his arms. In an attempt to dodge the arms that would soon grab her, Chiya rammed into his chest. Before she could move her arms up for a coordinated attack, the woman found herself being held by Earl—both her arms locked in his grasp.

"Wh- What-" Earl kneed her rear and managed to get her legs up in the air as well, she was now in his complete grasp. "Let me go!"

"Okay."

He dropped her onto the ground—victorious.

Chiya's back was now hurting from the rough landing, her hair spread all across the floor while her eyes spun in a daze. She was left with wide eyes and a quivering lip of awe; Earl had somehow gained control of her arms before she could even raise them, which delivered him an easy victory. The Korean looked over her body, then down at her face with a slight smile.

"As you can see, Seoli Idong cannot be matched by common fighting-"

"Rematch."

Earl grunted at her request, "You... want to go again?"

After standing up and straightening out her hair, Chiya explained, "That wasn't fair, you were psyching me out the whole time. This time I'll be more concentrated." She sent him a straight finger, one that demanded a rematch. "Seoli Idong had nothing to do with that win, you just got inside my head."

"And a rematch will make you tame?"

"Mhm!"

Earl sighed with a humored look, "Alright, then."

The two assumed combat stances once more, and like last time, Earl showed no fear or confidence—only readiness. Chiya felt better prepared now that she had an understanding of her opponent, yet she was not as optimistic this time around. The young Flower offered a challenging face to her friend, she understood that her full strength would need to be used if she were to best the Korean. He won't show any signs of emotion; this must be part of his art—his ego is his shortcoming… Chiya's eyes came down upon the man's arms, which were crossed together at the moment. Without much thought, she determined that this was the real weapon he had—not his brain. I'll grab his arms and give him the old Flower Punch..!

Like in the previous run, Chiya chose to charge at the man with brute force, this time she leapt a few inches before him. Chiya was quick in moving her hands down for his, but he slapped one away with only two fingers—the other hand was grabbed with ease. The woman was shocked to find her hand trapped within his grasp, her reaction was to slap his cheek in an attempt to stop him.

Earl chuckled, "Chiya..."

He grabbed her other hand and spun to her rear, both hands were now forced behind her head, leaving Chiya essentially tied up. Before she could find a moment to turn, Earl had kicked her down onto the mat.

Chiya almost hit the floor headfirst, but was fortunate to get one hand down just in time. With one hand keeping her up, Chiya was technically still in the fight since her chest had yet to hit the floor. She glanced over at Earl's foot, visible to her right; he was giving her another chance to get up and fight. With lowered eyelids, she made the decision to cut her humility short, and thus lowered her body to the ground on purpose.

"Had enough?"

Chiya closed her eyes as she lay on the floor in shame, but the moment of shame was kept short as she sat up straight in a quick motion.

"Teach me," she demanded.

Earl took a step back, surprised by her request; yet he wasn't too surprised that one as ambitious as Chiya Flower would want to learn such an art. Now standing up, Chiya sent the man an almost aggressive face—as though she felt he owed her the lesson.

"Seoli Idong is something you learn from childhood to adulthood, I can't turn you into an expert on it just like that."

"I don't need to be an expert," Chiya argued. "Just skilled to the point where I can beat you."

These words were taken in with offense, thus why Earl grunted in disapproval, "Why does this matter to you? It's not like we'll ever fight each other."

"Yeah, but imagine the edge I would have on my enemies if I knew this art."

"What enemies? The gang war's over."

Chiya poked Earl in the chest and lectured, "Had I the moves you just showed me, I would not have needed Seppuku's assistance against those two sex offenders last year."

Earl rubbed his chin in contemplation. Chiya had gotten in many situations before where she was stripped of her gun upon capture—having such a skill could get her out of situations like such, and it was true that the Lower City housed thousands, if not a million, of thugs and rapists. A Chiya trained in Seoli Idong could ensure that defense is always an option.

"You realize I was only demonstrating the self-defense portion of it, right?"

Chiya nodded, "I just want the basic understanding, I know you can teach me if we both try our best." She followed this up with a fact, "Mind you, I am the girl who learned to pilot F-Zero in under a year."

A Korean national flag pinned to the wall caught Earl's eye, the red and gold fabric of the renewed Joseon-styled flag had him thinking. "I suppose just like Korea and family, you're someone I've sworn to protect. Maybe teaching you wouldn't be such a bad idea."

"Great! Then, teach me now!"

Instead, the Korean collapsed onto his couch. "Not now, Chiya; I was just getting some practice done when you walked in, I didn't plan on-"

"Come o—on…" she whined.

"Well..." Earl closed his eyes and raised his hand up, "Okay, learn how to do this."

The simplest of moves, Earl curved his index and middle finger together—nothing more. Chiya raised an eyebrow at his hand, then mimicked what he did. No amusement was found for Chiya, she lowered her eyebrows and made a cute growl.

"Wow, what a challenge this is..."

Earl then added to the lesson by whipping his hand around, but keeping his fingers still while doing so. "Good, now, practice keeping the fingers perfectly still as you make swings and punches."

Chiya flapped her hand around without direction, she was faced with the issue of her fingers unbending in small increments with each motion. Though the task of keeping two fingers fully curved and together seemed easy, she did find some degree of difficulty in doing so—namely that her fingertips would jolt up.

"Bloody Hell, why can't my fingers act consistently?"

Earl chuckled, "Some people have no issue in keeping their fingers curved when swinging, others find it difficult."

"Is it really necessary?"

"It's necessary in that it confuses the opponent and enforces concentration. You'll know you're doing it right once it feels like your fingers are made of steel as you swing."

Chiya continued to swing with her fingers curved. No matter how hard she tried, her fingers would straighten a fair amount as she swung. It was while she continued practicing that Seppuku walked into the room; seeing Chiya do this was immediate.

"Oh for the love of- you're teaching her that damn Korean crap, aren't you?"

Chiya stopped swinging her hand and turned toward Seppuku, surprised to see him back so early. Earl focused on the insult, rather than his early return.

"For the last time, man, it's a legitimate skill that has proven to be more effective than the common fighting style."

"Yeah, yeah…"

Chiya held her hands together behind her back and asked, "Did you find an area in Red Canyon?"

"Damn right I did."

"Great! So the ship is parked then?"

"Not yet, I was coming back to get you guys so we can do that together, but I see Bendek is busy teaching you magic tricks."

Earl chuckled, "Magic tricks… Get over yourself, lieutenant."

A while later, the three found themselves driving to the spaceport once again, Chiya was still baffled as to how Earl could beat her with such ease. Apparently charms isn't his only weapon; I bet he's terrible with a gun, though... she thought while looking at the rear of the Red Dove. Even while driving, Chiya was trying to perfect the curved fingers lesson. Great frustration ensued with her many failures in performing the swings; this seemed like a simple task, but the fact she couldn't perfect this right away caused great discontent.

"Come on, already!" she whined. Now Chiya began to swing her hand with more aggression—but this wasn't getting her any further.

At that moment, the girl foolishly crashed into the back of the Red Dove, having not kept her eyes on the road at all. This left her trembling in great shock, expecting both F-Zero machines to be totaled; fortunately, such machines were designed for collisions—like bumper cars. It was only a small collision, at any rate, thus there was no visible damage on either machine.

Earl and Seppuku exited the Red Dove, the Purring Kitten remained against the rear of the Red Dove. She hadn't realized how close they were to the hangar, as it was just off to their side. She jumped out of her machine and regrouped with the two.

"Flower, you idiot," Seppuku spoke with a disapproving shake.

"Sorry…" she muttered with a dipped head.

Seppuku nodded and looked back at the hangar, he found that the hangar door was left wide open—anyone could have gotten inside the past few days.

The Man of Darkness barred his teeth in shock, "You forgot to close the door!?"

"I'm sor- wait, no—o, no, we forgot to close the door. Any of us three should have noticed that!"

Seppuku growled at what he viewed as incompetence on a silver platter. The fact that the ship wasn't stolen was enough for Chiya, the worst someone could have done was steal from it—or vandalize it.

The three entered the ship and found everything untouched, Chiya thus exhaled in relief. The sight of the luxury ship was enough to restore joy and remove fatigue from the frustrating practice of Seoli Idong; as Earl once said, this ship made their actual home look especially bad.

Once in the bridge, Seppuku instructed, "Bendek, pilot this thing for us."

Earl grunted and turned with a smirk, "What makes you think I know how to fly?"

"Do you?"

"Well, yeah, pretty much everyone in the universe knows how to, I suppose. I don't really want to is all."

"I'll fly it," Chiya volunteered.

Seppuku grinned at her, "Then that settles it—I'll fly the ship." Chiya's initial reaction was to glare, but she had no actual reason to object to this. "Everyone will fly this ship at least once, however; that way I can determine who's trustworthy in the future."

"Good work, we shoul-" Earl quickly stopped and widened his eyes, "Wait, don't start the ship, yet. We forgot the F-Zero machines," he said while grabbing Seppuku's chair.

Seppuku exhaled, "Good catch, soldier. We would've had to fly right back here if we'd forgotten," he turned around and pointed at Chiya, "Flower and Bendek, go get the machines."

Earl nodded and walked off with Chiya, though she was left with a somewhat puzzled face. Can Earl really pilot an F-Zero machine..?

"I'll show you how to put the machine in, just stay behind me," Earl instructed.

The two exited the ship and made their way toward the F-Zero machines. Here, Chiya lowered her eyebrows and offered a doubtful hum, "You think you can drive an F-Zero machine?"

Earl countered her question with a chuckle, "I know these two machines so well, I could draw up a diagram of both. You don't think I can pilot an F-Zero machine?"

"It's not as easy as it looks, Earl…"

To her displeasure, Earl placed a hand over Chiya's beanie hat and rubbed her with a playful smile, "Well, aren't you the egoistic one. You win one race, and you're already acting like Seppuku." Chiya returned a somewhat hostile grin, then responded,

"With respect to the man, I believe I'm a better racer than Seppuku."

"Oh, ho!" The Korean approached the Red Dove and explained, "I can drive F-Zero. Race, on the other hand, I cannot."

Chiya nodded and turned toward the Purring Kitten, once more, she began to flail her hand in the air with her two fingers curved—still trying to perfect the first lesson of Seoli Idong.

"Wrong."

Chiya turned and found Earl still looking at her, "Wrong? It's just a simple-"

"Obviously, you're expecting everything to work without thinking. In other words, you're trying way too hard."

"What do you mean? Give me a hint on what to do…"

Earl let out a sarcastic laugh at the term 'hint'.

"I think I see your first problem; try doing it without your fingers curved."

With skepticism, Chiya straightened her two fingers and punched the air, but to her surprise, her fingers somewhat curved each time she swung. "Wha- What?"

"Before you can do it the correct way, you need to be able to do it the wrong way. So, practice with your fingers straight."

Chiya continued to try this, but was finding that her fingers would curve each time—this only furthered her frustration knowing that she couldn't do something just as easy.

"This is stupid!" She flapped her arms down hopelessly. "Can we just skip this part for now and move on?"

Earl climbed aboard the Red Dove, but looked back at her with a grin, "When fixing an engine, can you skip the part where you take out the screws?"

Chiya did not respond to this, but understood what he meant. Earl closed his cockpit and turned the machine on; Chiya got on the Purring Kitten and prepared to follow him. She wasn't mad at Earl, but there was a sudden obsession with understanding Seoli Idong that made her angry in general. Like most things, Chiya was not going to give up.

The Red Dove moved into the hangar at a slow pace, he soon drove up the large loading ramp on the right side of the ship; after driving into the ship, he powered off the machine and got out. Chiya mimicked him and placed the Purring Kitten to the side of the Red Dove. Once both were out of their machines, Earl pressed a button which retracted the ramp and closed the door.

"We're good!" Earl shouted to the bridge.

Seppuku then turned on the ship, a loud booming noise could be heard right behind Chiya and Earl, as they were in the back of the ship where the rockets were. Chiya was showing a clear look of nervousness, having not been on ships many times in the past. There would always be fear of ships after experiencing Goroh's pirate attack the previous year.

Chiya walked up by Earl and commented, "There's no windows in this ship, only in the bridge."

Earl hadn't noticed this until now, "Huh, that's a bit annoying. I guess we could install some windows."

The young Flower turned with puckered lips, "You know how to do that?"

"That's easy enough. I'll have to explore this thing a little before I can make major repairs to it, though. I usually only work on automobiles."

"Can we put big guns on the ship?"

This question made Earl chuckle, then display a look of discontent, "I—I'm not sure about that. I, admittedly, am not knowledgeable in the slightest in that field."

"Oh well."

She resumed swatting the air, this time with her two fingers straight. Earl was finding it hard to watch her fail so many times, each swat provoked somewhat of a cringe from him.

"I fear you're concentrating either too much or too little, so here's an opportunity I'm only going to give you once."

Chiya looked up and smiled, expecting that he would teach her some kind of shortcut. Earl moved his bangs out of the way, leaving his forehead exposed.

"Curve your fingers and punch me."

"Wha-" Chiya's eyes widened, followed by a disapproving shake. "I'm not doing that!"

"Just once, and don't hold back. I need you to legitimately try punching me with curved fingers so I can better evaluate the problem."

Chiya was grunting with lowered brows, yet she found her fist in front of her. Can I really bring myself to punch my best friend? What if I break his nose..?

"I'm not going to go full force..."

"No, punch me as if I were Brock Blaskovitz—just one time."

Chiya's hand was trembling as she held it up, she curved her fingers and displayed a sad look on her face. She managed to stop trembling for the moment.

"Okay, here it comes…"

Earl waited for her to strike him while also resisting the urge to show fear. He faked a grin in an attempt to motivate her to make the punch—the grin would be short-lived. Chiya breathed in, then with a swift move threw her fist straight at his face; her two curved fingers smacked his forehead as the fist itself beat the lower section of his face. Earl was knocked to his knees and left holding his face as soon as he hit the ground.

"Earl, I'm sorry! I'm so, so, sorry..!"

"K- Keep your hand just as it is…"

Chiya kept her eyes from watering, instant regret followed the punch; Earl did not appear to be suffering any injuries. He looked up at Chiya's hand and found it still clenched with two curved fingers. Chiya slightly gasped at the sight of her hand—she succeeded in keeping the fingers curved.

"Good work, now I know what your problem really is." Chiya lowered her hand while still looking at him with quivering eyes. "You need to practice on something you hate. You'll succeed if you're not focusing on the fingers, but rather, the target."

"What? But I don't hate you!"

The man snickered, "I know you don't. Maybe we'll get a picture of Blaskovitz's face and put it on my punching bag, we'll see if that helps you."

Chiya responded with a feeble nod; she was upset that Earl had her punch him, though he did seem fine.

"I'm never going to punch you again..." she whimpered.

"Ha! Good, cause that hurt like Hell. Though, I could tell that you still held back."

Chiya looked up with a sad face, "I wouldn't punch my sister, I wouldn't punch you, I wouldn't punch-"

The two were then knocked back as the whole ship began to rock, Chiya gritted her teeth with wide eyes, "What's going on!?"

The rocking stopped, which led Chiya and Earl ran to the living room, where Seppuku soon met them.

"We're here."

Chiya and Earl both appeared surprised, Chiya shook her head in confusion. "No way, we just left…"

Seppuku chuckled, "Okay, I may have been going a bit over the speed limit…"

Earl hummed, "Well, let's see this area you found us."

The three exited the ship and now stood in Red Canyon, Seppuku had found a gorge that was covered in shade—the ship would never be spotted from the sky, they were camouflaged in darkness. Chiya and Earl were standing next to each other as Seppuku took a few extra steps away from them, he then pointed toward a valley.

"Go through that valley to reach the cliffs of Red Canyon, from there we can ride back to Mute City."

To her surprise, Chiya found legitimate amazement in the location Seppuku had picked out, it was a shame that they had to keep it hidden from the Federation, otherwise they could have invested in starting a secondary base in the gorge.

"I think this would make a nice place to go camping," Earl pointed out.

Chiya smiled to the proposal, "Camping in a canyon, now that sounds fun!"

"Sounds pointless. We have a ship right there which eliminates the purpose of camping."

The Mysterian rolled her eyes, Earl soon grasped his waist and complimented, "Well, you picked a great spot, I'll give you that much."

"Yep, as we get further through December, we'll have to make sure that the ship isn't freezing; but it doesn't get very cold in this part of Asia, not anymore."

"I both love and hate the winter," Chiya explained. "I never got to witness the wonders of a blizzard on my planet."

Earl turned, "Wonders?"

Seppuku dug his hands through his pockets, "I never get to see the wonders of a quiet Chiya…"

To this, Chiya said, "I wonder why you haven't brought me to the F-Zero committee yet for evaluation…"

To be continued…