With a half frozen bag of peas draped over his head Dean groaned from the pain his head was causing him. While he nursed the bruises coving the top of his head he slumped over the table in the middle of the storehouse with his eyes closed. The previous night had been eventful, even for the career smuggler and "tradesman" like himself.
Just as he started to drift to sleep a quick rap of knocks on the table next to his head quickly brought him back to the waking world. He lifted himself off the table and threw the bag of peas from his head in the process, letting them fall to the floor. He looked down at the dropped bag and shrugged before looking back up to Gear whom had woken him up.
Taking in his surroundings he saw that all his subordinates where staring at him from around the table he had just woken up from. The group consisted of Gear, his old friend, and John the ex-military mercenary whom was also Dean's "inside-man" for the current job. There were also the Twins, whom refused to tell anyone their real names, but instead preferred their nicknames Sky and Needle.
Despite a nasty and possibly fatal fall the previous night Sky had been patched up in the early morning and was fit to move about. This was fortunate because they were all needed to make the plan, a plan that depended on the events going on in town, to succeed.
"Well let's go over this one more time before we suit up…" Dean tiredly grunted to his exhausted troops. They all moaned and sighed in response and Dean could see this was going to be a long day, whether things went as planned or not.
On the other side of town Renton was also regretting the adventures from the previous night, and the early morning call and subsequent ride to the city tower wasn't helping. This was the same for Emrick who was leaning up against the window of the van next to him and snoring loudly.
Renton couldn't get how Emrick, whom usually would complain about such things, could sleep in such a position with the van moving about as it was. Renton asked, "Hey Emrick… you conscious?"
With a noise akin to nails on a chalkboard Emrick's head slowly slid down the window. Eventually his head left its perch and flopped down onto the table they were sitting at in the middle of the kitchen part of the van. Emrick then let out a sharp snore before folding his arms over his head and then making no more sign of being even remotely awake. Renton grimaced, wishing he could sleep like that too.
Suddenly Ruri raced past him towards the back of the truck without acknowledging ether of the two young boys. The swiftness with which she moved woke Renton up to degree and he realized he didn't know why he had even gotten from Kylee's shop to this van. So he got up from the table and made his way to the front of the vehicle, leaving Emrick room to flop down and take up the entirety of the seat they had shared.
Once he got there he saw that Moondoggy was at the wheel, with Hilda, Mathieu, Emil and Sumner seated or standing around in the wide cab that was the control center for the large carrier truck. Hilda swirled around in her chair next to Moondoggy's and called to him, "Hey lazy! You weren't much help earlier. It isn't good when a man can't do his part." she finished playfully.
Renton was confused, "Huh? Umm Ms. Hilda what are you talking about? … I don't even remember getting on this thing."
Emil walked up to Renton and ruffled his hair and then told Hilda, "Aw don't give him such a hard time, he's just at that age where men are just plain lazy." Emil then let Renton's head go and finished her bit of wisdom with, "They're all the same after all."
Moondoggy turned around in the drivers chair around and complained, "Hey we aren't lazy!"
"Watch the road Moondoggy!" Mathieu exclaimed with worry as he sat in the opposing corner of the cab from where Renton stood. Moondoggy promptly turned back to minding his driving but still held a scowl from being called lazy from a woman who had made him work like dog earlier that morning.
Sumner turned around in his own seat with a similar look of exhaustion on his face as Moondoggy's. "Just ignore them Renton." He then stood up with a grunt of exertion and leaned on the back of his chair before continuing. "We dragged you and Emrick along with us, hoping you guys would help us move the LFOs down from the ship so we could get them to the Lift Tournament … buuut it didn't go as planned unfortunately."
"You guys were like boulders; very 'not useful' boulders." Moondoggy explained, only taking a quick look back to Sumner with a knowing expression as they both remembered the exhaustion they had been put thru because of the lack of help.
Sumner grinned back but then looked around the room with a sweep of his eyes. Ruri had worked along with the rest of them and at the time he could tell something was bothering her. Lately he had becoming more and more worried himself. Sumner moved for the door, "See you guys in a bit."
As Sumner passed him Renton was thinking to himself and was now starting to get it, but now he had other questions, "Ok so we went and got the LFOs at the tower… and we're bringing them to the Tournament… why?"
Mathieu suddenly got very cheery, "I got ahold of a couple DJ buddies of mine. Twisted their arms a little and they said as long as we contribute we can get in free." Mathieu grinned to himself and his brilliance.
Not all the switches where flicked on yet in Renton's sleep deprived head, so he dumbly asked, "We're going to sell the LFOs for tickets?"
The very idea was so silly that just about everyone giggled or laughed at Renton, making him slump his shoulders as he felt the weight of embarrassment come crashing down on him. Emil spoke up first, "No Renton. This year along with the grand reopening of the tournament there's going to be a festival in the market square outside the race arena."
"Festival?" Renton replied, asking for explanation.
Hilda obliged, "Food, games, music, fireworks at night and lots and lots of lifting stuff, the full deal. The LFOs we're bringing are going to be shown off along with a bunch of others from all around the world."
Renton was becoming more and more excited and awake as she told him this. Just about everything he loved, everything fun in life was going to be at this thing.
And then Emil, who simply wanted to embarrass the long man said loudly so everyone could hear, "A fun time… for you and your girl to spend together maybe… huh?"
Renton blushed a bit, partly because everyone was staring at him, looking for a reaction, but also because Emil's comment had made him realize that this could be a chance for him and Eureka to have their real first date. Something he was ashamed to admit sounded just as terrifying as it sounded heavenly.
As Sumner walked towards the back of the truck Emrick's arm shot out from the kitchen table chair right in front of him as he was walking by. Stumbling as he dodged the sudden obstacle Sumner twirled around and caught himself on the door to the bedroom part of the vehicle. Looking back for a second, he saw how Emrick was now drooling all over one side of the padded chair he was laying on, Sumner sighed to himself.
He righted himself and continued thru the door and into the bedroom. Looking across the familiar room he could see that the lights where on behind the closed bathroom door.
As he made his way closer to the lit room he could hear running water and smell a sickly smell that made his guts turn. Being aware of Ruri's sudden and unexplained exit from the cab of the truck Sumner approached with caution.
He put his ear to the door and with stilled breath he sensed that Ruri was inside. So without any other reason needed Sumner opened the door to the bathroom without any forewarning. Within a split second he and Ruri's eyes met and gave off a whole gauntlet of emotions to each other.
After the brief psychic conversation was over Ruri quickly shouted, "When are going to learn, damn it! Knock!" While she yelled she finished wiping her face and threw the towel she was using back behind herself. "Can't I just be alone for just a little bit, huh!"
Sumner wasn't fooled be her tale of desiring privacy, "Ruri are you OK?" Since he had opened the door the smell of vomit had increased in intensity making his nose twitch.
Ruri puffed her cheeks and rolled her eyes away from Sumner, hoping not to give off any more emotions than anger to her lover. "I'm fine Sumner…just fine. Thanks for asking."
Sumner couldn't take the pain growing in his chest anymore and yelled, "What's with you! Even since we started on this trip you've been acting stranger and stranger. You barely talk to me and you seem to be trying to not even be in the same room as me. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!"
Ruri was taken aback at Sumner's outburst, she tried to come up with the words to explain her actions but they all melted away from the guilt of the truth. So she just stood there, looking down at her own feet.
Sumner watched her as she failed to come up with an answer. Seeing her give up broke all emotion inside him. His anger gone and his worry spent Sumner leaned up against the frame of the door his eyes covered by his arm.
Ruri knew there was no good reason to hold onto her secret anymore, but she just couldn't bring herself to say anything. The air was so full of swirling emotions that her lips where pressed tight. Thinking of no other way she could bring the tension down Ruri walked up to Sumner and tried to embrace him.
But at the feel of her touch Sumner stepped back from her arms. They looked at each other for only a moment, this time only sadness was conveyed through their eyes.
Finally after what felt like an eternity to the both of them Sumner turned away and left for the front of the truck without another word.
Ruri watched as he left; she didn't think it would be right to follow him. So instead she threw herself down on the bed in the middle of the room and began to cry. "Why am I such a selfish fool?" She asked herself.
Back in the bathroom a red baseball cap fell from the edge of the sink onto the floor with a gong like tap.
Sitting in a tall chair of oak and rich red leather a tall but exhausted figure leaned back from the piles of paperwork that covered his desk.
The room where he worked was tall and wide, with a window covering the whole of the wall behind the desk. From it one could see down on the cities and towns that surrounded the tower from which the window was sitting.
"Damn you're going to kill yourself under a pile of these papers one day…" said the man to himself as he rubbed the temples of his head. Speaking to himself was quite normal because of the solitude that was expected of him in his station.
And that's why he gladly smiled with delight as he heard the brass hinges of the door to his office open. It took a second for the guest to open it as the door was heavy and had been meant to be dramatically opened wide by royal guards back when tower lords where considered to be second only to the Three Sages.
After being opened up just enough a familiar figure to the tower lord came into the room and with a heavy grunt closed the door behind himself.
The man was elderly and looked at least eighty in years but also almost a thousand in experience. He was dressed in a long white robe and mark on his forehead showed that he was a man of the vodarac faith.
"Ah good to see you Attor, glad to see you can still get through that door on your own, you old coot." Said the tower lord as he got up and stepped around the desk.
The two men, being old friends since from when the lord was a child had no qualms about a quick greeting hug. After which Brother Attor answered back, "I ain't that old yet. You're just spending too much time behind that desk, Brey." shot back the old man, using a shot friendly version of the lord's name.
Lord Aubrey laughed, "Ha, ain't that the truth? But what can I do? I got to manage the tower, the ailing Aviation Company upstairs and our own projects." He shrugged wide, making light of the responsibilities on his shoulders.
"Speaking of which, I'm going to head to the factory soon to check up on our new toy. Should be done soon, all it needs is to be outfitted with the new model according from the report I read on the way here." Replied the old man as he made his way to one of the chairs in front of Aubrey's desk and sat down.
Aubrey, still sore from sitting down for so long kept standing, "How was your trip to Earth? I still need to visit… it's been killing me that I haven't had a chance to go yet."
"You'll have plenty of time once the world is reorganized. I just hope I'll be around to see it." Said Brother Attor as he stared out the window and blue sky beyond...
"That day will come soon and I think everyone will be the better for it." Replied Aubrey as he too looked out the window and down at the city below. He then let his eyes flick down to his own desk where he saw, between the piles of unfinished work, a picture frame that always sat in that same place, untouched, even by himself. "…everyone…"
Before his mind was overtaken by memories he didn't need to examine with his old friend around Aubrey turned the subject, "Hey now you haven't eaten yet, huh? I haven't so you want anything?"
"Oh no! No offence Brey but I can't take the food you people eat at this tower, to bland for my tastes." replied Brother Attor as he held his stomach and waved off the question.
Aubrey smiled deviously, "Oh, yea you never liked the food here, huh? Well I'll head down the kitchen real quick and then we can talk about Earth for a bit before you go, alright?"
Brother Attor leaned back in the comfortable leather chair, the weight of many miles weighting him down into its cushions. "Sure the next flight to Bester isn't for several hours anyway."
"Alright see you in a bit, don't fall asleep, alright?" Aubrey asked as he then started for the huge door Brother Attor had entered from, making his way to the elevator where he would make his way to the kitchen.
As the door closed behind the young noble the elderly man leaned further back into his chair. At first he looked at the picture frame Aubrey had looked at earlier. It was turned away from him but he already knew what a picture it was of. He then looked up at the ceiling, which as adorned with aged murals of angelic beauty. He grinned, thinking of days past and of promises of the future.
Kylee looked up from her street stand as Wes made his way to it through the crowd. She quickly waved and called to him, "Hey Wes, over here!"
Her street stand was much like the others that surrounded it for what looked like a mile around. But she had a prime spot along the main path to the stadium and she was more than happy to use the opportunity to make as much profit as possible.
As for Wes, his head was hung down and he did not reply to Kylee's greeting. Instead he rounded about the stall, sat himself down on the bench behind the stall's counter and let his head come down hard onto the counter.
Kylee knew how much of a whiner Wes could be, so it was obvious to her what had happened. But all the same Wes was no pushover when it came to lifting so there was still surprise in her voice as she asked, "You got knocked off already?"
Wes rolled his head on the counter so that his eyes were pointing in the general direction of Kylee before responding mournfully, "Yea… damn kid beat me and the rest by a mile."
"You got beat by a kid? Ha, I didn't even know they were even letting kids sign up." Kylee jeered.
Annoyed Wes brought his head back up, "That little chick flew thru the coarse like she'd been lifting there her whole life! I'm a lucky one too, most of the other's wiped out hard; the waves were just crazy out there."
"It's probably the Rift Flow messing you guys up; the course is practically right next to the Rift anyway." Kylee replied, returning to her work and talking at the same time.
Wes jumped up from the chair and raised his arms into the air and waved them around, "No it was like the waves were just trying to cause us to crash and burn!" He continued making motions with his arms, simulating waves crashing into people and causing them to fall.
Kylee rolled her eyes, "Oh quit, you lost; don't blame it on the trapars you big baby."
"I'm telling you…" Wes tried to continue but Kylee turned around and glared at him and so with a sigh Wes slumped his shoulders and left the booth to vent his frustrations on some festival food.
As he did so Moondoggy, Mathieu, Hilda and Renton walked up. Moondoggy and Wes slapped a high five as they passed and then the group continued to the stall.
"Hey Kylee we brought you Renton to help you mind the stall for a bit." Moondoggy said as he suddenly shoved Renton forward.
Renton turned back to Moondoggy, "Hey what gives? I thought we were going to the stadium."
Moondoggy shrugged and replied, "You need to do something after sleeping through the work earlier. You're lucky Talhoe isn't here or you'd be in for worse."
Renton remembered vividly the tortures that woman had put him though. "Alright, but what about Eureka? I haven't seen her yet today."
Hilda smiled, "Aww, only a couple of hours and he already misses her… seems you're hanging out with Mathieu a bit too much." Behind her back Mathieu rolled his eyes as he got the hint.
Moondoggy not wanting to listen to everyone else's issues interrupted and asked Kylee, "Yea, hey Kylee, where is Eureka? Wasn't she with Gidget getting stuff for the stall?"
Kylee dropped a box down to her feet and kicked it underneath the stall, "Yea, they just left again a second ago; should be back with the last load of merchandise in a just a bit or so. By the way where are the others? Taking care of the LFOs by themselves?"
Moondoggy answered, "Naw, there were some guys helping out there so they let us go ahead. Emil and Ruri disappeared somewhere but Sumner said not to worry."
Kylee turned her attention to Renton, "Aww, alright. Well Renton…"
Renton turned round again to the blond haired woman, "Uh, yes?" His mind was barley there in those few words as he couldn't help but constantly look around at the multitude of lifting gear and equipment that surrounded him like some divine gift.
But then a great weight was thrust into his chest and he barley had enough time to reach his arms out and catch it before it flopped down onto his feet. It was a box of T-shirts with a familiar logo on the front from Kylee's store.
"Well see you in a bit." Moondoggy said over his shoulder as he Hilda and Mathieu walked off. Renton stammered for a second but couldn't think of anything he really needed to say.
Mathieu suddenly turned around and yelled at Renton, "Oh hey Renton when you're free get you and Eureka over to the stage over on the other side of the place; I'll help you out a bit if you know what I mean."
Slightly confused Renton waved his arm so Mathieu knew that he had been heard. Then sighing Renton turned back to the stall and started moving boxes around per Kylee's instruction.
As Renton got to work another group of people passed by the stall. Two short young men dressed like the hoodlums they were and a tall gruff bald headed man whom kept glancing over his shoulder. John and the twins had snuck their way into the festival grounds unnoticed and where now staking out the grounds.
Meanwhile Dean and Gear where repelling down the side of the scub coral. From their perspectives it was like they were climbing down a wall that was infinitely wide, but only a few kilometers tall with the Earth miles below it, being the only thing to catch them if they fell.
Dean looked down as he stopped for a moment for Gear to catch up. "WOAH WE'RE UP HIGH NOW!" Dean then thought to himself a bit and looked back up at Gear, "OR HEY ARN'T WE REAL LOW NOW? I MEAN A YEAR AGO THIS WOULD'VE BEEN CONSIDERED 'UNDERGROUND'."
"STOP YELLING OR WE COULD GET CAUGHT!" Gear yelled back. He let his line loose and landed right next to Dean. "Seriously you should never be allowed to have Bester coffee, EVER."
"Oh come on you're the one who gave it to me, even thought you and I both know how I get." Dean retorted with a huge caffeine high induced grin.
Gear shook his head at his own fault in the mess he had caused. "Why did I give him coffee? He get's hyper on just regular green tea." He thought to himself. "Well better than him falling asleep on the line…"
"Well just about how much further down?" Dean asked as he looked around from side to side and then down between his legs.
Gear pulled back a sleeve to reveal several instruments strapped to his wrist. One in particular he drew his interest to. "According to the plans John gave us we're still a ways up from the entrance. After that we need to signal the others to begin their part and then we can start our infiltration."
"I know the plan; I ain't so swooped up that I can remember. Still let's get there before I caffeine crash; don't need to take a nap all the way up here." Dean replied just before letting himself drop again hollering out his exhilaration as he went. Gear quickly rolled up his sleeve and followed after Dean shaking his head at his childhood friend.
Back up at the top of their lines where two large objects that where covered in tarps made to look like rock formations. The ropes supporting the two thieves ventured under the tarps and a low rumbling of an engine could be heard from both objects. As the wind blew part of the tarp blew up to reveal a red metallic arm.
"I can't believe Kylee made us go all the way back just to pick up the last dozen boxes like she was going to need them. Man I wanted to go with Moondoggy and the others." Gidget said with a pout as she opened up the back to Kylee's small van where the final few boxes of merchandise were sitting.
Eureka stepped out of the passenger's seat and look over to Kylee's stall to see Renton rushing about with a load of crates being held under each arm and by each hand. She looks to Gidget who was stretching her back, "Hey Gidget I'm going to go ahead and see how they're doing over there."
It took Gidget a couple seconds but she quickly realized her only help was running off, "Hey wait…!" But her yell was unheard as Eureka was already too deep into the crowd to hear her. She sighed to herself, "Ah she got away…"
Leaving Gidget to the few leftover boxes Eureka squished her way through the crowd. A few times she got stuck in-between a few people and had to stop till the group of people loosened enough for her to continue. But soon enough she was at the stall and for a moment watched as Renton worked.
"Ah, that's the last of it!" Renton said to himself as he put down the last pair of crates in their appointed places. He swiped a few beads of sweat and stood tall to stretch his now aching back.
Kylee who was minding the front of the stall as Renton worked noticed Eureka's approach. "And just in time too! Woo that's a cute outfit Eureka."
Eureka replied, "Oh thank you, Gidget picked it out for me, she said the stuff I had before 'didn't serve my assets.'" She said it plainly not completely understanding what Gidget had meant.
As she said this to Kylee Renton had turned around. Eureka was wearing a dress like outfit much like her old uniform. It had a short skirt was as high as her thighs in the front but in the back was as low as her knees. The top half had sleeves that where long but only the bottom blue half of the sleeves went past her hands. The top part was white and only went up to the bottom of her shoulders. Two blue straps with yellow buttons held the dress up on her shoulders. The whole dress fit snugly against Eureka's slim but shapely form and was white and blue trimmed. Her wings where covered by a long choke that hung down from her shoulders and wrapped under another blue strap that went around her waist. It was made to be as loose as possible for her wings so that they could be as free as possible without giving away their presence. In her hair was a golden hairclip with a small white wildflower.
Renton was lucky he was already sweating, for if wasn't the sharp raise in his heart rate may have made him pass out. Eureka saw that he was just staring at her and blushed a bit before asking shyly, "Do you like it Renton?"
Renton grinned wide, "I think you look beautiful." He quickly made his way right up to Eureka and kissed her and Eureka kissed him back lovingly. Kylee half grinned as the couple seemed to not care about the hundreds of people walking all around them.
When Renton and Eureka broke Renton then unskillfully started to ask, "Hey… um Eureka?"
"Yes Renton?" Eureka replied, looking deeply into Renton's face making it even more difficult to finish his question.
Renton sucked in some air and closed his eyes and grinned hard, "I was wondering if you'd like to go on a date; a real date?" The words came so quick that afterward Renton wasn't sure if he had even uttered the words audibly.
But to his credit Eureka understood him perfectly, in her capacity, "A date huh? OK… what day?"
Renton couldn't help but chuckle a little bit at her before explaining, "I mean a date… a time where the two of us spend time together and have fun."
"But don't we do that all the time, Renton?" Eureka replied honestly confused.
Renton sighed, "Yea… but there's always someone else with us or some crisis that interrupts it… I'm asking you that have our first uninterrupted, all for us, and only us, date."
Eureka marveled at the fact that she hadn't noticed that the two of them had never had a time together like what Renton was describing. Despite her not really knowing where she was going or for that matter doing she grabbed Renton's hand and pulled the both of them into the crowd. "Come on Renton! Let's spend this date together!"
The first series of races over, the second rounds where just getting underway. Moondoggy who had come in first place easily in the final heat of the first round was now getting ready for his appointed run in the first heat of the second round.
"Damn man, it sucks big time to be you. I mean one heat after another… you think someone's noticed who you are under that ridicules mask?" Sumner said jokingly despite the grim look of his face.
Moondoggy was oblivious to Sumner's mood and continued to finish straitening the strings on his shoes. He then looked up, adjusting the gaudy pink sunglasses that took up half of his face. "They ain't ridicules; and you couldn't recognize me until I told you it was me the first time you saw me with these."
"That's cuz you had gone from a four foot loud mouthed kid to a five foot six loud mouthed half adult since the last time I had saw you since then." Sumner retorted as he recalled their fateful reencounter on these very grounds years ago.
Moondoggy picked up his refboard and held it behind his head. Bracing it against the back of his own head he started stretching for his next race. "Whatever, so long as the waves are this good I don't care if half the audience finds out it's me and starts clamoring for my autograph." His smugness made Sumner frown and roll his eyes at the ground.
A loud speaker rang out above their heads, "All racers to the launch plank for the first heat of the second round. All others please vacate the prep area for the next group."
Moondoggy stopped stretching and looked down at Sumner, "Wellp it's time… you gonna stay and watch? I mean you decided to not compete and anything at the last minute…"
"Shut up man, I don't need it." Sumner replied as he stood up and started leaving the locker room for the stadium stands. He might as well watch, it was the whole reason he and Ruri had come here. Or was it? He decided he didn't care right now.
As Sumner passed through the door to the outside of the small tent he brushed by a figure that had the hood of their hoody drawn up. "Excuse me…" Sumner apologized half mindedly. The person didn't make any motion or reply. After a moment, when Sumner's footsteps where lost amongst the roaring crowd outside the figure turned in the opposite direction from Sumner, towards the race course.
"Hey Eureka, how about this one?" Renton asked as he held up a T-shirt to his chest. The shirt said 'Lifter' on the front and showed a small figure of a person lying on top of a massive skyfish relaxing as it flew through the sky.
Eureka turned with a random shirt in her own hands, "Oh that's funny Renton; maybe you should try that some time."
Renton laughed, "Yea that'd be fun to ride around on a big skyfish like that, huh?" Renton then turned his attention to the clothes Eureka held, "So what you got there?"
Eureka folded the item and returned it to the stall, "Oh nothing… can't wear it anyway… wings…" She started walking away from the stall, thinking to herself.
Renton pulled some money out of his pocket and dropped it on the stalls counter and stuffed his new shirt into one of the large pockets on the side of his pants. Then as he caught up to Eureka, "Hey don't worry, when we get back we'll get you some new stuff to wear. And you can let your wings out all the time too."
Eureka turned her head to him and smiled as they continued to walk aimlessly. But before she said anything her ears suddenly picked up a beat. She turned her head a bit to pick up the sound better over the crowd. "Hey Renton… do you hear that?"
Renton perked up his ears and strained his sense of hearing. It took a moment but soon could make out a familiar beat and sound. He then remembered what Mathieu had told him a bit earlier. "Oh, that must be Mathieu playing!"
"He's playing?" Eureka asked.
"Yea, he said that there was music playing over on that side of the grounds; let's go!" Renton took hold of Eureka's hand and led her towards the music.
As they got closer the music grew in strength and intensity until the music then overpowered the sound of the people around them. Finally they broke out from the endless rows of stalls and into a large open area in front of a large stage.
While the stage wasn't the most massive or impressive one in the world, for a small town kid like Renton and an ex-felon like Eureka it was a wondrous sight. People who seemed to be from every walk of life seemed to be there, dancing and talking amongst each other. And up on the stage was their mutual friend Mathieu; a pair of headphones on his head and DJ disks rolling along his fingers.
Suddenly Renton could feel Eureka pulling on his arm. He looked at her and she asked, "I want to dance!"
In the back of his head Renton now thought he knew why Mathieu had said that he could 'help him out a bit if he knew what he meant.' He nodded his head and was then dragged by Eureka to the center of the large dancing crowd.
Suddenly another thought occurred in the back of Renton's mind, "OH CRAP, I don't know how to dance…" Now they were almost in front of the stage and Eureka let Renton's hand go. She turned around and looked at him, waiting for him to start.
Beads of sweat rolling down the side of his face Renton looked around to the other people dancing around them, trying to see if he could mimic the moves of some the dancers that looked like they knew what they were doing and save himself. But there were so many people that he eventually just started making stuff up; letting the music move his limbs instead of his brain.
At first he didn't look at Eureka because he was afraid of his lack of skill, but eventually he had to look. And to his amazement Eureka turned out to be a worse dancer than him. She waved her arms about like she was trying to dislocate them, but Renton saw that she didn't seem to know or care how silly she looked, she just kept smiling.
While he knew he sucked just as bad he couldn't stop himself from sharing that smile with her. If they sucked they might as well suck together was the last thought through Renton's mind before he let himself back into the moment.
Up above on the stage Mathieu had just spotted them. He grinned to himself as he watched the pair dance together. Of course he noticed their movements where way off beat which was a little embarrassing for him because he knew them. But he just shrugged to himself and continued DJ-ing, "Life's a dance." He told himself under his breath.
Sumner was now seated amongst many other people in the stands of the stadium. The structure was built into the side of a small valley with the tower he and the others had visited a few days ago at its top. On the other side of the expanse the city ended with a large rise in the scub. A network of risen scub created a labyrinth of narrow valleys and wide, open clearings; without the aid of markers and signs the racers could have easily gotten lost, especially because each race went through the maze differently.
In between the stadium and the nearest scub cliff face was a long metal platform, there the racers where spreading out along its berth. There were a dozen in all, only tiny specks against the scenery they were standing against.
Sumner wasn't taking any interest to try and pick Moondoggy out from the rest as he was still contemplating his fight with Ruri. He had been engrossed with the implications of their distance the whole mid day and he couldn't come to any one mind with himself.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the first heat of the second round is about to get underway! We ask that…" Started the announcer as he began asking the audience to take their seats.
Sumner sighed to himself, "Maybe just watching for a bit will clear my head…" Sumner said to himself. He looked up from his feet and up to a monitor that was to show the race as it would eventually be beyond the sight of the stands. He watched as the screen passed over the racers on the platform and the announcer spoke the names of the competitors.
Somewhere in the middle Sumner recognized Moondoggy, who was going under the name James, which was ironic because he was using it to not be noticed and it was his real first name in the first place anyway.
But just a few names down Sumner suddenly felt like he had been doused with cold water. Before the announcer had even spoken the name he recognized the outfit of the person whom had inspired him to start lifting as a young student; the mysterious lifter he had never met, B.B.
The red hoody and cap were an image burnt into his eyes many years ago, there was no mistaking it, it was B.B. the original B.B. As the camera continued to pan, Sumner turned and tried to spot the lifter from afar.
He could make out B.B. and Moondoggy quickly, but couldn't make out much else from a distance. "After all these years? B.B… he's back!" Sumner mumbled to himself as he stood up, trying harder to get a look of his childhood idol.
A gruff voice called out to him from behind, "Hey you sit down so we can see!" Sumner turned and saw a large man with what appeared to be his wife and two children.
"Oh, sorry about that." Sumner replied while bowing his head slightly. He then promptly sat back down. As soon as he did so a loud booming sound went off and twelve green streaks of light jetted off from the platform; the race was on and the racers where off to a blazing start.
Soon the streaks curved around the first turn and where out of sight of the stadium. Sumner and the audience all at once turned their attention to the monitors.
Most of the racers where in a tight group, with a few behind and a few others ahead of the main group, Moondoggy included with the latter. It took Sumner a moment but eventually he reacquired B.B. who was near the rear.
Suddenly, as the group was going through a tight area in between two tall chunks of scub, a stream of trapar burst from part of the cliff face in front of the racers. Moondoggy dodged it by pulling his board and feet up over his waist and hanging in the air as his momentum drove him up and over the obstacle. The other front runners weren't so quick to react and had their boards, either fly from their feet or lose all control and crash into each other in the small space.
The others of the race were not affected by the stream for it soon subsided. But still Sumner thought it was strange to see a trapar geyser, even a tiny one like that, suddenly burst without a huge amount of trapar in the area, which wasn't the case.
At the end of the narrow passageway was a large open area that was just a few meters from the very edge of the Rift. But just as the group was about to make it out of the fissure several more jets of trapar suddenly erupted in their way.
With no time to react Moondoggy did what only someone who instinctually knew the waves like their own hand could do. Without a thought to the act Moondoggy pulled up hard and to the right. Then before he started losing momentum he pulled a huge front flip and came back towards the ground slightly faster than he had desired. He quickly veered left and right, loosing speed as best he could before hitting the ground. At the last moment he regained control and leveled out his course.
He looked behind himself to see if any of the other racers had made it through. At first only a small rider, dressed in white, who had somehow kept their balance through the torrent of trapar appeared out of the small opening to the canyon they had just exited.
Sumner found himself mumbling under his breath, "Come on… come on… B.B…" as he watched the large monitor.
Before the dust had cleared though another blast of trapar bust from the canyon, much stronger than the first. So strong in fact that it propelled some of the falling riders out into the open air.
This made Sumner's heart sink for a moment but it was propelled to unknown speeds as from the great burst of green energy flew forth the figure of B.B. holding out his arms out wide like a bird catching the wind under his wings, just like how Sumner remembered.
Sumner jumped up and yelled, "YYYAAAHHH, GO B.B.!"
B.B., propelled by the blast of trapar behind him quickly caught up to the remaining competitors, Moondoggy and the small rider. They raced across the plain, the towering waves coming off the Great Rift showering their path in bright green sparkles of trapar.
The crowd cheered at the marvelous display of nature's power and man's skill, but now something was bothering Sumner. He squinted to try and see the picture better but the image on the monitor was zoomed out from the racers. He had noticed that in the torrent of energy B.B. had escaped his red baseball cap had had been lost. "Whoa… I didn't think B.B. would have such long red hair…"
But then the screen flicked to a close up view of the rider B.B. "Ruri!" Sumner exclaimed as her face came into view. "What is she doing!" Sumner asked himself, becoming angry that she had snuck in to the race after their fight earlier. But then he began to wonder, "Ruri is B.B.?" As memories of the past came to him he slapped his forehead, "Ah, shit…"
Meanwhile the small, cloaked rider looked back and watched as Ruri made her way closer to the front. The rider then looked forward to Moondoggy whom was just ahead. The figure couched down on their board and pushed down towards the ground below, gaining a great amount of speed. The figure then pulled up onto a wave that propelled the rider high into the air. Spinning as the wave shot the rider forward along the race track right in front of Moondoggy.
Moondoggy barely had enough time to notice the actions taking place behind himself to pull up and let the cloaked rider land right in the spot he would have been seconds later. If he hadn't he would have crashed into the other rider and they would have both had fallen to the ground. Despite this direness of the chase Moondoggy grinned "So this one wants to play ruff. Well I ain't gonna let some kid beat me!"
Just as he was about to make a counter move another green wave crossed right in front of him, causing him to once again dodge for his and the other rider's sake. It was Ruri this time, much to Moondoggy's confusion.
While the cloaked rider had been passing him by Ruri had also pulled speed from a wave, but in the opposite direction from the other rider. So Moondoggy watched as his easy first place run was turning into dead last.
Ruri meanwhile, with arms still held out wide, didn't level out after racing past Moondoggy but instead continued downward. The three racers were now leaving the plains and where now entering a valley that was filled with ruined building damaged during a tectonic shift. Ruri turned just a few feet from the side of the valley and ran along it with amazing speed and grace. The trapar, building up against the rock-face give her a tremendous boost in speed.
She then ducked down lower to the bottom of the valley and passed under a tall building that had toppled sideways and lay against the valley wall. Everyone including the cloaked figure was watching as she passed under the building and for a moment everyone in the stands, especially Sumner, held their breath.
Soon both Moondoggy and the other rider, along with the cameras, passed by the building and to their bewilderment nothing but scub and earth met their eyes. "Did she crash?" Moondoggy asked himself as he passed by.
Sumner was asking himself the same thing as he watched from the stadium. But then his eye caught something on the television screen. A green line running almost perpendicular to the valley wall near the absolute bottom of the valley's floor.
Ruri had stayed low after passing the building and had rapidly shifted her way to the right side of the course. Nobody at the actual site had seen her go from the left to the right corner of the track with such blazing speed, going through and in between all the fallen buildings. And now from the opposite side of the course from which the others had expected her to come from Ruri caught the wave she was on and rode as it ran up on the side of yet another downcast building, bringing her back up to the same height level as the other lifters.
With all the speed and power from the wave still under her control Ruri flew right at the cloaked rider and only dodged the opponent with a well timed barrel roll right over the figure's head.
The figure was so shocked that Ruri had appeared out of nowhere, and from a direction that was not expected, that their stance on the board wavered.
The resulting wind whipped up from Ruri's wake blew the figure's long white hair from her hood and onto her face. She struggled with it for a moment as she worked her face free from her own hair.
Unbeknownst to the blinded lifter she was heading straight for a Pile Bunker that had been jammed into a fallen office building. Just removing her hair she only had enough time to react instinctually and fight the wave she was riding to lose speed, but it was too little too late. With all hope of avoiding the obstacle gone the red eyed girl jumped backwards from her board to lose even more speed as her body crashed into the tall pillar of iron.
At first she hung there on the horizontal piece that made the Pile Bunker's top. But suddenly she pulled her face up from the gargantuan stake with a look of rage on her face. "HOW DARE YOU!" she yelled out to Ruri. And while not even waiting for a response she pulled one arm up and traced it along the edge of the Pile Bunker and then slammed her palm down on the structure.
Ruri had turned around as she had heard the girl's call, but then she suddenly felt a sinking sense of vertigo. In fact the buoyancy of her board had completely stopped and she was falling before she had even realized it.
Of course nobody in the audience saw the white haired girl's actions, but they could see the result. Sumner suddenly became frantic, "RURI!" He jumped out from the row of stands he was in and started running down the steps to the bottom of the stadium.
On the way he saw a few guys with refboards sitting close to the steps. Without thinking of the consequences he grabbed a board from next to one them and started running with it.
"Hey what the hell!" The lifter exclaimed as he looked away from the monitor and realized his board had been stolen. But it was too late; Sumner had already jumped from the final level of the stands, mounted the purloined board and was off.
Moondoggy meanwhile had been witness to the whole event and was now, with all speed diving down to catch his friend Ruri. "Damn am I going to make it?" He asked himself.
He reached ground level but he was going too fast, and would pass Ruri before he could catch her. So Moondoggy jumped back from his board, hitting the ground just a few feet below and sliding on the heels of his feet. He got into place just in time and Ruri landed right on top of him, with more force than he had expected.
He lay on the ground for a few minutes, dazed from the impact. But then the weight of Ruri's body disappeared from one top of him and he regained full consciousness.
"Ruri? Ruri are you OK?" asked Sumner franticly as he leaned over Ruri's limp body.
Moondoggy leaned up, "Hey, she alright?" He would have then stood up but a pain in his side made him cringe.
Ruri's eyes slowly opened and she looked up at Sumner and smiled, assuring him she was OK. Sumner turned his head to Moondoggy with a look of absolute relief on his face, "Yea she's fine. I owe you another one man."
Ruri then leaned up with Sumner's support. "Hey Ruri don't strain yourself, you took a nasty fall…"
Ruri looked at Sumner, her eyes now sorrowful, "Sumner…I'm sorry…"
Sumner shook his head, "I'm not going to be mad at you for being the person you are Ruri."
"Sumner…" Ruri answered back like a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders with that one uttering of his name.
Moondoggy turned away as the other two gave one another mushy expressions and brought his attention to the strange lifter. But it seemed the girl was already long gone, disappearing amongst the decrepit building surrounding them. "Hey, guys that freaky girl is gone." Moondoggy explained as he turned around again.
Sumner and Ruri looked back at him and nodded. Sumner asked, "What exactly happened Doggy?"
"Sumner!" Ruri declared. Sumner turned to her, putting off Moondoggy's explanation. Ruri knew that if she was going to come clean now was the perfect time. "Sumner… I… I have to tell you something…"
Sumner nodded reassuringly, "Yes Ruri?"
"I'm..." Ruri started, but before she could continue a sudden pain entered her gut. Without thinking she grabbed Sumner's shirt and let loose the innards of her stomach.
"AWW DAMN, WHAT THE HELL RURI!" Sumner blurted out in honest disgust. Ruri soon stopped but was easy to tell that her stomach region was bothering her. So despite his own stomach's desire to vacate itself due to the smell of sick he asked Ruri, "Hey, hey… look just don't talk. We'll you can tell me what you need to later… with a smile... and less puke all over me." They both smiled and laughed a bit together, the earlier events of the day forgotten.
Moondoggy who had then been searching for his board flinched as sudden explosion rang out from above breaking the peaceful moment.
Moondoggy and the other two looked up towards the top of the valley where the blast and now smoke where coming from. "Now what's happening?" Moondoggy asked, tired of the unpleasant surprises.
The crowd quickly scattered from the area where the LFOs had been displayed. Just a few seconds before, without warning, three of the units on display jumped up into humanoid form and began blasting the ground around themselves; not killing anyone but certainly intimidating them into a state of panic.
Inside the bulky and blue form of Emrick's LFO John thanked his luck and old military model like this one was present for him to steal; it reminded him of the old days.
The other two, Sky and Needle, had taken a pair of twin Type Scud Bike LFOs and where now moving the crowd away so that the next stage of the plan could commence unimpeded.
As John too helped in removing the civilian obstacles he thought to himself as to how much he had changed. Years ago he had fought against such terrorist actions and now he was taking part in them.
But he had a purpose, a reason to do what he was doing. Even if he didn't wear the trappings of a military officer anymore he was still a servant to the people, more so than ever before he believed.
People where running past Sumner and Ruri's green and white van screaming, trying to escape the sudden appearance of hostile LFOs right in the middle of the celebration. Inside Emrick was still sleeping, but even he couldn't ignore the noise from outside for long.
But instead of inspecting what was going on he instead peeled his face off the drool covered seat and moved himself to the bedroom in the middle of the van. He flopped down on the bed and returned to a deep sleep, the thicker walls and lack of windows in the room making the noise from outside less bothersome.
He drifted back to sleep once again but a voice quickly pervaded his dreams. "Not curious what the humans are yelling about out there?" The deep monotone voice asked.
Emrick in his dream opened his eyes and looked out lazily at the pure blackness that surrounded the bed which was the only other thing besides himself in the dream world. "Who cares? All they do is make noise… give me a headache…"
While there was no body to the voice Emrick felt like it was coming from someone or something sitting on the bed right next to him. "Maybe if you listen instead of hear you'd find some music to them…"
"What a load…" Emrick replied. "None of them seem to even care for me being around… save for Renton. But he's just doing for Eureka… and she's just forcing him to for her own curiosity about herself…"
"They have motives beyond you but that doesn't mean they don't think of you as a friend." explained the voice. "And you have done the same…"
Emrick was becoming annoyed and sat up on the bed in the ephemeral world. "What are you talking about?"
Emrick couldn't hear it with his ears but he felt like the voice was laughing at him, "The girl from last night… you helped her for your own reasons, but you also did it for her didn't you?"
"Tsk… I got hit of the head multiple times by then… by that other girl… I just didn't have anything better to do, and she wasn't going to take no for an answer…" Emrick replied grudgingly.
The voice countered, "You can't even listen to yourself…"
Emrick jumped up from the bed and stood tall against the darkness, "I'm tired of listening! All I hear is an inaudible roaring with you always leading the chorus. I don't care what you or the others say; I want to be left alone!"
The bed behind Emrick disappeared and nothing but blackness surrounded him. The jovial feeling of the voice turned to sadness. "Do you wish to sleep and fade into blackness once again?"
The darkness was starting to come in contact with Emrick as he yelled, "NO I WANT TO LIVE! I WANT TO LIVE WITHOUT NOISE. YOURS OR THEIR'S!"
Emrick's form was fading fast into the icky blackness, but then a green light began to form in front of him. It grew in size until it stood like a colossal before him. "And that is why you must be the one to listen…"
All that was left of Emrick was his head the darkness so quickly coved the rest of his body. Tears where rolling down his cheeks, but his face held a look of absolute determination.
The green behemoth reached down and touched Emrick's face and he felt warmth. He had not noticed how cold he had become, as if almost dead.
As the last of his form was consumed Emrick thought he saw something else standing behind the behemoth. It was dark and looking at him, smiling, it's indigo hair reflecting his own. And then with a start he awoke, his entire body sweating and shaking.