==Lap 10=

The following morning, Earl slept in bed with a very relaxed face; Seppuku was sleeping at his desk, for he did not own a bedroom. Earl had stayed up late watching television—but really, he was staying up to see if an ill Chiya would be in need of his assistance. Seppuku decided to sleep through the night given that he cannot leave the base to hunt for crime because of his containment. With any luck for Seppuku, Bart Lemming would succeed in convincing Jody to allow him one day to leave the base so that Chiya could get evaluated by the F-Zero committee, it was still to be decided what day this would. Time would tell, but for now, Earl felt obliged to continue caring for his sick friend.

The Korean sniffed in his sleep, there was a scent in his room that restored consciousness almost immediately. This was an uncommon scent in Seppuku's base—but a good one.

"Is that... bacon..?"

Opening his eyes for the first time, the man discovered a plate of bacon next to his table. Beside the bacon was a unique frosted cookie, it was shaped and decorated like Chiya Flower.

Seppuku, with his head down on his desk, sniffed as well. He raised his head, which revealed a blank visor; two glowing white eyes flickered on—signifying that his eyes had opened.

"Do I smell a burning pig?"

He then looked down at his desk, also finding a plate of bacon and frosted cookie that looked like Chiya. He gazed at the silly looking Chiya shaped cookie with discontent, then turned his attention onto the bacon.

"Bacon?"

About a minute later, both Earl and Seppuku exited their rooms and moved into the hallway. Both were alarmed to find Chiya mopping the hall with great optimism, she hadn't noticed either of the two. The optimism plus energy of the Mysterian was unbelievable to Earl, for no more than a day ago she was practically incapacitated in bed. Instead of groaning in bed, she was now spinning around the hallway with a mop in her hands.

The two continued to watch as she began to clean around the bathroom door; along with a healthy body, Chiya seemed very concentrated.

"Flower, what are you doing?"

With a startled face, Chiya turned toward Seppuku, then noticed that Earl was in the hallway as well. The sight of her two friends brought even more joy to her day.

"Oh, hi—i!" She pointed at her mop and explained, "I'm cleaning up this bloody place, I already got the lobby and garage all clean."

Earl chuckled, "There's no way you cleaned up the garage; that place is far too much of a mess."

"Well, not anymore. You're welcome."

Seppuku held up the special Chiya-shaped cookie she made for the two and asked, "What's this?"

Chiya set her mop aside and clapped, "I call it a 'Chiya Snack', do you like it?" Seppuku snapped the head off the cookie in irritation, Chiya gasped in fear, "I- I take it you're not a cookie person…"

With continuing disbelief, Earl approached Chiya and asked, "How the Hell are you so energetic all of a sudden? A few hours ago you were almost immobile."

"Yes, and now that I'm better, I realize that I could be doing so much more with my life when I'm not sick—like cleaning." She bowed to Earl with grace, "Thank you for being there for me last night, I much appreciated the ice cream."

Seppuku grunted, "Uh..! Wha-" He then stomped and shouted, "Ice cream!?"

Both his companions turned to find the Man of Darkness upset, agitated by the mere mentioning of ice cream. Earl, sensing inevitable nonsense, returned an irritated expression.

"What? What's wrong?"

"She brings a fleabag into my base and you reward her with ice cream!?"

Chiya bloated her cheeks in retaliation, "That 'fleabag' has a name—he's Mauser the Cat." She followed this up with an argument, "And he wasn't rewarding me, he was just being a friend."

The lieutenant did not respond to this; much like a child, he crossed his arms and turned the other direction in an attempt to install guilt. Of course, neither Chiya nor Earl saw any justice in his complaint. Moving on, Chiya turned to Earl with a restored smile.

"How was the breakfast I prepared for you two?"

Earl smiled back and answered, "Bacon was good, cookie was very creative."

On the opposing side, Seppuku responded, "Bacon was undercooked, cookie was creepy."

"Shut up," Earl snapped. "The bacon was fine."

"The cookie ruined it, I can't look at all of that frosting while eating bacon. And no, you are incorrect, the bacon was severely undercooked. As a matter of fact, she may have very well infected us with a tapeworm as a result."

Earl glanced at Chiya to see if she was hurt by his review, but she seemed for the most part untouched.

"Well, that's fair. I don't usually cook, so naturally, I wouldn't know how to do it right."

Seppuku nodded at her in approval, "Accepting failure makes you a stronger person."

But still, Earl viewed the review with disdain, "Okay, but she didn't mess up enough to label it as a 'failure', I would call it an 'imperfection' at-"

"It's fine, Earl."

Earl nodded at her, then looked back at Seppuku, "Bart and I came up with a few thoughts about Brock Blaskovitz, I wanted to hear what you think."

"Thoughts?"

"A theory," Earl corrected.

Seppuku hummed with interest, "Very good, let's discuss this in my office." A cold gaze was dropped onto Chiya. "Will you be joining us this time, Flower?"

"I'm actually going to head out to Red Canyon for a bit; I wanted to get a better understanding of our ship's controls."

Slight discontent was founded by her decision, but Seppuku also found some degree of respect in her desire to better her understanding of their new ship. He left his feelings on the matter at a neutral stance, but content with letting her skip another meeting.

"Fine, come on, Bendek."

Chiya watched the two take leave for the office, once out of sight, she dropped her mop and turned toward the lobby. The young woman had come out of her illness with immense energy and was once again excited to get involved in F-Zero; along with this, she was planning on continuing her Seoli Idong lessons with Earl at some point.

She had a feeling that this week would bring about great events—her rise to stardom would start with an F-Zero license; and she had every vote of confidence in her ability to race. With such high morale, surely, impressing the F-Zero committee during an evaluation would be a piece of cake.

Not long after having a morning discussion with Earl and Seppuku, Chiya was driving the Purring Kitten down the Upper City. The streets were as busy as ever and crowded with people who were interested in her machine. The prison she and Seppuku had been to could be seen from across the body of water connected to Mute City. The sight of the prison shot any happy feelings off the girl, she redirected her attention onto the road. Michael Chain stated that he would acquire the Wild Boar somehow if he got out of prison and then take leave for Mysteria—where he would be out of the Federation's reach. Not only would Chain become an enemy on the track, but Seppuku, Chiya, and Earl would likely end up picking up the pieces—by going to Mysteria to finish him off.

She struck her fist down on the steering wheel. If Seppuku makes us go to Mysteria, I'll be hunted by the police and military…

Chiya's home planet, Mysteria, was led by a radical socialist monarchy; laws there were enforced with harshness and information censored to protect the ruling party. Once a democratic colony of the Galactic Space Federation, the breakaway planet exists as a sovereign system following a bloody war for independence. This is why Chiya has a bounty on Mysteria and nowhere else, Mysteria does not share permanent records with the Federation and vice versa.

"He's got a good plan, I'll admit." Chiya looked out toward the prison once more, "If he makes it to Mysteria, he's safe. Mysteria would never hand him over to the Federation…"

Chiya didn't have much of a choice, however; the third race of the annual Grand Prix would bring them to Mist Flow—Mysteria's iconic track. In order to evade capture, they might consider doing what Antonio Guster did on Sand Ocean—hide themselves far out in the less populated areas of Mysteria until the race began. The rules of F-Zero prohibited government involvement during a race, so Mysteria couldn't detain her while she raced, otherwise, Mysteria would be banned from F-Zero—which the planet relied on for income.

I wonder what became of my mom and sister after I left… she thought with sorrow. The last time she had seen her mother was when she helped Chiya get away on a transport ship heading to Mute City, leaving Chiya to fend for herself in the Lower City of Mute City for six years—until Seppuku found her.

I sure hope the military didn't execute them…

Something Chiya was certain of was that her mother must have been punished for helping her escape trial, her younger sister, on the other hand, had little to do with her escape. It was still unknown to everyone, except Jody Summer, what Chiya did on her planet that landed her with a bounty, especially since she was only seventeen when she escaped.

Of course what Chiya nor anyone else knew was that Jody had stricken Chiya's criminal records, and thus she was in all actuality free to roam Mysteria again. This would come as both a big and pleasant surprise to Chiya the day she discovers this.

Many minutes later, Chiya began ascending the slopes of Red Canyon, Mute City was visible behind her. This was a rare occasion where Chiya had woken up in the morning, as she typically sleeps all the way through the morning; now lively as ever after a day of illness, Chiya was inspired. With her restored person, she wanted to accomplish as much as possible—no doubt she wanted to repay Earl in some way for his admirable services to her.

With only the purr of her machine suggesting sound in her world, Chiya gazed upon the cliffs of Red Canyon with excitement. Mute City was an ideal place for her to live in partly because of the scenery and points of interest. The metropolis bordered Red Canyon and the Tokyo Bay, and even so, the woman had yet to truly explore any of these places. Despite having lived here so long, Chiya had never traveled out of eastern Mute City—she could only imagine that the eastern landscape contained fields of grass and flowers.

On the topic of flowers, she glanced over at a flower pot she had attached to the Purring Kitten cockpit. Within the flower pot was the special flower she had found in Red Canyon a year ago. The red flower was special to her because it had only three petals surrounding the bud, in her eyes, each petal represented a member of Seppuku's organization: Chiya, Earl, and Seppuku. The bud represented the organization itself.

The F-Zero machine turned onto a cliff and followed a plotted path that would lead to the hidden luxury ship.

"Man…" she muttered aloud.

Earl was a relationship snake—he broke hearts for the self-invested gratification and allowance to brag to other sorts, such as Lieutenant Seppuku, who found some degree of respect in Earl's cruel game. The thought of knowing that Earl would do this without any repercussions made Chiya irate. Despite this, there was a weakness in Chiya—she couldn't bring herself to hold a grudge over Earl, rather, quite the opposite.

The girl frowned and looked back at Mute City; rising above the Federation HQ was an orange sun, this dim light was making her think of Earl. The man was cruel to women, but he was also noble, kind, and caring. To this day, Chiya still couldn't determine if Earl was a bad relationship waiting to happen; her brain was advising that she keep relations with Earl at a 'friendly' level, but her heart said otherwise.

With a sigh, Chiya looked back onto Red Canyon and muttered, "…why can't I make him understand..?" She blocked her eyes from watering over the subject. "Why can't he see the immorality of his actions and just search for 'The One'?"

Chiya dropped these thoughts before they could escalate into an aggressive mindset—she was flattered and happy with Earl at the moment, complaining about his dating life would only conflict with that. Still, she couldn't stop but think a little more on the topic.

Seppuku's right, though. It's true that Earl hasn't dated anyone since Maggie—which failed anyway. Maybe Earl is going clean…

This was her final thought on the matter, for now. Earl went on a date with one girl since Chiya met him, while past stories implied that he would go on many in the past years. As far as she knew, her opposing words on the matter may have in all actuality succeeded—she may have very well transformed Earl into a more respectable romantic.

With lowered eyelids, Chiya whispered aloud, "Please, God; let Earl open his eyes and become a more reasonable person to date…" With a shy face, Chiya then added, "B- But not because I love him or anything…"

A few minutes later she drove out of a valley, leading to a concealed gorge that hid their ship. As Seppuku suspected, the ship remained untouched; Chiya was already often forgetting that this was her ship—not Seppuku's, though he assumed control of the ship, for the most part. Legally, though, the machine was registered under Chiya Flower's name.

She stopped the Purring Kitten to the side of the ship and got out. The silence and shade which shrouded the area made for a perfect place to isolate herself if she were ever sad or upset.

Chiya opened the ramp leading inside the ship, she entered with a compliment, "I'll hand it to you, Seppuku. It's a great hiding spot."

The Mysterian disappeared into the luxury ship, but little did she know, several men were beginning to gather along the cliffs which surrounded the gorge. Each man was attired in dirty clothing and equipped with weaponry. With priority on stealth, the gang began to slide down the cliffs and move toward Chiya's ship.

In Seppuku's office, the Man of Darkness had created a mess of theories on his whiteboard, along with some suggested by Earl. Some theories pertained to Red Star, some to an unknown organization, and even one to the long-collapsed Soviet Union. One thing was agreed upon by both Seppuku and Earl—they had no doubt that Chiya did in fact kill Brock Blaskovitz, and that the man they saw in the auction race is, indeed, a clone imposter.

"Theoretically," Seppuku spoke with a calm voice. "It is possible that Blaskovitz no longer aspires to conquer the Lower City, but rather, something smaller or bigger."

Earl shrugged, "As much as you and I both hate to admit it, our former adversary was a tactician—especially smart in rooftop ambushes. He was no fool." Seppuku eyed Earl with a raised brow. "Blaskovitz was able to wipe out the Bloody Chain, but his gang stood no match against Federation units. If he is the leader of some organization, he likely understands now that conquering the Lower City is a lost cause—especially since he must start his gang up from scratch."

"So—o, he aspires to conquer something smaller," Seppuku proposed.

"Maybe," Earl said in a shrewd tone. "Or perhaps he's not considering the size of his target, but rather, its respective strength in contrast to his own."

Seppuku hummed, "So you believe he's going for something weaker this time?"

"Exactly, something he—or a potential liege—knows can be defeated with ease."

A moment of silence crossed the two, Seppuku gazed at Earl in a way that almost suggested doubt, but in actuality, the man was putting heavy consideration into this theory. To Earl's surprise, the man nodded in agreement.

"Regardless of whether he's the pawn or leader, he won't challenge the Federation again like he did with Red Star."

The Korean smirked, ecstatic to see a rare demonstration of true cooperation from the most childish man in the universe. Seppuku was laying down no jokes or insults—strictly business. Now viewing Earl as the potential brain in this scenario, another question was gathered.

"Why Chiya?"

This question sent a shock down Earl's spine; the thought of Brock aiming for Chiya was demoralizing to him—he dismissed this concept quickly by throwing in a suggestion.

"Not Chiya alone, I think he wants us three as a whole dead."

"Oh?"

Earl nodded, "When you get down to it, we were the biggest thorn in Blaskovitz's side during the gang war—even Michael Chain lost some battles against Red Star, but we stole, sabotaged, killed-"

Seppuku slammed his marker down over the whiteboard and approached Earl, "But why us? What will killing us gain him?"

The Korean challenged Seppuku's imposing person by approaching him as well, "The freedom to run in here and impose domination over the Lower City without question." Bearing in mind their previous theory about not messing with the Federation, Earl added, "Or, perhaps, he is simply seeking revenge."

Very close to each other, Earl and Seppuku exchanged gazes. Seppuku remained convinced, however, that Brock did not act on simple desire for revenge—he had a larger ambition. Before they could continue their conversation on the topic of Brock, Seppuku expressed some sporadic rage.

"Dammit, why the Hell is Flower skipping out on this meeting?"

"Hey, give her a break," Earl snapped his fingers, "She's got an F-Zero career to worry about."

The Man of Darkness growled, "This is more important than racing…"

"We should concern ourselves with both things; Blaskovitz and Chiya's F-Zero career." Before Seppuku could argue, Earl raised a fair argument, "Hey, maybe the two things will correlate nicely. If Chiya's an F-Zero racer, maybe it'll lure in Blaskovitz. And regardless of whether or not he's a clone, he's still human." Earl gave Seppuku a very intense stare, "And as you've demonstrated time after time again, humans can be killed…"

Earl's look of seriousness remained strong, as did Seppuku's. The lieutenant was without expression and no movement could be found in his eyes. Not long after, the mood present in the room changed drastically, as Seppuku then grinned and laughed.

"Very well." Earl raised an eyebrow at the man, then widened his eyes as a can of beer was lifted up to his chin by Seppuku. "How about a beer," the lieutenant proposed.

Earl looked back and forth between the beer and Seppuku, then joined him with a grin, "I don't usually drink this early in the morning—but what the Hell."

The two cracked open beers and drank—Earl and Seppuku had now merged forces in the search for Brock Blaskovitz, thus bringing an alliance between Seppuku, Earl, Bart, and Stewart. With so many intelligent and creative minds at work, Brock was on the clock before someone would follow his trail back to Black Shadow.

Meanwhile, Chiya relaxed on the couch in the ship's living room, but got up moments later to observe the small kitchen. I should bring food here… The refrigerator came with several cans of beer, but Chiya had thrown the cans out of the ship before Earl or Seppuku could discover this. The F-Zero committee was kind enough to leave free beer, but nothing more.

Finally, she began walking toward the bridge of the ship. In this day and age most schools required their students to grasp an understanding of flying ships, but she hadn't flown a ship for seven years. The Mysterian sat down in a seat and examined the controls, everything looked very familiar to her, except for some of the levers and buttons were much larger; the console also had many additional features, like a phone and proximity scanner.

She continued examining the many parts of the ship, guessing that this would be easy to pilot; her only fear was managing to stay out of 'no fly zones', which included all cities—excluding starport zones. Either way, there was a team agreement that Seppuku would be the pilot of the ship whenever he was present. With bloated cheeks, Chiya began to bounce in her seat with expanding excitement.

"I can't wait until we take our friends vacation!"

This happy moment was shot to pieces, however, as she then looked out the bridge window. There were several men beginning to surround the ship—some holding shotguns. Chiya gasped and almost fell out of her seat. She took out her handgun and sprinted to the living room. Not good, not good…

She popped her head out the ramp and grunted, she was surrounded by a gang of sort. Rather than getting blown away in combat, the woman held her hands up and took a few steps down the ramp.

"What's going on!?" she panicked.

Many cheers and other manly sounds surrounded her, soon, she spotted a Japanese battle flag bandana on one of the men; this revealed to her who she was being captured by—yet again.

"Samurai Goroh, where are you!?" she demanded.

Moments later, the large samurai came walking through the crowd of pirates with his sword unsheathed. He had a smirk on his face as he stepped in front of Chiya.

"That's a fine looking ship you have there…"

Chiya lowered her surrendered hands, "I'm not letting you capture me this time, Goroh!"

She reached for her handgun but stopped as the crowd of the pirates responded by taking aim at her. Again, she dismissed her gun, but didn't hold up her hands. Goroh face palmed at her attempt to have him removed from the scene.

The pirate leader soon chuckled at her, even more surprise came with that he sheathed his katana, "Don't worry, Mysterian. Seppuku and I are on cordial terms, and I plan on keeping it that way," he lowered his glasses and winked. "So as long as peace between he and I benefits me. If he strikes it rich and there's plunder to score off of him, we'll aspire to cut your throat once more."

"How noble…"

The Mysterian shook her head, "Then, what do you want with me?"

"Heh..! I'd drop the hostile attitude, babe. Hostility will get you nowhere with me." Chiya was further provoked by this statement, but let it go. "You're trespassing in Goroh's nation now! Our base camp is just over that hill!"

"What?" Chiya gasped and took a step back, "You live in Red Canyon!?"

"No, but we operate here the most when not in space; no one knows of the whereabouts of this camp… or, at least they're not brave enough to try and clear us out."

"Yeah, well…" Chiya scratched her chin and challenged, "We called this gorge first, so, we'll just have to share the canyon!"

The samurai barred his teeth, "Shut your trap or I'll impose taxes on you." He crossed his arms and followed this up with, "We'll let you keep resting your ship here out of fear that you'll reveal the location of our camp. Violate this agreement I'm imposing on you, and I will see to it that you, your grease monkey mechanic, and Al Capone relocate into a cemetery."

Chiya gulped, "Fair enough."

Goroh signaled for her to follow, "Come along."

"No way!"

"You already know about our camp, we as might as well give you a tour."

She shook her head in defiance, "Go to Hell!"

Goroh chuckled, "You're a real firecracker, not even Seppuku is this rude to me." Chiya growled at him, to which he then turned and made an order, "Grab her."

Three pirates approached her with dirty hands, Chiya backed up and planted her feet down—this would be her second legitimate try at Seoli Idong. One of the pirates leapt at her, but was knocked down with a swift shift to the left. This pirate fell and hit his chin against the ship ramp. The other two rushed into her, but Chiya blocked both of them and kicked one in the chest; she wrapped her arm around the last pirate and tackled him down onto the ramp as well—thus leaving two of them in bad pain.

Chiya got up and patted her hands, proud to have made even Samurai Goroh raise his brows in surprise. Oh my God! I just kicked their asses..!

"I'm not going with you…" she stated.

Goroh hummed, "So, you're a Korean girl—I thought you came from Mysteria…"

Chiya smirked at him, "I do, I just have a good instructor is all."

"Indeed, you do." Goroh sighed and clenched his fists, "Oh, alright… I'll just have to do this myself…"

Chiya stomped her foot down, ready for a boss battle with Goroh. "I just beat your men with ease, you'll have to fight with all your strength to defeat me!" She narrowed her eyes viciously, "I warn you, it won't be easy…"

Minutes later, Chiya found herself tied up and being carried into Goroh's encampment. She had a very displeased expression.

"What do you want with me?" she demanded.

Goroh did not respond, he continued to carry her toward an enormous tent that was set up. Chiya found initial awe in how many tents were present in the encampment, all tents were lined up in rows. She could confirm that the largest tent belonged to Goroh, given the presence of the Fire Stingray beside it. Several of the pirates began to walk away from Goroh as they got closer to the tent, within seconds, only he and Chiya remained.

A familiar face came out of the large tent to greet the two; it was Goroh's second-in-command, Fortuna.

"Hello again, Ms. Flower," he greeted with solid eyes.

Chiya growled at him with a sarcastic grin, "I'd love to talk, but I'm a little tied up right now..."

"Ha!"

Goroh brought her into the tent, and placed her in front of a table with a candle; here he untied her. Okay, I'm here. But what does he want with me..? Though she was in fact free, the Mysterian had no intention of acting silly here—she would play Goroh's game for now. The pirate leader walked to the other side of the table and sat, then began to drink from a glass of tea.

Chiya's eyes widened upon spotting the tea. She then found that there was a cup of tea for her as well—much like the first time he captured her.

"Not this again…"

Much like the last time, Goroh drank his tea for about two minutes without speaking. Chiya was being even more impatient with him than the last time, and she made this known.

"I have places to be, cut to the chase, Fat Sammy."

Fortuna began to laugh at her remark, finding the nickname fitting. Goroh, naturally, took offense, "I'm not fat, I'm just of a large and thick craft. I've proven this to you already."

"You've also proven to me that your men can be bested by a twenty-three year old girl."

Goroh barred his teeth at her, "My, my!" he shouted. "While I'm battling the urge to kick you off a cliff right now, I must commend you, not many fools would dare approach me with the kind of attitude you've been displaying. You're either brave or the dumbest blonde I've ever met."

Chiya rolled her eyes, "Can I go?"

"Hold on, hold on…" he said while waving his hand. Yet another growl came from Chiya as he followed this up with more tea. "You'll be happy to know that I'm going to let you go unharmed. Like I said, I'm not looking for war with Seppuku, yet."

Chiya grinned at him, "Good. I'd like to go home, now."

"Let me first make an offer," He lowered his glasses and gazed into Chiya's Mysterian Blue eyes, "One I know you won't refuse, unless you're an idiot."

"An offer?" Chiya raised an eyebrow. What makes him think that we're buddies..?

"Look, it's no secret to me what's going on in your gang. A year ago Seppuku and I were doing gun trades like mad—but over time he continued to lower his prices and buy less frequently. Now he doesn't so much as contact me about potential trades." Chiya nodded with a raised brow. "This is telling me that you're becoming poorer by the day."

Chiya grunted at him, then clenched her fist at him, "We'll get out of this situation soon enough!"

Goroh chuckled, "Face it, without the gang war to make money off of, your little organization has three months, at best, before it collapses." Chiya shook her head in denial, but remained silent. "I've heard of your heroic tale of stopping Brock Blaskovitz, you beat me in that auction race, and you caused mayhem over my ship twice last year. Not to mention, you did take down three of my trained men. Clearly, you're a woman capable of many great things."

"That's right," she gloated. "If you're looking for an F-Zero non-aggression pact, I'll humor you. I don't like the idea of violence being on the track."

"Ha!" Unlike Baba and Dr. Stewart, Goroh saw no reason to establish such a pact with Chiya. "I never make non-aggression pacts with other racers. Anyone who stands between me and the prize is an enemy, I couldn't let a silly peace agreement conflict with that."

This was a hidden attempt at taking a potential enemy off the board; unfortunately, Goroh had no intention of meeting Chiya's first Grand Prix with guaranteed peace—he would attack her if she presented an obstacle.

"If you're not interesting in a non-aggression pact, then..." Chiya tilted her head and asked, "Wait, why do you care if our organization collapses? We're not enemies, you said it yourself."

Goroh, at last, spoke his proposal, "Join us."

Chiya gasped before striking her fist down, as though he had made a demand. "The Hell I will!" she responded with sarcasm. "I hate to break it to you, but there's no way in Hell I'd ever so much as consider that offer."

"We can make you money, I can get you in the Grand Prix, and you'll always be protected by my men. I only ask that you leave your deadbeat companions behind."

Unsurprisingly, Goroh's offer failed to merit any interest. "No, I value my friends more than your money, and Seppuku is all the protection I need."

Goroh struck his fists down, "What? I'm stronger than Seppuku! Not to mention, a more experienced racer. Join us and together we can win the Grand Prix and use the prize money to become an unstoppable pirate clan! Not even the Federation will be able to stop us as we plunder the known universe!"

Chiya launched herself onto her feet, "Perhaps you don't know me very well; I am Chiya Flower, future F-Zero racer, and you know, not a criminal!"

"You have a bounty on Mysteria," he argued. "You're just as much a criminal as I."

These words further provoked Chiya, who proceeded to knock her cup of tea off the table. "That doesn't concern you, wanker! I'm in hot water because of a family matter, not a legitimate crime!" The pirate leader raised his brows in surprise as Chiya then stomped one foot over the table. "And speak for yourself; even if I were a legitimate criminal, my 'wrongdoings' doesn't even compare with the atrocities you've committed!"

Goroh became silent and interested, but this interest began to fade with time. He shook his head at the fuming Mysterian and sighed. "I can see that I've wasted both yours and my time, but mostly mine." He pointed toward the exit, "Leave, you're a waste of breath and a damn fool..."

Fortuna grabbed Chiya by the arm and began pulling her away from the tent. She pointed back at him before being forced out and shouted, "I don't care how Seppuku feels about you, you're my worst enemy and I hate you!"

"I will take that to heart as we approach the Grand Prix." Goroh brought his hands together and concluded, "Pray that we do not cross paths on the track."

Chiya left his sight with Fortuna, and so with failed diplomacy, the pirate leader shrugged and returned to his tea. Given that he was one of few 'F-Zero legends', he needn't feel threatened by the possibility of a Chiya Flower adversary—there was no way a rookie racer could topple a legend, was his mindset on the matter. As for Chiya, she viewed Goroh as nothing more but opposition—of whom she now fully intended on beating.

A few minutes later Chiya came running back to her ship; the pirates had let her go without a struggle. Her hatred for Goroh was now refreshed with every desire to combat him in the Grand Prix if she were accepted by the committee. We'll be fine. We may be poor but we're not broke..! she challenged in her head. Her journey back to the Purring Kitten had ended, now she would take leave from Red Canyon without a second to spare. Given Goroh's position in Red Canyon in correlation to their ship's position, finding a new landing area would be within the interests of Chiya, Earl, and Seppuku. For the time being, the sad woman fretted over what Goroh had claimed—that Seppuku's organization was a short distance away from total collapse. Such a collapse could potentially put Chiya, Earl, and Mauser back on the streets.

"I don't want the organization to collapse, those two are all I have..."

The cockpit closed and the engine revved up; meanwhile, Chiya continued to shake her head in a mixture of sorrow and denial. He was lying. We don't even need money for anything besides F-Zero repairs… Deep inside, the young Flower knew that life in the base would have to end eventually, hence why she had to acquire an actual job as quickly as possible. By grasping a job, Chiya could ensure prolong the collapse by returning a flow of cash, and more importantly, she could ensure her continued employment past a potential collapse.

Earl and Seppuku, however, were the main concerns—not money. She could return to a life of no money, but never again does she intend on walking the streets by herself. No matter what, she would not let go of her companions.

Calmness was restored to Chiya as she drove back onto the main highway leading into Mute City. The more she thought about it, the more she became convinced that Goroh was trying to scare her into joining his crew. There was no reason for her to take Goroh's word to heart—who would lie, pillage, and terrorize for a living.

Great surprise came following a discovery as she approached the outskirt of eastern Mute City. There were blockades and armored military cars present on the highway. This was her second time leaving for Red Canyon on her own, and yet again, she returned to find a militarized police occupation.

"Oh my goodness!" she panicked.

Rather than slow down with a police front up ahead, she raised her speed—intent on once more reaching home to aid her friends. Given the occurrence of last year, Chiya could only suspect another faction war had erupted within the Lower City. Mute City must be under attack again, but by who..!?

Soon, Chiya reached the police blockade and was forced to stop. An officer hailed her with a hand movement, then made a hand gesture suggesting an order to halt. Blimey, this should be good... Chiya opened her cockpit and leaned toward the approaching officer.

"What's going on?" Chiya panicked. "Why can't I get in?"

The officer crossed his arms while looking at her, "Chief Commander Summer has ordered a complete lockdown of Mute City for the day. We have officers going to every door in search of Michael Chain—a former gang leader now on the run."

The Mysterian looked away with a feeling of guilt. "Fair enough, but as you can tell, I am not holding a muscular convict in here."

The officer examined her cockpit with a squint—the vehicle cockpit was too small to hold a convict. "You speak the truth, yes."

"So, can I pass through?"

To her surprise, the officer declined and explained, "There are too many officers on the streets, the Chief Commander has instructed that no one leaves or enters."

She gasped, "Unbelievable! Where am I supposed to go?"

He then pointed back toward Red Canyon, a large encampment was set up just short of the canyon which hosted many citizens locked out of the metropolis. "The Federation is directing all citizens to a temporary camp where we have food, drinks, communication, and medicine prepared. There you may try and acquire access to Mute City with an appeal, but you'll need an extraordinary reason to get past the Chief Commander's orders."

"This is insane!"

There was nothing more to be said on the matter. With a shrug, the officer turned and said, "Off you go, citizen."

Chiya expressed very brief rage, but wasted no further time in turning around and heading back to Red Canyon—though she wasn't heading toward the encampment as recommended. I guess I'll be sleeping in the ship…

Not much later, the woman sat in the bridge of her ship once again. Here she pulled out her emergency signaling device, Seppuku had written the base's phone number on the back of it. To her dismay, she was without food in the ship—only water. Along with this stood the continuing threat of the Goroh Clan being stationed no more than a mile or two over the gorge. Unfortunately, she could not enter Mute City nor could Earl and Seppuku leave. For now, she was separated from her team.

Taking the ship's phone into hand, she began to dial the phone number in question. You better pick up, Seppuku…

Seppuku and Earl were still discussing in his office, however, both were somewhat buzzed at this point from drinking. The conversation had shifted from theories about Brock Blaskovitz to the upcoming Grand Prix.

The lieutenant went on to explain his current thought, "I'm thinking I'll try patching things up with Guster. I don't need him pestering us while we race."

"Good idea. He seemed to somewhat like Chiya, maybe we can have her speak to him on your behalf once the Grand Prix begins."

"Have Flower speak on my behalf?" he scoffed."Good one, Earl."

The conversation was soon cut short as the phone began to ring, leaving both Seppuku and Earl shocked. Given that Seppuku's location was for the most part unknown, only so many people had the availability to contact him.

"Who knows your phone number?" asked Earl.

The Man of Darkness dipped his head down and bit down on his lip, "The only person who has our number is Jody Summer." He then struck both his fists down upon the desk. "She has the audacity to call me right after putting me under house arrest!?"

"You know Jody, she's a cold woman."

Seppuku put the phone on speaker, and again, struck his fists down. "Listen, bat! We're not friends—we're not even on a cordial level. So, speak quickly and stop wasting my damn time!"

Both men awaited a fired up response from Jody, but instead, they were given whimpering.

"Wa- Was my bacon really that bad..?"

Earl and Seppuku both gasped. Seppuku proceeded to demand, "Where did you find my number, Flower?"

"Do you really think I'm a bat?"

Seppuku face palmed, "Where are you calling from?"

"The ship," she answered. "Mute City is on lockdown and I'm not allowed to reenter while the Federation is searching for Michael Chain."

"Let me guess, Jody ordered this?"

Chiya gasped, then exhaled in relief. "Oh, that's who you thought was calling..."

Earl, panicking, raised a fist and said, "Chiya, just stay calm! We'll call Jody and ask for her help."

Unfortunately, Earl was not close enough to the phone to be heard. A confused Chiya proceeded to ask, "What's he saying?"

"Bendek says there's nothing we can do to help—right now, anyway."

On the other side, Chiya was twirling her hair around nervously; Seppuku chuckled, "You should see what Earl's doing with his hand right now. You'd be pissed at him."

"No, I'm pretty sure I've done that same thing behind your back once or twice."

Seppuku growled, "Say what!?"

Within a drawer found beneath the phone, Chiya was surprised to find a book containing Federation planet maps—the first page was a map of Earth. Her eyes widened as she looked over Asia, and just like that, the Mysterian hatched an idea that would solve all of her problems—including the threat of Goroh's crew returning to her ship.

After having a brief discussion with Earl, Seppuku returned to the phone and revealed his plan. "Just stay put in the ship until tomorrow, I'll have Bendek come up with some food first thing in the morning."

"Actually, I've made my own decision."

"Oh?"

Chiya nodded to herself, "I'm taking a vacation for a couple days. I'll be back on Christmas."

"What? A vacation?" Seppuku's words were somewhat tainted with biased discontent—as though he were opposed to her taking a trip that he hadn't planned. "Where the Hell are you going?"

Chiya smiled, "It's a secret."

"Secrets lead to treason..." he argued.

"Oh, Seppuku..." She placed a finger over the phone, prepared to end the call. "Yes, I'll return in five days. I promise I'll stay safe."

The sound of Earl objecting could be heard in the background—the tone of his voice gave this away. Moments after, Seppuku could be heard discussing the matter with him. Both men were likely opposed to her taking leave, especially with Brock Blaskovitz perhaps on a hunt for her.

"Bendek doesn't want you to go, he thinks you'll-"

Chiya cut him off, "Tell Earl that I'll miss him, but I need to do this."

In a serious tone, the man asked, "Are you sure?"

"Farewell, Seppuku." She hung up on him and returned to the map, an inspired face formed. "I'll make sure this is a Christmas to remember…"

She then pointed at Mute City—in Japan—and dragged her finger to the west.

"Mute City, to..." Her finger stopped right over a peninsula, where she then tapped.

"Korea."

To be continued…