==Lap 20=

The sun was shining, the ocean was gentle, and the fans were out of control. Big Blue was moments away from kicking off the first race of the annual Grand Prix, despite being a racer, Chiya was amongst some of these excited F-Zero fans. Unfortunately for her, F-Zero diplomacy had ultimately failed. Jody was being non-negotiable with Seppuku, and Princia provoked Chiya into waging war. Along with these two things, she had to deal with Blood Falcon, who now had enhanced the Blood Hawk into the Hell Hawk. Goroh and Guster were aligned with her, but she was secretly disregarding their alliance to make things easier for her, only this wouldn't. She had to ensure that no one learned about this pirate alliance, otherwise she risked losing Captain Falcon as an ally, along with many of her fans. She could also kiss her chances of becoming model racer away-a title given to the best role model racer. Captain Falcon was the current holder of the title.

Chiya found herself staring at the hovering signal, the number 3 was brightly lit up. A shock went through her body as the classic tune of Big Blue began to play in the speakers; Chiya personally loved the Big Blue theme, but this was her first time racing with music, and she feared that it would ultimately be a distraction to her.

"Racers, at this time you may start your engines!"

Earl observed Chiya closely from the private booth, he had a fairly nervous look on his face, "Good luck, and I never got to tell you…" he smiled and brought his hands down to his waist, "Happy twenty-fifth birthday."

Chiya put her finger over the accelerator button as she waited for the signal to take off, she smiled and lowered her eyebrows, "-and happy thirtieth birthday to you, old man."

"Hey, thirty isn't that old…"

She chuckled, "I know, only five years older than me. That's not too bad…"

Chiya's eyes widened upon looking back up at the starting line, the race was about to begin at long last. Chiya took one final breath, then exhaled slowly. She narrowed her eyes and licked her lips.

"I'm ready…"

The monitor flashed for a second, the time was here…

Three. Two. One. Go!

Chiya was instant on the accelerator, arguably, she was the first one to take off. She had initially made her way to fourth place, whether she was the first or not to hit the accelerator, she had gotten an unusually good start.

"Good start, Chiya!"

The Purring Kitten immediately found itself in a good position, the Hell Hawk was leading the pack in first, the Blue Falcon in second, and right in front of her was the Red Gazelle. With only Princia and Blood Falcon aiming for her, Chiya felt obliged to help Captain Falcon this year if he were in danger. Despite that she was racing, this was one of the first things she had on her mind; improving her relations with Captain Falcon.

The Red Dove and White Cat were immediately clashing machines as they drove down the very scenic track of Big Blue. It was a rivalry that was practically destined to go hot; Seppuku had saved Jody from her burning machine two years ago, now the two were trying to kill each other. Regardless of his person, however, Seppuku wasn't actually trying to kill Jody-just retire her from the race.

Seppuku growled loudly and slammed into the White Cat roughly, a large smile was forced onto his face after doing this. He groaned in pleasure and bit his lip, "O- oh God! That felt, so, good!"

Jody did a spin attack, which brushed him off of her instantly. Since Seppuku was pressed up against her, the spin attack merely shaved his machine. The two had already been passed by several racers as they fought. Surprisingly, no Federation members were jumping in to help her, but she could hardly care at this point.

Chiya softly rammed into the rear of the Red Gazelle, she was tapping her fingers down on the dashboard impatiently as she tried to maneuver the cyborg. Captain Falcon and Blood Falcon were neck-and-neck for first, Chiya was still in fourth. The Golden Boar was driving closely behind Jody and Seppuku. The racers had just entered a long pipe-like part of the track that took them under water.

Chiya gasped as she gazed upon the aquatic life of Big Blue; there were fish and interesting plant life all around her. The tube was made out of a very durable type of glass, not even an explosion could puncture it.

"Earl, this is the most beautiful scene ever!"

Earl was watching the race from a large screen that hung over the track, he could see the drastic change in environment for himself, "That does look pretty nice."

The Blue Falcon and Hell Hawk had finally clashed together in an attempt to push another racer towards the safety railing, but this was only slowing them down. The Red Gazelle had assumed first, while Chiya trailed him by merely half a second. The Golden Boar had passed Jody and Seppuku and was now in third.

The Spark Moon was quickly gaining speed as everyone drove down the tube, her machine seemed to be gaining on just about every racer that was in front of her. She smirked and raised an eyebrow at the sight of Jody and Seppuku fighting. Princia certainly didn't intend on centering her full attention on Chiya, she had reason to hate both Seppuku and Jody as well.

Seppuku side attacked Jody, but he had ultimately failed to deliver a strong enough blow to her machine. Jody prepared to counter-attack, but Seppuku had hit a boost pad just in time. The Red Dove, along with many other machines had boosted a bit ahead. As if there wasn't enough frustration on Jody's plate, Princia had momentarily ran up to her side and did a spin attack. The White Cat was forced against the safety railing fairly roughly, but not severely.

Chiya and Mighty Gazelle were coming up on the very sharp turn that Chiya had issues with in the video game. She lowered her eyebrows and prepared to tackle this obstacle confidently. The Red Gazelle did a powerslide quickly, repositioning his machine completely; Chiya did the same. The two machines swiftly did their powerslides and continued down the tube, the other racers followed them closely.

The Red Dove was coming up on Chiya, the Spark Moon and Golden Boar was behind him. Chiya lowered her eyebrows nervously as she stared at the cockpit of the Red Dove. Would Seppuku attack me to make this more convincing..? She considered this nervously, but decided that the best course of action to take was to pretend that he indeed was trying to kill her. She would take careful measures to avoid him.

The Spark Moon momentarily bumped into the rear of the Red Dove. Seppuku grunted and looked back; he growled loudly and shook negatively.

"Don't make a girl who obsesses over kittens an F-Zero diplomat…"

Chiya gritted her teeth as she watched her friend get pushed around by Princia, she wanted to help, but was unsure if this would look suspicious to Jody. She looked forward and glared at the Red Gazelle.

"Why is it that I always have a problem with you!?"

Suddenly, the Hell Hawk had rushed around the corner and joined in on the struggle against Seppuku. Captain Falcon was nowhere to be found. Chiya gritted her teeth and growled loudly.

"Earl! Where's Captain Falcon?"

"Blood Falcon prevented him from doing the powerslide at that one turn. He fell back a few racers."

"Bloody Hell…"

"I say fall back and help him."

Chiya looked up at the Red Gazelle and narrowed her eyes, "But then I'll fall really far behind!"

"If you get second place, you get second place; that would only shave about five points off of your overall in the end."

Chiya thought about this for a few moments, falling back meant that she would be faced with both Princia and Blood Falcon; Blood Falcon being the toughest. Ultimately, Chiya decided that this wasn't suspicious in the slightest on the account that both Princia and Blood Falcon were enemies. She decided to give Mighty Gazelle an easy run, for now, and slowed down.

The Hell Hawk was just about on Seppuku's rear, while the Spark Moon was almost perfectly to his side. She was ultimately trying to catch Chiya, but she considered Seppuku an enemy as well.

Chiya surprised Princia by coming to a brief stop right in front of her, forcing her to run into the Purring Kitten. She had immediately picked up speed and was now on Blood Falcon's side. Seppuku looked back at Chiya and smirked.

"Chiya, be careful, both Princia and Blood Falcon are in good positions to attack," said Earl.

Fortunately, Seppuku returned the favor and slowed down, bringing the three together. Princia was riding Chiya from behind, but was unable to get on her side due to the wall of racers. Seppuku struck the Hell Hawk to the right, this left a gap open between Chiya and Seppuku. Princia clearly intended on slipping through this gap, but she wasn't going fast enough. In response to Princia's advancement, Chiya performed a spin attack that whipped the Spark Moon back into the Golden Boar. James McCloud passed both of these racers and proceeded to fifth.

The racers had finally come out of the tube and were now racing in beautiful sunshine once more. Seppuku was for the most part succeeding in keeping Blood Falcon pinned, the Hell Hawk was about a meter away from hitting the safety rail—but he wouldn't back down. The racers did a series of twists as they went up the track; a boost pad was just up ahead that would take them off of an edge. A short distance off the edge was another tube that would take them under water.

Chiya switched open her airbrake button and repositioned herself in preparation for the boost pad. Seppuku was going to take a pass on the boost pad and keep Blood Falcon pinned—undoubtedly this would put the two racers back quite a bit.

The White Cat was behind the Little Wyvern, James McCloud was the one who fired the bomb at Black Shadow's ship during the Battle of Green Plant—but she had no room for heroes in her heart. She rammed into James and bounced off of his machine. Chiya hit the boost pad and went soaring off the edge, Seppuku and Blood Falcon simply leapt off the edge and landed roughly. Chiya glided far up ahead going nearly 2,000 km/h. She had gotten Princia off of Seppuku, so she was going to trust that he could fend off against Blood Falcon on his own while she tried to catch the Red Gazelle.

"Blimey, I don't even see Gazelle!"

Earl took a few moments to look at some statistics, "Monitor says that Gazelle is about four seconds ahead of you."

A gasp broke out of Chiya's mouth, "What!?"

"Not sure, he must be well prepared for this race."

Chiya grinded her teeth while grunting softly. Finishing the race in second place wouldn't be bad, but she mostly feared that Gazelle's initial success on the track was a warning sign that he would once again be a major threat.

"How close am I to the checkpoint?"

"A few more turns and you'll be coming up on double-sided restoration pads and three boost pads. Obviously, take the boost pads over the energy for your first lap."

"Aye'."

Chiya continued to race down the tubular track, to her surprise, she was also already far ahead of everyone else. Gazelle was now only about two seconds ahead of her, but she was two seconds ahead of Seppuku and Blood Falcon. Despite not currently being in first, the boost of morale was surging within Chiya's blood.

She made one final turn and now drove in-between the restoration pads, she went through three boost pads and immediately flew off another edge. She swiftly soared through the air and landed just short of the checkpoint.

Blood Falcon had quickly dashed into the restoration pad to regain what energy Seppuku had taken from him, Seppuku took the boost pads and temporarily secured third place. Jody had also gone into the restoration pads briefly. Jody, James McCloud, Dr. Stewart, and Princia Ramode were all closely behind Blood Falcon. Despite being completely surrounded by hostile racers, Blood Falcon continued to race with a confident smirk.

Chiya was now authorized to use boost power as she crossed into her second lap, she didn't hesitate to exert energy. The Purring Kitten and Red Gazelle were clearly going to be the rivaling racers for the second lap. Both were boosting several times, but unfortunately, the Red Gazelle had a far superior booster. Despite this inconvenience, Chiya was still gaining on him.

The Red Gazelle was moving down the track with pitch-perfect accuracy, but even Gazelle found himself frantic upon spotting the Purring Kitten behind him. Unless some mistake was made, it seemed that neither of the two would end up behind any of the other racers. The reason behind this was fairly obvious, however; many of the racers were trying to engage in combat, while Chiya and Gazelle desired to race.

Blood Falcon was laughing as he drove. The most idiotic sight he had ever seen was occurring literally around him. The White Cat and Red Dove were fighting each other around the Hell Hawk—as if the true villain wasn't present. The Spark Moon had boosted into third place, but no one seemed to care. Blood Falcon was overcome with joy to see those who should be working together to fight a common enemy, trying to destroy each other.

Blood Falcon shook negatively as the White Cat drove into the Red Dove harshly, "Personally, my bet's on Seppuku, that bat doesn't-"

He grunted loudly as the Hell Hawk was rammed into from two sides, he looked both ways and found that the Blue Falcon and Golden Boar were striking him from separate sides. He hummed loudly with an intense grin and put his finger on the spin attack switch.

"Die!" he shouted excitedly.

Everyone except for Seppuku gasped, the Hell Hawk had begun to do some type of advanced spin attack. A wave of energy had blown his opponents away temporarily.

"What did we just see here!?" the announcer shouted in disbelief, "It appears, that Blood Falcon has installed some type of modification into his combat module!"

Earl grunted loudly and grasped his headset, "Chiya, be careful, Blood Falcon modified his machine with some kind of power that can blow you away!"

Chiya gasped, "T- that's not fair! The committee doesn't allow non-street legal modifications!"

"It looks like the committee is going to allow it!" the announcer shouted excitedly.

Chiya lowered her eyelids and sighed loudly.

The Spark Moon was now visible to Chiya's rear, the Red Gazelle was still a fair distance ahead of Chiya. What was clear to just about everyone at this point was that both Chiya and Gazelle had a clear understanding of the track. Many of the other racers were accidentally scraping the safety railing or making some other minor mistake that would put them back. Chiya had already practically forgotten about the Jody-Seppuku ordeal, all that seemed to matter was that she won the first race of the Grand Prix.

The Purring Kitten boosted forward a few times, a restoration pad was coming up-Mighty Gazelle seemed to have forgotten about this, so he conserved his energy. Both Chiya and Princia came flying towards the Red Gazelle at top speed, Gazelle had now realized that something was wrong on the account that the two were boosting so much. After a few seconds, he boosted as well, having realized that a restoration pad was around the curve. He was too late though, Chiya and Princia were now mere meters away from him.

Jody pulled away from Seppuku and narrowed her eyes as she glared intensely at the blood red machine. The Hell Hawk was a bit ahead of the racers, but Jody had a mission she was determined to complete. She found that she was in a good position to perform a side attack on Seppuku, all she had to worry about was whether he would do the same-which would result in a very uncomfortable clash.

She forced the wheel to her left and barred her teeth as she slid towards Seppuku quickly. Just before she could perform the side attack, Captain Falcon had slipped in-between the two racers. Jody gasped and threw her finger off the attack button.

"Dammit, Falcon, get out of my way!" she shouted aloud.

Seppuku took up the opportunity and boosted away from the two, he quickly drove up to the Hell Hawk and prepared to strike. Jody tried to maneuver around the Blue Falcon, but he was blocking her path. This was frustrating Jody greatly, but she knew that actually attacking Captain Falcon was out of the question. She growled loudly and grasped her forehead.

"Oh my God! This is idiotic!"

The racers had entered the tubular part of the track once more, Chiya and Princia were at long last attacking each other. Chiya had an adrenaline rush through her body ever since she had woken up, this was helping her anticipate Princia's every move. Princia side attacked, but Chiya boosted as she did this. Princia mimicked her by boosting as well, the Hell Hawk and Red Dove were finally gaining on the three racers. Chiya, Princia, and Gazelle all came across the sharp turn, only Gazelle was truly prepared for this. He did a long powerslide, but Chiya's was ultimately faster. Princia also performed a good powerslide, but she couldn't pass Gazelle on time. Chiya was now leading the racers in first.

Seppuku and Blood Falcon did their powerslides, but Seppuku had intentionally rammed into him at the last second, thus letting the Blue Falcon, Little Wyvern, White Cat, and Golden Boar pass them. Samurai Goroh was now behind Seppuku and Blood Falcon.

The White Cat quickly slowed down and fell back with the Red Dove and Hell Hawk. Seppuku grinded his teeth and growled furiously.

"Holy Hell, just calm down already!"

Jody was unmerciful, however, she did go for both Seppuku and Blood Falcon this time by doing a spin attack. Seppuku grunted as the front blades of the White Cat left a long tear across the front of the Red Dove's body, revealing what appeared to be yellow paint. Blood Falcon had merely been pushed back by this attack, as his machine was clearly much more durable. Captain Falcon hit the brakes, deciding that he would join in on the fight. The Blue Falcon crashed into the White Cat, then proceeded to do a spin attack on the Hell Hawk, sending the racers back even more. The Fire Stingray had passed each racer with ease.

Chiya grinded her teeth and growled softly as she looked back at the Spark Moon, "This woman just doesn't know when to quit!"

Earl chuckled, "Kick her ass if you feel like it. To Hell with diplomacy."

Chiya smirked, "I'm doing good, I don't wanna' risk the win by getting my machine retired."

First place was firmly being held by Chiya as Mighty Gazelle was blocking Princia's every move. It seemed that she was in a great position to retain the lead until the end, but then Gazelle did something that not many racers would do-but in all actuality he was being very cunning. He moved aside for Princia.

"H- hey, what's he doing!?"

The Spark Moon drove towards the Purring Kitten quickly, "I'm not sure, just hold your position!"

Neither Chiya nor Earl understood what Gazelle's motive for doing this was; he moved aside to let them fight, as this would inevitably slow both racers down and bring him back to first.

Chiya gritted her teeth and looked up, she was exiting the tube and would be making the jump in a few moments, "Whatever, I still have an entire lap to shake this warmonger…"

Princia boosted forward and slammed into Chiya, but distance between the two racers were too close to have an effect. Chiya narrowed her eyes at Princia and gritted her teeth, Mighty Gazelle passed them seconds later. At last, the Red Dove and Hell Hawk were coming up from behind the two racers. Captain Falcon was gaining on those two, while Jody trailed him.

Earl was rubbing his chin as the high speed war went on, a report on the screen had suddenly been displayed in the corner. He raised an eyebrow and hummed with heavy intrigue.

"Chiya, the F-Zero committee just discovered something about Blood Falcon's new spin attack."

Chiya was constantly swerving around Princia, constantly attacking and defending in the same pattern, "O- oh, do tell..!"

"They detected that the spin attack Blood Falcon did, used up a portion of his machine's energy."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows in confusion, but she hadn't actually gotten the chance to see this special spin attack. She shrugged and looked up with a quirked mouth, the boost pad and edge was coming up quickly. Her energy meter was in the yellow, but she was determined to shake Princia and perhaps catch Mighty Gazelle.

She boosted away from Princia and aimed for the boost pad; she ran over this as well and went flying off the edge towards the second tubular area. Princia's energy was lower than Chiya's, so she merely used the boost pad and glided down.

Samurai Goroh had finally boosted far enough to catch Princia, he grasped his wheel tightly and growled at the sight of the Purring Kitten. He felt that Chiya wasn't being the ally he wanted, having expected that she would fall back and help Goroh and Guster keep a lead alongside her. Guster was very far back, but Goroh found himself in fourth.

Seppuku had finally gotten a lucky smash on the Hell Hawk—forcing the machine against the safety railing for several meters. Blood Falcon had finally submitted and hit his brakes, allowing for Seppuku to once again race. He was in fifth place and was just a bit away from Goroh, Jody was still trying to reach Seppuku, but Captain Falcon was imprisoning her on the track.

Seppuku boosted forward, the Fire Stingray was quickly coming within his reach. Goroh looked back at the approaching machine and grunted, "Huh!?"

He boosted once more simply to avoid the attack Seppuku would inevitably bring. Surprisingly, Seppuku boosted yet again, despite his energy level. The two racers immediately came up by Princia, who was only a bit behind Chiya.

Chiya ran through one of the restoration pads for a few moments, then moved to the center quickly—she was able to get through two boost pads before making the jump off the edge. Her machine soared quickly through the air; she initiated the airbrakes and softly landed under the checkpoint, now entering her final lap. The two boost pads had helped her catch up to Gazelle, who was only able to hit one boost pad. She looked back and grunted at the sight of Goroh and Seppuku now right behind them, they had easily passed Princia.

Goroh glanced up ahead at Chiya and growled, "Come on, any day now!" he shouted angrily.

Goroh was expecting that Chiya would fall back and aid her ally, especially since she claims that Seppuku was hunting her. He became angrier by the second, confused as to why Chiya was still racing independently. His confusion had momentarily turned into distraction, as he now found himself driving in a straight line. Seppuku smirked and savored this opportunity by moving to the far right.

Chiya continued to race, but she looked back and gasped at the sight of Seppuku locking his machine to the side, "S- Seppuku, wait!" she shouted aloud.

Seppuku took one mighty swing at the Fire Stingray, instantly sending the machine off the track and into the water. His machine plunged deep into the water, but momentarily came back up and began to float.

"Samurai Goroh has been retired from this race by Lieutenant Seppuku!" shouted the announcer.

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and hummed nervously, "That's…" she swallowed and sighed, "Goroh might want to kill me when we get home…"

Seppuku momentarily boosted forward, now desiring to pass Chiya. She gasped and boosted as well, Princia remained in the back of the three leading racers, determined to attack both Chiya and Seppuku.

Jody finally had enough of Captain Falcon's containment and had boosted into the Blue Falcon, this sent Captain Falcon swerving as she simply made her way up the track again. She knew that Seppuku was near Chiya, so she was desperate to get up the track and save her.

Chiya wasn't underestimating Seppuku, she wouldn't be surprised if he would actually try and attack her for the sake of making the fake rivalry look real—so she was treating the situation like a real rivalry. She had just as much of a concern being anywhere near Seppuku as she did with Princia. Chiya boosted again, but this time she had a feeling that she'd come in contact with the Red Gazelle, and she was right. She had finally bumped into the Red Gazelle while trying to evade Seppuku, with less than a lap to go, she had to keep Gazelle from retaining the lead any further.

Seppuku prepared to boost towards the two racers, but Jody and Captain Falcon had both simultaneously reached his machine. He growled immensely at the White Cat and boosted away from her.

The racers had filled up on a restoration pad and all began to boost towards the first tubular part of the track. Chiya was giving Gazelle a fairly hard challenge as she fought for first; fortunately, Gazelle didn't appear hostile to her. She boosted past him with a smirk and quickly got in front of him to block his path. Gazelle boosted forward, but Chiya had gotten lucky and blocked his path—which merely wasted a portion of his energy.

"Way to go, Chiya! Just keep blocking his path, he can't boost forever!"

Chiya nodded and studied the machine carefully. She was assuming that he would boost ahead of her at some point, but if she were lucky and continued to block his boosts, he wouldn't have enough at the end to catch her.

The two came up on the sharp turn, Chiya widened her eyes and snapped her fingers, realizing that Gazelle would use this to his advantage and boost ahead of her. But she was one step ahead of him.

Chiya boosted early and performed a very sharp turn; her speed had hardly reduced at the slightest. Gazelle hadn't planned for this, and ended up boosting as well; only he boosted at a bad time. Instead of making the sharp turn, he ran into the safety railing before getting back on track. This reduced his speed down to about 500 km/h for a second—enough to put him in a difficult position. Captain Falcon, Jody, and Seppuku had passed Gazelle; Princia was close behind the cyborg.

Chiya was now both in first and far ahead of the other racers. Chiya's fingers were tightly wrapped around the wheel as she now had the easiest part of the race—she needed to keep the lead and simply race.

Seppuku continued to wrestle around with Jody, Captain Falcon was now focusing more on the race on the account that he was now in second place. The two machines were both fairly damaged now; Earl was left utterly shocked by how violent Seppuku could truly get on the track. For some reason, regardless of how much punishment the machines got, both remained strong. One thing was for sure, Earl was going to have his work cut out for him in the garage—and this was only the first of five races.

Seppuku was pushing Jody towards the safety railing slowly; he knew that if he could simply push her into the railing, he could drain her energy simply by dragging her against the metal for about a mile.

Jody attempted a spin attack, but this didn't work since the machines were pushed together. Instead of performing a spin, her machine merely pushed the Red Dove into a strange angle. Seppuku retaliated by attempting a side attack, which practically had the same effect as Jody's attack. Mighty Gazelle and Princia maneuvered around the two conflicting racers and rushed up the track, hoping that they may still catch Chiya.

Chiya boosted up the track with the energy she still had stored. Blocking Mighty Gazelle's boosts also helped her conserve energy, as she didn't have to waste any trying to catch up. She looked back and saw both Princia and Mighty Gazelle approaching her quickly, but not fast enough. Chiya puckered her lips and put her hand down on the speed limiter.

"Time to bring things up a notch!"

She pushed her maximum speed up to maximum, causing her machine to easily go much faster. Both Princia and Gazelle took note of this change in speed and boosted again, but Chiya did so as well. A few moments later, Chiya came darting out of the tube and onto the boost pad by the edge. She went through the boost pad and made the jump; she quickly performed her flight and nearly landed in the next tube perfectly. Princia and Mighty Gazelle had turned up their speed as well, but Chiya simply wouldn't budge. The final spark of hope anyone could have of Chiya falling behind would be if she made a mistake.

Seppuku took in another rough hit by Jody, he grunted as his cockpit began to flash red constantly; he looked down and found that he was nearly depleted of energy. He growled and very quickly side attacked Jody, this nearly snapped one of her front fins off of her machine. She grunted as well, now finding that she too was low on energy—but not as much as Seppuku.

Jody and Seppuku drifted away from each other for safety, both exchanged glances from their cockpits. Seppuku lowered his eyebrows and growled, he could tell by the flashing of her cockpit that Jody couldn't take any more punishment, one more successful strike and she would be retired from the race. Of course, he also risked getting hit himself, which would retire him. Regardless of the built up tension, Seppuku still valued winning the prize money over beating Jody. Both rivals were thinking the same, and a temporary ceasefire had indirectly been established for the remained of the race.

Chiya swerved around a corner with Princia and Mighty Gazelle practically hanging onto the back of her machine. Chiya boosted one more time, causing her cockpit to flash red, but she ran over a restoration pad quickly. Instead of gathering full energy, she drifted into the centered and hit the first two boost pads. She moved into the restoration pad once more for a brief second, then back to the center to hit the final boost pad. It was finished, both Princia and Mighty Gazelle needed to gather more energy if they were to have any shot at winning—but both were only able to reach two boost pads.

Chiya boosted in midair and took a final dive without initiating her airbrakes; she simply took a nosedive down to the finish and crashed at the finish line. She hit her head on the roof of her machine roughly as she did this, but her machine surprisingly hadn't been scratched at the slightest.

Mighty Gazelle and Princia momentarily passed the finish line. The Chiya Flower fans instantly broke out into excitement at her decisive first win. Chiya immediately did a powerslide rather than proceeding to her garage, she opened her cockpit and immediately stood up after whipping her headset down onto her seat.

She fired her hands up into the air and cheered loudly, she was showboating to the F-Zero community wildly.

The overall Grand Prix standings were displayed on the screen: Chiya held first; second, Mighty Gazelle; third, Princia Ramode; fourth, Captain Falcon; fifth, Lieutenant Seppuku; and sixth, Jody Summer.

Chiya continued to dance around in her machine, fans laughed and cheered over her excitement. Thousands of photos were being taken of her jiggling around in her slick racing outfit. Earl was clapping his hands while laughing from his private booth.

The other racers merely passed her and left for their garages, except for one racer. Chiya continued to dance for the fans, but suddenly the Red Dove ran into the Purring Kitten intentionally. Chiya briefly screamed and fell back into her cockpit. A combination of booing and laughter ensued; Seppuku merely drove off the track with a smirk.

Earl and Seppuku later found themselves back aboard Chiya's ship. Chiya remained at the track to sign autographs and answer interviewers, but Seppuku had to leave before Jody had gotten the chance to stalk him out of the track. Fortunately, he had gotten back to the ship before Jody even had the chance to leave her garage. As nice as Big Blue was, the three planned on leaving the planet immediately after Chiya returned from her interviewing. Earl and Seppuku were watching F-Zero TV from the living room of the ship.

The channel was showing a segment of Chiya's interview that had been taken about half an hour ago.

"Ms. Flower, what was the most pressuring part of today's race?"

Chiya raised her eyebrows, "By far the most pressuring part was trying to pass Mighty Gazelle with Princia trying to destroy the Purring Kitten."

"On the topic of rivalry, what do you think the Mysterian and Magican community will think of this win?"

Chiya smirked, "Well, it was Princia who provoked this rivalry. I would hope that I made my people proud, but the Magican people should be proud as well, their leader took third today, and that's a pretty nice accomplishment that not even I can do too easily," she rubbed her hands together and licked her lips, "While I do represent my planet in the Grand Prix, I'm hoping that both governments will see eye-to-eye in the future and cooperate as friends…"

"Fascinating, very mature for a woman of your age."

Earl and Seppuku jolted their heads up in shock as the loading ramp to the ship momentarily began to drop, and the large door began to open. Earl spun around and gritted his teeth nervously, fortunately, it was Chiya. She parked her machine inside and closed the loading ramp and door quickly. Earl and Seppuku walked over to her, she opened her cockpit and immediately leapt down with her arms shot up into the air.

"Whoo!"

Earl smirked, "Whoo!"

"Yea-ah!"

Seppuku crossed his arms, "Yay…"

Chiya proceeded to throw several punches into the air rapidly while jumping, "That was an exhilarating first race! I'm still so full of energy too! Hell, I could do the second race right now!"

Seppuku yawned and nodded, Earl smirked, "You sure look excited, and I'm certainly excited that you won this first race!"

Chiya spun around and kicked rapidly, Earl and Seppuku both grunted loudly, her kicks were abnormally fast. Earl grasped his forehead and lowered his eyebrows, "Oh my…"

Seppuku hummed slowly as she continued to exercise intensely, she began to jiggle around constantly while humming the tune of Big Blue loudly, "I can't wait to get home and start constructing Good Odds—give me a hammer and some nails, and I'll get it done!"

Seppuku slowly nodded at her with a look of intrigue, "That's right; I'm true to my word…"

Earl smirked, "Yep, you gotta' help us."

"Well, I'm not some liar, like Jody; as stupid as it sounds, I'll help turn that once glorious bar into the greatest looking pet shelter ever made."

"Wooho-o!" Chiya shouted with her fists fired up into the air.

Earl and Seppuku had covered their ears as she shouted, Earl was happy for Chiya, but also somewhat disturbed to see her even more excited than usual. She continued to dance around rapidly, her feet were moving very robotically as she danced.

Seppuku lowered his eyebrows at her and quirked his mouth, "Well, Flower, you beat me, Jody, Captain Falcon, Blood Falcon; everyone," he slowly slipped off his right glove and held his hand out with a bland expression, "Congratulations…"

Chiya beamed at his hand and immediately grasped it, "It was a great race, with more great races to come!"

Seppuku squeezed her hand very tightly as he shook, Chiya's smile remained heavy, but her eyelids lowered slightly as they shook. Earl was smiling at the two, happy to see Seppuku giving Chiya well deserved recognition for once.

Chiya momentarily retracted from the grasp and yawned loudly, "Oh, man, that handshake is quite…" she blinked a few times and gritted her teeth, "Pretty energy consuming…"

Seppuku stood tall as he put his glove back on, he nodded at her and chuckled loudly as he cracked his knuckles, "So, the Bat isn't up for negotiations, unfortunately…"

"Don't give up hope; she just needs time to see the light. I'm sure she'll have come to her senses now that you explained your case," she lowered her eyebrows and grunted, "You- you did explain that you're good, right..?"

"Yeah, but she refuses to listen to reason…"

Earl shrugged, "Hey, all we need to do is get your name out there. Do some heroic deeds."

Seppuku gasped, "Good God, Bendek's right!"

Chiya puckered her lips, "He is?"

"I am?"

"If I can convince the public that I'm on their side, and that Jody is trying to kill me, she'll lose whatever support she still has!" he smirked and flexed his fingers, "If we're lucky, she would continue this hunt even after my image is changed, and she'd be fired…"

Chiya grasped her forehead and exhaled loudly, "Where would she go?"

"Probably follow in my footsteps and become a vigilante, like the damn hypocrite she really is!"

The three had later left Big Blue and were now on their way back to the Milky Way. They didn't plan on going to Earth yet, they were going to sleep in space once more and land in the morning. Chiya and Earl sat on the floor with Seppuku with a chocolate cake on the floor. Chiya had her mouth full of frosting; Earl was eating a slice of cake as well. Seppuku had taken a bite of his cake, but ultimately didn't like it.

Chiya looked up at Earl and smiled, "This is the best day ever. First place, it's our birthday, and our two year friendship anniversary."

Seppuku crossed his arms, "Bendek, you're thirty now; you're lucky to have scored with such a young person at that age."

Earl smirked, "She's only five years younger than me.

Chiya nodded while sucking on her fingers, "Yeah, it doesn't bother me that he'll be an old man before me."

"Yeah, well don't worry about him. In about twenty-to-thirty years, you grow wrinkles, your boobs deflate, and your Port Town turns into a nuclear wasteland…"

Chiya glared at him and shook negatively, "I can get implants when-"

"Hey, Chiya, you've got some frosting on your lip."

She slowly lowered her eyelids and smiled romantically, "How about you come and have a taste..?"

Seppuku covered his mouth, resisting the urge to laugh. Earl shook negatively while smiling, "You can just lick it off."

She lowered her eyebrows and nodded; she scooped the frosting off her lip with her tongue and smiled again. Seppuku put his hand down on Earl's shoulder and grinned.

"Throwdown."

Earl widened his eyes and grunted, "Oh, yeah, right…"

"Are you ready for the upcoming matches?"

Chiya slowly looked down at Earl's crotch with a concerned look; Earl moved his hand over his crotch and cleared his throat while looking at Seppuku, "Uh, uh, yeah…"

Throwdown was something that hadn't crossed Earl's mind for nearly a week. Of course, Earl was now very scared that the same thing would happen to him. The pain he had received down below was excruciating and left him temporarily bruised.

"E- Earl doesn't have to-"

"No, no, I'll be there…"

Chiya continued to stare into Earl's eyes nervously, she knew that he was scared, and this would only affect how he fights. If there was any way she could help him, she would find out.

Later that night, Earl was lying in bed while trembling. He could see that his hand was shaking constantly out of fear; he had made a promise to Chiya that he was now ready to put into effect. He gasped silently as Chiya's bed was slammed against his, creating a much larger bed in the ship. He turned his head slowly with an immense quivering smile of fear.

Chiya was in her nightgown and was staring down at him with an intense smile, "I've been so excited for this day…"

"Yeah, me too. Taking things to another level…"

She leaned over her bed while still smiling as she fluffed her pillow, Earl was looking deep into her eyes, but every few seconds he caught himself glancing down at her cleavage. This time he avoided the arousal by turning his head towards the ceiling. He whistled loudly and crossed his arms.

"It seems that every day that goes by, it becomes more and more impossible for us to ever break up."

Finally, Chiya leapt onto her side of the bed and got down on her waist, "But that's a good thing!"

Earl nodded, "I know, I'm very happy."

She continued to smile at him for several moments, but her smile momentarily faded away upon gazing down at his hand. She found that he was trembling, and that his words were very frantic. She brought her feet up to her rear and lowered her eyebrows.

"Oh, w- we don't have to do this, if you don't feel comfortable…"

Earl lowered his eyebrows, "You would go back to sleeping independently if I wanted?"

Chiya frowned, but nodded, "Yeah…" she rubbed her arm and puckered her lips, "I like sleeping alone with Mauser, sometimes…"

Earl continued to stare into her eyes sadly, but ultimately he toughened up and shook negatively, "No, I do want to merge beds, honest," Chiya smiled again, "It's just, that, I'm a bit…" he lowered his eyelids and bit his lip.

Chiya grabbed his hand and smiled passionately, "I understand what you're saying."

He gasped and dipped his head down, "Yo- you do? Oh God, I'm so sorry-"

She closed her eyes and smiled, "This is a time for sleep, not…" she rubbed her arm and lowered her eyebrows, but she couldn't build up the strength to finish the sentence.

Earl exhaled loudly and held his hand out, though he didn't quite want sex, he wasn't going to shoot down the idea either, "-not to talk about finances and such!" Chiya raised an eyebrow at him, "There's a lot of nice things that come out of sharing a bed, the joys of making sleep a Bendek-Flower activity being one of the many pleasures."

Chiya giggled somewhat and nodded, "Alright."

Earl crossed fingers with her, "Let's just start off seeing if we like this whole thing. If you don't like it, I'll head back to my room," he rubbed her fingers with a quirked mouth, "If you do like it…" he turned his head away from her and grinned, "I guess we can start doing other things at night; like watch movies, snuggle, and kiss…"

Chiya's eyes began to water happily, "I'd like that…"

Earl took off his shirt and pulled Chiya's blanket up to their waists, he reached out towards the lamp and turned it off. The two rested their heads as they enjoyed their first night of permanent partner slumbering. Chiya closed her eyes with a cute smile, Earl closed his eyes with a smile as well. Earl was prepared for nights of good rest and silence…

"Earl..?"

He opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow, "Yeah?"

"Do you like stars?"

He rubbed his chin and closed his eyes again, "Yeah, pretty majestic…"

She smiled and dipped her lip under her blanket, Earl closed his eyes again and exhaled.

"Good-night, Earl."

He nodded and turned his head. The room was silent for a few more moments, but Chiya opened her eyes again.

"Why do you think Captain Falcon chose the color blue?"

Earl slowly opened his eyes with a smirk, "…oh boy…"

Something Earl hadn't thought accounted for, was that Chiya would likely want to talk all night about general topics. Regardless, never again would Seppuku wake only Chiya, if Chiya woke up, Earl would wake up, and vice-versa. The days of Chiya and Earl being unwed continued, but this couldn't possibly go on much longer; and considering how fast the two were taking things…

…they would undoubtedly be parents by next year…

To be continued…