Chapter 24: Preparing for the race

As promised from Xin Fu, the parts of a podracer were delivered to Toph's home. Outside the apartment, Ricky was busy building up his podracer. Allen, Ben, Will and Wall-E were helping him, Saber (now dressed in a white shirt, dark blue ribbon, long dark blue skirt and black boots) was standing behind him, looking furious and her arms are crossed while Rukia was meditating nearby.

"You really are the craziest guy I ever met." Saber said icily. "What were you thinking?"

"I know what I'm doing. I'm trying to free Toph." Ricky said, building his podracer.

"But that doesn't mean you have to go all the way to participate a race in which you may get yourself killed or become a slave to the Faction!" Saber snapped hastily.

"If I were you, Ricky…" Rukia spoke up as she stops her meditation for a moment, making everybody turned to her. "I say go for it. Go win that race and free Toph."

"What?" Saber yelled as she frowns at her.

"If Ricky cares about Toph so much, let him enter the race and free Toph. Back in Japan, I too had the same scenario." Rukia explained. "I was on patrol duty back then, until I came across a young boy."

Flashback:

(4 years ago)

Rukia walked down the streets of a Japanese village with her zanpakuto on her side until she heard crying. She turned to a dark alley and walks into it. There, she found a young boy crying while kneeling next to a dumpster.

"He was lost and couldn't find his parents anywhere." Rukia continued.

Rukia walked over to the boy and the boy stops crying and looked at her with red puffy eyes. Rukia kneeled down to his level and smiled weakly as she holds out a hand to him. The boy smiled back and grabs her hand.

"I helped the boy because I too got lost in the streets when I was a little girl. So I felt sympathy for the boy and decided to help him find his family."

Rukia and the boy hold hands as they happily walked down the streets. They continued walking down until they both found a couple of parents, turning their heads around in concern.

The boy's smile widens and runs over to the parents. "Mommy! Daddy!" The boy cried as the parents turned to him.

The parents smiled and run over to their son. "Oh, where were you?!" The mother cried as she grabs her son and she and her husband hug him tightly. "We were so worried!"

"Mom, I'm sorry." The boy cried.

"It's okay son. At least we found you." The boy's father smiled as the mother gently puts the boy down. The boy then turns around and points at Rukia.

"This girl helped me find you guys!" The boy said happily. Rukia chuckled and smiles sheepishly.

"Thank you so much for taking care of our son." The mother said to Rukia gratefully as she and her husband bowed down to her. Rukia smiled and bowed down back to them.

End of Flashback

"So there you go." Rukia finished telling her story to her friends. "So Ricky, if you do take about Toph so much, I think you should go for it. Win the race and free her." She nods to Ricky.

"I agree with Rukia." Allen smiled. "She does make sense to me."

Ricky turned to Saber. "Please, Saber?" He asked sadly. Saber stares at Ricky for a few seconds, then sighed heavily and shrugs.

"Alright. Let's go build that podracer." Saber said. Ricky smiled, walks over to Saber and hugs her. Saber blushes and hugs him back. After that, they both let go of each other and Saber took a wrench with a grin. "Let's start fixing."

The group then gets to work. Allen reads the thumbprints of the podracer. "Be sure to be careful of the energy binders, guys." Allen motioned to the purple glowing energy beams connecting the turbines. "If any part of you gets caught in the beam, it will go numb for hours."

"Got it." Ben said as he, Will and Wall-E works on the energy binders.

Meanwhile, Saber is connecting a few wires on the inside of the side of a turbine.

Later, Ricky climbed onto the cockpit of the podracer with a battery. "This power recharge should do the trick." He said as he puts the battery in the dashboard.

"Alright, let's hope it works." He said. Allen, Ben and Saber nodded as they and Wall-E moved out of the way as Ricky was about to turn the pod racer on. With that, Sora flipped the switch, and the engines soon came to life with a roar. The pod racer was now fully operational, and fit to race.

"We did it! It's working!" Ricky yelled.

"Awesome!" Allen cheered.

"Great!" Saber said happily.

"Yay!" Wall-E said. Ben and Rukia both simply smile.

"Hey Will!" A voice said. Will turned and smiles as she sees two familiar figures. They were Katara and Sokka.

"Katara! Sokka!" Will said as she walks over to Katara and Sokka and hug them.

"Heh. Nice to see you again." Sokka laughed. Will lets go of them and Katara and Sokka both looked at Ricky's podracer in awe.

"Wow, are you guys taking part in the race?" Katara asked with a look of interest.

"Yeah. My friend Ric-um, I meant Raiden, is taking part in the race to free a slave girl named Toph and win the million dollars." Will said. Ricky walks over to them.

"So, are these two your new friends?" Ricky asked Will.

Will nodded. She turned to Katara and Sokka and introduced them to Ricky. "Katara, Sokka, this is Raiden."

"Hi Raiden." Katara said as she reaches out her hand. Ricky smiled and shakes it.

"Hi Katara. Hi Sokka." Ricky said.

"Hey Raiden, since you're taking part in the race, how about we sing you a song of good luck?" Sokka suggested. Ricky laughed.

"Sure, why not?" Ricky smiles as he shrugs. Sokka then plays his lute and Katara starts singing.

Katara: Count on me through think and thin
A friendship I will never end
When you are weak, I will be strong
Helping you to carry on
Call on me, I will be there
Don't be afraid
Please believe me when I say
Count on...

I can see it's hurting you
I can feel the pain
It's hard to see the sunshine through the rain
I know sometimes it seems as if
It's never gonna end
But you'll get through it
Just don't give in cause you can...

Count on me through think and thin
A friendship I will never end
When you are weak, I will be strong
Helping you to carry on
Call on me, I will be there
Don't be afraid
Please believe me when I say
Count on...

Ricky nods his head and said, "Thanks, you guys. I appreciate the song."

"Good luck at the race." Katara said as she and Sokka bowed before they leave.

Later that night, Saber blindfolded Toph as she soon as she returned home from work. She then takes Toph to the back of her home.

"Where are you taking me to?" Toph asked puzzled.

"Don't worry. You'll find out soon." Saber smiled playfully. Upon arrival at the back of the house, she removes the blindfold of Toph. "Surprise!" She cheered happily.

Toph then widens her eyes and smiles happily. She sees Ricky sitting in his cockpit of the podracer which he and his group finished building. Ricky gets out of the cockpit and walks over to her and Saber.

"So Toph, what do you think?" Ricky asked with a grin as he kneeled down to Toph's level.

"I-I-I…I love it!" Toph said as she looks at the podracer amazed. She couldn't believe it. Ricky actually done it. He actually build a podracer.

Ricky smiled. He knew that Toph would love it. "Great. Now all I got to do is hope I can win that race."

Toph then hugs Ricky tightly and Ricky stares at her. "I hope you do, Ricky." Toph whispered as she closed her eyes sadly. "I hope you do." Ricky smiled and hugs Toph back.

Saber smiles sadly as she sees this. Ricky cares about Toph a lot, he really does. She too hopes that Ricky wins the race. Toph really doesn't deserve being a slave for life. She deserves much better.

END OF CHAPTER

Ryo: And I'll end the chapter here. I know, short chapter. In the next chapter, it's the actual race! Who will come out on top? Stay tune and read and review!

The song Katara sang is Whitney Houston's Count on Me (Yeah, I shorten the song). Sorry LuckyKazeLight. I did accept your song 'That's what friends are for.' at first. But after some more thoughts, I don't think the song is good enough. Maybe I'll use it in a later chapter.