==Lap 53=

Chiya was sleeping tightly in her bed, she had Earl's jacket up against her cheek. Chiya's mission was over, but not with results that she had wanted-Michael Chain was alive and wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon. Chain was a changed man, simply wanting to start over and become a renowned machine parts maker, he no longer desired to gain control of Mute City.

Chiya had later made it home, but Fiona had locked herself inside of her room before Chiya could greet her. She knew that she wasn't in danger, rather she didn't want to speak-likely assuming that Michael Chain was dead. Chiya now knew the truth, that Fiona and Chain knew each other and helped each other out. Fiona simply didn't want Chain dead. Chiya also wanted Edward to show up in the evening, though he never showed up. She could understand however, as he had his own life and may have simply not had the time to stop by. All Chiya did, was get home and hit the bed, immediately becoming saddened at the fact that Earl had not made contact in any way with her yet. Chiya was counting down the days, there were only two left. However, Chiya wasn't counting down how long until she would return to Earth, rather she was counting down to when she would see her beloved friend once more.

Slow footsteps could be heard approaching her bed, but Chiya remained sleeping calmly. She made a grunting sound and grasped Earl's jacket more tightly, slightly rubbing her nose on it. The footsteps stopped right in front of her. Excalibur stared down at her and crossed his arms, this was the second time he walked in on a sleeping Chiya, and once again, she was in a heavy slumber. He looked down at her face and grunted at the sight of the jacket up against her face-easily recognizing it as Earl's.

"How precious."

Excalibur then began pulling out a small device from his belt and held it up towards her. A screen on the device then displayed the sleeping Chiya, he positioned it so both her and the jacket was perfectly fitted. He then pressed a button that sent a quick flash around the room. He simply took her picture and nodded at it. Excalibur carefully turned around and went towards her door again, he looked back at her slowly and nodded, then proceeded out of her room.

Excalibur closed the door and began walking back to the kitchen, for whatever the reason, the photo was all he needed from Chiya this time. He put the device back inside of his belt and calmly walked back to the entrance. He opened the door and pulled out his keys, looking back at the shiny black F-Zero machine he owned called Thunderbolt. Excalibur then gasped and stomped his foot down at the sight of something, or someone.

Dark Rose was leaning against his machine with an excited smirk on her face. Excalibur then marched over to her while flailing his hands in the air.

"I thought I was clear on what I wanted from you," he said strictly.

Rose grunted and lowered her eyebrows, "Look, I'll be fine, I'm just gonna' kill her now while she's sleeping," Excalibur continued to stare at her with a solid stance on the ground, Rose then smirked at him, "Whatc'ha doin' here?"

"Collecting more data on Chiya."

Rose nodded and pointed at him, "We can kill her together, how about that?"

She then gasped as Excalibur roughly grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly, "You're not killing Chiya, it's unnecessary."

"What? But you want to kill the mechanic, why can't I kill his girlfriend?"

Excalibur crossed his arms, "We need Chiya alive, for interrogations and stuff." Rose was about to challenge this, but he quickly put his finger over her lips, "If we kill both Earl and Chiya, then all that's left is Seppuku, he'll run, and we'll have an even harder time capturing him."

Rose lowered her eyebrows and shook negatively, "My objective is to kill Chiya." She then held up a knife and smirked, "Whatever the cost."

Excalibur tapped his foot down constantly, looking deep into Rose's red eyes. She had a look that was begging for a response, or even a challenge, but Excalibur saw that there was little he could do to persuade her. He then sighed and grabbed her hand, Rose grunted and looked up at him.

"It was supposed to be a surprise, but the team just put a TV and move player in your room."

Rose gasped and widened her eyes at him, "Wh- what? Really!?"

Excalibur nodded, "I'll watch a move with you, whenever you want, but only if you leave back for the ship right now."

Rose continued to stare at him while trembling, but then got a dreamy look on her face and began to melt, "U-uh, u-uh, yeah, b- but Blaskovitz was supposed to pick me up in a few days, I'm stranded here."

"I brought my ship, you can just come with me."

Rose beamed at him and nodded, momentarily putting her knife away, "I can just kill Chiya another time…"

Excalibur nodded and patted her back, "Right, another time."

He then grabbed her hand and began walking back to the Thunderbolt, which could hold multiple passengers. Rose continued to smile as she sat in the back of the machine-the machine's interior was very similar to the Red Dove.

"Who needs Earl when I have Excalibur…" Rose muttered silently with puckered lips.

Many hours later, Chiya woke up with a shocked look on her face. She was still holding Earl's jacket and found that she was silently hyperventilating. That was a terrible day… she thought sadly.

Chiya took her hand off of the jacket and sat up, she pushed her hair behind her back like usual and stood up. The very first thing Chiya wanted to do was confront her Mom about the Michael Chain matter. She expected answers, wanting to know why she didn't tell her the truth about him from the start. Of course, Chiya had her slight suspicions that Chain was bluffing for his life and didn't actually have anything to do with Fiona. Either way, Chiya was about to get her answers.

As always, Fiona was standing in the kitchen. She was now cleaning glasses that Seppuku had drank out of-she hadn't cleaned many of the dishes up until now. Chiya slowly approached her from behind and lowered her eyebrows, she then exhaled and bowed.

"Mom."

Fiona slowly turned her head around and nodded, "Oh, good m- er- I'm sorry I wasn't awake to see you last night, I was very tired…" Chiya nodded at her understandingly, but wasn't quite believing this to be the full truth, "Did you find Michael Chain?"

Chiya nodded at her, Fiona then lowered her eyebrows, "And you killed him?"

Chiya dropped her arms down and sighed, she hesitated to answer, but momentarily looked up at her with watery eyes, "N- no…" Fiona exhaled in relief, Chiya then dipped her head down, "He's a good man now, I couldn't kill him, so I've failed my mission…"

Fiona smiled and shook negatively, "It'll be alright Chiya, I can survive with this debt, I have this entire time, haven't I?"

Chiya shut her eyes tightly and shook negatively, she then whipped her eyes up at her and growled, "Mom, why did you give all your money to Chain? Why? You should've just paid off your own debt with Don Genie…"

Fiona chuckled and crossed her arms, "Chiya, Mysteria needs Michael, he has a brilliant mind and mechanical skills that we all wish we had…" she then waved her finger at herself, "But me? I'm just an old soccer mom, my kids are out of the house, I'm a widower, I'm unemployed, and fairly depressed."

Fiona then turned away from Chiya and put her hands down on the counter, "The way I saw it, I would die, so he could live and continue improving lives-then so be it."

Chiya slammed her fist down on the table, "Chain killed a lot of people on Earth Mom! You're the better person!"

Fiona shrugged at her, Chiya then sighed and crossed her arms together, "Why did you lie to me? Why couldn't you just tell me that you two were friends?"

"Because, you had said it yourself, you were prepared to kill him no matter how changed he may be-if I told you, you would've squeezed the information out of me and killed him."

"But you still gave me the information Edward brought over, why?"

"Well quite frankly, I envisioned you would call Michael rather than attacking his location-I seem to have underestimated your bravery," Fiona then got a frustrated look, "I don't know what the Devil you and your friends do, but I can tell that you've changed Chiya, you're a murderer now."

"Murderer!? No. All of my killings have been justified."

Fiona turned around and shrugged, "I don't want to speak about this any more, what's done is done, I'll cope through this debt."

Chiya narrowed her eyes in frustration and turned around towards the door, she then began marching away in a fury. Fiona watched as Chiya loudly kicked open the door and began moving towards the shed. Chiya had a clear look of fury in her steps as she moved, but Fiona could understand why she was angry. Chiya had not only failed to get Fiona out of debt, but now she was stuck on the planet with nothing to do for a few more days. Fiona let out a heavy sigh and shook negatively.

Dark Rose and Excalibur were now watching a movie together in her room. Rose was very happy and felt that her life had finally gotten somewhat better. She now had a TV, movie player, and someone to watch with for the time being. Unfortunately, her TV wouldn't be able to pick up any actual television networks-meaning it was solely for movies and videos. As she lacked a couch in her room, the two simply sat on her very plain looking bed.

Rose was overly excited at all of this, but she continuously looked up at Excalibur with a puzzled look. She couldn't tell what Excalibur was thinking, his helmet made it impossible to tell if he was happy or not-and he was not making any sounds whatsoever. Rose rubbed her chin as she looked up at him, he appeared very concentrated on the movie. Rose slowly moved her hands up to his helmet, preparing to remove it from his head. Excalibur jolted his head up as soon as he felt her gentle hands grasp his head.

Rose gasped as Excalibur quickly grabbed both of her hands and roughly sent them downward towards his waist instead. Excalibur then looked at her, "What are you doing?"

Rose smiled, "I wanted to see your face."

"My face shouldn't concern you Rose."

Rose gritted her teeth and shook negatively, she then put her hand on his shoulder, "No, it does, you're my best friend and I want to know-"

"I'm a stud, most of my comrades in the Korean Civil War could tell you that, but the helmet stays on."

Rose frowned and swallowed nervously, she then nodded, "I- I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

Rose looked back at the movie, she then began to press her fingers together a few times and puckered her lips, slowly glancing back up at him, "Bu- but, how about when someone wants to kiss you? Won't you have to drop the helmet?"

Excalibur didn't respond to this, rather he looked downward at the floor, "I respect you Rose, but I'm on a mission of my own."

Rose widened her eyes and rubbed her forehead, "You respect me?"

He nodded and looked down at her, "You're a good looking woman who's fun to be around, you know, when you're not being crazy."

"C- crazy?"

Excalibur nodded at her, "Your obsession for wanting to kill Chiya is strange and kind of stupid, it's the only reason I couldn't view you as a human."

Rose gasped and lowered her eyebrows sadly, "I- I'm a human! Like you!"

"But no human obsesses this much over an innocent girl," he then shrugged at her, "Basically, you're a human on the outside, but a machine on the inside."

Rose sighed and dipped her head down, "But I'm the superior Chiya Flower…" she closed her eyes and turned away from him, "There's only room for one Chiya-"

"Why?"

Rose grunted and looked back at him, he momentarily paused the movie with the remote and turned his entire body towards her, "Why can there only be one Chiya Flower? Why can't you serve as a copy of her that co-exists in the universe?"

Rose held her forehead and sighed, "It's not my fault Excalibur, I was programmed this way in the cloning process…"

"I know, but don't you get it, you only believe that you are a puppet." He momentarily pulled a small book that was on the edge of her bed and opened a few pages. He momentarily pointed at a page and showed it to her, "You drew this pretty picture of a cat, are you actually telling me that Black Shadow intended for this?"

Rose lowered her eyebrows and shook negatively, "No, b- but I do like cats, and to draw."

Excalibur nodded, "As I said, I truly think you're a great person, even a kindhearted person, you're just really confused right now."

Rose stared at him for a bit, then sighed and put her hand on his with a saddened look, "You're not really here to help us, are you?"

Excalibur looked her in the eyes, momentarily looking away from her, "I'm a mercenary, I go where I'm best paid-but there's something I need from this ship, and I know only you can help me find it."

Rose smiled at him, "Please join Dark Million, even if we don't talk much, you're one of the only reasons I haven't given up on this sad excuse of a life."

"I'll consider it, but first I need you to show me-"

Blood Falcon then kicked open the door while chuckling, Rose gasped and turned around, then got a look of discontent, "Oh, it's just you…"

Blood Falcon crossed his arms and shrugged, "Am I interrupting something?"

Rose gasped and quickly took her hand off of Excalibur's, "No! Just watching a movie."

Blood Falcon looked at Excalibur then smirked, "Excalibur hasn't gotten to beat on you yet, has he?"

Rose let out a panicked gasp and shook negatively, Excalibur crossed his arms together, "Beat on her?"

Blood Balcon began to chuckle, "Usually when she fails to complete her mission, Black Shadow lets us practice on her."

"God no, I didn't fail my mission, I- I just-"

"That's terrible, I'd never lay a finger on Rose."

Rose gasped and looked up at Excalibur, "Y- you wouldn't?"

"That's a fairly heroic thing for one to say Excalibur, you sure you belong here?"

Excalibur and Blood Falcon then proceeded to stare at each other, Rose was looking back and forth at the two constantly. Excalibur momentarily chuckled and shook negatively, "I don't care what Black Shadow says, you won't be laying a finger on her while I'm present."

Blood Falcon growled at him and quickly pointed at Rose, "Black Shadow wants to see you in his throne room."

Rose was still staring at Excalibur in amazement, momentarily looking back at Blood Falcon, "Right then…"

Chiya later came walking back into the house, she simply contemplated around the shed for a bit and was now much calmer. She sighed as she walked straight into the kitchen, immediately positioning herself behind Fiona. Fiona slowly turned around and raised an eyebrow at Chiya.

"Alright, I'm cooled down now," Chiya dipped her head down and sighed, "I just wanted to free you from Don Genie so badly…"

Chiya then sat at the table and began to groan faintly. Fiona quickly sat down with her and tapped her finger down a few times, "I'll make it, and I imagine you can still get me out of debt with a bit of work." Chiya looked up at her and lowered her eyebrows, "Win the Grand Prix, paying me back would be little of an issue with that much money."

Chiya growled again and held her forehead, "I- I think I can, but I have so many bloody enemies on the track to worry about," she then gave Fiona a heavy look, "I know I could win, it's my destiny, and everyone believes that I have the potential to be a superstar racer…"

"Because you are a superstar in progress, Chiya…"

Fiona turned around and picked a magazine up from the sink, she then slapped it down on the table. The magazine was titled Push for the Gold and had a picture of Chiya and the Purring Kitten on the front. Chiya continued to grunt in shock at this, then looked up at her.

"You're a celebrity on Mysteria, they sell toys, stock hats, souvenirs, posters, everything based on you."

Chiya smiled, but then got a sickened look, "Chiya Flower sex toys…" she muttered in frustration.

Fiona quirked her mouth and nodded, "Uh, well, maybe you can view it from a different perspective…" she then puckered her lips and shrugged, "Just means a lot of guys would have sex with you."

Chiya shivered and grabbed her arms, "Yeah, that makes me feel s-oo much better…" she said in a sarcastic manner.

"Chiya, I shouldn't be the one to worry about, not when your little sister is out on Sand Ocean, alone, like you were on Mute City."

Chiya sighed and closed her eyes, she tapped her fingers down a few times as she bit her lip, "Was Abby excited to learn that I was an F-Z-"

Fiona slammed her hands down with a gleeful smile, "I remember the day well, it was her senior year and she just barged in here with a picture of you," Chiya smiled at her and leaned in towards her, "I had no idea you were a racer, I honestly feared what may happen to you, I mostly feared that you would resort to prostitution or something."

Chiya stuck her tongue out in disgust, "Prostitution? Never. That would be the scariest and most disgusting thing I could ever do."

Chiya smirked and closed her eyes, "I'm sure I'll give someone the pleasure of my body, but intercourse is basically a wedding ring in my eyes-if I do this, then I'm marrying this person for sure."

Fiona closed her eyes and nodded with a smile. "You're lucky, I can tell just by Earl's appearance, that he has a large-"

Chiya gasped and slammed her hand down constantly, "What the Hell!"

Fiona began to laugh as she put her forehead against her arm, Chiya now had a fairly red face and was constantly glancing away from her, "I- I don't really care what size he may be, it would probably be the only one I see in my life, so I'll never have to do a comparison." She puckered her lips and lowered her eyebrows, "Besides, Earl is a clean man, he probably hates the idea of sex."

"Ah, he thinks the same way as you with it, he stated that he would only do that with the person he loves." She then closed her eyes, but slightly opened one eye at her, "But he said that his partner has to make the move first."

Chiya nodded, then got a blown away look. She pounded her fist down at the table and began grinding her teeth, "Why were you talking about sex with Earl!?"

Fiona began to chuckle and glanced away from her, "Oh my…"

"You can imagine that I don't like talking about this subject, after you betrayed Dad for a night of bloody fun."

"Bloody passion," corrected Fiona.

Chiya growled and gripped her forehead more tightly, "Seppuku was here for mere days…"

"Robert was a great man dear, but our romantic life ended as soon as I became pregnant with you."

Chiya's eyes immediately began to water, "Y- you mean, because of me you t-"

"No, no, no. But after our sexual life died, he continued his burning passion for Socialism that he pretty much disregarded me." Fiona then growled and shook her fist, "In the end, we only stayed together because we had to-if we broke up, both of us would go broke."

Fiona then looked at Chiya sadly, "What you have to understand, is that we worked through this because we wanted what was best for you and Abigail."

Chiya nodded, "So he's nothing to you now? The name Robert Flower carries no weight anymore?"

Fiona shook negatively, "I like to remember him as the nice and fun man I married," She then shut her eyes tightly and growled, "Socialism is what ruined him, it took over his life, and stole him from me."

Chiya stood up and grabbed a white apron off of the counter, she then turned around and smiled, "Y'know, I'm allowed back here now, and I sure feel welcomed by the Mysterian people, so…" She tied the apron around her and smirked, "We can talk about these things any time, but I'm only here for two more days. Let's relax and just get more mother-daughter time in instead of discussing these hard feelings."

Fiona smiled at her and stood up, "Let's make a dish that combines fruits and vegetables."

Chiya let out a heavy gasp and stepped back, "Y- you can do that!?"

"Yes, in some cases."

Chiya licked her lips and smiled, "Yes! This sounds delicious already!"

A knocking could then be heard at the door. Both Chiya and Fiona turned around with surprised looks. Chiya then smiled and nodded, "I told Edward to stop by again."

Fiona nodded, "Be polite and ask him if he'd like to stay for the dish."

Chiya nodded and grabbed the door, she cleared her throat and opened it without hesitation-she then widened her eyes and gasped at the sight of a massive muscular body in front of her. Michael Chain looked down at her and smirked. Chiya gasped and leaped back, immediately reaching for her handgun.

"I thought we were over this…" said Chain.

Chiya held the gun at him and gritted her teeth tightly, Fiona ran over and looked at Chiya's target. She then lowered her eyebrows and grabbed Chiya's hand, forcing the gun down.

"Chiya! That is not how you greet a guest."

"It's how Seppuku usually does…" she muttered back.

"Come in Michael."

Chiya grunted and dropped her arms like noodles as the large man marched past her alongside Fiona. She bit her lip nervously, she couldn't see any weapons on Chain, but she had a recurring fear that he was either trying to mug, rape, or even kill Fiona.

Chain sat down at the table roughly and stretched his arms, "I see you were about to make something."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows and looked at the two constantly, Fiona nodded and inched her finger at Chiya, "Me and my daughter were about to make something."

Chiya nodded and quickly got in front of Fiona defensively. Fiona lowered her eyebrows and pushed Chiya to the side.

"Forgive my daughter's rude behavior, she thinks you're danger."

"It's fair game, I terrorized her a lot last year with my gang-and nearly killed her a few times."

Chiya hesitantly put her gun away and sighed, "I almost killed you too…"

Chain put his elbows on the table and nodded, "I agreed with Chiya that the Bloody Chain would be protecting you from now on."

Fiona gasped and looked back at her daughter, "You didn't tell me that…"

Chiya nodded, "I'm not leaving without some kind of solution to the problem."

"Don Genie won't get his hands on you with us around."

Fiona had a somewhat frustrated look on her face, but wasn't prepared to argue with both Chiya and Chain. She nodded and turned around towards the sink, "Alright Chiya, get a bowl…"

About an hour later, the bowl was empty. Chain licked his lips and nodded in approval, "That was good."

Chiya tapped her cheeks a few times in frustration. Woulda' been nice if ya' didn't eat it all… Chiya got a fake smile and gave him a thumbs up, "Thank you."

Fiona crossed her arms and looked at Chain, "So as far as protection goes, what are you going to be doing, exactly?"

"If Genie plans on hurting you, we pull the plug on him."

Chiya beamed at him, "Can't you just do that now?"

"The Mysterian government loves Genie, so killing him should be our final solution to the problem."

Fiona lowered her eyebrows, "Everyone kills, what is this? I bet even Abigail kills now…"

Chiya shook negatively, "Mom, me and Chain were at war with each other-of course we both kill." She then grabbed Fiona's hand and shook negatively, "But as of right now, the only targets I have are the ones in Dark Million."

"I don't want to talk about your targets."

Chiya looked back at Chain and raised an eyebrow, "Are you still gonna' race?"

Chain shook negatively, "My F-Zero career is over, I would have to build a completely new machine and everything."

"Eh, Seppuku probably wouldn't have let you in our alliance anyways, I don't think anyone is going to actually support you helping me."

Chain nodded at her, Chiya then looked up at him with saddened eyes and sighed, "Are you sure you will protect my Mom?"

"Yes, me and my boys will protect her until she is free of this debt."

Chiya continued to stare at Chain, but momentarily nodded, "Thank you…"

Many hours later, Seppuku walked out of his office. He knew Earl had entered the garage not too long ago, but Seppuku was unsure as to when he got back from his trip to the Gambling Area. Earl hadn't disturbed Seppuku at all since he left, naturally, Seppuku was fearful that Earl might kill himself-as he was merely thinking of the worse case scenario to him being obsessed with Chiya. Earl was arguing however, that he wasn't obsessed with Chiya, rather he was just scared for her.

Seppuku opened the garage door and grunted in shock at what he was looking at. The Red Dove was completely fixed up. There were no holes, no dents, and the machine was washed. Seppuku covered his mouth and blocked a gasp. Earl had fixed the Red Dove up very quickly and professionally. He then looked over at the workbench and found Earl writing in a notebook.

"Bendek!"

Earl grunted and looked over at him, "Yes sir?"

Seppuku approached the Red Dove and ran his hand across the metal in amazement. He turned towards Earl and raised an eyebrow, "You did a superb job, better than usual, what changed?"

Earl smirked at him and shrugged, "Well…" He set down his notebook, he was writing about his experiences as the Armored Death Sentencer. "After gambling a bit, I feel much better, so I got the Red Dove all fixed up."

Seppuku raised an eyebrow at him, "You're not afraid that Flower might be in danger?"

Earl shook negatively, "Nope, I trust that she'll make it."

"What about Rose trying to assassinate her?"

Earl stared at him for a few moments, but shook negatively, "Nah."

Rose was sitting alone on her bed with her hand on her cheek, she was staring at the paused movie that she had been watching with Excalibur. Sadly waiting to see if he would come back and finish it. Rose took out her assassin knife and observed the blade with a sad look, momentarily sighing as she dipped her head down.

"Rose is the clone of a soft and lonely girl, after all…" Earl concluded.

To be continued…