Thank you all who reviewed! Now there are too many to name. And I own not Oban!
Molly couldn't sleep. She knew her race against Kailua was unfair. The light was made to make someone lose, but whom, Molly didn't know. Who would want Earth to lose and would be really sore if a plan failed? The answer hit her like a ton of bricks: Toros, colonel of the Crogs! He'd want it, the ultimate prize, to conquer earth.
Earlier that night…
After her race against Kailua, Molly and her team went to the special ceremony, honoring the 6 champions. (Yes, early I know, but there is a method to my madness, just hang on.) The champions were to assemble in the center to hear the Avatar. Molly went down and stood on the stone marked for Earth. Suddenly, the stones on which the racers stood rose up, causing Molly to almost lose her balance. The Avatar appeared in a flash of light.
"Well, we're certainly not in Kansas anymore." Don Wei muttered from his seat.
"Well done champions," The Avatar's voice boomed. "Toros, Colonel of the Crogs." The stone under him lit up, as it would for them all when introduced. "Rush, of the planet Virus. The special envoy of Adelube, Super Racer."
"Nice outfit," Molly muttered.
"Aikka, Prince of Nourasia."
"Prince Aikka," Molly said. He looked at her and smiled, causing her to blush.
"The representative of the Earth coalition, Molly. And Spirit, Ambassador of Naphil. You will all race in turns against each other; each victory earns you one point. The 3 teams with the most number of points will race in the finals on the planet Oban. Race like the wind champions, towards Oban, and the ultimate prize."
Present…
Her first match was against Toros, right after Aikka raced Spirit. Aikka lost and his beetle's leg got cut by Spirit's wing. Molly saw him on the injured beetle walking past the earth's pit while she was in the cockpit, checking systems and getting ready.
"Prince Aikka," She murmured when she saw him.
"Looks like your boyfriend took a beating." Jordan said mockingly and he strapped into the turret. "Not that he didn't deserve it."
"Don't go there Jordan." She said as she started the engines. "We still have to do better than the prince."
"That shouldn't be too hard to do. The guy rides a bug" He switched off the link as Molly shrugged. "This prince is a grade A loser. Why does she care so much about him?" He asked himself.
Molly flew out of the pit and to the arena entrance. Toros came out of the other side in a red ship with 3 trident prongs at the end. The stones dropped and they were off. Once again I shall not reply the race in detail, instead I shall be brief. They start off, Jordan's shooting at him without affect and Toros was trying to ram them. Molly turns on the hyper drive to get distance between them; Toros turns on his hyper drive and the trident prongs, went into ramming speed and sliced the Arrow 2 in 2. The ship fell to the side of the track and Toros went through the winner's gate.
Back in the hanger, Koji and Stan diagnosed the Arrow 2, the hyper drive was shot and it would take a while to fix it. Koji went up to Don Wei,
"Racers can always be repaired. It's them I'm worried about." He nodded towards Molly and Jordan who were sitting over to the side. Don Wei walked over to them. "Every racer must lose at some point in their career. It only makes them stronger." He walked off upstairs.
"Well, that was nice." Jordan commented.
"He didn't mean it, as usual." Molly said. She took her clothes off the line, got dressed, and went outside to find Setis sitting on the rock. She ignored him and turned down the path, picking up speed. She ended up running in the rain. She stopped in a shelter and looked out.
A weird noise made her turn around. Aikka's beetle was shrieking at her, its wings unfurled, trying to scare her away.
"I didn't know the Nourasian pit was so close." Molly said. The beetle shrieked at her again. "Take it easy big fella, I'm not gonna hurt you." She saw its leg bandaged. "You had a rotten day too, huh?"
The giant insect closed its wings and let her pet it. Molly heard a noise upstairs. She went up and looked in the room. Prince Aikka was sparing with the older man she'd seen when she first met Aikka. The teacher was telling him to keep his guard up. They went at each other a few times till Aikka glimpsed her.
She gasped as his sword came right in front of her. "Molly. What are you doing here, this is not the moment."
"I thought that maybe you'd like t o talk since we both lost a race."
"Lies!" Aikka's teacher yelled coming out. "Any team would rejoice at our defeat. She is a spy and we shall deal with her as spies are." He pointed his sword at Molly.
"Look at me! Do I look like a spy?"
Aikka pushed his teacher's arm down. "I will handle this" He still had his sword in his hand, making Molly think he meant to kill her. She panicked and ran down the stairs ignoring Aikka's cries to wait. She ran through the rain and tripped. Aikka came up behind her, sword still in hand.
"Why did you save me from him only to deal with me now?" Molly asked, raising her arm to shield herself.
"Deal with you? Oh, you mean this," He indicated the sword. "This is for practice." He tossed it aside, and offered a hand to her. "I apologize for the rough reception. Nourasians are well known for their hospitality." He helped her up and led her by the hand to a tree with wide branches. After a moment of silence he said, "It has been an unfortunate day."
"Yeah, for both of us."
They looked at each other. Aikka turned to face her and leaned forward when, "Prince Aikka!" He flinched at the sound of his teacher's voice, and sighed. "I must go. My fencing master is a bit of a nuisance, but he mean's well."
"Yeah, I know the feeling." Referring to Jordan.
"Try to put today's race behind you. We'll do better tomorrow." He ran off leaving Molly blushing.
Unbeknownst to either of them Kailua was watching it all from a nearby tree branch, silently cheering them on, almost glowing with a grin when Aikka leaned in, intent on kissing Molly, and cursing when the stupid fencing master interfered.
"That close. That close and it's ruined." She whispered to herself. "I couldn't have planned it better if I set it up myself and it's up in smoke. I have got to get them together." Kailua made up her mind and silently flew back to her pit to plan.
To be continued. I don't like the idea of them fighting over a race so I'm going to bypass the episode, meaning I will no longer making episodes as thought bubbles, it's all mine, with the possible exception of a few quotes and ideas.