Chapter Four: Foregone Conclusion

Saturday morning, the day before the championship fight.

Min Min slowly brought her eyes open as she began to awaken. Sunlight was finding its way past the cracks in the curtains, giving the whole room a warm summery feel thankfully more alike a fresh and vibrant cool wind in a green field than hot and groggy heatwave. It was that sweet spot of the year that you'd imagine people who prefer summer over winter are thinking of when they express that opinion.

She gave a small stretch, freeing a leg from beneath the thin blanket she was sharing with Ribbon Girl, and sighed in a relaxed manner, cuddling her face back up against the soft pillow she was laying on. As if in response to her squeaks, Ribbon Girl slipped her arms around Min Min tightly, hugging against her from behind as they laid there.

"Oh?" Min Min smiled. "I didn't think you were up yet!"

"Just barely." Ribbon Girl responded in a quiet, sleepy voice. "My body's still all achy from yesterday's training."

"Mmmm." Min Min pressed her cheek against Ribbon Girl's hand. "Well you can relax all day today. We'll lounge around together and just take it easy."

"Mm…" Ribbon Girl moaned in response, though in a way decipherably different to a 'yes'. She pressed her forehead against the back of Min Min's head. "... Sorry again for exploding yesterday. I-I know you and Mechy were just trying to help."

"Mmm." She kissed Ribbon Girl's hand. "You know we won't hold that against you. You were just under a lot of stress."

"Yeah…" She sighed. "I just… What will it mean for me to lose a fight like that? I just feel like my whole life is gonna flip upside down…"

"Well." Min Min rolled herself around in place until she faced Ribbon Girl directly, and placed and arm around her in return. "You'll still have me. That's not gonna change!"

Ribbon Girl smiled softly.

"Win or lose, you're coming home with me and we're gonna have a nice big dinner together." She brushed Ribbon Girl's cheek with her thumb. "And then we're gonna get nice and comfy on the sofa and watch all sorts of dumb movies 'til we fall asleep." She leant forward a bit and kissed her forehead. "And when you wake up on Monday you're gonna wake up right beside me, as always. And nothing is going to change that." She gave another kiss, this time to her lips, softly.

Ribbon Girl pressed her head to Min Min's chest. "Thanks, Min." The grip of her hug tightened. "That really does help."

At little past noon the two of them were sat together having breakfast while looking through various magazines that had been delivered in the early morning. They were both rather energetic and playful, laughing at the silly expressions on Helix's face each time he appeared in 'ARMS Weekly' and dramatically dragging out each S as they read aloud this issue of 'Sk8 Snake'. Teases of Twintelle's new movie were also rather eye-catching, and the prospect of a new cat-themed BARQ model named MYEW left them both rather jaw-dropped.

It wasn't until the end of their breakfast, as Min Min began cleaning away their dishes, when the subject of the tournament came back to the forefront.

"... Hey, Min? Sweetie?" Ribbon Girl asked from her seat, twiddling her ribbon-hair with her finger.

"Mm?" Min Min responded, still working away at the sink.

"... Do you think we could maybe do a bit more training? I-I'd just feel a bit better taking it easy if I'd done at least some today, y'know?"

Min Min shrugged. "I mean… If you want to, sure. What kind of training did you have in mind?"

Ribbon Girl drew out the silence a bit. "... Do you think… Mechanica still has her mech set to that Brass stuff?"

Min Min turned to face her. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Well I just feel like it's the only thing that'd prepare me…" She didn't make eye contact, still pretty embarrassed about the events that unfolded the day before.

"I can give Mechanica a call. But you're gonna have to be much more level headed, yeah?"

She nodded quickly. "Yes. Yes, definitely. I-I promise I won't blow up like that again."

"Even if…" Min Min cleared her throat, taking her eyes away from Ribbon Girl for a moment, uncomfortable bringing up her inadequacies knowing how insecure she was feeling already. "... Even if you have trouble striking the mech again?"

She frowned. "... Y-Yeah. I'm just gonna try to not let it get to me so much." She smiled, a little forcefully.

Min Min smiled back. "Well… Let's give it a shot, then."

The two headed back to Mechanica's garage shortly after, having arranged another training session over the phone. The air between Ribbon Girl and Min Min was still pretty playful, and the car ride there was very chatty.

Once they had arrived Mechanica greeted them again with a wide smile, though not quite as enthusiastically as she had been the day before. "My mech is in the back again!" She said, leading them behind the garage and into the scrap yard. "I've not really tweaked it much since yesterday, b-but I, uhh... " She cleared her throat. "I made it so I can turn that flexing stuff off, if you want. I-It doesn't really serve a purpose to the fight, after all."

Mechanica climbed into her yellow bucket-shaped mech and Ribbon Girl took a stance across the scrap yard.

"Okay, so, um. What kind of settings do you want me to go for here?"

"Same as yesterday. No flexing." Ribbon Girl replied bluntly, trying to get herself focused.

"Good luck, hun." Min Min smiled, backing away from the ensuing fight.

Mechanica flipped some switches on the dashboard of her mech. "Okey dokey, all set. Here we go…!"

Forty seconds later, Ribbon Girl was knelt on the dusty floor of the scrap yard, panting harshly. She had lost again. Badly.

"I-If you'd like, we could warm up with the difficulty lo-"

Ribbon Girl cut her off. "NO." She blurted, nearly shouting. She caught herself quickly, taking a deep breath and calming herself. "... N-No. Let's just keep going as we are."

The second fight went almost exactly as the first.

"A-Again." She panted. Mechanica looked uneasy, and Min Min was chewing on her lip.

The third fight was a slight improvement, with a couple extra hits in by Ribbon Girl, but ultimately ended much the same way.

"Keep it coming."

"A-Are you s-"

Ribbon Girl cut her off again. "Yeah. Keep it coming."

The fourth fight was the worst so far, with Ribbon Girl not able to land a single hit, and Mechanica's mech PERFECTing her with ease.

"... Again."

"... Okay." Mechanica said rather quietly, with her eyes to the dashboard.

Fight number five. After about a minute and a half, Ribbon Girl landed the finishing blow again Mechanica's mech. She herself had taken quite the beating, but she had managed to return the favour to an impressive degree, and the match ultimately turned in her favour.

"YEAH!" Min Min shouted from the sidelines. "That's what I'm talkin' about!" She had a big bright smile on her face, beaming with pride.

"Th-That was really something!" Mechanica joined in. "Great moves!"

But Ribbon Girl wasn't smiling. "... You turned the difficulty down. Didn't you?"

Min Min's smile faded into a look of shock and disappointment. She could feel her heart sink in her chest.

Mechanica's grin wobbled a bit. "Wh-Wha? What do you m-"

"Don't lie to me, Mechanica." Ribbon Girl removed her mask, uncurling her ARMS. She marched over to where Mechanica and her mech were slanted. "Did you change the difficulty or not?"

Min Min rushed over beside her, still silent, still shocked.

Mechanica's smile was really falling apart now. "I-I… I just thought it w-would help to-"

"YOU-" She stopped herself again, taking a deep breath, though it didn't do much to calm her. "... Fine." Ribbon Girl turned around and marched back toward the garage. "I don't even care anymore."

Min Min watched as Ribbon Girl entered the garage, leaving the two of them behind in the scrap yard. She turned to face Mechanica, who's lip was quiviering.

"I-I-I-I only m-meant well!" She stammered.

"I know." Min Min hugged her. Her feelings were mixed, but she couldn't deny that Mechanica's intentions were good.. "L-Look, I'm sorry. This is all a big mess."

She nodded.

"I appreciate everything you've done, and I know you were only trying to help. I'm sure we'll all make up after the tourney, yeah?"

She nodded again, her eyes still welled with tears.

"... I gotta go." She hugged Mechanica again and rushed back over to the garage, leaving mechanica to sulk quietly in her mech.

On the other exit of the garage was Ribbon Girl, who was standing arms-crossed beside their car, staring up at the sky with a look that screamed 'unimpressed'.

"Ribs…" Min Min began.

"I don't care." Ribbon Girl blurted, still-faced, before a sudden look of worry washed over her face and she began to stammer. "... A-About the championship, that is. I-I still care about you."

Min Min smiled briefly but it faded pretty quickly. "S-So… Are you just going to forfeit…?"

"No. I'll show up. And I'll try. And I'll let him beat the hell out of me. And everyone will cheer." She kept her eyes focused on the sky above. "I just want this over already. I'm so sick of this."

Min Min unlocked the car and got into the driver's seat as Ribbon Girl silently got in beside her. "Well… It'll be over soon. And we can all get back to how things were. Yeah?"

"Yeah." She hadn't lightened up at all.

"... A-And then we can work out stuff with Mechanica too, right? I'm sure she meant well…"

Ribbon Girl sighed. "I really don't want to think about that right now. And I don't want to think about anything to do with the stupid tourney. I don't want to get all heated and explode again." She placed her elbow on the side of the car door and rested her head on her hand. "Just drop me off for it tomorrow, that's all I need. Other than that I don't want to talk about it. At all."

Min Min nodded. She liked the idea of putting it aside for the rest of the night, though things were still pretty tense. And they didn't unwind much at all later that night - Ribbon Girl continued to be moody throughout the evening. Rarely smiling. Rarely even speaking.

They slept that night, as they always did, together side-by-side in the same bed. But there was little interaction between the two of them, as Ribbon Girl seemed to prefer keeping to her own side for the night. And when morning came, breakfast was rather mute and unenergetic. Ribbon Girl kept to herself as they ate, as they packed her gear, and as they took the car ride over to the stadium

Because by now Ribbon Girl wasn't angry. Or worried. Or stressed. She just… Didn't care.