As the months pass, Maria and Carol continue their rivalry. At times it gets very intense, but as promised, it always remains civil. However, both felines gradually find it harder to maintain their rivalry, due both to their Scarves commitments and Maria's desire to keep their rivalry secret from Hanna. And after just a year and a half, the rivalry ceases completely when Maria moves out of HQ and to Jade Creek with her friends Danny Brock and Xander Lykos.


[14 months before the Brevon Incident]

Maria arrives at HQ a little after lunch. After parking her trike hastily, she dashes towards the armoury, specifically to the bladesmith. Bursting through the door, she catches the marmot by surprise. He instinctively reaches for the nearest blade, raising it to defend before dropping the tip to ankle-height when he sees Maria.

"Knock next time, will you?" the marmot snaps.

"Sorry," Maria apologises, making the cutest and most innocent expression she can.

The marmot's mood softens immediately. "It's OK," he admits. "No harm done. I take it you're Maria Shanmao?"

"The one and only!" Maria chirps. "Is my sword ready?"

"Of course," the marmot replies, picking a sheathed ninjato from the rack behind him. "I guess you can't wait to try it out, eh?" he asks as he hands the weapon over.

Maria takes the sword and unsheathes it, examining the blade as it comes out. "It's so shiny!" she purrs, admiring her reflection.

"Glad you like it," the marmot smiles.


Fifteen minutes later in the Scarves mess hall, Maria is halfway through a late lunch when a fellow viridian feline silently hops onto the seat next to her. Sensing someone's presence, Maria turns to see the beaming face of Carol Tea.

"Long time no see!" Carol greets. "New sword?"

"Hi!" Maria chirps. "Yeah, just picked it up. It's really shiny!"

"Cool!" Carol grins, sliding into the seat properly.

"You should get one," Maria suggests.

"Nah," Carol dismisses. "They're not really my style. I tell you what is my style though," she winks.

"It's been a long time since we last raced," Maria admits. "It'll be good to hit the track again."


A few hours later, and Carol and Maria are relaxing at the test track's timing station after a lot of hard but fair racing.

"I missed this so much," Maria admits.

"Me too," Carol agrees. "Been good practice for the Shang Mu TT."

"The what?" Maria asks, a little surprised.

"Only the greatest bike race in the three kingdoms!" Carol exclaims. "Want to enter?"

"But we're too young!" Maria states, even more surprised.

"We're in the headquarters of the largest criminal organisation on Avalice," Carol reminds. "We'll get IDs forged!"

"I'm still not sure…"

"It'll be fine," Carol assures.

"I hope so," Maria thinks aloud. "So long as we don't get into trouble."

Carol simply returns a teasing expression of disbelief.

"Yeah, that was a silly thing to say," Maria admits, blushing slightly.

"So, you in?" Carol asks eagerly.

Maria thinks for a few moments. "OK," she agrees. "When is it?"

"Four weeks."

"Four weeks?"

"Yep."

"That's so close…"

"Eh, plenty of time to practice!"

"I hope so…"