CHAPTER 8
A Little More Personal

The bright sunshine and warm air outside told me that it was a perfect day to watch a race or race in a race. However, I was to engage in neither activity at the moment. And even though I could hear the sound of the fans screaming and the sound of Benjamin Bright's broadcast booming through the air, I walked away from the impending race between Edgeraid and Velshtein.

Velshtein. This race I probably should have watched more than anything. Because Cunningham had probably been watching my race. But…

The beautiful streets of this racing city were different in the daylight. Much more cheerful and carefree. They were also pretty much empty because everyone was at the race. I walked along the streets lined with shops and outdoor restaurants and cafes, buying myself a smoothie at one of them. Then I continued my stroll, admiring also the cleanliness of this little town.

As I walked past one particularly large restaurant with an outdoor eating area that was enclosed with a low iron fence I spotted a familiar form at one of the tables. Even in sunglasses he was a dead giveaway. Bright red jacket, grayish hair with that one little spot always sticking up.

"Takeshi Jin of Team Satomi," I said, resting my elbows on the fence and watching as Takeshi looked up from his food, confused. Then he turned and looked at me, realization dawning on his face.

"Lotus Carmarand of Team Platinum, is that you?" he asked me with a smile. I nodded and smiled back. "Here, have a seat," he offered, gesturing to the chair opposite him at the table. I looked around subtlety before I slipped over the fence and sat down in the chair. Meanwhile, he took another bite of what looked to be a chilidog.

"So, you aren't watching the Velshtein and Edgeraid race?" I asked him. He waited until he was finished chewing and had swallowed before he responded.

"Nah. Andrei is taping it for me though, for me to watch later," he said pleasantly. "And how about you?"

I nodded. "It's crazy how alike our coaches are. Addy is taping it for me too. But unlike you, I don't have a choice about watching it later." I made a face at an invisible Addy. Takeshi laughed a little.

"Well, I want to watch it," Takeshi said after a while. "Velshtein is still an enigma after all these seasons."

"You mean, three seasons."

"Yeah," he said, kind of drifting off into his own world. "Wow, it seems like it's been forever since we first got in the IG1s as rookies."

"I was already training to race then," I told him, going back in my mind to the past. "I remember watching that whole season on television. Team Satomi was my inspiration."

"Why, thank you," he said, giving me a grin.

We lapsed into comfortable silence as we both just soaked in everything around us. For some reason, we were totally comfortable not only with the silence, but with each other. It almost felt like we had been friends for ages. It didn't seem awkward to me that I was hanging around with Takeshi, just the two of us, like it did when I was with Cunningham. With Cunningham, it felt like I was bluntly doing something that was a no-no. But with Takeshi, that guilt just wasn't that prevalent.

"I don't know what to do about her," he suddenly said, sighing and slumping back into his chair.

"Who?" I asked, feeling a little stupid. I had just been thinking about how much it felt like we were old friends. And then he says something, and I have no idea what he's talking about.

"Fantine," he said then, which totally took me by surprise. It never even occurred to me that he'd be thinking about her.

While I searched in the sunlit air for something to say, he continued, saving me the energy. "I've been thinking about that day when we were talking on the track and you asked me if I was over her yet. That really got me to thinking about it." He paused, poking at the lettuce on his plate that his chilidog had come on. "And I realized that I'm not." Then he looked up at me, his eyes expectant behind his green tinted sunglasses.

I honestly didn't know what he expected me to say. I wasn't a therapist or a psychologist. "Uhh…" I said, fumbling for time. Finally I decided on, "Why do you say that?"

"Because," Takeshi answered confidently, "whenever I see her, I still get nervous and all that. Besides that day, when you and Skylark were racing, I saw her mech fighting with you on the TV screen and suddenly I realized I missed her. The thought just came to me. It was like something just turned on in my brain and I realized what I had lost."

We were both quiet for a moment as I contemplated his words and his sudden outburst. Then he said, "You must think I'm completely stupid for telling you all about this."

"No, Takeshi," I said in a serious tone. I looked down at the table as he looked up at me. "I don't want to say this to you, but I feel I have to. I'm pretty sure after that race last season between you guys and Skylark, Fantine was sure about her decision. I saw all these tabloids sprouting rumors about how Fantine was seeing other celebrities and such…"

"Which are only rumors," Takeshi said determinedly.

"Right, which are only rumors. But the point here is, if she's over you, you should try to get over her. I don't think there will ever be a chance that she'll come back to you, Takeshi."

Takeshi looked sadly down at the white tabletop. The little sprout of his hair that always stuck out seemed also to be drooping. "I'm sorry for saying that," I said gently, after a while.

"No, no," Takeshi immediately refuted, looking up at me with a forced smile. "I can't be mad at you for only telling the truth." He looked down at the table one last time before his smile widened almost into something real. "Thanks."

At that, I couldn't help but smile back. "Anytime."

Takeshi grinned and stood up, stretching. "All right, with all that awkward stuff said, let's go get some candy." He gestured to his right. "The shop is right next door. They have the best lollipops ever."

"Sounds good to me," I said, standing up as well. "Let's go."

---zoOM---

I clicked the black pen in my hand over and over as I pushed it against the desk I was sitting at. "Wow, what a slam delivered by Team Velshtein's legendary Forward Alex Cunningham!" Benjamin gushed into the microphone reverently. I yawned, leaning my cheek into my cupped hand that was being propped up by my elbow. Yeah, yeah, yeah, big deal.

The fact was that Team Velshtein's full potential could not be seen in a race against Team Edgeraid, no offense to Team Edgeraid. They were still a very tough team and would be a major obstacle in the season, but only to us rookies. And maybe to, like, Skylark and Sledge Mamma. To Velshtein…eh…not so much.

The yellow pad of lined paper in front of me was almost entirely blank and the race was already getting into its third lap. I watched as Bjorn successfully executed some dodging moves as Cunningham struck out a flurry of punches and kicks. Bjorn managed to worm his way so that he was in front of Cunningham, skating backward to face him.

Then I noticed something that wasn't right. I was wide-awake now, leaning in my seat as if that would help me see better. Bjorn was trying to maintain his position. Why? He was just going to get hit harder and harder. By moving around Cunningham constantly and dodging, he'd have a better chance at staying in for the rest of the race and possibly win a respectable position. But like this, he was just getting battered.

Finally, I remembered something I had read online about Team Edgeraid once when I was researching all the teams in the IG1s. "Very teamwork oriented." Were they showing that now? Was this actually a small trap?

"Whoa, folks! It seems like Team Edgeraid is not out of the race yet!" Edgeraid's Midfielder suddenly entered the screen, shooting out thin wires from the mech's arm. The numerous little silver strings crisscrossed themselves around Cunningham's mech. It seemed that Cunningham hadn't quite gotten what was happening to him…until, of course, the Midfielder pulled on the wires.

"WOW! Look at that face-planter! How is Cunningham going to get out of this trap?" I watched as sparks fizzed all around Cunningham's mech that was scraping the track painfully. "And look! Team Velshtein's Midfielder just whizzed past, not even stopping to help his teammate! This is getting to be an insane race!"

I felt like clubbing Ben over the head. Well, of course their Midfielder wouldn't want to help Cunningham. He knew that Cunningham was capable of getting out of his fix by himself. Besides, the Midfielder was going to try and catch Bjorn, who had skated off ahead in a temporary happy frenzy.

I jotted down "TEAM EDGERAID" on my yellow pad of paper and then underneath it wrote "teamwork", "thin wires that shoot out of arm", and "get alone". Under the Velshtein column that I had already made, I wrote "keep FAR apart from each other; prevent from helping one another".

"But wait, folks, I think Cunningham has found a way out of his deadly situation!" My head snapped up, interested. I watched as Cunningham managed to flip himself over, so that now he was skidding on the track floor on his back. Then, slowly and shakily, his mech's arms reached up. They flailed for a moment, and I was puzzled as to what they were supposed to do. But in a moment I found out.

Cunningham's mech's hands closed over the wires and then pulled as hard as they could. Edgeraid's Midfielder was jerked into the air, even sailing right over Cunningham. Then Cunningham pushed himself off the ground with his mech's forearms, stabbing the Midfielder right in the gut with his mech's feet. "Ooh," I commented, wincing for the Midfielder even at my desk. "That has gotta hurt."

"OH MY GOD, folks! I have NEVER ever seen anything like it! That has gotta hurt!" Benjamin yelled into his mike. For once, I agreed with him.

Team Edgeraid's Midfielder, Bella DeMarco (I suddenly remembered her name), flew forward as Cunningham rocketed himself back up to a standing position. Bella's mech landed face first on the track and skid to a stop on the side of the track, macinary littering the track everywhere. She disappeared from the screen as Cunningham zoomed past.

"What a recovery for Team Velshtein's star Forward. And what a blow for Team Edgeraid!"

I wrote down under Edgeraid: "if entangled in wires, find them, grab them, and pull them".

That was pretty much the only thing worth watching in the race. Bjorn got slugged in the end anyway. Velshtein pulled an easy victory out of the hat.

I was about to turn the screens off when I saw that the pilot interview was coming up. For some reason, I let the taped race play on, my fingers running over the buttons on the controls. Amid the rabid fans, Team Velshtein got out of their mechs and made its way to the winner's area: a stage on which Benjamin Bright assaulted you after a race.

Ben asked the pilots the usual questions like, oh, was this race hard for you, what'd you think of that sneaky trap Edgeraid pulled, blah blah blah-blah-blah. I kept my eyes on Cunningham the whole time. Even though he had just finished a race and he was tired and sweaty and all, he still looked really nice.

And then finally, even as the pilots were turning away to go back to the locker rooms, Benjamin said, "Oh and one last thing for Cunningham." Cunningham turned wearily, looking a little annoyed. I bet all of us pilots had been taught to smile for the camera, even if your patience was wearing thin. Well, I thought that Cunningham's patience now looked like it had a few holes in it already.

"There have been random eye-witness accounts and rumors circulating about you and the rookie Forward from Team Platinum, Lotus Carmarand. What is going on with these claims and are they true? What is going on between you two?"

I nearly choked on my own spit. Okay…now, Benny, this is getting personal.

Then I watched as Cunningham smiled, reached over to pat Bright on the arm, and say to him and to the microphone. "I think it's best, Ben, if you stuck to commentating. Thank you."

And with that he turned and walked away.

A/N: Felt the random urge to update. Plus, it's a three day weekend and I have time. This is like, therapy to me.

A longer chapter, to reward all you readers that stuck with me through the short ones.

I hope this was a little step above a filler. Maybe. As it seems I'm good at writing fillers. Just keep telling yourself that they are important to the story.

Love you guys! 'Til next time...