Chapter 2 comin' up. Had to watch the episode again to line up the events right, but I think I did okay. Despite the title, only the first part of this chapter addresses Aikka directly.
Chapter Two: Aikka's Honour
As the play-offs began, Spirit was set to fly against Prince Aikka. He had heard good things about the Prince, but then again, he had heard about the Nourasians and the Crogs. Hearing his name bellowed across the staging area, Spirit walked down into the arena. He always found the look of confusion on his opponent's face to be interesting. No one seemed to realise that he didn't have a vehicle until he had removed his clothes. Standing next to Aikka, the Prince bowed his head slightly to him from atop his giant beetle, Spirit returned the gesture. Perhaps the Nourasians weren't so bad after all, but this was still a long way from the track and Spirit had to get his mind off of politics and into the race. With his coat already shed, he dropped down onto his hands and feet and began his transformation. In his ear, blended seamlessly with the rest of his black body, was a small earpiece through which Indra normally yelled words of encouragement or derision. It was the one downside of being your own racer, you had to carry your own gear and if you didn't have a good memory or extra senses you needed someone to direct you down the course or to generally give you a clue as to what the heck you were doing. The earpiece was silent as Spirit turned his eyes to the entrance. For a place with limited technology, he liked the style of the Alwas people, the count down door for the race was a nice touch in his opinion. He quickly shook himself out of it. He needed to focus on the race. Staring back toward the door, he counted it off in his head. As the first segment slid down,three... As the second fell away, two... The final section of door seemed to take forever in its descent as both Spirit and Aikka waiting with baited breath for it to pass out of sight... One, go! With that, Spirit was off, tearing ahead of the Prince as they left the starting gate.
With an early lead on the Prince, Spirit fell into a cruising speed as he quickly darted through the air, avoiding the bends and curves of the track.
"Keep focused Spirit, your base speed and agility are higher, but overall your opponent has acceleration and attacking power over you. Whatever you do, avoid his arrows." Indra ordered through the earpiece. Spirit took this on board as he came up to a pair of tunnels and soared into one, he could hear the buzzing of the beetle coming up behind him, Aikka had followed the same tunnel, but Spirit had no way to delay him without risking his lead. A blue light flooded the tunnel behind him.
"Look out Spirit, he's going to attack while you have nowhere to dodge." Indra warned anxiously, but Spirit ignored him this time. Shooting someone like this would be a dirty trick and while far from the nicest people in the galaxy, Spirit had always heard that the Nourasians had honour, he was sure Aikka had another plan than to shoot him in the back and he was right. The arrow soared right past him before hitting the wall just beyond the tunnel's exit. The wall exploded into a rain of stone. Aikka was clever, Spirit's body was fast and light, he'd have to slow to avoid the fall of the rocks while the prince could use magic to power through. It was well executed, except for one thing, Aikka was behind Spirit. As Aikka sped up to meet the rocks, he had been expecting Spirit to slow, but hadn't expected the Fhil racer to land in humanoid form on G'dar's head. The prince looked perplexed for a moment before smirking.
"Um Sekkai Numrama Buto!" he yelled as he leveled an arrow at Spirit. If his mouth was visible to others, Spirit would've smiled, it was a bluff, the arrow was too strong to use at this sort of range and he knew it, Aikka glared before loosing the arrow, which once again flew right by Spirit, shattering the rocks that had settled and clearing a path just in time for him to fly through. Spirit jumped from the beetle and transformed to begin flying again, but he tactic had cost him some speed as he and Aikka were neck and neck.
"Ou Sekkai G'dar Waka." Aikka announced as his mount began to glow and sped on ahead.
"Spirit, what are you doing? Get going!" Indra yelled furiously, but Spirit once again ignored him. Instinct was his advantage in this race and while Indra did usually give good advice, this one was all down to him. Spirit glided along for a few seconds until they came to a bend. Aikka's enchantment wore off as he rounded the bend. This was his chance, spreading his wings wide, Spirit thrust forward with all he had, launching himself round the bend at such speed he quickly closed the distance between him and Aikka. Spirit passed so close his wings sliced the beetle's legs as he took the lead once more. It seemed the injury slowed the creature as Spirit soared on ahead and passed the finish line. Spirit won.
After a loud cheer from the crowd, Spirit came in to land. Indra came running, holding up Spirit's stained clothes for him to put on again. Another issue, having to strip to race usually left his coat to get tossed around in the dirt until he got back.
"Well done Spirit, well done. First victory of the play-offs, a good sign I'm sure." Indra beamed as Spirit slipped into his clothes. He may have been happy, but Spirit was feeling uneasy. He had won, but he had harmed that alien beast in doing so. Looking toward Aikka as he landed, the giant beetle started limping out of the arena. It was the first time he had hurt another pilot in the competition, his first race after noticing Molly at the Avatar's speech. Spirit took this as an ill omen more than a good one, there were more races to come.
Spirit cleared the area as the next race was about to begin. He was somewhat anxious to see this as it concerned the favourite, Toros of the Crogs, and the object of his guilt, Molly. Indra had suggested he watch the first rounds at least in order to get a measure of his competition, so Spirit took a seat in gallery and waited to see the race. Toros entered the arena first and Spirit's eyes widened. The Crog was piloting a Trident. Spirit's fists clenched in a mix of anger and indignation. The Trident was a Crog fighter ship, meant for war, not sport. The gall of Toros to use it in this race, when at least two of the other competitors at this stage had come under attack from those very ships, it made his blood boil. The Earth Team entered the arena and the race started. The table of races was covered in a mirror like sheen as it began to sport pictures of the race as it went. The natives weren't keen on technology, but they couldn't expect a crew of spectators to sit there while they couldn't see most of the race. Spirit was practically on the edge of his seat while Indra sat next to him, idly commenting on the ability of the two racers. Spirit watched in terror every time the Trident's blades skimmed the Earth's racer. When Molly took the lead, Spirit gave silent praise and when Toros doggedly tried to drive up the racer's rear end he worried. It was no secret the Crogs wanted to attack Earth and its allies and if it weren't for the Treaty of Oban, that war would've been long over. So the thought of the young earth girl racing against the Crog colonel was something that genuinely frightened the otherwise stoic Spirit. As Molly's racer activated some form of speed booster, it rocketed down the track, putting considerable distance between them and the Trident Spirit gave a silent sigh of relief. It seemed Earth had gained an unbeatable advantage, the race looked to be over. That was, until the Trident started gaining, sporting a new set of energy blades on top of the originals. It tore along the track at break neck speed until it smoothly passed the Earth racer. No, it hadn't passed them, it had cut the racer clean in two. Spirit stood bolt upright as one of the ship's reactors and its turret fell to one side and it's cockpit to the other. After a moment of shock, he saw Toros approach the finish line and reached for the clasp on his coat. Indra grabbed his wrist and dragged him back into his seat. Spirit struggled against him, his eyes alight with fury before Indra's hand slammed into his face and his mind was flooded with images.
"Calm down you fool! Do you want to get yourself disqualified by attacking another racer? Look." He lowered his hand and nodded to the screen, the rescue team was surrounding the earth racer as its pilot and gunner sat waiting on top of the wreckage. "The earthlings are fine, they'll live to race another day, but you need to get yourself in order Spirit. If you don't stop feeling guilty about the incident with that girl's mother, you'll never be able to focus, you'll lose control and we'll never make it to Oban, understand?" Indra was staring intently at him and Spirit nodded solemnly in response. Glaring down at the Trident as it left the arena, Spirt decided he didn't wish to see the last race.
The sky had darkened and rain began pouring down as Spirit roamed around the Garages. He had decided that his next two obligations were to apologise to Aikka for injuring the beetle and o give his condolences to the Earth team, if he could bring himself to face them this time. Making his way to the Nourasian garage, he was still some distance away when he saw Molly running through the rain. He froze on the spot, trying to think of what to tell her when she suddenly ducked into the Nourasian garage to escape the rain. Not long after she entered, Molly came running out, followed shortly by the Prince. Spirit ducked behind a tree in order to avoid being spotted. It was a childish thing to do, to hide and avoid facing the one person he should really be answering to, but he couldn't do it, he couldn't bring himself to talk to the girl whose life he had destroyed. Watching as Molly fell in the mud, he soon noticed Aikka had been following her with a knife in hand. Spirit felt his hair stand on end as he nearly transformed just for the sake of slicing Aikka in two, but the Price dropped the knife and both Molly and Spirit came to realise the misunderstanding. Aikka helped Molly to her feet and led her to a nearby tree for shelter. As things started getting to a point where Spirit felt he should stop spying on them, a voice calling for the Prince permeated the downpour. Aikka said his goodbyes and ran off. Judging by the pleasant expression Molly wore as she started making her way back to the Earth garage, Spirit came to the conclusion that Prince Aika of Nourasia was one person he could trust not to hurt the little girl that he had become somewhat protective of. Spirit's mood had greatly improved. He had won his race and it seemed that two of the people he was concerned about today were getting along just fine despite what damage he had done. Yes, despite everything, the Fhil racer headed back to his garage in high spirits.