F-Zero: Seppuku 2/3 - Lap 61

==Lap 61=

It was now early in the evening, Earl and Chiya had landed at Red Canyon and were about to enter the garage. Earl was holding onto the side of the Purring Kitten as she drove, he let out a tired yawn and flexed his fingers. Chiya had a fairly dazed look as well. This could be expected after a day of racing the Pope and surviving an assassin attack. Chiya was now realizing just how strong Dark Rose was--she had taken a slash to the face and was completely impaled in the stomach by a metal cross. Yet she retained her life, appearing for the most part unaffected by her wounds. Chiya was prepared to leave this be for the time being, understanding that she wouldn’t return any time soon.
Chiya pressed the switch on her machine that opened the garage door, Earl looked at her and smiled. Chiya didn’t look back, merely focusing on parking--the way she saw it, the vacation with Earl wasn’t officially over until she parked. She lowered her eyebrows sadly as she looked in the garage, Earl’s vehicle was no longer there--they were left with only the Red Dove and Purring Kitten at this point. Chiya finally parked the machine inside and switched off the engine.
“I- if you need me to bring you anywhere in town ever, just ask, I’ll do it.”
Earl shook negatively, “Nah, I can walk…”
He grabbed her hand and helped her off of the machine. Earl breathed in and exhaled, looking around the dark garage. He began to chuckle and patted Chiya’s back.
“Can you believe that our adventure started in this garage more than a year ago?”
Chiya blinked at him a few times, “Well, to be fair, I think for me it started at the bar when Michael Chain-”
“No, our adventure--how you went from a stranger in my eyes, to, well…”
Chiya smiled and dipped her head respectfully, “Yer’ gi----irlfri----iend?”
Earl chuckled and nodded, “Yeah.”
The two continued towards the door, for once, they both wanted to see Seppuku immediately. Chiya continued to smile as they came up on the door. Earl grabbed the doorknob, but found Chiya put her hand on his quickly--preventing him from opening. Chiya looked him in the eyes with a sparkly look, she grunted and lowered her eyebrows at him. Earl raised an eyebrow at her and smirked.
“Earl, I, uh, had a great vacation with you, even if it got a little rocky there and then…” Earl nodded at her, “I truly wish it didn’t have to end, I regret not going to Swatsland with you…”
“Switzerland.”
“Yeah, I mean Switzerland…”
The two continued to stare into each others eyes, Chiya had a troubled look on her face and began to blush momentarily. She exhaled and looked back up at him with a red face.
“I mean, I really wish the vacation wasn’t over…” Earl rolled his eyes with a smile, enjoying the prestigious sounding comments she was throwing at him, “I just, I wanted to- I thought- er…”
Earl chuckled at her and closed his eyes, “Perhaps breathe in again?”
Chiya nodded and did so, she let out a long exhale and looked him in the eyes again, “Okay, I just want you to know, that for the many months that I’ve been here…” she lowered her eyebrows and bit her lip, “T- the truth is, that I don’t just respect you as the greatest guy I have ever met, in all honesty, I‘ve always-”
Both Chiya and Earl grunted as the door slowly began to open without their control. Chiya gasped and backed away from the door. Seppuku crossed his arms and smirked at Earl.
“Bendek, where’s Flower?”
Chiya peeked her head from behind the door and waved, “Hi---i…”
“Thank God, I thought Rose killed you.”
Earl smirked back, “Yeah, well she’ll have to think twice next time before tackling on us as a pair--when together, Chiya and me are a powerhouse that can’t be stopped.”
Chiya nodded affirmatively, “That’s ri-” she then grunted as she looked at the floor behind Seppuku. It was blue.
“What the..?”
Seppuku raised an eyebrow at her, then smirked, “Oh, that’s right!” He backed away into the lobby and began to chuckle, “Regards from the Bat.”
Chiya and Earl entered the lobby and both gasped at what they were seeing, “Woah, what the…” Earl muttered in awe.
The lobby now had blue paint covering everything but the ceiling. Not only this, but there were now plants alongside the walls and a long dining room table with chairs set up in the middle of the room. Chiya held her mouth in awe, momentarily looking at Seppuku.
“What the Heck is this?”
Seppuku growled, “Don’t you dare tell me that you don’t like it…”
Chiya widened her eyes and shook negatively, “N- no, I love it, it’s just…” she cleared her throat and looked around some more, “So unlike you to do this…”
“Well, I tricked Summer into painting it for me. Obtaining the dining table and chairs was easy.”
Chiya put her hand on the table and nodded affirmatively, “Why a dining room?”
Seppuku sighed and shrugged, “I dunno’, I was just thinking--instead of complaining about your little affection for each other--I should just submit to it.”
Chiya looked back at Earl and raised her eyebrow, “For me? And Earl?”
Seppuku nodded, “The way I see it, if I appease your relationship, you’ll be more willing to work for me. Correct?”
Chiya rubbed her chin and glanced at Earl once more, “I- I guess…” She looked back up at Seppuku and smiled, “Thanks man…”
Earl smiled and nodded, “Probably beats eating on my bed.”
Chiya continued to stare into Seppuku’s visor and momentarily lowered her eyebrows. He had a somewhat dull expression on his face, but that was just it, he looked emotionless--not intimidating. Chiya frowned and nodded her head, realizing that Seppuku was somewhat revealing emotion.
“Seppuku?”
He quirked his mouth and crossed his arms, “What?”
She smiled at him and bowed, “Would you like to join us at the table?”
Seppuku grunted, “Pardon?”
Chiya exhaled and nodded, “I’ve come to realize, that this organization has brought something to all of us…”
She pointed at Earl, “He no longer wants to see his family,” she pointed at Seppuku, “I assume you don’t have a family,” she closed her eyes and nodded, “And I’m cut off from most of my family…”
Earl rubbed his chin, trying to guess what her point was going to be. Seppuku appeared puzzled as well. Chiya clapped her hands together, “As far as I’m concerned, this organization is a family, a family we all can share.”
Seppuku grunted and scratched his chin, “Y- you consider this a family?” Chiya nodded at him, he revealed a very faint smile at this, but momentarily gritted his teeth, then got a fierce look, “How cute! But I’ll go ahead and accept your little invitation…”
Chiya silently chuckled and shook negatively. Seppuku looked down at the table and nodded, “Flower, make us something to eat--like last time.”
Chiya gasped, “You mean, my dish?”
Seppuku nodded, “It was acceptable work, so go make something for dinner.”
Chiya let out a loud gasp. Acceptable? That’s like him saying professional! Earl smirked at her and nodded, “I agree, if you don’t mind, you should make something--you did a great job last time.”
Chiya let out an excited grunt and jumped up, “Wha- really? Oh boy!”
Without further questions, Chiya ran towards the hallway door, prepared to go make a dish for her first organization dinner. Seppuku and Earl watched as she ran through the door. Seppuku chuckled and crossed his arms together.
“You really want to deal with that for the rest of your life?”
Earl smiled and nodded, “That is what makes my life perfect, so yes. I want that in my life until I die…”


About thirty minutes went by, Chiya had carefully put her meal on clean dishes and laid them out on trays. She had once again cut up each vegetable perfectly, creating a very sharp look. The reason preparing dinner was taking so long however, was because she decided to give cooking another go. She had some meat in the oven and was praying that she did the math correctly this time--as her math Learning Disablity was what ruined her past cooking. Chiya poured glasses of milk and laid them on each tray, now simply waiting for the oven to complete the meat.
If this goes well, we might very well have dinner every night, it would be like a real family! My own family! she thought excitedly. Chiya knew that she couldn’t mess up dinner with lousy food--she was certain that she prepared the dishes right, even to her the dishes looked very alluring.
The oven’s buzzer rang, alerting her that it was done cooking. She smiled and immediately lifted open the oven door, reaching in for the hot metal tray. She pulled it out and smirked at the initial sight of the meat, but then dropped her arms down and let out a grunt of disappointment. She brought the tray out of the oven and set it up on the counter--it was completely crisp black.
“What!? No! Impossible!”
She picked up the piece of paper she wrote her math equation on and lowered her eyebrows, “I- I divided right and everything, I think…” She stared at the equation with quivering eyes, instantly becoming lost in her own work, “Eh, wait, or did I do multiplication?”
Her eyes continued to quiver as she looked at all of the numbers, she was staring at a complete mess of nonsense and incorrect solutions. She lowered her eyebrows and gritted her teeth, unable to comprehend what she did wrong--yet she knew that she solved it wrong. She glared at the paper furiously and momentarily ripped it to pieces.
“Whatever! It’s burnt! Oh well!” she shouted having gave up.
She grabbed the trays and immediately marched her way out the door, now somewhat angry about her inability to solve basic math.


Earl and Seppuku remained at the dinner table, both appeared somewhat excited at the huge change with the base. Earl scratched his ear and looked at the blue wall.
“How did you manage to trick her?”
Seppuku chuckled, “Challenged her, so she challenged me back--claimed that she would paint faster and more qualitatively than me.” Seppuku chuckled while shaking negatively, “She out lapped me a few times by painting every part, so I guess she’s a better painter than me,” he joked.
“Nice, but maybe you shouldn’t play rough on Summer, we are trying to get her in our F-Zero alliance after all.”
Seppuku swished his hand at him, “Bah, we don’t need the Federation…”
Earl narrowed his eyes at him, “Remember the deal, Seppuku, you keep Chiya safe--and I’ll keep funding this organization.”
Seppuku let out a disgruntled hiss and nodded, “Whatever, fine, I’ll lay off of Summer…”
Chiya momentarily entered the room with a gleeful look, bringing the trays over to the table carefully. She had accidentally shook one tray and made the milk spill slightly--but she was going to save this tray for herself. She handed Both men their trays and sat down with a smile. She kicked her feet back immediately and nodded.
Earl and Seppuku both looked down at their trays, Earl widened his eyes and grinned at his. He immediately poked the carrot pieces that were on the lettuce.
“How on Earth, Chiya, did you get these carrot pieces so cubicle?”
“I cut em’.”
Earl picked up one of the cubicle carrots and quirked his mouth, “B- but with what? These are so perfectly shaped--like sugar cubes.”
“My hand, and a knife,” she said with pride.
Seppuku smirked and began eating, “I was gonna’ ask if Flower could cook when she first joined, but I didn’t wanna’ come off looking sexist or anything…”
Earl shrugged, “She kicks my ass at preparing this stuff.”
Chiya smiled at him, then looked at Seppuku. He nodded in agreement, then began to chuckle, “What’s funny, is that this is completely healthy--Flower’s really treating our bodies here.”
Chiya widened her eyes at this remark. That’s right, they enjoy something healthy and cheap that I make--that’s a huge accomplishment!
Seppuku drank out of his glass and smirked at the two, “So, how did your vacation go? You know, besides kicking the fat man’s ass.”
Chiya and Earl looked at each other with smiles, Earl held his hand out and chuckled, “Well, we spent our first day in Germany. That was more of a cultural experience, but I think it gave us both a general idea of how the German people live.”
Chiya nodded, then finally looked down at her food and began eating. The table was silent for a few moments as everyone ate, Chiya kept glancing back and forth at the two happily. It’s like a real family! Even better, Seppuku is starting to warm up to the idea of me and Earl-
“Venice was where things got a bit interesting--we went to a few places, floated along the watery roads, spent time at the ship, and went to a museum at night.” He quirked his mouth and sighed, “Was kinda’ cut short when you called about Dark Rose, however.”
Chiya swished her hand at him, “That didn’t change too much, what we should have done is go to Switzerland--that woulda’ thrown Rose off since she was expecting us to be in New Vatican.”
Earl nodded in agreement, then continued to eat his food. Seppuku had a stern look on his face as he held his glass of milk. Chiya closed her eyes and broke out a wider smile.


A few minutes went by, and everyone was now done eating. Earl had an aimless smirk on his face as he sat back in his chair. Seppuku was looking down at his empty plate somewhat angrily--installing fear into Chiya that he didn’t like it. Earl let out a satisfied exhale and nodded.
“I forgot what it was like to eat meals around here, it’s been months since we could afford anything big.”
Chiya smiled at him, Seppuku nodded in agreement, “Eating all of that made me a little more food demanding--should have a second meal prepared alongside this next time.”
Chiya dipped her head down sadly and nodded. She intended on doing this, but she failed to make the meat properly. Earl snapped his fingers, “Yeah, maybe you could just put on a plate of meat next time--anyone can make that and it would go well with the-”
Chiya slammed her fists down, “Meat is stupid!”
Both Earl and Seppuku gave her a startled look, taken back by the very random comment. Chiya grunted and rubbed her forehead in embarrassment, feeling stupid for saying this. Earl cleared his throat and tugged on his collar.
:So----o, are you a vegetarian then?”
Chiya shook negatively, “No, I- I just don’t like cooking stuff, okay?”
Earl held his hands out and chuckled, “Okay, alright, sorry for bringing it up…”
Seppuku quirked his mouth, “But seriously, you should cook something meaty to go with this next time.”
Chiya widened her eyes, “Next time?”
Seppuku and Earl exchanged glances, Seppuku then shrugged, “Yeah, I mean, we’ll be doing this tomorrow night, right?”
Chiya grunted with quivering eyes and found herself nodding right away without thinking. Seppuku and Earl both smiled. Earl held his finger up, “You certainly excel at this.”
Chiya gritted her teeth nervously, realizing that she was being forced into this. She had no idea how to calculate the solution needed to cook with their oven--now she had to figure it out. She swallowed loudly and looked down at her waist.
“Yeah, thanks…”
Seppuku slammed his fist down loudly, startling both of his companions. Seppuku had a smirk on his face and began to chuckle, “Now, down to business…”
Chiya widened her eyes. Business, I knew there was a catch…
“While you guys were on vacation-”
“Guy and girl,” Chiya corrected.
Seppuku growled at her slowly, she fell back into her seat. “While you two were on vacation, I found some information. Apparently, the Winged Gazelle loops around Earth and Aeropolis consistently.” Chiya and Earl both looked at each other nervously, “It seems to be automated travel, meaning Mighty Gazelle is off doing his own things in the ship.”
“I know where this is going…” muttered Earl.
“My plan, is that we secretly board the ship with stealth equipment. We find the Red Gazelle--Bendek will be in charge of dismantling its parts, Chiya and me will hold the fort down.”
Chiya gasped, “Sabotage? B- but Seppuku, that’s cheating!”
Seppuku crossed his arms together, “That’s F-Zero, kid, you wanna’ win don’t you?”
Chiya lowered her eyebrows and let out a moan of discontent, “I dunno’, what if we’re caught? Both our fan bases could collapse…”
“I don’t see why, Mighty Gazelle is upping all of us nearly by a hundred points in the Grand Prix--deconstructing his machine would give us another chance.” Seppuku glanced at Earl, “Bendek?”
Earl exhaled while rubbing his face,, “Well, I’m not so concerned with the fan base and all that--more-so, I’m worried about staying alive during such an operation.”
Seppuku swished his hand at him, “Gazelle is a peacemaker, I doubt he has one gun on board that ship.”
Chiya continued to stare at Seppuku nervously. Doing this would provide me with an edge in the Grand Prix--keeping Gazelle in the race might make my job harder… she tapped her fingers on her chin a few times. He did get first two of the races, what if he prevents me from taking first this time..?
Chiya nodded at Seppuku, “Okay, I’m in.”
Earl and Seppuku grunted at her. Seppuku rubbed the back of his head, “Uh, wow, I’m a bit surprised, Flower…”
Earl sighed and raised his hand up, “Guess I’m in too then.”
Seppuku stood up and began chuckling, “Well then, to the arsenal!”


The three later found themselves in the training room--only they were inside of the shooting range rather than behind it. There was much open space where the targets were--this was Chiya’s first time being near this part of the base. Seppuku was standing still with his rifle in his hands--Chiya and Earl were both holding silenced AKP-55’s.
Chiya looked down at her assault rifle and quirked her mouth, having never carried one before. “Uh- so is, this, a machine gun?”
Seppuku shook negatively, “Trust me, you’d know if it were a machine gun.”
Chiya nodded and rubbed her hand around the barrel of the assault rifle. She observed how Earl was holding his and corrected her grasp of the weapon, mirroring what Earl was doing. This thing looks easier to handle in the movies… she thought as she observed all of the metal parts connected to the rifle.
“Our identities cannot be compromised by Gazelle at any time--or we’ll have to possibly kill him.”
Chiya and Earl both gasped. Earl stomped his foot down and pointed at him, holding his rifle down with one hand, “Are you crazy!? It’s one thing to take out Captain Falcon--we were in enough danger when you did that. But now, you’re actually considering that we kill one of the most beloved racers!?” Seppuku quirked his mouth and shook negatively, “Do you realize that this is just a race!?”
“Yes, a race that we need to win.”
“I- I don’t like this plan, I don’t wanna’ risk my chances of being a role model to children by killing a friendly cyborg…” Chiya said softly.
Seppuku chuckled, “Role model, trust me, no one thinks I’m a role model, so I doubt you could be one either.”
“You? A role model?” asked Earl.
The room went silent at Earl’s offensive remark, Seppuku swished his hand at him and growled. “Either way, this is why we’re doing a brief training exercise--so we don’t get caught in the first place.”
Chiya nodded and tightly jerked her assault rifle up, “Aye!”
“Firstly, let’s test how quiet you two can be…” Seppuku began jumping off the floor constantly in a running motion, softly landing on his feet each time, “Do this, practice taking perfectly silent footsteps.”
Earl grunted and rubbed the back of his head, “Uh, sure, okay…”
The two then began to jump up constantly while holding their rifles. Earl was landing softly on his feet, Chiya on the other hand, was making very loud footsteps. Seppuku stomped his foot down and pointed at Chiya.
“Why are you stomping? Soft footsteps!”
“I’m trying!”
She tried taking even lighter footsteps, but was finding that her new boots were the problem--they had a type of plastic bottom that made a clapping-like sound whenever she hit the ground.
“Those boots, where are your old pair?”
Chiya stopped jumping and rubbed the back of her head, “M- Mysteria…”
“Damn.”
Earl gave Seppuku an intrigued look and cleared his throat, “What about me?”
“Superb, Flower’s the main problem here…”
Chiya growled in frustration and softly tapped the floor, but found that the simplest of taps were fairly loud. Seppuku stared at her and rubbed his chin, then snapped his fingers.
“Take your boots off.”
Chiya lowered her eyebrows, “Why?”
“You can just tackle this mission in your socks.”
“Ew, no thank you!”
Earl scratched his head and glanced over at her, “I thought you were only self-conscious about being barefoot.”
“I would prefer keeping footwear on.”
Seppuku growled and grabbed her leg, “Take the damn boots off.”
Chiya gasped and shook negatively, “No!”
“Take em’ off or I’ll force everything off of your feet, how about that?”
Chiya gasped and leapt back, now aiming her gun at him, “St- stay away from me you foot fetish rapist!”
Earl got in between the two and began waving his hands around, “Okay, okay, alright. Look, I’m sure Chiya can do this with her boots on--I mean, is Gazelle honestly gonna’ hear slight footsteps?”
Chiya continued to hold the gun towards Seppuku--not actually prepared to fire, but was defending herself through threatening means. Seppuku crossed his arms together and sighed, finally kicking his foot down.
“Fine, but if we’re caught because of Chiya’s stupid feet, than she takes all the credit for killing Gazelle.”
“Sixty percent.”
“Eh?”
Chiya pointed at him, “I’ll take sixty percent of the blame--but this is your mission and I won’t hold responsibility for it all!”
Seppuku shook negatively, “Seventy.”
“Sixty-five.”
“Seventy.”
Earl scratched his head, “Are we really doing this? Right here right now?”
“Sixty-six.”
Seppuku flailed his hands in the air, “Sixty-six? That’s a random number!”
“So?”
Earl cocked his assault rifle and cleared his throat. The two looked at him as he turned towards a few targets. “So we shooting, o----or…”
Seppuku cocked his rifle and smirked, immediately spinning around and firing at a target. The paper of the target was practically pulverized upon impact. Chiya widened her eyes and gasped, then looked back down at her rifle.
“Show me what you two can do.”
Earl lifted his rifle up and quirked his mouth, taking steady aim. He began to fire a few times at a target, not making perfect shots--but hitting the target none-the-less. Earl smirked and looked at the barrel of his weapon.
“These are pretty silenced…”
“Yep,” Seppuku pointed at Chiya, “Impress me, girl.”
Chiya nodded her head with a determined look. She was sticking her tongue out as she took aim, though her stance was very wobbly. Earl grunted and lowered his eyebrows nervously, he could tell that Chiya was going to do even worse than him. She gritted her teeth and looked down the iron sight of the rifle.
“Any day now, Flower…”
“I am! Just shut up and let me concentrate!”
Seppuku smirked at the rather hostile response. Chiya breathed in and tried holding the weapon more steadily. Blimey, this weapon is so heavy… her eye moved to the side slightly, looking at Seppuku’s rifle. I got to hold that thing in the prison, and it was even heavier than this—how he can shoot so accurately is beyond me…
“Shoot the damn gun!”
Chiya let out a vicious growl, “Alright already!”
She began to fire the weapon towards the targets, but the recoil was taking advantage of her—sending her rifle up each time she fired. She was completely missing the target by nearly an entire meter. Seppuku sighed as Chiya continued, trying desperately to gain control of the gun. Seppuku momentarily grabbed her shoulder, and she stopped firing.
“Wait, hold on, I know what I’m doing wrong…”
Seppuku raised an eyebrow and retreated from her shoulder, allowing her to continue. Chiya stuck her tongue out and took aim again, this time keeping the stock of the rifle against her arm. She began to fire once more, but yet again, she was missing—only slightly more accurate this time. Earl rubbed the back of his head and gritted his teeth, prepared for Seppuku to yell at her despite her best efforts.
Chiya stopped and sighed, “Woulda’ been perfect at this if I had served as a Mysterian soldier…”
Seppuku walked by Earl and nodded, “It’s okay, Flower.”
Chiya gasped and covered her mouth, “Wha- woah, am I hearing you correctly?”
Seppuku nodded, “You’re not really soldier material like me and Bendek.” Chiya frowned at him in response, feeling excluded. “It’s fine, me and Bendek will go—you can just stay here and practice cooking, draw, or whatever you like doing…”
Chiya gasped with a distraught look and began to shake negatively, “No! That’s not fair! I’m not some weak little girl that lives to make food!”
Earl nodded in agreement, Seppuku stomped his foot down firmly, “Your boots are loud, you can’t shoot, and you can’t run very fast without Bendek grabbing your hand.”
Chiya blushed and turned away from him, “I- no, whatever, I could totally help in this mission…”
Seppuku threw his rifle over his back again and shook negatively, “It’s fine. Enjoy a day off alone, me and Bend-“
“No! I just got back from Mysteria, I was alone for practically an entire week!”
Seppuku rubbed his chin and began to chuckle, “With that sweet ass, Fiona…” he muttered.
“What!?” she asked in a tone of critical offense.
“Look, you coming along could endanger us all—all we need to do is rip out his machine’s parts, we shouldn’t need you in the first place.”
Chiya crossed her arms and pouted, “Well you’re not leaving without me, I have the keys to the ship, not you.” Seppuku grunted in response, “So whether you like it or not, you’re not going anywhere without me ya’ wanker.”
Seppuku and Earl glanced at eachother, Seppuku then smirked and snapped his fingers, “Okay, well I have a solution to one of our problems…”


About thirty minutes later, Chiya had her arms tied together and mouth taped up. She had a look of great discontent as they were already flying in space. Chiya was indeed coming along—only Seppuku didn’t want to deal with her, annoying English accent. Her legs were free, but she found that sitting on the couch was the best she could do in the situation.
Earl slowly came up to her and sat down; he had a nervous look and cleared his throat. “Uh, I was gonna’ let you go—but Seppuku said he’d-“
“Mmn—nt nut talke—en to you…”
“Huh?”
Chiya narrowed her eyes at him angrily, Earl pushed his fingers together and smirked. He grabbed the remote control and turned on the TV, “Here, let’s watch something together.”
Chiya lowered her eyebrows and make a disgruntled sigh. Earl began to chuckle and looked through various channels, “This one?” She gave him an unamused look, Earl puckered his lips and changed the channel, “This?”
Chiya growled and began to push against the tape with her tongue. She began to squirm constantly while kicking her feet down furiously—Earl widened his eyes and stood up.
“I’m uh- I’m gonna’ use the bathroom…”
Chiya continued to squirm, beginning to make constant grunting sounds—but the tape was wrapped to tightly around her mouth to be given freedom. She watched as Earl left her, leaving her eyes to water. She gave up and laid back down on the couch, beginning to whimper sadly.
Earl walked back to the bridge and sighed after sitting down by Seppuku. He had a concentrated look as he viewed an interspace map.
“So u---uh, can we let Chiya free yet?”
“Why? It’s nice and quiet with her taped up.”
Earl shrugged in agreement, “True, but I like hearing her talk.”
“Well I don’t.”
Earl lowered his eyebrows in frustration, “You’re overreacting, she’s not that bad…”
Seppuku put his hands together with a fake gleeful look, “Cheerio and what not! Blimey, I really should keep my fingers out of my fanny, but I’m such a bloody wanker I can’t stop!”
Chiya let out a vicious growl from behind, Earl widened his eyes and turned around—Chiya now had a slight opening in the tape, her tongue sticking out of the top. Earl smirked and nodded at her, Seppuku growled.
“For your information, Seppuku. I do not say Cheerio, I have no idea what a fanny is, and I’m not a bloody wanker. Wanker…”
“I knew I should’ve gone with the duct tape…” he muttered aloud.
Earl chuckled, “Chiya wins again.”
Chiya wiggled her fingers around, “And at least I’m not like…” she grabbed Seppuku’s fedora and forced it onto her head, “Hey Chiya! Stop having fun ya’ idiot! Hey Earl! Work on the Red Dove! I’m gonna’ slack off at my desk while you useless fools obey me like the puppets you are!” Earl began to laugh at Chiya, Seppuku grinded his teeth and rubbed his hair. “God dammit Jody, why are you such a bat!?”
Earl continued to laugh at her imitation of Seppuku—naturally, Seppuku was displeased with this. He roughly grabbed his fedora off of her head and growled while pointing with a solid straight finger.
“I insist that you shut up, child…”
Earl grabbed the rope around her arms and began to untie her, Seppuku saw this but decided not to complain. The reasoning for tying her arms up was merely to keep herself from removing the tape from her mouth. Chiya nodded at Earl thankfully, then looked back at Seppuku.
“How long will this take?”
Seppuku clapped his hands, “Yep! Already complaining!”
Chiya sighed and leaned over Earl’s chair, “I’m not complaining, I’m just curious—I mean, do we even know where we’re going?”
Earl looked at Seppuku with a raised eyebrow, curious as well. “We’re heading to Aeropolis again, but not to the actual planet. If I’m correct—we should meet the Winged Gazelle halfway to the planet.” Chiya rubbed her chin and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “The Winged Gazelle is usually around the halfway area around this time—so we should expect to meet up with him there.”
“How exactly, will we be getting inside of his ship unnoticed?”
“Wing it.” Both gasped at Seppuku’s plan, intending to simply dock with his ship without consent. “It’s not like Gazelle has an army—he probably won’t even notice us…”
“I dunno---o’…” Chiya muttered nervously.
“Look, have I ever failed to protect you?”
Chiya and Earl exchanged glances, she then looked back at him, “Well, the prisoners almost raped me in the prison. My butt cheeks were kinda’ violated before you came along…”
Seppukus shrugged, “Eh, I still saved you in the end…”
“What about our battle against Blood Falcon on Aeropolis? He smashed Chiya’s hand and beat me into a pulp before you came,” added Earl.
“Because you two were idiots and ran in without me…”
“I was captured by Black Shadow, where I was forced to lay on that table for several minutes…” Chiya’s eyes began to quiver widely, “The feeling of the cold steel razor knife, ripping through my flesh over-and-over again…”
Earl cleared his throat, “Okay, okay, let’s not revisit that moment…”
Seppuku crossed his arms together, “Look, just stay near me—nothing bad will happen. Not on my watch…”


Many minutes went by, Earl and Chiya were now in the bedroom together. Chiya was lying in her bed taking a nap; Earl was trying to stay awake by watching television—but found himself slipping away as time went by. The mistake that both Chiya and Earl believed Seppuku made, was that he didn’t hold the mission off for a day. He felt that they had to deal with Gazelle quickly, as the fourth race of the Grand Prix was around the corner. In Earth time, it was about 1 AM.
Earl glanced over at Chiya and smiled. She had her boots and stock hat off—sleeping somewhat curled. Her knees were up against her stomach with her feet curved together. Earl couldn’t help but have a soft feeling for Chiya, the simple sight of her sleeping soundly brought happiness to him. Despite the fact that she was saved mostly by Seppuku—he could take pride in knowing that if he hadn’t risked his life to get her off of Black Shadow’s ship—he would have never seen this beautiful woman again. Or perhaps he would, but without elbows and knees. Chiya would have needed cybernetic body parts if this had happened.
Earl stood up and yawned, he began moving over to her bed. Chiya hadn’t made any sounds in her sleep—as if she were dead. She remained perfectly still in bed. Earl carefully sat on the edge of the bed beside her and moved his hand onto her forehead. He blinked a few times and began pushing her bangs up—taken back at the sight of her forehead. She had a perfectly soft forehead, not a pimple, crevice, mole, or hair. Earl smiled as he began to rub on her forehead.
“God crafted this one himself…” he muttered softly.
Seeing Chiya without her stock hat was rare enough, but he had never seen her full forehead—as her bangs would normally block this. Even her eyebrows were usually hidden to him. Earl rubbed his chin and smirked, wondering if she ever did the same to him while he sleeps. Chiya was an extremely heavy sleeper, Earl could practically do anything he wanted to her and she would never wake up—though Earl knew better, and would never take advantage of this. While he did enjoy watching her sleep, he could also respect that she didn’t like when he did this, let alone touching her face while she sleeps.
Earl stared at her face and began to groan, “To Hell with the mission, it’s his fault for doing this at night…”
Earl dipped his head down against her bed and closed his eyes—not even laying down on anything. He reached out for her long hair and laid his head down, using the golden hair as a pillow. Earl loved smooth skin and the feeling of hair—it could be argued that this was his fetish—as Chiya’s was moderately sized muscles.
Seppuku kicked open the door with his rifle drawn, “Winged Gazelle up ahead! Up! Up! Up!”
Earl widened his eyes and gasped, immediately getting off of Chiya. He stood up and cleared his throat, “Sir!”
Seppuku stomped his feet down and handed Earl his assault rifle, “Alright guys, it doesn’t appear that he can see us—considering he’s still flying right towards us, so we very well may have the edge on him!” Seppuku held his fist up in the air, “Quick and clean, get in there, disable the machine, and out we go!”
Earl nodded affirmatively to the instructions. Both then grunted at the sound of something—snoring. Seppuku gasped furiously, then stomped his foot down again.
“Flower! Off your ass!”
Chiya remained sleeping softly, completely locked away in her dreamland. Earl cleared his throat and pointed his finger up, “I’ll work on waking her up, you just get the ship docked.”
“O----or…”
Seppuku approached Chiya and grabbed her shoulders, then began to violently shake her back and forth with abnormal strength. Chiya immediately woke up and began panicking. “Wha- what!? What’s happening! Help!”
Seppuku threw her down onto her bed and clapped his hands, “Alright, we’re good to go.”
Chiya sat up and rubbed her eyes, she looked at the two and immediately groaned, “Oh, what? I thought for sure we were just gonna’ bail on this crap…”
Seppuku growled, “You wanna’ win this Grand Prix. Don’t you?”
Chiya nodded with a dazed look. She put her stock hat on as Earl quickly put her boots on. Seppuku spun around and charged back towards the bridge, preparing to intercept the large vessel. Chiya groaned and rubbed her eyes again as she got off the bed.
“You’re not honestly awake, are you?”
Earl shook negatively, “I was about to sleep, then we found Gazelle…”
Chiya lifted up her assault rifle and yawned, “Let’s just get this over with so we can get to bed…”


Chiya, Earl, and Seppuku about two minutes later were watching the Winged Gazelle slowly move from a distance. Chiya and Earl were both left shocked at how large the ship was--the rumors were absolutely true, this ship could certainly contain a factory. Earl began to tremble and swallowed nervously.
“Uh- uh, w- we know that this ship isn’t armed. Right?”
Seppuku shrugged, “Probably not.”
Chiya widened her eyes, “What’dya mean by prob-”
“This ship is larger than Samurai Goroh’s.”
“Yeah, we kinda’ noticed…” muttered Earl.
Chiya rubbed her chin, “Looks like it’s built with the same material as the Aeropolis structures.”
“Good eye, Flower. Probably means that this ship is weak and flimsy.”
The loud booming from the Winged Gazelle’s engine could soon be heard throughout space. The obnoxious sound of the ship installed great fear into Chiya. Seppuku began pressing a few buttons on the dashboard of the ship, and within seconds, the lights all began to die down. Chiya gasped and widened her eyes as the entire room became pitch black. Seppuku cleared his throat.
“Okay, get read-”
Chiya then screamed loudly, Earl and Seppuku both covered their ears and gritted their teeth. Earl glanced around the room frantically, trying to figure out what she was screaming at--before realizing that she was afraid of the ship going dark.
“Flower!” Seppuku shouted.
Chiya continued to panic, believing that the ship powering down was a systematic problem that would leave them drifting in outer space. Earl quickly grabbed her shoulders and softly tapped her cheeks a few times.
“Chiya! Stop screaming! We just turned off the lights so we wouldn’t be spotted!”
“Oh, okay,” she said instantly calming down.
The two continued staring at her with puzzled looks. Seppuku shook negatively and sighed, “It’s what I get for putting a cute cheerleader girl on the team…”
The Winged Gazelle moments later came rushing over Chiya’s ship--they were remaining absolutely still as it passed over them. The bridge became even darker now that Gazelle’s ship covered them. Seppuku lowered his eyebrows and gritted his teeth, waiting for a certain moment to move.
Chiya bit her lip and looked at Seppuku, “What’re we doing? Isn’t the docking bay on the side of the ship?”
Seppuku chuckled, “Hey, yeah, let’s just land in the obvious!”
Chiya rubbed her forehead in confusion and looked at Earl for an answer. “We’re gonna’ attempt to dock with the emergency exit, near the cruiser’s rockets.”
“What if we burn up!?”
Neither Seppuku or Earl responded to her concern, merely concentrating on the moment to act. The flame of the rear rockets just became visible, Seppuku immediately swung his hand over at Earl.
“Blow ballast!”
Earl nodded and slammed his fist down on a button, “Blowing ballast!”
Chiya widened her eyes in shock, the ship was somehow raising itself up at an incredible speed without the help of the rear rockets. She had gone through pilot training, but she had no idea what a ballast was.
Seppuku immediately swung the ship around as it quickly ascended, he quirked his mouth as the back of the Winged Gazelle was quickly coming in sight. Chiya widened her eyes as she saw how close they were getting to the rockets fire.
“Umm, are we gonna’ burn up!?”
“No, we’re fine.”
Seppuku quickly forced a lever forward, sending the ship towards the rear of the Winged Gazelle quickly. The ship was heating up greatly since they were so close to the rockets--but this was the plan. Chiya wiped her forehead and groaned loudly.
“Why are we doing this..?”
“West rocket, connect us to it Bendek!”
Earl quickly looked up at the rocket and lowered his eyebrows, he then punched in a few commands on the dashboard screen--and just like that the ship began rushing towards the side of the rocket. Chiya could tell at this point that she would be ignored until they succeeded, so she decided to remain silent and watch the operation go into effect. Earl glanced at Chiya again nervously, at this point the entire bridge was lit up by the bright flares of the rockets. Chiya returned a glance and got a fearful look--never taking into consideration that they could die on this mission.
“Prepare docking bridge!”
Earl nodded and pressed a red button, turning it bright green. Chiya jolted up startled at the loud sound of mechanical parts moving. She bit her finger nervously, anticipating an explosion to occur at any moment. She closed her eyes tightly and grabbed Earl’s hand--if she were to die from something like a malfunction, she’d want to be sucked out into space with Earl. He tightly held her hand but didn’t actually look at her, focusing on the very tiny door that was now becoming visible on the rocket’s side. The suspense was building up as they got closer, they would also need to hook the docking bridge to the door perfectly--or risk crashing into the hull.
Seppuku held his hand up, “Commence docking operation.”
“Commencing.”
Chiya held her waist and cleared her throat as she watched them come right up to the door. The fact that the Winged Gazelle wouldn’t stop was telling her that Mighty Gazelle might not know of their presence. Everyone was then jolted forward, Chiya nearly fell down but remained on her feet.
“Jesus! Are we under attack!?”
Seppuku shook negatively and exhaled in relief, “No, we’ve docked with the ship successfully.”
Earl smirked and rubbed his forehead, “That was pretty tight, considering you’re not supposed to dock with emergency exits.”
Seppuku held up his rifle and smirked, “Well, off we go then!”
Chiya lowered her eyebrows nervously, but realized the actuality of their situation. Seppuku was protecting them. She could never imagine a realistic scenario where Seppuku was killed, only one where he kills. In Chiya’s eyes, Seppuku was invulnerable.
The three quickly ran down the bridge hallway back into the living room--the usual exit was now a bridge instead--very similar to the one Samurai Goroh had. Chiya no longer felt tired, prepared to give the mission her full undivided attention. The three slowly approached the docking bridge and came to a stop, Seppuku stood motionlessly as he looked down the short glass bridge. He looked back at the two and cleared his throat.
“Remember, we don’t know what he has in there--if anything seems threatening, shoot, ask questions later.”
“Even if it’s a human?” asked Chiya.
Seppuku sighed and rubbed his chin, feeling that this was a completely different ball game. “We’ll try and avoid any contact with humans--as much as I’d love it to, this should in no way be a slaughter.” He turned back towards the bridge and began walking, Mind you, this is just for a race.”
Chiya and Earl both nodded affirmatively. The three walked down the bridge together, prepared to get the mission underway as soon as possible. No one knew what dangers may lay ahead in Mighty Gazelle’s ship--but one fact remained. The size of the Winged Gazelle was suspiciously large.
One way or another, Chiya knew she would discover something interesting while aboard the ship--only she had a feeling that it wouldn’t be a good discovery…



To be continued…