F-Zero: Seppuku 3/3 - Lap 12

==Lap 12=


Thousands of men and women cheered in a dark stadium, many of which had very slum appearances. This stadium wasn’t filled with a single goodhearted person. Ex-Red Star and Bloody Chain goons, murderers, rapists, predators, rogues, pirates, mobsters; not a single type of criminal was vacant. The men and women of the crowd cheered more obnoxiously as the center of the stadium lit up, revealing a boxing ring.
A man in a dark purple tuxedo stepped into the ring, he had a very similar appearance to Mr. Zero—clearly mimicking his appearance. Overlooking the stadium was a wide window up near the ceiling. From behind the glass, calmly stood a fairly obese man in a fuzzy purple leopard skin coat. His chin was very fat, as it was pressed against his chest; the front of his neck wasn’t visible because of this. He hummed with an anxious look on his face. He chuckled and held up a glass of expensive liquor as he gazed down at the ring.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Tonight, we join together for an exhibition match between two Throwdown celebrities!”
A platform elevator under the stage was slowly coming up through the floor; there were two platforms on each side of the stage rising up.
“What else could possibly be as exhilarating as a good old fashion game of Throwdown!?”
The crowd began to cheer wildly. Throwdown was a banned sport, ideally, it was just boxing, but in this sport the opponents could use tools thrown onto the stage. The game was normally won by knockout, but victory through death was a very prominent method of winning for the hardcore players.
An introduction song was played through the speakers as the platforms neared the surface. From inside the east platform stood a man in a black muscle shirt with a red hammer and sickle on his left breast. He had dark green cargo pants with combat boots, and a soviet belt buckle. He was very muscular and had immensely pale skin. His left eye was blazing red, but his right eye was replaced with an optics device. He rubbed his golden mohawk with a very prepared look on his face.
“Blaskovitz! Blaskovitz!” the crowd chanted loudly.
This man was Brock Blaskovitz, Soviet time traveler; ex-Red Star leader, now-puppet of Black Shadow. Blaskovitz slowly dipped his head down and gave his opponent a threatening stare. His opponent was in a dark suit much like Jody Summer’s. The man had a visor on his face, much like Seppuku’s; only this one had holes—not the electronic white eyes.
Blaskovitz breathed in and punched his two gloved fists together loudly, he approached his opponent slowly. The announcer stood between the two and smirked.
“Gentlemen! We want a very bloody and gory fight!”
Blaskovitz blinked once at his opponent, “I promise this, and more…”
His opponent narrowed his eyes, “You’re all talk, you old Siberian pig!”
Blaskovitz lowered his eyebrows slowly and nodded. The announcer rubbed his hands together and backed away.
“With the championship games around the corner, here’s one last chance for either one of you to gain some more fans!”
Out in the darkness of the stadium stood a man in a dark blue and red cloak. His hood was silhouetting his face, with the exception of his chin and mouth. He was staring at Brock in specific; a clear look of discontent was on this man’s face.
The bell rang, Brock instantly grabbed his opponents hand before he could strike, Brock pushed him off and punched his fists together again.
“…time to die…”
The man blocked with his fists as Brock charged his fist towards him. The man gasped as Brock had easily beat his defense apart with a single strike. Before he could put his hands together again, Brock struck the center of his face. The man was knocked back by this greatly, but Brock was unmerciful and proceeded to strike him in the face multiple times. The man leapt away from Brock and groaned loudly in pain. The crowd was clearly supportive of Brock, as the cheering seemed completely revolved around him.
The man gritted his teeth and chuckled at his more muscular opponent, “That all you got, Red Boy?”
He quickly leapt towards Brock and swiped his fist across his face; while Brock did turn his head upon being struck, he didn’t seem very affected by it. Brock slammed his fists down on the man’s shoulders, this forced him to drop his hands. Brock quickly slammed his hands across both sides of his head. The man quickly dropped back with a taken back look, now very dizzy from this. Despite the stun, Brock remained unmerciful and began to strike his face some more. The man tried to retreat, but Brock swung at his gut painfully, then proceeded to hit his face some more.
After a few more attempts to strike Brock, the man fell down onto his knees and grunted loudly. Brock narrowed his eye at the man, a metal pipe was thrown into the air by a fan; Brock caught this quickly and grabbed the man by the neck.
The crowd got very loud as Brock proceeded to strike his enemy constantly with the blunt object. The shrouded man in a cloak quirked his mouth and growled softly.
Brock’s opponent now trembled after getting hit so much; he got onto his back and began to lift himself up. Brock leapt into the air and came down at him with his fist clenched tightly, his fist landed straight into his stomach.
“O---oh!” the announcer shouter.
Brock looked the man in the eyes with a look that desired to prove his superiority. He clenched his fist and continued to beat the man against the floor over-and-over again. The crowd watched in amazement as Brock was practically beating up a motionless sack of meat. Brock was relentless, every punch he threw was seemingly stronger than the last, and he showed no sign of stopping. Much of the crowd was petrified by this, but most of the crowd was excited.
The man up behind the glass window crossed his arms and smirked as he watched the horrific sight, clearly pleased with what he was seeing. He spun around slowly and proceeded towards his luxurious red chair.
The crowd cheered constantly as Brock moments later stood up with blood dripping from his gloves. He raised his hands into the air with a smirk of pride; his opponent was now lying motionlessly—dead.
Brock continued to pant softly as he gazed upon the cheering dark hearted animals, all of which were cheering for what was nothing short from murder.
Brock swallowed and nodded to the fans, “…I always win…” he muttered slowly.



Seppuku crossed his fingers with a smirk as he read a news article on his computer screen. Chiya and Earl were present in the office with him, as they were told that he had already found a lead on Dark Million. He smirked and chuckled softly.
“What is it?” asked Chiya.
Seppuku looked up at the two, “Blaskovitz just won a Throwdown exhibition match…”
Earl widened his eyes; Chiya had a confused look, “Throwdown?”
“It’s a sport that has been banned for several years,” he clenched his fists and growled, “...by order of the Bat…”
Chiya still had a confused look, Earl put his hand on her shoulder, “It’s a mix of boxing and wrestling- well, the fake wrestling…” he quirked his mouth, “The major difference is that people can die in this sport.”
Seppuku nodded, “It was an attempt to make another F-Zero-like sport; one that you could kill in and get away with it. Unlike F-Zero, it didn’t gain universe-wide attention, so the Federation had it shut down…”
Chiya shrugged, “Then how did he win an exhibition match? Where did he do this?”
“The Krush.”
Earl widened his eyes and grunted, “They have Throwdown competitions at The Krush?”
“Earl, you know about this place?” asked Chiya.
He dipped his head down uncomfortably, “Yeah, I, uh…” he glanced away from Chiya and sighed, “Me and Dark Rose went there together once…”
Chiya glared at him, Seppuku snapped his fingers and hummed, “So you have a VIP pass to this place..?”
Earl raised a suspicious eyebrow, “…yes..?”
Seppuku hummed with a smirk and nodded, “I see…”
“Well, actually, yes and no…” Seppuku lowered his eyebrows angrily, “Rose and Excalibur had VIP passes—not me.”
“Excalibur and Rose, huh..?”
Earl lowered his eyebrows, “You have something on your mind, spit it out.”
Seppuku nodded while rubbing his chin, “Do you still have your Excalibur outfit?”
Earl narrowed his eyes, “Oh boy…”
He pointed at Chiya, “Do you still have Rose’s clothing?”
Chiya beamed, “Yes! I love to dance around in her underwear, it’s so fun and-”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re a confused lesbian, we get it.”
Chiya lowered her eyebrows taking offense by this, “Um---m, okay..?”
Earl snapped his fingers and shook negatively, “I know what you’re going to propose, and I’ll start off by asking the obvious question,” he pointed at Seppuku firmly, “Why don’t you go?”
“The Krush only allows criminals in, yes, however, I may no longer be considered a criminal after last year’s events.”
Chiya smirked, “No offense, but you could open up ten animal shelters and people would still think that you’re a criminal…”
“Also, I just spent all those months locked up, I don’t wanna’ screw things up right away by getting intercepted by the Federation goons on the way to the Lightning Area.”
Earl crossed his arms and hummed suspiciously, “Just what is it that you would have us do?”
Seppuku chuckled and clapped his hands together, “I think it’s about time Excalibur and Dark Rose make a reappearance…”
Chiya shook negatively, “But Seppuku, Rose is dead!”
“But you have her clothes, voice, and hopefully can act like her.”
Chiya puckered her lips and pointed up in the air, “I’m a bloody witch!”
Seppuku laughed, “Perfect! Just shout that every five-to-ten minutes and you’re good!”
“Now, hold on, what is it you would want Excalibur and Dark Rose to do at The Krush?”
“Confront Blaskovitz…”
Chiya widened her eyes and gasped, “C- confront- you mean fight him!?”
Seppuku nodded, “Just like the Grand Prix, Blaskovitz can’t harm you inside The Kurhs; he’d be killed in an instant.”
Earl shook negatively, “You’re insane.”
“I’m proposing that you enter the Throwdown championship and work your way up to the final. Inevitably, you two would meet there.”
“Again, you’re insane!”
“Don’t worry, I plan on training you. You’ll have Blaskovitz down in no time with a little work.”
Chiya grabbed Earl’s arm, “No way! We said that we’d help, but that’s suicide! We’d have better chances surviving Black Shadow’s empire than we would fighting Blaskovitz!”
Seppuku slowly tilted his fedora down and sighed, “Then, we’ve already lost the war…“ Earl lowered his eyebrows and bit his lip, “Deep inside, Blaskovitz is a puppet just like Rose. His wires can be cut, but only if you do it for him. If we can just briefly free him from the puppetry, he very well may give us the answers we need…”
“Which are..?”
“The location of Black Shadow.”
Chiya lowered her eyebrows, “What if me and Earl just enter this place and talk to Blaskovitz?”
“Talk? Talk to him about what?”
Chiya smiled, “Maybe we can trick Blaskovitz into giving us the location, or something…”
Seppuku sighed and sat back in his chair, he pinched the spot between his eyes and shook negatively, “It’s not your fault, this kind of thing happens to a couple once they’re away from the action for too long…”
Earl let out a hostile sigh, “Look, we agreed to help you, not work for you.”
“Help me, by retrieving information from that fool!”
Earl nodded at him and looked into Chiya’s eyes, “Me and Chiya will enter The Krush and see where things take us. I have no plans of entering any competition though.”
“Fine…”
Earl exhaled loudly and looked into Chiya’s eyes, “How about it, Chiya? Infiltrate the cantina with me?”
She smiled and grabbed his hand, “Well, you and I have said it a million times before…”
“You two die together…”
The two looked over at Seppuku, who now had a smirk, “Yeah, that’s right, your little saying even grew on me a bit.”
Earl clapped his hands and nodded, “Alright, Chiya, go get dressed; I gotta’ go dig out my suit.”
Seppuku jiggled a key around his finger a few times, Earl turned as Seppuku tossed it at him. Earl caught it and raised an eyebrow.
“Go ahead and take the Red Dove for this mission.”
Earl smirked and clenched his fist, “Yes, sir.”




Earl later came walking out of his room in a pale green and red mercenary bodysuit. He had grey gloves and grey boots, along with a red shoulder pad. He walked towards Chiya’s room with a full visor helmet under his arm. Excalibur was originally a fake persona Earl had taken on in order to infiltrate Dark Million, however, it ended up becoming much more than a fake persona. Excalibur had later become the one line of defense in protecting Chiya from Dark Rose—by being her romantic interest.
Earl tugged on the collar of his suit and loudly knocked on Chiya’s door.
“Come in.”
He opened the door and entered, Chiya was putting her shirt on just as he had entered. Earl quickly covered his eyes, but realized that she already had a bra on. He slapped his arms down and nodded approvingly at her.
Chiya spun around in the exact same attire she would normally wear, except this clothing was black. The only significant difference between the attire of Chiya Flower and Dark Rose, was that Rose wore shiny black leather stocking boots. This was Chiya’s first time trying on Rose’s socks and stocking boots.
“Excellent work.”
Chiya puckered her lips and lowered her eyebrows, “Earl, I’m confused. Doesn’t the public know that Rose and Excalibur are dead?”
“The Federation claimed that they killed Seppuku, yet he walks among us. Therefore, much of the public likely believes that the Federation lies,” he snapped his fingers, “We can use that doubt to our advantage, claim that the Federation was holding us in custody.”
“Well, we better stay in the shadows…” Chiya narrowed her eyes and rubbed her chin, “…Jody is keeping an eye out for trouble…”
Earl nodded, “We’ll stay quiet. If Jody so much as hears a rumor that Excalibur and Rose are out on the streets again, you can bet that she’ll come for us…”
Chiya groaned and dipped her head down, “Wonder how many beers I’d have to drink to get us out of that mess…” she joked.



The two parked at Bart’s Café in the Red Dove. Unlike the Purring Kitten, this machine could fit two people, therefore Earl could sit in the back.
Chiya leapt onto the ground, she widened her eyes at the sound of a loud crack. She looked down at her new boots and quirked her mouth.
“Wow, did you hear that!?” Earl nodded and smirked, “These boots must be pretty solid!”
“Looks like some kind of incredible leather.”
Chiya swiftly poked her boot as they walked towards the door, “It is, wonder what kind of leather it is…”
Earl opened the door for her politely and hummed while nodding, Chiya immediately moved towards the counter and sat down in her usual stool. Earl momentarily walked in and sat beside her.
Chiya scanned the room for Bart, but the café was empty. She turned towards Earl and raised an eyebrow.
“Why is it that Bart’s always-”
Suddenly Bart rose up from behind the counter in a red shirt, both Chiya and Earl widened their eyes at the sight of his new attire. Bart smirked and crossed his arms.
“Well, what do you think?”
Chiya and Earl both lowered their eyebrows slowly. Chiya was fighting the urge to laugh, but was unable to hide her quivering smirk.
“U- uh, I think about kittens…”
Bart raised an eyebrow at her, “What do you think of my new attire?”
Chiya and Earl exchanged brief glances, she fake coughed and rolled her eyes, “That’s pretty sweet, Bart!” she lowered her eyelids and dipped her head down, “But, do you by chance have the receipt?”
“Oh, wow.”
Earl chuckled and grasped his forehead, “Yeah…”
Bart momentarily widened his eyes upon noticing the obvious, “Hey, wait a minute…” he slammed his hands down and gritted his teeth, “Why are you two dressed like that?”
“We’re heading for The Krush cantina.”
Bart gasped, “The Krush, w- what business could you have there!?”
Chiya beamed, “Seppuku-”
Earl grabbed her mouth quickly with widened eyes, “S- Seppuku------u’s computer, we found information on his computer that Brock Blaskovitz is there.”
“Stay away from The Krush!”
Chiya widened her eyes, “What’s wrong?”
“You two are a happy couple, why in God’s name are you going to the most criminal infested place on Earth!?”
Earl shrugged, “We just wanna’ know if Blaskovitz is actually there. In and out, it’ll be easy.”
“Yes, he’s there. I’m warning you for your own good, do not, go to that cantina…”
“I know that it’s dangerous, me and Rose went there together once.”
Chiya scratched her head, “I understand that there’s bad guys here, but what makes it so dangerous if we’re disguised?”
“If they find out that you two are clean citizens, they’ll tear you to shreds…” he glared at Earl, “Why are you dragging Ms. Flower into this!?”
“Hey, Bart, man, relax…” Bart continued to glare at him, “If I didn’t know what I was doing, I wouldn’t have brought her along. Again, in and out, quick and simple.”
Bart set two white cups down and poured them coffee, Chiya looked down at the steaming cup and quirked her mouth. Earl grabbed her hand and looked at Bart.
“We’re going to be fine.”
Chiya took a sip out of her coffee and nodded in agreement, Bart shook negatively at the two, “As a friend, I’m just trying to help you. Do not go to The Krush!”
Earl narrowed his eyes at him and smirked, “Alright, we won’t go…”
Chiya gasped and swished her head around, “We’re not?”
Earl winked at her, she widened her eyes and puckered her lips, “Okay…”
Bart pointed at him with a straight finger, “Don’t go there…”
“We’re not!”
Bart lowered his eyebrows and hummed curiously, Chiya crossed her arms and looked out the window. The dark stormy clouds of the Lightning Area could be seen far across a body of water.
“Why doesn’t the Federation shut down The Krush?”
“There’s not enough Federation officers in the galaxy to take down that many criminals…”
Earl tapped his fingers along the counter, he smiled faintly and exhaled, “Bart, I do want to thank you for looking out for me and Chiya.”
Bart nodded quickly, “Finish up your coffee and go home,” he turned his head towards the door nervously, “I’m scared that Ms. Summer is going to walk in here and catch you in your suit, Earl.”
Earl chugged the coffee down and pushed the cup forward, “No problem; Chiya, let’s roll.”
Bart glared at him, “Roll home?”
Earl stopped before reaching the door and nodded, “Yeah…”
Chiya finished her coffee and got out of the seat as well. Bart reached out towards her and grunted.
“Ms. Flower, you appreciate your relationship just as much as him. Make sure he doesn’t bring you to that awful place!”
Chiya smirked at him and gave him a thumbs up, “No worries! We’re heading straight home!”



“Here we are, The Krush…” said Earl.
Earl and Chiya had parked the Red Dove in a secluded area near a massive complex. The complex was very flashy, had hundreds of vehicles in the parking lot, and several lowlifes hanging around the entrance. There was very loud music being played around the building, Chiya could tell that this wasn’t going to be any ordinary cantina.
Earl forced his helmet over his face, the tinted visor hid his entire face from view, “Alright, you know your role?”
Chiya smiled and nodded, “Mhm!”
Earl nodded and began walking towards the entrance, “Alright, follow my lead, Rose.”
Chiya felt a shock go down her spine upon being called Rose, but this wasn’t necessarily a bad shock. The night Rose had been killed, Chiya accommodated a recurring request Rose had for her, which was to drink some of her blood. Chiya did this and now believes that the two are reunited again. For the time being, Chiya didn’t feel like her gleeful self--she felt like a dark hearted witch.
The two walked past a crowd of people standing around the entrance; many of them were glancing at Earl and Chiya in shock. Chiya quickly put the sunglasses Rose used to wear on, this way she could hide her blue eyes, as Rose had red eyes. She looked down at Earl and found that he had his hand wrapped around his holster. Despite how insistent he was suddenly sounding in the café, Earl was fairly nervous being surrounded by so many criminals. The fact that he brought a gun along wasn’t unusual at the slightest.
Earl approached the door and pulled out two plastic cards, both belonged to Excalibur and Dark Rose. Chiya raised an eyebrow as he put the cards in a security slot.
“What are those?”
Earl jolted his head up and fake chuckled, “Good one, Rose…”
She widened her eyes and looked back at the idle men and women surrounding them, she nodded and fake chuckled as well.
“I was just kidding…”
The door unlocked, both were allowed inside and were registered as Excalibur and Dark Rose. Earl grabbed Chiya’s hand and proceeded into the cantina. She was initially alarmed by the sound of loud chatter, the music could hardly be heard over all of the conversations that went on at once. Earl continued to hold her hand as they walked past more criminals. A few of the men and women they passed were holding alcoholic beverages.
Chiya widened her eyes and gasped as they entered the large room of the cantina. In the center of the room was a round counter with hundreds of drinks behind the bartender. Many tables and booths were set up around the room, and fairly revealing female dancers were present in each corner. Chiya was left amazed by what she was seeing, this was nothing like the bar she used to go to; this was some kind of mega-cantina.
“Blimey! How are we gonna’ find Blaskovitz in this mess!?”
Earl held his waist and hummed as he thought the same thing. He scanned the room for any sign of Brock, but all he could find was a large variety of universe’s greatest scum.
“Should we split up..?”
Earl shook negatively, “No way.”
Chiya laughed with a snort, “Don’t blame you…” she quirked her mouth and scanned the room with him, she widened her eyes and pointed towards a wall, “Is that him?”
Earl turned his head, there was indeed a very muscular man sitting at a table, he had a muscle shirt just like Brock’s--only it was white with a black hammer and sickle.
“It’s one of Brock’s old goons…”
Chiya frowned, “I miss fighting the goons…” she exhaled with a smile, “You never realize what you had, until you have supernatural clones trying to kill you…”
This wasn’t likely someone currently affiliated with Brock Blaskovitz, this was most likely an ex-Red Star gangster who had escaped from the final battle. The Lightning Area was where both Red Star and Bloody Chain gang members tried escaping to after the Japanese military arrived in the Lower City. Michael Chain had nearly escaped, but had been comprehended by Mr. EAD and fellow Federation officers.
Earl swatted his arms against his waist and shrugged, “Well, got nothing to lose…”
He walked towards the counter while still holding Chiya’s hand. The bartender was leaning against the counter with a bored expression, his eyes widened upon seeing Earl approach him. He instantly sprung up onto his feet and gasped.
“No way!” Earl and Chiya stopped in front of the counter as he looked back and forth at the two excitedly, “Y- you’re Excalibur!”
Earl nodded, “Yep, and this is Dark Rose.”
Chiya wiggled her fingers at him, “Hi---i…”
“B- but, didn’t you get killed? It was all over the news about a year ago!”
Earl and Chiya exchanged glances, he chuckled and shrugged, “Yeah, and from what I understood, the Federation electrocuted Seppuku. But hey, he’s walking and talking again, isn’t he?”
The bartender nodded, “Never did trust those Federation bastards, bunch of Fascist pigs…”
Chiya crossed her arms angrily, “Yeah, fashion pigs…”
Earl pointed at Chiya, “Me and Rose were exiled from Dark Million, so we faked our deaths and eloped here in Japan,“ Chiya widened her eyes and blushed, “Right, honey?”
Chiya was somewhat stunned that Earl wanted to take this bit of roleplaying so far. Implementing Dark Rose as Excalibur’s wife was unnecessary in their mission, but she found it beautiful that Earl would do such a thing. She liked to believe that Rose would have eventually married Excalibur had he not been Earl.
“Married? Well, congratulations…”
Chiya beamed at him and grabbed Earl’s hand, “Yup! Excalibur is my husband!”
The bartender smirked at the two, “Ah, well, anyways…” he leaned against the counter, “What can I get you fellas’?”
“Information.”
The bartender spun around to grab the beverage he requested, but he instantly stopped after realizing that he didn’t ask for beer. He spun back around with a confused look.
“Information?”
“A location.”
The bartender smirked and rubbed his chin slowly in suspicion, “…what kind of location..?”
Earl leaned in towards the bartender and held his hand up towards his helmet, “We’re looking for Brock Blaskovitz, do you know him..?” Earl asked silently.
“Know him? Of course I know him, everybody knows Blaskovitz!”
Chiya grunted, “He’s that popular?”
Earl slammed his hands down, “I would like to establish an audience with him…”
“You can try…” the bartender pointed to his left, Earl and Chiya both turned their heads; Brock was sitting with two women in a very dark booth, “Blaskovitz likes spending time with the ladies…”
Earl and Chiya continued to stare at Brock intensely, he didn’t seem to realize that the two were in the cantina with him. An unusual site for both of them, Brock seemed to be having the time of his life, as he was laughing and making very wild looking hand gestures as he spoke.
The two walked away from the bartender without saying anything. Neither Chiya nor Earl had thought out a plan, they simply went straight towards Brock. Chiya began to tremble slightly as they did this, she wasn’t prepared to question Earl’s careless motive for doing this, so she merely walked alongside him.
Brock continued to chuckle with his women, both appeared to be romancing him up. Both women had their hands on his torso, his large arms were wrapped around both women. He blinked once and breathed in as he prepared to speak, but he was quickly interrupted by the sound of a hand smashing down on the table. He looked forward with a surprised expression and grunted in shock, then in disgust.
“Excalibur…” Earl nodded at him, “-and Dark Rose, apparently…”
She smiled, “Hi, Blaskovitz.”
“Big champ, I hear…”
Brock narrowed his eye, “The greatest…”
Earl pulled up two seats from another table and pushed them in front of the table. He and Chiya sat down in front of him with calm looks, Earl momentarily removed his helmet and placed it down on the table. Brock glared at him, he already knew that this was Earl, but simply seeing Excalibur unmasked for the first time sent a slight bit of rage into his body.
Earl had a smirk on his face as he looked into Brock’s eye, Brock grinded his teeth angrily and pointed at Chiya, “Dark Rose was a very annoying person, I greatly disliked her from the start…” he slammed his fists down and growled loudly, “-and then you came and made her worse!”
“You would’ve liked her if you hadn’t been treating her so badly…”
Brock chuckled, “We treated her badly, because she deserved it…”
Chiya glared at him, “What did she do to deserve it?”
“We didn’t need her, not from the start. Had she not been created, Green Plant would be destroyed right now…” he crossed his arms, “I will not question my master’s decision to create her, every decision he makes is right, I just hated her guts…” he pointed at Chiya, “Mainly because I hate your guts…”
“Most people like my guts, Blaskovitz…”
Earl nodded at her and hummed, “Yeah, I like her guts. You’re just an idiot, always have been, even before you were a puppet.”
Blaskovitz slammed his fists down and laughed, “A puppet!? Ha! The only puppet here is the one who believes in a God!”
“You believe in a God--Black Shadow,” Chiya pointed out.
“I, like all of Dark Million, believe in the Red Dove--a sacred dark angel…” he smirked at the two, “But to honestly believe that a deity put us in this universe? Ha! You humans are all the same…”
Chiya shook negatively, “The Red Dove, eh? Is that why you want Seppuku so badly?”
“Seppuku is the Red Dove, but that is not why we desire to capture him…”
Earl closed his eyes and shook negatively at the nonsense he was hearing, “Okay, look, let’s cut to the chase…” Brock raised his eyebrow, “Black Shadow, where is he?”
“He is everywhere…”
Earl glared at him and growled, “God dammit, stop it with this mystical crap. His ship, where is his ship!?”
“You don’t know?”
“He destroyed the tracking device I had hidden aboard his ship months ago…”
Chiya and Earl gasped as a stripped her gotten up on the table and began to jiggle around. Chiya’s eyes were quivering at the woman, Earl had a fairly annoyed look on his face. He leaned down and looked at Brock.
“As I was saying, tell us where Black Shadow’s ship is, and I promise-”
The girl crouched and began to jiggle her rear around, blocking his view of Brock. Earl grunted and lowered his eyebrows in anger.
“M- ma’am, can you please leave? We’re in the middle of an important discussion.”
The stripped didn’t listen, she continued to dance around erotically. Earl groaned and looked over at Chiya.
“Can you believe this?”
Chiya didn’t respond, she was stuck staring at the stripper’s nearly revealed chest. Earl raised an eyebrow at her. Chiya lowered her eyebrows and shook negatively very slowly.
“Those have to be implants…”
Earl grunted and momentarily pulled out his wallet. Brock had a grin on his face as he watched the woman, having completely forgot that he was in a conversation with his enemy. Earl pulled out some credits and began to throw them at the woman.
“Go! Shoo! Get away!”
The stripper looked down at the money and nodded. Earl and Chiya both gasped loudly as she slipped her skirt down all the way to her feet. Chiya was left with a quivering mouth.
Earl watched the stripper shake her exposed rear around, there was only a very thin thong on her. He covered Chiya’s eyes and closed his.
“No! Please leave the table!”
The stripper looked down at him and nodded after picking up the money. Earl opened an eye again and lowered his eyebrows.
“I hate this place…”
Brock shook negatively, “You must play for a different team then, because this is paradise for men…”
Earl shook negatively, “No, I most certainly am not a homo-” he closed his eyes and shook negatively, “Look, just tell us where your master is and we’ll leave forever!”
“Betray my master?”
“Yes,” both Chiya and Earl answered.
Brock smirked, “Why might I do that?”
Earl crossed his arms, “Can he hear us right now..?”
Brock shook negatively, Earl smirked at him and poked his fingers down a few times, “If we can find him, we can kill him. Kill him, and you’ll finally be free.”
“I don’t know, this seems like the life for me…”
“But, Blaskovitz, Black Shadow wishes to destroy all of this…”
He shrugged, “All of humanity must die…”
Chiya raised an eyebrow at the two women stroking his muscles, “Y- you two just heard that, and you’re still pampering him?”
The women did not respond, Brock crossed his arms and smirked.
“There is no way I will betray Dark Million…” he momentarily smirked and turned his head away from the two, having come up with something devious, “…unless, you were to earn my betrayal…”
“Earn it, how?”
“In a fight!”
Chiya gasped, “No!”
Earl smirked, “I’m not playing your little barbarian game of Throwdown.”
“Do not worry, most are merely knocked out in matches.”
Earl narrowed his eyes, “Don’t play funny games with me, I know how you like to play…”
Brock closed his eye gleefully, “I know, it is great…”
“I can’t have Seppuku fight you?”
Brock chuckled softly, “Even I will admit, that Seppuku outmatches me…” he opened his eye and looked up at Earl, “Besides, if I killed him in the ring, Black Shadow would kill me.”
Earl lowered his eyebrows and growled, he looked down at his hands and shrugged, “So if I were to beat you in a match, you’d hand over the information?”
Brock shrugged, “Maybe…”
Chiya grabbed his hand and shook negatively, “Earl, don’t do it…”
Brock nodded, “You should listen to your girly friend. If you and I meet in the championship, I will destroy you, Excalibur, like I have always wanted to…”
Earl glared at him and got out of his seat. He closed his eyes and exhaled loudly, “I’ll think about it…”
Chiya got up with him and shook negatively, “No! We completed the mission, now we head home and forget about this!”
Earl lowered his eyebrows and dipped his head down, wondering if Chiya was right. Brock continued to watch the two with a comfortable look on his face. The general fear Earl was having, was that Brock may be lying about this deal. If he did somehow beat Brock, there was a good chance that he wouldn’t give out Black Shadow’s location either way.
The two walked back to the counter together, preparing to make a final decision on the matter.



The two sat at the counter for a good twenty minutes, they were only discussing the dangers that could be presented if they took up this opportunity. Chiya was greatly succeeding in pulling Earl away from this proposition.
“- and let’s not forget the obvious; compared to you, Blaskovitz is huge!”
Earl nodded while rubbing his chin, “He is pretty big…”
“He’s a pro at this game, you’ve never even played before; how would you even beat the regular contestants?”
Earl snapped his fingers and nodded, “Okay, fine, I won’t fight him.”
Chiya smiled, “Good, now, can we go home so I can make you dinner?”
Earl smiled, “Yeah! I’d love to have dinner-”
“I, had dinner once…”
Both turned their heads to the end of the counter, the man in a dark blue and red cloak was sitting with his head tilted downward. He took a sip of his beverage and wiped his mouth.
“I, had a dinner of pain dealt to me…”
Chiya and Earl merely blinked at the man a few times, an awkward silence ensued the random comment. Chiya smiled at Earl again and nodded.
“Yeah, so anyways, I was thinking-”
“But it wasn’t the type of pain you feel, oh no, it was a whole different type of pain. A pain, in my chest; he took a part of my life away from me…”
Earl and Chiya were blinking at the man again, Earl momentarily cleared his throat.
“A- are you talking to us, sir?”
The cloaked man looked up at them slightly and inched his finger, “Come, sit.”
Both were skeptical of this mysterious look man’s intentions, but both did as they were asked. Earl cautiously sat next to the man and raised an eyebrow.
“What are you talking about?”
The man crossed his arms, “I know of your mission…”
Earl and Chiya both widened their eyes, Earl began to panic, “Mission? We’re not on a mission!”
The man turned towards Brock and pointed, “You and I have similar desires, to stop Black Shadow.”
Chiya forced herself in front of Earl, “How did you know!?”
“Black Shadow dealt me a great amount of pain many, many years ago…” he grinded his teeth, “Blaskovitz is the only way we can find Black Shadow…”
Earl lowered his eyebrows, “We? Who are you?”
The man looked up and nodded, “My name is Berserker; an ex-Throwdown champion…”
Chiya hummed, “Really..?”
He turned towards Brock again and growled, “I’ve watched Blaskovitz kill as a gang leader, as a minion of Dark Million, and as a Throwdown athlete…” he slammed his fist down angrily, “That man is much worse than the ordinary thug…”
Chiya nodded in agreement, “I shot him in the eyes two years ago, he should be dead.”
Berserker flailed his hand around the room, “Look at him, everybody admires this man, this thing. They admire a man who is trying to destroy planet Earth…”
Earl chuckled, “Yeah, quite the bastard…”
Berserker turned towards the two, “I understand that you two are not criminals, I can’t say I understand why you’re here.”
“We’re on a mission for someone.”
“Who might that be..?”
Earl and Chiya exchanged glances, wondering if it was safe to reveal who their boss was.
Earl quirked his mouth and crossed his arms, “We’re on a mission for Lieutenant Seppuku.”
Berserker grunted, “So he is alive?” Earl and Chiya nodded, “I heard that he had escaped from the Federation; but I’m not very surprised that he escaped execution…”
“He’s a tough card to kill…”
Berserker leaned in towards him, “Here’s the deal…”
“Oh boy…”
“I overheard your conversation with Chiya, and I would like to help.”
Earl chuckled and shook negatively, “I’m not fighting. We’re going to go discuss this matter with Seppuku.”
“You and I can destroy Blaskovitz, together…”
“You can do that, I’m not risking my skin in the ring.”
Chiya nodded approvingly at Earl, Berserker put his hand on the counter and pointed at Earl, “I assure you, with a little work, you can topple everyone in the ring.”
“A little work? I think I need a bit more than a little work to beat Blaskovitz!”
Chiya glared at Berserker, “Yeah, come on, Earl may be tough, but not steroid tough.”
Earl nodded, “-and I’m not doing steroids.”
“Yeah, no steroids!”
Berserker shook negatively, “Seppuku can train you.”
Earl lowered his eyebrows, “Seppuku?”
“I know Seppuku very well, he would approve of the plan and train you to throw some heavy punches…” he rubbed his chin with a grin, “As for your fight with Blaskovitz, I have an idea for that…”
Earl chuckled and stood up with Chiya, “You’re crazy man, Seppuku’s supernatural, I’m not; there’s nothing to be learned.”
Berserker chuckled silently, “Go home and see for yourself…”
Earl narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the man, wondering if this was Seppuku in a disguise. Chiya had both the key to the Purring Kitten and the Red Dove, there was no way he could have gotten to the Lightning Area. Earl ultimately dropped his suspicion and nodded.
“Fine, let’s go see what Seppuku can show me, Chiya…”
“Don’t do this, Earl…”
“I’m not, but let’s see what Seppuku has to offer me…”
Berserker nodded approvingly as the two walked away from him. Chiya had a look of discontent as she held Earl’s hand, feeling that he was being successfully pushed into doing this.




Seppuku clapped his hands together while chuckling, “So you want me to train you?”
Earl nodded, “I want to see if what Berserker told me is true, can you truly make me a stronger man?”
“Berserker?”
“Yeah, he told us that you knew each other.”
Seppuku shook negatively, “Never heard of him.”
Chiya grunted, “T- then let’s not trust him!”
Seppuku slammed his fist down loudly, silencing Chiya completely, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves; entering this competition is a good idea…”
“No! He’s not doing it!”
Earl nodded, “Yeah, he said he might give me the information if I beat him.”
“Who said that we’d beat him?” Earl raised an eyebrow, “I’m all for you killing him in the ring.”
Earl laughed loudly, “Kill Blaskovitz? With my bare hands? Sounds farfetched…”
“Because it is farfetched!” shouted Chiya.
“But what if I teach you some bone crushing attacks?”
Earl beamed, “Really? Bone crushing?”
“Well, uh, I mean, I can crush bones with punches, you’re just an ordinary person, so probably not…”
Chiya stomped her foot down loudly and growled violently, “Is nobody listening to me!?” both looked at her quickly, “Why can’t we dress up Seppuku and have him fight!?”
“I wouldn’t just kill my opponents, I would destroy them. Besides, I don’t have a pass into The Krush.”
Earl crossed his arms, “Berserker claims to have a plan for the final match between me and Blaskovitz, considering I get that far…”
“Oh, but you will get that far!”
Chiya shook negatively, “No, he won’t!”
Seppuku stood up and approached Earl, he patted his back with a smirk, “I won’t let you get killed by Blaskovitz; I may not have a pass in, but for that final match, you can bet that I’ll sneak in…”
Earl chuckled and crossed his arms, “I’m suddenly feeling a bit motivated…”
“Earl, stop it! I don’t want you getting hurt!”
“I won’t.”
Chiya gasped, “Won’t? You mean you’re doing this!?”
Seppuku and Earl exchanged glances, he shrugged at Chiya, “It’s worth a shot, I suppose…”
“No!”
“Besides, if I’m not capable of this, I’ll lose right away and be ejected from the tournament before I even reach Blaskovitz. It’ll be fine, Chiya…”
Seppuku nodded, “Trust me, you can kill, but it rarely happens in Throwdown.”
“Rarely? As in..?”
Seppuku shrugged, “Probably a one-in-four chance of death. But that’s only if Bendek sucks at this.”
Earl smirked and nodded, “Believe it or not, but this isn’t as dangerous as F-Zero racing.”
“Are you kidding me!?”
“He’s right, Flower. In F-Zero, you can get seriously messed up, we’re just talking about beating the crap out of people in this sport.”
Chiya widened her eyes with a taken back look, “B- b- but…” she closed her eyes tightly and growled, “I’m going to make dinner!” she shouted angrily.
Earl and Seppuku watched as Chiya left the room in a rage. It was understandable that she was angered by his intentions, Earl would have to fight against two people every few days, for a total of six people; the last match would likely be against Brock. Throwdown would surely be one of the last major things Earl and Chiya do until the Grand Prix.
Unfortunately, Chiya had to spend these final days leading up to the Big Blue race, fearing for her lover’s life…



To be continued…