F-Zero: Seppuku - Part 1/3, Lap 6

Lap 5 < | > Lap 7
Chiya has accepted the role into Seppuku's "organization", but she may have not thought the deal out enough before accepting. Under Seppuku's order, Earl is to show Chiya a spare F-Zero machine body that he had originally planned to use for himself.
==Chapter Reading==
==Lap 6==
Chiya and Earl were walking down the hallway of Seppuku’s base together and momentarily entered the lobby. The day had passed and Chiya could officially list herself as employed, though she never envisioned her first job being so unorthodox. Respectively, Chiya felt uncomfortable knowing that from now on she would be living with Earl and Seppuku—two men who were still strangers. Earl was occasionally awkward and revealed his interest of the 'sport of kissing'; Seppuku was dark hearted, mysterious, and trigger happy. Now she slept under the same roof as them. Chiya had been contemplating whether her decision to join Seppuku’s organization was made too quickly, considering she agreed to join his vigilante group in exchange for an F-Zero machine and possible Grand Prix entry.
“Maybe with you around things won’t be so boring,” Earl said with a grin.
Chiya raised an eyebrow, “Seppuku is such an interesting character, though. How could it possibly get boring around here?”
The two walked toward the other door in the lobby, the one Chiya hadn't seen yet. “Yeah, but he isolates himself in his office for most of the day. The only time he usually leaves that office is at night when he hunts…”
“Hunts?” Chiya asked in fright.
“Whenever there’s no work to be done, he sneaks around the Lower City at night in search of crime; such as the predicament you found yourself in that one night, at least as I’ve heard.”
Chiya lowered her head with a half glare. She covered her chest at the mentioning of the sickening night, “I had that situation under control before he came along…”
Earl opened the door Chiya had yet to see, revealing a large cold room with metal parts all over the place. At first glance the room appeared to be a personal indoor junkyard, but closer observations revealed a very disorganized garage. In the garage's center was the pinnacle of Chiya's excitement. A dirty and unpainted body for an F-Zero machine. The body was heavyweight, likely in the vicinity of 1,900 kg or about 4,000 pounds. She would have the benefit of stronger attacks, better defensive, and faster drops when in the air; but overall, a slower machine. Chiya gasped with wide eyes at the massive gray body.
“Well, there it is. That was meant to one day be my F-Zero machine, but God knows I can’t pilot one anyways, and I’ve never had intentions of racing. I just wanted a machine so that I could help Seppuku on the streets.”
“Wow!” she blurted.
“Well, don’t get too excited, this is only the body. Luckily, the computer and dashboard are installed already, but it still requires the main components.”
Chiya placed her hand on the body of the future machine, the steel was cold and completely void of any cuts. Even the Blue Falcon had visible cuts that were beyond repair; she couldn't wait to one day see war scars on her own machine. The body seemed brand new, which raised a new question.
“Where'd you get this thing? I mean, it doesn't look like something you pulled out of a junkyard...”
Earl nodded, “Seppuku used to have some connections with the Galactic Federation. From what I understand, this was the concept some man going by the name of Professor Hollow created. He's the guy who built the Queen Meteor and King Meteor F-Zero machines. Apparently, the plan was to mass produce these as elite police chasers, but the plan was scrapped due to expenses.”
“Aye, building an F-Zero machine is expensive I'd imagine.”
“O—oh, yes.”
Chiya was hugging the body with a warm smile, “So this is going to be mine eventually?”
Earl gave her a thumbs-up, “You bet, in fact, it's yours right now. I planned on painting it black and red, calling it something badass, like...” Earl put on an intensive grin and shot his fist up with glory, “The Dark Avenger...”
Chiya rubbed her chin with puckered lips, “Sounds good, but, alternatively...” She leapt in front of the body with a cute smile, “We could paint it red and pink, then name it the Purring Kitten!”
Earl's jaw dropped down while grunting, it was as if he were just slapped across the face. His original dream of making the machine dark and fearsome had been crushed by cute and fluffy. Nevertheless, it was her choice to make.
“W- well, I guess that could also work…” he muttered.
“So where do we get all the other parts?”
Earl sat down on a metal spinning chair, “Well, Seppuku claims that you already possess a basic F-Zero engine?”
The question was received in a way that spooked the girl. Not even a day had passed, yet, she was already forgetting the life she had been leading outside of the base. Unfortunately, the engine was back in the sad place she considered to be a home. “Yes, but it’s back home... well, or at least where I was staying…”
The conversation was cut short by Seppuku, “Flower!” His obnoxiously loud voice ran through the ears of both young associates.
Seppuku tossed Chiya a metal box the size of a water bottle. She looked up at the man while lifting the lid up, the box contained much ammunition for her handgun. Chiya widened her eyes and gulped.
“O- oh God, why are you-”
“This part of the Lower City is as dangerous as it gets. If you’re going to return for that engine, you’ll need to be on your toes at all times.”
She grit her teeth frantically, “Wait, what do you mean by 'dangerous as it gets'?”
The man towered over her with a locked gaze, “The general rule is that the closer you are to the Upper City, the less violent. This part of the Lower City is miles away from the Upper City, therefore, this part of the city has excessive violence. No one can help if you get into trouble here.”
Chiya was left almost speechless. Despite having lived in the Lower City for years, she had no idea that there were more dangerous sectors, “Where’s the police?”
Seppuku laughed, “Police? That's a laugh, you won't find any cop brave enough to come down here.”
The Lower City had a very high crime rate because of the lack of funding and police. The complete opposite for the Upper City. Police officers kept a lookout for trouble in the same area as Rough Odds, beyond this, Jody Summer recommended that officers go no further.
Seppuku pat Chiya on the head, “Your first mission is to go retrieve your supercharged engine. That's it.” He then held onto his collarbone, where he had been shot. “I would gladly accompany you there, but Bendek says this wound is going to take at least two more days to heal.”
Earl jolted his head up and glared. He turned toward Seppuku and lectured, “Uh, no——o, I said two weeks! Two, weeks, to heal!”
Seppuku laughed, “Two weeks? Yeah right. Two days will be plenty.”
Earl growled angrily, “No, it won't! Why do you always do this?”
Though this was an important conversation, Chiya interrupted, “What kind of danger do you think I might come across?”
Seppuku and Earl exchanged glances. The tall man tilted his head toward her, “You may have noticed that the Lower City is experiencing a massive gang war between Red Star and the Bloody Chain. You need to make sure you’re back before sunset, or you may get caught between the feud.” Chiya widened her eyes, Seppuku continued after snapping his fingers, “But the Gang War is only the worst-case scenario, there’s always crime lurking down here. Twenty-four seven, three hundred sixty-five...”
“G- Gang War!? Do you really think I might encounter this if I don’t hurry!?” she asked frantically.
“Damn right you will. In the eyes of the gangs you’re just unclaimed property...”
Chiya grit her teeth and jumped, “I better get going then!”
The woman sprinted toward the door after saying this. Earl and Seppuku could see Chiya loading her handgun with ammo while running, she had a bad feeling about this mission. Once she went out of sight, Earl looked at Seppuku in discontent.
“Why did you lie to her?”
“Lie? In what way?”
Earl flailed his hands angrily, “Don’t give me that crap. You know just as well as I do that there is no specific time the Gang War goes hot, it just happens whenever!”
Seppuku acknowledged this with a nod, “True, but if I told her that, she would have never agreed to go get the engine.”
Earl sighed at his reasoning, “Can I at least drive her there? This is a bit risky...”
“Bite your tongue, Bendek. She's armed and has a goal—to get a machine. Let this mission serve as an evaluation for her. Next time, we'll operate together as a team.”
The mechanic closed his eyes and sighed frantically, “Well, let's hope she doesn't get captured or anything. It's a cruel place out in the Lower City...”
A while later Chiya speed walked along the streets in an unfamiliar area. Her handgun was tucked to her side, she had a feeling deep down that she would need it before completing the mission. The overall feel of walking down the sidewalk was strange, as if she wasn’t supposed to be walking outside in the first place. In this scenario, Chiya was just waiting to get mugged—or worse.
A shock went through her upon spotting someone creep around the corner of a building to look at her. Chiya felt that she could find herself in a similar situation as before if not careful, the only difference would be that this time she had a gun. The person disappeared the first moment their eyes met. She was under the strong presumption that this person was also trying to avoid contact with criminals.
Like the rest of the Lower City, there were no businesses opened around this area; just abandoned stores that were all looted. This section of the Lower City was especially quiet, either a good or bad thing. Many of the buildings were greatly damaged, thus indicating that the government paid no attention to this area of Mute City at all. The Federation had practically given up on the people here. The fact was that no sane person visited the Lower City voluntarily, not even religious missionaries showed their face, fearing that they'd be mugged. The Lower City was a place best avoided. A few miles away from Chiya were elevating roads leading upward to the more financial and thriving Upper City; the new land of opportunity.
Chiya noticed over time that more people had come to look at her from behind buildings; this was beyond frightening, however, these people did not appear dangerous. The gathering citizens were dirty and weak; just homeless people who were interested in her. She had a hard time feeling sympathetic for these people, though, as she had been living in no better state a mere day ago. She needed more time to fully understand the horrid life that each of these individuals led.
Minutes later Chiya knew that she was in a safer place, as she had made it back to the block with Rough Odds. Before heading back to the warehouse, she decided to go see what became of Rough Odds after Michael Chain's attack.
She rounded a building corner and and was faced with a police presence. There were a few officers in the area—specifically, investigators. Chiya decided that she would approach the officers and see if more information could be acquired on the gang war.
Chiya walked over to one officer standing by the main damage of the building. He was gazing upon the hole that Chain had climbed through.
“Hello sir, what happened here?” She was only lying to avoid becoming a suspect.
The officer stepped away from the wall, “It’s a complete mystery to us, but we know it was because of this damn gang war.”
Chiya glanced inside the now destroyed bar. The building was much more astonishing without the smoke, as she could now see just how much damage was actually inflicted. All of this just to kill Seppuku..?
“Right now we’re debating whether we label this as terrorism. It's hard to label it as terrorism if it wasn’t directed toward the citizens in particular, but rather, a mere side effect of gang warfare.”
“What’s to become of the bar?”
The officer shook his head with a frown, “This place is done for, the owner was killed by the explosion yesterday. It's a real shame.”
Chiya didn’t know the owner personally, but this was the only place she ever went to for entertainment. She relied on this place since the beginning to watch F-Zero racing and the news. Rough Odds would be difficult for her to say goodbye to.
The officer continued, “This was one of those fun places to visit when you have the spare time, and that's saying a lot, considering it's in the Lower City. But I guess we’re back to the olden days of listening to F-Zero races on our radios...”
“I’m sorry to hear that, I really do appreciate you guys providing us with help down here in such a dangerous part of the city. I hope you can end this gang war soon.”
The officer was grinning up until the last sentence, in which he responded, “Yeah…”
The woman turned and continued toward her old home. She had left the crime scene within moments. Michael Chain had ruined a place for fun and discussion, most Lower City citizens would no longer have a way to watch the Grand Prix. Chiya was only lucky to have gotten a new place to stay where she could watch the races. If she hadn’t been offered a job, she would have lived a much duller life in the abandoned warehouse—unable to watch her favorite sporting event.
Chiya made it to the abandoned warehouse not long after her encounter with the officer. She entered the room with her mattress and found the boxed engine untouched. Before leaving, she decided to first go around and collect any other possessions she owned. It took her another second to realize something; that she owned nothing of importance.
She looked down at her mattress where a patterned blanket sat. Picking the blanket up, she gazed into the stitching with an immense frown. The blanket had a red and white stitched pattern of squares, every square was stitched with undying love.
My mother was so sure I would bring fame and fortune to the Flower name. I’ve failed her…  
The blanket was crafted by Fiona Flower, the mother Chiya had to bid farewell to so many years ago. This blanket was all she had left of her family, it held much importance to her. Finally, she grabbed a gym bag full of what possessions she did own and put the blanket in the box above the engine. She departed out the building for the last time. It could safely be said that she would not miss this warehouse.
It didn’t take very long for her to retrieve the engine and other possessions, but now she had the challenge of carrying this large box back with her. Considering the situation she got herself into the last time she carried this, she would need to be especially careful. If confronted by someone dangerous, she'd need to drop the box in order to pull out her handgun— her only defense.
This time she avoided the sidewalks by moving down the streets, this way, no one could jump out of an alley to attack. Chiya had a clear memory of where to find Seppuku's base. The real challenge would be getting back to the base without confrontation.
Chiya passed by Rough Odds, and oddly enough, there were no longer any officers present. She had been walking for mere minutes and already her arms were becoming weak from holding such a large object. Now off the streets and into a new home, Chiya hoped to build back some of her strength. Lack of food and exercise had greatly declined her body to the point where one might expect her to be anorexic. Chiya actually had above average sized breasts, even when skinny they were large; but her two newly found companions would be left jaw dropped if she could gain back some weight—as this would further increase her chest size. There was much of Chiya's body to repair after so many years of starvation.
The Mysterian's walk was fruitful up to this point, she was a little more than halfway to the base. Chiya hadn't come across any of the situations that Seppuku described, it appeared as though she was home free; or so she thought.
Both her eyes suddenly widened and her rubber boots skid to a stop. Far across from her was the image of two men facing one another, one appeared to be homeless, the other was strong and better attired. The homeless man appeared to be bickering with the much stronger counterpart. Chiya sped her way to the side of a building and observed the two with squinting eyes.
Further examination revealed that the much larger person was acting authoritative toward the other, she soon realized what was happening, and it sent her into a cold moment of awe. The muscular man waved a military knife toward the homeless man, Chiya knew for a fact that this was an act of injustice. With bravery, she got closer to the action, desiring to hear the conversation they were having.
“I don’t want to be part of this!” the homeless man begged.
“Red Star needs active members if we are to defeat the Bloody Chain!” the muscular man yelled back.
“B- but I would gain nothing out of this. Our lives here are already awful enough!”
“Your motivation for joining is that I’ll spare you!” The gangster grinned and shrugged, “Your life is already going to Hell, why not make a difference? United we can one day take this metropolis by storm.”
The homeless man glared, “Look at me, I am frail and weak. What could I possibly offer your gang!?”
“Good point. Hand over your possessions,” he demanded.
Chiya gasped and began to tremble. This wasn’t her battle, but the more she looked at the man, the more she thought of herself being in that position. The fact of the matter was that to an extent, she was in that exact position, Seppuku granted her a second chance by saving her. Chiya quickly came to the realization that he had a knife—but she had a gun. It was the exact same situation she had been in, and it was her time to play Seppuku's role.
The Red Star gangster stopped talking at the sound of a gun cocking. Both men turned around to find Chiya aiming her gun with an intense stare. She was holding the pistol with both her hands and trembling, she couldn't believe what she was doing and possibly about to do.
“Well, what is this now?” the muscular man asked in a threatening voice.
The girl barred her teeth, “Y- You know what this is. Leave this man alone!” she yelled nervously, yet, in a heroic way.
The gangster raised an eyebrow upon noticing her frantic trembling stance. The fear in Chiya’s eyes helped establish that he still had the upper hand, to an extent. He smirked and shook negatively.
“Little girl, you’re doing a man’s job right now. You’re lucky you came across me, because I’m willing to let you go this time. Other gang members would kill you…” Chiya growled, her built up anger was inspiring her to hold onto the gun a little more steadily. She now held the pistol with only one hand. “Even if you kill me, Red Star will track you down. I'm a corporal in Blaskovitz's army, and we all care for each other...” he said laughing.
She shook her head, “Don't make me do it, I don't want to do it...”
Finally, the gangster sent a challenge by moving toward her with his knife ready, “Stupid girl, give me that gun!”
Chiya glared and bit down, “I don’t have time for trash!”
She angled the gun downward and fired, the bullet struck his knee. The gangster collapsed onto the ground while grunting, then looked up at her.
“Son of a- you shot me in the knee! That’s so weak!”
The homeless man ran away the first moment Chiya fired the gun. She stood before the injured gangster, now greatly disturbed by what she had just done. Chiya swallowed and returned to her trembling stance.
The bleeding man looked up at her, “So, what now. Are you going to finish me off?”
Chiya lowered her weapon and sighed, “No, that isn’t part of my mission,” she answered before holstering the handgun.
After concluding the engagement, she walked away to grab the box and bag she left by the building, the man remained on the ground still looking at her. He widened his eyes and grunted, realizing that she was speaking the truth—she was going to leave him.
“Yo- you’re part of Bloody Chain!”
Chiya disregarded the accusation and proceeded to run with the box and bag, she had likely gotten herself into more trouble by firing at a gang member, but she was at least safe. The gangster continued watching as the Mysterian turned onto a new street and left his sight. Afterwards, he pulled out a mobile device so that he could call for his gang to save him.
Eventually, Chiya made it back to the alley leading to the front door of the base. Chiya had not encountered further trouble. The conflict she had gotten herself into gave her the adrenaline rush to sprint all the way home. Now panting, she opened the door and entered—safe.
Chiya walked into the garage searching for Earl, but did not see him. She set the engine on a table and left the garage. Neither Earl nor Seppuku were anywhere to be seen. The problem she found with the base was that every room, somehow, came to be utterly silent, no matter how loud you were in another room. This made it especially difficult to tell whether or not two people were in a room.
After dropping the blanket and bag on her new bed she stopped to think. She looked back at her door and quirked her mouth, contemplating where the two might have gone. The answer came with a snap of the fingers. Earl said Seppuku never leaves his office...
She spent a few moments trying to remember which one of the doors led to his office, but eventually came to it. The woman felt somewhat stupid not knowing which door it was, considering his office door was located straight down the hallway. She opened his office door and exhaled in relief, she found both Earl and Seppuku.
“I’m back.”
Both men looked at her, Seppuku put his hands together and asked, “Did you encounter any problems?”
Chiya confirmed this with a nod, “I found a gang member of the Red Star, I think. He was mugging some old man.”
“And?”
“I engaged him, successfully.”
Seppuku put his hands together with a pleased grin, “And he’s dead?”
“No, I shot him in the knee and left him.”
This second part disabled his grin, “You’re a fool for doing that. But at least, you completed your mission and saved an innocent life. Good work, Flower.”
“A fool?” she asked with a glare.
“Yes, an idiot-girl. Why would you leave him like that?”
Chiya held her chin and shrugged, “It just seemed wrong to kill him.”
Seppuku slammed his fist down angrily, “Is it? You shot him, which likely disabled him. Now, who’s going to save him? The police? I don't think so, they'd probably just finish the job anyhow.” Chiya widened her eyes and gasped, instantly feeling guilty. “He likely remained there and bled to death in pain, where he spent his final moments on the ground suffering. The most heroic thing to do in that situation would be to set him free on the spot—by killing the bastard!”
Chiya bit her finger at the thought of going that far, “B- but, that doesn't seem right...”
“Elaborate.”
“Well, I mean, can't anyone change for the better?”
The man scoffed, “Bring it up with some hippies, these are immoral gangsters incapable of change.”
Chiya narrowed her eyebrows in offense, then glanced at Earl for help. To her surprise, Earl was conveying a supportive look. There seemed to be two sides to this debate, Chiya and Earl were on the moralistic side.
Seppuku shrugged at her with a dull face, “However, as I said, you completed your mission. You’ll find that future engagements put you in these kind of tough situations, in which case, the fate of your victim rests in your hands alone—not mine. Quite personally, I don't give a damn how you go about tending to crime. All I'm saying is that in the future when you decide to spare one of these useless thugs, I won't shed a tear when they sneak a bullet through your back as you think that things are under control.”
Chiya shook her head with a frown, “I’m sorry…”
Seppuku turned toward the television Earl was looking at, “I take it you didn't notice what happened while you were gone?” asked Seppuku.
“Huh, what happened?”
Earl glanced at her with a quirked mouth, “While you were gone, there were reports of a devastating firefight between the two gangs. The firefight was in the middle of an intersection, and reports are saying there were many civilian casualties.”
Chiya gazed at the TV screen, which was showing a simple photo of Michael Chain at the crime scene.
After a day of both horror and excitement, it was becoming clear to Chiya that before she could get to work on building her future F-Zero career, this dreaded gang war would need to end…
To be Continued!
Lap 5 < | > Lap 7
==Author Notes==
====The Purring Kitten====
There was never a strong plan in the original vision for just how Chiya would attain the Purring Kitten, but it was definitely the plan for her to simply get a fully operational F-Zero machine early in the story. Come Revival Day, however, it became gradually apparent to me that this would be a much longer story than I had once planned, and that I could do something less predictable: Not give Chiya the Purring Kitten right away. While she is promised a machine and presented proof of that machine in this chapter, I thought that with F-Zero: Seppuku, we could start things off with more of a focus on Lieutenant Seppuku racing, and give Chiya a clearly defined goal of putting together her own machine; this would also lend the story an obvious bridge for Chiya and Earl to cross together, as Earl building her machine would give the two incentive to get to know each other. At this point in time, I still did not decide that this was to be a three-part saga, and so even with Revival Day passed, I likely still expected Chiya to gain a working F-Zero machine by the end of the annual Grand Prix, as did happen.
====The Gang Wars/Rise of the 'Parts'====
The most significant development to come out of this chapter was the surprise invention of the Lower City Gang War waged between the Bloody Chain and Red Star. When the chapter was written, Seppuku mentioning the gang war was done very sporadically and not intended to define the plot of Part 1/3; sitting on it, I realized after the chapter was done that there was truly unique potential to fleshing out the gang war and make it a primary conflict to be resolved. The choice to elevate Michael Chain and Brock Blaskovitz (a name not mentioned yet) as antagonists directly battled my ultimate desire for Black Shadow to be the antagonist of F-Zero: Seppuku, and so it was officially decided from this development that F-Zero: Seppuku should be broken into three 'Parts,' the first of which would follow Team Seppuku as they confront Red Star and the Bloody Chain, and then follow this with Parts 2/3 and 3/3, where focus would shift onto the much bigger threat: Dark Million. With this decision made, F-Zero: Seppuku had officially become 'F-Zero: Seppuku - Part 1/3' and would inspire intense motivation to keep the flame that Revival Day created burning bright.
==Chapter Illustration==
This chapter illustration depicts the moment Chiya is shown the body for her future F-Zero machine that Earl is working on. More experimentation is put on display with this one, as while the lazy gradient background remains in place, some effort was put into making it look more dimensional by throwing in a room corner; the background is, nevertheless, still absent of any content. Another significant element present in this picture is the comical nature of Chiya's face, influenced by anime at the time. A third significant element of the picture is an expanded effort to draw Chiya without cloning her concept art; however, it remains apparent that her concept art was being referenced strictly here. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, this is the second time Earl was drawn, and compared to his concept art, he gains an appearance much more representative of how he would continue to look for the many years to come. As this was before Earl was canonically decided to be Korean, he was still drawn with a more Western face.
This chapter illustration was produced over Paint.NET on August 10th, 2013, as part of a continuing set of illustrations all prepared on that same day.