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

Prologue < | > Lap 2
The 23 year old woman, homeless, continues her short journey from the shop and back to the abandoned warehouse that she has taken up residency in. On the way, though, she runs into destined trouble that would live with her for years to come. It is here during a very sticky situation that she comes face to face with a much older man of little significance to her now, but soon enough would become the center of her life. The beginning of this woman's journey begins here—the great journey of Chiya Flower.
==Chapter Reading==
==Lap 1==
Mute City was soon to host the first race for the annual F-Zero Grand Prix. The universe was becoming very festive as the grand opening was one day away. Many taverns and secret gambling parlors were opening for the upcoming race, the first race of the Grand Prix would bring in many fans to watch F-Zero while drinking. F-Zero, or 'Formula Zero' was the universally adored style of racing in the universe. One needn't argue that F-Zero had usurped association football's title as the greatest and most anticipated sport. F-Zero is nothing like Formula One racing, the common F-Zero machine is capable of hovering at a speed of up to 2,000 km/h—or 1,200+ mph. The tracks that these machines raced on were long, complex, and often times lethal to the racer.
Many have attempted to convert their sports cars into F-Zero machines, but most of them fail immediately by failing to supercharge their engine. Those few who succeed in creating a machine typically wreck their hard work or end up in the hospital, if not dead. Red Canyon, a dry canyon outside of Mute City, served as a popular place for novices to train at after completing their machines. Some notable racers who have perfected the handling of F-Zero machines are: Captain Falcon, Black Shadow, Jody Summer, Michael Chain, Samurai Goroh, and many more. Captain Falcon earned himself the most fame of all racers due to his mysterious persona, great success, and respectable deeds to society. Of the thirty-some racers competing in the Grand Prix, Captain Falcon held the title trophy for fan favorite.
The young woman continued her way along the Lower City. The package she was now carrying possessed a very heavy engine. Her attempt to supercharge it surprisingly brought about a positive result. The process she had gone through was likely the first requirement in creating an F-Zero machine; what she now possessed was indeed an F-Zero engine. Though she had proven that the engine was indeed supercharged and working, the question remained as to whether or not it was a competition worthy piece of equipment.
The route she was taking soon brought her past one of the more lively blocks of the Lower City. Likely a hundred or less homeless citizens burrowed within the alleys and buildings within this block; they were like ants, and the block their ant hill—only there was no queen to keep them in order. The traveling woman took the time into account along with her position in the city. She knew it to be true that the box in her hands would make her a potential target.
The fears of being ambushed only intensified as she look left into a pitch dark alley. Her eyes caught sight of a small orange glow—a lone cigarette. The woman's eyes widened and thus she picked up the pace. To make matters worse, there were actually two cigarettes; though she only saw one. Though there was no actual wrongdoing occurring on part of the two men, the woman knew best to stay out of sight.
One man glanced around the corner and captured the woman in his gaze. He grunted softly in surprised, tossed his stick of nicotine aside, then whispered softly into his companion’s ear. They both grinned and looked toward the lone female, seeing two things of grand interest on her.
The young woman momentarily bobbed her head up in fright, both men had begun stalking her closely. Frantic and alert, she began toying around with her light gold hair in an attempt to calm herself down. One such as herself could make the fair assumption that these two were dangerous. The sad reality of the situation was that even if she could make it home with the two following, there'd still be no potential options for defense. Escaping their sight was the one and only solution.
She rounded the corner of the block hoping that their decision to follow was just a coincidence and that they were merely walking along the same sidewalk. Unfortunately, this were no coincidence; this much had become evident to her as the two men rounded the corner as well.
A much more intense buildup of panic and fear developed as the woman quickly came to the realization that she would not be reaching her destination without first confronting her pursuers. Her decision to contemplate fearfully what might happen rather than take action, ultimately, left her guard down. Before a final decision could be made, one of the men had skipped in front of her and pushed against the box to stop her.
Following a gasp, the woman had suddenly found herself looking into the man’s eyes. He had an unrealistic looking grin and a solid stare; but worst of all, the putrid odor of alcohol was slipping out from between his lips. Given that the man was drunk, she needn't doubt that his intentions may be very bad.
With a slurring accent and fake smile the man asked, “Say, where are you off to in such a hurry?”
The other man caught up with the two and walked up beside the woman. She briefly grit her teeth in fear while tugging on her turtleneck.
“Oh, pardon me, but I really must be getting somewhere before midnight,” she responded nervously in a polite way.
The two men exchanged sly glances before laughing at her. Both were easily making the woman feel uncomfortable. Her general thinking was that perhaps they found humor in her English tongue, but on the other hand, she feared that this was devious laughter.
“You really should have a man accompanying you, little girl, maybe if you gave us your address we could escort you home...”
“Th- that won’t be necessary,” she said with a fake smile.
An awkward moment of silence had occurred, the two were definitely up to something bad. Both men were staring at her, waiting for her to speak again or take action. The woman merely waited for the two to leave. After many moments of silence, the talkative man lowered his eyelids and put on a dull face, then looked up into her eyes with a quirked mouth.
“What's in the box?” he demanded.
This question seemed simple enough, yet, it was received very coldly by the woman. She grit her teeth and took one step back, just to have both men take a step forward. After swallowing and getting an especially innocent face, she secured the box more tightly within her grasp.
“It's honestly nothing of worth. Just a broken engine I hope to maybe fix...” She added onto her lie, “You could exchange this thing for a sandwich, at best. Probably not even a good sandwich.”
“An engine?”
“That's broke?” the other man asked.
“Yep, I- I'm just a desperate girl hoping to maybe get a good meal off of this thing. That's all!”
The original speaking man rubbed his chin with two lowered brows, his face conveyed doubt, but he played along, nonetheless, “Huh, I see... and how do you plan on sharing whatever you receive?”
The woman’s eyes widened instantly, “Sh- sharing?”
Both men exchanged brief grins, “Well, su——ure! Down here in the Lower City, we're all family. And as family, we are obligated to share, don't you know?”
“But...”
The other man slapped her back gently, “Your money is our money, just as our money is your money! These are the rules of the Lower City, why don't you know this?”
Sensing a scam, the woman took another step back and shook her head negatively, “I'm still kinda new to the scene. I- I'll be sure to pay all of you back in the near future.”
At this time the woman found herself slowly backing away without stopping. The two men slowly walked with her. The original speaking man let out a somewhat heroic chuckle and shook his head negatively.
“Ah, but a future is something no one down here has. The lifespan of anyone down here is dangerously low. We need to all live for the day, and also, live it to the fullest...” The woman grit her teeth and backed herself into the wall of a building. Both men surrounded the trembling girl with grins. “It's only fair, given how little time us men have on the streets, that we get the benefit of some taxing, and...” The man struck his palm against the wall to her side and grinned, “Just a little 'gender specific' taxing...”
With a petrified look, the woman lowered the box to shield her breasts, then shook negatively, “...just let me go home...” she muttered desperately.
The man poked below her chin and tilted his head, “You'll make it home, as long as you satisfy the two of us brave warriors.”
The woman lowered her eyebrows sadly and dropped her jaw somewhat, “I- I don't...” she turned her head slightly, “I really don't want to... I can't!”
“We’ll help you then,” he turned toward his companion and snickered, “Get the box out of her hands.”
The man to the left grabbed onto her box, but she fought back by keeping a tight grasp. The two fought for control over the box, however, the woman was scrawny and unhealthy, and thus lost control of the situation. She nearly fell forward as the box was seized by the taller man, who then carelessly tossed it aside. Another loud gasp came from the woman as she watch her 'dream' enter the air. The box landed very roughly and slid about a meter.
The woman‘s pupils began to quiver at the box with immense shock and rage. The shorter man quirked his mouth hostilely at the box and quipped, “Yo, be more careful, you might of destroyed the engine.”
This caused the woman to glare and grunt in fury, and within a furious moment, she locked her fist back and shouted, “You idiot!”
A powered punch was landed straight across the face of the shorter man. The man was quickly knocked down to his knees, his already torn up pants were even more damaged as a result. Two thin patches of blood formed over his knees, and with intense anger he stood back up.
“Dammit, I‘m sick of you!”
Both men surprised their victim by pulling out pocket knives, the taller one proceeded to grab her arm, then put her in a locked grasp. She struggled and kicked her legs constantly in a plea to break free, despite the immense intimidation they had over her with the knives.
“G- get your hands off of me you pigs! You animals! You dirty-”
The shorter man growled and faced her, “Why don't you shut up!?”
He raised his knife above the collar of the woman’s shirt and quickly slashed downward. She closed her eyes tightly, fearful of getting slashed, but merely found that her shirt had been split. She opened her eyes again and proceeded to tremble as he continued ripping down to the very brim of her shirt. She simply wasn’t brave enough to fight back on the account that they both had weapons. The situation seemed hopeless for her.
With a final jerk of the knife, her shirt tore apart, revealing a large bra. The woman looked down at her chest for a moment, then looked away with a blush—humiliated. Both men dropped their grins, finding no pristine joy out of what they were preparing to do. To them, the violation of a defenseless woman was more so a job to them than a reward. Nonetheless, both were well prepared to do this without regret or shame.
The woman closed her eyes tightly while continuing to tremble greatly, but it was within that dark moment where relief struck. A third party had come to intervene.
“Leave it to the common street rapist to preserve the rich traditions of the common barbarian...” a mysterious voice echoed. Both men and the woman widened their eyes in shock. “Because by the end of the day, it would be unfitting to categorize one who violates and kills as anything less than a subhuman. Nothing but a mere stain on humanity's stitched blanket of progress...”
The two men paused what they were doing and scanned their surrounding for the anonymous voice. There was no one in the immediate area, leaving the two very confused. The man who had torn the woman's shirt grunted and scratched his head.
“Wh- what? Who's there?”
The mysterious man chuckled, “You have fifteen seconds to leave the woman, otherwise, I'll just have to liberate her in a less systematic way... Run or stay, you have fifteen seconds...”
The threat was taken with seriousness, yet, neither man appeared frightened. “Wh- where the Hell are you? Show yourself, coward!” the man demanded.
No response was given. The two sex offenders continued looking around for the mysterious man for several seconds, but ultimately saw no one. The voice, seemingly, was nothing more than what it was—a voice. The man continued to scratch his head with the tip of his blade up against the woman's bra, but momentarily shrugged with a smirk.
“Whatever, let's continue!” he muttered to the woman‘s face.
The woman grit her teeth frantically, “C- can't we talk things through? Shouldn't you be worrying about the fifteen seconds?”
“Bah, who cares what-”
CRACK!
The entire area had been illuminated brightly, almost in the same way as a lightning bolt. The facial expressions of the three were frozen in fear, but no facial expression was more priceless than that of the woman's. She merely wanted to go home, but instead, she now found herself in the center of some wild event. The man holding her gasped and widened his eyes in shock. He found that a splash of blood hit his shirt immediately after the loud crack.
“What the-”
The man who had torn her shirt now had a bullet in his neck, he constantly grunted while looking into the woman’s eyes, but fell down dead momentarily. In response, the woman screamed slightly and looked down at the corpse. The man holding her looked up and gasped at the sight of a tall figure with a rifle standing on the rooftop. He stood in front of the moon, thus silhouetting his entire body. The only part of the man that could be seen through the silhouette were the two glowing white eyes of his visor.
“Dude, you just killed him!” the remaining sex offender panicked.
The dark figure proceeded to leap down onto the ground and somehow landed on his feet perfectly. Both the man and woman were amazed. The tall figure stood up straight, clearly showing that landing failed to break anything in his body. With a very fierce look, the man cocked his rifle back, thus ejecting a large shell from the barrel. He tilted his fedora up and smirked at the remaining criminal. The moon’s reflection shined on his visor, a second later, his smirk had faded.
“I grow tired of your kind making humanity look like a group of wild animals. I’ve been dealing with your type for years. If you’re a wild animal, that makes me the hunter…” The sex offender closed his teeth with two twitching eyes. “Tell me, how does it feel knowing that you're going to die? Despite the chance I gave you to run away.”
The man holding the woman trembled at the mere intimidation this man beared. This tall mysterious man offered fifteen seconds to leave, but instead, the offender had stayed in hopes of still forcing intercourse onto the young woman. Now the tables had completely turned, and it was indeed the knife bearer who would die along with his friend—whom had already paid the price.
“Answer me,” the Man of Darkness demanded. “Is the feeling of impending death cold? Frightening? Does it make you want to cry? Does it make you regret many things?”
The man gulped, “O- okay, what do you want from me?”
“I seek nothing more than your sinful life. Anyone who must force themselves onto a young girl mustn't breathe the same air as us normal individuals. Homeless or not, you are part of the problem. And now, only in the very end, do you realize the wrongdoing of your pitiful audacity and-”
All of a sudden, the young woman had surprised both men by screaming with watery eyes and jumping out of the sex offender's grasp. Like a bullet, she ran right into the tall Man of Darkness and wrapped her self around him. A struggle ensued between the victim and dark hero, meanwhile, the remaining sex offender took this opportunity to run.
“Oh, thank you so much for saving me these two were scaring me so much and I didn't think I'd ever see light or feel happiness again..!” she spoke very quickly.
The Man of Darkness wiggled his body in an attempt to shake her, “G- get off of me!” he hissed.
He shook the woman off of him and immediately took aim, but ultimately grunted in shock. To his misfortune, the surviving sex offender had bolted out of sight. Without a lead on the man, there was nothing to be done. The girl was safe, but only one of two offenders were put down. Perhaps, though, this was for the best; as the surviving man could potentially live to change his lifestyle for the better.
The mysterious figure made no attempt to chase or shoot the man. He momentarily holstered his rifle onto his back and crossed his arms together.
The woman covered up her nearly revealed chest while exhaling in relief, “Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. Blimey! I didn't think-”
“Ugh, jeez! That's a damn frustrating accent you've got there!”
She lowered her eyebrows and tilted her head in confusion, “Why? What's wrong with my accent?”
“That's probably the heaviest English I've heard in my life, and I used to live in Great Britain...”
“I see...” she muttered with a small frown.
“Did they hurt you at all?”
She dipped her head down with lowered eyelids, “No, they didn’t, but they held me very hard...”
The man grabbed her box off the ground and gave it back, as they made the exchange he quirked his mouth with a raised brow, “This seems somewhat heavy for someone of your shape. Mind me asking what’s inside?”
The woman scratched the back of her head while laughing silently, “Uh, well, it’s kinda silly...”
The man nodded and pulled out a small device, then pressed down on a button. Within moments from pressing the button a noise could be heard coming their way. The young woman desired to see what the man was doing before she would leave. A few more seconds later, a very fast vehicle turned around a block and rushed toward them. The woman’s eyes widened in shock as the vehicle came at an alarming speed.
The vehicle stopped in front of them, but had no passenger. It was beyond her knowledge as to how, but the vehicle appeared to have an autopilot feature connected to the man's device. The vehicle hovered about three feet above the ground and appeared to be designed for two passengers, one front and backseat. This was no ordinary vehicle. The title 'Red Dove' was seen on the side of the vehicle's body.
The young woman slapped her cheek and gasped, “Blimey! It’s an F-Zero machine!” she blurted out in astonishment.
“Yep.”
The man seemed to have no further interest in sticking around for chatter, and so he had begun walking toward his F-Zero machine. The woman gasped as she held the box up above her chest.
“Wait, sir, sir!”
The man stopped and turned, then looked at the package she was bringing over to him. She appeared to be offering the man the box. This was a hard decision, especially since she had given up every last credit she owned, but she ultimately sighed and closed her eyes.
“I believe you could put this to better use than I,” she said handing the box over.
The man carefully opened up the box, he looked inside and grunted. The revelation of an F-Zero engine wasn't close to what he had predicted seeing. For a citizen of the Lower City, he presumed that she had been hiding a cake or pie inside the box. The fact that an engine of such expense was within her possession completely changed his view of the woman.
She closed her eyes and smiled softly, “I sunk every last Federation credit I had into this engine. I even supercharged it all by myself. But seeing as to how I don’t have any of the other needed parts to make a machine, please consider it a gift for saving me...”
The Man of Darkness rubbed his chin with a very intrigued expression. He examined the engine from left to right constantly while releasing many hums of varying emotion. Some hums sounded displeased, others very impressed. He looked back up at her with a raised brow.
“You supercharged this engine?”
The woman beamed proudly, “Yes, sir!”
“By yourself?”
“Mhm!”
He slowly looked back down at the engine and hummed yet again, “...without the help of a mechanic?”
“Well, sure! It wasn't that hard, all it took was some faith and steady calibration.”
Both brows of the man raised highly, he complimented the young woman by nodding constantly. Ultimately, however, he shot her a surprising response.
“This is a class C engine, it would only slow me down.”
The woman gasped and frowned having her gift denied. She began to tremble with a saddened look after having the box handed back to her. The man was looking into her eyes whilst continuing to rub his chin. Though the engine was of no use to him, he was seeing something in the woman that intrigued him—perhaps many things.
“You’re wrong, I don’t need it; but perhaps you could use it yourself one day...”
The man turned and got inside of his machine. He looked at her and pulled out a fairly large handgun. The woman widened her eyes and gasped.
“Bloody Hell, don’t shoot me!”
She prepared to leap onto the ground, believing for a moment that he would shoot her. Instead, the man threw the gun to her. She caught the handgun while also holding the large box, then looked down at the handgun in confusion.
“Huh?”
“Carry that from now on. This part of the city is messed up, don't even hesitate on pulling it out on someone if they threaten you.”
The woman moved her eyes to the left and lowered her eyelids in shame, “I will, sir. May I ask for your name?”
He hesitated to answer, then looked away from her. “Seppuku. Lieutenant Seppuku.”
She smiled, “Oh, Lieutenant Seppuku—kind of like Captain Falcon?”
The man felt no need to answer this question. He took one last look at her and grinned before pulling away from the curb, “We’ll be in touch...”
“O- oh, great! My name is-”
The man drove off immediately after saying his name, clearly wanting nothing else from the young woman. She turned around and looked at the now dead criminal, only just realizing what she had just been through. Within mere minutes, someone had died right before her as a result of their immoral actions. She turned her head back toward the Red Dove as it turned and went down a different street. There she stood with lacking expression, absolutely thankful for this mysterious and dark man's presence on this fateful night.
“Chiya Flower...” she finally answered.
To be continued!
Prologue < | > Lap 2
==Author Notes==
====The Original Beginning====
As the Part 1/3 Prologue was created and inserted into the story the year F-Zero: Seppuku was completed, Lap 1 had originally stood as the starting point for the saga. Very little was changed with this arrangement other than some background information on Mute City being moved to the Prologue. Lap 1 did, additionally, see some adjustments to the dialogue to better match the later developed personalities of Chiya Flower and Lieutenant Seppuku.
====Violence/Sex Decision-making====
One of the earliest debates I had when producing Lap 1 was deciding how intense to go with the violence and sexual themes of this chapter. My intention with showing some of the most disturbing content right at the gate was to help control what kind of demographic of reader I entertain, as I wished to make clear to every potential reader right away that this story can have violence and themes of sex. With the introduction of the Prologue, the effect of this strategy was reduced a bit, as the Prologue by comparison is very friendly. In addition to the demographic strategy, I approached the story with this extreme as a way of really selling the cruelty of the Lower City, especially since in Lap 2, we would see how the Upper City paints a completely different picture. Lap 1 still does hold a level of controversy for acting as a potentially unnecessary scarecrow, as the story did not end up hosting the level of sex and violence that I originally thought it would, therefore, the intended strategy is flawed.
==Chapter Illustration==
The iconic system of 'chapter illustrations' would not begin until June of 2013. When Lap 1 originally came out in 2012, it did not come with any image to represent it. In 2013, with Revival Day, it was decided that every chapter would feature its own unique illustration. Curiously, it was decided that Lap 1, produced almost a year prior, would not get its own illustration. As such, the 'illustration' for Lap 1 is in actuality a placeholder image of Lieutenant Seppuku's concept art, featuring he and his F-Zero machine, the Red Dove.
The concept art for Lieutenant Seppuku (originally 'Captain Seppuku') was produced over Paint.NET in September of 2012 and not so subtly references the pilot cards of F-Zero GX.
==Characters Introduced==
====Chiya Flower====
Protagonist of F-Zero: Seppuku, Chiya Flower actually enters the story in the Part 1/3 Prologue, but is not given a name reveal until Lap 1. Having taken a regular vehicle engine and successfully 'supercharged' it in the Prologue, Chiya now has an engine in her possession capable of running an F-Zero machine—a very difficult accomplishment to achieve. Now needing to transport this expensive vehicle part back to her place of residence, she travels the very dangerous and unlawful streets of Mute City's Lower City, where she runs into trouble. Chiya comes into the story as a risk taker, ambitious, and a loner. The narration reveals her to have Mysterian roots, a rarity on Earth due to Mysteria's heavily locked down and reclusive nature.
====Lieutenant Seppuku====
One of the main characters, Lieutenant Seppuku, like Chiya, makes his actual first appearance in the Part 1/3 Prologue, but is finally granted a name reveal in Lap 1. Right from the gate, Seppuku styles himself as a cruel and twisted vigilante who treats the common street criminal like hunting prey. He is a newer F-Zero pilot and one who is unproven, not even striking Chiya as a celebrity racer when they first meet. Even despite saving her, Seppuku shows a great disapproval of Chiya's character starting from her very English heavy accent. He carries with him a very long anti-material rifle, of which he takes with him while on his crime hunts.