F-Zero: Seppuku - Part 1/3, Lap 5

**Lap 4 < | > Lap 6**

Chiya had somehow piloted a dying Seppuku back to a secret base, where Earl, the man who gave her the ticket to the race stood. Chiya now waits nervously in an unfamiliar place for Earl to return with news on Seppuku's health.

## Chapter Reading

==Lap 5==

Chiya had been sitting on the metal floor of this mysterious room for about twenty minutes. Earl had taken Seppuku through a door for medical treatment, she was instructed to stay put until further notice. The woman was biting on her finger nervously while wondering what would happen next; such as the possibility of Michael Chain busting into the room. Chiya had shot Chain in the upper chest, yet, he came out of this practically unharmed. Seppuku on the other hand fell after taking a single shot.

She stood up for the first time, deciding that it was finally time to explore this room. This room was a large and dark with the appearance of a lobby. Not a single object was present in the lobby aside from a set of display cases. Chiya walked toward the display cases slowly; a lone dim light shined over each one.

One of the objects on display was a bronze Grand Prix trophy, however, it appeared to have been thrown into the case with little care, as it was laying on its side collecting dust. In the second display case, a set of decorative medals lay neatly in rows. The medals appeared related to some kind of fighting force. Neither of the medals contained any lettering that would hint out where these were obtained, it could have been anywhere from the military to police for all she knew. The last display case launched Chiya back into a feeling of great shock. Blood Falcon’s helmet stood in the third display case. The blue helmet appeared dusty. What struck Chiya as even more of a surprise was that the visor of the helmet was almost completely shattered and wouldn't protect the eyes of the wearer.

*Seppuku can’t be Blood Falcon, they were facing each other on the track…* The helmet itself was styled the same way as Blood Falcon's, the minion of the most evil person in the universe, Black Shadow. Even though Chiya knew little about Blood Falcon, she felt as though an evil aura was coming off of the helmet. She dropped her hands onto the display case glass and tried lifting the top off with the desire to physically hold the helmet. Her tongue stuck out as she slowly lift the lid with great curiosity.

“Old fool always gets himself into these messes,” said Earl.

A startled Chiya swat her hands away from the glass and spun around with wide eyes. Earl stood before her with both arms behind his back and a casual expression. Despite all that had happened this past hour, the man appeared relaxed. He did, however, have some small blood stains at the very bottom of his white shirt.

Chiya remained staring into the man's eyes like a clueless fool, to this, Earl grinned and continued speaking.

“See, let me go ahead and explain what happened. Seppuku finds a thrill out of challenging people who overpower him. Michael Chain holds enough of a grudge against us as it is, challenging that man was just, plainly, an idiotic idea.”

Chiya blinked a few more times, then put her hands together with a scared face, “So, he survived?”

Earl closed his eyes and exhaled, “Well, admittedly, this isn’t the first time this has happened, but somehow he keeps cheating Death.” He opened his eyes again and shrugged, “It's as if he doesn't even need blood,” he concluded with a chuckle.

Chiya bit on her finger and whimpered as the guilt finally came crashing in, “I should’ve brought him to a hospital. I- I don’t know what I was think-”

“No!” Earl yelled with wide eyes.

Chiya was immediately silenced, as if Earl had just demanded that she *shut up*. Earl glanced away from her while holding his head down in embarrassment after the outburst.

“I- I mean, you did the right thing bringing him here, the hospital would have been bad for him. No hospital. Seppuku doesn't make hospital visits.”

Chiya raised an eyebrow with rising suspicion. She was perceiving the reality that the full truth was being kept away from her; regardless, she nodded and turned toward the display cases again. The woman continued to examine the medals with Earl standing behind her. The new question she had was whether or not  these medals belonged to Earl, and not Seppuku. After moments of silent thinking, Chiya glanced back at Earl with a raised brow. She was now anxious to learn, exactly, where she was and what Earl’s role in all of this was.

“Earl, where are we right now?”

The question was received hostilely, but Earl took no offense to it. He crossed his arms and began tapping his chin. Many seconds went by, and he now began to hum while thinking of a response. Chiya became somewhat frustrated with every second that passed; it was a question she believed he could easily answer, but was finding some difficulty in doing.

Ultimately, he shrugged, “I’m afraid I can’t tell you that, at least not now.”

The Mysterian swiftly narrowed her eyes, feeling as though she were being challenged, “Who are you?” A simple and solid question.

Earl sighed and resumed tapping his chin, once again, he hesitated to answer. Chiya's frustration was greatly expanding.

“That, I also cannot tell you.”

This was enough nonsense for the woman; enough for her to determine that both Earl and Seppuku were bad news. Earl read her face like a book and rolled his eyes down almost in shame.

“Alright, I want to get out of here, now!”

Earl grunted but did not speak, he displayed discontent toward her demand. Chiya was only becoming further aggravated. It seemed everything that came from her mouth required some lengthy thought process before Earl could respond. The man sighed and kicked his foot down a few times.

“I can lead you out of here, but-”

“Good.”

Earl glared at her impatience, “But I implore that you stay *at least* until Seppuku regains consciousness. He gave me a strict order to keep you here until he wakes up from bed rest.”

*Order..?* Chiya thought with a troubled face.

“Of course, we can’t imprison you here like some animal. If you want to leave, I’ll drive you home. But please, it would look best for both of us if you respected his wish and stayed a bit longer. It won't be long at all, I promise.”

Chiya closed her eyes, exhaled to relieve herself of anger, then nodded after releasing a soft growl, “Very well. Do you have any food?”

It was uncommon for Chiya to eat, as she never had much money to purchase food with. Having spent every last credit on the engine, she literally had no money to spend on food. She survived on leftovers and scraps, which played a major role in creating her pencil thin body.

Earl finally revealed some emotion by forming a smile, he then answered her question, “Well, of course! I probably shouldn't give you any beer, though...”

Chiya shook her hand negatively, “I don’t like the taste of alcohol. I hate it.”

The man blocked a very loud gasp from shooting out, but despite his own interests, he shot her two raised thumbs. “Good for you! Maybe if Seppuku had that kind of opinion on the matter, he wouldn’t be getting shot all the damn time.” Chiya didn’t respond to this, she didn't know how to respond to such a comment. She was still thirsty for answers, but unfortunately, Earl didn't appear to be an open book, “I’ll go get you a snack. Be back in a second.”

Many minutes had gone by, Chiya resumed wandering around the empty room. The room was huge, but seemed to serve no importance, it truly was a lobby. There were three doors in the room, one being the entrance while the other two remained a mystery to her. As time went by, Chiya began doing stranger things to kill time, such as gazing into the light bulb of the ceiling light. After doing precisely thirty laps around the large lobby, Chiya finally flailed her arms up into the air and whined. *Blimey, how does it honestly take ten minutes to get a snack..!?*

Earl very soon returned with a bag of chips. Chiya had guessed correctly, it took Earl ten minutes to return with food. He tossed her the small bag, she looked down at it with disappointment.

“It took ten minutes to get me a bag of chips?”

“Seppuku woke up.” Chiya's eyes widened with interest. “As it turns out, one of the bullets grazed a part of his collarbone. As you can probably imagine he’s feeling like Hell. This is actually the first time a bullet made contact with any bones.”

The woman brought her hands together and asked the obvious, “May I speak with him?” The actual reality was that Chiya just wanted to finally get out of this dull room.

Earl looked down at the ground whilst rubbing the back of his head, “Uh, well, not quite...” Chiya rolled her eyes while biting down. “He did, however, insist that you spend the night here. A bedroom and all other needed areas will be available to you, of course.”

This proposal sent a strong bolt of lightning down the woman's spine. The proposal was more awkward and disturbing than it was inviting. The very thought of sharing a building with two male strangers for a night seemed beyond risky. She had to bear in mind that both these men lived in the Lower City, and she had yet to ever meet someone from the Lower City with a pure heart. Even she, though unlikely to admit it, would likely run off with a purse if someone were to drop it. No one in the Lower City was truly good.

“I don’t know, that would be so uncomfortable. I don’t have any idea what’s going on here…” she opened one eye hoping for an answer.

Earl nodded with a face that easily depicted a desire to provide her with answers, but he couldn’t, “I can imagine you‘re feeling uncomfortable being left in the dark. But what you need to realize is that we mean you no harm, you did save him after all, perhaps he has something to give you. Trust me when I say, becoming friends with an F-Zero racer will have their perks in the end. Just think, if Seppuku were to win the Grand Prix, you'd have a billionaire friend.”

This was absolutely true and Chiya knew it. She thought through the proposal some more, more specifically, she thought about the benefits of accepting. If she were to leave this place alone, she would be taking on the risk of being attacked by Michael Chain again. Considering Seppuku was an F-Zero racer, he likely was a very wealthy man, meaning she could be rewarded with a lump sum. Being an F-Zero racer, there was also a strong chance that he may have another component laying around that could go with her supercharged engine. Lastly, she knew Seppuku wasn't going to mug her or anything of that sort, and Earl seemed friendly enough to trust. The fact of the matter was that if she truly wanted to fulfill her dream of  eventually becoming an F-Zero racer, getting help from another F-Zero racer would give her a big boost.

Chiya pressed her lips together and nodded with hesitance, “I... guess... I could spend one night away from that trashy warehouse I call 'home'…”

Earl nodded with a grin, again having persuaded her with talk of F-Zero, “Good.” He walked toward one of the doors in the lobby, “Follow me and I will show you to your room.”

Chiya did not express any happiness at this, she was staying vigilant. She would finally get to leave the lobby, however, which was enough motivation for her. Chiya entered a hallway with several more doors, each one across from the other. The hallway had many more lights compared to the lobby, thus livening it up much more. Earl stopped next to a door in the center of the hallway, then opened it slowly for her.

“You can stay here for tonight. If you need to use the restroom, kitchen, or other services, you just check through the doors in this hallway. Only roam through this hallway or the lobby, nowhere else. Oh, but don't go through the door at the end of the hallway, that's strictly off limits. But feel free to return to the lobby if you want.”

“Yeah, well, I had enough of the lobby…” Chiya muttered with a quick chuckle.

Earl grinned, then walked out the door with nothing more to say. Chiya continued staring at the door, then momentarily turned around to see her bedroom. It was nothing special, but contained a nice bed and bookshelf. Despite the dullness of the room, it was still much better than her usual resting place in the abandoned warehouse.

Chiya's first action was to drop onto the bed. While laying down, both her eyes began to widen at how much more comfortable this was in comparison to the mattress she usually slept on. The room was dull and the two men were creeping her out, but the bed almost made up for it all. The Mysterian's attention was centered on the ceiling as she tried listening for any sound, she found the whole building to be silent. The utter silence was frightening.

About five minutes of laying around passed, she finally turned her head toward the bookshelf standing beside her. At first glance each book appeared bland, some even lacked a title on the spine. One book was on making food, another was on plumbing. Moments of studying soon revealed nothing but guides and tutorials, most of which pertained to living. One book, however, stuck out more than the others. A book coated in red leather and golden trims had caught her eye. The fancy cover wasn't what grabbed her attention, rather, it was the gold falcon emblem located at the bottom of the spine.

She grabbed the book and brought it up to her face, the book was about F-Zero machine maneuvering. Chiya was not very surprised that an F-Zero racer would own a book like this, however, she found it mysterious that he had it in a room intended for guests. With everything that had been going on this past hour, she didn’t feel like reading. Be as it may, she had to kill time; educating herself on such an interest would fit the bill.

The Table of Contents revealed many short chapters that focused on specific maneuvers and situations that a racer may find him or herself in. The chapters were categorized by 'offensive', 'defensive', and 'counter-offensive' maneuvers. The book succeeded in grabbing her initial interest, Chiya turned the page and began reading.

Throughout many minutes, Chiya found herself nodding and humming positively. One chapter she had even set the book down to test one of the exercises by treating her two fingers like racers. Both fingers moved up the bed, finger A would move left toward finger B and perform a side attack; finger B would quickly respond by spinning.

Another lesson raised Chiya's understanding of raising and lowering the maximum speed. The common F-Zero machine had a speed limiter to keep the engine from overheating. However, a knowledgeable racer could raise this speed up for a brief time—likely a whole minute depending on the quality and strength of the engine. A poor engine may be unable to handle a raised maximum speed for any period of time. Seppuku informed Chiya that her engine was *Class C*, so she could expect about thirty seconds of raised speed before needing to turn it down again.

No matter how much content she took in and how long reading was taking, Chiya was respecting just how helpful the book actually was; she reinforced her learning with many finger exercises. All in all, she was legitimately intrigued by the information the book had to offer her.

Finally, though, a knocking at the door interrupted her reading session. The woman set the book down and sat herself up on the bed's edge.

“Uh, yes?”

The door opened and revealed Earl yet again, the man took a step inside with a pleased grin, happy to see her reading. “Just wanted to check up on you. Do you need anything?”

She shook her head negatively, “I'm fine. But... maybe some more food would be nice.”

Before Earl could answer her request, he sniffed the air and grunted, “Aw, jeez! Did Seppuku leave another corpse in here!?”

The Mysterian's eyes widened, “I'm... going to forget that I heard that.”

His eyes scanned the bedroom, then came back down onto Chiya, “Oh, wait, it's just you.”

“I'm *not* going to forget that I heard that!”

Earl grit his teeth and shook his head, “Uh, uh, I- I mean- well, you don't smell bad; you have an odor, but not a bad odor...” Chiya raised an offended brow. The man flailed his arms up in the air with a big smile. “I- it's actually sort of nice, like a Korean farm! That's it, you smell like a farm.”

This didn't ease the tension. Chiya crossed her arms and dipped her head down. Can someone remind me why I'm going to Casino Palace with this man..?

Earl continued to wrestle his tongue, still trying to mop up his bad choice of words. Ultimately, he gave up out of fear that he'd continue to offend her.

“Well, this does bring me to an excellent point, though...”

“That girls who smell like farms are desirable?”

“No.” He rolled his eyes away from her in shame. “Would you care for a shower? You can use the washing machine in the bathroom.”

“Shower in a washing machine!?” Chiya then poked her lips to think about this more carefully, but then got down to the more serious matter. “No way! I'm not getting naked in a stranger's home!”

Earl shrugged, “Just saying, this is your opportunity to get truly clean. And we have a washing machine that'll clean and dry clothing all in about five minutes.”

She scratched her forehead with wide eyes, “Well, I sure would like clean clothing... but I- I don't wanna shower in someone's home! What if someone comes in? Perhaps this is a clever rapist's trap...”

“You have a gun?” he proposed.

Chiya puckered her lips and reached down for her handgun. This was true, no one was stopping her from taking the gun into the bathroom. After thinking this through for a few moments, she nodded and stood up with her gun.

The bathroom door locked and the Mysterian stripped off all her clothing. For precautionary reasons, Chiya robed herself in a white towel before showering. Now she stood gazing down upon the washing machine, and as Earl had told her, the label stated that the clothing will wash for about five minutes. Though she couldn't believe it, the label also claimed that the clothing would be dried out and stored into the nearby hamper afterwards.

She was skeptical of the machine's potential, but still dropped all her clothing into the machine. Next she closed the lid and pressed a red button, and so her clothing entered the washing phase. Now it was time for *her* to enter the washing stage.

For the first time in years, Chiya stepped into a *working* tub and hesitantly turned on the shower. She was immediately blasted with cold water, which caused her to yelp and panic; but she soon moaned pleasurably as the water turned warm.

“Oo——oh...”

She immediately felt as though five years worth of dirt, germs, and sweat had been torn off her body. The sight of so many water droplets on her arm was incredible, something she hadn't seen since her high school days. This was a big experience for someone who lived under such bad conditions all these years.

Chiya kept her eyes closed and mouth open in awe, but then looked forward and spotted soap. Her eyes widened greatly at the simple bar of soap; to her, this was more so a bar of gold. Taking the soap into her hand, the woman chuckled happily with great relief. She was praying to God that this wasn't a dream she'd soon wake up from, all she wanted was to get a fresh start. Even if she would need to go another five years without showering, she was ecstatic to finally be starting over with her hygiene. She did, however, often manage to brush her teeth—though likely with bad water.

Almost ten minutes had passed, all of which Chiya spent scrubbing herself spotless. She turned off the shower, wrapped herself, then dropped down onto her knees to look inside the washing machine hamper. As expected, her clothing were now dry and ready to be worn on a clean body. In ten minutes, Chiya had completely repaired her beauty—she just couldn't believe it.

After clothing herself back up, she walked out the bathroom with an intensive smile, but then gasped to find Earl standing in front of her.

“There, now you're clean and happy.”

“Wh- what the-” Chiya glared and looked back at the bathroom door, very paranoid of why he was at the door. “Are there any holes in that door!?”

The man chuckled, “Relax, I just heard the shower go off is all.”

Chiya raised her handgun up with two narrowed eyes, “That sounds like plenty incentive to try and get a front row seat to the Chiya Flower Show...”

“I would never peep on a woman. I'm all for the sport of kissing; not sex.”

This sentence almost offended her, “The *sport of kissing*?”

The two walked back into the bedroom, where Earl sat Chiya down, to her discomfort. Despite all the good that Earl had brought her so far, Chiya was still paranoid of whether or not he was just trying to get inside her shorts.

He sat alongside her and picked up the F-Zero book she had been reading, “Hm...”

“I was reading up on F-Zero maneuvers.”

“You don't say...”

Finally, Chiya let her guard down for a moment and opened up a more friendly question, “So, I take it you like F-Zero?”

“I'm knowledgeable on the topic of F-Zero machines, as you may have guessed, I could point out all of the Red Dove's sweet spots—if you know what I'm saying...”

Chiya's eyes widened almost automatically, “You're an F-Zero mechanic?”

“Tightening, welding, lubricating... they're all my kids.” Chiya's eyebrow raised to the analogy, “I'm a general purpose mechanic, but I guess you could say that I'm an F-Zero mechanic, yes.”

“You know how to build an F-Zero machine?”

The man closed his eyes and grinned, “Well, let's not get hasty about things. I *think* I might have that kind of talent, but one does not simply snap together high powered components and call it an F-Zero machine.”

“Huh? Isn't it like any ordinary car?”

Earl turned and looked deep into her eyes, then scrolled his attention down toward the book. An image of the *Blue Falcon* was printed on the cover. He pointed down against the machine.

“Think about it. An F-Zero machine isn't just a racer's second greatest possession, it is also their greatest companion. The racer must form a relationship with their machine so that they can better understand it, and in turn, win races.” Chiya left her mouth open with concentrated awe. “Are you a heavyweight or lightweight racer? Are you an offensive or defensive racer? Do you prefer an elevated or ground level cockpit? Speed or better energy tank capacity?”

“So there's a lot of preferences, then...”

“But it's not just a matter of preferences, Chiya. You need to build the machine to your liking, and then learn from your machine. *Every* racer started off as novices who feared their machine; those who didn't fear their machine at first, well, probably died in their first year.” Chiya gulped and nodded. “Those who fear what their machines could do to them will take things easy and simply collect experience. With experience comes confidence and knowledge, and with confidence and knowledge comes victory.”

Chiya's mind was blown by all of this. The concept of treating an F-Zero machine like a companion was strange in theory, but made perfect sense. Someone who participates in horseback racing would need to form a relationship with their horse, the same could be said with F-Zero. Only the most passionate of racers were deserving of the prize money.

“Earl, you said that the machine is a racer's *second* greatest possession?”

He nodded, “A racer's first greatest possession will always be knowledge and attentiveness. Just because you own a machine, doesn't make you a racer. If you don't have knowledge on F-Zero and the changing environment during a race, you're nothing but a person with an F-Zero machine.”

“Heavy stuff...” she muttered.

Earl nodded again with a warm smile, then stood up to stretch, “Well, I best be getting out of your hair for now. Hopefully Seppuku will wake up soon and have his conversation with you.”

It took a long time, but Chiya had finally been convinced that Earl wasn't a touch of bad. She actually found herself saddened that he was leaving the room, but she didn't stop him.

“Okay, I'll see you later,” she concluded.

The door closed, and Chiya was left alone yet again. Still, she remained gazing at the door with a head full of F-Zero content. On that note, she soon picked up the F-Zero book again and continued reading where she left off. Now clean and laying on a comfortable bed, she zoned back into reading.

Hours went by before Chiya awoke in shock, but for the first time in years, she awoke on an actual bed. She lifted herself up still with a shocked feeling, she had been worrying that maybe this was all a dream, but she indeed awoke in Seppuku's base. She was relieved to finally have some good fortune occur in her life. Despite finally having a good bed, she managed to fall asleep on it incorrectly, thus resulting in discomfort.

The book she had been reading was on her lap. It was beyond her as to when she fell asleep, clearly, she crashed at some point. Chiya stood up and stretched, she now desired to find the time of day. She left the bedroom to find a clock under the presumption that there would be one in the kitchen, first she would need to find where this room is.

Her search was brief, picking a random door in the hallway to open revealed a clean room with some counters and storage units, she found the kitchen upon opening her first door. Chiya spotted a clock above the stove and found that it was a little past midnight.

“I guess I’ll just go back to bed then...”

She opened the door and walked through, but walked straight into a wall; only this wasn't a wall. The Mysterian gasped and took a step back, the Man of Darkness himself stood before her at last.

“Seppuku!” Chiya greeted in fright.

The tall man remained silent but appeared lively as ever. He gazed down upon the much shorter woman and nodded.

“Good, you’re awake...” he spoke.

Chiya was staring at him with both a serious and surprised expression, she nodded and quirked her mouth. It was time to receive some answers.

Later on, Chiya and Seppuku were inside of an office—located at the very end of the hallway. Seppuku sat behind a metal desk with both his arms behind him. Sitting on the desk was a computer, phone, many papers, and a can of beer.

“Let me explain why I was so insistent on you staying here tonight, Ms. ...”

“Chiya, Chiya Flower,” she answered with a smile.

He nodded, “I knew you were someone of importance the night I found you being held captive, you have a talent only one of ten people possess.” Chiya raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the immediate compliment given by such a person, “You understand how to supercharge an engine, and most importantly, you know how to pilot F-Zero without studying.”

Chiya shook negatively, “That isn’t true, I’ve studied F-Zero all my life.”

“But you didn’t attend any universities or classes on racing. You just watched the races, correct?”

She nodded, accepting that she was only a big F-Zero fan—nothing more. *What is he getting at..?* The man seemed to be proposing *something*, she just didn't know what that might be. Given that he was interested in her ability to supercharge an engine, she felt that there was likeliness he might offer her a job of some sort pertaining to the maintenance of the *Red Dove*.

“You didn’t pilot very well, but you managed to fend off against a professional F-Zero racer. This leads me to believe that you might prove to be somewhat of use to me,” Seppuku put his hands together with a sly expression.

“Useful, how? What is this place? Why is Earl here?” she finally burst out.

“In due time. The secret here is that I’m not just an F-Zero racer, I’m also the boss of this Lower City vigilante group.”

Chiya felt a chill go through her back. Everything had suddenly become clear to her. She looked around the room and found several guns hanging on the wall. The truth came to be that Seppuku was a vigilante boss, and Earl his employee. Judging how quickly Seppuku killed one of the men attacking Chiya, she understood that this wasn't a very moralistic vigilante group—it was a 'shoot first, questions later' group.

“Who are you working for?” she asked with suspicion.

“I self-serve.”

“Then, where’s the income?”

“Both in racing and looting the possessions of unlawful scum…” he answered with a clenched fist.

Chiya nodded, but ultimately had lacking interest in getting involved with his team, “What is it you want from me?”

Seppuku brought his hands together, “Bendek and I are the only ones in this group, and he’s just the caretaker of the base, Red Dove, and medical duties. This leaves me to get the actual work done all by myself.”

Chiya was still listening, despite her disinterest in joining. She was still getting some much wanted information from him, nonetheless. The woman didn't speak her mind yet, she was fully invested in listening to what he had to say.

“We could outfit you with your own F-Zero machine, eventually. Along with this, you could begin making serious money by doing odd jobs for me, as it would appear that you for the most part are unemployed,” he said looking at Chiya with a grin.

Chiya's eyes had lit up with extreme shock. The offer of an F-Zero machine in the future was enough to completely sway how she thought. She now had a pressured expression on her face and was trying to come up with a response. She wished to one day become an F-Zero racer, and now an F-Zero racer was offering her the opportunity.

“Judging by your body, that bag of chips must’ve been the most expensive thing you’ve ever eaten. Surely, you'd like more?” Chiya grit her teeth and grunted. “Chicken, milk, steak, fruit, bacon...”

Seppuku was employing the starvation tactic on her, he essentially waved a strip of bacon in front of a starving girl's face. The F-Zero machine, however, was the sole thing putting actual pressure on Chiya’s decision to join, she did desire food very much, though.

“The only downside you may see in joining is that you will have to get your hands a bit more dirty and possibly kill if necessary.”

Chiya grunted in opposition to this, but felt that she was being pulled in by the food and F-Zero machine. She hummed in frustration while fighting the urge to accept the offer. *Kill people? Would I really sink this low just for an F-Zero machine..?*

“If you're concerned about the morality of killing...” Chiya gasped and looked up, as though he had read her mind. “You needn't be. I am the hunter, not you nor Bendek. I merely wish for you to act as a backbone for my organization. If we are attacked by low life scum, I don't want you to hesitate when the gun's drawn. Do I expect you to shoot immoral thugs at night? No, that is my hobby.”

This was all much to think about and certainly not a decision that could be made with ease. But the benefits of joining were too great, her hands were practically tied. Moments into thinking, though, she came up with an idea.

“I’ll accept your proposal, bu—ut…”

She hesitated to finish her sentence and observed Seppuku's face to see if he would be bothered by a counter-offer. The man was flexing his fingers while staring at her. He almost seemed desperate for Chiya to join, all for reasons that eluded her comprehension.

“When I get my F-Zero machine, I want to begin training so that I can participate in the Grand Prix,” her counter-offer came with a smile.

Seppuku surprised the woman by smashing his fist down, “Don’t be an idiot, girl! Racing isn’t just knowing your basic turns and handling. Racing is death waiting to happen. If you die while racing, no one is held accountable, that’s how F-Zero works nowadays!”

Chiya was grinning, fearless of his argument. “In addition to this, I also want to know everything that goes on here. All of this classified information is driving me crazy!” she said with a raised tone.

Seppuku was clearly not pleased with the counter-offer being made, but he sighed and quirked his mouth. “I’ll accept all of your counter-proposals. But I want you to understand, if we fail to get your machine equipped with efficient parts before the next Grand Prix—you will not participate. After we build your F-Zero machine, train you, and test your skills in a bet race, we'll try your luck for an F-Zero license.”

Chiya rubbed her chin for a bit while thinking, she wondered if he would intentionally hold up on collecting the need parts so that she'd miss next year's Grand Prix. Seppuku had the look of a gambler, and Chiya had to decide whether to trust his hand or not. She narrowed her eyes and hummed.

“I don’t have to live in that abandoned warehouse anymore, if I accept?”

Seppuku nodded affirmatively to this, intending to give Chiya the bedroom permanently. Chiya thus nodded approvingly to the trade of terms, “Very well, then. I accept.” she said reaching for Seppuku’s hand.

The two shook hands in agreement, “Welcome, Chiya Flower. I’ll have Bendek show you around the base tomorrow with full access, but first go get some sleep; you look exhausted.”

Chiya stood up straight, grinned, then saluted her new boss, “Yes, sir.”

To be Continued!

**Lap 4 < | > Lap 6**

## Author Notes

#### A Revived Story; New Direction

This was the chapter written on June 10th, 2013, prompting the rise of the Siontix Realm holiday known as Revival Day. It had the somewhat daunting objective of answering the cliffhanger Lap 4 left several months prior following a period of presumed cancellation. Not much changed with the plan for the chapter itself during that time other than that I wanted to backtrack on the plan for Earl to be a doctor, as well as introducing the saga's first mystery: Seppuku's damaged Blood Falcon helmet on display in the base lobby. The concept of 'Team Seppuku' (unnamed at the time) was something new to come from this revival, especially with the Lower City gang war to be introduced in the coming chapters. The biggest impact this long wait time had was that the original vision of Chiya, Earl, and Seppuku going after Black Shadow would be postponed for all of Part 1/3, as it became clear in this chapter that the story would pace itself more slowly and focus on other matters first.

#### The Instant Wash/Clothing Value

An edit to this chapter that would come around 2015 revealed that washing machines and dryers could now get laundry done in a mere 5 minutes, which is demonstrated in the chapter itself. This was done to bring context to why characters in F-Zero: Seppuku are so intent on sticking to the same clothing on a daily basis, but this also subtly introduced the idea that clothing in general is something more expensive in the future due to such convenient means of getting clothes clean. In this reality, the common person likely invests into something more akin to an outfit of advanced quality and simply cleans it on a daily basis. Regarding Chiya's fascination to this, it is more than likely the case that such advanced technology is not available to the common person of the Mysterian Empire, not necessarily suggesting that she uses washing technology on par with 21st century machines, but perhaps simply that it takes closer to fifteen minutes or so, rather than five.

## Chapter Illustration

With the successful implementation of a chapter illustration for Lap 4, another was produced for Lap 5, albeit a very simple design. The scene depicted comes from the very end when Chiya accepts Seppuku's job offer to join Team Seppuku and is little more than a saluting Chiya backed by a gradient background and behind a brown desk. Interestingly, at this time Seppuku's desk was depicted as being made from wood, but all future instances of it would depict it as being metal. Part of what makes this a drawing playing things safe is that Chiya herself, while not traced, has a near identical pose to her concept art; this was, effectively, the second time Chiya had been drawn since November of 2012.

This chapter illustration was produced over Paint.NET on August 10th. Unlike Lap 4's illustration, which was made many months after the chapter itself was released, this illustration was created only about 2 months later.