"Alright."

Blue set down a map on the ground with some colored markers. She traced a path with her finger, muttering to herself before she stopped on a desert area. She checked the handmade legend on the back before picking out a light blue marker and drawing a small dot on the spot she was pointing. She grinned in satisfaction before moving on to pinpointing a different landmark.

"Updating the map?"

"Mhm. Putting the desert police HQ and Big Boss' territory on it."

"As well as tracking Sho?"

Blue sighed, though it was more akin to a groan. "Yes, with where they're headed they'll most likely end up in the town southeast from here," she informed. Yellow hummed, clicking open a compass to check the said direction.

"Though they should know that with the trailer's minimap... if they know it exists in front of the bike."

Yellow watched as Blue packed up the map items for a second before he moved to where their things were. "You sure you really want to keep going with me and that group?" he asked. Blue gasped dramatically, quickly turning around and placing a hand on her chest.

"And end our partnership if I don't?" she cried out.

Yellow rolled his eyes and turned away from Blue. "Just saying. I know you don't like pursuing things you don't have interest in," he said. While he packed up the compass, Blue got up beside him to stash the map items as well.

"Oh please, I'm not leaving you alone. And besides, if you find them important then they're bound to be an interesting group."

The two were preparing to leave camp to follow Sho and co. to wherever they were going. "So what's the plan?" Blue asked, putting on her bag. "How much are we gonna help them? Or are we just going to lurk in the shadows, like a guardian angel hidden in the dark?" She put her hands in front of her and slowly moved them apart as she spoke.

"A little bit of both. They won't learn if we keep assisting them like training wheels"

"Tough love, I like it."

Blue finger gunned at Yellow, who didn't even react. He mounted his MTB, Blue following suit. "You know, I'll get you to crack one day," Blue said, pointing at her friend. "Not a chuckle, not a little 'hehe', not a condescending chortle, like a legit, genuine laugh. Just you wait."

Yellow scoffed. "Good luck with that."

"I'm betting on it."

==========

As predicted, the duo found the three kids' trailer parked just by the outskirts of a town but found no one inside or around so they assumed the group headed to town. They made their way there and saw how the place looked very much like a western-style town.

"Ahh, no matter where I go X-Zone never fails to surprise me," Blue sighed in a sing-song, looking around with a large smile. "It's like walking into a movie set, even most of the guys look the part."

Despite walking dead center, no one seemed to pay them much attention; good. Last thing they needed was unnecessary commotion directed to themselves. Blue looked around, noting that there were plenty of MTBs scattered around, confirming that the place was a biker hotspot.

"What do you think they'd be doing in this town?"

"Information would be my first guess, but they haven't stopped to stock up on food so that's my next."

Blue put a hand under her chin. "Food, huh?" she thought aloud, still looking around the area. "If they need to stock, they need to find a grocery or market, but if they're hungry now they'd first look for a restaurant or—ooh, look! A saloon."

Yellow looked to where Blue pointed. A yellow wooden building with a brown sign that said "Eagle Saloon", conjoined with another sign that labeled itself as a bar. At the front were drunk men littered the front porch, almost half of them passed out. "There's a lot of people, but are you sure... never mind." Before Yellow could even finish voicing out his concerns Blue was already striding over to the pile of men.

"Heya! Got a quick q if you gentlemen don't mind," Blue said cheerily, hands on her hips.

"Mmh?"

"Did a group of three kids happen to walk inside? Two boys, one gal. They got a talking blue bird with them, too."

"So that talkin' bird was real..?" one of the men slurred. "I thought it was the alcohol."

Blue huffed, satisfied with the information. She looked over to Yellow, and even though her smile wasn't visible Yellow could tell that she was with the way her eyes crinkled at him. "Your guys are in here," she said.

As Yellow walked to the side of the building, Blue pulled out a piece of gear from her pocket. "Here ya go, buy yourself another round. Whiskey, cognac, whatever you prefer." She tossed the bike part to the man that replied to her. She started to walk to follow Yellow, but stopped briefly to find him watching her.

"What?"

"I'm concerned that you know that much about alcohol."

Blue scoffed. "Did you just accuse me of drinking alcohol? I'm a kid, Yellow!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms. "I just know them because I've travelled enough, I don't drink, and obviously anyone in the right mind wouldn't sell alcohol to a kid."

Yellow kept staring at her wordlessly. That's not... he tried to formulate what to say in reply, in defense that that wasn't his implications, but he couldn't find the proper words for it. So, he opted to stay shut and instead resumed walking to where he was going. Blue clicked her tongue and scowled, but didn't try to prolong the topic further.

Yellow stopped at a window to peer into, and Blue pulled an empty crate to stand on so she could do the same. Inside was what you'd expect inside a saloon: large, intimidating men, plenty wearing cowboy hats. What was out of place though was the kids that the two had been looking for, just scarfing down food to their hearts' content.

"You think they're paying for that?"

"Based on how the men are chatting them up, hopefully not."

Blue propped her elbow on the windowsill so she could rest her head on her hand while watching the scene inside. They could hear the conversation inside, and despite the demeanor of most of the patrons they seemed genuinely concerned for the three kids for travelling alone. They were talking about emblem collection.

"They don't seem to know about platinum emblems."

"It's not common knowledge. Besides, it's practically a myth for most."

From the corner of her eyes Blue could see Yellow give her a side eye, but didn't react to it and instead continued listening in. Inside she saw a lanky blonde man stand up abruptly from his seat. He wore a large brown cowboy hat, pale yellow shawl over a grey long-sleeved shirt with off-white sleeves, brown flared pants, even darker brown riding boots and gloves.

"You, kid! How about we have an Idaten Battle?"

"Shin the Shadow," one of the men on Sho's table snarled.

"You're back here in our town."

"Of course, this is where I get the good stuff."

Shin pulled out a chain of emblems, and he was quickly met with angry looks from the locals. "Found the hunter," Blue joked, though her voice was in a monotone. She was too busy waiting and watching what would happen next. Yellow was silently observing as well.

"Don't agree to that, kid. He's not a good man."

"You quit putting your nose in my business!" Shin growled, his drawl thickening with his anger. "I'm challenging him to a serious battle!"

The duo, though unknowingly, simultaneously narrowed their eyes at Shin. "He better not..." Blue murmured, moving her gaze to Sho to watch his response. Contemplative silence filled the air, Sho looking down on the emblems splayed on the table.

"Yeah... I'll do it!"

Blue facepalmed, though it wasn't much of that with her helmet in the way. She could already hear Makoto and Kakeru trying to talk Sho out of the challenge.

"Why shouldn't I? I'd really love to fight a powerful opponent!"

"I don't recommend this one."

Another person entered the fray—well, in this case inside the saloon. A woman with long pink hair, pale complexion, and indigo eyes. A white bandana was tied to her head and most of her outfit was shrouded by the gray cloak she wore. She sported khaki cowboy boots and earrings shaped like a hexagonal bolt.

"Yuki..."

Yuki, the newcomer, walked into the saloon with a determined look. She was narrating about Shin's victory using an unknown technique ("Now that's shady," Blue commented during that) and warning Sho not to follow suit. She further pushed the Idaten Battle to not continue by threatening to stop repairing Shin's bike, which thankfully worked and caused Shin walk out of the saloon, saying that he didn't want to be on the bad side of a skilled mechanic.

Yellow was still fixed on Yuki, but before he could watch anything else he felt his head yanked down. He tried to resist at first, but he stopped quickly once he recognized the chipped purple nail polish of the hand that gripped his visor. Blue hopped off the crate, and Yellow could see her eyes narrowed and flitting around without her head moving; a sign that she was trying to listen for something.

Yellow remained quiet, letting Blue do her thing. In the seconds that passed, she slowly loosened her hold. "Move, act natural," Blue whispered. She flicked her hand that was holding the visor towards Yellow, signaling to start moving behind him. Yellow nodded, and seeing that Blue let go. He straightened up, and as Blue did the same she leaned back and put her hands at the back of her head.

"And then I said 'brother, you can't be serious, this is stupid' but did he listen? No! He went ahead and did it anyways!"

Yellow nodded along to the fake conversation as he turned around and began walking. His head was turned to look at Blue, but really it was to look at the street ahead. Sure enough, he could spot Yuki staring at their general direction before they made their way behind the next building. Blue immediately stopped talking as soon as they were out of sight, leaning on the wall.

"Miss Yuki, are you okay?"

"Yeah. Come on, let me show you guys the market."

"We need to keep watch on her, make sure she isn't deceiving them. Take top."

Blue nodded, knocking on the wall a few times to feel the texture before swiftly climbing up to the roof. Yellow watched her climb with such agility, it never failed to amaze him each time she had or wanted to do it. As soon as she reached the top Blue looked down and gave a two finger salute. Yellow dipped his head before walking off.

Blue moved off the edge and to the other side, crouching as to both avoid visible detection and making sounds. Her gaze was always either Yuki or the next roof she needed to jump over, and with the layout of the town it wasn't that hard to take leaps. She didn't need to keep track where Yellow was, she knew he was nearby.

Roof after roof, Blue followed the group closely. Whatever conversation was happening she was too high up to eavesdrop on, and the bustling noise of the town didn't help any, so she didn't even try to listen. She at least hoped that Yellow could, though.

Soon enough they reached the marketplace, where Yuki began directing them around and purchasing goods for them. Blue's crouch came to a crawl, laying as close to the roof as possible since she was now idle.

"For her to afford that much food, and saying she's a skilled mechanic as well, then she has quite a reputation around here," Blue said to herself.

Not much came from the stalking, and when the observed group was nearly out of town Blue climbed down to meet up with Yellow. She found him looking from behind a building, so she decided to land behind him. "Nothing so far, and I didn't see any burly guys looking to pounce at them," she reported.

"Saw nothing out of place, either. Miss Yuki's clean for now," Yellow said, turning around.

"You really need to react better when you hear someone behind you."

"Well, you didn't sound like a burly guy ready to pounce on me."

Blue chuckled, raising hands in mock defeat. "I walked into that one," she admitted. Yellow reached to her, lightly flicking her head down by pulling her helmet's visor. Blue yelped, smacking his hand away and backing up.

"Revenge."

Blue blew a raspberry at him, making Yellow smirk in amusement. However his entertained expression was short-lived when he spotted someone familiar just slink out of his vision. He looked further behind Blue, just in time to spot Shin at the side of a building, looking at a direction.

"Shin at your eight."

Blue was quick to respond and pulled out a kunai from seemingly nowhere (The sleeves? Yellow assumed) in the same moment she whirled around to the called direction. She didn't throw her weapon though, as Yellow internally worried for, but instead she held it up expecting Shin to be nearer. When she did spot him though she did a once over to Yellow before taking a few sneaky steps towards Shin, who was still unaware of their presence.

The duo watched in silence as Shin continued to sneak around, and it wasn't hard to see that Shin was following Yuki and the others. Before they followed the group's unwanted tail, Yellow held Blue by her shoulder signaling her to stop.

"I'll keep following Shin. Go back to town and gather information about him."

Blue looked at him, hesitant. "I'll report what I hear, I promise. We just need to know more about how Shin races," Yellow explained. Blue sighed, standing straight and lightly jabbing Yellow's chest with the ring end of her kunai.

"Promise."

Yellow nodded, and at that Blue dashed back into town, presumably to the saloon earlier. He watched her go, making sure that she wasn't doubling back and trying to follow him again. After she was out of sight he waited for a good few seconds before turning around and resuming his stalk.

==========

Blue did as told, gathering information from the bikers in the saloon. They wouldn't tell her at first, assuming her to be the same as Sho since she looked (and was) the same age as him in a sense that she was looking for a challenge, but she pressed that she was here to protect the boy from Shin.

"You saw how Sho was, should Shin find him alone he wouldn't hesitate. At least, with some information he wouldn't be going in the race blind, or best case he'd reconsider."

That reasoning was enough to give her a rundown on Shin as a person and how he raced. Blue very much wanted to ask about Yuki, but she felt like time wasn't on her side to do so. She did get a few snippets of who she was though, noting as Yuki was the go-to mechanic around town, and that Shin was a regular of hers.

When she got enough, Blue thanked the patrons for the info, swearing to them she'd warn the other kids about Shin before she went to look for Yellow. The second part wasn't hard though, as Yellow made his way back town on his MTB. As soon as he saw her, Yellow pulled an endo turn.

"What's rush, hopscotch?"

"We need to hurry. They're heading to a track."

"What?!" Blue already began running.

She was by no means faster than an MTB, it'd take a superhuman to do so, but she was fast enough that she didn't lose Yellow from her sight (the aforementioned town layout helped as well but she liked to believe she was a fast runner). Reaching her MTB, she didn't even give herself a breather before she got on and followed Yellow. Once they were nearly side to side, they struck a conversation.

"What happened?"

"Shin is tricking Sho, despite Yuki's warnings. What did you get about Shin the Shadow?"

"Personal opinion? Potential cheater. Other riders said he races in plenty covered tracks. Caves, abandoned buildings, and the likes. They said he always gains the lead in the shadows no matter what, hence his title. No one knows how he does it, like what that Yuki said earlier."

"Tsk, that idiot..."

Blue spared her friend a glance. His eyes were narrowed, clearly pissed. She huffed.

"Now, what you heard."

Yellow quickly swerved off track, Blue following him with ease. "Nothing you don't know about emblems," he began. They were slowing down, seeing that they caught up to the group with Shin leading the kids towards the track. Getting too fast too close would draw attention.

"Your hunch was right about Flame Kaiser. Not only is it unique, Yuki said it's a legendary Idaten Bike."

"An Idaten Bike?!"

Blue nearly smacked into a low hanging branch in her shock. Yellow however was surprised by something else.

"You know of those? Yuki didn't give an explanation for them, just that she has info from an encyclopedia."

"I only know them as crazy powerful bikes, should the owner of one know how to wield it."

"I see."

By then they were reaching a clearing. Up front was a large building, crumbled and taken over by greenlife. Large trees poked out of the debris, and right behind it, for some reason, was a full on cargo ship wreckage. "Well, this checks out Shin's ideal race track" Blue hummed. She then perked up.

"Now that I remember, the patrons said Shin took very frequent trips to Yuki to have his MTB repaired. On one hand that wasn't off for someone who races a lot, but on the other it was too often for others to find it weird."

Blue giggled. "You think Shin has a crush on Yuki or something?"

Yellow stared back with half-lidded eyes. "What? It's the only conclusion!" Blue defended with a laugh, shrugging. "The only conclusion you can think of," Yellow deadpanned. Blue giggled some more.

They stopped near the start of the clearing, where they could see a long bridge that led to the building. Near the bridge were two Driver Launchers alongside the rest of the group. From where they stood they could at least hear the conversation.

"The course starts through this bridge and through the forest in the building. After that is a slope leading to that ship wreckage, which is the finish line."

"I've done what I can, but are you sure you want to go without checking the course?" Kakeru asked as soon as he was done adjusting Flame Kaiser.

"Nah, don't worry! Leave it up to me."

"Wooooooow," Blue droned. She now folded her hands on her handle while she watched. "I know I'm reckless but he's reckless and stupid. That's a new low."

At her side was Yellow silently shaking his head in disappointment. "Let's find a route around and wait at the finish line," he instructed.

"Oooooh, are we gonna have another dramatic entrance?" Blue put her hands on the sides of her helmet with a giddy smile.

"With a hefty lecture to boot."

Blue giggled excitedly. They did made their way to the shipwreck, both coming to mutual agreement that the fact that the entirety of the course was not visible from the outside made Shin more sketchy than he already was.

As soon as they reached the shipwreck, they found a spot above that offered a nice view of the building's exit whilst staying hidden. For a few minutes there wasn't anything, so Blue was absentmindedly talking about the environment up until they spotted Sho flying out of the window, and not in a good way. Thankfully he and his MTB fell into a tree, so the landing wasn't that painful. Shortly afterwards Shin emerged from the correct exit, stopping just beside the ship.

"That does it then," Blue murmured, "your prodigy lost, Yellow."

"He's hardly a prodigy if he has no idea what he's doing in the first place."

"Ooh, ooh! Can I have this race, Yellow? Pretty please?"

Yellow looked down to see Blue with her clasped hands in front of her. "Fine, but you take my lead," he agreed. Blue replied with a cheeky salute, just simply happy to be involved with the theatrics. They fell in silence once more, listening to Shin admitting that he knew nothing that he initially claimed to have known about Flame Kaiser, only saying so to make Sho agree to race.

"So he followed them to get bargaining chips," Blue hummed, "lucky for him his opponent is a terrible gambler."

Kakeru and Makoto immediately called Shin a liar, which Shin easily agreed on but pointed out that regardless of that, he won fair and square.

"Exactly what he said!"

Yellow and Blue rolled into view, the latter leaning on the handles once more. "Man~ how disappointing," Blue sighed.

"Sho Yamato! You went into this battle thinking it'd be easy, without knowing your opponent, and didn't bother checking the course or the environment you're going to race in beforehand." Every word Yellow said was laced with anger in disappointment. "In that very moment you've already lost!"

"People like you who don't take MTB riding seriously doesn't deserve to ride one!"

"Now that's a standard."

"If you were careful like Yuki warned you to be, then you wouldn't be in this position in the first place!"

Blue continued observing everyone's reactions. Sho was visibly distraught by his defeat, and the rest were reasonably confused. Well, except for Makoto. She was looking up at them with a different kind of shock, which Blue found interesting but said nothing about it.

"Dash Set let's go!"

Yellow hopped down the wreckage first, but once he was on the ground he waited for Blue to join his side. He raised his hand with two fingers up and flicked it forwards. Blue laughed and rode towards Shin, and once she was near she jerked her handles so she drifted around the tall man in a circle before letting her rear wheels land. Clouds of dust surrounded them, and in that brief moment Blue was enjoying the scare she was giving to Shin.

"Shin the Shadow, right?" Blue said rhetorically. "Man Sho, I can't believe you lost to this hack."

"You're not being very helpful," Makoto interjected.

"It was never my plan to be helpful or likeable, princess."

"Who are you calling hack?"

"Right!"

Blue snapped and pointed at Shin. "You, of course," she said happily, and Shin instantly protested for his innocence. Blue was smirking under her helmet.

"Very well, then. If you're not exhausted, and you're the real deal, then you wouldn't mind racing against me!"

"Ah, plan to avenge him?"

"Ew, no. I'm here to prove a point." Blue plucked her emblem from her MTB put it up for Shin to see, even so much as to give it a twirl between her fingers to flaunt her gold emblem. "Well?"

Shin smirked, tilting his hat up with a finger. "Who am I to say no to killing two birds with one stone? I accept," he said haughtily. Blue huffed, placing her emblem back.

"Then, give me two minutes to check the course."

"Blue," Yellow warned.

"Okay, okay! Five. Feel free to join me if you wanna make sure I don't rig the track."

"No need."

"Alright, whatever floats your boat."

Blue turned to Yellow, and when he nodded she replied the same way before she pivot turned to the exit and biked into the building, calling out to the others that she'd meet them back at the starting point. Throughout the entire thing, everything felt like salt to the wound for Sho.

He felt humiliated beyond words.

He lost the race, his bike broke thus rendered useless, and he was berated for his recklessness.

He couldn't even do much as to raise his head, and his friends weren't numb to this.

Yellow however was as harsh as he was, ushering the kids to get back to the Driver Launchers. He didn't acknowledge nor comfort Sho for the loss, but his silent judgement was better than the possibility of him lecturing the boy further throughout the trip.

"Who are you two, anyways?" Shin spoke up.

"It doesn't concern you. My colleague and I are just here to battle you and that's it."

Shin scoffed at Yellow, though he wore an acknowledging smirk. Oversharing to a stranger, after all, is not the most ideal thing to do, and he respected that at the least.

Almost exactly five minutes later Blue reunited with the group at the starting point, mounting her MTB on the launcher without even so much as a glance to check if it was put in right. She was familiar with the contraption, and every opportunity to show off how more knowledgeable she was she'd take it.

"Look, say what you will about us, but can you at least try to get Sho's emblem back?" Makoto spoke up.

Blue snorted. "I'll say it loud and clear princess: I'm not in this for any of you, and especially not for that sad little boy in the corner."

As soon as the Driver Launchers were fully pumped the racers were off. Shin took the initial lead, crossing the gap in the wooden bridge and smashing the end of it with his rear wheel to widen the gap, as he'd done earlier to Sho. Blue didn't even panic, instead she chuckled as she leapt over the gap with ease.

"Look at that! The bridge broke even more but she flew over it with such ease!" Makoto narrated.

Sho too was watching, eyes wide with shock. He'd seen Yellow display his skill days before, using it to stall the police captain back when they were being pursued, but he was yet to see what Blue was capable of, and if her skills could justify her heckling.

"That's it, I want to see how she races!"

Admittedly it was what everyone except Yellow was thinking about, but Sho was the first to voice it out, and even determinedly running towards the building with Makoto, Kakeru, and Hosuke right behind him. Yellow watched them go, arms crossed and a blank look on his face.

He opted to head to the exit area to watch the race from there.

Inside, Blue was ahead by a wide margin. She went through the first tunnel made of twisted roots, plunging into the darkness with only the lights of the other end as he guide. The sudden change of lighting made it hard to see, but nearing the end of the tunnel her eyes widened in shock to see that Shin was no longer behind her, but instead ahead.

"Surprised?" Shin taunted.

Blue growled quietly, but her frown quickly morphed to a sly grin. "I'll figure you out," she whispered. She continued to pedal, looking ahead to the fork in the road. A wooden sign pointed to the right, but before that the ground was riddled with thick roots that wrapped towards the left. Shin, expectedly, rode over the vines without issue.

"That's where my wheels got stuck!"

No worries, Blue tested the track out earlier.

With a cackle, Blue jerked her handles just before she reached the roots, pushing down to raise her rear wheel as she drifted. Once she was facing the correct route, she let her wheel dropped and she resumed pedaling. This rightfully earned her some amazed gasps from the small audience that watched.

"Amazing! She jackknife turned right before the roots to avoid getting stuck!" Kakeru analyzed.

"And without losing momentum too. Such a risky move, she could've overshot given the speed, but she pulled it off so easily," Sho added.

Up ahead was a narrow curve, and Blue had a solution to overtake in a manner only she wanted to do. Instead of taking the inner curve, she instead pulled on her handles for a bunny hop, skipping the curve altogether.

"Oh my goodness! That looked so scary!"

And she wasn't done with it, either. With the track made out of trunks and thick branches, it would be sensible that it twisted and turned in so many ways that racers would need to shift gears so frequently. Blue, however, found her own solution, and said solution was to keep hopping from path to path to avoid the trickier turns. It was risky, that much is given considering how narrow the tracks could get, but she was making it work considering how much Shin was falling behind.

"Watching her is making my heart stop, but I can't stop watching either."

Blue was smirking to herself, but it was immediately wiped off when all of the sudden Shin appeared in front of her after passing a shaded area. She took a quick glance back, where a tunnel was behind. "Huh," she breathed.

"I see how it is. Okay, okay!"

Blue hit her brakes, turning a full 180 and began heading the opposite direction. "Why is she turning back?!" Hosuke exclaimed. Blue hopped down the branch she was on, aiming directly to go into the tunnel.

"Yoohoo!" Blue sang. "You have a visitor, imposter!"

Seconds later, Shin popped out of the tunnel with Blue closely behind. However, it was a cause for confusion considering that he was also further ahead.

"Two identical bikes, of course," Yellow huffed.

"Whoo! Now this is getting two birds with one stone!"

Blue's laughter was near maniacal. The three racers were now near each other as they exited the building, and Blue being at the backmost started kicking at the wheels of the middle one. After seeing him wobble, she then moved forward and kicked the front wheels of the one further ahead, and at that she effectively caused them to crash onto each other and fall over in a cloud of dust. Blue stopped right in front of them, resting the side of her face on her hand that she propped on her MTB.

"The ol' switcheroo," she said. "It only makes sense how you keep winning. However, changing riders mid race is against the 3 core rules of an Idaten Battle."

Blue looked up to see everyone else walking up to them. "Well, what shall we do with these rulebreakers?" she asked, almost giddily. "They lost." Shin and his twin then begged not to expose them to everyone else.

"If you tell on us, no one will be willing to battle us anymore!"

Blue quirked a brow. "Uh, yeah. That's kinda the point."

Yellow then turned to Sho. "This is your call, Sho. What do you want to do?"

Sho looked at Yellow, and then to Blue, both who were looking back at him with expectant looks. He then looked at the twins on the ground. "As long as you stop tricking people like this, I'll let you go this one time," he decided.

"Th-thank you so much!"

"We owe you one."

The twins got up, picking their bikes and walking away. While Hosuke jeered at them, Blue watched them leave with a weirded out look on her face. The second Shin's secret was revealed, it was like all haughtiness was pulled out of the man, leaving behind a person with his tail between his legs. She found it pathetic, really.

"You're too lenient," Yellow scoffed.

"Not me, though," Blue chirped.

She put up two identical silver emblems, which she took from Shin and his brother just moments ago. "I'll be taking these," she said with a wink before pocketing them. She then pulled out a third emblem.

"Hey, hotshot."

Sho pointed to himself in questioning. "Yeah, you. Heads up." Blue threw the emblem at the boy, and upon checking it Sho's blue eyes widened in surprise to see that it was Flame Kaiser's. Kakeru, Makoto, and Hosuke peered over his shoulder as well to look at the emblem.

"Oh, thank you..."

"Ah, ah, ah!" Blue tutted, wagging a finger. "I don't do these things for free."

She then straightened up, folding her arms over her chest. "This is your last chance to impress me if you want my help," she said, with a tone of seriousness as well, "and knowing me you're gonna want it. Then."

Blue dipped her head at Yellow, who replied with a single upward nod. She took off on her MTB, bidding the rest of them goodbye with a two-finger salute over her shoulder. Yellow watched her leave.

"You're gonna want to keep her attention, she's explored the X-Zone more than I have, and thus holds very valuable information and even owns updated maps across the peninsula," he explained. "However she'll only share them or help out if she wants to, and will stop if she loses interest. So take her warning to heart. Now,"

Yellow turned and pointed to the direction of a plateau. "Past that mountain is a town who has a legendary expert mechanic. Find them, and you can get Flame Kaiser repaired," he instructed. He was getting ready to leave, when Makoto called him.

"Who... who are you?" the girl asked.

Yellow stood still for a while. "Which reminds me," he said, "your trailer has a digital minimap installed at the front. Use it to not get lost. I'll see you again, Sho Yamato."

Finally, he left, giving no answers to Makoto's earlier question and instead leaving behind a notion that it wasn't the last time he'd be seeing them.

"Those two... they're equally powerful but so different from each other," Hosuke crowed.

"Really gives you a sense how different each MTB riders are from one another, huh?" Kakeru replied.

Sho stared at where Yellow had gone. He said to himself before that he wanted to battle him some time, and now seeing Blue race he wanted to go against her as well. However, considering how he was now his chances of winning against either of them was slim to none. Blue's condescending remarks only served him as motivators to do better and get stronger.

He was going to become better.

==========

Dinner this time was some nice slabs of roasted pork and rice, and some buttered mixed vegetables. Blue or Yellow didn't cook them, the former decided she would reward herself that night by buying takeout of the hefty meal from the saloon in town.

"Ah, what a day, what a day!" Blue sang happily. "Won a race, made face, became the saving grace~."

She handed Yellow his bento box before making her spot behind him. She was still humming to herself, swaying a little while she opened her box. She squealed in delight immediately after, noticing that her orders had a little extra.

"They gave us some extra! And I didn't even need to pay for it, how generous."

Yellow was still quiet, staring at the bento box. If there was a reason for it, Blue didn't notice as she was too busy babbling on her own. He took a deep breath before removing his helmet to eat as well.

"Before you start nagging me, no I didn't snitch on Shin to the town. As much as I wanted to, I still have some honor."

She waved her fork before taking a bite. She complimented the food as she ate, but soon she joined the silence. Nothing but the sounds of eating filled the air, no conversation whatsoever. It wasn't awkward nor was it tense, but it wasn't comfortable either. Like, something clearly was off, but neither of them was bringing it up.

However, after a long few minutes Blue groaned. She threw her head back with the sole purpose of knocking it against Yellow, who was in the middle of putting a spoon in his mouth so the action nearly caused him to choke on his utensil.

"Hey, Yellow, you're awfully quiet."

"It's cause I'm eating," Yellow coughed, "and you almost made me gag."

"Mmhm. Yeah, yeah, I wanna ask something."

If Yellow wanted turn to glare at how nonchalant Blue was, hearing how she just simply went back to eating, he would've. "Say, what did you guys talk about when I left?" Blue asked, mouth half full. "I didn't really stick around, y'know I don't like leaving our stuff alone for too long."

"I just directed them to the next town where Sho can get his bike fixed."

"Mm."

"I also told them you were serious about not helping if Sho messes up again."

Blue nodded rapidly. "Good, good."

A pause.

"You're looking for an answer to something, aren't you?"

"Mm!"

Blue sped up her chewing so she could reply. "Yeah, Yuki," she said. "The bikers back in the saloon, they all knew her. Hell, even Shin respects her for how skilled she is as a mechanic."

"Okay."

"In the next town, we both know a legendary mechanic resides there, but we don't really know who they are."

"Yes, that's true."

"You think it's possible that that mechanic is Yuki herself?"

Yellow took a moment to think, same with Blue. "Well, the next town isn't that far away, so it stands to reason that if it is Miss Yuki who's the skilled mechanic then it'd make sense for her to be in this town for commissions."

"So my assumptions aren't unfounded. Good to know."

"And considering how invested she is with Flame Kaiser, it seems we have another party looking out for Makoto and the others."

Blue turned her head slightly at that, but didn't reply immediately. "I see you're not obsessed with just the Sho kid," she jested, earning a scoff. She giggled at that, but then stopped and leaned back a little.

"But," Yellow added, "I overheard Miss Yuki say she's not an X-Zone local."

"Well, we're all thrown in this place at such varying times," Blue said, "if she's really the mechanic, maybe she's been here long enough to make a name for herself, y'know?"

"That's true."

"And maybe Sho himself would do the same if he learns."

==========

Posted: March 07, 2024

I could've very easily just replicated Kyoichi's race, but I wanted to put Blue's own style of racing, make her distinct and reflect her personality. She's spontaneous, finnicky, and overall finds comfort in chaos.

Also no update for a long bit, so im dropping this now before i get busy!