==Epilogue=

A day had passed since the climatic battle for the Lower City. The Red Star and Bloody Chain fought each other to the last breath, but both ended up falling. Michael Chain had attempted to flee to the Lightning Area, but fell victim to the law—he now awaits a trial. The original members of the Bloody Chain were either dead, in prison, or on the run. Red Star continued to fight throughout the night, but soon found the same fate as the Bloody Chain members. The Japanese military destroyed both gangs, the Federation soon occupied and cleaned what remained; even today Federation soldiers patrolled the streets.

The gang war was over at long last, but the damage done to the Lower City would prove to be the real issue. The already trashed Lower City was now littered with bullets, blood, craters, wrecked buildings, destroyed vehicles, and much more; maintenance was far beyond Jody's fiscal capability. The citizens of the Lower City could enjoy living in a less dangerous part of the city, but at the cost of its infrastructure and destruction of many buildings. General crime would remain high, if not higher than before; but the threat of gang conquest had been removed.

Such a dark event had been rewarded with a bright day, Chiya and Earl were working together on installing a new door to the lobby. They already installed a new door to Seppuku's office, but the hole in the wall remained, thus making the door almost pointless.

Chiya held the door for Earl as he worked on putting it into the wall. They wanted the hallway to have working doors before they worked on any of the bigger damage done to the building.

After a few moments of installation, Earl stood up and backed away from the finished door, "That should do it."

The Mysterian let go of the door, finding that it was perfectly attached, "Good work."

"Thanks."

Chiya stood up beside him and stretched while smiling, she then looked around the messy hallway. There were gun shells all over the floor along with holes and cracks. The blood had been mopped upon returning home that chaotic night.

"How in the world did you two survive all that fighting?"

Earl grinned as he threw a shell into the air and caught it, "I don't mean to gloat, but I was in the zone when I picked up that assault rifle."

"I want an assault rifle!" she spoke with excitement.

The Korean chuckled, "Seppuku prefers you having a handgun, you can't just carry an assault rifle everywhere."

"But Seppuku carries that huge cannon on his back all the time…" she challenged.

"But let's be honest, no sane person is going to get in a gun argument with that man."

Chiya nodded in agreement, then glanced over at the destroyed bed Earl had been using for cover in the hallway, "You can sleep in my bed if you want, I have the Purring Kitten to sleep in."

"I'm fine, I sleep in the garage half the time, so it doesn't really matter."

"Ew, the garage?" The two exchanged stares, Earl almost took offense to this response. "Why would you do that? Seriously, take my bed; I can just sleep on the floor."

The man continued to argue, "I used to sleep in my cold metal tank during the war. Trust me, I can handle any situation. Besides, you need good sleep to retain your beauty."

"Hm, you're right. Okay, you better just sleep on the floor, then."

The man took this response as humor and sat on the destroyed bed alongside Chiya for a few moments. Soon after, he widened his eyes in shock, having remembered something.

"Your cat must have been freaking out with all the explosions and gunfire."

Chiya closed her eyes and sighed with a smile, "We—ell," she moved her left arm forward, revealing several scratches, "I was having an issue getting Mauser out from under the bed…"

As the two sat together in a messy hallway, Earl found himself kicking his feet down at a consistent rate. His eyes scrolled over at Chiya, who was doing much of the same—but instead with her hands. The Mysterian's gaze was without direction, a clear indication that she had become lost in her thoughts. The Korean, however, stared her down as though he were conducting some study. The division between the two was broken as Chiya's gaze practically teleported onto him. He had but a second to justify his staring.

"Uh, Chiya."

She smiled and nodded, "Uh, Earl."

Earl tried to keep his gaze on her, but was conflicted on whether or not to stop doing so. After grasping his throat with nervousness, he continued, "Yesterday was very eventful."

In response, the girl slapped his arm, "Really? I didn't notice."

"Seppuku and I were talking about you just before Red Star attacked..."

Chiya's playful face died on the spot, unsure of whether or not to take positive or negative interest in this, "Oh?"

"Yeah, we were talking about you... and I..." Chiya raised both her brows and turned her torso toward him. "He said something... or 'proposed' something that got me thinking..."

"A proposition? Pertaining to... you and I?"

This question sent a shock down Earl's spine, he wasn't doubting that she had caught on to what he was trying to say. This, however, played a successful role in manipulating what he was going to say. And so a completely different proposal came out.

"Uh, yeah! I was thinking of maybe being your personal F-Zero mechanic..!" he panicked.

The actual proposal had been converted into that of an F-Zero proposal, but all the same, Chiya responded with glee. Taking grasp of his hand, Chiya beamed and began to bounce on the bed.

"Blimey, you mean you want to contract yourself to me?"

The man's face began to glow somewhat as he looked down at his trapped hand, then back into her eyes, "Uh... I like you... a- and I know your F-Zero machine inside out, so... why not, right?"

Chiya nodded her head in an almost erratic pace, but then narrowed her eyes. She kicked her feet down with puckered lips, "Oh, but I suppose that would distract you too much from being with people like Maggie..." She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes.

Earl shook his head, "No, no, it won't. Besides, I don't really- well..." He scrambled to find the correct words. "Uh, you and your F-Zero ambitions are far more interesting and important to me, at any rate."

Now the Mysterian pushed her own offensive onto him, "But you are seeking a relationship."

"No! Err... well, not really..." The Korean cupped a fist over his chin, "I mean, I kind of am, but..." In somewhat of a panic, the man flailed his arms, "I don't know how to answer that; I'm a bit blown back by what has happened these past days, you know?"

Chiya appeared somewhat disappointed, but nodded, nonetheless. She released his hand and exhaled, "Well, thank you for volunteering to maintain my machine. I kind of knew you'd help me, I just wasn't sure you'd be willing to help Seppuku and I at the same time."

Earl had a look of mutual disappointment, but was willing to set aside romance for now. To move the conversation onward, he explained, "We've got a lot of work to do if we're going to fix this place up, but I think we're going to be safe from now on. We have no more enemies to fight."

There was truth in this sentence; with the gang war over, there would be no more fears of getting killed. There were still fearsome individuals out in the universe such as Blood Falcon and Samurai Goroh, but these two were not a direct threat to them like the gangs were. Chiya wasn't going to fear about any of these other criminals, instead she would focus on F-Zero and live a happy new life with friends.

Her happy thought was cut short as Seppuku kicked open his new office door. A frightened Chiya hid behind Earl while trembling, Earl reacted by standing up and shaking his fist at Seppuku.

"Seppuku, can you not do that until we get the wall fixed?"

Seppuku crossed his arms with a tipped fedora, "Come to my office, I have something for you two…"

Chiya puckered her lips in excitement, expecting that there would be yet another reward. The two companions of Seppuku followed, the lieutenant took on a frustrated face and leaned over his desk. Both ends of his desk were being clawed at by the man, this was enough of a warning for Chiya to tell that something was wrong. The two stood before the man waiting for him to speak.

With a gambler's grin, Earl asked, "So, what do you have for us?"

Chiya tilted her head with a smile. Hopefully it's something fun..!

Seppuku gritted his teeth while facing the other direction, he then spun around and tossed two suitcases at them. Chiya looked down at the black case in confusion. Earl rubbed his chin while getting his case open; within this case was nothing—neither suitcase contained a thing. Chiya looked back up at Seppuku, who now had a discontent face.

"Go on, pack your things and leave, the both of you."

Chiya and Earl both gasped at his orders.

"What!?" Chiya blurted in shock.

Earl appeared just as surprised as Chiya, "What? Are you kidding?"

"I said pack your things and leave, your services are no longer required here."

Chiya lowered her eyebrows in sorrow, not understanding what she had done wrong, "Why? I- I don't want to leave!"

"Yeah, what the Hell, man. Who's going to repair your machine if we're gone?"

Seppuku shrugged, "Don't know, I'll figure something out."

Chiya's eyes began to water as soon as she realized that he truly wanted the two to leave. She shook her head in disbelief.

"Why are you doing this!?" she begged with full emotion.

Seppuku removed his fedora for a moment and rubbed his forehead with a blank expression; he seemed lost. After putting his hat back on, he turned to face the two. He crossed his arms in an attempt to appear as intimidating as he would any other day.

"I can no longer afford you two. It's nothing personal."

Chiya widened her eyes, "Just decrease our pay a little."

Earl grunted in disapproval at Chiya's suggestion, but decided to nod his head in hesitant agreement. Seppuku faced his desk again and slammed both hands against the surface.

"I did some math last night. Without the gang war, we'll be making only a fifth of what we usually make off of loot." Chiya closed her eyes and sighed, now understanding the problem. "We're only making money off of what we loot from the common criminal, who's probably poor if not broke."

Red Star and the Bloody Chain paid its workers well, every time Seppuku came across a body, he would take their wallets and use the money to pay Chiya and Earl. Without the gang war, they would be in a severe deficit. To pay Chiya and Earl their usual salary was but a mere fantasy now.

"The organization is going to shut down once you leave. I'll always be here if you need me."

Chiya continued to shake her head, but was beginning to realize something. At first, she came from a background of no income, she was fortunate enough to get paid at all when she first joined in with Seppuku. The general thinking she was having was that if she could survive making no money, she could probably survive making the most minimal of income.

"I don't need money, just life essentials."

Earl and Seppuku both gasped at Chiya in shock. Chiya was volunteering to stay with Seppuku for free. Seppuku stared at Chiya waiting for her to break, but was finding that she was true to her word, she was ready for such a strange commitment.

The Man of Darkness rubbed his forehead in awe, "Ch- Chiya I don't- what about Bendek?"

Earl glanced at Chiya with a pressured look, he was not as willing to work for free as she was. Chiya looked at Earl with a sad face, praying that he would stay with her and keep the organization strong. Earl could read the Mysterian with ease, knowing that she wanted him to stay very much; though it would be a huge burden on his life. All in all, he sighed with a decision in mind.

"Just keep the consumables and television going, and I guess I won't have a problem staying..."

Chiya beamed at his decision. Seppuku fell back into his chair in amazement, never realizing that his two soldiers were so loyal.

"I'm lucky to have such an amazing mechanic…" he said looking at Earl proudly. He then nodded at Chiya, "And I'm also lucky to have such an amazing…" Chiya smiled in anticipation for the compliment, "U—uh, an amazing Chiya..."

Seppuku sat back behind his desk again, pleased that they decided to stay with him. Earl took a seat and stretched his arms out, "Well, I don't know what it was; maybe it was your intimidation, the beer served here, or Chiya's beautiful eyes—but somehow you got a leash on me."

"Very good. You'll still be paid, just not as often and not as much."

Earl nodded while holding back a groan; he was willing to stick through the difficulty of this to keep Chiya happy.

Chiya laughed and leaned over Seppuku's desk, "Don't worry, we'll be swimming in money soon, anyways…"

Earl and Seppuku both raised an eyebrow at her, "Why's that, Flower?"

Chiya slowly looked up at his face with a look of determination. Her pretty eyes were telling him that everything was going to work out.

"Because we're going to win the Grand Prix next year!" she announced with a raised fist.

Jody and Dr. Stewart were up in the Federation HQ. The bright sunlight shined through the large windows of the building as Jody approached the doctor from behind. Stewart glanced over at Jody while he typed on a computer.

"Hello, Jody."

The chief commander walked beside him with a blank expression, "I saw the Red Dove in the parking lot earlier. What did he want?"

Stewart chuckled at the question, "Ah yes, Seppuku and Chiya came by earlier with the total sum we're going to pay them for maintenance."

Jody rubbed the back of her head, "I didn't think he would be so quick to take up my offer, but I'm true to my word, nonetheless…" She hummed and tilted her head, "How much did he request?"

The doctor stopped typing and turned with a grin, "Seppuku insisted on fifty million credits."

"What!?"

This was followed by a laugh, "Don't worry, Chiya canceled out his request and only asked for twenty thousand."

Jody exhaled in relief, she was not surprised that Seppuku would try and sneak some unnecessary profit off of her. Stewart continued continued with his work, but Jody remained behind him thinking.

"Chiya's a nice girl," Stewart nodded in agreement at the compliment. Jody then got a confused face, "But what's a girl like her doing wasting her talents with a gangster like Seppuku? And for that matter, why is a Mysterian so far away from her home planet?"

Stewart looked up at her, "You know the lieutenant; he loves doing eccentric things, and he loves eccentric people—especially if they share similar interests."

This last sentence caused Jody's face to freeze almost robotically. It wasn't until now that Jody took out time to think deep about Chiya, and she was intrigued, to say the least. "Pull up her criminal records."

The man stopped what he was doing to widen his eyes, "All of a sudden you think she's a criminal?"

Jody did not respond. Stewart turned towards his computer with hesitation and began pulling up pages. Jody pulled up a chair and cupped a hand over her mouth as they browsed. Stewart pulled up Chiya's records—which lacked a photo of her. Jody leaned in even closer and looked at the information, there was only one case recorded on Federation records.

Stewart cleared his throat and read, "'Chiya 'Lionne' Flower was caught leaving transport number forty-seven with nothing but a metal fork and blanket in her bag.'"

Jody nodded with a feeling of admiration for the Mysterian. Chiya appeared to be a simple young woman who had a bad start in life who stuck with Seppuku for the sake of having a home. Jody was beginning to contemplate if she should try stealing Chiya for the Federation and make her an official part of their special task force. The task force was comprised of Jody Summer, Dr. Stewart, Rick Wheeler, Jack Levin, Mr. EAD, John Tanaka, and Dr. Clash.

All seemed well, until Stewart discovered another page, "Hey, wa—ait a minute…"

Jody returned to her expressionless face and leaned forward. Stewart took a moment to think about what he had just read, then gave Jody a frightened look.

"Ms. Flower has a bounty on her."

The chief commander grunted and stood up, "Huh? For what? You must be mistaken."

"The bounty was posted by the government of Mysteria. But as you know, they keep their criminal records closed to the public, so-"

"I don't care, I want to see what she did."

Stewart glared, "We would be violating Mysteria's right to privacy..."

"Just do it, I'll take the heat if we're caught."

Stewart licked his lips before turning back to the computer. Jody had taken back everything she thought about Chiya, while the Mysterian government was corrupt and hostile toward their citizens, Chiya must have done something much larger to get a bounty placed on her. After entering a few special browsing modes, Stewart pulled up a decoded page of Chiya Flower from the Mysterian records.

"'Chiya Flower is tried for crimes as a convict, having fled Mysteria to an unknown region shortly before her trial.'"

"A convict? Trial?"

Stewart continued, "'A few years ago, Chiya was escaped a sentencing for hanging out with a bad crowd that dealt in drugs banned within the Mysterian Empire. She was only fined, however, for she had unknowingly been tricked into hosting the drugs in her home. The discoverer of the drugs was Robert Flower—father of Chiya and spokesman for the Mysterian Workers' Party.'"

Jody hummed, "Surely that's not what put her on a hit list, though."

Stewart continued to scroll down the page, "'Chiya is best known for her role as varsity striker and captain of the New Edinburgh football team.'"

"Okay, that's interesting."

After skimming through more basic information, Stewart came across a dark section of content. The content caused the man to grunt. "Wow, look at this."

Jody moved up to the computer and read a short paragraph. Every few seconds her eyes would widen in confusion and shock; there wasn't much content, but enough to determine that she had found the reasoning for Chiya's bounty. The woman shook her head in disbelief at this and stepped away from the computer moments after reading it.

"That was... surprising. Quite sickening, actually…"

Stewart pointed his finger at the screen, "She committed the crime on the 'Day of Falling Mist', the event where an unidentified spacecraft of Godly size almost destroyed an entire city."

Jody closed her eyes and breathed in to ponder about this. Of course, she was more so interested in the crime Chiya committed—not so much the date.

Stewart read on, "'Chiya is not allowed to reconnect with her mother until she faces trial. Chiya is wanted alive, but may be crippled or wounded if necessary."

Jody continued to think back and forth on the matter. Even so, she found that there may be two sides to the story—not to mention, the Mysterian Empire has been known to exaggerate stories. There was no actual reason to accuse Chiya of anything, in this sense.

"Delete those records," she ordered.

Stewart looked at her in shock, "You want me to delete criminal records outside of our jurisdiction?"

"Yes."

"That's going too far, Jody."

Jody clenched her fist at him, "Wipe her records. Let it be a gift to Chiya and a punch to the Mysterian Empire." Stewart shook his head in disapproval. "Don't worry, I may not have a warrant for her arrest, but God knows I'm going to get answers from her. One thing is for certain, the young Flower is a citizen of the Galactic Space Federation now; as long as this remains true, I will not allow Mysteria to claim possession of her."

Stewart was still fighting the idea of taking an illegal action, but when given orders by the Federation's chief commander, he had little of a choice to make. He wiped the records with the simple click of a button—and so Chiya could once again walk upon Mysterian soil with clean hands.

Meanwhile, in an unexplored part of space, a dark red ship flew toward a massive ship. The large ship was silhouetted, thus camouflaging it into the emptiness of outer space. The red ship approached the hangar after a long trip home.

Once landed, the body of Brock Blaskovitz was thrown out of the loading ramp. Coming down the ramp of his ship was Blood Falcon, his yellow scarf was waving as he moved. Several robots holding advanced rifles were walking down the hallways of the massive ship, Blood Falcon walked past each one without fear.

A few minutes later, Blood Falcon opened a door leading to a massive dark room. Vast amounts of red screens surrounded the room, each one displaying a live feed of cities in the universe. Blood Falcon walked down the center of the room and soon came to a stop. Once standing before a fleet of stairs, Blood Falcon stomped his foot down and grinned with his teeth revealed.

"I'm back!"

Blood Falcon gazed up at a dark figure sitting in his chair. The man was clothed in a purplish black outfit, had large muscles, a cape, and a mask with horns. This was Black Shadow—the most wanted man in the universe, emperor of Dark Million, and creator of Blood Falcon.

In a deep tone, the emperor lectured, "Once again, you failed to kill Captain Falcon…"

Blood Falcon crossed his arms together, "Next time for sure."

"Not only this, but you failed to win the Grand Prix, again!"

"Second place, baby!"

Black Shadow shook his head after releasing a heavy sigh, "No matter, the Grand Prix is irrelevant at any rate." The emperor stood tall as he looked down upon Blood Falcon, "What of Aeropolis?"

"So close. The plan was foiled by Seppuku and Captain Falcon."

The emperor's grin widened, "Seppuku was there?"

Blood Falcon nodded, "Seppuku was the reason I didn't win the Grand Prix, and why I couldn't get Aeropolis under our control."

"I'm not surprised that Seppuku could defeat you."

Blood Falcon growled, "He didn't, I wiped the floor with his ass. Captain Falcon came and destroyed the disc."

"The Red Dove is working alongside Captain Falcon. How tragic."

The clone smirked, "Seppuku's lackeys were easy to beat, I sent both the girl and boy to their knees in pain…"

"Lackeys?" Black Shadow rubbed his chin and chuckled, "It was only a matter of time before the Red Dove would try and put together an army of his own…" Black Shadow stepped down the stairs and approached the clone follower. "Return him to me," he demanded.

Blood Falcon grinned, "Finally, a second objective!"

Black Shadow crossed his arms together as he stood in front of Blood Falcon. "Seppuku may be strong, fearsome, and a second threat to my existence—but he is nothing but a mere glitch; a small error in my master plan."

"I assure you, Seppuku will be brought to you."

"We must find and perform... 'maintenance' on the man. Through Seppuku, I can kill Captain Falcon; and by killing Captain Falcon, no living being in the universe will remain powerful enough to destroy me." Blood Falcon smiled at the sound of killing Captain Falcon. "Kill two birds with one stone…"

"A great day that will be…" Blood Falcon added.

Black Shadow nodded, "But first, we must locate the Red Dove…"

Blood Falcon snapped his fingers, "Already in progress. I have brought with me the body of a man who may or may not know of his location. If we redesign the man in our image and restore any of his memories, he'll work on capturing the weakest of the pack, and the weakest will lead us straight to Seppuku…"

Black Shadow crossed his arms and asked, "Who is the weakest of the pack?"

"The one Seppuku has, somehow, grown a bond of some sort with..."

The clone turned and looked up at one of the red screens alongside Black Shadow, the live feed of a smoking Mute City could be seen from above.

"The girl…"

To be continued in Part 2 of 3!