Sitting at a table in one of the four, large cafeterias of the pit building, Scott looked into his teacup at the dark, amber liquid that rippled from the vibrations that carried into the building from the pitlane outside. It was subtle. Tiny waves that appeared and disappeared in concentric circles, coming and going in the blink of an eye.

Another tremor.

Another ripple.

Another Zoid passing by.

Scott eyed sidelong the view through the enormous window to his right. The pitlane stretched far to the north and south below him. Beyond it to the west lay the craggy, rocky desert, some of which would serve as arenas for the tournament battles scheduled for the opening day. His gaze fell to the Zoid lumbering along beneath the window – a competitor heading out for their match in a big Green Horn fitted with AB boosters. Trailing it in single file were two Gun Snipers, neither of them fitted with the Wild Weasel loadout that would make them serious contenders in a fight.

Dedicated snipers?

That was certainly a possibility. There were sharp shooting Zoid warriors out there who valued the Gun Sniper’s deadly accuracy that made it a very lethal weapon in the right hands.

What was her name? Nami? Nomi? Naomi?

A low, rumbling, baritone voice asked, “Are you going to eat that before it grows cold?”

Scott looked at the large, burly man sitting across the table from him. Bron Kurdo was making short work of his of scrambled eggs on toast with a mug of piping hot coffee beside it. The fork and knife he wielded looked small in his hands as he sliced his breakfast with the dexterity of a skilled trauma surgeon. Scott was often amazed at how much of the man was at odds with his appearance.

Kurdo paused to look back at Scott. “Well?”

“I guess I should.”

Scott had chosen the same breakfast as Kurdo and began to make inroads into his eggs on toast, however he’d chosen tea rather than coffee.

“When are you going to become a coffee drinker?” Kurdo asked him.

“I don’t know how people can drink it.”

Kurdo snorted and resumed devouring his food in small squares. After swallowing a morsel, he paused again and regarded the cafeteria and the Zoid warriors sitting at numerous tables, enjoying a hearty breakfast. “This place is…an enigma.” He gently gestured with is fork. “The hangar facilities. The four-star accommodation. The five-star amenities.” He shook his head. “It’s well beyond what you find in these parts. I mean”—he looked through the window at the pitlane below—"it’s like an oasis in the middle of the desert.”

Scott faintly nodded. “I heard it’s received a lot of funding from private enterprise.”

“The Lhoengrin Company.” Kurdo exhaled loudly, though it was moderate for a man like him. “Large transcontinental business. Heavy into security and weapons manufacturing. But they’re not the only one.”

That piqued Scott’s curiosity. Something to look into later.

Kurdo sipped his coffee. “One must assume that the kings and queens of industry have plans for this venue, such as drawing in the high ranked warriors for an even bigger tournament. This could be a trial run.”

Scott chuckled. “We could be back here next year then.”

“As high ranked warriors?”

He shrugged. “Why not?”

Kurdo grinned. “I like your way of thinking.” He sipped more of his coffee. “Damn, this is good.”

The two men ate in silence for a while, though Scott’s head was anything but quiet with all the thoughts wandering around in there.

“Tell me then,” Kurdo abruptly asked, “what will you do?”

Scott looked at him, befuddled. “About what?”

“Your mysterious visitor. Are you sure it was her?”

Earlier, Scott had given Kurdo a brief rundown of Lidiya’s encounter with the spy lurking in the dark outside the hangar bay. He sighed as he considered the question. “I’m pretty sure. Sure enough to warrant this conversation.”

“But if the little lady didn’t get a good look at her—”

Scott shook his head. “No, no. I’m pretty sure it was her.”

“Then what’s your move?”

He thought about it again. And came to the same conclusion. “I’ll send her a message. We need to talk.”

Kurdo pursed his lips, pouted thoughtfully, then shrugged. “Straight to the point. Typical of you.”

Scott frowned at him. “What am I supposed to say? Hello. You may remember me from our time in the Backdraft. Let’s catch up on old times.” He shook his head. “Seriously?”

Kurdo again gently waved his fork. “It might help your case if you sent flowers along with the message.”

“I’m not asking her out on a date.”

“She’s a very pretty little thing.”

“She’s not a thing.” Again, Scott shook his head. “Fine. I’ll think of a less brusque way of asking her to meet me.”

“Then what?”

“Then it depends on her. She gets to the choose the time and place.” Scott gave himself a moment before continuing. “If she doesn’t reply, I’ll drop the matter. I’ll assume she has no interest in meeting me. If she does reply and show’s up, then it means she either knows me and has realized she’s been found out and wants to talk. Or she doesn’t know me and is curious about why I reached out to her.” He shrugged heavily. “From there it can mean a lot of things. Too many consider.”

Kurdo slowly nodded, glanced past Scott and swiftly brightened. “There’s a flower shop in the stadium promenade—”

“I’m not giving her flowers.”

A woman’s voice asked, “Who’s not getting flowers?”

Scott’s head spun around to look behind him over a shoulder. To his shock, he saw Lidiya standing not far behind his chair. He then quickly threw Kurdo a dark, accusing glare.

Bastard, you could have told me.

Kurdo shrugged innocently.

Lidiya asked, “Well? Who’s not getting flowers?”

Scott didn’t know what to say. Feeling boxed in with the walls rushing toward him, he floundered for a reply. However, it was Kurdo who came to his rescue. The big man’s baritone voice rumbled as he explained, “He’s not buying you flowers until he knows what you like.”

I’m going to kill him, Scott decided. No, no. Don’t want to get arrested.

“Why are you thinking of giving me flowers?” Lidiya questioned him, a dubious look on her face.

“Ah…well…if we win our first match…as a…thank you…?”

Lidiya scrunched up her face in swift confusion. “Ah huh….”

Scott stood up from his chair and bodily faced her. “Sorry, you weren’t supposed to hear that.”

“Yeah, I can tell.” She suddenly clapped her ears. “There. I didn’t hear anything.”

Scott didn’t believe the matter was so easily solved but decided to take the exit she was offering him. I’m going to pay for this later. He quietly cursed Kurdo while trying hard to keep his expression as relaxed as possible. I’ll have to find out what flowers she really does like. Then he pondered why she was here. “Is something up?” he asked.

“What? Ah, yeah. We had a”—she coughed nervously—“a meeting. Remember? In the hangar loft.”

We did? Meeting? Scott had been distracted lately but he was certain he would have remembered an appointment around this time.

Lidiya started to scowl as she grew frustrated with him. “A secret strategy meeting. For tomorrow’s match. Remember now?”

“…secret…oh…Oh. Right. Strategy meeting.” The credits finally dropped for him. “Sure. I’ll be down in a few minutes.” He waved a hand at the table and his cooling breakfast. “Just let me finish here.”

Lidiya’s expression grew cold. “You forgot, didn’t you.”

“No, no. Not at all. I’m just a little late finishing breakfast.”

However, there was no strategy meeting until Deacon sourced another switch box that could handle the data stream load. The engineer had left early in the morning after a brief word with Scott and Aaron. So why was Lidiya making such a claim? Had Deacon found a switch box already? Regardless, Scott sat down and began eating anew. As Kurdo had warned him, his breakfast had indeed grown cold.

Damn it.

“Whatever….” Lidiya turned away and started to leave only to stop after a couple of steps. “Lilacs.”

Scott faced her over a shoulder. “Hmm? What?”

“The flowers. Lilacs. They”—she seemed to shiver—“were my mother’s favorites. Mine, too.”

Oh….

She resumed walking away, leaving Scott to ponder her reasons for revealing her preference. Turning back to his breakfast, he ate a little more despite it being cold. But the tea was another matter, and he decided to leave his cup as it was.

Kurdo sighed and it was hard not to hear it. He then seemed to make an extra effort to keep is voice down, which was quite a feat for him. “What is wrong with the two of you?”

Scott faintly shook his head. “I’ll sort it out after the tournament.”

“She’s got you wrapped around her little finger.”

He winced, then frowned in annoyance. “That’s not true.”

“It is from where I’m sitting.” Kurdo leaned forward a smidgeon which translated to several inches for a man his size. “You’ve got a match coming up. You don’t need distractions. And you, my friend, are royally distracted. On top of that, you’ve got the other lady to deal with.”

“You’re right. I’ll deal with her now.” Retrieving his palm-sized data-slate from a back pocket, Scott logged into the tournament site using the credentials he’d been given a couple of days ago, found Capella Leone’s competitor profile page and sent her a short message. “Done.”

“What did you send her?”

“We need to talk. Say when and where.”

Kurdo’s thick bushy eyebrows rose dramatically before falling again. He looked disappointed then mightily shrugged. “Some things will never change.”

Scott stood up and picked up his food tray off the table. “What time is your match?”

Kurdo wrinkled his nose. “After lunch. Two pm, barring any delays.”

What’s he unhappy about?

He chose not to ask. “I’ll make sure to watch it. Who you up against?”

Kurdo appeared to briefly search his memory. “Three dudes with Saber Tigers. The Saber Team, I think.” He dismissively shrugged a massive, muscled shoulder. “I’ve read they’re easy to deal with.”

Scott didn’t know them. He made a mental note to look them up before Bron’s battle. Striking out his right hand, he offered Bron a good luck handshake that the big man accepted.

“Just remember,” Kurdo said after the handshake ended, “if we win our matches, you and I are scheduled to meet on Thursday.”

Scott shook his head, then said with a slim smile, “Nope. You’ll be facing Team Wildcards.”

***

The first round of the tournament consisted of thirty-two matches between competitors split across two days. Bron Kurdo had his matched set for day one. Team Wildcards would be facing Team Triple Horn the following day in the afternoon…barring any unforeseen delays. Scott had a mixed feelings after learning that the two Red Horns he and Lidiya would be battling were former members of the Wildcards that had left the team on the day he’d joined up. Aaron assured him there were no hard feelings between the former teammates, but Scott wasn’t convinced, though he made no argument of it. Instead, he focused on running battle simulations with Lidiya against the Dark Horn and its sidekicks for a couple of hours in the morning, once Deacon had sourced a replacement switch box. To Scott’s relief, there weren’t any hardware anomalies hooking up the Lightning Saix to the Shadow Fox or to the switcher, yet he still worried about it in the back of his mind.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

As things had on the previous day, Lidiya and Scott found it hard going defeating Aaron and Deacon. When the terrain offered cover, they managed to pull off a victory now and then. When it didn’t, they found themselves on the run, trading long range shots with the more heavily armored Zoids. Another handicap was that the Lightning Saix couldn’t use its top speed advantage due its recent repairs. The Backdraft battle AI installed in the Shadow Fox took the Saix’s condition into account, thereby limiting its performance accordingly. That frustrated Lidiya, though she acknowledged the value in not overestimating her Saix’s capabilities, while Aaron hoped the repairs would be integrated by the time she and Scott faced the Horns, thus giving Lidiya access to her Zoid’s phenomenal ground speed – something that should improve their chances in battle. To test that theory, Scott decided to instruct the AI to release the limiters it had imposed on Lidiya’s Saix for the battle sims they planned to run in the afternoon.

Team Wildcards took a lunch break in one of the cafeterias – the same one where Bron and Scott had met up for breakfast – then returned to the hangar bay loft to watch Kurdo’s match against the Saber Team. The big Zoid warrior prevailed by relying on the Iron Kong’s abundance of firepower. The two Gatling cannons on each shoulder were a frightening reminder of what Scott and Lidiya would face for real from the Dark Horn in their scheduled match the following day.

However, it was far from a one-sided battle.

The Saber Tigers used their decent speed to keep the Iron Kong busy. Kurdo had a hard time focusing his firepower on any one target, and eventually resorted to his copious missile complement to pin one of the Tigers down long enough for him to shred it with the twin Gatlings. He took hits, losing one of the six-barreled cannons in the process, but the remaining Gatling and chest missiles hammered the two surviving Sabers, triggering one of them to charge in desperation at the Kong’s back. It was met with a roundhouse punch that sent the biomech tiger crashing into a nearby rock formation and straight into a system freeze. With its teammates down, the last Saber warrior threw caution to the wind and ended up hammered with what remained of Kurdo’s missiles before being stomped out of the fight by the massive Iron Kong.

With the match over, Scott sent Kurdo a congratulatory message.

The big warrior replied with: Good luck tomorrow. And let me know how you go with the other matter.

Scott decided to add one more message: I’m so kicking your ass for suggesting flowers.

Just remember, the shop’s in the stadium promenade.

Pocketing his palm-slate, Scott shook his head to himself and stood up from the hard chair in the hangar loft. “I’m going to change the parameters for the next sim.”

Sitting on another chair, Aaron regarded him studiously for a second before asking, “You’re unleashing Lidiya’s Saix?”

“That’s right. Removing the limiters. Time to see what she can do with no restrictions.”

***

“Oh my gods, she’s fast!” Lidiya exclaimed over the comms.

Aaron shook his head, mindful of the headset he wore. He harbored no ill will toward his sister. On the contrary, he was happy for her. He hadn’t heard her this excited in many weeks.

“I’d forgotten how fast she is,” Lidiya said. “Wow—this speed.”

From inside the cockpit of the Shadow Fox, Ronin’s voice entered the comm channel. “How long before the Saix is at full potential?”

Aaron threw Deacon a look. Standing on the hangar bay floor, the tall mechanic stared up at the Lightning Saix with a hint of pride. “I’d say a few days. At least by the end of the week. The new parts are integrating without rejection. The Core doesn’t seem to have a problem with them. If you can get through the first three matches unscathed, she’ll be ready for the quarterfinals.”

“…good by Friday…,” Aaron whispered to himself. “…damn….”

“You mean she’ll be a hundred percent?” Lidiya asked. “For real? Woo hoo!”

Aaron narrowed his eyes up at the Lightning Saix towering above him. Didn’t she hear what Deacon just said?

“It won’t be in time for tomorrow,” Ronin told her, bursting her bubble.

“I know. I know,” Lidiya grumbled, then brightened to say, “We just need to win tomorrow, and the day after—”

“And the day after that,” Ronin concluded for her. “This is just an exercise to see what difference it makes having your Saix at its best against the Horns. After that, we’ll turn the limiters back on and run more sims.”

Lidiya was quiet for a long moment. “Can’t you make her heal faster?”

Deacon stiffened, then stared hard at the Saix’s legs. “I’m…I’m not sure….”

An uncomfortable sensation swam across Aaron’s chest and he hurriedly clapped Deaon on the shoulder. “Leave it.”

“Huh? Oh, but—”

“Let the Saix heal at her own pace. The new parts are in, her body just needs to accept them.”

Deacon hesitated before saying, “It’s just that the team is facing a pretty tough opponent right at the start—”

“And we’ll face tougher opponents in the next match. And the one after that. We’ll get through tomorrow’s match. I have faith in those two.”

“Lidiya, are you ready?” Ronin asked.

“Yeah, good to go. I’m gonna show you what my girl can do! Hah—I’m gonna run circles around you.”

“Don’t run around me. Run around the Horns. Keep them busy.”

“Yah, yah. Leave it to me. I know the drill.”

Aaron again shook his head, but his feelings had soured a little and he didn’t quite understand why. Something about the studious way Deacon had regarded the Saix. An expression of curiosity, excitement, and trepidation. It made Aaron reluctant to know what it was that Deacon had been contemplating for Lidiya’s Zoid.

***

“I have an idea,” Deacon started, “about how to get the Saix to heal faster.”

Aaron rubbed his temples as he slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Deacon standing over him. As a team, they’d just ended four hours of combat sims and Aaron felt wiped, so he’d come up to the loft to lie down on the sofa it had. Ronin and Lidiya were somewhere in the hangar bay occupied by their two Zoids, so it was just Deacon and Aaron in the loft for now.

“What?” he asked.

“I have an idea on how to get the Saix up to speed by tomorrow.”

Aaron felt like he was walking on the edge of a precipice, one misstep away from a fall. “I’m not sure I want to hear it.”

Deacon seemed a little on edge. “Well…it’s a little risky.”

“Then don’t tell me.”

“But if it works, the Saix should be at full strength by tomorrow. And you saw how much of a difference that made in the simulations.”

Aaron sat his aching body up on the sofa. “And if it doesn’t work?”

Deacon glanced away in thought. “Nothing. There shouldn’t be any harmful residual effects.”

I really shouldn’t ask. “What is it that you have in mind?”

“We hook up the Saix to another Saix. Two Cores work better than one. This is something we proved at the academy. The use of two linked Cores promotes superior repair and healing. The sharing of lifeforce between a healthy and injured Zoid boosts the repair functions of the latter. We practiced this at the academy, so I know it works.”

Aaron rubbed his face before looking at Deacon again. “And where would we get another Saix?”

“From our neighbor.”

Aaron’s mind did a double take. “What?”

“That's why I said it's a little risky because we need the White Saix used by our neighbor. We can link Lidiya’s Saix to it.”

As disbelief spread across Aaron’s face, he remembered that the White Saix had returned to the bay in the morning, left sometime in the afternoon, then returned later while Team Wildcards was running its battle sims. What Aaron didn’t remember was whether Olivier de Laventura had made an appearance.

No, I don’t remember seeing him.

Meaning that perhaps de Laventura was keeping a low profile for now.

If he wins all his matches and we win all of ours, we’ll be facing each other in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Aaron felt his stomach threaten to cramp up from exhaustion and stress.

Got a real bad feeling about this.

“Well?” Deacon asked, his edginess growing the longer it took Aaron to reply.

Giving the tall, lanky engineer a long studious look, Aaron started to rub at his jaw and felt the fresh stubble on his chin. “Are you serious about this?”

Deacon nodded. “I am. I know it will work. I mean it worked 7 out of 10 times according to the stats we had at the academy, so there’s a good chance it will improve the healing process.”

Aaron bowed his head a little to massage the back of his neck. “And how do you propose we link the Zoids? Are you going to ask de Laventura for permission?”

“We could do it when he’s not around.”

“That guy has undoubtedly fitted security to his Zoid. Wanna take that chance?”

“Then…we can…try asking him?” Deacon suggested with a weak shrug thrown in at the end.

“After what happened between him and Ronin?” Aaron narrowed his eyes at the engineer standing before him. “I don’t think he’s going to say Yes.”

“What if I asked him?” Lidiya proposed.

Aaron’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest in shock. Lidiya was standing at the entrance to the loft with Ronin behind her, the latter reading something on his palm-slate that had him slightly frowning. However, when he recovered his composure, Aaron threw his complaint at his sister. “Why do you keep doing that?”

“Doing what?”

“You’re like a ghost. You just pop up out of nowhere.”

“I haven’t popped out of anywhere. I was standing here listening to you talk about healing my girl faster.” She walked across the loft to where Aaron sat on the wide sofa. “If linking Zoids will work, I’m…well…I think…I should ask him.”

Aaron’s mouth fell open. He closed it with a clack, then stared at his sister as if she’d grown two heads. That triggered Lidiya and she scowled in response.

“Well?” she snapped.

“Are you nuts?”

“No, I’m not. I can tell he’s got the hots for me.”

A groan slipped out of Aaron before he could stop it, and that ruffled her feathers even more.

“Look—I know he’s a creep,” she complained, “but I’m all for helping my girl heal faster. If I don’t do something, we’re going to get clobbered tomorrow. We got the worst draw of the lot and right at the start. It’s not fair.” Aaron didn’t realize he was shaking his head until Lidiya reached out and grabbed it. “Stop shaking your head at me. I’m being serious here.”

Removing her hands from his head, Aaron stood up and faced his sister. He raised his hands, palms toward her, as if urging her to stop or at least slow down. “Just think about this for a minute. Think about the consequences. You don’t want that cretin following you around. You give him an inch and he’ll do just that. You offer your hand, he’ll take the arm. You won’t be able to get rid of him.” He leaned toward her. “Remember what happened last year?”

Lidiya blanched then swiftly looked daggers at her brother. “That wasn’t my fault.”

“You say toh-MAY-toh, I say toh-MAH-toh.”

“He wouldn’t take No for answer,” she protested.

“And you think de Laventura will be any different? He’ll be worse. He’s rich. And that’s always a problem for our kind.”

“Argh!” Lidiya raised her fists to the sky. “I can handle him.”

Aaron sharply shook his head. “No. I don’t believe you can. And I don’t want more trouble with that guy. Nor do I want him making trouble for you.”

“What if it’s just dinner?” she suggested. “Hmm? Just dinner. That’s all.” She tapped the bracelet she wore on her left wrist and read the time off it. “We’ve got about eighty minutes before the cafeterias start serving dinner. I’ll ask him for help, and then invite him to dinner if he says Yes.”

“Dinner at a cafeteria may not satisfy him,” Aaron warned her.

She arched her eyebrows. “There are no restaurants here. We’d have to go back to Frederickston for that.”

“That’s not what I’m getting at.”

Deacon tentatively raised a hand. “Actually, the stadium promenade has a few restaurants in the upper levels. They opened up for business now that the tournament has started.”

“Oh, really?” Lidiya asked. “That’s so weird.”

“You don’t say,” Aaron muttered.

“That is true,” Deacon agreed. “Looks like they only operate when tournaments are being held.”

Lidiya folded her arms and sighed in exasperation. “It doesn’t matter where we have dinner, so long as it’s after he agrees to helping us. And maybe I can smooth things over between our two teams. But what’s important is that he helps get my girl running a hundred percent before our match tomorrow.” She then narrowed her eyes into thin slits. “Aaron, I don’t like that guy any more than the next self-respecting girl, but I can see the value in using him for my own ends.”

“Oh, come on—”

“Besides, I got a message from him while we were doing battle sims a short while ago. He was bragging about defeating a trio of Gilraptors in his first match.” She proudly folded her arms across her chest and smirked. “You see? I’ve definitely got his attention. That has to be worth something in our favor.”

“He messaged you?”

It wasn’t Aaron asking, but Ronin who stood a few feet behind Lidiya. He sounded almost disinterested while wearing an unreadable expression as he looked at her, yet it made Aaron abruptly wary of the man.

Should I be worrying about him or de Laventura?

Meanwhile, Lidiya had initially stiffened when she heard Ronin, but now relaxed a little, though her back remained to him and her voice was weak when she replied, “Yes…yes he did.”

“Did you message him in return?”

She briefly closed her eyes. “No, I haven’t answered him….”

Not yet, Aaron thought and believed Ronin shared in his thinking.

Yet the ex-Backdrafter nodded faintly. “Okay.” Pocketing his palm-slate, Ronin started walking across the loft to the exit that opened to a hallway outside the room and an elevator not far away. “I’ll see you guys later then.”

“Where are you going?” Lidiya questioned him.

“To the suite. I need a shower.”

“Oh, okay….”

Aaron noticed but avoided dwelling on the suspicious look Lidiya was giving Ronin, though it made him hastily ask, “You joining us for dinner?”

Ronin paused at the door “I’ve got something to do. I might not make it in time for dinner.” He appeared to glance at Lidiya before meeting Aaron’s gaze. “I’ll explain later.”

Aaron watched him leave and close the door behind him, wondering what was up with the former Backdraft pilot.

Lidiya said he had breakfast with the big Zoid warrior this morning. Why?

Feeling weary and worried, Aaron rubbed his face with a hand, then needed a couple of seconds to focus on his sister who was staring unhappily at the closed door. “I’m going to ask you to stay away from de Laventura. I don’t want our team having anything to do with him. Okay? Please? Will you do that for me?”

“What about my Saix?” she countered.

“She’ll heal fine by the end of the week.”

“Not if we’re facing opponents. She won’t get the chance to heal properly if she’s injured again in our upcoming matches.”

Aaron cocked his head at her. “Then do you want to drop out of the tournament?”

A conflict broke out on Lidiya’s face, inner emotions warring visibly with each other until she took a deep breath. “If we don’t win tomorrow, there is no more tournament for us.”

“You can still win without the extra speed. The battle sims prove that. You and Ronin have won at least a half dozen times today.”

“We only get one shot tomorrow,” she retorted, “and we’ve lost more often than we’ve won.”

Aaron closed his eyes and took a long, slow breath that he released moments later when he opened his eyes again. “I’m asking you to please drop it. If you’re not going to, then I don’t want any part in what troubles you cause. All right?”

“Troubles I cause?”

“Exactly.” He stepped around Lidiya to collect his tablet on a table behind her, then made his way to the loft’s door.

“I’m doing this for the team,” she snapped at him. “Not because I want to.”

“And I’m saying you don’t need to do it.” Aaron took a deep breath. “Lidiya, just stay away from that guy. Okay? Please.” He waited by the door with a hand on the handle. “Lidiya?”

She shook her head and turned away from him, choosing instead to sit down heavily on the sofa.

Deacon looked between them, no doubt wondering which was the better option: to leave with Aaron or stay with Lidiya. He chose option three. “I think I left some tools down in the bay.” And then he promptly walked to the loft’s balcony exit to ride the elevator platform down to the hangar floor.

Aaron sighed and returned to the sofa, hesitating for a second before sitting down beside his sister. “You’re not going to listen to me, are you?”

“I’m considering it,” she said.

He couldn’t stop himself from sighing once more. “If he agrees to help you, it won’t end with just dinner.”

“I can handle him. I’ve handled his kind before.”

“No, you haven’t. You haven’t met his kind before. He’s a rich kid playing Zoid warrior. But what else is he?”

Lidiya stood up and faced Aaron. “If you don’t trust me, just say so.”

“I don’t trust him. I don’t like him. He rubs me the wrong away.”

She accepted his admission with a faint nod. “I agree. That’s why you need to keep an eye on him. Make sure your little sister doesn’t fall into his evil clutches.”

“This isn’t a joke, Lidiya.”

“I wasn’t making a joke,” she responded. “I’m serious. Look out for me during dinner. Look out for me after dinner.”

“I’m trying to do that,” he complained. “You’re not making it easy.”

Her lips moved as though she was ready to retort, but then she pressed them together and stood in silence before him. Yet the pressure from her reproachful gaze made Aaron palm his forehead for a long, long moment before he eventually garnered the will to look her in the eyes.

“What’s your plan?”

Lidiya’s eyes slowly widened before narrowing back to normal. She then deeply inhaled, held it for a moment, before slowly letting go of the air in her lungs, seemingly relaxing as she did so.

“I’ll keep it nice and simple,” she declared.