Mamoritai 4 - A Llorumi story

14. Preparing

Notes: I'm so sorry I didn't upload on Satudray! I was at a larp with my friends, and totally forgot to set an uploading time... But here you go!

Words: 1580

"Uh, she doesn't look like much, but trust me. She's fast." Scott said as he pulled the tarp off a VERY rusty car. Like, so rusty I don't think it should be even in one piece anymore! "Whose car is this? Yours?" Cole asked Scott. "No. I don't race." He answered strictly. "Why not?" Kai asked. "Look, you want it or not? This, plus the other four, plus my car, that's six vehicles. That gets you in the race." Scott answered. I had realized on the walk back to Scott's that I would have to drive. In a race. That is very violent. Me. Just the thought of it made me sigh deeply. "I don't know, this needs a lot of work. You think we can fix it up in time?" Jay said, inspecting the car closely. Nya sighed as she looked at the car. "New engine, transmission, brakes, shocks, wheels, timing belt, windshield." Nya listed. "Yeah, it's in bad shape, but it's the best I got. And she did pretty well. Until the last race." Scott replied, with ... pain in his voice? "What happened in the last race?" Lloyd asked. "Driver got cubed. Made a reckless move. Wanna know why I don't drive? That's why. Because I've got only one life left and I value it. I'm not risking it for anything or anyone." Scott explained.

"Some things are worth fighting for, Scott." Jay said, trying to change Scott's attitude. "Yeah, yeah, you guys can be heroes if you want. Not me." He answered and walked away from us. He seems delightful... "He's been stuck in the game for a long time. Too long..." Jay said after Scott couldn't hear us anymore. "If any of us want to get out of here, we need that keytana. We need to win the race." I tried to motivate the group. I do not want to get stuck in this game. "Then we better get started. Come on, what are we waiting for?" Cole said. I nodded, turned around and started searching for tools. I just opened a closet, which I guessed the tools would be in, when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see Lloyd. "I'm going to go check out the Speedway. You wanna come with me? The more we know about it, the better our chances." He asked with a smile on his lips. I looked at his face, getting kind of lost in it. Then I snapped back to reality and thought about his offer. "Nya, can you deal with only three helpers?" I yelled across the garage to Nya. "Actually, I kinda need you. You've become my regular helper and know the tools by now. Where would you two go?" Nya replied. "To watch the Speedway. To learn more about it." I replied.

I kind of wanted to stay with Nya, but I also didn't wanna leave Lloyd alone. The Red Visors could come and... "It's okay, you can stay." Lloyd whispered in my ear. His breath sent shivers down my spine. "But it's your choice after all, Rumi. I'm sure the boys can help me too." Nya corrected herself. "I think I'll go with Lloyd. It'll be twice as hard for the Red Visors to get him now." I said, turning my head and smiling at Lloyd. His face lit up, just slightly but I noticed it. He clearly tried to hide his excitement. "Yeah, that's fine. Be careful!" Nya yelled. "Always." I answered and me and Lloyd walked out the garage. Lloyd and I pulled up our hoods and walked to Terra Technica. "It's nice that it's just the two of us." Lloyd said as we walked. "Yeah, it's been kinda hectic. But this is no Never-Realm. At least here it's warm." I laughed. "Yeah, I'm never returning there." Lloyd chuckled. "What do you wanna do, when we get back?" I asked, looking at Lloyd's eyes- Sadly they were only digital versions of the real ones. "Hmm. Go on a date?" He answered, looking at me. "Sure. Where?" I chuckled. "How about we go to the beach? Ooor to a spa? Oooorrr maybe camping!" Lloyd listed, excited. "You never run out of those date ideas. How is it possible?" I asked. "I guess, I've been preparing for a girlfriend all my life." Lloyd chuckled. "What do you-?" "We're here." Lloyd interrupted me, as we reached the paddock.

I looked around and saw all the racers, preparing their vehicles. "Rumi, look out!" Lloyd whispered to me. "What?" I asked, but before I could look, Lloyd grabbed my arm and pulled me behind one of the cars. "Red visors. We need to upgrade our avatars." Lloyd answered as he pressed his shoulder and his skill tree was shown. "Oh, good idea! I'm pretty sure I have an updated skin here somewhere." I replied, pressing my shoulder and scrolling through my skills. There! Found it! I pressed the icon that showed an avatar update. A white paint was painted across my face, highlighted by a dramatic red lip and red eye makeup. My hair shortened up to my chin and got shaved on the left side. I had a side part that slightly covered my face. I got a black turtleneck, which had a leather jacket on top of. The leather jacket had dark blue accents on it, alongside spikes. I got leather pants and knee high boots, which were also leather. On my waist I had three leather belts on top of each other. I admired my new look and then turned my gaze to Lloyd.

His hair was a mohawk, his mouth hidden by a scarf. His outfit consisted of green pants and a green gym jacket that was open exposing his abs. Omg he looks hot. I stared at him for a full 30 seconds before Lloyd cleared his voice. "Liking what you see?" He asked smugly. "Oh shut up." I gently nudged his shoulder. "Cause I do." He continued with a smirk I had seen before. He was horny. I rolled my eyes, even though that sent butterflies to my stomach. Lloyd grabbed my waist and pulled me closer. "What if we forget this mission of ours and just have a quick-" "Lloyd. We're not making out inside a video game." I answered, placing my hand on his mouth. "Yow no fwun." Lloyd muffled through my hand. "But I am correct. C'mon Romeo." I said, taking my hand off his mouth and started walking away. Lloyd grabbed my hand and pulled me closer again. He held my waist with his right hand and he had my right hand in his left. He lowered his scarf and kissed my hand gently. "Now we can go, princess." He said with his husky voice. I scoffed, as if that didn't just make my whole stomach do 50 flips inside of me.

Lloyd let go of my hand and my waist. He then offered his right arm for me to grab. I rolled my eyes and took it into mine. We walked swiftly to the stands, trying to dodge all the Red Visors. I wonder how the others are doing? Now there was a big screen in front of us that showed the race. It was just a car after another hitting some other car. Jeez that looks rough. "Oh, big hit! Good thing is he's wearing a seatbelt!" The announcer said as a car got thrown out the road. "Wow." Lloyd whispered as we walked closer to the screen. "Ooh, here they come! I can see them!" An excited blue haired man said next to us. I looked down and saw the cars drive past us. They bumped each other, jumped over each other and hit each other with weapons! "Two teams out of the race, three remaining, coming up on the fourth mile marker, and here come the Whack Rats!" The announcer yelled as one car exploded two other cars. Then the screen showed a portal, which from those scummy rats came out of with their vehicles. The crowd cheered violently.

The rats threw bombs on one of the cars. This one was green and dodged the bomb flawlessly. "Who's that driver?" Lloyd asked, pointing at the green car. "Racer Seven! Uh, they've been trying to win the Keytana for years. Never makes it to the finish line though. Looks like today won't be their lucky day either." The blue haired man explained. The car was shot by bombs again and it drove off the road! The racer crawled out the car and punched it in anger. They took their helmet off and threw it accidentally into the crowd. I catched it and showed it to Lloyd. "Hey! You two! Freeze!" We heard a mechanical voice say behind us. I turned around to see non other than Red Visors..."Shit!" I yelled. "This way!" Lloyd said and started running along the stands. "Hey! Stop right there!" One of them yelled after us as we ran away. We ran till the end of the stands, but more Visors came from there too. We were surrounded. I decided to throw the helmet into the two that were in our way. They got knocked down. I heard that Lloyd was punching the others behind me. "This way!" Lloyd yelled, grabbed my arm and we started running up the stands. "Stop right this instant!" A Red Visor commanded as it came in our way.