I'll prove I am good enough

Yuki, The mechanic

Makoto...

"Shin the Shadow, haven't you already proved how good you are? What's the point of fighting a kid?" said a voice breaking the silence.

A figure emerged near the door and the light behind her seemed to be emitting care, honesty and a strong personality. A person emitting the most important human emotion, hope.

Her words were so bold that everyone turned towards her, even the man she referred to as Shin the Shadow. I heard one of the people say "Miss Yuki, you are here." So, Yuki, is that her name?

"It's the kid's choice, pinky. Don't interfere" said Shin the Shadow.

I'll explain why he called her pinky, well that's simply because her hair was pink. Unbothered about Shin's words, she walked up to Sho and said in a stern voice, "This man is an excellent rider, if you face him, you'll end up losing your emblem."

"I'll take your word for this then lady" said Sho, which is probably the best thing he can say in a million years.

I don't really remember in detail what happened next as I was engrossed by shopping. Miss Yuki helped us buy our supplies, she also explained that bike parts and emblems can be used as money in the X-Zone. According to her, more the value of the part in an MTB the more it's worth, like for a gear cable you get a lot but simply for tyres it's not that much. We cleared all our doubts, thanks to her, she said she was from our world but instead of a rider she was mechanic. Kakeru seemed really impressed by her skills. She spoke to us the entire way to the trailer also helped us carry our stuff.

However, when we reached the trailer her expression changed and the packet of our supplies fell from our hands, the cloak she was wearing was floating in the air. The only words she could say were "Could this be..."

"Is something wrong, Miss Yuki?" I asked.

"Who's bike is this?" she asked, while staring blankly at Flame Kaiser.

Sho who was slow and was lagging behind had caught up and he replied "That' mine. I know it's fiery edge leaves you speechless."

"Well, what do you know, you've got yourself an Idaten bike, Sho" she said, smiling as if Flame Kaiser was her old friend whom she had not met for a while.

"A what?" we all asked unanimously.

She opened a book, which was in her small rucksack and showed us a picture. It was Flame Kaiser, only it said Idaten Bike, and a lot of other details about its durability, speed, etc. were given. Miss Yuki then explained that " Idaten Bikes...are bikes which are meant to save this world. In Sho's case a unique platinum emblem is installed while the other Idaten bikes have a gold emblem. A platinum emblem is equal to three gold emblems."

We were left dumbstruck when Sho broke the silence by saying "No way...How can my bike save the world ...that's ridiculous."

"It's not like I believe in superstitions...but it's a well known fact that Idaten bikes have miraculous powers and riders with exceptional skills" said Miss Yuki.

Her eyes were still fixed on Flame Kaiser and she continued on to say "You guys stay here, accept no challenge, listen to no one, just stay put" and she ran out. The last words she said were "I'll keep in touch" with that she left waving her hand.

"She's right you know"

We didn't know this voice, so we turned to find an unexpected guest. "Creepy" was what Kakeru said as we found the man from the bar in front of us. His gruff voice really was creepy and none of us had heard him come in.

"Sorry...we haven't formally met" he said as he walked towards us, there was a certain sparkle in his eyes and he seemed really confident.

"I am Shin the Shadow...the best rider in this town" he said with a malicious grin.

Of course, we were all surprised by his appearance but Sho seemed to have overcome his astonishment so he said "Hi Shin" as he extended his right arm. Shin shook it and replied "We didn't really meet under comfortable circumstances."

"Yeah..." I replied, though I don't remember being polite.

"An angry little girl...not bad" he said.

"Any way...I am here in business and to help you kids" Shin continued.

"I have bad feeling about this" commented Hosuke near my ears and Kakeru whispered "I agree with bird brain."

"We better be on guard" was my reply.

"You see, the platinum emblem has also the power to send you back to your world" Shin said. We were all silent, Shin smiled and went on "I know, it's odd. But with this bike you don't have to go through the trouble of getting 10 gold emblems. You see, I have a lot of experience in this field, so I know such sensitive information."

"Hey, that's great news! Could you please tell us how to use it" was Sho's answer, he doesn't think a bit.

"Of course!" at this reply even me and Kakeru were surprised, if this guy is such a good person why did Miss Yuki keep him away from us.

"But, first I need to test you" said Shin.

"Huh! Test? Is it on Maths?" Sho asked. Honestly, was that the best he could come up with.

"What? No..." Shin seemed equally surprised by Sho's stupidity."It's an Idaten race." As he said this he gave the same glare as before.

"Hey, hold on, how did you know we were talking about the Idaten Bikes?" asked Kakeru. Which was a good question, how did he know?

"Forgive me. But I couldn't help but overhear Pinky. Pinky may not like me and neither do I, but she is the only one who speaks sense, so I followed you, kids. However, what about my test?" replied Shin.

Kakeru and Hosuke immediately went to Sho and said, "Sho something is definitely wrong. Don't accept this"

"Yes, yes, Miss Yuki said to not accept challenges" was Hosuke's recommendation.

"Well? You could agree or collect a hundred silver emblems" taunted Shin. I didn't really know what to say, it's true we needed to get back home. Only if he would help me here.

"Ok" replied Sho with a sense of pride. Obviously I punched him and shut him up and to Shin I said "Team meeting. Kindly wait."

Well Shin was surprised at my punch and before he could say a thing I dragged Sho to a distance where Shin couldn't hear.

"What's the idea? Don't you remember what Miss Yuki said?" I scolded and Kakeru nodded. With Hosuke saying "that's right."

"Oh, come on guys, it's just a race. Have you guys changed your mind about going back" said Sho with a widest grin I have ever seen.

"Of course not, but.." I replied, but he cut me off "So that's settled" he said and turned towards Shin and said "I am in."

S29yO