Starwalkers

Money means yes

"So are you going to join us?" asked Crystal.

Hero just laughed which earned a glare from the singer. Melody however had other plans in mind. She can very well use these idiots to repair her ship and then get the hell out of this galaxy which only brought bad luck so far. First, her target that she was hunting thought it would be funny to run into an ancient temple and get themselves killed by the traps. And now it's these fuckers with their fairy tale.

"And I suppose I wouldn't get a single credit out of joining." said bitterly Melody.

"No, but imagine the prestige you would get if you became one of the most respected heroes in the universe! You could have a lot of clients." reasoned Hero which surprised both Echo and Crystal since it was a pretty logical argument.

"I was thinking of something else." smirked evilly Melody.

After that sentence, nobody said a thing. Hero looked around before breaking the sudden silence that enveloped the ship.

"Are you...are you perhaps waiting for us to ask what you were thinking?"

"Obviously." rolled her eyes playfully at the bounty hunter.

"Oh no, another creature who is as unreasonable as Hero is!" face palmed Crystal.

"This generation of protectors will be utter chaos." sighed Echo.

"Ah yes of course this is the part where instead of just saying your evil plan you wait for the heroes to ask first." rambled Hero.

"Since my ship is wrecked I need to repair it. I'm running low on credit right now so how about a friendly competition." smirked the bounty hunter.

"I have a feeling that this competition will be anything but friendly, but go on we are on board." said Hero unbothered by the look on Crystal's face which said, "We were supposed to talk about this before blindly agreeing to whatever".

"Good, very good. All you have to do is make more credits than me in 3 cycles. If you win I will join. If you lose, however, you will leave me and my ship alone for the rest of eternity and give me all the credits you made." grinned Melody while flipping a credit up into the air.

"These terms are not fair at all! I object!" rebelled Crystal against the unfair rule.

Melody shrugged.

"Ya can but your white-haired friend already agreed."

Crystal walked towards Hero extending their arms and grabbed the girl's neck, shaking her back and forth.

"You narcissistic clown! Do both of us a favor and shut up!" yelled Crystal.

"Meh. We wouldn't have had any other choice anyways." shrugged Hero.

Melody laughed at the two which turned back the attention to her. Crystal stopped trying to murder Hero to glare at the Lavadore.

"Alright, the timer starts now. 3 cycles from now on come back here with my money," said Melody with a devilish undertone.

"You think you can win against me, the best, most awesome protector in this whole universe?" said Hero while striking various poses.

Melody walked closer to her dangerously, with the widest grin on the bounty hunter's face that she could muster. She grabbed Hero's jacket and yanked her down, their faces were inches apart from each other. Hero gulped and her face and ears were tinted with the color red.

"I don't just think I could beat you. I know I can beat you." purred Melody.

Hero swore her heart skipped a beat and felt like those anime protags in those shows she watched as a kid. She freed herself from the other girl's iron grip and awkwardly cleared her throat.