InaDan: Flower of Courage

Prologue: Gouenji Kimiko

When the blonde girl and green haired boy arrived, they found a strange pile of junk in the middle of the field, everyone else surrounding it.

"What's going on?" Fei asked.

Saru turned back and waved at them. "Oh, hey. Yeah, a lot happened in the span of five minutes."

"It was their fault!" Three of the five groups exclaimed simultaneously.

Zanark, who was on his bike, was laughing at a hologram. "And I had everything recorded!"

The screen showed Saru minding his own business before Meia and Giris came whizzing by on what appeared to be a small parade float. They drove around in a heart shaped track and continued to be all lovey-dovey as they rode. Suddenly, two identical looking vehicles came from the other side of the field. The passengers in both seemed too preoccupied with each other, and thus, they didn't see the float ahead of them. Luckily, the crash didn't cause any injuries.

Kimiko and Fei blinked before turning back to each other. She inhaled before speaking very slowly. "You know... The number one rule of driving is to always pay attention to the road ahead. And rule number two is to not take up the driving space for fun. So really, all six of you are at fault here."

"What were you guys even arguing about?" The green haired boy asked the four.

"They copied our vehicle!" They pointed at each other before glaring. "Your vehicle? It's ours! No, it's ours!" Kimiko decided to ignore the rest of that debate and head towards her partner.

"Well, it looks like its just us against the monkey-rabbit!" Zanark smirked.

"Don't be mean. It's just a race. Not like there's any special prize if we won."

"No special prize besides winning."

She sighed. "Well, you can think whatever I guess. You are the one driving."

"Oh, don't worry, you'll get your turn too."

"Don't even think about it."

Saru and Fei hopped on their vehicle and strapped in their seat belts. Kimiko sat behind Zanark and faced the rear.

Okay, just like we planned.

Receiving her telepathic message, he gave a chuckle. I will never get used to this.

Well, you better. Anyway, keep your eyes ahead. Your bike doesn't have rear-view mirrors, so I'll let you know what the other two are up to when you pass them.

Then you better hang on tight.

Believe me, I'm hanging.

She knew all about Zanark's speed obsession. Holding on to her seat, a robot hovering above them signaled for both teams to go. Almost immediately, she and Zanark were ahead.

"Hell yeah!"

"Dear mother of all-!!!" She did her best to keep herself in balance.

"Hey! You okay back there?!"

"Fine!"

"What?!"

"I said I'm fine!"

"Sorry! Can't hear you over the wind!"

For the love of soccer, I'm fine!

Oh, cool. Then, it's time to go faster!

Oh no...

Oh, YES!

But he was right. If they didn't go faster then the other group would catch up to them. They can't have that, can they?

To the right!

Got it! He quickly swerved to the right.

Left!

Hah! He intercepted the other side. We make a great team.

Don't push it, Z. This kind of speed isn't exactly my kind of pace.

Then, you should make it your-

... my what? Zanark? She turned around and panicked when he was nowhere in sight. "Oh hells!" She grabbed onto the handles, trying to keep the bike under control. "I swear if this is one of your pranks to get me to learn how to drive-!!!"

She felt a rising panic inside her when she realized she didn't know how to slow it down. Suddenly, a bright light engulfed her and she felt a bump before being sent into the air. When she felt okay enough to move, she growled to herself. "Zanark, that was so not cool!" She turned back only to find the entire city replaced by a wall. "What the...?" She then found herself face to face with a stranger, and her eyes widen.

Hers did too. "Why do you..."

Kimiko blinked. "... look like me...?"