CLINT WAS MORE THAN happy to help them for two reasons. The first was for saving his life, and the second was because he understood how costly it was to create a Dyna Blade team. This made him reflect on when he first created his own team, which unfortunately disbanded after a loss.
But what exactly was a Dyna Blade team?
Dyna Blade teams are formed with five or more individual Road Riders with Dyna Blades. Anyone can create a team with fewer members, but they'd be at a significant disadvantage in a Wheels War battle.
A team must have a territory to call their own. This territory serves not only as a base for practice but also as a battleground against other teams. To mark their territory, a team usually places a sticker where other teams would notice. The location Stephen chose for their territory was none other than their high school.
Willis, who wasn't part of any team at the time, didn't have a sticker to mark the school. However, considering they all knew the school's layout by now, they'd have a great advantage in every race if other teams challenged them there.
Something that teams often wore was a helmet or a jacket that may or may not have their emblem on it. The emblem represents the team itself. If the emblem is lost in battle, that team must disband. Another team can always be formed, but the number of resources needed to create a new one is substantial. A disbanded team not only loses its rights but also risks losing its territory and Dyna Blades!
Lastly, there's the team's memory stick. Each Dyna Blade features a motherboard with a built-in, tiny flash drive pre-installed in it. This flash drive can hold the data of each participant and then share it with online servers over the Internet. Helmets, goggles, flags, racing gear—the list goes on.
"I didn't think a DB team would be so expensive," Stephen commented. "I'm gonna have to figure out another way to make money and buy all our gear."
The group was seen in the car, heading back to Salt Lake City. Willis emphasized why Wheels War was so important: it allowed people to profit. While he was willing to help everyone with their gear, he had already invested most of his money after selling all his parts.
Kimberly provided another reason why Road Riders never bothered to recreate their team when they lost. After all their efforts and hardships to establish a team, no one wanted to see it crumble. If a team fell apart after a race, the sense of failure left a deep displeasure in their past achievements. That's what it meant to be part of a Road Rider team.
It was already getting late, but there was still another destination for Stephen and his group to reach. Stopping on the west side of the city, Willis parked the car in front of an elementary school. Waiting for them at the front was none other than Mila. She had stayed after class with her friends to use the school's art supplies.
Why? Because Stephen asked her if she'd like to design their team's emblem. Excited, she accepted the request. Granted, Stephen would have to treat both her and her friends to whatever they liked. Despite not having any money, he agreed to those conditions, leading to his debt increasing even further.
Entering the school, they followed Mila to the art room. The teacher present had torn clothes and a paintbrush sticking out of his head. Stephen watched as ten-year-old kids ran around with various art supplies. He couldn't tell whether they had been working on his design or just playing around.
"What are they doing?" he asked.
"Oh!" Mila replied. "Brother Steph was late, so we started having fun!"
It didn't take long for them to introduce themselves. Mila climbed up the cabinet to retrieve their emblem while many of the kids started climbing up Willis's body. They had clearly never seen someone so huge and tall before. When Chappy managed to fly in through a window, the whole room descended into chaos.
Stephen watched as children chased after the bird. One girl, enamored by Kimberly's pigtails, began pulling on them. Since Nagini looked about their age, they bombarded him with questions about what class he was in. Meanwhile, Castiel and Maxwell tried their best to prevent the teacher from crying due to how rambunctious things had become.
After Mila returned, she presented the group with a large package. All the creative children had agreed to draw, sketch, and draft the same thing. Using the school's crafting machines, they managed to finish the logos relatively quickly. Thanking them, Stephen took the package and met everyone outside.
"We want ice cream next time you come!" Mila yelled as they departed. "This was child labor, ya know!"
Willis drove his car home while the rest rode off on their Dyna Blades. Seen together cruising down a street were Stephen, Kimberly, and Nagini.
"Hey, Steph," Nagini said. "What's our team gonna do exactly?"
Stephen hadn't really thought about it. There were multiple activities teams could engage in: some raced for fun, some met up in skate parks to show off their tricks, while others turned riding into a sport, replacing traditional activities like hockey and ice-skating. Unable to answer him, Stephen stared off into space, contemplating, 'I never even thought about that. What do I want to accomplish with DBs anyway? What's our purpose?'
Almost as if she could read his mind, Kimberly smiled and said, "Well, if you don't have a purpose, then the reason you're starting a team could be to find that purpose!"
Stephen stopped to listen to what more she had to say. "Once you start riding as a team, you'll know what the answer is."
By nightfall, he had spent several hours stitching the team's logos onto the jackets. He kept thinking about what Kimberly had said. By the time he finished sewing the last logo on, he smirked, finally understanding what his purpose was. He was Stephen Huntley, the same person who wouldn't just turn the city, but the whole world upside down!
Some time later.
Sitting on the edge of the school's rooftop, arm over his knee, was Stephen. He watched as students below cried one after another. It was the last day of the semester. Starting today, he was officially a senior in high school.
Most students didn't have the slightest idea what they wanted to do after graduating. But Stephen was not like most students.
Over his body was a glossy, metallic coat. Its exterior was onyx black with a slight puff, while the inner and outer linings were streaked with gold. Equipped with a detachable hood, the total cost of the coat had been one hundred eleven dollars.
On its back is where the coat truly shone. Stitched carefully was the team's logo: a giant blue Steller's jay turned to its side with its wings spread wide, carrying the bolded words "Toris" by its talons.
"Hey, boss," Castiel said from behind him. "Nagini said he found another team's sticker over ours!"
With his back turned to the others and Chappy flying by to land on his shoulders, Stephen slightly turned his head with a smirk and said in a mellow tone, "It's about time…"
Two weeks had passed since the formation of Team Toris. During that time, Stephen and his group had been practicing together after school. Nagini, who exceeded the level of an A-ranked rider, helped train the team on their flaws and weaknesses. Little did anyone know, they all had at least one special skill when riding.
The time frame wasn't long, so Stephen hadn't improved much. He also needed to take it easy due to his aggressive riding style. What troubled him was that no matter how hard he practiced, he couldn't get a glimpse of his Road again. Asking Nagini about it didn't help either.
The boy explained that each rider's Road was unique to them. Some riders might ride on the same Road, but that didn't mean their riding style would be similar. For instance, Nagini's Road was the Venom Road. It was exclusive to riders who could sink their poisonous fangs into their adversaries, meaning that his complex ground tricks often left his enemies severely wounded as if attacked by a deadly predator.
Unless Stephen had the qualities of a white mamba, he couldn't be taught or shown how to ride on his Road. It was something he had to experience himself.
The school itself originally belonged to Willis, but nobody in the Dyna Blade world knew that he had relinquished his territory to the new team. By removing his forum post weeks ago, he indicated that the area could be claimed by other riders.
The group walked over to the school's back entrance to find a sticker of a tiger's face with the words "Sabretooth" underneath. Everyone in the Dyna Blade world understood that if a team placed a sticker over another team's sticker, they were declaring war.
"They'll probably come by the school tonight," Maxwell said.
He was right. Gathering on the school's rooftop again, they strapped on their Dyna Blades to prepare for battle!
Kimberly, who was nowhere near the school at that moment, was headed over on her bicycle. On her back was a lunch bag. She had personally made a culinary dish for Stephen after finding out he was going to be out late for their first battle as a team.
Though she wasn't a part of Team Toris, that didn't mean she couldn't support someone she cherished deeply. As such, she went overboard by making dinner for everyone.
By the time she arrived, she noticed the group face-to-face with another team wearing full helmets and green tracksuits. "Is she your girlfriend?" one of them asked.
Hearing that word caused Kimberly to turn red. The question had come from a female voice. Stephen asked her whether she had come to ask him out or to race. Finding his attitude amusing, a rider from Sabretooth pulled out her smartphone and held it toward Stephen's Dyna Blades.
"DB time: one hundred sixty-five hours," she said. "About two months since he started, I guess."
Handing over what looked like a record of Stephen's statistical data, which was from his Dyna Blades, the female rider laughed at his results.
"You only recently registered for Wheels War two weeks ago?!" she mocked. "Boys, we've got a free ticket to E-Class!"
Stephen looked over to Nagini and Willis to inquire what had just happened. Both explained that he was being "scanned." Using a phone application that could wirelessly read various stats off Dyna Blades from their internal flash drive, a rider's number of jumps, races participated in, and even their recorded tricks could all be seen. As long as someone had the app on their smartphone, they could instantly assess a rider's skill level with just the press of a button.
'I suppose other people hadn't scanned me before because I rode like a rookie,' Stephen thought. 'Plus, I wasn't part of any team.'
The female Sabretooth member pointed out that Stephen's team had decent gear. After scanning Maxwell and Castiel, they judged that the entire team was just as unskilled and decided not to scan Willis or Nagini. Sensing an easy victory, they not only desired Stephen's territory but also stated that the loser would have to drop all their gear and walk home naked.
"Ugh… Why is that girl's face red?" one of the members questioned, pointing at Kimberly.
A few seconds later, both teams decided to prepare. Kimberly approached Stephen's side, ready to surprise him with the food she made. Little did she know, Willis was already in the midst of eating everything. Before she could attack him, Stephen asked her if she had the scanning application on her phone.
Since she didn't, she decided to download it and scan his Dyna Blades. Surprised at what she was reading, she wondered why it looked like he had just started riding.
Average speed: Forty miles per hour (sixty-four kilometers).
Minimum turning radius: Three meters.
Reaction time: Five-point-five seconds.
Total number of beginner tricks: Six.
Total number of intermediate tricks: Three.
Total number of advanced tricks: One.
Rank: F.