MEETING UP WITH HIS team, Castiel was bombarded with high-fives and pats on the back for the incredible win.
The other team felt ashamed that one of their members had lost again. It wasn't that Castiel was truly as good as his stats suggested; rather, his opponent had underestimated him. Now placed in a tight situation, their leader took off her helmet.
"I didn't join this team just for games," she declared, waving her hair.
The Asian woman wore a green bandana over her short, curly black hair as she removed her jacket, meeting up with Stephen for what would be the final round.
"DB battles aren't fights," she said softly. "So let's have fun, alright?"
Stephen smiled at her statement as Willis, Castiel, and Maxwell gawked at how beautiful the rider was. They knew she was a woman under the helmet, but they hadn't expected her to be so attractive. Kimberly screamed for Stephen to keep his head in the race.
Nagini noticed that the woman's expression had quickly shifted. It went from charming to sadistic in a heartbeat. The reason she acted sweet earlier was to try and catch Stephen off guard.
"Please go easy on me," she said, blowing him a kiss.
Stephen lowered his head, unable to contain his chuckles. Kimberly began fuming as someone yelled "go."
Without a moment's notice, the woman dashed forward, jumped up, and began grinding the rails. Stephen was still trying to hold in his laughter.
Only when his team yelled at him to move did he decide to dash forward. Though he had lost the lead, his expression remained confident. The woman on the rails twisted her body to ride backward. Nagini pointed out that she had chosen to ride like that to try and entrance Stephen with her looks.
But as she noticed him gradually closing the distance, panic took over her expression. His cold eyes and serious demeanor were ready to attack, and it was terrifying. Maxwell commented, "I haven't seen the boss make that face in a while. Whenever he gets in that state, he sure can be scary…"
Ten yards slowly turned into fifteen feet. "H… Hey, why're you getting all serious?" she asked, noticing Stephen's hands clenched in a fist. Fifteen feet then turned into thirty-six inches. "Woman…! I'm a woman! I worked hard to make my team!" Thirty-six inches then shrank to just three.
Frantic at how close he seemed, she raised her arms in a cowering gesture, as if bracing for a hit. When things got silent, she looked to realize that Stephen was no longer in front of her.
The group marveled, their eyes widening as they watched him leap high into the air. Performing a half flip with a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree spin, his legs spread wide, his wheels skidded across the top of a sixty-foot tree, sending leaves swirling into the sky.
When her gaze returned upward, she witnessed something breathtaking: the leaves parted, creating the illusion that Stephen had wings on his feet!
"I worked hard for my team, too. That's why I'm going to take them to the skies."
The scene was so grand that tears formed in Kimberly's eyes. Upon landing back on the rail, all the leaves, stirred up by the wind pressure created by his jump, danced around them as if they had no intention of touching the ground.
"I… I lose," his opponent said, dropping to one knee.
Despite neither of them making it to the finish line, she knew deep down that she could never win against a rider like Stephen Huntley.
Forfeiting the match, Team Toris was declared the victors of the Sprint battle. Stephen's team congratulated him, first asking how he managed to pull off that incredible stunt. Not just the leaves moving, but the sudden increase in wind pressure as well.
No matter how strong or fast someone was, it was impossible to manipulate the wind like that.
He hardly had any idea what they were discussing. All he knew was that he had executed a trick that felt right to him. The rest was left unexamined. Nagini grinned at him, stating that his Road was being born.
"What sort of Road is it?" Stephen asked him.
"What did you see?" Nagini replied.
In truth, Stephen hadn't seen anything but the same light as before. Everything around him tended to go dark, with only a straight line of light shown in his path. As long as he kept riding on it, he felt he could outride anyone. Explaining something like that to them was challenging; he couldn't justify how he had broken the laws of nature.
The trick itself was merely him using his rotation as an axis to generate enough force to lift him into the air. That's what Dyna Blades tricks were: utilizing one's weight to capture their center of gravity before shifting it to execute a far or high aerial trick. Theoretically, it's possible to defy gravity with the right amount of velocity to push off the ground. But what Stephen accomplished was a phenomenon.
While the group was still discussing the outcome, members of Team Sabretooth began stripping down. Kimberly noticed one of them was about to remove his pants and immediately stopped him.
"What do you think you're doing?!" she screamed.
"They're keeping their promise!" Maxwell cheered.
Before the female leader could even think about undressing, Kimberly quickly intervened. Maxwell and she got into an argument about whether they ought to honour their agreement as Road Riders.
"You can take their Dyna Blades, but you can't make them go naked!" she yelled loudly.
Stephen promised they wouldn't take their Dyna Blades. They wouldn't have to leave their gear behind either. But as Road Riders in Wheels War, they had no choice but to relinquish their emblem. Happy that he was more of a man than she thought, the leader introduced herself as Zipporah Lindgren.
"We're finished here," she said. "But you guys better get there, okay?"
Asking where exactly "there" was, she told them to go to the summit of Skytree Tower. This was her team's goal, and she blushed as she encouraged Stephen's team not to lose until they reached the top. Although the goal might have seemed far-fetched for F-rank teams like hers, it didn't mean she wasn't willing to try. Every team had a goal, and Stephen figured out what their new objective should be.
'Eight lords with eight Runes who ride on eight Roads,' he thought. 'When a lord rides a Rune, they're acknowledged as a true lord in the DB world, huh?'
Decades ago, it was said that when all eight Roads, eight lords, and eight Runes came together at the summit of Skytree Tower, a legendary rider would descend to be crowned the sky king.
Granted, the eight lords and their eight Runes scattered, resulting in the shaping of Wheels War. This is what Zipporah explained, stating that although it was just a legend, she clearly saw a glimpse of Skytree Tower behind Stephen's back.
Handing her team's emblem to Stephen, she blushed charmingly and asked if he could bring her team's emblem to the top. She then twirled her fingers, emphasizing that she would be cheering for him.
"You really think I'll make it to the top, huh?" he asked.
"Well, yeah!" she replied. "I mean, everyone's saying you're supposed to take the sky king's throne."
Normally, it was Kimberly who would get upset at this scene, but this time it was Maxwell and Castiel. The two were frustrated at the idea that all the women seemed to flock to Stephen whenever he acted cool.
Stephen himself considered the kind of outrageous rumors Road Riders were spreading about him. Having only heard that the sky king was associated with Skytree Tower, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of place it was.
"Before we go," Zipporah asked, "how are you so good if your DB stats are so low?"
Revealing that he had to reset the motherboard sent shivers down their spines. Stephen looked at them reassuringly, affirming that he enjoyed the race, even if they underestimated his team. His upright attitude made Zipporah regret trying to charm him during their race.
"So, have you already decided?" Nagini asked Stephen.
"Yeah," he answered.
Strolling back while twirling both their emblem and the Sabretooth emblem, he agreed that Team Toris' goal would be to reach the top of Skytree Tower.
Castiel declared that if they wanted to make it big, they had to aim high. Willis's tone became aggressive as he concurred, stating that this was a goal he had been chasing since he first heard about it. Maxwell, who had pledged his loyalty to Stephen, reminded everyone that he would follow him wherever he went.
As they rode away into the night, Nagini realized that whether it was Skytree Tower or Mount Everest, Stephen possessed the potential to fly to the top.
And if there was truly someone waiting up there for him, it would be the best race anyone would likely see.
The group eventually dispersed for their respective homes. Reaching the corner of a neighborhood, Nagini informed them that he needed to check on his brother in Wyoming. The trip alone would surely take a few days.
Therefore, Stephen offered to call Willis to give him a ride, but he declined, explaining that he didn't want to involve his new team in his family matters.
"It's been a while since I heard from him," Nagini mentioned.
"Will you be fine on your own?" Stephen asked.
Since Nagini had been raised like a caged animal, he preferred to be out in the wild, especially at night with his Dyna Blades. Things like sleeping under the moonlight were things he enjoyed.
He therefore departed with a backpack and a charging kit, assuring them that he would return in a few days.
Being left alone with Stephen, Kimberly and he walked home in silence. It was clear to him that she was trying to find the right words to discuss "Rey Mysterio."
Whether she knew that he had figured out it was her didn't matter much to him. She hid her identity for a reason, and that was enough for him to understand it was connected to her role in Lion's Den.
"Umm, Steph about R—"
"Did you see how fast that Rey Mysterio girl was?" he interrupted. "I hope that one day, I might be able to race her."
Hearing that put a smile on Kimberly's face. She nodded in agreement, momentarily forgetting about the flashy outfit she had worn.
By the time the two made it home, they found Victoria on the floor, covered in sweat. The whole foyer appeared as if someone had broken into their home. Victoria was struggling to warn them.
Running to her side, someone suddenly tackled Stephen!
Hitting the ground, he used the momentum to bounce the assailant away. Kimberly was shocked to see the attacker somersault in the air before pushing off the wall to place Stephen in an arm lock.
"A… Ally!" Kimberly screamed. "Why are you…? I thought the schedule said—"
"There are still a few months left before the season ends, yeah," Allison interrupted.
Allison Tennyson was the oldest sister in the Tennyson household. Last seen two months ago, she had been on tour as a professional mixed martial artist.
Stephen recognized her the moment she turned the corner to tackle him. What bothered him was that since she was a female, he could only defend himself.
"Since I was given a break between events, I decided to come home," she finished.
Allison quickly released Stephen and rushed after Kimberly. Before the girl knew it, she was thrown with full force into the living room.
Unlike Stephen, she was allowed to fight back. But the moment she stood up, her arm was pulled behind her as her head was caught between Allison's legs!
Mila, who was hiding in Allison's room, felt too anxious to come out. Why? Because the house was in a lot more trouble than they had bargained for.
Not a single one of them had expected Allison to come home this early.
Stephen got up from the floor. Looking at the two in the living room, he realized there was no way Kimberly had the strength to overpower Allison.
In a heartwarming tone, she said, "Kim, you remember what we agreed upon before I left, don't you?" Her expression turned serious. "We agreed to never let Steph wear Dyna Blades!"