A FEW MINUTES PASSED as the two soared across the city skylines. Skyler threw compliment after compliment at each trick Stephen did. He didn't really reciprocate because it felt weird; Skyler, who barely knew anything about him, was acting too friendly.
If there was someone Stephen Huntley was, it was someone who questioned everything. In a strict tone, he asked, "You sure know how to flatter someone. What are you trying to hide?"
The two came to a sudden halt. Skyler crossed her arms, looking the other way as if afraid.
"I'm not trying to hide anything from you, Steph."
Reaching into her bra, she grabbed something and tossed it in his direction. He snatched it in the air and looked at it to notice that it was a silver emblem with the words "Team Rottweiler." Now things started to make a little more sense. But there were still too many pieces to put together.
"It's another team's emblem," she clarified.
By the time he was going to ask if that was why those goons were chasing her yesterday, he heard something above him. The two quickly leapt backward as someone came crashing down hard on the pavement!
"What the?" Stephen asked.
The dust cleared to reveal someone wearing a black coat and a rottweiler's mask. On his feet were Dyna Blades. Not long after, a gang of men wearing Pitbull masks came rushing onto the scene. Stephen looked around to ensure Skyler's safety, but he didn't see her.
"I was only using thirty percent of my strength on that landing," the guy wearing the rottweiler mask said.
'Thirty percent?' Stephen repeated. 'This guy must be their leader.'
The man then shouted, "That emblem in your hands is the core of our team, and it was robbed from us! You had better quietly return it. 'Cause if you resist, I'll be forced to use all one hundred percent of my strength!"
Stephen considered things. For one instance, he was surrounded by another team. On another occasion, their leader claimed that their emblem had been robbed. Lastly, their leader was boasting of how strong he was.
After the man had landed, a crater was left behind in the concrete. And he implied that he was holding back just now.
"Alpha!" one of his members said, pointing up. "I found the girl who took our emblem."
Stephen looked in that direction, only to see Skyler standing atop a several-story building. The way she coldly glared down at him didn't give him a good impression. Had she been using him the whole time? The answer didn't matter now because this Team Rottweiler was more focused on their emblem, which was still in his hands.
"You want your emblem that badly, huh?" he asked. "Why don't we have a little race for it then?"
Skyler, who hadn't left the area yet, was stunned to hear him challenge the leader of the Rottweilers. If anything, her expression made him believe she was thinking that he would have simply given the emblem away without a fight.
"You think I'm all bark and no bite?" their leader asked. "What're you putting up then, hot shot?"
"Don't make me laugh. From the way I see it, your team's without an emblem. If you want it back so badly, just face me. You win, you get your emblem back; you lose, and that's that."
The many men surrounding them began growling at Stephen's remark. At any moment, they could all pounce on him. Before they got the chance, their leader put a hand up and pointed to the side, saying, "You see that water tower over there, hot shot? If you can beat me to the top, then we'll let you keep the emblem."
"No cheating, right?" Stephen asked.
"Take it or leave it… I'll even give you a five-second head start."
For a moment, Stephen thought that certain teams used strength in numbers to take down their opponents. Since this was going to be a fair one-on-one, he accepted, denying the need for a head start.
"You'll regret not taking those five seconds back, hot shot."
The two stood shoulder to shoulder, revving their Dyna Blades. The leader's gang members surrounded them in a semi-circle. Skyler had already left the scene. Who could blame her?
The countdown began. At the sound of "go," the two then dashed forward! Stephen quickly took the lead. Both his riding stance and his form had improved since his first race.
"Ho!" the leader said. "And I thought you were a rookie. No matter. It'll all be over soon."
Stephen ignored his comments. To dazzle him, he raced down the narrow street, jumping onto a rail and twisting his body several times while grinding it. His performance allowed him to take a large lead.
"Gosh dang it, hot shot! You're gonna make me use seventy percent now!"
Their leader quickly began shortening the gap. It was pretty impressive since he was still riding on the ground. That meant he had incredible lower body strength. Stephen looked up to see if there was a power line he could use as an advantage to keep the lead, but there weren't any.
Unperturbed, he flipped off the rail and dashed forward. Whether it was grinding or riding, his skills improved with each opponent he faced. Instead of going in a straight line, he made a turn into an alleyway. For there wasn't any rule against using shortcuts!
There were a lot of obstacles laid out on the ground, but it wasn't a problem to maneuver around them. Behind him, however, he heard the leader's Dyna Blades still close by. Snickering that he was following his route, Stephen accelerated. Jumping over a garbage can, he skidded off the wall and backflipped over all the obstacles below.
Despite that impressive move to stay ahead, it hadn't shaken off their leader one bit. He simply copied Stephen's trick and jumped even higher than he had. Pushing forward, Stephen was about to turn right when, suddenly, he noticed a beagle leap right in front of him. Instinctively, he bent backward, narrowly dodging the puppy.
After he had crossed the street safely, he noticed the dog was now chasing him. The sound of a semi-truck's horn was heard, causing the animal to stop in the middle of the street. It was staring directly at the incoming lights. When he stopped to go save it, the leader of the Rottweilers boosted forward and stopped right in front of the beagle.
"What are you doing?!" Stephen shouted.
The leader looked at the semi-truck. He hadn't moved as it honked its horn, getting closer and closer. Placing himself in a sumo stance, his Dyna Blades revved hard as he clashed on the grill of the truck. This caused the back of the vehicle to lift up slightly before coming down to a complete stop!
'What the heck just happened?!' Stephen asked himself. 'Just who the heck is this guy?'
"Oy! Alpha, are you hurt?" a Rottweiler member called out from behind.
They'd been following the two to ensure a fair challenge. Their leader removed himself from the grill and straightened his body. He then picked up the beagle and petted it. What was more insane was that there was hardly a scratch on him!
"Had to use a hundred percent there to save the little dog," he calmly claimed.
Stephen started to sweat after seeing that monstrous display of strength. That semi-truck had to have been going at least thirty miles an hour. Even the strongest bodybuilders couldn't hope to stop it by standing still. Before he could question who their leader really was, he remembered he was still in a race.
Turning around, he dashed toward the water tower. Their leader handed the beagle to his comrade before giving chase. Only a few feet away from Stephen, he said, "You looked a little surprised back there, hot shot!"
There was not a chance Stephen was going to let whatever he saw back there ruin his lead. Traveling even faster, he pushed his body to its limits. So much so that his Dyna Blades began giving off sparks. The wind pressure parting his hair back was intense as he kept his eyes open.
Lights flashed across his vision. For a split second, he thought he was seeing things because of how fast he was moving. Then suddenly, the light became clear, and it looked like it was forming into something in front of his path. That's when he blinked, causing his vision to clear as he saw that he was nearing the edge of the water tower.
Their leader was still only a few feet behind him. But it was too late.
Stephen boosted high into the air, grinding upward on the staging, and touched the container. Their leader hadn't even bothered trying to grind up. The moment he noticed Stephen had reached the tower first, it was all over.
"What's that?" he asked himself, looking at Stephen backflip off the container.
High in the sky, a large collection of birds was flapping their wings around Stephen. The moon's light shined off his Dyna Blades, giving him an angelic appearance. It was as if he were soaring high in the sky with the birds!
Not a moment later, Stephen flipped his body and skated off the wall to land safely on the ground. The Rottweiler leader approached him, removing his mask. Stephen was taken aback. He hadn't imagined him to be handsome, sporting a mullet.
The impeccable smile he gave off was also peculiar. Behind Stephen, Skyler and the rest of the Rottweilers came rolling by.
"Skyler…" their leader said. "You found a great man!"
"Hmm?" Stephen questioned.
"From now on, I'll never chase after Skyler again. Take care of our emblem. It's your victory, hot shot!"
Stephen took out the emblem and stared at it in his palms for a second. The many Rottweilers cried at the defeat of their leader.
"We're sorry, Alpha!" one of them stated. "If only we worked harder!"
"That's not true," he replied. "I lost fair and square. I should be the one to apologize."
What every Road Rider knew was that if a team lost their emblem in a challenge, they were forced to disband. Turning around to leave, his departure was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Victoria and Kimberly. Stephen had completely forgotten how late it was, so he believed they came looking for him after spotting any birds in the sky again.
"We saw the race," Victoria confessed.
Stephen remained silent. Before he could say anything, he noticed the two looked more upset at Skyler than they did at him.
'Did something happen with them while I was racing?' he thought to himself.
Skyler merely returned their gesture with a smile. Placing his attention back on the other team, he said, "Hold on a second… You can have your emblem back."
The Rottweilers each turned around. Their leader had a frustrated expression, questioning, "What did you say? Don't try to insult us!"
"That's not what I meant. Our race was interrupted. Besides, you saved an animal's life today. If you hadn't used up that time, you would have won."
Kimberly and Victoria were perhaps the only two people here who knew how upright Stephen truly was. The opposing team watched as he grinned and said, "Consider it your redemption. And when you're back at a hundred percent again, let's have another race. I'll go after your emblem then."
The leader shook his head, saying, "I understand your feelings, hot shot. However, there's no way I can take back the emblem. That's just how things work in the world of Dyna Blades."
Expecting Stephen to try and persuade him more, he instead turned around and said, "That's too bad, I guess…" Suddenly, their leader started sweating, bringing his hand near his face to fake a cough.
"Ahem… Well, uh… If you really want me to take it back, it's not like I won't think about it."
Just as Stephen turned back, a pink blur raced past him and grabbed the emblem. It was Skyler, and she held it between her index and middle fingers, smiling warmly while saying, "If neither of you want it, then I'll take it from you, Stephy!"
She then kissed him on the cheek, causing Kimberly to get angry. The Rottweilers had an awkward look on their faces after their emblem was taken. Before removing herself, she whispered in his ear, saying, "You saw your road, didn't you?"
"Huh?"
Skyler jumped high into the sky, screaming, "Maybe we'll be able to soar together soon! I'll be waiting."
Blowing a kiss goodbye, she grinded away on the power lines. The leader of the Rottweilers' veins bulged out of his head as he screamed, "Our… Our emblem was taken again?! After that crazy woman!"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
Victoria was seen holding Kimberly back from joining them to chase after Skyler. She was extremely jealous after seeing that harmless kiss. Stephen let the Rottweilers go as they raced after her. Approaching the two sisters, he apologized for having been late.
Kimberly pouted, asking if Skyler and he were a thing already. He denied it, stating that he just found out her name today. This caused Kimberly to cross her arms, saying that she didn't care who he talked to. In truth, he could tell that she did.
Mentally preparing for one of Victoria's dropkicks, she instead praised him for an outstanding race. He informed the two of what Skyler had whispered in his ear. Looking at each other for a few seconds, they nodded in unison. They were finally ready to reveal the truth to him about Dyna Blades.