⛭ Chapter 24 ⛭

“I would really like to know what just happened back there,” asked Trax who was now pacing around back in The Flaming Cones Lounge while Chelbie, Hisa, Zadz, and even Mache sat on either one of the two mattresses.

“Okay, so hear me out. I didn’t actually give the gloves to him. I gave him fake ones that I created using the original pair when I was digging through my backpack in the bathroom.”

Hearing this shocked everyone.

“Chelbs, I didn’t think for a second that you were that calculated enough to prepare for something like that. How did you do it?” asked Hisa who genuinely was curious how she managed to think ahead in this situation.

“I mean, the signs were all there. It’s not like he knew about what we discussed here in the lounge. Plus, remember the Gizmech I created earlier? I can control its abilities with my mind. That means, technically speaking, I can make the fake gloves do whatever I want it to.”

“Have to say it, for the first time, I am impressed that you pulled it off,”complimented Zadz.

“That’s a new one comin’ from you, but I’ll gladly accept it goth guy,” said Chelbie with a teasing smirk on her face.

With the team delighted to hear that they would still have an edge against the teams that were left, a part of Chelbie was still bummed out by the fact that she hadn’t found out where the original Drift actually went. When it talked about Styra, she had a sneaking suspicion that it was still onboard the space carrier somewhere.

In order to find an excuse to go and check it by herself, she would need to come up with something that would make sense given the current circumstances.

And that was when an idea popped off in her head as she looked at the mattresses.

“Say, you guys don’t mind if I go and buy some sleeping bags, do you? Us hoggin’ all the beds to ourselves isn’t really doin’ you guys any favors. What do ya say?”

Trax, who could see what Chelbie was saying, caved in to the idea of it.

“Yeah that sounds like a good idea right about now before it gets really dark. If you can send Mache with you, that’d be great since he has the money and muscle to help you get both of them back here safely. Are you guys going to walk there?”

Chelbie looked over at her Madcyke with a mischievous look on her face.

“Eh, I think my ride over there will get us there faster. It has a two seater anyways.”

Nodding in agreement, Chelbie changed into her old clothes in private before heading back outside with Mache as they left to visit a nearby store.

Of all of the places that they decided to visit however, Chelbie suggested that they buy the sleeping bags at the Daylight Stadium’s shopping center. Mache, in silent compliance, agreed with the idea.

During the ride itself however, Chelbie couldn’t help but be intrigued by who Mache looked like from underneath that paper bag head of his. He seemed pretty chill about everything, but his personality was mostly a mystery.

She didn’t like how he got left behind in the earlier stages of the race. In a way, she could see her old self in Mache a lot.

There was not much she could say that would get him to speak, but she also started to wonder if he was actually a mute or didn’t want to speak for the purposes of hiding himself.

It was a very complicated thing to grasp, but she had no other way of telling except for theorizing about it all in her head.

When they reached Daylight Stadium’s shopping center, she let Mache enter inside first while staring up at the entire building. By the time she parked her motorbike, she joined him to pick out the right sizes for each sleeping bag. The lively atmosphere of the store’s bright colors and flashing holographic signs in such a bustling place made it feel like the store of the future to Chelbie.

In fact, it felt a lot more advanced than any mall in StarSpace or Animearth that she had been to.

Feeling a bit tempted to visit the mechanic station though while waiting in a long line, Chelbie looked around for another way to pass the time and get Drift back in the process.

Luckily for her, she noticed that public restrooms were available.

“Hey big guy, I kinda got to use the bathroom really badly. Mind waitin’ at the front of the store until I get back?”

Mache nodded yes as expected while she ran off by herself and disappeared into the crowds of people who were shopping around.

Pretending to follow the holographic restroom sign, she then walked with her hands inside of her pocket as she found out that two security guards were standing in front of the station’s entrance. Although these two recognized her from earlier, they were still curious as to why she was approaching it.

“I left my toolbox inside my team’s terminal and I need to bring it back home with me to work on my MadCyke that is outside. Mind if I get it?” she asked.

The two of them accepted her request and opened the door for her, allowing Chelbie to finally enter the space carrier with other people walking around by being stealthy about it as she had been when sneaking into one of StarSpace’s military spaceships to see what Flight and Hisa were doing.

Once she found her way into the carrier’s drone room, which was left open for stocking more of them inside, she searched around until realizing that there was only one word that would help her figure out which one was the Gizmech she remembered.

“Styra…” she whispered out loud.

This caught the attention of Drift who was fixed and laid out on a workshop table as it turned its large eyes to face her.

Using the gloves she had brought with her, Chelbie then decided to create an empty toolbox and hide the little Gizmech inside. Telling it to be quiet, she started to make her way out of the space carrier itself with no issues.

Especially since those that did recognize her only remembered watching what she did on live television.

By the time she returned back to the shopping center’s entrance, Mache lightly rubbed his finger atop of his head out of confusion in seeing that Chelbie was carrying a toolbox back from supposedly using the bathroom.

“I had just remembered that I needed to get my toolbox inside the terminal to work on my MadCyke. It wasn’t a big deal anyways. Security let me do it with no problems.”

Looking down at Chelbie’s hand, Mache himself did remember seeing her lug around a toolbox. As a result, he didn’t have much to say regarding it and instead surprisingly gave her a thumbs up.

Chelbie, appreciating the gesture herself, also gave a thumbs up with the knowledge that tomorrow was going to be a better than before.