Elvis was in the hanger. His hands on the rail as he looked at Scrapper. He had been there for thirty minutes mulling things over in his head. Elvis and Scrapper had been through a lot together.  His mind begun to think back to all the trials he had faced. Contests, salvaging jobs where he lost friends, terrible storms and more. As Elvis reminisced he distantly noted the approach of Burt.

“Heh ho Sailor. How are things.”

Elvis smirked before replying “I’m just reliving some old memories.”

Burt came to a stop and put his hands on the railing. Burt looked out at Scrapper and his own S.R.R.V., Tin Trout, he wetted his lips before speaking, leaning over the railing as he did so. “You thinking about going through with it aren’t ya?”

“I have no choice Burt. I need the surgery. I’ll put it off until after the games are over.”

Burt smiled sadly before speaking “Sad way to end a career. Are you sure the kid is up to it?”

Elvis beamed with pride. “I’m confident. Mickey knows her almost as well as I do now. Not too late to reconsider retirement Burt.”

Burt waved Elvis off “No Thanks, I’m getting too old for diving. Still didn’t think Your operation would be so soon.”

Burt turned and asked, “Does Mickey know?”

Elvis shook his head “No, I was waiting for the right time to tell him. I wish I were younger.”

Burt chuckled saying “You and Me both old friend.”

The two friends stood there in silence observing their machines. Occasional they would speak to each other about their old stories as they commiserated on their former glory. It was time to pass the torch to the next generation.

In The Shopping District of White Lotus

“Hey Mickey, what do you think of this one?”

Mickey turned around and looked at the clothes that Suri was holding. The Two of them had gone on a shopping date while the White Lotus and the Rio Grande were docked together. Team Natnet had a day before their match with Koi Pond.

“It looks nice.”

Suri huffed in frustration.

“You said that about all the dresses I picked out.”

Mickey shrugged, “I don’t know what you want me to say. They all looked nice to me.”

Suri rolled her eyes as she turned back to look at the clothes on the rack. As she was looking through the clothes someone came up behind her and bumped Suri knocking her down.

“Hey!” Suri cried out in indignation.

The person turned around and said “Oh, sorry” in mock concern. Suri recognized the person from the ceremony. It was Hedeki Heiji from Koi Pond.

Hedeki smirked before speaking, “I didn’t think they let third rate divers in the shopping district.”

Suri’s eyes lit up in rage. “Third rate? How about I give you a first rate beating.”

Mickey stepped in to stop Suri from making good on her threat. “Suri let it go. He’s not worth it.”

Hedeki turned to look at the man who stepped in. “Who are you?”

“I’m Mickey. I’m a mechanic.”

Hedeki balked at that “Best thank your mechanic little girl. Out in the sea he won’t help you next time. Smell you later lovebirds.”

Hedeki left behind a steaming mad Suri and an apologetic Mickey. Suri was incensed to have been treated so disrespectfully. Since Hedeki was no longer around to deal with her ire she took it out on the nearest person.

“Next time stay out of it. I don’t need you butting in to my business.”

“I was only trying to keep you out of trouble.”

“I could have handled it on my own. I don’t need some mechanic acting like a white knight.”

Mickey was indignant at that statement. He was only trying to prevent a confrontation from escalating. Mickey didn’t appreciate the talking down to and decided to speak up in his defense.

“Well maybe if you weren’t such a hot head you wouldn’t need some mechanic speaking up for you”

“Hot head!? How dare you! I am not going to be lectured by a grease monkey who thinks he’s good enough to be a diver!”

Mickey sneered “Y’know what princess. Next time get into a fight for all I care. I was trying to help. Too bad you don’t know how to ask. C’ya!” Having said his piece Mickey stormed off. Suri for her part huffed and went back to looking at clothes. An hour passed before Suri started to regret what she said to Mickey.

Suri knew she shouldn’t have reacted the way she did, but her pride kept her from owning up to her mistake. She wasn’t good at apologizing to people even when she knew she should. Suri decided she would make it up to Mickey after the competition tomorrow.

Back at Natnet H.Q.

Mickey was in the lounge feeling irritated after his fight with Suri. All he did was try and help deescalate a tense situation. She didn’t need to blow up on him like that. He wondered if there was a better way to handle the situation. As Mickey was mulling his thoughts Jessie came into the lounge and sat down.

“Hey man. How’s it going?” Mickey looked up at Jessie before turning away to look at the floor. He really wasn’t in the mood to speak to someone right now. He decided to answer Jessie anyway. “I’ve been better.” Jessie could tell Mickey was moping over Suri. It wasn’t a secret that the two had been dating for the past few weeks. Jessie knew that Mickey didn’t want to talk about what happened so instead he started talking about himself. “I miss skateboarding with my friends. We used to skate from morning to night shredding pipe.” Mickey looked at Jessie again and spoke “Why did you stop?” Jessie shrugged “seemed like the thing to do. Truth is I still like skateboarding, but I’m needed here. Still, I don’t think you should take stuff like that for granted. You’ll never know when its gone.”

Mickey thought about what Jessie was implying and realized he was being foolish. Mickey decided he would make up with Suri…eventually right now he needed space. He would wait to see if Suri apologized first.

 Day of the competition

Suri and Mickey had been ignoring each other since their fight. On some level they both knew they were being ridiculous and should just make up. However, a mixture of pride and embarrassment prevented either of them from going to apologize first. Suri was checking the stabilizers on River Dancer when she saw Hedeki come by.

“Well, lookie here! A grease monkey who thinks she is a diver. Will that piece of junk even make it out of the dock?”

“River Dancer will trounce you Hedeki. Better be ready when this grease monkey wipes the floor with you!”

Hedeki unimpressed simply states “Careful little girl. Your boyfriend won’t save you from the thrashing your scrap pile is going to get.” Waving her off Hedeki returned to his S.R.R.V.

The announcer spoke “Everyone get to your Rigs the battle royale is about to begin!”

Suri situated herself into River Dancer. Checking all her systems Suri focused herself on the match to come. She knew she shouldn’t let herself get distracted. Contrary to what Hedeki said Suri was an experienced diver. If anyone doubted her she was going to prove it.