Standing in the bathroom, Ryuu has one of his hands up against the wall. Kidd walked in shortly after him.

“Cap, you okay?” Kidd asked.

“Yeah, completely fine!” Ryuu said. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’ve been acting off, ever since we got here.” Kidd said.

“Well, it’s the whole thing about Windy asking me to join the Construction Corps.” Ryuu said. “I don’t think I want to.”

“It’s fine if you don’t want to, but Windy is a stubborn man.” Kidd said. “When he sets his mind on something, he usually does anything he needs to in order to get it.”

“So I’m trapped doing this?” Ryuu asked. “I can’t do this all day every day! I need excitement!”

“No, you’re not trapped. You just need to get Windy to not want you on the crew.” Kidd said.

“So I intentionally screw everything up? Is that what you’re saying?” Ryuu asked.

“You can’t really do that either.” Kidd said. “The rest of the crew is screwed if you don’t pass your training.”

“You’re right, then what the hell am I supposed to do?” Ryuu asked.

“We’ll figure something out, maybe just show Windy that you aren’t completely cut out for this kind of work.” Kidd said. “That little trick with the pipes before doesn’t help though. Windy’s been trying to find excuses on saving the Corps budget.”

“I just feel… weak… I want to go back to being a Captain again, but I don’t wanna be stuck doing this every day.” 

“Cap, it’s okay to feel weak… you taught me that.” Kidd said. “There will always be people around you to keep your chin up.”

“I did tell you that… thanks, Kidd.” Ryuu said. “At least I have a close friend here with me.”

“Don’t mention it, Cap.” Kidd said.

“That’s why you’re my second!” Ryuu said. “I’m just glad we’re the only ones in here right now. Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be if someone heard that?”

“Yeah! About that! Two guys outside my stall.” Someone was sitting in one of the bathroom stalls. “As touching as that conversation was, would you mind quieting down a bit? I’m doing something that’s a lot easier if people aren’t talking.”

“Oh… yeah, sorry mate!” Ryuu said.

“What a jackass…” Kidd whispered.

“Takes one to know one!” The guy in the stall called out.

Ryuu and Kidd walked out of the bathroom and walked back over to where the rest of the crew was sitting.

“Aka, Bautista… perfect timing.” Windy said. “I forgot we had a pretty big job on the schedule, so we gotta pay and get going. We’re gonna be needing our Fireball for this.”

“Ryuu… you should probably tell him.” Kidd said.

“I’ll tell him after training, how about that?” Ryuu asked.

“I’ll hold you up to that, so make sure you keep it up.” Kidd said.

The group paid and left the restaurant, they walked further down into the Exceed’s commercial sector. They were being followed by a floating cart with building supplies on it. They stopped in front of an empty storefront, meeting a Vilotan saleswoman.

“Hey, boys! Thanks for coming by today!” The Vilotan said.

“Ain’t no issue, Miss Daisy.” Windy said.

“Daisy? Aren’t you the woman that…” Ryuu was interrupted.

“ALLEGEDLY!” Daisy said. “Allegedly…”

“Um… okay?” Ryuu said.

“Ryuu, please stop that.” Kidd said.

“Okay, I will.” Ryuu said. “Anywho, what are we doing here today?”

“We’re finishing up a job.” Estrella said. “Miss Daisy is a florist and wants to open up her shop. We have to set things up because… you know.”

“Are you calling me small and weak?” Daisy asked.

“Not at all, ma’am.” Estrella said.

“Good!” Daisy’s ears perked up and she turned to face the store. “You should probably get to work, I can hear my son calling for me.”

As Daisy runs into the store, Gadget and Estrella begin to unload the building supplies.

“Okay, we have a few things we need to do.” Windy said as he took out a tablet. “Estrella, Kidd… can you two start putting together the counter, pots, and supply shelves?”

“I can do that.” Kidd said.

“Yes sir.” Estrella said as the two walked off.

“Gadget, I need you to do the sign again.” Windy said.

“I always do the signs!” Gadget shouted.

“You’re the only one that can reach that high!” Windy shouted back. “You’re massive!”

“Fine! I’ll do it!” Gadget says as he walks off.

“Good! Good…” Windy said as he looked toward Ryuu. “And you, you’re gonna help me with the welding, Fireball.”

“Okay, what are we doing then?” Ryuu asked.

“We’re gonna be finishing up the main shelving. With welding, the shelves are sure to hold for much longer.” Windy said. “They can probably hold a lot more too. Start bringing over the shelving supplies.”

“Heard!” Ryuu said as he started picking up most of the supplies.

“Look at you, Fireball.” Windy said. “You’re pretty damn strong!”

“Yeah, I guess I am!” Ryuu said. “My gramps has been training me in Red Dragon Style since I was a kid, about eight years old.”

“Pretty young to be doing something like that.” Windy said. “Kidd said you talk about him a lot, who is this mysterious fella?”

“Oh, shouldn’t we be focusing on the building?” Ryuu asked.

“Eh, yeah you’re right.” Windy said. “Suppose it doesn’t matter.”

Ryuu nodded as he set down the supplies, he started untying the bands holding them together.

“Say, are you sure you don’t want to join Construction?” Windy asked. “You’d get great benefits.” 

“I’m sure…” Ryuu said as he tried to untie the bands, one snapped and hit Windy in the face. Ryuu ran over. “Oh my god! Are you okay!?”

“Yeah, I’m fine!” Windy said. “That hurts like hell though! I keep telling them to stop binding these with rubber, they snap back pretty easily.”

“Do you need a bandaid or anything?” Ryuu asked.

“Nah, I’ll be fine.” Windy said. “It’s a nice battle scar though, don’t you think?”

“I wouldn’t know, I don’t have any.” Ryuu said.

“Fair, let’s just get started.” Windy said as he pointed at a set of metal bars. “You see these smaller beams, start welding them together, only two at a time though.”

“Heard!” Ryuu said as he picked up a pair of beams, melting them together. “Like this?”

“Picture perfect!” Windy said. “Just keep going while I start cutting up the wood. Let me know if you need something. I doubt someone like you is gonna need help though, you keep this up and I just might have to sign you on as a new crew member.”

Ryuu continued to weld beams together, he got an idea after hearing what Windy said. He purposefully allowed some of the metal to get onto the ground.

“Oops! Looks like some of the melt got onto the ground!” Ryuu said out loud.

“Ah, shoot!” Windy said as he walked over. “Should be no problem for you though, you can just pick it up and add it back in. I’ll have someone come in and replace the floor panels later.”

Ryuu stomped his foot and then looked at the ground, spotting a piece of discarded wood. Looking over at Windy, Ryuu made sure the foreman wasn’t watching and pressed his hand against the wood. The wood quickly caught fire and set off a fire alarm in the flower shop. Daisy ran out into the main area.

“What’s with the alarms!?” Daisy asked, panicked.

“I don’t know, this fire just started!” Ryuu said.

“That’s a lie, I saw you set it, Ryuu.” Estrella said as he started to put it out.

“You what!?” Windy shouted.

“I… I set a small fire?” Ryuu asked, Kidd face palmed.

“Do you know how stupid that was?” Windy shouted at Ryuu.

“Now that you mention it… yeah.” Ryuu said.

“Now explain to me why you would go and do something foolish like that!” Windy said.

“I… I was trying to get out of this.” Ryuu said. “When you said that you wanted me to join the Construction Corps, it stressed me out. I don’t think this is the job for me, I stupidly lit that fire to try and make you change your mind.”

“I see… it’s no excuse to go starting fires.” Windy said. “Just go off and do whatever you please, this will be going in my report to Foosha tonight.”

“Yes sir…” Ryuu said as Windy started speaking to Daisy. He picked up some tools when Kidd place his hand on Ryuu’s shoulder.

“You did a pretty stupid thing today.” Kidd said. “What did I say about doing something like this?”

“I know!” Ryuu said. “How am I gonna tell the others?”

“Maybe there’s still a chance, I’d try talking to Windy before the end of the work day.” Kidd said.

“I get it, you want me to use my charm to convince him to pass me.” Ryuu said.

“That is not at all what I said.” Kidd stated. “Get real with him, tell him that you see your mistake and pray for mercy.”

“Oh, that makes a lot more sense.” Ryuu said.

“MR WINDY!” A construction worker charged into the shop. “There’s an issue in the locker areas.”

“What are you on about?” Windy asked.

“There’s a hole in the side of the ship in the locker area! We put a Hull Patch on it, but the damaged area is too big for it to hold long enough for repair.” The worker said.

“Shoot! Sorry Daisy, but we’re gonna need to reschedule again.” Windy said.

“It’s alright, that sounds more important than my shop. Go deal with that and I’ll call you later on!” Daisy said.

The Construction Crew started running back to the locker area, upon arriving, they saw a small patch over a hole. Ryuu realized that it was a hole that he made by punching the wall.

“Shoot…” Ryuu said. “Was this me?”

“What?” Gadget asked. “You made this hole?”

“Since I’m supposed to be more honest… yeah, I was a little frustrated earlier and must’ve accidentally punched a hole into the hull of the ship.” Ryuu said.

“You just can’t stop destroying this ship, huh?” Windy said. “Someone grab a blowtorch.”

“We have to do it from the outside, welding it on the inside won’t work.” Estrella said.

“We can’t just land the ship, we’re nowhere near another planet!” Windy shouted.

Ryuu was looking around, panicked, when he spotted a Helmet Brace. Helmet Braces are special necklaces that put a dome around someone’s head, allowing travel out into the Cosmos. Ryuu grabs it and puts it on, only Kidd spots him and realizes what he’s doing. Ryuu puts the helmet on, the dome projecting around his head, and runs out of the locker room.

“I’ll go out there myself!” Windy said, reaching for a Helmet Brace.

“Hey wait a minute!” Estrella looked out the window to see Ryuu floating.

“What’s he doing now?” Windy asked.

“He must be going out to repair the hole!” Gadget shouted.

The bottoms of Ryuu’s boots suctioned against the side of the ship, looking into the window, he waved to the others. He took a blowtorch off his belt and pulled onto it, but it produced no fire.

“That won’t work, you dumbass!” Windy shouted as he held up a special blowtorch. “You need the special one!”

Ryuu made an annoyed face and threw the blowtorch into the reaches of space. Ryuu started looking around, that was his only piece of equipment currently.

“Five hundred Constell piece of equipment… blowtorches aren’t cheap.” Estrella said.

“He’ll figure something out, Ryuu always does.” Kidd said.

Ryuu attempted to ignite his hands, but it didn’t work again.

“He needs oxygen to do that little heat-up bit?” Gadget asked.

“Just wait…” Kidd said.

Looking around, Ryuu came to a solution. He took a deep breath and deactivated his Helmet Brace.

“What is he doing now?” Estrella asked.

“He’s fixing his mistake.” Kidd said.

“Big… Bang…” Ryuu said as he was struggling to breathe. “DRABELLOW!!!”

Ryuu started to breathe fire onto the hole, molding the ends where the metal broke back together, successfully patching the spot and quickly putting his helmet back on. Ryuu promptly had to make his way back onto the Exceed. After getting back into the locker room, Ryuu collapsed onto the ground with Kidd putting an inhaler-like object into his mouth.

“AIR!” Ryuu shouted.

“Are you insane!?” Windy shouted.

“Yeah, I am… but I was fixing the problem I caused.” Ryuu said.

“Well, I can’t say many people would take their helmet off in the vacuum of space to fix a breach.” Windy said.

“I know I caused a couple of problems today, big problems… it’s no excuse, but I was just feeling stressed by what you said earlier.” Ryuu said. “But you gotta see where I’m coming from.”

“Well, I guess I was coming off a bit strong.” Windy said. “Let me see your ID Card.”

“You’re not gonna end this all are you?” Ryuu asked.

“No… you might have majorly screwed up today, but you did show initiative in fixing the side of this tub.” Windy said as he took Ryuu’s card, he stamped it with the Construction Corps’ seal. “You passed today!”

“Really?!” Ryuu asked. “Thank you, Windy!”

“Don’t mention it… but drinks are on you tonight.” Windy said.

“Hell yeah!” Gadget shouted.

“You did good, kid…” Kidd said as he helped Ryuu up. “Don’t hit the bottles too hard though.”

“Yeah, right…” Ryuu said as he laughed. “How did I ever end up with a bud like you?”

“Well… I owe you my life, Ryuu…” Kidd said.

CHAPTER END!

Next Chapter - Kidd of the Hydrogenite