Regona City: Tempest (BK3)

A New City

The hologram of another city loomed ahead of Sahara.

"Lithium?" she asked. A part of her was catching on, and yet at the same time she wasn't sure she quite got the picture. "So..." She turned to look at Rayne, who was had crossed his hands across his chest. "Another city found Regona?"

"Precisely." Rayne nodded.

"When?"

Rayne seemed to consider this for a moment. "I would say about two months ago."

Sahara leaned in closer to the hologram, as though this action would enable her to see more. "So that's why everything seemed so fixed up and there's more people...what's that mean for Regona?"

"It's good news...mostly."

Sahara turned to look at him, trying to decide what his tone of voice meant.

Rayne walked over to his desk. "We were running low on supplies. Lithium getting here when they did sure saved us." He turned and leaned against the desk. "Only problem is, a city left to run wild for so long is not so easily tamed again."

Sahara wrinkled her forehead.

"You probably noticed while you were here last time," Rayne continued, "but Regona hasn't been exactly...civilized since the virus." A smile tugged at the edge of his lips. "The survivors tasted something they now think was freedom. With Lithium here, they're trying to help us get things back to normal...except, normal isn't easy to go back to."

"But it's a good thing, right?" Sahara asked. She felt relieved at the fact that Regona was no longer abandoned.

"Sure." Rayne shrugged. "Lithium has their hands full trying to get the majority to return to school though." A grin spread across his face, one that reminded Sahara a lot of Terrell. She quickly looked away, trying to not let her thoughts wander off topic. "Not to mention that Regona's population isn't exactly meshing so well with Lithium's. It's getting the crews of old to be a bit more in unity now that they have a common enemy. Those Lithium kids sure have a lot of points to spend, good equipment for boarding. They sneak over all the time. Seem to get some kind of thrill out of racing the Regona kids. One could almost say they feel like they're...more sophisticated and meant to conquer the racing world here."

"So there's still hover racing going on?"

"Not officially," Rayne replied. "Lithium tried to put a stop to that. But it's going on under the radar. The crews of Regona are still at it. The Creed's still their ultimate rule book. They're behaving on the surface, but underground races happen every night. The only difference is that it's not so much Regona against Regona...but crews from Lithium seem to have taken up the challenge. Of course, this all happens in the dark with a greater risk of getting caught now...makes it a bigger thrill, don't you think?"

Sahara couldn't help the smile. Regona without hover boarding just wouldn't be the same.

Rayne cleared his throat. "The point is...Lithium isn't getting Regona to co-operate as easily as they want."

"So...?"

"That's where I come in." Rayne picked up a pen and began to play with it. "Along with every Omega."

Sahara wrinkled her forehead. Then, her eyes widened. "Get the leaders to set an example, and others will follow." She realized.

Rayne pointed the pen at her. "Exactly."

Sahara shot a glance back at the hologram. Somehow she couldn't see the Omega's she had met setting an example for the rest of the city. "How're they doing that?"