Steel Ball Run 13

01)

#13. The Sheriff's Request to Mountain Tim

02)
?: The "suspect"...
?: Is someone among all the participants.
?: For the sake of investigation, I highly suggest postponing the race for a little bit.
?: But that means....
?: Dammit...
?: For such a thing like this...
?: ...to interrupt my precious race...!!!
?: The race will continue as normal..!!
?: It's too late. Everyone involved in this is already putting everything they've got into winning. Not even the President has control over it anymore!!
?: Postponment is an impossible task.
?: Postponing is out of the question.
?: I figured you'd say something like that.

03)
?: That's why I requested that Mountain Tim pursue all potential suspects.

04)
?: What's wrong?
?: The horses are acting strange.
?: Must be because Mountain Tim has arrived.
?: He's a mysterious fellow...the horses all pay him their respect.

06)
?: Uh!
?: Ah!
?: Eh?
?: When did he...
T: Flowers.
T: Are you truly married?
T: Isn't that a shame.
S: Mountain Tim!!

07)
S: What's with this request I heard about him taking up?
S: He's a legendary cowboy, and is even a candidate to win!!
S: Just in today's race, he came in fourth place!
?: Allow me to explain.
?: Not only is he a very good friend of mine, but a reliable one at that.
?: All the way from northern Montana to the southern part of Texas, he's collected rewards pursuing men all over the Great West.
?: But...he's a participant in the race!!
?: Of course.
?: That's why he's important.
?: Once the 2nd Stage of the race begins, there's a high probability that he will be targeted by the suspect.
? (middle bottom): It'll only be to our benefit if he's pursued.
?: (middle left) He'll be the new...sheriff's assistant, if that's alright with you, Mr. Steel.

09)
T: What's this fury I'm feeling all of a sudden?
T: So such a thing was present during the race...
T: Don't worry, feel at ease...I can't possibly win the race anymore.
T: In this race, I have many friends who are also participating.
T: But up until now, I've never seen anything like this before..such a killing method!
T: However, I have heard a legend about similar deaths...
T: There's an old Indian legend that talks about a spot where a shooting star fell somewhere in the Arizona desert.
T: There lies tainted soil.

10)
T: It is said that anything that touches the spot, will suddenly be able to pull out a "mysterious power" from its own heart.
T: At the same time, though, evil spirits will call out a curse upon them.
T: None of the natives of the land ever step foot there.
T: One day, a white man looking for emerald ore stepped into the spot and started to come home.
T: It is said that afterwards, he began to kill others in a similar fashion.
T: And afterwards, as if possibly realizing his own sinfulness, he shot himself.
T: But if he died, he's obviously not the suspect!
T: Which makes me wonder...if you really are going to keep up with this investigation, how do you plan to find the suspect?
T: Do you intend to keep an eye out for even the aliens?

11)
T: The first thing to do is to follow these footprints.
T: These ones.
T: In these, the berserk nature of the run is easily visible.
T: And in the center, there's a very distinguishable mountain-shaped mark.
T: But that still doesn't make it evidence!
T: No...it most certainly does.
T: The horse probably went out of control after seeing human blood.
T: And judging from the nature of the rider, it's probably someone who's used to being in the desert.

12)
?: There's a bottle laying over by the victim.
?: Have you checked it out, sheriff?
?: ....Er...
?: There's something inside there...covered in blood.
?: A button....?
?: Is a button from a piece of clothing?

13)
S: What the...
S: He pulled it off...
?: Excellent work...Mountain Tim!
?: The thing from the bottle...

14)
T: I wonder...what sort of connection this has with the murder method?
T: This is a button from the jeans of the victim. But why would it come off...?
T: Or, more importantly, how could it possible get inside the bottle?
T: I don't claim to know the answer, however...
T: One thing is certain: it's very dangerous for the killer to let such an important piece of evidence fall into our hands.

15)
?: The 2nd Stage...
?: Is scheduled to start in 5 minutes!

16)
Title: Across the Arizona Desert
Subtitle: Monument Valley
?: Participants, please line yourselves up at the starting grid!
? (bottom right): What about the one that just flew by here!?
?: Just remember that penalties will still be given, so be careful.
?: For the 2nd Stage...
?: The goal will be upon reaching Monument Valley, after crossing a distance of 1200km.

17)
Title: 2nd STAGE
Text by horse on horseshoe:

Santa Maria Novela Church -> Monument Valley
(An estimated 1200km distance of over 12-18 days)
Active Participants: 3770
Date: 1890/9/26, 10:00AM START.
Prize: $10,000 and +1 hour time bonus. Points for runners-up will be ranked from 1-100.

Left text bubble: With the exception of the requirement of passing through the pre-designated checkpoint,
Right text bubble: All participants are allowed to freely choose their own routes through the desert, how many miles they wish to travel per day, and even which lodgings they wish to start at!

Map:
Under castle: San Diego Beach
Box next to San Diego Beach: START
Black text above START: Progressive Route
Text by river: Colorado River
Text on right of river: Mexico
Text above Mexico: ARIZONA DESERT
Text to the right of Arizona Desert: Check Point
Text in top center: Grand Canyon
Text on far top right: Monument Valley

18)
?: Finally--
?: If for some reason a player is forced to retire in the middle of the race,
?: Their respective numbers will be displayed as flags over the route.
(the following three bubbles are in the bottom right box)
?: Covered wagons filled with medics and referees will be following the race at a distance behind.
?: Now,
?: These medics have a large supply of things like water, food, and medicine on them, and will not hesitate to dispense them if requested. Do keep in mind, though, any players that do so will be immediately retired from the race.
J: Gyro...
J: This stage's top candidate seems to be Sandman!
J: Even in the gambling arena, he's the most popular! ...What do you think of that?
G: Hmph!

19)
G: What about me?!
J: Sucks for you...
J: By the way, I'm the sixth most popular racer!
G: You're only #9 because of your penalty...if you wouldn't have got that, I'm sure you'd be pretty popular.
G: Those people don't know what they're talking about!!
G: Any way you look at it, that article was just written by some idiotic everyday people.
G: No one should take it seriously...!!
J: But, if Sandman takes the prize again this time...
J: His total points will be 200...and he'll have accumulated 2 hours in time bonuses!!
J: If that happens, he'll have an overwhelming advantage over everyone else for the rest of the race.
J: That's really what we've got to keep from happening.
G: I wonder...can he run over 100km in one day?
J: I'm afraid so...
J: And, to make matters worse, Sandman is from the Arizona Desert...so geographically, he's on his home turf.

20)
J: That guy over there, Mountain Tim, is just about as popular and a huge candidate for this time around.
G: But look at that weird frickin' hat he's wearing...
G: Makes me wanna trample all over it...right there, while it's still on his head, I wanna trample right on it!!
J: Mountain Tim is a cowboy, so he should have poor short-range abilities...yet then again, he was following us pretty well yesterday.
J: We couldn't even hear the sounds the hooves of his horse made..so without us knowing, he followed us all the way to the end and then passed us up at the last second.
G: I think it's because of that weird hat he wears.
G: Haven't you noticed it?!
G: Gahaha-nyoho!
J: Gyro, this stage...
J: I think it's going to turn into a battle over the waterholes...

21)
J: How far people can continue on this route...
J: ...must depend on how far they can go without running out of water.
J: In 1875, just when this land had barely become a part of the United States of America...
J: There was an incident that happened involving the death of an entire army unit, the 26th Calvary.
J: It wasn't because of a war or an accident, though...it was because during that year, all the known waterholes had completely dried up.
J: As they wandered through the desert looking for an alternate source of water, they noticed that the temperature was steadily rising...it was already well above 50C, and quickly nearing 60C as they continued through the area.
J: Eventually, they all died of dehydration, but...
J: Before that, small fissures and cracks spread across their own dried-up, clay-like eyeballs...and they all went blind.

22)
J: Blind, they continued to wander aimlessly in the infinite desert...slowly being roasted to death by the sun.
J: Here's the indicators of waterholes according to the map.
J: From the starting point, we should head north...and after travelling 50km for a day, we should hit the first waterhole.
J: If we stray from this and happen to get lost in the desert...the thing we'll really be "retiring" from is life itself.

Map marking:
Box: START
Other two marks: Waterhole

(bottom left panels)
J: Also, I can't forget about what I have in my hand...
J: This cork...
J: Just what do I have to do to get it to start revolving?

23)
?: It's now only thirty seconds until we start...
?: Alriiight...in just an instant, the 2nd Stage shall truly begin!!
?:
?:
?: Diego Brando has pushed up his goggles!
?: Pocoloco, as usual, has his many sacks packed up and ready!

24)
?: LET'S GO...START!!!
?: The 10 o'clock fireworks are flying into the air right on time!!

25)
J: Eh...

26)
?: HE'S FLYING!!!
?: Just like First Stage...he just went flying by on his own like that!!
?: In a few more minutes he'll be no more than a speck on the horizon!!
?: All the horses following him will be plastered in his dust!!

27)
(All bubbles in the big top panel) "It's Gyro!"
?: At any rate, it seems that Gyro Zeppeli plans to complete this 2nd Stage as a solo run!!
J: Ooh...
J: Kuh
J: Kuuuh...
?: Can he really take all 1200km on his own!?
J: D...dammit...
J: What the hell is wrong with this guy!!
J: Argghh!! I'm going after him!!
J: I'M COMING AFTER YOUUUU!!!

28)
?: Ohh!! Wait!!
?: Gyro Zeppeli is...what is this?! He's changing course!!
?: He's completely changing his course!!
?: So he wasn't just flying out ahead...he was picking out a completely different route!!
J: What the hell...!?

29)
?: Gyro Zeppeli...is heading straight into the desert!!
?: It looks like he's aiming to cut across the entire wastelaaaand!!!!
?: Does he plan to ignore the first waterhole altogether!?
?: At this angle, a waterhole won't be visible for another 150km or so!!

30)
J: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, GYRO ZEPPELI!? AT LEAST GIVE ME SOME REASON FOR ALL THIS SPEED!!
G: What? We have other rivals in the race who are doing the same thing.
G: Wanna come with? This is the shortest way...
G: This way....we'll pass them all up...even Sandmaaaann...
?: Ohhh...now it looks like Gyro is not the only one crossing through the desert!!
?: He's gained a follower!
?: But who on earth would voluntarily pick such a route? It's like setting oneself up for suicide! All they must be thinking about is setting their hands on that prize!!

31)
?: I can see his number...!!
?: His name...is "Mrs. Robinson!!"