Greetings everyone out there who actually takes the time to read my
stories! I missed y'all, but as I told GoldAngel, I was lost in the barren
landscape of textbook land, so I couldn't write or read anything that
wasn't completely cut and dry. But, I'm back! And speaking of
GoldAngel...you'd better keep updating, punk! Your new one is going to be
awesome, I just know it. And where is Oriana? Speedy has got some
explaining to do in "Girl Team"!
So, this is my second SR fanfic (once again, thank you to all my reviewers who read "Unmasked"...I love you!). This one is going to involve a lot more action than my last story, and I'm bringing back to life some characters from good ol' Speedy's past. And here you thought they were dead...ha! Poor Speedy's got some serious problems in this one...
This is the prologue, and it basically involves some background information that is going to be important later on. Please, read and review! (I got a new e-mail address by the way: jvalen1@towson.edu).
Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own them. But I really wish I did...especially Racer X...*sigh*...am I the only person who thinks he is the sexiest anime character ever?
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Favorite cartoon growing up..." Sparky yelled. As soon as the echo in the cave died down, everyone else sounded a chorus that was a combination of groans and laughs.
It was the new Saturday night ritual that they had, ever since the weather had broken and it was possible to be outside without freezing to death as soon as the sun went down. The big three, as they were sometimes called, Sparky, Trixie, and Speed were there, along with Ricky Finch, Paul Yiu, Walter Cook, and George McIntee, plus all of their girlfriends, and Janine Trotter. Ricky, Paul, Walter, and Janine were all racers that Speed often competed against yet still became friendly with him. George was a mechanic, and a close friend of Sparky's.
"Who created this game anyway?" Speed asked with a laugh.
"Oh come on, I happen to think it's rather interesting." Trixie said with a smile. "I love hearing about all the stupid little stuff that no one would ever tell anyone else unless they were smashed."
"Hey, I'm not smashed! I'm perfectly mentally capapable." Paul interrupted. He failed to notice his addition of an extra syllable, as well as the fact that every word he said was slurred, and had a look of utter confusion on his face when he heard everyone else laughing at him.
"Riiiight. Just keep telling yourself that, sweetie." Heather, his girlfriend replied.
"Okay, okay...getting back to the subject at hand...before I was so rudely interrupted..." Sparky shot a look at Speed, who just shrugged comically. "Favorite cartoon. What was it for everyone?"
"That's easy for me." Walter said rather loudly. Sparky egged him on, nodding in anticipation. "I was a Captain Planet guy. I always wanted to be one of those kick-ass twenty-somethings, with their rings and such. What were they called again? Planeteers or something?"
"Yes, although I always found that show rather moronic. In the real world, pollution doesn't come from one or two guys who sit around fires creating evil schemes; it comes from corporations who aren't so obviously evil." Trixie said.
"Plus, any show with a character named Hoggish Greedly just can't be good for your intelligence." Speed added. Trixie giggled.
"Alright, smart-ass, how about you?" Walter questioned Speed. "What show did you watch religiously on Saturday mornings?"
Speed wasn't as open with his deep, dark secrets as Walter was. He nonchalantly took a drink from his beer and said with little expression "AutoWorld."
"Bull shit." Everyone replied in unison. Speed wasn't expecting that, and he began to violently cough as he choked on his drink, drawing more laughter from everyone else. "You're lying through those fake front teeth of yours, Racer." Sparky said.
"And you never were a good liar, Speed." Trixie said to him.
"Okay, I've only got one fake tooth and it isn't even a front one."
" You're avoiding the question, Speedy. C'mon, we won't make fun of you." Janine said with an I'm-innocent-of-any-desire-to-make-fun-of-my-friend tone to her voice...which Speed saw right through.
"Alright, alright...if he's going to be like this I'll go next." Trixie said. "Captain Planet was actually one of my favorites too, moronic as it was, and Wheeler was actually my first crush, but..."
"Wasn't Wheeler the jerk from New York?" Sparky asked.
"I can't believe you're admitting to having a crush on a two-dimensional character." George added.
"Oh Wheeler was hot! I loved that red-hair thing...but anyway, my favorite had to be the Smurfs."
"The Smurfs?" Speed said incredulously. "You liked the Smurfs?"
"Yes, what's the matter with that? I was only six after all." Trixie said defensively.
Speed lifted his hands in surrender, but still looked at her with a smirk.
And everyone else took their turn, making the entire stretch of beach echo with a combination of titles like "He-Man", "Inspector Gadget", and "Scooby Doo" with hoots of laughter. Alas, it was Speed's turn once more, and he knew that he would never hear the end of the teasing as soon as he uttered the phrase "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".
* * * * * * * * * * *
The engine hummed quietly as Trixie drove back in to the city in silence. Speed, who was in no condition to drive, sat in the passenger's seat of the Mach Five with his head back, as if he were sleeping. In fact, Trixie believed that he was sleeping, but in reality he was wide awake, and feeling surprisingly sober.
Despite the carefree presence that he had exuded with his friends earlier, Speed had actually been quite worried for some time. He hadn't even wanted to go out, but somehow Trixie had talked him in to it, and he went, knowing it was good for him. But his mind had been somewhere else recently...he thought about his own age, his experiences, his childhood, his family. And he couldn't help but feel that there was something coming...something that he wouldn't know anything about until it had arrived. But by then, it would be too late to do anything about it.
Speed's twenty-first birthday loomed over him, only two weeks away. While he knew that in the practical sense twenty-one wasn't old at all, and he would continue to have the ability to race for at least another ten or fifteen years, he couldn't help but notice how every day new racers turned up at the track. He looked at the racers who were currently eighteen, the same age he had been when he started his career, and they just looked so young to him, despite the mere three year age difference. And he also thought a lot about Rex. Rex's birthday had been only three days after his own, and this year, Rex would be twenty-nine. Somewhere out in the world, his older brother was turning twenty-nine. And Speed hadn't seen him for eleven years.
He turned his head slightly, and looked over at Trixie, who didn't initially notice his movement. He worried about her too, and not in the sense of her being physically in danger, but about losing her. Trixie was no longer a teenager either, having turned twenty about a month ago, and she was really busy these days. She had missed the last two races that Speed had been in, due to school conflicts. And he had overheard more than one conversation where Janine asked her what she was planning to do once she got out of college. Trixie didn't have a clear answer yet, but Speed knew that graduate schools were practically falling over themselves to get her to attend.
His ruminations abruptly ended though when she glanced over at him and noticed that he was awake. "Hey. I thought you were sleeping. I didn't wake you, did I?"
"No. I wasn't sleeping actually." Speed sighed and turned his head back to rest against the seat cushion. He noticed that it was an incredibly clear night, and was warm and breezy. It was going to be a really hot summer, if it was this warm so early in the season.
Trixie's eyebrows furrowed as she kept glancing at Speed, alternating her gaze between the road and him. It was clear that he was worried about something.
"What's wrong? Do you feel sick or something? I tried to tell you that you can't hold alcohol, Racer." She joked.
Speed smirked a little and closed his eyes. "That's probably part of it. I never did listen to you as often as I should have."
Trixie smiled, but she was still concerned. After all, Speed had only said that the inebriation was only "part" of it. There was something else going on as well.
"Tell me," her voice noticeably gentler. "Tell me what's on your mind."
But Speed wasn't ready to talk about this just yet. He still hadn't sorted out in his mind what exactly it was that made him so concerned and preoccupied, so he wasn't ready to talk about it with anyone. He knew that if he tried to, he would just sound like a bumbling idiot.
"I can't right now. I don't have it quite figured out yet." He opened his eyes again, and felt an immediate surge of guilt at the sight of Trixie's face, which was twisted in to a look that exuded both confusion and a little bit of hurt. She was staring at nothing, only half-watching the road that stretched in front of them. He reached his hand over and touched her face gently, and said, "But don't worry, Trix; it has nothing to do with you, I promise."
"Good. I was beginning to expect the old we-need-to-talk speech. If you're going to break up with me, can you wait until after my Anatomy final? Or until after the race in the USA? If I have any say in this, that would be my preference." Trixie joked.
Speed smiled. Trixie always had a way of lightening the mood, even though the very idea of breaking up with her was horrifying to Speed. That was all he needed right now; to be alone, without her.
"I'll try to wait until June. No promises though." He joked back.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Four men sat around a table, each one deeply involved in studying print- outs. The room they were in wasn't really a room at all; it was an enormous warehouse that clearly had at one point been used for automotive purposes. The building was old, and the electricity had long been turned off, as no one ever came here anymore. The only illumination was provided by a few candles that sat on the table top, each one short and covered with drips of wax that had melted and fallen down the sides. There were shadows everywhere, and the corners of the room barely received any light at all.
None of the men were particularly threatening or even interesting in appearance. They were all in their mid-forties, with one who was considerably older, maybe around sixty. To anyone who might have passed them on the street, they would have appeared average, perhaps even docile. But the lack of decent lighting of the room was, ironically, the most effective way of showing who they really were. As shadows covered their faces, shadows also covered their hearts.
The print-outs consisted of both text and photography. A closer look at each one revealed how they were all related to the same subject: Speed Racer. There were pictures of him from every angle, along with pictures of his family, friends, the enemies he had encountered over the years, and even one of Racer X. The textual sections had more information on Speed than he was probably even aware of; there were sections dedicated to his birthdate and location of birth, his height, his weight, his education, and his medical records. In addition to these things, there were also textual sections with the same included information, except they were dedicated to Sparky, or Trixie, or Pops.
The older man picked up one photograph and held it in front of his eyes. It was nothing but a close-up of Speed's face, and it had been taken when Speed was nineteen. But he didn't even need to look at a photo of Speed; he could remember everything about him, from his coal black hair and bright blue eyes to the less tangible aspects of him, like his confident, yet somewhat pugilistic, persona. It had only taken a brief meeting with him, nearly three years ago, and yet that face had been burned in to his memory.
"Not a bad-lookin' kid, is he?" one of the other men asked with a crooked smile. "Twenty years old, according to the info we have, going to be twenty one in two weeks. He was eighteen when we first met him."
The older man looked up from the photograph to look at his comrade, but said nothing, and kept his face expressionless.
"According to our sources, he's going to be in the USA next month, for an automotive race. Apparently he's a big shot, and has been winning loads of races ever since he began his career three years ago."
There was still no response from the older man; he simply placed the photograph of Speed back on the table, folded his hands in front of him, and stared off in to the darkness.
The other three men all exchanged a look with one another; their boss was beginning to make them a little nervous. Normally, he was an expressive man, with a fiery temper and a constant stream of orders for them. But now, he was uncharacteristically quiet, with a vacant look on his face.
"So, boss, what's the plan?" one of them asked hesitantly.
The older man looked up at him, and simply said, "Prepare our USA office for our arrival. We're leaving tomorrow night."
And with that, he stood up, pulled his coat on, and began to walk towards the door. In the background, he could hear the other three men talking and smirking among themselves, as they collected the papers off of the table. The candles were snuffed out, and the other men followed their leader out of the lone door that the warehouse had. But before they all got in to their cars to drive away, one of them had a final question for his leader.
"Hey boss, you going to tell us why this kid is so important? I mean, I know you had a run in with him a few years ago, and he did some pretty significant damage to us, but it isn't like he completely shut us down. He probably doesn't even remember you."
For the first time that evening, the older man's face twisted in disgust. The man who had spoken immediately recognized that his questioning one of the most powerful leaders in the world was not a good idea, and he stammered a few words of apology, which were silenced as the older man began to walk towards him. He instinctively began to cower down, fearing for his life, but the older man didn't appear to want to hurt him.
All he said was, "He'll remember me. I'll make him remember. And the answer to your question will be apparent soon."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Dun dun dun! Doncha' just loooooove cliff-hangers? ;)
Hmm, fairly long for a prologue...sorry. But sometimes, a girl just has to provide a little background info. I promise this will get a lot more interesting soon. Read and review, please please please!
Jill out.
So, this is my second SR fanfic (once again, thank you to all my reviewers who read "Unmasked"...I love you!). This one is going to involve a lot more action than my last story, and I'm bringing back to life some characters from good ol' Speedy's past. And here you thought they were dead...ha! Poor Speedy's got some serious problems in this one...
This is the prologue, and it basically involves some background information that is going to be important later on. Please, read and review! (I got a new e-mail address by the way: jvalen1@towson.edu).
Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own them. But I really wish I did...especially Racer X...*sigh*...am I the only person who thinks he is the sexiest anime character ever?
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Favorite cartoon growing up..." Sparky yelled. As soon as the echo in the cave died down, everyone else sounded a chorus that was a combination of groans and laughs.
It was the new Saturday night ritual that they had, ever since the weather had broken and it was possible to be outside without freezing to death as soon as the sun went down. The big three, as they were sometimes called, Sparky, Trixie, and Speed were there, along with Ricky Finch, Paul Yiu, Walter Cook, and George McIntee, plus all of their girlfriends, and Janine Trotter. Ricky, Paul, Walter, and Janine were all racers that Speed often competed against yet still became friendly with him. George was a mechanic, and a close friend of Sparky's.
"Who created this game anyway?" Speed asked with a laugh.
"Oh come on, I happen to think it's rather interesting." Trixie said with a smile. "I love hearing about all the stupid little stuff that no one would ever tell anyone else unless they were smashed."
"Hey, I'm not smashed! I'm perfectly mentally capapable." Paul interrupted. He failed to notice his addition of an extra syllable, as well as the fact that every word he said was slurred, and had a look of utter confusion on his face when he heard everyone else laughing at him.
"Riiiight. Just keep telling yourself that, sweetie." Heather, his girlfriend replied.
"Okay, okay...getting back to the subject at hand...before I was so rudely interrupted..." Sparky shot a look at Speed, who just shrugged comically. "Favorite cartoon. What was it for everyone?"
"That's easy for me." Walter said rather loudly. Sparky egged him on, nodding in anticipation. "I was a Captain Planet guy. I always wanted to be one of those kick-ass twenty-somethings, with their rings and such. What were they called again? Planeteers or something?"
"Yes, although I always found that show rather moronic. In the real world, pollution doesn't come from one or two guys who sit around fires creating evil schemes; it comes from corporations who aren't so obviously evil." Trixie said.
"Plus, any show with a character named Hoggish Greedly just can't be good for your intelligence." Speed added. Trixie giggled.
"Alright, smart-ass, how about you?" Walter questioned Speed. "What show did you watch religiously on Saturday mornings?"
Speed wasn't as open with his deep, dark secrets as Walter was. He nonchalantly took a drink from his beer and said with little expression "AutoWorld."
"Bull shit." Everyone replied in unison. Speed wasn't expecting that, and he began to violently cough as he choked on his drink, drawing more laughter from everyone else. "You're lying through those fake front teeth of yours, Racer." Sparky said.
"And you never were a good liar, Speed." Trixie said to him.
"Okay, I've only got one fake tooth and it isn't even a front one."
" You're avoiding the question, Speedy. C'mon, we won't make fun of you." Janine said with an I'm-innocent-of-any-desire-to-make-fun-of-my-friend tone to her voice...which Speed saw right through.
"Alright, alright...if he's going to be like this I'll go next." Trixie said. "Captain Planet was actually one of my favorites too, moronic as it was, and Wheeler was actually my first crush, but..."
"Wasn't Wheeler the jerk from New York?" Sparky asked.
"I can't believe you're admitting to having a crush on a two-dimensional character." George added.
"Oh Wheeler was hot! I loved that red-hair thing...but anyway, my favorite had to be the Smurfs."
"The Smurfs?" Speed said incredulously. "You liked the Smurfs?"
"Yes, what's the matter with that? I was only six after all." Trixie said defensively.
Speed lifted his hands in surrender, but still looked at her with a smirk.
And everyone else took their turn, making the entire stretch of beach echo with a combination of titles like "He-Man", "Inspector Gadget", and "Scooby Doo" with hoots of laughter. Alas, it was Speed's turn once more, and he knew that he would never hear the end of the teasing as soon as he uttered the phrase "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles".
* * * * * * * * * * *
The engine hummed quietly as Trixie drove back in to the city in silence. Speed, who was in no condition to drive, sat in the passenger's seat of the Mach Five with his head back, as if he were sleeping. In fact, Trixie believed that he was sleeping, but in reality he was wide awake, and feeling surprisingly sober.
Despite the carefree presence that he had exuded with his friends earlier, Speed had actually been quite worried for some time. He hadn't even wanted to go out, but somehow Trixie had talked him in to it, and he went, knowing it was good for him. But his mind had been somewhere else recently...he thought about his own age, his experiences, his childhood, his family. And he couldn't help but feel that there was something coming...something that he wouldn't know anything about until it had arrived. But by then, it would be too late to do anything about it.
Speed's twenty-first birthday loomed over him, only two weeks away. While he knew that in the practical sense twenty-one wasn't old at all, and he would continue to have the ability to race for at least another ten or fifteen years, he couldn't help but notice how every day new racers turned up at the track. He looked at the racers who were currently eighteen, the same age he had been when he started his career, and they just looked so young to him, despite the mere three year age difference. And he also thought a lot about Rex. Rex's birthday had been only three days after his own, and this year, Rex would be twenty-nine. Somewhere out in the world, his older brother was turning twenty-nine. And Speed hadn't seen him for eleven years.
He turned his head slightly, and looked over at Trixie, who didn't initially notice his movement. He worried about her too, and not in the sense of her being physically in danger, but about losing her. Trixie was no longer a teenager either, having turned twenty about a month ago, and she was really busy these days. She had missed the last two races that Speed had been in, due to school conflicts. And he had overheard more than one conversation where Janine asked her what she was planning to do once she got out of college. Trixie didn't have a clear answer yet, but Speed knew that graduate schools were practically falling over themselves to get her to attend.
His ruminations abruptly ended though when she glanced over at him and noticed that he was awake. "Hey. I thought you were sleeping. I didn't wake you, did I?"
"No. I wasn't sleeping actually." Speed sighed and turned his head back to rest against the seat cushion. He noticed that it was an incredibly clear night, and was warm and breezy. It was going to be a really hot summer, if it was this warm so early in the season.
Trixie's eyebrows furrowed as she kept glancing at Speed, alternating her gaze between the road and him. It was clear that he was worried about something.
"What's wrong? Do you feel sick or something? I tried to tell you that you can't hold alcohol, Racer." She joked.
Speed smirked a little and closed his eyes. "That's probably part of it. I never did listen to you as often as I should have."
Trixie smiled, but she was still concerned. After all, Speed had only said that the inebriation was only "part" of it. There was something else going on as well.
"Tell me," her voice noticeably gentler. "Tell me what's on your mind."
But Speed wasn't ready to talk about this just yet. He still hadn't sorted out in his mind what exactly it was that made him so concerned and preoccupied, so he wasn't ready to talk about it with anyone. He knew that if he tried to, he would just sound like a bumbling idiot.
"I can't right now. I don't have it quite figured out yet." He opened his eyes again, and felt an immediate surge of guilt at the sight of Trixie's face, which was twisted in to a look that exuded both confusion and a little bit of hurt. She was staring at nothing, only half-watching the road that stretched in front of them. He reached his hand over and touched her face gently, and said, "But don't worry, Trix; it has nothing to do with you, I promise."
"Good. I was beginning to expect the old we-need-to-talk speech. If you're going to break up with me, can you wait until after my Anatomy final? Or until after the race in the USA? If I have any say in this, that would be my preference." Trixie joked.
Speed smiled. Trixie always had a way of lightening the mood, even though the very idea of breaking up with her was horrifying to Speed. That was all he needed right now; to be alone, without her.
"I'll try to wait until June. No promises though." He joked back.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Four men sat around a table, each one deeply involved in studying print- outs. The room they were in wasn't really a room at all; it was an enormous warehouse that clearly had at one point been used for automotive purposes. The building was old, and the electricity had long been turned off, as no one ever came here anymore. The only illumination was provided by a few candles that sat on the table top, each one short and covered with drips of wax that had melted and fallen down the sides. There were shadows everywhere, and the corners of the room barely received any light at all.
None of the men were particularly threatening or even interesting in appearance. They were all in their mid-forties, with one who was considerably older, maybe around sixty. To anyone who might have passed them on the street, they would have appeared average, perhaps even docile. But the lack of decent lighting of the room was, ironically, the most effective way of showing who they really were. As shadows covered their faces, shadows also covered their hearts.
The print-outs consisted of both text and photography. A closer look at each one revealed how they were all related to the same subject: Speed Racer. There were pictures of him from every angle, along with pictures of his family, friends, the enemies he had encountered over the years, and even one of Racer X. The textual sections had more information on Speed than he was probably even aware of; there were sections dedicated to his birthdate and location of birth, his height, his weight, his education, and his medical records. In addition to these things, there were also textual sections with the same included information, except they were dedicated to Sparky, or Trixie, or Pops.
The older man picked up one photograph and held it in front of his eyes. It was nothing but a close-up of Speed's face, and it had been taken when Speed was nineteen. But he didn't even need to look at a photo of Speed; he could remember everything about him, from his coal black hair and bright blue eyes to the less tangible aspects of him, like his confident, yet somewhat pugilistic, persona. It had only taken a brief meeting with him, nearly three years ago, and yet that face had been burned in to his memory.
"Not a bad-lookin' kid, is he?" one of the other men asked with a crooked smile. "Twenty years old, according to the info we have, going to be twenty one in two weeks. He was eighteen when we first met him."
The older man looked up from the photograph to look at his comrade, but said nothing, and kept his face expressionless.
"According to our sources, he's going to be in the USA next month, for an automotive race. Apparently he's a big shot, and has been winning loads of races ever since he began his career three years ago."
There was still no response from the older man; he simply placed the photograph of Speed back on the table, folded his hands in front of him, and stared off in to the darkness.
The other three men all exchanged a look with one another; their boss was beginning to make them a little nervous. Normally, he was an expressive man, with a fiery temper and a constant stream of orders for them. But now, he was uncharacteristically quiet, with a vacant look on his face.
"So, boss, what's the plan?" one of them asked hesitantly.
The older man looked up at him, and simply said, "Prepare our USA office for our arrival. We're leaving tomorrow night."
And with that, he stood up, pulled his coat on, and began to walk towards the door. In the background, he could hear the other three men talking and smirking among themselves, as they collected the papers off of the table. The candles were snuffed out, and the other men followed their leader out of the lone door that the warehouse had. But before they all got in to their cars to drive away, one of them had a final question for his leader.
"Hey boss, you going to tell us why this kid is so important? I mean, I know you had a run in with him a few years ago, and he did some pretty significant damage to us, but it isn't like he completely shut us down. He probably doesn't even remember you."
For the first time that evening, the older man's face twisted in disgust. The man who had spoken immediately recognized that his questioning one of the most powerful leaders in the world was not a good idea, and he stammered a few words of apology, which were silenced as the older man began to walk towards him. He instinctively began to cower down, fearing for his life, but the older man didn't appear to want to hurt him.
All he said was, "He'll remember me. I'll make him remember. And the answer to your question will be apparent soon."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Dun dun dun! Doncha' just loooooove cliff-hangers? ;)
Hmm, fairly long for a prologue...sorry. But sometimes, a girl just has to provide a little background info. I promise this will get a lot more interesting soon. Read and review, please please please!
Jill out.