Just like in track' Emily Adachi thought to herself as she put herself in position. Her muscles remembered her middle school (though her hobby proceeded well into high school) training. Knees bent, one leg forward, one backward, face down, hands on the ground with the palms up. Was she forgetting anything..? Oh yes and ass lifted into optimal position to give her the perfect launch. She was in starting position, moreover an AT starting position, one of the hardest things to master for an AT pro. F class riders don't attempt it, as the control and balance comes with experience. She was eternally grateful for joining Kogarasumaru. They put her in such situations that she needed to learn how to ride.. and learn fast. They raised her to A class and now it was time for her to start acting like an A Class rider and the Flame King's girl.

That's what she was now to the AT world, the Flame King's girl. The guts-type rider who follows no road.. though many expected her to follow the Flame road like Kazuma. She wasn't one for speed however, as far as ATs were concerned anyhow. Even if she wasn't planning on being speed based, she needed to get up to A Class level speed if she ever wanted to feel like she belonged to the AT world.

Emily did a last check on her position. Perfect. She counted down in her head from 3… and she was off like a bullet from a gun. Her ATs whirred quietly in relation to her speed. She wall rode up the building in front of her and landed on the roof. She dashed on the roof at breakneck pace. She jumped on the next building. This pattern continued until she had made it to her house and back, about 4 miles in total. An A Class rider could have covered that in less then 4 minutes, about a mile a minute. Emily checked her time; 4 minutes 31 second. She sighed. She was getting better but it still wasn't good enough.

She leaned against the wall of the building, huffing and very hot after her dash. Her speed had improved but it wasn't good enough. Speed was a given for all riders, even if not of the Flame road. She took off her light blue tank top and ATs, leaving her in her black sports bra and barefooted. It was in the dead of summer. School was out still for another 2 weeks. Emily closed her eyes. It would be her first year going to college. She was dreading it. Kazu wasn't going to the same college as her. In fact, he wasn't going to college at all. The Kings and Queens of the Roads didn't need too. Of course she would see him on weekends and when she didn't have class. She relaxed against the wall. It was hot and there was such a gentle breeze flowing..

"Emily, did you beat your time?'

Her eyes snapped open and without thinking she took a swing at the source of the voice. Surprise to her, she hit air. She hopped up and looked for the source of the voice. She was ready to fight whoever it was that surprised her. She heard a laugh from beside her. She turned and saw Kazuma Mikura, Kazu for short. He was in a fit of laughter. She hadn't expected him this soon. He was supposed to be at the monthly AT King and Queen meeting. She wondered to herself if he left just so he could scare her when she was relaxing

"What are you laughing at Kazu?" Emily said, blushing. "You just startled me is all.."

"Still funny, Emily" Kazu said. "If I wasn't wearing my ATs, you would have surely broken my face"

Kazu casually rode over to where Emily still stood. It was hard to believe that he was once Kazu-sama, the shadow of Storm King Ikki. Since then, he has evolved to be just as good as Ikki. He also had changed a lot in appearance. He ditched his beanie and his tan hoodie. Now he just wears a red t-shirt (and a black long sleeve underneath when it gets cold) and jeans. He wore his hair in much of the same style though it was fluffier because he didn't wear a hat anymore (and started listening to Yayoi a little more on how to take care of himself).

"4 minutes 31 seconds" Kazu said looking at the stopwatch Emily had "Better. Much better. You'll be A-Class speed in no time"

"Doubt it" Emily said. She fanned herself with her hand. "I'm fast on foot but with ATs, I'm just average. I haven't even joined a road yet and it's been.. how long since Sora and the Wing Road fell? Four years."

"Your time as Jon Omaha doesn't count." Kazu pointed out, sitting down. He pulled Emily down next to him, making her gasp a little in surprise. "Have a little more confidence in yourself"

"This coming from the guy who bed wetted until he was 6" Emily said, smiling. "And the guy who wore a beanie until very recently."

He smiled at Emily but she could see that he was blushing. She grabbed his hand and held it in her hands. His nails were unkempt and filthy..again. She made a mental note to force him to let her clean his nails. He neglected himself when he was thinking about something.

"How did the meeting go, Kazu?" Emily said. "Did something happen? You got out pretty early."

"Eh no one showed up" Kazu said. "Everyone is still a little shocked that Min decided to retire. She hasn't named a successor yet so it's still all up in the air at this point. Well by no one showing up I meant no one that actually wanted to be there. Ikki and Kururu were there but they were too busy making googly eyes at each other to want to anything." Kazu laughed "I never thought I'd see the day that Ikki would make those eyes at anyone."

"How are they?" Emily asked, moving her and Kazu's hand to a more comfortable position when she realized she was massaging his hand very slowly "Kururu and Ikki I mean. I haven't seen much of them lately."

"They looked healthy to me. Happy. Ikki doesn't actually talk about her much, mentions her in passing. Though I heard they're getting a little serious right now" Kazu said, more of matter-of-fact then anything. It didn't exactly surprise Kazu. Kururu knew Ikki more then anyone, even Kazu himself. She knew everything right down to the sound of his ATs.

"I saw Agito with a girl today." Emily said, remembering it when Kazu mentioned Ikki and Kururu. "I couldn't stop to talk but I did catch that her name was Fei. She looks pretty wild. Perfect for Agito I guess. As for Akito... I'm sure he likes her too"

"I heard of Fei" Kazu said, laughing. "She clings to Agito all the time. A bit of a child at heart. She's a good rider however. She follows the Bloody road and is known the northern isles as the 'Coyote of the Sea'. Originally she came here to learn the ways of the Fang from the Fang king himself.. though she seems to have overstayed her welcome"

"I'm glad." Emily said. She curled up her legs and leaned her head on her knees to look at Kazu. "This is good for Agito. Maybe it will help him learn that life isn't all about ATs."

It was silent for sometime after that. It didn't matter to either of them however. Silence wasn't an awkward thing for either of them as it might be for other couples. She liked just looking at him sometimes, marveling over how he'd grown so much since he became Flame King. He was no longer the quiet Kazu-sama but rather the defensive Kazu. He transformed into this person in just four years but she supposed it was a much different world four years ago.

Since the fall of Sora, the Wing Road has fallen as well. No one saw it anymore, except for Ikki but he was first and foremost the Storm King and since the Sky Regalia hasn't been recovered, the Sky King will not come into existence. Sleeping Forest and Genesis have been forcefully disbanded and the Kings and Queens will subdue anyone who tries to revive one of those teams. The current Kings and Queens are Kazu the Flame King, Ikki the Storm King, Ringo the Thorn Queen, Kururu the Pledge Queen, Muen the Rumble Queen, Kilik the Gem King and Agito the Fang King. The Thunder King title is still up for grabs since Min retired. That leaves it with 8 roads. Though the riders did not have to follow these roads, they were the ones most commonly followed and the most powerful.

"If the Thunder King title is retired what will happen to the council?" Emily asked, breaking the silence.

"Probably nothing" Kazu said. "Though I hear from the other Kings and Queens that there's this girl from America who calls herself the Rink Queen of the Ice Road. Apparently, she has regalia. If the rumors are true then she might be accepted into our ranks."

"Because she has a Regalia?" Emily asked

"Mostly. A Regalia releases such power from your ATs" Kazu fingered the wheels on his own ATs, tracing the form of the kitsune adorned on it. "It's almost like magic. Physics backs it but it really feels like magic."

Emily moved herself closer to Kazu. Accepting the invitation, Kazu wrapped his arms around Emily. It was a hot day but it didn't stop Emily from stealing a couple moments with Kazu. Kazu was a bit of a different person in a relationship. He wasn't as outspoken and surprisely soft in the heart.. for a guy anyway.

Unfortunately, moments like that didn't last long. She heard Kazu's cell phone ring. Kazu mumbled a faint curse before answering the phone.

"What is it now?" Kazu said to the person on the other line. The voice came from the phone and by the rhythm of the voice, she instantly recognized it as Ikki's voice. "I don't think so. Well, we can't exactly have a meeting if no one shows up... no. What do you mean she..? She moved to Japan? Is she that stupid? Alright alright I'll be there."

"Do you have to go?" Emily asked.

Kazu stood up. "Yeah" He said, rubbing the back of his head. "Apparently our 'Rink Queen' has come to Japan. And now we have to have another meeting..." He sighed, irritated. "And now people will show up because something interesting has come up"

"That's fine" Emily said. She got up as well and strapped on her ATs. "I have to get home anyway. I've been out so late... my family will be worried."

"They still don't know you do Air Trecks?" Kazu asked, putting his cell phone away and fixing the straps on his ATs. "At some point you are going to have to tell them. You know that right, Emily?"

"Yes" Emily said. She put back on her sweatshirt. Of course she knew it. She had people tell her everyday that she couldn't keep Air Trecks a secret forever and that her parents deserved to know and whatever. She couldn't tell them. She couldn't tell them that she quit track for ATs. Her father was so proud of her when she was in track...

"I better get going." Kazu said. "Maybe finally I'll actually get to do something..."

And in a flash, Kazu was gone from her sight. She felt the faint warmth that came from his AT trail but there was no fire. She whispered something to herself and began to make her way back to her house. There was a hotter then normal breeze from behind and suddenly she felt Kazu's hand on her shoulder. She turned around and before she could say anything, he landed a kiss on her lips. And with that he was gone.

She touched her lips silently and smiled. Kazu wasn't as forgetful as she thought…

"Where have you been young lady?"

Her mother as expected was waiting for her when she came back. It had fallen into a pattern of sorts. Emily would be out past what she said she would be by at least 10 minutes. Her mother or father or even both would be waiting for her, tell her something about honor and then go back to whatever they were doing. Emily was dreading college but at the same time the freedom of living away from her parents seemed pretty sweet.

"With Kazu " Emily said. She put her AT bag in the closet and looked at her mother whose expression change to dislike. Her parents made no secret of the fact that they didn't approve of Kazu. To them, he was a punk with no future. To her, he was the man she fell in love with and that wasn't going to change. To the AT world, he was their Flame King, the master of speed and holder of the Flame Regalia.

"You know how me and your father feel about that boy" Her mother said. "Emily, he's a punk, a delinquent. He's not even going to college and he hangs out with that Ikki. Ikki is even worse. He was the one who got Kazuma into ATs. He was decent before ATs and now he's just horrid. Nasty things they are…"

Emily wasn't really listening to her mother. She had heard all of it before. All about Ikki and ATs and how she should never get near ATs. Her parents didn't understand. In fact, they barely noticed anything was different 4 years ago besides her disappearing for 3 months to America. It wasn't really a biggie though. Jon Omaha himself personally apologized and made up some story about it being a matter of international security (in a way it was).

After her mom was finished with her speech, she retired to her bedroom and Emily to hers. She lay down on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. She could never tell her parents about ATs. They wouldn't understand. They wouldn't understand the freedom it gives her. They wouldn't understand what it means to fly. Lots of older kids like her had trouble with telling their parents about ATs. Most adults did not even know of Genesis and Sleeping Forest and the great battle that decided the fate of riders everywhere. They did not know that Ikki, Kazu, Kururu and all the others were heros in their own rights.

It was all too much of the same. She didn't want think about it anymore

Instead she thought about what Kazu was doing. The 'Rink Queen' moving to Japan..? Was she going to be accepted into the ranks? Was she really that powerful? There weren't many female storm riders but the ones that she knew of were all pretty good. And this 'Ice Regalia'.. what did it do? True Regalia were rare to find and most of the Regalia used today were sub-Regalia, copies of the original. The only three true Regalia Emily knew of were the Flame, Storm and Thunder Regalia and those have shown such power in the world of AT...

Emily yawned. It was too much. This whole AT thing really did seem like magic, though most of it could be explained through physics. Emily's eyes began to fall. She wanted to wait for Kazu to come to her window and take her for a ride. It had been his habit to stop by after her parents were asleep to pick her up and take her around the town at supersonic speeds. It was so exhilarating. The wind blowing past them, her hair going wild. It felt like they weren't in control of anything.. but she trusted Kazu to control his speed.

She was so tired. Everything ached from a full day of training. Everything from her toes to her fingers. She would have to train more tomorrow. She needed to get up to A Class level. Emily felt her body forcing her to relax and she didn't resist the fit of sleep that over took her.

Just before she drifted off, she heard the distance voice of a female singing..(Note it was in English)

'Hot and dangerous, if you're one of us then roll with us..."