Chapter 1

Tempest Star

Nimbus Stadium

The music was blaring with roars that rivaled jet engines. The audience shrieked with excitement while waving banners, flags and various other memorabilia. They cheered for their favorite riders as they entered the stadium, doing flips and tricks and waving signals with their hands.

In the far right corner of the stadium, a rider pulled into the field. His skin was paled purple and he donned a black vest that was opened to reveal his bare, flat chest. He wore goggles that were fogged on the inside from the condensed sweat and a helmet that was mostly red with a yellow crest-lie pattern surrounding the rim. His eyes were orange, and underneath those vibrant eyes were small asterisk symbols of which his name derived from. He went by Aster, however, for short.

Once he appeared in plain view, the stands erupted with cheers. Crazed fangirls jumped up and down, screaming "I love you" and "Marry me'.

Aster could hear them and dismissed the cheers and cries at nothing as h settled himself upon his ride, the Zephyr Wheelie. It had the speed and quality of a normal Wheelie, but it had glide statistics that bested even the Angel Star.

The announcer in the silenced glass box pulled the microphone to his lips as he smiled down at the field before him.

"Folks," he said into the mic. The stands grew mildly quiet. "It's that time of year again. The weather is nice and the competition can't get any better than this. This year, we have the champ rider from Symbol Star, Asterisk "Aster" Octothorpe."

One again, the fans erupted with roars of excitement. Aster waved curtly at his many fans, but quickly returned to just sitting stoically on his ride. The announcer continued on about his remarks on each racer, and who he guessed would win.

In Aster's mind, there was no way he could possibly lose this race. None of his opponents looked daunting, and he was sure that he hadn't heard of them before on the news. He was positive that he was going to win, go home and rest until next month's race.

While the announcer continued to bore the audience with his nonsense, Aster and the other three riders rode their vehicles up to the starting line and banner. It was a while before someone came up to the glass box and reminded the announcer of his previous follies and his impending job loss. He returned to doing his job right and quickly began the countdown.

Aster charged his Wheelie up and once the starting blare went off, all four racers zoomed down the track.

He didn't feel at all pressured and took it easy during the first turns of the lap. His challengers were unskilled and had horrible choices in rides. Aster, however, had been riding for years and had perfected his skill with his Wheelie.

He turned a corner, running into a hill that jutted abruptly from the ground. It hindered him for a second or two, but in those few, short moments, two riders were able to pass him up.

Aster cursed beneath his breath and attempted to redeem his place in first. The race lingered on and Aster was able to make it into second place. It was hard for him to try to pass the rider in first. A splitting headache shot through his head suddenly, and pierced violently with each bump his Wheelie bounced on.

He soon collapsed from his ride, and the others passed him up without hesitation. He closed his eyes and all he saw before blacking out was the dust left from his opponents.

•*•*•*•*•*•

Aster awoke in the Tempest Star Hospital. His headache had yet to subside, but it was definitely weaker. All he had to do was keep still from further fueling the pain. So, he was dormant in his bed, looking at the bare, beige walls. He was disappointed in himself for losing the race. How could he have been so weak as to succumb to a little headache?

While he was thinking to himself, he was oblivious to the fact that someone came in, until his name was called. Aster turned to look to who had called his name and smiled weakly. It was Caret Tilde, his girlfriend.

"Aster!" Caret cried with her hands clasped together. Tears were streaming from her eyes and down her pale face. "I saw you! On the TV! You fell!"

Aster rolled his eyes and his smile faded slightly. He simply replied with. "Just a headache."

"And an ass-ache! You hit the ground pretty bad, Aster!"

Aster scowled a little and rested his hands on his chest. "It might have looked bad, but in reality, the only thing hurting is my head."

Caret pouted and neared the side of Aster's bed while wiping tears away on her sleeve. "You sure you're okay, Aster? You want me to stay?"

He was fine without Caret nagging consistently about his well-being, but if he dismissed her now, she would start crying again. Besides, she'd come so far just to see him and he didn't want to disappoint her. After all, he loved her.

"Sure, stay. I'll probably be out tomorrow night anyways. Then, I'll start riding again."

Caret pulled a chair over to Aster's bedside and sat. Her emotions were no longer raging so wildly, but so many things were on her mind. She stared sadly at Aster, who was slowly beginning to go back to sleep.

"Aster, I want you to give up air riding," she said

Aster replied calmly with, "No."

Caret's eyes welled back up with tears. Her head lowered and the tears fell onto her hands.

"Please, Aster... You've seen how bad the air riding accidents have been. People have died. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Nothing is going to happen, Caret. You shouldn't be worried about me."

"But I love you!"

Aster refused to let the argument carry on, so the room went silent, aside from the soft sound of Caret's sobbing. Air riding was his life. He loved it as a hobby and as a job. Nothing could pull him away from it. Not even Caret.

"I only want you to be safe. You've been riding for years. You have enough money to provide for yourself. Just stop and come home. Everyone at Symbol Star misses you. I miss you."

Aster sighed and watched Caret cry. She was at the point when her nose became runny and she had to blow it with her handkerchief. Aster was irritated now.

"Caret, I want you to leave now. You're making my headache worse."

Reluctantly, Caret pulled herself from her chair and wiped her nose and eyes before walking to the door. Aster turned on his side to face the other wall. Caret stuffed her wet handkerchief back into her bag, but she continued to sniffle and just a few tears down her cheeks.

"Get well soon, Aster."

And with that, she left.