Iro lay across the table, her eyes scanning the empty highway that was across the diner. She sighed, twirling the fork in her fingers like drum sticks. Her red eyes held a dreamy look as she stared out the window and she let out a soft, slow sigh.
"Your pancakes are getting cold."
"Hmmm?" she blinked, but did not move. The fork twirled faster as a biked raced by the road, picking up dirt.
"Your pancakes?" her boyfriend, Marshu Maro, sat back and nodded his pale white face towards her lunch. "You know, your birthday present. Or early birthday present."
"That's nice. I like the rain too," the girl said with a half hearted smile.
"Oh, and by the way, I lost your contact lenses when we went swimming, that time you asked me to hold on to them for you."
"Yeah, frozen yogurt is so good." Another sigh as another bike went by.
Marshu blinked and sat back, wiping syrup off his mouth. "You're missing Rainbow Flightrider, aren't you?"
The name of her wrecked motorcycle snapped her to consciousness, and for a split second he could see the fiery rage in her eyes that she had had when he had accidentally destroyed it with an arrow. Her face twitched, her eyes narrowed to slits, and the fork went from twirling to stabbing motion.
"Hey whoa, now. Don't go all David Kessler on me," he said. Instinct pushed him backwards, he knew she had a temper, and had more than once teased and threatened both to use him as a human stress ball when she got pissed. The fact that he was whiter than an albino, and not ever near five feet, only fueled his defenses. Iro would and could kick his ass ten times over without thinking about it.
"And don't go quoting old eighties movies on me," she said, taking a breath and closing her eyes. Sunlight trickled into her rainbow dyed hair, and seemed to sooth her somehow. Her eyes popped open, and she swung with her fork, stabbing. Marshu squeaked, fearing he misread the moment, but her giggle assured him that he had not. She plopped in a mouthful of lukewarm pancakes and chewed.
Marshu exhaled, his shoulders losing. Both of them totally ignored the people staring at them, one or two actually taking a pic. "Look, I am really..."
"We've been over this, dude," she said with a mouthful of food. "I'm over it, anyway. You so didn't mean to destroy her."
Marshu smiled. "That might be, but it doesn't change the fact that I did. And its time I made up for it." His smile grew wider as his phone vibrated. He looked at the text and studied her puzzled look. "Hey, there are perks to being a multi trillionaire."
The words seemed to hang in the air, bouncing off the bright red walls and the checkered floor. The patrons just stopped and stared, as if a laser had frozen them on the spot. "Yeah, you dweebs heard him," the young, twenty two year old woman growled. She might have been absent minded today, but she could still feel most of them judging her man. "He said multi trillionaire. As in, he could buy this place if he wanted." She scanned, daring anyone to challenge her. And looked back. "But, like, seriously what do you mean?"
Marshu's grin widened more. "You finish your lunch. Then I'll show you."
Half an hour later, they were across town, walking towards a very large garage. "I bought it, after my stint in acting," Marshu said with a smile. "Thought it might be a good place to practice stunts so I could do all my own action."
"Legit," the girl said, looking at the large, bright tan area. It had a large dome overhead with bright red tiles. "My man is 'Action Marshmellow.' " She giggled, and squealed as he responded to poking her sides.
"At any rate, after I broke my ankle...,"
"I warned you not to try that jump," she said, partially joking with a hint of seriousness.
"Don't make me poke you again," he said. "After I broke my ankle I thought I'd lend it to our friends. Mio uses it off and on, and well, she has a friend who is a mechanic, and a bit of a techie."
Iro stopped walking. She knew he'd dated other girls, and still took a few of his old flames out when she was busy. The thought that one of them was running one of his buildings kinda felt off. Though to be fair she ran a few of his ventures too, in fact far more than the other girls. And they had broken up twice, before coming back to each other this last time. "Okay, and what does Gamer girl and her friend have up their sleeve?"
Marshu grinned, and held out a remote. He pushed the small brown button, and the garage opened up. "Just another birthday present for m'lady."
Her pulse raced as her eyes widened. "The fuck is that?!" Her knees buckled and she gulped. Before her was a bike unlike she'd seen before. As colorful as her hair, as badass as her attitude. It glimmered in the neon lights of the inside of the building, sort of pulsing.
"That would be Flightrider 2.0, or whatever you decide to name her." He took a step back to let her take it all in. This thing was everything her old bike was and more. Hell it even had the cybernetic vibrating sensor like the car on one of her favorite shows did.
"That's, I mean, it's ..., she's mine?!" Her knees were slowly turning to jello. The air around her seemed thick as pea soup and heavy as the bottom of the ocean. "O.M.G."
Marshu walked up to his girlfriend, and gently kept her from falling over, as Mio and her friend, a very handsome guy with some fancy tech, came walking up. Mio reached into the other girl's pocket and pulled out her phone, tapping a few things before Iro could have the chance to respond, and then handed it back to her.
Iro looked at Mio, and blinked at her. The other girl smiled, running her hand through her sandy blonde brown hair which was tied into two little pig tails. The tips of her bangs were bright pinkish red, and she wore a very dirty, oil covered green jacket that was unzipped. Iro knew the other girl normally did not like getting that kind of dirty, that she would rather spend her time playing video games. So this very act of getting dirty, for her benefit seemed sweet enough to extinguish any jealous feelings. That plus her hot techie friend and she seemed to have a blushy, crushy thing going on between them.
"That will give you any information on the bike, no matter where it is, or what has happened to it. It'll alarm you if someone's tried to steal it, or has," Mio said.
"And it will give you the option of stopping the theft with the flick of a button," Mio's hotty hot tech friend finished for her. "Plus, other features."
"Such as?" the bedazzled girl asked.
Marshu gently escorted her to the bike and helped her on it. "Well, such as your new riding suit. He showed her where to push on her phone, and upon touching the greenish blue button, a suit unlike anything she'd ever seen or wore before wrapped itself around her. "Fire proof, hardy, to protect from broken bones, and even a medical simulator which will decide the best action if something honestly has happened to you." He stood back and crossed his short arms. "Eva, helped us with that."
"The mecha girl?" she asked. Marshu had a habit of getting into contact with loads of girls in weird and odd situations. Eva was one of them, a girl from either the future or another universe, Iro was never certain, who flew a Mecha suit to fight giant monsters, ala Pacific Rim. Her boyfriend smiled and nodded. "Go ahead. Power it up."
Iro looked over at the controls, for a key, and was informed there needed need be one. She'd just have to flick a little red switch. Upon that action, the bike vibrated, and lights flickered one by one. "Holy Shi...," she whispered.
Powering up, system check. All systems activated and ready for command.
"Holy frickin' shit it talks!" she hollered. Her instincts told her to launch herself from the bike, and race far away. But her boyfriend and the others smiled. Marshu suggested she give it a command. "Um," she stuttered numerous times, before thinking of something. "Okay, find my apartment," she said. She gave the address, and for a moment, the bike just purred.
Address located. Do you wish to proceed?
"Uh, yeah." Her heart was in her throat. When asked who should drive, she finally said she would. And when asked if she'd like to take the highway or the skyway, she nearly fainted. "It can bloody, frickin' fly too?"
"Yep, magnetic safety harness will keep you from falling off," Mio said with a grin. "And even if not, your suit comes equipped with both a glider wing option, and as a last resort a parachute."
"Fuck me!" she gasped. She paused and looked around. "Um, skyway please." It hummed and groaned, and before she knew it, she was riding on a hover bike. "Oh frickin' sweet," she cooed.
"Iro," Marshu called up at her. She looked down at him. "I'll meet you there. I have some champagne ordered to be sent to either my house or your place. So I'll let them know where to go." He laughed and high fived the guy, giving Mio a quick hug. Then raced to his car. "Let's see whose faster, shall we?" He gave a wink and started his ignition.
Iro smiled harder and wider than she had in a very long time. "Oh God, yes!" she revved her engine, gave a quick command, and the two bolted off to the horizon.