No good deed goes unpunished. Be it the pain from being hit with a fang or the pain to your reputation. But on the bright side ATS!
Trick 2: Fade into the Air
With a sudden gasp I wake up, trying to sit up before falling back and clutching my chest. Damn, that party must've been real. I wonder to myself before closing my eyes. In shock I quickly reopen them, after seeing one of the many masks I've seen showcased in Devil's Crown matches jump from my memory. "Oh, fuck." I say to myself, remembering last nights events. "I am so dead." If Katsumi finds out she's gonna kill me for doing something stupid… again. I place my hand on my head and think about how much I messed up last night. I fall into a daze staring at the light reflecting off the glass on my living room floor. That only lasts until I make a realization. "And why the fuck am I on my couch?"
"Because I couldn't be bothered moving you upstairs." I quickly sit up, ignoring the pain and preparing for a fight. I look up and find a man, who looked to be about nineteen. He had pale blond hair that was just long enough to partly cover his grayish-green eyes, all carried on a rather cheery disposition. He looks a bit scrawny but who am I to talk. I'm not exactly ace body builder.
"You're the guy from the party?"
He nods. "My names Tamotsu Ojima. Since you saved me from Kouji, the least I could do was make sure you didn't die." He says, walking towards me. "You're lucky that Fang didn't kill you."
"If I was lucky I wouldn't have gotten hit." I joke. "I'm Damian by the way. Damian Voleur.
"Voleur-"
"-Call be by my first name, everyone does."
"Right… Damian, how did you stop Kouji's flames?" Ojima asks. The tone he was asking in is very strange. It's as though he needs that information to survive. "I've seen something like that before, the ex-leader of a team called Trident used to take apart other Rider's Roads. But I've heard he was a genius. No offense but-"
"None taken." I respond in a way that tells him not to finish that sentence. We sit in silence for a moment, lasting only until I hear the buzzing of a phone vibrating. "Is that me?"
"Yeah, you've been getting calls all day."
I stand to search for my phone but regret it soon after. I wince, almost losing my balance due to a pain in my chest. It feels like someone bombed my chest. I place my hand on the arm of the couch to hold my myself up. I look to my shirt to look for injuries and instead end I staring at a large hole in my shirt. I take off the shirt and after it goes over my head I see Ojima handing me my phone just as the call ends. Fourteen missed calls: Katsumi. "How long have you been here?"
He shrugs. "I've been in and out since your party. You've been asleep pretty much all day."
"You didn't think to take me to a hospital?" I ask slightly annoyed.
Ojima put his hand to his chin in thought. "I figured if I did that… Devil's Crown would think you were snitching." He chokes out. You clearly just made that up!
Before I could call him out on it my phone vibrates again. I look down and read the name. Katsumi. "Yo-"
"Don't yo me, I thought you were dead!" Katsumi shouts. I'm pretty sure Ojima hears it too and begins wandering around.
"Katsumi, I'm sorry, alright? I was sleeping off the party that's all."
She wasn't at the party, I still have a chance.
"Yeah right!" She yells. "I saw a video of you fighting some Storm Riders." Fuck, there's a video of me getting put out? "Those guys in Devil's Crown are nothing but animals. I hate it when people use ATs like that." She growls, more to herself than me.
I should probably calm her down. "Hello, I'm still here."
"Oh, uh... Look, Damian, meet me somewhere. We need to talk about Devil's Crown." Katsumi asks. It was clearly more like an order, but since she's about the only trustworthy friend I've made since I came to Japan, Katsumi carries some weight over my will.
"You wanna meet up?" I ask for confirmation. I feel something hit the back of my head and turn to see Ojima who had thrown a peanut, leaning out of the kitchen. 'What're you doing?' I mouth.
"Tell her to meet you at Horsepower." He says. What the hell is Horsepower?
"...Alright can you meet me at Horsepower?"
"You mean the shop near the park?"
"Uh, yeah." I answer knowing it sounds more like a question. Katsumi hangs up and I look back to Ojima. "Horsepower?"
"It's my parents store." Ojima answers. "Hurry up so we can go." My brow furrows from being rushed. This guys been just coming in and out if my house and now he's ordering me around. Catching the glare I was throwing his way he puts up his hands. "I'll… wait outside." He says, backing out the front door. I quickly head up stairs.
I quick grab a black shirt with a large yellow bruised smiley face stretching across it and change into a pair of cargo-pants. I head down the stairs, put on my sneakers and leave the house. "Let's go." I order locking the door. Not much point though. I think to myself looking at the shattered window. If Katsumi doesn't kill me my sister will.
After letting Ojima lead me around I find myself bored once again. "How far away is this place?" I sigh.
"It's not far from here." He says, as he nervously looks around. I tap him on the shoulder and he jumps with a gasp.
He's scared? "This isn't Devil's Crown territory, Ojima." I claim, trying to reassure him.
"You're the one who should be worried about them. This is where Kouji tried to jump me." Ojima says. "I don't think he's gonna give up just because DC doesn't want him anymore."
"Well he's probably more focused on me now. He's too old for this shit." I joke. "If I wasn't drinking I would've beat his ass. Especially if he didn't have those ATs on."
Ojima laughs. "You know what Damian, we're gonna be good friends." If you say so. I think to myself, before hearing the sound of metal being scraped. "And we're h-" Before Ojima could finish announcing our arrival I put my hand in front of his face. I point forward to the fountain of the park. He stares at it for a second then speaks. "What am I looki-" Suddenly there's a splash and a rift of water screens a female figure. The figure then jumps and slides slightly on the wet wheels of AT. She continues sliding, so fast that the water from the fountain can't keep up as it falls to the ground missing her completely. "Whoa…" She spins and comes to a sudden stop at a tree.
I offer up a slow applause gaining her attention. "Dancing again, Katsumi? And I thought you were worried about your friend."
Katsumi opens her deep dark eyes and throws a big smile my way as she quickly rides up to us. Her dyed cyan-blue hair flows with her speed. She's got her riding usual clothes on. A blue track-jacket with a large white horizontal stripe around the torso. Under the jacket was a light-blue tank top with assorted flowers across the lower right side. On her lightly tanned legs were jean shorts and on her feat, blue and black ATs stylized to look like sandles though they still had to make way for the tech so they where taller than your average AT.
"Who's this?" She asks referring to Ojima.
"Katsumi, this is Tamotsu Ojima," I introduce gesturing to him. He waves nervously before I move my hand to Katsumi. "This is-"
"I'm Katsumi Kaneko." She says wrapping her hand over my shoulder. "And for the next week or so... This guys warden."
"Warden?" I repeat.
"Well if I leave you alone you'll keep getting your self in stupid situations." Like the kind I've saved you from.
"Well Kaneko, can I bring him into the shop with me? I owe him for saving my life." Ojima asks.
"Saving your life?" Katsumi repeats.
I lean towards her and whisper, "It's a long story." She nods and the three of us head into the store. "What're you gonna give me a gift card?"
"No, just pick out a pair of ATs." The shop seems to sell strictly ATs and parts along with gear for riding. There were a few people in the store, standing along the white walls, eying the shelves for tools and wheels. On the other side there were people searching through assorted caps and gloves. And in between, rows and rows of Air Trecks. At the register was a man who looks like he could be Tamotsu's older brother maybe in his early thirties.
"Are you serious?" Katsumi and I both shout in unison, gaining the attention of a few customers. We both know how expensive Air Trecks are, if they weren't everyone would have them.
"Yeah, I'm sure my parents won't mind if one pair of ATs go missing." Tamotsu answers. "And your friend can get some gear if-"
"Hey, you're the guy from that video on the Parts War site." A customer states.
"How'd it feel get one-shoted by Senbou? And judging by the fact that your walking DC must've went easy on you." A man near him asks before laughing at his own joke. No matter what side of the world I'm on there'll always be some dickhead to kill my vibe. "I'm surprised Devil's Crown left you walking."
"Wow, you're boring. Now do you think you'd be more or less boring when I knock you the fuck out?"
The man smiles confidently. "Try me, American-boy." He taunts, even going a far as to say 'American-boy' in English. Well he's clearly taken note of my accent. The other man who is clearly his friend laughs at the joke. I step forward and I feel my fist tense. The two men stand together both hoping I'd do something. I feel Katsumi lightly tugging the back of my shirt. I turn to her expecting to see her near tears trying to stop me, instead she seems just as angry as I'm acting. Realizing this, I stop, unclenching my fist. It's not worth it. "What's taking so long, or is your bark bigger than you bite." I'm never gonna let Katsumi become like me.
"Nah, you look like a dull fight so I'm done with you." I reply.
"What a gentlemen." Tamotsu says. Since he is standing near us he could probably see Katsumi holding my shirt.
"You couldn't even take down the Skull Sader. What the fuck did you think was gonna happen? Fujibashi probably put up a better fight."
"Cut him some slack." A woman in baggy clothes says to the man pushing me. Blonde hair leaks from her cap as she takes a plastic bag from the man at the register. She bows her thanks before continuing the conversation we were having. "I'd say he did pretty well. Using the Over Road without AT can't be easy." Everyone falls silent except for a few people who whisper Over Road.
Over Road? I repeat to myself. Before last night I had only seen one Road. The Wing Road, which I'm pretty sure Katsumi rides. To this day it's still something I find worth watching. Then I saw Kouji's Flame Road and Senbou's Bloody Road, both of which first hand. "What's the Over Road?" I ask. Most of the people in the store begin laughing and the woman shakes her head.
"Miyako, you're one of the best solo Riders around," He chuckles to himself. "Don't associate yourself with losers like him." He and his friend laugh as they walk out of the store, thinking no one had noticed the part the most talkative of the two had pocketed. Luckily when he decided to continue his tough guy act and shoulder past me, I picked his pocket. Miyako, merely rolls her brown eyes at the two before leaving the store herself.
The three of us (the only people still on the the store besides the man on the register) begin walking through the isles and I place the part on a shelf near a pair of ATs. "You sure no how to cause a scene." Tamotsu sighs. I shrug and so does Katsumi. "Anyway, hurry up and pick out a pair, it's almost my shift." I walk the isles twice before just grabbing a pair of ATs. Since I know nothing about Air Trecks or their stats I just take the ones that match my style. They each have a base color of black with a pure red trim. The underside is a dark grey metal, connecting to two jet black wheels.
"You sure this is, alright?" I ask Ojima making eye contact with the man behind the register.
Tamotsu then catches my gaze and waves to the man at the register. "It's fine." He says as the man walks into the back of the store. "It's my shift anyway." We approach the Tamotsu with my ATs and Katsumi takes a few parts, still leaving money on the counter just to be nice. "Alright cool. So rumor has it that there's gonna Storm Rider gathering in the part tonight. You..." Tamotsu stops and I see that he breaks eye contact to look behind me. I quickly turn my head and catch Katsumi bringing her thumb across her throat, motioning for Tamotsu to stop. She stops an attempts to play it off as a scratch.
Before Katsumi can get the chance to give a pleading look, I turn back to Tamotsu and answer. "I'm in."
He scratches the back of his head, clearly afraid of what Katsumi might do to him. "Um..." He stutters. "Good? You two should practice in the park before Riders start showing up." I nod and walk out the store knowing Katsumi was scowling at my back from close behind.
So we've had a few OC mentions and a short appearance more will be introduced later in the story, but I might as well say who's accepted, right? (Submission are still open and this list is in no order)
Wing-Tomoharu Fujibashi (Elsmul)
Gaia-Miyako Kihara (Bloody Crow)
Rising-James Cross (Munamana)
Sonia-Kayla Greene (Munamana)
Gladius-Seth Mckinnion (Barrett M107)
Bloody-Hansel Grimm (Mr. Scary face)
Bloody-Zero (turtlekorn)
Chain-Vriska Stewart (Little miss innocent liar)
Flame-Tavros Ravos (Little miss innocent liar)