Trick 11: Overkooled
"So what'd you talk to Undead about?" I call to Katsumi as she rides ahead of me.
"Just something Terzei wanted me to ask him." She answers. After a quick jump and she turns back towards me and skates backwards. "What about you, Damian? I didn't know you and Minata were close."
"Who?"
Katsumi stumbles, before looking forward again. "Yue Minata? The girl who was I'm the lobby with your AT?"
"Oh, so that's her name. We just talked about a few things and she fixed my ATs." As I say that I look down at my feet as I glide over the pavement. I thought I'd be worse after not riding for a few days. But I think I'm better. I still remember the feeling from last night while I was falling from the school. The Over Road. Even after I first got my Air Trecks from Tamotsu I never looked into any of the Roads. They all kind of came to me, so why is the Road I know the least about my own. After making a mental note to actually do some research I look up and see Katsumi analyzing me. "What's up? Don't tell me you're jealous?" I joke, now keeping up with her.
"I guess I am." She answers. I stop laughing and look at the expression on her face. Serious and nostalgic. "If I could do the things she can I wonder if I'd end up just as cold. Do you remember hearing about Minata from school?"
"No, it was to hard for me to tell names from words back then." I reply, recalling my many problems with the language.
Katsumi holds back a giggle. "Right, well I do. I thought the two of us were alike before but her and I are so different. She's stronger than I was."
"What does that mean?"
"Don't worry, it's not important right now. Anyway that's Kihara from your team, right?" She says looking up to a low roof top. Sure enough Miyako's standing up there watching us. With how quickly she notices us, no doubt she was sweeping for riders, using both her eyes and AT.
Both Katsumi and I wall ride up to her, myself barely keeping pace as she soars above me. I don't know why but I find it a bit annoying that she's so much better than me at this. I shake the thought and change focus to Miyako. "When'd you get your AT fixed?" She asks.
"I just had a run in with a Tuning Mercenary." Unsure how to really continue from there I direct the conversation to why we're here. "So I'm guessing you haven't found them yet?"
She raises her brow at me. "Who knows, you never told me what they look like." Miyako answers in her usual uninterested tone. "Do you know how many riders come through here?"
"More than you care to count, I'm sure." I answer carefully walking to the edge of the building. "Asking person to person would be way too boring." I groan to myself wondering if I should even bother asking Terzei for more information. She's probably still freaking out about that girl. Why doesn't she just do something about her, isn't that Revelations' thing? "Well Solomon'll be here soon, right? Then we should be able to speed this up a bit."
Katsumi sighs. "I wish I could help but I don't really know them. Oh, I think Mary might know them. I'll send her a messa-"
She pauses at the sound of angry shouts from below. The three of us look to the street to find nothing before realizing it was coming from further away. Whoever that is, she's really loud. Without a word we all head over, Miyako taking the ground route while Katsumi and I (myself lagging behind somewhat) take roof tops over. We all converge in the general area. "You walked into me!" The girl yells with a sharp snarl. She's wearing your average clothes, jeans and a t-shirt. However there is something that stands out, her bright pink ATs stood on red wheels. The blond woman stands at about five foot seven, half a foot shorter than her opponent whose back was turned towards us. "You think it's them?" I ask.
"Lovers quarrel?" Katsumi jokes in return. I look back, curious to see how this played out, or if we might have to get involved. The boy, like Seth, had a mess of gray hair, covered by a red beanie. He was wearing a black tank-top along with a pair of grey acid washed jeans. I down to Miyako who seem to be rushing towards them from a perpendicular street. "She's in a rush."
I look back to the man, and instantly put together Miyako's urgency. The slots on the back of each red and black skate, were the perfect size for a blade. Shit, it really is Seth. "You're really choosing a bad time." Seth snarls. Reading to make it a fight the girl tightens her fist and pulls back her hand. Fuck, if she hits him- I move to jump to the ground before notice the sound of something clanging against metal and the motor of Air Trecks. I look to the rider in slow motion and can only notice the look of unobstructed rage on his face before a flash of electricity distracts me. With not a second of warning my ATs jut forward and I slip from the roof top.
For a second I wonder if this was the lose that Minata had warned me about. With no other hope than my own power, I try to slow my fall like at the old school. As if warning me not to, Katsumi screams to me "Dami-" However she's too late unlike before I can't right myself and end up pushing horizontally. Throwing myself into the window.
As I fall back I note the emptiness of the building and a girl gingerly sliding two fingers across a scorch mark across a pillar. What's she doing here? Nearing the ground I manage to put a hand out in front of me. I press the inches of air between myself and the ground, softening my fall before my back slams to the ground. "Damian! Are you okay!?" Katsumi asks, sounding well beyond painced. She quickly jumps down, landing much more successfully than myself.
"Yeah, I'm getting better at falling after all this practice... And being thrown through windows." I sit up with a groan and look around, finding the girl who fratactly rubbing her eyes. "Hey, are you alright?"
"It was fine when you kept the noise outside. But you damn well aren't gonna be in here." She growls. I stand and attempt to slowly approach her while examining the empty freight warehouse. Chains and spider webs hang from above, and scorch marks and blood decorate the concrete walls and floors along side scratches and harsh cracks. I look down and notice the long dried pool of blood underneath me. It looks like something was dragged leading to an even larger bloodstain. This was not a fight I'd want to be in, this was more like a massacre. I can nearly feel the image of Bishop's face burning its way from the back of my mind before I snap myself out of it. The girl turns to us looking as if she had just finished crying.
"Are you hurt?" As Katsumi quickly races up beside me. She lightly tugs my shirt to send me a message and I look from her back to the girl. She was tall, with blond hair that fell past her shoulder. Her blue eyes were a bit red from strain. Like the girl in the picture she had large breast and hips which her clothes seemed to make an effort to show off. "You're the one Terzei was so paranoid about?"
"Terzei? So she finally gave up on hoping I'd get bored and quit. That explains that stupid huge dragon flying around last night." Stewart looks us over before giving us a rather dispassionate stare. "I don't recognize either of you. I thought she'd send at least somebody from the old days. Not rookies, why you don't you guys just get the fuck out of my face." She's giving her best effort to intimidate us but looking at her it was obvious that she hadn't been here with violence in mind. Her short blue skirt and band shirt said enough, but most of all she wasn't even wearing AT, just a pair of red sneakers.
Katsumi whispers behind me slightly, trying to conceal our conversation from Stewart. "Damian, let's just follow Terzei's orders and leave. If we go now she won't be able to catch us and we can catch up with your team."
"Why should we run? Miyako can handle it and Solomon will be there too. She's not even o-" I'm immediately cut off by the whipping sound that flies through the air as Katsumi pushes me aside. The two of us fly a few feet away from each other as a chain held by the girl slams into the concrete between us. With no time for recovery the chain slides wrapping round my ankle. With a quick tug she nearly pulls me off my feet, forcing my AT to roll towards her. I slip as she pulls me under her right leg. With all the power she can she tries to slam her foot into my face which I manage to parry to the ground beside me with my left hand. "That's dangerous."
"What you didn't want me to crush your face?" She asks trying to kick herself free from my grasp.
"Well, no. But I meant the fact that you're wearing a skirt." As a natural reaction to my response she angrily tries to kick harder, lifting one legs off the floor before getting blast a decent distance away by a strong gust of wind that followed a soft popping sound. Stewart flies in to a worn shelf causing a few random item to fall to the floor, such as an open soda and random candies. I briefly wonder what kind of trick Katsumi had just hit her with as the girl sits and bares her gritted teeth in anger. I quickly unravel my leg from the chain which she was still managing to hold. "Thanks Kat."
The girl stands crushing a now empty can with her foot. "What the hell was that supposed to be? A fang?"
"It's called a Current." Katsumi answers, raising her hands is she was pulling a rubber band. "Since we are so trapped in here most of the air pours in from one spot." She says referring to the window. "If I can find the breeze I can push it towards you. The draft, becomes a gust and the gust becomes a blast."
As she continues to explain the mechanics of her move I begin to zone out. It's becoming more and more obvious how much stronger than me Katsumi is as I spend time with her. She doesn't need me to protect her anymore but that probably ended when we graduated. I look at the girl we were against, Vriska Stewart. I could see her eying something above us and plotting. I look back to Katsumi who seems not to have noticed. I guess she still doesn't know what to expect from a street fight though. "Hey, not that your cannon's not badass, but if you explain it gets a bit boring." I interrupt. "But you've got to remember you're more of a glass cannon." As soon as Katsumi looks to me I see the girl make her move from the corner of my eye. Her arm raises into a whipping motion, sending the chain that was previously wrapped around my ankle flying towards us I let Katsumi take the feint while I look up to the second chain she had thrown. It hits a beam at an angle seeding it flying down over our heads. I jump and grab it before it becomes a threat, pulling Stewart up a bit as I fall back to the ground.
Katsumi gives me a nod of gratitude before turning towards the girl. "You lost, we have your chains. Without your AT we can just pull you towards us."
She sighs in annoyance. "Do you really think fighting me in my own web is going to work? You two might have the ATs but not the brains." We both stare at her, trying to figure out her plan. Unlike Wildcard I can't read poker faces. The best I can do is assume everyone's lying, in this case bluffing. "Go on, pull it."
Calling Stewart's taunt I pull the chain down which raises her to her toes. It takes several hitches in the chain before I put together that I'm doing more than just slowly lifting her. I look up at the sound of deep rattling, finding the painful amount of chains that was about to rain down atop of Katsumi and I. Seeing that the bulk of it would fall to my right, on Katsumi, who stands unaware and still ready to blast another Current the girl. I jump above her, pulling myself up with the chain connecting Vriska and I. However just before I can reach the chains she lets go, causing me to drop back down.
I land skates first and can feel the pressure my body put on them. With the weight of my landing my wheels spin opposite to each other, sufficiently moving nowhere as if I was burning two head to head cars. With my skates rapidly spinning like as a vacuum I can feel the air tighten around me. I instantly cough feeling the tightness compress around my chest. Hearing this, Katsumi flinches looking towards me and unconsciously firing another Current. I can almost see it backfire and the look on her face as it comes back towards me. It slams into my chest like a bullet before joining the air under my AT. It strikes across me as hard plates as it coats over me, barely allowing me to breath. The falling chains merely bounce of the plating as it constricts me. So this what knights' Armor feels like...
I can see Katsumi to my right yelling towards me but the distinct lack of air between us stop her voice from hitting. Behind her however I notice the look on Stewart's face as she aims to take advantage of our panic. She swings another chain which seems to have been pulled out of thin air and I confidently watch as it slams into my Armor before wrapping around it. It tightens as she pulls yet still seems to remain half an inch off my body. Shit, am I invincible? I take a step with my left foot and a deep sense of dramatic error overcomes me. The air platting to my left explodes, leaving the other half to gently dissipate. The now broken chains links fly into the wall as low speed shrapnel as I brought to my hands and knees, gasping for air. "So… not… invincible." I say through the immense pain on the left half of my body.
Katsumi runs to my side, scraping her knees as she slides to a stop. She babbles incoherently as Stewart laughs in the background. "I am going to drag you back to Terzei by your throat." Katsumi howls. Even like this I could see she was holding back, staying by her peaceful(ish) faith to no end.
"Yeah? I wonder how that'd go?" She asks in a tone that I find incredibly difficult to place. Though by the sudden appearance of her sci-fi/horror movie like Shadow I can guess she'd rather not go meet the rest of The Court. As I expected she has a strong admiration of spiders. The large dark blue body takes up nearly half of the building we are in and as it eights bright red eyes watch our every move as it hovers on it's web. It balances itself on it's eight battle damaged legs, each carrying some degree of scar or bruising.
I feel some degree of dizziness as I watch it move, wishing my body was stupid enough to try that Armor move again. But it doesn't take long for me to realize the weakness in my stomach isn't coming from Chains and her pet, but the peace walking rider in the room.
So there you have it. A short intro to two characters, a fight with Vriska, a trick from Katsumi and you're first trick from Damian (though it recoils like a bitch). The original name of Armor was Overkooled (because it's one of my favorite songs on the Air Gear soundtrack) but that didn't really fit the theme of the two other tricks I have planned so I reworked it a bit. Hopefully for the better.
