Hey guys. I know, its been ages since I last posted. Its been a busy time. But anyway, here is the first chapter. Hopefully, you all like it. I am open to comments and criticism. Anyway, enjoy the story.
Ghost Racer
Chapter 1: The Beginning
X Racer jolted awake from his slumber, hitting the vehicle dashboard in front of him. "Well good morning to you to sleeping beauty," a female voice sarcastically snapped, "Seriously, did you actually fall asleep while I was talking! You better not think that I'm boring you!"
X rubbed his sore forehead as his eyes adjusted to the bright, blinding daylight before remembering where he was. X was in a red sports car, which was zooming past the orange-red rock formations scattered throughout the Arizona desert terrain. The car in question belonged to Annalise Zazic, X's girlfriend of three years. Currently, she was giving him the mother of all death glares, her knuckles turning white from gripping the car steering wheel so hard.
"What, no." X leaned back in the leather car seat and gave his best smolder; that had never failed before. "For one, your car is really comfortable and two…" X's eyes darted around as he struggled to find a response to satisfy his still glaring girlfriend. "I was…actually having some nice dreams about you."
It wasn't the most creative answer, but it seemed to have done the trick, as Annalise's glare softened, and her tone became more flirtatious. "Oh really." A sly smile formed on Annalise's face. "And what 'nice dreams' were you having then?"
'Nailed it,' X mentally fist pumped. However, Annalise was tapping her finger impatiently on the steering wheel. X's eyes widened slightly when he realized he had to respond.
"Well…" X gave a flirty smile, while at the same time trying to kick his brain into working gear to come up with something. "We're on a date. We go to one of your favorite shopping malls. Then we go out to eat at a nice restaurant and I give you nice necklace. You say something like 'It's the best present ever!' and I put it on for you."
X winced as the words came out of his mouth, as they came across as super cheesy romance clichés. But Annalise didn't notice or seem to care, as she ran her one hand through her strawberry blonde hair (Yet somehow still being able to control the speeding car). "Go on."
X blinked in surprise that his "romantic talk" had actually worked. 'Guess all those rom-com flicks that Annalise insist we watch on movie night are good for something.'
Resuming his confident expression, X leaned closer to his girlfriend. "Well, we end off the day at a cliff, watching the sunset together. We look into each other's eyes, then-"
"Eww. Gross" A male voice exclaimed, before another similar sounding voice chimed in. "Like get a room you too."
Completely flustered, X had forgotten that two other passengers where in the car: Jared and Jesse. The two were a pair of blond-haired identical twins that were nearly impossible to tell them apart. To be honest, they weren't the easiest people to hang out two were not very intelligent and would often bicker with each other. Really the only reason X hung out with them is that 1) they had a slight adoration for X (hey, fans were fans) and 2) they were actually pretty good drivers when they got along. To make the present scenario even more awkward, the two had started making mock kissing noises.
X jumped back into his seat out of pure shock and embarrassment. X attempted to make a comeback response, but his mouth refused to form words. Fortunately for X, Annalise had him covered. "Oh, knock it off you too!" Annalise rolled her eyes and gave the twins an annoyed look (while, again, somehow controlling a speeding vehicle). "Your just jealous that neither of have any girlfriends of your own!"
It was the twins' turn to be flustered. "Hey, tha-that's totally not true!" Jesse (or maybe it was Jared) pointed his finger indignantly. "Like, this one girl over the summer gave me the 'call me' symbol and -"
"What no way dude!" Jared (or Jesse) dope slapping his twin in the head. "That girl was totally looking at me. We had 'eye contact'. Everyone knows that means a relationship is serious. She was totally into ME not YOU!"
The first twin had recovered from the slap and began giving his brother a noogie. "Oh, that is BS and you know it! She told me we had 'chemistry'. That means I'm smarter than you! And smarts totally beats some lame 'eye contact'!"
"Oh yeah!" The second twin broke out of the noogie to give his twin a wet willy. "Since when did 'science' mean that a girl is interested. All that matters is if the girl is hot. And she was definitely hot. Waaaay hotter than Annalise!"
"EXCUSE ME!" Annalise's eyes shone with a livid fire as she practically growled at the boys. Both twins gulped and shrank back from Annalise, who looked ready to kill the duo for daring to think there was a girl prettier than her. This fear was quickly forgotten as both twins began to argue on which of them had made Annalise mad first.
X sighed as the three continued to relentlessly bicker with each other. Normally, he would play peacemaker to make everyone get along or at the very least shut up. However, this time X didn't mind the insistent arguing, as it gave him time to ponder on what his actual dream had been about. He honestly didn't know what to make of the dream.
It had been like watching a movie, being an observer and not being able to interact with the characters. As for the dream 'characters' he easily recognized the young child as his childhood self (Mr. Zoom Zoom the teddy bear had been a dead giveaway; though X would never admit to owning something like that). Though the other guy…X honestly didn't know what to make of him. Throughout the whole dream, the bizarre man had watched his younger self with unblinking eyes. It reminded him of some of his Uncle Spritle's old nature documentaries, with the way a predator looked at their prey before going in for the kill. However, it wasn't the man's stare that unnerved X, but rather the feeling of familiarity. As if X had met the man before.
Further, the dream itself had become something of a regular occurrence since the beginning of the summer. Originally, X written off the dream as a product of late-night snacks (he had cut back on Doritos for that reason). Despite this, the dream had not gone away. Rather, the dream had become more vivid overtime. It was starting to feel less like a dream and more like…a memory?
'Snap out of it X, it's probably nothing' X reasoned to himself. 'It's just nerves. You're getting freaked out over a stupid dream for no reason.' The group were nearly at Racing Academy by this point, as X could see the Academy's large white tower poke over the desert terrain. The Racing Academy was a school where teens could hone in their driving skills to become the next top racers (some people thought the concept of a racing school was crazy, but it's less crazy than the idea of a school that teaches teens how to play children's card games). X turned his eyes to the front of the car, gazing out to the long straight road ahead. In the distance, X could vaguely make out a person in the middle of the road, walking to the Academy's main entrance. And the car was still going roughly 80 mph in the person's direction.
"Guys!" X waved his arms trying to get his still-arguing friends' attention. X didn't want to experience vehicular manslaughter on his first day back at the Academy. "GUYS!"
X finally got the groups attention, and not a moment too soon. Jared had Jesse in a chokehold, and Jesse was biting Jared's hand. Annalise had been shaking her one free hand at the two and looked close to punching the twins. The three looked at X. X pointed his arm in front of them, showing the person walking in the road. The angry frown on Annalise's face turned into a mischievous smirk. "Watch this boys."
With a quick turn of the steering wheel, Annalise manage to swerve the car around the person, pulling off a perfect donut maneuver, before coming to a complete stop. At this point, X could finally see the individual up close. Standing to the far left of the sports car was a young teen, probably somewhere around X's age. The teen had short brown hair and blue eyes. Further, the teen was wearing a pair of blue jeans, blue t-shirt with a red star on the sleeves, and a lighter blue long sleeved shirt underneath (how the teen wasn't experiencing heatstroke was beyond X's best guess). The teen looked like a "deer in the headlights", and given that he had narrowly been runover, X wouldn't blame the teen.
"Hey kid," X said, hoping to create an icebreaker. "What are you doing standing in the middle of the road?"
"Uhhh…" The teen started trying to find his voice. "I was just going to-"
"Great. Another noob." Annalise rolled her eyes. a slight scowl had formed on her face. X gave Annalise a look, he never understood why she disliked new students. X then turned his head back to the teen, taking note of the overly large duffle bag in the teen's possession.
"Need a lift?" X tilted his head, hoping to make a better first impression than his girlfriend.
The teen's eyes light up. "That would be great." The teen started to make his way to the car, before noticing something.
"Hey," the teen pointed to a tattoo on X's arm, which happened to be in the shape of a large black X. "You're X, aren't you?" The teen reached for the car handle. "I've seen you race like a million-"
Before the teen could finish, Annalise pressed the accelerator, causing the car to lurch forward at least ten feet. The poor teen was left stunned as he processed what had happened. Apparently, Jared and Jesse thought it was the funniest thing ever, as they started laughing like hyenas. X rolled his eyes at their antics.
"Ooops. Sorry." Annalise mockingly apologized, turning back to face the teen with a fake smile.
Undeterred, the teen once again made his way over to the car. "I saw you at Daytona. Well, on tv, not actually at the track, your great."
X gave a faint smile at the compliment. It wasn't stuff that X hadn't already heard before, but he was a little flattered by the teen's comments. However, X's friends seemed to regard the comments with indifference.
"Seriously dude get in," Jared lounged his arms over the back of the car, half looking back at the teen. "We're going to be late."
Once again, the teen tried to reach for the car, only for Annalise to once again lurch the car forward. And again, the twins where sent into fits of hysterical laughter. X merely groaned at the "hilarious joke".
"Cool it Annalise." X chided his girlfriend before turning his attention back to the teen. Come to think of it, X didn't even know the teen's name. "What's your name?"
"Speed" the teen said matter-of-factly. A beat passed among the group.
"Like 'Speed Racer'. Yeah right." Jared scoffed. Jared, Jesse, and Annalise all snickered at this supposed joke. All except X, who could only stare at the teen.
"Your joking." X's smile had shifted into a deadpan expression.
"No, it really is." The teen (named Speed apparently) shifted his stance awkwardly.
"Speed huh," Annalise once again had a mischievous grin on her face. "Let's see if he's as fast as the real Speed Racer."
Before anyone could say anything, Annalise had shifted her car into high gear and floored it, leaving the poor teen in the dust. All while Jared and Jesse mockingly chanted "Go, Speed, Go!"
"Was that really necessary?" X asked, the annoyance in his tone very evident.
"Was 'what' necessary." Annalise feigned innocence, placing a small bag onto X's dorm bed.
After the Academy's orientation speech, Annalise had helped moved X's luggage into his dorm room. Though 'help' should really be used more in a loose sense with referring to Annalise, as X did most of the heavy lifting. In fact, Annalise only brought in three bags tops and they all weighed less than ten pounds.
"You know what I mean. You're whole 'let's mess around with the new kid'. It's a little childish if you ask me." X crossed his arms, shifting his stance. "Seriously, what do you have against freshman?"
Annalise sat at the end of X's bed. "Hey. I don't have anything 'against freshmen'. I just think that those noobs need to realize that people don't play nice at that school. It's better they learn it sooner than later." She crossed her legs, lightly kicking them against the bed's backboard.
"Besides, 'Speed', I mean what kind of lame name is that!" Annalise scoffed, before immediately catching herself. "Like, no offense to your dad or anything, but you get my point don't you."
True, the name 'Speed' had caught X off guard, as he honestly thought the teen was joking. But…something in X's gut told him that the teen wasn't lying about his name. Afterall, his Uncle Spritle had always told X to give people the benefit of the doubt. Maybe, Speed's parents had been major fans of X's father and wanted to name their son after him. It wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility. X was about to respond, only for Annalise's cell phone to start ringing, which she immediately answered.
"Yeah, hello." Annalise listened to the person on the other end for approximately fifteen seconds, before her look of indifference shifted into that of absolute anger.
"WHAT?!" Annalise had her phone in a near death grip (Though careful enough not to break it. Annalise had already crushed three phones over the summer and didn't want this one to be the fourth; it took far too long for the replacement phones to be delivered). "I specifically told you that my makeup desk is to go near the window not in the-."
X couldn't hear who was on the other end, but it sounded like the person was frantically trying to explain themselves.
"I don't care what the safety precautions are!" Annalise looked like she was going to strangle somebody, most likely the unfortunate fellow on the other end of the phone. "Either you do what you're told, or I'll have my daddy fire you all on the spot. Now you move that makeup desk, RIGHT NOW!"
The person on the other end sounded resigned to their fate and gave an unheard order to the other movers in Annalise's room. The quiet only lasted five seconds, before a series of shouts, followed by a loud crashing noise could be heard on the other end of the phone.
"WHAT WAS THAT! I AM COMING OVER RIGHT NOW!" Annalise put the phone into her purse and prepared to walk to the door. "Sorry X," her earlier anger toned down to mere annoyance. "I gotta go," she leaned up to give X a light kiss on the cheek before leaving the room.
All the while, X could still hear Annalise as she stomped down the hallway in her high-heeled boots, screaming into her phone the whole time. X felt sorry for the movers that had to face his girlfriend's wrath. X then turned to look at the remaining bags in his room.
'Guess it's up to me to unpack everything. Great.' X began to unzip the first bag. Unlike the other students at the Academy, X had a special room (it was one of the perks of being one of the few top drivers at the Academy). It was about twice the size of a normal dorm at the Academy. Further, it came with entire wall window overlooking the campus and surrounding dessert. Better yet, X had the room all to himself, which came with its own benefits: private bathroom, no snoring roommate, no stuff getting 'borrowed', etc.
The whole unpacking process had gone faster than X thought, as he was left with only one more bag. X unzipped the final duffle bag, which contained a couple of Knick Knacks: a few of his Turbo McCallister bobble heads, trophies from some of his older races, and a couple of his favorite videogames (All of which had been carefully wrapped in bubble wrap and tissue paper. Though for the videogames that was to prevent people from reading the titles; X really wished to avoid being labeled a "videogame geek").
X was about to fold up the bag when he felt a rectangular object somewhere in the bag's folds. Curious, X reached into the bag and removed the object: it was a framed photograph. Specifically, a photograph of a two-year-old X, a mile-wide smile on his face, being held by his father, the legendary Speed Racer. X felt a pit form in his stomach as he viewed the picture (and it wasn't because of the old 'embarrassing baby photo' thing).
X's father, Speed Racer, had been one of the top racers in the world, breaking records and always coming out on top of the competition. Not only that, but the man had practically been a superhero, stopping numerous villains practically every Saturday. It's no surprise that Speed Racer had garnered a large level of fame, one that spanned worldwide.
Then, Speed Racer just disappeared.
It had been only a couple of years after X was born, but Speed Racer had dropped off the face of the earth. No paper trail, no surveillance footage, no supposed sightings, just straight up vanished into thin air. Over the years, various conspiracy theories arose from the mystery, ranging from somewhat probable (running off with a mistress) to the downright bizarre (being abducted by aliens).
X clutched the photo tighter, mixed emotions swirling in his head. X had never been sure what to make of the whole "disappearance" thing. 'Why did you leave dad?' X silently interrogated the photo, despite knowing he wouldn't get an answer. 'What happened to you? Did you run away? Were you kidnapped? Was I just not good en-'
A knock at the door disrupted X's train of though. Placing the photo back in the bag, X turned and opened the door. An older, formally dressed man stood at the door, slightly shorter than X with similar brown hair. Although the man's face was lined with wrinkles, they did little to diminish his wide, warm smile.
"X," The man reached forward to pull X into a tight hug. "It's so good to see you."
"Uncle Spritle." X groaned in slight annoyance, but still returned the hug anyway. "You literally just saw me this morning."
Uncle Spritle was the younger brother of Speed Racer. Spritle had been only a young kid during the beginning of Speed Racer's driving career. Over the years, he had grown from an obnoxious, impulsive kid into a wise and caring man. A man who, after Speed Racer's disappearance, had raised X like his own child. Additionally, Spritle served as the principle of the Racing Academy, which X felt came with some additional school perks (Though Spritle had always insisted that he treated X like any other student and did not show any familial favoritism).
Spritle had pulled back from the hug. "I know, but still. Junior year, it doesn't happen to everyone you know."
"Yeah, well, you don't have to make that big a deal out of it." X rubbed the back of his head. While X, loved his Uncle, he had a habit of treating everything like some huge life milestone.
"Oh, it's a very big deal. I mean, you're almost a grown man, X." Spritle, placed a reassuring hand on X's shoulder. "How the years have gone by. You know, it feels like yesterday when I was changing your diapers."
X felt his face go hot and his mouth become dry. Fortunately for X, his main saving grace was that his Uncle had chosen the solitude of his dorm room and not someplace like the school's common area to give his nephew 'compliments'.
"So, what do you need?" X rushed the question out, hoping to change the subject.
"Oh right. Forgot at about that." Spritle briefly brought a hand to his head, now remembering the reason he had come to X in the first place. "Well you know the Qualifier Race is to begin shortly right?"
"Yeah" X tilted his head slightly. For the incoming students that had applied for the Academy, they had one final step to complete in order to become official students: compete in the Qualifier Race. X always though it worked like reality tv game shows: the students that won got to stay while the losing students got sent home. "What about it?"
"Well, a few Professors came to me this morning with…some concerns about the Qualifier Race." Spritle cleared his throat and continued. "Basically…they feel as though the race is too easy, and therefore needs some extra challenge. As a solution, they suggested bringing in a more 'experienced driver' to increase the race's difficultly. Now, I know this is last minute but-"
"So, you want me to drive in the Qualifier then?" X asked, cutting his Uncle off, before giving a slight shrug. "Sure, I'll do it. I could use a little practice race anyway."
"Remember X," Spritle had a slightly stern expression on his face as he prepared to give his nephew another one of his lectures. "Most of these drivers are beginners. I know you like to win and all, but just make sure to-"
"Go a little easy on them." X finished his Uncle's sentence, before heading over to the door. "Don't worry. I won't go overboard. Besides, I'll show those newbies what a real race is like."
With that, X left his uncle in his dorm as he eagerly made his way to the Academy garages. X's heart was pumping rapidly, like it always did before a race. X was about to show these newcomer students just why he was listed as the Number One driver at the Racer Academy.
So this is the first chapter. I know, not a lot of Ghost Rider yet (but a little reference to Mephisto with the dream sequence, which was back in the prologue). This is kinda to help set up the characters/setting for those of you completely unfamiliar with Speed Racer: the Next Generation. I plan to have the Ghost Rider first appearance/transformation either in Chapter 3 or 4 (depends on chapter content/pacing). Anyway, I am open to comments/criticism, so if you think my writing needs work let me know in a review.
See you in the next chapter true believers!