Notes:

Star and Marco go for a ride, while Marco begins to analyze his recent feats! For some reason, I find myself rather dissatisfied with this chapter. Maybe its the lack of much dialogue, or the big action scene after we just had one last chapter? Tell me in the comments if you agree, and why.

Chapter 22

I gently unlock my most prized possession from its place in the bike rack, and roll it out in front of Star. "Oh, I've left you alone for too long, sugar." I kneel in front of it and lean down to lovingly place a kiss on one of the tires. "Did you miss daddy?"

"Okaaaaay. I guess it's that one." Star hesitantly comments, looking at me like I've gone completely insane. But if loving a machine like this makes you crazy, then I belong in a nuthouse. A full sixteen different gears, brakes that could keep you still on a nearly vertical slope, tires and suspension grades for all terrains. And best of all, its my favorite shiny red color! Just like my hoodies.

"Yes Ma'am, this is it. Let me take you for a spin, show you what life on Earth is *really* about!" My check for any imperfections in the paint or chain comes up empty, as always. "Stand on these things and hold onto my shoulders." I gesture to the pegs sticking out from the back wheel, always kept well maintained in case I need to carry a passenger.

"Okie dokie~" After I've mounted up, Star follows my instructions and hops up on the pegs. Her uncomfortably tight grip on my shoulders tells me that she's a bit more nervous about this than her smiling face would ever say, but perhaps that's what she's after anyway. Can't be an adrenaline junkie if you aren't scared of anything, after all.

"CHARGE, NOBLE STEED!" The crazy princess screams out, pointing her wand forwards like a baton. I nearly jump off of the bike entirely at the surprise of the sudden shriek. She's going to give me an actual heart attack one day. When I don't immediately obey her wishes she begins shaking me back and forth rather violently, until I turn to glare back at her.

"What gives? We aren't moving." My unruly best friend just loves to state the obvious, doesn't she? Luckily for her, I've finally managed to untie the helmets I had stashed on my bike for just this sort of occasion. I pass her Jeane's old pink one, then put on my own forest green.

"You have knights who wear armor, right? This is Earth armor. Wear it if you don't want your insides being your outsides if we crash." I snap on my helmet and give it a knock to demonstrate the usefulness.

"Hmm… this bike is that dangerous? I really did underestimate it! This helmet feels lighter than steel, are you sure it'll protect me?" She begins spinning the pink helmet on a single finger basketball style in a display of manual dexterity that makes me immediately incredibly jealous. Perhaps that influences my next actions a bit, or maybe Star's daredevil nature is rubbing off on me.

"Guess you'll have to find out! Better put it on quick." I exclaim, before finally starting to pedal. Slowly of course, I'm not that mean yet. It still unbalances the wild child and she nearly drops the helmet in a mild panic as she realizes the death machine is starting up. That shuts her up and gets the helmet clamped on her head on top of her huge mass of blonde hair, so mission accomplished I guess. Her hands snap onto my shoulders again, so I speed us up.

"Faster! Faster!" She always wants more. A moment ago, she was wobbly with me barely peddling, and now I'm nearing a comfortable speed and she's not satisfied? I swear we could be on an actual motorcycle and she'd still want more. Well, I might not be able to give her that, but I can do the next best thing. I shift my baby up into the next gear and blast forwards, quickly being rewarded by a peal of excited laughter from my passenger.

We could head right back to my house, but that'd be a bit boring. I decide to take Star on a little tour through Echo Creek to show her some things she has yet to see, especially one location in particular. I hope Sensei has the dojo open! Star continuously calls for more speed, and more daring maneuvers as we make our way through the city. It might be the after effects of the run from earlier, but I inexplicably find myself rising to meet her demands each and every time.

My heart beats wildly in my chest when I finally hit a gear I'd never felt the need to use before, and I realize that this is the fastest I've ever gone. We swerve around pedestrians, other bikers, a few slow or parked cars, and each dodge around the residents of Echo Creek is a little closer than the last, a closer brush with danger. At this speed, Star might have a point-should we crash, I'm not sure how much the helmets will help us.

The escalation continues until I feel that my baby has reached the limit of what she can take. My legs are pumping almost faster than I can even see, and I can't feel any of the exertion I should be once more. Did Star cast a spell on me while I wasn't looking? This is starting to feel really strange, as these events pile up. I'm not so dumb as to not realize some of my recent feats have been superhuman. I just hope that whatever she's done to me doesn't have any horrible side effects…

My passenger decides that even my top speed isn't enough to test her love of danger, which is pretty fair. Bikes are fun, but we literally fell out of the sky yesterday with no parachute-kind of hard to compare. She throws up her arms and clamps the back of the seat to hold on with her knees alone, which is clearly exhilarating enough to satisfy-at least judging by the rollercoaster scream of joy she lets out during the process.

By the time we make it to our destination, Echo Creek Mall, Star has calmed down a bit. Rather than pushing for more excitement, she casually leans against my shoulders and enjoys the feeling of wind flying into her face. While I would love to do the same and simply enjoy the ride, I quickly realize that with both of us calming down that my juice is going to run dry pretty soon-if I get another fit of fatigue like earlier while we're still on the bike, that could be disastrous.

"Hold on!" I yell out, which thankfully has Star respond by immediately tensing up and taking a grip.

"What's going on?! Is something wrong?" She asks, scanning the perimeter as if there might be enemies around. I don't have the time to answer her, unfortunately-I use the last of my already waning strength to slam down the brake. The tires let out a scream of protest, and I can smell a bit of burnt rubber-how fast were we going?

The continued momentum eventually pops the back tire up into the air to Star's horror. Having never seen a bike do a wheelie I'm sure she must have thought she was about to be launched in slow motion directly at the ground. I'm sure something along those lines could have happened, but before our momentum can completely tip us over I jerk the steering wheel to the side and throw my body with it, killing our forward motion by starting us into a spin.

The world twists around me in a lightning fast swirl as we go around and around. I pray that Star doesn't end up throwing up on me, but knowing her I'm sure she's enjoying herself far too much for that. Eventually we end up slowing down enough that the back tire drops back onto the ground, and from there its a simple slide to kill the last of our momentum. My wonderful instincts (read: sheer luck) even landed us mostly in one of the Mall's parking spots.

Applause rises up from a group of nearby teens who had apparently been videoing the whole event, by the look of their raised up phones. I can't even muster the energy to care, as once we're finally stopped I pass right out on my seat.