~ 2 ~ The New Recruit

Saturday...although I graduated out of High School a long time ago, it's still a good day to enjoy. And for this Saturday, I decided to drive around the city on my motorcycle.

While driving alongside the pier, I noticed a crowd of people forming on the shores and some boats sailing out. Curious, I stopped the motorcycle somewhere on the docks next to an old tug boat and see what was going on. There was a blimp flying by, with "Bungi Jump Contest" scrolling across the screen. And there were three hot-air balloons floating near the blimp as it flew by.

"Bungi jump?" I mumbled to myself, "Ha. Why couldn't they do it on a bridge or something?"

"'Cause if we did, there'd be so many people wanting to see the contest, the bridge might fall apart from the pressure." said a voice. I almost knocked my motorcycle off the dock as I turned around to see Sara, one of my pit crew engineers getting out of the tug boat, holding a harness and a bungi cord. She had light green, waist long hair and wore a red and blue jumpsuit. And she always loves to sneak up on me when I'm not watching.

"You never told me you bungi jump." I said, a little surprised.

"You've never been to the pier much." she grinned, "If you want to see me beat those big shots, my grandfather is willing to let you ride in his boat. That is...if you aren't afraid of the water."

"Hey, just because I hate getting wet doesn't make me a lousey swimmer." I said with a smirk.

An old, wrinkled man stepped out of the tug boat, cackling. His appearance made me cringe slightly.

"You'd better hurry, Sara, or they'll start without you!" the old man yelled joyfully.

The old man drove the boat out to where the other boats were as the people in the hot air balloons began putting on their harnasses. I just sat near the edge of the boat, running my hand through the water and soaking my glove. I was about to look up and find Sara's hot air balloon when I saw a strange water jet pull up ten feet from us. At first, I thought the driver was here to see the contest too...until I saw her take out a sniper gun and aimed it at one of the hot air balloons.

"Um...gramps..." I muttered. I turned around to find him pointing to a red hot air balloon with a picture of Saturn and a rainbow-like ring surrounding it.

"There she is! There's my little grandaughter!" he shouted.

"Gramps!"

"Show them what you're made of!"

"GRAMPS!"

"Eh?" the old man turned to me, his mouth wide open with an ugly grin, "did you say something?"

By then, a shot rang out and hit the basket of the hot air balloon Sara was in. The bullet not only sailed through the basket, but through the balloon as well. I could hear Sara screaming which meant that she also got hit. The whole thing fell into the ocean and began to sink. The people in the boats began to scream and panic, some either driving their boats back to the pier or jumping out of the boat and swimming away from the scene.

As the old man was driving away, I noticed the lop-sided basket sinking into the ocean and Sara sticking out of it, limp and trembling everywhere and there was no telling how long it will take before the choppers show up to find her. She could already be considered missing by the time they show up.

I couldn't let her die and jumped into the water, swimming towards her and grabbing her before she went with the basket. I threw her arm around the back of my neck and held her chin above the water.

Sara was unconscious and she had a wound on her left shoulder. She was completely pale and looked like she wouldn't last long. I began to hesitate as I lightly tapped her cheek, seeing her slowly stir and turn her pale head towards me.

"Heat...?" she murrmurred. I forced a weak grin.

"Like I said," I chuckled softly, "Just because I hate getting wet doesn't mean I'm a lousey swimmer."

A puddle of blood began to form from the wound in her shoulder and seeing it made me tremble.

"Heat...what's wrong...?" Sara murrmurred again. I shook my head and looked at her, forcing another grin, which slightly quivered.

"No...it's nothing." I stuttered. My pit crew doesn't know how hemophoic I can get. Even a papercut can freak me out.

A shadow suddenly loomed over us. Before I had a chance to look up, I heard a shot and blood squirting out of the side of Sara's head. I nearly screamed in shock as I heard Sara screaming in pain. I felt her head hit my shoulder and her body stopped trembling.

"S-Sara?" I said...no response. I touched the side of her blood stained head. It was ice cold. I slowly shook her, hoping she would wake up, but she didn't. I began breathing heavily.

"Sara...Sara NO!" I shouted. I felt like my whole life was going to crash right in front of me. Sara was practically the love of my life...and she was the only one who thought differently than the rest of the pit crew. And here she is, dead in my arms out in the middle of the ocean.

I looked up to see the driver on the water jet, who wore black, baggy pants and sweater and had a mask on her face with pink hair, pull out a cell phone and dial a few numbers.

"This is Diamond..." she said before she eyed me and Sara with an evil (And I mean evil) grin, "Mission accomplished." she closed her cell phone before she looked at me again.

There was no sign of guilt in her eyes, nor did she look like she was guilty. She just smirked and drove off as the rescue choppers showed up.

A week later, at the race track, my agent showed up while the pit crew was busy working on the Heat Wind. He said he had found a replacement for me. And although I was still trying to get over Sara's death, I was willing to take anything that might help me win this race.

"Hey, Edgar! Where are you!?" the agent shouted, looking behind him. I could've sworn I heard that name before.

A 17-year-old kid with long, golden hair tied back in two ribbons and a lavander swirl from his bang to the tip end of his pony tail, wearing the same jumpsuit my pit crew was wearing and a navy blue baseball cap worn backwards ran across the field only to trip on a monkey wrench and fall flat on his face. His appearance caught me by surprise.

That was Finchit's son, the same kid that was with Comet in the dance club. At first, I didn't reconize him because he dyed his hair in a strange way and he was wearing a hat.

"Edgar! Not again!" my agent groaned. The pit crew looked up from their work to see what was going on.

"Hey, who's the kid?" one of them asked. My agent straightened his neck tie and sighed.

"He...is...your replacement." He said. We just looked at him like he was crazy...well...to the pit crew that is....

"Oh well," I sighed, "I just hope he's at least good for something."

"What's the matter, Candle Stick? You don't like your new replacement?" Said an annoying voice. I turned around to see Zack staring at me with that sinister grin on his face.

"What do you want now?" I growled.

"I've already been through hell with Fin'shit' himself. And now it seems it's your turn to suffer." he said in a rather sarcastic way (Incase I haven't told ya yet, Zack always makes fun of Finchit's last name). My fist was throttling with anger. I then grinned back at him.

"Well, at least my replacement knows what to do with a gas tank." I said. Zack gave me the dirtiest stare any offended racer would give me.

"Are you inclining that MY replacement is so stupid, he doesn't know what a gas tank is!?" He spat.

As if on cue...

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT A GAS TANK IS!?" someone shouted. One of the engineers from Zack's pit crew nearly ripped his hat off in front of a drooling, buck-tooth man holding a gas tank, "A GAS TANK IS USED TO MAKE THE CAR GO! NOW POUR IT IN THE CAR!"

I literally fell on my back, laughing my ass off as Zack's face turned beet red.

"How stupid is that replacement of yours!?" I gasped, "I wonder how he ever gets to work if he doesn't know how to put gas in his car!"

"We'll see who's better when I blow dirt into your face with my speed!" Zack yelled, flipping me off before he stomped off.

It was the last lap in the race and Zack was in the lead. I began to wonder if that retard of his does know how to fix a car. Just then, Zack's car came to a sudden halt and I zoomed right past him, seeing it to spin like a top. I couldn't help but laugh at his dumb luck, escpecially when he began chasing his replacement around the track, holding an empty gas tank in the air. His whole back was drenched with gasoline.

I won my next race out of luck. I began to think Finchit's son might be useful afterall, even though he seemed to be the shy, nervous type. I decided to have a talk with him and get to know him better. Unfortunatly being that my whole pit crew were completely over confident, they made so much of a big deal out of the kid's action, he ran off an hour before I won. And they didn't care the least bit that he nearly broke a sweat, helping them with the Heat Wind. They just said he was a klutz and he might've broken a valve or something.

Thinking he might've gone home already, I drove over to Burger Dog to be alone. Even though this was a lousey way to celebrate your victory, it was better than being stuck in the bathroom half the night after eatting sea food.

"Um...are you going to eat that?"

"Huh?" I looked up from my plate to see Hamm standing behind the counter, stareing at me with a worried look on his face, "I thought you were on a diet."

"I can't help it! I'm so hungery, I'd eat anything the costumer doesn't finish!" he whined, "I wish there was someway I can get rid of this annoying fat and have my life back! It's labor, I tell ya!"

"With that much fat, I tend to wonder how you can even dance anymore." said a voice. I looked to the left to see Finchit's kid sitting two stools away from me, eatting a cheeseburger. He was in his king costume, which got me wondering how he had the nerves to go into public wearing that.

Hamm ran over to him and grabbed him by the collar of his costume, shaking him until he was dizzy.

"Please, Devo! You gotta convince Frida to get me off this diet! If I don't eat soon, I'll never know what food is again!" Hamm cried.

"D-Devo?" I said, a bit surprised.

"Ever heard of the band?" I nearly fell off my stool, startled, before turning to see Frida standing behind me, "Edgar's a BIG fan of Devo, so Comet and I decided to call him that. It's a lot better than what his father and teachers originally called him."

She then got off the stool and walked over to Hamm.

"Now listen, you," Frida said, poking his stomach, "If you don't stop eatting junk food for at least a month, you're more likely to explode. So lay off the hamburgers." Hamm looked like he was about to throw a temper tantrum before he ran off into the kitchen, bawling like a kid. I swear, he acts like he can't live five seconds without stuffing his face full of junk food. The three of us couldn't help but laugh as Burger Dog ran after him.