-Disclaimer: I do not own the Air gear series.
Chapter 3
"Here's your jumbo ramen set Issa-san." Unloading trays full of steaming ramen Tobi walked into the room nodding towards Spit Fire before placing them on the floor "Thanks for ordering and I'll start taking the rest of your orders now." Tobi started to gather the empty dishes around Buccha.
"Tobi-san, your fast deliveries make the foods piping hot and fresh." Accepting the dishes Buccha paid Tobi. One of the shops Buccha was a regular at told him about Sky Messenger deliveries and ever since then he had been a regular patron. Building a professional bond between the two, because of this Buccha had told his subordinates to leave Tobi alone. Their group ruled to school at night and he was fine with Tobi having his breakfast in peace in the morning.
"What do you have in mind for your next order?" Buccha was a large person and orders a huge amount of food on a regular basis. Because of it, the cooks have a hard time balancing between preparing for his orders and catering to their normal customers. So it was important that they were informed a day in advance.
"Hmm, Next time I'll order from that beef bowl place."
"I'll let the Matsu-san know, do you want your normal drinks as well?"
"Yes, some Fanta lemon and cola."
"Ok."
Placing all the dishes in the container, Tobi was about to leave. Looking at the back of a leaving Spitfire, the delivery boy's eyes were drawn to the King's feet. The Flame King was wearing his regalia, red Air Treks with the flame marking, and the depiction of a nine-tailed fox at the back wheels.
The door closing behind him Tobi started to wonder if this person was one of Kilik's friends and they felt similar. The Gem King of the forest did not go into detail about who his old teammates were but gave a basic description of what they looked like.
"You best not get involved with him." Turning behind him, Buccha stopped devouring his meals and gave Tobi a serious look. "You will not be able to go back to your normal life if you interact with that person."
"Sorry and thanks for the warning. I'll be off now. Thank you for ordering from Sky Messenger delivery services." With that Tobi left Buccha alone with his meal.
"Mikan-san your delivery is here." Arriving at the same house he has made deliveries to for years, Tobi felt a bit apprehensive today.
The Noyamano sisters were good people but after the morning he wondered if Mikan would treat him the same way. She was the person in that household that used his services the most. Ringo apologized later after class and Ume had sent him her apology via message on his business's website so he hoped things were back to the way they were.
"Coming" The door opened to reveal Mikan, the tomboy had the same smirk as always but it seemed a bit forced.
"Here's your ramen." Pulling out three large steaming bowls he offered it to the confused girl.
"I only ordered three normal bowls."
"I know I pitched in and got you the extra-large ones."
"Why?"
"Well, I heard you dragged Ikki-san back home. Last night after the incident he was trying to break into school so he could find my address." A bulging blood vessel appeared on her forehead.
"That numbskull. I was being easy on him last night, I'll be sure to punish the idiot." Raising her fist in the air she cursed something diabolical then paid Tobi before taking the tray of food.
"It's fine Mikan-san. Just enjoy your meal. I'll come to collect the dishes later."
"Will do." Tobi smiled, things were back to what it used to be.
As he made his way towards his next delivery Mikan called out. "Wait, Tobi."
"Yes?" Turning his head, his smile frowned slightly. Mikan had a serious face this time. "Please don't get involved with storm riders. Among everyone I know, it's going to be the most dangerous for you if you step into that world."
"Kilik-san told me the same thing and don't worry there is no reason for me to get involved with ATs."
From his perch above a rooftop, Spitfire was amazed at the sheer speed of the delivery boy as he made his way through the city. Making deliveries before rushing off towards the forest region. The Flame king was a bit apprehensive when he reached a certain house but relaxed when Mikan Noyamano and he had a cordial interaction. He sadly could not hear what the two said.
Earlier on a whim he had looked back at Buccha's room and was stunned to see the delivery boy rush towards the alleyways the moment he was outside. That speed was not normal and he was further confused by the lack of AT's on the teen. The setting sun signaled the time where the streets of the city were filled with people. In the bustling traffic of tired civilians who wanted to go home, the boy went relatively unnoticed as he used alleyways but still. How was this delivery boy, Tobi able to cover such a distance in a short amount of time.
"Maybe another person like Rika?" Rika Noyamano who once held the title of Sleeping Forest's Thorn Queen, the eldest Noyamano sister was one of two people in the original team who were normal humans. Everyone else in the team was a gravity child. Artificial children were created and raised in a zero-gravity environment. Despite being a normal human she was able to match them.
"Still not even Rika could keep up that pace without ATs." Paying closer attention to the teenager, the flame king stared at his green tracksuit. It was different from the one in the video but… could it be possible?
Reaching for his phone, he reached for a certain swallow's number. After a few rings, there was an answer. "Simca, I think I found our Rider."
"Goddammit, Kilk you should have told the boy not to run at inhuman speeds as well." A distance far away from the flame king stood a man. His form was covered in electronic waves camouflaging him from normal sight. He was Onibasu, Sleeping Forest's current Thunder King.
Unlike the Flame king that wore a fancy jacket, Onibasu wore a normal White T-shirt, shorts, and a pair of normal-looking ATs. The only odd part about the man's attire was that his head was wrapped in straps.
His target Tobi Kaname was at least being discreet by using alleyways and other discreet routes. No one saw him as he traveled through the city making deliveries. But sadly that was not enough to escape the Flame King's gaze
"This is going to be a pain, but at least it was Spit that found him. But it's only a matter of time before Smica meets him."
He contemplated attacking the Flame King or at least confronting him but the negatives outweigh the positives so he kept his mouth shut and continued his job as Tobi Kaname's observer.
Pulling out a book from his pocket he read the book while following around his target, just because he was on the job did not mean he could multitask. Besides this was an important task as well, turning the pages of the manga Onibasu read the story of a boy and his journey to become the King of Pirates.
Deep in the woods, three students looked around cautious of their surroundings.
"Are we lost?" Onigiri was starting to regret coming along at all.
"No, the directions say keep walking this way." Kazu held the paper and his phone looking at the GPS.
"Master ain't a liar so he should be around here somewhere." Excitement filled Ikki's words, as they traveled into the denser parts of the forest. His eyes could see some footprints marks on tree trunks and some sections of the trees were smashed to bits. This must be where Tobi trained, he was sure of it.
"Oh, you're all here." A voice called out from behind them.
"GAHHHH!" Three manly cries of terror filled the forest and an annoyed baby crow came out to peck at Ikki.
"Sorry for scaring you." Down on the forest floor, the trio pointed towards Tobi.
"Forget about that, why the hell are you carrying massive boulders?" Ikki was the first to recover his nerves. He came here to train not to be killed by an inhumane monster.
On Tobi's back, he was carrying three massive boulders half their size. "Oh these are for you Ikki and I guess you two as well." Now it was Onigiri and Kazu turned to sweat.
"Are you going to kill us to silence us?" Onigiri was starting to regret his life. He should have gone to the strip club before he came out here to die.
"Oh no for weight training." Dropping the boulders next to him the combined weight kicked up a fair amount of dust and leaf foliage.
"Again are you trying to kill us!"
"So master, you read the manga One Piece and then thought to yourself Geppo was cool then trained like hell to master it."
"That's about it." Using vines Tobi started tying the smaller boulders in place around Ikki's right arm. "Trained so hard I coughed blood and felt my body break, some days I thought I was going to die"
"That's so awesome." This was just like those training arcs in shounen manga. "Then where do these boulders come in? I don't recall them from the manga, the CP9 training was not really shown in detail."
"Oh that, do you know the cartoon series called Samurai Jack? It's from Cartoon Network in the U.S. I saw an interesting episode there and used it as inspiration. Somehow it worked and I'm putting you through the same training process."
"As expected of my master." Nodding to himself Ikki accepted his fate as Tobi moved to strap an equal amount of boulders to his other arm.
"LIKE HELL WE WOULD BELIEVE THAT!" Kazu and Onigiri shouted from the sidelines.
"You two shut it when Master is talking."
"No you shut it, this is pure insanity. We went along with this for too long." Kazu pointed right back at Ikki in disbelief.
"A human body cannot get stronger from doing this. They would get crushed or disfigured from this type of training. A human's spine-" Onigiri went on a long medical rant, he knew a lot about the human body and how to develop it.
Before Ikki could retort Tobi held a hand up stopping him. Flinging his arms, vines wrapped around Ikki, Kazu, and Onigiri.
"It worked for me, but rather than talking about it showing you would be better."
Before any of them could retort, they found themselves in the air. "I'll take you into the sky." Kicking the air Tobi rose higher, dragging them along like kites to the forest's treetops. Their weight did not matter due to the sheer speed Tobi was rushing at.
Deftly avoiding trees and manipulating the veins around them Tobi ascended through the treetops. His passengers said not a word as they gazed into the sky.
While his friends enjoyed their experience, Ikki was angling his body. The wind currents were slowly forming into an invisible road, one that he could see faintly. With each step Tobi took the road was shaken slightly but the higher and faster he went the road became clearer for Ikki.
This was it, he was not in control but it was fine. He would learn how to fly under his own power and walk upon this invisible road.
"Spit hit the jackpot with this." Goggles protecting her eyes, Simca the leader of Genesis otherwise known as swallow sat on a large tree top. Watching four people fly above the forest.
"I'll pay for an expensive room for him and Ine to get some alone time." The two would be happy to spend some time together, probably a luxury hotel with a romantic room.
A blush formed on her face as she felt envious of the three people getting dragged through the sky. "Still though this breaks so many rules." She, like many others, believed that the person in the infamous video was wearing a suit full of advanced AT technology to do what he did.
Moments before they flew she used her phone and scanned the four hoping to detect whatever devices or AT's they were using but the scanner showed nothing. She tried it a few times before concluding that there were none in the area. Then she intended to step in to prevent her target Tobi, from crippling his friend.
She was not prepared for him to jump high into the air and to keep jumping. This was not the wing road at all, he was not riding it. The person was simply kicking the air to achieve flight, if a scientist saw this they would go insane or mad from this blatant defiance against human physiology.
Who would have known the delivery boy who dropped off her bosses' favorite meals would be the one to pull this off. Countless times he's appeared in front of her but she never suspected a thing. She blamed the fact that she was so busy at work she never paid much attention to the unassuming delivery boy. But now was not the time to lament over missed opportunities.
Looking at the passengers she thought about stopping them so she could have a ride too but that would be rude. She enjoyed people learning to fly only this time it was a bit more literal and without AT's.
"Oh, this is interesting." The crow that she would see in your usual strolls was angling his body… no, he was riding the wind. "Well now, it looks like we found a potential wind king. But still-"
Her eyes trailed back towards the bir- No, that person was not a bird. "-how do we classify him? He won't need the wings we use to fly. He's already found his own and is spreading them freely." Her heart started to beat faster and her blush deepened. Shakenly the young woman's arms wrapped around her body.
"This feeling, rising within me. The wind has started to blow in my heart." Slowly the people were getting away from her sight. "Ah, I wonder if you will like my song."
"Yosha!" Through the forest, Ikki ran carrying boulders on his limbs and back. The determined teen ran like his life was on the line sweating like crazy.
"Keep it up Ikki just finish a lap for today, it's going to take a while to condition your body for this." Tobi cheered on his student as he tied some boulders onto a determined Kazu.
"Are you sure he's going to be fine?" Onigiri spoke up, he was not sure about this training and opted to just watch.
"Don't know but if he gets injured I know someone who knows a really good doctor."
"That does not fill me with confidence at all."
"I don't know what else to tell you other than that Onigiri san" Tying the last knot he stood up. "There you go Kazuma san."
"Thank you." Walking slowly to test his weight, the brunet did his best to not fall over.
"Just start with a walk first, unlike Onigiri san here I don't have that much medical knowledge so at best I can suggest you find your own pace. I'm not really sure if my training method will apply well to others."
"It's fine if you and that crow can do it so can I." Determined Kazu left to catch up to Ikki.
"I still have my doubts about this even after that flight."
"Well, there's two of us so we can carry them home if things get bad. Onigiri san." Sitting on a boulder Tobi monitored his students.
"Tobi I've been wondering other than Soru and Geppo-" Onigiri was starting to get apprehensive at his train of thought "-did you learn any other techniques from One Piece?"
"Well it was a pain to pull off but I was able to-" Tobi's words were cut off as he felt two soft mounds press up against his back and soft arms wrapped around him.
"Greetings Tobi-kun, how are you? We've seen each other a lot but we've never talked." He knew that voice and from the corner of his eyes, he saw long pink strands of hair. That and a pissed off Onigiri who looked stuck between aroused at the girl and wanting to butcher him. "Mou, if you could fly like this I wish you had shown me that a long time ago."
"Hello, Simca-san. What are you doing this deep into the forest?" It was important to not move right now and just gauge the situation. Kilik warned him not to get involved with Genesis and not even a day has passed the team's leader was right behind him.
"A fox set me on this path and I got curious so I took a stroll."
"Fox? Are you talking about Kurama?"
"Oh, you have a pet fox here?"
"Well yes, I train here a lot and at times…. I kinda ruin animals' homes so I feed and care for them as compensation." Wait he was getting off-topic.
"Ah, I see Tobi-kun, I like to request something from you." Her hands were starting to wander and Onigiri looked like he was going to pop a blood vessel.
"Oh, do you want to fly too?"
"Bingo, I'll give you-" her voice grew closer, and soon he could feel her face near his ear "- a nice reward later." The suggestive tone she voiced the last words sent tingles down his spine.
Tobi felt a tremendous amount of killing intent aimed at him. Turnin the messenger saw the shadow of a giant pig warrior holding a machete and shield hovering over Onigiri's form. Its face had tusks coming out of its mouth and steam flowed out of it. The monster's eyes somehow conveyed in detail the ways it would kill him.
Tobi blinked once, then twice at the monster. "All right Simca-san but before that Onigiri san how did you get Ganon as your stand."
"DIE YOU, POPULAR BASTARD!"
"Hahaha, that friend of yours was interesting Tobi-kun." The wind ruffled her hair as she ascended into the sky.
"Sorry about that." Her arms wrapped around his torso, Simca hung around his back. Breaking past the tree line, he made his way towards the clouds.
"It's fine." Under them, the forest was painted orange by the sinking sun. Birds cawed around them and started to fly in flocks. Trying to get back to their nests before the darkness set in.
"Anywhere you like to go Simca-san?" A flock flew close to them, Simca gazed at them before holding her hand out towards them.
"Anywhere, wherever the wind takes us." A soft smile playing on her face, Tobi felt Simca shudder. He wondered if she was feeling cold but before he dropped towards lower warmer altitudes.
She sang, compelling him to soar higher.
"Raising your hand towards the sky!"
As the sunset on the horizon, Tobi walked through the sky as Simca sang her heart out.
