Chapter 75: Vroom Vroom!
On a cold later-Winter morning, a rather interesting group have taken a bus ride to one of the most oppressive parts of their city.
Their numbers consist of Riku, Lunis, Solaris, Joe Dark, and Alura. Together they climb out of the bus nice and slow, their knees shaking at the prospect of what they endeavored to tackle here today.
"O-Oh my, its much bigger than the pictures depicted!" Stated Lunis, bundled in a warm, pillowy jacket.
Riku, in his usual garb, narrowed his eyes and looked at her with a reassuring glance of security, "Its ok, as long as we stick together we'll be fine."
"Heh, so this is where its gonna happen huh?" Solaris crossed his arms and cricked his neck around, his own body heat keeping the cold far, far off his skin, "I'm ready, bring it on!"
"Don't underestimate this place, Solaris. I've heard this place has broken even the most patient of men." Riku threw another cautious glance at the massive building dead ahead.
Alura grasped Joe Dark's hand for comfort, visibly shaken as she stared straight ahead, "Joe Dark, I sense a powerful evil radiating from this building. Is it alive...?"
"Tsk...! I can sense it too. But we can't back down after coming this far. We need to get..." As he stared up at the massive sign above the doors that said "DMV" he let out a utterly foreboding sound, "Our driver's licenses...!"
A bolt of lightning crashed down from the heavens to strike the rooftop, briefly covering it with shadows. Their collective forms shuddered, with Riku in particular staring straight up at the sky and noticing, "Wait...there's not a storm cloud in the sky."
"..." The five stared at one another before Joe Dark grumbled forcefully, "Lets just...get in before something else stupid happens."
They walked through the sliding doors and into the cold, wide-open lobby. There were a few lines full of people backed up practically all the way to the door itself. There was dim lighting, making the atmosphere feel sterile. And the colors consisted of gray, gray, white, gray, and a few specks of black on the ceiling tiles.
"Not the most inviting place in the world, is it?" Joe Dark leered around, hesitant to step forward.
"And I thought our home was colorless," Lunis murmured, finding herself hard pressed to think of even one compliment, "They need a flower pot. Or two...Or a whole garden."
Riku scanned the lines and once realizing they were all the same length remarked, "Well, lets take our pick, we'll be waiting a long time no matter what."
"What type of moron would willingly suffer through this Hell anyways?" Solaris said with his arms crossed.
"HEEEEEY, GUYS!" They suddenly found themselves accosted by a familiar voice in the far left line, turning to find Mew stretching out and waving his hand vigorously.
"Brother...?" Riku stated with a wide-eyed, lingering stare.
"Oh good grief." Joe Dark grumbled and slapped his forehead, nevertheless being the first to advance towards him.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Exclaimed Solaris.
Mew crossed his arms and stated plainly, "Getting my driver's license."
The collective eyes of the five widened in perfect sync as the men stated, "YOU?!"
Mew pretended to recoil and then picked his ear with his pinky, "Yeah me. What? What's so hard to believe about that?"
"I can at least think of five reasons." Joe Dark said hastily.
Riku awkwardly chuckled at Joe and then took a much nicer approach to the situation, "What he means to say is, why would you need to drive, brother?"
Mew shrugged and answered plainly again, "Eh, cause it sounded like fun."
Riku's hand slowly sank down by his hip as he remarked, "I...see."
Joe Dark leaned in to whisper bluntly, "You can FLY."
"So what?" Mew brushed his hand up to repel him like a fly, "There's just some type of...feeling you get when you push your foot against a pedal that can't be replicated by flying...So I assume."
"You assume." Joe Dark remarked.
"I'm just surprised you read a book on how to drive beforehand." Lunis chimed in innocently enough.
"Oh what? No I didn't," Mew interjected with a nonchalant attitude as he began waving his hand around, "But I'm confident I can handle a car, I've played plenty of Need for Speed, Mario Kart, and Forza."
Joe Dark gave a disgruntled look at Mew and began to roll up his right sleeve, "Riku, permission to smack our brother in the face."
"Lets not start a scene here," Riku sighed and stopped Joe Dark with a hand on his shoulder, then faced Mew and said, "Please assure us you know what you're doing, brother."
"I'll be fine, relax." Mew settled down.
Joe Dark's were still narrow but he disarmed his fists and tucked them in his pockets, "My prayers go to the poor soul who has to ride with you."
"Same to you." Mew chuckled.
Joe Dark was five seconds away from rescinding his pacifism when suddenly, Maria trotting up to them from down the nearby corridor diffused him.
"Hey, took you long enough," Mew said in a humored manner, with Maria giving his hip a hug making him chuckle as he rubbed her head, "Did you have trouble finding the bathroom?"
Maria shook her head, "Not at all, papa."
"What's the tyke doing here?" Solaris remarked, the moment he pointed at her making the girl duck and hide behind Mew.
"Oh I'm just watching her today while Kairi's getting dragged into baby supply shopping," Mew then gestured to them and said, "So I figured, hey, why not show her how driving works!"
His lips creased slowly out into a smile and Joe Dark glared at him, sniffing out his mischievous intent, "You're up to something..."
Mew feverishly shook his head until he could hide the width of his smile from them all, "Not at all! Why would you say that?"
"Mmmm..." Joe Dark glared at Maria, but her big, bubbly eyes disarmed him faster than a trained professional handling a bomb.
Maria then turned to look at Alura, letting out a dry snicker. Incited, Alura quickly clung herself to Joe Dark's side and shouted, "Mine!"
"Wha-" Joe Dark recoiled.
Alura vibrated the tip of her tongue at Maria, who stood there and took it like a champ, telling the gothic girl in a flighty tone, "If you say so~"
Maria giggling right after that set Alura off like a firecracker. She peeled off Joe Dark and started pulling her right sleeve up, remarking coldly, "Joe Dark, permission to smack this little girl upside the head."
Joe Dark grabbed the collar of her shirt and moaned, "Permission denied."
"Heh heh...!" Maria sneered, sneaking behind Mew without him even batting an eye at this.
Riku shook his head slightly and remarked, "This is going to take a while..."
"Good thing I came prepared!" Lunis pulled out a book she had fit snug under her clothes, and the glasses necessary to read it.
So the group amused themselves in this dreary spawn of hell for an hour or so until finally...
"Next!" The underpaid gatekeeper called them to the glassy pane, but as they advanced as a single unit the gatekeeper raised their weary head and remarked, "One at a time, please."
They stopped like a record scratch and looked at one another pointedly. Mew raised his fist and suggested, "Alright we're gonna rock, paper, scissors for this."
"Screw that," Solaris pushed to the forefront and stood right before the counter, "Yeah, I'm here to take the driving exam."
"To get your license? Fine. ID please."
Solaris reached into his deep pockets and pulled out a wallet, some loose change, and a couple paper clips.
"Ah shit, hold on." Solaris bent down to pick up the scattered change and clips, the employee leaning a hand against their war-torn face to sigh.
Solaris then brought the wallet back up and slid his ID card out for the employee to view. They scanned it over, typed in some things on the computer, and then slid the card back saying, "You're good to go, Sol."
"Sweet!" After settling affairs with his messy pockets Solaris backed away and Joe Dark took the lead.
"Where'd you get the ID?" Mew inquired.
"Oh, Samantha helped supply one for me, Lunis and Riku." Solaris replied proudly.
Lunis whipped hers out in a flash and proclaimed, "See!"
Mew looked hers over and saw her giving a big old smile in her picture, "Heh, nice smile."
"Thanks! But I think my hair looks a little messy..." Lunis stared at her photo judgmentally.
"What about you, brother? Do you have one?" Riku's inquiry was answered by Mew flicking said ID out from his sleeve and smiling.
"Way ahead of ya."
"Bad news guys," Joe Dark returned with a somewhat sour look in his eyes, "Most of their cars are at the garage for repairs. So only two people can take the test at a time."
"Oh, that's not so bad," Mew remarked.
"Besides having to wait around some more..." Joe Dark grumbled.
"Then I guess I'll go-"
"I'm going first to get this over with and you can't do a damn thing about it," Joe Dark bluntly retorted, "You cannot even FATHOM how much anxiety I'm enduring right now!"
Mew crossed his arms and let out an impressed whistle, "And that's saying something, you work in retail!"
"I'm not worried," Alura remarked, "I've been studying driver's manuals all week."
Joe Dark turned to her and sighed, "Sometimes I envy your ability to not panic in times like this."
A brief flash of smugness came from Alura's tiny smile, "Hehe!"
After everyone got registered for the driver's exam they went outside the building to the back where all the cars, well, all two of them anyways, were parked.
Two unremarkable, silvery cars that, nevertheless, looked fully functional for this test. There were two examiners standing by in plaid shirts and brown slacks. They almost looked like twins.
"Are you ready to take your exam?" The examiner on the left remarked, taking his pen up to gesture at the group as a whole.
Joe Dark and Solaris split off, Solaris walking up to the guy, who craned his head back to gaze upon the hulking man staring him down.
"So you're the one testing me, huh?" Solaris was practically one second of unrestrained temper away from calling him a "shrimp".
The man's grip shook on his clipboard and pen and he scrambled to pull them up, telling his customer, "Y-Yes, uhhh..."
"Sol." Solaris said in his gruff tone.
"Right..." The man checked his clipboard and then flipped over to a new page, "O-Ok, Sol. Lets get started."
He made his way to the other side of the car and got in.
Solaris did a little prep to amp himself up, including a few neck cricks and whisper of, "Alright. Yeah. I can do this!"
He then grabbed the door handle full force and it let out a dying screech as it was crunched between his fingers, jolting the examiner upright in his seat.
"W-What was that?!"
Before the examiner got up Solaris waved his other hand out and said, "N-Nothing! Just...a little rust in these joints, I'd have to say!"
Solaris slowly pulled the door open and then sat slowly down in the seat, the examiner eyeing him suspiciously.
Solaris forced a smile and then stared at his dashboard and wheel, "O-Ok, remember what you were taught..."
He wiggled his right hand down at the bottom right corner of the wheel until he heard the jingling of keys. He then held onto them and started to turn it.
The engines whirred to life, followed by the dashboard lighting up and a series of beeps following. Solaris stared at the light and wondered, "Crap, did I do something wrong already?"
The examiner simply wrote away at his papers without giving a clue. Solaris, in a panic, started frantically swerving his head around for any hints of what he did wrong.
"Crap crap CRAP! Come on, what could I have-" He stared at the still open door and went "Oh" plainly before closing it right up.
Then he stretched the seatbelt over his glorious pecs and secured himself in the seat. He then gripped the wheel at both upper corners, a fact which Samantha had emphasized vigorously before he came over here.
"Ok, a lame start, but I can fix this." Solaris went for the lever to adjust the car into "Drive" and started to slowly pull out of the parking space.
His heart was beating very loudly as he made his first turn, which made the examiner bob his head and hum as he wrote down something new in his paper.
He guided the car towards the sidewalk out of here, where the examiner made his heart jump by suddenly saying, "I want you to take a right here."
"Y-Yes sir!" Solaris barked obediently, immediately gritting his teeth in irritation, "Sir?! Why'm I giving this toothpick that kinda respect?"
"Now take a right here." The examiner pointed to the crossroads up ahead.
"Ok!" Solaris immediately replied.
After taking a stop he waited for traffic to pass through, his fingers antsy on the wheel to keep driving. A low bead of sweat dripped off his brow.
"C'mon c'mon, get a move on you crones!" Finally his time came and he was able to turn out onto the road.
"I have to do this right. I got to get a driver's license and show Sam I can function in public," Solaris had a shaky grip on the wheel and a firm, panning gaze out the window. He began to suck his lips in and let his mind wander like you're NOT supposed to do, "Oh shit what did she say about curbs again? Do I avoid them or am I supposed to park next to them? Wasn't there something about avoiding yellow? Or was that for the lines on the road..."
His eyes darted straight ahead and froze there, "Or maybe I have to avoid yellow signs!"
He glared around and saw so many signs, "Oh FUCK they're everywhere! Its a sign invasion!"
Signs pointing to the left! Signs pointing to the right! Signs with a cross! Signs advertising 2 for $8 burgers at McDonalds! Signs! Signs! Everywhere a sign!
"Wait...!" Solaris darted down at his feet and saw two pedals, "What do these do again?!"
His mind began to tumble down a steep slope of lunacy, upon which he forced himself to determine what was what and if the things he was remembering were even important to the task at hand.
"Gas! Brake! Wait...no, other way around! Wheel turns...Wait there's wheels on the inside and outside! What wheels do I turn and how?! I need to pick up her laundry at 4 PM...THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS! AUGH!"
Even his vision began to flicker out, his whole head short-circuiting like an overclocked computer, "How do cars work?!"
"Augh! I can't screw this up! If I don't return with a driver's license in hand, Samantha will...Samantha will...!"
He imagined staring at her back in a dark, dimly lit room. She was so rigid, even in the way she spoke, "Oh, you didn't get your driver's license?"
She slowly turned around, her eyes vacant and her lips curled in a big smile, with two fingers hovering at her bottom lip.
"How cute~"
"GAH! Get out of my head weird submissive thoughts!" Solaris gripped the wheel firmly and stared straight ahead, "I am a MAN! And men drive big ass cars! I can do this! I'm ready! I'm-"
"Alright that's good." The examiner's sudden remark made Solaris' enthusiasm plummet right out of his body and he faced him with a gasp and blathering set of...words, I guess?
The examiner looked over his paper thoroughly and remarked, "You showed a proper understanding of driving etiquette after a rather rocky start."
The examiner clicked his pen and then tore the paper off the clipboard, "Just work on your nervousness a little and you'll be fine. Now, take this to the front desk and you'll get your license."
Solaris stared at the paper, then out the window, finding he was back in the parking lot. He then stared at the clock, a whole thirty minutes having passed him by.
With a weak, hot gasp, he reached for the piece of paper, and then stepped out the door. He then broke into a broadway stride towards his buddies with a big grin on his face.
"Nailed it!" He pronounced assuredly.
"Wow, talk about low standards." Mew whispered, earning the sun god's scathing hateful glare.
"That's wonderful news!" Lunis clapped her brother on.
He got a mite embarrassed, rubbing the back of his head and stating confidently, "Ah it was piss easy."
"Well we'll see about that," Mew chuckled, "Looks like Joe's just about to wrap up his test."
They watched the second training car come in. Mew tried to cheat his anticipation by using the wind to listen in on the conversation Joe Dark had with his examiner, but the window cut him off.
Disappointed, he crossed his arms and waited until the door open to spring towards him and holler, "So how'd it go?!"
Joe Dark's heart nearly burst out of his chest but in putting his hand over it, he showed he was holding the same type of paper as Solaris.
"Would you...!" Joe Dark grit his teeth, grunted, and then relaxed with a sigh before holding the paper out, "I passed..."
"Right on! This'll be a piece of cake after all!" Mew clapped and rubbed his hands enthusiastically.
Joe Dark simply crossed his arms and sounded very tired, "The things I suffer for a normal life..."
He then dragged his feet over to the others and collapsed on his butt, with Alura patting him on the head, much to his embarrassment.
"Next!" The examiners exclaimed.
Lunis perked up and fluttered her hands together before her chest, "Oh, I want to go next!"
"I guess I'll go too." Riku volunteered.
Mew swerved around, gawking in disappointment, "What, making me wait to the end? How rude!"
"Ha ha," Riku dryly chuckled and then waved his hand at him, "This'll give you more time to prepare."
"Awww, thanks for the consideration, bro." Mew smiled and watched his brother and Lunis head off to the cars.
He then quickly turned and bent down in front of Maria, looking her square in the eyes and whispering, "You still got the thing?"
Maria patted her stomach and nodded delightfully. Mew gave her a thumbs up and whispered, "Awesome! You're the best honey!"
Alura stared at them from the side suspiciously.
Meanwhile Lunis and Riku parted ways to their own cars, with Lunis mouthing "Good luck" while Riku smiled and snuck a kiss on her cheek.
Lunis rubbed her blushing cheek merrily as she wandered up to the examiner, who craned his head back and nearly jumped out of his skeleton.
"Hi there! You must be my examiner!" Lunis extended her hand out and remarked, "My name's Luna, you are?"
The man slowly shook her hand and muttered, "J-Just doing my job..."
"Ok Mr. Just Doing My Job, nice to meet you!" Lunis closed her eyes and giggled, "Hehe, I'm just kidding!"
She then leaned out and strutted around the front of the car a bit, "So this is what I'll be riding in?"
"F-For the test, of course." The examiner remarked, finding his eyes magnetically drawn to Lunis' long legs and firm rear pressing against the back of her pants.
He tugged at his collar and coughed, "S-S-Shall we get started?"
Lunis perked upright and turned around, "Yes sir!"
He went to the other side and got in, while Lunis opened her door and cleanly sat down. But upon nestling her butt in the leather comfort she wiggled her hips around a bit and noticed something iffy.
"Is this seat supposed to be this hot?" She said, lifting her butt up slightly to notice it was partially drenched in sweat.
"There was someone in here before you, he must've had the heater going." The examiner pointed out.
"Oh that must've been my brother," Lunis chuckled and sat herself back down, "That silly billy!"
"B-Brother?" The examiner gulped audibly.
Lunis then tugged at her jacket and let out a tired huff, "Whoo its sweltering in here! Mind if I take off my jacket?"
The examiner tried to focus on his clipboard as he prompted her, "Go right ahead..."
She unzipped the jacket and pulled it off, revealing her bombastic, bodacious upper body in view of the examiner's now bulging retinas.
"H-Holy shit...!" He gasped.
Lunis paused mid-detachment and glanced at him wondering, "Something wrong?"
He forced his eyes back on his clipboard and shouted, "N-Nothing! Don't mind me."
He was totally peeping at her from the corner of his eyes though. Her firm, hefty chest jutting out, barely contained behind her lilac halter top, made him mutter to his lonesome, "You can't do this, you're a married man..."
He took a deep breath and refocused his efforts on professionalism.
Lunis closed the door and began to tug on her seatbelt while humming a tune. She paused partway, staring down at her stomach. She smiled and gave it a pat, "Don't worry, I won't put it on tightly."
The examiner had his questions, but kept them tightly sealed behind his lips. As Lunis turned the key in the ignition and started the car up she spoke aloud, "First you start the car, then you put your foot on the gas and shift the lever to Drive..."
The car jiggled slightly and began to move. She jolted upright and smiled, "Yay! Its working!"
She then guided the car towards the sidewalk, much like her brother did, "Turn clockwise to go right, then just stick to 5 MPH until you reach the road..."
She had her eyes glued on the speedometer, never going even an iota towards 6 MPH.
"Turn on the blinker to signal you're going right..."
"M-Ma'am?" The examiner remarked.
"Hmmm?" Lunis shifted her head at him with an owl-like stare.
"You don't have to say everything you're doing," The examiner wrote something down on his paper and then softly clicked his pen, "Leave the talking to me, just focus on driving."
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Lunis waved her hand out, but then quickly slapped it back down on the wheel with an antsy grin, "I-I'm just so nervous driving a car for the first time."
"T-This is your first time?!" The examiner's face turned pale.
"Oh yeah, it was my brother's first time too!"
"Oh...well that's a good sign." The examiner muttered that last part under his breath.
Lunis kept driving, keeping her thoughts to herself but keeping up that cheery tune the whole time they drove. She was clean in everything she had to do. A little TOO clean, much to the examiner's disbelief by the time they drove right back up to the DMV.
"P-Perfect marks..." He had to flip his page up to make sure he hadn't missed something. But there were no mistakes. None at all.
"So?" After turning the car off Lunis leaned in towards his clipboard, "How did I do?"
"...Y-You passed, easily." The examiner took the paper off and handed it to her.
"Yay!" She cheered, nearly bonking her head on the ceiling in the process. She then headed out the door to celebrate with her friends, picking up her jacket along the way.
At around this time Riku had returned too, so the two briefly joined up to discuss how it went.
They saw each others' papers and smiled. Lunis then hugged Riku briefly while telling him, "I knew it'd be a cake walk for you!"
"It...was a lot tougher than I expected. I almost rear-ended a car doing parallel parking..." Riku said with some mild shame in his voice.
He then looked down and whispered, "So how did it feel? Is the-"
Lunis leaned in to his ear and whispered, "We shouldn't talk about it here, your brother's listening."
Indeed, Riku then felt the subtle movement of wind around him and turned to give Mew the stink-eye. Mew quickly tucked his hands behind his back and started whistling.
Lunis then leaned in a little longer and whispered, "It was fine, it didn't hurt us at all."
Riku let out a sigh of relief and then wandered back to the others with Lunis at his side. Lunis raised her paper properly and declared, "We both passed!"
"Right on!" Solaris raised his hand and the two shared a clap.
Mew meanwhile looked at his brother and said, "So, aced it right?"
Riku flipped his paper over and stared at it long and hard, "I think I could've done better. I'll just have to work on my driving in a safe environment."
He held it out and remarked, "But for now, I've passed."
Mew glanced at the paper and then clapped his hands, "So four out of six of us have passed! Though..."
He crossed his arms and with a confident huff he glanced aside at Alura, "That means one of us is lined up to fail."
Alura glanced back briefly then closed her eyes and let out a "Hmph!", before proceeding to strut towards the training cars, "For the first time in your life, Mew, I will make you eat words."
Mew flinched while Solaris bellowed out a laugh, "Oh shit! Savage!"
"S-Shut up..." Mew closed his eyes and muttered under his breath hastily, "Damn that was pretty good..."
He then waved out from his side at Maria, "Come on, lets get this show on the road!"
He hurried on ahead to his car, where the examiner was currently drying down the sweat Solaris had left behind. In doing so, he took a sniff and muttered, "...Lavender?"
"Hey, you're the guy right?" Mew got the guy's attention and wound up causing him to bump his head on the frame on his way up.
While he rubbed his head Mew grimaced and muttered, "Ooof, sorry about that."
"...You're next?" The examiner grumbled.
"Yessiree Bob!" Mew proclaimed confidently.
The examiner glanced aside and remarked, "Who's the kid with you?"
"This is my daughter, Maria," Mew gently put his hand to her back and she smiled and waved at the man, "I hope you don't mind that I brought her along for the test."
"We're not supposed to allow others into the car with us..." The examiner muttered, finding the beaming, innocent eyes Maria gave to be quite persuasive.
"Please?" Mew pleaded, "I want her to see how comfortable it is to drive a car so she won't be so nervous when it comes her time to drive one."
Maria puckered her lower lip and cooed.
"...Alright I can make an exception." The examiner sighed warmly.
"So you better do a good job." Giving his advice, the examiner happily twirled his pen around and headed to the other side of the car.
Mew and Maria snickered and gave each other thumbs-ups. Mew remarked, "Sucker...!"
"What a maroon!" Maria added.
They then made their move. Mew went to the front seat and Maria was allowed into the back. She cozies on up to the center of the car and buckled up.
Mew used the rear view mirror and saw Maria pull a drawing pad out from under her shirt, which she lifted slightly to ensure he sees it.
He then gave a nod and she lowered it to her lap, taking out a crayon while opening to the front page.
Mew then turned to the dashboard and went for the keys, "Got to turn the ignition..."
The car started smoothly, the vibrations of the engines rattling him down to the soul, "Aaaah that's nice."
He rubbed the top of the dashboard with a tender smile, "Nothing like the purr of a freshly built car..."
He caught the examiner making a move for the paper and quickly magnetized his back to the seat, both hands on the wheels, "Right! Ok...next up is..."
He shifted the lever to Reverse, but then went just a liiitle harder to get to Drive. He took a deep breath and glanced up at the mirror, where Maria was nodding her head.
He then followed the pattern of his buddies getting out of there. But once he got to the intersection he paused and tapped his fingers on the wheel.
"A four-way intersection. Now how am I supposed to tackle this?" He said that later part a little loudly, then glanced at the mirror, watching Maria spring into action with her drawing book.
She flipped to a page while Mew made the occasional glances back ahead to avoid arousing suspicion. Finally he caught Maria displaying a crudely made crayon drawing showing a four-way intersection and numbers going clockwise from 1 at the bottom to 4 to the right.
Mew nodded and then turned his attention forward, waiting for his turn to arrive. He then made a clean right turn and continued on his way.
"Excellent!" He cheered.
He kept using Maria's crude drawings to get himself out of tight pinches until, eventually, the examiner guided them towards an on-ramp.
"We're going to take a quick drive on the freeway. It shouldn't be too busy this time of day but still, be careful."
Mew gripped the wheel tightly, his heart thumping as he made a slow, steady turn towards the on-ramp, "Right...be careful."
He applied more pressure to the gas pedal and the car sped up, reaching 50 MPH in seconds. His body pulled back, sinking deeper into the leather. The car kept going faster, reaching the limit of 70 MPH a little while after.
He then used the signal to veer onto the freeway itself, keeping his distance from the other cars.
He held his hands on the wheel with goosebumps crawling up his skin. His heart started beating faster, and he began to mutter in a trance, "So this is what it feels like to be fast in a car..."
This was nothing like flying after all. Freed of his elements, embracing naught but the reigns of this metal gas-munching horse, he felt a bubble enveloping his body made of pure pressure. It gripped his skin with a vibration similar to ecstasy.
No.
This was his own body's rhythm, the rhythm of freedom and exhilaration. His eyes became as wide as discuses, his pupils seeing nothing but the concrete paved in his path, tempting him to burn rubber to his heart's content.
"Let it all go," Came the freeway's sultry whisper, "Run me down in your big bad vehicle, big boy."
Mew's body let loose a quiver and he moaned, gripping the wheel of this mighty vehicle tighter, as his foot subtly pressed down on the gas pedal. The car accelerated, the grip of this pressure increasing along with it.
The examiner suddenly jerked upright and stuttered, "W-What are you doing?"
The speedometer pivoted towards 80 MPH, then went towards 90 soon after.
"I need more horse power!" And finally, Mew had been lost to speed's true calling...100 MPH!
Meanwhile, Alura was taking her test on the freeway. She was dutifully checking her mirrors before changing lanes, and keeping her foot softly on the gas pedal.
The examiner was writing on his paper but his mood seemed overall pleasant. Alura smiled and returned her focus to the road.
But upon glancing up the mirror she noticed a car weaving itself between cars at blistering speeds, and heading right towards them. Fortunately it passed by her right without her having to make any sudden detours.
However, she JUST managed to sneak a glimpse into the car to see Mew hemming the wheel. Her eyes remained wide-open as she stared at the car speeding out of view in a matter of seconds.
The examiner jumped in his seat and shouted, "C-Crazy speeder!"
He then grabbed onto his head and murmured, "Wait...is that...one of our cars?"
Alura set her body aglow and trapped the examiner in an illusion, "I couldn't tell, it went by too fast."
The examiner settled down in his seat muttering, "Y-Yeah, must've been seeing things."
Alura arched her brows and muttered disdainfully under her breath, "Mew...!"
Back in carbon emitting hell, Mew's examiner was pinned to the back of his seat and shoving his foot desperately underneath his seat.
"Ah! Where is the emergency brake?!"
"Ah quit your bellyaching we're fine!" Mew said, speaking with a voice of pure adrenaline.
"You're going 30 miles over the speed limit!" The examiner said, losing the strength to go on.
"Yeah, but I'm not hitting anyone am I?" Was the one bit of logical sense Mew was making cause SURPRISINGLY he hadn't hit anyone off the road pulling this crazy stunt.
"That's not the point!" The examiner slammed back into his seat as they passed by a madly honking truck, "AAAAAAH!"
He suddenly let out a moan and his eyes shut, his whole body slanting into his seat. Mew turned away slightly and said, "Uhhh, you ok?"
Maria poked her head out between the seats and remarked, "Its ok, papa! I knocked him out with my gases!"
Mew wagged a finger at her and remarked nonchalantly, "We're going to have a chat about your forward thinking when we get back young lady."
This brief distraction got him looking at the speeds he was going and shouting, "Oh SHIT!"
He applied the brakes to get back to normal speeds and muttered, "Ha...ha ha...Lost control of myself there."
After a couple dry coughs he whistled his way over to the off-ramp and then slowly, SLOWLY, guided the car back to the DMV.
Him parking the car jolted the examiner awake with a couple snorts. The examiner scrambled to look around while stuttering, "Bluh...huh? W-Where are we?"
Mew looked at him straight-faced and said, "We're back at the DMV. You fell asleep suddenly while I was doing my test."
He then smiled and chuckled, "Rough day?"
The examiner grabbed the side of his face and groaned, "Ughhh, I felt like I was just in a nightmare. And...and why am I smelling gas?"
Mew flicked the dashboard and remarked, "I started smelling it too around the off-ramp. Maybe you ought to get this car in too."
"Y-Yeah..." The examiner pulled up his clipboard and then looked it over, "Sorry about nodding off, but...It seems like you made it back safely."
"Of course, always gotta consider the safety of your passengers!" Mew was all sunshine and rainbows to the examiner, who tore the paper off and handed it over to him.
"Well either way, your safe driving has earned you your license. Congrats."
Mew snatched the paper off his hands with a big grin and said, "THANK you for your time."
He then headed out the door, "C'mon, Maria!"
She snuck her drawing book under her shirt and waved the man farewell. The examiner rubbed his head and groaned some more.
The scheming duo waltzed away across the pavement and gave each other a hi-five and smile. Mew wagged his paper in the air while the others stared, Joe Dark in particular gawking in disbelief.
"Bullshit...! They really must have low standards of passing here."
Mew fanned his smug face with the paper and chuckled, "Nah...I'm just that good."
Suddenly, Alura stepped in front of the two with her eyes frozen in a stare.
Mew paused and wondered, "So, didn't pass?"
Alura immediately whipped her passing paper up, rolling it into a tube and using it to bonk Maria atop the head. As the little girl rubbed her head and went "Owie!" Alura turned her pointer finger at Mew's paper and uttered in a ghastly tone, "Sham!"
She tried to claw at the paper only for Mew to use his height advantage to hold it far over her reach, "W-Whoa now...!"
Alura puffed her cheeks and backed away, her eyes immediately lining up with Mew's crotch. With bullet-like reflexes her fist went flying towards it.
Suddenly, Mew smirked and his body became surrounded by a blue and silver light. At the very last moment he pulled away from Alura's fist and glided behind her.
Her eyes widened in shock and Mew leaned down to whisper in her ear, "You're too immature to get me with that type of cliché, Alura."
Joe Dark chopped Mew on the back of the head and he flinched upright like a scared dog.
"What the hell's going on here?!" He uttered in bewilderment.
Alura wagged her pointer finger at Mew and tattled on him without hesitation, "He was speeding on the freeway!"
"H-Hey!" Mew sputtered.
Riku walked up to the conversation and asked, "Brother is that true?"
Mew folded his arms and said, "I MAY have gone five...or thirty miles over the speed limit...By accident."
"By ACCIDENT?!" Joe Dark sputtered loudly.
"I didn't hit anyone!" Mew barked back, "Isn't that impressive enough?!"
Joe Dark squeezed his eyes shut and pinched his forehead, "What's impressive is that you passed the test somehow..."
"Yep. I passed the test," Mew nodded firmly and reassured this view, "Fair. And. Square."
"Liar." Alura remarked.
"Yeah well, you're flat." Mew replied bluntly.
A vein popped in Alura's forehead and she began to roll up her right sleeve, "Joe Dark, permission to punch your brother in the hip."
Joe Dark rolled up his sleeve while grumbling in a feral tone, "Permission granted. I'll go for his face."
Riku stepped between the two and mediated the growing tensions, "This isn't the time to fight you two. We should be celebrating getting our licenses."
Joe Dark put a pin in his violence grenade and tucked his hands into his pockets, "Fine, you have a point."
"I mean, first we still have to get back in line to get the licenses." Mew remarked, earning the collective groans of his buddies.
"And then we'll need to get cars to drive in afterwards."
Everyone suddenly went silent, the look of devastation and awkward glancing around coming from them all making Mew cross his arms and remark, "Wait, did you guys seriously not think about that before coming here?"
"S-Shut up! Neither did you, admit it!" Joe Dark got all accusing towards him but Mew just laughed it off.
"Shows what you know! I can easily assemble a car with my powers."
"Oh that's a wreck I'd love to see happen." Joe Dark said with a dry chuckle.
Lunis clutched her hands behind her back and whispered towards Riku, "I-I guess we DO kinda need jobs to afford a car, huh?"
"Ha!" Solaris roared triumphantly over the others, "Guess you guys can enjoy the bus butt cramps a little longer! Me though? Samantha says I can drive her car whenever she says I'm allowed to!"
He reared his head back with a grin while everyone got so silent they could hear a sole cricket chirping in the distance.
Solaris looked at them all and chuckled, "Yeah that's right, you're envious, I know it!"
Mew shook his head and patted Riku on the back, "Another proud warrior, now downgraded to a Simp..."
Riku patted him back and sighed, "You hate to see it happen, brother."
Mew then shot a gaze and smirk at his brother as he pulled away, "At least we're still single, right?"
Riku's eyes shot open and he stuttered, "Err, r-right..."
Solaris crushed his arms against his chest and shouted, "Oh fuck you both!"
The others shared a laugh together at Solaris' expense while making their way back to the DMV, celebrating their job well-done...
Next Time: Late Night Soiree