Sky Ride

Kai

"Get on."

"I told you, I'm not hungry."

His green eyes gazed at me, unfazed. "It doesn't matter if you're hungry or not anymore. I've decided on a better destination. Now, come on. Let's go."

Once I climbed on the old Skimmer Aerrow had borrowed in lieu of his own, he drove us away from the house.

With a snicker, Aerrow reminded me of something I'd neglected to remember. "You gotta hold on to me…"

Grumbling a few profanities under my breath, I clutched onto his torso, anxiously waiting for the ride to end.

A safe distance away from anyone that could possibly get hurt, Aerrow pulled up and released the wings, drawing in the wheels. Though the Skimmer rode nothing like the one I'd fixed up, it had its definite perks, and obvious drawbacks.

"Don't get too comfortable," he told me. "It won't be too long until we're there."

I sighed, relieved. "Yeah! As if I'm comfortable sitting like this," I pointed out the fact that my arms were reluctantly around him.

The wind hit us both pretty hard, making me thankful for changing into boots and jeans before we left that day. However, wearing a tank top didn't help in the least, and actually gave way to a scary thought.

He's not… hitting on me, is he? I shifted my eyes. Better not be… I'll steal his jacket when he isn't looking to cover up whatever he may be looking at.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Aerrow was out of uniform. Didn't each squadron have their own uniform? Even if they did, this sure wasn't up to code… Off duty meant it didn't matter, I suppose.

Glancing over his shoulder for a moment, Aerrow furrowed his brow. "You're not cold, are you?" he asked coincidentally.

I shook my head. "No, I'm fine."

Smiling, Aerrow paused, thinking something over. "Hold still. Whatever you do, don't move."

Confused, I watched carefully to see what he was about to do. And he let go of the steering system.

"What are you doing?!" I asked frantically.

The boy laughed. He quickly pulled off his jacket and pulled his tee-shirt back down, handing it to me before we careened too far out of control. "You can't worry so much… I'd never let us crash."

Nothing but the sound of thundering wind filled our ears for the few moments it took me to put on the jacket.

"…Kai, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I know that probably didn't help your impression of me, either."

Looking downward for a moment, I responded quietly, "…It's okay…" Scared out of my mind, those were the only words I could pull from my inner workings.

Noting the fact that I was scared, Aerrow took special care to flying much more smoothly the rest of the ride there. My grip around him couldn't possibly grow tighter, and if it wasn't for fear of my life, it would be much the opposite. With my eyes tightly shut, I was unsure of the distance between where we were and our destination, but much to my surprise, it only took another minute before our wheels touched the ground and the wings retracted into the vehicle.

Once the vehicle came to a slow stop, Aerrow sat there for a moment in silence. "Kai… it's safe. Come on, you can let go now."

I opened my green eyes slowly, looking away from the Skimmer. Land… No, grass. "Home?" I questioned.

He shook his head as I cautiously pried myself off of him. The boy was quick to fix his clothing. "This is Tropica. Haven't you ever been off of Atmosia?"

I shook my head, stumbling off of the bike. "Terra Tropica? Like… paradise?"

He nodded.

"The most romantic place in Atmos?" I asked, a brow raised.

Aerrow laughed nervously. "Now, Kai, I meant nothing by it by coming here. Honest."

Suspicions of the boy having an ulterior motive grew with every second, but nonetheless, I was stuck here with him until he decided to leave. That is, unless I called the authorities.

My expression fell flat. Right… The Storm Hawks govern this area…

Aerrow climbed off the bike and began walking toward a break in the land, where grass became sand, and sand became water. Where the water came from no one entirely knew, and where it went between land's end and the clouds was another mystery entirely.

Quickly catching up to the Sky Knight, I watched his every movement, including the one where he reached around me and leeched his hand onto my shoulder, forcing me to walk directly next to him at his slow speed.

I cringed, looking away from him. "You know, you're really not helping your case, here."

In an instant, Aerrow removed his arm from me and placed his hand on his head, scratching at his scalp. "Uh… hehe… Sorry… "

Once our shoes began collapsing the sand, Aerrow removed his and ran ahead. "Race you to the shore!" he shouted, laughing.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine…" I slipped off my shoes, tore off his jacket, and grasped them in one hand, sprinting at full-speed toward the shore. I navigated through the palms and around the merchants' shacks planted firmly in the sand. Just barely avoiding a surfboard stack, hitting one that eventually caused a domino effect, I hop-skipped around and began running backward, shouting an apology to the store owner before turning back and sprinting once more.

I was careful not to step on others' belongings, as some had already set up camp for the day. By the time I was half-way down the beach, Aerrow had already reached the finish line and began a victory dance.

Out of breath, I dropped my shoes and his jacket onto the sand and rested my hands on my knees, leaning over to calm down.

"It wasn't that far of a run, was it?"

I flicked my head upward in an attempt to move my bangs from my eyes and glare at him.

"All right, all right, fine. I still won. So, what's my prize?" He asked, stretching his arms out above his head.

A wave flooded over our feet, soaking my shoes. Lucky for Aerrow, the jacket was leather and all it needed was a good shaking-off to get dry. My shoes, however, were another story.

"Shoot… I'm sorry," he apologized, picking up my shoes and his jacket.

"I never agreed to having stakes on the game, so no prize."

He laughed quietly. "Figures. Come on, let's go sit down somewhere."

Aerrow led me off toward a cleared area, one centered around a fire pit.

Planting myself in the sand, I dug my feet in as deep as they would go and hugged my knees to my chest. "How long do you plan to keep me here?"

"Sunset sound good? Or should we go elsewhere later?"

The thought of having to cling to him on another flight displeased me much more than being stuck with him in the tropics until sunset. "This is fine."

"At least sound happy… I'm trying to be hospitable and show you a good time to change your mind. The least you could do is act like you enjoy it.

I let go of my knees and laid back in the sand behind me.

"…Fine. Sit tight, I'm going to go buy us some sun screen so we don't fry."

I closed my eyes, reaching over to cover my face with his jacket. I didn't understand why it was so important to him to change my opinion on Sky Knights. Sure, the Rex Guardians had their flaws which may have influenced my impression of all the other squadrons, but my mind had changed the second I learned his status as the Storm Hawk leader.

His persistence is what I have a problem with now. There's a fine line between persistent and obsessive, and the ice he's standing on is cracking beneath him into straight-up obsession.

Maybe it's his ego that has him out trying to prove that people like me don't exist? Does changing my opinion help him feel better, or can he not believe that I could think such things?

If it's not ego… what is it?

I now know it's wrong to judge them all over one squadron, but he's not giving me much to base an opinion off of.

Maybe he's right… I should just enjoy the trip for the time being and take in everything afterward. It's not right of me to take such little information and form such a strong opinion over it. After all, he's only human, and the Rex Guardians are in a squadron all their own.

Who am I to blame the Storm Hawks for the Rex Guardians' wrongdoings?