The Key

Aerrow

Atmosia had one of the most favorable climates. Low humidity, rain only where crops grew, perfect sunshine, never snow. Of course, the shock from going to living in an environment like that your entire life to heat that will slowly kill you is hard to take in.

I understood the situation, but it was hard to think about without laughing. Seriously, imagine Kai complaining all day about the heat!

…Okay, maybe it's more trouble for me than it is for her… Either way, she'll forget the heat and enjoy the training before long.

"Don't worry about your landing this time!" I told her. "It's sand, it's soft. Avoid a rock and do what you think is best."

With a smile, Kai seemed more confident now. The forced test run, with death staring her in the face, kicked her off to a great start. I had little doubt she would do it—if I were training someone completely inexperienced with sky rides, I wouldn't have let her anywhere near flying.

Of course, that wasn't Kai. Kai's father had an immense knowledge of both sky rides and ships alike. His job forced that upon him. Without much contact with Kai, he lacked the ability to share most of it with her. Instead, he handed her a Switchblade and said "Learn or don't."

Kai's always been forced into learning things. She's never had a gentle nudge. Upon realizing this, I almost regret forcing her to fly. Sometimes all you need is that gentle nudge and positive praise along the way for a successful outcome.

Either way, she was off to a great start and I wasn't going to go back and change things now.

However, teaching meant this was my time to show off, something I rarely had time to do. Though I didn't favor showing off, it was always nice when I knew I had someone who was intent on watching and learning to see the possibilities.

I turned and flew around, watching how Kai landed. She still seemed uneasy about the process, but she knew the outcome well. Excited about another successful landing, rather than shock, she quickly scrambled off the bike, in turn falling into the sand, and laughing proudly. Lying there, she exclaimed, "Yes! Ha ha! I did it!"

With a smile, I decided to do something daring. I hadn't practiced it much and it was still even dangerous for me—and more of a show move than anything useful. I quickly cut the engine and retracted the wings, flipping the skimmer head-over-heels in mid-air as it began falling. The wheels hit the ground, and with my feet quickly on the sand to keep steady, I landed. Proud of myself, I smiled, thanking God that I didn't break a leg.

Kai, still lying back in the sand, had missed most of the trick. I wasn't entirely showing off—this day is about training, right? That was training.

I swear!

"You know… this is nice. There's a good breeze out here, the sun keeps it warm… Do we have to be flying? Can't we just enjoy this?"

I climbed off of my Skimmer and headed toward her, seating myself in the sand next to the ditch she'd made for herself in the shade of her Switchblade.

"…We could have a race…," I suggested, digging a hand into the surprisingly cool sand below.

"What do I get if I win?" she asked.

I remembered our last race on Tropica earlier. I asked what I had won and she said she didn't agree to stakes. Assuming she remembered as well, she wanted to make this interesting and I agreed.

Hmm… "How about… winner gets to keep whatever's in Radarr's compartment." The poor guy will kill me, but a bet is a bet and it's already on the table.

"Radarr?"

"Our mission specialist. We usually team up on a mission; he sits here," I pointed out the secondary cockpit. "He keeps little things in a compartment under my seat," I smiled. "Winner gets to keep whatever's in there."

"Shouldn't you ask him first?"

I shook my head. "He takes his favorite things with him and leaves what he thinks is junk behind, leaving me to clean it out."

Hearing the word 'thinks,' knowing not everything left behind could be junk, she agreed. After all, it was more expedition than for stakes anyway. Insignificant stakes just made it a little more fun.

She nodded. "All right, fine. Let's go. First one to…. that," she pointed to a mountain-like horizon a good five miles away, "wins."

I nodded, standing up. I held out a hand and helped her to her feet as well.

I studied her Switchblade for a moment to assess and estimate an outcome. Her Switchblade lacked the heavy armor that the Dark Ace's carried. His was battle-ready and outperformed my Skimmer in every category except maneuverability. Without that armor that Kai had likely removed, her sky ride out performed mine in every category… except fuel economy. Assuming she didn't fix that up as well, she may run out of fuel before the race is over. Having only driven it once, she's relying on whatever the previous owner filled it up with… or at least, whatever's left.

I stepped over and opened the fuel tank. Before looking inside, Kai gripped my wrist and pulled it away. "What are you doing?"

"Just give me a second."

"No! You could be compromising my bike!"

I held up my hands. "All right, watch my hands." I then leaned over and looked into the tank. Not seeing a single crystal, I reached inside. Kai tried to stop me, but I pulled out a crystal before she had the chance. The Fuel crystal was void of almost all its color—and energy.

"You're lucky you haven't died today," I sighed, mentally kicking myself now for letting her fly any sort of distance. If that crystal had run out of energy in the air, she'd be flying through endless clouds without reassurance of an end. That's almost worse than death alone…

"Confession time. Your ride has the worst fuel intake. If this crystal ran out, you'd be dead."

Kai laughed. "You think I didn't know this? With a bit of rewiring I fixed that problem. Cyclonians are the most wasteful beings on this planet…," she sighed, shaking her head. "Now, are we going to race or not?"

"At least let me get you a new Fuel crystal so you don't crash." I turned around, reaching into my own fuel tank. Three crystals, all in almost perfect condition. I dropped it into her tank and shut the lid, walking back over to my Skimmer. "Okay, go set a starting line." I tossed the old crystal in the air, watching it turn to dust in the breeze. It's last ounce of energy was used keeping the particles together, and in a sad, final farewell, it scattered itself among the grains of sand.

Running a few feet out, she used her foot to draw a less than straight line. I smiled. "Hurry up!" I leaned over and tied the supplies down in anticipation of the unexpected while Kai set her bike back a few feet from the line, matching my own distance.

"It's unfair if either of us call the mark." Reaching into a holster on her hip, Kai pulled out a gun.

My eyes widened. "…What are you doing?"

With precise aim, Kai shot at a tall rock pillar, creating a large, unstable rock on top of a thinner pillar. "When that rock falls, we go."

Still a bit uneasy until the crystal gun was concealed once more, I nodded. We both sat there, watching the rock ahead of us with baited breath.

Three…

Two…

One.

And that called it. Simultaneously, we both shot off. The race spanned over five minutes, with little effort to keep our bikes going any slower than a mile a minute. Nowhere near either of our top speeds, I kicked it up a notch.

Of course, the outcome was obvious. Her Switchblade reined over my Skimmer in this race, so long as it lacked its armor. Though it wouldn't last much longer than a minute in battle, this was no battle.

When we hit the base of the mountain, it came time to congratulate the winner.

And I was no poor sport.

Stumbling from her bike, she hit the soft sand, not bothering to move. "Hand it over, pretty boy!"

I jumped from my bike and pried off the seat, tossing it into the sand. After moving a few things around, I found Radarr's box. Upon opening it, I found nothing short of puzzling.

A key. A single brass key.

"I didn't lie," I spoke quietly. Examining the key before handing it off to the orange-haired girl, I found it to belong to something on the Condor. Whatever it opened was a mystery, but it was something that Radarr treasured to some degree. Why he left it in my Skimmer was more of a mystery than the key itself.

"…But this is what was in the box." I held the key between my thumb and index finger about a foot from the girl's face. "You can have it, I suppose. But," I pulled back the key just as she reached for it.

"You have to promise to find what it belongs to."

With a smile, she snatched the key from my hand. "It's Radarr's key, God only knows what it belongs to."

"Guess I'll have to stick around so you can find out then, eh?"

With a disapproving look, Kai hid the key in her pocket. "You're not trying to hit on me, are you?"

Shrugging, I told her the next thing that popped into my head. "Only if you look at it that way."

Kai raised her arm over her head and shielded the sun from her eyes. "You said we're here for training? I… I've already proven I can fly this beast… and driving is no issue. Can… we just hang out for today?"

"My plan was to keep you out of the house and, though my original intentions had changed, if that'll make you happy, then sure."

She smiled.

Taking a seat next to her in the sand once more, I let a calming silence fill the air, something I assumed Kai needed.

And Kai's incriminating words filled the air minutes later. With a laugh, she spoke.

"I still beat your ass."