[03] Desire for Velocity!

[Kaden]

The screech of rubber echoed off the nearby buildings as Kaden’s motorcycle zipped past Piper’s pokemobile and rounded a corner. Normally, the courier would have been somewhat worried about making so much noise at such a late hour, but the city around them seemed to be empty. There were still sounds and signs of life, but not an actual person to be seen anywhere. It gave the event an unnerving ambience when he let his mind wander from the race at hand.

Admittedly, his mind had plenty of places to meander, and the race was destined to not receive the bulk of his attention. Normally, that would have been detrimental to any effort he made to come out in first, but there was a nice blinking arrow on Kaden’s motorcycle that seemed to be showing him the path he needed to take. Initially, he was somewhat dubious of such a convenient addition, but he realized he had, presumably, a lot of ground to cover and know way of knowing which direction was the correct one. With no better ideas springing to mind, he decided to go with the proverbial flow.

In his rearview mirror, Kaden could see Piper’s bright yellow car rocket around a corner and make a visible effort to gain on him. Smiling to himself, the courier gunned it, so to speak, hoping to gain more distance. Sadly, that ended up being a mistake. While he wasn’t completely incapable at handling a motorcycle, controlling one at, literally, break-neck speeds wasn’t exactly his forte.

As he watched Piper slowly gain on him, Kaden couldn’t help but replay their conversation in his head. It irritated him that she had been able to read him so easily; he wasn’t annoyed at the soldier herself, but rather his apparent inability to put up an appropriate front. Perhaps he should have taken her up on her offer. Just talking to someone… maybe that would go a long way.

It was no secret to Kaden that he generally had difficulty sharing his feelings with people. He had no problem telling someone about things that had happened in his life – for the most part – such as unfortunate events or bad experiences, but actually explaining the feelings that went along with them wasn’t really his thing. It was easier to rely on one’s self than hope that someone will be around to listen to you whine; fact of the matter was that, at the end of the day, you’re always going to be around, someone else might have taken off long ago.

Letting himself get wrapped up in those thoughts, Kaden’s mind decided, was exactly what he didn’t need to do. As though watching a mighty dam swell before bursting, the courier found himself thinking about a memory long-since past. A memory of a time in his life that was actually happy… a memory of a family he had tried so hard to forget.

~~*~~

“Awww c’mon, you can go way faster than this!” came Kaden’s ten-year-old voice.

“Not on your life, kiddo. If your mom found out you were with me at all, she’d have my head.”

Though he tried to frown, the child simply couldn’t hold back an elated grin as his father flashed a quick smile over his shoulder. Kaden’s father, long interested in motorcycles, had finally caved to his son’s ceaseless requests to go with him for a ride. Luckily enough for Kaden, his dad had been in an exceptionally good mood, and the matriarch of the family had been out of the house with their daughter. His father had to admire both his son’s persistence and carefully planned timing. A short ride on their motorcycle seemed like an appropriate reward.

Shaking his head, Kaden’s dad mulled over his son’s continued requests to go faster. He wasn’t really afraid for his son’s safety, he knew the kid was far tougher than most, but he knew exactly how scary his wife could be when she got mad. Though… he was already going to be in the dog house, might as well let the kid have some extra fun. Revving the motorcycle, Kaden’s delighted cry of surprise was drowned out by the roar of the engine as it shot down the road.

The joy ride hadn’t lasted a particularly long time, much to the younger Kaden’s disapproval, but it had been in a failed attempt to beat his mother home. As they pulled up to their house, Kaden watched his dad hang his head in defeat when he saw their mother’s vehicle sitting in the driveway. To the child, this simply meant he would have one more person to brag to about the exciting experience he just had.

As the motorcycle came to a stop, Kaden leapt off, tossed his helmet back to his father and raced inside the house. He would spend the next couple hours regaling his mother with exaggerated tales of his outing – despite his father’s protests – and taunting his sister with exciting details of something she wouldn’t be able to do until she was much older.

The last details of that memory were of Kaden’s sister chasing him about their house, trying to get him to shut up. Though the girl was faster than her brother, he had grow quite accustomed to slipping away from her. Their father got them both to settle down and, clearly caught between the rock of his daughter’s plight and the hard place of his wife’s warning glare, promised that some day she would get to go on a ride with him.

~~*~~

The shrill cry of Piper’s horn broke Kaden from his surprisingly pleasant memory as she sped past him in her awkward-looking car. He was actually thankful for the jolt back to reality: he had spent a lot of time and effort forgetting… the past. There was no telling what would have happened if he had been able to continue drifting off like that. His mind was in a spiteful mood, it seemed.

Looking down at the bike he was sitting on, Kaden couldn’t help but wonder why Gamer had chosen that particular form of transportation for him. It was clearly the reason he had thought about… things, and he would have loved nothing more than to simply get off and drive something else… if there were anything else to drive. Shaking the thoughts from his head, the courier renewed his grasp on the situation.

It quickly became clear why Piper had overtaken him so easily. A byproduct of his daydreaming seemed to be allowing his speed to plummet. He probably could have jumped off and started running faster than he was driving, and that was saying something. As he brought his speed back up to the appropriately dangerous levels, movement in his sideview mirrors drew his attention. Two more racers seemed to be gaining ground on him.

The first vehicle was rather small, the size of a go-kart if Kaden had to guess, and it was swerving about the road dangerously. Whoever was driving it either had no idea what they were doing or simply couldn’t control their vehicle. Regardless, they were doing an admirable job of gaining ground, and that didn’t bode well for Kaden. As far as he knew, only one person could win a race.

The second racer cause the courier to a double – and then triple – take. Their vehicle seemed to actually be flying above the ground, though he would not call their flight particularly graceful. The person perched awkwardly on top was of much more interest, though. Clinging uncomfortably to her flying… thing seemed to be Sophia. The blue-and-white dress combined with the surprisingly long locks of golden hair was a fairly dead giveaway. It also seemed to support Kaden’s initial thesis upon entering the event: Gamer was a jackass.

Don’t give them an event where they might actually be able to have a conversation, or an event where they might get to work together. No no no, that would be asking far too much. Kaden supposed he should be thankful that the two of them were only racing against one another and not locked in some kind of mortal combat. There, Gamer couldn’t say Kaden was never appreciative.

Regardless of who the racers actually were, it was still a race and Kaden still needed something to distract himself with. Taking a deep breath to steel himself, the courier let his bike do the proverbial talking as he rocketed down the street.