savetheearth | ACTION

"Dude, I hope your insurance is up to date."

As he snatched the keys out of the air, Kenji tried to shove aside the vague forebodings of impending disaster that hung over him like a stormcloud. It had been at least six months since his last failed attempt...and his dad wouldn't be in the passenger seat yelling at him this time. Maybe this time everything would suddenly click into place, and he'd finally get it. Tightening his grip on the keys, he closed his eyes, took a breath, and offered up a silent prayer to whatever gods were listening that it might be so...and that he didn't kill both himself and Tadashi in the process. Or worse, wreck his new friend's car.

Once seated behind the wheel, he slipped the key into the ignition. So far, so good. His face fell a bit upon noting the stick shift in between the seats and the three pedals rising from the floorboards. Of course Tadashi would drive a standard; that was just on a par with his usual run of luck. But Tadashi had promised to explain everything to him, so...he'd try to remain positive. Still, he couldn't help wishing for something a little simpler, like one of those kiddie cars that ran on pedal power...or maybe something with training wheels.

"Okay...uh...now what, professor?"

For his part, Tadashi's confidence wavered back and forth between some natural alarm at just how much trepidation Kenji's posture was broadcasting, and rebounding as some helpful part of his mind supplied a convenient explanation and excuse.

He slid into the bucket seat on the passenger side and reached for the belt. The car wasn't new, or particularly fancy. It was the old machine his dad has learned on, and he'd learned on... It still ran like a beast after hills, teenagers and simple lifelong wear and tear, if nothing else, he was sure the old steel boat was the only thing anyone should learn in.

"Before you turn that key, put your feet down on the left and middle pedals. Once the engine turns over, take your foot off of the brake, or the middle one, and sllllooowly," he helpfully illustrated a slow and smooth gesture in the air between them, "lift your foot off of the clutch until you can feel the gears catch."

Nodding at the instructions, Kenji gripped the wheel, a scowl of intense concentration on his face. Right. He could do this. People drove every day, right? Hell, people even younger than him could do it, so how hard could it be really?

Once Tadashi had finished, he attempted to perform the described actions, muttering the words under his breath like some weird, arcane ritual, "Feet on the left and middle pedals...engine turns over...take foot off the middle one...slooooowly take foot off the clutch..."

Upon turning the key, the engine purred obediently, and nothing exploded--always a plus. He slid his foot off the brake. Again, nothing. A little more confident now as they were both still alive, he began to ease his foot off the clutch. In response, the car lurched irritably forward a few feet, the engine spitting a few curses at him before wheezing and stalling out. Apparently, he didn't remove his foot from the clutch slooooowly enough.

"Well...fuck."

Edited 2013-06-04 04:53 (UTC)

Even braced for it, the car jolted, lunging forward and jerking to a stop in a heavy, nauseous motion. Tadashi held a palm against the dash, even as he grinned at Kenji.

"Relax, relax. You're gonna do that." He waved a hand in the air. "In fact, if you didn't and got it right off, I might have been pissed off. Try it again, just get to that point where you can feel something happening and then ease off. We'll put some gas on it once you've got a feel."

"...Okay." Kenji wasn't exactly sure what the mysterious 'something happening' was that Tadashi referred to, but since they were both still in one piece, he'd take another shot. It took a few more tries, but finally, when he shifted his foot off the break, he thought he could feel the engine engage--maybe that was the "something"? Encouraged a bit, he again began to ease off the clutch. The car shuddered, the engine spitting angrily at him once again, but wonder of wonders, it didn't entirely stall out on him this time, but eventually settled into a sort of annoyed grumble. There was just one problem.

"Uh...why aren't we moving?"

Edited 2013-06-13 02:41 (UTC)

"No gas, no go, man. That was just to get a feel for her, something of where she balanced, you get me?" Tadashi reflexively mimed the gestures with his own feet... it was weird being at this angle. The car had been a constant in his life since he started to learn on it last year.

It wasn't much to look at. Something of a boat of a car, heavy and a bit ponderous even in the higher gears, but he had plans. Oh how he had plans. He'd gotten a nice little nest egg put together for upgrades as a present to himself after getting out of the hell they call academia, including the very same clutch he'd abused... it was part of the reason he was even offering to help with this. It was another quick check, in gear, belts on, flat ground, no one but them, a few empty rows and a great view of the overlook. Basically perfect.

"Once you feel a bit more comfortable, you've got to let up on the clutch just like you did, and at the same time start pushing down on the gas. That's the tricky part, but if you know where the engine engages, you know where and when you're going to start moving."

"Yeah...yeah, I get you, man." No...no, he didn't really. Car-speak was yet another of the many automobile-related mysteries that had always eluded him.

It was just as well that Kenji had no clue as to the extent of Tadashi's plans. If he had, he no doubt would have called a halt to the experiment while there was still something left to upgrade. As it was, however, he made a few more trial runs: just starting the car and doing the brake-clutch thing, until he could repeat the process without the car cursing at him. So far, this was his most successful attempt at driving--and the car hadn't really even moved yet.

Finally, much to his own surprise, he was able to get the car started and the engine to engage smoothly, and he glanced over at Tadashi. "Okay... I think I'm good now, so now what?"

"Not bad so far," he nodded amiably. "All right, step on the brake and the clutch. Now reach to your right and pull the stick towards you and then push it towards the dash. That'll put us in first gear." He mimed the actions with one hand, absently.

"Then let up on the brake, push down on the gas as you let up on the clutch." Tadashi grinned. "We're gonna jump and stall a few times so don't get frustrated. Guaran-fucking-tee it."

Oh man, that was a lot of stuff to remember, and Kenji wasn't at all sure that he was up to the task. Still, he'd done okay so far, so if he just took it a step at a time, maybe it would turn out all right. He hoped so, at any rate.

Muttering Tadashi's instructions under his breath like a mantra, he engaged the brake and clutch and reached out for the gearshift, pushing it in what he hoped was the right direction. Now came the tricky part. As Tadashi had predicted, when he released the brake and pressed down on the gas pedal, the car bucked and sputtered, gears screeching in protest (apparently, he hadn't quite gotten the infernal machine in gear, after all.).

"HOLY SHIT, IT'S POSSESSED!"

Deciding it was time to end this horribly botched experiment once and for all, he stomped down hard on the brake--or so he thought. In his panic, however, his foot landed on the gas pedal instead. The much abused car roared and sputtered like an asthmatic lion as it bucked and crow-hopped across the pavement on a direct trajectory toward the edge of the docks.

There's a moment, on that first lurch, that Tadashi's pretty calm about the whole thing. "Whoa whoa jus--" Whatever he was explaining was eaten by the roar of the engine and the shriek of gears.

"Not that one! NOT THAT ONE!" The car managed to pick up speed even in first gear... Tadashi gave a quick glance to the rising tach and back to the approaching docks in quick frantic glances.

WHY HADN'T IT STALLED YET?! HOW IS IT ACCELERATING IN FIRST GEAR? WHY IS IT POSSESSED ONLY NOW.

With the next lunge, the car throws them against their belts with rough force as it climbs the inch it needs to roll onto the planking.

"Watch out!"

"SHIT SHIT SHIIIT!"

With each curse, Kenji stamped on what he thought was the brake again--which only seemed to annoy the car further, but did nothing to decrease its speed. Finally, out of sheer luck, he managed to hit the correct pedal...and the sharp squeal of brakes rose up to meet the irate grinding of gears, creating an unholy harmony.

As the brakes caught, the back end of Tadashi's car swung around to the right, throwing both teens violently to the left. Desperately, Kenji yanked the steering wheel to the left, trying to steer out of the skid. Unfortunately, he'd never heard the part about how you're supposed to steer into a skid, so all he managed to do was send the car spinning uncontrollably toward the drop off.

"WHAT THE HELL DO I DO?!"

At the back of his mind he felt that ever-present thread of light grow taut, like a guitar string waiting to be plucked. Could feel it vibrating in time to his own panicked heartbeat, tensing...

No! Not now, dammit!

...and finally breaking. Suddenly, Kenji's body was outlined by a bright, prismatic light; there was a sound like a small thunderclap as the steering wheel burst into a shower of multicolored sparks that swirled around the car's interior before fading.

Oddly enough, when the car's back wheels slid over the edge of the dock, he didn't feel panic or even fear so much as a dull resignation. From the very beginning, he'd known this wouldn't--couldn't end well.

There are moments, they say, in critical emergencies where time seems to slow down as all of the brain's attention focuses on every single detail around you, processing and reprocessing it for potentials and outcomes in the very basic fight or flight mechanism.

That whole shebang went right out of the window as Tadashi watched his friend get engulfed in a strange light and it take a bite out of the steering column. He found himself ignoring the incoming water and velocity for a simple second of slackjawed surprise at something so very, very clearly not of the sane and normal world as they knew it.

And then came the splash.

The car rocked a moment in the water, the fragile buoyancy shattered after an almost cartoonish instant of frozen horror on Tadashi's part.

"Get your belt off! Get out now!" He scrambled for his own even as he shouted it.

Kenji just looked back calmly at Tadashi for a moment, as if they were just hanging out at home instead of sitting in a rapidly sinking car. "Man...I'm really sorry about your car." For some reason, it seemed very important to establish that.

At his friend's urging, he nodded and unbuckled his own seatbelt, moving slowly and deliberately, almost as if he were sleepwalking. He noted with vague surprise that at least six inches of water now covered the floorboards, with more spilling in through the seams around the doors. Not good.

That realization finally caused him to shake off the odd inertia that had almost paralyzed him, and got him moving again. As the top half of the car was still above water, he quickly rolled down the window, sliding out through the opening. Pushing away from the side of the car, he treaded water a few feet away, waiting for Tadashi to make his escape.

Tadashi makes his escape only a few moments after, registration and insurance papers clenched between his teeth and both arms latched onto the hood of the car.

At that particular moment, his entire vision had tunneled down to a narrow view. After Kenji had gotten out, he'd lost track of him, and very honestly didn't and couldn't see him treading water just a few feet away.

The whole of his being was focused on the fact that his toes couldn't brush anything resembling the ocean floor, and the rapidly sinking car hood as water began to spill over and pour into the open windows of the car. His heart thudded faster and faster, fingers curled and found no purchase on the smooth painted metal. He couldn't have cared less, at that one particular moment, that it was his car sinking. His mind just kept repeating over and over that he was going to drown.

Calmly, almost distantly, he shifts his hold to an elbow on the top of the car, and takes the papers out of his mouth. He takes a deep breath, the first he's managed since the car lost control. The car glubs beside him.

"Just so you know." And uses it on one, extremely important message. "I am going to haunt you."

Edited 2013-06-13 06:51 (UTC)

Two things confused Kenji. 1. Had Tadashi actually taken the time to retrieve a bunch of papers before exiting the sinking car? And 2. Why the hell was he clinging to the rapidly sinking ship? Car. Whatever. Of course he had no idea that Tadashi hadn't seen him because...well, he was right there not ten feet away. Puzzled, he swam over, closing most of the distance between them, arriving just in time to hear the last part of his friend's "last words."

"Yo, who the hell're you talking to, man?"

Tadashi's gaze snapped towards Kenji finally, his expression a mix of indignity, disbelief and fury. "HOW CAN YO-" Whatever he was going to yell is cut off in a startled yelp as the car rolls, a large bubble of air escaping as it sinks the rest of the way in a flash.

It's just that Tadashi vanishes with it, dunked by the rush of displaced water. Hazily, through the silty water, Kenji can see disoriented and uncoordinated flailing.

And now it was Kenji's turn to stare in disbelief as Tadashi was dunked under the water's surface...and didn't resurface. Why didn't he come back up? Couldn't he swim? How the hell could anyone from a port town not know how to swim?

Whatever the reason, that did appear to be the case, so after peering through the murky water for a moment, he caught sight of Tadashi's stuggling form not too far below the surface. Taking a breath, he dolphin-dived down, and in a few strokes reached his flailing friend. He hoped Tadashi was still his friend after this clusterfuck, anyway.

Nonswimmers were usually the most dangerous rescue as they tended to latch onto the rescuer, which had the potential to drown them both. Hoping to avoid that possibility, Kenji reached out and grabbed Tadashi by the collar, attempting to keep him at arms length. When he had a firm enough hold, he kicked off once more, clawing his way back to the surface with Tadashi in tow.

Edited (Tadashi, dammit, not Kimishima--reincarnation are hard) 2013-06-13 17:38 (UTC)

It was more wet and tangling clothes felt like an anchor. It was more that no matter which way he looked seemed to be the wrong way. So when Kenji DID grab a hold of the back of his shirt and started dragging him for the surface, he did in fact, spend a moment, looking for something - anything - to hold onto...

The sweet rush of air on his face caused an explosive gasp of air and a thankfully dry splutter. It takes a few seconds of flopping around a bit like a startled chicken before he seems to get his wits and just lets Kenji drag him.

"H.. holy shit."

Holy shit, indeed.

Once they broke the surface, Kenji allowed Tadashi to flail around a bit, although he kept a tight hold on his shirt in order to prevent him sinking again. Once Tadashi had calmed down a bit, he continued dragging his friend toward the shore.

When he reached the shallows, he got his feet under him and released his hold on Tadashi's collar. "You should be able to stand up here."

The relief is ridiculously visible on Tadashi's face as he gets his feet back under him, one hand coming up to clutch over his heart. "That was..." And the next wave comes through... more than a little hurriedly, he trudges his way through the push and pull of ocean water to the beach. He splashes down in the wet sand and sits, staring out at the end of the dock.

He just sits and breaths for a moment, before levering a look up at Kenji. "Man... I don't know whether to hug you or punch you."

As he waded to shore, trailing behind Tadashi, Kenji was struck by an unsettling sense of deja vu. Something about the past several minutes seemed sickeningly familiar to him...

Suddenly, a grey mist blurred his vision, the pulsing of a giant heart ringing in his ears. He felt hollowed out, filled with emptiness, and strange--but somehow familiar--images filled his head.

Speeding through the streets of an unfamiliar city. On the run again--it was getting to be a habit. A gateway closing, trying to trap them. Like hell they would!

"Faster, Kimishima! We're going for it!"

"Please tell me we're not!"

"Yes we are! I think it's time for Annihilating Second Bullet!"

As reality tentatively reasserted itself around him, he plopped down onto the sand not far from where Tadashi had landed. At Tadashi's comment, he forced a weak laugh as he raked a hand through sodden hair, pushing it back off his forehead. "I damn near killed us both, so go ahead and punch me if you want."

Right now, he doubted he'd even feel the blow.

Tadashi grabbed the front of Kenji's shirt and dragged him closer. "Damn straight I should! Do you know how many times it's been now?" A strange white noise filled his ears even as he shook Kenji. For a moment, there was no lines between the memory and the situation going on here... "How do you even bring this kind of car luck? Is it some new extra alter? Can you have two?!"

Position or presence hardly mattered, he was JUST going over what he'd need to convert the jeep. Maybe into something a little more compact. Maybe if he reinforced the rollbars it would sustain crushing force a little better. How the hell do you stand up to a TANK falling on it anyway? The fact the engine block survived at all was...

... Was... wrong? It was waterlogged and...

"... Uh." He let go, slowly, awkwardly.

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