Surprise Drive - Part 4
oOo DAY 1 oOo
"Come ON!" Flynn shouted, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for Jady to get back up on her feet, "Shrug it off and start again!"
"Yep! No problem!" Jady groaned as she clutched her stomach, "Just got decked in the gut! No biggie! Not like I need a minute or anything!"
oOo DAY 3 oOo
"The bracelet is called a Shift Brace," Amber said as she pointed to the bracelet wrapped around Jady's wrist, "And the thing you slide into the Shift Brace is the Shift Car. If you turn the key on the Driver--"
"The what?"
"The belt."
"Oh."
"Anyways, turn that and you can crank the Shift Car. That's called 'Shifting Up.'"
"What's with all of the 'Shift' lingo by the way?"
Amber shrugged. "Easier to remember. Easier to describe."
oOo DAY 7 oOo
Stars flew through Jady's eyes as she hit the mat face first. She felt her head spin as she stumbled back up to her knees. "I told you to BLOCK that!" boomed Flynn's voice.
"YeeEEp... heArD you thE FIRst tIMe... Didn't DO it thE fIrsT time..." Flynn shook his head and bounced on his heels, waiting for Jady to get her bearings.
oOo DAY 8 oOo
"EIGHT. NINE. TEN. ELEVEN." Jady wished her head was as light as it currently felt as she pushed herself upright, struggling to keep up with Flynn's pace. "SIXTEEN. SEVENTEEN. EIGHTEEN. NINETEEN." He stopped as Jady's arms finally gave out on her. "GET UP. TEN LAPS RIGHT NOW."
"Heeisdafuq...missestaafuq...aakldefiguuuray..."
Flynn clicked his tongue. "Fine. Water break. But take another extra lap once you're done."
"Habadafuuu...aadendafuuuuu...uuuuuuuuuugh." Jady collapsed like a pile of bricks then and there. Flynn only massaged the bridge of his nose between his fingers as he waited.
oOo DAY 11 oOo
"Mirage?"
"Yup."
"That's such a cool name for a car."
"Yup."
"Can it like...go invisible like a mirage?"
"That's...not how mirages work, but yeah. This button right here."
"NO FRIGGIN WAY."
"Yup. It's got grappling hooks too. This button right here."
"SHUT UP!"
oOo DAY 14 oOo
"Parry. Parry. Strike. Good. Again. Parry. Parry. Strike. Good." Jady felt like she was swiping at a fly as she waved her arms around as per Flynn's instructions.
"Hey, you sure this will do anything against those guys?" she asked. An unamused chuff escaped Flynn's throat. "Hey, I'm not tryin' to be rude. Y'know? I just don't know what good all this arm waving 'll do."
"You want me to show you? Alright then." Flynn then stepped right in front of her. "Do the same thing you've been doing, this time on me."
A smile spread across Jady's muzzle. "Alright, if you in--ACK." Jady flinched as the mountain lion's paw smacked her upside the head.
"I said parry."
oOo DAY 15 oOo
"More and more people are starting to disappear all over the city," said the chief, "Somehow, we still aren't finding any connections to all of these disappearances." Jady's eyes were on where the other police officers' eyes were, which was the map spread across the board set behind the chief himself. "We're going to need more patrols all over, starting with this district."
"Attah," came a familiar voice, "Stop dozing off." Jady snapped back up and returned her gaze to her computer.
"Sorry sir. Won't happen again." She heard her boss grumble as he lumbered off somewhere else. As soon as he was gone, Jady leaned over to listen in on the meeting once more.
oOo DAY 17 oOo
"Sumimasen," apologized the belt, "I'll-I-I'll try to swerve less, Amber-san."
"It's okay," Amber replied, "You're still getting used to controlling Mirage with precision. It'll take some time."
"Hey, y'know I just thought of something," Jady said, resting her armored paws atop the steering wheel, "This whole shebang reminds me of something me n' my dad used to watch on TV when I was little. It was about this guy that solved crimes with a high-tech talking car. Shoot, what was the name? It was _something_Rider... Started with a 'K' I think..."
"Ano...was it...Kamen Rider?"
Jady shook her head. "No...no... Well, anyways, it got me thinking. We need to give you a name. I feel weird just calling you 'belt' all the time. The car in the show was named Kit, so y'know what? That's your new name now."
"...Kit?" the belt replied.
"I've got no quarrels with that," Amber nodded.
"Kit..." it repeated one more time. The face on the belt formed somewhat of a smile. "I...I like it. Arigato-ah-iie. Th-thank you very much for the name, Jady-san. I like it very much."
"De nada," Jady replied with a smile.
"Jady, that's Spanish."
"Just let me have this."
oOo DAY 18 oOo
"PARRY! PARRY! STRIKE! PARRY! PARRY! STRIKE!" Loud THWAPS rang through the air each time Flynn's arms were swatted away. "GOOD! PARRY! PARRY! STRIKE--"
"Oh my god!" Jady shouted, "You actually gave me positive feedback! It's a MIRACLE--OUCH." Jady massaged her now stinging cheek.
"AGAIN. FROM THE TOP." Jady grumbled to herself as they resumed in their exchange.
oOo DAY 26 oOo
"You're doing good, Jady! Keep it up!" Amber clapped from afar as Jady kicked away a digital Roidmude. She quickly reached down to her Driver and turned the key. The Driver revved as she blocked an incoming attack. Gritting her teeth behind her mask, Jady finagled her free arm up to her other wrist and Shifted Up three times in a row.
SPE-SPE-SPECIAL!!!
Electricity jolted up Jady's arms before she reeled back and let loose a flurry of lightning-fast jabs that obliterated the false Roidmude in front of her, reducing it to nothing but pixelated dust. The feline let out a cry of victory and threw her fist in the air. "Now THAT'S how you toss a salad--"
"Wait, stop."
"Aw, c'mon, Flynn. I was in the middle of something--"
"Amber, what was that announcement? We didn't program that in there."
"Oh, su-sumimasen," Kit spoke up, "I-I thought since Jady's Drive is different, I could--"
"You CHANGED something in the system?!"
"Flynn, calm down," Amber said in a flat tone, "We've already got a lot to be stressed out about. Let's not add 'arbitrary sound effects' to that list. Kit's right anyways; Jady's armor configuration is different from yours. Might as well give ourselves some differentiation."
"Mrrrph."
"Don't mrrrph me. And besides, I thought you hated those sound effects."
Flynn grumbled and lumbered away. "Not entirely..."
"Hey, can we get back to the robot punching already? I wanna hear more of Kit's epic voice while I'm decking baddies in the face!"
"Alright, Little-Mac; here you go then." Amber's fingers danced across the console's keyboard before another Roidmude hologram sprung to life and charged into battle.
***