A Tale of Two Cars Chapter 1

At first, when Cindy called telling me that there was a meeting down in Tina's apartment, but I figured there had to be a good reason, so I agreed to come down with Kelly. What really surprised me was seeing Alice and Reina there along with the others. "Hey guys. Come on in. You gotta hear this" Tina said, opening the door and letting us in.

After finding a place to sit, Alice sighed and looked to me. "Okay, so now that you're here, I can get to why we're here" Alice said. "What's going on? Why are we all here?" Serena asked. Reina shrugged. "Search me. She hasn't told me either yet" Reina said. Alice sighed. "Look, we've got what could be a big problem" Alice began. "Today, I got two separate calls, one from Koyuki and one from Megumi, both telling me about encounters with cars with no drivers" Alice continued. "Wait, no drivers? Do you think they were like Reina and me?" Tina asked. Alice nodded. "Yes. Megumi said that Natsumi tried to chase down a red Pontiac Firebird that had no driver in it" Alice said. "In her little Fiat? I'd say she was fighting a losing battle there" Serena said. "Yeah, she ended up losing her when the Firebird drifted around a corner. When Natsumi rounded the corner, she said that the other car was gone. She thinks they may have changed back when she turned the corner" Alice continued.

"And the other?" Kelly asked. "A blue Chrysler sebring. A convertible" Cindy said. "Nice" I said, nodding. "It's not that impressive..." Tina mumbled. "Anyway, me and Koyuki tried to follow her, but..." Cindy began. "Wait. Why was Koyuki there?" I asked. "Sal had some extra deliveries she needed to make, so I picked Koyuki up and took her home. And on the way, we ran into that convertible" Cindy answered. "Don't you drive a minivan Cindy?" Serena asked. Cindy nodded. "Yes, but you'd be surprised how good of a driver I am. Anyway, I'm certain that the car we chased was a girl like Tina or Reina because besides having no driver, Koyuki said it had it's own spiritual pressure as well" Cindy said. "But you guys lost her?" Reina asked. "Yeah. She turned into a parking lot and disappeared" Cindy said, sighing. "Do you think she might have changed back too?" Kelly asked. "Maybe..." Cindy said.

I finally decided to ask the question I knew was on everyone's minds. "So what exactly do you want to do about it?" I asked. "I want to try and get into contact with them. They may be like Tina and have had at least a year to get used to the change, or they could be only recently combined, and if that's the case, they need our help" Alice said. "That's a great idea and all sis, but how do we get into contact with them when we don't even know who they are?" Reina asked. Alice took a minute to think, seeing as her younger sister made a vary valid point. "Maybe we could try looking for them?" Tina asked. "Maybe... but those are some fast cars we're talking about here" Alice said. "What about splitting into teams?" Kelly suggested, causing everyone to look over to her.

"Did I say something wrong?" Kelly asked. I shook my head. "No no. We're just curious to hear more about your idea is all" I said. Kelly nodded her head. "Well, I was just thinking that if we're trying to find two different people, then maybe splitting into teams to find them might be best" Kelly said shyly. "That's a really good idea Kelly" Serena said, causing Kelly to blush a bit. "Yeah. Two could ride with Tina and two could ride with me" Reina said. "But how do we get them to stop?" Kelly asked. "We could use my pearl to cool one of them down enough to make them stop" I said. "And the other?" Serena asked. Cindy reached into her pocket and drew out her own Neptune pearl. "Kevin's not the only one here with a Neptune pearl. If we're going to go by this idea, I'll have to ride in one car, and Kevin will need to ride in the other" Cindy said. Alice nodded in agreement. "Right. One person to play the role of driver while the other person uses their pearl to make their move" Alice said.

While we did form a good plan, there still one thing that hadn't been thought of  yet. "Tina? Are you okay with this idea? I don't want to force you into this if you don't want to do it" I said. Tina smiled at me. "That's really good of you Kevin, but I'm okay doing this. I know how scary it can be when you're not used to this change, and if these girls need help, I want to do whatever I can for them" Tina said.

Taking a minute to think, Serena thought of something. "Hey, maybe we don't need two pearls to pull this off" she said. "What do you mean? Do you know another way to cool them down?" Alice asked. Serena sighed. "First, think about this. There's no way either of them will just stop and let us cool them down, and if they're moving at a high speed, it may be hard to focus on the air around them" Serena said. "That is true. But it's too dangerous to try and make direct contact with them while we're moving" Cindy said. "That's right. But what if we could have someone go right into the driver seat and make them change?" Serena said. At this point, everyone but Kelly was looking at Serena like she was crazy. "Well, Kevin could use a shadow gate to make himself appear in one of the cars driver seat, right?" Serena asked. "Technically yes, but I've never done it into a moving vehicle before" I said. "Is it safe?" Kelly asked. I took a minute to weigh the options of my answer. "If I time it right, then yes..." I said. "And if you don't?" Kelly asked. I sighed. "Well, I wouldn't die or anything, but I would hit the road pretty hard going at that speed, and that would definitely hurt..." I said.

Seeing that Kelly was getting worried, I waved my hands trying to lighten the mood. "It's okay though Kelly. I can do it. I'll do it, and I'll be perfectly fine" I said. "Do you promise you won't get hurt?" Kelly asked. I nodded. "Yes, I promise. I'll be okay" I said. "Uh, guys? Sorry to break up the moment, but what about the other car?" Reina asked. All of us sat and tried to think of a way to get into the other car. "Um... Sonia can travel through EM waves, right?" Kelly asked.

Once again, Kelly managed to get everyone's attention. "Well, Lyra once told me that she can combine with Sonia to travel into the... EM wave world I think she said it was called" Kelly said. "Kelly, that's brilliant" Alice said, smiling and looking to me. "Do you think Sonia would be willing to help us with this one?" Alice asked. "Probably. I can call her up and ask" I said, reaching for my star carrier.

The next few minutes for me were spent telling both stories to Sonia and explaining what exactly it was we were planning to do. "So that's the deal here. Do you think you could help us out here? We may not be able to do it without yours and Lyra's help" I said. Sonia nodded. "Sure we can help. I don't think it'd be a good idea to try and find them tonight though" Sonia said. I nodded back. "Right. We'll have a better chance in say the afternoon of spotting them" I said. "We can use their waves to determine where to re-materialize once Sonia and I enter the wave world. I doubt we're planning on hurting them, so if Sonia and I are to stop one of them, we'll need a way to cool them down" Lyra said. "Hurting them won't make them change back. If anything, it'd cause them to stay in their alternate form longer. Kevin's going to use his Neptune pearl to cool whichever one he finds down, and I'll spot you one of my cold patches to use on the one you guys find" Tina said. Sonia nodded. "Got it. Are we going to meet up somewhere first?" Sonia asked. "Yes. We're going to meet up here and then split into two groups. Two of us are going to ride with Reina, and two of us are going to ride with Tina" Alice said. "Got it. I'll try and be there around noon tomorrow" Sonia said. I nodded. "Thanks Sonia. I owe you guys for this" I said. "Meh, you already owe us twelve. But who's keeping count, right?" Lyra commented. "Apparently you are" I mumbled. "What was that?" Lyra asked. "Nothing. See you guys tomorrow" I said. "See you then" Sonia replied while waving before ending the call.

"Okay, so who's going with who?" I asked. "Why not have me and Sonia go with Reina?" Cindy asked. Reina nodded. "That'll work, right Alice?" Reina asked. Alice nodded. "Yeah, I'd say that'll work. That means Kevin is going to be riding with Tina" Alice answered. "Sweet. But who's going with us?" Tina asked. Kelly raised her hand. "I'll come along" she said. Alice looked to me. "That'll be fine. As long as Tina doesn't get pulled over for anything, we'll be in the clear" I said. "That's right. You don't have a driver's license, do you Kelly?" Tina asked. Kelly shook her head. "No, but I've been told that I'm a good driver, so I don't think we'll need to worry" Kelly said. "I don't remember ever hearing about you driving before" I said. Kelly nodded. "Yeah. They said that I'm good for a beginner" Kelly said. "Who exactly said this now?" Serena asked. "The people at the video arcade" Kelly answered. I couldn't help but chuckle a bit at Kelly's response.

To Be Continued...