Rising Shards

Dr. Diast sped past our third big turn as a group of the Sharai driven cars zipped by. The curvy path of the roads made my stomach churn each time we approached a bend, but I figured there was something keeping them connected, as we didn’t swerve a lot. Still, I wanted to chime in about my concerns.

“Dr. Diast, I’d advise you stay within the speed limit.” I said, offering what I thought was great advice.

“Dude, what speed limit?” Marmalade asked. “Sorry?” She said to Oka’s immediate pouting glare. “We’re in a Sharai castle driving on effectively a water slide that…does something! Powers up…something? What are the daggers?”

“I got this, don’t worry.” Diast said.

"Right, that doesn't answer...anything..." Marmalade said.

“I think Zeta’s right, just mind the road, Dr. Diast!” Oka said.

“I don’t think that should be our worry right now?" Marmalade said. This time it was my turn to pout at her in defense of my girlfriend. “This is my first big void thing like this, let me be a little snippy, please!”

“Fine,” Oka said.

For a second, nobody said anything, just the rumble of the road beneath us as though we were driving on a normal highway and conversation hit a quiet point.

“Normally Kalei has a snarky comeback there.” I said.

“I was gonna, but I was waiting for you to say something dumber and jump on that one.” Kalei said.

“Kalei?” I said, stunned to hear her over our wristbands. “Kalei!”

“Hey Zates,” Kalei said. “Risa, honk so they know which one is us.”

Honks rang out on our wristbands, but it wasn’t clear where on the tracks beside us where they were coming from.

“OK, we can’t tell which one is you but…hey, great to hear you!” Diast said.

“Good to hear you too, Diast.” Kalei said.

My eyes welled up hearing Kalei’s voice again. The deluxe panic side of my brain had whispers that I’d never be able to see her again. There was so much I wanted to say to her, to say I was there for her after everything she’d been through, but I didn’t know if a group call like this was the best avenue.

“These wristband communicator things are good for something!” Mahina said. “I haven’t had to untie myself from so many power blocking floss thinguses since college!”

“Did you even go to college?” Kalei asked.

“I did! Don’t make your teacher think your mom is uneducated!” Mahina said.

“I also hope that line about being wild in college wasn’t a gross joke.” Kalei said.

“It’s not, we just were really reckless on our void adventuring in college and got captured a lot!” Mahina said. “So what’s the plan, doctor?”

“We’re driving to the center and try to get those daggers out before they’re fully charged,” Diast said.

“We’ll do the same!” Mahina said.

“Alright, sounds good,” Diast said. “While we’re at it, roll call please? We got Zeta, Oka, Lillia, and Marmalade here.”

“There’s me,” Kalei started. “My mom, Risa, and Ko here.”

“Groovy.” Diast said.

“Groovy?” Kalei said. “Diast, how old are you exactly?”

“Hey, Lillia?” Ko said. “Just so you know, I’ve been thinking about you the whole time we’ve been apart.”

“O-oh,” Lillia said. “I’ve been thinking about you too.”

Oka rolled her eyes, turning her head so Lillia couldn’t see. Then she noticed me noticing her distaste for Ko Matora, and we both had a quick smirk off with each other about it.

“Alright, longshot here,” Diast said. “Caya? You there? That hypnosis wear off yet?”

“Yes.” Caya said immediately.

“Great,” Diast said. “Glad to hear you as you again. Who’s in your car?”

“I have Adagio, Allegro, KJ…” Caya said.

In the chaos of getting chucked into the cars, I almost missed that Rain had been yanked from Diast’s hands. It was probably for the best, as tensions might be high if she and Oka stayed in the same car.

“You expect us to remember everyone’s last names?” Kalei said.

“That’s Aira’s thing.” Lillia said.

“Wait, is KJ’s last name KJ?” I asked.

“Which line are you on?” Diast asked. “Like, road wise, not phone lines. If you can tell. Can you give me a sign, like honk the horn or something?”

“I think we established that honking won’t help us here.” Lillia said.

“Right, maybe some other kind of ping?” Diast suggested.

To our left one road away, three Sharai vehicles exploded in a glittery display of Caya’s rainbow energy. I tried to keep my wails to a low volume the best I could.

“OK gotcha, thank you Caya.” Diast said. “Alright, I’m suddenly feeling a lot better about this.”

“I’m here too, if anyone cares,” Kitty Kilander’s groggy voice came through. “And I’m royally pissed, by the way. I was supposed to be napping before prepping for my super-duper, wicked fun tourney between the Rising Shards and Wildfire Hearts girlies. Getting hypnotized to do a concert is very gross. Someone is going to pay me my regular concert price and a tad large bit extra, honk.”

“Right,” Diast said. “Are you alone or do you have any of the students with you?”

“I have, er,” Kitty started. “OK, I’m double pissed, maybe even pentuple, because when I flattened the retention jerk driving, he turned into goop, and the goop hasn’t gone away, and I’m sitting in goop as I drive! So that’s really what’s pissing me off the most! Whatever. I have Chumblie-poo and her friends here. They’re still a bit knocked out from the hypnosis. The super unfair, real uggo mode hypnosis. The kind that makes you go—”

“I think we got it,” Diast said after she muted Kitty. “Nobody tell her about the state we left Kitty World in.”

“Why’d she say honk?” Oka asked.

“Honk is actually a reference to her third studio album, Under the Covers, which, weirdly enough, wasn’t a covers album despite the title.” Marmalade said. “Every song has a honk somewhere in there. So that just stuck around, fun fact!”

“Marmalade, you’re cool,” Oka said. “And I don’t wanna come across as super aggressive to you during this car ride here, but my advice is to please not make your main personality trait liking Kitty Kilander.”

“It’s not my main personality trait!” Marmalade said. “I just like her music! And Kitty if you can hear me, as a fan of your music, just wanna say—"

“I muted us from her, too, sorry,” Diast said. “But you can tell her when this is over?”

“I guess.” Marmalade said.

“I think everyone’s accounted for then,” Diast said. “Save for 09, who’s…”

“I’m going to guess she’s in that center deal.” Oka said.

I looked to the center platform, my point of reference for all the topsy turvy-ness of our ride, and sure enough, saw 09 there, her blue hair making her stand out.