An Exercise in Levity

It was a balmy ten-in-the-morning in Station Square, one of the biggest cities on the coast. Street cars chimed and clattered down the rails as the city's denizens went about their mid-morning business. Out of a fairly average converted apartment building stepped a fox. He was clad in black athletic shorts and a simple grey long-sleeved shirt. Sitting down on the concrete steps, he began his ritual. He began stretching, bending down to work some limberness into his leg muscles in preparation for what he hoped would be something that would work into his weekly regimen. He stretched and stretched, warming up his limbs until he was finally satisfied that he'd done what he could to prepare. Next, he slung a small, but snug and comfortable hydration pack over his shoulders. It wasn't fancy, but he hadn't wound up paying Camelbak prices, which worked for him. He crammed a pair of earbuds into his ears and held his smart watch to his lips.

"Exercise playlist." he stated clearly. He was rewarded with a chime as the rhythmic music began to pulse gently into his ears. He took a deep breath and stood up. "Alright... time to get back into shape!" His athletic shoes beat along the pavement as he jogged his way down the sidewalk and into the crowds of the city.

Caen had woken up late, as per usual, and walked along his apartment, looking out of the large window letting in the late morning sun. He yawned, before walking further away from his room, and past a mirror. He looked himself up and down, using his hands to straighten his quills.

"Hey, there, good lookin'. What's cookin'?" He asked himself, before chuckling. It was at this point he noticed something on his stomach. A sight that he will never quite forget. His stomach had begun to turn to flab. He blinked at the mirror, before panicking. "What the hell?! I can't get fat, now! My part depends on it!" Caen shouted at himself. He shook his head "I knew my trainer was right. I need to cut down on the sugar..." He said, walking over to the kitchen, and grabbing a bottle of water. He picked up an apple and wolfed it down, before walking to the doorway, putting on his classic pair of boots, and pulling down a red cycling helmet. "A'ight. A few laps around town should cover it. I need to shape up if I'm to stay in the play."

Storm kept his pace up as he jogged towards the center of the city. Tall high-rises cast shimmering patches of reflected sunlight to the streets below. Across the skyline of Station Square were advertisements for Casinopolis, and the various resorts and hotels along the Emerald Coast. But something else caught the fox's eye, and he stopped and jogged in place just to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. Across the bay, the speed highway stretched through the city, but something was amiss.

Did they put a shuttle loop on the interstate?! Storm thought, peering further between the tall columns of skyscrapers and trying to discern whether the tall, circular shape was really there, or if it was some sort of other architectural feature.

Storm was not the only one to stop and take in the sight. Indeed, quite the crowd of people had seemed to form before him, a wall of individuals shifting in various directions.
Okay, admittedly not all of them had stopped to stare at the loop - in fact, arguably very few had. Still, it was a busy day in the city, and with many bustling to still make their way to work, it was inevitable some congestion would occur. Unless he was particularly small, Storm would probably struggle to keep pace moving forward - and even if he could, it would definitely involve a lot of bobbing and weaving.

One individual who would certainly struggle to succeed in such bobbing and weaving was one Kath Redgrave. Standing about a head above most, with muscles of a thickness many would perhaps describe as 'un-lady-like', the great canine's own morning jog came to a bit of a halt as the crowd thickened around her. Yeah, she was gonna have trouble squeezing between people at speed.
Slowing to a temporary halt, she caught sight of the other individual still jogging in place. With a quick glance around the area to assess, she turned back and gave the shorter jogger something of a knowing - albeit awkward - nod.

The red hedgehog was pedalling as fast as he could, trying to build up enough speed to reduce the virtually non-existent extra fat on his body. However, at the very moment he had gotten to his preferred speed, he had to break. Hard. The force nearly sent Caen over the handlebars, and into the crowd that had begun to gather. He got off the bike, and took off his helmet, tucking it under his arm, as he looked up at the sight before the crowd.

A large shuttle loop was stood between two buildings, and people were looking up at it, amazed. Caen had seen similar architecture before, however, none that he had seen was in a built up city like Station Square. "The hell?" Caen asked to noone in particular as he looked up at the structure.

Tourists. Why had Storm come into the business district again? The crowd around him was a juxtaposition of onlookers snapping photos of the strange city planning with the same amount of intrigue and wonder that the fox had just been struck with, and Station Square's everyday citizens, who were entirely nonplussed by the sight of the Speed Highway twisting, corkscrewing, and looping about the city skyline. The fox kept his feet pumping as he tried his best to negotiate his way through the crowd. His gaze shifted towards someone in a similar predicament as she tried to squeeze her mountainous figure through the crowd. The dog was tall. Notably tall, as well as cut and muscular, also quite notable. For a moment, their gazes met, and in an instant of solidarity, she mustered a nod as she continued on her way. The fox returned her gesture with a defeated smile and a shrug, as another onlooker held up their phone to snap a quick shot of the city skyline, stopping his progress.

Wow... I've got a lot of catching up to do. he thought to himself, watching as the herculean woman made her way through. It was going to take a lot more than a few morning jogs to get that fit. But it was good to have goals. Right now, Storm's goal was getting past and keeping his heart rate up. He squeezed through, capitalizing on what openings he could find in the crowd. Interestingly enough, the other jogger was serving as a landmark above the meandering crowd, and eventually by following her, Storm managed to gain some headway. Finally, a little more room to pump his legs and keep going.

((Sorry Red Blur. I'll see if I can reference Caen in my next post.))

(it's alright. I agree, my responses have been rather difficult to fit in. But, no matter. Anyway, who's turn is it now? Mine or Dregan's?)

((I'm trying to keep this RP somewhat free and easy, so I'm not really imposing a posting order, just try to give others a chance to post as well.))

((Well, no worries about getting each other involved - I got you covered!))

It was in time then, that both the great canine and the fox managed their way through the crowd. It was like The Fox and the Hound all over again, only not really like that at all even slightly.
Either way, it wasn't long before both were jogging again... which was admittedly rather awkward. Obviously neither had any original intention of travelling together, and when you're jogging the assumption tends to be that you'll spend most of your time bypassing each other. But with both travelling the same direction at a relatively even pace, well... let's just say the increasing silence became rather uncomfortable.

"...So..." she finally spoke up between heavy breaths in determination to lighten the matter, "You, er, jog here often?" Wow, that was a dumb question - she knew it was. Still better than plodding on together pretending as if they weren't maintaining a constant few feet from each other.
"Only I- look out!"

With a sudden stop, the great dog seized hold of the fox's shoulders, as Caen's bike screeched to it's halt in front of them.

Skye stepped off the bus as he looked around at his new surroundings, his Air Blade tucked under one arm in its board form.  He had finally made it, he'd found his way to the city.  It hadn't been easy with the little money he'd been able to get together before leaving his village, but he'd been able to get the information he needed and earn some money through a few heroic deeds.

He'd heard a lot about this city and the strange things that often happened there, so he'd thought it'd be a good place to continue his search for answers.   G.U.N. Headquarters was here as well from what he'd heard, so he could possibly see if whatever had happened to his father and grandfather was connected to his father's work for them.

As he walked, he soon came upon a gathering crowd as he looked up at what they were staring at in the city's skyline.  His eyes widened, and he broke out into a wide grin as he beheld the shuttle loop and the other twists and turns along the strange highway.  "Oh man...I've got to try riding that thing sometime!"

As Caen stood and looked at the structure, he noticed a... Rather large dog, grabbing a fox by the shoulder. Caen then looked at his bike, and noticed just how close his vehicle had come to hitting the two. He looked the duo up and down. The fox was pretty normal, as fellow mobians go, but the dog... She was a strange sight to Caen, as her muscles were very large, and the fact that she towered over Caen did not help. He then noticed that they were waiting for an apology.

Caen put his helmet down onto the seat of his bike "I-I'm so sorry! It's just... I didn't notice the crowd and... Uh..." Caen spoke, before laughing nervously, and mumbling "you're really tall, aren't you?" at the larger jogger, causing some beats of sweat to roll down the back of his head. He usually wasn't threatened through size, but somehow this girl had such... Presence, and he was unable to feel anything but intimidation.

Oh. OH! She was talking to him. Right. He plucked the earbud closest to her from out of his head. C'mon Storm, you're in the city now. Keep up!

"I'm actually sort of new around town. This is the first time I've been out jogging." He said between tired huffs. Before the dog could manage a reply, she grabbed him. The ease at which she took hold of his shoulders and moved him aside was jarring. VERY jarring. And it took a moment for the shock to wear off before he realized what had happened. The hedgehog that had stopped his bike short of plowing into the pair was currently trying his best to rattle out an apology, seemingly to the larger of the two of them. Storm blinked for a moment as he got his bearings.

"No harm no foul, man. Just be careful." He exhaled a bit and took a moment to cycle through his smart watch to the fitness app. Only 75 calories so far. He turned around and beamed at the other jogger. "Good looking out there, Miss... ah..?" He probed for a name as he stretched out his noticeably smaller hand to shake hers.

The large canine was preparing to say essentially what Storm had to the young cyclist, before being caught slightly off guard by the remark about her height. Well he... he wasn't wrong.
"I mean... not really really tall..." the great amazonian figure spoke, rubbing the back of her neck in an awkward manner not entirely befitting her figure, "I mean... definitely a bit tall though, I mean... I know taller?" Whilst that statement was entirely true, it wasn't neccesarily entirely fair - after all, most of the taller people she knew were well... within a business where height was often considered quite a draw.
"Oh, uh..." she finally caught on to the fact the fox had addressed her too, "Redgrave. Kath Redgrave." There seemed to be at least one head in the crowd which turned to look, seemingly in response to that name. Of course, it wasn't long before that same head ducked down to speak to it's neighbour, in some murmur of recognition.
"And, uh, yourselves?" This had somehow seemingly turned from a morning jog to a social situation.

"Redgrave. Kath Redgrave." The taller of the two spoke, before ducking her head under the crowd, as if she was trying to avoid someone. Strangely enough, this change of height somehow gave Caen a little more confidence around her. She then asked for the fox's and Caen's name.

Caen bowed slightly as he spoke "the name's Caen. Caen Flare. You... Probably haven't heard of me... At least, not yet. Nice to meet you, Kath!"
Caen then looked back up at the metal structure nearly scraping the near-cloudless blue sky "so, uh, you have any idea what this... Thing... Is?"

Skye soon became aware of some sort of disruption in the crowd around him, his ear flicking as he realized it had to do with the name spoken by someone nearby.  He soon pinpointed who it was as she ducked down, clearly trying not to be noticed.

He made his way through the crowd over to them, using his board to lightly nudge people out of the way at times just in time to hear the hedgehog question the structure.

"I'll tell you what it is, it's freaking awesome!!  I mean can you imagine blasting through that thing on a sweet gear like...Ahem..." he looked around, blushing a little as he realized several people from the crowd were staring at him before moving closer to the taller figure.

"Anyway, hiding like that in the middle of a crowd like that is....Well, let's just say it didn't go so well for me after I stole the staff of a village elder on a dare, never doing that again..."

((Alright. That should be sufficient enough to get things started! Now to make things a little interesting.))

"I'm Terr-- Eh, just call me Storm." the fox caught himself. His real name just didn't have as much of an impact in a city where everyone had cool names. And especially when a particularly interesting new person walked up with an extreme gear board tucked under his arm, you don't want to be introduced as Terrance. The conversation among the four of them still hung on the Speed Highway. Storm wanted to interject, when he heard the annoying ping of his smart watch. His heart rate was slowing down, causing the small holographic display to brightly project itself from the watch's face.

"Chop chop, Lazy! You still have 325 more calories to burn! Hup-To!" the computerized voice interjected from the fox's wrist. Storm groaned and tapped on the watch's touch-sensitive surface.

"Why did I set this thing to personal trainer mode?" he muttered to himself as he carefully excused himself from the cluster. He turned back to the three new faces as he set forth to begin jogging again. "Pleasure to meet you all!" he said, carefully jogging backwards to keep his feet moving and get his heart rate back up. This was not the wisest choice the fox could make, as he barely even noticed the strange red object that he was backing into. "Maybe we'll see each other around town someti-"

SPROING! The star-spangled face of the bounce spring that Storm had backed into reacted with impressive force, sending him flying head over feet over the crowd into...

BOING! ... A second spring placed strategically along the edge of a building. Storm flailed vainly, trying to grab onto something as he was propelled further into the air and into...

TOING! ...Yet another spring, that changed his trajectory, and sent him flying right onto a low section of the nearby Speed Highway. Storm gritted his teeth and braced for the inevitable impact, but found himself careening towards the strange rectangular pad placed on the highway's pavement. Was that a conveyor belt?! Why was it spinning so--

SHOOM! Storm barely had a chance to catch his senses before the Boost Pad sent him flying at surprising velocity down the Speed Highway.

This new person that had joined the three of them, this 'Skye', held a large snowboard-like object ((I'm guessing you're a sonic riders fan. Been meaning to pick that one up )). She had grown quite fanatical over the sky-scraping structure. She stopped as soon as she realised that she had drawn quite a lot of attention from the crowd surrounding the three.

The fox, who Caen had learned went by the nickname Storm, but clearly said a name beforehand, beginning with 'ter'. Caen thought to himself 'could it be Terra? Uh... Terrant?'

Caen eventually broke from his train of thought when Storm's watch vibrated, sending up a rather condescending holographic figure keeping track of the calories burned. He then turned away, hoping to get back on track with his own fitness regime, before he walked straight into a large red and blue object. He sprung away, shooting up towards the skyline, before ending up on the highway, moving at a high speed down it.

Caen whistled, and then chuckled, whilst saying "ooh, I get it. It's a race you want?"
He walked towards the spring, rubbing his hands together "well then, it's a race you'll get."

Caen jumped on the first spring, sending him upwards, towards the next, where he essentially sprang using his hands, somersaulting through the air to land on the next, and landing on the boost pad with a slight amount of finesse, sending Caen careening forward, much quicker than his relatively quick pace, which was most likely an advantage of his species. "I'm comin' for ya!" Caen shouted, shooting down the track, the adrenaline levels within him soaring almost as high as the highway in itself. He let out a cheer as he sped along the highway.

"Hey, hey, if it's a race you guys wanted, why didn't ya just say so?!" Skye demanded as he got a running start before jumping on his gear and slamming it into the spring.  He hit the other springs, using the wings on his board to glide the stretch of highway the others had hit.  He then shifted his weight to the back of his board, dropping down and hitting the boost pad with the back of his board.  He shifted his weight once more as it shot him down the highway, leaning forward as he rode to catch up with the others.

((Note to self in future; be more clear on who it is that's actually ducking their head down. Ah well, still makes sense for Kath herself to do so, sooo gonna role with it.))

"The name's Caen. Caen Flare. You... Probably haven't heard of me... At least, not yet."
Huh. Well now, that had been an interesting statement from the stranger - someone looking to make it big maybe? Kath didn't really have time to ponder it long as the subject shifted rapidly onto the great structure on the horizon. A subject which had apparently drawn a fourth to join their party - one who seemed to have a few words for Kath herself;
"Anyway, hiding like that in the middle of a crowd like that is... Well, let's just say it didn't go so well for me after I stole the staff of a village elder on a dare, never doing that again..." The large canine opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut short by the beeping of that watch, quite briefly followed by the unfortunate fox being unwittingly launched skywards. Oh... well... that had just happened?

"Wh... why do they put these things just randomly in the middle of the city?" the mutt questioned, staring at the bounce pad. Her answer never came.
"Ooh, I get it. It's a race you want?"
"Hey, hey, if it's a race you guys wanted, why didn't ya just say so?!"
Aaand there went the rest of the group, diving directly onto the spring themselves. ...This was all a lot to take in right now.

Pausing for a few seconds to consider, eventually Kath turned to the road. Looking out towards the traffic, she eventually thumbed a taxi to pull over.
"Hey, you see that?" she gestured to the large spring behind her, "Know where it goes?" The driver gave a simple nod in response. "Good, then mind taking me to the other end of it?"
Clambering into the vechile, she took a seat in the back. Yeah, she... she decided maybe it better to meet the others at the other side, rather than bludgeoning herself against those bounce pads.

Storm's world was a blur right now. Tears stung the corners of his eyes as he careened haphazardly down the road, his sheer momentum forcing him to keep his legs moving, lest he tripped and fell to the pavement to the worst case of road-rash ever. Worse was the fact that he was already partway through a corkscrew section of the highway. If he stopped now and lost even a little of the precious centrifugal force that was holding him to the top of the twisting road, he'd surely fall to his doom. Fatigue stung his entire body. Storm was not a speed character by any stretch of the imagination, but the cruel mistress that was the Speed Highway would accept nothing less.

His reactions were too slow to avoid the next boost pad as it slung him down the road. His legs couldn't take it, and he found himself falling face forward. He tried to catch himself with his arms, and instinctively tucked his head into a clumsy roll. Fortunately, the hydration pack on his back took much of the pavement's abuse as the fox tumbled up, down, and all around the road. He rolled and rolled, into another one of the star-marked bounce pads. It recoiled forcefully and sent the orange ball of fur and fear-sweat flying over the skyline and onto the top of a nearby building. The fox skid to a clumsy halt, panting and huffing, trying desperately to catch the breath he was certain he left ten miles behind.

"Two-hundred more calories to go, hot shot! Let's move!" his smart watch urged him on. Storm wasn't going to have it, not yet. He wearily trudged past another one of the star-bumpers and nearly collapsed onto a nearby railing, still gasping for air. He held fast to the metal bar, looking around at the city skyline. The sun was rising higher into the sky, and behind him... it looked like two more people were on the highway? Wait, those were those two guys from down below! Were they crazy? Normal people weren't meant for this sort of physical abuse!

Storm didn't have time to dwell on that part. The railing he was leaning on began to rumble. In fact... A quick glance to his right revealed that it wasn't a railing he was leaning on at all! this metal bar was attached to... A ROCKET?

"ARE YOU KIDDING M--" No time to finish that thought! The rocket's four motors extended from the body and ignited with bright blue flames, sending it flying through the sky, dragging the screaming fox further into the city skyline.

This was probably the fastest Caen had moved in his entire existence, and he was thrilled with it. He took in the blurred surroundings around him, noticing the changing of different colours, to give a rough idea of his location. He cheered "yeah, I'm gonna be in shape in no time!"

Caen laughed, almost maniacally. His legs were moving far too fast for any normal mobian to carry themself, but he was completely oblivious to it. As he shot through a corkscrew, he realised that his muscles were tiring, and quickly! However, he pressed on. He wasn't going to give this show-off who jumped up there first the satisfaction of beating the mighty Caen to the finish! He came to another spring, and pre-emptively jumped onto it, and, in the split-second of stillness, he let out a long breath. He could feel the blood pressure in his ears as he was launched up a level onto the top of a building. He slowed down, taking in the surroundings, as well as the location of his rival.

He noticed the fox soaring through the sky, leaving a burning trail behind him. "That's cheating!" He shouted, before he noticed another rocket coming out of the building. He chuckled before jumping on top of it and pointing outwards "Chaaaaaaaaarge!" Caen cried before being fired towards the skyline.

Skye sighed as he noticed the others getting through the corkscrew ahead of him.  "All right, time to kick it into high gear," he commented as he slid his goggles over his eyes.  His eyes soon began to glow as he built up some wind behind him before he let it blast him forward as he cleared the corkscrew at blazing speed and slammed into the next spring.

As he was shot up to the building, he was distracted as he looked up and noticed the two rockets that had been launched.  As he was watching them he didn't notice the third rocket before he suddenly collided with it mid-flight.  He had to grab onto his board as it ended up getting lodged under the metal bar on it, forced to hang on to it for dear life as the rocket took him up higher.

Far below all the insanity, the large canine was having an incredibly ordinary taxi ride. It was... quite mundane comparitively. Of course, it had the usual awkward small talk;
"So, in town long?"
"Um, just one more night, here for work..."
"Oh, what do yah do?"
"Oh, um, I work in entertainment... sorta... I mean it's a sport really..."
"Oh? Where's that?"
"Oh well that's-"
Aaand then the not so usual small-talk;
"-rockets. That's rockets flying through the sky. With people holding on to them."
"Oh yeah, that's pretty standard around here."
"Why!?"
Aaaand back to the action!

Rich socialite and real-estate mogul Edmund Forsley yawned from the seat of his executive helicopter. Another day, another tour of the four hotels and casinos he owned. Today, he was feeling quite introspective as the pilot wheeled the aircraft between the city skylines. Sure, he was wealthy. EXCEEDINGLY wealthy. He literally had a pool of rubies, diamonds, and golden rings that he swam in every day. Yet, still his life felt empty. He stared down at the city below. Poor people lived there, and yet, in spite of their hum-drum lives, they seemed happy. He had everything but happiness.

Then a fox holding fast to the back of a rocket streaked by below his helicopter, his face gripped with absolute terror. Something clicked in the back of Mr. Forsley's mind. He didn't have everything, after all! Those peons down below may be satisfied with their dumb little normal lives, but he was going to have something that they could only dream of.

"I'm going to buy a rocket ship!"

Oh Mr. Forsley. Would you ever learn?
______________________________________

The rocket burst. Oh gods, the rocket burst! Storm fell, still screaming. He spread his arms to try and slow his fall. And what luck! Instead of careening to the ground below, he would merely succumb to minor injuries by falling onto a floating platform. He braced for impact. After a painful belly flop he stood up, surprised at how intact he was. In fact, he hadn't broken anything at all! He dropped to his knees and thanked his lucky star. Finally! He had stopped this insane roller-coaster ride through the city! Now it was just a matter of getting down. Right. Getting down. Oh gods, how was he going to get off this tiny little square platform without falling to his doom. He searched around. Oh! There was another platform. But he was going to have to jump to make it. The fox groaned. His legs already felt like they had been put through a steam press. This gentle morning jog had turned into a fight for survival. He whimpered a pitiful sigh and prepared to make a running leap. He lunged forward, propelling himself once again screaming through the air and onto the next platform. it was too short to stop on! Gritting his teeth he followed through with his momentum and jumped again, this time to the roof of a building! Finally, an escape from all of this! Maybe if he pounded on the roof access door, someone would come help him down. This had gone on for long enou--

SPROING! The fox had landed on another spring. It propelled him through the air and onto what appeared to be a thin rail snaking its way across the skyline. He swung his arms in an attempt to regain his balance as he skidded along the thin, smooth track, sparks flying from his shoes as he went. WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?!

((the hell was that thing at the top? Is that a scrooge mcduck ripoff?))

Caen continued flying across the skyline, leaning on one knee as he watched the path ahead of him. He heard another rocket behind him as the one that the fox rode on exploded, leaving the fox falling through the sky and landing on a nearby platform. Caen looked over his shoulder "so, you decided to join us! This'll be interesting!" Caen shouted back to Skye.

Caen jumped before the rocket exploded, doing a small somersault. As he fell through the air, he knew that he would miss the platform. He quickly reached out, catching the edge of it. He suddenly looked slightly panicked "Shit. That couldve been the end of me. I need to stop being so reckless."
Caen pulled up, jumping over to the next platform, landing close to the edge, which caused Caen to wobble forward, he spun his arms through the air, trying to right himself, but he was about to fall, so he quickly jumped towards the building, catching the very edge of the roofing "alright. That was not my fault." He said, looking downwards at the tiny roads below. His usual cocky smile returned, as he pulled up, looking around the rooftop for his opponent.

He noticed the fox grinding on a rail above him. This was truly his element. He had used rails like this before to get to places fast, except this one was a bit farther away from the ground. Caen ran forward, jumping onto the spring, launching him upwards and onto the rail, where Caen gracefully landed onto it, and kept near-impeccable balance. He leaned forward, causing him to speed up in an attempt to catch up with the fox "I'm coming for ya!"