Good Zeke hunting

So a friend of a friend? Well that meant something if nothing else, though that brought questions about this Grant person. Someone he was just hearing about for the first time now, sounding like this unknown. Unknowns are always something that couldn’t be predicted and for all he knew this could be a bad friend. Really nice sounded good, so he held off on any judgment until he met these people. ”Nice sounds good,” He agreed with a nod, still amazed by the room of lights and neon paint that adorned the people  around him. Zeke walking ahead of him and addressing the bored looking person behind the counter and nearly scaring them to the floor with one of his patented screeches. He was caught in the surprised motion, nearly running into the counter but instead almost tripping over his own feet.

He mentioned something about Neon Screeching, which only made him imagine Zeke but somehow completely covered in neon paint down to the follicles of his hair. It was a strange mental imagine really, one that he didn’t really like having in his noggin. He considered the tokens with silent curiosity, wondering if they were necessary despite the fact that Zeke also had coins which were another confusing point.

He was introduced to the man named Killian and he offered a small wave. ”Nice to meet you,” He offered a small nod, curious who this other person was. Unless Killian was another nickname for Harley, which he highly doubted. His attention quickly shifted to the tubes of florescent paste, brows furrowing as he picked one up in the same vein as his brother did and rolled them between his fingers. Pondering over it until he was given the option to pick what game they could play between the two of them. There were afterall plenty of games they could pick out from the machines that lined the walls. Too many to make a snap decision in his own mind, even with the questions that were lobbed in his direction.

”Never heard about Die Alive, though I have played mario Kart a lot,” He explained, remembering the long nights of playing the game of an Italian Plumber racing with his otherwise mortal enemy. Mostly with Aaron and Rob who were pretty fun to hang out with when they weren’t basically disappointing their shared father. Aaron being all about hair dying, piercings and lately even tattoos which he found tasteless more than anything else. He quickly changed back his attention when asked what kinds of games he enjoyed playing, which was more loaded question than anything else. Giving the machines with a deep scan, he hummed to himself.  ”Platformers, shooters and RPG’s mostly I guess. I also like those games where you drive around a track until someone wins,” He pursed his lips, wondering what kind of games they did have around here.

”Wonder if they have one of those dancing games.” he shifted from looking for said game to a mirror or some kind of reflective surface. Two things that both sounded pretty great when he thought about it. In the end however he picked out the latest Mario Kart that was for some reason in this building, settling down into the large black chair and inserting his quarters through the slot. Waiting for Zeke to do the same, and considering him with a smirk. ”ready to lose?” His smirk wa splayful, considering that he heard that a lot when he played the game with others but never towards him. The game chimed as he picked out the koopa character and waited for the same to happen with Zeke.

“T-they ha-have the SHRD. S-Superhero R-Revolution D-Dance. B-basically a DDR w-with-AHAHHHHHH! Erm. S-sorry. DDR w-with he-hero and vi-villain silhouettes.” Zeke said as he pointed out the one machine towards the back, elevated on a platform with several people signing into a competition book. He hopped onto one of the little carts and plugged in his tokens and selected his character. Zeke had stuck it safely with Bowser Junior. Of course he had his secondary rider or “Sidekick” and naturally he picked the ShyGuy.

“E-eheh. P-probably gonna lose. Yeah.” Zeke said as he rubbed the back of his neck. The game started as he leaned to the left a little. His tremors kept him swerving and keeping him from actually ever being able to keep in a straight line for longer than a few seconds. He seemed to know the courses really well, however. He had experience playing the game, especially on these little cart-controllers. The trick here was going to be if his experience would snag him a victory…..

Unfortunately it did not on the first round. He ended up in second place. He actually thought that it was maybe because Ryan was going to let him win, but didn’t expect Zeke to be as good as he was. There was a primitive instinct rivalry that would always be there between the Master’s. It’s what drives them, makes them independent powerhouses. But it’s their unity that makes them truly formidable.

“O-okay. T-this time i-it’s Rainbow R-road. N-no holding back from a-anyone. O-or we-we’re gonna die.” Zeke started out of the gate strong, but of course Rainbow Bridge took a bit of dexterity to maneuver. He was doing pretty well, trying to keep himself from spazzing too much. He tried to focus as best as he could, but even still he lacked the dexterity for maintaining himself in first for very long. If he even finished second he’d be happy. Mostly because there were other games that he could play that he was sure he’d be better at. At this point though, he was just biologically at a bad hand when it came to the dexterity of mario-cart. Though there was plenty of fun to be had. Zeke wasn’t much of an avid winner anyway.

“Nyeh. B-blue shell’s m-man. H-hate ‘em. They ruin your life.” He absently stated as he shook his head as if coming to from a bit of a daze. He looked to see what map Ryan would pick next, or if he’d want to try another game. “S-so H-here’s an idea. W-what i-if you T-transmute s-some m-manner of d-device t-to track Red Energy?” He was quite curious of the answer to that question. HE didn't want to interrupt them having a good time, but the nature of his mind made him wonder things at random.

Ryan had to contain his excitement about the dancing game.

He had read about the reviews on the internet with so many people claiming it was even better than the yearly sequel that came before. People even going to arcades to dance on it and demanding there be a home version; because who wanted to leave their homes to dance? Even when he sat down and picked Princess Peach from the lineup Ryan was caught thinking about the other games that he could be playing. Mostly with Zeke who he wanted to spend time with considering he didn’t do enough of that

Driving along the curves. Dropping banana peels, throwing shells, glowing from stars and even becoming the bullet bill when he fell too far behind. He laughed along as they played, feeling competitive but never in the way that made people hate each other.  A few people occasionally watched the two play, maybe wanting a turn after them but they drifted away regardless. One however didn’t drift away, eyes wide and curious with their strange-looking color.  

”hate rainbow  road,” he huffed despite still smiling, going through that the same way and then picking out Bowsers Castle afterward with all the lava and pitfalls. Blue shells ended up being someones greatest boon because they knocked a Zeke to second place and he took the first easily enough.  Finally growing tired of the game after finishing this one up. There was the question about if he could transmute something that could track red energy. ”Don’t think I could do that without a stone...though I could also-excuse me can I have some room?” He turned to the pink-eyed sixteen years old dressed in a pink pride shirt and tan knee-length shorts. Freckled face painted with neon blues and pinks across his visible neck, cheeks, and arms.

”Sure, just wanted to remind Zeke he owed me a rematch on SHRD. I’ve been practicing,” He winked at the frazzle haired test tube child and seemed to wander off. His own eyes following before turning back to Zeke with a questioning look.

”that was weird. Anyway, I need a stone or I could make it but I really don’t have the materials on hand. Want to play the dancing game? Looks like someone called you out.” He explained then asked with a quirked brow, standing up and looking around for said game.

Zeke watched as a familiar face showed up. Zeke’s eyes lit up and a wide smile to his face as he waved to the older boy with the strange pink eyes.

“A-absolutely. Y-you’re on! A-anytime!” Zeke said still stuttering but he calmly put his hand down after the young man left. He looked to Ryan and listened, but his eyes trailed a bit. He seemed to follow the sight of his competition with a fixated gaze. It was a familiar look among many of the Master’s. It would seem the friendly competition was kicking off and he was absolutely resolved to beat this person. Zeke ‘s head violently and suddenly twitched as Ryan mentioned playing the game and being called out.

“GHA! YES LISTENING! No materials. Need a stone. Uh...I..y-yeah.” He said as he seemed to tremble and twitch before suddenly his brain seemed to process everything. He sighed and nodded, twitching rapidly. “Y-yeah. I-I gotta get ready. G-gyah. G-go get a spot. Y-you’ll wanna play!” Zeke said as he seemed to slip away into the darkness. Meanwhile there were people upon people lined up to get going. The current reigning champion was a young man in a black leather jacket, his shirt was purple with a pink heart on the back and a video game controller. Seeming to be cut out from the heart. His brown hair was pushed off to the side and he smiled as he danced, actually killing it like he had some epic experience.

The young man spun and flipped, kicking his feet and moving his hips perfectly with the rhythm. The silhouette he chose to dance to was none other than The Villain and he was rocking out to The Voiceless the widely affiliated song to The Villian’s real world alter ego. The song was booming and then Killain’s voice came over the intercom.

“Alrighty everyone, we’ve got our two returning challengers for tonight. We’ve got our returning contending challenger, The Heartbreak Kid, The Dashing Dancer, All one word now. We got the Pink Panther against out champion in five minutes.” Killian announced with a slight draw. It appeared as though the young man that came past earlier had been cheered for him and clapped on the back. “Five minutes.”

Ryan considered the new person with a feeling that was strange within his chest. He had never felt this way and it made him uncomfortable. Enough that he didn’t even realize that Zeke wasn’t paying much attention or that he was lacking the characteristic twitches that came with being him.  So many questions and no answers to those many ones that he held.  ”Don’t worry too much about it though. I’m sure I can think of something,” he nodded when told to get a spot and rose from his racing chair, hands buried into his pocket after feeling over the multiple piercings in his ear. A new nervous habit he managed to garner over the rapid aging period.

He walked past a few people and bumped into one who was flipping a coin through his fingers in a methodical fashion. Dark jacket with dark hair, a few beauty marks and different colored eyes. ”Watch where you’re going Ryan. Might get yourself hurt,” He smirked,  stepping aside with seemingly practiced grace and turning to the dancing game where someone was already in motion.

”How do you know my name?” He questioned, turning back to them and seeing no one there. Brows furrowed while watching the  dancing man to a song that he realized he really liked. It was catchy to so many degrees but it eventually it had to end to his own chagrin. To hear that some Pink Panther was challenging The Champion sounded pretty amazing now that he was thinking about it. Because the name sounded cool. Taking a quick break from waiting he caught up to the little snack bar and bought two orders of nachos; these cheese dipped chips with the largest coke they had around.  Carrying them with a level of dexterity required not to spill it all over himself and the floor.

Unfortunately there was no Zeke  to find so he ended up sitting down and eating one of the nachos, shoveling chips into his mouth with some cheese dribbling around his lips. That being until that one guy who talked to Zeke earlier appeared even more colored in brilliant pinks and blues.  Arms and neck bedecked with those glow bracelets and necklaces to an extreme degree. Even his forehead was ringed with them, and the brown bangs were pushed aside from them to a slightly mess degree. Waving to everyone as they took their station and turned to the person he was dancing off against.

”Think you’re ready for this Neon Screech?” He questioned once his competitor came on, that sure smile  and a wink that just made him seem friendly. That was when the dancing came. Pink Panther  picked out Cupid as a dancer and so the dancing came to a beginning while Ryan watched and clapped when Zeke performed regardless how good he was.

“Now we have the defending champ. The Crazed Kid, The Brightlight Banshee, We’ve got The Neon Screech!” Killian’s introduction was met only by a shirtless Zeke covered in a can-green colored body paint making war marks on his face, met with a contrasting magenta body paint that looked like it covered the upper body from a diagonal cut. HE had a headband on keeping his hair up with neon bracelets looped around it. Zeke looked down from the little platform, squatting down with little tremors as he listened to his brother ask him of his preparation.

“Eh-YAEH A-as ready as I’ll ever be.” Zeke said, seeming like he was feeling more anxious than ususal, but even still his tremoring was steadied as he focused. From the crowd the young man dancing earlier, before Pink Panther was announced, ran up and jumped to the stage a bright smile that caused Zeke to reply in kind. The young man with the game controller on the back of his shirt reached up and messed with Zeke’s hair.

“You got this! Just keep breathing!” He seemed to slightly yell as the crowd had completely converged and began to mumble loud enough, people cheering for this “Pink Panther” man as he selected Cupid.

“H-heh. T-thanks Har.” Zeke said with a grin and then a nod to Ryan and a little wave before looking at Pink Panther, his nerves steadying for a moment as he walked up and selected his silhouette. Of course he picked the selection deliberately. Now you saw Pink Panther as Cupid dancing matched up against Neon Screech as the hero Lightyear. The contest was of three. The boy with the gaming shirt put his leather jacket on and brushed his hair off to the side, watching as he seemed to analyze something about the contestants. Analyzing something that wasn’t there. Fanpicked songs.

“Oh man. Go figure. The group always picks Rasptuin” He said with a laugh, looking to Zeke and watching as he somehow didn’t even tremor, or shake at all. His coordination was entirely focused on the multiple flashing lights and the movements. It was hilarious to hear the crowd clap to the same beat of the music and chant "hey!" as you watched Lightyear and Cupid dancing the Cossack style and then moving to more modern tricks.

Ryan considered Zeke emerging covered in the bright paint and shirtless with a faint curiosity. He assumed humans weren’t fond of people running around without shirts, though maybe that was unless they were covered in body paint. Both were brightly colored with little eye for actual sense within what they had. Though Zeke was more frantic within his style, while Ryan could say that This Pink Panther guy was more colorful and unapologetic in how he did things.  To see him conversing with someone else like a friend, maybe he was proud of this whole thing despite how he knew he couldn’t go before people and dance like them.

The two squared up and prepared to dance off with the declaration of a guy with a video game shirt.  He really fit in an arcade where everyone was playing games, and he was hoping that his little brother won. One of those wholesome brother things he guessed he was supposed to be doing. If Robert were any example of how they were supposed to be. He was obviously a good example of that kind of thing.

He waved back to Zeke and Panther gave a thumbs up and a wink before they went into dancing with their silhouettes. Cupid the vaguely evil love based person and Lightyear the speedy social networking hero dancing to songs old and a little new. Pink Panther obviously had to pick out Bad Romance because that was in the catalog and he seemed to do better with that song.  Eventually even he found himself clapping along to the music until at some point it ended with the Neon Screech still victorious and people clapping along. Ryan didn’t know how long that had went on but before he knew it he was approaching his victorious sibling with a pleased smirk.  

”That was awesome!” He shouted with a flail of his arms despite the fact most of his dancing was nothing more than flailing and jerking.

”Well yeah! He’s the champion for a reason and it’s not just because he’s adorable,” The pink painted man added with hands resting on his hips, stepping enough out of the way to let whoever play next. ”hi, my names Connor, though everyone knows me around here as Pink Panther.” He shook Ryan’s hand brusquely and ruffled up Zeke’s hair.  ”so, mind if I hang with you guys? Had some friends but looks like they...ditched me.” He scanned the crowd, seeming almost disappointed before shrugging.

”Oh...i’m fine with that if Zeke is,” He looked to his brother, realizing he didn’t know what he wanted to say but no was not it.

It was a hard victory to achieve, but somehow he managed to do it. Despite the fact that he was the spazzoid everyone knew and loved, well tolerated really, he managed to pull a victory. The song Bad Romance actually tended to have him caught up in a bit of a different gear, if his score hadn’t been so good on the other two songs, he would have outright lost. Though the fact his strange spastic screeching remained, even when he was entirely focused and only partially twitching. It was quite clear why he was known as the Neon Screech after that point. He was sweating and rubbed his forehead while looking around, feeling a little light headed as he realized that the room was in fact not spinning, he was just off of his equilibrium. Who knew a flip and a spinning on your heel would do that to you!?

   He was intercepted by Ryan and Harley as he stepped off the stage. Well he actually fell off and face planted onto the ground. He stuck up his thumb before pushing himself off the ground. There was no doubt Ryan would have helped. But even for his intelligence, Zeke was too unpredictable to have anticipated that. Harley was quick to help the little guy up, though he immediately looked to Ryan and saw Zeke’s challenger approaching. He seemed to tense up a bit still as if reading, or rather picking up on things that weren’t there. Zeke was happily twitching as he smiled, hearing Ryan comment on how that whole event was awesome. Then he found himself quite still and blinking, as if he had suddenly been dropped in a froeign place. He looked to the young man, Connor and smiled slightly as he swallowed back his excitement.

“T-Thanks man! I-I always enjoy d-dancing with you! C-con-Connor a-a nice name.” He laughed nervously as he rubbed his arm. Harley placed an arm around Zeke and whispered something into his ear. Zeke looked awkward for a moment as Harley walked past Ryan, giving him a playful bump on the shoulder.

“Peace out Boy scouts!” He chuckled as he turned to excuse himself. Zeke looked back to hear them discuss if Connor could hang out with them because of his friends throwing him in a ditch. Despite everything, Zeke was just elated to have the new tag-along. He initially thought it would be Harley, but this was good enough for him. It wasn’t often that he got the chance to chill with his brother, let alone his brother AND Pink Panther.

“O-oh! A-absolutely! 100% yes! A-all about it.”He said as he smiled brightly, he turned to look at Ryan as if checking for a confirmation that this was in fact okay. His enthusiasm to make friends was something he never had much, yet when put to it Zeke would do his best. Though his overly friendly nature could at times become complicated. Especially when he was as chaotic in the mind as most withdrawal patients. “I-I need to g-get a shirt….I’m I’m feeling naked.” Zeke said, suddenly it wasn’t sure if his face was painted a neon pink-maroon or if that was the blood rushing to his face. He looked around for a moment as he suddenly bolted off, vanishing for a moment.

By the time he returned, he’d have a shirt on, buttoned up right and his hair still messed up to all hell. He still had his neon pain on, though he made obvious attempts to smear it away. He wandered aimlessly until he found his way back to the group. He found a smile plastered to his face again as he seemed to stand as a third piece on the trifecta here. He looked between the two and placed his hands in his pockets, a lone twitch here or there as he sighed. ”Soooo w-whatcha wanna d-do now?”

Ryan’s expression shifted to one of worry and shock when he noted Zeke falling face first. Unable to really react with his own telekientic talents for so many reasons, which left him watching his sibling fall and hurt himself. A sympathetic reaction came, though all he could do was rush to him and make sure he wasn’t hurt.  A quick examination was all it took to realize that he wasn’t hurt, beyond perhaps the slight pain that came with falling on your face. The pink eyed boy who introduced himself as Connor shook his hand and seemed to brush fingers through Zeke’s frazzled locks. Not a stranger to physical contact with anyone or just being overly friendly.

He eyed the strange guy named Harley whisper something into Zeke’s ear before walking off and bumping him slightly. That was a little weird, though he didn’t question it beyond the gaze that lingered on the young man as he walked off. Was that normal for humans? He could never tell because they all acted so differently, much like the people back at the compound. ”Oh, really? Well I guess we need a rematch sometime,” Connor would state as if they would have to dance again at some point. Any other option would have been unacceptable. Even Ryan felt that, as if he would have been fine just watching. He shook his head and massaged the bridge of his nose watching the two with eyes less clouded.

”Yeah sure, i’d be fine with that,” He agreed to have someone come along with. Part of him wanted just the two of them to hang out but Zeke just seemed so happy to have the guy around. It would have been wrong to say they couldn’t hang out. He nervously chewed on his lower lip, eyeing Conner who stood there with a sort of neutral happy look that was natural.

”So, what’s your relation to Zeke?” Those pink eyes moved from the retreating shirtless form to him.

”Oh...well i’m his older brother. .Names Ryan,” He realized he sounded a little flustered.

”Didn’t know Zeke had a brother. Though I guess I didn’t know too much about him aside from the screeching, dancing and overall Zekeness.” That word was totally made up.

”Yeah...don’t know if he told anyone about me or not. Glad to see he’s making a few friends,” He added, looking away from the neon colored guy with freckles. Not sure why it was so hard to look at him for too long. Maybe it was those hormone things that Master Flamel warned him about. Always messing with his mind when he looked at new people who weren’t all wrinkly with age.

”Don’t see why I wouldn’t want to be his friend. Zeke’s a pretty sweet guy,” A freak as some people would have said, though he didn’t listen to what people said. They were all assholes as Aaron would say. Freaks never got to belong and what was freakier than some kind with two dads born from tubes? ”maybe we could be friends too, if you stay around long enough,” he added with a wider smile.

Ryan smiled at that and nodded before turning to the sound of Zeke appearing. ”Well I was hoping to grab some food after this. Like a pizza or whatever. Two want to tag along with me? I’ll pay. It’ll be one of those big ones with all the toppings on it, ” He said it in a way that sounded as if he were trying to sell it as the best pizza in existence. ”I know there’s a roller rink around, so maybe that if you want to see how good I am on some skates, ” There was some bragging there.

”Oh, I love the sound of pizza! What about you Zeke? Pizza and skating or do you have something else you want to do?” He questioned, making sure his brother didn’t get left out of the decision making. Paint spattered as he was from trying to wipe some of it off.  Connor motioned for them to follow him just so they could get out of the press of people around them, standing at the fringe of the arcade as he stripped some of the glow jewelry and offered some to Ryan so he didn’t feel left out. He ended up putting some on his wrists and neck so the two of them fit.

Zeke was all too excited for the opportunity to hang out with people like his brother Ryan and Connor. He quickly tried to dress himself, but he ended up smearing some of the body paint on the flanel, grumbling as he felt compelled to wash it off. After a moment of wet paper towel dampening the shirt, and small white pieces scattered across the cloth from scrubbing. He then took paper towels, wet them down and wiped the bodhy paint from himself, being careful not to let it remain too prevalent. If some of it smeared that would be fine, just as long as they didn’t have a repeat of a few moments ago.

He finished as quickly as he could, though it was still longer than he cared for. He made it back to the other two, whom seemed to be content to speak with each other. Zeke had gotten most of the white fragments of paper towel off of his shirt, though the color still had several dark and damp spots. Zeke didn’t mind being a little damp, even in the cold New England air. They seemed to be talking about people and things. Zeke couldn’t help but sust staring at Connor, ublinking as he listened almost intently. He actually almost missed when Ryan spoke, not hearing a single thing he said until he addressed him, asking if pizza and skating was a good idea.

“A-absolutely! Y-yes! W-we-we need to go. W-whatever you th-think is good! GYEEEH!” She spazzed suddenly once he noticed this Connor had looked to him. He noticed how Connor was sharing the glowing jewelry with Ryan, and while it made Zeke happy, he couldn’t help but try and brush forward to the skating rink. He wasn’t about to let Connor pay for him and his brother, but the truth of the matter was Amor had a way with words, and eyes...and faces. If he really wanted to pay, Zeke would quite easily desist the protesting.

The skating rink had regular light for the time being, though being this time of day there was the cool cosmic-skating that people could participate in later. Zeke himself gulped as he stepped into the place, an air of anxiety wafting through him as he began looking around like a meerkat on high alert. He was more than happy to be there, and the skates were affordable, but the ultimate issue seemed to be him being on the lookout for something.

The pizza had a ton of toppings on it, Zeke had to confess that even to him it smelled good. It wasn’t anything he’d indulge in, his body not requiring the food as readily at this moment.

Ryan considered Zeke who seemed to shriek a little while also agreeing with hanging out with their pink eyed friend.  He nodded along too, thinking on the pizza that they might be eating and wondering what that Connor guy was planning. There was something about him he couldn’t place, though it seemed to inspire a kind of trust in him that didn’t go with perfect strangers. He tinkered with the neon bracelets around his wrist, mind running a mile a minute while the three of them made their way to where he assumed they would get their pizza.

He didn’t really even think about the food as they were already in a skating rink when his mind snapped back to reality. Absently chewing at a slice of pizza which was decked with pepperoni and nothing else with the taste that was distinctly grease. Connor however seemed more pleased with his food, chewing and chatting with Zeke who was all too awkward for some reason. Looking around as if looking for someone but he didn’t question him too much because the male had a tendency to be difficult to understand.

Part of him dreaded the idea of falling down with the skates, which was why he didn’t put them on yet.  Connor was eating  at a slice of pizza sitting next to Zeke before seeming to notice  something was up. ”Something up there Zeke?” He questioned with a slight incline of the head after swallowing the last remains of his slice. ”lookin a little high strung there….more than usual anyway,” Did he seem more high strung? Ryan didn’t know but he went with what was being said by the guy talking said.

He thought to himself, watching some people skating along the ring, one of them looking to him with eyes that seemed to glint with color as he smiled back and turned to skate with his friends. ”Alrighty, let’s get  this skating started,” He finally stated leaning over the side of his seat, tying the skates to his feet after making sure his feet would fit into them with a pleasant hum.

High alert was his baseline, but this was something that was top-notch anxiety. Even for someone such as Zeke. He heard Connor’s question, though he simply smiled and tried to brush off any of his sporadicness as he could, a slight twitch as he felt a sinking in the pit of his stomach. He hadn’t meant to be rude, or impolite.Granted he had not been, but he felt as if he had somehow disappointed everyone around, or caused them an unnecessary grief for them in their fun. He sat down and began to shift the skated on, his one foot trembling as he felt that sinking feeling seemed to slowly vanish.

“N-nah! I-I jus-just don’t eat much! P-psyched to sk-skate with y-you guys!” For the first time in a good while, Zeke wasn’t horrified or terrified of the prospect of life. Just like and literally everything that was part of it. His body still involuntarily twitches, but he could smile slightly as his tongue poked out, trying to focus and force his skates on. He let out a little noise, like a traditional outburst, but it had a small laugh in it, happy to lace up the one skate. His eyes looked around finally setting on someone skating around with a gray knit jacket with a large hood and overly long sleeves with a light brown and maroon sleeveless undershirt. He could feel something weird inside, looking to them and his focus fixated as he very steadily placed his other skate on. His watched as the person seemed to skate past a pole, though never seemed to come out from the other side.

“S-so h-have you ever done th-this Ryan? WHA!!! S-sorry.” Zeke asked, completely forgetting himself for a moment as he twitched violently his eyes forcing shut as he shook his head and looked back up. If Ryan had no concept of skating than he would feel less concerned about looking like a fool, but if this Pink Panther already knew what it took, then he was about to look like the biggest fool.

Sometimes Ryan forgot that humans needed to eat way more than he or his siblings did. They had to eat each day, which sounded pretty inconvenient when he actually gave thought towards it. Maybe that was why there were supposedly so many starving people across the world, aside from bad guys who kept all the food to themselves. That was how it worked right? ”oh, alright then,” He said with a shrug and the same smile that always seemed to grace his features, tying his shoes on with ease and Ryan taking a few seconds longer to get the hang of it. Looping string through things until the knot took form and he was not wearing shoes with wheels on them for some reason.

It all made no sense to him but then again maybe that was supposed to be the fun part.  Ryan was the first one to try and stand with these skates on, feeling himself lurch forward and arms flail around for support until they rested on one of the small walls which ringed the rink itself. He let out a small sigh of relief, turning to the other two with an awkward smile while trying to keep himself up right with more effort than he might have needed.  ”Nope, never done this in my entire life. So...probably going to do bad...very bad,” It was then that he noticed Connor just sort of gliding along around him on his skates as if they were feet.

Well that...made him annoyed. ”I used to do this when I was a kid, so I got a lot of practice here. ” Was all he said with a shrug, turning to Zeke and offering any help he could to get the guy on the floor too before actually leading them out to the polished looking wooden ring with people around it.  He was steadily getting the hand of this whole thing, but Ryan was better at adapting to things of the mental kind so he felt a little of what it was like to be human when learning something. He brushed off most attempts to teach him, feeling a certain stubborn streak keeping him from accepting anything aside from minimal advice which left Connor to keeping Zeke from hitting his head on the floor.

Well they seemed to be getting along, though he didn’t know why he didn’t like that. Instead he continued trying to skate until he smacked into one of the walls and rebounded back until he nearly knocked someone over.  ”Oh...um...i’m sorry,” He managed as the guy he bumped into smirked, and seemed to recover far easier than him as he fell on his ass. Dressed into one of those printed shirts with grey colored shorts and eyes which he thought had a bit of pink color.

”S’all good.” Was all he said helping him up with a hand. ”so, what’s you’re name stranger?”

”I..i’m Ryan,”

”Huh, well should be careful then. Might end up running into someone who’s some kind of jerk,” he shrugged, and skated off smoothly leaving him staring for a few seconds before noting he was waving as he skated off and turned to see Zeke and Connor the latter of which who seemed to give him a smirk.

”So Zeke, getting the hang of this skating thing?” He asked,  managing to get control over his balance.

“N-no!!! I DON’T GOT THIS AT ALL!!!”He screeched as he seemed to be literally spinning in a circle. There were people looking at him as he spun in place. Everyone was looking right at him as suddenly another skater showed up dressed in a blue jacket and torn jeans. The shirt beneath the jacket was a grey sleeveless shirt. On the front of it there was a big T-rex with a zaggy smile and in it’s small hand it seemed to have one of the “grabber” toys with a mini T-rex head at the end of it. In big bold letters it said “UNSTOPPABLE” beneath it. He seemed to hold a scowl on his face as he put his hands through his messy hair. A couple people seemed to skate up next to him.

   “Jesus dude. He doesn’t even fail like the rest of us.” The teen said as he sighed, his voice seeming to be stifled a bit from fluctuating to an actual laugh. The other two next to him seemed to chuckle.

   “Wow, just when you couldn’t be any weirder.” The other seemed to jeer.

   “Just fall down and bust your head already.” The chubbier one said with a laugh as he patted his sleeveless jean jacket. He then noticed that the other two boys that he followed around were looking at him with questionable expression, as if they couldn’t believe he had just said that. He cleared his throat and bashfully looked away. The middle one seemed to sigh as he shook his head.

   “Okay this is pathetic. Straighten up. I’m sure that’ll be hard for you, but just try.” The middle boy said as he rolled up next to the blonde spazz, gripping his shoulders and setting him upright. Zeke suddenly stopped screeching and began to tremor a little as he saw the boy who stopped him.

   “AH GRANT! Erm-eh a H-hi!” Zeke shouted in a mixture of excitement, fear and even joy. The chaotic little creature seemed to smile a little before looking embarrassed. The boy, Grant was plugging his ears with a pained look on his face.

   “Gah! My ears. Goddamnit FREAK!” He growled as he pushed back on his wheeled shoes and began pulling the blonde away from Ryan a little. Then he slid out of the way and let the blonde go in a straight line, but of course his level of spazz was too much, and so he began to wiggle and eventually fell. Grant slapped his face with his own hand. “I am reminded he has absolutely no useful skills. Nevermind. Good luck with that.” He said as he immediately took off to start skating around the room again.

   “Y-yaow. Gha man I-I screwed it up again.” He said as he started to try and stand up, only to fall down again. Another boy seemed to skate up next to Ryan and chuckle.

   “You guys need some help learning to skate?” The young man asked as he tried to make sure he wasn’t imposing, at least someone in this forsaken place was friendly. Well a lot of them were, but those three were just horrible. He had a familiar color of blonde hair and his eyes were very oddly colored, though he seemed to share a similar facial structure with others Ryan had met before. Granted he was just different enough that it wouldn't be the most feasible for there to be any relation, not within the first two generations at any rate.

Ryan felt something. Maybe it was a weird warmth in his cheeks, but he didn’t know what he was thinking as he slowly skated back towards his brother and the guy they had made friends with only moments ago. Connor waved at him, and he returned the wave while realizing that there was something similar to him with that guy he ran into. Instead his attention was on the three strange teenagers who seemed to be bothering Zeke, one of them saying something that sounded…concerning. When people hit their heads on the floor they ended up hurting themselves which meant he wanted Zeke to hurt himself.

”I’ll bust your head against the floor,” He muttered to himself, feeling a faint cool burning begin to course through his veins. As he if knew one loss of emotion would lead to him being nothing more than frozen chunks shattered across the floor. Connor seemed to look at him strangely as if he had heard that, though he didn’t say anything if that were the case. He would have said something but someone else skated up to them, features reminding him of something but he couldn’t tell what that was.

”Oh…um I guess so,” Connor seemed to skate past him and glide over to Zeke, offering a hand to help him up.

”You okay there Zeke?’ he asked a mild amount of worry in his voice. ”those guys normally treat you like that?”

”We could use some help I guess. Me and Zeke…aren’t too good at this and I don’t think Connor is good at teaching,” He shrugged, seeming to flick at nothing in the air though the sound of someone hitting the floor could be heard behind them.  Let’s see how hard they hit the floor now. ”you know how to do this skating thing?” he asked, running fingers through the back of his hair and looking back to Zeke.

The three teens went across the floor, one of them out matching the others with ease, not even trying to go quickly as they seemed to relax and keep calm. The very individual that stated Zeke should hit his head ended up having a rather quick retribution as Ryan made a motion and the large boy found themselves lost in his skates. His momentum was full force forwards, but the sudden stop of his skated caused him to fall forward, his hands coming up to guard him, but only with half a success. People gasped but the smallest of the trio’s eyes narrowed as he glared at the group of four boys. The smaller boy seemed to maneuver through the crowd without slipping up on a single one, spinning on a dime to look at his fallen friend. A lot of the other skaters continued to circle past, though some slipped up on footing. The little leader’s eyes went up towards Zeke’s direction, eyeing the small group of people and observing them carefully.

   “SHHH~ahhhhh. I think I sprained my wrist.” The larger teen said as he rolled onto his side a little, looking at his arm. The damage was not as serious as it could have been, but it was certainly visible with the area around his forehead already being black and blue.
   “You might have a concussion too, fatass. Your weight hitting the floor isn’t something I’d want for MY bones.” He said with an almost chilling level of apathy. Then without skipping a beat he looked to his taller lothe companion and motioned for him to come closer. The large, heavy teenager was assisted up and skated off, meanwhile the lithe boy was off on his own little fetch quest.

   “Alright, Freak. You’re friend’s asking for this one.” He said to himself with a smirk before taking a sudden take off with his skates in the traditional direction, following the flow of everyone else in the rink. His mind was running rampant, and he began to determine that the Freak somehow had something to do with this, especially with the way his friend . He began to pick up speed, spinning and even skating backwards at one point, looking over everyone he could see. Like a maelstrom it all continued to flow, though keeping more behind the others as he picked up some rather interesting speed. His priority was still avoiding everyone as he weaved in and out of them with an excellent precision.

   “My dad is a good skater and he taught me a few tricks.” The young man said as he nodded at Zeke and Ryan. Then he looked to Connor with an arched eyebrow. “Nice eyes.” He said with a nod, then the smile becoming a chuckle as he watched Zeke accept the hand up.



   “Y-yeah. Th-that’s Grant, Justin and Kyle. T-they a-always d-do that. I-it’s o-okay though. Gyeh! It’s fine! Don’t retaliate.” He tried to warn them, but it was already too late. Ryan’s actions had already provoked the little ringleader. He was snapped to attention by the familiar boy, suddenly realizing that he was trash at this. It didn’t matter so much though, he was just glad to have people around who were willing to help him. Other than his lone friend, that wasn’t a common thing for him to have.

“Alright so. Ryan. You’re gonna be fine. You need to keep a good center of balance. You focus on keeping your legs underneath you, and then lower yourself just a little. It helps keep your Center in balance. Most important thing is learning to use the large rubber stopper on the front of the skate. As long as that’s on the ground you’re as safe as if you were standing. Alright you, my friend, are coming with me because you’re biggest problem is calming down.” The next thing he knew he was taking Zeke’s hands and starting to skate backwards, pulling Zeke along as he began to stiffen up with eyes of freight. His hand and body started to twitch, but he didn’t fall. The spazmatic began to tremor, though he didn’t fall, the stranger wasn’t letting him.

“Hey, Uh...Conner. Wanna trade me spaces? Just hold his hand and keep him going? I’ll be able to help Ryan a bit then. We can trade back and forth while Zeke manages to get acclimated.” The young man asked as he tried to hand Zeke over to the pink-eyed free spirit.[/color]