Ma Dropped Him One Too Many Times As A Baby…

It takes a few days for Adrian and Evelyn to find the city of Gemshore. The reason being that it was a track city, designed to constantly move its buildings away from the path of the storm, looking more akin to a cluster of trains than towering skyscrapers. The two had lived in the ravaged city when they were younger, so they knew the general path the thousands of mobile buildings took, dust clouds trailing behind their wheels as they drive through a desert. Adrian looks down at the city through the window of their new airship, resting his chin in his palm as he sits in the co-pilot seat. Evelyn sits in the pilot seat and glances over at him with a small smile.

“Feeling nostalgic?” She said,

Adrian chuckles, “Yeah, kinda, we’re back to square one after all. Broke and pissed off about it…”

“True, but at least we’re not homeless.” Evelyn replies.

“Right… Not sure for how long with the storm chaser insignia on the side.”

“Oh shit… You’re right.”

Adrian smirks, “Don’t sweat it, I’ll take care of it.”

As their ship dives deeper down towards a landing pad on the roofs, metallic claws whirl to life and out stretches itself, wrapping around the ship to keep it steady. A loud thud can be heard and underneath them the roof opens up. The claws pulling the ship down into the building. The pair step out of the ship and are greeted by a woman in a hardhat.

“Good morning, welcome to Gemshore, can I have a name please?” She asks.

“Evelyn, should be under a different ship, we got a new one a few days ago.” Evelyn responds.

The woman scrolls through a tablet for a moment and finds her name. She begins entering the information of their new ship and glances up to inspect the ship. Seeing a crude drawing of Adrian bonking Evelyn over the head with his bat replacing the storm chaser insignia. She glances at the two of them before moving them along, the pair walking to a large shutter door.

“That was you taking care of it?” Evelyn asks, giving her friend a look,

“What? No one will know.” He replies with a smug grin,

Evelyn sighs and pushes a large red button on the side of the shudder door.

“Sidewalk requested, please wait.” An autonomous voice rings out.

Outside the rolling building, it speeds up next to another one, lining itself up with the other shutter door. The two drivers behind the wheel of the moving buildings check their surroundings to ensure there are obstacles between them, before pressing a button. Underneath the shutter door a platform emerges, jutting from the side and meeting the platform opposite of it, locking in place as they meet with a magnet. Creating the ‘sidewalk’ and the shutter doors open soon after. Wind rushing into the new opening as the two step on. Evelyn has always hated walking on these, especially with skates, as she tries not to look down at the quick moving sands below her. With a smug grin, Adrian jumps up and down on the platform, causing it to creek slightly.

“Cut it out! Douche!” Evelyn yells behind her.

Adrian laughs after getting the reaction he wanted, “Sissy.”

“Oh yeah? How about I throw you off? Since you’re so fearless.” She said,

“I’d like to see you try.” He says with a smirk.

The two of them reach the end and enter the next building. It is much bigger than the docking cart, with ravaged refugees scrambling in every direction, most wearing only rags. They file into the crowd and start making their way across the floor to the opposite shutter door.

“So, what’s the plan now?” Adrian said.

“What do you mean? We go see Scoots.” She replies back.

“Who?” Adrian raises his eyebrow at the name.

Evelyn takes in a deep breath, since meeting Adrian when he was twelve and she was thirteen, she’d never met anyone who was as bad at remembering names as him. Even her own name having to be abbreviated to “Ev” to make it easier for him.

“You know him, the old guy with the gapped teeth.” She says, watching his eyes flash with remembrance.

“Oh yeah… Gap tooth.”

“The old coot’s greedy, but not malicious, you know? He’s also the only guy I know that has enough men for this squadron we’re building.”

“It’s as good a plan as any. The guy never shorted us the cash for the job at least.”

In the sea of traveling buildings, the largest of them travels in the center, hundreds of feet long. Vendors pettle their wares from their makeshift stands made of plywood. Their booming voices harmonize with the buzz of the crowd. It doesn’t take long for Adrian and Evelyn to find Scoots, he was the leader of one of the many gangs in Gemshore, which meant he had a territory. They find him in a precarious position, catching a beating from two other men, kicking him while he’s curled up on the ground. Evelyn clears her throat loud enough for the pair to hear her and they turn to her.

“The hell do you want?” One of them said,

“We need to talk to the guy you’re beating about business. So can you two maybe schedule this appointment for later?” She replies.

The two look at each other, “You got any idea who we are, little girl?” The second man asks.

“No and I don’t care.” She answers.

“Look, you got two options.” Adrian buts in, “Kick rocks or we break your face in four different places. It’s a win-win for me either way so.”

As they turn their attention to Adrian their faces drop seeing his Thunderblade plate. Like the woman at the docks, they lose any sense of confidence, shuffling away with a grumble. Evelyn rolls over to the man on the ground, Scoots, a lanky old man with rows of missing teeth. The few remaining ones were replaced by shiny gold. Evelyn crouches down next to him with a wide grin.

“Heya, Scoots, popular as ever I see.” She said,

Scoots un-shields his face with his hands and looks at the woman in disbelief for a moment. “E-Evelyn?”

“That’s me.”

“Well, color me orange!” He says springing up, “Thought they had knocked a screw loose and I was seeing things! Evelyn and Adrian in the gosh darn flesh!”

“Still slowly getting pushed outta the big cart, eh, gap tooth?” Adrian says with a smirk.

“Bah! Some youngins trying to make a name for themselves… Wasn’t all for nothing.” Scoots empties his pockets and shows them a handful of valuables he pickpocketed from the men. “But speaking of making a name, how’d it go with the storm chaser, eh? Moving up in the world, kiddo!”

“Yeah… About that, we have a small problem, well a few actually… We were hoping you could help us…” Evelyn said,

Scoots raises an eyebrow, “That right? Well what can ol’ Scoots do for ya?”

“So, long story short, it didn’t go well with the storm chasers.” She said,

“It didn’t…?” Scoots says, his smile disappearing

“Ended with her crashing our ship. Had to steal one of theirs.” Adrian said,

“Ah I see… Once a Ravaged always a Ravaged.” He sighs.

Evelyn groans at the phrase, “The point is, we need cash for mods and a fresh paint job. We also want to put together a squadron, so we also need some of your guys.”

“A squadron? I don’t know, Evelyn, costs a lot of money to get something like that put together. Especially when they learn you plan on picking a fight with the storm chasers.”

“The storm chasers ain’t the problem. The plan still hasn’t changed from last time. I want that treasure, Scoots.”

“Still chasing fairy tales, eh?” Scoot’s gapped tooth grin returns,

“Just imagine it, Scoots, a ragtag group of Ravaged finding a treasure beyond their wildest dreams! We’d go down in history, dude!”

“Uh huh, empty promises sounds like. But… One thing I do know for sure, you two are more useful working with than against. I think we can work out a deal.” Scoots says as he scratches his chin in thought.

“We can take care of your little gang war problem, like the old days.” Adrian pipes up.

Scoots shakes his head, “Nah, not this time, kid. Got something else in mind. But I’ll be wanting that fight in ya.”

“What do you need?” Evelyn tilts her head,

“Well ya see it’s something a bit more… Personal. It’s my brother, ya see.”

“You have a brother?”

“That’s right, real nut he is, Ma dropped him one too many times as a baby. ‘Cause of that he’s become a real conspiracy theorist.”

Adrian and Evelyn look at each other then back at Scoots, “You don’t say…” they say in unison.

“I swear, if the man could hold a job like he held all them loopy thoughts in his noggin, I’d be royalty. Anywho, the guys been crashing on my couch and I want him gone.” Scoots said,

“My rate is three-hundred a head.” Adrian replies,

“I don’t want ya to kill him! Jezz, kid, ya need help. I just need someone to escort him to the new spot he has lined up. Said it belongs to a buddy of his.” Scoots says,

“Where at?” Evelyn replies,

“Yarsh, some other rolling city that’s all artsy fartsy, he wants to follow a passion or something of the like…” Scoots rolls his eyes as he continues, "In return, I can solve one of ya problems. Can make up a squadron for ya or give ya the money to put one together. But not both, money’s scarce as is.”

Evelyn grins, “Then get our squadron together for when we get back, Scoots, you got yourself a deal.”