- Chipper: Part II -Spoiler!“Wow, Frosty, I didn’t know you get to drive around in a racing vehicle,” enthusiastically said Chipper, who loomed over a slender racing vehicle. Moving from front to back, she carefully examined every bit of the hull with keen eyes. Though she wasn’t much into racing vehicles and their specs, she has driven one before and understands their potential uses outside of the track. As she walked around, she examined every single tweak, every scratch and every modification done to the original design with an old holographic picture floating alongside her right eye. Arethusa, who walked behind her the whole time, only followed as the two waited for a worried Yoshi, who kept asking Sia if she wanted anything.
“Ah, to be honest,” Arethusa replied, brows gathering together, a finger tapping Chipper’s shoulder. “I’ve only been in this thing once.”
Chipper swatted at the holographic image and glanced over her left shoulder. “This thing?” she smiled. Hand still in the air, she snapped two fingers and summoned a pie chart labeling the several materials in vehicle had. “Frost, do you know what this thing is made of?”
“No, what?” asked an aloof Arethusa. Arms knotted with disinterest.
Chipper swatted away the pie chart and turned around. Afterwards she pointed both hands towards the car and said, “Let’s just say, this wing alone is strong enough to get into a high speed car crash, take another hit from another vehicle, and still walk away with only a small scratch on it. I should know,” she said, pointing at herself. “I’ve used something like this before. Only it wasn’t made out of composite materials like this one is.”
“So are you saying that the design is what makes it so strong, or the materials that make it strong?”
“More so the materials but the design is alright I guess. A bit rear heavy if you ask me, makes it far too drifty, even with today’s what-cha-ma-call-its’.”
“Hey,” Yoshi shouted. Finally done with his conversation, he came strolling back with a makeshift keychain in hand. “You two ready to go?”
Behind him sped Sia, who said after him, “Yoshi, I’m serious. Don’t.” However, Yoshi kept on walking, as if nobody spoke to him on the way back. By the time he reached the vehicle, he tapped at its handle and opened its door, where Sia then said, “Yoshi, I really mean it.” Paused and continued, “Bitol, look at me in the eyes.” On that Yoshi swung on one heel, with the door, and stared at her with a casual yet slightly concerned smile. Looking each other in the eyes, there was a moment of silence.
Chipper dived into the car. “I call the middle seat,” she shouted.
“Hey, I wanted to sit in the middle.”
“You snooze- you lose, Frosty. It’s what you get for being such an ice queen.”
“I am going to kick you.”
“Hey,” said Yoshi without looking behind him. “Nobody’s kicking anyone.” After that he took a step forward and placed both hands on the Newmen’s shoulders. “Sia, relax,” he reassuringly continued. “I’m not going to break the bank and we’re not going on any joy rides either. Everything will be fine.”
“You know that’s not what I’m worried about.”
“Alright, look at it this way. When I come back, there won’t be any surprises. No black eyes, no cuts, bruises, or scars. No other people, just me and the kids, safe and sound. And if I see Leanna, I’ll try to make things brief, I promise.”
Sia lightly punched him on the shoulder. “I’m holding you to that,” she said before moving in to hug him.
“By the way, did you want me to pick up some dinner on the way back?”
“I’ll let you know later.”
With that they said their goodbyes, Yoshi got into his Jovis II and closed the door. Once inside, Yoshi looked leftward to see two grumpy cross armed girls stuffed into the same middle seat, both of them sharing the same middle seatbelt. At least the seatbelt was in good condition, thought Yoshi. Since Yoshi worked with older, not as great parts, to build his vehicle, several colors made up the interior everyone sat in. For the seats, grey old yet still plush and comfortable covers. For the walls, a white paint finish colored by orange and silver panels and white and orange knobs. Black ones speckled the ceiling here and there. For the dashboard, plastic with a black finish, also covered in orange panels and black or white knobs.
All set and ready to go, Yoshi started the Jovis and backed it out of the garage tower it rested in. While clearing the garage doorway, a message from Shiomi popped up which then said in scrolling text, “Jeez, kid, you really know how to put on a sap show. Have fun and try to stay out of trouble.” Upon reading it, he chuckled and looked down his shoulder. Chipper had been poking him the whole time. Giving her his full attention, Chipper said,
“Hey, pops. I can call you pops, right?”
“I don’t see why not,” Yoshi shrugged.
“What’s with all these unnecessary knobs on the roof?” she asked as she used a finger to poke at everything above her.
“Some of them actually have preset settings to them. For example if I want to go fast, this one over here will reroute all power to the engines. If they start to overheat, the next to it, this one here, will cool them. If I get into some tight corners and narrow path ways, I can use the switch above your head to give the port side jets a little more kick.”
“What about the big blue button under the glass?”
On the dashboard, dead center between the seats, sat a translucent blue button the size of a coaster. Immediately, Yoshi placed his hand over the glass that shielded it and responded in a paniced voice, “Don’t touch that button. It for an experimental warp drive and has still yet to be tested. Bad warps are never pretty.”
Chipper’s eyes widened, her bodied recoiled as she said, “Oh yeah, when warps go bad, they really go bad. Hey Frost, remember the ship that lost power while trying to escape?”
“The one where only half the frigate made it through?”
“Yeah, that one. Not very pretty at all.”
“I don’t know. That one seemed rather tame to the ones I’ve seen.”
“Okay,” interrupted Yoshi, putting a hand over Arethusa’s mouth. “This ship runs on smiles. No grossing out the driver, please.”
“Heh, heh,” mocked Chipper.
Arethusa lifted a quick raging fist. Afterwards, she then removed Yoshi’s hand and said with a sly look on her face, “So, daaaaad.” Chipper started to shake her head as Arethusa laid hers against her father’s arm. “Where are we going?”
Yoshi rubbed Arethusa’s head and replied, “I was thinking about going to the mall, the one with the stained glass hall. I hear they have a new tour bus there. I’m also told that it’s very scenic and simulates flight in those old jet fighters.”
“Hey Frost, we should totally go see a movie there.”
“I think we should defiantly check out the hunting store in the steampunk zone, Chipper. They have a new shooting range there.”
“A shooting range?” cried Chipper. “I see what you’re going for. You’re planning to show me up with your so called Ranger skills. We’ll guess what? It’s not going to happen.”
Arethusa boastfully patted at her chest and replied, “You afraid, Chipper? Afraid that your cavegirl knuckle skills won’t save you from a defeat?”
Chipper punched her sister in the arm. “Oh please, me afraid of you? Your frail little baby Force arms don’t hold a candle to what I’m capable of. The only thing you’ll ever have is ice techniques.”
“Oh, I’ll show you that I’m more than just an ice Force.”
“Okay, settle down you two,” Yoshi butted in, gently rubbing Arethusa hair. “There’ll be plenty of time to do both when we get there.”
“It’s alright, dad. We were only having a little fun.”
“Yeah, pops. Snowflakes here could never hope to beat me.”
“You know what, Chipper. You’re right. I won’t beat you. I’ll be flat out destroying you.”
“So, what kind of movie did you want to see?” interrupted Yoshi, hoping to change the subject.
“Go Booma and the Tomb of the Pal Rappy,” the two said in unison.
“Really?” Yoshi asked with a slightly raised and impressed brow. “I’d figured you two to be watching something more… eh… more… heartwarming.”
“Well you see,” Arethusa began. “Back in the good ol’ days, Chips here introduced me to Go Booma- Curse of the Ob Lily.”
“We still need to finish Revenge of the Pal Shark though,” Chipper added.
“Finish?” asked Yoshi.
“The theater kind of fell under darker attack in the middle of watching it.”
“That’s not good,” Yoshi remarked.
“Don’t worry, pops. We showed them what happens to darker when they show their ugly faces. Isn’t that right, Frost?”
“Please don’t remind me,” Arethusa blushed.
Chipper looked towards Yoshi and pointed a finger at Arethusa, saying, “She turned one of them into a popsicle and I dared her to lick it.”
After that, Arethusa started pounding on her sister, screaming, “Chipper, why did you have to tell him that?”
“There, there, people do dumb things all the time,” said Yoshi, trying to comfort his daughter.
“Oh yeah? What dumb things did you do, pops?”
Yoshi rubbed the back of his head and said, “Erm… well… let’s see…” After a moment of raking his brain, he then pointed a finger in the air and said, “There was this one time Kazamir challenged me to a lift- no never mind. Let’s see, oh I know, one time Reinhardt attacked me with a permanent marker just before inspection. So I started to panic and went to Kazamir for help. He suggested that dumping a tub of hot coffee on me would do the trick. Needless to say, it didn’t work.”
Unknown to Yoshi, as he told his story, Chipper wasn’t listening. Instead, she leaned against Arethusa with a mischievous face and whispered, “I bet he dug through that woman from earlier’s panties drawer.” She then snickered with a hand over her mouth while Arethusa, unamused by the remark, disapprovingly frowned while facing forward.
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