The Rider Chapter 3: Betcha Can't

The three Riders headed across the highway to the rendezvous with the "Boss". A slight fog drifted along the road and began to envelop the path ahead. D twisted the throttle and smiled, surging ahead. Kingpin saw this and responded, "Betcha can't," and throttled up to pass. A-rod, watching all this from behind, just laughed and watched the two race toward the mist.

The two racing riders reached the summit of the road and left the pavement flying wheel to wheel and proceeded to race across the sky. A-rod watched as he also headed upwards to the heavens. Kingpin shifted down a gear and twisted the grip, pulling ahead and twisting his mount through the canyons. D slid sideways accross the sky and took the high path over the mountians. The two Riders exited the desert sky neck to neck leaving contrails in the air. Both Riders ran side by side into the white horizion. The clouds melted away to reveal a bridge leading up to a floating mesa. And on the plateau was a simple, yet large cabin. Kingpin and D screeched to a sliding stop in front of the doorway at exactly the same instant. A-rod arrived just moments later, parked alongside the two bikes and dismounted. A-Rod said, "That was impressive as always, but as usual it was a tie." Kingpin responded "I was taking it a little slow so as not to embarrass D and his sporty." "Yeah, right," D responded, "that rolling couch you ride belongs in a living room parked in front of a television!"

A-rod just laughed and said "You know, neither one of you can outrun my pan." D replied, "Your pan? I thought this was a race not a Sunday putt. I could outrun that thing in neutral!" Kingpin smiled and said "Betcha can't!"

Laughing, the three Riders entered the cabin. The "Boss" was sitting at the head of a large wooden dining table drinking from a large mug shaped like a panhead cylinder jug. He looked over at the three Riders who joined him at the table. He didn't speak for a few minutes. Then he looked over at D and said, "A snowstorm in June? I don't even want to hear the explanation for that one." Kingpin and A-rod laughed at that comment. The Boss looked over at those two and said, "What are you laughing at? You two are just as bad, with you, Kingpin, becoming visible to mortals and racing across the highway tormenting the radar officers who used to give you tickets back when you were a mortal. Then disappearing into the ether when they pull you over. And you, A-rod, you know you're not supposed to interfere with the lives of your mortal family; sneaking in and changing events to their advantage. Its noble and all, but we have guardians to do that." He continued, "And then the fact that all three of you keep pulling jokes on the four elementals Fire ,Wind ,Water and Earth just because they were your wives and friends in life! They have duties to perform and you clowns are just screwing around. You get them all riled up and then I get an earful about it. I'm not gonna stop them when they decide to fix your little hijinks! But I'll deal with those transgressions later. Right now, we have more serious concerns."

"David has disappeared."