Work Text:
*vrrrrrrm*
The engine starts warming up, and the Coyote looks out onto the bustling road, cars roaring by while he waits in a lone alley, waiting for him to pass by.
*vrrrrrrm*
The Coyote’s eyes refuse to look away from the alley’s opening, knowing if his eyes glanced away for even a moment, he would zoom by and be out of his reach yet again.
*vrrrrrrm*
The city around him is as loud as ever, even so late at night, yet the noise was dull to the Coyote’s ears as he waited, and waited, until…
“Beep beep!”
The sound of a horn was followed shortly by a flash of bright blue, and the Coyote took off.
The Coyote zoomed out of the alley at top speed and, now on the open road, he could see more properly the man he’s been waiting so patiently for. The fastest biker in the city, known only as the “Road Runner”, straddling his blue bike and wearing biking gear matching that same shade, standing out amongst the dark colours around him.
Anywhere he goes, he passes by in a flash, only giving the quickest of honks on his bike before zooming by. Many bikers have tried catching up to him, many have tried overtaking him, but all have given up after numerous fails. The Coyote can only think of them as pathetic.
The Road Runner starts weaving through cars ahead of him, ignoring any sense of a speed limit, and the Coyote speeds up his bike and follows, also ignoring any kind of speed limit in place. He can feel the wind blowing over him, currently clad in his leather jacket, jeans and boots, as he looks ahead and sees the Road Runner becoming closer by the second.
Then, the Road Runner turns his head and looks behind him, noticing the Coyote’s approach. While the distance between them is too far to determine any kind of facial expression, the Coyote swears the Road Runner is smiling.
“Beep beep!”
The Road Runner’s horn sounds again, and he looks forward again and somehow manages to become even faster, before turning off onto a different road, one with less cars and more freedom for speed. Of course, the Coyote follows after him, speeding up yet again and turning off to that same road.
Their chase lasts for hours on end, with the Road Runner switching between packed roads, open roads, narrow alleys and even narrower turns. The Coyote follows every step of the way, using any possible short-cut he’s learnt about over their countless races, just to get even an inch closer to him. As the night grew darker, and the roads got quieter, their race became faster, more intense than ever before.
They’ve made it to a long stretch of road now, with no one else around, and the Coyote has almost reached the Road Runner. The front of the Coyote’s bike could touch the back of the Road Runner’s bike, if moved to collide with the other. Instead, the Coyote continues to drive on the Road Runner’s left, pushing his bike to its limits as it slowly starts getting closer to his opponent. The Road Runner looks across to him as the Coyote is almost about to reach him.
Suddenly, a loud noise can be heard from the Coyote’s bike, and smoke starts bellowing out from his bike as well. This was accompanied by the bike shaking madly, tilting to the side and bringing down the Coyote as well, resulting in a crash of both man and bike until they both slowed down and stopped moving.
The Coyote laid next to his bike for a while, feeling the pain from the crash wallow through his body, before hearing a bike pull up next to him. After a few seconds, he musters up enough energy to push himself up to look at his visitor. It was the Road Runner, still on his bike and looking over the Coyote and his bike with a cheerful smile and a curious eye.
“Beep beep!”
With that last honk, the Road Runner drives away, as quick as always. This has also become a routine part of their races, with the Road Runner pulling aside to just look at the Coyote, having lost due to mechanical reasons, sudden circumstances interfering with the race, or many other reasons, but not due to the Coyote giving up. Never due to the Coyote giving up.
It’s the only moment where they both get a clear view of each other’s faces, where the Coyote can notice the yellow streaks in the Road Runner’s blue hair that he keeps tied back in a ponytail (and remarks internally how much the Road Runner must like the colour blue), and the Road Runner can see the scruffy beard that adorns the Coyote’s face, the same kind of brown as his messy long hair that he lets free while biking. The Coyote doesn’t know why he always stops by like that, the other challengers stating he never did that when they competed with him, but it’s something he’s long stopped questioning.
The Coyote stands up and examines his bike. After a quick check, it’s clear the bike won’t start running anytime soon. And so, the Coyote drags his bike back up and starts pushing it alongside him on his walk back home. The city has now become dead silent to match the time of night, and by the time the Coyote arrives back to his home, the sun starts to peak over the horizon.
The Coyote heads over to his garage and deposits his bike over to the side while he heads inside to retrieve his tools. There were many things plastered across the wall, maps of the city detailing many routes that a motorcycle could theoretically take, different blueprints of motorcycles with lists of parts nearby, and reported sightings of the Road Runner all across the city and his suspected routine.
The Coyote returns to his bike, ready to do a further examination than the one he did previously. He’ll determine what made his bike break down at the end, make his bike better so that problem won’t happen again, and head back out again. He can still remember how close he got that night and is determined to make it farther in their next race.
And so, the Coyote gets to work.