//------------------------------//
// [Arc I] Chapter One: New Car 
// Story: Iridescence 
// by Tunalock 
//------------------------------//

	"Minuteman, wake up!" half-shouted an orange teen with slick blue hair.

"Huh? What? I wasn't sleeping!" replied Minuteman, a tan teenager whose purple hair was covered by a grey beanie. "I was just… uh…"

"Whatever," Flash Sentry sighed. "We've got to get to History class, anyways. We're watching that movie, remember?" He went to get up, but Minuteman promptly pulled him back down.

"Woah, hold up," he said. "Look who's coming."

Flash looked up to see a yellow girl with green hair and a sun hat walking towards them. "C'mon, man, it's just that eco-girl Green Leaf."

"Yeah, I know!" half-whispered Minuteman. It took a little bit, but Flash eventually figured it out. When he did, a giant smile grew on his face. "Oh no," said the beanie-clad teen. "Don't you do anything stupid."

However, it was too late. "Hey Leafie!" Flash shouted. "Come here!"

"What's up, Flash?" Green Leaf asked.

"You see, my friend here" – Flash patted said friend's back – "has something of an interest in you. I think he wants to talk about it with you." He then grabbed his bag and left the lunchroom, but not before he whispered in Minuteman's ear, "Good luck, buddy."

The two were all alone in the lunch room, standing in silence. After a while, Minuteman uttered, "Well… I need to get to class now… bye, I guess."

As he left, however, Green Leaf said, "Hey, wait up!" Minuteman froze in place as the girl ran up to him. "Maybe we can get together sometime. How about at the lake tomorrow afternoon?"

It took a while, but Minuteman managed to say, "Uh… sure, why not?"

"Great!" Green Leaf said as she walked out of the room. "See you in class!"

"Yeah…"





"…and that's my awesome family," said Rainbow Dash, who sat down as the class clapped.

"Alright, class," said the teacher, Cheerilee, "next we have… Minuteman!"

As Minuteman got up to go to the front of the classroom, he felt a pain on the back of his head. Moving his hand back there, he brought it back to find the culprit: a gummy bear launched by a rubber band. "Oh, cherry. My favorite," he said as he proceeded to eat the bear on his way to the front.

"Alright, so… this is my project on my parents, Ice Pick and Belay," he started. "They were Arctic explorers. I never really got a chance to meet them, though, as they kinda went insane on their last trip. They used to be in the asylum, talking about some 'Ice Man' or whatever before they died a few years later."

The whole class chuckled at this, causing Cheerilee to need to say, "Hush, children! This is a serious matter!"

"Anyways, they died when I was about three, so I was adopted by my uncle, Quick Scope, who is currently in service. He's actually supposed to be getting back today, buying me a new car. I mean, if you guys want to help, I have a PayPal up…"

Another round of laughter from the class erupted as Cheerilee said, "Class, settle. Minuteman, this is not a place for you to ask mon-" The bell rang before she could finish, however, and all the students got up from their seats to leave. "There may be a quiz tomorrow, kids!" the teacher shouted as everyone piled out of the room.

After everyone had left, Minuteman walked up to Cheerilee's desk. "What did I get?"

"Well," the teacher said, "I'd say I would give you… an A minus."

Minuteman's heart sunk. "An A minus?"

"Yes. You were attempting to run a business in my class."

"But- I- Hear me out, alright? My uncle told me to get two thousand dollars and three A's, and then he'd buy half a car for me. I've got the two thousand, and I've got two A's. Can you please bump it up for me?"





Minuteman ran out to the green car that a tan man wearing camo was in. "Oh, it's finally good to see you again!" he said as he quickly hugged his uncle.

"It's great to see you too," Quick Scope replied. "You would not believe the crap I've seen. So, you get the A?"

"Well, I dunno," Minuteman wistfully said, holding up a paper. "What does it say?"

"Lemme see that…" Quick Scope said with a stern tone, taking the paper from his nephew. However, he was too into the paper to see Minuteman crack a smile. "Let's see… a bit too short… asking for money from classmates?"

"Turn it over…"

Quick Scope did what he was suggested and flipped the page over. "Well, I see you got the A!" he said triumphantly.

"Great!" Minuteman shouted. "Can we go now?"

"I'd love to, but I need to wait for the kid in front to move his car…"

The teen brought his attention to the black Camaro in front of him, recognizing the decals on the sides. "Oh, hey, that's Flash Sentry's! Lemme go find him, see if he can move it for us." Minuteman jumped out of the car before his uncle could get a word in.

As Minuteman was jogging towards the school, he didn't see the girl coming up to his right until it was too late. He ran into her, knocking both teens onto the ground. "Oof! Hey, watch where you're goi-"

On the ground in front of him was Green Leaf, sun hat over her face. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm such a klutz…" she said, fixing her hat.

"N-no, it was my fault," replied Minuteman, "I should've watched where I was going."

"Hey, you're that guy that Flash told me about… what was your name again?" Green Leaf asked.

"Minuteman," the teen quickly replied. "It's Minuteman." He turned around to see that Flash had already moved his car. "Look," he said, "I've gotta get going. M-my uncle's taking me to go get my car."

"Alright," replied the girl. "You still coming to the lake tomorrow afternoon?"

"Yeah, I'll be there!" Minuteman yelled back as he jumped into his uncle's car.

"Who's that?" Quick Scope asked. "Girlfriend?"

"I- uh- well- let's just go," the nephew mumbled as the car pulled out.





"Asking money during a class presentation?" Quick Scope asked his nephew as they drove down the street.

"In my defense, it was a perfect business opportunity to raise money for a good cause."

"Yeah, you sure are your father's son, alright…" Quick Scope muttered. The two sat in silence for a few seconds before bursting out in laugher.

After the laughter died down, Minuteman said, "I really miss him."

"They were both great people," the uncle put in.

"Hey, weren't you going to tell me what you saw on your day out?"

"Too late, we're already here."

Minuteman turned around expectantly, but was lat down when he saw where he was. "Here? Really?" he said as they pulled into Magnum's Used Car Lot. "No offense, but you said half of a car, not half of a rust bucket!"

"I started out on one of these, and you will too," replied Quick Scope as he parked the car in the parking lot. A large-mustached white man walked out, loud Hawaiian shirt proclaiming his name.

"The name's Mustang," he said, "and I'm here to get you a great deal on used cars! What're you looking for?"

"Well," Quick Scope said, "I'm here to buy my nephew his first car."

"Well, well, well!" exclaimed the car dealer. "You've come to the right place!" Putting his arm around Minuteman, he walked him along and said, "Now, let me tell you something, son. The first rule of buying a car: The driver doesn't pick the car. The car will pick the driver."

"This Impala doesn't look too bad…" the teen commented as they passed by an old Chevy Impala with white racing stripes.

"Yeah, it doesn- wait, when the hell did this get here…" muttered Magnum as he ran off to find his mechanic.

As Magnum was trying to figure out exactly where this car came from, Minuteman opened the door and sat in the car to get a feel for it. The leather seats felt comforting, and the steering wheel was just right. On the steering wheel, where the horn would be, was a buildup of dirt. Minuteman used his thumb to wipe the dirt off of it, revealing what looked like an abstract face underneath it.

"Well," Magnum said, returning to the car, "since I don't know where this came from, and considering the condition it's in, I'll sell for five grand."


"Sorry, buddy," Quick Scope said, leaning into the car. "Just a grand too high for us. I mean, there's a Camaro with racing stripes…"

"Yeah, but I don't want a Camaro with racing stripes," the teen said. "Hey, Magnum," he continued, getting out of the car, "I thought you said the car picks the driver."

"Sometimes, it chooses wrong, kid. Now, if you'll look over here-"

Out of nowhere, the Impala's alarm went off, causing the windows in all the other cars to violently explode. The three took cover behind it, waiting for the alarm to shut off. When it finally did, they slowly rose from cover.

"Oh no, my cars!" Magnum cried out, hands in his hair. "A-alright, you can take it for four thousand!"

Minuteman looked expectantly at his uncle. He sighed, defeated, and said, "Alright, but you are gonna work on it."

"Yes!" the teen shouted, reveling in his victory. He got into his new car and drove off behind his uncle, unaware of the events that were to come.