AN: Hello, everyone!
I've had some success with Red on a Green Ghost, the story preceding this. I've been getting a couple of readers, nothing to brag about, but something nonetheless. That's why I decided to post the fic you're reading here, Flashstepper! Enjoy.
Flashstepper
Why was it so impossible to get from one point to another?
Dave vaulted over the scorched metal railing, eyes set on his bro and the massive black snake he was dueling. There was nothing but the snakefight up in the distance, he told himself. There was hot metal and burning air, but nothing else. Grinding gears, but nothing else. The words played in the coolkid's mind over and over again, chasing in a perfect circle, desperately reaffirming its truthfulness.
Except it wasn't truthful. It was a lie. As Dave deflected another flying cog with his shitty katana, he stifled the choking cough that rose in his throat. It reeked of cherry red blood everywhere he ran, staining the gears and trickling from the failures that laid in the spinning heat and clockwork. The failures looked like Dave exactly, down to the ends of the hair and the worn shoes – but they weren't him. They weren't him, and he would make it past the sharp mess of metal thorns, make it past this and that, and join the snakefight. There was no other acceptable way, groaning metal be damned, screw the shining magma below.
And just as Dave heard for the past ten-ish courses across the heat and clockwork, that snake had reached him again. He didn't even bother making eye contact with her this time, hearing her hisses and the molten rock burn him raw. Give it up, said the snake. You'll never be fast enough here, but I can help you with that.
Never before had the snake ever said anything about help. Dave took a glance at the serpent towering over him. Yes, you want me to grant that wish of yours, correct? You want to be fast enough, to prove yourself to your brother and to destroy that Jack Noir who threatened you and your friend…John, was it? The liquid fire spread. That look in your eye says everything I need to know. So be it, then.
The snake took one lash at Bro, suddenly standing by the magma, making him go limp. Dave had no time for shock, as darkness pulled his eyes shut and muted his thoughts.