Alfred F. Jones had always wanted to fly. Ever since he was a small boy, he had dreamt of what it would be like to be among the clouds. Being the son of a sky pirate, Alfred had grown up hearing of the wonders of the world from the skies. Going out on his own adventures in an airship was something that he aspired to do, no matter what.

"Get back here, you bloody git! I'm not finished lecturing you!" Arthur Kirkland, former sky pirate, yelled after his nineteen year old son.

His rambunctious son had gotten into his workshop to continue work on the ridiculous contraption he had concocted. Arthur knew from the moment he saw his son's blueprints that this idea of his wasn't going to end well.

"Ha ha ha! See ya later, old man!" Alfred shouted back, adjusting the foot straps one last time. This was the day he had been waiting for; the day he could finally take his CloudRunner on a test run. The teenager activated the small hovercraft's engine,grinning when the machine roared to life.

"Get the hell down from there, you idiot! You're going to fall and break your Goddamned stubborn neck! Alfred Franklin Jones, don't you bloody dare try and use that ridiculous piece of hardware! It's obviously not safe, so come down here this instant!" Arthur hollered up at the roof of his shop, where his son had climbed up to, trying to test his hovercraft.

"No way! I know it'll work, just wait and see!" Alfred replied stubbornly, settling into a low stance on the board. The CloudRunner was something akin to a skateboard with a rocket attatched to it. Ignoring the angry shouts of his father, Alfred let the machine take off.

Arthur cringed as he heard the loud scraping noise come from the metal rooftop of his workshop. He would have to replace a few sheets of the roofing later today. The former sky pirate let out a frustrated sigh, watching his son rocket off of the roof and into town with grudging pride. After all, he hadn't even thought the blasted thing would get off the roof.

"Bonjour*, Arthur! Little Alfred at it again, hmm?" Francis Bonnefoy, another former sky pirate and Arthur's eternal rival, asked, popping his head out the window of his bakery. "Magnific! He got it to fly! At least he didn't come crashing through my shop this time," the blond man exclaimed happily.

"Shut it, you frog! There were temperamental wind gusts that day and you know it! It wasn't like the moron did it on purpose, besides, I fixed the bloody hole, didn't I?" Arthur growled, eye twitching in irritation.

"Oui*, that you did. And what fine craftsmenship it is! A little bit dull looking, but that shall be fixed soon enough. I was thinking of painting it a lovely bright yellow color, what do you think?" Francis nodded in acknowledgment, a smirk on his face.

Arthur spluttered angrily. Yellow? Yellow? That pompous fool was going to paint over his hard work in a yellow color? "You can't paint it yellow, you wanker! Not only is it a perfectly horrid color, but you would be destroying the detail on the metalwork!" he bellowed, face flushing with anger.

Matthew Williams, Francis's son, sighed. Not this again... He watched the two fight as they usually did. The two former sky pirates had had this argument at least six or seven times before.

Alfred had to admit the CloudRunner was running much better than he had anticipated. The only problem was controling its speed.

"Outta the way!" the teen yelled as he barreled through the streets of London's port town. People going about their daily business scrambled to get out of the way before they were run down, many of them shouting curses at Alfred. "Sorry!" he shouted over his shoulder. Alfred turned to face forward just in time to correct his course, almost mowing into a stand full of tomatoes.

"Oi! Bastardo! Watch where you fly that thing, you stupid son of a-"

Alfred couldn't hear the rest of that insult, but he had a pretty good idea of where it was going. After barely missing a man trying to sell some pots on the side of the street, a sleeping man covered in cats, and a woman wielding a frying pan while chasing an albino man out of a restaurant, Alfred finally made it to the harbor.

Alfred loved the harbor. At any time of the day you could see all sorts of ships from different places coming and going. When he was younger his mother would walk him down to the harbor and let him wander around on his own. It may not have been the safest place for a young child, but he had so many good memories of it.

It was a lot more open at the harbor than in town, so there was less of a chance that Alfred would hit someone, especially if he flew out to the Barren. The Barren was where the airships entered to dock at London's port just before hitting the water. It was a strange phenomenon; it was just empty space, sky that never ended, and then water that led to land.

Alfred let out a loud whoop as the CloudRunner raced above the heads of the boardwalkers, and flew out to the Barren. He hadn't gone that far, still flying over the murky waters of the harbor, before a massive airship came in. It was heading in to dock at port, but was on a crash course with Alfred. Of course, the collision wouldn't even leave a dent in the ship, but the teenager wouldn't be so lucky.

Alfred's eyes widened behind his glasses as the massive vessel soon filled his entire vision, blocking out the rest of the world. He was stunned for a few seconds before attempting to swerve out of the ship's path. Unfortunately, the CloudRunner's speed was too fast, and he ended up going into an uncontroled barrel roll.

The airship continued on its course, oblivious of the small hovercraft in its way.

Alfred struggled to keep his cool as he hurtled towards the massive ship. Aw, man...This is so not going to end well. I can't believe my old man was right! No! Hold on...maybe-

Alfred tipped himself forward over the nose of the CloudRunner, causing the small hovercraft to dive sharply as it continued to spin. The teen could feel the aether blasts coming from the underside thrusters of the airship; it felt like an icy hot torrent of liquid air. He barely got the CloudRunner under control before colliding with the airship's rudder. Alfred broke his dive and tilted the nose up so that he regained altitude. Dodging the backside thrusters of the ship, Alfred rocketed up and over the vessel.

Alfred let out a shaky breath, still not quite sure that he had survived. A noise very close to an engine backfiring brought Alfred back to reality. The CloudRunner gave a sudden lurch as its engine cut out. Are you serious? That was Alfred's last thought before he came crashing down to the airship's main deck.

Oui: Yes in French

Bonjour: Hello in French