It was a crisp and clear morning on the summit of the tallest mountain in Robloxia, Mount Bloxxar. The volcano hadn't erupted in about twenty million years, so in Robloxian count it was still considered dormant. Even so, people were wary. They had no idea when a logical impossibility would suddenly become reality and Mount Bloxxar would erupt again. A few brave souls have tried to snowboard off the top of Mount Bloxxar, but all have failed magnificently.
At least, until now.
City of New Robloxia
8:00 AM Admin Time
Alex strapped his snowboard onto his back and climbed into the helicopter. The helicopter was pretty small for a helicopter, only seating a pilot and a passenger. The mobile cameras could keep a neck-and-neck position with the chopper, so they'd both be at the mountain at the same time and filming could commence without any glitches.
Alex felt a sinking sensation in his stomach as the helicopter ascended from the depot and started moving forwards. The city looked like a colony of barnacles from where he was seated, a thousand feet up. He sighed. This was the first time he'd been out of the city. No more snowboarding on cheap SyntheSnow ramps. No more waiting until the ice storage warehouse was open to practice. Today would be his day, his hour, his moment. He smiled.
The clouds soon covered the glittering patch of land in a thick burial shroud of gray cotton. The chopper continued to increase in altitude, and the air inside the passenger compartment, heavily conditioned though it was, became chilly.
Then the mountain loomed ahead. It sliced through the sky majestically, a big cone of stone and ice and power. And today he was going to snowboard off the highest point. Alex's insides were doing an excited little dance.
The chopper landed at a flat point situated near the top of the mountain. An actual film crew was waiting there, with the president of Blox News standing with his hands behind his back and a wide beaming smile on his face.
"Alex!," he called out. "We've been waiting to film this historic event for a few hours now."
"Well wait no more," Alex assured him.
"We'll have to edit out bits if there's any crashing death involved, though," said the little gray haired man who was the lead cameraman. "That'd be bad. Moreover, I'd be fired." He shivered. It was hard to tell if it was with the cold or with aprehension.
They secured Alex at the top of the mountain, the highest point in Robloxia, called Reset Point. Alex took off his snowboard and placed it under one arm. He placed his goggles over his face. His teeth gritted with determination.
"Ready?" said the guy whose only job in life was to wave red lights and ask whether people were ready. He waved his red lights around.
"Yeah," replied Alex, and tensed himself.
"Okay," said the Ready Guy, and threw one of his red lights far into the distance. This was Alex's cue to go. He released his grip on the two iron bars that had been supporting him on Reset Peak and plummeted ten feet (or blox as Robloxians call it) onto a straight streak of snow. He controlled his wobbling path enough for him to now be sliding downwards.
The camera crew watched Alex fade into a mist of snow dust, and signalled the robot cameras to follow him. They then turned to chat absentmindedly to one another.
Meanwhile, at the other side of the mountain, nearby to the film crews, a team of vulcanologists were doing a routine check on the volcano's activity, even though it was thought to be dormant. One of them held a monitoring device. The other held an electronic clipboard.
"Sensing anything?" asked the guy with the electronic clipboard.
"The GUI isn't picking up anything," answered the monitor. "Lemme just poke around a bit-" His eyes popped out of his skull. "HOLY MOTHER OF BASZUCKI!," he screamed. "The impossible is happening! MOUNT BLOXXAR'S GONNA BLOW!"
The other scientist looked at the GUI. They both panicked and ran towards the camera crew. The Blox News president turned towards the men now stampeding wildly at him. He held up a hand.
"Please," he said, "tell me what's happening."
"They said Mount Bloxxar wasn't gonna live again," panted the guy with the monitor. "But they were wrong! There's more seismic activity going on in there than a dance club!"
"That means," said the guy with the clipboard, "that the entire mountain peak is going to go sailing off into the sky along with half the bloody mountain."
"Soooooooooooo," the president asked, "what by Telamon does that mean?"
The scientists did a massive facepalm in harmony. "We need to get out," explained clipboard guy. "Now."
"Uhh-" The president didn't have any time to ask any more stupid questions because his much more intelligent camera crew had hoisted him up on their shoulders and followed the scientists to their much larger chopper. The last one inside was the red light guy, who closed the doors quickly. The rotors started turning, and the copter sailed off into the sky.
All was silence inside the chopper for a while. Then one of the camera crew said, "We're missing someone."
"Who," everyone asked.
"Alex."
Meanwhile down on the mountain slope Alex dodged and weaved through a forest of trees, whooping with joy. He passed out of the trees and entered a rocky landscape of boulders and waterfalls. Sailing over a particularly large fall, he landed on a boulder and used this as a ramp to hoist himself over a ravine. As he leaped, he turned over and around, so he was contorting himself in the air. Then he leveled out and smacked into the snow again.
As he did so the ground vibrated. The air around him seemed to take on a red color, almost a deep blood red. It became hot, almost uncomfortably so. Then a jarring shock sent him flying off the face of the mountain and into open air. He screamed but the sound was lost in the new bellow of the erupting volcano, now revealed to be not so dormant after all.
A red column of fire surged into the sky, piercing the high clouds and sending up after it showers of stone and dead trees. Alex panicked and flailed around in the air. He knew he was going to die, and he shut his eyes tight against the monstrous noises and sights. Then he felt arms grab him and the sensation of wind rushing past his face. He opened his eyes. Red Light, in an almost suicidal move, had leaned out of the side of the chopper and grabbed him as he fell past.
"You should be thankful, Alex," said the pilot. "I had to maneuver through an entire uprooted forest to get you, and even then it was tough actually finding you. You are one lucky dude. One more moment and the top part of the mountain would have crushed you, and you'd be Guest food."
That night, back in New Robloxia, Alex and his girlfriend were watching the daily Blox News on their website.
"The volcano erupted at about five fifty-nine Admin Time, and destroyed much of the land around it. Nobody was killed, and none of the pieces hit New Robloxia, so we're all lucky there." The background picture showed the column of fire that Mount Bloxxar had spewed forth.
"And now onto more life-threatening news," the reporter went on. "We'll take a look at the endangered species called the Tripfall Spotted Bat."
Alex turned the feed off.
THE END