Earth Dancer

It was early morning on the planet Earth. The skies were heavy with clouds and the ground was wet from last night's downpour. Despite this Brian was out doing his job. He had gotten a late start that morning and was now rushing around town trying to make up for the time lost.

"4 more houses and I'll be all caught up." Brian said out loud as he threw another paper on the porch of a house. As he rode on he was so determined on finishing quickly that he didn't see the large patch of water in front of him.

"Whoa!" Brian cried out as his bike skidded on the wet pavement. He quickly turned his handle bars and leaned to the left in hopes of keeping his bike balanced. Those hopes were dashed when something hit his bike hard, off balancing him and sending Brian crashing into the dirty water.

Brian winced as he felt the bruises from where he landed, but as he pulled himself back up, he immediately caught sight of a group of boys on bikes no older then himself smirking. But it was the one in the center that made him frown.

"Randall!" What did you have to go and to that for!" Brian asked angrily addressing the boy.

Randall continued to smirk. "You looked like you were hot, so I decided to help cool you off." He continued to smirk. "And now that I think of it that mud DOES suit you."

Brian was practically shaking from anger. Though Randall was always impeccably dressed, and his shining blonde hair never out of place, his blue eyes was cold and cruel showing his true character. He and Randall had always been rivals…even more so then Red Butler and himself. But that was where the similarities ended. While he and the Red color kid didn't exactly see eye to eye, Brian knew Red would never stoop to Randall's level.

And he also didn't have the time to deal with Randall right now. Quickly Brian gathered up the plastic covered newspapers and threw them into his bag. Randall meanwhile watched the muddy paperboy get back onto his bike.

"EXCUSE ME but I didn't say you could leave." Randall said rudely. To his shock and annoyance the boy ignored him and sped off. "No one ignores me and gets away with it! Get him!" Randall yelled out.

Brian happened to look over his shoulder and saw he was followed. "Uh -Oh." Immediately he picked up the pace. It took awhile but he was able to lose the bullies by ducking into a nearby yard, watching as they rode past his hiding spot and around the corner. "That was too close." Brian muttered to himself as he rode off in the other direction.

Randall was steamed. He and his gang had ridden around town twice in search of that paperboy. "Don't you think he would have gone home boss?" One of the bullies asked. "Knowing Brian he wouldn't. Not without finishing that route of his." Randall suddenly realized something and he grinned nastily. "We find the houses we find him."

"Or we could just find his bike." Another bully pointed at a bike that was set by a gate. Randall's grin got bigger.

Brian had just finished delivering the last paper. Since this last house was on a hill, he had left his bike by the gate knowing the hill was far to steep to use it. But when he got to the gate…

Huh! Where did my bike go? I know I left it right here…

Brian suddenly heard the sound of bike petals. Turning around quickly he saw Randall and his gang ride off with his bike.

Hey! You come back here! Brian ran after them in vain, and watched the bullies fade off into the distance. To add to his day it started to rain once more. Brian sighed. "This is just great."

The walk home was a long one. Thanks to Randall and his pals, Brian was now completely lost. After an hour of wandering, Brian was close to giving up.

"At this rate I'll never find my way back home." Brian said dejectedly. A loud scream suddenly sounded making him jump. "What was that!" After a moment the scream repeated, the sound coming from the forest he had passed moments before.

"I just hope I don't regret this." Brian turned around and entered the forest.