I'm alive and back to posting this! I know there were a couple of people who enjoyed the...three chapters I had posted before. XD One of you was very helpful by leaving a review that showed me a couple giant plotholes that I had either missed or ignored. I believe I fixed those now, so I'm starting again.
Enjoy Renegade: Not as it Seems!
~Silverleone
"Dude, can we take a break?"
"Yeah, once we get to the top. It's right up there."
"Sweet. This is a longer hike than I thought."
««{{¤}}»»
"Alright. See that trail right there? Head down it and you'll head straight down River Gorge Canyon. You got your parachute?"
"I got it! Let's do this!" I twisted my snowboard and started off, gravity pulling me down the hill. I gently carved through a small but dense forest, moving around trees and brush. My guide pulled up next to me once we hit the open trail. We looked at each other and nodded, tucking in and shooting down the hillside. We were racing down this route, seeing who could win. Of course, I rarely participate in things like this, preferring fun rather than competition, but eventually I caved to peer pressure, figuring 'what the heck it could be fun'.
I tucked in and hit a ramp, jumping when I reached the top. I felt like I was flying for a few seconds before hitting the landing. I was picking up speed now, and my guide was slightly behind me. I saw a few structures in front of me and moved around them, wanting speed, not style. I saw the last, big jump coming up and made sure my chute cord was in reach. I tucked down again, making myself as small as possible to gain speed.
Suddenly my guide went flying past me, somehow going way faster than I was. He hit the ramp 200 yards ahead of me and soared. I soon followed suit, grunting as I flew off the ramp, sending myself right out over the cliff. I seemed to hover there for a minute before I reached back and pulled my chute cord, the parachute spreading out above me and slowing my descent. I relaxed once I got a hold of the handles and followed my guide as we floated through the air. I looked around at the horizon, never having been able to see this clearly. I flinched when my ear crackled, a voice coming over the intercom in my helmet.
"So, who do you think won that one?" I hit the button on the side of my helmet, letting out a chuckle.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know that trail better than anyone. But how did you get so much speed?"
"Top of the half pipe, it leads to an off ramp that gets you massive air off that last jump."
"Obviously, you went flying. I wasn't sure if you were coming back down." He let out a laugh and we just watched the sunset over the horizon. "Man, I need to get my mom to do this. She'd love the view." I pulled down a secondary visor on my helmet and hit a button, the whole visor flashing as it captured a shot. "She's gonna love these photos."
"Hey, we got a storm coming, we'd better head down." I looked to my right to see a storm rolling over the hills in the distance. It was moving faster than I thought possible.
"Dang it all, Mother Nature. Can't let me have a moment to enjoy your work, can you?" We both started dropping down to the designated landing spot. It was going well and smooth until a massive gust of wind hit me. "Gah! No, back on course stupid." I had just gotten realigned when another gust hit me. "Oh come on!"
"Problem?"
"Yeah, I can't seem to stay on course." I saw him look back, thinking.
"Just keep going, I can't do much from here but guide you." I nodded, trying to keep my chute pointed in the right direction.
"Alright, I'll try-!" A massive gust yanked me sideways, and it nearly ripped my left arm out of its socket. "Dang it, that hurt!"
"You alright?!" The guide had been grabbed by the wind as well, but he seemed to get back on course easier.
"My arm is going to kill me for a week, but I'll be fine." The guide dropped in elevation, trying to land as soon as possible.
"Come on, let's get that checked out."
"Agreed!" I reangled myself and pulled the cords to drop, but instead of going down, a gale force wind hit me like a train, and I was pulled back and up. "Shoot! No!" I saw that the storm was getting closer, still moving at seemingly impossible speeds, but I simply couldn't get down below the clouds, the wind was too strong. Anytime I got close, an updraft seemed to mock me, pulling me back up into them. I kept trying, but my arms were getting weak from staying above my head and my left one was killing me. Lightning was striking around me occasionally, and it was only a matter of time before it connected. I called out on the com.
"Dude, I can't get down! I'm stuck up here!"
"What? Um...shoot man, I'm not sure what to do...Wait! Did you bring your wingsuit?"
'Duh! That's ten times faster than a parachute!'
"Yeah!"
"Then use i-WHAT IS THAT THING?!" I jumped and looked around. I twisted to look over my shoulder because I didn't see anything. When I looked back, I saw a dragon. Yes, a dragon, hovering right behind me, staring at my chute.
"Uh...help?" I whimpered rather pathetically. The dragon looked down at me, our eyes meeting. It dropped a bit in elevation until it was right behind me. Lightning arced through the clouds above us, lighting up the entire sky and giving the dragon a haunting shadow. The dragon looked between me and the storm and seemed to decide on something. Next thing I knew it was coming right at me with its claws open and ready. My heart skipped a beat and time seemed to slow down. I let out an understandably un-manly scream, making it pull back a little in surprise.
"AAAAH!" As soon as I noticed the dragon back off a little, I did the only thing I could do. I unclipped my snowboard, detached from my parachute and dropped, pulling out my arms and legs to expand my wingsuit. Using my sudden speed to catch some air in it, I quickly headed towards my guide. "Now what?!"
"Keep going! The landing pad isn't that far!" I spotted him landing and scrambling to get his chute off. At about 100 feet up I started to pull back, ready for a rough landing. That's when something wrapped around my body and stopped my descent. I squirmed as the dragon pulled up from its own dive, flapping its wings to hover midair as it held me in its claw. My vision went white as lightning hit nearby. A horrifying sound of a tree cracking straight down the middle echoed through the air. My guide let out his own panicked shout as half the tree fell towards him.
"NO!" I rapidly blinked to try and dispel the spots in my vision. I looked down and saw the guide getting back to his feet. Luckily, it appeared the tree had missed him. He was staring up at me in fear. I called him off.
"Go! Save yourself!" I turned to look at the dragon again. It snorted and turned to look at the sky, pumping its wings harder, lifting us high into the air. I kept squirming, trying to get free, but its grip was too secure, I couldn't even get an arm loose, much less get free. My breathing was tight, and it wasn't just from the iron grip the dragon had on me. I stopped, not wanting to waste all of my energy. I looked up at my new captor, not knowing what was going to happen.
««{{¤}}»»
Since I was stuck, I decided to try and calm myself down. There was no reason to stay worked up and tire myself out before I had the chance to escape. Not that I was worried; after all, dragons didn't exist, so I must be dreaming. I wondered just how vivid this dream really was.
Studying it over, I noticed its scales didn't look like I thought they would. They were supposed to be hard and tough, yes. But these almost look like they were made of metal.
'Strange...' I looked at the claws that were my prison and noticed that they too were not organic. 'What the...is this a robot?' I studied the rest of it and noticed visible joints. "No way..."
««{{A while later}}»»
I rolled a bit when the dragon dropped me on the ground. Luckily, I still had my snow gear on, so I had a little more cushion than normal. I coughed as I slowly pushed myself up.
"Ow…Starting to wonder if this really is a dream." The dragon landed across the clearing it had dropped me in and walked over to me. I quickly backed against a tree and held my arms up as it got closer, hoping I wouldn't see my own death. But it never came. I flinched when hot breath washed over me. I slowly peeked from behind my arms to see the dragon's head right in front of me, its scales a dull red in places. I couldn't do anything but stare. It must have gotten fed up with waiting because it nudged me. I squirmed and tried to shove it away, trying to keep as much distance as possible.
"Go away!" I tried to run, but I tripped on a root, landing hard. "*Cough* Ah..." When I tried to get to my feet, the dragon grabbed me by a leg, pulling me up into the air. Hanging upside down is not fun when it's only by one leg. Especially when a robotic dragon is holding said leg. I squirmed until it set me down in its other paw. My back was against its fingers as it sniffed me. I kicked at its nose, doing nothing but rattling my leg.
"Ow! Okay, definitely metal!" I held my leg in pain as it stared at me. I glared at it. "What do you want from me?!" It blinked calmly and wrapped me in its paw, holding me close to its chest. It turned and started walking on three legs.