Ch4: Hello everyone. I am very happy to tell you all that I have come to a decision, but before I talk about that I have one other quick thing to talk about.
I wanted to thank everyone for his or her support during this (admittedly short and relatively insignificant) crisis. To everyone who offered suggestions and reviews in general (i.e. Luna246,Fusionista, Charlie , Letreduslac, ect), I can't thank you enough. That goes for the people who added this story as one of their favorites as well (Luna246 again, Fusionista again, Letreduslac again, and Raining-Stars04). All those people are great, and you know what? Anyone who has read this story is great too. YOU ARE ALL JUST GREAT! *ahem* Sorry about that. I got a little excited there.
Anyway, about the story: I decided what I am going to do. I am going to use the idea of Letreduslac, only slightly modified. I am going to keep writing and uploading this story like normal, and then when it's finished I will write and upload the other version. Once both are up I'll probably set up a poll of some kind to see which one people like best. Just be aware that, even though I can't exactly predict when any of that will be done, I can say with some certainty that this whole process will most likely take quite a long time to finish. Just remember that.
AND ONE MORE THING! If you are afraid of spoilers then maybe you should (and I can't believe I'm saying this) not read this story right now. You may want to wait until both stories are done, but, like I said, that could take a while. So it's up to you to decide.
Right, now that that's all taken care of we can continue with the story.
(By the way, this is where things will get really good because this is where Johnny starts to talk!)
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Where…what…oh my head, the third passenger mentally groaned as he felt a familiar acing throughout his body. Even though the throbbing in his head was making it hard think, the previous events slowly began to return to him, answering some of the questions he had. But even with those answers there were still many questions remaining. I wonder what happened. I must have been knocked unconscious when the ship sped up and threw me into the back wall of the ship, and the others for that matter, he added once he remembered he hadn't been the only person to be up from their seat. He began to become more aware of his surroundings. Slowly sounds began to register, but only made things even more confusing. I-I can't still be on the ship, he thought as he heard something that sounded exactly like grass being rustled by wind and chirping birds nested off in the distance. But that doesn't make any sense. Where else could I be?
Soon, as his senses continued to return to him, he realized he was being dragged somewhere. Unfortunately, when he tried to open his eyes to see what was happening he realized that his vision was still too cloudy and blurred to see anything clearly. He also didn't have the strength move on his own yet and he was quickly growing frustrated. Ok, I really want to…know…w-what's going… before he realized it, he had gone unconscious again. When he awoke again he found he was no longer being dragged. He opened his eyes as he propped himself up on his forearms, trying his best to be gentle with himself. Looking around him, he was a little surprised by his surroundings.
He appeared to be laying in a small clearing with tall grass surrounding him. He saw he was under the shade of a tall tree, though what kind of tree it was he wasn't sure. Well, this doesn't seem right at all, he couldn't help but think as he gazed around at the natural serenity of his surroundings.
Suddenly the tranquil sounds of nature were interrupted by a harsher, more severe sound; the sound of metal scraping against metal. He turned toward the source of the sound and was greeted with another sight that was almost as strange and confusing as the landscape.
There, leaning against another tree a few feet away, was Johnny Yuma. This was strange because he seemed to have changed since the last time he saw him. Some things were the same, like his short, unkempt, golden blond hair, interesting eye color, and confident smirk. The biggest change was his wardrobe. Instead of the prison jumpsuit he had been wearing he was now sporting a dark gray shirt, dark blue jeans, pale brown suede boots, and a battleship gray leather jacket that strongly resembled the classic G-1 military flight jacket style (complete with sheepskin lining and collar).
He didn't appear to be paying any attention to his environment or surroundings. Instead he seemed to be entirely focused on what he was holding in his hand. After looking closer, the third passenger was able to see it was a large knife, or a small sword, depending on how you want to look at it. Indeed it was a fearsome looking weapon. The blade alone looked to be at least eight inches long and with the grip it was probably over a foot long all together. He also saw the source of the sound: Johnny was running the knife across a shorter metal rod, slowly and methodically grinding the pieces of metal against each other. As the third passenger slowly rose to his feet Johnny finally came out of the trance he had been in. He looked over to him, as if sensing someone moving around. He smiled, almost warmly, as he swiftly regarded one his former guards. "Howdy. That was some ride huh." he spoke in a rich, baritone voice.
This wasn't the first thing he had been expecting to hear. "Yeah, it was pretty rough, but what exactly happened? Where are we?" he asked, hoping Johnny might know some of the details he was missing.
"No idea. Well, I guess we crashed here. Were here is is still a mystery to me though." he said, almost pensively. After Johnny said this he pointed out ahead of him and continued. "That's what's left of the shuttle over there." A yard away there was a large amount of churned up dirt leading like a trail to the smoking remains of the shuttle.
"That's unfortunate." the third passenger said wistfully. As he looked over at the wreckage he couldn't help but feel discouraged and disheartened as he began thinking of how this would affect their return home. Without that ship we'll have to find some other way to get back. But judging by the look of this place we might be hard pressed to find one.
"That it is." Johnny replied. "Though you should feel lucky."
"Lucky? And why would that be?" he asked sarcastically, still thinking about their predicament more than listening to what Johnny had to say.
"Well, just look at yourself. You don't have a scratch on you, even though you cloths don't look as good." Johnny replied as he moved away from the tree and walked a little closer to him.
Upon hearing this comment the third passenger looked down to inspect himself. While it was true that he was uninjured, his clothes were in a sorry state; with a multitude of rips, holes, and burn marks all over his uniform. Luck had nothing to do with it, he thought with a little amusement. Then a thought struck him. "Where are the others? The pilots and the other guard?" he asked as he looked back over to Johnny.
His smiled seemed to falter for a second, then shrank into a knowing smirk. "Don't move." he said calmly but sternly.
"What?" the third passenger asked, a little worry and uncertainty seeping into his voice.
"Just hold still…right…there." was all Johnny replied with. Then, suddenly, he threw his knife with great force.
A shrill cry went out as his aim proved deadly accurate.
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Geez that took a long time to write. Sorry guys, but it was pretty good right?. I had made my decision last Sunday and had planed on uploading the new chapter on the same day…but obviously that did not happen. I just hope it was worth the wait. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope to see a review from you.