Ch7: Hello. See, I told you all it would get better (not that you ever really doubted me) after chapter five. I guess fight scenes aren't my strong point. But that just means there's room for improvement, right?
Raining-Stars04: You are right. A late post is better than no post at all. I wouldn't say genius, to be fair only the thing with Johnny was meant to be a complete surprise. But thanks for the encouraging words. And thank you for making me your first favorite author.
Jylamz: I just want to start by saying I really appreciate the enthusiasm you show towards my stories. It's very encouraging. I'm glad you enjoyed Monster so much. It would seem most people regard it as my finest work so far. I'm glad that I was able to surprise some people with the third passenger's identity, but at the same time it's also nice to see that others noticed the hints I had left. I don't really plan out the dialogue I use in my stories ahead of time, but I will definitely keep that idea in mind.
Fusionista: Well, I tried not to make it a complete surprise. There are a few subtle hints scattered around in previous chapters.
On that same topic I've come to realize that keeping up the mystery of who the third passenger was was ultimately pointless…oh well. I think I'll do away with that in the second version of this story.
Without further ado, here is the next chapter.
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As Johnny continued the firm handshake the red glow in his eyes began to disappear and he pulled Tech to his feet, the large grin still firmly planted on his face. "Well it's nice to meet you Mr. Coyote. I look forward to surviving with you."
"You…don't know who I am?" Tech asked as he looked at Johnny incredulously.
Johnny simply shrugged and said, "Should I?" See how perplexed Tech had become Johnny decided to try and explain himself. "I imagine you're a bit confused right now," he said jovially.
"Confused…is a start..." Tech replied as he waited for his heart rate to return to normal.
"And I suppose you'll want some explanations, am I right?" after seeing Tech nod he continued, "Well then I'm afraid your going to be disappointed, 'cause I don't really know what to tell you." He casually walked over to retrieve his jacket that had remained undisturbed on the low-hanging tree branch he had placed it on. "It's kinda hard to explain. Ya see…I've had these powers for as long as I can remember, but my memory doesn't go back that far. In fact, it stops right at a certain day in 2772…" he let the sentence trail off, casting a glance at Tech.
"The day the meteor stuck." Tech finished for him.
"Actually no. It was a few days after that." he said in a more thoughtful manner than Tech had yet seen from him.
"So what your saying is, you have amnesia?" Tech asked, trying to out a more clinical label on the situation to make himself less uncomfortable.
Johnny seemed amused by this, as evidenced by his quiet chuckling. "Yup, as cliché as it may seem, that's the boat I find myself in." he said as he slung his jacket over his shoulder and leaned against the tree it had been hanging on. He continued as he faced away from Tech, "The first thing I remember is waking up on a beach with my clothes burnt and practically torn to shreds. Obviously I was pretty disoriented, so I started wandering around and eventually stumbled upon a road. Unfortunately I hadn't yet grasped concepts like 'roads' and 'cars', or I guess 'semis' would be more accurate, since I was plowed-over by one almost as soon as I set foot on the asphalt." He then paused for a moment and looked down at the small pile of sticks and grass Tech had tried to make a fire out of. He stared at it for a second, as if contemplating something, then raised his arm out toward it.
Tech watched in confusion, wondering why he had stopped recounting his story so abruptly. He looked to Johnny for clarification, only to see him give another sly smirk in reply. Johnny then slightly indicated that he wanted him to look back at the pile.
Once he had done so, Johnny proceeded to snap his fingers, and, once he had done this simple action, a bright flame burst to life on the pile, effectively making a nice little bonfire.
Tech pushed himself back against the same tree Johnny currently leaned against as he looked at the fire in startled amazement. He looked back at Johnny and saw his shoulders sag a little and lean onto the tree more.
"I thought a good story deserves a good campfire, right?" he said with the slightest tremble in his voice. He seemed to take notice of this and cleared his throat quickly, then continued with his story. "Anyway, like I was saying, I step in front of this big rig and get thrown onto the side walk a few yards back. And people crowd around my bloody, mangled corpse and they're all wondering what just happened, I'm sure, when all of the sudden there's this bright flash of light and, lo and behold, there I am, right as rain! As you can imagine people were a bit surprised by this and they all start swarming me with questions. Now, keep in mind, I've really only been 'alive' for an hour or so, so this is all a bit much for me to take in and all I want to do is get out of there and get my head together. I start looking for some place to go and I see an ally off in the distance. Next thing I know, there I am, twenty or thirty feet away from where I just was." Seeing a hint of disbelief in Tech's eyes, Johnny deiced to emphasize his point with another demonstration. Again he raised his hand in front of him and snapped his fingers, and in that instant he disappeared.
Tech head a sort of thump to his right, and turned just in time to see Johnny sit down rather heavily next to the fire, his eyes once again taking on the red glow, but being very faint. "H-how…did you just…." Tech tried to vocalize his confusion but stopped as Johnny waved it off.
"It's more comfortable over here." he said, now sounding a little out of breath, but still wearing the same, almost cocky, smile as before. "So that's the story of my first day on this planet. But enough about all that, I think we should try and get some sleep."
Tech was in no position to argue about this, and simply nodded in agreement. Maybe I'll be able to figure all this out after getting some rest, he thought as he rested his head on the ground and slowly slid his eyes shut.
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Just a little glimpse into the back-story of Johnny Yuma, but more will come in the future.
I hope you all enjoyed that in some way, and I hope to see a review telling me otherwise (or if you just want to agree that would be fine too).