-Chapter XXVI- America
-Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
-27 First Seed
-7:30 A.M.
-Nicholas
"When are they getting here?" I asked irritably and tired of waiting.
"Hell, I don't know, perhaps sometime by the hour, but I'm not sure." Sterwalt replied.
"Hey, by the way, Sterwalt, I really appreciate bringing us up here like you did. Do I owe you anything?"
He waved a hand in declination, "nah, Ulfric's got all that set up."
I smiled at Ulfric's generosity. "Well, I appreciate it all the same. And I do apologize for all the trouble we may have caused you over the past few days."
He offered a salty smile, "trust me, son, compared to some of my past older passengers, you all were a picnic."
"Is that them?" Saria asked with a hand on her forehead to block the intense sun from her eyes. The sun focused on the beach we were on seemed amplified compared from the sun we dealt with back at Skyrim, and now Saria glowed bright-red just as I did with our worsened sunburns.
"Who?" Sonic asked.
"Over there?" she pointed a finger across the beach where two men were walking toward us.
"They're wearing fancy clothes, so they must be the them that we are...uh...'them-ing'." Sonic replied.
I heard Amy sigh in admiration and entertainment at Sonic's comment, and I think Saria and I both irritably grunted simultaneously. "Is that them?" Tails asked as he exited the ferry with Knuckles and Crash.
"Yeah." Saria confirmed.
"Hey, where's Rayman?" I asked, looking around for him. I heard a splash not far from the shoreline and turned around to see him carrying Cream back to the beach over his back. "Cream...what happened?"
"She asked if I could get her when the government guys came by." Rayman told me.
"Sorry Nick." the rabbit apologized as Rayman set her back down. She hugged Rayman, who blushed in return, and kissed him on the nose. "Thank you, Rayman!" And that was all before she hurried along to join her chao and Amy.
"I think she can understand me." Rayman mumbled, holding his cheek where Cream had kissed him.
"Aw, that was so cute!" said Saria.
"No, she just likes animals, is all." Sonic explained to her, "she probably thinks of him as an animal friend."
"Hey, so you must be the great Nicholas Swiftsword the Fifth!" I heard behind me. I turned around to see a pair of men, one with a pale-tinted skin, and a second with a much darker tint. It almost reminded me of a Redguard. The pale-skinned reached out his right hand, which I took to shake awkwardly with my right. "I'm Jack Wright."
The second man now outstretched an arm for me to shake, which, again, I took. "And I'm David Johnson. It's nice to meet you."
"A pleasure to meet you too." Saria replied, shaking Wright's hand. She took Johnson's awkwardly by taking his left hand to shake.
"I see you're left-handed." I commented to David.
"Yeah, so are you." he quickly looked me over, "not many swordsmen are lefties."
"Come on, the president's waiting for you guys." Wright said.
"The president?" Sonic asked in awe.
"Yeah, President Reynolds, have you met him before?"
"Oh, no. How often do you Americans change presidents?"
"Every five years." Johnson told him as we started towards the opposite side of the beach.
"You've been here before?" I asked Sonic.
"Eh, yeah but that was a while back ago." he replied.
Johnson smiled, "so this is everyone with you, then?" he asked me.
I held out a finger to point to everyone as I began to list them, "yes, this is Amy, Cream, Knuckles, Tails, Sonic, Crash, Rayman, Saria..." I stopped as Stealth flew to my shoulder, "...and Stealth." I finished with a smile.
"A dragon, eh?" Wright asked with much curiosity. "How cool is that!"
I looked at the two Americans in confusion, "you don't have dragons here?"
Johnson tried his best to hide a quick chuckle, "no, not that I know of."
"America's weird." I said quietly to myself.
"Anyway, come on, the president is waiting for you all."
Once we met with the president in his limousine, and after some figuring how we would fit all of the current members of our little group into the single automobile, with Sonic on top of the car and Rayman being held in pieces by Saria, Amy, Crash, Knuckles, and Tails while I held Stealth on my lap and Cream had Cheese on hers. Though we were crammed together, we were all in.
"So you must be Nicholas." said another American other than President Reynolds that sat across from me.
"Yes, who might you be?"
He look down on me, examining every detail about my being. "I am Matthew." he said with a deep voice. "Matthew Rains."
"Well met, Matthew." Saria said, scrunched between Johnson and I. She looked at Rayman's head, which she held in her hands, "can someone else take this?"
"What, my head's not good enough for you?" Rayman asked sternly.
"Here, I'll take him." Johnson offered.
"Amazing...and where are you from?" Reynolds asked.
"Another world." Rayman replied.
"Um...what?" Wright asked.
"Another world." I repeated.
"You understand that?"
Crash and I both simultaneously nodded. "Yup." Crash said.
Johnson and Wright, who sat next to each other, exchanged glances, "all right then."
"So where are we going, then?" Saria asked, noticing the vehicle began to move.
I stared out the window in awe as I watched the automobile move on its own, with no need of horses to pull it. "Now, we are going back to the Air Force One." Johnson told her.
"This is incredible." I said.
"You think this is neat," said Wright, "just wait til you get to the Air Force One."
"Why, what's that?"
"Holy shit." I said to myself as I beheld the massive jet plane before me.
"This is the Air Force One." Wright announced.
"Come along, everyone!" President Reynolds gestured as he was followed on board by David, Jack and Matthew, then some other armed guards behind them.
As I walked up the stairs leading up to the door of the airplane behind Saria, I just couldn't help myself but reach out and touch the white steel of the plane's outer shell. "How cool is this?" I said to Saria.
"You really are enthralled in this, aren't you?" she replied with a smile.
"How are you not?" I returned the smile as we entered the finely furbished plane. It felt like a house all in its own, but of a much higher caliber than that of any Nordic home I had ever seen.
She shrugged, "I'm not sure. I mean, I'm truly stricken with awe, but I guess just not as much as you."
"But you gotta admit..." Sonic said, "It's really cool."
"Yeah, it is cool." she told us.
Fifteen minutes or so after everyone had boarded, the part of the plane that Johnson said was the engine began to roar loudly, and the plane began to move. First forward, and moments after I began to notice that we were tilting back at a slight angle, then upward. "Oh my God we're flying!" I exclaimed as I look out the window to see the land, far below.
I turned back to look at the others. Saria and Crash joined me at looking out, Sonic, Knuckles, Johnson, Wright, and Amy didn't seem to care, Rayman rolled his eyes with an amused grin, and Tails and Cream exchanged glances, "wow, amazing." Tails said sarcastically as he desperately tried not to laugh.
We had to sit down for the takeoff, but when it was all said and done, we were told that we were again at "cruising speed", and were free to walk about in the cabin. I looked at Stealth, who kept a watchful eye out across the expanding land now far below us, at least one-hundred or more meters below. I reached out and ran my fingers over his head and down his back, feeling the rough scales that covered his body. I guess he enjoyed this, because when I did, I could've sword I saw a smile on the little hatchling's face as he made a sound from his throat similar to a cat's purr.
"Hey Nick!" I heard Wright call.
I turned around to see him at a table behind me with a device that was placed on the table before him where he sat on a cushioned seat that wrapped around the table. "Yeah?"
He waved me over, "come here! I wanna show this."
I walked across the cabin to where he was, followed by Johnson joining us when I sat beside him. "What is it?" I reached out to touch the device.
Wright laughed at my ignorance of technology, "first off, this is a laptop." he said, "I want to show you some songs."
"This I understand." I said, "so..."
"I looked up stuff about Skyrim. You guys really don't have music other than ballads and stuff?"
"'Looked up stuff'?"
"Yeah, like on the internet." I stared at him in confusion. "Nevermind for now. You'll start to understand while you're here."
"...what?"
He waved a hand, "nevermind that for now, but here, listen to this."
He took something and placed two cushioned ear pieces over my ears and said a plastic part over my head. He clicked a button on his laptop and music began to play out of the cushions. It was the number one worst-sounding shit I had ever heard. Within the first few seconds of listening, someone was singing profanity beyond even my usage. I quickly removed the device from my head, giving them back to him. "What the hell was that?!"
He looked at me sternly "what do you mean?"
"I'm sorry Wright but that...that was just..."
"The worst thing ever?" Johnson said with a smile. I opened my mouth to speak, but stopped when I looked at Wright. He smiled, but I think he knew what I'd say. "Here." he said, taking the device from Wright and handing it back to me.
"So I take it you're going to show him you're crap, now?" he said teasingly with a smile.
Johnson looked at Wright with a grin. "Yep. Here, give me the laptop." Wright slid the laptop to his friend and he typed something different into it. He placed his finger beneath the buttons onto some sort of pad built into it. He rapidly tapped it twice and and looked triumphantly as he looked at me. Another tune began to play through the device on my head, sending me the feel of it directly into my mind.
"What is this?" I asked, removing one of the cushions from my head.
Johnson smiled. "The Outfield. Your Love."
I placed it back onto my ear, absorbing the tune within my heart, and allowing the feeling of the song to merge with my mind, granting it freedom. I felt my toe begin to tap, my head bobbing with the rhythm.
Josie's on a vacation far away
Come around and talk it over
So many things that I want to say
You know I like my girls a little bit older
I just wanna use your love tonight
I don't wanna lose your love tonight
I ain't got many friends left to talk to
No one's around when I'm in trouble
You know I'd do anything for you
Stay the night but keep it undercover
I just wanna use your love tonight, whoa
I don't wanna lose your love tonight
Try to stop my hands from shakin'
Somethin' in my mind's not makin' sense
It's been awhile since we were all alone
I can't hide the way I'm feelin'
As you leave me, please, would you close the door?
And don't forget what I told you
Just 'cause you're right, that don't mean I'm wrong
Another shoulder to cry upon
I just wanna use your love tonight, yeah
I don't wanna lose your love tonight
Yeah, I just wanna use your love tonight
I don't wanna lose your love tonight
I just wanna use your love tonight
I don't wanna lose your love tonight
(Lose your love)
(Lose your love)
Tonight (Lose your love)
I don't wanna lose (Lose your love tonight)
I don't wanna, I don't wanna, I don't wanna (Lose your love tonight)
No, no (Lose your love tonight)
(Lose your love tonight)
No, no (I don't wanna lose your love tonight)
(Lose your love tonight)
After the music faded out, I gradually removed the device from my ears. "That was...wondrous..." I said in pure awe. I had never heard such a fantastic blend of words together.
Johnson looked over at Wright with an expression of immense triumph. "So you liked my crap, huh? Hey Jackie, guess what, he liked my crap." he said with a bright smile that seemed second to none.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Wright replied.
We all laughed, but we were suddenly stopped when Rains passed by us, giving us a glare that was unsettling at most. He looked at us as though we were children. He looked down and shook his head before walking off.