The Walkers

Little D carried Rainbow Dash up the same stone steps they traveled earlier, this time with Blue in tow.

“Hey,” Blue panted as he struggled up the stairs. “Slow down would ya’? I’m dying back here.”

“You’ll be dying when Steel catches us,” D said pointedly as he hurried up the steps.

“Well can you at least carry me or let ride on your shoulders or something? You’re clearly better suited for running away than I am.”

“If you’re implying what I think you’re implying, I can easily leave you in the dust.”

“I’m not,” Blue insisted as he stopped to catch his breath. “It just,” he gasped for air and started jogging up with D again. “Just came out wrong,” he gasped for air. “is all.” Little D rolled his eyes and ran over to Blue.

“Alright, just hold on tight.” D put Rainbow over his right shoulder and tucked Blue under his left arm then sprinted up the stairs as quickly as he could. He dashed through the grand gateway that he had kicked open earlier. D continued along the path for a while longer and soon arrived in a large open field filled with tall, lush grass.

“Woah, this place is awesome,” Blue stared in awe.

“Yeah, plenty of places to hide.” D lept off the road and into the grass. “Stay quiet and don’t move.”

“I wouldn’t if I could. You got in a tight grip here. Why are you hiding anyway? That guy stronger than you?”

“Big time,” D admitted sourly. “He threw a light house at me a couple years ago.”

“Wowzer. He sounds strong.”

“He is.”

“Why is he coming after us?”

“So he can kill us. Now please be quiet.”

“Why would he want to kill us?” Blue asked horrified. “I mean, yeah, I shot his face with a fireball and pushed him into the ocean, but come on. He seemed fine.”

“All you managed to do was make him angry.”

“Wasn’t he already?”

“Yeah, but now he’s livid and If he catches up to us he’ll rip us limb from limb.”

“Oh. I do not want that to happen to me, er, us.”

“He won’t if we just stay quiet.”

“Why are we stayin’ quiet?” Rainbow Dash asked groggily.

“Oh, you’re awake then sweet cheeks?”

“Call me that again an’ I’ll kick your ass.”

“Rainbow. No time to talk. I need you to stay quiet,” D whispered.

“Why?”

“‘Cuz if we don’t Steel will rip me, er, us, limb from limb.” Blue explained.

“Oh, that’s not great.”

“No it is not,” D agreed. “Now can both of you please be quiet.”

“Yeah, I like my limbs,” Rainbow said sleepily.

“You okay there?” Blue asked.

“Yeah, just a lil’ bit woozy.”

“Would both of you please be quiet,” D hissed as he peered through the grass. “I think I hear him coming.”

“Where are you Little D?!” Steel shouted violently. “Show yourself so I can rip you limb from limb!”

“Yeah, he’s coming this way.”

“Do you think he’ll find us?” Blue asked worriedly.

“If we keep talking, yeah.” D slowly crept backwards. “And if we stay close to the road.”

“Do you honestly think you can hide from me?” Steel roared.

“I think you’re doing a great job so far,” Blue whispered.

“Please be quiet.” D continued to creep back away from the road.

“Fine then coward!” spat Steel. “If you insist on hiding yourself, I have no choice but to flush you out.” He summoned his great crimson wings and lept into the sky. He drew his blade out of it’s sheath and pointed it at the field to his right. “I’ll roast you like the vermin you are.” A torrent of white hot flames erupted out of Steel’s sword and rained down on the grass, immediately turning it into an inferno. He then aimed his blade at the other field and shot flames at it as well. “Let’s see you get out of this one brother.”

“Yeah you gonna just fly us out of here?” Blue demanded.

“No, he’d spot us immediately,” D answered.

“Then, use magic or something to get us to safety!”

“He’d spot us then too. Walkers are able to sense magic.”

“What? What the heck is a ‘Walker’?”

“Short answer: demigods.”

“What?”

“If you shut up now, I’ll give you the long answer later, right now I need to concentrate on not getting us roasted.”

“Oh okay, I’ll let you get back to that.” D turned around and began maneuvering through the field as quickly and as quietly as he could. Another volley of flames erupted through the fields as D calmly continued through the grass.

“I know you’re in there somewhere brother!” Steel shouted as fire continued to shoot from his blade. “Why do you insist on running? You came to my home knowing full well that I’d be here and yet you act as though you weren’t ready for a fight. What have you been doing all of these years? Searching for the Elements? Laughable. If the rainbow-haired one is all the bearers have to offer, than I must say that you don’t stand a chance against me and my army.”

“What’s this army he’s talking about?”

“Blue,” D warned. “If you don’t quiet down, I will knock you out myself.”

“Aw, you don’t mean that do you buddy?”

“No, it’d be much easier to just choke you out.”

“Oh, I’ll be quiet then.”

“Thank you!”

“So where are you taking us anyway?”

“This would be an appropriate time to hit him many times,” D thought but he realized that he really didn’t know where he was going. He slowly poked his head above the grass to look around and saw a dense line of trees a few yards away. “We’re going over there to those trees,” he said quietly. “Once we get there I’ll see if I can get us somewhere safe.”

“Then let’s go buddy, rapido!”

“Are you always like this?” D asked tensely.

“No,” Blue admitted. “I just react poorly to stress and I have ADD. The two don’t mix too well.”

“So I’ve noticed.” D continued on toward the trees as quietly as he could all while shushing Blue Spark every ten steps. “If there’s any accounting for small miracles,” he thought, “it’s that he’s whispering.”

“OH HOLY CRAP THAT WAS CLOSE!” Blue shouted as the grass in front of them erupted into flames.

“Found you!” Steel roared and swooped down upon them.

“Grandmother Faust do you hate me?” D thought and sprinted towards the line of trees and lept into it’s cover just as Steel slashed at them with his blade, missing by inches. D hit the ground running and picked his way through the dense foliage. “Let’s hope we can lose him in here,” he thought as he zig-zagged his way deeper and deeper into the woods. Steel’s roars got further and further away. D kept up his pace for several minutes before he heard a different roaring. It was a natural sort and for some inexplicable reason D felt the compulsion to find it’s source. D followed the sound for a few more minutes and eventually came to large clearing with a wide stream rushing through it. Looking to his left, D saw that the stream tumbled into a waterfall.

“Ooh, that’s pretty,” Blue stated in awe.

“Yeah,” D replied, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. “But there’s something more to it.” D walked to the edge of the water and peered in. “Pretty deep,” he noted. He then went over to the edge of the waterfall and looked down the 300 foot drop. “We’re quite a ways up, eh Blue?”

“Yeah, now can you either let go of me away from the ledge or can you just back us up?”

“No can do.”

“What? Why?”

“Because,” D said and turned slowly. “We were followed.”

“By who?” Blue craned his neck to look at their stalker and groaned. “What is with you man? Can’t you just let us go?”

“I’m afraid not,” Steel replied coldly. “You see, I’ve morally devolved over the years. Now I’m rather fond of torture and torment.”

“That’s horrible, but what if we said ‘please’?”

“No.”

“Perhaps a ‘pretty please’ would sway you. With sugar on top?”

“That is, somehow, even less of an enticing offer.”

“How about this offer then,” D interjected with a grin. He then leapt off of the edge with Blue Spark screaming all the way down.

“I bet he’s feeling quite smug,” Steel said aloud. “So let’s humor him for now.” He turned around and headed back the way he came.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“This wind blows,” Johnny yelled over the roaring winds.

“Ha!” Numb Nuts laughed. “Good one.”

“Thanks man, I’ve been working on it for hours.”

“Any jokes about the snow?” Reason asked pleasantly.

“Nothing yet. My brain was too preoccupied with that last one.”

“I understand. Let me help you. Perhaps one about how we’re STUCK IN A BLIZZARD!”

“We’re in a what?” Johnny put his arms down and looked about his surroundings, or rather he tried to. He couldn’t see a foot in front of him and the snow flying into his eyes certainly wasn’t helping. “Oh, wouldya’ lookit that?”

“Yes, look at it and tell me how we got here.”

“I guess I should have--”

“Don’t you dare say you should have taken a right a Albuquerque!”

“I wasn’t gonna!”

“Yes you were!”

“Hey guys!” Numb interjected happily. “I see light! We’re saved!”

“Really? Sick!”

“Yeah! I can just sorta see the town. Ooo, everything is all sparkly!”

“Sparkly?” Reason asked curiously. “I didn’t think that Steel would bother to shine up a city.”

“Yeah! It’s even got a magic dome to protect the city from the weather.”

“A shiny city with a weather dome? That sounds an awful lot like--” As Johnny got closer to the city Reason’s suspicions were confirmed. “This is the Crystal Empire.”

“What makes you say that?” Johnny asked as he walked through the magical barrier and warmth washed over him.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe the fact that EVERYTHING IS MADE OUT OF GODDAMN CRYSTAL! I mean it’s like; how, why, what?!”

“You seem upset Reason, you need to chill for a minute or two.”

“You want me to chill? YOU WANT ME TO CHILL?! This defies all possible logic. You were on an island in the middle of the ocean and now you’re in the Crystal Empire thousands of miles East of where we need to be!”

“I think it’s more like hundreds.”

“How is any of this--how did we even--I can’t--I just simply and wholly--,”

“Wow, I’ve never seen him like this. Kinda’ funny actually. Anyway, let’s make the best out of this situation.” And so Johnny and Numb Nuts went off for their own adventure completely without Reason.