Chapter 518

518 Mountain Race

Skye felt her heart swell as she looked at the beauty all around her. The mountains weren’t like anything that she had ever seen before, and the mixture of color from the trees made it what it was: a living work of art. As Skye marveled at the artistry of nature, that was when Genie had sneezed.

After their little back and forth about how Genie’s Magic functioned, he had pointed out an almost canyon-like area of the mountains. Jagged edges stuck out everywhere, and the space narrowed towards the end in two different places. As Skye looked on with skepticism, Zazzy trilled with excitement.

The challenge that Genie issued felt more like a rematch for Zazzy. She andGenie had raced together many times, but she still hadn’t won against him. Claiming that he kept winning because of his tiny size, comparatively speaking, made her feel better about it.

Genie had tried to explain it to her with an analogy, but Zazzy still hadn’t understood. Something about holding a fresh bean pod, then squeezing it and watching the bean shoot out; it was confusing to her. As Zazzy focused on the memory, her mother’s voice broke her train of thought..

“That looks pretty freakin’ dangerous, Genie. I dinna think we should be flyin’ through there without caution,” Skye stated in a motherly tone.

“Think of it as controlled danger! Between my Air magic and your Earth: there’s nothing that we shouldn’t be able to handle!” Genie yelled as he dived towards the beginning of the canyon.

Skye sighed as Zazzy tilted her head to look at her mother. She had hoped more leisurely tests, but that didn’t seem to be a possibility now. As memories of Genie’s slightly-extreme methods of teaching came flooding back to her, Skye shouted to her scaly bairn; “We better win, or we might have ta do this again!”

Zazzy trill-growled with a nod in reply, then dove for the canyon like Genie had. He’d slowed at the entrance, but took off into it as soon as Zazzy came within twelve feet or do of him. Believing that it constituted a head start, Zazzy growled as she flapped her wings as hard as she could.

The peaks that stuck out everywhere weren’t a problem at first, but they soon began to limit Zazzy’s wingspan area. She couldn’t open her wings as wide, so she couldn’t go as fast. As they began to fall behind, Skye told Zazzy to fly sideways.

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At first, she fussed over possibly dropping her mother if she did that, but Skye was adamant. She promised that she would used some of her Tank trait to hold on, then apologized if she wound up hurting her at all while doing it. Zazzy told her not to fret, and to get ready..

.....

As soon as she felt the pressure from Skye’s legs through her scales, Zazzy flew up a bit, then shifted her whole body to the side. The canyon was plenty wide enough for her to catch up, especially with her mother funneling a bit of her Tank magic into her. As Zazzy went from being a dot to a massive blot trying to run Genie over, he used a bit of his Air magic to slow them down..

A chunk of rock broke off of a cliff ahead of them, and nearly hit Zazzy and Skye as it fell. The timing had been too perfect, and the break was too clean to have been from natural causes. As Skye held onto Zazzy extra tightly, Genie glanced over his shoulder with a wicked grin..

“That was you?!” Skye screamed, attempting to be heard over the wind whipping past them.

“It’s all for testing purposes! I have to see how good you two are at evading! You may need to in the city!” Genie yelled back.

“WHY would we?! Who’s gonna shoot at us Inside the city?!” Skye yelled back, but Genie ignored the comment.

Before Skye could say anything else, Genie added; “Let’s see what you two can take!”

With a wave of his hand, an avalanche of rocks and dust came plummeting towards them from above. Skye’s eye’s grew wide a moment, then narrowed with determination as she shouted to Zazzy; “Let’s do it, Princess!”

Zazzy was flying several thousand feet above the ground, so when she pulled her wings in, and faced her backside to the ground, she knew that she had room to maneuver. Skye held on for her life, but had faith in her scaly bairn to get the job done before they came too close to the ground. As she held onto her back spikes with a death grip, Zazzy took in a massive breath..

Genie knew that Zazzy could breath fire, and had even seen her do it before, but those times had been nothing compared to this. Like a wildfire blazing across a dry field, Zazzy’s dragon breath practically blew away all of the rubble falling from above. As smoke and dust was all that was left in their wake, Zazzy returned to flying sideways, and began to climb back up.

It was easier to hold onto Zazzy while she was turned to the side versus upside down, but it was still difficult in general to maintain a grip for an extended period of time. As she continued to hold on for her life, Skye yelled to Genie; “Is that all you’ve got?!”

With a mischievous smirk, Genie sent round after round of falling rocks at them. Zazzy evaded some of them, but as the pieces became larger, she had to resort to using her fire breath again. As Skye gripped her back’s spikes to the point of cracking one of them, she looked ahead to see where the finish was, and Genie..

The mountain path’s walls widened in sections, and grew closer together in others. As they came to a skinnier section, Skye realized that Genie had stopped in one of the wider areas. The expression on his face was clue enough that something was wrong, but when he yelled; Skye’s stomach dropped..

“HURRY THROUGH! The entire mountainside is collapsing!”

“Let’s go!” Skye screamed before she began to funnel all of her available magic into Zazzy.

She turned her body too quickly, trying to fire-blast the massive chunk of rock that was bigger than her falling towards them. The sudden jerk combined with Skye’s quickly depleting magic made her lose her grip right as Zazzy had unleashed her flames. Genie cried out their names as smoke and dust enveloped them..

Genie’s heartbeat was pounding in his ears as he screamed Skye’s name. As he lifted his arm to use him magic, and clear the dust away, a massive shadowy figure flew out of the dust cloud...right at him.

Genie ducked out of the way just before Zazzy ran into him. His heart sank when he glanced her backside, and he didn’t see Skye.. But the panic passed when she nearly kicked him in the head as she hung off of Zazzy’s tail.

Skye had intentionally fallen from Zazzy’s back to avoid being hit by a boulder, and had grabbed on to Zazzy’s offered tail. They had practiced several times; in case Skye was shot at, or Zazzy needed to maneuver closely to an object. It was also a good surprise place to be launched from if she was the one doing the attacking.

Most people would look for Skye on her dragon’s back like Genie had, and Zazzy was big enough that if she positioned her tail right: no one would see Skye coming until it was too late. As she laughed and whooped over how successful the maneuver had turned out, she and Zazzy reached the end of the canyon, then flew off into the skies.

Genie hovered in place a few moments, astounded by Skye’s capabilities when it came to thinking fast. The piece of mountain had been too large, and fallen too quick for Genie to summon enough wind power to deflect it. When he saw it falling towards Skye and Zazzy, it had felt like the world was about to implode..

“Thank goodness that they’re safe,” Genie muttered before as the dust cloud started to engulf him, and he flew off to catch up with Skye and Zazzy.

************

Skye swayed carelessly from side to side as she hung from Zazzy’s tail. Basking in the feel of the wind rushing past her, she almost didn’t see the small village on the mountainside that she and Zazzy were passing. The only reason that she had was due to the sound of children cheering and clapping.

Circling back and flying low and slow; Skye and Zazzy flew just a couple of feet above the children as they assed over. Around half a dozen children screamed with delight as the mythical creature that they revered came within just a few feet of their heads. As they chased after Zazzy and Skye, the two looked for a place to land..

Genie watched from a distance as Zazzy landed in a field, and she and Skye interacted with the villagers. The children swarmed Zazzy, who happily played with them for a few minutes while Skye talked with the adults. They bowed to her, and she bowed back respectfully, which made Genie grin.

It had been more years than he cared to admit since he had explained the etiquette expected of her while in Sai. As pride for his pupil swelled in his heart, Skye finished speaking with the villagers. After bidding them a proper farewell, she walked over and touched the ground of the barren field.

Zazzy and the children reluctantly said goodbye as well, then took off as gently as they could so as not to disturb the village homes. After they had cleared the ground, Skye reached out her hand towards the ground, then closed her fist..

Genie had felt the surge of power coming from her, but he hadn’t expected to watch an entire field of vegetables to sprout, grow, and mature all at once. As the villagers cheered and screamed their thanks to the Alconian Princess, an idea began to take shape within Genie’s mind...

When Skye and Zazzy reunited with Genie in the air then flew off, he asked; “I thought that you had to be touching the ground to channel your magic into it?”

Skye shrugged; “I did before, but now I just need ta touch it once. I figured it out a couple nights after we left.. I saw a tree on the riverside that looked beautiful, but it was dyin’. I thought about how I connect to me Water trait, then kinda applied what I do wit that ta how I handle me Earth magic. I guess ya could say I leveled up me Earth magic!”

“Leveled up? I don’t understand that term,” Genie replied as he reached out, and pet Zazzy mid-flight.

Skye chuckled lightly; “Oh aye, that’s right! Ya weren’t in the Highlands! Let me tell ya about video games on the way back to the ship! They’re Awesome!”

Genie laughed out loud at Skye’s enthusiasm before he replied; “Alright, I’ll listen on the way. But when we get back, I’ll need your full attention. I know how you and Zazzy can win over the people now..”