01-31-2016, 05:01 PM
Things sure had gone from zero to a hundred in a hurry.
One moment they were preparing to go fight bandits, and the next people were exploding and vanishing. Though Zack had learned not to be surprised by freaky occurrences in this crazy reality he'd been dropped into, that certainly didn't mean he was going to stick around and test fate. Fortunately, Drake had agreed with at least the most relevant parts of that line of thinking, and they had gotten the hell out of there with little delay.
Zack didn't know much about Drake, but he did quickly surmise that the one armed man had likely been a part of some sort of military organization in his past world. How was that so evident? Because just like Zack, he had looted the Koopa armory with a level of fervor that was reserved only for individuals that had to fill out pages of paperwork over the course of several weeks to get something as basic as a handful of flashlight batteries from a stingy supply sergeant. Free, unsupervised access turned both of them into deranged shoppers that made Black Friday at a major electronics store look like morning formation.
So, now they found themselves cruising along in an absolutely ridiculous pod that somehow functioned and balanced despite the undersized propeller being underneath the thing. Drake flew it with an impressive display of skill, considering he was missing an entire appendage and also that this thing made zero sense. It was more or less smooth sailing, though they had a few disagreements along the way. Zack didn't see the point of taking the time to vandalize this odd craft, while Drake wasn't the biggest fan of Zack bringing a live, ferocious Chain Chomp on board.
They traveled for some time, Drake taking the opportunity to learn the limits of this craft as they did. It might scare some people, but Zack reminded himself that he could probably just jump the hell out if things got a little too hairy. So he sat back, with his feet kicked up and flipped through the Dataverse, since this vehicle contained everything except an in-flight movie.
"Dragon riders," Drake eventually broke the silence, and Zack looked up from his phone. Sure enough, there were a few dozen dragons before them, each with someone on their backs.
"How do we know that's them?" Zack questioned, closing his flip phone and pocketing it.
"I mean, they're riding fucking dragons," Drake took his hand off the controls for just long enough to throw his hand up the air.
Fair point. Zack nodded. While he did, one of the lead dragons opened it's mouth, and released a fireball in the direction of their craft. Drake banked hard to the side and the attack sailed past. He steered back in their original direction, and they continued head on towards their new foes.
"Also, they're shooting fireballs at us," Drake helpfully added on.
Zack was already standing up and picking up the Buster Sword while Drake closed the gap.
"Also-"
"I got it, thanks!" Zack interrupted the pilot. Fucking smartass.
As the distance between them and the dragon riders rapidly shrank, Zack grabbed the edge of the pod with his left hand and attached his massive sword to his pack like usual. There was no telling if these were actually the bandits they were looking for, or just more trouble makers that were territorial about their airspace. Maybe one or two would be left to explain, afterwards.
"See you on the other side," Zack said, as he pulled himself onto the edge and springboarded off of it.
As Zack left the craft and sailed through the air towards the closest dragon rider, Drake turned around only briefly. He wasn't terribly shocked or surprised that Zack had just bailed out, but instead was simply confirming that Zack hadn't left that goddamned Chain Chomp on board. Satisfied that he wasn't sharing the craft with a flesh eating monster, Drake turned and steered the clown car into battle.
The burly rider of the dragon that Zack had targeted was shockingly prepared for him to attack in such a manner, as he swung a massive shield at the Ex-SOLDIER when he approached and thwarted the attempt to tackle the rider from his mount. Instead, Zack took the blow to the face and was knocked away. He regained his senses and bearings in time grab the belly of the flying dragon while he fell, and found himself swinging underneath it. The dragon rider looked down, presumably snarling beneath his crummy looking helmet.
The rider produced a long spear, and stabbed it downwards at Zack. When the spear got close, Zack let go of the dragon with his right hand to dodge. Hanging by only his left arm now, he caught the spear in his free hand and pulled it from the rider's grasp. He discarded the weapon and let it fall to the ground, and drew the Buster Sword. He stabbed his own weapon upwards, catching the rider in the gut before he had time to maneuver the shield around to block.
Zack sheathed the Buster Sword yet again, and swung himself up onto the dragon's back. The badly wounded rider didn't even see Zack coming, being too focused with his own injury. The distraction made it that much easier for Zack to kick him off the beast. He grabbed the reigns and snapped them a few times to redirect the dragon.
Did he know the first thing about riding a dragon into battle?
Nope.
But he was never one to let little details like that get in his way. Because now he had a dragon under his control, so these assholes had better look out.
One moment they were preparing to go fight bandits, and the next people were exploding and vanishing. Though Zack had learned not to be surprised by freaky occurrences in this crazy reality he'd been dropped into, that certainly didn't mean he was going to stick around and test fate. Fortunately, Drake had agreed with at least the most relevant parts of that line of thinking, and they had gotten the hell out of there with little delay.
Zack didn't know much about Drake, but he did quickly surmise that the one armed man had likely been a part of some sort of military organization in his past world. How was that so evident? Because just like Zack, he had looted the Koopa armory with a level of fervor that was reserved only for individuals that had to fill out pages of paperwork over the course of several weeks to get something as basic as a handful of flashlight batteries from a stingy supply sergeant. Free, unsupervised access turned both of them into deranged shoppers that made Black Friday at a major electronics store look like morning formation.
So, now they found themselves cruising along in an absolutely ridiculous pod that somehow functioned and balanced despite the undersized propeller being underneath the thing. Drake flew it with an impressive display of skill, considering he was missing an entire appendage and also that this thing made zero sense. It was more or less smooth sailing, though they had a few disagreements along the way. Zack didn't see the point of taking the time to vandalize this odd craft, while Drake wasn't the biggest fan of Zack bringing a live, ferocious Chain Chomp on board.
They traveled for some time, Drake taking the opportunity to learn the limits of this craft as they did. It might scare some people, but Zack reminded himself that he could probably just jump the hell out if things got a little too hairy. So he sat back, with his feet kicked up and flipped through the Dataverse, since this vehicle contained everything except an in-flight movie.
"Dragon riders," Drake eventually broke the silence, and Zack looked up from his phone. Sure enough, there were a few dozen dragons before them, each with someone on their backs.
"How do we know that's them?" Zack questioned, closing his flip phone and pocketing it.
"I mean, they're riding fucking dragons," Drake took his hand off the controls for just long enough to throw his hand up the air.
Fair point. Zack nodded. While he did, one of the lead dragons opened it's mouth, and released a fireball in the direction of their craft. Drake banked hard to the side and the attack sailed past. He steered back in their original direction, and they continued head on towards their new foes.
"Also, they're shooting fireballs at us," Drake helpfully added on.
Zack was already standing up and picking up the Buster Sword while Drake closed the gap.
"Also-"
"I got it, thanks!" Zack interrupted the pilot. Fucking smartass.
As the distance between them and the dragon riders rapidly shrank, Zack grabbed the edge of the pod with his left hand and attached his massive sword to his pack like usual. There was no telling if these were actually the bandits they were looking for, or just more trouble makers that were territorial about their airspace. Maybe one or two would be left to explain, afterwards.
"See you on the other side," Zack said, as he pulled himself onto the edge and springboarded off of it.
As Zack left the craft and sailed through the air towards the closest dragon rider, Drake turned around only briefly. He wasn't terribly shocked or surprised that Zack had just bailed out, but instead was simply confirming that Zack hadn't left that goddamned Chain Chomp on board. Satisfied that he wasn't sharing the craft with a flesh eating monster, Drake turned and steered the clown car into battle.
The burly rider of the dragon that Zack had targeted was shockingly prepared for him to attack in such a manner, as he swung a massive shield at the Ex-SOLDIER when he approached and thwarted the attempt to tackle the rider from his mount. Instead, Zack took the blow to the face and was knocked away. He regained his senses and bearings in time grab the belly of the flying dragon while he fell, and found himself swinging underneath it. The dragon rider looked down, presumably snarling beneath his crummy looking helmet.
The rider produced a long spear, and stabbed it downwards at Zack. When the spear got close, Zack let go of the dragon with his right hand to dodge. Hanging by only his left arm now, he caught the spear in his free hand and pulled it from the rider's grasp. He discarded the weapon and let it fall to the ground, and drew the Buster Sword. He stabbed his own weapon upwards, catching the rider in the gut before he had time to maneuver the shield around to block.
Zack sheathed the Buster Sword yet again, and swung himself up onto the dragon's back. The badly wounded rider didn't even see Zack coming, being too focused with his own injury. The distraction made it that much easier for Zack to kick him off the beast. He grabbed the reigns and snapped them a few times to redirect the dragon.
Did he know the first thing about riding a dragon into battle?
Nope.
But he was never one to let little details like that get in his way. Because now he had a dragon under his control, so these assholes had better look out.