Welcome to Gaia! ::

Now that was something to see.

It wasnt every day that a massive golden dragon bathed in flames rips through the cloud cover tearing the sky in half. And the sound of that boom quite literally made it feel like the sky was about to be ripped in half.

!

Was just about all Maximos could say. He had never seen something that big move that fast. Dragons, after all didnt exist on Aria so Ryugi was his first real chance to experience things like...that! He nearly stopped cold, his concentration fading just enough for the massive dragon to zoom by. The sight of Ryugi growing smaller with distance was just enough to smack Maximos away and kick him back into focus. It took a bit but he would gain his friend.

This time, he played it smart, keeping himself behind the dragon riding his draft before suddenly cutting beneath him.

Why?

Because Ryugi was huge, and being so very huge he made a rather sizable draft around himself. A vortex of less wind resistance, something he would use to try and regain his lead. Of course this path was fraught with ducks, dodges, and near misses as higher trees sought to end his journey!

At first he thought nothing of it. Lower and lower they went, before the ground was very suddenly too close for comfort. He knew Ryugi would never squash him as they had agreed not to attack each other, but it would be very difficult to fly with a mass of sand and dust in his face.

This just wasnt going to work. He had to do something a little more...unconventional.



They say desperation is the mother of invention. Maximos took Ryugi's words to heart, his words exactly. Whatever means, this was a race, but at no time was the stipulation made that they had to stay above the ground.

Maximos' right foot immediately bent up to his chest and then slammed straight down, followed by his left, then right, as fast as his legs could carry him.

He was running.

Although not completely. Each time his foot struck the ground it bottled up the blast of force which carried him forward. Each time the blast was choked more force was bottle up in the boots themselves being unable to fully release with the speed at which the Shadow's legs were moving. He was barely, just barely, able to keep his pace.

After 5 seconds.

His boots had gone from a dark purple to a light violet.

After 10 seconds.

Light violet had become a near pink. And then...

BOOM!

A black streak would burst from beneath Ryugi whizzing forward, albeit only about 100ft ahead at which point their speeds seemed to even out. On the negative side, such a massive gust of force so close to the ground would cause a rather large cloud of soot, dirt, and leaves, all of which might be an intrusion to the dragon's sight and nostrils.

Maximos let out a relieved "whew", even taking the moment to wipe his brow. If he had waited much longer that could have ended a bit painfully. He laughed about the look of the situation. Here he was trailing in front of this gigantic mythical beast. He also laughed at how easy it would have been for Ryugi to just open wide and eat him. He would probably cause a monster case of indigestion, but it was a funny thought.

The forest reached ever closer and with its approach Maximos had an issue, how was he going to turn, at this speed just turning his legs would cost him all his speed and toss him into a top-spin.

He needed to do something...

Hmm....

Closer and closer they soared as Maximos mind tried to find a solution while still keeping focus on the jet boots.

After a few minutes Maximos seemed to be slowing, whether it was his thinking or something else he was beginning to fall back. Not drastically, but noticeably to anyone with keen eyes and sharp senses.

No matter the reason, things seemed to be turning in Ryugi's favor.

Maximos drifted back. Ryugi might have even noticed the smirk on his face just before the dragon moved out from under him and officially took the lead. Maximos fell back, but not all the way back.

He had to make this turn, he had to find a way to keep his speed and yet still not fly off into trees or crash into the ground below.

Why?

Because how many times in your life can you say you raced a dragon, in a dragon continent visited by less than a tenth of the worlds population? And if your going to engage in such a race, you should do it right!

He would just not be Maximos if he spent the entire race staring at Ryugi's tail!

That was it!

He had seconds if even that to spare.

Maximos dropped. Not back, but down. Both hands opened wide as he slapped onto, and began to slowly slip off of the scales of Ryugi's tail! His dragon friend was climbing that meant the tail was going to move, that meant he couldnt stay still. Both hands would grip and he would shove him self forward, both feet landing on the tail as he took off running as hard as he could. Against a straight climb this was far more difficult than he had imagined, but just as Maximos reached the base of Ryugi's spine, Ryugi flipped!

He had cut off the flow from his boots leaving only bright purple, soon to be pinkish rooms glowing from his feet. He had no traction, he simple dropped, legs opening, arms opening, as he proceeded to give Ryugi a hug.

Because via hug, he kept from falling off. Barely, infact, as Ryugi flicked into a straight dive Maximos found his fingers slipping very badly and nearly fell off, if not for the fact he fell back, and Ryugi's body was curving downward, bringing the proverbial "ground", up to his feet.

Luck! They say luck is skill performing anonymously. Maximos would simply say he was falling with style. Running along gravity down the slope that was Ryugi. If the dragon couldnt feel him, he would certainly be able to hear the growing, high pitched whirring from his boots, as the shadow made his way up his spine to his wings and jumped...

....backwards nearly a hundred feet, as Ryugi's wings flicked and a massive gust of wind shot him back. It may have been a small flick, but they were large wings, going very fast, causing ALOT of drag.

This felt like the end. He was swept up and back, his fingers lashed at the air. He felt weightless for a moment, like he was swimming in the air trying to paddle toward a scale, piece of wing, leathery hide.

Nothing!

Maximos had only one choice. He saw his salvation! A loose scale, maybe Ryugi was shedding or molting! He reached for it, his arm reaching out so far that his shoulder burned. He could nearly taste it, his tongue even slipped from his lips as he reached out and finally grabbed...

...Air. A dry whoosh.

Ryugi was evening out! His speed was picking up! And that whirring was becoming unbearably annoying. It was time to play his hand.

--- BOOM ---

The build up was finally set free from his boots as he soared forward like a rocket. His arms slapped to his sides letting him aerodynamically cut straight forward clear over Ryugi's head, which he took to pat twice before zooming ahead.

He hadnt gone too far ahead, 50-75ft at the most. And here that was treacherous. To be soaring directly in front of a giant dragon, especially considering how close the canyon walls were, and how easily he the wind could blow him off course...

...he missed his goggles.

He was enjoying the sweet taste of victory. Albeit a bit sandier than he expected, what with the tight quarters of this pass, the wind and ground met in a shaky balance. Dust clouds, sand, his squinty eyes tried to make out the canyon best he could. He brought his arms up across his face to help shield himself, and luckily too as he smashed through a tree branch wedged out from the rock.

Out of instinct he banked away from the wall of the pass toward the center. But he had no real depth perception, and he tried to blink out the dust he found his shoulder slammed into the opposite rocky wall. Thankfully it wasnt a craggy surface but flat, letting him rebound off and center himself.

This just wasnt working.

He moved his arms from their X position over his face, covering both his eyes flying blind for just a moment. He peeled his hands back slowly spreading black from the bridge of his nose, across his eyes, down sides of his head and around back.

They were tinted, they were black, and they even had little skull insignia's carved into the corners of the frames, right around the temples. Goggles.

His eyes were opened! He could see! ROCK! Speeding right at his head, he just barely ducked out of the way of the jutting outcrop. And there was a turn up ahead. He could adjust himself easily enough to pass a single easy turn, but he could see there was more....he needed a way to survive this. And sadly his thinking was costing him his lead, as he was now just about above Ryugi's head again.

Maximos fell back, deciding to let Ryugi take the lead and literally lead him as to how to proceed. If anything the dragons massive body would be an early warning sign, and Maximos could try and make up whatever he lost in the final stretch.

Everything seemed functional, he rode just above Ryugi using his draft the make his flight easier. And then came that massive out cropping. That seemed like it was a dead end, it had to be right?

Wrong.

Before Maximos knew it the dragon had smacked with graceful agility into the rock and bound off. It was a feat of agility to say the least, fully possible though when you consider the size of the rock, and the size of the dragon. Still seeing such large things interact was a thrilling sight, especially when your so very tiny. Maximos knew if he met the rock, it would be less of a bound, and more of a splat than rebounding beast.

Ryugi had already stolen a giant lead. Maximos had to think fast, and way way out of the box.

--Snap! Snap! --

Maximos had wings!

Not really wings persay as much as he had two jet black swords, one in each hand. With them he could do things like fly past jagged out crop of rock slamming both swords into it, and using them to carve his way in a loop around the rock and take off right after his giant friend.

And thats what he did. With a sword in each hand he jabbed the blades straight into the stone, guiding his fly around the rock, letting out sparks of violent and black. But the swords sunk deep enough in rock to hold him steady as he moved around, and with a shove of both hands straight off and after his friend.

Both swords were held in either hand being used like wings, to help him cut through the drag behind Ryugi and back into the draft. That was when he saw the pillars, and he saw the size of his friend. There was only one way this was going to end, and he was set to be flying through some stone rain.

....Fleeb.