Yellow Sun Academy

Chapter 7: In the Desert

Hothead:

As my pod falls faster and faster, the window ejects, and the floor tilts. Sliding out of the pod, I fall through the cold night sky toward a sand-covered ground. With my arms and legs spread out, I reach for my sword as I spin around in the air.

Waiting for the right moment, until it looks like the sand is about to punch me in the face, I swing with all my might and unleash a massive flame. Screaming as I swing my sword, the force of it and the hot air from my fire push me back. Together, they soften my landing as I fall right onto a sand dune. Rolling down it, I hit the bottom.

"Ahh," I cry out. Having to split out some sand and dust myself off, I then look around. As far as my eyes can see, there's nothing around me but sand, sand, and sand dunes.

"Hmm," I say, looking back up as rockets beneath my pod carry it back toward the hovertrain craft.

"Shoot," I yell, slapping myself on the forehead. "Did the Headmaster say east or west? Or North? Also, which way is east and west? And North?"

I look around again but see only sand again.

"Uhhh," I say, spinning around in circles. The world starts to spin after a few minutes and I have to stop. Shaking my head, I look around one last time before picking a direction and walking. Using my gift, I encase my sword in bright orange flame and use it as a torch. As I walk with a torch as my guide, I can't help but wonder something.

"I wonder where Shocker and Jump are, and how they're doing?"

Shocker:

As I'm ejected from my pod, I place my arms against the sides of my body and my legs against each other. Straightening myself, I fall at a rapid speed. Looking down and seeing the incoming sand, I activate my gauntlets. My gauntlets come on and encase my arms in metal armor. I then use my gift to electrify them.

As I hit the sand with my electrified arms, the impact unleashes a massive wave of pure blue and white electricity that sends the sand flying everywhere. Pushing myself up from a glass crater, I dust a few shards of glass off my shoulder and scan the surrounding area.

As far as I can see, there isn't much around me. Just the sand, the night sky, and the full moon with the stars.

I think back to what the Headmaster said. He mentioned that the game pieces would be in a ruined temple North of where we were dropped off.

Looking up again, I examine the stars. Based on the stars in the night sky, I know which way is North and start walking. Despite the full moon and the many stars above my head, it is still very dark and there are very few lights.

I raise one of my hands and use my gift again. Electricity flows from within me and gathers in my hand. The electricity in my hand acts as a light source. As I walk through the sand with my glowing hand, I begin to feel the sand beneath my feet shake.

Jump:

Grabbing onto the glass window as it ejects and falls out, I look down at the quickly approaching desert.

I spy an approaching sand dune, the tallest one around. Placing the window against the bottom of my shoes, I use my gift of enhanced jumps to jump off the window. The window shatters as I jump off the window and toward the tallest sand dune. Rocketing toward it, I flip over and use my gift once more to jump off the sand dune. I bounce off the sand dune before flipping over and landing on my feet.

Now on my feet, I adjust my wrist-mounted crossbows. As I adjust them, I look up and see only my pod flying back to the hovertrain craft.

"Wait! Where are the other pods? Where is everyone else? I know I saw other students getting dropped off but where did they land? Before I go and find those game pieces, I should try and find someone. Strength in number and besides, who knows what else is out here?"