The Guardian

Chapter 2: I get a pigeon tour

Flying out of that geyser as fast I did made me think I would smash through the ceiling and still make it to the surface. My face pulled back, and my arms shot down as I flew upwards, trying to scream, but sucking in too much air to be able to so much as breathe. I thought my eyeballs would roll back into my skull, and it only got faster as I made it through the hole in the ceiling. The walls of the hole were about a foot away from me at most, at least from the looks of it. I kept flying upwards through the hole at a speed that would make a mustang jealous. Whatever was outside of this hole better catch me, and it better catch me good.

Finally, I darted out from the hole, being launched up into the sky. My eyes blinked and adjusted to my new environment as I slowed down. I was right in the middle of the Artlandian jungle, right over where the trees grew high as clouds... but if that was the case, then I must have been higher than the clouds as well.

The span of trees went on for as far as the eye could see, and it was cool looking at and all, but right beneath me was a cluster of clouds, and they didn't look like they were gonna catch my fall. At least I didn't think they actually would.

Once I began to fall, I fell right into a cloud, and it caught me, like a giant fluffy floating pillow. Slowly, I shakily got up, feeling a lump form in my throat as I looked down a hundred miles at the floor, so far down. I was stuck up here, and I couldn't find Rosslyn or Mamble.
I called their names, hoping they'd respond, but I didn't hear anything back.

I panicked, not knowing what to do, or where to go, or where my friends were. Surely La Lo wouldn't take us here to get stuck on a nimbus cloud high in the sky. I didn't have anything that could break my fall or help me fly, I really didn't have anything that would help up here at all. All I could see was a bunch of other clouds and a flock of three birds heading my way. Maybe I could send out an SOS signal and hitch a ride.

I felt hopeless. Completely out of luck. What could I even do in a situation like...

"Hey, kid! Need a lift?"

My eyes darted upwards at the voice. There were three giant pigeons flying in front of me, but they were some odd looking pigeons. One was red and small. They looked like they really didn't wanna be here. The second one was yellow and medium-sized for a giant pidgeon. They wore aviator goggles as if they weren't used to the wind being in their eyes. Lastly, the third one was blue and was the biggest of them all. They had muscles that popped out through their feather, making them look plump but ripped.

They spoke in order from red to blue, like they were going through the rainbow, with the red one starting.
"I need a new day job. This one gets old real quick."

The big blue one cracked his neck and let out a yelp.
"Oop... yep, you may be right. That, or I need to learn better cat yoga."

Finally, the yellow one spoke, seemed the most enthusiastic of the two.
"First of all, this is a great job! I get to spend time with you guys and give strangers a tour. Second of all, stranger! Want a tour?"

I got up from my puffy cloud, trying not to stumble off and fall before walking up to the three pigeons.
"Have you guys seen a cheese maker and a rat around here? We were just together a moment ago, but we got mixed up when we went through the geyser."

The red one perked up as I mentioned, Rosslyn, and the blue perked up as I mentioned Mamble. The yellow one must have perked up specifically because this would mean we could go on that tour he was talking about.
"I just dropped off a rat!"
"I just dropped off a cheese maker!"
"I just dropped a deuce!"

I tried not to question the third statement and instead looked to the red pigeon first.
"You dropped off a rat? Great, let's go for her first! Then we'll get the cheese maker."