Copy, (An Astro Boy Story)

Chapter 4: Take Flight

Cora was screaming.

And Astro was laughing.

Shrieking like she had never shrieked before, Cora tightened her grip on Astro's neck as the world came rushing up at her, the buildings around them blurring as the two of them fell. Her scream rose to the level of hysterics, legs flailing wildly as Astro calmly allowed the two of them fall, laughing all the way.

The ground was really close now, the street coming at them at a hundred miles per hour, going to flatten them like a giant pancake. Still shrieking, she braced herself for impact...

But a fraction of a second before they hit the ground Astro miraculously spread his arms and swooped upwards, the sound of rockets filling both of their ears as Astro's rocket boots activated, bringing them shooting upwards twice as fast as they had just fallen.

Cora was too shocked to even remember to scream again. Her skin plastered itself to her skull as they rocketed upwards and her ears popped from the force of the air pressure, sending her hair flying behind her and causing her to blink rapidly to keep her eyes open. Colors blurred all around her, first the bluish white of the buildings of Metro City, then black as they passed them and entered the realm of the dark night sky, alive with the blurred lights of the stars. And then the next thing Cora knew all she could see was white. Pure, pristine whiteness, all around her.

Clouds!

Astro then pulled out of his steep incline, leveling them so that they were now parallel to the city and the Surface, now very far beneath them. He smiled around at her, still clinging in terror to his neck, eyes alive.

"You didn't think I was going to actually let us fall, did you?" he laughed.

Cora tried to say something witty, like "Coulda fooled me," or something along those lines, but when she opened her mouth, all that came out was a small whimper.

Astro laughed again, picking up speed a little bit more and swooping down towards the sea of clouds below them, his outstretched arms just grazing the surface of their fluffy whiteness. Cora stared at them, mouth open, completely mesmerized and unable to comprehend what was truly happening.

She was flying. Really flying!

A smile that she was unable to suppress taking over her features, Cora giggled. Then she laughed. Then she full out cracked up, eyes wide and alight with thrill and awe as they soared across the endless sea of clouds, the wind flowing through her hair and chilling her exposed skin.

She was FLYING!

Astro laughed with her, grinning like he had never grinned before, sharing in her thrill. He never felt more alive then when he was flying, and he was more than happy to be sharing his thrill with her. On impulse, he reached behind him and touched her arm, still clutched tightly to his neck. Lightly, he held onto her wrist and carefully began to pry it off of him. At first she resisted him, looking at him over his shoulder like he was crazy. But then she slowly let go, letting him take her arm and extend it out next to his.

Smiling, Astro let himself dip down a little, turning on his side slightly so that both their hands came down closer to the clouds beneath them. Grinning, he intertwined his fingers with hers and let their hands sink into the fluffy white, trailing them through the sea of clouds as they flew. It tickled his hands pleasantly and he looked back at Cora to see her staring at the clouds and their hands in wonder. Then a grin broke over her face and she let go of Astro's hand, letting hers trail across the clouds like water, laughing with the delight at the feeling it brought her.

He smiled, letting her play around with the clouds for a few moments, zig zagging and swerving over the surface of them and listening to her giggle as her hand ran through the fluffy substance. Then, after he had let her play with it for a couple minutes, he pulled up into a sudden climb, bringing them up into the air and causing Cora to scream again at the sudden jolt. He felt her arm right arm come back to cling to him desperately as the rose again and he grinned, feeling his heart swoop with joy....er, figuratively speaking, that is.