Galaxial Destinies

2 - Digital Duel

"Don't you feel like an idiot up there?" Larry called, looking into a tree. In that tree was Shard. "Sort of," Shard replied, looking down. "What are you doing anyway?" Larry asked, looking up. "I'm trying to get the hang of flying." Larry looked confused. "Don't you already know how to fly?" He asked. "Sort of," Shard replied again, trying to gain his balance. But suddenly, they both heard a cracking noise.

"What was that?" Larry asked, looking around. He couldn't spot where the noise was coming from.

Shard only continued walking across a tree branch, looking ready to jump off it and attempt to fly with his jet engine. Larry watched him, worried. If Shard didn't make this jump, he'd get hurt badly. As he kept walking, the cracking noise began again. He only ignored it and carried on.

"Get on with it, Shard!" Larry yelled, watching. "Alright," Shard replied, looking down.

Shard's jet engine began to heat up as he jumped ontop of the tree branch. He began to jump, but then---

The cracking noise was heard again. The tree branch tipped over. Shard was made of metal and a single tree branch couldn't support it-- it SNAPPED! "OH D-" Shard yelled right after it snapped. He fell off and rolled into a ball like when spindashing for a defense. Unfortunately that made it worse. Shard rolled over the branch and started rolling down the hill! He unrolled from a spindash pose and started crashing down the hill. "SHARD!" Larry yelled, running down the hill.

Shard tried to stand, but the hill was too steep. He crashed down it, rolled through a bush and kept on falling. Larry ran after him, trying to catch up, but then tripped himself!

Shard grunted angrily, still crashing, then being tossed over onto his belly and then crashing face-first into the ground, getting a mouthful of grass.

He was too dizzy to get up, but then Larry crashed behind him, hurting them both.

Shard lay on the ground, his screen cracked, eyes flashing, and scratches all over. He didn't want to get up.

"Looks like you took a bad fall," Sir Charles said, back at the workshop. "Y-ya don't say..." Shard replied, angrily. "Well, no matter," Sir Charles said, reaching for his toolbox. "You didn't take bad damage."

Larry looked out the window. He didn't have much to do while his friend was getting repaired. When he thought about it for a moment, something caught his mind. What if Larry jinxed Shard? It could've been, but it was only really because Shard was made of metal. The branch was only small.

Sir Charles carefully detached the screen on Shard's eyes. Without it, his eyes were piercing red, hurting Larry's eyes slightly. Shard turned off his eyes so it wouldn't. Sir Charles returned, placing a new screen over Shard's eyes. He turned it back on.

After that, Sir Charles fixed up some of Shard's scratches.

"Alright," Sir Charles said, setting his toolbox down. "All fixed!" Shard smiled widely. "I'll try not to trip again," he sighed. "You know Shard," Larry said. "If you were organic, you'd heal instead of having to get fixed." "Yeah," Shard replied. "But in return it would hurt for awhile." "Hmmm.." Sir Charles thought.

"Well, see ya later Uncle Chuck," Shard said on the way out. "Bye Sir Charles," Larry added, following.

Shard and Larry stepped outside into Knothole. "So uhhh, what now?" Shard shrugged. "Dunno," he said.

Both of them lay on the grass outside the tree stump, wondering what to do. But just then someone walked up to them...

"Hi NICOLE," Larry waved. NICOLE was a digital lynx. She's friends with Shard and Larry. Shard had a nervous smile. "H-hi, NICOLE," Shard, seeming shy. This made Larry confused. "Hi Larry, hi Shard," NICOLE said, smiling. "Watcha' doing?" She asked. "Nothing really," Larry replied, sighing.

NICOLE looked at Shard. Shard had a slightly nervous look, but was smiling. He had a few scratches from earlier. "What happened, Shard?" "He fell out of a tree and down a hill." Shard glared at Larry. He obviously didn't want to be embarrassed. NICOLE laughed a bit, but Shard knew she wasn't laughing AT him. He laughed a bit also, still seeming shy.

Larry started to realize how shy Shard acted whenever NICOLE was around. Why though? Shard acted somewhat insecure all the time, but this time he just seemed downright nervous. Larry started to wonder why...

"Heheheha...so...what now?" "Err...." NICOLE noticed how red Shard's face was. "Are you overheated or something?" Shard shook his head quickly. "Nuu..." he sighed. "Well.... what to do now?" Larry asked. "Dunno," NICOLE replied. "We can go to the Digital World," Shard said. "Ehh....okay."

....

"OOF!" Shard yelped, faceplanting. NICOLE and Larry followed behind him. "Well, here we are!" Larry yelled. Their eyes lit up when all three of them looked around.

Surrounding them was a huge, pixelized world, green and white, and digital objects lying around everywhere. It looked endless. "This place is awesome!" Larry shouted, looking around. "Yup..." Shard paused... "And you're it!" Shard yelled, tagging Larry and running farther into the Digital World. NICOLE laughed as she followed Shard.

Shard skidded across a digital lake like it was an ice rink. NICOLE ran behind him, Larry trying to catch up. Shard laughed loudly as he ran farther, seeming faster than the others. He turned on his jet engine, going faster. "That isn't fair, Shard!" Larry yelled. "Digital World rules, Larry!" Shard laughed as he took off.

He ran into the forest, running through digital trees, not bothering to look back. NICOLE and Larry trudged behind him, gasping to catch their breaths. Shard wasn't tired at all. His eyes glowed green as he flew on.  

Larry ran, gasping for air as he kept running. "T-TAG!" He yelled, tapping NICOLE on the shoulder. She flew ahead, aiming for Shard.

"Catch me if you can, NICOLE!" Shard taunted, flying ahead. "Oh, I will!" NICOLE yelled, flying behind him. Shard charged ahead with all his power, making sure NICOLE didn't catch him. NICOLE had just enough power, flying right behind him. She tried to tag Shard, but he chugged ahead, flames bursting from his jet engine. NICOLE laughed and charged ahead and tripped, reaching just enough to tag him.

Shard gave a surprised look as he fell back. He ran the other way, aiming for Larry. "TAG!" He yelled, tagging Larry. Larry ran after him, still gasping to catch his breath. Shard had seemingly endless power as he flew through the hills, laughing. "You won't be able to catch me now!"

Shard started to heat up as he kept flying. He didn't mind though, until it got bad.

Shard's eyes hung low as he flew on. He slowly dragged himself forward, eyes now green. The world started to slow down around him as he ran further. He pushed himself forward, but his eyes hung lower and he fell to the ground, dragging his face across the ground.

Larry finally caught up. "Oh geez, Shard. Recharging at a time like this." But now that he thought about it, they all needed a rest.