A True Hero

5 - Battle for the Skies

Meta Knight

Panting, I fell to my knees as I set her unconscious body on the floor, The nurse, Amai, hurried over with her medic bag. She treated Nicolette's bleeding temple first.

"What happened?" she asked, wrapping a yellowing bandage around the wound.

"A lot," I gasped and hurried over to the cockpit. "How's she holding up?"

"This ship can take a lot, Meta Knight," my friend Jecra replied, slipping on his headset, "but the Dreamer can't take it all."

I nearly fell out of the seat when a large blast rocked the old ship. The dragon that took Nicolette's family was coming for us. The figure on top looked...familiar.

"We need to get out of here! Fast!" Falspar cried, trying to close the hanger. The pack of dragons was coming closer. "Start the engine!"

Jecra hesitated. "But we can't until the hanger is closed-"

"DO IT NOW!" Falspar commanded, slashing at smaller beasts entering the ship.

I turned on the engine, and the ship jolted as it roared to life. I turned the controls over to a nervous Jecra and drew my sword. Jumping over the seats, I sprang right into the action.

The dragons came in an endless stream, sticking their claws, wings, arms, and snouts into the door. I slashed one dragon's arm, causing it to lose its grip and free fall through the air, taking a few others with it. I fought my way to Falspar and battled the beasts side-by-side. We were holding up until the ship violently jerked to the right. Falspar and I fell backward away from the opening while the beasts tumbled inside.

"Sorry! I'm still new to this..." Jecra cried from the cockpit. Groaning, I regained my balance only to lose it again as Jecra tilted the ship to left, causing the beasts to tumble out, including any objects not fastened down.

"JECRA STOP!" Amai screamed. The ship was tilting too far.

"What are you doing?!" I too yelled, sliding down toward the hatch. Monsters fell down into the open. Jecra had succeeded in getting us high up in the air, but not in righting the ship. Falspar was falling head over heals.

The wind blew around me as we fell onto the platform. I plunged my sword into the metal, the screeching sounding like nails on a chalkboard as I continued to fall.

"Help!" Falspar called, his arms flailing. He lost his sword, and a large crow-like beast had grabbed him. It was determined to take him and itself down. My poorly made sword wasn't sticking in the metal either. I tried and tried again to stick it in, but consistently failed. The edge was approaching fast. I had to find a way to save myself and Falspar.

With only a few feet separating us and death, I used what little depth my sword had penetrated into the platform to swing myself Falspar's way. I grabbed the demon beast and pried a spike from its wing. It howled in pain and let go of Falspar, and tumbled off the edge a few inches from us. I grabbed Falpar's hand and plunged the new weapon into the edge with my left hand, just as we fell over.

"Oof," I grunted as the weight of myself and the warrior took a toll on my arm.

"Aahh! Woah!!" Falspar screamed, dangling and flailing. It taxed my grip strength even more. The edge of the spike was digging into my hand. Monsters fell around us.

"Falspar..stop...STRUGGLING..." I groaned through clenched teeth. The air was getting thinner as we continued to ascend. Monsters fell down past us, claws and teeth trying to grab us. We used our weight to swing and avoid the falling objects. My own sword, losing its grip in the metal, clipped my fingers holding the spike. I winced in pain and felt a finger slip. The sword tumbled past us and into the gray abyss beneath us. Man, we were high. Why did Jecra have to be such a bad pilot?