Chimera Ryder

Chapter 9 - Time Trail

Jessa exhales, releasing some of her nervous energy into the air. She breathes in the fresh salty breeze and rolls up her sleeve. Even though she has the smallest uniform on, her sleeves are still to long. Ryder slams her paw on the sand! She is ready behind the starting line.

The grid lady waves the flag in an exaggerated fashion, notifying them that the tryout is about to begin. The flag drops and the clock starts ticking away!

"Let's go!"

Ryder pushes her foot off the starting block and speeds into the sand tracks! The race course on the beach is dry, but the looseness of the sand still makes it hard for Ryder to generate her speed. She is on all four, blasting sand into the crowd.

Zinny and her family are up in the bleachers, cheering Jessa on! They are the only ones paying any attention to this qualifying race. The other spectators are too busy buying junk food from the popcorn carts and trying to find the top league riders for their autographs; this is a farm fair to most people after all.

Ryder's soft feet land on top of the slippery rocks. She leaps from one boulder to the next. The sea is only inches below, and she is avoiding it like it's made of lava.

Jessa presses her goggles hard against her face, making sure there is no gap between her skin and the eyeglasses.

"Right!"

Ryder hesitates to jump, but Jessa's confidence is very contagious. They veer right, diving deep into the water! Even though Ryder doesn't like to get wet, this shortcut is necessary if they want to make the cut for tomorrow's race. There are too many contestants at this tryout. Mere seconds can mean the difference between making the final race or going home and try again next year. The silver lining for Ryder here is that at least the seawater is warm; it is much more bearable than the cold rain back home.

Fishes of all kinds scatter as Jessa and Ryder enter the gulf stream. The reef's current is strong, pulling them close towards the rocky shoal! Jessa keeps her mouth shut, preventing the oxygen from slipping. Ryder continues to paddle with the flow.

The veins on Jessa's forehead begin to show. She pinches her nose with her glove, trying to buy just a few more seconds under water. Ryder senses Jessa is at her limit, so she kicks the reef with her legs.

They shoot out of the surface! Both of them take in the fresh air from above.

Wave after wave has Ryder paddle in circle. The glare from the sun also makes it hard for them to see. Jessa flips down her solar lenses.

"Left!"

She points at a small cliff appearing with the ebbing wave.

Ryder grabs onto the rocks and sinks her claws deep into the ridge's wall. She runs sideways along the cliff! The wave behind them is trying to swallow them whole! Ryder speeds up and runs towards the ledge. They leap high off of the ridge and are almost at the shore! The finish line is only a few feet away by the bleachers on the beach.

Jessa can hear Zinny's family cheering from afar! They seems to be attracting more people to her time trial.

"Three minutes and fifty-six seconds!" yelled the time marshal.

"That was a good run!" said Rand. "Way to use your environment."

Rand shook Jessa's hand. He ignored Ryder and led Jessa to their resting pit. Ryder shook off all the seawater and followed them behind.

Jessa could not stop smiling. Her impressive run was the talk of the town. Everything went perfectly, and she did it all while riding Ryder bareback! Even though this was only the first trial day, teams that were scouting were already all around Jessa. Rand had to block them off so Jessa could catch her breath. Some did question Jessa's age because how little she looked, and Rand knew this was going to happen, so he made sure Jessa brought her birth certificate.