Cloud Association: Pretty Boy Psycho

Thunders and Field Agents

Dark scary alley. I take in plenty of deep breaths, especially on going around corners. I wish I had a travel buddy. I really ought to turn back. Find my way home. I doubt I've strayed too far from my neighbourhood. Proper darkness will descend soon. Did I miss dinner? Yeah. And where am I going to sleep? I doubt there are any beds outside Lundune. Did I bring a tinder box? No. I don't even know how to use one. At least now I've got the magic nail polish, no one will think I'm sick, so they won't start devising plans to kill me.

Ouch. I walk right into a metal grid. Gate! Totes awesome. Through the gates there's dead crispy grass but grass all the same. I push on the gate. Eeek, it creaks open. Wow cool. I run outside, down a cracked stone hill, onto GRASS. I sit down and run fingers through blades. I wonder what alive grass feels like. This stuff is like straw. Laying down I stare up at huge grey clouds blotched with brown, blocking out dim sunlight. The sky remains the same as it does on the inside of Lundune, save for it is vaster, with more clouds, stretching on forever, without horrid collapsing buildings towering into them.

What's that? I blink having thought I saw a shape in the sky. Was probably a shift in the clouds. Yeah that's what it'll have been.

Wow I think there's trees over there. Why didn't I notice them before? Because I was distracted by the grass. Shooting to my feet I run over to those trees.

"You must be an oak." I rest a palm against the tree's trunk. Knock knock. Hollow. Dying. Hollow. Hollow. Dying. "Hollow. Hollow. Dying," I say as I wander further into the woods. These trees are a lot like people. They're rotting away, becoming hollow, losing their personalities. Is there a link? I crane my head back, wondering why those clouds came. A branch cracks from above. I tilt my head trying to see if a bird is hopping round in the trees.

"Ahhh!" I shriek as a person dressed all in grey falls from above. He lands in a crouch in front of me. I take a step back, wanting to run away. People shouldn't fall from the sky or maybe they do out here.

"Cloudy," musters this guy sounding as though he's got a gruff throat.

"Oh no I'm not a Cloudy. Are you?"

"Do I look like one?"

"Do I?" I stare down at my waistcoat, wondering if Cloudys wear waistcoats.

"A trainee ain't ya out for a stroll?"   

This weirdo reaches out for me. I scream as I shoulder by him, and manage to dodge him grabbing my arm.  Screaming I run, as he chases after m-e-e-e.

Next thing I know, a lady all in grey lands in front of me. I fall, ending up on my backside. The man in grey clutches my shoulders.

"Sad, will they give us a ransom for this Cloudy?" asks the lady. She crouches in front of me. "It's got stunning hair so must be healthy."

My heart races. There's like cold metal pressed against the back of my neck. I'm so terrified wetting myself isn't even an option. Chest constricts. Can't breathe. These guys must be Thunders. They loathe the Cloud Association organisation; are trying to bring it down. Sad applies pressure to his blade.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Boots stamp along the ground. Please not another Thunder. Won't make much difference if there's three of them seen as my head's gonna get severed regardless.

Swish. Swish. Swish.

Frozen I stay where I am, as Sad lets me loose so he can defend himself from a man in a blue blazer, dual wielding swords. He's amazing as he fluidly takes on both Thunders. He's always on the attack, too fast for them to need to switch into defence. They know they can't touch him so fall into a retreat. I expect the Cloudy to pursue them instead he slots his swords into their sheaths strapped to his back. Fixes his attention on me.