The Story of Emily Evans

XIII: Learn to Hover

~~~Emily Evans, 2126~~~

I flung my arms out wide for balance, not that I needed to, as Sol activated my hover skates. "Woah...!" I stated as they hovered high off the ground as I seemed to fling my arms around ever so more. I was sure that the only thing keeping me up at this point was the vest I wore. "Too high...way too high...!"

"It's only three feet off the ground." Sol responded before she motioned over to a nearby sign. "The max is three feet, the min is only a foot."

"Then put it on the min!" I told her, as if that would be any better...it likely would...probably...hopefully.

Sol took out her sonic and aimed it at my skates before she hit the button, and the skates descended about two feet. "Better now...?"

"Greatly." I told her. I still felt like I was up high off the ground but...this was better, much better, than before.

I then watched as Sol placed her hover board on the ground before she pressed a button, only for the board to hover about a foot from the ground. "I haven't rode on one of these in so long...hope I'm not rusty." Sol told me before she stepped onto the board. She slightly, very slightly, leaned a bit forwards, and the board went forwards. She then made it go a bit backwards, to the right, and to the left before she did a couple of spins. "Yeah...I think I got this now. What about you...?" She then looked at me.

I don't know when but I started to slowly spin around and around on my skates...and I didn't know how to stop. I tried to stop my spinning but...they only made me spin a little bit faster. "Sol...." I called out to her. "Sol...help me! I can't...can't stop...!"

"Hold on one second." Sol told me as she made her way over towards me, who slowly, uncontrollably, spun away from her.

"Hold on to what...?" I asked Sol as she now spun, on her hover board, around me as she tried to match my speed.

"Grab my hand." Sol responded as she then offered it towards me, which I took as soon as I could reach it. Now holding onto one of her hands, it was much easier for me to grab her other hand. "Let's take this slowly, I forgot I didn't tell you how to move...not like me telling you would've made this easier anyways.... You would haft to get used to the movements."

"Would've been good to know regardless." I told her as we came to a stop, her making us come to a stop.

"You lean, very, very, slightly, in the direction you want to move in." Sol told me. "Even a subtle movement is enough to trigger it, with the more you lean...the faster you go. You just haft to be careful to not lose your balance, or lean too much...else you'll fall. Got that...?"

"Slight movements." I told Sol as I tried to summarize what she had just told me.

~~~

It wasn't long before I was able to make the skates go at a reasonable pace without me holding onto Sol's hand. She only skated a couple feet away from me, carefully watching me incase I accidentally try to fling myself into yet another tree.

As I skated, I felt someone bump into me, quite harshly...or did I bump into them...? I couldn't tell as they hit my back. I lost my balance, momentarily as the safety gear I wore seemed to trigger as it floated me down to the ground...not as gracefully as Sol had made it sound. As I all but fell as my knees lightly smacked the ground, leaving me sitting just on my knees.

"Are you alright...?" I heard Sol's concerned voice as I felt her hands on my shoulders before she helped me up.

"I...I think so." I told her as I brushed some of the dirt off my leggings, grateful that I had fallen onto the grass and not on the concrete walkways.

"She'd been fine had she watched where she was going...!" An obnoxious voice clearly stated.

I looked over in his direction as I realized that he had been the person I had bumped into. There was nobody else around us...at least immediately round us. I looked just past the guy to see a small group of hover skaters...with the way they looked over here, all smug faced and what not, I just knew that they had to've been this meanie's friends.

"Watch where she was going...?!" Sol got up in his face. "You practically pushed her with how fast you were going...!"

"Newbies shouldn't be here anyways...this park is our turf." He responded, quite meanly...meanly the meanie.... Yes...that was his name now...Meanly the Meanie.

"This park is a public park, anybody can be here." Sol pointed out to him, matter of factly...complete with her hands on her hips as she sassed him. "Now why don't you scoot off before you make me angry cause I'll tell you one thing...." As she spoke, her voice became an eerie calm. "You don't want to make me mad."

"And what're you gonna do about it...?" Meanly the Meanie mocked her. "I bet you're all talk and no bite!"

I looked over at Sol...she was fuming with rage. If looks could kill...Meanie would surely be dead. Meanly the Meanie cooly turned around before he proceeded to hover off. "We'll see about that...." Sol responded quietly, I'm sure that I was the only one who had even heard her. I then watched as Sol quickly took out her sonic before she, discreetly, pointed it towards Meanie's skates. Sol's sonic then made a slight hum as Meanie's skates clearly elevated to be way higher than the three foot maximum high...more like ten feet off the ground, before they suddenly turned off...all the way off.

Meanly the Meanie screamed as he came crashing to the ground. I closed my eyes as a crack audibly rung out through the park. Meanie seemed to howl out in pain...something was clearly broken...more like somethings....

"I hate bullies...." I could hear Sol say, her voice an eerie dark. "No matter where you go, when you go...they're always right round the corner...." Not only a second after Sol said that, her attitude seemed to change into a more positive one before she faced me. "I'd say that's enough skating for today...don't you...?" Sol lightly smiled before she took my arm. "Let's go get a bite...I'm suddenly really hungry."

"Uh...yeah...." I told her before she helped me take my skates off. I put my shoes back on before I placed my skates in my small bag with an unreasonably huge amount of storage.

~~~

Word Count: 1166