//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Surprise! // Story: The Best of the Best // by Sweet_Harmony //------------------------------// Soarin's POV After about 15 minutes of jamming to songs on the radio, we arrived at the beach. We all climbed out of the van and took the boards down from the top of the van before grabbing the cooler. "Ready to go?" I asked Rapid after he slammed the car door shut. He locked the car before turning to me. "Let's go!" he said with a smile. Thunder was carrying the umbrellas while I carried the cooler and we began to walk towards the beach before Rainbow opened up her cyan-blue wings and shouted "last one to the beach is a rotten egg!" and took off into the air, a gust of wind from her wings blowing in our faces. Fleetfoot and Spitfire went after her and we just stood there, watching them fly to an empty place on the sand. Rapidfire was the first to break the silence. "Did you see the size of those wings? They're huge!" he said, watching the girls shout at each other over who won. "They look a lot smaller when they're folded, don't they?" I asked. "I can't believe it - they're as big as my mother's, and she's freakin' forty-two!" Thunderlane said. We simultaneously shook our heads and sputtered before flying up after them. Apparently, they forgot about their little argument over the winner and we busy folding their shirts into Fleetfoot's towel bag when we got there. Rainbow was the first to see us appear and stood up to take the umbrellas from Thunder's failing grip. "Here, let me put these in. Just worry about getting to those Raisinets before Fleetfoot claims them," she said with a smirk. His eyes widened and placed the cooler on the ground before sliding next to the snack bag. "I call dibs!" he said as he practically grabbed the snack from the bag, making Spitfire and Fleetfoot jump five feet. I snickered as Fleetfoot slapped him on the shoulder and yelled at him playfully for not waiting until later. I stuck my board in the sand and put up another umbrella next to Rainbow to keep out as much sun as possible, because we all know that sunburn is the worst. It didn't take long before we got everything else out and Rapid and Thunder decided to hit the waves. I heard Rainbow sigh. "Wish I didn't leave my board back home," she said as she took out a bottle of water from the cooler. I raised an eyebrow. "You surf?" I asked her. She nodded her head before swallowing and putting the cap back on the bottle. "Yeah, I do tons of sports. Mostly water sports during the summer, obviously. I surf whenever I get the chance. It sucks though. I don't have my board with me and it looks like there's also some fifteen-foot waves out here! I haven't surfed one of those in a few weeks," she said, seeing her eyes stare longingly at the water through her sunglasses. I turned to the water and spotted Rapid and Thunder on a fifteen-foot wave, only to wipe out a few moments after. I winced. I hate wiping out on large waves. If you can't get to the surface in time, you get water up your nose, swallow salt water, and possibly get pulled under by an upcoming wave. It sucks. "Ooh, another wipeout," Fleetfoot said, seeing them come back up and go back under before being creamed by another wave. "I lost track on how many wipeouts they had," Spitfire said as they rode a smaller wave to shore. They walked up to us, rubbing their eyes to get the sting of salt water out of their system. Both of them were breathing heavily, so that last wave must've been something. "Dude, those fifteen-footers are crazy! I can't tame 'em," Thunderlane said as he stuck his board in the sand, plopping down next to me while running a hand through his soaked gray-blue hair. "Must've wiped out at least five times! Riding those waves is impossible!" Rapid said as he sat next to Spitfire, grabbing a water bottle from the cooler and gulping down as much water as he could on the spot. That's when Rainbow spoke. "Riding a fifteen-footer isn't impossible, you just have to know how to tame it, and tame it right," she said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Rapid and Thunder turned their heads towards her and narrowed their eyes at her. "And what exactly makes you think that? We're some of the best surfers in the academy, we should know what is and what isn't tamable," Thunderlane said to her. I saw her eyebrows go down and she peered over at him over her sunglasses. "And what? Are you just gonna stick with yourself saying that riding and taming a fifteen-foot wave is impossible for you?" she asked, an irritated tone seeping into her voice. I scooted back a bit, not wanting to get pulled into this, as did Spitfire and Fleetfoot. "Well, if you think that it's so easy, how about you try surfing one?" Rapid said, thinking he had her. Rainbow whipped her head towards him and took off her glasses, eyebrows pulled into a hard glare. Spitfire whistled lowly as I exhaled slowly. "Someone's pissed," Fleetfoot said lowly so only Spitfire and I could here her. We nodded in response. But I actually wanna see where this is going. "Is that supposed to be a challenge?" she asked lowly. Rapid just smirked smugly. "I guess it is," he said. Rainbow's eyebrows shot up as she scoffed and gave him a look that said "seriously?". She folded her sunglasses, stood up, dropped them to the ground, walked up to Rapid's board, and yanked it out of the sand. "Well then, challenge accepted," she said before walking towards the water. "Yeah, like she's actually gonna complete it," Thunder said to Rapid, thinking that she didn't hear him. Apparently, she did, because right after he said that, she flapped one of her unusually large wings once until it touched the ground and sent sand blowing towards us. Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and I saw it coming and were smart enough to stand up and back up from her attack, but Thunder and Rapid were so busy laughing that they ended up getting their faces full of sand, even in their mouths. She folded her wing back up and continued to walk towards the water with Rapid's board as they spit out sand from their mouths. "Bitch," Rapid mumbled under his breath when she was out of ear shot. Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and I shared a look. This is gonna be interesting. RD's POV They think I can't shred a 15-footer? Stupid. I've surfed bigger waves when my family and I went to Oahu, Hawaii last summer for vacation. Sure, I wiped out on a few . . . okay, several, but at least I eventually learned how to surf them! These knuckleheads would rather give up and sit on their asses than going back out there and trying to tame one of these things! And they think that if they can't do it, the whole population can't do it? Dudes. Get some brains! The sound of the waves roaring became louder and louder as I neared the water. I decided to walk in and find a wave a little farther out. Then, a wave came crashing and the water ran through my legs from the mid-thigh, and I couldn't help but jump and yelp in surprise. The water was cold. Nothing I couldn't handle, but it was cold. I'd get used to it though. The farther I walked out, the warmer the water became. When I was about waist-high in, I climbed on the board and paddled out a little more. I saw a new wave appearing in the distance and it was going to start breaking some time soon. The wave kept on rising as I turned around and started to paddle. I felt the wave lift up the board and my legs and rose quickly to plant my feet on the board. I stood completely and then, I began to surf. I had a little trouble at first. Thunder and Rapid weren't lying when they said that these waves were rough, but once again, it's nothing I can't handle. Soon, I was riding this wave like a pro, curving off the top and flipping with the board like I've done all my life. I smiled widely as I surfed the wave. I was having the time of my life. Then I noticed that I was coming to the end of my current wave. There was no stopping for me, and I still need to show them my stuff - and by "them", I mean Thunder and Rapid. I looked in front of me and saw a wave getting ready to break. Most people would've just rode out the remainder of their current wave, but I'm not like most people. I steered the board down to the trough of my wave, opened my wings, and gave three hard flaps as I rounded the breaking end of the wave. Thanks to the extra boost of my wings, I made it under the arching crest just before it broke. I let out a breath of relief as I continued to ride under the water. The last time I did that, my mouth and everything I ate tasted like salt water for a week. Yeah, the wipeout was that bad. I stayed under that wave for some time until I reached the opening on the other side. I rounded the end of another wave and rode that one to shore, and rode it awesomely. When I came to where I could stand without having to use my whole body to walk, I lifted the board off the water and held it to my hip as I walked back up to where the others were. The breeze made me feel cold and tossed around my now-stringy, wet hair and sand stuck to the bottoms of my feet. I got to where the beach site was and was met with gaping mouths and wide eyes. I smirked as I stuck the board into the sand. Rapid was the first to speak. "Okay, first of all, how the hell were you able to use your wings while surfing?" he asked me. I could see an impressed smile creeping up his face. "Yeah! Fleetfoot's one of the best water-sportspeople in the academy and she's never learned how to do that! How did you?" Spitfire asked as she crossed her legs, lifting her sunglasses to rest on her head. An unamused expression spread across Fleetfoot's face. "Gee, thanks, Spit," she said sarcastically. Spitfire put her hands up in mock defense. "I'm just sayin'!" she stated. I shrugged and sat down on the towel while drying my legs and cleaning my feet - temporarily - from sand. "My parents taught me nearly everything I know. I come up with my own tricks and stunts on my own. Using my wings was something my father taught me," I said as I tossed the towel near the bags. "There was only one other person who was able to master that technique at the academy. Spectrum Streak, right?" Fleetfoot asked. I froze. Spectrum Streak? As in, my father, Spectrum Streak? "Yup. He was a prodigy at the academy. He set most if not all the records in water sports," Thunderlane said as he leaned back on his hands. My eyes widened. "Hold up - Spectrum Streak?" I asked them. "Yeah. Why? Ever heard of him?" Soarin asked me. "Heard of him? Heard of him?! He's my father!" I exclaimed, a surprised smile creeping its way on my face. Rapid, who was drinking from his water bottle, spit out whatever water was in his mouth, and Spitfire nearly choked on an oreo. "He's your dad?!" they all shouted at me, shocked expressions on each of their faces. "Yes; yes, he is!" I shouted back. "Oh. My. GOD! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!!! WE'RE SITTING WITH THE DAUGHTER OF A WATER-SPORTS PRODIGY!!!!" Thunderlane screamed, "Wait, who's your mom?" he asked me. "Uh, Firefly. Why?" I asked. Thunderlane freaked out again while everyone else continued to stare at me with utter shock. "WE'RE SITTING WITH THE DAUGHTER OF TWO, NOT ONE, BUT TWO, WBA PRODIGIES!!!!" Thunderlane screamed as he spazzed out in his area. "Wait. Did my mom also go here?" I asked Spitfire. "Yes! She was captain of every land sporting team at the academy!" she said to me. "She set all the records for them as well. They were known as 'The Sporting Duo'," Rapid told me. "Real original, right?" Fleetfoot cut in. "They both were co-captains of the Sport and Perform division in their senior year. People say that after they graduated from the university they moved out of Malibu and settled down. That's probably where you come in," Soarin explained to me. "Wow. No wonder why they let me come here so easily. And why I'm a pro at nearly everything," I said to them, playfully flipping my damp hair over my shoulder at the last part. Rapid cleared his throat. "Yeah, uh, with that being said . . . we're sorry for giving you such a hard time earlier," he said. "Yeah, if we knew that you were a kid of two of the academy's legends, or if we had known that you had a temper that can only be rivaled by Spitfire's, we wouldn't have messed with you like that," Thunder said. I smiled coolly. "Eh, it's okay. I can't really blame ya. You weren't kidding when you said those waves are rough. Nothing compared to the ones down in Hawaii, but still rough," I said to them. "See? What did we tell ya?" Rapid said with a playful smirk. I rolled my eyes. "Then go down to Oahu and see what I'm talking about," I shot back with a smirk of my own. "I won't have to. I've seen how huge those waves are down there. I don't think I need another minor concussion," Rapid said before taking a drink from his water bottle. "There's a reason why Admiral Fairy Flight made you co-captain of the flight part of the division, not the water sports part," Spitfire said with a teasing glance. Rapid stuck his tongue out at her and all she did was laugh. I raised an eyebrow at the scene. They've been ating like this since we got here. What . . . ? "Hey Rainbow, can I look through your music? Just curious as to what you listen to," Thunder asked me, his hand hovering over my iPod. "Yeah, sure. But if I find out that you went through anything else on here, I wont hesitate to hurt you," I warned him as I unlocked it. His eyes widened before giving me a thumbs up. "So, what now?" Fleet asked no one in particular. "Wanna play 'Twenty Questions'? I think it would be a fun way for us to get to know you and vice versa," Soarin said. We all mumbled in agreement before Thunder perked up at something he saw on my iPod. "Oh my God! I love Avril Lavigne!" he said as he put my iPod down on the cooler in front of us. Her "Avril Lavigne" album was playing on it and we all jammed out for a moment before laughing it off and relaxing under the shade of the umbrellas. I let out an inaudible sigh. There are a lot more surprising things about me than they think. This is gonna be fun . . .