Linkin Pony Recharge: Chasing the Sun

by Kaciekk

Chapter XV: Lost In The Wastelands

We got up early just after dawn. Dad let us some time to wake up. I stretched at awned. Twisting my neck, it made a crack. HyperBlitz contorted his whole back and it made several loud cracks. I stared.

“Yeah, that’s what happens when you’re old,” Hyper answered my look.

“You’re not that old,” I said.

Dad came into the conversation. “He’s been calling himself old since he was like thirty. Probably even before that. Probably ever since we’ve known each other.”

“I don’t think you’re old,” I expressed to Hyper.

“You’re a kid. When you get to my age, you’ll understand.”

“I don’t want to think about growing up…” My eyes drifted downward.

Dad came and placed his hoof on my shoulder. “Well, you don’t have too. It’s not like you are being forced to think about it.” I showed a questioning look. He explain, “When we were younger, we were forced to think about our future. That’s one good thing about the world being this way, you don’t have to stress about your future.”The future slips away, I thought of the lyrics to the song HyperBlitz had sung.

“But the one thing I will force you to do is get moving,” Dad smiled.

We walked a while. Dad said since we were making good time, we could take a couple of breaks. I liked that.

It now was about our third break. I sat down on a log and drank some water. I tried to spare the water by taking small sips.

Of course Dad was evaluating the map. “We’re making great time. Haythorn isn’t that far. Why don’t we do some Hybrid hunting?”

“Really?” Both JumpingJolt and Hyperblitz said.

“Yeah. We got time to spare. I think I saw some nodes around here. We are the Resistance, we gotta take care of Hybrids.”

HyperBlitz hopped over and spoke to Dad. “How should we do this? Do we both take a boy and split up?”

“Hmm, I don’t know,” Dad considered. “How about the boys go together and we go together.”

“You sure?” Hyper said, unsettled.

“Yeah. They know what to do around Hybrids. They’re smart.”

“What if they get lost?”

“GentleSketch has good visual memory,” Dad affirmed.

“I… I don’t want them to get hurt,” Hyper fret. “We both told SweetHooves we would protect them.”

“They’ll be fine. They have common sense. We have to let them adventure on their own.”

“I don’t want to risk it. It’s dangerous,” Hyper countered.

“Why are you so worried? You’re all about risks.”

“Yeah, that’s me. I want to protect them. What if a Hybrid gets them?”

“If they see a Hybrid they cannot outmatch, they’ll outrun it,” Dad said.

“And if it’s a Gun Hybrid?”

“And so what if they get shot a couple of times. It’s not bullets,” Dad pointed out.

HyperBlitz mumbled, “ I just don’t have a good feeling about this.”

“They’ll be fine.”

Dad turned to me. “Here, I have an extra watch.” He levitated it to me. “Meet us here in forty-five minutes. I’ll give you an hour in case it takes a while to come back. Why don’t you explore that area over there.” He pointed to the area behind me.

“Okay,” I responded

“‘Kay!” JumpingJolt hopped away.

I was about to turn away when Dad said my name. “GentleSketch.” Jolt and I stopped. Dad flicked his muzzle up, signalling Jolt it was okay to go. The stallion leaned towards me and spoke low, “Listen.” I thought I was in trouble, but that was completely wrong. “I’m putting you in charge. I know you’re younger, but you are more senseful. Don’t tell JumpingJolt, he may get upset. Make sure you’re on time and don’t get into too much trouble. Cool?”

“Cool.” I felt so authoritative being put in charge.

“Jolt, wait up!” I galloped forward. I should have asked Dad if I could leave my stuff since we are coming back, but it was too late. I was afraid that JumpingJolt would be ahead of my most of the time.

We scaled along fences and golden shrubbery. Jolt trotted to an old shed. I finally caught up. “Jolt, slow down. You know I’m not as fast as you.”

He ignored me. “What should we do first? We could go beat up some Hybrids. I see a turret over there. We can disable it.”

I noticed the mechanical device. “I don’t want to make too much noise. Is there an easier way to disable it without using energy?”

“We could sneak up behind it and blast it.”

“That’s still noisy,” I said.

“We could stab it with something. What if we kill a Claw Hybrid and us it’s claw to stab it!”

“You think we can kill a Claw Hybrid? Those are the most dangerous kind.”

JumpingJolt crossed the path stealthily. He tried to climb over a fence, but it broke when he did. The sound of cracking wood startled me and left my heart leaping.

I stepped over the wood pile and whispered. “You gotta be more quiet than that.”

The colt stalked around the fence towards a cement wall. He crouched below a low wall where the turret laid on the other side. I slumped down next to him.

“It’s not safe being this close to a turret,” I advised.

“That’s why we are hiding behind this wall.”

JumpingJolt sprang up and walked a few yards, pivoting. He raised his EPD, concentrating. I ducked. I heard a blast of energy that crackled against the turret. JumpingJolt flew downward as the turret spun and fired. Jolt has a bruise the size of a bit coin.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.” he checked his blemish which was red and furless.

The sound of the turret ceased. JumpingJolt crawled back into position. For his second attempt, he waited longer to shoot so his energy could build up. This time, the turret stopped firing after being hit.

I rose and observed the machine. Something else caught my eye. The Hybrid had noticed us too.

“Run!” I hollered. Of course Jolt tried to shoot at the Hybrid. The enemy shot back.

I mustered my inertia and sprinted. Even with my head start, Jolt bypassed me. Hunting us, the Hybrid opened fire. I felt the blows pelt my haunches. Each one gave me a burst of adrenaline. My straight direction faltered as I ran over rocks and uneven ground.

The enemy was still on us, but it had to be slowing. Hybrids are weighed down by their armor, but then again they had no sense of lasting pain.

“Over here!” JumpingJolt called. I went to the source of his voice.

He stared down a ravine, searching for a way down. Leaning his left legs in, he slid down the slope. Oh no way in Equestria could I do that.

“Come on!” He gestured.

“How do I get down?”

“Slide!”

“I… I can’t do that!”

“Try!”

I analyzed the best route.

“Hurry up!” Jolt echoed my thoughts.

I went for it. I attempted to do the same as Jolt and use one side. My bags teetering my balance, my right legs slipped and flung around. My hooves shuffled around, looking for flat ground. Thankfully, JumpingJolt caught me before tipping over.

“We gotta keep moving,” Jolt stated. “It’s probably still after us.”

I continued to dog, my breath waning thin. All of this running was wasteful. I felt like I needed to drink all the water I had left. But I can’t do that. Although I know we are very close to our destination. I did not like running too far from our starting point, but I could not catch up to JumpingJolt to advise him.

The next structures we could lose the Hybrid among was at the end of the field we were halfway across. I shot a glance back. The Hybrid was still there. Damn, how determined is this thing? At least it was not shooting at us anymore. It was impossible to lose it out in the open.

JumpingJolt guided me into an old barn. He quickly locked the door and barricaded it with tools and wood.

“This is a horrible idea,” I analyzed. “We can’t stay in here, the Hybrid will get in and-”

“We’re not saying,” Jolt clarified. “We’re confusing the Hybrid.”

The colt pried open a loose plank on the back wall. For the first time ever, Jolt was more attentive to detail than I was. We snuck out the gap and closed it. I heard bashing sounds from the opposite side of the barn.

“And when he get’s in,” Jolt whispered, “He’ll be so confused.”

We trailed away from the barn. “I see a node,” Jolt observed.

I saw the Hybrid made structure. “I don’t think we should disable it.”

“Someone should,” The Earth-pony countered.

“Do you want the Hybrid come after us again?”

“Maybe we could kill it.”

“Have you ever killed a Hybrid on your own?” I brought up.

“I’m not on my own now.”

Before I knew it, we were on our way to the node. “JumpingJolt! Nodes are much more difficult to disable than turrets. We’re sure to attract Hybrids.”

He didn’t listen.

Jolt analyzed the energy-sucking apparatus. “Maybe we should take out the legs.”

“Jolt, please don’t.”

“Or we can destroy the bottom.”

“Jolt…”

The colt positioned his EPD and readied to fire.I covered my face with a hoof. I heard the collision. He did it again then started whacking his EPD against the node.

I glanced at the barn. As I expected, the Hybrid appeared.

“JumpingJolt!” I cried.

“Wha-” He swiped his head up. “Oh crap! There’s two of them!”

“What?!” I squawked.

I turned to see another coming from a different direction. It was a Claw Hybrid. My body lurched to flee.

“What are you doing?” I snapped at JumpingJolt.

“I want to disable this node before they come.”

“There’s no time!”

I sprang ahead. We darted to a field of long grass. The plants made my legs itch. JumpingJolt tried to get us out of the field. So he lead me toward the bottom a wall of earth. It was the same wall we had slid down. We were not returning to our place, we were drawing farther from it.

“Maybe we could drop rocks on them,” Jolt said. I wanted to make a comment but could not use my breath for words.

We needed a place to hide. I saw some objects among the flat land: Many barrels, wooden planks, and other structures. An oil drill towered among it all. We swooped over there.

There were no buildings to hide in, only a little shack that would be obvious to see us go in. We trailed behind the oil drill. JumpingJolt frantically glanced around. I saw how the earth dipped down below the machine. There was a dark hole under the structure. I’ve seen something like this before, but at the moment I had no time to remember when or where it was.

“Over here!” I gestured.

JumpingJolt grabbed a wooden plank. I knew I could fit in the space, but I wasn’t sure if Jolt could, let alone both of us. We squeezed into the small cavity and Jolt placed the plank over the hole, leaving us enough space to spy out of. Soon enough, we saw shadows pass by. JumpingJolt waiting until they were unseeable to slide the plank over and check out the other side. We waited many moments. It was silent.

Jolt entered air and examined the area. He beckoned me with his hoof. We ran the same way we came. Repeatedly, we hid behind barrels and then trees to obscure us from the Hybrids. Now we took a different path: straight instead of toward our origin. We followed the wall of the plateau.

“Jolt,” I breathed with a cracky voice, “Can we stop for a second? I need a drink.”

“Okay.”

I sat down and grabbed a water bottle with my hooves. I took a drink and then exhaled with relief.

JumpingJolt looked around in all ways nervously. “I don’t think we should go back that way because that’s where the Hybrids were,” He stated. I definitely couldn’t take anymore running from Hybrids.

I checked my watch. “We only have fifteen minutes to be back.”

So we walked around when the plateau curved. My muscles throbbed every step. We passed over a bridge that was above a stream formed by a meager waterfall. I stared at the ground, watching my heavy hooves paddle along.

I heard Jolt make a strange sound followed with “I don’t think we can go that way.”

Swinging my head up, I caught sight of some odd objects. Nodes, oil drills and structures collected in an area. It was a Hybrid camp!

“Uh, let’s go this way.” JumpingJolt swayed to the left.

“Wait!” I huffed. “We’re getting farther from our meeting place.”

“No we’re not. I think we’re like turning around.” The colt pointed at the mesa. “See, this land here wasn’t there, so we're going in the other direction.”

His logic made no sense, so I countered it with my own logic. “No, we are walking in the same direction. That plateau is the one we came from when we slide down the side.”

“Really? You sure?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe we can get around. Are you sure we are going the same direction?”

“Yeah.” I remember Dad told me a way to find directions by the sun position and time of day. But it was the middle of the day and today, the air between use and the clouds was more congested than usual.

I scurried to catch up with my friend. I really wish he’d take some of my advice. I was put in charge, and I was failing. Minutes counted down and passed. I grew more and more vexed. Soon enough, the pain in my head was greater than the physical pain.

"JumpingJolt, it's ten minutes past our meeting time!”

"If we're not there on time, my dad could do a fly over to find us.”

"But we are not going the right way!" I argued.

"We'll get there eventually," My friend dodged my foresight.

I stomped my hoof. "No we won't ! Why do you think you can make all the decisions? I'm in charge!"

"Says who?"

"Says my dad!"

JumpingJolt glared. "He didn't tell me. Anyway, I'm older."

"That doesn't matter. Dad put me in charge and said we should be back on time. Now we're lost!"

"We are not lost."

"Yes we are!" I shouted.

I fell to my haunches. All of my exhaustion washed over me and translated into tears. My body became numb and weak. “W-we’re lost. And…and this is u-useless. We’ll n-n-never get back.”

“Oh gosh. Please don’t cry,” JumpingJolt said. He sounded annoyed, or that could have been just my mind defecting his tone. The Earth-pony leaned toward me. “I told you, my dad will probably fly over.”

“Then how come… come he… ha-hasn’t found…us yet?”

“Maybe…” Jolt thought. “Your dad said we are close to Haythorn. Maybe we can go there. Maybe we’ll meet them there.”

“But we don-don’t know… which way to g-go.” My eyes still drained and I hiccupped every few breaths.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay. Please don’t cry, Sketchy. You’re going to dry yourself up.” He put a red hoof on my shoulder.

“Listen. If we find Haythorn and our dads aren't there, why don't we ask for them to help us find them?” That actually didn’t sound like a bad idea. But the thing was getting there.

JumpingJolt helped me stand up. He lead again, but then slowed down to match my pace. He glanced back at me.

After we had continued our trek he said, “I’m sorry.” I did not respond. “I should have listened to what you said. Everything. If I would have, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

We are lost, Jolt feels bad, and I feel bad that he does, all on top of the soreness. Could this day get any worse? HyperBlitz’s instincts had been right: it was a horrible idea to have us go out on our own.

“Hey, I see something flying. It’s a Pegasus!” JumpingJolt declared. “Maybe it’s Dad!”

I scanned the atmosphere. “I don’t think it’s him. It’s not yellow.”

We reached the peak of a hill. “There’s some houses!” JumpingJolt gasped, “Maybe it’s Haythorn! Come on!” He darted down the decline.

“Wait, slow down!” Even after all of this running, Jolt was fast. This time he heard me, and he decreased his speed.

I trotted down the steady slope. The houses were quite a trip away. We closed in on some trees. There were scattered metal everywhere, most likely from nodes. I saw some lump of mass encased in armor. It was a rotting Hybrid. EW! Grotesquely, it’s red eyes bulged out of its insect eaten face. I felt queasy. At least it’s good to know that the Haythornians know how to kill Hybrids.

I started to trail ahead of JumpingJolt for he was too amused with the deceased Hybrid. I hopped down a small ledge. Tree roots curled around the uneven terrain. My ears picked up the sound of Jolt’s hooves clattering against the soil to catch up with me. He gave a grunt when leaping, but then he gave a sudden yelp.

Swiveling around, I was dazed by the sight of my friend dangling from a tree by a rope tied to his leg.

“What happen?” I asked.

“I-I tripped on that root, but then… this happened!”

A different, unfamiliar voice joined with ours. “Well, well. Look what we have here.”

Comments

[Jimbo Saggins]

*ahem*

CRAWLING IN MY SKIN
THESE WOUNDS, THEY WILL NOT HEAL
FEAR IS HOW I FALL
CONFUSING WHAT IS REAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL

[Kaciekk]

6751090 Do you have anything to actually say about the story or are you just putting lyrics here. 2 comments, and they are lyrics, not anything about the story T.T