I've had the idea for this story in my head for literally ages (dating back to my big Guido phase several years ago), and recently I finally started working on it. I had been thinking I'd save it for a fanfic prompt somewhere down the line...but meh, I don't want to wait that long. It's a story centering around everyone's favorite glider, with some self-discovery/coming-of-age happenings planned--yes, Guido's mysterious origins are about to come into focus! Here goes the first chapter...
The crisp, cool breeze wafting through the Great Valley made tree stars twirl through the air and trees dance in the wind. Everything seemed to be lighter than air today – including the little green dinosaur who was soaring through the clouds.
“I can’t believe it!” Guido exclaimed to himself as the wind whipped through his feathers. “All this flight practice has really paid off – I’ve never gotten this high up before!” He laughed happily. “Plus, I’m not even scared!”
But then he made the mistake of looking down at the valley below him, at the dinosaurs who seemed no bigger than ants, and he gulped.
“Yikes!” he cried, closing his eyes. As he took a deep breath, he shakily muttered, “Alright, one triumph at a time…”
BAM!“WHOA!” he shouted when the unseen force smacked into him. Shaking the dizziness from his head, he woozily muttered, “Okay: flying with my eyes closed, bad idea…”
Then his eyes came into focus. Whatever else he had been about to say took flight from his mind as he laid eyes on something he had thought impossible. With wide eyes, he gasped.
There, right in front of him, was a creature with his broad wings, his long tail, even his covering of feathers. He and she were the same, two-of-a-kind. The only major differences between them were her bluer plumage, her longer head feathers, and her shorter stature.
As she up floated alongside him, she quickly smiled. “Hi there! Nice day for a little flight out, right?”
“Y-y-you…” Guido stammered, his mouth unable to keep up with the rush of thoughts that were flooding his mind right then. “You’re…just like me!” he finally blurted. “This is, a-ah, I-I don’t believe it! I always thought, I mean, u-uh…oh boy!”
“I know,” the other creature laughed, looking at Guido a little uncertainly. “Low air pressure takes a toll sometimes, doesn't it?”
Too busy with his nervous yammering to realize that she thought he was just losing his mind, Guido rambled, “Thi-This is such a surprise, I can’t even think straight! I mean – oh my gosh, I’m so dizzy right now, I-I feel like I’m falling –”
“You
are falling!” the other creature exclaimed, astonished at his cluelessness.
“What?” Guido whipped his head back, and that was when he realized that the valley appeared to be growing larger and larger. Worse yet, the wind screamed in his ears as he plunged through the clouds.
“HELP!” he shrieked, frantically flailing his arms in a desperate effort to right himself again, while the only effect it had was to make him look even more ridiculous.
“Hey, don’t panic!” his companion tried to reassure him as she continued to soar at his side. “You see that tree down there, right?”
Guido forced himself to look at the ground, which he found was rushing at him even more quickly that before. Quickly turning away again, he yelped, “W-What tree??! There’s a ton of trees!”
“The tree that you’re about to get flattened on if you don’t stop freaking out and get a grip!” the girl laughed. “Come on, this is basic flight.”
“But I-I’ve only been flying about a few days!”
“Oh!” the girl exclaimed, shocked. “Now I see why you’re panicked! Just listen, then – grab the tip of that big leaf and use it to slingshot yourself around, alright? GO!”
“Wait, what??!” Guido shrieked, but she was already swooping away to the ground.
It was a good thing that adrenaline had taken full hold of him, or there was no way Guido would have been able to even process, let alone pull off, the girl’s advice. Hollering in pure terror as he took hold of the largest leaf on the tree he’d been about to smack into, he gripped it with all his might and swung himself in a circle at breakneck speed. Letting go once he’d whipped all the way around, he launched back towards the sky, doing a series of clumsy flips through the air before his wings opened with a sudden POOF!
Breathing in and out rapidly, Guido saw that the girl was waiting for him on the ground below, and he managed to veer towards her. But after all he had been through only in the last minute or so, he felt as if his brain had been shattered by an earthshake. That was why, after tumbling onto the grass, Guido promptly fainted.
Not long afterward, he was awakened by a frigid SPLOOSH!
Coughing, spluttering, and soaking wet as he came to, Guido realized the girl was setting him down on the banks of the fast water, having just dunked him in.
“So, now that you’re awake: question. How in the world are you a windrider who only just learned to fly?!” the girl inquired.
Guido blinked. “I’m a windrider?”
The girl spread out her arms in disbelief. “What is with you?? It’s like you were born yesterday!” She didn't sound irritated so much as dumbfounded.
“I-I’m sorry,” Guido said. “Really sorry, it’s just – I don’t remember anything about where I came from, a-and hardly anything about who I am! And, I mean, I’ve been that way all my life! Or at least, all my life as far as I can remember…” He scratched his head. “Oh – uh, I guess I should mention my name’s Guido.”
“Zephyr,” the girl introduced herself, extending her hand to him.
After Guido placed his hand in hers, the energy in Zephyr’s handshake made it clear that she was a powerhouse. Guido’s hand, in contrast, had no choice but to remain passive and limp while it was taken along for this ride, seeming just as awkward as its owner.
“Well, get ready for some life-changing news,” Zephyr declared in a tone that dripped with feigned drama. “Just like every other windrider there is, you had to have come from Windrider Valley!”
“Windrider Valley…” Guido repeated. “We have a whole valley?!” he gasped in amazement.
“Mmm-hmm,” Zephyr confirmed. “Don’t be too impressed, though. I was actually just leaving – I can tell you that, now that I know you aren’t some scout my parents sent or something.”
“You left?” Guido asked. “But – why? All I ever wanted was to find someone out there like me, who could understand me – and you had a whole valley of them, but you left?”
“Hey, just ‘cause you’re the same species as somebody sure doesn’t mean they understand you!” protested Zephyr. “Once you enter your teens, they expect you to jump on board with all their silly coming-of-age traditions – and I’ve had it.”
“That’s it?” Guido asked. “W-Well – traditions don’t scare me,” he announced. “I’m going to Windrider Valley!” he cried joyfully. He tried to thrust his fist into the air to make his point, but he ended up banging his knuckle against the branch above him instead. “Ow…!”
Zephyr stifled a laugh. “Are you okay?”
Guido flushed red as he held his sore hand in his mouth. “Yeah…I-I’m fine.”
Zephyr shook her head. “Oh, man, they’re gonna eat you alive…”
“I don’t care! Now that I know they’re out there, I can’t just not go!” Guido insisted. “Unless – unless you literally meant that about the eating, that they would literally, actually eat me. I’d care about that…”
“Of course not,” giggled Zephyr. “So, what do you want, directions?”
“Yeah, yeah, definitely!” Guido shouted.
“Fine, then,” Zephyr agreed, “but don’t say I didn’t warn you. The second you set wing in that place, they’ll want you to –”
“Found you!” a voice called from behind the two windriders.
Zephyr suddenly jerked back, and Guido turned around, too, as a windrider larger than both of them landed on the ground, stirring up a rush of air as he brought in his navy-blue wings. He raised his eyebrows as his gaze fell on Zephyr.
“Hey, Eddy,” Zephyr quickly greeted him, immediately putting on a casual attitude that would have had Guido convinced. “What's up?”
“Zephyr…” the larger glider scolded, shaking his head as if he was talking to an amusing little kid.
“What’s the matter? A girl can’t go out for a nice, long flight on a sunny day?” Zephyr asked defensively.
“You’re not fooling anyone, little sis,” lectured Eddy. “Your rebelliousness was never a secret.” His eyes fell on Guido next. “Who’s your partner-in-crime?”
“Okay, I’m being honest this time – he wasn’t with me,” explained Zephyr. “We just sort of – BOOM! – ran into each other, you know?” She smacked her hands together to illustrate.
“Yeah, really!” Guido added, rushing forward. Then, in one breath and lots of excited hand motions, he blurted, “Hey – my name’s Guido, I’ve been wandering around on my own all my life, I had no idea what I even was until now, and I really-really-really want to meet the rest of my kind!”
“Whoa,” Eddy said, frowning in amusement at Guido’s motormouth, “hold on a moment. What are you trying to say?”
“I want to go to Windrider Valley!!” Guido cried, practically diving at Eddy in his excitement.
Zephyr made a dismayed face.
Eddy chuckled. “Good news, then – you have to!”
“Alright!” Guido whooped, jumping for joy. But then he suddenly stopped as he fully absorbed the sentence. “Say what, now?”
“Windrider Valley is home to the only windrider colony in the world,” Eddy explained. “It’s the perfect place for us – that is why it’s called Windrider Valley. Come on, it’s time to take off!” He began nudging Guido and Zephyr forward, towards the wind, then set about unfolding his sister’s wings.
Zephyr quickly pulled away. “Alright already. If you’re going to make me go home, at least let me open my own wings.”
“Fine,” Eddy nonchalantly agreed, rolling his eyes as he moved to help Guido instead.
“But – wait! I didn’t really mean leave right this second!” Guido protested. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye to Petrie!” he yelped. There was nothing he could do, however, as his wings caught the wind, and the group was off. “Aw…”
For a minute, there was no sound but the wind whistling by as the windriders soared towards the horizon. Guido felt too awkward to know what to say, Zephyr was too annoyed to speak, and Eddy had been born a flier of few words.
However, it was Eddy who finally broke the silence.
“So…” he wondered, sounding puzzled, “what’s a Petrie?”