I swiftly caught up to the battered car, where I tried to study the killjoys in more detail - suddenly a violent crosswind swept me sideways, and I had to concentrate on flying the thing. Resolving to look at the killjoys after landing, I glimpsed a waving hand out of the corner of my eye. When I turned my head to look, I saw a little girl - whom I had almost missed from my great height. She was grinning broadly and waving her arms about like she was signalling an aeroplane! Not that there were any left. Swooping as low as I dared, I raised a hand to salute her back - but had to grab the controls again when another crosswind shoved me sideways. It was treacherous flying so near the ground. I sensed a thermal ahead, and adjusted my direction accordingly. All that practice I've done really pays off in moments like that. Catching the updraft perfectly, I soared up high, following the car below.
After a while, the car stopped in front of a building. I watched as the killjoys got out and looked up at me. Circling lower and lower, I waited until I could drop safely to the ground before deftly unbuckling the safety straps and grabbing the tether ropes. I took a deep breath, poised for the right moment to come, and... Let go! As I hit the ground I rolled - to break my fall - and sprang back to my feet in one smooth movement. Pulling gently on the tether ropes, I brought the parawing to a soft, soundless landing. With practiced movements, I folded the whole thing into a backpack, detaching several smaller bags from the framework. Shouldering the pack and gathering my cargo, I strode over to where the killjoys stood, watching me. I stopped about a metre away from them.
'Hi', I greeted them. The little girl bounced over and replied,
'Hi, I'm Bunny!' I crouched down to look her in the eye.
'Hello Bunny; I'm Firebird'.
'Firebird... Cool name! Is that why you have that flyie thing?'
'My parawing? I'd have made it whatever name I chose - but it does fit rather nicely'.
'You made that?' Another voice joined in; the guy had bright red hair!
'I {C}invented{C} that. With much difficulty; the only way to test it is to fly it - and parachutes are hard to come by.' I straightened up.
'Cool,' he replied. 'I'm Party Poison, by the way - that's Fun Ghoul,' he pointed to a guy wearing a helmet, 'Kobra Kid,' a guy with short blond hair, 'and Jet Star.' the remaining guy nodded in greeting. 'Thanks for helping us out back there - we were really struggling. I've never seen so many dracs in a pursuit before'.
'Neither have I... but then, I haven't been here very long. I come from far away , and all that - so, what d'you do to piss them off?'
'What, besides the obvious?' Fun Ghoul answered. 'I, for one, have no idea. Maybe it has something to do with Bunny; they come after her all the time. We were rescuing her again, but - as you saw - there were more dracs this time'. Kobra Kid, obviously needing a sit down, interrupted his musings;
'Are we going to stand around out here 'til we're dusted or are we going to go inside and have something to eat?'
'Good idea,' laughed Party Poison. 'If we had any decent food. Seriously, all there is these days is mush. Salty mush, sweet mush, wet mush, dry mush, cactus mush - don't ask -'
'Cactus mush?!' I broke in.
'I said, don't ask. Anyway - you get the point. Mush, mush, mush, and yet more mush.' He sighed.
'Do you mind if I tag along?' I asked. 'I don't know much about anything here.'
'Sure, why not?' Jet Star looked round at his friends. 'Any objections?' There was a general shaking of heads.
'Well, that's settled, then. Welcome to our humble abode.'