<div class="floatleft">(http://data.whicdn.com/images/17088347/large.jpg)<br/>(http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/digimonat/images/f/fd/Pagumon_t.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140820145802&amp;path-prefix=pt)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Elias Wright<br/><strong>Time:</strong>? ? ?<br/><strong>Location:</strong>The Deepwood<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Pagumon (NPC), Open.<br/><strong>Warnings:</strong>None.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Elias ran like that for what felt like<em>hours,</em>desperately vaulting over logs and ducking under branches, pushing through leaves and bushes in a wild, desperate attempt to escape the beast pursuing them. It was tough going, what with Pagumon sitting nestled in his arms and thereby requiring him to use only one hand in clearing away obstacles, but adrenaline was a marvellous thing; he knew that stopping or slowing down would likely mean death for the both of them, and that meant that he wouldn't get to see Mei again, that he would get to make sure that she was ok, that he wouldn't get to run away with her to start a new life, free from that accursed system that tried to separate them for so long...and that in turn gave him all the strength he needed in order to cope with the difficulty of his flight as he pushed his body as far as it could go, pounding his legs as fast as he could, never allowing himself to as much as slow down in case he couldn't speed up again...his breath came in ragged, uneven pants, tearing painfully against his throat and nose as his lungs heaved in protest...he was in shape, yes, and he had plenty of stamina, but nobody could run at full-speed, at the edge of their endurance for overly long. It was why Olympic Sprints rarely lasted more than ten or twenty seconds; even Olympic-level Athletes couldn't run at top speed for longer. That was the entire point of a sprint, after all...but he had no choice. It was either sprint, or die.<br/><br/>He crashed through the trees with reckless abandon, desperately trying to think of something....evidently, they couldn't kill it. A crash through a tree had only winded the thing, and if Pagumon said that he couldn't hurt it, then Elias had to believe him; he lived in this world, after all, and Elias didn't. He didn't know anything about the wildlife or their capabilities, and if Pagumon thought they should run, it at least meant that Pagumon himself couldn't hope to beat that thing....what did he call it? Dobermon? Well, at least the name was somewhat familiar, even if it only looked<em>vaguely</em>like its Earth counterpart. And yes, he was starting to think that they weren't on Earth any more...too many strange creatures and unfamiliar terrains for it to be anywhere near where he considered home, and as far as he knew, Earth didn't have any unexplored areas that matched the geography of this place - surely somebody would have noticed something as huge as The Skyrock, right? - and they definitely didn't have talking bouncing blobs that could fire exploding bubbles. That would have been front page news and common knowledge, if it was the case...so, he was on an alien world, being chased by an alien that he had no idea the capabilities of, no weapons and no allies save a little creature that was useless in this situation that he didn't really like all that much anyway. He wasn't going to lie, he'd been in better positions before.<br/><br/>And then....the trees stopped. Or rather, they continued, but the grass beneath his<em>feet</em>stopped sharply as he stumbled into a small clearing, the ground giving way to mud and rock for a few feet more, and then dropped into a sheer mini-cliff...and a raging river. The are around him was clear of trees and grass and bushes, leaving him nowhere to hide, with a wide, rapidly coursing river raging in front of him, the water churning and spitting almost mockingly. He looked at the other side, a good nine or ten feet away from his side of the riverbed, and grimaced...he could probably throw Pagumon that far, but he didn't think he could jump it...he looked up into the sky and - annoyingly - it seemed that the canopy of branches that seemed so omnipresent only ten minutes ago didn't extend across the river, and the closest branches to the other sides trees were flimsy, to say the least....one iota of his weight on one of those things would snap them, and he'd go plunging either into the river, or into the Dobermon's jaws. Neither seemed very appealing. In his arms, Pagumon groaned.<br/>"Well, good job, numbskull. You took a wrong turn, and now we're both going to die."<br/><br/>Anger welled up within him...he was going to die in a foreign land, without getting to say goodbye to the only person who ever really loved and cared about him, and this little bastard - who hadn't really helped at all in his flight from the Dobermon - dared to blame him? "Now listen here, you fucking ingrate! I didn't hear you giving me any directions as I ran, and I could have dropped you at any point to serve as a distraction for that thing. I'm sure it would have<em>loved</em>a new chew toy! So if you don't want me to throw you to it in an attempt to escape, you'll shut up and let me think."<br/>Pagumon, as perhaps Elias should have expected, bristled, his eyes narrowing as he opened his mouth...but an all too familiar guttural growl cut him off. They stared at each other, anger replaced by fear, as they turned to face the Dobermon who was just stalking out of the trees....Elias's heart sank. It barely looked even<em>vaguely</em>out of breath, and now that he'd stopped, Elias could feel just how ragged and painful his chest felt, protesting against the sudden, agonising exercising he'd put it through. Running again wasn't an option; his entire body screamed against such a notion, and he knew that if he tried it again, he'd likely just fall over instead.<br/><br/>The Dobermon took a slow step forwards, snarling deeply, prompting Elias to take a slow, cautious step backwards...almost off the river bank and into the river as he felt his heel slip off of solid ground and into empty space. He winced a little, glancing behind him at the swiftly flowing river. He swallowed nervously, terror and panic pounding in his chest, his heartbeat loud and demandingly overwhelming in his ears. He needed an escape plan, and quickly....but if he made a break for it in either direction, Dobermon would pounce and most probably catch them...and it would be over. Whatever lead they had from tricking it earlier had gone, and if it was like any other dog back home, it wouldn't fall for the same trick twice. It would wait for him to move, then attack where he was going rather than where he'd been, so tricking it into the river was unlikely to work...but...what if he didn't? What if...what if he took Pagumon and just....jumped into the river? Human bodies floated, after all, and he only needed to swim long enough to get to the other side...it would wipe out their scent, and Dobermon would have to go the long way round to follow them, by which point, they'd be long, long gone...right? He supposed it was possible that he drowned - considering how tired he was, if the current was 1% more powerful than he expected, that would probably be the case - but a certainty of death vs a possibility of death? Well, only one had a chance at life. Not the best idea in the world...but the only one that might get them out of this.<br/><br/>He lifted Pagumon up to his shoulders slowly. "Hold on." He could feel Pagumon frown, even as he wrapped his ear-arm-like-things around his neck tightly.<br/>"Why? We gonna fly away?"<br/>"No....not<em>fly....</em>we're going to jump."<br/>A pause, then Elias felt Pagumon glance behind them, then start shaking its...head? Body? Not important. "No! No no no! No no no no n-" Too late. Elias had already turned and hurled himself off the river bank, soaring through the air and away from Dobermon...he faintly heard Dobermon collide with the ground where Elias had been standing, followed by crumbling rock and a yelp as - he assumed - Dobermon scrambled to avoid falling into the river...and then that was the last thing he remembered of the surface. Water crashed into his body, soaking his skin and clothes through, knocking the oxygen from his lungs with the force of a several megaton punch, shocking his system awake where before it had been lethargic in exhaustion. He flailed, scrambled in panic as he felt water leaking into his lungs, felt his hands gripping on nothing as his vision began to blur, the current pulling him roughly along with no care for his comfort or well being...was Pagumon still on his shoulders? It was so hard to tell anything in this wet, bleak blackness....his thought processes started to slow down, he could feel them fading, he no longer knew which was was up or down....icy terror gripped his heart as he started to realise his mistake...how could he swim in a fast flowing river when he could barely<em>run?</em>He was going to die...he was going to drown...he closed his eyes, unable to keep them open any longer...<br/><br/>And then he broke the surface. Suddenly his face and head felt the warm breeze of fresh air, water spilled out of his lungs and stomach as he coughed and retched, delicious, glorious oxygen filling his lungs once more as he gasped a deep breath, even as he was pulled along by the current...he bobbed underwater again, but now that he knew which way was up, he quickly kicked as hard as his screaming legs could manage and broke the surface again, spluttering. He looked around at the quickly passing banks to find that Dobermon was nowhere in sight...and he was surprisingly close to the opposite bank. He gasped for breath, then kicked again, trying to push himself perpendicular to the current...it was hard going, struggling to fight the current, stretching out his arm to try and grip something, anything....but he managed it, eventually brushing his fingertips, then his fingers, then his whole hand along the bank, gripping the grass and dirt and rocks tightly. The force of his stop almost wrenched his hand from its new handhold, but he held tight, pulling and kicking himself closer until he was able to get both hands on the bank, pulling himself up onto it with aching, trembling arms. The first attempt ended in failure, his body plunging back into the water as his arms gave out, but his second attempt was more successful, managing to heave his torso onto upper land, where he was able to pull his legs out after him.<br/><br/>He lay there, panting and chest heaving, seeking more and more delicious oxygen as he regained his breath...and he actually smiled. They were alive, and they'd managed to escape that<em>fucking</em>mutt! He laughed suddenly, overcome with the joy and relief of actually<em>living,</em>and a turn of his head told him that Pagumon was alive too...wet and coughing and looking none too happy, but alive. He lay there for a minute or so more, just...basking in his accomplishment...but his mind returned quickly to more serious matters. Mei. If Dobermon had almost killed Elias, what could Mei be dealing with at that very moment? He grimaced, his good mood gone....he needed to get to The Skyrock, and quickly, if only to make sure that he had somewhere to start searching. He swallowed, preparing himself mentally for a moment, then pushed himself into a sitting position, his arms groaning in protest. He shook his head, took another moment, then forced himself to his feet despite his legs agonised begging to be left alone. He staggered a little, but managed to keep himself upright despite the exhaustion and pain he felt in most of his joints and his lungs. He coughed up some more water, then shook his head, stooping to pick up Pagumon....fucking hell, even the relatively light Pagumon felt like a lead ball with the current state of his arms. He grimaced. This wasn't going to be a fun journey, but....it had to be made. "Come on," he said as he settled Pagumon on his shoulders again. "We still have a way to walk..."<br/><br/>Pagumon groaned. "Next time you do that, leave me out of it."<br/>"We're alive, aren't we?"<br/>"Define 'Alive,' because I<em>feel</em>like death..." He coughed again, but Elias ignored him. They were alive, they were moving....and that was what mattered. He put one screaming foot in front of the other, then again, then again, getting his legs used to moving at a walking pace once more...after the first few steps, the aching disappeared, replaced by comfortable routine, and before long his stiff, aching joints had begun to loosen up a bit, to the point where he was no longer in pain...he was just a bit tired and achy. Thankfully, that seemed to be the extent of it. He grimaced a little as he stumbled, but managed to keep his balance, straightening himself up. He was achy, he was tired, he was waterlogged and he was certain he'd probably bruised something...but he was ok. The aches were disappearing as he moved, he was able to ignore the tiredness, bruises were nothing new, and in the blisteringly hot sun, his clothes were already beginning to feel noticeably drier...he was alive, healthy and well. That was more than he'd been expecting during his flight from Dobermon, at least...but in retrospect...Dobermon would never have been able to keep him from his beloved Mei. Nothing in the universe could do that for long, not even death itself. He looked up at The Skyrock, visible from between the trees in the distance, though significantly closer than it had been before; apparently the river had dumped him relatively close by...that, at least, was lucky, though he didn't intend to use that mode of transportation again particularly soon.<br/>"I'm coming, Mei...hold on." he murmured to himself, as he disappeared once more between the trees.