User blog:Gnomehunter/October Writing Challenge-Catch me if you Can (Cockatrice)

Jaden walked through the hallway, in search of a particular student. It was early in the morning, before most of the student body would be arriving for classes. There were only a few people around at this hour, but he was sure of one of them. As he passed the library and took a glance into the cafeteria, his suspicions were confirmed. Sitting all alone at one of the tables was the girl of his dreams, the one who had caught his attention the moment he laid eyes on her in his first few months of high school. She was a diminutive young lady, covered in white feathers and down, three red feathers sticking out of her head. Despite the large wings appearing to be attached to her arms, she had claws, which she was using to scratch something on a sheet of paper. As he advanced towards her, he thought about the first time he met her, passing in a hallway. Her adorable figure instantly drew his attention, or maybe it was the pheromones that she was unconsciously spreading in the air around her. Even then, she seemed to go unnoticed compared to the variety of mamono students who were much more sure of their ability to catch a boy’s attention. All the better for him that he had no rivals. But when he tried to approach her, she quickened her step as if she had sensed him. He would take several tries to approach her in order to introduce himself, but each time she seemed to evade him, until he decided to try a new way. All of these memories resurfaced as he walked right up to the table where she sat, and sat down across from her. She looked up but didn’t move or speak, as if observing him.

“Uh, hello there”, he said. She looked at him before responding.

“Good morning”. Jaden felt his heart sway. Her voice was soft and faint, but it sounded just as lovely as he would have hoped. He felt his heart beat faster.

“My name is Jaden, what’s yours?”

“I’m Ashley”. Finally! He had her name! He could smell something in the air, as if she was inviting him to continue, so he went for broke.

“I’ve really liked you ever since I first saw you in the hall. We’ve never met but um. I was wondering if you wanted to be...friends?” Friends? No, that was wrong! Well, a certain kind of friend, certainly. But Ashley seemed to pick up on what he was asking.

“Oh! Um, I’ve never really had someone talk to me like this”. She was shifting in her seat, looking away to avoid meeting his gaze, the claw holding the pencil scribbling aimlessly on the page. “It makes me kind of happy”. She was smiling now! As if she could become any cuter! “But”. But? “But there’s something I need you to do first. To prove yourself. Sorry, it’s just sort of a thing my kind has always asked of suitors.

“What’s that?” He asked, sure that he would do anything for her.

“We need to race. And you need to win”. She was already standing up. “We can go up to the track?”

Jaden followed her up the hill to the 400 meter track that wrapped around the school’s football field. They walked to one of the lines that started at the straightaway. Jaden wasn’t much of a runner, but he was sure that he would be good enough. Ashley leaned forward on the starting line. “We’ll race one lap, from here, all the way around and back to the start. On ‘go’ ok?” When he nodded, she counted down. “3. 2. 1. Go!” Jaden sprinted forward, prepared to give his very best. But as he was just starting around the curve, he realized that Ashley was already ahead of him. Her long bird-like legs made barely any sound on the track’s artificial material, nor did she seem to be slowed by her claws. She rounded the curve and proceeded to sprint even faster down the other straightaway. Then she rounded the second curve and came to the end as he was just starting down the second half of the track. His pace significantly diminished, and his motivation plummeted as he tried to finish the lap, rounding the corner as she watched him. When he finally made it, he leaned over, panting in exhaustion. “Sorry Jaden”, she said, “but it’s really important to me that you can do better. But you can ask me any time to try again”. She gave him a sincere and friendly smile, and turned to run back to the school.

---

Jaden spent a week moping about his utter failure. But it wasn’t long before he renewed his love for Ashley, and began to think about her again. She had been so kind and friendly. It was like she was just asking him to try again. But he knew he wouldn’t do any good asking her again so soon. So he looked through the school’s extracurricular activities, and found there were two groups that might help him. The cross country running team was nearing the end of its season, beginning before the school year in the summer and running in the fall. But there was a track and field team that met in both the winter and spring. It seemed to have no restrictions or tryouts. So at the start of December, he walked to the gym where they met, along with a great number of other students. He was gathered together with the other new students, and before them stood an older looking man, who greeted them.

“Welcome to your first day! My name is Mr. Hadley, and it’s always a pleasure to see new students taking an interest in our school’s team. You’ll soon be training together with the rest of our returning members, and I hope you’ll all take the time to learn from them. There’s quite a few types of events you can train in, so I hope all of you will be able to find some that suit your strengths the best”.

The first week was spent getting a sense for the students’ abilities. Jaden was not surprised at how low he placed during the mile time trial, or at how out of shape he appeared compared to many of the other students. But he didn’t let that discourage him. He knew that he wanted to be good in all things running, so he took all the chances he could get to practice and compete in the short distance sprints. The 100, 400 and even 800 meter sprint events gave him plenty of practice. His first season saw him often outpaced by most of the runners, but fortunately, the size of his team, even when competing with neighboring high schools, meant that he was never denied the chance to compete. And as he began in the spring season, he realized how much of an improvement he had already made. It made him feel even better when he noticed one day that Ashley was standing by the sidelines as the students and visiting teams were preparing for the week’s meet. He jogged over as soon as he realized she was there.

“Hi Ashley!” He called. She perked up when she saw him.

“Jaden!” He stopped next to her. Her scent was strong. “One of my friends told me that you were doing really well at track, and I thought I should come see you”. She had come to see him!

“Yeah I...I just really wanted to do better. I’ve been running in the 400 and 800 meter dashes. You should watch for when I start”. And with that he ducked away, muttering about needing to warm up. When the hour came, he was on the starting line with a few other participants. The 800 meter dash came and went before he knew it, 2 laps around the track faster than he could have dreamed of doing once. He waved at Ashley when he finished.

“Wow. You really have gotten better. Do you...want to race again sometime?” She asked, almost as if she was nervous at the prospect.

“I think I want to wait a little longer”, he said, despite the feeling that he wanted to try.

---

Summer came, and Jaden adapted a workout routine of long jogs, in the hopes of improving his endurance. But it only got better when he found himself running alongside Ashley. They met on the school grounds, finding a series of trails that wound through the land around the school. Here, jaden found himself getting increasingly comfortable with longer distances, often managing to keep up with Ashley as they talked (though he learned the hard way that she was still more than capable of outpacing him).

In the final week of summer before school started, he made his way to the school field, where he met with the cross country running team for the first time. After getting a similar introduction as the one in track and field, they were run through some particularly rigorous running exercises. Jaden found this first week to be even tougher than he had expected, and was glad for all the training he had gotten with Ashley during the summer. One day, as he was jogging during practice with a few other boys, one of them began to speak up.

“So fellas, you may not have heard this from anyone else, but I’ve been on this team for a while now”. Mattias was an older student in his final year of school, and he seemed to be taking it easy in both his academic and athletic performances. “A whole lot of guys join sports teams in order to impress a certain monster that they have their eyes on. So here’s what I’m wondering. Are any of you boys looking to impress a certain lady?” The rest of the boys, all younger, were silent as if too embarrassed at the thought. “Well, I’m just a curious loudmouth. But I won’t tell anyone your secrets”. For some reason, this prompted Jaden to speak.

“Yeah, uh, I am”.

“Oh alright! Who’s the lucky lady?” Mattias asked with a big grin on his face.

“She’s a cockatrice. She’s really cute and sweet and I’m trying to get better at running so I can win in a race”.

“Hmm. Yeah, I think I know the kind you’re talking about. You know, it’s a little different from what you’re thinking. See they like to run, so what that girl probably wants is for you to chase her down and force her to the ground and ram your-”

“WHOAH WHOAH WHOAH! I think I’ve heard enough!” Jaden shouted loudly in order to cut off Mattias from finishing his sentence. The older boy chuckled to himself, and stopped talking, as the rest of the boys continued to jog silently around them.

“Well, you seem to be doing alright with that goal. Good luck bud”.

---

The cross country season at its end, and the winter track and field season upon him, Jaden was now aiming for a bit of a different goal. He had participated for a year now in the shorter sprinting events, but he had been feeling awfully good about his performance. He was preparing to talk to Mr. Hadley about participation in the 1600 meters. A sprint-like race that involved running four laps around the track. It was only for the fastest runners on the team, and Jaden thought it would be an excellent test for his running ability. After making his case, the coach agreed that his times were nearly there. He would compete in the spring season (it helped that some of the runners were graduating soon, and that would make Jaden one of the better runners).

One day in spring, Jaden was packing his bag up at the end of the day, when he felt someone tapping him on the shoulder. He looked around to see a girl standing over him, smiling, though she was showing a mouth full of sharp teeth. Behind her were 5 other girls, and they all had furry arms and legs, and big furry ears on top of their heads. This was Luna, a werewolf, and her pack.

“Hey there kid!” Luna said, giving him a big toothy grin.

“What do you want, Luna?”

“My pack and I have been looking at your performance, and we’re all real impressed. We’ve decided we’d like you as part of our pack!” Jaden had an idea of what that meant. Becoming a lover for Luna as well as all the other girls.

“Sorry Luna, but I’m already interested in another girl”.

“Well put her out of your mind! My sisters and I will be more than enough to handle”.

“What? No. Screw off. I’ve been training for over a year now, I’m not going to let you push me around”.

“Ah, sounds like you’ve got a lot of fight in you too. Really makes me want to give chase”. Jaden looked at Luna, and the other members. They were all smiling from ear to ear, shuffling as if they were all ready to run at any moment.

“Alright. Fine. You want to run? I’ll let you. We’ll walk to the back door and then I’ll go. But I’m going to leave you all in the dust”. Luna smiled.

“That’s what I like to hear”. She and the pack followed Jaden down the hall and out to the door that led to a back parking lot. It wasn’t far from the hill that led to the track. Jaden had been there recently and seen that it was dry enough to run on. He looked behind him, seeing the werewolves waiting expectantly, and he pushed the door open. He lunged, leaning into a proper sprinting form, running across the pavement and up the hill, slowing down a bit until he hit the track. But as he rounded the corner and could see behind him he realized the pack was starting to fall behind him. He ran around the track and they tried to catch him but he changed directions. They split up, each trying to narrow in on him from both sides of the track, even across the field, cutting him off like he was their prey. But Jaden outran them all. Soon it appeared that they were falling behind, and unable to catch him with any of their strategies. They finally collapsed on the ground, and Jaden came up to them.

“What’s the matter girls? Can’t keep up?” He asked, with a smug little grin on his face. Luna looked up and managed to speak after a bit of panting.

“How are you so damn fast?” The others looked up.

“Practice! I’ve got my eye on a prize and no one is going to get in my way!” He waved and jogged off the track.

---

As the promised meet arrived, Jaden was full of confidence. Outrunning the werewolves was a great show of his improvement. Made even better when he saw Ashley waving to him. They met up, and she offered to run with him as he prepared for the event. “So, it’s been quite a while since we last raced”.

“Mhm. But you’ve improved so much since then. Do you want to race again?”

“I’m glad you asked. I want you to be prepared for me when I finish the event. I’m going to keep going, and I’ll be coming right for you”.

“After the event? Are you sure you’ll be able to keep that up?”

“I’m sure”.

Hours later, Jaden was watching the 800 meter runners when he heard the call from the speaker for the start of the Boys 1600. He took a deep breath. Then made his way to the start. The rest of the runners, several seniors from his school, as well as a few others from neighboring schools, stood in front and beside him. He thought about the four laps around the track, and then the chase after Ashley. He almost started to doubt himself, but then he remembered his promise. He knew he couldn’t beat some of the other runners. But he would win his own race. The countdown began, and on the whistle he surged ahead with the other runners. He felt himself fall into a comfortable pace. Around and around until he reached the straightaway of the last lap. Quickening his pace, he dashed across the finish line, then turning across the grass and heading toward her.

Ashley watched as Jaden crossed the finish line, and then continued onward, running across the field. He was coming for her. She turned to a friend who was visiting, and said “Sorry, I have to go”. Her heart raced, and she felt her nerves spiking as she turned and dashed away, out of the track and onto a path that would lead down the trails. But part of her felt some joy, as she realized how close Jaden was coming. Risking a glance behind her, she gave a little cry as Jaden was on her heels. They continued further away from the field, further into the woods, and she tried to use the sharp turns to keep ahead of him but Jaden was undeterred. He drew on a reserve of energy he had been saving, and surged ahead, closing the gap and tackling Ashley to the ground. Ashley practically squawked. They tumbled across the forest floor, jaden holding onto her as they rolled, and when they stopped Ashley was panting, her face deliriously happy as jaden carried her over to a tree and pushed her to the ground.

“Jaden! Jaden! You did it! I couldn’t be happier!” Jaden answered her with a kiss, pushing against her lips and clutching her tightly against his chest, breathing tiredly while trying to hold her as close as possible. He pawed at her clothes, roughly pulling at her shorts until everything was undone and Ashley was now crying out in pleasure. All that was in his mind was her scent flooding his senses, and the look on her face. \

When they were done, Ashley hugged him closely, embraced in her feathery wings. He felt her small body tremble beneath him. His tiredness from running seemed to have subsided, as if they had both been invigorated. Ashley pecked at him with more kisses, and he lay there, soaking in the satisfaction of his success. “Jaden. My heart is still racing. Can you feel it?” Ashley took his hand, placing it on her chest. He could feel the rapid thud.

“I love you Ashley. Ever since I first laid eyes on you”.

“That makes me so happy to hear. Do you think we could lay like this for a while longer? And when we have to go back, can you carry me? I want to be as close to you as I possibly can”. Jaden nodded quietly, as he buried his face back into her chest, feeling the softness of her wings enclose around him.