"I am getting nauseous already," Gabe mumbled.

  Climbers would have to toil away to reach most mountain summits but not the one at the Ersatz Mountain Range platform. The flat and rocky downward spiral that descended towards the military outpost, its reinforced fence, and the ski resort below would trivialize it down to a hike. As Joaquim kept leaning his body and head in different directions on his levitating chair above the fake cloud, it became apparent that this mountain did not look as imposing as it did when closer to the flying platform itself.

  Lucia, Corporal Woo, and even Sergeant Uzi were checking on Gabe, so Joaquim sighed and opened his mouth to speak. However, Gabe already noticed that his little brother stayed quiet up to this point, and the musical chair song was already in its second loop.

  "I know you're mad at me," Gabe mumbled, turning his head to the right to speak to Joaquim who was sitting in the back row of the levitating chairs. "I get it."

  "Sergeant, are you still moving the chairs by any chance?" Corporal Woo asked beside Lucia, who were both sitting in the row ahead of Joaquim.

  "Nope. I stopped," Sergeant Uzi replied, levitating above the front row by Gabe. "What helps with human nausea? Give me ideas."

  "You did the best thing already," Lucia reassured.

  Stirrings were heard below them. As the soldiers quieted down and Joaquim focused on the sound, the undecipherable sound eventually became the crunching of combat boots against the snow.

  Help me. I am the new guy! Which cave are you guys in? Just help me join the platoon. Please. I'll give you my own vacation time!

  "Well, our plan is working," Corporal Woo whispered. "He thinks we are in one of the caves. We were right about the panels not doing a good job of showing how high the chairs are. Colonel Felix will have to patch that."

  "Were you able to hear what the guy said?" Gabe asked.

  "Oh you two have not been introduced to Private Borrys yet. I always assume the new recruits... er potential recruits know each other," Lucia said.

  "This is the other new guy ain't it? How old is he?" Joaquim asked.

  "A little older than you two," Sergeant Uzi replied quietly. "He was the same age as Joaquim when he joined the army... and he's already worked his way to a one digit platoon."

  "Well, do you folks like him?" Corporal Woo asked.

  "I do," Lucia said.

  "Eh..." Sergeant Uzi added, spinning away vis face away from the others.

  "Really?" Lucia asked, furrowing her snout at the arak. "Wait... you find him annoying don't you?"

  HELP ME! PLEASE! I SUCK ASS AT THESE KIND OF TESTS! I AM MADE FOR THE FIELD GODDAMIT! THE REAL DEAL!

  "Nah, I do not," Sergeant Uzi replied. "I just find it strange he isn't trying to join one platoon instead."

  I HEAR YOU GUYS!

  "Well, with me unconsciously increasing my speaking volume... it seems I am okay with helping him," Sergeant Uzi groaned.

  "Yea. Let's help him join. I know he's not lazy on missions at least," Corporal Woo added.

  "It sounds like he is somewhere past the crevice. Corporal, beam him up... err... scone?" Sergeant Uzi commanded. "Is that how humans say it?"

  "Almost Sergeant!" Corporal Woo replied with a smile, vanishing right after.

  Joaquim expected the chatter to continue, but it vanished along with the jaunter. His anger distracted him from the fact that he did not meet Gabe's gaze when he kept turning his head to talk. Oftentimes they would communicate with just their eyes, but Joaquim had no interest in meeting his gaze this late morning. However, he did glance at Lucia and Sergeant Uzi, and even vis curled tendrils showed ve could feel the brotherly tension. Lucia turned away to enjoy the view towards her left and Joaquim used his arms to move himself to the flying seat to his left to join her. Gratitude quashed some of his anger as his eyes widened in wanderlust.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Past the edge of the ski resort and a bit of open sky was the second topmost flying platform in Ember City, which was called the Hubble Jungle platform. Joaquim knew of the silly sounding name because of the space observatories were there, and one of them was visible as a white dot within the dense canopy of the manmade jungle. The side of the platform facing the mountain range looked like a bed of flowers by a beachfront made up of mostly white, red, blue, and yellow petals at first, but with more focus it became apparent that the flowers were actually parasols on a artificial beach. Along the shore were humans swimming, sleeping, playing, and tanning.

  While Joaquim was mesmerized by the other platform, he did not realize that a freckle-cheeked teenager with dark blonde hair under his beret was sitting beside him with Corporal Woo. The two boys met eyes.

  "You two go by Cadet Wami? Hopefully one of you two get promoted quickly," Private Borrys said. "Nice to meet you two."

  "Who's idea was this?!"

  Everyone's stomachs sank when they heard Iker yelling out that question from the summit. Even though the cloud made it hard to see the summit Iker was yelling from, it was obvious he knew where they were.

  "I mean, I love the creativity, but you folks know that you are the only cloud in the sky right?"

  Sergeant Uzi raised vis needle arms close to vis bubble wrap-like eyes. "I am such a fool!"

  "Alright, our Sergeant takes all the credit for this flawless plan. I had nothing to do with this," Corporal Woo mumbled.

  "Ugh!" Sergeant Uzi yelled in response. "How did I not think through the obvious? Of course clouds are not this high in the atmosphere!"

  "So I guess I can take all the chairs and hide them away myself. Maybe find a cave and just fight you guys off at the entrance with Lieutenant Tagore," Iker said.

  "Alright Cadet Wami, tell your belly to quit its bellyaching or whatever you call it," Sergeant Uzi advised, pointing all vis eight needle arms in the direction opposite of Iker. "Hold on to your seats!"

  The esper arak was not kidding; Joaquim would have flown off if it was not for him grasping the base of his chair quickly. The third loop of the song played as Joaquim recognized the piano keys and a male voice as the chairs and the cloud flew like a magical nimbus cloud.

  "Where do you think you're going? We are done for!" Lucia yelled.

  "Away! Away as far as I can!" Sergeant Uzi yelled back in panic.

  Iker's nonchalant laughter could be heard in the distance, until it stopped. After hearing Corporal Woo gasping, Joaquim turned around to find Iker holding her by the wrists as he stood on the back of her chair.

  "No jaunting me away," Iker said playfully. "May I have my chairs back please?"

  Lucia, Private Borrys, Joaquim, and Gabe all went for the attack, leaping off their own seats, but Joaquim found himself flying back towards the summit. Not only was Iker fast enough to stop all of them before they realized what happened, but he could even throw them to safety with no issues. None of the soldiers fell down the mountainside; they instead crashed into the summit where the chairs were once piled up.

  The fake cloud seemed to have obeyed some form of physics, because Iker's movements made it disperse. And the past the parting cloud Iker was spotted with all chairs stacked up. He held the back of the bottom chair of the stack with one arm.

  "Easy," Iker said, a drone with speakers playing the musical chair test song zooming by so he could grasp it by one of its handles. He then let the chairs drop to his ankles, and began doing pull ups with them.

  Joaquim was busy looking for Sergeant Uzi in the sky, but ve was nowhere to be found. Instead, he should have glanced down under his combat boots because Sergeant Uzi was beneath them moaning in pain.

  "He didn't even punch me that hard... and I am done. I no longer care for vacations or helping new cadets... or privates for that matter," Sergeant Uzi moaned at Private Borrys.

  "So this is it? It's over?" Private Borrys asked.

  That was the last question Joaquim could hear as he was skating down the rocky and icy mountainside. He heard another set of crunches and slides, and he glanced behind to find Gabe following suit.

  "Let me make it up to you!" Gabe yelled. "I'll get you a chair!"

  "I can do it myself!" Joaquim yelled back.

  With flux emanating from their soles, the leaps and slides were gaining a great amount of momentum as they were moving downward towards the mountain's base, but instead of heading to the ground, Joaquim had his sights on an outcrop that was shaped like a slide pointing towards the sky. He was going to use it. And right when he touched his feet together as the rest of the world around him became a white, gray, and blue blur, he glanced behind quickly to find that Gabe had the same idea.

  And before Joaquim knew it, he went up the impromptu slide provided by the mountain. However, he picked up so much momentum that he went right under Iker's chairs. Gabe too.

  "Shit!" Gabe yelled somewhere in the open sky. "Teach me how to land safely with flux!"

  "I don't fucking know!" Joaquim yelled. "I broke my ankle earlier!"

  Joaquim had no control over whether he was going to land on his back, face, or feet. After the jump he was now spinning in midair, and he briefly caught Private Borrys actually landing on Iker's chairs. They were fighting in mid air for seats before they left Joaquim's vision.

  And a beep played among the drones with speakers after abruptly ending the song. A vista of snowy landscapes and a vista of open sky kept swapping places across Joaquim's vision.

  "FOOLS!" Sergeant Uzi yelled from somewhere.

  Cadet Wami, Cadet Wami, Private Felix, and Sergeant Uzi have been eliminated, the speakers announced.