History Main / SteppingStonesInTheSky

* ''VideoGame/{{Meatgriner}}'', already a game that runs on OutsideRide for 70% of it's levels, throws a plane chase in the final stage where you'll need to jump from the top of one plane to another.

* In ''Manga/{{InuYasha}}'', the character Koga, whose speed and agility are enhanced by magical jewel shards in both his legs, demonstrates the ability to run up rockslides, even while carrying another character. The title character sometimes does so, too, though it usually takes the only slightly more plausible form of leaping from one large, plummeting boulder to another.

* The last episode of ''Anime/{{Slayers}} Next'' has Gourry doing this. What's more remarkable is that by doing this he beats people who are simply flying their way out. The PowerOfLove is strong, indeed.

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', to rescue Kuroko, Mikoto blows a hole in a building with her Railgun attack, then Touma runs and leaps along the flying debris from the attack to grab Kuroko. Kuroko was on ''the fourth floor''.

* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': At one point during the battle on Titan, Film/{{Doctor Strange|2016}} creates discs of magic energy in mid-air for [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy Star-Lord]] to step on as he rushes towards Thanos.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', using her name-implied superpowers, Terra performs a visual interpretation of the trope to get BadassNormal Robin into the face of a giant robot worm. Robin himself used this method several times over the course of the series.

%% Image changed per IP discussion: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/addpost.php?discussion=1581880496084840100

[[quoteright:245:[[Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/frame_03_delay_007s.gif]]]][[caption-width-right:245:It's actually pretty easy, just DontLookDown!]]

* ''VideoGame/RaymanOrigins'' has you doing this in the second-to-last level. It marks a large DifficultySpike [[ThatOneLevel in an already moderately difficult game]], some of the things it asks of you are ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exq_-OjXfIs absurd.]]''

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': Tex. Wash. The Meta. Falling and cracking ice shelf. It is ''[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome awesome]]''. It takes a whole minute of it to stop their ongoing gunfight.

* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', Raiden does this to [[UpToEleven MISSILES BEING FIRED AT HIM!!!]] during the TUTORIAL LEVEL, WITHOUT a [[PressXToNotDie quicktime event]]. [[http://youtu.be/sVFyYqfNSVg?t=3m57s View it in all it's awesomeness here.]]

Due to Newton's Third Law of Motion, this isn't actually ''impossible,'' but you do need to be [[SuperSpeed moving faster than you're falling]] to actually get anywhere, and whatever you're climbing must have enough mass to be worth pushing against. It becomes much more plausible if...

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'', using her name-implied superpowers, Terra performs a visual interpretation of the trope to get BadassNormal Robin into the face of a giant robot worm. Robin himself used this method several times over the course of the series.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AeonFlux'' short "War", the sword-wielding fighter climbs by jumping off a series of enemy soldiers rappelling down from an aircraft.

* Near the end of one episode of the short-lived ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManUnlimited'' series, Spidey easily executes this to escape a CollapsingLair, with Venom and Carnage right behind.
* Happens in two episodes of ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan''. First in "Roar of the White Dragon" which Lance does with a ''car''. Lance again in "Escape from Galaluna" when the bridge he and his opponent are on blows up.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E24EquestriaGames Equestria Games]]", Spike reaches the ice block by jumping off the backs of several flying pegasi.

* In ''Anime/PokemonGenerations'', Buck does this with his Claydol levitating rocks to get around Heatran and to replace the Magma Stone that was removed by Team Galactic.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
** Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang do this when the [[GiantFlyer Nevermore]] smashes the temple they were in.
** Weiss is able to do this as her Semblance, allowing her to use InstantRunes for rappeling at any angle. She even uses this to do a FastballSpecial with Ruby in order to slay the Nevermore.
** Pyrrha pulls a really ludicrous version in "Extracurricular", taking out her shield in midair and then ''kicking off it''. (This is almost conceivable if she's using [[MagnetismManipulation her semblance]] to hold the shield still, but she doesn't seem to be doing that -- and it would be obvious to anyone watching, when as noted later, Pyrrha tries to keep her semblance a secret.)

* In ''Film/UltramanSaga'', shortly after Nozumu Taiga becomes Ultraman Zero's human host, he gets assaulted and flung into the air (together with parts of a destroyed bridge) by the kaiju Gubila, at which point he proceeds to jump from debris to debris before landing.

* Unlike western Dragons who flies using their wings, the Dragons in ''WesternAnimation/RayaAndTheLastDragon'' are Water Spirits who "flies" in the rain by leaping onto rain-drops, visibly flattening them into briefly seen shimmering spheres beneath their feets.

[[quoteright:245:[[Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/frame_03_delay_007s.gif]]]][[caption-width-right:245:It's actually pretty east, just DontLookDown!]]

* Unlike western Dragons who flies using their wings, the Dragons in ''WesternAnimation/RayaAndTheLastDragon'' are Water Spirits who "flies" in the rain by leaping between rain-drops, visibly flattening them into briefly seen shimmering spheres beneath their feets.

[[quoteright:245:[[Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/frame_03_delay_007s.gif]]]][[caption-width-right:245:It's actually pretty east, just {{Don't Look Down}}!]]

[[quoteright:245:[[Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/frame_03_delay_007s.gif]]]][[caption-width-right:245:It's actually pretty east, just Don'tLookDown!]]]]

[[quoteright:245:[[Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/frame_03_delay_007s.gif]]]][[caption-width-right:245:[[It's actually pretty east, just Don'tLookDown!]]]]

[[quoteright:245:[[Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/frame_03_delay_007s.gif]]]]

* In the ''LightNovel/GoshuushouSamaNinomiyaKun'' scene pictured above, ThoseTwoGuys not only dodge the rocks but also to cover considerable ground while climbing a cliff during a rockfall.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima''; Ku-Fei found herself doing this when she ''accidentally shattered the rock spire she was standing on'' while training her martial arts in the Magic World. An inversion, since she did it to get ''down'' and away safely. Also a use of FlashStep, rather than [[JumpPhysics superhuman leaping]].

%% * In ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'', the Hedgehog hero once pulled it off using sand he got out of his shoes to go from falling off a cliff to running to safety.

* Haley does this in the video for "Bury It" by {{CHVRCHES}} by using her telekinetic powers to hold random objects in the air long enough to climb down to where the other characters are. She then demonstrates that this was actually [[IBelieveICanFly not necessary]].

** The third boss of VideoGame/SuperMarioLand attacks Mario by throwing boulders at him, and the only way to get close enough to defeat him is to jump from boulder to boulder (in which the preceding levels have provided ample practice but with less of the "In The Sky" factor).
** In VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld (and later the [=SMW=] style in VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker), it's possible to drop most items (including keys, P-Switches, and springboards) midair and, with proper timing, have Mario jump off of them. While this isn't required at all in the original game, many [[GameMod ROM hacks]] [[NintendoHard (particularly the sup]][[PlatformHell er hard ones)]] require this technique to progress/get to secrets.
*** A similar example, also present in VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker, is throwing a shell against a wall midair and bouncing off of it when it rebounds. This one takes time to master, lest Mario get hit by said shell or miss it and fall into whatever hazards lie below.

* ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' gets in on the action when Master Chief jumps onto a [[CoolStarship Lich]] to get near a fleeing capital ship.

* ''Anime/TransformersRobotsInDisguise''