The Price of Trespassing
A Chaosfinder Fan-fic By Geoffrey J. Smith 12/10/12
Wind blew through the air, rustling the leaves of the Aokigahara forest near the base of New Mt. Fuji. A lone figure strolled calmly past the abnormally tall trees, leaves slowly falling like snow as the figure made its way along an old forest trail.
Tall and lean, but also clearly strong, the young man looked up, his brown eyes following the now reddish sun as it begins it's slow journey below the horizon. The light bounced off of his charcoal grey skin, contrasting with his short, azure hair. A prominent tattoo sat upon his bare chest; a three headed dragon, it's serpentine heads reared menacingly as though ready to strike. He only wore blue cargo shorts, with the grip of a small pistol sticking out of his right pocket, and held a pair of jagged tomahawks, carved from some-sort of obsidian like stone.
As the Dragon,[which is what he is called by those few who know and believe in his existence], stepped over a large, protruding root that lay in his path he paused, listening. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, as his ears picked up the distant cry of something defiantly not human. Some sort of creature had dared to intrude upon the Dragon's territory, and it wasn't alone based on the sounds of gunfire coming from the same direction.
The Dragon charged forward, the trees flashing by at inhuman speeds as he quickly closed the gap between himself and the ongoing ruckus. He skidded to a halt at the top of a small outcropping overlooking a small valley, and a scene of pure carnage.
The first thing that caught the Dragon's eye was the large, reptilian beast howling in rage as it pursued what looked like a group of hunters. The beast was massive, probably the same size as an elephant, though both shorter and longer do to it's sprawling legs and long, whip-like tail. It had rows of sharp spikes along its back and sides, hooked claws, a mouth full of razor sharp teeth, and small, yellow eyes. The creature's pebbly scales seemed to be colored with a mix of grays and reds, although the red streaks may actually have been the smeared blood of its victims, whose dismembered remains were scattered across the small valley.
There were still half a dozen hunters left standing, each wielding a rifle or shotgun. There was also a young woman with them, carrying a small pistol. They desperately shot at the monster, the bullets either bouncing off or simply not penetrating deep enough to hurt the lizard as it charged. The first victim didn't even have time to scream as he was snapped up by the lizard monster's toothy maw. The beast shook it's head violently, like a dog with a chew toy, before gulping down the man's shredded remains, bloody pieces falling from its maw as it chewed. The beast then screeched at the others, who scattered as it charged.
As the bloody nightmare unfolded below, the Dragon sat down, hanging his legs over the edge of the outcrop as he studied the ensuing slaughter before him. The Dragon had no interest in helping the humans, whose screams echoed through the evening air. It was pretty obvious that the monster would wipe out the hunting party with little effort, so the Dragon decided to simply wait for the beast to turn its back long enough for him to close the distance; at the moment the creature was running back and forth too erratically to catch it off guard.
And then only two humans were left, a hunter and the girl. The girl had a large gash on her leg, and couldn't run. The lizard monster was busy devouring the remains of its latest victim, and the remaining hunter took the opportunity to escape, ignoring the girl's pleas. The creature looked up, alerted by the woman's screams. It's eyes were small, not good at seeing stationary objects, but they were very good at detecting movement. The monster didn't see the girl's prone figure, and lunged at the fleeing hunter as he scrambled up a rocky hill. The hunter managed to reach the top of the hill, but had barely started to run before the lizard monster's tail struck, the sharpened tip slicing the man clean in half, his legs still desperately kicking even as his upper body flopped to the ground ten feet away.
With its intended target eliminated, the monster turned back to the valley, its forked tongue flicked in and out of its mouth, tasting the air for any survivors. And sure enough, amidst the smell of blood and gunpowder, there lingered the distinctive smell of fear, as the wounded girl desperately crawled towards the other side of the valley. The lizard slowly closed the distance between itself and its helpless prey, until it stood over, saliva dripping as it leaned forward, its bloody maw widening to swallow the sobbing girl whole. So intent on its next meal, the creature didn't hear the whistling sound of something cutting through the air, right before a stone tomahawk buried itself into the lizard's left shoulder.
The monster bellowed, a combination of surprise and pain, instinctively flinching away from the source of the pain. The Dragon took advantage of the extra momentum to swing forward from the lizard's side, driving his other tomahawk into the beast's eye. The tomahawks were sharp, but even the hardened stone weapons couldn't cut completely through the beast's thick flesh and bones, and the Dragon had no choice but to yank his weapons free and flipped backwards, putting some distance between himself and his flailing opponent.
Half-blind, the monster lashed its tail blindly at the Dragon, only to have its sharpened tip sliced through with a single slash of his tomahawk. Now both angry and panicked, the lizard beast lunged at its assailant, its jaws opened wide. The Dragon swung both of his tomahawks outwards, cleaving through the lizard's jaw muscles, then driving his knee into its chin, crushing the entire lower jaw into the monster's upper jaw, effectively destroying the lizard's maw with only a couple of blows. Stunned and in agony, the lizard stumbled backwards. The Dragon lunged forward, aiming for his opponents weak point: its softer underbelly. With two mighty strikes, the battle ended as quickly as it began, with the lizard's severed head rolling across the ground as its body flipped over, blood spraying from its neck as its limbs flailed uncontrollably for a few moments before finally falling limp.
The Dragon gave a snort of satisfaction as he flipped his tomahawks in his hands, shaking some lingering blood off before driving them into the ground. Looking around, he saw the girl, who had managed to climb up the hill using a discarded rifle as a crutch. The Dragon turned away; the girl was heading away from his territory, and he had more than enough spoils scattered around him to collect. As he began searching the remains of the hunters, the Dragon looked over at the lizard monster's lifeless body, figuring that it would probably give three or four days of fresh meat before it began to rot.
Now he only had one little problem... how the heck was he going to get four tons of dead lizard meat back home?
END.