Now, What can this fic be about? There have been so many different duels amongst the thorns that it's impossible to guess! Yeah right, whatever. This one's from Squawk's point of view. Read & enjoy. Also, leaving a review won't hurt ya ;)!
Duel Amongst The ThornsI had a simple and pleasant job once, flying with a flashlight and helping people navigate through caves and similar places.
I liked it, even if it wasn't a really important position, I was still useful.
I've grown since then, if I hadn't, I would have used it as a reason not to do anything more. But I had changed, I became far more needed, without me, the kongs would have probably got captured quite a few times too.
But I could very well live without that additional pressure.
King Zing Sting was bad enough, if Rambi had to run from him, what could I do? But after all, I was their "last hope".
One weak spot, few lucky hits… and a glorious victory?
Perhaps.
Not a hundred of bees could match the terror caused by the toxic tower though.
Rattly, Squitter and I, only us against the deadliest ambush ever.
I can still remember the distinct smell of acid, or whatever else chemicals
K. Rool used, coming nearer and nearer, threatening to get into my lungs with every breath I took. If not for the adrenaline rush, my muscles probably wouldn't have endured the agony I had to push them through in order to survive. I became weaker with every flap of my wings, but I found enough strength to reach the top of the tower alive.
Barely.
Sometimes I wonder how Rattly did it, with no wings like mine nor Squitter's webs. At times like this it must suck to be a snake. When we got out of there I was too exhausted to ask any questions though, and I don't think that he would be glad to recall it now.
After that tower, we thought it was all over for us. We thought that the only thing left was teaching K. Rool a lesson, and that was the kongs's job.
We had been wrong, SO wrong.
I went after them, just to see them kick some reptilian butt like they always do I guess. Just before the final showdown, the Flying Krock rose into the air. I didn't expect K. Rool to show of so much technology after all the pirate themed things he threw at us, but it wasn't even that spectacular. One long hall and the cabin. The invention could buy the kremling captain perhaps half an hour, but surely not more. After all, what baddies could be in found in one hall?
Quite a few, and one in particular, Screech.
He was of a very rare crossbreed between a parrot and a crow. His feathers were black and brown. His size was surprisingly small though, he was smaller than me and considering the breed, it meant that he hasn't entered the rapid growth period, which most parrots experienced when they were about fifteen, yet.
It was unexpected, no one thought that a teenage parrot would be chosen as the last line of defense, but it was true. At that time I thought that he was too young to participate in a true battle, and the fact that the challenge turned out to be a race ensured me in my wrong opinion. Nevertheless, I knew that the kongs didn't stand a chance in a race in the maze of spiked vines, where the ability to fly was the only thing that saved you from certain death at every step. So I volunteered to take their place in the challenge, I was about to learn that I was too cocky thinking I could beat my opponent without trouble and take my mind of the events in the tower, I didn't lose, but the event scarred my life forever.
Just before the lights turned from red to green, I took one last look at my rival. That's when our eyes met. There was some kind of indifference in his eyes, indifference, although a shallow one, is still an emotion, and I was shocked to see any emotion in the eyes of someone living on Crocodile Island, an island which had a core that stripped every living being out of emotion, that left anything alive a lifeless and soulless shell.
He had a soul, a brain, emotions… why did he fight on the reptilian side?
The first time I met him, Screech didn't seem a talkative person, but he didn't have to speak much to leave a giant impression on somebody.
"Stop thinking about who-knows-what and concentrate on the race you inferior parrot! If you were too dumb to notice, only one of us will finish the duel alive!"
I snapped out of my thoughts just in time to see the green light shine brightly, signaling for the race to begin. As I started, I wondered what did he mean by his words. I soon found out. At first, there was only a bit of sizzling and crackling, and after that, the whole hall behind us turned into a blinding vortex of sparkling electricity.
And it was moving forward.
Let's just say that it gave me another reason to fly as fast as possible. I quickly noticed that Screech was falling behind, my speed was far greater than his. I gained even more advantage when we started flying straight upwards, my big wings carried my faster than the black parrot's small ones. But there were still surprises awaiting me. As the upwards route ended, replaced by a rapidly falling one, I took a wide arc in order to avoid the pervasive thorns on the vines.
But Screech didn't.
I saw him spinning and somersaulting, and in the end he did the sharpest turn I have ever seen. If he missed the spikes, and it surely looked like he didn't, he did it by mere millimeters. I couldn't comprehend why he took such risk just to get a few seconds ahead of me, but it was quite simple. He knew he was slower and couldn't win by speed and losing meant death amongst the electrical charges, so he decided to test his luck and finesse. It was possible only for someone who knew desperation, yet knew no fear. Screech was such a person, I wasn't so I just tried to further increase my speed.
And it went on for a while, my rival gaining on me on turns, and me getting the advantage back on straight lines. His bravery and precision soon got another chance to shine though. When we neared corridors completely barricaded by bees, I barely slowed down and shot them down with my quickly decreasing amount of coconuts stored in my stomach.
I barely slowed down, Screech didn't at all.
For a while I thought that he would soon get killed, that there was no way to get out of the barricades alive for him, but I soon had to change my mind as he flew out of each and every one without even the smallest scratch. It was probably about then that we became even, with no more sharp turns, but with my inferior stamina making me slow down. That was when we saw the finish line.
When it's either you or your opponent, when you are tingling on the edge, you don't think clearly. You forget all your ideals and honor, they don't count, only surviving does. Because of that I lost control over myself and did something I never would have done in any other fair race.
When he was flying very close to me, I rammed into him and smacked him with my wing, sending him tumbling into the nearest vines.
The astonishment was almost visible on his otherwise ice cold face. He clearly didn't expect a goody-goody to do such a thing. To tell you the truth, neither did I.
Even then, he managed to amaze and terrify me one last time. Rather than falling deep into the vines head-first, he stopped himself by impaling his left wing on the thorns. The amount of blood oozing out of the wounds was incredible, and almost made me vomit right then and there, but Screech seemed almost unfazed. Furthermore, when the blinding vortex almost caught him and turned him into a fried parrot, he twisted the vine around himself. I kept on flying and looking at him in awe when the electricity reached him and most of it disappeared on the impassable vine.
The last thing I saw was his body all soaked in blood, but still alive, and his eyes staring at me. There was an unmistakable message behind that stare:
"I'm down, but not out! And you, you fucking cheater, you would have already been dead!"
A gate closed behind me and I can recall no more…
***
And the rest is history. Except it isn't. Although I couldn't see him, I could feel his gaze coming from around Krow's nest in Gloomy Gulch.
He survived.
But not for long, the winds of Gloomy Gulch are traitorous, and when the unexpected sinking of Crocodile Island occurred, he didn't have any time to escape.
For the moment, he was dead.
I've had some nightmares after that, for about two weeks. Even quite a lot of them. Thanks to the miracle of forgetfulness I soon got rid of them though.
For a while I was happy.
And then the news came.
K. Rool survived, and thanks to the Crocodilian Core, the source of Kremling life, recreated the island and revived all of his most powerful minions.
I went on the adventure with the kongs again, by that time I completely forgot about Screech and his race.
It was still there though, buried deep within my subconscious.
When I faced him again, all the memories came back to me.
And I was afraid, both of him and myself, of what I have done.
I was terrified.
I tried to speak, to say anything, but I couldn't.
But he did, No longer with indifference in his eyes, but with satisfaction and cruelty. And his words made me tremble, even if I had already heard them once.
"Stop thinking about who-knows-what and concentrate on the race you inferior parrot! If you were too dumb to notice, only one of us will finish the duel alive!"
His growing period had already began, his wings were longer and stronger, I was sure he could already fly just as fast as I did.
But he didn't, he flew just as slowly as during our first encounter, mocking me, making more unpleasant memories flood into my mind until every turn became a painful hit into my soul.
Every detail of the race was revised, and by the time we neared the finish line, I had already turned into a wreck. And once again, although my mind cried for it to stop, my wing rose and smacked my torturer, sending him into the vines.
After that, I didn't even look at him, I just wept like a child, and there was nothing else I could do.
I heard he survived without even getting a single injury.
I heard, that there was a new secret passage within the Flying Krock that allowed him to escape.
I heard, that he became the new leader of the pirate Kremlings, after the second sinking of Crocodile Island, and sailed across the oceans.
None of this wisdom could give me anything but more fear and pain. The knowledge that he was still alive hurt like thousands of bullets reaping my body apart every second of my life…
The first time I met him, Screech didn't seem a talkative person, but he didn't have to speak much to leave a giant impression on somebody.
If his goal was winning the race, which I doubt, he failed.
But if his goal was crushing my spirit…
He succeeded.