"I just thought of something." King was walking beside Aro, and they had been traveling all night at a brisk pace. "If I busted your axe in the doorway, what are you going to use as a weapon? These paths aren't the safest in the world you know." She let out an exasperated sigh.
"King, your stupidity has exceeded itself once again. I have a few tricks up my sleeve, including back-up weapons in case the going gets rough." She looked at him, giving her best teasing look. "I'm glad you were nice enough to think about it earlier when I could've fixed it, genius. I'm soo glad I got paired up with the brains of the village."
"Anytime. I like to help out my comrades when they need it...HEY! THAT WAS AN INSULT!!"
"As I said, nobody's lacking intelligence here, huh?" Aro looked around a bit. "This is as good a place as any to set up camp. Get the tents up, I'll handle the fire." They completed their tasks quietly, working fast to preserve what little time they had left for sleep. "See you bright and early."
...
Later that night, King got up and went out by the fire. Aro turned and looked at him. "You couldn't sleep either?" she asked.
"Nah, I can't help but think about how this thing could have destroyed all those towers. It seems impossible." King got a little closer to the fire.
"Don't sweat it. It's probably just some rumor that got blown out of proportion." The fire was still getting lower.
"Were have I heard that before?" They both laughed. By this point the fire was nearly out. King looked it over grimly. "We need to scavenge more wood if we want something to cook with in a little while."
"Good idea," Aro commented cheerfully, "I'll come with!" Without pausing for King to protest, she ran into her tent and grabbed her stuff. A few moments later found the duo searching the forest for suitable firewood. At one point King had found an oak, but the termites had already gotten to it.
"Here's one! I win!" Aro was perched triumphantly upon a redwood that had fallen over a pit in the ground. "What's my prize?"
"You, my lucky friend, get to help me drag this thing back to camp. But first, what's in the hole?" They both peered inside, but couldn't see anything. Aro got prepared and with a quick "I'll check," dropped into the pit. A couple of minutes had passed before she emerged, creeping along and acting real quiet.
"What was it Aro?" She turned and looked at him, with an angry look in her eyes.
"Shhhhh" she replied.
"What was it?"
"Shhhhh"
"WHAT WAS IT?"
"SHHHHHH"
"WHAT WAS IT?"
"SHUT UP!" There was a rumble coming from the pit. "Great work, King. You just woke up the..." King finished her sentence for her.
"HYDRA!" The snake-like creature emerged from the depths and started toward them. This particular hydra sported three heads, and particularly large teeth. It appeared to have been a cobra once in its life, but now had little of the markings left. King, caught wholly unprepared, looked around for anything that might slightly resemble a weapon. Aro reached into her pack and brought out a small metal rod. She hit it on the side and it elongated into a double-sided spear. The hydra, sensing her to be more of an immediate threat, attacked Aro.
The head on the far right, the third one as it were, lunged at the catlike woman. Aro sidestepped the attack and swung her spear like a baseball bat. The contact sent pain reverberating through the serpent's skull as it thrashed wildly. Aro did a back flip to reach safety, and landed on the top of the first head. Head number two, during the initial engagement, had slithered behind a tree to launch a surprise attack from behind. Aro attempted to evade, but the fangs still scraped her leg enough to cause blood to flow out. Aro spun before it could back away. She then, with extreme prejudice, chopped the head right off.
"Take THAT you jerk!" Aro retreated to a more defensible position. It took all of her concentration to parry the barrage of all four heads. Aro shook her head and did a quick recount. "They're multiplying!" After her sudden insight, Aro began to feel a little dizzy. It was at this point that she realized that they must be poisonous also. This fight was turning out to be more than she could handle.
"Hang in there Aro! I need to find a weapon!" King was searching furiously. "This'll have to do" he muttered to himself, picking up a large stick. He ran at the Hydra, stick swinging. The hydra paid him just enough attention to hit him with its tail. King went flying backwards, tumbling into the hole. While he was getting up, a glint of light caught his eye.
"A sword!" He ran over to the sword and noticed a skeleton holding on to it. He tried to separate them, but failed. He grabbed the handle and pulled as hard as he could. "Leggo!" King yelled furiously as he continued to pull.
"No" the skeleton said simply. King did a double take.
"Did that skeleton just tell me no? I really must be tired." King reached for the sword again. The skeleton moved it out of the way.
"I said no. I'm not giving you my sword." The skeleton glared angrily at the bewildered young Elite. Or at least as much of an angry glare as someone with no eyes can manage. King regained his composure, knowing that time lost could mean the end of his friend.
"Well I kind of need it right now, so if you could loan it to me then I promise to give it right back." The animated pile of bones just shook his head.
"No can do. If I relinquish this weapon then I will cease to live. Its power keeps me alive beyond my time. I was mauled by the Hydra to the point that my body could not heal even with the help of magic. So I decayed into what you now see. I'm surprised that I can even hold the sword at all. The magic housed inside of it must be allowing me that one single luxury. Well, that and keeping me alive. If the magic leaves my body then my life will too."
"Well you seem to have the perfect set up then, don't you. You get to live forever, not being able to feel, taste, smell, see, or even move. I can't understand how you can even hear me. Seems like the perfect life to me."
"All sarcasm aside, I suppose you do have a point. I grow weary of my bleak existence. I'm still not sure if I'm ready for the afterlife though."
"Look at it this way: It can't be much worse than this." The skeleton thought for a moment, then sighed and handed the blade to King without letting go.
"Be careful not to end up like I did, and don't use the sword's magic lightly. A cruel twist of fate turned my greatest discovery into my demise. Don't flaunt the sword's power either. There is no telling what others might do to gain that power. Oh, and good luck. You'll need a lot of it if you plan on killing that thing." With his final word said, the unfortunate Dr. John Mephis finally released his weapon and passed on. King examined the blade. It was a broadsword, and a strong one. It was durable, yet light. He thanked the pile of bones one last time and climbed out of the hole.
Aro was up with her back against the tree, drowsily blocking the onslaught of attacks. King raced to her side.
"Aro! Are you all right?"
"Hi mommy! Are you finally back from work? I cut off the baby sitter's head and she grew back two! I don't think she likes me…" Aro, weak from the poison, dropped her staff and began to sway from side to side. The hydra, seeing an opening to attack, struck out with all four heads. King leapt and managed to block three of the four. The last of the heads changed targets and went after King. He twisted, trying to dodge, but still got bit on the side. King used his open hand to pick up Aro, then slowly backed away from the persistent serpent. It followed immediately; thinking that tonight it would dine like a king, if you'll pardon the pun. Eventually King just ran, draping Aro over his shoulder. Aro briefly lifted her head to ask King a question.
"Mommy, is it ok if I go to sleep now?"
"No! I…will not…lose you now." King panted, "We have gotten too far…to die here!" Despite his refusal, Aro went limp. He could, however, still feel her shallow breathing. King risked a quick look behind him and noticed that they were no longer being pursued. The Hydra had stopped for no apparent reason and remained sitting, looking at King hungrily. Looking around, King also noticed that large spider webs surrounded him on all sides.
"Great, spider territory. I didn't know we had gone this far into the woods." The telltale rustling indicated that his presence was already known. Thinking quickly, king grabbed a rock and threw it at the Hydra. It bounced off the creature's head with a soft thunk sound. Trying to maintain its patience, the four-headed beast just ignored the indignity. The spiders were visible now, dropping from the canopy and surrounding him. Fighting them off with his continually diminishing strength, King picked up a larger rock and threw it too. The insult was too much for the Hydra to take from such a small morsel. It charged in to take revenge for the soon-to-be bruises. King dove to the ground, trying to make himself as low to the ground as possible. The spiders, maddened by the intrusion of their scaled neighbor, changed positions and proceeded to swarm the Hydra instead of King. The young warrior gathered up his friend and her possessions before running back to camp. At least, that's what he was planning on doing before he collapsed from blood loss and the poison seeping through his body.