Yay, I managed to get chapter 7 up before the weekend was over! In this chappie, the gang meets another cousin of Dragons (Like the Wyrms in my last story) Enjoy!
Anphitere
A creature that looked like a winged serpent watched from the safety of the trees as Piper helped Aerrow bind up his several broken ribs. There was the scent of Dragon crystal on the red headed boy and the creature wanted to know why. So he followed the two strange humans through the jungle as they drove off towards the southern half of the terra.
Weaverbird stopped, her ears pricked. She could have sworn that she heard the rustling of feathers high above the trees. 'Silly,' the Dragoness thought to herself, 'there are large colourful birds all over this terra. That must be all I'm hearing.' But she still wasn't sure. Junko stopped and turned, seeing that Weaverbird had fallen a fair distance behind him. He loped over, looking up into the trees.
"What's up?" he asked. Weaverbird didn't answer; instead, she jumped up into the branches and clambered into the trees. There was a loud squawk of surprise, silence, then a series of clicks, whistles and chirrups. When Weaverbird descended from the canopy, she was accompanied by a coppery-pink serpent-like creature.
It had shiny pinkish feathers; they seemed stiff and hard like Weaverbird's scales, but also soft and downy. It raised the crest on its head and stretched out to look at the Wallop, curiosity filling its dark soulful eyes.
"This is Kiita," Weaverbird introduced the winged serpent, "She's an Anphitere (AN: for those who are wondering, it's pronounced AN-feh-teer) a relative of Dragons. They are native to this terra; the Mayans used to worship them as the embodiment of one of their gods." Junko gazed back at the creature, admiring how shiny her 'sceathers' were. The Anphitere purred and preened herself, quite obviously flattered. Weaverbird laughed.
"She says that she can show us the way to the sunset temple," Weaverbird continued, "That's where the crystal we need to fix Finn is hidden." Junko grinned. It sounded like their mission was about to get a lot easier now that they had a guide. With a cheerful chirp, Kiita slithered away into the jungle, waving the tuft of copper feathers on her tail as she went.
Stork winced at the sound of breaking glass emanating from Piper's room. He and Radarr had checked up on the other Finns who were behaving fairly well, but he was too afraid to check on the Finns in Piper's room. Stork and Radarr exchanged nervous glances.
"Ooohhh, man," Stork sighed, "If we weren't doomed before, we definitely are now." Radarr nodded emphatically; Piper would be furious when she got back. Who knew what those Finns were destroying?
So the two just stood outside the door, resigned to their inevitable fate.
"So what kind of snake was that?" Aerrow winced, massaging his ribs. They had stopped for their first break of the second day on terra Maya. Piper flipped through her copy of 'The Authoritive Guide to Atmosian Flora and Fauna'. Finding the section on terra Maya, she scanned the first few pages.
"It was a Mayan python," Piper replied, "It lives in the canopy, and comes down once a week or so to feed on large animals such as deer, large birds, and occasionally crocodiles. It kills its prey by constricting it. In other words, squeezing the life out of it."
"As if I didn't know that already." Aerrow replied sarcastically. Piper grinned sheepishly. The leaves rustled overhead. Aerrow and Piper took no notice of it. At least, not until a large winged serpent slithered gracefully down to the forest floor.
"Oh, not more snakes!" Aerrow groaned. He drew his energy blades. The creature hissed uncertainly. Piper gasped and grabbed Aerrow's shoulder to stop him from attacking.
"Aerrow, that's an Anphitere!" Aerrow gave her a confused look. Piper elaborated, "They're cousins of the Dragons. They were thought to be a myth for eons; an old Mayan legend. They must be really rare if no one's seen them for over a thousand years!" Aerrow lowered his weapons slightly, staring suspiciously into the Anphitere's eyes. It flicked its forked tongue inquisitively, and met the sky knight's green gaze. The Anphitere's almost-black eyes seemed to be trying to ask Aerrow something. Aerrow sheathed his blades and cautiously approached the creature.
It had stiff acid-green feathers, with a few crimson ones mixed in on the crest on its head. A tuft of dark green feathers tipped the Anphitere's tail. Its eyes were dark and full of character.
The Anphitere gently nosed Aerrow's chest, its wide nostrils flaring. Yes, there was definitely the smell of Dragon crystal on him. Sending a tendril of thought towards the sky knight's consciousness, the Anphitere put out his question. Aerrow could feel the inquiry reverberating through his bones; it made his ribs twinge a bit.
"He wants to know why I smell like Dragon crystal," Aerrow called to Piper. She was about to ask how he knew this, but decided not to; things had gotten much weirder since Weaverbird had joined them.
Aerrow tried to answer the Anphitere, but he didn't understand what Aerrow was saying. Reaching out to the Anphitere with his mind, Aerrow tried to convert his story from words into pictures. It was hard though, and Aerrow was starting to feel a little light headed. He staggered and Piper caught him under his arms and supported him.
"What's wrong?" Piper asked. Aerrow shook his head, trying to clear away the dizziness. Then he realized.
"Piper, I think we may have planned out our search parties badly," Aerrow replied weakly; the strength was flowing out of his limbs faster than water flowed out of an upturned cup, "I forgot that since she used a piece of her crystal to heal me, that Weaverbird and I can't go farther than twenty ticks from each other anymore." Piper groaned; terra Maya was definitely larger than twenty ticks, and there was no telling how far away Weaverbird and Junko were from their current positions. Part of her was angry that Aerrow hadn't mentioned this before.
The shard of crystal embedded in Aerrow's chest throbbed and he gasped. However this also made his broken ribs hurt, which didn't help much. Aerrow gritted his teeth against the pain, as Piper laid him gently on the ground. The Anphitere watched concernedly, rustling his wings. He slithered over and took a closer look at Aerrow, wondering if there was anything he could do to help.
Piper looked at the Anphitere and thought a moment. Picking up a stick, she drew a circle in the dirt, covering it with swirls and spirals. The Anphitere regarded the picture for a moment, his head cocked.
"Do you know where this is?" Piper asked slowly, enunciating each word carefully. Piper thought that if the Anphitere could smell the small shard of crystal within Aerrow, then they could definitely smell Weaverbird. Piper guessed that Weaverbird and Junko had already met an Anphitere, and had probably asked it to guide them to the sunset crystal's location.
The Anphitere stared at Piper's drawing a little longer and nodded slowly. He turned to leave the clearing, flicking his tufted tail to indicate that they should follow. Piper helped Aerrow up and onto her heliscooter; it was more maneuverable than his skimmer anyway. With that, Piper and Aerrow followed the Anphitere towards the western side of the terra.
Weaverbird stopped, her awareness of Aerrow fading. 'Shoot!' the Dragoness cursed herself, 'I've wandered too far from him!' She called to Kiita, asking for a stop. The copper-pink Anphitere cocked her head questioningly. Weaverbird only replied that they had to wait for some of their friends to meet them. Nodding, the female Anphitere coiled up on the forest floor to wait.
"We're stopping?" Junko asked, "Why?" Weaverbird turned to the Wallop.
"We need to wait for Aerrow and Piper; we might need their help to get through the temple. Can you call them for me? Tell them we'll wait for them at the temple." Junko nodded, plucking the radio from his belt.
"Guys? We've got someone to help us find the crystal." Junko called through the radio.
"We do too," Piper replied, her voice crackling a bit, "Aerrow's been hurt, is there somewhere we can meet you guys?" Junko frowned a little, his grey eyes worried.
"Weaverbird says we can meet at the temple. You guys okay?"
"We'll be fine, Aerrow's asleep for now," Piper's reassured the mechanic, "See you there. Piper, out." The radio went silent. Kiita looked at the radio, interested. Weaverbird nodded, lost in thought. The trio continued west, towards the sunset temple
Oh boy, I just know I'm gonna get a chorus of 'Poor Aerrow's from this chappie :)I seem to have this sick fascination for torturing Aerrow. Don't ask why, I don't know myself. Figures. :P Seems to work well with the AerrowXPiper aspect of some stories (not just mine) though. :) Hope to see y'all on thursday afternoon! Possibly Friday... We'll see. My imagination needs to recuperate. Bye:)