The sound of scales being peeled away from flesh hovered for what seemed like an eternity in that smalls space that Gammit and the Hunter shared. Dark and gloomy was the presence of the leviathan corpse and Gammit only wished that the Hunter would hurry his work so that their progress could lead them away from the dreadful place.
He peered up through the gap that the beast had made in the roof structure of the cavern, but pulled away suddenly with a squint as he felt something wet touch his nose. Rubbing it away quickly and dismissing it as water, he looked up again.
It was snow. Snow that was falling from the top of Mt. Coronet and into the cavern here, but that's not what had captured Gammit's eye.
Above Mt. Coronet was a warping, distorted mass of shadows and what could only be described as realities.
"What the hell?" Gammit mumbled, shouldering the blade with a grimace. His body was still screaming protest at the slightest movements.
Sin stepped beside Gammit and looked up to the sky. "Niiiid." He growled, "Niiidoking..."
Gammit patted him on the shoulder and returned him to his ball.
"It's done." The Hunter growled, plunging the tip of his knife into the dirt as he stood, an armful of scales and flesh. "This is going to make amazing armor friend."
"Hmmph." Was all Gammit could manage.
They opted to stay in the cave that night, building a small fire towards a rear wall instead of close to the hole. "To much of a risk." The Hunter had said and Gammit was in no mood to argue.
Morning rolled around with a creeping line of sunlight that progressively forced its beaming glory over Gammit's eyelids. He rolled about in response and pulled his fists to his eyes, rubbing the sleep away and turning to find the Hunter gone. Though it wasn't a strange thing, the man rarely stayed still- Gammit wouldn't have been surprised to find that he had simply gone ahead without him.
That couldn't have been the case however, the rotting corpse of the Tigrex was no longer here and only one man could have possibly moved a creature that large. Not to mention his gear was laying over against the wall.
Gammit stretched and simply enjoyed the quiet sounds of wind moving through the tunnels and over the ridges of the snow capped mountain.
The plodding of heavy greaved feet disrupted this meditation after several minutes, and while the footsteps were familiar- the addition of heavy laden greaves was a new sound entirely. Gammit's gaze lifted and he saw a new person entirely.
Orange and blue scale laden metal caressed every single muscle that this man possessed, the Hunter that is, and he stood looking stronger than any other mortal being. On his back rode a blade meant for a giant, sharp and absolute. His entire being carried a new intensity and his eyes gleamed purple with passive insight.
"If we move now we can make it halfway up by noon." The Hunter said, gathering the rest of his gear into his bag and tossing it over a shoulder. "It's gonna be cold up there though." He said, looking through the hole in the cave's roof that allowed the snow to flutter in. His eyes, however, locked onto something in the distance, a small dot floating near the mountains peak- in his vision resonating purple.
"Sounds good to me, but how do we not freeze to death?" Gammit asked.
The Hunter flashed him a wide grin.
It was roughly noon and Gammit was scowling underneath the wing flap of the dead Tigrex.
"What about those Hot Drinks you were telling me about?" Gammit said, trying to keep up his end of the bargain with the wing. Stupid webbing weighed a ton.
"Your world doesn't contain the materials necessary, besides," He said, glancing at the nearing purple dot in the sky. "I have a feeling we'll be left alone until anything comes close enough to smell us."
Gammit continued to pout throughout the day, his body still sore from yesterday's events, but he managed to keep his side of the wing up until nightfall. Neither of them spoke as they drifted into a soft slumber under an overhang of snowy rock that made a natural wind buffer along the mountain side.
It wasn't until the noon of the next day that Gammit heard anything unusual.
As they paced across an open valley of snow that played across a small rise in the mountain's structure, Gammit sensed a change.
"Do you hear that?" He asked, looking around carefully.
"Hear what?"
"The wind..." Gammit said, pushing his head out from under the wing to see. Snow was kicking up like a hurricane and the sky had darkened significantly in the last few minutes. "It changed."
The Hunter peered out and looked up, the sky was different now and the snow around them was being peeled back by the intensity of whatever ungodly storm this was. Then...
He saw it.
A large, purple mass hovering in the center of a cloud of snow, slowly descending.
"Get down!" He screamed, tackling Gammit as the creature bellowed a cry that shook the very air around them.
It sounded like metal on metal, which was a compliment to the creature, as it gleamed with every possible luster imaginable- it's body radiant against the white gloss of the snow.
Gammit looked at it as it landed, snow and wind kicking around it in a furious whirlwind of anger and spite. The dragon locked eyes with him and growled a deep, echoing challenge.
The Hunter stood slowly, drawing his blade as he did. "The Kushala Daora, Elder Dragon. This one, this one I've met before." He said, locking eyes with the beast.
A scar like mark ran the length of the dragon's face and it squinted at the hunter, eyes brimming with intelligence.
Then, it did something Gammit would not have believed had he not been there.
It bowed.
Its neck arched down and it peered forward at the Hunter, who mimicked the motion. Slowly then, they brought their weapons forward. The Kushala, its wings, and the Hunter his blade.
Gammit reached for his sword, but his muscles screamed their disapproval so slowly his hand made its way to his team, grabbing the first one he could manage.
The dragon and man charged, snow flaring and guttural roars as they rushed each other.
Gammit tossed his ball, the spark and clack appeared and resounded as the ball opened in mid air and a monstrous figure was released from within. A horned beast, dragon for sure, with two eyes straying from each other and tongue lopsided from its mouth suddenly landed- causing a quake of snow between the Hunter and the Kushala Daora.
Gammit had released the Chameleos and the beast was staring right back at him.
