Alright, five chapters posted in one session. I'm very proud of myself, everybody read and review, and check out the others if ya want!
Xera finally noticed that Ryuhime wasn't following them. She'd actually noticed a while ago, but now it was starting to concern her.
Elric wasn't concerned so much as curious. He'd seen the exact moment that Ryuhime had been left behind. Judging from the tracks and spoor around that area, he also had a pretty good guess of what she'd run into if she didn't hurry. They were nasty, but not that bad compared to some other monsters.
"Um, Elric? Where'd Ryu get off to?" Xera asked him, hoping that he'd be able to answer.
"I don't know." He said calmly, skillfully dodging her inquiry. "It's your quest. I'm just here to observe. You lost your teammate, not me. Guess you should've kept a better watch on her."
Xera grew angry; she did that quite a lot. She got angry pretty easily. She pushed against his shoulder, forcing her way past him. "Are you gonna do anything?" She grunted angrily.
"Eh, probably not." Elric chuckled. He was enjoying himself on this little outing. Of course, if worst came to worst-a phrase he'd never really understood, after all if worst is coming to the worst people, isn't that a good thing? Then the best can go to others who deserve it right?-he'd step in and help out. But he wanted to see what his companions could do on their own.
Xera growled at him. Growling was kinda her thing, hence her being compared to a monster. "We're going back for her." She ordered.
Elric turned and bowed, gesturing grandiosely for her to lead the way. "After you mistress."
"Don't call me that." She snapped in response.
"Fine, you're no fun Xera." Elric laughed.
"Shut up." She stormed back in the direction she'd travelled before. She never forgot a path once she travelled it, in fact, she never got lost in general.
And so it didn't take them long to back track to Ryuhime.
Ryuhime's eyes fluttered open and she saw the Bulldrome charge at her again. "No..." She muttered, tears spilling from her eyes as she thought about all of the things she'd never experienced.
Most of all, she was sad that she'd never gotten to bed down with Xera. And that Xera wasn't there when she died.
But little did she know, Xera was right there, arriving just in time...almost. She got there seconds before the bulldrome hit Ryuhime, so close in timing that she was stuck on the other side of Ryu with the bulldrome's tusks within inches of Ryu's flesh. She held her greatsword out horizontally with the flat out toward the creature, stopping it cold.
"You're not touching my Ryu!" She shouted, looking down. With anybody else it would be a mistake, but she wanted to check on Ryuhime's health. She was out cold with a spot of blood staining her temple. Xera wanted to bend down and check her, but that would most likely just add to her danger.
Then Elric ran out of nowhere and shoulder rushed the bulldrome. "You handle the creature, I'll check on her."
Xera nodded her acceptance. "Good plan," Then she slapped her weapon into the side of the bulldrome's head.
The bulldrome staggered away from Xera, shaking his head. The hit didn't do much to him, just stun him a little. A bullfango charged in after , seeing an opportunity for glory. His fellow followed soon after. Xera was looking away from either of them, focusing entirely on the bulldrome.
That wasn't her being stupid, she knew they were trying to flank her. But they weren't her concern, she knew that the bulldrome was the one who hurt her Ryu, so there lay her focus.
"Come on," She taunted him. When the bullfangos rushed her, she rolled on air to avoid the razor tips of their tusks and only get hit by their bodies. She didn't count on how hard their skulls were, so she got hit a lot harder than she'd anticipated.
She pushed herself back up quickly. She didn't know much about these creatures, but if she were them it would be the time that she attacked. She was right. The bulldrome had turned around and was now rushing towards her.
She was lying on her sword, so with a massive effort, she pulled both her own weight and the weight of the sword up. Not very high, but as she rolled back, it went far enough to raise the point of the blade up about a foot.
The bulldrome charged forward, driving the blade into his neck. It wasn't a fatal blow though, not driving deep enough to actually sever anything of importance.
Xera could see that immediately, but at least it scared the bulldrome enough for it to back off a step, Xera followed i immediately though, not giving it a chance to recover.
She pressed the blade forward into its throat, hoping to strike some important organ or system and kill it without much more fighting.
But that was the exact moment that the bullfangos chose to intervene again. One slammed into her side, but the other was nowhere to be found. As she flipped from the impact, she glanced around to see if she could spot what had happened to it.
She found it, everywhere. There was no bullfango to be seen, only its innards strewn about Elric. The only reason it could be identified as having been the bullfango was that there were the creature's two tusks laying at his feet.
Elric was still curled around Ryuhime, checking pulse, or breathing, or something. Xera didn't know, so long as she was okay.
Xera turned back to focus on her own fight.
The bullfango came at again, so she rolled to the side to avoid its strike. At the conclusion of her roll, she lashed out and scored the creature's side.
That bullfango grew angry and did a quick turn once it reached the end of its run and charged again.
Xera was growing bored with this, if they were gonna attack her, they could at least make it fun. Then Ryuhime let out a weak cry of pain, and Xera's vision went blood red.
The bullfango charged, but when her vision changed, there was no outward change. Her eye color didn't change, no muscle alteration, no hair going wild; she still looked exactly the same. But the bullfango, and everything else in the area recognized the change in her.
The bulldrome grew frightened. Turning to run, it sprinted from the area. But it didn't get far. Xera gave chase. Elric knew that bulldromes were much faster than human hunters. Ryuhime knew that, unconscious as she was. The bulldrome knew it, he'd escaped many times before.
But Xera? She didn't know that. So she didn't accept it. When the bulldrome ran faster, she was still catching up with it, not having a problem keeping up as a matter of fact. It was no effort for her, because she didn't know that it was impossible.
When she caught up with him, she made him suffer for having harmed her Ryuhime. So badly did she hurt him, Elric himself had to turn away.
When she finished, she rushed over to Ryuhime. Blood dripped from her, painting her body in streams and strings hanging from her.
"Is she okay?" She near-begged Elric.
"She's fine, she's been awake for the past couple minutes, perfectly fine." He chuckled.
"And you couldn't tell me that?"
"Didn't wanna distract you."
"I'm fine, really." Ryuhime said from the ground. "He won't let me up until you kill them all."
"The other one ran off." Xera said, looking down. "You sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine, I'd be up, but he's holding me down." Ryuhime nodded at Elric's hand holding her shoulder down.
"What? I wanted to see what you could do on your own Xera." Elric justified his action.
"Don't risk Ryuhime." Xera said angrily.
"I didn't risk anything." Elric said, offrented at her mistrust. "I was ready to leap in and save you both at a moment's notice."
"You've done a lot of bragging about how good you are, but I have yet to see anything." Xera said. "I'm starting to think you're not all you're cracked up to be. Right Ryuhime?"
Ryuhime didn't want to get between the two of them, but she really didn't have a choice. So, caught between the two, she went with the obvious choice.
"I haven't seen anything impressive." She said, not really taking either side. But it was pretty obvious which side she was really on. She was staring down at Xera feet in submission.
Xera gloated and took her answer for a win. It kinda was, just not specific.
Elric just shook his head and helped Ryuhime to her feet. "Alright, I saw what Xera could do, but how about you now Ryuhime?" He said, eyeing her critically.
"Okay," She answered timidly.
Xera crossed her arms. "I still haven't seen you do anything."
"Who's team leader here?" Elric said with a turn of his wrist. "Who's the amazing champion that is the only reason we're here right now?"
"Me remember? I'm a champion too." Xera said confidently. "They just had to appease Ulf's sensitive demeanor." She was quoting what Ryuhime had told her before to satisfy her after losing the champion title. "Keep his ego in check, since I'm obviously the calmer between the two of us. He would've gotten pissed and pathetic."
The whole time she was talking, she made perfect eye contact with Ryuhime. She used Ryuhime's responses to check whether what she was saying made sense. Ryuhime nodded in support.
"Doesn't count, you still don't have the title." Elric said as he walked off, leading the group deeper into the jungle.
Xera and Ryuhime followed after him, what choice did they really have?
