Chapter 4: Race for Rescue

Cragger cried out as he once again steered around a falling tree. It was obvious that Laval wanted to lose them as they were driving through the falling woods. Eris cried out as she too tried to keep herself from crashing, but in her mind, she was more slightly more worried for Laval and the way he was acting than not trying to crash. An exchanged glance with Cragger confirmed that he felt much the same way about the situation. The question is, would either of them be able to actually get to him?

"Laval, please stop! Slow down!", Eris cried.

"No!"

Ok she got a response, making progress.

Cragger pulled up to his right, his Speedor level with Laval's, earning him a glare and a ram from the uncharacteristically violent Lion, almost causing the Croc to lose control of his Speedor in the Process.

"Laval please! Let us help you!" Cragger said.

"Then stay out of my way!" Laval said.

He rammed Cragger's Speedor again, however the worried and bewildered reptile was once more able to recover. But the situation made it unlikely that he would be able to actually do it every time as Laval was trying to smartly use the trees to get ahead. Laval sped up as Cragger recovered from yet another fallen tree. Growling in frustration, Cragger grabbed his dual-bladed sword and wedged it in between the handlebars of the Speedor, immediately catching the Lion's attention as he looked at his best friend with rage in his eyes.

"Let go you dirty mud-lover!"

"Laval! Please stop! We just want to talk!"

Instead of answering, Laval drew his own sword, swinging at the Croc's head causing him to duck.

"Laval please stop!" he cried.

Laval swung at him again, seeing no choice or way to reason with his friend, Cragger removed his own blade as he blocked blow after blow from Laval. Eris, seeing this, drew her ax and accelerated to Laval's side.

"Guys sto…!" she didn't even have time to finish before an unintentional and sudden movement from Laval's Speedor caused an unintentional collision with hers, causing her to careen off and onto a falling tree in a head-on collision. Hearing the screams of the eagle, they both brought their speedorz to a stop to look back at what had happened. Cragger quickly got off his Speedor and ran over to Eris as her body draped over the back trunk of a tree. Seeing what his rage had done, Laval's anger turned to guilt, and he decided it would be best to just… He turned his Speedor around and left the two behind, vanishing into the forest.

As Cragger arrived at Eris' side he was relieved to see tear streaks on her feathered face as new ones formed in her eyes. She knew that Laval would never willingly hurt either of them, so how far gone had their friend been really? How much did ending this war mean to him? And finally was there actually anything they can do to help after all that had been done in this forest?

"Don't blame him for this Cragger, he's not himself right now." She said.

Cragger looked off in the direction that his friend left, "I know. You ok?"

Eris pushed herself up off the log, "I've had worse, I'm more worried about Laval right now."

"I know! With him the way he is right now, he'll get himself killed!", he looked back down the path and groaned, "And now we don't know where he went!"

He kicked a rock out into the bushes in anger.

"So what do we do now?", Eris said.

Cragger didn't know what to do, he couldn't let Laval get away, but at the same time, he couldn't track to save his life. How were they going to…

"Perhaps I can be of assistance."

It was a female voice, but not anything like Eris'. It was older, more experienced, and overall, more mysterious. To make matters both more confusing and alarming, he couldn't see who actually had said it. He quickly drew his sword.

"Who's there?", he said.

"Do not be frightened Cragger, I can help you find Laval."

The source of the voice finally came out of the trees, revealing her familiar yet surprising form. Cragger looked at the Wolf Legend Beast in shock, on impulse pointing his sword at her.

"Put your weapon away, Cragger. I mean you no harm."

Cragger heard the words as clear as a bell, and yet she wasn't making any vocal sounds that could be heard as talking as the Legend Beasts usually did.

"Cragger?", Eris said, "Is something wrong?"

Cragger scratched his head in embarassment, "Call me crazy Eris, but I think I can hear the thoughts of the Legend Beast."

Eris put her hands on her hips while giving Cragger a "seriously?" look.

"I dunno, crazy like having dreams about a lost tribe or having visions of their wings catching fire?" she said with clear sarcasm.

Cragger groaned, "Fair point."

Suddenly, the Wolf Legend Beast howled.

"I found his scent, follow me!"

"What was that all about?" Eris said.

"Apparently she's found Laval's scent," Cragger said.

Cragger sheathed his sword and ran back to his Speedor.

"Come on, what do we have to lose?" he said.

Realizing this could be their only chance to find Laval fast enough, Eris recovered her axe and got back on her Speedor as fast as she could.

Led by the Wolf Legend beast, the two Speedor's once more roared for the forest in pursuit of their friend.

"Hang on Laval," Eris said to herself quietly, "We're coming."

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Laval finally made his way to the Crescent shaped hill that had been his destination from the start. He slowly dismounted from his Speedor as memories of defending the hill with his friends and helping the Phoenix filled his head. Those were definitely simpler times, that was for certain. Laval continued to walk along the hill as he reminisced about what exactly happened on this hill. Suddenly, he was pulled out of his flashbacks by a feeling that he couldn't exactly explain. It was unknown and yet familiar, causing him to once more snap to attention. What was it? What was he feeling? Whatever it was, it was getting closer. Turning the direction he was sure it was coming from, he drew his Royal Valious in preparation for a battle as the sound of an approaching Tiger Scout Bike began to slowly become clearer as the orange blip in the distance quickly became larger.

A mixture of emotions hit Laval as he finally saw the driver of the bike, as he once more saw his ex for the first time in at least a month.

She didn't even look up as she brought the bike to a stop and turned off the engine.

"Laval," she greeted with indifference.

"Li'ella." Laval answered.

"You're lucky that I was able to convince my father to investigate your arrival alone."

"I'm not here for conflict, Li'ella."

Li'ella scoffed, "Save it, Laval. This is our territory, and it has been since the illumination. You're trespassing, so get out."

"This place doesn't belong to you Li'ella, it belongs to the Phoenix."

"Of whom we are sworn to protect!", she snarled.

"That's what you think this is!? Protection!?"

Li'ella snarled at this, "And here I was thinking we could somehow resolve this peacefully."

She drew her axe from her back as her stance shifted into one used for battle.

"Last warning Laval, leave or else…"

Laval shifted into a battle position of his own.

"So be it," Li'ella said.

With that, she charged at him with a yell. Laval met her blade with his own, before shifting his stance to block her next blow. Though both sides where obviously holding back, but Li'ella was clearly getting more and more aggressive in her fighting, forcing the Lion Prince back as he continued to play defense. But as Laval started to tire, it became obvious about who would eventually win the fight. That was, if not for the two Speedorz that were approaching the battle unseen by either of the combatants.