Sorry I was gone for so long. I was very busy with end of school stuff and I forgot to catch up.
Chapter Forty: Blind Spot
The clouded vision in Smash Hit's right eye did not deter him from picking a fight with a ravenous Chompy Worm. This one was smaller, about the size of a Bog Hog, meaning it must have just emerged from the pod it had pupated in. That did not mean, however, that this small Chompy Worm was less dangerous than any other. It hovered toward him whenever he stepped away, nearly chomping him on several occasions. Smash Hit swung his wrecking ball at it, crashing it into the Chompy Worm's side. He unchained the ball and set the hook on the creature's top jaw, trapping it in place. The creature's right wing slapped him, causing him to lose his balance and fall back onto the canyon floor.
He'd been told that his skills were impressive, but that he was always getting caught off guard by attacks on his right flank. That was definitely worrisome.
But Smash Hit was not to be defeated by this beast. The Chompy Worm made a move to bite him again, but he quickly dodged this attack, watching as it slid into the canyon wall. Reconnecting the ball to his chain, Smash Hit thrust the wrecking ball directly onto the Chompy Worm, crushing it in a fatal blow.
"Nothing more than an overgrown Chompy, huh?" Smash Hit gloated. "In fact, a Chompy can put up more of a fight than you did, especially with food around."
Slow clapping was heard, and Smash Hit turned his head around. The Dreadwalker known as Nightfall walked toward him, gently nudging him out of the way in order to inspect the Chompy Worm. After a few minutes, she had the creature's wings and teeth gathered within her dark tentacles, holding them carefully as if they were precious stones.
"Nice job. Though I was worried for a moment," Nightfall told him. "I would've stepped in if the worm had bitten you. There's no fighting against a force such as that."
"You know they can't take me down," Smash Hit insisted. "I'm like a shadow. Or a mongoose. No, actually like a honey badger. There's no messing with those guys. Have you ever seen a honey badger in action, cuz let me tell you, they're really hard to chase off your land or-"
"Your skills were a bit lacking today. Not by much, but you let that thing catch you off guard. You need to work on honing your senses so it doesn't happen again. Maybe we should spar a bit, see how that helps."
Smash Hit kicked his shoe into the dirt. For the past few weeks, he'd asked Nightfall to help him wean out his disability- that bad right eye he'd acquired from an incident at his old home. They thought that if he were to become powerful enough, than it would be like he'd never lost the use of his eye at all. The results so far were...diminishing, to say the least. It seemed like Smash Hit was performing worse without the eye patch he'd been given to cover up his blind spot.
Still, his only hope was to learn how to fight better without the eye patch. If he didn't, the world would only ever see him as a useless being- just like his clan had started to.
The two of them returned to their vehicles, which had been parked just near the canyon river. Smash Hit owned the Thump Truck, which was a glorious land vehicle with giant gray wheels that dwarfed the orange body, destined to churn up rocks and stones everywhere it went. Nightfall had the Sea Shadow, a hovercraft with blue and purple on its hull, which had the ability to shoot lasers at any target. The Sea Shadow was nice- but nowhere near as fantastic as the Thump Truck. Nightfall was passionate about the hovercraft, though, so Smash Hit never stated his opinion out loud. Both vehicles were special, however, because of the magical Rift Engines inside them. The Engines helped their vehicles move faster than any others in Skylands, and today, they seemed to be surging with some kind of energy. Up and down, the sparks shifted, as if they were sensing something that was near.
"I've never seen this kind of reaction before," Nightfall gasped, touching a tentative tentacle to the hull of the Sea Shadow. "Not since I made contact with my Rift Engine, at least."
Smash Hit's pulse quickened, his hands trembling as he thought of the moment he'd made contact with his. "Maybe there's another powerful machine out here," he wondered. "Something dangerous."
"Well if it's dangerous, we can't keep it standing so that it can harm other people. Let's track it down. By this surge in energy, it can't be far."
Nightfall could be rather impetuous at times. Not as much as Smash Hit himself, but it was really noticeable when she wanted to keep something safe. And normally, he was willing to go out and look for danger- heck, he even found pleasure in it. But if it was an extremely, dangerously powerful machine, well, Smash Hit knew he wasn't in any position to destroy it.
But it would be selfish of him to let Nightfall tackle this enemy alone.
So the two of them hopped into their vehicles, traveling around the canyon to track the source of the surging. The Thump Truck seemed to have more thrust in its Rift Engine because of this, and controlling the vehicle was a bit more difficult than normal. After traveling several miles deeper into the canyon, they happened upon an interesting site, which happened to be the source of the surging.
It was a crashed aircraft, one that looked like those old serial depictions of alien vessels. The back end was charred, bits of metal chipping off. Golden-yellow spikes on the sides also seemed to be a bit damaged. There was a Rift Engine sitting near the vessel, and an strange creature leaning on it. The creature seemed to be made of a light yellow crystal, wearing a strange white-and-mustard colored space suit. It had no helmet like in those serials, or a breathing mask akin to that of Nightfall's, so perhaps this creature was accustomed to breathing the same kind of air as they were. Although...it did look kind of sickly.
"That guy's Rift Engine is surging like ours is," Nightfall noted. "And it looks like it's been in this area for a while."
"But our Engines only started surging recently," Smash Hit replied, confused by all of this. "Do you think he's an alien? You know, he doesn't look like any of the aliens from those movie serials. Do you know what I mean? The green guys with the big heads and black, emotionless eyes, always wearing big clunky suits and shooting lasers and saying 'take me to your leader'?"
"Those depictions are just assumptions made by science fiction writers of the past. We have no way of determining what an alien would actually look like, or even if it's gender would align with any of the ones we have."
"Unless this guy is one."
Nightfall nodded, setting a finger below her breathing mask.
"Do you think he called for help? Is that why our vehicles are surging? Oh, what if he tried to contact his race to pick him up? Are they coming for him? Oh boy, are we going to be invaded by an alien armada!?"
"Why don't you go up to him and find out?" Nightfall suggested, shoving him forward a bit using her tentacles.
Smash Hit clenched his fists, frowning at her. "Why do I have to do it!? What if he has acid breath or laser eyes or something else that can kill me?!"
"You're small and cuddly, and he won't readily perceive you as a threat."
"Oh, you have seen those serials, haven't you? You're looking at me like those forest bear-things from Space Rebellion III- which, by the way, was the most disappointing entry in that series."
"But if he is an alien, don't you want to be the first to make contact with another strange lifeform?"
Smash Hit sighed, resigning himself to his fate. He nervously stepped forward several inches, closer and closer to the alien. He paused just in front of him, noting that the alien's cheeks seemed damp from tears, and that his lips seemed moist from mucus. The alien lifted his head a little bit, looking at Smash Hit and suddenly stiffening in worry. He muttered some kind of jibberish that neither of them could understand, though it was most likely his native tongue.
"Er... Smash Hit, nice to meet you!" Smash Hit announced, holding his hand out.
The alien looked at him for a moment, the fearful look in his gaze fading away. He pointed at the Warsupial, muttering, "...Smash Hit."
"That would be my name, yes. And yours?"
"My name is...Astroblast."
And then the alien grabbed Smash Hit's hand, shaking it gently. This was an odd thing. This creature, Astroblast, suddenly seemed aware of the custom that Smash Hit was presenting him with. Astroblast's gaze then settled on their vehicles, noting that they were surging in the same way that his Rift Engine was.
"Your vehicles share a similar power unit to this one," Astroblast gasped.
"Okay, how are you speaking our language fluently now?" Smash Hit asked.
"Universal translator. Most of my people have one. Have...have you spotted any of their ships?"
"Would they resemble yours?"
Astroblast nodded.
Oh, so he was trying to get into contact with his race. "I don't think we have. Sorry."
"That's what I thought you would say."
Astroblast stood up, wobbly legs shaking beneath him. He stumbled toward his ship, tripping up and nearly falling. Smash Hit caught him, supporting him as best as he could- he was only three feet tall, after all. Astroblast leaned on him, spitting up bile onto the ground. He looked especially weak at this moment, though he tried his hardest to appear strong.
Nightfall hurried over to them, helping support Astroblast. "Oh no, is our world's micro organisms wreaking havoc on your immune system, slowly and horribly killing you?" she asked.
"No, I've spent many months adjusting to them before setting foot here," Astroblast groaned. "This is me trying to adjust to your world's gravitational forces. It's not the first time I've experienced this, but I've spent several days like this, which is definitely not normal. I just..."
"What do you need?"
"Find me water. Any water. I don't even care if it's stagnant."
Smash Hit pursed his lips. "Oh, I think you will," he noted. "I tried it once, and let me tell you, it was the worst week of my life. We'll find some better water for you, don't worry."
Nightfall stepped away from them. "Actually, I think I should go," she decided. "It would be unwise to leave our new friend without protection in case something tries to maul him."
"In case something tries to what?" Astroblast stammered.
Smash Hit patted him on the back. "Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you," he promised.
Smash Hit waved goodbye as Nightfall retreated to the Sea Shadow, speeding off along the river in search of clean water. He sat on the ground, Astroblast slumping down next to him. Pouts were heard from the alien, and all that Smash Hit could feel was guilty, even though he hadn't wrecked his ship.
"Hey, stop crying," he muttered. "It takes a lot of energy, you know. You can't really afford to waste it right now."
"I'm really happy, you know," Astroblast sighed with melancholy. "I thought I would wither away here. I'm an easy target in my current state- I'm thankful that nothing has tried to attack me. You guys...won't leave, will you?"
"Of course not. Heck, if you want, you can travel with us, so long as you can hold your own against monsters- but I have a feeling you'll have no trouble with that."
Astroblast smiled- it was the first time he'd done that. "Thank you so much," he muttered.
Smash Hit nodded. He looked out at the river, waiting for Nightfall to return. The three of them were on the same boat, in a few ways. The Warsupial was a stranger to the ways of the world beyond his desert home, and the ways of other clans were foreign to him. Astroblast had no reference to anything else in Skylands, trapped and alone in his ways. Nightfall was a stranger to the world as well, having left her isolated home on a self-enforced exile. Perhaps they could be alone together, sorting out the rules of this world as one big group.
They stayed in that same area for about a week, waiting until Astroblast recuperated so they could set off. Smash Hit spent that time training without his eyepatch, smashing and shadowboxing rocks near their campsite. He found himself faltering a lot, nearly tripping up over the smaller stones. It really was rather difficult to fight when one side of your face was shrouded in a blurry mist.
He concluded with this one evening, dragging his wrecking ball back to the Thump Truck. Smash Hit leaned against his vehicle with a sigh, watching his friends at their activities. Nightfall was sharpening her strange hooks, while Astroblast was fixing up his airship. (The alien had recovered enough at this point in order to do that.) They seemed much happier than he felt.
"Night, I need to talk to you," Smash Hit called over.
"Away from camp?" Nightfall asked, brow furrowed. "You can come up to my side here so we can-"
"It's a bit personal."
Nightfall nodded, getting up from where she sat. "Astroblast, will you be okay on your own?" she questioned him.
Astroblast found a strange-looking blaster in the cockpit of his vessel. "I think so," he decided. "If not, I'll come get you. You're not going far, I hope."
"Just around the corner."
"Okay, then."
Smash Hit skipped back to his training spot, Nightfall just behind him. He found that his heart was racing faster than normal, not to mention how his hands were trembling. He was worrying about what to say, that much was certain. Well, he knew what to say, but not what outcome they would bring.
"Y-you've seen me practice out here, right?" Smash Hit began.
Nightfall nodded.
"I've been tripping up lately, more than usual. I can get my body in the motions, but beyond that, I'm unsuccessful in executing a move. Sometimes I can get in a few good ones, but that number goes down bit by bit as the week passes. I...I might be getting worse."
Nightfall set her hands on her hips, contemplating this. "Yes, I've noticed that," she added. "You are slipping up a bit more than normal. But there are numerous causes for this, so let's think about it rationally. Could be a lack of sleep. Could be an improper diet- I mean, we've had nothing but canned food for a month, and that can't be good for us."
"Then you'd be faltering as well."
No comment.
"Let's face it- it's my stupid bad eye. It's hampering my skill. I need my full sight if I'm going to get back to my old self."
"Alright, so we know the cause of this. So tell me, and this might sound obvious, but what can we do to make this better?"
She was hinting at the eyepatch as the solution. But just thinking about it made him feel ill. Look at that fellow with the eyepatch. All small and wounded. He really seems incapable of anything us normal folk can do. "Let's think of something else," Smash Hit spat. "Something better."
"There is nothing better, now is there?" Nightfall argued. "I know you're uncomfortable with the eyepatch, but it's helping you."
"It's a crutch. I can't rely on a crutch forever."
Nightfall was prepared to say something else, but Astroblast came running after them, firing his laser behind him. He knelt to the ground, looking a bit dizzy. Guess he wasn't fully adjusted yet.
Nightfall quickly ran to his side, helping him up. "What is it?" she gasped.
Smash Hit saw blue-and-purple lights right behind Astroblast, flickering and changing, and his heart dropped to his stomach as he realized what was after them. "Night! Spell Punks on his six!" he shouted.
"Go after them," Nightfall commanded. "I'll be with you quick as I can."
He swerved past them, making his way to camp. There really was no way around it, was there? Smash Hit grabbed the eyepatch from his pocket, putting it over his bad eye. He held his wrecking ball in a stern position as soon as he arrived at their vehicles. Three Spell Punks, perhaps of the Magic Element, floated around Astroblast's Rift Engine. They chortled to themselves, and began using levitation magic to pick the device up.
Horrible memories flashed in his mind for a moment, and only just. "Oh no you don't!" Smash Hit shouted.
He leapt up, grabbing the Rift Engine on one of the sides. The Spell Punks lost focus on the levitation due to shock, dropping both him and the device back onto the ground. The fall wasn't very high, and Smash Hit was up on his feet, swinging his wrecking ball in the air. He threw it at one Spell Punk, slamming it to the ground. The other two fired energy spells at him, which he managed to dodge with surprising ease. Smash Hit detached the ball, grabbing another Spell Punk with the hook, pulling it toward the ball's spinning spikes.
It was at this point that Nightfall ran to his side, grabbing her tentacles on all three of them. She threw them with all her might, crushing them against the canyon walls. The Spell Punks dissipated after that, their energy wasted. Smash Hit crossed his arms. The Dreadwalker always ended fights in anti-climactic ways.
Astroblast staggered back into camp, a wide, excited smile on his face. "Smash Hit, your moves were impressive!" he cheered, hands clasped together. "They didn't even land a hit on you."
Smash Hit quickly took of his eyepatch, stomping over to the alien. "They were after your Rift Engine," he said sternly. "You can't leave stuff like that lying around for everyone to gawk at, especially things like that."
"Smash, leave him be," Nightfall warned him.
The Warsupial inhaled sharply, trying to calm himself down. "Just trying to make sure he understands, that's all," he sighed. "Astroblast, do you have any idea what that is?"
"The Rift Engine? No, not quite," Astroblast muttered, rubbing an arm. "It's definitely a power source, that's for sure. I was using it to power the comms device in my ship."
"Well it can do more than power a little telephone. It can power our vehicles, large trains, armadas of dangerous drones...it's something that evil far more knowledgeable about it than you desires to get their hands on."
Astroblast visibly deflated.
Smash Hit stretched his arms behind his back, casually walking away from him. "Well now you know," he concluded. "So now you can be a bit more careful about it."
"Astroblast, you could just as easily install the Rift Engine into your own vehicle," Nightfall suggested. "Our vehicles act as shields, for lack of a better term. They surge with energy if someone other than ourselves even attempts to get into the cockpit. But it would have to be you who does it- mine reacted poorly when I tried to have someone else put it in."
The alien sighed, kneeling at his Rift Engine. "I need more parts for the full repair, though," he explained. "The inner machinery is fried, the cooling pipes are all cracked, and the thrusters are completely shot. I don't know if any metals from this world will be compatible with the ones from mine, and without the thrusters, I'm definitely not getting off world."
"I'll help you tow it into a village tomorrow," Smash Hit decided. "We can find a garage to help you set it up better, not to mention find some parts."
"Why not right now?"
Smash Hit climbed into the seat of the Thump Truck, grabbing out a small white blanket. He found that his hands were trembling again, and the awful memories from before wouldn't stop bugging him. "Don't feel like it right now, honestly."
"Fair point. And you did just fight a lot of people, so..."
"I'll start a fire," Nightfall announced, heading to the Sea Shadow.
Smash Hit sat at one of the Thump Truck's tires, wrapping the blanket around himself. The sudden fear he felt clung tightly to his mind, refusing to let go and give him ease. He could only hope that Astroblast had understood him about the Rift Engine's dangers.
Warsupial clans were often moving and changing location, mostly when things got too quiet. They sought out danger, always chasing after something to fight. Smash Hit was aware that the other clans attributed this behavior to his kind's dwindling numbers- at least, he had become aware of it upon leaving the desert where his clan had settled.
His clan found out how to cure their boredom for a little while. Rather than join in petty wars like other species were apt to do, they sought out Arkeyan ruins to demolish. They all said it was their duty, but they found it far too fun in order to consider it as such. Smash Hit remembered taking to it with open arms, creating his own kind of art form from that destruction. There was a might and a passion to his work that his friends and allies admired, and he made sure to keep his skills sharp and refined on every job.
One sweltering afternoon, he and a crew of seven others came across the ruins of a large Arkeyan building- the foreman decided that it had been a factory. Three of them, himself included, went inside to demolish the machines before the bomb squad set up the charges to completely level the building. Typical work went on, with Smash Hit pounding unfinished drones into thin sheets of metal, when he cleared some old tech away to discover a strange item.
It was a brass engine. Or bronze. The thing was so ancient that it was hard to tell what material it was made from. It's point of origin was also a mystery, since it had none of the typical indicators of Arkeyan machinery. No, it almost seemed...older, than anything left behind by the evil robots.
"Hey guys, check this out!" Smash Hit shouted.
The other Warsupials ran to his side, standing in awe of the strange device. Neither of them seemed to recognize it, either.
"This is definitely something we can't give up," the first one said. "Finders Keepers rule, Smash. What do you want to do with it?"
"I've been working on a truck to help me with future Moving Days," Smash Hit decided. "If this thingy works, I can finally get it working."
"Man, what I'd give for a truck," the second one groaned, crossing his arms. "It's so hard lugging all my trinkets around all the time."
The first one laughed. "You're only supposed to carry the small stuff."
"But I'm too attached to it all!"
The second one gripped Smash Hit on the arm with his blue work gloves. "You don't carry anything big around! Everything you have is in that metal box of yours!" he moaned. "Let me have that truck."
"No way," Smash Hit insisted. "Finder's Keepers rule."
"You built it yourself, though."
"So I'm technically the one that found it. But maybe I'll let you borrow it on weekends."
"It won't be relevant on weekends!"
They had a laugh about it, then went off back to work. Smash Hit decided to pull the engine out. One touch was all it took to bring the device to life. It suddenly surged with energy, sparks bouncing in all directions. He felt something click within him, something that almost hurt. It felt like what others said was a bond, but you can only bond with living creatures. This engine was...alive then!?
"Wow! nice work, Smash!" the first one cheered, clapping for him. "How'd you do it?"
"I, um...," Smash Hit stammered.
Their celebratory actions were short-lived, because the other machines had started coming to life as well. Some furnaces had kicked on. A few drones were crawling on the ground, a bit too rusted to do much. An Autogyro hanging above them started moving spinning its propellers around, dangling on the ropes and attempting to break free.
And it definitely looked like it was about to break free at any moment.
"Duck down!" the second one shouted.
And they all ran toward the nearest walls, hitting the dirt. The Autogyro crashed down, picking up dirt in the air with its propellers still spinning. The biggest threat was now gone, it seemed. Smash stood back up, running over to his companions to see if they were okay.
The next event happened too quickly for him to avoid it.
Something fell off the Autogyro- whatever it was, he couldn't be sure. It flew at Smash Hit with a great force, hitting him and forcing him to the ground. He found himself on his back, the air knocked out of him, too stunned to move.
"Smash!" the second one gasped.
"Wait a sec! The propeller's still moving!" the first one warned him.
Smash Hit's senses came back to him. There was excruciating pain on the right side of his face, and the sight in his right eye appeared reddish and blurry. There was also something wet and damp on his face as well, sliding down his cheek and staining the fur around it. Smash Hit lifted his shaky hand, touching the damp thing, and then taking a look a his red-stained fingers.
There was nothing else for it. He let out a great shriek.
Because a Warsupial's worst nightmare is the sight of their own blood.
It was this kind of shriek that Smash Hit awoke with. He sat up in tremors, his body shaking as if it were in the cold. He took slow breaths to ease his pounding heart, and then let out a sigh as he glanced at a purple sky tinted red with early sunrise.
Nothing but a dream, he tried to tell himself. Nothing but the past.
But it wasn't just the past. He'd lost half his sight. He was a shell of a once-capable Warsupial. His skills were waning with each day he tried practicing without an eyepatch. An eyepatch that only made him look more frail, he might add.
Smash Hit looked for Nightfall and Astroblast, only to discover that they had both come up right next to him. Their brows were contorted in worry and concern. Nightfall even had her hand up, prepared to touch him if she thought it would help him feel better.
"I woke you guys up, huh?" Smash Hit asked.
Astroblast gave a curt nod.
"I'm alright. It was just a nightmare."
"Yeah, but it sounded really bad," Astroblast muttered. "Do you want to talk about it, at least?"
Smash Hit stood up, the blanket falling to the ground. "I don't know," he insisted. "Just...I'm going to walk around for a minute."
Nightfall appeared as if she was going to say something, but quickly straightened up and let him go off.
Smash Hit walked away from them, picking up his wrecking ball. He made his way around to his training spot, eager to get back to work. But he heard footsteps behind him, and turned around to see Astroblast following behind him.
"So what was your dream about?" he asked.
Smash Hit frowned. "I thought I said-"
"You said you weren't sure."
He didn't reply. He had said that, huh?
"I just thought...maybe it might help."
Smash Hit leaned against the canyon wall, letting out a sigh. "It was about an accident. A terrible, terrible accident."
Astroblast leaned next to him. "Was anyone important hurt? Anyone you cared about?"
"I was."
"Did you die?"
"I lost my ability to fight. So basically, yeah, I died."
Astroblast drummed his fingers on the wall behind him. "Does it have anything to do with whatever you do out here?"
"How'd you guess?"
"I don't know. There was this kind of desperation around you whenever I saw you go out there. And I've watched you train out here a couple times, and noticed how frustrated you got. Does Nightfall know the reason?"
"She agreed to it. At least in the beginning. Now she's pushing me away from doing it."
"Well what is it?"
Smash Hit slid to the ground. "My right eye is useless. I can't fight as well as I used to because of it. Everyone in my clan started treating me like a child after the accident. I wanted to ensure that I could work as well as before."
"Well you were fantastic against those weird Spell Punk things."
"I was wearing an eyepatch. It makes it easier for me to focus on my target. It's rather blurry in my right eye, you know."
"If the eyepatch helps, why don't you just wear it all the time?"
"It's a crutch! It makes me look weak!"
Astroblast raised an eyebrow. "What's a crutch?"
"It's like a fancy cane, or stick. It helps people walk when they have broken legs, or if they're missing a leg, or if their bones are brittle or other things. Your species doesn't have any?"
"No, our medical technology is too good for that. We can repair damaged limbs in under an hour."
"Well, say you guys had none of those fancy gizmos and were stuck with what we have. You break your leg and need to walk around with a crutch. And then everyone starts giving you these looks, frowns, grimaces, trying not to upset you and failing at every turn. They see you as a weakling. Would you still keep using the crutch?"
"I'm not going to stop because I'm worried about what others think, especially if it's helping me."
Smash Hit scoffed, bringing his knees to his chest. "Yeah, it's the looks that are the worst," he admitted. "All of my clan members looked at me like I was broken. Like I couldn't do anything. And it made me feel broken, too."
Astroblast slid down as well. "It makes sense, I guess. I can't say that I relate. But if you're treating your eyepatch as a crutch, it sounds like you're not using a crutch at all. There's no shame in needing help. And yeah, maybe you're not the same as you were before, but it doesn't mean that you're any weaker, or that being different than before is bad. Does...does that help?"
Smash Hit felt his bad eye sting as tears came forth. Nightfall was only trying to help him, huh? To ensure that he really could be at the best of his ability? "You think I should wear that eyepatch all the time?" he muttered.
"Y-yeah, kinda," Astroblast replied. "I don't want you to feel as if you're being pushed into it, though."
Smash Hit stood up, stretching. "One day, then. One whole day," he decided. "If it turns out to help after that, then I'll stick to the eyepatch from now on."
Astroblast nodded in agreement.
They traveled on in the morning, albeit a bit slowly. Astroblast's ship, as well as his Rift Engine, were towed to the Thump Truck. To ensure that neither were damaged, Smash Hit had to move slower than he liked to. Nightfall led the way, traveling along the river with Astroblast in the Sea Shadow. She'd noted how annoying she found it to go slow as well, seeing as the alien complained about motion sickness.
"How much farther until we reach the village?" Nightfall asked over the radio.
Smash Hit glanced at the map on his dashboard. "Not much farther, I don't think," he replied.
He was currently wearing the eyepatch, and found that it did help him with driving. It was easier to get a view of the path ahead without the blurry vision in his right eye mucking it up. Things certainly seemed easier without that blur in the way.
They paused as a strange sound carried through the air. Maybe a roar, or a cackle. It made Smash Hit's skin crawl, terrified as to what it could be. A monster, or more Spell Punks, or maybe something else.
"What do you think that could be?" Astroblast muttered.
"Nothing good, that's for sure," Nightfall decided. "Detour, Smash?"
"Detour," Smash Hit agreed.
They moved from the path, following the sound as far as they could. It led them out of the canyon, onto the red rocks above. They discovered a camp nearby, which appeared to be the source of the sound. There was a group of Drow witches surrounding a pool of water, chattering about something. A large fish-like head was bobbing out of the water, biting at the air, roaring at the witches.
"What is that? What are they doing!?" Smash Hit gasped.
A sound came over the radio, like a gasp or a cough, and then nothing. Nightfall had tried to answer him, but had nothing to say. Smash Hit leapt out of the Thump Truck, running toward the camp. He pulled out the wrecking ball, holding it in a threatening position, as the witches turned to face him. They all glared at him, fists clenched.
"So what have we got here, hm?" Smash Hit growled.
"Nothing that needs concern for vermin such as yourself," one witch spat. "Get lost, or we'll be sure to feed you to the hatchling. I hear they love crunching bones between their teeth."
Smash called out to the others, "They have a weird hatchling!"
The witches shot energy bolts at him, which he dodged with ease. He swung the wrecking ball at them, knocking the away. Nightfall and Astroblast hurried over to his side, just before the witches recovered. Astroblast fired his laser at the witches, directing their fire at him and allowing Smash Hit to slam the witches onto the ground. Nightfall raced to the pool, grabbing the creature with her tentacles. She yanked it out of the water, revealing a strange eel-like monster the size of a water tank.
"Oh my! A Hydra Hatchling!" Nightfall gasped.
"Where'd you creeps ever get something like that?" Smash Hit spat at the witches.
Another witch fired an energy bolt at Astroblast, who had his shoulder injured. "That Hatchling will pave the way to a new Skylands," she yelled. "We will not let you harm it."
Smash Hit pursed his lips. "Well, it doesn't seem like you're not letting us," he smirked. "But that doesn't mean you're going to succeed."
The witches raced after Nightfall. The Dreadwalker tossed the Hydra Hatchling over to Smash Hit before the witches reached her. He swung his wrecking ball up and slammed the fish onto the ground. The witches went to chase after him, but Astroblast chased them off with his laser blaster. The enemies scattered, leaving their supplies behind.
"How's your shoulder?" Smash Hit asked.
Astroblast winced as he touched it. "It's not so bad," he insisted. "It really hurts, though. So where was that village?"
"Not too far from here."
Dark tentacles wrapped around the twitching Hydra Hatchling, and the two of them watched as Nightfall returned to the Sea Shadow. "We better keep moving, then," she announced.
They returned to their vehicles, retracing their steps and returning to the path. Getting behind the wheel of the Thump Truck, Smash Hit found himself giggling. His heart felt light, excited at how well he'd done in that fight. He contacted Nightfall on the radio, unable to stifle his chuckling.
"What do you need?" Nightfall asked.
"I think I'm going to keep wearing that eyepatch from now on," Smash Hit explained. "That's all."
A chuckle came on the radio, Nightfall agreeing with his decision.
