Chapter 4-The Monster of Mt. Glaus
Disclaimer: I know I said I wouldn't say I didn't own BOF
III anymore, but there's something else in here. I do not own the quote Teepo
says just before they fight the monster.
Ryu
and Teepo collapsed, exhausted from climbing up a steep slope. They had also
fought off a few currs, and that was what was causing most of their fatigue.
"Pant…wheeze…jeez,
who's dumb idea was it to go after Rei anyway?" gasped Teepo.
"Yours,"
Ryu said simply.
Teepo
blinked. "Oh. Right. I knew that."
Ryu
rolled his eyes and stood up. Having caught his breath, he looked around.
After
a few more seconds, Teepo also got up, and noticed something to the northeast.
"Hey,
look! It's a bridge!"
Ryu
looked at it. It was, indeed, a bridge, but what was more interesting was what
it led to. On the other side of the gap the bridge was connecting were a cabin
and a few crates.
"Why
is there a cabin up here?" Ryu said.
Teepo
shrugged. "I dunno. C'mon, it's almost dusk, maybe we could sleep there."
"Yeah,
sure. I'm getting pretty tired."
Ryu
and Teepo walked across the bridge and up to the cabin. Teepo silently pushed
open the door, looking around for anyone inside.
"I
think it's safe," he said to Ryu. He opened the door all the way and walked
inside. Ryu followed him.
Suddenly,
the cabin was lit up with a fire-in the fireplace. And standing next to the
hearth was-
"Rei!"
Rei
jerked his head up, staring at Ryu and Teepo. "When'd you guys get here? I thought
Bunyan had you do something."
"He
did," said Teepo. "He just made us cut logs."
"By
the way, Rei," Ryu started. "What exactly is the problem?"
Rei
blinked at Ryu's question. "Uh…alright, I guess it's safe to tell. There's some
monster that's been terrorizing the village lately-actually, stealing its food.
That's the reason why the people are having such a bad harvest. I'm guessing
Bunyan sent me up here to kill it, 'cause he knew that it lived up here."
Teepo
grinned. "Can we help ya, Rei? Can we?"
Rei
rubbed the back of his neck absentmindedly. "Well…I don't know…now that you're
here, I won't be able to use…"
Ryu
and Teepo looked up. "Use what?" Teepo said curiously.
"Uh…nothing.
Forget it."
Teepo crossed his arms. "All right, it's pretty obvious you're hiding
something. What is it you won't be able to use?"
Rei
rolled his eyes. "Forget it. Forget I ever mentioned it." He looked out the
window. "'Sides, it's getting dark, and I know you two are tired, so I think we
should have a rest-mind you, those monsters down below tired me out too…"
There
was a single bed in the corner of the cabin. "Now, who gets the bed?" asked
Ryu.
"We'll
fight for it!" said Teepo excitedly.
"Forget
it, Teeps," said Rei. "We're too tired as it is. How about we all just camp out
on the floor?"
No
one argued with that.
Ryu
twisted and turned. He knew he was having another nightmare, but again, he
could not wake up.
He
saw two men, one seeming to be half-wolf, and the other a small mole, trying to
kill him. He unleashed a breath of fire upon both of them…
And
it happened again. Two other men charged at him, and he unleashed another wave
of fire.
And
a bull-like man charged towards him…and he prepared to unleash fire, when…
"NO!
DON'T!"
Then
something hit the side of his face…and…
"Ryu,
wake up, dammit!"
Ryu's
eyes snapped open. It was broad daylight outside, and it would have been
peaceful had it not been for the earth-shaking roars occurring outside.
Teepo
swung around his sword in practice swings. Rei sharpened his daggers, and
sliced once.
"C'mon,
Ryu! Get up! The monster's outside!" yelled Teepo.
Ryu
immediately snapped to attention. He flipped onto his feet, grabbed the handle
of his sword, and drew it out. He was shaking all over.
Rei
looked at Ryu, who looked really nervous-the shaking gave it away.
Man, he could die in this fight…Rei thought. No wonder he's so afraid. He's like six for cryin'
out loud. Around six years old and in a fight for his life…Rei smiled. Heh, guess I'd be scared too. He shook his head to clear the thoughts and
sharpened his daggers once more.
"C'mon,
let's go!" cried Teepo and busted open the front door of the cabin. He ran
around-only to let out a blood-freezing scream.
Standing
in front of him was a gorilla-like creature. It was down on all fours, but that
wasn't what was scary. It had four tails, and they looked like snakes.
"Snakes…why'd
it have to be snakes?" muttered Teepo. (Author's note: Yes, that is a direct
reference to Indiana Jones.)
Ryu
and Rei ran outside and noticed Teepo and the monster.
"So…it's
a Nue," said Rei. He sharpened his daggers one more time, and then swung them
in front of him, as a taunt.
Ryu
was almost too scared to move. But eventually courage overcame fear and he
waved his sword in front of his foe.
Teepo
regained his senses and started charging up. A blue energy ball appeared in his
left hand.
What's that?
Ryu thought.
Teepo then pointed at the Nue and yelled, "Frost!"
A bunch of meter-long icicles rose up behind Teepo,
and flew at the Nue. They stabbed into the rough, furry skin of the monster,
and it let out a roar of pain.
Magic! Cool!
Ryu smiled, and, on a show of courage he didn't even know he had, he charged
forward and sliced the monster's face.
The Nue roared and swiped at him with its
beach-ball-sized-but-much-more-damaging claw. The claw hit Ryu, flinging him
back. He hit the ground, skidding to a stop near Rei and Teepo.
He immediately flipped back up, waving his sword
tauntingly.
Rei let out a war cry as he jumped into the air. He
landed on the Nue's back and swiped at its skin. It let out a cry and stomped
hard to get him off.
Rei flipped off on his own and jumped back to the
imaginary line he, Ryu, and Teepo had formed.
It was Teepo's turn now. Again, he charged up, but this
time a red energy ball formed in his left hand, instead of a blue. And instead
of Frost, he used…
"Flame!"
A fireball rose from his hand and slammed into the
Nue's face. It cried out and shook its head, trying to rid itself of the
burning sensation in its face. As soon as it did, it leaped into the air,
landing on Ryu.
"AH!" yelled the boy as the 200-pound monster
landed on him. (Author's note: Okay, so maybe it isn't 200 pounds. How would I
know?)
As the Nue crawled off him, satisfied, Ryu felt his
mind going blank…and the darkness…the darkness…
Suddenly, he felt a strange sort of warmth inside
his body. It took him a moment to realize what it was…magic.
I can use magic too?
Ryu thought. And then, he realized his magic was of the healing group…and the
magic he knew now was…
"Heal!" he cried out before he collapsed.
It was all he needed. Green lights circled the
blue-haired boy, and he glowed white before jumping up again.
Rei smiled at him. "Great. We could use that!" His
attention snapped back to the battle as the Nue leapt at him. Ducking under its
attack, he rammed his dagger into the underbelly of the beast.
The Nue roared as Rei pulled the dagger out. It
staggered back.
"Hey, I think we won!" said Teepo happily.
But the Nue was still standing. And after a long
moment, during which it was debating on either continue attacking them or turn
tail and haul butt, it decided to choose the latter and sped off towards a cave
in the side of the mountain.
"Hey! Come back here! We ain't done with you yet!"
Teepo ran after it, disappearing into the darkness of the cave.
Ryu looked at Rei. "Should we follow?"
Rei shrugged. "What do you think is better, death
by monster or death by Bunyan?"
"Monster, definitely." Ryu laughed and sheathed his
sword. "Come on!"
He and Rei ran towards the cave, disappearing into
the darkness.
There was a bit of light in the cave. The walls
seemed to give off the light. It was faint, but Ryu and Rei could still see
Teepo, who had for some reason stopped.
"Lost it," he muttered when he noticed Ryu and Rei.
"Lost the monster. This cave's a big maze."
"Hey, look!" Rei knelt down. There were drips of
blood on the floor. Rei tapped a small pool with his finger. It was still wet.
"Guess we could follow the trail," Rei said. "It'll
lead us straight to it."
Teepo grinned. "Yeah, why not? C'mon!" He turned
and ran deeper into the cave, following the red marks on the ground.
"He's a bit over-enthusiastic, isn't he?" asked
Ryu.
"Yep. Let's follow." Ryu and Rei ran, looking down
at the floor occasionally to make sure they were following the trail.
Suddenly, they walked into a large cavern.
"Whew!" whistled Rei. "You could fit a blimp in
here!" He looked down at the ground. "Hey, wait…the blood's gone!"
"Yeah, I followed it all the way here," said Teepo,
standing in a corner. "My guess is, it jumped into there." He jerked his thumb
to the side.
Somehow Ryu and Rei hadn't noticed it when they had
come in, but now they saw that there was a huge pool of water that was filled
up with a waterfall. There was a ledge up near the top of the waterfall, and a
dark place in the middle of it.
"Hey, that looks like an entrance!" said Ryu. "But
how can we get there?"
Rei looked up at the ledge near the top of the waterfall.
"I'm guessing we need to find a way up there."
"I'll go check it out!" said Teepo, and ran out of
the cavern.
About five minutes later, Ryu and Rei heard, "Yo,
guys! Up here!"
Ryu and Rei looked up at the ledge and noticed
Teepo standing there.
"How'd you get there?" Rei called up.
"Follow the left wall after leaving this room!
Leads you straight up here!" said Teepo.
Ryu shrugged, turned on his heel, and ran out of
the cavern. Once outside of it, he placed his hand on the left wall, and started
walking.
Rei mimicked him, also putting his hand on the
wall, following Ryu up. They seemed to go into a bit of a spiral, and the more
they went up, the darker it got.
Finally, when Ryu was on the point of seeing
nothing but black, he saw white light emanating from a doorway.
"That must be it!" He ran through it, and sure
enough, saw Teepo there.
Ryu rubbed his eyes. "Okay, this light's hard on my
eyes. It's dark down there."
"I know," said Rei as he walked up to them. "So,
how exactly are we gonna reach that cave in the waterfall?"
"Hmm…" Teepo examined the waterfall for a minute or
two. Finally, he shrugged and said. "We could jump, I guess. Jump into the
water here, let it carry us to the cave, and get in when we have the chance."
"That could work," said Ryu. "Let's go!" He jumped
into the water and it started carrying him towards the falls.
Rei shrugged. "He's done it, we might as well." He
and Teepo jumped in at the same time and let the current carry them.
Ryu started to tumble down the falls as he reached
the top.
Keep a sense, Ryu,
he thought. Know where you're supposed
to get off the waterfall-ah!
At that point, he passed the cave he was aiming
for.
Great!
Ryu somehow got out of his tumble and grabbed the side of the entrance to the
cave just as it was about to slide out of reach.
That was close.
With all his strength, he pulled himself towards the opening, holding his
breath and closing his eyes to protect himself from the water flowing down his
face.
Almost there…ah!
He collapsed on the floor of the cave. He had made it.
Ryu lay there, on his side, gasping for breath.
Each breath he took hurt his throat, but he didn't care, as long as he could
breathe.
"Nice stunt, Ryu," said Teepo as he fell into the
cave, Rei just behind him.
"What stunt?" Ryu sat up and shook like a dog,
drying himself off.
"That stunt you pulled where you grabbed the cave
just as you passed it," said Teepo, rolling his eyes like it was obvious.
"I wouldn't call that a stunt," said Ryu. "I'd say
that was pure dumb luck."
"Yeah. Sure."
"Will you two shut up?" said Rei. "Personally, I
hate water. Think it's a race habit."
Rei got down on all fours and shook himself like a
dog, flinging water droplets everywhere.
One of the droplets flew into the blackness
stretching before them.
The Nue snored peacefully, glad that it had managed
to escape from the humans trying to kill it. Why were they trying to kill her
anyway? She was only getting food for her babies. There was no crime against
that, wasn't there?
Suddenly she awoke, a water droplet plopping onto
her nose. Enraged at the fact that something had awakened her, she peered into
the darkness. There were two human boys and a tall one with a tiger tail.
She frowned. It was those humans again. Well, she
would just have to teach them another lesson.
With a roar that shook the mountain, she leapt
forward.
Rei's head snapped up at the sound. It was so
powerful that it knocked Ryu down on his butt.
"What was that?" Ryu asked rhetorically.
Rei's eyes widened. "Oh, s**t! Teepo! Ryu! Get your heads down!"
Teepo ducked, clutching the ground as if he would
die if he let go. Ryu ducked and grabbed his head with his hands.
The Nue jumped right over them.
"It's back!" yelled Teepo as he jumped up and
whipped out his katana.
Rei grabbed the daggers by his sides and unsheathed
them. He twirled them around on his hands.
Ryu slowly got up, again, almost paralyzed with
fright. He somehow managed to grab his sword and pull it out.
"Here we go again!" said Rei. "AHHH!" He let out a
war cry and jumped at the Nue.
The Nue was extra angry this time, because of the
fact that they had just waked her up. As Rei drew closer, she raised her right-front
claw, curled it up like a fist, and punched Rei in the belly.
"OOF!" The wind was knocked out of Rei as the
beach-ball-sized-but-much-more-damaging fist struck him. He fell back, rolling
along the floor, finally coming to a stop as he slammed against the wall.
Ryu's eyes widened. What could he do? There was
nothing he could do to help-his sword was nothing against the rough fur and
skin of the Nue! But then, he remembered…
I'm not just limited to
physical abilities. He grabbed the blade of his sword, charging
up. Then he pointed it at Rei and called out, "Heal!"
Just as they had done before with Ryu, green lights
circled Rei, and he glowed white before he flipped up and grabbed his daggers
again.
"Thanks, Ryu!" Rei charged at the Nue again.
Ryu looked at the Nue, a plan slowly forming in his
mind.
Let's see,
he thought, watching as Rei sliced at the Nue. Hey, wait a
second…he's aiming for the underbelly…that's it!
"Teepo!"
"What?" yelled Teepo.
"I got an idea! Rei and I can knock it so that it's
underbelly's exposed, and then you stab it with an icicle!"
"Got it!" Teepo held out his left hand, closed his
eyes, and started charging up. A blue energy ball appeared in his hands.
Rei heard Ryu's plan, but it didn't seem to be
working-the Nue weighed over 200 pounds, and it was extremely difficult to
knock it hard enough for it to expose it's belly.
Ryu, however, didn't give up hope. He jumped onto
the Nue's head, stabbing in a seemingly futile attempt at the skin.
The Nue roared and tried to fling Ryu off, but he
held on with one hand and stabbed with the other. The Nue realized it could not
fling off Ryu without standing up, so it stood up on its hind legs, roaring.
The roar and the sudden vertical thrust made Ryu fall off.
By this time, Teepo had summoned a large icicle,
three meters long this time.
"Now, Teepo! Fire at will!" yelled Rei.
"Right! Frost!"
Teepo thrust his hand out, and the icicle flew at
the Nue.
The Nue realized it had been tricked at the last
second-but it was too late. The icicle had already impaled it, but it didn't
stop. Taking the Nue with it, the icicle flew into the wall and stuck there.
The Nue hung like a sacrifice to the gods.
Rei
collapsed, panting like a dog.
"Hey…we…did…it…whew!" Rei let out a long breath.
Ryu rubbed the sore spot on his head where he had
hit the ground when the Nue had flung him off. Teepo looked fatigued, kneeling
on one knee, propping himself up with his katana, but Ryu couldn't blame
him-the three-meter-long icicle must have taken a lot of energy to charge up.
Ryu suddenly noticed that the Nue was hanging next
to a dark spot in the wall.
"Hey, look! It's a doorway!" Without thinking, Ryu
rushed through it-and gasped at the sight inside.
In the small room he had run into were a large,
straw-made nest and at least eight Nues lying around it. But judging by their
size and faces, they looked like babies. And there was another factor…they
didn't look as if they were breathing.
And there was another thing…they were surrounded by
beef jerky, corn, apples, berries, and almost every kind of food that the
people down in the village were growing.
At this point Teepo and Rei had run in, and had the
exact same reaction as Ryu did.
Teepo blinked a bit, and finally let out a long
breath. "Boy, looks like that Nue wasn't very smart, eh? It was feeding its
babies without realizing they were dead!"
Ryu shot a glare at Teepo. Judging by what he had
just said, Teepo sounded like he didn't care about the fact that he had just
killed a mother.
Rei blinked, and Ryu suddenly noticed that there
were tears streaming down his face.
"I don't think it cared that its babies were dead,
Teepo," said Rei. "I think it was trying to feed them, no matter what
happened…just like a true mother should." He shut his eyes tightly and lowered
his head.
"Did we…do the right thing?" Ryu wondered quietly.
"I don't know…" whispered Rei. He let out a sigh.
"I guess you could say we put her out of her misery."
"Hey, you think we could return all this to the
village?" Teepo asked.
Rei shrugged. "Guess we could."
Teepo nodded. He grabbed a large bag from his pocket and started scooping the
food into it.
Ryu and Rei stepped back and waited until Teepo was
done. When the bag was full, Teepo tied it up, and slung it over his shoulder.
"C'mon, let's get out of here," he said.
"How?" asked Ryu.
"We could ride the current," Rei suggested.
"Yeah, why not? Let's go!" Teepo ran out of the
cave, the bag full of food bouncing against his back.
Without another word, Ryu and Rei turned and walked
out of the cave.
They rode the current to the bottom of Mt. Glaus.
Climbing out of the river onto the bank, they shook themselves to dry, and Teepo
confirmed that no food had been lost during the trip down.
And then they heard a voice.
"Aw haw haw! So, ya managed to kill the Nue, eh?"
Ryu, Rei, and Teepo whipped around to see Bunyan
standing there, his arms crossed, a smile on his face.
Ryu growled. How can he
just stand there and laugh at the fact that we just killed a living being that
was acting in self-defense? He's heartless!
"An' I see ya got a bag o' food there," Bunyan
continued, shooting a look at the large bag Teepo was holding. "Ya might as
well return that to the village." Bunyan clapped his hands twice. "Good job,
fellas." He turned and started to walk away.
"Wait a minute!" yelled Rei. "You knew that the Nue
had babies, didn't you? Why'd you send us after her?!"
Bunyan stopped. "If you had known she was a
mother…what would you have done? Would you have refrained from killing it?" He
continued to walk away again until he was out of sight.
Ryu, Rei, and Teepo stood there, comprehending
everything that had happened that day. The question Ryu had asked back in the
cave reverberated around their minds-"Did we do the right thing?"
End of Chapter 4
