The larger snake, the one that broke through the window first, was the first to move out of all of us. Though instead of an attack, he scanned his surroundings. He took one long look at Viper, and then over to me. It was hard to tell what he was thinking thanks to that metal mask on his face, but something told me that these guys weren't ordinary bandits. Least they didn't seem it. Finally, he spoke, presumably to the two snakes that flanked him like bodyguards.
"Secure the target. Use any means neccersary to take him down".
Target? Was he talking about me?! The hell's going on, did I end up on someones hit list or something?! Not that I long to ponder on it as I found myself suddenly being rushed at and tackled into the wall by both of the cobra's flunkies! This was going to be an unpredictable fight I could tell. I had never fought against another serpant before, aside from training with Viper. Not to mention the fact that they were after me for God knows what reason. Before they had the chance to hold me down I was able deliver an uppercut punch with my tail to the one on the right, giving me enough of a chance to wrap around the second ones neck and smash his head into the wall three times before tossing him back, giving me the small chance for a breather. As far as I could tell, I had just knocked him out.
The first snake came for me again, only this time with its mouth open, revealing its sharps fangs and was ready to lunge. He was going to try and poison me! As he charged, I quickly grabbed the nearest thing I could have possibly used to protect myself with. A pillow. I held it in front me as his fangs sunk into the soft fabric and cotton, pulled the pillow back, and whacked him with it as hard as I could. You could only imagine my surprise as he went flying across the other side of the room and slamming into one of the snakes against Viper. Then, the second one tried his luck again. This time I was ready, holding the pillow like a nunchuck. The second he tried to attack, I ducked, twisted my body and swung the pillow under his chin. The effect it had was unbelievable. The snake went flying like a rocket the moment the pillow collided with him and his head somehow got stuck within the wooden ceiling! I was almost certain I had killed him until his tail pushed against the wood board as he tried to free himself, but with little luck. After a good few seconds, I stared back at the pillow in shock. The hell was this thing filled with, liquid concrete?
"Recruits these days"...
I turned to see the cobra, apparently the leader behind this whole raid, shaking his head in disappointment before turning to me with a sinister look.
"If you want something done properly, guess you have to do it yourself"...
I looked to Viper quickly. The other two snakes that had dropped from the ceiling earlier were keeping her backed up into the corner, preventing her from regrouping. I dropped the pillow and was ready to go for round two.
"Care to hurry this up"? I'd like to get some sleep as soon as possible" I smirked, half serious half joking.
"As you wish"...
With that, we both attacked each other.
...
OUTSIDE OF JINZHOU...
Barely outside the city boarders were at least a group of fifteen snakes sitting around a campfire, muttering to themselves. They had all tracked two certain snakes to the town and none of them were all too happy about it. Especially since none of them understood the importance of their mission or the concecuences of what should happen if they fail. Only two of them stood apart, away from the majority of the group. A boa and a small adder. Both of them looking at the city from a fair distance away.
"It's only a matter of time before they come back, with or without the target". The adder spoke, gaining the boas attention.
"Indeed. Then we will see if he's what we expected". The boa replied without taking his eyes off of the city.
The two remained silent a little longer. The boa huffed with impatience. The adder was quick to notice it.
"Something bothers you captain Jùrén"?
"Nothing to worry about small one, I am beginning to tire as I wait for results"...
"A shame you couldn't just send the entire force in after them".
"You should know as well as I do that such an act would seem suspicious. Even sending in a group of five is enough of a risk as it is". Jùrén spat with a soft growl at the end.
"... I just hope that all this trouble is worth it in the end". The adder added.
"Perhaps"... the large boa spoke calming down. "If not then we may be in serious danger"...
...
JINZHOU HOTEL ROOM...
I couldn't help but grunt in pain as my spine nearly shattered from being slammed into the floor. Only two minutes of fighting this guy and already I'm starting to get my butt kicked.
"Damn it... this isn't going too well"... I muttered to myself as I looked up to the armored cobra standing right in front of me. He was a lot more skilled than he appeared to be.
"Not as strong as they said you were... And here I was expecting a challenge"...
"They"?
My question went unanswered as I was pushed up and tackled a second time. Thinking quickly, my tail slammed into the cobras back several times until he slammed me into the wall then throwing me across the room. All I could do was endure the pain as I hit the floor. Unlike the first two snakes, this guy had some serious training. Kind of obvious as I was experiencing it first hand.
"Don't tell me you've had enough already"... Mocked the cobra. I was getting tempted to rip his mouth right off of his face. "Too bad... I suppose I'll have to end this quick"...
His helmet split, showing me a good view of his poisonous fangs. Though before he could bite me, I swerved to the right to safety, allowing him to face-plant the ground, and got back up. Still, even if I had escaped his grasp for a brief moment it still did no good. Most moves I threw at him he ended up blocking and defending with no problem. I'll be damned if I'm letting this cocky brat beat me though. Guess I'm going to have to pull off something a little less predictable.
This time, instead of letting him come to me, I came to him, twirled and swung my tail at him. He prepared to block the move with his own tail. Perfect.
Instead of hitting, I turned the tables and used my own tail to wrap around his, confusing him for a brief moment, until I jumped into the air and pulled myself towards him and headbutted him. Kind of a stupid move as I ended up realising he had a helmet on and I recieved a minor headache, but when I looked back, he stumbled back, stunned.
"It worked...? I mean, hey, it worked"! I cheered in my head at the small acomplishment.
Well, kind of worked. Thanks to that cheap move I ended up turning him from cocky to angry.
"Damn pest"! He spat with bad temper before swinging his tail at me.
Though at this, I began seeing more of an opportunity rather than worry as I begun realising that he had revealed something of a weakness. His anger. It made him more careless as I now had the chance to attack a second time. I ducked under his tail and let it swing over my and jabbed my tail at him like a spear, hitting any part of him that wasn't covered in metal, aka his neck. I hit him and I hit him hard as the end of my tail struck him and I was rewarded with a disgusting gagging sound from the cobra, making him lean over slightly. It gave me the quick idea to jump on into the air, passing his head by a few inches then wrapping my lower section round his head, front flipping and sending him face first into the wall. Even with his armor on, colliding into the side of the room with that amount of force would have been painful. I smiled brighter. After six months of learning kung fu, I'm finally starting to pull off some more impressive moves, and not to mimic Po or anything, but awesome!
A groan could be heard from shiny as he pulled himself up and back facing me and gave me a good long look. He began slithering forward, ready for another ass kicking. At least that's what he would have gotten if one of his own men hadn't been thrown directly at him by Viper, sending the two to the ground. Kind of forgot she was fighting alongside me for a moment. Still, the unnamed cobra must have finally had enough humiliation and his hissed loudly. It must have been some kind of signal as a few of the snakes revealed a small grey ball before tossing them on the ground and they exploded.
Smoke pellets.
The smoke covered the entire room. I couldn't see anything. When it cleared, only myself and Viper remained. Even the guy in the ceiling was gone. I guess I should have been happy, but... what the hell was all that about to begin with? We got attacked, I had been identified as a target for a group of people I know as "they"... and an annoying cobra who likes to dress up in metal and pretend to look like a bad ass. Definetley not bandits. Assasins maybe? Freaking fantastic... Really hope that's not the case. Though it would explain why a couple of them tried poisoning me. Didn't even know snakes could do that to each other. Guess you learn something new every day...
"Viper, are you okay"? I asked, slithering over to her with concern. She smiled.
"I'm okay". She responded before looking at the broken window that some of the mysterious intruders had entered from. "Who do you think they were"?
"No idea". I had to admit. "Do you think they'll show up again"?
"It's possible. They may even risk coming back a second time tonight. One of us will have to stay on watch".
... shit...
"Okay then, I guess I got this. You go on to bed Vipes" I spoke, trying my best not to sigh in frustration.
"Are you sure"?
"Of course". I gave a reassuring smile as best I could, though it probably didn't look like much. Still, it was enough to recieve a kiss on the cheek, brightening me up that much more.
"Goodnight Mike". Was the last words I heard her say before crawling into bed and falling asleep.
I climbed onto my own bed and coiled on top of it in the middle and took a good look at the half demolished hotel room.
How the hell am I going to explain all this to the manager...?
...
This took a bit of working out to do, but it's done. A bit longer to do than it should have, but it's done ^^ Thankfully it's the Easter holidays next week so I will have a lot more time to work on the story and take a well needed break from University life -_- Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Cheerio!