Dream State
A Joined story,
By Saxifrage and Maid of the Mer
Chapter Two: Claws and Screams of Terror
Maid: Another chapter is here. All hail the chapter!
Saxifrage: ...Hail? What a dumb word. Worship is better. Or praise...Or enjoy... Or salvalge... Hell, even TURTLE would have been better!
Maid:grumbles: Shut up you... Turtle my big toe.
Saxifrage: You're big toe LOOKS like a turtle.
Maid: Does not.
Saxifrage: Does TOO.
Maid: NOT.
Saxifrage: TOO
Maid: NOT
Saxifrage: TOO! TOO TOO TOO!
Maid: Excuse us, this is going to take a while.
Saxifrage:jumps Maid and procedes to beat her up:
Maid: EEP!
"Did you hear that?" Nikki whispered.
"Yes." Rae said, backing up slowly so that she and Nikki were parallel.
Then, Out of the trees slithered a giant creature that resembled a slimy snake, except with two clawed arms on its upper body. It screamed a blood-curdling scream, and instantly, twenty other, smaller creatures slithered out, after what could be assumed its mother.
"My children need blood!" It yelled angrily in a voice that was definitely not human. "Feast upon their flesh!" She screamed to her children.
Nikki and Rae gazed at the predators with shock.
"I say, we run." Nikki suggested.
Rae looked over at her best friend. "I agree. Screaming?"
"Yes, please."
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Rae and Nikki screamed, starting to run in the other direction. They stopped short, however, when they realized that the young monsters had surrounded them.
"We're surrounded!" cried Nikki.
"Can you fly us out?"
"My wings aren't strong enough," Nikki protested, frightened. "And I only just learned how to fly!"
Rae turned towards the main group with grim satisfaction on her face. "We have to fight, then." She felt warmth grown in her chest as she thought of that… She didn't know why, but the thought of ripping her new-found claws through her opponent was pleasing.
Nikki, surprised at what Rae had said, looked over at her now-feline friend. "Rae," She said, shocked. "Your claws…"
Rae glanced down, and then looked back with more confidence than before. Her claws had lengthened by six inches and now were deadly sharp, almost like they had turned into knives. "Cool."
"AHH!" Rae screamed as she leapt forward with inhuman speed and height and brought her nails slicing through the nearest monster-snake, killing it instantly as it fell in two halves.
"How dare you!" The mother-monster cried.
"Take that!" Rae yelled as she sliced through two more at once, wrinkling her nose in dissatisfaction as purple goo burst through the corpses. "And THAT!" She stomped on the dead creatures head, for lord knows why.
Nikki stood there amazed at her physical abilities. She felt useless and helpless, especially since the babies were now closing in on her. "Ummm, Rae!" She called. "A little help here!"
"Kinda—" Another monster lost its head, "busy!"
"Okay, don't mind me! Just cry at my funeral, will ya?" Nikki said sarcastically. "What the hell am I supposed to do here?"
"Um, fly!" Rae called back, "I have it under—" more blood flew into the air, "—Control!"
"OH!" Nikki called, not as worried. She took to the air gleefully.
The monster-babies suddenly rushed at Rae all at once, using their numbers to their advantage, and Rae lost her balance as their full weight hit against her. "AHH!" She screamed in pain as she was engulfed in a pile of vile snakes. Determined to not die, Rae braced herself on the floor, and bought her legs up, kicking half of the creatures away, and allowing room for her to pull her arm back and slice through the others.
But as she felt a sharp pain on her back, she realized that one was burrowing into her skin. "NIKKI!" She screamed in a high pitched, panicked voice. "HELLLPPPP!"
Without thinking, Nikki swooped down and hovered right above Rae and attempted to pull the monster free. "Get off, you bugger!" With one last tug, she went falling back into the air, with the monster snatched in her hands. "HAH!" She yelled… And then screamed again as it flipped over and tried to bite her hand "GAH!" she yelled and swung the monster towards the ground, where it hit its brethren, they smooshed each other.
Her victory dance in the air didn't last long, however.
Rae, who was finishing up the babies on the ground, turned around, shocked to hear Nikki's voice crying for help once again. Nikki had been grabbed by the neck by the mother, who had thus far been watching the battle and not attacking. Nikki was struggling to free herself from the clawed hand.
"LET ME GO!" Nikki screamed, her arms pounding the claw and her wings flailing.
"I'm going to eat you!" the monster claimed, and stretched its mouth wide open, bringing Nikki toward its gaping mouth.
Nikki struggled even harder to get release, but she realized that it was futile, so she squeezed her eyes shut, and opened her mouth to scream one last time.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Rae watched in horror from below as a light shot out from Nikki mouth at the last moment, and the monster disintegrated into thin air. "Whoa…" Rae was amazed.
Suddenly Nikki was falling to the ground, with no claw holding her up, and this time, Rae did catch her.
"Good job, Nikki! Did you see that? That was AMAZING! You just screamed and WHOOSH it was gone!"
"…Am I dead?" Nikki asked. She was sitting, dazed on the ground.
"No, should you be?" Rae smiled, adrenaline still pumping through her veins and causing her to be slightly giddy. "Do you need me to fix that for you?"
"Oh, oh, oh!" Rae cried in excitement. "Look at this!" She held her hand in front of Nikki's face. She flexed her hands and suddenly the two-inch claws extended into the six-inch claws she had used earlier. "I have retractable claws!"
Nikki, who was still winded from falling, looked over at her wearily and smirked. "..Like a cat."
"Wolf," Rae corrected, her happy mood not going away. "Or a dog. I haven't decided yet."
"What's that?" Nikki asked, slowly pushing herself to her feet.
Confused, Rae asked, "What's what?"
A few yards away, something pink and shiny was glittering in the sun. Nikki walked over to in on shaky legs (as she had just fallen twenty feet) and picked it up, holding it between her fingers carefully. "Do you see this?"
"Yes." Rae said, looking at it, still confused.
Nikki, obviously expecting a more extreme reaction said, "Do you realize what this is?"
"Jewelry?"
"No, stupid." Nikki then paused, as a new thought came to her. "I know where we are."
Realization dawned on Rae's face as a new voice rang across the clearing where corpses of monsters now lay.
"Hand over the jewel shard, demons!"
Slowly, the two girls turned and stared at the five, awfully familiar figures at the edge of the forest.
"Is that…who I think it is?" Rae asked, not bothering to keep her voice down.
"I think it is…" Nikki answered, getting excited.
"Hm," Rae cocked her head to the side. "I thought he'd be taller."
