Chapter Summary: Behemoths, explosives and fires, oh my!
A thunderous roar rumbled out low and dangerous, quieting the surrounding wildlife and casting the Nebula Wood under an eerie silence. The growl tapered off into an ugly hissing snarl that sounded so much more threatening than any of the CGI monstrosities that had ever given Prompto mini heart attacks from the big screen. It brought them all up short as they witnessed several tall trees tilt and sway ominously before the trucks snapped and sent them crashing down to the ground just on the other side of a nearby outcropping of rocks. No one breathed a word until the echo of lumbering foot falls faded deeper into the dark forest.
Prompto licked his lips nervously. "So, ah, you guys think Ignis can take him, right?"
"Oh yeah, Deadeye won't know what hit him," Gladio huffed, but continued toward their target with noticeably more cautious movements. "Besides, what do you think the rest of are gonna be doing, sipping tea and passing around crumpets?"
"Aw, don't be that way, big guy," Prompto rushed to reassure, sensing Gladio might be getting just the tinsiest bit miffed at being glossed over for optimum powerhouse to cower behind. "I'm just saying, a behemoth might actually be more Ignis' size of opponent is all, not that you couldn't handle him. In fact, the two of you probably won't even notice if I just hang back. And think of all the awesome photos I could be getting …"
"If you truly believe the behemoth to be of so little challenge, perhaps I've no need to change skin at all." Ignis glanced over at the two of them with feigned annoyance – or at least Prompto thought it was feigned. With Ignis it was always kinda hard to say. "In any case, I'm confident that all we truly require is a sound plan of attack to deal with the beast."
"What! Nope, no way, we're gonna need you with the horns and the fangs in all your winged glory. Back me up here, Noct." Prompto turned to the only person possibly capable of convincing Ignis to come to his senses and realize that a baddie of these frightening proportions called for some dragon-sized firepower.
Ever helpful and attentive to his friend's plight, Noctis shrugged indifferently. "He can fight how he wants."
"Nooooct!" Prompto whined.
"We should get moving before the trail grows cold." Gladio was already heading further into the creepy forest.
"Better hurry up, don't want to miss out on those chocobos, right?" Noctis called back over his shoulder as he chased after his shield.
And dang it, but Noct had a point. This was the only way he was ever marking chocobo riding off his bucket list. "Hey, wait up!"
The rush turned out to be a bit unnecessary as they ended up following after a clear path of overturned trees and other miscellaneous signs of destruction. Apparently behemoths weren't the most graceful of creatures – or too worried about the environment for that matter. Deadeye proved easy enough to tail. They caught up to him while crawling through a dilapidated service tunnel and got a good look at the absolutely wicked scar taking up residence over the right side of the behemoth's face. The predator was completely blind in one milky, yellow eye and missing most of the length of his right horn. Even so, Deadeye still looked as terrifying as Prompto's graphic imagination had made him out to be, appearing to be almost entirely made up of solid muscle and jagged edges with a deafening roar that made your ears ache.
So they kept their distance and shadowed Deadeye to the abandoned ruins of a military facility of some kind where the behemoth appeared to be bedding down for the night. There were oil drums and other assorted equipment left scattered carelessly about and Ignis quickly devised a plan.
Noct played their bait, warping out of cover to get the unsuspecting behemoth's attention. It didn't take much. Deadeye was up and moving their way within moments of spotting Noct.
Prompto held his position as Gladio stepped in, getting a solid hit on the unprepared behemoth and driving it within range of a cluster of oil drums and spare fuel canister. At Ignis' signal Prompto took his shot, igniting the mass of improvised explosives. Their DIY bomb went off without a hitch and Deadeye writhed in pain from the blast, keeling over on his stomach when Noct warped in and stabbed his engine blade deep into the back of the beast's beefy neck.
Afterwards Prompto approached the downed behemoth with the others, exchanging a quick victory fist bump with Gladio. That had been utterly horrifying, but also kind of amazing. It was really too bad Deadeye didn't stay down.
Noct's muttered "Not good" was their only warning before the behemoth jerkily rose to its feet, and boy was he not happy. Deadeye twisted violently, dislodging Noct from his shoulders and batting the prince far across the ruins with a swing of its powerful tail.
"Get to Noct!" Ignis' command pulled Prompto out of his terrified stupor and the blond scrambled to obey, rushing to Noct's side and dragging him up off the ground just in time to feel the rising heat at their backs. He didn't have to look to know Ignis wasn't playing at looking human anymore.
The dragon had planted himself along with a wall of fire between them and the behemoth while Gladio stood guard, hovering close so Prompto had time to slip Noct a potion. The prince accepted the curative and his friend's hand up to his feet just as the behemoth burst through the flames, charging in a blind rage. And while Prompto had thought Deadeye's angry roar was intimidating, it lacked the sharp, protective edge that made the sound that came out of Ignis so very chilling. The behemoth had made a mistake in hurting Noct. Prompto didn't know all the gritty details of the mystical, sci-fi link between royal and dragon, but they'd picked enough fights with the local wildlife by now that he recognized injuring Noct was one way to get on Iggy's bad side in a hurry.
Prompto's heart nearly stuck in his throat when Ignis met Deadeye head-on, lowering his horns and charging right into the purple mass of muscle. The two clashed explosively, the smaller dragon incredibly holding back the bulk of the behemoth and giving them all a huge opening. Prompto moved to take aim at the monster's flank, hoping the bullets at least stung enough to be distracting. Noct and Gladio didn't hesitate either. Now that Iggy had Deadeye stopped in his tracks the two of them were able to get close and hack at the oversized legs of the behemoth without worrying about getting swiped at.
Deadeye howled in pain, thrashing and pushing against Iggy with everything he had, but the dragon didn't budge. Belatedly, Prompto realized Ignis hadn't went for the behemoth's blindside – where the nub of its damaged horn had much less chance of getting at the dragon – when a resounding pop Prompto felt all the way down in his toes echoed across the clearing, right before something long and heavy crashed to the ground between the clashing titans. Deadeye's remaining horn had snapped clean off.
The behemoth wailed, staggering back and unable to defend itself when Ignis let out a stream of molten fire against its hide. The fight didn't last much longer after that and the dehorned beast soon fell silent and motionless.
And just like that, they'd done it. They'd taken down their first behemoth. The rush wasn't like anything Prompto had been expecting – of course he hadn't really expected anything beyond being scared out of his mind. But now that the adrenaline was draining out of his system and his heartbeat was returning to a somewhat normal tempo he had enough presence of mind to snap a few pics of his friend still towering over their bounty. He was even lucky enough to catch a glimpse of lips pulled back in an uncharacteristic, angry snarl before Iggy pulled back and returned to looking a bit more human-like and Prompto couldn't keep his excitement at bay any longer. "Dude, that was awesome!"
Ignis subconsciously adjusted his glasses. "It was nothing special. Is everyone alright?"
"We're good, Specs." Noct placed his hand against the fallen horn to store it away in the armiger.
Gladio nodded appreciatively. "That oughta set us up for a while."
"Does that mean we get baths tonight? Please tell me we're getting baths," Prompto begged, not really sure of who he was asking since the decision tended to flip flop between Noct and Ignis depending on how inconsiderate Ignis believed Noct was being of his more developed sense of smell.
Ignis readjusted his glasses while probably doing some lightning fast calculations in that big brain of his. "With the funds we should procure from the bounty, not to mention the severed horn, it shouldn't be out of the question. Noct?"
Noct shrugged. "Works for me."
"Woo-hoo, bath time!" Prompto cheered before snapping a shot of the others standing in front of a crumbling pillar. "But man, did you guys see that clash? I kinda figured you would have dive bombed him from the air or something, Iggy. But you just stopped that behemoth cold."
Ignis shook his head. "It would have been too risky to fly this close to the Chocobo Post. In all likelihood Wiz would have simply posted another bounty for a mysterious flying beast and then we'd be right back where we started – with no chocobos to rent."
"Oh man, chocobos! I almost forgot – Noct, can we, please!"
Noct chuckled at this friend's antics. "I thought a bath was your number one priority."
"Um, excuse you, chocobos are always the number one priority! But food and baths, we should definetly get those too." Because Prompto's stomach was kinda trying to eat itself whole now that he thought about it.
"What cha' think, Iggy? Behemoth short ribs?" Gladio suggested.
"I don't see why I couldn't try my hand at a new recipeh." Ignis rolled his sleeves up.
As it turned out, watching Ignis butcher a behemoth was nearly as terrifying as fighting one had been. But at least dinner made it all worth it.