Authors Notes: Yep. Another self-made monster... Don't worry about the new monsters, you'll get used to them. I'll be recycling them from time to time so you won't get frustrated with too much characters.
This chapter would feature an "Alphazard". Just to avoid confusion, the name won't be used as a form of acknowledgement yet, but it would in the next chapter. And this Alphazard is a female. For Scuro's POV (except the last), she is an "it" because Scuro doesn't know that she is a female. She'll have quite a role in the story, so expect her in later chapters!
And by the way, today's my birthday! It's celebration-worthy for me now that I have more than 1000 views! So thank you! And a little fun fact: I uploaded chapter 14 as I turn 14.
Please read and review!
Chapter 14
"Territorial"
...(Scuro's POV)...
Things were getting duller by the minute. I, Mario, Luigi, and Starlow have been traveling the forest for a while and it was typically uneventful. As disturbing the forest looked like, nothing doesn't seem very active for now...
Then encountering a dead Macabre Tree and its possible killer made the day rather interesting. I didn't know if it was supposed to be good or bad. Good, because at least I can have a break from this boredom. Bad, because we might as well fight and our progress in our mission would slow.
Right now, the monster's electric blue eyes were eyeing us critically. The rest of the whole creature was left hidden in the shadows and shrubbery. I roared at the monster, daring it to face me and reveal itself.
It complied and the monster began to emerge from the shadows of the trees. Its spiny head came first, revealing a mouth ridged with triangular teeth, two small horns above its eyes, and a bristled neck. The body, adorned with small spines on its back, came next. Four squatted legs moved coordinately with its swaying body. Its long tail was left hidden in the shadows, but it's silhouette indicated that it was long but not stubby. The monster was green with darker green stripes and a yellowish underbelly.
Then it reared up, it's forelimbs pushing from underneath it, and roared to the skies. At the same time, the monster's forest-themed colors melted into an intimidating red. Its mouth snapped shut as its roar died down into a growl. It resumed glaring at us, it's teeth bared to emphasize its point.
It was not happy.
It charged and lunged at us, it's jaw wide open. Mario and Luigi jumped away while I and Starlow simply flew away from the attack.
"What did we do now?" Mario asked, still lying on the forest ground. The monster swung its long tail at him. Mario regained his composure and jumped over the incoming appendage.
"I think we trespassed into its territory!" Starlow answered as she picked Luigi up from an incoming backhand.
"How could we even know where its territory is?" Luigi asked as he still held on to Starlow.
"No matter! I suggest focusing on the current threat", I said as I dived and attempted to tackle the monster's head. The monster ducked and avoided me, making me connect to the ground instead. I pull myself off the ground and return to the air.
Mario was circling the monster trying to find an opportunity to strike. He would jump over or duck under the long tail once it comes swinging by. Luigi was on the ground now, jumping away from the claws and hands. Starlow flew above the monster, finding for any help she can offer. I dive again for another aerial attack. Again, the monster simply ducked timely.
It then swung around suddenly, catching Mario, Luigi, and me off guard. Its tail hit some stray trees and Mario square in the chest, earning an "oof" from the red plumber. Luigi was sent into the air as he was snagged by one of its claws and thrown away. A backhand from the monster's other hand sent me colliding into a tree behind me.
This monster has experience, undoubtedly. It moved timely and precisely with the grace of a true alpha. There are always leaders for every specified group and area, be it a president, a princess, or an alpha. This part of the island supposedly has a leader, and it makes me wonder if this monster is indeed the alpha of this forest.
My thoughts were cut short when the monster gave a loud screech. It turned its electric blue gaze towards me, eyeing me with uncertainty. What was wrong that made this creature unsure of me? Then I eye the dead Macabre Tree, just beside our battleground. This monster is most likely the killer of that Macabre. It isn't far fetched that it could have also killed off a good number of Macabres in this forest if there were. Macabres are driven by dark power and so was I. Does this monster recognize me as one of its preys by sensing the same dark aura on the trees? Most likely so...
It lunged at me, jaws wide open. I float away, grazing the monster's red and scaly spines by mere inches. It hissed when it instead collided with a tree. It turned around and tried to snap at me. I float farther away out of its reach. It snarled, frustrated that its "prey" was not very cooperative.
Luigi jumped and held on to the monster's tail. This caught the monster's attention and it began to snap its jaws at the plumber. It swung its tail around wildly in an attempt to shake him off its appendage. I took the distraction as an advantage and I dive to execute another aerial tackle.
I hit the side of its face, snapping its head to the side. It screeched incredulously at the painful blow and it returned its attention toward me. I screeched back in a daring call. It growled, a determined glare piercing me. I roar, trying to get something out of the monster. It reared up and roared back, its scales flashing an even more harsher red than before.
...(3rd POV)...
The monster was now very pissed. The furious colors of her scales alone indicated the intense fury she had for being challenged so recklessly. The large reptile didn't exactly want to kill the humans and star sprite. She wanted to have the Dark Star away from her territory. She knew that the ancient relic had dark power similar to those annoying trees. She was getting tired of the undead trees bothering her and upsetting her turf. Those trees, the dark power, the ancient relic; to her they felt unnatural. She didn't want them in her home.
She wanted to drive Mario, Luigi, Starlow, and hopefully, Scuro away by roaring, intimidating, and even attacking in an attempt to scare them off, but instead they misunderstood it as a challenge. Especially the Dark Star, who even took it as far as roaring daringly at her face. She grew angrier at being so disrespected. She was an alpha, the ruler of this forest; it would not go uncorrected.
If she can't drive them away, then she'll just have to kill them off. She lunged at the Dark Star, getting very frustrated at the unwillingness of the group to cooperate.
Scuro simply sprung to the side, just as the large and powerful jaws snapped shut to where he was mere milliseconds ago. The monster used one of her hands in an attempt to claw the ancient relic out of balance, but Scuro just floated out of its reach.
Mario jumped and stomped on the monster's head while she was distracted. This forced the large reptilian head down to the ground with a loud thud and a surprised screech. The creature regained her composure and reared her head up forcefully, catapulting Mario into the air. Mario took advantage of this. He somersaulted in midair before forcing himself down on the monster's reared head. Oh, how stupid Mario felt when the monster simply opened its mouth and sprung the trap. He was speeding into the gaping jaws of the creature which was now getting closer very fast. "Oh shit! Shitshitshitshtishit!" He cursed as he fell to his doom.
Much to his relief Starlow let him grab ahold of her foot as she raced by. They hovered just above the creatures maw as it snapped shut. Mario had to pull the rest of his body up to not get snapped and bitten at. The maw opened wide again, but this time, a roar of pain came out of the gaping jaws. Luigi had stomped on her tail, pinning the appendage over a seemingly pointy and jagged area of the forest floor filled with thorns and pebbles. The monster glanced at her tail and the green plumber on it briefly before snarling and flicking her tail sidewards, causing Luigi to lose his grip on the appendage.
During her brief moment of distraction, she had failed to notice Scuro rocketing towards her. The reptilian monster stumbled when the ancient relic hit her hard on the shoulder. She yelped in surprise before shaking herself and regaining her composure.
The monster felt humiliated that she was being bested by two humans, a star sprite, and this dark abomination. She was the alpha of this forest! She will not be bested by these puny weirdos. Just then, she felt another dark presence...
...(Scuro's POV)...
We clearly had the upper hand in combat. I could see that the monster was getting frustrated. Good. It would become reckless and less calculating. We can catch it off guard more easily.
We were interrupted when a deep bellow sounded. It didn't seem like it came from the monster before me, because it paused and its eyes flitted expectantly. We snapped our gazes to wherever the source of the sound was. The monster refocused its glare to where we were facing.
There, stomping through the shrubbery, was a lone white Macabre Tree. It screeched and out came more white Macabres. There were about only 4 of them, much to our relief. Although they were threatening, they were relatively easy to defeat.
We momentarily forgot about the reptilian monster until it gave a loud roar of its own. It surged towards the Macabres without hesitation, clearly more interested in killing the undead trees. It seemingly ignored and forgot us now that it began to wrestle with the first Macabre. The other Macabres attempted to pull the giant reptile off their companion, only to get whacked by the long tail. The wrestled Macabre rolled over, turning the giant reptile upside down and under it. The reptilian monster screeched before attempting to snap at the Macabre tree that was now over it.
"Well, now what?!" Mario shouted over the loud screeches, roars, the snapping of branches, and the thunderous stomps of the clashing monsters.
A macabre was thrown and sailed in our direction, thudding as it hit and slid on the forest floor. Splinters, dried leaves, and dirt flew everywhere. "I think now is a good time to run!" Luigi suggested.
I didn't want to leave this fight. I never leave a fight without making a kill. Just as I was about to launch myself back into the battle, Starlow stopped me. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?!"
"I need to finish this fight..." I state rather stubbornly.
"And what would you get from that?! We need to leave now that they are occupied!" Starlow began to frown in frustration.
"Then I shall end them, permanently! That way, they shall not bother us for any longer."
"That's it?! Scuro, remember the mission! We're supposed to retrieve the Shade Crystal, not go on a blood-lusted killing spree! And besides, this only delays our true goal! We can just ignore it and get away from this mess!" She tired to reason with me.
I huffed. "Fine. We shall leave them be."
...(3rd POV)...
Even in the middle of fighting several undead trees, the giant reptile saw Mario, Luigi, Starlow, and Scuro leave. For some reason, she felt somewhat relieved that they were away from this battle. She knew they were innocent, even thought they attacked her. They just didn't understand her; it wasn't their fault. They didn't deserve death... yet.
She thought differently for the dark being with them, though. He didn't look innocent at all. He looked like something that would come out a devil's womb. But the reptile saw that he seemed to accompany the star sprite and humans without hostility...
As she tilted her head to eye the fleeing group, a wooden arm slashed at her face, lightly scarring it. She roared in outrage before pushing the Macabre off using her hind legs. The macabre stumbled away, giving the large reptile time to recover.
She sensed another Macabre behind her, and she swung around. Her tail caught the tree by its face which caved in. A pained growl came from the tree as it clutched its damaged face. She lunged at it and bit down on where its neck was supposedly. She ripped it off using her jaws and the tree went still.
A tree grabbed the giant lizard by the neck before tossing her to the ground. The tree bellowed before pounding the reptile's back with both of its thorny arms. She counterattacked, springing to the side before clamping her jaws hard on the tree's arm. She proceeded to tear it off. The tree's howl was cut short when the reptilian tail hit its back, sending the tree toppling over and breaking into splinters.
A lone tree remained before her. It glared at her with its blank and unnerving eyes. It bellowed in challenge, clearly not understanding the severity of its situation. It was all alone, without any of its brethren to shield from her rage. The giant lizard lunged at the tree. She bit, slashed, ripped, and tore down the Macabre mercilessly until it was nothing more than a hollow piece of log and splinters.
...(Scuro's POV)...
Meanwhile, Mario, Luigi, Starlow, and I were speeding as far away as we can from the battle scene. The roars, screeches, hisses, and battle sounds had died down, and we suspected that the fight had ended. We had little time left before whichever the winner was would come for us and hunt us down.
Mario and Luigi ran through the forest floor, jumping over the occasional uprooted trees and mossy boulders. Starlow and I weaved through the branches and tried not to smack themselves on a fallen log or a wall of boulders. Sometimes, I would allow myself to tackle a fallen tree, breaking it into splinters. I only ceased it when the brothers, who would always get hit by the splinters, complained.
"I think... we're far enough now..." Luigi stated as he held his knees, out of breath. He collapsed and sat down on the forest floor with a groan.
"We need to... rest for... a little while..." Mario leaned on a tree for support, also out of breath. We complied to his suggestion and we all rested up. Starlow sat down on a large rock adjacent to Mario's tree. I eased myself on a tree stump. It didn't hurt even though there were sharp pieces sticking out of the wood. I had a hard hull that resembled a rock for a shell... I was not speaking figuratively.
"Was... that its killer?" Luigi asked, still panting but recovering.
"Most likely. You saw how it dealt with those Macabres, right?" Starlow answered. She and I were not out of breath. Floating, or for the previous matter, flying away was not very exerting.
"I also suspect that it is this forest's leader and alpha predator." I state my opinion on the reptilian monster.
"Alpha... You mean, we just fought the leader of this forest?" Mario asked me, brows furrowed. I nodded to which he replied with a shrug.
A loud screech echoed throughout the forest. It sounded like the giant reptile. It most probably is the winner of the fight; we're going to have to encounter it again somehow... "We need to leave." I state, also noting that the screech was only a mere few kilometers away.
They nodded and we all resumed our journey.
As we walked, Luigi, with another childish antic, suggested something to us. "We have to name that giant lizard, you know. We could, like, catalogue and name the unknown monsters here by ourselves!"
Admittedly, he was right, but for a different reason. We cannot confuse ourselves with simply referring to the creatures we encounter as "giant lizard" or "dead tree". There are many other creatures here that may also have the same attributes. We would be confused if there was no specific acknowledgement to a specified monster.
"Well... I don't see why not." Starlow looked down in thought. "What do we name her?"
"Her?" I asked the star sprite quizzically.
"Yes. Her... I just think she's a her because of, I dunno. I'm just reminded of a queen when I see her. And besides, her colors are somewhat... feminine." Starlow explained herself while she looked up.
I had to agree with her. The lizard did have a somewhat feminine aura. Even though it- I mean, she had dark forest-themed colors, they were softly colored and beautiful. The grace in which she moved, thinking deeper into it, also reminded me of a queen.
"What do we name her then?" Mario asked as he rubbed his chin in thought.
Luigi answered with a goofy smile. "Geckozilla!" We all gave him flat expressions, but he still retained that goofy smile of his.
"How about Queen?" Starlow suggested. I shook my head. "It seems too commonly used, Starlow. I advice that we use a fitting yet unique name."
"I know! How about we name her after a queen?" Luigi snapped his fingers as he said so, comfident of his suggestion. It's... actually not a bad idea. "Oh! And we also need it to be related to lizards and stuff."
"Elizabeth." I suggested. Mario, Luigi, and Starlow looked at me expectantly. "We can call her Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a queen." I repeat what I meant like they were 2nd Grade toddlers.
They ignored it, probably getting used to my somewhat sarcastic or rhetorical speech patterns. Mario rubbed his chin in thought as he studied my name suggestion. "That's a pretty cool name actually..." He snorted humorously. "And if you shorten Elizabeth you can get "Liza" or "Lisa". Both of them sound like a pun of 'lizard'."
"Hey, you're right! Let's just call her Lisa! It's not supposed to be too close to 'lizard'. People might think that we're cheap for not being so creative." Luigi elbowed his older brother softly. They both chuckled.
"Hey! Don't forget about the royal aura!" Starlow jumped in. She thought for a while before adding. "And it's not supposed to be 'Queen' Lisa. It doesn't fit..."
"How about Lady Lisa?" I suggest again.
"Yeah! Lady Lisa... nice name for a lizard." Luigi agreed with a goofy grin.
Once we proclaimed that 'Lady Lisa' is the reptile's new name, the sky began to darken. We knew nighttime is now very near. We did not know this place, and we would get lost easily in the dark. We needed to find shelter soon.
...(3rd POV)...
Lady Lisa trudged towards her nest for the night. That pesky Macabre gave her three new scars on the face that went from the bottom of her jaw to just above her eye. She had torn the dead body again and again in fury until she was tired out. She didn't want to hunt down those humans and star sprite. Not even the Dark Star. What mattered to her was that they would leave her turf, and they won't cause any more trouble.
She parted her jaws to let out a shaky breath. She just wanted to rest for now. She wanted to curl up on her nest and snuggle up on her warm bed of leaves. It was an exciting thought, so she quickened her pace.
As she rested on her nest, she couldn't help but think about those "weird creatures" as she'd call them. They were very good in combat and their attacks are full of experience, even though they were careless most of the time. She admired them for their bravery for standing up to her.
She had different thoughts about Scuro. She didn't understand the ancient relic at all. He looked like a hell spawn, that's for sure. But Lisa could sense something more malignant within the ancient relic. It was obviously dark power, but it looked subtle on the ancient relic. Behind that thin layer of power though, there was something more powerful than just dark power. She feared that he would use it on her home.
But he looked controlled... Not in a way where he was like a dog, but like a powerful being with controlled limits. He could wipe out everything with his power, but something else made him choose not to do it...
Lady Lisa wanted to forgive that dark being for disrespecting her. They just didn't land on the same page; it always happens. But she can't help but be reminded of the power he held within himself. She wasn't afraid to be defeated by this power. She was afraid that her home, her kingdom, would be in the line of fire. She didn't want any of that.
She chose to forgive him, but she would be careful. She will follow those weird people tomorrow and see what they are doing. She would watch them carefully in the shade of trees. She hides in the shadows like a master ambush predator. She will reveal herself again once the time is right.
She huffed before finally settling down on her nest.
In case you're wondering, Lady Lisa is also one of my favorites in my group of self-made monsters. Originally, she was just a lumbering and mindless beast that wants to gobble everything up. But no, that's just too cliche.
So anyway, thank you for reading! It's an awesome feel that you guys still keep on reading this fic. This story is a big project for me, and I hope it's worth it (of course it is!). Now tell me what you think in the reviews.