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CHAPTER 16

Instinctive Awakening

"I'd ask if you have any last words, but they're not going to matte-"
"How'd you find us...?" Jace growled, cutting Skreemin off.
"Oh! Your little pet bird attacked me before he came to find you guys. Safe to say, if not for him, we probably wouldn't have found you. Lucky us, huh?" Skreemin spoke coldly. The sound of the bow string stretched as Skreemin pulled the arrow back to shoot. His target would be smack in the center of Jace's eyes. Regardless of the situation, Jace wasn't panicking. He had a look on his face that, if looks could kill, would've probably set Skreemin up in flames... Skreemin did notice this change in body language, given Jace was freaking out a bit ago. What he wasn't watching, was Jace's hand reaching behind himself. As far as Skreemin was aware, Jace was weaponless, so wasn't much concerned about this body-language. At the moment, Jace was in a check-and-mate situation, but he wasn't gonna go down without trying, because Jace still had his twin daggers sheathed in pockets on his rucksack, hidden from view. This would be the first time he's needed them since being on this journey. Jace watched Skreemin's actions like a hawk, taking note of pretty much every move he made so to be prepared.

Skreemin stepped back, and let the arrow go. Just barely, Jace leaned to the side and dodged, it ripping that nick in his far left fore-leaf to be even bigger. Just a few inches from his face. It wasn't seconds after, that Jace pulled a knife on Skreemin with his right hand and slashed forward, startling the bald deku and making him jump back. To keep from being restrained by his vest, Jace slipped his arms out of it and let it hang from the tree now that he wasn't at arrow-point anymore, and left his empty sword scabbard on the ground. He let out an outraged yell as he ran at Skreemin, swinging the blade in every attempt to cut him.
"Son of a-!" Skreemin remarked as he used his bow to try and block. The weapon was not seen on Jace anywhere, but he couldn't see the pockets of Jace's rucksack earlier either. Safe to say, the retaliation was unexpected.
As Jace tried to attack Skreemin, Drigos still had Iris under his foot. He'd grumbled and rolled his eyes at Skreemin. Usually, he'd had found the situation funny under normal circumstances, but if Jace wasn't pushing up daisies, there wasn't anything to laugh at here. The draconic beast finally got bored of crushing Iris and got off her. He wasn't even off her long enough for her to breathe before he grabbed her and picked her up- his giant hand wrapping completely around her tiny body.

"Y-You'll... Pay for t-this..." Iris wheezed. Drigos deemed her threat as pointless.
Rather carelessly, Drigos puffed smoke in Iris' face and answered "You say that-" before tossing her against the tree next to him, making her squeak. Skits dive-bombed Drigos' head, furious at the display! He jabbed his beak anywhere he could, even attempting to go for Drigos' eyes. The dragon just got angry, and was swatting at the bird effortlessly. "Flying rat, get out of my face!"
Iris' vision was blurred from the impact against the tree, plus still being discombobulated from having the life squeezed out of her formerly. Mostly her ribs hurt, and she held her hand right under her chest. She examined the area around her, seeing the blurring image of Jace raging at Skreemin- the latter appearing to be reaching for an arrow in the middle of Jace's attempts. Then She looked up at Drigos and Skits and their little quarrel. It then clicked that she was no longer a hostage, and she leaned against the tree to stand herself up. She was going to take advantage of Drigos' distraction and finally get a hit in the best way she knew how. She let herself breathe a bit, before letting go of the tree.

Her heart stopped however, when a loud smack and a high-pitched squawk pierced her hearing. Her eyes darted up, only for them to dart right back down as she watched a wad of feathers hit the ground at her feet... Drigos lashed his hand at Skits, slapping him like a fly in mid-air. The world seemed to freeze as she watched Skits struggle to get back up and fall, many of his feathers damaged and bent. He glanced up at Iris, writhing his body toward her with a warning caw. She could only stare... Her brother was laying at her feet injured. Her arms shook, before her hands balled into fists and her leaves went stiff with anger. A snarling expression appeared in her eyes and above her snout with a wrinkle, and she slowly looked back up at Drigos, who was slowly making his way back over to the girl, towering intimidatingly.

"I've never had black bird. Wonder if they taste like guay?" he questioned, literally wondering.
The girl puffed and snorted, and she was seeing pure red. She finally screamed "Look what you've done!"
"Oh, we gotta firecracker over here." Drigos laughed. He wasn't laughing for long, when he got pelted in the mouth by a deku nut spat at as full a force as Iris could muster... And that was a pretty strong force. The impact and explosion made Drigos gag and cough, his mouth burning badly. He stumbled back, making beastly noises of pain and shock. The sound had even caught Jace and Skreemin's attention enough for them to know Drigos just took a pretty alarming hit. Their fight personally, has not stopped however.

"You'll be thinking firecracker when I'm through with you!", and suddenly, her mad-scrub self had awakened. Having forgotten she even had a sword at the moment, she relied on full natural tactics against him. After all, it wasn't surprising that when outraged, it was the first thing she turned to. She'd done it her whole life up till three years ago when Jace began training her.

His pupils shrunk to slits and he drooled as his sight darted to Iris, so furious he couldn't speak. All that escaped him was a screech and growl and began shooting a stream of fire down at her. Iris scooped up Skits and ran, placing him with Zizy in hiding in a bush. She ran straight back, pelting Drigos in the side of the head with several more deku nuts at a rapid pace, the loud pops blinding his left eye. One of his axed tails came flying at her unseen, and smacked her across the field of the fight... Luckily, it was only the tail, not the ax, that hit her. As she got back up, he grabbed her and threw her into the air.

"Ahhh!" as she fell, her screams briefly caught Jace's attention, leading him to get sliced across the chest on the old wound he got back during the last Dragalfos fight a few years back, from one of Skreemin's arrows. As part of the wound had been cut open, he stumbled back a ways holding his wound, keeping in mind Iris could probably handle herself... Besides, right now wasn't a time to be distracted.

Drigos opened his massive jaws to catch her, aiming to probably just crunch down on her and kill her- which his bite force is more than capable of crunching bone and wood clean in half... He didn't have Skreemin's orders to NOT kill her in mind at the moment. Personally, all that mattered to him was that she was dead. She spat a sticky bubble down into his throat, leading him to start gagging yet again. She landed on his head, trembling in terror...
"Mother of Nayru..." she muttered, before realizing Drigos' fatal weak spot. Of course, between the horns! Even though he was choking, he was quick to throw her off to avoid death-by-softspot, before hacking again.

She rolled, hastily getting back on her feet "You'd think to keep your mouth shut the first time I hit you, imbecile." she said, wiping a bit of bubble slobber off her snout. The sticky almost glue-like substance was hard to get off when shot on you, it was like having a glue ball stuck in his throat. Had Jace been watching the fight, he may have been impressed yet disgusted at the same time... Gross fights were pretty common to Iris though, she'd done it to a couple wolfos back in Hyrule, saved her skin a lot from flesh-chewers... Ruined their appetite, too.

"You're not half bad..." Jace commented.
Skreemin made no reply, only attempted to stab Jace in the head. The attempt was caught and held off by Jace's daggers, locking them between the arrowhead in an X shape. Skreemin pushing against Jace's push made their arms tremble. Skreemin finally pulled away, and tried going for Jace's side. Jace moved, but it still sliced a little at his side. Impulse made Jace's left arm shoot up in defense, leaving a gash across Skreemin's right cheek. The two both stepped back from the hits, before Jace held Skreemin at the neck.
"You almost killed my friend, and now my fiance, and you witnessed the whole scene where I almost got decapitated? Who the heck are you, and why are you traveling with this Dragalfos!? Why are you after us- Answer me!"

The bald-headed deku was frozen for a moment or so... They were both quiet as Jace waited for an answer. As scared as Skreemin looked, he was actually trying to prep himself for an act. "He... The Dragalfos, he... He made me a deal...". Jace stared with a raised brow as Skreemin began. He continued desperately- "You see, he told me that... If I didn't hunt you down and kill you, he'd kill my family... I'm rather poor, I hardly have any money... And my dad, he's sick with some illness, and me, I-..." Skreemin paused, deciding to leave his problem out. Jace didn't seem to actually realize that Skreemin's main weakspot was on the darkened part of his bald head... It'd be stupid to put a spotlight on that in case his act failed. "I took the job so they would be spared, and he said he'd pay me..."

"..." Jace's glare stayed.
"I swear, I'm telling the truth!" the tone of Skreemin sounded legit sincere "I'm sorry, I really am-! I want nothing but the safety of my family, they're all I have!" he was quite nearly yelling at this point. Honestly, feeling the cold sharp serrated blade of one of Jace's twin daggers at his throat, it was no surprise. "Forgive me... If you let me go, and help me kill him, I'll never bother you again... I may even help you...". He stopped to think in mind... If this worked, and Jace was a skilled Dragalfos slayer (if his fiance hadn't killed him already), he'd just trick Jace into helping with killing Drigos... Then, Skreemin could backstab them all, steal their boat, and take all the credit... He showed no evidence of these thoughts in person, but smirked on the inside.

The blade let up slightly, and Skreemin kept the act going. "Jace, I promise..."
The mention of the Dragalfos wanting to kill his family, didn't seem like much of a stretch. Heck, chances are, they'd still do it even if Skreemin managed to kill Jace and Iris. At this point of thought, the blade wasn't even touching Skreemin anymore.
'Oh my gods, blondie's falling for it!' Skreemin laughed internally.
"Well... I know how they are... They tried drowning us just for entertainment before... The Dragalfos have no honor, and never keep their word." spoke Jace. He raised a brow though, his convinced expression slowly falling "However... They are also powerful and prideful. Why would they make some deku from who-knows-where do their dirty work, huh? They have too much pride to turn to someone else for help who isn't a Dragalfos... As a matter of fact, they deem anything smaller than them quite useless."
"..." Skreemin wasn't expecting that little turn of disbelief there. He realized Jace was a tough nut to crack, and getting him to attack Drigos for him seemed pretty out of the question the more Jace talked, unless Drigos came over and gave Jace a reason...
"That guy especially seemed to be of a high rank with how big he is, and he seems much smarter than most, too... There's a little more to your partnership with him than your sob-story. I think you're a lying piece of trash." Jace growled.
"The reason being, is because..." Skreemin tried to think. Inside, he finally snapped- 'Ah, screw this!', and he took advantage of Jace NOT having a blade at his throat anymore, and jabbed the arrow at Jace's left- already injured, arm.

"AHHH!" He pushed Skreemin and held his arm. It hadn't done shattering damage and Skreemin still held the arrow. Skreemin was HOPING the arrow would go through his arm, but he didn't really get a good chance to put that much strength into the stab. It still broke skin though, outraging Jace for being lied to, even if he had been onto him. Thing was, Jace didn't even have a time to react.
"You want to play that game!? Pathetic!" he kicked Skreemin right in the gut as soon as those words came out of Jace. "Just as sorry as you look... Making up the sob-story about a family and everything. You're a coward."
He coughed, glaring up at Jace "I'll be honest, I hate my family. Don't really care what happens to them..." Skreemin murmured lowly. "By the end of this, the last thing you'll remember in the afterlife is me standing over your corpse."

"Death threats really don't scare me, pal." Jace scoffed.
In haste, Skreemin loaded his bow with the arrow he stabbed Jace with, and pulled back on the string. "How about now?"
"You don't have the buds..." Jace huffed heavily, and was plenty aware of how offensive his taunt was. Within that second, the arrow zipped at Jace. He tried moving, but dodging an arrow at such close range was nearly impossible when the attack happened so fast. It grazed his side, but he quickly took the chance of Skreemin yet again lacking a loaded bow to run in and attack. As Skreemin avoided and reached for another arrow, Jace became more and more of a familiar face. And his attitude alone was not only annoying, but familiar as well. He was a good fighter, too. Had he been a Palace guard at some point? Had they met before? The name was also something that stuck out. As Skreemin jumped out of the way of a stab, he started to remember a little about the Palace now that he'd thought of the guards and such... Given he used to be one... It certainly wasn't something he bragged about though.

While Skreemin wasn't the most social of the Palace guards for reasons, he remembered a long time ago, a little boy running about the halls with the Prince, and they often played in the gardens. The image of this boy made his eyes go wide. "..."
'I knew it! I knew I'd seen this kid before! He's that little sickly, dying brat that the Queen took in years ago.' A glare appeared on his face again. The two never talked, and it made sense that Jace didn't know who Skreemin was- Jace never went out of his way to talk to many guards at all. He often avoided them actually. But all the guards hated that this little commoner was brought up with the royals... Skreemin, on the other hand, hated him because of the special treatment he got, when Skreemin needed it as well at that time... Plus, Skreemin just hated anything in relation to the palace. Now he wanted Jace dead even more so than before.

"Little girl, you've got a history with screwing things up!" Drigos roared. He brought his tails down next to her, which she dodged by a hair, flipping back out of the way. She had quite a few scuffs and scratches herself though. She'd definitely be hurting later. She had her sword unsheathed at this point now that she had gained a slightly more level head. Surprisingly, she had been able to get a few slashes in on Drigos as well- evident by some small bleeding cuts littered on his body. She still wasn't as swift as Jace was with a blade though. He had his life's worth of practice, while Iris only had three. But she still managed to hold her own with a blade better than she could have three years ago. She mostly relied on her speed, which kept her alive.

"You and your lot are to blame for that! I wouldn't be here if your men hadn't kidnapped me those years ago. I ended up liking Termina a little more than Hyrule, so I stayed."

Drigos slammed his foot down to try and stomp on her- "I think you liked a little more than just Termina!" he replied, looking frustrated at her. To even think of these two being mates disgusted him. Last thing he wanted was more of them... Just more rats to exterminate. "You deku scrubs are filthy creatures, always getting in the way. Never thought we'd be seeing you all as threats! Just three years ago, all you were was kindling to me."
"Not my problem..." she growled. As Drigos sent one of his tails down at her, she lifted her sword above her head to block, causing Drigos to drop his tail down right on Iris' blade.

"AGGHHH!" the beast cried out. He retracted his tail back to himself, before swinging the other, too fast for Iris to react. She tripped over his tail, the blade of the ax on the end of his tail grazing a slit in her leg. She fell to the ground with a pained squeak, but attempted to move to avoid his foot as it came crashing down on her left hand- the hand that held her sword. The sword was held against the ground, so Drigos' foot wasn't phased by the blade. She screamed, struggling to move. This made Jace turn in the middle of his fight to look at Iris. He gasped on shock, before seeing Skreemin sidelong come whacking Jace in the side of the head with his bow. Jace grunted, before throwing a furious slash toward Skreemin, cutting his arm-

Drigos laughed loudly "Haha! Get you guys pinned, and you're helpless." he reached down and forced her sword away, throwing it where she couldn't reach it. He removed his foot from off her left arm and switched his hand to hold her down by her torso and right arm. His hand was definitely wide enough to cover both...
He wasn't being shy of putting a lot of weight down on her. Anymore, and he'd break something. Wouldn't take much... She cried out in pain, gripping his arm with her left hand and trying to force his hand away with little effect. He roared in her face, practically taunting her in her attempts. She just wanted the pressure and pain to subside, the pressure was unbearable.

She looked up, spitting a nut up at his face, but he dodged this time.
"I'm getting used to your tricks, kid!" he felt proud of himself for this. She was reacting on instinct at the moment like a cornered animal, and was just trying to desperately get away with all parts of her body intact... She continued shooting quite rapidly, even a bubble or two. Her weariness was keeping her from having too good a aim though, and the pressure of her shots were weak even if they did hit him. The dragon laughed at her pain and attempts.

Off a ways, Skits watched as all this happened, cawing frantically. Zizy was scared, hiding back inside the bush. Jace and Skreemin's heated fight was too crazy to get involved with, and Drigos was horrifying! Yet Skits was wanting so badly to get back out there. The bird soon turned to Zizy, cawing pleadingly at him. The little Moh'x could only whimper and shake his head. Skits continued to cry for help, if Zizy could do something. The creature swallowed deeply, then looked out toward Iris. He walked up next to Skits, who was staring hopelessly. A sudden cry of pain from Iris made Zizy's ears go up. Jace noticed as well, only just now noticing Skits was gone. Skreemin had him pretty distracted though. Any sign of being distracted could be any chance to be impaled by an arrow and Zizy knew that.

Zizy shook scaredly, but couldn't ignore her and Skits anymore. He dashed out, before flying into the tree above Drigos. He picked a hard shelled-fruit off the tree and threw it at Drigos' head, making him look up. He reacted rather panicked since his fatal spot was on his head. He growled at Zizy, making the little animal hide on the branch.
Iris noticed this, and got an out-of-breath hit in on his chin with a deku nut.
"Arghh!" he rubbed his chin where the nut exploded. She wheezed after that last one. It still didn't get him off her... Zizy then dropped another fruit on Drigos... The beast was getting furious. "Why are all these animals helping you!?" Drigos caught the fruit, throwing it back at Zizy. It missed, but was enough to scare poor Zizy away off the branch.

He looked back down at Iris, leaning down in her face "I don't care what he said anymore, I'll tear you limb-from-limb, and I'll enjoy every minute of it!" his grip now tightening around her, Drigos grabbed her other hand, threatening to pull.
"G-get off me!" she growled angrily.

"I-Iris!" Jace finally called. He pushed Skreemin aside with an attempted stab, then turned to run to her. He was going by 'You never turn you back on an enemy', but he couldn't sit waiting for a miracle to happen anymore, she was about to be in pieces. Skreemin had been knocked to the ground earlier by Jace so he could get a running start toward Iris. Skreemin began sitting up, scrambling for his bow.

Jace shot a deku nut- which was rare for him, but he wasn't close enough to be able to do anything else. It popped Drigos in the neck. It was enough to make him glare at Jace, before looking back at Iris as he prepared to follow through his attempts of a fatal attack. He pulled on her arms, and she cried out. This urged Jace to run faster, but he wouldn't get there in time before Drigos could easily have her ripped apart...

She screamed with tears in her eyes- "STOP!". She breathed in deeply and she felt a hot sensation in her throat, blowing a huge bubble and shooting it right over Drigos' left eye. The reaction he gave was one she didn't expect though. He hastily let her go and let out an agonizing roar. He fell over backward as he held his face, scratching and grasping at the sticky substance desperately. Jace picked Iris up off the ground, checking her before staring in shock at Drigos laying on his side on the ground like a baby...

Skreemin was preparing to shoot an arrow at Jace's back, but was taken aback by the reaction as well. He cut his eyes over it, it was just a bubble... It wasn't until Drigos sat back up where everyone could see his face that Skreemin wore a dumbfounded look. Drigos' face had a huge burn. And not a fire burn, more like he touched acid... The beast had tears in his eyes, and had a giant light spot where some of his thick skin was damaged, and his eye was closed. Skreemin had never seen a deku do that before "Good gods-!"
"You little demon!" Drigos' voice shook. He was more than startled by the attack... Iris, especially, was speechless. Jace just stared wide-eyed, glancing sidelong at Iris, wondering just what happened.
"D-did you just spit acid!?" Jace asked, finally whipping his head completely in her direction.
"I-I don't know!" Iris replied quickly. Her and Jace moved back-to-back with eachother, to face their opponents so to focus... This was best discussed when they weren't targets. Skreemin got back to focusing on Jace, walking forward... And Drigos stood up tall, growling at Iris.

"... Iris."
"Yeah?"
Jace walked to Iris' side where she could see him and where he could see her. "We don't have time to deal with them... Looks like you're having trouble with the walking leather over here...
"You could say that..." she swallowed. "You're better at handling them..."
"I've got an idea..."
She got shaky, finding Jace's moment to have a conversation to be the worst time. She looked at him "What?"
He didn't verbally reply, but his leaves twitched a little in peculiar ways. Iris stared for a moment, before she looked like she understood. Her bangs bounced a little, and Jace nodded very lightly.

"Cut the crap you two, I'm getting fed up with chasing you..." Skreemin finally yelled. "You're cornered, you're done. Surrender, and it'll be over quickly. Giants know I'm getting tired of this game." He had his bow loaded, aiming it at Jace still. Jace looked like he was about to run at Skreemin, and Iris looked like she was going to jump at Drigos... As Drigos lunged down at her, Jace grabbed Iris' arm and flung her facing Skreemin so she'd run at him, and Jace ran at Drigos, jumping on his back when he lunged down. Iris didn't hesitate to spit a nut in Skreemin's direction. She had the better lungs of Jace and her, and could spit a deku nut far harder than he could... It knocked against Skreemin's bow and flashed in front of him. The arrow shot, going through Iris' long leafy hair. It left a little hole, and horrified her with a followed squeak, but she didn't stop.
Drigos and Skreemin weren't expecting to have their foes switched. Iris came running at Skreemin and kicked him in the side while he was gaining his sight back. It made him double over long enough for Iris to take a breath after shooting the deku nut. She ran at him, attempting to punch him. He ducked and her hit missed, and he tripped her shortly after. While she was down, he stabbed an arrow down at her, aiming for her forehead. The Hyrulean deku-girl rolled out of the way and spat a bubble toward Skreemin. And seeing what she did to Drigos earlier, it made Skreemin leap back and try to stay as far out of her line of fire as possible... She flew right back up and flipped back onto her feet, before running at him again.

Jace was currently trying to hit Drigos' weak spot. Though Drigos was determined to not let that happen... He threw Jace, the boy landing on his feet sloppily.
"Caught you off guard, I see." Jace mocked. "Been a while since I've been able to kick Dragalfos tail. I much prefer you over baldy over there. It's the kind of fight I'm familiar with."
Drigos shot flames down at Jace, and a fight continued. Zizy made his way back to the bush with Skits. Though, not because of the continued fight... Skits felt it too, something other than Skreemin and Drigos were near... The fighting got pretty loud, and what ever was near heard it. Zizy was familiar with it, but Skits wasn't... Zizy of all things knew this couldn't end well if they stayed. He finally flew out, his tail and antennas glowing to speak. He buzzed in front of Iris, then buzzed in front of Jace, then flew off into the jungle.

"Wait, Zizy-!" Iris called. She looked back at Jace, when he noticed Drigos go still. Jace was currently hanging off one of Drigos' horns.
"... Oh no..." the dragon muttered. He moved his head back, his jaws quickly attempting to grab Jace's foot to make him let go- probably attempting to tear his foot off in the process. Startled by the sudden move, Jace let go of Drigos' horns and dropped before Drigos could actually grab him. The dragon seemed scared actually "Snipe, we need to go!" he ran to grab Skreemin. Before he was lifted from the ground, he grabbed as many of his dropped arrows as he could. As he argued, loud thuds got closer and closer to the area, and Jace stood- realizing that if they didn't leave, the fight was probably about to get much bigger... Iris ran over and sheathed her sword, while Jace grabbed his sword, put it away, pulled his vest from the tree from earlier, and put away his daggers.

Drigos glared at Jace, before taking flight to get out of sight. If Drigos was running scared, it had to be bad. Iris called "Jace, what's going on!?"
"Something a dragalfos is afraid of, apparently!" he replied in a panicked tone as he slipped his vest on. "Go, get Skits, we're getting out of here!"

A giant beast soon bursted from the trees, roaring to look for those who had caused all the noise. It also had a harpoon in it's neck and it's armored-skinned scales were busted apart like something exploded against it. The skin here was exposed, which is where the harpoon was wedged, fresh actually... It glared down at the dekus, seeing them as the targets. This monster was long and serpentine with flat fin-like front legs and beautiful green fins going from the top of it's head to it's back. It had long strands of green hair hanging from each side of it's neck- at the base of these hairs were blue crystal orbs. One larger crystal orb rested on it's forehead. It had seven sets of curled horns on each side of it's head. It's horns were yellowed-gold, as were it's claws. The body was a light blue, the underbelly red. It's eyes were slanted and gold, but filled with a grudge. It was injured, and heard the fighting far off... It could only assume it was more threats to it's island. This fella was one of the kings of the island's wildlife... And it was far beyond disturbed.
"... RUN!" Iris screamed. She dashed off into the forest, and Jace wasn't far behind at all. There was NO WAY they were fighting this thing, not right after a fight... The monster roared loudly, and gave chase- it's heavy-horned head forcing it to keep it's head low during the chase.

Up in the air, Drigos watched. "Someone's been hunting the Garugor on this island... Or else it wouldn't be so angry about intruders... We must have attracted it."
"You don't say?" Skreemin answered sarcastically. "I can see why someone would hunt it... Could make a pretty rupee of it's hide and such."
That comment earned Skreemin a glare from Drigos... As a reptile, he didn't quite like that. Drigos changed the subject "Seems it thinks they're the attackers... Hopefully it didn't see us, or we'd forever be on it's grusge list."
Skreemin was more than frustrated with how poorly the ambush went. He rubbed a bleeding gash on his face, before glaring at the thought of Jace. It infuriated him realizing who he was. He wasn't expecting either him or his girl to have so much skill though. It then became a reminder of Iris' little skill- which she seemed to know nothing about by her reaction... He was just glad he wasn't on the receiving end of it. He cussed under his breath, before sighing "... Little weeds are better than I thought."
"I told you." Drigos answered "Next time we meet up with them, I'm not gonna follow your order to not kill Iris... She'd be dead had I not stalled."
"..." Skreemin made no comment. Though knowing what they were like, he knew next time they would have to be more wary.

"So, got any ideas!?" Iris screamed to Jace as he caught up with her. He huffed and wheezed while running, momentarily looking back from time-to-time.
"NOPE." he answered after checking on the pursuer. "You?"
Iris held Skits tightly in her arms, though not so tight that she hurt him. "Run till we find a place to hide or hope it clotheslines itself on a branch-!?"
"The latter would be VERY useful if the gods themselves weren't so against us having a productive day!" Jace managed a chuckle slightly, though it couldn't be heard with the sounds of the Garugor's feet breaking trees behind them.
The creature was close behind them, catching up quite easily. And no matter how much they zig-zagged and turned, it had no trouble tearing through the jungle. The pinned blame of it's injury was too furious to care about the jungle obstacles
"Jace, we can't fight this thing, b-but we can't keep running, either!"
The blond boy was looking in every which direction to find an answer, but nothing here would really stop the beast much. They were just in no position to fight it. They needed rest, that's what they needed. If only he had bombs on him... Or if he knew if a deku nut would slow it down or not. In a desperate last-minute thought, he looked to Iris-

"Iris, you should try your acid-... snot, stuff!"
"Yeah, that'd be a great idea if I knew how I did it!" she spat. "You turn around and spit on that!"
Jace shook his head "Nope."
In the midst of their on-the-go planning, Jace saw a blinking light ahead in the darkness of a bush. Zizy popped out, motioning for them to follow him.
"Iris! Zizy! By that bush!" Jace called, before running toward him.
"What good will a bush do us!?" the Hyrulean deku asked in a panicked tone. Jace did not answer her, but quickly found another one of the islands many hidden crystal caverns behind the bush. In his panic, he almost tripped and fell in. He grabbed Iris and pulled her down with him, and they escaped deep into the back with their backs pressed to the crystalline wall. As the Garugor trampled overhead, it shook the earthy ceiling and dirt rained down. They were both praying to the gods that it wouldn't collapse the ceiling in on them... If the ceiling had crystal built into it though like the walls did, it'd be pretty tough to break through.

As it ran rampant above, the sounds of it running began fading into the distance, and after a moment, Jace and Iris both sighed and slid down the wall to sit.
"Dang..." Jace wheezed. "..."
When Iris was sure it was safe, she sat Skits down in her lap on her grass skirt, looking him over in worry. Zizy trotted up, laying his head on Jace's lap like a sorry dog for not being much help. With a whine, Zizy sighed. The blond boy was still processing all that happened, and he found his hand softly petting over the moh'x's head. The couple were both looking down in thought, before Jace finally got up and peeked outside. Aside from the damage inflicted by the Garugor, it seemed clear. He wanted to be sure the Dragalfos and deku hadn't been looking for them. Though, for all those two knew, Jace and Iris were still being chased. After careful scanning of the area, he sank back into the cavern and stood looking around. The entire cavern was gorgeous, like most areas of the island. And like the cave Jace saw before, it had a little river of ocean water running through it. The sounds of water trickling and running echoed softly throughout the cave, and the light of Jace and Iris' eyes reflected beautifully off the crystals in the room. Jace then remembered he was first attacked by a pirate for coming into one of these... He looked very carefully into the cavern, making sure him and his fiance were the only ones here. After being sure, he finally rested again near the wall by Iris.

"... So... Would anyone here like to explain the ambush earlier?" Jace finally spoke. "Where the heck did they even come from!? Why attack now, of all places?" he gave a raised brow at Skits. Upon this, Skits lowered his head, looking guilty. Iris was confused by this.

After getting out his canteen, Jace continued lowly "Unless baldy was lying... You lead them here, Skits." his voice dragged like rocks near the end.
"Excuse me!?" Iris snapped. "I know you're mad, but it's not like you to pin blame on people-!"
"I'm not pinning blame! I'm repeating what I was told!" he replied. "Skits, did you attack that guy? Did you know he was looking for us?"
A fiery glare from Iris made Jace glance at her, before a soft purr and nod came from Skits- much to Iris shock.
"Skits, why...?" Iris muttered.
The little blackbird looked down pathetically, his wing hurting. He didn't know why... He usually thought things through before acting.
Jace scoffed "Funny how earlier today, we were talking about you and praising you for usually keeping us out of trouble." he leaned on his hand and grumbled, before remembering when Skreemin stabbed him in the arm with an arrow due to the pain. He honestly didn't care at the moment though and dismissed it. He sighed, rubbing his forehead lightly. "Skits... Just... Ughh..." he placed his hand down and continued "If only I knew who sent them... Or if it was the Dragalfos. I wonder if they have anything to do with Twilight?"
"Surely not... They're too... Stupid." Iris responded.

"Just seems odd to see one after three years." he muttered. He wasn't pleased to see it, that's for sure. "Guess we really need to be on our toes after this. Someone's out to kill us, now I'm sure of it. And they're doing a good job of keeping the hints subtle. But, c'mon... Why send another deku? That sounds kinda stupid. Now, had an army of Dragalfos shown up like that night I got all injured, now that would have been awful."
Iris shrugged, petting Skits to comfort him. After recalling his own injuries, Jace was reminded that Iris got into it pretty bad with Drigos. While he had been busy trying to avoid arrows, he recalled seeing Iris, hit, thrown, and especially stepped on multiple times. It was a miracle that any of her bones were still intact. The weight of a Dragalfos could easily break a deku.
"Babe, are you okay?" he finally asked. Under normal circumstances, he'd have asked the question much sooner, but he'd been so freaked by everything lately. "You got thrown around pretty bad out there, and it's been years since we've handled a Dragalfos."
Iris looked to him, and nodded "I'm fine. Some scratches, scars, and a lot of bruises, but nothing serious... You know I've had worse. I just know I'm gonna be aching for a while." she rubbed right under her chest, where she'd taken a lot of the weight from Drigos.
Jace just smiled. Yes, she had taken worse before. He remembered a time when he thought she was weak and helpless- until she opened a can of whoop on the keaton impostor back when they'd been searching for the Great Fairies. And what training she had now, made her much stronger than before. Not only that, but she was slightly more collected. She raised a brow at his smile. "What?"
"Ah nothing... Just thinking about how much things have changed in the past years."

She pet Skits and responded "Yeah..." she grabbed his canteen, taking a drink from it. "Y'know, I think you've lost your edge, Jace."
"What...?" he gave a fake-offended reply "What makes you say that?"
Iris shrugged "I dunno... Just thought, I would think you'd have taken care of that guy much quicker."
"Well..." he leaned back "Kinda came out of nowhere. Been a while since I've fought something that wasn't a wild animal... It was a little different." Jace wouldn't admit, but something felt familiar about Skreemin. "But next time, I'll be prepared." after some silence, Jace finally jumped to the last bit of concern and question- "What about you? What kind of other gross, crazy stuff can you do?" the boy questioned. "You spit acid back there! You sent the Dragalfos down onto the ground like a baby!"

"I swear, Jace, I don't know how I did that!" she seemed just as shocked about it as Jace was- maybe more. "I have never done that before in my life! ... At least... I've never actually watched what happened when I spit bubbles at people in the past..."
It was much to Iris' irritation that Jace leaned away from her a little "And I kiss that."
She cut her eyes at him, before smacking him in the back of the head.
"Ow- like old times, huh- OW." she repeated it. "Sorry, sorry, it was just a joke!"
A stern stare from her followed his reply. She kept this up a few seconds, before smirking "I know... I just wanted to smack you."
"Oh... Well, okay, that makes me feel better." he straightened up, smiling. "Seriously though... That's really weird... I didn't know anyone could do that."
"... Only thing that signaled it, was that my throat felt hot before I did it. I don't usually have that sensation when I blow bubbles or spit deku nuts." she rubbed above her chest in a puzzled manner "I wish I knew how to make myself do it."
"I'm sure you'll figure it out. Safe to say though, a new side of you awakened today, haha." Jace answered, chuckling. He would be sure not to get spat at in the future though... That would be bad.

He scratched the back of his head. "..." he sighed, before reaching into his rucksack. "I know we're burning daylight, but... I think we could all use a breather. As soon as we're taken care of and ready to go, we'll hit the road."
Iris nodded, relieved that Jace wasn't making them leave yet. After all that happened, they had some planning and discussing to do had that happened again…

Iris found herself chuckling, and Jace looked at her as he pulled out some bandages "What?"
"The old switcharoo… They weren't expecting us to switch places." Iris replied with a smile.
Jace gave a cocky smirk "It was worth a shot. I know you fought your own kind often in Hyrule, so you were better off with the deku. Meanwhile, I'm kinda irritated that the Dragalfos was more aware of his weakspot…"
"You've gotten good with leaf-language there. I taught you well." the girl snickered, talking about when they were talking with their leaves before.
Jace shrugged "I once thought it was a useless thing to learn, but I guess I was wrong. I do catch on quick, though."- Iris nudged him in the shoulder after that, relieved that they made it out of the fight alright. Sure, some cuts, scuffs, and news of people hunting them… But, better than dying.

To Be Continued...

Skreemin belongs to sgtpieman on DeviantART.

The Moh'x belong to Ayinai on DeviantART.

The Garugor belong XenomorphicDragon on DeviantART.