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CHAPTER 17
NIGHT OF THE FIFTH DAY
The Terror of the Crystal Caverns
Over the time Jace and Iris had been gone, Ilye had worried herself to sleep over their safety. Mezra had been coming in and treating her every so often, so the medications had also made her drowsy. Ilye laid restlessly asleep, her eyes rolling and her eyelids flickering in her sleep, and she moaned in distress. In her mind, she was dreaming a rather scary dream. She was running across nothingness, panicked and tired. Behind her, monsters of Twilight gave pursuit. She didn't know what she was running to, but she just kept running. As she ran, she found the world around her slowly forming. It looked like Termina, but it was a place she'd never seen. The earth was dry and dead, barren of all life.
'I've seen this place before, but I've never been here...' her thoughts rang deep in the back of her mind.
She continued running. This whole place was darkened and covered in Twilight. The sky twisted into colors of paled grays and orange with blackened clouds. Square blots floated from the ground up to the sky- what would be a bizarre sight had she not seen these square blots dripping from the Twilight portals in the waking world days prior. Her form was alit in a light as if she was protected- and the Shadow Beasts were driven to steal this light so she'd be vulnerable to the curse of dusk. What was this light, though? What protected her? And was it really only the light they were after, or was there something she was after that they needed to stop her from getting? Even she didn't know.
"Hurry forth, child of the light..." a divine voice encouraged.
Ilye stopped, whipping her head in all directions. She wasn't sure where the voice came from. "Who are you!?"
"Hurry to me, before it is too late..."
"Where are you!?"
Before an answer came, Ilye was overcome by the Shadow Beasts as they pulled her to the ground. A humanoid creature with a flat-plated face and long arms covered in green glowing runes, rose it's hands in the air above Ilye, before it forcefully slammed it's hand down to attempt crushing her head beneath it's palm-
"NO, PLEASE, DON'T!" Ilye screamed in the waking world. Her body jerked sideways in a fit, followed by an agonized cry. Her eyelids flew open and she swore loudly as her hand landed at her patched up side. It didn't take long for her to realize she had been dreaming. Not only that, but there was a wound on her side that was bandaged tightly, and it still hurt like a son of a baba when she moved too much. After being awake for a few moments, she remembered that there used to be an arrow there.
"Good lords, what happened...?" she mused lowly as she ran her hand softly down her bare side to her waist. Her voice was weak and tired whenever she spoke. "..." Her head turned and looked around the room and she pulled the covers over her body more. "It's surprisingly cool in here..." she said. She then quirked a brow, her vision a little blurred "Where is here?"
The room gave the impression that she wasn't on a wild island anymore, but maybe in Clocktown. It looked like a place where the injured were cared for, with medicines, healing potions, and medical tools. "That can't be right..."
She wished she could walk, but moving her body alone was more than an annoyance. After being awake and thinking of Jace and Iris, it all came back to her. They brought her here, and the pirates had been taking care of her. So, she WAS still on the island. She groaned. "Ugh, these medicines and potions are making me feel dumb..."
Bored out of her mind, she laid back and sighed. She hated sitting still, and hated being in one place for too long. It drove her nuts not having anything to do or no one to talk to. She looked back behind her, seeing an open window... By the light outside, she assumed it was nearing sundown. "Another day gone by, and I'm not around to help... I hope they're safe out there..." she mumbled.
"You always talk to yourself like this, kid?"
Ilye's eyes snapped to the doorway, seeing Mezra coming in. Mezra continued on, "You sound just as nutty as your friends. It's no wonder you all hang around each other."
"Oh... Hi, Mezra..." she uttered. "Is it time for my potion already?"
"No. That last one I gave you should have some long lasting effects, it'll be a while till you need another helping." Mezra responded as she stopped at the side of Ilye's bed. "I heard you screaming. Came to check if you hadn't tried leaving or something. If you're as dumb as blondie, It wouldn't be much of a stretch to see you do that."
"Pftah." Ilye scoffed, "I wont be moving for a while, you can count on that..." her tone dragged like rocks. "I'm not stupid."
"At least one of you has common sense." Mezra smirked. "They have no idea what's out on this island. There are beasties out there like you wouldn't believe. Monsters on the surface, monsters in the deep, and even monsters down below us as we speak."
The deku girl sat up, concern plastered in her eyes. "Have they returned at all...?"
The redheaded woman simply shook her head no. "Hadn't heard a peep nor seen hair of them, not since they left this morning." She sat down at the side of Ilye's bed, bored of standing.
"... So... They're not back yet...?" this seemed to worry Ilye deeply.
Mezra leaned back on her hands. "This island is huge. I'd say give 'em about another day or so before they come back. There's a lot to explore. And given what they're looking for, and that even us pirates haven't found it... I have my doubts it'll take just a day, kid."
"That's true..." Ilye paused. She looked over to the arrow at her bedside, her face cringing at it a little. "... So... Who shot me? This isn't a pirate's arrow? Jace says it's not."
Mezra nodded in agreement. "He's right, it's not. That's much too small... Besides, if one of us shot you, it'd have gone straight through you from one side to the other. This was shot by a smaller bow, I'm assuming."
"So... Are there any hostile people on this island?" Ilye sat up a little.
"Well... If you consider the Dovah... But those who are hostile don't ever come to this side of the island. I don't see why they would be here and attack you. You see, the Dovah and the Tikoon have made a deal to share the island. One tribe gets one half, the other tribe gets the other. Though, Id say if you wanted something OTHER than ores, the Dovah would be your choice. Want a friendly idle chat? The Tikoon."
"Wow. So there are intelligent races on this island. And here I thought it was just an island full of beasts." she wanted really bad to stand and stretch her legs, but Ilye knew better. At least Mezra was nice enough to converse with her. The other pirates made her nervous.
"Well, we come here for our ores and some supplies often. We've become allies with the folk here. We offer them what they need, and they do the same."
As she scratched her arm, Ilye added. "So you guys aren't hostile? What kind of pirates are you?"
Mezra chuckled. "I'm not saying we haven't had our days of sin. We're not exactly a crowd you want to run around with. However, we are more decile than some of our other sea-fairing mates. Specifically, the ones you need to worry about are the rogues. If anything, Jacon and Iris best keep their eyes peeled for them. The rogues are on this island, and a rogue is what almost made your friend lose a limb." the pun was completely intentional. Whether it was offensive or not, Mezra didn't care. "They been robbing the Tikoon of property. And they have no conscience for killing those who find out or those who fight back. Considering how close we are with the folk here, it could damage our connection with good merchandise. I hope no innocent blood has been shed yet." she sounded sincere. She sounded like she cared more for the people than the supplies they offered. Ilye was surprised by this, she'd always heard how cold the pirates were. Guess they couldn't all be judged for what history made some out to be.
"Well... If we could, we'd help drive the rogues off."
A guffaw filled the response after, making Ilye cut her eyes. Mezra added "Well good luck there. As soon as you leave that bed, we'll see what we can do." she joked.
"I did say IF." Ilye huffed.
"I'm just jokin'." Mezra stood from the bed and stretched. "So serious."
Ilye just sighed lightly. After her stretch, Mezra began leaving. Ilye was a little sad at this, because lack of company. Before Mezra could leave the room though, Ilye called out "Wait, Mezra!"
The pirate stopped and looked in at Ilye, a smirk on her face "What is it, small fry?"
Ilye stopped... She then added "Do you guys HAVE bows?"
"Kid, I'm telling you... Your attacker wasn't a pirate-"
"No, no, that's not why I'm asking." Ilye assured. Mezra stood with her arms crossed and her back against the wall listening. Ilye continued "This whole bow and arrow thing reminded me... Back home, I used to use a bow. I lost it a long time ago when the Twili attacked my village. I was wondering... If you guys had any to spare?"
"Kid, we may be letting you rest here, but we don't just hand weapons out to strangers. Besides, all our bows dwarf you in size." she snickered. "One arrow is as long as you... I could shoot you out of one of our bows."
Ilye seemed a bit let down. After sitting and mulling over the thought, the pirate added simply, "However... We've stolen many goods over the years... We may have a smaller bow stowed away somewhere... I doubt you'll be out of here soon, but if it does ya a favor, I can go look. Just know I ain't gonna give it to ya for free." she winked cockily after that.
Ilye's eyes lit with a smile, she didn't even care. She just wanted a bow again. If anything, she felt safer having a lethal weapon that attacked long-range. It was what she grew up with. "Please, I'll certainly pay you. So long as it's usable."
Mezra didn't say anything else. If she was honest, she kinda liked Ilye's spunk. Heck, the deku scrubs all had a gutsiness that was respectable- even if they were all nutty in the noggin. She kinda enjoyed having them around.
Ilye laid back down and stared at the ceiling. If she could just get out of this bed, then she could leave and try to find and help Jace and Iris. At this rate though, she wont be up and around any time soon... Unless those potions started to really kick in.
In a moment of thought, Mezra was about to ask Ilye something when one of the Gerudo pirates leaned into the room, calling for Mezra's immediate attention. The woman turned, eyes sharp and serious in response. "What is it?" she asked sternly.
The other pirate gave a response, just as stern. "I just got word from the gate guards, an unidentified beast has vaguely been spotted around our base."
Mezra sighed. "So? There are beasts all over the island..."
"This one is different. It has been avoiding detection, and seems to work intelligently... We've sent many of our finest guards to find and kill it, but it is doing it's best to remain out of sight. It has been circling the base for a while now, and even bit one of our guards."
"... If it bit them, then how do you expect me to believe no one's seen it? Have you asked the victim?" Mezra grew frustrated, this obvious in her tone.
"It vanished before she could turn and see it..." no matter how dumb she felt for saying it, she was telling the truth. "I know Xakin has assigned you to babysitting the shrub, but keep a sharp eye out..."
"B-babysit? I ain't no child..." Ilye began to mumble irritably, but her tone and words were easily ignored. Mezra nodded, though she cut her eyes at how ridiculous the news sounded. As the unnamed pirate left, Mezra swore quite plainly, leaning her hip sideways with her hand resting on the raised side.
"Oi, sounds like they got a little too close to them mushrooms again..." she rolled her eyes. "Told them not to get too close to those things, you start seeing crap..."
Ilye had no idea what Mezra was talking about. "Mushrooms...?"
"You bet. Those babies are huge, lovely, colorful, and will attract anyone with a sense of curiosity to get too close. And once you have, those suckers shake till their intoxicating spores have you feeling high as a kite and seeing things that probably shouldn't even exist..." The way Mezra talked, sounded like she was talking from experience. "They ain't deadly by themselves, but if you're like that when a predator finds you, you're screwed."
Ilye thought a little on the peculiar sounding fungi, having never seen such a thing. But her mind quickly fell on this beast they had warned Mezra of. "This beast... I hope it isn't real, sounds rather dangerous. If it can attack without being noticed, that may be something to consider at least watching for."
Mezra gave a disapproving sigh. "Not my problem until I see it for myself, kid."
Ilye found Mezra's attitude close to Jace's, in terms of not being concerned about something that may be worth worrying about. Ironic given the two hate each other. Though before Ilye could say much else, Mezra excused herself and left, leaving Ilye to sit alone bored... And now by herself with nothing to distract her, her pain was her only company. She gave a loud sigh, and gently laid herself back against her huge pillow, grunting as she moved her body with her surgically sealed wound... She cursed her luck.
Somewhere on the island- Crystal Caverns.
They'd been traveling the dark caves for some time now. Jace was carrying their lantern for light, and Iris was carrying Skits since he was hurt. The couple were silent, though Iris had spent most of the time spitting at the ground every few minutes, experimenting with finding her new ability for purposeful use. Jace however, was growing a little agitated by her constantly making "Pt-uee" sounds. She'd spat on his shoe about thirty minutes ago, causing Jace to flip out momentarily. Had she spat acid on him by accident, he'd probably have a nasty hole in his shoe at the moment- or worse. He was just happy the caverns were filled with ocean streams and rivers in case he WAS pelted with acid. His shoe was clean now at least. Which happened to be the same shoe a bird pooped on earlier that day. He was starting to deem it unlucky.
Iris had spat another, causing Jace to voice his thoughts.
"Good gods, Iris, would you please stop...?" Jace groaned loudly. "Can we have two minutes of not-spitting silence? Or we could talk?"
The Hylian girl shot Jace a sharp glare, before shooting a remark at him. "Hey, I'm just trying to figure out how to do this on my own. That acid thing could come in handy. Don't come crying to me when you lose all your weapons and end up in an ugly situation. I'm practically a living weapon now!"
His eyes were narrowed at her, which were obvious to see with his glowing eyes in contrast to the dark caverns. "Don't get a big head now, you may lose balance."
"You're one to talk." Iris blew a raspberry-like sound at Jace, before looking ahead. "You're head's far bigger than mine." she mused teasingly.
"Alright, smarty pants." Jace scoffed, though he had a bit of humor in his tone.
Ahead, Zizy trotted with his wings folded down. He'd rather be up on the surface, and didn't like being in these dark caverns. They weren't on Tikoon nor Dovah property. Anything could be lurking in these caves. The little Moh'x whimpered lightly for such reason. The caverns themselves were pretty and inviting-looking, though. The walls filled with crystal and water trickling down some of them. It was beautiful with the lantern light and Jace and Iris' eye-spirit light bouncing off them vaguely. The couple had quit their lighthearted feud to look at surroundings. As they walked on, Jace kept on his toes due to his encounter with the rogue pirate. His arm still had a deep gash in it, which was clear-enough reminder. Though it was at least bandaged.
"So... Do you think Ilye's doing alright back at the pirate's place?" Iris spoke up.
Jace looked at the ground, dodging a crystal that would've been nasty to step on. "I'm sure she is. The pirates seemed... Honest. And as much as I don't like Mezra, I think I trust her more than any of the others."
"That's saying a lot." The Hyrulean mused. "I don't even know how late it is... She's probably wondering where we are."
The blond boy nodded. "She probably is. We've been down here for quite a while now. I've lost count of the hours, ugh. If it's really been hours."
Throughout their chattering, Zizy's ears went up, listening for sounds. Ignoring the talking, of course. His trots became steady steps, which Skits happened to notice. He gave a soft caw, pulling Iris from the conversation.
"Hm?" she pondered quietly.
Skits aimed his beak toward Zizy, and the deku scrubs placed their attention on the Moh'x.
"Zizy's listening for something, what is it boy?" Jace spoke up as he approached Zizy. The creature's antennas and tail blinked a small light in response, but Jace didn't understand Moh'x communication. He began reaching for his sword. Walking with his hand on the hilt, he'd yet remove the weapon till he was sure danger was afoot. But as time went on, nothing happened. At this point, he'd released the weapon once more, though stayed alert.
"Holy Hylia!" Iris squeaked aloud, making Jace's form jumped from the silence break. He twirled around to look at her, and she was pointing ahead at a statue. The boy turned back around to look the statue over which his fiance had been spooked by. He stepped up to it, staring at its towering form and intricate details. "Eesh, it's kinda creepy..." he remarked. Iris came up behind him, agreeing soon after. He ran his hand down it.
It was a statue of a beast, nothing like he'd seen. Though he assumed they were getting close to Dovah territory. He could only assume it was a statue of one of their deities, maybe? He couldn't see why anyone would make a statue of something so hideous otherwise. It had a long centipede-esque body completely made of sharp crystals, and an insect-like head with head fin growths growing from each side. Where the neck would be expected, was a whole humanoid upper body. Female actually, indicated by its breasts.
"So... Forgive me if I'm bashing some tribe's deity or something... But what is it? Some type of centipede-centaur?" Jace mused.
Iris shrugged her shoulders. "Beats me. It's giving me the willies, though..." she actually trembled a little after that.
Jace continued feeling of the crystals along its back curiously. "It's a marvelous piece of work, though. A lot of time went into making it."
Zizy was scared of it, most likely its horrifying, large appearance. If it was real, it could match the size of a large animal like a horse or bovine. Skits himself grumbled a little, catching Iris' attention. "C'mon Jace, we're wasting time down here... Let's hurry and find a way to the surface."
"Oh, right." Jace replied. He hurried along with Iris as they left the strange statue behind. Zizy was rushing ahead of them, not quite willing to take his time anymore. Jace and Iris didn't quite like the rush, but they knew it was for good reason. Jace held the lantern out in front of him, yawning given the walk was boring him. He was half-tempted to pick up some crystals along the way, but kept in mind what happened the last time he looted from one of these crystal-caverns; nearly lost his arm. Though it is mostly the result of him being paranoid about this unknown island.
A sudden tingle in Iris' senses occurred, which forced her to voice a small squeak of concern. "Babe, something doesn't feel right."
As Iris continued to mumble her concerns, Jace slowed his walking and shushed Iris. He also felt it. But naturally being an underground deku, something about the atmosphere all of a sudden just seemed off. The sound of water trickling from behind in the cave became muffled, and he felt like he was being stared at. Air itself felt a little more compressed around them, or sound for that matter, like something else was taking it up. Much like that feeling when you know something is there by the change of the sound in the air. He also felt a tickle in his leaves, like air was hitting them. Clicking sounds began, and he twisted around to face sheer horror. a mouth full of razor, dripping fangs inches from his snout. The creature's breathing was so light and quiet, he could hardly feel it. If it hadn't been for the sensitivity of his leaves, he wouldn't have.
"Iris, run!" Jace screamed, his eyes wide as dinner plates. Iris had screamed half-over his order, and she was gone before he even finished what he said. He wasn't too far behind her, either. The beast took off after them, the sound of its many, many legs rampaging against the cave floor like constant spikes. The statue from before was real- very real. It had fooled Jace and Iris, and decided to jump them from behind instead of head-on.
"She's gonna eat us!" Jace screamed. "What is that thing!?"
Iris spat, "Well it ain't a statue!" and turned to look at it. It was catching up rather quickly.
"She's catching up, what're we gonna do!?" the Hyrulean desperately asked.
Jace began with his panting reply. "Well, we could always- DUCK!"
"Du-?!" Iris quickly caught on, and ducked her head as the monster lunged forward to bite air. But it easily swerved around them like a snake and got in their path. The two rammed into its side by accident, before being knocked to the ground breathlessly, sending Skits flying from Iris' arms. He landed with a pained caw, and waddled against the cave walls. He looked around, hoping Zizy would come help. He was frustrated seeing that Zizy was digging instead, however. The Moh'x had itself positioned on a root, and was digging upward on the ceiling. Skits cocked his head, wondering what Zizy was even doing...
"Alright, that's it!" Jace unsheathed his sword. "I usually wouldn't fight a lady under such non-formal circumstances, but you've asked for it."
"I think this is hardly the time for formalities anyway! And that is no normal lady, might I remind you!" Iris scolded, unsheathing her weapon as well.
"Can I not have a bit of fun? Sheesh, you're such a buzz-kill, love." Jace scoffed jokingly. Iris couldn't stand how childish he was at some of the worst times.
"So where are we attacking at?" Iris asked quickly, holding the sword out. The monster stalked around them, readying for a chance. It was making clicking sounds with it's mouth, which seemed to fit its disturbing appearance.
"Be adventurous, I don't care where. Just find a weak spot and go for it."
"Oh yeah, that's real professional..." Iris mumbled.
He cocked his head at Iris and raised a brow. "You want professional? Then go ask a local! Or how about you ask her yourself, if you speak click click? I've never seen one of these before. You're asking for a little much-"
It took advantage of their bickering and lunged at them, earning it a quick slash at the head from Jace as he and Iris moved away, but all it did was clang against the hard surface of it's forehead. The attack startled it momentarily enough to recoil, then attacked once more with its hands. It attempted stabbing at them with it's crystalized middle fingers, its hands pointed out straight like daggers.
"How about we save our bickering for a better time?" the blond boy mused lowly. Iris simply gave a silent "I agree" as she weaved around the attacks.
"Jace, I'm gonna split up from you. It focusing on two targets in two places may give us a better chance." Iris warned, before running around the monster. Jace would've said something, but he didn't need to.
It decided to follow Iris- whom was making all kinds of noise with her footsteps and leaves shaking. It turned to chase, allowing Jace to hop on the monster's back and investigate. In a panic, the female creature turned its human torso around toward Jace, startling him a little. He didn't let it scare him so much that he ran though. He frantically looked along the creature's back for weakpoints, but didn't see any; Just crystal back-plating! Iris took notice to Jace being within attacking range, and she forced out a high pitched squeak, which echoed loudly through the cave corridors. The creature clicked a few times, as it listened to the echoes, before 'looking' back toward Iris. Though, more so turning it's head toward the source of the sound given it didn't actually have eyes. Iris was soon to realize it couldn't actually see...
"Jace, she can't see well, if at all! She's following sound!" Iris called.
"Good! That's one thing to keep in mind!"- he quickly took note not to talk, because he didn't want attention on him. Iris rolled her eyes, and continued making noises to distract her. The creature bent it's back a little as she moved toward Iris, Jace having to force himself to balance with the movement. But as she bent her back, he noticed a damaged area in her crystals which had a crack between them, and he felt he finally made some kind of headway. He held his blade above it's crystalized back, and thrusted the sword down violently into the cracked crystal, obviously harming the creature. It attempted to recoil its body in pain, but only opened more space between the crystals for Jace to wedge the sword in more, as he attempted with all his strength to tear off the crystalized armor. The creature writhed and jerked, trying to throw the one causing the pain off.
"Iris, if you would be so kind as to shoot a nut or something-!" Jace remarked while he tightly held onto the monster, his voice jumpy and panicked from the movement. Iris was trying to muster up an acid bubble again, but only pulled up a regular bubble, much to her irritation. She used it instead, and spat it at the creature's neck. It didn't really do much other than startle it. Jace just sighed- "Forget about the acid for now and shoot a nut, please! At it's face preferably!"
"Geeze, I'm on it!" Iris snapped. She watched the frantic movement, trying to calculate where the best place to shoot would be. When a moment popped up, she readied and fired a nut at the creature's face. The sound of the deafening pop was agonizing to it's sensitive hearing, and caused her to look down and grip her head. Iris pattered over, hopped up on the monster's back, and grabbed the hilt of Jace's sword. She motioned him to stand back up from holding onto the creature, and he did so. They both gripped the hilt, and stabbed downward with each other's combined strength, and severed a tiny piece of crystal off the body, allowing the sword to slip down onto and into the flesh that the piece had been protecting, penetrating the skin deeply.
And just like that, the monster flung it's body upward in sheer agony, throwing Jace and Iris off- them heavily hitting the cave ceiling, before hitting the ground just as hard.
"Aghh-!" Iris cried, accompanied by a unison pained exclamation from her significant other. Though, seeing as concern for her well-being and life outweighed her pain, it didn't take her- nor Jace, long to get back up on their feet. The creature still had Jace's sword wedged in it's back, causing permanent discomfort.
"Jace, your sword-!" Iris began. Though, she was cut off when she saw Jace was already on it and had out his twin daggers. Granted, it'd be harder to do anything with them against this monster, it was better than nothing.
"Don't worry about me, just worry about killing or running this thing off." he smirked, before running forward again. She shook her head at him, and ran around the other way. The creature was now furious, and partially ignored the pain with the best of its power, knowing its prey was still on the loose. She turned to Jace, swatting her long arms at him. He bent down and crouched to avoid, before slashing a dagger upward along the monster's exposed skin on said attacking arm. She recoiled her hurt arm, only to surprise Jace with the other. Luckily, he avoided the crystalized dagger-like middle finger, but he was slapped right across the snout by the broad side of her arm full-throttle, making him cry out in pain... It would be much like getting socked pin-point on the nose...
A tear welled up in his eyes, before he grunted a small swear under his tone. He collided a dagger against the monster's long and jagged middle finger as it came back. His serrated dagger got her between the fingers, once again making her pull back. But this time, she lunged forward down toward him with her wide, razor-toothed mouth wide open! Before he could even do anything, Iris pushed him away and shot a nut down her throat. The beast gagged and choked on the exploding projectile. Iris quickly grabbed Jace's arm and said- "C'mon, Zizy dug a hole to the surface! Let's get out of here and get her out in the open!"
Jace looked at the beast, and was quick to realize Iris' plan was a good one. More space, more light- at least assuming it's still daytime-, less trouble. Iris scooped Skits up, and ran with Jace. Zizy was outside waiting on them, pointing to the roots showing from the walls, which the couple used as a ladder up through the hole. Just before Jace exited the hole, he spat a deku nut at the ground, the explosion catching the creature's attention.
"C'mon, lady, show me your best!" he taunted, before jumping up through the hole. The creature followed the sound and took the bait. Iris and Jace distanced themselves from the hole, as the ground crashed upward where she bursted through. Though, what she wasn't counting on was the ground pushing against Jace's sword and tearing a slit further down her back. Outraged, she leapt forward at the two now that they were together, and tried biting them. Jace's sword had come loose from the movement, it having landed on the ground.
The two deku ducked, though Iris got scrapped across the side of the face by a tooth, startling her greatly! Any closer, and she wouldn't have a face.
"You alright?" Jace asked quickly.
"I'm fine, go get your sword!" she replied, and urged him away. She ran in an opposite direction, and made noise to get the monster away from Jace while he retrieved his main weapon.
She stopped over by a bunch of giant mushrooms, not really paying any mind to the bunch of fungi. Meanwhile, the creature clicked and gurgled as it cornered Iris. Iris hadn't quite thought her destination through, and was trying to think of a way to weasel out somewhere... "Crap, I've cornered myself." she scolded herself with a growl. She had her sword drawn, and was preparing to have her own face-to-face fight. And she soon got one, as the vile monster lunged down toward Iris. It bit her sword, much to her shock, and it tried tearing it away from Iris' grasp. And it was obvious who of the two was losing to this tog-o'-war match.
Now with his sword, Jace tossed his dagger pin-point at the monster's arm, it getting stuck there. She released Iris' sword and reached to pull the dagger out, allowing Iris to take a stab up at the humanized belly of the she-beast. It cried out, throwing the dagger down and swiping at Iris. The girl wasn't going to give up so easily though, and she attempted to spit a bubble at the creature. It was a normal one yet again, which started to make her frustrated. She knew she could do it, she's done it once!
As if laughing at the pathetic attack, the creature made clicking sounds and tried shoving Iris back against the gang of mushrooms. She leapt up and onto the monster's arm though, and jumped over to the side of the beasty and away. And as consequence to lunging forward, the she-beast crashed face-first against a mushroom, and began sneezing from its spores, which had been kicked up from impact. As she tried getting the spores out of her face, Iris was trying with all her might to build up an acid bubble.
"Iris, don't just stand there!" Jace warned, fearing that standing so close, she may get attacked. He ran forward to try to distract if he needed to, for he knew Iris was hung up on finding out how to use her ability. Of course, he thought a better time would be when they had time.
Calming herself down, Iris tried again, and was ecstatic when she felt that same burning sensation from before. She did it! She blew, readying the bubble to be large, just for the large foe. Jace hadn't noticed, and was standing on the other side of the creature, preparing to stab at her. What they hadn't quite noticed, was how dizzy and disorientated the creature was becoming now. She was now confused and terrified from how she felt and began waving about. Just as Iris was about to spit, the creature took a smack at her, the bubble popping against the monster's arm.
Unfortunately for Iris, some of it popped against her, too! On the end of her snout, on her shirt, and a little dab on her skirt. She quickly began to panic, using the end of her shirt to wipe the burning bubble off her face. Due to her extra thick wooden skin though, it hadn't done much damage other than leave a dark singe spot. However, it still hurt. Where the bubble residue had popped against her clothes, were now eaten away like fire caught to them. Part of her chest and belly burned as well, and she held herself where her belly and chest was singed.
On the other hand, it did much good on the dizzy monster, whom had begun retreating away into the forests. Jace was forcefully knocked by her tail into the mushrooms, though he wasn't hurt. He was quick to pop out of them, his whole face covered in spores. He went "Yuck!" while coughing, wiping his face frantically. He climbed out, and shook heavily enough to be compared to a dog, spores flying off him like snow on a Winter's day... But he quickly made his way back to Iris to check on her, after seeing her get hit by her own attack. He was a bit shocked to see her clothes so horribly scorched and damaged, to the point her shirt was hardly even a shirt anymore.
"Ah, Iris, are you okay?" he asked, helping her stand back up. She moved her hand away from her belly, and he examined it. He then looked at her snout, and groaned in concern. "Ouch..."
"At least it didn't actually start destroying my skin..." she pointed out. "I guess I'm built for this, haha..."
Jace rubbed the back of his head. "It appears so. Still, though... Will you be okay?"
"Yeah, I should be. It already stopped burning." she smiled lightly. "Just gotta figure out exactly how I made myself do it."
"I think you should give it a rest for now and try later when we're not looking for the Dovah."
Iris simply nodded, before looking for Skits and Zizy. The two little animals were off hiding, before coming out toward the deku. Though Zizy seemed a bit concerned about Jace. The Moh'x looked to the mushrooms, then back at Jace with a whine. He was cut off though when Iris requested him to lead the way, so they could find the Dovah soon. He began forward, everyone following in utter silence. Though Jace began to feel... Funny.
He blinked a few times, wondering why he was getting drowsy. He was seeing double, and it was getting worse. He rubbed his eyes, and looked ahead again. This time, it looked even worse. "Oh man, what's wrong with me...?" he asked, holding his head. Iris turned to him and cocked her head to the side curiously.
"Hm?" she began. "What is it?"
He swayed a little, and stumbled, making Iris flinch and attempt to catch him. Zizy ran back toward Jace, knowing exactly what was wrong... Skits though, just stared from the ground by Iris' foot.
He stumbled away, his eyes going wide. The world began to look so odd. Colors were vibrant, and everything had a ghost. He looked at Iris, whom there was quite nearly two of. His train of thought was becoming a bit screwy, as well. What concern he had, didn't quite come out his snout and was quickly being overlapped by his next question. Instead, he laughed a little.
"How're there two of you, Iris?" he laughed, stepping back away from her.
Her body stood up straight and stiff, her face going straight from concern to utter confusion. "Huh?"
Zizy only ducked his head down between his paws and whined. What Jace was thrown into was a patch of the island's mirage mushrooms. Just a small breath of its spores can make you hallucinate badly and act a bit... Strange. Though, Jace had a whole face full earlier, so Zizy was concerned what so much would do to little ol' Jace.
He reached forward and poked Iris' snout softly, his hand within view of himself. "Whoa... And there's two of me..." he mused.
"Jace... This isn't funny." his fiance grumbled.
He looked wide eyed. "Did I say it was? I find having two of yourself and others to be quite serious, m'dear..." he chuckled a little.
Skits could not believe what he was seeing. It was official; Jace had done lost it.
Zizy peaked out from his paws, before sitting on his hind legs. He felt sorry for the poor guy, as his mind slowly descended into madness for the moment, saying things before he could even think. Jace however, seemed to be taking it quite fine... Whom was staring Iris up and down, ignoring everything she was saying.
"Jace, so help me, you better stop this! This is the worst time to act like a child!" she fumed, her leaves bristling angrily.
"..." he stumbled back a bit while staring at the holes in her clothes, but smirked at her. "Hey, my sexy fiance!"
Her eyes went wide, and she looked horribly frustrated. Had she been in a crowd, she'd have already ditched him and claimed she didn't know him. She wasn't sure how to process the concern and thoughts she had. She questioned lowly, her eyes wide, "...What?"
He stepped back, though ended up balancing on one foot awkwardly, while pointing his index fingers toward Iris and moving them back and forth, looking almost like some dumb, drunk dance. "You look good like that, in tattered purple! You should keep the look, it's hot."
At this point, Zizy facepawed himself and whined a little- it was painful but kinda funny to watch. Skits was still staring without movement, his mind trying to register what was happening... Actually, his mind was going a bit blank. Iris, however, was blank-faced. Her tolerance was starting to crack. But given how much mushroom-dust Jace breathed in, his effects were getting a bit worse- which could only worsen Iris' attitude.
"You're a sassy o-one... Would you like to go out with me, like a d-date...? Y'know, I-I heard that... L-lilies and roses go well together." he mused, starting to look a bit tired. His words trailed a bit every so often.
Her face flushed red at his suggestion, then she grabbed the collars of his vest- which hardly phased him, and finally blew up at him- "I'm engaged to you, ya dimwit! If you don't quit this nonsense and come along, I'll knock your lights out and drag your sorry carcass the rest of the way!" She soon paused, before adding. "Oh, I'll give ya' flowers, bub... At this rate, you wont live that long to get that chance... The only flowers you'll be seeing are the ones in front of your headstone after I beat ya' senseless! Just... What in Hylia's name is wrong with you!? Snap out of it, this isn't you!"
He placed his finger in front of her snout and shushed her. "Shushshushshusshhh, calm down- let's just enjoy the night-time stroll..."
Iris slapped his hand away- roughly, I might add. "Idiot..." she turned, slapping him in the face with her leaves, which only made him chuckle. He followed her though. She wasn't sure if that was what she wanted, actually. Zizy trotted up to iris, trying to get her attention. She looked down to him and stopped. "What is it, boy?". Jace bumped into the back of her, conking heads. She was quick to push him away. Though, he didn't laugh, he just looked a bit dazed.
Zizy pointed off toward the mushroom frantically, then pointed at Jace. Iris knew Jace had been thrown into them, but it didn't register exactly that the mushrooms were the cause of his senseless state.
"The mushrooms? What about 'em?" she questioned. Jace added on afterward- "Mushroooooommmmmmsss." as if the word sounded weird to him... Earning him an almost disturbed glance from Iris.
Zizy was trying to think of some way to tell Iris about the mushroom's side effects... She didn't understand what he was saying when he lit up his tail and ears. Zizy ran over to a patch of sand, and rolled in it. And as he trotted back over to Iris, he pointed his head toward the mushrooms eagerly. He then pointed to Jace and himself, as if saying "Now I'm him!", and made a gesture, like he was "Thrown", then pointed at the mushroom. Iris was sorta following, though slowly. He then shook off the dirt, trying to make it look like when Jace shook off the mushroom spores, hoping it'd ring a bell. Iris stared for a moment... While Jace was also staring really hard.
"Iris, that fox has wings..." he muttered, and she completely ignored him, only giving a roll of the eyes.
"Wait..." she looked up at the mushrooms, placing her hand to her burnt snout. "... You mean... The spores?"
Zizy got excited, jumping up and down to let her know she was correct. "So, the spores make you act stupid? That explains what happened with that strange lady-monster earlier.", referring to when she lost control before running away. She turned to Jace, and groaned. "Lovely, let's hope stupidity and bluntness is its only side effect. He's enough trouble without a drunken-state."
A good forty minutes passed as Zizy lead Iris, whom practically had to hold Jace's hand to keep him following as well, and to keep him balanced. It got worse over time. By now, he was wigging about the way he was seeing everything. Iris was short and bubbly-eyed, everything was, actually. He'd managed to tell Iris how cute she looked all small and child-like, though she simply groaned and told him "That's nice.". She quite nearly fell though, when Jace practically plastered his feet to the ground and stared at a tree.
"Oh my gods..." he mumbled.
"Ugh, what...?" she groaned. She looked off at the tree, and they stared for a moment.
"... That tree, don't you see it? It has eyes... It's watching us..." he warned tiredly. At this point, he looked like he'd fall over any minute. He inhaled enough spores to make a horse hallucinate, so it was a wonder why he was still conscious. Iris humored him, and looked at the plain old tree for a bit, before saying. "Jace, honey... That shouldn't bother you... Because we're trees with eyes..."
"Wait... We ar-... We are! You know what sounds good right now? A big glass of milk... Can we stop by Romani Ranch?" Jace laughed, making Iris want to slap him. But to be nice, she just let it slide, and pulled him to keep walking with her. Iris had completely ignored his last question. This urged a new question from him, which she actually giggled a little at- "Hey, you ever wonder... You ever wonder how us deku stay balanced...? We have such hyyuuggeee heads, it's k-kinda odd..."
She looked back at him, completely changing the subject. "Now c'mon, we're gonna find you some place to rest, because Nayru knows you need it." she sighed lightly. He nodded, actually agreeing that a nap sounded good. Maybe it was wearing off, because he was actually responding to her a bit.
"When we find the Dovah, we're gonna find ourselves a place to sleep, and we'll continue our mission in the morning."
Jace nodded. "Alllrighty then, baby. Though... I don't feel so good."
"Uh oh, what's that mean?" Iris questioned, though not taking him seriously.
"Like... My head feels light... As a matter... of fact...I think... I..." his hand slipped out of Iris', and he fainted, falling to the ground before Iris could stop his fall.
"Oh lords, Jace!?" she reached down and turned him over, checking to make sure he hadn't hurt himself when he fell. He was out cold but fine, breathing soundly... "Whew..." she wiped her forehead. "... Great..." she looked up at the sky, and waved her arms about. "Seriously, ladies!? I gotta carry him? Sometimes y'all mock me..."
With that, she picked him up- which felt strange, and she continued following Zizy... She never thought she'd have to carry Jace like he was some damsel. She then chuckled to herself, knowing she'll never let him live this moment down when he wakes up back to his old self. Skits was hopping beside her, not quite sure what to think of anything that had been happening since Jace first started acting kooky. The black bird simply watched, though he was with Iris on using this moment against him someday. All they needed was a pictograph of this moment, with "Jace's first hangover" written underneath it to use for blackmail. The bird snickered to himself.
Still carrying Jace, and the moon rising into the sky during the trip, Iris was growing increasingly tired and bored... Zizy kept yawning, tired and bored as well. It had been some hour or so, Iris having taken multiple rests on the way. The Hyrulean deku was seriously considering setting up camp right here if it wasn't in the middle of a vicious tropical jungle.
"Oh Zizy, how much longer?" Iris asked for the tenth time over the past twenty minutes.
The little moh'x gave a different response this time around, bouncing in place with his tail and antennas blinking light. Iris looked ahead to see the glow of a little village ahead. She gave a sigh of relief, then noticed another similar flashing light like Zizy's getting closer coming from the village. As it came into view, it was another moh'x; White, yellow, and blue. The two animals happily met and bumped heads, wagging their bulbous tails in joy. They hopped, skipped, and played all the way to the village like two twitterpated puppies. Iris wasn't expecting to see another animal like Zizy, so it was interesting watching them interact. If Skits' wing wasn't hurt right now, he'd be playing with them.
As she approached the gates of the village, she looked up, seeing that the village was just beneath a large mountain. Smoke was rolling softly out of it, which brought to mind Death Mountain of Hyrule, and realization sunk in that this was actually a volcano. She gulped, though her attention was taken when a strange looking elf-like creature with a draconic tail was seen walking toward her. It had a human shaped body, but stood about as tall as a Kokiri, much like the height of the Tikoon. But as this fellow drew closer- or she assumed was a fellow, she noticed he sported some nifty horns which curled around the side of his face and ears. The ears were pointed and frilled at the bottom, the frill connecting to the face. His clothes were torn up and raggy pelts. And wings were folded against his back. The little guy didn't look happy, and got up in Iris' face.
"What are you? What're you doing here!?" he asked. Iris now saw his mouth open, and he had a pointed tongue and all sharp teeth. He grabbed Iris' leaves and looked them over nosily, causing her to go, "Ow-!" and pull away.
"Those are attached to my head, thank you!" she huffed.
"Your hair is weird..." the little dragon-like person mused.
Iris stiffened her leaves on her head upward. "Yes, because it's not hair, their leaves, and they're very sensitive! And it is rude to go around pulling on leaves, y'know." her cheeks puffed up. She wasn't sure how the person would respond, given he looked so angry... But he laughed.
"Haha, you're funny, strange plant monster, I never seen one of you before."
Iris sighed. "I'm a deku scrub, I don't live on this island. I am assuming you're a dovah?"
The fellow nodded. "... Yes, I am. Who sent you, why are you here?"
"You guys are pretty nosy, huh? I was-... My partner and I were sent here by the Tikoon Elder across the island."
The dovah just noticed the other deku in Iris' arms, and poked Jace in the head. "... What happened to this thing?"
"That thing is a he. He... Came in contact with a weird mushroom on the way."
"He? He looks like a she with that hair." the dovah teased. Good thing Jace wasn't awake. The dovah then added, "You never touch the mushroom patches on this island."
"So we've noticed..."
The dovah saw Zizy and the other moh'x playing, and he was brought back to the main subject; why Iris was there. "Zizy is with you, so the Elder did send you! It must be important! Come, I shall show you to our leader."
Iris shook her head. "Oh, please just give us a place to sleep, and we can introduce ourselves when my friend's awake..."
The dovah gave it thought, and realized that that may be the best idea. "Ah, okay... Come, let me show you to a place to stay till she-"
"He..."
"He wakes."
Meanwhile, further back into the island forest canopy.
Skreemin walked, stretching his arms upward with a yawn. Drigos walked behind him, dragging his axed tails lazily. Drigos' belly was running on empty, and Skreemin was running out of water. Currently, assuming their targets were somewhere on the island sleeping, they had plenty of time to search for them and supplies. Skreemin had not planned on being on this island so long, so this was a bit of a setback. Drigos looked up at the sky, studying the placement of the moon for time.
"It's nearing eleven, I'm assuming. I haven't been this hungry in ages." Drigos said plainly with a common growl.
Skreemin seemed a bit surprised at the beast actually saying something intelligent or it not be about crushing something, but he was too tired to make a crack about it. He pulled out an arrow, and rotated it between his fingers to keep himself entertained by something aside from his thoughts. The bald deku finally spoke.
"You've been to this island, don't you know where some of the best places to hide are?" he was thinking about Jace and Iris currently, knowing they were on their toes now.
"I may know the island, but I don't make it a habit of going on expeditions. So no, other than the underground tunnels. And unless you want to get skewered by an angry pirate or have your head bitten off by an arguss, it's wise we don't travel that route at night." the dragalfos huffed. "If they're down there, they either are dead or got run out pretty quick."
Skreemin sighed, growing frustrated of this unmapped territory. He was just as lost and confused as Jace and Iris were. Skreemin obviously had the upper-hand in surviving though, thanks to having a powerhouse walking right behind him. At least, that's how he felt.
"If I had my crew with me, this whole thing would have already been done." Skreemin grunted as he climbed over a log on the middle of the path. Drigos just stepped over it, the dragon snorting in interest.
"You have a crew...?" the monster asked.
"Yep, I'm the leader." he replied. "We'd make quick work of these guys in no time. If I don't get back to Hyrule soon, Aikia will come looking for me, I'm sure." The bald deku finished, though, the last part was quiet; mostly Skreemin talking to himself.
"Aikia?" Drigos mused. "Who's that?"
Skreemin stepped over a rock as he replied. "One of my crew members. She gets concerned if any of the crew is away too long. She's a Dinolfos. Aka, like you but minus the wings and more brains."
The Dragalfos didn't take the insult to heart, surprisingly. He was more so surprised to learn that Skreemin was ally's with a monster much like himself. He gave a low, but audible "Hm." in interest.
Drigos gave a snort short after. "Heh, you, a leader? I'd have never thought."
Things fell silent for a moment, as Drigos pondered about the events of today. They came close to finishing the job, but no cigar. Drigos took a whiff of the air, trying to smell out either food or deku- excluding Skreemin. All he got was the smell of wildlife who had passed through here. Skreemin still tossed around the arrow in his fingers and added, "So these deku... They seem to be quite a bother to a lot of people..."
"To everyone I've ever known." Drigos replied. Though, everyone he knows are monsters, mostly lizalfos, aeralfos, or dragalfos, or other monsters of the like.
Skreemin gave a light, "Hmpf." with a pause, then added, "That arrogant kid, it's a wonder he's still alive. I thought he was supposedly dying." He looked forward again. "Last I checked, his whole family was kickin' buckets."
Drigos paused, taking the last part seriously for only a moment, before recovering. "Wait... You know about Jace's curse?"
Skreemin wrinkled his snout a bit, "Curse? What curse? I only heard word that everyone in his family was dying one after another. I just assumed they all had some gross sickness, like that old swamp poisoning from the Moonfall. I was around when the queen took him in. His dad died, so he was taken under her wing due to some connection between the two. Ugh, the treatment he got... Sickens me that they treated that little guttersnipe like one of their own, when all I was was the punching bag. I worked there, I offered them more than Jacon ever could. All he did was run around breaking crap and getting guards in trouble with the prince. Let me tall ya', some children need much more than they get... While others get more than they deserve."
Drigos was thoroughly surprised at the backstory connection the two had. For one, he didn't know Skreemin had a connection with the palace to begin with. And obviously, he knew Jace well enough. Though Jace obviously didn't know Skreemin. Drigos respected Skreemin, if only the two worked together well and Skreemin stopped ordering Drigos around. "... There's something you an I agree on then; He should be dead right now. When he got involved with our plans, he was cursed. Don't ask me how he got it, we don't know. But our deceased master knew about it somehow, and even told us it ran through his family. It is their ultimate weakness. Our master predicted the curse would kill him at, well... Last year, start of Winter, I believe."
Skreemin raised an eye... For a dragalfos leader, this Master knew a lot of weird stuff... Or he could've been some crazy kook. Skreemin was soaking up this info as possible weakpoints though to use against Jace. With Drigos' knowledge on what makes Jace tick... This may work. He let him continue.
"Jace's curse, from what I was told, was represented by an X birthmark by one of his eyes, which he keeps hidden. The birthmark is a root point of pain, which brings on agonizing headaches and even sight problems for the lad. These are good moments to attack him, because he can't tell what he's doing and he's hurting too much. So his head is his most likely weakpoint. Get near that cursemark or rough him up enough to cause a headache, and you may have him cornered."
Skreemin scoffed. "Head problems... Typical." he rubbed the back of his head subconsciously. He was thinking to himself, understanding the enemy personally may be the greatest advantage. Skreemin knew all about having a weak point on the head. So long as Jace didn't know Skreemin's, everything's good. Except one problem that Skreemin and Drigos were not aware of; Jace was no longer cursed, so that weakness did not apply to him anymore.
Skreemin looked at his reflection through the arrowhead, getting a glimpse of the tally marks on his mask. He kept wondering what his crew back in Hyrule was up to... Before he could think much else, he heard noises off in the dark jungle, and he stopped to listen. He glanced up at his draconic travel partner, whom was so quiet you could've heard a pin drop. His wings flicked on impulse, and his eyes darted around the dark. Drigos took a whiff of the air, and growled soon after.
"I smell blood..." his tone dragged. "Something big is coming."
Skreemin grabbed his bow from around himself. "I can hear that much. What is it?"
"The heck I know, it could be anything..." he huffed. He couldn't quite tell where the sound was coming from, which internally scared him a bit. But as soon as he found the source, it was too late and something large came flying out toward him from the jungle. Drigos roared out for only a moment, before he was sent crashing against the ground, as almost knife-sharp legs climbed and ran across him. Skreemin was audibly startled by the attack with a gruff swear. The creature stopped atop Drigos, the dragon thankful his hide was hard to pierce.
The beast made clicking noises as it sniffed the air, the smell it was smelling leading to Skreemin. Skreemin gave a disgusted wide-eyed glare, having never seen a monster like this before. It was obviously wounded, littered with fresh stabs, gashes, and slices. And most of all, it was dizzy and scared from mushroom spores. The creature was still fired up from her fight with Jace and Iris, and the deku scent was enough to bring her to her senses enough to know that a deku was standing before her- possibly one of those that harmed her. Without a second's notice, the crystalline centipede-like monster lunged for Skreemin, with no obvious reason to him.
She swung the broad side of her arm against him with full intent to kill. The deku was knocked back roughly on his back, protecting his head from hitting the ground too hard in the process. His bow and arrow was knocked away from him upon the fall, and his arrows were scattered about. Desperate, he went to reach for a nearby arrow, but the monster slung her hand down against his body, forcing him to wheeze for air and retract his hand to himself. She used her other free hand's dagger-like middle finger and attempted to stab him up near the head or throat, which he managed to dodge by moving his head to the side. Though he will easily admit to himself that he is absolutely terrified at the moment, regardless of how many hits he managed to miss. The creature's blindness was a good advantage, at least.
Drigos stood, and regained his bearings. But it wasn't long after that he noticed Skreemin being the main target of this monster. Drigos knew them as arguss, monsters that normally live underground. It had obviously been in a fight recently, and was acting strange. Drigos could just smell blood, dekus, and mushrooms, which the combination made his nose wrinkle. He seemed expressionless for a bit. And on normal circumstances, he wouldn't have cared to watch a deku get torn limb-from-limb. And Drigos knew that an arguss was a vicious beast. One should never become between them and their prey. As a predator himself, he respected that.
The dragon's wings flicked, and he knew the monster was currently mad from mushroom spores... He stepped back one, preparing to fly on instinct. However, a startled shout from Skreemin nearly getting jabbed again brought him back. For one, master would kill Drigos- literally probably, if he just allowed Skreemin to die since he was personally hired to help them. And deep down, he started feeling that having Skreemin around gives him a better understanding on his foes... At this point, it would be an unfortunate loss of information.
Much to Skreemin's legit surprise, Drigos lunged at and bit down on the arguss' shoulder, an audible snap being heard. Drigos, using his full jaw-strength, tore at and broke through the crystalline skin. She pulled up and away from Skreemin, thrashing about in pain. Drigos wasted no time to grab the arguss and forcefully toss her away, roaring as he did so. Skreemin backed away, still on the ground, before finally getting to his feet and shakily gathering his belongings. The arguss and dragalfos furiously roared to each other to instigate a challenge. Out of instinct to try to intimidate, Drigos' wings spread out far and he threatened the arguss in a beastly manner, fire gathering in the back of his throat. She took the threat and returned it, dizzily running to tackle against Drigos roughly, nearly throwing him aside. He dug his claws into the earth as she pushed him, leaving claw gashes along the ground. With the arguss' neck in his face, he breathed flames at its neck and chest, scorching the bare skin. This caught the arguss off guard enough that Drigos could grab her neck and throw her against the ground. He locked her down by placing his foot on her neck.
His face was curled into a snarl and flames leaked out his nostrils when he looked at Skreemin. "Well? You gonna help me with this thing?"
Skreemin readied an arrow. He'd save his questions for later. "So long as you don't screw up my aim."
Drigos scoffed a gritty chuckle. The arguss shot it's sharp crystal-lined tail up and scraped it along Drigos' back and wings. He quickly responded with a roar, before shooting flames down on her. He moved away while the arguss squirmed to it's legs in pain, and Drigos hunched his back a little. "She's irate..."
"Can't see why." Skreemin replied sarcastically. Drigos ran forward again, and slammed the beast against a tree, and she retaliated with a finger-stab against his arm. Drigos gritted his teeth, but only moved away.
With the moment of Drigos being out of range, Skreemin sent an arrow into the beast's injured and exposed shoulder. She could not tell where the shot came from, and went about crazily thrashing and charging. Drigos twirled around, sending his axed tails to slice across her, though he missed. Skreemin made up for the miss however with an arrow to the chest. She finally figured out where the arrows were coming from, and ran at Skreemin. She was moving slow though, and was nearly dead at this point from the wounds the arguss endured. Drigos grabbed Skeemin up before she can could get to him, and he held out his arm to allow Skreemin to walk across it to his back. Now that Skreemin was situated, Drigos dashed to the back of the monster, and leapt up and crashed violently against the arguss' back. He never gave it a chance, and lunged down and bit it's neck. It fought, but it was too weak to fight against the bone-crushing jaw strength of a dragalfos. Skreemin had an arrow loaded just in case... But as he observed Drigos' nasty blow, he was thankful to not be on the receiving end.
The monster's tail swung up from the back, which Skreemin had seen.
"Fly up, now!" he ordered. Drigos wasted no moment, and thrusted his wings down to jump, dodging the tail only by an inch. The arguss turned to face them angrily, much to it's mistake- giving Skreemin the perfect moment to shoot an arrow right at it's neck as Drigos was still in the air.
The dragon crashed back down against it's back, sitting one foot on the ground and huffing noisily. The creature squirmed and choked, but it finally gave in, and went limp, collapsing in pain to the ground. Drigos stared for a while to make sure it was dead... Skreemin as well. Though slowly, he placed his bow back around him, and Drigos eased up.
"... That thing's good as dead." Drigos mused. Drigos climbed down completely, huffing. Though where he was stabbed before felt incredibly numb, and he was reminded of the venom in the arguss' middle finger. His hurt arm was rendered useless at the moment due to that.
"Huh... Not half bad, Scales." Skreemin commented. "I didn't think you had it in you to fight it, given you've run from the last monster we encountered." though, his add on was a joke, he knew very well Drigos wasn't shy of shedding the blood of another creature. Just the Garugor was a VERY different story, and was much larger, and would require much more to kill. For those reasons, Drigos wasn't dumb enough to fight one of those if fleeing was an option.
Once he took a good enough breather, he glanced his slit eyes toward the bald forest creature. "Good aim, made the fight much shorter."
Skreemin shrugged, nudging the arguss in the head. "Well, I wanted to live, so." he examined the crystals on it's back, and considered their worth... But Drigos went about walking away, hoping to get Skreemin's attention. Drigos had no care for the pelt of the monster, of course. In the middle of wondering about the pelt, Skreemin soon realized that his "powerhouse" travel partner was walking away, and grudgingly began following. He pattered up behind Drigos, before slowing to a walk next to him. Drigos was holding his bleeding and numb arm. In the silence, Skreemin scoffed lightly.
"Would you like to explain to me what that crap was back there?"
Drigos' response was a brow-raised glance for the moment. "... It was an arguss."
"No, I mean you actually caring enough to save my skin." He seemed intrigued. "What divine intervention possessed you to do that? Last I checked, you wanted me dead along with the brats." the deku gave a cocky sharp glance back at the dragon, him having to look up to look him in the face. Drigos' face still had a blackish colored burn mark on it from getting hit by Iris' acidic spit, and it'd probably be there for a while.
Drigos folded his wings to his back, before looking forward again with a straight face. "If I let you die when I am well and capable of preventing it, then master would have my horns, simple as that."
The bald deku shook his head and crossed his arms. "Good, I thought you may have been going soft."
The dragalfos said not a word, but cracked a small toothy smirk at Skreemin's cockiness. For once, it wasn't making Drigos eager to wring his neck.
Back at the Pirate's Stronghold...
Time had been slipping by, and Ilye was trying desperately not to worry about her friends... She was tired and still in pain, but could not move or walk, which agitated her to no end. And she wanted to sleep, but worry and pain kept her from doing so. It had been a few hours since she's seen or spoken with anyone, so she was also bored.
Ilye could only lay on the bed as she stared at the ceiling. She couldn't help but feel nauseous- both at how physically awful she felt, and the strong medicine smells to her sensitive senses. And then Jace and Iris, whom she feared for the safety of. For some reason, she felt that she needed to be with them at all costs right now. A dark feeling loomed over her, and she could just feel that evil was pursuing them... She wasn't sure what was pursuing them, but she knew something- or someone- wanted them dead... Maybe even several someone's. It was an instinct, and something just felt wrong.
She stared at the walls of the ward. Medical equipment and tools all about. The whole room had it's own odor. She always hated sitting in places such as these, it reeked of medicines and potions... She gazed at the bloody arrow that was pulled from her side as it sat on the table next to her- sitting on a cloth. Seeing it made her think of her side, making her hurt a little worse knowing the damage she must've taken. What of her insides? Was anything critically damaged beyond healing...? If so, obviously not enough to have killed her. She shakily placed her hand at her bandaged side with the white blanket still thrown over her.
"I've failed. At this point, there's nothing else I can do." she sighed, laying her head back against the oversized pillow. The bed itself was made for the pirates, so everything was oversized according to her.
"You haven't failed, young one." Came a male's voice.
Ilye nearly screamed, and she grabbed the blanket and drew it over her whole body in fear. "Who's in here!?" she threw her gaze around. The door was closed, and she never saw anyone come in.
She was taken aback to see a large silver fox floating at the side of the bed in a ghostly manner when she turned her head to face the other side.
"Oh please, it's just me. You wont believe the trouble I had getting here! These pirates are mean, I tell you what." said Silver Keaton.
"Silver, I've told you not to appear like that-!" she scolded.
Silver Keaton flicked an ear. "Well, you told me, but not the me that I am."
Ilye rolled her eyes. "Whatever... What are you doing here!? Shouldn't you be in Yuriko helping keep things safe?"
"I was going to, but I was told to be elsewhere." He still floated, in a position as if he were laying down on a solid surface. "And shouldn't you be out there helping Iris and Jace?"
"As you can see, I've been rendered a little incapable at the moment..." Ilye grumbled.
"Ah, I see... You were adventuring quite well, till you took an arrow to the side." he paused to chuckle, which earned him a grumpy glare from Ilye. He then continued. "In all seriousness, though... I'm glad you're alive."
"Well, thanks... But I might as well have died." she looked away.
Keaton tilted his head. "After coming all this way?"
"Well... Look where I am, Silver. I can't fight like this. How can I even get off the island? It hurts too much for me to even move..."
"Now why do you think I was sent here...?" he responded.
"Sent by who...?" Ilye asked.
The fox smiled. "By the Great Fairy of Clocktown, of course."
Ilye froze. "... You mean-? How did she know I was hurt?"
"They have their... Divine, ways. Don't you know? They've been watching over you all on your journey." he nodded. "Why, all of Termina relies on you guys right now. You can't just give up. You're too stubborn to. Why, even your friends and family are counting on you, even those who have passed." He finished.
Ilye drew her hands to her face and groaned. "I know, I know. Keaton, this is all so big."
"Come now, be that brave girl I once knew." Keaton sat down on the floor now.
"... You're right..." she sighed.
The fox looked down, then back up at Ilye. He sighed a deep breath. "... Ilye, you think all this is crazy... But, you're meant to be here, just like Jace and Iris. Without your help, they wouldn't have made it this far, and the goddesses knew that, otherwise fate wouldn't have lead you on this journey."
"Keaton, tell me, what should I do...?"
The fox shook his head. "I'm not a god, just a messenger. I don't know the whole grand scheme of things. All I've been told, is that you all must stick together during these times."
"... Are they in danger?" Ilye asked.
"I've been told that the enemy is watching Jace and Iris' every move. They plan to kill them, not you. The true enemy does not know of you as deeply as they think, nor your intentions. I'm pretty sure to them, you are a stranger offering to help, which makes you the least important to them. Use that advantage."
Ilye looked down at the blanket as she sat up. "Okay, but... But where do I go?"
"You'll know where you're needed- you'll feel it." Keaton looked to her travel bag and dug through it with his psychic abilities, and a shimmering blue stone levitated out of it and onto Ilye's lap. "Just let the goddesses guide you."
"I think you're all crazy... But you know what? I'm gonna continue on with this whole thing." she remained silent for a moment, before continuing. "But what about my wound? I can't help much like this."
"The Great Fairy sent one of her children to aid you." Keaton looked behind him and swished his tails. A very large ball of pink light appeared from behind Keaton and flew up in Ilye's face.
"I-Is that a... Fairy!?" Ilye muttered.
The large ball of light bounced happily in front of Ilye, flying around her side.
"These are one of the Great Fairy's large fairies. Very rare, I must say. They're stronger than normal fairies and can heal even the worst injuries. Why, they can even reverse fatal injuries and restore any magic power that was lost. Some can even reverse death. Only the Hero of Time himself has been granted their use." Keaton smirked.
The rather large fairy spoke. "Now, let's see where your injury is."
Ilye was in shock, as she'd never seen such a large fairy before. She couldn't even see it's wings... If it had any. It flew around her, before stopping at her side again. "Here?"
"Uh-... Y-yeah." Ilye squeaked. She lifted the blanket to where the fairy could see her bandaged side. The bandage was bloody around that area, and it hurt for Ilye to move.
The bright ball of light began shining and touched the wound. Ilye winced, as she could feel the wound closing. And any internal damage was reversing. It hurt for only a moment before suddenly, all the pain was gone as if it never happened. She shakily reached around her side and undid the bandage, and the hole in her side was gone, and even the stitches that were once there had vanished into nothing. She felt the area as if she couldn't believe it, then smiled. "That's amazing...!"
"My job here is done!" The fairy chirped. It bounced up and down in front of Ilye again. "Now, you find the one who did this to you and teach them a lesson! All of Termina's counting on you, so be careful and watch out for anymore arrows!"
The deku scrub girl could only stare, before nodding. Could she see the fairy up close and through the light, Ilye would've noticed that the fairy playfully saluted, before she vanished in a flash of light to return to her mother's fountain in Clocktown.
"Now, Ilye. What are your plans...?" Keaton sat down, loyally awaiting Ilye's response as he tilted his head.
She examined her side, then threw her legs off the bed and stretched her body; which felt like ages since she'd last done. "We're gonna find Jace and Iris, and we're gonna kick the Twilight where it hurts."
"That's what I like to hear." came Silver Keaton's signature grin.
To Be Continued...
Skreemin belongs to sgtpieman on DeviantART.
The Dovah belong to Holiiewood on DeviantART.
The Arguss belong to MsInsanityDoodles on DeviantART.
The Moh'x belong to Ayinai on DeviantART.