Reply to Orange-is-love: Well, technically, we're only uploading three times per week. It does make quite a marked difference from the two a week schedule though, I must admit.
Toby Fox owns Undertale and all associated characters. Vigil belongs to me.
Greater Dog barked quietly, gesturing the all-clear with a gauntleted hand. Quickly, the rest of the Unit came out of the cover of the trees, keeping a wary eye on the sky as they did so. The morning sun was shining brightly down and there wasn't a cloud in the sky… and no sign of the Beast either.
"I hope we can find it's lair before it finds us," Dogamy murmured to his wife who nodded silently in agreement. "I don't like how open the mountain is this high."
"Just keep your eyes open," Dogaressa instructed the group as a whole, keeping a firm grip on her axe as she lead the way. The rest of her Unit spread out in formation behind her. "So long as Sans and Vigil play their parts, we shouldn't have much to worry about."
Lesser Dog let out a worried whine. Doggo gave his companion a gentle pat on the shoulder.
"Now, now, none of that," he assured. "We're all gonna be fine. 'Sides, I set you up with that shiny new enchantment, didn't I?"
Lesser let out a quiet, happy bark at the reminder, brandishing his weapon to show off the flames flickering along the blade. Doggo grinned.
"See what I mean? Nothing to worry about."
"Focus," Dogaressa warned as the group reached a steeper part of the mountainside and slowed to a halt. Dogaressa weighed her options. On the one hand, heading straight up the slope would make it difficult to fend off an attack should the Beast find them. On the other, there were a few trees and caves above that would provide decent cover, and the alternative would be looping around through more open slopes.
"We'll keep going up," she decided after a few moments. "But move quickly, I want to be in those trees asap."
There were a few quiet barks, and the Unit began ascending the slope as a team, giving helping hands to each other and carefully navigating the loose earth and stones while simultaneously trying to remain aware of the sky above.
Suddenly, Greater Dog's ears perked and he barked a warning. As one, the Unit whipped up their heads to see, even as a terrifying screech sounded from above.
A massive bird, covered in dark brown feathers was hurtling towards them. It was closing fast, it's massive wings somehow almost silent, even to the canine's ears. It's talons were outstretched, wicked points gleaming in the sun, matching the bloodthirsty glint in it's eye.
"Move move move!" Dogaressa shouted, raising a hand to fire a bolt of energy at the approaching Beast. "Greater, hit it! We need to slow it down!"
Her subordinate turned to focus on the creature, trying to get a firm grip on the ground beneath him before sending out as big a blast of sonic energy as he could muster.
It didn't so much as slow down the Beast. If anything, it's speed increased. Before the canines could react, it had swooped in and carried Doggo off, one talon gripping each shoulder.
"Doggo!" Dogamy shouted, firing a few bolts of magic after the beast. Dogaressa grabbed his wrist.
"Don't waste time! Keep moving before that thing takes someone else!"
"But-"
"Move!" Dogaressa all but shoved her husband up the slope, moving as fast as she could on the terrain. The others came with her, though there were whines of concern and a few brief glances over to where their comrade had been carried away.
Far above the ground, Doggo struggled in the grip of the huge bird. He had dropped one of his daggers when he'd been snatched, but he still held on to the other one in his left hand.
The Beast's talons sank painfully deep into his shoulders and it took all the husky had to avoid whimpering in pain. Gripping the dagger as firmly as he could manage, he jerked it upward to sink it into the bird's leg, while simultaneously turning his head to bite at the other one.
The Beast gave a pained squawk at the attack, it's talons loosening for a moment. Suddenly, the canine's ears flattened as he realized how high up he must be. With his limited vision hampering him, all he could see was the bird carrying him.
He pulled back his head, releasing the Beast's leg. Talons gripped him even tighter and the bird adjusted it's hold on him, causing him to grunt in pain. He had to wait till it landed somewhere, otherwise he would be nothing more than a stain on the ground for the rest of the Unit to find.
Wait… he squinted as something else showed up in his vision. Something was moving towards him… and his captor was changing its course to head towards it as well. The shape was familiar, it looked like…
A few bolts of yellow energy fired past, two missing the beast but the others impacting it straight in the chest. Vigil rose to the same level as the bird, his teal wings flapping quickly to keep him in the air. More energy gathered in the tip of his tail as he prepared another volley.
The Beast gave a shrill, defiant screech at the intrusion and swooped towards the Shifter, its claws still gripping Doggo tightly.
Vigil just had time to let loose his magic attack before the beast was on him. Each bolt hit the Beast square in the chest, but there was little obvious effect. He dodged up, bringing his wings down in a powerful stroke to propel him just out of reach of the creature's wickedly curved beak.
But the Beast was fast. Even as Vigil evaded it, it was already angling itself for another attack. Even with it's talons still occupied, it quickly had Vigil on the defensive. It slashed and stabbed at him with it's beak and battered against him with its wings.
It quickly became apparent that, while Vigil seemed to be able to at least avoid most of the Beast's attacks, he was not proficient in this kind of aerial combat. He tried to swoop in close to strike at the Beast with his tail, but was knocked aside almost effortlessly by a few wingbeats. He narrowly managed to avoid the deadly beak striking his shoulder. Unfortunately, his wings made a much larger target.
The point of the beak punched right through the wing, causing it to fizzle and fade, and Vigil to begin to fall with a cry. The Beast shrieked in triumph, but before it could dive after him, it's cry turned to one of pain.
Knowing Vigil was his only hope of getting down safely, Doggo sank his teeth and dagger into the talon holding one shoulder, growling loudly as he did so, and trying to ignore his ragged shoulders.
As if only just remembering the canine was there, the great bird released it's grip on him, intending to let him plummet as Vigil was doing now. But Doggo clung to the Beast's foot as hard as he could, using his other paw to grip onto it.
Doggo tried to pay attention to the movements of the air around him, tried to predict when the Beast's other foot would strike at him next. But even with that, he couldn't do anything when the claws raked deeps gashes across his back.
Doggo cried out in pain, and felt his grip slipping. He tried to hold on… but the pain was too much for him. He slipped, and began to fall.
Far below where the canine had begun to drop, Vigil had only just managed to re-conjure his wing before hitting the ground. He looked back up to see the canine's fall, as well where the great bird was holding position, it's piercing gaze locked on him.
The Shifter couldn't afford to hesitate. Mustering all the strength he could, he flew like an arrow towards his compatriot, while keeping an eye on the Beast to determine where it would strike from. His tail writhed and thrashed behind him, cutting through the air as though it had a life of its own.
As soon as Vigil had begun moving, the bird beat its wings once, then twice. It dived for him, talons outstretched, it's head lowered and a triumphant cry tearing from it's throat. It quickly passed Vigil's target, blocking his intended path.
The armored man let his magic gather in his tail once again, hoping he'd be able to distract the Beast to get around it. But before he had a chance to fire, the Beast's body was infused with a blue aura. The look in it's eyes changed from triumph to confusion, and then it suddenly rocketed towards the ground with a squawk.
The bird flapped it's wings impotently, but the sudden change of gravity on it's body was too much. All it managed to do was slow it's fall a little before it heavily impacted the stony ground.
A few feet away from where it had made its crash landing stood Sans. One slippered foot was on a raised stone, and he was leaning forward, one hand clenched in a fist. The left side of his face was lit up by a blue glow emanating from that socket.
"Well, you're a big one, aren't you?" he murmured, raising his hand and causing the Beast to cry out in pain as bones impaled it from below, even as the aura suffusing it dissipated. "That's okay though, I've seen bigger."
The bones were gone as quickly as they had come, and the Beast gathered it's legs under it to lunge at the skeleton… who wasn't there anymore. It whirled in time to see him standing a ways behind it, four Gaster blasters locked into place above him, their attack charging. A moment later, beams of pure white light fired out, engulfing the Beast.
But even after the attack ended, the huge avian still stood, though now it looked much worse for wear. It's feathers were torn and scorched, even gone in some places, revealing charred and raw flesh beneath.
It squawked, and tried to take to the air, only to be slammed back down to the earth.
"Uh-uh, I don't think so, buddy." Sans prepared a volley of bones, which he hurled at the Beast that was still struggling to get up. "You're stuck down here with me."
The bones impacted the creature, sinking deep into it's flesh. But suddenly, it lunged at Sans, lashing out at him with it's beak again. Sans didn't even teleport this time, just dodged out of the way, even faster than the Beast itself.
Even as it turned again, another attack impacted it from the other side. Dogamy and Dogaressa had arrived, standing on an outcropping some distance away. Their hands were clasped and they send out another ring of energy at the Beast, both growling in unison. The rest of the Unit stood around them in defensive formation, even Doggo, though he was in the back, trying to keep the trembling from his legs.
The bird tried to go after them, but suddenly found a wall of bones in it's face, preventing access. It turned back to Sans frantically, and was greeted by another volley from his blasters.
Before it had a chance to recover from Sans's attack, there was a whistling sound from above and Vigil crashed down on top of it, smashing it down to the ground just as easily as Sans's soul effect had. The armored man managed to keep his balance on the Beast's back, using its neck as a support while he lashed out with his tail, impaling it's side deeply with the appendage.
The bird shrieked and flapped it's wings, trying to crane its neck around so it could get rid of the Shifter. He hung on though, relentlessly attacking him from above.
The Beast was so focused on the Shifter keeping it down that it didn't see Greater and Lesser Dog sprinting over, going around Sans's bone structure to flank it from the sides. Lesser was the first to strike, barking to grab its attention and jumping in to swipe at one side, the enchantment on his weapon causing the Beast's feathers to smoulder.
On the other side, Greater leapt in with his spear, viciously attacking it with the weapon. The beast screeched and lashed out with wings, talons and beak, but it's attacks were quickly becoming weaker as blood and dust began to stain it's body. Finally, it gave out a final shriek and crumbled in on itself. Vigil barely had time to leap off onto solid ground before it was nothing more than a pile of blood and dust on the ground.
"You guys alright?" Sans asked, coming down from his elevated position to check on them. The two canines looked to him with happy barks, Lesser Dog's tail wagging vigorously in victory.
"I will live," Vigil murmured, wiping his tail off on the ground.
The skeleton nodded, then looked over, seeing Dogamy and Dogaressa bringing Doggo over to them. The husky was leaning heavily against Dogamy, his tongue lolling slightly out of his mouth.
"I need a dog treat…" he managed. Dogamy chuckled at that.
"And you shall have one, as soon as you've been looked over, at least. You did good out there."
Doggo snorted.
"Sure, sure. I was a real contribution to the group. I wouldn't be anything but a contribution to the ground if it weren't for Vigil there," he gestured in the general direction of the Shifter.
"I'm only glad I managed to catch you in time," he replied. "It was cutting it close with the Beast nearly sending me to the ground and-"
He stopped as Doggo waved a paw.
"Don't tell me how close I came to dying," he grunted. "Just accept the thanks and be done with it."
Vigil inclined his head after a moment. "Apologies," he murmured. "I'm glad you're still with us.
"We're all glad of that." Dogaressa spoke up. Then she looked to Sans. "Sans, we're going to need a place to rest for a while, and I don't want to risk some other Beasts coming in while we're not ready for them."
"I'm with you," Sans agreed. "Fortunately, Beasts tend to be pretty territorial, right? That one should have kept the rest away. And we're not that far from the entrance to the Underground…"
The Unit stiffened as one at that.
"You want us… to go back there?" Dogaressa asked incredulously. Greater Dog let out a little whimper.
"Just saying it's a convenient spot. We don't actually have to go inside, if you don't want."
"He does have a point," Dogamy murmured. Dogaressa growled quietly, but relented after a moment.
"Fine. Let's go then. I want this over with as soon as possible."