Chapter 2: Night Terror
It was cold. It was uncomfortable and of course, this wasn't planned. Being stranded on a mountaintop in a new world that they barely started to discover along with no connections or acquaintances was the last thing they needed. And to top it all off, their sky knight, their leader and the best fighter of the group was weakening.
A squadron of six lay in a circle each trying to absorb whatever heat they could from a dimming fire they surrounded in inside the Condor's cockpit. One of them in particular was having a hard time maintaining his own body temperature. "Aerrow? How are you doing?" Piper laid a gentle hand on the shivering knight's arm. Her worry grew even more when she felt a slight shaking accompanied with a shocking low body temperature zapping her at the touch. "Mmm?" is all he said as he turned to his worried navigator, mage. She was so many things, a best friend, a nurse when the boys would get to rough, a good fighter, smart...pretty. Right now however, she was a worried and caring friend. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw his face in the dim light. He was pale and his rich emerald eyes we're now dull when they were once full of life, courage and enthusiasm. Now, they were filled with pain and exhaustion. She immediately got up to kneel beside him. "Oh no!" "Piper, what's wrong?" "You! Your wound, I think it's infected. You're going into septic shock!" she said anxiously yanking off his blanket and pulling up his top. He barely had time to process what was going on. First he was slowly fading away into sleep and the next thing he knew Piper was pulling his shirt up almost over his face! "What are you doing?" being pushed back down on his back "Stay still!" she replied trying to keep him from moving. She reached for her stone pouch and found inside it exactly what she needed. A small piece of a solarist crystal. All she needed to do was to clang it on the wall twice and before they knew it, the whole room was illuminated; it's light out brightening the fire's. She set the glowing stone down and with better vision, could examine the wound. Taking off the bandage, it didn't take a doctor to notice the wound was indeed infected. "Crap" she let out. "We're going to have to disinfe-" "GUYS! Seriously? What is going onoh!" A wining, awoken Finn who was now looking at them in confusion interrupted Piper. "Am I interrupting something?" he asked as he saw what was before him, Aerrow laying down with his top rolled up with Piper almost on top of him (as she was examining the wound) with a hand holding him down. "Oh good you're awake! Go get the first aide kit!" "Is he ok?" he ignored Piper's order "Yeah Finn, I'm fine" replied Aerrow but soon contradicted by Piper "No you're not! Finn! First aide kit. Now!" Finn jumped over Junko who was in a deep sleep to head for the kit. It took a lot just to wake a wallop. Aerrow dropped his head back down and smacked his face with his hand and let out a small complaining and tired moan. "What?" Piper turned her head to look at Aerrow. "Nothing…Well, everything... I don't know." He replied. That was it, everything. They just fought a war, they are now in a new world that they know nothing about, now shipwrecked and lost, his health low and unable to fight… It was all so much, not to mention they were only in their late teen years, with the exception of Stork who was in his early twenties. "Everything is going to be fine, at least, that's what you always say" she responded with a small smile and a giggle, trying to cheer up her friend. "We didn't make it this far for nothing right?" she continued to keep the hopes up. "I got it" Finn said as he entered the room again and handed the kit to Piper. "Thanks Finn" "Yeah. Hey what time is it?" "Probably about midnight" She answered and opened the kit, taking out a cloth and a small bottle of alcohol. "Oh, ok, do you need help with him?" the blond offered. "Em, actually yeah. Hold him still for me." "Wait, what?" Jumped in Aerrow wondering why he would need to be held down. "Why?" Finn also wondered. "Sorry Aerrow but I have to disinfect this right now. The infection is spreading!" "Don't you have a healing or repairing crystal, you know, that little green stone you used when I was in a cast?" the redhead asked going a bit into a panic. "If I did, I would have used it before the infection developed itself! Cyclonis stole it, remember? Besides, even if I did still have it, all it would do would repair the skin and other tissues and trap the infection inside at this point." "Why didn't we get another one exactly?" The wingman interrupted. "Because they are extremely rare and I didn't feel like running from a giant again!" She replied becoming slightly irritated. "Ok, let's just get it over with." The weakening sky knight prepared himself. As Piper pored the disinfectant on a cloth, Finn kneeled down and held lightly Aerrow's shoulders down to keep him on his back. "Sorry buddy" "It's ok Finn" Aerrow replied as he knew Finn was just helping. "Ok, 1,2,3" Piper counted then applied the soaked cloth on the wound. Aerrow winced at the deep, sharp pain and tightened his jaw and fists trying to keep his scream to not wake the others or possibly attract any attention from whatever could be out there. He was breathing heavily, trying to push away the pain that shot through his torso. This was almost just as painful for Piper who was at the moment causing him even more discomfort. "There! This should help a little. We'll just bandage you up and we'll all be able to sleep, hopefully." Then she pulled out a new bandage and started covering up the wound. At this point, all Aerrow wanted to do was pass out. "Th…thanks guys" he managed to let out. "Try to get some rest now" and Finn and Piper went back to their spots around the small fire.
It was only two hours after the three fell asleep with their other teammates when a strange feel of a presence suddenly alerted Radarr. It wasn't a familiar presence either. He through his long silver ears up and popped his out of his tucked position. Not wanting to alert anyone incase it was just a deer, he crawled out of his little spot and made his way to one of the holes in the window. He let his head out first and peeked around while also sniffing the cold air. While his eyes saw nothing, his nose said something different. Then he heard a faint CRACK from the dark forest only a few yards away, which was partly surrounding the Condor. He zeroed all his senses on one specific area and quickly wished he hadn't. His yellow eyes met a pair of glowing saucers peering out of the shadowy woods fallowed by a giant set of teeth slowly unraveling themselves.
A high-pitched screech was getting louder and louder as Radarr was running back to his team in absolute panic! "What the!?" Everyone suddenly awoke to this distressed scream. "Is that Radarr?" Aerrow asked in total confusion. POW! Radarr ran in at full speed into his leader. "RADARR! What's wrong with you?" Aerrow sat back up holding his little copilot who seemed to have been petrified. All of the squadron was now on high alert, despite the fact that three of them were pretty much sleep deprived after patching up their leader. "What is it Radarr?" Junko asked crouching to level with the furry little critter. Radarr didn't even bother to play charades, as he was to scared to even uncurl from his fetal position. But with a trembling finger, he pointed to outside. "Oh no! There's something out there isn't there?" Stork and continued "I don't know if any of my repellents are gonna be useful against these Far Side creatures!" "Calm down Stork" Aerrow told Stork as he saw the merb starting to hyperventilate. "CALM DOWN? WE are almost defenseless and there could be a hungry beast or a pack of wild track beasts roaming around us and plotting how to separate us and chase us down one by one! Hugh* Hugh*…We could be doo-" The terrified carrier pilot was cut off by a loud, low tone growling noise coming from outside the ship, paralyzing with fear the whole squadron. "Guys… stay calm and slowly grab your weapons." Aerrow ordered almost in a whispering voice. When they all grabbed their weapons, they slowly and cautiously made their way to the front windows of the bridge and each took a position beside them. Aerrow signaled 1,2,3 and they all jumped out the Condor in a fighting stance ready to defend themselves with their weapons now activated. "Where did it go?" Junko wondered and so did the others. With the light of their weapons, except for Stork, who had a… uhh…Pan, illuminated the part of the forest they were facing. "THERE!" Finn yelled out when he spotted a movement in the bushes and when they all flashed their lights on the source of the movement, they were in for a shock.
The lights from their weapons made a pair of giant reflective orbs appear from the darkness and the set of teeth appeared not long after. There was a loud HISSSSSSSS that accompanied the terrifying site. The team didn't know what to do other then just stare in fear. This made Aerrow completely forget about his pain and was ready to unleash a blast if that thing tried to attack. The mysterious creature took a step forward lowering it's head with it's teeth still exposed and through them came an other noise, a mix of a serpent's hiss and a dog's growl. They responded by a step back and raised their weapons straight at the beast. This was enough to shed enough light on the creature's face and unraveled horns and pale, neutral skin curled as the creature was bearing its teeth like a mad dog. They were now only about five yards of each other. Then, when the Storm Hawks were ready to have their first brawl with a Far Side animal, the creature stepped back into the darkness after examining the five armed beings and slowly faded away but not without a last monstrous HISSS.
"What…the hell…was that?" A now shaken blond sharpshooter asked.
Back in the Condor
The team was shaken! Shocked at what just happened out there! What ever that thing was, it was clearly bigger then Junko, perhaps even almost three times his size just from what they saw! It spooked them, yet it didn't bother hurting them. What was it doing? What did it want? Were they simply just in its territory? This was like no beast from their side of the atmos. However, there was something about it though. The way it stared at them. It felt almost…humanoid.