Chapter 10: Warm Welcome
Disclaimer: Would I even be on this site if I owned this?
As a side note: '•X•X•' means the beginning or end of a flashback in this chapter. And after rereading my last few chapters I realized that it would be a lot easier to understand if I used something to identify the time skips so I'll try using '•••***•••' hehe I really like those dots for some reason... ••••••^_^•••••• hee.
And I've been told that my story was moving a bit slow. I apologize if it docent seem to move fast enough but I feel I'm moving too fast...anyway this chapter is gonna have my very first! *Drum roll* BATTLE SCENE! (Even if it's just against a giant creature>_>) I don't know how well I'll do since I haven't written one before so here's to hoping it turns out alright! ^_^' *Crosses fingers*
•••000•••
"Your pathetic."
"Shut uuuup."
"Well you've got no one to blame but yourself, it's your own fault." Blossom stated with a slightly annoyed tone.
•X•X•
After Brick and woken up and Loki had left, Blossom decided to take a look at what could have made the silver shine of light earlier. Tearing her way into the thick vines against the roots had revealed a large tunnel. After a bit more excavating Blossom found the tunnel led to the exact passage they had been searching for. Needless to say she was a bit excited and had ran back to tell the others. What awaited her was enough to make her tug at her long red hair in frustration though.
She couldn't have been gone for more than a half hour and already Brick had gotten into trouble. When she returned from the dark passage he and Accendo were sprawled out on the snow. The teen and the bird were both moaning in pain amongst a pile of food wrappers.
'I tried to stop them' Stiria stated as she fluttered down to land on Blossom's shoulder. 'but they wouldn't listen to me.'
While she was gone the idiots had managed to eat through nearly a weeks worth of food. Blossom was about to yell at them but decided not to as Noctis walked over and began prodding the two in their sides with his tail and foot.
The torment Noctis was putting them through was enough for her to calm back down. After all it was rather funny to see the weird faces they made.
•X•X•
That was nearly an hour ago and now she had to deal with the complaining of not one but two hotheads. The featherbrained Accendo was tucked back into one of the bags. Brick on the other hand was slumped against Blossom's back with one arm around her waist while the other draped over her shoulder. She would have made him ride Iento but the moron had fallen off as soon as the lizard got up. So once again Blossom had to ride with Brick while Noctis attempted to sneakily, or what he thought was sneakily, knock the boy off. An Blossom was sorely tempted to let the raptor do just that.
The morning hadn't been so bad since he had been unconscious but now…now Brick was awake. She was unbearably uncomfortable. At first she simply blamed it on his body heat and irritation, but as time drew on and the feeling had yet to pass, Blossom was uncertain. Being pressed against him was like leaning against a living furnace. That alone had her squirming but on top of that the jerk wouldn't hold still. He kept moving around and each shift upset his stomach which elicited more whines or moans of protest.
She didn't know how much more she could take of this torment. It didn't help any that the tunnel they were traveling in had near zero visibility. If it weren't for her enhanced sight and the raptors night vision she would have walked into a million walls by now.
'Well the place we were going is underground.' Stiria stated in a matter of fact way. She was perched on Iento's saddle horn while clinging to one of the bags. 'Did you actually expect any type of light source down here? We'd be lucky if we found a glow worm.'
"I know that." Blossom replied running her fingers through her hair only to whack Brick by accident. Said boy dropped his head onto her shoulder before letting out an unnecessarily loud moan. Blossoms first reaction was to shove him off of her shoulder. This resulted in him flopping over onto his back before moaning even louder.
"What was that for Pink!" he shot her an angry glare which would have been creepy considering his blood red eyes but the obvious pained look and whiney tone worked against him. "That hurt you know!"
"Well maybe if you stopped moaning like something tried to kill you! Your so damn annoying!"
"It's not my fault."
"It IS your- mmph!" Brick had suddenly grabbed her covering her mouth. Though she struggled a bit she couldn't get out of his grasp.
"Quiet!" he hissed into her ear, keeping his own voice as low as possible. The urgency in his tone stilled her thrashing, pink orbs darting around alert. He released her then as he reached for Noctis's reigns.
That was when she heard it. She hadn't noticed before thanks to the idiots constant noise.
Breathing. And whatever it was had to be huge. Yet how could something so big fit into this tiny tunnel? Sure the passage wasn't all that small but it could only have a fifteen foot diameter at the most. And whatever that were hearing sounded colossus.
Glancing back, Blossom could see that Stiria had joined Accendo in the bag as both peeked through tiny slits. Iento seemed a bit nervous but continued on. Brick and Noctis on the other had were as tense as they could possibly get. The rapter was crouched down slightly, fangs bared, arms tucked as his claws flexed. Brick was practically suffocating her as he leaned his larger frame over her, one arm effectively caging her against him. And the heat, oh the heat was unbearable! Was this idiot trying to roast her alive!
All those thoughts flew the coop then as something to the right shifted. Pink eyes strained to see what was there, bringing forth a jagged wall. It took her all of three seconds to realize that the 'wall' wasn't actually what she thought it was. Snatching the reigns from Brick, she yanked them causing Noctis to swerve to the left. She leaned to the side, grabbing Iento's reigns and tossed them onto the females saddle horn.
Brick glanced down at her with a questioning look. The expression quickly melted into horror as he shouted at Noctis "CURRERE!" Blossom fully expected the raptor to ignore the boy but was surprised when he took off full speed, no questions asked.
That was when she saw them, two enormous diamond shaped, blood red eyes. They rose higher and higher into the air as the owner stood towering over the group. Ivory white fangs glowed with a deadly shine between them. The maw of the beast fell open then as a sphere of ghostly blue light erupt from it's throat illuminating the area in a blinding flash.
She had only a moment to see the creature before shielding her eyes from the burning light. To say it was colossus was an understatement. She realized then that they had long since left the tunnel. Blossom and Brick put together were barely the size of it's toe. It couldn't even stand up straight in the cavern they were now in even though the ceiling was a good fifty feet up. It was like a tyrannosaurus on steroids! Muscles bulged all over it's body threatening to burst as they rippled beneath the skin. Ivory white scales coated it like chainmail. Spade like plates trailed down it's spine to end in a large spear covered club tipped tail. The rest of it had so many spine like projections it could put a porcupine to shame. (Think T-Rex with major muscle, stegosaurs plates down the back, ankylosaurus tail, and enough spines to make a porcupine look cuddly.)
Blossom nearly fell from Noctis then as Brick jerked on the reigns. The raptor swerved to the right, coiling like a spring before leaping onto a small ledge. As he did this Brick spun around in the saddle casting a wave of fiery bullets over his shoulder. They exploded upon impact with the monsters ghostly blue attack.
The cavern came to life as a rainbow of color burst forth showering the area in fire as the remnants of the blast shot in every direction. Angry blue flames grazed Blossom's side as she knocked a few sparks from Iento with her laser vision. Though it stung she ignored the pain coating it in a layer of ice.
"Take the reigns!" Brick shouted as he got up, positioning himself on Noctis's flank. "Try to hold him steady!"
Blossom didn't have time to argue as the beast let out an ear shattering roar. It charged after them creating violent tremors as rocks began falling from above. For something so big it sure as hell could run!
Glancing back over her shoulder, Blossom was nearly blinded by the blaze surrounding Brick as he shot off wave after wave of fiery blasts. 'Note to self. Never get caught in front of one of those blasts.' the heat radiating off of Brick was enough to melt the permafrost she had coated her side with and there was no doubt in her mind that he could have burned her alive if he wanted to. Yet the monster seemed impervious to the attack as the fire simply grazed over it's scales or bounced off entirely.
"Damn it!" Brick growled in a low guttural voice. "This isn't working!"
"Fire docent seem to affect it!" Blossom called back, eyes now glued firmly to the path ahead to steer the Raptors. "We have to use something else! Maybe my ice will work!"
When she received no response, Blossom threw a glance over her shoulder only to see that her idiot of a partner had jumped off. A harsh yank on the reigns had Noctis skidding to a halt as rocks sprayed around them. Brick was rocketing towards the beast, a blazing trail of fire and blood red light left in his wake. The monster lowered it's head farther as it charged, obviously intending to ram the boy. When he was close enough Brick pulled back his right hand. The inferno of flames blazed brighter before condensing into a glowing red ball around his fist.
"Let's see you eat this bastard!"
His fist collided with the armor plated skull sending out a shockwave of fire and air. Moments later another blinding flash was cast forth. Shielding her eyes from the light, Blossom never saw him coming until it was too late. Brick crashed into her knocking the girl from the saddle. Both teens slammed into the ground gouging trenches in solid stone.
"Uugghh!" Brick moaned, rolling over to pick himself up. "Ok. That definitely wasn't my brightest idea."
"Gee ya think?" coughing a bit, Blossom heaved herself up out of the trench.
The beast didn't even look hurt, a bit dazed maybe but definitely not hurt. The hit had caused it to stop and stumble back a little. It simply shook it's head though, blinking a few times before growling loudly.
The Erie Raptors came to a skidding halt beside the crater, peering down at the teens. Blossom didn't even look at them. "Noctis I need you and Iento to run, find someplace safe to hide. Stiria keep an eye out for Iento the bags will slow her down."
Stiria let out a piercing shriek as she clawed her way back out of the bag. Ebony wings flapped furiously as she hovered in front of the lizards. Seconds later she was joined by Accendo before they looped around, taking off farther into the caverns. Iento immediately dashed after them. At first Noctis seemed as if he would be stubborn like usual and stay but after a moment he reluctantly turned around zipping off after the others.
'YOU HAD BETTER NOT DIE!' Stiria screeched in the distance. The girl just raised a hand, airily waiving her off.
"You sure your up for this?" Brick questioned. He now stood beside her, the ancient swords in his hands blazing a blood thirsty crimson. "I know you haven't fought in a while."
Instead of answering his question aloud, Blossom slipped her hands beneath the fabric of her clothes. Grasping both hilts she pulled them out, easily sliding into a defensive crouch.
"Well I guess that answers that question. Just don't make me have to come and save your sorry ass."
•••000•••
Wahoo! Another chapter finished! I just hope I didn't royally suck at writing the fight so far. Now, usually I try to keep my chapters tied up at the ends so there's no waiting in suspense until the next update but I decided to be a little evil this time.
Though I won't spoil my plot for the next chapter I will say that I have a surprise in store for my readers. *Cackles manically* I'LL NEVER TELL! MUUHAHA!
Sorry for the mini meltdown in the last end notes. I had too much sugar. And today was just random moments like usual. Hehe.
Please leave a review or comment. ^_^