3: Vashimu And Jebia, The Crystal Carapaceons!
Before the nucleated group of hunters even had time to draw their weapons, the Akura Vashimu screeched and leaped toward Ruby, who let out a cry of shock and swung her Crimsonwall toward it at the last moment. The sharp, heavy blade cut into its left mandible, cleaving it straight off and disorientating the Carapaceon, diverting it from its warpath and sending it crashing into a nearby moss-covered rock with a pained screech. However, some crystals from its tail broke off like shrapnel and flew toward Ash. A few small splinters dug into her flesh and she winced, but the rest collided with the flat of Ruby's greatsword, shattering them on contact and preventing them from reaching its owner.
Meanwhile, the Akura Jebia hissed and pounced on Alexis, who was sent tumbling across the floor in a heap. The creature simultaneously fired a high-pressure water beam from its crystal-tipped tail, which blasted into Teiko, knocking him away. As Ash brought her longsword to bear, the Jebia whipped her away with its tail, then hissed triumphantly. As it was doing so, it let its guard down to Yumi's attack, her Great Demonbind G slicing into the sub of its leg. It hissed with irritation and swept its body across the floor an attempt to rotate around in the opposite direction and swipe Yumi with its pincer, but to no avail; Yumi brought her switch axe to bear, but in sword mode now, the Jhen-crafted blade slicing into the crystals that coated the Jebia's claw. The monster shrieked shirlly and drew it's claw back protectively before batting Yumi away with its tail.
Ichiro and Eiji were slashing away at the stunned Akura Vashimu with their dual swords, the demonized slashes tearing into the carapace of the creature at its legs flailed wildly, its body stuck at an awkward angle against the rock its face had rendezvoused with. Finally, it heaved itself onto an upright position and swiped its claws across one another, slapping the Akura Twins away. It hissed and screeched with humiliation and rage, barely any crystals left on its pincers. Dante quickly ran over to Alexis and helped her up.
"C'mon, you've gotta stay with it! Help me with the Vashimu!" he said. Alexis nodded and the pair ran over to the brown Carapaceon, where Eiji and Ichiro had already recovered and were slashing away at it while it jabbed its claws at them inaccurately, too irate at having allowed itself to take so much damage (as well as loose its mandible right off the bat) to do anything else.
On the other side of the arena, April and Ruby had rushed over to assualt the Akura Jebia, covering Yumi's recovery. She shook off the last of the crystals that had coated her upon being struck with its tail, drinking a Mega Potion to recover her vitality and munching a couple of quick Rations to recover some of her completely drained stamina, before switching her Great Demonbind G back into axe mode and jumping back into the fray with her friends, slashing at the Jebia's back left leg while Ruby sliced into its already damaged claw with a full-power attack from her greatsword and April was busy pounding the creature's head with her Gurenzeburu hammer. The Jebia hissed even more aggressively than before, and slammed it tail down on the ground repeatedly, attempting to flatten Yumi in its ire. Yumi switcher her axe into sword mode once again and pointed the tip up as the Akura Jebia's thick tail came smashing down upon her. The sword pierced the shell, blood and flakes of crystal pouring out of the mammoth gash. The Carapaceon shrieked louder than it had done since it had entered the arena, and swiveled around and stabbed its left pincer into the ground, pinning Yumi to the floor between its two thick, crab-like joints and kicking Ruby and April to the floor at the same time.
With its back to Ruby and April, the two girls could now see the full extent of the damage Yumi's last-ditch attack had done to the Jebia. Its tail hung at an angle, dragging along the floor, still attacked to the main body, but only just. One or two more strong thumps and it'd be off.
The Akura Jebia hissed lowly with antagonistic pride, sensing its advantage over Yumi. It slowly began to squeeze the two joints of its pincer together, wishing to watch the helpless hunter squirm as its claw crushed her bone by bone. It then hissed and rattled its mandibles to augment the sound that came out, giving the impression that the crystal-coated Carapaceon was laughing at its quarry. It listened intently as Yumi grunted and cursed, desperately trying to wriggle free from the Jebia's rock-hard vicegrip.
"Quick! Get its attention before it crushes her!" Ruby hissed to April, who fumbled in her pouch for a stone and throwing it as hard she could. The rock landed clean on its head as it was squeezing the life out of their friend. The Jebia hissed and spun around at an angle, its four crimson eyes boring into Ruby and April. It turned around and lifted its claw out of the ground a few centimetres, then slammed it down onto Yumi's body. She cried out in pain, feeling immediately bruised. As the Jebia slowly slunk away from her, she rolled over, winded. The Jebia screeched a battle cry before scuttling toward Ruby and April, claws at the ready, beady eyes gleaming with spite.
As it screeched and lunged at Ruby with its left pincer, she brought the flat of her greatsword up defensively, deflecting the hit. In this time, April had prepared a hefty swing, which she now loosed upon the monster, the gargantuan hammer striking the Jebia below the chin and causing it to cry out it pain and slump to the floor, stunned, its legs feebly scrabbling on the floor. Ruby ran around behind the creature and began to charge her Crimsonwall above its almost severed tail, while April continued to savagely pound the beast's head with her Gurenzeburu hammer. Out of the blue, the Akura Jebia recovered, drooling blood from its shattered jowls, and thwacked Ruby away with its pincers, scrambling to prise itself off of the ground. In its haste, however, it had forgotten Ruby, whose greatsword subsequently slammed down onto the Carapaceon's damaged tail, severing the crystal-tipped natural weapon in one fell swoop. The Jebia shrieked and hissed with raw pain and anger, before swishing the half of its scorpion-like tail that remained to fire crystals over a broad range behind it, the crystal projectiles immediately slamming into Ruby, blowing her away. As she hit the ground, she tumbled over and over, latching onto the edge of the arena's turf with both hands, looking down with fear, the wind slicing crisply as her greatsword tumbled down to the water far below.
Then, every hair on her body stood up with fear as a low, gurgled hiss seeped into her ears. She looked back up, past her hands, to see the Akura Jebia, its head twitching erratically as if to say well, well, well, what do we have here?, Ruby's reflection shining in its four round, beady vermillion eyes, its outer and inner mandibles twitching impatiently, more blood and saliva dripping from them. Something about it looked rabid, as if it were a hungry dog hellbent on vengeance. As it raised its claws triumphantly in preparation to force Ruby to fall to her doom, a girlish battle cry echoed from behind the Jebia, and it then shrieked hoarsely, its spine arching in pain. Then, a voice as feminine as the cry that had just sounded called out to Ruby, although its owner was obscured by the Jebia's hulking form.
"Close your eyes!"
Ruby recognised the girl immediately. Ash! she thought with relief. Hope for survival renewed, she screwed her eyes shut as a dull, metallic sound echoed above her. A flash bomb. The Jebia hissed once more, angry at being blinded by the projectile.
As Ash sliced at the Akura Jebia's back leg, she signaled to April to make her move. April sprinted across the Jebia's spine, then leapt into the air, hammer over her shoulder. As the Jebia shook its head, regaining its sight, it screeched, stunned for the second time by April's crushing blow to the head. April then leapt off and hauled Ruby back to safety, although it took a mighty effort on her part due to Ruby's heavy Uragaan armour.
"Thanks," Ruby said.
"I got your back, girlfriend," April said with a wink and a pinch of sass. They then joined Ash in setting up as many Large and Small Barrel Bomb+'s as they could, then run and dived away in preparation for the fuses on the Small Barrel Bomb+s to run out.
As the Jebia returned consciousness, it had moments to gaze around at the sight of the bombs that had been placed around it. It hissed and seethed with silent rage at having been defeated, before its entire form was consumed in flames, the silent, charred carcass blown off of the edge of the arena by the monumental force of the explosion and tumbling into the watery moat below.
Ruby, April and Ash knew it was over when they heard the loud hiss of a heated object hitting the water. They slowly uncurled their bodies from their respective protective positions and unsheathed their weapons; Ash her longsword and April her hammer-Ruby had lost her greatsword to the watery depths.
Each of them gazed yonder to where Teiko, Dante, Alexis, Aaron, Eiji and Ichiro were still slashing away at the Akura Vashimu. The creature was putting up a brave and aggressive fight, but it was clear that it was being bullied into submission by the relentless attacks from six different hunters.
"Guys...Guys...Help me..." a voice rasped from close by. Ruby, April and Ash looked just ahead to their right to see Yumi, clutching her stomach as she edged along the dusty, stony floor toward her friends, looking somewhat reminiscent of a wounded caterpillar. The three girls quickly scurried over to help Yumi to her feet, Ruby and April wrapping one of her arms around their shoulders to help her sustain her own weight.
"You guys stay back. I'll go and help the others finish off the Vashimu," Ash said, her voice both casual and serious, but an inherent air of intelligence in her words. Ruby and April nodded soberly and watched Ash turn on her heel and sprint off to help their friends, Gogomoa longsword in hand.
Yumi winced with pain as Ruby and April set her down against a nearby rock, then leaned against it with her, watching the others tackle the brown-skinned Akura Vashimu. Ruby took some a flask from her pouch and offered it to Yumi. Yumi took it, then shook the flask from side to side gently, as if she didn't know what to do with it. She wrinkled her nose with hesitation and curiosity.
"What's in it?" she asked, somewhat dreading the answer.
"It's a weak Lifepower solution. Rather bitter, I've gotta warn you," Ruby replied gently, but bluntly. She was the resident medic of the friends.
"Ugh, I remember how horrible this stuff is. My mother used to give it to me when I got sick. Do I have to drink it?" Yumi groaned.
"If you wanna feel any better, yes. But not all of it! I have to save some for other patients; Lifepowder's expensive, y'know. I can... put a little bit of honey if you want to sugar-coat the pill," Ruby offered.
"No, no. I'll just down it as it is. I'm a big girl, I can handle some bitter medicine," Yumi declined, taking a couple of gulps from the flask then handing it back to Ruby, who packed it away carefully.
"God, that stuff really is vile," Yumi said, taking a Ration from her item pack to wash out the taste with some meat. That didn't make the aftertaste much vaguer but it was all she could do not to throw up.
Meanwhile, Dante and Alexis were slashing away at the Akura Vashimu's legs. The creature had been downed, but it wasn't out yet. Dante's Red Divine Flame slashed across the area where its mandible would have been, reigniting both the stinging pain of the wound and the burning rage of loss inside the Vashimu. The creature screeched and fired its swept a large swathe of the area with its water beam from its tail, brushing Alexis and Dante away and knocking Eiji into a rock, knocking him unconscious. As Ichiro prepared to avenge his brother-in-arms' wound, the Vashimu quickly dismissed him with a strong thump from its right pincer. Meanwhile, Teiko was still slashing away at the underbelly of the Carapaceon with his Gogomoa sword and shield. The Vashimu reached under its body and plucked Teiko out with its pincer. It then chucked him into the air and opened its mandibles wide, it mouth gaping open, eagerly awaiting the juicy morsel that was soon to drop into its hungry jaws. The others could do nothing but watch with horror.
However, at the last moment, the drawbridge that led back the way the hunters had come in suddenly dropped down, and Irvine came sprinting in, his Rukodiora rapier sheathed on his hip, though he now had a Rukodiora greatsword upon his back too. He threw a Flash Bomb as soon as he could. The flash blinded the Vashimu, forcing it to reel away from the path of Teiko's fated fall. Teiko came back down the solid earth with a crash. He hurt like hell, but nothing was broken, and he definitely hadn't been eaten.
Irvine quickly lobbed a pair of Tranq Bombs at the Vashimu, and it hissed woozily, before slowly slumping into a sprawled form on the floor, small drops of drool dripping from its flaccid mandibles on onto the dry clay floor.
"Hunters, your test is over. You have performed valiantly here. You have done well enough to move on to the second and penultimate test. Now, if you will please follow me; I will show you to your quarters. Your next opponent will be even tougher than this. I assure you, you will need your rest," Irvine announced formally. As he turned on his heel to vacate the arena, Dante, Alexis, Aaron, Teiko, Ash, Yumi, Ruby, April, Eiji and Ichiro all strolled out behind him, heads held high, proud and satisfied with their impressive victory.
"The Hunters of Kairu- Conquerors of the Crystal Carapaceons!" Aaron whooped triumphantly, gazing back upon the comatose Akura Vashimu and the severed tail of the Akura Jebia (all that remained) one last time before accompanying his friends away from the Yii-Do arena.