Welcome to chapter 5! First thing I would like to say is thanks a lot for you guys reviewing, I can't explain how happy it makes me to see what you guys think of my story. The group is going to be doing some more travelling in this chapter with a few stops along the way, so, without further ado, on with the story! But it looks like our heroes are in a bit of trouble...
Ash grunted as he brought up his sword to block the downward swipe of a sword that was slightly longer than his, the impact sent painful vibrations throughout his whole body. Ash pushed his sword upwards and the kicked the man backwards, the teen then lunged forward and locked swords with his opponent, both fighting for dominance. Ash suddenly heard the bellowing of a man running towards him from behind, he looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened, there was no way that he could fight back! The man brought up his broad sword with a shrill scream but was cut off when five sharp claws burst out of his chest, a roar was then heard as the man was thrown to the side, revealing strong looking werewolf that was fighting off other men who had the same idea as the one he had just killed. Ash grinned, Jack had his back covered. The raven haired teen turned to his head to face his enemy, who was now shocked that a werewolf was protecting a kid, Ash chuckled. "That's my buddy Jack, I wouldn't recommend pissing him off, it won't end well." He then brought his knee up into the man's crotch, making him howl in pain, and then spun around 360 degrees and slashed his neck. Blood spurted everywhere, the man dropped to the ground, realising that he was going through the last few seconds of his life.
Ash fought hard and managed to take out another three people, Jack was slaughtering loads of them, he had already killed eight. He was currently beating away the men who were charging him with one of their comrades! Ash was brought out of his daze be a hammer swing, which he barely avoided. The teen slid under the attacker's legs and stabbed his blade through the man's back, killing him instantly. There were only two people left now, they both looked terrified, Ash saw Jack look at him out of the corner of his eye. The teen looked at his friend and nodded, Jack stuck up his huge thumb and then pounced on the man nearest to him, digging his teeth into his neck and making his friend scream loudly. Just as he was about to stab Jack in the head, Ash tackled him to the ground and threw a punch at his face. Whilst the guy was stunned, Ash finished him off with a stab to the heart.
The raven haired teen stood up and sighed in relief, "Whew! That was close! Oh my god, Jack, you're covered in blood man!" Jack fell backwards onto his rear and pointed at Ash, the teen raised a brow and looked down, he was also covered in blood. None of it was his own, he then began to think, why were they being attacked so often? It had been three days since the had began travelling through this forest and they had already been attacked by bandits six times! He shrugged off these thoughts and looked at Jack, who was looking upwards at the leaves falling from the tall trees above, with a grin. "How many kills did you get?" Jack looked at him with pride in his eyes, he held up all of his fingers and thumbs and put them down, he then held up another two fingers. Ash's grin faded, "Pfff! That's nothing!" Jack raised a brow, and rotated his hand around, gesturing Ash to say his count. The teen suddenly became rather reluctant to talk, "I,um,I-I got...Five" Jack looked at him with a face that said one word, "Are you being serious...?" Ash pouted, "Hey! I was tired from travelling, and I don't have the perks of your race!" Jack simply grinned and stood up, Ash did the same, he noticed that Jack had morphed back into his human form. "No wolf form?" Jack shook his head, "Sometimes it's nice to spend some time as Cynthia's race" Ash grinned.
(5 Minutes later)
"Hey, did you find any other healing herbs?" Asked Ash as he met up with Jack at the base of a huge oak tree, his friend nodded, "I found some green herbs, fire petals, salko plants and five blue mushrooms." Ash smiled, "Good, those will be useful." Jack suddenly snapped his head upwards with a serious face, Ash raised a brow, "What's wrong?" Jack didn't answer, he just kept looking from branch to branch, he was searching for something...
The brunette eventually brought his eyes back down and looked at his confused friend, "Sorry, I thought I heard something..." Ash shrugged, "We should probably get back to May and Cynthia, they'll start to worry f we're away for too long..." Jack nodded, "Right, let's go" Little did they know, two people were watching them from the branches above.
(Up in the canopy)
"What are you doing! That guy almost saw you!" Said a pissed off female, her male companion had a confused look on his face as he watched the two humans walk away, "You're right...But how? We're miles above them, no human has eyesight as good as that..." The girl grumbled, "If you were more careful then we wouldn't have to be worried about being seen, It sounds like they were talking about two more people, perhaps they're with a group?" The man looked at her, "We follow them, see if they're a threat" The girl sighed, "Judging from all of those bodies we saw earlier, I would say that they're very dangerous, too bad we missed the fight..." Her companion jumped forward to another branch, "Yeah, but I wana know how they did it, that kid couldn't have taken out all of those guys by himself. Another thing that bothers me is the fact that the man wearing the black trench coat doesn't have any weapons, how did he fight?" The girl followed her companion, jumping from branch to branch, an idea popped into her head. "Perhaps he uses magic?" Her friend didn't look convinced, "I guess we'll just have to wait and see..." He said to himself whilst picking up the speed.
(Back at the camp)
Cynthia giggled as May splashed her with water, the two girls were currently playing 'water wars' as they called it, in a crystal clear river that was flowing past their camp site. The patterns of the trees above were flickering around on the surface of the water, it was the perfect temperature since today was scorching hot. Fortunately, they were shielded from the blistering sun by the trees above, May squealed as Cynthia sent a wave of water over her using her magic. "Hey! No fair, you used magic!" Cynthia giggled, "We never made a rule saying that you couldn't" Another wave washed over May, she got back onto her feet and growled, "That's it Ms rule breaker!" She shouted as she jumped on the blonde haired woman, sending her under water, they both broke the surface and laughed. The sound of rustling bushes made them both freeze, they darted their eyes in the direction of the sound and screamed as Jack, followed by Ash, emerged from the hedge row. The two males noticed that the girls were in their underwear and shrieked, May dived underwater with a scarlet face, Ash spurted blood out of his nostrils and fell backwards, Cynthia squealed and crossed her arms over her chest with a red face and wide eyes and Jack simply dropped his mouth as he saw his childhood friend's body. It was true that they had bathed together when they were kids but that was when they were kids! He took in her features, she had perfect curves and had obviously grown in places that he couldn't tear his eyes away from, her silver eyes met his scarlet ones for a second and quickly darted away. Jack couldn't take it any more, blood gushed from his nose and he fell next to Ash, both of them out for the count.
(Up in the trees)
The girl raised her brow, "What the hell was that? Some kind of attack?" She glanced at her friend to see that he was barely holding back a stream of blood that was leaking from his nose, "Whoa! What the hell! Is it some kind of disease? Is it contagious?" Her friend simply shook his head and wiped his face. "Uh, gross. Anyhow, what's the plan, are we gonna talk to these guys or what?" The Girl put her head on her hands and began to think, "We wait for the sun to go down and the stars to come out, humans can't see as well as us in darkness so if thing go wrong, we can easily escaped." The man nodded, "Sounds like a plan."
(1 hour after sunset)
Ash yawned, everybody had finally calmed down from the incident that happened earlier and were now getting ready to sleep, they were sleeping in cotton sleeping bags tonight since Jack wanted to spend some time as a human. The had already eaten the last of their rations that they brought with them so they planned to find a town in this forest soon, the only problem was that there were none on Jack's map, hunting and gathering was going to be their source of food until they found a town. The raven haired teen was brought out of his thoughts by a firefly that was fluttering around his head, he chuckled and held out his finger, after a while of bobbing around, the insect landed on the perch. "Brave little guy aren't you" He said to the glowing yellow ball, he looked up in front of him to see more fireflies, each a different colour from the one on his finger. The red ones attracted his attention, they seemed to swarm around Jack for some reason, he was trying to catch them in a glass jar. "What are you doing?" He heard Cynthia ask Jack, the man grinned, "These things can live for hours without oxygen, plus they don't need to eat much, they're a perfect light source. Every race that lives in a forest uses them, it's way less noisy and noticeable than fire, way less destructive too." Ash smiled, Jack was a good person to have in this group, he knew a lot about different races and locations. A thought popped into his head, where was May? His question was answered when the brunette came hopping along in her sleeping bag with a swarm of pink fireflies following her, she was screaming. "AHHHHHH, Someone help me! These bugs wana eat me!" Ash chuckled and rolled his eyes, this was going to be a fun journey.
(2 hours later)
A certain raven haired teen was looking up towards the stars, the night sky was like a window, looking into a place with no fear, no law...And no sadness, just calmness and silence. He wondered what was up there, sometimes he and Gary used go to the highest point of the mountain they lived on and try to touch the sky, hoping to meet a never before seen race and learn something that no one else knew. He smiled at these childhood memories, but he then felt sadness as he realised that he may never be able to do those things again, since the humans knew where his village was and that it was in ruins. This quest meant everything to him, this war had been on for too long, it was time for an end...it was time for peace. There had been enough deaths. Someone's gotta take a stand, someone's gotta say no, and refuse to fight, just like Gary. With these thoughts in his head, Ash gradually fell asleep.
(Up in the trees)
"That guy in the trench coat sure is smart, he must be a researcher." Whispered the girl, the man nodded, "We should keep an eye on him, we don't want him to learn too much about us...So, which one are we gonna talk to?" The girl thought for a moment, "How about that guy in the cloak, I'm not getting a dangerous murderer vibe from him" She said whilst pointing at the sleeping form of Ash, the man stroked his growing fuzz under his chin, "I guess, but still keep your guard up, we don't want to end up getting into a fight." His friend nodded and they both began to descend to the ground.
(In the camp)
The girl crouched down next to Ash, he was out cold, his mouth was hanging open with a small drop of drool hanging out. "Gross..." She whispered, he friend chuckled, "I guess he's tired" He replied, the girl was about to shake his shoulder but yelped when she was pulled into his chest, her friend could barely contain his laughter. She was being used as he teddy bear! A small blush appeared on her face as his slightly beefy arms wrapped around her, her blush deepened when she felt a hand on her chest, she quietly yelped when he squeezed slightly. Her friend's eyes were watering as he silently laughed, he had never seen her in this type of situation before, she was completely helpless. She heard the raven haired teen mumble in his sleep, "S...So...Soft" She tried to wriggle out of his grip but was pulled back in and hugged even harder, she looked at his face and blushed slightly, he was quite handsome. She looked at her friend with her face literally screaming "HELP ME YOU IDIOT!" He grinned and held up his hands with a shake of his head, this was too fun to end so soon, he might as well get some entertainment for once.
(Ash's dream)
Ash was on the back of Jack with Cynthia and May as they rode through a grassy field, he didn't know where they were or where they were heading but was enjoying the ride so he didn't ask. All of a sudden, Jack came to a stop and everyone hopped off, he followed suit and watched Jack morph back into his human form. He turned to look at the group and clapped his hands together, "Right! Has everyone got their lunch?" Ash was confused, he watched May and Cynthia nod and pull out weird looking orange balls. He heard Jack speak to him, "Oh, it seems you've lost yours Ash, not to worry! I have a spare, here" He said as he handed Ash the same thing that May and Cynthia had, the teen held it up and looked at it, it was a soft orange sphere. "What is it?" He asked curiously, Jack raised a brow, "You don't know? It's a jello ball! The more you squeeze it, the tastier it gets! Give it a try" Ash was still confused but shrugged and squeezed the sphere, he could have swore he heard a small yelp from somewhere but was more focused on the thing he had just squeezed, "S...So...Soft" Jack nodded, "That's just the start, the more times you squeeze, the more taste you get from your meal" Ash carried on squeezing the orange ball.
(In reality)
She could barely keep her moans silent, this guy was massaging her like she was some kind of toy! She couldn't take it any more, she grabbed his head and shook him awake, eyes flickered open and met her green ones. The first thing he said utterly confused her, "Can I eat it now?" Her friend burst out laughing and fell onto his back holding his ribs, she scrambled out of his grip and stood up with her arms crossed, "W-What the h-heck do you think y-your doing! P-P-PERVERT!" Ash was dumbfounded, "What did I do? And wait, who are you?!" He shouted as he stood up and pointed at both of them, the girl jumped back wards with her arms folded over her chest, the man stepped forward, having recovered from his laughter. "We're inhabitants of this forest, we're-" "Scouts?" Ash butted in, the man raised a brow, "Y-Yes, how did you know?" Ash folded his arms, "Well, for a start, that girl has bright green eyes which are unique to scouts and both of you ears pointy and are longer than a human's." The man chuckled, "I see you know some things about how we look, but not our names, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Brock Slate, a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He said as he held out his hand, Ash grinned, "Your very formal, especially for someone who lives in a forest, I'm Ash Ketchum" Brock chuckled again as Ash shook his hand, "I get that a lot" He turned to his companion, "Aren't you going to introduce yourself?" She cringed, "Why would I wana introduce myself to a stinky pervert who rapes innocent girls!" Ash became confused and pissed, "Hey! Since when have I done any of those things? Never, that's when!" She stuck her tongue out at him, adding to his anger, Brock laughed. "You will have to excuse Misty's behaviour, she has quite a temper and tends to say anything that comes to her mind." Ash crossed his arms, "She needs to be put on a leash before she bites someone" Misty swung her arms around, "What was that!"
"So, what do you want?" Asked Ash curiously, he and the two scouts were currently sitting around a fire that Ash had made, Jack, May and Cynthia were still asleep. "Straight to the point huh? Well, at least this will be quick. Basically, we want you to help us out with a swarm of tree launchers that have taken over our village, they arrived two moons ago and we have already lost half of our population. You are aware of what tree launchers are aren't you?" Asked Brock, Ash nodded. Tree launchers are spiders that are the size of horses, they live deep within forests and pounce on anyone who is unfortunate enough to walk below them. The victim is then injected with venom and killed, they are also known for their camouflage ability, anything they are stuck to, a tree for instance, is the pattern that their skin will turn to. It takes a good eye to spot them, since they are almost invisible when motionless. "What makes you think that I could do it?" Questioned the raven haired teen, Misty piped up, "Are you kidding? It's not like we think you can, we just need some expendable forces" She said with her arms crossed and a grin on her face, Ash growled, "Maybe you should be the bait, you fat ass and loud mouth is enough to attract every single one of them!" Misty tried to dive on Ash with her fist ready to fly but the raven haired teen simply side stepped, making her smash face first into a tree, he laughed as she slowly slid towards the ground. She turned around to look at him with a death glare, he face was imprinted with a red pattern of the bark and tiny pellet tears could be seen in her eyes, it took Ash a great amount of effort not to fall to the ground laughing his guts out.
After a few seconds, Ash turned back towards Brock, "What's in it for me?" Brock grinned, "I could see that question coming, don't worry, you will be paid handsomely." Ash thought for a few moments, "How many of them are there?" "At least twenty" The teen backed up slightly, twenty!? That's a lot, even if he and Jack were fighting together, plus they are in their natural environment, it would be a bitch to even land one hit. "Ahhhh, Fine...But I want at least fifty gold pieces!" Brock almost fell backwards, "F-Fifty!?" Ash nodded with a grin, "Hey, this is your village we're talking about, fifty gold pieces is way less tha what your village is worth." Brock stroked his chin, "True...True...Alright fine, fifty gold pieces." Ash nodded, Brock stood up, "We'll be back at sunrise, be ready." Ash nodded again as Brock walked into the forest, followed by Misty, who stuck her tongue out and pulled down her eyelid at the teen before leaving.
Ash walked over to Jack's sleeping bag, the teen shoo him a few times, "Hey, Jack, there's something I need to tell you." He jumped back when Jack sat up and looked directly at him with a serious face, "No need, I heard everything" Ash's mouth dropped, "Really?" The man nodded, "Iv'e known about them since earlier, I would be a failure as a moon shifter if I didn't notice them following us." Ash grinned, "Awesome"
(Early the next morning)
May and Cynthia were still asleep so Ash and Jack decided to go over their plan. "Right, so how are we gonna do this?" Ash Ash, Jack looked at him, "Well, I don't really want these scouts to find out that I'm a moon shifter so I'll be sticking by you for this battle, I think Cynthia has a spare sword in her bag. My hearing is going to be your lifeline, as smart as they are, tree launchers are also stupid. When a potential kill comes along, they have a habit of moving their mouth parts around, producing a quiet clicking sound. If you listen carefully you will be able to hear it, but that's only when everything is silent, it won't be possible in the midst of battle. I will be able to hear it clearly though so I'll point them out before they attack, then you just have to take them down, they're not that tough." Ash nodded as he took in the information, "You seem to know a lot about these things, have you fought them before?" Jack nodded, "Well, I used to live in a forest until I met Cynthia so I had a few run ins." Ash became more curious by the second, "What happened?" Jack grinned, "I ripped them apart and ate them" The teen wanted to puke, "Y-You ate a spider...?" Jack shrugged, "Law of the jungle, I was hungry after a fight and there was a meal right in front of me so I took it." "W-What do they taste like?" Ash asked, not really wanting to know the answer. "It's like eating a biscuit tube with jelly inside, plus a few hairs." Ash scowled,"Gross" "Tasty"
(10 minutes later)
"Are you sure?" Asked a concerned Cynthia, Jack nodded, "Yeah, the scouts are paying us loads to do this, tree launchers aren't that bad, you just need to stay alert." His childhood friend didn't look convinced, she crossed her arms, "I don't care about money, your safety is way more important..." She mumbled, Jack smiled, "Relax, with my senses and Ash's battling skills, we'll be fine. I'll bring you back a head!" Cynthia giggled, Jack had always made jokes like this when things were worrying her, "Oh fine, but make sure you don't get eaten!" Jack chuckled, "Not today"
"But you could be killed!" Shouted a very worried May, Ash waved her off, "Do you really think I'm gonna let a few tree launchers take me down? No way, plus, this is good training for the guards that we're going to face when we go for the jungle king." May jumped in front of him, "Men and spiders are two different things! One is an ugly horrible thing that makes you want to puke whenever your near it, and the other is a spider!" Ash cracked a smile, "Gee thanks" May giggled, "Sorry, couldn't help myself. But seriously, be careful, don't go dying on me or else I'll kill you!" Ash chuckled, "I'll be back soon"
(Away from the camp)
Ash watched Jack swing around the black sword a few times, it was slightly longer than his, the hilt had a sharp spike on the end and was shaped like crow's wings that stretched out to the sides. The blade was black as well and curved up slightly towards the end, there were scarlet jewels planted in a row that went up the middle of the blade, it was extremely sharp. "What's it called?" Asked the teen, Jack grinned, "Raven's fury, sounds cool right?" Ash nodded but then an idea popped into his head, "Does Cynthia like birds?" Jack was confused but nodded, "Yeah, why?" "Well, it's just that both of our swords have birds in their names." Jack shrugged, "If they sound cool then it's okay" Ash chuckled. Jack then became serious, "Just makes sure that you don't get bitten, if the bite doesn't kill you, the venom will. It's extremely powerful and will kill you before your regeneration ability can get rid of it, if you do get injected, you have about a minute and a half to take this" Jack said as he gave Ash a small bottle of glowing pink liquid, "If you don't take it within this time, a side effect takes place which paralyses you, after this has happened, you will spend the last ten seconds of your life paralysed." Ash nodded with a look of unease on his face, the teen tied the small bottle around his neck, "There, that should make it easy to grab"
Ash noticed that Jack didn't have a bottle, "Where's yours?" Jack waved him off, "The only thing that can kill me is silver, if I get bitten, I just need to wait for a couple of minutes" Ash's mouth dropped, "Dude! Your so lucky!" Jack shook his head, "I consider myself unfortunate, I can still feel pain and if I get ripped apart by those things then I can't be put out of my misery, I have to live through the pain." Ash nodded, "I guess...But still, isn't it reassuring? Knowing that you won't be killed?" Jack shrugged, "Iv'e wanted to die many times throughout my life, my only weakness being silver means that I can't die from old age, if I get thrown into a prison, I could be stuck there for eternity." Ash looked at the ground, he didn't know what to say.
After a while of walking, Ash and Jack ran into Brock and Misty, "Oh! Hello there, we were just on our way to get you, I see you brought your friend" Brock said to Ash, the teen nodded, "This is Jack, he's had my back many times in battle before" The tanned man held out a hand to said person, to Ash's surprise, Jack remained motionless, he didn't even blink. "Jack? What's wrong?" Questioned a confused Ash, his friend looked at him with a look of hatred in his eyes, Ash could tell something was up. The brunette looked back at the squinty eyed man, "Show me your weapons" Brock became confused, "May I ask why?" Jack crossed his arms, "After Iv'e seen them" Brock shrugged and held out a sturdy looking bow as well as a few throwing knives, Jack then looked at Misty, who seemed to be hesitating about something. "Your turn" Jack said seriously, Ash was confused but let the scene play out, Misty slowly loosened her rapier from her belt and held it out. Jack looked furious, "All of them..." The girl cursed under her breath and pulled out a familiar looking sword from her pack, she then threw it towards Jack and Ash, Jack picked up the blade and handed it to Ash. "I believe that this belongs to you" Ash's eyes widened, "This is my old sword, but I thought that it was in my pack-" "That's what you have to watch out for" Interrupted Jack, "Scouts are known for stealing things" He glared at Misty, "Especially the females...Brock's job was to act all nice so that you would be distracted" Said person chuckled, "I see that your a sharp one, but how did you know that the sword was in Misty's pack?" Jack grinned, "I saw her going through Ash's things last night, the look on her face when she saw his old sword said it all, there was no way that she was going to part with it" Misty's face was bright red, both from anger and embarrassment. Ash was thankful that Jack was on his side.
Brock folded his arms, "Be that as it may, we still need help with our village, will you help us?" Jack looked at Ash who nodded, "Fine, but I'm adding twenty gold pieces to the price as punishment for that little theft you tried to pull off." Brock's mouth dropped and Misty bellowed at them, "T-Twenty!?" Ash grinned, "It's your own fault, take it or leave it" The two scouts looked at each other, Misty shook her head vigorously but Brock just sighed, "Fine, have it your way..." Ash looked at Jack and held up his hand, his friend chuckled and high fived him.
The group arrived at the base of a large tree, Brock turned around and looked at Ash and Jack, "Our village is just up ahead, it's a group of tree houses, we already have reinforcements up in the trees. We're about to start the attack" Ash grinned, "Let's kill some bugs" Jack nodded and looked upwards, "But how do we get up there?" Misty shook her head, "No need, our job is to knock those bastards off, when they hit the ground, it's up to you two." Jack drew his sword, "What about the ones that are around the perimeter of the village, there's bound to be some on the surrounding trees" Misty shrugged, "You'll have to figure something out, we can't do everything." Ash sighed, this was going to be a pain in the ass fight, he could tell.
(The attack is about to start)
The raven haired teen drew his sword and looked upwards, he was waiting for the shout from several scouts, he looked at Jack, who was crouched down and looking in several different directions. "Are there any near bud?" The man nodded, "There's two up ahead near the base of that huge oak tree, I can smell three others that are further ahead" Ash nodded, he looked at the tree that Jack was talking about, the trunk was as wide as a line of four horses. It was true that the tree launchers' camouflage ability was good, he couldn't see anything at all. He waited for a few more minutes and then heard Brock's voice break the silence, "ATTACK!" The teen started running towards the huge trunk of the oak tree, Jack was right behind him, "Here they come! One of them is heading right for you!" Shouted Jack, Ash saw it, a huge wooden looking spider flying through the air towards him. It's legs were outstretched and its fangs glinted in the sunlight, Ash dived to the side to avoid being grabbed by the creature. He did a forward roll and then spun around, he lunged forward with a right side sweep, the sword slashed two of the spider's eight eyes, making it roar in pain. The creature swiped one of its legs to the left and tripped Ash up, it then jumped on top of him, pushing down with its fangs going for his chest. The teen yelled as he gouged out two more of its eyes with his thumbs, the spider reared back with a sharp hissing noise, Ash took the opening and shoved his sword into its chest. The spider squealed as it was pushed upwards and then thrown to the ground, the teen started stabbing the animal several times in the abdomen, "Take that you bastard!" He shouted as he ended the spider's life, he then fell onto his rear, panting from the amount of effort.
Ash looked to his left just in time to watch Jack slice off two of the other spider's legs and then stab it in the head, Ash saw two puncture holes in his left shoulder. "Oh my god! Jack, you got bit!" The man nodded and scratched the back of his head with a grin, "I guess I'm more used to fighting as a werewolf..." The raven haired teen stood up and ran over to his friend, "What does it feel like? Are you okay?" Jack shook his head, "My forehead feels hot and my vision is blurry, I'll be paralysed in a minute, after that, my regeneration will clean stuff up." Ash nodded although he was still worried.
After a short amount of time, Jack fell to the ground, Ash tried to pull him back up but he was completely stiff. A few seconds later Jack slowly got up from the ground, "ugh...Venom...Is...A bitch..." He said slowly, Ash went over and gave him a shoulder to lean on, "Thanks man, but seriously, don't get bitten. You can drink half of that stuff to survive" Said Jack whilst pointing to the bottle that was around Ash's neck, "And the other half if you get bitten again but after that, that's it. I made that antidote with ingredients that I spent three years searching for, I can't just whip up another one." Ash nodded, "Can't you buy these ingredients from a shop?" Jack shook his head, "They're extremely rare, one of them being a dragon scale, it took me ages to find a dragon and a great amount of skill to take one of its scales whilst it was sleeping. Do you have any idea how bad one of their lairs smells?" As shook his head as he sat Jack down on a rock, "Well, imagine rotted horse shit mixed with a rotted corpse and then mixed with puke." Ash cringed, "That sounds unbearable" Jack chuckled, "And I have increased levels of smell, I could smell it a mile away, literally..."
Ash slid under the spider's body with his blade standing up, cutting open its under body, making all of its organs and insides spill out. Jack reared back as his target tried to push him over, he then brought his foot up into a harsh kick and knocked the creature backwards, it hit the ground with a loud thud and started to squirm around, struggling to get up. The brunette sliced off all of its legs and slashed his sword down into its head, killing it instantly. Ash's eyes went wide when he saw a spider running towards Jack from behind, "Jack! Duck!" The man understood and dropped down as Ash's sword sailed over him and embedded itself in the spider's head.
Ash could see the village now, up in the trees, he could see scouts jumping around and fighting off tree launchers. He noticed Brock, he was charging towards a spider that was trying to climb up further into the tree that he was standing on, the man threw three small steel blades at the spider, all of them hit and buried themselves in its flesh. The creature hissed as it slowly lost its grip and fell to its death. Ash then saw Misty, she was leaping from one branch to the next, slashing spiders as she did so. All of her targets were falling to the ground and dying from the impact, that was if her attack didn't kill them first. Ash looked at Jack who nodded, he grinned as the carried on moving towards the base of the tree that the main tree house was built around, there were several rope ladders leading up to it.
Ash began to climb up the ladder, Jack was climbing up the one that was next to his, Ash could hear a lot of noise coming from above. There were the sounds of men screaming and the sounds of spiders hissing as well as something else, a deeper, more fierce hiss. Ash didn't like the sound of it but he carried on climbing.
(At the entrance to the village meeting hall)
Ash's mouth dropped and Jack's eyes widened, sitting in front of them was a tree launcher that was three times the size of all of the other ones they had seen. Ash looked at Jack and he nodded, "It's their queen, she must have thought that this was a nice place to set up a nest..." Ash could see the bodies of scouts that had attempted to take her out, they were lying in pieces around he legs. The teen thought for a moment, "If we don't take her out, her followers won't leave, right?" Jack nodded, "That's right..." Ash shrugged, "Then I guess it's time to end her time of being queen" He held out his sword, Jack also took a battle stance and followed Ash forwards.
Ash dodged the huge sweep of the queen's leg and slashed her front right leg off, Jack cut off the left front leg as well. She squealed and tried to bite Ash, the teen jumped backwards and then leaped onto her head, whilst she was distracted by Ash, Jack ran in a full circle around her, cutting off all of her legs as he did so. The spider fell to the ground, unable to move, she simply snapped her mouth parts wildly. Jack looked at Ash, "Finish it off" The teen nodded, he slowly lifted up his sword and then brought it down into the queen's head, she hissed and squealed in pain but eventually died. Ash jumped off of the corpse and high fived Jack, the man chuckled, "Good job, we make a great team" Ash grinned, "Guess what" Jack became confused, "What?" Ash puffed out his chest, "You killed two...And I killed three HA!" Jack laughed and smiled, "I guess you win this one..."
(After the battle)
Brock smiled and handed over seventy gold pieces, "Don't spend it all in one place..." Ash grinned, "Don't let bugs kick you out of your home" Brock chuckled, from all around, Ash could hear scouts whispering to each other. "Isn't that the guy that killed the queen tree launcher?" "Yeah, doesn't that mean that he's a hero or something?" "His friend helped as well, they're like an ultimate team..." Ash smiled, he liked the sound of that, Hero...
(Back at camp)
Jack yawned as he broke through the bushes that lined one side of their camp, Ash smiled, "Guess we're not travelling today huh?" Jack shook his head, "No, we're still going to travel, I want to get as far as possible before winter arrives, it's almost the end of autumn..." Ash nodded, "Okay, let's go get the girls" The two friends walked over to May and Cynthia, they were talking about typical girl stuff, they both smiled when Ash and Jack arrived. "How did it go?" Asked May, Ash grinned, "We got seventy gold pieces!" Cynthia frowned, "I thought that you didn't care about money" Ash nodded, "I don't, but it will make this journey easier so I'm still happy whenever we get some." Jack spoke up, "Are we ready to go?" May and Cynthia nodded, he grinned, "Right, next stop, jungle kingdom!" He said as he morphed into his wolf form, Cynthia hopped on first, then May and then Ash. Once everyone was on, Jack took off into a fast run, Ash looked up towards the mid day sun. "Look out jungle king, here we come!"
Thanks for reading, I hope you al enjoyed this chapter, as you can see, we learned a little bit more about the different types of species that live in this world. Hope that it was interesting and not boring, criticism is welcome, ideas, opinions and predictions. Reviewing helps a lot, once again, thanks! Until next time!