The next chapter is here!
WARNING: This chapter contains sequences of violence and gore.
Enjoy :)
Just like the last world, this one was quite hot and humid.
Raelyn was already sweating bullets and they were only around twenty minutes into their walk. Bhu'ja told her that there was a canyon a couple miles from here that he was taking her to see.
The steep canyon made up of reddish-brown clay led down into a steep and jagged river below.
The river also branched out into underground cave systems that led out into the valley itself.
He thought about it at first. But Bhu'ja decided it may be too dangerous to show Raelyn any of the caves. A lot of predatory animals like to hide out in the caves.
They tend to ambush whatever prey wanders in.
Bhu'ja been inside a few of the caves several times before. And there were plenty of times, some large creatures tried getting the drop on him in there.
But the pale yautja used his amazing speed and strength to cut them down. And came out with two new trophies afterwards.
One of the things he found interesting about this canyon he was bringing her to, was that the jungle was on one side, and the desert on the other side.
It's like the canyon acted as some type of border separating the two different terrains.
He believes she will find it to be quite fascinating. Bhu'ja still remembers how her eyes lit up in wonder when he took her to see a rock formation that looked like a bridge back on Planet Sy'tria.
The natural looking 'rock' bridge was a bit of a geographic anomaly that seemed to stretch on for miles. It started somewhere in the north and stretched several miles south.
Bhu'ja once joked with her and told her they should follow it to see how far it goes before it ends.
Of course, he already had done this before and knew where the rock formation ended. It was a good seven-mile stretch. And surprisingly, Raelyn said she was curious to see how far they can go before they get tired.
Or more like she gets tired. At about the five-mile marker, she started to tire quite a bit. Which resulting in them having to stop and take a break. At that point she was iffy about going any further because she could still hardly see where it ended.
That's when Bhu'ja let the ball drop and admitted to her it ended in another two miles from their position.
Upon learning that he already knew when the rock bridge started and ended, she gave him a look and flipped him the bird. He knew she was getting tired and very hot and yet he kept teasing her saying they were never going to reach the end.
Then the joker goes and tells her that in the end.
'I wonder if she'd be willing to walk ten miles west to the large waterfalls.' He thought in amusement.
"Hey, Rae. After visiting the canyon, would you like to see these two ginormous waterfalls that I know of?" He inquired.
At the thought of bodies of water and possibly cooling off, her face brightened.
"Sure, they close by to the canyon?" She asked, excitedly.
He could hear her already panting a little behind her mask.
Bhu'ja chuckled, "Not really."
She arched a dark brow, "How far, Boo?"
"Oh, not too far. Only ten miles west of the canyon." He teased.
"Ten miles!? That's far to go on foot!" Raelyn exclaimed.
Then she faintly heard Bhu'ja trying to cover up his snickering as he walked beside her.
"You ass." She retorted.
Then she lightly punched his arm.
"Worth it." He said, still chuckling.
Raelyn rolled her eyes but couldn't stop the smile from forming on her face.
They were walking for another ten minutes before she decided to pull her mask off to go into her leather bag to grab some water. She reached in to grab the bottle and started to pull it out, when they heard some rustling in the bushes nearby.
She froze, and she heard Bhu'ja growling next to her as he quickly pulled out his combi stick.
Apparently, what he could see through the vision mode in his mask was cause for concern. Because he was quite tense right now as he stood there with his weapon poised.
Next thing she knew, the rustling grew louder and frantic. Ten something lunged out of the foliage and towards the pair at a fast pace.
Raelyn's eyes widened with a gasp and Bhu'ja quickly placed himself in front of her. He met the beast halfway and went to plunge the end of his combi stick into the length of its back.
The creature tried to move at the last second to come around and snap at the hunter.
But somehow, Bhu'ja was still quicker. He quickly pulled back his weapon at the last second and rammed it through the side of the creature's thick neck.
It let out this shrieky hissing sound as dark green blood spilled out of the wound.
The young Arbitrator quickly pulled out his sword and swiftly brought it down at an angle. The blade tore through flesh and bone with relative ease.
And Raelyn watched on in both amazement and horror as the creature's head fell away from its body.
It dropped to the ground right after. And Bhu'ja pulled his combi stick out of its fairly long neck. The young woman slowly approached him afterwards and looked down at the beast.
To her, it looked like a giant monitor lizard or a Komodo dragon on steroids.
"What is it?" She asks him, never taking her eyes off of the dead creature.
"It's called a tur'kon. Very dangerous and elusive. They are one of this planet's many ambush predators." He told her.
Then he quickly looked around before turning to her.
"We need to go, quickly. Tur'kons don't tend to hunt alone they hunt in..."
He was cut off when three more tur'kons came charging through the brush.
They came to a stop about fifteen feet away, all of them had set their beady yellow eyes on the pair. Their long, forked tongues flickered out through their long muzzles, filled with razor sharp teeth.
They noticed their fallen pack member. Angered, they stalked towards Bhu'ja and Raelyn.
"Rae, you see one of those trees to your left with all the branches? Get over there as fast as you can and climb it. Tur'kons are poor climbers. Try to get as high up as you can. Go now!" He ordered.
"What?! Bhu'ja, you can't be serious! There is three of them and one of you and..."
"NOW!" He yelled at her..
Raelyn jumped at his booming voice.
She was reluctant to leave him. But she knew if she stayed, she could get hurt or worse, distract him. So, she spotted the tall tree and darted towards it as fast as she could.
At least one of the tur'kon saw her running and decided it wanted to chase her.
It hissed and split from the group and went for her. But Bhu'ja sprinted towards it and jumped in front of the creature's path. He then spread his arms and let out a deep menacing roar.
The other two joined its friend and they both started for the young Arbitrator.
While Raelyn came to a stop at the tree. The nearest branch to pull herself up on had to be six feet up. She quickly looked around and saw a large rock sitting off just a foot to the left of the lowest hanging branch.
She went for the rock and jumped onto it. Then she jumped towards the branch and caught it.
She swung her body back and forth to get some momentum, then swung herself up onto it. Raelyn screamed in surprise, because on that last swing, she narrowly missed getting her head bit off by one of the three tur'kons.
Raelyn wasted no time grabbing onto the next branch above her and hauling herself up and away from the creature that was trying to jump up and grab her.
She looked over to Bhu'ja and saw him fighting...three!?
Her gaze shot from them to the one below her.
'There's four of these fuckers now!?' Her mind screamed.
And the one below her was quite tenacious. It kept jumping until it hooked its front limbs onto the lowest branch. Then used its back legs to push off the tree trunk.
From there, it did its best to push up through the branches, albeit very clumsily. It certainly wasn't the most graceful climber. Not with that long body and somewhat short limbs.
But still, it was slowly making its way towards her.
Raelyn's eyes darted from it to Bhu'ja. It looks like he already killed one now, but still was fighting off two. His gaze did go to the tree and he noted another tur'kon that was there before was now slowly trying to make its way up the tree towards Raelyn.
"Rae! Pull out the plasma pistol and shoot it!" He yelled to her.
No sooner did the words leave his mouth, one of the ones he was fighting lunged for him.
He barely had time to move out of the way and the creature narrowly missed sinking its jaws into his calf. Bhu'ja growled and extended his wrist blades.
On the next passing, he slashed the one tur'kon across its snout, making it pull back and shriek in pain.
The second one tried to bowl into him, using its body weight to push into him and knock him to the ground. Bhu'ja quickly side stepped and the tur'kon ended up colliding with its pack member instead.
The two jumbled about in a tangle of bodies before pulling themselves free.
Raelyn could hardly move as she clung to the trunk as the animal below her continued slowly working its way up to her. It was close enough she could hear the snapping of its jaws.
It was nearly upon her, before she snapped herself out of her stupor and quickly pulled out the plasma pistol.
During their walk, Bhu'ja had showed her step by step how to use it. There really weren't many steps. You pressed into a groove to charge it up and then when the red line of symbols finish showing up, you point and shoot.
He even did one practice shot for her, then had her try it.
It really was surprisingly very simple to use and had no kickback whatsoever.
She pressed her finger into the groove and heard the strange beeping sounds as the symbols started to line up. The creature was now less than two feet away.
It let out a small roar and opened its mouth wide getting ready to lunge at her.
The gun finished charging then and there. And as it reared its head forward, she yelled and pointed the gun right at its head and pulled the trigger.
There was a bright burst of energy followed by an explosion of blood, guts, and brain matter as the tur'kon's head exploded into pieces.
And she found herself getting showered in dark green blood and guts in the process. This is where she wishes she hadn't dropped her mask on the ground along with her bag when she ran.
Her face crinkled in disgust as she began trying to wipe it off her face. Then she heard the crackling of wood as the creature's body began to slide down the tree until it hit the ground below.
One tur'kon took a swipe at Bhu'ja with its clawed foot. The pale yautja pulled away but did get a small nick in his leg from one of the claws.
He retaliated by thrusting his wrist blades up through the creature's chin until the blades came out the top of its head. Then he quickly jerked the blades free as the final tur'kon charged him.
Bhu'ja twirled out of the way with his combi stick held high above him. Then he quickly came down with it as the animal brushed past his body.
He made purchase right in the creature's spine and gave his weapon a sharp twist, severing the vertebra. The animal screeched in pain and its lower half dropped to the ground.
It squirmed about trying to get its back legs to word. But the disconnection of its spine made it impossible to do so.
Bhu'ja extended his wrist blades again and swiped at the flailing creature's head. The blades sliced across the animal's jugular. Blood spurted out from the deep slashes as well as pooling in its mouth and dripping out the sides of its jaws as it continued to screech in pain.
The young Arbitrator took his combi stick and rammed it straight through the side of its head.
The flailing and screeching came to a sudden stop, and it went limp on his weapon. Then Bhu'ja ripped his combi stick free and let the tur'kon drop to the ground.
He let out a short roar of victory.
Then he made his way over to the tree Raelyn was in. She was still making her way down. Which was a little harder to do now with most of the branches broken due to the tur'kon busting through them trying to get to her.
Bhu'ja saw her slip a little while trying to step down. He also heard her mumbling curses too when this happened.
His eyes lit up in amusement.
"Do you need some help?" He called up in a joking manner.
"No! I'm good I just...aaaggghhhh!" She said, as her foot slipped, and she started dropping down.
Bhu'ja saw this and opened his arms, catching her.
She had a surprised look on her face, and he couldn't help but laugh. All he saw were wide bright blue eyes surrounded by a green blood covered face.
"I can't say that shade of green is your color, Rae." He said, with laughter in his voice.
"Oh, shut up. At least I got the damn thing." She retorted.
Bhu'ja's gaze shifted from her to the dead tur'kon near the base of the tree, its head missing, and clearly blown off. Before he shifted his gaze back to her.
"Indeed, you did. Those plasma pistols pack quite a punch, don't they? I know it's what I like about them." He said with a grin.
"Yeah, it was cool and apparently does a shitload of damage. Though, I kind of feel like now I'm in desperate need of a bath." She replied.
"There is a stream not far from here. I'll take you there to wash yourself off. You did very well, Rae." He told her.
She can tell by his tone; he was happy with her. The young woman didn't really expect for something like this to happen. But she at least still made it out alive and intact. Even though she felt like she didn't do all that much.
Raelyn just felt like she was lucky enough to have the plasma pistol on her. And got in one lucky shot because she shot it point blank in the head, when it was almost on top of her.
Still, she couldn't help but feel a little proud of herself.
"Thanks. And you were obviously amazing from what I could see through the branches. Definitely fought with all your skills at your disposal." She said.
Bhu'ja did feel a swell of pride at her words.
It's not often he gets to demonstrate his skills in front of a female. And here he did just that with one he's really growing quite close with.
He gently set her down on her feet.
"Are you hurt at all?" He asks.
"Not really, just a little bruised and scraped up from my skin rubbing against the bark. But otherwise, I'll live." She teased.
Bhu'ja nodded, "Let's go grab your bag and mask then. The stream is only fifteen minutes east from here."
The two of them walked over to grab her things. On the way, the pale yautja grabbed one of the tur'kons' heads and connected it to his belt with a cord for now.
Then the pair left the gory scene behind as he led her to the stream to get cleaned up.
Until Next Time ;)
