Calamity Survival Chapter 4: 4 Time to Climb, an amphibia fanfic

Calamity's Survival

4. Time to Climb

Disclaimer: I do not own Amphibia

It takes him the better part of a couple days to make his trek to his destination. He keeps to the roads and as many identifiable landmarks he can find in sight at all times but more often than not he tries to keep out of sight of anyone traveling on the roads. While his clothes and mask will keep his species identity a secret from most, he would rather like to keep any curious folk from trying to deduce his state. Of course, whenever he sees someone coming down the road and they have clearly seen him, he'll just hold up the map he's reading to cover the top part of his body to make it seem like he's really intently reading. Some ignored him out of no interest, others were in a hurry, some were scared of his dark look, although some even offered a ride to his destination. He politely declined however not wanting to be in their presence too long for them to figure it out.

Of course as soon as some saw the mask they retreated uncomfortably. Not that he blamed them but still. That's another thing that took him by surprise is the beasts of burden the various toads and newts use. From caterpillars, ladybugs to even snails he's seen carrying folks and pulling wagons. Pretty sure he also saw a couple birds carrying people as well. He learned a lot from his master and learned of some certain past points as well but to actually see whole sets of toads and newts out and about, moving, talking and enjoying life, just like one would a human, it's still coming to terms with him. He may have been living and training with an Amphibian for over a month, but that was just one and he got used to the old man relatively quickly.

To see so many more so quickly now was starting to give him a sort of culture shock for a bit. However, the atmosphere of this new world, the clean, bright green and beauty of this new world is providing him just a little bit of calmness so he doesn't have a panic attack. His anger isn't as much of a problem anymore… well, more like it was exhausted pretty thoroughly with all the rigorous training he went through and now he's just… okay, and now he can focus on finding his friends and not get tunnel vision swimming in anger the whole way. A feeling of serenity he has now, which draws him a smile as he sees some butterflies flittering about and- their bigger than he realized, but their still beautiful creatures and- and they are attacking something.

'Serenity over.' He almost shouts in his head before straight up booking it out of there. Once he runs for quite a bit of distance, he shakes his head at what he saw. "Okay, anything that was harmless back on earth, could be a whole other beast altogether here. Keep that in mind." After adjusting his pack a little since it got tossed around a little, he resumes looking at his map. "Okay okay now, back to moving. Let's find the path again." He turns around and looks back the way he came, doing calculations and showing mental images of anything he can do to figure out where he is exactly. "Theirs that town… theirs that hill… some trees over there… then that means I should be here on this road." He deduces as he trails the road on the map with a finger. "So I'm around here… then that means I should be…" He looks up from the map. "Close." Less than a kilometer from him, he looks forward and slowly trails his eyes up as he finds the section of mountain in front of him he was looking for. Looking to the side, he finds the road trailing parallel to the mountain until he just barely manages to spot the section of the rocks that split, being the entrance into the valley that is his destination. Of course if the information is correct from many different sources, both his master and the few frogs he's asked, the valleys entrance is frozen solid with a wall of ice. So going that way is a no go for him unless he wants to spend the next several months chiseling his way through.

Hence, the shortcut. Once he double checks and confirms he's in the general right area where he's supposed to look. He puts away the large map and pulls out a smaller scroll, this time focusing on the shortcuts themselves. Finding the one he needs, he looks for the landmark of this particular one.

'Amidst the lush green forest around, look for the lone dead tree. An outcast of the rest, find North and from the tree, should lead you straight up some craggily rocks to the entrance.' With a small sketch of the dead tree and the entrance of the tunnel he's looking for, he folds it up but keeps it in his hand as begins walking around. It takes him several long minutes of his head going on a swivel, looking for the tree he's looking for but also keeping a track of his bearings in case he needs to backtrack or find his position again. Thankfully its not a fruitless search as soon he spots a lone dead tree with a small forest of trees nearby. "There you are." He comments to himself and jogs over to the tree. Upon closer inspection, its what you'd see of your typical rotting tree, from the black brown bark wood, the tree limbs void of any leaves. What little leaves are there, which are only a few, are yellowed and dry, just barely hanging on as a gentle blow of the wind threatens to tear them from the tree. The grass around is mostly yellow, dry and dirt and rocks. He looks it up and down for a second before he opens the scroll again and looks at the pictures. He nods at the similarity of the tree before turning his attention to the wall of the mountain nearby. He has to look between the mountain and the scroll several times, getting the comparison between them just right and as close as he can to what he's looking for.

"Hmmmm…" He hums as he concentrates for a bit. Soon his focused look turns into a smile as spots it. "There you are." Now he puts the map away in his pack and jogs over to the wall of rock in front of him. Once he makes it to the base of it, he takes a second to look at the size of the near sheer wall in front of him. A large majority of the mountain is flat with some craggily sections here and there. Even with that though, and the training he's gotten, the time and effort it would take to scour the whole thing would be a nightmare, especially with the large pack of gear he has. "Hm, fortunately I don't need to go over it…" He begins climbing up some small rocks to get a little higher to the wall. At any other point one would see the wall and see nothing but rocks and stone, nothing that would indicate that there is a tunnel there. But at the right angle though… "I just have to go through it." He finishes what he was saying as gets to the angle he needs. Where before he saw rocks, now he finds a small opening in the mountain in front of him.

He smirks and takes the last few steps he needs till he finds himself standing just a few steps away from the entrance he was looking forward. Without prior knowledge or any form of map guide to find the entrance, it would be very hard or damn near impossible to find it, or maybe a ton of luck. "Well, this is better time as any." He comments to himself as he reaches into his pack and rummaging around it a little. It doesn't take him long to find what he's looking for: his phone.

He smiles as he takes it out and goes to turn it on but stops for a second. Seeing the familiar piece of technology in his hand, he remembers the fact that it was a long time since he grabbed this item. As much as he would have liked to look at some of the videos saved on his phone, look at the others photo's of his friends, his grandma, his… parents, without a reliable power source he could use to keep it charged, he decided to just leave it in its shut off and dormant state, preferring to wait until it came time for the moment when needed it most… like right now.

Jackson turns on his phone. It takes a second and when it finishes booting up, he takes look at the battery percentage. "Okay… 86%. I can work with that." He nods at the power, thankful he's got plenty of juice left, and he goes straight for the flashlight function and flips it on. Just like that the near pitch-black tunnel of darkness illuminates, revealing the way for him. "Perfect." For the large part of his time in Amphibia he's mostly had to use the low-tech equipment they had. To have his phone back in his hand brings a smile to his face. Of course he's going to have to be fast because as much of a relief and fun it has to have human technology back in his hands, he only has so much of a battery life left in it and he's pretty sure he hasn't seen an outlet in all the times he's been there. After double checking to make sure as many of the apps he has are shut down, including the WIFI setting, he casts one last look outside in the light, he removes his mask and straps it to his belt before he takes a deep breath and begins his trek forward. "Alright… let's do this."

Right off the bat Jackson has to be careful in his steps. Otherwise he might trip and crack his skull open. What would also suck is the possibility of his dropping his phone and losing his only means of seeing in the dark. That's not something he can afford to do at this time. The tunnel is a bit cramped, with him having to duck his head a couple times in some spaces, as well as turn his body sideways to fit between some rocks. Despite that, he continues to trudge his way forward without pause. Thankfully the walking is relatively smooth for him with few obstacles he has to deal with… at first.

His path slowly takes him to a slightly longer and much more open hallway. So much so that he sees his light isn't able to hit some of the walls and roof around, even the floor. He takes careful steps forward as he notices the rocky floor he was stepping on begins to become less and less until he finds himself staring down in a large inky black abyss. "Hmmm…" He purses his lips as he sweeps back and forth, not finding any ledges or steps down to make him go down safely.

*… Flicc*

Without thinking much of it, finds a small stone next to his foot and flicks it into the darkness below, curiosity getting the better of him on the depths.

…

… His anxiety starts to get the better of him as he waits for an uncomfortable long time.

…

… *CRACK*

Instead of the tumbling sounds of a rock falling down and bouncing off of other rocks, a quick cracking sound can be heard as the stone he kicked shatters at the bottom.

"Well that's… not good." Jackson mutters to himself, a lump forming in his throat at the drop that could befall him if he's not careful. "This can't be it. Theirs got to be something to get across. Maybe a path up, another path around… something." He mutters as he starts stepping towards the left, sweeping his light all around to look for something that could be his ticket to continue his journey forward. It doesn't take him long before he finds himself stopped by the left rock wall of the cavern. This doesn't dissuade him however as he spots a small ledge of stone and rocks jutting out of the side of the wall. "Okay, yeah I think I can make this work." He tries to follow the ledge as far as he can forward using his light but he still can't see the other side of the darkness below. "Well, guess I'm going in blind. As blind as I can be considering." He mutters quietly before unstrapping his sword and putting it between him and his pack. He can't exactly pull it out as easily this way but he can't afford to have the sheathe scraping, pulling and catching on the rock wall. He slips his phone into his right pocket, leaving the top quarter sticking out to still shown the light. Instead of putting his back to the wall and shimmying that way, he opts instead to have his back to the open and his face to the wall, that way he can grab any pieces of the rocks that are jutting out of the wall to better keep his grip and move more freely. Frankly the idea of having his back to the open like that is not good but he can't afford to be careless, especially with all the gear he has on him.

With everything set and no loose ends on his person that would probably snag and pull him off balance, he takes his first step onto the ledge. He presses himself up against the wall as flat as he can, dragging the front half of his feet onto it as well. Thankfully the ledge doesn't creak or crack under his weight, much to his relief as he does not like the idea of his only reliable means of staying safe on the wall crumbling under him. Jackson and his master may have trained him in extensive environment movements, but its not like they had a ton of rock walls to practice his rock-climbing abilities.

Regardless he needs to keep moving so he has to hope for the best. "Alright… nice and easy… nice and easy…" He repeats to himself as he slowly edges himself forward. He keeps his gliding along the rock wall, finding any sort of hand holds and bumps he can latch onto to keep his pace steady and balanced. His toes stay pressed against the wall with only the heels of his feet sticking off the ledge. "Easy does it…" He mutters, using his voice to keep himself calm as he continues forward. Thankfully the light is still shining on the wall next to him so he can see everything before he moves forward, like the broken ledge piece. His foot stays hovering over the broken piece of the ledge, his eyes staring at the black darkness before seeing the small part of the next ledge being caught by the light. "Of course." He grumbles in annoyance. Holding tightly onto the wall, he carefully stretches his leg out over the broken part and carefully plants his foot on the ledge. Holding onto the wall, he keeps putting more and more pressure on the ledge to make sure it doesn't break off under his weight.

He lets out a slow ease of breath as he transfers more of his weight to the other side. "Easy… easy…" He continues to mutter to himself as he makes sure he has tight hand holds on the rocks on the wall. He lets out a breath of air he wasn't aware he was holding onto as he's over the gap in the ledge. "Alright man, come on. Let's keep going." With his feet still firmly placed, and his left hand tightly held onto a section of the wall, he pulls out his phone with his right hand and shines the light a bit further ahead. For a second he sees only darkness and the wall and ledge in front of him, until he squints his eyes carefully and just barely manages to catch the illuminated edge of the other side of the chasm. "There you are." Seeing the end close by, he puts his phone back in his pocket and continues his trek forward. Step by step, one hand grab after another, its smooth sailing for him.

He smiles he spots the edge just a few more steps from him. "Perfect. Almost there Jackson. Almost there." He tells himself and makes the last couple of steps on the ledge. "And… made i—"

*CRACK*

The soul practically leaves his body as the last step he takes on the ledge breaks out from under him. Because he was about to make it, literally he could have just jumped to the other side by this point, he let go of the wall with his hands. For that moment his body begins to fall forward and down into the darkness below. "NRAAAHH!" With a heave he swings himself forward with his arms and pushes with his foot still placed on a sturdy section of the ledge. "Puhh!" He grunts, struggling to breathe as the air is knocked from his lungs, resulting in him heaving a little as latches onto whatever he can grab on the rocky floor. His feet slam into the rocks under him as he scrapes the tips of his shoes against the rocks, trying to find any purchase to pull himself up. His hands and fingers scrape the floor as well until he manages find purchase and begins pulling himself up. Mutters and scowls of anger and frustrations flow from his mouth as he slowly pulls himself up and out of the danger of falling into the darkness. As soon as his feet make it to the top however, he places his foot right at the edge of the floor. Unfortunately his foot hooks at a jutting piece of the rocks he's on top of. He lets out a loud curse as a large chunk of the rocky floor is pushed out from under him, forcing him to grab the rocks again and leaving him to fall into the small divot he accidentally carved out.

He quickly pulls himself up and out of it, laying on his back with his eyes closed as he breathes in and out heavily and deeply, the small moment of him nearly falling to his death making his heart beat a million times per minute. The only thing that can be heard is the sounds of his ragged breathing, and the distant sounds of the large chunk of rock he accidentally tore off falling down the chasm.

"…ow…"

And a voice. His eyes shoot open as he grabs his phone and rolls closer to the edge. He peers over the edge and down into the chasm below. He tries to shine his light down it but like before, all he sees is just darkness.

"…" He stays there at the edge, staring down and looking for any and all movement as to what he heard.

… If he heard it.

Almost a minutes passes as nothing else is heard or can be seen and Jackson sighs before pushing himself backwards away the from edge. "Guuhhhhhh…" He lets out a loud sigh as he sits down, rubbing his forehead with his forearm as he steady's his heart. "I'm hearing things. God damn it Jack your hearing things. It's an abandoned cave. Don't… don't lose it now." For quite awhile he wasn't isolated, now that encroaching darkness of the cave is starting to get to him, especially with his heart going crazy. "C'mon. The sooner you get going…" He mutters as he pushes himself up, phone in hand and shinning around until he finds the continued path forward. "The sooner you can get out of here." He makes his way forward, wanting to be as far away from the chasm of death behind him as possible.

Just like when he first entered the cave system, he is walking through a hallway made out of stone and rocks. His arm with his phone in hand extended forward and lighting up the way. He keeps the light focused more down though as he really doesn't like the idea of falling again anytime soon. For now the only sounds he hears again is just the sounds of his now steady breathing and the crunch of his shoes on the rocky floor under him. It doesn't take him long though till he finds himself coming into a much larger cavern, much much larger than the chasm he was in beforehand, not counting the depth. As he steps forward into the room, he finds the floor is a bit of a brighter whiter shade than the drab dark gray of the rock from the rest of the cavern. He also finds it's a little stickier as he steps forward. "What the…?" He mutters in confusion at the floor. He doesn't look closer at the floor however as a quick glance upwards shows a far off but slightly visible but broken beam of light at the top of the cavern. "Perfect." It's a far off climb from what he can tell and it's hard for him to see much of the wall he's going to have to climb. Unfortunately, it's not like he's going to be able to keep his phone light held within his hand to light his way and climb at the same time. "This is going to be annoying." He mutters as he walks up to the part of the wall with the best cracks and handholds he can see in the rock. He takes a second to look around, even going up and down in trying to figure out how he should go about this.

Eventually he settles on the best but safest option he can come up with. He slips his phone back into his pocket like before and begins his climb. While the light can't shine directly upwards to give him more room to maneuver, it's presence alone right next to him will add at least some form of comfort. Remembering his training in climbing trees, he does what he can to try to modify the memories to helping him climb his way up the rock wall. "Easy there… easy man…" One hand grab at a time, one foot placed at a time, his trek up the near sheer wall of rock to his destination is slow but steady. More than a few times he has to run his hands along the walls to find a good enough spot to latch onto and keep pulling himself up. He has to also mentally remember what parts he grabbed onto that he can put his foot onto when he climbs high enough. It takes him several moments to make his way up and he is making good progress. "There it is." He mutters, a smile on his face at the progress he is making, the light he is seeing so much bigger and closer than at the bottom. He goes to pull himself up some more.

*SNAP*

"Oh go—!" He shouts as his left hand goes to grab a piece of the rock and it breaks off, making him lose his grip and his footing. Several pieces of rock fall from the wall as he dangles there with only his right hand holding him up. His rapid breathing and the sounds of the rocks hitting the wall and the floor are the only thing he hears. His eyes stare downwards into the pitch black darkness for a second before he swings himself back around and latches onto a ledge of some kind. He hauls himself up some more and goes to grab another spot to pull himself up but whatever he grabs pulls closer to him. "What—?!" He shouts as he almost loses his grip again. Frustration boils over now he yanks the thing over the side. Whatever is in the dark is a little bit heavy and seems to be connected to something. "What in the hell is…?" He begins to question as the light on him just barely manages to illuminate something thin and—

"!"

He lets go of it. It free falls down into the darkness below, the object actually catching onto something in the middle of the cavern but continues to fall soon after. Even after it hits the ground with a small 'splat' sound, he just continues to stare at where it fell for a really long moment. His heart rate has spiked just a bit as he breathes heavily through his nose.

"… That…" He swallows thickly before trying to calm himself. "That… was… that was… a hand. That was a hand. Why was it a dried-up hand?" He begins to question quietly to himself as his mind tries to come up with reasons for why. He looks back up to the ledge he grabbed onto. He hauls himself up, using his left arm to hold onto the ledge as he pulls out his phone. Slowly, he peaks the light over the edge and begins to illuminate the small divot into the rock wall he is on. More of the white substance he saw earlier lines the entirety of it, with a large gob of the stuff piled in the center of it. A little shimmying and he manages to get himself to sit on the ledge. With his left arm now free, he slowly reaches forward touches it with the tips of his fingers. It barely depresses as he pulls his fingers back, the white substance sticking to the tips of his glove and stretching out. "What… is this?" He questions quietly as he shines the light closer to it. It's long and spindly with almost completely white color to it, minus the dirt and rocks covering it. "Weird… almost looks like—"

*Tick…Tick…Tick*

His eyes widen as he swings his phone around, looking all around until he spots something long, thick… and moving.

He shuts the light off. Pocketing his phone, he swings his leg up and scoots himself into the divot some more, facing out to the opening. He places the crook of his arm over his mouth to keep himself from breathing too hard. He remains as still as possible, limiting as much movement his body makes as he takes in deep breaths through his nose. The cavern stays in black darkness for a second before his eyes slowly begin to adjust to the silhouettes and contours of the place. The light at the top just barely manages to provide enough light where with his eyes starting to adjust to the darkness, he can see more… and he has to keep from making any sudden movements.

A long thin and slightly furry appendage passes right in front of his hidey hole. Then another… and another. More than a few appendages pass by him, along with a large mass of body, a very large mass of body connected to said appendages. He has to hold his breath to keep from breathing too loudly as it slowly moves past his spot and continues moving downwards. As the backend of the creature comes into view, he shifts himself backwards just a little bit as a menacing stinger bobs back and forth as it trails behind it.

"NNhh!" Jackson barely contains a squeal as the tip of the stinger catches a piece of his jackets sleeve. It yanks his arm a little but he quickly pulls it back, a small tearing sound can be heard. Thankfully it doesn't seem that bothered by it as it continues its descent. What feels like forever eventually comes to an end as it disappears downwards. He takes a few moments to collect himself as his mind comes to one conclusion:

'I'm inside a spiders lair.'

And a big one at that. The thing was the size of a heavy duty ford truck of all things from what he can make out from the arachnid. Very slowly, and very carefully, Jackson slowly inches his way forward towards the edge and peers down into the darkness. He just barely manages to catch the glimpse of the abdomen of the spider as it moves too far down for him to be able to see anything and he is NOT willing to turn on his light again.

'Is that a tarantula? Do spiders have those barbs? Stingers? I don't know. I'm freaking out too much right now! But that's… not normal.' Jackson has to quietly sigh as he tries to calm himself. 'Goddamnit Jackson. This is not good. This is really not good. You are on that things turf. There is no way in every hell imaginable you'll be able to take on that thing without a metric ton of luck, not when it can easily scale the walls and you can barely find purchase on this damn thing. Just go. Just go and lets get the hell out of here now damnit!'

Not liking his new situation, he carefully shimmies himself out of his hiding spot and begins pulling himself back out and onto the part of the wall above. Problem is, now he can't shine his light to find better hand and foot holds on the wall. He's going to have to go in relatively blind and hope his eyes adjusting to the darkness and what little light there is at the top can help guide his way up and out of the new death trap he's found himself in. He can still hear the small skittering sounds of the spider as it makes its way along the bottom of the cavern. Jackson remembers seeing the body, he has to take a second from climbing to breathe, catch on something before it continued to fall. As he continues to climb he notices small strings going along the middle open area of the cavern. With the massive humongous spider he just saw, the body most likely caught on some of the webbing, therefore getting the spiders attention and making it go to look for the disturbance. Both a grim but very lucky thought and circumstance that he can move with the spider behind him.

His movements are slow, with his hands more often than not needing to rub along the wall ahead of him in order to properly feel around for a good spot to continue to continue climb up. He has to stop for a second as he hears the spider making some small aggressive movements down below, along with… tearing sounds. 'I'm sorry.' He offers a mental apology to the unfortunate soul who's body is being desecrated. He has to keep his hands pressed firmly into the wall to keep himself from shaking, as well as to keep his focus so he doesn't get sick. The only good thing is they are providing quite the distraction for him at the moment, one he sorely needed. The light begins to get brighter and brighter as he gets closer, his joy and elation soaring to new heights at his very close exit. 'So close Jack. Almost there. Just becareful. Don't mess this up now.' Putting the caverns living occupant out of his mind, he moves steady and carefully the next few feet up the wall until his hand finally grasps the top of the ledge. "Yes!" He whisper shouts in joy and begins pulling himself up. He hooks both his arms onto the ledge and begins to fully pull himself up.

*Shk*

Unfortunately his elbows knocks some loose rocks from the ledge and down into the darkness. He stares as one large rock catches onto the webbing under him, getting caught in it and making vibrations go along the rest of the spiders web.

His eyes widen as he remains still, even his breathing stops as he focuses his hearing.

*… Tick… Tick…Tick… Tick…Tick….TickTICKTICKTICKTICK*

"FUCK!" He can't help but shouts as he swings his legs up. The rapid sounds of the spiders crawling shifting him into overdrive as he plants his feet finally onto solid ground and begins running.

*SCREEEEEEE*

He trips at the loud squealing, making him look back and his eyes widen. The giant tarantula-like spider has made it back up in record time, standing on its back legs and spreading the others out in a massive display of power. Just as Jackson gets back up does the spider land on the ledge and glare at Jackson. He barely locks… one set of eyes with the spider but he doesn't take long to stay. He's already sprinting down the corridor and headed straight for the exit. 'Just move… Just move justmovejustmovejustmove!' He screams in his head as he runs, his arms pumping up and down as he pushes all he can to get as far away from the nightmare as possible. Already he can hear the spider gaining on him but he doesn't dare look back. No reason to see the distance between him and his enemy. He just needs to focus on running, that's it. 'Keep going!' His words in his mind are of desperation for his situation. His sword is still strapped to his back and he doesn't have a good angle to pull it out, especially not when he's running like out of hell… which isn't far of representation from where he's running from.

"Almost there! Almost there!" He mutters. His breathing is heavy and ragged already but his breath hitches for a second as a small gust of wind briefly hits him in the back.

The spider almost tried to grab him.

'Not here! Not now! Not after everything! Don't you dare die now damnit! NOT NOW!'

"GRAAAAHHH!" With one final blast of determination and a second wind, he puts a little bit more effort and force into his strides. His body aches from the exertion but the thought of what happens if he slows forces him to keep going regardless. Progress is made for him as the light gets closer and closer. A smile forms on his face as he can see the sky. 'Just get it! Just go!' The spider slowly begins to catch up to him, intent to make him its next meal, but its too late.

Jackson lets out a small breath of relief as he makes it out of the cave and into the open.

"…"

Too much open. His view looks off into the land before him but he doesn't have a time to admire it as the feeling of free-falling hits him like a truck. His view shifts downwards as he finds himself heading straight down towards some large thick trees. It's only for a moment but he just barely realizes that he ran off a cliff and heading for the ground. He can't even scream as he's too out of breath from the running.

Still that doesn't stop him from making an effort to survive. He finds himself heading down towards a set of very large trees and extends his arms towards the branches. He prays in his mind and under his breath as heads straight for the trees.

He manages to grab the top most branch.

*SNAP*

But it doesn't hold his weight at all. "Ahh- Pah- ARh!- Ow!- Damn!" What follows is him slamming multiple times into several different tree branches on the way down. Tree limbs snap, thick bushes of leaves on the trees are torn apart, many words and yelps of pain and anger shout from Jackson's mouth as he hits close to a dozen branches on the way. "Ahhh- Puh!" With a final end to him slamming back first into a large bush on the ground, completely crushing the foliage and leaving him there to lay on the ground in an aching mess. The sudden bright light of the sun beating down on him makes him squint his eyes, as well as groan at the aching pain in his body and the ringing in his ears after being hit multiple times so quickly. "… Owww…" He mutters in pain, right before looks on in confusion as a large mass blocks the view above him. His hearing returns as he tries to focus his bleary vison on the mass and he hears the sound of even more tree branches breaking and—

His eyes widen as he rolls over to his front and on his hands and knees, leaps forward and out of the way. He barely manages to get out of the way as he mass slams into the ground right where he was. His sudden means of jumping and moving out of the way results in him having a less than stellar landing as he rolls on the ground a couple times, groaning in pain yet again at the battering he was taking. Back on his hands and knees he quickly slings his backpack off himself and onto the ground before pulling his sword off his back and unsheathing his weapon, throwing the sheathe down right next to the pack and readying himself for a fight.

He doesn't get one.

Instead Jackson stares in amazement and almost pity at the scene before him. The spider that was chasing him was a giant tarantula type arachnid, with black and orange skin and fur lining. The reason its not trying to kill him is the fact that the arachnid is flailing its legs weakly and squealing a little, having fallen off the cliff similar to Jackson except instead of the somewhat painful but safe-ish landing, the arachnid's body was skewered on one of the smaller trees. Any branches and tree limbs that were on the tree were broken off, leaving small jagged stumps with bits of the arachnid still slinging to it. Jackson slowly pushes himself up to his feet, holding his sword tightly with two hands and makes his way to the head of the arachnid. Even though its upside down, the memory of this thing staring down at him in the tunnel right before he started running makes him pause a little from getting closer to the head. However as the creature continues to let out small squeals of pain, he lets out a sigh and pulls his mask up and slips it back onto his face.

He takes a deep breath and walks closer. The arachnid notices him finally and tries to snap at him with its pincers, even trying to move its legs towards but can't. Jackson stares at the creature before slowly aiming the tip of his sword at the central nervous system of the arachnid, or whatever he can aim for that will end this quickly. With one hand holding the handle, he places the other on the pommel of the swords handle. He braces his feet firmly on the ground and takes careful aim.

*… SHICK*

With one quick and powerful thrust, his sword speeds forward, going through the open mouth of the creature. The arachnids body freezes up and tenses at the move, before twitching a couple times… and falls limp. For added insurance, Jackson twists the blade, eliciting another twitch from the body before it remains still again. With that done, he pulls his sword out and takes a few steps away from the creature. He stays standing and staring at the arachnid that tried to kill him. His eyes trail upwards towards the top of the tree, past that he looks towards the mountain he was just in, just barely catching the ledge that they both launched themselves off of by mistake.

With a sigh, he groans as he makes his way towards the nearby tree and sits down next to it. With the rush of adrenaline fading away, the aches and pains of his body begin to catch up to him. It's only now that he realizes he was in the mountain a lot longer than he realized. Dusk is already starting to set for the land. "Great. Just great." Jackson murmurs as fatigue begins to set in for him, a yawn escaping his mouth as his eyes begin to droop. "Just… just a small nap. Then look for cover." He mumbles as he takes out his phone. A quick light up of the screen shows the time being past eight pm. A quick check of the battery shows its down to 68%. He nods and turns it off. As much as he would like to have the alarm setup, he still can't afford to waste more battery.

He's too tired and his body is still sore from the fall. Nothing feels broken to him, only battered pretty harshly. He leans over and grabs his pack and his swords sheathe before laying them against his side. He takes his sword and lays it on his lap. He yawns as he grips his swords handle tightly and lays his other arm on the flat side of the blade on his lap. He lays his head back against the tree and his eyes start to droop close.

And just like that, he's out like a light.

And so, he survived his first outing into Amphibia. Well second if you count the forest escape but I digress. He practically went into the bowels of the underworld and faced a creature in their own lair. It was mostly running but quite the scary experience for sure no matter who you are. Spiders are bad enough small, can't imagine the panic attack someone would have seeing those things the size of a truck.

Either way, Jackson has made his way through the mountains and is now ready to continue his journey to find his friends.

Lexboss: Thank you. I appreciate it.

Progress is made for him and he's got a lead to follow up on. Thank you all for your continued support. Go ahead and fave, follow, review, whatever you wish. Thank you, have fun reading, but most of all have a great day each and everyone.