/ Duel Universe
/ Author: The Cowboy of Oklahoma
/ Ch 36.1: Awake
/ word count: 1506
Gorilla Clan Cave:
My eyes crack open, allowing some light to assault them like knives. My body feels a bit heavy, my movements were sluggish. I do a mental check of everything I can feel, limbs, digits, tongue, hearing. That's weird, I can hear grunting in the distance, but something is closer. A gentle hum, soothing and comfortable, wait, I know that voice, "Moonlight?" My voice croaks out.
The humming abruptly stops. "Master!"
The feeling of a weight enters the bed I'm on, as it dips slightly to one side.
"Master! You're awake!" Moonlight says excitedly.
Then a gentle weight is leaning against me and I hear some soft sobs coming from her as her body trembles.
"Moon..light? Wha… What is it? Why are you crying?" I asked her, gently caressing her hair.
She carefully moved back, trying not to put any more of her non-existent weight on me. "Master, what do you remember about what happened?" She asked.
"Hm," I looked at the ceiling of the hut I was lying in to think. Throwing my thoughts back to the events at the Oceanica, finding Shelly near defeat, then using my dragon and my god card to blast Benson into oblivion. How the power he was producing was not human in origin, and the monsters he was using were not ones we brought with us, or given to us, to start our training for this war, "I had just returned from what was happening in the human encampment, you were making your horrible stew again," I snided.
"Hey!" She protested.
"Then you just suddenly left. You took flight and headed south. I was curious as to why and thought maybe you needed to gather some more ingredients for the stew. You were gone for a few hours, then some monsters entered the clearing. They had what appeared to be duel disks and without warning, four of them activated them in unison. We dueled, but then just as I was about to end one duel, more of them activated their disks, forcing the duel to continue without a reset of decks and life points," I finished.
"I should have been there for you," she said looking dejected. Her wings slightly drooping.
"Hey, I was struggling to keep them at bay as it was, and they were leagues stronger than that monster that held you captive. As far as I know, you would have tried to help, they would have simply used you to make me give up instead of being able to fight them at full strength," I said, then took a deep breath to calm down somewhat, "and I'm sorry about the stew, it didn't make it," I remarked.
"Oh, I don't care about the stew master. I'm just happy you're not dead. When the Gorillas came to rescue you from the beasts that had attacked you..," She began but I interrupted.
"Wait, gorillas?" I asked.
"Oh, they're a clan of good monsters that just want to be left in peace, even though they have some really tough creatures here. They said how they found you and the beasts that had attacked. How you defeated some but were overwhelmed by their numbers. Then they came in and chased the evil beasts away from you." She explained what was told to her.
"Huh, so they helped me out back then. Guess I should thank them for that," I noted to myself.
"We're in their healer hut now, inside their home, or cave, as it were. I could go and get their healer and you can talk to them?" She suggested.
"Maybe in a little while, I'm not feeling up for any more visitors right now," I said.
Outside there was a commotion, and a loud roar, followed by several more. Then you could hear a multitude of feet going charging away from the hut and heading into the distance.
"What's that!?" I asked a bit more alert.
"Stay in bed master, I'll have a look!" She said so I'd stay put.
Going outside and a voice that wasn't hers answered questions. It was gravelly and deep, male by the sound of it. It only took about 30 seconds for her to return.
"What is it?" I asked.
She fidgeted a bit, but turned to me and answered, "The beasts that had attacked you are outside the cave right now and are..battling with the human female that came here looking for you," she explained.
My eyebrow began to rise in alarm. "Human femal..," I didn't get to finish that question.
"Miss Shelly..came looking for you, because I went to the castle to have a talk with her Eminence abo..," she started but I interrupted again.
"What do you mean Shelly is fighting those beasts!?" I shouted as I tried to get up but was sent back down by a shooting pain in the gut.
"Master!!" Moonlight flew forward, landing at my side on the bed, "stay still! You're not fully healed yet, and can't do anything right now!" She warned.
Groaning, I laid back not arguing with that fact, but I wasn't happy, "Is she alone!? Tell me!" I demanded.
Moonlight was taken aback by my sudden tone, "I..I don't know. She went out with a guide to send a signal to your human encampment, but now this battle is happening outside. I wouldn't believe they'd leave her to fight alone," she said.
"Ugh," I groaned, "I feel like I was run over by a train."
"What's a train?" She asked innocently.
I guffawed a little too hard and paid the price immediately, "hahaow, ow, ow, don't make me laugh. Haha ow."
"Here, relax and I'll heal you a bit more. You're still going to need a few more days of rest before you're back on your feet," she said.
"Have you been healing me this whole time?" I asked.
"No. The gorilla clans' healer has been watching you before we came along. Since then I've supplemented my magics to go along with what they were doing," she explained, then she started singing, using her power to gently sway my energies to heal myself.
It was some time before whatever had happened outside had quieted down, or at least it felt that way. In reality, it was less than two hours before the sound of the gorillas that had run out began to return. Moonlight went to the door to see what was happening again then she bounced out and began shouting.
"Moonlight!? What's wrong!?" A feminine voice said from outside.
"Come on! Come on! Come see!" Moonlight said in a frenzied manner.
"See what?" They'd asked.
"He's awake! Master's awake!" Moonlight said with excitement evident in her voice.
A few moments later, hurried footsteps came towards the doorway of the hut. Then a form darkened the doorway almost completely blocking any outside light from coming in.
"'Uman male awake. She elf speak truth," the large gorilla said, then stepped into the hut and moved away from the entrance.
A much smaller figure stood in the doorway, unmoving. Shadows played across her features so I couldn't see clearly.
"Ka'an?" The voice creaked out.
"Shell?" I queried.
"Ka'an!!" She almost screamed out as she bounded headlong into the hut and nearly barrelled straight into me.
I suspect that if I wasn't already sitting in a bed, back on a pillow, I would have been thrown to the ground in a heap.
"Oof! Hey! Careful with the goods!" I groaned out.
Shelly wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her head on my shoulder, crying, "Ka'an! You're awake! I'm so glad!"
"Hey now, I've already been drenched once today from somebody sobbing on me, I don't really need a second bath," I joked.
"Shut up!" Shelly said into my neck.
"What did I..?" I tried to say but was interrupted.
"I said shut up!!" Shelly screamed louder, "shut up! Shut up! Shut your stupid face!!"
Moonlight had entered at this moment and stood quietly in the doorway. The big gorilla just stood where it was and didn't say a word.
"Shelly..I.." I began.
"Shut up dammit! Stop talking! Stop joking! Just stop it! I didn't know where you were and I was so worried about you and then you were injured and near-death and now you're finally awake and making light of the situation!!" She screamed out in one long sentence.
I was stunned silent by her outburst, and I didn't know what to say. All I could do was reach my hand out and place it on her head carefully. Then as she sobbed, heaving heavily from her chest, unable to keep up with her own sobs, I noticed some scratches and bruising on her body. I motioned for Moonlight to come close, pointing out the damage I could see. Nodding she said nothing but put her magic to work, singing gently, healing Shelly.
"Not a word." I thought to myself. "Just let her have this moment I guess. We can talk later."