//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Welcome to the Jungle (Revised) // Story: Gamers in Equestria // by Neoandermcd //------------------------------//  “Let’s go check out the cave he says, it will be fun he says” Manny yelled out in rage. “How the fuck was I supposed to know that fucking coyotes were in there and how the fuck is this all my fault?” Pedro spat back. Let’s recap what happened so far: My friends and I were teleported to a random forest and we were trying to find a stream or river to set up a campsite next to. Twenty minutes into our little adventure we found a cave and Pedro wanted to check it out saying it would be cool and how there might be something valuable in there. Seeing no harm in it at the time we entered the cave only to almost run into a pack of sleeping creatures that looked like coyotes, but since we were in a cave it was too hard to tell. As we started to back out of the cave slowly, Pedro accidentally kicked a rock hard enough that it hit one right in the head. Wasting no time to get the fuck out of there we made a beeline towards the exit, but as soon as we exited Pedro screamed ‘Leroy Jenkins’, waking all the coyotes up and they have been chasing us for a couple of hours now. “You’re the one who yelled ‘Leroy Jenkins’ when we exited the cave you dumbass” Manny yelled back. “Oh come on you know it was funny” Pedro said accepting the fact this was his fault. “Is this really the time for this!?” I yelled as Manny started to stray away from us, a couple of coyotes would snip and bite at him forcing him back towards the center. “Hey guys doesn’t it seem like they’re leading us somewhere?” Ben asked glancing side to side. “Yeah now that you mention it, it kind of does seem like it” Manny said. “Yeah right” Pedro said with disbelief “There just probably trying to tire us out to make it easier to finish us off.” ‘Now that I think about it, it does seem like they are leading us somewhere…but where exactly’ I thought as a hill started to come into view I noticed that the number of yellow glowing eyes were increasing the closer we went. “Either way it looks like we’re going to find out” I said darkly. Half-hour later “Well we’re boned” Pedro said as he peered down a cliff. “Wonder why they’re not attacking us?” Manny asked as he looked at the forest with the sea of glowing eyes. As I peered down the cliff it was probably 30 feet high give or take “Probably to give us a breather or there waiting for something” I said as I stared into the forest. “What do you mean?” Manny asked confused. “If these creatures are smart enough to set a trap like this they either want to make a sport out of this or…” Ben was about to say until a group of coyotes started to come out of the forest. The coyote like creatures that came out were about the size of a medium size dog, their coat were completely dark green and their eyes were all shaded yellow with no pupils. They were not as big as the ones that were chasing us so my assumption was correct “Or to train their young with easy prey” I said darkly. “So what the hell do we do now?” Manny asked his voice cracking in panic. “Isn’t it obvious?” Pedro asked as he unsheathed his knife positioning himself in an army style like fashion. “We’re going to fight them” Pedro said calmly. “You can’t be serious!?!?” Manny asked with disbelief. “You can’t seriously expect us to fight and kill them all. Besides only you two are serious well equipped enough to fight them, I have a  freaking  butterfly knife” he said while pulling out the signature butterfly knife the spy uses “while Ben only has his fist” Manny said pointing at Ben. “How do you expect us to win?” Manny asked. “I don’t” I said calmly as I unsheathed my sword and shield. “But I would rather go out trying then giving up” I said making eye contact and giving him a reassuring smile. It seemed to work because he calmed down and just returned the gesture while Ben gave me a ‘let’s do this’ gesture. “Besides” I said as I turned back towards the group of coyotes slowly stalking towards us “Who said anything about killing them all”. “Wait what?” they all asked at the same time confused. “Who said we had to kill them all to get out of here” I said with a shrug “All we have to do is carve a path right thru  them and then  run like hell” I said as I started to glance left to right looking for a possible escape route. “Let’s do this then” Manny said as he did the spy animation of opening the knife. “Ready when you are” Ben said as he cracked his knuckles and Pedro just gave a simple nod. The coyotes were about ten feet away ‘Which way’ I thought. Nine feet ‘Not that way’ to the left was a steep mountain. Seven feet ‘Not that way either’ in the middle the way we came from which housed most of them. Four feet ‘Of course it’s always the last way’ to the right was another part of the forest, but it seemed to be more cheery than the previous forest, since it lacked the scary looking faces. “Here’s the plan Pedro and I take the lead while Ben and Manny stick together understood? Remember we're trying to escape don’t go for the kill unless you can’t help it” I said keeping eye contact with our way out. “Got it” they yelled in unison.   “Charge!” I yelled as I ran towards our destination, my friend’s right behind me. The coyotes were taken back by our sudden charge, but soon charged us as well. Time seemed to slow to down to a crawl when we got closer and I felt a strange feeling take over me. It felt like my body was possessed, but I was still in control of my actions at the same time. The two coyotes charged me one head on while the other from the right. I shield bash the one charging to the left of me stunning it, while I sliced the one to the right through its neck. Following the attack thru I spun the blade and stabbed the other thru its skull as well, blood squirting and covering my sword and chest. As I took my blade out I glanced behind me to see how my friends were doing. Pedro side stepped and drove his blade into the skull of a coyote that leapt towards him, while following his momentum did a round house kick to another that tried to sneak up on him hard, followed by a stratifying crack as it fell to the ground. Ben tackled one to the ground and held it with both hands around its neck while Manny came up and stab it in the skull, blood squirting and covering both of them. This went on for ten minutes as we hacked, slashed and pushed our way thru. As we got closer and closer to our destination they seemed to become more reckless and dangerous, but before we could get over runned  by them I yelled, “Ok guys let’s get the fuck out of here” and sprinted while holding my sword and shield shoving a couple out of the way. I could hear my friend’s footsteps behind me, mixed with the sounds of the coyotes right on our tails. But there was another sound not like a noise sound, but it felt as if a little voice in my head was telling me something over and over again. I shoved the voice away from my thoughts and chose to ignore it. Faster and faster we ran pushing ourselves to the max, we would occasionally duck, jump and slide under tree branches and bushes. As I ran out of another bush I almost ran face first into a mountainside. As I stopped, trying to remember which way we came from, I looked behind me to see my friends exhausted and concerned. “What’s up why are we stopping?” Ben asked glancing back towards where we came. “I don’t remember which direction we came from” I said glancing towards the two paths that seemed to look exactly alike except one went left while the other went right. “What do you mean you don’t remember?” Manny yelled. “Go left” Pedro said calmly we all stared at him wondering how he could possibly remember our sense of direction since the trees all look alike. “And you know this how?” I asked skeptically. He held up his left arm while pointing with his right hand towards his pip-boy “Because I somehow turned on my pip-boy’s auto map feature” he said with what I assume a smug smile. “If we weren’t running for our lives right now I would hug you man” Manny said. “Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight, less talking more running” I said as we ran towards the left side of the mountain the coyotes now coming out from the forest. “Persistent bastards aren’t they” Pedro said as if there wasn’t a care in the world. “Yeah no kidding” I replied back continuing our pace, tree branches and bushes passing by to the right of me. “I don’t know guys something seems off” Ben said before he started to scream in pain. “What the…” I said as I stopped and noticed the massive creature holding my friend by his left leg. It looked like the adult form of the coyotes, but it was the size of a boulder and much stronger looking. Ben tried to hit the creature anywhere that looked sensitive, but it didn’t even seem to phase it. The coyote threw him to a nearby tree hard, knocking the wind out of him. Before we could reach him to help him back up a bunch of the young ones jumped him from the bushes and started to bite and rip into him. Blood spraying everywhere, mixed with the sound of agonizing pain. Panicking I started to run towards him until the adult coyote tried to tackle me to the ground.  I quickly stepped back and got into a stance. “Manny, Pedro go help Ben NOW!!” I screamed at my friends as I charged the adult coyote, while they ran towards Ben. The adult was much faster and smarter than the younger ones as it would run around and try to bite or gnaw at me from different angles. The only thing saving me was my shield, armor and instinct. I would get a couple of slashes here or there when I dodge, but it wasn’t enough to kill it or slow it down. Now positioned differently I was able to see Manny and Pedro. Manny was carrying Ben who was badly wounded using one arm to support him and another to cover up a wound on his neck, while Pedro fought off a couple more of the younger ones. The adult seemed to notice my distraction and made a leap to the air to tackle me to the ground. However I was prepared this time, as it reached a couple feet away from me I slid to the ground sword up and felt the blade slice right thru the neck of the coyote all the way down towards his midsection before I brought the blade out. Turning around I was satisfied with a now dead coyote cover in its own blood and guts. That’s when I had the strange feeling of being watched. When I turned around I noticed about twenty more adults coyotes coming out of the forest followed by a couple of the younger ones. “Well fuck me” I said as I made my way towards my friends, the coyotes following us and slowly starting to box us in. As I continued my walk, mostly watching the coyotes in case they tried to get the jump on me, I noticed my friends being forced into a small cave. Once inside the cave I was barely able to see my friends and to my horror the end of the cave. “How is he?” I asked Pedro. Pedro didn’t respond he only tightened his grip on his knife and gestured with his other hand to go take a look. I did just that continuing my pace towards where Manny and Ben were. Ben’s body and clothes had a bunch of bite marks and claw marks, but the worst wound he had was the giant tear he had on his neck. Manny was just kneeling next to him and just staring at him hoping he would get up or something…and I could see why. Ben’s eyes showed no sign of life in them, they were just hollow. I just stared at my friend’s lifeless body for what felt like hours not moving wondering how this could be happening hoping it was all just a dream and I would wake up to see him alive and kicking. Sadly it didn’t seem like that was going to happen.  I snapped out of it and made my way towards the entrance of the cave where the coyotes were coming in from. I believe Manny was following me accompanied by Pedro, but I didn’t care I was only focusing on the coyotes. My slow walk turned into a sprint as I screamed out in rage. I don’t know how long we were fighting these animals, but it felt like hours as we hacked and slashed dozens of them. At first I thought we had the advantage since we were in a small cave making their speed/maneuverability worth shit, but they had the advantage of numbers, if we killed one five more would come in its place. The only thing holding me up was my sword as I had it plunged into the ground resting on one knee trying to catch my breath. Looking to my left I could see Ben’s body staring at me lifelessly and to the right Pedro and Manny in the same shape as me completely exhausted. ‘Things can’t end like this I let one friend down I won’t let my other friends down’ I thought as I tried to get up pain shot throughout my body making me fall back down. ‘Move damit Move!’ I yelled at my body trying to will it to move, but nothing happened, the coyotes slowly stalking towards their prey. Looking at my friends I was heartbroken to see that they had given up hope and accepted their defeat. I tried to cheer them up tried to put on a brave face, but even I could feel the pointlessness of my actions and decided to give up as well. That’s when the voice came back, but only louder. I tried to ignore it, but the sheer volume felt like my whole skull was going to crack open. I felt my lips form words, words that were familiar, but not at the same time. ‘Why the hell not’ I thought as I took in a breath, the coyotes only a few inches from me. What was supposed to be a whisper turned into a full blown shout “FUS…RO DAH” I screamed the Thu'um sending out a familiar blue force which caught me, my friends and the coyotes by surprise. Now let me tell you the game mechanics were way off when you used a shout in a cave, since sound vibrates and makes them louder inside caves or chasm, not only did the shout throw all the coyotes in the cave a few miles into the forest it was also strong enough to send the ones outside tumbling a few feet away scaring some of the small woodland creatures. My mouth was hanging out at what I just did. When I turned to see my friends they had the similar gesture as well. Pedro was the first to say something “Did you just use a dragon shout?” he asked with shock and disbelief. “Uh huh” I nodded my brain still trying to process what just happened. But it was short lived, when a couple of whines came out from the entrance. The coyotes were back, but now just staring at us it was as if they were deciding something. Before I could voice my thoughts out they turned and fled for their lives catching us by surprise even more. “Did they just flee?” Manny asked with hope and disbelief. “I think so” Pedro said shocked as well. “What the fuck is going on and where the fuck are we?” I asked trying to stay calm. ‘None of this makes since. Our clothing, dragon shouts, strange creatures… just what the fuck.’ I thought trying to figure out what was going on. I was brought out of my thoughts when Manny shouted “WHERE’S BEN?!?!” As I looked over where Ben’s body was suppose to be, it was gone even the pool of blood that surrounded him was gone as if it was never even there to begin with. “It was here a moment ago” Pedro yelled back looking around the cave trying to find our friends body. “You don’t think they grabbed him when we weren’t looking do you?” I asked and was barely able stopped Manny as he tried to run after them. He thrashed about trying to get free from my grip, Pedro coming up from behind and helping me restrain him. He yelled screaming and kicking “Let me go! We have to go after him, we have to save him.” “Manny calm down were in no condition to chase after them and even if we were there’s no point he’s dead Manny we…we have to move on” Pedro said trying to not choke up on the last part. “How could you say that” Manny yelled at Pedro starting at him with anger. “It’s the truth Manny” he replied back sadly he slightly chuckled and said “bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts.” Manny completely lost it and got loose from our grip and tackled Pedro to the ground smacking his armor with his hand making a dull thud sound. This went on for minutes until his hands barely smacked against Pedro’s armor until he finally stopped and just stared at Pedro with emptiness. “Finally done” Pedro said as he gently pushed Manny off of him and brushed himself off. I walked over to Manny and gave him a quick hug followed by a pat on the back and said “I know it sucks and truth be told I want to go after them too, but Pedro’s right for once we can’t just blindly go after them.” “Only once?” Pedro said annoyed. “Not now Pedro” I snapped at him causing him to back off. ‘This is all my fault I should have stopped us from going into the cave I should have been the one taking up the rear in our formation…but I can’t be depressed now my friends need me to be strong’ I thought. “Look we need to get away from here it’s…it’s what he would have wanted us to do” I said sadly. Manny didn’t seem to be paying attention to me for some reason his eyes were huge almost bulging out. I waved my hands in front of him trying to snap him out of it. “Hey Pedro give me a hand I think Manny’s shell shocked” I said but Pedro seemed to be ignoring me as well. ‘What the hell are they looking at’ as I turned around to the front of the cave I couldn’t believe it either. If my jaw could drop any lower it would go straight to the center of the world for standing right in front of the cave entrance was Ben alive and kicking.