A New World, A New Way - Swarm
Chapter 3
Foul Play
Day 1
Naruto was nervous as he walked with the apparent leader of the Bug Pokémon hive. “So, Naruto, enjoying life as a guard?”
“I, uh, just started yesterday sir.” A flimsy lie, but until I get out of here it would have to do.
“Intriguing. Well, I hope that you get acclimated into the routine of the guard soon. It has been rather peaceful as of late, so I assume that would be a plus for you.”
“It's hardly work if you like what you do Sir.” The red maned 'changeling' replied. “That, and if you have a good team behind you.”
“I take it you're a team player.”
“You could say that.”
The conversation became awkwardly stagnant after that, the emperor simply leading and the soldier simply following. Time felt like it had crawled to a painfully slow stop as Naruto and Carapace walked by several open windows, revealing the many tree houses of the jungle city. Naruto suppressed a gasp of wonder.
X would love it here. He always did have a thing for tree houses.
As soon as the sound of his charge stopped, Carapace turned around and noticed Naruto simply staring at the capital city. Must be first day jitters. The Emperor thought as he got a good look at the stallion. The red mane was simply stunning, seeming more like it belonged to a fox or some other animal. However, as Carapace got a closer look, he noticed the soldier's shadow.
It looked like a mix of an equinoid...and a fox.
That and he smelled like a fox as well.
Naruto turned and noticed the interesting expression on the Emperor's face. “Something on your mind?”
“I must agree with the maids.” Carapace deftly answered, his eyes drifting towards the shadow on the ground. “Your mane is simply outstanding.”
“It's a gift.” came the sarcastic reply.
“Well, come on. You're still lost, and I want to get your bearings straight as soon as possible. I don't want to be late.”
“Must be rather important if you, the Emperor, wants to be where he's going.” Naruto then pondered to himself for a moment as he tried to figure out the answer on his own. “Uh, where are you going?”
“Oh, just a Greenhouse not too far from the palace.”
Naruto was a little surprised at that. “A... greenhouse?”
“I assure you, my hobby has produced the greatest garden in the entire Empire. In fact, I say it rivals the hanging gardens of Colaylon.” The Emperor then turned to the Pokémon. “Seems a little old fashioned, doesn't it?”
“Actually, it seems a little... obvious.” Naruto commented on the typical Bug-like hobby the Emperor had as the two continued their trek to the entrance.
“Well, this is where we part ways.” The Emperor pointed a hoof forward at a door connecting the hallway. “Simply go through that door, then take the second door on your left.”
“Thank you sir.”
“Only happy to help.” The Emperor then opened a different door, this one on the left side of the room. This elected a sigh of relief from Naruto: He was afraid that the Bug would see though his Illusion and do something horrible to him. In any case, it's time to get out of here. The less time I spend with Bug types the....
“Hey, you! Red guy! Over here!”
...better. Turning around, Naruto noticed the white tailed Bug he used as a reference for his Illusion, and judging from his ragged breath he was doing quite a bit of running. “Yes?”
“We got a bit of an emergency and we need every guard on duty on this. That means you. Come on!” the guard shouted at Naruto.
“Uh, listen, I really need to get going....”
“You want a paycheck or not?” The guard reached out to Naruto, the illusionist directing his illusion to barely miss the leg of the guard to uphold the Illusion. “Lets go, now.”
“Why ask me? I'm just the new guy. You don't need me, trust me.” Then Naruto's 'eyes' lit up with an idea. “In fact, the Emperor just came through here. I'll go tell him, maybe he could clear this whole mess up.” before he could even turn around to face the other door, the white tailed changeling rushed in front of him, blocking the path.
“I am not going to let you send me to an early grave. If the Emperor finds out that his personal garden is infested, well lets just say no changeling's skin is safe.”
“Over a garden? Doesn't that seem a little silly?” Naruto sighed “He could just replant anything that gets stomped on.”
“No new guy. You don't understand. The Emperor's garden is serious business to him. Here's how the story of the last guy who thought they were just flowers went; The current ambassador from Griffenheim visited the Empire. It was going well until the ambassador wanted to see the garden. The Emperor refused, so late that night the ambassador bribed two guards to let him see it. The ambassador was enthralled with the gardens' beauty so much he wasn't looking where he was walking. And he accidentally stepped on the Foxgloves. The Foxgloves are the Emperor's favorite plant, even puts alarm charms on them to let him know if anyone does anything to them. The Emperor was so angry he threatened to declare war on Griffenheim.”
“Over plants.” Naruto deadpanned. “He threatened to declare war over plants.”
“Well, the Emperor was talked out of it but he's holding a serious grudge against that ambassador, the guards that let him in, and any descendants of those three. Keep in mind that this happened fifty years ago.”
“And you let this guy lead you?” Naruto balked.
“Emperor Carapace is a powerful and wise leader, strange devotion to his garden notwithstanding. Now, you wanna keep your job or not?”
Okay, lets check my options. Naruto thought to himself. This seems pretty serious, but it's just sounds so stupid! Nonetheless, if I started to run away, he might chase me to get me to help this garden fetish of his boss's. And if this guy chases me and makes me drop my Illusion, well that would be bad.
The other option is to play along and lend a claw. He's probably over exaggerating the issue, but the longer I stay the more likely it is that hey catch on and figure out I'm not one of them. But why would I do that? I don’t owe them anything.
Suddenly, images flashed before his eyes, revealing a defining moment of his life:
He crashed into the rocky wall of the canyon as he fell, his front right paw scratched and bloody along with the rest of that leg, luckily using that same paw to grab a small grip in the canyon's rocky surface. He struggled to avoid looking down, for he knew that the tree filled bottom of Route 9 awaiting him to finish falling to his doom.
“Naruto! I'm coming buddy!” X shouted. He lept to his feet, and ran past the Rhyhorn he was riding, whom had started to run away, and rushed towards the edge of the cliff “Hang in there!”
“'Hang in there'? Not a good choice of words X!” The Zorua screamed back. He quickly scrambled to get a grip with his other paw, which was his right paw, but winced, his face in pain. It was far bloodier and broken than his other three limbs. “What did we bring in that backpack of yours?”
X quickly took the backpack off, and dumped everything out of it. Several items spilled out of it, a can of soup rolling off the cliff and missing Naruto by a mile. “No rope!”
“I told you we needed a rope!”
“Wait, the pokèball!” X reached for the ball on his belt, hoping it could save his friend.
To his despair, the ball was cracked to the point of being broken. “Dammit!”
` “What?”
“The ball's broken!”
“Are you kidding me!?”
“Do you honestly think I would joke at a time like this?” X replied. “What do we do now!?”
Silence reigned as the grim reality set in. “I guess... we say goodbye.”
“Are you kidding me!?” X shouted.
“X, you can't save me. You can't reach me, you have no rope, and I can't hold on forever. I know you will try to save me, but I know it won't work. I'll have to let go sometime..” Naruto closed his eyes, avoiding his trainer's tear stained eyes. “..so, thanks for the good times we had this past year.”
Then, Naruto's grip then loosened, and he felt the ledge slide out from under his paw.
X screamed, the yell transcending space/time.
Then, a sharp pain shot through Naruto's paw. He opened his eyes, he saw a sight he thought he would never see: A yellow lizard with two frills on the side of it's head. It's right hand grasped Naruto's injured paw, and it's face was strained. Then, the lizard amazingly started to climb up backwards. X was simply amazing, almost neglecting to grab the Helipotile's tail when it was close enough. Once the did, the quickly pulled them up.
The Electric Reptile loosened her grip on Naruto, who staggered towards the dreaded ledge and hurled. X simply sighed.
“I swear Naruto if you ever get stuck in a situation like this again I and going to hit you.”
“Fair enough.”Naruto replied, sounding rather woozy. It was a common feeling when you almost fall to your death.
“You okay?” the Helioptile asked the Zorua.
“Thanks to you.” the Dark Type then turned to face his savior. “But you attacked X and I almost all day after we tried to capture you, so why save me? You don't owe us anything.”
“Does it matter? You needed help, and I had the power to help you. Living in the wild, you quickly learn that life is a team sport.”
Underneath the Illusion, Naruto gripped his right arm with his left. Although his arm was healed after his near death, the pain never truly went away. The best way to describe it was a form of residual pain: the arm flared up in pain if he overexerted it, causing Naruto to favor his left arm than his right.
Guess I could lend a paw. It's not to the extreme as saving someone's life, but if I did just leave them be, I would feel a little guilty about it. Even if they are Bugs.
Inti is definitely getting to me. This is something she would do.
“Lead the way.” The white tailed Bug then quickly turned around and started to move at a brisk pace, Naruto effortlessly keeping pace. “Mind telling the new guy the situation?”
“Well, it started about 15, 20 minutes ago when Silver Heart and I snuck into the Emperor's garden again.”
“The very same garden that got three entire family lines the silent treatment?” Naruto had to raise an eyebrow to that. “This Silver Heart sounds like he has a hard time staying out of that garden.”
“You can hardly blame him. The garden is legendary. But that's not the point.” The duo made a turn into another hallway. “We weren’t the only uninvited guests.”
“Another ambassador?”
“Giant purple moths actually.” Another turn was made.
“They sound... familiar.” Naruto shuddered at the thought of more Bugs.
“Well thankfully they didn't do much. They just sat there. The turtles were the bigger issue.”
“Turtles?”
“About thirty of them. Blue with brown shells, curly tails. When Silver tried to kick em out they attacked him. When I started to give some range support, their leader decided to get involved, and the leader is a big one. Five feet tall. And you are not gonna believe me what happened next,”
“Try me.”
“It has water cannons that popped out of it's shell. Two cannons. Made of steel. Out of it's shell. Two fully bucking functional water cannons. And they look like they hurt.”
As they made another turn, Naruto had to dwell on this for a bit. “Strange. Squirtle and Blastoise normally are not so aggressive. This Silver Heart must have made them really mad for them to just attack them.”
“You seem to know a lot about these turtles. Most turtles I've seen don't stand on two legs or have bucking water cannons in their backs.”
“Lets just say information is my specialty.”
And hopefully that Squirtle colony will help me with the biggest question I have at the moment; How I got here.
“By the way, you're mane is amazing. I'm a little envious.”
Naruto simply shook his head. His illusion mane wasn't that amazing.
Was it?
Nalel sighed as she combed her mane, her pale yellow magical aura gripping the comb as it flew across her mane. Nall was still in her bed, paper and pencil floating about, and deep in thought. “I still can't believe Nell would do something like that. We're sisters. Brood sisters! Together forever and ever and ever!” Nall complained.
“Can't we wait to have this conversation until after breakfast?” Nalel sighed. “We just got up.”
“No. I want to complain now.”
“Maybe Nell has a point.” Nalel countered.
“Oh no, you're not using logic! Logic bad!”
“Hear me out Nall.” Nalel stopped brushing her mane, turning to her twin. “Look, I know you’re upset that Nell didn’t want us to come along. I really do, since I’m disappointed too. But even so, this is Nell’s choice and she has every right to make it.”
“But Nalel…” Nall started, though the serious look in Nalel’s eyes caused her to stop short.
Nalel sighed as she put her brush away. “I don’t like it anymore than you do, but I’m sure you noticed that Nell’s been thinking hard about finding her own path in life. As much as I’d like it if the three of us were together forever, it’s her choice to make. All we can do is support her, so if she wants to follow in Dad’s footsteps, then it’s her choice to make and we should be happy for her.”
Nall sighed in response, shuffling her hooves on the ground. “I know… but it’s just that… brood sisters… together forever and ever…”
Nalel smiled sadly, before nuzzling her sister. “Come now, it’s not like we’ll never see Nell again. She may be looking for her own path, but us being brood sisters will never change. We can still be together forever and ever,” she reassured.
Nall just nodded, still looking a bit sad, before trotting up to the pile of stuffed animals. Reaching out to grab one, she stopped short when she saw what looked like the head of some kind of yellow and black lizard poking out of the pile. “Um… Nalel? Was this big lizard doll always here?”
Blinking at the question, Nalel took a close look at said ‘doll’, and said, “Hm…” she murmured, tilting her head to the side in curiosity. On one hand she thought it was probably just an old doll they had forgotten about. However, something was still bothering her. “Strange… I don’t remember ever seeing a doll like this.” she muttered, before reaching out to said doll, intending to get a closer look.
To Nalel's surprise, the lizard slapped her hoof.
“Uh, Nall. I don't think that's a doll.”
After Naruto and the white tailed changeling (whom Naruto had learned was named Rizen) had found one of the guard's break rooms, the small Changeling battalion had just arrived at the garden. Naruto had to agree that the garden was simply majestic, even with the Squirtles and Blastoise making a mess of things. Several guards were facing off against two or three Squirtles at a time amongst the ruined collection of flowers, the Changeling's hesitant of the strange turtles. The purple moths Rizen mentioned, the moths clearly being Venomoth (just what he needed, more bugs), were staying as far away from the conflict as possible. To Naruto's amazement, two magical shields each manned by a guard surrounded what Naruto assumed to be the Emperor's foxgloves.
Although the Changelings outnumbered the Turtle Pokémon two to one, it was clear that they were not winning his encounter.
There, standing in the middle of the fount was the Blastoise in a battle stance, his twin cannons aimed at the brown haired changeling Naruto saw earlier. He was a mess, for his armor was shattered in some places revealing bruises covering his body, breath ragged, and the only remains of his helmet was a circle of iron around his horn.
“Silver, I found some more reinforcements.” Turning around, Silver Heart turned to see the dozen new arrivals. “Great. I need a break from fighting the mutant here.”
“I am not a mutant, tiny insect!” The Blastoise shouted, clearly insulted. “Stand down before you anger me any more and leave his place, and I will call my colony off. There is no need for you to continue for you do not entertain me anymore.”
“Sounds like he wants some more. You guys, take him down!” The reinforcements shouted battle cries, rearing up as they did so. Rizen shouted the loudest, and started his charge first. He was quickly interrupted by Naruto running in front of him blocking his path to the Shellfish pokémon.
“The Blastoise clearly said to stand down and he will stop attacking. What part of that didn't you understand?”
“Who in Tartarus is the redhead?” Silver shouted at the horde of changeling reinforcements.
“I'm new. But that's not the point. The Blastoise made his point clear as crystal. Now is obviously the time for talking and getting information.”
“We tried, but it keeps saying the same thing over and over!” Naruto balked at this revelation.
This is odd. He claims he can't understand the Blastoise? That is odd. I know I can understand the Blastoise since I'm a Pokemon, and these Bugs are clearly speaking English, which I can also understand. That must mean they cannot understand the language of Pokémon. This can only mean one thing:
These Bugs are not Pokémon. But the only species in the world that can't speak the language of Pokémon are Humans. So if they aren't Pokémon, and if they aren’t Human... just what are they? And where exactly am I?
This is getting weirder by the minute.
“I can understand them. I'm going to talk them into backing down.” As Naruto turned to face the Blastoise, Silver Heart hobbled into his path. “Kinda convenient you're the only one who can understand them.”
“Convenient indeed. Step aside.”
“No.” Silver Heart defiantly declared. “I'm in command, not you, and I say that we are not talking to them! They are the enemy. We attack.”
“Yes, and it's quite obvious how attacking them is turning out.”
“I don't need snark from you soldier.”
“You clearly have no idea what you are doing. I do. So back off and let me do my job so you can do yours.” Naruto growled.
“Stand. Down.”
“Make. Me.”
This elected a response from Silver Heart, the changeling's bruised face showing signs of worry from the new guys aggression.
“Fine, but if it goes south, we're rushing in.”
“That's good enough for me.”
Slowly, Silver Heart got out of Naruto's way, as he approached the leader of the colony.
The Blastoise aimed it's cannons at Naruto, the intent clear. Naruto simply stopped his approach towards the Blastoise, and cleared his throat. “I'm here to talk!”
“Why should I listen. Your kind cannot understand mine.”
“A little quick to judge, aren’t you?” Naruto chuckled. The Blastoise's expression remained stern though. He raised his arm, and the Squirtles retreated to the pond and rallied behind him.
“So, there is someone here who can speak the Pokémon language.”
“I want to know why you and your colony are here.” Naruto asked dryly, ignoring the statement the Blastoise made. The Blastoise pondered this for a moment, then spoke “I do not know.”
“You don't know? Are you sure?”
“I am sure. The last thing I remember is that I was guarding the colony that day. We live in Johto, near the place the humans call the Whirl Islands. My colony has always enjoyed peace, even when predators or Humans came to attack or capture us. And each time they came, I made them return from whence they came by force. I did not become the leader sitting on my claws watching my colony suffer after all.”
'What's he saying?” one changeling shouted.
“He's not done talking yet.” Naruto shouted back. “Is there anything else you can tell me? Anything at all?”
“Aside from the fact that we all fell asleep, then woke up here, that is all I am willing to talk about.”
“What did he say that time?” the same changeling shouted. Naruto growled, then turned his head.
“Give me a minute, I'm not done yet”. Turning his head upwards towards the Venomoth, he spoke towards the Bugs. “And what's your story? Did you take a wrong turn at Santalune Forest?”
“Our tale is eerily similar fellow Bug.” One Venomoth replied, the apparent leader. It spoke with a dull tone in it's voice, as if it was trying to separate it's emotions from it's speech. “We were simply going about our business when we fell asleep during the daytime, as if we were compelled to do so. We remain here for we have no idea where we are and do not wish to be more lost.”
Their stories sound like mine; Fall asleep, wake up in the middle of these creatures home. No leads. Well, I guess I can leave no and get out of here.
“The Blastoise said he has no idea how he or his colony got here, and so did the Venomoth.”
“The Vena-what?” Silver Heart asked.
“No. Venomoth.” Naruto dryly replied. He pointed a hoof upwards at the moth pokémon. “The last thing they remember is falling asleep, then waking up here.”
“Are you telling me they just woke up here?”
“That seems to be the case.” Naruto stated as he approached Silver Heart.
“Well, glad we have a question for an answer instead of an actual answer. “ Silver sighed. “In any case, they gotta go. All of them. The Emperor's already gonna be pissed when he discovered the damage we already done.”
“Yes, we can't go starting wars over the precious Foxgloves now can we.” Naruto sighed.
“We are not going anywhere.” Naruto turned at this, surprised that the Blastoise's statement.
“What did he say?”
“He said they aren't going anywhere.” Naruto translated. “I want to know why.”
“This garden is simple amazing. Far better than the Whirl Islands. Since my colony was forced here, I see no reason why it should not be mine.”
“Do I even want to know what 'Blast blast toise Blastoise Blastoise toise blast toise' means?”
“He's claiming the garden as his own.” Naruto deadpanned. As expected, this did not go well.
“Yea, not gonna happen freak. You have forty seconds to get out now before I stop showing mercy.”
“That's mercy?” Naruto again deadpanned.
“Compared to what the Emperor will do, it is.”
“Wasn't he kicking your ass before I got here?”
“That was a warm up!”
“You are in no condition to fight!”
“You are not the boss of me soldier!” Silver defiantly shouted. “Listen here you cannon-backed abomination of nature! This is Emperor Carapace's garden, and you are not welcome here!” Then, with a swift maneuver, Silver Heart charged past Naruto, the fox quickly chasing the Changeling. The Blastoise simply aimed his cannon, the precipitation of a shot being armed clearly seen from the barrels of the cannon.
“No Bug, this is my garden, and you are not welcome here! Hydro Pump!” The blasts of water screamed towards the Changeling and Fox. Naruto quickly saw the shots race towards them, and with a burst of speed, caught up to Silver Heart, and pushed him out of the way, his Illusion barely making the movement believable. The water then crashed into Naruto, the Fox screaming as he was pushed back into the horde of soldiers. Thankfully, Naruto was relatively okay.
Relativity being the key word.
However, to everyone's surprise, and to Naruto's horror, the force of the attack forced Naruto's Illusion to fade.
“He's not a changeling!” Rizen shouted. “He disguised himself as one of us and we never knew! I feel embarrassed.”
“Better than feeling the impact of a rushing tide crashing into you.” Naruto moaned as he got up. He quickly wished he hadn't: The Blastoise looked like he wanted to sit on a Poochyena just for the sick joy of sitting of a Poochyena.
“EVIL TYPE!” The Blastoise screamed, pointing an accusatory claw at him. “YOU WILL PAY FOR DECEIVING ME, AND FOR MUCH MORE!”
“It's pronounced 'Dark'!”
The two changelings simply stared at the lizard that was most definitely alive and not a doll. The lizard stared back, blinking with a scowl on it's face. “Lisk. Lisk. Lisk.”
“Uh Nall. Why do we have a lizard in our doll collection.”
“I have no idea.” came her sister's reply. She looked at the strange lizard with intensely, the lizard doing the same. “But he sounds like he can talk.”
“HELIO!” The lizard hissed, the black part of it's neck unfolding out to reveal a sun shaped frill.
“Lisk Heliolisk LISK!”
“Totally a guy.” Nall stated. “Hey, I know! Lets keep him!”
“Nall, I don't think lizards are supposed to be this... big.”
“But Nalel, look at him!” Nall then practically shoved the lizard into Nalel's face, both changeling and lizard expressing discomfort. “He's so adorable and yellow. How can you say no to Mister Frilly Face?”
“Frilly Face?”
“Hey, I thought up of the name in five seconds. I wasn't going for quality.” Nalel shook her head. “Besides, Mom and Dad would totally let us keep a pet. We're responsible, if you aren’t comparing us to Nell that is, so they gotta say yes!”
“Okay okay, the least we can do is try. Lets go ask them now.” Nalel horn glowed, her magic grip opening the door.
“YAY! PET LIZARD!” The lizard looked horrified at such a statement, her warden practically dancing in place.
“Interesting” Hira sated. She was sitting in the living room, an old leather spell book with a emerald embedded in the cover. “Who knew that a breath-holding spell could be used in that way?”
“That sounds like it could easily misused.” Citel commented. He was in the kitchen, imported tofu bacon sizzling in the pan Citel was tending. Another pan was next to the bacon, several pancakes cooking inside it, a plate of already cooked pancakes next to it. Several bananas and the pink gemstones were in two bowls next to him as he cooked breakfast. “Why the sudden interest in a spell like that? The nearest body of water that one would absolutely need a spell like that would be the ocean. And that's a long journey.”
“My students are learning magic that would be useful for travel outside of the walls.” Hira turned the page as she talked. The spell book was one she used for research out of the classroom, as Hira was a teacher of magic at the local school. “You of all changelings would appreciate the usefulness of spells that help one not die.”
“Sticking to the beaten path is a very good way to do just that.” A spatula floated in front of Citel, and tended to the pancakes. “Less changeling eating plants.”
“Well, one of my students asked about the application of such a spell outside of watery environments. I'm merely doing a follow up about the applications. Quite interesting really.”
Citel simply smiled as he continued to cook breakfast. Not even a minute later did Nall and Nalel fly down the stairs, Mister Frilly Face struggling to get out of Nall's grip. “Mom, Dad, we found a lizard! Can we keep him!?” Nall practically shouted.
Hira closed her book as Citel peeked his head out of the kitchen, both noticing the strange lizard that clearly did not want to be there. “Didn't know they grew that big.” Hira commented, ignoring the question for now. “Or were that yellow.”
“Where did you find the little guy?” Citel asked, ducking back into the kitchen to finish cooking breakfast.
“He was in the stuffed animals.” Nall cheerfully replied, hugging the lizard tightly, Mister Frilly Face growing more agitated. “And he's soooooo adorable! But you didn't answer the question. Can we keep him? Can we? Can we? Can we?”
Hira's eye's narrowed as she took a good hard look at Mister Frilly Face. As a teacher of magic, her magical scenes were better than the average changeling. Her senses were sensing something, but she could not figure out what it was. “Well, I have no problems with it. Citel?” At that exact moment, Citel walked out of the kitchen, the last of the pancakes apparently done. “Let's talk about it over breakfast. Can you two ladies go get the boys?”
The ladies did that, and as they entered the front yard, they encountered the male brood roughhousing (as usual), but this time they made a new friend. It was a large brown quadruped with a long neck. Leaves covered it's neck and head, and four large leaves that reminded the sisters of wings. Oddly enough the creature had what looked like a beard made of bananas. It looked both tired and confused as the young changelings climbed all over it. The creature didn't seem to mind though.
“HE”S HUGE!” Nall shouted, causing the creature to turn towards the girls. The creature noticed Mister Frilly Face, whom made a pleading look. The creature simply muttered “Tropius”, then yawned, content in letting Mister Frilly Face suffer. Mister Frilly Face's face fell when it realized the creature was planning on doing nothing. “Do you think we can keep him as well?”
“Only if I get to keep him.” Nalel said
“Awwww, why?”
“You have your heart set on Mister Frilly Face.” Nalel taunted.
“But Banana Beard has bananas for a beard!”
“One or the other.”
Nell groaned, realizing that the cool creature was out of her grasp. Ingoing her sister's plight, Nalel hollered to her brothers “Boys! Breakfast!” It unnatural reaction speed, the boys stopped playing on the creature and rushed into the house, their older sisters following them.
The creature then had a thoughtful expression it face, as well as Mister Frilly Face, as they both wondered what was going on.
“Little Litleo, the next time I think it's a good idea to tie a rope to me and then waltz into a thick jungle, slap me!”
“LITLEO!”
Nell ran for dear life, Litleo Litleo gripping her tightly, as if he was trying to squeeze her wings into her sides . Nell would have loved to use them, but due to the combination of a rope tied around her, a lion on top of her, and the general thickness of the trees flying was a bad idea.
It didn't stop her from trying her hardest to not die by running though.
Nell darted past a tree and made a sharp turn, hoping to lose the beast. As she made the turn she look behind her, and cursed: the beast had deftly made the turn as well.
Continuing her mad dash for life, Nell addressed her companion. “Litleo, cut the rope!”
“Lit Lit Lit!” By the sound of it, it sounded like Litleo Litleo did not approve of this plan.
“I'll be able to move easier if the rope isn't attached to anything! Trust me!”
Figuring it was better to just do it than argue and possibly get eaten, the lion begrudgingly popped a claw out of it's paw, and carefully started picking at the rope, being careful not to slice his new friend's back. He looked up, and quickly wished he hadn't; the dinosaur had a grin on his face that would make even a criminal feel guilty.
Suddenly, Nell felt the ground fall out from underneath her feet, changeling tumbling to the ground and lion flying into the air, tumbling a few feet into a tree, the impact inflaming his hurt paw. Horror filled her being as she turned to look behind her again, her eyes first noticing a root sticking out of the ground, the cause of her tumble into the ground. Her eyes then noticed the lizard was now closing in on the duo, his maw open slightly, almost inviting his future meals to jump in.
This is it. I'm going to die. That thing is going to eat me and I'm going to die and no one will know and I'll be dead! Nell thought to herself, fear Guess this is what happens when I ignore perfectly sane advice and go into the dangerous jungle with just a lion....
Nell closed her eyes, simply wanting the lizard to get it over with.
Nothing came.
Nell opened her eyes, and saw the lizard was... staring at her. Before she could act, the lizard then roared at her, the sound instilling more fear in her, and she found herself quivering in fear in the monster's presence.
Great, it's playing with it's food!
The beast then tilted it's head at Nell, as if it was confused. It roared again, his one a little less heartfelt. Nell's quivering started to slow down as the reptile stomped the food with it's ground, roaring a third time.
Okay, he has me at his mercy, so why doesn't it just eat me!?
The beast's looked sad as Nell apparently did not react the way it wanted to. “Runt runt Tyrunt!” It shouted as it apparently was no longer interested in Nell. He stomped towards Litleo Litleo, the lion attempting to get up after being launched from Nell's back.
Then the beast roared, causing the lion to look at their attacker. Litleo Litleo was not scared, as he returned the roar with one of his own, though it was not as impressive, or as loud, as his attacker.
Then the lizard roared at Litleo Litleo again, his roar just as strong and powerful as the previous. Which resulted in Litleo Litleo roaring at it again.
Nell felt like face hoofing as she clearly had no idea what was going on: The two were just roaring at each other. As Nell rose from the ground, she trotted towards the dinosaur, it roaring at Litleo Litleo again. “Leave him alone!”
The dinosaur turned to Nell, his expression a frown. He messangly took a step forward, Litleo Litleo beginning to grow fearful for his new friend.
It's not going to work, but maybe.....
“Leave my friend or I'll hurt you! I will!”
“Runt! Ty ty runt?”
It's not buying it? Well then. Nell then narrowed her eyes, and frost covered her horn again. “I mean it!” This time, the message was gotten loud and clear, for as soon as the frost formed on her horn, the dinosaur squealed, and ran away from Nell, darting past Litleo Litleo.
Nell just stood there, shocked that scaring the beast was that... easy. Litleo Litleo apparently did not feel the same way, as it simply stared at Nell, it's expression stern. “Lit leo Litleo!”
“You’re welcome Litleo Litleo.” Ignoring the glare Litleo Litleo was giving her, Nell turned her attention to the rope and gave it a tug. Her eyes suddenly widened.
That tug felt way too loose.
Panic filled her being as she followed the rope, Litleo Litleo behind her, her journey ended rather quickly when she found the end of the rope.
Cut messily in two.
Litleo Litleo and Nell simply looked at each other with dread. “We're lost.” Nell stated.
A full minute passed of no action. Nell ended that by screaming. Loudly.
“WHAT DO WE DO!? WHAT DO WE DO!? WE'RE LOST IN THE JUNGLE!”
With a smirk, Litleo Litleo simply made a small notch in a tree trunk.
“Hey good idea Litleo Litleo.” Levitating two rocks, Nell smashed them together until a sharp point was made on one of them, the process being surprisingly quick. Then, she slashed a tree with the rock, then again forming an X. “This might help. Come on Litleo Litleo, lets get going.” She said with a smile, the lion leaping onto her back the exact moment she finished speaking.
The two then restarted their journey, never noticing the red eye watching them from the safety of the trees.