"Damn it!" I yelled as arrows flew just above my head. "GROOT? YOU WANT TO HELP?!" I roared. We were being pinned down by a large group of bandits we'd ran into. It might not have helped that I insulted their mothers.
"<I'm kind of busy!>" He roared back. And, yeah, he was busy holding up our defences, stopping any bandits from flanking us or taking potshots at us. He'd also saved my furry behind when this mess began while I was distracted by the taunting session I had going on, throwing me into a nearby ditch, thus why he only had one arm. "<Especially since I only have one arm!>"
"It'll grow back!" I shot back. "Quit complaining!" I ducked as bandits fired at us. Both arrows and bolts of magic blasted our cover. I couldn't get any shots off because they'd hit me if I stuck my head out. "Damn it!" I yelled as our cover was slowly chipped away by the magical explosions. "At this rate we'll be killed!"
"<What's that?>" Groot asked, pointing to a nearby tree. I looked closely and saw a vial on a string hooked on a branch. "<You know, if you're careful you could grab it without leaving cover.>" ...Yeah, careful. Right.
I dived out of cover shooting a few shots out as I began my mad scramble for the vial. "YAHOO!!!" I cried.
"<GOD DAMN IT, ROCKET!!!>" Groot roared as I grabbed the vial, a stay bolt of magic blasting the tree. I dashed back to cover, arrows and magic blasts landing all around me. I dived back into the ditch before taking a closer look at the vial.
"Strange little thing." I muttered.
As if awakened, a voice began to emit from the vial."To those that would bring destruction down upon your enemies in burning rage, to those that bring terror upon those that have slighted you. To those who would see towns destroyed in the name of revenge. I care not for your so-called ‘alignment’ or ‘morality’, I care not if you seek to conquer the world or save it from tyranny, break the vial and call for the Blood and I shall answer your call, brothers and sisters of Earth, regardless."
"Well, that sounds promising." I muttered.
"<You think we should call on him? He sounds like a loose cannon.>" Groot warned.
"I'm thinking, can we afford not to?" I asked. "If he's as bad as he makes out to be, he'll get us out in no time. Plus, he said he wasn't interested in morality or what our goals are, right? Just humans in general."
"<...I don't like it, but you're right. We have no choice here.>"
I crushed the vial under my foot and yelled out, "Get your bloody arse here!"
The blood on the ground shifted and shot up in a geyser. An obscene amount of blood, more than could possibly have been in the vial, shot up, but the blood didn't splatter everywhere, it just kind of hovered in the air for a moment before falling and forming the shape of a human. It stayed like that for a moment before the blood faded and skin and clothing began to show.
After a few seconds all that was left was a brown haired, fair skinned human wearing a purple jacket, jeans and boots, a ruined sword and an axe strapped to his back. He blinked. "Oh. That...was that a summon?" He looked down at me, raising an eyebrow. "A raccoon? You used to be human I take it?"
I glared at him, "Yeah, and I'm not a fucking raccoon!" I gave him a smug grin. "Name's Rocket. This here's Groot."
"Hey, big guy."
"<Nice to meet you, don't try to kill us and we'll get along.>"
"Uh...right."
I chuckled, "Ah, Groot's just saying to not try to kill us. He's friendlier then he looks."
The human grinned, "Good. Well, you called me here for a reason, right?" Another volley of magic blasted away at the barrier again. "Oh. I see. Guards?"
"Bandits." I corrected. "Ponies. Mostly unicorns, but there's a few pegasi and Griffins in there too."
He laughed, "Bandits? I haven't killed any of them in a long time! Oh, this'll be fun!" He took out his axe and gave it a few swings. "You know how to fight?"
I let myself grin and held up my blasters, "I can shoot, Groot's good at smashing."
"<I'm more than just a wrecking ball.>" Groot muttered.
I snorted, "Yeah, yeah, whatever, Groot." I glanced up at the human. "You got a plan, kid?"
The human grinned. "Hell yeah, I do. And the name's Blood." He laughed again. "I'm sorry, this is just...a little silly. I mean, me, a hardened killer working with, and let's be scientific here, a tree and what appears to be a raccoon." He snorted. "Appears to be, not is." He quickly added.
I snorted, "Yeah, good point. And what's up with 'Blood'?"
He shook his head. "The name's...got an interesting story behind it." He scowled, "Let's go teach these fuckers not to mess with humanity, no matter shape or form."
"<I hear that!>" Groot nodded.
"Alright, then." He tightened his grip on the axe. "ARRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" He roared, leaping out of cover and dashing across the battlefield, dodging arrows and blasts at the last second, cleaving through anyone he came across.
I just stared. "Groot. We picked up a crazy." A grin spread itself across my face. "I like him." I flung myself out after him with a wordless yell, firing off shots as fast as I could.
As I ran I heard Groot yell, "<AM I THE ONLY SANE ONE HERE?!>"
As I ran arrows sunk into the ground nearby and magic blasts unearthed the ground by my feet, sending chunks of the ground exploding up and almost sending me tumbling several times. As I shot wildly I made sure to take time and aim carefully at any unicorns or diving pegasi. As I closed in on the enemy position I found they were mostly decimated. Blood pooled on the ground, bodies were cut down everywhere I looked. Blood doesn't mess around, does he?
He was an unstoppable force. He avoided the projectiles fired at him, sweeping and weaving through them. And when arrows did him him he made sure they hit his arms before pulling them back out and continuing on his path of carnage.
"Shit." I muttered, before shooting down an archer. "He's enthusiastic."
"<A little too enthusiastic if you ask me.>" Groot said, finally coming alongside me.
"Well...he's not psychotic, that's something, right?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It didn't take long for us to clean out the vast majority of the bandits. But somewhere along the way I had been blindsided and knocked away from the battle.
As I stumbled around, my blurred sight slowly returning, I heard a cheerful voice, "Well, well, well. Lookie here!" I was knocked to the side as someone hit me. "The little raccoon FREAK that killed my gooood buddies!" As my vision cleared I saw the source of the voice. A white Griffin with an odd look in his eyes. He laughed, a strange laugh. It was wrong. Too high and strained. "Say! How about we have a goood time, friend?" He was insane! He's crazy! Wait...killed his buddies? Ah, crap. I must've sent this guy over the edge. I reached for my blasters. Time to take this psycho down.
My holsters were empty.
"Crap." I muttered. I quickly reached for my knife.
Also gone.
"Oh, what's wrong, friend?" The crazy Griffin asked, giggling. "You lose your killy killers? You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" I shivered, this was bad! I was without weapons, without backup and a psycho was trying to kill me! I searched around for anything I could use as a weapon. He stalked up me, "Don't be scared, little thing. It'll only hurt a lot." He began to stroke my head.
Okay, you know what? Fuck this. I dived to the side and scooped up a nearby stone, lobbing it at his head. "Fuck you, fuckbeak. Your friends were pussies who didn't even put up a fight!"
He let out a squawk, "FRIENDS ARE GOOD FOR YOU!!!" Before he dived at me. Sliding to the side I scooped up another, larger, rock and slammed it into his skull. "ARGH!!! PAIN IS NO FUN, MR RACCOON!!"
I growled and slammed the rock into his head again. "I AM NOT A BLOODY RACCOON, WANKER!!!" I jumped onto his back slamming the rock into his head again before grabbing his head and quickly twisting. There was a loud snap and he dropped to the ground, dead. Jumping off his back I shook my head. Unlike stories and films liked to say, being insane doesn't make you an unstoppable killer. It just makes you easier to kill in most cases.
I searched around the area and found my knife. It must have dropped out when I was blindsided earlier. Looking around I realised I couldn't hear the sounds of battle. "Well this is just perfect. I don't know if it can get any worse." As soon as I said that it started raining heavily. "THAT WAS NOT A CHALLENGE, UNIVERSE!!!"
Where the hell was I supposed go now?! Oh, hey, a cave. Wandering into the cave looked around. It was...just a cave, nothing special about it really. I turned around and scanned the entrance. It was still pouring it down outside. Maybe I should leave a mark around here, so they know I've been here. Yeah...that's a good plan. You never know when shit will hit the fan.
Pulling out my knife I carved the words 'Rocket here' into the wall. I holstered my knife and stepped backwards to admire my work. "Not too shabby." I muttered. I turned and saw a small group of large, brown, bipedal, dogs in armour and holding spears. "Ah, krag." I muttered before a shaft of wood knocked me into unconsciousness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Groaning, I awoke and immediately wished I hadn't. I was being dragged by one of the dogs along a cave system. As my body woke up I spotted my knife in the lead dog's paw. I looked around the cave as we entered a cavern. Cold, dimly lit, and ponies and other creatures of all ages forced to dig. I even saw a group of children chipping away at a wall, before a dog cracked one of the with his whip, barking a command out. As the child fell to the ground, crying out in pain, the dog went to whip him again. I closed my eyes to block out the horrendous sight, flinching every time I heard the whip crack against flesh.
Groot...Blood, you guys better find me. These bastards deserve what's coming to them.
"Hey!" I yelled out as we left the cavern behind.
The lead dog turned and glared at me as I was dropped to the ground. "What?!"
I grinned, time to have some fun with these fuckers. "Sit."
"I not follow your orders!"
"Sit, you mutt!"
"I not mutt!" He snapped, clenching his...paw...hand, hand it is. Clenching his hand into a fist.
"You're right, you're a bitch!" He snarled and raised his hand to punch me when I started playing my cards. "Although...there is a little something that I haven't been telling you." I smirked.
His hand froze in the air. "What?" He hissed.
"Well...it isn't exactly for anyone's ears. And you, my good sir, are worthy of hearing my secrets."
"Secrets?"
I smiled, "Ah, but of course! You see...not all raccoons can speak, can they? I am special. I...well, I'm afraid I cannot tell you with so many...unworthy beings around."
I saw a glint in his eye as he barked for the guards to leave. After they had complied he spoke again. "There. Now tell!"
I decided to play my ace. "You see...I am magical. I grant any wish to those I deem worthy and you...are." If this moron falls for this I'll give myself a fucking medal.
"Wish? Me wish for power to rule pack! Become Alpha!" I get a fucking medal!
I raised an eyebrow, "I'm afraid it isn't that simple. I'm low on energy and I need food and drink to be able to grant your wish."
He nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, yes! Will get you food, wish raccoon!" He went and grabbed a guard dog...guard-dog, and barked out a command. "Food is on way! Wish!"
I sighed, "I'm still too weak. I need time to recover."
"Yes! Of course! Anything else?"
"I need a pile of cheese shaped like my head."
"Right!" He charged off and came back surprisingly quickly with my demand.
Oh. Uh...that was unexpected. "Last thing I need is a group of monkeys dancing the Rivergold."
"A...monkeys...of course!"
I laughed hard as he ran off to fulfill my command. There's no way he could get that!
Ten minutes later, he returned after I'd had a quick meal. And he was with a group of monkeys. Uh...what? The monkeys then began dancing the Rivergold. As they danced I began to enjoy it and when they finished I clapped.
One of the monkeys bowed before grabbing a bag off of the dog and pulling out a stone. Throwing it on the ground all the monkeys disappeared. Huh. Magical rune?
The dog, grinned and strolled up to me. "Wish!"
"You just have to answer one question before I can grant your wish." I said, spotting something behind him.
"What?"
"What happens when a tree falls on a dog?" I grinned. "Smash." He opened his mouth just as Groot clobbered him across the room. "About time you got here!"
"<We were busy starting an uprising.>" He said, shrugging.
I took note of the faint roaring of a crowd in the distance. "Oh. Where's Blood?"
He shrugged, "<We found some child slaves. He lost it after that.>"
"Huh. He really lost it?" I asked. Strange, he seemed like he had it together. Somewhat.
Groot nodded, "<Yeah, he lost it bad. Real bad.>" Groot shook his head. "<He saw some kids being beaten and...I don't think they'll ever find all the body parts.>"
"I need my blasters, Groot! I dropped them earlier!" I yelled, switching the topic to something a little more important.
"<Already solved, little man.>" Groot reached into his chest and pulled out my blasters, throwing them to me.
"Oh, baby, daddy's missed you." I purred, cocking the weapons.
Groot gave me a look, "<Don't do that. Just don't. It's creepy as all hell.>"
"Oh, you know you love it." I joked, snatching my knife from the idiot's corpse. "Let's roll!" Running back to the cavern I jumped on top of a nearby crate, "Sup, bitches?!" I yelled, blasting slavers. "I'm sorry, but this mine has run dry!" I sprayed down a couple of dozen of guards. "That's right! Run, you bastards! RUN!!!" I roared, shooting wildly as the mutts ran for cover and safety.
"<Don't you think you're taking this a little personally?>" Groot asked.
"They tried to make me a slave, Groot! Me! A slave!"
He rolled his eyes, "<Fine, let's kick them into the next life then.>"
I grinned, "Yeah, let's teach these dogs to heel!"
"<Please stop trying to make jokes, you're terrible at it.>"
"You're just jealous of my style!"
"<Style...Yeah, sure, whatever.>"
I ignored his snark and chased after the goons, "COME BACK HERE, YOU WANKSTAINS!!!" I thundered down several corridors, only to see the dogs just turn a corner each time. "GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!!!" I roared. Yelling a wordless roar I sprinted around the corner and came to a screeching stop, my roar dying out.
There was about fifty dogs with weapons glaring at me.
I quickly turned and ran away, screaming as the howls of the ambush followed hot on my tail. "NOT GOOD, NOT GOOD!!!" I screamed. "GROOOOT!!! HEEELP!!!" I shot from the tunnel, speeding past Groot and back behind the crate I'd stood on earlier. "DO SOMETHING!!!"
He just shook his head. "<Plan ahead, otherwise you'll get us both killed.>" He said, his hands on one side of the wall by the tunnel.
I began to panic as the roars of dogs began to grow loud. "Groot! They're going to be out here any second!"
Then, surprisingly, he grinned, "<All part of the plan.>" He suddenly yanked his hands away from the wall, a long thick root coming with him and the tunnel collapsed onto the dogs, both blocking them and crushing those that were unlucky.
I just stared. "...You...that's..." I chuckled softly. "Nice job."
"<Let's get out of here, me and Blood already rescued all the slaves. We just need you.>"
"What, I'm not as important as the others?" I joked.
"<...No.>"
"Alright then, let's get out of here."
"Wait!" A voice cried out.
I turned and saw a female dog, coat as white as snow, her deep green eyes were...certainly eye catching. She was wearing a black jacket, her muscles bulging beneath it, she didn't have as bulky build as the guards, but she was still quite imposing. And...she looked hopeful.
I trained my blaster on her. "Slaver." I snarled.
She gave a disgusted look. "I'm no slaver. We have little time, there's some more slaves hidden nearby, if we act quickly we can save them! But...I need your...assistance."
I raised an eyebrow, my interest perked but I still kept the blaster trained on her. "Oh? And why would you want to free slaves?"
She spat on the ground. "I hate these bastards. This entire Clan. But if I attack them or disobey orders then they'll kill my brother. He's being kept with the other slaves. Come on!" She snarled.
Groot took a step towards her, raising an arm, "<She's lying! She's just trying to trick us into following her!>"
I raised a paw, stopping Groot. "No. I...think she's telling the truth." I looked her over, she was...worried. "We'll help."
She sagged with relief, "Thank you." She pointed to a nearby tunnel, "It's this way.
"<Who's this we?>" Groot muttered.
"Oh, come on, Groot! You'd really leave an innocent behind? I thought you were more caring that that." I chuckled.
"<I don't trust her.>"
The dog sighed, "I'm guessing he's saying that he doesn't trust me or something? I don't blame him. But I am not leaving my brother behind!"
I nodded, "Right. Let's go then." As we set off in a light run I asked, "What should we call you?"
"The name's Sasha. Listen, I don't have the time to play nicey nice!" She snarled. "My brother is in danger! What part of that did you not get?!"
"Alright, fine!" I muttered. "Just trying to make conversation. Where abouts is he?"
"Just up ahead." As we ran I noticed her tail was cut in half and her back was peppered with scars. What happened to her? She stopped by a wall with a torch on it. "Here we are. You better be ready, I don't know if there'll be guards in there or not."
I nodded, pulling out my blasters again. "We're ready."
With that, she pulled the orch down and a section of the wall slid open and I spotted several guards stood in front of several occupied cages turning towards us. "Here's a chew toy, dog breath!" I yelled, firing, making sure not to hit the cages or their occupants.
"KILL PRISONERS!!!" A dog yelled, turning his blade towards the cages.
"NO!!" Sasha yelled, diving at the guards, forcing me to stop my fire. Damn it! Holstering my blasters I pulled out my knife and ran at the guards, slashing their exposed flesh and dodging their primitive attacks. So predictable. They really should learn to stop telegraphing their attacks.
After we relived the guards of their lives Groot ripped the fronts of the cages off, freeing their occupants. But Sasha was only focused on one prisoner. A sickly thin dog with the same white coat as hers. His eyes flickered open
"Brother!" She cried, rushing towards the sickly thin dog. "Brother, are you okay?"
He coughed, "S...Sis...heh..." He broke out into a coughing fit. "I...I always knew...you'd save...me..."
Sasha gave a soft smile, "Hey, I always said I was going to get you out of here. Come on, we're out of here."
"I...don't think I can walk, sis." He coughed.
"Then I'll carry you!" She yelled, lifting him onto her back. "Let's go!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leaving was easy with Sasha leading us out, as we got out into the fresh air I saw that it had stopped raining. Sasha gave a small smile. "Well, this is goodbye. See you around, kid." She said, carrying her brother off.
"I'll remember this!" Her brother called out. "I won't forget!"
Me and Groot looked at each other before chuckling and catching our breath when I heard loud footsteps coming from the cave exit. I grabbed my knife and prepared to stab the dog that showed up.
Instead Blood burst out and raised his axe, ready for a fight. When he saw us, though, he lowered it as I holstered my knife. "Well..." Blood panted. "That was...fun. Although you said a few bandits, not an entire base of Diamond Dog slavers."
I raised my paws, "Hey, I had no idea there was base here! We only just got here yesterday! We don't know the layout!"
He scoffed, "Amateurs." He smiled, "Despite that, I enjoyed fighting alongside you two. You have need my help again, all you have to do is ask."
I nodded, "The same goes for us. Uh...if I knew how to travel like that." I shrugged.
He looked at me thoughtfully for a second. "I...may have an idea." He pulled out a dagger and crouched down. "Give me your hand." Raising an eyebrow I complied and winced as he made a small cut on my palm. "Let's see." He mused, touching the blood that leaked out of the small wound. He spread the blood on his palm before putting his hands together. "Let's hope this works." He muttered, moving his hands apart.
Revealing a red crystalline blaster.
I blinked. "I-what-how-you-HUH?!" I...you...How did he do that?!
He just grinned, fastening the crystal blaster around his neck with one of the spare pieces of string and yarn he had hanging around his neck. "If I ever need your help I'll smash this. It should...I don't know, teleport you to my location, that's what happened to me, at least." He took his dagger, once again, and cut his own palm and repeated the process, afterwards he handed me an identical blood-filled vial to the one I'd smashed earlier.
I smirked, placing it around my neck. "Let me guess, I smash this and beg for you help, claiming that you're my only hope?"
He chuckled, shaking his head. "If you really want to." His body began to dissolve into blood again. "Ah, so that's how I go back. I'll see you guys around." His body finished becoming blood and shot up into the air, disappearing.
"<So, that was interesting.>" Groot commented.
I nodded, "Yeah. More than it should have been. So, you know the way from here?"
Groot stared at me. "<Yes. I was taking careful precautions during a battle of life and death to keep my sense of direction.>" He said dryly.
I snorted, "See! That's sarcasm! You're getting it!"
"<Don't expect too much of it. It still means we're lost. We're going to have to find a landmark, or a nearby town.>"
I nodded and we set off once again, into through the forest.
Our adventure having taken it's first big step. We'd rescued a boatload of slaves, made our first two allies, and grown as a team.