//------------------------------// // Ambushed // Story: The Completely Normal Pet of Spike the Dragon // by DauntedSuperior //------------------------------// The caves were darker than I had expected them to be. Even with my natural night vision I could only see the walls to my sides and a wall of inky black darkness in front of me. I knew I had jumped the gun and messed up big time when I had only taken two turns and found myself lost. The exact moment I knew I had messed up royally was when I made my second turn and stopped to think of my plan of action. I had set down right in front of the tunnel entrance and weighed the pros and cons of going back for Spike. With him being fire proof and having scales tough enough to rival metal he could’ve been a real help in this dark close quarters environment. ‘Not to mention we're supposed to be partners...’ I thought before turning around to walk back for him. My mind and head reeled when my nose collided with a solid wall of dirt. There’s no way that I could’ve been sitting for more than a minute, not moving at all, and I had lost the tunnel I used to reach the intersection. If magic had moved the dirt and sealed it, then I would've heard it, especially in the eerily silent tunnels. Things had went down hill so darn fast from there that it was unreal. From the intersection I had taken it slowly down one of the tunnels. Never in any of my previous lives do I remember having claustrophobia, but down in those dark tunnels, I’m not afraid to admit, I was scared. The even scarier thought is Spike and the girls wondering down here to look for me. That thought made me want to run down the tunnels in search of something... anything really. If not to just provide a break in the monotonous tunnel system then to help ease my growing unease somehow. ... I froze in place, my ears twitching, searching for the ghost of the sound I had just heard. It was almost like a drip of water or- Tap My whole body turned, allowing me to look back to where I had just came from. The same wall of inky darkness greeted me as the one in front of me. Ears and eyes focused, I waited for the sound to happen again. ... ... ..Tap Narrowing my eyes, I turned my body to face the direction I had came from. I lowered myself to the ground, ready to pounce on something or jump out of the way. Tap...Tap...Tap... The sound was getting closer and I realized just how open and vulnerable in this open space. Slowly I began to move against the left wall and summoned my magic to rap the shadows arou- TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP My eyes widened and I turned on the spot to look behind me, ‘A second one!?’ I had no time to plan as I felt something tackle me. Dirt filled my vision as the creature screeched loudly behind me. I rolled to the side just as something landed where I had been not even a second before. With my paws under me I leapt forward in between two long legs to try and get some breathing room. As soon as I landed I turned and jumped again towards the wall, gripping onto it’s surface. This proved to be a good move as creature was in mid lead to where I had first landed. The creature was a spider, dark grey, dark green stripes along its legs and body. Smaller than the ones from earlier, but big enough for concern. Before it landed I knew I wouldn’t get a better chance to go on the offensive. I pounced onto the spider’s back and sunk my grip claws in to stay on no matter what. I felt the drain from my mana pool as I channeled magic to my paws. The spider began to jump around sporadically from wall to wall, letting out a piercing screech trying to throw me off. As I gripped the joints of it’s front two legs with my fore paws. My claws locked in place I sent a large burst of magic through them, freezing the joints almost instantly. When the spider next landed on the ground the ice around the joints broke and the limbs came off completely. Then they bursted into black smoke and disappeared. ‘What the-!?’ I was given no time to question what had happened as a second screech reached my ears. I looked up just in time to see a second spider fill my vision with it’s fangs and teeth. I ducked as I felt the two spiders start to roll from the impact. When we stopped, I was forced to jump back as one of the newer spider’s legs crashed down, trying to impale me. The first spider let out a screech as it was impaled by its companion's leg. As the second spider tore its leg out of the first I could feel all eight of its eyes staring into mine. Then the first spider was gone. Up in a puff of black smoke just like what had happened to it’s legs. If it noticed this or not, the second spider kept its gaze on me. Slowly, it began to rise up. The spider’s legs stretching and making almost as tall as a pony. Our eyes stayed locked and I was growling just as much as it was hissing. Then it seemed to lean back and I flexed my legs to dodge a leap. K-CH The leap never came, but I felt something impact me from the front. As I was sent tumbling down the tunnel it felt as if my front paws had been glued to my body. Even before I came to a stop I tried using my claws to try and cut whatever was holding my in place, but my range of movement was to restricted. As soon as I stopped rolling I used my rear paws to try and cut away the offending material. K-CH Only to have my rear paws frozen in place right by my front ones, ‘Damn damn damn!’ I took one glance at the substance before I looked into the inky darkness that now surrounded me for the spider, ‘That sound must of been them shooting their webbing!’ Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap The sound of spider legs impacting the tunnel was making me panic. I rolled onto my back and looked down over my web covered body towards where I could hear the spider coming from. Remembering this morning, what I had woken up as, I closed my eyes and tried to turn whatever that was back on. Tap tap tap tap tap It took me two seconds before I gave up on that as the spider emerged from the darkness. Thinking quickly I poured my icy magic into my paws to try and make the webbing brittle enough for it to shatter. The blue glow from my paws was a dead give away to my plan. The spider stopped it’s slow approach and leapt towards me. I tried moving everything from my head to my tail- ‘My tail!’ Halting the magic flow to my paws I pumped a large amount into my tail and shot it out towards the spider mid flight. A shadowy tendril surrounded my tail before a set of translucent purple claws surrounded the spider. With a smirk I smashed the spider into the ceiling, then the floor, before ping-ponging it between the walls. Finally I smashed it down into the floor one last time before stopping. I watched with a satisfied smile as the spider disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. I let the claws fade and rested my head on the dirt floor. That had fight had taken a good chunk of my mana. I was still hopelessly lost in the middle of an underground tunnel system probably crawling with enemies. Then to top it off, Spike and the girls had probably found these tunnels by now. Despite all that though, I began to laugh. I had finally gotten a good, satisfying fight. ‘Once this quest is over, I'm taking a break. I'll go back to being the pampered house pet I thought this life was going to be for a bit.’ Flexing my paws brought that beautiful sound of shattering ice to my ears. I stretched out my paws in front of me and then my legs behind me. Scraping my back against the dirt walls removed most of the webbing on my back. After that was done I just sat there for a moment, taking a deep breath, then releasing it as I started down a path. I then immediately stopped as there was a wall of eyes looking directly at me. Groups of eight, all looking at me from beyond the inky dark wall. I was good in a fight, but by the numbers alone, it would've been suicide. Quickly I dug my paws into the ground and turned to run down the other way. I froze and slid to a stop. Another large group of spiders where down that way as well. My eyes widened and I clenched my teeth together as I tried to formulate a plan. I was boxed in, surrounded, enemies as far as I could see both ways. I had been ambushed, and to top it all off, they never even gave me a chance. K-CH_K-CH_K-CH_K-CH_K-CH_K-CH_K-CH With each of the sounds signifying a new blast of webbing sealing me away my entire world turned white.