Fire and Steel

by shirotora

Chapter 2: Kill Stealing B****

Honestly, I’m still not sure where my mental state was after several months(?) of wandering the forest alone. I doubt it was good, though.

Admittedly, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I tried to keep myself busy with any task I could; foraging, hunting, crafting tools, training.

It didn’t take me long to realize I had arrived in fall and would have to prepare for winter. That meant stocking up on food, firewood, and getting something warm.

I found a nice cave, and decided that would be where I was going to spend the colder months. I set up a nice firepit and a drying rack nearby to dry fruits and meats.

I hunted some larger game for pelts I could use for bedding and to make a warm cloak. Of course, I held off on making the cloak just in case my new fur was enough.

Too soon, winter fell, and I found that I did in fact need a cloak. Food was a bit more common than I thought it would be, though still hard to find enough that I was thankful that I prepared ahead of time.

Eventually, the snow melted and spring came, allowing me to finally start on my journey.

Once again, my life became the constant dredge of; wake up, eat, take care of my fire, walk East, scavenging on the way, stop, build a fire, eat, maintain or replace tools, sleep, repeat. The only thing that ever changed was that every so often, I would hunt.

It was on one of those hunting days that something finally happened.

I had been stalking an elk through the forest for three days, and finally I was moments from the kill.

It wasn’t quite in sight, yet, but I could sense it. It was feeding not far from where I was.

I closed my eyes, focusing on my qi, gathering it into my hand. A glowing orb of spirit energy faded into existence, the light it shed being shielded by my other hand. Using my spirit sense, I took aim, and fired.

The sound of the orb alerted the elk, but not soon enough to completely avoid the attack. I scored a glancing blow across its haunches, but it wasn’t enough to bring it down.

Even though it was wounded and too slow to outrun me, it was still a large herbivore with dangerous antlers. I followed close by enough to keep it running, but not getting close enough for it to lash out at me.

It was starting to get tired as it entered a clearing, its breath obviously labored.

That was the time to strike. I leapt from the brush and rushed to make the kill.

Only for a blue blur to streak from the sky and plow into my prey.

“What the fuck?!” I growled.

“Oh, yeah!,” a voice cheered out. “Perfect ten point kill!”

“What the hell?!” I yelled. “That was my kill!”

“Huh?” the speaker stood up, looking in my direction.

It was a reptilian creature with a lithe build, covered in light blue scales with two horns curving down and forward and a pair of wings that didn’t look big enough to lift it. If its voice was any hint, it was likely female.

“I’ve been hunting that thing for days now,” I growled. “If you’re hungry, I’ll gladly share, but I did the work of bringing it down, so it’s my kill.”

The reptile creature just looked at me in confusion, one eyebrow raised. “Is that the only word you know?”

I looked at her, blinking in confusion for a few seconds before I realized.

God damn it. I forgot, Pokemon can only say their names, I thought to myself. But, wait, I’m a psychic type, right? That lucario from that movie could talk telepathically, so shouldn’t I be able to, too?

I focused on her, channeling my qi into my thoughts and directed them toward her.

”Can you hear me?”

The lizard chick jumped, scanning around. “Who said that?! Come out, and I’ll rip you apart!”

”Shouldn’t that be ‘or I’ll rip you apart?”

She twisted around, her eyes wide in shock as she took in my admittedly cocky smirk.

“W-was that... you?” she asked.

It took all my willpower not to leap for joy.

”Yes, and you stole my kill. I was hunting that elk. I injured it, and I chased it into this clearing.”

“Yeah, well, I took it down, so it’s mine, now,” she said, brushing me off.

I grit my teeth, taking deep, calming breaths. “Look, I’d rather not fight over this. Why don’t we split the kill? It’s more than either of us could eat, anyway.”

“I’m not sharing,” she said. “Go get your own. Maybe after I finish, I might let you have the scraps.”

I was starting to lose patience, quickly. “I’m trying to be reasonable, here, but I’m not going to let someone just show up after I did all the work and take what’s mine. So you can either be nice and we share, or I take it all and leave you however hurt you need to be to get the message.”

She looked at me, eyes narrowed. “Not many creatures have the guts to trash talk a dragon. You honestly think you’re a match for me?”

“You really want to find out?”

The dragon smirked. “Well, You really do have guts, then. Alright, how about-” Her eyes suddenly shot open. “Look out!”

I dove to the side before I even consciously comprehended her warning. I barely saw the form of a massive feline like monster covered in scales soar through where I was standing an eighth of a second before.

The dragon turned to fly away, but the thing pounced at her, it’s jaws clamping onto her wing and slamming her to the ground. She tried to scramble away, but a giant claw batted her body into a tree.

I scrambled to my feet and, without even thinking, fired on the monster. My psychic ball slammed into its side, throwing it to the ground.

Moving faster than I ever had before, I rushed to the dragon’s side, scooped her up, and ran.

The crashing behind me told me the creature was giving chase.

I don’t know if it was the adrenaline, or just pure will that not only pushed my body faster than ever, but also let me focus on my spirit senses to keep track of it, and watch where I was going at the same time, but I was glad I was.

I leapt to the side, changing direction just as the monster pounced, landing right where I would have been.

I was running faster than ever, probably doing fifty, yet this thing was just a little faster. If it wasn’t for my senses, both me and the dragon would have been lunch.

Another pounce. I barely managed to move, actually kicking off the side of its snout.

It was getting more and more accurate. If this kept up, my luck was going to run out.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted our salvation. To my left, a wide chasm streaked through the forest, nearly parallel to my path. When the thing pounced again, I shot toward it. I knew I wouldn’t be able to jump as far while carrying the dragon, and the gap was wider than I had ever jumped before, but I wasn’t exactly thinking.

Instead, I was acting on pure terror and adrenaline. So, I planted my foot on the edge of the cliff and jumped harder than I ever jumped before.

I chanced a quick glance back in hopes of seeing the monster give up. Instead, my blood chilled as the massive reptilian feline followed, leaping with far more force that I.

In desperation, I did the only thing I could. I twisted my body around and focused all the power I could into a psy-ball and launched it at the monster’s face. The force of firing it added to my momentum and the impact stole the creatures.

It let out a fearful howl as it fell into the deep dark of the fissure.We landed with all the grace one could expect from someone after all that. I lost my hold on the comatose dragoness, and we both went tumbling a good dozen feet.

I laid there for several seconds, just trying to catch my breath and make the world stop spinning. I would have laid there a little longer, but a groan reminded me of the dragon.

I got to my feet as quickly as I could and looked around. She was lying a few feet away from me, on her back.

Finally getting a good look at her, I feared all my effort saving her would have been in vain. One of her wings was a tattered mess, the bones broken and flesh shredded. The claw marks across her chest and belly were bleeding pretty bad, and it looked like she had lost a lot of blood.

I checked to make sure my belt was secure and its contents intact. It was a small first aid kit I put together and had come in handy multiple times, but it wasn’t meant for injuries like hers.

Still, it had a needle and thread as well as a few other things that could be useful. The needle was bone, and the thread flax, so it hurt like hell, but luckily for the dragon, she was unconscious.

I examined the wounds. They weren’t quite as deep as I feared, but still deep enough that if left untreated, she will either bleed out, or get infected.

I pulled my first aid kit off my belt and pulled out a poultice I made from yarrow, plantain, and comfrey to help stop the bleeding. Then, I threaded my needle and got to work.

It was extremely hard getting the needle in. Her scales were incredibly tough and forced me to search out the gaps in between.

After that, I had to get to work on doing what I could for her wing. All I could do was set the bones and splint it. I would have to find something to make an actual cast, later. Though, I doubted she would ever fly again.

After about two hours and exhausting my kit, I was done. It looked hopeful, but her survival was up to her.

She was still too injured to be moved, and I didn’t want to abandon her, so I gathered up some firewood, and set up camp.

With a fire to keep my patient warm and dissuade predators, I went to find a stream.

I was covered in blood, and wanted to at least wash that off before settling down for the night.

As I cleaned myself, it finally sank in. There was another person here. An actual, sapient being.

And she’s a dragon.

With that, I went back to camp, finding a small patch of plantain on the way. Using the extra leaves, I covered what bits of the dragon’s wounds I couldn’t before and put the rest in my kit. Replenishing it should be easy, considering how ridiculously bountiful this forest really is.

I sat down by the fire and looked down at the dragon. She didn’t look as pale as she did, but then that might have been the light. Her breathing was definitely easier, though. All in all, it really looked like she’d make a full recovery.

As I sat there, looking at her, though, I couldn’t help but think.

Why did she look familiar?

Comments

[A.P.O.N.I.]

Nice to see another chapter. Although at one point you used "patients" instead of "patience". Can't wait for the next.

[shirotora]

9724075
Thanks for the catch.

[Zapper Frost]

And she’s a dragon.

[TheUltimateBalanceChaos]

Love the way you portrayed Ember and excellent chase scene

[Greenhorn]

Judging from her temper and manner, I guessed this Ember is much younger before she showed up in the show.

[shirotora]

Not really. She's just a dragon acting tough, like she was when Spike first met her.

[Black--Soul]

Damn! What a chapter This will be quite the treat! Reminds me of my Pokemon Super Myster Dungeon main characters

[Frazzle2Dazzle]

Well... Nice going, you got a Dragon Lord almost killed, dude. I’ll say pretty words at your funeral.

[shirotora]

9814329
Well, I mean, she kinda did that to herself.

Besides, she's not dragon lord, yet.

P.S. Very appropriate profile pic.

[ChronoMitsurugi]

So what was the creature?

[Black--Soul]

9849807
Minor boss? Some games have a minor boss that keep retreating or being tricked until the MC is strong enougth to finish it for a shitload of exp for a nice lvl up or three

[DockingWater17]

Why did she look familiar?

Is that a hint that he’s seen MLP? Well, he does have a connection to Pack, which has at least a couple bronies within it like Leo, so I guess it makes sense that he knows at least a little bit about FiM.

[shirotora]

10061773
He had only recently started watching. He only got a few episodes into season 2, though.

[Alondro]

Finally getting a good look at her, I feared all my effort saving her would have been in vain. One of her wings was a tattered mess, the bones broken and flesh shredded. The claw marks across her chest and belly were bleeding pretty bad, and it looked like she had lost a lot of blood.

And since I had no idea how to treat traumatic injuries... and the dragon had kinda cost me my prey...

...turns out dragon is pretty dang tasty once you get over the mineraly aftertaste!

[Xarmar13]

10061824
That still doesn't make sense. How was she familiar to him when her first appearance wasn't until season 6? Even Leo's knowledge only goes as far as season 4 so that would tell me that the earth timeline was somewhere around 2014 to early 2015...at least a year before Ember was introduced to MLP.

[Master king]

This was a awe first meeting with Ember.

[Herald of Opera]

Too soon, winter fell, and I found that I did in fact need a cloak.

Steel is a famously poor insulator. (Still not totally sure why he has that typing in the first place, but I'm not Game Freak)