Chp. 6 - Bone and Steel
It was time to escape, but one problem remained. Nargacuga.
Or the lack of its presence. "Where did it go?" My thoughts were hushed too, I had a hard time trying to pinpoint exactly where its aura was. It had been moving frequently and it was messing with my aura sense, strokes of red smog resonated with each of my heartbeats. I dropped it immediately. "Yui, stand back."
"Right, are you sure this will work?" I met her gaze with a toothy smile
"I got this." I moved onto the stage, my head craned toward my right where scarlet reflected off my own. Nargacuga lunged from the metal ribs, left wing-blade curved to strike my neck. Rolling forward I narrowly missed my haircut, Nargacuga slid across the ground, claws swung its body around to face me once more. This hunt ends now.
A low growl seethed from its fangs, Nargacuga and I circled, eyes locked while we flexed our claws, awaiting each other's next move. This thing wasn't a stranger to Hunters, it knew I wasn't some easy prey, it wouldn't take me lightly, hopefully I can use that to buy Yui some time. Its ear twitched, I ducked, another lunge followed by a slam of that extending tail to kick up a dust cloud. I raised my arms for Quick Guard, the might of that spined tail slamming against the white dome.
With a quick burst of speed, I slid under another lunge of that tail, the spines lodging the tail to the floor. My Metal Claw gleamed against the onyx coat, driving both fists through the scales followed suddenly with a Force Palm to crack the blade. Narga roared, plucking his tail free to swipe me back, using its maw that smacked up against an Aura Sphere, erupting in its face. I hopped to my left, Nargacuga dived back with its front legs, the tail swiping my side, slamming me into the stage.
Nargacuga ran hastily to the back of the chamber, tail poised to fire a burst of sharp projectiles that forced a yelp from Yui, her body hidden behind a support column. It scrambled again to stand over me, swiping with both sets of claws to clash with my Metal Claw again, we broke apart, the tail swept low so I leapt high into the air, concentrating hard enough to conjure two Aura Spheres. Both erupted on contact but did little more than irritate the Wyvern.
Yui then waved from the balcony, "I'm ready!" My grin returned
Landing I decided to try out one of the new moves from that tome of Trinity's. Nargacuga pounced as I concentrated on feeling the cool air around us, despite the heat I produced I felt the fuzzy sensation in my paws, how the hits I endured tickled my nerves. Exhaling a breath of static air, my fur standing a little on end. Ducking under Nargacuga's body, my left fist struck upward with a snap and pop. With a sharp crash, my fist slammed a wave of lightning against its ribcage. I just learned Thunder Punch!
This drove Narga's lunge off course, colliding head-first with the column as static chained it down. From above a dark shadow descended with a silver back-leg raised. My jaw unhinged as Narga's head lifted slightly, only to have it impact the ground with a painful 'slap' from Yui's heel, a silver crescent left behind for a mere second. She flipped back down beside me, running away to hide as I shook off my stupor, palms silver while my body soared across the chamber.
I delt a serious blow to the Wyvern, breaking off one of those blades, causing it to tumble back to the dirt as I launched a brick at the tail, snapping a few spines with Rock Smash. With what remained of Quick Attack I ducked and dived into his scales, breaking down the armor with kicks and punches that withered the once fearsome hunter into a furious, but weakened killer.
With a deafening roar, he spun, tossing me out from its side. I recovered only to feel a cool knife slide against my shoulder, the pinecone tail slammed down atop me as pain rocked my body, a single spine having cut deep into my shoulder. Wincing I painfully used Counter, my hands flipping my body up and around, my shin slammed into Nargacuga's maw, breaking several fangs while sending it on a crash course with one of the stage's pillars.
The face scraped the side, tail coiling around the stone to twist and crush it, the eyes narrowed through the debris. Holding my shoulder to check the bleeding, I hastily leapt high onto the balcony above, avoiding another barrage of spines. That was when I happened again, my wound felt fuzzy and less like fire. Peering to my bloodied shoulder, I watched miraculously as tiny water droplets glowed against my fur, the blood faded and the gash had all but vanished. I had Life Dew this whole time!? Now my recovery time makes sense... huh.
This was great, now I didn't need to be so careful! Nargacuga bounced from the far wall, then to the large crystal, spinning while it slid onto the balcony with me, tail thrusting forward to prod me, I ran low, latching my arms around the retracting tail. Nargacuga flexed upward, throwing me high enough to clench both fists, one a furious red the other a buzzing yellow. Combined with my Barroth-Dusters, my fists threw themselves against the Wyvern's back, seeing the ring of red and yellow burst from below.
I recoiled with a cry, the knuckle dusters broke while my right paw twitched from some tearing beneath my skin. I overdid it, so as I landed my palm radiated with blue droplets again, the pain quickly faded by the twitch remained. Guess I can only still heal around twenty-five percent across my body, but I can still move! "Yui, take this and throw it on my mark!" I tossed an item her way
Her wing caught it in time, a beat of sweat falling down my face, "Wait, what are you planning to do with-- Watch out!" She yelled, my reflexes forced me down, a claw pinned me down between curved nails while the smell of rotten meat reeked from the Wyvern's tongue. "Zen!"
I couldn't focus on communicating, pushing back the jaws with my eyes slammed shut, the stench could very well knock me out. Please, Yui, I need you to hurry, I can't get this guy a breath mint!
"Hey, ugly!" I felt the stench lift away. "Get your own Lucario!" Something then shattered, glass falling atop me with a loud hiss of smoke
Nargacuga whined angrily, the paw immediately retracted as I cracked an eye open, the blinding light to my right, while toward the left Nargacuga pawed away at his eyes, dazed and confused by the flash. That flask I found was phosphorus, so when exposed to oxygen it ignites in a blinding spark until there's nothing left to burn. It was used in grenades during World War Two, still very handy today.
"Thanks, Yui, bought me the time I needed!" I growled happily, my body refracting the glow of the crystal above. It was time for a Counterattack.
Fully enraged, Nargacuga jumped far and wide in great bursts of speed toward me, firing many more needles with each backflip and a sharp flick of its tail. With Quick Attack it was all white blurs that I had no issue avoid, dashing through the lines, blowing some away as I mimicked Nargacuga, bouncing off available objects to chase it down. I purposefully let my body crash into objects, building up the strength I held back. Nargacuga ran along the right wall, myself in hot pursuit, diving into a roll to skim past a flurry of bone-needles.
The eyes locked to a certain mare, body lurching upward to devour her, so I quickly slid to the ground, kicking up my hatchet then with a strike of my heel the tool crossed the gap, striking Nargacuga into fighting me again. What would I do without you, Hatchet?
It landed in the center again, tail swung high, decapitating the last of the four pillars, obscuring my view. Pushing against my body's wishes I sailed across the debris, pin-balling up and over another low-bearing lunge of the tail, my paw pressed against the fur to spin myself up and over its head a final time. Win, with one blow straight to the head!
Nargacuga saw this, snarled then snapped its neck toward my arms. I had anticipated this, that bloodlust oozing from his aura. With a slight turn, my foot pushed down the snout, twisting me into a lumbering twirl with my right arm wide. All the energy I channeled through Counter forced its way to my paw's spike, the vicious backhand 'crracked' against Nargacuga's jaw, breaking it and the neck with the force to shatter the ground that the body carved its way through.
The body slumped against the remains of a pillar, a final, strained roar escaped, and the eyes lost their glow. Each lungful of air was met with pain but I didn't frown, instead, the sweet sensation washed over my wounds and I fell to my knees in relief. There, with a faint shine, were a few traces of red that entered underneath my scarf, and that aura that overloaded my own ceased to be.
"Y-You did it!" Before I could allow her to continue I pushed a claw to her muzzle
"'We' did it, what an ax-kick though, you've been holding out on me?" I laughed, seeing her giggle sheepishly at the memory. Tracing my eyes over the remains of the battle-torn arena, I noted the long shard of its wing-blade protruding from the ground. I could use tha--
A hoof pressed to my chest, "You can gather your resources later, you need to rest up," Her eyes locked to mine as I went to proclaim, but they narrowed, a wing pushed to my muzzle. "Don't make me tie you down."
I reluctantly complied, "There's a joke there somewhere..." My sarcasm went unnoticed by Yui while she worked on applying a new set of bandages, my wounds from the first encounter having healed from the excessive use of Life Dew, though I did really need to sleep now, guess that's the price of power... "I could have done this, no need to work on my behalf."
She didn't face me, carefully applying the last of my Lamb's Ear. "But I want to, you're always there helping me where I lack," That had me snort a laugh, earning a dumbfounded look from her
My eyes rolled, "Really? Where 'you' lack? I may be quite sociable, not that it's obvious, but my talents are wasted... while you're out here striving to become a legend yourself." I waved casually. "If anything, what I'm doing is the least I can do to repay your information on this world and where I can find a town."
Yui didn't seem convinced, "You say that, but..." She turned her head back to the bag, putting away what remained. "I'm a one-winged Bat-Pony... that... had me falling behind... and the pressures being forced on me like it was some kind of honor... I hated it... the burden of being unable to choose my destiny... that's why I ran away..."
"..." No reply so she continued, and I grew more aware of her standing in this world
"When Princess Luna returned, the Night Guard became far more prominent again, and so did the need for other members over time... that ultimately meant I was... expected to join, my Dad did, my brother too... even though I lacked a wing they both were so... pushy, so insistent and I hated it," Her anger was evident, both in her expression and voice, her aura was drowning in confusion and spite. "I had my own talent, my personal goal... and they never listened... I want to explore, meet so many ponies and discover the past left forgotten... I even got to meet you... and a Goddess for Luna's sake!"
She was distraught, and my arm finched around my shoulder when I tried to tap her. How can I even remotely relate to this? I've had probably the opposite upbringing, I had an awesome family, my best friends far and wide, and Yui... she had no one but herself now until she met me. 'Magic of Friendship', what utter bollocks
Yui's muzzle shifted under the hood, feeling my paw push it away to stroke her mane, I didn't say a word, nor did I need to. With my eyes closed, I focused all of my spirit on hers, the resonating flame that flickered toward another. Her flame danced in darkness, all that she was came flooding out, pressing up against my soul as I opened my eyes. Her head sat against my shoulder, her body shuddering as I wrapped my arm around her waist, patting her back gently.
We had beaten Nargacuga and claimed the secrets of a Tambelon archive, and even met with the Goddess of Virtue, Trinity. Now we sat alone in these catacombs, as I gingerly embraced the troubled treasure hunter.
I liked this ending, it was nice.
To Be Continued...
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Not really liking it, guess I've read too much Displaced to the point where it's gotten boring. Oh well, good luck with the story.
10223881
Understandable; Displaced for me can get relatively dull at times too.
Veteran Hunters:
The urge to slap you across your head is strong.
No no no no no, you don't assume your healing factors are guaranteed! That's dangerous!
Did he just soul bond with her? Ohboi....
11249328
We don’t mistakes, we make happy little accidents
The spoken text here is italicized when Yui is speaking. Was that intentional?
11796412
I can't remember, so I'm going to assume it was not intentional, so fixed, thanks again.
11796803
No problem.