Hw-shk!
Ark stabs his knife into the corpse of the bat-type monster. Blood squirts out which Ark avoids.
Standing beside him, Theo's eyes bounce around, excitedly scanning the environment.
"Wow! That was exhilarating! Right?" He says, "What are we going to do now? Hunt a bear? Fight a troll? I bet we could take down a dragon!"
"Mm," Ark mumbles out a reply.
"My sword craves violence!" Theo reaches onto his back for his sword, "Huh?"
He looks at Ark with a concerned expression. "Uh… Ark?"
"Hm?"
"Where's your rifle?"
"My rifle? It's on my… back…" Ark desperately claws at his back before looking at Theo with the same expression, "shit…!"
"Shit, indeed!"
"I dropped it… my rifle, I dropped it!" Ark looks Theo up and down, "Where's your sword? No… it's not…"
"Uh-huh."
Ark drops his knife, "This is bad…" he puts his palms on his forehead, "this is very bad!"
Theo grabs Ark's shoulders, "Ark! Stop spiralling! Remember your training!" They lock eyes and take deep breaths together.
"You're right… Yes, you're right. Remember my training."
"Deep breaths, in… and out…"
Ark drops his hands to his sides, "We're fine, we're gonna be fine." He starts patting his body. "We've still got our pistols, our knives, and the machetes."
"That's right, we're fine. Now, get back to taking out that magic stone, while I find a way to get out of here."
Theo stands up and starts looking around. Ark picks up his knife and turns back to the bat. He resumes carving into the bat, while repeating "We'll be fine."
"Ooh!" Ark exclaims before grinning as he pulls something out of the bat with two hands.
Hearing him, Theo goes over and takes a look. In Ark's hands is a blue, translucent rock. They glance at each other with massive grins.
"It's nice," Theo says.
"Damn right, it is!"
"I found a path, hand me the magic stone and let's skedaddle!"
Ark hands the blue rock to Theo, who puts it in his satchel, then they walk away.
■■■
"Hey! Let me see! Guys! Gimme the binoculars!"
Walking through the jungle, Ark and Theo see a man ahead of them. He's bounding around two others, who are crouched down, looking over the edge of a cliff.
One of them, a woman, stops looking and hands over a pair of binoculars to the man, "Here, take them."
"Ha ha! Thanks Cleya!" The man takes them and drops to his knees before looking through them.
The woman stands up and sees Ark and Theo.
"Oh hey!" she calls out, "It's you guys! Ark and Theo, from the ship!"
The man, Mifan, pokes up, "Woah! Hey guys!" He starts waving.
"Hi!" Theo calls back, "Mifan! Cleya!"
"Come here and check this out!" Mifan points over the edge of the cliff.
Ark and Theo walk over to join them.
"What are we looking at?" Ark asks as he squints his eyes while shielding them from the sun.
"Down there, the dragon!"
"Dragon? Oh yeah! I guess they haven't started fighting yet." In the middle of the jungle is a big clearing next to a mountain. The mountain has a large cave and outside the cave is a dragon.
"Look at it! What a beautiful beast, look at its red scales, shining as it basks in the sunlight! Breathtaking…" Mifan is in awe as he describes the dragon.
"Yeah, beautiful scales, wait… the scales…" Ark's expression puzzles, "hey, Theo, check out those scales."
"Hm?" Theo mumbles while drinking out of a water bottle.
"Don't they look weird?"
"What looks weird?" he asks as he pulls out his binoculars.
"The scales! Don't the scales look weird?"
"Oh, uh… yeah, those aren't normal."
"Huh?!" Mifan exclaims, "What's wrong with them?"
"They're metallic," Ark explains.
Mifan and Cleya look at him, confused.
"We've seen real dragon scales before," Ark continues, "Those aren't them."
"So, is it not a real dragon?" Cleya asks.
"No, it's definitely a real dragon. Look at its movements, no modern golem could do that."
"Then why? Why are its scales like that?"
"Cybernetic modification," Otto chimes in, "animal experimentation. Trying to turn monsters into weapons of war." He shudders slightly.
"I've got a bad feeling about this…" Theo says.
"Mm," Ark agrees.
"Someone needs to warn the knights!" exclaims Mifan as he jumps up.
"He's right." Otto backs him up.
"They're too far, we'll never make it!" Ark points out.
"Then we can help them after the fact!" Mifan shouts as they start getting ready to leave, "Are you guys coming?"
"We dropped our weapons down there, we can't do much without them, but they should be near the dragon."
"Alright."
They split up and start running in different directions.
Ark and Theo run along a dirt road.
Theo pulls out a holographic map. "If we keep following this path, we should be able to reach our weapons!"
"We need to hurry!" Ark is looking up where a dark cloud is creeping in their direction.
Theo nods and checks the map again. "There's a shortcut through the trees!"
"Okay!"
They turn to the right and start sprinting through the trees, focusing only on avoiding obstacles.
Deep into the trees, Ark notices something on the ground. His eyes widen. "Theo, something's wrong. I think this is a monster habitat!"
They both look up to see hundreds of red eyes staring at them.
"Shit-" Theo exclaims as monkeys start to fall out of the sky.
They get out their pistols and start firing.
Blue lasers begin lighting up the trees while monkeys jump all around them.
A monkey latches onto Ark's hand, he grimaces and shakes his hand around.
"Chrraw!" The monkey hisses as it stays attached.
Splat!
Monkey guts explode everywhere as Ark strengthens his arm and bashes it into a tree. Ark groans in disgust, then he spots a monkey on Theo and shoots it.
"With this many, there must be-"
BOOOOM!
They flinch and look right, where a massive explosion could be heard in the distance.
"What was that? The dragon?"
ROAR!
They look left where a giant monkey is swinging its arms together.
SMACK!
Clapping its hands together, the giant monkey creates a massive shockwave that bends the trees and causes the ground to start shaking.
Ark and Theo hold onto branches to stop themselves from falling off the cliff but just as their feet land, the ground beneath them starts to crumble.
"AAAAHHH!" They both scream as the cliff they're on starts sliding down the mountain as an avalanche.
"EXCELLENT SHORTCUT!" Ark jokes as he clings onto a tree.
"SHUT UP ARK!" Theo yells back, also clinging to a tree.
Suddenly, a flying rock hits Ark in the leg.
"AGGH!" He screams in pain but keeps hanging onto the tree.
Eventually the avalanche slows down before finally stopping.
Full of adrenaline, they stay clinging to the tree. After calming down, the pain sets in for Ark and he drops down, clutching his leg. Theo rushes over to help.
■■■
After getting onto stable ground, Theo supports Ark as he limps through the mud. Heavy rain drenches them as they try to find their weapons.
"There," Ark points at the ground where the dirty barrel of his rifle sticks out.
Theo helps him reach it, before letting him down and going to find his own sword.
Ark picks up his rifle, wipes it down and just looks at it. He then extends the stock and uses it to pull himself up.
Now using it as a clutch, he meets up with Theo, who retrieved his sword.
"So, what now?" Theo asks, "This weather is way too much, plus your condition, we're basically useless."
"Rest. Rest is what we need right now," Ark answers, "That bat thing must've had a home, maybe there's a cave nearby."
"I'll look for it, you just wait-"
"No, I'll help. I'm not completely useless yet." Ark chuckles half-heartedly and Theo replies with a slight smile.
After searching for a few minutes, they find a cave. The entrance is narrow, but it opens up into a larger space. Ark limps to the back before leaning against a wall and sliding down to the floor. Theo drops his sword and bag near Ark and starts rummaging through it. He takes out some rations, 2 water bottles, a lamp, the magic stone from the bat, a medkit and a fiery red crystal that glows.
"I really should've prepared better," Theo points out as he turns on the lamp, which lights up the whole cave.
"We'll survive. We've done it before."
"The Captain was with us before."
"Well, that's why he left you that." Ark gestures toward the red crystal.
"Fu fu! That's true!" Theo chuckles.
Splish Splash! Splish Splash!
Ark and Theo jolt towards the entrance, pistols drawn, as wet footsteps echo inside.
Then a woman stumbles inside, clutching a wound on her stomach with one hand, and holding a pistol with the other.
They just stare at each other, saying nothing, their guns pointed in a standoff.