Legend Of Dragoon Fan Fiction ❯ The Legend of Dragoon II ❯ Minor Distractions ( Chapter 23 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: brain0loss0due0to0you 
Non Anime: Legend Of Dragoon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Adventure / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 05.14.2008 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.1K | Visits: 328 | Status: Work In Progress
Non Anime: Legend Of Dragoon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Adventure / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 05.14.2008 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.1K | Visits: 328 | Status: Work In Progress
___________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________
Chapter 23) Minor distractions
The group walked through the forest as they headed for Furni, their next destination. Al and Rashe'm seemed to have been leading the way, with Liza and Derreck right behind them, and Orrin trailing the four. Orrin glanced in the many directions of the forest, seeing as this would be the last he'd get to see of the enormous trees. He felt that it was almost neccessary, as a fond farewell. Eventually, the sight-seeing was halted as something caught his eye, way up in the trees. Something kept darting back and forth among them, but it was too high up to see. It continually darted among the trees, but it seemed to be following the group.
This phenomena held onto Orrin's attention and wouldn't let go. He wanted to know what it was, but had no way of finding out. Unfortunately, this ended with a THUD as Orrin fell to the ground. After falling, Orrin laid, with his face against the gritty dirt of the ground, and slowly, he moaned, ".........Ow........". This had caused a giggle to erupt from Liza, who thought it funny that he remained laying on the ground. Orrin then began feeling a burning sensation on his leg, from the top of his shin down to his ankle. Finally getting off of his face, he sat on the ground, examining his leg. He skinned his leg, and pretty badly. Noticing that all of the gear he had been carrying was now laying in front of him, he slowly turned around to see why he fell. A semi-large rock sat in the path, more towards the edge. If Orrin had gotten up, he would have seen that the rock came up to where the scrape started at the top of his leg.
Orrin managed to hit his leg on a rock that hadn't even been on the center of the path, where he thought he had been walking. So, while everyone else walked past it, he walked INTO it. Grumpily, he regretted having been distracted by the thing in the trees. Looking back at his leg, he saw that his wound was covered in dirt, not a good sign. "Crap, now it's gonna get infected." complained Orrin. Still giggling, Liza came forward, bent down to his level, and began making the same hand signs that she had made when healing her brother. When Liza's hands began glowing, Orrin looked up and saw that Al, Rashe'm and Derreck had started a conversation, no doubt about what had just happened, since all three had their backs turned from the scene.
A warm, gushing feeling went through Orrin's leg as Liza put her glowing hand up to the wound, which was now becoming unrecognizable and smaller. 'Best feeling since the warp gates.' thought Orrin. When Liza finished healing Orrin's leg, she got up and returned to the other three. Getting to his feet, Orrin suddenly noticed that the gear he had been carrying, which had just recently taken residence upon the forest floor along with him, was gone. All of it was now missing. There had been some crucial neccessities in there, including extra food rations that they had packed for the trip. Making sure that the others hadn't picked it up, Orrin spoke up, "Uh.... Al?" The four turned to face Orrin. "Did you pick up the stuff I dropped?"
After Al gave questioning glances to Rashe'm and Derreck, both met by shaking heads, his eyes went wide. "Oh, Hell! We're being tracked." Orrin asked, "Tracked? By what?" but Al didn't have to answer. The tree next to the scene began to shake in the middle area, and something, like what had originally caught Orrin's attention, jumped out of the tree and further along the path. Al became flustered. "I knew it. Flying rats." Orrin couldn't figure how it was a "rat", because to him, it looked something like squirrel with bat wings. But he soon forgot that thought, becuase in one of the the flying rat's hands was the food pack. He scrambled to his feet, and was almost ready to rush after it, but Al put out his massive arm, blocking him.
"Aren't we going after it?" was the only thing Orrin could come out with, still in shock of the rapid progression of the occurrances. "Hold yer horses!" said Al back to him, "These things never travel alone..... There's gotta be more of them." Almost as if on que, the rest of the trees around began shaking like the one nearest had just done, but they were also squeaking madly. One by one, the trees revealed their occupants as the horde of flying rats joined its fellow conspirator. Doing a fast estimate, Orrin could have sworn that there were at least forty of them. And not only was the original flying rat holding something, three others were holding the rest of the gear.
In a flurry of flapping wings, a majority of the bats took off again in almost every direction, acting as a distraction for the four carrying prizes to get away. Al was not fooled. Quickly, he told the plan to the others. "They're not gonna make this easy. We have to split up and go after one of them rats, and get our stuff back. The stuff they have prevents them from flying off, and that's our only advantage. I'm sure they might even pass off, so try to get them quickly." With that, Al headed off after one, Rashe'm another, and Derreck and Liza after another. That left one for him, and he set off after it.Taking his spear from his holster, he wielded it, going after his target. As he pursued the flying rat, a few others tried flying at his face, to distract him, but he dodged them as quickly as possible without being thrown off course.
A few times, in his pursuit, he glimpsed the others, especially Liza and Derreck. Liza was holding a translucent blue hammer, while Derreck followed behind, walking swiftly with his hands in front of him in an odd gesture that Orrin couldn't recognize. Shrugging it off, he continued after his target. Continually, through twists and turns in the forest, he caught up more, and then fell behind, and quickly gained again. A few times the rats did switch off, but the switching off, Orrin found, left them vulnerable. It gave him an idea. He continued the chase, and after a minute or two, he saw that they were about to switch off again. When the rats reached out for the transfer, they seemed almost in line in front of Orrin, just as he had thought. Swiftly, he launched his spear at the rats. Since neither were willing to give up their prize, they were blind to the oncoming weapon. With two small thuds, followed by wailing squeaks, both of the rats rested with the spear blade running through them, both still holding the cargo.
Quickly, still aware that the enemy was still around him, Orrin took his spear from the insides of the rats and took bag his cargo, putting it in the pack resting on his back. Orrin knew he had to watch his back now, now that he took the rats' stolen goods. The path that he traveled took him to a somewhat open space, but part was closed off by a mountainous mound of rock. Orrin stood there with his back to the rock, so that the rats couldn't get an opportunity to surprise him. He waited a few minutes before Rashe'm came to the same clearing with his blood smeared sword and holding more of the lost cargo. Without saying a word, Rashe'm opened Orrin's pack and place the goods within it, sealing the pack back up.
Both stood at attention, waiting for the others. Activity soon died down, and Al, followed by Liza and Derreck, walked into the clearing as well. Al and Derreck were carrying the stolen cargo and placed it into Orrin's pack. Wiping his brow, Al phewed, saying, "Well, THAT was eventful." Orrin, feeling that the situation happened because he wasn't paying attention to where he was going, said, "Al, I'm sorry." Al didn't get angry, or even change emotions. He just remained relieved, saying, "Don't worry about it, accidents happen." This didn't take the guilt off of Orrin's shoulders.
Rashe'm seemed to be listening to something, but it was unknown until he spoke up. "I think I hear a brook over that way," pointing, "we should probably wash off the blood from our weapons." Agreeing, Al and Orrin nodded and followed him. Orrin looked back at Liza and Derreck, and he noticed that Liza wasn't carrying that hammer anymore. He became confused, seeing as he hadn't even seen her with a weapon before, but he had when he was running through the forest. Orrin stopped, and walked over to Liza. Trying to work out the right question, he asked her, "Where'd your hammer go? I saw you with it back there, but I don't see you with it now." "Oh," she began her reply, "I did not want to say anything, because I did not think something like this would happen, but I do not really need to carry it around with me. Technically, you could say that it is not real. It is created from energy."
This came as odd to Orrin, but he continued to listen, "Since we were little, we have found out that Derreck can take energy from the area around him and force it into a physical shape. Unfortunately, he has to stay focused on it, so he can not use the energy he forms." Derreck stepped in and continued, "So, while she does the battle, I have to stay focused, which is even harder." Understanding, Orrin replied, "That's really cool. I wish I could do something like that..." That struck a face of both triumph and remorse on Derreck's face, but Orrin hadn't noticed, because he turned to run back to where Al and Rashe'm were. Quietly, as the brook babbled, the three washed the blood from their weapons, not wanting them to rust or stain.
After the weapons were clean, Rashe'm passed around a rag to dry them off. Orrin sat admiring the blade of the spear, but he then noticed that Al and Rashe'm were already heading back to Liza and Derreck. Once returning to the full group again, they were ready to set off again towards Furni. The path that they took led them to another overlooking cliff, where there was a valley, way below at the bottom. The order of which they traveled seemed to have returned to what it was before, and all seemed calm as they walked. Not all would remain calm.
With a terrible shriek, a flying rat jumped out from a tree, barreling at Liza with a look of revenge in its eye. It was so sudden, even the two winglies weren't prepared, Nobly, Derreck pushed his sister out of the way, leaving himself the target of the mad creature. With a hard thunk, the flying rat crashed into Derreck's head, knocking Derreck unconscious from the force. Only then did Orrin notice that Derreck had been right on the edge, because he was now falling. The flying rat now lay dead where Derreck had just been standing, apparently from the combination of a pre-existing wound and the force of its attack. As Derreck fell, Liza realized what was happening, and began screaming, as if it were her life being threatened. She could have flown to save him, but the sudden loss of connection with her brother made her as frozen as a statue. All time seemed to stand still as a flashing pulse of blue light emerged from Al's pocket.
The light seemed to hover slowly in the air, moving ever closer to it's target. It flew to Liza as she continued her cry for her brother. She didn't stop screaming immediately, but when she stopped, the light enveloped her. Moments passed, and a streaking blur left the light, and nothing remained where the Liza had been once the light faded. Slowly, from the side of the ledge, Liza began to be visible, holding her brother's unconscious body. He was dirty and cut, Derreck had hit the side a few times. As Liza continued her ascent, her flapping wings became visible as well. The thought that came to Orrin was "She looks just like Rashe'm,... except blue."
Chapter 23) Minor distractions
The group walked through the forest as they headed for Furni, their next destination. Al and Rashe'm seemed to have been leading the way, with Liza and Derreck right behind them, and Orrin trailing the four. Orrin glanced in the many directions of the forest, seeing as this would be the last he'd get to see of the enormous trees. He felt that it was almost neccessary, as a fond farewell. Eventually, the sight-seeing was halted as something caught his eye, way up in the trees. Something kept darting back and forth among them, but it was too high up to see. It continually darted among the trees, but it seemed to be following the group.
This phenomena held onto Orrin's attention and wouldn't let go. He wanted to know what it was, but had no way of finding out. Unfortunately, this ended with a THUD as Orrin fell to the ground. After falling, Orrin laid, with his face against the gritty dirt of the ground, and slowly, he moaned, ".........Ow........". This had caused a giggle to erupt from Liza, who thought it funny that he remained laying on the ground. Orrin then began feeling a burning sensation on his leg, from the top of his shin down to his ankle. Finally getting off of his face, he sat on the ground, examining his leg. He skinned his leg, and pretty badly. Noticing that all of the gear he had been carrying was now laying in front of him, he slowly turned around to see why he fell. A semi-large rock sat in the path, more towards the edge. If Orrin had gotten up, he would have seen that the rock came up to where the scrape started at the top of his leg.
Orrin managed to hit his leg on a rock that hadn't even been on the center of the path, where he thought he had been walking. So, while everyone else walked past it, he walked INTO it. Grumpily, he regretted having been distracted by the thing in the trees. Looking back at his leg, he saw that his wound was covered in dirt, not a good sign. "Crap, now it's gonna get infected." complained Orrin. Still giggling, Liza came forward, bent down to his level, and began making the same hand signs that she had made when healing her brother. When Liza's hands began glowing, Orrin looked up and saw that Al, Rashe'm and Derreck had started a conversation, no doubt about what had just happened, since all three had their backs turned from the scene.
A warm, gushing feeling went through Orrin's leg as Liza put her glowing hand up to the wound, which was now becoming unrecognizable and smaller. 'Best feeling since the warp gates.' thought Orrin. When Liza finished healing Orrin's leg, she got up and returned to the other three. Getting to his feet, Orrin suddenly noticed that the gear he had been carrying, which had just recently taken residence upon the forest floor along with him, was gone. All of it was now missing. There had been some crucial neccessities in there, including extra food rations that they had packed for the trip. Making sure that the others hadn't picked it up, Orrin spoke up, "Uh.... Al?" The four turned to face Orrin. "Did you pick up the stuff I dropped?"
After Al gave questioning glances to Rashe'm and Derreck, both met by shaking heads, his eyes went wide. "Oh, Hell! We're being tracked." Orrin asked, "Tracked? By what?" but Al didn't have to answer. The tree next to the scene began to shake in the middle area, and something, like what had originally caught Orrin's attention, jumped out of the tree and further along the path. Al became flustered. "I knew it. Flying rats." Orrin couldn't figure how it was a "rat", because to him, it looked something like squirrel with bat wings. But he soon forgot that thought, becuase in one of the the flying rat's hands was the food pack. He scrambled to his feet, and was almost ready to rush after it, but Al put out his massive arm, blocking him.
"Aren't we going after it?" was the only thing Orrin could come out with, still in shock of the rapid progression of the occurrances. "Hold yer horses!" said Al back to him, "These things never travel alone..... There's gotta be more of them." Almost as if on que, the rest of the trees around began shaking like the one nearest had just done, but they were also squeaking madly. One by one, the trees revealed their occupants as the horde of flying rats joined its fellow conspirator. Doing a fast estimate, Orrin could have sworn that there were at least forty of them. And not only was the original flying rat holding something, three others were holding the rest of the gear.
In a flurry of flapping wings, a majority of the bats took off again in almost every direction, acting as a distraction for the four carrying prizes to get away. Al was not fooled. Quickly, he told the plan to the others. "They're not gonna make this easy. We have to split up and go after one of them rats, and get our stuff back. The stuff they have prevents them from flying off, and that's our only advantage. I'm sure they might even pass off, so try to get them quickly." With that, Al headed off after one, Rashe'm another, and Derreck and Liza after another. That left one for him, and he set off after it.Taking his spear from his holster, he wielded it, going after his target. As he pursued the flying rat, a few others tried flying at his face, to distract him, but he dodged them as quickly as possible without being thrown off course.
A few times, in his pursuit, he glimpsed the others, especially Liza and Derreck. Liza was holding a translucent blue hammer, while Derreck followed behind, walking swiftly with his hands in front of him in an odd gesture that Orrin couldn't recognize. Shrugging it off, he continued after his target. Continually, through twists and turns in the forest, he caught up more, and then fell behind, and quickly gained again. A few times the rats did switch off, but the switching off, Orrin found, left them vulnerable. It gave him an idea. He continued the chase, and after a minute or two, he saw that they were about to switch off again. When the rats reached out for the transfer, they seemed almost in line in front of Orrin, just as he had thought. Swiftly, he launched his spear at the rats. Since neither were willing to give up their prize, they were blind to the oncoming weapon. With two small thuds, followed by wailing squeaks, both of the rats rested with the spear blade running through them, both still holding the cargo.
Quickly, still aware that the enemy was still around him, Orrin took his spear from the insides of the rats and took bag his cargo, putting it in the pack resting on his back. Orrin knew he had to watch his back now, now that he took the rats' stolen goods. The path that he traveled took him to a somewhat open space, but part was closed off by a mountainous mound of rock. Orrin stood there with his back to the rock, so that the rats couldn't get an opportunity to surprise him. He waited a few minutes before Rashe'm came to the same clearing with his blood smeared sword and holding more of the lost cargo. Without saying a word, Rashe'm opened Orrin's pack and place the goods within it, sealing the pack back up.
Both stood at attention, waiting for the others. Activity soon died down, and Al, followed by Liza and Derreck, walked into the clearing as well. Al and Derreck were carrying the stolen cargo and placed it into Orrin's pack. Wiping his brow, Al phewed, saying, "Well, THAT was eventful." Orrin, feeling that the situation happened because he wasn't paying attention to where he was going, said, "Al, I'm sorry." Al didn't get angry, or even change emotions. He just remained relieved, saying, "Don't worry about it, accidents happen." This didn't take the guilt off of Orrin's shoulders.
Rashe'm seemed to be listening to something, but it was unknown until he spoke up. "I think I hear a brook over that way," pointing, "we should probably wash off the blood from our weapons." Agreeing, Al and Orrin nodded and followed him. Orrin looked back at Liza and Derreck, and he noticed that Liza wasn't carrying that hammer anymore. He became confused, seeing as he hadn't even seen her with a weapon before, but he had when he was running through the forest. Orrin stopped, and walked over to Liza. Trying to work out the right question, he asked her, "Where'd your hammer go? I saw you with it back there, but I don't see you with it now." "Oh," she began her reply, "I did not want to say anything, because I did not think something like this would happen, but I do not really need to carry it around with me. Technically, you could say that it is not real. It is created from energy."
This came as odd to Orrin, but he continued to listen, "Since we were little, we have found out that Derreck can take energy from the area around him and force it into a physical shape. Unfortunately, he has to stay focused on it, so he can not use the energy he forms." Derreck stepped in and continued, "So, while she does the battle, I have to stay focused, which is even harder." Understanding, Orrin replied, "That's really cool. I wish I could do something like that..." That struck a face of both triumph and remorse on Derreck's face, but Orrin hadn't noticed, because he turned to run back to where Al and Rashe'm were. Quietly, as the brook babbled, the three washed the blood from their weapons, not wanting them to rust or stain.
After the weapons were clean, Rashe'm passed around a rag to dry them off. Orrin sat admiring the blade of the spear, but he then noticed that Al and Rashe'm were already heading back to Liza and Derreck. Once returning to the full group again, they were ready to set off again towards Furni. The path that they took led them to another overlooking cliff, where there was a valley, way below at the bottom. The order of which they traveled seemed to have returned to what it was before, and all seemed calm as they walked. Not all would remain calm.
With a terrible shriek, a flying rat jumped out from a tree, barreling at Liza with a look of revenge in its eye. It was so sudden, even the two winglies weren't prepared, Nobly, Derreck pushed his sister out of the way, leaving himself the target of the mad creature. With a hard thunk, the flying rat crashed into Derreck's head, knocking Derreck unconscious from the force. Only then did Orrin notice that Derreck had been right on the edge, because he was now falling. The flying rat now lay dead where Derreck had just been standing, apparently from the combination of a pre-existing wound and the force of its attack. As Derreck fell, Liza realized what was happening, and began screaming, as if it were her life being threatened. She could have flown to save him, but the sudden loss of connection with her brother made her as frozen as a statue. All time seemed to stand still as a flashing pulse of blue light emerged from Al's pocket.
The light seemed to hover slowly in the air, moving ever closer to it's target. It flew to Liza as she continued her cry for her brother. She didn't stop screaming immediately, but when she stopped, the light enveloped her. Moments passed, and a streaking blur left the light, and nothing remained where the Liza had been once the light faded. Slowly, from the side of the ledge, Liza began to be visible, holding her brother's unconscious body. He was dirty and cut, Derreck had hit the side a few times. As Liza continued her ascent, her flapping wings became visible as well. The thought that came to Orrin was "She looks just like Rashe'm,... except blue."