darkSpyro

"Looks like it's going to be out of it's icy prison soon," I observed, pointing to the cracks in the ice. "Hey, has anyone seen Shadmé? I think we left her behind…"

"Knowing Shadmé, she'll be with Dark Pit somewhere" I said

Ki was eating some berries and carrots as he thought about Joannah "I feel so bad for her..." He thought

Ethan says"Who's the leader?"

OoC: Sorry for my absence. I'll try to make this post worthwhile. :3

I blinked as I looked around the forest. Where in the heck was I?
Oh yes, that's right. I had joined Treetop's little group to explore the area we lived around, and Skyward had run into a tree. I was pretty sure I'd offered to search for natural medical supplies to help the injured dragon, but I must've gone too far. I plucked random flowers from the ground, not sure if it would be any help. However, the action was soothing in some way, and I began to think clearly again. Should I go back, try to find Dark Pit and search for Treetop with him? I twirled a purple flower in my fingers, thinking. Nah. I didn't want to bug him. My gaze flicked to a tree. Perhaps I should climb it, and try to find the rest of the group from there!
Mind made up, I tucked the flowers I'd picked up in a pocket and made my way over to a tree. One foot at a time, I escalated the branches, straining my senses for any sign of my friends. Something caught the corner of my eye, and I turned towards it quickly. A huge raptor-like bird froze in midair and dropped to the ground. I didn't know anyone at camp with that power, and despite a slight sense of apprehensiveness, I figured that was my best bet. Hopping down from the tree, I dashed towards the sight, hand on my hilted Asi̱mí Bow just in case I needed to aid in combat.

"I don't think he has a name" Lotus commented. "I mean, he is a wild animal."

Foxtail just rolled his eyes and wandered to find something else to eat. He liked cute, fluffy animals as much as the next guy, heck, he was one himself, but this was a little ridiculous.

And so the towering avian shattered its icy shell like glass, now thoroughly enraged. Treetop, now armed and dangerous, took a swipe at the bird, but it showed no interest, going after Ethan once again.

"Oh, for Karios's sake…" I snarled. That intruder had a lot on his hands… or paws. There was something fairly off about him, and being a Legendary Dragon, I could at least slightly tell these kinds of things. I re-summoned my Lightning Orb, using its powers to regenerate my lightning breath. I fired the stream of lightning at the bird, kicking up a dust cloud—even though I couldn't see any dust—in the process. after the outburst of pure electricity, I fell to the ground, feeling like my powers were gone.

Jenny was about to join in on the fight, but then saw Skyward faint from exhaustion. Poor thing... she knew how that felt. Deciding it to be best to protect her, she tried to drag her to safety from the savage raptor.

Taking another strike at the feathered fiend, Treetop looked up just in time to notice the angel girl arrive, armed and ready. "Ah, Shadmé!" He greeted her, dodging a backwards kick. "Glad you could join us! We're in a bit of a predicament as you can plainly see, and we could use some assistance. I'm not exactly the combat oriented type..."

[Storm, you could have Foxtail find Teslo if you want.]

Maybe that strange thing is food! Teslo thought. It wasn't Cookironis or Coconapples, but if he could eat it, then he would. He was getting pretty hungry, never going a night without food before. He ran over to the koalephant. He started attacking it with his bare…claw-thingies.

Ethan with his axe aflame throws the axe into the birds eye. After he dodged a kick of course. He smiles a dragonic grin.

"Hey there, Treetop!" I greeted, screeching to a halt as the bird swooped down and he kicked it back. "Sorry for the absence, but better late than never." I removed my bow and took aim, firing two arrows at the thing in rapid succession, hoping to drive it away from Treetop. Though the Asi̱mí Bow was quick for attack and the arrows flew far, they didn't individually deal much damage. Unless I could get plenty of shots in or get to a place where I could separate the bow and use melee instead, this battle would drag on.

The squibbon cringed as the blazing hatchet struck the beast in the eye, and you could tell that the tallbird was in great agony, releasing a pained screech as it reached up to pry the offending axe out, flinging it back at Ethan. This disturbed boy was beginning to aggravate it, but before it could rear up to strike him with its sharp beak, it felt a sudden prick just under its tiny wing, and then another. Its vision was rendered blurred, but it turned to notice the angel girl sniping at it, noticed what large, beautiful wings she had. Angered, not just for being turned into a pincushion, but also out of sheer jealousy, the tallbird blindly charged at Shadmé.

A sudden attacker sent the koalefant from a state of soothed calm to a panicked frenzy. It shook the two vixens off of it, thrashing and bucking around in an attempt to remove the offender. Lotus landed near Foxtail. "Foxy, he's freaking out! What're we gonna do?"

Foxtail was smart enough not to approach a rampaging pachyderm- he learned that the hard way -so he simply stood in front of Lotus and called out to the anthro fox girl. "Virtu! Get out of there!"

"Oh, okay..." The pig's soft ears drooped;he may have had the IQ of a rock, but the hunchbacked swine knew a break-up when he saw it, and tried to lighten the mood. "So... who are you?" he asked Joannah. "I am Hamlet."

"Teslo stop!" Virtu yelled as she tackled Teslo, she got up and jumped onto the koalefant "Its ok... I won't let anyone hurt you... Please calm down..." She said softly to calm down the pachyderm

"Shadmé!" I alerted. Weak from my attack, I planted myself in between Shadmé and the bird. "You're going to have to go through me first, birdbrain!" Telepathy allowed me to speak other languages, so I hoped the bird would hear me and understand me.

Ethan grabbed the axe out of mid air. "Why isn't it dead yet?" he yells as he chases down the bird.

I frowned to myself- from afar, that bird hadn't looked as big as it actually was! I frantically tried to develop a new battle plan as it turned towards me. But suddenly...
"Skyward?" I asked in alarm as the dragoness planted herself before my enemy. Gritting my teeth, I moved up alongside Skyward. With a flourish I separated my Asi̱mí Bow into blades, and took an offensive position. "What hope do you have against a dragon and an angel, huh, bird?" I didn't really care if the bird could understand me or not. My message was clear!

Virtu's soft speech was able to relax the big fluffy creature, though it still seemed tense.

Foxtail looked at the golden Mixel. Didn't Skyward mention somebody that could use his tail as a flashlight? Was this him? He curiously approached. "Hey, there, who are you?" he questioned. It took some real courage to tackle a bull elephant all willy-nilly like that, and courage was a trait that would be very useful to them. Either that, or he was incredibly reckless- hopefully it was the former.

The tallbird was more than happy to oblige to Skyward's statement; it would gladly go through her, not caring what happened, as long as it meant taking down that angel. It leaped into the air, pouncing towards them with its talons at the ready.

I leapt into the air, wings open to "catch some wind." I couldn't fly, but I'd learned to use my wings to glide a small bit if caught in the air. With this bit of height, my bow blade clashed with the bird's talons. There's no way I'd let it attack the injured Skyward!

"Ok, what do you want to be called buddy?" Virtu asked the koalephant

I watched the bird chase Shadmé "Be safe my friend" I thought before continuing on

I leaped upward, aiming a claw at the beast's wing. The good thing about being a dragon is the claws, because even if they make using tools harder, they make me an expert at hand-to-hand combat. I kept my Lightning Orb over my head. I was too drained of power to use it again, but it felt normal having it there.

((StormDragon, I've been trying to contact you for about a month, can you reply to my PM?))

With these attacks, the tallbird tumbled to the hard, rocky ground. It was reaching its limits.

The koalefant simply mumbled. "I think Tembo would be a good name" Lotus said. "It's Swahili for 'elephant'." Lotus might have been a bit ditzy, but it was little moments of brilliance like that that kept her out of "dumb blonde" territory. And lo and behold, "Tembo" accepted his new name with an enthusiastic trumpet.

I landed too, unfortunately rather ungracefully. Chuckling awkwardly, I rose again, recombined the blades into a bow, then aimed it at the bird. "Leave now, and you will be spared," I said to it.

Ethan uses his flaming axe and supernatural speed to jump high into the air, and then fell then the axe aflame hitting the bird in the eye again leaving at lease a scar.

Joannah found a small biome where there was lots of flowers and in the distance was what looked like bee hives and her stomach growled.

"Whoa!" I yelped, bow accidentally sending a blast into my air as the mysterious newcomer attacked the bird. "Watch it!"

"Ethan stop! Its had enough!" I yelled as I pushed Ethan out of the way

"Tembo it is then" Virtu said as she scratched under Tembo's chin

The tallbird shot Shadmé a wrathful, cycloptic glare and gave a loud screech, a way of telling her that it would never abandon its territory... and then was swiftly put out of its misery courtesy of Ethan's axe.

My breath came in and out shakily as the bird met a wrathful end. Good thing too, as that last cry didn't sound like a retreat call.
After a glance in the air to make sure there were no more raptor birds, I glanced over at the axe-wielder. Austin had called him Ethan...
I walked over to Ethan. "Hey there," I said. "You've got some pretty good combat skills. How did you get here? I wouldn't assume you're a resident of this place."

Ethan takes out his axe and a nearby flower to regain sanity. "I got whisked away by something nastier than a olde foe of mine." He said as notices a glowing black liquid seeping out of a crack near the corpse. Ethan suddenly grabs his head and walks away from the liquid noticing how wrong it was and it reeked of dark magic.

"That's probably the same way we all came here" I said

Better to not tell them how I came past this place… I thought. They would learn later, but now was not the time.

[EyeBrawler can control Tembo from here if he likes.]
[Also, new rule: each character can only have one pet at a time.]

To the victor go the spoils! The tallbird's meat was now ripe for the taking, but a glance over yonder revealed the inspiration for its aggressive attitude. The raptor wasn't just a territorial beast, but also a mother protecting its unborn chick. The blue and white spotted egg still sat nestled in its home, the potential for new life now orphaned in this cruel world.

In all the hullabaloo, Jenny had deviated from the battle to gather more supplies. She took note of the numerous gold veins the rockylands had to offer- knowing how valuable said mineral would be in their quest, she produced a pickaxe and chipped away at the boulders. Her toils were fruitful, as she soon found herself with a small fortune of gold, rocks, and flint. Foxtail would be happy to hear about this success. But then something dawned on the teenage robot: how in the world was she going to carry all of this at once?

Something on the ground caught her eye- and she seemed to catch its eye too. She curiously collected it. It appeared to be some kind of a bone, topped with what looked to be an eyeball. The eye looked at her, for what reason, she couldn't imagine. What was it thinking, or did it have a brain at all?
"Hey, Treetop, come look at this!" she called her leader over and handed him the bone, which he examined with some confusion. Eyes don't typically attach to bones... what could this be? A soft bark and quiet panting alerted the squibbon, and he swiveled his eyestalks around to find its source. His view came to rest on a small, orange-haired animal on four stubby legs, with a pair of tiny horns on top of its head.

"Erm... may I help you?" Treetop asked the creature, not expecting an answer. Of course, he didn't get one, and the little hairball just seemed to stare at him- or rather, the bone clutched in his tentacle. He notices this, and proceeds to move the eye bone around, and the animal followed its every move. It didn't seem hostile. In fact, now that he thought about it, it was rather cute. But what did it want? Maybe it just wanted to play. So, he tossed the bone a short distance away, and the creature bounded after it, gripped it in his maw, and brought it back, dropping it at Treetop's feet.

He gave a short, amused laugh. "He's like a little pup, isn't he?" he said to Jenny, who nodded, smiling. "I wonder if he knows any other tricks?" she asked, and just then, the little animal opened his mouth, exposing his insides. Treetop fanned a tentacle in front of where his nose would be. My, somebody could use a breath mint he silently quipped before taking a peek inside the little monster's mouth. His interior was absurdly spacious and empty; it was a wonder where his internal organs were. Jenny saw this and looked back at her pile of rubble, and she had an idea. She scooped the minerals up and deposited them inside the creature's mouth, and then shut his maw for him. He didn't seem to mind, and in fact responded with another short, happy bark.

Fascinating, Treetop thought as the animal cuddled up against him. It would seem that he had taken a liking to the squid, and he could have his uses. "Very well then, little one, you may have the honor of joining us," Treetop said. "But if you should, you may as well have a proper name." Jenny agreed. The little scamp didn't look to be the type to have one, and Treetop took his talent into consideration to generate a name for their new companion. "Chester" he said. "Yes, Otto von Chesterfield, Esquire" he said, looking proud of himself for coming up with the name. Chester barked again. "I think he likes it" Jenny said, patting Chester on the head.

"Then it is settled." Treetop and Jenny walked back to the others with their new ally in tow. "Come along, Chester. I'm sure my associates would be delighted to meet you."

[Tl;dr, we have Chester now.]

((Ok))

I looked at the egg "Guys, we need to raise this bird" I said as I walked up to the egg

Ki was sitting at camp, thinking about the past day

Virtu was riding Tembo, who was happy to carry her, Lotus, and Foxtail, but he didn't like Teslo

(Sky hunter can you add in some nightmare fuel? I have a idea that needs it.)
Ethan ran by Tembo a panicing look in his eyes.

Joannah had wandered not surprised when the pig left her to return to his home. Her stomach growled and she was getting nauseous. She kept walking stumbling with each step till she tripped over something. She landed hard and groaned. She laid there for a bit then looked at the object that surrounded her. It was a strange box thing.

Chico had been sleeping. He was now awake, but were Foxtail and the others near? He quickly picked up the scents and followed it effortlessly.

Ethan noticed it was getting dark. "It's getting dark we might need to make camp." He said.

"It's an egg," I growled. "They're so useful in the scene of cooking. You can boil them, fry them, bake them into something, and so much more. This might be the only good source of food we have."

((StormDragon, can we talk?))

"We are not cooking this egg, that bird was protecting it and we killed her, we need to make this right" I said as the egg hatched behind me "Oh! Hello!" I said the baby tallbird, which then walked over to me and rubbed against my legs

[So, where is Ethan?]

Foxtail looked behind him and noticed Chico lagging behind. Whoops! Almost forgot about him. Foxtail walked over to the dog. "Hey, we made a new friend and we're headed back to camp. Need a lift?"

Lotus regarded the electric Mixel with some thought. He must not be doing so well if he tried something as desperate as that. He could use help, but Tembo didn't like him, and for good reason. Not wanting Teslo to go alone, she approached and offered to walk with him

"Hey, guys, look what we found!" Jenny announced, stepping aside and bringing Chester into view.

Treetop looked at the tallbird chick cuddling up with Austin. Ironic how such an adorable ball of down could grow into something so tall and fierce he mused. It was, indeed, a rather small bird.

"Listen, Ki, you may be kind to animals and all of that jazz, but we need to survive." I snarled. "I bet you're glad that we're all going to starve as long as a single bird doesn't get eaten."

((Ki is at camp, I want to keep the bird))

"Aww, he's cute" I said to Jenny "Look, we wouldn't get much food from a baby bird and he could be a great ally" I said as I picked up the bird, that then snugged against my chest

Virtu petted Tembo as he walked up to Chico "Come on up Chico!" Virtu said

Ki was sitting at camp, waiting for everyone to return

Ethan returns to the egg area muttering about a hallucination. Ethan looks at the baby bird."I think we should go to your camp." (What is the moons phase?)

I nodded to Skyward. "She's right, Austin. If that egg hadn't hatched, I would have thought that it would be better for food. We have a large group currently, and a 'new ally-' a baby bird, for goodness sakes?- would just mean another mouth to feed. Babies don't just grow up because you want them to." I folded my arms across my chest. "Though it probably is small for food, we can find other uses. Its down, for example, could make great bedding."

The bird was scared from the conversation and it buried its face in my chest "Who knows how long we'll be here, this little guy could be used to do recon on the area, that and just having him around would prevent other Tallbirds from attacking us, I'll share my food with him so you guys don't have to worry about getting less" I said

Ethan nods in agreement. "The bird lover is right."

"Yeah…bird-lover," I teased. "Anyway, we don't know if this chick will protect us. Those death-birds may be so territorial, they attack their own kind. And the recon part… why do we need recon? And, for that matter, what makes you think it'll obey us?"

"Filial imprinting" was what Treetop had to say in regards to Skyward's skepticism. "Avians often utilize this form of psychological method to acquire several behavioral characteristics from their parents. They often imprint on the first moving object they see." He pauses to look up at Austin. "It would seem that our feathered friend friend has imprinted on you, Austin." By raising the smallbird properly, they could potentially train it to become obedient. However, there was the chance that its aggressive primal instincts would remain regardless...

"Thank you Treetop" I said before looking at Ethan "So, how have you been? I haven't seen you since we worked at Freddy's"

"I'll just take it as a maybe," I commented, "because I have no idea what you just said." I thought about it for a while and added, "Do you mean that since it's currently being raised by Austin, then he'll pass some of his traits on to it?"