================================ Saving the World Again Chapter 4 - Well, that was anticlimactic... By Aaron Woods ================================ "Well that's just bloody perfect," swore Darrow. "He won't tell us anything now." He turned to Arica. "Who's mad? And why did you do that to him?" "I just clocked him one, Darrow," snapped Arica. "I had nothing to do with those flames. He must have been talking about Damane..." "Damane? Oh dragonturds, don't tell me..." Darrow groaned, his hands over his face. "Yup," said Julian. "Destroyer-to-be of the world. The man we have to kill." "The man YOU have to kill, you mean," said Darrow, raising his head. "What I'm going to do is go back to town and plead my innocence to the guard." "You know de only ting you vill see if you go back iz de inside ov a dungeon cell," said Hans. "Oh gods, the walking muscle's right..." groaned Darrow. "Well, since we're already on the road, all we can do is keep going, right?" said Julian, a cheerful grin on his face and a slightly malicious glint in his eye. "Hopefully there's a town on the other side of this forest." He climbed astride the first horse, helped Arica up behind him, and began heading down the path. Hans followed suit, after belting on Julian's spare sword. "Gods, I hope I can get a message to the guild once we reach town..." said Darrow, as he struggled onto the third horse and followed after the others. ====== Damane watched via farsight spell as the quartet rode into the woods. "Hmm, Kerr failed me. I shall have to step in myself, it seems." He cast his mind and his power deep into the earth, taking hold of the things that crept through it, and reshaping them by his will... ====== "This forest seems to get creepier and creepier," Julian said, slashing at a vine. The group now led the horses on foot, since the path had gotten considerable narrower. The trees embraced each other above, forming a thick canopy that cast everything about them in a kind of twilight. The air was muggy, with a light mist at their feet and clouds of gnats in the air. Darrow scratched at a bite on his arm. "How far until we reach the other side of this place anyways? I'm gonna have to take a bath after this..." Arica looked back with a smirk. "Oh, it's not that bad, Darrow." Hans elbowed Darrow, causing him to stumble slightly. "Ja, little man. If de lady of de party can handle it, you can too." "Unlike some of us, barbarian, I am more suited to intellectual pursuits than physical ones," Darrow replied in venomous tones. "Vy you little..." began Hans. "Settle down back there, you guys," called Julian from ahead. "If I remember clearly, there should be a clearing up ahead. We can take a rest up there." Sure enough, the path proceeded to widen out soon after, opening up into a roughly circular clearing. On one side of the clearing, a small creek emptied into a shallow pond. The four swung down from the horses and Julian, Darrow, and Hans headed for a grassy patch near the pond. Meanwhile, Arica looked towards the other side. "Was this here the last time you came here, Julian?" Arica asked, indicating something large and green, just on the edge of the woods. As she approached it, the leaves and grasses rustled, as if by a gentle breeze. "Arica?" called Julian. "Hold on a minute, that doesn't look right..." Just then, the wind came again, only far stronger. The trees and grass waved and snapped violently, and a spray of water flew off the pond and into the adventurer's faces. As they covered their eyes, Arica felt something rise from the ground beneath her and wrap around her ankle. "Julian!" she screamed, as the vine lifted her into the air and upside down. "Help!!!" Julian and Hans leaped into a run towards her, both instinctively reaching for their swords. Everything seemed to happen all at once then. The hulking form in the corner rose before them, revealing itself to be a giant venus flytrap, with a maw that could swallow a man whole. Julian and Hans dashed toward it, swords now at the ready, dodging between the vines that sought to entangle them. Arica sawed away desperately at the vine around her ankle with her belt knife. Next to the pond, unseen by any of them, Darrow fumbled within his robes for a moment, then pulled out a vial with a black fluid in it. He hefted it to judge the weight, mentally measured out the distance, and hurled it over the eyes of his companions and into the giant plant's maw. The vial shattered inside the monster, releasing evil-looking black fumes. The monster shuddered once, then as the vines all dropped limp to the ground, the main body of the creature fell over with a thunderous crash. Julian dropped his sword to the ground and dove to catch Arica, rolling on impact to shield her with his body. Everything was still for a moment, the dust settling from the massive impact. Once Julian got some air back into his lungs, Arica helped him up. Julian and Hans resheathed their swords and the trio headed back towards Darrow and the horses. The puzzlement was obvious in their eyes, as was the smug satisfaction in Darrow's. Just as Arica opened her mouth to ask, he spoke up. "Experimental herbicide. Primarily designed for the carnivorous trees that have been plaguing the east." The other three nodded in understanding, then they all looked back at the monster and the rest of the clearing. "You know what, guys?" said Julian. "I'm really not all that tired myself. What do you say we keep going?" By way of an answer, both Darrow and Hans swung up onto their horses and headed for the other path. Julian and Arica did the same, and the party moved ahead at a canter, leaving the clearing far behind. ====== Well, here it is, and in the grand tradition of badly written impros, it's at the last minute. Sorry about how short it is. I was blocked for a while there, until I got an email from Thomas Wilde, awesome fellow that he is, and noticed the quote he had in his .signature. "You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." -Jack London So I dug out my bo staff, and I went a 'huntin. ^_^ Seriously though, think of a combination of the Starlight Forest from Lunar 2 and Cosmo Canyon from FFVII. You know, the dungeon with a boss that you could kill with a single phoenix down or x-potion? Anyways, I didn't mean to make Darrow upstage everyone, but I thought it might be amusing just this once. As for the title, those were my exact words after seeing the end of American Werewolf in London, when the main character gets gunned down like a dog, er wolf. Now, back to Chrono Cross. Waiwai!!!