Iron and Rain

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The ate and got packed up to leave for the valley wall. It was a smaller path, a fine line between continuing on and falling into the water below. It didn't help that the rocks were still slick from the storm, and the wind was picking up a little. "You okay back there?" Ryoshi called. "Just don't look down."

The river below was teaming with Razor Teeth, a fish that could rend flesh from bone almost instantly. Plus Ryoshi kept spotting a large shadow under the raging waters.
 
Akane stuck close to the wall, shimmying along it while, despite Ryoshi's words, couldn't help but watch the swirling shadows in the waters beneath them. She swallowed hard and nodded, although she continued to do so. She just couldn't help it. "I'm not... so much worried about the height. But that rushing water scares the shit out of me," she admitted. She wasn't a fan of deep water... especially if she had to fight in it. Actually, she had yet to come across anyone that does like to do combat in water. It was nearly impossible to get your bearings, especially in a fast current like the one below. If they fell in, they would be easy pickings for whatever was living down there. "I'm okay, though. Let's just keep going...."
 
As they kept moving odd shaped holes in wall started to appear. They got bigger and bigger until either of them could stand in one. Ryoshi seemed to freeze as they got to the biggest one, it reached just above his head. There was a low hissing noise as he looked into the inky blackness. "We might have to jump." He whispered and grabbed the hilt of his sword.

There was the sound of many small claws tapping on the fresh cave walls and from the darkness came a monster that made any hunters skin crawl. Ryoshi put a finger to his mouth telling her to be quiet.

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Akane froze as Ryoshi did, following his movement as she too could sense something was not quite right. Her thoughts were confirmed when she heard the skittering sounds coming from the cave, it making her skin crawl. Her hands very slowly moved to the hilt of her swords, grasping them, but not yet unsheathing them as she was afraid the noise they would make would attract the thing that was hiding in the darkness. She swallowed hard as the monster began to show itself, at least as tall as them, but five times as wide with long spindly legs and a spiked body. Six beady eyes glinted in the dark at them and Akane found herself looking to Ryoshi for guidance. She didn't know what this thing was and therefore did not know if it was worth tangling with or if their chances were better jumping into the water. "Ryoshi..." she breathed, signaling her discomfort.
 
At her single breath the monsters head snapped towards her and it let an unearthly roar. "Move!" He dove for her and moved her to the side of the entrance just in time. The monsters teeth coming within inches of her face. The two tumbled down off the wall face and hit the water hard, though that didn't stop the monster from giving chase as his skittered down after them.

He brought them both to the surface but the water was so fast there was no time react properly. "I told you to shut up!" He yelled as he looked around for something to grab on to. This was good, something big was coming from under them.

The spider beast was in the water now running full speed at them, kicking up water and small fish as it screamed at them. "We need to get out of the fucking water!"

Just as he said that something emerged just in front of the beast that was chasing them, something much worse. It slammed into the spider and knocked it into the wall, this prey was all his. It swam up and tried to take bite out of Ryoshi.

The hunter drew his blade and cut the monster in its lip. It let out a shriek and backed off a little, before it saw Akane and tried it's luck with her. It's gaping maw ready to take off an arm or half her body.

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Akane's body felt frozen, and surely if Ryoshi hadn't tackled her away from the monster, it would have taken her head off. She was just so shocked to see such a creature… If anything her body smacking the water would knock the senses back into her. Again, with Ryoshi's help, her head broke the surface and she coughed, gasping for breath as she seemed to have gotten the wind knocked out of her. She sputtered and reached up to wipe water out of her eyes. "But you fucking spoke too!" is all she could think to say before they had bigger problems on their hands.

It seemed the beast chasing them was not the only one that wanted to tangle with them. The shadow she was pretty sure she saw earlier in the water was rushing toward them although it did seem to take care of the problem with the spider looking creature. One monster out of the way, only to be presented with another bigger possibly worse one. "Dually noted!" She yelled in return, apparently never taking a moment to not be snarky. However, seeing the monster head in his direction, she yelled to warn him. "Ryoshi!" However, he seemed to deter it for now. Instead it decided to give her a try. 


She growled in irritation, yanking out her swords and preparing for the worst. "Yeah, I don't fucking think so!" She raised her swords and plunged them downward as the creature came to take a bite. It shrieked in misery and its teeth ended up missing her, but at the speed it had been moving, it ended up knocking into her, taking her breath away, being lucky that it didn't break any ribs. She wheezed for breath and managed to pull her swords out of its face, it's body wriggling away and leaving her dazed and floating in the water vulnerable.
 
"Akane!" Ryoshi tried to fight the current or find something to grab on to. He spotted a branch and grabbed it. "I gotcha!" He caught her and braced as the eel was coming at them again, now certain it could eat them with ease.

A loud screech filled the air as the spider was charging across the side of the valley. It jumped off the wall and collided with the eel. It sunk it's razor sharp teeth into the eels mid section and tore off a good chunk of it massive fin. The monster let out a howle of pain before it fought back, biting one of the spiders massive legs.

"Come on!" Ryoshi dragged them to shore and into a small cave. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He asked.
 
Akane blinked slowly, trying to clear the blur in her vision as she fought for breath. "Thanks..." She said hoarsely, trying her best to kick through the water with him so they could get to shore. She could hear the creatures fighting behind them, but she didn't look back, only focusing on the task at hand.... which right now for her was getting air into her lungs.

They eventually made it to the shore and Akane stumbled with him to the cave he found not far away. When they seemed a relatively safe distance from the fighting creatures, she fell to her knees and braced her hands on the ground as she coughed and inhaled sharply, feeling like she had swallowed about a gallon of water. "I'm fine... I'm fine..." She murmured, closing her eyes to gain her bearings. "T-thanks for the save. Guess we're even now...?" she said, referencing when she had saved him from the monster that had him pinned just the other day.
 
"Don't thank me yet, we still have to get passed those two. Damn Cave Crawler won't give up, and that Sharu Eel isn't anything to spit at either..." He watched on as the two fought though the eel was loosing as the Cave Crawler started to drag it up high on to the wall. "We need to be ready for a fight."

The Cave Crawler dropped the Sharu from up high and it hit the water with a huge smack. The dazed beast let out a cry of pain, but couldn't move. The spider jumped from the wall and dug it's legs into the eels side and it gave a loud roar. The Sharu stopped moving and soon enough the spider was eating it's kill.

"You got Cave Crawlers where you're from?" Ryoshi asked as he watched the monster.
 
Akane nodded quickly, trying to compose herself the best she could before she rose, pressed a hand to her abdomen. That was going to bruise something nasty, she could feel it. Taking another deep breath, she gripped the hilt of her blades once more, giving a little shake of her head. "No, I've never seen one of these fucking things before... what do I need to know?" She was hoping Ryoshi could give her a quick run down just so she knew what they were dealing with. It was obviously fast with those legs and that mouth full of teeth looked devastating if it were to get a hold of one of them. Those things were always common sense though. Stay away from the mouth and don't get stepped on.
 
"Their fronts are made out of hardened bone, it's like trying to cut through steel, but if you can get around them thier backsides are soft. However, they have amazing hearing so sneaking up is really hard. One of us will have to distract it while the other goes for the weak point." He explained.
 
Akane furrowed her brows slowly as she watched the thing move, trying to predict its movement. She already had taken a beating, but she thought this would be the best option. "I'll distract it. You've obviously fought these things before so you know where the weak spot is. Plus, I think you're in a little better shape than me to get yourself around and take care of this thing. The longer we tangle with this thing the more likely we will end up as its lunch.... So try to take it out swiftly."
 
"Swiftly? I'll have it in pieces if you can keep it off me." He said and unsheathed his blade. It was glowing bright red and there was a good amount of heat coming off of it.

The monster looked up from it's meal occasion and let out a sound that seemed to be a messed laugh. It's eyes spotted the hunters in the cave and it just watched them carefully. It would finish this meal before desert.
 
"I'll do my part if you do yours," Akane assured, reaching for her weapons on the ground, taking them up in her fingers and ignoring the painful throb in her body. She couldn't fuck this up... she wouldn't let Ryoshi down. "Hey ugly!!" She yelled at the creature, picking up a rock on the shore and throwing it at the creature, it being rather far away, yet Akane had quite the arm and it ended up pelting it in the side of the head. She gripped her swords then tightly in her fists, her eyes hard and focused. "Come and get me you piece of shit."
 
The Cave Crawler let out screech and charged at Akane. It opened it's mouth and aimed to chomp her in half. Meanwhile Ryoshi moved behind some rocks and darted behind the monster just before it could take a bite out of his friend.

"Rrrraaah!" He slashed at the beasts fleshy soft body. His heated sword cut through it like butter. Green blood poured over the hunter as he kept at the monster. "Stick it on the eye if you can!" He called out.

The Cave Crawler let out a scream as it's insides caught fire. It shook and bucked as it went into a panic.
 
Akane braced herself, assessing when exactly the creature was going to attack and- there! She shot out her grappling device to the rock wall, the exact spot where she was at a moment ago now being chomped through by the creatures vicious jaws. Luckily she was not there any longer. The grapple zipped her upward into the air and when she reached the rock wall, she instantly pushed off again, barreling toward the monster and leading with the point of her sword.

With a warrior like yell she made contact, as if having read Ryoshi's mind before he even spoke, the tip of her sword having plunged into one of the monster's six eyes. The force at which she had been falling toward the monster helping her sword to go further in. "Just hurry up and die!" She growled, her sword hilt now acting as a sort of handhold as the creature bucked around like a wild stallion needing to be broke.
 
The monster screamed out in pain and tried to claw her out of its eye but with Ryoshi attacking it rear it couldn't focus. It thrashed and bashed itself into the wall. It kicked Ryoshi square on the stomach but the hunter stood strong only let out a grunt. "Die!" He kept slashing at the monster and finally made it to it's heart. He reared back and sunk his blood soaked blade into the rapidly pumping valve.

The heart caught fire and the Crawler screamed and fell to the ground the flames quickly spreading. Ryoshi was tired but her ran over to the monsters mouth and crawled in. He started to carve out these green sacks an toss them to the shore. "Akane on of its front teeth it a blue color carve it out!" He called.

The flames were starting to spread to the monsters front they needed to hurry.
 
Akane felt the sweat trickling from her temples, breathing deeply as she attempted to replace the lost oxygen in her body. With a grunt she pulled out the sword that had sunken into its eye socket, allowing herself to slide down the body and onto the ground where she stumbled, but caught herself, sheathing her swords and placing her hands on her sides. "Holy shit that thing was crazy..." she gasped, glancing back at Ryoshi and raising her brows in surprise as she witnessed him crawl into its mouth. "Ryoshi! What the hell are you doing??" She asked, appalled as he began to toss things from its insides onto the shore outside it's body. He then instructed her to help him and she felt herself shudder. "You've gotta be kidding me..." However, she did end up making her way over, making a disgusted face as she did as he asked, pulling out a smaller dagger to carve out what he requested. The creature wreaked of fish since that seemed to be its last meal before its demise.
 
The body was soon engulfed in flames and Ryoshi came out just in time. He smelled like death and fish as he was covered in blood and guts. He sheathed his sword and let out a long sigh "Good job out there, thanks for the help. We can rest here for a bit. As for what I was doing those are it's acid sacks, then can be sold for quiet a lot. Once distilled it makes a fine fuel. That tooth you have there is stronger then steel, also worth a lot of cash, of you want I'll let you keep it makes for a good weapon." He explained.

The monsters body whistled and popped as it started to cook, this had been no easy fight. He stepped closer to her, his smell filling the air, "Let me take a look at your ribs make sure nothing is broken."
 
With a final jab from her dagger, the tooth came loose and she stepped back quickly from the creature's body as it was engulfed in flames. She reached up and clicked the button on the side of her helmet, allowing her to breath some fresh cool air. "Wow… your sword must have some sort of rune in it, huh?" She had heard of such crafting, but did not have a weapon herself that was infused with such magic. She figured there really wasn't any other way that body would have burst into flames.

She grinned a bit and nodded her head. "Hey, you too." She looked to the items they had collected, including the tooth she now held in her hand, curious about how strong it was. Maybe she could test it out later. "Oh, well thank you…" Crafting tools was another one of her abilities as it was one of the main survival strategies when you were living off the land. She may be able to repurpose it. She would walk a small distance away from the creature to get out of range of that nasty smell, but Ryoshi kind of carried it with him as he moved and when he offered to take a look at her, she quickly put up her hands to keep him at a distance.

"As nice as your offer is, I'd rather you clean up first…" she said with a small laugh afterward although she wasn't really kidding. "You're.. kinda covered in that things internals… how about I start a fire and get something cooking? When you're done cleaning up I wouldn't mind if you checked them. They feel sore… but I'm assuming the pain would be a lot worse if they were actually broken. Still, I wouldn't mind a second opinion."
 
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