It did look mad. It's huge eyes were trained on Dirt, and he could practically feel its hostility.

"Maybe it just wants to play," Dirt said while running with everything he had.

"Hmm... It doesn't look like it's in the mood to play. I think it's just mad."

I roared again - madly. The earth tilted further beneath Dirt's feet, and he felt how he began to fall down the slope, rather than controlling the speed. As it stood up, cracks formed in the plain, revealing its body beneath. Only the outer edges of the plain was spared devastation, as the creature standing up revealed the crater in which it had been resting.

Dirt lost his step, falling head first into a somersault that kept him rolling down the steep hillside.

"You're almost at the edge," said Poppy, pointing with its beak towards the very arbitrary edge where the plain gave way to the fiery landscape beside it.

Dirt had little chance of doing anything, as he was simply tumbling down. His speed only slowed when the plain began levelling, as the turtle raised itself onto its hindlegs. When his fall stopped, Dirt quickly gained his feet, evaluating his options.

Poppy was right, there really was not far to the edge to the fire land. On the other hand, if he left now he would probably be unable to get back up on the turtle's back. There were still a lot of pillars left, and all of them situated on the turtle's shell, like a strange formation of spikes.

Looking at the mad head of the turtle, however, made him drop any aspirations of gaining the energy remaining in the pillars. It was best to get out of here as quickly as possible.

"We're leaving," he yelled, over another roar from the turtle. As he turned away, he managed to catch a glimpse of light rising from all the pillars he had been unable to reach. The flowers were blooming of their own volition, and from the turtle's very angry stare he was able to deduce where those flares would soon be heading.

"Uuuh, pretty," Poppy chirped, pirouetting gracefully at his side, as it looked back at the oncoming missiles.

"Not pretty," Dirt exclaimed, "Bad, very bad!"

The first flare hit moments later, almost taking his head off. It grazed by his shoulder and hit the ground with a devastating explosion. Debris from the attack was thrown up into the air, hitting Dirt like the spread of a shotgun. Luckily, his current form had a lot of resistance to this kind of damange.

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Adopting a zig-zag run, Dirt survived the next few blasts without incident. His luck ran out, though. With a devastating crash, a flare hit him in the leg, blowing it off and sending him flying helplessly through the air.

Although it was unlucky, there was a silver lining. He was almost at the edge, and this blast threw him the last distance. He hit the ground, rolling the last few feet to get over the edge, when another blast hit the ground right beside him, taking out his left arm. He was finally flung over the edge, falling down towards the line of separation between the turtle and the land of fire.

Keeping the idea firm in his mind that the fall could not harm him, Dirt hit the ground below without making a single effort to displace the kinetic energy. He was so close.

Lying on his stomach, he turned over his back to face another two flares coming straight at him. Cursing, he used the intact limbs that remained to get out of the way, awkwardly rolling closer to the land of fire. The explosions were merciless, though. He was not fast enough to escape them, and their blasts threw him up into the air, finally delivering him across the invisible line.

It only cost him his other arm.

Meanwhile, Poppy just gently navigated through the artillery with ease. Dirt finally rolled to a stop on the hot ground across the border, looking back at the turtle. It still looked mad, but at least the flares had stopped coming. Seeing he was across the border, the turtle gave one last, angry roar, before settling back down beginning with its hindlegs. The process of lying back down took just as long as getting up, if not longer, but when it was over the plain was once more completely flat - as if nothing had happened.

The only evidence of the violent devastation were the marks left behind from the flares, as well as the deep cracks showing the outline of the turtle's shell.

Sighing with relief, Dirt navigated his two stumped arms and leg to get himself into a seated position. "That was too dangerous," he breathed, trying to regain control of himself after the sudden escape.

"I think it was fun," said Poppy, chirping away, "Can we do it again?"

"No, we absolutely can't! I am not going back there, not ever."

"Booring," sang the bird, circling above his head, "What now, then?"

Dirt looked at his stumped form; clearly this was going to be difficult. "Well, I'm made of rock, and there is a lot of rock around here. Maybe I can borrow some to get a leg back, at the very least."

Though the idea made somewhat sense, having no arms was too much of a handicap. He tried angling himself to some the loose rocks lying around, but even with a concerted effort of will there was no effect on them. Giving up on that, there was only one option left.

"Poppy, how far to the nearest lava pit?"

The bird circled up into the air for a bit, tracing concentric circles before finally returning. "Not far," said Poppy, pointing with its beak further inland, "I think you can roll over there in about an hour."

Strengthening his resolve, Dirt prepared himself for rolling about like a barrel for the next while. "Alright, let's go there."