Sheetal watched the desert speed past while she held onto Ash. They ran past the biggest sand dune she had seen yet while her brain processed everything they had been going through.
“We are alive.” She’s words came out in a squeak.
“Oh good, you are back.” Ash responded in a jolly tone.
“Ash, we are alive.”
“Yeah, I know that.”
She was silent for a moment.
Ash turned his head to look back at her and asked “Hey are you still with me?”
“Yeah, I am just trying to figure out what happened.”
Ash grinned “It happens. The shock gets to you and you sort of shut down.”
She began “The last thing I remember is the dog dying.”
Ash felt She’s breath hitch and she went silent. He was worried about this. The pressure was getting to She. Unlike him, the girl dangling off his back hadn’t been trained for espionage and thrown head first into an active warzone.
He knew sooner or later every civilian in a war broke down or shut down. He could have delayed the after effects by keeping her occupied but he couldn’t negate them. So, he decided to let her be. Now she was coming out of shock and he needed to gently bring her back.
Ash grumbled “Yeah, I had to kill dogs to save you stupid face.”
“What!?” She’s gaze turned hard.
“You heard me. I had to kill puppies because of you.”
She spluttered “Wha… Oh you… You know, fud you.”
Ash laughed. It was a loud laugh.
“You think this is funny?”
“Yup.”
“You are such an Ash.”
Ash giggled “Thank you.”
“Now shut up and tell me where are we going?”
Ash’s shoulders shook.
“Are you laughing at me?”
Ash’s silent chuckle turned into a wheezing laugh “Shut up and tell me?”
“Oh you silly brat. You know what I mean now spill.” She hit Ash on his shoulder
“Fine. Fine. Gods you are a violent person. We are going to the blue dot on the map. The one called the trial gate on your GPS thingy.”
Sheetal looked at her hud and the window on the side of her vision expanded.
Trial Gate
Distance 1.2 Kilometres
“Why? We have got rid of the… Of the…”
“Puppies?”
“Ash!”
“What?”
“They weren’t puppies. They were demonic mongrels.”
“Okay. Okay. Yes we got rid of them. But sooner or later their owners will come looking. And I want to have a nice gate in between us and them.”
“Oh.” She looked at Ash “That makes a lot of sense.”
“Of course it does. I am awesome.”
Sheetal slapped Ash on his head “Will you stop and take this seriously?”
“In five minutes.” Ash replied promptly “That’s when we will be at the gate.”
“No, I mean talking.”
“She, you have met me, haven’t you? I don’t stop talking, for anyone.”
She groaned “I know.”
She looked around, The desert somehow felt placid around them. The wind was gone and the sand dunes around them sat still. It felt like the world was holding its breath. The feeling was unnerving after all the madness they had been through.
“Uh… She?” Ash skidded to stop and looked ahead
She poked out her head from behind Ash and looked at what he had been looking at.
“Is that a gate?” Ash asked.
Ash’s confusion wasn’t unwarranted. There was a ten foot tall metal door in front of them. The problem was that it wasn’t attached to anything. It was just standing there on its own without any support or anything behind it. The fact that they had approached the thing diagonally made the scene even more unnatural.
Sheetal let Ash go and levitated herself ahead “It looks more like a door.”
They both moved to it slowly and the carving on the door became clearer. There was a fountain in the backdrop on the left and on the right there was a white marble with a bowl fire on it. In the front there were two beady eyes glowing like ruby’s at them.
Ash took a step closer and licked his lips “Does the fountain mean there will be water if we open the gate?”
She licked her lips too. Suddenly, she realised how long it had been since either one of them had had a drop of water. She could empathise with Ash. he had been the one that had been doing the running and most of the fighting.
She muttered “I hope so.”
She moved closer and felt a tugging sensation in her chest. The gate was pulling her inside.
“Uh…”
“Yeah, I feel it too.” Ash answered her unasked question
“What do we do?” She asked in a rush.
“There is water in there.”
“We don’t know that.”
“Yeah, but water.” Ash stated hoarsely.
She looked at Ash and he looked back at her.
She asked “What about the eyes?”
Ash shrugged “If it’s some squinty eyed guy. I will kick his butt if he gets in between me and the water.”
She though about it for a moment and then reluctantly nodded “Okay, then let’s go.”
Ash knocked on the gate “Hello? Anyone in there?”
She gave him a sharp look.
Ash smiled “Just making sure.”
She rolled her eyes “Will you ever not be annoying?”
Ash chuckled and grabbed She’s hand “Okay, together?”
She nodded “In one… Two… Three!”
They both jumped in.
Sheetal reeled. There was a flash of white that she felt inside her mind. It made her thoughts go blank and the sudden vertigo made her. She whimpered and wobbled. Then something tackled and pulled her down.
She hit the floor and was about to fight when she heard a loud squelching noise. That was followed by Ash stern tone.
“She, run, fly, get away. Now.”
Sheetal blinked her eyes and through watery eyes she saw Ash shoot back to his feet. He hit something large and ran away from her. The large indistinct thing scrabbled and turned to follow him. The large thing, perhaps as tall as a horse and wider than an SUV moved unnaturally to face Ash.
That is all that she could make out in the dimly lit room. She needed to clear her eyes before making sense out of anything more. So she closed her eyes and pushed against the floor. She flew up into the air and rapidly blinked until her eyes began to focus again. She wiped her tears and looked down. And then she stopped with her mouth agape.
The side of her hud pulsed and notified her that she wasn’t losing her mind.
Wind Tailed Scorpion.
Shards 3
Warning!
You are too underpowered to fight this beast.
“What the…”
Rest of She’s words were left unsaid. Her mind refused to comprehend what she was seeing. There was a truck sized scorpion battling Ash. And it was winning.
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Ash blinked his eyes. And tried to focus his vision. His first reactions had been instinctive. He played them back as soon as She took off into the air. There had been a blinding flash and then he had seen a bluish white light heading straight for She.
Whoosh!
Ash had pushed She out of the way of it. As his eyes cleared he saw a large tail impact the ground where She had stood and burrow inside the muddy ground. He had known that his friend was blinded. He was half way blinded too. But unlike She, he could if not see then perceive things with shards. It was a strange thing. The first time he had felt it was when he had fought that bulky blue skinned woman. The shards when in use had glowed brightly in his eyes just like the way it did now.
CLACK!
Ash saw a white flash light up the and head straight for him. He jumped to the right and barely dogged a claw. It was fast. Faster than its tail. The tail had flown through the wind. The claw on the other hand cut through it with a sharp sound. Just like he did when he used his speed shard with his tonfas.
Knowing that he had a moment or two he used his foot to kick the extended claw which was still trying to get him. It wasn’t to do any damage but to use the momentum to roll away from the smelly thing and attack it from its blindside. He created some distance and looked at what he was fighting.
And saw a humongous scorpion trying to free its tail while periodically glaring him with its red eyes.
“What the…” Ash shook his head and decided to act first and ask questions later.
He drew out his tonfas and hit it twice.
Thimp. Thump.
The scorpion, if it cared, didn’t show any effects.
Ash looked up and saw She blinking her eyes rapidly while looking at him.
“Uh… She? Any ideas?”
She’s heart flew up into her mouth when she saw Ash barely dodge a speeding claw. Ash veered sideways at the last moment. Kicked the claw. Rolled on the muddy ground and shot up to his feet. Then he hit the scorpion’s carapace with his tonfa with a thump.
Then he looked at his tonfa dumbly. Then he hit it again. And then again. Then he glared at his tonfa and then at She.
“Well?”
“What are you doing?” She screeched.
“Fighting!” Ash snapped.
“You are not doing a good job.”
“Hey, floaty, stop backseat driving.”
She scowled “It’s tail is stuck in the ground.”
“I know that.”
“Well run away from it.”
“It will get free sooner or later and then what are we going to do?.”
“It’s slow on its feet. So we’ll run.”
“No.” Ash shot back.
“Why?”
“Because that would give it the distance it needs to skewer me with its tail.”
She was about to snap back when the scorpion heaved. With a squelching sound the tail came loose and the scorpion faltered. It took a few seconds for it to right itself. In those moments Ash moved to its left and started hammering his tonfa on its body ineffectually.
“Ash…”
Whatever She was going to say got stuck in her throat when she saw the scorpion train it beady red eyes on her friend.
“Oh fish.” Ash said in a whisper and then the scorpion was on him.
He swayed to the left. Dodged an oncoming claw. Kicked the scorpion in its face. The scorpion hissed and moved to bite him. Ash cartwheeled away. Then dodged the other slower claw. The scorpion lifted one its legs to skewer him. Ash ran. Bent backwards and dropped to his knees. He used all his flexibility to skid under a spiky leg. He jumped up to his feet and spun.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Ash hit the scorpion thrice and then moved to his right. He needed to keep himself on the scorpion blindside. The scorpion skittered on its spindly legs to follow him. In response Ash whirled like an ice skater and hit it again and again.
Thump. Thump.
She watched Ash and the scorpion make circles on the muddy ground and yelled “Will you stop dancing and start getting some distance from it?”
Ash growled “If I do that, it will do the tail thing again.”
“What tail thing?”
“The one it almost hit you with.”
She blinked and looked at the scorpion tail. The scorpion’s tail was primed and aimed just above its head. It was also dripping something acrid over its hard carapace. He was right. If Ash tried to move away from it then it would bring it down on him like a hammer.
That meant Ash was right. It took She two seconds to actually agree with the statement. That was something she was having trouble with.
She nodded and whispered “He may be right but I am not going to tell him that. Now think. How do I rescue the dumb-ash trying to break through an exoskeleton of a house sized scorpion with chopsticks?”
Her last words came out in a loud frustrated growl.
“They are tonfas!” Ash yelled from somewhere underneath the scorpion.
When had he gone under the dang thing? She shook her head and yelled out her question.
“You are underneath the dang thing? Why are you under the tempo sized scorpion?”
“I thought its belly would be less protected.” Ash replied in a muffled voice.
“Is it?”
“No!”
“Ash, it’s lifting itself up to… Get out of there now.”
Ash just managed to scamper out from under the scorpion when it brought its bulk down. And while the scorpion got his feet under itself he began to hit it again and again.
She looked at Ash. He was putting a brave face on but she could see that he was beginning to tire. She needed to help him quickly. Before the stupid man got himself killed.
She was done feeling useless. So she began to look around. They were in a cave. It was not large but enough to park ten trollers in it. It had a fountain on the left that was spouting water. The water dripped down into a clean pool that was overflowing into a natural pond. A large one. So large that it covered half of the cavern and turned the soil underneath them into mud.
On the other side there was a marble altar with a pot of fire in the centre. It periodically spouted a large flame in concert with the fountain. That part was covered with ashen slabs of rocks that slowly moved up into white marble. That wasn’t important. What was important was the fire. She could use that fire only if she could find something to burn. But there was branch, wood, or even paper. So, that was not a viable approach. Sheetal looked back at the water. Maybe they needed to drown the scorpion.
She turned to look at the water “Ash, do scorpions swim?”
“What!?”
“Maybe we can drown it.”
She turned to look at Ash and saw that the scorpion had almost backed Ash into a wall.
Ash did the dodge thing again and faked left and went right. He skidded under the claw and once again freed himself from the wall. Then like before he started bludgeoning the scorpion. Sheetal had to give it to him. Ash never gave up even when he knew that his actions weren’t having any effect. But as usual his strikes didn’t even leave a mark on the scorpions exoskeleton.
Ash took in a large gulp of air and yelled back “Scorpions can survive underwater for days. And those are the small ones. Who knows what this mutated monstrosity can do.”
“We need to get out of here.” There was panic in She’s voice.
“What do you think I am trying to do?”
To She’s surprise there was a hint of panic in Ash’s high pitched voice too.
She started whirling around to find some way to help Ash. All she saw was fire and water everywhere and then something glinted on the side of her vision. She turned sharply towards the shining object. Just at the bank of the pond, there was something metallic. She started moving towards it.
“Umm… Hey, chesty! Where are you going?”
Sheetal ignored the provocation and replied “To get a better weapon.”
“I already have… Oh shiz!”
Sheetal heard Ash’s footsteps as he resumed fighting and kept an ear out for him. The rest of her focus went into steadily moving towards the hint of a weapon she had seen in the water.
It took her what felt like ten minutes but most probably was less than one, to reach the edge of the pond. There she saw a severed arm. It was holding a large sword. She lowered herself into the water and tried lifting the weapon.
She grunted under the weight of the weapon. For a moment she wondered, how did those people in the HBO series fight with these things? The sword in her hand was longer than her arm and heavier than a microscope. And it was unwieldy too.
Sheetal gave up on trying to lift it above her waist and just used her shard to lift herself and the weapon in the air. After the initial resistance she was able to make it in the air.
Her arms shook under the weapon’s weight. Her breaths came out heavy and ever inch she moved felt like a marathon but she persevered.
“Hold on Ash, I am coming!”
Ash grunted “Oh don’t worry, I am not going anywhere.”
Sheetal looked up and at her partner. She saw that the scorpion had finally gotten hold of Ash’s weapon in a claw. Ash was now periodically dodging the other claw and bludgeoning the scorpions maw with the other one.
“Let go of your stick.”
Ash snapped back “It is a tonfa!”
Sheetal raised herself higher and slowly floated above the scorpion “It is a stupid stick. This is a weapon.”
Ash looked up and shot a glare at She. Then he did a double take. She had a long sword dangling from her hands. It was swaying left to right and its weight was dragging her down. But that wasn’t all. There was a severed arm attached to the hilt of the sword.
Ash dodged the oncoming claw again. Thankfully it was not the speed one. That one had grabbed his favourite right tonfa.
He kicked the scorpion on its face and yelled “What is this? An arms race?”
She, who was now hovering only a foot or two above the bug, gave him an annoyed look and let go of the sword dramatically.
Ash blinked. No, he hadn’t imagined it. Instead of stabbing the scorpion from up high, She just let the sword go. The sword fell. And instead of falling point first, the arm attached to it dragged it to the left and hit the scorpion on the dull side of the blade.
Tink. Clank. Tinnnngggg.
Even so, the sword scrapped a line onto the thick carapace of the scorpion. The scorpion jolted. It turned and its beady red eyes focussed on the sword. It slowly turned to look at She.
She was startled and looked back at the scorpion with widening eyes.
“Uh…”
“She, fly up. Now!” Ash ordered
It was too late. The scorpion dug its pointy feet in and shot its tail at She.
“Ah!!!” Sheetal screamed as the tail came down on her.
Ash lost sight of her beyond the bug’s bulk. Ash freed himself from the wall and ran towards She. Once again, he had to do a double take.
She had her hands extended. A foot above them was the scorpion’s tail pushing down on her. It was a strange sight and for a second Ash just stood there. It was like She, a scrawny woman was holding back the largest spear he had ever seen with some Japanese cartoon voodoo nonsense. Then his mind made sense of the situation, and he realised that was exactly what She was doing.
She was using her polar powers to keep the stinger at bay. Her shard flared in his eyes as the scorpion used its body weight to push down on her. It was one of the strangest wrestling matches he had ever seen. And he just looked at the contest for a moment or two.
“For the love of Gods, don’t just stand there. Do something!” She screamed at Ash.
Ashoka blinked and jumped into action “Oh, right.”
Ash ran for the sword, grabbed the blade with the hand still attached to it. It was close to one of the scorpion’s legs but the large bug didn’t even turn to stop him. He had gone from a threat to annoyance in a second. And right now, he was happy about that fact. Ash pried the large, bloated hand loose from the swords hilt. He lifted it up with a grunt and looked at the shimmering blade.
“Boy this heavy.”
“Ash? I can’t hold on.” Sheetal yelled as the scorpion began to use its legs to win the contest.
Ash turned to look at She just in time to see a pointy leg coming at him. Ash jumped back. He took a moment to give the wind tail scorpion a once over. The only soft spot he could see on the creature were the narrow segments in the tail.
She screamed “Are you going to do something?”
Ashoka looked at the sword and then at She “Before I do this, I am just going to say, you are not going to like this.”
She glared at him “Stop whining and start fighting!”
“Fine.” Ash growled and shot into movement.
He ran towards She and the scorpion head. He approached them from the side. He focussed on the insect’s tail. The scorpion sensing his movement turned one of its beady red eyes towards Ash. At the same moment he engaged his speed shard.
Ash’s last two steps blurred into one. He used all that momentum to swing the sword upwards. The sword in his hand blurred. It went through the scorpion’s tail like a hot knife through butter.
Critical Hit
Damage - 22%
Ash in his sped-up state saw the sword cut upwards. He saw the stinger and the bulb go flying. He spun with the sword’s momentum and hit the animal again. This time in the bug's front shoulder.
Hit.
Damage 4%
Then his speed shard fizzled out and everything started moving in its natural pace. The scorpion screeched and back pedaled. His blade that had got lodged into the arachnid's carapace got pulled out of his hand.
Blug. Blug. Blug.
“Ewwwwww!” She screeched and violently thrust her hands upwards. The motion flipped the bug over onto its side. And it let out a high-pitched hissing, keening scream.
Ash turned to look back at his partner. She was ringing her hands.
“What is this? And why does it smell so bad?”
She was covered in blue blood and awful smelling viscous liquid. Ash looked at her with a sheepish smile and then decided to ignore her.
Instead, he ran to pick up the scorpion’s stinger with the bulb. He grabbed it from the ground and looked at the scorpion. It was swaying left to right to get back to its feet.
Ash got a stronger grip on the stinger and then ran back to the scorpion. Ash matched its momentum and brought the stinger up just when it righted itself. The stinger shot through the exoskeleton without much effort.
Damage 3%
Ash gritted his teeth and with both his hands pushed down on the bulb. It churned the poison inside and spurted it into the scorpion.
Wind Tailed Scorpion
Health - 64%...63%...62%
Status - Bleeding. Poisoned.
The scorpion who was reeling under the injuries suddenly felt the new hole and let out another wail.
Ash shuffled back and picked the tonfa he had dropped next to Sheetal.
She had her eyes closed and asked “Ash. Is that you?”
“Yes.”
She visibly relaxed “Ash, what is this stuff? Yuck! It tastes horrible.”
“That is excrement.”
“What?”
“Scorpions do their thing from a place in their tails. They also use it to create poison they sting you with.”
“Mmmmm!” She yelled with her mouth closed.
“Good news is that I got the insect.”
She spat blue blood on the floor and inaudibly said something which sounded like “Shop in ah no a effect. whey a mamaammmal.”
“What?” Ash asked.
She wiped her mouth with a sleeve and repeated “Scorpion are not insects. They are animals.”
Ash rolled his eyes “She. Stop being wikipedia.”
“Fup Ooh!”
Ash looked She and then at the scorpion. It was reeling in pain and was a disoriented mess. The fight had left its beady red eyes. It was trying to escape towards the fiery altar.
Wind Tailed Scorpion
Health - 31%...30%...29%
Status - Bleeding. Poisoned.
“I should probably go and put it out of its misery.”
She shook her head violently with her eyes closed.
Ash looked at her and the smell hit him. He almost gagged and took an involuntary step backwards.
She shot her hand out and grabbed Ash’s cargo pants.
“Okay. Okay. Hold on.”
Ash leaned down and picked up She in a princess carry.
She mumbled something and then spit out scorpion fluids.
“Just hold on.”
Ash walked to the pond and into it. Just when the water covered his knees, he spun and flung She into the deeper end.
“Yeeeee….!”
Splash.
Ash walked out and looked at the scorpion. It had stopped moving.
Wind Tailed Scorpion
Health - 14%...13%...12%
Status - Bleeding. Poisoned.
Ash undid his shirt and threw it down on the floor. It had scorpion goo on it. He slipped out of his hoes and socks. Behind him She floated up to the surface spluttered and then went back in. Ash looked at her and then continued to undo his pants.
She suddenly flew out of the water.
“You, blaster! You threw me…?
“Yup.”
She stopped and looked at Ash taking off his underwear.
“Uh… Ash? What are you doing?”
Ash cocked his head sideways “What does it look like? I am taking off my clothes to take a bath.”
“With me!? In here?” She asked in an astonished voice.
“Sweetheart, don’t flatter yourself.” Ash rolled his eyes “Although, you can watch if you want to. I won’t hold it against you. After all I know I am aweso….”
Splunk.
Sheetal watched Ash lose his footing and go back first into the water. Sheetal rolled her eyes and waited for Ash to come out
Ash came out of the water with a grimace “Damn that hurt.”
“Excuse me? You are naked. Again.”
“Yeah.” Ash looked at She “Listen I am covered in blood, sweat, dirt, grime and awful. And that is your fault. I had to pick you up.”
“You know we could take turns washing up.”
“Nope. I am going to wash up now. You can get out if you want to. If you don’t mind scorpion feces in your hair.”
She grimaced and shivered.
“Fine. I am giving you the permission to fling those two woks on your chest around in front of me.”
“Woks? Did you call…” She crossed her hand on her chest “You know what you are a brick. A brick who doesn’t have any sense of modesty?”
Ash snorted “Look at me She. Do you think I have anything to be modest about?”
She watched Ash as he dunked himself into water and swam to the fountain. He dunked his head in and started lapping up water.
She turned away and then looked back at him. Slowly she raised her shirt and ran her hands on her back. And after a moment she threw her shirt off and started exploring her back with her fingertips.
Ash swam back “Hey backscratcher. You should go get some water.”
“Shut up.”
Ash blinked “What is it?”
She stopped for a moment and looked at her partner. Then in a hesitating voice muttered “Ash, your scars are gone.”
Ash looked at her in incomprehension
She pointedly looked at Ash’s nether regions.
Ash looked down at himself and then moved his thigh. Then the other one. Then he bent down. Finally, he took a hold of himself. Turned his stuff left, then right and then lifted it up.
“She. My scars are gone.”
She turned away from Ash as he explored his manhood.
“Yes!” Ash cheered.
“Can you stop?”
“She, look. I am perfect.” Ash pointed his limp stuff at her.
“Ah, no thankyou.”
“But… But… Look, my scars are gone.”
“I know.”
Ash did a merry little jig “She, my greatness is great again.”
“Uh… What!?”
Ash waved at her dismissively and turned around “Hey scorpion, look my scars are gone. My greatness is flawless again.”
Wind Tailed Scorpion
Health - 4%...3%...2%...1%...0
Status - Dead.
Achievement - David vs Goliath
Rewards
2 Exotic Weapon Shards
40 Crecks
2 Characters.
Please wait for your regional Kel’s representative at this spot to give your rewards.
Approximate wait time - 2 hours.
As Ash and She watched the scorpion lit up from inside. Three of its spots began to glow and then it erupted into fire which engulfed its entire body. The fire didn’t last long. Within seconds all that was left of the scorpion was Ash.
“Dang! Now who am I going to show my flawless body to?”
“Oh for fuds sake Ash…”
Ash huffed “Not you. You are not going to appreciate my greatness anyway.”
“Can you stop calling that thing greatness?”
“That’s its name.”
“Oh gods. Why me?”
Ash looked at She “Girl, you are a mess.”
“That’s because you chopped the scorpion tail off while I was under it.”
“First of all, you told me to do it. Second, I told you that it was a bad idea. Third, thank you would be the right thing to say right now. Fourth, you should take off your clothes and wash them. Fifth, I have soap, shampoo, conditioner and breakfast bars. Do you want granola, chocolate or peanut butter? You can get some water while I get them out.”
Ash splayed his fingers and looked at her.
She looked at him with her mouth open “Why do you have all those things? And where do you have them stored?”
“In my cargo pants. You don’t leave home without essentials. Didn’t they ever teach you that? ” Ash pointed back at the pond’s bank and then added “I also have a collapsible bottle. Now that we have water, we can run on and away from the blue weirdos.”
“Uhh…”
Ash nodded “Okay. You do your open mouth thing. I am going to go get the shampoo. You really need to get that blue stuff off your hair.”