ORIGIN

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The attacks landed and the monster roared with a loudness Fallah never knew. It hurt to hear, it hurt to be near it. The lynx wanted to run, but knew it couldn't. It had to stay and protect the others. I had to protect Fisher and the big loud blac- why was he being so loud? He was... asking the monster a question? How- why? Why was he doing that? The monster was hurting the others, he was intentionally hurting them. The facts hit Fallah like a slap in the face. Why hadn't he killed the deer? He could have. He could have swallowed it like the bird, but it didn't. He threw her aside? Why did he throw her aside?

Fallah's confusion lasted just long enough for the tidal wave caused by the fish to sweep over, pulling the lynx in, rolling it about, and tossing it unceremoniously in front of the monster. The cat coughed and blinked as it struggled for a moment to stand. As its eyes opened, all it could see was the monster. Fallah was right in front of it, though it had missed crashing into the cat, it had definitely intended to... or did it? It could have killed the cat, but did it miss on purpose, or was it a mistake? Confusion. The cat was so confused. The monster lay in front of the cat and the cat shook, looking the beast in the eyes. Fallah's legs grew weak and it struggled against everything to stay standing. Running wasn't an option, only collapsing, it seemed, so Fallah fought to stay up right. From right here, Fallah could land a good attack on its face, maybe scratch its eyes or try to freeze its mouth shut, but something stopped it. Did this monster really want to hurt them? Had it meant to do all this? Even if it did, it was so bit, and it had to have magic too right? There was no way they could win. Even after all their attacks, all of their attacks combined- A familiar voice struck Fallah's ears. It was Fisher! The lynx looked back to its friend, it's head turning slowly out of fear, its eyes wide and sunken with horror, but it listened to its friend.

"Fallah, the King! Bow to the King! Friend-- Danger... Danger... King doesn't want to kill! King protecting!"

The king? What king? Bow to the... THE KING! The shadow king from that story! The shadow didn't bow, and he was defeated for it. For freedom, the lynx had said it would bow, even though Fisher had said he wouldn't. Was this situation... similar? Fallah nodded slowly at Fisher. Fisher had trusted Fallah, and now it was Fallah's turn to trust Fisher. Shakily, the lynx glanced at the other gembounds, as it turned its head from its friend back to the monster fish, "S-stop guys... Stop... STOP ATTACKING!" Even if the lynx was scared, even if it really didn't want to stay here, it couldn't run away from the massive beast laying in front of it. The thing was just too big. They had to stop it. They had to appease it. Fallah's horror-widened eyes stared at the beast, a small whisper to the monster, or maybe a god, "Please..." The cat didn't blink, "Please." With great force, Fallah's legs unlocked and it surrendered to the beast in a low, groveling bow, "Please stop! Please give us back feather friend! We'll help you, so please listen to me! Please!" Eyes were squeezed shut, heart was pounding too hard to be healthy, stomach froze, tears were released, everything shook with fear, "Please... give us freedom."

POST ROLL:
RIP FALLAH XD

"speak"

"Speech" Thoughts

Arkrael struggled with herself as she looked over her hatchmate. Blood was clearly seeping from a wound and her instincts had quickly kicked in and she lapped at them gently. It was all she could to do to keep herself by Tamelyn's side at the moment as every instinct within her being roared at her for retaliation. This creature would pay for this. Her fur bristled a bit more as she drew furious eyes onto the beast. She was instantly startled when Tamelyn sudden wobbled up to her hooves and began muttering something about a bird? She wasn't sure who Tamelyn was referring to, but it mattered not to Arkrael. They were not Tamely. "Tamelyn! Wait!" Alas it was too late and the deer was rushing off towards this creature once more. She instantly rose to her paws and chased after her.

She nearly winced when Tamelyn suddenly faltered in her step and sunk right back down to the ground. "Tam!" She cried out her name desperately and quickly rushed over to the deer and gently nuzzled her nose against the deer's hind leg. Though, when the water surrounding them began to recede confusion over took Arkrael and she looked up. Thrice in a short amount of time Arkrael's heart sunk into her stomach. A large, massive wave was rolling right towards them. Oh no...

Arkrael moved quickly, allowing her instincts to take over. She apologized over and over to Tamelyn as she quickly moved and pushed herself beneath the deer, forcing Tamelyn to rest over her back. She knew it would probably hurt Tamelyn to jar her so much, but they could not take the chances of that massive wave hitting them. The moment she was satisfied that Tamelyn was secure on her back Arkrael did not spare another look before her paws began racing across the sludge covered ground. The weight of the deer on her back was strange for Arkrael, nearly making her stumble a couple times but she kept her pace. Her ears flicked back when the sound of the wave crashed through the area and nearly yelped when water smacked up against her back end, throwing her off balance just a little it, but it was not enough to knock her from her paws.

With Tamelyn still safely upon her back Arkrael turned around to face the beast once more. All pearly white canines showing in an aggressive display. Maybe she could inconvenience this creature even more by breaking up the earth beneath it. It was worth a shot. She would not dare go closer, but at least she could still use a distant spell. Almost instantly she felt the Vibrations of her stone, only to be quickly forgotten when Arkrael could just barely hear a distinct crack of the earth. IT wasn't loud, and perhaps Arkrael had only heard it from the vibrations that were being given off from the earth she stood on. It had been successful. She knew that much. How much it would keep this creature at bay she was unsure.

(Warning for one F-bomb, I guess?)

Tamelyn Thunderhoof And I will fear no darkness

Every breath was agony. She was vaguely aware of Arkrael standing beside her, her gentle nuzzle the only relief to the searing pain emanating from her slashed sides and broken rib. The little feline she had seen before was there as well, urging her to stay put, rather than join the fray again. She snorted derisively and tried to rise again, but her wounds were having none of it, and she fell again. Fine. If she couldn't kick him again, she'd go back to her previous strategy of zapping him.

Before she could act, however, she was jostled again. She bit back the bleat of pain, the sound coming out hoarse and choked. She felt fur under her, smelled Arkrael's familiar scent, and then they were moving again. She looked up just in time to see the water crashing down, nearly hitting them. She whimpered in fear, trying to retreat within herself, away from the pain and the splashing and the shouts.

It was only Fisher's shouted suggestion they they bow to the monster, the "King" he called it, that lit a spark in her gut. She forced her eyes open, focusing on the monster, and scoffed.

Tamelyn Thunderhoof did not. Fucking. Bow.

Grunting, she let herself fall off Arkrael's back, finding her feet again. She took a few wobbling steps towards the monster, clenching her jaw against the agony each movement caused. "Let the bird go!" she shouted at him. "Let him go right this second! I'm warning you!" It was akin to a mouse screaming into a storm, but she was too angry and out of her mind with pain to care. This beast was going to leave them all alone, if she had to batter herself to pieces against his scales to make him do so.

"Listen to me."

table by lisa, image and modifications by FennecFyre

Silver does 2 damage.
Dragon does 9 damage.
Aquarian currently has 140 hit points.

No more damage can be done to Aquarian.

Sliding up on the mud, his head swung left and right, trying to snap at anything in his path. He needed to get these pesky creatures away from him - at least, the ones that were causing the most damage, at least. Every now and then his stomach would turn, and he knew it was the fault of the bird he had swallowed who had not yet begun digesting. His jaws would snap, long curved teeth clicking together as they consistently closed over nothing. There were a thousand things all happening at once, and Aquarian struggled to focus on them all. He had had one goal. A single intention. But what was this?

A small brown creature suddenly piped up. His voice was minuscule against the gargantuan beast, it was nothing against the entirety of the room, yet he tuned in to the sound of the mustelid trying to tell the others to stop. The King. Bow to the King. Aquarian's eyes widened in confusion. This was not right, not right at all. The one that had frozen his face had complied and now the two of them were yelling at the rest to stop, but they weren't. The small lizard had dove somewhere out of sight and he could feel a pinching on his hind leg, the feel of tiny teeth digging into his thick skin. Aquarian snarled and kicked his back leg, trying to dislodge the alligator. Meanwhile, the wolf had run to the deer. The deer shouted at him. The ground shook again and more rocks suddenly broke apart beneath his weight.

Aquarian screamed, falling to his side. A thousand tiny voices pierced his mind, so unlike what he'd been primed to handle. This had to stop. Now. With a great thrust, Aquarian launched himself out of the crevice. His long, twisting body emerged from the water and rapidly coiled around the Gembounds, eyes wide with frantic aggravation. "ENOUGH!" He screeched, his hissing reptilian voice echoing through the cave as he trapped them within his winding coils, elevating his front half high above them. He dared not waste time looking down at them; instead, his eyes probed the surrounding room, searching, head swiveling left and right. "WHAT IS THIS? NEMEAN WHAT BEASTS ARE THESE?" He howled. His monstrous, delirious voice boomed throughout the room, shaking everything in its wake.

He was confused. One of them asked him for commands. Two of them called him the King. Three of them threatened to do him away if he did not do what they said. With his head cranked back, Aquarian's stomach suddenly rolled. He regurgitated the bird, spewing out a disgusting, slimy, and bloody (his own) ball of feathers in the middle of the trapped Gembounds. As soon as the bird left his gut, Aquarian unleashed another powerful scream, furious. "TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE!" He demanded, wide eyes flicking between the Gembounds in his grasp.

All Gembounds are currently surrounded by Aquarian's massive coils and can not escape.

Fisher was surprised when Fallah listened to him-- she was so close to the great beast, and with his thrashing it wouldn't be surprising for any creature to feel threatened enough to try and defend themselves-- but Fallah listened. She listened, she bowed, she stopped fighting. Was it a mistake? Had he done the right thing? The brown noodle had no time to worry, however, because his attention was brought to a bright, sparking light. Tamelyn.

Fallah, he understood, was a beast of water and calm. Cool and healing, in control. A cat, a domineering force. So different from him, sincerely, a complete opposite.

Tamelyn, however. She was just like him. She would not bow-- she did not understand. She was electric, fast, quick, unthicking. Driven by emotion, driven by the force behind her strength. Quick, reactionary. He understood her fury, he knew that had he not been just a small, floppy noodle he too would fight no matter what anyone would tell him.

... And suddenly, the great noodle beast had them surrounded, trapped. His orange eyes, like fire, flashed with fear as he stared up at the monster. The King of Noodles had teeth near as long as he was, eyes larger than his face. He struggled to find his paws, struggled to be upright.

"You're a noodle, like me," he spoke, his voice still trembling-- indeed, Fisher had zapped himself quite badly and his nerves were still recovering. "I-I! I'm a Noodle!! And... and we are.. Ah, ah.... what do we call it..." Surely some one knew? The word escaped his wiggly brain, and he found himself shrinking in his form-- oh, right, the big Black Bark Friend!

A small whimper escaped Fisher as he wriggled his way into the fur of Black, nuzzling into his thick fur. Black was warm-- sticky with mud but so was everyone-- and the Barkfriend's prescience reassured him he would be safe.

________________

Black glanced quickly left, and right; the giant fish-thing had dropped coiling scales around them, sinuous curling muscle more akin, in his mind, to a snake than to a fish. He'd thought he was far enough away, with the little cub and the brown Fisher-friend. He quickly put himself again in front of a couple of the others, peering up and panting. His muscles trembled, and he was barely able to keep himself standing; he'd hatched, used magic, run, and fought nonstop for the last few... how long had it even been? He had not rested since his birth. Yet he tried to pay attention to the situation nonetheless, to guard the sodden Fisher and the frightened cub and the others, not thinking of his tiredness so much as struggling to push it away.

It was speaking, then, and Black whipped his head up to listen intently. A roar. Words. They drowned in his ears, many meaningless, but there was some that he understood.

Quick, to the point, and as blankly matter-of-fact as ever, the Black Dog glanced around at the others, assimilated what he saw into what he thought of as the correct answer, and replied in another booming bark up to the guardian. His voice held no emotion--he was as impassively stoic as if he were speaking to an acquaintance over a meal, though there was strong solemnity in his tone, too. He spoke as if to finish Fisher's sentence, and he spoke with the little one buried in his fur. He didn't mind.

"We are children."

________________

It was scary, so scary. Fallah's eyes were scrunched shut, though tears leaked through. Small, huffy breaths shook the lynx. It was really too much. The others kept on fighting. Why were they fighting? The cat had told them to stop, did they not hear? It made sense, so why were they fighting still? Even if the feline was sure it was right, it was no less scared. The beast roared, and before Fallah's eyes could even open, all the gembounds were caught in its embrace. Panicked, Fallah looked around. Where was he? Where was-

"Fisher!"

Fallah clawed towards the long brown friend, who was also beside the big bark friend. Trembling, the cat reached out to the two, pulling close to them, "So scared..." was all the cat was able to choke out between panting breaths. There was so much to be scared of in such a short time. Fallah had worried that Fisher was dead, that the bird was dead, that the deer was dead, and that the cat itself was also dead. The monster boomed out, asking who they were and Fisher and Black responded. Too worn out to add in, Fallah just nodded, turning to look at the monster with horror-widened eyes.

"speak"

Pain radiated from his stomach, his face, everywhere the young creatures had attacked him. He had never had them put up such a fight before. These ones were different - after all this time, something must have been different. A low rumbling emanated from his throat, something that sounded like the deep chattering of a dolphin or a bird as he looked upon the Gembounds with hungry, critical eyes. The chattering grew louder, and then silenced as the fisher cat spoke, stumbling over his tiny little words. Then, the dog followed up, and it was something he understood. Aquarian chattered thoughtfully, and then swept his great, heavy head down towards the dog. "OF WHAT?" He asked, tilting his head to stare the dog down with one eye.

The deer scoffed at him. The boy scowled, fed up with how she was so intent on fighting in her condition. Thankfully, she seemed to understand his suggestion about working her magic from the back rather than entering the fray physically, and then a wolf came over and helped the deer onto her back. Usui used his little furry head to nudge the deer into place and scampered along with the wolf as Aquarian started acting up again and splashed this large wave all over them.

The cub was sodden again in disgusting water and a little goatee had formed under his chin. It was so vile! Urgh! He was getting annoyed. That was when he heard Fisher and Fallah yell out something. Him, a king? "Aree you mad?!” He growled at them (his tiny squeak lost in the mighty roar of the older Gembounds). Jumping to conclusions like that. However, there was no time to lose. Another wave came and…the next thing he knew, they were all trapped together.

The boy looked at the huge monster in the eye. It was large and scary and he felt very small, frightened, yet in awe all the same. He moved closer to Arkrael as though the larger creature could give him some backup. It spoke in a monstrous voice. Different ones offered different answers. Children. Noodle. No that was wrong.

The kid was quite the pipsqueak still, but the answers felt…unsatisfactory to his scholarly mind. Coughing out and swishing away some swampy water from his fur, the lion moved forward bravely, standing in front of his two companions and spoke. "W’ born ‘ere. W’ live ‘ere. Diff shapes. But ‘e same. Born of crystal ro'ck. Stone.” He turned to look at everyone – some scared, some angry, some indignant. Then he turned back to Aquarian and mewled out his remaining answer. "W’ want this HURT to stop.” Pale green eyes fell back into a solemn gaze and the boy waited to hear if anyone else had answers.

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Fallah

Dragon

Arkrael

Tamelyn

Game Master Madison

Fisher

Black

Fallah

Game Master Madison

Usui