Chapter 45 - Croc

Fairy Tail: Paths of the Soul

Amber dodged to the right, barely avoiding a shipping crate that had been flung at her. She flattened herself against a stack of containers, trying to keep out of sight. She could see Shelly crouching in the far corner next to the indoor canal, hiding behind a large winch connected to the gate.

"Is that all you got?!" Jasper roared, swinging his arms like a gorilla showing off. "What's wrong?! Don't tell me I lost to a bunch of cowards!"

Groaning in frustration, Amber found his words carried a sting. He'd been chasing them around for the past few minutes, wherein they both realized that they never really saw what he was capable of in the confined space of the train car. Here though, in a wide opened room with plenty of things to throw around, was apparently his field of choice.

"Iron..." Amber tensed up, hearing Jasper prepare for another charge. "’Press!" She stepped up to the corner to see where Jasper was going, when the crate she was hiding behind exploded. She was thrown aside among a shower of wood splinters, rolling over to see Jasper staring down at her.

"Pict Magic: Bears!" Shelly held out her sketchbook, and a pink, cartoonish looking bear charged across the floor. "Run Amber!"

Jasper turned to look at it, forgetting about Amber as she made her retreat, and grinned. He drew back an arm, winding up for a big punch. "Iron..." He waited, allowing the beast to get closer before making his move. "Uppercut!" He swung his arm up at the beast, which caught his fist in it's paw. It swung its other paw at him, but he caught it with his forearm. The two where locked, neither one yielding in a battle of strength. "Oh?" Jasper seemed amused, like nothing could ever shake him. "This one's quite good."

Despite this, Amber had an opportunity. Jasper was wide open, and she wasn't about to miss this chance. "Armeria: Crimson Eye!" A pair of blade rings jumped into her hands, which she flung at Jasper's side.

They buzzed through the air, but bounced of the mans skin just as they had on the train. He glanced back over his shoulder at her, still not failing in his struggle with Shelly's cartoon bear. "Ah... Feeling left out, are you?"

All in one motion, Jasper reached forwards and took hold of the bear in a headlock, turned, and threw the thing over his shoulder. The head twisted off part way through the throw, and the whole thing disappeared with a bright flash before it even had a chance to hit the ground. Jasper was in a crouching position now, and dashed straight at Amber. "Iron Knuckle’!"

Amber dove and rolled out of the way, barely avoiding Jasper's fist. His arm buried itself in another shipping container, buckling the metal like it where cardboard. She tried to get up, but her bare foot slid on the stone and she fell to her knees. "Dammi-Aaahh!" She cried out as Jasper stomped on the back of her ankle, keeping her pined in place.

Shelly jumped out of her hiding place. "I'm coming Amber!" She barely took a step before having to duck behind cover again when Jasper flung the container he'd almost punched through at her. It slammed against the winch with a defining racket, drowning out her surprised scream, and while the winch didn't move, it was enough to keep Shelly in place for the moment.

Jasper laughed watching her cower, then turned his attention to Amber again. "Now..." He cracked his knuckles. "Where were we?"

"Right here!" From seemingly out of nowhere, Jak jumped straight over Amber's head at Jasper. His fist connected with the surprised man's nose with a sickening crunch, causing him to stumble back and away from Amber.

He caught himself on a nearby shipping crate, wiping his blood covered mustache. "Damn punk..." He stood up straight and cracked his neck, no longer looking amused. "You bloodied my nose." Jak ran his tongue over the teeth of his grin, like an animal spying it's pray.

Reaching out, Amber's weapons flew back into her hands. She pushed off her knees to join Jak in the assault, but he charged before she was ready. "C'mon!" He screamed, sprinting at him.

Snorting in annoyance, Jasper took a fighting stance. Jak leapt into the air, drawing back his arm for another massive punch. Jasper took a quick step backwards, avoiding the blow by a hair's margin, and threw a right hook of his own before Jak could land.

Jak was sent flying across the room, but after rolling a few times he jumped up and skidded to a halt. "Iron Press!" Before he had a chance to look up, Jasper charged after him and slammed a massive forearm into Jak's torso. The two of them crashed through another shipping crate, and Jak was sandwiched between his opponent and the hull of the trawler by the time the dust had settled.

Jasper took a step back, allowing Jak to fall into the water. "Moron..." He mumbled, taking another moment to wipe his nose. Amber was half way across the room when he jumped in after Jak, falling through the water until it was up to his chest.

"Shelly, get him!" Amber ordered. "Use your electrical Spell!"

She took a step out from cover and ran along the side of the canal, a magic glow emanating from her fingertips. But she froze when Jasper turned to look at her. "Jak..." She mumbled, noticing he hadn't come up for air. "He's in the water too!"

"Right you are!" Jasper roared, finally raising his voice. "Got him right here, under my foot. So, unless you want him to drown, think about your next move very carefully."

The girls exchanged a glance, but Amber shook her head. They couldn't just give up; they'd made it so far. But Jak must be running out of air. More people would be coming soon, and she was already beginning to feel warn out. Her internal tug of war persisted on, but no clear solution came to mind. Her mind racing and without an answer, Amber slowly lowered her weapons.

Shelly dropped her sketchbook the second she saw Amber was backing down, and Jasper's amused grin returned. "Right then, good choice." He wiped his nose one last time, as the bleeding hadn't stopped, then looked at Shelly. "Alright, you. Little one. Go back to your cell and-."

The water suddenly lit up with a flash, and Jasper stumbled over his words. He looked into the murk, but could see nothing farther than a few inches. There was a splash behind him, and something coiled around his neck, yanking him down into the water before he could so much as utter a word.

Shelly ran to Amber's side, both watching the water churn and froth in a battle neither of them could see. "Where's Jak?" She said frantically. Amber remained silent, not sure what to make of any of what she was seeing. "Amber, where's-?"

Jasper suddenly broke the surface right at the canal's edge, throwing his arms up to clutch dry land. The condescending, confident expression he wore was gone, replaced by a look of shear panic. "Help me!" A shadow burst out of the water behind him, and a pair of huge, clawed, scaly hands grabbed him by the shoulders. Both he and whatever he was fighting shot below the water again, and the battle continued.

Shelly grabbed Amber's arm, and they both took a step back. "What...?" Was all Amber managed to say. It wasn't so much what she saw, but what she heard. In the half second between the thing appearing and Jasper disappearing, she caught an animalistic hiss. But it was different somehow; like it came from the throat, not from the lips. More of a growl than anything.

The trawler jumped in the water with a metallic thud, and with one final splash Jasper was thrown from the canal. Entirely this time; like he'd been shot out of a canon. He soared over their heads and crashed over another of the shipping containers upon his landing.

He lay on his back, eyes rolled back in his head, with a set of four large gashes across his chest. Blood began to pool in the cracks between the stone, and two of his teeth flew out of his mouth with a cough. Amber wondered what could have done this, but not for too long.

She felt Shelly's hand slowly grasp her forearm and begin shaking her. "Amber..." She said timidly. "T-turn around."

Another deep hiss, but this one was louder. Amber whipped around, and her jaw dropped. The first thing she saw where the eyes; yellow, reptilian, looking right at them. It stood upright like a human, but was covered in scales. At least, as much as they could see. It was waist deep in the water, but even still it towered over them. Clawed hands, one of which dripping blood, at the end of two massive, muscular arms.

A mouth full of interlocking teeth opened slightly, letting out a slow sigh. The half second of surprise broke, and Amber pulled Shelly back by the shoulder when it took a step forward. "J-Jak?" Shelly asked suddenly, stopping their retreat. "Is that you?"

The things massive, hunched head looked right at her, and the mouth opened slightly. "Yeah, why?"

The two of them dropped to their knees in relief. Amber couldn't tell how Shelly knew it was him, but she was glad she asked. More so that she was right. Shelly actually began to chuckle, even if she still couldn't seem to look the now monstrous Jak in the eye. "You look a little-."

"Out of the way!" Someone screamed from the other end of the room. A metal barrel flew over the girl's and slammed straight into Jak's reptilian head. The beast stumbled a moment, before splashing back into the canal.

Amber jumped to her feet, weapons at the ready. They'd been found out! Someone was about to sound the alarm and they'd be flooded by bandits again! Shelly grabbed her shoulder and pointed at the staircase. "There!" Someone dash over one of the larger shipping creates and onto the trawler, jumping off the bow at the monster. Amber thought she recognized them, but Shelly spoke up first and confirmed her thought. "It's Geno!"

Opening his eyes, the first thing Geno knew was pain. His head was throbbing; worse than any hangover he'd ever known. "Oh man..." He pushed himself up off a stone floor, but only made it to his knees before the pain in his head shot through his entire body. "What the hell did I eat?"

He waited a moment for the pain to go away, but he wasn't so lucky. The last thing he remembered, he had come back from gathering food for the others. Amber was asking questions about... Someone, while Axel started on dinner. He'd sat down in the tent to wait out the night and... Then nothing. He sat up straight and took a look around, trying to fill in the blanks.

His vision was a little hazy, probably a side effect of whatever was responsible for the mind shredding headache he was currently experiencing, but from what he could tell he was indoors. It looked like a jail cell, but the door was gone. Had they been arrested?

"Guys?" The second he spoke; his ears began to ring. Worsening the pain.

Against his better judgment, he got up to his feet. Somehow this seemed to quell whatever ailed him, but only until he stepped out of the cell. He began to feel sick to his stomach, but at least now he could see straight.

A handful of rough looking guys lay scattered around the room; there'd been a fight recently. He couldn't tell who, or how many, but someone kicked some ass not too long ago.

A sudden crash coming from the far entrance brought his headache back. Something was going on, and maybe the rest of his team was involved in it. His headache lessoning with every step, Geno made his way down a long staircase toward whatever was happening. This wasn't any police station he'd ever seen; something bad had happened to them while he was out of it.

The farther he descended, the more he thought he could hear water. Was his headache so bad that he was hearing things now? The next room was larger, and looked like a warzone. Cracked stone flooring, splintered wood and mangled metal containers. He spotted Amber and Shelly at the far and of the room, kneeling on the floor.

He was about to call out to them when he saw something else standing in the shadows. It was huge, looked like a human mixed with a lizard, but with huge teeth and stood almost fourteen feet tall. The situation looked clear to him: this thing had wrecked the room chasing after the girls. His headache persisting, Geno grabbed a nearby metal barrel next to him and hoisted it over his shoulder.

"Out of the way!" He cried, lobbing the barrel at the beast.

"I don't believe this..." Shelly cried, watching Geno leap at Jak's head. The two of them had been fighting for the past thirty seconds, despite Shelly yelling at them to stop so she could explain. "They are such guys..."

Amber watched as well, looking for some point in which she could jump in. Unfortunately, she feared getting in the way would get her killed. Geno was too fast for Jak to grab hold of, but his punches and kicks where useless against Jak's leathery skin. The stalemate wasn't likely to last: if Geno called on one of his weapons, or Jak made a bad step, the fight would take a drastic and unpleasant turn. "How do we stop them?"

Shelly huffed and thought for a second, in which the guys made another clash. A massive, leathery tail rose up and swatted Geno out of the air and towards the canal. Jak crashed into the water after him, almost flooding half the room. "Cover you’re ears." Amber did so, having a pretty good idea what the plan was. "Solid Script: Volts!"

A flash of lightning lit up the whole room, and the water the combatants where standing in was electrified. Geno went rigid and dropped to his knees on the wet floor, and Jak almost disappeared under the water when he fell over. Both made a slow recovery, Jak sitting upright in the water and Geno looking back at them. "The hell was-!"

"Stop it!" Shelly screamed, stomping back across the room. "Jak, he's our friend. He was kidnapped with us."

"Jak? Who the hell's-?" Geno stopped abruptly, clutching his forehead with a pained expression.

Rushing to his side, Amber caught Geno by the shoulders before he could get up again. That, and at the same time he looked like he was about to fall over. "Just... Wait a second."

Shelly returned after a moment, followed by Jak, who slowly morphed back to his human form with each step. He seemed oddly forgiving of Geno's sudden assault; probably quicker than Geno would have been had the positions been switched, Amber thought.

"Ok, first question..." Geno asked the second he could. "Why the bloody hell do I feel hungover?"

The girls exchanged a glance; of all things, that was pretty low on the priority list right now. "You... Ate a bunch of Knock-Out-Shrooms. You and Zeke had a whole bag full of them when you came back." Shelly explained.

Geno looked confused, trying to think back. "Naw, I swear they-."

"Guys, we should get going." Amber interrupted. There was no way their fight had gone unnoticed, and they couldn't allow themselves to be captured again. "We need to get out of here."

Shelly looked amazed that she'd overlooked that, but it was Jak who headed off first. "C'mon, I smell something this way."

Getting up to his feet, Geno watched Jak run to the far end of the room. "He smells something?" He asked, trying to massage the ache out of his forehead. "Is he like Axel, or something?"

Shelly pulled Amber by the arm after her, and shook her head as she answered. "No, I don't think so." She paused a moment to think. "Maybe it's because of that alligator thing he turns into, he can-."

"Crocodile." Geno corrected.

Spinning around, Shelly's expression was a mix of disbelief and irritation. "Huh?"

"It's a crocodile." He said again, looking a little woozy. "Bigger than a gator. Different color too."

"Ok, whatever." Amber jumped in again, trying to usher them along.

Shelly glared at him a moment longer, unable to fathom why such a detail was important right now. They rejoined Jak, currently sniffing around another staircase. "You said you need to go up, right?" He asked Shelly, pointing up the stairs. "How about this?"

"It's great." She mumbled in an annoyed tone, pushing Jak ahead of her. "Let's get going."

Amber followed after her, with Geno bringing up the rear. They where only a few steps in before Geno had another question however. "Hey, so... Where's Axel?" The girls both froze, as did Jak when he realized they'd stopped. Geno's voice got lower, sensing the tension in the air through his hazed mind. "And Zeke?"

Again, this seemed like something that would be better discussed at a later date. But Amber's stomach churned the second Geno brought it up, and she felt compelled to explain. That, and Geno could probably tell that whatever happened wasn't good. "The cliff we camped on... One of the bandits threw him off when we where attacked." Geno's eyes widened, and even though he wasn't there, Jak seemed to get the picture too. "I don't know what happened to Zeke."

Geno leaned against the wall, taking a moment to comprehend what he'd just heard. A hint of anger showed through his pained expression, something Amber hadn't seen from him before. "Where the hell are we?"

Two bandits scrambled through the halls, both seemingly trying to push past the other. "Guys!" One of them yelled between gasps for breath.

"We've..." The other continued in a similar fashion. "Got a big problem!"

The two of them skidded into a brightly lit room, occupied by around twenty other people. They where all making marry, drinking and laughing around a table. One man in particular stood out, and it was he who noticed them first. "What?" He yelled over the crowd. "The hell you two want?"

Slowly, the festivities died down, everyone turning their attention to the first new arrivals. One of the men pushed the other forward, nominating him to speak. “Oran, we..." He looked back at his companion, apparently not sure what to say. "We where checking on those you prisoners you brought in tonight... And."

"Fuck sake man." Oran spat impatiently, downing the rest of his drink in one swing. "Spit it out already! You're killing my vibe."

"They... Broke out." He said finally, turning away so as not to see Oran's reaction. "The cell's where open when we got there, and a bunch of our guys where knocked out."

Despite their apprehensions, Oran seemed disinterested. "So? Go find them." The pair of new arrives exchanged a glance, but by then Oran had another thought. "Actually, better idea. Who's up for a hunt?" He looked around at his companions, all of whom looked a bit confused. "Anyone who finds them get's an extra cut of whatever we sell them for. So if you catch all three you'll be set for fucking life!"

Oran kicked off the chair and up to his feet, waving for the others to follow. On the way past though, the first one spoke up again. "There's... Something else." Oran didn't stop, but some of the men he was drinking with did. "They let Jak out of his cell."

The group froze, but Oran barely looked over his shoulder. "Who?"

"Jak." One of the older bandits who'd been drinking spoke up. "The teenager. Scruffy looking, kind'a stupid." Oran stared at him with a blank expression, until the bandit said. "The one who uses Take-Over magic. Turns into a big alligator thing."

"Crocodile." One of them corrected.

"Whatever." The older one huffed.

"Oh..." Oran looked suppressed, but only for a moment. Slowly, his lips curled into a grin, "Oh, ha-hahahaha. Awesome!" He only seemed more excited now. "This night just keeps. Getting. Better!"

He grabbed one of the two new arrives and dragged him out the door with him, looking just as giddy as a six-year-old at Christmas. "Someone go tell Django." One of the other bandits said as they all began to leave the table. "He'll probably want to know about this."

Oran stopped dead in his tracks. Before anyone had the chance to ask him what was wrong, he grabbed a bottle off one of the tables and lobbed it back at them. "NO!" The bottle shattered over one of their heads, but not the one who spoke up. "This is my game!" He approached them again, getting right up in his face. The group stood frozen, not sure what to say. "Now, bro's real busy right now." Oran explained slowly. "It'd be a real damn shame to bother him with this, given all the work he's got to do. Don't'cha think?"

The bandit nervously glanced at the guy Oran threw a bottle at, wondering if it had been him that bottle was intended for. "Y-yeah. Sure boss."

Oran continued to glare at him, but soon his anger subsided with a relaxed grin. "You see? I'm a reasonable guy when you give me the chance." He turned away, waving for the others to come after him. "So stop pissin' yourselves and let's get this hunt underway!"

Next Chapter – We Can't Help