The Guardians of Fire, Water, Fauna and Fear
Pyro looked back at the Phoenix hoping the poor man would wake up soon. This planet may be barren, but as he knew, lonliness was it's own monster.
Finishing his thoughts, Pyro turned to Ross. "Why'd you come back? I thought you'd left with the others to search. Why would you come back to Fauna and I?"
Ross laughed jokingly at his friend's inattentiveness. "Were you napping or did you actually not notice when I left?" Ross shudders as he recalls the ordeal he went through while he was away, especially the dream of Pyro and Remillia. "I left earlier, came back and everyone was gone."
Pyro kicked himself for his stupidity, but shakes it off. "Sorry, that Fire Demon reminded me of the old days...Not that there's much to remind me of. Other than what I told you, I can't remember a thing." Pyro peers out into the distance. "So what do you think we'll find out here? Fire-proof monsters bent on eating us?"
"Tch, fire-proof won't be a problem, and with Fauna here-" Ross paused to indicate their primal associate, only to find that he wasn't there. "Err...Fire=proof won't be a problem," he said hurriedly. Ross looked down quickly and felt color rush to his cheeks. He can't quite tell if he's embarrassed or something else. ((Caff, if you say anything I swear to god...That goes for you, too, Sheep >-> ))
Fauna followed the duo from a distance; he'd heard enough already. Darkness? That explains a lot. A Fire Demon? Personally, the Guardian of Fire only seems like trouble...Then again, Ross seems to trust 'Pyro'...and Ross isn't a bad guy. Should I give it a shot? Eventually, he gives in to himself and jogs up to the duo. All he catches from their conversation is the word "Problem." Will this world ever run out of them?
Ross heard the dry snow crunching behind him and turned to see Fauna running to catch up. He smiled over his shoulder and called, "Glad to see you caught up!" But Fauna's only response was a smile of acknowledgement.
After a while, no one had anything left to say, and none of them really felt like making small talk, so everyone just kept walking in a companionable silence.
After only a surprisingly short while, Ross felt his power growing stronger with each step. They were nearing water, he could feel it. He mumbled to himself, confused, "But I never created any water except for the lake...Sure, Airis' tornado spread some around, but not nearly this much...Maybe melted snow? That'd make sense, but none of the snow anywhere else has melted yet, why would it here?"
He looked up, startled by realization. He looked behind him, expecting to see a trail of puddles from Pyro's heat, but instead it was dry. He'd have merely brushed it off, but Pyro was no where near hot enough to make the snow evaporate, or Ross himself would have been steaming. The water was flowing ahead of them, underneath the main body of snow.
Soon enough, the group reached the water. It was exactly what Ross had been expecting: A river carved through the snow. He knew that eventually the flowing water would work away at the dirt underneath. Someday, he'd have to thank the Phoenix for making his job easier. Without a word, he changed course and headed downstream.
Pyro continued walking, complaining to himself about how much he hated the snow and wishing he could strangle the bastard who caused it. In his private rant, he had barely noticed Ross change direction, and nearly stumbled into the water. Cursing himself for not seeing it earlier, but thanking the heavens that Ross hadn't seen his blunder, he runs to catch up and asks, "Did you make this?"
Ross looked over at the water. After deducing that it had been formed by melted snow, he really hadn't given it any more thought. "No, but I won't complain. We've found a landmark, all that's left is to see where it takes us."
Ross hears a foreign sound coming from the water, and at first he is dumbfounded by it. After much staring and squinting, he sees pink scaly creatures leaping in and out of the water. Fauna's mere presence seems to be enough to progress his element. Lucky him.
After following the others quietly for a while, they all reached a river. Fauna chuckled inwardly as Pyro nearly fell in. Ross suggested that they follow the river, and Fauna supposed that was an alright idea.
Quietly at first, but then louder, a new sound inserted itself into the ambiance of the river. Fauna was overjoyed to hear it because he knew exactly what it was: Fish! Immediately, Fauna dove headfirst into the water and saw them. Small, pink-scaled things they were. He felt himself changing and heard new voices around him, the voices of the fish.
Ross stared, wide-eyed, as Fauna dove directly into the water. He had wanted to do so himself since the moment he saw the river, but he didn't know if Pyro could swim. But when Fauna entered the water, he seemed to disappear, but Ross knew he was still there. He could feel his friend's presence in the water.
Ross turns to Pyro, who is dumbfounded as well. "We'll just let him follow along in the river. I'm sure we'll reach something eventually."
And soon enough, they did. They came across a man- Another Guardian? He was just sitting on a rock mumbling to himself, something about fear. Was he afraid of something? After a few moments of picking up words here and there, Ross started to get inklings that this was the Guardian of Fear. If this was the case, why did Ross feel so comfortable approaching him? After a moment of hesitation, he spoke up. "Hey there."
Is there any place for me in this world? How is fear a helpful force? Am I evil? I don't wanna be the bad guy..
"Hey there," came a voice from behind the man. He stood hurriedly, embarrassed and surprised.
He tried to laugh it off, however ineffectually. "Heh, hi there. Who are you?"[/COLOR]
"I'm Ross, the Guardian of Water. These are my friends Pyro and -" For the second time in not so long, Ross turned to indicate his animalistic pal only to find that he wasn't there. "This is my friend Pyro, the Guardian of Fire. You are?" Ross gave the stranger a reassuring smile.
Still laughing awkwardly, he introduces himself. "I'm Takot, the Guardian of Fear. What are you doing here?"
"Oh, we were just wandering around, seeing what we could find on this ball of dirt. Why are you out here all alone, Takot?" It was probably just his imagination, but the name tasted funny in Ross' mouth....If it was possible for a name to have a foul taste, this one did. Hopefully that wouldn't persist long.
Fauna followed along downstream until he saw Ross and Pyro stop and initiate conversation with a stranger. Some guy named Takot. He stopped and tried to listen in, but a bustling fish caught him in the side. Fauna stops him from advancing to ask him why he was swimming so fast. The creature told him, "It's that creature up there. Rumors have spread upstream about how he makes the water feel...wrong. Now that I'm here, I know the rumors are true and I just want to get out of here!"
Once all the fish were out of sight, Fauna metamorphed back into his Guardian form and leaves the river. He approached silently, and no one even really noticed him arrive. Even so, the conversation hadn't really progressed past introductions.
Initially, Pyro doesn't want to say anything, he feels to anxious to do so. How the hell is Ross talking to this guy....Hell it looks like he's making the Guardian of Fear himself nervous. After the focus of his thoughts shifted to Ross instead of this Takot guy, Pyro felt his anxiety melt away like, well, snow under his feet. He feels that he should say something, but has nothing to say, so he just watches.
((I spent over an hour formatting...and I insert the color codes as I go...Oh well, I'm finally done. GG))