Paws of Fire: Tiger in Town - Chapter 5
#10 of Paws of Fire: Tiger in Town
Chapter 5: Furry Fury
Jalhamut opened his eyes after he heard a loud roar of agony come from the behemoth that was about to destroy Zephyr and himself. The sight he was greeted with gave him such great joy. "Aveyi...you found me..."
Ice shards were impaling the great beast in every spot on his body, some piercing through completely while others were lodged inside, stuck until they would start melting. The white wolfess was on her icey transportation, her paw held out as ice shot fomo her paw. She glided down toward the two nearly defeated males huddled by the river. Jalhamut noticed a white wolf that was similar to her on the ice board. That must have been Nick, Aveyi's mate who recently returned from his original world.
Nick had died once in this world already, and made the decision to give up his life in his original world to come back in the form of his closest animal. Naturally, he became a white wolf just like his mate.
Aveyi and Nick jumped off the board. The behemoth let out another roar as it slightly recovered from the ice barrage. Aveyi grunted, annoyed that after using so much of her energy, the beast was still kicking. She hardly did anything but stall for time. "King Jalhamut. Are you fit to fight? This beast doesn't have much longer to live. We must hold him off before he terrorizes anybody else!" Aveyi's paws sported the blue flame of fury again, but this was righteous fury. She smiled, looking at Jalhamut with a nod of approval.
The cheetah got to his feet, pulling Zephyr upright. The gray wolf was shaken from the close encounters he's been dealing with lately, but Aveyi's presence gave him renewed strength. Nick jogged over to Zephyr. "Sir, I'll watch him. I'm no good against that thing. Help Aveyi, take that bastard down!"
Jalhamut nodded to Nick, unsheathing his claws. Zephyr would be okay. The ice sorceress was experienced with behemoths, and Jalhamut would give his life to defend his new friend. He felt a closeness to the gray wolf that he once felt for the fallen human Daniel. His gaze drifted back to the behemoth. It was done trying to scare the group of furs. It was time for a fight.
"This way!" Aveyi sprinted as fast as she could away from Nick and Zephyr. Jalhamut followed, keeping to the same speed as the white wolfess. Jalhamut looked behind him, the behemoth already caught up to them and making a retching motion through his body. He was about to use the rotting breath to harm them. "Breath!" He shouted to her, hoping she knew behemoths enough to understand what was happening.
Aveyi smirked, "Perfect." She turned and held both of her blazing paws out in front of her, facing the beast and forming a large ball of ice. The beast opened his maw, letting the green haze flush out partway. However, Aveyi sent the ball hurdling into the beast's giant maw. Jalhamut stopped by her, watching as only a silver of the green haze actually escaped. He wrinkled his nose at the horrible smell, but it was nothing more than a light smell. "I wanted to give him a breathmint before we actually tried fighting him. Now we need to wash him!" Aveyi had this air of triumph around her. This was childsplay to the experienced wolfess!
The behemoth swallowed the ice, gagging for a second as he worked the giant ball into his body. He bellowed out another one of his breath attacks, but the smell that came out was a cold, gentle stench. It would take a lot more to sweep them powerless now, and the behemoth knew that. "Well done!" Jalhamut shouted before he saw the beast lunging at her. He quickly jumped at Aveyi who was distracted with pride. He pushed her away in time to take the nasty hit to his own pelt.
Jalhamut was tossed far away from the other two combatants, rolling along flat hellish moorland until he stopped. His side felt bruised, but the room he was given to roll made the hit sustainable. He got to his feet, dashing back to the fight.
Aveyi mounted a new iceboard, flying through the air and pummeling the beast with ice again. Jalhamut noticed that the beast was still bleeding from where he dismembered him. Surely if he cut him up in more areas, he could slowly end the behemoth through bleeding. When it was looking away, trying to claw at Aveyi in the air, he swiped his claws fiercely at one of its hind legs. But just before contact, the behemoth picked up that hind paw and stopped down hard on him.
Jalhamut let out a caterwaul of pain. He wasn't completely crushed, thanks to the soft mud giving way under him and his strong body, but he was damaged...he was out of the fight after that blow. The behemoth turned, grinning in a triumphant way as it picked up a foreclaw and swiped down at the battered Jalhamut.
Suddenly, the claw flung just aside from Jalhamut as Aveyi sent a block of ice careening into the side of the beast's claw. She glided down from her board, trying to catch up Jalhamut to rescue him, but the beast brought up its mighty claw and smacked her with great ferocity. The wolfess was sent flying through the air, howling in pain. Nick howled in despair, fearing that she might have perished from such a harsh blow. He ran to her aid.
Jalhamut looked up, straining to roll over from the mold of himself in the ground. He watched the behemoth trot over to the only one left standing alone...Zephyr. The gray wolf ran as fast as he could from the beast, but it was catching up.
"No..." Jalhamut whimpered lightly as he watched helplessly as the behemoth caught up to him and swiped his claw at him. Blood shot from the wolf as he was impaled through his chest. The gray wolf stared sightlessly into the distance, and slowly down to Jalhamut. "No...no...No...NO!" His mind whirled with rage. As the behemoth flung Zephyr off of its claw, Jalhamut slowly got to his feet, staring at the ground. His body trembled, the blood of gods seeming to rejuvinate his strength.
The beast ignored defiling Zephyr's body and ran straight for the cheetah. It roared loudly in triumph as it approached the king with great speed. It rose its paw up high before stomping down right on top of the shivering cheetah.
After the beast stomped on the ground, there was silence. Aveyi limped on Nick's shoulder as they watched Jalhamut get crushed. Zephyr laid motionless, eyes open as they looked on into nothingness.
Aveyi bowed her head, whimpering. "He's...he's gone..." Nick held her close, looking at the beast that was roaring up into the sky as if he just defeated the strongest being in existence.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAA!" Green flashes of three lines sliced across the body of the beast, sending him into a crouch as it tried to pinpoint what was hurting it. Then the blur of orange was still for a second, showing the nude body of the cheetah. His paws were glowing green, as were his eyes. Nick nudged Aveyi to get her to look up. "Aveyi...he's alive!"
Aveyi looked up, gasping as she saw Jalhamut standing there, his paws and eyes glowing from the green flame. "He's...he's like me...and Uraku..." She observed how Uraku's eyes and paws would glow in a red flame to give him extra strength, and she had blue flames to give her greater power. Jalhamut looked up at the behemoth, his arms hanging down beside him as he glared angrily at the beast.
The behemoth swiped again at the king, trying to crush him under its weight, but as soon as that claw was about to make contact with Jalhamut, he reached up his green glowing paw and batted it away with speed that was so fast, Aveyi saw the end of his attack appear first, then the start of it. "He...he's faster than light!"
The behemoth wailed loudly as that claw, and the lower half of its forearm twisted and bent out of place. It was broken beyond any repair. Jalhamut crouched before he seemed to disappear. A loud roar of fury rang out through the moorland as the frame of the cheetah seemed to phase in and out at random places, blood gushing out from wound after forming wound as he carried on his onslaught. Moments later, he skidded to a halt and dust fluttered out from under his feet. His claws were stretched out behind him as he ended his attack, retracting them and turning to see what he had accomplished.
The behemoth no longer moved except for the chunks that simply fell out of place in patterns of claw marks. The cheetah's eyes and paws dimmed, and he was back to normal. He looked over at the lifeless body of Zephyr, letting out a weak cry of anguish. "Never again!"
The cheetah fell to his knees, then fell face down into the dirt. His body was exhausted, and he didn't have the energy to go on and fell unconcious.