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Journeys of Time 17: ...The preys... This story is copyrighted to SashaWS/ArtisticEastern, containing characters owned by various people used with permission. Any usage or posting of this story under the claim of being your own is not approved and you will be requested to remove it or face charges.

"So what exactly are we hunting? I hope we are not going for those rattlers. The last thing I want is a hot welcome to a location I don't know." Tenchi said half-jokingly as Hildegaard gave her a face saying "And you don't think I wanna avoid them too." before swinging her polearm, "We are hunting Catlha salamanders. They are not poisonous, but they are producing a synthetic oil close to that of garancza berries."

Tenchi murred as she remembered those delicacies. While the others like Janch saw the misnamed peppers as a torture to keep youngsters in check, Tenchi had found them to be just her kind of food, not hiding it at all as she looked at Hildegaard who tilted her head, "You do realize we are close to a place where they grow too?"

Hildegaard felt Tenchi pulling on her with a growl, "Then what are we waiting for? Lets go and get some!" She sighed and smiled, "Okay, but we might find some lavascales too." Hildegaard took Tenchi by the shoulder as they began to walk into the forest, feeling the warm currents under their feet.

The deeper they went into the forest, the more the stench of brimstone filled the air and much to their surprise, the small lava craters seemed a bit undisturbed, "Look here, Tenchi. The magma in these craters are more rock-like than fluid. Must been undisturbed for a century at least." Tenchi didn't listen to Hildegaard as she already found what she had wanted, garancza berries, which she was picking from the branches carefully and put in a basket hanging from the side of Arashi, who stood proudly and let her rider fill the basket up, making Hildegaard roll her eyes, "You really like those, don't you?"

Tenchi finished up picking a bush clean before she began with the next, the sudden rustling of leafs breaking her concentration as she readied her sword, only for a small and rather cute salamander coming out and seeming scared of seeing Tenchi and Hildegaard as it turned tail and ran through the bushes. Hildegaard looked at it and smiled, "Oh good, we are near a nest of them." Tenchi took one of the berries and put it in her mouth before biting down hard on it, igniting the oil filling her maw to release a red flame that proudly went at least five feet in the air, but the sound of rumbling magma broke the moment as Hildegaard and Tenchi watched the craters soon erupting to release six angry looking lavascales.

"Oops, guess I disturbed you all. No worries, we are here for a good reason." Tenchi began to speak before offering her throat, but the response wasn't what she and Hildegaard had hoped for when a lava projectile flew past Tenchi's head, a quick growl from Hildegaard alerting the other wyverns to stand back as Tenchi looked at the one who had fired the molten mass into the tree behind her, "How rude. Don't you have any manners?"

The lavascale growled before firing another projectile, which Tenchi dodged and soon another as a second one attempted to hit Tenchi, seeming to wanna distract her. Tenchi quickly sidestepped every projectile coming her way, even once swinging her sword to send the projectile aside before a sudden gasp was heard as two of them had snuck up behind and attempted to get to Hildegaard, who was moving backwards as one of them lunged itself at her.

Tenchi was quickly moving in close to Hildegaard before throwing a sucker punch that struck the side of the wyvern's muzzle, sending it to the ground before the next one met the same fate. Looking back at Hildegaard, she seemed a bit shocked, "Why are you not defending yourself?" Hildegaard whimpered, "I do not wanna hurt them. I swore to never hurt a wyvern, even if in self-defense." Tenchi sighed, "How annoying that rule is. I follow it, but if it means I must let someone in the tribe get hurt or die, then I am willing as the prime to break the cycle and deal a fair defense. Honor is only given when honor is earned. These wyverns are not honorable if they wanna hurt you."

To prove her point, Tenchi was punching away a lavascale attempting to get to her, watching it fly back into a tree before she heard the remaining two growling loudly as the larger crater nearby soon erupted to reveal what must have been the matriarch. Tenchi looked at the size of the big girl and whistled, "You sure ate your berries and burned the bad ones, didn't you?" Trying her luck again, Tenchi exposed her throat to the big female, but much to Tenchi's surprise and to Hildegaard's shock, the female spewed out a lavafall over Tenchi, completely covering her as the female's scream echoed through the forest, "Tenchi, no!!!"

Hildegaard fell to her knees, tears forming in her eyes before falling down her face, "No, Tenchi..." The lavascales were turning to face her before growling as they approached her, Hildegaard completely sunk into her own sadness, "I... I wanted you to come along to strengthen our bond. And now... now..." Hildegaard grasped the polearm laying in front of her, "Now you are dead!" Hildegaard's wings shot out, before ice crystals began to grow from them, the wyverns growling before firing their projectiles, only for Hildegaard to slap them away with her wings, her eyes completely focusing on them before turning ice-blue, "Honor be damned. You killed a Frostclaw. I... I..." The piercing chill made the two young lavascales almost turn tail as Hildegaard suddenly took the shape of an ice-clad bladetail wyvern and roared out loudly, "By the holy wyvern deity herself, I will give you a wish for the After!"

The big female lavascale let out a bellowing roar as she let loose another lavafall that sprayed Hildegaard down, but with her cold temperature, the lava solidified to rock before her scales vibrated to tear it down into gravel and the matriarch seemed confused before firing a bigger projectile of lava than the youngsters that seemed to cheer her on, even as Hildegaard was responding with shooting projectiles of ice to block the oncoming assault.

The block created a solid ice wall from the humid air around them and with a loud roar, Hildegaard broke out of her wyvern form before forming the signature weapon of every Frostclaw, the frozen claws, on one hand before striking the ice wall, forming projectiles that crashed into the matriarch, solidifying most of her body and her cry of desperation made the young wyverns attempt to heat her up by firing projectiles at her.

Hildegaard focused her mind before the claw soon grew into covering her entire arm and just as she leaped up towards the matriarch, Tenchi broke the solid rock from around her, only leaving a few concealed areas as she cracked her head to the side, "Now that was quite a... squeeze." Tenchi's eyes went wide as Hildegaard blocked another lava projectile coming her way and in front of her own eyes, Hildegaard swung her arm and delivered a giant slap that froze half the face on the matriarch before it was sent crashing through trees and forced the youngsters to cover in fear as Hildegaard landed.

Looking at the large matriarch laying on her side unconscious, Hildegaard looked down at her own hands and lowered her ears, "No, I couldn't have." She was tearing up before turning to face what she thought was the solid rock grave of Tenchi, her eyes widening when she did see Tenchi alive and well, but Tenchi's expression was that of shock, which matched Hildegaard's own when the last remaining rock broke off to reveal Tenchi in all of her full glory and for Hildegaard to cover her face. Tenchi was about to ask, but looking down at herself, she was quickly looking up at Hildegaard, shocking her with what came next out of her muzzle, "Come on, don't pretend that you do not like it."

Hildegaard blushed before remembering what she had done, but Tenchi did ask her first, "Why did you punch that big wyvern?" Hildegaard began to cry, "I thought they had killed you... I couldn't hold myself back from teaching them a thing or two about judgment. But... but... I punched a wyvern. I hurt it. I violated the honorable code of the Frostclaws. I gonna be executed!" Tenchi looked at Hildegaard before smiling, "Didn't my dad tell you that I am fireproof? That involves magma too."

Hildegaard was quiet before shaking her head, quickly undressing herself and threw her outfit to Tenchi, "Here, use mine. It is... more than fair that you get a show when... I got one myself." Tenchi giggled, "Awww, and here I thought you liked seeing me naked." Hildegaard blushed, "I do, it is just... I didn't expect you to be fireproof." Tenchi pulled the outfit on and found it matching her perfectly, "Ohh, we are the same size. But what you gonna wear?" Hildegaard smiled as she turned around to show herself off fully, "What? You do not like me naked?"

Tenchi bit her own tongue before a soft growl was heard and both Hildegaard and Tenchi turned to look at the matriarch standing near them, half of the face frozen, but in the massive jaws hung a whole collection of salamanders, all carefully dealt with. Hildegaard smiled, "For me?" The matriarch exposed her throat and Hildegaard quickly lowered it before exposing her own one, to which the matriarch lowered her muzzle before Tenchi went through the same and the salamanders were dropped on the ground and Hildegaard was quickly skinning and butchering them with such precise cuts it seemed she had been a promising hunter in prime, but still was.

The pelts and meat were soon stuffed into the baskets on all the wyverns and amazing enough, the matriarch kept hunting and every now and then a lavascale youngster would jump at Tenchi and from what it seemed, playfully attempt to procreate with her, but Tenchi had not given in to it, much to their dismay. Hildegaard on the other hand helped to spruce up the nests for the wyverns by adding a quick mixture of garancza berry juice and a pheromone from the matriarch, which seemed to even work on Tenchi who suddenly had an urge to lay down in a nest, but her less feral side was still in control of her, so it wouldn't happen.

As the final nest was done, Hildegaard walked off for a quick moment and soon came back with an outfit made from leafs, tree fibers and even some vines, making Tenchi whistle, "You sure know how to live in the wild." Hildegaard smiled, "I had to learn it so I could keep mom fed." They both shared a laugh before the lavascales growled their farewell and crawled back into their craters while Tenchi and Hildegaard headed towards the west, to the place known to many as Rywigo's Valley, the wyvern graveyard, the resting place of the tribe's loyal companions, "Tenchi, it is time to see the proud legacy of the Frostclaw Tribe first hand."

The End.