Dragon Conjurer 5, page 25
“Welcome to Silva Air, we have a couple of hours of flight ahead of us, so sit back and relax.” Silva’s voice crackled over the comms system, and the jet’s engine rumbled to life. “Thank you for flying with us today. We know you have no other options, and as always, if you have any complaints, you can go fuck yourselves.”
We all chuckled as Silva took us out of the hangar, and it wasn’t long before we’d made it down the runway and lurched uncomfortably off the ground.
“Hey, Steffi, what did the pixies say about Bruce?” Nick asked as soon as we were in the air.
“They called him a ‘lumbering idiot,’” Steffi laughed and glanced over her shoulder at us. “They also said his hair looked like dandelion fluff gone wrong.”
“Oh, that’s great!” Nick cackled and clapped his hands together. “Did they say anything about Johnny?”
“The pixies did mention something about ‘spiny moss the color of carrots,’” Steffi chuckled. “I assumed they meant Johnny. It was a little frustrating not to be able to get anything useful out of them, but I must admit, I enjoyed listening to them bash all over Bruce and his team. The pixies said their attacks were really uncoordinated, they didn’t work together at all, and that it was really easy to confuse them.”
“Awesome, I love it,” Nick laughed loudly.
“Did we want to take a look at the briefing?” Nala held the folder up.
“Might as well.” Nick shrugged.
“Could be a good idea,” Elisabeth agreed as she knotted her coppery hair in a tight bun at the back of her head.
“Team Leader?” Nala raised a teasing eyebrow at me and held out the folder.
“Alright.” I cleared my throat as I flipped the folder open, and then I scanned the information quickly. “Tsuchinoko tend to be a few feet long, but as Phoenix said, they can jump three or four times their body length. They’re highly venomous, so let’s keep that in mind, no telling if AIMM has an anti-venom for these things. They’ve been identified as being near the Bone Cave Natural Area, a park that contains at least four hundred acres and at least nine miles of caverns and caves that were originally dug by miners gathering saltpeter during the War of 1812 and the Civil War.”
“Are the caves all connected?” Ronin asked.
“It doesn’t seem like it, no.” I shook my head. “A lot of times miners would follow the natural deposits of whatever they were mining, so the tunnels can go on for miles or stop after a few yards. They can be really confusing, and it can be really easy to get lost, so keep your heads about you.”
“Don’t wander off,” Nick said. “Got it, anything else?”
“Not much, no.” I scanned the page again and shook my head. “I think that’s all we’ve got other than what Ronin and Phoenix already told us about the Tsuchinoko.”
“Sounds like this will be fun,” Nick said as we settled into our seats.
“Did you enjoy your training session with Ronin and El?” Nala asked as she leaned her head on my shoulder and sighed contentedly.
“Yes, very much,” I chuckled quietly.
“Good.” The dark-haired girl smiled sweetly. “I’m glad. I like Ronin, she’s sweet, and one hell of a fighter.”
“She’s pretty special.” I nodded.
“Steffi likes her, too,” Nala murmured.
“Yeah,” I chuckled. “I kind of figured as much by your devious plans in the training room.”
“That was totally her idea,” Nala giggled. “I just suggested the part about the wading pool.”
“Well, it was a great touch.” I smiled.
“I take it Elisabeth likes Ronin, too?” Nala twisted a dark curl around her finger.
“I think that’s a safe statement,” I said.
“I’m really glad.” Nala smiled. “I just want you to be happy, and I’m sure Steffi and Elisabeth would agree with me on that.”
“You all make me very happy.” I pressed a kiss to the top of her head and scooted down in my seat to catch a nap during our flight to Tennessee.
“Dylan, wake up, we’re here,” Nala’s voice pulled me gently out of my slumber.
“Already?” I stretched the sleep from my body and rubbed a hand aggressively across my eyes. I felt the same energy as I’d felt earlier in the holographic jungle start to slowly build in my body as my dragons seemed to stretch and awaken, too.
“Come on, we’ve got some walking to do before we get to the caves where the Tsuchinoko are supposed to be,” Phoenix said as he returned from the back of the jet where he’d tugged on his simple, black mission clothes.
“Our turn,” Steffi said, and she and my other ladies stepped back to change into their AIMM-assigned clothes for the Tennessee mission.
They returned a few minutes later dressed in similar dark brown shirts, tactical pants, and leather hiking boots. As usual, Elisabeth’s clothes were practically skin-tight to ensure they stayed in place during her transformations, and Steffi’s shirt was tailored to have a large opening for her wings across her back and shoulders.
Ronin deftly twisted her long hair into two matching braids and pinned them up in a beautiful knot at the nape of her neck, and Nala tightened her belt around her narrow waist.
Kitsune pulled a small jar of hair gel from somewhere and applied a liberal amount to his short hair to secure each strand in place, and Nick cocked a blond eyebrow at the narrow Japanese cadet.
“It cuts down on wind drag,” the speedster said with a shrug.
“Huh.” The nymph nodded. “Makes sense.”
“Alright, kids, y’all ready?” Silva asked.
“Almost,” I said as I grabbed my mission clothes from the small cabinet and stepped to the back to change.
AIMM had provided me with the usual heavy leather boots with thick treads that were ideal for hiking through mountainous terrain, a tan shirt, and dark brown pants in a heavy fabric. I dressed quickly and joined my team.
“Let’s get going.” Doppelganger rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles.
“No sense in dawdling,” Kitsune agreed.
We all left the jet and bade Silva a goodbye, and then we gathered around Steffi while she studied the map of the local area.
“Since Silva had to land so far away, we’ve got at least twenty minutes of hiking to get to where we need to be,” Steffi decided.
“I bet we can cut some time off that,” I said with a grin.
“Maybe we will get to see if you can keep up with me, plant boy,” Kitsune said jokingly to Nick.
“Oh, you are on, speedy pants.” Nick pointed his fingers at the narrow speedster with a huge grin.
“‘Speedy pants?’” Nala laughed.
“What?” The blond guy threw his hands up. “Not good?”
“Come on, guys,” I laughed. “Pick up the pace.
We started toward a hiking trail that led away from the isolated state road, and I noticed several “under construction” signs posted around. The road itself was blocked from access not far behind us, but there wasn’t a single piece of equipment in the area, and from what I could tell, this road didn’t look to be in need of any repairs.
I smirked as I realized AIMM must have marked this whole area off to avoid any civilians wandering into monster territory.
We walked in silence for several minutes along the trail, and I noticed all of my teammates carefully studying the terrain to get comfortable in the new environment we’d be fighting in soon.
The forest, while filled with tall oak and maple trees, was not nearly as dense as the jungle in Mexico had been. There was much more space to maneuver, and I knew this boded well for my dragons. Now that they were all larger than African elephants, it had become difficult for them to get around in tight spaces.
The trail was narrow and littered with hunks of calcite and quartz rocks, and after a few minutes, both Steffi and Phoenix had spread out their wings to hover more comfortably over the rocky terrain.
“Show off,” Ronin muttered.
“We should be getting closer,” I said as we came around a bend in the trail. “Keep your eyes out.”
Nala crouched down low to lay her palms flat on the packed earth of the trail we’d followed, and her eyebrows knitted together as she focused.
“I don’t sense anything slithering around,” Nala said.
“Nick, what about you?” I asked.
The nymph was phased halfway into the trunk of a nearby maple tree, and he furrowed his brow.
“My read through the plants isn’t as strong as Nala’s through her element yet, but I can’t feel anything moving in the brush besides the breeze,” Nick reported.
“Alright, keep checking,” I said.
We walked a few more minutes down the path and came out into an open area where a small, shallow valley sprawled out before us.
The trees were further apart and much taller in this area, and huge outcroppings of rock jutted up from the ground on either side of a calm river that flowed lazily through the deepest part of the valley. There was a large flat area of rock just above one side of the bank, and it looked like it had been smoothed down by the river as it ate away into the earth over the last several hundred-thousand years. Further beyond the flat stone, I could see the mouth of a dark cave that led down into the earth.
The view was gorgeous, but not as striking as the several beautiful women we found lounging around on the rock ledge on the riverbank.
“What the fuck?” I muttered and came to a stop.
The women were gorgeous in a strange and exotic way, with long dark hair twisted up in traditional looking top knots and fancy, twisted buns. They had dark, piercing eyes, but the weirdest thing about them was their bare feet and outlandishly sexy satin dresses in bright jewel tones.
How or why the hell they’d hiked here looking like that, I couldn’t imagine, but they looked entirely out of place in the middle of the rugged forest.
I found there were at least eleven of the sultry beauties within eyesight after a quick head count, but then I noticed Nick was looking a little dreamy beside me.
“Woah,” Nick murmured, and his entire posture relaxed as he set eyes on the gorgeous women. “You see that?”
“Yeah, I see,” I muttered uneasily.
“They’re so beautiful.” Phoenix nodded with an almost hypnotized look in his eyes.
“What the hell are they wearing?” Steffi whispered as she hovered low in the air, and she crossed her arms in a slightly defensive way.
“They don’t exactly look like they’re out for a hike,” Nala agreed.
“I don’t like the look of this,” Elisabeth said.
“Me, neither,” I agreed, but I couldn’t decide why I had an uneasy feeling in my gut.
The women were certainly gorgeous, but I couldn’t shake how out of place their exotic curves and attire looked out here. Plus, the road had been blocked off, but there could have been another access point to this trail from another direction.
“Keep your wits about you,” I muttered to my team. “I’m not sure if--”
“Hey, ladies,” Phoenix called out and threw a charming smile at the suspiciously gorgeous women.
“Mind if we join you?” Nick asked.
“Dude,” I hissed and nudged my dreamy-eyed friend.
“We have a mission, and you’re being an idiot,” Nala growled as she clutched the back of Nick’s shirt.
“But they’re so gorgeous,” Nick whispered. “We can spare five minutes, right?”
I furrowed my brow as the nymph stared longingly at the ladies.
“We’re on a fucking mission,” I said more firmly. “Where the hell is your mind at?”
Then I realized a few of the exotically beautiful women had risen to their feet and started to wave us over. Their dresses were barely scraps of satin draped precariously over their breasts and hips, and both Phoenix and Nick were grinning like drunks at the group now.
“Dylan, something’s coming,” Nala said quietly, and tension was clear in her shoulders where she knelt down to touch the rock bed beneath our feet. “Something slithery.”
“Shit,” I muttered and scanned the trees instead of the exotic bodies in front of me.
Then I noticed the swarm of snake-like monsters slithering out from the brush in every direction.
They were a few feet long with unusually thick middles, and their mouths opened wide as they let out a chorus of disturbing hissing sounds and bared their long fangs at us. Milky, yellow venom dripped slowly from the mouths of the hideous sausage-like snakes, and from what I could tell, they were gliding toward the huge flat rock where the beautiful ladies were gathered.
“It’s the Tsuchinoko,” Ronin said through gritted teeth.
“Hey, watch out for those snakes!” I called out in warning.
The beautiful women seemed entirely oblivious or completely unconcerned by the swarm of nearly a hundred Japanese snake monsters that rapidly surrounded them. The group of exotic women all rose to their feet.
“Do not worry about us,” the woman closest to us said in a scratchy voice that sent a chill down my spine. “Worry about yourselves.”
“What?” I gasped.
“What?” Ronin asked as she glanced at me. “Did you understand that?”
“You didn’t?” I asked.
“No.” My Japanese lover shook her head.
“It just sounded like knives on glass,” Nala said.
“Shit, I think we’ve got another combo monster mission on our hands, guys.” I tugged lightly on the collar of my shirt. “Exokyzo.”
Ky appeared from my tattoo in a flash of cold, blue light and immediately locked his sapphire eyes on the group of women. My ice dragon’s lip curled up as he let out a threatening snarl.
The beautiful women’s shoulders hunched suddenly in a weirdly synchronized movement, and huge, spindly spider legs spread out from behind their backs. They blinked at us in unison, and two more sets of eyes appeared above and below their piercingly beautiful human eyes.
Then the spider-women lurched creepily forward, and the Tsuchinoko moved in a disturbing ballet around them.
“What the fuck?” Nick cried out in shock and shook his head as the hideous monster women showed their true forms.
“Holy shit,” Phoenix gasped.
“They are Jorogumo,” Wisp finally spoke up.
She and the other more serious cadets had remained quietly at the back of the group, but they stepped forward now as the reality of the beautiful women’s identities became clear.
“They are Japanese monsters, as well,” Kitsune said quickly.
“Fuck,” I growled. “Multiple displaced monsters?”
“I’m gonna puke,” Nick groaned with disgust. “I can’t believe I wanted to kiss them. They were just so beautiful, I--”
“It’s not your fault,” Doppelganger said and clunked a heavy hand on Nick’s thin shoulder. “The Jorogumo are shapeshifting sirens. They lure unsuspecting men in with their beauty and then eat them for dinner. They must have singled you and Phoenix out as the weakest prey.”
“What?” Nick scoffed with insult.
Phoenix nodded and rubbed his neck. “Yes, I have a weakness for scrappy clothing. This makes sense.”
We all refocused on the group ahead, and I watched in horror as one of the Jorogumo scuttled up the wide trunk of an oak tree and disappeared into its branches. The snake monsters swarmed around the women and faced toward my team and me, and a chorus of low hissing erupted from the slithering group.
“It looks like the Tsuchinoko are defending them,” Elisabeth observed.
“They’re working together.” I nodded. “Let’s show them what a real team looks like. Bianxifa!”
I felt a heat wave ripple off my chest as Beyblade appeared in a sudden flash of sizzling red light, and I gave the order in my mind for him to go with Nick.
“Good to see you, buddy,” my best friend said as he hopped swiftly onto the fire dragon’s back. “Let’s light it up, these women nearly had me.”
“Wisp, give us cover,” I shouted to the short-haired girl.
“I’m on it,” Wisp called back, and a thick haze rose up from the river and spread out around the snakes and spiders.
Steffi didn’t waste a second and started blasted golden balls of energy down at the gathering horde of Tsuchinoko that slithered along the rocky forest floor.
Ronin forged her white astral armor over her body and immediately extended an astral katana in her hands. Then she ran forward and started to slash at the nearest female spider monster before it could scurry up into the branches of a nearby maple tree.
The rest of the monstrous spider-women quickly leapt and climbed up the nearby trees. They disappeared into the branches as the ground continued to writhe with the motion of the snake monsters that charged toward my team.
“Doppelganger, do your thing,” I called out as I climbed up onto Ky’s back.
The broad-shouldered guy gave me a curt nod, and his entire body started to shift into the eerily beautiful and disturbing body of the Japanese spider ladies.
“Oh, that’s so weird,” Nick chuckled as he pulled his gun from his waist and aimed down at the Tsuchinoko on the ground.
“Like your powers are so glamorous,” Doppelganger growled, and hearing his normal voice was a weird juxtaposition to the excessively feminine exterior his magic had morphed his body into.
Then Doppelganger’s red-lipped mouth opened, and a spray of fire-breathing spiders flew into the air.
“Holy shit,” I groaned. If the Jorogumo could regurgitate fire-breathing spiders, things could go downhill real fucking fast out here. “Everybody watch out! The spider-women can spit out flamethrower spiders!”
“What?” Nala shrieked.
“Sokisaseru,” I said, and Goldie burst forth from her tattoo in a flash of white light and a powerful gust of wind.
I sent a silent command to my wind dragon to direct Doppelganger’s spiders toward the monsters all around us.
Goldie let out a breath of wind and pushed Doppelganger’s mass of wriggling spiders right at the nearest Tsuchinoko, and before they even landed, the arachnids spewed fire from their tiny, fanged mouths.
Then a Tsuchinoko leapt through the air at Nala, and she slammed it between two large rocks. It splattered and popped like a zit between her boulders.
