Chapter Thirty-Two: We Always Come Together

There were many things that Samari had imagined would be the obstacle, from tightrope bridges to mazes to puzzle challenges, but she was not expecting a herd of sleeping winged wolves to be blocking their path.

Winged wolves were about as gentle as birds but just as annoying. Hardly did they want to eat dixons as their ticon did not settle well in the pups stomachs. There were accounts of them taking other species captive once they entered their den.

Samari had wondered why the tournament would allow such dangerous creatures to be part of the course, but after looking to the top of the walls on either side, she saw that there were mages stationed to watch the contestants--just in case.

"I counted six. How did they even manage to find six winged wolves!" Dillian rasped.

"Shh!" Samari poked her head out from behind the boulder they were hiding behind. Seeing that no wolves had stirred, she let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay, so we should try to sneak past them or take them out. I would rather we take them out, just in case, but I can't figure out how, " he continued.

Eyes narrowing, she raised her shoulders. "Why are y-you asking me for a plan? Y-you're...the captain."

"Maybe, but you're the one who figured out how to keep the others out of our way."

"And...I could not have done i-it if you had not known what...we needed to do i-it!"

Having nothing left to say, they sighed in frustration of their predicament. Samari rubbed her eyes. "Wha-what if, urgh...what if we put up a barrier and walk through like that? Oh, by they could follow us, " she mused.

He shook his head. "No good. The only barrier that doesn't take too much ticon needs ticon from outside to strengthen it. It would take too much of our ticon to hold against physical attacks."

They were silent as they pondered their ideas.

"Got any knock-out gas?"

"I haven't learned about that stuff yet, " she shook her head. "Ok-ay, how about we just...sneak past them?"

"They can smell us."

"Then we climb the wall and walk past."

Dillian folded his arms over his chest, raising his eyebrow at her suggestion. "I'm pretty sure that will get us disqua..."

His face froze, eyes wide as they stared at something beside Samari. Slowly, she turned to see what it was. She held back a yelp at the sight of a wolf pup sniffing her curiously.

Seemingly liking the smell, the pup started licking her arm. Despite her cautious nature, Samari couldn't resist the urge to pet the small creature. As she stroked its back, the pup looked from her hand to her. Its tail wagged ferociously when she switched to scratching it.

Looking up from pup, she saw Dillian's face tight with worry. She motioned for him to pet the pup as well. They switched places, the Volcanic giving it a vigorous rub until it became bored of them and ran after a passing fly.

"That was adorable and so soft!" Dillian cooed, eyes sparkling as he watched it run around.

Samari smiled, her cheeks burning from seeing his soft side. In times like these, she easily forgot how tender the spellcaster was. Shaking her head, she said, "Yes, and now we ha-have its scent, too."

As she started to stand, he grabbed her hand. "I don't think we have nearly enough to trick them, " he protested.

"It's something, and whe-while we...are here, the Flames get...closer to the gem. Besides, I can use a smoke bo-bomb to distract them, too. So we can, uh, run away."

He took a deep breath, letting it out as he released her hand. Pushing up his glasses, he stood beside her. Samari's gaze lingered on him, her hand too close to where he had been. She nodded slowly before leading the way into the den.

The progress was slow-going as they tried not to make a sound, which was difficult with the pup nipping at their heels, but they made it through safely. The pup followed them for some time after they made it out, not realizing how far it was traveling away from its mother.

They turned back to shoo him away and froze. As if summoned by her pup's absence, a wolf followed them down the path, eyes low as she gazed at the creatures near her offspring. Holding their hands for her to see clearly, they started to back away.

The pup was oblivious to the tension in the air, yelping as it ran up to Samari. The mother growled low when it got close, walking faster now.

Samari tried backing away faster, but the pul stayed by her side. "Come on, go back to your mother, " she pleaded with the innocent animal.

Just as she was sure the wolf would reach them, she stopped and sat down. A sharp merow escaped her throat, catching the pup's attention. It faced her, head tilted on its side as if questioning the command. Its mother repeated the growl, this time louder, and it quickly ran to her. Glaring at the dixons, she grabbed her pup by its scruff and strolled back to the den.

Samari's breath was shaky when she started inhaling again. The pants turned into a relieved chuckle, and she began walking with her partner again. After a bit, they decided to jog to cover more ground.

It wasn't long before they reached an intersection of paths. As they approached, Dillian put his arm up to suddenly stop them. Quickly, they scrambled to hide against the wall.

The sound of muffled footsteps caught her ears. Thinking it was an opponent, she scooted to the edge of the border between the paths, waiting for a chance to attack whoever came around the corner.

Surprisingly, a figure jumped to their side, firing off a barrage of ticon. Samari dodged them, parrying with a kick to their stomach. He stumbled back, and she took the opening to kick once again.

As her leg came around, she stopped the attack halfway, stumbling awkwardly as she tried to keep herself from falling.

"Cyrus! Watch who you're attacking before you...before you try to...to take someone's head off!" she yelled.

The Aquian coughed, frowning at her. "You hit me, too! And it was Lorilie who said you guys were enemies!"

"Is it my fault that their scent is all messed up?" Lorilie defended herself.

Zoran laughed, drawing Samari's attention away from the bickering. Her gaze fell upon his dimples, the ones that only came on special occasions. "It's nobody's fault," he stated. "Better to be safe than sorry, I'd say. Let's just get moving before others catch up too much."

Cyrus grumbled but obeyed the command. As they walked, he doused their heads in cool water, given them much-needed relief from the heat of the beating sun they could no longer escape.

The groups exchanged stories to pass the time. The trio told about their adventure through the rope course, and the mayhem they caused. As Samari laughed at Cy's description of people's falls, she started coughing, her lungs dry from the heat and exertion. The group stopped until she recovered, concerned expressions on their faces.

"Awh, spirits, I ho-hope the scry's did...n't catch that, " she wheezed.

"They may have. Look ahead, " Dillian said.

Their heads turned to the sky. There were two crystals floating some distance apart not too far ahead of where they stood.

"We might be close to the clearing, " Lorilie noted.

Zoran nodded in response. Believing her assumption, Cyrus prepared himself a whip. Lorilie's ear's straightened, now sticking up to the high sun. Following their lead, Samari pulled out a pop cracker, just in case.

When they rounded the bend, the clearing that the announcer had shown came into view. It was far than larger than the scry made it seem, the hills being some distance away from where the obstacle course paths ended.

They stopped at the edge of the clearing. Dillian let out a deep sigh as they stared at another group already looking for their prizes.

"Of course it would be too easy for us to just get the gem without having to fight anyone. Of course, it had to be them, " he remarked as if condoning Void himself.

Cyrus stretched, cracking his knuckles as he replied, "Well, you two haven't fought anyone yet. Wanna take them all this time?"

"And let you miss out on all the fun? Nah, I'll let you have some of them."

Cyrus opened his mouth to respond but stopped when a voice called, "Sir it's them! The ones you told us about!"

Their attention turned to the owner of the voice, someone who had finally noticed their arrival. The others on the field also turned, abandoning their searches to gather by him. The trio of Phantom Flames approached, making it easier for Samari to recognize them: Lance, Mirabella, and Kalique.

"Well, well, well. When I heard someone else was looking for the spirit gem, I didn't expect it to be the welp from Fryco and her friends."

He remembers me, she thought, a chill running down her spine as her breath caught in her throat. Nausea passed over her, but she swallowed it down, planting her feet firmly on the grass. Her throat felt tight, a phantom memory of what he did to her.

Now that she could sense ticon, the sight of him was even more terrifying than it had been the first time. He was smoldering in all of his form, his ticon simply yearning to play with the new toys before him.

"Viper," she spat.

A grin grew across his freckled face, his wicked aura mutating the smile further. "Now isn't this a happy reunion? I'm sure we can make it not as...unpleasant as it was last time."

A/N: next update July 5th.