The Beats Go On

Chapter 59: Ampathetic

🐉Chapter 59: Ampathetic

The group had started climbing up the mountain, even though they'd gotten even colder from the surrounding area. Elis was back by the shore, waiting for their return and patrolling the place while they were gone. There was snow the further they went in, and the group was doing their best to deal with it. They should've brought in some winter clothes or something. It was too late, however, and the group just had to go with what they had.

They hadn't heard of shapes catching hypothermia or frostbite due to their body structures being tolerant to some extreme temperatures, but they still kept themselves warm as best they could. They weren't about to be the first case of that happening. The scenery was at least interesting to look at. The ice spirals twisted and turned into more shapes, some even splitting off at the ends to look like trees without leaves. There were also ice crystals jutting out of the nearby stone mountains that reflected the brightness of the moonlight.

It was indeed still nighttime. That whole museum thing had happened during the night, and everyone was tired. However, the cold was keeping them up, and they were almost glad for it. Of course, they could've just waited until the next day to do this, since being tired while fighting wasn't a good idea. They didn't have time to do that now, unfortunately, because they didn't have blankets or any decent place to stay. The group could only keep walking up the stone path they were on.

The path soon began to slowly incline, and the group guessed that they were going up a mountain. They just hoped they wouldn't have to keep walking up and down repeatedly. Their only light at the moment was the moon and the snow that reflected its light. The ice crystals also reflected some moonlight, as well as gave off a strange yet magical aura. It was pretty beautiful.

"Okay, so do we have any plan on how we defeat this thing when we're all partially tired?" Coco asked.

"We just...fight it like we usually do? It isn't that hard..." El replied.

"Well yeah, but...I'm kinda tired..." Digo said with a yawn. "Not sure about the rest of you all..."

"I'm tired, but...we have to keep going!" Ina responded enthusiastically. 

"Yes yes! We walk!" Ari chirped.

"We need to get this done. We're in no position to rest, and if we do now, that ampithere could either move further away or have us for lunch," Ami sighed, shaking his head.

"Unfortunately..." Ina murmured.

"Cas? What do you think?" Coco asked.

"We're on an adventure! We may be tuckered out, but that's no excuse to stop!" he exclaimed happily, as if this was still some knid of kid's game to him.

"RIght...should've expected that..." Coco sighed.

"Cheer up! I'm sure we'll make it through this!" Digo said.

"I know, I know..."

Coco still had Ina's words to think about. Stack that on top of being corrupted and...this...and it was...a lot. He thought about talking to someone about it, but now was not the time. Hopefully nothing bad would happen to him THIS fight that would make it worse. Then again, he wasn't about to jinx it.

The group kept walking, with no time to stop and stare at the ice no matter how much they wanted to look at its beauty. They could see something coming up as they got further and further up the mountain though, so there was at least some hope. They could feel their heartbeats pounding as they approached, and got ready in case the ampithere was just up ahead. Coco, who was in the front of the group, braced himself and shut his eyes as he took the last step to the top...

And with that, they'd all reached the top of the small mountain they were on. 

"Okay, now to start looking!" El exclaimed.

Coco slowly opened his eyes, expecting to see a lot on the top of the mountain. In reality...there really wasn't much to see, and Coco let go of a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. The whole place was a flat, circular surface with the much larger mountains surrounding it. However, upon looking up, the group saw the corrupted Ampithere. It had made a sort of nest with trees on the side of a nearby mountain, and it had coiled up around the large treeangle piece. The treeangle piece had corrupted, probably due to the ampithere being corrupted as well.

"Well, all we need to do is get its attention now, right?" Coco asked.

"I got this!" Cas yelled.

He picked up a small rock that was nearby, and threw it towards the large dragon. Ami simply scoffed.

"That's not going to do anything."

The group watched as the rock simply hit the side of the mountain, missing the ampithere entirely.

"Told you."

"OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" Cas screamed at the top of his lungs, clearly upset.

"W-wait!" Ari said, pointing up at the ampithere.

The group redirected their attention to it, and found that it was indeed moving. Cas's shouting must've woken it up. It turned towards the group and glared down at them. Slowly, it uncoiled from the treeangle piece, and flew down to investigate the group. Before long, the group found themselves face to face with a rather...short ampithere. Had the cold made it shorten? They could've sworn it was longer on the island...

"We have come to take your treeangle piece!" Cas announced loudly and confidently, almost as if he was some kind of knight. "Should be easy, seing as you're so small-"

Suddenly, the ampithere began to extend. More segments got added on to its body, and before long, it was almost long enough to circle around the entire arena space. Ina stepped back a little, but held her ground. Digo was taking deep breaths in and out, and Coco simply watched in awe. 

"O-oh."

Cas gulped as Ami facepalmed. Everyone else got ready for a fight.

The ampithere roared loudly.

Welp.

It was time to slay this dragon.