Straight-Up Not Having A Good Time At Night Raven College: Prologue

Prologue Chapter 16: Egos Clashing

Kat turned the corner just in time.

Deuce, a dangerous look on his face, skidded to a stop in front of the monster.

Christ, this thing was big...
Its shoulders were just barely small enough to move through the mines without getting stuck. It even had to keep its head ducked to not bang it on the ceiling.

It turned, seeming puzzled.

Then it roared again.

It was still at the other end of the tunnel, but suddenly surged forward like a tide.

"LLLLEEEEEAVVE! LLLLEEEEAAAAAAVVE! LLLLEEEEEAAAVVEEEEE!"
It pulled back the hand that held the lantern, like it was going to punch.
Instead of a fist, its arm shot out into a stream of black goop.

Deuce jumped back, managing to dodge.

The goop retracted, balling up where its elbow used to be. Then it shot forward again, just like....

Wait a goddamn second-- VENOM?!
This thing was just like Venom!!
It even LOOKED like it, now that she thought about it-- almost EXACTLY like it, in fact!
That was the only way she could describe what she was looking at.

Its arm shot out again.
This time, Deuce rolled out of the way. Rocking back up onto his feet, he fired a burst of sparkles at it. The spell caught it full in the chest, sending it staggering back with a pained roar.
It fired its symbiote-tendril attack again.
Deuce jumped sideways, dodging once more.

This time, he wasn't fast enough.

While he was still in the air, it swung the pickaxe.
The end of the handle knocked him in the side, sending him flying.
He hit the wall back-first hard, sliding down with a surprised groan.

"DEUCE!" Kat screamed, running forward.

With a wet schlorping sound, its arm reformed.
The lantern was swinging in circles, making the dank tunnel feel like a pulsing rave. She saw Deuce move feebly, gasping like a stranded fish as the monster approached, raising its pickaxe.

Suddenly, footsteps tore up behind her.
A hand grabbed her shoulder, half-pulling, half-pushing her back and out of the way.

Ace ran past, raising his pen with a frustrated growl as she fell onto her butt.

"Typical-- Mr. Serious runs out and immediately gets his shit rocked, huh?! Well, not on MY watch!"
With a shout, he swung his pen.

A burst of sparkles filled the air, and suddenly a gale-force wind whipped through the tunnel.
It slammed into the monster before it could complete its downswing, knocking it back. The tip of the pickaxe lodged deep into the wall behind it, and it roared, still being bombarded by the winds.

Running across the tunnel, Ace grabbed Deuce by the front of his shirt, hoisting him onto his feet.
He seemed to be yelling something, but she couldn't really hear over the wind and the enraged monster. Then he shoved Deuce back towards her.
The blue-haired boy staggered, but managed to keep going.

Kat struggled back upright as well, running forward to meet him halfway. She grabbed him before he could fall again.

"Come on!" She ordered, slinging his arm around her shoulder.

He tried his best, hobbling as fast as he could, but her terror-fueled speedwalk was pretty much doing all the work.
Guess what they said was true-- adrenaline was one hell of a drug.

She looked back over her shoulder.
Ace was practically Naruto running back towards them. He ducked past the monster, clearing most of the distance in a few moments.