Iago Fineheart x Reader

The Lavalotl Monster (Battle Partner!Iago x Reader)

At last, an update (╯✧∇✧)╯

Also, if there's any interest in *ahem* lemony oneshots, lemme know and I will gladly make a separate 18+ book (//ω//)

Okie, on to the fic!

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Side by side, you and Iago waited, poised with spear and sword. Kelp rippled in the candescent water. Sulfur stung your nose. Ahead, a volcano growled and fumed, bright lava oozing down its slope.

"Sure hope this new sword works," you muttered, glancing at the eddying currents that formed your blade. "I coughed up a lot of loot for this Riptide's Revenge model."

Iago shot one of his soul-piercing smiles at you. "If not worth the price in monster-slaying, it's surely worth the price in style!"

Heat scorched your cheeks. You blamed it on the volcano.

Roars snapped you back to the arena. A pink head poked out from the crown of the 'cano, its feathery gills twitching. Smoke plumed from its maw. The lava-drizzled salamander heaved itself out of the mountain, its clawed feet gripping the caldera's edges.

You gulped. The Lavalotl was a lot larger than its preview in the battle manual.

"Steady, Y/N, we'll take it down together!" Iago said.

Every step the Lavalotl took cast quakes. Its incandescent eyes locked on you, its mouth drooling lava. Your guts twisted into a slimy pretzel. You hoped the Lavalotl hadn't missed lunch.

"On three," Iago said. "One, two—"

The Lavalotl jumped the gun, its claws cutting through your afterimage with laser precision.

"Careful now!" Iago called to you. He vaulted and twirled as if made of liquid elastic, unleashing a vortex of strikes on the Lavalotl with his Dragon Wind Spear.

You blinked the glitter out of your eyes. Snap out of it.

Iago's wail pierced your bowels. He cometed through the water, a blur of blue, and slammed into a coral stalk.

Adrenaline aflame in your veins, you sprang back on your feet and charged into battle.

With a mighty roar, you slashed through the Lavalotl's scales like salami slices. It whipped around and glared you down. Lava spittle singed your armor.

"Hey, I just won this at the casino!" you yowled. In vengeance, you slashed across the snout, giving the overgrown axolotl a new mustache. Your sword sputtered and shook like a magnitude eighty quake. The riptide blade vaporized.

"Busted junk's a bootleg—!"

The Lavalotl fishslapped you into next year.

"Y/N!"

The cry broke like thunder across the battlefield. Stars clouded your vision as if someone were sprinkling silver glitter into your eyes. You were aware of a dull pulse in your side; curious, you touched it, frowning at the wetness.

You turned toward the cry, meeting Iago Fineheart's gaze. His piercing smile was gone. In its place, a look of terror. Your heart plunged to your boots. Shakily, you examined your palm. Dark crimson drenched it, dripping through your fingers. The stars in your vision swelled to supernovas. Numbness flurried through you.

Your pulse faded and you crashed to the seafloor.

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"Bandaids, check. Gauze pads—eek, where did I put you?! Oh, there you silly guys are. Don't hide from me like that. Antiseptic wipes, check. Ice packs, check. Teddy bear, check. Cupcake—no, Iago, that's for..."

You groaned as sensation returned in a fleet of needles.

"Y/N! You're awake!" Iago zipped to you, palms steadying your shoulders.

"Yep, unfortunately." You grimaced, clutching your bandaged side. Underneath the gauze, your wound seared like a lake of fire.

"Don't move, don't move!" he yelped.

"Wasn't planning on it," you rasped. Your head throbbed, brewing up a migraine. You blinked the starburst out of your eyes. Bright coral surrounded you with no trace of the 'cano or Lavalotl, save for the afterstench of brimstone burning your nose. "What happened? We're not in the arena—did we win?"

"Shh, shh," Iago soothed. His cheeks glistened. "You were...oozing a lot of strawberry jam." He sniffled. "I was afraid I lost you."

Your lips quivered into a grin. Shakily you cupped his cheek, thumbed away his tears. "You didn't though."

"Yes." Iago's forehead touched yours. "Yes, and thank the stars you're still here."

"No, thank you. For patching me up."

Iago's cheeks pinkened. "Oh! I nearly forgot—" He lightninged to his stash and pulled out a pink-frosted cupcake with rainbow sprinkles. "I know you're not the biggest fan of vegetables, so here's this Hearty Cupcake, in your favorite strawberry flavor!"

A giggle rose out of you like a hot spring bubble. "You're too sweet." You bit into the confection. Sweetness exploded in your mouth and life gushed through your veins. The wound in your side soothed to smolders.

"Restores fifty health!" Iago chirped. "And probably isn't rotten."

Sourness stung your tongue at the memory. Transforming into a cupcake fiend would overload today's drama meter.

"Riptide's Revenge was a shrimpy bootleg. The Lavalotl oneshotted me. And now we're camped in this coral field, keyless." You huffed, feeling like a cuddly cactus. The road to Champion never seemed more like an infinity loop of humiliation and doom.

"Keyless?" Iago echoed. "Ohoho, I don't think so!" From his stash, he produced two golden keys. "The Lavalotl felt so sorry for hurting you that it gave us consolation keys!"

You gasped. "Sweet!"

"I know right!" Something fierce glinted in his eyes, like sparks off flint. "If it didn't, I'd have kicked a lotl butt." He winked and air-elbowed you.

"Hey, I'm still healing," you protested with a wince that melted into warm giggles. With a battle partner like Iago, the road to Champion would be a cupcakewalk.