Niah and the Pheonix (Watty's 2024!)

Chapter XII: Ramidreju

"A Ramid... what?" I asked, having absolutely no clue what that is, or even how to pronounce its name correctly, for that matter.

"Ramidreju. I've read all about it, but I didn't think it was actually real! Come on, we have to find something to stand on, because it can detect our foot steps and body heat. Find a big rock!" Yoshi yelled as he started running towards a large rock. Lani and I ran after him.

We hopped on the big rock, practically tripping on each other. Yoshi was scared, when suddenly, a smile grew on his face. Is he insane? We could get eaten, and he decides to start smiling? If we had to choose who would get eaten first, I personally already know who I'd pick.

"Oh, whoa. This is... amazing! I can't believe it, a Ramidreju. We must be the only people to have seen one in hundreds of years!" Yoshi exclaimed.

"Yeah, or maybe others have seen it, but they just didn't live to tell the tale. Come on, Yoshi, how can you be so stupid! We could die right now and you're acting like it's the best day of your life!" Lani exclaimed.

Yoshi had a point, but he was only focusing on the good things, not the fact that were on the edge of a cliff and someone's about to give us a push. Although it was a little cool, maybe finding a mythical creature and all, we could die at that very moment.

Just then, before Yoshi could even respond, the ground in front of us broke open and a green fuzzy ball shot out of the crater. It spread out, its four long legs touching the ground. Its long snout sniffed the ground, as though it smelled food; or perhaps us. 

"The Ramidreju is blind, so it finds its prey by scent and sound. Just be still and quiet, and we should be fine." Yoshi whispered to Lani and I, although Lani was already being perfectly still, mostly from fear and shock of what had just happened.

We all watched as the Ramidreju sniffed the ground, the only sound you could hear being its loud breathing. It slowly came closer towards us, but still a good distance away. 

"Quick, cover yourselves in this," Yoshi whispered to us as he handed us some large berries from a tree, "It will cover your scent and make it harder for it to find us."

Lani and I took the berries and smooshed them on our bodies, Yoshi doing the same. 

The thing continued to come closer to us, then stopped. Its small eyes stared right at us, too small to be able to see. I was practically gagging with how bad its breath stank, but I didn't, knowing that it would hear me. Lani, on the other hand, didn't even think and threw up. It jumped back and dug underground.

"Huh, did you just scare it away with puke?" I asked Lani.

Just then, it jumped back out of the ground and jumped towards us. This time, it didn't come slow or stop, but kept on coming, and it didn't seem like it was planning on stopping any time soon, either.

"Run!" Yoshi yelled.

We all hopped off the rock, falling to the ground. The Ramidreju ran into the rock, smashing it into pieces that flung at us. We all got up and started to run towards an area with lots of trees. The trees had big, thick roots, and we thought maybe it couldn't dig through the roots.

We hid behind a giant tree that had fallen earlier when it had first appeared, hoping it couldn't find us.

We were right, and it couldn't dig through the roots, but that didn't stop it. Instead, it just came after us above ground, bumping into many trees on its way. Then it stopped and sniffed the ground. Were the berries working? 

It was a good distance away from us, so we weren't scared. Well, not as scared at least. Then it stopped completely and stood looking at the ground. How could a creature so evil look so majestic?

It started to back away from where it stood, almost as though it was scared. How could that be scared of something? I though, but then something unexpecting happened.

"There are two of them?" Lani yelled as we all saw another Ramidreju burst out of the ground.

Although this one was red. Perhaps the male, but why was she scared of it?

It whipped around, hitting the female Ramidreju with its long red tail. The female flew to the ground, burrowing itself into the ground, but the male chased after her. Both of them went into the Isle, and we didn't see either of them come back up. 

"So... what just happened? Was the red one a boy and the green one a girl? If so, why did the male help us? How many more-" Yoshi cut her off, knowing that if he hadn't she wouldn't stop talking.

"Whoa, slow down, Lani. Yes, the green one was a female and the red one was a male. At least, I think so. I mean, I'm not even sure about anything anymore, because I thought there was only one. Although, if I had to guess, I don't think the male was helping us, but trying to make her his mate. Sometimes animals have aggressive ways of finding a mate, and I guess that Ramidrejus' are just one of them." Yoshi said as scratched his leg.

Well, we all scratched our legs. And our arms, and faces, and everything! Why were we itching so much? Wait...

"Yoshi?" I asked as I slowly turned towards him.

"Yeah?" He said in a slight 'I'm not innocent' voice.

"What were those berries you had given to us? The ones we rubbed all over our bodies?" 

"Oh, umm... strawberries," I raised my eyebrow, "fine, I think I accidently gave us fret berries." 

Fret berries are horrible berries that make your skin itch... a lot. They grow in the poison ivy family, and they itch worse then it. Once one of my friends were dared to eat one, and let's just say that it resulted in an ambulance.

"Don't worry, I know how to make the itching stop. All we need to do is go to a near pond and rinse off. Easy as that! Just follow me, I know where one is." Yoshi said, trying to make sure we don't kill him.

We followed him out of the forest and back into the big empty field where we had seen the Ramidreju originally. There was a giant hole in the center of it, where it had made its first appearance. We walked around the hole as I stared deep into it. Nothing, no Ramidreju. 

I wondered where it had gone, or what happened to it, the male just coming in like that and all. 'Though maybe Yoshi was right and that's just how they breed, but what if he wasn't? Wait, why am I feeling sorry for the thing that just tried to kill me? 

Anyways, we had eventually reached the pond, so we hopped in it and started rinsing off. Surprisingly, the itch went away almost instantly! 

"Well, there's the first thing that we had to face on our way to the West, and were not even an hour in yet. Are you kidding me? Can't wait to see what we'll have to face next." Lani said as we got out of the pond. 

"Oh come on, we probably won't run into anything else. We were probably just unlucky with this one. I mean, what are the odds that the challenge we faced was something that hasn't been seen in hundreds of years!" I said, trying to calm her down, and me a little too, if I'm being completely honest.

She had a point, though. Only less then an hour in, and we almost died! I wonder how Nimroth does it, traveling from the South to the other sides without dying.