Mythics: the search for Avia

Chapter 5 : Pascal and the Wolves

Kyomi woke to someone shaking her telling her to get up.
"Just five more minutes!" She called and rolled over...right into something wet. "Eew! Gross!" Exclaimed Kyomi as she opened her eyes, instantly awake.
When she opened them she saw an odd looking creature shaped like a lizard looking at her with interest. It was small and looked like it was made from green jello with its eyes just placed in the goo. Kyomi turned her head and the lizard copied her. Then, she picked up a leaf and poked the thing.
To her surprise, it started to change and when it was done it was a slimy green leaf with eyes. She took back the leaf and it returned to normal.
"Cool!" Said Kyomi. "Hey guys, look what I found!" Skylar, Tori, and Gabby came over to look at the thing. Gabby reached out to touch it.
"Gabby! Don't touch it!" Said Skylar. "It might be poisonous!"
"He isn't poisonous Skylar." Said Kyomi and the creature crawled up her arm. "See?"
"I think it likes you Kyomi." Said Gabby stroking it's back with a finger.
"Do you want to come me with us?" Asked Kyomi not knowing if it understood them or not. The lizard nodded and licked up an insect that was crawling towards them.
"If he's coming he needs a name." Tori pointed out.
"How about Pascal?" Suggested Kyomi.
"Pascal it is! Now let's get moving before something more dangerous finds us." Said Skylar hurriedly.
"Do we have any idea how we are going to find Avia and the boys?" Tori asked.
"Maybe there's something useful in our bags." Suggested Gabby.
"Oh yeah! Grandma Tina sent bags with us." Said Kyomi. She picked up a brown survival bag and started rummaging through it.
"Aha!" Shouted Kyomi in triumph. She pulled out an aged looking map and spread it out. "Woah." Said Tori. "This place is big!"
The map was almost as big as a poster and titled every single place in the realm.
"Look!" Said Gabby pointing to a dark and scary place on the map. "I bet Avia's somewhere around there!"
"And why do you say that?" Asked Tori. "Because it's dark and scary and because she is evil it makes the most sense that she lives there." Explained Gabby. "No offense Skylar."
"None taken." Skylar muttered.
"Well does anyone have any other ideas?" Asked Tori and nobody answered. "Then I guess we're going with Gabby's plan."
"So then question now is where are we?" Stated Skylar.
"That's easy." Said Kyomi and she sniffed the air. "We are in this forest right here-" she pointed to the bottom of the map.
"-And we need to get here." Interrupted Skylar pointing to some dark mountains in the upper right corner.
"That looks kind of far..." Gabby trailed off. "Well then we better get going!" Said Skylar. They all picked up their bags and started walking in the direction of the mountains.

About an hour later, Skylar, Kyomi, Gabby and Tori were walking through a particularly dark part of the forest when they heard a howl.
"Um...guys?" Said Gabby in a shaky voice. "D-did you hear that?"
"Yeah..." Trailed Tori right as Kyomi sniffed the air and said, "Werewolves!"
Pascal, who was on Kyomi's shoulder, started shaking like a leaf and dove into Kyomi's backpack.
There was rustling in the bushes all around and many glowing eyes appeared from the surrounding darkness. Kyomi pulled her hood down and looked at her friends. They nodded in understanding... They were going to have to fight.
Skylar flipped out her wings and rose into the air... Only to run into a tree branch and get her wing stuck. Tori morphed into her lamia form and Gabby scooched closer to the small stream running nearby.
Kyomi growled showing her fangs, "We know you are there! Show yourselves!"
One by one many different size and colored wolves slunk out of the bushes to surround them in an even smaller circle than before. There were about five of them and their leader, a big black wolf, stepped forward and turned back to human form.
"Well, well," he said in a tone of bittersweetness; A tone that could tell you to jump in quicksand and you would do it, "I didn't know that werewolves liked to hang out with mermaids and lamias-"At that moment Skylar fell from the tree she was stuck in and hit the ground with a thud. "...And the half winged. So tell me," he licked his chops,"Who's the tastiest so I get first dibs!" He laughed madly and went to wolf form again.
"Bring it on!" Threatened Kyomi with a growl and she went to wolf form as well.
"I think I'm craving bird girl today." Said the leader hungrily to Skylar who was painfully trying to get up from her fall and defend herself.
"Not on my watch!" Howled Kyomi and she flung herself at the pack leader who was stalking Skylar. Kyomi tackled him and shoved him away. She backed up to Skylar who made it to her feet and got ready to fight.
"You ok?" Yipped Kyomi.
"Yep, ready to roll!" Said Skylar. 
"Attack!" Howled the leader, blood running down his jaw.
Instantly the four other wolves leapt into action. The first one, with dark brown fur and black streaks, rushed at Skylar.
"Ok let's try this again!" Said Skylar. She positioned herself so when the growling werewolf lunged she pushed down hard with her wings and soared up, dodging the snarling dog and and allowing him to keep going and to get knocked out unconscious by a huge boulder standing in the way.
"Score!" Cried Skylar, kicking the air in victory.

When the second wolf came for Gabby, she was ready. It was a muscular, white wolf with icy blue eyes, not very useful for hiding in the shadows. He bared his teeth, dripping saliva, she instantly froze his jaws shut. As he tried in vain to free his fangs, Gabby acted quickly and drenched him in a big bubble of water. Soaking wet, the wolf ran towards Gabby in fury but she dodged him and he landed in the stream. Yelping, he doggy paddled and tried to get away but Gabby simply froze him in place and yelled,"Two down! Three more to go!"

"Such luck." Hissed Tori as two of the wolves advanced on her. They were both female and had light brownish fur so she supposed they were sisters the only difference was one had yellow eyes and the other had green. They advanced and attacked together, circling her and attacking on each side. Managing to dodge every attack, Tori hissed showing her fangs at one and wrapped her tail around the other one behind her. The she-wolf looking at her, whined and Tori said with venom in her voice.
"What? Can't attack without your precious sissy? Well what if I did this?!" Tori stared at the other she-wolf in her grip and into her furious green eyes. After she hypnotized her, Tori let the wolf go and instantly it began attacking it's sister.
"Sibling rivalry's are never fun, I agree." Said Tori with a self satisfied smirk.

Kyomi was on her own facing the black furred, red eyed, wolf leader in front of her.
"Just you and me now." He snarled.
"Just about to say the same thing!" Retorted Kyomi bravely. She dodged him swiftly as he pounced for her throat.
"Gotta be faster than that!" She taunted and lunged, dragging her claws against his flank and ignoring his howls of pain. He hit back pushing her over and away. She let out a war cry and charged, head butting him in the side and knocking him over. She stood over him showing her teeth and heard her friends come over and surround them.
"Your gang is defeated so I suggest you leave now while you have the chance." Threatened Kyomi in a menacing voice. The leader whined and Kyomi let him up so he and his comrades could run away into the trees.
"Well that went well." Said Skylar and everyone turned to look at her.
"What?" She asked.
Pascal crawled out of the pocket of Kyomi's abandoned bag where he had taken shelter and looked around. He squeaked to get the girls attention and they grabbed their bags to start walking again.

Another hour or two later of following Skylar flitting through the trees, Gabby's stomach growled.
"You said it." Said Kyomi. "I'm starved."
She signaled to Skylar who landed clumsily next to her and said, "What's up?"
"Found some food!" Exclaimed Tori who was high in a tree holding a fruit that looked like the combination of a mango and an apple. "What is that thing? It's weird." said Kyomi suspiciously, "Is it safe?"
She picked up the fruit and sniffed it. It was the shape of a mango but shiny red all over. Kyomi broke it apart and sniffed again.
"Smells safe." She said.
"And why are we going to trust that fancy nose of yours?" Challenged Skylar.
"Because, fun fact, wolf noses are about 100 times better than a human's." Tori jumped off the trees trunk and landed on the ground.
"Look, I'll eat it myself!" Kyomi said and took a big bite out the fruit.
"See? I'm alrigh-" Then she started choking. Gabby, Skylar and Tori ran over to help her but when they got there she started...laughing.
"OMG! You should've seen your faces!!" She exclaimed through fits of laughter.
"Hey, we thought you were actually choking." Said Tori in a disapproving manner.
"She's right. That's nothing to joke about." Said Skylar sternly but with a small smile on her face.
"But it was still funny." Sighed Kyomi, calming down. Pascal sat next to Kyomi ready to bolt if she started laughing again which to him seemed like an earthquake. He noticed the food and started chowing down. He squeaked and the girls got back to eating.
"It actually does taste good." Said Gabby. "Kind of like those Dole peaches and pear cups you buy from Publix."
"Yeah it kind of does." Agreed Kyomi.

They finished their food and Skylar took to the sky to see where they were.
She landed and said with excitement, "We're almost out of the forest guys!"
"Well then let's go!" Said Kyomi excited and they all ran after Skylar who had already started running into the trees. After pushing through some remaining brush, the girls emerged into a bright, harsh sunlight and were given the view of miles upon miles of dry, hot grasslands.