The Child of Ravens

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Smaug

Warning: Cursing, Violence

In Chinese culture, dragons are often depicted with five toes, while in Japanese culture, they are usually depicted with three toes.

Cai groaned as they lay on the cool floor of the van, the sun peeking through the windshield and hitting them directly not helping with her current overheating problem, as the song 'Unlucky Lady' by Troy echoed through the vehicle, "Fuck my life, stupid fucking sun, imma' pull some mythology shit and shoot the damn thing outta' the sky."

"There, there, you'll be okay Cai," Mei pat the adult on the head, feeling sorry for the corvid and xier poor ability to withstand the heat, as she worriedly looked towards a sweat soaked MK. "You ok over there Monkey Man?"

"A-okay!~"

"Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" Sandy's voice piped up, the blue man looking back at the threat they were leaving behind, through the rearview mirror.

"Not sure," Tang panted heavily, the A.C. in the front not doing much to sooth his overheating problem. "Monkey King just said to head west."

"Fucking useless chimp," Cai grumbled in the back, flipping the 'meditating' monkey off. "If I wasn't so overheated, I'd strangle the fucker."

"How did anyone get anywhere, with these things?!" Mei cried out, as she ripped the map from Tang's hands, and angrily stared at the piece of paper.

"Because map reading was more common back then Mei, Grumpy still gets baffled at how terrible my little brothers are at reading his own ancient maps," Cai heaved out another wheeze, praying to whomever was listening, that they'd be out of the accursed desert soon.

"Yo, blue thing, turn up the A.C. a bit, will ya' brother?" Monkey King spoke up in a casual tone, seemingly the only member of their party not currently dying of heatstroke.

"That's it, come here you stupid motherfucker!!"

"Cai no!" MK latched onto his brother's waist, to prevent them from somehow killing his mentor, the raven angrily screeching towards the simian, feathers flying everywhere as the massive black appendages flapped about. Everyone else however, was sighing in relief as the huge gusts the wings were creating, relieving them of the heat. 

Unfortunately, it didn't last since Cai's energy was quickly spent, the poor hybrid flopping face first into the ground with an exhausted groan, "You survive this time bitch."

"Why don't you take a break there Monkey King, and help us read this map, huh?" Mei offered, the immortals utter uselessness also getting on her nerves, especially when he made a pass at being asleep. "Hey! I know you can hear me!!"

"No I can't."

"We'll get out of this desert one day Wukong, and when we do, you're as good as dead," Reaching shakily for xier phone to put on another song, Cai glared daggers at the ginger dumbass. "Your days are numbered."

"Give him a break, Monkey King's still recovering from his fight with Nezha--"

"You mean where he murdered him?"

"He has no time to waste on insignificant mortals, especially now that I don't have my powers."

Going to snark out another threatening quip, everyone stopped at the sound of Cai's phone ringing, the tired halfling looking to Spider Queen for help, "Who is it?"

"It says, Grumpy, should I answer?" Seeing as the demon woman didn't know of the corvid's relations, she was unsure of how Cai would react to them.

"Yeah, put him on speaker," Doing as told, everyone quieted down to allow their friend to speak to xier grandfather. "Hey Grumpy, you're on speaker, my friends are here as well."