The Beats Go On

Chapter 85: Roaring Fires

🔥Chapter 85: Roaring Fires

Ari was waiting outside as he was ordered to, though it had been many, MANY minutes since he last saw the group. In fact, he was kinda pouting about it. After all, why should HE have to be left out of the action? He was useful enough, he'd done things before! Just because he was too large to fit into some chute didn't mean he couldn't find another way in!

Actually, that reminded him. Why HADN'T he found another way in? After all, he really could've used this time to do so. But then he remembered that the entrances were heavily guarded, and he couldn't take all those monsters on at once. He certainly didn't have the patience to pick them off one by one either.

Not to mention, even if he found a way past them...he doubted Agen's fight arena thing would let him in after the battle had started, if that was the case anyway. He knew he'd ran in at the end of battles before, but he kinda didn't want to ruin it for the group this time. Besides, what if the group was in the middle of some special teamwork attack and he came in and ruined it? He'd hate to be blamed for Agen possibly winning. There just...there just simply HAD to be another way, though!

Could he disguise as a corrupted? No, contact with corrupted leaves or other materials for too long could get HIM corrupted. He was glad he even had shoes to stand on this corrupted ground with. There wasn't any pink paint or anything he could use either, and even if he got pink corrupted items from other sources...again, the corruption could get to him if he wore them. So that was definitely off the table.

Suddenly, Ari's thoughts were interrupted as Agen and the group burst forth from the side of the lair, causing many guards to look over.  Now was his chance to make a move, but...what was going on? Had Agen been weakened so he decided to flee? Seemed possible, and now that the group didn't seem to bee in a battlefield-looking thing anymore, Amari was sure he could join...if he knew how to reach them. He also noticed that Sese was riding atop Racu as they soared through the skies, catching up to his friends.

Come on, even SESE got to go with them! Ari knew the group told him to stay, but he just couldn't help it! So with that, he bolted after them and hopped onto the pathway they'd taken. It seemed to lead over a sort of civilization, and since the guards were distracted, they couldn't see him fleeing! At least Ari knew he didn't have to guard a place that he didn't have to since the occupants had gone elsewhere.

As he raced up the trail, Ari could see his friends further away on a parallel line. He didn't see a bridge he could use to cross over, but maybe there was another way across. He couldn't make the jump  even if he tried, and since they were all running there really wasn't any way he could just grab some materials and make something to get himself over. So he decided to keep running and see what else came to mind. Perhaps there was something further down the path that he didn't know about?

However, there WAS Sese and Racu, who were catching up to the group at this very moment. Ari hoped he could flag them down or something, because otherwise Racu would likely outspeed him by flight. Unfortunately, they weren't currently looking at him, so even if he waved his hands about or made noises, he probably wouldn't be seen because of the distance. Ari would just have to keep an eye on them and wait for them to spot him before wasting his running energy on frantically moving about to get their attention. In the meantime, he'd also focus on getting to Agen as well. 

The group was starting to tire from running, and Sese could see that as he approached them aboard Racu. That was why he'd summoned him, because there would be almost no way these shapes could keep running for as long as Agen could fly. Hopefully Agen wouldn't get struck down either, because if they had to resort to running again, chances were that they wouldn't make it. Sese brought out his sword and pointed down towards the running group of shapes, to which Agen followed and also lowered himself. The group hadn't seen him yet, but luckily they didn't have to glance around to notice him.

"Everyone in! This'll be easier than running," Sese ordered, loudly enough for the group to hear.

The group was almost startled at this, but were quite thankful nonetheless. Nobody said anything OR hesitated to jump aboard Racu, especially since the group was tiring from the running and dodging they'd been doing already. Sese looked around to make sure he hadn't forgotten anyone, and that was when Ari noticed him looking. As the group poked their heads over Racu's sides, they almost near instantly saw the small figure running below them that was waving their hands wildly in the air.

"Hey, is that Ari?" Ina asked, pointing so that Sese could see as well.

Sese nodded at Racu, and the ship flew down to pick up up as well. Ari quickly hopped on board and Racu resumed flying towards Agen. The group was pretty surprised to see Ari back, but nonetheless were...mostly glad to have him again. 

"Ari?! I told you t-well. I guess it doesn't matter now..." Coco sighed.

"Yay!" Ari chirped, hugging Coco quickly before setting him down.

"But no time for celebration yet," Coco said as he pointed at a fleeing Agen. "We have a villain to defeat."

Agen turned around to face the group, still maintaining flight backwards, surprisingly. He was injured and slowing down, but the power of the red treeangle still coursed through him enough to keep him going. He was still angered and looked like he was preparing to attack the group, but everyone was ready. Digo only smiled confidently.

"Let's do this."