Metroid: The Last Aurealian

Chapter 8: Bereslyth

The dawn returned, bathing the Marshlands in gentle warmth. I stirred from a well-earned sleep, resting against Skye's scaly side. My friend rose from slumber yawning his great jaws and revealing rows of fangs. He licked his teeth, blinking in the morning sun. "Morning Champ."

I yawned and stretched my arms. "Morning, how'd you sleep?"

"Good, it's nice having a scale warmer. You're so toasty it's like having a heater on my belly." I snorted playfully pushing him. "Right, your scales are like charcoals. It's a miracle I didn't get burnt."

"Not as toasty as you, my little warm-blooded mammal. I could start a campfire with the heat you give off." Skye jested. "I'll start a campfire with your scaly hide." I jested back.

Skye grinned, ruffling my hair with his claws. I began searching my bag for food. I shrug in discontent, after nine days camping in the wilderness, we had run through all our supplies. Neither of us had expected to stay long and we had tried saving our food by hunting off the land. When you have two ravenous reptilians it was hard not to scarf everything in one gulp.                                                                                                                                       Skye looked in the bag disappointed.

"Just our luck, we've got nothing to eat. Looks like I'm going fishing." "I can deal with that." I said, already gaining the stomach for wilderness food. "You're the master fisherman after all."  "Still it sucks we got nothing. Man, I'm craving jerky right now or a juicy pork." He licked his jaws at the prospect of another star-nosed hog hunt. "You wanna get stabbed in the ass again? Just go and fish. With your skills, you'll shish kebab twenty of 'em in a second." I said feeling my stomach growl.                                                                                                                                                                             Skye's pupils shrunk as he raised his head surprised. His scales twitched as his nostrils flared.  "Looks like I won't have to, smell that?"

I sniffed the air. The scent of freshly cooked fish over a crinkling campfire added with the sweetness of fruit and the tart scent of war wasp honey wafted though. I heard a sizzle of a frying pan along with the sound of blissful humming, not too far from here.                                                   My stomach yowled ravenously. "Smells like someone's cooking." Skye noted. "All the way out here?I though we're the only ones in the Marshlands." I said. "I guess we not.  Maybe we can persuade him to give us a bite to eat." Skye said with a mischievous grin. I knew that grin all too well; it was the grin he made when he hatched an idea, the grin of the cunning thief."You wanna help me out Champ? Let's work together, just like old times."

"Normally I'd say 'hell yeah!', but considering we're stuck in the middle of the wilderness with no food and without a way back to civilization, we should ask him for help. He's probably has a boat or a land rover that brought him here."                                                                                                                                   "You have a point." Skye remarked. I quickly changed into my daily clothes while grasping my prized knife in my right hand. I slink the bag over my shoulder. We prowled through the tall reeds as silent as the air. I kept my head high placing my footfalls gently where they barely made a sound.

Even though I wasn't in Aurealian form anymore, the senses and instincts of the sentient beast slipped]through my human guise. I could see and hear every sound, my nose twitched at the slightest scent and my nerves tingled eagerly from the feeling of finally going home.