Dragon Goddess’s chosen

“Alex! Drop it!” Kat ordered, loosing an arrow into the smaller of the monsters. It sank into one of its forelegs before erupting into a web of vines that anchored it to the net. Thinking quickly, I drew my poleaxe and hacked through the rope above the crank wheel. It only took a couple swings, the rope was stressed enough from what it just went through, bringing the net in and now holding up likely over twice my true weight in fish and kaiju. I ducked back to avoid the whipping frayed ends of the rope as the tension was released and the net and monster was plunged back into the water. The captain momentarily looked displeased but quickly addressed his men instead.

“Full sail! Buy us some time!” He bellowed to his men. I let out a slightly relieved sigh then a crash behind me reminded me of the threat of the second one. I quickly whipped around to find that the noise was from one of the harpoon-wielding crew being tossed into a few barrels by the door to the crew quarters. A second took offense to that and attempted to pierce the monster’s side with his own weapon, only to get chomped down on by its massive maw. 

“Eris!” Nicolas yelled as she ran past with a harpoon of her own… and threw it right at the monster.

“Hey! Fatass! Over here!” She taunted as the weapon sunk into the creature's shoulder and it let out a furious roar.

“Shit,” I cursed, rushing over while charging up my lightning.

“Come on!” Eris continued as she dodged a claw swipe and responded in kind with a slash of her rapier across the same arm. I launched myself into the fray with one good flap of my wings, that I had to immediately close up before it entangled me in the rigging but it was enough to get me onto the kaiju's back and sink the ax blade into its hide.

“You're fucking insane!” I yelled at Eris, ripping the blade out for another strike, all the while clinging to it like it was a giant bull.

“Says you! You're riding it!” 

‘Rei, the other one is going to pop up at the back.’ Kat warned right before a series of her arrows sank into my mount.

‘I see it, coming in now.’ The dragoness responded. I got whipped around in my rodeo ride in time to see both the second Orca King crest over the back of the ship, clawing up behind the helmsman, and Rei swooping down behind it. It happened so fast, she opened her maw within a couple feet of the side of its face then there was a crack like a gunshot at the same time as a brief flash of light emanated against its blubbery flesh. It lost its grip with a pained noise and slid back off the ship as Rei soared away again. I was in a bit of awe from the display, momentarily forgetting about the now-enraged threat under me. 

“Alex!” Max yelped as the bigger creature dropped one of its shoulders and slammed me into the mast. Sharp pain blossomed from my side where I hit and further spread when I hit the deck below.

“Fuck!” I growled, barely recovering in time to see the three-toed foot coming down towards my face. I rolled away, ignoring the stabbing sensation of what had to be a cracked rib. Another roar, followed by another stomp and more pain from dodging. 

“Vis Fragor!” My boyfriend shouted over the growing chaos. The shots detonated against its side and it stumbled over me, giving me an opening to scramble to my feet while clutching at my own side. It bellowed again as it set its sights on Max. 

“Hey! I'm not done yet!” I roared back at it and recaptured its attention with a one-handed swing of my weapon, hammer side first, against its face. It gave a snort then suddenly whipped around with surprising speed, slamming its tail into me and sending me flying and crashing into the railing. I couldn't tell if the crack I heard was another rib or the railing itself but I was left wheezing with more pain erupting in my back and rage flaring in my heart.

 The beast came charging at me in the next moment and barely left me time to jam my weapon sideways into the open maw. It inflicted more pain as it drove me down through the railing, large splinters biting into the webbing of my wings and more pressure on the injuries it already gave me, and left me hanging partway over the water. I shoved back up against it, struggling to keep it away, and released my built up charge point-blank with its snout. A notification popped up to remind me of its lightning resistance but the voltage definitely was enough to hurt based on its reaction. It roared around my weapon right before taking two swipes to my stomach. The first ripped away the armor protecting me, the second nearly gutted me if it weren't for Rei swooping in and wrapping her tail around its throat with a strong tug that made it stumble nearly off the ship. I wasn't left unscathed, though, that second swipe still left searingly painful gouges that will definitely give me a matching scar to Kat.

Damage Threshold Exceeded, Use rage?

 

‘Yes! Start rage!’ I roared again, planting my feet against the monster's chest and using the increased strength of my rapidly-growing body to help shove the monster the rest of the way over into the water. The action brought about even more pain and I could feel a gush of hot liquid spill across my stomach as I let my weapon drop onto the floor next to me. “Fuck, ow…”

‘Sorry, I-I can't land… are you…?’ Rei asked worriedly.

‘I'm fine, I think… bleeding though…’

“H-hold on!” Nicolas said hurriedly as he basically slid across the deck to my side. “Remedium!”

“Ribs too, think a couple broke…” I requested, sighing a bit as the golden light from his hands over my wounds numbed the pain and slowly stitched together. He gave a short nod and moved one hand hesitantly higher. A roar on the other side of the ship made both of our attentions snap that way.

The other Orca king had made its way back onto the ship and was currently engaged with the rest of our party with the bodies of a few crew members scattered around them. The roar itself was from Eris managing to lodge a harpoon into its ribs and capturing its ire. She was too close with that stab, however, and got caught with the resulting swipe of its claws, getting sent tumbling away from it and slamming into the wall outside the captain's quarters. There was an explosion of golden feathers next to me when that happened, and Nicolas shot over with a furious, unintelligible yell, wings now out and firing off multiple Guiding Bolts at the monster. The spell strikes didn't make it deviate from its path themselves but him throwing himself between it and his girlfriend made it pause and change its focus.

“Aegis!” He yelled, holding up his amulet in time to create a yellow half bubble barrier to shield him from multiple incoming blows.

“God dammit” I growled, rolling to my feet and wincing from the sharp pricks of my incompletely healed injuries, some trickles of blood still leaking out, as I instinctively grabbed my weapon with my tail. I vaguely noticed it growing heavier in my grasp but couldn't focus on that as I bounded over to also help. 

“Vis Fragor!” Max's voice rang out, a pair of plasma bolts striking golden marks left on the creature's hide between the half dozen arrows littering it right before I slammed into it myself. Its claws clinked against my sides and forelegs, trying to find purchase somewhere to leave gouges like the other one did. I couldn't find any openings either, its neck was too thick to get my mouth around for a bite and I had to push its own head away from doing the same to me.

“Wyrm! Watch that tail!” The captain shouted somewhere behind me.

‘Right! My tail!’ I thought quickly before swinging the appendage to use the weapon I nearly forgot about. Instead of a massive polearm I expected to come around, I found that it had changed so that the head was over twice the size it was before and secured to my tail tip by the shaft coiled quarter way up my tail, somehow flexible now. The first swing missed due to this discovery, but I immediately whipped it around the other way and struck my target with the hammer side then drew back to leave a slash from the spear point. The beast gave a pained roar and fell back a few paces. The others took this opening to strike as well, more Plasma Bolts from Max, pairs of arrows from Kat, the captain and crew adding harpoons. This pelting led to the creature turning and diving back into the water on its own. My dragon instincts weren't having it though, this particular kaiju hurt my mates before and got away once before and now a friend, I was not going to just let it run again.

“Alex! Don't!” Kat warned as I charged after it but it was too late.

I had too much momentum and I was already sending myself over the edge by the time my mind registered her words. Clear of the boat's rigging, muscle memory and all the training Rei had been giving me took over, gliding at first before starting to climb up into the air with a few clumsy-feeling flaps of my wings and my half-healed injuries aching with the strain.

 As much as I wanted to celebrate this, vengeance was much more pressing in my mind and upon banking around, I spotted my target’s dorsal fin and blunt snout skimming through the water and blood trails streaming behind it. I gathered up my fire fluid in my mouth as I pushed myself to go faster. Once I was over it, spit out a stream to coat the water in front of it like a flaming oil slick. It thrashed as soon as the liquid stuck then quickly dove down and back up again to escape the flames, only for them to reignite upon contact with the air again. It then disappeared once again, diving deep enough that I lost track of it. Frustrated, I started to charge up my lightning, fully intending to attempt to use my plasma for one last chance to harm it.

‘Alex! Back over here! The big one is back!’ Max's voice called out over the link, bringing my attention back to the ship and making me realize how far I managed to chase my prey. I turned back around and rushed back as fast as my wings and injuries would let me. There was another loud crack as I circled around, trying to figure out where to land, and Rei suddenly flew up from behind the opposite side, having been hovering just above the water, and a wake shot off away from the boat. More worrying though, was the breach I spotted in the hull near the front of the ship where the wake was traveling away from.

‘I-I couldn't stop it… broke through…’ the dragoness said with an irritated growl getting broadcasted with it then she spotted me. She came to a dead stop in a hover and changed course towards me as I came in towards an opening on the bow.

‘I'll tell the captain,’ Kat responded.

‘I'll try to get it!’ I offered as I flew past the other dragoness, combining the charge I had built with a new batch of fire fluid to start an orb of plasma in front of my mouth.

‘Alex?!’ Rei's “voice” broadcasted in a slightly confused but excited tone.

‘Wait, don't!’ My girlfriend warned.

‘Why not?! It's right there! I think I can hit it,’ I protested.

‘And I'm seeing that you won't. They're giving us a break for some reason… I don't see them coming back soon… save your mana or whatever that uses…’

‘Why? I'll burn through that anyways.’ I pointed out, still letting the plasma build.

‘Just trust me… please…?’ She insisted and I watched the wake dissipate, the creature creating it diving deep enough that it wasn't affecting the surface any more and immediately proving that Kat was right.

‘...fine…’ I grumbled and discarded the half-charged bolt into the water below, lighting up the surface with a purple flash as it detonated somewhere underneath. I then turned and circled back around towards the ship. Rei quickly joined up with me along the way.

“You're flying!” She chirped excitedly and she made a tight circle around me with her wing tip brushing up against mine. The draconic carried surprisingly well despite the wind in our ears. “I knew it was going to be soon!”

“C–careful!” I yelped, the contact and air disturbance making me wobble.

“Sorry!” She coasted a couple feet away but was still visibly excited. It was kind of cute and helped distract me from my irritation of losing my prey. “I told you that your true form would help!”

“You did mention trying it…” I sighed “Let's wait to celebrate though… I'm still hurting a bit, Eris got hurt to-’ I reminded myself of what happened to her and cursed softly.

“She was injured? Explains why she was quiet…”

“‘Small’ one caught her with a swing…” I let out a sigh and glanced over the deck as we sailed past. From what I could see, everyone was still gathering themselves and resting. ‘Hey, how is Eris doing? Anyone else hurt…?’

‘She's breathing but she's out…’ Nicolas answered dejectedly. I quickly picked him out on the deck, still near where I last saw him and his wings drooping as he kneeled near the fighter. ‘I'm… out of mana again… couldn't heal her all the way…’

‘Shit… what made you burn through everything so quick…?’ 

‘I… I don't know…’

‘I still have half a potion in my bag, let me land and I can go-” 

‘Wait,’ Kat interrupted. I scanned over the deck again and spotted her and Max by the hatch in the center ‘Captain says we're taking on water from a few holes and ‘Can't handle four tons of dragon right now’.’

‘We're three at the most’ Rei huffed next to me.

‘W-what are they supposed to do…? That means they can't come back,’ Max pointed out. Kat leaned over the opening in front of them for a few moments.

‘We need to find a place to stop and repair,’ She announced after a bit.

‘Alex and I can scout ahead,’ Rei immediately volunteered and I focused back on her with my head cocked. She faltered a bit and looked away. “We are t-the only ones that can fly, it only makes sense that we do this…”

‘Kat, are you absolutely sure you'll be safe if both of us are gone…?’ I asked and there was a long pause before she responded.

‘Ow… yeah we'll be fine… but we'll keep a lookout. I'll have Max hit anything big coming at us with a Fireball if it comes to it.' She half-joked. 

‘Ok… I guess we can try this then…’ A happy trilling noise escaped Rei.

‘Be careful, I can't see anything for you since I'm not coming with.’

‘We will, we'll come back as soon as we find something.’

‘Don't push yourself too much!’ Max added.

‘I’ll try not to, pup, R- Saerrei'll carry me back if she has to though.’

‘That shouldn't be needed,’ the dragoness assured then brushed her wingtip against mine again, more carefully this time. “Follow me, let's enjoy our first flight as much as we can.” With that, she sped off in the same heading as the ship and further up into the air

“Hold on!” I called after her as I tried to catch up.