"Yes, why?" Sarah asked
"It will be quite difficult for your current cultivation level." The receptionist said.
"We will attempt it. If we know we can't do it, we won't." Alphonse said coldly.
'Still as cold to people who anger him as ever...' Sarah thought to herself.
"Alright, well, we did make a deal, so you can just be careful, I- er, the sect still needs that excess money." The receptionist said.
"Uh-huh." Alphonse responded, clearly not believing him. "Anyway, where is it?" Alphonse asked.
"The west. It'll be hard." He responded.
"Okay, let's go Sarah." Alphonse said as he began heading towards the exit.
...
Alphonse and Sarah walked west in the forest, carefully looking at their surroundings. "Hey, Sarah, how high can you jump?" Alphonse asked.
"Well, I haven't tried for a while, but probably around eight, maybe ten feet, why?" Sarah responded as she looked at Alphonse with a confused expression.
"We're fighting a bird." Alphonse stated.
"Oh, that's right..." Sarah said as she facepalmed.
{Serotonin production increased by 35%, this rise has been steadily building since earlier today, continuously doing what was done today is recommended.} Prism stated suddenly.
'Crap, brain chemistry, what does that do again?' Alphonse asked.
{Serotonin, commonly referred to as a happy chemical has a role in balancing mood, causing a happy mood in some cases, sleeping, eating, and digestion. Original levels of Serotonin, 40 nanograms, current levels, 54 nanograms. The average amount of Serotonin in a person's bloodstream is 101-283 nanograms. You are still far below average.} Prism explained.
"Well, that just makes me feel wonderful about myself." Alphonse mumbled.
{Detected drop of one nanogram of serotonin.} Prism stated. Alphonse twitched.
"Something wrong, Alphonse?" Sarah asked.
"N-nothing. Just thinking about something." Alphonse responded.
"Alright... Just... Remember that you can talk to me if something ever bothers you. I don't like it when you keep your emotions under lock and key, it's not really healthy, plus, I want to help you however I can." Sarah said.
"O-okay." Alphonse responded quietly.
{Serotonin rise detected.} Prism said.
'Shut it.' Alphonse told Prism.
{Understood.} Prism said with a slight giggle.
'She's messing with me on purpose now...' Alphonse thought to himself. After a while of searching, they came across a large cave opening which is very bright despite the sun being low in the sky.
"Hey, Al-" Sarah started but was quickly stopped by a hand over her mouth.
"Shhh, we can't alert it that we are here." Alphonse whispered. Sarah nodded then Alphonse let go. Alphonse began writing in the dirt.
'We don't want to charge immediately. Let's make a strategy.' Alphonse wrote. Sarah nodded. 'It will probably be able to sense our auras if we get to close, even now it may be able to. Sneaking up on it will be difficult.' Alphonse wrote an explanation.
'Do you hear that sound?' Sarah wrote. Alphonse nodded as he heard chittering come from the cave.
'Let's get closer, but move slowly.' Alphonse wrote. Sarah nodded and they both began to slowly walk towards the cave in a crouched position. Within a few moments, they were in front of the cave and they both peered inside.
Within the cave is a nest with eggs and a large red and orange bird with flames all over it. Slightly deeper into the cave is a large arachnid creature that resembles a spider, behind it is a large labyrinth of webs.
Sarah stood up and leaned closer to the entrance. "What are you doing!?" Alphonse asked as he pulled her away from the cave entrance. Alphonse was taking a few deep breaths as he attempted to stop himself from shaking.
"What do you mean? We have to attack it and it isn't paying attention." Sarah responded.
"That's a brood mother. We can't take it on, what we need to do is let those two fight, after all, they should consider each other threats to their young. After that we can take on whichever one remains if we think we can handle it." Alphonse explained.
"Which one will lose?" Sarah asked.
"It's hard to say. The brood mother's webs are weak to fire, so the bird has an advantage against webs, but if the brood mother has venom, the bird will likely be at a disadvantage. Also, if they set fire to the webs, odds are the brood mother will be seething with rage." Alphonse predicted. "For now, we'll watch the battle, and if we think we can handle it, pick off the survivor." Alphonse gave a general strategy.
"Right." Sarah said.
"Also, if it's the brood mother, we need to be wary of webs. If it's the bird, we need to be wary of flames. Plus there is also venom in the brood mother's case." Alphonse thought out loud. "Either way, we need to remain agile and not stay still for too long." Alphonse wrapped up his commentary so the readers can see a battle.
The brood mother slung a web from the bottom of its abdomen (Apparently that's the butt of an insect.) towards the Bifang Niao. The bird created an aura of flames around it disintegrating the webs which were slung.
The Bifang Niao charged the insect from above and pecked at its eyes causing the brood mother to lose one. Quickly reacting, the brood mother attempted to bite the Bifang Niao, though it managed to dodge. The Bifan Niao let out a loud cawing sound as the brood mother charged.
{It would appear that the Bifang Niao is making fun of the brood mother for being slow.} Prism noted.
The Bifang Niao exited the cave slightly and went up, allowing the brood mother to charge outside the cave, luckily Alphonse and Sarah noticed this and ran further away. The Bifang Niao cawed again.
The brood mother slung yet another web at it, though it missed and hit a tree. The Bifang Niao dived down at the brood mother and narrowly missed its head, hitting and breaking one of its fangs. The Bifang Niao hit the ground and became dazed.
The brood mother took this chance to attack and bit into the Bifang Niao's body. After a second the Bifang Niao reacted and flew up, though a bit lopsided, then dove into the cave.
'So it is going to destroy the webs...' Alphonse thought to himself as the Bifang Niao entered the cave. The Bifang Niao dove straight into the webs, setting everything aflame and the brood mother soon followed.
"Hey, Sarah, does this cave have another entrance?" Alphonse asked. Sarah shook her head.
"Not as far as I know." She responded.
"Okay, let's cause a cave-in." Alphonse said.
"Wait, why? Won't that be bad?" Sarah asked.
"The Bifang Niao just charged into the webs and they will all catch fire. So if we block the entrance with, say, a cave-in, we can choke them out and they will both suffocate." Alphonse said. "Of course, getting everything out of the way will be annoying, but that's fine, it just means we don't have to actually fight." Alphonse stated.
"I see... Well, we can probably ruin the structural stability by hitting the roof and roof-to-floor stalagmites." Sarah said.
"Okay, leave that to me." Alphonse said as he walked over the the cave and entered. 'No stalagmites, so roof it is.' He thought to himself as he looked around. Smoke from the webs was spreading around, signaling Alphonse to hurry. He jumped and hit the roof, causing enough pressure to dent the roof and cause it to start rumbling.
Alphonse quickly ran out of the cave as rocks began to fall. "I was about to say another way..." Sarah said as Alphonse reached the surface.
"Well, that seemed to have worked." Alphonse said as he looked at the large cave-in which he caused. There seem to be a few minor cracks, but other than that there is not any room for airflow. "It should work." Alphonse said as Sarah walked over to him.
"That was dangerous, you should've waited for me to say the last one! You could've done it from the surface!" Sarah exclaimed angrily. "What would you have done if you had gotten trapped in there?" Sarah asked as tears formed in her eyes.
'What do I do? Prism! Help!' Alphonse asked for help desperately.
{I cannot.} Prism said.
'Please just help!' Alphonse asked again. "I've been through worse..." Alphonse said lightly.
"That doesn't matter! Just because you have been through worse doesn't mean you should put yourself in danger!" Sarah exclaimed as tears slowly began to run down her face. "You took a risk and got lucky! You could've died!" Sarah exclaimed as she began to cry. "Please, just... Be careful. I don't want you to get hurt. I don't want you to use that excuse. Just don't. Okay?" Sarah asked as she dropped to the ground holding her face as if to hide her tears.
'I never realized just how little I understood emotions...' Alphonse thought to himself. "Sarah..." Alphonse said as he searched for the right words. 'It feels weird having someone care this much...' Alphonse thought to himself. "I'll... Try to avoid risks in the future..." Alphonse said. 'I stopped thinking about others, didn't I?' Alphonse asked himself.
"Only... Try...?" Sarah asked through her tears.
"I don't like making promises if I don't know if I can keep them. Until I am absolutely certain I can keep that promise, all I can do is try." Alphonse said. 'Sure, I didn't want to bother her too much. But that was only because I was afraid...' Alphonse continued thinking.
"Fine... For now..." Sarah stated as she tried to stop herself from crying, though it didn't really work.
'I was afraid of my own emotions and having her to close... I unconsciously made the choice to not become attached to anyone... I thought it would just cause me pain...' Alphonse thought to himself. "I'm sorry." Alphonse said.
"I think... That's... The first time... You said that... To me anyway..." Sarah said through her tears which she has yet to be able to control.
"Do you... Want a hug...?" Alphonse asked hesitantly. Sarah nodded as she reached out her arms. "Okay." Alphonse said as he gave her a hug.