Vega watched as Martyr tackled Vanagloria up in a hug.
It was a very nice moment and all, but Vega was too busy marveling at all the things this girl had just done.
"Surely stuff like this doesn't happen all the time in the trails? Right?"
Vega was also surprised it came from Vanagloria.
Her first impression of Vanagloria was good, at champions day. But when Vega met Vanagloria she seemed like kind of a softie and a little annoying. She couldn't keep eye contact and was constantly messing up her words. Vega knew she had only just gotten her element so she couldn't have been strong at that time.
Her determination was the one admirable thing Vega found in her at the time.
But watching someone take out an alpha wyvern after only having their element for a week was very impressive.
Hopefully Vanagloria's feats of elemental potential weren't luck. Because if not then she was an extremely promising fighter.
It made her want to see the rest of their team. There was probably even more promise with the oracle girl and the couple.
Vega was totally gonna shove this in her fellow champions faces as soon as she saw them.
"Ugh, but their Vulcan's team. Not mine."
Vega would've totally chosen their team if it weren't for Kryphia and that bitch-ass rock champion.
"I guess I'm stealing it anyways. Ugggghhhh, but Vulcan will be at their house too."
Vega was gonna have to figure that situation out later.
Right now she had to focus on the one at hand.
"Are you alright? What happened?" Vega asked Vanagloria.
The lightning girl had finally been let out of her hug, and still seemed like she was trying to collect herself. She also looked shocked at Vega afte her question, like she had only just noticed she was here.
"O-Oh I uh… well I'm sorry but I accidentally destroyed the village down there… and I killed a ton of naga's" Vanagloria admitted to Vega like she was her parent.
"Yeah but that was the wyvern. Not you, right?"
"Yeah… but I still led it there. I uh… don't get mad but I have a baby wyvern." Vanagloria presented Vega her bag.
The little yellow dragon had its two claws hooked onto the edge of the satchel. It had been sniffing Martyr curiously, and turned its head once it noticed Vega. It was innocently staring at her and leaning forward in curiosity.
Vega put out her finger for the whelp to sniff. It was pretty cute.
"I'm not mad at you. I've been to that town of naga's, that one is probably the most deserving of being destroyed out of any other." It really felt like she was speaking to her kid.
"They were terrible to me for sure, but I don't think they deserved to die. I don't think anyone should. Plus… I… there was a girl in that town. The wyvern killed her too, this was her crocodile." Vanagloria looked like she was having a hard time saying it.
Vega looked at the crocodile. It had looked a little confused, like it was looking for something.
"It's fine. Casualties like that happen when you are a hero. No matter what bystanders die. It's just something we have to live with."
"Mhm." Vanagloria mumbled. She didn't really seem to be agreeing or disagreeing with Vega, just processing.
She was clearly contemplating it in her mind a lot. It was a horrible tragedy, but it was a very good lesson for her to learn. It was sure to stick with her for a very long time.
"Did you give them a name?" Martyr asked, looking at Vanagloria's satchel.
"Yeah. Er… I gave Salazar, the wyvern, a name. But I haven't given the crocodile a name yet."
"Oh I like Salazar. That's a good one." Martyr smiled at the little baby wyvern in her satchel.
"Oh… thanks." Vanagloria looked like she was trying to hold back a smile.
"Oh, would you look at that?" Martyr said, looking up into the horizon.
The city lights of the capital were going out and the dark shadows started to collide with the fading light, making its own makeshift sunset.
"Oh wow…" Vanagloria said frailey.
It didn't last for very long, but the colors were a beautiful sight. Soon enough they were standing at the start of a night.
"I heard that sunsets and sunrises last way longer on earth. They're supposed to be even prettier." Vanagloria mentioned.
"We've gotta go to earth someday." Martyr said, looking down at her.
"I could take you guys down there." Vega told them. "Maybe not next week, but the break after your second trial I could see if I could sneak you guys out for a day."
"Seriously?!" They said in unison.
"Wait, does that mean you've been on earth?" Vanagloria asked with bright, excited eyes.
"Yeah, not legally though. I don't have a license but I know where a portal is, and I know some people that can get you guys some ID's and a phone to blend in." Vega said, clearly making them more and more excited.
"Oh my god, thank you so much. I've always wanted to go to earth." Vanagloria looked really happy.
"Yeah, well, it's a big maybe, don't get too excited. We should focus on getting off this island first. Let's go home. I wanna see my girl." Vega started walking over the ledge, towards the direction of the capital.
She really just wanted to get out of the Draconic Rainforest. Something she never thought she would think.
"How?" Martyr asked.
"I'll get Quetzacoatl again. Were only a few minutes away from it in goddess flight time. I have to be touching the ground though, I can't call her without doing it."
"Okay how do we do that?" Martyr asked again.
"I can jump down, can you carry her down?" Vega said, looking over the ledge to try and figure out where to drop.
"Yeah I got her."
"Wait what?" Vanagloria looked anxious.
"Don't be worried, I'll just…"
Vega didn't hear the rest of it, as she had already jumped down.
Wind was rushing through her ears, clouding any other sound.
She shot out another vine from her hand, which connected to the ground way before she did.
Vega used this to channel a portion of her energy down, making the grass grow rapidly, creating a large bed for her to land on.
She landed easily without any problem.
"Vanagloria?"
Vega was very surprised to see her already down before herself. "How did you get down here?"
"I just bolted… I thought it would be easier."
Vanagloria stopped to take a deep melodic breath as she leaned up against the tree, like she was getting rid of some sort of stress or anxiety.
"Are you sure that's not gonna push you too much?" Vega was worried. Nobody should be letting out any sort of elemental powers at her state.
"Yeah… I'm fine… I just…" Vanagloria closed her eyes for a second, clearly very light headed.
"Sorry I'll… I'm all good." She blurted out, clearly not okay.
"Vanagloria, you're gonna hurt yourself. Just let me take care of it." Martyr told her as he descended down in front of her with his arms out.
"I'm fine…"
Vanagloria looked like she was struggling to keep her eyes open, slowly slipping off the tree. She was definitely drained fully of her element.
"Vanagloria you're like, about to fall." Martyr gave her a soft laugh, holding onto her shoulder to keep her from doing so.
Vanagloria's eyes opened again, and gave Martyr's hands a scared look. But not in the cute 'oh my gosh' type of way, but more like he was actually stressing her out.
It didn't make much sense, Vega thought he was being cool about it. They just had a really sweet hug a minute ago. It's not like he was a jerk or anything. It didn't make any sense.
Martyr didn't seem to really get the message that he was stressing her out though.
"I… dunno…"
Vanagloria's eyes fully closed and her body seemed to go a little limp.
"Oh uh… I think she passed out." Martyr looked up at Vega with a worried but still sweet look. He was now practically hugging her again, struggling to keep her from falling.
"Yeah, definitely. Just hold her for a second." Vega kneeled down on the ground and pressed her hand to it.
Closing her eyes, she started to concentrate on the ground below, extending her consciousness to the forest itself.
It felt like her vision was expanding. The more she poured her energy into the ground, the more she could sense the forest. It was like one giant radar, extending the more element she used. It was gonna take her a while if she was gonna call Quetzacoatl, who knows how far away that goddess was.
"Wait…"
"That can't be right."
"She's… nearby?"
"No… we would be able to see her."
"Then who is…"
"Oh fuck."
"MARTYR!" Vega yelled at the fire boy. He was princess-carrying Vanagloria now and practically jumped at Vega yelling at him.
"What?"
"We gotta go!"
"What? Where?"
"Uh, just… holy shit. Just hold on!"
This could not be a worse situation.
She could feel the rumbling in the ground.
He was getting closer.
"We've gotta get away. Oh my god, I don't think we can outrun him."
"Just call Quetzacoatl." Martyr answered like it was the easiest thing in the world.
"I can't, that'll take too long. He will already be here before i'm able to… QUETZALCOATL!!!!" Vega cried out. Her voice cracked but that was the least of her worries right now.
"Who is he?!" Martyr was starting to panic.
The rumbles were increasing scarily quickly.
"There are two things that live in this jungle I can't fight. One of them is Quetzacoatl, the other just got woken up by Vanagloria's giant thunderbolt."
"What do we do?!" Martyr asked frantically.
"I don't know!" Vega said in frustration.
If she were alone she could probably fling herself up in the air or sneak away to some place. But she had an unconscious girl with a bunch of baby dragons with her, and a powerful guy carrying them. Moving swiftly and quietly wasn't an option.
"I'm here too, I can fight if you want!" Martyr said, looking around for the danger.
"That's not a possibility!"
"Who is it?! Maybe I can!"
"It's Xuihcoatl! The fire serpent! He's the brother of Quetzalcoatl!"
Martyr clearly didn't seem to be that shocked by this information, which scared her.
The rumbles were terrifyingly close and very noticeable now..
"Just run and hide with me! That's a better idea!" Vega said, running back to him and tugging on his arm.
"But you said he's the fire serpent, I can absorb fire! Fire literally counters you." Martyr said, scaring the shit out of Vega. If he had seen Xuihcoatl before, this wouldn't be a debate.
"Yeah but he's also just as big as Quetzacoatl! You can't…"
Vega watched as the blue feathers started showing up above the trees a distance away.
"We gotta go!" Vega tugged on him again yet to no avail. Martyr was watching as the serpent got closer and closer, he looked worried but determined.
"Hold onto her."
Martyr dumped Vanagloria into her arms, barely catching the extremely light girl.
He put an arm around Vega and gave her a quick hug, which was a little surprising.
"I've got this." Martyr said with fiery determination in his eyes.
"Martyr." Vega said before he left.
"What?"
"Use your dark element. Don't hold back. Let it take over, don't worry about the consequences of the forest."
"Got it." Martyr nodded. "You just try and call Quetzacoatl. I'll distract it as long as I can."
"Yup."
He then turned around to face the serpent.
Vega started running away with Vanagloria in her arms, just trying to get as far away as she could.
Vega turned her head around to watch as Xuihcoatl crashed through a small mountain, showing itself off to Martyr for the first time.
It was towering over everything, not even coming close to its size. A large coat of dark blue feathers ran down through its whole body, blood red eyes shining in the moonlight. It had no wings or limbs, it was just one gaint fluffy blue snake.
It was still more than enough to shake Vega down to her core.
Seeing him reminded her of her numerous near-death experiences with the monster.
Martyr immediately whipped a small explosion of fire into its face, catching its attention.
It took all of Vega's willpower to try and look away from the scene.
She needed to get away.
But just one more peak…
And what Vega saw was Xuihcoatl already right over Martyr…
Spewing intense blue flames into the spot he was standing.