Chapter 578

578 Preferred Company(Part Three)

***CONTENT WARNING: LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE, AND SLIGHT GORE***

Tidas and Genie looked at each other, then they both started to try and excuse themselves from going. Skye sighed heavily, overly frustrated with the two. When she and Tidas were children, he’d literally argue with her over who got to train with Genie, and now they wanted little to nothing to do with each other.

It made Skye’s heart ache to see them acting in such a way, which also made her angry.. ‘I dinna ken the ridiculous reason these two are actin’ how they are, but I have an idea as ta what it Could be.. In which case..’

“Shut it!” she yelled, cutting through their bogus reasonings; “I have ta meet Mei in just a bit, anyway. She needs me help wit a present fer Rukia, so I decline yer request ta accompany ya ta find Zazzy. But Tidas WILL go wit ya..”

“Skye, I can’t go-”

“Oh aye, ya can, and will! Cause it be fer our bairn! And it be Genie!” Skye huffed as she took a menacing step towards them; “I dinna ken what’s goin’ on wit ya two, but Figure. It. Out. I will not be caught in the middle of some idiotic squabble! We have a dozen things that we gotta work wit each other on while we’re here! Now get yer shit together!”

Both Tidas, and Genie had taken a step back when Skye had moved towards them. They glanced at each other after she’d finished, then they stared at the ground like chastised children. Skye looked like she had more to say, but the way their shoulders slumped made her feel like she might’ve been too harsh with her words.

She was about to apologize when a familiar, massive shape came trotting towards them. With wide eyes, and an equally wide smile, Skye exclaimed; “Thoth! What the bloody hell are ya doin’ here?!”

As the oversized horse came up to her and nuzzled the side of her face, Tidas asked out loud; “How the hell did he get here?! Shouldn’t he be at Genie’s place still?”

.....

Skye nodded; “Aye. He’s been a wee bit sick lately, so I dinna wanna move him yet. He must be feelin’ better, I guess. Now I have ta go back ta Bai Lei’s.”

“Why? Tidas can ride him back,” Genie commented without thinking.

Skye glared at Genie; “No one can ride Thoth without me, not even Tidas. Yer welcome ta try, if ya think I’m lyin’. But dinna come cryin’ ta me When ya fall on yer arse.”

Genie looked at the massive horse, who seemingly stared right back at him. There was some kind of intelligence behind it’s oversized eyes, but he didn’t think anything of it as he approached the horse. As Skye moved away from him to give them room, Thoth watched her..

Thinking that the horse was preoccupied enough to get on him, Genie, grabbed for his mane. There was no saddle or reins to hoist himself up with, and using his Air magic might scare the great big beast. As soon as he touched Thoth’s hair, the horse sidestepped him, while still staring at Skye.

Genie tried twice more before he had decided to just use his wind to float up, then plop down onto the horse. As soon as Thoth felt the wind swirling around next to him, he nickered and kept prancing about. After about three minutes of trying to get on gently, an idea popped into his head.

Flying up high enough that Thoth couldn’t feel the wind any longer, Genie waited for him to settle. Once he was stationary, Genie released his magic, and rapidly began to descend. When he was about four feet about Thoth, the horse moved forward, towards Skye..

Genie screamed before coming into direct contact with the frozen ground. He’d landed face-first in the snow, and had instantly started to bleed from his nose, busted lips, and scratched chin. Skye had automatically gone to him, but she paused a moment before healing him, and said; “Do ya ken now?”

“I will never go near that horse again,” Genie sputtered through the blood pooling inside of his mouth.

Skye nodded with a satisfied expression, then healed him up with little effort. Tidas had started laughing hard as soon as he’d seen Genie hit the ground like a cartoon character. As he wiped a tear away from the corner of his eye, Skye looked up, and glared at him while saying; “Dinna act like ya havena been in his situation before, husband.”

After clearing his throat, Tidas calmed himself enough to say; “I am sorry, Skye.. I’ll go with Genie, but I want Us to have dinner alone together after Yuletide Day. Agreed?”

Skye beamed at him as she replied; “Deal! Now get goin’, ye two. I expect Zazzy will be gettin’ ready ta go huntin’ fer dinner soon. If ya canna find her before then, she may see the lights when she comes back ta sleep.”

The two nodded their understanding, then Skye mounted Thoth. She was in a dress, so she had to ride sidesaddle through the city. If she hadn’t been there as an official Diplomat for Alcon, then she would’ve just rode normally; regardless of what people would’ve said or thought.

Once Skye had disappeared into the crowds, an awkward silence settled between the two. Each knew that Skye was trying to force them to get over their issue, but she didn’t understand the gravity of their problem.

After watching Skye ride off, the realization of being alone with Tidas for an extended period of time hit Genie like a ton of bricks. Dread began to bubble up from deep down as he tried to think of what to say. Tidas seemed to be having a similar issue, but still managed to speak first..

“Once we get close enough to Zazzy, I’ll be able to sense her, and lock in on where she is. It shouldn’t take too long to find her, but keeping her preoccupied is going to take a bit of effort.”

Genie flashed a cordial smile; “I agree.. Shall we fly?”

“Are you going to drop me?”

Taken aback by Tidas’ comment, Genie said; “Excuse me?”

“Nothing.. Let’s go. We’re losing daylight,” Tidas replied curtly, then waited for Genie to use his magic.

Genie sighed heavily as he thought; ‘This is going to be a long flight..’

************

To say that the search for Zazzy was arduous would be an understatement, at least according to Tidas. Genie had tried to engage him several times, but all Tidas would give him was short, pointed answers. His frustration level was nearing it’s limit when Genie finally stopped them mid-air, and asked; “What Exactly is it that has you so furious with me?”

“What do you mean?” Tidas asked with heavy sarcasm.

“To put it bluntly: you’re being a huge jerk. I want to know why.”

Tidas grumbled something, but Genie couldn’t hear what he’d said. When a few minutes had passed by, Genie had insisted again that Tidas talk to him seriously. Uncomfortable with dangling a few hundreds of feet above the ground, Tidas was about to give in and snap when he felt Zazzy close by.

He reached out to her metally, and asked her to meet up with him and Genie in the sky. Zazzy sounded excited that they were there, but she also said that she was dealing with a particularly difficult dinner at the moment, and couldn’t fly off. Tidas told her to leave it, but she was adamant about taking out the creature..

‘I don’t know what it is, exactly.. It looks like a bear, but doesn’t smell like one.. Can you come help me? Please Da? I can take it, but I’d like you to be here, just in case..’

Tidas sighed with relief, then telekinetically replied; ‘We’ll be there in a few seconds. Just shoot some fire off directly up, and we’ll find you..’

When Genie asked what was wrong, Tidas replied flatly; “I found Zazzy.”

“Really? Good. Where is she?” Genie asked with a touch of eagerness in his voice.

Tidas grinned cockily as he pointed over his shoulder right as Zazzy let her fire breath go, and said; “Right there, catching her dinner.”

Genie couldn’t stop himself from laughing at the timing, then replied; “Alright, let’s go to her.”

It took Genie all of twenty seconds to reach where the fire had come from. The wooded area around the two massive figures had been trampled flat, and offered them a good place to land. Tidas smiled as he thought about having to bring Skye out to fix the damage.. ‘Maybe I’ll have Peggy pack us a wee picnic-What the HELL is that?!’

Tidas’ peaceful thought was interrupted by getting a good look at what it was that Zazzy was trying to turn into her dinner. An enormous bear at least twenty feet tall stood before Zazzy. Taking swipes at her with overgrown, jagged claws.

It’s fur was matted and clumpy, and the foamy drool around it’s mouth made it look rabid. Tidas was about to yell at her to give up on having it for dinner when Genie muttered; “It’s an Onikuma.. I haven’t seen one in years..”

“An oni-what?” Tidas asked with an agitated expression.

“An Onikuma. It’s a type of yokai, or demon, as you Alconians call them. I’ve never seen one this big, but I have seen some yokai that have grown strong enough to take on a corporeal form. It’s killed enough that it’s gained a physical body, but I don’t think it intended to pick a fight with a dragon.”

“Why do you think that? It looks like it’s going after Zazzy just fine,” Tidas said with a snippy tone to his voice.

“I mean that dragons naturally trump yokai in terms of power. It’s instinct should’ve warned it not to mess with her, but it didn’t. When yokai become enraged, they lose all sense, and go on rampages. Judging by the way this one looks: Zazzy Really must’ve pissed it off.”

As Genie had finished speaking, Tidas noticed a charred patch on the bear’s hindquarters. He assumed that Zazzy had thought that the bear was just a massive, regular old bear. But she’d been terribly mistaken, and realized that fact when it had grown an extra ten feet tall after she’d ‘said hello’ to it.

It swiped and snapped it’s jaws at Zazzy, who seemed unperturbed by it’s attempted assaults. Any time it’d come too close, she’d simply smack it back with the spikes-side of her tail. It’s smell was too similar to the monster’s from the Highlands, so she watched it cautiously before carefully planning her attack..

With one graceful swoop of her tail: the bear was on it’s backside, and flailing about. Zazzy had instantly pounced on it with her front arms; smashing and bowing it’s sternum into it’s chest. When the bear leaned it’s head back to cry out in pain, Zazzy sunk her teeth into it’s exposed neck.

It made an eerie, high-pitched scream before Zazzy crushed it’s windpipe, and tore it’s throat out. She stomped down on it a final time triumphantly, spit out the chunk, then sounded her victory with an earth-shaking roar. Right as she started to rip the fur from it’s flesh, Tidas looked at Genie with an utterly serious expression, and said; “While Zazzy’s....preparing her meal, I think that we need to have a talk..”