Chapter 32-The Land of Wind, Part Two

"WWWAAAHHH!!!"

The four of us were innocently making our way through the Jungle when all of a sudden we heard a piercing, feral roar, and then some strange orange and black striped GIANT cat-like thing with menacing fangs and claws leaped out of the Jungle, and began chasing us.

"OLD MAN, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?!" I cry as I turn and peer over at the beast hot on our tails.

The beast lets out a roar as it swings a muscular claw towards me, causing me to yelp, before turning forwards again and stepping on the gas.

"IT'S CALLED A TIGER! A HUGE, FERAL WILD CAT!"

"Should we beat it up?! Get it off our trail?"

"Of course not!" Khione snaps, "Don't hurt the poor kitty-cat!"

"THAT'S NOT A KITTY-CAT!"

With an annoyed grunt, I spin around to face the tiger, and enter my Charge Stance.

"Water Charge, Level Three-!" I begin to shout, but I'm interrupted when Khione freezes my feet.

"Don't you dare!"

"SERIOUSLY?!" I snap as I peer over my shoulder at Khione.

The tiger lets out a roar as it swings its powerful claw towards me.

I flinch as I turn back to face the tiger, fear in my eyes, powerless to do anything with my frozen feet.

Old-Man F resumes his Charge Stance.

"Sand Charge, Level Four: Sand Whip!" Old-Man F shouts as he touches his hands to the ground, but…nothing happens.

Old-Man F pauses.

"Oh crap!"

"Was something supposed to happen?!" I snap.

"There's no sand here, I can't use my Sand Charge!" Old-Man F cries.

"SERIOUSLY?!"

Mary then resumes her Charge Stance as well.

"Blood Charge, Level Four!" Mary shouts as she thrusts her hands towards the tiger, "PARALYSIS!"

I close my eyes and turn away in fear as the tiger continues swinging it's claws towards me, but a moment before I'm shredded by the tiger's claws, I hear the tiger let out a low moan, followed by a thud.

I keep my eyes closed for another few moments, but never do I feel the tiger's claws carving into me, nor the warm stickiness of my blood.

"H-huh…?" I ask as I slowly open my eyes as I turn to face the tiger, seeing that it's passed out on the ground, "What happened?"

"Um…I used my Blood Charge to cut off the tiger's blood flow to the brain for a split second, knocking the tiger out," Mary explains, "It's just asleep, for now. There will be no long-term effects."

"So you controlled the tiger's blood and caused it to pass out without even touching it?"

"Err…yes."

"Damn…" I shudder, "You're scary, Mary…"

Mary frowns.

A moment later, the ice encasing my feet melts.

"Oh, so NOW you let me go?!" I snap as I turn to face Khione.

"Sorry," Khione awkwardly chuckles as she bashfully rubs the back of her neck, "I kinda panicked there!"

"Sure you did…"

"So where do we go now?" Mary asks as she peers up at Old-Man F.

"Well, the tiger chased us a bit of course, but we'll need to go this way in order to keep heading North-East," Old-Man F answers as he turns to face North-East, and we see that, ahead of us, lurks a HUGE murky swamp, spanning as far as the eye can see. Moss-covered rocks jut out of the swamp, which can serve as foot-holds.

"W-we need to cross this swamp?" I ask.

"Yup!"

"This seems…perilous…" Khione adds.

"Well, we have no choice!" Old-Man F replies as he takes a step up to the swamp, "Whatever, it'll be easy, we can use the rocks as foot-holds!"

"Alright, then go ahead," Khione orders as she raises an eyebrow at Old-Man F and places a hand on his hip.

"Are you sure your bones can handle it, Master Grandpa?" Mary nervously asks, "You're…OLD…"

Old-Man F's entire body tenses up.

"I'LL SHOW YOU OLD!" Old-Man F roars as he takes a few steps backwards, before charging towards the swamp. Once at the edge of the swamp, Old-Man F leaps into the air and lands on top of one of the moss-covered rocks. But the very second that Old-Man F's foot touches the rock, he slips! Old-Man F lets out a cry as he falls into the swamp with a huge splash, sending murky brown water flying everywhere.

Khione and I burst out laughing.

Even Mary can't help but to snicker.

"A-are you okay, Grandpa?" She asks.

Old-Man F paddles to the surface than spits out a fountain of swamp water

"This is…disgusting…"

"Come on, get out," Khione orders as Old-Man F paddles to shore. Mary and I crouch down as we help the old-man out of the swamp.

"I'll take care of this," Khione says as she resumes her Charge Stance.

"ICE CHARGE, LEVEL ONE: PERMAFROST!" Khione shouts as she swipes both hands outwards, freezing a line of ice around two feet in width across the swampy water starting from our side of the swamp and spearing to the other side. Khione then stands back and places both hands on her hips as she turns around to face us.

"Impressive, huh?"

"You…couldn't have frozen a wider path…?" I ask.

"SHUT UP!"

"Well then, let's get moving," Old-Man F says as he begins walking down Khione's path of ice, but the moment that Old-Man F's foot touches the ice, he slips again! Old-Man F lets out a cry as he falls into the swamp with a huge splash, sending murky brown water flying everywhere again.

Khione myself, and even Mary burst out laughing for a second time.

Old-Man F paddles to the surface than spits out a fountain of swamp water

"SERIOUSLY?!"