Enter RAF

[DinosaurNothlit]

Thanks, you guys.    Eee, I'm so happy right now!

By the way, I think I may have mentioned this in the other thread, but I should make note of it here, too, and that's the fact that this story will be going on hiatus for the next three weeks or so.  This is going to be a busy week getting ready for RAFtrip, and then the two weeks after that are OMG RAFtrip!

I would tell you to use the time well, but, looking at the other thread, I can see that you guys already are. 

[Darth Revan]

You're back right? You can resume the story? Right? ... right?

[DinosaurNothlit]

Yes, I do intend to eventually finish this story (and then write another one shortly thereafter).  Oy, I've just been kept busy by one thing followed by another for a while now, and then add that to the fact that my artistic muse has been running wild lately, and that tends to make my literary muse run off and hide. 

Anyway, what all of that means is that I honestly don't know when the next chapter is going to surface from my brain.  Sorry.

[DinosaurNothlit]

I'm finally back! 

Chapter Forty-seven

Richard, Demos, Cloaky, Estelore, Seal, Parker and his Spartans, Phoenix, and Blue waved goodbye to the rest of RAF.  The eight RAFians climbed aboard Ossanlin's Dome ship, leaving the others behind in the relative safety of the armory, so that the creative minds of RAF could write their tales of victory that would soon unfold.

In the meantime, of course, Pootang still had to be kept at bay, and that would require the strongest powers of RAF.  But they all knew it would only be a holding action, nothing more.  A hopeless fight with no chance of victory.

Seal, watching through the glass of the dome as the ship slowly accelerated, winced slightly as Pootang's screams seemed to echo across the vast space of the armory's hangar.  Another sound, a deep ominous cracking sound, like an earthquake, or like continents rifting apart, seemed to be growing louder and louder.  The second sound, much like the far-too-familiar fractured scream, seemed to be coming from everywhere at once.

After a tense ride through the starry cosmos of the Roleplaying board, which was, oddly, punctuated with slightly brighter grey patches that Seal was fairly certain had not been there before, the Dome ship burst forth into the main forum.  Parker, who along with his Spartans was flying the Dome ship, immediately veered to put distance between the craft and the monstrous fractured form that had appeared from behind a building much too close for comfort.  Even as grand a sight as the great Dome ship was, it only barely matched the size of Pootang's largest forms.

Fortunately, however, the creature didn't seem to consider the ship a threat.  And it was, incidentally, probably right.  Although the Dome ship had shredder-cannons capable of wiping out a planet, the RAFians were not willing to risk inflicting that kind of massive damage upon their own forum except as a last resort of absolute desperation.

The eight RAFians wasted no time disembarking from the Dome ship, as soon as they had put a safe distance between themselves and the monster.  They fanned out as they surveyed the situation.

Cloaky, standing alongside the others who had volunteered to fight, looked out across the devastation of RAF, heartbroken to see the forum in such a state.  In the short time they'd all been gone, listening to Richard's speech, Pootang had ravaged the forum.  The Roleplaying Board was only barely still standing.  The darkness of endless cosmos inside its walls was now slowly dissipating from the rubble.

With a sudden shock of terror, Cloaky realized that RAF's armory was somewhere within Roleplaying.  That's where the rest of the RAFians were!  It was as though Pootang could smell them.  Like he was trying to reach them through the walls.

"Hey, lightning-rat!" Cloaky yelled, trying to get Pootang's attention, before he could think better of the idea.  He fired a massive boulder at the monster.  "Over here!"

Seal, coming up from behind Cloaky, quickly realized the same horrifying truth that the Realm Walker had.  "Hey you!" she called out, her bravery not quite masking the tremor in her voice.  "Yeah, you!  Come on, you monster!"

Pootang didn't even seem to register Cloaky's attack, but his long ears twitched at the sound of Seal's small voice.  The monster turned around to look for the source.

Thinking quickly, Parker ran headlong towards Pootang, strafing to the side as he ran to try to distract the creature from Seal, firing volleys from his assault rifle as he went.  The other Spartans followed his lead, each firing their own weapons.  Gary scored a lucky hit with his rocket launcher, and Pootang screamed in fury and pain as the rocket exploded directly in his eye.

Once again emboldened by the bravery of the Spartans, the other RAFians took advantage of Pootang's momentary disorientation, and loosed a barrage of their various personal attacks at him.  Stones and ice and fire flew at the creature, but the onslaught only seemed to anger him.  He howled a scream of frustration, and stomped towards his attackers.  The RAFians nimbly dodged out of his way, but it was disheartening to see just how little effect their efforts were having.  In fact, Cloaky realized, Pootang even still seemed able to see out of both of his eyes.  Had he already healed the damage somehow?  Or was he simply so impervious that even a direct hit at his weakest point did nothing at all?

Cloaky yelled out in frustration, maddened by seeing his attack after attack impact uselessly against the seeming wall of yellow fur.  It didn't make sense.  He knew he was more powerful than this!  How was he having so little effect?  He alternated between throwing stony hordes of earth, his primary element, and blasts of pure energy.  Nothing.

Estelore was more patient, pumping roaring flame after flame at their target.  Their human avatar began to sweat, even though the body was built to cope with extreme heat.  They were weakening.  They couldn't keep up this barrage.  But what good was it doing?  Pootang didn't even seem to notice the nuisance.

"Hey, guys!" Seal yelled over the sound of crashing water that she was generating.  "I've got a plan!"  She bounded back over to where Cloaky was, and waved a flipper at Estelore, who followed, curious to see what Seal had in mind.

"Together, on my mark!  Okay, let's do it!" Seal yelled.  At that moment, she summoned forth a gushing spout of water, like a sideways geyser, spewing relentlessly towards its target.  At the same time, Cloaky picked up boulders of earth and stone, as much of it as his powers could carry, directing the immense column of debris towards the same point that Seal had aimed at.  And at that same instant as the first two, Estelore shot forth a beam of flame, the glowing heat searing even from a distance, as the white-hot light seemed to burn the eyes of all those who watched the display.

The three elemental streams connected in midair.  Cloaky's earth was liquified into magma by Estelore's fire, while Seal's water collided with an eruption of exploding steam which sent bits of rock and lava flying like bullets of shrapnel towards the target.  The hissing steam engine of elemental forces rammed its way through the air towards Pootang.

"RAFians used Tri-Attack!" Seal proclaimed triumphantly as the forces of water, earth, and fire roared together as one.

With an earth-shaking shudder, the attack connected.  Pootang roared in pain, and glared with fury at those who had dared to injure him.  But the attack had been a mere scratch.  Painful, but not debilitating.  He didn't so much as waver.

"It's not very effective . . . " Cloaky said, disheartened.

But then Pootang looked down at Seal, and it was like he was noticing her for the first time.  He licked his lips hungrily, and padded toward her like an irresistible lure.

[Underseen]

What is super effective against electric?

[DinosaurNothlit]

That would be ground.  Which Cloaky already tried.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Chapter Forty-eight

Seal frantically backed up, as Pootang lumbered toward her.  Pinnipeds were never meant to move in reverse, of course, but Seal could actually move surprisingly fast backward.

"Oh no you don't!" she yelled defiantly at Pootang, doing her best to hide her terror behind a mask of bravado.  She fired spears of ice, the biggest and the sharpest she could manage, as the enormous creature strode ominously towards her.

Cloaky and Estelore moved quickly to try to block Pootang's path, but the giant monster simply kicked them out of its way.  They both got back up almost immediately, unharmed, but by then Pootang was already past them, effectively blocking off any further attempts.

Then a flash of blue suddenly shot across the vertical wall of yellow, as Blue slashed down from a nearby building, holding out his sword as he passed across Pootang.  A hair-thin line of red appeared, but almost immediately the injury was hidden under the monster's fur.

"Hang on, Seal!" Blue called as he landed in a graceful crouch right next to Seal, spreading his Ketran wings as he kicked off from the ground again.  "Nobody messes with my Wondertwin!" he cried defiantly as he powered towards Pootang for another strike.  The monster growled at the annoyance, but still he stayed focused on his true target.

Seal continued to throw her frozen javelins, as the creature loomed closer and closer.  She jumped back, as a few drops of blood spattered out of Pootang's wounds.  Most of the droplets were red, but a few were a yellowish green color, and these hissed and steamed as they hit the ground, dissolving coin-sized divots into the ground.

"Acid blood?" Seal wondered sharply.  "Acid blood?  Whose bright idea was it to give this thing acid blood?!  As if we didn't already have enough problems!"

"Come on, we have to set a trap!" Parker yelled to the other RAFians, having a sudden insight.  "Seal can lead it wherever we need it to go, which means we can trap it!  Quickly!"

Cloaky nodded, and he immediately jumped on an energy disk that he had summoned, scanning urgently for an empty space big enough for what he was planning.  Without pausing to explain what he was doing, he quickly began to move giant chunks of ground in massive columns, tossing aside the debris as his hole in the earth became deeper and deeper.

"This way!" he cried as soon as the hole was big enough and deep enough for something of Pootang's size.  "Lead it this way!"

Phoenix, hovering above most of the other RAFians, paused the fireball barrage that he had been flinging at Pootang, and winged his way towards Seal.  He dove, and skimmed along the ground in preparation to grab her.  If he could just carry her across Cloaky's trap, he realized, then that would accomplish what they needed, and Seal would be safe.  But she was too far away, and Pootang was so close to her.  Could he reach her in time?

Phoenix looked across the battlefield for Blue, and saw to his dismay that the Ketran had been knocked far from the battle.  He seemed unharmed, but he was now too far away to ever reach Seal before it was too late.

It was all up to Phoenix.  He sheathed himself in flame as he flew, using the fire to propel himself as fast as he knew how to go.

Out of the corner of her eye, Seal spotted a comet-like flame streaking toward her.  In the spur of the moment she mistook Phoenix for an errant fireball, and fearfully dodged out of his way before he could grab her.  As the fire bird circled around for another pass, Seal realized her mistake, and abashedly raised a flipper in preparation to help him grab onto her.

But the mistake had cost precious seconds, time that they didn't have.  Phoenix had been going much too fast, and had overshot his target by many yards.  And now he had to build up speed in the opposite direction before he could reach Seal again.

Pootang licked his lips as he continued to stare creepily down at Seal.  Seal backed away faster now, and continued to launch burst after burst of ice shards up at the creature.  But it didn't deter him.  Even though blood was now forming thin streaks across his fur, he didn't even seem to notice the wounds as he continued to stalk his prey.

As Seal watched, Pootang's injuries were flowing together and sealing themselves, like his skin was made of liquid.  Parker, watching from behind a nearby pile of rubble, cursed, and tried to line up a shot before the monstrosity could heal completely, but now Pootang was too close to Seal, and he couldn't risk hitting her.

Seal finally lost her nerve.  She spun herself around to run all-out, but by then it was already too late.  Pootang grabbed onto her midsection with one of his misshapen stumpy claws, and lifted her helplessly into the air.  She struggled, but she was facing away from him, and her cryokinetic attacks were firing wild, missing the monster completely.

Phoenix pulled up, extinguishing his flame, as he stared up at the scene in shock and horror, not knowing what to do.

Disbelief gripped the RAFians across the battle field, unable to believe what was unfolding before their eyes.

Pootang grinned a hundred savage grins, as he opened his mouth wide, and dropped Seal down his throat.

Everything went strangely silent at that moment.  It was as if the entire battle had just stopped.  Nobody could believe what they had just seen.  It wasn't possible.

"Oh God, no," Blue muttered to himself in horror.  "No, no, it's not possible.  NO!"

"She . . . she's died before, though, right?" Phoenix whispered, panting and winded from adrenaline and exertion.  "She's died before and she always comes back.  Please Seal, please, don't be . . ."

The RAFians were each telling themselves similar reassurances.  That she'd been through worse, and survived.  How many times had she been eaten in various RAFfics, after all?

But, this wasn't just a story anymore.  This was a real battle, with real consequences.  The unfortunate newbie who had died and vanished proved as much.

And Seal had just gone inside a creature with acidic blood.  The RAFians had to be realistic.  In all likelihood, Seal could not have survived.

Still they waited, and hoped.  As though Seal would come triumphantly bursting forth from inside the monster.  But the minutes ticked by, like a silent eternity.  And still, nothing.  Nothing except Pootang, calmed now, and looking around with a curious sense of confusion, like he had expected something different.

Estelore stepped forward then.  All traces of fear gone, they stepped towards the fractured monstrosity.  Their eyes glowed with barely contained fury, while brilliant white flames licked their clenched fists, climbing up their arms.  The flames swiftly encircled their body, blindingly bright white.

"Stand back," Estelore said, and their voice was strangely calm, yet they spoke with such a powerful force that their words were impossible to ignore.  "Stand back.  Or we will not be held responsible for those who do not."

[Underseen]

Although I'm only reading this so often because Cloaky isn't present right now, this is really good. I usually see Pootang as a smaller threat though.

[redtailedsaffa]

This. Is. So. Freaking. AMAZING! Keep writing, Dino!!

[DinosaurNothlit]

Thanks guys! 

True, in Cloaky's story, Pootang is a good deal tamer (and cuter, at times ), but a lot of interpretations have also shown him as being pretty uber.  Since my version is a combination of sorts, he incorporates ideas from all possible versions.

Note: As before, Blue text denotes posted text.

Chapter Forty-nine

Richard logged off.

He couldn't do this.  He couldn't.  He couldn't simply sit there typing at his computer while others fought and died.  Seal . . .

No, no, it wasn't possible.  She was so young.  She was only a kid, for god's sake!  She just couldn't be . . . Richard found himself unable to even finish that thought.

Standing up from his desk, he loosed a mournful howl of frustration.  Why was he here, safe, in the real world, while the others were in danger?  It wasn't fair.  They needed him, and all he could do was type stupid meaningless words that weren't enough to save anybody.  He didn't know how to fight.  He didn't even know how to write about fighting.

He cradled his head in his hands for a while.  Every now and then a sob escaped, unbidden, from his throat.  He knew that the battle was still ongoing, but he couldn't bring himself to face reality.  The horrid reality of Seal's deleted account, and what that empty username would mean.

When the newbie had died, Richard had seen the account disappear.  He did everything in his power to reactivate it, thinking that maybe, he could reverse that one pointless death.  But it had been no use.  His admin powers could do nothing to bring him back.

He didn't want to face that same helplessness again.  Never again.  Seal . . . no.  No!  It couldn't be, it wasn't possible.  She would come back.  Somehow, some way, she had to be okay.

He sat there, unmoving, with his head in his hands, for a long time.  Just repeating it over and over in his head.  That moment when Seal had fallen into Pootang's jaws.  It had been over much too fast for him to react.  Typing the words on a keyboard as he was, he had no hope at all to have reacted in time.

If only he had been there, really been there, maybe he could have done something.  It wasn't fair!  His forum needed him now more than ever, and he was helpless!

Richard sighed, and decided at last to go back to RAF.  But not back to the battle.  To the armory.  The others, the ones not fighting, would need to know what had happened.  They needed to know just how much they were needed now, how much was riding on their efforts.  How much the remaining warriors needed the writers, before another RAFian fell.

At least that was the excuse that Richard made for himself.  What he didn't admit was that, as long as he didn't look at Seal's account, there might still be some chance that she might have survived.  But as soon as he would see those empty posts, with that awful title, 'guest,' then it would be a sure thing.  And Richard just couldn't bring himself to erase that tiny flicker of hope.

So he went straight to the armory, not pausing to see what was going on with the battle.  At least the armory was still there.  Pootang had not destroyed it yet.  So at least RAF still had that much going for them.

Richard scrolled through the posts in the armory, quickly getting caught up with what was going on.

"Well, he's an electric type, right?" Blaze had posted.  "So how about a ground-type Pokemon of some sort, to battle him?" Blaze wondered aloud, as he twiddled a pencil in his fingers, idly tapping it against his notebook.

"Yeah," Underseen agreed.  "Something earth-based, then."

Meanwhile, Bear had posted, Bear wandered over towards Rad and Aquilai, joining their conversation.

"Let's look at the common factors concerning all RAFians," Aquilai put forth.  "Most of them are humanoid, or at least have some human-like characteristics.  So, a 'champion' of RAF should be something similar to a human, to better represent all of us."

"Chuck Norris," Bear posted.  "Nothin' beats Chuck Norris."

"According to Dino, Pootang's blood is acid, right?" Rad thought out loud.  "Maybe a giant stomach?  Or, like, somebody with an acidic diet?"

"Hmm.  Maybe if-" Aquilai started, but cut himself off when he sensed someone enter the room nearby.  He turned around to see the newcomer.

"Richard!" Bear exclaimed.  "What are you doing here?"

Richard couldn't help but jump slightly when he read Bear's post, having briefly forgotten that his avatar would appear to the other RAFians as soon as he entered the thread.  It was something very hard to get used to, to have his presence acknowledged even when he hadn't posted anything.

Scrolling down through a few more posts, he realized that the other RAFians had stopped talking when they had seen him appear, and they were now waiting him to say something.  The few posts that were still appearing, were mostly descriptions of RAFians' reactions to his sudden appearance.  Some were confused or curious, but most had a sinking feeling, as they each fearfully wondered what could have driven Richard to abandon the battle.

"Richard?" Anidragon asked gently.  "What's happening?"

Richard swallowed the lump in his throat, and started to type.

Richard looked down, his expression grave.  "It's Seal."

"Seal?" Jess asked, stunned and breathless at what Richard seemed to be implying.  "You can't possibly mean . . . "

Richard shook his head and steeled himself.  Though he wasn't speaking the words out loud, even merely typing them was hard.  "Yes.  I'm so sorry.  She's gone."

The outcry was immediate.  The thread erupted in denials, everyone asking if Richard was sure, had he actually seen it?  Because he had to be wrong somehow.  There was no way, absolutely no way at all, that Seal could be gone.

"We have to stay strong," Richard typed, although his fingers felt as heavy as lead.  But he had to say something.  It was the one thing he had, the one thing that he could do.  He could inspire.  "Now more than ever, we cannot give up.  All of RAF needs us.  Everything is riding on this one last chance.  We can do this.  I know that we can.  If we write what's in our hearts, where the bond between us is deepest, then not a single one of us can ever truly die."

But with those words, Richard had used up the very last of his resolve.  He didn't even have enough strength for himself, and here he was trying to share what little he had with the others.  Wearily, he clicked out of the armory, and hugged his knees to his chest.  He let out a sound somewhere between a sob and a sigh.  Hoping, not for the first time, that he might simply wake up, and none of this would have been real.

Then, just out of the corner of his eye, Richard saw something that made his heart stop.  He clicked the link to double-check, unable to believe his eyes.  It was a new post.  But that wasn't possible.  Unless . . .

Seal was alive!

[Blazing Angel]

Seal never legit dies in pootangs stomach, she is just forcefully removed! YAY! AND EW!

[Underseen]

Acid stomach juices can't stop Seal.. She's just too badass for that.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Chapter Fifty

While the battle had stood in that frozen moment, the RAFians not knowing what to do to save her, Seal had whimpered in abject terror as her life flashed before her eyes, falling down towards Pootang's waiting mouth.  Oh god, oh god, she was going to die, and there was nothing she could do.  As powerful as she could be, even with her hydrokinesis and cryokinesis, she knew she couldn't fight her way out of this.  Pootang was too powerful, and she would be dead before she could get out.

She told herself that her RAFsona had been eaten before, had died before, countless times.  But this wasn't just a story anymore.  She was about to be swallowed by a creature with acid blood.  There was no way anything could survive that.

Then, in a sudden flash of insight, brought on by pure adrenaline, she realized there was even now something she could do.  One last, narrow chance.  Not to fight, of course, but to escape.  It would take timing, and courage, and oh dear lord it was going to be gross.  Not as gross, of course, as being actually eaten by Pootang.  But pretty close to it.

As she fell, almost in slow motion, she turned her head to look down into Pootang's open mouth.  She could see a gossamer thread of drool hanging down from one of his razor-sharp fangs.  He was salivating, anticipating the delicious seal-meat.

Of course, as it turned out . . . drool was mostly water.  Even monstrous rabid Pikachu drool.  And that was all Seal needed.

She held out her flippers like wings, slightly guiding her path even as she careened downward through the air.  She dived, aiming toward a small pool of saliva cupped in Pootang's enormous tongue.

It was nearly impossible to aim towards anything, surrounded by hundreds of different hallucinogenic images of the insides of mouths, layered over one another, all around her.  But she desperately shut all that out of her mind and focused with all of her will on this one thing.

She wrinkled her nose as she braced for impact, readying herself for the moment she would hit the liquid's surface.  Wait for it, she thought.  NOW!

Seal surfaced, moments later, in a lake.  She gagged, still coated with spit, although the clean water was already beginning to dissolve some of the slime.  She frantically rubbed herself with her flippers, trying to work the nasty stuff out of her fur.  As she did so, she looked around, trying to figure out where she was.

Nearby, Seal recognized the Galaxy Edge Space Bar.  Wow, she'd gone a lot farther than she'd meant to.  How had she teleported so far?  She'd just aimed for the nearest water, she thought.  Was the GESB's lake really the only source of water on RAF?

She swam to the shore, where she fitfully shook herself dry, and looked around for the glass ship that would carry her back to the rest of RAF.  She spotted it, and hurriedly bounded inside.  She pressed the exit button, and willed it to go as fast as it could.

The other RAFians would, no doubt, be worried absolutely sick.  They had seen her fall into Pootang's mouth, with no indication at all of what had happened after that.  Surely, they would all assume the worst.

The glass ship stopped at the main forum, and Seal immediately got out, moving as fast as she could.  She looked around sadly at the sight of the ruined buildings, a ghost town of the place that RAF had once been.  But she didn't slow down.  She followed the destruction towards the place she knew Pootang would be.

Her mouth dropped open in awe, as she approached the scene from a distance.  Only two RAFians seemed to be fighting Pootang.  The others were nowhere to be seen.  And yet, what Seal saw was a battle of titans.

Estelore was much too distant to be recognizable as such, but Seal knew it was them by the harsh glare of sunlight that now shone from their body.  Their human avatar had taken off into the air, blasting fire downward like a rocket in order to stay aloft.  They were only the size of an insect next to the enormous Pootang, but from that diminutive human form, came blast after blast of white-hot fire in all directions, like a continuous supernova.  Even from this distance, Seal was in discomfort from the heat hitting her face.

The other RAFian, on the opposite side of Pootang from Estelore, was one that Seal didn't even recognize at all.  Part of that was because Seal found it difficult to even look in his direction, amidst the golden-scarlet shock waves of raw energy that seemed to be emanating constantly from his form.  But when Seal was able to briefly glance at him, she saw a shape of orange and black, amidst a wake of burning rubble.  His movements so effortlessly graceful that he could only be feline.

A tiger?  Who on RAF was . . .

"Cloaky?" Seal whispered to herself, awed, in utter disbelief.  She had, of course, never seen him without his cloak before.  And, upon seeing the crater of destruction that was rapidly forming in his path, she could very easily see why.

A sudden pang of worry struck Seal, to see Cloak like this.  She knew it was one of his deepest fears, to lose control of himself.  And to see him unleashing this much power . . . she only hoped he would still be alright after it was all over.

But, almost as unbelievable as seeing Cloaky without his cloak, was to see Pootang's reaction to the onslaught.  The unstoppable monster was cowering.  The great beast was actually whimpering in pain.  And he was trapped.  Estelore's inferno on one side of him, and Cloaky's maelstrom on the other.

Pootang, the monster that they all thought invincible, was cringing in fear, unable to approach either of the two.  Seal could already see where his fur was crisping and turning black.  New injuries now overlaid the scars many of his aspects had already possessed.

Seal looked away, unable to believe what she was seeing.  This was all because of her, she realized with a sudden start.  It had to be.  Even from this distance, she could almost feel the anger in the way Cloaky and Estelore were fighting.  It was a palpable energy that infused the air.  Cloaky's hurt fury, and Estelore's protective wrath.  It was certainly a far cry from the rational, almost cautious way that any of the RAFians had tested their powers previously.

Demos, who had been crouching behind a collapsed wall far away from the battle, turned his head away for a moment, to rest his eyes.  The multi-form Pootang by itself already hurt badly enough to look at, but throw a supernova and a cloak-less Realm Walker into the mix, and it felt like his eyes were actually going to catch fire.

As he looked to the side, he could swear he saw a fuzzy shape of white.  No.  It couldn't be.  It couldn't possibly be her.  Could it?

But Demos didn't hesitate wondering why or how.  He got up and ran headlong towards her.  It was Seal!  It really was her!

Seal must've spotted the motion out of the corner of her eye, because she turned her head toward Demos and grinned.  She bounded forward, excited to be able to tell another RAFian that she was okay.

"How?" Demos asked, as he knelt down for a hug, which Seal gladly obliged.

"You all forgot I could teleport, didn't you?" Seal said smugly.  "There was enough water, or, whatever, in there, that it worked.  It wasn't pretty, but it worked."

Demos ruffled the fur on top of Seal's head, giving her a sly smile.  "Nice trick.  Don't ever scare us like that again."

"Yes, because I totally intended to do that!" Seal protested shrilly, making a face.  "I got almost eaten, just so that I could mess with everyone."

They both heard Pootang's fractured voice cry out in pain, and glanced back towards the battle scene.  A sharp wedge of rock, bigger than a person but still dwarfed by the monster's enormous size, was now lodged in Pootang's side, blood slowly trickling from the wound.  Seal glanced over at Cloaky, her expression etched with concern.  "We should probably tell the others I'm okay."

Demos laughed at that, as he shielded his eyes and looked towards Estelore, who was furiously throwing jets of brilliant white flame.  "Actually, I'm thinking maybe we should wait just a little bit longer."

[Underseen]

Of course Seal is still amazing.

[redtailedsaffa]

And so is this story.
Wow, all you guys are inspiring me to (give a second, hopefully less lame) attempt at writing fanfiction of my own!
Of course, this will definitely have to be after I'm done with all my college entrance exams... but I'll hoard ideas till then!