24 Snake Attack (1/2)

Finn felt a strange sense of peace. It was a similar to how he felt on his deathbed in his former life. An acceptance of death. That didnt mean, though, that he didn't feel regret.

It's a shame, this world was so interesting... Finn dodged to the right, forcing the bear to slow down in order to avoid tumbling once again, the action rocking the earth beneath his feet.

To Finn's dismay however, the bear was beginning to adapt to his sudden changes in direction.

Finn, being smaller, was much more agile than the massive bear, but it more then made up for it in raw speed, strength, and endurance.

Although, right now Finn was noticeably faster than before.

Bryn... Finn felt a pang of sadness for the boy. He prayed that he would make it home safely, although he would definitely be devastated.

He hadn't and would never consider the boy a burden, but less weight always meant more speed. He had to admit that without Bryn and a saddle on his back, he felt far less strain on his muscles.

But regardless, it made no difference, Finn still couldn't absorb energy when running at this speed. The few times he attempted to do so, the energy dissipated before he could gather it in his core.

Believe it or not, it took a lot more concentration when being chased by a giant mountain of a bear that was intent on ripping your guts open.

Each time the bear got close, Bryn would quickly change direction, using the trees as momentary cover to disguise his intentions. This led to the bear wasting time trying to adjust its course.

Unfortunately, this trick could only work so many times before the bear got wise. It took less time for the bear to course correct Finn's dodges.

Combine that with how Finn was nearing muscle failure, the end result was easily decipherable.

Burning pain clouded Finn's thoughts, both from his legs and his lungs. He was relying more and more on instinct at this point, any higher brain functions limited by exhaustion.

I... cant... continue... Finn was running on fumes. All of the sudden, his eyes were greeted by bright sunlight. He had been chased into a clearing, and not just any clearing...

This is... how?

Somehow, Finn had managed to make it right back to the open area where the chase began.

The same place where he had been born.

After all the running and dodging, he had only succeeded in going in a big circle.

Normally, the bright sunlight would be welcome to Finn, but in this case it was a death sentence. With no trees around, there was nowhere to hide.

The bear let out a might roar of pent up frustration. It had been waiting for a chance like this.

Picking up speed, it caught right up to the fleeing lizard, chomping down on it's already bloodied tail once again. The shriek of pain Finn uncontrollably let loose fueled the bear's bloodlust.

Using the grip the bear had on his tail, the bear came to a sudden halt, forcing Finn to do the same. Without warning, Finn felt his claws leave the earth.

With a mighty heave of its body, the bear threw Finn with great force using his own tail as the sling.

Excruciating pain radiated throughout his body as he felt his tail nearly rip off, and for a moment, Finn felt weightless.

Then his back collided with the trunck of a tree.

Finn heard and felt a crunch as his rear limbs bent at an unnatural angle. His back had been broken.

I can't move my legs... Finn was done. He had tried his best, but there was no escaping the looming shadow of death. He watched as the ironhide bear causally walked up to its meal, jaws dripping with saliva.

Even now, its body was protected by that green energy. It was being cautious in case Finn had any more tricks left.

Only, Finn knew he had shown all his cards already. There was no ace in the hole.

Fear coursed through Finn's veins. Understanding one's inevitable demise didn't make it any less terrifying. He wasn't very keen on knowing the feeling of being eaten.

Hopefully, it makes it quick... Finn closed his his eyes as dark thoughts clouded his mind, unwilling to watch as the gruesome end came.

Just as Finn could feel its hot breath closing in around his neck, the bear quickly retracted its jaws. It began growling intensely as it gazed off into the distance.

Finn heard several whistling sounds reminiscent of a car zooming past at high speed. Daring to open one of his eyes, Finn saw bluish objects moving too fast to see impact the side of the ironhide bear.

The bear recoiled in pain, each spot where the blue projectiles hit revealing large gashes, which began oozing copious amounts of blood.

What in the world... Both Finn's eyes were now wide open in shock. Somehow, the massive bear that treated my attacks like a sunburn, was seriously wounded by a single sneak attack.

The green energy surrounding the bear's body appeared seemingly useless against these attacks.

How unfair... Finn wondered why his own attacks were so ineffective by comparison. If he wasn't so hurt, Finn would have used this opportunity to run away. Alas, all he could do was pray that whoever was attacking the bear now ignored his existence.

Despite the pain, Finn adjusted his head to see where the strikes came from.

... Now this is just getting ridiculous.

An unbelievably massive snake was slowly slithering out of the woods. Its long and sleek body that seemingly had no end curled around several trees like a cord. Its scales had striped patterns, alternating between different shades of blue.

As it entered the clearing, Finn's view improved, and it only made him shudder in fear. The snake's beautiful blue body was almost as thick around as a mid sized car, which could only lead to one to making preposterous deductions about its length.

By comparison of scale, the ironhide bear was like a jumbo polar bear on steroids. This snake however...

If the largest snakes on earth were like twigs, this snake was a damn tree!

Visually, the bear was actually much taller than the snake, but by volume and weight, the snake most likely dwarfed the bear by many tons.

There was no time wasted. The larger than life beasts circled each other, the bear's growls and the snake's hisses combined together like a serenade of impending war.

They stood off for a moment, neither willing to back down, and immediately commenced a life or death brawl, their fighting adding more destruction to the already devastated clearing.

Finn lacked the current mental capacity to process what was happening. It was like watching titans clash, the sheer scale of the fight was almost impossible to comprehend.

Gradually, Finn's eyes closed back down to a bored expression. Nothing mattered anyway. Whoever won would still kill him. In this case, there wasn't a ”lesser of two evils” option.

Since I have nothing better to do, might as well ease this pain... Finn started gathering energy, pleased that he could now focus it into his core with no problems.

His back being broken, Finn was as still as a rock as sunlight flowed into his body.

Successfully condensed in his core, the energy flowed through his body, rejuvenating his worn muscles and alleviating the pain from his injuries.

In fact, Finn could tell that if he was given enough time, his body could make a complete recovery. Unfortunately, there was no way he would be given the chance.