They quickly learned even the smallest of the blasts were not to be taken lightly. It was like dealing with a ton of small explosions that created flash burns from sudden high heat that produced a flash.
None of them went to sleep, too much had happened and it was still a lot on they're minds. At the first sight of dawn they moved out with a new fire lit under they're tails. They wanted to get out of the forest as quick as possible.
"More boars, and these are bigger." Shouted Damon running towards Jasper and Raya. They had just stopped for a quick break when Damon decided to walk the perimeter for any nearby threats. Stumbling on a group of boars wasn't apart of his plan.
The ground trembled as a stampede of hoves stormed in they're direction. Nearby trees shook making Raya look around cautiously at a few falling limbs. They could hear them coming, but couldn't see them.
"Geesh Damon, how many are they're?"
Raya asked while tightening her grip on her spear taking a stance.
"Ughh, I think i saw four....yea four." He said clutching his fist and cutting his eyes.
"Maybe more, im not sure." He added making Raya look at him with a sharp stare before igniting two balls of flares.
"Well alright, time for a man to do what only a real man can do." Jasper said with a grin, red pulsing energy formed from his knuckles to his forearm and began spinning like a drill.
Damon looked at him in surprise, he had never saw his energy being manipulated in that way before.
A thick layer of Grey clouds began spreading across the sky creating a downpour of rain. Damon's body increased in size making his muscles a little more pronounced. With his talon fists at the ready, he prepared himself.
The flickering of her flares caught Raya's attention, unlike its constant fountain of rays it had been pouring out, they flickered as if they were struggling to stay lit, she then began to feel it was taking much more concentration and energy to keep them going.
"Damon's, rain." She muttered realizing it was affecting her flares.
The next second, the sound of hoarding steps came to a stop and silent fell throughout the area. The only thing that could be heard was the steady heavy rain, which Damon turned into a light shower in order for Raya and Jasper too see and hear more clearly.
No matter how hard he made it rain, Damon could see through it all as if it wasn't raining. That wasn't the case for anyone within his rain. It made it so difficult to see at times which was why Damon would only allow heavy rain for a short time.
They looked around in confusion, trying to locate or find some type of hint as to where they suddenly went.
"Hmph, smart...it looks like they sensed a real man's presence and turned tail." Jasper said relaxing and canceling his energy. Raya did the same, but Damon did not.
"Something isn't right, my rain, its, I don't know. " he said with furrowed brows.
Raya eyes shifted towards Damon as he mentioned his rain. For a moment she had forgotten what she realized. After telling Damon her flares were being affected by his rain, he made it into a light sprinkle.
"ha, looks like your pretty little flares are pretty weak, just flashy is all." Jasper teased.
With a finger snap as if she was striking a match, a red flare flashed in her palm.
"Care to test that theory. " she said with slanted eyes.
Jasper smiled and buffed up his chest before saying.
"Easy, A man never backs down from a challenge."
His hand became covered in aura and just as he was about to grab ahold of the spraying flare. Multiple grunts and squeals along with heavy fast steps came from their left side, then their right.
"Ambush. " Damon shouted out after a quick survey discovering they were actually surrounded.
Four large boars sprinted out of the brush, with a quick pivot, Jasper took the one closest to him head on as red energy spiraled around his arm.
Raya conjured two flare bangs tossing it in front of the boar coming her way creating multiple crackling sounds followed by a chain of small explosions. The boars were instantly blinded and the hot flash of heat made them stagger and change positions.
The constant stream of bangs even made the boar targeting Damon scatter from his initial path giving Damon the opportunity to move to its side as it charged by and grab one of its tusks. Spinning and jumping as he grabbed ahold, he hopped on its back like a cowboy and began raining down punches near its eyes.
Like before, he planned to take out its eyes in order to give him some leverage. His plan worked like a charm. The boar sqeeled in discomfort before falling on its side attempting to roll on its back and crush Damon in the process. However, Damon was quick on his feet and managed to push off before the boar hit the ground.
Remembering its soft underbelly, he jumped forward digging all eight talons into its stomach as he came down. Pulling his fists down as hard as he could, its belly split open and the contents of its stomach spilled out like someone unzipping a overloaded suitcase.
Before he could stand up fully, his body was flying in the air. Another boar had entered the fray, blindsiding him.
"Two down, and here's number three."
Dodging a boar, Jasper spun landing a drilling blow to its side breaking its natural armor. The boar cut right, then left before ramming a tree that fell nearly on impact making Jasper dive and roll out the way.
By the time he got up, another boar was on him, a heavy weight plowed into him sending him crashing into a tree. Jasper's body flipped multiple times as he hit branch after branch. The boar beast peddled back calculating the moment he would hit the ground. With a burst of heavy speed it aligned itself with Jasper's falling path when a hot colorful flash blew up at its side.
Raya flew in using her spear like a pole vault flinging herself up grabbing Jasper mid air and they both hit the ground rolling. She broke his fall a little, but it still hurt like hell. Her small frame couldn't handle Jasper's weight.
Damon was hurt, but on his feet. Using the trees as obstacles, he maneuvered around one tree after another trying to slow the boar down. Holding his ribcage, he winced in agony while moving and trying to plan his next move.
"The heck do I do now." He thought.
Nothing was coming to his mind and he doubt he could keep up his little game of hide behind a tree for long. He also made sure not to stray too far from his comrades and moved in a circle heading back towards them.
"Beautiful Flare's. " scattering more hot flashing explosives sent the three boars in front of them in a panic as two had already been severely burned but wasn't down. It gave them time to collect themselves before the boars could rush back in.
Raya was fine physically, a little scratched up but that was all. Unfortunately her ability was taking a toll on her. Constantly using it in a battle while performing a ton of physical movements that expelled more energy was much different from standing around doing a few fireworks and casting pretty light.
She quickly understood she could only perform beautiful flare's three to four times, and each time it would be weaker. She didn't have any real time to understand and know her limits when it came to her ability and this was a great lesson for her. To make matters worse, her spear was lost somewhere in the brush.
Jasper's right arm hung low and limp, he couldn't move it at all and one of his eyes were completely shut like someone sealed it with super glue. Hanging on to Raya with his other arm like a ragged doll he spoke softly.
"Not bad glitter, thanks for the help." He said with blood stained teeth.
"The help, you mean thanks for saving your ass."
"Same thing, now glitter bomb our way out of this."
"I can't, I only have enough energy for one more, we have to wait until they get close enough. We cant afford to miss." She responded with gritted teeth.
The boars were still in front of them but kept their distance. They had become hesitant because of the chain exploding fire flares, but with each passing second of watching the injured humans, their confidence settled back in.
Every so often they could hear shuffling of leaves and branches through the forest and knew it was Damon. They didn't know how many boars he had on his trail, but knew they needed to help in some way.
"Don't worry, he'll be fine. If you haven't noticed. He's the luckiest out of all of us and he's good at coming up with things on the fly" Jasper said seeing the worry visible on Raya's face.
As if Jasper spoke it into existence, the rain clouds above them decreased into a twelve meter radius and heavy rain began to break through the clouds. From Jasper's and Raya's position, it looked like a circular rain cloud that moved along with Damon above the forest. It was no longer covering them.
The three boars had waited long enough, but as if they knew a trap would be sprung if they all attacked together, the unthinkable happened. Two of the boars backed away and only one bolted in with raised tusks.
"Are we sure these aren't low matured beasts, they're thinking outside the box." Raya asked instinctively taking a step back.
"Who gives a rats ass, throw your glitter bomb." Jasper screamed in fear.
Hot flares lit up the ground in a heartbeat as it sounded like four hundred black cat firecrackers went off. The bright fountain of colors sprayed upward partially blocking their view.
Emerging from the shadows of the two boars who stayed behind was a slim boy with black hair and dark red eyes. Spinning a silver and gold trimmed dagger between his hand he delivered several definite strikes to each of the boars necks.