Gales POV
[Self Preservation] activated
[Self Preservation] activated
[Self Preservation] activated
As the system constantly displayed the skill window I could feel every part of my body screaming at me to turn and leave and could feel the skill trying to force me to stop but I continued toward. I bit the inside of my cheek as I ran and ignored my body's warning and grabbed one of the rifles that were left nearby and quickly kneeled down Ashes and wedged the back end of the rifle into a slight opening under the rock and grapped a small rock nearby and created a lever and attempted to try and lift the rock just enough for Ashes to crawl out.
"Try and move!" I yelled at Ashes.
"H-huh? O-ok" stammered Ashes as she attempted to pull her legs out.
I kept trying to lift the rock as I heard Lucas on the ships intercom saying "You moron! Stop wasting your time! We have to leave!"
I ignored the call and kept trying to lift the rock as the sounds of Rekka's attacks grew more intense against the creature and her laugh became more maniacal. I began to hear my heartbeat in my ears and sweat began dripping down my forehead as I struggled to apply more force with my small body and soon multiple thoughts began to swim around in my head.
'You idiot why did you come back for her you could have gotten away from this place! Why risk everything for one person! You remember the last time you helped someone, do you really want history to repeat itself?!"
Despite these thoughts I kept trying to lift the rock the best I could and suddenly the rock began to move as I continued to push the rifle down. Through everything I also heard the sounds of an engine starting and beginning to move away and I bit my lip as heard this and continued with what I was doing. Eventually I was able to lift it just enough for Ashes to crawl out and was she made her way out I let the rock drop and began to lament my decision and looked back at the ship.
As I turned to the direction of the ship I saw what I already knew. The ship was already gone and already up in the air quickly moving away from the island, but I also saw something that took its place. In its place was a large metal capsule that was smaller than the ship and had an engine in the back.
It was the escape pod.
I quickly turned to Ashes and said "Can you run?"
"I-I think so." Replied Ashes as she slowly began to stand up.
As soon as she stood up I grabbed her hand and we ran towards the escape pod with all our might. As we made it I saw a door on the side with a metal wheel and went to open it and asked Ashes for help in turning the wheel and together we managed to turn the wheel and open the door and made our way into the capsule and saw two seats next to each and facing a small console. Quickly we placed ourselves in the seats and although I didn't completely understand the technology I used the knowledge I gathered from watching Lucas and Max working on the ship and somehow managed to get the escape pod working and as the pod started up the glass showing the outside of the pod also appeared as the power started up. As this happened I could also see Rekka continuing her attack and could see that she began to grow tired from the constant attacks but she still continued to laugh.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Come on you big bastard don't tell me you can't fight back?!"
I could see that the creatures head was covered in smoke from the constant explosions and soon after taking all those attacks the creature moved it's head and I could see it clear as day. Nothing. After all that there was not a single scorch mark on the creatures head and I realized that the creatures attention was never focused Rekka and it looked as though it was searching for something. As it continued to look another fireball came towards it's head and hit a few of it eyes as Rekka yelled "HOW DARE YOU FOCUS YOUR ATTENTION ELSE WHERE YOU PATHETIC CRE-!"
Rekka couldn't finish her sentence as the large creature lifted it's claw up almost impossibly fast for a creature it's size and brought it down on Rekka and completely crushed her. As soon as as I saw this I refocused on the console and managed to start the engine and using what I knew I managed to although a little awkwardly get the pod off the ground and in the air and began to move away from the island.
As I did this, for a moment I could the creature turn its head toward our pod in the air and inwardly began to curse my luck and began to pray in my head.
'Please don't follow us. Please just go back to wherever you came from.'
As I thought this I also looked towards what looked to be a radar and I saw a large red blip behind us slowly get further I heard something massive dive into the ocean and soon that red blip began to follow us.
"Oh come on!" I yelled
It was clear Ashes began to panic as she realized this titanic creature began to follow us for whatever reason and I did my best to raise the pod higher and move slightly faster and just in time as well. As I moved away from our previous altitude I could hear the creature jump out of the water and attempt to bute our pod and fall back into the water. There was no doubt about it now. This creature for whatever reason wanted us.
I raised ourselves higher and away from the creature and soon Ashes lean towards the console and pressed a button and before I could ask what she was doing, I saw on the glass in front of me appear a small screen that displayed an image that showed everything behind us.
"Sorry I saw it said camera and I thought we could use it" said Ashes.
"You can read?" I asked the dragon girl.
"H-huh? Yes I can read." Ashes replied.
We couldn't continue our conversation as I saw on the camera that the creature began to build up speed and I could see it's back beginning to expand. Soon two massive wings exploded from its back and the creature began to fly from the ocean and continued it's chase.
I could see the rest of the creature now and it was far more massive than I could imagine and it's body reminded me of a dragon but it had webs on its feet and I could now see it's fins on its back and on its arms and legs. It had a long serpentine tail with a fin on the end and I could see it's body was covered in large scars.
I couldn't continue to look at the creature as I moved the pod away and attempted to lose the creature as it continued to fly after us. I knew that we had no chance of outrunning the creature as it slowly began to catch up to us and tried to think of a solution. As I continued to fly the pod I thought of an idea and asked Ashes "Can you find anything that will speed us up?"
"M-me? I don't know if I ca-"
"I CAN'T READ ANYTHING! I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO GET OUT OF THIS! SO UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIE THEN FOCUS!"
Ashes flinched and stared at me with tears beginning to form and soon I took a breath and softened my tone and said " I need you to look at the console and see if there is anything that can speed us up or distract the creature. You can do this."
Ashes took a moment as she looked at me and when I said that last part I saw her eyes slightly light up and she soon had a fierce determination and she quickly began to read the consoles various labels. As she did this I continued to dodge the creature that continued to bite at our pod and which each bite being closer than the last.
I kept doing my best but I knew we didnt have much time left and Ashes continued to read the labels but I could see she was starting to panic as the creature got far too close to the pod and I realized the next bite would be on our pod. As I silently prepared myself I heard Ashes yell out "There's a button under the console that says Emergency boost!"
As she said this I saw a small button covered in a glass case that I kicked open and pressed the button. Once I did this I felt the pod begin to vibrate and a screen appeared in red on the glass in front of us and I could see the creature begin to open it's jaw and Ashes leaned toward and pressed another button on the console and in an instant I felt my body fly back into my seat as the pod sped up in an instant and leave behind the creature as we flew to parts unknown.