Friendly Shapes

The dual moons shine brightly in the sky as the odd pair of hunters push through some brush between two rather large trees. Alexia lifts up the right arm of the armor as a saw protrudes from it.

“You sure it was a good idea to go hunting out at night instead of the day?” Roden asks his friend as she saws away at the brush.

“I do because it is probably resting so we can find it a bit easier.” Alexia answers before she scratches the teeth of the saw against one of the trees.

“But it is also harder for us to see. And these woods are clearly quite large!” The young man grimaces “For all we know it could be in the opposite direction we have been going and we simply missed it because we cannot really see!”

“No way that has happened.” Alexia says with boundless confidence. The woman moves past the brush “We will find it before the sun is up. I promise you that.”

-- -- --

The moons are barely visible in the sky above the trees. Morning is soon upon the pair of friends yet with no trace of their target.

“I do not think we are going to find it.” The mage moves a branch out of his way.

“It is around here, I am certain of it.” Unfortunately for the inventor, her tone gives away her lack of hope in this statement.

“Damn it!” Roden steps into a small stream of water.

“What happened?” Alexia stops to look back at her friend.

“I stepped into a stream of water and my foot is all wet and cold now!” The young man vents.

“A stream. A stream.” The inventor snaps, a loud reverberating sound due to the armor “That’s it!”

Without another word Alexia bounds off the opposite direction of the stream’s flow.

“Come on, at least explain or let me dry my foot off.” Roden sighs.

Fortunately for Roden, Alexia did not have to run very far. The mage stops next to his metallic companion to see a very large crocodile looking creature resting underneath a large tree several meters away from the pair.

“I think we found it.” Alexia whispers.

She moves from their hiding spot and tries to move as quietly as a large metallic object can be, which is to say, not at all.

The large creature begins to stir from its rest. As it eyes the shiny metal suit of armor the crocodile thing bolts up to its feet in alarm. It quickly spots Roden peeking from his hiding spot and bounds towards the man. As it nearly completely passes by Alexia she grabs hold of its long tail and tugs it.

“Hold on there!” The inventor interjects as she begins to pull the batrachotomus backwards "You are not getting another meal!” Alexia hurls the large creature into the tree it was resting under.

A sickening crack erupts as the batrachotomus crashes into the tree. A saddening whimper escapes the creature’s mouth as it slumps on the ground where it was sleeping mere moments ago.

“I am so sorry!” Alexia reaches out her large metal gauntlets towards the creature.

A large sharp stick speeds past Alexia and stabs the creature as it tries to get to its feet.

“We are hunting the thing! It is fine to be rough on it!” Roden interjects in annoyance as he steps beside his friend. The mage begins to move his hands, readying another spell.

“But it is friend shaped!” Alexia yells back at Roden.

“What does that even mean!?” Roden retorts in confusion.

“It is like a scaly wolf.” Alexia begins explaining her flawless (to her) logic with a metallic hand raised pointing to the sky. “Wolves are like big dogs. And dogs are called man’s best friend.” Alexia continues before moving her armor’s large arms out towards the batrachotomus as if to emphasize her point. “Therefore, it is friend shaped!”

“It is clearly much larger than a wolf.” The mage sighs. “And it just tried to eat me!” He adds, his voice full of exasperation and exhaustion.

The creature does not move. A silence fills the small area before it weakly tries to stand once again. As the batrachotomus finally gets back to its feet Roden releases his spell.

KRA-KOW!

The trees rustle violently for a moment and birds fly away as a burst of thunder booms around Roden and Alexia. A small bolt of lightning surges from Roden’s outstretched hand and courses through the batrachotomus. So much destructive energy running through the wounded creature was enough to end its suffering.

The only sound for a time is the sparking of excess electricity and the sizzling of the dead creature.

“Good job!” Alexia yells and walks over to the carcass “But that was really loud!”

“Sorry about that.” The mage replies before stretching his jaw in an attempt to return his hearing to normal “Better to put it out of its misery though.”

“True.” Alexia examines the carcass “What is this thing? It is like a giant crocodile but made for land instead of water.”

“I take it that means there will not be anymore around here if you have never seen it before.” Roden walks to Alexia's side.

“It means I have something to learn after this bounty.” The inventor says with glee.

Too exhausted from all his recent travels, Roden falls to his knees next to Alexia.

“Seriously, how did you get through your mage training without me?” The woman jokes quietly as she wraps a heavy metal arm around her friend for support.

Without anymore words Alexia helps Roden over to a tree and begins to create a makeshift sled to move the carcass. Once done with the sled she helps Roden back up to his feet and the two head back towards the farm.

-- -- --

The sun shines brightly over the grazing cows in the field near the woods. Alexia drags the sled slowly behind her as Roden sits down under a nearby tree.

“Sorry for slowing you down.” The man says wearily as he closes his eyes.

“Do not worry about it. I will get the bounty and then come back and get you.”

It does not take Alexia long to run into one of the farmer’s sons.

“Can you get your father?” The inventor asks the child.

“I-I-” The child stammers in fear and surprise at the sight of not only the large crocodile like creature being dragged but also the large suit of talking armor.

“Just point me in the direction please.” Alexia says trying to knock the child out of his stupor. Silently the boy raises a shaking hand and points over towards a fenced area. “Thank you.” She heads off.

“Sir! We got the creature!” Alexia exclaims once she finally sees the farmer.

The middle aged man jumps in surprise at the sight of Alexia’s armor.

“What are you!?" With a sigh Alexia opens the chest plate of her armor to reveal her face. “Oh, it’s the small girl from before.” The farmer says calming down. Another sigh escapes the young inventor’s lips as the man walks over to the sled. “What is this thing!?”

“I do not know but it is definitely large enough to kill a full grown bull.” Alexia turns around “Do you need it or can I keep it as well as the reward?”

“Hmmmm.” The farmer hums as he taps his foot in thought. Merely a moment passes before he says “I didn’t think you’d even drag it all the way here and I definitely don’t need it.” He looks at Alexia “I don’t see why not.”