It Only Gets Tougher (Tomare/Invite)

The Delicious duo continued on their adventure into the Northern Mountains. As usual, Chaz could not stand the cold weather one bit. It was even getting to the point of affecting Ibby, who was always one for this type of climate. They were able to make it worthwhile, though. Over the past two hours of traveling, Chaz was able to hit Ibby with a payback snowball from earlier. Ever since then, they have been trying to sneakingly prank one another. At one point, Chaz yelled out; “Youch! Youch.. Youch.. Youch…” They stopped and looked around. Chaz’s voice had echoed throughout the mountains. They gazed at each other before letting a sly grin cross their lips. “Oi! Oi.. Oi.. Oi… Heheheheh!” The two were having just a little bit too much fun with themselves. For Kami’s sake, they were in below zero temperatures! Yet they were able to entertain themselves. What a pair.

This wasn’t exactly a clever way to appease their boredness, though. As their voices could be heard all around the mountains, that meant anything or anyone living there could as well. As they continued their childish echo game, a terrifying roar slipped through their own voices. They glanced around before setting their eyes on each other, mentally trying to confirm if the noise was either of them. Things were silent, but only for a moment. Another galing bellow rang across the craggy region, sending ever so present shivers down the duo’s spine. “Chaz-kun… w-what is that..?” Chaz’s nose began twitching. He was sniffing around in the air. Spending almost the entirety of his life researching food, cooking food, and eating food, Chaz had a very remarkable sniffer. His smelling sense was so impressive, most people that knew about it compared it to that of a Hound dog. He was able to pick up on scents and follow them for miles.

That being said, he was trying to locate at sort of monster or being that could have made that noise. The ground around them shook, almost knocking them off of their feet. Small rocks and tufts of snow drifted off of the mountains sides, piling up along the path behind them. While it wasn’t traveling towards them, it was blocking their path home. It was a problem for Chaz, at least. He didn’t know how to fly. He didn’t want to learn, either. Ibby, on the other hand, could fly. He carried Chaz around a lot whenever they had to get to a place that could only be reached by flight.

With that aside, they were kind of trapped. When they turned around towards the way that they were actually going, what they saw wasn’t a clear path. Instead, standing right in the middle, large globs of saliva dripping from the intense, keen pearly whites by the gallons, was a gigantic T-rex looking dinosaur. It’s eyes were filled with joy, looking down upon two potential meals; Chaz and Ibby.



Ibby began tugging on Chaz’s shirt, trying to pull him backwards. “C-Chaz-kun! We have to run! Let’s go, now! I don’t wanna become a meal!” Chaz, on the other hand, had a massive grin upon his face. He was just as happy to see the dinosaur as it was to see him. Allowing the wind to carry his cloak off to Kami knew where, he rapidly unsheathed his knuckle-blades. “Nah-nah nah… I got this! It’s been so boring walking around these damn mountains, not finding anything! I’ve been itchin’ for a battle!”

The dinosaur began shifting its leg backwards in a repetitive manner, much like that of a bull when it would get ready to charge. The two beasts eyes met. The dinosaur wasn’t all that much interested in eating Chaz anymore as it was to see if he could put up a good fight. In one swift moment, the two charged. They closed the gap between each other in a matter of seconds. Chaz leaped into the air, sending his right bladed fist outwards to connect with the horn on the dinosaurs snout. The impact from both monstrous powers caused a large, circular shockwave to burst outwards, slicing into the mountains on either side of them. The shockwave kicked up a fierce wind that spread Chaz’s already spiky hair back against his head. Ibby brought his small arms up in order to shield his eyes from any debris that could’ve been heading his way. “Chaz-kun!”

The intensity from the shock wave dissipated any nearby snow. The souls of two beasts (One of them a beast at heart!) clashed, testing their wills against the others. Neither one of them wanted to back down. Chaz was in the dinosaur’s territory, so he had to show his pride. On the other hand, Chaz had Ibby watching, and he had a big ego. Losing to this thing right now would’ve been a huge bust. This was a perfect opportunity to get stronger. To gain strength. To prove himself. He was currently trying to best the elements of nature, so if he could defeat a beast of the nature on top of that, it would only cement his legacy (In Ibby’s eyes.)

The dinosaur’s horn began to crack around the base. Before long, Chaz felt his arm plow straight through it, breaking the horn off right in the middle. The remaining force behind Chaz’s blow sent the dinosaur reeling, falling back on it’s ginormous ass in the process. The impact of the monster slamming against the ground caused an even bigger earthquake like shake to the surrounding area. It came as a big surprise to the Delicious Duo that an avalanche had not started.

Chaz landed swiftly upon the ground, rolling his right shoulder. There was a proud grin on his face. He couldn’t have been happier. He was able to come into this thing’s home and take it down in a single punch. Impressive, to say the least. The broken horn piece flew through the air, landing in Chaz’s arms. It would be a nice souvenir to bring home to the remaining folks in South City. The dinosaur lifted it’s mighty body from the floor. The look in it’s eyes told the two that it was ready to come back for round two, but it’s tail told them ‘no way in hell, I gotta run.” And it did, hastily. Chaz held the horn in the hair, declaring his victory. “I won! See Ibby, I told you I could win!”

Their celebration was cut short, though. Chaz looked around in the skies, but he saw nothing. Something deep inside his gut was telling him to grab Ibby and get the hell outta dodge. But what? His gut had never failed him before. He closed his eyes, allowing his mind to wander around the mountains. Two insanely high power levels popped into his head. Not as powerful as his friend Raisu, of course, but they were strong. Like, really strong. They were flying straight towards Chaz’s direction in a breakneck pace, both from opposite directions.

“Ibby, we need to run right n-” BOOM! Something exploded against the part of the path that separated Chaz and Ibby. It wasn’t just your normal grenade or anything even close to that. It was like some type of jacked-up bomb. The explosion was big enough to sent Chaz and Ibby for a loop. They flew through the air, slamming into gigantic piles of snow. While it didn’t hurt them any, it definitely stunned them.

Chaz almost immediately popped up out of the snow, not even worrying about the burning sensation that overcame his skin as the snow engulfed him. “IBBY! Ibby, Ibby! Are you ok, Ibby?!” He couldn’t see anything because of the smoke that rose from the small crater in the middle of the path. “Aye, Chaz-kun! Are you okay?” Chaz let out a sigh of relief. Good Kami was he happy to know his little bro was okay. “Yea, I’m fin-” He stopped mid-sentence. He felt something, something powerful. Something otherworldly. When he gazed up into the sky, he could make out a blackened figure, just floating there.