Sam and Q ~speedy-like~

"If we're lucky it's a someone and not a something."

"We're not going to die - I think. Look." He pointed to an area where he thought he noticed an incline to the ground. They hadn't come down that far, so the only place 'up' could lead was above ground.

"A some what?" Toki asked and hid behind Sam.

Toki started to relax when he saw the incline. His relaxation disappeared when he felt a presence closing in on them. He had no idea what it was, but he certainly knew that it was going to be trouble.

Sam decided to store the phrase 'A somewhat' in his memory for later use and shook his head.

The two of them stopped dead in their tracks almost simultaneously, and turned with what seemed like an equal amount of dread, to face this somewhat. He didn't like this situation. The space was cramped, it was darker than was ideal, and they had no idea what could be closing in on them. But it got closer. Quickly.

He was holding his breath in anticipation by the time a mouse ran out of the darkness and into sight. A regular mouse. Sam looked down, slightly disappointed and mumbled, "That can't be all it was??"

"A mouse, that's not so bad," Toki sighed and stood back up. "I wasn't afraid, though, you know? I'm tough."

A moment later a thundering sound was heard. A scream filled the tunnel and Toki didn't wait another second to find out what was going on. "Just run! Run run run!"

"Of course not. Neither was I." He glanced at his friend and then quickly looked back down the tunnel.
Just in time to hear that loud noise.
It sounded disasterous - whatever it was - and bad enough to not be worth those jaws of death Toki had mentioned earlier. Without much prodding he turned and headed for the incline.

"Run?! Run where??" He shouted, not seeing an exit.

"We run this way!" Toki said running up to the incline and leaping onto it. He climbed up the wall and prayed that there was a way out at the top. He wasn't sure if it was the glow but he thought he saw some bright lights up at the very top of it.

Behind him the rampaging sound was growing louder.

Sam scrambled up the wall after Toki, not wanting to be cornered by the huge-sounding thing behind them. That odd, compressed feeling encompassed him again in the midst of his struggle, and he had the disturbing impression of being spit out.

He landed hard on some grassy ground, in the sunlight - both strange considering where they had been before, and saw the other man sprawled out a few feet away.

Then something else was coming out of the ground, just as they must have, and the rumbling roaor was all too familiar.

Toki was dizzy. He had no idea what was going on and his ears hurt. He had gone from the dark glow to a giant bright clearing. He was on grass. Nearby were trees. Were they back above ground? Where on earth had they gone.

A loud roaring sound announced the arrival of the bear. "We have two choices," Toki said in a daze. "We fight the bear, we run, or I guess the third is to wake up from this freaky dream."

He didn't relish the idea of being chased around this island by a giant, crazy bear. It would ruin his sleep pattern.

He hefted his weapon. "Do you think we can just convince it to go away?? If not we may be forced into more extreme measures."

The bear roared and charged toward the two of them. Its jaws opened wide and Toki realized its mouth was the size of Toki's torso.

"Yeah, that doesn't look likely," Toki said as he got into a fighting stance. He was just ready to attack when he saw something gigantic rush past him and slam into the bear.

"A giant....rat?!"

He crouched, preparing to launch himself at the ferocious beast as soon as it got close enough. But as it turned out he didn't need to. Yet. The biggest rat Sam had ever seen - It seems today is full of 'biggest ever's' - crashed into the bear head on. It's huge front teeth and razor-like claws slashed and gouged at the bear's sensitive spots on it's underside and face. It roared in pain and fury.

However big, a rat was not a match for a bear and it was slowly becoming apparent. Not wanting to lose the advantage, Sam dashed into the fray, working off the already existent injuries from the Rat.

Toki watched Sam join the fray as he stood frazzled by the world's biggest rat. Though it had dug its jaws into the neck of the bear the claws of the bear were slashing it to pieces. Sam on the other hand was quickly cutting into the mess.

Toki looked behind him. If the rat had come out of nowhere, he was a bit worried of what else might come out of the jungle.

One more and I think I'll have it's leg. The rat and Sam were doing their job with what should have been sickening efficiency, but the bears pelt was hard to slice through, and that was what had to happen before any useful action could be taken. The giant rodent's fight was getting weaker, and so - taking no more time than was necessary, Sam slid by the bear, takin it's leg with him.

Toki watched as the giant wolf like bear fell hard to the ground. As it crashed into the ground its head snapped up and bit through the neck of the giant rats. The rat immediately went limp in its jaws. The bear continued to roar and struggle but it was obvious that the fight was over for it as it dragged itself away.


"Well done, Sam," Toki congratulated the swordsman.

He dropped the heavy leg at the feet of his captain. "Thanks. I don't suppose you want to keep this??" he asked after he caught a moments breath, then added with a decent amount of distaste, "Or maybe the rat??"

"No," Toki said. Though he was pretty hungry, he could hold off on bear leg or rodent's feast. The trail of blood that followed the staggering bear made Toki think.

"We should get away from here. If there's other predators around, and there most definitely would be, they'll smell that blood and come for the bear," Toki pointed out and then looked into the dark misted woods. "Of course, unless the Island eats us again, that means going back into there."

The refusal of the rat was expected, but who knew?? Bear could have been alright.

He sighed, and agreed with Toki's assessment of the possibilities. "I'm willing to risk the woods. What's the worst tha can happen??"

"Well last time we went into the woods, I was chased by a bear and then things got weird. There was that eye in the sand?" Toki rattled on.

"And then there was that one Island with all those little people? You remember those woods?" Toki laughed. "But anyway."

He walked into the woods anyway and decided it beat being eaten.

Ok, so that phrase really held no credence for them, it seemed. Perhaps fate liked to prove it's irony when they dared to utter the words "What's the worst". That must be it, he thought, remembering the seemingly calm woods Toki just reminded him of.

Resigned to a life or one dangerous adventure after another, Sam followed Toki back into the trees.

Toki wandered through the forest aimlessly. Every once in a while bushed would rattle and branches would crunch from nearby critters, but they were rarely ever seen.

"Maybe this Island isn't so bad?" Toki asked. In that moment a spear landed directly in front of Toki.

In the moment it took for Sam to look, first down at the spear, then back up, they had been surrounded by a line of sharp weapons. A horseshoe of burly, spearmen and archers had their sights trained in the two of them, and he heard at least three more walking up behing them - presumably with weapons.

He stood on guard, not anxious to find out if he really could block this many projectiles or not. Out of the corner of his mouth he asked Toki, "Any bright ideas??"

"Oh my," Toki said to himself as he looked out at the group of modestly clothed muscle men. "Yeah, I vote we surrender and hope they're friendlier than they look."

Toki put his hands high in the air and did his best to look friendly to them. "We're not going to hurt you," Toki said. Though holding back a sarcastic, "Like you're worried about that," was not so easy.

"Sounds good," he said shortly. Cringing, he slowly - very slowly - slid his kalis into the still-wet scabbard then also raised his hands. Sam put on his best 'I'm not dangerous' face, and shifted his weight onto the other foot so he could turn a bit and check out who as huddling up behind them.

It was a small group or more spearmen, but these ones also had various other weapons attatched to themselves. In the middle of them stood two unarmed men - one with a headdress and a tall, skull-topped staff.

Toki figured the leader was the man with the headdress so he kept his eyes on that one. When the chief didn't speak, but merely pointed, he assumed that they were expected to walk in the direction, so Toki did.

The spearmen were quick to surround Toki and keep their spears on them as they walked deeper into the forest.

Apparently, Sam hadn't started out quickly enough for them and they demonstrated their impatience with a small jab of a spear. With this sort of treatment it was strange that they had not been patted down for hidden weapons, nevermind the fact that they had not taken his sword.

They were walking for what seemed like hours. Sam was zoned out and noticing that the air smelled different snapped him out of his daze. Looking ahead he thought at first that the trees changed color, but as the little armed group got closer he saw what it really was. Mushrooms. Blue-tinged mushrooms the size of the trees they had just been walking under.

"What's with this island," he muttered.