Krooked Foe

Together, both you and Jackal traverse through the dense darkness guided by only that of the glowing aura in your palm. You light the way as a self-made torch, making it thankfully easier for you to see any oncoming trees or just where the water ahead of you was, yet it also seemed to pitch the shadows of everything else into denser darkness. Not only that, it only lights up for a dim couple of meters around you. Jackal behind you blocks your vision of anything looking to sneak up on, let alone the fact that he was too nervous to really focus as a lookout.

"Hate this place, hate this place-" Jackal mutters to himself, bouncing between anger and fear for an overall anxious annoyance to his voice. "-hate this place, hate this place. Juuuust fuckin' hate it."

You have to remind him, "The safer we move out of it, the better our chances we won't be eaten here."

There and then, the two of you actually step through water that goes waist-deep. Jackal audibly complains with his arms arching up above the surface. "Awh fuck, really? Can't we go around this shit?"

As much as you'd like to, you still wanted to head in a direct direction that would reach the lake destination. According to Hex, this was the fastest way out of the bog. "I don't like it either, but how many times do I have to tell you about your-" You pause when seeing the water ripple weirdly. "Wait."

"My 'weight'? What the fuck about it?!" The Typhlosion barks back, puffing out some embers. You gesture your hand at him to tell him to stop and quiet down, but his misunderstanding gets the better of him. "Listen pooch, you're lucky I didn't eat you myself back in Jade Gorge. You think I still ain't tempted to chomp you down before some feral does? You can talk to me about my weight when you're gonna become it!"

In that moment, Jackal's back-mane of fire flares up from his anger. An orange, brighter hue joins your blue torch to reveal more of the rippling water surface, and in that moment, you can see a figure easing through the dark fluid. They were small, beady dots, but clearly glimmering purple eyes, and they were encroaching closer to the pair of you from the side. You can barely get out as a warning, "Jackal!"

"Oh what? Gonna say you ain't scared of me? I'm the most dangerous damn thing out in this swamp, and-" The Typhlosion starts barking, only to entice the figure to dart forward in a lunge.

Your eyes watch as what you thought was a small creature turns out to be a large red and black crocodile, smiling with a long set of jaws and open hands that smash up against Jackal to take him by complete surprise. Not only that, but the white gut of the beast smacks right into him too to try and pin him under the croc's weight.

It's an infected Krookodile, and the reptile smashes Jackal into the water, taking him underneath the surface completely. The Typhlosion yelps before going mute in the sloshing of the swamp water, bubbling out his yell while his mane of fire extinguishes instantly. The last you see of Jackal is a smokey fume against the bog-water's surface before the splash snuffs out your flame too. Blind in pitch darkness, you glare around; your eyes still not fully adjusted to the pitch darkness.

"Jackal!" You call out, stepping through the water, waving your hands around in the stuff. Nothing. You only feel the struggle of the fight going on, with loud splashes or muffled bubbling. The ripples of the struggle knock into you, but from what you hear, they become more distant. The Krookodile wasn't just trying to pin Jackal in the water to its advantage, it was separating you from him to make the hunt easier. "Hang on!"

Peering through all of the dark, you pick the closest tree that was out in the water while readying up a flaming sphere of aura. In a bright blast, you send the aura sphere to the tree to ignite it in blue fire, lighting up the area far more than your hand could. With the help of that, you can see splashes of water ahead with the tail of the crocodile swinging about and the flailing hands of the Typhlosion. You rush with your might to get towards your companion, far slower than you'd like to be thanks to the waist-deep water you were now trudging through.

The fire-type struggles against the croc, unable to spit any fire or properly fight back against the blinding swamp water, leaving him to be snapped repeatedly by the croc's jaws. The large mouth bites over his belly and back to fish Jackal right out of the water to leave him gasping for air, only to be slung away into another tree. His head crashes against the bark before he splats right back into the bog water. "Ghkyhk!" Jackal struggles out of the liquid while gripping at his head, dazed for the time being, not to mention sporting several bite marks dotted around at his limbs and middle.

"Hey!" You try to snap the Krookodile's attention away from Jackal and onto you, spawning out a large glowing staff of a bone from your hands. The Bone Rush tool materializes from your own aura, and as best you can, you charge at the beast. With a swing, you slam its length flatly against the midsection of the infected beast...but the results you were hoping for bear no fruit. The monster's white gut simply caves in partly before bouncing your weapon right back at you, striking yourself with your own attack in the rebound. You jolt backward in a bark as the croc emits a growled bit of laughter. Apparently even ferals had a sense of humor, if not a humiliatingly cruel one.

Its jaws pry open to give you a good enough glistening view of its teeth lining the entire extent of its maw, along with the pitch dark cavern glistening at the edges thanks to the burning tree of blue you lit in its foreground. Your ears fold back and your eyes widen at the sight. You scream in your head to move out of the way, you will your legs to budge to the sides; but the impact of your attack has stunned you for the only brief moment the croc needs to sink its mouth over your head. The length of his snout and jaw lock your back and chest into its chomp, lodging your face right into the wet, immense tongue. "M-Mghkhl!?" Pain surges within you from the vice grip the croc manages to catch you with, lifting your legs out of the water to leave them kicking and sprinkling water everywhere against the predators domed front.

You manage to bash your hindpaws into the things middle in hopes to punish where you struck earlier, but the meat simply bobs in place, clearly cushioned by fellow meals like yourself to pad it out.

The infected Krookodile murrs aloud as it basks your face in its drool, tasting you with every curl of that tongue scooping around at your muzzle. Dark meat just blinds your view to take its time with the food it hungers for; that belly you kept kicking just rumbling for your entry. Panic alarms inside your brain to get out of this thing's mouth now, or else you won't ever be able to escape it. Your palms ignite in your flaming aura, but your wrists are seized by the large reptile to get pinned to your sides. This thing was taller and larger than you, and with the fact that you're nearly halfway lodged in its mouth, it has all the reach it needs to keep your arms and legs useless to you. A few snaps of its teeth readjusting at your back and chest remind you of its insane grip.

This could really be it now. One swallow, and you'll be going down this infected feral's gullet for sure.

Suddenly, a warmth cascades for all but a moment near you, and the back of the beast is struck by something to have it stumble forward.

Jackal is back up to a stand and sopping wet with water, but smoke trails out of his mouth as he glares to the monster with a mouthful of his friend. "Ey...you and me ain't done yet. Spit him out so we can finish what ya started!" The Typhlosion the roars and tries to ingite the fire of the back of his neck...yet it only sputters out some embers. The pores of his mane were too damp with water, and his body wasn't agreeing to his courage with how sore it was from the underwater wrestling.

The Krookodile actually just grins, as best it could with a Lucario in its jaws, before swinging its head and releasing you! You gasp to feel the cold air of the bog again, only to crash into an equally surprised Jackal to have you both tumble into the water. You roll away into a more shallow-end area of water whereas Jackal strikes a broken tree stump, grunting at the impact and leaving him collapsing flat over it.

With that, the infected croc stomps its way through the water, wriggling its clawed fingers and rimming its tongue along the edges of its jaws. Both of its victims looked dazed and too sore to really fight back, granting it a wonderful opportunity to indulge with whatever its current cravings were.

You writhe weakly in the shallows, gripping at your pained chest from the tight bites you suffered. It was scary yet baffling that this was happening. You've come so far in what you've fought, you didn't think a lone feral could be this troubling; you conquered Dynamax'd ferals before, yet here you were, unable to even fight off one croc.

The Krookodile glances between the two of you, terrifying you about what it really wants tonight...

1. Croc's gonna bite you fully down. Then your friend.

2. The cock you see growing between its legs suggests enough.