The Bird

"That was the last of the food, guys." Rie regretfully bit into a dry piece of meat.

He and his brothers had stopped for the day to rest. After walking for hours on end they came to a mountainous and rocky region.

Niu could see that the land was barren and dry, but it seemed like they were due for heavy rainfall judging by the clouds.

After finding shelter, they used some dry leaves, of which they had a substantial amount, to start a fire.

Niu and Rie got to work searching for something to eat while Rai very carefully checked up on his explosives.

As the afternoon sun continued to set and light further faded from the world, a shrill cry rang out throughout the area. They all heard it.

Rie and Niu hurried back to camp, using the shelter to hide from whatever it was. Niu had guessed that whatever made the sound was in the air.

"What in the world was that?" Rie peeked out from under the rocky overhang, surveying the sky as best he could.

"How am I supposed to know? Just hurry up and find it, Niu. I wanna try 'em out." Rai licked his lips as he fished a bomb out of his sacks.

"There it is again!" Niu heard the sound seconds before his brothers did, confusing them. When they finally heard it, they realized what happened.

"It came from up there." Following Niu's finger with their eyes, they saw that he was pointing at the summit of a rocky mountain. It looked dangerous and insurmountable.

"Might be some kind of bird." Niu finally relaxed.

Rai appeared delighted for a split second before his face went back to normal. It wasn't imperceptible, but his brothers did not notice.

"As long as we stay here, it shouldn't bother us." Rie yawned and got his sack. Using it as a pillow, he lied down and closed his eyes.

"Try to make the food work for now. We'll find something to eat tomorrow." With that and another yawn, Rie was unresponsive.

Niu took a quick glance up the mountain then also decided to get some sleep. They would have a lot of walking to do and not a lot of food to eat.

Rai smiled at their sleeping faces. Still, he waved his arms about in front of them just to be sure. He even went as far as to dance and prance about like an idiot.

After that, he put on a proud smirk and started walking. He was soon out of sight-- or he would be if his brothers were watching.

Night fell then began surrendering to the day. That was when Rie woke up to see Niu frantically searching their immediate surroundings.

"I can't find Rai." He took a moment to stop and listen, but still got nothing.

"He wouldn't have gone too far. Let's go look around." Rie only said that before he remembered their current situation.

"Right, the bird. You don't think..." Rie paused for dramatic effect and for no other reason.

"It took him." They ended the silence by saying the same words simultaneously, evoking a smile from each other.

"Maybe now he'll learn to listen instead of--"

As Rie was giving a victory speech, he heard a sound he and Niu were sick and tired of. Not only did it immediately annoy them, it also worried them.

It was the sound of one of Rai's bombs going off.

"Oh no." Without Niu even confirming, Rie stepped out from their shelter and looked up at the summit.

However, instead of seeing nothing, he saw the mist of the clouds being parted by terrifyingly large and powerful wings.

With each flap, blade of wind tore through space and destroyed anything in their path. Portions of the mountain were nicked off as if some invisible sculptor was practicing his craft.

As the clouds were cleared away, they finally saw the creature in its entirety.

It was a massive bird, covered with what appeared to be tough stone armor and orange feathers. Yellow currents of electricity danced around its wings and talons while an eternal flame burned atop its head.

When Niu looked closer though, he saw something else.

The summit was now exposed for him to see Rai standing and waving his arms about. He held bombs in both hands, and made a big show of tossing them out.

Surprisingly, the bird did not move. It allowed the bombs to make contact with its body.

There was a large explosion, though not as large as they expected, before the bird was revealed to be fine. Niu even saw Rai raise a fist to the air as if outraged.

"Did the bombs malfunction? Or was it the bird?" Niu was at a loss, but that wasn't the time to ponder.

He and Rie started to make their way up the mountain, meanwhile Rai was finally learning about consequence.

The bird snorted coldly, if that was possible for a bird to do, then slowly descended.

Rai ceaselessly tossed out bomb after bomb, only stopping when he was sure they were having no effect.

By some miracle the bird had been able to withstand all of the explosive force. Rai was finally starting to panic.

With little rationality left in his head, Rai watched the large angry bird swoop down at him.

Seeing no other way, he stepped off the edge of summit.

The bird immediately changed its direction and flew down behind him.

Looking up, Rai saw that the bird had opened its terrifying mouth. Inside of it, he could see various swirling tongues and a number of razor sharp teeth lining the beak.

Horrified, Rai threw a bomb. He missed.

The bomb flew all the way to the top, then was caught by someone who had only just arrived.

"Oh no." Niu looked down, seeing what was happening.

Rie came behind him. Niu immediately thought of something, then told Rie what to do.

By then, the bird had already caught Rai in its mouth. Seeing that it did not immediately kill him, Niu thought that it might want to play Rai to death.

The bird doubled back, heading toward the peak. Rie and Niu backed away from the ledge before it arrived, but right before it did Niu gave Rie a signal.

Rie ran and leapt off the edge, his short sword unsheathed and ready.

He landed on the bird, but couldn't get a grip. Realizing that, he thrust his sword toward the bird, hoping that it would penetrate.

However, even the feathers were as tough as metal.

The sword broke on impact, leaving Rie without any means to hold on.

Luckily, when the bird flapped its wings, one of them hit him and knocked him back onto the mountaintop.

He was visibly shook. Not just from the hit he just took, but also because of how tough the bird was.

Niu, realizing that his plan had failed, had to quickly try to come up with another one.

"Niu!" Rie suddenly shouted to him.

"What? What do we do?" Niu also started to panic.

"Right in the stinker!" Rie smiled.

Niu immediately realized. He ran toward Rie and took the bomb from him.

"Alright, I'll get it's attention." Rie watched the bird land near to where they were, dropping Rai like hot trash.

The boy had already fainted, which was why he was so quiet.

The bird had its back turned to them, so Rie ran over to it. He threw his broken sword at its head, managing to hit it.

The blade made a ding and then rebounded, falling off the mountain.

The bird slowly turned.

"Hey, you! Pocket monster! You should watch what you eat! You could stand to lose a few pounds!" Rie's strong suit was, clearly, not insults.

However, the bird snorted again, a thick mist coming out of its nose.

The electricity on its body became more alive and active, dancing all around. Then, after making sure that Rai was unconscious, it ran over to Rie with vicious intent.

It didn't even notice Niu sneak up behind it.

"Come at me, you overweight vulture!" The bird made a terrifying sound. Something between a roar and a squawk but also with a flair of an electric buzz.

When that happened, Niu saw his opening.

When the bird roared, it tensed its muscles. After the muscles contract, they would then release.

Niu dashed toward the back of the bird, bomb in hand. He waited until he saw that precious release, then stuck the bomb right inside the "stinker."

Rie watched in delight as the bird came to a sudden stop. Its expression was weird as it realized what had happened.

The look on its face was as if it was thinking, "Did you seriously just do that?"

However, when the bird made a movement, the bomb was set off.

Rie and Niu were long gone with Rai in tow.

They started their descent, stopping when they realized there was no explosion.

Looking back, there was a large bump on the birds lower body. It kept swelling and swelling. Finally, the bird convulsed and coughed out a puff of black smoke.

Then it continued doing that until the swelling went down.

Finally, the bird spun around on one leg and fell flat.

The brothers smiled, then carried the unconscious Rai back down the mountain.

After spending the rest of that day in their little camp, Rai finally woke up. They told him what happened, but he refused to believe it.

He firmly believed that he had been the one who did the saving, and they had been the ones that had fainted. Finally, they gave in and 'admitted' that he was right.

They left at dawn, looking forward to new adventures.

At the same time as they were leaving, a strong wind began to blow from the mountaintop.

The motionless bird was lying there, a frosty tip on each of its feathers.

The stone armor began to crack then shattered, revealing golden feathers beneath it. The previously orange feathers were now a bright blue, and the flame atop its head became silver.

Electricity once more danced on its body, but it was now pure white.

The bird opened its eyes which were now burning with rage and a fierce blue light.

It flew to the sky, disappearing in the blink of an eye. The clouds were parted. As the bird flew, it seemed like heaven had opened its gates and allowed the bird to come in.

The enmity it now had with the brothers, Rai especially, would fuel it for years to come. However, nothing could be more motivating than the humiliation it suffered at Niu's hands.

It vowed to one day take revenge.