Interrupting the Infested Garr: Interrupting the Infested Garr

There was no sign of movement as the duo slowly moved forward, having accidentally lost sight of the squid which they were trying to find. They had found them, but when they went into this mass of kelp, they managed to lose sight of them. Rumbling quietly, Spessartine gestured towards a small school of fish, "They could be useful?" She asked him, the emerald dragon nodding slightly. 

 

Malachite dashed through the water as Spessartine quickly moved away, hiding herself against the sandy banks. She found herself in a position where to her right, there was a large rock wall and just ahead of that was a small opening to a cave. The yellow sand would be useful to hide herself as she moved her flippers, carefully and quickly burying her pink tail and most of her spikes. She used it to hide her form for the most part, she hoped that the lure of a safe area such as a cave entrance would entice them to come close to her. She really wanted to have the taste of squid again, it had been far too long since she'd managed to have it. 

 

The emerald dragon dove through the loops of kelp waving either side of him, scattering the scared fish wonderfully into the middle of nowhere, although... that was what it looked like. The school of fast moving fish dove down into the thicker areas of kelp and sea grass, pushing through it and making a lot of random movements. This was enough to scare away a pair of squid from their hiding place, Malachite roaring in victory as he finally had found those pesky squids once more, knowing that the pair were going to be able to savour the taste of squid soon!

 

The pair of squid moved closer towards the sand on the edge of sand, before seeming to spy a smaller cave. Instantly they made a beeline to it, but unfortunately for them, Spessartine was nearby, waiting, watching carefully. In a massive flurry of movement, her toothy maw snapping open and around both of the squids, catching one by the arm and the other by its main body. She rumbled, victoriously, shaking the sand off her as Malachite moved down, eager to share the meal. But something felt off, almost wrong.

 

Movement came from behind Spessartine as she had her back turned to the cave, swimming slowly towards Malachite with the struggling squid in her maw, and the emerald dragon growled. With a quick movement of her tail, she silenced the struggling squid, rumbling happily, about to share the meal with Malachite. 

 

Then Malachite growled softly, in warning as Spessartine turned around quickly. Something emerged from the cave, having been using it to hide. Something big, blue, but having... something clearly wrong with them as they came into full view of the aqrions.

 

The blue aqrion moved its head, slowly, to 'look' at Malachite and Spessartine, seemingly watching the pair of them through the golden growths over its eyes, practically blinding the poor dragon. The emerald dragon gave a warning rumble, not exactly liking the presence of someone looking like they did, their ribs practically sticking out of their side, their spine obvious underneath his shrunken membrane, barely growing and seemingly tattered in a way, like his body was screaming for rest. He was hollow, shrunken down and twisted in a weird way.

 

"Garr... I'm Garr..." He snarled quietly, his tone almost soft as he moved his head to 'look' up at the pair of fit and healthy dragons, rumbling softly as he seemed to move his attention back to the amber dragon, "I haven't been hunting for a long time, but it seems like you two are quite the hunters... But you... Oh you should give me your food..." 

 

Spessartine narrowed her eyes towards the creepy looking aqrion, wanting to deny them what they demanded, but their form so abnormal it sent shivers of terror down her spine, and their haunting voice did nothing to help that. It carried an underlying threatening tone to it and, despite the ghastly appearance of the aqrion, she knew that this Garr aqrion could follow through with any threat they made, despite them being so... gaunt.

 

Glancing down at the rather large squid in her maw, she thought for a few moments. Would it be better to help that weird, scrawny aqrion, or try to end his suffering now? But if she tried, what if she failed? What if it forced her to look like it, to become covered in fungal, horrific growths. Even looking at it... She shuddered again, returning her attention back to the squid. She could see Malachite looking incredibly on edge as the dynamic duo stayed near one another, the smooth aqrion ready to tackle that weird looking dragon away from her, even though they'd done nothing so far aside from scare the living daylights out of both of them with their appearance. But she could see that his eyes shone with uncertainty, part of him wanting to flee in terror, the other wanting to curl up in a ball and cry. Malachite wouldn't admit it, but she could see his form shaking, the very appearance of this twisted, weird creature making him incredibly unsettled. It was almost as if Garr was staring deep into his soul, wanting to take it away for himself.

 

Almost as if on queue, Garr snarled again, the tone tearing into Spessartine's heart, wanting to make her shriek in terror, "Give it to me!"

 

"Y-y-you want our food?" She stammered, her eyes wide in terror as she as the fungal, infested and scrawny Garr nodded although, it was a slow nod, almost delayed as he seemed to have a lack of energy around him. It was incredibly unsettling to see what would have once been a prime aqrion brought down to this state - and she surely didn't enjoy being around him.

 

"I haven't been able to catch anything... I haven't for so long." He remarked, his voice hallow, haunting and almost cold in his soft tone, shaking Spessartine and Malachite to their bones, making both parties want to leave, "If you know what's good for you... You'll give that to me, or I'll force you to be like me, blind, infected and withering away in your own body."

 

For some reason, they both knew and felt as if this Aqrion could do just that, turn them into such creatures that they weren't themselves anymore. Make them . . . So apart from themselves that they were just ghosts, just mimics compared to what they should be.

 

Spessartine looked to Malachite, sceptical and quite unnerved by his words, before nodding, turning to throw the dead squid towards the blue aqrion, watching closely. Garr, despite being blind, somehow managed to see where the squid was going. In a weird way, he twisted himself forward, pulling himself forward with his front flippers, his tail awkwardly moving to push him forward. His teeth flashed and his maw moved to snatch up the squid, carefully and slowly pulling it apart, savouring the taste of the squid. "Good choice..." He rumbled, "You'd better get moving kids, before I decide to do something to you, you don't know what sorts of things I can do in these waters..."

 

Spessartine glanced at the emerald dragon, who clearly looked ready to just leave the entire area, but she rumbled softly, nervously "I-if you're still hungry, we could chase some fish towards you, give you a bit of a chance to catch some extra food and save the squid for later?" He offered, to which Garr nodded, a smirk pulling onto that gaunt face of his, his gums and lips pulled back to show seemingly freakishly long teeth, terrifying Malachite a bit more. He did NOT want to get bitten by that. 

 

"I think that would be... A fair trade. Your lives for a belly full of food... Although you both could give me many more snacks than these fish could." He grumbled, but laughed at the thought, moving slowly towards the edge of the sea grass and kelp, pushing himself with great effort into that area, having left the two dead squid in the mouth of the cave, hidden from plain sight. 

 

Malachite and Spessartine quickly moved, scaring the large school of fish again, forcing them and spooking them towards Garr once more. They wanted to give the scrawny dragon a full belly and he slowly moved his head, trying his best to catch a few fish from the rather large school. Eventually, he'd managed to snag a mouthful of fish, enjoying them quite a lot, the first time he'd managed to 'catch' something by himself for quite some time. 

 

As the fish got more spooked and tired, they suddenly began to vanish from around them, swimming into the thick kelp and hiding there, out of sight from all three dragons. Although both Malachite and Spessartine decided not to stick around to find out if Garr was full or not, darting away as soon as Garr seemed to be focused on his meal.

 

But he had to laugh internally to himself. Those two fools had spent too much time with him, allowed him to be with them for too long. The fear of becoming like him, being blind, becoming infested and having their strength drawn out of them by the fungus which infected him, it would become all too real for them soon. 

 

Little did they know that the spores of his fungus were already implanted on their scales and soon they would begin to leech their strength and turn them into something just like him.