CYOA - "Unpunished" Chapter Three (Patreon)

"Yeah, haste sounds like a good idea," I said to Lady Puro, then glanced back at Sir Slice. The lower half of his body was gone beneath a layer of multicolored rubber which continued to grow upward.

"You will never overcome the spirit of a true zaloph warrior!" Slice yelled. It didn't look like his spirit had much to do with the fight, though. He tried to swipe one of his big paws at the rubber creeping over his left thigh, and his claws came away from the useless effort with a brightly colored layer that started to spread to his wrist. The creature he'd so recently hacked at with his sword had mostly grown back her new head, which was blindly "watching" her victim succumb. Slice's fellow knights roared and charged to engage the other rubber creatures, spears held out in front of them.

Puro turned and trotted away to join her companion, who was holding a milky white orb in a paw and staring at it intently. Puro watched him pop it into his mouth, then blinked and looked back when she realized I hadn't joined her yet. "They're giving us a chance to escape," Puro she whispered loudly, "while we still can!" I really don't blame her for not sounding quite as polite as she did before.

I almost turned back to the zalophs, part of me thinking that there must have been something I could do. My logical side helpfully pointed out that I didn't have the slightest idea what I was up against, right at the same time Lady Puro followed her fellow fritz into the forest. I nearly took to the air, to soar right over the problem, except I'd lose track of Puro, I didn't know where I'd be flying to, and I wasn't sure if it was any safer in the sky than on the ground. I whispered a low, "Shit!" and ran after Puro.

Of course there was still time for one final, dramatic glance over my shoulder as I ran. I saw Sir Slice fall to his knees, hands trying to tear rubber from his face as it sealed over his eyes and started to pour down his mouth, drowning out his yelling. The rubber creature he'd fought stepped forward and hugged him against her chest, pressing his face into her breasts as she nuzzled the top of his head. I wasn't sure, but it kinda looked like Slice leaned into the touch.

And then the fight was out of sight, trees blocking my view, though the echoing of roars and shouts followed me. I turned my attention back to the fleeing fritzes, rushing to catch up. The foliage was thick enough overhead that it was quite a bit darker in the forest than it was in the clearing. Lady Puro's paws moved fast, her body sinuously curving to bob between trees and over roots, arcs of yellow electricity sizzling down her dark blue body. I was grateful for the light to guide me, since she was moving so quickly that I might have lost her immediately. I ran faster, bounding over a fallen log, pushing through bushes, and ducking under low branches.

Up ahead of Puro I could see purple light, which I figured out was the color of the other fritz's electricity when he said, "Right!" in a scratchy voice and turned in that direction. Puro was like blue and yellow water in a stream, instantly swiveling to follow. I admit, I was jealous of how easy she made it look, since I tore up a chunk of the forest floor with my claws when I made the same turn.

More importantly, I spotted why we had made the turn. If we'd continued straight, we'd have bounded right into a half-dozen more of those rubber things! They changed from green to swirling colors as we dodged them by a few dragon lengths, the bipedal ones opening their arms wide for hugs.

"How many more are there?!" I shouted, panting.

"Possibly hundreds," Puro said, her voice a calm crackle of sound that nearly made me stagger. It was like hearing a bad cell connection on a phone right up against my ear, rather than hearing someone shout to me from ten feet ahead. "Please try not to call more of their attention to us than necessary." As she spoke, I could see the electricity around her fade slightly, as if she was using up power to talk that way.

I refrained from loudly apologizing, saving my breath for running.

"Right again!" the leading fritz called out, and that time I noticed his voice wasn't just scratchy, he was using the same magic trick as Puro to speak; it made sense, since he was still holding the white orb between his jaws. We turned to the right, and I managed to do so a little more gracefully that time.

"Orius, slowly veer left as soon as we can," Lady Puro ordered.

"Can't, right again!" was the nearly immediate response, and again we turned. We narrowly avoided another small pack of the creatures, one of which reached toward me with wavering tendrils that were nearly invisible until they brushed the air inches from my side. I curled my tail away from the colorful limb and ran harder, a shiver running down my spine.

"We're being herded," Puro sent, her pseudo-voice still quite calm.

"Drones aren't smart enough to do that!" Orius blurted, his purple light ebbing and wavering as he spoke.

"True," Puro agreed. "Which means we're probably in deep trouble."

I heard sound building ahead, a roar of sorts that made me wonder if we'd gotten so turned around that we'd ended up back where we stopped. There was another, smaller clearing ahead, and Orius skidded to a stop soon after he burst into the daylight. Puro trotted past him a few steps before stopping, and I saw why an instant later.

We were back up against another rock wall along our right side, and straight ahead and curling to our left was a wide stream, four or five dragon lengths across. It was fed by a steep cascade of rapids to our right, which filled the clearing with a dull roar of all those gallons of surging water, constantly bashing against the many rocks of the rapids.

A constant haze of water vapor filled the air, and Lady Puro and Orius both twitched, small arcs of electricity sizzling off the tips of their tails. "Are you okay?" I asked, panting, voice low.

"Can't-" was all Orius got out before he jerked in place, a jolt of purple ran down his body.

"We must find a way to cross without using our powers," Puro said, using her actual vocal cords. She didn't sound quite so calm anymore. "And quickly!"

Her words were perfectly punctuated by a laugh from the forest that was loud enough to carry over the sound of the rapids. Orius growled and quickly moved to position himself between Lady Puro and the tall, slender silhouette that began to walk out of the forest behind us. The orb in his teeth had turned pitch black.

"Go, Nia!" Lady Puro reared behind Orius up to point beyond the river, her eyes wide. "There's no time!"

I...