The now downed rhino lizard’s feet squirmed about as it tried to get up. By the looks of it that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon. Which meant that at least one of the lizards was out of the way. Now all I had to do was handle the other two.

“Well you overgrown pieces of jerky. Come at me.”

“What!? Don’t goad them on. What will we do if they attack the wagon?”

Sadly, that was a valid point but I had no intention of giving the old man the satisfaction of being right. The rhino lizards eyed the wagon while throwing sideways glances at me. It seemed they were more interested in the bigger target. Understandable, but still very much annoying.

“Hey! Don’t ignore me. If you do. I’m make you regret it.”

“Mmwonk. Mmwonk. Mnwaaaaa!!!”

Choosing to ignore the geezer I flicked my wrist in the direction of one of the rhino lizards. Within seconds of being pelted and scratched by hot ore the rhino lizard began ramping up its charge toward the wagon.

“No. No. NO! What did I just tell you?”

“Yeah Mao, what did the old man tell chuu?”

The old man paused for a moment blinking a handful of times while giving Chuu a weird look.

“You know I have a name, right?”

“Chuu does not remember chuu giving it.”

Despite the imminent danger the old man was in, he still found the time to be confused by Chuu’s strange manner of speaking.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Chuu does not remember chuu give chuu name. Chuu does not remember….”

Not matter how many times Chuu repeated himself the old man was still confused. Frankly it was getting tiring hearing Chuu frantically repeat the statement.

“Mmmmwwoooonk!!”

Right, there’s uncooked jerky to deal with.

The charging rhino lizard would be nearing the wagon any moment now. My barrage of hot ore continued to graze the scaly hide of the lizard, it only seemed to enrage the creature, causing it to charge with even more ferocity than before.

The old man wrapped his arms around Chuu as he shut his eyes. The rhino lizard’s feet smacked against the ground. The geezer braced for the impact, three. Two. One….one. By the time the old geezer opened his eyes I had been flung to the side by the rhino lizard.

My attempt to strike it against the side of the head failed as the rhino lizard smacked its head into my hastily raised guard. Recovering wasn’t hard, dirt had smeared along the bottom of my pant legs, beside that there didn’t appear to be any real damage.

By now the second rhino lizard began approaching me, with a glance the two rhino lizards encircled me. The pair trotted around for a moment before charging, their horns at the ready.

It was close but I managed to dodged the first rush from the rhino lizards without a scratch. The pair continued after me. Narrowly grazing me with their horns, the closer of the pair of rhino lizards picked up the pace and charged at me head on. While the other came for me from the side.

The rhino lizards were spread apart just enough for me not to have a clear view of them at the same time. The second rhino lizard coming at my side sped up with a furious burst of speed. In my right hand a fireball appeared then doubled in size.

Carefully I edged toward the other rhino as it continued its charge toward me. Without taking my eyes of the second one I slammed my fireball it its face just before jumping out of the way. The rhino lizard attempted to scamper to a stop but failed slamming into its companion.

There was a jumble of grey as the two masses of scaly hides and muscles tumbled over each other. One of the pair recovered quickly rushing toward me with a vengeance, evading wasn’t too difficult once I jumped back and began running.

“Mao what are chuu doing? Are you leading it toward the wagon? Why would chuu do that? Mao?! Mao!? MAAAAOOOO!!!!”

As Chuu screamed his head off for no reason I rushed toward the wagon, surprisingly the horses stayed composed unlike their owner, or my abominably adorable blue nuisance.

The second I made my turn my feet stumbled bracing themselves from the abrupt change in directions. Fortunately, I lost nearly none of my speed as I sped forward. The rhino lizard raised its head for a movement lower it a second later showing me that it could impale me with its horn.

Perfect.

The rhino lizard and I inched closer and closer as it prepared to gore me with its horn. Closer and closer and closer and…NOW!!! The ground beneath my feet cracked as I pressed them down at the same time I grabbed the rhino lizard’s horn.

The rhino lizard slowed considerable but it kept going dragging my feet against the ground. My muscles tightened as I took in a breath, with a jerk, a turn, and an exhale….

“AAAHH!!!”

SLAM! The rhino lizard hit the ground hard it squirmed only for a moment before growing quieter.

The last of the rhino lizards was much further down the road then I remembered. It must have gotten some distance to attack. We locked eyes for a moment as it prepared. The old man watched silently while Chuu seem to be rummaging around for food.

“Mmmwonk! Mmmwonk!! MMWWONK!!!” The rhino lizard bellowed its call loudly just before charging at with all its might.

I went low with my hands out ready to grab its horn, the rhino lizard kept its head low and rushed forward. With the way it was positioned it would be riskier to try and grab the rhino lizard’s horn this time around. Although that wasn’t going to deter me.

As the rhino lizard picked up the pace I began running toward it. At this rate we would collided in seconds, the timing needed to be exact if I wanted to slam the last rhino lizard down. And that’s probably why it increased its speed even more.

The charging rhino lizard raised its head up high sending it’s horn up toward my stomach.

“As I expected.” I took a few quick steps back giving the rhino’s horn enough space to go all the way up leaving the underside of it neck exposed.

“Now! Face the flames of Mao. You stupid cow!”

My left hand balled into a fist, flames consumed it spirally around as I brought my arm low and back. Within a split second I launched my arm forward, my flaming fist struck the underside of the rhino lizard’s neck. And my uppercut set the rhino lizard skyward and onto its back a moment later.

The old man stared at me with disbelief. “Well damn. I knew you were strong, but that’s ridiculous.”

Stare. Stare. Stare.

“Mao, that’s not a cow chuu know.”

A vein in my forehead twitched as I glared at an oblivious Chuu.