The fearsome pterodactyl had most definitely seen him and was now on the war path, hell bent on catching this villager looking player for its lunch.
Tamajiki ran as fast as he could, keeping to the thicker parts of the bush land so that the pterodactyl overhead couldn’t see him well enough to crash through and grab him in its talons
You could hear the pterodactyl from inside the house and noticed it seemed to be making a lot more noise than usual.
“That’s really odd?”
Amid the screeches from its sharp beak you could also hear it crashing into things and so, against your better judgement, you cautiously stepped outside the house and walked around the side to look over the edge of the floating island to see what was going on.
Below, through the mist, you could see the pterodactyl flying back and forth and hovering in some parts, staring down into the bush land beneath it.
“What had it seen?” you wondered, then your heart sank… “please don’t tell me Tamajiki is down there?”
Your mind, taking the worst case scenario route, said that it was indeed him down there and you pulled back from the edge to think.
“How is he going to get up here without being attacked??”
You walked to the other side of the house, where the track wound down a little way and stopped as it got to the thick rope bridge that spanned to another island just over.
“There is no way in hell he’s going to be able to get up here without being eaten, there are so many places where he has to cross over rope bridges. It’s like offering this pterodactyl a human on a skewer!”
You stood for a moment, listening to the pterosaur screeching below.
“Tamajiki!!” you finally screeched at the top of your lungs, “be careful!”
You still weren’t sure if it was even him down there that the fearsome creature had locked onto, but if it were one of the other animals on this level it would have fought back by now. You had seen fights between the pterodactyls and flying bison things and they weren’t calm fights.
“What if it’s another random player? Not many people come to this level, there’s not a lot to do here…”
But just then, below, you heard a small voice reply your yell.
“I’m coming! Stay back!”
It was Tamajiki’s voice.
Your heart skipped a beat and you ran back to the edge to look over, just in time to see the pterodactyl hone in on where the voice had called from below and smashed into the tree line.
“It’s too dangerous!” you shouted down to him, “you have no weapons! If that pterodactyl grabs you, you’re a goner!”
As you were shouting, the pterodactyl looked up and saw you above, so, diverting from its attacks on Tamajiki, it turned and flew up towards you.
“Oh shit,” you gasped when you saw it flying full tilt towards you.
You backed up and ran to get inside the house, just getting indoors as it flew up past the house and circled.
“I guess I could try and keep it distracted until Tamajiki gets closer to the house then let it fly back down again so he can get inside?”
You looked out the window but then quickly hid as the large creature flew by, it’s keen eyes searching for you.
Crouching down behind the lounges there, you waited, listening for its movements outside.
It kept hanging around the house and you stayed out of sight, praying that Tamajiki was making good headway at getting up closer to the house.
You decided to open a chat to him, figuring it would be easier to coordinate yourselves if you could at least make contact.
“Where are you now?” you asked him.
You waited and after a while he replied.
“At the bend near the skulls… third island down from the house.”
“I know where that is… it’s close… but he has to cross 2 rope bridges yet before he gets to our island and the pterodactyl is still hanging around the house.”
You quickly clicked reply and typed out your next message to him.
“Can you see the pterodactyl from where you are?” you asked.
“No,” he replied, “but I can hear it and it’s close.”
“Did you want me to keep its attention on the house?” you asked.
“That might be best?” he replied, “I’ll watch how tight it’s circuit is… I might be able to get from where I am, to the house, in one go, if it’s making a wide circuit?”
“Ok. I’ll wait till it passes the window then I’ll count the seconds to see how long it takes for it to do a full circle.”
You popped your head up over the lounge and waited, listening for those heavy wing beats that would tell you the pterodactyl was on its way past the house.
Finally you felt the island shake a little and the massive creature flew by.
“1…. 2…. 3….” You continued your count right up to 25 before the creature barreled past again.
“I counted 25 seconds,” you typed to Tamajiki.
“I don’t know if I can make it in that time… I might be half way across the rope bridge when it comes around again.”
“What if you start running the second it passes you and I’ll come out and I dunno… do something…”
“Y/N… it’s coming again… I’ll see you soon…” he sent.
“Wait! Tamaki… don’t… no… don’t do it… DON’T DO IT!”
just then the pterodactyl flicked past the window and you saw Tamajiki had gone offline.
“Shit! He’s gonna do it!”
You jumped up and raced outside, looking to your left where the giant sleek ancient bird was disappearing into the mist and then turned to your right and ran down the track that would lead to the rope bridge that spanned to the next island.
There you waited, refusing to breathe as you peered across, praying for Tamajiki’s form to appear right there and then.
“Come on…. Come on…”
You had forgotten to start counting but you knew the pterodactyl would be coming back soon and you also knew there was no cover from between here and there so it had to be crossed in one go… and quickly.
Just then you saw Tamajiki come running up over the island and start across the bridge, using his hands on the roping to make sure he didn’t slip off and fall into the ravine below.
A screech in the near distance, coming from behind Tamajiki, made your blood run cold but you dared not yell.