Sickness (EDDE)

[FavoredFox]

They couldn't stop. No matter how much Hakkai objected, they all knew that they couldn't stop. The rain had started as a blessing in the arid valley, but the relieving shower that quenched their thirst quickly evolved into biting gales and heavy sheets of water that the dry ground just couldn't handle. When the wind started to push Hakuryuu side to side to the point he was near constantly driving on two wheels, Hakkai had tried to make them stop, but there was no place to hole up. The water rushing down the cliff sides surrounding them would wash them out of any place they found. There was no choice.

Hakkai, Sanzo, Goku, and Gojyo were all packed into the bed of the jeep holding a thick tarp over themselves to protect them from the worst of mother nature's rampage, but Hakuryuu couldn't do that. Hakuryuu was the jeep. He was their mode of transportation, and the four of them wouldn't make it on foot. He revved the engine, shifted gears, and peeled out over the muddy terrain.

It was midday, but the heavy clouds and blurring rain fall made it impossible to see. He had to make it to the next town with only the help of his memory of the map and the few inches in front of him that he could just make out. He skid across mud, hydro planed, bounced off of unseen brush, and withstood the assault of kicked up sticks and rocks. He spun his wheels furiously to get traction, picking up twigs into his axles and snapping under him, scratching up his underside.

Beneath the make shift tent, Gojyo fought to keep his edge of it down. "Where the hell did this come from?!" He bitched, raising his voice to be heard over the deafening storm. "And why the hell do I have to sit so close to this damn monkey? He stinks!"

Goku, the 'monkey' nearly lost his grip and fumbled to keep the tarp down. "Screw you water sprite! You're the one stinking up this place." A particularly harsh turn had them tumbling to the side and scrambling to stay under cover. "Ouch! What the hell Hakuryuu!"

Hakuryuu could tell his passengers were talking, but he couldn't make out a single word, and he didn't have the time to spare on trying to figure it out. His left front tire hit a large rock hidden by the quickly rising water, sending them flying several yards before splashing back down. A sharp pain ran through his metallic frame and he cried out when the rear axle nearly gave out; but he wouldn't stop. If he did, the water would reach up into his under carriage before they could reach the high ground of the village that was just a few more miles away. He could make it, he had to. His friends wouldn't survive out here.

With a determined cry, Hakuryuu pressed down the gas pedal and gunned it forward, crashing through obstacles rather than wasting the time to avoid them.

 

[EDDE]

This entire leg of their journey had been absolutely miserable. First it had been so absolutely hot and dry that the blonde had actually been having some trouble breathing in the heated air, his lungs protesting so strongly against the slight trauma that he'd actually had to focus on it to make himself continue. They'd had more relief in some of the deserts they'd driven through than this valley. Goku and Gojyo's fighting had even shut down during that part of the day. None of them were comfortable enough to even attempt to talk. So when the rain had come it had been so refreshing that even their idiotic start hadn't even been enough to put him a bad mood at first. Everyone had been relieved.

Now though; now his fingertips had long since gone numb, his hands were following, and it was starting to spread up his forearms from the amount of force the whipping wind and rains were exerting against the tarp they were all trying to hold. It wasn't just Gojyo and Goku that were having trouble keeping their grip. The problem was that he could tell it wouldn't be long before he wouldn't be able to catch his side anymore despite how heavily he was concentrating on keeping it. Sanzo could easily hold his own amoungst the fighters of the group; this was well known, however that didn't change the fact that he was still very much human, and his body simply didn't have the stability to it that the others' did.

"Dammit!" The complaint came in a growl as he was forced to hunker down against the side of the jeep while he pressed his back again the back of the seat he usually took up front once again, in attempt not to be tossed around in it right along with everyone else as they fishtailed through the rising water once again in Hakuryuu's attempts to avoid shit in his frantic attempt to escape the valley with them.

Droopy violet eyes landed sharply on Hakkai his thoughts turned abruptly to their current hopeful savior. He already knew where the man's attention would be settled. At least, he thought he did. He was surprised to find that Hakkai was actually looking at the lot of them. Then again, he realised that he was probably checking on their condition due to the jostle. Another harsh gale accosted them and Sanzo came way too close to losing the tarp, keeping his grip on it far too painful against the pins and needles in his hands to hide this time as he flinched against it and growled out and angry, "Fuck!"

Hakkai was paying close attention to everything, doing his best to keep a running tab open in his mind and constantly calculating the ever-changing circumstances. Should Hakuryuu grow too tired or, God forbid, hurt himself badly enough that he couldn't continue on his own, Hakkai would be forced to jump back up front. That would mean taking control... That would mean forcing Hakuryuu to keep going in whatever that condition happened to be that stopped him from being able to keep going on his own. Because without Hakuryuu as a jeep driving them through this horrible flash flood, the five of them would be swept away in this storm like they were nothing. They might not all die, but Hakuryuu in his dragon form most likely would. Hakkai and Sanzo didn't stand that much of a chance either, though Hakkai's was slightly better than Sanzo's. Gojyo and Goku certainly stood a better one, but not by all that much. If anything, the best-case scenario judging by how severe this storm had gotten so suddenly, was that Goku might survive it alone, if any of them would at all if they couldn't get out of here.

The main focus of Hakkai's attention, of course, was on Hakuryuu and his condition. They were being thrown all over the bed of the truck when they couldn't brace themselves against the erratic movements however, and he was beginning to notice a theme amoung his three companions. They were having trouble holding their ends of the tarps. "Goku, Gojyo, Sanzo," he called loudly to make sure they heard him.

When he was sure they were all looking, he lifted the arm he had supporting his corner of the tarp, showing them the lack of difficulty he was having due to the way he'd secured it. He'd taken the corner and securely wrapped it twice down his forearm before taking the actual corner into a tight hold. Making sure to hunker himself down in the same position Sanzo was currently sitting in to better hold himself in place against the swerving, he removed the grip he had on the side bar of their jeep friend and pantomimed the process for them, allowing them to quickly follow along as he did so. They did. In less than a second all of their faces went from pained exertion to near relief as they each leaned against their tarped arm and grabbed onto that bar through for more stability and safety in the back seat.

And by the Gods, it couldn't have come at a better moment.

Suddenly they were in the air and all the air in their lungs joined them there as various screams a curses flew from their mouths. Every one of their asses left the safety of solid flooring and each one of them did their damndest to get as close to that bar as possible so they would be landing back in that bed when they hit the ground. Thankfully, they did. Hakkai couldn't check on their condition when they landed again, though. His own landing knocked the back of his head hard into the bar and he pressed the front of it against the driver seat sharply in reaction to it. He couldn't cry out because he knew it would distract Hakuryuu, but more importantly he was just trying to get over it quickly because of the other thing that happened when they landed. The only thing he could focus on.

He'd felt it just as clearly as he'd heard it. Hakkai was right over top of the rear right wheel well. When they had hit the ground Hakuryuu's shocks had absorbed as much of the blow as they could, but it was a lot harsher than that. He felt them hit the limit of the springs, which would have been worrying on its own, but what Hakkai heard and felt after that had him absolutely petrified for his sweet, heroic little friend. From somewhere slightly deeper he heard a very distinct metalic 'crack', and he felt the slight shift in their momentum that told him it had to do with his wheel.

"Hakuryuu," he whimpered quietly. A deeply worried frown crossed over Hakkai's features as he hunkered himself down further and leaned himself past the driver seat as much as he could without compromising their tarp, placing himself between the two front seats the best he could while lifting his tarp holding hand over the driver seat so that it was being held up higher for the guys in the back.

He held onto the seat for support and began petting with his free hand over the middle console behind the stick shift gently. He couldn't see Hakuryuu since they were completely covered by the tarp and vice versa, but he hoped that Hakuryuu could at least hear that he was coaxing him with gently encouraging words even if he couldn't hear the words themselves. He hoped that being this much closer, and with the windshield and seats actually shielding some of the horrible gusts of wind with him having bent himself as low as he had, he might at least catch snippets and the comfort of his voice here and there. And it was full of warmth and comfort, because he was doing everything he could to keep his absolute fear of having to do something absolutely atrocious to his doting love out of it.

Those violet eyes were staring at Hakkai again, harder this time. Sanzo saw the look on Hakkai's face; the way his demeanor changed. He knew it meant something, and knew it was likely something he wasn't going to like. He also already understood what Hakkai would have to do if Hakuryuu couldn't hack it. The thing was, he wasn't sure Hakkai could. If he couldn't, Sanzo was more than ready to step in.

 

[FavoredFox]

Hakuryuu crashed through drowning bushes and floating debris. The leaves and branches stuck into his grill or bounced over his hood, cutting at the paint and denting the metal. Logs and rocks were kicked up and clattered against his undercarriage, but he gave up on trying to avoid them. Even if they had the time to spare, there was no use in trying to dodge, because any direction he turned would result in the same thing.

He held back his cries at first, but each chip of paint lost was another scale torn from his body, and every dent was a blunt blow that radiated through his entire frame. He chirped out his pain, hoping that the storm would cover it. He could feel Hakkai's worry. He could feel the gentle hand comforting and encouraging him. Hakuryuu could tell Hakkai was talking. He could catch a few sounds, but still couldn't make out words; but his yelps became quiet grunts as he barreled through the raising water.

This continued for a few minutes more before Hakuryuu released the gas pedal, slammed on the breaks, and even pulled the emergency breaks. The sudden stop dug his wheels front wheels into the mud and lifted the back wheels straight out of the water before they crashed back down.

His muffler popped and blew out billows of black smoke as Hakuryuu desperately tried to catch his breath. His headlights flickered and his high beams flashed at the steep incline before him, and the glow of the village up at the very top. Water raged down the narrow ramp, crashing against his grill and dragging with it more merciless debris. He had driven them straight into the mouth of the run off system for the town. There was sure to be a proper entrance, but the precious little time they had was out.

Hakuryuu released the emergency break and revved his engine. "Hold on! We're almost there," He squawked. "Hakuryuu can see the village!" He started moving forward carefully, pushing himself up onto the steep incline with painful effort until all four wheels were on the ramp. "Just a little longer! Hakuryuu will get everyone-" He cut off as a wave of water crashed over him, pouring over the windshield and the tarp keeping his friends safe.

His wheels spun hard and his gears started to audibly grind as he forced himself up inch by agonizing inch. Rocks, mud, and sticks dug into the wells of his wheels, scraping and cutting at the metal while sharp stones threatened to pop them. Broken trees now tried to crash through him, bouncing off of his hood and into the windshield.

It was impossible to see. All he could do was follow the blurry light and hope that there wasn't a sudden drop. So it was only at the very last moment that he saw the broken trunk of a tree cascading towards him. He yowled and slid back down several feet as it speared straight through his windshield, crashed into the passenger seat, snapped in half, and bounced off of the tarp; but he didn't stop. He regained those few inches and continued on with his painfully slow progress. "Hakuryuu... will get everyone... up... there!"