Vessel

Troupe Attack

I left the tent, expecting to find Hornet and the others. To my surprise, there was no one. It would have been easy to pass off as they hadn't returned yet, but even the citizens of Dirtmouth were missing. The shopkeepers had even disappeared. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

I continued to walk around Dirtmouth, searching for anyone. The eerie silence only made the situation worse. I was completely alone, with the exception of the mostly useless, Dave. After about another minute of walking, something caught my attention. It was muffled screaming. That couldn't mean anything good, so I rushed in the direction of the scream.

I dove behind a rock and peeked around it to see what was happening. There were several Grimmkin, at least twenty five Masters, guarding a massive amount of bugs. Each bug had a bag over their head. The Grimm troupe was kidnapping innocent bugs! But why?

I knew I would have to help them, even before I noticed some distinguishing features, such as Hornet's red dress, Elderbug's fancy cane, and Sly's... shortness. It was all of the citizens of Dirtmouth. Dave looked ready to pounce, reminding me that the Grimmkin carry torches. Two in one. Nice.

I turned and looked at the little arsonist. We needed to come up with a plan of attack. Dave soon revealed that his plan was to attack. Flying towards the Grimmkin, I had no choice but to follow them into battle. I grabbed Dave mid flight and pointed at the sacs covering the heads of Dirtmouth citizens. He seemed to understand, and flew towards them. The Grimmkin all turned to face me. Fun.

The first Grimmkin approached, by itself, no less, as it's companions watched. It spun its torch, rapidly, before flinging it at me. I slid under the torch and charged. The Grimmkin held out its hand, beckoning the torch back. I slashed, sidestepping the returning torch. A Grimmkin was defeated.

Two more stepped forward to take its place. This was only going to get worse. Their weapons were incredibly familiar. The left wielded Hornet's needle, while the right held Sly's nail. I got ready for a tough fight.

Sly slammed into the right Grimmkin, reclaiming his nail from the staggered foe. A quick shot of thread wrapped around the eye of Hornet's needle. Turning to look, the Grimmkin was terrified to see Hornet pull on the thread as hard as she could. When the Grimmkin was pulled over, Hornet lunged into a powerful punch, knocking out the Grimmkin. A quick jab from her needle was all it needed to stop moving.

Suddenly, I felt much better about our odds of surviving this. Several other citizens of Dirtmouth joined the fight, eager to protect their town. The remaining Grimmkin regrouped. This was going to be one hell of a brawl.

Both sides rushed forward. Sly leapt onto a Grimmkin before kicking it back into another and rushing with his nail. Iselda was holding her own, fighting fiercely and cutting down any Grimmkin that challenged her. A Grimmkin had targeted Elderbug and flew toward him, flame first. It was met, midair, by both my nail, and Hornet's needle.

"Good idea, sending the Grimmchild to free us." Hornet said in between deflecting blows. "He nearly lit half of us on fire, but I'm "sure" he'll grow out of it." Hornet stabbed her opponent and I sliced my own. More Grimmkin attacked.

"When Elderbug finally got to where he had spotted Ogrim, the troupe ambushed us." Hornet continued her tale through the clashing of metal. These Grimmkin had given up on torches and attacked with metal nails. "They threw sacs over our heads and took our weapons. The constant monitoring allowed no opportunity to escape. Oh. Maneuver three on my signal." She stomped to signal the attack. I slid on my knees toward Hornet's opponent while she back flipped over me, stabbing my foe as I did the same to hers.

Sly had slaughtered at least ten Grimmkin on his own, and Iselda was no slouch either, with around seven kills of her own. Between the four of us, it didn't take long to whittle away at the Grimmkin's numbers. Ogrim erupted from the dirt, grabbing two Grimmkin and slamming their heads together. "Nice of you to join us." Hornet remarked.

Curth waddled into the fray, lunging at the nearest Grimmkin and squeezing it like a child does a favorite stuffed animal. Only Curth, was quite a bit stronger than your average toddler. Soon, the surviving few Grimmkin retreated. The battle had been won.

As the citizens of Dirtmouth cheered, a Grimmkin was able to stand. It was the same one that had attacked Elderbug a moment ago. It raised its nail, behind Hornet's head. It screamed as it brought down it's nail. Me and Hornet turned to see the attacker, both knowing we were powerless to stop it.

Time seemed to slow down. I did my best to push Hornet out of the way. It was too late. I didn't have the pushing power needed to get her out of the way fast enough. There was nothing else I could do besides watch as I continued the push, almost involuntarily at this point. I had failed.

There was a loud crack. The Grimmkin fell to the ground. Behind it, stood Elderbug, his fancy cane held in the air like a nail. "Hmph. Nobody messes with friends of mine and gets away with it." How exactly Elderbug had put so much power into his swing was beyond my understanding, but he had saved Hornet. "I might not look it now, but I was quite the warrior back in my day. Sly was a masterful teacher."

As the citizens celebrated, Dave flew overhead. Occasionally, he would spot a torch. He swooped down and ate the final flame. He flew back over to me, curling up and resting on my head. That was alright. He'd earned a nap today. As for me, I was heading back to Grimm's tent, most of Dirtmouth behind me. He had a lot of explaining to do.

That's it for this chapter! I hope you're enjoying these, they take a while to write sometimes. To those of you that have been here from the beginning, to new friends, I write for all of you. Thank you, and I'll see you in the next chapter.