The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

#50 Dousing the Fire

[Apollo]

The Twins were still shaken from the strange, sudden earthquake, but Apollo assured them that they were fine. He reminded them to stay aware of their surroundings for anything suspicious. He wasn't surprised that they didn't find anything.
"Wait, Apollo. What's that?" the Twins suddenly froze. Apollo turned his head to what they were pointing at. He didn't see it at first until he took a few steps forward. They all looked down at what appeared to be a small puddle of some strange black substance. Fleetfoot knelt down to get a closer look at whatever it was. But they all seemed to recognize it, even with the light shining on the surface.
"It looks like the stuff from the caves." Flyboy said.
"Do you think there's more or those weird creatures up here too?" Fleetfoot asked. Apollo stared at the puddle for a minute longer.
"I don't know, I don't think so. I haven't seen them up here before."
The Twins looked up into the trees to see if they could see any blobby creatures, but they didn't. Apollo doubted they would show themselves in broad daylight.
"Apollo, there's more over here." the Twins pointed out. Apollo took a few steps forward and it looked to be a small trail of black goo leading away.
"Is this normal?" they asked.
"No, I've never seen this before. We should see where this goes. But be careful." Apollo said. They started following the trail as it lead them away. It wasn't a very long trail, and eventually the puddles started getting so small that they started to blend in with the dirt and they stopped when they couldn't see it anymore. And it didn't lead them anywhere either. It just lead them deeper into the forest. They all looked around the area to see if it picked up anywhere else or if there was something else that looked abnormal. Apollo gripped Sophia's bag around his shoulders. He had a strange feeling that something wasn't right. But he wasn't sure if he could trust that feeling.
"It just stops here. Maybe we should go back."
"Yeah, that sounds good." the Twins agreed.

They started walking back to where they came from, thinking that it wasn't much of a clue. They hoped that Sophia and Teri might have other interesting discoveries. But as they walked back, the Twins suddenly stopped and turned around.
They sensed something.
They reeled back around and hid behind Apollo. Before he could ask what they were doing, he suddenly noticed what they had noticed. They heard heavy foot stomps. And they seemed to be getting louder. Apollo's heart raced as it started to get closer to them. He held out his right arm and it began to rise in temperature and smoke steamed upwards. Thunderous footsteps were coming towards them and from within the trees, they saw  large, dark shadow approach them. Now Apollo's hand was engulfed in flames, ready to fight. The creature skidded to a halt and let out a roar.
It's eyes were spinning red and the same black substance was dripping from it's mouth. It's body was massive, yet it's hind legs were a little skinnier than it's forearms. Nonetheless, it was horrible. The Twins cowered in fear and they all took a few steps back. For as long as Apollo has lived here, he had never seen anything like this before. He quickly threw off Sophia's bag and handed it to the Twins, hoping there might be something they could find to defend themselves with.
Besides a pencil sharpener.
Apollo threw a quick fireball at its feet and the creature howled and stamped the ground. The Twins quickly took cover behind a tree. Apollo rushed to the monster's other side and a great burst of flames flew from his hand and the monster jumped up and threw its body wildly. It quickly tried to strike him, but Apollo was able to jump out of the way. He had to be careful or else he'd set the whole forest on fire. His wings unfolded from behind him and he quickly flew up to a high branch and waited for the creature's next move, while also trying to regain his stamina. Suddenly, he heard the Twins yell as the creature was making a start towards them. They yelled for help as they backed away slowly. Apollo suddenly leaped and glided down and shouted for them to run. He held out his hand and another rush of flames flew out, covering the monster's back and it roared loudly.

"Go! Get out of here!" Apollo shouted. The Twins scrambled away as the monster was distracted. Fleetfoot dragged his brothers arm, but in the process it made him drop Sophia's bag as they stumbled away. But there was no way they were going back for it, it was too late now. As the creature turned away and yelled about it's wounds, Apollo rushed forward and picked up the satchel mid-flight. He didn't land as gracefully, but they all knew they had to get out of here as fast as they could.
"We have to get out of here!"
"I know a way out! This way!" Apollo yelled and sprinted through the trees. But as soon as his wings folded in, the creature launched itself forward and its black-stained teeth caught Apollo's leg and dragged him down. He dropped Sophia's satchel as he fell to the ground and tried to grab onto anything to pull himself free. As he screamed, the Twins suddenly looked back to see Apollo being dragged away. They rushed back to help him, but before they could grasp his arms, the creature let go for a moment, only to lean forward and snatch Apollo by the torso instead.

As Apollo screamed, the Twins started running after him as the creature was dragging him away. Until Flyboy accidentally stepped on the burnt ashes of the ground from Apollo's first attack and he yelped in pain. They stepped back, not wanting to hurt themselves further. They looked back up to see Apollo still screaming as he was being dragged away into the shadows of the trees, but the Twins couldn't go forward anymore. The ground where they stood was starting to ignite. They were being surrounded by flames and there was no other area they could escape to get closer to Apollo. Fleetfoot quickly returned to retrieve Sophia's bag and directed his brother to start climbing a tree he pointed at. They leaped up to the nearest branch and started climbing, the flames around them growing at a tremendous rate. Apollo's screams for help was starting to fade and they lost sight of him within the smoke.