Clouds gathered in the distance as the sun fell beyond the horizon, the cool of the evening sending shivers through the young Muto.
He had taken to the skies yet again with his Skullcrawler companion, as the Alpha had drawn near to their last residence, no doubt having tracked them down as he did so many times over the past months.
By this point the Muto had become entuned with his "radiation sense" to learn whenever a Titan was coming for them, which in turn gave the pair just enough time to flee before any damage was done.
Was this cowardice or wisdom, he couldn't say, but he could never shake the feeling that he wasn't ready to defeat this Demon just yet.
Until he could stack the variables in his favor, the Muto decided that it would be best to keep moving, lest another confrontation with the Spiked Titan leave him temporarily grounded again, or worse.
...
The Skullcrawler clung tightly to her Muto companion, even more so than usual when flying.
In the past few days the average temperature seemed to have dropped significantly, which left the cold-blooded Titan in a slower and weaker state when improperly heated.
This semi-hibernation state came out of nowhere for the young Skullcrawler, as the APEX lab she was born in was ventilated for the humans' convenience, which meant she was utterly unprepared to deal with it.
As it would turn out, heat sources were few and far between on the pair's travels, with the only consistent source being Diamond-Head himself.
This, in turn, more or less meant that her companion was now solely responsible for the pair's survival, as she simply didn't have the energy at this point to help much.
She wished she could do more, as she hated the idea of being a burden on the already struggling Muto, but at this point nature itself had told her to take a backseat for now.
...
After a few hours of flying the Muto finally found a place to stop for the night.
It was an island that was completely devoid of any life whatsoever, being nothing more than a giant pile of rocks in the middle of the vast ocean.
It was less than hospitable, but at this point any rest stop was better than none.
Usually when he came in for a landing, his companion would hop off a few meters above the ground while he descended in a circular motion, but this time they held on the whole way down.
"That's odd", the Muto thought to himself, but he made no effort to remove the Skullcrawler.
They didn't dismount until he had actually landed, and even then, they stayed directly under him while they were tending the rocks below them.
...
When 13 first left the lab, her instincts were virtually nonexistent.
Yet for one time in her life they had decided to finally whisper something to her, "dig."
She didn't know why or for what purpose a rock pit would serve, but feeling the need to do something, she followed them and began to rearrange the rocks into a pit large enough to fit both her and 'Diamond-Head'.
Her companion stared curiously at her but eventually picked up on what she was doing, even going so far as to help move some of the larger boulders that the weakened Skullcrawler was struggling to move.
By the time they finished only the faint glow of the moon illuminated their work, barely breaking though the ever-thickening cloud barrier.
The Skullcrawler gestured to her companion to lie down in the pit they just dug, which the tired Muto complied with.
She then took some of the rocks and piled them over the Muto, something which confused him but still went along with.
Finally, she dug through the pile, crawled under the left wing of her companion, and huddled up right against his torso.
Throughout the pair's journeys, the two companions had learned a few phrases from the other, one of which was the Muto goodnight.
“Thank you for everything today.” she said with a grin before closing her eyes.
“Thank you for everything today.” he said before nestling closer to his cold companion.
...
While the pair slept, the clouds above them prepared to unleash their hard work towards the ground below.
The frigid air around them turned what was going to be a torrential down pour into a frigid blizzard that pounded the surface below with a flurry of snow.
The wind blew and soon the entire island was coated with a thick layer of snow.
The Titan pair on the other hand, hardly noticed the storm.
When the snow hit the rocks that covered the pair it filled in the gaps between the stones creating an insulated blanket that shielded the Titans from the bulk of the cold wind and snow.
That, combined with the body heat resonating from the Muto, created a perfect little heat bubble within the ground for the tired pair.
...
Morning arrived soon enough to the small island, but instead of bright sun beams descending from above, there was a matte grey fog that covered everything as far as any eye could see.
The skies themselves weren't faring any better, as despite the heavy snowfall during the night, the dull cloud cover still hadn't dissipated at all.
The temperature was still well below freezing, and snow was still falling.
Worse yet was the horrific wind, which when combined with all the previous factors, made for an absolutely miserable day for anyone caught outside.
The Titanic pair, sealed away in their warm pocket in the ground, had no idea just how bad it was on the surface, and soon enough awoke with the intention of continuing their journey for a new, more suitable home.
...
The Muto was the first to awaken and was very well rested for having slept through a blizzard while covered in rocks.
The first thing he needed to do was wake his companion so that they may continue their trip before the Spiked Titan could catch up to them.
He wiggled his left wing, slowly stirring the sleeping Skullcrawler awake.
They moved very slowly and only had their eyes halfway open, but the Muto decided that it would have to do as they needed to get moving.
Together the pair moved the rocks with their heads to view the outside, and almost immediately regretted it.
The icy cold wind was howling with such ferocity, snowflakes blew directly into their faces, what little moisture was in the air suddenly began to freeze against the Skullcrawler's bare skull, forming an icicle beard of sorts.
Even a few seconds exposed in these conditions made it abundantly clear that this was not the day to be caught flying.
The pair exchanged a glance and almost immediately could tell that the other was thinking the same thing, “sleep through this storm.”
So, the pair quickly worked together to recollect the rocks they had moved back on top of them.
Almost immediately after they did, snow filled whatever gaps there were, re-insulating them from the harsh blizzard.
The companions huddled together, shivering while waiting for the Muto's natural body heat to once again warm up their small little shelter.
Once that had happened, they drifted back into their dreams while holding their companion in a tight warm embrace.
...
A couple of days later, the Alpha Titan Gojira had reached his destination, the small rock island where he believed the rogue titans had fled to.
He looked around, but there were no black wings fleeing the scene this time, nor was there anywhere that Skullcrawler could try to ambush him from.
He couldn't see them, but he could feel them, huddled away beneath the rocks and snow, in a deep slumber that could either last a few months or even so long as several centuries.
Now this was a state that the Alpha had deemed acceptable for the Titans who lived on the surface, and no longer seeing the pair as a danger to anything, decided to leave them alone and finally catch some rest while he had the opportunity to.
Had the Muto been aware of this, he would have been in total awe of how the Spiked Titan could have shown his companion and him mercy while they were in their most vulnerable state.
I’ve decided that my story is a bit scattered at the moment, so to rectify this I created this master post to archive the events in chronological order.
So I wanted to draw something with Bruce again before I forget how to draw him, and that inspired me to draw a scene from the climax of ‘Rogue Titans Act I’.
Here Bruce takes advantage of an opening and hits Gojira with a fully charged EMP Slam to the face.
Excerpt below, full chapter here.
“The Muto was hurt, the pain in his right wing threating to take him out of the fight all together, but he had to persevere, his companion was counting on him!
He needed to get them up and away, but the Spiked Titan’s flames were keeping him at bay.
Why on earth did it spray flames, the one thing he was deathly afraid of!?!?
Every time its Breath of Death came close, the Muto felt the churning feeling in his body grow stronger and stronger.
The sheer force of this feeling felt as if was going to rip him apart from the inside out!
Suddenly, the beams stopped, as the Spiked Titan’s attention was turned elsewhere.
At first the young Muto was confused, but then to his horror he noticed that his companion was hanging off a massive wound in the Titan’s leg, doing everything in their power to inflict some kind of damage.
However, all this seemed to do was annoy the Spiked Titan, who raised its left hand to smack the Skullcrawler off.
Acting as quick as he could, the Muto flew as fast as could to the right of the Titan’s face, hooks ready for impact!
BAM!!!
The moment the Spiked Titan was about to slap off the Skullcrawler with the back of its hand, the young Muto had blindsided it on its right cheek!
All at once, the churning feeling that had been building up since the Muto had first laid eyes on the Spiked Titan, had suddenly released in a massive shockwave that displaced the rain, as the face of the Titan contorted to the impact!
The glowing spikes and eyes of the Titan had suddenly flickered before going out entirely.”
