Pomella

She knew that as a bird person that something like mountains shouldn't scare her, technically. But they were just so... huge! She looked up and up and all she saw was more and more grey stone, she couldn't help but find it crazy how they were formed! Bio and Selena seemed pretty nervous next to her - or at least, she though Bio was nervous? It was always hard to tell what she was feeling, but she thought she had gotten the hang of it by now. Selena, on the other hand, was like an open book, eyes darting around and casting constant glances over her shoulder.

Pomella was a bit scared, but that was only because of how much the mountains seemed to press in too close, but it wasn't like she could ask for personal space from stone - ooh now that would be a cool power to have, 'I am Pomella I speak to the mountains, they say they want tea'. Pomella had a feeling she should be more scared of what they would encounter next then a pushy mountain, what they had seen in the past had certainly been the scariest moment of her life. She couldn't help feeling more confused than scared though... what was arachnophobia?

The white splotches - they looked kinda like webs, which was weird - were getting more numerous and bigger the further they went in, Pomella reaching out to touch one curiously. Her hand was suddenly stopped by a black glove, Selena whispering softly, "Don't touch the webs, it will send vibrations down the threads... plus, you'll get stuck,"

"Wait, so these splotches are actually webs!?"

"Well yes, what did you think they were?" Bio asked, tilting her head to look at Pomella.

"er... mountain acne?" she guessed, shrugging flippantly. Selena visibly held back her giggles with a hand, clutching her stomach with her hand. Bio on the other side rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically, rubbing a hand on her face. "Pomella... never change," she conceded, a tiny smile forming on her face as she faced forward to begin walking again. Pomella preened at the sudden praise, but her good mood shot down as an ominous clicking began to echo off the mountain's sides.

"What was that?" Selena whispered fiercely to Bio, eyes going wide as her body dropped into an instinctual crouch. Bio put a finger to her lips, not that Pomella was saying anything. Her usual bounciness had been pushed into the corner the second an actual threat became evident, glancing forward to see if she could make out anything. She thought she could just barely see a crack in the stone, where a fair amount of web was covering the wall... and the path they were walking on.

"Bio, you said something about cave systems right?" Pom asked softly, nodding to the crack. Bio squinted, frowning slightly to try and see what she saw - she forgot she had eagle-like vision at times - before giving a slight nod. "Yes, we had guessed that was where the creatures had taken up home..."

"What creatures?" Pomella asked, feeling like she was missing something big. Then, she saw movement in the cave, barely a shadow flickering off the dark stone. A large, fat bulbous body being carried on long, spindly legs. Eight, legs to be exact. "Oh... that's what arachnophobia is..." she mumbled weakly, feeling dizzy. Of course there were webs, this path was infested with giant spiders! She knew some spiders could eat birds and those were normal-sized - her lithe but small frame would only be an appetizer to some giant creepy crawly.

"T-there is webbing on the ground, if we step on it they will know we are h-here," Pomella stammered softly, and Bio's frown grew deeper. "I'm trying to think of some mutation I could use on us to get us past, but I'm drawing blanks..."

"Couldn't you just give us all wings?" Selena asked quizzically, looking up as if checking for webs higher up.

"Oh sure, I'll just grow us all wings for an hour while suffering through the bone altering and muscle growing experience to then divebomb into a web because we don't know how to fly," Bio responded wryly, glancing up as well.

"Spoilsport..."

"I could maybe... no that wouldn't work... hmmm..." Bio began to think out loud, and it was as if Pomella could see all the possibilities flying through her brain at lightning speed. She, on the other hand, had only one idea, an incredibly simple one. "What if we just... tried to jump it?"

Bio looked to her with a skeptical eyebrow while Selena openly frowned, but neither denied the idea immediately. "If we all jumped we could probably make it halfway, our shoes would get stuck but..."

"Our shoes would get stuck but we would be able to jump the rest of the way," Selena nodded, the frown still not lifting.

"But I just got these boots..." Bio complained softly, glancing down to her shoes that the townsfolk had given her. "Plus, if we miss the jump then we will get stuck to the web, and then we won't be able to run..."

"I can't think of anything better though, I don't think we can get past that without going undetected," Pomella began to argue, gesturing to the cave.

"If we found some way to climb across the clean wall then maybe - "

"But we would be traveling directly in front of them, even if we didn't trip the web they would still see us -"

"Hey guys, I think its time we just run..." Selena cut in, pointing to the crack in the wall. Pomella suddenly froze as she locked eyes with a red glowing pair shining from inside the cave... 4 pairs of eyes. All focused on her.

Biovera

"This isn't good, we only have a few minutes to react before we're swarmed," Bio explained quickly, mind racing to think of a solution.

"We just have to run, we can't take time for a complicated plan and if we don't go now we will run directly into them instead of them running after us," Selena breathed, stretching back her left foot and leaning heavily on her right. Pomella, after a second, did the same, and with a sigh Bio followed suit.

"Alright, on my mark..." Bio cautioned, and the two nodded.
"Three..." multiple red eyes began to appear in the distance.
"Two..." the clicking began as spiders began to move.
"One..." the tip of one leg emerged from the crack.
"Go!" and with that one word the three were off, sprinting down the path as fast as their legs would carry them. An ear-splitting shriek sounded from the cave as the spiders became excited by the movement. Within seconds they were to the crack as the first spider fully emerged, as long as a person and just as tall with large fangs that dripped with a green liquid. A large white skull marking adorned its back, but Bio didn't have much time to observe anymore. She had already jumped alongside her companions.

The three sailed through the air over the web, their momentum carrying them nearly across the entire web before their feet touched the ground again. The web's effect was immediate, Bio nearly stumbling as it gripped tightly to her boots and nearly ripped them off before it tore and came with her boot instead, tearing from the rest of the web. It still took her a second to balance, but a cry turned her attention back to the web wear Pomella was stuck, not having enough weight to have gotten free of the web. Her eyes were wide and panicked as she desperately pulled with her feet, trying to get free as another of the spiders emerged from the crack, closing in on the poor girl.

Before Bio could reach out to help her though Pomella let out a shout and the web under her feet suddenly froze, a hard wrench letting her pull her feet free and catch up to the others, panting from the exertion. "I-if you could have frozen the web, why didn't you say anything?" Bio panted beside her, the three running side by side down the path as the sound of clicking and whistles grew louder behind them.

"H-hadn't crossed my mind?"

"Now isn't the time, another crack is up ahead as well as a couple spiders!" Selena shouted, snapping their attention forwards again. Sure enough more spiders were approaching from ahead of them, causing Bio to curse under her breath. Selena and Pomella seemed equally worried as both forces moved in on them, the three still running as fast as they could. As they approached the nearest spider flexed its fangs, a single drop of the green liquid dripped from its fang and hissed on the ground as it prepared to latch on to whatever presented itself first.

Bio was already preparing her power to create her bone spear again - which, would like last time, hurt like hell to make - when a new sound came from ahead. Then without warning something large and scaley lept up and onto the back of a spider, biting down with sharp fangs as hooked claws dug into its sides for balance. The spider shrieked in agony as it died, and the spiders which had been focused on them turned to the new intruder, raising their front legs and hissing menacingly at the new... creature.

Bio could have sworn she heard it scoff before it simply leaped off of the spider carcass' back and onto the next, repeating the same motion it had done to the first. As the second spider died the third, racing ahead from behind the group - much to Bio's relief - attempted to bite at the creature's thigh. Before the fangs could even touch the softer scales on the inside of its leg it simply hopped and kicked the spider in its beady eyes, sharp claws digging in and wrenching a few out with the motion. The spider didn't even get a chance to make a sound before it was dead. The fourth spider, seeming to be at least somewhat intelligent, retreated back towards the crack it had come from, baring its fangs.

The new creature watched it go for a while, then with a slight nod, it hopped off the spider and faced the three of them. "Easy there, nice... dragon?"

The creature blinked, confused, then with a start, it began to laugh, some kind of combination of growls and hiccuping sounds. It began to shrink, becoming more and more humanoid as time passed before the sound of laughing was much more natural. "D-dragon?" the figure guffawed as the tail she had grew much smaller, similar to what you might expect a snake hybrid to have. "My name's Delta, I'm a dinosaur hybrid - nice to meet ya!"

Author's Note

Aren't you supposed to be a personification of fear? how does that let you in these notes?

It's a horror story - Fobus

... I can't remove the tag now it's too late... hope you enjoy the chapter