"Woah, woah, woah, dude!" Derek said as he struggled to cool off the village leader, some big dude he heard referred to as Juanito. "Listen to me! I said this thing's a beast. A demon! There's no way we could kill him, so I think we're better off letting sleeping dogs lie."

Juanito replied in smooth English, "This dog clearly isn't sleeping. It has murdered every man that has step foot outside of this village, and we are through with it!" He shouted out commands in Spanish. At his order, ran to their houses and returned armed with guns, machetes, and other makeshift weapons. Derek even saw a few armed with chainsaws. "You said it was a reptile? What else do you know?"

Derek was hesitant to reply. Maybe if I make him sound terrifying, that'll discourage them.

"He was like, ten feet tall!" he shouted loud enough so that the surrounding villagers could hear him. "And... he had these huge claws as long as swords!" he heard a few gasps from the crowd. "Yeah, and he spat jets of venom like a fire hose!" Sure, he was exaggerating, but it was working. The crowd looked a little less eager to attack.

Juanito looked a little skeptical. "Like a firehose, eh?" Derek nodded. "Then... we burn the forest, and the creature with it!" he announced. The crowd cheered with agreement.

Well that didn't work, Derek thought as the villagers started to grab things to burn. Juanito barked out orders, "Put this here! Put that there! Kill the nature! Destroy the Earth! Duuh."

Derek was infuriated. He came to that hellhole to study the culture, and all he got was bigotry, disliking, and the sight of the locals destroying wildlife. Somehow, meeting a scary, green monster had been the highlight of his trip.

Well now Derek was faced with a choice; Do nothing. Sit there with his thumb in his mouth and turn a blind eye as these stupid people burnt down the jungle simply to kill one creature that also happened to be his friend; Or do freaking something!

"No!" Derek chased Juanito to the edge of the village where he was about to pour a can of gas into, "No, you shithead! You can't just burn down a jungle because your scared of some little creepy crawlies! Why don't you just --" before he could react, the village leader had his fingers wrapped around Derek's throat.

"Why don't you shut your goddamn hole and step aside, you American shit! Or even better," he tossed Derek into the jungle, where he hit a tree hard, "why don't you go meet your fellow snake, and tell it to fuck off! Maybe it's willing to talk, eh?"

Derek, quickly recovering from his blow, stood tall and glared the leader in the eyes. "I'm. Not. Letting you. Burn. This forest!" He took his pocketknife out and stood his ground. "Get that through your incredibly dense skulls!"

"The fuck did he just say?" Juanito shouted to a man next to him (The man didn't know; he didn't speak English). He grabbed a shotgun from the man and pointed it at Derek's skull. "Get out of our damned way or I'll blast your shit-filled head off!"

"Go to hell," Derek growled, steadfast.

With an infuriated shout, Juanito took two steps forward and pointed the barrel of the gun at the boy's forehead. Derek cocked his arm back, prepared to plunge the blade of his knife into the man's stomach. Both were stopped, however, when a large, green form fell from the trees between them. The form slapped the shotgun barrel upward just as Juanito fired, buckshot blasting into the sky. With a simple twist, the form sliced the leader's throat open with a slash of sharp claws.

When the metaphorical dust cleared, Reptile was standing over a dead Juanito, creating a human shield for Derek.

"Thank you, once again, Derek," Reptile said, not taking his eyes of the crowd forming in front of the two. They were hesitating after seeing the scene in front of them.

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Derek replied, ready to fight. "Quick question," he asked after looking at the crowd, "That's a lot of dudes. How are we gonna take them all? I'm not exactly a decorated warrior."

"Stand back," Reptile explained, "Pick off the stragglers. I'll take the rest."

"Got it," Derek confirmed, "After you."

Reptile scowled hard and dashed into the mob. Shots were fired, but the Zaterran leaped into the air, high above their line of fire. He landed in the middle of the crowd and immediately went wild, becoming a flurry of claws, teeth and fist. Men, armed or not, fell by the second.

One of the smarter villagers, who had decided against attacking the monster, ran at Derek with machete raised. Derek quickly ducked under the swing and stabbed his attacker in the knee. The man shouted in pain until Derek punched him hard in the throat. He had a few seconds to revel in his victory before he saw the large man with a chainsaw make eye contact with him. "Shit," He said ever so appropriately.

Meanwhile, Reptile was swiftly taking out villager after village. By now, most had wisely fled after after seeing what he was capable of, but a few brave/incredibly stupid still fought, swinging their machetes, knives, and clubs like madmen while trying to lay a hit on the Zaterran. A few succeeded; Reptile was bleeding from his forearm, chest, and leg, but he fought on. He leapt into this fray, so he was going to fight until the finish.

He spat acid at this guy's face; gashed this one's chest open; kicked this one in the gut. He fought like he had never fought before. The Kahn would most certainly be proud. He was taking this army on by himself. Well, with a little help.

His "little help" was in a bit of trouble at that moment, especially after finding out his knife was still in the last guy's knee. Derek quickly ran in the opposite direction of the spinning blade as the armed man charged him.

After a few strides, he peeked behind himself to find the chainsaw man still chasing him. Unfortunately, as he put his attention elsewhere, he failed to see the tree that he ran into. He bounced off of the hard wood and felt to the ground. The chainsaw was only a few feet away.

Frantically grasping at the ground, he felt his hands touch a log and he raised it like a shield. The chainsaw blade spun into the wood, but the log held. Derek mustered all of his strength and shoved the chainsaw away from him, causing the man holding it to stagger back. Derek sprang to his feet in an instant and swung the log into the chair man's face. The man fell back, unconscious.

"Yeah!" Derek shouted, "Derek Oakenshield!" As he pumped his fist in the air, he heard the pump of a shotgun being cocked behind him. He turned around to see a villager with said gun and a smile on his face.

Derek supposed he said something smartass in Spanish before Jaguar pounced on him.

Minutes later, Reptile faced only five villagers left. One swung an axe at him, but he easily cought the handle and kicked the villager in the face. Then, in the blink of an eye, he dashed behind the Earthrealmer and slashed his back open with his claws. The next one simply tried to stab him with a kitchen knife. Reptile jumped clear over him and snapped his neck from behind. Two others tried to double team him with machetes, but Reptile dodged their blows with ease, and caught them by the wrists. He then then stabbed each of them with their own blades, leaving only one challenger. He had a gun...

...But before he could even think of firing it, Derek rushed behind him and knocked him out with a thick log.

No sooner had they finished when a large, blue portal opened in the jungle. Reptile's eyes enlarged with joy when he heard a bullet whiz past his head. He turned and saw the remainder of the villagers grouping up once again. This time more heavily armed.

Reptile didn't hesitate for a second before dashing to the portal where two Osh-Tekk soldiers were waving him in.

He grabbed Derek by the shoulder and pulled him after towards the blue mass. "Come with me," he said.

"Well," Derek thought for a second. After one look at the mob charging in their direction, he made his decision. "Alright!"

The two figures jumped into portal, followed closely by Jaguar. The blue mass disappeared immediately afterwards.

Both Reptile and Derek were finally out of that hell.

Woohoo! Fortieth chapter! Mozeltov!

Thanks to everyone who have stuck to this story. You all kept me inspired!

In fact, I'm gonna give you all shoutouts:

MushkaQuoiroa: Thanks for commenting on my first chapters. You really kept me going in the beginning.

Livek4t: You have my thanks for your constant votes. I'm so glad you're enjoying the story.

Everybody who added my story to their Reading Lists: THANK YOU! You have no idea how happy that makes me! Thank you.

And finally

Thank you TheEqualizer for all of the covers you made me. I really appreciate it greatly, my friend. Thanks a lot.

I hope this story has been everything you guys hoped it could be and maybe even better, and I hope you enjoy it to completion. Thank you to everyone reading this, and I hope you all have lovely lives.

Later :D