What's with this world and its drastic changes in scenery? James thought as he made his first step in the Magutagal Wetlands. The name in itself was a mouthful., it was a miracle he would even say the name in his head correctly. As its name states it was a wetland, the air felt rather heavy and humid, the sound of countless insects buzzing throughout the area added on to the ambiance. Unfortunately, there was no easy way to cross this area without trudging through the muddy ground. Adding onto their problems, it was raining, lightning flashed in the sky frequently, and so did the roaring booms of distant thunder. This made Tora jump and cling on to James. They noticed Tilith up ahead, appearing to be ranting about something. They walked up to her to see what was going on.
"Hey." James called out.
She turned to see the squad. "Oh! You guys are finally here!" She ran up to them. "Augh, the air is so humid! What's with that?! It makes me feel so sticky!" She ranted. The male units were doing their best not trying to laugh. James merely sighed at the sight.
She then saw Tora, who was wrapping herself onto James' left arm. She knew he would do something about her, but this was a little bit too close. She walked up to him. "Do you mind if we talked for a moment?"
"Okay…" He said with a look of uneasiness. "I'll be right back." He said to his units. James softly pried his arm away from Tora as he followed her. "What is it?"
"I know you want to make her comfortable, but isn't this taking things a little too far?" She asked.
James sighed. "I know you told me to be careful, but as of now, she seems trustworthy."
"How so?"
He began telling her about Tora's experiences.
Tilith was a bit skeptical. "Are you sure everything she said was true?"
James nodded. "I can safely say that everything she told me is true, she showed valid signs of her pacifist and cowardly nature." He remembered the mess she caused in the forest. "Believe me, I've seen traumatic experiences, there's no way that could'vee been a lie."
Tilith's expression shifted to a look of pity. "Poor thing… So how were you able to make her talk?"
He stood there silently for a moment; he didn't feel like talking about himself again. Once today was already enough and he would hate doing it again, it was already painful to think about it. "I did say I would figure it out. I'm not just good in fighting, you know. As you know, I am not always aggressive and serious."
Tilith perked up. "Well I'm not surprised. What else are you good at?"
"I know you're curious, but I'm pretty sure it's not the time or place to talk about it right now. Is there anything you have for us?"
She had a sudden realization. "Ah yes! I forgot! I know something that can help you get an edge in the middle of a battle."
This newfound information sounded promising. "What is this technique?"
"Have you ever notice when two units attack at the same time, it does more damage?"
"Now that you mention it, I did."
"I like to call that technique a 'spark'! This makes fighting difficult enemies easier. So teamwork is essential if you want to keep going. So you may want to practice to see how much you can do, it'll take time though to completely master it."
"I see. I this helps. Thank you."
"No problem! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get out of here. I can't take one more second standing around here!" She ran off before anyone could say anything, leaving the squad to stand there.
"Where to next?" asked Ardin.
"Wherever she was running off to, I'm going to assume she is heading towards the next area."
"Are you sure about that?"
"She always seems to be at the next location, there's no doubt she's there." James looked around for a moment. "Everyone stay close, there may be monsters in the area and Ardin, you may not want to fly around here."
"Yeah… I don't feel like being target practice for lightning."
The group trudged through the muddy water of the wetland, it felt rather disgusting, and they were not entirely sure if their shoes would somehow get caught in the mud. Up ahead, they saw a wooden platform, forming a bridge above the murky ground. They sighed in relief as they began to climb up on the platform. Some trees were seen around the area, but from where they were standing, the area was wide open, leaving them susceptible to lightning strikes. Monsters, namely yellow slimes appropriately named sparkys as well as some harpies.
"I guess we have to clear the way again." James sighed before facing his units. "Alright everyone, try to stay low, and please refrain from raising your weapons too high, I can only provide so much healing before I run out of items."
Ardin and Vargas ran ahead while James stayed behind with Tora, who was visibly shaking.
"Are you still afraid?" he asked.
She nodded. "I… don't know if I should fight."
"Then stay close to me, I'll protect you. Remember, you don't have to fight. But if you have to, then close your eyes and don't hold back. Let's go." He then ran towards the fray, blade in hand. Tora ran close behind him. She kept staying low, avoiding both attacks from enemies and James. He had to slow down his movements, knowing he had to escort her. The feeling was familiar, having to be a bodyguard for someone, but he kept those thoughts aside, he had to focus on the battle after all.
He noticed the appearance of lightning became more frequent, it seemed... unnatural. Soon then, one bolt charged straight towards the bridge they were standing on.
"Scatter!" James yelled as everyone jumped off the bridge, and onto the muddy water.
"Oh come on!" yelled Ardin, covered in mud. "As if things couldn't get any worse!"
"You're not the only one." Vargas said, also in the same predicament. "Now I know how the Goddess feels."
James shielded Tora using his coat, preventing most of the grime from getting her clothes dirty. "Are you alright?" He asked, ignoring the amount of mud on him.
"Y-yes." She responded. She noticed how close she was to James and blushed.
The two male units noticed and smirked.
"He's definitely treating her like a little sister or something." Ardin whispered.
James caught wind of this and had a look of sorrow on his face. Little… Sister…? In a way he did feel like he was treating Tora like one, he didn't think about it until now. It felt rather nostalgic, but at the same time, it felt slightly painful. No… Now's not the time. Not here. He got up while assisting Tora.
He noticed had a large, gaping hole where the lighting struck the bridge. The blast radius was wide; some pieces of the wooden platform were charred. The way it moved seemed very suspicious, it had to be controlled by some form of magic. He heard the sound of thunder coming from above, and another three lightning bolts formed, this time, it was heading for the group again. He knew mud couldn't conduct electricity, but it would still be hard to move around, no one wanted to go in there. There was one thing they could do.
"Block it!"James yelled
"Are you crazy? There's no way!" Yelled Ardin.
"We have no choice. Either block it or take the hit. It's going to hurt either way! We need to find out who's controlling the lightning!"
The trio blocked the bolts, which dispersed into tiny particles upon impact. None of them felt a thing luckily.
Vargas wondered. "How would you know that someone's controlling these things?"
"Because even though lightning takes the path of least resistance, they normally don't have this much force or this kind of accuracy. We're still in the cover of trees."
"You're right, but then who's controlling them?"
He looked ahead; he saw what appeared to be a group of people ahead. Two were male, one female.
One had an appearance of a pirate, wielding what looked to be a pistol. The other wore some form of a military uniform along with a tattered cape; his glasses carefully perched on the edge of his nose, he assumed he was the leader. The female wore a rather provocative attire, having the appearance of a dancer.
"This the target?" Asked the gunman.
"Yes." Replied the bespectacled man. "This is the one were looking for."
The woman chuckled. "This should be fun."
I'm going to assume he's another one of Maxwell's cohorts. James thought.
"Well, what do we do now?" Asked Vargas.
James thought for a moment. He looked around to see if they could use the area to their advantage. "Vargas, we're going to get their attention. See if we can distract them while Ardin gets them from behind." He looked to Ardin. "See if you could use the water to your advantage."
"Alright." He then glided to the side.
The leader saw this and looked to the gunman. "Grafl, deal with him."
"Got it boss!" Grafl replied. He aimed his pistol at Ardin, and began firing. Instead of bullets, it fired bolts of lightning.
"Whoa!" Ardin quickly moved to the left and dodged the attack. "This is going to take a while."
Grafl chuckled. "Hold still!"
…
James and Vargas ran towards the two enemies. With the flick of the wrist, the leader summoned lightning. They both sidestepped in opposite directions, dodging the attack. They kept moving and attacked the leader, who was able to sustain little damage thanks to his well-timed dodge. He was on his knees, bleeding.
"May! I need assistance!"
"Okay, Weiss!" She replied. She then performed a dance, as she did a light shone on Weiss. His injuries were slowly fading away, and he regained his strength.
"They got a healer…" Vargas said.
"Yeah." James replied. "We need to deal with her first, dispatching her should make the battle easier."
"What about Weiss?"
"Let me deal with him, I'll draw his attention, you can deal with May."
"Okay then."
James pulled out his revolver and fired it at Weiss while Vargas charged towards May.
Vargas took a swing, but she was able to dodge it, due to her flexibility. "Those dance moves aren't just for show, aren't they?"
May giggled. "I don't mind playing a little. Think you can handle my shocking performance?" She began to dance again, this time, several lightning bolts charged at Vargas, He quickly attempted to dodge them, but some were able to hit him; they left small burns on his body.
"I have to get stronger, I'm not going to lose here!" he shouted.
He charged again and swung his sword. She dodged the attack again, but he was still able to land a hit on her, leaving a gash on her side.
"Augh… I guess I was a little too cocky." said May. She prepared to dance again, getting ready to heal herself.
"Were not through here!" Vargas shouted as he attacked again, disrupting her dance. They began to repeat the process of exchanging attacks and dodging.
…
Ardin was still trying to dodge Grafls shots. He was going nowhere. Every time he tried to advance, he would always be pushed back. Even if he did try to deflect the attacks, by then he would be to slow for a follow-up, even with his speed. He couldn't go any higher unless he wanted to be blasted out of the sky by the lightning above. Then it hit him. James mentioned that he had to try to use the water to his advantage. He sure as hell was not going to go in there, but he had another idea. He rushed towards Grafl again, who had his pistol ready.
"I thought you would learn by now. You can't touch me!" he said as he fired yet another burst of rounds at Ardin.
Ardin once again moved to the left and dodged his attacks. When he saw that he was ready to fire again, he quickly flapped his wings to create a gust of wind. Some of the water was blown off by the wind; some rose out of the ground and hit Grafl like a barrage of bullets.
"Gah! I'm not gonna let you get away!" He brought his pistol up and got ready to pull the trigger, but all he heard was a click. "What?" He saw that the barrel was clogged up with muddy water and grime. He looked up to see Ardin flying towards him, blade at the ready.
…
James, having run out of bullets charged at Weiss, who summoned lightning in order to deter him. He tried to deflect them back, but they were too strong, pushing him back.
"Can't you see the weather?" said Weiss. "You should know by now I have the tactical advantage." With yet another flick of the wrist, monsters began to appear, surrounding him.
He's right. James thought. This could have been easier if it wasn't for the weather. In addition, the monsters in the area have most likely grown accustomed to the setting while we don't. My other weapons are not going to help as much here. We can't get through this unless… He looked towards Tora, who looked up at him with a confused look. She is an earth elemental; she has the advantage here, but... I guess I have no choice.
"Tora… I have a plan, but you may not like it."
"W-what is it?"
He knelt beside her and whispered into her ear. "When I give the signal, command your vines to trap the enemy, and we will finish them off with a single blow."
Tora's eyes widened with shock, she felt unsure. "A-are you sure? I… I…"
"You may be the only one who can do this. If we don't, we may not last long out here. I know I said I won't make you do things you don't want to do, but I'm asking now if you can try."
She didn't want to fight, but she didn't want her friends to perish. She also wanted to repay the kindness James had shown her back in the forest. Then again, she was going to have to fight sooner or later, and she didn't want to become a burden to the group. Mustering up whatever courage she had, she nodded. James stood up and looked to both Vargas and Ardin.
"Guys! We need to round them up! Can you do that?" He shouted.
"On it!
"Can do!"
James faced towards the monsters and Weiss, then back at Tora. "I'll go on ahead and get their attention; I need you to concentrate, okay?" He then charged at the enemies, while Tora shut her eyes.
James began cutting down monsters while trying to dodge more lightning bolts while the units did their best to push their respective foes back. Eventually, they were all gathered into one spot.
"Okay, now!' James shouted.
I know he is not trying to manipulate me, but I don't know if I can. No, I have to try… they're counting on me!
The ground began to shake as the aura around her began to grow stronger.
"What's going on?" wondered Vargas.
"Everyone, get back!" yelled James.
"R-Rose Spinel!" She cried as she performed her brave burst. Vines shot out of the ground and began to form a dome on the battlefield, trapping the enemies inside. The vines also held the same purple aura that was found on Tora.
"By the gods…" whispered Vargas.
"What… is THAT?" shouted Ardin.
Inside the dome, enemies began dropping like flies, suffering from numerous ailments. May, Grafl and Weiss began to experience the effects as well.
"Wh- what is this?" wondered Grafl.
"What's going on?" asked May.
"Hmm… an interesting tactic, I should have seen this coming." mused Weiss.
The vines began to sink back into the ground, the enemies were left vulnerable from the attack.
"Vargas, Ardin, Time to finish this!" yelled James. The two units advanced as they yelled their respective brave bursts.
"Flare Ride Plus!"
"Plum Scent!"
The field shook once more as the combined power of the two engulfed the area in a combination of fire and dark energy. The enemies disappeared one by one and their souls were absorbed by James. Weiss, like others before him didn't leave a soul, but a single gem. James proceeded to pick it up.
Ardin walked up to Tora and gave her a pat on the shoulder. "I take back everything I said about you; you're pretty powerful for someone like you!"
Tora felt a bit confused, but at the same time, a bit nervous. "R-really? Is that bad?"
Vargas walked up to her and smiled. "Yeah, I was a bit surprised by that, but I'm glad you're on our side."
James patted her on the head. "If it wasn't for you, we'd be in a bind again. I know that you don't like to do this, but thank you."
Tora felt relieved, receiving praise from her friends. She needed to get used to fighting, but she also didn't want to try not to enjoy it too much as she still felt scared in becoming some sort of battle freak or a burden.
James spoke up. "If you still feel uncomfortable on fighting, you don't have to, but eventually, there will come a day where you have to. Everyone has a reason to fight, but I will say it now, there is no better reason to fight for someone else to you, whether that being a friend, family, or someone you love. If you still feel scared, I'll still protect you."
She felt reassured by his words and nodded. She then looked down again, hiding her face as she blushed.
James looked ahead to see a dirt road again, not muddy. It led to a distant building, but it was too far to make out any details.
"Is that the next area?" Asked Vargas.
James shrugged. "Only one way to find out, let's go."
Area Clear! Gem Count: 2
