Chapter 9: The Winding Forest
The group drew out their weapons and stepped cautiously into the Winding Forest. Once they went deeper into the forest, it was nearly impossible to see the light from the sky. They were surrounded with various thick trees, leaves all over the ground, stumps, and fallen branches blocked some of the many different paths. In order to get through, one of them had to chop the branch in half and move it out of the way. The only creatures that they have run into so far were just deformed rats and snakes, but they were easily disposed of by Magus' fire spell. The deeper they went, the darker it got, and the group started to encounter bigger monsters.
"Holy shit this one's huge!" Tidus yelled as he drew out his sword and started slashing at the four-foot wolf-like creature. The gray wolf jumped back on its hind legs and opened its mouth. A yellow ball of light started forming, and with a quick thrust threw it straight for Tidus. "AHHH!!!" He brought up is sword to block the yellow ball, and ended up hitting it back at the wolf. The wolf was blown backwards a ways, then crashed into the ground and lay motionless. Noticing that he had killed his first monster, he did a victory dance by twirling in circles. "Woo-hoo! Go me! Take that, ya monster!"
"Don't get too happy Tidus, there's more where they came from!" Magus called over to Tidus, finishing off a five-foot python with his scythe.
Maria and Raushanna were on the opposite side of everyone, with Raushanna slashing and hacking at the thick tree that fell across their next path, and Maria casting small fire spells to get rid of the beetles and bugs that were crawling on it. JP took out his bow and arrows and shot down some of the lizards that were coming their way.
"Stupid lizard bastards, stay back there, we got enough problems as is!" he said while firing arrows rapidly at the oncoming red and yellow lizards. Cid ran up past JP and collided with the lizards, finishing them off one by one. "Hey old man those were my target practice!"
"Use your sword for close enemies, and use your bow and arrows for long distance shots!" Cid commanded.
"Whatever!" JP responded as he put away his bow and arrows, and drew his sword to join up with Cid.
"Hey we got the tree moved!" Maria called out, drawing her sword and heading passed the now broken and burnt tree that once before blocked their path. Magus, Cid, JP, and Tidus finished off what monster they were fighting, and followed the two girls. Magus cast and set off his dark bomb to close off the path so the rest of the monsters couldn't follow. Now they were in a different area, there was a water stream on either side of them, and nowhere to go but forward.
"How big is this forest anyways?" Raushanna asked.
"Its pretty big, and more like a maze, so judging by the rate that we're going, we should make it out here by sundown." Magus figured.
"Alright, let's get going then!" JP called out and started walking forward. Maria and Raushanna were walking in the front with swords drawn, and in the back followed Cid, Magus and JP. After chopping down some minor branches that blocked the path, they came to a fork in the road.
"Where do we go now?" Maria called out to everyone.
"We go left, it's the quickest way!" said Magus.
"How do you know this?" Cid questioned the mage.
"I've been through here before."
The group then turned down the left path through the leaf-filled path, thick trees that now completely blocked the view from the sky. All of a sudden a pack of black wolves that were formed like kangaroos ambushed them, all holding thick sticks as weapons, and baring fanged teeth.
"Attack! Now!" called out Magus, and started charging for the group that appeared on the right with scythe in hand. Cid and Raushanna joined him, while JP and Maria attacked the group from the left. Magus backed up while Cid and Raushanna attacked so he could start chanting another spell, Freeze Blast, at each of the wolves.
Meanwhile on the other side, JP and Maria charged at each of the creatures, attacking them individually. Maria did a running jump off one of the knocked down trees and jumped in the air, landing on top of one of the wolves, and thrust her sword through its heart. She retracted her sword and used it to throw the now dead wolf into the water stream, and rejoined JP, who was slashing at each of the wolves as they came on.
"Showoff!" JP said as Maria stood up beside him.
"Of course!" she responded, and continued fighting. At this time Magus, Cid, and Raushanna had finished off all their creatures, and came over to help the other duo. Shortly after all the creatures in that area had been killed.
"Hey, we're not to bad!" Raushanna comment.
"Not too bad at all!" Tidus added on.
"Come on, let's keep going, the faster we move, the faster we can get out of here." Cid ordered. The group agreed and started walking again, and followed the twisted and winding path up to the next spot where there was yet another thick fallen tree blocking the path. This time Cid and Tidus started working on the tree while the others looked out for any more monsters.
Suddenly Maria noticed something hovering above them. "Oh my god, what is that!?" she yelled.
"Oh man, that's a manticore!" Magus said while drawing his scythe.
"A what!?" Raushanna said in confusion.
"It looks like a freakin' half man half big-ass bird!" JP exclaimed.
"It is." Magus stated.
"I'll shoot it down!" JP said, taking out his bow and arrow. "Come here, ya little bitch!" He took aim, and let go of the arrow. The arrow flew up in the sky, and went straight through the manticore's wing. "HAHAHA! BULLSEYE!" He took another arrow and aimed for the other wing, and shot. The arrow penetrated the manticore's other wing now. The manticore yelped in pain, and started falling towards the group.
It landed on its side, just a few feet in front of where Maria was standing. She jumped back and drew her sword, but the side of the sword handle got stuck against her belt loop. "Holy crap its stuck!"
"Maria LOOK OUT!" Raushanna called.
"AAHHH!" The manticore had jumped and pinned her against the ground, claws digging into her shoulder. "AUH!! This thing's got bad brea--- OWW!!!!"
"MARIA!" Magus screamed. "You two, start attacking it, I'm going to cast a spell."
"You ain't gotta tell me twice!" JP said. With that JP and Raushanna listened and started slashing and hacking at the manticore. A few seconds later the manticore was lifted into the air by Magus' float spell, and Raushanna dragged Maria to standing position. There were small trickles of blood on each side of Maria's shoulders. JP took out his bow and arrows once again and started shooting rapidly at the creature's neck, each with a perfect hit. Maria started to mutter something under her breath, and all of a sudden two medium-sized balls of fire formed in each of her hands.
"Augh take this!!" she yelled and shot each of the fires towards the manticore. The manticore let out a loud howl from the pain of the arrows in his neck, and the now burning sensation running thoughout his body. Seconds later it lay motionless in the air, and Magus used his magic to toss the manticore far into the depths of the woods.
"Whoa, how the HELL did you do that!?" JP said to Maria. Magus and Raushanna seemed to want to know the answer to that as well.
"I.I don't know, I was just thinking of what to do to that thing, and then all of a sudden.it just happened!" Maria explained in a happy tone.
"See, you do know how to use some of your magic, just remind me later that I have to teach you some of the more advanced and complicated chants, for the more powerful magic." Magus said, smiling. Maria giggled, ignoring her light wounds on her shoulders.
"Hey, we got the tree cut!" Tidus said to everyone to get their attention. They all nodded and followed through the new accessible area, while Magus placed another bomb to close up the path once they were through.
"We're almost out of here, just maybe an hour or so left, then we can camp out a ways from the forest exit, because the town's at least another hour walk, and its almost sundown." Magus informed everyone.
"Good! Because my feet are killing me now!" Raushanna complained.
"Yeah, mine are hurting right now as well." Maria said calmly.
From then on they continued through the forest. After an hour of fighting, cutting down trees, and fighting again, they finally saw the exit of the Winding Forest. Everyone let out a great sigh of relief.
"Yeah!!! We're outta here!!!" JP cheered and ran for the exit, everyone following closely behind.
"Fresh air! Fresh air! Yes! Woo-hoo! Fresh air! Fresh air!" Maria and Raushanna chanted while dancing in circles. Cid, Tidus, Magus and JP watched the two extremely gleeful girls in amusement.
Tired and exhausted, they guys set up the tents, while the girls went over to the nearby lake and washed off, then over behind some nearby huge rock piles to change into clean pajama clothing. Maria was in a green tank top and matching pajama pants, with her pendant shining in the moonlight. On her shoulders bore the scratches that were left by the manticore. Raushanna was now in a blue tank top and matching pajama pants. Once the tents were set up, the guys went to wash up, and changed into comfortable sleeping clothes. While they were doing that, the girls were setting up a campfire to cook and set up the food.
"Man, that was some adventure, huh?" Tidus said, eating the newly cooked hot dogs.
"Yeah, we all got to fight the monsters and work as a team. That was great!" Raushanna agreed.
"Maria, are your shoulders alright? You want me to heal them?" Magus asked, noticing the wounds.
"Yeah would you, please?" She responded, while drinking some water. Magus stood up, placed his arms on her shoulders and cast his healing spell. Moments later the markings had vanished.
"Aww ain't that cute. I'm surprised you didn't ask for a lil somethin' else blue boy!" JP joked with a cruel tone. Magus glared at JP and started to go after him, but Maria pulled him back to the ground.
"Calm down Magus, ignore what he said." She said sweetly.
"Yeah listen to the girl, man!" JP added. Magus just glared and went to get a drink of water.
"Alright, well I think I'm gonna head off to bed, goodnight everyone!" Raushanna announced. Maria stood up as well.
"Yeah I'm gonna go to bed too, goodnight guys!" Maria said, and the two of them went off into their tent. Shortly after Magus, Cid, and Tidus headed off to their tent as well and went to sleep. But JP had other plans.
JP walked towards the small batch of trees away from the tents. Looking up at the full moon up in the sky, he then sat down and after grabbing some wood, took out a pocketknife and began to carve more arrows.
The group drew out their weapons and stepped cautiously into the Winding Forest. Once they went deeper into the forest, it was nearly impossible to see the light from the sky. They were surrounded with various thick trees, leaves all over the ground, stumps, and fallen branches blocked some of the many different paths. In order to get through, one of them had to chop the branch in half and move it out of the way. The only creatures that they have run into so far were just deformed rats and snakes, but they were easily disposed of by Magus' fire spell. The deeper they went, the darker it got, and the group started to encounter bigger monsters.
"Holy shit this one's huge!" Tidus yelled as he drew out his sword and started slashing at the four-foot wolf-like creature. The gray wolf jumped back on its hind legs and opened its mouth. A yellow ball of light started forming, and with a quick thrust threw it straight for Tidus. "AHHH!!!" He brought up is sword to block the yellow ball, and ended up hitting it back at the wolf. The wolf was blown backwards a ways, then crashed into the ground and lay motionless. Noticing that he had killed his first monster, he did a victory dance by twirling in circles. "Woo-hoo! Go me! Take that, ya monster!"
"Don't get too happy Tidus, there's more where they came from!" Magus called over to Tidus, finishing off a five-foot python with his scythe.
Maria and Raushanna were on the opposite side of everyone, with Raushanna slashing and hacking at the thick tree that fell across their next path, and Maria casting small fire spells to get rid of the beetles and bugs that were crawling on it. JP took out his bow and arrows and shot down some of the lizards that were coming their way.
"Stupid lizard bastards, stay back there, we got enough problems as is!" he said while firing arrows rapidly at the oncoming red and yellow lizards. Cid ran up past JP and collided with the lizards, finishing them off one by one. "Hey old man those were my target practice!"
"Use your sword for close enemies, and use your bow and arrows for long distance shots!" Cid commanded.
"Whatever!" JP responded as he put away his bow and arrows, and drew his sword to join up with Cid.
"Hey we got the tree moved!" Maria called out, drawing her sword and heading passed the now broken and burnt tree that once before blocked their path. Magus, Cid, JP, and Tidus finished off what monster they were fighting, and followed the two girls. Magus cast and set off his dark bomb to close off the path so the rest of the monsters couldn't follow. Now they were in a different area, there was a water stream on either side of them, and nowhere to go but forward.
"How big is this forest anyways?" Raushanna asked.
"Its pretty big, and more like a maze, so judging by the rate that we're going, we should make it out here by sundown." Magus figured.
"Alright, let's get going then!" JP called out and started walking forward. Maria and Raushanna were walking in the front with swords drawn, and in the back followed Cid, Magus and JP. After chopping down some minor branches that blocked the path, they came to a fork in the road.
"Where do we go now?" Maria called out to everyone.
"We go left, it's the quickest way!" said Magus.
"How do you know this?" Cid questioned the mage.
"I've been through here before."
The group then turned down the left path through the leaf-filled path, thick trees that now completely blocked the view from the sky. All of a sudden a pack of black wolves that were formed like kangaroos ambushed them, all holding thick sticks as weapons, and baring fanged teeth.
"Attack! Now!" called out Magus, and started charging for the group that appeared on the right with scythe in hand. Cid and Raushanna joined him, while JP and Maria attacked the group from the left. Magus backed up while Cid and Raushanna attacked so he could start chanting another spell, Freeze Blast, at each of the wolves.
Meanwhile on the other side, JP and Maria charged at each of the creatures, attacking them individually. Maria did a running jump off one of the knocked down trees and jumped in the air, landing on top of one of the wolves, and thrust her sword through its heart. She retracted her sword and used it to throw the now dead wolf into the water stream, and rejoined JP, who was slashing at each of the wolves as they came on.
"Showoff!" JP said as Maria stood up beside him.
"Of course!" she responded, and continued fighting. At this time Magus, Cid, and Raushanna had finished off all their creatures, and came over to help the other duo. Shortly after all the creatures in that area had been killed.
"Hey, we're not to bad!" Raushanna comment.
"Not too bad at all!" Tidus added on.
"Come on, let's keep going, the faster we move, the faster we can get out of here." Cid ordered. The group agreed and started walking again, and followed the twisted and winding path up to the next spot where there was yet another thick fallen tree blocking the path. This time Cid and Tidus started working on the tree while the others looked out for any more monsters.
Suddenly Maria noticed something hovering above them. "Oh my god, what is that!?" she yelled.
"Oh man, that's a manticore!" Magus said while drawing his scythe.
"A what!?" Raushanna said in confusion.
"It looks like a freakin' half man half big-ass bird!" JP exclaimed.
"It is." Magus stated.
"I'll shoot it down!" JP said, taking out his bow and arrow. "Come here, ya little bitch!" He took aim, and let go of the arrow. The arrow flew up in the sky, and went straight through the manticore's wing. "HAHAHA! BULLSEYE!" He took another arrow and aimed for the other wing, and shot. The arrow penetrated the manticore's other wing now. The manticore yelped in pain, and started falling towards the group.
It landed on its side, just a few feet in front of where Maria was standing. She jumped back and drew her sword, but the side of the sword handle got stuck against her belt loop. "Holy crap its stuck!"
"Maria LOOK OUT!" Raushanna called.
"AAHHH!" The manticore had jumped and pinned her against the ground, claws digging into her shoulder. "AUH!! This thing's got bad brea--- OWW!!!!"
"MARIA!" Magus screamed. "You two, start attacking it, I'm going to cast a spell."
"You ain't gotta tell me twice!" JP said. With that JP and Raushanna listened and started slashing and hacking at the manticore. A few seconds later the manticore was lifted into the air by Magus' float spell, and Raushanna dragged Maria to standing position. There were small trickles of blood on each side of Maria's shoulders. JP took out his bow and arrows once again and started shooting rapidly at the creature's neck, each with a perfect hit. Maria started to mutter something under her breath, and all of a sudden two medium-sized balls of fire formed in each of her hands.
"Augh take this!!" she yelled and shot each of the fires towards the manticore. The manticore let out a loud howl from the pain of the arrows in his neck, and the now burning sensation running thoughout his body. Seconds later it lay motionless in the air, and Magus used his magic to toss the manticore far into the depths of the woods.
"Whoa, how the HELL did you do that!?" JP said to Maria. Magus and Raushanna seemed to want to know the answer to that as well.
"I.I don't know, I was just thinking of what to do to that thing, and then all of a sudden.it just happened!" Maria explained in a happy tone.
"See, you do know how to use some of your magic, just remind me later that I have to teach you some of the more advanced and complicated chants, for the more powerful magic." Magus said, smiling. Maria giggled, ignoring her light wounds on her shoulders.
"Hey, we got the tree cut!" Tidus said to everyone to get their attention. They all nodded and followed through the new accessible area, while Magus placed another bomb to close up the path once they were through.
"We're almost out of here, just maybe an hour or so left, then we can camp out a ways from the forest exit, because the town's at least another hour walk, and its almost sundown." Magus informed everyone.
"Good! Because my feet are killing me now!" Raushanna complained.
"Yeah, mine are hurting right now as well." Maria said calmly.
From then on they continued through the forest. After an hour of fighting, cutting down trees, and fighting again, they finally saw the exit of the Winding Forest. Everyone let out a great sigh of relief.
"Yeah!!! We're outta here!!!" JP cheered and ran for the exit, everyone following closely behind.
"Fresh air! Fresh air! Yes! Woo-hoo! Fresh air! Fresh air!" Maria and Raushanna chanted while dancing in circles. Cid, Tidus, Magus and JP watched the two extremely gleeful girls in amusement.
Tired and exhausted, they guys set up the tents, while the girls went over to the nearby lake and washed off, then over behind some nearby huge rock piles to change into clean pajama clothing. Maria was in a green tank top and matching pajama pants, with her pendant shining in the moonlight. On her shoulders bore the scratches that were left by the manticore. Raushanna was now in a blue tank top and matching pajama pants. Once the tents were set up, the guys went to wash up, and changed into comfortable sleeping clothes. While they were doing that, the girls were setting up a campfire to cook and set up the food.
"Man, that was some adventure, huh?" Tidus said, eating the newly cooked hot dogs.
"Yeah, we all got to fight the monsters and work as a team. That was great!" Raushanna agreed.
"Maria, are your shoulders alright? You want me to heal them?" Magus asked, noticing the wounds.
"Yeah would you, please?" She responded, while drinking some water. Magus stood up, placed his arms on her shoulders and cast his healing spell. Moments later the markings had vanished.
"Aww ain't that cute. I'm surprised you didn't ask for a lil somethin' else blue boy!" JP joked with a cruel tone. Magus glared at JP and started to go after him, but Maria pulled him back to the ground.
"Calm down Magus, ignore what he said." She said sweetly.
"Yeah listen to the girl, man!" JP added. Magus just glared and went to get a drink of water.
"Alright, well I think I'm gonna head off to bed, goodnight everyone!" Raushanna announced. Maria stood up as well.
"Yeah I'm gonna go to bed too, goodnight guys!" Maria said, and the two of them went off into their tent. Shortly after Magus, Cid, and Tidus headed off to their tent as well and went to sleep. But JP had other plans.
JP walked towards the small batch of trees away from the tents. Looking up at the full moon up in the sky, he then sat down and after grabbing some wood, took out a pocketknife and began to carve more arrows.