RCM- Sorry it's been so long… school's been a bitch.
Sol- The good news is that we're practically ready to post two chapters right now!
RCM- Solaris, stop. I'm still working on that last scene, don't get their hopes up.
Sol- Sorry sir…
RCM- Anyway, as always, I don't own any of the copyrighted material present within this story.
Sol- In this installment, the Chaos Protectors will be learning to control their new abilities in the Rythessa plains.
RCM- Enjoy the show.
Chapter 29
Evolution of Power
Upon leaving Spriggan, the party began to travel through the Rythessa plains, heading for the next town. Having both of Gohdan's crystal shards in their possession, their next goal was to secure the two in the Dark Continent of Evil: Makai. As they made their way south, weak field-dwelling monsters would attack in small groups. The furry imps, giant mice, and numerous ChuChus couldn't hinder their progress though, quickly falling to the warriors.
However, to Anri's dismay, not even a single one of them was dispatched with the Protector's new attacks. "Hey Lance?" The blonde glanced over his shoulder at the fairy floating there. "Is there a reason you haven't used your Chaos Control magic all day? We've been moving for hours and you haven't tried a single one of your Earth moves, nor the new enhancements for the other elements."
"Why waste the energy?" Shadow scoffed, backhanding another imp that had tried to jump him. "No point using our powers on such weak vermin." As if to emphasize the Darkman's point, the tiny green devil burst apart into a cloud of smoke as soon as it hit the ground.
"Even so, you can't learn your new skills if you don't practice." Slightly agitated by the show of arrogance, the small red fairy began to flit about, somewhat aimlessly. Before she realized it, she was face to eyeball with a large, thickly-muscled Prairie Troll. "YAH!!" Badly startled, she zipped back behind Lance. "Is that tough enough for you Shadow?!"
With a snicker, the ebon warrior grasped his weapon in both hands, the tool morphing over into gloves. Out of each, a set of three sharpened stone claws extended from the shining black knuckles, each claw roughly 9 inches in length. His snicker turned into a roar as he charged forward. "Spire Claw!"
Though the three spinning slashes were all direct hits, the magical attack had little effect on the Earth-aligned troll. "Nice try." With a swing of it's heavy club, the hairy monster sent Shadow flying straight into Link.
Noticing the lack of effectiveness, Tikal began to cast Tornado Hold. However, something within her was making her feel as though she was capable of more with the elemental power. Instead of releasing the energy she had gathered, she continued to charge wind magic into her staff. After another few moments, the white glow shifted to an aquamarine blue. "What's… this power…?"
Anri flew over to her, smiling at the colorful magic at her weapon's tip. "You've channeled the power of Wind to the next level. Tornado Hold is the first, now you can attack with the second! Use it!"
"Tempest!" The magic surged from her staff as she swung it forward, the blue energy creating a raging cyclone from the wand's head. The spiraling blast struck the troll squarely in the chest, inflicting considerable damage to the green beast. "Lance! Finish it!"
Wind energy wrapped itself around the swordsman's blade, leaping off as he slashed downward. The razor-like blast cut cleanly through the Prairie Troll's torso, arcing back to slice up the rest of the monster. The elfin mage gasped. "Oh my God… That wind attack… That was Wind Cutter! That was Hugh's move!"
The red fairy nodded as the troll's remains blew away in the breeze. "That's hardly surprising. Both of them use swords, so it's only natural for Lance to have access to the same moves Hugh learned. It's likely that he knows a number of his other moves too."
"But what about Pyro Dance?" Link had just gotten out from under Shadow, who was still cursing from the 'lucky shot' the troll hit him with. "That move was reserved for him, wasn't it?"
"That's right, only the destined Master of Fire can harness the flaming might of the Pyro Dance. However, if he had received your enhancements, the Dance would likely have grown in power too. I think each of your Master Control moves have advanced some, to be honest. I'm just not sure how yet."
The ears of both elves twitched, each one looking toward the southeast. "I guess we'll find out soon enough." The archer gestured to where he and Tikal were looking. "Look's like we got company… and a lot of it."
Link pulled out his telescope for a closer look. "Hey, it looks like they're all banded together under that big yellow one."
"Let me see." Link pulled away, holding the telescope so the fairy could look. "Hmm… Yeah, that's a Spark Ogre… I think your newest powers will prove very useful against him. And I'd advise using your other ones against the goblins too."
Link put away the telescope and drew his sword. "I agree. The little ones may be weak on their own, but they were armed to the teeth and outnumber us by a lot."
Shadow laughed, his Spire Claws withdrawing and forming his traditional scythe. "Sounds like my kind of party."
Lance casually spun his sword into his other hand, smirking. "Somehow I knew you were going to say that." As the small army of enemies advanced, Link couldn't help but be reminded of the Bokoblins from his old adventures. Very similar physically, these goblins bore swords, maces, axes, and lances, with a few spears thrown into the mix. Lance noticed something else about the horde: The weaponry was divided by skin color. Red goblins wielded the maces, brown ones carried twin axes, yellows held swords, and the hovering greens carried the spears and lances. "Am I right in thinking those colors signify the elemental alignment of those guys?" The red fairy nodded affirmation to the team leader. "This should be interesting…"
The large, muscular commander stopped the advance, calling out in a gruff voice. "You weaklings shall not pass further through my plains. Chaos cannot and will not be stopped."
The yellow humanoid's taunts were abruptly cut off as a stone spire slammed into his chest. Reeling back in pain, the ogre glared angrily at the elf that had fired the projectile. "We're not interested in your opinions. Now move aside or suffer the consequences." To further his threat, Elric launched another Spire Arrow at the yellow goblin to the leader's immediate left. Earth's elemental superiority to Thunder caused the weaker monster to be blown apart, the dust cloud rapidly dissipating in the cool breeze.
Clearly, the ogre was a slow learner. "Attack!" The ranks of the army broke apart, converging onto the small group of heroes.
"Everyone! Spread out and take out as many as you can! Don't hold back!" As Lance called out his orders, he launched a fierce, white wave into the fray. The wave of energy shredded its way into and through the ground, opening a large fissure underneath the mass directly in front of them.
Though the greens hovered over the destruction from Lance's Fissure Slash unharmed, the other elemental types were not so lucky. The numerous yellows that fell into the abyss never climbed back out, and the reds and browns that were able to just ended up being killed off quickly by a trio of Aqua Sword waves. "Lance, the Red ones are Fire, Yellow is Thunder, Brown is Earth and Green is Wind! Use your magic according to the types you're attacking to pack the most punch!"
"We know Anri," Link said, leaping over the crevice with a spin slash. The Wind Goblins shrieked in pain before shattering at the touch of the Hylian's blade. "It's not that hard to put two and two together."
Anri gave an indignant huff as she turned to Shadow, who was amusing himself rampaging through a slew of Earth Goblins with the Berserker as a sword. "Shadow, why don't you try a Wind Shredder attack? Charge the Wind Cutter until the color of the energy changes!"
Hearing Anri's suggestion, the Darkman backed off a bit and began gathering power into the blade. Within a matter of moments, the white glow took on a violet hue. Slashing downward, he launched a jagged wave of energy forward, the blast as tall as the warrior himself. Instead of homing in like the lower-level attack, the Wind Shredder plowed right through the entire horde of Earth Goblins, as well as anything else in its path. Even though their elemental alignment granted the following group of Wind Goblins resistance to the attack, the sheer force of the blow weighed heavily on their endurance. Another similar blast from Lance, this one yellow, finished the job. "If they're both the same attack, why was mine a different color?"
Anri flew over, easily avoiding a green goblin's spear. "Charged moves like the Wind Shredder gain the extra power by tapping into the innate energy of the user's own natural element. Since you and Shadow each have different natural elemental alignment, your charge colors are going to be different."
"That's why Tikal's was blue… if mine was yellow, does that mean…?"
The fairy refused to answer, redirecting the warrior's attention back to the fight at hand. "Less talking, more fighting! You're getting surrounded, use a Fire Spin!"
As the human swordsman took back some of his elbowroom, his Hylian partner used Farore's Wind to dish out some destruction of his own. Flitting from one enemy group to the next, he cut a number of them down with a single spin attack before vanishing in a greenish-white flash. As the goddess had said, the goblin hordes were confused out of their skulls. However, out of pure dumb luck, one of the red goblins, swinging his flaming mace wildly, struck Link hard. Though the boy didn't take much damage, the blow left the him dazed long enough for the mob to spot and apprehend him. "Argh! No!"
"Hold on Link!" A brown disc landed at the feet of the monsters, erupting violently into a startling array of spikes as one of them touched it. The Spire Trap skewered Link's captors, allowing the Hylian to warp to relative safety.
Smiling at the elfin archer, Link cried "Thanks Elric!" before resuming his attack pattern.
Almost two hours later, the warriors were beginning to tire. Luckily, the number of enemies was also dwindling fast. The few Wind Goblins that were left were keeping their distance, attacking from high above with their throwing spears, using their wind magic to summon the weapons back afterwards. Agitated with the cowardly tactics, Shadow's eyes glowed red as he made an upward gesture with his hand. A pillar of fire erupted from underneath the monsters, reaching up and overtaking them. "Hmph… goddamn pests…" Satisfied with Fire Tower's effectiveness, he turned to block the frenzied attacks of the last Thunder Goblin's sword, laced with electricity. The assault ended up being a diversion, the real attack coming from behind.
Luckily, the last of the Earth Goblins didn't get the chance to bring their heavy stone axes onto the ebon warrior's back. Before the blows could strike, an explosive burst from the Fire Arrow's charged counterpart tore the assassins to pieces. Elric then turned to fire another Flare Missile at the Thunder Goblin. "Thank me later."
"I could've handled them." Shadow growled back, noticing Tikal using the water equivalent of Fire Tower on the final three red goblins. "Heh… girl's got talent… I couldn't get my Hydro Pillar to move like that…"
"Jealous are we?"
The Darkman scoffed. "I'm aware that she's Mistress of Water, moron. Her Water spells are always going to be better than any of ours will… Heads up. Looks like bossman's taking on the leader. Damn, that thing looks pissed."
Following Shadow's gaze, Elric saw Lance was indeed facing off against the Spark Ogre. Once sufficing with taking pot shots at the heroes from the safety of the back lines, the demon roared to meet Lance's challenge. "That's it, mortal! Now you die!"
Though panting slightly, the leader of the Chaos Protectors brought his sword up in a battle stance. "That's what you think." The other five quickly gathered by his side, just as ready for battle. "I'd say the odds are in our favor."
"We shall see!" The enraged demon slammed his warhammer into the ground, sending a flurry of electric sparks toward them. As Shadow leapt over the attack, he performed a spinning forward flip, throwing a brown cross at the beast in the process. To the others' dismay, the projectile buried itself into the dirt just before the monster's feet. "HA! You missed!"
As he landed, the ebon warrior couldn't keep himself from laughing. "Did I?" Like when he summoned the Fire Tower, the Darkman's eyes glowed as he gestured upwards with his wrist. As he completed that small hand motion, four large stone pillars rose up around the ogre, slamming down on him like an oversized bear trap. Not only did the pressure cause a ton of damage, but the spires lining each pillar's inner face also drove into the fiend's skin, adding to the damage. "I would've said that you were caught by my Spire Trap."
With a roar, the ogre broke free, severely weakened and bleeding. "You… you cannot win…"
Shaking her head, Tikal once again gathered energy in her staff. This time, the grayish glow sparkled as she spoke. "That…" she calmly said, pointing the wand at her foe, "is where you would be wrong." A fierce white beam erupted from the staff's sapphire, piercing the monster. The magic's light turned the beast to stone, which Shadow promptly shattered with his Spire Claws.
"I've got to admit, that Petrifier spell is pretty damn cool."
With a sigh, the elfin mage put her staff away. "That was for Hugh…"
Though her words were barely more than a whisper, the others all nodded their agreement. The fighting spirit he had was embedded in their hearts, and would not be extinguished until the Infinite Gate was saved. Turning towards the town on the horizon, Lance uttered a mild oath. "There's no way in hell we're going to get there before dark now..."
Link pulled out the telescope again, using it to get a judgment on distance. "Well if we hurry, we can get there not too long after sunset. I don't see any more anywhere near here… well, at least not any that will be able to cross our path."
"Alright then, we'll make a break for the town. Tikal, if you don't mind, could you heal us some?" Tikal didn't even bother taking out her staff again, casting Shielding Mist using only her hands. "Wow… your power's growing more than we realized." Silently noting her blushing, Lance turned to Shadow. "Now, if you could give us some extra speed?"
Smirking, Shadow nodded. "Ah, I see. One express ticket to Bridge coming up." As the magic took effect, Lance grinned.
"Perfect. Let's get moving then." With the Agility spell's added speed, he took off running toward the next town, the other five not far behind.
End Chapter 29
RCM- I think they got a pretty good workout, don't you?
Sol- But if you think they're gonna get rest as soon as they get to town, think again. Something's gone wrong in the town of Bridge, and the group can't get shelter until it's taken care of.
RCM- Thank you Sol. Now, as always, I thank you for reading and hope that I can get you more material quickly. With the semesters changing, I may get more writing time, so… here's hoping.
Sol- I'm hungry, can we get a pizza?
RCM- Sure, just give me a minute to wrap up.
Sol- Cool! (flies off)
RCM- Well, that's pretty much it. Until next time, dear readers… Farewell! (vanishes in a burst of flame)
