Chapter Ten: Whirlwind, Kicking Up Memories

Marco watched as the young creed and little half gem go into the forest to look for whatever caught their attention. It wouldn't take all day, he figured, but he knew he was going to be waiting for a while. He may not have to wait alone, for as soon as Rekitrs and company were gone from normal eye site, two presences appeared behind Marco. The fact he knew they were there had nothing to do with his training as a creed. It was one of the new abilities he gained that seemed to make him more aware of certain things. The ability wasn't strong enough to be useful and Marco didn't feel comfortable having it in the first place. He turned to face the creed reinforcements and took the time to analyze them. On his left stood Michael who was bigger than Marco-in terms of muscle size-and wore a black version of the creed hoodie with his war hammer on his back. Alan was the other creed. He was taller than either of them and carried a switch dual sword on his side while wearing a costume made blue and green creed hoodie. There was a reason for this and Marco had seen first hand how practical it could be given the right settings, though, it still upset him that anyone would allow something like that.

"Why did they send you?" Marco asked the two creeds.

"It's nice to see you too, Marco." said Alan. He looks around and, seemingly not finding what he was looking for, asked, "Where are the rest of the group?"

"Elsewhere. You didn't answer question."

Alan wanted to retort, but Michael stepped forward and gave Marco an answer. "It seemed like a great opportunity to test the extent of what we can do. Is that a problem?"

"No." Marco took a moment to think before he answered again. "Change of plan. We three will leave immediately."

"Are we not waiting for the others?" Michael asked.

"Rekirts doesn't know about anything regarding are new powers. Doing this will keep me from having to explain any of this. Besides, we should have no problem dispatching these gems."

"It doesn't seem right to just leave them without telling them."

"Rekirts knows how to track me down and he can drive my car." both Michael and Alan were still unsure about Marco's quick change of direction. "It will be fine. Besides, this will save time. Now, I assume you came here by car?"

The forest was loose with flora with the trees being the main places to hide. The ground was blanked with dead leave and branches. I searched the ground for any abnormal tracks and the tree trunks for marks. I jumped when Abi started talking.

"I'm sorry. Did I scare you?" she asked soon after.

I felt my face burn up, so I didn't turn around when I answered. "No. I mean, sort of. When hunting, everyone on the hunt is quiet, so you could say I wasn't prepared." As cool as I tried to act, I knew Abi could-at the very least- sense that I was embarrassed. Thankfully, she didn't mention it.

"I guess I should shut up then." she said.

"You can talk. Just don't be too loud. We aren't near anything dangerous yet, but just in case."

"Right. So…"

"'So' what?"

"Didn't you hear my question?"

"I guess not." I kept moving forward while looking for anything unusual.

Abigael sighed. "I wanted to know why you joined the creed."

"I like helping people and fighting corrupted gem is a neat bonus."

"Is that it?"

"Should there be more?"

"I'm saying that you can do those things without joining the creed. So what brought you to them?"

"Well, you could say they found me. Marco recruited me and was one of my field mentors."

"And?" I didn't say anything. At some point, my pace was slowing down and I was less aware of any oddities. "I know there is more to it."

"There isn't."

"Rekirts-"

"Abi! Leave it alone!" I was face to face with her and she looked hurt. The air around her was stirring. I took a deep breath and calmed down followed by the wind dying down. I leaned on a tree. "Sorry."

"Don't be. I just wanted to know more about you."

I laughed. "I didn't start wanting to help people. But one day I thought if someone with this kind of power was willing to save me, why shouldn't I?" Abigael only listened. "I have long since buried my past and I don't want to look back on it. Maybe I'll tell you one day, but not today." Abigael nodded her head and told me she was sorry that she pushed me. I left it alone and we continued our search.

Eventually, me and Abi found something. On one of the lower hanging branches of a tree, we found a blue feather that was about the size of my hand. Ahead of us, I noticed that the ground was sporting large tracks. If the two thing were related, that meant we were behind a corrupted gem with shedable body parts. The feather implied that it had wings along with the tracks appearing to start from nowhere.

"It seems we are dealing with a flying gem. It might have a projectile attack, so be careful of that. No doubt it's a big one, too." I said to Abi, but I was more so talking out loud to no one.

"You got all of that from a feather?"

"Well, not just a feather." I took a closer look at the tracks. They were new, which meant the gem was close. We follow them quietly until we found it. Lying in front of us with its back turned was the corrupted gem which looked like a giant rabbit with feathery wings. In the place of a cotton ball tail was a long one that ended with a thick stuff of fur. It was mostly blue with the tip of its feathers being white and black.

"What do we do now?" asked Abi in a hushed tone.

"Get ready to fight it." I replied. "Have you fought anything like this before?" Abi shook her head. "Just fight normally. And don't use too much power at once." Just as she was about to confirm that she understood what to do, her gaze drifted pasted me and her eyes widened. I turned in the direction she was facing and saw that the corrupted gem was up and in a defensive stance.

Now that it was facing us, I was able to see that its gemstone was on its head in the shape of a four pointed star. It didn't have any eyes or teeth, but it snarled at us all the same. Its feet were clawed and they dug at the dirt.

Suddenly, it charged for us and, within a single leap, was a meter or more in front of us. Once it landed, it turned a quick 180 degrees swinging its tail in our previous position. I was already gone, dodging to the left, but I still felt the wind from the attack and heard the trees crash to the ground or onto other trees. I shield my eyes from the oncoming dirt and splinters until everything was settled. The blue gem was in front of me, snarling. I pulled out one of my electric charged blades and screamed Abi's name.

As if to answer, a compressed gust of wind impacted against the back of the gems head. Abi was okay. The gem turned around and made its way in the new direction. I went after it. Abi made a run for it deeper into the forest. It followed by jumping in zig zags from one tree to another; tilting some while breaking others.

Once close enough, the gem leaped high, spun forward, and slammed its tail on the ground. It missed Abi, but it still knocked her down. The gem fell on its back which gave me a chance to strike. I slashed at its belly and it screeched in pain. I kept going until I was beside Abi and, by that time, was already up and ready for another attack. I was behind her when she released another arrow of wind. It hit.

"Why don't you through one your shock blades, or whatever you call them." asked Abi.

"I only have a limited number of them on me." I said, firmly gripping said blade.

As we talked, the gem got back up and started jumping on trees again. Like the first time, some trees fell, but it didn't slow down. It circled around us giving, not giving us the chance to run away. Abi tried to shoot it down, but was missing every shot. This aggravated her and as I was about to correct her way of aiming when, suddenly, the wind around her grew more intense. She let her arrow go, but this time the shot seemed to have hit multiple times; some of which hit the gems back leg. It fell to the ground kicking up dirt and leaves around it. I went to strike it, but this time I jumped on it and stabbed it. I jumped off it and pressed a button which released the electricity stored in the blade. It was a lot of damage, but experience taught me one blade was never enough. The gem shook its head and roared in defiance. We were getting close to defeating.

The gem spread its wings at long last and leaped into the air. Since the trees around us had fallen, there was nothing keeping it from going as high as it wanted. At first, I thought it was going to run, but once it had us in its sights, it flapped its wings strongly in my direction. By instinct, jumped out of the way. In my place was a mess of flaming feathers that were sticking out of the ground. I didn't have time to think as another volley came at me.

"Abi!" I yelled, hoping she could hear me. "Knock it to the ground!"

She must have heard me, because soon after, the gem was getting hit by her arrows. This gave me the chance to set up a trap for when it came down. I pulled out four blades and got to work.

The gem kept dodging each of her attacks. She was trying to replicate the barrage of arrows like what happened before. The gem sent its volley of feathers at her just as she launched another arrow. The attacks canceled each other out sending the feathers in different directions. With the flow of arrows momentarily halted, the gem took its chance to charge at Abi and slam its tail at her. She was able to avoid the tail, but she was still knocked to the ground. The gem took to the air again with its wings blowing dust in every direction. The debris didn't reach Abi since the wind she was producing shielded her.

It was then she figured it out. She thought back to when she first shot multiple arrows. The annoyance of missing every shot now fueled her powers further. She took aim at the gem, but the sun was in her eyes. It didn't matter since one of her shots would hit the target. She just had to get a good angle…. Something was wrong. Her arm began to throb and everything around her seemed to slow down. The bow in her hand was gone and she felt like she was strapped to a table. She remembered this feeling and she knew where she was. The wind around her got stronger but nothing seem to move. A shadow moved in from the right shielding part of the light from Abi's eyes. She heard a voice come from the shadow, but nothing made sense to her. Abi knew who it was which only made her more fearful.

From where I was, I had just finished setting my trap when the wind began to pick up once again. It grew more intense with each second until I was forced to look up from my work. The gem struggled to stay airborne in the face of the sudden torrent. It was hard to tell what was happening to Abi, but the arrow she had pulled back in her bow was huge. When she released it, I was blown back a bit and the gem landed across from me with a loud thud. There was one last high pitched squeal from the gem and then it poofed into a white cloud leaving only the gemstone that was on its head. Snapping out of my daze, I rushed to the stone and pulled out one of my capsules. The capsule was round and metallic. It was made so that the gems wouldn't reform once inside.

Once the capsule clicked shut, I looked back at my electric trap. I was disappointed since I had such a great idea on how I would finish the fight. On the other hand, it was a real testament of Abi's powers and how strong they could get. Speaking of which, I was about to congratulate her on taking the gem down when I noticed she was lying on the ground. I ran straight towards her; I would disarm the trap latter.

On closer inspection, she seemed to be unconscious. Did she use too much power on that last attack? Why would she go that far?

Objective 1: Capture Unknown Corrupted Gem

Complete.