Chapter 6
After Rallen and Jeena found numerous minerals, 3 Evolution minerals, and 3 different fossils, I decided to have Koroko search for a couple of minerals and we shared the haul. I had a yellow mineral and he enjoyed eating an orange mineral in the process. But then we came upon an open area and we gawked at what awaited us. "No! Stop! Get away from this sacred tree!" a girl exclaimed as I saw her and saw she also had orange hair on her. I had to wonder how many different people had orange hair on them in this galaxy.
I didn't question it anyways as I immediately sent out Anuberos while Rallen and Jeena sent out Torgazar and Zazane respectively, our Spectrobes slicing and burning through the flower-like Krawl with ease while managing to not burn the landscape in the process. "Wow... they're using fire attacks yet the plants are unaffected!" the girl said in shock.
"That's the power of the Spectrobes for you... you must be Salia, right?" Jeena asked with a smile.
"Yes, did mother send you to fetch me?" she asked.
"Yeah, she did... do you know why the rivers are being poisoned and how to stop it?" I asked her, the girl sighing and looking behind her at something that I was shocked by. A gigantic tree was behind her. And it looked to be suffering from the poisonous waters, as its limbs and bark were turning purple by the second. "That's horrid... are the Krawl doing this to the tree?" I asked her.
"Yes, they are... and it's not just any tree. This tree is what gives this entire planet life. The water that passes through it from all over immediately becomes purer than any water in the universe. But there are three Krawl that are polluting the three water sources that deliver water to this tree. If we were to lose this tree, all life on Doldogo would slowly die off," Salia said with sadness in her eyes.
"Where are these Krawl? We're here to put an end to them," I said to her with grit in my eyes.
"I saw the Krawl in three different areas. The closest is in Serenity Woods, just to the east of this place. Then after that is to the north, in Triple Falls. And the third and final one is to the west. You'll need to go past Thunder Crag and through Glow Moss Cave to reach High Meadow, where the final poisonous Krawl awaits," Salia said.
"Okay. You should get back to the village. We'll handle things from here. Don't worry, we'll make sure this tree not only survives, but thrives!" I said to Salia.
"Thank you, miss... it's nice to know that not all Krawl are monstrous," Salia said, her words making me smile for the first time in awhile. She was a stranger, yet she was treating me like an actual person and not a monster. I had to rescue this tree now, no matter what!
"Come on, guys! Let's go!" I exclaimed at Rallen and Jeena, all of us rushing off to Serenity Woods to find the first Krawl, us going into the area and me sniffing the air for the poison provider. I eventually found it right in the water of the area, it actually pumping the water with poison it produced from numerous pores all over its grotesque body.
"Just like she said, the Krawl are out to poison every last bit of the river! Let's get this guy! Iku Ze!" Rallen exclaimed his catch phrase again as we all summoned our Spectrobes and began our assault. Anuberos quickly attacked with its fiery appendages and the Krawl looked to be in pain as it tried to shoot poison at me in particular, which I dodged out of the way of as Torgazar and Zazane then attacked the monster as well, the giant Krawl roaring before evaporating into thin air. Once it did that, the water immediately regained its purity slowly but surely, meaning we had made the tree suffer much less.
"Okay, that's one down and two to go," I said with a serious tone in my voice.
"You're awfully concerned about this, aren't you, Maja?" Jeena noted.
"Of course! That girl is the only stranger on this planet so far that's complimented me and not treated me like a monster at first glance! I want to help the tree and help her at the same time!" I said to her.
"Then let's get going on our way to the next river!" Rallen said as we began our way back. But we still had our Child Forms search the area for anything of interest on our way back to the giant tree, finding some more fossils in the process as well as a bunch of minerals that we kept, me sampling one in question, that being one that was shaped like a green heart. And when I ate it, I gasped at how it tasted extremely sweet!
"Mmm! That mineral was super sweet!" I smiled at the taste of it.
"If you think that tasted sweet, you should taste a Nanairo Ice Cream Sundae," Jeena smiled.
"Ice Cream? What's that supposed to be?" I asked, not knowing what the substance was.
"One of the sweetest and most varied type of dessert that humans make. You should try it," Rallen smiled.
"Maybe when our adventures are done," I smiled at him with a wink as we went to the next area, which was Triple Falls. Honestly when I kissed him earlier, it was more than me showing him thanks. For some odd reason, I actually found a strange attraction to Rallen. He and Jeena were extremely kind and trusting of me and I kind of already knew that boys liked girls for some odd reason. And I could tell that he liked me kissing him as well.
"Do you... are you hitting on me?" Rallen asked.
"Um... kind of?" I said with a smile.
"Like I said, focus, lovebirds," Jeena smiled in protest.
"Fine," I said as we reached the water source and we saw the poisonous Krawl here was the same as the previous one.
"When we finish this one, we need to have a small talk," Rallen said to me.
"Fair enough," I smiled at him as I activated the Prizmod and decided to have a different Spectrobe come out, it being something called Hanebakuon. I summoned it and was shocked by what it looked like. It looked like a giant, rectangular flying Spectrobe of purple with yellow spikes on its body! And when it saw the Krawl, it flew over to it and it produced a sound so loud and insane that it blasted the Krawl to kingdom come in just one attack!
"Whoa! Now THAT was awesome!" I exclaimed, my hair standing up all over my body, which made me confused at how my skin also stood up almost like I was covered in spikes all over now.
"I'll say. You look like a giant pincushion now!" Jeena smirked at me.
"Now we can talk, right?" Rallen smiled at me.
"Okay, go ahead and start," I smiled at him.
"When you said yes to hitting on me, I have to ask... do you have a crush on me?" Rallen asked. I smiled and nodded at him with a blush, though my eyes were pretty much the only visible part of my face because of my hair standing up all over. "And I guess you want us to be in a relationship? Despite the species difference?" Rallen asked.
"I don't care about the species difference, Rallen. I look human minus skin color, don't I? Besides, species shouldn't matter so long as we both like each other, right?" I smiled at him happily.
"Right. Well, I think that we could be a couple if you want," Rallen smiled at me, my inner self screaming in glee as I was about to hug him, but I quickly stopped myself when I remembered my body was still sharp all over.
"If only I wasn't so full of dagger points all over my body, I'd hug you all over right now!" I smiled at him with happiness in my voice.
"I agree, we need to find some way to get your hair to not be full of spikes all over... it probably happened because of you getting spooked by Hanebakuon. And it spooked me too the first time he used that attack around me. He likes to show off," Rallen smiled.
"Maybe if I were to get some water sprayed on me, then I'd be able to get my hair non-spiky. But I don't want to risk hurting the water that the tree has, so I'd like it if one of your Spectrobes could spray me with some water," I smiled at him.
"Well, that Prizmod contains a watery Spectrobe called Daigyo. It could help douse you if you bring it out, but he's an Evolved form Spectrobe, so you'd need to be in a battle first," Jeena smiled at me.
"Okay," I smiled as we just then happened upon a bunch of Krawl, me bringing out Daigyo immediately and him looking to be confused as to how to proceed. "Daigyo? My allies will handle the Krawl. Could you spray some water on me? Gently if possible?" I smiled at the fish-looking Spectrobe. He glugged a bit and then spat a stream of water at me, which I smiled at how it was controlled and how my spikes got droopy and my skin returned to normal again. "Thanks," I smiled at him as Rallen and Jeena had finished off the Krawl in front of me.
"Now let's move on," Jeena said as we continued forward through Thunder Crag and we were stopped by a large gap in our way. "I see some rocks up there that might make a good bridge. You guys hang down here, I'm going to dislodge them," I smiled as I flew up to the rocks and pulled out one tiny rock, the giant stones then falling off of the cliff and forming into a bridge for Rallen and Jeena to use.
"Thanks, hon," Rallen smiled at me. I squealed at that and flew over to him and hugged him for real.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist," I smiled at him.
"Let's go handle that last Krawl," Rallen smiled at me afterwards while Jeena simply smiled at our antics.
Once we took care of the final Krawl polluting the rivers, our group backtracked to the area that held the giant tree, collecting a ton of minerals on the way back and two more fossils as well. And once we returned, we saw the fruits of our loins. The tree was no longer poisoned. It was actually shimmering with life and I smiled at how it smelled pure and clean. "We did it. Look at that. We saved the entire planet..." I smiled at the tree in front of us. And we then heard a voice from behind us.
"And it's not even at full health yet! If you stick around you'll see what I mean!" said the voice of Salia as she appeared from behind us with Greta by her side. "We saw that the water had cleared up, so we wanted to come and see it for ourselves," Salia smiled at the tree and us. "I believe that trees have feelings, just like us. It's joyful again, thanks to you all," Salia smiled at us. I smirked and blushed at that.
"Hehe, well, never would've thought it to look at you lot, but you got substance kids, I'll give ya that. Things'll be getting back to normal in this forest, that's for sure... and sorry for jumping to conclusions when I saw you at first, miss Maja. Salia told me you were the one to take initiative when you learned the tree was being poisoned. Once the water cleared up, the whole village collectively agreed that you and your companions were to thank for it," Greta smiled at me, which also made me smile.
"Thanks," I smiled at them happily. But then I looked behind me and saw something at the base of the tree that I hadn't before. "What's that thing lead to? It looks like some kind of elevator," I gawked at it.
"That? It leads to the Green Ruins. I remember that I once explored that place with the Spectrobe Master a long time ago. And I don't mean to brag, but I was much more pretty back in the day," Greta smiled.
"Okay, um, do you think that we could try exploring them? Sounds like it may hold some kind of loot! Like a treasure hoard!" I smiled at the thought of it.
"Go ahead if ya want, my exploring days are long behind me," Greta smiled as she and Salia then proceeded back to the village.
"I agree with you, Maja, I think we should go into these ruins and explore," Jeena smiled at me.
"Hehe, this is gonna be fun! Last one in there's a rotten egg!" Rallen exclaimed.
"Oh yeah? Haha!" I laughed as I rushed after him with Jeena being the straggler.