It took me a bit of time to update, but I finally did it!
I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 7: The Voice of Nature
"Girls, in today's class, you need to learn to listen to the voice of nature."
Fantastic. Today is Professor Palladium's nature class. We're currently on a field trip in the Black-Mud Swamp. According to Professor Palladium's instructions, we are supposed to get to the clearing of Gloomy-Wood forest. Seems simple, right? Wrong. There's always a catch when things look too easy. First of all, none of us actually know where the clearing is. Second of all, we are not allowed to use any magic to find our way there. We're supposed to "listen to the voice of nature." In other words, have nature itself guide us to the clearing. The problem is that I've never felt any connection with nature. Good thing that it's a team assignment, or I wouldn't know what to do… Besides, I really don't want to fail and disappoint Professor Palladium. Not that he'd judge me for it, but I really want to impress him.
"Professor Palladium! A mosquito bit me!"
This whiny voice… I know too well who it belongs to. It's Francine, a fairy with long reddish brown hair. She's always complaining about something.
"Yes, well we are near a swamp and it's only a mosquito, no big deal."
You tell her, Professor!
"But it bit me right here…"
I can't believe her! She just lifted up her super short shorts and pointed at a mosquito bite up her thigh. Doesn't she even have any bit of decency?
"Well… I… Uh… What I meant was…"
Professor Palladium is all flustered. Most of the fairies start giggling. Why do they have to give Professor Palladium such a hard time? I glare at them, and they instantly stop. They then turn around, trying ignore my glare. All the fairies know what I am. None of them dares to directly confront me, even though I'd never hurt any of them. Not intentionally, at least…
"Poor Professor…"
Bloom says to us. I nod. Stella then joins in.
"If he were more confident, he'd gain more respect."
I want to say something back to Stella, telling her that it's wrong, but… I know she's right. Professor Palladium brushes the fairies' teasing off like he always does, instead of reprimanding it head on, and continues on with his explanation. He then disappears in a flash of light, leaving us to our assignment.
"So where do we start?"
Musa looks at all of us. Bloom then points at the swamp to our left.
"Let's go over there."
Since none of us had any other ideas, we decide to follow Bloom.
"Ugh! This feels really nasty. I keep sinking in more and more."
Stella is right about sinking in. The muddy swamp was now up to my thighs.
"What's that weird smell?"
Bloom innocently asks. I start sniffing the air. This is…! I look at the swamp and notice bubbles forming up.
"Girls, we need to get out of here! Now!"
At the alarming tone of my voice, the fairies all get out of the swamp as fast as they can. That smell is definitely gas.
"Let's see what that bubble holds."
Bloom, after everyone was out of the swamp, takes a small branch and throws it at one of the bubbles. It explodes and blue gas escapes it in a straight line. Its pressure is pretty strong for it to shoot up like this.
"If we had stayed even a second longer in there, we would've been deep fried."
Musa exclaims. Good thing we got out then. This is not the way I want to go…
"Nice quick thinking, Onyx."
Tecna says in an impressed voice. I feel my cheeks get warm. When Tecna says something, she means it. This makes me feel happy, somehow…
We start wandering in a different direction.
"I can't seem to hear anything…"
Bloom says. We've all been trying to hear the voice of nature, but none of us is succeeding.
"Wait! I'm feeling something."
Flora closes her eyes and concentrates. She then opens them and looks at me with slightly raised eyebrows.
"Nature, it's…"
She hesitates a bit. I know what she's about to say.
"It's afraid of me, isn't it?"
I say it more as a fact than a question. She lowers her gaze, confirming it. I've had that feeling for a while. If I'm around, they won't be able to get anywhere. The others look at me, a bit puzzled by how that's possible.
"I think it's better if I don't come with you guys…"
"Now listen here, you!"
Stella comes up to me, frowning.
"Don't you even start moping. You're coming with us, whether Mother Nature likes it or not. If I had to choose between you or some unjustified fear, I'd choose you. So suck it up, and we're going to find that clearing together!"
My eyes are wide open with surprise. A big bright smile then replaces my surprised face.
"Thanks, Stella. Let's work hard together."
With our new resolution, we keep walking. Flora and Bloom try hard to follow the voice of nature, since they're the ones who are more sensitive to it.
After a while of walking, a loud rumbling sound above us. We all look up and see an aircraft in smokes, falling at an alarming rate. It looks like they're going to crash not too far from here!
Flora points at it.
"Look! It's a Red Fountain airship!"
"We have to go help them out!"
Bloom ran up to the crash-site. We all follow behind. When we get there, we find four boys from Red Fountain getting out of the swamp where they crashed. If I remember correctly, one of them, the blonde one was dancing with Bloom at the dance. The brown haired one is the one who danced with Stella. I don't really know anything about the other two. One of them is wearing glasses, and the other one has purple hair. They seem to be arguing with each other. At least, it seems like the one who's arguing is the purple haired one.
"Are you guys alright?"
Flora asks them, making them stop arguing to shift their attention towards us.
"Isn't it rather obvious?"
The purple haired guy retorts in a rude tone. Am I the only one who's annoyed at his attitude? Because Musa seems to like it! She all smiles and can't take her eyes off him.
"We're all safe and sound, thanks-"
The brown haired guy gasps in mid-sentence. His gaze is set on a hole in the ship.
"Oh no! Where's the troll?"
All of the other Red Fountain guys gasp as well. The fairies also look surprised. A troll? Why were they transporting a troll?! I look at the ground and see giant feet on the muddy swamp path. That must be where the troll escaped.
"He's escaped!"
The blonde guy says after seeing the footprints.
"You were transporting a troll, and you guys let him escape?!"
Tecna sounds mildly outraged at the lack of security. She doesn't want to outright blame them, but it still sounds like she is. She's right though. A troll can be very dangerous.
"We didn't let anyone escape. There was an accident. We lost altitude…"
"Mechanical failure."
While the purple haired guy was trying to find an excuse, the one with glasses interrupted him with his explanation. It doesn't really seem like these guys are on good terms. Or at least, they seem to argue way too much to be able to function well as a team.
"Anyhow, there's nothing to worry about: he's handcuffed."
The purple haired guy sounds confident. I look next to my feet and find those handcuffs that are supposed to be on the troll. I pick them up and hold it up.
"Those the handcuffs?"
I say with an almost bored voice. This whole charade is getting to me. This troll can seriously hurt someone and all these guys are doing is try to look good in front of the fairies. That or they just argue…
"How is that possible?!"
The purple haired guy snatches the handcuffs from my hands. No need to be so pushy.
"What are you girls doing around here?"
The blonde guy asks us. Actually, he asks Bloom in particular, since he's just looking at her.
"We're in the middle of an assignment, Brandon."
Bloom answers him. So the blonde one is Brandon.
"Then go back to your assignment and don't worry about a thing. Leave it to the Specialists."
The purple haired one arrogantly replies.
"The Specialists are going to be here? When?!"
Stella says in a sarcastic tone. Good one. He looks pretty angry at that, though.
"We're right here you silly fairy!"
Before they break into a verbal fight, the brown haired one cuts in.
"What Riven is trying to say is that it would be best if you fairies focus on your assignment while we try to capture that beast back."
"We don't need your editorial comments, your Highness."
The purple haired one also says in a sarcastic tone. Some other fairies were hearing everything that was happening. Amaryl cuts in, not standing to just watch.
"And we don't need you to tell us what to do! We'll take care of this on our own."
"You do what you gotta do, but don't ever say we didn't warn you."
The purple haired one then turns to the guys after answering Amaryl.
"Come on guys, we got a troll to catch."
The Red Fountain boys then all leave.
"Now what do we do?"
Bloom asks us.
"They won't stand a chance against that troll. Not with that kind of shaky teamwork."
"Yeah. You're right about that, Onyx."
Stella chuckles. We decide to do our best to find the troll before the guys get themselves in more trouble.
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