Sorry if this update's late to you guys! I've been... out. Heh heh heh. XD Enjoy!
After much debating and some statements, we quickly came to a conclusion and followed Jay's advice. Cole grumped as the starting bell rang sharply in our ears, and we launched into a search mode. The members were organized neatly into a few teams. Zane, Ashlyn and Jay were going to navigate, Cole and Kai are, reluctantly paired up to welcome any unexpected attacks, Lloyd, Will and me are in a same team to look out for traps.
We were starting to go down a unfamiliar hill.
There was when the threat rolled in.
A faint rustle erupted from a nearby mistletoe. Kai jerked back, his hands ready for any attack. Jay leaped with a tiny hint of terror, but Cole stayed on his ground. "Stand down, guys..." He muttered, and picked a twig. Thanks to his devotion to the weaponry class, he transformed the twig into a deadly wooden dagger, and held it in front of the whole team.
"Who's there?!" He hissed, and nothing answered. Minutes passes, and finally we felt stupid freezing there with nothing harming us. Then Zane looked up. "I assume it's a trick from the opposite team. We should be going rather than get distracted from a sound-"
A growl sounded in our ears. Kai growled back, itching to take out his elemental blade. Cole still held his wooden dagger, but he inched back a little.
Thick roots from no plants in sight erupted from ground, and fling around like a rubber toy in the chilly air, slashing over Cole's face, and knocking Lloyd off his feet. Kai roared, and charged at it. The roots reacted, and slapped Kai's body into the air, sending him screaming. I tried to protect Ashlyn, but I was knocked to the corner too with great impact. Ashlyn hissed, and protected herself with a shield of vacuum. The roots creaked, and shot up a little, no slower than a rocket, and slammed onto the ground, digging deep into the half frozen soil.
Ashlyn inched back. "What wa-"
Jay shrieked, and pointed at the ground again, as if there was a mole peeking out of the winter floor. Kai scrambled up frantically for a moment, and glanced at the ground, frowning slightly. "That doesn't look like it was from the-"
Again, the ground shuddered, and Will clung to a nearby withered tree. "WATCH OUT-" The giant roots burst from the chilly floor, threatening to perform another ambush. Cole growled in irritation, and threw away his weapon crafted from wood. There's no way he can beat wood using wood. "Jay! Think of something! This plant is driving us to the doors of death!" Kai cried over the chaos as he fend off the wild roots with a hand. Jay racked his brain, and I could see the strains of the brain cells gathering to knock a possible idea into existence forming into droplets of tears in the Ninja of Electricity's face.
Then he broke into a sudden, bright grin, which lightened our heart, hoping to have a logical, good answer to the current condition."Of course! Ashlyn, take all the air from the root, AWAY!"
Ashlyn launched from place to place to avoid being smashed to death, her shadow under the sun dancing like a faery. "ARE THERE ANY OTHER OPTIONS?!"
"YES! WE ALL DIE!"
"FINE! COVER ME!" Ashlyn cry back, and Lloyd stepped up, a sphere of crackling electricity glowing safely in the palm of his hands, ready to be launched. He yelled, and shot one at the edges of the roots. It flicked merely as the energy bounced off its tough skin, and lunged again. "IF I DON'T MAKE IT BACK, TELL NYA I LOVE HER!" And Jay and leaped, clinging to the root that was attacking Lloyd.
The root reacted greatly, flinging back and forth, trying to make the irritating being leave the root from killing its target. I looked nervously as Jay dug his nails into the thick walls of the wild plant, and yelled in different stages of screaming tones as it zoomed around. It could be amusing if this was all just a trick.
But it wasn't. I looked back, as Ashlyn was almost finished with her process of making a sphere, which she shoot it at any being, its life will wither as the air have been taken away. Then I looked at the monstrous plant. The numerous roots started to help plucking Jay off the frustrated root, but as it stilled, it gave the Ninja of Electricity a chance to move around like a monkey, dodging every fatal strike. Zane froze a a whole root, only to see in panic as it broke free of its freezing trap. "IT WON'T WORK!" "Keep it on Jay! Don't loose!" Will cried, as he tried to distract a root from almost taking Jay off.
"I can't! I just...can't!" Jay cried again, as he leaped off for a moment t dodge another twist of the attack. "I CAN'T KEEP THIS FOREVER!"
"NYA WILL KILL YOU!" Kai yelled, and that gave Jay a few straws. He roared, and bit the root. I mean, literally bit it. The root hissed, and Kai managed to make a little sear off a certain root with much effort, and that caught a few attention.
Finally, Ashlyn was ready. "STEP BACK!" And as we did, she projected a strong ray of air at the natural beast. Half transparent air enveloped it, and at first it started to rebel its current fate, by crashing its roots out of the shield, yet it bounced away. The air had its way, as it engulfed the beast, and let its life slowly fade.
For a few moments, we just stood there, as the vacuum faded, watching the living bad side of the Nature die slowly, its shriveled soul washed away by the winter wind.
"That's...typical." Will commented. Jay lay on the dirt, stammering aimlessly, as Kai tried to wake him back by kicking him softly, then starting to shake him like a rag doll. Eventually the Ninja of Electricity snapped back to alertness, and we lifted our messy spirits a little. Kai's face was clearly scribbled with frustration. "Are you really, really, seriously sure this is the right way? I don't remember having carnivorous roots written on the map midway."
Zane took a careful look at the map for the fourth time. "In fact, no. This was completely unexpected, unless..." Zane's eyes was locked on the map, and his eyebrows jerked a little, a sign of shock. Cole frowned, and hurried to check what was affecting Zane's mood. Jay followed, along with Kai, then Will, before Ashlyn and me, and we gasped. "I sense something's wrong about this map..." Zane murmured. "Of course it's wrong! Starting from the Middle Woods, the path's completely drawn by pen!" Jay said with a little singe of sarcastic tone in his voice. I stepped forward. "Wait, lemme check..." My finger traced on the dotted lines that was supposed to lead us to the 'treasure'. At first, it was smooth, like a printed copy should, then until the words 'Middle Woods', it became rough, like someone sketched on it with a pen.
"Argh! Can't they just play fair for JUST one game?!" Kai growled, and his hands tingled, dying to throw the map onto the floor. Zane stopped him. "Wait, for now, we just have to find where the real path is." He closed his eyes, and his fingers darted back and forth, brushing softly on the piece of map. We followed it, until, with the help of Zane's sharp instincts, his index finger rested on a blurry part of the paper.
Zane dug his nail on the edge of it, and tore it, revealing a neatly printed, and the real way to the treasure. "Come on! We've got a bill to settle!" Lloyd urged, and we dashed.
As our legs carried us as fast as we can to our destination, I couldn't help but think. Cole was trying to talk to Ashlyn again, who only replied abruptly, which was a total failure. Zane was locked on the map, not a sign of consciousness of the safety while walking and reading. Jay was fumbling around his jacket for a GPS, and Kai was trained on the road ahead, and same was Lloyd.
The root ambush was completely unexpected from all of us, and I have a bad feeling it wasn't organized in the event, too. Worse, we just went out of the bounds of security cameras, so there was no prove if we wanted to report about some man eating plant. Sensei Nokami would just slap us.
No one can perform such devious scheme on us... unless...
I gulped, clear, sticky dread settling on my mind, causing the calmness to flee.
Looks like we have a new foe to deal with.
Lord Garmadon is already a really pesky problem. And now a new bug to deal with! Can they find the right bug exterminator?
Reanne: Lol...
Me: XD
P.S. I'm writing the first chapter for the Christmas Special, but it's out of only a random idea, but still, be alert for a story called A Very Merry Christmas in the Internet! around the next week! XD