A/N: And here's Chapter 18! I had a bit of a hard time with this one for some strange reason. A special thanks to FierceDeityMask for editing and a big thank you to all my reviewers! You all are the main reason keep writing! Enjoy!
The reunited party had only been traveling for a short while when Anna stopped to inspect a larger-than-normal tree. Lance glanced over at her sudden halt, "What's the matter, Anna?"
The ranger glanced at him briefly, but turned to Matt and Natalie. "So where were you guys actually headed before Lance and I caught up to you? You were following a straight line until you camped last night, but then you changed course the next morning," Anna asked.
Natalie grimaced, "Well, Matt started walking saying he knew where we were and I followed him. Unfortunately, his idea of 'knowing where he is' is 'knowing the name of the location he's at.'" She glanced sideways at Lance when he unsuccessfully attempted to mask his laugh with a cough, "Anyway, I suggested we head back to the river the next morning, but we picked the wrong direction to walk in." She shrugged, "It's a good thing you found us, because we were pretty lost. Why are you asking, though?"
Anna frowned, "I was hoping that maybe you knew where we were. I've never been this deep into Lankyroot Jungle."
"Wait, so you mean we're lost?" Matt asked, frowning when Anna nodded.
Lance groaned, "Great, we're going to be in here for weeks, aren't we? We don't have the time to waste on an extreme nature hike."
"Nah, we won't be here for weeks, don't worry," Anna assured him. She waved a hand at the tree she had been staring at, "I can use this tree to figure out where we are."
Matt stared at the ranger, "The tree can tell you that? I didn't know you were a tree-whisperer, Anna!"
Anna stared at him in confusion, "What? I'm not going to talk to the tree; don't be stupid."
"Might be a little hard for him," Lance muttered resulting in Natalie elbowing him, "Hey, it's true!"
Natalie rolled her eyes at him before turning back to Anna, "So how's the tree going to help?"
"I'll climb it and see if I can spot anything," Anna said nonchalantly. The other three stared at her before turning to stare at the tree.
"You're going to climb that? It's huge!" Matt exclaimed, craning his head back to stare up the trunk.
"I don't know; what if you fall?" Natalie asked with a frown of concern.
"No," Lance said flatly.
Anna bristled, glaring at the gunner, "'No?' Do you want to spend the next three weeks trying to find a path out of this jungle? Besides, the chances of me falling are pretty slim. I've been climbing trees for practically my entire life; trees even bigger than this one!"
Lance glared back at her, "No. There could be monsters hiding in a tree this big; how would you fight them?"
"The same way I fight anything, duh!" Anna shot back furiously.
Matt and Natalie's heads turned back and forth to watch whoever was speaking during the argument like witnesses to a table tennis match. Matt pulled a couple of bags of chips out of his Adventure Pouch and offered one to Natalie. The mage accepted it with a smirk and opened the bag to pop a few chips in her mouth.
"And what if there are too many of them, huh? What then?" Lance asked with a raised eyebrow.
Anna pulled her flute out, "I blow them off the branches with a gust spell."
"This is stupid. You aren't climbing that tree, and that's that," Lance stated in a tone of finality.
"Like hell I'm not! The only 'stupid' thing here is you. You aren't the boss of me, Lance!" Anna hissed turning to the tree.
Lance snagged her arm before she took even one step, "Anna, I'm serious: don't go. How are we supposed to help you if we're stuck down here?"
Anna shook his hand off, "I can take care of myself! I'd been taking care of myself for years before you three showed up, and I can take care of myself now!" With that, she ducked out of reach of Lance's next grab and darted up the side of the tree to the lowest branch. A few seconds later and the ranger had disappeared into the foliage of the branches.
Lance let out a snarl of frustration as he glared up the tree after her, "Argh, this is just like at the river! She's going to have missed something important, only this time there won't be anyone to help."
Natalie watched with both eyebrows raised as the gunner stomped over to a root next to the other two and flopped down to sit on it with a huff. She held her bag out, "Chip, Lance?" The gunner ignored her to continue glaring up the tree. Natalie shrugged and threw another chip in her mouth. "She won't be back for several minutes at least, you know."
"I know and when she does, I'm going to tie her to Matt," Lance grumbled.
Matt blanched, "Me!? What did I do to deserve that!? Why not tie her to yourself?"
"You're harder to move, that's why," Lance said with a smirk.
"She'd kill me and then move if you did that, though," Matt yelped.
Lance rolled his eyes and finally looked away from the tree, "I was joking, chill." Matt visibly relaxed and shoved the rest of his chips in his mouth. "I wish she'd listen, though."
Natalie snorted, "I think you should just accept that she has a mind of her own, Lance. Besides, she had a point: she's been doing this her whole life. It's her element."
"I know. But still, it'd be nice if I could help," Lance sighed, reaching up and snatching the chip bag out of Natalie's hands to pop a few in his mouth.
The mage frowned at the theft of her food until Matt handed her another bag. "Might as well make ourselves comfortable while we wait," Natalie sighed, sitting down next to Lance and pulling Matt down next to her.
DDDDDD
Anna snarled under her breath as she climbed the tree, "Stupid Lance, telling me I can't do something if they aren't with me. I don't need a baby-sitter." She wondered briefly why he was so adamant about helping. From the way Natalie half-heartedly griped about him, it seemed like 'helping' wasn't something he normally did unless it involved shooting something. Thinking back to when the others had caught up to her at the factory, Anna remembered Natalie had mentioned that Lance had taken an interest in the ranger, and flushed. The girl covered her embarrassment-despite there not being anyone around to see it- with another mutter, "Oh, boy; if that fight was because he has a crush on me and doesn't want me hurt, then we're going to need to have a talk about over-protectiveness."
A buzzing sound from just overhead broke Anna from her thoughts and the girl froze. Slowly and carefully turning her face upward, she spotted a lone Red Wasp hovering on a branch just above her with its back turned. Anna slid her Crimson Dragon bow off her shoulder, nocked an arrow, drew it back to full draw, and let it fly in a Piercing Shot. The missile sailed through the air and slammed into the giant bug, killing it instantly. Anna watched for a few seconds with satisfaction as the monster fell through the branches to the ground far below before turning back to the task at hand. "See? I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself," Anna muttered, hauling herself even higher.
DDDDDD
Back on the jungle floor, the wasp hit the ground right in front of Natalie, who screamed, causing Matt and Lance, who had been tossing snacks up in the air to catch with their mouths, to whip around with their weapons in hand.
Matt walked over to the dead bug and rolled it over with his foot to reveal the broken shaft of an arrow. "Man, if she's going to rain monsters down on us, she could at least make them tasty monsters," the swordsman sighed.
Natalie-who had gotten over the shock of having a giant bug landing in front of her-glared up the tree. "Not funny, Anna!" the mage yelled before turning to Lance, "See? She's doing fine."
Lance glanced up the tree, "I guess so; for now, anyway."
DDDDDD
Anna crouched on a narrow branch near the very top of the tree and stared out across the jungle. She was so far up that the winds made the tree sway lazily, requiring she have a steadying hand on the trunk. Far in the distance, Anna could make out the rounded tops of the buildings of Greenwood. "Hey, I can see me house from here!" She said with a grin. Shifting around the trunk to a branch on the opposite side, Anna gazed out in that direction. She spotted the river as it ran through the trees and followed it with her eyes, trying to find some way across it. The ranger squinted at what she thought looked a little too straight to be natural and made a small sound of satisfaction, "That must be the bridge we're supposed to cross. Well, time to get back down, I guess." She glanced up at the sun to figure out which direction they needed to head.
Nodding in confirmation, Anna made one last cursory sweep across the forest and frowned when she spotted a low white structure almost completely hidden by the trees. "I wonder what that is," She thought staring at the white smudge, "Maybe it's the lost ruins of Lankyroot? That would be cool." The ranger looked past it to see the very edge of the glittering ocean. "It's on our way to Goldenbrick. Maybe we can make a quick stop to see them; I bet there's some awesome treasure hidden there." Anna mused as she began her careful descent.
She was nearly at the bottom of the tree when she heard the sounds of fighting. Anna picked up her pace, dropping from branch to branch instead of carefully sliding to them. She landed on a limb hanging over the clearing where she could see Lance, Matt, and Natalie fending off some… "Are those flowers? Why are they having such a hard time beating flowers?" Anna frowned staring at the strange plants. As she watched, any damage the three had caused was suddenly recovered, but none of the three plants in the clearing seemed to have done the healing. Anna's eyes narrowed and she began searching between the trees behind the flowers. A flash of white caught her eyes and the ranger saw a pure white flower that glowed faintly with the familiar light of healing. "Found you," Anna murmured as she drew back an arrow. She let it fly in another Piercing Shot and smiled when the bow's enchantment activated, causing a dragon of flames to appear and incinerate the flower.
DDDDDD
Lance's eyes darted to the sudden flames that erupted in the trees behind the weird flowers that had suddenly erupted out of the ground. "Must've been Natalie," he mused, turning his attention back to the red plant in front of him. He fired another bullet and blinked in surprise as the flower ducked into the ground, leaving a small hole and dodging the bullet. A second later and the plant popped up directly in front of him and exploded. Lance yelped in surprise and pain as fire burned his legs and stomach.
Meanwhile, Matt finally managed to lop the head off of the blue flower he had been fighting. He shook his leg to dislodge some of the ice that had formed on it. The plant had somehow been able to cast ice magic. "What jungle plant uses ice as its attack? Not cool," Matt grumbled, stomping on the remains of the flower.
Natalie cast one final fireball spell on the yellow flower she had been facing. The fire engulfed the plant, and, with the healing having mysteriously stopped, the flower incinerated. The mage's orange hair was frizzy and her skin tingled from being struck with the lightning the plant had called down. Sighing, Natalie turned to check on Matt and Lance. Matt was okay, if looking irritated, but Lance was sitting down and delicately prodding his stomach and legs. "Need a heal, Lance?" Natalie called over. She popped a quick heal spell on the gunner when he nodded.
Lance stood back up, "Thanks, Natz. Good job taking out the healer."
"I didn't realize the yellow flower was a healer," Natalie said with a confused frown, gesturing over at the ash pile that was all that remained of the plant.
"It was over in the trees," he frowned when the mage looked confused, "That wasn't you?" Natalie shook her head, "Huh, I thought for sure that since it had caught on fire that-" he broke off as Anna dropped out of the tree to land next to him, bow in hand. "It was you, then, Anna?"
Anna nodded, "Yup, I heard you guys fighting on my way down and when I got there," she gestured up at the branch she had just jumped from, "I saw a white flower back in the trees, so I shot it."
Lance nodded, "It must've been the healer, good work." He then glared at her, "Now about this insane tree climbing…"
The ranger sighed, "Look, just because it would have been 'insane' for you, doesn't mean it was for me, okay?" Lance opened his mouth to argue, but Anna cut him off, "It was the smart thing to do, and you know it. I didn't get hurt, I didn't need help, and I found out where we need to go."
Lance grumbled, but didn't argue, "Fine. So, which way is it?"
Anna gestured northeast, "We need to head that way, which will eventually lead us to the river; if we follow it for long enough, we'll come to a bridge that we need to cross. After that, it's a straight path east until we hit the ocean." She grinned suddenly, "Oh! And I saw a big white structure along the way! I think it's the old ruins of an ancient cat civilization that people claim used to be around here. It's on our way; can we stop to see it? There's probably tons of loot just waiting to be found there!"
Matt's eyes lit up, "Loot? Point the way, and I'm there!"
"Well, if it's on our way, then I don't see why not," Natalie mused. "What do you think, Lance?"
The gunner shrugged, "Works for me."
With their course decided, Anna led the way through the trees heading northeast. Along the way, they fought a number of slimes, bushes, and cats- much to Natalie's dismay.
It wasn't long before the party heard the rushing sound of water. They came out of the trees next to the river and followed it upstream until they reached a large suspension bridge hanging across the river. Hacking down the weird flowers attempting to block their way, the four stepped up to, and crossed over the river. On the other side, a large red flower dominated the path. A horrible smell emanated from the plant.
"Ugh, it's worse than that pool of toxic waste at the factory," Natalie complained with an arm across her nose.
"It's coming from that flower; I think it's out to kill us," Lance groaned, eyes watering.
"I dunno, I kinda like this smell," Anna commented.
Natalie coughed, "No offence, Anna, but you live in a tree."
Matt gasped, "Low blow! That's racist, Natz!"
Anna glared at the mage, "Is there a problem with living in a tree?"
"No, no! It's very... Natural," Natalie said. She elbowed Matt and hissed, "Stop helping."
The ranger continued glaring suspiciously at the mage until Lance broke in, "Uh, I think the smelly flower is moving."
The other three turned their attention back to the massive plant just in time to see it burst up out of the ground in an explosion of dirt and rocks. As the cloud of dust settled, the face of the plant monster was revealed. It had a mouth stretching halfway around its head, lined with crooked teeth. Pink eyes glared out at the party from just under the petals of the massive red flower it wore as a crown. A rumbling sound was heard and thick vine-like roots burst out of the ground all around the monster, each with a hard, jagged spear head. Rafflesia opened its massive jaws and let out a screeching roar. The stench already emanating from the plan became even more oppressive.
"I changed my mind; this flower stinks, in more ways than one," Anna groaned, her nose scrunched up in an attempt to keep from smelling.
Lance watched as a green liquid dripped off of one of the vines to fall on the ground where it sizzled and steamed. "Looks like some kind of acid, maybe a really strong poison. Be careful not to get hit by it, guys," the gunner warned.
"How are we even supposed to get close, then? The vines are completely surrounding it," Matt complained.
Rafflesia grew impatient waiting for its prey to approach and sent a couple of smaller tendrils lashing out towards Lance. Anna fired an arrow that pinned one of the vines to the ground, while Lance twisted out of the way and sliced the second one into two pieces, just below the point. The giant plant let out an eerie howl. "It looks like they can be sliced off. If we can take out enough of them, maybe you can get in close; until then, just use eruption or cover Natz," Lance said. He glanced over at Anna and Natalie briefly, "Try to get as many arrows between those vines as you can. Natalie, use some mass attacks; Firestorm and Icestorm should do the trick." The mage and ranger each nodded and Matt stepped closer to Natalie to guard her from any attacks sent her way.
Lance lowered the targeting visor over his eye and snapped off a Sniper Shot. The bullet flew between the vines and slammed into Rafflesia's mouth, taking off one of the large teeth. The vines surrounding the monster began thrashing wildly before striking out in all directions. At the same time, Natalie cast an Icestorm spell and a miniature blizzard swirled around the creature, freezing some of the lashing vines. Matt hacked off the one still heading in their direction; the severed piece flopped around briefly before falling still. Anna sprang over one tendril and tumbled under another. Lance deflected the point away from his torso and then immediately brought his gunblade about in an upward slash to separate another poisonous head from its vine.
About half of the vines defending the plant were incapacitated, so Matt lunged forward to deliver a few slashes across Rafflesia's face before falling back again to stand near Natalie. The giant plant screeched with pain and rage and a thick vine thrashed towards the nearest fighter- who happened to be Anna.
Lance was on the opposite side of the monster when he heard a scream from the ranger. His heart beat wildly as he called out, "Anna!? Are you okay?" He ducked under another vine and pulled the large rifle off of his back for a Flame Burst. The fire attack swept across the vines, incinerating some and leaving others smoldering. "Anna?" Lance called again.
There was another second of no reply, but then the ranger finally answered. "I'm okay. One of the vines scraped my leg and it stung like hell. My armor is enchanted to resist poison, though, so I escaped that," Anna called back in reassurance.
Natalie unleased a Firestorm spell and flames engulfed Rafflesia. When the conflagration died out, the main body of the monster was still there, covered in burns, but all the vines had disappeared. The pink eyes of the plant glared at the mage from its badly burned face.
"Great work, Natz!" Matt cheered as he ran forward to slash at the monster some more. His dash came to an abrupt stop as he felt a rumbling underneath his feet.
"What's up, Matt?" Anna asked as she saw Matt glance down at the ground in confusion.
Lance fired a double shot at Rafflesia. "Hurry up and stab the-" An explosion of dirt immediately followed by a piercing shriek cut him off mid-order.
Anna, Lance, and Matt whipped around to gape at the dense forest of vines that had appeared around Natalie. The mage's earlier Firestorm hadn't burned them off, after all. Instead, the creature had opted to pull them all underground and take the hit. The thrashing tendrils surrounding Natalie pulled back into the ground one-by-one to reveal the mage lying still on the ground, her staff not far away. Blood flowed from numerous cuts on her body and, as her three horrified friends watched, some of the scrapes began to turn a sickly green color.
Matt stared at Natalie's broken form lying on the ground and a loud roaring filled his mind. Distantly, he heard Lance swear and Anna scream for the mage as she ran to her side, but it was all muffled by the rush of anger filling the swordsman. Matt gripped his Heaven's Gate so tightly his knuckles turned white and he turned to Rafflesia. The massive plant monster seemed almost amused as its gleaming pink eyes connected with the enraged swordsman's frozen blue glare. The stare was broken as Rafflesia's vines surround it once more, swaying mockingly. The roar filling Matt's mind finally came out of his mouth and he lunged forward, body glowing with enough power to distort the air around him, sword raised overhead.
Lance's head snapped around from staring at where Natalie lay poisoned and bleeding, to gape at Matt. The sound coming from the swordsman was almost inhuman in its fury. An aura of pure power radiated from both Matt's body as well as his sword, making the air around him shimmer and bend. As Lance watched, Rafflesia attempted to stop Matt by throwing up a solid wall of vines, but the swordsman merely slashed through them as if they were made of paper; his power extending the reach of his weapon with an invisible blade. Primal fear flickered in Rafflesia's eyes as Matt broke through its defense and it screeched in pain as the first blow fell. Blindingly fast strikes rained down from all sides and the monster's screech was cut off as its body was sliced to ribbons. The aura faded from around Matt and he stood there panting, leveling the remains of Rafflesia with a look of such cold fury that Lance shivered.
Anna was frantically playing Refresh on her flute, but she could not heal Natalie's wounds fast enough on her own. Blood still oozed from several of the gashes and red lines ran from the green surrounding the cuts, crisscrossing in an angry web over the mage's skin. Anna stopped playing briefly to snap at the frozen gunner staring at Matt, "Damnit Lance, be impressed later and call one of your Medipacks down right now! I can't heal her fast enough and I don't even know if this spell cures poison!" As soon as the ranger saw Lance's attention snap back to the matter at hand, she resumed playing her healing magic.
Lance pulled out his handheld radio and called in for some emergency supplies. Seconds later a box marked with a red cross drifted down. As soon as it was within reach, Lance snatched it out of the air and tore open the lid, fishing out a bottle of liquid medicine and a syringe. Tearing the wrapping off the needle, the gunner swiftly measured out the correct amount and injected it into Natalie's stomach. Matt finally walked away from the corpse of the monster to watch with a pale face as Lance and Anna worked to save Natalie. He turned away, unable to bear seeing Natalie's grey face and trembling form as her body fought for air.
For a terrifying minute, there was no change except for the gradual slowing of Natalie's breathing. "C'mon, Natz, don't give up," Lance growled under his breath, dripping some of the medicine into the mage's mouth. Anna was swaying where she sat; sweat dripping down her face as she started up another round of healing magic. Finally, the two healers saw the red lines of the poison recede and Lance heaved a sigh of relief, causing Matt to turn back around hopefully. With the poison finally gone, the gashes themselves began to quickly knit shut. There were a few shallow cuts left when Anna's healing song cut off abruptly and the ranger slumped sideways to the ground. Lance twisted his head sideways to stare at her in concern only to turn back when Natalie let out a low groan.
Matt knelt down and grabbed the mage's hand, giving it a squeeze. "Natalie? Can you hear me?" he called hopefully with a shaking voice. His heart skipped a beat when the mage's eyelids fluttered open to reveal a glazed pair of blue eyes. Natalie stared at Matt uncomprehendingly. "Natz?" he asked worriedly.
The girl's eyes slid shut again and she swallowed thickly before opening her mouth. "I'll never protect the environment ever again. Screw the rainforests," she whispered hoarsely. Lance and Matt let out matching laughs of relief; though Matt's was slightly hysterical. He leaned down to kiss Natalie's forehead as Lance turned to check on Anna.
The ranger was unconscious, but breathing steadily. Lance let out a sigh of relief and gathered her in his arms before standing up. He turned to find Matt had done the same with Natalie and the two walked side-by-side out of the clearing, following the river.
A/N: Rafflesia is down! Unfortunately, so are Natz and Anna; temporarily, anyway. I know that, technically, you're supposed to fight Dark Godcat before Rafflesia, but I moved the fight to later. It will be happening, don't worry! Next up: the cat ruins of Lankyroot! Leave me a review and I'll see you all later!