6. Showdown in the Swamp

Zooming over the waters of the Nabreus Deadlands was a red and silver figure better known as Kel. Originally a normal human fanfic writer, the Occuria got bored one day and dropped him right in Ivalice. There he was changed into a biomechanical robot–thing with a spinning shield and blaster cannon. His purpose was to oppose a team of three individuals who had been changed by the Occuria in insect-like biomechanical monstrosities. They wanted to go home and be normal again and they would achieve that they had to find six keystones. Kel was here to make sure that didn't happen. And so he and his two team mates were searching the swamp of the Nabreus Deadlands in the hopes of finding the keystones before the other team did.

"That's a lot of swamp to cover." Kel said to himself as he glanced at the waters zooming under him. "Good thing Gale, Blaze and I split up, it increases our chances of finding the keystones."

Kel rocketed further, enjoying the fact that he was flying through the air because of four jet rockets on his torso. It was a sad thing – for him of course – that he was enjoying it so much. It made him pay less attention to his surroundings. And because of that, he didn't see the white, skeletal monstrosity that was stalking behind him in the murky waters of the swamp. And that skeletal figure would be me, Icarax the monstrous insect-like one walking around on four legs.

"The fool seems to be more focussed on flying than finding…" I scoffed. "Ah, all the better for me and my friends, gives us more chance to find the keystones."

Suddenly I halted and let my self submerge a bit deeper in the water until only my eyes and the top of my head were above the surface. Kel had halted in midair and was doing something. I didn't know what because he was a bit too far away from me. After a while, he changed his direction from going north to going north-east. Had he spotted something? A keystone perhaps? Cautiously, I followed him.

The waters were getting less deep and more shallow, which meant less cover. But I didn't have to worry. The area Kel and me had arrived in was covered with thick bushes and low trees. Ideal cover for me. The weeds and plants sticking to my metallic body because of my swimming in the swamp, would give me even more cover. I watched Kel fly slower and then I noticed why.

He was observing a large pillar made out of crystal that rose straight out of the water. It kinda looked like an Egyptian obelisk. My eyes narrowed. This had never been here in the game, so there was a big chance there was a keystone here. I scurried closer to Kel and the strange structure. Kel meanwhile, was slowly approaching the obelisk and I had come close enough to hear what he said.

"There's a keystone in this thing alright." Kel said. "But I find it suspicious that there are no guards… Why would that be?" He reached out to something close to the obelisk's top. That was probably where the keystone was. But as soon as his fingers made contact with the surface of the crystal spire, Kel was throw back by an invisible force field. He sailed through the air and landed with a splash in the mud. As he shook his dazed head, my skeletal, insect-like form loomed over him.

"And what have we here?" I said with a smile. "Brave and daring Kel fallen at the feet of Icarax?" I glanced over my shoulder at the obelisk. "I guess I should thank you for kindly showing me that the keystone is protected by a force field. Couldn't have me finding out the hard way, now could we?"

Kel sprung to his feet, blaster and shield ready. "Icarax, seriously, you talk too much."

I sighed and shook my head. "Very well then, I shall act."

Within the blink of an eye I had activated my repulsion power. The ground Kel was standing on suddenly repelled him and he was knocked in the air. Before he could gain his balance in the air, I lashed out with one of my bladed hands and slammed him like a baseball towards the obelisk. The force field threw Kel back again, but I increased my repulsion and made the air repel Kel. He was knocked against the force field again, which knocked him back. Kel was now trapped in a contest between me and the force field. I could feel the strain on my mind as I tried to keep my repulsion up. With a low hiss I threw all my mental strength at my repulsion powers and that proved to be enough. Kel was repelled by me straight through the force field. It shattered and Kel slammed into the obelisk, which broke in half because of the force he collided with. My dear opponent and the obelisk both landed flat on the ground. As Kel laid there counting stars, my pincer pried the Keystone from the obelisk.

As I was about to leave, I looked at Kel, who was still groggy, one last time and sighed. "You should have let me talk."

Then I activated my repulsion again and flew away. One point for my team!

--

In another part of the swamp, a blue and silver armoured figure was having problems of his own. This individual, known as Gale, was armed with a blaster similar to Kel's, only his had laser sight mounted on it for extra accuracy. Gale was well-armoured, especially his shoulders carried wicked armour. He had decided to search for keystones in a rather tree-covered part of the swamp. And Gale was lucky, for he had found a keystone indeed. That, however, was all of the good news. The bad news was that the trees themselves held the keystone trapped in their roots and when Gale came a bit too close, they would lash out with their branches.

"Wonderful!" Gale thought sarcastically. "Living trees that like to kick some butt." He raised his blaster and aimed at the most nearby tree. "But let's see how they like the power of my weapon."

Gale fired a blast of energy at the tree. The blast blew a whole chunk out of the overgrown vegetable, which uttered wild screeches upon being wounded. The tree began to lash out mindlessly with his branches in an attempt to hit Gale. Gale however, simply powered up the jet rockets he had on each feet and flew out of the way. He took aim again and fired, this time at the bunch of roots that held the keystone trapped. The blast ripped the roots apart, but almost immediately more roots erupted from the ground that quickly wrapped themselves around each other and the keystone.

"I could really use Kel's heat blaster here…" Gale muttered, taking aim once again. "But I guess we'll have to do it with what we have." Gale proceeded to fire at all the trees in sight, blasting huge holes in their trunks, blowing branches and leaves off, ripping roots apart. Soon the place was filled with a mass of screeching, wildly moving trees. Gale fired one final shot at the roots holding the keystone. The next moment more pieces of vegetables soared through the air and the keystone was free. The wounded trees attempted to grab the keystone again, but Gale powered his jet rockets and soared towards the keystone. He grabbed it and then had to flee for his life. Roots and branches all lashed out at him and Gale had to use all his agility and speed to fly between the quivering mass of plants. It was exhilarating, not to mention fun. But dangerous as well.

"Kel would have loved this." Gale smiled as he ducked under another branch and then shot into open air. He had escaped the vicious plants and had gotten his hands on a keystone! Still smiling, Gale prepared to return to camp. The next moment however, he found himself laying facedown in the mud with a very angry green, biomechanical, mosquito-like individual with four arms looming above him.

"I'll take that keystone." Munchin said, reaching down towards the stone still in Gale's grasp. He had been flying around the swamp when the screams of the trees had drawn his attention. Then he had seen Gale's struggles with the trees and his escape with a keystone. That was all Munchin needed to know to attack. And a swift attack from above had proven to be effective.

However, before Munchin could grab the keystone, Gale gave him a kick in the legs. Munchin stumbled for one crucial second, but it was enough for Gale to get to his feet and fire at Munchin.

"Hello Munchin." Gale greeted cheerfully. His attack hit his mosquito-like opponent in the chest and Munchin was blown back by its force. The four-armed guy crashed against a boulder, but quickly rose to his feet again, grumbling all the way.

"Nice seeing you too, Gale." Munchin retorted. He tore the boulder he had crashed against out of the mud and with a mighty swing of his four arms, threw it towards Gale. Gale dodged just in time and then fired a few shots rapidly at Munchin again. But this time Munchin was ready. Agile the mosquito-like boy dodged the assault, getting close enough to Gale to swipe at Gale with one of his clawed hands. The blue-armoured member of Kel's team raised his blaster to block the blow, – for he lacked any other weapon, which was quite a hindrance when in close combat with a being like Munchin, who was fully equipped for close-combat – he succeeded, but Munchin still had three other hands. The next swipe Gale could not block and Munchin's claws managed to rip through some of Gale's armour and damage the soft organic tissue underneath. Gale cried out in pain and attempted to give Munchin a good punch in the face. His attempts failed and Munchin managed to grab Gale with two of his hands. Another hand tore the blaster from Gale's hands, which Munchin carelessly tossed away over his shoulder. His fourth hand, finally, punched Gale square in the face.

Gale still didn't give up, however, and he managed to knee Munchin in the ribs – if Munchin still had ribs at that moment, that is. Munchin's armour protected him, but the attack was enough to make him let go of Gale. Gale immediately punched Munchin on the cheek with the hand that wasn't holding the keystone. To finish it off, he kicked Munchin as hard as possible. The mosquito was knock backwards through the air, but quickly regained himself. And now Munchin was pissed off as well… He stormed towards Gale, who prepared himself to catch Munchin. Munchin lashed out with two hands, but Gale managed to grab them and stop the attack. Munchin used his other two hands, however, to grab Gale by the shoulders and rip through the armour with his claws. Gale let go of Munchin in pain. My mosquito-like friend seized the opportunity and flew over Gale, then grabbed him from behind, holding him strongly in his grasp with his six limbs. Gale struggled to get out of Munchin's grasp, but to no avail.

"Stop resisting, Gale. This fight is mine." Munchin hissed. And then he plunged his stinger in Gale's back. Gale screamed in pain as Munchin drained his life force. "Oh don't worry." Munchin said calmly. "I'm not going to kill you, just going to make sure you won't get in my way again for a while."

Gale weakened quickly and soon enough, the keystone slid from his grasp. Munchin retreated his stinger out of the now limp Gale and released Kel's team mate from his grasp. Munchin now held Gale with one hand in the air.

"Those who condemn their friends to cursed lives deserve pain." Munchin said before tossing Gale away carelessly. "Remember that on your way down."

And as Gale landed with a splash in the shallow waters of the swamp, Munchin flew down towards the swampfloor and picked up the keystone.

--

In yet another part of the Nabreus Deadlands, a black and silver armoured figure had also encountered trouble. His name was Blaze and like Kel and Gale, he carried an energy blaster as weapon. Though his had been modified to allow him to hold it better and also give more power to it. A shining silver shield was mounted on his left shoulder and a jet rocket on each leg held him in the air. What trouble had he found? Well, he was scouting the swamp looking for Keystones and he had the luck to even find one when he suddenly found himself surrounded by beetle-like, biomechanical figures.

"Wonderful." Blaze sighed. "Here I was worrying about encountering one angry Ether and I run into seven of them."

All seven Ethers smirked, their cold red eyes fixed on Blaze, their pincers ready to attack. The real Ether, or rather, the Ether from the present, could hardly contain her happiness.

"You have no idea how pleased I am by running into you Blaze." She told him. "I was looking for someone to take my frustration out on and then you so conveniently drop by. Shame it isn't Kel, but you'll do all the same." Her gaze drifted to the Keystone Blaze had stored under his shield. "And the fact that you have such a nice keystone makes this an even better encounter for me. Munchin and Icarax will be very pleased indeed!"

Blaze looked around, trying to see if there was a way out of his nasty situation. If he attempted to make a run for it, Ether would be upon him in no time, she was a faster flyer than him. His blaster was useless, even if he fired it and hit one Ether, there were still six others to deal with. He had to be very careful to get out of this one… Blaze noticed one Ether hovering particularly close to him and got an idea.

He made a move as if he would try and flee, but then suddenly whirled around and grabbed the most nearby Ether. Blaze's arm was locked around that Ether's head and he pointed his blaster against Ether's head as well.

"Tell your friends to back off Ether," Blaze said on a dangerous tone. "If they like your head attached to your shoulders."

The Ether in Blaze's grasp grinned. "Oh we like it attached very much Blaze, but can you shoot before we strike you down?"

She suddenly lashed out with her right pincer and attempted to stab him in the back. Blaze could stop the attack in time, but had to let go of Ether's head. She seized the opportunity and grabbed him, then tossed him against a nearby tree. The tree fell over when Blaze collided with it. While Blaze groaningly got up, the army of Ethers flew down and surrounded him again.

"You don't really understand, do you, Blaze?" Ether said with a sigh. "These aren't copies of me, they are me. When the Occuria dropped me here in this twisted and vile body, they gave me the ability to summon past versions of myself." My beetle-like friend smiled. "Isn't that handy? An instant army, all of them completely loyal. And as many as I need, for as long as I need." As if on a signal, all Ethers raised their pincers, ready to attack. "The perfect power when fighting for keystones." Ether continued, getting a rather creepy look in her eyes. "And now it is time to relieve you of the keystone you hold."

The next moment, all Ethers charged at Blaze at the same time at great speed. There was no time for Blaze to do a counter attack or to try and flee. As he watched the very angry Ethers approach him, only one thought appeared in his mind:

"Oh... shit…"

--

Yes, Munchin, Ether and I were quite violent in this chapter, weren't we? Munchin and Ether especially. Poor Blaze and Gale. Serves them right though, that'll teach them condemning their friends to walk around as freakish insects. So at the end of this chapter, my team has 4 keystones and Kel's team has zero. Going to fast? Perhaps, but just you wait, the last two keystones will be the hardest to get.

And yeah, it took a while until this chapter was done. Seriously, it was hard to write. I restarted from scratch three times after having written 3 pages each time just because I thought what I had written sucked. Damn. But now this version is to my liking and so this chapter is posted. :)

And here are the last two members of Kel's team. Yes, they have been LEGO-fied as well, Ether! :)

Gale:

www majhost com/gallery/Elpizo/SpiritsOfTheMist/gale png

Blaze:

www majhost com/gallery/Elpizo/SpiritsOfTheMist/blaze png