Chapter 19: Into the Amazon Jungle

"So, you had a plan," Musa started.

"Sure do," Techna replied with a grin. "I've hashed it out with Flowergirl and Suntop. We're gonna converge our magic to transport us all right to Diana's front door."

"How?" Nabu asked. "They'll surely be monitoring the ritual's magical network."
"True. But these White Circle fairies... Well, they're all kinds of outdated. And given the way they talk about things, probably not a big fan of all this modern tech stuff, so I doubt they've put effort into reading up on anything."
"So how do you think they'd react when they find out that the other worlds have also moved on to skyscrapers, cars, television and such?" Bloom asked.

Stella mimicked the sound of an explosion with her mouth and imitated her hair blowing off with a hand movement.

"Now, what I learned from my last foray into this ritual is that you can simulate code pretty well with magic. So me, Suntop and Flowergirl are going to pool our magic together and infiltrate the magic network with another virus. Only this time, instead of mapping the energy it will home in on the area around where the ritual is cast. Stella will be able to home in on it and use her sceptre to warp us there."

"And then we'll be able to save the boys?" Aisha inquired.

"Potentially," Flora said. "I will be honest. We have no guarantee that the ritual site and wherever she holds the guys imprisoned will be the same place. We can hope, but intel is understandably rather limited."
"Why can't we just drop into the middle of the ritual area? Why do we have to land nearby?" Roxy asked.

"Because, like, transporting like this is usually a topsy turvy exhausting experience. And if we, like, drop into the middle of everything, we might be tired and surrounded by angry fairies," Stella explained.

"Even if the journey does not take a lot out of us, we could still risk landing in a very disadvantageous situation," Flora supplemented. "It is quite frankly too risky."

"I suppose that does make sense," Roxy sighed. "Means we'll also have to trudge through the Amazon Jungle."
"Well, you play with the cards you have, not the hand you wish you had," Techna said with a shrug. "C'est la vie."
"Wait, what? Hold on," Roxy said, looking confused. "How did it do that? How does the translation spell do that?"
Techna smirked. "Less translation spell and more me asking Bloom for a foreign phrase."
The pink-haired fairy paused. "You two are evil," she said, pointing accusatorially at Techna and Bloom. She paused. "Wait, no, this still doesn't make sense. Why would it not translate French? How does it know you specifically wanted to sound foreign?"

"Well, it is..." Stella began, but the Earth fairy cut her off with a: "Stella, I respect you enough as a friend to warn you that if you say 'It's magic', I will throw you out the Goddamn window."

"Ah. Sure. Zipping it."

"If we are quite done threatening defenestration against each other, I would suggest we get going," Flora stated. "We are on the clock and we have no idea when time will run out for us."

"Right you are," Techna said and jumped out of her chair. "Okay girls, let's do this thing."

She, Flora and Stella positioned themselves in a triangle formation and closed their eyes as they focused.

"What are they doing?" Roxy quietly asked.

"Converging their magic. Combining it, essentially," Musa replied. "It allows them to draw upon their combined magical energy and their combined knacks."

"Or the knack of an artefact, in Stella's case," Mirta remarked. "Since that is what allows the teleportation."

Suddenly, there was a bright light and the group disappeared.

At the bar, Mitzi stared at the spot where the girls had just been. "Okay, if this magic is so frickin' flashy, how come we never noticed it existed?"

"Maybe 'cause they all became stage magicians," Jason suggested. "I could buy David Copperfield being one."

...

Roxy blinked and then slowly looked around. Verdant greenery and exotic plants surrounded her, a few rays of the sun piercing the leaves overhead. Foreign birds chirped in the hot and humid air, while strange animals slithered through the bushes. The pink-haired girl had never been to the Amazon Jungle, so she couldn't be sure that was where she was, but it sure did look like it. Another look around confirmed that the others had also arrived, the lot of them looking slightly disoriented. Assured that everything was okay, she allowed herself to turn around before expelling her breakfast all over a nearby bush.

Stella winced. "Sorry. Teleportation has, like, a habit of doing that to people."

"What are you talking about?" Techna giggled, as she leaned against a tree for support. "That's the best part of the plan. It's like riding around in a tumble dryer."
Aisha, who sat on the ground to combat her dizziness, stared curiously at the scarred girl before admitting: "I honestly cannot tell whether you're being facetious or if you've literally taken a ride in a tumble dryer."

"Means I'm doing something right," Techna replied with a grin. "Well, I suppose it wasn't entirely a tumble dryer after we modified it, but I did ride in it. Puked all over myself. Mom called me an idiot. It was awesome."

Aisha's nose wrinkled slightly. "You and I have very different opinions of what constitutes a good time."

"So, we have arrived. What do we do now?" Mirta asked.

"Now we find the boys. And if we get the chance, we punch Diana's stupid face in," Musa said, as she readied her fans. "Nabu, can you fly up and give us an idea about where we're supposed to go?"

"But of course, my lady," the dark-skinned magi replied, before transforming into a parrot. He ascended above the greenery for a few minutes, before coming back down, reassuming his human form. "I saw a strange temple-like structure not far from here. But it looked ancient."
"Could be ruins. I think I heard something about those being discovered in the rainforest," Bloom suggested.

"None the less, it is possible that Diana could have repurposed it for her own needs. We should still check it out, just in case," Flora stated.

"Agreed. So let's get a move on;" Musa said. "Nabu, you saw where it is, so you lead the way."
"I shall endeavour to make your path as painless and effortless as my humble skills allow," he replied while bowing, before marching off.

"So, is that a character he plays? Because I notice that he tends to stop whenever things get serious," Roxy asked Stella, as the group followed.

"Probably, like, a bit of acting, yes. But he enjoys it, so what's the harm?" Stella replied. "Take it from me, nobles are tots weird."
"You're a noble."
"Well, yeah."

The weather quickly made the girls sweaty, their clothes sticking to their skin as they made their way through the thickets.

"Should have brought a water bottle," Musa gasped, before suddenly being handed one by Flora. She stared at it for a second. "You're well prepared."
"It is what I do," the Limphean noble responded, before taking a sip of cold water from her own bottle.

"I'm not even bothered by the heat and I'm still soaked," Bloom complained. "It's so humid."
"Here, let me assist," Aisha offered, before using her magic to remove the water from the redhead's clothes. "Better?"
"Yeah, thanks."

Nabu suddenly halted and the entire group fell silent. He paused for a moment, before gesturing to the others, as he crouched and slowly moved forward. The others followed suit.

"Thought I saw something," he whispered. "Fairies."
Ahead, several people in green uniforms surrounded the ruined ziggurat, eyes watching the surrounding jungle.

"Diana's people," Mirta quietly said. "What do we do?"
"Well, there must be something important inside that rubble pile," Musa said. "Why else would they be guarding it?"
"Then somebody should sneak in and see what they've got there," Nabu commented. "I can be very sneaky, but even in bird form I'd be hard pressed to get in unnoticed."

"Then perhaps we could create a distraction for you," Flora suggested. "Lure some of them away."
"That means running I take it," Roxy sighed. "Just promise to pick me up if I suffer heatstroke, okay."

"Right. I'll hide in a tree for now. Good luck," Nabu said, before becoming a parrot again.

"Now, like, who'll handle getting their attention?" Stella asked.

Musa cracked her knuckles, while Techna fished a couple of grenades out of her backpack with a smile.

An ear-drum sundering boom rocked the South American jungle landscape.

...

"Quickly, they went this way."
"WHAT!?"
"I SAID THEY WENT THIS WAY!"

A group of the White Circle fairies stormed further into the jungle, the plants and trees bending away to make room for them.

Slightly away from the trail, the leaves shifted, revealing the girls.

"Well, that went well," Roxy commented. "What now?"
"I suppose we better stay low and wait for Nabu to get back out with a report," Flora said. "At least for now."

"What do you mean by 'For now'?" Aisha asked.

"I mean we need to keep an eye on the situation as it develops and adapt to circumstances without sticking rigidly to a predefined plan," the Limphean noble replied.

The princess of Tides' expression fell. "You mean if something happens to him."
Flora sighed. "Usually people take it better when I hide the issue behind a lot of words."

"Well, I am trained in courtly innuendo. But thanks for the attempt," Aisha replied gratefully.

"That's innuendo? Kinda boring if you ask me," Techna commented.

"Can't all have our mind in the gutter twenty-four seven," Musa remarked.

Flora withdrew from the group and placed a hand on one of the trees. She closed her eyes in contemplation, before stating: "Perhaps there is something we should do. All these plants have been connected to Diana's magical network. And I sense that it is concentrated nearby. Not as in the origin of the ritual, but as in it is being focused on a nearby task. If we can get close, it could grant us some valuable intelligence."

"If you say so," Stella said and the group quietly followed the brunette.

They crept through the underbrush, careful not to stir up too many animals, which could give away their position. They halted on an overgrown hill, overlooking a vast area of the forest. And what they saw shocked them.

Vast tracks of land had been stripped clear of everything, the trees having transformed into hulking goliaths, the animals reshaped into monstrous giants. Among them several uniformed fairies worked hard on directing them, as more and more of the forest was converted into fresh soldiers.

"She's transforming the jungle itself into a weapon," Mirta gasped.

"What? What is this?" Roxy asked. "So all that nonsense she spouted about nature was just a bunch of nonsense?"
"No. I do not think so," Flora remarked. "As far as she is concerned, what she is doing is encouraging nature to stand up and fight. It is the will of the world, after all." She paused. "Well, insofar as she interprets it."

"Aren't the attacks on towns enough? They also need an army," Stella grumbled. "We tots gotta shut down this ritual and, like, do it fast. Before anybody gets hurt."
"Can we do that? Or should we wait for the boys to back us up?" Musa asked.

"Hard to say," Flora mentioned. "My main concern right..."
"YOU THERE!" a voice yelled, and the girls looked behind them. Three of the fairy guards were making their way up behind them. "WE'VE GOT YOU NOW!"

Thinking quickly, Flora channelled her magic into the surrounding plants. Roots and vines lashed out unseen under the heavy undergrowth, wrapping around the legs of the approaching fairies and suddenly hoisting them into the air.

"And that's our signal to skedaddle," Roxy commented, as the group ran off again.

"Damn them," one of the White Circle fairies cursed, before firing a glowing blast off into the air, signalling the nearby army.

As the group did their best to hurry through the underbrush, they could hear a sound behind them. A horrible thrashing and gnashing sound. Bloom looked over her shoulder. Behind them, the rainforest was being stomped to splinters, as several large animated trees forced their way through. They charged through with no sign of hesitation or pause, laying the area to waste as they slowly caught up to the girls.

A large tree came down right beside her. She halfway turned and unleashed a wave of fire, light and smoke obscuring her position. Then she jumped into a ditch, crouching gasping down in the mud while hoping nobody had seen where she had gone. The earth rumbled as the arboreal titans strode by. She tried holding her breath, her heart pounding wildly and her lungs burning.

Finally, the noises seemed to die down as the hostile mutants moved away from her. She slowly made her way along the ditch, crawling through the mud while looking for a way out. She crawled around a corner and only being out of breath prevented her from screaming her head off as Roxy was suddenly before her, with the Earth fairy seemingly freezing still out of sheer fright. The two stared at each other for a moment, before relaxing and sitting down.

"Well, that just cost me a couple of years," Roxy commented. "Did you see the others?"

"No. Lost sight of them after I jumped down here." Bloom paused, looking quite concerned.

"I'm sure they made it. You're all tough," the Earth fairy said, as she slowly stood up. "Let's take a peak." She grabbed the edge of the ditch and pulled herself up, only to immediately fall back down again with a: "Gyack." She gasped, her face pale, before hissing at the edge: "Don't. Do. That."
"Sorry," Techna whispered, as she peered down from the edge. "Had to check what kinda of noise it was coming from over here."
"Have you seen the others?" Bloom asked, as Techna helped pull her out of the ditch.

"Well, I've got Suntop with me here," the scarred girl informed them.

"Hello," Stella greeted.

"And the others?" Roxy asked as she was pulled out.

"Ain't got the faintest clue," Techna admitted.

"What do we do now? Start searching?" Bloom asked.

"Searching for somebody in the Amazon Jungle?" the pink-haired girl echoed. "Sure, that won't take forever and a half."

"She's got a point. They could be anywhere right now," Stella agreed and scouted their surroundings.

"Well, best thing we can do then is head for somewhere where they could show up," Techna said.

"Like the ritual site," Bloom suggested. "That's definitely a place they would go for."
"Totally," Stella agreed. "But we kinda relied on Flora to get it."

"Doesn't mean we can't" Techna said. "Remember that spell Pumpkin dug up? It allows us to read the magic in the environment. And I don't think a spell that big will be any kind of subtle. We'll find this ritual place in no time."

"Alright then. We'll head for the ritual site. After that, well, guess we'll improvise," Bloom admitted.

...

Roxy's legs burned as the group continued making their way through the thick foliage of the jungle. "Does it always end like this?" she asked the others. "With all of you dirty, sweating and not knowing where half of you ended up?"

"Pretty much," Techna replied. "More than you'd think at least."
"Told you it wasn't glamorous," Bloom groaned.

"So, this ritual thing. What does it even look like?" Roxy asked.

The group stopped. "Like, that could be it," Stella said and pointed.

In front of them was a quiet lagoon, a blue, glowing flower calmly floating above the waters.

"Huh. That is something," Roxy said, as they walked closer to the waters. The group looked around for a bit.

"I expected more guards," Bloom admitted. "Is this really the right place?"
"Well, we can tots double check with the spell. But I'm, like, totally sure this is the spot," Stella said. She paused. "You know, I'm not, like, an expert at military matters. I leave that to the boys. But I can count."
"Good for you," Roxy slowly offered. "And?"

"And when we were in the White Circle sanctuary, how many fairies did we see?" the blonde princess asked.

"A couple dozens, give or take," Techna replied.

"Right. And I doubt all of them work under Diana. So she has even less people available," the Solarian blonde continued. "So, like, between the local overseers handling the attacks on the cities, the guards protecting that ruin and the fairies raising the jungle into an army, maybe they didn't have enough to guard this place."
"Lucky for us, but you'd think this would be the most important place to guard," Bloom said.
"Well, how easy is restarting the ritual if it is disrupted?" Roxy asked. "Because if it's just a question of hitting the on button again, then yeah, the other things do sound more important."
"Besides, I'm tots sure the spell is trapped. We disrupt it, every White Circle fairy in the jungle is going to be on top of us," Stella continued.

"So for now, we should probably allow ourselves to rest and wait for the others," Bloom said. "This is the centre of the ritual. Any one of us should be able to find it by now."
"But that's just one part of it, Firetop," Techna stated. "Making it here could also be all kinds of difficult."

"And then there's Nabu," Stella said. "And the other boys. I'm tots worried for them. Diana did threaten to kill them if she caught us getting in the way."
"You think she has figured it out?" Roxy asked. "That it's us?"
"I don't know," Bloom admitted. "I mean, they did see us, but with everything going on... I mean, she might suspect it, but would that be enough?"
"Who knows? Bitch be crazy," Techna said with a shrug. "There's nothing we can do right now." Her expression grew a tad bit colder. "Mind you, if she hurts Timmy I'm going to shove my pipe length-wise up her ass, but I'll wait with worrying."

"It's not like worrying will, like, do us any good," Stella added. "So let's just, like, enjoy the pretty flower and the smells of the jungle."
"Let's not relax too much," Roxy said. "They might come by to check up on the place."
"I'd probably be a lot calmer if Flora or one of the boys were here," Bloom admitted. "They've always been better at analysing these situations. I'm mostly the 'Charge ahead and see what happens' kinda girl. And, well, that hasn't always worked out."

"So is Sky," Stella pointed out. "Well, he's a guy instead of a girl, but, like, you know what I mean. Brandon has to keep him on a short leash most of the time."
"Well, even Sky has more training actually handling these things," the Dominion princess pointed out. "He just, well, he just gets overeager at times. I mean, that is why they didn't make him team leader."

"Point taken," the blonde replied.

"But anyway, how long do we wait?" Roxy asked. "What if no one shows up?"
"Then we'll come up with another idea," Techna replied. "I imagine we'll smash up the light show real good, then go check out those funky ruins. And after that, well, I dunno. Kick ass probably or something like that."
"What a well thought out plan that sounds like," Roxy groaned.

...

Musa popped her head out of the bush and scanned the area surrounding the temple. She focused and made a couple of clicking noises with her tongue, letting the echo form a picture in her mind. "Nope, nobody's guarding the place," she said, turning to Aisha, Flora and Mirta. "But no signs of the others either. Or Nabu."
"If they have not been captured, they might have aimed for the ritual site instead," Flora suggested, rubbing her chin.

"And we still haven't heard anything from Nabu," Aisha said anxiously. "Do you think he went out searching for us?"
"No idea. And we do not even know if the others made it away, have been captured or... Worse," Flora stated, looking uncomfortable at the thought.

Musa bit into her lower lip. "Well, we haven't gotten this far just to give up. I say we check the place out now that we have the chance."

"Might be for the best. If Nabu is still in there, we can meet up. And if the boys are there too, well..." Mirta paused. "I think we need the help."
"Alright. We will cross the open area to the ruin. Keep your eyes and ears open," Flora said, before making her way out into the open, the others following along.
The tension in the air was thick as they made their way to the ziggurat, eyes darting back and forth from their goal to the dense jungle surrounding them. They ascended the ancient weathered stairs with baited breaths, ever aware of the fact that danger could strike at any moment.

And then they were inside.

The interior of the ancient structure was dusty, the walls and floors cracked and the air still had a hint of staleness that the constant ventilation hadn't been able to remove.

"Lovely place they've got here," Musa quipped, as they slowly advanced down the dark hallway.

"I will have to do some research later. This structure is rather fascinating," Flora commented, as the group turned a corner. "The lack of guards, however, is either an indication of luck or that this is a trap."

"Well, they were guarding the outside," Mirta brought up. "It must be important somehow."

The group stopped, having arrived at a junction.

"It would be nice if they sign-posted this area," Aisha commented. "I have no idea where we need to go."

"Neither do I. Musa?" Flora asked.

"Give me a moment," the black-haired musician said and closed her eyes, clicking her tongue. After a moment, she said: "Alright, not getting a complete picture of the area. Put I think there's people in that direction."
"Guards?" the Limphean noble asked.

"Doubtful. Well, unless the fairy guards like spending their off time chained up."

"Prisoners? It could be the boys," Mirta said hopefully. "We should check."

The group headed in the direction Musa had pointed out. It didn't take them long to find the place, a locked door having been installed. A careful application of water by Aisha helped rip apart its metallic innards, allowing the group entry.

"Well, look who's come to join the party," Riven said, hanging from a wall by his chained wrists. "Took you girls a while."
"I'd be careful with running that mouth of yours if you want to get down anytime soon," Musa replied relieved and looked around. All five of the kidnapped guys were present. "This is becoming a bad habit, you know that right?"
"Well, we weren't exactly planning on getting chained up again," Sky admitted. "Not much of a chains guy."
"Well, let us get you out then," Flora said and popped a seed into the blond prince's lock. She concentrated and the metal broke apart with a high-pitched whine. Meanwhile, Aisha got Riven free by focusing her water until she could slice through the metal. Soon after, everyone had been freed.

"Where are the others?" Brandon inquired.

"We got spotted out in the jungle and got separated. We suspect they might have headed for a nearby ritual site," Flora explained. "Now that we have freed you, we can head there ourselves and..." Her plan of action was cut off by a large root bursting up though the ancient stone floor, wrapping around her much like a python would its prey. She looked around. Everyone else in the room had also been caught off guard by the roots. The brunette focused her energy, trying to command the plant to release her. But a much more powerful magic controlled it.

"Damn... It," Sky grunted, as he struggled. "Not... My... Day..."
"I... I can't... Breathe," Mirta gasped.

"I warned you, didn't I?" came a voice.

Flora twisted her head as much as she could to see the newly arrived.

Diana stood in the doorway, a vine-wrapped Nabu hovering besides her. "I figured you would show up once I caught your friend here sneaking around. You should have stayed home."
"How could we?" Aisha asked, forcing herself to speak even as it felt like her ribcage was about to collapse. "You kill people. Civilians. They've never heard of you or your cause. They have no idea you ever existed. And you slaughter them. And for what?"
"For the sake of the world," Diana replied, anger in her tone. "How much of nature hasn't withered and died on their watch? It's about time someone scaled them back."
"Nature. We saw that army you were making. There wasn't anything fucking natural 'bout that," Musa called out. "You think you're so special, so much better than the rest of us. You're just a fanatic psychopath. We should have left you to rot in that..." Her words died in her throat as the root began squeezing her even tighter.

"Stop. Talking," Diana said, as the plants began to crush the group. "Your interference ends her. I'll leave your crushed corpses for the animals to feed on."
There was a sudden explosion and the walls of the pyramid rumbled. Cracks began forming in one side, before with a loud racket the antediluvian structure came down in a cacophony of crashing rocks. A cloud of dust exploded from it, briefly obscuring the entire room.

Diana lowered her hand, trying to see what was going on. The roots lessened their grip somewhat on the prisoners, allowing the group to barely breathe.

"What is it? Is it the army?" Sky gasped.

"Doubtful," Timmy hoarsely replied.

Footsteps echoed through the room as a figure made its way through the wreckage.

Diana's eyes first widened in shock, then narrowed in anger.

Ogron stepped out of the dust, observing the red-headed fairy commander with a degree of severe loathing and coldness.

"You," Diana said, the word laced heavily with raw, unfettered hate and disappointment.

Ogron took a deep breath, as if about to engage in unpleasant work he'd rather never have been near.

"Hello, mother."