A few more days of fighting in the forest with regular visits back to the ever so creatively named Town saw the heroes begin to grow once again. They tried out various abilities they had once been capable of executing on a whim, now only having varying degrees of success. According to the status menu, they were growing quickly, and already had reached about a fifth of what they were when they fought each other. It was time for them to start making their way towards the mountain.
Getting moving had not been such an easy task for the group collectively. Natalie had to make sure her stash of travel cupcakes, cookies, and other sweets and candy were ready to go in her bags, but she struggled to find a way to fit all of it with her other gear and various staves. What had been the deciding factor was when she regained the ability to magically switch out what she was wearing or wielding with others that she owned. It had always been handy for packing.
Matt was always ready to go, being the most willing to camp out in the group. Still, he had to get supplies for himself as well as his cat, Nolegs. He was never really sure why the cat had started following him around, but it had been with him and Natalie ever since they started their adventures together. Every once in a while, Nolegs would disappear for days at a time, then just pop back up again. He had been gone when they first explored the mountain, and had turned up a day after their first encounter with a giant slime. How he found Matt again or where he had gone off to, Matt was never sure. He tried not to get too speculative about it.
Finally, once they were ready to go, it was just a matter of dragging Lance away from the crowd of village girls that had started to follow him around while he was in Town. It had initially been a simple matter of literally dragging the jerk away from the girls. Natalie just grabbed the back of his collar and started hauling him off. With a wink and a farewell, they should have been off, but Matt had to separate a particularly clingy blonde girl from Lance's arm where she seemed to be glued.
They had found that the best route to the mountain would take them through several climates and various dangers, but it was the best way to ensure that they would be ready to face the chained demon when the time came. They would have to go through the forest to the coast, follow the coast until they left the tropical region, eventually reach a cursed glacier where it never stopped being winter, cross a desert, traverse an ancient ruin that was rumored to be dedicated to a civilization of cats, and finally reach the base of the volcano.
The majority of the forest hadn't been too much of a problem. They had encountered strange turtles, massive overgrown bees, even some feral and violent cats. Now they reached a wide bridge crossing a stream that ran out into the ocean. However, stationed at the far end of the wide bridge was a very suspicious pumpkin. It seemed a little larger than a giant slime and sat at the end of the bridge near the coast. The pumpkin had a smiling face carved into it, the grin facing them, almost taunting.
"I'm gonna go across and if it does anything strange, I'll just absolutely mess it up with this!" Matt drew out a sword he hadn't used since they had lost their power. It was a golden dragon-stylized blade that sparked with electricity, and he held it proudly. As soon as he set foot on the bridge despite Lance and Natalie's protest, the pumpkin began to move and shift. A small camera for an eye emerged from the top of the pumpkin, and legs and arms sprouted from the sides. Matt charged forward, followed reluctantly by Lance and Natalie.
"Come at me, Jack!" Matt yelled with a grin. His forward pace was quickly matched by the robot, which Matt had dubbed Jack. As he came within reach, Matt slammed his blade into the pumpkin. The blade bounced off with a clang, jarring Matt as his blade vibrated with the force of the collision. Jack instantly countered with a whirring and his metal fist slamming into Matt's chest, sending him sprawling and rolling back across the bridge.
"Idiot! Don't get so close until you know what it can do," Natalie scolded. Her staff glowed and the air split as a small bolt of lightning shot from it to strike the robot. A scorched mark on the exterior shell was the only sign the attack had even struck. Lance readied himself and fired several rounds charged with plasma. Each sparked as it struck the robot, but only one landed a blow that caused the bot to recoil, hitting the joint where one of the arms emerged from the shell.
"Don't hit the orange, it won't do any damage," Lance called to the others. He readied another set of rounds, but noticed two barrels protruding from the eyes of the carved face. "Get down!" The bullets sprayed from the machine guns as he dived towards the side of the bridge, completely devoid of cover. One of the bullets grazed his hard helmet and he felt it ricochet.
Matt was back on his feet by now and raced forward. The spewing turrets turned towards him as Jack focused its attention on him. Matt called up a glowing barrier and the bullets bounced away from him. As he closed the gap, he slashed, lowering his defenses. He struck one of the turrets and it seemed to explode as it tried to fire with a sword buried in it.
He pressed his advantage and slammed his blade into the bridge, causing a small blade of ice to rise and stab into the joint of one of the robot's legs. As it came down onto the damaged limb, several nozzles emerged from the smiling mouth of the jack o'lantern. Flames spewed from the flamethrowers and forced Matt to dodge sideways right into a swinging fist. Sent flying for a second time, Matt hit the bridge hard.
"Hey! I told you to be more careful," Natalie said as she knelt to heal him while Lance fired several rounds to cover her. "I can't use my revival spell yet, and even my healing magic isn't particularly strong either." She helped him up after the white glow faded from her healing spell.
Matt growled, "He is really pissing me off. Give me thirty seconds, okay?" Natalie nodded and turned to help Lance. Matt began to focus his anger and pain into his blade.
Lance's last round sparked as it slammed into one of the eye holes, and Jack sputtered for a moment before turning its flames towards him. He could feel the heat as he tucked in and rolled away from the flames, slipping a round into the chamber of his gunblade as he found his feet. He brought the weapon up and fired again. The bullet pinged harmlessly off the shell and Lance swore. He never missed when he was at his full power.
Natalie followed up with a piercing ice blast, staggering the bot with the sheer force of it. Taking a moment to focus, she sent a bolt of light sparking towards it, and it courses through its target as it landed dead center of the eye protruding from the top of the pumpkin.
Natalie called out, "It's stunned, go for it Matt!" When Matt opened his eyes after his moment focusing, rage pulsed in them, and his sword glowed with power. His sword slammed into the outer shell of the robot 5 times in as many seconds, each carrying the full force of Matt's strength.
"Eat vengeance, vegetable!" The five rapid strikes had cracked a hole in the orange armor and Matt plunged his glowing sword straight into the gap. It cut through the interior of the robot and pierced whatever seemed to be powering it. The robot slumped back, devoid of life, as Matt pulled his blade from it triumphantly.
"A job well done, team." Lance said approaching. "With this thing settled, I think it is about time we get to the beach." He wasn't planning on telling them that Jack was an old Halloween prank he had built back in his days as dictator. It was one of those pieces of confidential information he liked to keep to himself.