Post by Mariomasher on Dec 15, 2008 21:04:05 GMT -5
Chapter 7: The Trip to the Shadow Marsh: Blorgont's Cave
The four had just gained a fourth member, a wraith named Bert, and now they are going for the Shadow Marshes. What will happen there? What will they find?
"I'm pretty sure we have to go through Blorgont's Cave to reach the Scrindou Mountains. And over them is the Shadow Marsh." Dave explained.
"You seem to know your geography very well. Mind locating a shortcut?" MM teased. Dave knew he was joking. "And..." MM turned to Bert. "How come you can't just teleport us to there, Bert?"
"I don't like to teleport everywhere. I like to feel normal once and a while. Plus, I can't teleport more than 1 person at a time." Bert said. MM nodded, accepting everything just said. He understands what it's like not to be normal. He then pertained to his memory. He remembered the fourth grade. He had found a stone outside. It was covered in ice but it was the end of the school year, it was in June. He remembered a kid coming over to him and telling him off. How something weird had happened. He remembered when he got mad at that kid. He remembered closing his eyes tight and slammed his fists on the table. He remembered that when he opened his eyes the kid was frozen in ice in front of him. Nobody understood what had happened. From then on, he was called a freak. He had no clue what had happened at that moment. He just didn't know. MM heard a voice now.
"MM?" He had heard this voice before. He knew who it was. It was Kendra. He heard it and it was loud and clear.
"You guys hear that? It's her! I can hear her!" MM told his fellow team members. They all looked puzzled.
"Hear what?" Sour asked.
"I heard Kendra! I swear! She was loud and clear!" MM exclaimed. "But..." He looked at his friends and saw them looking at him like he was crazy, except for Bert. Bert knew what it is like to sound or look crazy. “Why didn't you guys hear it?"
"Maybe..." Sour began.
"Maybe you’re hearing things,” Dave said.
"I guess" MM said. He knew he didn't imagine this but he also knew there was no convincing them. They continued on their way to Blorgont's Cave. MM dragged behind a little bit, thinking about what he had heard and where it came from.
"MM?" He heard it again.
He thought to himself ' This is not real...this is just a part of my imagination '.
He then got a response, "No, this is not your imagination." MM stopped. The rest of the group kept going.
'Who is this? Where are you? ' MM asked the mysterious voice he was hearing.
"You know who I am....you know me very well, its me, Kendra. I'm locked in the Shadow Temple. You know that as well." MM gasped, his team still hasn't noticed his stopped position.
'How are you talking to me? Why can't they hear you? ’ MM thought.
"I'm simply sending thoughts to you and you reply. That should explain this enough. Now I need to tell you something." Kendra replied.
' Is it about the Blorgont's Cave thing? '
Kendra's voice softly spoke, “Yes. In that cave is not the normal Blorgont, whom is a usually kind beast to travelers, but instead is a dark presents and Blorgont's life signs are gone. It's as if he was killed."
'How do you--' MM began thinking.
"I am in the Shadow Temple... I know what he has done...just not specific enough to tell you exactly." She responded. "You know what you have to do..." MM nodded and then ran to catch up to his team who were already at the door of the cave. They entered the darkness. MM ran faster and faster to catch up with them before the dark presence that Kendra had foretold came to be. He sprinted into the dark cave. It was pitch black in there. He could only see the entrance where he had came from. No exit. He could hear a constant dripping noise from the Stalactites. He didn't like it. He could feel the dark aura in the room. He was walking around looking for his friends. His foot kicked something. He quickly stabbed it. His blade glow in the dark. He could see the object he had stabbed. It was a strange creature. It was like a Minotaur but with wings and the horns was not there...instead there were marks as if the horns were torn off. He didn't like that any more than the aura. He now trusted that it really was Kendra. He now knew it wasn't his imagination. He began to look for his friends in the ominous cave. He bumped into a figure. It was Bert.
"Little dark in here, don't you think?" Bert laughed.
"Dude you scared me...i just ran into--" MM started.
"Blorgont, I know...what could have done all this? This cave used to be full of life and light...now its dark and deathly." Bert said.
"Let’s go find the others...we need to get out." MM said.
"Why? I’m not leaving until I know what’s going on here!" Bert argued.
"Kendra told me." MM said.
"Look, not that I'm saying that I'm not crazy but it IS your imagination." Bert put his hand on MM's shoulder.
"No" MM said. “There’s a dark presence in here. And I don't like it."
“There is a dark presence in here. I can feel it as well but I am not leaving if I don’t know where it is.” Bert replied.
“Fine, but if we go looking for this dark presence we should rendezvous with the rest of the group.” MM added. Bert nodded. MM held out his watch and spoke into it. “Alright, squad, rendezvous at the entrance of the cave. Once all of our squad has arrived, we will search for what has caused this mess. I will also assign you Squad numbers so we don’t have to mention names all the time.”
“Copy that.” Dave replied.
“You got it.” Sour added. MM and Bert went to the entrance in the light and waited for the rest of the group to join them. Dave came out from the shadows. Sour followed but a minute behind.
“Alright. I am going to assign all of you numbers. You will not complain about your number. If you don’t like it, suggest another for yourself. Dave, you will be referred to as 07. Sour, your number is 40. Bert, you will be 62. And I am 38. Anyone got a problem with their numbers?” Nobody had an issue. “Alright, now for a squad name. Let us brainstorm.” The group pondered for a moment. Then Bert got an idea.
“Alpha Squad.” Bert announced.
“I’ll go with that.” MM said.
“Fine by me,” Sour said.
“Alpha 07. I like it.” Dave added.
“So we are now Alpha Squad. I am Alpha 38. Bert is Alpha 62. Sour is Alpha 40 and Dave is Alpha 07. Now that we got that down, we can find this force. Keep your com open and report anything that could be a threat. Alpha Squad, dismissed!” The group spread out to cover the cave. MM was walking around when he saw a dim light, from a torch. “ 38 to Alpha Squad, find a dim light on any part of the cave and stand by. 38 out.” Dave walked around and found the same dim light but he stationed in a different spot.
“07 in position, standing by.” Dave said. He was stationed in the leftmost part of the cave.
“62 in position, standing by.” Bert stationed on the ceiling, clinging to a stalactite.
“40 in position, standing by.” Sour stationed in the rightmost part of the cave.
“All alpha’s in position, 38.” Dave reported.
“Hold positions. I will dismiss 62 to crawl along the ceiling and once he is spotted, we will assault the force.” MM said. They all reported a ,”Copy that” or ,”Alright 38.” . They waited. The torch then flickered and a figure appeared. It was a figure in a dark cloak. It had its back to everyone and was unable to be identified. “62, take it in slow.”
“Copy that, 38.” Bert crawled along the ceiling and studied the subject. He saw but a dark shroud and could see no more.
“Don’t get too close, 62.” Sour warned. Bert nodded and rested above the figure.
“I don’t see why you hesitate.” The figure said. “Attack me. You know you want to attack!”
“He might not be talking to you, 62. Hold your ground.” Dave explained.
“I know, I know.” Bert was getting annoyed by these obvious remarks. He then covered his mouth, knowing he said it too loud.
“I AM talking to you…” The figure then ripped Bert off the ceiling and slammed him to the ground.
“Move in!” MM yelled. The three other Alphas ran in to save Bert. The figure just smirked under his dark shroud and before MM knew it, he was on the ground. He had no clue what had happened. Dave held his position so he could snipe from a distance. He released an arrow but the figure spawned a shield of shadow energy and blocked it. “62, that the same energy you use?”
“Yes but he’s obviously mastered it. I wouldn’t imagine me using shadow energy like this in my life!” He responded.
“I thought you were a wraith. Aren’t wraiths dead?” Sour added in as he tried to strike the figure, but was reflected and sent into a wall with ease.
“Yeah but—“ Bert began.
“Why do you say that then?” Dave shouted. He shot an arrow again but was still deflected.
“IT’S A DAMN FIGURE OF SPEECH!” Bert yelled.
“GAWD!” Napoleon Dynamite came out of nowhere. All fighting stopped.
“O…..K…….” Bert said. He then kicked the figure. His foot was grabbed but he teleported away.
“So you have this power too, hm?” The figure started. “You must be Bert. My master has told me about your betrayal. No use in fighting me. I’d wipe the floor with your corpse.” He smiled. Bert’s face turned red. He was angry.
“62, he is trying to anger you. Don’t give him what he wants.” MM said.
“Stay out of this, you coward. Don’t interfere with me!” The man yelled. “Bert, you even remember me?” Bert thought. He had no recollection of this strange man.
“No” He said firmly.
“I am Spod, Commando of the Dark Legend Army.” Spod said. “But I have work to get to. I have to destroy you but also another task, I have to go retrieve some girl. She recently escaped from the Shadow Temple…”MM gasped. He knew it was Kendra. He had to confirm this.
‘ Kendra, Kendra, you there? ’ MM thought.
“Yes, but I can’t talk now, it won’t be long before I have guards after me. I escaped from the temple.” She replied.
‘You are going to have a Wraith, named Spod, come after you. He said that he has to go get someone who escaped the temple. Run. Run as fast as you can. ’ MM thought.
“Thanks, I’ll keep an eye out.” she said.
“… So while I’m gone, I’ll leave you a couple friends to play with.” Spod finished. He held out his hand, and summoned form dark energy, two creatures. Bert recognized these creatures.
“These are Stalogni warriors. Once you kill them, they come back. You have to find a way to destroy them all in one shot.” Bert announced over the com.
“Have fun…” Spod chuckled. He backed into the shadows and disappeared.
“Alright Alpha Squad, we need to come up with a strategy. Until we come up with one, keep killing them.” MM said. The group all responded in an agreeing statement. Dave shot an arrow and decapitated one. The body disintegrated into energy and reformed with the head. MM hacked another in half. It reformed. They all agreed to attack one all at once. MM and Sour sliced, Dave shot an arrow, and Bert just plain annihilated it. It still came back.
“There’s nothing we can do now! It’s impossible. We don’t have sunlight to destroy the shadow energy within them so we could kill them.” Dave pointed out. Suddenly, one of the two creatures was getting torn apart so fast, it couldn’t reform.
“What the hell?!” Sour exclaimed. One of the creatures was destroyed. It was torn apart extremely fast. “Who or what just hit that thing?” The figure appeared in front of the group. MM recognized this figure.
“Is it really you?” MM asked.
“You really think I’d let you go on an adventure full of killing without me? Come on! You know that I love this stuff!” the figure walked over to MM and they gave each other a high five and then a hug.
“Long time no see! How did you get here and how did you just kill that?”
“I never told you but I have extreme speed abilities. And for those who don’t know me, I’m Gabe.” Gabe said.
“Well, welcome to the club!” Sour said. “I’m Sour, Alpha Squad number 40.”
“Hey, Sour, what you specialize in?” Gabe asked.
“Close Combat.” He replied.
“What about you?” Gabe turned to Dave.
“I’m Dave, Alpha Squad number 07. I specialize in accuracy and ranged combat.” Dave said.
“And this is Bert.” MM introduced Bert.
“Hey, Gabe. As you just have been informed, I am Bert, I specialize in…well…” Bert teleported from one place to another and back. “Dark matter, I guess, and my Alpha Squad number is 62.”
“Now, you know me, Gabe. Alpha Squad number 38. What should your number be.” MM thought. “Ok, I’ve got it. You’re Alpha 72.”
“Now that we’ve got that down, do you mind tearing the other apart?” Dave said, trying to hold back the warrior. Gabe sped over there and tore apart the other Stalogni Warrior.
“One word, ownt.” Gabe chuckled.
“Good to have you here. Now let’s get going. We need to scale the Scrindou Mountains next.” MM said. “Alpha Squad, move out!”
The four had just gained a fourth member, a wraith named Bert, and now they are going for the Shadow Marshes. What will happen there? What will they find?
"I'm pretty sure we have to go through Blorgont's Cave to reach the Scrindou Mountains. And over them is the Shadow Marsh." Dave explained.
"You seem to know your geography very well. Mind locating a shortcut?" MM teased. Dave knew he was joking. "And..." MM turned to Bert. "How come you can't just teleport us to there, Bert?"
"I don't like to teleport everywhere. I like to feel normal once and a while. Plus, I can't teleport more than 1 person at a time." Bert said. MM nodded, accepting everything just said. He understands what it's like not to be normal. He then pertained to his memory. He remembered the fourth grade. He had found a stone outside. It was covered in ice but it was the end of the school year, it was in June. He remembered a kid coming over to him and telling him off. How something weird had happened. He remembered when he got mad at that kid. He remembered closing his eyes tight and slammed his fists on the table. He remembered that when he opened his eyes the kid was frozen in ice in front of him. Nobody understood what had happened. From then on, he was called a freak. He had no clue what had happened at that moment. He just didn't know. MM heard a voice now.
"MM?" He had heard this voice before. He knew who it was. It was Kendra. He heard it and it was loud and clear.
"You guys hear that? It's her! I can hear her!" MM told his fellow team members. They all looked puzzled.
"Hear what?" Sour asked.
"I heard Kendra! I swear! She was loud and clear!" MM exclaimed. "But..." He looked at his friends and saw them looking at him like he was crazy, except for Bert. Bert knew what it is like to sound or look crazy. “Why didn't you guys hear it?"
"Maybe..." Sour began.
"Maybe you’re hearing things,” Dave said.
"I guess" MM said. He knew he didn't imagine this but he also knew there was no convincing them. They continued on their way to Blorgont's Cave. MM dragged behind a little bit, thinking about what he had heard and where it came from.
"MM?" He heard it again.
He thought to himself ' This is not real...this is just a part of my imagination '.
He then got a response, "No, this is not your imagination." MM stopped. The rest of the group kept going.
'Who is this? Where are you? ' MM asked the mysterious voice he was hearing.
"You know who I am....you know me very well, its me, Kendra. I'm locked in the Shadow Temple. You know that as well." MM gasped, his team still hasn't noticed his stopped position.
'How are you talking to me? Why can't they hear you? ’ MM thought.
"I'm simply sending thoughts to you and you reply. That should explain this enough. Now I need to tell you something." Kendra replied.
' Is it about the Blorgont's Cave thing? '
Kendra's voice softly spoke, “Yes. In that cave is not the normal Blorgont, whom is a usually kind beast to travelers, but instead is a dark presents and Blorgont's life signs are gone. It's as if he was killed."
'How do you--' MM began thinking.
"I am in the Shadow Temple... I know what he has done...just not specific enough to tell you exactly." She responded. "You know what you have to do..." MM nodded and then ran to catch up to his team who were already at the door of the cave. They entered the darkness. MM ran faster and faster to catch up with them before the dark presence that Kendra had foretold came to be. He sprinted into the dark cave. It was pitch black in there. He could only see the entrance where he had came from. No exit. He could hear a constant dripping noise from the Stalactites. He didn't like it. He could feel the dark aura in the room. He was walking around looking for his friends. His foot kicked something. He quickly stabbed it. His blade glow in the dark. He could see the object he had stabbed. It was a strange creature. It was like a Minotaur but with wings and the horns was not there...instead there were marks as if the horns were torn off. He didn't like that any more than the aura. He now trusted that it really was Kendra. He now knew it wasn't his imagination. He began to look for his friends in the ominous cave. He bumped into a figure. It was Bert.
"Little dark in here, don't you think?" Bert laughed.
"Dude you scared me...i just ran into--" MM started.
"Blorgont, I know...what could have done all this? This cave used to be full of life and light...now its dark and deathly." Bert said.
"Let’s go find the others...we need to get out." MM said.
"Why? I’m not leaving until I know what’s going on here!" Bert argued.
"Kendra told me." MM said.
"Look, not that I'm saying that I'm not crazy but it IS your imagination." Bert put his hand on MM's shoulder.
"No" MM said. “There’s a dark presence in here. And I don't like it."
“There is a dark presence in here. I can feel it as well but I am not leaving if I don’t know where it is.” Bert replied.
“Fine, but if we go looking for this dark presence we should rendezvous with the rest of the group.” MM added. Bert nodded. MM held out his watch and spoke into it. “Alright, squad, rendezvous at the entrance of the cave. Once all of our squad has arrived, we will search for what has caused this mess. I will also assign you Squad numbers so we don’t have to mention names all the time.”
“Copy that.” Dave replied.
“You got it.” Sour added. MM and Bert went to the entrance in the light and waited for the rest of the group to join them. Dave came out from the shadows. Sour followed but a minute behind.
“Alright. I am going to assign all of you numbers. You will not complain about your number. If you don’t like it, suggest another for yourself. Dave, you will be referred to as 07. Sour, your number is 40. Bert, you will be 62. And I am 38. Anyone got a problem with their numbers?” Nobody had an issue. “Alright, now for a squad name. Let us brainstorm.” The group pondered for a moment. Then Bert got an idea.
“Alpha Squad.” Bert announced.
“I’ll go with that.” MM said.
“Fine by me,” Sour said.
“Alpha 07. I like it.” Dave added.
“So we are now Alpha Squad. I am Alpha 38. Bert is Alpha 62. Sour is Alpha 40 and Dave is Alpha 07. Now that we got that down, we can find this force. Keep your com open and report anything that could be a threat. Alpha Squad, dismissed!” The group spread out to cover the cave. MM was walking around when he saw a dim light, from a torch. “ 38 to Alpha Squad, find a dim light on any part of the cave and stand by. 38 out.” Dave walked around and found the same dim light but he stationed in a different spot.
“07 in position, standing by.” Dave said. He was stationed in the leftmost part of the cave.
“62 in position, standing by.” Bert stationed on the ceiling, clinging to a stalactite.
“40 in position, standing by.” Sour stationed in the rightmost part of the cave.
“All alpha’s in position, 38.” Dave reported.
“Hold positions. I will dismiss 62 to crawl along the ceiling and once he is spotted, we will assault the force.” MM said. They all reported a ,”Copy that” or ,”Alright 38.” . They waited. The torch then flickered and a figure appeared. It was a figure in a dark cloak. It had its back to everyone and was unable to be identified. “62, take it in slow.”
“Copy that, 38.” Bert crawled along the ceiling and studied the subject. He saw but a dark shroud and could see no more.
“Don’t get too close, 62.” Sour warned. Bert nodded and rested above the figure.
“I don’t see why you hesitate.” The figure said. “Attack me. You know you want to attack!”
“He might not be talking to you, 62. Hold your ground.” Dave explained.
“I know, I know.” Bert was getting annoyed by these obvious remarks. He then covered his mouth, knowing he said it too loud.
“I AM talking to you…” The figure then ripped Bert off the ceiling and slammed him to the ground.
“Move in!” MM yelled. The three other Alphas ran in to save Bert. The figure just smirked under his dark shroud and before MM knew it, he was on the ground. He had no clue what had happened. Dave held his position so he could snipe from a distance. He released an arrow but the figure spawned a shield of shadow energy and blocked it. “62, that the same energy you use?”
“Yes but he’s obviously mastered it. I wouldn’t imagine me using shadow energy like this in my life!” He responded.
“I thought you were a wraith. Aren’t wraiths dead?” Sour added in as he tried to strike the figure, but was reflected and sent into a wall with ease.
“Yeah but—“ Bert began.
“Why do you say that then?” Dave shouted. He shot an arrow again but was still deflected.
“IT’S A DAMN FIGURE OF SPEECH!” Bert yelled.
“GAWD!” Napoleon Dynamite came out of nowhere. All fighting stopped.
“O…..K…….” Bert said. He then kicked the figure. His foot was grabbed but he teleported away.
“So you have this power too, hm?” The figure started. “You must be Bert. My master has told me about your betrayal. No use in fighting me. I’d wipe the floor with your corpse.” He smiled. Bert’s face turned red. He was angry.
“62, he is trying to anger you. Don’t give him what he wants.” MM said.
“Stay out of this, you coward. Don’t interfere with me!” The man yelled. “Bert, you even remember me?” Bert thought. He had no recollection of this strange man.
“No” He said firmly.
“I am Spod, Commando of the Dark Legend Army.” Spod said. “But I have work to get to. I have to destroy you but also another task, I have to go retrieve some girl. She recently escaped from the Shadow Temple…”MM gasped. He knew it was Kendra. He had to confirm this.
‘ Kendra, Kendra, you there? ’ MM thought.
“Yes, but I can’t talk now, it won’t be long before I have guards after me. I escaped from the temple.” She replied.
‘You are going to have a Wraith, named Spod, come after you. He said that he has to go get someone who escaped the temple. Run. Run as fast as you can. ’ MM thought.
“Thanks, I’ll keep an eye out.” she said.
“… So while I’m gone, I’ll leave you a couple friends to play with.” Spod finished. He held out his hand, and summoned form dark energy, two creatures. Bert recognized these creatures.
“These are Stalogni warriors. Once you kill them, they come back. You have to find a way to destroy them all in one shot.” Bert announced over the com.
“Have fun…” Spod chuckled. He backed into the shadows and disappeared.
“Alright Alpha Squad, we need to come up with a strategy. Until we come up with one, keep killing them.” MM said. The group all responded in an agreeing statement. Dave shot an arrow and decapitated one. The body disintegrated into energy and reformed with the head. MM hacked another in half. It reformed. They all agreed to attack one all at once. MM and Sour sliced, Dave shot an arrow, and Bert just plain annihilated it. It still came back.
“There’s nothing we can do now! It’s impossible. We don’t have sunlight to destroy the shadow energy within them so we could kill them.” Dave pointed out. Suddenly, one of the two creatures was getting torn apart so fast, it couldn’t reform.
“What the hell?!” Sour exclaimed. One of the creatures was destroyed. It was torn apart extremely fast. “Who or what just hit that thing?” The figure appeared in front of the group. MM recognized this figure.
“Is it really you?” MM asked.
“You really think I’d let you go on an adventure full of killing without me? Come on! You know that I love this stuff!” the figure walked over to MM and they gave each other a high five and then a hug.
“Long time no see! How did you get here and how did you just kill that?”
“I never told you but I have extreme speed abilities. And for those who don’t know me, I’m Gabe.” Gabe said.
“Well, welcome to the club!” Sour said. “I’m Sour, Alpha Squad number 40.”
“Hey, Sour, what you specialize in?” Gabe asked.
“Close Combat.” He replied.
“What about you?” Gabe turned to Dave.
“I’m Dave, Alpha Squad number 07. I specialize in accuracy and ranged combat.” Dave said.
“And this is Bert.” MM introduced Bert.
“Hey, Gabe. As you just have been informed, I am Bert, I specialize in…well…” Bert teleported from one place to another and back. “Dark matter, I guess, and my Alpha Squad number is 62.”
“Now, you know me, Gabe. Alpha Squad number 38. What should your number be.” MM thought. “Ok, I’ve got it. You’re Alpha 72.”
“Now that we’ve got that down, do you mind tearing the other apart?” Dave said, trying to hold back the warrior. Gabe sped over there and tore apart the other Stalogni Warrior.
“One word, ownt.” Gabe chuckled.
“Good to have you here. Now let’s get going. We need to scale the Scrindou Mountains next.” MM said. “Alpha Squad, move out!”
