Another Camp: East, South, and Southeast

It had only taken twenty minutes to braid hair, drink potion, purify the battlefield, take down the spells, and teleport. Robbie was now flapping above the camp, which didn’t look too different… just larger tents. All the M-Ms did appear to be resting… he had been with Rus long enough to understand that something had him wanting this, and he really wanted to know what it was. The teams were all in position, so he began the barrier spell. “Barrier Spell activated… begin purification spell in three, two, one.” He watched as the spells weaved together seamlessly covering the large Camp. His magic felt seventy-five less males in his next scan. “Well done, seventy-five less. Now begin Impenetrable Skin spell… perfect. I am on my way down Belle.” With that he dropped the music ball to help distract them and the M-Ms.

East

Robbie landed with the rest of his party, gently stroking Beta after fixing his off-white chest strap. He was glad to see his buttercream hand was steady. “You are the key, and I am glad to have you with us. We start the same way. I take the first while Belle will purify the second. When Belle moves back Alex will take her place while I take his next to Belle. Fenten and Sasha have the other side while our dear Beta supports the rear.”

“I like you a bit more today,” Beta purred, rubbing against him, practically knocking him over. His grey tail helped to steady Robbie while the others smiled. “I can stay this size for half a day; in case you were wondering. You didn’t know that we are just that amazing. The things dear Spella taught us that we never imagined using.”

Sasha rubbed him while getting her own nerves in check. “Starting with legs then changing as needed,” she added, rolling her head, letting her multicolored, long, braided hair swing across her back. Her long, buttercream colored face and evergreen eyes showed her focus.

“Whenever you are ready, Robbie,” Fenten stated, rolling his wrists, while his light blue eyes searched. They did appear to be sleeping. Robbie removed the tent before them to reveal three tall males. Beta’s blade took the first head, while Belle and Alex took the others before they could wake. Colorful flames dance around as the bodies turned to white ash with the sleeping mats and other items… the other camp tents just had a few mats and random items not mats, lamps, tables, and tableware? But while he purified them, he could tell they were just like the tent, made up of negative emotions that the souls felt before death.

“This is a higher-level Camp than he thought,” Alex stated, fisting his left, cognac hand. He wanted to swear but he needed to keep what he said even so he didn’t alarm them. His steel grey eyes searched their faces. “You can tell by the items made from negative emotions. Belle, when you purify the tent and other items you will feel some of the emotions the victims felt. It won’t last for long, but I just wanted you to know... lots of despair.”

“Robbie, you didn’t tell us that,” Sasha said with a bit of concern, blinking moisture from her worried evergreen eyes. “You did them all… that is a lot of negative emotion to digest…plus it was close to where the Challenge happened… were some of them yours? Is that why a few times you went pale?”

“Please, let us just get this over with,” Robbie mumbled as the last items turned to white ash. He moved, pulling out a lance and waiting for the next tent to come down.

“That is interestingly… negative,” Belle mumbled watching the tent fade away. Her strong light beige hands flexed wishing they were holding a weapon. Her sharp, oval face nor deep blue eyes showed any emotion but her long, Elven ears, far from her head vibrated slightly letting those around her know just how much concentration it took. This one had four tall M-Ms with so many things. She sighed but was ready to purify it all. The third and fourth went the same way with only a few M-Ms that were the taller variety with plenty of items. It wasn’t until the fifth that things changed and she was glad to be fighting.

Robbie purified the fifth tent to reveal nothing but items. The six, tall, M-Ms that were red or blue had circled around. They didn’t expect a large, grey panther with glowing blue eyes to be controlling a blade but only one fell to him, the others were able to parry the attack. Robbie began the purification immediately, while the others switched directions. Now it was five on five and of course they could use magic… land and gravity? He sighed, working on protecting the fighters from the spells. It was Fenten shrinking and growing that finally took the head of a red one.

Sasha decided to use her snake tail to trip the blue one only to have it sliced, but she did get his head. Now she had to wait for the wound to heal, which it was doing. She was stuck in her snake form, unable to move much because of where the wound was. A large slice on the left side that hit just below where a knee would be, hitting all of her colorful scales: the brown from her back side, the yellow with the green and red crisscross pattern, and the light brown from her front side. The green poison was being pushed out, sliding down her tail. The others she had fought were just random wounds but this one… just the right place to make it extremely painful to move. Her buttercream hands fisted as the pain showed the scales under her skin. She needed to realign her thinking, so she placed her hands on her naked buttercream stomach waiting and watching. Belle moved closer after struggling to deal with hers, standing as a sentinel battling to breathe.

Beta finally got his other while giving a distraction to the one Alex was fighting. Robbie was purifying while the group worked on catching their breath. “They were like fighting ourselves but worse… knew our weak spots…” Robbie mumbled, wiping sweat from his buttercream brow, moving his damp, short, auburn hair away from his face. He could feel the brown-green blood that had been sprayed sliding down his mostly naked body. “I don’t like this.”

“Thanks Beta,” Alex sighed, he wanted to say more but he refused to add to their nerves. With a half smile on his square, cognac face and encouragement in his steel grey eyes, “Almost lost my arm… got really close to being unattached.” He flipped his short, auburn hair to help move the brown-green blood out.

“I am ready for the next one…” Belle started taking a deep breath trying to relax her body. Fighting and purifying were extremely different body movements. Her serious deep blue eyes looked around as everyone began to move around her. Her long, light beige, Elven ears were alert while her long, platinum braid was still. She hoped her sharp, oval face showed that she was ready. “Are we staying here and letting them come to us like last time. It feels like we have angered them.”

“The ones next to us are empty,” Fenten mumbled, moving over to check on Sasha who was now able to move again. His accented, oval, caramel face showed concern while her long, buttercream face showed annoyance. He could tell because the scale pattern under her skin were visible. She took his hand, holding it for a moment letting them both calm down. He watched the scales fade into her skin. “I will take them down, so we don’t get blindsided again.”

“I don’t think that will happen,” Belle mumbled taking down the two closest to her while Fenten took down the two he had scanned. They then purified the items. “I think our sixth battle is heading our way. That is a lot of emotion,” she commented softly leaning against Robbie while reaching out to stroke Beta.

“Yes, I didn’t know that Robbie was taking on all that,” Fenten said, taking a moment to stare at Robbie with his light blue eyes. Robbie just shrugged, trying to look as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“I want a new team,” Beta sighed, his grey ears twitching as he listened. “I love you Sasha but this feeling…” They all turned to look at Beta and the size of his grey tail with how his hair was standing up on end. “What I feel coming is…”

“Terrifying,” Alex mumbled, flexing his real hand then his artificial one. “I haven’t felt this in a while… everyone find your courage. This is going to be grotesque.”

“There are six of them, but I feel so much…” Fenten mumbled, taking a moment to run a nervous hand through his short, indigo hair. He pulled his long, oval, transparent blue cicada shaped wings, edged with bold green out since he knew there would be a lot of size changing and flying. All could see the indigo, white, and blue veins that thickened at certain points to create vibrant ovals in an exact, symmetrical pattern. When he started to fly it would just be a colorful blur of blue, indigo, and white behind him. “I know it is Belle’s turn, but Robbie isn’t the fighter she is…”

“Yep,” Robbie mumbled, gently moving Belle forward. He took his stance, solid yet fluid, his green eyes closing for a moment as he shook out his buttercream hands. He was glad that the little bit of gore in his short, auburn hair had fallen to the ground. “We need you to fight, Belle.” They took their formation waiting to see what was already causing them to shake. Eight feet tall, oozing malice, with red glowing eyes, muscles that would make Zeke envious, black wrinkly skin, protruding veins, with hands larger than their heads… and they just had to scream while holding a two handed sword with just one.

The scream caused them to freeze for a moment; it was Beta that moved the group with air magic before the swords could come down on them. “Wake up!” He yelled then growled. “Sasha! You are here and so am I. Pay attention! Hey lovely snakelady, move!” They all seemed to come alive at the same time then.

They split up to keep the swords from Robbie while he strengthen their bodies and weapons feeling helpless as Beta moved the large M-Ms around while his sword tried to find an opening. Thankfully he was faster, his sword sliced through its target while the M-M was still talking about all the horrible things it would do. Robbie purified it quickly while Beta leaned against him. Now they watched, waiting for one of them to either find or make an opening. Fenten shrunk and grew so many times Robbie lost count, but he still was blocked every time. Beta had decided to focus on Fenten. He waited and then as the M-M was blocking Fenten, his sword sliced through the neck, causing Fenten to push away so he wasn’t covered in blood watching the rainbow flames turn it to white ash. He decided to help Alex, sitting on his real shoulder while waiting for the moment…it couldn’t block them both even with its large sword. Neither backed down, moving to support the females. Both were keeping up but the extra sword made it possible to finish what felt like a never ending battle. They all stood, leaning against each other watching the souls being released.

“Robbie?” Fenten started, trying to focus on his breathing and listening to the music. It was still going so either it hadn’t been thirty minutes yet or someone else restarted it. It seemed like that battle had taken forever. Green poison and brown-green blood flowed off from his body and lovely wings. He fluttered them again figuring it would be a few minutes before it was all off and he could pull them back in. “How are you doing?”

“Not great but that was the best choice,” Robbie answered softly. His breathing was almost back to normal, but his green eyes were closed. “I couldn’t have kept up with that.”

“I hate to say it,” Sasha mumbled, watching the gore stream off from her buttercream body and her braided yellow, green, and red hair. She wondered which form she should use. Her legs had been the best fit for that one, but would they for the next? “It looks like the seventh battle is a repeat. Only difference is they are colored. There are still six.”

They agreed and the battle was almost a copy of the last. But the next one… oh that left them speechless. Before them stood two, twelve feet tall, wrinkly blue, M-Ms with four grotesquely muscular arms and two heads each. One head was where it was supposed to be while the other was just off the left shoulder, but down enough there was no way that anybody could get both in one smooth swipe.

“Positive,” Alex started, shaking out his short, auburn hair that was moist from sweat and gore. His cognac, square face and steel grey eyes didn’t show how nervous he was. “There are only two. Negative, we only have five seconds between the head cutting and I am pretty sure that Robbie is going to need help to purify them within the time limit. Maybe Fenten instead of Belle, since she is quite agile, so is Sasha. Both the ladies are excellent fighters… like my dear Helen who I know is enjoying this more than she should.”

This caused them all to smile at least. Robbie nodded, as he hoped the monsters before them would change into something less… just less. Yet, he could already see all the souls begging for release. “Alex and Sasha against one then Belle with Beta against the other…” Robbie mumbled. “Fenten and I can slow them down but… this…”

Fenten’s wings were still dripping so he moved over to stand next to Robbie, with a nervous smile taking his hand for a moment.

“I thank you for your confidence but…” Belle whispered, her long Elven ears showing her nerves as her hands slightly shook. She looked over to Sasha who was pale and holding her spear tightly.

“Breathe,” they heard Londra say clearly in their minds. “As horrible as this sounds don’t worry about what might be coming because they are busy deciding who is going to eat who. Just concentrate on what is before you. How do you take on a giant? Take out the legs, remember to purify the pieces if you can cut them apart. Robbie, don’t try to figure it out just stay in the moment. You and Fenten need to reflect or dispel the spells while the others try and fight. You already have an advantage with an extra warrior. With you and Fenten working together, the others will be safe. It will be an intense battle but doable.”

“Londra,” Belle started, “I don’t know if I can do this. The angle of the two heads and the arms. I believe in Beta but…”

“I believe in you both, you need to believe in yourself too. I have seen you fight, you have this, so does Sasha. You are both quick and they will make you quicker. I believe in you all, now get in there before the next monstrosity comes to play. It looks like Anna’s group is the closest. Find each other and make ready. I believe there will only be two battles for everyone after this.”

“Thanks for the pep talk,” Alex stated through the link. He looked at his team with a nod. “We have this. Sasha, we take this one down. I go for the side while you go for the top. I know how high you can jump with that lovely snake tail.”

“If you try the top I will go for the side,” Beta sighed moving beside Belle. He rubbed his grey body against her bare legs for them both.

Fenten shrunk to sit on Robbie’s shoulder since his wings were finally healed and clean. “My magic is stronger this way. We will get the magic and do all we can to strengthen your weapons. We will do this, then I am going to strangle Rus.”

“My weapon will need love after all of this,” Beta commented as his grey tail circled behind him, a strange growl in his throat like a chuckle. “Let us show them Belle. We will be done first. I am just as strong as the others. I am a FELINE DRAKE!”

Fenten used magic to move the massive M-Ms away from each other. The two headed creatures with four arms didn’t like that. Their arms began to beat their chest as if daring them to attack. Belle took a deep breath, stroking Beta before running towards theirs. Her plan was to run past it then come from the back, but she was left going on the defensive since the four hands began to attack her. Beta’s sword tried to help but the four arms were extremely fast. It tried to use magic, but nothing connected. After thinking of everything normal Beta tossed Belle into the air with magic. The M-M looked up, but the sun was right there. It continued to look up, never noticing that she had landed behind it without a sound in true Elf fashion. With a nod to Beta, they took off both heads.

What they didn’t get to see was how Sasha and Alex fought fearlessly too. Their plan was to have Sasha get behind to take off the main head while Alex worked on the side head, since he could only jump so far and only had so much magic to help him get there. They went on the defensive, getting the timing of the attacks. Sasha smiled at Alex, and he nodded back giving her a few more words of encouragement. In an instant she changed, lengthened, coiled, and slid under, jumping into the air behind it. It started to turn only to have the side head and top head removed. Sasha wanted to laugh at how simple it has been, but she was sure there were tears in her evergreen eyes. She moved quickly, hoping the blood would move off from her tail soon. She didn’t even know it could grow longer; it was Alex’s suggestion. She rubbed her lovely light brown scales below her belly button, then moved down her yellow sides with red and green crisscrossing lines, moving some if the blood away. Now she wondered just how long her snake tail could grow? Alex slowly backed up, watching realization and questions cross Sasha’s face. He too wanted to laugh at how they had missed the doable attack and focused on just the size. He missed his team but this one… oh how fun it might be just to stay with them. His life could have real meaning again.

Robbie and Fenten stood concentrating on the two burning in the rainbow fires. Hoping that they would turn to white ash. Soon they started to break down causing everyone to sigh in relief. After the last white ash disappeared the two relaxed. Robbie fell to his knees, while Fenten fluttered off to sit with Sasha. Beta shrunk and climbed into Alex’s lap. “The others are coming to us. They wanted a walk, plus they were done first,” Beta pointed out.

South

Anna nodded to Trenton as the music started. “We do this fast,” she said looking at Fern, Julius, and Theda with passion in her deep green eyes and conviction across her heart shaped, light tan face. “I have a feeling they won’t sleep for long. This whole place feels different… so keep us going. As soon as they are ash we move.”

Theda rubbed up against them all to provide a bit of comfort for himself. Julius was so tense he almost knocked him over. But he let his sword slide into his vault just long enough to pet Theda’s large head, but he still held his shield tightly. His green eyes bounce around between the group but his square, light tan face looked just as worn as theirs. Fern reached down to rub Theda’s head as she stood in her human form. Her vivid blue eyes continued to circle back to Trenton. She worked hard to keep the worry from her soft fawn colored, oval face. As if knowing her thoughts his large, golden pecan hand swished her long, violet braid. His long face showed little emotion but a slight smile, showed just before he tossed his short, layered, black hair causing her to smile back.

“Let’s go,” Trenton nodded, watching the first tent fade away. The battle started the way the other did except the M-Ms were larger and there were more items for them to purify. “Just leave the items until last,” he stated. They all nodded in agreement while hoping it wouldn’t come back to haunt them. They wanted to get the females taken care of fast so they could help the other teams. The first three were still asleep and thus they were quick. Well not as quick as the other camp because it took more to purify the tents and the M-Ms. Anna thought they were at least three songs in. She didn’t really hear the music like last time since she needed to be more focused. But she did like switching out with Fern because it helped ease the stiffness of standing still and concentrating.

The fourth was awake but still only surrounded by the larger M-Ms, it wasn’t trying to create. She just looked at them all in the strangest way, causing them all to pause but not for long. Theda took out the eggs while Trenton used shadows to sneak behind the female, quickly removing her head. Anna and Julius fought together, only as twins could, while Fern purified. Theda and Trenton moved to help take out the other large M-Ms and they were on to their fifth.

Here was the disturbing and perhaps the reason why the fourth female was just waiting. Six males stood staring at them blankly while hatchlings were gnawing. It was as if they didn’t feel the pain of being eaten. The female laughed, about to teleport away. She was dancing before them and still the ones behind her did nothing. Maybe the dance was to show how strong her magic was but… Her wrinkly violet skin was shining with brown-green blood, while her black hair and beaded necklaces swayed over her long breasts. She had never noticed Fern, since the Fairy was small and tucked under Anna’s deep red braid. She flew out fast, taking the head of the female. Strangely this excited the males in various ways, yet they still didn’t seem to care that they were being eaten, nor did they move. Theda and Fern took out the ones on the ends with the hatchlings before retreating behind Anna who was quickly purifying them. Trenton and Julius were battling the four left. The large M-Ms and hatchlings fought back but didn’t move. It made the battle more difficult somehow. Anna wished she could help but the female had so many souls…

“We need to move,” Trenton stated, blocking the hatchling that was buried inside the green M-M that wanted to chew on him instead. “We can’t leave them because one might be a female egg, but we don’t have a lot of time before the sixth one teleports. She is doing the same thing.” Fern came flying behind and worked on removing the M-M heads while Julius and Trenton kept their focus. Theda’s flying sword took off the heads of the two hatchlings that were alluding Julius and Trenton. It was close but Trenton was able to move them to the sixth just before she teleported.

“I got this,” Anna told Fern who was fluttering her butterfly shaped, pink wings with lines of white, and spots of blue, orange, and yellow trying to shake the blood off so she could switch sizes. Anna grabbed the teleporting female with magic, removing her head quickly before purifying her. She shrugged her shoulder quickly, moving her braided red hair. She never looked to see the other horror. Before the others were five males that were eight feet tall with two hatchlings each. “Oh, that is…”

“I am fighting with my eyes closed,” Fern grumbled, actually closing her vivid blue eyes. She was no longer worried about pulling her wings inside since she wasn’t turning back. She knew that a few slices would keep them out longer, but she didn’t care. She had fought most of these battles with her wings out since she was constantly changing sizes. “I don’t know what crawled up Rus’ butt… I will yank it out. Magic don’t fail me now!”

Theda chuckled, his hazel eyes glowing, “she actually means it. Good thing she has amazing magic sense. She took out the one on the end. I will get the other one leaving the middle for our guys. Yuck.” He moving a little to get a better view, letting the gore slide out of his long, yellow fur while his tail moved behind him.

“Let the souls be free,” Anna yelled purifying them, wishing she could close her deep green eyes, but she needed to watch. The moment the heads came off she needed to act. Fern took out another while Julius and Trenton finished theirs. Fern sat on Anna’s shoulder watching the rainbow fire dance while the gross turned to white ash and the souls faded away, a few waving. “It is a bit funny, but I don’t even notice that I am practically naked or that you guys are.”

“I notice,” Julius sighed, “since the blood just has to run down your whole body. But I get it. Glad Mara isn’t here, or I am not sure how I would concentrate.” He leaned his sword against his leg to shake out his short, red hair watching Trenton do the same with his black hair. He then noticed how the blood was just running off from Fern’s violet braid. “Maybe I should grow my hair long enough to braid. How would I look with shoulder length hair?” This caused them all to smile, which they needed in so many ways.

“I will take the last one. The music stopped and started, I wonder who did it,” Fern mumbled absently. “I don’t know if Trenton can take too much more,” she whispered to Anna. “He has a kind heart, and this makes mine ache…”

“The last one…” Trenton started, his low voice a bit softer than usual. “Mara is heading for their last one in a few moments. They had a slow start. Here we go.” Trenton moved them with shadows since it was easier but what was before them wasn’t.

“Nope,” Julius grumbled, letting his sword go so his relatively clean, light tan hands could scrub his face as if trying to erase what his green eyes had just seen. “That is just wrong in every way…” Before them stood a female with deep yellow skin, six necklaces, dark brown hair which was bad… but the fact that she was ten feet tall, chewing on her own eggs with two heads and four arms just made the whole thing so much worse.

“Theda, get the eggs,” Anna whispered, trying to keep her breathing even. If she allowed fear to enter her then the Purifying Flame wouldn’t work. She couldn’t let that happen! “You deserve a whole day of brushing…”

“I will take an hour in the morning and evening for the next week,” Theda decided, his hazel eyes closed as he used magic to squish the eggs completely.

Fern wasted no time purifying the eggs while the large female laughed. This strange sound caused them all to cover their ears and wince. Both heads began to scream in unison, “I mother! I rebuild! I will leave now! Nothing you little meatsacks can do!” With that she swiped at Anna, who rolled out of the way as the hand contacted Julius’ shield. Another noise that was strange and grated on worn nerves.

Trenton moved to help push the large hand away. Any other time one of them would have laughed since the height difference was so vast. “We need to remove both heads... then it will take both Anna and Fern to purify it. That is what the shadows are telling me.”

“She is ten feet tall! I know that you are eight, so it is only two feet, but I am under six. That is four feet taller and wider than me!” Julius complained. “Plus, she is so strong!” With that the two successfully pushed her arm away causing her to lose balance for a moment.

“Guys, not to add to the… but she is about to teleport,” Fern mumbled, fluttering her pink butterfly shaped wings to help her concentrate. This was a lot to take in. She was trying to remind herself it was just a ten feet tall, disturbing container that they had to open. Seeing the souls begging for salvation helped. “It will take both of us to keep her here. So, it is just the three of you. Go Theda!”

Theda rubbed his body against Fern’s legs. “I am so glad you think I am amazing but that is a feat for me… my blade, nor theirs will cut through. What do we do?”

Fern and Anna held hands to pull her back to the ground. She pounded it with all four fists, causing land spikes to fly at them. Theda flicked his yellow, fluffy tail, and they fell back to the earth. He growled lightly, his hazel eyes watching for more. She stood back up beginning to yell again. “You will die! I will eat!”

“Breathe,” they heard Londra say in their minds. “As horrible as this sounds don’t worry about what might be coming because they are busy deciding who is going to eat who. Just concentrate on what is before you. How do you take on a giant? Take out the legs, remember to purify the pieces if you can cut them apart. So, Anna, what do you have?”

“A female with four arms, two head, that is ten feet tall, nothing too bad,” Anna responded with a dry laugh holding tightly to Fern’s hand.

“We too have an oversized female. We are trying to figure out how to fight with our eyes closed because that is a lot of bouncing… she is thirteen feet tall because of the mistakes we made getting here. So, remember, free the souls… don’t doubt yourselves. Oh, she has two heads and six arms. Too bad you are so far away. Looks like I get to go play with Zeke after this. They have two males that are twelve feet tall with four arms and three heads.”

“That is disturbing,” Trenton added to the conversation. “She is right, we have this. Everything goes for my legs, so I know what to do. Thanks, Londra.”

“Yea, legs… yippee, have fun,” they heard before the mind link went silent.

“That is why she is our Captain, she just knew we needed a little boost. She was clear too,” Julius said proudly feeling his confidence return. “I can’t use a lot of magic, but I can reinforce my shield and sword. Theda, if you could run interference that would be great. Here I go!” He would wonder later why he was the first to rush that thing.

“My brother is so brave,” Anna mumbled, wishing she could do more but knowing if she or Fern released the spell that was holding the female, all of this was for nothing. Watching was horrible for them both, but Julius continued to slam into the legs of the screaming female while Theda used magic to protect him. She stumbled, causing Trenton to attempt to take both heads but the arms were always there. Theda watched as they tried again, and again. The female M-M heard him purr but never watched the large, yellow, fluffy cat. A curved wall in just the right place had Trenton connecting with both heads. Fern and Anna wasted no time covering her large frame with Purifying Flames while Theda stretched and laid down behind them and the other two sat on the ground panting. They watched nervously as she began to turn into white ash.

“Let’s go meet up with Robbie before the next…” Trenton started, standing back up.

“Don’t say anything,” Fern mumbled, shrinking to ride on his shoulder, snuggling up against his sweaty neck. Julius pulled his sister into his arms. Theda shrunk to snuggle into Anna’s arms for their short rest as they headed to meet up with Robbie’s group who was almost finished. “If I counted right…we have four…no three songs after we meet up until the one hour mark. Even though this has been…icky we are still rocking it!”

This brought a smile to the team as they moved forward.

Southeast

“How you doing?” Anna asked as they approached the resting team. “Your fire is still pure, colorful, and burning…” she mumbled coming behind Robbie who was sitting on the ground next to Belle. Sasha was beside her, coiled up with Fenten in her lap, while Alex was on the other side of Robbie with Beta curled up in his lap. They looked like they were holding each other up. Robbie opened his green eyes to see them and sighed in relief with the others.

“I like Sasha’s snake tail, it is cool yet warm all at the same time,” Beta commented, twitching his whiskers. “But, Alex was closer… plus Fenten is small and I like chasing him,” he finished with a purr causing Fenten to chuckle softly.

“We don’t have long until they come this way,” Trenton commented, his voice low but softer than usual. “We took down a few tents on our way here. So many items…”

“Yep,” Alex sighed, moving to stand up, Beta in his arms. “In his rush he picked low numbers but forgot to look at the size of the M-Ms. Helen sent me a random message. It may not have been his fault… entirely. She will explain when we are done.”

“Not sure it helps but knowing Rus…” Fenten trailed off. “Okay, what is coming this way, lovely Demon eyes?” he asked, fluttering off from Sasha’s lap, growing to his human size without his cicada shaped wings.

“Looks like black ones, meaning no magic as far as we have learned,” Trenton started, noticing that Alex nodded in agreement. “Ten, but they have two heads, side by side, and four arms. Oh, and they are only my size.”

“Which is still tall,” Julus grumbled, closing his green eyes. “Whatever,” he sighed, rolling his light tan shoulders and wrists. “Who is doing what? I know I am fighting but…”

“I will purify,” Fern volunteered, fluttering off from Trenton’s shoulder growing to her normal human size, flexing her pink butterfly shaped wings before bringing them into her body causing her long, violet braid to sway. “Anna can get the next round.” She smiled at Trenton, trying to forget all that she had seen and wipe it away with the male before her that was slowly winning her heart. His kindness overwhelmed her at times… Theda moved out of Anna’s arms to stand next to Fern in his large, fluffy, yellow form.

“Good, I could use some movement,” Anna responded, smiling at her brother. Her light tan, heart-shaped face and deep green eyes showed exhaustion mixed with a bit of excitement. “I may be a little worn, but I will keep up with you, two heads or not.” Julius just laughed.

“I don’t think I am up to fighting,” Robbie decided, rolling his buttercream shoulders and stretching out his body not realizing that Anna was watching every movement of his toned body. “My magic level is still in good shape, so I will purify with Fern.”

“Are you sure?” Belle and Fenten asked in unison. Fenten smiled since Belle’s long ears wiggled showing her worry, while her accented, oval, light beige face remained neutral.

“Yes, both of you are excellent fighters while I am a long range fighter which doesn’t work against these. I will provide some distractions until one loses two heads,” Robbie decided.

Beta took his larger size moving over next to Robbie and Fern, his grey tail swatting Theda who just grumbled. Belle did her best not to laugh, but she was sure that was what they were going for. “Seven fighters and two lovely Feline Drakes, who is taking on two?”

“I have a better idea,” Theda grumbled, moving away from Beta’s tail. “I will take three and close them in a box until you are ready. I am that good,” he finished twitching his yellow ears.

“Yes, you are,” purred Beta. “I will be a distraction, then we can let the others out of the box. Look alive, wow, there are a lot of spirits inside them. Some are really old… like twenty years since their death. How is that possible… doesn’t matter…”

Sasha held Fenten’s hand for a moment, enjoying the simple touch trying to remember a day she didn’t think of him. Not many since she met him months ago, when he came with Anna to the south side. They had both looked horrible but so full of hope while she was being dragged around by a man who had no idea how to treat a snakeperson. Fenten gave her a smile, lightening up his accented, oval, caramel face while his indigo eyebrows danced above his light blue eyes. How could she not smile back while hoping she didn’t blush.

The seven moved forward to intercept the eight feet tall, black M-Ms. Theda growled, capturing three and moved them to the side with a happy mew. He looked at Beta signaling that he was in charge of protecting Robbie and Fern. What they saw surprised them a bit. Everyone was exhausted yet they were going toe to toe with the creatures before them, and the M-Ms were not speaking. It was just a silent battle of intense skill. Alex was fighting beside Belle, thinking of his Helen while amazed that he was keeping up with four arms. Two with swords and two without, but his shield wouldn’t last for much longer, he motioning to Belle. They quickly switched, taking off the arms that didn’t hold blade then switched back. This caused the M-Ms to growl but they didn’t start the hate speech, just continued fighting. Fern and Robbie purified the arms. But it wasn’t just the two sets, everyone seemed to have the same idea. Sasha distracted two of them while Fenten shrunk long enough to zoom around, removing the arms without blades. All agreed that fingernails were more dangerous. Trenton just sliced them off since they were the same height. He looked over to see that Anna was moving just fine and decided to be the first one done. He looked back, just to smile at Fern. He took the two heads with little problem making Fern’s heart jump a bit as she began to purify it. How could she not with all that golden pecan colored skin on display. Not to be outdone, Anna jumped around, using her lance to slice off all eight arms letting her brother take the two heads of his then she came back just in time to finish hers. They looked over to see that the others were close. Theda let out the three and Trenton decided to intercept one while Anna and Julius engaged another, leaving Fenten and Sasha to take on the last.

Belle moved back and started to add to the Purifying Flames so the other two could have a slight break before the next set of heads. Robbie nodded in thanks, letting her take over his four while he began to purify the falling arms. Alex came back to rub the heads of their helpers while watching. It was in that moment that he smiled. Out of the ten now defeated, eight had left them gifts, soul crystals. He moved to retrieve them from the piles of ash. He handed one to each of the fighters, then one to Robbie and Fern since he didn’t have a way to store them. “These are soul crystals; they are dropped when at least one of the souls inside enjoyed the battle which helped them pass on in peace or your emotions purified them before the battle was over.”

“That is why there was no horrible innuendos,” Sasha mumbled, looking at the crystal.

“It usually means the next one will be horrible, so you should all switch to your human forms because while this spell heals the other forms it doesn’t do it as fast,” Alex explained.

“So, no switching for the next battle?” Fern asked, stretching. She had needed the extra focus so she had brought her wings back out so now she pulled back in her pink, butterfly shaped wings with lines of white, and spots of blue, orange, and yellow.

“If it is going to be hard, I would suggest that we feel it out,” Robbie decided, petting Beta and Theda. “I also think I will be best back here… I promise I can handle it. My magic is still above half…” Anna came to him, taking his hand and smiling.

“We get it,” Belle stated, with a nod. “But you are a better fighter than you give yourself credit for. True, these not so much, but other things you make look easy.”

“It appears we have the same, except they are colored and one is different…” Trenton started. “I am not sure, but something feels off. Like there is more negativity?”

Beta and Theda went stiff, slowly growling while building up magical energy around them. Robbie and Anna backed away while looking to see what made them so focused. In that moment, just before they seen the ten, walls of earth and air were erected around the team. “They are too spaced out,” Beta grumbled, strengthening his spells. Those words had everyone backing towards them, but it wasn’t soon enough. Loud banging could be heard, but it wasn’t from fists but something else. Their spells were cracking from the pressure, but both remained casting. A dark rainbow stood of M-Ms before them with one that was black, shooting bolts. One after another until… six made it through.

“Will you please move in together,” Theda growled loudly. “We have to make it little so we can heal them. Now!” Theda and Beta were pawing the ground, pouring power into the walls around them. The archer stopped, realizing that he couldn’t get through. There were yells and screams but they were not like the ones they had heard before.

“Who is hurt…?” Anna started, looking around. Fenten’s back was bleeding while he was lying face down in the dirt, Julius had something sticking out of his thigh, Sasha was holding her side with a strange, cream colored, bolt sticking through her, Trenton had one sticking through his left bicep… that was four where were the other two? She turned to see Robbie lying on the ground, one was in his left thigh while the other was practically in the middle of him. She froze, what was she supposed to do since the magic wasn’t healing any of them. She fell to her knees instinctively. Alex was behind her, trying to get her attention, rubbing her shoulders. He was speaking but she really couldn’t hear anything.

“Anna, get a hold of yourself!” Belle yelled, leaning down so her nose was touching Anna’s. “I need to help keep the walls strong; you need to find out what these… bolts are. Now!” With that she went over to Theda, concentrating her magic to add to his.

“She is right,” Alex stated, continuing to rub her shoulders. “Belle and Fern are helping keep the wall strong. They look like porcupine quills. I know they are larger but when one is tainted, they are this size, about three feet. That means that we need to take them out and when I do, you need to heal. They usually have paralysis poison on them. It isn’t related to the M-Ms so the spell wouldn’t recognize the poison. You need to be ready.”

“Okay,” Anna whispered, coating her hands with protective magic. Her shaky hands reached out to touch the bolt and sure enough it was covered with a white substance that her appraisal skill told her was paralysis powder. All it had to do was touch a muscle and… She closed her eyes going through all the spells she had learned while purifying her hands… Jumping up she rushed to Fenten who didn’t have a bolt to pull out. “Sorry, you are my test,” she mumbled before mixing the antidote spell with a fast, high healing spell. He began to move after the wound was closed. She then looked around… Sasha then Robbie. “Alex, we need to do Sasha next. Then Robbie, Trenton, and Julius… I know my brother can hang in there,” she finished softly.

Alex nodded and together they worked on removing the bolts and healing the injuries. After they were all moving it was Julius that pointed out, “we take the wall down that is just going to happen again. Not only that, but we also have all that magic coming at us and I do believe they are out there snacking on each other. Theda turned the walls... less transparent. Ideas?”

Anna was holding one of the bolts in her protected hands, twirling it and trying to figure out how magic could stop… “Anna?” she heard Londra start. “Did you just get attacked by porcupine quills too?”

“Yes, I was able to heal them but now what do we do? As soon as the walls come down…”

“I am coming to you.” A moment later Londra was beside her, washing the blood away. “That is better. Now, let’s think fast. How do we fix this?” she asked, showing Anna a magic spell with twenty-three circles of runic symbols. Robbie slowly moved closer as Anna bent down to study it.

“It uses gravity to stop the bolts when they are close… interesting… and then reflection skin… yes I used that to help before… paralysis block… but it lets in the other magic that is going under our feet,” Anna mumbled. “That is everything…if we change this,” she pointed to a line and began to rewrite it, changing the color and the spell a bit but it still wasn’t coherent, so it wouldn’t stay together. Robbie pointed to a character in a different line before changing it. That helped the spell, but it still wasn’t there. Londra changed something in the third row then Anna changed two different rows. Robbie changed the order of three lines. Anna changed two other things then the spell took shape, the circles glowing and rotating around. “That looks good, I can test it,” Julius offered wanting to get out of this box. He hated enclosed spaces and this one, though made to protect, was freaking him out. At least the sunlight was getting in.

“Okay, but I am going out with you,” Londra decided applying the spell to them both. She nodded at Beta and Theda; they created a small door in the back. “So, how is your day going?” Londra asked as they walked around the dome with a smile on her round, sweaty, light beige face.

“Not the best, but it was alright a few minutes ago,” Julius answer with a chuckle. “Wow, we had ten, including the strange porcupine archer. Now he is bigger, uglier, and meaner looking while there are twelve others… taller and uglier with magic. Yippee.”

“The positive,” Londra started blinking her dry hazel eyes, “if this works, we are done. All of them are around our two cubes of protection. So, which one do you want to take on?”

“My sister and your Elf are going to kill me,” he sighed, rolling his light tan shoulders and wrists. “Let’s go with… is that red? Well, he is on the end. At least there are only two heads and four arms… but they are so big.”

“Yep, twelve feet tall,” Londra sighed, pulling her lance out of her vault. “Don’t think, react. We are good at that. I will get the left if you get the right.”

“Yea, like it is going to be that easy,” Julius grumbled, running with her. The M-M hadn’t noticed them yet. Londra made some air steps for them both and just like that he was burning in her Purifying Flames. Julius laughed, how could he not. The Archer was shooting at them while the other eleven tossed a volley of magic at them. Yet Londra just stood there concentrating on the one before her with a smile. The bolts fell to the ground, the magic slid off, as did the brown-green blood that was tossed at them. “Hey, it is all good!” he yelled. “Londra has to go back after she finishes this one…in like twenty seconds.”

With that the walls came down, both large cats laid on the ground, panting while Robbie sat beside them. She understood, her insides were not happy with her either. With a nod she returned to her team to get a lecture.

“Ah, I was going to ask about Rus,” Anna mumbled, looking over to see Fenten and Fern grow their human versions almost eight feet tall. “That is cheating, yet they are so pretty,” she sighed. “Robbie, I am only doing this one… then I will be back to help.”

“Can’t let Londra one up you?” Julius chuckled, tossing his head letting the gore slide off his short red hair. A small smile on his square face while exhaustion showed in his green eyes.

“That was amazing,” Alex added. He wondered how shocked his cognac, square and steel grey eyes looked because he was shocked and in awe. “I mean, I know you are all good since I have been training with you but her use of magic and skill…wow.”

“What was amazing is how fast they came up with that spell when they focused,” Belle stated, moving to work with Alex. They headed towards the archer to take him down first.

“Is this supposed to be pink?” Anna wondered, using air steps to get to where she needed to be then removed both heads since the male M-M just kept screaming since its lightning didn’t work. She felt a tug from behind her. A dark blue one just pulled her hair and was rewarded with a different type of lighting. With a squeal of happiness Anna removed its two heads as well. She jogged back to stand next to Robbie while purifying the dark blue one with a smile. “Did you see that! It pulled my hair and zap! Oh, I am so glad it worked so well. I mean he fell to the ground since the spell was so good! We did add an amplifier for larger hands… Oh, that was so awesome!”

Her smile was fake by the end, but at least she was standing next to Robbie. They were almost leaning against each other. Her mind was foggy but the last of the M-Ms were turning to white ash. “Okay, we are in charge of purifying the southern part. So, everyone takes down a tent or two. We work together… it won’t take long. Then we meet in the middle for our shower before taking it all down. We need two from our team to help with the land so make sure you save some magic for that. I should be good to work on the air with Londra.”

“I can’t move,” Robbie whispered. “But I can still take down some tents from here.”

The team nodded, while Alex sighed. He had a skill to use magic on the battlefield to take down the tents, but he couldn’t do a lot. He decided to take down what he could then return to Robbie, just in case there was a random one their scans missed. “Reminder, stay in groups or partners just in case.” There were waves and fake smiles as they broke apart into groups to take down the twenty some tents left in the south.