“Let’s see how it likes fire!” Jude laughed.
As liquid flames scorched the side of the massive plant, it finally responded. Semi-translucent boils grew around the flames, and a moment later, they exploded, sending green liquid flying in every direction. Where the ooze landed, the fire was smothered. At the same time, the top of the plant bulged outward. As Ethan watched, it split into a ring of huge leaves, surrounding a massive flower. The red petals were difficult to see from below because the brown leaves and swaying branches were in the way.
Jude immediately changed targets and started unloading her machine gun at the flower, and this time Lily joined in. Unfortunately, most of their bullets were deflected by the hard leaves, which weren’t damaged at all. Those few shots that did hit the flower did only minor damage that healed quickly. It looked like the petals were vulnerable but could regenerate.
Kyle turned to Ethan. “At least it doesn’t seem to be able to attack us back.”
Before Ethan could respond, over a dozen green buds appeared around the bottom of the plant’s stem. These immediately expanded into root-like growths that snaked their way across the ground toward the players. At the same time, the tree’s three branches transformed into claw-like limbs with three flexible digits.
Ethan turned to scowl at Kyle. Hidden behind his helmet, his expression was impossible to see, but Kyle appeared to know it was there.
“Oops. My bad. I’ll keep my mouth shut now,” Kyle remarked sheepishly.
Michael’s voice boomed in everyone’s ears. “Watch out! Some roots have gotten into the vents and are coming at you from behind.”
Ethan whipped his head around just in time to see a long green tentacle emerge from behind a desk about a dozen feet away. There was a red flower on its tip, and in the center was a nasty-looking needle.
“Time to leave!” Ethan yelled as he flipped over the windowsill.
A moment later, he and Kyle both landed in the center chamber. On the other side of the room, Lily and Jude came into sight as they rushed out of a door.
“All right, this calls for some modifications to the plan,” Michael told everyone. “Girls, continue to focus on attacking the main body of the plant. Kyle and Ethan will stay mobile and cut down those roots before they can reach you.”
“Sounds good,” Ethan replied as he sprinted toward the closest root. Kyle was right behind him.
As Michael had requested, Jude and Lily fired at the boss’s main body as they slowly walked closer to it. Kyle activated his jetpack and jumped ahead of Ethan, but then Ethan jumped and shot the root with a hook. A quick mental command activated the reel and pulled him straight to the tendril. As he landed next to it, Ethan pulled out his blade and sliced the root in two. Instantly, the detached portion of the plant withered and turned black.
“Sweet move!” Kyle laughed as he veered off to get another target.
After detaching his hook, Ethan reeled the rest of the cable in and then ran toward the next root. This one was slowly working its way toward Lily and Jude.
“Hey, something is going on with the roots near the center!” Kyle announced as he cut down a tendril.
Ethan looked toward the plant’s main body. At first he didn’t see anything, but then he noticed some strange buds. They were growing out from the main plant and slowly spreading across the roots. As Ethan kept running, the buds transformed. Some turned into small red flowers, and others extended into vines that rose into the air and ended in spines. They looked eerily like snakes of some sort, and Ethan was instantly wary of them.
As Kyle headed in the other direction, Ethan noticed a slithering tendril that was getting close to Lily. Raising his hand, he hooked the offending root and pulled himself to it. Slicing it in two, he then looked around for a new target.
Michael’s voice appeared in his ear. “This isn’t working. Gunfire is ineffective, and there are too many roots spawning. We need to find a new avenue of attack or we’ll be overwhelmed.”
CHAPTER 11
OPTION BRAVO
Ethan took a second to think. “There must be a way to get at the flower. It seems like the obvious weak point. It wouldn’t be there if there wasn’t.”
“I could try jumping up the plant using my jets,” Kyle suggested.
“Hmm, let’s not try that just yet,” Michael replied. "My drones have scouted out the top, and it’s more dangerous than it looks. Not only are there those claws, which will undoubtedly attack you as you climb, but there is also a giant toothy maw in the center of the flower.”
“Yeah, okay. That does sound like a good reason not to do what I just said,” Kyle admitted.
Ethan grinned as an idea occurred to him. “If we can’t go up, then let’s bring it down to us.”
“How are we supposed to do that?” Jude asked sourly. “That brown bark makes the plant almost impossible to hurt.”
“But those green roots growing from the base are vulnerable,” Ethan explained. “If we destroy them right up to the stem, it will probably hurt the creature, and if it’s using them as support, then it might even topple over.”
“Yes, that could work,” Michael said. “We have a new priority target, the point where the roots connect to the boss’s main body.”
“Sounds good to me!” Jude laughed as she blasted away at the roots. Green ooze splattered across the floor as her fire cut into the base of the plant, but it didn’t look like a particularly fast process.
“I think your efforts are better spent providing cover fire,” Michael said. “If you don’t mind, please aim at those upper limbs so our melee combatants can get in close without having to worry about them.”
“Whatever.” Jude grunted as she switched targets. Her machine gunfire slammed into the nearest branch, blowing one of its digits off.
Lily spoke up next. “I don’t like the look of those buds. Since my rifle doesn’t have much explosive power, I’ll concentrate on taking out the small flowers and the barbed vines.”
Eager to do his part, Ethan turned and ran toward the boss’s main body. He hooked a small root ahead of him and used his reel to jump over to it. After slicing it clean through, he ran inward again.
The roots grew more numerous and thicker as he ran, and he passed a bunch of growing buds. One of the buds exploded as Lily took it out. As Ethan drew closer to the main body, he was forced to run next to a huge root that was over four feet thick with a barbed feeler rising from it. Eyeing it warily, Ethan gripped his blade tightly but didn’t slow down. When he got within several feet of it, the swaying tentacle struck. It lunged at him, and its spiny tip shot straight at his face. Ethan dodged to the side. The spine missed him. Lunging forward, Ethan wasted no time in cutting the tentacle right off the root. As the piece of plant fell, it withered away into dust.
“Watch out. These barbed vines do exactly what you’d think, try to stab you,” Ethan reported as he kept running.
“I already knew that,” Kyle laughed. “You’re falling behind, man.”
Ethan sighed as he cut down another feeler and avoided a flower. “It’s not a competition.”
“That’s good for you because I just finished cutting off my first root!” Kyle replied smugly.
“You only managed that because I was covering your ass. Don’t overextend and unbalance the team,” Jude told him. Ethan could still hear the whine of her gun. How much ammo did she have?
Another barbed vine struck at Ethan, but he dodged it and cut it down. He was very close to the plant’s trunk now. Before him, a huge green root grew from the boss’s brown bark. A bulb began to grow in front of him, so he quickly popped it with his blade. Ethan glanced up, but he didn’t see any of the branches coming his way. The one to his left was badly damaged, and the one to his right looked to be chasing one of Michael’s drones. Satisfied, Ethan sprinted to where one of the roots joined the main trunk, and he began to cut. It took multiple messy blows to hack his way through the root, but when he was done, the entire plant shiv
ered slightly. He’d hurt it! Grinning, Ethan looked around for the next root to attack.
Michael’s voice popped up on team chat. “Watch out! You have a branch incoming.”
Immediately, Ethan glanced up and saw that the clawed branch to his left had regenerated all of its digits and was headed his way.
“I see it, and I’m evading,” he told his allies.
Instead of attacking the next root to his right, Ethan sprinted and leapt over it. It put some distance between him and the claw. However, as he landed on the other side, he noticed a flash of color to his right. One of the red flowers had been hiding on the far side of the root and was only about four feet away from him. As Ethan turned to face it, the flower rustled and shivered. Nervously, Ethan raised his blade into a defensive position, but it didn’t prevent the flower from bulging and spitting out a thick cloud of yellow dust. Unimpeded, the cloud of pollen slipped around Ethan’s energy blade and slammed right into his face.
“Ack, I can’t see,” Ethan said as he stumbled backward.
Michael quickly responded on team chat. “Report. What happened?”
Ethan’s faceplate was stained almost completely yellow. Wiping his face with his hand accomplished nothing, so he crouched defensively and tried to figure out what was going on. “I got sprayed by one of the little flowers! There’s pollen or something all over my helmet.”
“You’re out of my sight. I can’t cover you,” Lily told him. She sounded nervous now.
Ethan was feeling more than a little paranoid himself, although he was glad Lily cared. Quickly, Ethan activated the camera on his hookshot and sent the feed to his helmet, but the pollen had gotten onto there as well.
“I’m sending over a drone. Don’t take your helmet off. The pollen is probably poisonous.” Michael added.
“Noted,” Ethan replied tersely. There wasn’t a claw coming at him, was there? He couldn’t see.
“I have you on the drone’s vision, and I’m sending you the signal,” Michael urgently informed him. “Patch it onto your visual display. There’s a branch headed toward you, and you’re going to need to dodge it!”
Ethan stumbled backward and went through some mental commands. “Patching!”
As he finished, a bird’s eye view of himself appeared before his eyes. There he was, a man in black armor with yellow highlights and a tattered brown cloak. He was surrounded by green roots, and there was definitely a branch headed right toward him! Frack! Ethan turned and ran toward what he hoped was a clear path but almost ran into a root and had to quickly correct his route. It was disorienting trying to navigate using the drone’s view from above.
Still running, Ethan put a foot down and stepped on a piece of rubble. His ankle twisted as it came into contact with the unexpected debris. The armor locked to prevent injury, but Ethan lost his balance and tripped. He tried to catch himself as he fell but failed because he still couldn’t see anything. There was a loud crack as his helmet impacted against the ground.
Stunned, Ethan lay on the ground for a moment. What? Gritting his teeth, he began getting back onto his feet. That was when the claw grabbed him. Its long digits closed around his chest and yanked him into the air.
“It’s got me! What’s happening?” Ethan yelled desperately as he struggled to free himself. Panicked, he forgot about the drone vision for a moment.
“I think it’s about to drop you into its mouth!” Kyle remarked. He sounded shocked but also excited, which annoyed Ethan.
“Can you free yourself?” Michael asked.
Ethan squirmed but nothing happened. “I don’t think so.”
“Hmm, that’s a problem. Jude won’t be able to destroy the claw without hitting you as well and then you will fall to ground. You’re already quite high up. Can you access any of your weapons?” Michael asked hopefully.
“No, my arms are stuck.”
Suddenly, Lily spoke up. “I’m going to try something. Get ready to use your hookshot or you will fall and hit the ground.”
Before Ethan could process her words, there was a loud bang followed by a splattering sound. Ethan felt one of the claws holding him loosen and then there was another bang. A second digit released Ethan, and he began to fall. He couldn’t see the ground, but he could feel himself diving toward it.
“Oh, God. This sucks so much.” Ethan desperately tried to aim his hookshot using only the drone footage from above.
He twisted around in the air, thrust out an arm, and activated the grappling gun. There was a hiss and a thud as the hook slammed into the remains of the boss’s arm. Somehow, Ethan had hit his target.
“Yes!” he cried in relief as he activated the reel. The device instantly kicked into action, slowing his fall and turning it into a controlled descent.
“Wow, that was an unbelievable shot, Lily. You blew the that branch apart with one perfectly placed bullet,” Jude remarked in surprise. It was the first genuine-sounding compliment Ethan had heard her make.
“It was nothing,” Lily replied. “I just got lucky.”
Michael chuckled in disagreement. “You’re selling yourself short. That looked like far more than mere luck to me.”
Misjudging the distance to the ground, Ethan landed awkwardly, but he got right back up onto his feet. Studying the aerial footage Michael was sending him, he saw the last intact root to his right, so he headed toward it and drew his sword. A few messy slashes later, it was taken care of. Ethan then quickly stumbled away from the plant while avoiding nearby tentacles or flowers. Thanks to the overhead view, it was a little like playing a super retro video game.
Behind Ethan, there was a loud hiss from above, near the top of the plant. As he was running alongside the remains of a root that was shriveling up fast, the ground began to shiver. This concerned Ethan.
“What’s going on?” he yelled.
“You were right,” Michael responded distractedly. “Cutting of the roots has destabilized the main body. It’s tottering, and it looks like it could fall at any moment.”
“It’s not going to fall on me, is it?” Ethan asked nervously.
Michael hummed thoughtfully. “It doesn’t look like it. Just keeping running and you should be fine. Lily is circling around to meet you.”
Nervously, Ethan picked up the pace and did as he’d been told. He’d found Michael’s reassurances to be less than perfectly convincing, but he didn’t have a better idea. Thankfully, he soon saw Lily appear at the edge of the drone’s vision. Now that all the roots were dying and shriveling up, there was nothing in her way, so it didn’t take very long for her to reach him.
“What are you doing?” Ethan asked her as she ran up and put a hand on his shoulder. It was reassuring to feel her, since he was still blind.
“I’m scanning this gunk you managed to get yourself covered in. I probably have something that will remove it,” she replied distractedly.
A moment later, Ethan heard a hissing noise as she sprayed something on his faceplate. Whatever it was worked quickly. The yellow stain that blocked his sight grew runny and dripped away.
“I can see! Thanks so much,” Ethan remarked happily as his helmet’s cleaning function kicked in and completely removed the rest of the yellow gunk.
Lily shrugged. “No problem. I’m glad to help.”
“What was that stuff you used on my helmet, anyway?” Ethan asked her as he looked around to get his first good view of the battlefield in a while. It seemed like it might be useful.
“Um, it was just a mix of some acids I had on me for crafting purposes. I’m a bit of a hoarder,” Lily replied reluctantly. “Anyway, we should probably go help the others.”
Ethan was already staring at the main body of the plant. It had been swaying, but as he watched, it finally fell. The huge trunk collapsed sideways and slammed into the ground. The impact caused the entire arena to vibrate, and Ethan was thrown momentarily off balance.
“No one was crushed by that, were they?” he asked over team chat.
/> “No, we’re all fine,” Michael replied. “Jude is moving around to get a better shot at the top of the flower. Feel free to go support her.”
Ethan glanced over his shoulder to see Lily, and she nodded, so he immediately began running. “Will do!”
Together, they headed toward the fallen body of the boss. Its huge brown trunk lay across the arena floor now, although it hadn’t been rendered completely immobile. The top of the trunk had bent up slightly, so the flowered head of the plant was a few feet off the ground and the massive red flower itself appeared to be able to swivel around.
Jude and Kyle were already in position. The flower was pointed right at them as they stood about thirty feet from it. There was a new gun in Jude’s hands. She had replaced her huge machine gun with an equally large grenade launcher. Her heavy purple armor easily held the weapon steady as she aimed straight at the plantlike boss.
Ethan was close enough now that he could finally get a good look at the fallen flower. Just like Michael had described, there was a huge gaping maw in the center of the massive red petals. The round opening was full of spikes and looked to go straight down to the bottom of the creature.
Bang. Jude opened fire, sending a grenade straight at the open maw. The projectile shot through the air and into the plant’s mouth.
“I think that’s going to kill it!” Kyle laughed.
At the same time, the top of the plant shivered and jerked before vomiting forth a wave of green fluid. The grenade that had just gone down its gullet was shot back out. The blob of slime flew straight toward Jude and Kyle, who immediately tried to get out of the way. It didn’t look like they were going to make it, but then the grenade went off. The explosion scattered the wave of green slime in every direction. Instead of being hit by a wave, Kyle and Jude were knocked over by a hail of small ooze drops.
Ethan and Lily quickly came to a stop as slime rained down all over the area in front of them. A few seconds later, the last bits of ooze hit the ground, and Jude and Kyle got back up.
Kyle sighed despondently as he shook himself clean. “All right, sorry. I should have kept my mouth shut. I’m bad at that.”
Worldshift- Virtual Revolution Page 12