As the Fears confronted each other, the rest of us entered the forest. It didn't take long for us all to get split up. i found myself wandering on my own through the forest, until I came across somebody else. There was a young woman, wearing an eyepatch, who raised a weapon against me when they spotted me. I calmly teleported up to them, knocking the weapon from their hand, and tripping them with the hook of my cane.
"Wait wait wait!" They said, raising their hands and pleading with me. "You're Dr. Ferris, aren't you? I'm Genome."
Of course. The AI turned robot turned flesh and blood. intriguing. Now that I was closer, i could sense the light presence of Eldritch Energy coming from them.
"We're here for the same purpose," they said. "Sort of... Sorry i pointed my weapon at you."
I nodded, and helped them to their feet. Then I retrieved their weapon and handed it back to them. I knew I couldn't fully trust them, but the enemy of my enemy and all that jazz. Plus, it was better than wandering the forest alone.
We began moving forward. We chatted a bit. Going over our respective goals, and whatever else ended up coming up. I don't remember much of our talk, but I know i opened up to them about Tyler a bit. We were occasionally interrupted by some random mooks trying to kill us, but it wasn't a huge problem. Until we ran into... them...
I don't even know what to call them. Saplings, maybe? yeah, I'm not great with nicknames...
There were three of them, walking in a jerky motion. Their expressions were blank, and I felt a sinking feeling in my gut when I noticed the thorns and roots poking out from beneath their flesh.
Tyler...
Genome, confident from our last few victories, charged forward. the Sapling's movements suddenly sharpened. Their attacks and footwork were precise. Almost as if those weren't their movements at all. In little time at all, two of them had disarmed Genome and knocked them to the ground.
I immediately teleported between the Saplings and Genome, whistle between my lips and arms raised to shield them. I blew a blast of intense sound directly at the two Saplings in front of me, sending them flying. I then hurled an ice spear at the third Sapling, impaling it through the heart. But it didn't go down. The other two shortly got back up, blood dripping from their ears. That soundwave must have blown out their eardrums. But they didn't seem phased by it at all.
Suspicion confirmed.
They were already dead.
Lethal injury wouldn't be enough to bring them down. I'd have to do a lot worse.
One of the Saplings with the bloody ears charged at me first.
HELLFIRE? I thought.
GOT APLAN? He asked.
You got the fire? I replied.
ALWAYS, He confirmed.
Then give them hell! I told him.
I relinquished control over to him momentarily, and he hit the Sapling with a blast of fire that pretty much destroyed its torso. Its head and limbs fell to the ground, smoking, and still twitching.
The other two were coming towards me, and I teleported above them. The paused in confusion, unable to see me as i hooked my cane to the branches and dangled above the one with an icicle through its heart. I pointed my finger gun directly down at it.
"Up here, asshole!" I shouted. Asit looked up at me in alarm, I shouted "BANG!" and sent a bolt of lightning tearing through it directly from above. There wasn't much left of it after that.
I teleported back to the ground to confront the last of them. It faced me, and its thorns grew out even longer. I drew the blade from my cane. The Newborn infused steel gave of staticky blue light in the forest's presence.
The Sapling charged at me, swiping at me with its thorns. I teleported off to the side and sliced its arm off. It spun at me, swinging with its other hand, fully turning its head to face me before delivering the blow. It was using the fighting skills Tyler had learned from Kallaway.
It wasn't enough, though. I teleported behind it, severing one of its legs. It nearly toppled over, before bending its remaining knee, regaining some balance. But it wasn't fast enough. I took off its remaining arm, followed by its other leg. As its torso began falling as well, I sliced off its head , which rolled a couple feet away.
The individual pieces were still active, and twitching, but unable to do much in their detached state. I dropped to my knees, breathing deeply and trying my best to process what I had just gone up against. Genome must have slinked off at some point, because they were gone by the time I had pulled myself together. I decided to inspect the Sapling I had just dismembered, as it was the most intact. Or at least, intact enough to examine properly.
It was as I had feared. These people... these corpses, were being remotely manipulated through a series of roots spreading throughout their entire bodies....
Tyler...
What have you done?
