Chapter 80: Juniper
"How much further is it…." A girl groaned.
Teddy didn't look back at her. Instead, he continued rummaging through the grass, traveling deeper into the forest.
Behind him, Morgan traced his steps alongside the large black man, Hannibal, and the spunky black woman, Anitry.
Even further beyond, more faces and legs trudged through the forest: fifteen of them, a group of both men and women under the directive of Hannibal and Mama Chi — a new sub group that's sprung within Gate Two.
"Stop." Teddy spread his arm out.
He placed his other palm on the forest floor and closed his eyes.
"Two Orcs up ahead. Three o'clock." Teddy said.
From there, Hannibal stepped forward with two other men trailing him. They slowly moved through the forest, crouching behind bushes and tip-toeing around trees.
At three o'clock, in the distance, Hannibal spotted their targets.
Utilizing hand gestures, Hannibal pointed to the two men with him then to the two Orcs in front of them. He instructed one man to wrap around from behind while the other man should rush in from the side.
The two men nodded and disappeared into the brush.
Then, Hannibal stood up. His throbbing chest burst through the forest, nearly as large as the Orcs themselves, immediately catching their attention due to his robust size.
The Orcs spotted him and growled and shouted.
But like a tank, Hannibal began sprinting towards them. He bumped into branches and bushes, stepped over flowers and slammed into butterflies all while bulldozing forward.
The two Orcs met him with similar confidence.
They clashed in the grass, fists flying and grunts falling.
Hannibal clenched his fist and swung wide, but the Orcs surprisingly moved faster than him — their size didn't limit them as much as Hannibal expected.
And yet, Hannibal's forearm slammed into the Orc's head.
The Orc's neck snapped back.
Meanwhile, the Orc's fists bludgeoned Hannibal. Clenched, green, and raw — the Orcs slammed their knuckles into Hannibal's gut, striking his stomach and liver repeatedly.
Hannibal keeled over, but he didn't relent.
He fought through the growing pain and grabbed the Orc's wrist. He yanked down and,
*crack*
Hannibal rocketed his knee up into the Orc's chin.
The Orc stumbled backwards, disorientated.
But Hannibal was still taking blows from the other Orc; his chocolatey skin was swollen and a deep shade of blue.
And although Hannibal was robust, unlike the Orcs, his size did limit him. Hannibal was slow and sluggish — an all-around brute.
As a result, the Orc slipped behind him. He got his jade forearm underneath Hannibal's throat and squeezed him into a headlock.
Hannibal slammed his elbow into the Orc's ribs, but the Orc's grip remained tout. And to make matters worse, the second Orc was gathering to his feet.
"Take this!!" A man's voice erupted from behind Hannibal and the Orc.
"Rainfall!!" The man shouted.
Immediately, a miniature cloud of gray collected above Hannibal and the Orc's head. As the name suggested, rainfall began to plummet from the miniature cloud unto Hannibal and the beast.
In addition to the rain, the man charged the Orc's back and straddled his bulging trapezius muscles.
The man climbed the Orc and began clawing at his eyes.
Due to the man's distraction and the wetness from the rain, Hannibal was able to slip out of the chokehold just before the second Orc returned.
The second Orc ran forward ready to tackle Hannibal to the ground, but in response, Hannibal smiled bloody.
He brought his arm back and tightened his fist.
"Reflect!" Hannibal roared.
His arm instantly blurred.
It exploded with speed unregistered to the naked eye.
Hannibal's fist disappeared then reappeared snug underneath the Orc's jaw.
A loud crack followed.
Hannibal felt the Orc's jaw fracture like glass, splitting into multiple separate pieces before the jade creature flew backwards.
The Orc's feet lifted off the ground and plummeted back. The Orc crashed into the ground and tumbled through the grass.
Meanwhile, Hannibal's breath was suddenly heavier. Sweat dripped down his neck and exhaustion plagued his eyes.
Behind him though, the Orc cursed with rainfall continued to resist. He grabbed the man from off his back and slammed him into the ground, but he didn't follow up.
Rain continued to fall on top of the Orc's head, blurring his vision and annoying him to no end.
Then finally, the third man appeared.
He appeared from behind them and raced directly towards the wet Orc.
The wet Orc saw him approaching and readied his stance, but the man continued to charge in recklessly.
A few feet away from the Orc, the man leaped into the air and spread his arms as though he wanted to give the Orc a bear hug.
The Orc caught him in the air.
He squeezed the tiny man between his thick fingers, and yet the man stared at the Orc vindictively — as though he had already won.
"Freeze…" the man caught in the Orc's grasp muttered.
From his body, some sort of mist or steam exploded forth.
As if his pores were geysers, frosted air released from the man and coated the Orc.
Within seconds, the water upon the Orc froze over.
His jade skin flushed white and his green lips cracked purple.
His heartbeat slowed until it no longer beat at all.
Miraculously, the Orc froze to death.
With the two Orcs neutralized, the rest of the rescue party emerged from the forest.
Hannibal, keeled over on his knees, nodded in their direction.
"That was tougher than I anticipated." He wiped his brow.
Hannibal looked at the state of himself and his two men.
The rainfall man was slammed into the ground, rendered unconscious.
The freeze boy was awake, but like Hannibal himself, his mana was depleted and exhaustion plagued him.
"I think you did pretty well." Teddy said.
"You didn't lose." Morgan commented.
Hannibal shook his head.
"Sir Isaac would have cut these two down in seconds." He said. "We still have a long way to go."
Teddy shrugged. "If you say so."
Then, a woman at the back of the pack pointed towards the sky.
"Hey!" She gathered everyone's attention. "Isn't that smoke?"
The rescue party looked towards the sky.
In the distance, above the trees but below the clouds, gray smoke rose towards the heavens.
"We must be getting close!" Teddy said. "Let's go!"
***
A fire raged through the forest.
Tree's ignited and burned aflame.
Leaves of orange and yellow burst from the tree tops and spread with the wind.
The flames carried from tree to tree, set ablaze, the forest fire engulfed all and left nothing but ash and blood behind.
Teddy and Hannibal, the rescue team and all, stood on the boundary of the forest fire.
They saw giant huts blazing.
Green skin heated raw and pink.
The Orcs beyond ran amok, scared and helpless.
The fire consumed all.
"To the fields!!" The rescue team heard a rigid woman's voice bellow above the sound of a collapsing forest.
The panic-stricken Orcs responded accordingly. They ran through the ash and embers towards the open fields that encapsulated the forest.
Teddy and Hannibal watched closely.
They were searching for Isaac and Olive. Searching for anything or anyone they might recognize between the chaos that consumed.
To no end, unfortunately, as the flames grew too high and too encroaching for the rescue party to peer through.
All they could gather from the chaos was the direction the Orcs fled in — east.
"What do we do?" Teddy asked.
Hannibal studied the ruin.
"The wind bears east." He said. "The fire should fade before it spreads."
"I meant, what do we do about Olive and the rest?" Teddy insisted.
But Hannibal shook his head.
"Nobody can survive those flames and I see no reason why the Orcs would save them."
"But the Orcs captured them to begin with!" Teddy protested. "Why would they keep them alive if they weren't going to save them?!"
"They're a bargaining chip —" Hannibal said, "or at least, they were. Now they are nothing more than collateral."
"What are you saying?" Teddy said. "We're not gonna save them??"
"I am saying there is nothing left to save." Hannibal turned away from the forest fire. He looked dejected.
"WHAT?!" Teddy shouted. "You can't know that for sure!"
Teddy was prepared to argue more, but Morgan grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.
She looked sad and when the two made eye-contact, her midnight eyes delivered reality straight into Teddy's head.
Realization struck him and hopelessness latched on.
"I can look for them." A male's voice said from the crowd.
It was one of the men from earlier, the man who can release frost from his pores.
"I should be able to survive the fire. I can —"
"You won't survive the fire." Hannibal interrupted him.
"But I can negate the fire!" The man shot back.
Hannibal looked at the man.
"The issue is more than the flames boy. A fire needs oxygen to burn. A forest fire of this size… even if you survive the heat, you will have nothing to breathe. You will suffocate in there."
All this time, the man in question was looking at Teddy. He saw the dejection that drowned his face at first, then he saw the hope from his words.
Teddy looked longingly at the man. 'Please!' His eyes begged.
The man grit his teeth.
He was scared.
He didn't want to go into the fire, but he also knew what it took to be a hero.
A hero is someone who charges into flames without a second thought.
Is he a hero?
No. He's not.
But maybe he could be.
"Let me try." His voice was shaky yet stern.
He looked into Hannibal's eyes. It was like staring down a silverback gorilla, but in order to be a hero, it was a staring contest he had to win.
"Juniper…" Hannibal sighed.
"I'll go with him!" Teddy interrupted.
Immediately, Morgan yanked him back.
"What?!" She shouted.
"Teddy, you are not going." Hannibal said.
"I can locate them!" Teddy argued. "With my Ability, Juniper won't have to aimlessly search through the fire! Taking me will make it faster and safer for both of us!"
"And the frost has oxygen in it, right? So maybe we'll survive off the oxygen I can produce." Juniper added.
Hannibal looked at the two youths.
Their eyes were bright. They looked determined to do this with or without his permission.
"Twenty minutes." Hannibal said. "In and out. If you encounter an Orc, run. Am I clear?"
"Yes!"
"Yes, sir!"
Hannibal sighed in defeat. He turned around to return to the brush. He felt no need to watch the fire any longer.
"Hmm?" But before he left, he noticed Teddy and Juniper still staring at him.
"What are you doing?" Hannibal said.
"Go!"
///LostNoteFound///
Hello hello! Sorry for the delay — Mexico got me yucked up if you know what I mean ;)
And as always, thank you for the power stones moofin! ;*
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