Wow! Where have I been lately? I guess I was too lazy to appear. They don’t need me right now yet anyway. Matt and Amy reached the Plaines Triangle after entering the Boral Marshes. What’s crazy is that Jaime told them more about the Grand Cradle. If the Grand Cradle within the Plaines Triangle is activated, then more monsters will appear all over the Marconian Continent! This will force the students to fight every monster which will take days, weeks, or even months of work! Instead, Amy heads onward into the labyrinth of the Plaines Triangle. Sadly, Matt can’t find his own way in… That’s expected. There is also a time limit, so this labyrinth is even more annoying. Meanwhile, Yessenia’s group is having trouble starting on their battle against the many monsters that appeared in Lancer!
Episode 151 – Plant Mutation of the Death Maze
Lancer was finally cleared of the monsters. Yessenia, Alex, Shirley, and Huy were eventually surrounded by a crowd of followers. They’ve all thanked the students for saving the whole city instead of questioning why they have elemental powers. Their success would be forever remembered. However, something was still bothering Yessenia. While Shirley, Huy, and Alex were being hugged and loved, Yessenia walked away from the crowd to think about the dire situation.
“This does not seem right at all. These monsters always seemed to appear because of a leading occurrence. First, monsters appeared in the Junkyard, secondly, slimes appeared in Enheizer’s hotel basement, then, digicells appeared in the Ogre Forest, and now here in Lancer? There must be a pattern to this…” Yessenia wondered to herself. “And at this point, I expect more to appear but none seems to be showing up now. Since we have not met Matt or Venus yet, I will assume they are still up north. Going west to Wisteria will require a boat or ship. Since those vehicles are still here on the docks of Lancer, then I am sure Matt and Venus have not gone on them. They are for sure up north. The walking route is midway of the Death Maze north of Lancer. This means…”
The crowd was still cheering for them. They carried Alex and Huy, while others threw Shirley around since she was not heavy. “Why don’t we celebrate? How about a party? Take some of our money as a reward!”
Shirley giggled. “Yes, the money sounds nice!”
Huy pushed her away. “A party sounds better!”
Shirley stomped her foot. “We can use some of the money for a party and keep the rest to ourselves!!”
Alex covered his ears. “The only reward I want is some peace and quiet!”
Yessenia turned around and she said out loud with a commanding tone, “We are heading up north to the Death Maze!” The word ‘Death’ got everybody in an instant. The whole crowd made a symphonic gasp.
“That was fast.” Alex muttered.
“D-D-Did she say ‘Death Maze’?” one civilian said.
The other whispered back, “Impossible. No one should ever take foot in that place. Rumors say that nobody is ever to escape the maze once they enter.”
Yessenia was cautious with the comments that she could hear from nearby. “Dangerous?” she said. The area around the group was still in silence. Yessenia suddenly smiled. “We will have to see for ourselves.” She began walking towards the maze.
“But miss, it is dangerous!” One man said. The others began to agree and they started to worry.
Shirley and Huy followed Yessenia. Huy laughed. “Now that’s the Yessenia that I know!”
Shirley shivered. “I really don’t want to go but Yessenia’s strong enough to protect us. Why are we going anyway?” Yessenia began explaining everything to her.
Alex was still standing behind them. “Uh hello?! We’re going to a DEATH Maze here!! Are you guys listening to me?! Agh!” He was forced to follow along.
~~~
Matt and Amy arrived at the Death Maze. Before stepping into the maze-like forest, Amy could feel a strange force of power within the plants. She knelt down and focused on the green organisms. “These plants are mutated…” she said. Matt did not know what to say. Amy stood up and she began to explain to him, “It’s going to be dangerous in here. We already know that plants are living things – they grow. However, these plants live life just like animals. They walk around. They make noises. They eat more than just what flies into them. They are vicious plant monsters.”
Matt suddenly walked away from the Death Maze. “Welp, see ya! I’m gonna go back now.”
“Wah- Matt! I didn’t mean to scare you. It might not be that bad. You can burn the plants and I might be able to control some of them with my plant manipulation powers.”
Matt sighed. “I guess you’re right.”
Nix appeared from Matt’s spirit. “I’ll help burn the monsters down too!”
Matt smiled. “Ah, Nix, my little chicken. You feeling better now?”
“Yeah, a bit. But, I’ll be fine. I’m here to protect you and fight alongside with you anyway. So please, at least let me do that.”
Matt gave Nix a thumbs-up, “Of course!”
Once they took a step into the Death Maze, many vines on the mossy trees up above flew down and turned into snake-like vines with teeth but no eyes. They hissed. Amy was shaking in fear and Matt screeched. With an impulse, Matt decided to burn the vines. He began to run up ahead and Amy tried to stop him. “Matt, w-wait for me1 There’s no need to be afraid! Maybe…”
~~~
Matt continued to run and he constantly used his fire powers to burn every plant that came to life, which appeared every second. There was no end to the mutation. “Why are these monsters so ugly anyway?!”
Nix flapped its wings as fast as it could to catch up to Matt. “Y-You tell me!” It spit fire at one plant and Nix continued to run.
Gravity suddenly felt thicker. Matt and Nix were slowing down and they could feel an extremely powerful essence flowing around them. Matt tried to look around, finding where the essence was coming from. All of the plants around him began to yell in pain. “…Flame Lapse.” A strange voice said. The whole area slowed even more and out came a burst of flames. It was like an explosion.
Matt opened his eyes wide, witnessing the powerful essence of fire magic. Matt tried to stand up but gravity was pulling him down. “What the heck… was that?!”
Nix began to froze. “This… powerful… force…!”
Oddly, the flames did not even bother touching Matt and Nix. The fire was moving on its own like a flaming beast. “Sir.” Said the voice.
Matt crawled backwards a little. “Eehhh…?! G-G-Get away! What are you?!”
“Please do not roam around here.” Out appeared a man who did not intentionally try to hurt Matt. He was facing away from Matt. “It is dangerous in here. I would like to go to Wisteria to stop the man responsible of the Pendulum of Time.”
Matt became serious. “And who are you?”
The man turned around with a calm, yet sad frown. “Rowen. Rowen Bartholemute.”
Nix’s eyes opened wide. “B-B…Bartholemute…”
Matt turned to Nix, “Oh yeah. Last time, the name scared you. What’s the big deal?”
Nix pointed at Rowen. “This man…” Matt waited for Nix to continue. “Is the super strong fire wielder who won the competition in 2007 by using greed and malice.”
Matt’s heart skipped a beat from the news. “What did you say?” Matt took another look at Rowen. He could suddenly feel an evil essence around Rowen.
Rowen had a straight face. “Please turn back now. The Pendulum of Time will be dealt with by me.” Rowen began to disappear in the distance. “Weaklings. Uf all people, this had to be a disappointment.” His appearance turned into a silhouette from afar. His voice and footsteps became completely faint.
Matt hysterically yelled, “Why did you stress your ‘of’s?!?!” Matt carried his pet bird and made sure it was warm. “Anyway, Nix, why don’t you have a rest? You can explain to me more about Rowen later, okay?”
Nix frowned. “But I… want to help you.” Nix felt useless. “I’m nothing like before at all.”
“What do you mean?” Matt wondered what Nix meant by ‘nothing like before’.
“…You know what a… Phoenix does, right?”
Matt scratched his head. “The history of the term ‘Phoenix’… Well…”
“If you don’t get it, then I don’t need to explain to you right now. Right now, it’s more important that I protect you.”
Matt shook his head. “I think that’s a good idea.” Nix flew on its own again and they both continued onward. The plants were afraid to grow now that they knew about the flames that Rowen created.
“Matt! Matthew!!” Amy called for Matt’s name from afar. “Please tell me you’re okay!” Amy arrived to the spot where Rowen casted his fire powers. “This place… is a mess.” Amy seemed worried. “What happened?”
“Rowen came by. He is said to have super strong fire powers. He’s gone now though.”
“Rowen? This is on such a short notice.”
“I know. The plant monsters should be appearing less now though. I think they are afraid to appear.”
Amy giggled. “I also controlled a few to attack each other. My plant manipulation is rather fun to use.”
Matt rolled his eyes. “Such an innocent little girl with a devious motive.” He joked. The two of them, along with Nix, continued to enter through the Death Maze.
~~~
Aside from Matt and Amy getting through the maze peacefully, Shirley and Alex ran uncontrollably in a circle around the path. More snake-like plants chased them both. Yessenia sighed as she used her Contricted Wind and Gust Slash to eradicate any living plants. Huy boosted off the ground to avoid any enemies.
Shirley became annoyed. “These monsters just don’t know when to stop.”
Alex splashed water on one of the plant monsters but it only grew. Yessenia had to slice some of them into pieces while Shirley froze the rest. “My powers are useless here.” Alex said in disappointment.
“Well, they always are but you do not see me complaining.” Yessenia chuckled.
Alex clenched his fists. “Of all people, you’re the one who decides to say that?!”
Huy pointed at a mossy wall. “I think this way is the exit!”
“And what makes you think that?” Shirley said as she put her hands on her hips.
“Because there’s a bush in the shape of an arrow saying, “Go here.”
Shirley slapped him three times. “You idiot! That’s not how it works here. That’s exactly what this maze wants you to think. I’d say it’s this way.” Shirley walked towards another exit. “See. This one is totally not suspicious.”
Huy went to his own path. “We’ll see about that.” The two students began walking their own paths.
“H-Hey.” Yessenia wanted to stop them. She was concerned about the dangers of this Death Maze.
Surprisingly, Shirley’s path had vicious plant monsters appearing from the walls. Shirley screamed and ran back behind Yessenia. “AIYYY! What the hell?!”
Yessenia crossed her arms. “The plant monsters are smarter than I thought. They are doing reverse psychology of reverse psychology.”
Alex walked towards Huy’s path. “So, the plants want us to think that Huy’s path is suspicious, leading us to go to the more dangerous path.”
“Now this is why it’s called Death Maze. Shirley, you could have died.”
Shirley cried. “Why are you all putting me on the spot all the sudden?”
~~~
Wisteria... Most of the city looked as if it were in ruins now. However, none of the CORP lieutenants believe that Wisteria is still intact. In this case, one member decided to enter the city early. Shirl, the quiet CORP lieutenant, stood on a giant stack of rubble. She took a look around, watching soldiers shooting each other and barely any civilians alive to run away. Shirl gave a straight-faced expression and said in a blunt tone, “Destruction… The most vile and cruel part to mankind.” She raised her arms and then she said, “Futura Haste!” She hastened the time of the rubble all around her. Many of the rocks flew in midair and the whole ground was shaking like an earthquake. Shirl began to cry. “This… is the moment I’ve been waiting for.” The tears ran down her eyes. The essence around her seemed extremely powerful.
~~~
After several minutes, almost to an hour, Matt became frustrated with the maze. Amy, however, was calm. She was patient in calculating the time of the plants like she did in the labyrinth. Matt yelled, “Can I just blow this whole place up so that we don’t have to deal with a damn maze again?!”
Amy gasped. “Well, that sounds like a good idea, but it could be dangerous-…”
“Good idea? Perfect! That’s good enough to know!” Matt created many fireballs.
“Wait a minute…” Amy was concerned about what would happen to the whole forest. “We don’t want to ruin the environment.”
“That’s for the future to worry about, not now!” Matt insisted as he blew up the place all around him. Nix helped him.
Amy closed her eyes in his shame. She coughed a little. “Eheheh… I guess there’s nothing I could say to stop him…” The whole maze nearby them broke down.
Matt gave Nix a high-five. “We did it! Now it’s time to rush on ahead. Lancer, here I come!!”
Meanwhile, Yessenia, Alex, Shirley, and Huy all ran through the maze while fighting off plant monsters. Huy began boosting up power to head-butt the enemies in front of him. Yessenia used her wind powers to blow them away and Huy accidentally triggered his boost. “W-Wait! GAH!” He missed and boosted through some other plants. His speed was excessive enough to burn down the plants until he crashed into someone unexpected. Huy unintentionally head-butt Matt with a large amount of force!
“Agh!” Matt flew back.
Yessenia ran up to them. “Matt…?!” The whole group of six, including Nix, watched each other in awe…
~~~
-NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW-
Yessenia: I cannot believe you are here…
Matt: You’re here too?!
Amy: This is… a nice reunion at a time like this, right?
Shirley: Fame… fame! I was so close to getting so much fame!
Huy: We’re worried about something else here!
Amy: The plants are mutating on its own! I’ll take care of that!
Alex: It looks like the whole maze is petrifying. I don’t think protecting ourselves and being stuck in this maze is the best plan.
Amy: Ah! I can’t control the larger plants!
Nix: I’ll save you!
Matt: Carry me too! Don’t forget about me!! Next time on episode 152, Petrification within the Brightest Light!
Amy: Oh no! The whole maze is petrifying!
Peter: Hey, what about me?
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