Magical Warriors of Silvatica

"What?" the woman replied sharply to Sunny. Hadn't she been listening? "I-I think she means the mountain, Sunny," Robin whispered to her friend. Man, Maxim's mother in law was as scary as he looked from a distance. "Thank you for your help, auntie," Padma said to the mother, who sucked her teeth and walked away. She must be stressed out, with a sick daughter and Maxim running amok. "Guess it's time to go hiking," Elvira grumbled, beginning to walk towards the new mountain.

"Auntie said her daughter was sick," Padma said, seeing as Sunny hadn't been listening to her. "If she is Maxim's mother-in-law then her daughter is his wife. He is probably scared." She knew fear was a powerful drug that could make someone do anything. Her father's goats bit harder and kicked more wildly when they were trapped or being preyed upon. Padma started to feel sorry for him and looked forlorn... "Don't be soft!" Elvira snapped at her. "He has our friend! It doesn't matter if he's scared, he could hurt Dae!" Padma mumbled apologetically.

"Don't think so," Elvira snarled, charging on ahead of the others. Robin sighed and patted Padma and Sunny's backs. This was a high stress situation so Elvira was obviously being a bit mean out of stress. The climb was starting to get steep as they trekked through jungle up to the new mountain. "I'm tired," Devi whined. She wasn't used to walking for so long and up such a steep incline.

"Someone carry meee!" Devi whined again, holding her arms out wide. Robin sighed and scooped the girl up. She was used to traversing steep mountainsides. Elvira felt the trembling again but this time wasn't afraid as she took off, jogging up ahead of them. Thankfully this mountain was comparatively small so they didn't take too long to summit it.

Elvira clenched her teeth and was about to charge, but Padma grabbed her shoulder. "We must be smart, sister," she whispered. Elvira saw the earnestness, a little fear, in her eyes, and knew she was right. Snarling, she stepped back a little and let Robin step up after placing Devi down. "I got this," she said, transforming into her outfit. She instantly filled the space with a thick, impenetrable fog.

Padma, Elvira, and Devi geared up too, and leapt into the mist. Robin was doing something whereby the three of them could see Maxim's outline, but he could not see them. Padma as quickly as possible swirled a vortex of big raindrops around Maxim, creating a ball of water around him. Devi used this water to raise Maxim up in the air, buffeting him about a bit with currents, and Elvira froze the water around him. They left him an airbubbble to breathe, but they were mostly focused on briefly stopping him so that they could get Dae out.

Elvira watched their backs and made sure Maxim wasn't following them while the others retreated. To be honest, this was wise. They still didn't know what Maxim was capable of, so forcing him to follow them would also force him to show his hand. Also... Dae-Jung was probably their best fighter, so they needed him in their ranks. Elvira bristled at her own thought as she finally followed after the others.

"I think I know where we will be safe," Padma said, leading them into town. "We have to find where Maxim's mother in law lives." "Good idea," Robin agreed. "He wouldn't harm the house where his sick wife is." Right? Good thinking, Padma. They didn't know where his mother in law lived, though, but they would find out! So they went into the town, ignoring all the stares they got for not being locals.

Mother-in-law looked shocked to see them. "What you doin' here?!" she snapped, looking around wildly before stepping back and shoving them inside. "Auntie, we came to hide," Padma told her. "Your boy was hurting our friend, we need a safe place to stay." Auntie scowled but then sighed. "You smart comin' 'ere," she said. "'Im wouldn't destroy dis place."

"Have few things," Auntie said, not seeing Foo so going to get her own medicine. "Where have you been?" Elvira snapped at Foo when Auntie was out of the room, as she knelt beside Dae-Jung.

"Another one of your kind?" Robin asked. "Is Flora poisoning Maxim against us?" Padma asked. "But... Why?" Foo was so good and kind, how could anyone from his species be evil? "What we do is we kick Maxim's ass," Elvira growled, not taking her eyes off Dae-Jung as he was healed.

When Padma said poisoning, she obviously meant tricking so Foo just confirmed what she'd thought. "We're strong enough as a group to take him on," Elvira snapped back, as Auntie came back into the room. "The hell?" she grumbled, seeing Dae-Jung was already awake and had none of his prior wounds.