INSOMNIA: mushroom forest

[murmurlade]

An unsettling smile crawled its way into the face of Carcel as he acknowledged his centuria leader's order. When his mouth slightly opened, a wisp of smoke escaped and his icy blue eyes seemed to burn hotter than hellfire.

The temperature began to plummet as the air around the boy crackled and heated up-- consequently, the ice previously created by the boy melted at an astonishing pace, leaving not one drop of water behind. As such, the speed was much too rapid for anyone in the room to adjust to and Kay was lovingly pulled down by the hands of gravity, crashing into the floor.

"Be grateful I didn't burn you, idiot." the young man chuckled and extinguished a lick of fire in his tongue.
"We can spar as much as we want when they've gone off on their mission; and more importantly, when our little Healer isn't here for you to run crying to." Carcel reached out and ruffled Rune's head, who prickled like a cactus and stepped back to hide behind his partner once again.

Toffee was constantly hovering behind Milae, and she popped the last bit of steaming bread in her mouth, savouring the taste before pointing at the bladed glove.
"Mushrooms are tough and chewy. Better get something sharp." she mused. Although she was probably comparing the texture of edible mushrooms, Rune nodded in agreement.

Everyone slowly turned their heads when the door clicked open once again and Sandy entered the hall. The girl flung several bags filled to the brim with food at the twintailed girl, who had a look for devotion plastered over her face.

She flung her body at Sandy, giving her a tight hug and refusing to let go. "Yay! Which ones are for the team? I'll do my best not to eat them!" Wait, where's Doe, anyway? I couldn't check the group chat because I lost my phone."

[ShiroGEM]

Kay warned and stared straight into Carcel’s eyes. “Don’t you dare-” He was suddenly on the floor, face planted onto the cold stone tile. Eyes closed, he picked himself up slowly painfully and walked over to the coffee table where his deodorant was. “I’m going to take a shower. Don’t freeze the water.” He said, pointing at the snickering boy and turned to face Yue. “I assume that you’ve picked the candidates for the mission?”

Lilac eyes deadpanned. “Honestly, have you ever considered that you and Carcel are most likely to burn everything to the ground?” Kay let out a sigh of defeat because as much as he hates to, he admitted it.

Yue clapped his hands. “Alright, show's over! Toffee, I’ll bribe you with fraisier to set the table.” He cringed at Toffee’s conversation with Milae. She’s probably attempting to have Milae slice up the mushrooms and attempt to cook them during the trip. In contrary, Milae brightens up as she took Toffee’s advice, thanked her and left to her room to pack again. Yue slid into the kitchen and put on a baby blue apron, arming himself with knives.

Meanwhile, Sandy was squirming under Toffee’s weight. “Alright! Get off me please.” She had such a long day at training, as well as carrying all these snacks home. The paper bag on the left was filled with assorted cookies, bread and biscuits. “I don’t know what you’ll be in the mood for, so the one on the right has dumplings and buns too which is great because you’re eating one now.” She pinched Toffee’s cheek. “I’ll probably be bringing large birds, insects and wolf DNA with me. Are there any requests?”

[murmurlade]

save my english, SOS its been really bad lately

Toffee's eyes slid to the right and caught Yue mid-stare, effectively leading to a second of awkward communication. Her face seemed reproachful, as though she knew what her captain was saying.
"I can set the table without an obvious bribe!" She pulled an exaggerated, distraught expression as she lifted herself from Sandy's winded body and bounded over to Yue.

"Although, I'll gladly accept extra dessert!"
She tottered off into the dining room without answering Sandy's question, already gleeful from the promised bribe. Thus her last words hung in the air, sadly abandoned and made even more out of place by the immediate silence that followed Toffee's departure.

Carcel, Rune and Sandy were the only people left in the foyer. Not even daring to sneak a glance at Carcel, the tiny boy quickly fled into the kitchen to assist Yue's preparations of dinner, leaving just the other two.

"..."
Carcel's gaze wandered around, resting in the direction that Kay had gone, perhaps thinking of following him and causing more of a ruckus. He decided against it, and instead reached out a hand to help Sandy off the floor.
"Hmmm. Have fun on the mission, fish-girl."

[ShiroGEM]

“Sure Toff.” Kay retorted and Yue only shrugged, heading into the kitchen to grab the ingredients for speed baking.

Sandy felt slight frustration as Toffee left without a word. Carcel was obviously teasing. “Thanks ice queen!” A smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. “Darn it Toff, I even bought you snacks!” Bounding into her own room, she scowled at Toffee as she slammed the door behind her.

*** Day 1 ***
The squad had left the night before and slept on the plane. Now it was dawn. Although his hair wasn’t as long, Milae still needed to clip back his hair back as they flew over the horizon of Fraz as the wind blew against his face. Below, the large mammals roar with long vicious teeth. The hills flourished with long grass and flowers over five meters tall, hovering bees and beetles feeding of its nectar. He scowled at the flying critters and stood back. “Yue, where’s all the fun stuff?”

The raven haired boy was lying down on the other end in an attempt to sleep. Shifting to his side, he slid his hands down his pockets to grab his phone. “You do realise that you have the map on your phone too? We should be arriving in 5 minutes flat.”

Actually, Milae was staring at his phone on selfie mode to draw on last minute eye liner. “Sorry, I gotta look fabulous no matter what. That’s good, because Froggy looks like she’s dying over there.” Kneeling over, he poked Sandy. “You good?”

“No.” Her hair was in a mess as she struggled to stand. “I hate planes, too loud, can’t sleep. Why can’t we just grow wings and fly instead?”

Milae scoffed as he helped her up. “If you feel like dying, go ahead. Not like you can sleep either way.” He received a groan in reply.

[murmurlade]

The mood in the cabin was deathly still, unlike the usual peppiness that filled the atmosphere before a mission. Only the occasional miscellaneous sounds of Milae lifting his phone and rummaging for makeup products permeated the air.

Despite the unflattering light from the rising sun, his skin seemed to flow and sparkle. Probably through the use of cosmetics-- but it was undeniable that he was still incredibly good looking.

On the transport vehicle, most of the Centuria members were in bed, save for Milae and Rune. The latter was sprawled out on the floor, happily scrawling notes on forest plant life and updating his personal botany journal.
To his left was a hand-drawn leaflet with clear illustrations and titled 'DO NOT INGEST. Another page beneath the first was similarly titled 'DO NOT TOUCH'. He had already distributed the more detailed leaflets to the Centuria members, but Toffee's one-track mind and abysmal short term memory meant that he had to actually give her a physical copy so that when she went foraging, she could run a check with the papers.

Five minutes passed quickly, and the pre-programmed air vehicle landed smoothly. Rune was the first one out-- he landed on the soft ground, surprised at the overgrown weeds that grew taller than him.

Though he was itching to sprint into the forest to explore, he patiently waited for the rest of his teammates to stir from their naps. In the meanwhile, he took to gathering samples of the soil, plucking out several weeds in the process.

[ShiroGEM]

“Wake up!” Yue growled as Sandy proceeded to roll around in exhaustion. It wasn’t like Yue had much rest either with the slight dark circles under his eyes. He stayed up to keep watch and fill out forms for his father’s company. It took a couple of hard kicks to the face.

“Wah...?” Drool dribbled down Sandy’s chin as she sat up and he grimaced in disgust. As the aircraft touched the ground, the buzzing stopped much to her satisfaction. Unfortunately, there was no time to waste and she grabbed her supplies with haste and got off. “Toff? Where are you?” Her eyes wandered around to find the tiny girl.

As Yue slowly approached Rune, he noticed the cute illustrations and stood for a moment to admire. At least Toffee wouldn’t die on the first day. If she had lost the book though, that would be a different matter. Their dinner would have to be prepared on the field and he was glad that he had the majority of plants memorised. It was expected that Rune would jump off and he promptly followed. “Are those our new children?” He chuckled as Rune was bent over bottling the weeds, hands reached back to tie up his hair.

Meanwhile, Milae was in the back scrambling. “Wait up I only just finished making myself fabulous! Yue do you need foundation? You look terrible.”

“I don’t care, get off so we can leave.” Yue turned around and started walking away.

“AH WAIT!” He hopped off the platform and caught up in ten seconds flat, smiling cockily. “Okay leggo!” If this pretty person wasn’t his team mate, Yue swore he could drown him in water.

"We're heading north first." He said, pointing at the tall mushrooms lying up ahead and a large hawk that squawked at them while guarding the opening.

[murmurlade]

Rune turned his head around, bemused at the interaction between the two boys. Though he was no longer facing the bundle of weeds on the ground, his hands moved quickly as he extracted cell samples and gently placed them into his bag. These samples weren't exactly new-- other Centurias had excavated these lands long ago for their missions, but they tended to sell for far more than they were worth back in Shiadald.

Here? Free of charge, and all you can eat! Metaphorically, of course. Rune shoved these thoughts to the back of his mind and continued collecting. Meanwhile, Toffee had just awoken in the cabin, dazed in the silence. She blinked a few times, not realising she was alone until she saw that the exit was wide open, sunlight illuminating the metallic floor.

With haste, she bounced out of the vehicle, joining her friends under the sun and just in time to see Yue gesture towards the mushroom forest. It was unfortunate that she had immediately rushed out of bed-- her hair was untidy, with one bun lopsided and lower than the other. However, she didn't mind much as she skipped happily to Rune.

"Runnie! Didn't you say you'd give me something when we arrived?" she bent over the tiny boy curiously.
A few minutes passed before he finally sat up and timidly handed her a rather thick bundle of paper.
"T-these are.. for you. When you c-come across foreign vegetation in the forest, make sure t-they're not any of these before eating them." he stuttered out a sentence with great difficulty, but managed to get the point across. Toffee was a sweet girl in his opinion, but her overtly cheerful and direct personality put some pressure on him.

He'd rather stick to Yue, where the silence was calming and not awkward. With this matter settled, Toffee glanced at Yue before sprinting towards the forest by herself.
"Yaaaaaay edible forests! I love missions like this!" her voice trailed off towards the end, the trees muffling her cheerful cries.
Rune's mouth twitched at the corners, suppressing a laugh as he followed suit. It was easy enough to see her trail of destruction.

(toffee you're a scout you're supposed to be STEALTHY omg)

[ShiroGEM]

Sandy nearly toppled over a rock as she chased after Toffee. She wanted to fix her unaligned buns. “Yue-” Her voice died down as she felt his thin arms. “Nevermind, Milae please take these.” He saluted her as she handed him the bag of snacks, stifling a laugh.

Toffee was prone to being loud and Sandy had engraved it into her mind on every mission. She had to counterbalance the reckless girl somehow. Pulling out a flask labelled “moth”, she stuck her hand in the brown goo and absorbed it through her skin. The surrounding skin gradually shifted to beige, a perfect camouflage for the base of mushrooms. Once her transformation was complete she sprinted to follow the flattened path ahead.

Beside Rune and Yue, Milae clapped sarcastically. “Bravo. Shall we go then?”

“Sure, take the lead since Kay’s not here.” Yue replied.

“Oh yea,” Milae smashed his gloves together and jogged away. “By no means am I cleaning up!”

Yue sighed heavily and turned around to face Rune. “Radars picked up a large flock of large cockroaches, danger 6. I think those three can handle it. Are you taking mushroom samples too or should we catch up?”

[murmurlade]

"Unnecessary," he replied shortly, a sour taste appearing in his mouth. Cockroaches in tropical climates typically grew much, much bigger than their arctic counterparts. Though the insects were sturdy-- against Milae, Sandy and Toffee, a battle of attrition was something it would not come to. Rather, they would probably be squashed immediately.

He tightened his grip on the tall boy and started walking deeper into the forest, intending to route around any dangerous areas and immediately start collecting samples.

***

"Gross! Gross! You guys are super gross!" cried out Toffee as she leapt into the forest clearing from on top of the white-spotted toadstool. As she fell, her Gravity magic came into effect and she sped up immensely, her feet tearing through the armoured cockroaches' defenses with ease. Cockroach innards clung to her legs like sticky candy, but she didn't seem to mind that much.

Without missing a beat, she hopped around the encirclement of mutated beasts and smashed through the body of another with her legs. Then she noticed the appearance of the two latecomers and her lips slowly thinned out to a wide smile.

Spreading her hands out, she activated her barrier, slowing down the movements of the remaining insects hence making them easier targets for the two.
"Give them a good beating! Hey, you know, cockroaches are especially terrible! They're inedible and and, they steal food! I bet they took the mushrooms too!" she bounced around, pestering Milae incessantly as he fought.

[ShiroGEM]

Guts spilled out everywhere as Milae and Sandy ran into the clearing where the twin tailed girl was bouncing around. As Sandy felt one of the cockroaches crawl on her head, she spun around and stabbed it instantly with a small dagger.

“Ugh, it feels worse when their slimy limbs are all over you.” She dug out another DNA sample, this time of a tree frog, giving her enhanced jumping abilities. Flipping in the air, she penetrated through the shell of every pest in a tidier manner. “I think roaches can be roasted? Though not many people prefer them as delicacies nowadays.” With the mass production of meat, this felt less appetising in comparison.

Milae was in the center preferring to headshot them himself and although he was usually talkative, he would rather not taste cockroach blood. Luckily, he was not afraid of getting his hands dirty. Scowling, he picked up the brains of one of the roaches. “Ew. Do you think this is worth anything? Maybe I should send it to my sister for her birthday.” The flock had fled from the threat and the path was clear once again.

***
Yue began walking faster to shield the smaller boy from any disgusting and rotting organisms from touching him. As the couple approached a cliff up ahead, he peered over to see a black lake. According to the map, it was a two hour walk to the other side. Supposedly it was a meter and a half high, too deep for them to tread through. He reached his hand out to repel the water away, leaving a small dry pathway to walk through. He moved away from the little centipedes that crawled from side to side, feeding on the month old flesh that still clung to the bones of large fish and motioned Rune to follow.

[murmurlade]

Proud of their quick work, Toffee released the barrier and quickly hopped up and down with her hands outstretched, her fingers showing the number nine.
"Nine points! Didn't you get that last one off-center, Milae?" she piped up, unsure of what she had seen. She tilted her head from side to side while tapping her feet rhythmically, thinking about what Sandy had said.
"No... I guess. Insect flesh doesn't really taste all that good compared to mammals or amphibian creatures.." she admitted to having tasted cockroaches before.
"That mister roasted the entire body until it was dark brown and juicy, but the dipping sauce he made was divine! I think there was honey in it." she stuck her tongue out as an incredibly vivid image of deep-fried insect skewers appeared in their heads.

She declined to comment on anything else and instead wandered around to a sturdy, oversized mushroom with a thick base.
"Why can't we just take these back? They're everywhere, and easy to uproot." Although twin-tailed girl was small in comparison to the giant fungus, she easily pulled it out of the ground and tossed it to the side.

***

Traces of hesitation flitted across the little boy's face.
"Are you sure you can maintain that for the entire way?" Despite the doubts circling in his head, he still obediently trailed after his team leader. So far, the mission had been a walk in the park-- or well, forest.
There weren't any extremely aggressive monsters and the wildlife, for the most part, did not seem to have any signs of gaining sentience.

But it wasn't a few minutes after he thought of this that he noticed the little friendly vine that normally curled around his wrist photosynthesizing, was sharply tugging at his skin, leaving a thin red cut. Alarmed, he suddenly pulled on Yue's arm hard, retreating back a few steps.
"Something is off," he warned.

In hindsight, what huge, ominous lake wouldn't have an absolutely terrifying creature hidden within it? Even if Yue could easily part the water, he couldn't instantly eviscerate any living creature residing within it.
Click. Click.

Shivers ran down his spine and he flicked his wrist, causing underwater roots to burst out of the damp soil and form a flimsy barrier. In the next moment, the very earth itself began to shake as a gargantuan centipede emerged from the ground, dripping wet. The debris and algae splattered around were mostly blocked by the temporary shield, which crumbled into weak, soggy pieces almost immediately.

"Call them back!" Rune yelled. "Now!"

I totally forgot the general plot so here's a miniature fight scene for all the centuria members to enjoy.

[ShiroGEM]

“I’ll be fine, it’s only a couple hours.” Yue patted Rune’s fluffy hair to show his confidence. Back in training, he was used to maintaining his stance for long periods of time. Water was easy to move around thanks to its flexibility but the burden of weight was hard to carry. It took years but his hard work paid off as the energy limit was extended from one hour to four. What he lacks in physical strength he must make up in mental stability.

As he felt Rune tug at his wrist, he instantly looked down to check his phone for incoming intruders. The water around them trembled unnaturally. “Sh–” The two have already treaded far into the lake, with no immediate option of escape. He pulled up the other three members on his comms while forming bullets with the lake water, still keeping them dry at the same time. As aimed for the underbelly of the beast, the centipede turned over and twisted, delving back into the soggy lake bed. Not only did the two have to get to the other side before being devoured alive, but their boots started to sink in quicksand.

A couple meters behind the centipede was a small platform. Perhaps they should get on and focus on battling first but they’d have to split the formation. “Okay, I’m going to oppress the centipede to the floor for a few seconds. Use that time to jump on that rock and bind him!” Hopefully the vine species here was strong enough to hold on, if not then he only need ten seconds or so to counterattack. He readied himself as the centipede lunged towards Rune, flattening it with a strong gravitational force.

***
Sandy wiped the blood off her skirt, concealed the dagger and held up seven fingers. “Nah, I got it for him. It was closer to me.”

“Ehh sounds good! Though I don’t think Yue can ever cook this stuff without puking first, it smells revolting.” Milae scrunched his nose. The carcasses around them began to shrink due to rapid fungivore, the stench filling the clearing and making him gag. “Ugh, I should have brought perfume with me.” He held up six fingers. His kill rate was low due to his lack of speed in comparison but balanced out with high accuracy and power.

“We’re already loud enough, hauling a giant mushroom along on the first day will attract more of this.” She said, gesturing to the cockroaches.” Sandy hated to be the voice of reason but... someone had to. “It wouldn’t be a problem if we sliced it up for dinner though. It makes a good soup.” She walked over with her dagger and began packing diced mushroom stems. As she was just about done, Milae’s comms rang.

“Welp, apparently the lovebirds are trapped against their mortal enemy. They aren’t far so we’d better get moving.” While he watched the blinking dots on the map, Milae leaped through the wall of foliage to find himself at the edge of the lake. Looking up, he saw his leader and their healer facing the centipede with very little options. He waved his arms at Sandy and Toffee. “Over here!”

[murmurlade]

Rune's face paled, turning as white as paper as the enormous centipede only stopped for a few moments before recovering. However, it gave him an opportunity to flee. The rapidly expanding area of quicksand wasn't much of a problem-- his weight was negligible and with a light tap he hopped on and off the wet, squelchy surface to reach the surface of the protruding rock. It was slimy with moss, but he still scrambled on top of it with haste. Time was of the utmost importance at the moment. Although Yue held confidence in his ability to endure, it was best to remove any unnecessary strain on his consumption of energy.

He grumbled a little bit to himself, thinking about the blessed physique that had allowed him to become a Healer in the first place. What good was it at a moment like this? In the future, he'd definitely put aside his plants for a little while to research a bit into the transferring of ATP to another body-- the current methods were crude and sloppy, with almost 80% of the energy transfer overflowing as waste.

Vine tendrils sprouted out of the bottom of the lake like daisies--- first there was one, then ten, then hundreds. A few snugly secured the boy to the rock platform and protectively hovered around Yue, who was still baiting and dodging the mutant.

"Constriction!" In an instant, the multitude of plant lifeforms coalesced together and shot towards the slippery insect. They pulled over the entire length of the insect before suddenly tightening through an unknown force--- with great difficulty, the creature hit the bottom of the lake, bound tightly, sending enormous waves towards the duo. It was no help that the centipede was thrashing violently, for the vines showing signs of duress.

A layer of sweat shined on his face, matting his pink curls together. Despite his original affinity for plants, it was still a stupid idea to control them without prior physical contact. He had only touched a single root and relied on that core to feel the existence of the rest of the plants slumbering deep beneath the earth.

"Looks like you have this under control after all!" a short laugh came from above them. When Yue and Rune looked up, all they saw was a flash of strawberry patterned panties from a twin-tailed girl.
...This was not the time for that.

Toffee had adjusted gravity to make both the girl's bodies slightly lighter and requested Milae to throw them towards the centipede to save time. However, on the way there, she had accidentally accelerated only herself by altering gravity once again-- letting her plummet down the skies to crash headlong into the centipede. Sandy, on the other hand, still floated gently down.

"Cap'n! Is there anywhere in particular I should beat the leaving the daylights out of?" the girl shouted at the lanky boy that was Yue as she ran up to the centipede's first section. Apparently she forgot that her comm existed, leading everyone to wince from the burst of sound from their earpieces.

[ShiroGEM]

Fortunately the vines withstood the centipede’s movements for a few moments more. As Yue leapt onto the rock to join Rune again, he aimed for the underbelly again and shot more water bullets which consequently sliced some of the nearby vines. The bullets grazed the soft skin, causing it to squirm and sway its long body, nearly hitting the platform the two were on. With the extra room, the centipede spewed mucus at them which displayed acidic qualities as the seaweed that limply laid on the mud began to dissolve.

Unless they were able to distract the beast, his only option was basic telekinesis, slicing, bullets... If only he could gather enough energy to a weapon with better accuracy for instance, a bow and arrows. His train of thought was interrupted as Toffee lept over them.

“We’re trapped on this dry rock. I can hardly call this under control.” WIth that response said, the raven haired boy forced the centipede down again with another strong gravity patch. It was easier this time as he could concentrate all his energy on one spell. “Rune and I will keep this thing still, you, Milae and Sandy, aim your attacks at it’s head.” He ordered. Even though those three had better melee fighting techniques, the exoskeleton of the centipede was still intact.

Sandy descended slowly, legs daintily touching the surface of the rock. There was barely enough space for the five of them and she had to be careful not to knock anyone over. “Touch down. Finally!” She grunted. As of right now, she could attempt to throw her knives at the beast’s neck, but there was a chance she would miss and lose her only weapons as of now. Dismissing the idea aside, she decided to use her extended jump length to quickly jump to other small rocks. The centipede, confused by her fast maneuvers halts and stops spitting.

With a shift of his body weight to his fists, Milae sent an uppercut to the jaw. The centipede wailed and the armour on its head shattered. Some of the pieces fell off and splashed into the water which Sandy collected for DNA sampling. “Finish it off, Toff!” He yelled as he landed back on the platform. Hands folded together in front of him, he widened his stance so he could push her up when she jumped.

[murmurlade]

Not bothering with trivial niceties, Toffee darted around the mass havoc of enormous shells crashing down to the lake to send herself off Milae's makeshift 'launchpad'. A split second of eye contact was enough communication as she stepped on their outstretched arms and adjusted her pose.

She was sent spinning into the air in an instant-- laughing gaily, as though they weren't currently fighting a disgustingly huge insect. Still in the air, particles of light began to cluster around her right hand. Mere seconds after, a silvery-translucent hammer appeared out of thin air, condensed from those odd particles of light. Though it wasn't a physical manifestation, it still carried the brunt of Toffee's magic, turning a delicate looking weapon into an object of destructive power.

It was a shame it couldn't last for anything more than a single attack. She came careening down to the exposed, fleshy surface of the centipede's head and, in a bellicose manner, completely smashed it apart just as the constraints Yue and Rune had jointly piled onto the creature unraveled. The mutant creature let out a distraught cry as it crashed down to the lake bed, utterly subdued.
"Waaaahhhh!" Along with Toffee, who in her glee had forgotten to apply magic to soften her fall.
Luckily for her, the soft sedimentary surface she landed on was slick with mud and algae, leading to superficial injuries.

Rune watched all of this happen from the stone platform with a tired expression that seemed to read- “Really? Again?” He had barely dipped into his ATP reserves for the fight, saving majority of it for the after session of healing that was sure to come. Sighing, he carefully slid off the rock and into the mud, taking care not to let his boots soak up the dirt. He then trudged his way through the now empty lake, making his rounds towards his teammates. Toffee was up first; he gently brushed his fingers across her superficial injuries and watched as her natural healing process was sped up.

He then timidly turned around to the rest of them.
'Ah.. does anyone else.. hurt?"