FusionFall Adventures: Dawn of a Fusion

Chapter 42

The next day everyone woke up. Kenju stood on top of the fossils, keeping watch and blasting apart any Fusions that got too close to the campsite.

Except... For him, "too close" was about a mile away. 

Once everyone woke up, they heard the forest rumble once more and loud growls emanated from it. It seemed as if the Fusions weren't too happy about the events of the day before. They must have been gathering for another attack.

"We can't stay here any longer," Lincoln announced, pointing to the nearby hill. "There's a river we'll cross... Then we'll loop around into Forgotten Falls, and head into Forsaken Valley the right way..."

"We can fight our way through this side of Forsaken Valley," Kitsu replied, raising an eyebrow. "It'll be tough, but it'll be fast..."

"And what if we suffer casualties because of that?" Lincoln asked. "Yes, it's faster. But it's too risky... Especially with that Fusion flying around,"

"We saw him last night." Kenju spoke up, turning to Sapphire momentarily and nodding to her.

She walked forward and sighed. "Fusion Dexter, right... He came to me while I was alone in the forest. Fortunately, Kenju came to keep him away from me."

"Don't you like Dexter?" Raitoningu asked, having zero chill at all.

Sapphire's face immediately turned red and she sat down, staring at the ground. "I-I... Why do you need to know?!"

Everyone cracked smiles, except Kenju who didn't seem to understand.

"Why's everyone laughin'? She obviously likes the dude..." The former prince stated bluntly, crossing his arms and frowning up. "I'll tell him for you, Sapphi-"

He was then knocked over by a pebble that Sapphire threw at him, and lay there wondering what went wrong.

"D-don't say anything!" she shouted.

Her shout upset the fusions even more, and the ground rumbled again from the roars.

"Alright alright, it's time to go." Lincoln laughed, lifting up his gear and heading over to the river. "It's quite the jump, but we'll manage... Actually, Kitsu, wanna make an ice bridge across?"

Kitsu nodded as everyone met up by the river, and he placed a palm against the surface of the water, freezing a large path of ice and walking across, followed by Lincoln who looked satisfied by this act.

Sapphire was next, then Nicole and Raitoningu. Kenju stared at it for a while, and tapped his foot on it. 

"You sure this is stable?" Kenju asked.

"Considering that all of us got across without a problem, what do you think?" Raitoningu asked, laughing at him.

Kenju looked back as a mob of Fossil Brawlers came running, accompanied by Triceraclaws. He flew up and sent a single blast down in front of the mob, creating some sort of smoke screen before flying across the river and motioning for everyone to hurry up and run.

So they did. 

The group burst off through the trees, not even bothering to look back. Kitsu even fired a massive gust of wind and ice back to slow the fusions down as they continued to run off. 

"Left!" Lincoln shouted. "NOW!"

Everyone jumped to the left, and slid down another hill, recovering at the bottom and looking up as the mob ran right by them, roaring angrily. 

Unfortunately, they ran into another Fusion that didn't look too happy. A giant Triceraclaw noticed them and roared, before being blasted through the eyes by Sapphire's arrow. The group recovered from their sudden experience, panting heavily before noticing something. They were just barely at the edge of a cliff that led into a deep canyon with water at the bottom. Across from them was none other than Forgotten Falls, floating platforms allowing them to traverse across the area.

"We're here..." Lincoln said, stretching a bit before heading to the first platform. "Ready?"

Kenju shrugged and casually floated over to the first platform, looking back at the others who were still recovering.

"I'm ready," the former prince stated, shrugging before getting bopped upside the head by Nicole who was clinging to Raitoningu. Fortunately, the lightning controlling boy was better than before, especially when his rage broke...

"Yeah, maybe we do need a little break..." Lincoln laughed, walking back over and leaning against the hill. "Alright... Let's take five,"

"...Screw that, I'm clearing a path up ahead." Kenju retorted, continuing to fly over Forgotten Falls. "You guys catch up whenever. I'm not waiting around if you guys  can't handle a simple run..."

"...Kenju-" Sapphire reached for him, but stopped herself, glaring away instead before groaning in annoyance, placing her headphones back in and shaking her head. He was too far gone afterall... What was she to do other than shoot him or something? But that'd just bring forth conflict.

Kenju made it to the other side, massacring any fusions he saw before vanishing from sight, going solo.

Raitoningu stood up and looked over the edge, his eyes widening before he jumped back and pressed himself against the hill. "Water?" he asked, fear evident in his voice.

"It'll be fine, Raito..." Nicole whispered, pulling him close and giving him a hug. "I won't let you fall, okay?"

Raitoningu nodded slowly, before taking a few breaths.

Lincoln watched him for a moment before giving a thumbs up and walking over. "She's right... None of us are gonna fall. Afterall, I'm here to get you guys safely through the area, afterall... Mandark's ship is in the direction those fusions went, but we gotta go around if we wanna be safe..."

"I... Think I wanna run through the horde," Raitoningu sighed, his voice somewhat shaky.

"Raito..." Nicole whispered. "I'll hold your hand the entire way... Alright?"

The lightning controller stared at Nicole for a second before nodding again and standing up, firmly taking her hand and grimacing the closer they got to the edge.

"You just gotta zap or jump to the platforms... Easy..." Nicole explained, trying to soothe him with her voice. In reality? She was scared as well... But she couldn't show that to him just yet. So she counted, and they jumped forward, landing on the first platform.

Sapphire noticed everyone heading forward and shrugged, hopping from the first to fifth platform nonchalantly, seemingly lost in her own little world of music. 

The platforms shuddered slightly, but they didn't show any signs of giving way just yet.

"Everyone watch out!" Kenju's voice rang across the forest. The fusion prince was in the air, firing blasts at another flying figure that intercepted with his own fire.

Fusion Dexter, again?! The fusion's maniacal laughter filled the air before launching a beam at the platforms, piercing through the center one and penetrating the surface of the water. At first nothing happened, but then... Everything began to go to hell.

Gravity became distorted, and the platforms began to descend towards the surface of the water.

"GO!" Lincoln shouted over the chaos.