Finaly back into the swing of things, here's a chapter after months of inactivity :)
Aerilyn stood there hesitantly, her eyes darted from Stella to Flora who was at each other's throats. Stella gritted her teeth, her fists clenched in anger glaring at Flora who returned the look. Bloom came out of her room and looked at both of them in confusion. "Jesus what's happening here?" Stella crossed her arms.
"Flora's overdoing it, as usual, look at your room, it has become a chemistry lab!" Bloom shrugged her shoulders. "So what, she asked permission to do it and I allowed her." Stella turned to Aerilyn. "And what about you Aeri?" Aerilyn did nothing.
"She just put a few plants in my room because it's colder in there, no problem." Stella failed her arms above her head. "No problem? Lemme show you my room!" She walked into her room and placed her back on the wall. She pointed to the flowers by the windowsill. "I gave her permission to put her flowers by the windowsill cause they need a lot of sunlight." Then she pointed towards her mirror. "And then she spread herself out and placed some melanoma varicosa-"
"Hemosavana tosa!" Flora intruptted, Stella waved her off.
"Yeah whatever, but she put them right next to my mirror, my mirror!" She said with desperation, she placed a hand on her forehead and sighed.
"Well it's normal they feed on reflected light, and since you are the fairy of the sun and the moon, naturally that reflected light is stronger." Stella clenched her fists and shuddered.
"Oh, and you think this is normal." She jabbed her finger and the two living plants on the other side of her room. One of them dabbed on some powder and the other began putting on some clothes.
"What's wrong?"
"They are trying on my clothes," Stella said on the verge of tears. "They're putting on my makeup." She grabbed onto Bloom's arm and began whimpering. "They have no taste whatsoever in fashion, look at them!" Bloom sighed.
"It's just clothes, Stella." Stella got up and shook her head.
"No it is not, it's one of a kind, and one of my favorites!" Flora sighed and rubbed her head.
"God Stella, no one else is having problems." She walked out of the room and into Musa's and Tecna's.
"Hey, Musa have you seen Tecna lately?" Musa shook her head. "Are you having any, trouble with my plants?" Musa looked at her confused.
"We have...plants in our room?" Flora walked over to a closet and placed her hand on a handle. "Yeah, I asked Tecna if it was alright to put some plants in the closet in the dark." She opened the door to find Tecna tangled up in vines, letting out muffled screams. "Oh my!" Flora pointed her finger out and a string of lights surrounded the plant, weakening its grasp on Tecna.
"It's about time!" Tecna said angrily, she shook off the vines from her trousers. "I was just looking for a pair of trousers when these, vines, grabbed me." Aerilyn made an 'O' shape with her mouth. "Damn, Musa how did you not notice she was in the closet?" Aerilyn asked.
"I don't snoop around other people's stuff," Musa said, Aerilyn shrugged her shoulders and crossed her arms. Tecna calmed her breathing. "I just want to know what type of seeds they were." Flora stood in thought for a moment before hesitantly saying.
"They were...triple s's." Aerilyn placed a hand on her head.
"Oh, dear."
"Sequoia sepulvera swifta, I'm so sorry I didn't know they would grow that fast." Tecna face twisted into anger before returning neutral.
"It's okay Tecna, keep your cool." She walked over to her bed and sat down, combing her short hair. "I'm so sorry Tecna," Flora said with guilt, she had a sad expression washed over her face.
"Its all well and good, but perhaps it's time for your plants to go," Stella said. Flora nodded.
"You're right, I'll get my stuff and move to Black Mud Swamp." Aerilyn eyes widened.
"Wait what, but you can't go, that place is horrible! You can use my room for whatever experiments you want." Flora smiled at her softly and shook her head.
"Its far too dangerous, one bad reaction and it can hurt you quite badly, I'll be fine don't worry."
"But we don't want you to go there, right guys?" Bloom said turning to the others, they all shifted their gaze avoiding eye contact. "Guys come on, tell her to stay." The other said nothing, and the door closed. Aerilyn looked at them with disappointment. "Unbelievable, you just let her go?!" The other said nothing.
"You guys call yourself her friends, and you let her go like that, so she made a few mistakes that doesn't mean she has to go live in a swamp," Bloom said raising her voice. She grabbed the door handle and opened the door, Aerilyn walked out behind her.
✯✯✯
Flora smiled as she placed the beakers down on the ground. "Oh, I would've never thought you guys would've followed me here."
"Well y'know couldn't risk you getting killed by some dark spirit." Aerilyn said. Flora let out a chuckle. "Glad to know."
"Anyways, hope this camping trip doesn't last too long." Flora took out a book from her bag and flipped to a page. "If you help me find this plant, it won't last long at all." Aerilyn walked behind Flora and leaned down to look at the page.
"The cheerful...gladiolus?" Flora nodded.
"Quite a pretty flower, you sure it can be found around here?"Stella asked. Flora nodded again.
"The ecosystem of this swamp is quite diverse."
"And what do you need it for exactly?" Musa asked.
"The flower's essence is an antidote for the witches' sadness spell." Aerilyn sighed.
"Of course you need a potion for fighting witches, glad to know healing the environment was the better choice."
"Well good to know, lets get the flower and get back," Stella said impatiently, Flora closed the book and returned it to her bag. "It's not as easy as that, it's a very skittish flower meaning that it'll be quite hard to pick."
Aerilyn shrugged her shoulders. "I'm pretty sure it can't be that hard to pick." Flora chuckled.
"Oh, it is, even you'll find it hard to pick."
"So then how exactly are we supposed to pick it?" Stella asked. Flora retrieved a potion from her bag. "All we have to do is ask it to extend one of its petals and then I'll use a drop of this potion, let me demonstrate." Flora splashed some of the potion using a pipette, on a plant. The liquid trailed down the plant till it hit the floor, and a few moments later an exact replica of the planet sprouted.
"One of my own inventions." Aerilyn was awed at it sight of the plant.
"Some you can replicate anything with that potion?"
"Anything plant yes." Flora placed the potion back into her bag.
"Perfect let's get started," Bloom said rubbing her hands, she turned to Kiko who was munching on the replica plant. "You stay here Kiko, the swamp isn't a good place for you to walk about in."
"Oh I don't think I should be going either, I'll stay put here I promise," Stella said.
"Oh please don't start complaining Stella," Musa said as they began walking. Stella shrugged her shoulders.
"Just a question."
✯✯✯
Aerilyn tiptoed around muddle puddles luckily avoiding them. Unfortunately, Stella was not so lucky. She pulled out a handkerchief and began wiping the mud that had accumulated under her shoes. "Ugh, why does the swamp have to be so..."
"Swampy?" Musa answered.
"Your comments are uncalled for Musa," Stella said with annoyance.
"So is your outfit, this is a swamp, not a beauty pageant." Stella scoffed.
"Doesn't matter, I can wear what I please and not what you-" Stella let out a scream as she fell head first into a muddle puddle. They ran over to see Stella sitting up against a tree covered in mud. "Wow this is the second time you've been covered in mud in the swamp, should I tally?"
"Ha Ha, very funny Aeri." Stella said sarcastically.
"Are you okay Stella?" Flora asked. Stella shook her head.
"I'm tired, dirty, and we still haven't found the plant!" Flora placed a finger over her mouth and whispered a 'hush'.
"No, you said we'd find it and-" Flora covered Stella's mouth and pointed towards the water. They all turned to see flying fish women, having a purple skin tone with green wings. They laughed and flew about. "Wow, they're so beautiful." Bloom awed.
"And tiny," Aerilyn said. Stella not being able to resist the urge to speak, bit down on Flora's hand earning a yelp from her. The creatures immediately began flying away startled but were halted by Flora. "Wait, we don't want to hurt you, we're friends and we need your assistance." The creatures looked at each other before nodding and leading the through the water. Aerilyn looked around in awe at the different plants that surrounded the place.
"The water nymphs were right to bring us to this place, such diversity of plants." Flora leaned down to smell the scent of one of the plants. Stella pointed down at the water in shock.
"Look down there in the water." There was an underground city, small rocks surrounded by air bubbles and water nymphs leaving and entering them. They all looked down in awe. "That's so cool, there's something they don't teach you in class," Aerilyn said with a smile
"Fascinating, The nymphs live in air bubbles underneath a leaf of a water lily," Flora said. Just then a water nymph appeared on the surface of the water. "We don't mean to be rude, but we can't invite you into our homes you're kinda big we have no room." Another nymph appeared.
"But our queen wishes to meet you, come along."
✯✯✯
A golden water nymph sat on a plant throne with two other regular water nymphs at her side, an arch of flowers curving over her throne. "We are very happy you are here, we don't often receive visitors."
"Thank you for your warm welcome your..." Stella turned to Bloom. "Should say your littleness instead of your highness?" She whispered
"Try your majesty," Bloom whispered back.
"You seem tired from your journey, would you like some refreshments?" The queen asked.
"Actually we want to touch the petals of a cheerful gladiolus," Flora responded. "May we?"
"Of course, you may, I can see you have a lot of respect for nature." The queen sighed.
"But may we ask something of you, perhaps you have heard of the great monster of black island?" Aerilyn turned to Tecna who shook her head.
"No, I don't recall ever hearing that name, what is it?" Aerilyn said. The queen pointed towards an island. "Underneath that island in an underwater cave is where the creature lives, it threatens my people daily."
"Can you not move?" Bloom asked.
"We cannot, our survival depends on a plant called Zeillth and it can only be found on that island, we make material from it that manufactures the bubbles in which we live." The queen sighed. "If we don't have the plant it'll force us above ground where predators live, every once in a while one of us volunteers to pluck even a single leaf from the plant, and well..." One of the other water nymphs started crying. "She never came back."
"We'll help you any way we can, right girls?" They all nodded in agreement.
They flew through the swamp, heading towards the island. Aerilyn heard something swimming behind them and turned around. "Did you guys hear something?" The others stopped and shook their heads. Bloom and Flora continued flying whilst the others held back.
"Y'know if the queen said that the creature was huge, if we average things out it'll be normal sized for us," Stella said. Just then a monster abruptly emerged from the water, pushing them back.
"Doesn't seem average-sized to me!" Aerilyn. The monster dove back into the water creating a wave pushing them back. The monster burst from underneath Musa and ate her. "Musa!" Bloom shouted. They flew into the middle watching the water.
"We need to save her!" Flora exclaimed.
"I'll create air bubbles for us to breathe underwater!" Aerilyn waved her hands and air bubbles surrounded all of them. Tecna snapped her fingers and an extra barrier surrounded them. "For extra protection, let's go!" They dove into the water. They swam down and down until they noticed the creature underneath a rock. They noticed Musa inside the monster's mouth. Bloom managed to dive in before it shut its mouth. Aerilyn created a slight breeze across its nose, causing it to sneeze. Bloom managed to escape with Musa inside her bubble. The monster was clearly angered by this and let out a roar. They rushed out of the water and landed on the island.
"That was too close," Stella said sighing. Aerilyn immediately covered her nose.
"Ugh, do you smell that?"
"You're probably just smelling a weird plant or something," Stella said yawning. Bloom went up to a tree and asked Flora a question. "Do you know what trees these are?"
"I think red willows," Flora said also yawning. They walked deeper into the island.
"Should they be...I dunno wackier, they're in a straight line as if planted manually." Aerilyn said. She had created an air sphere around her face so she could not smell the stench. "No it's quite normal, they grow in a spiral shape around their leader."
"These plants have a leader? Funny." Stella said slouching. Aerilyn looked at everyone, their eyes become droopy, and yawning constantly except for Tecna. "Techno I think something is wrong here." Tecna nodded.
"You're right, I need to analyze this place." She created a computer system around her and pressed some buttons. "Oh no." Aerilyn grabbed Flora as she was about to fall to the ground. "This is sleeping gas, don't inhale it, girls!" They all laid on the ground mumbling to themselves. She pressed on the gem on her head shielding her from the gas. Aerilyn pointed towards the tree that stood a few meters away from them. It had a water nymph with birds laying around them. "That's where the nymph was all this time, she must have fallen asleep," Aerilyn said. "But what do we do now?"
"You need to create an air bubble, it'll wake everyone up." Aerilyn nodded and outstretched her hand, an air bubble surrounded the island and everyone began to awake from their slumber. "You did it Techno!" Aerilyn said.
"We did it."
"Honestly your smarts are going to keep us from getting killed." The birds started chirping and a voice was heard from the tree roots.
"Wow, that was something," Stella said rubbing her eyes.
"Good to see you guys awake," Tecna said. Just then a voice was heard from the tree, they walked over to see the water nymph waking up. "Thank you girls for saving me."
"How do you know who we are?"
"I remain in constant telepathic contact with the world around me, so I knew you were coming." The island began rumbling. "Is the monster coming?" The nymph shook her head.
"This is the monster, island is actually a giant sleeping and sleepwalking turtle all thanks to the red willow."
"So have we woken him up?" Stella asked.
"No, your air bubble only covers a little section of its shell, poor thing has been sleepwalking for ages." Aerilyn sighed.
"I could make it to cover the entire island, but once I'm gone it'll vanish." The red willow then let out a screech. The flew into the air as it tried to grab them with its branches.
"It's gone crazy!" The nymph said. Bloom launched a fireball at its branches and it growled in pain. She then looked down. "Its roots!" She launched another one at its roots and then it began to burn from the bottom up. Flora launched an attack at it, destroying it. Aerilyn brought down the air bubble. They cheered.
"We did it, the island is free!" Bloom and Flora high-fived each other.
The water nymph hugged their refound friend, and the queen smiled and thanked them. "Thanks to you the creature will bother us no more, and you have found one of our own."
"What about the plant?" Flora asked
"The creature allowed us to pick as many leaves as we could, but our soil cannot grow the plant if it's mother nature's will then we'll have to accept it." The queen said. Flora reached into her bag and took out her serum. "I think even mother nature needs a friendly little boost sometimes." She dripped the serum onto the leave and it duplicated rapidly, giving them many leaves.
"Marvellous!" The queen exclaimed. The nymphs cheered in glee.
"Way to go Flora!" Stella said. The others nodded in agreement.
"As a token of our gratitude, we want to give you this." The nymphs brought in a cheerful gladiolus and handed it to Flora. "It let itself to picked as it knows you'll treat it well."
"I'm make sure to put it in the richest of soils when I get back." Aerilyn nudged Stella. Tecna cleared her throat. "Look we will reconsider not letting you put your stuff in our rooms." Stella nodded. "It's fine guys, next time I'll make sure to make do with the space I got."
"Well I'm glad that's over." Aerilyn said.
"Yeah, I'm sure you'll ace your exam Flora." Bloom said. Flora smiled.
"And tommorrow it's Stella's." Stella gasped and sighed.
"How could I forget."