User blog:MoviemakerMichael3c7/A Skrall of the Sands Part 7

Another Baterra appeared and advanced on yet another Skrall from behind. With little effort it felled the Skrall warrior and shapeshifted into just one more rock on the canyon floor. This was the Great Skrall Retreat from their Northern Teritories. The Baterra were an impossible foe, and the Skrall that were in the back of the retreat were not prepared to fight them. Six other Sand Raiders, and myself, were all observing on a ledge above the action. And we were about to jump into battle, to assist our falling Skrall brothers. Now, we knew how deadly the Baterra were, but we also knew an amazing secret, and new power, something that was discovered in another battle entirly. A battle with an Elemental Lord.

A thorned vine appeared from nowhere and snatched another Sand Raider away. Ordinarily, crazed plantlife attacking individuals and dragging them away would be considered impossible. But not for the Elemental Lord of Jungle. A troop of Sand Raiders, led by myself, had been exploring the far north reaches of Bara Magna, searching for new food and water supplies. We had stumbled upon a forrest, and were looking for a food source when a discovery was made. Partly inside several of the trees were dead warriors!! As we tried to examine them, we met a new friend. The Elemental Lord of Jungle. He welcomed us to his forrest with a friendly, giant, thorned vine of death. Two Raiders didn't survive the welcome. We had no choice, but to fight.

Have you ever tried to fight the Elemental Lord of Jungle, in the middle of a forrest? It can be compared to attempting to light a fire, underwater. He was definetly in his element, so to speak. Of the troop of Raiders present, only seven of us,(Myself included.) out of nineteen, survived the experience. As the forrest went wild, we found ourselves in a dire situation. Sukata and Terruk teamed up and held off the Forrest of Blades. It wasn't easy, but the Agori did well. Tactus simply smashed whatever came near him, while Kralis and Vernox basicly just sliced through the weeds. Rocxis and I were teamed up and fighting hard. So was the entire forrest. It was also hard to tell were the Elemental Lord was, everything seemed alive. Then, after a number of futile minutes, at the end of which only twelve Sand Raiders remained standing, I realized something. Plantlife was flamable. Without hesitation, I shot an explosive Thornax at a broken of branch and created an explosion. "Shouldn't you save your amunition??",questioned Rocxis. "It's for a worthy cause",I resopnded. I saw some smoke eminating from the dry branch, and knew it had worked. "Quick Rocxis, get me some dry leaves!",I ordered. There were some confiniently nearby. "If this doesn't get the attention of the Elemental Lord, I don't know what will." ,I stated. Once the fire was burning fast, I let it spread. Suddenly my shield and sword were snatched away from my hands!! The fire had been noticed by the Elemental Lord. And he hated fire. A moment later Rocxis was disarmed too. I noticed the same fate had occured to Kralis, Vernox, and Tactus, and they had also been tied up by a number of vines. However, Vernox seemed to be intently chewing his way out of his viney trap. Only several Raiders, including Sukata and Terruk were still armed. I struggled against the vines, and bit one. It tasted horrid, but I didn't care. Once my hand was free I ripped the vines off me. I noticed that our little fire was becoming a big fire, fast. The Elemental Lord had noticed too and was doing all he could to stop it. At that moment, as I was examining the surrounding area for an escape route, and saw something strange. Five rocks that had not been there minutes ago. Then something horrible happened. The "rocks" turned into Baterra!! Five undefeatable Baterra. They were smallish, and silver, yet very powerful. I glanced around for something I could use for a weapon, anything! But all I had was my bare hands. I looked toward the Elemental Lord, perhaps he knew how to stop them, but he was retreating!! He suddenly threw down his weapon and disappeared!! So I turned back to the Baterra. I was ready to destroy them. I tightened my fists and waited for them to attack. They ignored me. I yelled at them. They ignored me and Rocxis again. They just started slowly walking past us. My mind raced as I tried to discern why they were paying no attention to us. Then I noticed that they were advancing on Sukata and Terruk. Why them and not us?? Then Vernox hissed, "We have no weapons. They don't want to attack us. We can't fight well enough." Then I understood, although Vernox had not explained it very well. The very first thing the Elemental Lord had done was throw down his weapon! Then I realized that Terruk and Sukata were still armed!! Throw down your weapons, all of you!!", I ordered. Sukata and Terruk looked at me as if I had gone mad!! My glare made them think twice. They threw away their weapons and put their hands up. The Baterra stoped, very confused. Didn't those two just have weapons? Were they still warriors without them? This was when I decided act I approached and examined a Baterra. They ignored me. Until I grabbed one and began carrying it away. As I ordered the other Sand Raiders to do the same, I noticed the other four Baterra quickly following me. As I tried running, the Baterra I held quickly discovered he could do nothing but shapeshift. So he became a rock. It was rather annoying. I also noticed that Baterra were faster than I thought. They were gaining quickly, unless I could find an escape route, they would catch me, and likely treat me as a warrior. Which ment instant death. Ah! Up ahead, a cave! I ran for as best as one can with....er...a major incovinience in their arms. My pursueres continued to gain on me until I reached the cave. My plan there was simple, destroy the Baterra in my arms, and do the same to the others. I was also counting on reciving assistance from my troop, but nothing went acourding to plan. First, as soon as they got inside the cave, those rediculus Baterra caused a cave-in!! Then I was trapped in a cave, with five of a Skrall's worst nightmare. Wonderful. I ran down through the cave searching for someway to escape. There was none. Then I made a mistake, that completely changed me forever. I didn't see a gaping hole in the cave floor. And when I say "hole", I mean a seemingly bottomless, pitch black, pit. As I and my newly captured Baterra, plummeted, I wondered how it would feel when I hit the bottom. Hopefully, it would be quick and painless. I never got to find out, as I examined the pit's walls, I relized that I could use the Baterra to slow my fall by trying to grind down the walls slope. For a few seconds it acctually work, then I hit a rock and fell, but this time, there was no where left to fall, I was at the bottom. Surprisingly, I fell into a greenish, blackish liquid. After struggling for a few minutes, to my horror and dread, I realized that I still was not at the bottom! This, I decided, was a much worse way to die. And slower way. Nearby, I saw energy crackling around the Baterra, as it "died". Then I sank again. I felt the horrible liquid burn my insides and eyes. My lungs grew heavy......But instead of dying, I felt energy surge through me. It was a strange and new feeling.....This might help. I tried to channel or focus the energy, and succeded. I quickly rose up, and broke the liquids surface. Though I could barely see, I am certian I saw something further into the liquid lake, some sort of huge Rock Steed like, partly silver creature. Not wanting to bother.....it...I discovered that with a lot of effort, I COULD LEVITATE AND FLY!! I instantly began to soar upward, rapidly escaping the pit. Then I saw two Baterra ready to greet me, standing near the pit's mouth. I flew over them, and landed behind. As they advanced, I decided to test my new powers. Suddenly, a bolt of energy blasted back the first baterra. The second advanced, only to be shot back as well. Then I discovered a new power, laser vision, or something of the sort. I shot twin beams from my eyes, beams that sent both Baterra down into the pit. A few moments later, I heard a reasurring splash. Now my eyesight was clear, and I could finally see clearly. I was annoyed by what I saw; the other two Baterra advancing on me. I wanted to see if I had any other powers, so I raced over to the first Baterra and placed my hand on him. What happened next surprised me! I felt energy flow into my hand, and watching in amazment as the Baterra fell, powerless. I did the same to the other, I absorbed his power and caused it to "die". Now I had several amazing new powers, and two Baterra I had captured that we could take back for study! But I was still stuck in a cave. Wait, it was very dark in their.......so how could I see?? I also had night vision! My next power was discovered when I tried to pick up a Baterra, and found it to be lighter than a grain of sand!! Easily, I lifted both Baterra and ran toward the cave's entrance. When I arrived, I began hurling away the rocks that were keeping me in. Unfortanetly, I was not paying any attention as to were those rocks fell, or what they hit....After a few moments of work, I broke through!! But, as I hurled the last large stone away, it struck the cave's ceiling, and caused another cave-in!! I was instantly trapped again, and then burried!! A rock struck my head and everything went black.............

When I awoke, I was in one of our fortresses, on a cot, with a wretched headache. I quickly learned that my Sand Raiders had been trying to dig me out for some time, before I had broken out. Then when I broke free and got burried under another cave-in, they dug me and my two new Baterra friends out, and we evacuated south arriving in this fortress. Ocks had was there, and once I was awake, he spent all his time examining the Baterra. I told them all of what happened, and even demonstrated my new powers. We all tried to return to that cave, and even did. But when we arrived in it's pit, all we found was a lot of sickly greenish/blackish fog and some small shallow puddles of the stuff. We even tried it with the puddles, to no avail. Then we heard a roar that shook the cave and decided to excuse ourselves. Moments after our escape, a large earthquake destroyed the cave for good. We could never return. But we had still something that made it worth the while, knowledge. We knew how to stop the Baterra...and we were ready to fight.

And that was why we were about to jump into battle. We knew how to make short work of the Baterra. This was the rear of the Skrall retreat however, and those Skrall had just about been abandoned. The nearest legion, was running far ahead, leaving these Skrall for their deaths. It was time, I addressed my surrounding Raiders, "My fellow Raiders, I believe it is time we introduced ourselves, I'll go first...." And with that I jumped down from the ledge, and levitated above the ground. Then I greeted a Baterra with a blast of pure energy. All the Skrall just stared at me."Drop your weapons and kick them away NOW!!", I ordered. Most didn't want to, so I helped convince them, by blasting them away. Then, with my bare hands, I absorbed the power or all nine killer Baterra. My Sand Raider back up, hauled them away. And that was it. The battle was over. And now, the Sand Raiders would never fear Baterra again. The Skrall troop had been abandoned by the other legions, so I invited them to join us. They agreed.

As we began our trek back home, I stayed behind some, wanting to see if any other Skrall needed assistance. As I survyed the area, I noticed several figures below in the canyon. I silently watched them examin the canyon floor, and ducked when one looked up toward me. I knew who they were, Sisters of the Skrall. Apparently, a few had been left behind in the retreat. And judging from their vows of revenge, I could deduct that they were angry about it. I continued watching for several minutes, until a sudden and horrible pain froze me in place!! I felt paralized!! Nothing would make my limbs move!! Then I felt myself being grabbed by my neck, and being lifted up. Then I was staring into the cold icy stare......of a Skrall Sister. And, to spite the fact that I couldn't move, I felt a cold shiver go throughout my being.........Then, slowly and horribly, the pain increased..............................

TO BE CONTINUED!!!!!