The Plague: The Unusual Weed

Spirit had accepted another job, one that many were skipping. He didn't know what. Go pick some weeds. Grunt work but grunt work that pays. He viewed manual labor as a way to train the body. If magical power is a container holding water, then he simply needed to train to make that container bigger. The way to do that is through magical training but also training the body to be able to handle that increase. Emerald and Prime seemed to agree but Prime had been silent for some time now. Ever since meeting with the goddess on a previous job he wanted to give Spirit time to figure things out for himself. In truth, Prime had been coddling Spirit. Giving him too much guidance and it was stunting his growth. For now he would only come out when assessing real threats or when Spirits life was in real danger.

Emerald was energetic as always the entire trip to Beanstalk village. So much so she tired herself out and was perched on his head like a cat on a stump. Spirit didn't mind really. He loved Emerald. She had been his friend for some time now. He always wondered how old she was and how dragons aged but never bothered to ask. It was evident though that she aged much slower than a human like himself.

Reaching his destination he'd reach out to the one who posted the job.

"I’m an herbalist in Beanstalk Village and I've heard reports about a unique plant never before seen in Fiore. However, it would seem that the plants sting anyone who touches it. Those who touched it ended up in the hospital for a day or two. It's nothing serious, but I’d like you to go remove them for the people’s protection. I would, however, like a sample. Remove as many as you can find and bring me at least one pristine specimen for my studies and I'll pay you."

~Word Count: 328~

Spirit would assure the man he would get the job done quickly and move off to where the patch of weeds was. From what he had gathered on the way here they pop up from time to time but this time they were off the path on the way to a school. Even if kids knew to avoid them, sometimes kids will be kids and do things they shouldn't. Waking up Emerald he's get close to the weeds but not close enough to evoke a response from them. Looking them over they appeared to be purple plants with three large leaves that are durable.

"Well Emerald. What are you thinking? My first thought was to just burn them from a distance, but they are durable, and I wouldn't want the fire to spread. Plus, we need to keep several in good condition anyways. The man wanted one in pristine condition."

"You're silly Spirit. There is like 4 weeds there. It's not like it's a giant patch. He just wants us to remove them and bring back one. Ooo OOoO I know. I'll use my dragon might to destroy them! Then we just must bring back one. Easy pease."

"Hahaha, well you do have one point. It's easier to destroy them, but we need to save one. We could use our combined might to destroy 3 of them but how we get the last is still a mystery."

"Got it!"

As excitable as ever Emerald would fly up making sure to keep a good distance from the weeds. As her wings began to glow bright, she would focus on one of the weeds, her eyes beginning to twinkle. Opening her mouth, she released a spray of shining, glittering liquid that seems to fizzle like bubbly scolding bathwater. The weed would begin to wither from the heat but out of a natural response would spray barbs in an omnidirectional burst. Lucky for her she was out of the range having used her attack as far back as possible. Repeating her attack and having fun she would not take notice that the weeds seemed to not mind the fact she was using a water attack on them and before she knew it, she was getting tired and dizzy before falling to the ground after only destroying two.

Spirit running would slide on the ground and catch the exhausted Emerald. It would seem she was suffering from using too much magic power. This thing wasn't uncommon. She was like a child and still growing up. While incredible sharp she just tended to sometimes be a ditz. Placing her softly on the ground Spirit would take over. Raising his hands, a magic symbol would appear and shoot out dark gravitational energies at one of the two remaining weeds. Having a far greater effect than the water magic it would start to crumble, and sap was spurting out from areas. Pressing forward he would chain cast the spell two more times until the weed was a crumbled mess.

Staring at the last weed he knew there would be ways to possibly get up to it but it would cost him jenni. Plus, this was a chance to build up his ability to dodge and take a hit. Shuttering at the idea that some people love to feel pain he wasn't looking forward to what he was about to do. Starting to run he would cast haste on himself begin to move about through the barrage of barbs flying around. He did quite well until the end when the density was higher and took several to the arm before he was able to grab the weed with one hand and plunge his hand into the soil with the other. The water from all of Emerald’s attacks had softened up the ground nicely so he was able to scoop out the weed roots and all with much of the soil sounding it.

With a sigh of relief Spirit would marvel that they were able to get a weed but before he could celebrate too much, he noticed that while it wasn't attacking anymore, he felt weak, very weak. The weed normally would weigh almost nothing but here it felt like he was having to use all his strength just to hold it and stand. The man was right! The weeds were dangerous to touch but he needed to. With Emerald unconscious and him so weak he did the only thing he could think of. He got on all fours, placed Emerald and the weed in his backpack and crawled back to the man to turn in the pristine weed….an embarrassing success.

~Word Count: 774~