was filled with too many powers, and if it got into the
wrong hands, it would cause a big problem for the elders.
So they guarded the plant with a big unstoppable
beast, one that had no respect for anyone; one that was
savage and evil. But one man was determined to get the
white rhino plant. He heard his parents talk about it; he
climbed up to the mountains and dug a tunnel under the
beast. For days and weeks he stayed in the forest, avoiding
death many times, but his greed had overwhelmed him by the
power he could achieve by obtaining the rhino plant.
He was chased by beast and huge snakes. One time he
was almost eaten by a huge lizard, but managed to cut
himself loose from the lizard’s grip with a powerful sword.
After weeks of digging and being chased by scary creatures
of the forest, he finally saw a beam of light to let him
know to stop digging and that he was at the surface.
The young lad waited until the time was right; once
the beast walked over the hole, he drove his sword at the beast, killing it instantly. The sword went straight
through the beast’s heart, and it began to stumble and
roar; until it finally fell off the side of the mountain,
splattering guts and blood all over the place.
The young lad came out of the hole in the side of the
mountain and shouted and screamed. Animals of the forest
began to talk, and the word was passed through Baja and
other worlds like a shooting star. Once at the top, the
young lad grabbed the plant in a choke hold, pulling its
roots from the ground and shouting, "I did it, I defeated
the beast!"
Once the plant was pulled out of the ground, within
minutes everything began to turn black and die. The lad
immediately died holding the plant in his right hand. The
trees whither away, the streams immediately dried up, and
the animals feel from the skies. Life was being eliminated.
Once the elders saw what was happening, they came in
on a magical moon, all dressed in sparkling white robes.
Their faces were never seen, and they took the young man to
the moon and the elders re-planted the white rhino plant.
Once in the ground, the plant sent off a burst of light,
and with the light, seeds began to fly. Because of what
happened, the elders hid many white rhino plants all over
the galaxy and beyond. The young man was never heard from again. Legend had it that he was reincarnated into the
beast that now guards the plant.
"What was this young man's name?" said Sam.
"Elmilio."
"Why did the plant kill everything?" said Jane.
The frog replied, "You as a plant grower should know;
you never kill something that is alive, it's like pulling
the heart out of the body. The trick is to only take what
is needed."
Jane looked in amazement to know that the frog knew of
her. Before another question could be asked of the frog, it
disappeared as if it was never there. Jane’s brain was
racing, thinking of everything possible that this legend
could mean. Then she came to the realization and shouted.
"Instead of ripping the plant out of its soil and
killing it, all we need is a petal or a leaf," said Jane.
As simple as the solution was, no one had thought of
it.
“That's why I married you," said Sam as Jane smiled
and the others cheered her on.
"Good job, Jane. Now the trick is getting up there,"
said Samantha.
Once on the other side, the team felt safe and began
to take their time, but Jane noticed that the roots on the trees were moving, and the dirt was being disturbed.
"Run!" shouted Jane.
Everyone began to run; the tree stems and roots were
running after Jane and the others, as if they were hunting
them. Red Fox ordered everyone to split up, causing the
roots to tangle amongst each other and tie in a knot. But
as soon as one was tied up, another came chasing them. Jane
and the others were running for their lives, up and over,
under and up, over rocks and tree barks. Once most of the
trees were all tied into knots they could not move. They
began to holler and scream, so piercing that Jane and the
others had to plug their ears. One by one the trees fell,
still attached to each other in a knot.
Jane tried to comfort the trees with her touch, but
quickly found that her powers were not working in this part
of the land. The trees seemed to be under some type of
different spell; they were not listening to her commands.
Then suddenly the trees withered and died one by one,
turning into nothing more than mere ashes.
The ground began to sink in and little man-eating
plants came forth. They were no more than the size of a
common house pet, but they were plants that ran on all
fours like dogs. They were brown and blue in color, with a
spec of white, and these little things were ferocious. They chased the team all over the place, nipping and biting at
their heels. These little plant eaters were eating
everything in sight; Samantha began to chop at the
creatures with her sword, either cutting off their stems
like paws or their razor-sharp petals.
Soon the team was becoming outnumbered by these
plants, and Sam and the others had no choice but to run. As
Sam and the remaining members ran toward the area of the
rhino plant, the creatures turned back; showing fear, they
quickly ran in the opposite direction, leaving Jane and the
others wondering what was next.
At the end of this part of the forest, everything was
water; the water was black and muddy, thick like quick
sand, and every once in a while an underground volcano
would blow, sending mermaids flying into the air. They were
filthy and stunk from the thick black waters; their hair
was matted and their faces partial visible. Their scales
seemed to be dried up like old fish, fangs hung from their
mouths, and even though they had the appearance of a human,
they were not.
Sam and the others watched them from behind a tree.
The mermaids seemed to be having a day of fun, but it
quickly turned into a day of survival for one. Sam and the
others watched as the group of mermaids singled one mermaid out and began to fight with her. Sam wanted to step in, but
was advised to let nature take its course. The mermaids
continued to beat on one of their own, until a huge wave
came and pushed them out to sea, sending the badly beaten
mermaid to shore.
"This is our chance, let's go," said Sam.
As they walked up to the water, the mermaid let out a
moan, she was in pain.
"Well, we can't leave her," said Jane.
The others did not want anything to do with this
creature, but being the kind-hearted people that they were,
they just couldn’t leave her wounded. As Jane got closer to
the mermaid, with caution she flipped her over. This
mermaid was not as disfigured like the others; she was
perfectly intact, she looked like the girl next door. Jane
took a little of the water that they had in their
containers and poured it over the mermaid’s face.
The mermaid awoke and was very frightened; she slowly
crawled back into the water, looking over her surroundings,
but did not run away. She started to cry and let off a
moaning song that seemed to hypnotized Jane and the others.
The only one not hypnotized was Red Fox; his animal
instincts seemed to block it out. When the mermaid realized
that, she went further back into the water, and Jane and the others came out of their hypnotic trance.
"That was really strange, it was like being buried
alive," said Samantha.
Still, the mermaid did not leave; it came up closer to
the strangers and stared at them.
"Why are you here?" asked the mermaid.
"Baja is in danger and we must save it from a deadly
spell," said Jane.
The creature glanced Jane over, and began to come
forward, frightening Jane; so she moved back a little. Then
the creature came out of the water and began to grow legs
right before Jane's and the others eyes. Everyone was in
amazement to see such a transformation take place. After
the tail had turn into legs and the mermaid was human, she
was covered with cuts and bruises; her skin was pale, and
she looked sickly. The mermaid dropped to the ground and
begged for more water. Jane gave her the entire container
of water, and then the mermaid began to talk.
"I am an outcast, I am not as pretty as the others, so
they taunt me daily," said the mermaid.
"You’re the prettiest, your sisters are ugly," said
Red Fox.
The mermaid told Jane and the others that it was said
that her father was a sailor and an adventurer; he came here many years ago, and never return.
"Where are you trying to get to?" said the mermaid.
"To the other side, so we can climb the mountain,"
said Sam.
"You seem like good people, I would take you there,
but it is very dangerous; they say the beast lies there,"
said the mermaid.
"Wait, it could be a trick," said Red Fox.
Everyone waited for the mermaid to go first. Suddenly
the mermaid jumped on one of the last remaining fighters
and carried him into the water. The fighter struggled and
called out for help, but there was nothing anyone could do.
Then Jane remembered that she had a magical seed. With a
dab of water, she attached the seed to the palm of her
hand. It began to grow into a wild vine, running up and
down the sides of Jane’s arm. She commanded the vine to
make a rope, and so it did, allowing Jane to throw it out
to the fighter in distress. The vine split into two and
went after the mermaid, tying her up. Jane pulled the
fighter out of the water; he was badly bitten and began to
change. His skin became scales; his legs began to curl into
the fetal position and began to form a tail.
"Oh, now we must leave him," said Jane.
Sam ordered the fighter to fight, but it was too late, the fighter had no more strength; he was now under the
powers of the mermaids. As Jane had the mermaid in a hold
with her powerful vines, she questioned it.
"You tricked us," said Jane.
"Of course, you fools; we saw you coming and we
smelled you. The others are waiting on their dinner, which
is you!" said the mermaid as she changed back into her
original ugly form.
The plant fit on Jane's hand like a glove, and its
vine covered up the mermaid from head to toe and strung her
up a tree.
"Try getting down from that, you can't be out of water
too long," said Jane sarcastically.
Out of all the fighters that Jane and Sam had, they
were all gone except one, and Sam vowed to the fighter that
he would do everything to protect her. But this young
fighter was brave and demanded to fight on. Yet, deep down
inside, Sam knew that the young fighter was very much
frightened.
"We must leave before the others come back, looking
for their sister," said Red Fox.
As soon as they started to leave, the others returned.
When they saw Jane and the rest of her friends were free,
and not dead, they came out of the water with a vengeance. Their tails turned into feet and they were now walking.
These creatures were very powerful, throwing Red Fox and
the others around like rag dolls. One by one Sam and the
others went flying through the sky; the mermaids were very
powerful. Sam shot a poison dart into one of the mermaids’
chest causing it to immediately fall to the ground.
Jane made her magical seed turn back into a wild vine,
stringing up the mermaids one by one. Through the air they
swooped, and into the tree. They were no match for Jane's
magical seed. Finally they were all up in the tree, arguing
with each other, saying who should have set the trap. To
hush them up, Jane sent a vine to cover their mouths, and
soon they were balled up in a cocoon-type vine.
"We must keep moving," said Red Fox.
Everyone started moving, looking back on their friend
who was now turning into a mermaid himself. There was no
hope for him, he was gone. The one who was most hurt was
Sam; he had lost another fighter under his care and command.
There was no time to be sad; they had to cross the
lake. It was so huge and scary, with fur-like toads and
huge rock crabs. The water was so black that no one could
see the bottom. Jane decided to use her vines to make an
aerial ladder. They quickly went to work, forming and
twisting to make a ladder. Once it was made, one by one, Jane and the others climbed on with just their hands
holding on and their feet hanging toward the water. Every
once in a while, the raging waters would send a weird
looking fish flying through the air, frightening Jane and
the others.
"We need to move fast before something else comes,"
said Samantha.
The team began to move faster and faster through the
air, using their feet like pedals to help them make it
across. For some reason, Samantha looked back and saw the
bitten fighter getting into the water. He was already
changed and was on the hunt for food.
"The fighter is in the water, keep moving," said
Samantha.
Everyone did so; they moved as fast as they could,
using all the strength and power that they had. They had to
get away from the fighter that was now changed into a
mermaid, and was in the water coming after them. The team
moved faster and faster; no one had forgotten that this
mermaid was once their friend and a fighter of Baja, but
they had no choice but to survive.
The fighter was no longer their friend; he had change
into a species that most had only read about. His muscular
body grew thick scales, his feet were now a tail, his skin had become pale and dirty from the muddy waters, and his
eyes glowed with evil. This was not their friend anymore,
this was an animal of the forest, and the team had to
remind themselves of this, and keep moving. Because this
fighter could no longer be saved, the ex-fighter came
swimming faster and faster through the murky waters; until
he caught up with Jane and the others.
"Faster!" shouted Sam.
The remaining members kept on moving, faster and
faster, but the ex-fighter caught up and began to snap and
gnawed at Jane and the others. Then he began to throw muddy
slime from the water at his friends. The water was so toxic
that once the slime hit the vines, it began to kill the
plant instantly. The vine caved in and began to break,
sending Jane and the others flying through the air
uncontrollably.
Everyone screamed as the vine took them on a wild
ride; it was slowly dying and losing all of its strength,
but it was trying to hold on, to help its master and her
friends. Meanwhile, down in the water, the mermaid began to
laugh hysterically, waiting to feast on the ones who would
fall into the ocean. But, unexpectedly, the vines managed
to grab the remaining fighters and threw them to safety.