Chapter 2: Chapter 2 – Desert Bog Colony

Rhianna Blume had been trekking the desert for hours with minimal rest periods. During her journey, she came across a variety of Beezoids who she engaged in combat and reap their Rain Cores. She specifically avoided confronting the level 10 and higher Beezoids who were too powerful for her to handle.

Rhianna was lucky enough to come across a harmless Desert Swimmer Beezoid who gave her a ride to the outskirts of the settlement. She didn’t bother taking its Rain Core. Instead, she fed it one of her captured Rain Cores and wished it goodbye.

“See you later, old buddy.” She watched as the Desert Swimmer dove beneath the surface and swam away.

Rhianna aimed her sight afield at the Desert Bog Colony settlement. “Whew, home sweet home.”

A vast settlement was in the midst of the rainy desert expanse with sheltered walls that prevented the malicious Body Elementals from invading. The entire area had a huge ceiling with numerous widespread canopies that were preventing the Desert Rain from entering. Within these protected walls resided a self-sufficient colony of humans who helped each other in various ways. The Desert Bog Colony’s territory wasn’t restricted to this settlement alone, their area of influence encompassed almost all of the entire desert region of eastern Rainstar.

“Huh! Are those Omen Clouds I see forming above?” Looking upwards, Rhianna recognized a unique formation of clouds that usually pours disaster. “I better hurry home before I get caught up in a Cloud Burst.” She began running towards the settlement as fast as she could to avoid getting trapped in potential chaos.

Whenever a Cloud Burst occurred anywhere across Rainstar it usually means the constant production of Curse Raindrops. As a result, myriads of Beezoids are created unceasingly as many as the very raindrops. If someone was unfortunate to be outside a protected Umbrella zone when a Cloud Burst occurred, it doesn’t matter how skilled of a Rainmancer he or she might be, they would be overrun by Beezoids whereby imminent death would bequeath them.

Rhianna understood this perfectly, hence she increased the pace of her speed. While running across the desert shores she spotted a passenger Hover Surfer approaching from behind her. These Hover Surfers were gigantic enough to accommodate 20 to 40 people. They were equipped with custom Umbrellas designed to shelter passengers from the Desert Rain. Though they shared a close semblance to Hover Surfers, they weren’t commonly called that. The inhabitants of the desert called these types of passenger Hover Surfers, Camel Seacrafts.

“Hey! Hey! Over here!” Perceiving the Camel Seacraft getting closer, Rhianna tried to get the passengers’ attention by running over there while waving at them.

“Huh, who’s that over there?” One of the passengers on board the Camel Seacraft spotted Rhianna a few metres out and told the operator to lower the speed. “There is someone over there.”

“I see her.” The operator took a slight detour by directing the Camel Seacraft to where Rhianna was waving. “Hi, there young lady. Need a lift?”

“You betcha.” Rhianna accepted the operator’s helping hand and climbed up onto the Camel Seacraft.

“Hey, wait a minute, don’t I know you?” The operator looked over Rhianna from head to toe. “Yeah, I recognized those gadgets. You must be that Gear Alchemist’s little girl, Rhianna Blume, correct?”

“I sure am, sir.” She responded with a brilliant smile.

“Call me, Baron.” The operator shook Rhianna’s hand.

“Nice to make your acquaintance, Baron.” After she exchanged pleasantries with Baron, Rhianna moseyed on over to the edge of the Camel Seacraft where she sat with her feet hanging loosely above the desert. While tapping her fingers against the floor, she continued to hum her soothing tune and waited to be transported to the Desert Bog Colony.

The main entrance to the settlement was being protected by a swampy moat meant to keep grounded Beezoids away along with a 10-metre thick wall comprised of rear metallic ore and sand. This entrance was being guarded regularly by a vigilant squadron of Rainmancers. From their tall watchtowers, they were able to view a wide area of the desert.

One of the watchers took notice of an incoming vessel and alerted the others. “I see a Camel Seacraft approaching. There aren’t any Beezoids lurking nearby. Go ahead and open the gates.”

“Roger!” The gatekeepers who were positioned below received the go-ahead to lower the walls. 5 of them positioned themselves before the humungous wall, each holding a 6-foot long Umbrella which they simultaneously injected into registered ports on the ground. They were keys to opening the gate.

When these 5 keys began turning, they imbued their users with preternatural strength which gave their Innocent Amins control over the elements that comprised the wall.

“Together now!” Synchronizing their movements, the gatekeepers began executing a series of bodily actions with their focus aimed at the wall. Numerous body of sand were oscillating their bodies. Reaching a considerable rate of synchronicity, they pushed forth their hands at the wall. A split began to appear in the middle. From there, the wall crumbled until a huge hole was formed.

“Go right through.” After the gatekeepers made sure that the Camel Seacraft entered the city safely, they quickly wielded their innate powers to close back the gap in the wall.

“I’m back.” Rhianna hopped off the Camel Seacraft before it came to a complete halt at the docking port and waved goodbye to the operator. “Thank you so much for the lift, Baron.”

“No problem, sweetheart. I always help out a fellow person in need.” Baron tipped his hat at her.

“See you around.” Rhianna ran away from the docking port and headed further into the city. The

Desert Bog Colony was a very large place filled with loving people and tamed Beezoids. Unlike the ground outside the wall, the surface inside was solid and dry which was a lot easier to walk on.

The architectural makeup of the settlement was comprised of solid buildings made from earth elements. Each of these structures had emergency shelter Umbrellas installed on their roofs just in case a breach were to occur in the protective ceiling. Sometime in the past, the ceiling had been breached by a flock of flying Beezoids who were seeking a new fort to spread their hive. They were chased away by the city’s Rainmancers but of course, they left behind a lot of damage. Even to this very day, the patches to the ceiling canopies were still evident. From time to time, workers would go up there to do repairs to the worn-out parts of the ceiling.

The Desert Bog Colony was a very busy place due to their hunt for resources to keep their colony sustained and self-sufficient. They hardly received help from bigger cities during a Cloud Burst. Whenever this unfavourable event occurred, not only did it bring great chaos to the city’s structure but it also caused many lives to be lost. The only thing profitable from a Cloud Burst is the number of Rain Cores they accumulated from slaying countless Beezoids, however, their earnings were mostly spent on buying materials to rebuild their destroyed colony. Therefore, not enough profits were left to upgrade their city to a fortified level where it could never be drastically affected by a Cloud Burst event.

Taking a stop in her stroll to observe the sky, Rhianna noticed that the Omen Clouds have disappeared. “I guess I was wrong about a Cloud Burst occurring after all.” She redirected her eyes ahead and continued to saunter throughout the cluster of people traversing the marketplace where various wares were traded or given out freely.

Rhianna ventured over by a stall where numerous fresh appetising fruits were on display chilling in a crate of ice cubes. Because of the hot atmosphere, ice was normally used to cool down produce from going spoil very fast.

“Hi there, Uncle Sage,” Rhianna spoke to a mature vendor who was sitting back in his comfortable rocking chair. He had a bald patch on his head that he usually hid with his cowboy hat. Sitting on his shoulder was a cute nature Beezoid that was shaped almost like a sunflower. This amicable creature was playing with the man’s unkempt beard that a person could get lost in.

“Well, look who it is…” Uncle Sage sit up in his chair and looked Rhianna over. “You look like you’ve been out on a raid again by yourself. Does your father knows about this, young lady?”

“Of course he does,” Rhianna answered smugly. “I told my old man that I would go out to gather some Rain Cores for his new inventions.”

“Oh…” Uncle Sage was curious to know more of Rhianna’s quest, thus he inquired, “And how many Rain Cores did you manage to receive?”

“Not a whole lot.” Rhianna rested her hand against the stall’s edge. “Outside was rather dry today.”

“It figures that there wouldn’t be much Beezoids out there today due to the drizzle being so minimal. Anyway…” Uncle Sage looked at his pet Beezoid and rubbed its soft underbelly before directing his focus back to Rhianna. “Do you have an extra Rain Core that you could spare my buddy, Peto here? He hasn’t been able to produce much due to his stomach running dry.”

Rhianna didn’t hesitate to say, “Sure thing, Uncle Sage. Your fruits are the best in this colony. If I can help keep your business going then I would be happy to give you a Rain Core.” She dipped into her belt pouch, took out one of the smaller Rain Cores and tossed it to Uncle Sage.

“Thanks a lot, kiddo.” Uncle Sage fed the Rain Core to his pet Beezoid. “Here you go, Peto. This should give you some sustenance.”

‘Chomp!’

After Peto swallowed the Rain Core, it started glowing rather freshly again. It was brimming with so much energy that it prematurely produced a dozen of Pine Cream Mangoes that fell into the crate.

“You can have as many treats as you want.” Said Uncle Sage.

“Don’t mind if I do.” Rhianna Scrapped up a few of the freshly created fruits and stuffed them into her pouch. She had one in her hand that she was snacking on. “See you later, Uncle Sage. Say hi to the misses for me.”

“I can’t promise you that, kiddo.” Uncle Sage watched as Rhianna strutted down the street cheerfully while snacking on the Pine Cream Mango that his loving Beezoid had produced.

Pito was a type of Body Elemental that didn’t have a ferocious nature as the many others wandering outside the settlement’s defensive walls. Unlike them, she was a caring nature spirit capable of using her innate talents to produce certain delectable ambrosia to soothe the hunger of others free of charge. All she needed was a Rain Core from time to time to keep on living.

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Pito wasn’t the only Beezoid of its kind. The Desert Bog Colony as well as other places across Rainstar had various types of Body Elementals that give freely to others the nature of their blessed self. Cloud Nebula was teeming with inexplicable wonders that till this day made all of Rainstar’s inhabitants marvel at its boundless ineffable existence.

“I better pick up the pace.” While skipping through the street, Rhianna took a turn down a wide alley where she passed by a group of kids playing hopscotch with an elder. She went up a steep flight of stairs which took her to an enclosed area where numerous residential flats were aligned in an orbital fashion going up 5 to 6 storeys.

Rhianna walked onwards to the lowest part of the enclosure at the back portion where her father’s workshop was. She hopped over a few broken gadgets that were lying in the path to get to the entrance.

As soon as Rhianna entered the workshop, she shouted, “Dad your favourite and most beautiful daughter is home!” Her voice echoed throughout the enclosed space, it even shook a few screws loose from the ceiling.

Numerous tools and mechanisms were keeping the workshop heavily congested. Inside had multiple floors, a top floor and the basement floor. So many automated equipments were moving about that a novice had to be super careful not to mess things up.

“Huh, where the heck is he?” Not hearing any response, Rhianna tried again, “Dad, I said I’m home!”

“Bark! Bark!” What hopped down from the upper floor and greeted Rhianna wasn’t her dad, instead it was a 300-pound Beezoid large enough to drop her on the ground. “Greenore stop it. I’m not in the playing mode right now.”

“Bark! Bark!” Greenore wagged his tail playfully while slobbering Rhianna’s face with his tongue.

“I said to quit it, Greenore.” Rhianna pushed him off of her and got up. “Where is dad, he didn’t go out to search for me, did he?” Just as she asked this question she heard a familiar voice answering her question by saying,

“He didn’t.”

“Huh…?” Looking up at the person who was coming down the stairway, Rhianna instantly recognized who it was. “Dante, what are you doing here?”

The person Rhianna was surprised to see was her closest childhood friend, Dante Morningstar. He was a slender youth born with a handsome face to match his mesomorphic physique that was later crafted during his hard work as a Gear Alchemist apprentice. He and Rhianna were in the same age group and was only older by a year.

Using a cloth to wipe grease from his dirty hands, Dante alighted the stairs, came over to where Rhianna was standing by her pet Greenore and conveyed, “Your dad left me in charge of his workshop while he went out to look for you.”

“He what!?” Rhianna’s shocking voice reverberated throughout the workshop. “I told that old man that I am capable of taking care of myself, yet he still went ahead to search for me? When will he realize that I’m a big girl now?”

“Hey, not so loud.” Dante’s elf ears couldn’t take much more of Rhianna's deafening rants thus he hurriedly admitted. “I was only joking, Rhianna.”

“What was that, Dante?” She stared at him seriously.

“I said I was only pulling your ear.” Taking his hands away from his ears, Dante confessed, “Mr Vazquez didn’t go out to search for you.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“I am.” Dante tossed the solid cloth on a rusted fan cover. “At first he was going to go out and look for you when you didn’t get back in the time you said you would, but I convinced him that you were a capable Rainmancer who could go toe to toe with most of the common Beezoid to ever emerge in this desert.”

Hearing how fondly Dante spoke about her made Rhianna’s ego peak a little. “You did, you convinced my stubborn overprotective father?”

“Yeah, I did.” Replied Dante.

“Then where the heck is he? I came in this workshop hollering his name and only you and Greenore came to welcome my return.”

Dante ran his hand through Greenore’s rough furs and responded, “Not too long ago, some folks from Zeelon factory came by the shop. They had a malfunctioning K8refiner unit that needs fixing so your father went along with them to do repairs. He told me to tell you that your dinner was in the Wave Warmer. So you can help yourself to it.”

“Oh, I’m not hungry. I grabbed these from, Uncle Sage’s stall.” She showed him a bag filled with fresh produce.

Dante started to drool. “Are those Pine Cream Mangoes?”

“You bet your drooling mouth they are. Want some?”

“You know I do.” He took out a handful of Pine Cream Mangoes from the bag and started munching on them. “Wow, so sweet and creamy! Thanks for bringing these with you, Rhianna. I was starving.”

“You were starving?” Rhianna looked at him strangely. “I thought you said my dad looked after dinner. Didn’t he offer you any?”

Dante took another bite of the juicy fruit and spoke with his voice sounding muffled, “Come on, Rhianna. You and I both know that your father’s cooking does not agree with our stomachs.”

“You’re right about that.” Rhianna agreed with him. “My dad's cooking sucks air. Sometimes I wonder how is it that he is such a skilled Gear Alchemist. He can build the most advanced ovens yet he can’t bake a delicious pie to satisfy his daughter’s hunger.”

“What’s that I hear about my abysmal cooking skills?” An unexpectedly familiar voice which came from the entrance of the workshop startled both Rhianna and Dante. Only Greenore alone wasn’t surprised. It could sense Vazquez coming from a mile away.

Greenore ran over to the entrance and started rubbing his head against the muscular built man whose body supported the attachment of various types of work tools. Additionally, he had a large toolbox in his left hand while his other hand was taking the hat from his head.

“Dad what are you doing here?” Rhianna’s eyes were staring wide open at her father.

Vazquez reciprocated Greenore’s greeting by stroking his furs. He placed his toolbox on a counter that had numerous bolts and walked on further in his domain. Looking sternly at his daughter he asked, “Isn’t this my workshop, young lady?”

“No, that’s not what I meant, dad. Dante told me some people came by and that you ran off to Zeelon factory to fix something for them, so I wasn’t expecting you to be back so soon.”

“Who do you take me for? I am the number one Gear Alchemist in this Desert Bog Colony. A simple k8refiner unit is nothing serious that requires me to be patching all day long. Besides, I’m glad that I came back early. Now I know how my own daughter speaks about me behind my back?”

Rhianna became apologetic all of a sudden. “Father I didn’t mean to tarnish your awful cooking skill but you seriously need to improve in that department. Back me up here, Dante.” She looked at him for support.

“You’re on your own with this one, Rhianna.” Dante turned his back and walked on into the joining room to check on a few pieces of equipment.

Rhianna was left all alone with her stern father to explain how ungrateful she was, even Greenore didn’t stick around to support her argument. “You traitors! How can both of you abandon me to face this brutish man alone?”

“Your dinner is in the Wave Warmer, Rhianna.” Vazquez was going to make sure that his daughter eat every bit of the meal he prepared for her despite how awful she said it taste. This was her punishment for coming home late and for trashing his cooking skills behind his muscular back.

 

 

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