Monsters of Etheria: Blight of the Moon

Chapter 8: Static's Redemption

"And just when I thought I was going to get a wink of sleep..."

Blossom groaned as she jolted and sat up, turning to face the source of the sound. Before her eyes, Static was roaring and stretching her limbs. She sighed with relief, but tension as she muttered "That really worked..". As Static opened her eyes, she looked down at her paws with a confused expression. Her large ears twitched as a streak of yellow lightning coiled down the rod-shaped tips. She blinked her electric blue eyes before her ears twitched in Blossom's direction and she turned to see her.

"Oh hi!" Static said with an unusual amount of energy. She stretched her hind legs before asking "W-What happened?" "You got corrupted." Said Blossom. We had to..fight you, and stuff. You were pretty strong, and we had to put you to sleep." "Oh, hm." Static muttered as she sat down. "When I got hit by those..beams..my vision flashed with cyan, then it faded to black. It felt like I was a ghost, like I got possessed, and I was knocked out of my body, only being able to watch as whatever possessed me wreaked havoc." Static said with a hint of questioning as Blossom nodded. "Then, some kind of language, or runes started flashing in my vision, glowing with cyan. Every time they appeared, they made some sort of etherial sound that echoed in my head. After a while they started fading and the sounds got quieter. I guess that's when I started sleeping."  Static would continue. "And then suddenly, some time after sleeping, I felt a warmth start flowing down my throat. It was..comforting. Like I just swallowed a mini sun. It heated me to the core and suddenly, I felt like the corruption or whatever that was, just disappeared. Like that mini sun purged the darkness in my body." Blossom would laugh "That's pretty poetic for someone like you." As Static groaned.

Not too long after, Synthesis poked her head through the tent's entrance. "Looks like you're awake." She acknowledged. "Are you serious? Not even a hi? Or a hug? Or a 'Static-oh-my-god-i'm-so-happy-you're-awake-doing-okay-and-still-not-corrupted?" Said Static, who pouted as Synthesis rolled her eyes. "I guess those moon beams changed you somehow. Way less grumpy, and more like a cat soaked in water." "I-I just- JUST GO!!" Static hissed at Synthesis as she walked back into her tent nonchalantly.

"Y'know, maybe Synthesis is..a little right." Said Blossom, in the friendliest way she could muster. "Sure..I guess I just forgot about all the things that make me angry." Static muttered as she sat back down, her hackles still raised. "Expect me to go back to regular old grumpy Static tomorrow." Blossom chuckled, but Static didn't. Blossom laid back down onto her sleeping bag, without going under the blanket as she loosely flopped an arm over her stomach and sighed. "I'm getting really tired of this apocalypse." Static nodded silently. "We already have a lead on one step of the plan, but we don't even know how to start it!" exclaimed Blossom in desperation. "Tell me about it.." Static said. "Maybe I could figure something out."

After Blossom finished explaining Synthesis's theory about the portals, Static looked to the floor, stopping for a handful of minutes before speaking again. "Before the moon-pocalypse, when I used to be an Elekitty, while I was exploring, I noticed a cave in the forest we were in before I got corrupted." Blossom drifted forward, interested as Static continued. "Out of curiosity I entered it, and found a bunch of Irasper and Eidlon, with some occasional Jardrix hiding in some small holes in the walls. In the cave I met an Eidlon. What was their name...Eerie? I made friends with them, and we talked for a while about stuff inside and outside the cave. They talked about how there was this big, square-shaped pit somewhere deep in the cave. They explored it a little, but since the walls were made out of solid iron, they weren't able to climb up. They almost got trapped there until an Irasper saved them. I think that place might have relations to those portal things you mentioned. If I were to guess, behind those doors was probably a bunker, or some kind of research lab. I mean, if it weren't something related to those two it wouldn't have been so..secured. In the cave, I examined the crystals in the cave, and when I touched them, they gave off some kind of shock. It felt different from an electric shock though. If I put my paw on them for a long time, I could feel them slightly vibrating, like there's some kind of energy trapped inside of them. My best guess is that those could be some kind of power source, which is why a bunker or lab could be hidden so deep inside some random cave. I don't have enough evidence to back this up, but that's the best and closest bet."

After thinking for a while the two agreed to get the others and tell them about Static's theory. After gathering everyone into the middle tent, which was even harder now that Static was bigger, they started to discuss their ideas.

"Yep, sounds like a good plan to me." Said Clover, as the tip of her cottony tail wagged slightly. "Remember, we need to be fast, or else those moon beams could corrupt us again." Blossom said firmly. Pollen flew to the entrance of the tent before exclaiming "The coast is clear, are we ready guys?!" The other 6 shared an nod as they all prepared for a wild sprint. "Okay then, I'll go first, then everyone else try not to bump into each other." "Yeah, got that.." Static mewed as sparks flew across her fur. "Alright then, 3, 2, 1!" Pollen flew out of the tent at blinding speed as everyone else followed her. Moon beams crashed down as everyone either sprinted, flew or floated. The group of 7 dashed madly to the forest as moon beams followed their every step. Soon enough, they sprinted into the forest shade and collapsed as they all turned to face the cave.