Legend of the Seven Lights

45. The Swamp Prince

This has to be the shortest chapter in a while. I guess I could've squeezed in another stage, but I didn't want to. :P Caesar crypt.

Chapter 45: The Swamp Prince

Louisiana Bayou

Dark green mist blocked their view entirely. Melody and Danny had docked their boat beside land minutes ago, and walked forward into the swamp with Juju as their guide. "You don't think they'll be into a human who stuffed himself with chips before coming here?" Danny asked, holding the lantern.

"If they're poisonbenders, I'd assume they'd welcome that."

"Darn."

"Don't worry, Danny, it's just a legend. The mermaids might be vicious, but 'cannibals' seems like a stretch. A little reasoning can do wonders. And if it doesn't, don't forget I'm tougher than I look."

Stage 53: Mermaid Swamp

Mission: Locate Manaphy in the swamp.

Juju slithered across the grass ahead of them, and Melody and Danny followed with haste, lest they would lose their guide. Juju made several turns around trees and bushes, and the Jacksons expected a monster to ambush them any second. Rustle-rustle.

"Whuhwazzat?" Danny whipped around, holding the lantern toward the path they just came. Nothing but flora leading to pitch-darkness.

"Come on, Danny!" Melody grabbed her brother in a water tentacle and pulled him along as they resumed chasing Juju. The snake jumped and swung a vine over a murky pond, so the siblings thought it best to follow his example.

They came to a wide area enclosed within thick vines, in which Juju slithered his way up a diagonal vine that was his width and got onto the ledge on the other side. The Jacksons couldn't follow him up the vine, but there were three thick stalks growing around this area. Melody lashed her water tentacles to grab the top of the shortest one, pulling it before loosening her grip, and flinging to the air. She grabbed the medium stalk, flung to the tall one, then onto the ledge where Juju waited. Danny hooked the lantern to his pants and repeated the actions, though his heavier body made it more difficult. In his fails, Danny saw a secret high ledge to the left of the medium stalk, and when he decided to redirect his momentum and fling over there, he collected a trophy of Ineptune! "...Yaaaay, game completion."

Danny caught up to his sister and watched Juju jump and roll down a thick vine slide, up the ramp on the bottom end to land on ground across a pond. "Danny, I'm gonna need your help here."

"I know." Danny sighed. He gave Melody his lantern before bending water from his bottles into his mouth. He turned more round, and Melody climbed onto him as he rolled down the slide. His momentum allowed him to go up the ramp and land on the next ground, and Melody jumped off to let Danny deflate. "If I ask for drinking water, say 'no.'" Melody remarked as Danny put the water back in his bottles.

Mermaid ghouls flew at them from gravestones nearby. Their bodies were gassy purple, with glowing yellow eyes and sharp fangs. Mel and Danny frightfully sliced them with water, but the smoke reformed into the ghosts behind them and tried to choke their necks. Melody got her arms free and sliced water at the graves, severing them, and the ghosts faded away, giving them the chance to breathe. In the next field, they saw a gravestone on a tall pillar, Merghosts coming at them. Mel and Danny sliced water and dispersed them, then Melody ran to get behind the pillar, climbing on a small platform to grab a beanstalk with water tentacles. She propelled herself up to the pillar and sliced the gravestone.

Melody latched her water-arms on some thick vines above her, climbing toward a cliff they were growing from, but Merghosts flew down from up there, too. As she was swatting them with water, Danny stuffed himself with his own water and lay on his back like a big round pillow. "Melody, drop that rock on me!" He pointed at the stone lodged in the vines on her right. Melody grabbed said rock in her water-arm and dropped it on Danny's belly, causing him to blast a tall gush of water, and Melody (regretfully) jumped in and was propelled to the cliff. She destroyed the gravestone and waited for Danny and Juju to catch up to her.