The days went as normal for three weeks. Lana was getting tired of having never gone off base and decided the friends would have a day in town. Lana covered a movie, dinner, ice cream and more for the friends claiming it was "party funds" from their exploits on Caladi. She was still shocked by how well that went. The idea that their group had the exact skills required yet they still almost died.
They went to see a second movie before stopping by the store and returning to the dorms. They bought several bags of groceries.
She was on edge walking through the park on the way back. It seemed every time she was in this park, except that first time, she was attacked by that monster. She heard a whispering between the trees. They appeared to be arguing. Some said there was an attack happening. Others said it was a trap. She decided to ask the tree who was involved in the attack.
They were within sight of the gates to the base when she was informed there was a girl being attacked. It was a trap but the attack on the girl was true. The boys chose the place to get her as well. Lana quickly handed her bags over to Kattie.
"Kattie, I need you and Alto to take our things back to our rooms. There is a girl in trouble."
She gestured for the other two to follow her and she followed the instructions given her by the trees. It had to be Pucket. When she got to the scene, she didn't see him, neither did the others.
There were two boys on lookout, another two holding a girl down while another was beating her and ripping her clothing off. Lana signaled for Dobin to take out the guards and Almin to take out the one beating the girl.
She held out her hand and counted down. She threw out a root system to hold the two that were holding the girl. That skill had gotten much stronger throughout the school year. She looked to see how the boys were faring.
Dobin created an earth wall that was good and thick that curved behind the sentries so their only way to go was toward him. He threw out an earth dagger at both boys. One dodged and threw out a mini tornado. The other had a wood ability. He picked up some sticks and they became spears that were both jabbed at Dobin at the same time. Then Lana noticed something. These boys were all second-year students. They all had soul weapons, specific weapons that worked with their ability to make them stronger that everyone learned in their second year and spent the year mastering its use.
She turned around and looked at the scene closer to her. Almin was equally in trouble. The girl was hurt but able to get herself out of there with a nod of thanks. Those she ensnared couldn't move so they were not a threat at the moment. She had no choice. She walked up to the tree near her brother and placed a hand on it "wake up!" she did the same with several other trees near her brother and Almin. She was showing her ability but she felt she had no choice.
Just a few moments after telling each tree to wake up, they did. This is a skill that allowed a tree to become sentient. Not only was this a powerful skill but dangerous to use as well. She didn't think it was possible to put the tree back to sleep which meant she just made four sentient trees in the forest. A forest that was tired of all the abuse the military students committed at their roots. This could only end badly.
The trees separated all the parties involved by grabbing all of them. They dropped Lana, Almin and Dobin as far away as possible toward the gate. The biggest tree told her to leave. She did as she was told.
The next day, the school was searching for the students. Their bodies were never found and their watches last location was in one of the park's forested areas. Noone saw anything or came forward with any information. That was reported to the student body, that is.
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In General Duke's office, "So what you're saying is she has a strong ability and doesn't know how to use it or tells people that she doesn't know?"
"Based on what I observed last night, she knew exactly what she was doing. She touched the trees, said "wake up" they then came to life and shredded the boys alive and buried all the bits beneath their roots then returned to being still as if nothing happened."
"So, we need her to tell us how to use her ability before taking it from her."
"Yes sir. But remember our deal. I get her once her ability is taken."
Duke grinned his most evil grin. "of course."
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The next day, in Agricultural Class, they needed to finish their assignment with the carnivorous plants. Lana had turned in a 30 page paper fully referenced with all the data she collected. The other students presented their plants and findings. The other person who got the venus fly trap failed to get his plant to flourish. Which was no surprise. He had struggled all term. He wrote a paper on what had happened before his plant succumbed to neglect. His name was Duff.
Last to go was Lana. The teacher expected a lot from her and had even checked out her plant a few times. He had a lot of questions. They went outside to see her Seymour together. They all could see a 6-foot plant that looked like it had eight mouths that had hairy lips on them.
Lana looked at the class. "The venus fly trap grows to a max of 12 inches tall. The hairs you see get tickled when an insect crawls on it and the two sides close. The plant then releases a substance that dissolves the insect and it then digests it. Once digestion is complete, the petals open up to catch more prey. This plant requires a lot of water and can be very difficult to grow."
Duff walked up and tried tickling the underside of the petal and nothing happened. He then tickled one hair and still nothing happened. "You don't know anything about this plant, do you. Nothing happened!"
He turned just a bit to speak and his hand tickled several hairs and the sides snapped shut and started releasing the dissolving chemical. Duff started screaming. Lana stood there watching, in the interest of science, of course. Would the plant truly consume human flesh? This was important information. The teacher stood there looking between the two students.
He looked at Lana, "are you going to help him?"
She looked thoughtful, "I don't know. Why can't he pull his own hand out?"
Since she said that, he decided to try it and was unable to do so.
"Interesting," was all she said.
She told the plant to release him but was told no, he was hungry and the boy felt tasty.
Lana sighed. She didn't want to do it but realized she must. This plant was too dangerous to have in school.
She walked up to the part that held Duff's hand "wither" and it did. There was no evidence the plant ever existed.
"Go see the doctor, I can't fix that issue."
She then turned her head so her classmates wouldn't see her crying.