Chrysalis

“SHIELDS!” Advant shouted, her pheromones washing over the entire area in a mighty burst.

The two mages, thankfully, were quick to respond and a shield sprang into being around the large soldier, mere moments before the mess of vines engulfed her completely.

She lunged forward, mandibles snapping as she sheared through hundreds of the tough, living ropes, not noticeably making a dent in them.

“Need some fire?” Propellant asked, eager.

“Of course I want some damn fire! Why are you asking? Just cast it already!” Advant hollered.

An immediate burst of flame washed over her, igniting the vines and driving them back temporarily. Of course, it also set the fine hairs on her antennae on fire at the same time….

“Not me, you idiot!”

“Sorry.”

Unsurprisingly, Propellant didn’t sound all that apologetic as she watched the plant monster retreat, smothering the flames with its innumerable vines. Coolant sighed and conjured a jet of water to douse the singed soldier.

“Really now, you should be able to aim better than that, sister.”

Now dripping wet, Advant fumed silently for a moment before deciding she could no longer hold it in.

“You two have been useless since we got down here,” she sniped at the bickering mages. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’d had a falling out of some sort.”

Propellant and Coolant stood awkwardly for a moment.

yourselves and stop making

the grace to be embarrassed just long enough for the vines to surge up the tunnel once again

your

my fault?” Coolant replied icily. “The creature is clearly weak to fire, you

water within its vines. You could have frozen

because you’re mad the Eldest didn’t teach

am not! You’re just being petty because they didn’t have a mega-ice spell for you to learn.

help Advant without

“Maybe I will!”

to

moment, staring at each other until a bedraggled figure trudged

the Eldest were here to see your incompetence, you’d

done anything wrong,” Coolant defended herself icily. “Propellant, on

to hear it,” the soldier cut the two

forward and began to go to work, repairing the extensive damage done to Advant’s carapace. There were a number of smaller wounds as well, places where the vines had pierced flesh and inflicted harm. The healer grumbled to herself as she worked, ignoring the

It was unusual for any members of the Colony to have a disagreement of any kind. Beyond unusual, exceedingly rare, but it did happen. Then again, two individuals with such diametrically opposed personalities were seldom asked to

usually got along quite well, but for whatever reason, they were letting their argument get in the way of their task, which was not acceptable. Especially because Advant was the one counting on them to keep

that you can both operate at your best going forward, or we turn around and go back. I only agreed to come with so few in the team because I assumed you two

drooping with shame, though neither willing to admit fault in front of

let out a frustrated

have a ton of things to do, but you two can’t let something petty get in

are not performing

still picking chunks of vine from gaps

about that,” Propellant said. “I’ll do my best not to set you on fire. I can’t promise

handle singed,” the soldier replied. “The light roasting was the issue. I sincerely hope that whatever is bothering the two of you is resolved as soon as possible. For now, let’s focus on the