Cindy looked out over the plains. She was floored though. It was flooded with medium sized monsters. They were great grass covered turtles that mosied around. Small blazing red peppers were spotted all over the grounds and the turtles seemed to be seeking them out to eat. Each time they did they would glow red for about a minute and be a little aggressive with the small passive monsters.

“Well that is not good Dad.” Cindy looked over at her father as she sat perched on his shoulder. “I think we can either be sneaky or we can try and farm these turtles.”

Dad looked over at her and arched an eyebrow. “Well, that doesn’t sound like much of a choice. I mean, I can’t really be sneaky. Though they don’t attack anything unless they eat one of the peppers we need. I can be ready with an attack while you get the peppers. I don’t like the idea but with Ape Leap you can get out of the way quickly. Any skills for that?”

Cindy shook her head, “I’ll have to just run and dodge myself, the monsters look slow enough for me to outpace them.”

Dad bent and set her down on the ground as he looked focused, she always admired the way that Dad could sharpen his mind to such a point. It was something she only did rarely and only for a very short amount of time. She started the slow move to the first pepper. It wasn’t that close to any monster but she still was careful. One of the turtles spotted the brilliant red plant and started to slowly move to it. Thankfully Cindy was faster and plucked it while the monster was a half dozen feet away. It immediately lost interest and moved away.

Cindy pumped a fist and gave Dad a thumbs up as she scanned the area for other peppers. She spotted one that a few turtles were getting close to so she scurried away from the fight that would happen as soon as one ate the prized pepper.

Dad looked nervous everytime Cindy got close to a turtle though they all seemed to passively chew at grass and look for the peppers they seemed to be craving so badly. That is when she made a mistake. She didn’t see the turtle eating the pepper on its other side. The beast let out a thunderous roar that shook Cindy knocking her on her backside as it turned much faster than its other counterparts and looked down at her.

Cindy watched as Dad soared through the air above her. His hands coming down and smashing the turtle against the ground in a crash of power. The ground bucked underneath Cindy and she scrambled back. “Flame beam channel!” She called as a gout of flame erupted from her cupped hands pouring across the turtles face and causing deep burns into the flailing creature.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

As soon as the beast got to its feet Dad stomped, shattering the ground and knocking it on its chest in an instant. Dad’s fury was intense as he hammered on the shell, however it seemed to be doing nothing to the monster. “I can’t seem to hurt it!”

“Its physical defense must be high! My magic is working so just keep it in place.” Cindy leaned into the attack as the flames burned away at the creature causing the telltale cracks of light to flood its face. “Fire is working, just keep it in place Dad!”

Dad hopped on the beast and pressed it down with his weight, but he slid right off in a moment. “Why does it have to be a skill!” Dad yelled as he snapped a kick out and knocked one of the stabilizing legs free and caused the beast to stay on its belly. In a moment its head shattered into light and the beast went still.

“Thank God, medium beasts don’t have that many hit points. I’m sure you could hit hard enough to do it as well. That shell is insane though.” Cindy fell back on her backside and through her arms back leaning down and breathing hard. “Took almost all my mana. I’m going to sit in meditate mode, just keep me safe ok Dad?”

“Always Badger,” Dad kept his head on a swivel as Cindy slipped into meditation. It took about half a minute for it to work and Cindy was all topped up.

“Ok, same plan Dad. That leap and stomp keeping it locked down really helped.” Cindy moved quickly and became impatient. She rushed a pepper as two turtles moved towards it and as she snatched it from the stem the turtle snapped down sending a jolt of damage into her body. The cracks from the snap spread as a whopping fifteen damage went through to her hit points.

Cindy stumbled back as Dad called out to her. “Recovery aura channel,” She whispered to herself as the cracks began to disappear topping her hit points up. “These things hit pretty hard Dad, I think… I think you should collect the peppers and I’ll be nearby to do damage.”

CIndy felt fear fill her chest as she cradled the healing arm. She hadn’t been hurt since Dad was here. It was almost like she felt invincible. Dad knelt next to her, setting a hand over her back. “Are you ok Badger?” His voice was filled with concern.

“I’m all healed up. I’ll be fine,” Cindy hid the quivering in her voice.

Dad scooped her up gently and pulled her up to his shoulder, where she was safe. “I won’t leap or use my potent abilities. Still hold on if it gets rough.”

Cindy scooted close enough to his collar and held onto it. She hid the tears in her eyes from her father. Memories of Mom pushing Cindy to the limit until her hit points were low when she could have just used that broken command power on the monsters. Don’t think about her! She screamed inside her head. She hoped Dad would never find out. But she was out there.

Dad moved quickly through the turtles bending down and snagging peppers. He was much more careful only going for ones that were being ignored. Cindy grew worried and had to ask, “Dad, what label do the peppers have?”

“One minute,” Dad’s eyes glazed over as he entered his menu, “Uhhh, Rot Ripping Pepper, they aren’t the right kind.”

Cindy felt disheartened. “Ok, we have to go after the ones that the turtles actively want. Otherwise we are wasting our time.” She stood up and grabbed Dad’s ear with both hands, “Try to dart in and out.”

Dad frowned as he looked down at the next cluster of monsters that were going to be a problem. Four of them were moving towards the same pepper so he leapt using ape leap and smashed into the center choosing not to attack anything and instead snatched the pepper in a moment of inspiration. “That was the right one!,” Dad smiled at her, “I’ll just use that to get in and out, it’ll keep us from being overwhelmed.”

Cindy sighed in relief.