Ainōryoku Sentai Nightmærangers #31 (Patreon)

The Statement Of Jaselle Alhambra, Part 8

Ate Sanny's new priority target turned out to be a neighborhood that had to be evacuated because of rapidly-growing bougainvillea. According to her, a homeowner had noticed that one of his bougainvillea had begun to grow at a visible rate. The video of one of the plant's branches literally growing a foot in three minutes had gone on social media, where it had been passed around and mostly been called a hoax and computer effects.

That had been in the mid-afternoon.

By nightfall, the homeowner in question had taken another picture to show his house with a massive bougainvillea growth along one wall, crawling along the roof, visibly intruding over the wall into a neighboring property and wrapping around a coconut tree. The man had posted about how he intended to have the vines cut down the following day and have samples sent to local universities to be analyzed.

His family had awoken in the middle of the night when a window had shattered and the thorny vines had started growing into their house. They'd had to cut their way out with kitchen knives, as the thorns had grown into a massive thicket around their house, the houses of their neighbor behind them and on either side. One household had gotten trapped and several neighbors had to cut through their property with machetes and giant gardening sheer. They had needed to fight their way out, as the bougainvillea had begun to grow back behind them. They managed to get the household out, but several people, including the original homeowner, was in the hospital due to dozens of inflamed wounds from the thorns of the vines.

"Yeah, bougainvillea thorns are a real bitch," Tammy agreed as they met once more in a coffee shop. It was a different shop this time, though it still had the same name. Jaselle once more had a cookie in front of her, which she ate crumb by crumb even as she listened attentively. "I think I actually heard about this on the radio of the jeepney we were riding on the way here. If the media knows about it, it's probably already gone to hell."

Ate Sanny nodded. "In the three days since the original post that brought this to my attention, the entire street and part of the streets adjoining it have been evacuated, and the local government unit have tried to cut through with chainsaws and herbicides. Neither last very long, and neither did one misguided attempt to try to burn down the growth. Several people are in the hospital from inflammation and infection from the thorns, and at least one family is suspected to have died in their house when the bougainvillea overran it in the night. I think some landscaping company volunteered their power tools to try and cut through, but by now the original growth is deep inside the neighborhood. So far, there hasn't been any mention of cuttings managing to grow explosively after they've been removed from the main body, which is a small mercy, but at the rate it's growing, it's probably taken over another street by now. "

"So… what do we do?" Jaselle asked hesitantly after swallowing the latest crumb she'd popped in her mouth.

"If this is like us, it'll just keep growing no matter how fast they try to cut it," Ate Sanny said. "So one of us needs to go in and devour it."

Jas, and everyone else but Willy, suppressed a shudder at the word.

"What, just like that?" Kuya Kim said. "No sneaking in, no trying to have me isolate the place?"

Ate Sanny shrugged. "Just like that. It's not like we can be sneaky about it, and it's growing as fast as… well, Tammy, at the very least."

"We're going," Tammy said decisively, then seemed to wilt into herself a little. "At least, I am. Today. Now. Who's coming with me?"

"Me," Willy said instantly, to no one's surprise.

"Going too," Ate Sanny said. She looked towards Jas and Kuya Kim. "What about you two?"

"Ugh, I hate trying to prune bougainvillea," Kuya Kim sighed. "It's painful and stupid and you have to pick it up with your fingers because there are too many thorns on it to hold in your hand."

"So… you're in?"

"Hell yes," Kuya Kim said vehemently. "I have rock for skin now and we don't have to actually prune it, just tear it apart and kill it. Try and stop me."

Everyone turned to Jas, who hesitated. "I… don't have to burn it, do I?"

"Since it's around people's homes, I strongly suggest against it," Ate Sanny said. "But just ripping it apart with your bare hands will probably work."

"And if you feel like setting something on fire anyway, just be careful where you aim," Tammy said. "This is green wood, so fire likely won't spread much, and Willy can douse it if needed."

Jas nodded slowly. "Then… I'll go too." But she glanced down.

She heard Ate Sanny sigh. "Finish your cookie. You shouldn't waste food. But be quick."

Jas smiled in relief as Tammy snickered. Still, as Jas looked down, there was still half a cookie left…

Reluctantly, telling herself it was so she wouldn't be wasteful, Jas picked up the cookie and raised it up…

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The neighborhood of Admiral Hills was, Jas later learned, one of many residential subdivisions that had been established on either side of Ortigas Avenue Extension during the 80s and 90s. They were generally bedroom communities, and being outside the city proper, having a lot of greenery wasn't unusual. Apparently, there used to be a lot of cows and goats around when she'd been younger, but nowadays there was only an occasional rooster kept in the few vacant lots left.

From what Jas saw on the flight there, carried on one of Ate Sanny's—no, Yellow's—drones that looked like ordinary birds except for the tentacles holding them, the houses were packed tightly, with everyone sharing a wall or a fence, but that was apparently normal for residential subdivisions. It seemed tight and cramped to Jas, used to the relatively wide spaces of her home province, but she supposed no one had to grow rice here, so they didn't need that much room…

The place Yellow had told them about was easy enough to identify. It was a blot of bright green leaves, and incongruous pink and white flowers, standing out sharply against dull and occasionally rusting roofs of the houses around it. The vines loomed, rising up in a high mound of greenery almost forty, fifty feet high, swaying with every passing breeze, visibly growing and blooming as they watched. Jas could barely make out the houses underneath the thorns, and even then, only on the houses of the edges of the blot. As Yellow had predicted, three streets worth of houses were covered now, the thorny vines wrapping around the metal bars of fences, vertical posts, telephone poles, and other plants.

Around it, people crowded the streets. At first Jas thought they were packing up to evacuate, until she saw hands held high and the square shapes of smartphones. On closer inspection, only the houses closest to the growing blot had people moving around them frantically, packing up cars or using giant gardening scissors, machetes and occasionally power tools like chainsaws to try to keep the growing vines back. The latter was a losing battle as vines simply continued to grow and grow, just barely slowed down. A few people were even trying to light it on fire, but as Green had said, the wood was too green and wet to burn.

Looking down on it, Jas felt the fire burn. She… not, not her. That wasn't her. But it wanted to reach down, to move towards the ground, to… to…

Jas wasn't sure. All she knew that the urge was strong and growing stronger, and she had to concentrate to keep her fragments obsidian instead of melting into lava or burning into plasma.

"I can't control it," Green said, her voice echoing slightly inside the small space lit by undeniably pink light. The little plant drone that spoke lay atop a pile of haphazardly folded clothes and shoes. "Every other plant beneath us is fair game, but not that one."

"So, definitely monster then," Yellow said. The words were high-pitched, since the drone talking didn't have a lot of lung capacity to speak with, so she was using things besides vocal chords to speak. "Very likely, at least, unless something else is controlling it already."

"Probably not. There are other bougainvillea down there, and I can control those fine, but not the big one."

"So, how do we… you know, eat it?" Magenta asked through all the pink stones around them that was bending the space to let everything fit.

"Well, we just… wrap it up and… devour" —Green and everyone else except the crystalline ball of water that was Willy shuddered, the space they were in rattling metallically as the pink stones vibrated— "it… right?"

"Hm…" Yellow said. "I think this will need cutting down to size so that it… fits."

"Are we sure it doesn't… fit… now?"

"Do you think you can wrap your metaphorical mouth around all that and start chewing?"

There was a brief silence.

"I… think I could…" Jas ventured. "If I was big enough…"

"I can get that big, easy," Green said. "I mean, only this much in three days? This thing is slow. I'd still need time though…"

"Pretty sure I can, yeah," the space around them vibrated. "All I need I enough sand or enough space."

"Ugh… I hate the square-cube law…" Yellow muttered.

A rustling. "I thought you were over that?"

"Only when it comes to making a human-sized mass able to fly. I'm still slow and heavy if I try to scale up and start having to copy dinosaur physiology, unless I want to be some sort of meat carpet thing…"

"Yellow, you're complaining about being able to fly. I respect you, but please shut up."

"I'm hardly unique, Mags. Red can fly too."

"…Mags?"

"What? 'Magenta' has three syllables. It's still better than 'Pinky'."

"Fair enough. So, how do we do this?"

Despite no one having human eyes, even Yellow's little speaking drone, Jas had the distinct sense of everyone studiously avoiding looking at her—metaphorically—and concentrating on Green.

"Uh, well…" the young girl hesitated, but only for a moment. "Yellow, can you feel anyone alive inside the growth?"

"Yes," Yellow said. "There are still some people in there. Hang on… most of them are in dark places, I think they're all hiding in closets or something to protect themselves from thorns, but there are a few who are being smothered in thorns. They're bleeding and infected in some places. Some are dehydrating and… ugh… well, it's been three days…"

"Get to them, get them out, use that bio-control of yours to heal what you can. Magenta, go with her, give her space to get people out. Willy, make ice walls, keep the growth of the… the… the Thorn Thicket contained. It might grow fast, but it should still suffer from cold, and your ice might discourage it from growing past you."

"Yes, Tammy."

"Not Tammy, cuz. Not right now. Call me Nightmæranger Green." A beat. "Wow, you're right Kuya, that's a mouthful. Uh, let's lose some syllables… Nightmærger Green? Nightger Green? Night Green? No, that sounds like the kind with a 'k'… Nightmare Green? Nightmare Green, Nightmare Green… yeah, that sounds better. Call me Nightmare Green."

"Yes, Nightmare Green "

"I thought you said the word had to end in either '-ger' or '-man'?" Magenta said.

"Well, that's in Japanese, in English it's a little different…"

The space vibrated as Magenta went to the effort to sigh.

"'Nightmare' sounds good," Yellow said. "Two syllables, rolls off the tongue well…"

"Why are we talking about this when there are people to save, according to Yellow?" Magenta said.

"Right, right! Nightmare Yellow, Nightmare Magenta, go save those people! Nightmare Blue, build that wall around the Thorn Thicket and keep it from growing. I'll see what I can do about turning the other plants in the area against the Thorn Thicket. Nightmare Red…" The hesitation was clear. "Do what you can to clear the plants. Trying burning down the vines crossing the streets so it will stop growing and contain it."

Jas felt her heart clenching, following by the core of the parts of her turning to lava. "You want me to burn?"

"I trust you to use your judgement! If you think you can't keep control with fire, use something else! You can't just do one thing, after all! Yellow, bombs away!"

"Everyone, leave up with of yourself with the drone carrying you so you can keep an eye on things, all right?"

In her main body, outside of the little tin with their clothes and talking drones, Jas felt the plasma she used for to keep her balance shift and she brought her attention back to her main self as the drone carrying her tucked in its wings and dove towards the ground, toward the clear end of the street that passed through the middle of the Thorn Thicket. Well, not all that clear, there were people and cars emblazoned with markings declaring them emergency vehicles for local government units, as well as regular cars, most like belonging to the people who'd lived on this street…

Wait…

"Wait, there are people below!"

"So?" Yellow said.

"They might get hurt!" Jas felt her panic overwhelming the fire within her

"How? They're already cutting up the plant, and it hasn't been attacking them."

"I could hurt them!" Her obsidian grew, wrapping around the limb the drone was using to hold on to her, holding on so it couldn't drop her down to the ground. "I'm not ready! What if I lose control again?" Images of this neighborhood, of the people in this neighborhood, burning in her fire flashed through her mind's eye, and worryingly the fire within flared with the thought.

"I extremely doubt that," Yellow said, sounding sure. "You're too conscientious a person to let that happen. But if you're worried, you can sit this one out. I'll have this drone keep flying and you can stay up here. If you don't think you're ready, you shouldn't do this. Just… keep an eye one things for us, warn us if something changes in case we're too busy to notice it, okay?" The drone opened its wings, pulling up from its dive and catching the air, gaining altitude.

Heart roiling, insides shifting between sand, lava and plasma as she barely remembered to keep her heat in, Jas hesitated, just letting herself dangle from the drone's tentacles. She watched as one of the drones dove down, its body changing and growing until it was tall and bipedal, with two pairs of glittering wings buzzing on its back, watched as a pin—magentastone, a coconut and a ball of ice plummeted down from three other drones. The magenta stone seemed to hover in the air, its form changing and becoming human-shaped as well before seeming to zip down towards the ground. Yellow landed almost lightly on the street in the middle behind some men wearing thick gloves and long sleeves to load fallen vines onto a nearby small garbage truck. People around her jerked back in surprise, and Jas saw people pointing phones at her.

The clear space was helpful as Magenta landed there next to Yellow. There was a loud and sharp crack as his legs shattered on impact, followed by his torso when that hit the ground as well.

"In hindsight, I should have expected that to happen," Magenta said inside the tin, and his body dissolved into sand. The sand came together and rose up, solidifying into a whole form. "Right, not doing that again."

"You're lucky no pieces went flying and hit someone else," Yellow said reproachfully. Down below, she walked towards the Thorn Thicket, one arm held out to one side. Triangular spikes began growing along the outside of the forearm in a line, a long spike protruding forward out of the back of Yellow's hand. The spikes kept growing fusing together until they formed a long blade all along the edge of the limb. The men who had been hacking at the Thorn Thicket stepped back, and Yellow moved into the space they left, raising their now-bladed arm and began hacking at the vines.

After a few moments, Yellow looked down at their arm blade.

"Yeah, hacking at bougainvillea doesn't work," Magenta said cheerfully. He held up his own arm, where a pair of crystalline blades were protruding from his forearm, and snapped together in an unmistakable scissoring motion. "They're too bendy and move too much. You need to use sheers or scissors to cut them." The arm reached forward into the thicket and the blades snapped together. Even from where she was, Jas saw at least one leafy vine fall down.

"Noted," Yellow said, and a long triangular spike erupted on the forearm at an angle as the rest of her forearm seemed to widen and lengthen. It started to resemble a crab's claw that she'd seen in books. Yellow reached forward with it, and the two halves snapped together. Jas saw vines fall. "You're right, this does work better." Yellow held out her other arm, whose shape was already changing. A second scissoring claw grew on her arm, and it joined the other in tearing through the vines. On her back, little nubs were growing, extending out, becoming limbs that were growing great bladed scissors of their own.

Next to her, one of the men who'd been hacking at the thorny thicket raised their machete hesitantly. Jas wondered why, then occurred to her that Yellow and Magenta might not have been speaking with their bodies, only in the tin with their drones.

Yellow ignored them, the new limbs on her back finally finishing growing. Six scissors tore through the vines, moving quickly and smoothly. Next to her, Magenta had also put scissors on his other forearm, and was cutting through the Thorn Thicket next to her. His scissors moved slower than hers, but they were still tearing through the vines.

Green and Blue had also dropped from the sky, and unlike Magenta didn't shatter embarrassingly on impact. Green fell into the tangle of the thicket itself, disappearing from view, while Blue did as she'd been told and dropped down at the edge of the growth. People shied away from her as water began to pour down from her form, moving unnaturally around her before Blue turned to water herself and surged forward, increasing in volume. People in the water's path barely managed to get out of the way as the water slammed into the growing vines and froze solid into ice. More and more ice began to spread, trapping the vines in its mass, along with anything else around it. The wall of ice began to move in both directions, slowly forming a boundary around the green growth.

"Okay, I'm going to try to parasitize and use phytotoxins on this thing," Green said. "I don't know if it will kill it, but it might slow it down."

"Sounds like a plant thing," Yellow commented. "I wouldn't know about that. I'm cutting through the vines now, heading for the ones in the most serious condition first. Magenta, will you ignore those guys and keep these vines from closing up behind us? Or at least do your warp thing so it doesn't matter if they do?"

"But shouldn't we explain what we're doing?"

"Right now, there are people lying in their own shit, with their legs cramped up and unable to move, stuck inside a little box so the vines can't get to them and probably wishing they'd taken their chances with running. Are you willing to let them suffer even a second longer just to talk to some random people? I'm not."

"It wouldn't take that long…"

"What for? To ask permission to do this? For their help? Fuck that. If they could do anything, they'd have done it already."

"Look, you can hear them! They're scared of us, they might do something!"

"So? It's not like they can do anything to us, any more than they can do something to this plant."

"Magenta, Yellow's right," Green interrupted. She sounded… occupied. "Forget about the PR and politeness, concentrate on getting in there to those people. Yellow, who are you heading to?"

"Right now, the closest one. I can't really prioritize by severity, not while I have to cut through all these vines."

"The two of you, stop trying to cut your way in, it's too slow! Magenta, turn to sand and go on ahead! Make a path out! Yellow, give him a drone to follow to the nearest person trapped inside! Red!"

Jas started, though she didn't actually move in either of her forms, surprised to be so called. "Y-yes!"

"Keep an eye on the progress of the Thorn Thicket, and call out anything you see that might be relevant."

"Like idiots with guns," Yellow said. "They might hurt someone. Not us, but someone."

Jas had no head to nod, but she wanted to. "All right, I can do that," she said, both relieved and… guilty.  "I can do that…"

Inside her, the fire burned, and she barely stopped the obsidian wrapped around the drone carrying her from turning into something else that would have dropped her and burned while doing it.

"All right everyone! Let's be heroic!" Green declared cheerfully. "Join us when you're ready, Red!"

As Jas winced internally again, guilt cracking through her, the fire flared suddenly, filling her with annoyance… and she turned to black sand.

Caught by the wind, spreading out over the neighborhood below, Jas vibrated in horror and lost control.

Sand turned to plasma and burned, echoing with Jaselle's scream.