A week later, they were once again in the portal room. They were grouped in classes and smaller still, their groups. They were informed this was an exploration mission where they would stay with their class but each group would work together to find undiscovered flora and fauna using specific scanners which were passed out during the explanation. These scanners would not work until the teacher turned them on. The scanners only worked within 200 meters of the teacher's scanner.
Plants would give the group 5 points while undiscovered beasts would yield 20 points. The more points the group received, the higher their grade. Lana looked around and saw that sketchy girl right behind her man and she scowled deeply. Her class would be the first to go through the portal this time. She wanted desperately to go over there and tie the little girl up in a vine but Nis announced they needed to line up and get ready to go.
Since Lana wanted to show her man what he meant to her, she went through last in her group so she would only need to hold on to the person in front of her, who was Kattie, and not have anyone touch her at all. The more dangerous the planet, the more likely a party was to get scattered if they were not holding one another. Holding on tight was highly encouraged.
Once on the other side, there was a soldier standing there telling them to move aside. Nis had already started forming a line of his students so they would all stay together. There were several places the students could land. Lana was looking for all of them because she wanted to keep an eye on the skank.
Eventually, Vordan and the rest of Quinn's team arrived. Fire shot out her ears and it wasn't due to the heat and muggy day they were experiencing. The little hoe had dropped her hand down where it had no business being on the way through the teleporter and Vorden looked angry, making it obvious it was not invited. Without thinking, Lana threw out a root system. Vorden saw the hand movement and saw the ensuing after math. It didn't hit anything though because she had already moved. He smiled broadly at her and gave her a wink. She returned his smile then finally took a look around at the planet they were on.
The first obvious thing was they were all standing in mud. There were paths wide enough for vehicles in front of them and the teachers were forming lines in front of each path. The plants were beautiful to Lana. The colors were amazing. She had never seen anything like it before and was excited to see more. The dozens of shades of green melded so incredibly with the other colors of the rainbow. She saw trees, shrubs, vines, flowers of all kinds. It reminded her of a rain forest. She felt like she was home and wanted to stay here and study the plants.
The shelter off to the side looked like it had never been finished since there was no wall. It looked like a treehouse that spanned many trees, many houses, and many branches. There were houses and shops as high up as the trees could support with bridges and stairs providing access to the various levels. There was nothing on the ground except the teleport spots. This was considered a tier 5 city. It paid no taxes but was also open to attacks by the local beasts. If a person or a family could not afford to live on Earth or a green portal planet, this is the kind of life they could expect in these times. No one lived on red portal planets as they were too dangerous.
Lana noticed a group of 5 travelers with a beast talking to one of the soldiers. She assumed since there was a beast with them, they had to be from the Bree family. Kattie had Sven on her shoulder, so she was used to seeing someone travel with a beast. Unlike the green-portal planet, they were not greeted by people selling their wares. Just soldiers looking them over to ensure they had everything they needed. Safety was obviously paramount here.
Lana's team, minus Duff and herself were wearing their new armor and weapons. Since Almin chose to carry the device, the team lightened the load on his back by putting some of his stuff in their bags. She didn't believe in encumbering the slowest person making the party even slower.
On this outing, there was no expectation of killing beasts. Therefore the levels Lana fought so hard to obtain didn't mean much. Still, she reviewed in her head: Dobin level 8, Almin and Alto, level 6, Kattie and herself level 5 and Duff at level 3. She was very pleased. The additional levels obtained were quite welcome in her eyes.
At the beginning of the path she was looking at which was between her path and Vorden's path, she saw a 6-foot tall S-shaped plant that had glowing blue rings all over it. She heard it speaking to her since she was near the front of the line. It offered to enhance her and her partner's sexual pleasure. She started laughing but no one else heard so they just looked at her like she was crazy. The mood of the majority of people was wonder but also a bit sour because no one liked muggy weather and this was muggy!
Her class started moving forward first and as soon as they got on the path, the voices of all the plants slammed her unexpectantly. She dropped to her knees holding her head with a scream. Her team was around her in a second and the teacher was right behind them.
"Are you okay? What's wrong?" Nis asked.
She gulped then took deep breaths as the class looked annoyed at her. A few moments later she was able to get control of the plants she was talking to, telling them one at a time, please. They asked her many questions. She asked one in return telling them they were here to find plants and animals that had never been scanned along the path they were designated. The plants happily offered to help her. She asked them to wait just a second while she talked to her teacher.
"I'm sorry about that teacher Nis. All the plants were talking at once and it was so loud. They are offering to help us. Do you have a map of where this path leads? Or should I ask them to just point this out along the way?"
Nis brought out his tablet and pointed to where he was told to start and where the path of exploration had ended with the previous expedition of second-years.
Lana listened for a moment them smiled at the teacher, "Excellent place to start. I'll walk along side you if you don't mind."
Nis smiled, "I think I might start to like your ability…'