Board Thread:Role Plays/@comment-24678303-20141129153046/@comment-24487330-20150123214754

Somewhere in the Emerald Forest, there was a tree growing on a moderately-gentle slope. It was a deciduous tree of common variety, about average height and health for its age, and its boughs were full with lush greenery. There was nothing particularly special about this tree; it was just a normal, forest-variety tree. Unfortunately, Beacon Academy was nearby, and on this certain day, that meant echelons of adolescent people careening into the forest from the cliffs above. This placed many of the trees in danger, seeing as a humanoid body propelled at such high speeds could easily cause great harm to even the strongest, heartiest trunk.

With this in mind, why give this particular tree such mention? Well, when Lan Garfield was jettisoned from his launch pad, he had very little time to formulate any sort of plan for a landing strategy. In fact, he was already at the apex of his trajectory by the time he had any ideas at all. One thing he knew for certain was that he needed to find some way to stop, and the only thing he could imagine using were the very trees that populated the forest below. This brings us to the afore-mentioned hum-drum tree and, by proxy, the simple fact of said tree's importance. As one could imagine, stopping himself required Lan to strike the trunk dead-center and immediately find a center of gravity on which to keep his balance and keep from crashing. That's exactly what happened, but his landing didn't stop there, and it's what happened next that warrants the tree's otherwise-unprecedented recognition.

By some obscure chance, this tree did not snap or splinter immediately under Lan's weight; in fact, were one to observe it immediately after the point of impact, one would find that it bent slightly in what could have been considered its desperate attempt to not succumb. This lasted for about two full seconds before it cracked a few yards up from the ground, and then it finally began to fall. As he realized what was happening, Lan had a stroke of brilliance: he grabbed some of the loose chain from his flail and threw it behind the tree's top-most branch, gripping either end of it like reins and pulling back as hard as he could. With the top curved back to keep it from plowing into the ground, the tree began to slide rather smoothly down the incline upon which it had been growing, its branches snapping off left and right for the friction. After about 100 meters, the slope leveled off, and Lan hopped from its back as it slowed to a halt. He wiped a couple smudges of dirt and leaf litter from his visor before trudging off toward the Emerald Forest's temple.

The tree would likely remain in this new place of rest until it was eventually reduced back to its native elements. In a way, its end would be just as uneventful as its life. For the brief duration of this chance encounter, however, that tree had, despite its relative mediocrity and unimportance, acted as the cushion to Lan's fall and more than likely saved his life. In THIS way, that tree was of the utmost importance to the story of Team VRNL and deserves no small measure of recognition for its role.