The youngest wizard in twisted wonderland

Chapter 11: So close, yet so far...

Note: I DO NOT OWN TWISTED WONDERLAND: DISNEY!

Chapter 11: So close, yet so far...

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Deuce races into the tunnel to confront the faceless monster. It roars "Leave! Leave! Leeeeaave!!" and charges towards Deuce, swinging his pickaxe at Deuce. Deuce ducks to avoid the pickaxe, but then slips on the slime. He tries to get back up to his feet, but loses his balance almost right away and crashes onto his back.

"OUCCCCHHHHH!" He grimaces in pain. We watch from a short distance as we follow behind him only to see him defeated.

Ace clicks his tongue and points his magical pen at the monster. "Stand back, if you have no control, Mr. Serious! I'll stop it! Haaa!" Ace casts a powerful gust of wind towards the monster.

But it barely moves.

With a swing of its pickaxe, Ace finds himself in the same gooey black mess as Deuce. "Guuhaahh!"

"Wuuuuooohhhh!!!" the monster roars, as it starts coming closer.

"Ffgnaaa! Stay away!!" yells Grim, as he launches fireballs at the monster.

But it hardly flinches. "Grrrrrr!" Then it tries to cut Grim's head off with his pickaxe, but I intercept it with my candle stand. The metal of the candle stand clinks loudly against the sharp blade of the pickaxe. The candle stand bends under the monster's pressure, but remains intact. Whew! Still, the monster flings me to the side, like a ragged doll. I narrowly miss its slimy bottom. While I slither out of its reach, I notice a glitter behind the monster: Did something just sparkle like a rainbow!?

I turn towards the guys behind me and point towards the tunnel, while mouthing the words: "I see a rainbow sparkle at the end of the tunnel!"

The monster turns its bulbous torso round awkwardly to look for me, but I manage to get out of its eyeline, as I inch as quietly as possible towards the magic crystal.

Ace turns towards the sparkle behind the monster. "Behind that thing! At the end of the tunnel! If only I could just get this stupid slime off me?"

Deuce reflects for a moment. His eyes lit up. He raises his magical pen and chants: "From whence the slime came! Return to the owner; But banish the slime, vanish its power."

Once both of them are free, Grim starts to distract the monster by flying in front of it and blows a raspberry. "Can't catch the Great me!" he teases. However, the monster sees me trying to grab the magic crystal and swings the pickaxe at my hand. He misses my fingers by a hair's breath. I was this close to the crystal! Luckily, Ace uses his wind magic to sweep the monster aside. Picking up my candle stand, I scrambled back up onto my feet to run past the monster back to the gang.

But the monster's rage increases and he unleashes a roar "GGGGGO!!! WON'T GIIIIVE!!!" it growls.

Grim zips towards us, "L-l-l-let's get out of here! We're done for at this rate!" he yelps. Still groggy, I nod, grab Grim, and turn towards Ace and Deuce: "We need to escape, you two!" I yell. Immediately, we race towards the exit of the mine until the monster is out of sight.

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After reaching the cottage, we stop to catch our breath.

"Is this far enough, did we lose it?" asks Grim in between breaths. I look behind us and raise my thumb weakly.

"Ooooww... What in the world was that? No one said anything about that!" complains Ace.

Deuce nods in agreement: "It didn't seem like any old ghost..."

Ace ruffles his hair and lets out a huge sigh, his shoulders slumped in defeat: "Let's just go home. I'd rather get expelled than die a horrible death fighting that thing."

Deuce gazes sharply at Ace. "What!? Don't scr** with me! I'd rather die than face expulsion! The magical crystal is right in front of us. And you wanna go home?!"

Ace shrugs: "Whatever. Hah! You talk big for someone worse at magic than me. Go alone if you want. I'm done."

When Ace turns towards the direction of the mirror to leave, Deuce loses his cool, clasps his fists, and charges towards Ace: "What a spineless coward you are!"

Ace smirks and places a hand on his hip: "Oh? Coward? Who exactly are you talking about?"

"U-uuuhh...Deuce. Did you switch up your character?" Grim asks, looking slightly intimidated.

When Deuce hears Grim's comment, his face softens. He unclasps his fists and relaxes his posture: "Huh, a-ahem! Sorry, guys! My bad. I lost my composure a bit."

It is a relief to see that Ace hadn't run off and Deuce's anger has subsided. It is the perfect time for me to rally the team: "Can magic help us at all?"

Deuce thinks for a moment, but shakes his head, while explaining: "As the headmaster said earlier, magic isn't all-powerful. If you can't imagine it, then it won't materialize. Large-scale or complicated magic requires a lot of training to use. Ace and I are just first-year students. We are not quite there yet."

With yet another big sigh, Ace adds: "That's why we have schools for magic. You have to practise a lot to be that good at using magic. So, you can't lose your cool, or you'll mess up."

"At any rate, I'm going back in there. I'll figure out how to beat that thing and come back with the magic crystal," said Deuce.

"Okay, wise guy, so what great plan have you figured out? However, judging by the chandelier incident, you're a complete idiot. Is it a great plan to get yourself drowned by the slime? Or get your head chopped off by the pickaxe? Yeah, great plan..." Ace smirks, while wagging a sarcastic thumbs-up at him.

Deuce raises his clasped fists again: "You... ! Come again!? At least, I am not a coward like you!"

"What, who are you calling a coward?" Ace's eyes flash with red-hot anger.

They charge towards each other, their clasped fists within millimetres of each other.

"There they go again," mutters Grim.

"Will you two knock it off?!!! You sound like a broken tape recorder! I'm tired of you two fighting!" Something finally snaps within me and I have had enough.

The duo stops fighting. Everyone is staring at me. Grim's fur is standing on end at my sudden outburst: "Waah. What's gotten into you? Why are you shouting all of a sudden?"

"I'm alright. Just sick of these two guys squabbling..." I sigh tiredly and slump down onto the ground. Then I declare quietly: "None of us could do anything back there."

Grim looks like he had been splashed with cold water. Ace and Deuce gaze at me with an apologetic expression.

"Okay, so what exactly should we do?" Deuce asks, sitting down next to me. Grim follows suit, seating himself down on the other side.

"We have to come up with a proper strategy," I suggested.

Ace smirks, "Strategy? How do we deal with that torrent of slime? That guillotine pickaxe?"

"Agreed. There are many obstacles in our way," replies Deuce.

"I think I have an idea. But we have to work together... Otherwise, it won't work."I look towards Ace: "Are you staying? You are needed too..."

Ace lets out the hugest sigh: "Fine, you got me! I'll stay. But we better get that magic crystal!"

Deuce and Grim nod in agreement.

"So, what's your plan?" asked Ace.

I smile slightly. Unbelievably, we are all sitting around in a circle like a team, huddled together to discuss the plan.

"Ok, so the plan goes like this..."

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Ohh~ What could the plan be? Stay tuned for the next chapter~!

But! If you have any comments, questions, concerns or requests, just ask away~ See you in the next chapter~! Have a good day/evening!