Fantasy Kind Of Story

Chapter 29: Frightful Foliage

The five of them scoped out the front entrance, it had two guards stationed on foot and archers on top of towers next to the bascule bridge, which was currently up.

"Alright genius, how are we supposed to get in?", Kiburi asked angrily while still lowering his voice.

"We could get ourselves locked up again, then when inside we break out?", Silvio said.

"The first time we were let out, the second time the bars were made of sticks, we're not taking the risk that these guys are competent", Lara stated.

"Hold up, look over there", Marya interrupted, point at a group of bandits walking out of the base and into the woods carrying food.

"Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?", Marya asked, they all nodded in agreement.

"Lunchtime", Kiburi said with a grin, licking his lips hungrily, everyone turned to look at him.

"What?", Kiburi asked in confusion, everybody shook their heads and walked after the bandits, leaving Kiburi to follow after them.

The five bandits sat down at a nearby campsite and sat down on some logs.

"What's everybody got for lunch today?", One of them asked.

"I made me a BLT this morning", One of them answered as he pulled it out of a sack.

"I got me a hot dog!", another answered proudly as he lit the campfire, took out a hot dog from his lunchbox, put it on a stick and began roasting it.

The box had a glowing blue crystal on the inside that was keeping the contents cold.

"Oh look at me, my name is Carl and I have a fancy magic lunchbox I use to compensate!", one of them said mockingly.

"Alright let's see what you got Steve?", Carl demanded.

"...A Tuna Sandwich...", Steve answered sheepishly.

"Is your mom STILL packing your lunch?", another bandit asked.

"She's just being nice", Steve said defensively.

"Dude, you're twenty five, make your own damn lunch", the bandit ridiculed.

"Shut up Dave!", Steve exclaimed.

"I'm not Dave, Dave is over there, I'm Tom you idiot!", Tom stated angrily.

"I cant tell who's who with these fricking masks!", Steve complained.

"Yeah and they dont even have straw holes!", Carl said angrily as he tried to fit the straw from his drink under his mask.

"Just take off your mask?", Tom answered.

"That defeats the entire purpose of the masks!", Carl replied irritably, still trying to get the straw through.

"I've ate dinner with your family!", Tom snapped back, ripping off Carl's mask and throwing it into the forest.

"Ouch!!!", A voice yelled out in pain, it appeared to have emanated from the bushes where Tom threw the masks.

"W-who's out there!?", Steve stammered.

"The uuuuhhhh- The Bush Of Doom!", It was Kiburi, he got hit in the head by the mask, they were all hiding back there waiting for a moment to jump the bandits, but their cover was blown.

Kiburi looked at the others and asked what to do now but they had no answers, so Kiburi was doing his best to improvise.

"The Bush Of Doom?", Steve asked doubtfully.

"Y-yeah, and if you dont do what I say, I am gonna use my bush magic to blow you up!", Kiburi faltered.

"That's it I'm going over there!", Tom declared.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!", Kiburi asserted.

Panicking, Kiburi asked them to do something, Silvio hastily took out his wand and shot a magical beam through the bush, it zipped past Tom's head and shot Dave's BLT, frying it instantly, Dave shrugged and continued eating happily.

The four others started to freak out, they all got up and pulled out their weapons, Carl simply brandished the hot dog as menacingly as he could.

"What the hell are you doing?!", Tom seethed.

"I didn't bring my weapon okay, we're supposed to be on break!", Carl apologized.

"Your pathetic weapons and food items are useless against me!", Kiburi exclaimed.

"Alright, quit pandering and get on with it!", Marya ordered.

"If you desire to continue your pathetic lives, then throw the rest of your masks into the bush...gently this time", Kiburi demanded.

"Why do you want our masks?", Carl asked.

"Because they uh, they make me stronger, I feed on them or something", Kiburi answered, not quite confident that it would convince them, but he was making it up as he went.

"Then why'd you say ouch?", Carl asked further.

"Look just gimme the damn masks already!", Kiburi barked impatiently, Carl and Tom quickly tossed their masks into the bush.

"Other guy, I didn't actually get to hear your name so I dont know how to address you, toss your mask in already!", Kiburi yelled.

"My name is Oliver, and I-uhm...I dont really feel comfortable taking my mask off...I dont like how I look...", Oliver said dismally.

"Hey, we'll accept you no matter how you look, you're one of us man!", Steve said encouragingly

"Yeah man!", Carl said, still holding the hotdog.

They all cheered him on, eventually he caved and removed the mask, they all crowded around him and gave him a hug, tears of relief fell down his face.

"You look gorgeous, now give me the mask!", Kiburi said.

Oliver tossed the mask over and the four of them walked off together, their friendship stronger than ever.

"Thank you Bush Of Doom", Oliver said.

"Yeah, yeah, get out of here you crazy kids", Kiburi said, shooing them off.

Once they were gone, the four of them came out of hiding and walked over to the campsite.

"Hey, we forgot someone", Lara said, motioning at Dave, he was completely oblivious, his focus was only on his sandwich.

"Dude", Marya said, getting Dave's attention. Dave stopped chewing and looked up at them with wide eyes, Dave swallowed loudly.

"Please dont hurt me", Dave pleaded.

"Look, if you let us have your mask and promise not to nark, we'll leave you and your sandwich in peace", Marya promised.

Dave nodded meekly and slowly handed Marya his mask before going back to his sandwich.

"Alright, that was alot more trouble than it should've been, but now we have our masks!", Lara exclaimed triumphantly.

"I dont think this will work?", Silvio said as he tried to fit the mask on his face, but it wasn't exactly made for a felid.

"You'd be surprised just how gullible bandits can be", Marya said confidently, motioning at Dave, who was still eating his sandwich without a care in the world.