Twisted Wonderland: Camp Vargas - Exercise in Survival

Chapter 5-7: Are You Serious?

Shocked, Ruggie asks, "Take down the shadow? Are you serious, Floyd?"

"Uh, yeah. 'Course I am," Floyd says, "That thing's like lightning. None of us have a chance of outrunning it even if we split up. So our only alternative is to face it head on. The last thing I wanna do is wait around to be someone else's meal."

"Okay, let's say we fight it. How do we even hit something that fast?" Ruggie asks.

"Ruggie is right Floyd. How can we find it, it's too fast?" Seriea asks.

And Sebek says, "I have an idea about that, actually. We found a vast swamp in the forest. If we lure it there, it'll get bogged down, yes?"

"And once it stops movin', we all dogpile on it! I like the way you think, Croc," Floyd says.

This has Sebek baffled, "Croc? Are you referring to me?!"

Sereia giggles, "I think he is. He called me an angel fish when we first met."

"That's way more my style than huddling like a buncha acorn barnacles. I'm in," Floyd says with a smile.

"Wait, hold on! How do we get it to the swamp in the first place?" Ruggie asks, shocked, "Not to sound like a broken record, but it's FAST. It'll catch up to us before we reach the swamp."

Jack then says, "Rgh... If I could just use my signature spell, I'd have a shot at outrunning it in wolf form."

"We don't have our magical pens," Ruggie says, "We might manage some basic magic, but bigger attack spells are out of the question. And you can forget about signature spells. We don't know how much blot it would generate. Overblotting is a very real possibility."

"Aww, man. We can't just blast it?" Floyd says, disappointed.

"Absolutely not!" Ruggie says, "We're in enough trouble as it is! We don't wanna ADD to it!"

"'Wah, wah, we can't do magic without our pwecious widdle magestones!' What a buncha babies," Floyd says, annoyed.

But then Ruggie says, "...Wait a minute. No magestones... But we DO have magestones!" And soon realizes, "That's it!"

"Huh?" The boys respond, confused.

"The magestone fragments we had to dig up for the challenges!" Ruggie says, "Do you still have yours?!"

"Oh, I think so!" Jack says and brings out some from his pocket, "I pocketed the ones that were too small... Ah, here they are!"

"As a matter of fact, I still have the one I found on the first day!" Sebek says and brings out one from his pocket.

Sereia then brings out a pouch from her pocket, "I actually kept some myself in case we need it."

"I collected all the extra magestones from the guys in my club, too," Ruggie says.

Then turns to Floyd, "How about you, Floyd?"

"Oh, I found one when we were in the tunnel tonight. It's teeny, though. Like half the size of my pinky nail," Floyd says.

"That's okay! So now, if we pool all our fragments..." Ruggie says.

Everyone presents the magestones they have.

And Ruggie says, "Check it out! That's a pretty decent size, right? I'd say it's big enough for us to pull off a signature spell or two!"

Then Jack says, "All right. I'll lure the shadow to the swamp. But we're still gonna need to get it in the water."

But Ruggie says, "How 'bout this? Jack and I will take the shadow through the most roundabout path we can. Sereia, Floyd and Sebek, you use that time to make sure you get to the swamp first."

"What are we supposed to do then?" Sebek asks.

"Give it a taste of its own medicine. In other words, hit it with a surprise attack!" Ruggie answers.

He then says, "I'll explain the details. Let's huddle up."

Everyone huddles together as Ruggie explains his plan.