Twisted Wonderland 2

Like Moths to The Flame

You open your eyes with a start. A cold sweat running down your back. Your heart racing, you sit up and clutch your arms. You realize you've fallen into a tunnel. Around you, the boys gradually get up as well.

"Oof, ow..." Deuce groans. "Yep, landed right on my butt..."

"Is everyone alright?" Trein asks.

Epel stands to his feet. "I think I'm okay..."

"Looks like those who couldn't handle their own landing are unharmed thanks to Professor Trein." Azul looks to Trein. "Nicely done, Professor. Naturally, I landed fine on my own by applying a bit of wind magic."

Idia rolls his eyes. "Is this REALLY the time to be sucking up?"

Malleus offers a hand to you. "Are you alright, Y/N?"

You nod as you take his hand and he helps you stand. "Yeah, I think so..."

Malleus smiles. "I'm glad."

Glancing around, you see the flowers climbing along the walls in the tunnel. The flowers eerily glow lights up the dark tunnel.

Malleus narrows his eyes. "I see the firelotuses have reached here as well."

"Where are we, anyway?" Ruggie asks. "There are way more flowers down here!"

"They're covering everything..." Riddle stares at the flowers with wide eyes. "It's as if the ground is on fire."

Jamil scowls. "So that was his plan? Drop us into a pit of flowers to drain us quicker?"

"How cowardly can that human be?" Sebek exclaims.

Silver eyes the flowers warily. "We have to do something about the flowers. We cannot let them get Malleus again."

"But they grow by absorbing magic." Malleus says. "You can't use magic to destroy them. How will you handle them?"

Rook chuckles. "It might not occur to you, considering the abundance of magic you were born with. But non-mages have their own methods for getting rid of plants."

Malleus tilts his head. "Getting rid of plants? Oh, I think I see what you're getting at."

Grim folds his arms. "Wanna fill in the rest of us?"

Epel sighs. "I think what he means is..."

"It means we do some weeding." You tell Grim.

Grim nods. "Uh-huh, okay. Well, that's simple enough. Even I can do that."

"It's a laborious task, but it needs doing." Malleus says.

"If we don't want these plants to suck up all our magic..." Grim throws his paws in the air. "THEN IT'S TIME TO GET PICKIN'!"

You and the boys pull the flowers from the ground. Thanks to the boy's gloves, the flowers don't harm them. You try to pull as many flowers as you can since you're the only one who can touch them safely.

After a lot of weeding, Grim takes a break. "My paws hurt from pullin' up all these plants..."

"I typically prefer picking stocks, not stalks..." Azul complains.

Trein hisses in pain. "I must say, doing weeding at my age wreaks havoc on my back."

"This is a new experience for me." Malleus wipes his brow. "I never knew picking plants was such a taxing endeavor. And every time I think I have things well in hand."

"Malleus, look out!" Silver warns. "More flowers at your feet!"

Trein sighs. "It's nerve-racking to constantly make sure you don't get entangled... Not to mention time-consuming."