A Little Twisted

Battle Strategy

"What the heck is that thing?!" Deuce yelled as the four of you made a run for it.

"Crowley didn't say anything about monsters!" Grim was on the brink of sobbing, which would one hundred percent not be a good thing to do when you're trying to flee for your life.

"It's so nasty!" Ace exclaimed. He turned his head back to glance at the monster. It was much slower than your group was, but it was dead set on chasing the four of you. "But you all heard it talk about a stone, right?!"

"St... one, won't... give...!!"

You gasped. "So that's it! There's a magic crystal in here somewhere!" Even in the frantic chase, you couldn't help but be overwhelmed with joy. You weren't going to get kicked out if you could get that crystal away from the monster! You would get to stay here and so would Deuce and Ace! They'd get to stay at magic school!

"And that monster must be guarding it!"

Grim shook his head as hard as he could at Deuce's words. "Nope! No no no no! I'm a genius but I can't beat that thing!"

Deuce slowed to a stop and turned back to face the opposite end of the mines. Ace and Grim gave him worried looks. "We'll be expelled if we don't get it! I'm going!"

You understood exactly where Deuce was coming from. You agreed with him, even. You needed to get that crystal no matter what. Was it worth endangering your life for? Maybe not. Were you going too anyway? Probably. But you couldn't have Deuce rushing back there without a plan. He could get seriously hurt if he tried to fight that thing alone. You grabbed his hand.

"Deuce, I know we need that stone but you can't beat that thing by yourself!" He shook his head and pulled his arm away from you.

"Under no circumstance will I be expelled." His voice was low, and if you were being honest, harsh. It didn't feel good to hear that.

"GAH! IT CAUGHT UP THAT QUICK?!" Grim yelped jumping backwards. You spun yourself around just in time to be met with the enormous creature towering about you. The ink in its head dribbled above you and fat globs splattered against your shoes. It was nearly as tall as the roof of the tunnel. How did none of you notice it getting so close? It reeled its arm that held onto the lantern back and swung forward.

"LEAVE!" It shouted into the swing. You just knew you were going to be hit. You weren't going to be able to move out of the way fast enough.

Luckily, you didn't have to.

Deuce acted fast. He pulled you backwards out of the way just in time for the lantern to fly past you and crash into the wall of the tunnel. You couldn't even blink before it happened. Deuce pushed you to the middle of the path.

"Get out of here (Y/n)!" Right as the words left his mouth that monster flailed its arm again. This time it made contact. It slammed into Deuce's back and sent him flying into you. You both collapsed on the ground in an ungraceful heap. Deuce was gasping and coughing. He must have gotten the air knocked out of him. You could only hope he hadn't broken anything. There wasn't any blood at least, so that was a good start.

Ace groaned in annoyance, like he was upset he was being dragged into this. "Stand back if all you're gonna do is get knocked around, Mr. Serious! I'll stop it!" He ripped his magical pen out of his suit pocket and shot a blast of hot air at the beast's face. It grunted loudly, shuffling backwards. It covered its face with its arms, but very quickly recovered from Ace's attack. The black ooze in its head dripped faster than before. The attack only made the monster angrier. Its enraged roars filled the tunnel.

"A-ah!" Ace yelped when the monster lunged for him. Ace was able to move out of the way in time, but the monster's clunky body ended up slamming into the walls once again. The entire tunnel shook. You were concerned the roof would collapse, but other than a few pebbles, nothing came tumbling down.