lostcarnival | ⇨ DANGEROUS ENCOUNTERS

As Steven thinks, Bud carefully pulls the candy out of his hand and starts to eat it. Steven doesn't even seem to notice. He looks up to the rest of the group, and then at the creatures still lurking in the shadows.

"I don't think they can see me," he says. He's not sure if it will help, but he's going to try anyway. "They ran right by and didn't react at all. I think... it's because of the ward the Starlight put on me."

Steven hops up onto Lion's back, and his two Pokemon follow, seating themselves on his mane. He looks determined now.

"So... if this goes wrong, I can probably hide longer than you guys can, okay? I'll try taking Hinawa and... who else wants to come with me?"

Yuya looks surprised to hear about the ward, but it's definitely a good surprise. He glances around their large group again before pointing to himself.

"I have a shield and the warding spell. They won't work if I'm moving, but if we get stuck then I can protect people. If we can avoid splitting up..."

Well, that would be ideal. He's not sure if splitting up is a good idea, but if they do ge should probably go with the group he can protect best.

'Mom,' huh? He's heard about Steven from a few others but he didn't know it was that bad. It's just something he files away for later without acknowledging it outloud. Chances are someone else might or at least consider it. He gives no reason to doubt his own words. If anyone wanted to run off he'd let them without a moment of hesitation. Everyone had a choice and choice was something he strongly believed in. If a kid wanted to go rescue someone, so be it. He wasn't going to stop them.

He glances over at Joker when he speaks and nods along with his words. It was better to get the ones that couldn't fight out of harms way or at least the ones that couldn't take an intensity fight of large number. Joker was also one he would consider getting on Lion but he had a feeling that opinion wouldn't matter.

"If anything works, I doubt we'll get more than another shot or two. Don't try to be a hero and just go if you feel you should." Then again, there is a shot it wasn't going to work anyways. He's not confident even his own power would work in navigating this maze of thorns. He would like to not have a repeat of the manor in going through a wall and either getting stuck in it or in some sort of trap.

Susan is also thinking that Joker should probably go, since he's not a fighter from anything he knows about him. But at the same time he likes Joker, and if he really wants to stay... Well, Susan isn't going to say anything about that. He's definitely not going back on Lion though, his decision only made clearer by climbing onto his (still lion) brother's back when Lauren gets his attention.

"Me and Lauren have to stay with everyone else. That way I can try and burn through the vines if they get in the way."

Lion growls, seeming to grow impatient as the seconds tick by. All he knows is that Steven is waiting for one of them to join on the ride, and that every moment they spent hesitating is another moment that Steven is being left in danger, and another moment where Lion might get attacked by those creatures again.

He gives Joker a pointed look, as if demanding that he fix this.

Wordlessly, Joker tosses Lion a thumbs up before shifting his thumb so that he's more pointing it against his knuckles. Rapidfire, he points it across each member of their little group, muttering something under his breath in time with the gesture. It only takes a second before his hand jerks to a stop, and he steps forward.

"Alright! Yuya!" He pulls his hand away to smack it hard against the boy's back, hopefully hard enough to shove him towards the large pink cat. "Yer 'mo'! We're havin' ya protect everyone, so we're countin' on ya~." Twisting on his heel, he smacks his hand against the knuckles curled around his knife.

"Susan, burn the vines down if ya can now please! Everyone, stay together so that it's harder for 'em ta steal us away from the group! One way is as good as the other, so let's go already! We're wastin' daylight!" Ignoring the fact that there's no daylight here...

Hinawa looks more and more concerned as everyone discusses splitting up. As much as she wants to argue, she knows there's no point. She's no fighter and would only slow the others down at this rate, and they're quickly running out of time.

"They're already displeased with us," She adds. "Being aggressive will only make things worse. I don't want anyone to raise a hand against them unless absolutely necessary."

Yuya stumbles forward with a grunt, looking between Lion and Joker. Being officially tasked with the protection makes him grin, and he offers Joker a thumbs up before moving to get into Lion. "Right! You can count on me."

He balances himself, fumbling with his staff before just resting it sideways on his lap. It soundslike they're getting a plan and getting out of here, so he's hopeful.

There is a bit of surprise from Gongenzaka, as Yuuya is set upon the lion. He then, however, simply nods, and smiles, giving a brief thumbs up of encouragement. "We shall see you later then...! And until then, we shall count on each other's efforts..!"

And with that...well, he turns back to face the plants more readily. Come at him, roses! He's big, he's glowing, and he's ready to fight! (Even if plant against plant is a poor match up...)

Oh good, Joker is finally doing something about all this. He was rather close to just grabbing someone by the back of their shirt and forcing them onto Lion. The creature seems impatient in general the way it growls and seems to demand someone force their hand. Everyone's optimism is rather cute concerning how much they were being watched right now. Were this more subtle he might have more confidence in it actually working. Well, he can always be proven wrong.

Susan and Lauren seem to have vine work handled so he doesn't offer his Dark Matter right away. Joker knows it is there more than the others and he's prepared to use it. "If your fire fails I can add my power to it. Otherwise I'll stay roughly in the middle." He thinks he's the fastest of the group but he's never sure. Gon was rather sizable and he's sure he could power through just about anything.

He does glance towards Hinawa and lifts a brow, "How noble but that might cost us a second we don't have." Not that he's going to stand here and argue. He'd rather get moving already.

Susan is always ready to use his magic, and so now that everything is settled he nods when Joker asks him to burn down the vines. He grins widely at Tyki's offer with a shake of his head.

"Don't worry, I've got this! I'm an expert at burning things down." Of course that probably only makes it more alarming, but at least he isn't giving examples; the only ones he can even think of are definitely not going to inspire confidence in anyone. The time he burned their house down, the time he burnt a vampire to ash, the time he attacked the Ringmaster and burnt her clothes off... Yeah, he'll just leave his assurance at that and focus on launching his fire bolts at the vines blocking their path instead. Hopefully he can actually burn enough down they can pass through without inciting another attack.

Steven summons his shield and nods very seriously, determined to protect everyone, too. He knows he's a liability with the way things are, but he doesn't want to let that prevent him from doing the best he can. Bud chitters apprehensively, while Lil preemptively loosens his vine whips, in case something comes up.

Lion, on the other hand, is just going to gratefully stalk plodding along, relieved that they can finally get moving. He'd rather be portalling out of here immediately, but for the moment he will be patient.

"If we keep together... they might be too scared to do anything," Steven cautiously suggests.

Susan's flame attacks make powerful strikes against the vines blocking the archway - yet, somehow, they are not as effective as they usually would be against plant matter. The plant life seems resistant, somehow - strengthened by the faerie magic, perhaps, so that what would have been devastating under other circumstances is ending up a bit grueling to get through.

Worse, the creatures are getting agitated. Looking at Susan in particular, three of them lash out with whips. Fire or no fire, they want this destruction to stop.

The first whip will almost certainly get a hold of Susan's leg, but the second will be possible to wriggle out of, if you don't mind a few cuts. The third Susan will be able to blast away entirely with fire, sending the creature sprawling as well.

Edited 2018-05-14 20:37 (UTC)

Well, that answers Steven's question. "Not too scared!" Joker says as he jolts forward to grab Susan's shirt, although he mentally adds but they will be after long enough. They'd run when that one had died, so...

"Someone want ta take them out?" he yells as he makes sure he doesn't lose the boy, even while Feathers screeches to dive down again. He doesn't want to exhaust his bird too much, after all.

Yuya cringes when the creatures lash out, holding his staff tightly and tilting it up as he projects a sizable shield, a sort of translucent dome. He should have figured the fire wouldn't be as effective here, either, and they may be delayed to run anyway.

"Here!" He waves his hand. "I'll keep it safe over here."

That way anyone not immediately attacking, or who needs to retreat has cover. Yeah, Yuya can handle this.

He realizes maybe he should have drawn a ward before getting on Lion, and glances around like he's considering that. He'd have to drop his shield, however, and that's a little quicker protection.

He supposed it was too much to ask that they wouldn't attack. With Susan on his back he can't really help his brother, but he turns his head, trying to bit through the vines around his brothers leg, Susan has mage armor, and a dagger of his own, so as soon as he's loose Lauren plans on running away before more vines can wrap around him.

Steven may have spoken too soon. Gongenzaka growls as the plants move, standing defensively between them and those on the lion in particular. With a grunt, he moves as though he intends to activate the repulsor arm- but instead the vines from his back respond, greeting their enemies with his own. A figurative arm wrestle, one could say...as he makes certain to steady a stance for the sake of his belt. While a few move to try and pull free the ones at Susan's leg, others move to greet any other lashing whips that come their way.

"KH...If you intend to come for those under our protection...THEN YOU SHALL HAVE TO ANSWER TO US!" He could have just said himself, but...

...Well frankly, aside from how capable everyone is for the most part, Susan just torched one of these things sprawling. So 'us' is probably more accurate than 'me'.

Don't worry, I got this has likely been someone's last words at some point in the carnival and had a feeling fire wouldn't really do the trick. The creatures seem irritated, from reading body language alone, and when the vines morph out to attack and ensnare around Susan, he'll watch Joker plunge headfirst into danger again.

It's give and take it seems and he'll shut one eye at Gon's sudden proclamation, one ear bending back at the sound. He'll never understand the speeches, the winding tones of proclamation, or the need to belt out useless words in a fight to when it comes to would be helpers. It only draws attention to them, with little to no effort of solving a problem, and for people like Tyki, it made him always want to make them suffer for. For Gon, it is likely thankful that Tyki is on their side, his stride carrying him forward to grasp at the vine around Susan's leg. He's going to give it a rather vicious yank in their direction.

"I'm assuming you mean the vines and not the creatures. If you attack one, you may as well attack all of them."

Papyrus goes quiet and unhappy with how much he agrees with Hinawa. There's ways to get past fae prisoners besides killing them - didn't they all learn that back in the Manor? Didn't everyone go to a lot of effort to save his brother? But... it's different, when it's a friend.

Either way, he frames the path ahead of them with walls of blue bones, forming a wedge that presses forward to knock the plants back - unless those plants are so driven by the need to attack that they don't flinch away from the hurt.

"If they're unconscious, they can't fight, right??" He calls out. Are fae-boosted plant people, so messed up that they hardly communicate and just attack, too strong for his usual knockout tactics? Only one way to find out: try his best to bring them to the edge of life, past the life of consciousness.

With the help of Tyki and Gongenzaka, Susan will manage to get free of the vines, allowing Lauren to carry him away from the combat. The creature attached to the whip will be pulled off the vines and land on its face. Papyrus will manage to knock out the creature that was previously scorched by flames, but the others will not go down so easily.

However, as the ground begins to shake, it may become clear that the creatures don't need to succeed. They only need to buy time.

Cracks begin to form across the stone floor, centralized at a point in the middle of the room. It's now that the creatures start to get excited. Even more than before, they will throw themselves at the group, as if trying to force them back from the door and towards the hole forming in the floor. The stone begins to go soft, shattering into such fine pieces that it runs like soil.

Lion roars a sonic boom in the direction of the rose creatures, but his intentions are already shifting. Mostly because, as the floor begins to break and shift, Steven's face has gone pale with fear.

"W-We..." he tries, but his voice gets caught in his throat. "Y-You guys need to get out of here! That's her! She's coming."

Except, Lion doesn't take that the way that Steven intended. Instead of combining forces with the other people that need to flee, Lion turns from the group and begins to dash away, creating another portal. It only takes a moment for Steven to realize what he's doing.

"LION, NO!" Steven yells, but it's too late. Lion disappears through the portal, and takes all his riders with him.

Joker doesn't think twice as the ground shakes beneath him.

All he does is wrap his arms fully around Susan and bend his knees before launching into the air, wings flapping violently to propel him upwards. It's only with his feet off the floor, joining feathers in the air, does he start to yell out orders.

"Lauren, back, now! Tyki, grab him!" Which leaves- shit, Gongenzaka is far too large to be carried, and Lion is already out of the place. There's only one thing for it.

"Feathers, Leaf again!" He lowers his voice a little, although still loud, with his next orders. "Susan, fire again! We need a path for Zaka!"

Feathers is already unleashing another storm of leaves towards the creatures and their vines, trying to get them out.

"MNH-!? Yuuya-!" Gongenzaka admittedly has a bit of a bias when it comes to the group suddenly rushing away- not to say he isn't quick to turn and reach for where the entire group went. "Steven! Miss Hinawa..!" Such distraction can only last for a moment- it does not take long to realize that the ground beneath his paws and hooves is rather suddenly growing soft, and as he glances down he yelps- somewhat comically jumping back.

"S-Shoot..!" It's trickier to re-find grip on dirt, but if he just thinks of it as sand it's easy enough to start turning around to try and regroup with the others. Steven and Yuuya should be back at the trailers, he wants to think. It's fine. It's...

He tries not to think about the fact that Sans himself was having trouble- after all, Lion vanished in a portal just now, but...

Focus, he reminds himself, galloping awkwardly in the same way he would along a typical dirt path. He growls at the creatures throwing themselves their way, bodily shaking off what manages to actually reach him, and attempting to use his vines to keep them off the others until they're safely out of reach from the plants. Yuuya will be fine. Steven, Hinawa, Lion, will be fine.

...

They'll be fine.

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