Outside Thaum

Spin spin spin spin

The giant fox’s pair of enlarged scissors sailed through the sky, slicing the air in its path and aimed directly towards Lisette and Aria. Lisette’s arrow had hurt the beast enough to derive its ire, and now the beast wanted to make sure no such further arrow attacks could be possible. Permanently.

The blade shined over and over again as it reflected the light shining from Amy’s gem and Estelle’s Fireblade, not to mention the intermittent flashes of lightning above. Lisette’s eyes widened, there was no way to avoid that in time…!

And then he appeared again, sidestepping in front of the younger and shorter girl, a confident grin spread across his mud stained face, fearless of the somersaulting scissors. His arm was outstretched to the side, his palm wide open. And then…! Something else flashed in the sky above…!

A giant greatsword fell from the heavens, and with his right hand Don snatched the blade by its handle and swung it out at the moment of truth!! A loud twanging noise echoed from the clatter of the two blades, and with the momentum of both the great sword’s fall and Don’s swing, the pair of scissors was sent flying away from both Aria and Lisette, spiralling through the sky again over the participating fighters, to land harmlessly out of the battlefield.

“Heh,” Don coolly grinned, as the greatsword slipped out of his hand and similarly went flying through the air again, somersaulting and becoming embedded at Dylan’s feet.

The bro turned around, thumbsupping Lisette and Aria. “Never fear, sises! When Big Bro’s around, you’re always be protected, and that’s a prom… prom… pr…!”

An unnaturally giant shadow eclipsed the sky above, preventing any light from the cascading lightning to pass. The light from Estelle’s sword and the various magics being used were reflected off some monstrously giant shape above them, a giant shape falling from the sky… that landed completely on top of Don, mere feet away from where Aria and Lisette stood, the entire ground quaking with terrific force as the earth itself shuddered. Aria and Lisette gasped.

“M-mister Capuello!” Lisette’s hand fell over her gaping mouth.

“Are you… are you serious…?!” Aria echoed.

It clapped its fins as if waving at them whilst a fountain of water spurted forth from its blowhole. It whistled cheerfully.

Meanwhile… the battle around against the giant Fox and the multiple branch twisting Treants continued, whilst the sky relentlessly continued to pelt the Pride with fish and aquatic sea life of all varieties. Despite the danger and multitude of distractions, she wouldn’t let it get in her way. If they threatened her… threatened her friends… threatened Marcus, then…

"Maybe someone can go for it's eyes? Or it's feet perhaps?" Atlas suggested, as the magician handily dodged another thrown boulder whilst Lute did his best to distract the giant Fox with his powers. The distraction, as annoying as the ringing noise was in the ears of those closest, did enough to slow the Fox down for-

“Done.”

A trail of flickering embers marked the arc of Estelle’s slash, as her feet landed on the muddy ground behind the giant Fox, blood erupting from a newly formed gash on one of its legs.

Outside Thaum

He was buried under a pile of fish - a pile of slick, flopping, smelly fish. “OH AISLIN GET THEM OFF OF ME!” Dylan screamed as he tried to claw his way through, but for each one that he shoved aside two more fell from the sky. Where were they all coming from? And why did they seem to be falling more intensely on him than the others? Finally giving up on climbing out he rolled over and crawled forward on his stomach, pushing past fishes and mud to freedom.

Once he was out from his own personal hell-hole, Dylan shoved himself to his feet and let the rain wash over him. He wrinkled his nose in disgust as he surveyed the damage, his nice clothing covered in a thick layer of fish slim and dirt. “Oh, that’s going to stain,” he muttered as he turned to see the rest of the battle - and the giant scissor wielding fox. And the treants. And the blobfish?

“Why?” he cried, and the universe responded by dropping a whale on Don. “That’s lovely,” he said dully, seeming to have lost all ability to be surprised.

He didn’t know what to do, the rain was coming too hard and too fast for him to draw in. He had no weapons, no skill, and at the moment no sane thoughts. So he did the only thing he could. Calmly, he approached the whale, leaned against it, and started to push. “Sorry buddy, but you’re on my bro and that just is not cool.” Putting all of his effort into it, he managed to just barely budge the whale before his footing gave out in the slick mud.

Sliding, his arms pinwheeled as he reached for anything to support him. He landed hard on his back, staring straight up into the sky as another fish fell on his face.

Outside Thaum

Trixie was immediately jarred from the ringing noise Lute began sending off. Clutching her ears (and tugging her beanie over them), she dropped to her knees in the shallow mud below, fending off the gut instinct to both run far away and shrivel up. The fall of the orca rumbled the area greatly, though at least she missed the bit with Don getting squished.

Once she began to grow accustomed to the nasty ringing, Trixie wobbled to her feet as quickly as possible. Estelle had sliced the Fox's leg. The prankster licked her lips and ran around to where the redhead stood, as best as she could amidst the slippy-slide of fish at any rate. With her guns drawn, Trixie opened fire on the open gash Estelle left on the fox, laughing almost madly as she blurred passed her superheroine, taking care of the fish both falling and landed. "Aaahaha, take that, papafoxxi!"

As her shots on the fox's gash were dead on accurate for the most part, the impounding pressure on the wound worsened by the second.



Meanwhile Amy was batting away at falling fish around her. It was fun for target practice, seeing as her whip was still relatively new to her, though she ended up shrieking in the most unelegant manner possible when a giant eel came pummelling towards her - only to bump right into the very treant she had avoided earlier. Before it could assault her a second time, she charged away even further, towards the mass that appeared to be an orca.

Amy merely stood there dumbstruck, staring at it without emotion or words. Soon enough a cluster of enraged jellyfish began to fall from the skies as well, some landing atop the orca and others scattered throughout the battlefield. And even after one zapped her, still she stood there just... staring at the black and white mass. No wonder Lute seemed off when they first met him - this entire town's gone berserk.

Outside Thaum
Syed could do nothing but blink rapidly for a moment, as he lay there in the mud. It would almost be comfortable if it weren't for the sensation of being constantly slapped. He could hear shouting. He could hear screaming... wait, why was he lying down? He was doing something. They were-

Something suddenly wrapped itself around his leg, and before he had time to get up again he found himself being dragged backwards. Oh Vayu this felt nasty all round! He was picked right up off the ground, which was a bit of an impressive feat with his height, and found himself hanging upside down and looking right at a nightmareish twisted face of wood.

No. He liked when things made logical sense, thank you very much. His hands moved swiftly, his eyes darting to another branch as it shot at him to restrain him further. Too slow.

"Stop it!" He brought his hands down, his arms crossed across his abdomen, and the sheer light and noise emitted from the mass of electricity obscured him temporarily from view. At least, until he fell painfully back to the floor. "Oof!"

Still, he managed to scramble up fast enough. He looked back up, at the rediculous amount of fish descending from the skies...

He reached out. Feeling, sensing, listening. Trying not to let jellyfish distract him any. It was hard enough on a day which made sense. Still, after a brief moment he had got it. The bad weather might be a nusiance for the others, but for him? It was a boon.

BOOM! There was a brilliant flash of light, and he was struck.

He'd have to apologise to Selan later. Right now, he had to help Amy keep those bloody tree things off the others.


Moira meanwhile eyed up her greatsword and sucked through her teeth. Out of reach, and Dylan had up and run off without pulling it out the ground. Lovely. What could she do? She was a melee fighter, and the thing was still out of reach, the mud preventing her from getting closer all that fast. This was why she liked to be the one keeping the bad guy's attention. She didn't have the agility the others did.

What the fuck was with that huge black and white fish thing?!

A sharp sting shot through the fox's leg and it crashed into the nearest tree, arms flailing around like pinwheels. The animal let out a yowl before uprooting the tree beside it and chucking it straight towards the Pride. It bared its teeth only for a turtle to hit it on the head, the fox staggered back before letting out another cry when Trixie shot at its wound.

"That's it, Lucien you're coming with me." Before the summoner could say anything Xan grabbed him by the collar of his robe. "Distract it, please." Her prosthetic took the form of a sword and she made her way past puddles of fish. The fox was limping now, so if she could hit it on the other leg they might just be able to knock it over.

"W-Wait what?" Lucien grabbed onto Dylan's arm and yanked the man onto his feet, if Xan was going to send him to distract that thing, he sure as hell wasn't going alone. "Okay Dylan, let's go get that thing's attention!" He gave the matter artist a broad and out of place grin followed by a thumbs up. "Here goes nothing!" The summoner picked up one the fishes and tossed it straight at the fox's face. It hit the thing in the cheek and it gave both men a devilish glare.

"We're not afraid of you!" The summoner puffed out his chest and boasted. "We have an endless supply of fish!"

The fox took a step forward, but before it could it felt another sting on one of its legs. Behind the creature and not too far from Estelle was a mud covered Xan, She had decided to follow after their Leader and dove in for the fox's other leg while it was distracted. The giant fox wobbled and struggled to keep its balance. "I think we need to step back leader," she stated as the giant fox crashed into another tree.

Suddenly, an octopus fell from the sky and landed on the fox's head, with its vision blocked and both legs injured, it staggered forward towards the Pride and fell right onto its stomach. The ground rumbled and there was sickening crunch as the earth beneath their feet began to split open.



"We need to go, now!" Atlas shouted over the sound of falling sea creatures. He yelled again, hoping that those farther away would be able to hear him. "Lute," he pulled his friend by the arm. "Yell, now--" his words were cut short when the ground beneath him gave way.

The earth opened up and soon the pride found themselves falling.

---

It was just like Thaum, there was the Colosseum, the bug garden, and the walls. It was still Thaum, but it was also very different. Some of the buildings had eyes, others were made of cheese, the walls were now made of giant pencils, and bugs in business suits strolled down the streets, chatting casually. The laboratory was still there as well, but now it was an ominous looking tower that loomed in the distance. Everything was the same in a way, but everything was also different.

The pride found themselves separated.

---

---

Outside Thaum

It was such a close call, and Lisette knew it, too. If it hadn't been for Don, Lisette would likely have been decimated by either the giant scissors that were flung towards her, or the greatsword that would have landed just inches from where she was standing.

But of course, that didn't phase Lisette as much as the giant sea mammal landing on and crushing her hero. The sea creatures falling from the sky were gradually getting bigger, but fate was especially cruel to Don Capuello, it seemed, as he was the recipient of the biggest one thus far.

"Eek, Mister Capuello, nooo!" Lisette cried, a shrill sound not unlike the whale's whistling. Until Lucien pulled him away, Lisette assisted in trying to push it off of Don. She pushed and pushed with everything she had to no avail, accomplishing nothing but making two narrow trenches in the mud as her boots slid backwards from the effort.

Another crack of lightning and a roar of thunder, and Selan felt somehow detached from the fights in front of her, and from the treants surrounding them. She crouched low to the ground, still pressing her hands to her ears, and a shivery, tingling feeling washed over her body more intensely than the pouring rain. Then the difficulty catching her breath settled in, and Selan recognized this as a panic attack, something she tended to only experience when she was left by herself.

A swooping sensation suddenly took over, much to Selan's confusion. But it was a strangely pleasant feeling, since the thunder seemed farther and farther away...

“Nggh… guh… what… what happened…?”



Estelle’s eyes fluttered multiple times, as her sense of being returned to her and it finally felt as if she was awaking. The sudden rush of nothing beneath her, caused by the destruction of the ground below due to the giant Fox, had been replaced with a firm and solid ground. Somewhere for her to properly stand and breathe again, slowly inching herself back up to her normal height, and to try and make sense of wherever the hell they were.

The first thing she saw was that of her four friends. There wasn’t much light afforded to her in order to properly see them, but from the dull glow of lit braziers scattered about the concrete room, she could at least see and make out who there was. At least the thunderstorm and hail of fish had ended.

“Selan! Dylan! Xan, Lute!” Estelle shouted aloud, rushing to the person closest to her and gripping her arm, gently nudging it back and forth, hoping to stir their owner into consciousness once again. Estelle’s brow furrowed as she looked over Selan, the songstress showing little signs of reaction. She wasn’t uconscious, her eyes made that extremely clear. Yet at the same time, she couldn’t seem to hear Selan. “Oh my gods, Selan…! It’s okay! C’mon!”

The redhaired girl gripped the older woman’s body in a tight embrace, hoping to soothe whatever panic Selan was suffering from and hopefully bring her back to her normal awareness. Around them, Dylan, Lute and Xandra all came to their feet as well.

“…where the hell are we?” Asked one.

“Where are the others?”

“What happened to all the raining blobfish?”

None of them were able to offer each other any answers. They were all equally in the dark as one another, with none of them able to offer any form of clear answer as to just what exactly was going on. Trying to explain how they got from where they were to here seemed an impossible task, but that wasn’t the only thing. How on Ddaear could they even begin to explain what was happening before they awoke here?

“Is Selan okay?” Dylan rushed to Estelle’s and asked with concern. Lute and Xandra, however, their eyes began to make clearer sense of their surroundings, and their eyes bulged with fright as a haunting realisation overcame them.

Bars of steel lined them in four walls, rising from the floor to the ceiling. This was… this was a jail cell? Then did it mean the rest of this room was a dungeon? Had they all blacked out, and then in that strange period of time been dragged here and taken prisoner, or-

They were afforded no answer, as suddenly the ground and room shifted and trembled. Suddenly, the ground below them seemed to rise, lifting up into the air as the rest of the room’s features descended downwards. The Guilders all turned in stunned disbelief, confusion wrapped across their faces as they tried to find some sort of sense what was going on, before light flooded their cell from a newly formed crack in the ceiling from where their cage rose through. It was still impossible to escape thanks to the solid steel bars, but now… now they could see light. They could see the star filled sky above. They could see…!



The Coliseum! They were there, their cage risen in the centre of the Coliseum! It looked almost exactly the way they remembered it, the building containing the same layout and structure as the familiar one of Thaum that Selan and Lute had visited earlier in the day, except this one was dilapidated in areas. Broken columns and shattered stands and walls… it was as if the Coliseum had fallen into an extreme state of careless disrepair and neglect that had lasted for hundreds of years. Gone was the grandiose glory of that magnificent stadium, replaced instead by something much more depressing instead.

“The… the Coliseum…?” Estelle muttered. It had been ages since she had visited the place, but she didn’t remember it ever looking like this. “I thought we were just in the mountains… how did we… huh?!”

Suddenly the cage was illuminated by the fierce shine of several blinding spotlights from all angles, the lights too much for the Pride to withstand. Shielding their eyes against the light, they were taken offguard by the next chilling surprise. A chorus of loud, deafening howls engulfing their senses from all around them.

Opening their still adjusting eyes, the Pride could only look in disbelief at the stadium seats filled by cheering and clapping wolves, all of them seated as spectators, pumping their fists into the air, munching on popcorn, drinking from beerhats atop their head or waving paws fitted into ridiculous giant foam novelty hands.

“You… you have got to be joking…”

And then, from several wooden gates scattered around the edges of the coliseum, more wolves appeared, walking forwards on their hind legs to the cheering jubilations of their fans, large muscular wolves walking forwards clad in gladiatorial armour and weaponry, a wry smile crept upon their sharp fanged jaws.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” A wolf dressed in a sharp suit and bowtie emerged at the top of the Coliseum stadium, his presence reflected on the overhead monitors showing a broadcasted footage of the Coliseum ground below. “It’s that time you’ve alllll been waiting for!!” Enraptured applause rung out throughout the stadium again, the gladitatorial wolves raising their weapons into the air.

Estelle’s hand gripped the hilt of her sword.

---

“I’m not dead. I can’t believe it, I’m not dead. I don’t know where I am, but I’m not dead!!”



A cheerful whooping Don hopped and skipped from left leg to right, clapping with cheerful delight as he continued to loudly shout over and over. The noise he was making was enough to make his companions begin to stir back into consciousness, with the last step needed being the more powerful then expected slap on the backs of all of his companions; Trixie, Moira, Syed and Atlas. He would have done the same to Kapi too, but the little capybara was already awake, trotting forwards a little as he just looked up and watched Don with blinking eyes.

“Where… where the fuck are we…?” Moira graciously asked on behalf of everyone else. When her eyes adjusted to her surroundings, she was shocked to find that none of them were where they had once been. That muddy, fish slicked mountain had vanished, replaced instead with what looked to her to be a forest, with foliage and vegetation far, far larger then anything she had ever seen. That freaking bizarre whale had gone, as had the giant Fox and attacking Treants. And so, bar the few of them there, had everyone else. And on top of that, the lightning that pierced the dark midnight sky was gone as well, replaced by a joyous, sun shining day… well, of what she could see anyway through the canopy of vegetation above which overshadowed them. This… this was definitely fucking weird.



“Oi, wake up.” She slapped Syed again, much to the electricity mage’s disgruntlement. “And you, shut the fuck up!” She shouted at Don.

“Scary sis!” Don cheered, hopping back towards the pair and Trixie, Atlas and Kapi. “You’re awake! You’re alive too! Hooray! I don’t know where we are, but at least we’re aliiiiiiive-ugh!”

“I said shut the fuck up!” Moira’s fist swung out and punched Don in the thigh. No one needed to wake up to his nonsense.

“Where…” Syed groaned, holding the sides of his head in his hands. “Where are we? Where’s everyone else? How did we get here…?”

“Hmm… this is weird…” Trixie interjected. The smaller prankster had been staring at her surroundings during the conversation, with her arms folded over her chest, her eyes narrowing in careful scrutinity as she looked things over. Her nose twitched again. This place… it smelled familiar. But it didn’t look like anything she had seen before. Where on Ddaear were they? Where was Amy and Supersis? Or Miss Pretty and the Doctor or… or…

“WOAH!” Trixie yelled, her finger pointing straight up into the sky. As Moira’s and Syed’s heads tilted, to look up above them, their faces contorted in sheer disbelief. And Don… Don SCREAMED.

Above them were several giant insects clutching bug catching poles looking down at them, their nets swinging through the air already as they aimed to catch their prize. It was only now that another horrifying fact presented itself to the Pride.

They weren’t in a forest with gigantic, oversized vegetation. And the bugs, as giant as they were as well, weren’t just monstrously large in their own right. Compared to the tufts of grass and trees and flowers, they were as tall as a human would be in proportion. It was the Pride who had shrank to the size of bugs.

“AHHHHHHHHH!” Don screamed, his feet already beating to try and run away, scooping Kapi up in one hand and dumping him on his head, his two hands then grabbing Trixie and Atlas. “AHHHHHHH I DID DIE AND GO TO HELLLLLLL!!!”

Thaum? - Coliseum

Estelle's embrace seemed to snap Selan out of her daze, and the songstress took a deep, shaky breath to calm herself down.

"Is Selan okay?" she heard Dylan ask.

"I'm... I'm fine," Selan breathed, turning away from Estelle to quickly wipe away welled-up tears with the back of her hand. A few more deep breaths, and her tense shoulders finally relaxed.

That is, until the floor they were standing on began to ascend higher and higher, and bright lights burned her vision white even though her eyes were closed.

"You... you have got to be joking..."

Selan pulled herself up and her still-adjusting eyes shifted over their surroundings, finally beginning to understand where they were. Or at least, she thought she was understanding; she briefly thought she had somehow fallen asleep back at the coliseum, and the mayhem that had occurred there and afterward was simply a dream. But the friends that surrounded her were different from before, and the audience...

They weren't in the audience, the audience was watching them. And the eyes that stared at them were not human. But they weren't malicious in the predatory way that she would have expected... She spotted a small wolf perched on the shoulders of a bigger one, waving a tiny wooden sword in the air like an excited child.

There was a reason Selan opted out of competing with the others before, and she backed up towards one side of the cage. Luckily, her companions were much better suited, and she wondered who, or what, exactly they would be forced to fight.

---

Thaum Square?

Lisette woke up to the smells of the stalls in Thaum Square. She supposed they waited all night for Dr. Dream, Atlas, and Marcus to arrive and then it was daytime again, or something.

"Maaaarshmallows..." Lisette half-yawned and half-mumbled. She reached for her bag (finding it a lot lighter than usual since Kapi was no longer inside) and pulled out the paper sack of marshmallows. They'd probably be a little stale, but otherwise they'd probably be fine.

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!

"Ahhhhh!!" Lisette shrieked, dropping the sack on the ground. The marshmallows spilled out and hopped away.

Lisette didn't bother chasing after them, and instead rushed over to the nearest food stall, which had a harmless-looking picture of ice cream on its sign. A "man" in an "owl suit" held out a monstrous-looking ice cream cone, prompting Lisette to recoil and run to the next one, a harmless produce stand for tomatoes. She remembered that one, there was nothing weird about that one! But when she looked closely, the largest tomato smiled at her.

Faces, faces everywhere! She refused to eat anything with a face!

The archer sunk to her knees in front of the tomato stand, then let loose a loud cry. "Noooooo!! I can never eat anything ever again!!"

---

Kapi clung onto as much of Don's hair as he could, as the tall man grabbed his friends and bolted. The capybara rotated on the top of his head to see what they were running from. Giant bugs, been there, done that. He rotated again and plopped down, squishing his butt on Don's head.

Thaum? - Coliseum

Dylan blinked as awareness slowly returned to him. Lucy had dragged him into throwing fish at a fox, then the next thing he knew he had been falling...and falling...before landing hard. But how was that even possible? He had been on the ground and no where near a cliff?

“Selan! Dylan! Xan, Lute!” Estelle shouted. “Oh my gods, Selan…! It’s okay! C’mon!”

Turning his head back and forth, he was able to see that there was only a handful of them there. “Where are the others?” he asked as he got to feet, not bothering with the obvious question of How are we here? The others seemed to be coming around...except for...

“Is Selan okay?” Dylan rushed to Estelle’s side, ignoring the obvious strangeness of their cell. In fact, he was so absorbed by checking on his friend that he didn’t even notice their cage until in started to move and revealed the Coliseum. He pressed against the bars, trying to make sense of the situation. Of the wolves watching and cheering, of the promise of blood sport, and the fact that he was completely out of his depth.

Estelle was already arming herself, and Dylan pulled out this slate and chalk. Luckily, the rain was gone, and he could actually be useful. Across the way, the doors started to creep open, and Dylan prepared himself for the assault, his chalk posed to go. "Aislin," he prayed, "watch over us."

Thaum Square? (Group B)

Amy watched from afar as Lisette had her meltdown. Aside from some more bipedal animals along with everything having faces on them of all things, everything else seemed relatively normal. Okay. Okay. The cleric let out a deep sigh of relief, leaning back on the bench she had awoken by.

Something else seemed off though: there was only four of them there, herself included. All she could remember last was the giant fox crashing to the ground, splitting it open (??), and falling. Had the others arrived elsewhere? Furthermore, how on Ddaear did they even arrive there? Thaum Square was not beneath the mountains for them to fall into.

As these thoughts ran through Amy's mind, she constantly batted at some itch at her legs. Once they became too frequent, she leaned over. "What the fuck is going on? ...what??"

All the marshmallows that had escaped from Lisette's bag were now happily bouncing along Amy's legs, rubbing their fuzzy bodies along them. Amy shuddered and kicked them away from her. "Ugh... gross..." She reached her hand down to smooth her calf, only to notice there were scratches upon scratches etched along her skin. One was bleeding.

She shot her eyes back up to see the marshmallows all hopping back after her, bearing human teeth beneath their cutesy smiles. "Food! Food! Food!"

Amy jerked her staff, summoning her crackling light whip. "Fuck. Off."

Meanwhile two other monstrous ice cream cones popped out from behind the owl's stand (who had begun to click and giggle at the cone in his hand like it was a pet) rolled out into open, before spouting two legs and taking a stance. They looked at one another, the ringed toppings masquerading as eyes. With a nod, they trotted after the human closest to them and began to prod at their legs with their cones. All while doing the most obnoxious laughter ever.

---

Thaum?: Bugtanical Garden (Group C)

After quite some running, they found a nice little shielded spot; the tree tops clouded the sky from view, meaning the group had effectively lost the overhead buzzers (after more close calls than one). No sounds other than their own panting could be heard there.

Trixie wrinkled her nose. "Mmm... they're everywhere! Wow, I can't even tell them apart like this."

The bushes rustled, causing Trixie to jump and huddle behind Moira. Had they been followed? How many were there? Their break was so short-lived - would they have to run again? Could they... could they even fight these things? What...

And then, a giant leech monster crawled out from behind some bushes. With its torso lifted in the air, the leech's slimy face eyed them from above like an eagle. The highest six stubby legs each weilded nets, bouncing and bouncing in enthusiasm. Trixie stepped out from behind Moira and stepped towards the creature (ignoring any words of caution that may have been slung her way). She merely stared back at the sheer monstrous size of that thing, though her lips widened into an excited smile once it hit her.

"Leggy!" Trixie turned to see her teammates, arms outstretched. "It's okay, guys! Leggy's harmless. He likes me a lot! We played wrastling earlier. The slimey goopy stuff on it is totally harmless."

Anyone watching the creature beyond Trixie could see heavy chunks of green saliva dripping from its mouth, splattering the ground far away from them. Anything it touched melted in seconds.

"He's totally a scaredy cat too! Bugbread, you saw it too, didntcha? When Supersis and everyone brought back those other big baddie bugs, Leggy got really scared and ran away and--"

SHING! The sharp tone caused Trixie to turn back to it. Many of the knots in the six nets spewed a sharp spike, both outside and inside the net. They clanked together now as Leggy continued to bounce them. Trixie only sighed and waggled a finger at the leech. "Hey Leggy, the rules obviously said just to capture, not kill. Come on bro, have some honor, yo!"

SHING! The spikes doubled in size. Now its nets resembled open-holed maces. He intended to knock them out before capturing them.

"Well that's cool, I guess you guys got to rewrite the rules and stuff. Yeah. That's, um," she gulped, "that's cool. Hey Superbro, can you do that thing where you pick us up and start running again?"

Thaum Square???

”You look fabulous!”

“I love your shoes!”

“Your clothes are so fashionable!”

“We’re free of charge!”

“Wow, complimentary sweet potatoes.”

Aria stared at the bucket of happily squeaking tubers, slightly dazed from the sudden transition. She had only moments before been trying to shove the orca whale that had fallen on Don while dodging fish from the sky when the ground had suddenly opened up, and before she knew it they were back in Thaum Square. Rather, it seemed to be Thaum square, and yet…

"Noooooo!! I can never eat anything ever again!!"

She gave a wince of sympathy as the poor girl wailed at the various produce with faces. Amy was fending off a crowd of marshmallows, and Lucien-

Poke poke.

Huh? She turned around, only to shriek at the two ice cream monsters who had taking to prodding her with their waffle cone arms. She leapt back as they edged closer, shuddering when the ice cream split apart to reveal a mouth with sharper than usual candy corn teeth. First a giant fox monster, then falling fish, and now anthropomorphic food? What in the name of Vayu was happening in this town?

Bugtanical Garden
Moira came to a stop, her chest heaving with every breath. Why were they bloody running again?! She wasn't sure. Oh wait, yeah, it was because they were being chased by fuckin titanic bugs and she didn't have her sword.

What. The. Fuck.

Meanwhile, Syed was staring blankly at the ground with wide eyes as he also tried to regain his breath. None of this made sense. None of it. The thing which to him made the most sense, of all things, was Don's outburst. "Maybe..." he muttered breathlessly, bringing his trembling hands to his arms. "Maybe this is pugatory or something..."

No, that didn't work either. He couldn't remember dying. The only thing he thought close was when fighting the fox thing, but... the fox thing made no sense either. Whatever this was, it had to be before that.

He pinched himself.

"Oh shut yer trap, we ain't dead," Moira growled to the others. She looked up towards where Trixie was gushing about a particularly nasty looking thing, it's goo or whatever melting everything it touched. Okay. She had no idea what this was about, but okay. Either way it didn't look friendly.

"Hey Superbro, can you do that thing where you pick us up and start running again?"

More goo dripped from the thing's maw as it loomed over them all. Moira barely had the time to reach forward and throw Trixie backwards by the scruff of her neck before the horrible acidic stuff splashed right where she stood. Syed quickly rushed to help Trixie up and ensure she didn't get any of the gunk splashed onto her.

"Runnin' ain't working, is it?!" she shouted. But... fighting won't work either, what with the amount of these bug things about. Would it? Would it?

Thaum? - Coliseum

Where were they? Xan stared at the steel bars, eyes wide.

The last thing they had done was face that fox, how did they get in here? Did the creature knock them out then cage them up. None of this made sense, but then again, the fight with the giant camera toting fox didn't seem possible either. She rushed towards the bars and grabbed onto them, trying to weaken the metal. Maybe if she weakened it enough, they could get out, find the others, and run.

"I can weaken it," she sounded out of breath, but tried her best to stay calm. "Then we can leave--"

Xan froze mid-sentence as the ground beneath them began to rise. Suddenly, there was a blinding light followed by whoops and cheers. The girl squinted her eyes, dazed, and not knowing where they were. Well, until Estelle mentioned the Colosseum.

Wolves, with pointy teeth and claws...they were everywhere. The place was full of large animals, all with glistening teeth.

The girl wanted to sink into the ground and disappear. Xan let out a rare curse, and willed herself to stand her ground. Dylan and Estelle were already preparing themselves for combat. "Maybe we can make a run for the exit?" Her suggestion sounded more desperate than she would have liked. Why did it have to be wolves? Why did it have to be giant animals with devilish grins?

Their opponents entered the arena, wild cats, wolves, and bears covered from head to toe in armor. Some hefted axes and others wielded giant swords, they grinned at each other cockily and elbowed each other in the ribs.

"I bet I can kill the most humans," one of the wolves boasted.

"Tch, you're nothin' but a pansy, Simon. I betcha 500 gald I can kill a lot more than you." One of the wildcats teased.

The wolf let out a snarl before agreeing to the bet and some of the animals snickered and sneered. The announcer introduced the competitors, and the crowd went wild. It turned out, whoever killed the most humans would win a trophy and a hefty sum of gald.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen! Let the games begin!" The room was filled with howls.

Simon, the wolf in bulky armor eyed the pride with slit-like eyes. He bared his teeth and swung his sword around boastfully. "So humans, you ready to play?" Before more could be said, he rushed towards them with his sword raised.

The wildcat beside him chortled and got on all fours, he lunged towards the pride speedily while the bear with the giant hammer approached at a much more lax pace.



Thaum's Square?

Lucien woke up in the fountain, cold, wet and confused. He gasped for air and pulled himself out only to come face to face with a giant walking apple.

"Oh wow, that costume is grand." Lucien was still confused but he gave the giant apple a grin. "Would you give a pal a hand, yeah?" The giant apple smiled politely and reached out its hand but instead of helping the poor man out of the fountain, he pushed the summoner back in and Lucien fell onto his back with a splash.

Lucien flailed and coughed before staggering to his feet. "What the heck? That was really rude."

Lisette began screaming and he could hear Amy cursing as well. The summoner looked around only to see all sorts of food running around thaum's square. Wait, wait, wait, what the hell was happening? He returned his attention on the apple only to notice it was grinning deviously, it let out a cackle before snakes began crawling out of it's shiny red skin. "G-Guys? I think the food is upset." He bolted out of the pond and the apple began chasing after him.

"Help, help!" He yelled before crashing into something. It was an angry looking chocolate chip cookie.

A penguin in a top hat walked towards the humans and laughed as they struggled against his army of angry food. "Humans are the rarest delicacy of all time. I'm sure you all want a taste!" A few bananas and donuts began crowding around the despairing humans and they oohed and ahhed in place.

"Humans are yummy and healthy and good!" They began chanting. Soon, the square was filled with flesh hungry potato chips and cheese.



Thaum?: Bugtanical Garden

“AHHHHHHH I DID DIE AND GO TO HELLLLLLL!!!”

Atlas winced at the volume of Don's scream. "I always imagined hell to be more fiery...and I never thought Satan was a butterfly."

There was squeak from inside his coat and the magician jumped back. Isaac suddenly clambered onto his shoulder and the man let out a relieved sigh. "I thought spiders were in my clothes." He made a sour face then continued looking around. They were in Thaum's garden, but why were the insects so big? He looked at one of the flowers...it was huge. Realization finally hit and Atlas let out a groan. "Gods, this day is shitty."

Isaac made himself comfortable on the man's head then gave Kapi a wave.

He was just about to complain some more when the kid appeared with a giant slug. Isaac yelped and dove into the man's coat and Atlas stared at the girl wide-eyed. He motioned for her to approach them slowly, but she was too focused on the leech to notice. Thankfully, the berserker pushed her out of the way.

"I suggest we get the hell out of here without alerting those things." Leggy looked slow, and they could most likely outrun him and hide some place safe.

The leech let out a piercing scream and soon the bugs that soared above them began flying around like crazy.

"Hey mommy!" One of the giant ladybugs squealed. "I found the humans!" He twirled the net in his hands before pointing at them. The other bugs praised him then began to approached with nets held tightly in their hands.

Atlas' vocabulary became twice as colorful. "No time to fight, let's go." He grabbed Trixie and Don by the arms and began to run.

Outside Thaum

Jellyfish. Lightning. Treants. Giant foxes with short tempers and large scissors. Thunder.

And an orca.

Lute was rooted to his place as a ton worth of fish slammed down on his head one by one every five seconds, eyes wide in confusion as he stared at the pandemonium happening all around. He felt icky all over and was extremely uncomfortable. The blobfish on his head, the one he had named Bubbles, was once again moaning in anguish, seeing how it was basically his helmet against the fish horde.

He just wanted to go home. Ruana was waiting for him, most probably sick with worry now.

Thaum? – Coliseum

“What happened to all the raining blobfish?” Lute heard someone say in his voice as he pushed himself off the ground, dripping rainwater and strands of scale and slime on the floor. He rubbed his forehead then got up, wobbling slightly. His head hurt. Everything was sore. It was just like those full-body massages Robin told him about.

They rose up and he saw that they were in the Coliseum- or at least the Coliseum after centuries of neglect and disrepair. The vibrant stage was covered in the stale patina of time, and judging by the smell, so was everything.

He stared at Selan and then Xandra, forcing himself to feel calm as the latter’s distraught expression was starting to affect him. It was around this time that Lute realized that he brought a souvenir along; Bubbles was with him, for some reason, although now it was encased in a transparent ball full of liquid. Sort of like a beach ball with something inside, really. He picked Bubbles up then faced the sources of the footsteps getting closer.

“Heads up, people. We’ve got some company,” Lute ‘said’ again, although he finally realized that it was Delilah speaking, just utilizing his voice to make it appear as though he was the one talking. He wasn’t in the mood to reprimand her, and she obviously knew that. All the virtuoso could do was unsheathe his sword and stare at the throngs of animals in armor that entered the arena. Obviously the one that would fit him was the wildcat. He just hoped that what the cat made up for in speed, he lacked in strength.

Lute rushed forward to meet the feline, an oversized beach ball with a panicked blobfish under one arm while his free hand held his sword. The cat bared its fangs in a wide grin and lunged when they were but a meter apart, only for his human opponent to halt, let go of the blobfish-ball, then rapidly step backward. The human’s right leg arched back quickly and then the ball rocketed towards the wildcat.

Thaum? – Coliseum

The clash of steel on steel propelled Estelle backwards, her feet skidding across the ground to a stop in front of Selan, her teeth gritted tight and fiery eyes borne towards the wolf attacking her. As Lute charged forwards against the wildcat, Estelle had stood her ground to help protect Selan and Dylan within the relative safety of the other three barred walls of their cage, but she hadn’t expected the wolf, Simon, to be as powerful or quick as he was. His speed and sword swing was enough to force Estelle flying back, almost crashing into the songstress. She quickly turned around to look over her shoulder, to make sure that she was alright. And she was uninjured at least, and mobile, pressed against the far wall as she was, but even then…

“Dylan,” Estelle called to the Matter Artist, flicking her head up. “Give back up to Xan and Lute. I’ve got this brute taken care of.”

She then turned her head to smile to Xandra, who returned her attention. “You can take care of that bear with Dylan’s help, right?” The metallurgist didn’t say anything but nod, moving forwards to the cage’s exit, as Simon, who had stomped into the cage by now, moved to intercept her escape with another swift swing of his preposterously sized sword. Only for this him to be countered this time with the sudden appearance of Estelle, swinging her Flameblade against him, parrying his sword and pushing him backwards and off his feet, back out of the cage, to skid beside the casually walking hammer wielding bear (was that the thing that had attacked Atlas?).

Estelle walked besides Xandra out of the cage, as Dylan covered up the rear in-between them and Selan. Estelle’s arm swung her sword up and down as if warming her muscles up, with the blade itself following suit as it ignited into flame. At the same time, Xandra’s own prosthetic limb began to change shape and integrity with the two girls assuming fighting stances together.

“Make a bet on who wins first?” Estelle grinned towards Xandra.

---

Thaum? - Bugtanical Gardens

Within no time at all, the Gardens had become infested with a swarm of giant insects all looking to catch the most interesting of specimens in order to win their contest's grand prize. First with Trixie's leech friend Leggy chasing and swinging his mass of mace nets at them, and then followed by seemingly hundreds of bugs all pursuing them with a wide variety of poles, nets, maces, hammers and flamethrowers. This really wasn't their day.

"Well that's cool, I guess you guys got to rewrite the rules and stuff. Yeah. That's, um," Trixie gulped, "That's cool. Hey Superbro, can you do that thing where you pick us up and start running again?"

In compliance, Trixie's wrist was snatched again and the group were forced to run once more, with Kapi's cushioned behind bouncing up and down and slapping Don in the face, as his agonising scream continued on long into the garden. The oblivious fool not realising that it was what helped keep the bugs chasing after them, as well as draw the attention of even more constantly following them.

Hell. It was pure hell.

Thaum?: Bugtanical Garden (Group C)

It was a dilemma. The monsters were much too big to fight - and much too fast and numerous compared to the likes of Museo's guardian statues. Even Moira, the Pride's personal tank, hesitated with taking a shot. Once the leech let out a monstrous cry, and Don following up with his own, the crew was on the run again.

As they ran, Trixie felt herself becoming dizzy; being dragged along like this was fun at first, but Don's turns and jerks and constant screaming as they fled was beginning to wear on her. But then she had an idea.

"Hold your breaths!" she called out, before reaching into one of her pouches and chucking a round, jingling object directly at the ground. In an instant the group was enveloped in a puff of smoke. With the exceptionally diminutive size of the guilders' own items, the smoke released barely covered an area the size of a regular footstep. It was more than enough to shield the Pride if only for a moment.

In order to slow Don down, Trixie leaned back and dug her heels into the dirt as he pulled her along. "Superbro, Superbro, stop for a second! Turn this way! Come on!" She veered him into running away from their main path and into one of the bushes at their side. Quickly she clasped her hand over his mouth as well - "Shh!" - as the rush of both grounded and aerial insects zoomed by, kicking aside the puff of smoke Trixie had summoned.

They were effectively out of sight, hidden among the prickly throngs of a rose bush. Trixie found herself squeaking from injury, though she covered her own mouth with second hand as she struck an unnatural pose to avoid being pricked. (Don too was forced into a compromising position, as Trixie had pulled him over so she could cover his mouth.)

Her eyes watered from utter discomfort. It wouldn't be long before they were found - sniffed out by another bug, even. Then they'd be on the run again. There was no way they could keep this up, but what else was there to do?

Bugtanical Gardens
A puff of smoke suddenly billowed ahead, the rest of the group were that much faster after all. As always Moira and Syed lagged behind, and Moira found herself becoming more and more fustrated. Why was she running?!

Suddenly Moira screached to a halt, digging her heels in the ground. Syed, who was slightly ahead of her at the time, was caught completely unawares and was suddenly brought to a stop. He clutched at his chest and gave out a shout in agony as he fell to the ground. Moira similarly couldn't help but flinch and stagger from the pain of their curse being pulled at so sharply, but at least she managed to stay standing.

"Moira...!" Syed gasped, trying to push himself back up as quickly as he could. "What are you-"

"Fuck this shit. I don't care anymore. Nobody fucks with me."

She clenched her fists, turning away from her partner and towards the insects which were already upon them. Her rage made her blood boil, and Syed could almost feel the heat from her even as he stood 6ft away. She didn't do running. She hated running. And running from a foe? No.

Suddenly she stepped to one side, one of the insects' gods damned hammers missing her just barely and smashing into the ground. The earth shook and cracked under the sheer force of it.

"Let's fuck them over back."

Syed could do nothing but gape. Sure, it would give the others a chance to maybe escape, but-! "You can't be seri- AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Moira had leapt forward, grabbing a hold of the hammer - just as the insect had began to lift it again. The pair were thrown high, high into the air, once more sending spasms of pain through both of their chests. Syed flailed as he tried to right himself, his eyes bulging at the ground getting further and further away... and more and more like how he was used to seeing it. Well, of the myriad of ways he pictured dying in this senario... falling to his death wasn't one of them.

Moira, on the other hand?

She brought back a fist, and punched the offending arsehole right in the eye. No matter how big the size difference was, the insect was going to feel that.

No time for fighting her arse. She was a Berserker after all.

Thaum? - Coliseum (Group A)

Help Xandra. That was something he could do. “I’ve got it,” he promised as he followed the women out of the cell, sizing up the large bear with his (or was it a her? How exactly did one tell that?) absurd hammer. “Hey,” he said with a grin to force some of his natural cheeriness on the others, “how impressed is Moira going to be when we tell her this story?”

Placing chalk to slate, he drew in quick, harsh movements, digging through his bag of tricks to find a way to help Xan. It didn’t appear that she needed a weapon or armor, and the bear was moving to slowly to make the grease-trap trick viable. No, they needed something else, something that could do real damage to the bear.

Letting his magic flow into his image, he felt the weight of a crossbow drop into his hand. It was a weapon he felt reasonable comfortable with - even with the slow reload time - since it did not require the same strength that a longbow did as well as being easier to aim. A quiver with bolts appeared at his waist as well and he quickly slid his slate back into his pocket.

Hoisting the crossbow up and into both hands, he took steady aim at the lumbering bear. With a deep breath and a sure eye, he let it fly right at the strange beast’s leg.

Thaum? - Coliseum

Things were going well, it seemed. Although there was something much more disturbing now that their animal opponents had taken on a more 'human' feel. It was probably a similar discomfort to what Lisette felt when having to face hostile animals.

Selan knew there was something wrong, but... If there were people like Nikkolaira in their world, this couldn't be too far off, could it?

Dylan's bolt struck the bear right above its kneecap, and the bear staggered forward, snarling furiously. "Lucky shot, you little wimp!" he roared, powering through the pain and continuing forward despite blood seeping down his leg brace.

Selan relaxed, leaning against the back of the cage. She nearly jumped when she felt something lightly hit the steel behind her -- someone had thrown a full bag of popcorn at her back. "Do! Some! Thing! Do! Some! Thing!" the audience began to chant in unison, and Selan knew it was directed towards her.

If they wanted a show, they could give them one. "Lute! Once more?" she called to the white-haired man, referring to the curious ability he used before to amplify her voice.

---

Thaum Square?

"Humans are yummy and healthy and good!" the various foods around them began chanting, inching closer and closer with their teeth bared.

The tomato stand behind Lisette shook as the tomatoes sprouted legs and hopped onto the ground in front of her. She scooted backwards, holding her hands up in a 'don't shoot' gesture. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in vegetarianism...?" Lisette stammered nervously.

The tomatoes paused to look at each other, then resumed their march along with the rest of the food. "Get her! The stupid ones are the tastiest!"

"Hey, I'm not stupid!" Lisette yelled angrily, getting to her feet and drawing her bow.

"Help, help!" Lucien yelled, prompting Lisette to turn around. He was being accosted by an angry-looking chocolate chip cookie.

"Duck!" Lisette quickly fired an arrow over the, uh, heads, of all of the foods on the ground, and it struck the cookie in its side. Crumbs sprayed and cracks burst from the arrow's point of entry, and the cookie collapsed to the ground.

The foods saw this and took this as a clear indication that this was war. The tomatoes clawed and bit at the hard leather of Lisette's boots, while a nearby zucchini drew one of those big plastic food picks shaped like a sword, except the edge glinted in the light, indicating that it was quite sharp compared to its realistic counterpart.

"Everyone, let's get out of here!" she called, looking around for the easiest path of escape. "Uh, um, the clock tower over there!" she pointed frantically.

Thaum? - Coliseum

They were just animals, talking weapon-wielding animals, but animals nonetheless. There was nothing to be afraid of, but her heart was practically doing the tango in her chest. She and Dylan could deal with the bear, they just had to go and do it. They outnumbered their enemies, they could do this, they really could, she just had to act. Estelle's voice snapped her out of her thoughts and seeing their leader so confident and sure, it was reassuring.

"Alright, leader." Xan imagined that the animals were criminals, it was easier that way. She nodded at Dylan, her prosthetic arm now in the shape of a hammer.

"That was such a cheap shot!" The bear snarled. His expression contorted into one of pain, but it didn't look like he'd be backing down. "I'm not like those frail adventurers, an arrow to the knee, it ain't gonna stop me." He placed his hammer back into its sheath and began barreling towards the matter artist on all fours. The bear leaped into the air and the next thing Dylan noticed was a heavy weight on top of his chest. The bear bared its teeth, saliva dripping onto the matter artist's face.

"Fight me like a real man, up close and personal." He exhaled before running a claw gently on the side of Dylan's face. "A pretty face like yours deserves to be cut up, yes?" The bear let out a boastful chuckle before letting out a surprised yowl. A hammer connected with the side of his face and he rolled off the artist.

Xan grabbed the artist by the arms and yanked him up. The bear looked dazed but he'd be getting up soon enough.

Estelle was duking it out with Simon by the entrance and Lute, he was still fighting with the cat. The animal had whipped out a pair of double daggers and it looked pretty upset when it got hit on the face by a blobfish? Thaum sure was a crazy place.

"Where do you two think you're going?" The bear was back on his feet but he was limping now, both the arrow and the blow to the head taking a toll on him.



Thaum's Square?

The chocolate chip cookie exploded into several pieces and Lucien turned around to look at his savior.

"Lisette! You're my hero!" He declared with a bright grin. "That cookie...it wanted to eat me," the man shuddered before his eyes caught a glint of steel. A vegetable with a giant sword was yelling something about declaring war. "That clocktower looks uhhh, really pretty and we're late to a party," he rambled on, "so we'll catch you later, yeah?" He gave the talking food items a nervous laugh before bobbing his head up and down at the archer's suggestion.

"Amy! Aria! I think I hear Tiberius calling us at the tower! Yeahhhh, fruit people we'll catch ya later." He gave them a wave, kicked one of the angry tomatoes like it was a soccer ball and ran towards both women. He hooked his arms with theirs then bolted after Lisette towards the clocktower.

The angry food products began crying out and soon they were chasing after the guilders. "You killed Mr. Chip!" One of the barbecues wailed. "I'll impale you all! He was a great chocolatey man and you killed him!"

They ran and ran only to find that they weren't getting anywhere. The ground below them had turned into a treadmill. An angry mob of food surrounded them, armed with an array of pointy weapons. "You know what we do to humans? We roast them till their crisp." A confident egg declared. The candied apple beside him lit up a torch.



Thaum?: Bugtanical Garden

This was ridiculous, they were hiding from bugs in a rose bush.

Isaac didn't seem fazed by what was going on, he was simply happy to be on Atlas' head. The man with poofy hair continued screaming and Atlas grabbed him by his shoulders. "If you keep yelling, they will find us and eat us." He said it sternly, but gave the man a sympathetic look.

Thankfully, the kid with the smoke bomb clamped her hand over the screeching man's mouth. They were safe, for now.

Well, until the berserker and her partner leaped out of the bushes to attack. Were those two suicidal. "You have got to be kidding me!" Atlas unsheathed a pair of knuckle knives and leaped from out of the bushes. Well, what was life without a little fun? If he lived through this, he'd have a grand tale to tell and if he died, at least it wouldn't be a boring death. Too bad no one would be there to see 'em go out fighting.

Before he could rush to help, Moira and Syed were lifted into the air. He facepalmed then looked at the others. "Hey kid, do you think you can shoot that bug out of the sky?" Other bugs were already scouting around for them.

"That hurt!" The bug Moira had punched in the eye released them and soon the duo were falling and Atlas was screaming curses.

"Auntieee, don't worry I got them!" A moth flew speedily towards them and managed to catch them in a net. "Oh and guys, look the rest of them are down there!" A thousand pairs of eyes focused on the rosebush and soon bugs of all kinds made their way towards the guilders.