Into the World of Twisted Wonderland

Prologue Chapter 16

After telling Ace, Deuce, and Grim the plan, it was time to set it in motion. Angel and Grim waited out by the entrance of the mine, with Ace and Deuce hanging a few feet back. The two of them looked into the mine, staring at the darkness within.

"Angel..." Grim says with concern in his voice. "Is this plan of yours really gonna work? I'm sca- I mean, I'm a little...uh, hungry."

Angel turns to him with a small smile. "Don't worry! I think this could really work!" She tells Grim, enthusiastically, hoping it would calm his nerves.

"It really could." Deuce added behind them. "Let's go, Angel!"

"Remember," Ace adds as a warning, "if things go south, we abandon the plan, get you outta there and run, magestone or not, okay?"

"I got it, Ace," Angel tells him with a reassuring smile, causing Ace to blush and look away. The two boys move further away from the two and Angel and Grim look at each other and nodded, heading inside the cave enough to have their escape route. After getting a few feet in, the two see the monster and put their plan in motion.

"H-hey, monster!" Grim starts to yell, grabbing the monster's attention. "I'm uh...I-I'm over here!"

The monster, obviously enraged at the fact that there were people still in the mine, roared at Grim and Angel. "Grrrrrrraaaawwrrrrrr! BEGOOOOOONE!" The monster starts heading towards the two.

"He's comin' out way! Angel let's go!" Grim says as he starts to run with Angel following him. As they run out of the cave, the two looked at each other and split into opposite directions, with Grim heading left and Angel heading right. When the monster got out of the cave, Angel shouted to get his attention. "Right over here, monster!"

"Grrrugh? Thieeeeef thiiiiiiis waaaayy tooooo....Neeeevva giiive stooooooooones! Neeeeevvvvaaaa!" The monster roars as it heads towards Angel's direction, using the lantern to hit the girl. Angel looks on in fear, barely able to dodge the attack by moving to the side and starts running with Grim running beside her a few feet away. The monster continues to wave its lantern, trying to still hit Angel who was its target.

"Eep!" Grim says as he watches it try to attack Angel. "If it lands one of those punches, we're toast!"

"Then let's try to lure him as far from the cave as we can Grim!" Angel says as she runs, feeling the effect of the fatigue catching up to her.

When the monster was about to grab Angel by the hair, Grim notices and called out to the monster, bringing the monster toward him. When the monster was about to catch up to Grim, Angel called out, grabbing the monster's attention, making it head towards her direction. The two continued this strategy until they were a good amount distance away from the cave. At this point, the monster was chasing Angel with Grim being a few feet ahead of her. "We got him a good distance away from the mine!" Grim says as he stops between two trees. As she's about to meet up with Grim, she trips on a root of a tree, tumbling down in front of the monster. The monster seeing his target down, runs at her faster, making Angel's eyes widen as he catches up to her and raise its hand to attack. "I'm counting on you!" She says as she closes her eyes, bracing for the impact of the impeding punch.

"You bet! I got this! One extra-large gust of wind, comin' up!" Ace says as he summons the wind, aiming it at the monster.

"With a side of Grim's blazin' hot fire! MYAAH!" Grim adds on as well, shooting a fireball in the same direction.

Before the monster was about to slam its arm down at Angel, the fireball combined with the wind Ace summoned made a fire vortex, hitting the monster, and making a wall of fire between Angel and the monster. It staggered back in surprise, not expecting the attack to hit him. Angel opens her eyes, staring at the sight of the wall of blue fire as the monster groans in surprise. "Grrrraaaaahhhhh?!"

"How's that taste?!" Ace says confidently, with a smirk on his face. "With my winds fanning them, even Grim's feeble flames can become an inferno!"

"Whaddaya mean 'feeble'?! Ya really don't know how to shut yer mouth, do ya?" Grim says with his paws crossed over his body.

Angel gets up and see the monster straightening back up, trying to pursue its target in front of him to its initial goal, but the wall of fire is preventing him from chasing her. "The monster's afraid of our flaming wall! Now's our chance!" She yells out towards the trees, signaling Deuce to come out from behind a tree, with his pen out.

"Just stay calm, aim carefully....and pull out the biggest, heaviest, thing I can think of..." Deuce closes his eyes and mumbles to himself, trying to concentrate his attack. Then, Deuce eyes open and release his spell. "Get 'em, cauldron!"

Just like when he summoned the cauldron on Ace, a form of smoke circled around above the monster, only for a cauldron to suddenly appear in the air, falling right on top of the monster. "Gwaaah?!" The monster lets out as the cauldron lands on his head, with the weight bringing the monster down with it. The four of them looked onto the flatten monster with hope in their eyes.

"Nailed it! The plan's workin'!" Grim says as he throws a paw in the air. "Look Angel! That monster got smashed flat by a falling cauldron, just like Ace did!"

Ace sighs as he remembers the memory. "Coulda done without the reminder, thanks! This has been one drag after another."

"Quick! While it's distracted, we need to get to that magestone!" Deuce says as the others nodded at him, heading towards the cave.

The monster overheard the conversation and responded with "Guh?!" It tries to move the cauldron off of it in a hurry, while shouting at the four, "Waaaait! Nooooooo!" Its yells fell on deft ears and struggled free without the four knowing.

Once they reached the magestone, they all looked at it in awe. Compared to the stones that was jutted in the wall, the stone was shining brightly, showing the many colors associated with it. "That's it! That's a magestone!" Deuce says as Angel grabs it, struggling to pull it out since it was lodged into the wall.

"Dooooooon't tooooouch thaaaaat!" The four hear, with Angel putting all her strength to get it out the wall.

"Uh-oh! Looks like it's nearly wriggled free!" Ace exclaims as he stares towards the entrance of the mine, hearing the monster come closer.

"Hey, Deuce! You gotta add more weight!" Grim tells Deuce as he stares as well, eventually seeing the head of the monster heading towards them. He jumps up on Angel's shoulders and tries to help her pull the stone out.

"Y-you mean something heavier?" He asks nervously. He faces the entrance of the mine, pen at ready, aiming it at the monster. "Uh...I summon thee, cauldron!" Deuce says as another cauldron forms and fall on the monster. "And also, uh...Um...Another cauldron!" Another cauldron shows up. "And a cauldron on top of that! All the cauldrons!" Deuce shouts with cauldrons being summoned and piling on top of the monster.

"Nnnnngaaaah!" The monster groans in pain with the excess weight on its body.

"Is that the only thing you know how to summon?!" Ace tells Deuce, looking at the pile of cauldrons in front of him.

"Pipe down, already! I'm worked up enough as it is!" Deuce snaps back, ready to summon another cauldron if necessary.

"We got it!" Angel says as the magestone pulls out and holds it in her hands. It felt warm to the touch, which she did enjoy for a moment before she was reminded of the situation at hand.

"Now let's get outta here!" Grim yells, making the three teens look at each other in understanding as they ran towards the entrance of the mine.

"Roger that!" Ace says, in front, with Angel and Grim following him, and Deuce taking the rear, making sure the monster didn't get up.

"MYYYY STOOOOOOOOOONE!" the monster groans, watching the four get away, mustering the strength to push the cauldrons off and chasing after them.