In the darkness of the night, we slid through the hole that I had made into the leaf.
I know right? It was a great idea. I made a hole in their plan. What? A lame pun? Try writing your own sometime. We'll have a contest.
Yup. That's what I thought.
...
Quietly, we slipped right under their noses. I mean chins. I mean heads. They probably thought that their walls could keep us in. Little did they know that the way out was the underside of the leaf.
Unlike the uneven surface of the branch, we stuck straight onto the underside of the leaf. Well for my siblings at least. I had to make some extra sticky mucus, but I was well on my way after them.
We moved quickly but gently. We tried to avoid the bumps on the underside of the leaf that were clear indications of the snails that were sleeping above us.
As we slid through, I noticed that the bumps outlined their formations as well. There were many circles that were around us other than the one we were trapped in.
'We weren't in the only circular formation. Maybe they had captured more snails and we didn't know about it.'
As we slid further, it just kept bugging me. I felt like we weren't the only snails even though we were technically the only snails that were captured. 'Maybe, others snails were captured?'
After a while, I couldn't take it anymore. I guess my curiosity and gut feeling got to me. I quickly slid in front of 11 and 7. I told them I needed to do something. I just had this feeling that there were other snails that were trapped by the Spiked-shells.
"Let's get back quickly. We don't have time. What if they find out that we had escaped?" asked 11 as she stared at me with a concerned face.
"Don't go. We need to get back." gestured 7 with his body.
"I have to do this. I just have this feeling. Don't worry, I just need to check those two circles in the middle of the leaf." I replied. "I just can't. Just go without me. Our family is waiting on the branch for us."
I didn't really listen back then to my fellow snails. I did what I wanted to.
I waved them off and returned towards the centre of the leaf. Once I was there, I looked around for the familiar circular formations. Other than the one we just came out of there were 2 other circles that were around. Cautiously, I slid over the dents and entered the centre of the closest circle.
There were three bumps in the centre of the circle. I carefully found an area without a bump nearby and cut a tiny hole through the leaf. After swallowing the leaf, I stuck on of my eyes through the crack. I could make out the edges of spiked shells.
'Just some spiked-shells.' I told myself as I moved on.
I looked through the circles. I was like a game of pick a box. What will I find in this one? Oh, a disgusting grub? Oh, some monstrous beast? A gigantic stack of poop? Just let your mind think of all the different things that I saw. Yup. Clearly, your imagination is more exciting than what I actually saw.
...
I eventually reached a circle that had six bumps. I cut a small hole into the bottom of the leaf and peaked my buggy eye through the hole. 'I knew it! I knew it!' I thought to myself as I saw them. In the centre of the leaf was a set of six shells. They were smooth - way to smooth to be a Spike-shell snail.
I tore the hole bigger and quietly slipped back onto the top of the leaf. After I got closer, I noticed that the snails were... they were...
The adventuring team. What? Yeah, I was just as surprised as you are. They left a few days prior and missed all the action of that 60 had brought upon our colony. What, it was partially my fault? Fine.
...
I immediately slid up to their shells and gave their shells gentle taps.
"Wake up," I whispered as I tapped on Mistra's shell. Slowly, she poked an eye out and saw me. "What? What are you doing here? Were you captured too?" she asked me desperately.
"No," I replied. "Come on, gather everyone up. Let's go." I told her.
"What do you mean? We are trapped," she replied.
Ignoring her, I woke up the rest of the Adventuring team and gestured over the hole that I had created. "Follow me. We can talk once we are back at the colony. A lot has happened while you were gone." I told them.
"Let's go," I said as I clung to the underside of the leaf and they followed my example as they slid after me.
...
We slid as quickly as we could to the stem of the leaf. When we got there I didn't follow them off of the leaf like you would expect. "Go on without me," I whispered despite their same reaction as 7 and 11. I told them to go meet up with the colony that was waiting on the branch for us.
Reluctantly, they turned and left.
So what about me? Why didn't I leave with them? Were they not the snails I was looking for? Yes, they were. I stayed because I had another one of my brilliant ideas. The idea was so nefarious that even I thought that I was a devil in my past life. I prayed that my actions would not be shunned upon by the heavens.
Okay, I didn't pray. But I still did it 'cause I could.
I spent five minutes enacting my evil plot and left the Spike-shelled snail's leaf thereafter.
After an hour of travelling, I met up with my siblings that were waiting. My hundreds of my siblings were waiting for me as I approached them. They were here for insurance in the case that the Spike-shelled had discovered us and chased after us. Luckily, it didn't get to that point.
Like a war hero and successful boxer, I raised up my two eyes.
"THE RESCUE WAS A SUCCESS!" I shouted as my siblings began cheering beside me. Luckily we weren't that loud and we didn't screech like the Spiked-shelled snails.
We didn't celebrate for long before I gestured for everyone to slid back to the leaf. The moment I got on there I felt all my strength leave my body.
That day was way too long.
I passed out.
...