"W-We're gonna go in that pitch black hole?!"
Grim's voice echoed in the tunnel as the group of five stood before a mining tunnel almost completely covered by an overgrown tree over it.
"Scared?" Ace smirked, "Lame."
"Nah?!" The cat cried in shock, "I'm not s-scared at all!"
He then rushed into the tunnel, "I'm taking the lead! You guys follow me!"
Lotus frowned, "Wai-!"
However, it was too late as the cat had already vanished into the tunnel.
"What's wrong?" Yuu said to her with a look of confusion.
Lotus sighed shaking her head, "Forget it. Just stay close. Something about this doesn't feel right."
"Hah! Like what? Don't tell me you can actually use magic?" Ace scoffed with a smirk.
Lotus smiled, "Nah. Let's just call it a six sense."
"Hm?" Ace raised a brow before rolling his eyes as they followed after Grim.
The interior of the tunnel was wide and dark with walls embedded with jewels that were never dug out. Lotus frowned as Xiao Li's voice entered her mind, "The place is abandoned, but there's still so much jewels within these walls. Even if it wasn't as prosperous anymore, it shouldn't become abandoned so easily."
Lotus didn't respond as she followed them deeper into the tunnel.
"Wait!" Deuce called out.
"What is it?" Ace questioned in annoyance.
"Something..." Deuce peered into the darkness, "Is there!"
Grim squeaked nervously as he heard this. Two white chubby figures with black hoods smirked as the chubbier one laughed, "Our first visitor in ten years!"
"Make yourselves at home." The smaller one stated with a smirk, "For eternity!"
"Ghosts..." Lotus frowned and whipped out one of her white stones.
"Shoot!" Ace scowled and jump back in time to miss a tackle from the ghosts.
He then whipped out a gale that pushed the two into the walls where they actually rammed into and disappeared with a painful look on their face.
Seeing more come to take their places, Ace sighed in relief and groaned, "This place is haunted with ghosts, too!"
"We don't have time to deal with them one by one." Deuce called out, "Let's go!"
"Don't think you can just order me around." Ace growled a warning at his classmate, "If you hadn't done something so idiotic we wouldn't be in this mess."
"You wanna talk about who started it? It's cause you wouldn't clean!" Deuce pointed out with a frown.
"It started when that furball burned the Queen of Hearts' state!" Ace blurted out with a scowl.
"F-fgna!" Grim cried in bewilderment, "That's what you get for making a fool outta me!"
"Guys." Lotus warned with a frown as she looked towards the tunnel to see that the ghost have ran away, "Quiet down a little if you're going to argue."
"Like I said," Ace scowled at her angrily, "Don't think any of you guys can just order me around!"
"All of you!" Deuce stated with a shout, "Do you understand out situation right now?! We're all expelled if we don't get back with a magic crystal by tomorrow morning!"
"So stop patronizing me." Ace rebuked with a scowl, "It's really ticking me off."
"Settle down you three." Yuu called out half warning and part nervously.
Suddenly, there was a change in the air as Lotus scowled, "Too late..."
"...On't...I've...wo..."
All four jumped as Lotus braced herself staring straight into the darkness.
"W-What's..." Ace stammered, "This voice?"
"St...one...sss...mine..."
"I think it's... getting closer..." Deuce stammered nervously.
"Stone..."
It was then that a figure of a broken circular container of black goo with a brown sack hat and red clothing similar to that of the miners' appeared with one hand on a lamp and another holding a pick.
"Is MINE!!!"
"It's here!!!" The three students screamed and together began to run out of the tunnel with Lotus following closely behind the four.
Behind the huge creature flew after them with the pick and the lamp in hand. Deuce shouted, "What the heck is that thing?!"
Grim cried in horror as they ran through the tunnel, "Crowley didn't say anything about that!! Let's get outta here!"
"It's so nasty! But didn't it mention a 'stone'?!" Ace reminded them in shock.
Hearing this, Grim snapped out of it and turned around with the rest of them to check on the monster, "Eh?"
"St...one, won't... give...!!"
Once again, the creature groaned aloud.
Though surprised, they quickly recovered when they recognized the words. Deuce was the first to celebrate, "So, there really are magic crystals left!"
"N-n-n-nope! Nope!" Grim denied shaking his head fervently, "I'm a genius, but I can't beat that thing!"
"But, we'll be expelled without it..." Deuce reminded them, "I'm going!"
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Ace shouted in bewilderment.
"It's impossible by yourself!" Yuu called out with a worried frown.
"I cannot, under any circumstances, be expelled!" Deuce announced firmly as he jumped out to fight.
"Leave! Leave!! Leave!!!"
Deuce was punched across the tunnel as Lotus grimaced and lept to catch him before he could hit the ground. Seeing this, Ace scowled and stepped out irritatingly, "Stand back if you have no control, Mr. Serious! I'll stop it! Haa!"
He summoned up a larger gust of wind only for the monster to sweep it away with a swipe of his pick. Then, the monster was about to give Ace a hard kick to the chest. Lotus scowled and flicked the stone from her fingers giving it enough pressure to push the leg away as she rushed over to pull Ace back with them.
Already scared out of his mind as the monster inched closer to Grim, the cat shouted, "Stay away!!"
He then shot a large blast of fire at the monster and his surroundings to which the monster just extinguished it with a swipe of his lantern.
"I-It's not working at all!" Grim cried before running over to them in fear.
However, Lotus saw a spark of light behind the monster as one of the coals in the area burned away from Grim's fire.
"Did something just sparkle?!" Yuu shouted in bewilderment and looked around frantically.
Lotus frowned and pointed to the light of the burnt coal behind the monster, "Yuu, there!"
"Behind that thing!" Ace gasped, "At the end of the tunnel, something..."
"That light, is it a magic crystal?!" Deuce questioned in bewilderment.
The monster roared out angrily once they spotted it, "Won't Give!!!"
"L-l-l-let's get out of here!" Grim shouted, "We're done for at this rate!"
"We need to escape, you two!" Yuu shouted without hesitation as he helped Lotus grab the two and run.
Lotus easily dragged Deuce out while she could see Yuu having little problem with the other boy as he was already on the run.
"Geez..." Ying Hui noted with a frown, "What a stubborn guy..."
The monster was still following after them, though a little slowly now that its hand has been injured. It wasn't till they got out the tunnel that the blue hair guy could start running on his own and they hurried to back to the abandoned cottage far from the mine.
Upon reaching the front yard of the cottage, all four collapsed as Lotus checked behind them to see that they hadn't been followed all the way.
Grim slumped onto the ground and cried out, "Is this far enough?"
Ace heaved a deep breath of air, "Wh-What in the world was that? No one said anything about that!"
"It didn't seem like any old ghost." Deuce pointed out calmly after having settled on the ground.
"Let's give up and go home." Ace complained bitterly, "I'd rather get expelled than fight that thing."
"What?!" Deuce turned to him swiftly with a piercing glare, "Don't screw with me! I'd rather die than face expulsion! There's a magic crystal right in front of us and you wanna go home!"
"Ha." Ace scoffed, "You talk big for someone worse at magic than me. Go alone if you want. I'm done."
Suddenly, Deuce jumped up and glared down at him with a creepy looking glare as he cracked his knuckles, "Ooh, that right? Then stay right there cowering like a spineless coward!"
"Huh? Coward?" Ace laughed, "Who exactly are you talking about?"
Grim and Yuu continued to stare at Deuce in bewilderment as the latter pointed out nervously, "Uuuh... Deuce, did you switch up your character?"
The guy in question froze with wide eyes before clearing his throat regaining his composure, "A-Ahem! My bad, I lost my composure a bit."
There was a moment of silence as Yuu watched the group while deep in her own thoughts. Finally, Yuu spoke up, "Can magic help at all?"
Deuce shook his head, "Like the headmaster said earlier, magic isn't all-powerful. If you can't imagine it then it won't materialize. Large-scale or complicated magic require a lot of training to use."
Ace smiled, "But, that's why we have schools for magic. You have to practice a lot to use magic just as it comes to mind. Bluntly, you'll screw up if you lose your cool."
"Everyone has just been using it willy-nilly." Yuu pointed out with awe.
"Stuff you're good at you can go off instinct." Ace responded.
"At any rate, I'm going in there." Deuce said resolutely, "I'll figure out how to beat that thing and come back with a magic crystal."
"However..." Ace called out to remind him with a smirk, "Judging by the chandelier incident, you're a complete idiot. You couldn't lad a single hit earlier but now you'll 'figure it out'? It's going to end the same way."
"Come again?!" Duece threatened by punching a fist into his own palm, "You think of..."
"Here they go again." Grim sighed in exasperation with a defeated shrug.
"Will you two knock it off!!!"
Yuu's shout shocked the three snapping the hostile atmosphere out from underneath them.
Bewildered, Grim questioned, "Wah! Why are you shouting all of a sudden?"
"Neither of you could do anything back there." Yuu reminded them bluntly stating the group's weaknesses.
Having been reminded of their failure, they had no words to say. A nervous air began to settle in as Deuce slowly began, "B-but... What exactly should we do?"
"We have to come up with a proper strategy." Yuu answered without hesitation.
Lotus could hear Ying Hui giggle as she heard the boy's words, "Oh? This sounds interesting... Right, Master?"
Lotus said nothing and watched Ace respond in a scoff, "Strategy? You mean get along and work together?"
"Ha!" Ace shook his head in disappointment, "That's cold. You have no problem saying lame things with a serious face, huh."
Deuce nodded, "Agreed. No way I'm working with this loser."
"But..." Grim pointed out nervously with reason, "I feel like it's way lamer to get expelled on the first day of school."
Hearing Grim's word, the two men were finally at a loss for words.
"That's not cool at all." Yuu nodded solemnly in agreement.
Finally relenting, Ace and Deuce sighed in exasperation as the latter cried out, "Fine! We just have to get it done, right!"
Lotus turned to Yuu with a curious glint in her eyes as she asked with a smirk, "You have an idea?"
Slowly, Yuu nodded carefully with some contemplation, "I do..."
"So, what's your plan?" Ace asked with a wide smile.
"So, it'll be like this." Yuu began to explain his plan as Lotus listened in from the sidelines.
While listening, she could hear Xiao Li's voice called out in her head, "So, the guy isn't so useless, after all. He can actually get a bunch of selfish guys to work side by side."
"When they have a common goal in mind." Ying Hui reminded them in disbelief, "Since when has a person been so kind of selfless?"
"If it's Yuu, he should be able to achieve this." Lotus stated telepathically, "Even without magic, he has the talent to gather people around and listen to his ideas. He's already taken in all the facts and built an impromptu idea based on past experiences. If he was in our world, it wouldn't be enough, but, here, it'll be just enough as long as he keeps practicing this method."