After hearing his plan, Ace smirked with a wide foolish grin on his face, "That sounds like it could work!"
Deuce nodded with a satisfied smile, "Yes. Let's try it out."
Yuu nodded with a wide smile and turned to Lotus, "If anything happens that any of us, can we count on you to jump in and pull us out?"
Lotus raised a brow and stared at Yuu in confusion making the boy feel a little nervous. Grim raised a brow as he began to recall, "That's right... Didn't he did a really cool jump and save Ace earlier? Not to mention, Deuce was really close to getting his head rammed into the rocks."
"That's true..." Ace nodded curiously, "Are you sure you can't use magic?"
"Nah." Lotus shrugged, "I just have had fast reflexes growing up."
Ace wasn't too certain about that as he recalled having seen someone help him up earlier after getting squashed under Deuce's cauldron that afternoon. There had also been that soft landing after he was shot into the air. Even if he had been beaten around, he wouldn't mistake those moments as just flukes.
"Regardless, thanks for helping us earlier." Deuce said with a nod of appreciation.
Though suspicious, Ace had to admit that he was grateful for the save as well and said reluctantly, "Yeah. Thanks..."
Lotus smiled, "It's all good as long as you guys don't return broken bones later."
"Well, let's get going!" Ace announced as everyone got up after their rest and got ready to initiate their plan.
Watching the side of the cave entrance, Lotus could see Grim pace back and forth nervously as he muttered in doubt, "You... really think it'll go as planned? I'm sca-... No, just nervous."
"We just have to accept our fate, then." Yuu reminded him.
Having recalled, Ace, hiding behind a large rock, chuckled nervously across from Lotus, "Haha, you're too stiff. Just go with the flow. Let's get this over with!"
Grim struggled nervously with Yuu standing firmly across from Grim. That cat heaved a deep breath and shouted into the tunnel, "Hey, beasty! O-o-o-over here!"
Having heard the familiar voice the monster flew out of the cave with great speed as it roared, "Leavvvve!!!"
Seeing it rush out, Grim jolted up in horror with a scream, "Ahhh! It's coming!"
"Over here, beasty!" Yuu called out to the monster.
"GRR?!"
Turning his glass head, the monster caught glimpse of Yuu as Grim quickly took this chance to dash over to Yuu.
"There... Thief... too. Won't give... Mine... Mine!!!"
Despite thinking that the monster had lost interest in Grim, the creature lifted a fist and was about to slam it down on top of Grim. Lotus from and flicked another white stone at it pushing its arm away just barely missing the cat.
"Pyah!" Grim screamed with a shudder, "That punch looks like a knockout if it lands!"
"Get it as far from the tunnel as possible." Yuu reminded him quickly.
"Go away! Go away!!!" The monster screamed.
The monster gave chase after the two leaving the tunnel behind as Lotus stayed where she was.
"It's pretty far from the tunnel now!" Grim informed them with a shout.
"Now!" Yuu shouted at the top of his lungs gasping for air.
"Okay, I got this!" Ace called out and jumped out from behind a rock with his pen in hand, "Let's go, Extra Large Tempest!"
Grim smirked and spun around as he pointed towards the monster, "And the Great Grim's Fire Special! Ffgnaaa!"
With this, the two's attack created a large fire tornado larger than one from that day hitting the monster head-on as if struggled against the wind and the flames altogether.
The two smirked as Ace said with pride, "How's this! I can even fan Grim's shoddy flame into an inferno!"
"It's not shoddy!" Grim rebuked with a glare, "Ugh, every word out of your mouth pisses me off!"
"The monster is caught in the fire tornado." Lotus reminded them quietly from the side.
"Now's our chance!" Yuu called out setting off another signal.
Deuce behind the rock Ace was at pointed his pen on the monster dazed by the tornado. Eyes closed with great concentration, he muttered to himself, "Calm down... Take aim... The biggest, heaviest... thing I know..."
He gritted his teeth and glared at the monster, "Come forth, Cauldron!"
Suddenly, a gigantic black cauldron fell on top of the monster's head crushing it down onto the ground. It fell with a shriek as it struggled to remove the thing. Grim jumped in the air with his paw raised, "Got it! Nice work, everyone!"
He jumped to take a closer look at the monster before he pointed out curiously, "Hey, look! The monster looks flat as a pancake just like Ace earlier!"
"You don't need to bring that up again! Jeez, today just isn't my day." Ace groaned recalling the horrible experience.
Deuce jumped out of his hiding spot and hurried towards the tunnel before gesturing to them, "Let's go get the magic crystal while that thing can't move."
"Waaait!"
As Lotus followed after them, she could hear the monster calling out to them to wait.
"As if we'd wait..." Lotus grumbled recalling the effort it took Yuu to think up a plan.
As they ran inside, the light from the three's gem helped them move through the tunnel back to the end where they saw the glowing colored magic crystal sitting amongst the rocks.
"There!" Deuce pointed, "A magic crystal!"
"Hands Oooffff!"
"Crap!" Ace cursed under his breath as they could hear him from the entrance, "That thing is almost free!"
"Hey, Deuce!" Grim called out, "Throw some more stuff on it!"
"Eeh?! Something heavy?" Deuce concluded as he thought in a panic and struggled with his pen, "C-Come forth, Cauldron!"
Another cauldron fell on top of the monster's head as Deuce continued to fumble, "And, uuum, um, cauldron?!"
Another fell on top of the two before tumbling over to crush the outstretched hand of the monster.
"One more, cauldron!" he finished resolutely.
With a shriek, the last cauldron landed neatly on top of the other three adding the last bit of weight over it.
"Do you have nothing but cauldrons in your repertoire?!" Ace pointed out in bewilderment.
"Shut up!" Deuce rebuke rather informally, "I'm at my wits' end here!"
"I can't get the stone out!" Grim called out.
"Use your fire on it!" Lotus instructed quickly.
"Eh?! G-Got it!" The cat responded and shot out a blast of fire before the crystal tumbled out from the socket in the earth and into his paws, "We got the magic crystal! Let's skedaddle!"
"Roger!" Ace called out and the five of them ran to the entrance.
"That. Is... Minnnneee!!!"
Hearing his words brought a sense of demise over the monster as it used all of its anger and desperation to force its way out from under the cauldrons.
Having already rushed back to the cottage, Ace turned around when they heard the commotion and could see that the monster had indeed thrown off all of the cauldrons.
"You're kidding?!" Ace said stunned senseless, "It knocked off all that stuff and came after us!"
Lotus frowned when she saw this too with a raised brow. She stopped and stood her ground as she heard it groan and struggle after them.
"Give... it ba...ck!"
"Lotus?!" Deuce turned around in bewilderment before seeing the incoming monster and scowled, "Shoot, it's gonna catch up to us!"
"But it's weaker!" Yuu pointed out after seeing the monster struggle, "Now we might..."
"Fight." Lotus nodded to Yuu in agreement.
"AH!" Ace roared and turned around, "Fine! Let's finish it! Don't let me down, Mister Serious!"
"You too!" Deuce pulled out his pen firmly into his hand.
"I'll show off my true power!" Grim stood on the front lines with them as he said this.
As the three began their combat, Yuu stayed behind front lines to instruct them which deeply concerned Lotus even more. She narrowed her eyes and began to gather the energy into them. As she could feel her pupils constrict, she looked around and could see that there was some movements in the shadows. She thought of this for a bit before following after those shadows quietly.
In the end, she had found herself back at the mines where two figures stood before the entrance with a scowl.
"How could this happen? We left for a few minutes and this occurs!"
"It was your fault! I told you that the measly monster isn't enough to guard the mines!"
"Whatever. What do we do now?"
"Kill those kids before they get away with the spirit crystal."
Lotus chuckled in silence.
Kill them? She's afraid they don't have the right to!
Lotus scowled and pulled out Ying Hui as she telepathed, "Whip."
A gold whip appeared in her hands as she watched the two in a curious manner before striking at one's feet and dragged the guy to the ground.
A burning sense filled the enemy's senses he looked back from the ground to see what was going on, but Lotus had already had the bottle of reptilian potion in her hands and forced it into the enemy's mouth.
The taller guy was smarter and jumped back to which Lotus smirked and whispered as she thought of a transparent boulder fell on top of him almost crushing him completely as Lotus didn't waste her time to rush forward and stuff the liquid down their throats.
With a silent scream, the last one finished turning into that of a lizard to which Lotus tied a collar to him and the tortoise before sending them into her ring where Xiao Li will through them into a separate space of emptiness and darkness to wait for a long time.
Lotus didn't rest though. She went through their clothes and found a large bag of strange powder to which she stuffed into her ring and erased traces of the enemy's clothing. After seeing that it was gone, she returned to the four quickly.
Seeing that they were alright, she breathed a small sigh of relief before reappearing before them.
"We did it." Ace muttered in disbelief as the monster that lay battered before them dissolved into black ashes.
"W-We won..." Grim sung mixed with disbelief and triumph, "We actually won!"
"Hooray!" Deuce cheered unusually loud.
"We did it!" Ace cried out cheerfully.
Grim raised a paw, "Victory high five~!"
Their yay was so childish that Lotus could hardly believe that these were the guys who had faced the monster with Yuu. Ying Hui could barely hold back her laughter while Xiao Li remained silent as Lotus shook off her ability and reappeared next to Yuu.
"You're getting along well now." Lotus noted with a smirk as she walked over to them.
Though surprised by her sudden appearance, Yuu nodded, "Is this' adversity brings people together'?"
Hearing their words, the three lept back in embarrassment as Deuce was the first to deny it, "Ah. N-no. This is nothing like that!"
"Y-Yeah, yeah!" Ace agreed with a nod and a frown, "Could you stop saying weird things?"
"We won thanks to my genius!" Grim blabbered trying to hide his bristled fur which got the other two magicians to start smiling, "It's not because we pooled our strength!"
Ace sighed shaking his head in defeat with a smirk, "I guess making excuses is pretty lame. I hate to admit it but we won thanks to your plan."
Deuce was hesitant but finally nodded in agreement, "True. We got the magic crystal because you gave us level headed instructions."
He breathed a sigh of relief with tears in the corner of his eyes, "We can prevent our expulsion this way... I'm so relieved."
"At least, everyone is alright."
As she said this, Lotus nodded in approval to Yuu to which the young man smiled, "It's thanks to your teamwork."
"Yeah, yeah." Ace complained in annoyance of relief, "We're all relieved. And seriously worn-out and battered. Let's go home."
"I'm starving from using so much magic..." Grim groaned wearily as he plopped onto the ground before noticing a black crystal next to it, "Hm? What's this?"
Sensing the strange energy from it, Lotus frowned.
"Remanents from that monster?" Deuce assumed curiously, "A magic crystal? But I've never seen one pitch black like coal before."
Grim sniffed it curiously before he began to drool, "This thing smells really good..."
Hearing this, Lotus raised a brow as he stared at the stone with innocent blue eyes.
"No way!" Ace rejected the idea rather passionately.
"This has to be candy the monster was hiding!" Grim stated firmly on his belief, "Oooh, I can't hold back!"
Holding the stone with two paws as he marveled it, Grim cheered, "Time to dig in!"
"He actually ate it?" Lotus raised a brow as she noted this.
"Woah!" Yuu panicked, "Spit it out! Spit!"
However, Lotus only narrowed her eyes and watched the creature from the side. Suddenly, the cat froze with wide eyes as he gagged.
"Hey! Are you alright?!" Deuce called out in bewilderment.
"Aah." Ace shook his head, "That's why you don't eat things off the ground~."
"D...d-d-d..." Grim stammered after managing to swallow the stone, "Delicious!!!"
His words caught the three of them off guard as he began to ramble, "It's full-bodied but also rich, with an aromatic sweetness that blooms in my mouth..."
His eyes sparkle as he finished, "Like a whole field of flowers in my mouth!"
Ace gagged, "Monsters really do have different tastes from us."
Sighing, Deuce agreed, "I guess so. But more than that... Most people wouldn't even put a mystery object in their mouth without a thought."
Lotus shrugged as she recalled the other mystical creatures and monsters she'd seen in her previous life, "Monsters can be omnivores if they want to."
"I-Is he alright?" Yuu stammered nervously as his attention is focused solely on the cat.
However, the cat laughed aloud, "Tasty, tasty! Don't worry, my stomach isn't weak like yours."
As Yuu breathed a sigh of relief, Ace stated, "Well, don't come crawling to me when you get sick later."
"Now, switching gears, let's get this magic crystal to the headmaster." Deuce stated with a bright smile as he picked up the magic stone Grim had put aside.
"Great!" Yuu yawned, "After this, I'll be able to look through the library for some readings tonight."
"Reading?" Ace grimaced, "I'd rather read a comic book."
"Actually, I'm pretty sure you can't enter the library after curfew." Deuce responded.
"Nah." Lotus responded, "Though I'd get a chance to stay up past curfew hours."
"Huh?"
She ignored the blank looks she received from them as she waited for Deuce to open the mirror's magic to return.