Jack looked at "Mia" in front of him for a little longer before smiling once more. He cheerfully walked up, similarly waving his hand.
"Hi there!"
There wasn't a response. At least, not a verbal one. "Mia" also walked over with a smile, as though she were mimicking his actions. The closer they got, the clearer it became to Jack that whatever was in front of him was not the person he was familiar with. The smell of Mia was slightly bloody, but the one in front of him didn't have any smell at all.
However, that didn't seem to discourage him.
Soon Mia stopped walking, but she continued to wave Jack over rather enthusiastically. It was at this point Jack flipped open his black deck, taking out his katana and additionally summoning Seedy.
After appearing in a flash of light, Seedy let out a roar with each of its mouths, the black one in particular letting out a far deeper and guttural sound than usual. While its overall size had decreased significantly from when it only had two heads, the air around it was far more oppressive now.
Seedy looked around with all three of its heads. Upon seeing Jack, one of its heads let out a startled yelp before quickly picking him up and setting him on its back. Although Jack wasn't sure what this behavior was caused by, he didn't mind.
After settling on Seedy, he pointed his finger at "Mia" before excitedly calling out.
"Forward!"
He raised his katana high into the air as though he were a commander. Or perhaps more accurately a kid pretending to be a commander. However, despite understanding Jack many times before, Seedy only looked at him with confusion after being issued that command.
After an awkward silence, Jack tilted his head to the side and ruffled a hand through his hair.
"...Not forward?"
Seedy used all three of its heads to look ahead. Though soon enough, its heads phased through the ground to look at something else. The black flower head moved next to Jack before shaking side to side. It even used two of its vines to form an "X", clearly showing its opposition to such a thing.
Jack put a finger on his chin, looking off at "Mia" who was still beckoning him to come over. He took a look at his sword for a moment before stowing it away in his black deck. At this point, he began to understand what was going on.
Mia wasn't there, but more than that, the floor wasn't there either, or at the very least, not where it seemed to be. Her appearance only served as a distraction from the real hazard. Seedy didn't appear to be affected, probably because it didn't have any eyes.
However, that did call into question how it was able to navigate perfectly fine without them.
Jack thought about it for a while before raising both hands in the air excitedly.
"Alright Seedy, just take me wherever you think is ok!"
In response, Seedy nodded with all three heads rather excitedly. He went to the side with far more agility than before. Jack found himself reeling backward since he was used to not needing to be in a very stable position. Though Seedy kept a firm hold, so there wasn't an issue.
It proceeded to walk through the walls that Jack saw, before suddenly changing course and continuing onwards. Soon enough, the illusion was dispelled, revealing what things actually looked like.
Where Jack had originally seen Mia, was instead a pit that had many gleaming spikes at the bottom. There was only one bridge across and it was the one that Seedy promptly found and crossed.
In fact, along with that the white tiling had all disappeared as well. While there was still the same texture, the walls were actually made of a dull gray stone, making it appear more like a cave rather than anything else.
Soon Seedy brought him to the center of the room, from which Jack could clearly see four different corridors leading to said room, with him coming from one of them. After a moment of thought, he arbitrarily pointed down one of them.
"Let's go that way Seedy!"
Naturally, Seedy had no complaints, taking him down one of the corridors. Not too long after, they heard a voice.
"J-Jack? Thank god you're here... you seem a little different though. Er... is everything alright?"
Though Jack couldn't actually see Jessica. As he and Seedy approached, they saw what was really happening.
Jessica was talking to a monster.
It had incredibly stubby limbs, but its head consisted of several massive overhanging jaws with teeth laced across them. As such, it was incredibly hard for the monster to move around. However, it didn't need to.
After all, she was willing to walk towards him without so much as even holding out her katana.
Jack didn't appear all too concerned about it but did point his finger towards it.
"Onwards to victory!"
Seedy let out a roar before triumphantly running towards it. Jessica looked around in confusion, clearly not able to see them. However, hearing his voice in a different direction made her realize that something was wrong.
Jack once again pulled out his katana.
Somehow understanding his intentions without a single word, Seedy used more vines to securely hold onto Jack, swinging him towards the monster as it rushed over. In the short moment he passed by, Jack swung his sword, or perhaps more accurately just barely held onto his sword as he was flung by and it dug into one of the monster's jaws.
It promptly let out both an angered and pained roar.
The monster turned around, and while it didn't have agility, the two massive jaws worked well enough as something to stay away from if nothing else. Still, Seedy was able to spot the gaps, using its agility to bite down on the portions that were away from the teeth and inside of the jaw. Despite the monster's mouth being much larger, that didn't appear to do it any favors in this case.
Jessica was still confused, not entirely understanding what was happening.
"J-Jack? Are you... ok?"
Fortunately for her, the monster completely ignored her despite the fact she had taken several steps closer. She wasn't being ignored by just the monster though, as Jack excitedly let out a laugh while swinging around in the air, courtesy of Seedy.
Slashes appeared one after another on the monster's body, combined with the bite marks. Although none of the individual attacks appeared to be fatal, it was still hemorrhaging an unhealthy amount of blood so to speak.
The monster's movements began to slow, prompting both Seedy and Jack to become more exciting and overbearing with their attacks. However, that also came with being more careless.
When one of Seedy's heads shot out to bite down, the monster suddenly tilted backwards, dodging it, before snapping its jaws, taking the entire head with it. This time Seedy let out a cry of pain.
The black head in particular screeched at a surprisingly high-pitch, considering how deep it had been before.
Yet, just a few moments later, a bud had already formed on one of the ends of the vines, indicating that its head was regrowing. Still, the pain Seedy felt appeared to send it into a fit of rage.
After setting Jack behind it, all of the vines shot out, piercing the monster's body many times over. Although it continued resisting, chomping down and severely hurting many vines, Seedy was simply far too overbearing.
The monster's body was ripped apart into pieces, almost like someone ripping apart a cooked chicken to eat.
By now, Seedy's head had regenerated, and all three of them began to feast on the flesh eagerly. Although clearly worse for wear at the end of the fight, it had finished regenerating before finishing its meal.
After eating it all, Jack walked over to pat one of its heads.
"Are you ok, Seedy?"
It let out a slight whimper, before nuzzling into the hand, clearly wanting more. Strangely, it was as though Seedy had lost the fight, but in reality the foe was already being disgusted within.
After just a few seconds of petting, it had regained its usual vigor, happily bouncing around before carrying Jack once more. In the meantime, Jessica held out her hands rather cluelessly like someone trying to navigate a room that had suddenly gone dark.
"Jack? Is that really you? Where are you?"
She said this despite being just a few meters away. After a bit of thought, Jack scratched the side of his head.
"Let's bring her with us, Seedy. She seems a bit confused."
What an affirming roar, it picked up Jessica, who elicited a yelp. Although still quite confused, she had an idea of what was going on and just let it happen. The three of them quickly returned to the room where it seemed like they should gather.