Thistle Blister M4 Pt12

As the melody of the whistle blew through the hall, the ceiling shook as if it was to open up, to reveal the true sky. Vines and roots not only shot through the ceiling, but from the floor too. They encased the bookcases, sealing away the books within. The roots and vines that didn't trap the books whipped wildly around the room, never yielding to the four below.

"This way!" yelled Louise, pointing to the far end of the library, revealing Arianna entering through a doorway.

As soon as they all saw this, they ran as fast as they could to the doorway. Jacob dashed his way down to the doorway, zig-zaging through the room in the best attempt to avoid the vines. Joe was learning that his new form had cut down on his mobility, and the massive amount of light in there prevented him from fading through the room. PK was able to help Louise with dodging the vines by dragging her by the arm toward the door. Louise didn't mind the whacks of the vines since they didn't do much to her, but PK had to be careful, if she was hit by the vines, someone would have to attack her so she wouldn't go insane like the vines.

At last, all four got to the doorway and ran through the hallway. At the end they found a room with Arianna standing in the middle. She stood there, her leaf cloak covering her, with a scornful look in her eyes. "There is nothing you can say to reverse this," she simply put, not bothering to beat around the bush.

"How could you possibly think-" PK started to say.

"There is NOTHING," Arianna repeated, "you can say. Just accept that this is what's best for the village and leave this place."

"They're not going to leave until we convince you that you're wrong," Louise simply put, wanting to end the madness.

Arianna was shocked, even if she didn't show it. She couldn't understand how her most trusted assistant didn't want this to happen. It was the only way to ensure the survival of the village, to save the people in them, and the knowledge that it held.

As if they weren't there, Arianna walked off to a doorway on the left side of the room. Jacob, PK and Louise ran for the door when all the sudden a loud thud sounded in the room, followed by Joe's screams for help. All turned around to see a giant Tangrowth, holding on to Joe with all it's force.

PK and Louise went to help him out, but Jacob held his scythe out to block them. "Well?" Jacob yelled back at them, "you have a wall to take down right? Let me and Joe take down Thistle Blister here."

After a little hesitation, the two went after the librarian, leaving Jacob and Joe to battle the massive bundle of vines. They felt bad about leaving them to a battle with the Tangrowth, but they needed to convince Arianna more than fight a big weed.

The Tangrowth flung Joe towards Jacob, sending the ghost flying until he hit the wall, slowly sliding down it. As Jacob sent slash after slash of his scythes at the plant, so did it send whip after whip of its vine arms at the bug. Every time Jacob cut off an arm, it would grow it back, and with the Sunny Day above it, the vines grew faster than Jacob could keep up with.

Joe decided to sneak up on the Tangrowth, using its shadow to attack. The Tangrowth caught on to this however. It dug its roots into the earth, brought up a boulder, and threw it at Joe, sending him flying at the wall again.

"Oh boy," Jacob exclaimed, "a weed that can fight back. I would sure love to see what a gardener would do to you."

Even Joe, usually supporting Jacob's humour, groaned at the line.

======

Part 12 of Mission 4 for Team Bug Out [link]

Originally I wasn't going to do this picture, planning on something else, but this kept haunting me, so I went for it. I actually like it.

Previous: [link]
Next: [link]