Bridget, Midoricha, and Gurenji continued walking as they knew they’ve come this far and couldn’t give up now. They noticed the trees spreading out and getting thinner before opening into a clearing.

At first, it looked as if a bright light emanated from the ground in front of them; however, as they got closer, a red plant stood, encircled with glowing orbs in their sights.

“Hey, could that be it?” Murasakiiro cried out to them. “It fits the descriptions I’ve gotten from my sources.”

“Really? That’s the antidote?” Gurenji asked, eyes narrowing.

“Well, it looks pretty,” Midoricha commented.

“Whatever it may be, we should get it and hurry back,” Bridget said.

“All right,” Gurenji replied.

“Wait, doesn’t this seem odd?” Midoricha asked worriedly.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s out in the open with nothing guarding it...”

“We don’t have the time to stop and check. You heard what the Princess said, didn’t you?”

“The Queen needs this antidote.”

“You should be careful, just in case,” Bridget called out.

“Yeah, I know,” Gurenji replied.

“What if it’s not the real one?” Bridget whispered.

“Who knows?” Midoricha replied.

As they got closer to the plant, the orbs surrounding the plant made a brighter glow. Midoricha stayed back, worried he’d get in Bridget and Gurenji’s way. He noticed what seemed to be teeth sticking out from the ground.

“Look out!”

Bridget and Gurenji turned around, looked down in time, and backed away. The teeth broke through the ground, revealing an enormous mouth as it swallowed the red flower. The jade-green creature had what looked to be a poisonous tongue with large amounts of tentacles.

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“What is that?” Gurenji questioned in horror.

“I’m not sure...” Midoricha answered.

“Well, whatever it is, that thing ate the antidote. We have to get it back!”

“Now who’s saying obvious stuff?”

“What!? Oh...”

“Not the time, you guys,” Bridget mentioned, breaking the two up before they got into another heated argument.

The monster dug downwards; the trio jumped out of the way just as the ground erupted, and it lunged towards them.

It used its arms to attack Bridget, who jumped, ducked, and rolled out of its way. More arms broke from the Earth, attempting to grab the Pilkons. However, they freed themselves from its grasp.

The monster summoned thorny vines, along with its many tentacles. Bridget tried to use fire magic to attack the creature, but the vines blocked it.

Not a single burn mark in sight? But how?

She readied her lightning magic while the monster charged an attack itself. She aimed and fired, but her magic got overshadowed entirely by the creature’s hyper beam.

“Watch out!” Midoricha cried as he dashed over to stand in front of Bridget.

He created a shield of protection surrounding them, causing the beam to part around them like the red sea. When the monster’s attack finished, neither of them could believe their eyes.

“What the—? How did you do that?” Bridget asked.

“No way, it’s the Pilkon Pact!” Gurenji exclaimed, “A Pilkon can choose their Master and become their guardian!”

“So, we can better work together and defeat this enemy?”

“That’s right,” Midoricha confirmed cheerfully.

“Uh oh, we have to do something!” Gurenji yelled as the monster roared and chased after him.

Bridget thought for a second before coming up with a plan. “I have an idea, but I’ll need your help.”

“You got it,” Midoricha replied.

“What about me?” Gurenji asked, while still being chased.

“You distract the monster!” Bridget ordered.

“Are you kidding me? Ugh, hurry!”

More arms appeared from behind the monster, moving toward Bridget. She jumped to avoid capture and even froze a few tentacles with her ice magic, leaving them hovering in the air. She slid across one of the frozen limbs to where the monster’s body was, freezing any tentacles along the way.

When Bridget got close enough to attack, she leaped into the air and told Midoricha to encase a protection bubble around her. Bridget went inside the monster’s mouth, interrupting it while it tried to unleash another hyper beam at her.

Gurenji gasped as he watched the monster stop moving.

“Bridget!”

The monster grabbed Bridget from inside it and threw her onto the ground before escaping. Gurenji and Midoricha rushed over as the shield around Bridget dissipated. She laid down on the floor, coughing.

“Ugh, my head feels weird...” Bridget groaned.

“Are you ok?” Gurenji asked.

“Yeah, I’m all right.”

“That was intense, and also gross. It took a lot of guts to do that.”

“I wouldn’t want to go through that ever again, though.”

“So, uh, did you get the antidote?”

“Yeah,” Bridget replied weakly, as she took out the red plant from her pocket.

“Awesome!” Gurenji cheered. “Now all we have to do is find a way out of here...”