"You know... You do need to kill the monster to move on to the next room."

Hiro gritted his teeth, heels digging into the packed dirt ground. His fingers aches as he held his staff out in front of him. Each time the monster hit the force field he was holding up, his arms trembled. "I know that!" Hiro shouted, "My spark did nothing!"

Alphonse steadied Hiro from behind, hands bracing his upper arms, "Don't you have any other spells?"

Despite not having a visible mouth, the mutated overgrown plant monster roared. "I don't think Splash will work on it either!"

"How the hell did you think you'd be able to do this dungeon on your own!" Alphonse shouted, loosening his supporting hands a little as he did.

"I don't know!"

With a deafening sound a vine whipped around and hit the Shield, shattering it and sending the two boys flying. Alphonse hit the wall behind them first, biting his tongue as his head audibly cracked against the wall. A second later Hiro crashed into him, slumping into his lap, unconscious.

The monstrous flower roared again, its petals and leaves shaking. It reared back, preparing to strike again. Alphonse wrapped his upper body around Hiro and rolled out of the way before the vine hit the wall behind them, gouging a hole out of the bricks.

Alphonse stood, stepping over Hiro's prone body and spitting the blood in his mouth onto the dirt. He cracked his neck and unsheathed his sword, "Can't refuse my help now."

*

The mid-morning peace was shattered by the sound of Suzie's armor-ladened footsteps on the road to the dungeon. Kelsi jogged alongside her. Suzie could almost feel the sun inching higher in the sky, "Kelsi, run ahead. We won't be able to catch them at my rate."

"There's no way I'll catch up to them either! They could already be in the dungeon! They could already be de-!"

"Kelsi!" Suzie barked. Kelsi's steps stuttered and she let out a mousey 'eep' sound. "What have I told you about worst case scenarios?"

"Don't- don't think about them?"

"They're fine. But they won't be when I get to them. So run ahead and warn them, ok?"

The two locked eyes and Suzie smiled. Kelsi's steps slowed, then with a determined nod, she took off sprinting.

Suzie kept her smile until Kelsi was far enough away that she wouldn't be able to see when she dropped it. She sighed, "If those two have already teleported back to the safe zone I really will hit them."