Before Sunggyu had had a chance to reply to the para, a monster, one of the monsters, had come into the radius of the team. A Hydra. Tiah had been the first to catch sight of the slithering heads attached to the beast like body, quickly warning the rest of her team as the monster neared the group. Its heads hissed and let out scream-like sounds as it progressed through the lake, already having spotted their team. Edison quickly looked around him, assessing the situation. His teammates, and he himself were all worn out, the fatigue starting to become apparent in their faces. Team 10 didn’t look ready for a simple run-in with the infamous Team 18 much less a Hydra, they would need to take care of this quickly if they were to survive.
Looking down at the monster beneath them with his previously mentioned plan still fresh in his mind, Edison decided to act on it. He called out to Buttless Gyu and Leggy Tia, “I need you to distract them for me? Can you do that?” Receiving nods and affirmative shouts in return, Edison gave the harpy under him a particularly hard tug, the monster itself letting out an angry battle cry (whether voluntarily or not, he didn’t care). Edison waited in the air for several moments. He needed to enter at just the right moment, or else their plan would fail. There was no room for mistakes in the situation.
One.
Two.
Three.
Go.
Edison dove towards the monster, wasting no more time than he already had. Most of the Hydra’s heads were still focused on his teammates giving him just enough space to slip behind them and land himself on the back of the beast. But he hadn’t accounted on the sleek back of the monster, and found himself slipping, falling into the water. His hands scrambled for a purchase on its smooth skin as he continued to fall down the side of the beast.
Then the water hit him; it’s cold, so cold. All he could think about was I can’t swim. I can’t swim. I can’t swim. As the thoughts invaded his mind. Struggling, Edison tried to stay afloat, but was slowly losing the battle as he found himself going under, the water surrounding him and drowning him. Suddenly, Edison’s back hit something with a loud thud. It was the Harpy’s leg.
A sudden burst of determination hit Edison. He needed to do this, he had to do this. I haven’t gone through weeks of hell in the woods to lose now. Gripping onto the Hydra’s foot, Edison focused his power into the monster’s limb. First, handicap it. The monster suddenly shook, its foot thrashing in pain. Gritting his teeth, he continued to clutch tightly to the creature; ignoring the water that was crowding his mouth and nostrils and shutting his eyes tightly. Focus on home.
And then he was there. No longer feeling the water around him, Edison opened his eyes, his hand letting go of the monster. He was home, Tartarus. But no sooner had he registered that he was there, he felt himself ascending back to the surface. God was he tired. When he arrived back at the surface, Edison barely felt the water surrounding him and tugging him deeper and deeper; he was just so tired.
It was always interesting to Edison how someone could have the exact same power as you, yet it could be so different. At times like these he wished he had Hyunwoo’s pit leading into Tartarus rather than his own ‘transporting’ method. Various trips down to the pit before had left him tired, for a day or two; but a trip down with a beast 10 times his size had left him sapped of energy, barely staying conscious as he felt himself sinking. Deeper and deeper.
Then, there was light.
…
The group, team 10, had made it back safely. Through the candycane forest, past the swirly twirly gumdrops, and finally to the academy; all with the help of Tia’s rainbow road. It would be lying if he said that they made it through without a hitch, but luckily they weren’t fatal. Buttless Gyu had gotten distracted with a particularly large candycane, attempting to pull it from the purple ground whilst clutching to a small oreo plushie he had picked up during the exams. Edison himself had briefly reconsidered returning to the academy. Maybe meeting up with his siblings again wasn’t the best idea… Yet, here they were. Team 10, back at the academy with flowers swirling around them as they made their entrance to something that sounded a little too similar to ‘Almost Paradise’ playing in the background.
