~~~Don't forget to read previous chapters please!!!~~~

“Breaking and Entering a highly securitized facility is punishable by death. However, since this is your first offense, I will just be throwing you back into the pit.” A lady spoke to me from her desk chair. Her features were old and wrinkly but she wasn’t the old lady from the ice cream shop I was arrested at. This old lady seemed to have more power, despite her not looking over yet. She looked like she had been in a war before.

The room we were in was a new one. At her desk, a really confusing looking computer sat in front of her. All around her, screens showed what every single prisoner on camera was doing. There was even a drain pipe section on her camera list. The room was dark and the only source of light was coming from her computer monitors and the colorful buttons that must’ve been the hard drive. Though, I wouldn’t know; I’m no computer expert. Chemicals didn’t permeate the air like the rest of the prison, it smelled more like freshly bought books.

“I’m sorry your first impression of me isn’t the best one. However, I can’t have rogue prisoners on my hands. The name’s Yoolhee. I’m the prison’s warden.” She spun around in her chair and looked at me. Her eyes widened as she looked over my person. “You look a lot like a guy I used to know back in college. Though he wasn’t as stupid as to get caught when he was doing bad things. Well, he did basically start a war over his boyfriend, what was his name again… right, Mingyu. Wow, my memory is slipping!” She felt the front of her head and smiled. Did she just say Mingyu? “I can’t start forgetting my own team, can I?” She paused and then snapped her fingers together. “Anyways, like I said, you’ll be thrown into the pit with some of the prisoners in level one security. However, this time you may select a partner. It can’t be anyone from level two security or your partner in crime, Hoshi; he has to fight his own battle. Choose well because the losers get a shot.”

Oh no. I’m going to be thrown back into the pit with Woozi? This can’t get any worse.

“Wait, did you say ‘some’, as in more than one?” I asked and placed my hand on my heart. My heart beat began racing at an abnormal pace. If I could only last three minutes against woozi, how was I supposed to defeat TWO prisoners from level one security. Perhaps I will have to fight Joshua and I can just throw holy water seed-bombs at him.

“That’s right. ‘Some’ as in Minghao and Jun.” She placed one leg on top of the other. “Want to hear their backstory? It’s quite funny actually. Listen here. Minghao was just a little teenager, lonely as ever. About the time he discovered his powers, he used them for all the wrong reasons. That’s when we caught the little guy and threw him into this fine establishment known as prison. However, his loneliness only grew stronger and let me add, he was placed into level two security at the time, so the level of security wasn’t at its best. The guy was so desperate for a boyfriend that he conjured one up. That’s how Jun was... uh... born?” She paused as to look for my reaction.

“Uh… so you’re telling me he can make people?” I questioned her as to look for his weaknesses.

“Not exactly, anyways. Jun, on the other hand, was conjured with some deficiencies. Jun basically has the same power as Minghao except Jun can’t conjure, he can only transform. While Minghao can only conjure. Now that you know their stories, who will you pick as your partner?” She said as she picked up a notepad and a pencil.

“I think I know who I want…” I lied. You see, it’s actually a really tough decision. I could pick so many people from level three security to protect me. There is Jeonghan who literally has the ability to use force fields at will. However, I don’t know the properties of his force field or if he can use them on other people. Then there’s Dk. I’m not really sure what he can do but puppets don’t seem like they’d be much help in a situation such as this. That leaves only one person… Mingyu. “I guess I choose—”

“Is it Mingyu? I don’t know why I asked. It’s always Mingyu. Just like when I was in college. Those were the days. Anyways, I’ll call him up and you two can head over to the pit. I’m rooting for you.” She said and I totally wanted to punch her in the face because of it.

. . .

“Hey, I know I didn’t take a shot for you but did you really have to go and select me as your partner for a battle in the pit? It’s really dangerous, you know?” Mingyu shivered in the corner as I got ready for battle. Surprisingly, I thought he would be pumped for battle but instead, he wishes I chose someone else. “Not that I’m scared or anything. I’m happy to be fighting alongside with you but… you know, I’m scared.”

“Do you contradict yourself a lot?” I grabbed his hand and looked at him in the eye. “Thanks for the seeds, but next time, send it via Hoshi. Ants terrify me.”

“But ants are just little people with three parts to their bodies that work just like small civilizations. You know, they are the dominant species of this world. You should respect them. Besides, I control them so you can feel safe around them.” He smiled and pinched my right cheek. Suddenly, my face heated up and I began to feel the flush spread throughout my cheeks. His eyes focused directly on mine as he gave off a quick smirk.

“Oh…” I was at a loss of words.

“Tell you what: if you watch my back, I’ll watch your back.” He waited for my response while squeezing my hand tighter.

“Uh… O-o-kay.” I stuttered, still flushed from him pinching my cheeks. I glanced over to his cheeky smile and smiled back. “Go bugs?”

“We’ll work on that.” He threw his arm around me and we headed into the pit.

. . .

The first thing I noticed in the pit was that there was a completely new terrain, a desert. You know what more than being in a desert? I had no seeds to defend myself with. A small portion of the right side of the pit was a small pond to make the place more aesthetically pleasing. As for the rest of the area: sand, sand and more sand. Did I mention there was sand? On the Brightside, there were cacti that we could shield ourselves with, assuming the prisoners from level one security were ranged attackers.

“Oh, great! It’s Jun and Minghao.” Mingyu sighed.

“Didn’t I tell you that? Yoolhee told me when she put me down here as punishment.” I pat his back to comfort him. “Don’t worry though, they don’t sound too bad.”

“Oh, gosh. You have no idea.” He sat down on the floor and waited for the match to start.

Suddenly, a large gust of wind blew through the arena, causing the sand to pick up and begin a dreadful sandstorm. In the distance, two silhouettes emerged from their side of the tunnel. By the looks of it, they were roughly about the same size except the one on the left was a bit thinner than the one on the right. As they walked, it became more and more difficult to see them. I’m pretty sure I was seeing things because the not-as-thin-one’s neck began to slither upward.

“Are you just going to sit while I throw seeds I currently don’t have?” I asked him while he sat.

“I’m gathering seeds as you watch the enemy. The nearby cactus has seeds in them and I’m having my harvester ants gather them for you. Don’t be ungrateful, you big meanie.” (I’msuchtrash) He pouted and ants began surfacing from the sand and dropping off seeds into Mingyu’s hand. “Here, go play.”

I took the handful of seeds and held onto them tightly. The speaker that announced the battle could not be heard due to the loud sound of the sandstorm. Honestly, the only thing that was visible was Mingyu, who was sitting right next to me, and his little ants doing his biddings. I waited for something to come out of the dark sandstorm but it was quiet, too quiet. Despite the roaring wind, of course.

BBBZZZZZZZ!!!!!

Suddenly, something smacked me in the face and I fell onto the sandy ground. What looked to be a giant mosquito flew around my face and buzzed, calling its friends over. To make things worse, something started to crawl onto my arm. Instead of allowing myself to become a bug’s dinner, I threw a seed into the air and a puff of flames dissipated as the sandstorm’s wind took priority over my moves. I looked at my arm and I saw what looked to be a beetle with a big back and giant pincers.

“DANGIT, MINGHAO! LOTUS ANNNNND SCARABS?? THIS ISN’T FAIR!!!” I heard Mingyu screaming from beside me, but I couldn’t see him anymore.

“We aren’t trying to get level one security shots! That’s basically death, alright? Just take the bug bites for now and deal with it!” I assume Minghao responded back. “Besides, you shouldn’t be worried about the bugs when the biggest pest of all is right next to you.”

HISSSSSS!!!!!

I turned my head to my right side and saw two red eyes glistening in the darkness. As the eyes got closer, the body of the beast was becoming more and more visible. The beast had a long neck, a crocodile’s jaw and a scorpion’s tail. Strangely enough, it looked like a human.

“You’re the new kid, right?” The beast hissed. “I’m Jun. Sorry this is how we have to meet.” He lunged at me but before he could do more, I threw seeds into his mouth and smoke poured out into the pit, causing him to have a cough attack. The sand in the air couldn’t stay up any longer due to the smoke’s density and the sandstorm subsided. However, a layer of smoke still blinded me. “Now I don’t feel sorry for hunting you down.” His voice showed off his anger.

“Enough of this!” Minghao shouted from the other side of the pit. “I get really impatient!”

Suddenly, a large shadow appeared in the dark smoke and breathed in the entire Smokey atmosphere. In its place, a earth-like dragon took its place. On top of the dragon, Minghao sat. When Yoolhee mentioned him being able to conjure up a boyfriend, I thought she meant he could summon people. I hadn’t known she meant mythical creatures.

“Wonwoo! Watch out for Jun. He’s a Chimera, which means he is a combination of creatures.” Mingyu shouted while throwing ants into the air. A flock of ants holding bigger and flew over to the dragon that flapped its wings patiently. “Take a face full of fire ants, Minghao!” The dragon simply blew a breath of flames and the ants dissipated. To be honest, that was such a sad moment. He was so proud and Minghao just goes and ruins the moment.

I turned to face the Chimera, Jun. He changed back into his more human side. His black hair was nicely parted and his clothes were nice, considering we were all in prison. Jun looked up at Minghao and blew a kiss. Did Minghao really create his own boyfriend? After he was done flirting with the guy, a tail began to sprout out of Jun. He brought back his scorpion aspects, but this time, he had pincers.

“Mingyu, switch with me, please!” I called over to him and he obeyed.

If I am going to fight someone, or in this case, something, I need to not feel bad about doing it. I could have thrown bombs at the kid and it would have disassembled the poor conjured-up creature. On the other hand, I wouldn’t feel bad about demolishing a dragon because, technically, they are already extinct, you know? Also, I don’t do well with hand to hand combat. I prefer putting up walls like trees or walls of smoke to block out whatever may be coming my way. If I stayed fighting that handsome Jun creature, I would have been cut in half with his scorpion pincers.

The dragon in front of me was definitely a dragon of the desert. It had two humps on its back, almost like a camel, and on the tops of the humps, sand reigned down. Its face was huge and it looked as though the creature had been dormant for a long time. Instead of scales on its body, dry dirt cracks ran across the beast. Perhaps it was an older dragon brought back to life. Minghao yawned and pointed the palm of his hand toward to ground. Eight legs pushed their way out of a summing circle that appeared out of nowhere. In its place, a desert spider began rushing toward me.

“NO NO NO NO NO NO!” I threw the entire handful of seeds at the spider. A giant blast of flames erupted across the pit and there was silence. When the smoke cleared, the spider was ashes and the earth dragon was missing a wing. Minghao was on his knees after falling off the crying dragon. The dragon apparently disliked missing a wing so it simply went back home, into the summoning circle it came from. Wherever that was.

“That’s so unfair! How can you just destroy my creatures like that?” Minghao was obviously a lot more raged than his dragon was. “I hope you can swim.” He focused both palms onto the ground and two summoning circles opened, allowing two little fairies to appear. They giggled and the pond on the right side of the pit began to shake. Out of nowhere, the water began to grow until it was the size of a tsunami. Mingyu ran over to me and ants followed behind him. They began gathering together until a raft of ants were made. On the other side of the pit, Jun ran over to Minghao and picked him up. Instead of running away from the tsunami, Jun grew gills and shark fins and jumped directly into the massive wave. It looked like Minghao was a shark-tamer.

“Get on the raft, it’s safe.” Mingyu took my hand and threw me onto it. The sensation of ants underneath me made my skin crawl and I felt like I needed to throw up. “Get ready for impact.”

“I think I’ll just swim instead.” I quickly squirmed off of the raft and jumped head first into the impending wave.

QUESTIONS:

Will Wonwoo ever get over his ant fear?

Who is going to win this very intense fight?

Do you think Mingyu enjoys flirting mid-battle???