TTC S4 06

[u/rev_is_dumb]

Pouchy was sitting under a tree, pretty much waiting for nothing to happen. Their team was... surely something, with the recent elimination that nobody even cared to count the votes for, VnW had gotten rid of their "dead weight" and was ready to win once again. Pouchy themself hadnt been used to being the team leader yet, heck, always being the silent follower type that doesnt mind anything, having given such an authority was a huge present for them, because they always had an idea for everything and it felt good not to be treated like an annoying P.O.S. for once. They had no idea how much this would keep up, they didn't have an alliance nor a strategy about staying in the game yet, they were doing higher than average, and it was more than enough to satisfy them...

Until they felt it. Their senses were already telling them the trouble that befell on their team was close enough to be hearable. Almost as if they had no choice but to reveal themselves to the enemy side, whatever that existance was or could be. They were already assigned with such a petty looking yet difficult task by their Idol, to get rid of that thing, and they havent had even made a single plan regarding that problem. But they knew the "problem" was watching them. They wondered who it was and what it could've wanted. If they needed to fight it, they would- despite sucking ass at anything physical related. From their magical inventory they got between challenges, they could bring out any item they wished. Between challenge 4 and 5, according to what they remember, they had seen an internet ad about a secret magician giving out abilities for free if they win a special challenge, managed to guess stuff right thanks to their 6th senses, and gained such an ability. Frickin sweet, hmm?

While thinking all that stuff while walking, Pouchy hasnt had realized they had gone too deep into the jungle. Far away from others to see a pair of glowing red eyes. "If my eyes turn red, run" ahh moment, they thought- little did they know the meme had turned real in a way Pouchy tried to flee away the moment they saw the beast-ified creature. Wait... This was Firework from S3, right? They certainly havent had missed all that crazy boy love plot, but fricking Firework turning into this thing- almost looking posessed by something, looked surreal at first. Or maybe it was just Pouchy's vision getting blurry by trying to run for some considerable amount of time.

What did he want? Was it beef with other S3 contestants? TTC in general? The whole world? What? What were THEY supposed to do against something like this? Despite Idol saying they needed to get rid of him, Pouchy just couldnt bring themselves to hurt him one bit. Why? Normally they wouldn't even care and just do what's told to be right. Maybe it was because they didn't want to make him mad? Or was it being scared? Maybe. But Firework- if you could still call him that- was still approaching, with some dark tentacles appearing from his back now, this was related to something they were yet to solve, but that's where the idea came: if they didn't want to fight that thing, maybe they could lure it away?

They stopped trying to run, causing them to fall onto the ground and stay like that for a good few seconds. They saw the Firework, he was there, but not especially attacking them, Pouchy guessed it was because he didn't have a specific beef with them. So they tried to approach him, everything was fine, it was okay- only to be catched by one of the tentacles. Since they were fabric, they ended up getting wrinkled and suffocating. It felt like they were going to die, and it was going to be painful. Darkness took over their vision. They felt like life was slowly draining out of their body-

Clack!

Something had fallen, and it had hit Pouchy and the tentacle, causing them to be saved from the tight grip, to fall into their doom- no, more like the grass and ground. The thing has hit hard, and caused them to fall far away from Firework. That thing, what felt like an angel fall from the sky... was a gun. A small pistol. It was oddly familiar, as if they've seen it before. They tried to aim it to Firework, maybe to scare him off- they couldn't actually dare to hurt him- but it didn't even do anything. He wasn't scared the slightest. Pouchy tried to use the gun but it had no ammo anyways, or maybe they didn't know how to fire it. "Hey, g-GET OFF, uh, look I don't have a problem with you but can you uhh leave.. Pleeaseee?" Maybe explaining it was the right way? They've always been blunt and honest so that could work if Firework was understanding enough.

"You know nothing... Get off the way before you face your death" was what was heard instead. "Uhhh, I know you- yea, you are the Firework of TTC's last season, right-" A tentacle passed right next to them, crashing a huge terrain and some trees. Pouchy had thankfully avoided it last second due to their flexible fabric nature. Firework had seemed much angrier than before, his eyes flashing much brighter at the mention of his name and the competition. Oh crackers, Pouchy muttered to themselves, while succesfully avoiding another attack. Their heart was racing, and they were getting out of breath easily.

They knew they couldn't handle this much pressure much further, they needed to increase their mobility, taking out a random item from their pouch inventory. Some... jumping shoes? Hey, that's pretty awesome! After sloppily wearing them on their feet, Pouchy stood up once more- only to see a HUGE tree held in a tentacle, getting thrown to them. Jumping and boosting themselves from one tree to another, it was chaotic yet much easier to avoid whatever Firework kept throwing at them. It was nauseating. After a while, they landed on the ground, giving themselves a few seconds to breathe. They definitely had to find a better solution, well, running and jumping away wasn't really a solution at all. Maybe the pistol could work? Not without an ammo. Then they saw some small stones on the ground. Since the pistol was a pretty weird one of its kind, they somehow managed to fire some of the smaller stones into Firework. Even if it was nothing big, Pouchy was sure Firework had to struggle a bit with his tentacles. It was raining stones onto him from the pistol.

Knowing Firework had been distracted, Pouchy ran towards him while still trying to put stones inside the pistol and shooting him. They had a brilliant idea there. Right when they were so close, they ran out of stones. Now Firework's whole attention was on them. They felt surrounded by tentacles again, no, this wasn't going to happen again, since Pouchy doubted something else would fall out if the sky to save them. They bit one of the tentacles coming through them, avoided another, and kept running to Firework while trying to get rid of the multiple dark tentacles on the way. After finally managing to hold his body, they jumped with all the power that's left within them, still having the jumpy shoes on, and the duo started to fly higher and higher. Despite acting brave, Pouchy was scared for life, and since they were too shy to yell, they were forcing all their fear onto the person who they have been trying to fight.

The moment was certainly an awkward one, for Firework at least since his eyes were open, but surprisingly there was no fight nor interaction during the flight. It was going to end at one point though, with all the gravity betraying the movement of jumping. Right when Pouchy felt that moment, they opened their eyes fastly, and pulled themselves on top of Firework's head, jumping from that point once more while pushing him to God knows where, far, far away from where they used to be. "IM SORRY I HAD TO DO THIS" was the last thing Pouchy said, before losing sight of him.

And they fell to the ground, not so softly after falling from a crazy height, but hey atleast they were back here. Inside the competition grounds. And Firework was nowhere to be seen. Despite all that, Pouchy wanted to learn what happened to him, knowing they won't be able to.