Young Writers Society

"Eww." Pren gagged again and held his shirt tighter to his nose. Still clutching the fabric, he hopped over a tentacle of limp lettuce and tomatoes, then ducked as a moldy sandwich flew over his head. The leftovers monster growled and slimed its way closer. A smaller tentacle adjusted its cherry stem crown as it continued flinging food at the two. "How do we defeat this thing, then?"

Ki shrugged. They had fought an uncountable amount of battles against some fascinating opponents. But they could never claim to have fought against something like this before.

A stray stem fell on Ki’s shoulder, and he carefully picked it up, inspecting it. The monster reached out a thinner mass, yanking it out of Ki’s hands, cradling it protectively to its head.

"The monster seems awfully fond of its cherry stem hat thing," Pren commented. He leaned to the side to avoid a tentacle dripping with rancid milk. "Would taking the hat and tossing it somewhere work?" Pren frowned. "Actually, never mind. That would mean getting close to the monster, and I think I'd pass out again if we did that."

Ki sheathed their sword, inspecting the creature. Some of it had to be solid, otherwise it wouldn’t be able to move.

They dodged another attack and charged at the monster. Let’s put those anti-revolutionary reflexes to use.

They jumped onto the creature’s back, ready to climb. But as soon as they made contact, they started to sink into the monster’s rotten flesh.

Ki cried out, rearing their head back to prevent it from submerging.

Pren gasped, then immediately regretted it as foul air entered his mouth. He took a quick breath through his shirt, then held his breath as he raced over to Ki. He grasped a nearby chair and attempted to shove it into the monster, then held out a hand to Ki as the monster flailed its tentacles. "Take my hand!"

Ki grabbed the child’s hands, wincing as the rough skin scrapped against Pren’s flesh. That might bleed later.

The monster roared, and started to contract, like a frog filling its throat.

Pren desperately tugged Ki backwards. Unfortunately, the sticky mass of food was reluctant to let them go. Pren anchored his feet against the floor and leaned backwards, pulling with all his strength.

Just as he was thinking it was helpless and Ki was doomed to death by food monster, there was a loud squelch, and the subterra was freed from the mass of rotting leftovers. Pren tumbled backwards and crashed into a table.

He groaned and sat there for a moment as waves of pain radiated from his back. There would definitely be bruises later.

Ki barely stopped themself from falling onto their face. They were covered in thick slime that reached their neck. If subterras had digestive tracks, they probably would’ve been gagging.

They opened their mouth to thank the child before their current wordcount slammed into them.

Over a hundred thirty words. They had smashed their previous record.

Ki’s mouth slammed shut and he settled for a grateful nod.

Pren smiled tiredly at Ki. "Alright. So trying to take the cherry hat didn't work particularly well..." He flinched as a tentacle came alarmingly close to his face. "What else can we do?" Pren crawled over to a chair and huddled behind it, using it as a flimsy shield.

Ki sat beside the child, crossing their legs and hunching over so they didn’t look over him and shrugged.

The monster continued roaring squelching, a tentacle occasionally smacking into the floor.

"Can we bribe it with some cherry stems, maybe?" Pren stared at the floor thoughtfully. "My sister Epidote has a minerals collection, and giving her a new addition for it always puts her in a better mood."

Ki paused to consider it. Whenever the Prime Minister was angry at them, they'd make sure to speak less that day or choose to pursue a difficult bounty.

They nodded. That should work.

Pren glanced up in time to catch Ki's nod. He frowned. "Hey, are you okay? You haven't said anything since almost being absorbed into the leftovers monster."

He gasped. "Did it glue your mouth shut or something? There was this really creepy scene in a movie I watched once where these guys in suits basically erased the protagonist's mouth and--" Pren paused as the monster wrapped a tentacle around the chair and tossed it aside. As he scrambled away, he continued, "--and it just became like, strings of goo for a bit. A nightmare, really." Pren ducked behind a table and glanced at Ki worriedly.

Ki opened their mouth again, finding no strength to continue. This rich child should already know the regulations of subterras in the political world. There was no point in insulting his intelligence and making their word count climb.

So, they simply nodded again, hoping the child would connect their response to the right question.

Pren looked horrified. "Your mouth has been glued shut?" He looked around desperately. "I have no idea how to fix that, but let's get this leftovers monster to stop attacking us first, and then I promise I'll do my best to help you be able to talk again!" The green-haired kid patted Ki on the shoulder awkwardly with a scratched-up hand. "Hang in there!"