D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Lily ---

Kat had stopped. Her girlfriend had stopped. She was just sitting on the edge of a platform smirking. "Welp, there goes that plan," grumbled Lily as Marigold whacked the puzzle box again to keep it going. 

Marigold looked over her shoulder and saw what Lily was complaining about. Kat was just hanging her legs off the edge of a nearby platform, making no move to get closer to them at all. "I thought you said she wouldn't be annoyed if we won?" questioned Marigold. 

"Yeah, I doubt she would be… but I'm also quite sure that pleased with herself for working out that she can cause more issues just by sitting out of it. She also probably trusts you enough to keep me safe… or maybe she trusts that March won't hurt me too much? I don't know. Either or, she seems quite content to leave us to our problems," said Lily. 

"Hmm… maybe we will have to wait for Vanya. Though perhaps by that same token Kat might just throw her off a platform to keep her away. This… this has become more complicated," murmured Marigold. 

"I'm not sure it's made things more complicated in the slightest. Now we've just got March to worry about," said Lily. 

"Yes but the easy solution was to have Kat deal with March," retorted Marigold. 

"It was… but now I'm wondering if Kat might have just teamed up with March to deal with us an then fought it out. I'm not sure which one them would win… but I think they would both THINK they could win, leading to a fight. Perhaps even a close one. I'd say Kat would win… 

"Except she's got the strength limiter on and she can't use her demonic fire. Which… probably puts her in a worse position then March. Then you add in the terrain. A small platform that puts you constantly in arms reach and it becomes a brawl… a brawl where March can just push Kat off the edge if she wants. Perhaps the bracelet will let Kat use more strength because she's fighting March… but I don't see any reason why it would," explained Lily. 

"Ah, yes…" mumbled Marigold as she smacked the puzzle box a few times in quick succession. "You make a good point. The plan was to run while they fought, which made sense… but you might be right that we were wrong to assume they'd bother fighting at all," 

"So what do we actually do then? Clearly that plan is dead in the water, and whatever is needed to trigger the part where everything breaks apart hasn't done so yet… so what do we do? Wait for the trigger? Try and run away from March and hope now that Kat is, relatively, close she doesn't bother chasing us? Abuse the fact that there is two of us in here somehow?" said Lily, offering what ideas she could come up with. 

Marigold slapped the shield a few more times as she thought of an answer, "Not sure… none of them are awful ideas, but I couldn't say what the best one is," admitted Marigold with a sigh as she looked up at the sky. Frowned and then looked around again. "Lily… I have an idea that's just so crazy it might work,"

Lily waited a good five seconds for Marigold to elaborate. When the masochist started to wiggle her eyebrows in Lily's direction it was clear that Marigold was waiting for her to ask. "Ok, what is it?" 

"Glad you asked!" cheered Marigold. "Now, have you ever seen one of those plays where the two love interest need to climb out of a hole? And the way they do it is by going back to back and walking up the side of the hole?" Lily nodded slowly. Technically she hadn't seen it as part of a play, but she got where Marigold was going. "Yeah I'm thinking we try that with the puzzle box," 

Lily looked at the puzzle box, the puzzle box that extended off the platform. "Marigold… I don't think we're tall enough for that, or rather, the box is too wide for that sort of thing… I think?" Lily was uncertain even as she finished the sentence. Surely there wasn't enough space… right?

"Ah, see that's what I thought initially… but if we instead lock hands over our heads I think we're just tall enough to do it," explained Marigold. 

Lily grimaced at the idea. *That… that IS a little crazy but it might work. Am I strong enough in my arms though? I'm not sure that I am… then again I'm not sure I've been pushed to my limits. Wait.* "Ok hang on, even if this crazy plan works, what exactly can we DO at the top of the box, or however high we're climbing?" asked Lily. 

"Ah see, that's where your paper plane comes in! We can hop back in that and fly over a massive section of the obstacle course!" Marigold explained. 

Lily chewed on her lip for a bit as she thought it over. Her time in the box had let her recover some mana… but it wasn't a huge amount. "It could work… I'm a little low on mana… but I think I have enough. My main concern would be what are we going to do if the final phase triggers?" 

"I'm not too worried about that," said Marigold as she waved on Lily's own concern. "See, the finish line was quite high up last time, so as long as we walk high enough then we should be fine, or perhaps, even in a better position!" 

"Not sure I agree with that statement, but it's better then being stuck here doing nothing, even if the mana regen would be nice," said Lily with a sigh. 

"Right then, copy me," said Marigold as she slapped the puzzle box a few more times. Once that was done she sat on the edge and then squeezed down fitting herself between the platform and the puzzle box before pushing herself upwards a bit and reaching her hands out. 

Seeing what she was going for Lily did, roughly the same. Eventually. First she tried just using the platform to lay down on but she quickly realised why Marigold hadn't done that. The platform was actually moving a bit, so getting your feet lined up was a pain, so Lily slid down mirroring Marigold and getting in position. 

"Now we've just got to start climbing at the same time and reach out," said Marigold. Lily bit back a retort as she did what Marigold asked. Lily tilted her head right back and watched Marigold's hands, getting ready and… reaching out herself. They were aligned. Lily could already feel her arms shaking and they'd only taken the one step. Marigold's arms were rock solid by comparison. 

"Ok, we've got it. Are you ready to start walking?" asked Marigold. 

"I… I guess," hissed Marigold. 

"Right then, with me. One," step, "Two," step "One," step. Marigold continued to call out every time she made a step. It was nerve wracking and Lily wasn't sure if her arms were shaking from the fear, or if she was scared because her arms were shaking. Whatever the answer her heart was pounding in her ears and she felt like she was one wrong movement from falling straight down. 

Lily gulped as they got higher and higher. It was slow going but already they were about halfway to the height they'd climbed up the platforms for earlier. "Um… hey Marigold… how high are we going?" asked Lily, her voice shaky with perhaps a touch of squeak. 

"As high as we can I suppose," said Marigold projecting as much calm as she could. "The barrier seems to be recharging slightly with every step we take, but not quite enough to offset the drain so it's going to drop eventually unless I start stomping… but you're already shaking some I'm not sure that's a good idea," 

Lily almost couldn't believe she was still going. Even when Marigold stopped chanting with every step to answer the question, they still kept in time. Lily was beyond thankful for that. It hadn't occurred to her before asking the question and it was a genuine fear for a few moments. "What do you mean?" asked Lily voice still shaky. 

"Well, either we find the top of the box, or the box disappears and we need you to summon a paper plane quickly. Well, that or something else happens… though I'm not sure what. Maybe there's a timeout on the box?" offered Marigold. 

Lily could feel her stomach doing backflips just at the idea. She really didn't want the box to suddenly disappear. Then again, if they ran into the top of the box, Lily also wasn't sure she could stop herself from flinching, even if flinching meant falling. Then, in a lightbulb moment, Lily moved her tail so that it was hovering slightly above her. It wasn't too much warning, but it was some. Hopefully. *I really hope I don't fall.*