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

--- Lily ---

Marigold and Lily were making good progress. Their plan was moving forward. Slowly, but it was moving. One step after the other they were climbing higher. Eventually they'd have enough height to clear a huge amount of distance, or just glide down to the finish line. In theory anyway. 

See, they say no plan survives contact with the enemy, and that's quite true. In this instance, March was that enemy. After realising the pair actually had it in them to walk a considerable distance up the box, she'd started planning. The idea she settled on wasn't ideal but it was better then then doing nothing. 

March started to steam, jogging in place, lifting her knees high and letting the steam start to really waft off of her. A light kick against the platform which rang out a clear, gong-like sound. March was ready. March launcher herself forward, feet first, and slammed her boots into the wall putting as much force behind the jump-kick as she could. 

The barrier shattered and March went flying backwards. It wasn't hard for her to catch the edge of the platform she'd just left and recover her footing. On Lily's side of things, it was much worse. Lily was completely unprepared for the wall to break. Her eyes were firmly fixed ahead of her, and her mind was focused on her feet. Lily trusted Marigold to warn her if the barrier was about to dissipate because they didn't apply enough force. Lily did not, in fact, plan for March. 

As Lily lost her footing she panicked, freezing up completely as the pair started to fall. Marigold however, was ready. Not for this specifically, but for something. She pulled Lily up and around so that the catgirl would eventually end up in a hug. "THE PLANE" yelled Marigold as Lily was flung around. 

Lily was confused for a moment, but before she'd made contact with Marigold's chest her mind processed the answer and cast the spell. It was a rush job, wasting more than a little mana to get it correct enough to cast but it was cast leading to a sharp snap as the pair landed heavily in the centre of the plane, killing a lot of its momentum. 

They were falling quickly when Lily's face smacked into Marigold's chest. It was enough to startle her into transforming. Entirely an accident on Lily's part. A reflex she'd triggered simply because she was panicking and felt safer like that. In this case though, it was the right decision. It nearly halved the weight the plane was holding up and allowed Lily to support the structure a bit better. 

They weren't anywhere near as high as they wanted to be, and they needed to let the plane dive slightly to try and add some momentum, but they were flying. It wouldn't last long, but it would allow them enough space to get away from March. 

The human in question glared at the plane as it flew away. She'd gambled and 'lost' this round. They were going to get away. March cursed aloud, "Dammit, forcing my steam form while I was so tired wasn't the right move. Now I've got no mana and my body is screaming at me. Guess winning this will be harder a challenge," 

Contrary to the words coming from her mouth though, March had a massive smile on her face and was already trying to get into a runner's stance. She didn't have the mana to breeze through everything anymore, but she had enough grit and physical prowess to make up for the loss. Hopefully. 

Kat on the other hand, saw that the confrontation between the three of them was ending and got to work on catching up to March. A fight might happen, but after seeing the steam dissipate around March's hulking form, it was now looking to be a much fairer confrontation. Heck, after that failure March might be willing to just stand to the side. Vanya was still a way's away and not looking to catch up anytime soon. 

Lily was sweating in her Memphis form, the sudden shock and massive drain of mana was getting to her. She was shaking despite her heart calming down. Marigold gave the shaking feline a few scratches. "Hey, you're doing fine. We've got away from March and I'll carry you towards the finish line if I can. I certainly wouldn't have escaped myself, so don't worry it's fine," 

The sentiment was nice but it really wasn't why Lily was shaking. It felt like the mana in her body was having a riot, and she just… burned everywhere. It was hard getting it all under control while keeping the paper plane aloft. The idea of being betrayed by Marigold wasn't even one she was contemplating because the fact of the matter was, Lily just didn't have the mental bandwidth to worry about it. She had more immediate problems that were taking up her mind. 

Down on the ground, March had made a few jumps. Just as her foot touched the next platform a wave of colour swept in from behind them all. A rainbow of colours washed over the platforms, and after it passed they seemed to rapidly shift between them all for a few moments before settling down. Each platform had their own 'proffered' colour that showed up in the randomised selection more than normal. 

The thing to note, was that one of those 'colours' was a black and white checkboard pattern. One that matched the finish line. A handful of platforms showed the pattern, but it never stayed long, and even after things calmed down and the changes happened perhaps once every five seconds, when the checkerboard pattern appeared, it didn't last long. 

Marigold could see this going down from up in the paper plane… and had no idea what to do with the information. The platforms that showed checkboard patterns seemed to be mostly random. They were more frequent the further you went, but it was still rare, with only perhaps one in twenty showing the pattern at all, and only for a maximum of three seconds. "Ok what the fuck," grumbled Marigold. 

Lily looked up at Marigold with confused kitty eyes. "Right, you can't see it. Ok, so here's what's happening…" Marigold detailed what she was seeing, "and frankly I have no idea what that means. Do we just have to hope we get lucky? The checkerboard ones seem to be slowly disappearing… so is there like a 'real checkpoint' they're converging on? Do we just have to be standing on one when the pattern shows up? I seriously have no idea what we need to do," 

That's when Marigold noticed that March hadn't been stopped since the wave. Not a single puzzle box or challenge room. "Ah I see, so all of the platforms have been disabled so we just need to hop around until we get to the finish line then? A bit strange but I get it. Lily, you can drop the plane, I can carry us around," 

Lily nodded and let the construct drop immediately. Marigold's eyes widened but they were close enough to a platform that it didn't end up being an issue. Marigold pulled Lily tight against her body and then started hopping forward as fast as she could. The checkerboards appeared more later so booking it was the best plan. 

A glance over to the left showed March making progress. She was a bit behind them, but that was fine. It seemed like March didn't have the mana to really speed up, at least, not for some time. No the issue was Kat. She was practically gliding over the platforms even as her wings stayed firmly closed. The demon was catching up to them. 

Marigold grit her teeth as she looked down at the shaking Lily. Clearly something was up, and Marigold felt responsible for the condition. She wasn't sure what was wrong with Lily, but the shaking hadn't stopped. "It'll be alright Lily, we're almost at the end," said Marigold, knowing it was the truth. Even if they didn't win soon, someone else would. 

Marigold grit her teeth and started to push her legs to the limit, taking quick, short steps across the platforms before jumping. That's when she heard the steam. Marigold didn't even bother to look back. She knew what it meant. March was speeding up. Digging deep Marigold hurled herself forward with everything that she had, running for the finish line she couldn't see… 

Until suddenly she could. Just to the side of her platform. It was at a diagonal, and the jump was a little far, but it was clear as day. A checkboard pattern over the platform. Marigold didn't stop to think, she just moved. As her feet left the platform the moment seemed to hang. Would she make it in time? Would it stay a 'finish line' long enough for her to land? Was it even a finish line or was it just a pattern? There was an awful lot of them after all. 

Marigold's feet touched the platform. It was checkered… and she was teleported away.