Let's see how well I play Uno

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…
Flora was perched at the top of the school building. She’d been scanning the horizons, looking through far and wide for the boys. They were supposed to be at least nearby, she kept thinking. She thought about probably transforming back to normal again and check her phone, even if she already did so twice before. And then, Rose finally spoke to her,
<Unbelievable…I cannot locate them…>
Flora groaned and put her face on her hands.
“What do you mean you can’t locate them?” Flora mumbled through her hands, frustration ever so growing. “I thought you said you found them? could they disappeared?”
<I…do not understand it myself…>
Flora waited for Rose to say more, but the latter wouldn’t add anything else. The way Rose was at that moment, Flora realized that she was completely lost, fearing that maybe her powers aren’t working. Was there likely another monster at bay? Where they already late and that Torque attacked them? There was a sense of dread and panic, like this was the first time it happened, that her powers are failing on that level.
Flora bit her lip and sighed. Rose was surprisingly awkward, despite her regal appearance. She understood that maybe it stemmed from being a royalty, that she had to at least to take the stance of authority. Kind of like an adult, except you were young and too naïve to know more. Probably she shouldn’t think herself more mature, though, Flora thought. But the latter could use some assurance.
“Rose…” Flora tried talking to her.
<I understand…I am not acting in a way that befits my authority as your partner. Apologies.>
“C’mon, don’t be.” Flora took a deep breath, before finally allowing herself to relax. “If they are in trouble, they can get out. Fotia is with them, and Chester can look out for himself.”
<…You would truly think so?> Rose asked her, sounding genuinely surprised.
“Well…Honestly, I think I can see that,” she answered, not even second-guessing. “Guess I’ve come to trust them.”
…
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” Chester confessed, after taking a third turn to the right that let them straight down the hall to the stairs.
“I knew it! We are lost! Completely lost!!!” Tom wailed and fell to his knees.
Chester tried to calm him, but to no avail. The three boys have been walking around the place for solid twenty minutes already. This labyrinth was unrelentingly huge and twisted, where everything did not make sense and would not let you go. One place seemed to be a two-story hall, but if you take the door on the right, it led to a spiralling staircase. And if you take the left, it was a giant hall with two dead-ends. Take the door from the second floor, and suddenly you were stuck in a loop. Go through it three more times, and surely, you’d end up with a panicking little boy.
“This is so frustrating! Why did this have to happen to us!” Tom cried some more.
Chester sighed and looked at the cat with pity. “Just calm down already.”
Tom noticed a distinct sense of annoyance from the hedgehog and stopped his crying for a bit. Wiping his nose, he walked up to Chester, and looked at him straight in the eye.
“Aren’t you scared?” Tom asked him demandingly. “Don’t you get…nervous!? Like, what if we never get out of here! Or worse, something will go wrong? Or even worse…something will happen outside? Like maybe something so bad that everyone won’t be able to fix it? The whole world will fall apart, and you won’t even know! What if we can’t do it!? How can you be so easy-going about this!??”
Chester after taking this whole thing in just rolled his eyes. He knew the cat was losing it, especially how throughout his rant he kept getting closer to his face only to drop down on his knees to cry into his stomach. Where’s Barbie when you need her.
“Fear not, young ones!”
Chester and Tom turned around to Fotia, at the top of the stairs. He was holding to the handrails, making sure he wouldn’t fall backwards, as he slid from the outside. Both of the boys were having their mouths agape.
“What are you doing?” Chester asked.
“Why else but employ higher mind functions, which Zamarad usually speaks of.” Neither of the boy understood him. “You see…I was told if we look at things from opposite point of view, you can gain a new understanding.”
“There’s no door behind the balcony wall,” Chester said.
“Oh, blast it!!!” Fotia climbed back in with effort. “Devil’s work! When I get my hands on him..!”
Chester let air out and made another round. Even if this was supposed to keep them away, there must still be some sort of exit. They got in somehow, there should be a way out. If not, there should be a way to break it down. But that would require something hard and heavy, and none of them have their spirits.
Chester looked back to her friends. Tom was hugging his knees, sitting on the floor quiet, while Fotia was busy swearing like a Shakespeare at the room.
He then stopped sometime later, before turning to face the boys. “Now then, as far as we understand, we are trapped by a damned maze,” he stated, drawing their attention. “And a maze we were led to before we realized it was happening. They mayhap have planned this out, and maybe are trying to lead us astray. Regardless! These puzzles are part of being a mighty warrior is about, and I shall easily lead us out of in due time!”
“You…sure you can do it?” Chester asked. Not that he doubted, more like concerned what he was about to do.
“Of course! I may be quite inadequate when it comes to puzzles, but I have a skill of escaping from dangerous places! It is simple!”
So they are doomed, Chester thought.
“Now follow me young ones, no need to languish. We shall leave in due time, but do keep your eyes open. There are others who share between these walls with us.”
Tom’s head raised. He was visibly growing panicky by these last words.
“D’y-y-y-you mean m-m-m-monst-“
“Russell,” Chester interrupted him. “And his gang.” Chester realized that they were separated since they first got here, even though they were together for a bit.
“Exactly!” Fotia claimed.
“Oh!”
As Fotia made his way to the door from the balcony, he commented, “Those kids ought to be more careful. They might get separated and lost.”
Chester sighed, watching the spirit trapped in a white crow kid tried to open the door, which was still locked like last time. He kept thinking on Russell, and all those times both of them would butt heads. That bear was a bully, if not to him, to Tom definitely and many other nerds. If he could use his weight to push people around, he definitely would without hesitation.
“Maybe we can leave the guy here for a while,” Chester muttered slowly. Tom, surprisingly, was able to catch his words.
“You mean Russell and his friends?”
“Look,” Chester wrapped his hand around Tom by the shoulders, “there’s no need for us to deal with those dumbos. We get out, get rid of the monster and once its all gone, we can go home and no one’s the wiser.”
Tom wrinkled his orange brow. “But, is it right to leave them here?”
“Oh, what’s the worst that could happen?”
“I dunno. We haven’t even seen the Torque that made this place, and that could be very dangerous.”
Chester was about to reply, only to shut his mouth. There was truth to what he was saying.
“Besides, it’s not bad to help people in need.”
“Even if those people would flush your head down the toilet bowl?”
“I mean…” Tom fidgeted a bit, thinking very hard on it. “We all should be given a second chance. No matter how rotten a person, a true hero saves any life he could. That’s what makes them a hero!”
Chester pursed his lips and didn’t even attempt to rebut that. But still, something else came to his mind.
“What if we get lost ourselves and stuff?”
Tom went quiet. Later he replied, somewhat confidently, “We still need to help them first!”
Chester let go of Tom, and lowered his gaze. In some ways, he felt like telling Tom that he was being stupid, thinking he could be a hero. On the other hand, he felt like he should agree.
“You know, Tom,” he suddenly said, “when you asked me earlier, about being scared…”
“Huh? Oh!” Tom looked down to his feet, looking embarrassed. “Sorry for reacting that way. It wasn’t right for a hero to panic like that. I guess, I just don’t get it how you do it.”
“Me, do it?”
“Yeah…how you can act so confident and calm all the time. Maybe I should try to keep myself together next time. Other people will get more scared, and they can’t even do anything about those monsters! I’m sorry Chester.”
“No biggie.” Chester looked up, and the door that Fotia fiddled with was now wide open. The white crow was nowhere to be seen. “Figures. Let’s get him back, before he gets lost…” Chester halted his first step. “By the way, I don’t really do it. I just start thinking of a way out, I guess. When I get nervous, I guess, I like to think of a way out.”
“Wow, really!?” Tom eyes shone with amazement. Chester didn’t think it was that special, just something to learn when you run from the police a couple of time. “But what about when, you know, like, stuff you can’t control? Like what if the girls and others won’t be able to find us?”
“Doesn’t bother me.”
Tom look flabbergasted. Chester shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, I guess I trust them, or something.”
…
Eddi wore his smile like he did those giant clown shoes, with pride and adoration for himself. He took another bite out of a rotten apple he found lying on the ground and washed it off with a bottle of rubbing alcohol. The medical bed was being used by him as a resting chair, letting him enjoy the view at its full glory. Those boys were completely lost in the maze, and he savored every moment of it, as his plan was coming together.
Sinking his teeth into the wrinkly, smelly and full of juice exterior of the apple, he noticed something floating closer. It was still far, but it was coming to him, and it’s size was more impressive the more he saw it.
“Wouldn’t you look at that!” He giggled. “I guess my little project had already found the man in question. Oy-hohohohohohoo!”
But then, right behind the floating object, a shine of emerald made its appearance too. He smirked, thinking on how lucky it was that he gets to play now. He initially thought he would just relax and let it all be as they are, but now he was near one of his favorite targets, and that chance cannot be let go.
The emerald warrior, from what he heard, was speaking about something.
“Maybe I should try again?” She said, as she suddenly leapt forward and rolled into a ball. Her body was coursing with lightning, and she hit the floating Torque. Both of them bounced from each other, rolling to the opposite sides like balls.
Eddi raised a brow, but then shrugged and happily went to finish his lunch. He gobbled the rest of an apple and flushed the alcohol bottle empty, before giving out a gigantic burp.
“Looks like I get to play a bit more, hohohoho…”
The boys were left unattended.
…