Teamwork

"Are you sure about this, Dexter?" asked the clown, who suddenly materialized beside the humanoid rabbit dressed in magician's clothing. They were inside an empty, dark theater.

After snapping a carrot in half, Dexter glanced at the clown and replied, "Whatever you mean, just please don't go sticking your nose in my business."

The response made the clown giggle. "You're still saying that after sending your lackey on me?" And as soon as he finished saying this, not giving Dexter a chance to speak, he shot out his right hand and gently muttered, "Jack in the box."

With a poof accompanied by a white smoke, a colorful box appeared midair and seeing this, the clown snapped his finger. The metal crank on the side turned by itself accompanied by a whimsical sound.

Knowing that he had been found out, Dexter merely sighed as he watched the top of the box fly a few meters away as a figure popped from the top of the box.

The figure was nothing but horrifying; if the devil were to make a doll, it would be it. It had a twisted and contorted form with sharp, jagged features that seemed to sneer and leer at anyone who dared to look upon it. Its eyes were silver - the exact doll that had been hiding under the bed in Marty's house and the exact one spying on the clown.

Caught red-handed, Dexter remained silent.

"Anyway, I am not here to reprimand you or something," said the clown. "Nor am I here to stop your silly little antics. After all, I know too well you'd been bored to death for a very long time but I hope you don't push it too much that you kill the kids."

By kids, the clown meant the participants, who they could currently see surrounded in all directions by the Hounds of Tetano reflected from the orb floating at the stage. One of the hounds almost killed June, a woman who had twin braids and thick, circular glasses.

The creature appeared out of nowhere, barreling towards her. Both surprised and with no time to think, she lifted herself off the ground and soared through the air. The ability her system had lent her was levitation, saving her just in the nick of time.

"Let's see about that," muttered Dexter as they both focused on the orb.

***

Hounds of Tetano, or the Gatekeeper of the Underworld, were these powerful and imposing dog-like creatures. They had dark, shadowy purple fur and eyes, with sharp claws and teeth. They didn't belong to the forest the participants were currently in; someone obviously put them there, someone who liked to have a little bit of fun as he watched them suffer.

"Thea, shield!" yelled Theo, her twin.

Without wasting time, Thea immediately raised both her hands and a semi-translucent dome-like shield materialized from the ground up, encapsulating the nine of them. The hounds could be seen pouncing on the shield like maddened monsters.

June lightly landed on the ground and asked, "What do we do now?"

"Get away from those things, I suppose," Xeno replied, digging as he spoke.

"What are you doing?" Thea asked, a streak of blood dripping down her nose, her feeble arms slightly trembling. "I don't think I can hold it much longer."

Her twin came to her and placed his hands on her back as they emitted green light. "I'll keep healing you. Please hold on for a moment," he told her. He then turned towards the rest and asked, "Any of you who have offensive abilities? As you see, ours are pretty useless in attacking."

"I do," Xeno replied. "And I need your help. There is a shovel in your inventory. Please take it out and help me dig. Make a ball out of soil, about the size of a basketball, and give it to me."

Slight cracks started to appear on the shield as the hounds continued to pounce and claw all over it.

"I'll help," said Marty as he knelt by Xeno and started making balls. 

Eli opened his inventory, which he was honestly surprised existed at all, but the other participants seemed aware of it as they were already digging. He took out the shovel and started digging as well.

"Thanks," said Xeno. He took one of the balls. His fingers emitted red light, and it compressed until it was only the size of a marble. He made about ten of them before he reached his limit.

"Aren't you done yet?" Theo asked. His twin was barely hanging on.

"These things need to be crushed so they explode. Honestly, I don't know how strong the explosion will be, but we need to be far away before we set these off."

"I'll do it!" exclaimed Donna, the pink-haired woman. Beside her, another Donna was forming in real time. "My ability is double, you see. I can make a double of myself. My double will set the bombs off. Does stomping on them work?"

Xeno, quite impressed, nodded at her. "Yeah. Stomping will work just fine. But how do we get away?"

"I'll lift you up," suggested June. "On the count of three, please remove the shield."

Hearing this, the eight of them huddled around June, and after three seconds, Thea removed the shield as they soared through the sky, just barely in time before the hounds got to them.

Not long after that, a deafening boom echoed through the air, shaking the ground and the trees. The force of the explosion sent shockwaves rippling outward, causing a few of the nearby trees to burn. The acrid smell of smoke and burning flesh filled the air.

***

Meanwhile, Jasper, who left the group early on, was surrounded by a wall of flame. Three hounds, charred to black, could be seen at his feet. The ability he got from his system was pyrokinesis.

"Damn, this is bad!" he cursed as he watched the burn mark on his arm. The side effect of using this ability was impaired healing, meaning any injuries sustained while using pyrokinesis take longer to heal. The more he uses it, the more addicted he becomes, turning into a pyromaniac and developing the tendency to set fires deliberately, even on himself.