Sinister Starlight

[madface7]

"..."

"..."

"...That place wasn't fun."

[Mr. Lee Hammer]

Yea, tell me about it. This is the place of nightmares!

[CrystalMemoria]

Outdoor Dining Area

Aichi tries to process just what it is he's seeing. A bunch of mysterious beings...? No, not just mysterious beings... They look just like units from Planet Cray! But that can't be right! They'd be... well, on Cray, right?

And not only that, but he sees... what looks like himself...?!

"..."

He gets bad vibes from this, that's for sure... Something about this feels wrong... The aura of the scene just screams that everything is completely and utterly wrong.

As much as he wonders what it could possibly be, Aichi decides that he probably shouldn't linger in there much longer, and pulls his head back out of the manhole, returning to the others.

He gets a worried expression on his face as he looks to everyone in the

"I... I think I saw me... but I was leading a bunch of units from Cray...? I'm not sure, but I have a bad feeling..."

[madface7]

Jocelyn stands up straight.

"Whatever the case, we most likely shouldn't dwell on this for too long. We have plenty of other things to worry about. For example, getting murdered."

[Kennifer]

"She's right. And aren't we meant to have some kind of a task or challenge to do at some point?"

Delilah looked a bit concerned at the reminder of, well... murder. But a challenge could be fun!

[Mr. Lee Hammer]

I've been wondering about that, too. Wanna earn some stars to get out of this damn place.

[madface7]

"Ooh! A challenge sounds fun!" Jui said, attempting to ignore both the memory of the MAE facility and the fact that she could potentially get murdered.

[artsyGeek]

"A challenge, huh? That seems fun!"

[Despair's Archon of Memes]

I think you've explored the area enough for now... Hopefully, there'll be-

Suddenly, the plants from the Garden glitch out and  burst out of the confines, spreading their roots and leaves around the backyard. These include the carnivorous plants.

...No interruptions. No matter! This is perfect! This segues right into our "other thing" that'll get you out of this predicament! You'll finally be able to put that magic to good use!

Challenge 1: Whacking Weeds

Okay, so this is how these challenges work... You'll do a certain action, and then, depending on how things go or how you do, you'll receive these:

The Arch-Mage holds up a multicolored star-shaped crystal glistening multiple rainbows.

I'll explain later what exactly these things do... For now, just do your best and... Control this plant infestation...

A vine suddenly wraps around the Arch-Mage's leg and grabs her, hanging her by the ankle.

Ahh! That was... Uncalled for...

[artsyGeek]

Himiko decides to first > find a bat to bonk the plants.

[Mr. Lee Hammer]

Tim pulls out a Binford 9000 chainsaw and > slashes and slices the plants to shreds

[Dookie]

"Gah! These plants are angry!"

>try to Pull em out

[madface7]

Jui 

>takes out her claws to combat the plants.

Jocelyn

>brandishes her knife and starts chopping.

[Kennifer]

Well, in Pokemon at least, Grass-types are weak to Fire-type moves...

"All right, time for a little fire!"

Delilah will...

>Yeet a fireball at the nearest carnivorous plant.

[CrystalMemoria]

Aichi's eyes widen, seeing the plants suddenly glitch out.

"E-Ehhhhh?! A challenge already?!"

It looks like this is a time to transform! Aichi's expression grows more serious, and...

"Realize!"

>Transform into his Magical Boy form and summon a unit, specifically Blaster Blade (A sword-wielding knight), to smack away some of the plants.

[Billy5545]

"Wow, so we are now dealing with an attack of mutant plants!"

"Let's deal with those pests!"

> Spam star-patterned danmaku to blast the grass away.

[Huney]

"AHAHAHA, FOOLISH PLANTS! NOW YOU'LL FEEL THE MIGHT OF ANABELLE COLLINGWOOD!" She takes a step back, looking to the table behind her and...

>breaks one of the teacups, charging at the plants with a sharp shard

[wingedcatgirl]

... In some regions, grazing animals such as goats are used to control plant infestations by consuming plants.

Gaea pulls herself into a ball, then splits up into several mini-swarms to consume all of the plants as efficiently as possible.

[Zanreo]

"Plants? Should be no match for me~"

Akira turns into her Magical Girl form and shoots a Star Beam towards some of the plants.

[Despair's Archon of Memes]

>Himiko: 4
The bat can be found in the training area in the roof. Using the bat, Himiko is able to bash the heads of the canivorous plants.

>Tim: 3
The chainsaw may work against trees, but the vast vines and armor of the plants make them more resistant. Tim IS able to create several noticable gashes in the plants, but not enough to cause significant damage...

>Mickey: 4
Despite the vast roots of the plants, Mickey is still able to pull out the smaller plants.

>Jui: 5

Surprisingly, Jui's sharp claws are very adept at slashing at the plants. Jui goes completely cat-scratch and creates many gashes and wounds in the plants, causing them to bleed from their stems.

>Jocelyn: 1

When Jocelyn attempts to stab the plant, a vine from a plant grabs her by the ankles and trips her. The vine also proceeds to grab the knife and feed it to one of the carnivorous plants.

Did you honestly think that'd actually work?

>Delilah: 6
The fireball manages to set the plants ablaze! Unfortunately, the yard's tarp also starts going on fire as well...

>Aichi: 4

Blaster Blade may be a bit small in the relation to the plants, but he still gets the job done! The sword actually does some decent damage!

>Sanae: 5

It seems that the star-shaped danmaku is just as effective on these plants as they are in Spell Card duels...

Spell Cards... Most interesting...

>Anabelle: 6

The sharp shard manages to pierce and slice the  of the plants. Anabelle is actually targeted by one of the heads of the carnivorous plants. Fortunately, she's able to drive the shard and decapitate the stem and cut the head, but not before receiving a bite by one of them.

>Gaea: 5

The Mini-swarms are quickly able to envelop many of the heads of the carnivorous plants. The swarms also spread to clean up the sliced and detatched parts of the plants as well.

>Akira: 5

Critical Hit! The Star Beam ricochets around the heads of the carnivorous plants, and the overload of energy causes the plants's proteins to denature, significantly weakening the plants.

[Huney]

"YOU DARE BITE THE FEARSOME ANABELLE COLLINGWOOD?" Anabelle reels her hand back... before pulling out her wand, pointing to the plant!

"FIREBALL!"

>Instead, a bolt of lightning zaps from the wand, trying to zap the plant.

[madface7]

Jui

> continues to scratch at the plants

while Jocelyn

> completely gives up on all logic and uses her teeth to combat the plants

[CrystalMemoria]

-Aichi smiles as he sees Blaster Blade's sword is doing a decent job holding the plants off.-

"Go, Blaster Blade! You can do it!"

>Continue relying on Blaster Blade's sword while Aichi tries to smack away plants that come near him as necessary.

[artsyGeek]

> Put out the tarp fire

[Mr. Lee Hammer]

That didn't work. Know what it needs? More power!

> make chainsaw engine three times more powerful and chop at them again