Rescue plan

The two then began trying to figure out a way to free their trapped allies. As they did so, in order to ensure they were not trapped themselves, they moved around the area every so often. 

The area itself was devoid of fog and illuminated by the strange bioluminescent material. 

Sandro started the attempt by trying to use brute force to open the trap. He sent out dozens of powerful strikes and kicks, but it seemed to have no effect on the strange plant, as his limbs merely sank into its flesh upon contact, with the force made being distributed. 

Curie, not wanting to overlook a possible simple solution, attempted this as well. Her strikes were more precise; while they lacked Sandro's raw power, they made up for it with explosive force and precision. Unfortunately, the result was much the same. Curie had been expecting something like this to occur, but in an instance like this, one would have preferred to be proven wrong. 

Moving on to a different method, Sandro attempted to force his hand into the opening, which resembled a closed flower not yet ready to bloom. After some struggling, he managed to get part of his hand into the entrance, but he was met with a powerful smack against his fingers, which nearly broke them. Reacting immediately, he sharply pulled his hand from the opening, which closed afterward. Holding his hand in pain, his eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he stared down at the trap. 

He then let out a breath of fatigue and turned toward Curie. "Jackson has the rawest physical strength out of anyone in our group. If he couldn't pry himself out of that thing, I'm doubtful we can." 

In agreement, Curie nodded. She then began analyzing the active trap to uncover more about her ally's current situation. She noticed subtle ripples, which indicated movement within the trap. 

With an analyzing and focused expression, she notified Sandro while still observing the trap, "There's quite a bit of movement inside, meaning they're likely still conscious. The trap hasn't overwhelmed them just yet, but I'm unsure how long this will last." 

Just as she was about to begin thinking of other ways to get them out, the whistles they had on their person began reacting rather intensely. 

They both proceeded to take out the communication whistles from their pockets and examine them. Not only were they reacting frequently, but the reaction itself was also quite intense. This indicated that Alexander and Lioness were not too far away. 

However, the manner in which the whistles were reacting also signified that they were in quite a bit of danger. 

This new variable gave Curie an idea of how they could rescue Jackson and Coraline. 

... 

Alexander and Lioness stood beside one another. Their weapons drawn and their clothes were in tatters, they had several wounds as well. The wounds appeared to be both bite marks and acidic burns. 

The two had ultimately retreated in the face of the endless onslaught of the Venus flytrap creatures. The creatures themselves were still as numerous as before, despite the many that had fallen by the blades of Alexander and Lioness. The creatures snapped their strange mouths open and shut in a frenzy as they began to slowly move in. 

As things stood, they were being backed into a dead-end of one of the pathways, with the paths of escape being overrun by the creatures. Even though the situation seemed dire, their resolve never wavered. They were intent on slaughtering their way through one of the occupied paths to escape. 

Just then, the two noticed, through the obscuring mist, a rapidly moving figure darting towards them, weaving through the horde of various Venus flytrap creatures. 

Both Alexander and Lioness assumed it was merely another enemy and prepared a preemptive strike. However, they hesitated as the rapidly moving figure grew closer, appearing to be humanoid. 

As the humanoid figure reached them, all the creatures that were preparing to lunge at them were suddenly sent flying in every direction by a flurry of sweeping kicks and precision strikes. Needless to say, the ones performing these moves were Sandro and Curie. 

Relief washed over Alexander and Lioness as they were glad to have more allies to fight alongside. 

While taking a lunging step out of the way of a biting creature, Alexander quipped, "When did you two make all these new friends? You should have introduced me." Thereafter, he immediately went back to dealing with the creatures in his immediate vicinity. 

Seeing this, both Alexander and Lioness were prepared to fight alongside Sandro when Curie suddenly stopped them by holding up her hands in a halting manner, just as they were about to engage. 

This obviously confused the two, but Curie quickly cleared things up, "Sandro's rather adept at fighting large groups of opponents. He'll keep those things busy while I inform you about how things have been developing." 

Both of them understood Curie's intent, but they wanted to see for themselves. So, they began observing Sandro to assess if he was capable of handling the task alone. 

To their relief and pleasant surprise, he was. They saw Sandro with a broad smile as he flipped, dodged, and performed other acrobatic movements to avoid the creatures' attacks. The battle frenzy in his eyes intensified as he counterattacked. In a blur of movement, he darted from creature to creature, tearing their bodies apart with flourishing strikes and kicks. 

After witnessing this, they were much more comfortable listening to Curie's update on how things were progressing. "We found Jackson and Coraline; however, they seem to be stuck in some kind of massive Venus flytrap. We tried to get them out, but our attempts were unsuccessful. However, you two might have better luck since you utilize bladed weapons." 

Alexander, while still listening, was more focused on seeing if there was any change in development of Sandro's battle. So, Lioness spoke for them both, "Before we can rescue them, we have to deal with these things, since they're not going to let us pass without trying to rip us apart." 

Curie recognized this and was about to start coming up with a method to deal with such a large group of creatures when Sandro interrupted her thoughts. 

While leaning back out of the way of two creatures that had lunged into the air in an attempt to bite off his head, Sandro proceeded to catch the creatures by the neck while simultaneously slamming their heads into one another. He then briefly joined the conversation, "Don't worry about these guys. I've got a fluffing good idea of how to deal with them." He unceremoniously dropped the creatures before launching a forward kick at another that had tried to lunge at him. His attention then shifted toward Lioness. "I just need a little help from you, my heavily injured, sword-wielding beauty."