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Description

Foxtraps.

By FOXCARROTS

Chapter Seven:

“The Floor Puzzle.”

    The fox girls were all weary of going from room to room, not just from the traps but the exertion. They had walked for miles to reach the ruins and now were trapped inside with no rest. Their feet hurt and their muscles throbbed. Worst of all was Mango, one of the youngest, who wanted little more than food and rest. Though as she thought about it, the thing she absolutely wanted was for her feet to stop being sticky. Left over from the jello trap, the soles of hers and two other’s feet were coated with an irremovable sticky curse. It was like a film of perpetually sticky glue that coated her soles and bottom of toes and every time it contacted with the floor it stuck. With a jerk and strain she could stretch and release the glue but every step requited this and the more she stood in place the worse her soles would stick in place. It was a nightmare, and one she could not wake up from. As she struggled to keep up with the group her only solace was that she was not alone. Riffen and Riki were also cursed with sticky soles and they moved together as they struggled to walk.

    The group entered the next room and cautiously fanned out. There was no fox already in the room and that meant only one thing…the trap in the room had not yet been sprung! Shina took command of the current room and moved forward. Her toes wiggled and she took a few steps as if she expected her feet to permanently stick to the floor or some sort of bondage to attach to her. However, after a few steps she realised that her feet remained free…at least for the time being.

    “Nothing immediately got me.” Shina said as she looked back. “I’m still free!”

    The other foxes moved further out into the room, looking around suspiciously as if waiting for the trap to spring at any moment. The room seemed empty except for a strange segment of floor in the center of the room. It consisted of dozens of small square panels, each with a hole in the center. The panels filled the space save for one empty slot close to the door they came through.

    Drell moved forward and explored, moving to the door on the other side of the chamber. She examined it thoroughly before turning back to the others. “Locked tight and there’s no keyhole or mechanism. Theres no way to force it open, there has to be some kind of external mechanism.”

    The group looked around the room, finding nothing that could be used to open the door. The room though spacious seemed to house nothing but the metal plated section of floor, the door in and the door out. Since the door in had closed behind the last fox it was only the other two that would be any help to the group.

    “It seems that there is no way to cheat this room.” Shina said as she put her hands on her hips and sighed. “We need to figure out the solution to unlock the door.”

    Mango took a few sticky steps. The jelly slime on her soles pulling at her skin with each step. She felt useless, she felt frustrated, she wanted to contribute. That was when it occurred to her, the path to the solution they were so desperately looking for.

    “It’s a puzzle!” Mango said proudly. “We need to solve it to get the door to open!”

    “What do you mean by puzzle?” Shina asked. “Do you know how to solve it?”

    “I think I do.” Mango nodded as she walked over to the puzzle with sticky steps. “It is like a puzzle you give to children. There are many panels and an open space. You can move the panels around and solve the puzzle.”

    “I think she’s right.” Lian said as she gestured to the floor with her stone coated hand. “The empty spot is at one corner, and I think if we can get it to the opposite corner by the door it should open.”

    Drell knelt down and examined one of the panels next to the open space. “They won’t move on their own. It looks like the panels are in pairs that have to be moved in conjunction and there is a pressure plate in each panel through the hole.”

    “I can’t say I like the idea of anyone putting their hands in those holes.” Leeka commented.

    “It’s not for our hands.” Drell commented. “It’s for our feet.”

    “This could be like the clamp trap.” Shina suggested. “Just waiting for someone to put their feet in and then CLANK!”

    “Well, we can’t open the door without solving the puzzle.” Drell commented. “We need to try it.”

    “I’ll do it.” Mango volunteered. “It was my idea about the puzzle and my feet are ruined with this goop anyway. Let me test it.”

    “Alright.” Shina nodded. “Only if you’re sure.”

    “I am.” Mango nodded. She moved toward the puzzle, sticking with each step before placing one foot in a panel hole before sliding the other in. There was no clank, and she was able to draw her feet out freely. “No clamp but I can’t move the pieces.”

    “I think we all need to set foot in them.” Drell commented. “Theres nine of us here and nine pairs of panels.”

    Everyone looked to Shina and Leeka, the leaders of the groups and they looked at each other. They sighed and turned to their followers and one by one they slid their feet into the holes in the panels. As the last one slid the foot in, they could feel the panels unlock so they could be moved.

    “Well now it should be solvable.” Drell said as she shifted. There was a clank and she gasped. She looked down and discovered that the hole had shrunk and now was locked around her ankle. She tried to free the other and found it also locked. One by one the other foxes tried to take their feet out of the holes but were disheartened to find that both of their feet were locked in tight.

    “Great now we’re all stuck!” Shina said as she yanked at her ankle with all her strength straining her leg but not causing the metal arresting her to move at all. “Drell, can you get us out of these?”

    “Our feet are sealed in tight!” Drell answered as she pried at the metal enclosing her ankle. “The mechanism can’t be unlocked from the outside.”

    “Then we break it!” Titania said as she attacked at her panels with her weapons to no avail, the heavy blades just bouncing off.”

    All of the foxes frantically tried to unlock their feet. Some used magic, some used tools, each attacked the bonds in their own way. But after half of an hour, it became clear that the foot clamps on the panels could not be forcibly opened by any means.

    “Stop panicking!” Leeka said in the most commanding voice she could summon. “There is a solution to this we just have to stay calm and find it. The following door would not be there if this trap was meant to keep everyone here.”

    “She’s right.” Mango added. “We just need to solve the puzzle. The door on this side is open with the corner on this side so it will open with the others. I am convinced when we get the pieces to where they need to go it will release our feet.”

    “Well, that seems to be our only hope then, isn’t it?” Titiana suggested. “Because otherwise we are stuck.”

    “Tell us what to do.” Shina said as she looked to Mango. “Let’s solve this thing!”

    Mango thought for a second, seeing the solution come together in her head. She began to tell the others moves to make. The others struggled and one by one the panels began to move. Some were momentarily twisted at uncomfortable angles, but it was working. Foxes were moving around each other, and they were moving the empty spot to the other side.

    “Ok Alexandria you are at your end position once you move your left foot to the edge.” Mango explained.

    Once Alexandria moved her foot in place there were two clanks and the holes holding her feet opened. She stepped out and shook her feet out in relief. “Thank you, Mango, that is a huge relief.”

    Mango continued to direct the others and as they arrived at their end points the cuffs opened and released their feet. Mango was the last one to move, sliding a foot in place to leave the empty spot at the corner. “Is the door unlocked?”

    “Not yet.” Drell said as she looked at the door. “Is there anything else you can try?”

    “I have one more idea.” Mango said as she slid her left foot panel into the corner. There was a click and a new panel slid in to cover the open panel, finishing the sequence and solving the puzzle. The door clicked and slowly slid open, revealing the hallway to the next room beyond.

    “Mango, you did it!” Shina said proudly as she gestured for the others to gather by the door. “Let’s head to the next room.”

    “Sure thing.” Mango said but her proud smile disappeared suddenly as a clank was heard at her ankle. She looked down and to her horror discovered that both of her feet were still firmly locked into the holes of the floor panel. She tried again but both were still locked in tight. “Ummm…I’m still locked in.”

    Shina and Drell moved over and crouched down by Mango’s feet. They examined the panels but could not budge the clamps that were tight around the younger fox girls’ ankles.

    “Maybe we can go ack and solve it a different way.” Drell suggested. “A way where all of us will step free.”

    “Or we do it again.” Shina commented. “I’ll take her place. Lock me in here and Mango continues on.”

    “I don’t think you can.” Alexandra said as she walked up. “The open panel was filled with the new panel. We literally can’t move any of the panels and it wont matter.”

    “No, we have to try!” Shina said as she got up and moved to the panels she had stepped out of. She tried to slide her foot in, but the clamp closed before she could put her foot it. “I can’t get my feet back into this thing!”

    “It’s solved and locked.” Drell commented. “The trap has been sprung and it has its victim. Theres nothing, we can do.”

    “No!” Shina shouted. “Mango is under my command, and I have already left Chex behind to stay stuck. We are going to get her out of that device and leave together.”

    Leeka moved in and put her hands on Shina’s shoulders to attempt to calm her down. “I know how it feels to leave someone behind. Alani is still glued to the spot and Rina is cuffed up in that apparatus. This hurts, even seeing the girls from the other team stuck. However, we have to stay strong we have to find the solution to this place. The only chance anyone is getting unstuck is if we solve this place.”

    “She’s right!” Mango said, managing he bravest face. “If we have learned anything once this place has you, it keeps you. Besides, even if we did get my feet out of these things I would still stick with every step. You already got three foxes stuck with persistent things they are stuck with so one less will make you move faster.”

    “It’s not like that!” Shina insisted. “We take care of each other no matter what the issue is!”

    “Then go solve this place so this crap can be undone.” Mango said as she gestured down at her feet. “Get me out, get us all out.”

    “You are being so brave.” Shina commented. “You were so freaked out when Rina was trapped.”

    “I’m as surprised as you.” Mango laughed. “I guess once it’s you it feels different. So go…give the ruins hell and fix this.”

    “I will.” Shina promised. “I will save us all.”

    Mango kept her brave face up as the group left the room. It wasn’t until they were gone, and the door closed again that she allowed herself to cry.

-

Description

Foxtraps.

By FOXCARROTS

Chapter Seven:

“The Floor Puzzle.”

    The fox girls were all weary of going from room to room, not just from the traps but the exertion. They had walked for miles to reach the ruins and now were trapped inside with no rest. Their feet hurt and their muscles throbbed. Worst of all was Mango, one of the youngest, who wanted little more than food and rest. Though as she thought about it, the thing she absolutely wanted was for her feet to stop being sticky. Left over from the jello trap, the soles of hers and two other’s feet were coated with an irremovable sticky curse. It was like a film of perpetually sticky glue that coated her soles and bottom of toes and every time it contacted with the floor it stuck. With a jerk and strain she could stretch and release the glue but every step requited this and the more she stood in place the worse her soles would stick in place. It was a nightmare, and one she could not wake up from. As she struggled to keep up with the group her only solace was that she was not alone. Riffen and Riki were also cursed with sticky soles and they moved together as they struggled to walk.

    The group entered the next room and cautiously fanned out. There was no fox already in the room and that meant only one thing…the trap in the room had not yet been sprung! Shina took command of the current room and moved forward. Her toes wiggled and she took a few steps as if she expected her feet to permanently stick to the floor or some sort of bondage to attach to her. However, after a few steps she realised that her feet remained free…at least for the time being.

    “Nothing immediately got me.” Shina said as she looked back. “I’m still free!”

    The other foxes moved further out into the room, looking around suspiciously as if waiting for the trap to spring at any moment. The room seemed empty except for a strange segment of floor in the center of the room. It consisted of dozens of small square panels, each with a hole in the center. The panels filled the space save for one empty slot close to the door they came through.

    Drell moved forward and explored, moving to the door on the other side of the chamber. She examined it thoroughly before turning back to the others. “Locked tight and there’s no keyhole or mechanism. Theres no way to force it open, there has to be some kind of external mechanism.”

    The group looked around the room, finding nothing that could be used to open the door. The room though spacious seemed to house nothing but the metal plated section of floor, the door in and the door out. Since the door in had closed behind the last fox it was only the other two that would be any help to the group.

    “It seems that there is no way to cheat this room.” Shina said as she put her hands on her hips and sighed. “We need to figure out the solution to unlock the door.”

    Mango took a few sticky steps. The jelly slime on her soles pulling at her skin with each step. She felt useless, she felt frustrated, she wanted to contribute. That was when it occurred to her, the path to the solution they were so desperately looking for.

    “It’s a puzzle!” Mango said proudly. “We need to solve it to get the door to open!”

    “What do you mean by puzzle?” Shina asked. “Do you know how to solve it?”

    “I think I do.” Mango nodded as she walked over to the puzzle with sticky steps. “It is like a puzzle you give to children. There are many panels and an open space. You can move the panels around and solve the puzzle.”

    “I think she’s right.” Lian said as she gestured to the floor with her stone coated hand. “The empty spot is at one corner, and I think if we can get it to the opposite corner by the door it should open.”

    Drell knelt down and examined one of the panels next to the open space. “They won’t move on their own. It looks like the panels are in pairs that have to be moved in conjunction and there is a pressure plate in each panel through the hole.”

    “I can’t say I like the idea of anyone putting their hands in those holes.” Leeka commented.

    “It’s not for our hands.” Drell commented. “It’s for our feet.”

    “This could be like the clamp trap.” Shina suggested. “Just waiting for someone to put their feet in and then CLANK!”

    “Well, we can’t open the door without solving the puzzle.” Drell commented. “We need to try it.”

    “I’ll do it.” Mango volunteered. “It was my idea about the puzzle and my feet are ruined with this goop anyway. Let me test it.”

    “Alright.” Shina nodded. “Only if you’re sure.”

    “I am.” Mango nodded. She moved toward the puzzle, sticking with each step before placing one foot in a panel hole before sliding the other in. There was no clank, and she was able to draw her feet out freely. “No clamp but I can’t move the pieces.”

    “I think we all need to set foot in them.” Drell commented. “Theres nine of us here and nine pairs of panels.”

    Everyone looked to Shina and Leeka, the leaders of the groups and they looked at each other. They sighed and turned to their followers and one by one they slid their feet into the holes in the panels. As the last one slid the foot in, they could feel the panels unlock so they could be moved.

    “Well now it should be solvable.” Drell said as she shifted. There was a clank and she gasped. She looked down and discovered that the hole had shrunk and now was locked around her ankle. She tried to free the other and found it also locked. One by one the other foxes tried to take their feet out of the holes but were disheartened to find that both of their feet were locked in tight.

    “Great now we’re all stuck!” Shina said as she yanked at her ankle with all her strength straining her leg but not causing the metal arresting her to move at all. “Drell, can you get us out of these?”

    “Our feet are sealed in tight!” Drell answered as she pried at the metal enclosing her ankle. “The mechanism can’t be unlocked from the outside.”

    “Then we break it!” Titania said as she attacked at her panels with her weapons to no avail, the heavy blades just bouncing off.”

    All of the foxes frantically tried to unlock their feet. Some used magic, some used tools, each attacked the bonds in their own way. But after half of an hour, it became clear that the foot clamps on the panels could not be forcibly opened by any means.

    “Stop panicking!” Leeka said in the most commanding voice she could summon. “There is a solution to this we just have to stay calm and find it. The following door would not be there if this trap was meant to keep everyone here.”

    “She’s right.” Mango added. “We just need to solve the puzzle. The door on this side is open with the corner on this side so it will open with the others. I am convinced when we get the pieces to where they need to go it will release our feet.”

    “Well, that seems to be our only hope then, isn’t it?” Titiana suggested. “Because otherwise we are stuck.”

    “Tell us what to do.” Shina said as she looked to Mango. “Let’s solve this thing!”

    Mango thought for a second, seeing the solution come together in her head. She began to tell the others moves to make. The others struggled and one by one the panels began to move. Some were momentarily twisted at uncomfortable angles, but it was working. Foxes were moving around each other, and they were moving the empty spot to the other side.

    “Ok Alexandria you are at your end position once you move your left foot to the edge.” Mango explained.

    Once Alexandria moved her foot in place there were two clanks and the holes holding her feet opened. She stepped out and shook her feet out in relief. “Thank you, Mango, that is a huge relief.”

    Mango continued to direct the others and as they arrived at their end points the cuffs opened and released their feet. Mango was the last one to move, sliding a foot in place to leave the empty spot at the corner. “Is the door unlocked?”

    “Not yet.” Drell said as she looked at the door. “Is there anything else you can try?”

    “I have one more idea.” Mango said as she slid her left foot panel into the corner. There was a click and a new panel slid in to cover the open panel, finishing the sequence and solving the puzzle. The door clicked and slowly slid open, revealing the hallway to the next room beyond.

    “Mango, you did it!” Shina said proudly as she gestured for the others to gather by the door. “Let’s head to the next room.”

    “Sure thing.” Mango said but her proud smile disappeared suddenly as a clank was heard at her ankle. She looked down and to her horror discovered that both of her feet were still firmly locked into the holes of the floor panel. She tried again but both were still locked in tight. “Ummm…I’m still locked in.”

    Shina and Drell moved over and crouched down by Mango’s feet. They examined the panels but could not budge the clamps that were tight around the younger fox girls’ ankles.

    “Maybe we can go ack and solve it a different way.” Drell suggested. “A way where all of us will step free.”

    “Or we do it again.” Shina commented. “I’ll take her place. Lock me in here and Mango continues on.”

    “I don’t think you can.” Alexandra said as she walked up. “The open panel was filled with the new panel. We literally can’t move any of the panels and it wont matter.”

    “No, we have to try!” Shina said as she got up and moved to the panels she had stepped out of. She tried to slide her foot in, but the clamp closed before she could put her foot it. “I can’t get my feet back into this thing!”

    “It’s solved and locked.” Drell commented. “The trap has been sprung and it has its victim. Theres nothing, we can do.”

    “No!” Shina shouted. “Mango is under my command, and I have already left Chex behind to stay stuck. We are going to get her out of that device and leave together.”

    Leeka moved in and put her hands on Shina’s shoulders to attempt to calm her down. “I know how it feels to leave someone behind. Alani is still glued to the spot and Rina is cuffed up in that apparatus. This hurts, even seeing the girls from the other team stuck. However, we have to stay strong we have to find the solution to this place. The only chance anyone is getting unstuck is if we solve this place.”

    “She’s right!” Mango said, managing he bravest face. “If we have learned anything once this place has you, it keeps you. Besides, even if we did get my feet out of these things I would still stick with every step. You already got three foxes stuck with persistent things they are stuck with so one less will make you move faster.”

    “It’s not like that!” Shina insisted. “We take care of each other no matter what the issue is!”

    “Then go solve this place so this crap can be undone.” Mango said as she gestured down at her feet. “Get me out, get us all out.”

    “You are being so brave.” Shina commented. “You were so freaked out when Rina was trapped.”

    “I’m as surprised as you.” Mango laughed. “I guess once it’s you it feels different. So go…give the ruins hell and fix this.”

    “I will.” Shina promised. “I will save us all.”

    Mango kept her brave face up as the group left the room. It wasn’t until they were gone, and the door closed again that she allowed herself to cry.

-