My System has a Glitch

"Whats going on?"william screamed as the vine pulled him up, through the leaves and into the top of the trees.

Finally he felt the goo drying between his fingers and as he tried to let go of the vine but he found it difficult to lift his finger off it.

"I'm glued to it," he cried. "I can't let go,It's this goo."

The vine swung him upwards through the canopy and into the sunlight.

"No!" William said. 'I think I know what this is.'

The vine pulled him down into the tangle of the branches into the dim dark of the jungle. He saw what looked like a green flower bud perched on the body of a tree with the vine coming out from underneath it.

And just as quickly it pulled him in, he saw the flower bud bloom and, he saw burning reds, yellows and purples and it all seemed to glow in the dark.

William quickly realized he was right, these were actually its jaws and he was about to be eaten by a carnivorous plant.

It pulled Willam into its centre; he was powerless at this point, trapped in the vine by the secreted adhesive of the Man-eater, with only a brass knuckle in his inventory.

What could he do with a brass knuckle? He wondered. If he had a boost he could break free of the vine but it was all moving so fast and it was already too late, as the plant swallowed him whole.

In all the rush William had forgotten all about the snakes, the one on his hand and the one on his foot. When he opened his eyes he could see he was in a cocoon walled in by very sensitive petals.

It was wide enough to contain his whole body but too small to move well enough to break free but at least the plant was luminous on the inside.

William could feel the goo running down his fingers, they were more like mucus than glue now.

'So it has some intelligence,' he thought. It nullified the effect of its own glue just in time to let me loose, it's a good hunter but I'm a terrible prey.'

"Ouch!"

William felt a severe sting in his right hand and when he looked at it he saw a black swelling on his palm. The vein around it had gone black with poison.

[GUIDE :Health Monitor]

[Poison Progression: 3%]

'Poison! That snake! I thought it was gone but it left me with something, well it's still not the worst parting gift I ever got.'

William calmed himself as best as he could in a stuffy cocoon with poison running through his veins then he remembered he had read something in the encyclopedia.

'The herbs! there a list of herbs for the poison in the jungle'

William heard a hiss and all the calm he had gathered left him, he swallowed down as much tension as he could.

'It didn't leave,' he thought.

He felt the tip of the snake's tail poke his heel then he felt the other snake slither on its back as it forced its way towards his head.

'Oh no,they're both here.'

He tried to stay as still as he could but with his ear pressed against the belly of the man-eater he could hear something bubbling below him, and with every second it was getting more intense.

William knew at this point nothing was more likely to upset a couple snakes than a raising noise but the noise could only make him wonder, just how a carnivorous plant consumed its food.

William pulled out his Guide then he activated his brass knuckles and only one appeared. It wrapped around his right hand then he remembered he had given the other hand to Nod.

He didn't regret it but what he did regret was the fact that he was lying on his right hand and for him to even use the knuckle he would have to move against the snakes.

William felt the temperature increasing, the bubbles rising fast, he felt like he was being timed like those magicians locked in a box full of water, forced to break a lock with a single pin.

The snake slithered up his ear and William felt the tip of its poisoned tongue wipe a speck of sweat off his face. Right beside him the liquid that had been bubbling underneath shot out from a hole he didn't know was even there and in a matter of moments the cocoon was filled with water.

No, not water, William tasted it by accident, it irritated his tongue and burnt the roof of his mouth. He could see the bubbles all around him now and with the cocoon filled with the strange liquid he was floating in it.

'Activate shield!'

××[SHIELD (level one) ACTIVATED]××

He saw the snakes make spastic movements as they struggled to survive.

'the water, it's poisoning them' he thought. 'Oh how the tables have turned. Anyways, let's get to work.'

[ BOOSTER ×2 MAX RATE ]

With all his added power he punched the walls of the cocoon but it didn't give.

'The world is ruined,' William thought. 'Nothing breaks with him anymore.'

William threw his next blow and it had no effect. He realized the liquid was taking all the power away from his punch, so instead he adjusted his thinking.

'If I can't punch my way through it, I'll try the more traditional way. Instead of forcing my own way, how about I just use the front door.

A tingling sensation was growing on his skin, the strange liquid was beginning to have some effects on him.

[Man-eater acid -2mins]

The blood from the dead snake swirled around his face like poison gas as he placed his hand on the walls of the cocoon.

He ran his hand from side to side trying to find the split between the petals of the cocoon wall.

Ouch!

The severe sting came again to remind him he had a swollen hand.

From his memory he remembered the plant having six petals, so they had to be a distinct demarcation, the line showing where one petal ended and the next one began.

William was still holding his breath but was beginning to feel a little strangled.

Yes!

He felt it and stuck his fingers inside and the water bubbled again. He forced both hands in and had then began pulling at both sides to pry it open.

William gritted his teeth as he tried best he could to force the petals open

'It won't give and I'm almost out of breath with what this did to my tongue, I won't want it going down my stomach.

William pulled and pulled and he even tried pushing till he turned red but it wouldn't bulge the plant was fighting against him and all he could do was keep on fighting back.

But he couldn't do it anymore, he was about to pass out from suffocation.

'It won't give, it's like a wild dog trying to keep its grip on a prey it won't let its jaws open.'

He looked around as he slowly fell unconscious. His worst fears began to set in.

'No I'm going to die here!'

He saw the bubbles rise to his face, he was still trying to hold his breath in, he could see her still waiting on the train.

'I want to get back to you.'

The bubbles surged up again and he remembered the hole at the bottom of the cocoon.

[Poison Progression:4%]