Chapter Text
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Mike called up.
"At least it's fun!" Art shouted back from the second highest place in the shaky stack of monsters, though it was barely intelligible through all the tentacles in his face.
"Speak for yourself!" Sulley groaned as he did his best to keep Squishy's feet firmly planted on his shoulders.
Mike really did not think his friends could keep this up for much longer. "I still think we should just get a monster with wings!" he told them yet again. "I'm sure Professor Wilsterbury would…"
"…kick us out for breaking school rules," Terry interrupted him as he fiddled with Don's suctions cups that just would not come off the tree branch. "Now shut up, I need to concentrate!"
"I'm sorry!" Don promised as he tried, in vain, to pull his arms off the branch himself. "They're so sticky today! I should have hidden someplace else!"
"But you did great!" Terri argued, working on Don's left arm.
Mike bit his lip. While that was true, it had been half an hour ago. They were wasting time, and they were risking consequences. Maybe not expulsion, but Terry was right, damaging the landscape for training was generally frowned upon at this school.
"Guys," Squishy mumbled, clutching Art's legs a little tighter so that they would stay wrapped around him, "don't struggle like that, I can barely keep my balance…"
"These things just won't come off!" Terry complained, giving a hearty yank.
"Woah!" Sulley exclaimed as he overbalanced and lost his grip on Squishy's legs.
Mike wisely took a few steps backwards.
The twins must have realized that Sulley's support at the bottom was gone. They clutched the branch in seeming reflex to break the fall, except that the branch was too brittle. And fell along with them.
Mike closed his eye in sympathy as there was a mighty crash right in front of him. "Are you all right?" he then called over as he ran toward them.
It took a moment for all of them to extricate themselves from the pile in a daze. "Couldn't be better!" Sulley deadpanned.
"I'm not so sure," Don mumbled, regarding the dead branch to which he was still attached.
Now that they were all on the ground, though, they could work on the problem together, so when two people pulled on the branch and two on each of Don's arms, the suction cups finally came off.
"Thanks, guys!" Don exclaimed cheerfully, but Mike did not give him the time to be relieved. Someone must have heard the commotion.
"Okay, back to base camp, everyone," he commanded, waving at them to get them to move. "Hurry, hurry!"
Thankfully, they knew better by now than to question orders like this one. Immediately, they all scrambled to their feet or tentacles and bolted. With a little luck, they would all be out of here without drawing attention.
Luck, and common sense. "Art, you are not using that branch for camouflage!"