Akko felt her hand encase around the rod and felt the surge of magical current rush through her veins before the newest member of her company made noise.

She couldn't resist the urge to scream and run, barely holding on to her new staff despite herself and striving to clutch the box that she also held closer to herself, "What was that?"
"It's a Mandrake, a poisonous plant." Her voice held calm and the monotone ring of it enchanted Akko's ears despite her own attempts to keep that at bay.

Vines twisted and curled from behind them as Akko struggled to keep up with the two other girls that proved much faster than her or rather had the head start to make it much farther in less time when compared to the Mandrake behind them.

The thunk of a head hitting a tree resonated throughout Akko's skull as she toppled head over feet from where she'd tripped.

"Come here for a sec" never sounded as scary as it did before Sucy had spoken the words; the mischievous tinge to her scent had Akko backpedaling despite the Omega in her calling for her to just listen to the obviously in control Alpha.

She longed to just close that gap, step within the rings of rope, yet found her stubborn nature pushing against her Omega instincts for once and stood her ground; it was life versus death, wasn't it?

Akko stared at the rope and barely tugged Lotte back from falling into that trap as well, "What's going on?" The question even though spoken from Akko's lips had the rest of her feeling its tremble all the way down within her veins.

"Why does it matter?" Sucy's voice was nearly sarcastic to its monotone as Akko stared at the Alpha before her and felt the first bit of bravery circle her own veins since she'd signed that form almost a month ago; it felt much more powerful than that simple moment as if she'd finally transformed into an Alpha and as if she couldn't go back into being an Omega though she knew that was impossible.

She stared her down and felt the tiniest urge to run, to duck, and to hide as if she wasn't anywhere near strong enough to handle this small amount of defiance towards an Alpha that clearly was much more cunning than Akko even knew how to handle.

Akko knew that an Omega's first instinct when there was a command to an Alpha's voice was to obey while Beta's were less prone to always listen though usually did so; it was as if she'd marked herself a stubborn and dominant Beta in their eyes all of a sudden in one single, nearly fluid moment.

"It matters, because I'm not going to just stand here and be the victim of whatever you're planning." Akko knew that the other girl was definitely planning something by the spike in her smell that told more than any old smile or cruel smirk could.

"Okay, I was going to sacrifice you to the wolves." It was impossible to tell if the more monotone voiced girl was being completely serious or not, but it began to boil within Akko's veins within the fear, the horror, and the anger that an admission like that brought about.

"You were what?" Akko was perhaps a little too prone to overreaction even among the sort of lie that had been told to her as she felt that last word echo around them and caused the loudest 'caw' to erupt behind them and for goosebumps to raise on Akko's skin.

Her only thought in that moment was 'no' as if she'd summoned the worst kind of beast before she turned around and stared up at the tallest rooster that she'd ever seen in her life and as she felt her heart drop in sudden fear.

No screams or halfhearted attempts at running could scare the bird away as Akko saw the fiery anger in those dark brown eyes.