A/N: Just a silly little thing I thought of. xD
Title: All Tied Up
Rating: K
Genre: Humor
World: EBF4
The setting sun cast an orange glow over the clearing that Anna, Matt, Natalie, and Lance had chosen to camp in for the night. Natalie's head was bent over one of her boots as she worked to get a new lace threaded to replace the old, frayed one. Anna was whittling a stick with a small pocket knife, carving random swirls into the wood. Lance was staring into the non-existent flames of their non-existent campfire. Matt was nowhere to be seen. The gunner flopped onto his back with a massive sigh.
"How long can it possibly take to gather a few branches and come back? We're in the middle of a forest for Godcat's sake," Lance grumbled.
Anna glanced up from her carving to look at the sun, starting a little as she realized how late it was getting. "You're right, he's been gone for a long time," she mused with a frown. She glanced over at Lance and asked, "Do you think he's in trouble?"
"I don't think there are any monsters around here that would be a problem for Matt," Natalie said. She set her fixed boot on the ground and slipped her foot back into it. The mage laced the last bit up and tied a knot before looking over at Anna, "Maybe he fell asleep somewhere?"
Lance snorted from where he was lying on the ground, "There's a high possibility of that."
Anna tossed her whittled branch into the empty fire pit and stood up, "Might as well go look for him. He's probably eaten something weird and is having a trip again."
"You'd think he would've learned his lesson after the slimes," Lance grumbled. He stood up and swung his rifle onto his back.
Natalie laughed as she stood as well, "Or after the Sandworm incident, or after the shrooms, or after that giant bug."
The three headed into the trees to look for their missing companion. When they didn't seen any trace of Matt's passing after several minutes of walking, the three began to get worried. Natalie called the swordsman's name, but the only reply was an echo of her voice and the rustling of a monster in the foliage. Lance and Anna tried yelling Matt's name next, but got the same result. The three exchanged concerned glances.
Natalie cupped her hands over her mouth and yelled, "HEY, MATT, WE HAVE SOME BEER FOR YOU!"
Still, there was only an echo as a reply, "-beer for you… for you… you…"
Natalie lowered her hands, "Well that should have brought him running, even if he was asleep. Maybe he fell and got hurt?"
Lance shrugged, "It's a possibility. Let's spilt up and meet back here in ten minutes or so."
The other two nodded the three headed in separate directions, calling the missing swordsman's name as they went. Lance trekked through the trees; pausing every few steps to yell for Matt. The only thing he ever heard was his own voice's echo and sometimes Natalie's or Anna's as they called for the swordsman. The sun set and the moon began to rise, making the forest even darker than normal.
The gunner shoved his way through a bush and stopped with a sigh as he still had not found any sign of Matt's passing, and by the calls echoing through the trees, neither had Anna or Natalie. Lance grunted and turned to head back to the meeting point only to pause as a flash of reflected moonlight in a patch of ferns caught his eye. He stepped over to the plants and pushed them aside to reveal Matt's sword Heaven's Gate. Matt's pirate hat sat discarded on top of the blade
With a gulp, Lance readied his own weapon, glancing around the clearing for whatever had taken Matt down. The only other things in the area were a small pile of branches and a banana. Lance stared at the fruit, completely bewildered. Even if Anna was the party expert on local fauna, Lance knew that bananas were not a native fruit to the area, and the party hadn't been to town to restock in several days. He stepped forward to grab the fruit, only to freeze as a thought occurred to him. The gunner glanced up and burst out laughing.
The missing swordsman was hanging upside down by his feet from a tree branch above Lance's head; Matt had been caught in a trap for animals. Lance doubled over laughing before calming down enough to straighten and yell for Anna and Natalie that he had found Matt. He listened with satisfaction to the return cheers before a groan from overhead dragged his gaze back up.
OOOOOO
Matt's eye's opened as he heard a familiar yell come from below him. To his dismay, he was still hanging from a rope in a tree. He groaned as his head pounded from the excess blood rushing to it from hanging upside down. He opened his eyes and looked to the ground to see Lance looking back up at him. The gunner's arms were folded across his chest. A wide smirk of amusement was plastered on his face, paired with a single arched brow.
"I think this is a new low for you, man. Or maybe, I should say it's a new high?" Lance said with amusement clear in his voice.
"Hah hah, very funny, Lance" Matt said flatly. He writhed a little bit, but all that accomplished was to set him spinning. He glared at the spinning face below him before shutting his eyes as his stomach lurched. "Are you going to help me, or not?" Matt asked with a slightly queasy face.
Lance grinned, but didn't get a chance to say anything as Natalie and Anna came crashing into the clearing. They stared at the gunner who merely jerked his head upward with a wide grin on his face. The two women looked confused until the spotted Matt hanging from the trees, still slowly spinning. Matt grumbled as Anna burst out in laughter and Natalie covered her mouth with one hand to try and hide her grin.
Anna wiped tears of mirth out of her eyes and grinned up at the trapped swordsman. "Got a little caught up in something, huh?" she asked.
Natalie snorted, "He does seem to be in a bit of a bind. How did you set this off?"
Lance waved to the banana on the ground, "That piece of fruit was so irresistible it swept him off his feet."
"Everyone's a comedian," Matt deadpanned. His eyes took on a pleading look, "Get me down; I feel like I'm going to hurl."
"I think you mean you're going to twirl," Natalie laughed.
"Hang in there while we find where it's attached," Anna said with a grin.
Matt let out groan, "Are the puns going to end anytime soon?"
Lance grinned, "Frayed knot, bro."
Natalie and Anna burst out laughing at the scowl on Matt's face. Finally, the three on the ground moved to find where the rope was tied on the ground. They waved to Matt to brace himself as Lance readied his gunblade to slice through the rope. With a snapping sound, Matt dropped to the ground, catching himself on his hands and sliding onto his back. The other three watched with matching amused looks as the swordsman struggled to release his legs from the rope. He finally pulled the binding off his legs and stood up to glare at the others.
"Well, now that Matt is done hanging out, let's head back to camp" Natalie said with a grin.
Anna patted the Matt's back as he glared at the mage, "Sorry Matt, it was too funny."
Lance snorted, "He deserved it. Who grabs random tropical fruits off the ground in an evergreen forest?"
Matt's eyes brightened, "Oh, that's right!"
Before Anna could stop him, the swordsman ran to pick up the fruit. Seconds later, he was dangling in a second snare. The ranger's face morphed into a grin, "How did he knot think of that?"
Lance frowned, "I'm running out of puns."
"Well, Matt's a little tied up in something right now. Let's think of a few more," Natalie said with a wide smile, eyes sparkling with laughter.
The three burst out laughing again Matt groaned in annoyance and resigned himself to several more rope puns before they got around to letting him down again.
A/N: Yay! Awful puns!
In other news: to anyone who was waiting for the sequel to 'An Epic Retelling,' the first chapter is up. I will be updating it on Mondays each week until I run out of new material or it finishes. ;)
