"…I really hate this place now." England signed after realizing that they ended up in an enclosed room filled with snakes, and the path they came from was also blocked by a rock wall right after they came into this room.

"Look on the bright side; at least none of these snakes are poisonous." Hong Kong comforted in a somewhat sarcastic way.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Suddenly, England's ears picked up lots screaming.

"Hey, did you hear something?" England turned to ask Hong Kong, who was now holding a snake in his hand, playfully wrapping it around his wrist.

…Is this some new way of measuring snakes?

"Huh? That invisible voice again? Are you sure you don't need to go get your ears checked? It is getting annoying you know." Hong Kong shot England the 'are you insane' look.

"No you git! I bet my identity as a gentleman that this time it is real. It is even getting louder." England insisted.

"Your identity as a gentleman? Then I really can't trust you." Hong Kong mocked in his deadpan voice and poker face.

"Why you…" England gritted his teeth.

"That aside, I hate to agree with you, but you are right this time. The scream seems to be coming from above." Hong Kong pointed to the celling.

"I sound weird saying this when you agree with me, but how is it possible for it to come up from up there-"

England was interrupted by a sudden crash, followed by the celling that gave way and a whole lot of countries raining down on the carpet of snakes. Poor snakes, America almost squashed a few thanks to his weight.

"You were saying?" Hong Kong stared at England, whose eyes were as big as ping pong ball by this point.

"…Forget it, I am kind of getting used to this kind of random crap somehow." England sighed.

"England! We found you at last!" America exclaimed as he immediately stood up and waved.

…That was somehow very idiotic looking.

"Oui, big brother has arrived~" France winked and blew a kiss at England, who immediately attacked with scones.

"Go away you pervert! Why the hell are all of you here?" England shouted. If they were the ones screaming just now, then why is he still hearing screams?

"Ahaha! The hero (me) has guided them here to save you and Hong Kong." America laughed.

"No thank you. I am better off staying here than to be saved by a hamburger idiot." England mocked.

"Ve! Germany! Save me! There are snakes all around us! Save me! Save me! Save me!" Italy cried as he clung to the rocky wall, desperately trying not to touch the ground.

"… Tell you what; you can stay there for the moment while we try to sort things out." Germany sighed, just when he thought Italy would be a little more independent.

"Don't worry Italy, they are all non-poisonous snakes. You can simply sweep them away like this, da." Russia smiled as he started swinging his pipe around, smacking snakes out of his path.

"Brother, what about those red and black colour ones?" Belarus pointed to the other corner of the room, where a group of snakes of a different colour were slowly moving towards them.

"Ah, this is bad. Those snakes are very well poisonous. I suggest you get away from them even if you are not human." Hong Kong warned, sounding a little worried.

"But if we don't provoke them, they won't bite right?" England asked, convincing himself that the screaming was probably his imagination, though Italy was indeed screaming and whining by now.

"That may be tru-"

Hong Kong's sentence was cut by yet another crash and the celling right above the group of poisonous snakes gave way, and down came Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea, landing right in the middle of the poisonous snakes.

"Teacher! Taiwan and Korea! Don't move!" Hong Kong shouted worriedly, his expressionless face was now written with worries and anxiety.

"No-no problem da-daze!" Korea stuttered, sitting in a rather stiff position.

"Japan! Hang in there! We are getting coming to help!" Germany shouted, but was stopped by France.

"Didn't you hear what Hong Kong said? You will just add to the trouble." France advised.

"Then what do you want me to do? Just stand here and watch them get attacked?" Germany argued.

"Quick England! Throw your scones at the snakes! Maybe they will back away because they taste too horrible!" America suggested with a serious expression.

"YOU BLOODY IDIOT! WHY DON'T I THROW YOU AT THE SNAKES AND HAVE YOUR WEIGHT SQUASH THEM INSTEAD?" England lost it.

"You think that would work?" America asked with a surprised expression.

"… I forgot. You are an idiot." England gave up.

"Tch, guess I have no choice. England, do you still have that lighter I gave you just now?" Hong Kong asked.

"Well, yeah. But I don't think the flame from one small lighter is enough to scare the snakes away." England remarked as he passed him the lighter.

"After 99 years of sharing your room with me, do you really think that is what I am capable of?" Hong Kong grinned.

"Shit, you don't mean…"

"That exactly." Hong Kong turned to face China and the others trapped with the snakes.

"Teacher, you can thank me for not listening to you later, now I want everyone to stay low, especially teacher, Taiwan, Korea and Japan." Hong Kong ordered as he took out the big and thick fire cracker he showed England earlier.

"Ahh! Hong Kong! I told you to stop bringing fire crackers wherever you go aru!" China shouted.

"Does that really matter right now? Hurry up and light it already!" France hurried.

"Here goes nothing." Hong Kong lit the huge fire cracker up and threw it at the group of poisonous snakes.

The fire cracker exploded quickly and immediately filled the room with smoke and the smell of gunpowder. Snakes were visibly flying in the air and coughing was heard.

Within seconds, everything ended and the smoke was cleared. The once poisonous snake infested spot was not completely free of snakes and uncovered a trigger on the ground close to Taiwan.

Deciding that anywhere else would be better than a place like this, Taiwan hit the trigger with all she's got and immediately, a small tunnel opened up on the wall that Italy was clinging onto.

"Good job! Now everyone hurry and get into that tunnel before the snakes come back again!" Germany ordered. At the same time, the other walls and ceiling parts were starting to give way.

"Wha-what is going on da ze?" Korea did not like the shaking.

"I am afraid that the explosion earlier has weakened the room. We have to hurry, or we may be buried in here alive." Japan said in a dead serious tone.

"ve? But that tunnel is at least 2 meters off the ground! I can't reach it!" Italy panicked.

"Da, let's send America up first, he is strong enough to pull everyone else up." Russia suggested.

"Alright! That would be what the hero will do! Hey Russia and Germany! Give me a lift!" America agreed and with the help of Russia and Germany, got into the tunnel with ease.

"Hey guys! It seems that the tunnel can only allow one person at once, so I can only pull one person up, and that person will have to pull the next person up. Let's get the stronger ones to come up first" America ordered.

"Got it. Russia, you can go next." England analysed.

"Da, is it really alright for me to go up next? Who is going to support the others from here then?" Russia asked.

"We will do it in twos, so don't worry." France answered.

"Don't worry brother; you can stay here with me if you want." Belarus chanted.

"On second thought, America, please get me up there now." Russia insisted.

After that, Russia pulled Germany up with the support of France and England. Then Germany pulled France up with the support of England and Korea. But when it was England's turn, he decided to go last since he was needed to help support the other countries. So Korea went ahead, followed by Japan, then Belarus, Italy, Taiwan and finally Hong Kong.

But here came the problem. Only China and England are left, and one person is needed to support the other in order to reach Hong Kong. In other words, Hong Kong can only save one of them.

"Hong Kong! What are you waiting for? Hurry up and pull one of us up! The walls won't hold on for long and the snakes are back!" China was starting to panic, the misfortune with snakes he had in the last few thousand years caused him to hate this animal a lot.

"Pull who up? Both of you are very important to me!" Hong Kong shouted.

He cannot bear to make a choice; he could not decide to leave any one of them here.

"Hong Kong…" China's panic stricken face was replaced by a slight grin. So the others were right. Hong Kong does care about him.

"Save China then." England suddenly said.

"What? But I can't just leave you her-"

"HONG KONG! Remember what I told you earlier? He needs you more than me. So hurry up and save your teacher already." England ordered and without warning, lifted China up and forced Hong Kong to pull China up.

"Thank you England! But what about you?" China looked down from the tunnel and asked, both grateful and worried.

"Me? I will be testing out the theory that countries cannot die. Now hurry up and get going." England smiled.

"England!" Hong Kong shouted, refusing to move.

"Hong Kong! Move! If you don't, then all three of us would be trapped here. We will come save him later aru!" China rushed and pulled Hong Kong with him as he ran up the fleet of stairs the tunnel led to.

Within minutes, the two of them were back on the surface where the others were and collapsed on the ground.

"Hong Kong! Teacher! You made it! I was getting worried!" Taiwan heaved a sigh of relief.

"Ahaha! Good job everyone! Did we all make it?" America asked.

"…" China looked away.

"Hmm? Teacher, you looked worried. Is something wrong?" Taiwan asked.

"England… England he…" Hong Kong stuttered as America's carefree smile slowly turned into a frown.

"England he what? You jerk! You did not save him?" America pulled Hong Kong up by the collar.

"I wanted to… But he-" Hong Kong could not think of an excuse for himself, not to persuade America, but to persuade himself.

"China, bring the rest of them back to your place. Russia, lend me your pipe." America let go of Hong Kong and caught the pipe that Russia threw him.

"Make sure to return it da." Russia smiled as America turned and walked down the stairs.

"Oi-Oii, where are going with that?" France asked, worried that this idiot may do something stupid.

"I am going to save him." America announced.

"Wait America san! You won't make it in time! Both of you will-"

"He is very important to me, and I will not let go of him now." America cut into Japan's sentence and stormed down the stairs.

The other countries did nothing but watched quietly as America disappeared from the surface, all stunned and speechless.