Sam tried not to laugh when nothing happened to him only to have the dead center of the hole retreat after a flashing light. ”Guess it does.” Sam said hoping that it wasn’t a kid who was trying to deal with his mutation. He might have to say something to Juliette about maybe putting a little love behind each strike so it doesn’t hurt anyone, unless she already did. Sam wasn’t sure but it looked like the vines were in pain when they retreated underground.

Sam looked back to Juliette and raised an eyebrow and a grin, ”Maybe you need….” the ground shook slightly around the loose dirt under his foot and he jumped back watching as the vines erupted from the ground where they had vanished a second ago this time they were holding a giant pumpkin. ”What… the…. %@#$?” was all Sam could say as a vine shot out and smacked him in the center of the chest.

Sam flew and landed on his back with the wind knocked out of his lungs, if it wasn’t for the ice covering his chest that was reinforced seconds after the pumpkin beast might have succeeded in knocking him out or killing him. Sam grunted on the ground still looking at the sky. He reached out with his thermal sense and could see that the base of the pumpkin had a warm heat behind it but that didn’t extended to the vines.

Ice quickly formed around him as it started to snow.

Juliette's eyes widened as the vines rose to reveal a pumpkin at the base. It wasn't any normal pumpkin, though. For one thing, it was huge, bigger than she was, and there was something different about it. There was something... Alive about it.

”What… the…. %@#$?”

"Sam!" Juliette yelled as he was thrown backwards by a lashing vine. It was clearly no ordinary vine, either. From the way that Sam had been forced backward onto the ground, there was a great deal of strength behind the blow. That was something that an ordinary vine would not be able to do.

"Are you alright?" She kept her eyes locked on the pumpkin thing as she knelt beside Sam. Ice had formed over his chest as a sort of armour, and she hoped that it had formed soon enough to prevent any broken ribs or worse. The chest plate was quickly joined by a full-body encasement of ice, as well as falling snow around them. 

Juliette shivered in her thin sweater and jeans. At that moment she regretted not taking the offer of the warmer sweater, but there wasn't much she could do about it at that point. There were other things that need more attention, like the flailing pumpkin vines that were landing hard on the ground dangerously close to where she was standing. 

A tendril crashed down on the ice carriage, smashing it into pieces and then sending them flying at the pair with one fell swoop. Juliette ducked, allowing a particularly sharp piece of ice to go soaring were her head had been. A second later and she would have been skewered. 

With one hand protecting her head and the other out forward, she shot off another blast at the thing, doing her best to avoid any other oncoming attacks. 

Sam coughed and tried to fill his lungs as he raised his ‘thumbs-up’ to let his girlfriend or potential girlfriend know he was alright. The ice once again probably saved his life. Sometimes he wished he had powers like Kaz or Sara, then he wouldn’t really get thrown around like this and almost having a dozen cracked ribs. He coughed again and pushed himself up, trying to feel for the situation. The vines had no heat signatures so he had to rely on his vision and thermal sense working together it some times took a second to tell the difference between the two the knock on the ground didn’t help him.

Sam watched as Juliette ducked some ice from the shattered carriage and he grunted that he wasn’t fast enough to preventing the need for her to duck. He was also upset about the now broken pumpkins he had been proud he was able to pick out a few that the human light bulb approved of. A beam of red shot from Juliette’s hand and he turned down his hold slightly of cold around Juliette to prevent himself going blind or being more of a handicap.

”Hey! We worked hard on picking those out!” Sam groaned as he shot some ice behind them to create a small wall between them and the other pumpkin pickers. ”Remain calm and clear the area!” Sam yelled behind him as he used his regular vision to shoot a few beams of ice at the whipping tendrils a few sticking to the ground while a few others shattered when they were swung.

”Aim for the base, there is some heat there might be able to stun it long enough to freeze…. Please.” Sam said adding the word so it didn’t sound like he was too bossy.

”Aim for the base, there is some heat there might be able to stun it long enough to freeze…. Please.”

Juliette nodded, and turned toward the pumpkin. She raised an eyebrow at the please that Sam had tacked onto the end of his statement. It was unnecessary, but a nice gesture, even if he should have been focusing on things like taking down the giant pumpkin or making sure his ribs weren't broken.

She raised her arm and shot off another blast at the thing, this time aiming for the base of the thing rather than the vines or the top. The shot went directly into the base of the pumpkin and made contact with the orange flesh.

There was a loud noise that erupted from the creature after it had been hit. The giant thing turned around to face the pair standing behind it, using its tendrils to turn itself against the grain of the dirt. 

The other side of the formerly subterranean vegetable was very different from the side that they had just been privy to. In a way it sort of resembled a Jack-O-Lantern, with it's hollow eyes and laughing mouth. It looked directly at Sam and Juliette and made a noise almost identical to the one it had before.

Juliette stared at it, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. "I think it's alive," she mused needlessly. "What's the plan?"

”That’s the one!” Sam pointed to the pumpkin’s face when he turned. Sam should have been a little more startled but after he was attacked by it already and had witness Juliette make contact on it there wasn’t much to be startled from. The thing did seem to react to pain. Sam kept pointing, ”That’s the face I wanted to put on the pumpkin!” he said as he coughed a bit more still not over the fact he had gotten knocked a few seconds before, even if he had broken a rib there wasn’t much he could do and there was no way Juliette was taking this on her own.

”Imagine talking is too late, you did attack it first.” the pumpkin made a noise again and he raised an eyebrow. It almost sounded like a scream. ”It’s alive and seems to be in pain.” Sam said thinking more on it, ”Unless it’s laughing at us… I can’t tell from the face.” Sam said as he raised his hand and shot a beam of ice at the nearest tendril.

The vine snapped backwards then shot back out towards Sam fast, luckily he was ready for the response this time with one of his own. Lifting his hand and crossing his midsection he slashed his hand away from his body and at the vine forming a short sword of ice in his hand. The vines attack was literally cut short. The pumpkin pulled back the vine and let out another noise this time it sounded angry. More than in pain, ”I’ll trim the weeds, want to see if you can hit the base a few more times? It seems you can get its attention better than me.” Sam took a few steps forward and dodged another vine while slashing the sword upwards severing another vine. His side still hurt.

"I told you it's already been done! We need to do something original," Juliette called back as she continued to stare in awe of the gigantic pumpkin. It was using about half of its tendrils to pull itself forward on the ground and the other half to lash at the people in front of it.

He was right - she had destroyed any hope of a peaceful resolve by shooting first. Had she known that there was something, or possibly someone, alive in the hole, she would have acted differently. She definitely would have tried to talk things out. However, it was clear that it wouldn't be an option anymore, and it didn't help to dwell on it.

She nodded to Sam's suggestion. If Sam was able to keep the vines at bay, then she wouldn't have to worry about getting hit by a low-swinging one. 

Despite the fact that she knew she would have her back covered, she kept her head low as she travelled away from the eyes of the pumpkin. From a slightly different, and slightly closer, position, it was easier to aim at the base.

She shot one blast after another, trying to get in as many as she could before the thing moved or hit her. As big as it was, the body was just as slow, so it wasn't going to run away anytime soon. 

Her blasts didn't seem to do much more than anger the creature. They seemed to hurt it, but not do anything other than graze the flesh. "What if you froze it?" Juliette called over to her sort-of-boyfriend. "All of it, I mean."

That would immobilize it, in the very least. If worst came to worst, then, well... Pumpkins were easy to smash.

Sam slashed at some tendrils as they lashed out and he had cut them before they had touched him they didn’t offer up much resistance. Despite his sword being cold they slashed through the vines like butter. Sam could either account that to his years of training with the sword or the fact that his mutation caused the vine to freeze the second the vine and sword touched. He didn’t care how it was happening he just knew it was so he kept on swinging.

A few more vines replaced the old ones and he was starting tot think he wasn’t making any headway. He took a few steps back as Juliette shot a few beams of light at the pumpkin and he shook his head causing a pair of arms to sprout from both of his shoulders. One of the pairs that sprouted had a sword. Shorter than the one he was holding in his actual hands but they were small replicas of the one he was holding.

”Yeah, I thought of that… not sure if anyone is inside…” Sam said as he ran closer to the large pumpkin hacking and slashing the hands on his sides moving slower than his actual ones. It wasn’t the fact that they were made of ice but the fact that they were slashing wildly instead of being precise; his thermal sense didn’t help with his normal vision so he could only focus on using his lone eye.

”I think if we can neutralize the vines we might be able to get to the bottom of this…” Sam said more to himself than Juliette who had seemed to already know what was going on. The fact that she was asking for him to freeze the entire pumpkin meant she had already thought of that right?

”might be able to make a hole to look in the pumpkin though.” Sam said as he ran towards the base and dove slashing his swords cutting a few vines and a triangle out of the orange figure. He was about to finish the hole until he felt his foot grabbed by a vine. Before he could cut himself out he was launched overhead of Juliette.

”Shoot!” he yelled as he willed some snow to catch his fall.

He was right - there could very well have been someone inside of the pumpkin. She hadn't considered the possibility that it might be manned rather than a shifter or a permanent form. Either way, her plan would probably injure it too much.

”I think if we can neutralize the vines we might be able to get to the bottom of this…”

Not that cutting a hole in it would do much less damage...

She changed tactics as Sam moved to form a hole in the creature, using her blasts to fend off the vines rather than to force the thing back. Juliette did her best to watch Sam's back as he moved, but there were so many that it was difficult to keep them at bay. Before she knew it, one had grabbed his ankle and threw him overhead.

"Sam!" Juliette yelled out. As if his first landing hadn't almost caused enough damage. She winced on his behalf and closed her eyes for a second, afraid of what might come.

Luckily, it seemed as though there was snow forming underneath him that would catch his fall. Hopefully it would be enough to stop any bad damage.

She turned back to the creature to do what he had told her to. There was a sort of hole that he had formed, but it wasn't quite finished. The pumpkin lashed and flailed, trying to protect the damaged area from any more attacks. 

Juliette stepped carefully, sending off blasts to fend off the vines, and sent several blasts at the area in the hopes that one would hit. A vine came from nowhere and hit her in the chest suddenly, sending her back a few feet. It hadn't hit quite as hard, but it still managed to knock the wind out of her. Once she had gotten her breath back, she glanced up at the creature again.

One of the shots had hit the designated area, and the hole was clearly visible. However, from her angle, she couldn't tell exactly what was inside. 

It wasn’t as hard as the ground; in fact it was far from it. Almost like feeling the soft landing of pillows under him he got up from the snowdrift and willed some of it to tack on to his armor replacing any damage that was there from any vines. The shot was made and Sam could see a hole. There was definitely somewhere there but he couldn’t see who it was. If it was a boy, girl, woman or child he couldn’t tell. Breathing in and turning to Juliette he yelled after her when she got laid out.

His maybe girlfriend Juliette didn’t have his ice armor and if he almost had his chest cave in no telling what it did to her. That was until Sam saw her standing still just out of breath. ”You alright?” he asked running towards her and dodging a few vines as they lashed out. When he got next to her he tried to walk her back a few feet away from the pumpkin and it’s attacking vines. He wasn’t feeling at a hundred percent but he could take a lot more damage than her.

”Can you still shoot?” he asked stepping in front of her again, a blade forming in one of his hands while the other started to give off a cold front. ”I’m gonna go in closer but I’d like you to keep a little further away… Don’t want you getting too roughed up you know? Still have a date.” he said knowing she wasn’t going to be a fan of his words. ”Might be an order. Or a request.” he added as he started to move forward towards the pumpkin again.
A slide formed under his feet as he used his hand to blast a section of vines before he went right threw. Sam slashed and blasted his way towards the hole he and Juliette made.

"I'm fine," she nodded quickly. Her chest hurt, but she'd suffered worse than having the wind knocked out of her. Besides, she didn't want him getting any more reason to treat her as less-than-capable. 

Juliette stepped out of the way of a vine to glance inside of the pumpkin. From what she could see, Sam had been right. There was definitely someone inside, and they were going to have to get them out. Key term being they.

"No!" She protested. "I'm not just watching you go in there! I'm capable of defending myself." She wasn't going to sit back while he went in there alone. He'd already nearly broken all of his ribs twice so far, and it wasn't in her nature to do nothing. 

Apparently, he hadn't intended to wait for her response. Juliette narrowed her eyes as she watched him slide away, forced to stay outside and keep the vines at bay. He was going hear about that later. 

She changed forms in a huff and took on the vines with a new sense of purpose. With her eyes locked on the hole formed in the pumpkin, she made her way closer to it. She would stay outside and keep the tendrils from causing more trouble, but the second something went wrong, she wouldn't hesitate to ignore Sam's instructions. 

Sam knew she’d argue but that was the reason he left in such a hurry. She’d chew him out later and he’d just nod his head and smile. Sam didn’t like to admit it but he liked when someone had general worry for him. It meant they cared, which was why he was fine with Juliette going full firefly behind him instead of getting hit by another vine.

The icemancer quickly closed the distance by following the five D’s of dodge ball glad he made the kids in the Physical Education when he filled in as a sub. Sam dipped, ducked, dodged and dove into the hole he and Juliette made earlier. Once he was in he added the fifth ‘D’ and dodged again as a vine entered the pumpkin after him. Hitting it with a blast of ice he yelled back to Juliette, ”Lot bigger than expected!”

When he entered the pumpkin it seemed he was smaller than he was a few seconds ago almost as if he shrank when he entered the hole. ”Holy wonderland.” he said as he looked at the two figures hunched over in a ball one was orange and the other was a little kid. He couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl, the hair was short and blonde and the clothes were some ratty jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt. He couldn’t read what it said but took a step closer. Still surprised on the special difference from outside the pumpkin. It almost felt like he was in the danger room.

The hole seemed further away now and he looked back to see Juliette far away but he felt her like she wasn’t any farther. The kid was a mutant and it looked to be two of them. Sam took a step closer to the pair of kids huddled over the each other in a rocking motion. Sam then noticed the second kid who was orange and a tangle of pumpkin seeds and the insides that were normally scooped out and thrown away. Only it wasn’t thrown away it was in the form of a kid the same size as the blonde. ”Hey…” he said sending a cold front out towards the pair to let them know they weren’t alone.

The orange kid turned first and stood up growing a few feet in size till he was a foot taller than Sam. Shifting uncomfortable he raised his hand up in a peace sign. The pumpking didn’t move but just stared with his deep orange sockets made of pumpkin seeds and goo.

Outside the vines stopped flailing and attacking Juliette. Lowering to the ground the vines hovered awaiting the next move or an order from the pumpking.

”Lot bigger than expected!”

"Yeah?" Juliette called back distractedly. If she hadn't been fending off multiple vines at once, she might have turned to look, but that wasn't the case. Her attention was needed elsewhere. 

She attempted to block out the world for a while and just focus on what she was doing, but all of a sudden, something changed. The vines stopped abruptly, and didn't move. It was rather eerie, the way that they simple hung in the air, as if they were waiting for something.

Firefly lowered her guard and changed forms. "Sam?" she called toward the hole in the pumpkin and stepped toward it. She grabbed the side of the pumpkin as she stepped inside, but immediately retracted it and attempted to wipe off the gooey film with her other hand. 

She looked around the inside of the pumpkin. "What the hell?" Juliette's voice was hushed in the unfamiliar environment. There were three figures: Sam; a small, androgynous child; and a gigantic figure comprised of pumpkin innards. Definitely not an everyday sight. Then again, neither was a giant pumpkin that attacked people in the middle of fields. 

Empty sockets were locked on Sam. No one seemed to be moving except for her. She looked between the child and the figure, unsure of what to do. 

The figure's head turned to look at her with its utter lack of eyes. Juliette shuddered slightly and stared back, completely still. 

Behind them, vines moved silently through the hole, aiming for the backs of the two intruders. 

”Hi…” Sam said again as the thing turned it’s orange gooey head towards Juliette who was as bright as could be without causing Sam to dim his thermal senses. She seemed so far away still even though she was in the pumpkin with him. Sam leaned forward and yelled again trying to get the thing of seeds to focus back on him. He didn’t like being ignored like that, even if his sorta-girlfriend was indeed too distracting.

Sam shifted his eye and looked towards Juliette and spotted the opening. ”Jules, move now!” Sam said as he shot a blast of ice towards where she was standing in front of the hole. His plan was to stop the vines from entering by sealing the entrance. As Sam blasted the beam of blue towards the vines, Juliette, and the hole the figure that was now a foot taller than Sam swung his large gooey fists that now looked like an orange bowling ball.

Sam ducked and shot again as a follow up to the first shot. He moved backwards and shifted both visions to the pumpking. ”I thought we were going to talk.” the pumpking formed a mouth in the goo and let out another scream. Sam jumped back avoiding another attack. It was a good thing the pumpking was huge he was too slow. Easy enough for Sam to see the attacks coming.

“I’m scared.” The kid said in a hushed tone still huddled in a little ball. ”Night Light, check the kid.” he yelled moving to the side and trying to punch the goo bag. Sadly his hand just entered the goo and remained captured until he iced over his hand. The area around his hand froze and he pulled it free. Sam looked at his hand and shook it as he hopped back a few more steps. ”Groooooooooosssss….”

Juliette yelped and ducked just in time to narrowly miss being knocked over by an oncoming group of vines. If it hadn't been for Sam, she would have been the one splayed out on the floor of the pumpkin, rather than the chunk that had been accidentally taken out of the side of the pumpkin. The vines were getting more violent than before.

The hole in the pumpkin was now larger, and it seemed that the pumpking was not impressed. The thing screamed from a newly formed mouth and tried to attack Sam, but ultimately failed.  

The child curled up in a ball and whimpered a sentence that Juliette didn't catch, but it seemed that Sam had. She nodded to him and switched forms to approach the kid. It seemed as though they just needed someone to tell them that it was going to be alright. 

She stretched out a hand and touched the top of the child's head. They flinched as her hand made contact, but didn't move. The child made another sobbing noise, and almost seemed to move closer to her hand.

"Shh," Juliette crouched down to the child's level, and stroke their head. "It's alright, you're safe. We're here to help."

"I'm scared!" The child repeated, urgently the second time around.

"I know, I know," Juliette said softly and continued the calming motion. "It's alright, though. There's nothing to be afraid of."

She turned her head and glanced at Sam, silently urging him not to cause too much damage. The child probably had some sort of connection to the pumpkin and the king, and she didn't want to hurt it or cause it any more anguish than it was already in. 

The hole in the chest reformed where Sam had pulled a large frozen chunk from the pumpking. Wishing he wasn’t going to smell like the innards of the pumpkin Sam looked back to Juliette and the kid and slowly circled backwards away from the pumpking. ”Yup.” Sam agreed feeling like he was miles away from the pair even though he could hear her words clear as day. ”All good…” he raised his hands up towards the pumpking in a less threatening stance and he continued to move towards them.

The pumpking seemed to have other ideas however, the unwelcomed mutants didn’t know that the only reason for the kings existiance was to take care of the master, it meant he couldn’t leave or be with anyone else. Otherwise what was his purpose? The pumpking opened its mouth and spewed seeds at the ice mancer in rapid secession. Sam raised a hand and covered his face and then reached up and fanned out some ice overhead so the other two weren’t hurt. He didn’t know if it was dangerous but Sam couldn’t help but feel like it was a very idea to be hit by the seeds.

Sam waited for the attack to stop then lowered his hands. The seeds scattered to the ground. Some latched onto Sam and started to burrow into the ice. ”Come on!” Sam said as he froze all the burrowing seeds on his body and burhsed them off. ”Move towards the hole please.!” Sam said in a slightly alarmed and clearly annoyed tone. He was annoyed that this was happening on his date. Sure end of the night was one thing but this was still pretty early on.

Sam raised his hand and shot some ice at the pumpking. ”What’s his name?” Sam asked trying to offer some help to Juliette. The off duty X’s main concern at the moment was getting the kid to safety.