[x] We need to move together.

"What's the plan?" I asked. "Where are we going first?"

"The clock tower," Flandre said. "Haven't you figured it out yet?"

"Of course not. How the heck am I supposed to guess? You haven't explained your 'theory' at all."

I stopped and turned around. The younger sister just shook her head.

"This isn't the time. I'll tell you everything later. We need to see if Sakuya is still -"

Suddenly, her eyes narrowed. She grabbed me roughly by the collar and threw me to the left. My head slammed hard against the wall. Ugh, that really hurt! What the hell was she doing? My vision was starting to blur, but somehow I managed to look up.

I watched in shock as a great black wolf lunged straight at Flandre. The creature was moving too fast. The little sister cried out in pain as it bit her arm. It lifted up the vampire into the air with its jaws and started to shake her around like a rag doll. After a few seconds, it let go of her arm, throwing her hard against the wall. I felt the ground rumble with the impact.

"Flandre!"

The little sister slowly stood herself up. In response, the shadow wolf howled loudly and rushed toward her again. But she would have none of that. Without warning, she launched herself high into the air. Then, she dove straight at the creature and grabbed its head with her hands. The wolf yelped on last time before its head was slammed straight into the ground. But, Flandre didn't stop there. She raised the creature's head and slammed it repeatedly against the floor until she was sure that it had stopped moving.

After a moment, she stepped back from the corpse. Immediately, the wolf's form started melding into the shadows. I watched until it had faded completely, like a bad dream. But I knew that this was no dream. Flandre was breathing heavily, and the wound on her arm wasn't healing at all. She turned to me and smiled.

"It's just a scratch," she said. "Don't worry about it."

"A scratch? Damn it, Flan! We need to have that wound checked and -"

I didn't have time to finish my sentence. My eyes widened in horror as another wolf creature appeared right behind Flandre. It rushed straight at her and made a great leap into the air with open jaws. At that moment, she must have noticed the expression on my face. The vampire turned around, but it was already too late -

Or so I had thought.

"Sky Dragon Kick!"

A red and green blur collided with the creature in mid-air, sending it flying across the hallway. It slammed hard against the wall. The newcomer then raised her hand and peppered the wolf with danmaku until its form started to collapse. It, too, faded into the shadows.

"Meiling?" I said.

She turned to me and smiled.

"Sorry, I'm late."

Flandre's eyes lit up almost immediately.

"You're alright!" she cried.

Meiling patted the little gently on the head.

"If it weren't for your hints and this thing you gave me, I'd probably be dead by now."

"Ehehehe~"

Hints? What exactly did Flandre do last night? And something she gave her? I glanced at Meiling. The gate guard was holding something in her hand. It looked like a small compass. For some reason, I knew instinctively that this one didn't point north. Noticing my gaze, she smiled.

"So, where are we going next?"

Flandre and I replied in unison.

"The clock tower."

[ ] Have Meiling lead.
[ ] Have Flandre lead.
[ ] Lead the way myself.