"Now let's not be hasty and harm someone we know," Grape said putting their hand out, "How about this, let's walk outside at a time, and if the tracker moves for the person who went outside, we know they're the Basilisk," Grape explained, trying to calm everyone down.
"If it goes too far from us, it will escape," Lettuce replied, turning their eyes to Grape.
"And even if we send multiple people out together, if there was someone else outside the Basilisk could take a hostage," Apple said.
"Fine, but if we are going to do this, we can't be at each other's throat," Grape said.
"Agreed," Artichoke said, loosening his grip by a bit.
"Who knows anything about Basilisks" Axel asked, "And hopefully how to spot one," he added at the end.
"Me!" Apple proudly said, "Two ways to tell a Basilisk is through their clothes and magic," they began to explain, "Basilisks transform clothes onto themselves, so if its clothes are scratched, in reality it is scratched, and also it can't cast magic," Apple finished.
"I don't particularly want to ruin my uniform," Axel muttered.
"Agreed," the captain replied, "Then let's start with magic testing," the captain ordered.
"I'll go", Artichoke said stepping.
With a twirl of his finger, a small ball of fire appeared at his fingertip.
"Who's up next?' Artichoke asked, looking around the room.
Quickly, Axel slid one of his balls that was in his coat pocket, into the hand that was not holding his spear.
"Look at this," Axel said getting the attention of the five.
Axel then made a circle with his finger, while throwing the plastic ball up with his other finger. The ball flew a bit in the air, before it set on fire for a moment, before the fire died and the ball fell back into his hand.
But in the darkness of the room, it looked like Axel had just made a circle with his finger and a fireball appeared.
"I'm next," Lettuce then said.
Lettice, as the others had done, made a circle with their finger and a small fire ball appeared at the end of their finger.
"Here," Grape said.
Grape then made a circle and put their hand on the ground. Then the ground started to shake.
Without a word, the captain did the same, making a circle then putting their hand on the ground causing the ground to shake as well.
"That was a bust," Apple mumbled, "Welp on to stabbing," they said readying their spear.
"Woah! Apple, you need to cast a spell as well!" Artichoke said, taking up his spear as well.
"Why would I need to do that? I know I'm not the Basilisk," Apple replied.
"But no one else knows," Axel told Apple, acting as a voice of reason.
For a moment, Apple stayed still in thought. The other scouts prepared to counterattack in case Apple revealed himself as the Basilisk.
"Sounds right," Apple said putting his spear back on the ground and summoning a fire ball.
Axel sighed in relief, then he took another quick breath, knowing that the job was not done. Funny enough, the only person that Axel knew didn't cast magic was himself.
"So, is it stabbing time?" Apple asked, holding up his spear once more.
"Let's not be too hasty, repairing clothes takes time, and I don't really want to pay the fee," Grape pointed out.
"Fine," Apple said putting down his spear, "But removing our gloves would have the same effect," they explained.
"Why didn't you say that first," Artichoke said, removing one of his gloves.
"I wanted to poke someone," Apple whined.
"Apple, take off your glove," the captain said.
'When did the captain start calling Apple, Apple?'
Apple then froze for a second.
"I got it I got it," they started to say while bending down.
Axel tightened his spear and pointed it at the captain.
"What is the meaning of this, we will find the Basilisk and bring them in!" the captain told Axel, "There is no need for us to jump to conclusions," they said.
'Come to think of it, when did the captain start calling the Basilisk them? The captain has been calling the Basilisk it all day'
While the captain kept their eyes on Axel, Apple took their spear and pushed it towards the captain.
But before the spear could reach, an arm grew from behind the captain and grabbed the arm.
"Stupid scouts!" the Basilisk roared.
The mask that the captain was wearing split in half reveling rows of teeth that snapped at Axel, causing him to jump back and the rest of the scouts to point their spears at the Basilisk.
Out of habit, Artichoke began to draw a magic circle with his finger.
"Stop!" Apple yelled out, "Basilisks can more easily drain magic through a circle!" they told them.
"Oh, it seems you know a lot about my kind," the Basilisk said, its head twisting back to Apple.
Without a second thought, Apple charged in low with their spear, causing the Basilisk to cave in its stomach to not be hit.
Which caused the other scouts to come in from the side with their spears and stabbed at the Basilisk.
In response, the Basilisk shifted itself to be much thinner to doge the spears.
"Attacking me before I finish eating? Rude," the Basilisk said with a sickening grin as it started going up like a snake.
Before the scouts could do anything, the Basilisk opened its mouth wide and began to suck in air.
The scouts had to hold on to their spears, least they let go of their weapon, but when they tried to counterattack, they found their strength drained.
"Cuffs, need to go on, now," Lettuce said between tired breaths taking the cuffs out of their coat.
"Shame you'll never get the chance," the Basilisk said, starting to shift back into the captain.
To the Basilisks surprise, a spear came for his shoulders. It surprised them to the point where it got a good scratch on them.
The Basilisk then turned around, expecting to see one of the scouts on their last legs. A scout who was ready to be a tasty little snack for the Basilisk.
However, behind the Basilisk stood Axel, who all things considered, wasn't too shaken up considering the rest of the scouts were on the floor.
Then, Axel threw one of his small plastic balls at the Basilisk, which quickly caught fire.
In response, the Basilisk began to suck in the magic, leading to the fireball landing inside their mouth.
"Ugh!" the Basilisk spat out holder their neck, "What is your magic made of? Firebee honey?" they asked.
Seizing the opportunity Axel put one shoulder out and ran into the Basilisk, pushing them over towards Lettuce.
As the Basilisk was still wriggling, it still landed next to Lettuce who was able to quickly put the cuffs on the Basilisk.
"No!" the Basilisk cried out.
The scout coat that the Basilisk seemed to wear stretched out to greenish body that was several feet long.
"Now what?" Axel asked standing up around the other scouts who were still on the floor, and a weakened Basilisk.