He just sighed as he walked up to the front door, a cloth bag in one hand, a plastic bag in the other.

"All right, should be fine." he said to himself.

"They're old enough." he went on.

"No reason for-" he started to say further, before he heard some rumbling and ruckus from behind the door.

"...eh?" he muttered.

"What's that-" he started to ask, before he heard about 7 windows breaking, and saw a flurry of red petal-like things burst out from the windows in his view.

"....." he was silent, as he heard voices within.

"Lillieeeeeeeeeeee!" a young boy whined loudly.

"....I jinxed it, for the love of..." the man muttered, as he unlocked the front door with the spare keys he had, and made his way inside.

He had heard a lot in the few seconds it took him to unlock the front door and step inside... but he saw a lot of green when he actually stepped inside.

And that green was on long tendril-like thick vines that were spreading out everywhere.

He was silent for a moment, before setting the bags down and making his way to the livingroom...

...where he promptly saw the older sister being flung towards him.

He reacted quickly, and brought his arms up, catching her in the nick of time.

"Hello." he greeted her.

He was silent as he saw all this happen, and then saw that the closer the vines got to wherever the base was, the browner and more withered it looked.

"Hm." he muttered, looking around.

He then saw a bright pink flytrap-like mouth with sharp teeth at the end of one of the vines.

"Hey!" he called to Lillie.

"Want some help!?" he asked her.

The man then sighed, and looked at the 'head' again.

He brought his fingers to his mouth, and whistled loudly and shrilly. This caused the plant to 'look' at him, and it then charged towards him, mouth open.

The man responded by forming a large ball of what looked to be black fire in his hands, before launching it right into the mouth of the plant, causing it to swallow it.

After a moment, the plant started to writhe about in agony.

"Luke! Lillie! Get away from the plant!" the man shouted.

"I didn't meeeean to!" Luke exclaimed.

"I'm sorrrreeeee!!" he added.

They then heard the sounds of burning and squelching, before there sounded like an explosion, and they felt a blast of heat outwards.

"There!" the man said.

"Should be burned to the roots." he commented.

"You two can come out of hiding now."

Luke just shied away, as Ash sighed.

"Right." he said.

"Your Mom and Dad asked me to check up on you." he told her.

"Make sure things are okay." he said further.

"Oh, and I brought lunch." he then told them.

"Sushi rolls and rice balls from that one place you like so much."

Luke just looked guilty.

"...sorry..." he said quietly.

"Just worry about eating." Ash told them.

"From the looks of things, this goes beyond simple cleaning." he muttered.

"Look, I'll set you guys up at the kitchen table, or some clear space, and you can eat." he said.

"Then I need to make some calls."

Luke was silent, before his lips quivered.

"I'm sorry!" he suddenly exclaimed.

"IwasjusttrynhelpmominhergarnanthenididsomethinanthensomethinhappnanthplantgrewanitgotbigandItriedtostopitbuIculdntan-an-an-an..." he blathered on between crying and hiccuping, before Ash put a hand up.

"Luke." he said.

"It's fine." he told him.

"I understand." he went on, before looking at Lillie.

"And yes, I did understand that." he added.

Ash just put his hand on Luke's head.

"Save the crying." he said.

"Go and eat with your sister." he told him.

Luke just sniffled a little, before nodding and following Lillie, with Ash bringing up the rear.

Meanwhile, Anna and Andrew were sitting in the middle of a clearing, listening to a Dryad drone on and on about current state of affairs, and other such boring stuff that they and a ton of other forest entities were required to sit through every year.

Just as Andrew let out a large bored yawn, Anna's cell phone vibrated silently, indicating a text. When she checked it, she saw it was from Ash.

Hey, what company insures your house? it read.

After a few seconds, her phone rang, and she picked it up.

"This is easier than texting it all out." Ash said when she answered.

"Long story short, there's been some... damage... to your place." he told her.

"Relax, Luke and Lillie are fine." he then assured her.

"But I'll tell you the details and such when you get back from the meeting." he went on.

"Seriously. Things are under control here."