'oh wow, thank you. youre both very helpful, and kind. and winkey. okay, ill do those things, then.' I'm sure I'll be able to keep that in mind, so long as I don't get too excited.

---

And then, with little warning, everything goes back to normal. Normal colours, normal (low, rather- and it's quite noticable, come to mention it) lighting, and the ghost- oh. That's still entirely black and white, then. Literally, now that I think about it, its outside edges and the edges of its eyes are coloured black, and as I noticed before, its entire body is weirdly pixellated. Strange. But I guess at least its colour makes sense, in some weird cartoon-derived manner? Still... I suppose I should be civil, now that it's not being somewhat lethal. I put the empty gun back in its bag, sealing that up as needed, then try to recall the layout of the cave... I think it was only Skylar who was in trouble if she sidestepped? With that in mind, I begin shuffling forward, toward the ghost. "Eeeee", I think Skylar called it?

'So, uh, look,' I say, awkwardly scratching the back of my neck, 'I'm real sorry that I took shots at you... uh, maybe you noticed, maybe not, but we're not that capable of seeing in the dark or anything... um. Do you think you could lead us somewhere with more, uh, light, Eeee? Please?'

'oh yes, i can do that,' the ghost responds, heading toward what I presume is an exit. 'anything for two helpful people like you humans! but i need to say, my name is eeeeeeeeeeee, with twelve eeeeees. it needs to be that long.'

'Right...' I respond. I kind of understand why the other... hang on, it said something about other people. That bears being topical about at some point, if they're all as non-human as him... why they don't like him much. Aside from his unintentional verbal violence and all. I sigh, then begin shuffling in the appropriate direction, turning back for a moment to say cheerfully 'Well, no time like the present. Let's get going, Sky. Don't forget about the hole next to you.'

Ash coolly slid his arm off of Nina's shoulder as she wiggled uncomfortably. He could take the hint, certainly. Hopefully they weren't being filmed. That really wouldn't look good on camera. For him, at least. Anywho, after a brief pause Lorelei answered positively. Yes! This was great, now they had time to prepare for the myriad of questions to be thrown at them. It wasn't a ridiculously large amount of time, especially since Ash wanted to spend a day allowing Nina to get acquainted to the city. Still, it was better than nothing.

As the angel of death flew off, a deep sigh escaped from Ash. Finally, she was gone. Ash's shoulders dropped into a lax position. That took a lot of him, but now, hopefully, they weren't being filmed. Still, you never knew what was going to happen, or if she had really even left. Ash really needed to get back to his home. He began walking towards the city. "Once we get to the city, you should put your hood on. Unless you wanna be assaulted."

---

♥ System

"No problem." System said, in reply to Dorkle's thanks. She quickly began to work on the photocopy version. She cleanly printed both sentences on the top and bottom of the paper, and began tracing a drawing of a human. She had assumed she was doing decently. It might not have been the worst idea to mention that this was just the general idea of a human...

Once she had finished, she handed the paper to Dorkle. "I hope that seems good, but I really have to be going now." She explained, before leaving. She had left the shop for a half an hour to an hour. That probably wasn't very good for business. She quickly made her way back home, it's familiar "Closed, return soon <3" greeting her. Nobody was waiting in front of the shop, luckily, so she took out her key and walked inside. Once there, she quickly checked her answering machine. There was indeed a message. Another job from Lorelei about Ash. She was going to delete the message before it even finished, but the word "human" caught her interest. She listened to the message in full after that. That certainly seemed interesting. She quickly dialed the idol's number. "Hey, Miss Lorelei, I'd like to take you up on your offer. My regular rate is fine, yes?"

Three days. 5 pm. Certainly enough time to get her story straight. Nina gave a small wave as Lorelei left, glad that the bird lady was gone now. Once she was certain that the celebrity was far away enough not to hear her, she sighed. "That, isn't gonna happen too often is it? People just randomly coming up to you and being so..." She had to pause a second to think of a word that wouldn't sound like an insult, "Flamboyant?"

Nina started walking alongside Ash as he took off again. She couldn't help replaying the scene in her head, worrying about what she'd said and how she'd acted. At the time she'd thought she was doing well, but... She'd messed up somehow. She wasn't sure what it was, but she felt like something just went wrong. Maybe she was already becoming paranoid from their little act. Maybe she'd been paranoid from the beginning.

She almost didn't hear Ash, or at least, the words didn't register right away. She nodded and put her hood up, she might've forgotten later. They walked a little while in silence, but that only left Nina to her thoughts. Suddenly she remembered something Lorelei had said, and decided that now was later enough to ask about it. "Um, mind if I ask somthing that's kinda bothering me? Earlier Lorelei said something and, it hadn't really occurred to me before... most of the monsters I've seen weren't wearing anything, the one I got this jacket from was the only who had... Maybe it doesn't matter to monsters but, are you naked except for that cape?"

Ash snickered to himself as Nina commented on Lori. No one in the underground was as bad as her, certainly, but the Underlake was absolutely full of colorful characters, himself included. He hoped, for both of their sakes (though mainly his), she could adjust quick. Things happened pretty fast in this town, especially since it was election time.

The two walked a little while in silence, leaving Ash to his thoughts. Hopefully they didn't screw themselves over too badly. The shoulder situation certainly wouldn't look good. Him threatening Lori was a bit up in the air. Lori would certainly use it as evidence of his hair trigger, but Nina would probably look great. Taking control of the situation and providing a nonviolent solution.

But then she pushed the button. That button. The clothes button. Ash stopped dead in his tracks for a second, before his breathing grew noticeably heavier and quicker. His grip on the Drillsaw tightened so much it threatened to bend under the pressure. Then he exploded. "GOD D**NIT! I'M A F**KING SKELETON! DO YOU SEE ANY BITS? I HAVE TO SUMMON MY JUNK! THERE IS LITERALLY NOTHING TO F**KING HIDE! AND ALSO DO YOU SEE MY CAPE YOU DUMB MOTHERF**KER? BOTH OF THOSE FACTS COMBINE TO REVEAL THE FACT THAT I. AM. NOT. NAKED! ARRRRRRRRGH!" He roared, before chucking his weapon so hard it lodged into a tree.

He was silent for a good few moments, attempting to catch his breath from his yelling. Beads of sweat seemed to appear on his forehead from nowhere. He sighed, cleared his throat, and then looked at Nina. "I own a pair of pants. If it makes you comfortable, I can wear them." he offered in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. Normally, he was not this generous, but he also didn't flip out so much about the clothes thing before. Lorelei had escaped his wrath last time, so he blew up a little louder than average. Hopefully no one heard that.

As weird and stupid as she'd felt asking the question, Nina hadn't thought she’d get such an explosive reaction. For a second she thought Ash was actually going to attack her, but thankfully he only yelled. Still, that was bad enough. What if someone heard him and came to investigate? She didn't want to meet any new people yet, at least for a couple hours. She obviously still had to learn to deal with Ash first.

When the skele-rabbit was done yelling and had successfully defeated a tree, he went silent. Nina tried to think of something to say, but words had abandoned her for the moment. As Ash caught his breath (weirdness of a skeleton breathing aside) Nina went over to the tree and retrieved the saw blade. She wouldn't give it back to him until she was sure he had calmed down, but in any situation it was better in one of their hands than stuck in a tree.

She turned back to face Ash as he started talking. He was much quieter than she'd thought possible for him, considering his normal volume was near shouting already. If it hadn't been dead quiet around them, she may not have even heard him. ”No, it's… It's fine. I'm sorry, I just wanted to know what was considered normal here. You don’t have to do anything differently to try and accommodate me. It doesn't really bother me, I was just curious. I'm sorry.” She held the blade out for him to take and began walking again after a moment.

It seemed pretty obvious that she'd insulted him or hurt his feelings or something. Hopefully changing the topic quickly would help. ”So, how much further is it to the city?”

And the sound of the blobby monsters’ ‘hoi’s echoed through the cave systems, thinning out to eventually be drowned by the sound of falling water.






Observing, listening a moment to what the others said, planned, the rabbit monster eventually gave a quick nod before setting back to ascend the walk ways up the book chambers. Finally getting back to his companion, he picked up an unlit lamp from under a few books, and slung his other arm around their shoulder, guiding them along, “I told you things were going to be alright, buddy...”






Blinking her eye in surprise down at the small, bipedal llama child as they gestured and spoke animatedly, their glowing antennae bobbing along as they did so…

“You haven’t been with my son all day?”

The child before them finally settled down, letting their shoulders slump as they nodded, “I was running around Glowton looking for him…and I’m the absolute best as finding monsters!” Their antennae stuck straight up as they proclaimed that loudly, but their enthusiasm dampened with Eyeclopsiel’s less than amused expression.

“I…I think he might have gone off to play in the caves, or the lake, or some other place I’m not allowed to go! I-I don’t think he’d get lost, or anything…!”

The pale monster eventually turned away with a shrug, shifting the bag to her other arm, “You’re right, Chromnelius is a bright boy. It should be fine, so long as he isn’t late for his other birthday party. Run along and play, just remember when to come over.” As the young monster ran off, some of the passing monsters mentioned ‘humans’ again...



Nearing the City


Spinning out from behind a tree, a fluffed pillow hits Nina dead center in the back of the head. With the world blinking to black and white, the human’s purple soul stood out, as did her monster companion’s white soul, just a short distance away.

*Fluffy Pil̪̺̭͉̙ͅl̺̻̼͕̱̹̜ow comes flying in!

It flopped onto the ground after landing the random encounter initiating hit, before bouncing back and forth in front of the two in a manic sort of way…?

Ash sighed and gently took his Drillsaw back from his associate. He felt like that outburst was a little unjustified. She even apologized, which was really really weird. Maybe it was a human thing? Ah well, it didn't matter. They both began walking towards the city again. Nina asked how far they were from the city. It looked like they were at the edge of the forest. "Not much longer." He responded in an aloof manner. Hopefully the two would walk in silence the rest of the way, and there would be no issues or encounters with monsters or any of that garbage.

Pretty soon after having that thought, Ash's dreams were crushed. A cute 'flump' sound signified Ash that his companion had been hit, as did the world flashing into black and white. He, and so had she, seen this scene many a time.

* Fluffy Pil̪̺̭͉̙ͅl̺̻̼͕̱̹̜ow comes flying in!

Someone had just picked a fight. Ash cursed loudly as he got into a battle stance. This was his fault, probably. These things were drawn to loud sounds, trying to knock whatever it was that made the noise into sleep. And Nina was at less HP than she should be at, again, his fault. Still, they had the action now. With any luck, this could be solved handily.

"These are Fluffy Pillows, some dumb*ss animals that live here. Let's tear it to shreds before it bores me to sleep!" Ash suggested, before FIGHTing it. He simply threw his reacquired blade at the puffy annoyance. "Don't use orange magic. These things sorta gyrate in place. Cyan would work great, but I'm not that good at it." He eplained. Ash wondered what magic she was proficient with? She didn't seem to use any magic other than her 'trap', but hopefully she had a few more tricks up her sleeve.

The birds were singing, the flowers were blooming, water was flowing in the caverns again. On days like these, dogs like Nicena were forced to fix their mechanical creations. Recently, some of her automatons have been malfunctioning, and none of the usual methods of fixing them were working. She tried smacking them with a wrench or three, “bonking” them with her hammer, and just plain tinkering with their machinery, but none of her efforts seemed to bear fruit.

However, after her tinkering, Nicena had noticed that their circuitry was spot on, needing no correction in the slightest, and there seemed to be zero problems with their coding. Therefore, the problem must lie within their metal-working, specifically the rust accumulating on their bodies, and she had very limited knowledge on the subject of metallurgy. Why metallurgy, one may ask. To find a sort of metal alloy that would be rust-resistant of course! Hence, a trip to the library to find a source material to expand upon. While she was there, she might as well hire someone to fix her roofing. The water dripping down into her workshop was starting to get annoying...

As she passed through the city, she noticed some strange fliers that weren’t around the day before. Some sort of warning about… humans? She didn’t really take note of it at the time, so focused she was on mending her “pack”. After a reasonably short trek, Nicena finally reached the tall building of the library, taking in a deep, calming breath before entering the establishment. Her enthusiasm was not welcome in the building that encouraged silence, so she kept it in check as well as she could, surveying the nearly endless amount of bookshelves to find the subject she was looking for. Twenty minutes in, and she wasn’t even half done with the first shelf. With a muffled groan, the canine rubbed her eyes from under her goggles with a paw, willing to deal with the mind-numbing task in order to fix the problem within her creations.

Dorkle waved goodbye as System left. He didn’t really have time to say anything before she disappeared. “Oh well. She is very busy, I guess,” he thought to himself. He went back to work and sat down behind the counter. A few monsters were checking out and returning books, so he helped them out with that. He saw that the book cart was getting full so he pushed it over to the shelves and began to place the books back in their proper spots on the shelves.

The cart was very heavy with all the books; it was a surprise that he was able to push it at all. It was a lot of work and he was starting to get tired after only putting back about a dozen of the books. As he was working, he saw a familiar friendly face.

“Miss Nicena! Miss Nicena!” he whispered as loudly as he could without disturbing the other patrons. He did his best to push his cart over towards her. Why was it so heavy? He should invent a robot to do this job for him. He’ll keep that in mind as a project he needs to work on later.

”Are you looking for a book? If you’re looking for a book on mechanical engineering, you’re in the wrong section. This is the fiction section. The book you’re probably looking for is on that shelf over there,” he said, pointing at the nonfiction section a few rows down.

Nicena was becoming quite irritated. None of these books seemed to be of any use, even if their titles seemed to show promise for entertainment, and weren’t even close to being on the topic she needed to research. As she was about to move onto the next shelf, a recognizable voice cut through the subdued atmosphere, the familiar tone of a certain monster rang true within her ears. To her, he was as loud as if he was standing right next to her, and the silence of the library only amplified his voice. A silly little smile appeared on Nicena’s face, gladdened by the break in monotony. She turned towards her protege, greeting him with as much cheer as she could muster.

”Hey there! Nice to see you again!”, the machinist tried to whisper in reply, but even at her lowest volume her voice was still boisterous enough to be heard by nearby readers. After receiving a collective “shushing”, she lent her ear to her protege, a blush of embarrassment appearing on her face as he singled out her error, before she facepalmed with her paw in disbelief. ”Whoopsies,” her muffled voice whispered softer than earlier. A sheepish grin spread across her face as her mistake was pointed out by her junior. How many times had she screwed up her positioning in the library, needing to be pointed towards a different location by another monster? Too many times to count, that’s for sure.

Nicena gave the smaller monster a short hug, really glad that he wasn’t making fun of her obvious error. During the short time she hugged him, she couldn’t help but notice the large pile of books on the cart he was pushing. ”Thanks, Dorkle! But, do you need some help with that cart? It looks a bit heavy to be pushing around by yourself,” she noted quietly, feeling quite grateful for his help, even with just a small task. He cut the time she would have needed to use up in her unfruitful search, and she wanted to repay him his kindness.

Dorkle blushed as his mentor gave him a hug. He was not used to affection from anyone. ”Uh… I appreciate the offer… but I should do it myself,” he said shyly, shifting his feet. “A-anyways, what are you working on? Do you need any help?”

”Well..,” Nicena started. If Dorkle said he was alright, then he was alright. She, however, wasn’t going to turn down the extra help. ”I’ll need a few references on metallurgy, and maybe a book on blacksmithing for good measure. Do they have any books on those subjects?” There was no way she was going to be making any metal anytime soon, but it would be nice to have the information for when she needed it.

“Oh, I’m sure we do. I’ll help you look for it. It’s my job after all,” he said with a smile. He pushed his cart towards the nonfiction section to help guide Nicena. He didn’t have to worry about going too fast and losing her, because the cart was so hard to push. If anything, he probably made her slow down her pace just so he could keep up with her. It was rather embarrassing.

---

Eventually they reached the shelf and it was filled with many books about metal and what not. He scanned the shelf and pulled one of the books out that he believed to be helpful. It was a bit dusty though. Unsurprisingly, books on blacksmithing and metallurgy were not a hit with the other monsters. Metallurgy. What a very straight-forward title. It was written by a monster by the name of F. E. Irons. Maybe it was a coincidence?

He then handed the book to Nicena. “Would something like this work?” he asked.

The female canine gave the shorter monster a wide grin, happy that her problem was solved so quickly while simultaneously stabbing a mental image of herself for being so inattentive. ”That was exactly what I needed! Thank you!” Nicena said gleefully as she took the book from Dorkle, momentarily forgetting to lower her tone in her excitement. A book was thrown at the back of her head, as well as another round of “shushing” for her trouble.

After shaking off a few cobwebs caused by the hardback projectile, the dog monster remembered a certain peculiarity she noticed during her travel towards the library. ”Hey, Dorkle,” she started, gaining a look of curiosity and hidden tension as she asked her question. ”Why were there warnings about humans in the Underground? Aren’t they blocked by the barrier to the Surface?

Dorkle felt bad that the other monsters in the library were upset with Nicena. But it was a library, and one must be quiet in a library. Still, throwing a book at her was a bit harsh. Maybe he should talk to that young man… if he wasn’t so scary looking.

Then Nicena brought up the human posters that he and System worked on. He was a bit taken aback by her question but did his best to explain. “A-ah… well… supposedly the barrier is supposed to separate our world from the human world… But according to Isa, there is a human running amuck and killing innocent monsters. It’s some pretty scary stuff. Maybe there is a hole in the barrier? Or the humans are coming down to take over? I honestly have no clue myself, but… we should really investigate!”

Nicena seconded his suggestion. She wasn’t very sure about taking over the Underground, seeing that the Surface was fabled for it’s near limitless space, but killing monsters was a definite danger. There was only a finite amount of monsters down here, and their numbers weren’t very plentiful. Even a few lives lost would be detrimental to the community as a whole, not to mention the relationships shattered by their deaths.

”That sounds like a good idea in theory… but let’s just find out what’s going on around here. If monsters are really being killed by humans..,” she trailed off, using her tail to signal Dorkle to follow her as she quickly moved over to the front desk to check out the book on metallurgy, thanking the librarian with a slightly strained smile. After stuffing the book into her Mysterious Bag of Infinite Space™, she pawed her way towards the exit of the library. ”...Well, I hope those rumors aren’t true,” she finished with a frown. After a moment of deliberation, she asked Dorkle one last question. ”I’m going to go out of the city and check if the warnings are more than just mere speculation, want to come with?”

Usually, she would have kept Dorkle out such a dangerous situation, but it might be better to have him around. After all, if she died and proved the rumors to be true, there would be someone to rush back to the city and alert the Royal Guard.

Dorkle really wanted to go with Miss Nicena to go investigate but he remembered that he had to work. He sighed, “I want to go, but I have to wait until my shift is over…”

He glanced over at the clock by the front desk. It was still a while before his parents would take over and he definitely could not leave the library alone. “I guess I’ll join you later, Miss Nicena. If you’re going now, please be careful.”

The canine nodded in understanding, adjusting the straps on her bag as she gave Dorkle a knowing grin. ”Alright then, wish me luck!” Nicena said cheerfully, waving goodbye with her tail as she set off towards the outskirts. With a heart full of hope and a bag full of dreams, the dog monster ran outwards to meet what awaited her.

Skylar easily noticed how the scenery regained color....well, as much color a dark and dank cave could have. She noticed that the ghost remained black and white and pixelated. She was happy to see that the Ghost was willing to help, and that he could be reasoned with. She couldn't help but smile at the exchange between Rodney and Eeeeeeeeeeeee. She nodded to Rodney, and she answered cheerfully "Okay!" Being careful of the hole that was next to her, she walked forwards after Eeeeeeee with Rodney, after she hefted the oxygen tank and put the straps around her shoulders, so she could carry it easier.

As they exited the cave, Skylar caught sight of something bright through her peripheral vision and she asked out loud "Oh?" She walked over to the source and found something small with a faint light. She thought she heard a voice echo faintly in her head.

*There is a piece of hard candy laying on the floor. It's still good. The yellow wrapping protecting it reminds you of the warmth of the sun, and that fills you with DETERMINATION.
*Picked up a piece of Sunny Candy.

She couldn't help but smile brightly and hopefully at the thought, holding the candy as she thought about her little sibling for a moment. She was completely oblivious to the fact that both her and Rodney seemed to have completely recovered from their encounter with Eeeeeeeeeeeee after she touched the candy and the light. After that simple moment, she rejoined Rodney and the ghost and after showing them what she had found, she joked a little bit "Rodney, I think I found your heart," The color of the candy really did remind her of Rodney's yellow heart she had seen.

@BCTheEntity

---

Lorelei hung up after she left a message and she continued on her way to the stage area. On her way there, she clearly heard Ash's yelling about his lack of clothing as pretty loud echoes. Even after she had moved herself far away from Ash, she could still hear him yelling about something so ridiculous? After a stunned moment, she couldn't help but burst out laughing along with her manager. It wasn't long until her laughter was interrupted by her cell phone. She answered it and was pleased to hear that it was System accepting her job. She smiled happily as she answered, "Oh System Dahling! I'm so glad to hear back from you so soon! Of course the regular rate is good!"

She then warned System, her voice laced with concern, "Be careful not to get yourself caught, alright dear? I wouldn't be surprised if the both of them tried to hurt you if they ever spotted you and learned that you were investigating the both of them,"

Going back to her flamboyant voice, "I expect you'll be starting soon, correct Dahling?"

@Kafka Komedy

Well, would you look at that... it is a pretty similar colour to that, uh, yellow heart in my chest, isn't it? For whatever reason, seeing it fills me with the urge to do JUSTICE. But, now that she mentions it...

'Haha, neat. Actually, what were those hearts, anyway?' I ask the ghost curiously, prompting both of my companions to keep walking and talking. 'All that stuff you were doing, Eeeeeeeeeeee, it didn't do a thing to our actual bodies, and then burned like hell when the hearts got touched by it. What gives?'

'theyre not hearts. theyre your SOUL.'

...alright, I felt the drama in that last word. 'Please explain,' I prompt; in response, Eeeeeeeeeeee exclaims 'your SOUL is the culmination of your very being! i dont know how you dont know that yet! really thats the main thing that humans and monsters have in common except that human SOULs are way stronger than monster SOULs and loads of monster SOULs are needed to match even a single-'

'Okay okay, sloooow down,' I tell him, causing him to stop talking abruptly. No way I want to get in another fight like what we just did, after all. 'In case you weren't aware, humans don't really know much about souls... er, SOULs... on account of... uh, we don't really use them much? We talk about them a lot, they're a pretty big part of above-ground culture, but what just happened there is pretty far out as far as our sou- SOUL lore goes.'

---

I am just gobsmacked. How can they not know of SOULs? It's mindboggling! Beyond comprehension! But okay, I'll explain to them.

'okay, so monster SOULs are all white in colour. you dont usually see them on their own, because except for boss monsters, they arent strong enough to survive very long outside a monsters body. by the way, a monsters body is expressed more through magic than physical matter, whereas humans have more physical matter, and very little magic in their actual bodies. however, their SOULs are far stronger than that of any monster, and the combination of physical power and magical ability means most monsters get very easily killed by humans. except ghosts, like me and my missing brother, who dont have our own body yet. youd just pass right through if you tried attacking me or my missing brother, haha, ha... oh, i made myself sad unintentionally.'

I miss Sloof. He was great, and I don't know why he disappeared.

'...oh right, and humans have seven possible SOUL colours! rather than, um, just white, but theyre actual colours instead. yellow guy-'

'Rodney.'

'-rodney, your SOUL is yellow, so you are an embodiment of JUSTICE! and uh... sssssssssssky? yes that was it, sky, your SOUL is red, which is very special, because that means your SOUL is one of DETERMINATION. which is strong stuff. monsters cant handle having that in them, mostly.'

...I think that's all the important bits? Yeah, it probably is. I don't think I missed anything significant, so.

[]{deleted}[]

Nina started walking alongside Ash again after he took his weapon back from her. She could tell he didn't really want to talk any more after he answered her question, so she stayed silent and decided to check her stats quick before they left the forest.

Stats:
NINA SARI

LV 3
HP 6/28
36 EXP - 34 to next LV

11 G
14(0) AT
10(4) DF

Her health was dangerously low, but that was the only bad thing she could notice. However, as she was checking her stats, something soft hit her in the back of the head and she saw her health drop another point before the world blinked into black and white once again.

*Fluffy Pillow comes flying in!*

She spun around to face the new enemy as Ash started explaining what it was. She, didn't really care who or what this monster was, but it had just attacked her so it probably deserved to die.

But wasn't killing bad now or something?

”Wait, what do you mean by animal? Isn't fluffy pillow a monster just like you?” She watched as Ash tossed the saw blade at the pillow, wondering what she should do. If he was fighting, it should be okay for her to fight as well, right? She took a breath before setting a trap, so long as she dodged whatever was thrown at her next she could use the enemy's attacks against it. ”And, um, while we're on the topic, I'm pretty sure humans can't use magic like any monster could. I didn't even believe in magic before getting stranded here.”

Since she couldn't attack this turn, she settled for checking the fluffy pillow’s stats. Hopefully this would be a quick battle.

---

As Eli started walking with Xaria away from the dust of the first blob-monster, a chorus of “hoi”s rang out from all around the two. After a moment, a white blob the size of Eli’s fist landed on his shoulder, a little face on its side spewing out rapid-fire “hoi”s like a broken record. A rather large blob fell in front of Xaria, and soon, they were surrounded by more than a dozen blobs of varying size and vibration intensity.

Eli stood back-to-back with Xaria as they watched the crowd around them, wondering what was going to happen next. He was worried that Xaria might lunge forward and stab another of the creatures, but after a few moments the sound of the creature’s “hoi”s died down so only running water could be heard around them, the creature’s bodies disappearing as well.

"Well, that was wierd." Eli looked at Xaria to check that she was alright, and then started walking again. "I think, the sooner we get out of this cave, the better. Let's keep going."

The cave after was dark. Dark crevices and corners on either side, with cracks in the wall leading to dead ends or long, black drops…but distant light leaked out from the wider, main passage illuminated the potential dangers as they came.

…an oblong shape sat in the center of the last cave before the brighter chamber.
It was partially shadowed where it sat, and smelled delicious. Just like...a freshly baked cake.





The smallest, pea-sized blob peered out from under the fold of cloth of the green souled human’s shirt, teary-eyed as it watched the orange souled human LV up.

Xaria obtains 100G, Elijah unknowingly obtains a Tem...?


Nearing the City


[CHECK]

Fluffy Pil̪̺̭͉̙ͅl̺̻̼͕̱̹̜ow – ATK 2 DEF 10
Stuffed full of feathers and magic. Surprisingly sturdy!

Another pillow came flying over, flumping instead onto Nina’s leg and momentary disabling movement before cartwheeling out of the battle.

The pillow Ash Hare had thrown a saw blade at sliced right open…but unlike a ‘normal’ encounter, while some lazily floated down to the surrounding ground, most of the feathers came bursting out like darts, shooting out in several directions. Some of these feathers embedded themselves into things of the background, and even a few into other pillows.

*This ain’t your grandmonster’s pillow fight!

Ash laughed slightly as Nina expressed concern at attacking the monster in front of them. "These things can't speak, like you an' me. And they just attacked you didn't it? I'd say it's life is forfeit." He rationalized. But then she said something that just about blew his mind. Humans didn't have magic? Well then how did they do... anything? And what was that purple trap thing if not magic? Apparently they didn't even believe magic existed up on the surface. What a queer place it must've been.

Nina CHECKed the thing out, after setting a trap. It had low attack, but a surprisingly high defense for something to soft. Nothing he couldn't have told her on his own, obviously. Something he couldn't have told her was the monster's reaction to getting sliced. Instead of taking damage regularly, it split in half, allowing razor-sharp feathers to fly everywhere. Instinctively, Ash dodged. He threw himself to the left, which proved to be a bad move. He had moved directly into more of the feathers, the attack spreading wide. In seeming happenstance though, he had jumped towards Nina, shielding her from the quills that could've hit her.

Ash grunted in anger as he pulled some of the quills from his bones. He had been hit by a few of them. He lost 4 HP, so now he was at 24/30. Shit, he had completely forgotten he had lost some health in his scrap with Nina. He would have to avoid stuff like that again. Looking back, he noticed more FP's around them, one who had just latched itself onto Nina but was fleeing. "D*mn! I forgot they did that... Sh*t did your trap get messed up?" He asked her. Him absorbing the attack probably made them lose their chance at bonus damage. For now he simply weighed his options. He didn't have any items, orange magic would be ineffective, his saw got him hurt, and they were surrounded. It really wasn't looking good for him, huh?

♥ System

A slight grin could be spotted on System's face as Lorelei accepted the regular rate. Normally she didn't get jobs so close together. She would probably be able to splurge a little this week. Still, her brief smile returned to normal as the normally ecstatic and explosive idol became serious. Though the skeleton woman could fight, a two on one, with a human, would not end well for her. So she heeded the advice, and would bring her weaponry along.

Quickly, Lorelei returned to her normal joviality, while asking when she'd start. "Yes. Tonight I'll look over Ash's files. See if there's any precedent. Tomorrow, I'll see if I can talk to him. Or go over to his home, need be." She explained. Even if nothing came of it, seeing this human in action would be fun.

Skylar was glad that her lame joke had gotten a chuckle out of Rodney, but her smile went away as soon as she realized that he had asked a pretty good question. She listened carefully as she pocketed the candy as Eeeeeeeeeeeee talked about SOULs, and how Rodney's represented JUSTICE, while hers was DETERMINATION. She nodded affirmatively after the ghost asked if her name was correct. She did feel sympathy for the ghost at the mention of his lost brother. She knew she would be the same if she lost her sibling. After the ghost had finished explaining, Skylar commented "I wonder....how come monsters can't handle DETERMINATION? Isn't it just an emotion?"

She then looked ahead as they reached the last dark cave and saw the long oblong thing and the smell of cake reached her nose. She asked out loud in curiosity and confusion "Who, or what, is that?" She wouldn't admit it, but the smell of cake sort of made her hungry. How long has it been since she last ate? Let alone, how long were the two of them down here, including when they were knocked out?

Anywho, she decided to [CHECK] and see if she could glean any information.

---

Lorelei answered in her usual joviality after System told her her plans, "Excellent Dahling! Just make sure that Ash doesn't know I sent you. If he asks you, don't say that I sent you! Make up some other monster, or say an anonymous client, sent you instead, okay? Also, I'll check in with you tomorrow at 3:00," She then said "Well, gotta go Dahling! Thanks again! I've got a performance to give! OHOHOHOHO!" She then hung up and she started heading for the stage area with her manager once again. However, as she walked on, she couldn't help but wonder if there were other humans down here as well.

'no no no, sky. DETERMINATION is REALLY powerful! technically, all the things that all human SOULs represent are very strong, but DETERMINATION is especially strong. i dont actually know why exactly, but i hear it can be extracted from something or other and put to use somewhere! i dont know where. i dont know a lot about it actually, just that its too strong for most monsters to use and can be extracted to do something. oh hey, a cake smell!'

---

'...I mean, you're not wrong,' I venture cautiously, sniffing the air as I realise that I actually am quite hungry. It smells delicious... reminds me of home, and of my dear wife Olivia, and that reminds of my three kids. Best children a guy could have. God, if only I were back there right now... alright, settle down, Rodney. If you want to get back to them, you'll have to get out of this cave place. Which means past the oblong and its cake smell, regardless of whether it's alive or not.

'Okay, you, uh, oblong-looking entity,' I say, slowly approaching it as I draw my empty gun, and honestly feeling kind of silly for the amount of trepidation I'm putting into this, regardless of how justified it is. A policeman cannot afford to be uncautious in unknown situations like this. 'Now, I don't want anybody to get injured, so if you could just... let us go past... without attacking us... then we can all be on our respective ways without injury, alright?'

@Guardian Angel Haruki@Major Ursa

The oblong shape quivered as Skylar spoke, multi-colored dots fading onto its surface as it seemed to become lumpy. The sweet smell by then became stronger, and seemed to be matching up to the now quivering lump of what seemed to be funfetti cake and white icing mush.

After a moment, a face formed in the cake-icing mush thing, first peering over at the two lazily before blinking, eyes slowly widening in surprise. Gaze darting between each human and then the monster, it jabbed a cake-icing tendril in the ghost’s direction a few times before finally pointing at Rodney, finally squeaking out,

“Nyu…!?”

[CHECK]
Chromnelius – ATK 0 DEF 0
A small, innocent, unassuming child.

As if unable to wait for a response, it moved from its spot in the center of the room and continued into the larger chamber…

Oh. I guess it's not that interested in fighting us after all. Hell, maybe if I follow after it, it'll lead us to a more interesting place than this, such as the place we were probably already going. I put the gun away again, and begin following after it, again beckoning the other two in our party to follow on.

---

'oh, now i recognise what that is! its a... a slonglo! yeah, that!'

I have no idea if it's actually a Slonglo, I've never seen it before in my life. For all I know, it could be a regular living cake. Or a Flee, a small insect-like monster well-known for its capacity to run away from fights when threatened, which has poorly disguised itself as cake to try and avoid attention in the first place. But then it made those cake tendrils, didn't it? My God, could it be that what we just witnessed is the next step in the evolution of the Flee, known only as the Flake?! Oh, what an awful sight to behold!

Oh, and then Rodney wants us to follow him after it. I guess I do that. Trepidationally, because of the Flake. Bwuhuhurgh, how spooky.

@Guardian Angel Haruki@Major Ursa

♥ Dorkle Stein

After his mentor left, Dorkle was alone once more. He went back to work, silently. "Come on... come on..." he mumbled to himself. He checked the time almost every thirty seconds, as if it would help time move faster. He just wanted to get out of here and go investigate and explore.

As if his prayers were answered, his mother strolled in the library and was approaching the front desk. "Dorkle dear! I've decided to check on you," she said in a surprisingly loud yet hushed tone. It felt loud but wasn't loud enough to bother anyone. His mother truly has mastered the librarian voice.

"Mother! Yes! Hi! Can I go now PLEASE?" Dorkle said.

The entire building shushed him immediately. He had not mastered the librarian voice yet.

"Dorkle, you must be quiet. We are in a library after all," his mother scolded. "Go where? What do you have going on? Some crazy experiment again? When are you going to stop with that nonsense and focus on taking care of the library?"

"It's my life, mother."

"This library has been in our family for centuries. From your father's father's father's father all the way down to your father. And one day, you. So Dorkle, please. Stop with that science stuff."

Unable to deal with his mother at the moment, Dorkle stormed out of the library before she could do or say anything else. He could feel some tears welling up in his eyes and walked as fast as he could to his make-shift lab. "I just have to prove myself! I will find that human and ... and... well... I'll figure it out when I get there!"

Skylar clearly caught the information about the blob in front of them, a voice resounding in her own mind. She watched as Chromnelius pointed tendrils at Eeeee and Rodney, before moving away from them and into a different room. She looked at Rodney to see that he wanted to follow. She smiled at Eeeee's comment before the both of them followed Rodney. She caught up to Rodney, and she tugged at his sleeve, and she told him, "It may be a good idea to keep a great distance away from them. As weird as this sounds, we are following a child,"

She knew that it would be a good idea to not scare the kid, and what's scarier to a kid than having a couple of strangers following them? Plus, what if their mother was nearby? Never underestimate a mother and her maternal instincts....Skylar shuddered at the thought of a larger blob attacking them because they scared the child.