"Titanic buzzes. Did you know that one sting from these guys will kill you? Not because of venom, but because their stingers are about the same length as the average adult male human..." Solomon shook his head in disbelief.
They were even more enormous than depicted in the books he'd read. Their wings, like blades, finely chopped the air like chefs or something. And with the way they quickly zoomed through the sky, you'd think they were powered by electricity...
But those kinds were a different species entirely, nothing Solomon would find in the hateful Papaya Jungle–
But what he WOULD find was a fist in his face, a PUNCH for all that NERDY talk!
"And look at that: you got blood on my rings!" Jouer groaned, "I got these from the Sauce Region, they don't even make these kind of rings anymore!"
Solomon reeled from the potency of the man's punch...
Well, as usual, no matter what: peace wasn't an option.
He dug in one of his ultra-handy (super convinient) belt pouches and pulled out a handful of puffy mushrooms, flinging them onto the ground and causing and EXPLOSION of white gas to soak the entire area!
Choking.
Surrounded by a white woolly vapour spilling out of nowhere, the blonde man was going through HELL!
His eyes squeezed shut, but it didn't stop tears from crawling out of them! It felt as if burning cotton had been stuffed into lungs because breathing felt like, well…HELL!
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He couldn't see, he couldn't breathe…but he could still hear.
Loud and clear.
The Titanic mumble of those idiotically HUGE bees buzzing around. But that was the least of his concerns.
Solomon wasted no time, understanding how screwed he'd BEE if those bees found him, he PUUUUUUUSHED open the elephant-sized temple doors with all his might and ran into the inky blackness behind them.
And right on queue, the doors BANGED shut.
And for all the planning Solomon had put into this whole retrieval mission!
Beatrice just HAD to send him to this jungle at the same time as that lunatic getting mauled by bees outside the room.
Solomon was planning on sketching some of the broken down buildings of the ancient city. Maybe even study some of the less ruthless creatures creeping about the jungle and jot down some notes.
But no. The world didn't care about his passions or his feelings. And who the hell was Jouer Dyce?
Suddenly, all around him, candles and metal basins sparked to life, splashing the once-dark hall with a pure blue blaze that crackled furiously.
Solomon rubbed his eyes in pure AWE! You would too!
The room was like its own...universe. Pillars climbing up into the blackness of the light-dry ceiling. The brilliant sky-blue quartz floor winked and twinkled like someone spilled glitter onto it.
Although the outside was swallowed in green moss, vines and fungi eating away at the stone...the inside looked like it had been built hours before Solomon's arrival.
And as if he'd booked an appointment last week, there it was.
Conveniently sitting atop a tall pyramid of staircases under a perfect hole in the roof that let the sunlight beam down on it like a spotlight:
King Kai's box of forgotten goodies.