"Oh shit..." Rift groaned, seeing the walls rising as they enter the 9th floor. Walls that led to a pattern. "Another Maze!? What are the odds!?" Peppy yelled. Jacko clicked his tongue, after not seeing Ebony. He began walking into the entrance, until a hand grabbed his arm. "Dude, Dude." Rift said. "I know we getting ready, but we gotta take it slow. We just finished a tussle and we ain't got enough muscle to our top shape yet." Rift told. Jacko turned to him. "Rift, I want to fight her alone." Jacko told. "Yeah, with your fucking dragon too..." Rift groaned. "Just...don't overdo it." Rift told. Peppy followed as well. "CAN I PET THE DRAGON!?" She squealed. Jacko sighed, calming himself down a bit. "Sorry, but I can't summon the dragon right now...even with less slimes, it takes a toll on my body a bit..." Jacko told. "Let's hunt us a dragon to eat." Rift said.
Ebony hid behind a wall, very close to the entrance. Her arm felt stiff, she even felt the paralysis slowly spreading across her body. "That damn Nurse...I didn't think she'd actually do this much." She groaned, this is why you have to kill the supports first, folks. She pulls out two more orbs from her pouch, fresh from Herman's blade. She then hears an incoming dragon near her....
The Green Dragon inhaled, intending to release it's poison breath, suddenly a Water Tentacles shuts it, then having it's head slammed to the wall, then a Paralysis Bolt is shot at its neck, causing the dragon to groan and collapse to the ground. "Quick! Can you open its mouth?" Peppy asked, grabbing some empty vials from her bag. Jacko then used his Slime Arm to force the dragon's face to keep it's jaw open, having it's poison then extracted by Peppy cutting the Dragon's tooth and having poison liquid fill the vials."Jacko, you okay dude?" Rift asked, noticing Jacko's lack of his optimistic vibe. He looked up at Rift. "Once we're done eating, were going to hunt her down. Jacko then slammed the dragon's mouth shut after Peppy showed a thumbs up after extraction. "I know she tried to kill of us, but this ain't like you man. You gotta like, chillax. Or else you proving the dead guy right." Rift told. "I'm not gonna turn into a monster." Jacko said, then summoning Finn. "Help her cook the food." He ordered, "Haiyaaaa..." The fairy flew to Peppy, who was preparing her cooking tools. Jacko then starts walking away. "Where you going?" Rift asked.
"I'm just going to explore." Jacko said with a stern yet sad sounding voice. "I'll come with." Rift said. "No, You defend Peppy." Jacko said, as he then kept walking away. Rift was a bit annoyed. "What's gotten into that guy?" Rift asked himself.
Jacko walked to a completely random path, then he felt his chest throb, causing him to hold himself by placing a hand on the wall. "It's so painful..." He says, he clenches his slimy chest. Then, he heard loud footsteps of a dragon, with crackling electricity. Jacko turned to the sound, the dragon approaching him very slowly. Jacko then stood up straight, looking the dragon in the eye. Clenching his fist, his ground slime hand starting to shape. The Yellow Dragon dashed immediately to bite his head off, ending up eating a ground sandwich of slime. The slime hand sticks to the Dragon's Jaw, only spreading all over it's face. Jacko angrily tightened his grip on the foolish dragon, the slime covering the Dragon's face, it's body slamming around in great panic. Then Jacko swiped his hand away, ripping it's head off like it was nothing. Jacko gasped, looking at his hand. "I'm...so strong..." Jacko said, a smile sneaking upon his face.
The two quietly ate some meat from a dragon they have slain. Rift looked a bit worried, but he doesn't really want to think about that now. He turned to Peppy, clearly enjoying her own cooking. "Why are you so good at cooking? I thought you were a full on Penny Petal simp, I heard she cooks like shit!" Rift said, wanting to spice up the silence. "They're only rumors...but." Peppy sighed. "I always wanted to be a cook, ya know, ma and pa's influence." She began. "Then, when I made my own business, I barely got traction, I got my whole place and everything. Turns out, my ma and pa didn't like me going solo, so they made bad press about my restaurant, they kept saying stuff like, "a 14 year old can't cook with her savings." And it kinda broke me a bit." Peppy sighed. "Hey fire baby, turn down the heat please." Finn nodded, stopping the flames and stretching, then it sat down at Rift's head, interested in her story. "That's when I heard about the Forest Fighters, the first guys that beat the 20th floor. They were treated so much better by the people. Everyone loved them at the time. And...she spoke me...Penny Petal!" Her eyes gleamed. "Eh? What did she say?" Rift asked. "That's a secret! But anyway, that's when I fell in love with her, I wanna be like her... I've read every single thing that was talked about her, I started selling meat in the Low Tiers, to the miners...just to buy all my gear! I even trained myself to be an adventurer, and now...I'm so close to beating the 10th floor...tho not the 20, but it's progress!" Peppy told. "That's inspiring...I still don't understand how exactly you got inspired tho..." Rift tilted his head, Finn does as well. "Well I'm enjoying it! I even made my own recipe of her famous Rush Shot!" She then showed off a syringe with the liquid on it. "Oooooh! Does it work?" Rift was suddenly interested, he knows that the Rush Shot can increase someone's power and speed and cannot be affected by pain at the short time.After the effect ends, you will suddenly feel all the pain you felt.
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"Well...I tried it on one guy." Peppy told. "He became jack shit strong! And then...died because it basically drained all the water in his body, I tried dousing him with water and making him drink, it only made him alive for a few more moments before dying again." Peppy told. "Oooohk, that's fucked up." Rift said. "It's not like you killed people before, that was by complete accident. Don't tell anyone. I telling you because you're pretty cool." Peppy told with a smile. "That's...not even a good reason but I won't tell noone." He said, for he doesn't even deserve to snitch on a fellow murderer.
"Haiyaaaaaa!" Finn yelled, suddenly wrapping Rift with magic fiery rope to move him out of the way. A beam of ice then bursts right by Peppy's head, immediately moving out of the way and grabbing her crossbow. "Shit!" Peppy scolded herself, then she began shooting at where it came from...
A visible white cold must appears before them, the bolts whizzing to them immediately froze and bursts before they hit it. "Ah shit!" Rift then equips his knives. "Reeves! We gotta run, this one's out of our league!" Peppy told, picking up what she can. The dragon then fires a blast straight at Rift, he immediately dodges them in a blink. Finn then began shooting fire balls at it, making the dragon try shooting it in the air.
The two then make a run for it while the dragon was distracted.
Jacko kept walking around, tired, hungry...He shouldn't have left. He then looked up above him, he widened his eyes. It was clearly the staircase, but someone sat there, waiting. "Oh Jackooo~" The familiar lady giggled. Jacko clenched his fists. "Grommar-" Jacko then gagged, he felt his chest throbbing. He couldn't even summon his Golem Slime!?
"You seem to be in a lot of pain, dear." Ebony teased, walking up to him. "Blizz!" Jacko then pulls out his wand, summoning Blizz from the wand to shoot for her head.
The slime screamed in pain, as she temporarily turned her head into water, crushing the tiny slime with water. "I can make you feel better." She claimed, while pulling out a slimy mass on her palm. Jacko gasps as he laid his eyes, his senses were weakening, drooling at the sight of the Slime Heart. "A Slime with a lost soul, that's what you are...but you're not a true slime...not yet." Ebony told. Jacko looked up at her face, smiling upon Jacko's weakest point. "I'm strong..." Jacko repeated himself. He knew what was happening, he had been watching through Finn's eyes this whole time. Jacko smiled. "FOLLOW THE FLAMES!" Jacko yelled, as Finn suddenly appeared right in front of her to shoot flames at the Slime Heart, disintegrating the entire thing. Ebony growled ragefully, turning her left arm into a bunch of tiny water tentacles. "Why is it so hard to convince you!?" Ebony then charged, while Jacko yelled as Finn entered his head.
As the two were running through the maze, dead end after dead end, the two looked at each other. "We're so fucked." Rift grunted. Then they heard a voice from where the Frost Dragon was stopped. "FOLLOW THE FLAMES!" The voice cried, then the two turn to the sound of flames being shot up at the ceiling, followed by a yell. "That's Jacko!" Rift said, while they began running. Then they heard the roars of the dragon nearing them.
"Peppy!" Rift then kicks Persephone's legs, causing her to fall in his arms. "What the-" Peppy looked up to Rift, his daggers attached to his belt, the effect of the daggers still applied, making him run albeit slower now that he was carrying her.
"It's no use!" She uses her water to simply disintegrate the flames from Finn. "This is why you were born! Your destiny is to become a fucking god, you dare refuse to evolve!?" She then shoots a barrage of water Bullets from her chest. "I don't want to be a monster!" Finn defended by using his flames to form a magical flame shield. "You Magekeeps, are so annoying!" Jacko then flew to her, thanks to the fire power, he successfully tackled her. Unfortunately, that was the worst decision, for Ebony simply turned herself into water and extinguished the flames of Finn on his body. Jacko screamed in pain, quickly summoning a Ground Slime in the middle of them, then turning itself into a rock pillar, launching back Jacko and Ebony away from each other. The ground slime then proceeds to turn itself into a quicksand below Ebony, easily making her escape from it anyway. "You're running out of stamina are you?" She teased. Jacko then looked up at her with a smile, panting.
Suddenly, large footsteps were heading their way. "Jacko!" Rift yelled. Ebony was caught by surprise, she immediately ran into the next floor. Jacko, followed by Rift carrying Penny followed as well.