“I better not get flushed again.” Bug says to herself as she glares over the side of her raft, watching the murky black waters and half expecting something to jump out and attack at any moment.

Freaking Dungeon, kidnapping my minions. I’m going to get them back! I can’t believe it would do something this petty. So childish!

Looking around her raft, Bug doublechecks that her team of Lizard Men zombies are still dutifully doing their jobs. This time, not a single one of her favorite skeletons are out of her Inventory. This time, if the Dungeon is going to cheat again, she will only have to risk losing some zombies she doesn’t care about.

With the zombies working the oars in perfect rhythm, the raft is practically cutting through the water at top speeds. A team of eight of them, working in tandem to row four oars. For even more speed, some more of them are in the water and pushing the raft forward as they swim with their powerful legs and tails.

Good speed, it shouldn’t be too much longer till we get to the other side of this lake. And this time, no taking naps. There are no zombie fish in the water either this time, so I don’t need to worry about pissing off any secret bosses. Let’s just get across and keep moving.

Settling down in the middle of the raft, Bug gives Mimmie a hug and holds it tightly in her arms, because she is taking NO chances of dropping the fat little brick in the water. This little chitter, who has been noticeably putting on some weight and getting heavier would, well… sink like a brick. Bug has no idea if Mimics can breathe underwater or not, and right now is most certainly not the time to try and find out.

I should have tested during my bath. I will next time.

Mimmie for its part is seemingly just enjoying the ride. Reaching its eyestalks up above her arms, the weird little extensions being able to stretch a surprising distance, it just happily looks around and takes in the sights as the raft speeds over the water. To keep it from trying to munch on her as mid-ride snack, Bug had made sure to fill it up with another small pile of bloody meat before setting off.

Bug gives her pet some scratches and smiles as it seems to enjoy it.

Much more docile on a full tummy.

“Good Mimmie, good.”

Leaving Mimmie to enjoy the ride, one hand absentmindedly giving it some scritches, Bug checks over her map of this floor, which has been getting steadily filled out during this impromptu side quest. Going over the layout of the floor, she tries to get an idea for how large it is and how long it will take to catch up to her minions.

It feels like I’m getting closer again. Let’s just hope I will actually be able to get them back…

Closing the map, Bug digs into her Inventory and takes out a couple of the granola bars that she recently stole. Unwrapping them from their wrappers, she sells the paper and then enjoys her simple meal.

Not the best thing I’ve had, but not too bad. Still better than moss.

Mimmie looks up at her when it notices her eating. Offering it a bite, Mimmie just looks at the offered food like it is trying to figure out what it is. Quickly losing interest and not even bothering to give it a try, Mimmie looks away and back towards watching the water speed by.

“Not interested, huh? Meat only then.” Bug says to herself as makes a mental note for future Mimic caretaking.

…

Still speeding across the lake, the trip is a mostly an uneventful one until an encounter accurses to help break up the monotony. A trio of fish monsters with elongated fins like four legs jump out of the water to land on the raft.

*HISS!*

Mouths full of needle-like teeth and lumpy, ugly bodies like a bulldog, the things hiss and gurgle out their aggressions as they take the stage, clearly looking for a fight.

Bug just looks at the three of them from where she is sitting and playing with Mimmie, not impressed in the slightest.

The fish monsters, Garmolds, as Identify informs Bug. They look around a bit with their big bulbous eyes when they realize that no one is freaking out or getting ready to fight. Not what is supposed to happen… Still hissing, they grow confused by the situation and actually start to take in their surroundings. Now that they aren’t underwater, they can actually see what all is up here on the raft.

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They had landed in the middle of the raft, near the front, and are already surrounded on all sides by several zombie Lizard Men.

The rowing stops, the boat slows, and the Undead carefully stow the oars away.

*Hiss?*

What follows is a brutal, one-sided fight where the Garmolds attempt to quickly flee back into the water, only to be stopped and torn apart by the relentless Undead. One almost makes it past their legs and to the water, but the quadruped fish, about half the size of a grow man, just gets grabbed by the tail and dragged forcefully back onto the raft before being brutally beaten half to death.

Left as a bloody mess on the floor of the raft and desperately trying to crawl to the safety of the water, the poor fish doesn’t even notice as Bug walks over to it, a brick held in hand.

“Mimmie, treat~”

The Garmold looks up at the shadow covering its vision, fear filling its simple mind as it finds a smiling Gremlin and a salivating brick looking down at it in return.

Sure, Mimmie had already eaten before getting on the raft. But Mimmie is a glutton. Mimmie always has room for dessert.

…

The raft reaches land, and Bug departs, riding on her mount with a freshly leveled-up Mimmie resting on her lap, looking sleepy after overeating again and enjoying some nice scritches. This is the first time that Mimmie has gotten to enjoy tasting fish, so it got a bit too into it. While certainly delicious, Mimmie is currently of the opinion that human is tastier. Bug’s fingers are naturally in the number one spot though. Those are definitely still Mimmies top favorite food.

“Forward, we are almost there! I can feel them; forward my minions!”

And they ride! Or, at least Bug does. The rest of her Undead just sprint behind her as they move through the halls. Occasionally, a pipe might blow some steam at Bug or water will try to get her wet by dripping from the ceiling. All of it is just the Dungeon trying to get on her nerves, and she knows this. She doesn’t let it bother her.

After all, she is close to reaching them again. And just one more turn and she arrives at her destination.

Another wall…

But Bug doesn’t let it get to her. After all, she was half expecting this to happen again. She honestly isn’t surprised. Angry, most certainly, but not surprised.

Still, she takes the time to carefully go around and check if there is any way of getting them out. Any hidden doors, any secret switches, any way of getting her skeletons to figure their own way out. Because the skeletons are more than cable of open doors themselves with just some simple commands from Bug. So, if there is a way out in there, they might be able to open it.

None of it works, and Bug just steps back to angrily glare at the wall. Mimmie has long fallen asleep by this point, just snoozing away on the insect’s back. Pushing aside her anger for a bit and smiling at the cute little brick, Bug goes ahead and takes this chance to scoop it up and place Mimmie in its mobile bone cage.

“Little silly, ate so much that you can’t even close up your shell anymore, haha. So cute~”

Giving Mimmie one last pet, she closes the cage and then returns to angrily glaring at a wall. Eventually, she gives up.

After all, what the heck is she going to do? She can’t break the walls. And considering how things just went, chances are that the Dungeon is just going to do it again.

I seriously doubt that it has any intentions of giving them back. If I let it, the Dungeon will probably just lead me on a wild goose chase or something… Goose… I’ve never seen a goose before. Why would I want to chase a goose? Weird phrase…

She shrugs, lets out a long sigh, and then looks up towards the ceiling. Bug doesn’t know why, but whenever she wishes to address the Dungeon, looking up towards the ceiling always just feels like the right thing to do.

“You win! Fuck it, they’re yours. As much as I hate to admit it, you win this round, keep them! I’ll cut my connection to them and move on. I’m heading to the next floor. And you better prepare yourself, because now, I have even more of a reason to want to kill you, Dungeon!”

Almost predicably, seemingly as a response, Bug’s minions get flushed from behind the walls again and get carried off into the distance.

“I’m not going to chase them. I know you are just messing with me. If you want me to go after them, I have to actually be able to get them ba-”

She stops talking as she had been continuing to follow their movement through the Dungeon, tracking to see where they are being taken. They had just been split up… Sent off in three separate directions…

“I-I’m not going to… If I’m not actually able to get them back, then…”

Why would it separate them? Surly it knows that I’m serious. If it comes down to it, I will let them go. But then…

She grits her teeth, looking back and forth between the different directions where she senses her minions to be now.

“Fuck! Alright, listen up Dungeon! This is the last time! I’m going to go check, one more time. Only once! But if I can’t get them back, that will be it. You hear me!? I better be able to get them back, or else I am heading straight for you! So, no funny business!!!”

The Dungeon doesn’t respond. Not that it can, since it was blocked from sending her messages by the Admin. That was its fault anyways. You shouldn’t send messages telling people to kill themselves in chat. That goes against the TOS.

Taking out a piece of honey candy to suck on, Bug tries to get her anger back under control by enjoying some sweetness. Playing with the hard candy on her tongue, she looks towards her three options and chooses to go left for now. The other two would have her heading back across the lake again, and she would rather do that later.

Hopefully, this one will be Bob. I want to get him back the most…

Directing Mimmie’s cage to climb onto the back of the insect and grab on, basically turning it into a backseat baby carriage, Bug climbs on after she is sure it is secure and gets comfortable. An extra pillow gets added to her seat, propped up against Mimmie’s cage so she has a backrest.

Getting comfy, Bug gives the order, and her skeletons take off into yet another sprint through the Dungeon.

Bug is probably going to be spending a bit of time on Floor 13…