Monster Breeder

““The Red matches you, Flou, not me,”” Brenda says with our voice.

“I’m holding out for a third Swarm type. There’s no point to me taking this Core.”

We shake our head, ““The only two-of-a-kind I’ve got so far is Pyramidal, and I don’t think that’ll help me. My best chance is that I meet whatever conditions spark an evolution in Stone, Acid, or Symbiosis.””

“Which is why you need the Bone Slime’s Core,” Flou insists. “That’ll give you three Cores to work with, even if they don’t match.”

(We’ve already taken the Pyramidal Slime Core since its Green color matches Brenda.)

My lover still insists on fighting her instinctual need to protect me at all costs in favor of group harmony, perhaps to her detriment, ""We should draw lots…""

“Like I said, I’m giving Flou all my God Beast damned Cores until she freaking evolves,” Olindia says, the fact she has two Large Cores in her ‘back pocket’ notwithstanding.

“That’s enough Refusing the Call, right? I don’t really know you, even though you’re sharing my Companion’s body, but maybe you should just go ahead and accept the Supernatural Aid? Stories where the main characters whine and complain too much are boring! Let’s go kick some butt!”

Tink is adorable, if a little unhinged with her advice.

I’m wondering how we’re even going to be able to find a trio of Symbiont Cores if we can’t figure out the catalyst to advance. We haven’t seen anything like that down here. That’s a bridge we’ll cross when we come to it. In the meantime… ““Okay.””

We swallow our third Second Tier Core, our glowing green throat easily able to accommodate the sharp edges of the ruby-red gem. It plops down into the gooey interior of our Slime stomach beneath the Stone Ooze shell of our skin to land beside the other two (Pyramidal Stone and Pyramidal Green Mirror). Nothing happens. It seems we're still missing something.

“If you’re done with that drama, we need to move before the next guard patrol heads this way,” Jing says. “We’ve already got the next location picked out.”

“Actually, Dad,” Tink interrupts in a small, shy voice, “Can we go to the Library? I want to show Jonny my collection…”

“The Library, huh? Hmm,” Jing closes his eyes as if remotely viewing another scene. He takes a minute before fluttering his lids open and responding, “…All clear. Sure, we’re not far.”

“Wait, what’s this about a library?” Flou suddenly pipes up.

Tink turns to look at where our Slime companion speaks from Chris’s ruby rhinestone corset teddy, shrugs with a tiny tilt of her head, and replies, “It’s a big room with lots and lots of old books. Jing took me there a lot growing up; I found all the best stories and kept them in one place! Now we can take a look while we’re down here. I can even show you the Prophecy, so you’ll believe me about your destiny, Jonny!”

“Hmm,” Flou considers. “Gabby said there was a rumor about a library in the Misty Grove dungeon.

That wasn’t in the mission briefing… Well, Alex told us to look for the entrance to the dungeon but probably thought it’d be too dangerous for us to go searching inside for anything like that. There’s no way she could know we’d find a guide with access to the natural ‘security system.’

“Yeah, I remember that, too,” Olindia agrees from Chris’s pink tutu. “She was saying that could be where the Book of Monsters came from, right?”

“How did you…? Wait, that’s right, you were inside Alex at the time,” Flou says.

“Actually—I mean, yes, that’s true—but I've umm, I think I’ve… been here before.” The Jellyfish Slime’s voice takes a somber turn.

“Been here before?” Gale asks, cocking her head askew in confusion.

How is that possible?

“She was a Slime before Alex met her,” Flou explains to us before returning to address her Slime Solidarity companion, “Olindia, do you mean that you came from this place?”

“No… well, yes, I mean, like, it’s freaking complicated, alright? The last thing I remember is being separated from my friends, and the Misty Grove—then I came here, and fell asleep? I still don’t remember everything, but, argh!”

“Wah!”

Chris’s legs shudder as Olindia decants herself from the bunny girl’s uterus along with all the unclaimed Cores we’ve collected so far. *Clatter!* *Clatter!* *Clatter!* Marbles roll everywhere as Chris slumps to the ground on her knees with an overwhelmed, dizzy expression, the bottoms of her corset teddy sodden and stuffed to bursting with the little slimy jewels.

Disengaging from her host, Olindia takes her humanoid form: opaque pink skin slick with moisture, a dress-like jellyfish bell covering her voluptuous shape, and a large hat with dangly blue tendrils tipped pink on her head. Her normally laid-back attitude is gone, her usually downturned eyes staring acutely at the scenery as if wracking her mind for a recollection just barely out of reach.

She rushes off without so much as a warning while leaving the rest of us to play catchup. The Slime girl isn’t fast by any means, so it’s no trouble keeping pace, but I can tell her behavior has Gale and Flou worried. Tink,Chris, and the Harpy wingmaidens don’t know her that well to be concerned when she drops the uncaring persona.

Olindia stumbles from dilapidated sign to rusted plate, visions of times long past clearly flitting through her awareness like ghosts. Several times she reaches out to something that isn’t there before retracting her hand as if burned. Then the Pink Slime girl approaches a heavy piece of rubble laying against the wall and starts pushing at it. The thing is far too large for her to budge it alone.

We look at one another, lost and befuddled. Even Tink and Jing have wan expressions and dimmed glows.

Gale turns to me with empathetic pain in her eyes and says, “She’s hurting…”

That’s not difficult to see. But I’m the team’s human. I need to step up in Alex’s place.

We step forward to help Olindia with whatever it is she’s doing. Our stony hands land on the big chunk of debris and pull it away from where the Slime girl is trying to get at. There’s a dull crash as the rubble further cracks the tile floor, but all our eyes are on the big reveal.

It’s a pink, plastic purse.

The accessory is old. Very old. It’s covered with the dust of ages and a layer of fine powder settled after some nearby cave-ins. The strap is frayed. The metal clasps rusty. But, as Olindia tenderly brushes the dirt from its surface, its colors are still bright—not bleached by the sun or even once touched by light in the dark recesses of this dank dungeon. There’s an ancient bloodstain on a corner of the bag that won’t come off. Closer inspection of the floor shows evidence of more blood, now no more than a slight discoloration on the old tiling. The underside of the debris we pushed aside also has an ancient bloodstain, this one with a few strands of hair stuck to it—like it hit someone on the head a long time ago.

“O-Olindia,” Gale begins.

*Ziiiiiip!* The sound of the purse being opened interrupts the Rainbird.

“Not too shabby, right? Really well preserved.” Olindia puts on a brave face while rifling through the purse’s contents, but she’s not fooling anyone while we can see her lips trembling like that.

Expired products that I can barely recognize as ancient human makeup and crumbling bric-a-brac clatter to the floor in a useless pile. Olindia catches a cracked and brittle wallet from the air which she opens to withdraw a card that she holds up to the faint fairy lights. We crowd around and squint to read the contents.

Most of the text is illegible or unreadable due to possibly centuries of linguistic drift, but I can read the name in large letters above the recognizable portrait.

Linda Oakes

""…""

“It’s my Student ID. From before I dropped out.”

“Olindia!” Gale exclaims as she hugs the Pink Slime girl with open wings. Even our resident bird-brain can put these pieces together.

We put our hand on her shoulder, and I know she’s in rough shape because the Pink Slime doesn’t pull away or try to laugh us off. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Flou doesn’t say a word—and what do you even say in this situation?—but I feel the silent presence of her solidarity like a warm compress. Tink and Jing are equally quiet, although that’s more because they don’t know our friends that well.

“That you, jellybitch?” Chris diffuses the situation with a lighter tone while pointing at the card.

“Yeah, I guess it is.”

“So, I guess this means you’re old as sin, huh?”

“Hey! You never ask a girl about her age, dumbass!”

“Crone.”

“I’ll shove my arm so far up your ass, you’ll know how a sock puppet feels!”

“Jellybitch crone.” The smaller woman doesn’t hesitate to continue ‘poking the bear.’

Good thing Chris is here, or we’d be moping for hours. Yes, it’s nice the two of them have developed a rapport.

“Stupid, carrot-farming dumb bunny.”

“Eh? …I’ve never farmed a day in my life, though.”

“It’s a ref—nevermind. Doesn’t matter. Let me just scoop up all the Cores I dropped and we can get a move on before the guards come back.”

“No rush, they’re not headed this way,” Jing reassures. It’s sure great having the security system on our side!

Olindia manages to fit everything, including the Student ID, back into the purse, though the accessory is stuffed fit to burst.

“What’s that noise?” Chris asks, her bunny ears perking up, seconds before it reaches the rest of us. It’s the sound of battle echoing down the empty mall corridors.

We look to Jing. “No visual on it, but there aren’t any guards down that way right now,” the male Fairy says.

““Let’s check it out,”” Brenda and I say in our shared voice.