Chapter 13: 13

Fresh looks at the bluish cloud that fills the gate of the dungeon, which the two of them now stand before. It is later in the day now, the afternoon having started about an hour ago and the city is as busy and as full of bustling life as ever. People walk all around them, entering in and out of the dungeon on both sides of the two, who are standing rather awkwardly in the middle of the way.

“Stay up behind me,” instructs Jubilee. Fresh nods, willing to let them take the lead. “You have to go in first though. I’ve already been down a bit deeper this week, so we’re better off taking yours, since you probably haven’t done much.”

Fresh isn’t quite sure she gets their meaning, but steps inside nonetheless, letting herself become enveloped by the fog. She hears a pair of small boots coming in up just behind herself. The light in her eyes returns to a normal dim, dungeon shade, as Fresh finds herself atop the familiar staircase. Jubilee enters next to her and goes down the steps first.

“We shouldn’t even let you step foot in here, honestly,” says Jubilee. “But if we’re gonna do this, then we need to get some stuff and I can’t carry it all by myself.”

Fresh walks after them, down the stairs, still wondering if they’re a her or a him. However, the small figure is heavily obscured and their voice is rather unidentifiable, though a little high-pitched. Fresh nods with a quiet “Mm!”, wanting to agree with them, but not feeling brave enough to say or ask anything else; lest her brashness cause new trouble. They reach the bottom of the steps.

“The hell…?” swears the small figure, as they look together now at the first floor. A rather grayish looking, ironically moldy, blob sits next to the burning hole. All that remains of Mr. Mushroom. The torches which she had planted in the dirt are however, still burning as brightly as ever, the magical fire not subdued even a little. Jubilee looks at the bite-marks on the thing and then back towards her.

“Did you… You didn’t. Did you?” they ask in disbelief.

Did she do something wrong again? Fresh pokes her index fingers together, looking away from the stern eyes facing up towards herself as she sheepishly speaks. “I was hungry…”

“You… wh… - YOU GOO-BRAIN! You can't just eat dungeon monsters,” scolds Jubilee, as they grab the sides of their own head again, their now-gloved fingers clearly digging into their scalp with immense pressure, as they tear at their hood. “I really want to beat some sense into your empty head, but you’d probably die.” They turn away from Fresh, their hands clutching their masked face.

Fresh waits for them to finish, feeling nervous about this now too. “Was that bad?”

“Only if you like being alive, which you apparently don’t,” says Jubilee, violently kicking Mr. Mushroom’s body over once. He rolls back into the fire. The fuzz on his body hisses as the flames scorch it away and singe his sides black. “Monsters need to be carefully prepared. You can’t just bite into them like some rabid animal,” they explain. “Especially the mush-mushes! They’re literally poisonous mushrooms!” Jubilee points back to Fresh angrily. “How are you even still alive?!”

Fresh thinks for a moment, but then shrugs. “He didn’t taste goo-“ She stops herself, looking at the burning body. “I mean, he tasted fine. But I don’t think he was poisonous…”

Jubilee stares at her and even though she can’t see their expressions beneath the wooden mask, she still somehow reads it as ‘lost’. “…He?” asks Jubilee.

Fresh raises a finger with a smile. “Yeah. That’s Mr. Mushroom!”

Jubilee stares at her, silently. “Mr… Mr. Mushroom?”

Fresh nods.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” says Jubilee and turns to walk down towards where the red-fog was, shaking their head, a hand planted onto their mask as they mumble a vague series of unintelligible words, complaining about some ‘other’. Fresh looks at them as they walk on around the bend. Did she say something wrong? But feeling that she is alone and has been left behind, she grabs a torch, ignoring the window that pops up and runs after Jubilee. She descends down the new, very wide staircase here.

The second floor of the dungeon is already visible immediately from the top. It’s another simple room, made out of a mixture of compacted dirt, roots and ancient brickwork. As Fresh reaches Jubilee, a small window appears before herself.

Then a second later, it vanishes as they both look at it for an instant. Jubilee sighs again. “You really are fresh.”

Fresh thinks for a moment, wondering in which sense the word was intended. But simply opts to silently nod ‘yes’. That seems like it could do no harm. She looks around, but there is nothing here for her to see. “Are there monsters here?” she asks quietly, leaning downward and lowering her voice.

“Yeah. Floor two has some more mush-mushes, but… it’s just two. Not even worth the effort. These first ten floors are basically ‘baby’s first dungeon’,” says Jubilee. “Though apparently some ‘people’ have actually managed to die here before. Sad fucks.”

Fresh scratches her cheek, laughing meekly.

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“You stay up here. Always up the stairs, okay?” Jubilee leans in towards her. “You NEVER come down a single step until I tell you, okay?” they ask. “If you die, I swear to whatever god you pissed off, I’ll sell your body to the necromancers!”

Fresh nods, not liking being yelled at or bossed around. But… what was she going to do to be of use anyways? She isn’t useful. Fresh rubs her arm. “Okay.”

Jubilee nods. “Good. I got the key, that makes me the party-leader. So I run this show, got it? You need to listen to me if you want to live.”

Fresh thinks for a moment, does that bother her? No. Not really. She was never the type to take charge of a group. She was never good with pecking orders or any of that. She just always wanted to be herself without other people making it weird. “Okay,” she says again, plainly. If she keeps it simple, she can’t say anything dumb.

Jubilee nods and steps down a step, bending forward to grab a fist-full of loose dirt from below. Some sharp, crackling crystallizing sound can be heard from between their gloved fingers. Fresh watches on in curiosity, as the small figure walks towards the center of the empty room. She wonders where the mush-mushes are? There aren’t any holes this time.

Jubilee stops, two trails make themselves seen in the dirt, as some things are burrowing around the room from both sides, just below the surface.

*NYAAAAAAAH~* cry out a duo of large mush-mushes, springing out of the dirt from both sides, with wide, open mouths as they lunge towards Jubilee.

“Ah! Look ou-!” shouts Fresh, taking a quick step forward.

Jubilee throws the handful of dirt down at their own feet in that instant. It smashes against the floor and… shatters?

Some colorful sparkle catches Fresh’s eyes, as tiny fragments of glass shimmer in the torch’s radiating firelight, rebounding all of the colors around themselves like sparkling rain. It only takes a moment, but the world explodes into a flash of refractive light, as two prismatic spires burst out of the ground, shooting out faster than her eyes can follow.

*NYAA-*

Both of the mush-mushes are cut short in their cries, as the glass that shot out of the ground lances through their cores in an instant, skewering them and holding them aloft in mid-air, suspended by two long, razor-sharp crystals, jutting out of the dirt like jagged spears.

[ You got {4/10} Experience ! ] (Party)

[ You got {6/10} Experience ! ] (Party)

The screams die off, the two mushroom creatures gurgle out their last breaths and Fresh looks on in awe, as Jubilee turns to keep walking down the next flight of stairs ahead of them without so much as a care in the world. “Come down here and get those caps off.”

“That was so cool!” yells Fresh, running up to her party member. “Was that magic?! Can you show me how to do that?!” she asks with excitement, holding her fists clenched tightly in-front of her.

“Just get the caps,” says Jubilee, somewhat agitated and confused, by the looks of it.

“Pleeeease~?” begs Fresh. Was this some kind of glass-magic? It seems really dangerous, but also really, really exciting! She wants to learn more about it.

Jubilee waves her off. “Don’t cut yourself when you get the mushrooms down,” is all they say as they walk off, leaving Fresh there alone with the bodies, which are still skewered at head-height on the two crystal pillars.

She looks at them, wondering how she’s going to get them down. Then, a second later, just as she sees her own reflection in one of the glass towers, it all shatters, sending both of the monsters crashing down into the dirt, face first. Happy at the lucky break, literally, Fresh carefully steps forward and gets to work, eager to prove herself to her new and only party member.

She hasn’t given up yet, she’s going to make this right and then some.

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