Chapter 8: CH8 Flushed

The next morning Alex woke up first and noticed that Merumeru had already opened her eyes and was curled up against him. He moved his hand down and patted her on her head and said, "Good morning."

"Meru!" Merumeru said with a smile. She seemed so happy that she couldn't even keep still. Her little hand reached out and poked Alex's face until he decided to wake up properly and take notice of what was happening. As soon as he woke up she smiled happily and hugged him again. She looked up at him with her big blue eyes and gave him a kiss on the cheek again. It took Alex a few moments to realize what had happened but as soon as he did he tried to move away but it was too late. Merumeru had latched herself to him like a little slime leech.

Alex sat up in bed while looking at Merumeru's face, "Why are you clinging to me?"

She just cheerfully said, "Meru ru Meru!" in her perpetually cute voice. He looked to Fufi for answers. Fufi just shrugged her little shoulders and smiled. She really had no idea what was going on either.

Merumeru crawled over to Fufi and hugged her tightly as well and said, "Meruru ru!"

Fufi didn't seem to mind being hugged by the little slime girl either as she just happily said, "Arn't you just a little cutie Merumeru."

Merumeru just giggled and clung even tighter to Fufi. Alex sighed and said, "Alright, alright, let's get some breakfast."

He went to get dressed while Merumeru just stayed right where she was clinging to Fufi who seemed quite happy about this new development. Luckily the little slime girl was about the size of a toddler so Fufi didn't have trouble carrying her around. Opening the trap door Alex led the others outside and they headed towards the river. Fufi and Merumeru kept playing childish games the whole way. They were so happy just playing with each other that it was easy to forget about Alex's discomfort at having a slime leech clinging to him. When they arrived at the river they were greeted no one. He expected in the past before this place was abandoned there might be other people who came here and enjoy this as a fishing spot. This living in a ghost town stuff was starting to get to him. Then it occurred to Alex that he had never been able to bring any people here since Merumeru had gotten so large. He was worried about whether or not anyone would be able to help him carry Merumeru if she grew too big. As Alex pondered his thoughts he looked down at the little slime girl and saw her looking up at him. "How fast in Merumeru going to grow?" he muttered mostly to himself.

"Muru!" Merumeru answered quickly, "Muru!"

Alex just shook his head. He couldn't understand her speech. It was all just random sounds. He hoped that once she learned how to talk she would be able to help him understand her. After they ate yet another meal of fish and berries Alex pondered what their goals for the day should be. There was the big project, trying to set up a water wheel. He wasn't sure where to start with that one. Without the things in place to complete it, starting seemed foolish. Next there was the cart / carriage. It would be a very time consuming endeavor to do all the woodworking by hand though. The last thing he considered was trying to finish up the water problem with the town fountain. If the clay pipe could be repaired then the fountain would work again. The question was how to repair it? They had not much for tools or supplies with them for such a project. He could make a wooden pipe but it would only be a stopgap measure. Wood that was completely submerged in water wouldn't last all that long. The people who lived here before used clay but how was he going to get a clay pipe and attach it properly? He would need more time to think through the details. They were at the river right now so he could at least explore a bit and try to find the intake and outlet for the pipe. A rough guess based on the direction of the sewer tunnel would suggest the intake was upstream of their little fishing spot and ane outlet would be at a lower spot. If it wasn't flooding the town it should work that way at least. Maybe in a magical world things worked differently. He was of course making the assumption that water always flows downhill. That's just how water flowed back in his own world. That was what he thought at least.

Fufi looked at him as she waited for his decision, "What are you planning?"

"I think I am going to check out the river. Let's go upstream first and see if we can find the water pipe's inlet. If that looks okay then we should head downstream and see where it has an outlet." He answered with a smile as he looked along the river's shore checking for man-made features. He stopped at a low spot in the bank near where the water flowed into it from upstream. Merumeru swam next to him and stood in the same way he was as he examined the riverbank. Merumeru made her little face as serious as possible in an attempt to copy him. He surveyed the shore and she did the same.

"Did I mention Merumeru is incredibly cute?" Fufi waded out of the water joining them. She said, "Want me to fly ahead and take a look?"

"Please do," Alex replied, "If you find any man-made structures in the water let me know. There should be a pipe underwater on a grate letting water flow into it."

Fufi flapped her wings and flew up over the flowing water, "I will take care of it."

Alex said, "Just remember to stay safe."

Fufi looked at him and replied, "Yes, yes, I will be fine." And with that she took flight back over the river to search for any man-made features below the surface of the water.

Merumeru looked up at Alex with a frown on her face as she grabbed his hand tightly, "What Fufi shouldn't be long.  Can help me look around the shore? How's that sound?"

Alex smiled at her enthusiasm as he took hold of her hand and they started walking along the shore looking for man-made features. They moved upstream for about two hundred feet before finding something interesting. At the bend of the river where it went under some low hanging tree limbs were what looked like bricks stacked into a box shape and set into the ground. It looked like some kind of a cache.

Alex opened it up and looked inside. A bait box that was look spoiled was there along with some rusty metal lures. "It looks like the local fishermen would store some stuff here back when this was a working community," Alex said. He didn't have any fishing poles or fishing wire but it wouldn't be the hardest thing to create. He picked up the bait box and showed it to Merumeru, "Hey, look what I found Meru."

Merumeru clapped her hands together happily, "Meru! Meru!"

Alex said, "Don't get too excited Merumeru. It is empty. People would use it to help them fish when they were out here."

Merumeru seemed disappointed but Alex didn't really expect much more than that. They moved on and kept exploring as they moved further up the river. Eventually Fufi flew back and landed feet first in the shallows of the river. She said, "I found a breached dam about a quarter mile up ahead."

Alex became encouraged at the good news, "Really? That's really close then. Let's head over there and check it out."

Alex turned around and started heading upstream. He looked back and saw Merumeru had jumped in the water and shot after Fufi like a little torpedo. "She sure can move through water fast." Alex mused.

They made their way quickly up the river until they came to where Fufi had said the breach in the dam was. As Alex looked across the water he could see the small waterfall that formed there. It was a nice little feature in its own right but it wasn't really what he had come out here for today. The stonework that doubled as a bridge was cracked. Perhaps at one time someone could get a cart across here but not anymore. Alex thought about this while he climbed up on the dam looking for a pipe or a grate in the deeper water on the other side. As he looked around he could see the remains of several wooden posts that had once stood here but they had all been reduced to nothing but crumbling posts that stuck up out of the water at odd angles. "That might have been a dock perhaps?" Alex questioned the sight.

Merumeru clung tightly to him as they continued to look around for any other clues. He found a grate covered pipe near one of the stone dam structures. It had been built into the side of a large rock and appeared to be held in place by a set of iron bolts. It appeared as though water had eroded part of one of these bolts over time and the whole thing was barely attached. He pointed at it and said, "I suspect that is the intake for the town's fountain." It was at that moment that Merumeru jumped straight in the water and headed to where he had pointed with speed that would match a fish. She reached it before he could do anything else. "Oh no," Alex said, worried that the currents would get her if she got too close to the intake. He ran across the stones to stop her from getting too close to it. When her little hand got too close she couldn't pull it back. As her body stretched out she began to swirl and get sucked down the drain like something getting flushed down the toilet.

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Merumeru was sucked down into the pipe's intake. Fufi tried to fly to where Merumeru was but was too late. "This could be really bad. She might drown." Alex said in a panicked voice.

"She doesn't have lungs Alex, she is a slime. She might be in danger but not from drowning," Fufi craned her neck back towards him to address him.

"I can't see anything down there anymore," Fufi said as she circled above them.

Alex sighed heavily and said, "Okay then, let's go back and try to think of how we can save her."

As they walked back towards shore Alex thought about where they could get the slime girl out of the pipe. "I've got it. If it is the same pipe that we saw yesterday then it comes out in the sewer. Lets head back to town and check there," Alex stated the plan.

As they approached town, Alex felt relieved when they came upon the fountain. The grate was right next to it. He pulled the grate and started to climb down the ladder into the darkness. He felt his way down until his feet hit bottom and he stood up and looked around. He was standing in a low dark tunnel with a pipe along one side. He turned around and looked up into the sewer and saw no sign of Merumeru or Fufi. "It is too dark here. I forgot to bring a light source," Alex groaned. He got ready to head back up the ladder when he heard the flapping of wings. Fufi had come to save the day with her pink gem glowing on her forehead. She flew down into the sewer and landed next to Alex, "I thought you might need a little help."

Alex smiled and said, "You are always so helpful Fufi. Though why didn't we try this the first time?" He gave her a hug as he turned to face the way they needed to go. They started moving along as Fufi lit the way.

Continuing down the tunnel Fufi answered, "Well, it uses up my magic quite a bit to keep it lit up like this. I don't regenerate it as quickly as a magical girl. The magic that I used to summon you from the dungeon will take me about a week to get back."

"Oh, I never thought about that," Alex replied, "Well, let me know if you don't have enough magic to light the way back though if we go too far."

Fufi nodded and said, "I should be able to keep this light going until we find Merumeru. Are you sure she got sent down here?"

Alex looked around for a moment before he answered, "She might be stuck inside of that pipe. But if she was cleanly flushed away, we should find her at the spot where the pipe was broken."

They moved along quickly now that they knew where Merumeru was going to be when she finished her trip through the pipe system. They arrived at a point where the battle with the sewer slime took place to find Merumeru jumping up and down at the downstream of water. It looked like she was happy and wanted to climb up to hop on the ride again.

"There she is!" Alex exclaimed in relief as they came upon the scene.

Merumeru seemed surprised by his presence as she looked up at him and said, "Meruuuuuu." while pointing up at the pipe. It was as if she was asking for help to get back in.

"You gave us quite the scare young lady." Alex said in a stern voice. "But I am glad to see that you are back safe and sound." He gave her another big hug as she looked up at him in confusion.

Fufi watched with curiosity as Alex held Merumeru in his arms inspecting her for damage. She seemed fine other than being wet from when she had been sucked down the pipe. She was a slime so being wet was normal for her.

Now that Merumeru was lifted up in the air she saw her opportunity. She reached one arm out and it elongated into a tendral sticking into the wall. Some of the stones started to dissolve into her arm, "Merumeru stop that. We need to get you home!" Alex chided.

Fufi had a more curious tone, "Wait Alex, I think she is trying to do something. Give her a chance."

Alex held her up until she dissolved a hole into the wall after a few minutes and turned squishy enough to fit her whole body into the wall. Looking at Fufi Alex asked, "What in the world is she doing melting the rock like that?"

Fufi said ponderously, "I think she understands us more than you know."

Merumeru came out from another hole she made near the other end of the broken clay pipe that led to the fountain. She moulded her slime around the pipe and the brown from the dissolved stones began to form a cylinder shape at the pipe. Alex's eyes widened when he saw what she was doing. After that end of the pipe was fixed she came back out the end she had entered and tried to do the same on the pipe that was gushing water. However the water pushed her away. Alex decided he could help by holding her up so she could wrap herself around the pipe. With his help she was able to fix the pipe. The trio then headed back towards the fountain to check and see if it was working now.

"That was quite an ordeal we had here today." Alex said, "But it was worth it."

Alex saw Merumeru's reaction as she climbed up onto the fountain ledge and noticed the water bubbling out of the top into the basin. The water bubbling up was clear, indicating that it was fresh water coming out of the fountain now. Merumeru seemed very pleased as she started playing with it as it came out.

Alex went over to Merumeru to look at her face more closely. He had been worried when he saw the slime girl get sucked down into that pipe, "Looks like everything worked out well then. But please, don't scare us again like that." Alex had a concerned tone to his voice as he spoke to Merumeru.

Merumeru seemed to understand Alex's concern and replied, "Meru." Alex hugged her as she squeaked with joy from his embrace.

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