She was right to think a nap would do her good; the next time she opened her eyes, she felt refreshed and ready to take on the road again. And the even better news was that she was still in the corner and not right next to the Save Point, so no Captain of the Royal Guard had come along and drove a spear through her heart while she was dozing.
She passed the Save point again and passed on through; Sans was manning a telescope next to another box and an opening in the cave.
"sleep well?"
"Were you standing there watching me the whole time?"
"not every minute. but someone's gotta make sure you don't get killed in your sleep."
"...Good point."
"i've been thinking about getting into the telescope business lately," he continued, patting the instrument beside him. "wanna give it a spin?"
"There's...not much to look at, is there?"
She looked up; the ceiling was fairly close, and she could see all of the stones just fine.
"suit yourself...if you're hungry for breakfast, go on ahead in there. guy's sellin'."
"How long was I out?"
"eh...couple hours. it's barely past nine."
"I'll see what's up. Thanks again for the help."
"whatever."
She turned and passed through a narrow hallway and into another den, not much bigger than the one she'd first tried Papyrus's spaghetti in.
And there was a familiar figure standing there. It was that rabbit guy she'd passed by in Snowdin, and he still looked to be in low spirits.
That is, until he saw her coming his way. Right when he did, his ears perked and his frown vanished.
"Oh, a-a customer!" he exclaimed. "Hey, there! Would you like a Nice Cream? It's the frozen treat that warms your heart! Now just 25G!"
She had more than enough to make a purchase, so the deal was made.
"Here ya go! Have a super-duper day!"
She responded with a nod and a smile before making her way back out of the den. She took a gander at the wrapping on the conical object she'd been handed; it said it was chocolate flavored. She removed the flap and pulled the paper open, and it revealed that there was writing on the inside as well.
"Have a wonderful day!" it read.
I'll do my best, Nice Cream guy.
The soft, frozen dollop of dairy was an odd shade of brown, and it looked like if she just kept staring at it, it'd start to melt, so went ahead and bit into it...
...Bad idea, BAD IDEA!
The minute she bit into the frozen dessert, shoots of pain began to plague the front of her mouth like bullets. What was WITH this stuff!?
"that's not how you eat ice cream, kid."
She gave the skeleton an odd look. She imagined herself looking very upset by the ordeal...and also fairly ridiculous with the stuff dripping down her face and her hand covering her mouth trying to conceal it.
"Is this stuff weaponized!?"
"no. that feeling's called 'when you sink your teeth into something freezing cold and the nerves in your mouth to go nuts'."
"So...That was just from how cold it was?"
"duh. haven't you ever eaten ice cream before?"
"No, as a matter of fact, I haven't."
"dang...my brother was right when he said you've been living under a rock your whole life."
"Well, you live under a mountain. Is that really much better?"
"...eh. you got me there. hey, remember to keep an eye out, kid."
She nodded in acknowledgement, then turned back onto the path, finding that it went south. Some parts of it were bridged, and the water along the path...glowed brilliantly. Maybe it was full of bioluminescent aglae? That would make for a good explanation.
Either way, it looked very strangely mesmerizing to watch as it rippled gently and made the cattails and lily pads sway.
She turned with the path as it turned east; the road was winding, and there were several breaks in the solid ground that were bridged over so that one could cross. Echo Flowers lined some parts of the path, growing up out of the dark earth. Ginger wondered how plants could grow down here without any sunlight. Even trees could grow beneath the mountain.
She rolled her eyes in disgust with herself; that was the question that'd gotten her stuck down here in the first place.
As she walked, Ginger worked at the Nice Cream-careful NOT to sink her teeth into it the way she had before. It was so soft, really, she didn't even need to chew the stuff. When eaten right, it was actually quite splendid. it was pleasantly sweet; not quite as so as Toriel's butterscotch-cinnamon pie, but it was still enough. And she'd never had chocolate before; she heard that the substance was so coveted by humans, especially female humans, that there were supposedly some concerns that the plant harvested to make it might end up going extinct.
And now she knew why; the stuff was amazing!
She stopped walking for a moment so she could focus more on the Nice Cream; after she finished the dollop, she worked down the cone. It was crunchy; an interesting contrast to its soft filling. It actually balanced the texture out quite well.
And upon reaching the point, the human discovered that the cone ITSELF was lined with chocolate on the inside.
I'd swear I'm in glamora if I didn't know any better.
She popped the last of it into her mouth and wiped the cone crumbs off her hands. Odds were she'd probably pay the monster another visit sometime within the near future. Maybe next time she'd buy more than one, seeing how well worth the gold they were. Maybe she could bring some to the skeleton brothers if she ever went back to Snowdin.
She hoped she'd be able to go back there soon enough.
The human directed her gaze back onto the path...And there, not far ahead, was another monster.
One she recognized from the Ruins. It was one of those squishy, foul-smelling creatures that she wasn't sure had much of a brain. She tried to pass it, not minding it much...
Until it summoned an array of spore-shaped bullets.
"Oh, come on, bud..."
It didn't seem to have a brain...Did it even have eyes? Or hearing organs anywhere? The spores were at least slow enough to get around without much effort. It made a gross squishing noise after the attack finished.
"Well, 'Squish' to you, too."
The creature made an odd lean to the side-the closest it could get to tilting its head-before sloshing away. Those things were very strange.
Finally making her way north again, she caught sight of another plaque on the dirt wall; was this a continuation of the story of the War of Humans and Monsters?
"The power to take their SOULs...This is the power that the humans feared."
She figured she'd have to keep going and find more if she wanted to get the full story, so she went onward. The path narrowed, and the water stilled...It was quiet.
Too quiet.
"...Someone there?"
She spoke just loud enough to be heard; if she yelled, it could spell out her doom if the captain just so happened to be near. She knew she wasn't alone, but she wasn't sure if she was being threatened again...Was it Undyne? Was it Sans? Someone else, maybe?
Her question was answered when a long, dull yellow arm of some sort rose up out of the water...followed by an ENORMOUS head.
The strange octopus-esque creature was almost the size of a killer whale, and its very expressive face seemed delighted to see her pass through.
"...Hey, there..." it greeted, waving the tip of one of its tentacles at her. "Noticed you were...here..."
Ginger was frozen...What was she supposed to FEEL?
She didn't say anything, rather just respond with her own small wave. The awkward silence that followed prompted her to finally say something, though.
"Uh...Who are you?"
"I'm Onionsan! Onionsan, ya hear!?" she nearly hollered.
"You the only one around these parts?"
"Yeah! It's great, having this place all to myself...Waterfall's great, huh!? It's my Big Favorite."
"It is quiet, so I guess that can be a plus."
"Yeah! It's so awesome here!"
Ginger walked slowly toward the end of the hall, her eyes on the monster's giant face.
"Even though...the water's getting so shallow here," she continued. "...I have to sit down all the time..."
"Oh...That's...not a plus."
"But, he-hey! That's fine with me! It beats moving to the big city and living in a crowded aquarium!...Like all my friends did!"
"Jeez. Some friends they are," she retorted.
"Oh, well...I don't mind...It's their life! They can do what they want and I'll back them in any way I can no matter what it is!"
"Can't you go, like...join them?"
"Oh, I would...But the aquarium's full, so...Even if I wanted to, or if THEY all wanted to...But that's okay! Once the Barrier breaks, I'm gonna go live in the ocean! There I'll be able to make all sorts of new friends...maybe even the love of my life! You know what they say! There are plenty of fish in the sea!"
"Sounds like you've got big plans."
"I sure do! I'm even gonna start a band when I get on out there!"
"...A band?"
"Yeah! We're gonna have a giant stereo machine and go on tour and all that! I'm gonna call it...We're gonna be the 'Red Hot Chibi Peppers!' How's that sound!?"
"...Okay, I guess? What's a Chibi Pepper?"
"Just...something I made up for the band name...You wanna watch us perform?"
"If I ever get the chance, maybe; it's kinda hard for someone like me to stay underwater for too long."
"Well...I'll make sure we have shore tours! So people on land can see us jam!"
"You really do have some big plans!"
"I do!...Oh...You made it to the end of this room...Thanks for the chat! I'll see you around! Have a good time! In Waterfaaaaaaalllllllllllll..."
And she watched as the creature disappeared back into the water.
"Well...That was certainly something," she remarked as she headed on out of the room.
And Ginger saw a monster sitting just feet away from her, nestled in the corner of the wall along the path. Its back was turned towards the human, but it was very still, too much so to be relaxed and unaware of her presence.
"Hi?"
And then it turned its face toward her; the human reeled back in shock. Was that a fish of some sort? She made an odd series of noises, and the bullets she cast were shaped like...musical notes.
But the sound that had just cursed Ginger's ears didn't sound anything like a coherent song. Ginger didn't know all that much about music herself, but she knew it when she heard it. And if that was what this was meant to be, the creature was EXTREMELY off key.
"Have you, uh...considered lessons?"
The monster seemed to shrink back in shame, and the next thing Ginger knew, she had retreated into the water along the path.
"Hey, wait, wait a minute!"
But it was too late. She was already gone. And she'd left 15G in her wake.
Oh, well...
Ginger did what she always did; accept the blessing and store it away where it belonged. She found another plaque on the wall and read it.
"The northern room hides a great treasure."
Maybe later...
She continued due east, and even more ancient writing came into view.
"This power has no counter. Indeed, a human cannot take a monster's SOUL. When a
monster dies, its SOUL disappears. And an incredible power would be needed to take
the SOUL of a living monster."
"There is only one exception. The SOUL of a special species of monster called a "Boss
Monster." A Boss Monster's SOUL is strong enough to persist after death...If only for
a few moments. A human could absorb this SOUL. But this has never happened. And
now it never will."
Wait a minute...
Hadn't she seen...Toriel's SOUL linger on for a few moments in the deleted timeline where she'd mistakenly killed her? The white, inverted heart had struggled to maintain its form for a few moments after the monster degraded into dust, and then she'd watched it shatter into a million pieces.
...Was Toriel a Boss Monster?
That got her thinking...What happened to a monster's consciousness upon their SOULs disappearing? Did the monster just stop existing? Was consciousness and being separate from the SOUL? But what about the scrooms wandering around the Spirit Woods with their unfinished business? Were they not the disembodied SOULs of owls? Or were SOULs and SPIRITs different entities in and of themselves? Napstablook was essentially a ghost. Did ghosts have SOULs? WERE they SOULs themselves? She had so many questions, it was all so confusing. Everything down here was confusing in one way or another, and the one explanation behind everything seemed to be magic.
And magic was the most perplexing concept of them all. She had yet to see something that magic WASN'T capable of.
She passed through another room; there was a mysterious statue sitting against the wall, its legs crossed and its head pointing down. There was a faint beam of light shining down on it, and when Ginger looked up, she saw a water dripping down onto it from the damp earth above, almost like rain. It was a depressing image, to say the least, yet she wondered about it; there were odd mechanisms at its feet that seemed just out of reach of the rain.
The next room had a sign, and on the opposite end of it was a box of umbrellas.
"Please take one." the sign read.
So she did, just in case she was rained on. If there could be snow underground, as she'd seen just before her fight with Papyrus, there could be rain.
The umbrella she'd picked out was a soft shade of indigo, and it complemented her cloak quite well.
The human proceeded, opening the portable rain shelter. Sure enough, the hallway stretching on ahead was experiencing a shower, and puddles pooled on the dirt floor.
"Yo! I-it's you again!"
Ginger instantly recognized the voice; that same lizard boy that she had seen so many times came out from a notch in the wall to greet her.
"Ghee, whiz, who are you?" she teased. "I've never seen you around here before."
"Oh, come on. You're doing that on purpose!"
"Good catch."
She looked behind her. The image of that statue still filled her mind.
"...Say. You've been living here in the Underground for a long time, haven't you?"
"I've been here my whole life!"
"Well, then...You might know a thing or two about that statue back a ways?"
"Oh! I know what you're talkin' about! Come on, let's go see it!"
He ran back down the path she'd came, fortunate enough not to slip and fall like he always seemed to do when he tried to start up a run, and she went after him. Soon enough, they were back at the lonely-looking statue that sat against the center of the wall.
"It's been here since before I was born," the monster explained. "I dunno what it's supposed to be for, though. Maybe it's just a decoration..."
His voice trailed off, and the human saw his smile fade.
"...It looks kinda sad, doesn't it?" he remarked. "Maybe...that's why someone made it that way...Because they were sad. You think?"
"Maybe..."
For a few moments, there was silence between the two children. Nothing was heard except for the pitter-patter of the rain on the worn stone. The human looked at her younger monster companion after some time; he looked just about as low in spirits as the statue they both stood before.
"...You know," Ginger finally said. "I know what might make it feel better."
"What?" he asked, looking up at her.
She answered his question by taking the umbrella she carried and putting it in the statue's folded hands. The rain slid down the hood that hovered above the figure, and it dripped everywhere except onto the statue, like it had been doing for Glaux-knows how long.
"Well," the boy noted. "Now he's at least gonna be dry."
Ginger was about to respond, but before she could open her mouth, the odd mechanisms at the statue's crossed feet began to whirr, and the human could see them moving, very slightly, as they tried to rework themselves out. What were they trying to do?
Her question was immediately answered.
From inside the statue, a gentle tune began to play out, and it filled the rainy corridors with a sense of content calm.
A music box.
"Wow..." the monster whispered, the smile returning to his face. He looked up at the human. "...You did that!"
"What? Me? No..."
"Come on. Give yourself a pat on the back...I'd do it myself for ya, but I ain't got no arms."
"...And that...doesn't bother you?"
"N'aw. I get by just like everyone else. And my tail's not completely useless, you know. I'm not gonna let somethin' like that drag me down! I've got my whole life left to live!"
"Ah..."
She stood there for a few more moments, taking in the melody. She was never much one for music, but this was really a beautiful song, so gentle and soft, almost like a mother owl singing out a lullaby for her chicks...
It made her remember her own days as a hatchling.
She remembered the long talks she used to have with her parents during meal time, and how they taught her all different things about the world.
She remembered her First Meat on Bones Ceremony; her First Pellet Ceremony had been soon to follow.
She remembered the day her brother hatched from his egg; it was on that day that she vowed to put aside all things childish so she could dedicate herself to her family...
Things had only gone downhill from there for her.
Felix was a nutcase from day 1. He nearly drove her to insanity, and it wasn't until she'd lashed out at her own father in a fit of anger that she decided she was too dangerous to have around the hollow; she loved her parents dearly, and the last thing she wanted was to harm them. So the following day, while everyone was asleep, she'd run away.
And she remembered how free and wonderful she felt flying over the forests, into the human city and out over the ocean, ready and rearing to explore...
If it hadn't been for the Pure Ones coming to rescue her in the sea storm, she wouldn't be here.
She remembered when she first found herself in the Beaks; from there, things finally started looking up, and she was glad to call herself one of them.
She remembered her first field mission; her infiltration of the Great Tree had not only been a success, but it also saved nearly the entire Pure One army from certain doom.
And she remembered her friends.
Uklah, the bright strategist and nature enthusiast who never failed to make an owl smile, even if just on the inside.
Phillip, the soft-spoken, yet knowing and talented tracker who would never turn a deaf earslit to one's problems.
Vaygar, the sociable navigator that always seemed to have a good piece of advice or relatable story for any situation.
Kludd, the boldfaced warrior-in-training that always strived to give his all. The crude wetpoop joker who was easy to amuse and eager to share his laughs. Her well-deserving second-in-command. Her finest soldier. Her best friend...
Her swain. She wondered what the future might hold for them.
And then Ginger found herself holding back tears; if she couldn't regain her feathered form, she might never find out.
"Yo...you okay?"
Her scaly companion's voice snapped her out of her forlorn daze, and she turned to face him, putting on a more confident face.
"Me? Fine, fine. Just thinking about some things...This music really makes you think about the past a lot, doesn't it?"
"...Hm...yeah. It does, kinda."
"Well...I guess I better head on my way."
"Mind if I...you know...tag along with you? We might need anther umbrella, and...well, it's kinda hard to carry one in your mouth, if you know what I mean."
"Say no more."
She was the first to head back to the umbrella room and take out another one. This time, the umbrella she pulled out was a dull shade of pink; not exactly a complement to her dark cloak, but she wasn't bothered by the fact. The young monster stood right by her side under their shelter to keep himself dry, the music box still echoing through the darkness. He looked up at his friend.
"I never got your name, you know?" he realized. "What is it?"
"...It's Ginger. Ginger Wingren. Yours?"
"Man...I wish I had a cool name like that; mine's lame."
"Well, what is it?"
"...My name's Kidd. With two 'd's, in case you didn't know; people get the spelling confused a lot...Most monsters aren't very good at naming things, I don't think. Not even our king. In fact, I hear he's the worst out of all of us."
"So I've read."
"Your name's cool...Like Undyne. That's a cool name, too, ain't it? Cool like her!"
Ginger inhaled through clenched teeth, emitting somewhat of a hissing noise. She hoped the monster on question was anywhere near.
"...Can I ask you something?"
"What's up?"
"Why do you think Undyne's so cool?"
"How is she NOT cool? She beats up bad guys and NEVER loses! If I were a human, I'd probably wet the bed every night knowing she was gonna come and beat me up!"
She gulped.
"But we ain't got nothing to worry about!"
I wish that were the case.
He really didn't know just what he was talking to.
The path turned south, and they continued. Kidd saw an Echo Flower growing up out of the ground on a separate piece of land, and he stopped to look at it. Noticing that he wasn't following her anymore, Ginger went back to where he was standing to keep the umbrella over him.
"Lookin' at the Echo Flower?"
"Yeah. One time, we had a school project where we had to take care of a flower. The king came to school-we had to call him 'Mr. Dreemurr'-to donate some of his own flowers, and he ended up teaching the class about responsibility and stuff."
"You've seen him in person?"
"Sure have."
"Mind telling me what he looks like? I've never seen him before."
"Man...You must not have gotten out much back in the capital. Well, he's SUPER big, for one; bigger and taller than either of my parents, that's for sure. Actually, just about everything about him is big; big ears, big old horns, big feet, big, fuzzy beard...I wish I could be as big as him when I grow up. That'd be AWESOME."
"What was he like?"
"He was awful nice; always smiling, always greeting everyone; it's too bad he doesn't have kids of his own...I wonder why?"
"Me, too."
"So, anyway, when he came to school that day, that got me thinking...What'd it be like if UNDYNE showed up at the school? Aw, man, that'd probably be SO COOL! She could beat up ALL THE TEACHERS!"
"Eesh...Sounds a little rough, huh?"
"Eh..."
He began to reconsider his thoughts as the two began to walk again.
"...Maybe you're right; she probably wouldn't beat up the teachers. She's too cool to ever hurt an innocent person! Sure, the teachers are lame, but they don't do nothin' bad."
"I hope she wouldn't."
"Yeah...She could beat up all the bullies instead! That'll teach 'em for makin' fun of my arms..."
"You mean the, uh...lack thereof?"
"Exactly. It don't bother me much anymore, but it'll still show 'em good."
The rain stopped, and the path turned east again. Ginger exited the hallway to find the path going down an extremely large, flat, open field. Far out in the distance, there was what looked like an enormous castle, far more grand and elaborately-constructed than the Pure Ones' rock spire of a base.
"...Is that where King Asgore lives?"
"You'd know. That's where you came from, ain't it?"
"Oh, oh, yeah! O-of course! I'm-I'm just messin' with you again!"
Oh, boy; she'd have to be more careful. He'd probably go off running to find his apparent idol if he found out she was really a human.
"Almost had me there, for a sec...It looks a lot smaller from a distance, don't it?"
"It sure does."
The two friends stood there for a few moments, staring out at New Home. That was where Ginger was headed. That was where she would meet King Asgore Dreemurr. As for what he would say or do when he saw her coming...Only time would tell.
They continued, and they entered through the tunnel; it was raining there along a small segment of path there, too, and there was another round umbrella basket. She folded it and put it back in with the others.
The children found themselves faced with an obstacle; the ledge separating off the rest of the pathway was too high to step over, and too steep to climb.
"Yo...I got an idea. Climb up on my shoulders; I'll give you a boost!"
"You sure?"
"I'm stronger than I look! You won't hurt me, I promise!
The young monster did turn out to have shoulders, despite not having any arms. Reluctantly, Ginger put one foot on his left shoulder, then pushed off and steadied herself by putting her other one on his right. He wavered some with her weight, but he kept himself from giving in. Finally, she hoisted herself up onto the ledge.
"I see you're wearin' that cloak you got back in Snowdin. You must really like it."
"Oh, you bet I do," she confirmed, peering over the edge to face him.
"Did somethin' happen to the hood? The edges look kinda torn."
She ran her hand over the rim; it did indeed feel like the fabric had taken a beating. She vividly remembered what had made them that way; the tips of the spears Undyne was throwing at her while she was running along the bridge had grazed the hood's edge. The superficial damage her cloak had recieved was a small price to pay for her life; if she hadn't stopped running right when she had, they would have run right through her skull.
"Here, let me pull you up, now."
She reached her arm out for him to take...but then she realized.
There was nothing to pull him up by. He had no hand she could grab onto, and his tail was too short to reach from the ledge she was on.
"Yo, you go on ahead of me," Kidd reassured. "Don't worry about me. I'll just find another way around! Shouldn't be that hard, right?"
"...Well...Okay. I'll be seein' you."
"You too, Ging'! Can I call you that? Like, for short?"
"Be my guest; all my friends do."
She could reach the top of his head, and used the opportunity to give him a vigorous scratch; if there had been feathers on his head, they would have gotten all ruffled up, and the thought of such an image almost made Ginger laugh.
"Cool. Well, see ya later!"
He turned to leave again, but then once he'd taken his first few steps, he faced her again.
"You know," he said. "It's funny...You sort of remind me of her...No wonder you're so cool."
And he turned and ran again, disappearing out into the underground field...She could have sworn she saw him fall flat on his face again before shaking it off and getting right back onto his feet. She liked just how happy he always seemed to be; it was a good thing to have for someone his age.
The rain stopped, and the path darkened. There were more plaques on the walls for Ginger to read regarding the war.
"The humans, afraid of our power, declared war on us. They attacked suddenly, and
without mercy."
In between that plaque and the next, along the path, was another Save Point.
*Waterfall-Bridge
*File Saved
After she waved her hand through it, her ears just barely picked up a light dinging noise. She listened carefully; it turned out to be the music box, still resonating across the field and through the earthen halls from the feet of that lonely statue she'd helped.
And hopefully, it wouldn't stop. She'd never cared much for music; she thought there were more important things to worry about. But never in her life had she heard a tune that made her feel quite this way.
And that was when she realized something. For the first time ever...
She...had a favorite song.
Ginger's vision seemed to cloud, and despite the rain having stopped from where she was at, it felt like the droplets were still running down her face...Wait a minute.
Am I...
"N-no," she denied aloud, but she knew it was all too true, especially with how choked up she realized her voice sounded. "I-I'm not crying..."
She sniffled, then instinctively pulled the bandanna she'd gotten at the Snowdin Shop out to wipe away her tears, yet still smiling all the while. She took a look at the thin cloth; it looked like someone had drawn on it, maybe to make it look cooler, but the markings had faded with the rivers of time. After taking a deep breath, the human finally regained her composure, put the bandanna back where it was and looked to see what the next plaque had to say.
"Okay, let's see here..." she muttered, a brave attempt at her normal tone.
"In the end, it could hardly be called a war. United, the humans were too powerful,
and us monsters, too weak. Not a single SOUL was taken, and countless monsters
were turned to dust."
That must be what happened to all monsters when they died. She, of course, had seen this first hand.
Another tear threatened to fall out of her eye, and she blinked rapidly to try and shoo it back to where it belonged; locked away on the other side of the steel dams behind her eyes. That was where they all belonged.
But now some had escaped out into the open where they could be seen. She hoped she was really as alone as she thought she was. That last thing she wanted was for anyone to have seen her brief minute of emotion.
Odds were, though, that nobody had, seeing as nobody had come to take her by surprise when she was most vulnerable.
Just in case, however, she rose her fists, showing off her Tough Glove, and flung part of her cloak to the side in a confident mannerism, sporting a confident smirk all the while.
"Try and mess with me now," she whispered to an imaginary enemy. "Yeah, you'll be sorry. I have DETERMINATION."
Little did she know, she was indeed being watched.
The tiny figure sat in the shadows, eyes fixed on the human. Jab, jab, kick, uppercut. Was this her way of reassuring herself? Fighting her own shadow? He'd say she looked stupid, but really, he knew she wasn't one to mess around in a serious situation.
He'd experienced that first hand, so he should know.
She was a very odd human; the first time he saw her since she woke up from that nap, she was telling that smiling trash bag that she'd never eaten ice cream before...What kind of person her age had never eaten ice cream before? It was ludicrous. Oh, well...It'd have made her seem even more backasswards if she didn't like the rich, chocolatey goodness she'd recieved.
She always did love chocolate, after all.
She was an odd candidate for his plan, but as long as everything went accordingly, he wasn't going to complain. Even if it did mean he was stuck wandering around without anything to do until everything was said and done.
"Enjoy yourself while you still have your powers," he muttered from afar. "...You IDIOT."
...
"Over here! I think I found something!"
The Burrowing Owl heard his student's call, and he rushed over to see what he'd discovered.
It was a small cave opening, right at the base of the mountain, concealed by the trees. How could they have missed that during their first round?
"And look!"
Phillip picked something up off the ground and showed it off; it was a white, poofy down feather from a Barn Owl's breast, and it looked like it had recently come loose.
Ginger. It had to be. What were the odds it wasn't? Except for the Pure Ones already here, there weren't that many Tytos around these woods compared to Horned Owls and Saw-Whets. And Ginger was supposedly the only owl who had even been here as of late anyways; the odds of it belonging to a different Barn Owl were close to nothing.
"Good find, boy. Let's see just what prompted her to head inside."
The entered into the small cavern. Phillip was quick to take note of just how many vines were growing around the place, lacing the walls and trimming along the cave floor. He slowed down a bit to scan for anything suspicious, but he found nothing that stuck out in particular; no blood spatter anywhere, no abundance of torn or plucked feathers, no remains, no animal tracks visible, bloody or impressed within the earth.
"DEAR LORD 'OOLE IN THE MIDDLE O' 'OOLEMERE!"
Tarn's exclamation made the Sooty Owl jump, and he ran to his teacher to see what he was raving about, perching on the same vine he was leaning forward on.
"What's-GUAUGH!"
He stumbled backwards off the vine and fell flat on his back. Phillip had certainly not expected to see a hole as deep as a redwood tree was tall and three times one's width staring him right in the face, that was for sure.
"Did...she go down there, do you suppose?"
"I'm as sure o' that as I am o' Theo makin' the first ba'leclaws, boy."
"Well, we'd better go down there and start looking, wouldn't you say?" Phillip suggested, readying a takeoff.
"Now, 'old on a moment there, young'un," Tarn interrupted by stretching his wing out to keep the Sooty from descending. "I can't exactly pinpoint what it is, but there's somethin' 'bout this hole in the ground givin' me the creelies. Can't say I trust it."
"...Oh, c-come on. There aren't really any monsters down there, are there? Isn't that all just some folktale?"
"Phillip, son, there's still many an owl back in the Kingdoms that think the Guardians of Ga'Hoole are the stuff o' myths, and you and I both know that ain't true. I'm not sayin' yes, but I'm not sayin' no, eithah. And the last thing I want is to be stuck down there with a bunch of flesh-hungry, bloodthirsty monsters."
"Do you think they're really savage beasts?"
"I...well, I'm not giving a definitive answer on that, eithah. But like I said, I'd rathah not take my chances."
"Mind if I at least look see if I can see the bottom from here? See what might really be down there?"
"I'll allow that."
So Phillip spread his wings and flew over the giant opening in the earth. A blurry patch of gold could be seen at the very bottom.
He squinted for a clearer picture. Were those flowers?
The blurring seemed to fade. Yes. They were most definitely flowers.
He saw something else come into view and situate itself by the flowerbed; a living creature of some sort? As long as it wasn't human, it might actually be of some help. He tried to get a better look, but the image seemed to blur again, no matter how hard he squinted.
"Um...Tarn. Care to take a gander at this?"
Intrigued, the Burrowing Owl flew about the hole, seeing the blurry sight for himself.
"You know what, Phillip? I say we go just a tad furthah down, just so we can see this better."
The two owls spiraled down the hole, and by the time they'd reached the one-third mark, the image had cleared again. Phillip blinked, not completely convinced that what he was looking down at was real.
It looked like a purple-cloaked, humanoid creature with the head of a goat, and it was kneeling down over the bed of golden flowers.
"...Someone has to take care of these flowers," he heard it say.
He looked at his instructor.
"Are you...seeing what I'm seeing?"
Tarn gave a nod to confirm this, looking just as shocked as the Sooty Owl.
"You don't suppose that could be..."
"Oh, I do, boy. I do, indeed."
Phillip looked down at what they both agreed was almost definitely a monster. She...didn't look bloodthirsty.
"...You don't think she could help us out, do you, Tarn, sir?"
"Well, my good young owl," the elder tracker replied. "There's only one way to find out, isn't there?"
A/N: I really like how this is coming along. I felt like we needed a nice break from the action, and this chapter serves that purpose pretty well. I felt like this was a bit of a filler chapter, but hey! At least the story's progressing the way it should! Let me know what you guys think!
I think the name of the chapter sums up the mood pretty well, as well as hint at what's about to come. After all, you know what they say. After the calm...