Previously:

"Yeah! Not bad, huh?" said Faith, giving Alibaba a pat on the back. "He's almost as smart as my sister!"

"Well, I'm definitely smarter than you!" he retorted with a smirk.

"Don't make me hit you…" she warned him ominously with narrowed eyes while she gave his shoulder a sharp (but not too crippling) squeeze to remind him who was boss. Alibaba did his best to suppress the whimper that threatened to escape his mouth. "So, you get it, Aladdin? Hundreds of other divers before us have led us here. Because of them, now we know exactly what path to go down…!!"

"Awesome, now we won't have to guess which is the wrong one!" said Aladdin excitedly.

"Y-Yeah… That leaves us with just one!" said Alibaba as he massaged his poor shoulder, still a little teary-eyed. "The one without a mark!"

"Which means… that entrance is… the right one!" The three of them concluded together, standing before the unmarked hole.

"Let's go, boys!!" Faith cheered, leading the way.

"Yay~!" Aladdin cheered.

"Hey, wait for me!!" Alibaba huffed indignantly. Wasn't he supposed to be the leader here!?

Chapter 11: The Dungeon's Menace

"We're making some great progress." Alibaba remarked as they made they way through the tunnel together.

"There don't seem to be any traps, either." said Faith.

"That's because we picked the right path!" Aladdin said brightly.

"That aside, isn't this cave really bright?" said Alibaba.

"Alibaba-kun! It's the moss!" Aladdin said excitedly, pointing to a patch he had spotted growing on the wall.

"You're right!" said Faith, letting out a whistle of amazement. It was all over the ceiling too, but it was much easier to get close enough to see what the stuff on the wall actually was. "This yellow moss growing on the walls is really shiny!"

"Oh~! It's for real!" Alibaba exclaimed excitedly as he came closer to have a better look. "I've never seen this kind of stuff before~!"

"It's pretty~" said Aladdin, smiling while they all basked in the warm glow for a moment.

"Yeah…" Faith agreed, suddenly overcome with a feeling of nostalgia. "It reminds me of when my sister and I sneaked out to walk along the beach of the 'Sea of Stars' at night during our last family vacation in the Maldives… only Hope told me the glow was being caused by phytoplankton… and they glowed blue, not yellow…" It was a shame Hope couldn't see this too. She would have loved it.

"Sea of Stars? Maldives?" asked Aladdin curiously.

"I've never heard of that, where is it?" asked Alibaba.

"Somewhere super far away…" she answered with a sigh. A whole different world, in fact. "Sorry, but just forget I mentioned it, okay?" she told them, patting Aladdin on the head. "I shouldn't have said anything…"

"?" Aladdin said, tilting his head to the side as he wondered what that odd expression on her face was for. After several more minutes of staring at the pretty glowing moss in silence, they decided that they should probably get a move on.

"There's plenty in this 'dungeon' that we're seeing for the first time." Said Alibaba.

"Yep!" Aladdin agreed cheerfully.

"Hey, you guys! There are even more lights coming from that room!" said Faith, pointing to another opening just ahead.

"Really?" Aladdin asked excitedly.

"Let's have a look!" said Alibaba.

"Woooow~!" they exclaimed, shielding their eyes as they entered the bright chamber of light. The source of the glow turned out to be a bunch of huge round things hanging from the ceiling.

"What are these things!?" Faith asked excitedly.

"They're balls of light!!" said Alibaba as they all stared up at the shining orbs in amazement. "I've never seen anything like them!!"

"Awesome!!!" cheered Aladdin. "They shine like rainbows… And they smell kind of good~" He was starting to drool. "They've got to be some new species of fruit!!"

"No way. See that line connecting them? And the lights? That's all treasure, man!" Alibaba said excitedly.

"I don't know…" Faith said. "They seem a little too… 'organic' for that…" Given all the experience she had from watching a million scifi and creature features over the years, she was starting to get a sinking feeling. 'Nah, it couldn't be…' she thought, shrugging it off. 'They're way too pretty-looking to be what I think they are…'

"Let's name these things 'rainbow balls'!!" Alibaba decided enthusiastically.

"So awesome!!" cheered Aladdin.

"…" A vein throbbed on Faith's forehead. They were totally ignoring her again…

"There sure are a lot of exciting things in this dungeon, eh?" said Aladdin. "I'm so glad we came, Alibaba-kun!"

"Yeah… I've gotta hand it to you, you picked a good spot for an adventure." Faith admitted a bit grudgingly. "Thanks for bringing us along for the ride."

"What're you talking about? No matter how you slice it, I should be saying that to you!" Alibaba told them. "I've always wanted to come to a dungeon, but I couldn't so it on my own, because I thought I'd die. Then you two came along, and I finally did it… I owe you tons of thanks for saving me as well."

"Well, when you put it that way… I guess I haven't thanked you properly yet for trying to save me from that evil flower... So, thanks!" said Faith with a wry smile.

"Yeah!" said Alibaba, smiling back. It was nice to finally get some real appreciation! "So let's keep working together from here on in… and keep this show on the road! Okay, Aladdin?" he asked, turning to pat the younger boy on the head with a smile.

"Uh… You'd better open your eyes, Alibaba…" Faith said, staring at the thing he was petting with wide eyes. "That's not Aladdin!" Alibaba's eyes popped open, and his face froze in a marvelous impression of The Scream as he stared at the large giant bug-like creature he suddenly found himself face to face with.

"… Ah…" Alibaba said as he slowly backed away from it, almost too stunned to react.

"Aladdin…" Faith called carefully as she began looking around, trying to figure out where he had wandered off to without alarming the creature.

"A-Aladdin…!" Alibaba cried.

"Faith! Alibaba-kun!" They heard Aladdin cry from somewhere behind them. They immediately whipped their heads around, but whatever relief they felt was extremely short-lived. There, towering over them, was a giant version of the creature in front of them… and Aladdin's head had somehow managed to its way into the thing's mouth. For a moment, Faith and Alibaba were so shocked by what they were seeing, that they just stood there like a couple of dears stuck in a pair of headlights.

"You gotta save me… Please…" Aladdin begged weakly, to wave one of his hands at them, even though he couldn't see anything with his head stuck inside the creepy crawler's mouth.

"GYAHHHHHHH!!!" Their screams echoed shrilly throughout the cavern.

"Spit him out, you bastard!!" Faith yelled, delivering a swift round house kick to the creature's gut, while Alibaba pulled Aladdin free from its jaws. "I-Is he all right…!?" She asked anxiously.

"My body's all sticky…" Aladdin groaned with a shudder, understandably traumatized.

CRACK.

"!?" Faith gasped in alarm and whipped her head around just in time to see several of the rainbow balls crack as some insect-like legs broke through their shell. "GODEFFINGDAMMITT!!" she yelled. They were eggs after all…!!

"They aren't treasures, they aren't treasure at all!!" Alibaba cried. "They're the eggs of ant monsters!!"

"No shit, Sherlock!!" shouted Faith nervously. "Ugh! Why'd it have to be bugs!?" Big bugs were her only weakness!

"Hold on to me, Faith and Alibaba-kun!!" Aladdin said urgently, holding his flute out in front of him as he took a deep breath. "PHWEEEEEEEE!!" it cried shrilly, and out came Ugo-kun, all the way from his giant blue feet to his giant blue shoulders.

"Let's get out of here!!" Alibaba yelled as the Djinn started running with the three of them clinging to his shoulders for dear life. The giant ants stopped their fruitless pursuit and stared hard at Ugo's back as he ran away with their prey, focusing especially close on the movement and formation of his powerful leg muscles.

SQUISH.

The flesh bulged out on the largest ant's leg as it began reshaping itself.

"Geez!! That was close!!" said Alibaba.

"Well, at least they don't seem to be chasing us…" Faith said, releasing some of the tension in her body by exhaling a huge sigh of relief. She had been really freaked out back there.

"Then… do you think I could rest a little?" Aladdin asked.

"Huh?" said Alibaba.

"Yeah, that might be a good idea." Said Faith. He looked tired. "I have a feeling we're going to need Ugo-kun's help again before this is over…" Aladdin nodded and stopped blowing on the flute. Ugo quickly deposited them on the ground and returned to his flute.

"Hey, why not blow on that flute until we're in the clear!?" Alibaba asked nervously.

"We've got to save it…!" Aladdin told him. "I've already called Ugo-kun twice today… and in order to summon him… I have to use power from within my self!" he explained while the three of them continued to run on foot. His little stomach let out a loud growl. "I'm so hungry~" He cried, rubbing his empty tummy.

"Here!" said Faith, handing him a banana. "I snagged it while we were running from the police earlier!" One of the many useful things that she and her sister had learned watching Dr. Who was this: always take a banana with you when going on a trip, because you never knew when you might need one. (In fact, it was the bunch of bananas that Faith had tossed in their carry-on tote that had prevented Hope from totally starving for the three days she was trapped in Ipos' dungeon.)

"You mean, you stole it!?" Alibaba shouted incredulously. While Aladdin devoured it as if he hadn't been fed for a week. "That's a crime, you know!"

"I'm gonna pay for it eventually!" she said defensively. "Besides, is this really the time to complain!?" Something was coming up on them from behind, and fast! They all glanced back over their shoulders to see what it was as the rumbling sound of its footsteps grew louder and closer at an alarming pace. Their jaws dropped when they saw what it was. The giant ants were back, and they had somehow morphed their spindly little lower insect legs into huge meaty and muscular legs (with toes and everything!) that Hercules himself would envy.

"WHAAAAAT!?" They all shouted incredulously.

"How the fu—!?" Faith started to ask, when several ants suddenly lunged forward and tried to run around to cut off their escape. "Aladdin, throw the peel!!" she yelled, pointing to a spot on the floor ahead of them.

SPLAT! SLIIIIDE!

When one ant's fleshy foot landed on the banana peel, it slipped so spectacularly, that it looked like something straight out of an old cartoon, and bowled over just enough of its buddies to let them through.

"Wow!!" Aladdin exclaimed, surprised by how much damage such a simple act could cause. He had no idea banana peels could be so destructive…

"Strike!!" Faith cheered with a victorious laugh, thanking her early exposure to easily imitate-able violence, as they sprinted through the hole in the crowd. Unfortunately, their victory was short-lived. Another wave of ants lunged forward, and they were out all out bananas this time. The creatures had them surrounded! "Argh…!! This is such bullshit!!" she shouted angrily, stomping her foot.

"Crap!! They've trapped us!! Where the hell did they get those feet from anyway!?" Alibaba cried. 'To hell with this!! As if I'm gonna let some overgrown ant kill me!!' he thought, drawing his knife. "Yah!!" he yelled, cutting down the nearest creatures. "Whoa, they cut as easily as moldy apricots…!!"

"Nice one!!" said Faith.

"!?" They gasped when it collapsed in a pile of slimy goop, only to rise up and reform itself again right before their eyes.

"What!?" Alibaba shouted incredulously as they all flinched in shock.

"Ah!! I get it!" Faith said excitedly while Alibaba continued to fight. "They aren't 'ants' at all…! They're slime monsters!! Slime monsters that can change their shape!!" They were basically level 1 monsters with the ability to level up by shape-shifting… Not a bad design for a game monster…

"Y-You're right!!" said Alibaba. "They're not bugs… No matter how much I cut them down, they get back up…!!"

"Yah!!" Faith yelled with a grin as she got back in the game, cutting one in half with a sharp sweeping kick. Giant bugs were creepy, but monsters… monsters she could handle! "Man, what I wouldn't give for a freezing spell right about now!" Alibaba was right, no matter what they did, the creatures just kept coming.

"I'll cut you guys up so small that you won't be able to get up again!!" Alibaba shouted at the creatures in frustration.

"…" The slime monsters stopped for a moment and glared at them. Then they started shifting forms again.

"Hm!?" Alibaba said, confused when they began morphing from their mutant ant forms into balls of slime.

"What are they…?" Faith wondered aloud as one slime appeared, and then another and another… Then all the slimes began to merge with each other…

"…" Alibaba, Faith, and Aladdin all stared with wide eyes and open mouths as the quivering mass of slime transformed itself into a huge Ugo-sized humanoid form with a myriad of eyes all over its body that was wielding double 'blades', had Alibaba's cowlick, and appeared to be wearing 'shoes' similar to Faith's. The king slime had appeared!!

"… Shit." breathed Faith.

"YAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!" It unleashed a powerful roar. Faith and Aladdin immediately covered their ears as the three of them braced themselves against the whipping force of its breath.

"Move it!!" Faith yelled as the slime king swung one of its massive swords.

"Whoaaa!!" Aladdin cried as she tackled him and Alibaba out of the way just in time to avoid being hit by the attack.

"A… Are you kidding me!?!?!?" Alibaba shouted incredulously, turning deathly pale and breaking out in a cold sweat, as he stared at the huge rift the slime king's blade had just gouged out of the ground where they had been standing. This was insane!!

"Shit just got real…!!" Faith said with a rueful smirk, dripping with sweat.

"… Sorry, but we're going to need you a third time, Ugo-kun!!" Aladdin said anxiously, blowing into the flute. Once again, Ugo emerged to aid them in battle with Aladdin riding on his shoulders, blowing continuously into the flute. The slime king swiped Ugo and Aladdin with a blade, but Ugo ducked swiftly and countered with a powerful right hook that obliterated the top left of the slime king's torso.

"Oh-hoho…!! Kick his ass, Ugo-kun!!!" Faith cheered excitedly. She hoped Aladdin could keep it up.

"Sweet!!" Alibaba exclaimed. "From here, we totally got this win in the bag!"

"You doing okay, Aladdin!?" Faith called. He still looked pretty exhausted, even though bananas were a great source of potassium.

"I'm fine… We're going to get to the treasure, I promise you!!" Aladdin said determinedly. "Even if it means using… our trump card!" He was still feeling really weak and hungry, but the banana had helped a little. He blew into the flute again, harder than ever before, and a mysterious glowing energy began to gather around Ugo's hands.