The Dark Underground

Brent hurriedly slid forward until he hit a wall. He then changed directions, but hit another wall. He changed directions and fell down. He felt like he slipped through a tunnel that was small enough to let only him through, but he felt as though he wounded up in a completely different chamber.

Navigating through an underground cavern with sheer darkness blinding ones eyesight was a horrifying experience. The only senses that darkness didn't take was touch, smell, taste, and sound. But even though Brent had four out of the five senses at his disposal, that still left Brent with fewer options to navigate the pitch black darkness than he was comfortable with.

He would have loved to have some light to guide him through this cavernous maze!

"Gah. Alright, calm down. You're not in danger. Just... Calmly think. Think through the situation."

He lost count how many times he bumped into a wall, and he was so sure that there was a few times he had nearly fallen down a deep precipice of no return. Brent was unsure if he was capable of surviving a fall from a steep cliff, but he wasn't about to find out. Brent may have no bones as a pink slime, but he wasn't about to test his durability.

The cave had a dank, old smell to it. Whatever decay or life finds itself into this environment would undoubtedly be eaten by scavengers and extremophiles. Dangers that might have been more dangerous than those green giants might have lived here, but Brent figured that facing such nameless demons would have been better than dealing with that hunter that tried to skewer him earlier. As far as Brent could tell, the air also smelled somewhat clean, which Brent hoped had meant that it has no dangerous life inhabiting it.

However, there was another issue Brent faced. Food. There was very little he could find in this environment that was edible. He could smell a rodent or bug scurrying around, and he found himself chasing after them on occasion. The diet of the slimes usually consisted of the fruits, vegetables, and chickens that grew abundantly on the Far, Far Range. However, Brent had to make due with whatever was available. The small cave spiders and cave rats he seldomly found in the darkness were yucky tasting, but it was better than starving.

However, he learned in high school that various breeds of bats had the ability to navigate in complete darkness, using their enormous ears to listen to faint sounds and screeching in sound frequencies only they could hear. Brent technically didn't have ears, but he did seem to be able to hear vibrations carried through the air all the same. Brent experimented with his mouth and made a sharp click sound. His clicking noise came back to him in an echo. Good. He will have to teach himself to gauge his echo in order to navigate the underground cavern he was lost in.

Once he taught himself how to use his own form of echolocation in the darkness of the cave, he was getting better at navigating through the darkness. At least he wasn't hitting his head on any more walls or falling down into another precipice!

Brent smiled. "So far so good."

But this smothering darkness Brent was in remained eerily calm, despite his mouth clicks, despite the occasional dripping of water, and despite the scurrying of verminous animals using the caves as a rest area before the night comes. Brent felt alone.

His mind reminisced about the memories he was able to remember, yet he still continued to focus on traveling through the constant darkness that made the cave so ominous. From what past conversations he remembered having with the bodyguard and two scientists, they were a search party that had a specialized set of skills. The 7Zee Corporation hired them with two purposes in mind: find Beatrix Lebeau and research why the slimes of the Far, Far Range are acting up. However, the three people chosen to form the team were still undermanned, and they insisted that they needed someone that had the skills to track people. Brent always thought he had a knack for finding people or things that were either lost or hiding.

As Brent traveled through the tunnels and chambers deep underground, he couldn't help but thought he was seeing the shadows move around him. But as he marched on with his slimy self, he noticed some faint light coming from somewhere. It could be his mind playing tricks on himself, but on a whim, he decided to follow its source.

That was when he saw it, a far distance away and across a still pool of black cave water.

A ray of hope.

A floating light, hovering just above the ground.

And what he saw both surprised him and baffled him.

It was a Phosphor Slime, being closely followed by a Rock Slime and a Tabby Slime.

Brent blinked his eyes. How did these slimes end up here?

However, not to stare at a gift horse in the mouth, or in this case, allow a small party of slimes to leave him in the dark, Brent floated across the black underground lake and followed behind the three slimes.

He would have liked to thank them personally, but Brent knew that slimes were incapable of talking. So, Brent had elected to remain quiet as he tailed behind them, allowing the Phosphor Slime to lead him and its two followers through the darkness.

Brent wondered. Would these three slimes act negatively to Brent if he was still a human? Would they act negatively if they found out he used to be human? Would that even matter to them when the world they are on is not the Far, Far Range?

A silent sigh escaped Brent as he followed the three slimes. At least they were company. They might not provide human companionship like Robert, Samantha, or Tiffany could offer, but it was better than nothing.

As Brent followed the three slimes, he quietly prayed that his three friends were safe and well.

Prelude 6

Morning had came along, the ever brightening twilight granting a sliver of growing warmth to the Far, Far Range. Another sunrise rose over the planet for the umpteenth time.

Brent sighed as he got up at six in the morning. His feet were kicked gently as Robert walked over him. "Out of your sleeping bag, sleeping beauty."

Brent cursed under his breath as he emerged from his sleeping bag, the cool air stinging mercilessly against his warm skin. Brent was thankful that he brought some provisions that enabled him some comfort staying at Beatrix's ranch.

Brent took note of everyone's morning routines.

Tiffany was slow to wake up since she was a messy sleeper. She seemed to complain with non-responsive groans when she brushed her teeth and brushed her hair. It was only after she ate her morning meal that she transformed into the personality Brent was familiar with. If it were not for mornings, she would always have that beaming, smiling face.

Samantha was more the same, but was more bitter than Tiffany. Brent couldn't fault her, since she had to sacrifice coffee upon leaving for the Far, Far Range. To substitute her lack of coffee, she drank carrot juice instead. Brent can understand her bitterness with familiarity. He wondered if he should share his coffee-flavored breakfast bars with her?

Robert woke up, got dressed, brushed his teeth, and ate quickly. He acted much like a clockwork man. Brent assumed that his military training had conditioned him to be an efficient soldier, so his morning routine was simple and quick. Brent suspects he only acts like a hard-ass mainly because he was paid to guard the investigation team from any dangers that the slimes might throw their way.

Once everyone's routines were complete, Samantha took her cup of carrot juice and went to the computer to bring up a map. "If I may direct your attention to the computer terminal for a second."

Brent stopped eating his fried oca oca hash browns, Tiffany paused eating a grilled pogofruit, and Robert brushed crumbs of scrambled hen hen eggs and carrots off his mouth and chest.

Samantha pointed at the bottom of the map in an orange area. "For those of you that don't know," She turned to stare at Brent. "which means you, Brent," She then turned back to the map. "we are here at a place known as The Dry Reef Ranch, which is surrounded by a stretch of land known as the Dry Reef. It is inhabited by pink slimes, rock slimes, and tabby slimes. North east from here is the Indigo Quarry, which is an area that is rich with a mineral known as Indigonium, and happens to be a hot spot for rock slimes, crystal slimes, boom slimes, rad slimes, but mostly pink slimes. The terrain consists of rocky outcrops and winding underground tunnels. Farther North and to the west of us is The Moss Blanket. Its natives are pink slimes, tabby slimes, honey slimes, boom slimes, and hunter slimes. Farther north from here, past the Indigo Quarry and directly east of the Moss Blanket, sits the Ancient Ruins. Pink slimes, rock slimes, tabby slimes, a smattering of boom slimes, and quantum slimes live there. Last time we were there, we were ambushed by a horde of hunter largos. We barely made it out of there."

Tiffany rose her hand up. "You are forgetting about the phosphor slimes. They always make an appearance when nighttime comes, and they pop out of the ground in all of the biomes."

Samantha gave Tiffany an unamused stare. "I was getting to that, Tiff."

Tiffany stuck out her tongue playfully. "Just wanted to make sure Brent was informed."

"Anyway." Samantha went back to her map. "There are two paths leading to the Ancient Ruins. One path takes us through the Indigo Quarry. The other path leads to the Moss Blanket. Both paths have their dangers, but they end at the entrance of the Ancient Ruins. Those ruins is where our Beatrix was last seen."

Brent studied the map for a few seconds. "Any dangers we should expect?"

Robert shook his head. "Slimes, but I doubt they would be too much of a problem. Heck, judging from all the Tarr we fought yesterday, I'd say this area is completely clean of most aggressive slimes."

Samantha shook her head at Robert. "But we all went to bed after the Tarr invasion. I would think the slimes had enough time to repopulate the land and pose a danger to us again."

Tiffany gestured to Samantha's map. "Disregarding any potential dangers we might face along the way, I say both paths are equally viable. The Moss Blanket is a pretty jungle, but it has hunter slimes in it. The Indigo Quarry might have winding and twisting underground tunnels, but it has other dangerous slimes inhabiting the area."

Robert nodded. "Yeah. I say we're just spoiled for choice at this point." Robert turned to Brent with a smirk. "How about it, Brent? Want to be the one to decide on which path we should take?"

Brent smiled as he pointed at the blue section of the map. "Well... I think we should go through the Indigo Quarry path. It's shorter than going around and through the Moss Blanket."

Tiffany sighed. "At least we don't have to deal with hunter slimes. ... Hopefully..." She said, rubbing her hand.

Samantha walked to her Vacpack that was next to her sleeping bag. "They shouldn't be a problem, so long as we keep a lookout for them."

"So we're going through the curving underground passages, instead of going through the scenic route? Sounds good to me." Robert grunted as he got up from his seat. "Alright then. Let's head out."

Brent took one final bite of his hash browns before joining with his team and leaving for the Ancient Ruins.

The team of two scientists and body guard went through the Dry Reef area with little trouble, though their usual composition of members now included one more person that was added to their roster. A private investigator, hired for the purpose of finding a missing rancher, and to a lesser extent, assist the scientists to find out why the slimes are rebelling against humanity.

Brent and his team had went through the Dry Reef biome with very little trouble. The orange-tinted area smelled heavily of salt and crusty trees as wild hen hens and roostros search for high crannies to make their nests in. The slimes of this world must have been overjoyed when chickens and carrots were introduced to their ecosystem. New pure slimes popped out of the ground as Brent's team walked through, but they had no need to stay for very long. Brent was happy to realize that newly spawned slimes were actually quite docile. Save for the rock slimes that spawned near the cave entrance that lead to the Indigo Quarry, and the pink phosphor largos that spawned in the passage further in the cave.

Further along the way, Brent and his team eventually entered The Indigo Quarry. The biome was quite different from The Dry Reef. It had the same salty, slimy smell that the Dry Reef had, but the rock structures all around them was more blue, purple, and gray in color. Much of that area was somewhat more populated compared to the Dry Reef, but it certainly had its dangers, consisting of rock slimes, rad slimes, and boom slimes. As they passed through the area, Brent noted that he saw no signs of crystal slimes. Tiffany was quick to inform him that crystal slimes inhabited the more extreme places of the Indigo Quarry, as well as certain locales located elsewhere on the Far, Far Range.

After passing through some winding tunnels, and avoiding more dangerous slimes that are hazardous to their health, Brent's team went over a bridge and went through yet another passage. Brent took note that he saw a circular frame he thought he remembered seeing before. Samantha informed him that, apparently, they were slime gates that were closed by an older rancher that had lived in the ranch before passing the deed on to Beatrix. For some reason, the old rancher, named Hob Twillgers, decided to close the gates and to encourage Beatrix to find the keys that allowed her to open them. When the search parties began their search, they found that the gates were in a closed state upon finding them, which had suggested that Beatrix had followed Hob's eccentric tradition.

When Brent's team emerged from that tunnel, his mouth went ajar and eyes snapped open as he beheld a mystical sight. Yellow/gold trees painted the area with a serene peacefulness. Ancient stones of unknown make and origin were messily scattered all around the area, while some structures of older times somehow remained, still standing strong. It was like looking at a picture from a book of a fairy tale, except it popped-out at him like he was being immersed in a hyper-realistic virtual reality movie.

Tiffany tapped at Brent's chin to snap him out of it. "Okay, enough sightseeing. The Ancient Ruins awaits us."

"What the hell?" Samantha said aloud in an annoyed and surprised tone.

"What?" Robert asked, looking at Samantha.

"What happened to the big gate?!" Samantha asked aloud, pointing at a circular structure that looked over the courtyard.

Tiffany blinked. "Uh... Is that normal?" She asked numbly.

Robert scratched his head. "Wait, uh... What are we looking at here?"

As Robert, Samantha and Tiffany walked up to the circular structure, Brent began to understand why they were so startled. Apparently, the large circular structure was supposed to be an opening of some sort. However, entry through it was blocked by something Brent had ever saw before. Balls of mud were wedged tightly together, forming a barrier that prevented anyone from passing through. Robert was the first to walk up to the wall. He inspected it with a probing left hand, only to knock the wall a few times. It sounded hard as rock.

Once Robert was done analyzing the wall, he turned to Tiffany and Samantha. "... I think I see what's wrong here now."

Samantha rolled her eyes. "Well duh. We all do."

Tiffany's eyes scanned the wall of mud balls in deep thought. "... I think I saw this somewhere before."

Brent placed his hands on his hips as he looked up and down at the wall with scrutiny and annoyance. "So wait, we can't go through here? Isn't there another way around this gate?"

Samantha banged on the wall of mud balls with a rock in her hand. The rock in her hand split in three pieces, while the mud ball she chose as her target had only a chalky dent of battle damage. Samantha hissed at her attempt to get through. "No good. Unless we gathered a bunch of boom slimes and set them all off at once, or have some dynamite mailed to us, we're not getting past this."

Brent clenched his teeth. "So this is the only way in?"

Samantha looked at Brent. "Yeah. The only one." She answered simply, in a defeated tone.

Brent grunted a growl as he turned around and looked down at the ground. He then began to look around himself. An idea formed. He turned back to Samantha with a determined expression. "Maybe not on foot."

Samantha blinked. "Huh?"

Before Brent could explain, he jumped into the air and scrabbled up a nearby sunburst tree, using his jetpack to grant him additional leverage. He was able to scale up to the top of the tree, though he stood on the top rather uneasily. Samantha watched Brent with surprise and puzzlement. Robert also started to watch Brent, but more out of indifference. Tiffany broke her transfixed stare on the mudball wall to look up at Brent, her expression filled with wonderment and curiosity.

Brent pointed at the top of the big slime gate. "If we can't go through there on foot, then we'll go over it! With jetpacks!" Brent demonstrated his solution by hovering through the air and landing on the top of the stone arch that formed the big slime gate. Once he got on top of the gate, he looked down at his team and raised his hands triumphantly. "Like this!"

Samantha smiled and shook her head. "You're a mad lad, but I'd be monkey's aunt if I said that was a clever solution to our problem."

"But on the other hand, we don't have to wait for any dynamite in the mail." Robert looked at Samantha questioningly. "Also, I think you messed up that metaphor, Sam."

Samantha jumped and floated toward the sunburst tree. "We can argue semantics later. We have a ruin to investigate."

"ME NEXT!" Tiffany took to the sky as she scrabbled up the tree after Samantha.

Robert chuckled and shook his head. "Slow down before you get yourselves hurt. I can't always be there to protect you." He said before following behind Samantha and Tiffany.

Brent turned to view the other side of the big slime gate to beheld something that was also awe inspiring. A large structure was set before him, and it seemed quite ancient. Moss and lichen covered the surface of this old structure, which must have remained like that for countless years. Thankfully, he saw no signs of feral largos patrolling the area below him, but he could easily assume that the structure contained dangerous slimes that might prove dangerous to Brent and his team. On the other hand, he could find clues about Beatrix's whereabouts within that structure. Or perhaps somewhere near the structure. It's a lot of ground to cover, but Brent was confident that he would discover a clue or hint about Beatrix's whereabouts.

Brent cracked the joints in his knuckles as he prepared himself. "Right. Time to investigate the scene."

A few hours had passed as Brent searched high and low. He didn't know what he was trying to look for, but he figured that if a single clue could still be found after a rancher had disappeared for six months, then he figured it would be hidden somewhere in an area that would put most museums to shame. However, moss, lichen, vines, and various weeds had eaten into the ancient stones for the greater part of its history, and that made looking for clues pointing to where Beatrix might have been even harder.

If Brent had been summoned to the Far, Far Range sooner, then the investigation would have went along more smoothly. To look for clues of Beatrix's whereabouts in the current condition that the Ancient Ruins was in would certainly make Brent's efforts strained.

But at least Samantha and Tiffany were off doing their own research, with Robert carefully ensuring that they don't get into trouble.

Samantha had need to come back to the Ancient Ruins. She had little time to investigate and research the area last time she was here, due to the aggressive slimes forcing her to leave every time she came to this place. She was content to just look at the 'switches' that opened and closed the enormous glass doors that was installed into the Ancient Ruins long ago. However, her research was only academic in nature.

Tiffany had another task: Researching the slimes. Her task was far more important, because she needed to discover the reason why the slimes have became so aggressive six months ago. So far, her progress as of the past month had lead to many dead ends and unfortunate discoveries, but everything she had learned so far resulted in data that was inconclusive. Brent saw that Tiffany's expression was a mix between sour and worried. Was she troubled by something?

Robert's job couldn't be any easier. Protect the investigation team. Protect Samantha as she looks at old buildings. Protect Tiffany as she looks at slimes. And protect Brent as he looks for clues and find where Beatrix had disappeared to. Simple. Easy. But the slimes have continued to hassle them at every turn, making his job a bit more complicated than he would have liked. Still, it was good money, and good money was hard to turn down for someone with his set of skills.

Brent looked high and low, under rocks and through bushes, betwixt pillars and statues, in ponds, and clearings, and underground chambers, but found nothing. Not even a message that blatantly said 'I'm over here!' and then pointed Brent in the right direction. He silently cursed as he used his Vacgun to nudge some slimes out of the way of his investigation. Six months was an awfully long time for a single person to remain missing. But on an alien world where human civilization had strained resources? Brent was sent to look for a silver needle in a silver haystack.

Brent sighed as he walked toward Tiffany, looking at some harmless puddle slimes in a pond. "Any luck?"

Tiffany shook her head. "No. I can't focus."

Brent thought as much. "Why's that? You're usually very ecstatic about a lot of things. What's been eating you?"

Tiffany shot Brent a glance of amusement before looking at the puddle slimes again. "That gate was blocked by a wall of mudballs, Brent. I don't know why, but it feels like the slimes are trying to keep us out of the Ancient Ruins."

Brent raised an eyebrow. "You think they are preventing us from finding Beatrix?"

Tiffany shook her head. "They could be protecting her."

Brent raised both eyebrows. "What makes you think that?"

"I don't know." Tiffany looked at Brent. "It's on the top of my head, but I think I remember seeing those mudballs somewhere before."

"Do you know what made them?" Brent asked.

Before Tiffany was about to answer, Samantha walked up to them and interrupted their conversation, Robert walking in tow. "I think we've searched here for long enough. We're going to the northern ruins. You coming?"

Tiffany and Brent looked up at Samantha. Brent sighed while Tiffany stretched her legs. "Yeah, yeah, we're coming." Brent replied.

Brent regrouped with his team and traveled north. As they went through some glass doors, and carefully around a few boom largos that they avoided, Brent was walking down a ramp that was blocked by yet another sliding-glass door switch. Another ruin awaited Brent and his team, and they approached it. That was when Brent noticed another circular structure. This time it was a closed slime gate.

Brent looked at the gate. "Hmm..."

Samantha smiled as she saw what Brent had discovered. "A slime gate. And it's locked."

Brent looked back at Samantha. "So this is what they look like closed, huh? Can we get through this one?"

Samantha nodded as she pulled a dark gray and pink key from her person. "Yes we can. With this."

Brent blinked. "Where did you get that?"

Samantha walked up to the slime gate and inserted her key into the keyhole. "A slime gordo was hiding it inside of its body."

"A gordo? That's one of those super largo slimes, right?" Brent asked, watching as the door rotated to complete an engraving before sinking into the ground.

Samantha nodded. "Yes, but they are technically not largos. They're perfectly harmless and completely immobile. All they do is eat whatever you shoot into their mouth until they explode."

"But then they leave behind a bunch of pure slimes based on what time of slime the gordo was. But even so, it is rare for a gordo to form naturally. Unless you have gordo snares." Tiffany added.

As the door finally opened, Robert went in first. He looked left and right and above himself. He gestured to his investigation team. "Looks clear."

"No hunter slimes?" Tiffany asked.

"None that I can see." Robert replied.

"Unless they are hiding." Tiffany said, walking close to Robert.

Brent's team cautiously searched the innards of this ancient temple chamber. It was filled with old air and dust, but it sparked interest to Samantha, if Brent understood her expression clearly. Here eyes went wider as she neared the end of the room. Brent could see why she became so excited. There was a strangely designed enclosure at the end of the room, which contained five slime statues that had quantum plorts in their mouths. At the center of these statues laid an ornately designed circle of stone with an enormous gemstone that vibrated with power. It was creating a field of energy that was the unmistakable distortion of a teleporter.

Samantha smiled as she inspected it. "An ancient teleporter."

"Ancient? What built it?" Brent asked Samantha.

"It was made during a forgotten age." Samantha said, walking up to a statue and probing its side with a hand. "Nobody knows who or what built this warp station, or how long ago. Apparently, the popular opinion many believe in is that this civilization was obsessed with the slimes of the Far, Far Range. We assumed that their economy and industry was based around the slimes and their plorts. It would explain how the slime statues operated when certain types of plorts are fitted in their mouths. However, he have no records of who they are, what they looked like, or how their civilization disappeared."

Brent blinked. "Do you think this planet's past tenants moved off-world?"

Samantha smiled at Brent. "That was everyone's conclusion. But thanks to them, our modern day Warp Tech wouldn't have been developed had it not been based off of this ancient technology."

Robert huffed. "I would have guessed the slimes had eaten them instead."

Samantha shrugged and sighed. "Well... From what we have been through, I suppose your theory also has its own plausibility."

Suddenly, Tiffany groaned loudly, her face contorted into anger and frustration. "Oh nooooooooooooooooooooo, I now remembered where I saw those mudballs before."

Brent, Samantha, and Robert all turned to look at Tiffany. "What is it, Tiff?" Robert asked.

"Saber largos." Tiffany answered.

Samantha blinked. "... Saber largos?"

"Saber largos are the only slimes known to make mudballs." Tiffany explained in pained realization.

Samantha stared dumbly. "... But Saber Largos are only found on The Wilds. Why would they be here? And why would they make them into a wall and stop us entering the ruins?"

Robert groaned. "You ask us that question expecting an answer, but you already know that this behavior from the slimes isn't normal." He looked behind himself and paused. He immediately tensed as he pointed his Vacgun behind the group. "BEHIND US!"

And speaking of Saber Largos, there was an army of them that was slowly approaching them at the far end of the warp station room.

A/N: Anyone played Natural Selection 2? Anyone familiar with the Gorge unit? Anyone familiar with the Clogs they make to create obstacles for their human opponents? I'd imagine those mudballs are very pliant when freshly created, and could be used in the same way. Now imagine how difficult it would be to clear away a wall of mudballs that had time to dry.