Aaand that's a cat. Well, technically, there was a wall that weirdly resembled a cat. Also where the cat's mouth should've been, there was a fish-shaped hole. Speaking of nine lives... Zach cringed. He wondered if the dungeon was mocking him because of that thought he had earlier.

Hogwash. They can't read my mind, can they? He shook off the scary question, but took the extra precaution to watch what he thought about. Looking around, Zach brought his thoughts back to his current predicament. First off, he noticed that the room led to two different rooms. One on the left and one on the right. Second, he assumed that there was a missing fish for the fish-shaped hole, and he would likely find it in one of the two rooms. Zach figured that one room could be a trap whereas the other one held the key. It might seem absurd, but it definitely wasn't unlikely.

Well, lucky left I guess. Zach slowly made his way to the left room and when he got inside, he saw two rows of four pillars on either side of him, eight pillars in total. This room didn't seem like a trap, but nevertheless, Zach kept his guard up. He limped up to the pillar that looked different than the others on his right and jumped slightly when a stickman casually appeared on the pillar. Simultaneously, there was a scribble noise as yellow words appeared underneath the stickman.

"Play hide and seek?" the words asked as the little stickman suddenly vanished.

"…What?" Zach looked around and noticed that each of the other pillars had a curtain and a button underneath. I guess I have to find this dude in one of the seven curtains...? Zach turned around and limped to the pillar directly across from where he was standing. I guess I'll start with this one. But before he could press the button, he stopped himself.

Wait, no. That's too obvious. Maybe I should move past two pillars because if they're one step ahead of me, I need to be two steps ahead of them! Zach passed two pillars and stopped in front of the fourth pillar in the bottom row, near the wall. As his finger hovered above the red button, he stopped again as a previous precaution played across his mind.

Wait, no, that's absurd. I have to stay away from walls. Zach moved down a pillar and stopped at the third pillar in the row. This has to be it.

Zach tentatively reached out and pushed the button. In his own self-assurance, he'd completely forgotten about all the pillars behind him. Luckily, he didn't need to remember.

WOOSH.

The curtains drew back and revealed a stickman encased on paper. Suddenly, the scribble noise happened again and Zach looked down to read what it said. "Found me, you get prize."

THUNK. Zach spun around towards the noise, fearing the worst. There was a painting in the back behind the pillars where a knife had chopped a fish in half. However, the only thing that was odd was that the head of the fish, which should have been in the painting, was now lying on the floor as defined and three dimensional as it could get.

Zach limped over to it and picked it up. After adjusting his glasses, he examined it. It seemed to be made of wood and was painted blue. Deciding that half of a fish key was better than none of a fish key, Zach pocketed the fish head, glanced around the room once more, slightly on edge, and then left the room.

Zach went up to the fish-shaped hole in the cat wall, and put the head in. Sure enough, it was a perfect fit. Now, all he needed to do was find the other half. He retrieved the fish head from the hole, not wanting to lose sight of it, and hobbled to the other room.

Upon entering the other room, Zach had half a mind to turn around and leave immediately. He was sure that this room wouldn't be much of a trap, now that it had a purpose, but it could still be dangerous, and quite honestly, he's had enough of statues and sculptures and anything else resembling something or someone that could chase him, and this room was full of said atrocities.

Thankfully, the other half of his mind knew better than to run, because there really wasn't anywhere else to run to. Sighing, Zach glanced over the room and decided that the detour path was better since it housed no immediate danger that he could see. He shuffled down the upper path and stopped in curiosity when he came across a vase with water in it.

Now as to why there was a random vase there, Zach didn't know, but he did know that in video games, there was usually a way to replenish life points. Zach pulled out the rose and after some thought, decided to put it in the vase because, well, water helps plants grow, right? Besides, he found his rose in a vase, so it shouldn't do harm. Right?

Pushing away all negative thoughts, Zach put the rose in the vase and hoped for the best. The rose suddenly glowed blindingly as beams of light shot out from the vase. Zach was relieved to see the petals reforming on his rose and feel the pain from his ankle slowly fade away. Instinctively, he looked down to check on his injuries before realizing that he couldn't actually see what was happening to the gashes in his ankle since he had covered them up with band aids.

However, on an educated whim, Zach put weight on his right leg and was amazed to find that it was healed. He could walk normally again! After the glowing stopped, Zach picked up his rose and noticed that the vase was now empty. Noting that the vases were only a one time use, he decided to not waste the vases he came across. Then, something in the room began to shake.

Zach looked around and noticed that one of the big, head statues was moving by itself. Zach began to back up towards the entrance and saw that it followed him on the main path. Zach moved back towards the vase not wanting the head to reach the entrance of the path he was on. Then he saw a plaque lying on the ground near the vase. It was blocking the statue head's path and Zach hatched an idea. Zach walked to the far wall and waited for the statue to pass the plaque and hopefully fall over. The large head sculpture followed suit and began dragging its heavy self over in that direction.

The sound of shattering glass filled the empty silence and Zach brought his arms up to cover his face. He gave himself a congratulatory, mental pat on the back because the statue did exactly what he wanted and more. Inside the shattered fragments of the large head, there was a stark blue piece amidst all the gray. Zach walked over and fished it out of the sea of fragments.* Success! In his hands, Zach held the other half of the fish key.

Zach pulled out the fish head and stuck the two together. The thin line that was separating the two parts suddenly fused into one to make a sleek, seamless wooden fish. Zach hurriedly ran back outside, careful to avoid the shards, and inserted the fish key into the slot.

CLICK.

The room exploded into a cacophonous chorus of meows as the wall where he put the key sank back on itself and formed yet another pathway. Zach almost jumped out of his skin. Composing himself, he made a very important decision to not try to decipher anything and just move on, lest his head explodes. So Zach ignored the pounding 'why's' and 'how's' accumulating in his head and he pushed up his glasses and moved on.

*Hah. Too much on the puns? XD

A/N: I updated! :D I did better than last time! I think.. Well, it doesn't matter, because I'll be breaking all records, with the next one! Chapter 5 or 11 (whichever you guys prefer to call it, I guess) will be up sooner than you think! :D Consider this a last push before college comes and consumes me ;A; I'll leave you guys with two chapters instead of one! I really hope you guys are enjoying this, and please leave a review if you are! It really means a lot and it keeps me going!

Thank you guys so much for reading my fanfic, and I'll update again in a while XD For now, I'm going to bed XP

KC-Z out~