Cole woke up, feeling stiff in the joints. As he opened his eyes, the sun blinded them, making him growled in annoyance at the intruding brightness. He sat up, eyeing his surrounding. At first he was confused, but he remembered that he signed up for the Survive the Harem dealio.

"Agghh! I'm starting to regret this." he growled as he looked down from the tree he was on, which he slept on for the night. He was a bit high up but that was what he was going for to avoid any of the monster girls.

He took out the phone, which was wet when he leapt into a river to escape a lustful tree-girl thing. He tried to turn it on to see if it still works... nope. Nada.

"Well, just great!" Cole exclaimed. "Now, how am I gonna get the hell outta here?!"

He looked around, but the glare of the sunlight was burning down on him. He tried to move away but he forgot the rope around his waist, again. He growled in frustration as he fumbled with the ropes. Just like last times, when the ropes were untied, he fell.

"Aaahhh- Oomph!" he was splayed one the ground, facing up. The sunlight continued to glare down as always. "Grrrr! I have got to get a vacation after this," he growled as he stood up, brushing off some dirt of his sleeves. "And a couple of therapist... yeah, a couple of therapist."

Cole went over to where his stuff fell, grabbed it - the phone also - and went off, following the river. He concluded that if he follow the river, he might eventually come upon the lake. With that in mind, he set off towards his goal.

Hours later, Cole continued down the chosen path, bu he was still fuming about the phone thing. When fatigue started to hit, Cole rested by the river and pulled out to inspect the phone. He also pulled some ration and bottled water, too, as he cross his finger when he pressed the power button... still nothing.

"Well, just fucking great!" he shouted, throwing his bottled water away. It didn't matter anymore to him, without the phone he's stuck there anyway. Cole just immediately concluded that he failed... Then the bottle came flying back to his head- Thonk!

"Ow! Hey- !?" he looked into the river, scanning for the perpetrator that threw him back the bottle. Finding none, he held the bottle, inspecting it, then threw it back. Splash, went the bottle as it bobbed in the river, flowing with the current.

"Huh, guess it was nothing." he said, feigning being incredulous. Whoosh! Cole heard the sound, he spun around, and caught the bottled... and a glimpse of the one that threw it. Splash! The figure disappeared into the waters.

"Hey!" he called out, but no reply from the still waters. "Come on out! Don't make me come in there!"

...

"That's it!" he threw the bottle back in, but a hand crashed out of the surface and caught it. "Whoa!"

Cole eyed the hand with suspicion, already planning to book it when-

"It is very inconsiderate to litter, you know?" said a female voice, which was the owner of the hand in the river.

Cole couldn't help but stare at the... goddess! The Challenger had no other words in his mind to describe her, but a goddess was close enough. She had a light-green hair that reaches down to her shoulders; she had a fair, pale skin (due to the time spent underwater); and she had attractive brown eyes with a lively smile to match it.

Cole couldn't see her fully since she was half-submerged in the water, but her upper body parts were glistening like a diamond showcase. This made Cole suffer a minor nosebleed, but he quickly wiped it away when he remembered the reason why he was here. Cole took a slow step away, edging towards the treeline but the girl spoke out just as he was running.

"Wait!" Cole stopped at a farther distance near an exit if need be. "You don't have to worry about me. I've done my time for the heat season."

Cole looked at her skeptically. "Really? How do I know you're not lying?"

"Well, I've just said I did my... intercourse... so I'm satisfied for now." she said, resting her elbow on the shore. "So you don't have to worry about me. I've got my... needs when I do Need them... or him, I should say."

"Hmm, lucky him." Cole couldn't help but pity the poor bastard. Oh, well, better him than Cole. "So, um, W-what's your name?" he said, trying to start a small talk.

"Oh, forgive my manners. I'm Laura." said the water-girl, which brings up the next question from Cole.

"Okay, Laura, what exactly are you?!"

"Why, I'm a Naiad, or river nymphs, as you humans prefer to call us." she said, smiling sweetly.

"Huh, cool." Cole said genuinely impressed. "Couldn't help but be fascinated since you are the first Lyminals I have come across that doesn't want to rape me."

Laura giggled, prompting Cole to chuckle also. "Oh, I can see why." she said, earning Cole's inquisitive stare. "I mean, you are fairly handsome. If you were around when I was in heat, you'd need luck to escape me."

"Um, t-thanks." he said awkwardly, trying to hide his blushing. "Um, Laura?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you know if this river," he gestured to the said body of water the Naiad was in. "Leads to any lake, by any chance?"

"Well, yes, of course it does." Cole brightened up from the good news. "I've got a cousin who lives down by the lake. She usually visit often, but I guess the heat got to her."

Cole paled at the thought to encounter her cousin down at his only source of survival. He immediately deflated in depression as he try to come up with a way to get there without seeing more heat-crazy monster girls. Laura noticed his expression and tried comfort him.

"Hey, is something wrong." she asked, edging closer to him where he sat at the shore. "You look a little down there."

"Huh, you think." Cole said crassly, but it wasn't intended to the Naiad. "Here I am, trying to survive a rape-fest, and the only source of survival is probably infested with lake-monster-girls!"

Laura frowned at him as she asked, "I don't see what's wrong with being mate to us Naiads. Honestly, though, how can it be that bad?"

"I didn't mean it that way!"

"Then what way were you trying to mean by, hmm?" she said, frowning at Cole for his outburst.

"...Uh, I, uh, I'm commited already." he lied sheepishly. Apparently, it fooled Laura when she softened her expression.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Nah, you didn't know. So you're okay." Cole said, lying smoothly this time. Then something came to his thoughts. "Say, the person you'd... acquired, does he have anything like this." he said, holding out the phone in his hand.

The Naiad inspected the said device then she smiled in recognition. "Yes! It's over there, on that shore across from here."

Cole smiled, but tried not to get his hopes up. He asked Laura retrieve it, which she gladly did, and gave it to Cole. When it was in his hands, the human fumbled around the iphone and began to test it if still works... It does! Cole then opened the back of both phones, plucking out the batteries, sims, and memory cards. Cole took out the previous phone's sim and memory card, and switched it to the one he just retrieved.

He replaced the sim and memory card, but kept the batteries since the previous might be waterlogged. After it fitted in, Cole pressed the power button and waited. When it finally turned on, Cole couldn't help but screamed in joy, startling Laura in the process.

"Yes!...Oh, my god! Please, please, PLEASE work!" he prayed out loud as he opened up the apps... "...Yes! Fuck yeah!"

Cole began to shout again in joy as the apps from his previous iphone popped up in this one. The memory card must have had copies of the ones from the previous, just as Cole suspected. He then opened up the messenger app and saw a new message for him which says down the coordinates.

Cole opened up the map app and typed in the coordinate... it was pinpointing at the lake!

"Oh, just great!"

"What? What is wrong?" Laura asked worriedly.

"In order for me to escape, I must head directly for the lake, which is the spot I regretted to even decide to head for in the first place." Cole grumbled as he packed up his stuff. "Well, it was nice knowing you, Laura, but I must be going now."

"Travel safe," she said, waving at Cole as he walked away. "I have some unfinished business to attend to." she sank into the waters, probably heading for her mate.

Cole continued on his trek until he had to rest since it became dark. Instead sleeping on trees, he decided to rest on the ground. He pulled out his ration and began to eat before he turned into the night. When he finished, he used his pack as a pillow and sleeped in dreamland, unknown to him that he was being watched.