Here's the next chapter, sorry it took so long.
Edit: Why do some the documents I upload come out as jumbled messes? It's fixed now.
Ruins Part 4 Load 1
Mizar was smiling as she stepped away from the strange star and instead moved to check on the froggit. She smiled warmly at the monster, seeing the harsh features soften slightly. It started to ribbit at her, that strange voice from earlier translating what the other was saying.
"You're a strange one, most wouldn't pass up the opportunity for easy EXP like you did... I appreciate you SPARING me though human. So I will offer you this advice. Not all monsters will be as willing to stop fighting as I am. If you do not wish for LV and cannot show MERCY, FLEE the battle."
She nodded, softly thanking the Froggit for the advice, getting a sheepish smile in response. She looked through to the next room and saw a pedestal with some candy on it. Though she did not approach when the monster shook its head, whispering a warning that there was a trap in the candy.
She gave a grateful smile at that and continued down the only remaining direction left. As she got close to the door a small, angry-looking, fairy-like monster got in the way. The voice was whispering that this monster was called a Whimsun. The monster summoned what looked like butterflies to surround her, the circle growing smaller and larger as one bullet at a time broke free of the circle to launch at her. She managed to dodge all the attacks and noticed a slightly scared look on the monster, as if it was expecting her to kill it.
"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you or anyone else." The Whimsun seemed to freeze up, staring at her before choosing its own FLEE option and escaping the FIGHT. Mizar felt a bit bad for scaring the small monster but pushed ahead for now. Hopefully she could find it again and apologize.
She entered the next room, finding it to be a normal hallway, the floor in the center seemed somewhat cracked, but she felt that if she moved carefully she could make it across. One the first step over the cracks, the floor broke open and she tumbled down, landing on the hard stone below with a pained cry. It, thankfully, wasn't that far of a fall, and the gravity was not as strong, so she wasn't seriously hurt, though a few petals from the flowers had been pulled off, one flower had been tugged in an extremely painful manner by the fall as well. She was grateful that none had been pulled out, she knew that the roots were embedded in the very muscles of her body, some even wrapped around nerves.
Mizar slowly stood up, whimpering in pain still, and found a set of stairs that led up. She followed them and breathed a sigh of relief at seeing they came up to a secret door on the other side of the cracked floor she fell through. She slowly limped into the next room, almost jumping when her phone rang. She pulled it out and answered nervously. "H-hello."
"Hello child, I... have a question for you not related to the puzzles. Do you... prefer cinnamon or butterscotch?" Nebula's voice allowed her to relax slightly, though she was a bit confused by the question.
"I prefer butterscotch, but I like both." She heard a soft hum from the other line, still somewhat confused.
"I see, thank you, child." The monster hung up and she blinked at the phone. She looked around the room, frowning at seeing more spikes and a rock. At seeing a sign nearby she relaxed more and walked over to try and read it. The voice returned, translating the language for her.
'Three out of four rocks recommend you push them.'
That made her blink, but another look around the room showed that there was a button on the floor. She took a deep breath and walked over to the rock, squeaking when a different froggit jumped in front of her to FIGHT. She complimented and reassured the small monster whenever her turn came up. Soon she was able to choose spare and the monster hopped off, confusion seeming to radiate from it.
Mizar smiled softly, once again moving to the rock and slowly pushing it over the button, arms straining to move the object. It was almost too heavy for her smaller frame to move, but she got it. She moved on to the next room as soon as she heard the spikes go down, stopping to rest against the wall. She was slowly catching her breath when she heard something pop up from the ground nearby. A glance at where it came from showed that it was Cursa, doing something by the cracked floors... they were weaving vines in a path?
"Wh-what are you doing?"
The flower froze before looking over, a now sheepish expression on him. "I-I wanted to help you get past this puzzle... There are spikes below so you can't miss the correct path... I don't want you to have to go through another load."
"Load?" That made the child blink in confusion. Cursa just stayed quiet, not answering the question. There seemed to be a look of sadness on his face. "I-I've marked ou-out the safe path with my vines. So just follow them and you'll get across safely."
Mizar stared for a few seconds before standing up and carefully crossing where the flower indicated, reaching the door safely. She turned around and saw him still watching, giving him a thankful smile and wave before continuing on. Once in the next room, she sighed at seeing three more rocks needing to be pushed and started on the one to her left. It took her some time to get it onto the button and she had to rest after.
Her eyes were shut as she leaned against the rock she had finished moving, limbs shaking from the work she had done, vaguely hearing a scraping sound on the ground. After a couple minutes, she opened her eyes to see Cursa was again helping her by pushing the middle rock onto the next switch. Once done he vanished once more into the ground. She just stayed where she was, trying not to doze off. After some time the shaking in her limbs stopped, allowing her to get back up and move to the last rock, though when she tried to push it a gruff voice came from it.
"Whoa there, pardner! Who said you could push me around you little shit?!" Mizar stared at the obviously angry rock before sighing.
"I'm really sorry about that, but I need you to move so I can solve this puzzle, please."
The rock was silent for a few moments. "So now you're asking me to move... Alright."
The rock moved over a small amount, making her sigh, it wasn't on the button. "I need you to move more please."
"More? You're a pretty picky little brat aren't you." It moved in the wrong direction this time, moving more towards the left side of the room.
"I'm really sorry but I need you to move onto the button."
"Ugh, fine." Finally, the button was pressed and the spikes retract. "You made me do quite a workout brat, think I'll stay in this new spot for a while."
"Thank you for your help, and sorry for making you move.'
"... Just get going, kid."
Mizar gave a bright smile before crossing the spikes and heading towards the door. Only to trip into a group of jelly-like monsters. They wiggled aggressively at her. She frowned before trying to wiggle her hips in a dance-like motion, the monsters pausing before attempting to imitate her. The odd dance continued for a few minutes before stopping, the monsters being the ones to select SPARE. Seems like these monsters are a bit more peaceful than the other residents.
She watched the monsters move on, heading in the direction she came from. Once they were out of sight she turned back to the door she had been approaching and stepped through. She just hoped things wouldn't get too much harder from here on out.