"Uh-oh... I remember this place..." Cynthia said as we had entered the room that contained Specimen 3, it being the second version of the lab and it being pretty run-down. We had to move to the room on the right and we saw that the other monsters in the test tubes were dormant, but one was broken open. And the label of it? Subject 5.
"Looks like we've got a bugger to deal with," I said, Bella frowning at me.
"That's a horrible joke and we both know this," she said as I then found the key card we needed and I led our group of four through the door to the area where Specimen 3 would attack, me looking at all of the others and pointing to the ceiling.
"Be on your guard, and steer clear of that hole in the roof," I said, the group nodding as Bubblegum looked at it with a smile.
"Everyone but me, because I'm starving," she smirked as she then went up to the hole and made a loud gurgling noise with her body, which caused the monster to come down... and I saw it'd be way easier for her to eat as it looked like the OG specimen 3, not the giant centipede from the HD version! Bubblegum then completely engulfed Specimen 3 in her blob of a body and proceeded to suffocate the creature and then, almost 10 seconds later, had completely digested it! And she looked to be trilling in joy after.
"Ahhn, that was so delicious!" she cooed after as Cynthia hid behind me in response.
"How did she do that so easily?... I hope I'm not on the menu," she said with concern.
"Oh, no worries, after that filling meal, I won't need food for two weeks. That, and I was told not to eat children," she said with a smirk.
"Then why did you chase me when we first met?" Cynthia asked with a frown.
"Well, because I had been without a meal for a whole 5 months at the time. I was just so hungry, I was about to eat anything I could." We then simply kept moving forward through the rest of the next good couple rooms, finding no issues on the way except for Bella looking concerned at the fact there were a lot of holes on the way, but no clicking happened.
"I don't know... could Specimen 3 have made more spawn of itself?" Bella asked as I simply kept an ear out the whole time... and I heard absolutely no clicking in the process and we didn't get chased a single time during the trek... that is, until we reached room 149, where we saw that it was home to a hatchery of sorts for Specimen 3 spawn, me needing to go and attack the eggs with the sword on my back, making of the babies were dead as well as any of the ones that were coming through the holes in the walls upon hearing the cries of the children.
And there was a lot of green blood spilled, which I made sure the group didn't touch once as we then finally went through the final door and I needed to rest my muscles.
"Um... that was pretty cool, if I'm gonna be honest... thanks for saving me again, mister Mathias," Cynthia said, me panting at that with a smile.
"Nothing... to it... just need a drink," I sighed as I then got a drink of juice from one of the packed juice boxes, me making sure that I saved some in it for Bella and Cynthia to get a drink, which they were grateful for. I then hit the button once more, making the duo of children hold onto my legs once more, which I was grateful for, as it gave me a bit of an anchor for when the elevator shook super hard. We then finally hit the next floor and I made sure that everyone was fine, which they were, though I did note that Bubblegum was looking at me with a smile.
"Is there something on your mind, Bubblegum?" I asked, her smirking at me and rubbing her fingers against my chest.
"You're such a good guy, I'd really hate to see you fail at this whole thing. And if we do get to the end, I need to ask if I could live with you in particular? I'm sure I can trust you to feed me," Bubblegum said slyly, me looking at her with a sly smile.
"That depends, what kind of meals did you usually eat before being sent to this world?" I asked her.
"I like eating live prey, but I can eat normal food too, it just has to be meat," she smirked at me.
"Good, then, because I'm a total carnivore, so we'll have enough for both of us," I smiled at her.
"Ooh, yay!" Bubblegum smirked before then giving me a very, VERY wet hug, me feeling some of me accidentally enter her, but it soon was expelled when she realized what was going on. "Oops, sorry, I didn't mean for that," she giggled.
"If you eat me in my sleep, it's all on you and I won't be able to protect you from anything, so I expect you to sleep in separate rooms," I smiled at her.
"Very well, and we can adopt the horrible child, too... that is, if she is able to leave at all," Bubblegum smirked, which made Bella frown and for me to groan.
"Okay, new rule, Bubblegum. From now on, you refer to her as Bella, not horrible child. Because that's her name when she's alive," I said, which made Bella sigh.
"It is true though... and she is right. Who knows if I'm going to be able to escape this place, even when I'm alive again? I was tied to this mansion when I was brought back... by... n-nevermind," she said, me frowning at her.
"You keep dodging the explanation, and we both know that I probably know it," I said, Bella frowning at me.
"Don't speak it, I hate being reminded of that... especially since it shows how stupid I was," she frowned.
"Gotcha, let's just keep going," I said, but I did make sure that I told Bella one more thing by whispering in her ear. "But just letting you know, a certain specimen coming up will use these weaknesses against you. 5 and 7 will use your repressed thoughts to attack, so I'd recommend getting it off your chest soon," I said, her frowning at me.
"Shut up, don't remind me," she said, angry for obvious reasons. But that'd have to wait for later, as we now had to go up against my favorites of the main game specimens that hadn't been replaced, that being Ringu.