Little Dreams and Hollow Nightmares

Ph3 Ch13: Fungal Wastes

The home of the Defender was cozy, but a bit too dirty and smelly for Mono's taste. The Defender himself however, was very kind and joyful. He tended to Mono's arm, and gave a bit of friendly advice to him and Six.

"A knight is strong alone, but unstoppable with others," he told them. "You shouldn't be so quick to blame your little friend here for my actions," he said, looking at Six.

"Y'know Six, I don't know why you don't trust the knight. Like I said, you have a lot in common," Mono said.

"Like... what?" Six asked, a bit shy to respond.

"Well, you both wear cloaks, you both seem to have a dark side of yourselves-"

"W-what do you mean?" Six asked, interrupting him.

"Y'know, that shadow that appeared when the Thin Ma-" Mono stopped himself from finishing that sentence. "S-sorry, you know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah," Six said, sounding relieved.

"Oh! And you both have a hunger curse!" Mono said.

Six froze, and slowly looked at the knight.

"W-w-what?"

"Yeah, you and the knight have the same hunger that makes you eat living things," Mono explained.

"Well! Then I see no reason why they shouldn't get along!" The Defender bellowed. "But if what you say is true, you might want to go in search of food now. The Wastes to the left should have plenty!"

"Great! We'll go there next! Thank you!" Mono said.

The knight gave a short bow to the Defender, and helped Mono and Six out of the hole. Once out, they continued their journey through the Waterways. The knight lead them through twists and turns, and pools of water, but stopped both of them once it reached a pool of bubbling, green water. Mono knew why. Acid.

Luckily, there was an old chair nearby, that seemed perfect for a boat. Mono and the knight pushed the chair into the acid, then Mono helped Six on. The knight pushed the chair to the other side, being immune to acid. The whole way, Six held on tight to Mono, as if she was afraid she was going to fall off. But, the knight got them to the other side safely, and all that was left in their way, was a large sewer gate.

Mono and the knight broke the gate open, revealing the outside area before them. Of course, Mono knew it wasn't outside, just a part of the knight's world that got merged with the Maw. But still, it was refreshing to see some plant life again, after a long time.

"What is this place?" Mono asked.

The knight pointed to a spot on its map labeled, "Fungal Wastes".

"Um, do you know what would hurt us here?" Six asked.

The knight took out the hunter's journal, and let Mono and Six read through the pages of bugs they could encounter here. Mono stopped the knight when he saw a page with a mantis.

"Are these mantises friendly?" He asked.

The knight nodded, but then shrugged. Clearly the fight with the Defender was making the knight question if it's previous friends were still friends or not. Mono understood that perfectly. Once he and Six read through all the pages, the knight started to lead them through the Wastes.

Along the way, Mono smelled rotten food. He looked around, but couldn't tell where the smell was coming from. However, he got his answer later down the road. As they were walking, a pile of rotten, smelly meat fell down on the ground. Mono looked up, and saw someone dumping a large pile of trash down into the Wastes. Unfortunately, they were all standing right underneath it. Everyone realized, and jumped away from the falling trash.

"When the Defender said there should be food here, I didn't think he meant the kitchen scraps!" Six said.

"What?" Mono asked.

"That figure up there was one of the twin chefs," Six explained. "This must be the place where they dump whatever the guests don't eat."

"That means there's a kitchen nearby," Mono deduced. "We should try and find a way to get there then."

Everyone nodded, and the knight continued to lead the way, but suddenly jumped back as a small group of mushrooms emerged from the wall. Mono remembered the creature from the journal. A Sporg. The Sporg shot out one of its explosive spores, but Mono knew what to do. He scooped up the spore in his ladle, and flung it back at the Sporg. The spore exploded, making Mono proud of his actions.

However, the explosion woke up other Sporgs, who sent even more spores at all three of them. Mono looked at the others, and they all nodded. The three of them ran through the area, avoiding as many Sporgs as possible. Mono looked for a way out, then noticed the knight running ahead, towards a group of pink mushrooms. Mono watched as the knight struck the mushrooms with its nail, and was propelled into the air. The knight landed on a ledge nearby, and then signaled for Mono and Six to follow.

Mono ran to the mushrooms, jumped up, and slammed his ladle onto them. His body was launched into the air, and he landed next to the knight.

"Six! Up here!" He yelled.

Mono watched as Six ran to the ledge, but stopped once she got there.

"I can't reach you!" She yelled back.

"Use the mushrooms! They'll launch you up here!"

"I can't! I'll find another way!"

"No! We're getting through this together! Just jump and hit them with your shovel!" Mono yelled.

Six looked at the approaching spores, at the mushrooms, then back at Mono. She took a deep breath, jumped up, and slammed her shovel onto the mushrooms. She flew up to the ledge, and Mono grabbed her hand. The spores below them all exploded, and Mono hoisted Six up to the ledge. He took a deep breath of relief, but then noticed something.

"Where's the knight?" He asked.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a stomach growling.

"That wasn't me," Six said.

"No, it wasn't," Mono replied.

He followed the sound of the growling, then heard it again.

"Mono what are you doing!?" Six asked. "The thing could eat you!"

"Maybe it went to find food, Mono replied. "And if it can't find any, we need to help. Also, it's not a thing. It's the knight."

The loud growling was heard once more, followed by a loud cracking sound. Mono turned the corner, and saw the knight's shell was broken open into a jagged mouth, which it was using to dig into a mushroom. Mono kept his distance as the knight devoured its food, not wanting to be eaten himself. After a while, the knight stood up, and the cracks on its shell mended. The knight looked over at Mono, then offered a piece of the mushroom it was eating.

For a second, Mono was confused, but then he realized. The knight wasn't eating a mushroom, it was eating an Ambloom, something the hunter's journal described as tasty.

The journal was going to be a lot more helpful than Mono realized.

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