Open your eyes.

Everything is dark besides Niki's torch laying on the ground. Meanwhile, she's still holding you tight. The durability granted to her by the mark on her breast has allowed both of you to make it down safely, despite the falling rocks and the powerful impact on solid ground who-knows-how-deep. Niki's eyes are already open. She sighs and slowly pulls herself up to her knees and looks you over.

"Are you all right?" she asks. Her voice echoes into the nothingness around you.

"Yeah... Thank you, Niki." Albeit sore, you stand up without injury, and she does the same.

Niki holds up her torch and swings it around to find where you are. There are walls around you, and the cave continues ahead, though when you look up, you can't see the top. The area all around where you fell is covered in rocks and debris, so you imagine that way is now completely blocked. Moving it around could cause another cave-in as well.

"What do we do?" Niki asks. "And where's the little girl?"

"I don't think there was a child to rescue."

She grits her teeth and slams her foot against the cave wall. "Damn her! It was that stripper hussy, wasn't it? She set us up."

"We need to get out of here. That's what we need to focus on."

"You're right. But how?"

You look at the only path ahead. "I guess we can explore a little, and worst case scenario, we try to dig back the way we came."

"And if we don't get back by the time the fights start tomorrow..."

"We're disqualified, right? And then you'll be kicked out immediately."

"We will get back. I'll eat my way out if I need to!" She begins stomping forwards. "And if you can hear me, whoever trapped us down here. I'm coming for you next, whoever you are! Marks my words. I'll get my ****!"

You admit that her determination is infectious. As you follow behind her, you wonder where this cave might even lead. You don't see or hear any water yet, though surely this was carved out long ago by flowing water. That means it could go incredibly deep unless parts have naturally caved in.

"I heard something," you say.

"Shut up. Don't try and scare me."

"Niki... I'm serious. Something was moving up ahead."

The ground starts to even out, so at the very least, you're no longer descending. Though you're still trapped in a cave deep underground. What could certainly make it even worse is what you're fearing now--monsters lurking ahead. You definitely did hear something move. You peek around you, though you can't see farther than the light of Niki's torch.

"At least it's cooler down here." Niki wipes the sweat from her brow. "I know I'm a sunheart and all, but that doesn't mean I want to cook myself alive."

She stops.

"What is it?" you whisper.

"I heard something too. And those rocks ahead wiggled."

You can just barely make out something between the grooves of the rocky ground ahead. It's gelatinous, and she's right. It is moving. Also, it's purple. You've seen something like this before, back when you did the dungeon with Nyllia. Purple slimes devour inorganic material. Though this one seems more pale. It isn't as much of a deep violet as the other was, so perhaps this one is weaker, or a different slime all together.

"A slime, and it doesn't have a shape," Niki says.

She's right. What did Nyllia say? Sometimes, slimes become so large that they can no longer retain a definite shape, and crawl around underground caverns in hopes to find a meal.

"I don't want us to lose our weapons, but--"

You both stop as it begins to rise. It isn't like before at all. This time, it doesn't seem to be a large amorphous puddle with tendrils bursting from the wall, nor is it a cute little blob hopping in the grass. The way it shapes itself is straight up, to the height of a human being. It wiggles and jiggles and neither you nor Niki know what to do other than watch curiously as it falls into a specific shape.

It's a young woman--incredibly cute with a face full of youthful curiosity. Her eyes are big, bright, and yellow. Her body is partially translucent and shimmers under the light of the torch's flame. Her skin, if you could call it that, is pale purple just as it was before, and long tendrils of hair flow from her head like water down to the middle of her torso. They also lay over a large pair of tits, though it doesn't appear that this creature has nipples anyway. She has the exact figure of a sexy, curvy girl, though without the intricate details--not even a belly button. The last thing that forms are her feet which rise from the puddle that has become her body.

She looks confused and afraid, though interested in the two of you.

A slime girl?!

Slowly, she walks towards Niki. Each step squishes, and her chest jiggles like jelly. She reaches out a hand to Niki's face and breaks through her bubble of personal space. Though she is a slime, she's also a young lady, and it makes it difficult to just smash her to bits with a weapon. At the same time, she might be a horrifying enemy.

Before Niki can figure out what to do, the slime licks the tip of her tongue up her cheek. "Yum," she says quietly.

"Wh-What?" Niki blushes. "Don't you dare melt my--"

She looks down to see the slime's hand on her chest, though the metal isn't disintegrating.

"What are you?" you ask.

The slime looks to you and tilts her head. Very quietly, she responds with, "Huh?"

She's so cute. But is she our enemy? We need to figure that out.

"So thirsty," she whispers. Once again, she leans towards Niki.

Oh. The sweat on her face? Maybe she needs liquid to survive.

Suddenly, she presses her lips against Niki's, catching the warrior completely off guard. Her tongue works inside her mouth, and she begins to suckle as she attempts to absorb the liquid straight from Niki's body. When she tries to pull the slime off, her hands do grab at first, but then pass straight through like trying to grab water. Niki frantically waves her hands, drops the torch, and looks like she's struggling to breathe.