“It’s a boss-room,” explains Jubilee, seeing her confused expression. “There’s one after every sub-section of the dungeon.”

“Sub-section?” asks Fresh, wanting, but not daring to sit down again, for fear of not being able to get up this time.

“Yeah, these floors were ‘baby’s first dungeon adventure’,” explains Jubilee. “Once we kill the boss, you’ll have a short-cut in your dungeon that lets you skip those floors and come right down here next time, if you’re so inclined.” They lean forward in towards her, tilting their head. “Which you shouldn’t be, bec-“

“- Because I’ll die,” interrupts Fresh, not feeling that bad about the prospect right now. Her head hangs forward as the sigh leaves her mouth. At least then she wouldn’t have this heavy bag anymore.

Then again, she has the heavy bag because of what is inside of it. Because of what it represents. The items are worth money. The money is what will get her, get them… get them what exactly? She doesn’t know. But she knows that this work, this effort is the way forward, despite her inability to describe her exact reasoning. Fresh perks up and grabs the straps, pulling the bag higher as she does her best to stand up straight with the heavy load on her back. She needs this. They need this. If she can’t fight, if she can’t heal or do anything like that. She can do this. The determination returns to her eyes, together with a surprising amount of energy from an inexplicable source.

“Let’s both do our best!” shouts Fresh, clenching her fists.

Jubilee stares at her, somewhat lost for words. “…What?”

Fresh laughs meekly, pulling back a little and feeling rather awkward as she scratches her blushing cheek. She’s not quite able to explain the reason for her motivated outburst in coherent words. Jubilee just as awkwardly rubs the back of their hooded head and turns around to push the doors open, stopping short as they budge open an inch. The masked figure turns back to look at her and her shaking legs, before facing back forward and pushing the double-doors wide open without saying anything else.

They swing ajar with a heavy creak and a bright light shines out from beyond them, blinding Fresh for a moment. She raises her hands to shield her eyes as she steps forward, heading in after Jubilee. The light, which seemingly has no source at all, dies down; as if its only purpose was to allow a dramatic entrance into the boss-room.

Reopening her eyes, Fresh looks, somewhat surprised, at the convergence happening here. The roots from above, which had seemed to grow out in every direction are down here too and more plentiful than ever. But not just on and in the walls. No, great, thick roots go over the span of the entire dungeon floor. They knot and curl in all manner of directions, until they disappear into the walls, filling the entire space with gnarled hardwood.

In the center of the room, hanging from the ceiling above, is a large, upside-down tree without a single leaf on it to be seen. Like an oak in a barren winter. But there are rootwood flowers aplenty, all of them hanging up on high, far out of her reach.

“Stay here. Don’t touch anything,” warns Jubilee. “You have… what, four health now?”

“I have five!” corrects Fresh proudly, looking somewhat indignant. Jubilee rolls their eyes, once again not bothering, or simply not knowing how to respond to that, as they walk further into the boss-room. The roots shift, pulling themselves around with odd fluidity, as if they were great tendrils of some sleeping creature. The hard, woody plant matter crackles and groans as the old, hardened bark flakes and splinters apart, as it all begins to move. The massive roots down below part way, opening to unblock a new path forward, revealing a pair of two, particularly large, mush-mushes with bright-blue caps.

*NYAAAA-*

[ You got {21/35} Experience ! ] (Party)

[ You got {24/35} Experience ! ] (Party)

- Is all that they manage to gurgle, before Jubilee snaps their fingers and a glass spire shoots out from the ground, skewering both monsters at once on the same pole. Fresh rubs her arm, laughing nervously at the carnage. She really is being metaphorically carried here, Jubilee is clearly too high-level for this floor. Actually, what level is Jubilee even? What floor did their dungeon go down to? Fresh makes a note to ask them that, when she gets a chance. Maybe she could figure out if they’re a boy or a girl too, somehow? Just asking at this point seems like it would be rude?

The roots shift, making way as the two guardians are instantly killed, revealing another small group of monsters behind them, consisting of a swarm of blue goblins. Fresh, not wanting to watch this new massacre, turns her head away and looks down towards the side, staring at the pretty flowers.

“Oh!” She bends down, doing her best not to fall over with the heavy bag as she looks at some of the flowers growing out of the dirt here. “You’re so beautiful!” she says to the flowers who, rudely enough, don’t respond to her compliment.

A harrowing scream is heard from the side. It sounds particularly wet.

[ You got {27/35} Experience ! ] (Party)

Fresh does her best to just stare at the flowers. They’re pink with long, swooping petals. The screams continue. Fresh hums, staring at the little golden protrusions coming out of the head of their buds, between the petals. Tilting her head, she looks at them. They remind her of something.

- Something screams in the distance and is quickly silenced.

[ You got {30/35} Experience ! ] (Party)

She scratches her head, wondering what it is exactly that they remind her of.

- Something gurgles and splatters loudly.

“Ah!” She hits her fist into her open palm. “You have the same color as Jubilee’s eyes!” says Fresh, realizing what the similarity is now. Would it be weird if she gave Jubilee a flower? Not as a romantic gesture, but just to be nice, you know? Just to give something back. A token of appreciation. Is that weird? Fresh groans, unsure.

- Something screams.

[ You got {33/35} Experience ! ] (Party)

Do… do people give flowers to their friends? Is that a thing here? Was it even a thing in her old world? “Hmm…” She tilts her head. Maybe this is stupid. Fresh sighs. What if she makes more of a fool of herself? She’s the party-leader now, so she has to be responsible. The girl’s head droops. The roots shift around more.

But… so what if she looks stupid? She has a friend, sort of, and she wants to do something for them. Fresh’s eyes narrow in determination as she looks back towards the flower. She’s going to do her best with everything, not just with working, but with people too. “Mm!” Nodding to herself, satisfied with her mental pep-talk, she grabs one of the pink flowers and pulls it free.

“I’m going to borrow you, okay Miss Petals?” she asks with a bright smile. Miss Petals does not respond. She hopes Jubilee will like it, maybe they’ll loosen up a little more if she gives them a gift? Fresh beams with delight. She never had friends before, not really. Jubilee is a bit… rough, but maybe there’s something there? Fresh wonders. But maybe she just has Stockholm syndrome. She laughs quietly to herself.

Gathered: [Pink Petunia](Normal) !

The room rumbles, the roots shift and Fresh looks to see what new wave of creatures has appeared before Jubilee. “Some kind of wave fight, huh?” mumbles the girl to herself. Maybe there are a bunch of trash-monsters like this and then the boss comes at the end. That made sen-

“IH!” something tickles her bare ankle and she jumps up to her feet, brushing her hand over her foot to get rid of whatever spider, bug or other creepy-crawly had begun making its way up her slender leg. Her fingers brush the rough thing down below and she looks at it, somewhat perplexed.

“Huh…?” There’s something wrapped around her ankle. A… a root? She flails, trying to kick it off, swinging her arms around herself as she does a strange dance in her struggle to escape, but the root holds her firmly and as she pulls some of it free from the dirt, it snaps upward like an unearthed cable, throwing a streak of dirt across the chamber. She follows its length with her eyes. It winds all the way down the path, all the way past the corpses, all the way past Jubilee, who is waiting for the next ‘door’ to open.

Fresh, gulps. Did she… did she do something dumb again?

The answer is obvious and immediate. She yelps in fright, falling down face first, as another root grabs her other ankle and they both tug at once. “IAH-!” cries Fresh, clawing forward. But it’s too late, the roots pull on her and she flies backwards. They drag her back along the ground, towards the far end of the room.

“JUBILEEEEEE~!” howls Fresh, as her hands dig through the dirt, as she tries to hold herself in place, but the roots are far too strong. “I’M SOOOORRY!“ cries Fresh again as she is dragged past the two dead, giant mushrooms and a second later past the dead goblins, sliding through a pool of their black blood.

“YOU DU-“ Jubilee is sent flying as the roots, sliding between their feet, pull Fresh through them, the heavy bag hits them straight on and sends them tumbling, as the next path opens up. Fresh leaves the ground, yelling and flailing as the plant-matter, holding her ankles, lifts her into the air upside down and begins to swing her around.

“I TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH ANYTHING!” barks Jubilee, springing back up to their feet and adjusting their mask.

“I’m soooorry!” howls Fresh, crying, as she is tossed around the air by the tendrils holding her aloft like a plaything, thankful that she has enough wiggle-room to hold her knees together to stop her robe from falling down. Blood rushes to her head as she begins to feel dizzy. The heavy bag pulls down on her shoulders, her back cracking again painfully from the odd stretching and whipping of her body as she is swung around left and right. It’s as if the roots were simply trying to shake her out; to get her to drop something.

The dungeon rumbles, all of the large roots begin to pull themselves away, pulling out of the dirt and returning towards the center of the room, where they all converge, wrapping themselves tightly around the giant, upside-down tree, clearing the floor entirely. The ground shakes, all the holes from the unearthed roots fills with loose soil as everything collapses back together from the quake. Fresh continues flailing and shouting as the tendril roots bring her towards the tree as well.

She lurches, falling a foot down towards the ground and screams again. Looking up, she sees that one of the roots has been severed, a long piece of glass is stuck in the ceiling above herself, but the other one still has her tight in its grip. The rumbling stops and something opens up directly beneath the tree. A hole. A pit.

Fresh raises her head and looks at the maw that she is being carried towards. Dirt rains down into the massive crater from the sides. Inside of it, there is a great squirming as something moves, as a thousand somethings move. A thousand whipping, lashing bright-green tendrils, slapping around. The inside of the maw is filled with a strange, sticky sap that spans from one end to the other like strings of spit. Fresh screams horrified at the sight of the things reaching up for her, as she is lowered towards the opening, overpowering the voice that has been shouting at her from below this entire time.

“-AG! -BAG!”

The things reach up out of the hole, dozens of them building a circle around her.

“- BAG! TURN AROUND! TURN AROUND YOU DUMB FUCK!” yells a distant voice to her and Fresh spins around once, her back facing towards Jubilee as something warm and sticky touches her skin and she closes her eyes, not wanting to see what happens next. She is pelted from all sides, her body thudding forward as if something were slapping her on the back over and over. Something screams, the deep vibration rumbling through herself, as the echo is carried through the body of the monstrous plant. Warily, Fresh opens her eyes and sees the flurry of glass shards flying past herself, ripping the entire mass of tendrils apart, as if they were caught in some prismatic hailstorm. Something wet trickles down from her ankle towards the inside of her leg.

The world shifts, her body janks as the thing lets her go and she falls straight towards the hole, still flailing and screaming as she tumbles through the air.

[FALL DAMAGE: {1}]

[{2} HP remaining !]

Her body smashes against something hard and she tumbles down the smooth side of a long glass beam that juts out of the ground, tumbling and rolling down towards the edge of the pit, rather than into it.

[FALL DAMAGE: {1}]

[{1} HP remaining !]

Fresh flops down to the ground, face first, the bag rattling as it presses her down into the dirt. Her world spins. She lifts her head to look back behind herself, just as the giant creature rises out of the pit, rising past the glass bridge that had caught her mid-fall. A giant, monstrous, pink flower sits beneath the upside-down tree, the green tendrils whip around on all sides of itself and then lash out towards them both in an instant.

Jubilee presses their hands into the dirt. Another hail of glass slivers is sent out in a flurry, pelting the creature, tearing through its long, green stem of a body, ripping holes into the giant, pink petals, which are each the size of an adult man. The long, green tendrils are shredded apart into thousands of bits of some slimy, white-green mixture which falls back down into the hole, converging into an indiscriminate goop, filled with bits of glass.

The glass doesn’t stop flying though. Fresh’s eyes go wide as she watches. More, more. Thousands of slivers and crystals and shards just keep flying out, just above her head. It never ends. It’s enough to fill the entire space above her with a prismatic sheen, as if she were laying beneath a rainbow.

[Adventuring: 2]{Flower Power} You got [35/35 Experience] ! (Party)

[Level up! You are now LEVEL 5 ! ]

{No-class} {Cooking: 1}{Crafting 2}{Gathering 1}{Adventuring 2}

-~+* [You may now choose a class!] *+~-

~*+- PROFILE -+*~ HP: 1/6 +1 "FRESH" SOUL: $%§ / §**+'# LEVEL: 5

STATUS: ???

CLASS: NONE

[AVAILABLE]

OBOLS: 01

RACE: HUMAN

[INVENTORY]

STR: 03 +1 WIS: 03 LUK: 04 DEX: 03 INT: 03 LOV: 03 +1 [ You got {14/52} Experience ! ] (Party)

The great body of the creature, what little remains of it, falls back down into the hole a second later, collapsing entirely into itself, as there simply isn’t enough of its body left to hold itself upright. There is more of it missing than there is of it remaining. A final, long groan escapes the sub-boss, as the ground rumbles one last time and all of the flailing tendrils fall down, dead.

The room is quiet. Fresh looks up towards Jubilee, who looks down back at her, their eyes appearing rather angry, as they stand there with crossed arms and tight posture. Fresh smiles brightly up towards them, scratching her own cheek with the free hand as she holds out her prize. “I got you a flower!”

Jubilee’s eye twitches as they look at the flower, the stem of which is broken in half. But the blossom remains, more or less, intact.

“You have one health-point,” they say, their voice more than agitated, their finger tapping against their upper arm as they glare down towards her, furiously.

Fresh nods. “But… do you like the flower? It’s not weird, is it?” Fresh looks somewhat concerned at the token of appreciation in her hand, wondering if this was maybe a mistake? Actually, it probably was, now that she thinks about it. She did it again, didn’t she? She lowers her gaze, dejected. She messed up. “Sorry…” Fresh gets mentally ready. Jubilee is going to yell at her now.

Jubilee sighs, placing their hand to their mask as if rubbing their forehead. Fresh winces and clenches her eyes tightly closed. Expecting new harsh words to come, if not a strike against her face.

Something tugs at her hand and she looks as they take the flower. Jubilee stares down at it and looks back to her, before walking away to let her get up on her own.

“Thanks.”

Fresh’s eyes light up and she pushes herself up off of the ground and she turns to look at her newest abilities. She has leveled up to level five.