*woooosh*

I can still hear the wind blowing against the dead body of my mother as I hide in her liver. Or at least I think it's a liver. I don't know monster biology, all I can do is feel around since it's so dark in here! There is absolutely no way in hell, I would survive out there! Somehow mother seems to be still alive as the body pulsates once in a while but that is definitely not going to last as the wind pushes against her ongoing blob like state.

The gas pulverizes her skin into oblivion making it less bubbly and resistant and more fragile and rotted.

The body grows more and more rotted out from the gas but, I am fully hunkered down in the darkness.

After sitting in there for a few hours. The gas begins to *woosh* less and less before finally settling down.

Is...is it over I mean only one way to find out. I squirm a tentacle out of the body and as it grazes past the skin it feels like I'm a worm in a rotted out apple. The tendril pokes its way outside. I still can't see anything but the tendril doesn't feel good, it feels like that specific tendril has the flu while also simultaneously burning, just from the air the gas passed through on its way to settle onto the ground. I tried touching the ground and it grew more and more painful as I drew closer to it.

I have an idea though, I just hope that gas isn't on the wall.

GladOs it is time for wall running, upgrade my suction cups grip.

(Confirmed, using 7 Biomass from hosts Storage, upgrading Suction Cups: (Grip) from (Weak to Medium) remaining Biomass 2).

I soon regained my senses and squirmed my way out of the body like a chest burster. You know if I saw this in some deep dark poisonous cave and it wasnt me, I would want to nuke it away from the planet as soon as possible.

I make my way out of the top and I can see my surroundings all come at me once again, still colorblind though. I focus my all seeing sight downward and see mothers body no longer black and bubbly but shriveled and peeling grey. If I still had a mouth I would throw up instantly, no doubt about it that is absolutely nasty. I am so glad I cannot smell, because... oh god, I think my Biomass Storage just jumped a little imaging a smell for that.

The air up here sizzles my body and makes me dizzy but, I have to get to outta here and to do that I need to play the little kids game called The Floor is Evil Burning Gas Avoid it at All Costs.

I focus around me; mothers body got pushed out into the middle of the cave and a wall is the closest way out of this.

Alright, you self righteous wall I am coming for you. My Flash Flesh ability can't reach all the way over there and if I don't want to be stranded amongst the gas I need to take a quick dip into the gas haze below or else well I'll probably starve again and between five seconds of heavy gas swimming and starving to death. I know which one I am choosing. I use a tendril and latch onto mothers body and peel it off but not before using all my strength and sending my pill body catapulting into the gas ocean below.

IT BURNS OH GOD AND IT ITCHES IT IS SO PAINFUL! GET ME OUT! GET ME OUT! I DON'T WANNA BE HERE, I DON'T DESERVE THIS TREATMENT!

I roll toward the wall amidst the gas that is so thick that it interferes with my vision reducing everything to little more than a distant haze, as my body's flesh pulls apart faster than my regeneration can do anything about.

I slap against the wall and suction cup up the it using as many burning tendrils as possible to latch onto it. Pill Body is surprisingly much better at climbing walls than Ball Body ever was, I should use it more often.

I burst through the gas and I can see somewhat distorted again. I feel like I jumped out of the frying pan on max heat that was sitting there on the flame half melted and into another frying pan that has just started to cook me. A fitting description to what is happening only with a lack of frying pans.

My body is definitely not looking so hot, if it ever was in the first place. The good news is that it seemed to have given me a deep clean and cleaned off any blood and guts from my stay in mother. The bad news is that it was a little too deep and sizzled my bacon literally, IT SIZZLED ME LIKE A SAUSAGE DOWN THERE!

My body is tattered to say the least as a black liquid moves to fill in gaps while the air punches it back trying to keep my body open. I keep my grip on the wall secure ignoring the burning pain rushing through my body. My stamina is draining from my weakened body, so I need to get up as quickly as possible to allow my regeneration to take over and strengthen my body once again.

I cling to the wall and move higher and higher. The floor and the corpse become more and more distant as I make my up. I see an indent in the wall that looks like a crater, I move toward it and focus downward at the sea of gas. My body still burns but less so this high up. I let my body rest a little and continue moving my way up. Eventually, I can no longer see the gas, floor or anything down there as they are outside my visible range. I can however see a tunnel buried in the wall and a pretty substantial one at that. Not as big as a usual tunnel down there but, much bigger than you would expect to see this high up. I head over to it and crawl into it.

My body has yet to finish healing. I peer around the tunnel and I don't see anything around, but even if my vision has improved distance wise, this tunnel seems much more winding which limits my vision as I have to peer around more and more corners. Making my vision seem much shorter than it actually is. I stay on the lookout and the black liquid finishes healing my wounds. My body still doesn't feel very nice and is quite itchy but, is much better than it was a few minutes ago.

I make my way down the winding tunnels as a ball as it is much more maneuverable for these randomly turning tunnels. It is like I am moving in a three dimensional maze. If I was able to roll on the ceiling I wouldnt know my ups from downs.

Luckily and unluckily I still can't unless I try really hard, relegating me to the floor and walls. I eventually find signs of life in the form of little juts in the ground made by the legs of some type of insectoid. It reminds of the hermit crabs except without the obvious shell dragging on the floor behind it. Honestly with my limited knowledge of bugs, it could be anything although judging by the amount of juts in the ground I can make a guess that it is something with a lot of legs.

I try and avoid the marks on the ground but everywhere I turn they are just there, and it scares me a little. But unless I plan to go back down and get gassed again, I need to follow the path of juts in the ground. I end up following the tunnels to see where it leads on the lookout for any suspicious movements around me, also is it just me or does the cave get darker over there, how is that possible I have night vision! Should I make my way toward the suspicious darkness or continue on the path of the possible bug monster.

I have no idea which is the better choice. They are both equally bad in my opinion. Who would choose to go into darkness when they have been in the ‘light’ for their entire monster existence. You know now that I think of it that is much worse than some bug markings, there is no way I am going from gas to darkness. I continue on my way avoiding the pocket of darkness.

I may have avoided one but I found two more on my journey through the maze. I avoid those two and continue making my way to try to find a couple things, shelter would be nice, an ally would be good too, oh and food can't forget that!

Speaking of allies wasn't I doing something about that…. Ahh thats right Operation T.O.M. didn't really go according to plan, now did it. You know now that I think of it I'm pretty sure Tom flunked out of school. Oh god my plan was doomed from the start!

I see another dark spot from behind a corner. You know I said that darkness was worse than bug monster footsteps but, rolling along this tunnel and nothing happening is making me really paranoid! I should at least see what the darkness is, just to have options.

I turn to the right toward the newly found darkness and it just looks like a wall of darkness? That can't be right…Wait did it just twitch?!

A black wormlike faceplate shifts out of the darkness and I can see many dark legs dangling underneath its plated wormlike body.

It's a Millipede?! My worst fear comes true darkness and creepy bugs! How was I supposed to know the darkness was not actually darkness and was just a big worm with legs! I might be able to kill it may be creepy but it doesn't look too strong, I mean it doesn't have any mandibles so that's something.

I prepare for a fight with the millipede horror in front of me. The millipede shifts its long body, causing two more millipedes to pop out from their mass of legs and bodies and shift their face plates to me! The three millipedes untangle their bodies as they prepare to feast on the little tentacle ball that rolled up to their front door. The wall they were standing on has little bones strewn about the rock and soil.

One millipede, probably could win.

Two millipede, maybe if I risk my life.

Three millipede, what millipede I'm rolling the opposite direction!

I bolt down the maze of tunnels with the millipedes in tow causing the other dark spots of millipedes to come and check it out, causing a sea of millipede bodies to block out any sight of the tunnel behind me and could be described as a wave of black. Luckily they are not faster than I am at top speed, sadly they are not slower either. Eventually I manage to find a tunnel that leads to a large opening with a big rock pillar in the middle. Its not nearly as open as I am accustomed to and still feels a little claustrophobic compared to down below.

But is much more open than the tunnels I have been rolling through with the boa sized millipedes. I spring off the ground and deflate my body turning it into a pill you most certainly wouldn't want to swallow and latch on to the rock face to climb up the big pillar in the center of the room and narrowly escape the millipedes as they cannot climb as high or fast as I can even with them crawling over each other bodies to do it. I narrowly escape being turned into another bone in their wall, actually I don't even have bones, so I wouldn't even be a visible death on the wall.

Eventually the centipedes grow tired of trying to crawl up the pillar and make their way back into the surrounding maze of tunnels to go do millipedey things and sleep.

After a few minutes of making sure that all the millipedes are gone back into the tunnels. I crawl down the pillar and transform back into a ball of tentacles. I go into one of the many tunnels that the millipedes didn't go back into and continue making my way through the tunnels.

I actually managed to find a hermit crab all the way up here, I have no idea how they managed to escape the gas, let alone get up here?! I kill it but I don't fully drain it because I still want to see if Operation T.O.M. can turn into a semi-success by allowing me to tame something, so I save some of the crab meat to throw at another monster to see if they can be tamed or at least pacified.

I eventually manage to find another hermit crab near a hole that falls back down to the gas field lower level. It seems a little wary of me carrying its dead siblings meat. I roll a little closer and extend a limb to throw a piece of crab spleen at it. The crab looks at me like I'm defective or something, your one to stare at!

The crab ends up eating his dismembered comrade, and looks like he enjoys it?! Did I just create cannibalistic crabs?!! We-well whatever, if he enjoys it he really might become my ally and all I have to do is feed him other hermit crabs.

Hey little buddy you wanna be friends now, I promise to feed you more of your siblings, if you choose to fight for me.

The hermit crab snips off a tendril to try and get at the other crab meat as well as kill me. I end up throwing the rest of the crab meat in my grasp in a random direction as I prepare to fight this hermit crab, who didn't want to be my ‘very loose definition of the word’ friend.

The crab starts scuttling after the meat I threw which ends up being thrown out the exit hole, the hermit crab chases after it and launches out the hole falling down into the local sea of gas.

Ohhhh, they didn't get up here they fell down there! I guess even if I do go higher in this labyrinth of caves that doesnt change the fact that these monsters are still dumb.

I watch as the hermit crab falls down into the pit of hell gas.

…very very dumb.