Bubbles was not having fun.

At some point, a very large person with a lot of armor had caught him and the dragon, and now they were sitting in a large cage. Well, to be clear, Bubbles was in a fishbowl. The dragon was locked to the ground with a variety of rather painful-looking chains, and Bubbles was hoping that perhaps they'd find some way to escape. Hopefully sooner than later.

As for the town, most of it was in ruins. Accidentally, of course, but Bubbles may or may have not eaten a few people that tried to hurt the dragon, and the dragon had pretty much steamrolled everything. In fact, the Void Slime was honestly a little surprised that the jail was still standing. It was probably one of the few buildings still doing so.

A man entered from a door nearby, looking rather tired. Walking over to Bubbles' and the dragon's cage, he pulled a three-legged wooden stool in front of it and sat down with a sigh. "So," he began, "You're the slime that's caused so much trouble."

Sucking in a breath, Bubbles tried to vacuum himself out of the fishbowl, but he just sort of slid around the slick interior, coming to a dizzy stop at the bottom. The man snorted in amusement. "After all the damage you and your scaly friend caused, that wasn't quite the reaction I'd expect you to have. So, assuming you're capable of speech, why exactly are you here?"

Bubbles blew bubbles at the man, hoping that they would melt through the glass of his prison. They sadly did not.

He shrugged. "Very well then, I take it that you are unable to respond. Very well, Mr. Bubbles and Co, my name is Charles Dover. I'm here to essentially ask you to please not destroy anything, at all, and we'll let you go."

If Bubbles was capable of blinking, he would have. Why exactly wasn't he going to kill them?

Charles sighed. "Look, mister slime, your owner is the giant ant Null. It's no uncommon knowledge that he's sponsored directly by Noah Cosmic, which by attribute of appropriation means that you're under his protection as well. Essentially, the most we can do is keep you imprisoned indefinitely, but we'd rather not risk his wrath. To put it bluntly, we're basically required to let you go. Of course, nobody wants a repeat of what happened when you arrived, which is why I've been asked to convince you to cease your destruction."

Bubbles slowly rolled over backwards, burbling loudly the whole way. Charles put a hand to his forehead. "Very well, Bubbles. I dearly hope that you and your friend have, unlikely as I believe it to be, learned your lesson." So saying, he stood up and pulled a key from his pocket, pulling the door open. Entering, he pulled the dragon's cage door open. As he walked over and upended the fishbowl, Bubbles tumbled out and paused, vibrating and undulating as his gel settled. He burbled happily, and Charles winced. "Seriously, please. Please don't destroy anything."

The rock dragon trotted over and rumbled deeply, giving Charles a pleasant rub on the leg. He raised his back, and the spikes on his spine extended noticeably. Charles tentatively gave him a good pat, and the dragon growled pleasantly. Bubbles rolled over and bounced onto his back, trembling slightly as he oozed down onto the dragon's spike. He wondered what the dragon's name was, or perhaps if he even had a name.

Charles sat down on the stool and watched them, his hands limp at his sides. "I don't even know if you can understand me, honestly. But I can hope that you do. So maybe... I don't know, get a job? What do you even do?"

Bubbles took a brief moment to consider whatever it is that Void Slimes were supposed to do with their time and realized that he didn't really care. The dragon seemed fairly sure that he just wanted to roll around, and Bubbles could relate to that. What was a job? And could it get him some food? Because Bubbles was perpetually hungry. Not unpleasantly hungry, and definitely not starving - but that void in his stomach was a literal and metaphorical one, and food was always appreciated.

The dragon waited for him to settle in, gave Charles one last affectionate rub on the hip, and then headed out the door. The people outside seemed rather nervous to see Bubbles and the dragon, but otherwise didn't bother them at all.

Bubbles headed outside and took a good look. The town they were in was still mostly destroyed, but people were wandering around and helping to rebuild it. They were carrying a variety of tools and equipment, using wagons and pallets to move chunks of rubble and damaged ruins. None of them had seemed to notice Bubbles and the dragon as of yet.

Looking around curiously, the dragon saw a massive rut where he'd rolled through the size of a house and cringed noticeably. Bubbles looked down, wondering what he was doing. As the Void Slime watched, the dragon ambled over to a ruined house and rumbled. Vibrating for a moment, his spikes trembling in whatever he was doing, the ruins of the house slowly lifted into the air.

Turning, the dragon walked over to the area where the villagers were depositing the rubble and carefully set the majority of the house down. Bubbles realized what he was doing, and decided to help.

It looked like they had a job!