Having been able to re-enact some form of revenge on one of his most recent entries in his very long list of grudges and gripes, left Gerald feeling more chipper than his usual sourly self.

But even so, the fairy knew that he had to enter the cave with more precaution than he had in his most recent forays. Cleaning off his refruiting gunk was and still is by far, one of his most hated activities after all.

Gerald was also well aware that he had scant little to show for in his last two attempts at increasing Silky’s repertoire of creatures. The menagerie of monsters he had hoped to quickly acquire for her was nowhere near close to even coming to fruition.

So although he was loath to do so, he went to look for the closest pile of mulch and dead leaves as soon as he landed on the cave floor. With a few nudges of his foot to undelmar the pile, he found the wriggling Rottwood worms and random assortment of grubs he was looking for.

“Ach what ta realms,” he grumbled before crouching down to scoop up the whole lot.

Wait a wee moment, why dinnae I use a leaf?

So Gerald got back up again before looking around himself to find a big leaf he could use as ad-hoc parcelling for his un-precious cargo.

Finding an orange weed that sported leaves the size of dinner plates and with a minimal amount of itchy bristles, Gerald ripped of a few before heading back to dirt pile.

In his short absence the little creatures had already dug their way back down. But with a few more nudges of his hairy brown foot and Gerald was able to easily undelmar himself a large handful of critters once more.

Squatting down he quickly scooped up a large handful of the wriggling mass of pale white and pinkish grubs in his leafy litter before jumping up into the air and lightly taking off.

He then quickly ascended in the air whilst turning around to look for Silky’s entrance. Having familiarized himself with its location and recognizing its prismatic glow, he accelerated upwards in his haste to rid himself of his slimy cargo.

As soon as he reached the entrance to her dungeon, Gerald then hastily chucked the wriggling mass that unfurled from the leaves mid-air before landing upon the mushroom ridden floor.

“How you doing mate,” he greeted the Flenemon nearby that had resumed in its casual tentacle-waving whilst brushing his own hands free of the dirt and slime. Waiting for no reply and expecting none from the stupid monster, he turned around before departing once more.

Landing upon the now familiar, little damp clearing with its orange weeds and brush, Gerald deemed it prudent to at least arm himself and snapped off a small twig that was akin to a large club in his hands before setting off.

The cave system’s denizens were as vocally rumbunctious as ever, yet after having walked for a few minutes Gerald was unable to find himself any beasts or monsters.

But just as he was about to give up and head back to check on Silky’s progress in manufacturing him some creature-comforts, Gerald pushed his way through a large brush of cave-grass and found something.

Underneath a large canopy of web-strewn vegetation ahead was a large green spider that dwarfed Gerald many times over, especially by the size of its hefty lime-green abdomen and long spindly legs.

Then as soon as he moved more of the grass aside to get himself a better view, the large spider twitched before turning to face him with its four pairs of glittering eyes whilst waving its hairy pedipalps.

Sitting on its green abdomen that he had missed initially, was also a large greyish grub that was nearly as big as Gerald was himself. The apparently parasitic grub then released its hold on its host momentarily to display its large mouth that was ring with circular row upon rows teeth before biting down once more on its unfortunate victim.

“Haha fuck off, you two wee buggers can get back ta it.”

He then turned back the way he came, happy to leave them behind.

Gerald was definitely not getting involved with that level of nonsense.

…

Gerald then wandered some more in the underbrush as he increasingly got more annoyed at having found nothing whilst starting to feel like he gone too far to be able to safely find his way, so he started to backtrack towards the dungeon.

Other than the large victim-spider in its lair, he had found nothing else that he could easily subdue on his own. In fact Gerald had found nothing at all.

But on his way home Gerald must have taken a wrong turn as he somehow managed to stumble upon a large puddle that was akin to a pond to the diminutive fairy, it was a locale that he did not remember having visited prior.

Drinking at this puddle was the very same trio of large inky tadpoles with their propellers whirring above their heads suspending them above the water.

Having learnt his previous lessons in monster subjugation, Gerald waited to pounce upon them rather than to charge in recklessly.

He calmed his breathing with his stick held at the ready as he watched them.

The trio of tadpoles each took a turn to sip upon the water whilst the other two kept watch with their small beady eyes. Throughout the drink the creatures kept making little bubbling noises to each other with their small mouths.

Then as if by some unspoken agreement, the trio quickly shot off without any indication in the opposite direction from the one that Gerald was in.

Having stood there naked amongst some reeds with his stick poised for an attack whilst waiting for an opportunity that never came, Gerald felt like an utter fool.

“ACH! Bugger ta shit!” he shouted in frustration before throwing his stick into the pond.

Then he flew up into the air after having decided to head home.

But as soon as he did, a slightly undiscernible clicking filled the air before a large shape barrelled into Gerald mid-air before quickly biting off his head, sending him into oblivion.