After a struggle that felt too long, the trio decided to give themselves a bit of distance between them and the mad slime.

They needed a new plan.

Even with the extra space between them and the slime, they struggled to communicate beyond keeping things short-and-sweet.

Kiki gracefully dodges its lunging tendrils, landing on the balls of her feet and using momentum to spring herself towards Gomenne.

“Any ideas, pup?”

“What? You don’t have any?”

“Fresh out.”

“Damn. What’s up with this guy?”

Gomenne soon finds herself back to back with Muffler, who’d been silent during the whole ordeal.

“Yo, Muffy. Got any ideas?”

Muffler didn’t respond. She seems preoccupied focusing on the black slime.

“Muffy?”

“Huh?” Muffler’s late response made her lose focus which allowed the black slime a window to give her a healthy wack, knocking her to the ground.

“Muffy!” Gomenne and Kiki cried.

“I’m okay!” she replied, quickly jumping back on her feet.

At this point now Kiki was nearest to Muffler. “You seemed pretty lost in thought. You okay?”

“Yeah, sorry. I was trying to listen to what it’s saying.”

“What it’s saying? I don’t hear anything besides screaming.”

“Huh? You don’t? I could hear it this whole time. Well, between the screams.”

“Well, what did it say?”

“It keeps saying ‘It hurts’ and ‘Make it stop’ and stuff like that over and over.”

“Oh. Did one of us hit its core?”

“I dunno, but look, it’s finally stopping attacking us!”

Just as Muffler described, the black slime had halted its wild assault. Gomenne took the chance to quickly reunite with her companions.

“What’s going on now?” she asked.

“Muffy says she can hear what it’s saying.”

“What it’s saying? S’that true Muffy?”

“Uh-huh,” Muffler replied. “It says it’s in a lot of pain and it wants it to stop.”

“What’s that even mean?” huffed Gomenne.

“I dunno.”

Muffler took a moment to look at the black slime. It looked on the defensive, possibly waiting for the girls to make their next move.

“I wanna talk to it.”

“WHAT?!” Gomenne and Kiki blurted out, Gomenne’s voice being the loudest. This sudden outburst caused Star to come out of hiding with Mizuki in tow.

“What’s happening? It looks like it stopped,” Star pointed out.

“I’m gunna go talk to it!” Muffler then took off for the slime.

“Muffler!” The three older girls called out to her in unison.

“What’s she doing? What’s going on?”

“I dunno Star. But my gut’s telling me we should trust her,” explained Kiki. “Not like anyone else has any other ideas.”

The three grew silent and watched the small girl from afar.

The black slime began its attack once again, lashing out with its tendrils, only for Muffler to deftly dodge every attack it threw her way. Once she was close enough the slime concentrated all of its strength into stopping her from getting any closer by creating a sort of wall with its gooey arms, and firmly grounding itself.

But, Muffler persisted.

“Hey!” Muffler spoke out, “I know you’re in a lot of pain, but we won’t hurt you anymore!”

She waved her arms in the air. “See? No weapons. I won’t hurt you, okay? You can trust me.”

Muffler felt the pressure from slime pushing begin to slack noticeably.

“That’s right. It’s okay. I just wanna talk.”

Hesitantly, the black slime lowered its guard. It made a low gurgling sound.

“Yeah, I can understand what you’re saying,” she smiled. “From what I know, you weren’t always like this. Tell me what happened. I wanna help.”

And from there, the most bizarre conversation in the world took place, although only bizarre to those who couldn’t understand what was being said. All they could do was watch.

In that solitary moment it made them realize just how little they know about Muffler. What is she? Who is she? Where did she come from? How and why is she able to do what she can do? And what does all of this imply?

Before they realized it, Muffler was standing in front of them again.

“Well?” Star was the first to speak up, breaking the others out of their stupor.

“I found out that they used to be just like Mizuki, a normal slime! But they got touched by someone wearing a robe and now they’re like this.”

“It was a slime after all,” Mizuki sighed. “But why does it look like that? And why did it attack us?”

“I think it was just scared. It didn’t know what was happening and it freaked out.”

“Hmm, someone wearing a robe,” Kiki pondered. “Do we know anyone like that?”

Just as Kiki turned to the others she saw the expression on Star’s face.

“You know something, don’t you Star?”

“Huh? O-oh, I—well, you see,” Star didn’t realize how honest she had become. The one who created the world, the universe, she thought she’d developed better control over her emotions. Or maybe it was just Kiki, who had eyes that no one else could see, who was so observant.

Star took a deep breath before speaking up. “It’s Kaara. I think who this poor slime is talking about is her.”

“Just who the hell is this Kaara chick? How’s she able to turn things into that?” asked Gomenne.

“Gome, language.”

Gomenne glanced at Muffler. “Oh right, sorry. But still.”

“As far as I know Kaara has a very rare magic ability to give life to the inanimate. Though, she can’t raise the dead since life persists even after death. Even with those limitations it’s a powerful ability with potential beyond them.”

“Muffy, d’you know if she could’ve done something like this?”

Muffler shook her head. “No. All I know is what I told you.”

“Hey,” Kiki started, “Didn’t Cloudia go off with Kaara? Do you think she’s in danger?”

“If she is, I hope Kaara knows what she’s getting herself into,” remarked Gomenne.

Star felt the need to reassure everyone, adding “Even so, Cloudia will just reincarnate somewhere else. She’ll be fine!”

“That’s not the point, Star! I don’t want some stupid—” Gomenne hesitated before continuing to catch herself before she swears, “I don’t want some stupid cat to hurt her. She’s our friend!”

“Well calm down. We don’t even know much about whatever is happening to that slime over there.”

“Oh right! The slime!” Muffler exclaimed. She turns to run back only to feel an unusual sensation at her feet, causing her to look down and notice that the black slime had attached itself to her without her even noticing.

In that moment the stones embedded in Muffler’s chest begin to glow, the light seeping through her shirt.

The others back away instinctively.

Muffler turned and bent down to the slime. She placed her hands on both sides of what she assumed was its face, pressing her forehead against where she assumed was its forehead. The glow from the keystones intensified and gradually the light envelops the slime, then slowly, the slime’s form began to shrink until it was about the size of Mizuki.

The light dispersed into thinning particles so quickly it was like blinking. What was left was a red-colored slim, which Muffler scooped up into her arms—every single movement of hers so clinical one would assume they were practiced.

As the glow from the keystones began to fade, it seemed as if Muffler came back to her senses as well.

“How do you feel?” she asked the red slime.

“I feel great!” the red slime said in relief. “Thank you! It was like a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from!”

Mizuki leapt out of Star’s arms, hopping over to greet the freshly-liberated red slime. Though these three seemed elated by the circumstances, the other three present were left speechless.

Star decided to take initiative to speak up and walked over to Muffler. She did her best to hide her surprise so as not to frighten the little one.

“Muffler, sweetie, you know how to use the keystones?”

Muffler looked down at her chest, pressing her hand against the keystones in her chest, then looked ahead of her at the two slimes celebrating their reunion.

She stands and faces Star, the expression on her face filled with a blank confusion.

The only words she could manage to say was, “I don’t know.”