It was raining.

Robyn stood on top of the wall encircling the base, her new golden bow humming as she shot arrow after arrow into the slimes that were constantly falling from the sky.

Both William and Sid were on the ground, William's blade cutting the slimes to pieces while Sid's Flinx summons attacked them. There were green, blue, and even purple slimes, which may have numbered many, but individually were easy to take down.

"How much longer is this going to keep going?" Robyn heard William groan as he ducked a hopping Purple Slime.

"It'll keep going until it stops," Sid said. "At least we'll have lots of gel for torches after all this."

Robyn glanced around, her eyes blinking through the rain. It was then that she spotted something big and blue in the distance.

"Guys!" she called. "What is that?"

Sid and William both turned to where she was pointing.

It looked to be an enormous Blue Slime, making immense leaps into the air as it came towards them. A large golden crown studded with rubies and other gems rested upon its slimy dome, marking it as some sort of king. Embedded inside the slime appeared to be a figure dressed in dark clothing.

This... king slime must've swallowed them up recently, she thought.

Robyn aimed her bow into the sky and fired, the flaming arrows arcing through the air and into the King Slime, setting it ablaze. Sid's Flinxes were the next to rush forward, biting at it. As the slime took damage, blobs began falling off it, which formed into smaller Blue Slimes. Some of them had spikes on them, which leapt towards William as he charged and shot their spikes at him.

He held out his shield and dashed to the left, dodging them. The Shield of Cthulhu he now held allowed him to move with the speed of the Eye from which it had come. He then dashed forward, the sharp mouth on the shield colliding with the Spiked Slimes to damage them. But then the King Slime made a massive leap, landing against him.

"Dang! He just dealt 60 damage to me!"

"Keep your distance!" Sid yelled.

William dashed away, hurling his Ice Boomerang backwards and hitting one of the Spiked Slimes. He began twirling his Flaming Mace – a new weapon he'd recently found in an underground chest – and flung it towards the slimes. The massive iron ball bowled through multiple of them, damaging them all and setting them on fire.

"How much health does that thing have?" Robyn yelled. She was too far to see its label.

"Less max than the Eye did," William said. "Right now it's down to 2100."

She kept pouring arrows into the King Slime. It had gotten closer now, maybe fifty blocks away from the wall. At the same time, it looked like it had gotten... smaller, as though all the damage they dealt that caused Blue Slimes to fall off it was causing it to shrink. However, its smaller size meant it became lighter and more agile, hopping towards the wall faster and faster.

Before too long it had reached the wall, and tried to jump up and at Robyn. She walked backwards, intentionally falling off the wall, dodging the King Slime which only landed on top.

1500 health, she thought. We can do this.

She noticed one of the new citizens stepping out beside her. It was Durim the Demolitionist, a dwarf with a big red beard and a golden mining helmet.

"It's a good day to die!" he yelled at the King Slime, lobbing an explosive grenade up at it.

Sid jumped onto the wall next to the King Slime and directed his Flinxes at it, however the king only jumped over them and landed on Sid.

"Ow!" he cried. "You weren't kidding about that damage, Will!"

William climbed onto the wall and flung his mace at King Slime again.

That was when it vanished, appearing to implode itself into nothing.

"Where'd it go?" William shouted.

Right as it appeared right next to Robyn.

She unintentionally let out a little squeak of fright and jumped backwards, firing arrows into it.

Get away from me!

Luckily, she managed to avoid getting hit by the King itself, though one of the Spiked Slimes that split off of it managed to shoot a spike into her armoured shoulder, dealing 36 damage.

Robyn jumped onto one of the platforms attached to the wall and then jumped again on top of the wall.

"It's almost down!" Sid yelled.

700 health.

Many arrows, mace throws, Flinx attacks, and dwarven explosives later, the King Slime erupted in a sludgy explosion, its golden crown flinging off. The figure inside seemed to disintegrate as well, leaving only some of their clothes.

William and Sid stepped forward to mop up the remaining Blue and Spiked slimes. Once they'd done so they sifted through the items King Slime had dropped.

"Ninja shirt and pants," William said. "Increases critical strike chance."

"Oh, hey, a slime gun!" Sid said. He picked up a blue weapon that looked like a water pistol, and squirted it at William. He was suddenly covered with dripping blue sludge.

"Ow! Hey!"

"Don't worry, it's harmless. It says so on its tooltip!"

William groaned. "Whatever you say. There's also a solidifier and some Royal Gel... it says equipping it causes slimes to become friendly... that could be useful..."

Robyn nodded at the two of them discussing the King Slime's drops and hopped down from the wall. On the outside. It was time to return to what she was doing before the slime rain had started.

***

She sat at the lake in the valley, holding her iron fishing pole, a line cast out in the water among reeds and water lilies.

Fishing was something she was fairly certain she had never done in the real world, though without any memories of her past she had no way of knowing for sure. She had noticed one could make a fishing pole out of wood early on, but hadn't really thought it would be useful at all since the focus at that moment had been on basic survival against the slimes and zombies that were trying to kill them every day and night. But she'd found fishing to be the only real way she could avoid William and Sid.

Ever since that fateful night of the Eye's attack, she'd found it hard to trust either of them due to what they'd done. Sid had almost killed William, and would have if William hadn't had Lesser Healing Potions on hand. And William...

I'm not sure how to feel about him. He lied to me.

He'd said at one stage that Sid had come to their base but then left immediately after, but when Sid had returned, he'd said William had been the one to send him away.

The conflict between them had mostly arisen due to their disagreement on how to approach survival in this world, and thankfully it did seem that, after the Eye's defeat, they had mended their differences and had come to an agreement.

So why can't I trust them?

A part of her felt like she must've been a loner in the real world, too, which was why she'd come to prefer the solitude she'd found in fishing. Fishing turned out to be a surprisingly lucrative deed in this world, since it was possible to fish up crates that contained ores, bars, and other treasure. One item that she'd managed to get from a crate just after returning to the pond after King Slime's defeat was a Tsunami in a Bottle – which seemed to be another double-jumping accessory similar to Sid's Blizzard in a Bottle.

The others didn't mind Robyn fishing, only seeing the returns of her efforts, namely the aforementioned crates and the fish itself. While there didn't seem to be a thing as starving to death in this world, the fish could be cooked and eaten to provide what Sid described as a 'buff,' that increased their general health regeneration for several minutes.

But for Robyn personally, fishing was a time of peace and quiet, a time when nothing was trying to kill her. A time when she didn't have to talk to anyone.

Until a red-haired lady came running at her screaming.

Robyn almost dropped her fishing pole in fright as she sprung to her feet and took in the woman's appearance. She had dark skin and wore a teal tank top, blue jeans, and a pair of big brown boots. But the most striking things about her appearance were the big red ears poking out from the top of her head, and her bushy red and white tail that twirled around behind her.

She looks like she's part fox.

"Who are you?" Robyn asked. She read the woman's label – 'Hayley: 250/250'. A citizen, but why did she look so frightened?

"Oh, thank god!" she cried, "I need your help!"

Robyn tilted her head. "With what?"

"It's my brother! He's in danger!"

***

Robyn brought Hayley back to the base, and let her explain to William and Sid what had happened. William was now wearing the ninja armour that King Slime had dropped in addition to the iron helmet he had previously made.

"So... my brother and I were travelling through the Desert," she explained, "And suddenly this sinkhole opened up beneath us! He pushed me forward, which saved me, but he fell in himself! I wanted to help him, but... like, it's weird having instincts and all, but the Desert really made me want to run away!"

Robyn watched William and Sid exchange a glance.

"Well, we haven't been to the Desert yet," William said. "But sure, we can go there and look for your brother."

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" Hayley cried, running forward and enveloping him in a hug. William clearly wasn't expecting it based on the awkward look on his face. Robyn herself felt a pang of... she wasn't sure what feeling... but something about it put her off Hayley and she wasn't sure why.

Get a grip on yourself, Robyn. Can't you trust anyone?

Sid seemed to notice Hayley had a tail for the first time, as he tried reaching out and touching it. Upon doing so she let go of William and spun to him, an annoyed look on her face.

"Oi, staahp pulling on my tail, bro! It's, like, totally real, and totally hurts when you pull on it!"

"I didn't pull on it..." Sid mumbled. "I was just wondering... um... why do you have a tail? And ears?"

"I have the same ears as everyone else, you know," Hayley said, flicking them.

"No, I meant... um..." he pointed up at the top of her head.

"Oh, these ears? Totes better to hear you with!"

He laughed. "Better watch what I say then."

"So..." William began, still looking a bit frazzled from the sudden hug, "What... type of citizen are you?"

"Well, I, like, looove animals a lot!" Hayley grinned. "I tried to pet this weird looking fox one time, he sooo bit me, and now I became like one!" She splayed out her arms.

"Rad!" Sid exclaimed.

"So you're some sort of... zoologist?" William asked.

Hayley seemed to consider this before nodding. "You could call me one if you want, though that word's, like, too fancy. Just put me under 'Animal lover'!"

"So what do you sell?" Sid asked, putting out his hand to open her shop interface. "Guide to Critter Companionship, Squirrel Hook... Leather Whip. 15 summon damage?"

"The whip is best used if you fight using summons," Hayley explained. "The sound of the whip will focus where they will attack. If you hit an enemy, it tags them, increasing the damage your summons do."

"Wicked!" Sid exclaimed. Seconds later he was holding a handle with a brown leather strap hanging from it. He swung it, and the whip snapped out. "Now I feel like Indiana Jones!"

"I have no idea who Indiana Jones is," Andrew the Guide said, who'd just wandered into the room.

"Oh, heeeyy!" Hayley exclaimed, stepping over to Andrew. "I'm Hayley, the Animal Lover!"

"And I'm Andrew, the Guide," he replied.

William looked between Sid and Robyn.

"I guess we might as well go check out the Desert now," he said.

Sid snapped his whip into the air and hummed part of some tune. "Ad-venturrreeee!!"