"-ld we wait for-" I heard Michaus say as I returned through the holes.

However, he was interrupted by the sound of me recoiling in pain. 

Ow! Frick, Ah, geez. Accidentally put the hole a little bit above the ground, kinda landed a little awkwardly, ow, ow.

S and Michaus turned around. 

"Oh, you're already here. Thought you'd be a little farther back." Michaus began. "Are you okay?" Good thing he didn't think about that other bit too hard.  

"Y-yeah." I said, standing up straight again.

S looked concerned. "You sure you're fit for this?" He asked.

"Think so." I said. As if I'd miss out on potential dungeon crawling! 

And, if I'm gonna get stronger, I'll need to learn how to deal with things like this. What doesn't kill ya, and all that.

That said, if we happen to run into anything dangerous... Maybe I'll just take step or so back, y'know? I mean, I'd hate to get in the way.

Oh, speaking of danger, I should probably be armed for what's to come. To me, this forest may as well be a jungle. Man, I wonder what actual jungles in this world are like... Eeek.

I pulled out my toolbox and grabbed a sickle. I'd like to use both of them, but, though I've recovered a little since that fight, my left arm is still a little... Under par, I guess. (Actually, I think I might've pulled something when I shot that bow earlier. That was a bad idea, looking back.) 

Guess I'll just have to save that one f0r magic and whatnot. 

S saw me gearing up, and created his glass blade. He turned to Michaus. "Right, anything we should know before we head in?"

"Well there's the boars, but they're basically just big kitty cats!" Michaus explained. Cats, huh... He continued. "Other than that, there's always the possibility of mad beasts showing up. Or maybe we might find the golems, but they rarely leave the ruins."

"Right." S said, smiling a little bit, clearly getting excited. He turned over to me, one last time. "You sure you're good to go?"

"Probably." I said, putting up my hood and readying my sickle. Figure it looks cool. Heh, y'know, I was pissed about my clothes getting torn up earlier, but this, torn up clothes revealing skin covered by bandages, hood up, sickle out and ready for jabbin' and slashin', it feels pretty dang cool. Still, I'm far more comfortable in intact clothes. But a change of pace like this, just for a little while, it ain't bad.

"Well, if you're sure..." S said, a little quietly, "Right! Let's head in, then."

"I'll lead the way!" Michaus volunteered. "Because I'm a hero!" He added. Well, he does know the area the best, so it makes sense, but I have mixed feelings about being lead around by someone younger than me... Well, there's something I wanted to chat with S about, anyways. 

"Right." S nodded. 

"ONWARD!" Michaus shouted, pointing his sword into the woods. "OH! Slimes might wander in from the plains, also!" He added. Huh? Oh, right, things to look out for. Slimes, eh? That's a classic, for sure. There's just something that feels right about that.

"Right."

"Surprised we haven't run into any yet, actually." Michaus said, a little quieter. "Anyways, ACTUALLY ONWARD!"

Thus, we began making our way into the woods. Everyone walked a little slower. No sense being reckless, I suppose. Well, everyone went slower except me. I actually had to speed up to keep pace. It wasn't much, but my legs did get a little sore.   

S slowed down a bit, allowing me to catch up to him, and matched my pace. We chatted as we walked.

"Yo." He began.

"Yo." I returned.

"Back there, you teleported out for a bit, right?" 

"Yeah." 

"If you don't mind me asking, where'd you go?" 

"Oh, I dropped by the shop, grab a couple more of these things." I said, pulling out one of those shower in a can thingies. 

"Right." S said. 

I looked around the woods. They weren't too dissimilar to the ones near where we train back in Starsford. It was a little comforting. But also a little scary, because there could be any number of dangers in here.

Though, it's easy to forget about those, walking here with S.

Oh, and Michaus too, I guess.

...

Guess we have some time yet to kill.

"Hey S, what was that back there? At Charolettes place, I mean." I asked. That was a rather odd occurrence. 

"You mean at the end there?" S began. He looked a little dejected. "I guess, if I had to describe it... Etiquette." 

"Eh?"

"Yeah. Goodbyes always take forever. This is one of the most important lessons I've learned on my travels: It's easier if you just follow the process."

"The... Process?"

"You thank each other over and over as you slowly inch towards the door. That is the way."

"What? I don't follow."

"I don't think anyone does. And yet everyone does it. All I know is that, at some point, it just feels weird if you don't. Nothing makes sense."

"I see." I didn't. But he knows that. And I get the feeling that he feels the same way. I guess it's just one of those things. 

The three of us continued deeper and deeper into the woods. Initially, I was a little afraid of what might lie within, but I guess actually running into something dangerous is rare. Eventually, I was able to really relax. The forest ain't so bad when you stop jumping at the sounds of the little critters running around.

As I was taking everything in, S suddenly stopped. He was staring at something off to the left.

Oh, looks like a rabbit! That's cute. 

Huh... Are rabbits tails always that big? Their eyes, too? Do they all have a tendency to stare at you with a gaze that pierces your soul?

And do they always have buck teeth, covered in blood- Yeah, okay, hard to delude myself any longer. That's a giant, probably angry squirrel that's about to

Yep, it's charging, alright ALRIGHT ALRIGHT

"Mad squirrel, 2 o'clock!" S shouted, readying his blade in one hand and reaching out with the other.

Also, the squirrel was actually closer to 9 o'clock but that's, whatever.

"What- AH!" Michaus shouted as he readied his greatsword and rushed towards S.

I began to move forward, but, before I knew it...

The mad squirrel was rushing towards S at a blistering rate. S shot a blast of sand at it, but it quickly dodged to the left, and ran up a nearby tree. It leapt down and barred its teeth, ready to take a chomp on S's face. S easily dodged. I guess he figured out the trajectory of the thing pretty quick. The squirrel landed right in front of me. 

It looked up at me. Immediately, our eyes locked.

I could feel its rage seeping through. Or, maybe it wasn't rage. Perhaps it was something else. Rather, nothing else. The complete absence of feeling. Barely more than a machine, the only thing left being the desire, the need to kill. 

I couldn't really tell. I don't know much about mad beasts, or how they work or how they come to be, or whatever. But I get the feeling it's a particularly dreadful fate for a critter. 

Regardless, it put a stop to our little staring contest, and leapt at me.

Well it tried to, at least. About as soon as it left the ground, it got blasted into a nearby tree by a concentrated stream of wind. I heard a shocked squeak, followed by a loud thud caused by the collision.

"Thanks for holding 'em, Beyes!" Michaus said, running past with his hand outstretched at the squirrel. 

"Uh, yeah..." I said. Well, I'm glad to help, even by accident.

The squirrel fell to the ground after its collision with the tree. It didn't even have enough time to react to S's barrage of sand, almost smothering the squirrel's head. 

After that, well, it struggled a little, but... Well, I'll spare the details. 

Point is, the mad beast didn't last too much longer. 

"Right." S said, dispelling his blade and dusting off his hands, despite there not being any dust. "Man, we've been seeing a lot of those guys lately. Mad beats, I mean."

I nodded. Though, I'm not really sure what the typical amount of mad beats encountered per adventure is.

"Yeah, I feel like I've been seeing them more often, too. Just means I have more work to do!" Michaus said, with a smile. 

"Right, can't say I mind it." S said.

I think these people are crazy, but I keep that to myself.

"We gettin' close?" I asked. I'm a little eager to actually check out these ruins. 

"Oh! Yeah, actually, if memory serves, it's just..." Michaus looked over yonder and squinted. "Yeah, we're almost there!"

"Right, think I can see it. Let's continue, then."

And thus, the 3 of us headed towards the ruins. Ooooh, this is exciting!