Fantasy A Monster Evolution Story

[MiraAutumn]

(Final Choice: Examine the caterpillar for weaknesses/damage dealt)
Scene 5: Baby Slime Vs Caterpillar Part Two
Bearing with the pain, you begin a stand off with the caterpillar. You examine it carefully as it gets its bearings, taking note of little bits of information. Its antennae have drooped quite low, resembling willow tree leaves. It seems to be a brighter coloured red than before, which you wonder the meaning of. Is it just you, or is it shaking slightly? As you squint your little eyeballs in focus, a notification suddenly pops up.

Spoiler: Caterpillar CS

Copper Caterpillar
Hurt
Charging
---------------
Skills:
[Poison Spit LVL 2]
---------------
Traits:

• Copper-coloured

<[Appraisal LVL 1] learnt>

The information you were given was kind of... odd. Was the name of the caterpillar actually copper caterpillar? Or was it just named according to your thoughts? The 'hurt' part wasn't very useful, since you had no idea how much damage you had done, but it was better than nothing you supposed. Also this 'charging' part, what did that mean? Unless...

Leaping into a deeper part of the basin, you stretched yourself flat onto the rocky floor to avoid the incoming barrage of poisonous spit. The sheer quantity still grazed you, but you luckily managed to avoid most of the damage due to your heightened body manipulation ability, which made up for your lack of speed. Luckily, the excess poison on your body was also washed off, relieving you of the pain. Breathing a sigh of relief, you realized you could've died in one hit there. That thought resounded in your mind ominously.

<[Reaction Time LVL 1] unlocked, [Poison LVL 1] removed>

Once the cloud of wafting red liquid had dispersed, you carefully emerge from the pool and eye the caterpillar warily. Its colour was more subdued again, like a rusted copper. It also looked a bit thinner than before, which made sense from all that liquid. There was an odd patch on its back that was a paler red, you wondered if it was part of its colouring, when you remembered that's where you had been whacking it earlier. Its antennae was also still droopy.

Spoiler: Damage

Poison LVL 1 = -1HP
Poison Barrage = -1HP

Spoiler: CS

BabySlime - LVL: 1 - EXP: 0
HP: 5
MP: 10
Afflictions:
--------------
Attack: 1
Defence: 1
Magic Attack: 1
Magic Defence: 2
Speed: 1
--------------
Skills:
[Leap LVL 2] [Body Manipulation LVL 2] [Farsight LVL 1] [Sight LVL 1] [Touch LVL 1] [Stealth LVL 2] [Appraisal LVL 1] [Reaction Time LVL 1]
Titles:

--------------
Traits:

• Pink translucent slime ball
• Female

Choices:
What should you do?

1. Attack the Caterpillars antennae
2. Leap onto the Caterpillars back and attack
3. Go for a bodyslam-leap
4. Run away

BoltBeam official clown business Idea Daisie
Current Votes:
1(Antennae): 2 | 2(Leap): 1 | 3(Bodyslam): 1

 

[BoltBeam]

Body slam - weigh it down so it can't do anything! Here's hoping!

 

[Daisie]

Leap onto its back. We started a battle, may as well finish it. I can't imagine it's super flexible, being a caterpillar and all. If its mouth is the source of its attacks, it can't reach us if we're up there.

 

[Idea]

>>>>>attack the antennae
It’s often a sensitive organ, and we could potentially “blind” it

 

[official clown business]

Don't worry, our five seconds' worth of wrestling knowledge will be enough to break this caterpillar in two. Besides, strategy's for babies.

What should you do?
>Attack the Caterpillars antennae
Oh, right. Never mind.

 

[MiraAutumn]

(Final Choice: Attack the caterpillars antennae)
Scene 6: First Victory

After that splurge of poison spit, your enemy seemed to still be recovering from the recoil of its own attack. This was no time for hesitation. Eyeing its droopy atennae, you leap towards the caterpillars head, whacking its hopefully sensitive limbs with as much force as you could muster. To your surprise, and the caterpillars horror, one of its atennae broke off from the impact of your blow. Silently screeching in pain, the caterpillar writhes in pain on the forest floor. You show no mercy, continuing to beat the creature, before it begins to violently thrash about in a rage.

You were flung off into a nearby tree trunk, colliding and landing on a thin branch that creaks under your weight. Your eyes roll from the impact, but you quickly force them back into position and analyze the caterpillar. Its movements are slowing, despite still trying to trample about. You wonder if it would die naturally like this, noticing a liquid seeming to ooze from where the antennae once was. But, you take no chances, it could throw something completely unexpected at you afterall, just like the poison spit/barrage. Leaping from above, you manage to briefly land on the caterpillars head, before 'punching' its last antennae full force.

As the antennae falls to the ground, your enemy jolts one last time, before crumpling to the floor in a copper-hued heap.

<[Body Manipulation LVL 3] learnt, [Poison Resistance LVL 1] unlocked, EXP gained = 120>
<Level up! [Baby Slime LVL 1] -> [Baby Slime LVL 2]>

It was difficult, but somehow you managed to pass through and survive your first battle. You were incredibly lucky that you were located right beside a body of water, effectively neutralizing one of the caterpillars strongest atrributes; poison. Sighing internally, you only now realize the fatigue weighing your body down, mixed with the stinging pain still left all over your body. You would love a good rest, but there were a million things that had to be sorted out first.

Note: Magic Defence acts as a multiplier/increased resistance to all skill damage, alongside other resistances that may be learnt. Same for magic attack.

Spoiler: CS

BabySlime - LVL: 2 - EXP: 20
HP: 3/10
MP: 10/10
Afflictions: [Fatigue LVL 1]
--------------
Attack: 1
Defence: 1
Magic Attack: 1
Magic Defence: 2
Speed: 1
SP: 2
--------------
Skills:
[Leap LVL 2] [Body Manipulation LVL 3] [Farsight LVL 1] [Sight LVL 1] [Touch LVL 1] [Stealth LVL 2] [Appraisal LVL 1] [Reaction Time LVL 1] [Poison Resistance LVL 1]
Titles:

--------------
Traits:

• Pink translucent slime ball
• Female

Choices:
What should you do with the caterpillar corpse?

1. Eat the caterpillars body quickly, then drink from the basin
2. Drink from the basin, then drag the caterpillars body somewhere else before eating it
3. Don't eat the caterpillar, but drink from the basin
4. JUST DON'T EAT OR DRINK

Which stats will you allocate your stat points to? (You may vote for two or one stat)

1. HP
2. MP
3. Attack
4. Defence
5. Magic Attack
6. Defence
7. Speed

BoltBeam official clown business Idea Daisie
Current Votes:
Drink&Drag: 3 | Don'tEatButDrink: 1
Attack: 3 | Speed: 3 | Defence: 1 | Magic Defence: 1

 

[Idea]

>>>>>>>>>> 1: Drink from the basin, then drag the caterpillars body somewhere else before eating it
Let's gulp some much needed water, then bring the corpse to safety. We're tired, it's not certain we can run away if something else shows up. It's best if we can have a proper, complete and safe meal after our hard work.

>>>>>>>> 2: Attack
We're clearly very weak, and it doesn't seem like we have any sort of magic attack yet. Getting a little more offensive ability seems like a pretty good idea for now.

 

[official clown business]

What should you do with the caterpillar corpse?
>Drink from the basin, then drag the caterpillars body somewhere else before eating it
As any newborn hunter would do. We won't leave it to the scavengers.

Which stats will you allocate your stat points to?
>Attack
>Speed
Defense is needed eventually, but attack and speed are always gonna be useful, especially early on. Also don't know if we gain more than 1 HP/MP or if their growths will increase or something.

 

[Daisie]

Maybe don't eat the caterpillar, but drink from the basin... The exp we got from the kill was good enough on its own, I'm a bit skeptical about eating something we know for a fact has some sort of acidic poison in its body. We may be able to gain its powers or something cool, sure, but I'm not sure we wanna take that chance...

I'm good to give the points to speed.

 

[BoltBeam]

Let's drink from the basin, then haul away our prey for consumption.

I wanna put the points into the Defence stats (Defence and Magic Defence) - 1 each.

 

[MiraAutumn]

(Final Choice: Drink from the basin, then drag the caterpillars body somewhere else before eating it, +1 Attack, +1 Speed)
Scene 7: Another Slime?
After resting for a moment, you hop on over towards the basin, avoiding the poison slowly spreading in the water. You silently wonder if that barrage will harm the ecosystem here, seeing as there were fish avoiding the purple mist nearby. Although another more pressing issue popped up in your head, how do you drink? Or eat for that matter? You don't exactly have a mouth... Deciding entering the water was the first step, as you thought about your thirst you suddenly realized you were inflating a little, a bit like a water balloon. You slowly felt the sweet relief of hydration, realizing you were absorbing the water through your slimy pores or something.

<[Taste LVL 1] unlocked>

The water tasted fresh and natural, as an invigorating feeling began to wash over you. Satisfied, and feeling a bit more buoyant than before, you bounced back towards the caterpillar corpse, having kept an eye on it whilst you were in the water.

Now, where to put this thing? You didn't exactly feel safe eating it out in the open like this. Looking around, there weren't exactly many options. All you had seen so far had been forest afterall, no caves, burrows, or anything remotely similar to a shelter. Deciding the least you could do was drag it into an area surrounded by foilage, you started headbutting it to push it away from the basin. You tried many methods of transportation, including attempting to pull with your sticky limbs, which you only recently became able to do, but overall pushing from behind was the most effective method.

Reaching a small grove somewhat enclosed by thick bushes and tall treetops, you take a break from pushing and examine the corpse once more. Although for some reason, you feel a little on edge. Maybe it was just your eagerness to devour. The caterpillar was a duller copper colour than before, most likely a representative of its lifelessness. You wondered if you'd poison yourself by eating it... Welp, you had already done so much for this, there was no way you were going to let it go to waste now. Hoping for the best, you moved your body to an area of the caterpillar that didn't seem to have the poison in it, the legs, and began the absorption process.

As you began to ponder its stringy, slimy taste and how you had managed to avoid the poison thus far, something in the corner of your peripherals caught your attention. It jolted as it noticed it had been found, staring at you as it slowly emerged from the foilage. It was... another baby slime, almost the same size as you even, except maybe a little smaller. The reason you only noticed it just now was its amazing natural camouflage, ontop of being a forest-green colour, it was smeared by mud/dirt with leaves stuck to its body.

<[Sight LVL 2] learnt>

Neither of you quite knew what to do with each other, it didn't seem to want to eat/fight you, but was still wary nonetheless. Every now and then, it would glance towards the caterpillar for a brief moment with desperation in its eyes.

Spoiler: CS

BabySlime - LVL: 2 - EXP: 20
HP: 3/10
MP: 10/10
Afflictions: [Fatigue LVL 1]
--------------
Attack: 2
Defence: 1
Magic Attack: 1
Magic Defence: 2
Speed: 2
SP: 0
--------------
Skills:
[Leap LVL 2] [Body Manipulation LVL 3] [Farsight LVL 1] [Sight LVL 2] [Touch LVL 1] [Taste LVL 1][Stealth LVL 2] [Appraisal LVL 1] [Reaction Time LVL 1] [Poison Resistance LVL 1]
Titles:

--------------
Traits:

• Pink translucent slime ball
• Female

Choices:
What should you do?

1. Offer the slime some of the caterpillar
2. Offer the slime some of the poisonous areas of the caterpillar
3. Ignore them
4. Attack them
5. Run away

BoltBeam official clown business Idea Daisie
Current Votes:
2(Poison): 3 | 1(Feed): 1

 

[Idea]

>>>>Offer the slime some of the poisonous areas of the caterpillar
I feel a little bad for doing something so dirty, but this is the perfect opportunity to test out our concerns without danger to ourselves. If something happens to them as a result of eating the poisoned area, we'll know from now on to avoid those. If on the other hand the other baby slime is fine after eating the poisonous area, we'll have just offered it food and might make an ally as a result. Win-Win situation.

 

[BoltBeam]

Let's offer up the poisonous parts! We don't need to eat 'em, they probably don't know they're poisoned, and most importantly, we're safe from harm by disposing of 'em.

 

[Daisie]

Noooooo offer it some of the caterpillar! It'd be horrible to poison a friggin baby slime. She's just as pure as us.
Give her the good food, maybe see if we can communicate and warn her about the poisonous parts. Also, groom her for heaven's sakes! She's covered in guck, be a decent person! Make a friend! Allies are a good thing! You can eat around the poison together and avoid the whole ordeal. I'm sure we can find one of these caterpillars again later, when we both have a friendship and are hardier.

Plus it could be nearly DEAD already. Are we gonna feed the lost and lonely stranger poison just to see if she dies or not? >_>

 

[official clown business]

What should you do?
>Offer the slime some of the poisonous areas of the caterpillar
Normally, I would agree with Daisie and try doing something a little less sociopathic, but we apparently didn't heal any health yet, and there's nothing that implies the other slime is dying. Otherwise I would've been willing to share.
I'm not picking this option because I want to, I'm picking it because I HAVE TO.

 

[MiraAutumn]

(Final Choice: Feed the slime the poisonous areas of the caterpillar)
Scene 8: A Poisonous Trap
Innocently, wielding a kind look in your eyes, you tear off the caterpillars head using a mixture of different whacks and offer it to your fellow slime. You know for a fact that the poison is shot out of the caterpillars mouth, rather than any other appendages it may have, being the prime suspect of residue poison. Pushing it towards the forest-green slime, you notice it staring at you still, though with somewhat less curiousity than before. It almost looked a bit sad, perhaps it was emotional over your offer of food?

It gratefully took the meal from you with a nod, slowly beginning to absorb it into its system. Throughout the whole process, it didn't flinch once, nor wince in any sort of pain. Feeling relief that you could safely devour the whole caterpillar without having to worry about the poison, you jumped atop the rest of the corpse and began digesting your hard-earned prey.

Moments later, your body was wracked by spasms of stinging pain, now withering you from the inside rather than just on your surface. Immediately, you halted your absorption process, recoiling and tumbling down from the caterpillar corpse. Opening your eyes, you noticed the forest slime staring down at you coldly, the glare unmistakable in its eyes. Serves you right, was what it felt it was saying to you.

<[Poison Resistance LVL 2] learnt>

Your health had dropped dangerously low, your body beat and batterred by both the caterpillar battle and the poison. You could not go on like this. Although resisting with as much strength as you could muster, your eyelids began to flutter closed. The last thing you saw before fainting, was the widened, somewhat panicked eyes of your fellow slime...
---------
When you awoke, all you could see was leaves. After spending a bit of time waking up from your drowziness, you moved your eyes around your body to see what else was around, but you were literally covered in leaves, even the ground below you. It was quite nice though, it served as a bit of a rough blanket that kept you warm, considering the temperature seemed to have dropped whilst you were sleeping. After your rest, despite not really knowing how long it had been, you felt much better than before. Perhaps not at 100%, seeing as you still felt bruised and sensitive here and there, but well enough to continue your explorations.

Jiggling yourself out of the pile of leaves, you noticed another pile of leaves not too far from you, partially camouflaged by the flora around it. It was even harder to see due to the lack of light in the area, since it was already early evening. You intially assumed it was the slime from earlier, seeing as they must've been the one that camouflaged you whilst you slept, but after peeking inside it was actually a few leftover caterpillar legs. You munched on them semi-gratefully, a shard of guilt pricking at your consciousness considering what they had done for you, and what you had done for them. Although, the slime did benefit from devouring the majority of your meal. But there was no reason to dwell on that now, they had clearly left already, leaving you to your own devices once more.

Spoiler: Damage

Internal Poison = -2 HP
(Health was at 1/10)
+7 Resting, whilst well-hydrated and almost/partially full

Spoiler: CS

BabySlime - LVL: 2 - EXP: 20
HP: 8/10
MP: 10/10
Afflictions:
--------------
Attack: 2
Defence: 1
Magic Attack: 1
Magic Defence: 2
Speed: 2
SP: 0
--------------
Skills:
[Leap LVL 2] [Body Manipulation LVL 3] [Farsight LVL 1] [Sight LVL 2] [Touch LVL 1] [Taste LVL 1][Stealth LVL 2] [Appraisal LVL 1] [Reaction Time LVL 1] [Poison Resistance LVL 2]
Titles:

--------------
Traits:

• Pink translucent slime ball
• Female

Choices:
Where should you go?

1. Back towards the basin in order to follow the flow of the river
2. Back towards the basin in order to climb upstream towards the waterfall
3. Deeper into the forest, towards thicker foilage
4. Towards the exit of the forest, near the thinner trees

BoltBeam official clown business Idea Daisie
Current Votes:
1(River): 1 | 2(Waterfall): 3

 

[BoltBeam]

Hmmm... Why don't we go towards the waterfall?

 

[Idea]

Well, on the upside, we at least know slimes aren't immune to being poisoned by their meals. Which means we'll have to be extra careful from now on in terms of verifying where the poison might be.

As for the vote:
>>>>>>>>>>>Back towards the basin in order to follow the flow of the river
I'll go with the flow on this one. Get it?

I totally didn't pick this option just to make that joke

 

[official clown business]

Where should you go?
>Back towards the basin in order to climb upstream towards the waterfall
If ancient fables and the Discovery channel have taught me anything, it's that fighting the tide always gives the best results.

 

[Daisie]

>_> Ow. Karma.

Climb upstream! Sounds challenging, we might be able to get some skills... If we had super low health at the moment, I'd go down the river, but we seem to be doing decently. Onwards and upwards!

 

[MiraAutumn]

(Final Choice: Head back to the basin and climb upstream towards the waterfall)
Scene 9: The Hike Upstream
After a moment of thought, finishing up the last of your post-nap meal, you decide to head back to the basin and climb upstream. There were a multitude of reasons for this, but perhaps the most important was to survey your surroundings. If you managed to find a way to reach the top of the steep cliff where the waterfall stemmed from, you would definitely have a useful vantage point. With your intentions clear, you started the slow hike upwards.

The path you took through the foilage had a constant slope, with occasional jumps in terrain height forcing you to leap over. You always kept the stream in your peripheral vision, depsite having to climb around/under/over various natural obstacles. You expected the trees to thin out the higher you went, but on the contrary, they seemed to grow thicker and more menacing. Their colours became darker, not as vibrant as those near the basin, and their structure seemed to shift towards thicker tree trunks and branches.

As you were calmly bouncing through the forest, moving your eyes around your body as you looked around, you noticed a rustling in the distance towards your left. As it grew in size, you realized that whatever was causing the rustling, was approaching you at an incredible speed.

Spoiler: CS

BabySlime - LVL: 2 - EXP: 20
HP: 8/10
MP: 10/10
Afflictions:
--------------
Attack: 2
Defence: 1
Magic Attack: 1
Magic Defence: 2
Speed: 2
SP: 0
--------------
Skills:
[Leap LVL 2] [Body Manipulation LVL 3] [Farsight LVL 1] [Sight LVL 2] [Touch LVL 1] [Taste LVL 1][Stealth LVL 2] [Appraisal LVL 1] [Reaction Time LVL 1] [Poison Resistance LVL 2]
Titles:

--------------
Traits:

• Pink translucent slime ball
• Female

Choices:
What should you do?

1. Stand your ground
2. Climb up a tree
3. Hide in the foilage
4. Run towards the river

BoltBeam official clown business Idea Daisie
Current Votes:
3(Hide): 5 | 4(Run): 1

 

[BoltBeam]

Into the foliage. All the others will make us vulnerable, and I don't think possibly dying is a good idea.

 

[Idea]

>>>Hide in the foilage
Pretty much every other option is suicide:
standing ground- we'll get hit
climb the tree- risk falling
run towards the river- risk still getting hit and drowning in the river

 

[Daisie]

Hide in the foliage! I admit, now isn't the time to be looking for friends, and a big part of me doubts this thing is a happy-go-lucky fellow. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best!

 

[Spoiled Bread]

I'm greed-in-charge, reporting for duty. I wanted to choose to climb a tree, but realize that our slime doesn't have a well-developed limbs yet. So hide in foliage it is.