‘Hide… Gotta hide…’ The small lime-green Pacapillar thought to themselves. It felt as though it had been hours since they stopped, their lungs burning with exhaustion, but mere terror pumped the adrenaline through their core, keeping them going until they knew they were safe. They caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a fox burrow nearby, making a mad dash into it without a second thought, crouching their small body down low, breathing heavily for a moment, only their fear forced them to hold their breath, watching out into the dark forest from their hiding spot.
‘How could this happen? WHY is this happening?’ The Pacapillar was still in disbelief over how quickly everything happened. It felt as though it was hours ago that they were having a picnic with their pets; a Spout Kernel named Dandelion, and a Dinosaur Slime named Fruitzilla. It was only mere moments ago in reality, and everything was perfect…
*****
The evening sun shone through the trees across the small clearing Meadow had found, orange light dancing on the grass, gently swaying in a warm breeze. An occasional Whir would drift past following the breeze, almost as though it were a dandelion seed rather than an insect. The only sounds were those of small wildlife creatures, and the breeze rattling the leaves of the surrounding trees. It was peaceful, and almost seemed as though it were a scene from a movie, or a painting.
“Perfection. This place will do quite nicely”, Meadow spoke to themselves, setting their companions, Dandelion and Fruitzilla on a nearby fallen log, proceeding over to their picnic basket and removing the red and white checkered blanket from inside. Shifting to their false Monster form for some extra height, Meadow spread the blanket out across the grass, three Whirs being blown out from underneath and drifting through the air, twinkling their mystical blue glow once they regained their balance, all three proceeding to drift to nearby flowers. Chuckling some to themselves as they watched the Whirs they disturbed, Meadow shifted back down into their true standard Pacapillar form, placing a stone on each corner of the blanket. They dragged their picnic basket onto the blanket, starting to get their food goodies out and set up, whistling softly to tell their pets that it was ok to move, finally, both of which excitedly wobbled over, immediately dining into the snacks Meadow had laid out.
Watching as Dandelion sat on a pie chowing down, while Fruitzilla was wrestling with a piece of bread, a content smile crept across the Pacapillar’s face. “Everything is perfect.”
The serene moment with their pets was cut short as the three of them heard a rustling in the bushes, both Dandelion and Fruitzilla quickly running to hide behind Meadow, Dandelion having left little red footprints in their path from the pie, whilst Fruitzilla got low to the ground, snarling on a non-threatening slime pitch, ready to protect his owner at any given moment, despite his tiny size.
From the bushes emerged one large head, then another with three eyes, and a third with 5 eyes, followed by one joined body and enormous pincers that seemed to glow a soft pink color. The creature slithered out from the bushes, using his pincers to drag his huge, serpentine-like body out further. “Well, well, well.” The middle blue head spoke, eyeing the tiny standard before him, propping their body up on their tail much like a snake would, the gentler looking right head with white coloring speaking next in a soft tone. “It seems this Pacapillar has made our favorite, don’t you think Dr. Alioth Draven? How polite.”
Though the pale head had three eyes, it seemed a lot more trustworthy than the other two, the black one on the left having 5 eyes especially being creepy in appearance to Meadow, but the middle blue one, though more normal looking than the other two, sent a chill through Meadow’s core, even if they couldn’t particularly place why they felt that way. As Meadow nervously looked up at the large creature, they noticed the star-shaped core partially emerging from the middle head’s forehead… A Monster Pacapillar…
While Meadow inspected the larger Paca before them, the left head nodded in an almost feral way, a hunger in its tone, replying to the right head. “Yess, yes Dr. Alioth Draven! It did!” The head chuckled some in a slightly manic tone, the centre head leering, unamused before snapping at the left head.
“Silence! Both of you, where are your manners? Clearly little Limesey here is having a picnic with their puny pets. I am intruding on their meal and it’s not polite to just assume the food is for me, understood?” Alioth’s middle head glanced at the other two on either side of it, the left one grumbling but giving in, and the right one rolling its eyes and nodding in agreement. “Good.” He turned his attention back to Meadow. “Sorry to intrude, little one, but may I join you on your little picnic?”
Meadow was hesitant at first, but they were in the forest that Monsters and Poisons typically lived in, so they were technically the trespasser. They looked at the food they had laid out, gazing back up at the Monster who strangely seemed to have fins for their other legs, not seeing them as any immediate threat, other than their size towering over Meadow’s own. They nodded, petting Fruitzilla to try and soothe them. “It’s ok guys, we’re in their home. I packed plenty of food to share.” They looked at Alioth. “Sorry for the pie being a mess, my Kernel, Dandelion, helped herself to that, but feel free to have anything else.” They beamed politely up at the seemingly cross-species hybrid.
Alioth smirked slightly as they replied. “Oh, don’t worry.” He brought his large pincer down mere inches from Meadow’s body, leaning down overtop of them, his expressions all turning to a more horrifying malice in unison, the 10 eyes all locked on their prey. “I’m not interested in pie, I’d rather eat my greens.”
*****
Meadow laid in the empty fox den, remembering the encounter before they bolted, ending up in the life or death situation. They shook violently in fear, tears streaming down their cheeks, only for terror to fill their body even further as they saw the pink glow catching up to their location, all three heads of the beast speaking in unison.
“Ohhh Limesey~ I’m hungry Limesey, it’s so rude of you to flee from dinner so quickly~”
Meadow felt as though they were going to be sick from the amount of stress they were under, a sob sound forcing its way from their throat, their eyes widening as they saw Alioth turn to the direction of the sound.
“Found you~”
Knowing they were no longer safe, Meadow scurried out of the burrow they had found, and they were running once more, not knowing where they were going even in the slightest. They only knew that they had to get away from Alioth at any cost. A clearing started to make itself known to them as they rapidly approached it, hoping if they were in a more open space, they would have higher chances at being saved.
Exiting the trees, Meadow struggled to stop, managing to halt just before falling off of a steep cliff. They looked down the ledge to see if they could climb down, but it was only a steep drop straight into the deep ocean of the Gilled Domain below, the large sky anchor nearby taunting them as it sparkled and glistened, reflecting against the black water.
They looked back towards the forest, seeing Alioth catch up to them once more, the gorgon-like creature propping up on its tail, much like it had earlier, the heads all looking down at his runaway snack with sinister, manic smiles. Meadow was trapped.
Catching his breath, each head let out a laugh. “Nowhere to run little Limesey~ That little game of tag made me really work up an appetite~” The faces all frowned, the middle one seeming the most haunting. “I’m going to enjoy eating your shattered core.” In a last ditch effort, Meadow shifted to their monster disguise, puffing out their chest, trying to make their tiny size appear larger, only resulting in Alioth laughing, swinging their tail around and forcing Meadow back into their standard form, Meadow landing on the ground with a soft thud. “That was adorable, what other parlor tricks can you do? Oh, no matter, it’s over for you anyways. It’s supper time, Limesey.”
As Meadow was picking themselves up, Alioth brought their large pincer down quickly on top of them, their physical form poofing, leaving their green, marble-like core on the ground. Alioth chuckled under his breath in victory, reaching out to grab the core before him, only for it to roll away from his reach, off the cliff and splashing into the water below. Alioth tried to chase after it, reaching off the ledge when it dropped, unable to grab it in time. “No my dinner!”