[Wade?] "Weal!"
STRING THEORIES scramble over one another as they attempt to catch the chicken. I used my Weal ability to help it escape a few times. With my larger MP pool, it doesn't take a large portion of my total anymore. Tiss conjures a large bow of shining blue mana, draws the string back and creates a huge arrow made of mana.
[Tiss] "Heavy Lance!"
As Tiss is about to let go of the arrow, her Superluminal Ring shines a bright gold, changing the color of the arrow to gold as well. When she releases the arrow, it flies forward at an unimaginable velocity, never changing speeds in between the cubes. The arrow crashes through the mass of monsters, obliterating a few of them and crashing the rest of them into the walls, floor, and ceiling. For a moment, they all seem to be stunned.
[Tiss] "That was new. Did the ring do that?"
[Wade?] "It looked like it was shining when you fired that shot. I wonder why it only just now activated.
The chicken hurriedly sprints toward us. Oddly enough, it also doesn't seem to be affected by the speed difference in between cubes. I had understood it as time flowing different in between the cubes, but maybe I was wrong?
No matter. The chicken is now getting closer to us and the STRING THEORIES are only just now starting to break out of the stun effect. I noticed the chicken running towards me so I hold out both of my arms and greet my savior!
[Wade?] "Chicken! It's great to see you again!"
[Chicken] "Bkaw! Bawk Bawk!"
The chicken leaps and crashes into my chest. I hold it tight and listen to what is says. Then I look at the mass of STRING THEORIES.
[Wade?] "Oh! You're right! Tiss, Chicken says to just start running!"
[Tiss] "I agree with the chicken, then. Looks like they're about to start chasing again."
Tiss and I turn around, grab each other's hand and start to run. The chicken perches on my opposite shoulder from Tiss.
[Chicken] "Bkaw!"
[Wade?] "Take a left!"
As we exit the path, we all hang a left and keep up speed. It isn't long until the STRING THEORIES come crashing out of that path and slam into the wall before scrambling in our direction, crawling over each other and snaking along the ground.
[Chicken] "Bkaw!"
[Wade?] "You sure?"
[Chicken] "Bawk bawk, bkaw!"
[Tiss] "What's it saying?"
[Wade?] "There's a 3 coming up. Apparently there's a safe place if we open the route and go inside."
[Tiss] "We've got nothing to lose by giving it a shot."
The STRING THEORIES are slowly gaining on us as we run together through the labyrinth pathway. Then just as I was told, we see a 3 on the ground of a cube ahead of us.
[Wade?] "Do it!"
As we enter the cube, I let go of Tiss' hand and she drops to the floor. She puts her hand with the Superluminal Ring onto the engraving of the number. The number shines gold, as does the ring, and then the surface disappears. We all fall through the space and then stumble when we land as we adjust to the shift in gravity.
The chicken leaps off my shoulder and approaches the space where the surface had disappeared.
[Chicken] "Bawk bawk... BKAW!!!"
It swings its wings wide to its side and makes sounds that I actually can't understand. For once, it just sounds like chicken noises with no meaning to me. But as this happens, the missing surface reappears in a flash of gold light.
[Chicken] "Bawk bawk!"
[Wade?] "Oh, for real! That's good."
[Tiss] "Huh?"
[Wade?] "Oh, Chicken says that we're safe around here."
[Chicken] "Bawk bkaw! Bawk bawk."
[Wade?] "Oh that would be so nice! Tiss, Chicken says that it has a nest nearby. Monsters can't get close to it."
[Chicken] "Bkaw!"
[Wade?] "Excuse me?"
[Chicken] "Bkaw! Bawk bawk bkaw!"
[Wade?] "Oh, I'm so sorry. Chicken is a she."
[Chicken] "Bkaw!"
[Wade?] "And her name is Jiji."
[Jiji] "Bkaw!"
[Wade?] "You're so welcome. I'm sorry for never asking your name."
[Tiss] "I see... We should head to this nest."
All of us together begin walking along the path for a short while. Eventually, Jiji hops off my shoulder and runs ahead. She stands in front of a wall with the number 3 and then makes the same sounds and gestures as before, causing the wall to shine gold and then disappear.
Beyond the now vanished surface is a bright lit, large room. It's about 9 cubes by 9 cubes in area. Quite a huge area for this strange labyrinth.
Jiji approaches the center of the room and we follow. The wall behind us reappears on its own without Jiji needing to do anything to it. In the center of the floor is a nest made of simple sticks and discarded feathers. As I get closer, I notice something. Status screens start to appear from the sticks in the nest. Each of them is labeled as
[Wade?] "Jiji, did you make this nest from all the sticks I collected and dropped?"
[Jiji] "Bkaw!"
[Wade?] "Wow! I'm glad I was able to help with the construction of your nest."
[Jiji] "Bkaw!"
[Wade?] "Whatcha mean?"
[Jiji] "Bawk bawk bawk!"
[Wade?] "Oh well, here! Take these!"
I empty my inventory of all the extra sticks I had kept this whole time. About twenty in total from my foraging in the forest. Jiji's eyes sparkle as she sees the sticks appear and clatter to the ground. She hurriedly scurries over to them and, one by one, she takes a stick and brings it back to her nest, settling neatly into place to finish constructing it.
[Tiss] "What's going on over here?"
[Wade?] "Oh, well I found a bunch of
[Tiss] "I grow more and more fascinated with you by the hour, it seems. Honestly, I can't even begin to predict how you're going to surprise me next."
[Wade?] "I promise you that I've got tons more in stock to surprise you with. Most things just kind of happen to me, though.
[Tiss] "Like the naked thing?"
[Wade?] "Exactly. Like the naked thing."