“Hey…” An ethereal voice rang out in the darkness of Micro’s dreams. The orange glow of the sky above began to appear in the darkness as the voice continued to echo. He enjoyed the weightless sensation of his half conscious state as the light grew brighter, but being unable to breathe woke Micro abruptly from his daze. “Pull yourself together, would you?”

  “Agh…” He choked as the gravity of the mountain he was lying on threatened to flatten him into nothing in little time. He quickly forced a breath of air into his lungs and began to circulate the energy it contained, and then exhaled a sigh of relief as the gravity’s effects were nullified.

  “You think I’m just going to pop back through the portal by myself?” Blue shouted angrily. “In my state? Fat chance!”

  “Sorry,” Micro replied as he brought himself back up to his feet. “Thanks, Blue.”

  “I’m still counting this as my win though, sleepy head!” she huffed as she turned to walk down the mountain.

  “But the meat…” Micro replied anxiously, finally able to talk freely again as the gravity lessened.

  “What?” she shouted. “Oh, that? Whatever.”

  “I can—”

  “Yes, go ahead and eat.” Blue rolled her eyes, then gestured for him to keep walking. “I just want to get out of here. Pixies aren’t supposed to be this heavy. It’s not right!”

  “It was a lot harder than the turtle dungeon…” Micro replied. “But you found a Core Card. That’s great!”

  “What’s so great about it?!” Blue shouted in frustration. “It couldn’t be more useless!”

  “You know what it is?”

  “I’ve stolen enough of these things to know a thing or two,” she scoffed. “This is the Storage Skill card. See the symbol here?”

  “What does it do?” Micro asked as he leaned down to take a closer look.

  “It lets you store things in a separate little world made of your own energy,” she explained as she walked. “Something any pixie with half a brain can already do.”

  “Oh, that’s a shame,” Micro consoled her. “I’m not sure what this one is…”

  Trill seemed aware of their conversation, and the Core Card Micro had recently found on the mountain popped out of his pocket. He caught it in his hand and showed it to Blue, but he was surprised when her face suddenly froze.

  “Micro,” she stated plainly. “Let’s trade.”

  “You want to trade the cards we—”

  “Yes,” she interrupted him, her face still unmoving.

  “Okay.” Micro quickly agreed after a moment’s consideration, and he leaned down to hand her the card. She threw her own card over her shoulder as if she were throwing garbage into a dumpster, leaving him to fetch it for himself.

  “I guess it doesn’t matter which order I master them in. So what is that one called?”

  “Hehehe…” Blue giggled maniacally, ignoring his question.

  Micro was content to see her happy with her new Core Card, and he passed the Storage Skill card to Trill, who stored it away faithfully, this time without complaint. They continued down the mountain, Micro struggling not to stumble as his mind filled with images of baked goods and fried meat, while Blue laughed more and more energetically with each step. They reached the bottom of the mountain together in good spirits, and ran through the woods back to the dungeon portal with ease, savouring every step they could take without having to focus on adjusting their energy output. The glowing green gate came into view in what felt like no time at all, but Blue suddenly stopped.

  “I can’t do it!” she shouted as she skidded to a halt. “I can’t wait any longer!”

  “What?” Micro tripped over himself as he ran past her. “What happened?”

  “Just wait there, I’ll be quick,” she said as she sat down and crossed her legs next to her core card.

  “Do you need to go to the toilet?” Micro asked, confused by her sudden change of pace.

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  “I want this skill!” she barked with her eyes still closed. “Let me get this one down real quick before we head back.”

  “That’s…” Micro paused for a moment. “A good idea.”

  Micro turned away from the portal and joined Blue on the grass. He took out the Jade Fire Storage Skill card and began meditating. Although meditating while constantly compensating for the slightly increased gravity near the dungeon’s entrance would have been difficult for him not long ago, he now found it easy. Soon, he perceived the spiritual form of the card floating in front of him, then approached the familiar form of his core.

  “There we go, home again,” he thought to himself with a bittersweet smile as the garage door remote materialized in his hands. He pressed the button, listened to the nostalgic sound of it creaking and squeaking until it was open, and entered the garage. “It’s a lot cleaner in here now. Huh…”

  As he looked around, he immediately noticed that the energy filling his core seemed much purer than before, as if the energy in the dungeon which he was constantly channelling through it had worked some of the grease out of it. With so much energy flowing through him, Micro began to notice the way energy seemed to flow into the garage. It looked almost like a fog rolling in through the windows of the garage, before being pulled back out again to be utilized elsewhere in his physical body.

  “You don’t see that every day…” Micro shrugged, then continued to walk. He wiped the surface of a shelf with his finger and was surprised that not a bit of dust remained. Encouraged by this, he gave the tires of his soul a kick to confirm they hadn’t suffered any lasting damage after his recent attempt to load an amber Core Card into the bed.

  “Alright, in you go,” he said cheerfully as he placed the card down beside the Turtle Art card he’d already loaded. “Very good, now—”

  Sooner than expected, he once again experienced a torrent of new information pouring into his mind with the force of a lightning strike. However, he was more prepared for it this time, and he was soon able to grasp its contents. The knowledge sunk into his brain like a road map for all the energy conduits in his body, and the skill’s function became clear to him in the next moment.

  “I have a bed again!” he celebrated as he opened his eyes in the golden forest. “Ouch!”

  His celebration came to an abrupt end when he felt something impact the back of his head. He instinctively reached for it, and felt a small object stuck in his hair. He pulled it out, and realized it was a very small, highly condensed ball of energy that soon evaporated in his fingers.

  “Got you! Haha!” Blue shouted as she rolled around on the dirty ground, kicking up leaves and dirt as she lost control of her laughter. “This is amazing!”

  “What was that?” Micro asked as he massaged the small bump forming on his head.

  “You really don’t know what that card was?!” Blue asked through her laughter, sitting up to look at him with a childish grin. She stood up and concentrated for a moment, and suddenly an object manifested in her hand in a way that reminded him of the Spirit Shield Skill he’d seen several times.

  “A stick, with a bit of string…?” Micro asked, unable to make out the shape of the object that glowed in her hand.

  “It’s a slingshot, you ignorant savage!” she laughed as she took aim once more and fired a small bead of energy at Micro.

  Micro wasn’t sure why she was laughing so much, but as he instinctively coated himself in the translucent, turtle shell armour he’d learned from the Turtle Art card, he smiled along with her. The tiny ball of energy bounced off his ethereal helmet and fizzled out of existence before it could hit the ground. Blue pouted for a moment before bursting into laughter once again.

  “It’s lucky you can summon that so quickly all of a sudden!” she shouted through her laughter, struggling to take aim once again as her shoulder shook. “You’ll need it. Get ready, this one might hurt!”

  Again, she drew back the stretchy cord of the stick-like weapon, a ball of energy appearing in its pocket as she aimed, and fired again, this time hitting Micro in the shoulder, knocking him half a pace back. He was about to ask her why she was attacking him, but decided against it as she laughed more with every shot she fired. After several more shots, he realized that it had become fun to try and dodge the tiny projectiles, which she was firing quicker and quicker. Their game grew more chaotic as their laughter made it difficult to aim, and even more difficult to dodge.

  The game ended when Micro’s concentration finally waned to the point that his armour weakened, and a small ball of energy pierced his ethereal armour and impacted his cheek, sending him straight to the ground with a heavy thud.

  “Victory!” Blue shouted, finally ceasing her assault and allowing the summoned weapon to vanish in her hands with a sigh. “That’s exhausting…!”

  “That last one,” Micro mumbled as he massaged his aching cheek. “Was pretty heavy…”

  “Nobody underestimates me and lives to talk about it!” Blue said through a stifled yawn.

  “Did you use up a lot of energy?” Micro asked in concern. “You look tired…”

  “That was nothing…” Blue said as she stumbled toward him. He had bent down to offer her his hand, but she had already jumped straight into his pocket before he had fully extended it.

  “Have you used one of those before?” he asked, setting his sights on the dungeon portal they’d wandered away from during their battle.

  “Not since I was little—” She yawned again, tucking herself into his pocket and curling up to sleep. “Very little…”

  “Smaller than you are now?” Micro gasped.

  “A friend used to make those…” she replied, but she was snoring peacefully a moment later.

  Smiling despite the pain in his cheek, Micro made his way back to the portal, passing through it and enjoying the spectacle of the wonderful lights around him. Before his foot had even reached the ground, he felt nearly weightless as gravity returned to normal.

  “Kel, I’m—” he called out, but a scene was unfolding in the large room that confused and shocked him. His eyes were still adjusting to the light of the large room, so he had to squint to make out the people standing around him. “Why are there so many of you, Kel?”