“A new active? ‘Slime shot’… I remember, I sort of threw slime into the salamander’s mouth. I wonder how this active works.” The snail thought. It used Slime shot and splashed some slime on the ground. “I thought that would go farther…” The snail thought. After some trial and error, the snail figured out how to aim the slime shot at something other than the ground. It felt a bit odd to have a lump of slime slide out from under its foot to point at a target. The snail shot a few bolts of slime out over the pond. “Hey, that’s pretty good! I can shoot almost to the edge of the pond!” The snail celebrated.
The snail practiced with Slime shot until it felt tired. “Oh, right. I should rest. I should also check and make sure I got all my health back.” The snail concentrated to get its basic stats.
*ding*
“It’s not all back, but it isn’t stuck at a low number anymore. I’ll just rest.” The snail decided.
The snail climbed up on top of the remains of the aluminum nugget and rested. It watched the Salamander slowly patrol the pond. After a few hours, the snail felt that its health and stamina were both full. The snail picked a spot on the far side of the little island from the salamander and approached the water. The salamander came shooting around the island to block the snail’s route across the pond. The snail turned away from the water to get a bit more distance. “Grrr, that salamander still wants to eat me.” The snail grumbled. It studied the amphibian for a while. “Did it shrink?” The snail wondered.
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The snail made a loop along the edge of the island, but the salamander kept pace with it the entire way. “Did the island shrink too?” The snail idly wondered. It used Slime shot a few times, but the salamander dodged the first shot and just went deeper in the water to avoid the others.
“I need a plan.” The snail decided. “That salamander won’t let me leave, so how can I get off this island?” The snail waved its eye stalks and olfactory tentacles as it pondered its situation. “Maybe I can get Jump to work correctly? Probably not, I don’t have room to practice. If I’m in the water, I might be able to keep the salamander away with Slime shot, but it would need to open its mouth (to swallow me!) for the best shot.” The snail wracked its tiny brain for a plan. “The salamander can’t keep this up forever. I’ll try and out-wait the salamander.” Satisfied with this simple plan, the snail moved to a safe distance from the edge of the island and waited.
The snail was hungry. It had lost track of how many hours it has waited for the Salamander to give up on eating the snail. The snail gazed longingly at the moss on the far edge of the pond. It dropped its eyes to the beast that blocked the path to tasty food. “Is the salamander… asleep?” The snail wondered. It slowly moved to the side to see if the salamander would follow. When the amphibian didn’t react, the snail raced around to the far side of the island, took a deep breath, and slipped into the water.
The snail crept along the bottom of the pond for several long minutes. As it crossed the halfway point, Danger sense spiked. “Oh no! It woke up!” The snail wailed. It waved its eye stalks around, trying to locate the salamander. The salamander approached from behind at full speed.
The snail used Slime shot to try and discourage the salamander, but the shots were too slow and the salamander dodged them without difficulty. As the salamander closed the distance, the snail used Hide in shell. The salamander clamped its mouth down on the snail and… struggled to swallow.
“Why isn’t it eating me?” The snail was panicking as it tried to think of something to do. “Did it shrink so much that I’m too big for it to eat? Aaaaahhh! What do I do?” Without any good ideas, the snail used its only movement active, Jump.
The snail slammed into the top of the salamander’s mouth. The force of the jump broke the salamander’s bottom jaw. The salamander was momentarily stunned, but the snail was still buzzing with panic. It shot slime down the salamander’s throat, once, twice!
*ding*
Slime shot level up: 2
The salamander began to struggle and flounder in the water. The snail dropped to the bottom of the pond and began to crawl away. The snail kept one eye stalk turned back towards its amphibian opponent until it was safely out of the pond. When it was out of reach of the water, the snail nearly collapsed with released panic. “That was horrible!” It complained.
As the snail’s mind settled down, it remembered that it was hungry, so it started munching on the moss. The remaining moss didn’t give any points, but it was tasty. As it ate, it considered the salamander in the pool. It was floating motionless, no doubt trying to tempt the snail to… “Is the salamander dead?” The snail wondered.