Little Dreams and Hollow Nightmares

Ph2 Ch4: First Encounter

Seven climbed back down to Dirtmouth, this time being able to fight back against the hostile bugs along the way. When he got to the bottom and sat down on the bench, it hit him that he had no idea where to go, and no way to buy a map. Seven slouched down deep into the bench.

"How am I going to find out where I need to go?" He said aloud to himself.

Suddenly, he felt the Grimmchild moving around in his cloak. Before he could ask what it was doing, it came out, holding a compass in its mouth. Seven looked closely, and saw it was the same compass that he found from the howling cliffs. He must've picked it up without noticing. He took the compass, and began to study it. Suddenly, a burst of red light came from the compass, and an entire structure image appeared in front of him.

Upon closer inspection, he saw the structure was a series of tunnels, and above them was Dirtmouth! It was an entire map of the land! And on the map, there were three places marked with a red flame. Those must've been where he needed to go to find Grimm's kin! Seven turned over to the Grimmchild, who was eagerly watching, and waiting to see if Seven was grateful or not.

"What would I do without you little guy?" He said, patting the Grimmchild's forehead.

The Grimmchild chirped happily, as he patted it.

"Alright, which flame's the closest?" Seven asked, looking back at the map.

His eyes were drawn to a close, red marking on the map, in a tunnel not to far away. He looked back at the Grimmchild, and it nodded, understanding where he wanted to go. Without another word, Seven and the Grimmchild started off, towards the first flame. They moved along, out of Dirtmouth, to another cliffside with an elevator at the bottom. Relieved that he didn't have to climb another cliff, Seven stepped inside, and the Elevator started up. The Grimmchild flew up, close behind.

Once at the top, Seven stared at the illuminating tunnel of crystals in front of him. It was so bright, and beautiful. Seven would've stayed there forever if the Grimmchild hadn't bumped into him. Remembering why he was here, Seven walked into the tunnel, and looked over the valley of crystals below him. He cautiously made his way across, making sure not to lose his grip. He moved slowly along the crystals, careful not to step on their sharp points.

Finally, he managed to get to a large piece of land above the sharp crystals. In front of him, was a torch, holding a brilliant, scarlet flame. As soon as he stepped towards it however, it vanished in a burst of flames, and a playful laugh echoed through the caverns. Suddenly, a small, stout figure appeared in the air, giggling as it held the torch. A Grimmkin.

It swung the torch, and three red fireballs flew from the flame on top. Seven quickly evaded the fireballs, and the next thing he knew, the Grimmkin was flying towards him. Thinking fast, Seven rolled to the side, and held his nail in front of the Grimmkin. It flew into the blade of the nail, then vanished into another burst of flames. It appeared behind Seven, flung some fireballs, and repeated the process several times.

"This guy is so annoying!" Seven yelled in frustration.

The Grimmkin happily giggled. It was pleased by Seven's anger. The Grimmchild however, was not happy that the Grimmkin was laughing at its bearer. It flew right up to the face of the Grimmkin, and waved around, causing it to drop its guard. Seven seized the opportunity, and struck the Grimmkin twice with his nail. The Grimmkin charged, but Seven was ready. He concentrated all of his energy, and right when the Grimmkin charged, he unleashed a Cyclone Slash, striking it several times.

The Grimmkin screamed, and dispersed into several red flames. The Grimmchild flew into the center of the red flames, and instantly, the Grimmchild consumed all the flames in the area. Then, it flew over to Seven, concerned if its bearer was hurt.

"I'm fine," he grunted, standing back up. " you really helped me out there you know," he told the Grimmchild. "I honestly don't know how I would've taken him down without you."

The Grimmchild flew around him, happily chirping. Seven giggled. Who knew this little guy would be so worth fighting for? He thought. He pulled out the compass, and saw the first flame had disappeared. He looked, and saw two more flames on the map. One in a green area closely below Dirtmouth, and one near the center of the tunnels. This is gonna take a while. He thought.

He scaled across the crystals on the floor of the cavern, back to Dirtmouth. He needed to take a break to refresh himself. As his mind wandered off, he slipped, and fell towards a very sharp crystal, pointed right at his chest. He braced himself, but he never felt the pain. He opened his eyes, and saw he was inches away from the crystal. He looked behind him, and saw the Grimmchild holding his shirt in its mouth, desperately trying to keep him from falling into the spikes.

Seven pulled himself back up, and just stared at the Grimmchild. Despite just being a bearer, it really thought of him as a father. Seven chuckled to himself, and continued back towards Dirtmouth.

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Sorry this chapter is late everyone! I'm having trouble thinking about how the phase is going to go, but I really wanted to get a chapter out to you all.

Also, THIS STORY GOT RANKED #1 IN MONO!!!!! Seriously, that's just INSANE! I can't thank you all enough, even if you all might have nothing to do with the rank.

But back to reality, I might take a little break, just to plan out the rest of phase 2. I hope you all understand.

See you next chapter!