It's Still Raining

Carby? Where did you go?!

TW: FAINTING

Today was rainy. Rainier than any other day in the season. Arle and Carbuncle were hopping around in the puddles that had formed from raining all day. This wasn't anything new, as Arle is somewhat of a tomboy and Carbuncle would simply play along.

Carbuncle had hid in Arle's eyes while she got herself wet in one of the puddles. She made a splash before noticing her beloved friend's absence. She then got up and started looking for him. She first started by looking around the area. After doing this, she then got up and walked over to a deeper puddle, thinking he would be in it. But he wasn't.

Arle got concerned, so she started backtracking on the puddles she and Carbuncle played in. She walked towards where the two first arrived before she started talking to herself. "Hmmm.... We walked up here while going home..... And Carby hopped into this puddle.... Maybe I should call his name?" She snapped her fingers. "Why didn't I think of this sooner?"

She then looked up. "CARBY! CARBY, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

He didn't come, so she called again. "CARBY?!?!"

He didn't come that time, either.

She scratched her head. "Hmmm.... CARBY! I MADE US SOME CURRY!"

As she predicted, he didn't come.

"Carby.... Not again...." She got on the ground and howled. "CARBY!!!!"

Carbuncle was in a tree. His tongue was acting as a rope as he clung onto the branch. He was just swinging on it, looking at a bird. He tried to swing onto the surface of the branch and eat the bird, but it flew away, causing him to fall.

Arle, despite being somewhat far, heard something fall, so she ran over to where the sound came from. As she ran, she suddenly started feeling weak. She began feeling dizzy, the world spinning around her, her vision blurring, and yet.... she kept running. The farther she ran, the more weak she felt. After a couple more minutes of running, she felt nauseous, like she was going to vomit any minute. She felt so weak, and so sick.

Her heart rate started increasing. But she didn't want to stop. She wanted to see where the sound came from, especially if it was Carbuncle who fell.

Meanwhile, Carbuncle was in rather tall grass, trying to navigate through it, knowing that Arle needed him. He had crawled, walked, ran, and hopped through it, and he even ate a couple specks of it, hoping to reach her.

As he went through the tall grass, he got distracted by a berry. He figured that it could make up for that bird he tried to eat earlier. He walked over to it and ate it. He felt satisfied at first, but then he coughed up a seed, and that seed grew into a flower. That flower then captured him with its filament/tentacle before spreading its pollen on him, which made him want to gag. It tasted awful to him.

It then directed him into where its "mouth" would be. It looked like it was about to eat him.

Suddenly, Carbuncle had an idea. He took his tongue out and strangled the flower like a lasso, lassoing it as it tried to keep its filaments/tentacles attached to him. He then pulled the flower out of the dirt with the force of his tongue. After doing this, he proceeded to open his mouth wide and eat the flower, leaving the parts that had dirt alone. That was when he truly felt full.

He then remembered that he still needed to find Arle. "Gu gu. GUUUUGUUUUU!" He started running again, getting back on track. The rest of the walk through the tall grass happened without any further shenanigans.

Arle got up, rubbing her head. "Oh.... My head...... What happened....?"

Carbuncle got out of the grass and saw Arle. He immediately hopped over to her, making happy little 'gu's. Arle looked at him. "Carby....? Carby.....!" She opened her arms, still feeling unwell from fainting. He happily got into her arms, wagging his tail like a dog and twitching his ears.

Arle teared up as she held her little friend close. She looked up, and was able to tell that it hadn't stopped raining. "Okay Carby. Can you wait for me to recover? I'm not feeling well right now...."

Carbuncle didn't answer. He just motioned her to lay down and stay on the pavement. He then got on her stomach and loafed on her, waiting for her to recover. She looked at him. "Carby...... You almost scared me..... I thought I'd permanently lose you.....!" She then looked away, looking at the beautiful wet grass, watching raindrops fall onto it. Home wasn't very far from her, but she didn't feel like running there, especially after suddenly fainting, so she chose to just walk home instead.

After arriving, she immediately flopped onto the couch, not thinking about anything else. She made a quiet yawn before drifting off to sleep.