Chapter 157: Get In Me Again!
Groaning in pain, Finn shifted in the darkness, unable to see anything or figure out where he was. All he knew was that they had landed somewhere hard—and somehow, he was still alive.
Moving his arm around, he brushed against something cold and wet. The sudden touch made him jolt, but after feeling it again, he realized it was just mud.
’Great...’ he sighed internally.
More dirt and grime. Wherever they’d landed, it meant filth—and Finn wasn’t happy about it.
But one thing worried him more than the mud: Chestelle. He wasn’t even sure if the poor girl was alright. Tapping against the inside of her wall, he heard a soft, tired rattle in response.
’Okay, good.’
From the feel of things, after running his hands around, Finn realized Chestelle’s lid had slammed open on impact and sunk slightly into the mud. Luckily, he seemed fine—but it made him wonder if Chestelle had taken the worst of it.
Without wasting more time, Finn tried to stretch his body, then paused, questioning himself. Should he really stretch in this cramped space? Or wait until he got out for maximum satisfaction?
He chose to wait.
Rolling over onto his chest in the mud, Finn winced at the disgusting sensation before forcing himself upright. His head throbbed like a brutal hangover, and his back pressed against the inside wall of Chestelle’s chest form.
He closed his eyes, counting down before making one big push.
Planting his feet, he shoved upward, pressing harder and harder until light finally broke into the darkness. Motivated, Finn pushed with everything he had.
With a final heave, Chestelle tipped over, landing on her back with the lid wide open.
Finn scrambled out, stood up on shaky legs, and stretched with a drawn-out groan. His back cracked in several places, making him whimper in strange, shameful pleasure. He yawned wide.
Fixing his posture, he sighed in relief. "God, I needed that." Scratching his back, he looked down at Chestelle still in chest form.
Hands on his hips, he called down to her. "You can turn back to normal, Chestelle. We’re safe now."
Nothing.
He frowned, stepping closer. "I know you aren’t dead. You rattled earlier. Can you stop pretending?"
Still nothing.
Sighing, he crouched down near her and rubbed the front of the chest. "We’re safe now. You can come out."
Once again—nothing.
Groaning in annoyance, Finn stood and gave her a firm kick. "Stop acting like—oh my AGH!"
With a poof, Chestelle turned back into her monster girl form. Grabbing hold of Finn’s leg, she yanked him down on top of her, making him land face-first against her.
All he heard was her giggling, like the whole thing was some silly prank. Hugging Finn tight, she kept laughing.
"This isn’t funny—let go of me!" he barked.
"That was so fun! You love me!!" she squealed.
"What are you even talking about?!" Finn stared at her, her grin wide enough to flash all her sharp teeth.
"You hit all my spots inside me! It felt sooo nice."
His eyes widened. His mouth hung open, then twisted into pure horror. "No, no—what do you mean by that?!"
"It was nice. Get in me again!"
Finn screamed, scrambling against her hold. "I just got my kids back! That doesn’t mean I want kids immediately after!!"
She only hugged him tighter. "Pleaseee."
He shook his head so hard it looked like it might snap off. "NOOOO!"
At last, she let go. Finn rolled off, scrambling across the mud until he shot back up onto his feet, keeping as much distance as humanly possible between them.
Chestelle stood too, still giggling, though a little pouty about Finn rejecting her. Finn couldn’t even process what she’d just asked. Or offered. Or... whatever that was.
It made him wonder what exactly she felt during all that.
’...Maybe another time. Yeah. Definitely another time.’
Shoving that thought deep into the back of his brain, Finn looked around. Time to figure out where the hell they were.
It was still Moistvile—but different. The swamp was gone. Instead, just a wide, endless stretch of mud remained.
Finn froze, dumbfounded. A swamp... just gone? That didn’t make any sense.
Snapping his eyes to Chestelle, he asked, "Did you see anything while all that was happening?!"
"The building getting destroyed?" she tilted her head.
"Yes! Did you see anything while we were flying through the sky?!"
She shook her head. "Nope. Didn’t see anything."
"But you just said you saw the building get destroyed..."
"Yes, you asked me if I saw anything."
"Yeah, what did you see while you were a chest?"
"Nothing."
Finn threw his hands up. "THEN WHY DID YOU SAY YOU SAW SOMETHING?!"
"Because you asked me if I saw something."
"YEAH, BECAUSE YOU SAID YOU SAW THE BUILDING COLLAPSING."
"But I wasn’t a chest then."
Finn’s eye twitched. "So you can’t see anything when you’re a chest."
She shook her head. "Nop."
He went completely quiet, just staring at her.
"You asked if I saw anything, and I told you I did. I can’t see anything as a chest."
Finn took a deep breath, then exhaled through his teeth. He had to calm down. If he didn’t, he’d end up lashing out and doing unspeakable things. Like shaking her violently while screaming.
"...Okay. Let’s stop chatting and figure out where everyone is. Okay?"
"Okay!"
Finn looked out over the wreckage. Moistvile was gone. The swamp was gone. Even the suffocating fog had lifted. Now all that remained was a massive landscape of mud stretching endlessly, and in the distance—where Moistvile once stood—was a huge bubbling pit of swamp water. Or some kind of liquid.
’What the hell...’
Scanning further, Finn spotted movement. People. Actual survivors. His heart leapt with hope.
A cluster of them huddled together, while others were scattered across the mud, some flat on the ground, others barely managing to stand.
If these people had lived, then Majestria and the rest of his party had to be alive. They just had to be.
"Chestelle, are you seeing this?"
"Yeah, I’m seeing it all," she said brightly from behind him.
"How are you seeing it if—" Finn turned and froze.
Chestelle was crouched down, staring directly at his ass.
He kicked her.
Falling to the ground, Chestelle pouted. "Why did you kick me?"
"I’m not answering that."
Finn turned back toward the survivors in the distance, rubbing his chin as he sank deep into thought.
’How are we going to get over there quickly without wasting time?’
Not that there was any real rush—he just wanted to be back with everyone. To check on Seraphina. And to get back to Silvara before she started hunting him down or, worse, decided to punish him now.
"What are you thinking about?" Chestelle tilted her head.
"How we’re going to get back to everyone else quickly."
"Can we run?"
"No. We’re standing on disgusting mud—we’re not running anywhere like this." Finn gestured down at himself. "I mean, look at me! I’m completely coated in junk and gunk."
Chestelle studied him for a moment, then walked over and placed a hand on his shirt.
"What are you doing?"
Without warning, she leaned in and licked his shirt. Her tongue swiped off a patch of grime, leaving a strangely clean spot of white fabric behind.
Finn freaked out, stumbling backward with wide eyes.
"Why did you back away?" she asked innocently.
"WHY DIDN’T I?! You literally licked me!"
"But you said ’look at me,’ and it sounded like you wanted to be cleaned."
Finn rubbed his face with both hands. "Don’t do that again. And please, just act normal."
"Okay!" she said cheerfully.
***
After their little banter, Finn and Chestelle finally started trudging toward the survivors in the distance.
Finn hadn’t come up with any clever ideas—shockingly—so, against his better judgment, he just decided to walk across the sludge. Chestelle could only turn into a chest, not anything remotely useful for travel.
That annoyed him more than he wanted to admit. Sure, she was still learning and growing, but damn—if she could’ve at least turned into a board, he could’ve just slid across the mud instead of suffering like this.
But no. Of course not.
Each step was worse than the last. His boots squelched, sunk, and occasionally got stuck so badly his foot slipped right out, leaving him hopping around like a fool.
And of course, he didn’t stay quiet about it. Finn cursed and complained the entire way like some cranky old grandpa. He couldn’t stand it—not one bit.
Meanwhile, Chestelle somehow looked like she was enjoying herself, trudging happily alongside him. "The mud feels nice on my scales," she chirped.
Finn gave her a dead stare and muttered, "You’re a pig."
Eventually, he realized complaining was only making him angrier. So, with great effort, he shut up and just kept moving. Damn did he hate all of this.
After what felt like an eternity, they finally reached the scattered group of survivors...