#shadoweater

"We have to do something!" I said.

"I will attack them and that will allow you a chance to grab your friend," the shadoweater replied.

"When she's like that?" I pointed at the Sharkwoman, nearly in her full massive shark form. "There's no way I could pick her up. You're going to have to grab her."

"And what will you do?"

"Distract them."

"Distract them?" he asked. "And then how will you get away?"

"I don't know. You just focus on getting her out of here."

Seeing little time for thought, I ran out to the gorillapede gathering and threw my body into the closest gorillapede. Then I ran past it, leapt over the Sharkwoman's body and screamed while I slammed into another gorillapede. It didn't seemed to be very ineffective. However, I did seem to have angered them because when I ran on they started chasing after me. Now I just had to figure out how to get away.

I ran as fast I could. My time in the cage had allowed me a chance to rest, but I was still no match for the gorillapedes. In less than a minute, they had caught up to me. A few gorillapedes had rushed past and curled around back at me. They were in front of me. They were behind me. They were all around me. They had me surrounded!

The gorillapedes began to circle around me. Every now and then one would lean in and growl. They were playing with their food now. I had no way out. There was nothing I could do. At least, that yeti thing had gotten away with the Sharkwoman, I thought.

The gorillapedes moved in for the kill when suddenly a shadow fell upon us. The gorillapedes pulled back with fright. The shadow seemed to come alive. Was it one of those shadowmonsters from the upper floors? How had it gotten down here? Had it come for me?

The shadow swiped at the gorillapedes and they moved back. It swiped again and once again they moved back. Then the shadow pounced and the gorillapedes ran away. For a second, I breathed a sigh of relief but then the shadow turned on me.I remembered what those things had done to the Sharkwoman. I remembered how hard they had been to get away from. I remembered that falling down that hole onto a shrinking island surrounded by a lake of acid with that cabbage looking monster trying to eat me had been a lucky break. And now I was all alone against one of those things with nowhere to go and nothing to protect myself, but then it began to start...shrinking?

Suddenly, a creature fell from the sky and landed on the shadowmonster! No...wait...the shadowmonster was just...this creature's shadow? And even stranger, the creature looked like Tug dressed in chainmail and a shiny helmet that covered his ears. He smiled at me, triumphantly. "How was my Guardian impression?" he asked. "Scared them off, huh? Worked like magic."

to be continued next week