The Hollow had returned, and was tussling his way through the bushes lining yet another path, lost as always. This time, of course, he had a purpose: this time, he was searching for mine girl, and her mine things. The bushes, however, hurt; this was very uncomfortable, and the little Hollow gave a low burp of dismay before nature ran it's course and his many tentacles took on the texture and nature of the earth beneath him. The little beast burped in pleasure before trundling through the bushes more comfortably now, seeking his mine and her mines.

Skip. Skip. Roll. Hop. Skip. Run. Jump. Fall.

Chiki-chan and the Doll-sans were in the middle of another exciting game of follow the leader-san! Or had been as Chiki-chan and the Doll-sans had fallen right into a giant mud puddle and were now playing dodgeball with goopey handfuls (or other appendage-fulls) of the stuff. Chiki-chan was the loudest of the bunch; Chiki-chan was the only one who could yell after all, and yell Chiki-chan did. Lots and lots of yelling, until Chiki-chan caught a mudball right in the kisser! D8 Then there was some choking and whathaveyou and some other stuff which made lots of noise as Chiki-chan hyurked the mud out. All of this took place somewhere down the line of Wiggly Ball-san's course.

Before long, the earthen Tangellow stumbled upon the mud pit full of mine and burbled loudly, his body shedding the earthen tones as it considered the sight: mud! Mudmudmud! MUD!

With a mighty belch, the wad of tentacles flew through the air before harumphing into the mud with a great squelch, at which point the tentacled beast simply squatted messily in the mud, mask barely above the squishy stuff, and enjoyed the cool, wet feeling, having quite temporarily forgotten the shrieky little girl and her coughhacky dolls.

Suddenly Wiggly Ball-san!

Chiki-chan squealed in surprise at the unexpected arrival of the totally unexpected guest-san! 8O "Wiggly Ba-" And Chiki-chan caught another mud ball right in the mouth! The Doll-sans were taking this opportunity to pelt both Chiki-chan and Wiggly Ball-san with as much mud as their wacky limbs could deliver!

Suddenly mud! The little mine began to shout something, and then caught some of the cold yucky in her mouth; Tangellow, too, began to be pelted by the sludge, and knew not how to respond.

Until suddenly he did.

Rising up a bit in the mud, Tangellow let loose a low belch before six tentacles rose up, curled just enough to allow them to hold a swath of mud each - these tentacles then began to flap furiously, filling the air with muck in rapid scoop-sling-scoop combinations. The mud war beginneth!

D8

"Chiki-chan under fire!" Chiki-chan wailed miserably once Chiki-chan had coughed out all the yuck once again. Indeed, Chiki-chan was catching mud from all sides! Wiggly Ball-san and the Doll-sans were on the offense and all Chiki-chan could do was take cover! Except there was no cover! D8 So Chiki-chan did the only other thing that made sense; Chiki-chan dove straight into the middle of the mud puddle! Mud went everywhere in a big sludgy wave!

Time seemed to slow as the monstrous - or not - wave of mud loomed over - or not so much - Tangellow; the creature comprehended his doom - mud-wise anyway - and let his tentacles fall limp to his sides, opening his maw for one final massive belch before death - or mud, anyway - enveloped him.

When the tide settled, there lay Tangellow in a shallow pool of muck, a broken - or at least kinda surprised - heap of tentacles and gas. His tentacles waggled weakly, attempting to urge life back into his core - or at least to shake the mud off the tentacles - in order to allow him to again draw breath - because his mask was totally covered in yuck.

After a few moments the Hollow broke free of the curse of the mud-bath and gasped loudly, letting loose a low belch or two for good measure, before wiggling this way and that, attempting to discern what should next be it's course of action.

Unlike Wiggly Ball-san, Chiki-chan and the Doll-sans were having a blast. They rolled. They swam. They continued to fling mud. They were some fancy synchronized mudders.