Salazar and Groundy once again avoided peril, but there was one more milestone before they reach Mountryu: The Graveyard Swamp. But as usual, they were losing. Adrian and his friends were still ahead. But Salazar was eager, he wanted to become a Marmera more than anything. Some would think it wouldn't be worth trying. After all, even if they did reach the mountain, it would all be for nothing. Adrian would likely burn every last fruit, and Salazar would be a Marmera forever. But Salazar was hypnotized by this cryptic foodstuff. Even with himself doubting their efforts, they had come too far to turn back now. But Salazar and Groundy were both pretty weak. Or maybe Adrian wasn't trying hard enough.

Salazar and Groundy were walking through the Valley Forest past the Betha Ruins. Salazar was holding onto the map that the Hermit gave them. "According to this map, the Graveyard Swamp is just beyond the... the... blurry valery bash colny... err..." Groundy went up to the Map. Salazar showed her the map. "Can you read what that says?" Salazar asked. "I thought I told you Grounderls can't see very well, silly," Groundy stated. Salazar couldn't help but giggle at the comment. "Sorry I forgot," Salazar said. "No one's perfect. Even I'm just a mortal. ...Hey, I still have some bread, you want some?" Salazar neared his tail over to Groundy, which was holding the bread in its grip. Groundy put her claws up in front of the tail. "Nah. Maybe later," she said. Salazar was kind of shocked at her response. "How can you not be hungry?" Salazar asked. "We've been adventuring for hours. Surely you've worked up an appetite by now." Groundy shook her head. She was, indeed, hungry, but she had her sights on helping Salazar more than eating bread.

Eventually, Salazar ran into another creature while he was talking to Groundy. When he looked up, he saw a relatively large Marmera. Salazar jumped backward, startled to see another Marmera. He almost thought it was his brother, or even one of his friends. ...But it was not so. "Hello little ones," the Marmera said. "Is something wrong?" Salazar slowly turned his head to look at the Marmera. He didn't even have a letter on his chest, and he was too fat to be Adrian or Zeno. "Sorry about that," Salazar apologized. "I thought you were my brother. ...Huh?" Salazar looked around and saw a place filled with Marmera, Pash, and Opolars. "Welcome to the Vallia Pash Colony," the Marmera responded.

It was true, they had stumbled upon another Pash Colony. And the Pash in this colony were all playing happily, running around, and laughing. The Opolars were helping out Marmera and Pash with their daily chores, such as hauling wood and other construction activities. Some of the Marmera were peacefully watching the Pash play, even giggling to themselves and going "awww" at the rascals. Everyone here seemed so... friendly. ...Not like the Miggens citizens. In Miggens, the smart were always picked on by the others throughout their entire life span. That's why the teachers were relatively nice to Salazar, but some of the students didn't like him. Even the friends he did have, he lost after he turned into a Pash. But here, it didn't matter if you were strong or smart, everyone got along.

...There was one creature here who seemed out of place. Salazar could make out a rumbling sound in the background. He looked around and noticed a gargantuan Kangersome slowly hopping over to what seemed to be a platform of some sort. Near the platform was a crank. And every time the Kangersome would hop, he would shake the ground as he landed. Kangersome were notorious for being incredibly strong, but also incredibly slow and heavy. Eventually, the Kangersome reached the platform, slowly dragged his frame onto the platform, and started to wind the crank up. The platform rose up into a tree, eventually obscuring the Kangersome from sight. The fact that a non-Pash member lived here also made Salazar feel happy inside. He kind of wanted to live here, and learn more about the Colony.

"You're not the first Pash member to come here," Salazar snapped back into reality. "I wonder if you're looking for the four who were here just not a few earlier," the Marmera asked. Salazar widened his eyes up. "Did... did one of them look angry and have a huge flaming A on his chest?" Salazar asked. The Marmera nodded. "Yes, I do believe so. He was also accompanied by two Opolars and another Marmera." Salazar twisted his head over to Groundy. "We're losing, Groundy!" he said before running off. Groundy followed in foot. "We can still catch them," she said aloud. "We've come too far to give up, we have to keep trying."

The Marmera was relatively confused. "Hey wait, what's going on?" Groundy continued running off, but Salazar turned around and said his case. "Sorry about this. It's kind of an emergency," he said. "We are following those guys you mentioned. They're trying to burn down Mountryu's Dragonfruit tree! Sorry!" Salazar started up again, running after Groundy. Eventually, they could see a thick bog ahead in the distance, with a lot of mist and such.

"It looks like we're almost at the Graveyard Swamp," Groundy said as she pointed to an area with lots of trees. Salazar eventually caught up to Groundy as they reached the swamp. Salazar took a moment to catch his breath before looking out. "This won't be pleasant but we have to go through the water to the other side. Let's..." Salazar was stopped by an odd sound. "Oh man, really? Someone's here too?" Salazar asked. "Why is Adrian so intent at stopping me from reaching that mountain?" Groundy looked around, trying to find the source. "I doubt that came from a friendly source," she said. "Let's just go through the swamp."

Groundy lead the way to the edge of the bog. Salazar looked across the swamp in anticipation. The swamp was called "Graveyard Swamp" for a reason, but Salazar was too fixated on Mountryu to care. "What are we waiting for?" Salazar asked Groundy. Groundy tilted her head. "I... I don't know. It doesn't look safe." Salazar started to become frantic. "Who cares. We have to hurry!" Salazar cried before running into the swamp. ...The QUICKSAND Graveyard Swamp. The moment Salazar's foot set atop the mucky muck, it sank right in, and Salazar's body started to get swallowed by the swamp.

"ARGH, why am I so desperate!" Salazar cried out. "I completely forgot that the Graveyard Swamp is actually a quicksand bog!" For someone who was supposed to be really smart, he sure did dumb things at times. But then again... maybe he was just smart in different areas. But his desire worked in odd ways, as they got farther and farther in their journey, Salazar became more and more desperate. The feeling of "Maybe we should turn back while we still had our life" was almost gone. Even in his sinking prison, Salazar still thought more about the fruit than his life.

"Groundy, HELP!" Salazar cried out. Groundy held her claw out for Salazar to grab. Salazar latched onto the claw and Groundy pulled tight. But no matter how hard she pulled, she was not strong enough to help Salazar. "I'm trying!" Groundy said as she got closer, hoping to put more strength in her arms by using her feet to push down, causing her arms to work harder. ...But she stepped to close, and got stuck in the quicksand too. "Now what do we do?" Salazar asked. Groundy started to panic. "There's only one thing we can do," she said. And then she cried out. "HELP! HEEEEELP!!!"

But as luck would have it, help was closer than they thought. A wandering monster along the shore of the quicksand spotted them. The wandering monster got closer and smiled at the group, holding his arm out. "Sure, I'll help," the kind monster said. The monster was yellow in color, with an off-white mane, thick yellow fur, and a dog like face with floppy ears. The ears had little lightning bolts printed on them. The dog like monster grabbed into Groundy and pulled her out with ease. Groundy took one look at the creature in disbelief. "You... You're a Shockiu," Groundy mentioned before the creature set her aside. Next up was Salazar, who the Shockiu managed to pull out just as easily. He then set the two together as to avert their attention to him. "That's right, I am a Shockiu," the monster said, confirming Groundy's assumption. Grounderl got to see quite a few Shockiu at colonies, so they could recognize them easily.

"But what are you doing here?" Salazar asked. "You seem like a random occurrence." The Shockiu looked out into the swamp. "I come here every day to look out to the Swamp, see if there are any Kasterious about. What are YOU doing here?" Salazar looked out to the swamp as well, to see what he was mentioning of. "We... We need to get to Mountryu," he said. The Shockiu shook his head. "Give it up, you are not crossing this swamp without wings," the Shockiu said. "Although... there is ONE way." Salazar's ears perked up. He got closer and listened to what the Shockiu had to say.

"Do you see that out there?" the Shockiu asked, pointing out to the Swamp. "What is it?" Groundy asked, just catching another strange creature. Both Groundy and Salazar saw a strange, purple creature with what looked like a red hat in the shape of an umbrella. It was hopping across the swamp as if it were nothing. "That creature out there is a Kasterious. Marvelous creature, huh? I spent a lot of my life studying them. I hear they can support a lot of weight, and they have the ability to walk across the dangerous Graveyard Swamp. But they do not approach those who do not have a single sandal in their hands." Salazar looked at Groundy and shrugged. "Great, how are we going to find a Sandal?" Salazar asked. The Shockiu continued. "There lives a monster named Smith in the Vallia Pash colony. He is famous for his shoes. In fact, his sandals are famous." Salazar started to feel around his body and noticed that he still had some money left. "Okay, but where is Vallia?" Groundy asked. Salazar wanted to slam his claw into his face, but didn't out of respect. "We were just there, silly," Salazar said with as smile.

Salazar and Groundy were ready to head back, until they remembered one thing. "Wait... did you see any other Pash family here?" Salazar asked the Shockiu. "Yeah, I saw a few earlier, but I think they left," Shockiu answered. This gave Salazar hope. "So they haven't crossed the swamp yet?" Salazar asked enthusiastically. "Then we still have a chance!" Groundy cried. Salazar and Groundy started to run back to the colony. Salazar let out one last "Thank you Shockiu," before the two were on the trail back to Vallia. There they may realize their hope, retrieve a sandal from the one named Smithy, and make it to Mountryu before his brother.



Groundy and Shockiu belong to  Burgundy-Maroon2012