Ori slowly opened his tightly shut eyes, shaking in fear. Blitz still had his arms wrapped around Ori's body, but his grasp was weakening. Blitz let out a raspy groan, and his arms limply dropped off of the young spirit on his chest and to his sides.

     Ori shot up, eyeing Blitz with great concern. "Blitz?! Are you okay?!" he asked, clambering up higher on Blitz's chest to get a better look at his face, though it was obscured by the helmet. "Blitz?!" Ori asked again, a little more panicked.

     To Ori's absolute relief, Blitz weakly lifted an arm, and placed it limply over Ori's head. "I'm... hurt. But I'll live," Blitz rasped, his arm falling limply to his side again. He exhaled slowly and painfully, writhing around slightly in pain. Ori nodded, but still felt worried about Blitz's condition. Blitz had certainly proven himself to be resilient, but the young spirit couldn't help but feel anxious for his new friend's wellbeing.

     Ori decided to scan their new surroundings. They were in a massive cavern, on a wooden dock at the base of an underground lake. The water was still putrid, but didn't look nearly as bad as the other bodies of water Ori had encountered. Several waterfalls poured down onto the lake from openings at various points on the cavern's walls, exploding white mist out in all directions and rippling the water in the lake. Fluorescent mushrooms sat in clusters all over the cavern, illuminating the area around them in green light. The rest of the cavern was dark, but not pitch black. At the center of the lake sat an island, and on the island rested a large wooden structure, likely the rogue Gumon's dwelling.

     The Gumon landed at the far wall of the cavern, cackling tauntingly at Ori. Though Ori noticed that the Gumon cast a slightly guilty glance at Blitz's injured form, as if it thought it had gone too far. Still, it leapt backwards into another tunnel, disappearing into the darkness.

     Blitz weakly raised his head, glaring at the Gumon as it vanished into the tunnel. "When I get my hands on that thing, I'll-" he couldn't finish his sentence, as he let out another pained groan and dropped his head again. He was clearly in great pain, unable to even raise his head for too long.

     Ori placed a reassuring hand on Blitz's shoulder. "Don't worry," Ori reassured Blitz, speaking warmly and gently. "I'll get the water vein back. Then I'll come back for you."

     "I'll watch over him, Ori," Sein said, hovering above Blitz protectively. Blitz gave Ori a weak thumbs-up, and Ori nodded before dashing off after the Gumon.

     Ori followed closely on the Gumon's heels as it dashed down the winding, branching stone tunnels. The Gumon cackled as it fled, clearly finding this whole situation quite entertaining. Ori felt greatly annoyed at its antics. "Stop this!" Ori yelled at the Gumon between pants. "We need that water vein to save Nibel! Just give it back!"

     Either the Gumon didn't hear Ori, or it simply didn't care; the ladder was likely the case. Though Ori was certainly faster than it in terms of raw speed, Ori wasn't used to dashing around in tunnels, frequently running into walls. The Gumon, on the other hand, seemed quite experienced, allowing it to nimbly navigate the tunnels and move faster than Ori could. Still, Ori was just barely fast enough to keep the Gumon in his sights.

     After a short while, Ori rounded a corner to find himself standing inside a chamber, two open stone gates on either side. The Gumon stood in the center of the chamber, casting Ori a grin before stomping his feet hard on the stone floor. There was a rumbling, and the ground shook violently. The Gumon then cartwheeled out the gateway on one side of the chamber, and it shut behind him. Then, the gateway behind Ori shut as well, trapping the spirit inside the chamber. The rumbling grew more violent, and worry began to bubble up inside of Ori.

     There was a loud crash, and Ori felt the ground at his hooves start to crack. Ori quickly moved out of the way, before the crack ruptured and a huge, decayed worm thing burst into the air. It hung in the air for a moment, before shooting a purple glob of decay directly at Ori, then falling back into the ground.

     Fil's reflexes kicked in within Ori's mind, and he quickly dodged out of the way. The glob missed him by a hair, spattering onto the stone and leaving a purple, steaming splatter. Ori frantically scanned the chamber for a way out, but to his dismay the only exits were the two shut and locked stone doors.

     With no other option, Ori decided that he would need to fight for his life. He felt Ano's courage in his mind, and he readied himself for when the worm thing would return.

     A few moments later, the ground under Ori's hooves began to crack once more. Ori dodged out of the way, and the worm thing burst into the air in a shower of dust. But before it could fire a glob of decay, Ori quickly ran up to it, blasting it with a focused energy blast. The blast seared the worm's skin, and it shrieked and tumbled to the ground, writhing in pain. Ori wobbled on his feet, tired from the release of energy but not exhausted.

     The worm, however, was not finished. It quickly managed to squirm back into the safety of the stone floor. Ori's heart sank. He only had enough energy for one, maybe two more blasts. Would it be enough to defeat the creature?

     A crack appeared under Ori's hooves once more, signalling the creature's imminent arrival once more. Ori leapt out of the way, but stumbled slightly due to the large loss of energy from his reserves. Once again, the worm thing burst out of the ground, and Ori countered with yet another blast that further depleted his energy. The creature fell again, and Ori spotted a large, open wound on what he assumed was its head, with what looked like a brain resting inside. It writhed around a little, firing a glob of decay in a sort of panic. The glob impacted with the cracked stone gate from which Ori had came, and the gateway crumbled, exposing the exit.

     Ori felt hopeful. He tried to stand, but was too depleted of energy. He could only feebly crawl to the exit, hoping and praying that he would reach it in time. But deep down, he knew he wasn't going to make it. He felt the cracks form under his body, and he tried to crawl out of the way, but knew he wasn't fast enough.

     He shut his eyes tightly, hoping it would be quick.

     Ori felt a searing pain in his side, and he yelped in pain. Something had lodged itself into his side, and it hurt. Suddenly, he was quickly pulled towards the cave entrance, as if the thing in his side was attached to a rope in a pulley system. Moments later, he felt arms wrap around his body in a familiar embrace. He opened his eyes, and saw Blitz holding onto him tightly, a cable emerging out of one of his gauntlets and attaching to the hook in his side. Blitz still seemed quite weak, leaning against the wall and breathing heavily, but had mustered up enough strength to follow Ori and move him out of the way with the grapple in his gauntlet.

     Immediately, the worm thing burst out of the ground, and Blitz reacted fast. He drew his pistol, and quickly fired a round into the creature's exposed brain with surprising, deadly accuracy. Purple brain matter burst out of the creature's head, and it shrieked for a moment, before going silent. Its body landed on the floor with a loud, resounding thump, limp as a ragdoll.

     Blitz sighed with exhaustion, and slumped back against the wall, sliding down to a seated position, heaving from his fatigue. Still, he managed to hold Ori in his arms protectively. He tried to speak, but was far too weak to do so. Sein floated past his shoulder to hover above Ori.

     "Are you okay, child?" Sein questioned, voice wrought with concern. Blitz gazed down at Ori expectantly, wanting to ask the same question but too tired to do so.

     Ori started to nod, but winced as the pain in his side flared up again. He felt a warm, small trickle of blood streaming down his side, and he gestured toward the wound. Blitz weakly turned Ori's body over, and spotted his grappling hook embedded in the side. He cast Ori an apologetic look, but Ori had already forgiven him; after all, it was the only way to get him out of harm's way. Blitz gripped the hook, and Ori braced himself. He whimpered a little as the hook was pulled out, but the pain quickly waned into a mere dull throbbing.

     Blitz let out another sigh, and laid his head against the stone wall, and Ori rested his head on Blitz's forearm, too tired to move. Even Sein seemed exhausted, the wisp resting on the arch of Ori's back. "Thank you, Blitz..." Ori rasped, thankful that Blitz had managed to save his life even after the devastating fall.

     There was a sound of stone scraping against stone as the gateway at the other side of the chamber opened, revealing a short tunnel that led back to another part of the main cavern. The Gumon sat behind the gateway, staring at the trio with bewilderment and curiosity. They had managed to kill the tyrant worm that had tormented him for so long, and they seemed to really care for each other, which deeply confused the Gumon. He simply stared at the trio as they sat in silence.

     The only sounds coming from them were heavy breathing as they slowly recovered their stamina.