Project: Underground Chapter 5-8

Disclaimer: The characters of Jareth, the goblins, Hoggle, or any other related to Labyrinth are property of Jim Henson Productions. We are in no way affiliated with this company. However, new and original characters, places within the Underground and evolution of the Goblin King are ours. We do not own any other miscellenous affiliations such as from shows, books, movies, etc. This story is for entertaiment purposes only. So please do not sue.
The contents of the fanfiction is written with a mature audience in mind. Comments are welcomed. Enjoy!! ^_^

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Chapter Five: Chilly Down

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"We have no clue how we are going to get into the castle but we sure are going to try. Right Steph?" Chantal asked, she turned to her friend.

"Yeah," Stephanie agreed.

"Let's get moving." Chantal said to everyone and Serek chirped on her shoulder in agreement.

"About bloody time," Jareth said as he walked past the three girls. They followed him, and Chantal rolled her eyes. The group walked down the corridor until it suddenly came to an end.

"What now??" Stephanie asked looking at the dead end. The brick wall was covered in vines that twisted all over the place.

Chantal narrowed her eyes. "How come a shortcut through creepy, touchy hands would end in a dead end?"

"Ah well, who cares. Let's just turn around," Bianca suggested.

Chantal walked up to the wall and stared at it. She moved some of the vines away and noticed something. "Hey! There is a door under here!"

"Wicked!!" Stephanie said as she neared Chantal.

"Help me move these vines out of the way Steph," Chantal told her friend as she grabbed some of the vines and pushed them aside.

"All right," Stephanie said mimicking her friend's movement.

As the vines were pushed away, a large wooden door is revieled. There was no door handle, only a weird looking doorknocker in the center of the door.

Bianca approached and stared at the doorknocker. "It looks like a face," she pointed out.

"You're right," Chantal replied looking at it more closely.

"Wicked!! Let me see!!" Stephanie exclaimed pushing her way between Chantal and Bianca.

Chantal stumbled out of the way. "Ack! Careful Steph!"

"Sorry," Stephanie giggled. Chantal looked back at Jareth and rolled her eyes.

Stephanie looked at the strange looking doorknocker.

"Maybe you should try using the knocker," Bianca suggested. Stephanie smiled at Bianca and turned back to the door. She reached out for the ring. She knocked three times. The knock echoed throughout the door.

Suddenly the doorknocker let out a huge snore, and Stephanie burst out laughing. Jareth gave her a strange look. Stephanie just grinned at him and turned back to the snoring doorknocker. Stephanie tried knocking on the door again. No avail.

"Hey!!" Stephanie started yelling. "Hey!! Wake up!!" she continued yelling and smiling, amused by all this.

Stephanie turned to Chantal and grinned.

"Doesn't look like that is working," Chantal commented. Stephanie then poked the doorknocker, right on its big round nose.

Chantal raised an eyebrow. ‘What were they getting themselves into this time?', she wondered.

Stephanie then sighed, and pinched the doorknocker's nose.

Chantal's eyes grew wide as she watched Stephanie. "Hey Steph, don't kill him or else we might not be able to get through the door."

"I'm only trying to wake him," Stephanie said.

"I know!" Chantal giggled, "Just be careful."

Stephanie let go of the doorknocker's nose and it gasped for breath. Chantal stared at the doorknocker.

"Hello?" She said aloud to it. The doorknocker opened one eye and stared back at Chantal.

"What do you want?"

"We want to go through the door." Chantal replied staring back

.

"Well I can't let you pass," it said.

"Why not?" Chantal said glaring at it, starting to grow impatient.

"I was told by the Goblin King, not to let anyone pass," it snorted and started closing its one opened eye.

"Well we are in the company of the Goblin King, and you don't want to get him mad now do you?" Chantal asked as she stepped aside to reveal the Goblin King behind her.

"Oh, um, no," it stammered as Jareth stared at it. A click of a lock was heard and the door slowly swung open.

"Thank you," Chantal smiled as she walked through the door.

Stephanie gave one last look at the doorknocker. "Sorry," she said.

Jareth followed Stephanie and Chantal to the doorway leaving Bianca behind with her dog. As he held the door, he stared at the doorknocker and grinned. ‘At least some of the creatures here were still loyal,' he thought.

"Come on Bianca!!" Stephanie called out. Bianca snapped out of a daze and turned towards Stephanie.

"Coming!" she said as she headed towards the open door.

Jareth stood in the doorway, letting Bianca pass before he continuing through the door himself. Once on the other side, the door closed solidly behind the group, locking with a click. There was no doorknocker on this side of the door, therefore no way back, only forward.

Chantal twirled around to take in their new surroundings. She couldn't believe the change in scenery. They were now in a forest, the light was dimer and the air damp. A well worn path lead through the forest, with tall leafy green trees on either side.

"Wow!!" Stephanie gasped, then she began to giggle. "This place looks familiar."

"Familiar how?" Chantal asked, still looking around. Serek scrambled on her shoulder and climbed up on her head to get a better view. Before Stephanie could answer, two bright furry red and orange creatures jumped out in front of them. Bianca, who was right behind Chantal and Stephanie, took a step back, holding on tightly to Bebe's leash.

"Fireys!!" Stephanie giggled.

"When the sun goes down, " one of the creatures began to sing.

"When the sun goes down, " the other echoed.

The Fireys began to move around the three girls. Serek climbed back down to Chantal's shoulder and watched the creatures cautiously.

"And the bats are back to bed," said one.

"And the bats are back to bed ," echoed the other.

"The brothers come 'round ."

All of a sudden, two more Fireys jumped out of the bushes, in front of the girls and begin to sing.

"The brothers come 'round," they sung.

They all began dancing around the three girls, grabbing and poking at them as they continued their song.

"I get out of my dirty bed (my dirty bed),

I shake my pretty little head (I shake my pretty little head),

Tap my pretty little feet (tap my pretty little feet),

Feeling brighter than sunlight (oh),

Louder than thunder (oh),

Bouncing like a yo-yo, wooh (oh)."

Chantal pulled away from the Fireys, while Serek hissed at the creatures from her shoulder.

"Don't got no problems (no problems),

Ain't got no suitcase (no suitcase),

Ain't got no clothes to worry about (no clothes to worry about),

Ain't got no real estate or jewelry or gold mines to hang me up."

Bianca held Bebe back as the Fireys danced around. The dog barked and growled at everything that would pass by.

"I just throw in my hand (throw in my hand),

With the chilliest bunch in the land (in the land),

They don't look much (oh),

They sure chilly chilly (oh),

They positively glow glow, huh (oh)."

Stephanie's eyes grew wide in facination as she watched every movement of the Fireys.

"Chilly down with the fire gang,

Think small with the fire gang (It's the only way),

Bad hep with the fire gang (a smile a day keeps the doctor away),

When your thing gets wild,

Chilly down.

Chilly down with the fire gang (Hey, I'm a wild child),

Act tall with the fire gang (whoo, walk tall),

Good times, bad food (yeah),

When your thing gets wild,

Chilly down, chilly down."

All of a sudden the Fireys popped off their heads and started throwing them back and forth amongst each other. Catching, dropping and throwing. Stephanie giggled a little while Chantal rolled her eyes and Bianca held Bebe so she wouldn't start chasing the Fireys. Stephanie caught one of the singing Firey heads and grinned..

"Drive you crazy, really lazy, eye rollin', funky strollin', ball playin',

Hip swayin', trouble makin', booty shakin', tripping, passing, jumping,

Bouncing, drivin', stylin', creeping, pouncing, shoutin', screamin',

Double dealin', rockin', rollin', and a reelin',

With the mackin' sex appealin',

Can you dig our groovy feelin'?"

"AHEM!?" Jareth cleared his throat loudly.

All the Fireys grabbed a head and stuck it on their bodies, one of them roughly grabbed the one Stephanie held, then looked up to where the voice had come from. Jareth stepped out of the shadows and glared at the fox like, red and orange creatures. Their eyes grew wide and suddenly they were gone.

Chantal turned on a dime and looked at Jareth. "Woah, they sure seem to be scared of you," Chantal giggled.

Jareth didn't reply, only grinned.

"You are just jealous that they were singing and not you," Stephanie accused Jareth.

"Am not! They were an annoyance," Jareth said glaring at the eighteen year old.

"Admit it!!" Stephanie said glaring back.

Jareth quickly looked around and spotted Bianca holding back Bebe, who looked very uncomfortable.

"I think your friend might want to go home," Jareth said changing the subject.

"Huh??" Stephanie said and turned to look at Bianca.

Bianca stood there, the expression on her face showed that she was a bit frightened. She kept shifting her weight from foot to foot looking in Stephanie's direction.

"Bianca, are you all right??" Stephanie asked, worried.

"Um, yeah...I-I'm fine," she replied.

Chantal looked over to Bianca. "You don't look all that well. Maybe we should get you home." Chantal turned to and looked at Jareth. "Can we do that and not lose ground?"

Jareth looked at the frightened girl. "If my magic still works."

"That's right. You said that you had trouble with entering the castle so that means...it's worth a try." Stephanie said trailing off.

Chantal began playing with her necklace as she thought. "I wonder if you use us as a kind of anchor, maybe you can return right to this spot. If that makes any sense to you at all," Chantal suggested, looking up at Jareth.

"We won't know until we try," Jareth replied.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Chantal said, her hands on her hips.

"I can't just go and drop her off anywhere, now can I?" Jareth countered. "Especially not in the middle of a busy street. People might wonder."

Chantal turned to Bianca. "Where were you when Bebe got away from you?" she asked.

"Um, I was at Gilies Lake, it's close to my house. The park is sort of secluded." Bianca said looking at the Goblin King.

Jareth nodded. "Good enough."

Jareth walked over to Bianca extended his hand to her. Bianca eyed him shyly, not sure whether she should take it or not. She extended her hand and Jareth took it. Bianca blushed furiously. Jareth then turned to the girls. "I'll return in a few minutes." Suddenly they were gone.

Chantal looked over to Stephanie. "And now we wait and hope he can make it back."

"Yeah, who knows what is happening in this place." Stephanie said.

"Yeah! And it seems like almost anything can happen in this place," Chantal replied, looking up at the trees. There was no way to see the castle from this place, or any other part of the huge maze.

Serek jumped off of Chantal's shoulder and glided over to where Stephanie was standing, landing on her shoulder. He squeaked in her ear.

"Hmm?? What is it Bob??" Stephanie said, looking at Serek and petting his head. Serek rubbed his head against Stephanie's hand, trying to get more attention.

Chantal looked down at her watch. "Gods, I keep forgetting time flows differently here." Stephanie laughed. Chantal stuck her tongue out at her friend, laughed, then sighed. "Where is that guy?"

Stephanie shrugged. "I don't know. Do you think he couldn't return??"

"I don't know, but if he uses us as an anchor, or even a beacon, he might be able to get to us. From what I understand, the closer to the castle you get, the stronger the magic force. We aren't that close yet."

"No, we're not close enough," Stephanie sighed. "Well, if he doesn't get here soon, we might have to continue without him."

Suddenly they heard rustling in the bushes behind them. Both girls spun around, but the noise stopped.

"Oh no! Not them again! I don't think I could put up with more head popping songs," Chantal said, rolling her eyes. "Jareth better get here soon."

"Oh, so you missed me, eh?" Jareth said from behind her.

"Ack!" Chantal spun around quickly. "Well maybe not that much."

Stephanie smiled. "It worked!!"

"Indeed it did," Jareth said with a half smile.

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Chapter Six: Not Again!!

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"Do you always have to sneak up on people like that?" Chantal asked the Goblin King.

"Yes. It's a hobby of mine to sneak up on people. Especially you," He replied sarcastically.

Chantal groaned and rolled her eyes. "I'm glad I'm not stuck alone with you. I might go crazy."

"Okay Chantal. Let's go," Stephanie said as she grabbed her friend's arm and pulled her down the trail.

"Ack!" Chantal managed.

Serek crawled over to Stephanie's other shoulder, wrapping his tail around her neck. Stephanie gave the little purple dragon another pat and continued on her way down the trail. Chantal followed not too far behind, and behind her, Jareth.

As the group walked down the path, they could hear faint sounds of the Fireys in the distance. Stephanie giggled and began to hum the Fireys' song.

Jareth stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the back of Stephanie's head. He then let out a loud half sigh, half groan.

Chantal turned her head around and looked at the Goblin King. When she saw who he was looking at, she stopped. "Um...Steph!"

"Hmm??" her friend said stopping and turning around. Chantal pointed back at the Goblin King, but didn't say anything.

Stephanie looked at Jareth. "What??"

"Please do not encourage them. They will only slow us down," he told her.

"Sorry, but it's catchy," she said apologizing.

Jareth nodded. "Let's just keep going."

The group continued on their way through the forest. They could still hear the Fireys in the distance, but none of them came very close to them. Stephanie held back her urge to hum the "Chilly Down" song of the Fireys. As they walked, the forest around them slowly started to disappear, leading them into an open area.

Stephanie continued to walk down the path, when she suddenly felt a hand on her arm, holding her back.

"Careful," Jareth said. Stephanie looked up at him confused.

Jareth bent down to pick up a rock and tossed it in front of her. Instead of landing on the dry ground, it disappeared.

"Oubliettes." Jareth told her.

"Oh, what fun!" Chantal said coming up to them. "One question! How do you propose we get around this?"

"Very, very carefully," Jareth replied.

"That's it? That is your genius plan?" Chantal asked seriously. She pulled off her pack and pulled out a water bottle. She unscrewed the cap and took a drink.

Jareth turned around and walked over to a tree, picking up a dead, arm length branch from the ground.

"Oh I get it!! Poke our way across," Stephanie said.

Jareth walked over to an area where he thought an oubliette would be and tapped the ground. "We can find where it is safe to walk if the tip of the stick doesn't disappear."

Jareth tapped the ground in another spot and saw that it was solid. He took a step forward. The girls followed only a few steps behind him. It was a slow moving process, but they made their way across the field of oubliettes.

Chantal shaded her eyes and looked around Jareth into the distance. She sighed. "We still have a ways to go."

Serek squeaked and unwrapped his tail from Stephanie and climbed up onto her head.

Stephanie looked up at Serek. "Don't mess up my hair too much, Bob."

Jareth continued to lead the way, poking to find solid ground to stand on. As the minutes ticked by, they slowly worked their way to the other side.

"We are almost there," Jareth told them.

"Really??" Stephanie said as she tried to look around Jareth and Chantal. She placed a foot to the side a little to get a better view from the taller people in front of her.

Behind her, Chantal heard Serek squeak. She turned around and saw Serek trying to stay afloat in the air, but no sign of Stephanie.

"Steph? STEPH? She's gone!" Chantal said, starting to panic.

Jareth turned around.

"Bloody hell," he cursed, with the stick he poked the ground behind Chantal.

It was solid.

"The oubliette has closed over. We cannot get her back from here," Jareth said.

"What?" Chantal said as her eyes grew wide. She dropped to the ground and started pounding the ground. "STEPH! Where are you Steph?"

Stephanie screamed as she slid down the tunnel of the oubliette. Her scream echoed off the dark tunnel's walls. At the end of the tunnel, she hit a bump and tumbled over, landing on her stomach.

"Owww. That hurt," she said, not moving. She laid there for a while, trying to catch her breath.

She slowly lifted her head and looked around. It was just light enough to see where she was. Her eyes grew wide as she recalled what just happened.

"Pasta Vazoo!! Not again!!"

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Chapter Seven: Strange Reflections

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"I doubt that is going to help," Jareth told Chantal as she continued to pound the ground. He waited.

Chantal stopped and looked up. "Ahhh, Steph! You did this on purpose to leave me alone with him," she mumbled and sunk to the ground even more. Serek landed on her shoulder and rubbed his head against her cheek.

"Can't we go down another oubliette and find her?" Chantal asked Jareth.

He shook his head. "The oubliettes aren't connected." He paused. "She made it out of the oubliettes last time. I'm sure she will make it out again and meet up with us."

Chantal nodded.

"We better get going," the Goblin King said as he turned back around and continued poking his way across to the other side. Chantal quietly followed behind.

Stephanie groaned. "Why do these things always happen to me??"

She pushed herself into a sitting position and looked around the oubliette. The first thing she noticed was that the walls were covered in reflective glass.

"Odd. Very odd." she said aloud, her voice echoed in the dim lit room.

Stephanie got up, walked over to one of the mirrors and stared into it. She then poked it, her reflection did the same. She placed her hands on the solid mirror and she looked more closely, there seemed to be an exit reflecting in the mirror behind her. But when she turned around there was no exit. Only a solid rock wall.

"Creepy!! I think it's time to get out of here now," she said, turned to her left and saw a narrow hallway. "Well that looks promising," she said as she took her hands off the mirror. She gave the mirrored exit a last look and walked towards the hallway.

Behind and unknown to her, her reflection still stood there, hands flat upon the mirror. It poked its head out of the mirror and looked in the direction Stephanie had gone. It smiled and retreaded back into the mirror and out the exit.

"Finally!" Chantal exclaimed dropping to the ground with a thud. She pulled out her water bottle again and took a huge gulp of water.

It had taken her and Jareth fifteen more minutes to cross the oubliette field. Jareth stood nearby, still holding the poking stick, he didn't say a word, lost in his thoughts.

Chantal recapped her bottle and replaced it in her pack. She took a quick look back at the field they had just crossed and sighed. She had been separated before from Stephanie in the Labyrinth, but this time was different. She was alone with Jareth, the Goblin King. Even though she had accepted to help him out, she didn't fully trust him. He was, of course, the villain.

Chantal got to her feet and looked at Jareth. "Well, we better get moving before out time runs out."

Jareth nodded. He put down the branch and gestured for Chantal to lead the way.

She took one last look behind her, hoping Stephanie would be standing there, but there was no sign of her friend. With a sigh, Chantal continued down the path, Serek on her shoulder and Jareth not too far behind.

They walked a short way in silence, when they suddenly came up to a small cube sitting on the path. Chantal walked up to it and stared down at it. The cube was no bigger than one of those Rubic cubes, but was solid black. Chantal turned around and looked at Jareth with a puzzled look on her face.

"Don't look at me. I have never seen anything like it," he said, approaching the cube. He bent down to pick it up.

Chantal's eyes grew wide and she reached out and touched Jareth on the arm.

"NO!"

It was too late.

The cube let out a flash of light and suddenly they were surrounded by darkness.

"You stupid fool!" Chantal cursed. "You couldn't tell just by looking at it that it was a trap? Geeze!"

Serek hissed at Jareth in the darkness.

Jareth grumbled, but didn't say anything else.

Chantal sighed. "Well, usually where there is a way in, there is a way out. Right?"

"Well it's possible," Jareth replied simply.

Chantal shook her head in the darkness, then pulled off her backpack and unzipped it. She reached inside, feeling around for something.

"No, that's not it. Where the heck are you?" she said as she felt around.

"What are you doing?" Jareth asked.

"AHA!" Chantal said as she pulled out a flashlight and flicked it on. The light beamed right into Jareth's face, causing him to wince. "Oops! Sorry! Didn't know you where there."

Chantal handed Jareth the flashlight. "Hold this please. Thank you." She looked into her pack to see if she could find the second flashlight.

"A little light over here? Geeze!"

"You said to hold the light, not to point in a certain direction," Jareth nearly snapped.

Chantal rolled her eyes and groaned. "Men! All the same. Please shine the light in my bag so I can find my second flashlight. Thank you."

She pulled out the second light, but when she turned it on, it glowed for a moment then flickered out. "Damn! Light over here for a minute more."

Unzipping the small pocket on the front of the bag, Chantal pulled out two batteries and replaced the dead ones with the new.

"There! Now, let's take a look around here," Chantal said flashing the light around her. Jareth did the same. She noticed four black walls. Most with some kind of text on them, one that had three smooth stones protruding from the wall.

"Looks like some kind of puzzle," Chantal said as she turned back to one of the walls that had writing on it. She shone the light on the wall and saw the words were in English. She started reading them.

Black within,

Trapped within.

"Ya, well that makes sense, considering the situation we are in," Chantal said aloud. She turned to the next wall.

Caress the light,

By solving the puzzle.

"Well that is some hope," Jareth said and Chantal moved to the next and final wall.

A black box, a trap box.

Set by the double.

"Okay. Now what?" Chantal asked looking over to Jareth.

"Hey! Don't look at me," he said glaring at her.

"Why not?" Chantal snapped and glared back. "You got us into this mess."

She spun away from him and began reading the wall to the left next to the wall with the protruding stones.

"It's some kind of clue, but they don't seem to be much of a clue," she said, mostly talking to herself.

Jareth groaned.

"What? Don't mock me for talking to myself. I seem to be able to solve puzzles and problems better if I talk my way through it. Especially programing. So, shush!" Chantal told him. She turned to the wall with the stones.

"Hey, each stone has a number above it. '1' , '2' and '3'. All right, now that might be of some use."

Chantal turned back to the other three walls and read the clues carefully over and over again, trying to figure it out.

"Aha!" Chantal said aloud. She stood facing the wall opposite from the wall with the protruding stones. "The walls coincide with the protruding stones. This wall to my left is 'A', The wall in front of me is 'C', and the wall to my right is 'B'. You can tell that this is so because each clue starts with A, B and C. But..."

"But what?" Jareth asked impatiently.

"I know the order, but where do we start? 1, 2 and 3 probably don't correspond to the same walls as they are named alphabetically. But hold on...if I'm facing the wall with the stones, wall 1 could be the wall to my left and wall 3 the wall on my right. Leaving wall 2 the wall behind me, the wall between the two others."

"Well what are you waiting for then?" Jareth snapped.

"Well I didn't say I was positive. I'm just trying to think logically," Chantal said, still staring at the protruding stones. "Well it's worth a shot."

She walked up to the stones and touched the stone with the '3' above it. She paused for a moment, then she touched the stone with the '1' above it, then the stone in the center. All the stones began to glow and the four walls began to shake.

"Oh no! Maybe I was wrong," Chantal squeaked. Serek echoed her.

Suddenly there was a flash of light, blinding them.

Once their eyes returned to normal, they found themselves back on the trail, still at the edge of a forest, no black box in sight.

"Yeah! We are out!" Chantal said as she jumped up and hugged Jareth. Jareth smiled a little.

Realizing who she has just hugged, Chantal pushed away. "Ack! And next time, don't touch anything."

Stephanie sighed. "Pasta Vazoo!! I'm getting nowhere fast!!" she stumbled around in the dim oubliette. "This is deja vu all over again." She mumbled. She looked around the room but still couldn't find any exits.

"Great!! How am I supposed to get out of here??" she twirled around, looking up. Then she stopped. Very faint sunlight could be seen above her in a round tunnel. Vines could be seen dangling within reach.

"Ha!! It's a piece of cake!!" she blurted out. Her eyes went wide as she slapped a hand over her mouth.

Nothing happened.

She breathed out, relieved. She knew uttering those words could always prove disastrious. Stephanie aligned herself to one group of vines and struggled and jumped, trying to reach the hanging vines. The girl finally grabbed onto some vines and began to climb, her feet at the round wall, helped her ascend more quickly. Her progress was good.

Suddenly her foot slipped on the slimy mildewy wall and she was swung roughly to the other side.

"Ow!!" Stephanie cried out, hanging onto the vines as they twirled her around. She almost lost her grip. She continued to thump against the wall. She held onto the vines, her eyes closed as she slowly stopped spinning. The sound of training of the vines stretching under her weight was heard. She opened her brown eyes and looked up.

"Oh!!" she groaned and looked desperately around for more vines.

"Yes!!" she breathed and tried to reach out. She stretched her arm as far as she could, the vines were far from reach, she'd have to swing herself across. Pushing herself from the wall, after swinging for a minute, her fingers brushed against the pile of vines. The snapping of a few vines was heard.

"Just hold on!!" she told the vines. "Where are those 'Helping Hands' when you need them??" She swung hard and finally managed to grab hold of the new vines. Stephanie sighed, relieved as the vines she'd left, fell down into the darkness of the oubliette.

Stephanie looked up and saw an opening in the wall above her. She climbed until she faced the opening. The girl pushed herself onto the bottom of the opening. The tunnel was small enough for her to pass through on her hands and knees. She started to crawl, hoping that the tunnel would actually lead her somewhere and with an exit.

'Damn there goes my jeans again,' Stephanie thought.

The tunnel started leading slightly upwards, her progress echoed against the walls and ceiling. She coughed as some dust swirled around her. Soon sunlight appeared and lit the tiny tunnel.

Finally!!" Stephanie said squinting in the light. Her hand touched a bar.

"Aw!!" she sighed and saw the barred closure in front of her. All this trouble only to be barred in.

"Damn!!" she swore and started to shake and pull at the bars "Come on!!" she put a foot beside the doorway and pulled some more.

After a moment, she let out a short scream of frustration.

"Pasta Vazoo!! This bites!!" she sat with her legs crossed and folded her arms across her chest, glaring at the doorway. She was pondering the idea of going back to the vines and continue climbing up.

"Why do I always get stuck in these stupid things anyway??" she yelled and leaned sideways against the thick bars.

Click.

The barred door opened and Stephanie fell.

"Right...should've just pushed instead. Idiot." she muttered to herself. "They should have signs that say "push" at least!!" she added as she crawled through the doorway and into the warm sunlight.

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Chapter 9-11 up next.