Familiarity

Button grasped the neck region of his jumpsuit. "Got to say, these new suits are way less comfortable than the last ones. These kind of itch and smell like ink mixed with plastic."

"I know what you mean." Sweetie shifted her leg in a kicking motion. "Feels like these could chaff if they ever get wet. Not a fan of the material either, feels cheaper in some ways."

The two were currently standing next to their sliding door, the sounds of the water flowing behind them. They were debating on taking a long rest but felt like they had gotten a decent amount of sleep already. Somehow, food pouches were provided from within the tent but tasted bland and almost watered down compared to their last meal. Suffice to say, they were ready to get moving between the bland food and lack of a need for sleep.

Button reached out, watching as the door slid open. "Feels like we got a new theme going at least. Going from ships and water to a forest or jungle like region. I just hope this doesn't mean things are about to start ramping up like they tend to when you get to a new region in a video game."

Sweetie nodded as the two entered, walking down a short brightly lit white hallway before stepping through another door into a lush feeling jungle like room. The two could hardly make out the walls as large trees surrounded them. The air smelled humid and the sounds of birds over a bad speaker could be heard.

"Welcome." Came a very familiar voice.

"Hang on that sounds like that alicorn." Button realized while looking around.

"Perceptive. This is not a recording, some of our sound recordings got misplaced during the recent reset so you get me. And my name is Selene, best to keep that in mind if you want to stay on my good side. This is where most of our applicants tend to reach the most trouble so I suggest keeping on your toes. I don't know who designed some of those rooms you went through but now you are in some of the rooms I helped designed and I think you will find these to have a much different feel."

The sound of something opening could be heard a ways off. "Today, your mission is to reach the safe hole at the far, far end of this room by any means necessary. Oh but, a few things will be attempting to stop you. You are lucky, these things were designed before we had the ability to bring you back from the brink so their claws are none lethal... They will however apply a rather powerful numbing agent and can still tear through your outfits like butter. I made those too by the way, they were 3D printed, something I have been dabbling with in my spare time." Her demeaner seemed to change to slight annoyance. "I heard what you two were saying about them. I appreciate the constructive criticism, as a reward, I will tell you to start running now. They already have your scent."

Button heard some of the fake brush begin to move to his right. Without thinking, he grabbed Sweetie and two began to run in a dead sprint. More crashing noises could be heard. Sweetie glanced back just in time to see three metallic looking panthers in hot pursuit. "I think I like the underwater mazes is more." She cried out as she ducked to avoid a nearby branch.

The two continued to run, the three creatures gaining on them. Button glanced up, noticing some of the large branches seemed to crisscross one another. He pointed upwards. "Quick, up the tree. We may be able to stay out of their reach."

The two skidded to a stop at a nearby tree and Button grabbed onto a large branch above him, pulling himself up, making sure to get a good grip before reaching his hand out. Sweetie gripped it and with his help, the two were quickly on the first branch, climbing up to the second just as the panthers caught up. One jumped, claw out, tearing into his arm, tearing a large gash out of the sleeve. The claw hardly scratched him, but he could already feel his whole right arm start to go numb.

Sweetie saw his right arm go limp and quickly reached out, pulling him up with both arms as her legs held onto the second branch. Another swipe just barely missed her bare foot. She helped him up onto the branch. "Hang on." She lifted up his numb arm, unzipped the zipper on his jump suit down to his chest, then stuck the arm inside it, using it like a makeshift sling.

"Nice..." He said as the two turned and began to slowly balance their way across, the panthers below taking lunges and thankfully missing. The trip across the branches only worked for a short while though. A few trees later of crisscrossing and a new problem presented itself. A large cliff spanning the whole room and the only way forward was down. The floor seemed to just stop and their was a bush and a tree right next to it a ways below them. The two could just make out the wall that ended the room a little ways away. The panthers had retreated but Button had a feeling it would not be for long.

"Aim for the tree, I'll aim for the bush. Then we make one last sprint for the hole." Button said while hoping that bush was as soft as it looked.

She nodded, watching Button taking in a deep breath, then jump, making sure to land on his back in the bush. The fake bush seemed to have been made for being jumped on as he landed in it softly. Sweetie followed by aiming for a branch just short ways down, intending to quickly climb her way down. Instead, the branch gave way and she tumbled down, first nearly getting the air knocked out of her as she attempted to grab the next one down, instead landing on it stomach first. She felt a part of a smaller branch dig in and break, tearing into her shoulder. Thankfully, it only rubbed against the skin at worst. She dropped down, feeling the fabric tear off, exposing her left shoulder.

She managed to land on the next branch, before hopping off of it. Feet hit the ground as she glanced over to make sure everything was alright. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she helped Button to his feet. Then the snarls came and the two began to run again. The panthers were hot on their heals now, no time to try and climb another tree. One took a swipe at Sweetie's back, tearing out the back side half way down her upper back as the claw caught the top of her jumpsuit. She nearly got yanked back had it not broken off. She could feel the top of her back start to feel tingly.

Another swipe, this time at Button who felt it tear into the back of his right leg. He had to hobble a bit, now seeing the hole.

"Jump, you first!" He screamed out.

Sweetie wanted to argue but knew there as no time for that right now. She hopped on in, feeling one last swipe against her right thigh. There was a loud tearing noise just as she dropped on in, feeling warm water suddenly surround her as she felt the water come up to her neck. She shook her head, gasping in some air as she moved to get out of the way, just in time to see Button come jumping on in.

He struggled to stay afloat as he came up, now down an arm and a leg. Sweetie helped him swim to the shore. Once the two were able to get to the edge where they finally able to catch their breath and look around, did they feel like they could drop their guard for a second.

They appeared to be some some kind of cave. Water could be heard falling nearby as the cave shrunk into narrow passage. The rock looked fake but the atmosphere was at least on point. Sweetie dragged herself out before helping Button, allowing him to put his good arm over her as she helped him walk through the narrow passageway. She wasn't going to take any chances on anything until she knew they were out of the room.

Once turning, a door opened up and the two made their way in, finding themselves in another cave, a small tent setup, a small waterfall going into an underground spring and a table with a note on top. Aside from the falling water and the sound of flicking fake fire from the hanging lamps, it was quiet.

Sweetie carefully set Button down against a large rock near the tent. He was looking a little dizzy and dazed. She looked him over, seeing that he had managed to get hit quick a few times, seeing that his right arm was bare up to the shoulder and right leg bare up to just above his knee. He also had a few large cuts in the fabric in his back and one across the chest, most likely sustaining the last one just before he jumped.

Meanwhile, she only had gotten hit along her back, leaving her back exposed and her right thigh with a large hole in it. She glanced at the note. "If you took too many hits from those panther's there is an antidote in the tent. Just apply the patch to any exposed skin and it should have them feeling good in no time. There will be few side affects but I think you'll find them negligible in the mean time. Sorry you had to go through that, I can assure you this all has meaning. You need only reach the end. Until then, I shall do what I can." ~S

Sweetie went into the tent, finding bottles of water, some MREs, a first aid and a package labeled antidote. She took out a water bottle, drank a few sips before opening the box, finding a few strange looking patches inside. The looked silver in color and had a bit of weight to them, also had some kind of linework covering them. They almost looked golden in color. She grabbed one and went back out, kneeling down and place one onto his chest.

Button slowly seemed to come back to himself, blinking a bunch and shaking his head. "Water." He croaked.

Sweetie held up a water for him, placing it on his lips as he greedily drank it. He was slowly attempting to lift his arm. It looked like it was a struggle though. Once finished, he sighed. "Thanks... I can safely say for sure. That was my worst favorite room so far. All the others were either just outright difficult but passable. This one just felt like a whole lot of luck. I hardly noticed anything familiar."

Sweetie sat down beside him. "Me neither. I mean, my reflexes seemed better than I remembered and we managed to scale those trees better than I imaged we would. So there was probably something this helping us through this. Still though, that was rough."

She stifled a groan, feeling her upper back tense up a bit. Button reached up and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You alright?"

"Yeah." She winced. "One got me good in the back."

Button turned towards her, his strength slowly returning. "Let me see."

She turned her back to him, letting him see her bare back. "Oh, hang on, your muscles look a little tense. Let me see if I can loosen those up a bit."

He reached out, his touch feeling good as he began to work his fingers over her shoulders, slowly ebbing away the stiffness as he began to really massage her shoulders and upper back.

"Oh wow, thanks. You know, I really needed this. Things have been so crazy lately. I think I was starting to forget how to let myself relax outside of some crazy sex."

He turned and began to loosen the top of her jumpsuit, pulling down the zipper, letting her breasts bounce free as he continued to work along her back and sides. She cooed softly, feeling his fingers work their magic.

He felt his lips against hers, there hands intertwining as their bodies fell to the side. The sounds of love soon filled the air.

***

Log 3032

I think I am going to have an aneurism. Those damn creatures weren't supposed to act that aggressive. Scary sure and I have been wanting to push them for awhile now but that... That was almost too much. Be a bad guy, sure, I can do that. But I also fully understand that this does us no good if they sustain long lasting fears or trauma from all this. Overcoming obstacles, that is the name of the game. Not nearly getting mauled. I don't care if they can reset, that kind of stuff will stay with you. Something went wrong it seems and now I am going to have to start double checking everything. That next room will be challenging too but I don't have enough time to change anything. My best hope is that they can figure out the best way forward and get lucky. I have some work to do. I am starting to wonder if I am doing this right. Its been so long. I wish I could talk to someone.