Chapter 11: Dragon Fish

“What’s under there?” Webby whispered.

His teammate, Shatadru, isn’t listening - focusing on the magic map that they had brought into the simulation.

Dusk has yet to fall in day three of the simulation, but the sky is dark. They are trekking through a swamp - the thick undergrowth stopping them from moving any faster.

The hole that Webby was looking at is odd - it’s just small enough for someone to fit through, but Webby could not figure out why it was just there, without anything around it.

“Shatadru!” Webby called again. “What do you think is under there?”

Shatadru shrugged. “How am I supposed to know? The magic map doesn’t cover underground spaces.”

The magic map that they had brought in was not magic - it was a normal map that filled the spaces around you in as you traveled, just like any other map - they were simply rare in the Hive District.

“Wanna go see?” Curiosity poked at Webby as he bent down to listen. “I think I hear something.”

“Be careful.”

Shatadru’s words just sounded when Webby felt himself slip - “Sha-” The rest of his yell didn’t come through because the next thing he knew, he was in water. Cold, cold water.

Frantically he struggled, gasping for air only to realize there isn’t any. Eventually something warm held onto him, and he was pulled onto land.

“Shelly! Sheldon! Aww, thank you guys.” His two leader spiders were what helped him to safety.

It’s hard to see through the dark, but he could sense them smiling too.

Blinking, Webby stood up, shaking off droplets as he adjusted to the dim light. It was a cave, with a quiet stream of water flowing in the middle. He looked up, but the hole where he had fell his way in was nowhere to be seen.

“Shatadru!” He called, as loudly as he could manage, but his teammate wasn’t anywhere near him.

“Come on, let’s find a way out.” He told Shelly and Sheldon, who both hissed in reply.

Webby crept forward. He had to be careful to avoid the stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Not too far away, one of them fell and plunged into the water. He gasped, because a bunch of them followed - one splash was right beside him, and he shivered as water rained down on him. Shelly and Sheldon climbed onto his shoulders, each of them shivering as well.

“Come on, let’s run.” Webby said, going forward.

He ducked through the caves, his small size coming in handy when avoiding the obstacles. 

Light fell into the end of the tunnel. He stopped to a huge cavern. A bit of skylight shined from the top, to a pool of water at the bottom. "I can get out there." Webby murmured, "if I was an actual spider."

Shelly prodded his left shoulder and pointed to the skylight.

"No point," Webby answered, "you really think I could get there?"

Sheldon set down a dragline and left silk behind as he slowly climbed up the side of the cavern.

"Alright, I'll try." There didn't seem to be another way out.

Shelly sets down another thick line of silk, and Webby hung onto it, dragging himself up the side of the wall. The wall was easy to climb at first, with many places for footing, but they slowly disappeared until he was practically hanging upside-down.

Shelly called to him. Blood rushed to his head. "This is a stupid idea-" the voice barely escaped him. 

Sheldon came to his other side, looking around for something that could help. There's only a little bit of distance left between him and the place where the skylight came in, but he didn't make it.

The water was cold.

...

"Shelly? Sheldon?" Webby called. The walls echoed his voice back to him.

He's wet. He remembered falling through the pool in the cavern, and that was it. He's in another cave now, the walls are a deep blue, lit by equally blue crystals. His spiders aren't here.

"Shatadru?" He called one more time. Perhaps his teammate followed him.

He didn't expect a response back, but it came. "Webby, I'm here!" They called.

Webby followed the echo and the sound of water forwards.

His teammate is at another cavern at the end of the tunnel. This one has no skylight, and was smaller. The pool of water was lit up by crystals. "What happened to you?" Shatadru asked.

"I fell down and fell down again." Webby didn't know how to sum things up right. "I lost Shelly and Sheldon."

Shatadru held his map in front of Webby. It's waterproof. "It says we are under the Cornucopia right now."

Webby glanced around the cavern. There isn't a way out except from the way that they came. "We should try going back that way."

"But maybe there's another secret entrance under this pool."

"Well, even if there is, it doesn't make sense to go deeper."

Shatadru's eyes lit up. "Webby, why do you think this tunnel system exists in the first place? It must be because something is down there!"

Webby blinked.

"All of this is made by hand, remember? It's a simulation?"

"Oh." Webby looked down. "Do you think it's worth it then?"

"Of course, come on!" 

Webby knew being separated from his teammate would get him killed sooner. He followed, holding his breath and feeling the current push him down. This is another stupid idea. 

They landed safely in another tunnel, the walls the same deep blue but lit by white crystals this time. 

Webby peeked at the map from behind Shatadru. They're moving away from the Cornucopia now, opposite of the mountains.

The cavern was closer this time, a stone sat in the middle of the pool, and a glowing thing laid on it. "It's an axe." Shatadru picked it off the stone. "They probably left this here for people to find, so it has to be a really powerful weapon."

The axe looked so tiny and so normal, with the exception that its entire body is glowing with white light. "Try it." Webby said after staring for a bit.

Shatadru held the axe, and let it down to the rock. White light split the air, and the water exploded. 

The cavern split in half, and Webby closed his eyes, feeling himself fly upwards against gravity. The next time he opened them, the sky was outside, dark with night starlight. Few clouds drifted in the sky, and Webby looked around, steadying his head. Shatadru's beside him, still holding the axe.

The axe created a giant split in the ground, right behind him. Webby glanced down. The cavern's visible at the very bottom, although very little light hit there.

"Attention!" It's the announcer's voice, coming seemingly out of nowhere. Centuria? Webby was still too dizzy to tell. "It looks like Webby and Shatadru found the Dragon Fish! The first team to kill them will not only receive the powerful axe of course, but also half a day of immunity from all forms of harm!"

Webby's eyes landed on the axe as the announcer continued on. "Oh, they're at the giant rift near the Cornucopia, by the way."

His eyes met Shatadru's, all trace of dizziness gone. "They placed a bounty on us!"