After a long day of celebration, the trio woke up in satisfaction.
Chubbles happily rolled around the smooth and wide surface of their perfect log and sighed, " Best day ever! When will we ever be as happy as yesterday?"
Crumples thought and answered," Today, probably. We still have some water and this log. Eh, we need more water if we want to celebrate all day again."
Agua hummed and looked at the gloomy sky, " Hey, it's about to rain again. "
A few seconds after Agua's words, the clouds gave out and released a heavy rainfall of clean water. The mushrooms were overjoyed for quite some time before they finally noticed something.
" Oi... The rain ain't stopping. "
They looked at each other and felt a bad premonition. The log started to shake as the rainwater gradually gathered and became a rushing flood.
" This is bad! This is bad! Heavens, we don't need water anymore!! " Chubbles screamed as he kept his butt firmly attached to the log.
The log suddenly detached from land and started to float unsteadily. The mushrooms hurriedly tried to stabilize themselves as the log shakily began to follow the flow of the flood. They were about to get submerged when Agua finally made a decision, " Shrooms, let's roll this log! "
Chubbles and Crumples nodded and carefully moved to the dryest part of the log. They looked at Agua and impatiently waited for the next step.
Agua looked ahead with determination, "We're going to balance on this thing! Do whatever I'll say! "
...
" Hop forward! "
" Gather on the right side! "
" Chubbles, you're too heavy! Go to the left! "
" Roll! Roll! Roll like there's no tomorrow! "
...
When the log finally landed on a steady surface, the trio exhaled in relief.
"Dang, that was unwanted exercise!" panted Chubbles as he wiggled around.
" Bleh, this log isn't so perfect anymore, " complained Crumples as she lied down in exhaustion.
" Eh? Where are we? " asked Agua as she carefully observed their surroundings.
In front of them was a massive cave adorned with countless natural gems. It looked like it wasn't touched by humans in the past. There were no man-made structures around it but it simply looked like a national treasure. Agua wondered whether the humans were blind or this cave formed after the humans' extinction.
" Check out that cave! It's dazzling! " exclaimed Agua.
" Looks like a mass grave for beautiful stuff, " whispered Chubbles.
Crumples looked at Chubbles in shock, "What did you say?! "
"Eh, nothing. It's just my dark humor."
Agua ignored the other two and focused on the seemingly unnoticeable bumps on the ground," Hmmm. Are those mushrooms? "
The colorful bumps on the ground lightly shook and hopped from the ground, " Yeppity-yep! We're the cave guardians! "
Agua was taken aback and nudged the other two behind her. Chubbles was surprised when he saw fellow mushrooms. He hadn't seen other mushrooms since------ forever! Crumples and Agua also haven't seen other mushrooms ever since they coincidentially met each other years ago.
" There are other mushrooms?" Chubbles mumbled.
The six cave guardians heard Chubbles' quiet voice and nodded, " Yes there are! And there are lots of us! Since you're not from around here, we'll take you to Golden Queen! "
" Golden Queen? " Agua asked with wonder, " Is she a human? "
The cave guardians looked at each other and replied to Agua mysteriously, " How 'bout you guys find out for yourself? "