Slimecicle

Green. Green. Goopy, sludgy, disgusting green slop was all around him. 

And he loved it.

It's all he knew, really. Green, goopy, sludgy, useless disgusting slop. At least those were the things that the strange man said on the other side of the glass. It used to be a different man, checking on him every day with a hat on his head so no one could see the top of it. So strange, he would think. Hat Man. That was his name, as far as he knew. 

Hat Man would come every day to read something, press a few buttons, smile at him, and tell him that he was destined for amazing things. He liked that. Hat Man was nice. One day Hat Man said, "Hola! My name is Quackity. I'm from Las Nevadas. Your name is Slime." 

Slime? He thought about it. "Slime…" he tried to say. Because of the goop around him, he sounded more like "blime." he nodded. "Slime!" he said over and over again. "Slime slime slime." was the first word he knew how to say in English.

Day after day Quackity of Las Nevadas came in, checking his "Condition" and "Making sure you are stable." He also said he couldn't come out of his container because he wouldn't be able to walk. This went on for a long time, and Quackity of Las Nevadas would mark off little boxes on a piece of paper hanging on the wall whenever the sun hid behind the mountains. 

When Quackity looked sad, Slime would press his legs against the glass and push away, spinning him around in a very slow circle. That made Quackity of Las Nevadas laugh. Slime liked that. 

One day, Slime was figuring out how to spin around very very fast by using his arms AND legs, and Quackity of Las Nevadas knocked on the glass, getting his attention. "Big day today, buddy. Looks like tonight you might be able to finally get out of this bottle," he said with a huge smile. "I'm gonna walk?!" Slime squealed and pressed his hands and face against the glass. Quackity of Las Nevadas nodded and put his hand on the glass, lining his with Slime's. "I'm going to go work in the casino, I'll be right back once I fix that one dropper!"  he said, running off and waving as he hurried downstairs. 

But he never came back. 

Slime waited and waited, looking through the window and waiting for the sun to go down so Quackity would remember to mark his paper with boxes, then turn to Slime and say "It's time for you to walk!" and let him explore Las Nevadas for the first time. Every flickering shadow got Slime excited, every creak of the room or the rushing of water in pipes in the walls made him think that  Maybe Quackity is just around the corner… He only started to feel doubt when the Sun rose again and no one had come up the stairs. 

Where was he? Suddenly Slime heard footsteps. He spun in a circle and pressed his face against the glass again, waiting for Quackity of Las Nevadas to finally let him out. But when a head peeked over the steps, It wasn't Quackity's. 

It was a taller man, with a crown instead of a hat and a face and hair that was different colors on each side, divided straight down the middle of his head. He also had one green and one light green eye. Slime couldn't really tell because the green goop surrounding him messed all the colors up. He was all looking around, angry and nervous like someone would spot him. 

He climbed the last final steps and started looking through papers and drawers.

"Hello? What are you called? Where are you from?" Slime asked the strange man. He whirled his head around and stared at Slime. He looked at him for a long time. His face looked frightened at first, then confused, then he smiled. 

"I'm Ranboo, and I live in Snowchester," he said, taking a step toward Slime. "No, you aren't," Slime whispered. "Who-" Ranboo looked at Slime with curiosity, taking more cautious steps and slowly inching toward Slime. Then the strange man started talking to himself. 

"How peculiar.." he said, tilting his head. "Should I-? Well, yes, we could do that, but he could be….. I understand." Ranboo said, pacing back and forth and stroking his chin. "What if we used him, master?" He whispered to the window. "He looks like he could get inside the safe. Or, better yet, we can use him to get Quackity to-" he chuckled. "Ah, yes. That's what I was just about to say, but of course, you already knew that." he smiled and talked to the ceiling instead. 

Slime blinked at Ranboo of not-Snowchester. Who in the name of sludge was he talking to? And what was he talking about? Where was Quackity of Las Nevadas? Will he come back and tell Ranboo to go away and finally teach him how to walk?

  "Yes, I understand. Your decision is final," he muttered. 

Ranboo whipped around and clapped his hands together. "Slop. I know what I'm going to do with you," He grinned. "I am called Slime of Las-" he started to say before Ranboo interrupted him. "Ah, yes. See, that's what we're going to change. Rule 1; Don't talk back to me," he said smugly, stepping closer to the glass. "Talk back? But that is how conversations work. You talk to me and I talk back.." Slime said, confused. Did the rules of talking change? Why didn't Quackity tell him? 

"Ah, a smart alec." Ranboo nodded. "Those kinds of people are always fun, wouldn't you agree?" 

Slime stared at him. For a very, long time. Slime got bored, so he started counting in his head.  One, two, three, four, six, um, wait. There was something that came before six. Eight? No, that is after six. Wait. one two three four six- "Oh, great Zeus, say something!" Ranboo yelled angrily, pounding the glass and making Slime jump. 

"I'm s-sorry… You said not to talk back!!" Slime said, tears welling up in his eyes. They weren't really tears, they were like tiny bubbles floating up to the surface, but that was still the first time Slime had really cried. Or had been scared. Or had felt like he wasn't going to be safe. 

"Wimp…" Ranboo scoffed. Then he crept back down the stairs, and a loud slam echoed in the room.

Slime was alone again. 

He crept to the corner of his container, hugging his knees, telling himself that Quackity would be back to save him from this horrible, horrible Ranboo.  He rocked back and forth, closing his eyes and burying himself in his hands. Maybe whatever stopped Quackity from coming back would stop Ranboo. Yeah, that's it. He nodded. Ranboo will never, ever ever ever ever come back. But he did. 

He would come back almost every day, peeking his head over the ledge leading down the stairs, mumbling "Disgusting" or "Green slop" or "What kind of a monster are you…" but Slime didn't mind, really. He knew that every mean thing that Ranboo said to him was just the opposite of what Quackity of Las Nevadas would say instead. He knew that Quackity would want him to think positively, so Slime heard "Incredible," "What an amazing miracle," and "Green slop." Slime actually liked that one, so he kept it the way it was. 

"I'll walk one day," Slime said to himself on a quiet evening, a few weeks after Quackity left. "Walk?" Ranboo said, stepping into the room. Slime jumped and clenched his fist. "Y-yes." he trembled. "Quackity of Las Nevadas said I would walk when he came back." 

Ranboo laughed. "Yeah, I don't think Quackity…" he stopped, thinking. "He did a very bad thing, so I had to put him in his quiet corner." he nodded. "Quiet corner?" Slime said, shuddering at the word. "Sounds scary." 

"It is," Ranboo frowned. "But it's okay, because I will be the one who will let you walk." Slime's heart raced as Ranboo adjusted his tie and took off his suit jacket, hanging it up on a hook next to the doorway. He walked up to the machine that Quackity of Las Nevadas would check every day. "I've been looking at this, day by day, trying to figure out how it works. But I think I finally got it," he said, pressing a few buttons. 

He switched a lever with both of his arms, and his container started shaking. Slime's heart raced as the pipes connected to the glass started draining out the slime from underneath his feet. He slowly sank as the world filled with colors other than green. Red, blue, purple, yellow... The slime sank beneath his mouth and nose and Slime took his first breath of air. It was dry, but it felt so great. Slime closed his mouth breathing through his nose because his mouth felt too dry. It was also very blurry, for some reason. 

The last of the goop drained out and Ranboo opened the latch on the door Slime was never able to open before. He reached his hand out to Slime, who squinted at the bright room, looking around. He took his hand, and Ranboo winced, clearly not liking the feel of it. Slime's legs wobbled as he stepped out of the container, immediately collapsing, not used to bearing his own weight. Ranboo caught him, standing him up straight.

  "Try to catch yourself with your feet when you take a step," he suggested. Slime nodded. He let go of Ranboo's hand and did as he was told. Cautiously, he took one step, and another, and another… "I'm doing it!!" he gasped, laughing. "I'm walking! Ranboo, did you see me? I'm doing it!" he giggled, looking up and walking around the room, slowly getting faster and faster. He spun around, facing Ranboo, who was smiling as well.

  "Good! Now walk back to me, M- Slime!" he said, reaching out. "I won't walk," Slime corrected, "I'll bounce!" he said, springing toward Ranboo. With just one leap, he managed to land right in front of Ranboo, then bounce up and hit his head on the ceiling. 

"Hey, Are you ok?" Ranboo asked, rushing to help Slime after he had crashed onto the ground, splatting everywhere. Slime sat up and beamed. "That was POPPING OFF!!!" he said, hugging Ranboo. Ranboo tensed up and pushed Slime away. 

"Yeah, we're going to have to work on that grammar," he said, taking a cloth and wiping the goop off of his tie.

  "But uh, other than that, I think this was a great first day for you." he said, standing up straight and smiling mischievously. "How would you like to work for me?"