WX-78 stops to look up. It was feeling less shaken now, but uneased by the hairy monster that clung to its back. At least it could hold a reasonable amount of stuff, and unlike Chester, didn't slobber on any of it. Equipping a new grappling hook, the robot graciously, as not to throw off the lively backpack, swings it and tosses it up to a low-hanging branch. It gets snatched in the leaves, and WX-78 tugs. A few unripe fruits fall out, some bursting on impact, but otherwise in good enough shape to eat. WX can't complain, it's not a very picky eater. It moves to collect them out from the dirt and reaches over its shoulder to offer them to the backpack. It pushed its head up, its hair seeming to consume the fruits when it only blocks its mouth at that angle. WX-78 flinched as another fruit fell to its feet without any warning. The android lifted it and observed it. Taking a small bite, it tensed and spat. "I FORGOT THERE WAS A LOT OF WATER IN FRUIT," it said to nobody in particular.

Charlie watched from the shadows. So, is it like eating something sour or spicy? She wondered, fumbling with something in her hands as she half-mindedly payed attention to what WX was doing. It can't hurt that bad. She stole a glance at them, her eyes squinting. Where'd WX find Zachpack? She shook her head to herself, shrugging. It's progress.

WX-78 sighed in relief as it reached the edge of the forest's heart. Sunlight poured through the trees again and fauna began to disperse over the undergrowth. It was warmer as well. After an eternity of walking and bird watching, WX-78 turned its attention from the colorful songbirds and addressed the elephant in the room. "WHAT DO I CALL YOU?" it wondered out loud, taking the creature off of its back now with ease. As if it could understand, it reached one of its elongated arms down to its tail. It tugged at a white tag that read "Zachpack" in cursive handwriting. Unmistakably, it was Charlie's handwriting. It couldn't be explained, other than the fact that it just looked too energetic and flawless to be anyone else's. WX huffed, slinging Zach back over its shoulders, its wrists still in the android's grip. It began to walk again, taking in the scenery as if it were the robot's own backyard, if it ever had one. It must have grown numb to natural beauties with everything that was going on with monsters and what-not.

Charlie examined the object in her hands. Don't mess this up, Will. She adjusted it carefully in deep concentration. It needs to look just like the drawings. She grinned wildly, bouncing and howling through grit teeth. She unconsciously drifted through the shadows after WX-78, effortlessly, as if she were on auto-pilot. Floating, Charlie hovered in the dark on her back, holding the object up to the light as best as she could without being pushed away by its divine force.

Maxwell stood away from his throne as he had when greeting any of the players in the standard environments, as a hologram or illusion of some kind. Shadows clung to his ankles anyways, like chains that fed him youth and strength. He was still in that chair, and he felt it. It felt no different if he projected himself anywhere in his world, he'd still be aching and tired from head to toe. He watched, hands resting behind his back, as shadows hands worked with a thick dark cloth. He nibbled on his cigar. Silently commanding the dark, he stood quietly as the hands stretched and measured, stitched and sewed with their own matter. Black strings slithered from the ground and laced through the materials, other tendrils snipping them away like scissors. He was occupied, and he was doing it all for Charlie. He was almost happy. Maxwell began to hum a somber tune to keep his face straight and his expression cold. Shaking feelings away, his eyes flickered over the cloths in determination.

WX-78 slowed, sitting down but paying no mind to the dirt. It was a mess already, stained and scratched like an old car. Zachpack slipped to the ground beside it. Charlie almost floated past them, and stopped herself at a far distance to keep an eye over them both. WX-78 manned-up and took normal bites from the fruit. "I DO NOT NEED A CAMP OR A BASE," it said. "I WILL JUST KEEP MOVING, IT IS NOT LIKE SHE WILL LET ME DIE ANYWAYS. MAYBE IF I SEE EVERYTHING, SHE WILL FINALLY HELP FREE ME." It sneered. "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FIND THE THINGS IF I AM SETTLING DOWN IN ONE PLACE?" WX-78 leapt up. "I AM NOT EVEN GOING TO TRY TO DISCOVER ANY OF HER MONSTERS. I AM JUST GOING TO FIND THE THINGS." Charlie overheard, rolling her eyes. You'd have to get past them anyways, she thought. She dropped the object in her hands to the ground, where it was absorbed by the shadows the trees were casting. She gave a final glance in the automaton's direction before following it, being omnipresent for a moment before resurfacing behind Maxwell.

"Will!" she called out, almost shouting. He jumped, whirling around. "Don't do that!" he hissed, his cigar flaring. She smiled. "Did I scare The Amazing Maxwell?" she teased, looking over his shoulder. "Is it done?"

He pinched his temple, stepping out of the way for her to see his work. She almost swooned, swaying on her feet. "It's perfect!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands together. Two boney, dark, and clawed hands held up a fur coat, black as night with long flaps that trailed to the ground. Maxwell nodded, closing his eyes for a moment while she danced up to it. "It was my idea, after all," he muttered. Charlie snatched it away from the hands, and they sunk back into the dark surrounding them. Her gaze unmoving from the coat, she snapped a finger and another hand came rocketing up from the ground with a decorative bull's skull. She took it and the hand was dismissed as well. "Now," he began. "Don't you dare tell it why you're wearing these... things." Charlie spun, wrapping herself in the black coat. "Don't worry," she said, holding up the skull by a small stick that protruded from its skinless muzzle, making it into a mask. "When do I… You know?" She tapped the stick. "You'll know, trust me."

She lowered the mask, beaming at him. "So it's okay for it to see the gazelk first, yeah?"

"Of course," he chuckled. "I'm sure it's sick of fruits and all that nonsense." He waved her off, lowering himself into the nightmare throne. When he looked up, she was gone. Maxwell sighed, leaned back, and watched the world through their eyes.

After barely saving its rations (and Zach) from another lemur encounter, WX-78 tore through the forest, half of its concentration going into its physical surroundings, and the other half into the map it could see through robotic eyes. "I WILL UNCOVER EVERYTHING," it had said to itself before running off in a random direction. "I WILL JUST GET IT OVER WITH."

Charlie surfaced in the treetops, watching closely and quietly like a starving animal. She looked kind of silly as well, perched on a large branch in heels and a fur coat, like some rich woman gone feral. She reconsidered the mask's design, looking down at it and snapping the stick off of the skull. Shadows threaded through its eye sockets, subtle and unnoticeable as they wrapped around her head. She placed it onto her face gently, ignoring the fact that it was, indeed, an animal's remains. She leapt. Down, down, to the ground, her coat falling gracefully with her, like a drop of ink. She plunged into the dark as if it were a lake of black water, resurfacing closer to the robot. WX-78 leapt over roots ingrained to the ground at dangerous angles, all the while pushing brush and vines away before they could whip the android in the face. Colorful and small birds flew overhead, watching curiously but keeping a fair distance. WX-78 slowed as it came to a river. "THIS BODY OF WATER IS… NEW." It leaned over it, looking at its reflection. "UGH, I AM A MESS," it spat, grimacing. The automaton held a hand up to its face, rubbing. "A LITTLE WATER WILL NOT HURT, AS LONG AS IT IS AN EXTERNAL USE." It lowered its fingers to the water, dipping them in. It was fine, since the material of the android's hands were more of a flexible rubber and didn't soak any of it up. There were no cracks or frames. It rubbed dirt from its face, squinting into the water's surface. Satisfied with its hygiene, WX-78 stood up and jumped the narrow river, which was more of a stream in this area. Looking to its side, it could clearly see that it widened over pointed rocks. It shrugged, moving forwards. Its calm walk became a trot as it focused on its own goal again.

Skidding to a halt, WX-78 overlooked another stream bed. Shrugging, it readied itself to hop again, when something in the water moved out of the corner of its optical sensors. WX wobbled in surprise, stumbling back. "IS THAT A FISH?" it wondered out loud. It wrestled the grappling hook out of Zachpack's mouth, swinging it as if it were nunchucks as it approached the water. Cautiously, WX-78 peeked over the stream, only to see its own reflection again. It sighed, lowering its eyelids… only… its reflection didn't. WX-78 blinked in confusion, leaning away enough to be able to see itself, but be out of reach of anything in the water. The reflection tilted its head, and that's where the android crossed the line.

WX-78 unleashed a metallic war scream, throwing the hook into the water. It made a heavy splash and disrupted the surface. After a moment of silence, WX-78 moved to pull the hook out of the stream, but something tugged back, making WX stumble forwards. "I AM HAVING NONE OF THIS!" it shouted, jerking the hook from the stream with all of its strength. Something screamed from the water, its voice muffled. Without a second thought, WX jumped over the river, narrowly avoiding the clawed, wet, and metallic hand that shot out after it. It scratched and clambered at the ground for a moment before slithering back into the water in defeat. Charlie's eyes fluttered in surprise.

We must be far north-east, she thought. Perfect. The automaton strutted victoriously away from the body of water, dragging the wet rope and hook along the ground. "DID YOU SEE THAT, FLESH-FACE?" it shouted, puffing its copper chest out. Charlie rolled her eyes, snorting. "YOUR SIRENS MAY BE SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE, BUT I AM TOO SMART TO FALL FOR GOOD LOOKS." She giggled. "It was your reflection," she whispered to herself.

Marching off again, the robot soon came to a large clearing of tall grass. Stepping closer, it was clear that it reached WX-78's waist. It looked over its shoulder at Zachpack. "YOU KNOW FAÇADE AND FOCUS PUNCH, RIGHT?" Its head snapped back around when it heard movement. Readying the hook in its hand, WX-78 shrank down to meet the grass at eyelevel. A head shot out from the distance. The muzzle of a cervidae stiffened in the air. A gloriously large set of horns grew from its head, curving into a striped spiral and branching out in some places. Its gaze was frightened as it sniffed around, then rose to its full height. It was enormous. It had thick fur, white with streaks of black, making it seem like some ancient elk with the coat of a gazelle. Powerful and delicate, it was a walking oxymoron.

Before WX could react, several others emerged from the grass, rising up to gaze at the sky with coal-black eyes. They stood like that for what seemed like an eternity, before dispersing and minding themselves as they nibbled at the grass. It was only when WX-78 rose back up when they reeled back in surprise, making odd warning calls. Realizing it was just a (terrified) player, they calmed themselves and only watched curiously, similar to a herd of beefalo. WX-78 hesitated to approach them any further. Beefalo. A variation of the androids own murderer towered before it in fading light. It slowly raised a hand to its stomach, where it flinched and cringed, almost feeling that same gaping wound from its previous life. The robot crawled back, a blanket of fear falling over it as its fight-or-flight senses kicked in. Sniffing again, the gazelk cautiously approached the automaton, lowering its head in interest. WX-78 jumped away. The world contorted and shifted through WX-78's eyes as its breathing fell uneven and sharp.

It was panicking. The gazelk smelled it, rearing back in fear of being attacked. What WX saw, however, was a monster squaring up to strike a deadly blow with its jagged horns. Shining black eyes watched hungrily through the tall grass, maws littered with glinting teeth. WX screamed, running off. The gazelk cried out in surprise, prancing away in the other direction. The others craned their necks to watch the little android scurry away into the forest. WX stopped in front of the river again, frantically glancing over its shoulders. Looking down, the water was coarse and black. The automaton caressed its head with one hand, pulling Zachpack off with the other to hold it.

It squeezed the purple critter nervously, stepping back from the stream. A figure rose from the murky liquid and materialized. It was Charlie in her new attire, and she stepped from the water slowly, wrapped in her fur coat, her face hidden by the skull of a bull. "SHADOW FLESHLING? IS THAT YOU? I AM NOT FEELING WELL…" it murmured. "What's wrong, dear?" she asked, her voice too cool and calm to mean well, devoid of all energy. WX-78 slung Zach back on, backing away from her. "Don't want to talk about it?" Her head tilted. "I'll leave, then." She smiled behind her mask, dipping a heel back into the water. She dipped completely into the water, which WX swore couldn't have been deeper than a foot or so. Before WX-78 could move forward or back, a pale human hand creeped out from the water, the size of a lion. Then came a wrist than rose behind it, then a forearm than bent at an odd angle from an elbow. It had nails painted black and hairless skin. WX-78 look up at it from under its shadow, terrified. "On second thought…" It heard her voice echo from the dark in all directions. "What's been bothering you?" The water bubbled for a moment, the arm shaking as if it were pulling something from the surface. A shrill scream burst from a geyser of black.