After jogging down the narrow corridor, Colleen reaches a large cavern dripping with water from the stalactite above her. Large shallow pools formed around the cavern floor, illuminated by the glowing mushrooms that grew on the walls. Ahead of her she can see a climbable path that appears to run along the side of the wall, spiraling upwards. Colleen didn't waste any time and proceeded past the puddles and up the path. She began her ascension while also keeping an eye out for anything dangerous. A familiar voice caught her attention as she explored. "You could easily leap to the top of the cavern to quicken this trek."
Colleen looked over her shoulder and saw a small baby dragon hovering next to her. It spoke with an old, wise voice, demonstrating that it's appearance isn't what it seems. "You're here too, Midgardsormr?"
"I continue to observe. You have gained my respect, Warrior of Light, but I want to see if you will ever stray from your heroism." The aetherial manifestation of the wyrmking replied, planting his weightless body on top of Colleen's head.
"I'm not going to do any superhuman feats unless I need to, Midgard. Besides, travelling this way will help get my friends out of here." Colleen responded, hopping over a small gap in the middle of the path she's climbing. Within a short amount of time, she's already climbed up quite the distance. "Do you know where we are?"
Midgardsormr didn't respond. She looked up and noticed he disappeared as soon as Colleen gave him her answer, most likely content with it. Colleen let out a sigh and just continued along the path, soon reaching the top. So far, she hasn't caught sight of any hostile creatures. The only thing she has noticed so far are the bats hanging around the roof of the caverns, minding their own business and leaving her alone. She noted that these bats were smaller than the ones she encountered in Eorzea, as well as being docile. Out of all of the deranged animals she's fought, bats were one of the annoying ones. Followed by wasps and their suicidal 'final sting'. She still has nightmares of fighting both monsters back in some old ruins somewhere in Ul'dah.
Colleen reached the end of her path, coming across a rock wall that looks stable enough to climb. She looked around to see if there was an exit, only to find one across the room. A small hole about as tall as a lalafell and wide as a dodo, big enough for her to crawl through. Water slowly poured out of the hole, being the source of what created the puddles below her. She looked around for a way to reach the hole on foot, but no luck. There were no paths or climbable surfaces near the hole, it was unreachable by normal means. The only thing that anyone with a decent amount of stamina could climb was the rock wall that stretched halfway across the cavern. 'Damn. It doesn't look like I can reach it on foot. I know I can reach that hole with little issues, but no one else, except maybe Yugiri, will be able to get out through that.' She thought to herself, tapping the floor with her foot, slightly frustrated. 'I'll have to hurry and find a rope or something for everyone.'
And with that, Colleen changed her garments again. She switched to her ninja job, donning a now pitch black enchanted silk suit used by Yugiri's people. It was thanks to her that Colleen was able to learn the abilities of the ninja. She began to run along the rock wall next to her, making her way across the cavern, then leaping off as soon as she came to the end of it towards the hole. She drew her yoshimitsu, a legendary pair of daggers that radiated with a crimson aura, and plunged them into the base of the hole as hard as she can, embedding them into the stone. Not paying attention to the water pouring down on her head, she quickly grabbed onto the ledge and pulled herself up. Before completing her ascension, she retrieved both of her weapons and placed them back in their sheathes. Wiggling through the hole, completely drenched, she found herself in a cavern with a large pool of water with a small rocky island sitting in the middle. She looked up and noticed sunlight at the top of the cavern. Colleen smiled, knowing she had found the exit. As soon as she switched back to her bard gear, she heard something squeak ahead. Not sensing any danger, Colleen walked over, hopping over the small stone island, and approached the origin of the sound.
As she approached, she heard a whimpering noise coming from a rock close to a spiral path that led up to the cavern's exit. She quietly walked over towards the rock, leaning around it to see what was making a noise similar to a scared child. What she saw was a yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail, as well as what appeared to be a tattoo of butterflies on its flank. The animal was shivering, possibly from being stuck in a cold cavern or injured and unable to move. A gentle smile formed on her face as she approached the winged horse. "Hey there little guy, are you hurt?"
The mammal squeaked as it turned around and saw the alien creature before her. And then something happened that surprised the hells out of Colleen. It, or rather, she, spoke, "Um, uh... no? please don't eat me."
"Aah!" Colleen reeled back in shock.
The pony screamed back at her, and Colleen responded with another scream. And then the rabbit who was sitting between the horse's front legs looked at Colleen and also screamed. All three of them kept screaming at each other until they heard another loud sound. They all looked towards the center of the pool, specifically the small rocky island as it began to shift. Emerging from the waters was a large reptilian creature made of rocks. The yellow pegasus screamed at the top of her lungs. "Aaaaah! A Cragadile!"
Colleen stared at the pony for a moment, noting that the poor thing was terrified out of her mind along with her rabbit, and turned her gaze towards this 'cragadile' monster. "Stay behind me! I'll take care of it." Colleen's heroic instincts kicked in as she drew her bow and approached the monster.
"You're going to what? Oh dear!"
'So, a pegasus that can talk. I guess I've met one of the natives.' Colleen thought to herself as she primed up a shot, aiming it at the rocky crocodile. The cragadile roared as it charged her, opening its jaws wide in anticipation for the succulent meat on its prey. The pegasus and her rabbit covered their eyes, unable to watch this new 'cat thing' get chomped on, only for Colleen to dodge out of the way as soon as the beast brought its jaws down on her. In the middle of her dodge roll, Colleen fired a blood red arrow into its eye, causing the monster to scream in pain and writhe on the wet floor. Enraged, it crawled faster than normal towards its opponent, leaping about four feet in the air towards her, attempting to bodyslam the miqo'te into the water. Colleen leaped backwards, and then forward, performing a somersault over the beast, dodging the cragadile's follow-up bite attack from the side.
She landed on the its back, readied two arrows, and immediately somersaulted off, sending the two arrows mid-jump at its head. The first arrow released stinging torrent of wind all over its body which weakened its stone hide, while the second poisoned its bloodstream. The cragadile roared in pain, unable to move due to the trauma done to its body. Colleen readied one last arrow, one that had a black and orange glow to it, and aimed it directly at the monster's head as it slowly turned to face her. "It's over." She proclaimed as she sent the arrow flying, piercing the cragadile from the head through its tail. The life in the beast's eye dimmed, but it wasn't done yet.
With a last desperate move, the cragadile charged Colleen, letting out a defiant roar, opening its jaws wide enough to swallow a horse. However, Colleen was able to get out of its way with ease, causing the cragadile to crash into the stone wall of the cavern behind her. The impact was so hard, it actually broke through it and fell into the caverns below. She heard a certain lalafell scream at the top of his lungs. "Thal's balls! It's raining gators!"
Colleen let out a chuckle, knowing that there was now another opening she can use to get her friends out of the caves. She withdrew her weapon, and clapped her hands together to celebrate her victory and completing her objective. She turned around to look for the yellow pegasus, hoping to ask her some questions, but she was long gone. She rubbed the back of her head, thinking that she might have scared the poor thing off.
"Colleen! I hope you're responsible for this monster you nearly dropped on our heads!" She heard the roegadyen engineer, Biggs, call her out.
She approached the hole the cragadile made and looked down, getting a clear view of the Enterprise Excelsior and its crew. "Sorry about that. I didn't expect it to go berserk and charge me. Is everyone okay?"
"We are well. Do not worry. You just scared the wits out of Cid's engineers." Yugiri replied with a playful smile.
"Scared isn't the half of it!" Wedge said to Yugiri, stomping his feet on the ground.
"Colleen, I assume you've found a way out, considering where you are standing." Alphinaud questioned her, rubbing some dust off of his leather coat.
"Yeah. I was thinking about finding a rope for you guys since the only way out is a small wet hole in the wall, but seeing as we have this newly formed hole here, I won't need to." With that, Colleen switched her job again, this time into a summoner. She wore a purple robe with dragon wings poking out the back, complete with a pointed hat that matched the set. She took out her grimoire and swiftly cast a summoning ritual. In a few seconds, a playful laughter echoed in the cave, followed by a draft. A green bird-like woman materialized next to Colleen, an avatar of the terrible primal Garuda. "Garuda, carefully carry everyone out of the cave below and bring them up here."
