This World Isn't Tick Friendly

Imogen, who is still stuck in the worm and enjoying a five star buffet; was starting to feel somewhat bloated.

 "Darn it, if I drink any more I'll pop for sure and it doesn't help that I feel like I'm drunk." Yawned Imogen, of which feeling quite drowsy. "I guess I'll just have to start removing myself from this horrendous worm now." Announced Imogen as she removed her head from the worm's flesh.

 In fact she pulled her head out so hard that she was flung off the worm. Imogen rolled down an incline until she hit the stem of a beautiful flower.

 "This flower is so beautiful, I really want to touch it." Admitted Imogen, but before she could act; the flower lowered and picked her up acting like a venus flytrap back on earth.

 "What the hell!" "Why does everything want to eat me, am I really at the bottom of the food chain!" Despaired Imogen while feeling acid melt her flesh.

 As Imogen struggled, the flower's stem was chopped in half by a stray leaf of a Whirleaf plant.

 "Ha, take that you dumb flower; I managed to get out." Laughed Imogen as she rolled about bragging like.

 As Imogen crawled out, she saw a weird looking plant get stomped on by a giant tiger with what looks to be an ant beak. 

 "To think that I was just about to say that I wasn't at the bottom of the food chain, I would hop on that tiger; but I'm still full from that worm." Explained Imogen while reminiscing about blood.

 "I need to find a place to temper my body or I'm going to feel bloated forever." Sighed Imogen as she looked about. 

 Almost magically, she managed to spot a hole in a tree, it looked perfect to Imogen and it seemed like a safe journey too. 

~~~

 When Imogen started her journey she knew that it would take a long time, but she didn't know that it would take this long. 

 "Ughh, this is taking forever; it's been an hour already." Whined Imogen while forcing herself to lift a leg. 

 Strangely enough, Imogen was completely fine, other than being bored to death; but she couldn't help but feel like something bad was bound to happen soon.

 "Life has screwed me over thus far, why isn't it now?" Wondered Imogen as she warily took a glance around.

~~~

 It seems like life had heard Imogens callings, for a giant mouse who just came out of its den is thinking she looks like a tasty little morsel. And while this happened, Imogen was completely oblivious.

 "The only good thing about having to walk miles to do a simple task is that I don't have to wait to temper my body, which defeats the purpose of me going to the tree." Mused Imogen while happily prancing around. 

 "My body is almost back to normal, after I finish refining the blood I'll check my stats to see my growth." Decided Imogen as she filled up with excitement. 

 Luckily Imogen is very paranoid, she somehow managed to spot the mouse as it was running up to her.

 "I knew it, life can't help but notice me because of how stunning I am!" Exclaimed Imogen while feeling a bit scared. 

 Then, in the little time Imogen had before the mouse got there; she thought of a plan that would definitely increase her intelligence stat.

 "So my plan is that when the mouse gets close to me, I'll sidestep it and latch onto it. To be fair, I only had about ten seconds to think about it." Surmised Imogen as the mouse drew near.

 Imogen, hearing the patter of the mouse, got ready to enact her master plan.

 "Okay Imogen, this is the moment you have been training for your entire life for; ready, set, sidestep!" Announced Imogen.

 Imogen barely sidestepped the mouse, but it was in vain; for she didn't manage to bite into the mouse. 

 "That mouse is fast!" "Did it put all of it's points into agility or something, how am I supposed to bite it?" Questioned Imogen as she turned around to see the mouse mocking her.

 But before she could think more, the mouse turned around for another run; it bit down only to realize that nothing was in its mouth. Soon, it realized that its delicious snack of tick had jumped onto its head. 

 The mouse tried to get Imogen off, but it only managed to scratch its own eye in the process; because of this it decided Imogen wasn't worth the trouble and let her be.

 "For some reason this mouse's blood doesn't taste as good as that worm's blood did, I wonder why." Pondered Imogen while sucking the mouse's blood.

~~~

 For hours on end Imogen watched the mouse hunt for prey, watching bug after bug fall prey to the vicious mouse. Who knew that a cute little mouse could be so malicious, somehow all the death disturbed Imogen more than she thought it would, but in the end; she managed to fall straight to sleep.

~~~

 Imogen woke up feeling bloated as the mouse started its hunt for prey, she softy detached mouse and slowly walked away. 

 "I thought mice were supposed to have good hearing, so much for that." Chuckled Imogen triumphantly as she looked up at the giant tree.

 "It seems like the mouse was hesitant to leave this area." Guessed Imogen while noticing how much closer she was to the tree. 

 Conveniently, when she detached from the mouse this morning; she was a lot closer to the tree than before so It only took a few minutes to get to it.

 "How the hell am I going to get up to that hole, I came all this way for nothing!" Despaired Imogen as she looked up at the tree. 

 "Actually, wait a minute, if I can hook onto animals that have magical hide; then I can do the same with this tree." Realized Imogen while feeling the urge to bite into the tree.

 "Sadly once again that would be contradictory to my main goal, but there's no turning back now... so thankfully I have time and nothing else to do." Stated Imogen as she began her climb up the tall tree, she dubbed it the climb of pain. 

~~~

 Nothing bad happened on the climb, but it was extremely challenging and tiring. With Imogen having to stop repeatedly to recharge her active skills. When she was nearing the hole she could hear what sounded like a heartbeat, it was very unnerving; but she couldn't go back as she was so close to her goal.

 "Is that a heart connected to the tree, or are my eyes deceiving me; I guess I shouldn't be surprised anymore." Speculated Imogen while she looked at the heart

 "Am I hearing a voice speak to me, I think I'm going insane." Blinked Imogen as she made sure she was sane.

 "Youngling of the forest, heed my call; the humans are destroying this forest that I am the heart of." Pleaded an old and tired sounding voice.

 "Too much of this forest has been destroyed and I no longer have any hope of it surviving, but maybe you let the forest live on in yourself; touch me and receive my dying blessing." Coughed what is thought to be the heart of this... tree, forest perhaps; whatever was thought when this was created.

 "I don't know if I should do it, but I'm already up here so screw it." Shrugged Imogen while getting ready to touch the heart. "That's becoming my catch phrase now, for some reason it always speaks the truth." Chuckled Imogen as she used one of her six not yet eight limbs to touch the ancient heart.

 The heart almost instantly turned to dust, then a system message popped up in front of Imogen. 

*System Notice: New Evolution choices available at evolution. 

 "Well that's definitely useful for me right now, why does it have to be so awful; well at least I have a safe space like I wanted." Reasoned Imogen while looking about the oaken home of hers. 

 Imogen then went over to see if she could do anything with the dust, but it somehow happened to blow away before she could look at it, making her take one last look at her surroundings before drifting off into dreamland.

~~~

 Imogen's mom was a hardworking lady that fully believed in her son's potential to be a truly great artist one day, but her life ended before her time. When Imogen's mom was younger she was pressured into doing some bad things and she didn't quit until her mid thirties came around.

 But even though she quit she was left with the long lasting effects of it and was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer at the age of thirty nine. Even though she wasn't even supposed to make it a year, she was strong and made it five whole years.

 When she died at the age of forty four the whole hospital mourned her passing, almost all the doctors thought she was going to beat it and several other patients lost their will to survive thinking that they weren't going to make it.

 Her funeral was even paid for by the mayor, it took a big hit on the whole town. It took an especially big hit on Imogen, who loved her mom dearly. As much as her dad tried, she just couldn't love him as much as she did her mom.

~~~

 Imogen awoke drenched with the feeling of hopelessness and curled her little tick body into a ball, hiding from the world. She didn't want to move, she didn't think she could make it up without falling. 

 She stayed there for the rest of the day, eventually falling into the sweet release of sleep once again, but this time; she slept peacefully.