Zeke's left foot accidentally slipped into the water and a giant purple river worm shot out and snapped at him. Luckily he managed to pull his foot out in the nick of time. "Damn, I forgot about those things. I guess that's why they call this the Purple Worm River?"

"Nah," Squirt said. "Some guy named Purple Worm discovered it. He wasn't even purple. I think he was an orange mongoose. Anyway, complete coincidence that it happens to be infested with purple river worms."

"Hey, I think there's something stuck to my shoe," Zeke said as he bent over to loosen it. "Some sort of sticky rock or something. That's probably what caused me to lose my balance and slip into the river. Huh. This is weird it seems to have some sort of writing on it. It says:

Congratulations on solving each and every clue

And now my vast fortune belongs to only you.

What the heck do you think that means?"

"Don't know," Squirt shrugged. "Sounds like nonsense. I would toss that thing into the river and let the worms eat it if I were you."

"Yeah, but it sounds like I might have located some sort of treasure or something. Only I don't know where it is because I'm not sure when or where I stepped on this thing. Maybe we should retrace our steps. There could be a lot of floss back there somewhere."

"You wish to go back?" Squirt asked. "I have no need for floss. I can get everything I need right here in jungle. Especially tasty poisonous monsters. Also tasty poisonous vegetation. But if you want to go back, no problem. I didn't really want to go to the city anyway, even though it's just over that next hill there."

"Really? It's just over the next hill?"

"Give or take five miles."

"Well, never mind. I probably shouldn't backtrack. I'm kind of tired of everything I encounter trying to kill me or poison me. You're probably right I'm sure this thing is just some kind of junk. Maybe I'll hang onto it for now though. Maybe someone will be interested in it."

"Do whatever you want, although I don't know why you would feel the need to load yourself down with needlessly heavy items."

"Says the guy who made me carry a dead snake and a large boulder through half the jungle.

"Well, anyway, we're here," Squirt said as they broke free of the tree-line and Zeke caught his first glimpse of the sun shining down on the blue walls of the city. "Very disappointed that we didn't run into more monsters for me to fight and eat, but maybe I'll get lucky on the way back to village. Don't forget to visit my buddy's scorpion bat massage parlor."

"Like I would forget to go to the most important stop on my itinerary," Zeke said. "Anyway, thanks for getting me back to the city. I hate to say it, but I'm not sure I could have made it without you."

"You most definitely couldn't have made it without me. Now get out of here. You've been irritating me for a long time now and if I have to spend one more minute listening to your whiny little man baby voice, I'll probably rip your larynx out. Have been resisting the urge to do that for long time now. Pretty much ever since we left village."

"All right, well, miss you, too, pal," Zeke said. "Should we hug or would a handshake suffice?" He turned around but Squirt had already vanished back into the jungle. "Squirt? Oh well, I guess he didn't really seem like the type who would enjoy long drawn out goodbyes. Now, if I remember correctly the river flows right under the city wall, so all I have to do is jump in and swim right on inside."

He threw a couple pebbles into the water just to make sure there weren't any river worms in the area, but all seemed clear, so he held his nose and jumped into the river. Unfortunately it appeared someone had installed some metal bars over the hole under the wall he had passed through last time. They were wide enough for the water to flow through, but not enough for him to squeeze past. He was starting to run out of air so he kicked his way back to the surface and drew in a deep breath.

"Hey, you there!" a voice called out from on top of the wall. "What do you think you're doing swimming in there? Don't you know that's where the lawn chair factory dumps all its toxic chemicals? Why do you think there's no river worms around there? You'd better get out immediately!"

"You don't have to tell me twice," Zeke said as he swam back to the riverbanks and pulled himself out. He looked up and saw a tall green elf standing on top of the wall. "But why are they dumping chemicals here? Don't they just flow right back into the city?"

"Didn't you see the filtration system built into the wall?" the elf asked. "Keeps the deadly chemicals out. Let's the fresh water flow in. It's a win win situation for everyone. Except, of course, for anyone foolish enough to go swimming there. You might want to have a doctor examine you before your skin starts melting off."

"That's probably not a bad idea. If I can get in there and get myself home I can probably have Dr. Octavius take a look at it. So, where can I get in anyway?"

"Well, there's a gate about half a mile north of here," the elf said. "But as the official city guard on duty, I'm not going to open it up for you."

"What? Why not? I've been lost in that stupid jungle for, like, days. I just want to get back to civilization and maybe have a hot shower. And a beer."

"Are you a citizen of Quartzwater City?" the elf asked. "Can you show me your papers?"

"Well, uh, no not exactly. But I've got some friends in there that will vouch for me. Try finding Max. He's like a detective or something. On the other hand, he's probably passed out in a bar somewhere. I know! Find Milosh. He'll vouch for me. And if that's not good enough he can just get Earth Milosh to contact Dr. Octavius since all the Miloshes share the same mind. I'm sure Dr. Octavius and Sarah and everyone are worried sick about me since I vanished without warning. Undoubtedly they're back on Earth just waiting to hear some sort of news about me and as soon as Milosh tells them I'm here they'll come rushing through the door to come to my rescue. You know Dr. Octavius, right? The famous mad scientist? He'll totally vouch for me. Or we could just save a bunch of time and you could just let me through the gate."

"Look, if you don't have the proper paperwork, I'm afraid I can't let you in. You just came straggling out of the Black Jungle, meaning you're either some sort of barbarian trying to conduct a raid on the city, or else you're just some lousy tourist."

"Really? You guys are still anti-tourist? I thought that ignorant attitude died along with Trevor Mastodon. Don't you know tourists bring lots of floss into the local economy? Do you want Quartzwater City to undergo a recession, or even worse, a depression? You'd probably lose your job! And then where would you be? Broke and homeless on the streets? Just let me in, for yourself if not for me."

"Oh, well, if you have a lot of floss, that's another matter. Perhaps we could talk. Grease my palms a little and I might be inclined to look the other way while the gate gets inadvertently left open."

"Actually I was sort of kidnapped against my will. I didn't even really know I was coming here so I kind of didn't have time to grab any floss. But don't worry, I'm totally good for it."

"So wait a minute," the elf said. "You don't have any floss, but you want me to let you into the city where you're just going to be another vagrant draining the taxpayer's floss so you can lay on the street and contribute nothing to society? Back into the jungle with you."

"Okay, I admit I may not have any floss now, but I might know where a bunch of floss is. You see, I found this rock that says something about congratulations on solving all the clues and now the vast fortune is yours."

"What?" the elf shouted. "You found the last clue? Let me see that!"

"Well, I'd be happy to show it to you, but honestly the writing's pretty small and I doubt you'd be able to see it from way up on top of that wall."

"Never mind that," the elf said. "Meet me at the gate. Like I said, it's about half a mile up the road to the north."

Zeke followed the wall for several minutes before he got to the gate, which was already open with the elf standing in the middle of it blocking the way.

"Thanks for opening the gate," Zeke said. "You want to let me in and I'll show you the rock?"

"Let me see it now!" the elf demanded as he tried to grab it out of Zeke's hand.

"No touching," Zeke said as he held it out of reach. "You can read what it says, but I'm hanging onto it."

The elf's eyes scanned back and forth on the rock several times. Suddenly he grabbed Zeke by the shirt collar. "Where did you find this? Speak man!"

"I don't know. In the jungle."

"Where in the jungle?"

"I'm not really sure to be honest."

"Oh, I see how it is. How much floss do you want to tell me? Five canisters? Ten? Here's fifteen. That's all I've got on me right now. Now where the heck did you get this thing?"

"It was straight up the Purple Worm River. About two miles. Give or take five miles."

"Got it!" the elf shouted as he took off down the path back towards the river. "No time to waste. Gotta go now before anyone else hears about this! I'm going to find that old coot's fortune and quit my job as a guard! This is the best day of my life!"

"Of course, I'm not sure I actually picked it up by the river. That's just when I noticed it. Heck, that thing could have gotten stuck to my shoe at any point since Squirt and his friend kidnapped me." The elf was already out of hearing range at this point, but he had left the city gate wide open so Zeke shrugged and strolled in.