Prolouge

"I know this place..." Quote looked around at his surroundings. He was in a cavern. A dark, small cavern. It was familiar.

He couldn't remember when or how he got here... All he knew was that something was familiar. He clambered up a steep rock wall, and found himself face-to-face with a door, which he promptly thrust open. He appeared to have walked into some sort of room, with a table, chair, and a chest in the back. He was still alone in the room. He walked over to the chest and opened it to inspect its contents. He reached in and removed a very familiar looking gun; a Polar Star. He held the gun in his hands for a minute, simply admiring the craftsmanship and handiwork of the weapon. After the moment had passed, he rose, and walked back to where the door had stood. However, to his surprise, there was no door- only an entryway, which he walked through.

Through the entryway was yet another small and dark cave. Water dripped from the ceiling and pooled in a recess in the floor of the cave. He turned around and noticed an energy capsule lying on the floor. He broke it open and collected the energy. After jumping down to the cavern floor, he ventured to the left, wading through water and hurtling the occasional obstacle. He found a heart capsule along the way and quickly installed the self-upgrade. He continued in his search for what he supposed was an exit. He found another energy capsule in a crate, which powered up the polar star to the max. 'This is all very mundane,' thought Quote. 'And odd, too. I haven't met a single living being so far.' No sooner had he thought that, the door he was approaching opened its eye. Startled, Quote took a step back and blinked a few times before promptly shooting the possesed door. He walked through the empty doorway .

He was standing on sand, and when he looked around, he realized that this place was also familiar. Why couldn't he remember?

"Oh. It's you." Quote turned around to see a blonde female robot, who seemed to be addressing him. As if in response, she took a few steps towards him, stopping about two meters away. "I know why you're here. You're here to kill the Mimigmas, aren't you. That's all you've ever done."

Quote was baffled. He had no intention of harming any Mimigas, and he had no idea as to what this android was referring to. He tried to deny her claims, but found he was unable to speak. They looked at each other for a while longer before the girl said, "Mimigas aren't your enemies, I am." With this, she produced a machine gun. "I'm going to kill you."

Before Quote could fail to respond, she began firing. Out of instinct, he jumped to the left - narrowly dodging the shots. He had no choice but to loose several rounds of his own on his assailant. One hit from that machine gun would probably obliterate him. Every time he landed a hit, he cringed. It felt wrong to shoot this robot, even though she was trying to kill him. He landed a shot to her chest, throwing her to the ground in a smoking heap. She didn't move. Quote approached her cautiously, and watched as she sat up. "You win... I can't fight anymore..." She sounded crushed, as if this fight was for her life. "I suppose you're going to kill me now..." Evidently, she thought it was.

Finally, Quote was able to produce a word. "No," he said. The girl looked up, confusion in her eyes. "You're not?" She studied him for a moment, before a look of guilt crossed her face. "O-oh... I hadn't realized! It... That fight was for nothing then, wasn't it..."

"Why would I ever want to fight you, Curly?" The words came from Quote's mouth, but he did not know their origin. However, as he said it, he understood. The robot in front of him was indeed Curly, Curly Brace. They were allies, they had fought together, quite valliantly, and he even thought they had saved a great many people... Who he was sure lived in these very caves.

Curly's voice broke his train of thought. "I... Don't think I can stand..." Quote looked down to her, and realized he couldn't leave her here.

"Wait here," he said, entering the one room of the Sand Zone Residence. He looked around for something to carry her with, anything. Something cought his eye. Hidden amongst some books, he found a familiar cord - the Tow Rope. He pocketed it, and proceeded to the door. Upon opening it, he was greeted by a wall of water.

He was underwater, in some dark place. He looked around and spotted curly, lying unconcious on some kind of metal structure. Quote panicked, rushing over to his friend as quickly as he could. He attatched her body to his with the Tow rope, and made for the exit - another door opposite where he had entered. The other side of the door was dry, it seemed to be a cabin of sorts. He saw a bed, where he immediately set Curly down. She seemed to be flooded. Quote searched around the cabin for some sort of clue, anything really to help her. Text lit up the screen of a computer sitting across from the bed.

"You know, I always used to write everything down in that book over there..." Quote looked around for the book in reference when he spotted a shelf. Looking through it, he found an instruction manual on how to treat flooded robots. This was all so familiar to him, he was sure he had done this before. He returned to the bed, ready to drain Curly.

"Remove any garnments worn by the robot before draining, as to keep them dry and ready for wear after the procedure." Quote knew this to be the first step, but... He felt some sort of aversion to this instruction... He shook it off. It's not as if either of them really needed to wear clothes in the first place - it was only to appear more human. Actually, now that he thought about it... He dispelled the thought and proceeded. He removed her shoes, top, pants and... Curly appeared to be wearing panties. He removed them too. A plain, smooth robot laid in front of him.

"Next, space out each individual joint of the robot, as to drain the water most effectively. Each joint should separate about six to seven centemeters without risk of damaging anything." Quote went over her body, spacing out each joint, watching the water drain from her system. As the water dripped, her chest rose and fell... the most basic sign of life and operation... it was calming.

"Allow the robot to airate for at least ten minutes. After this, it should be revived. Shortly after, allow it to reboot. Rebooting may take some time." He watched her body for around seven minutes, watching her pale skin rise and fall... The addition of hair and synthetic skin, even if it was pale, made them seem extremely lifelike... But the most humanlike quality was the ability to express emotion. They were capable of expressing any human emotion in existance and even feeling emotion, but always to an extent. They were in theory, however, incapable of losing a temper or becoming over-emotional... or experiencing love.

Quote decided to return Curly's clothes to her body. She seemed to be dry enough, only now taking time to awaken. He pressed the joints back together, and they clicked back into place. He quietly slipped on her panties, pants, top, and shoes. He felt as if he had forgotten something, though. Spotting a cord lying under her back, he realized he had never removed the Tow Rope from her body. Holding her up, he unclipped the Tow Rope, and put it aside.

However when he looked back to her, he found himself bending over her, holding her close to him. Her body seemed so small and frail now, contrary to the physical hardships she had endured. He wanted to shield her, protect her from harm... Silenty, he brought her closer to him, and he kissed her forehead.

Curly's eyes fluttered. "... Quote?" Quote looked down at his revived friend, joy flowing through him. He smiled at her, and she returned it. Her arms reached up, and she pulled him into a tight hug. He knew she would never leave his side.

Chapter 1

Quote's eyes snapped open. He blinked for a few seconds as the dream cleared from his head. He sat up and yawned, hopping off his bed. It had been about a month since he had escaped the floating island with Curly and Balrog, yet he still had dreams... He still remembered parts of his adventures through the island, some good, some bad. He wasn't quite sure what this dream meant, though. None of his dreams had felt so real before... He wasn't previously aware that he was able to have lucid dreams. He decided to put it behind him.

As he walked past the computer screen in his room, the screen flickered on. It was displaying a simple platforming game he and Curly had made together. They had played it together many times. He smiled at the thought of the memories. Quote dropped from the overhang down to the first floor, walked past the fireplace and out the door. Warm sunlight greeted him as he stepped onto the grass outside. Off in the distance he could hear Curly and Balrog doing something.

After they had escaped, Curly had suggested they find a nice quiet spot to relax and live out the rest of their days. Balrog couldn't have chosen a better spot. They had settled in a flat plains that was far enough away from civilization to be peaceful and quiet, but close enough for convenience. The closest settlement was a small mimiga village about eight kilometers off. From time to time they would make a visit, usually just to walk around.

"Quote!" He turned his head to face this familiar voice. Curly greeted him with a hug. "You're finally up!"

"Huzzah!" Balrog greeted Quote with his usual saying. "The morning we have here is quite nice!"

"We've been working on something," said Curly. "It's nearly finished too!"

"What are you talking about?" Asked Quote, laughing.

"You just gotta come see it!" She led him by his hand to the back of the house where to Quote's surprise he found a beautiful garden. There were flowers of all different kinds, saplings, vines, even fruits.

"How long have you guys been working on this?"

"Since the time the sun rose!" Balrog seemed very pleased with their work.

"We wanted it to be a surprise," said Curly, "So we didn't wake you up." She smiled and looked around. "Do you like it?"

Quote shook his head, smiling. "Curly, it's amazing! I just wish you'd woke me up sooner!"

"How come?"

"So I could help you, of course!" They all laughed, and proceeded to work on the garden, together.

It was around noon when Quote noticed a rather unusual flower. It was large and bright yellow, and he was fairly sure it hadn't been there just a bit ago. "Balrog must have put this here," he thought, as he reached down to grab it. However, as he did, the flower reached up and bit his hand. He yelled out in surprise, as it wasn't exactly too painful. Out of instinct, he almost immediately unholstered his Polar Star, blasting the assailant off his hand.

"What the heck's going on?!" Curly had run over at Quote's yell, and had watched the spectacle that had just taken place. Quote surveyed the area before holstering his weapon again.

"Something just - that flower just bit me." Quote again looked around for more like it before continuing. "Now that I think of it, it resembled a flower cub."

Curly was puzzled. "But... the flower cubs around here are usually docile... Why would it have attacked you?"

"It was probably scared!" Balrog walked up to his two friends. "They get violent, like cornered squirrels. It was probably attracted to the scent of these flowers."

"Hmm..." Curly wasn't quite sure about the logic here, but she knew that Balrog was wiser than both her and Quote. "Then, I guess for now, steer clear of any flower cubs you see in the garden." Quote nodded. He didn't want to harm the poor things if he didn't have to, they were usually quite peaceful.

The three of them put the event behind them, and continued working on the garden. They laughed and worked for the rest of the day, with no further interruptions.

The next few days they relaxed and cared for the garden. At least three more flower cubs had also tried to attack them, and they'd spotted several pignons. Since their assailants couldn't do any real damage, they were of no real threat, but it increased Curly and Quote's suspicion. For Quote, he found it very hard to relax with the constant threat of a strife looming over his head. Despite Curly's constant attempts to soothe him, he couldn't put it past him. He was hard-wired for combat, and even the hint of danger put him on guard.

Quote began to have even more dreams and even flashbacks of the island... He knew something was wrong. Whether his friends chose to accept it or not, he was sure of it. Something was invading their paradise.