Journal entry - November 17, 2042
The Floating Island...
Over decades of time passing has this location been a bane to the surface world's survival for what lies on it. Over this time, greedy individuals seek out it's massively destructive relic that lies upon it... The Demon Crown.
The Demon Crown is a relic of power... and corruption, of massive power. A magic raging so hard that it can be traced back many years before it even first appeared on the island.
A horrible power is behind it; I can almost feel it inside my soul. No matter how many times a wielder of the crown is defeated or the crown itself is destroyed, it always comes back, luring a new power-hungry fool to try and take the crown for themselves. It is a cycle; a cycle that has repeated again and again.
...I am not sure what possesses me to do this. Maybe the strain of anguish reigning on my mind, or maybe I have simply gone insane from the repeating cycle. But this can not go any longer.
I am sending my own force to battle the crown's insatiable power.
I may have not seen what have gone down with my own eyes, but with who I am sending, taking on a complete army of enraged Mimiga under the Crown's control would be suicide. They may be able to handle one or two, but an entire legion would decimate them.
No. I'm going to have them do something different.
They are already sending a new batch of soldier class robots to the island to claim the crown... but if the two my father made are slipped into the batch...
...they can carry out their orders.
Find the source of power for that Crown.
And destroy it for good.
These two I am sending are my father's greatest creations; the durability and skill of a highly programmed A.I., yet so close to human he consider them his own children, much like myself. Now I will give them purpose. They know and trust me enough from my father's experience to do the right thing.
To destroy that crown.
And once the situation dies down after the next outburst has stopped, I shall mount an expedition to the island. Disguised as an ordinary expedition for studying what little Mimiga remain, if there are any, it will be to retrieve these two; my robotic siblings.
...I know you two will not hear this, but I pray for your victory...
-Daisuke
"Honey! Come on now, it's time for us to go!" A woman's voice echoed through the household as a young girl, dark tan skin and green hair with a scar across the bridge of her nose was putting on her blue sweater. She sighed, grabbing her small backpack and slinging it onto her back as she went down the stairs of their house.
"Mom... why am I going along again?" The girl asked the taller green haired woman, wearing a white coat and a large suitcase by her side.
"Sue..." The older woman said. "You know we can't just leave you here all alone. The only one who could responsibly look after you is your brother Kazuma, and he's needed to fly our transport to the island."
The girl sighed, obviously distressed about the entire situation. "But mom..."
"Honey, please." The older woman said. "I know you want to stay here, but your father had planned this trip for us for quite a while. Can you at least do it for him?"
"...alright." Sue spoke, soon walking out the door and towards the van in front of their house. The sky was still the same gray overcast it has been, the massive mountain looming over the city in the background as Sue got into the van next to her older green-haired brother, Kazuma. Sue sighed, slumping back as her mother got into the van, starting it up.
"Now, one of my associates from work, Itoh, is going to be coming along with us, along with the professor. Be on your best behavior you two, understood?" The woman spoke.
"Yes mom..." Sue spoke, looking out the window at the surrounding grey city.
"Understood mother." Kazuma spoke.
"Thank you." The woman spoke as the van continued its journey to the airport. "One of your father's associates is also going to be there, so please do not do anything ridiculous, okay?"
"Yes mom..." Sue mumbled, still staring out the window.
"Is something wrong Sue?"
"No mom..." Sue merely responded, still looking out the window. Inside though, her mind was racing. Why was she going on this trip? What is the point of taking her along? She'd just be bored out of her mind during the entire thing. She was still thinking these as the van pulled in to the airport.
"We're here, prepare to disembark." The woman stated. She wasn't even through half her sentence when Sue had already left the vehicle.
"Alright, alright, let's get this over with..." Sue grumbled as she started walking towards one of the aircraft... then stopped as she had no idea as to which craft they were taking. She internally sweatdropped to herself as she tried to look at which craft they were taking.
"Uhhhm..." She muttered to herself as she tried to look for the correct craft... then felt a tapping on her shoulder.
"Ah, you must be Momorin's daughter, yes?" The voice said as Sue turned around, behind her being an old man wearing red-tinted glasses and a white lab coat.
"Oh! Professor Booster!" Sue said. "Y-yes, that's me."
"Well, it's certainly nice to see one of the Sakamoto's out and about." Booster spoke. "Ah, but where's the rest of your family?"
"Right here with me, professor!" Another voice said as a man with blue hair and a white coat came up to him along with Sue's mother and Kazuma. "I just met them outside the airport. I must have missed the little Sue with how far she got in here!"
Sue merely sweatdropped. "You must be Itoh, correct?" She asked.
"Indeed I am." The blue haired man spoke. "Now, we should be ready to embark t-"
"Now hold on Itoh." Booster spoke. "We're still missing our last associate coming with us."
"Right." Momorin spoke. "Doctor Fuyuhiko is supposed to be joining us, correct?"
"And correct you would be." A voice spoke from behind the group as the tall green-haired doctor, wearing a white lab coat with a red pen in its pocket and a suit under it, came up to the group. "Sincere apologies for my late arrival. My transport here was slightly delayed."
"It is alright, Date." Momorin spoke. "Now, my husband of mine is also to be joining us, no?"
"Ah, yes, sadly he got a call." The Doctor spoke. "It appears he's had to change plans and could not attend the investigation, as he had a call from one of the largest robotics companies for his father's work. He might be gone for a while, so he wanted me to relay that we go on the trip without him."
"So dad couldn't join us?" Kazuma spoke. "A shame, really. He would have loved the island."
"Ohohoho, I'm sure he would have Kazuma." The Doctor spoke. "Now, are the preparations ready for travel?"
"Everything is in order." Momorin spoke. "Let us be off for the island."
"Woohoo..." Sue mumbled to herself, but in the back of her mind she couldn't shake the feeling something was off about what the doctor said...
The twin-blade helicopter flew high above the clouds below as they rushed by like a ship at sea, the sun bright and glaring against the clear blue sky; how different the world looked above the clouds without them blocking the view! Sue, however, wouldn't seem to be enjoying the ride on the chopper; if anything, she wwanted to get to the island and out of the small space of the airborne vehicle.
"Mooooooom..." Sue moaned, upside down in her seat, staring at the ceiling. "Are we there yet?"
"Please, have patience Sue..." Momorin spoke. "It will still be a few more minutes until we land."
"But it's been over an hour since we got on!" The girl complained. "I wanna get out of this thing!"
"You know I could always push you off." Kazuma joked from the pilot's seat. "You're seeming like a real eager beaver about this trip."
"HEY!" Sue angrily responded. "I didn't even want to come on this trip! I wanted to stay home, but nooooooo! I had to come along because I can't be off home by myself!"
"Honey, please..." Momorin spoke, trying to calm her daughter. "Kazuma, please, just focus on flying the helicopter could you?"
"Understood mother." Kazuma responded. Sue would just sigh and take out a Gameboy from her pack and turn it on, trying to find something to satiate her nerves until they got to the island.
"We're going to be starting the landing process soon!" Itoh said. "Everyone buckle up, this may be a rough one!"
"Joy..." Sue sighed, attaching her seatbelt as the helicopter began its descent, landing a bit turbulently onto the island itself.
"Could've been at least a little bit gentler..." Sue mumbled to herself as she grabbed her bag.
"Kkkkkt! Thank you for flying Kazuma Airlines, we have arrived at our destination of the floating island. Please disembark the vehicle to see the beautiful surroundings of our location. We hope you choose to fly with us again, over! Kkkkkkt!" Kazuma said over the copter's intercom.
"Pfffft, oh my god Kazuma..." Sue muttered to herself as she disembarked the helicopter. "About time we got here, that took forever."
"Well, we are here now, no?" Momorin spoke. "And quite a beautiful island itself."
Sue would take in a deep breath, and her eyes would widen. "Woah..."
"Something wrong sweetie?" Momorin asked as Kazuma and Itoh came out of the copter.
"Th-the air is so... clean up here!" She spoke, looking around. "It feels so refreshing this high up! How high are we anyways?"
"At least several miles, dear child." Professor Booster said as he dismounted the copter along with the Doctor. "It's unknown how the island itself keeps itself afloat. Some say it's due to a geo-magnetic force within its caverns that keeps it aloft. Others say it's magic from over centuries ago. It's truly a mystery in of itself."
"Magic?" Sue asked. "Isn't that sort of... I dunno, a cop-out?"
"Oh, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss that Sakamoto." The Doctor answered her. "Relics of great power have been discovered in the past before, it may be a similar case here."
"That's why my husband had arranged this trip, no?" Momorin spoke. "Answering these unsolved mysteries."
"Indeed." The Doctor spoke, looking onward past the group. "And I see a perfect place to start an investigation tomorrow once everything is set up." The others would turn around to see what appeared to be a large and fairly collapsed castle a bit aways from the group. Off in the distance there were many stone scaffoldings that appeared to be wearing down, and could collapse at any minute. Old banners bearing an insignia of a red eye could be seen across the structure. "Research has it that an old king originally ruled over this island before the war started, where he himself was a casualty in the process."
"You mean the one ten years ago? With all those robots?" Sue asked.
"You're quite the intelligent one, Sue." The Doctor responded. "It's an interesting topic, however, we can discuss this at another time."
"Indeed." Professor Booster spoke. "Let's get a base set up to start with. I will handle the living accommodations."
"Professor..." Itoh finally spoke. "Aren't you a little past your prime to work on construction?"
"You forget I have inventions for these sort of things." Booster responded, pulling out a small capsule. With a press of a button, he tossed it onto a level terrain area and soon enough it expanded and a bright flash of light occurred, a small prefab house now in the place of the small clearing. "I believe this should help accommodate for our needs."
"Intuitive as ever, Professor." Kazuma said. "Now, let's start getting the supplies unloaded."
After a couple hours and all the supplies were unloaded, sunset was starting to set on the island as it started to dip below the clouds. Sue had found herself sitting on the upper part of the balcony, next to a rather large statue of an almost angelic figure as she stared out into the orange sky and the setting sun, sighing.
"Thought you'd be here." Kazuma said, soon sitting down next to her as they stared out into the sunset. "What's up?"
"Nothing, really." Sue spoke, looking out across the orange cloudscape as the sun was setting. "It's... weird. Originally I wasn't looking forward to this trip... but this entire time so far has been way better than I was expecting. I mean, yeah, the ride here was a drag, but... the air is so much cleaner here than at home..."
"It is a nice change of pace, isn't it?" Kazuma asked.
"It is..." Sue spoke. "And the view is really nice too..."
"It truly is a new experience, being up on a floating island." Kazuma spoke. "I just wonder what is going to be in store for this thing mom and the others are going to be doing."
"Well, the professor is going to be working on a new booster pack to help with exploring the island." Kazuma spoke. "Not much you and I can do in the matter at the moment."
"Right. Mom wanted us to stay out of trouble while they do the research..." Sue sighed. "Sad, really. I wanted to do some exploring..."
"I've heard there's a Sky Dragon Egg incubation center on the island here." Kazuma spoke. "Supposedly it's been long abandoned."
Sue's eyes would widen. "No way."
"Yes way." Kazuma responded.
"Real-life Sky Dragons?!" Sue exclaimed. "I always heard they were a myth, but they might be real?!" Her eyes would lighten up in excitement. "I wanna go find that place!"
"Maybe tomorrow." Kazuma spoke. "If we went now, mother would get worried sick."
"True..." Sue answered, seeming sad. "But I wanna see the Sky Dragon eggs..."
"It is best not to bite off more than you can chew, young one..." A new voice spoke, seemingly... reptilian? Sue felt her skin freeze on end as her brother got up to look around for whoever made that voice.
"I didn't hear that myself, right?" Sue asked.
"No, I heard it too." Kazuma spoke. "Who's there? Show yourself?"
"Relax, young ones, I am not here to harm..." The voice said again as green hooded figure stepped out from behind the statue, much to the surprise of the two. "I am merely here to warn."
"Who... what... are you?" Sue asked, uncomfortable at the sight of the figure in front of them. The figure merely gave off a sharp toothy grin, that caused a chill to run up Sue's spine.
"I am known as Cthulhu." The figure spoke, extending a scaly clawed hand to point at the two. "And your group is going to behold a terrible fate unless you leave the island."
"Wh-what?" Kazuma stated. "What do you mean?"
"The island has a terrible power." Cthulhu spoke. "A power to destroy the surface world that a fool will unwittingly unleash, should you not leave this island."
"What are you talking about?" Sue said. "Explain!"
"All will be explained in due time, child..." The hooded figure said before moving around the corner of the statue.
"Hey! Get back..." Sue said as she rounded around the statue, only to find the hooded figure has disappeared entirely. "...here?"
"He disappeared?" Kazuma asked.
"How?!" Sue said. "There's no way someone could have disappeared like that!"
"Maybe it's best we head back to the shelter." Kazuma spoke.
"Agreed." Sue answered as the two raced back for the shelter...
That night Sue laid wide awake in her own bed, her thoughts still bugging her about her encounter with that... that thing. She couldn't exactly call it human; the island was supposed to be abandoned of those from what her mother had told her. So then who was that figure?
She sighed; she wouldn't get any thinking done restless tonight, it would merely get her nowhere. She would just try to get some sleep an-
Wait... was that footsteps? Now something got Sue curious, the girl getting out of bed and lightly cracking open the door to her room...
'The Doctor?' Sue asked herself as she saw the coated white man up and about. 'What has him up so late?' She saw him walking out the door to the prefab house, and now she couldn't resist her curiosity. Quickly getting dressed into her normal attire and grabbing her pack, she quietly followed the Doctor outside. The moonlight was casting its pale glow all across the terrain of the island. Sue could make out the Doctor's figure as he seemed to be heading off towards the fortress the house was nearby...
"Why is he heading there?" Sue asked herself as she followed the Doctor up the ruined stairs of the fortress. After a bit of climbing she soon found herself at the entrance, slowly moving inside as to not draw attention to herself.
What she saw inside both awed her and made her blood run cold.
Large torn tapestries were adorned on the walls as the moonlight flooded in through the windows of what appeared to be the throne room. A couple columns were collapsed around the area, meaning the ceiling could possibly give out at any moment...
But at the far end of the room stood the throne, with two smaller pedestals on them with two figures each encased in bubbles upon them. The one on the left appeared to be a large rectangular being with stubs for arms and legs, frozen in a state of shock while it was encased in the bubble. The one in the other bubble appeared to be a girl, much older than Sue currently was, holding a staff with a red jewel inside of it. She also appeared to be in a state of shock, but marginally less so than the giant walking... suitcase? Toaster? Sue couldn't tell, she had never seen anything so bizaare before.
And right there, resting on the seat of the throne itself, atop and old skull, appeared to be some sort of rectangular headgear of some sorts. It appeared to be metal, most probably iron, but with surprisingly no rust. At the top of the headgear on the front appeared to be a red round stone of sorts, acting as the iris and pupil for the eye engraving on the front of it, also engraved being what appeared to be black tear streaks upon it.
And above all, at the front of it all, staring the object down itself was none other than the Doctor. He walked slowly to the throne, chuckling to himself.
"Ohohoho..." He breathed, soon reaching the throne. "In my entire life, I never thought this day would come..."
'What does he mean by that?' Sue thought to herself as she hid behind a pillar.
"Finally... it is mine!" He spoke, raising the helmet like object above his head. "The Demon Crown! The relic of ultimate power! And with it..." He spoke, loweing it onto his head. "Nothing will be able to stop me. Nothing."
At that moment the bubbles burst as the figures descended feet first to the ground... well, the female did at least, giving a graceful landing on her feet as she bowed to the Doctor. The giant rectangular thing, however, seemed to faceplant ungracefully on the ground.
"Owwwwww..." The rectangle stated. "I feel pain."
"Balrog, shut up." The female spoke. "Can you not see we are in the presence of a new Master?"
"Master, hm?" The Doctor spoke. "Hmph, this may be more interesting than I expected..."
At this point Sue couldn't take anymore of this, as she rushed out from her hiding spot and looked at the Doctor square on.
"DOCTOR!" Sue yelled. "What are you doing?!"
'Why did I do that?' She internally cursed to herself as the Doctor soon turned to see her in the middle of the room.
"Ah, a gnat. How annoying." The Doctor spoke.
"Allow me, Master." The female spoke as soon she teleported in front of Sue, causing the girl to squeak as she fell back. "Now, let's have a bit of fun first..." She raised her staff as the gem in it began to glow. Sue out of instinct shielded her eyes, and prepared for the worst as she soon felt the spell hit her. She was trembling for a bit before she moved her hands... only to now find they were white furry paws! She screamed.
"Wh-WHAT AM I?!" Sue yelled.
"Helpless." The female said. "Now, come here-"
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" She cried as she fled from the throne room. The Doctor seemed to be merely annoyed by the interference.
"Don't just stand there, after her!" He yelled. The female and the box-thing would nod as they game pursuit to the girl.
Soon enough they would have chased her to the edge of the island, the young girl-turned-creature now overlooking the rocky cliff and the cloudy sea below as the two approached from behind her.
"Well, would you look at that?" The female spoke. "Nowhere to run, or hide."
"Just come along with us now." The box-thing spoke. "You won't be harmed as long as you cooperate."
Sue's eyes darted frantically between the edge of the island and the two approaching figures, increasingly looking between the two before she hastily acted.
"YOU'RE NOT TAKING ME ALIVE!" She screamed as she dove off the side of the island. Both the box-thing and the female had a look of shock on their faces from the girl's actions.
"Shit, she dove off." The female cursed to herself.
"Welp, she's dead." The box-thing said. "Guess we gotta report back to the new master about this, don't we?"
"Not neccessarily." The female spoke. "She could very well have fallen into one of the rainwater pockets that flow into the island's artery. That would take her right to the village with all the Mimiga there."
"So we ambush her there!" The box-thing said.
"Not right now, Balrog." The female spoke. "We don't want to keep the master waiting. Now, let us report back."
The box-thing, Balrog, nodded before the two headed back off for the fortress...
Sue tensed up, her eyes clamped shut as she awaited what she thought was going to be a hard and painful death on the surface below, but would soon be surprised when she suddenly felt herself very wet and hard to breathe. She opened her eyes and found her vision blurry as she soon found herself being forcefully pushed along the current of the water, being thrown about left and right in a battered and bruising way before being thrown out of it. She soon temporarily found her breath again as she screamed in fear from the sudden weightlessness before she crashed into more water, fear setting into herself as she flailed. She couldn't tell where up or down was. She felt like her lungs were about to empty...
Suddenly, she felt something tug on her sweater, pulling her in a direction she didn't know where it was. Exhausted, feeling lightheaded, she soon found herself passed out as she felt the water around her disappear. When she came to, she was being held up by a hook; a fishing hook as she was soon looking at another new figure, though this one seemed vastly friendlier compared to the other faces she had recently seen; a Mimiga.
"Well, not everyday we get newcomers through the reservoir." The Mimiga spoke. "You alright? You look half-scared to death!"
"Y-you don't know the half of it." Sue coughed, a bit of water coming out of her mouth. "Can... you let me down now?"
"Oh! My apologies." The Mimiga said, setting Sue down on the dock. "Never seen a Mimiga like you around here before. What's you're name?"
'What is he-' Sue started to think before her mind thought to the events that happened not nearly an hour ago. 'Oh, right, that. Probably best I keep the truth of me being a human unspoken for the better.'
"S-Sue." Sue answered. "Sue Sakamoto."
"Well, Nice to meet ya Sue." The Mimiga responded, extending a hand. "Name's Kanpachi, resident fisher of the village."
Sue would hesitantly shake the hand. "There's a whole village down here?"
"Oof, you're really not from around here are ya?" Kanpachi said.
"Not really, no." Sue stated. "C-can I see the rest of the village?"
"I don't see why not?" Kanpachi spoke as he led Sue across the dock towards the opening in the wall. After a short trip through a door, the two soon found themselves at the edge of a vast cavern, a massive tree growing in the center as wooden scaffolding and treehouses dotted the tree's massive branches. Near the base of the tree was a larger house and what appeared to be a shed of some kind. Higher up on the tree's branches would be a larger building, presumably an assembly hall of some kind, and above that a rocky outcropping that seemed to lead elsewhere. Way higher up than that near one of the town squares appeared to be some kind of ceiling shack with an old, broken scaffolding and staircase under it, presumably from disrepair.
Sue was in awe from the sights. "Woah..." She breathed, seemingly in a trance.
"Ya don't need to act so excited." Kanpachi spoke. "Not like there's much to here. It's home for me and the rest of the Mimigas, that's what counts."
"There's others?"
"Quite a few, actually." Kanpachi spoke. "Maybe I can getcha in to see King, he might be able to show ya around. Either that or make Jack do that."
"I have no idea who either of those two are, but okay." Sue spoke, letting Kanpachi lead her across the village. Her gaze would be led from looking as several other Mimiga were busy going about their business, a couple of young ones playing games like tag and such. It felt... odd, seeing this to Sue. These were supposedly the creatures involved in the robot war ten years ago? They don't look like they could hurt a fly!
"You alright there?" Kanpachi asked, snapping Sue out of her trance.
"I-I'm fine." Sue spoke. "A-are we there yet?"
"Indeed we are." Kanpachi replied, the two right outside the Assembly Hall. "King's a bit on the... gruff side, but you'll warm up to him the longer ya get to know him."
"That... doesn't raise my confidence." Sue answered, sweatdropping.
"Sorry." Kanpachi answered, sweatdropping himself as he opened the door. "Hey, King! We got a newcomer to the village!"
"A newcomer?" A gruff male voice said as a Mimiga wearing a tattered red cloak came forward, a sword across his back and his eyes seeming a bit red as if he hadn't got any sleep. The most notable feature of him however was the scar that seemed to run across the front of his face, from above his left eye to just below the right side of his muzzle. "Well, this is a first. Haven't had any new ones come in ever since the Colons left for the Sand Zone residence a while back. Who might you be?"
"Sue, Mr. King." Sue responded, a bit unnerved by his presence.
"No need for the formalities." King responded. "Just call me King."
"R-right." Sue spoke. "I'm new here, do you mind if I get a look around?"
"Well, I'm a bit busy now with certain formal work," King spoke, crossing his arms. "But, I think Jack could show ya around a bit if that helps."
"Anything would, please." Sue responded. "I seriously have no clue where anything is here."
"Sheesh, alright kid." King spoke. "Any more confusion and I'd be certain you're not even from the island."
Sue felt her heart stop for a moment at those words, but tried to keep her emotions under control. "N-no, I'm from the island, just not here."
King's eyes would narrow a bit before shrugging off the feeling. "A'ight, I'll get Jack to show ya around. Just try not to get into any trouble."
"Understood." Sue responded, internally sighing in relief as soon another Mimiga came forward, wearing a green jacket with a belt that had a case pocket and what appeared to be an winter hat of some kind along with large glasses. His whiskers would also be a bit more visible then most other Mimigas.
"So, you're the newbie?" The Mimiga asked. "Name's Jack, number two of the village. I'll go ahead and show ya around."
"Well, guess I'll head on back to the reservoir then." Kanpachi said, turning away. "Maybe I'll be able to nab myself that one Chinfish by this point..."
Jack would sweatdrop. "Yeah, keep trying." He spoke, before looking to Sue. "So! Shall I start the tour?"
"Y-yes please." Sue spoke as Jack led her out of the Assembly Hall.
"You've already been to the Reservoir first hand, so we can skip over that." Jack spoke. "Guess the first place we'll start is Yamashita Farm."
'A farm?' Sue thought. 'Wonder what they grow there... wait!' "Hey, uh, Jack?" Sue asked.
"What's up?" The Mimiga responded.
"Pardon my curiousity, but, what's that structure up there?" She asked, pointing to the ceiling shack.
"Oh, that?" Jack asked. "Eh, that's just one of our old storage shacks we had that led to the old hermit that lives up there. Never was able to socialize well with us after the bubble gun incident, an-"
"Snrk!" Sue covered her mouth, trying to hold in a giggle.
"Yeah I know, sounds ridiculous, but it was a thing." Jack spoke, deadpanning at Sue's reaction. "Just after the old scaffoding collapsed no one ever bothered to rebuild it. Who knows what the man is up to by this point."
Sue would shrug, still following Jack up to the rocky outcropping before reaching the entrance of a wooden arch. Through another short tunnel the two were met with the sight of a flowering field of various different colors, all seeming to bloom.
"Wooooww..." Sue breathed.
"Yep, biggest farm we've got on the entire island." Jack spoke. "Well, aside from the old abandoned one higher up in the island, but King said that area's off limits."
"Why's that?" Sue asked.
"Said it had something to do with the soil up there being tained with crimson flowers grown there, something rather... unhealthy for Mimigas like us." Jack responded, shuddering a bit. "In fact, King's the only one here in the village who's survived eating one of 'em."
"Really?" Sue asked. "Is that why his eyes are different from the rest of the Mimigas here?"
"Apparently." Jack said. "Said he cooked 'em or whatever and he ate 'em before they turned his eyes red. Now he's one of the strongest Mimiga in the entire village!"
"I could tell, based on his... presence." Sue shuddered. "But, what happens when you eat a raw red flower?"
"Your blood boils and ya nearly die in an instant!" Another voice said, causing Sue to panic and Jack to groan.
"Dagnabbit Sandaime, can you not scare the newbie while I'm trying to show them around?!" Jack yelled at the Mimiga under the small pavilion.
"Aw come on Jack, lighten up a little!" The Mimiga responded.
Jack would sigh, turning to Sue. "Don't mind him, he can just be a bit blunt at times."
"A-alright..." Sue shuddered. "Next place?"
"Right." Jack spoke. "Let's go see Ar-" The two were interrupted by the sound of a lightning strike coming from back at the village. "What was that?!"
"Huh?" Sue asked as Jack ran right past her, her being hot on his footsteps.
Jack and Sue no sooner got back to see Mimigas running in blind panic as several parts of the scaffolding were on fire, none other than the blue-haired female now in the village. She kept flicking her staff, several Mimiga disappearing with each flick.
"What in tarnation?!" Jack yelled, soon catching the attention of the female figure as she soon smirked upon laying eyes on Sue.
"Ah, there you are..." She spoke, her voice uncomfortably happy. "Now, come along with me. The Doctor is wait- AAAGHH!" She was interrupted as she was struck in the back by King with his sword, causing her to stumble. "Why you-!"
"Find somewhere to hide!" King yelled. "I'll deal with this bitch!"
"Right, come on Sue!" Jack yelled, grabbing her by the paw and pulling her off towards one of the bigger houses near the base of the tree.
"Oh you are not going to like what I do next..." The female growled.
"Tempt me." King growled back, soon finding himself behind Misery, blade pressed to her throat. "You're going to tell me what the hell you're doing here right now or else you're losing your life!"
"NNNNGH!" The female growled, soon firing a lighting spell to strike King, but the Mimiga leaped off before the spell connected.
"Well, that didn't work too well now did it?" King commented.
The female gritted her teeth before throwing a large block she materialized out of thin air right at King. The Mimiga braced himself for the impact, but soon the rock shattered as the chunks fell to the sides. King opened his eyes to see another Mimiga, ruffled fur wearing an orange vest, brandishing a sword of his own.
"Need a hand King?" The Mimiga spoke.
"About time Arthur." King shot back, getting up. "High time we show this witch how we Mimigas fight!"
"Agreed!" King roared as the two lunged for the female. She growled in response and swung her staff, firing a slew of black energy shots right at the two, with Arthur slicing through them and attempting to take a stab at the female. He nearly missed, just barely clipping her side as she warped away, two black rings starting to surround her.
"I'm not going to lose to a bunch of damn furballs!" Misery growled, soon summoning three black gelatinous orbs from her staff. "Let's see how you like a taste of these!"
"Oh just try me!" King yelled, rushing at the orbs.
"King, wait!" Arthur yelled as he tackled the Mimiga out of the way as soon the orbs had shimmered and came down faster than lightning in just a fraction of a second, singing the ground right where King had been before. "Why you!" Arthur growled, rushing Misery with his blade as he took another swing at the witch.
Misery merely smirked as she soon swatted the Mimiga in the face with her staff. "No, you." Misery said as Arthur tumbled to the ground. "Hmph, you two won't be cooperative to the Doctor's need. He has no use for rowdy subjects." She smirked as she summoned a large stalactite over King. "I'll just merely kill one of you and let the emotional scarring do the rest. Maybe by then you'll cooperate enough to go willingly." With that, she flung the stalactite down at King. The Mimiga clamped his eyes shut and waited for the inevitable...
...and then felt a sharp shove come as he felt himself being pushed aside. He didn't know what was going on before he opened his eyes, as if time was slown down.
Arthur had pushed him out of the way to save his life.
With barely any time for a reaction the stalactite pierced Arthur and crashed through the scaffolding floor, plummeting down to the ground below near the base of the tree. King couldn't speak; the sheer shock of what had happened had left him speechless.
"Hmmm... not the one I was aiming for, but oh well." The female spoke. "The trauma should wor-"
"MIIISERYYYYYYY!" Came a voice as Balrog landed on the floor, a worried expression on his face.
The female, Misery, would sigh. "Balrog, what possibly inane thing could you be pestering me about this time? Can't you see I'M BUSY?" She growled.
"Well, uh..." Balrog started. "You know how you've been sending all those Mimiga to the Plantation?"
"Yes I know!" Misery angrily said. "My teleportation spells aren't that bad long distance."
"N-not the problem." Balrog replied. "Y'see, they haven't exactly calmed down yet; they're still in a blind panic about the whole thing, and, well..."
"Well what?!" Misery angrily snapped at him.
"The Drolls that are supposed to be watching them thought, well..." Balrog stated, uneasy. "That it'd be a good idea to eat the Mimiga?"
Misery's expression changed to that of which can only be described as 'Oh shit.'
"And that's not even the worst part!" Balrog spoke.
"What NOW?" Misery said, visibly distressed.
"IN ALL THE COMMOTION GOING ON THERE, THAT GREEN-HAIRED PUNK AND THE GEEZER ESCAPED!" Balrog explained. "The Doctor is wanting to see you right now!"
"Oh no..." Misery gumbled, holding her head before glaring daggers at King. "Mark my words, this isn't over you furball." She growled before warping out of the room. Balrog would merely look over at King confused, who would return the look.
"Uhhh... hi?" Balrog said.
"Leave." King growled.
"OooookayIdon'tneedtobehereanylongerbye." was what came out of Balrog's mouth before he lept into the ceiling out of sight. King sighed as he looked around at the partial ruins scattered around the village.
"ALRIGHT!" King yelled. "THE THREAT IS GONE, WE'RE SAFE FOR NOW! EVERYONE MEET IN THE ASSEMBLY HALL; I WANT A HEAD COUNT NOW!"
Meanwhile when all the action of Misery fighting King had been going on, Jack had taken Sue to the larger house down near the bottom of the village. Jack had all but shoved Sue inside the larger house before slamming the door behind the two, panting heavily.
"Oh my god..." Sue panted. "Wh-what are they doing here?!"
"Who were they is what I'm asking!" Jack panted, slumped against the door. "What the hey would a witch want to do with our village?!"
"A what now?" Another voice said as Jack looked up to see the orange-vested Mimiga with the sword on his back.
"Oh, Arthur." Jack panted. "There's this witch attacking the village, King is fighting her right now an-"
"Wait, what does she look like?" Arthur spoke, interrupting Jack.
"Blue hair, green clothing, staff with a blood-red gem in it?" Jack responded, causing realization on Arthur's face.
"Shoot, this is trouble." Arthur said, pushing past Jack. "I need to help King or else that witch is going to kill him."
"Arthur-"
"Hey, next to King I'm the strongest Mimiga here. He could use the assistance." Arthur spoke, smirking. "Just watch after Torko until this entire thing is done, okay?" He didn't even give Jack a chance to finish before dashing towards the center of the village.
"Arthur..." Jack sighed, shaking his head. "I swear he's going to get himself killed one of these days..."
"Who was that?" Sue asked.
"Oh that?" Jack responded. "That was Arthur, one of the village's own heroes. He's the strongest next to King, and definitely one of the strongest Mimigas around."
"He seems a bit... headstrong?" Sue asked.
"Cocky I think is a better descriptor." Jack said. "And that's what worries me."
"Big brother?" A female voice spoke, catching Sue off guard.
"Don't worry Toroko, he said he'd be back." Jack reassured the female voice. "It's safe to come out right now."
A white head peeked around the corner before a young Mimiga came out, wearing a green vest. "Jack, where did he go?"
"He had something to deal with Toroko, he'll be back." He reassured. "In the meantime, why not introduce yourself to the newbie here?"
"Hi..." Sue said sheepishly, waving her hand.
"Hi!" Toroko said. "I'm Toroko, who are you?"
"Sue." She responded. "Nice to meet you. This is where you live?"
"Mhm!" Toroko responded. "It's nice and cozy here, quite large for just me and my brother!" She responded. "C'mon, I'll show you around!" She said, taking Sue by the hand.
"H-hey, woah!" Sue said as Jack merely chuckled, though he was still worried about the battle going on outside.
"Right here is the teleporter!" Toroko said. "Sometimes my big brother gets called out to the Grasstown or to the Sand Zone from other Mimiga that need his help. It's really a cool thing we have here!"
Sue would feel the metal of the teleporter base against her hand. "Woah, so this thing can go anywhere?"
"Only to set locations I think." Toroko said. "Brother never taught me how to work this thing."
"Let me take a look." Jack said, walking over to the computer screen. "Well lesse, we got an IM chat, and here's the destination coordinates folder... eh? What's this place called an Egg Corridor?"
Sue's ears would perk up a bit. "Egg Corridor?"
"Yeah, looks like some sort of incubation place for dragons." Jack said, looking through the files. "Why would this be on here of all things?!"
"No clue." Sue shrugged, but in the back of her mind she made a mental note to keep track of that.
"But yeah, it's super cool to have you around!" Toroko said. "We don't get a lot of visitors from outside the village."
"Well... happy to be here, I guess?" Sue said, shrugging awkwardly. "I... don't exactly know how to respond in this sort of situation."
"Aw, it'll be fine pal." Jack said, giving Sue a pat on the back. "You'll get used to it here."
'Not too long I hope...' Sue thought to herself as a loud crash came from outside, startling the three Mimigas, causing Toroko to hide again.
"What in san hill..." Jack muttered to himself as he headed for the door. "Whatever's going on out there seems to be rather destructive."
"Just don't bring it in here, thanks." Sue said to herself before going to comfort Toroko. "Hey, it's okay..."
The Mimiga would inch out of her hiding spot. "A-are the bad noises gone?"
"I think so..." Sue said, trying to think of something to cheer up the scared Mimiga. She then got an idea as she took off her pack and dug out her Gameboy.
"Huh?" Toroko asked. "What's that?"
"It's a Gameboy." Sue said, giving it to Toroko. "It's like a pocket entertainment device. Try it out!"
Toroko would look confused as she slid the power button on. A ping would sound that startled her for a second, but would soon go away as the title screen booted up, showing the game name of 'Kirby's Dream Land 2'.
"Oh?" Toroko asked, starting up the game.
"That's a good one. A bit hard though." Sue spoke. "I have some other ones if you wanna try them out."
"Can I at least see how far I get in this one though?" Toroko asked.
Sue would smile warmly. "I don't see why not." She said, sitting next to Toroko as she played on the device for a bit, before King yelled from outside.
"ALRIGHT!" King yelled. "THE THREAT IS GONE, WE'RE SAFE FOR NOW! EVERYONE MEET IN THE ASSEMBLY HALL; I WANT A HEAD COUNT NOW!"
"Guess that means we gotta go." Sue said, getting up. "C'mon Toroko."
"Aww, but I almost beat the tree boss!" Toroko whined.
"We'll continue after the head count, okay?" Sue said. Toroko nodded as she and Sue headed out of the house...
"...eleven... twelve... thirteen." Jack said, counting the Mimigas in the Assembly Hall. "Thirteen Mimigas left after the attack."
"Out of nearly thirty." King sighed. "That's not good. Those... things, whatever they are, took out over half the village. And if they come back, who knows how many more they'll take."
"It certainly isn't good." A wider Mimiga said. "How are we gonna keep ourselves alive at this rate?"
"I'm not entirely certain." King spoke. "At the current moment, it seems best we just let the situation ride out and wait until it's less of a hassle to deal with."
"K-King?" Toroko asked, coming out from behind Sue. "Wh-where's big brother?"
King hung his head sadly, and that told the Mimigas all they needed to know. Silence swept over the room as they silently mourned for the loss of one of the village's greatest heroes.
Sue remained silent throughout the whole thing until King had spoken again.
"Until we can come up with a plan to rescue our captured friends, we can only ride out the time for now until this whole thing blows over." King spoke. "Dismissed."
The Mimigas slowly began to shuffle out of the Assembly Hall... except for Toroko, who ran sobbing back to the massive house at the bottom of the tree. Sue was about to follow her...
"Sue." King spoke. "Could I see you for a minute?"
The Mimiga girl felt uneasy as King spoke that, but nevertheless she listened and walked over to King. "Y-yeah King?"
"Look, I don't want to be the one pointing the finger here." He spoke. "But do you know anything about why those two attacked us?"
Sue froze. "N-no King. I don't." She lied, afraid if King might snap at her if she answered she did know.
King's eyes narrowed. "Your expression and demeanor is telling me otherwise. If you know something about this, spit it out now."
"I-I don't, I swear!" Sue stammered.
King's eyes would narrow. "I'll let you go for now... but I don't fully trust you on your word." He spoke. "Just keep yourself out of trouble."
"U-Understood." Sue spoke.
"We'll hold the funeral for Arthur tomorrow." King spoke. "Make sure you're there."
"W-will do." Sue answered before scampering back down to the larger house and shutting the door behind her, locking herself in. She could hear Toroko's sobs coming from the upper level, and it saddened her. She soon went to the upper floor and sat down on the bed, next to the crying Mimiga.
"B-big brother..." Toroko sobbed. "H-he's gone..."
Sue would merely hug Toroko, rubbing her back. "It'll be okay Toroko..." Sue whispered to her. "Everything is going to be fine..."
"H-how?!" Toroko sobbed. "B-bad people came and destroyed our village, and my brother... b-big brother..." She couldn't even finish her sentence as she burst into more tears.
Sue was at a loss for trying to find a way to comfort the distressed young Mimiga. A thought came to her head as she soon pulled her bag off again, pulling out a small silver locket of a fish, handing it to Toroko.
"H-huh?" The Mimiga asked. "Wh-what's this?"
"It's a locket." Sue asked. "In my family, it's passed down to someone else in the family when a close one they know has passed away."
"But... you're not related to me?" Toroko said.
"While that may be true, I still feel like it's the right thing to do." Sue spoke.
Toroko would sadly smile. "Th-thank you Sue..." She said, hugging her.
Sue would return the hug in silence, but inside her mind fear was racing. How long would she be able to keep this up? She knew she couldn't stay forever or else she'd risk getting all the others captured, but she couldn't leave for good or else Toroko would be shattered. It was hard for her to think on it as she soon found out the incident had only just begun...
洞窟物語
Cave Story: The Demon Crown Saga
Prologue End