Hello one and all, the Mulletron here, with what I hope to be a promising new Cave Story fanfic. To tell you the truth, I'm quite nervous since this is the first book I've written since I left secondary school! My writing ability has improved alot since then, but you'll be the first people to witness that change, oh well. I don't have much else to say here other than I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Oh, and on a final note, my only excuse is that I suck at beginnings.

Disclaimer: All characters, settings etc. belonging to Cave Story is copyright of Pixel Studios. This story is copyrighted to me.

The Core Contingency: First Contact

Prologue

It was a cold night with a clear sky. Mottled with stars shining with a full spectrum of intensities, and crescent moon hung high among them, casting a silvery glow on the lands below, the first of which to catch its glow was a windswept island. Floating higher than any mountain, It moved gracefully across the sky, carving a path through the clouds.

Standing on the peak of this island, on a barren hill, stood the ruins of an ancient village. White marble which shone under the light of the moon, lay in broken pieces. What were once great buildings now lie scattered across the hillside. The only building which could be recognised as such stood at the top of the hill. It stood in defiance against all the forces that would tear it down, from the winds that pounded every surface to the ravages of time, but to say that it survived unscathed would be a far cry from the truth. Of all the rooms and corridors that made up this building, only the tower at its centre remains. Cracks and scars gained from many battles mar its once untarnished surfaces, the most noteworthy of which is on the top floor, where the roof and most of the walls were blown away from what could only be described as an explosion from within. This tower, which bore witness to many events that were seen by few, and remembered by fewer still, stands as a testament to the incidents which befell the lands it rests on.

But, although the village was abandoned centuries ago, it was not completely desolate. Amidst the rubble, a creature stirred, trying to pick its way through this scene of destruction. Whilst this creature was foraging for food, it looked up at the night sky, and witnessed a most peculiar phenomenon. It was a shooting star, but a very unusual one. It started with a bright flash of light, which looked like nothing more then a small blip from where the creature sat, but nonetheless looked out of place. It then streaked halfway across the sky leaving a bright white trail, and then, instead of fading away, it stopped dead in its tracks. Its trail then faded away behind it before disappearing completely. This creature sat there and watched this spectacle until it disappeared from sight. But, what was this creature?

...It was a critter. Nothing more, nothing less. And within the confines of its primitive mind, it tried to comprehend what it just saw, to make sense of this strange event. But, despite its best efforts, it came up with nothing, and dismissed it as some random occurrence. You couldn't blame it really. A being of greater intelligence would've probably done the same. But little did it know of the implications this phenomenon would have on his world. In fact, that shooting star is an omen of worse things to come, foretelling tales of an evil that would plunge the island, and the lands beneath it, into a world of pain and misery. But why, you ask?

Because that thing was no shooting star...

Sitting amongst the shifting sands of the harsh and unforgiving Sand Zone, the Storehouse once served both as a shelter against the scorching heat, and, as its namesake suggests, kept supplies for use by travellers and local populaces alike. But, like so many other buildings of its time, it now lies empty and disused.

But although it has long outlived its original purpose, but was still of some use, for one person at least, for at far end of the storehouse, lay a person who was just coming out of a long but fitful coma. She was a mimiga, a sentient, humanoid species, with large eyes, lop ears, and covered with a thick layer of white fur. This girl in particular had a feature which distinguishes her from the rest of her kind. It was a reddish tint that covered her cheeks, just below the eyes. She would've looked quite pretty, if she wasn't in such a bad state. Her fur was dirty and matted, pocked with distortions, under which lie scars, that are all but fully healed. Her green dress, which had its own collection of rips and tears, clung awkwardly to her body. Several sizes too small, it was made for someone half her age. Beneath her lay a crude mattress, made from straw stuffed in a hard wearing sack, which kept her off the hard, dusty floor.

She stirred. her entire body slowly coiled up into a foetal position, giving out a soft groan as she did so. Sleep lidded eyes slowly fluttered open, eyes, though gazing out onto the world, remain unfocused as her mind still tried to pull itself from its long slumber. Thoughts and memories moved randomly through her mind, clumping together, forming a picture of her world. Her eyes began to dart around the room as she grew vastly more aware of her own presence. As she started to regain her motor functions, she put her hands beneath her, and pushed herself roughly into an upright position, her entire body was stiff, atrophied muscles straining under the pressure.

Once in an upright position, she arched her back, and with arms out-stretched behind her, she proceeded to stretch the top half of her body. Then, slowly she got to her feet. Her legs though shaking, slowly lifted her off the floor as they regained their strength. But as she straightened her body a rush of blood went to her head, making her dizzy. She quickly grabbed her forehead with her right hand, propping herself up against the wall with her left as her body slumped towards the ground. This brought a few things into perspective, like the fact that her body ached all over, and, along with light-headedness she also had a pounding headache.

She looked around at her surroundings, hoping to find some answers. Instead she found nothing but the cold, dark walls of the storehouse. "Where am I?" She said to no-one in particular, still in a state of trance. She pushed herself away from the wall, and took a few uneasy steps towards the centre of the room, and as she did her memories that were slowly drifting together in her conscious started to gain momentum. What was a hazy picture now started to turn into a mosaic of her life. And as she continued mull through this new information, one memory in particular made her stop in her tracks, and her fur stand on end.

Then it dawned on her. 'This is that awful place he took me to' she thought as she looked around the room, a renewed sense of fear gripping her, as her mind frantically tried to recollect her memories on the Doctor. She could remember him talking of red flowers when she was in captivity, she could remember him ordering someone to take her to the 'Storehouse', and she could remember a huge monstrosity looming over her, forcing huge clumps of red petals down her throat. She could still remember the awful, bitter taste of them, which made her gag with each mouthful she swallowed. She then remembered someone, forcing that monster back, standing between it and her. 'Who was it? King?'

"King!" she exclaimed out loud. With renewed vigour, she started looking for a way out. 'Perhaps King is nearby. He'll know how to get us home!' But, as she searched, her eyes rested on something that sat on the far side wrapped in a purple shawl. King's shawl? She approached it slowly. "King?" she called out hopefully. No answer. She continued to approach it, calling again hoping for a response. None came, not a movement, not a sound. When she drew near, she recognised something protruding from underneath the shawl. Her heart skipped a beat, when she noticed that it was the lower half of a femur bone.

"No..." she whimpered. A tear fell down her cheek, fearing the worst has come to him, yet she refused to accept it. "No!!!" She broke out into a run. She refused to acknowledge what her eyes are seeing. She still clung onto the desperate hope that he may still be alive. Thoughts passed through her head. 'Perhaps that's someone else.' 'Maybe he's outside.' Her mind kept feeding her these thoughts in an attempt to steady her nerves. But when she reached the body her breath caught in her throat. In front of her was the unmistakeable corpse of King, a telltale scar etched across his skull.

She cried out in despair as tears flooded from her eyes, shaking hands clasped loosely around her mouth. She turned away from the corpse, for although the flesh has all but completely rotted away from his bones, that did little to subdue the horrifying scene laid out before her. She felt sick. King, the person who cared for her all those years after her brother's death, the person who swore to protect her, now lies dead, and there was nothing she could do to change it.

She looked over her shoulder, taking one more look at his skeletal form, and she noticed something she failed to see beforehand. In a hand which stretched out from beneath his shawl, rested a simple, leather-bound book. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she knelt down in front of the skeleton, reached out with a shaky hand, and gingerly took the book away from him. She wiped the tears out of her eyes, and then opened the book. On the front page it said 'The Memoirs of King, Leader of the Mimiga Village'. She flicked through the pages, looking at the odd passage. A few excerpts in particular jumped out at her.

'More reports are coming in from outlying settlements about attacks from a "Red Demon". Personally, I think they've been spending too much time on their own.'

As she read the passages, she noticed that each one had a date written above it, like some sort of diary.

'I wouldn't have believed it unless I saw it with my own eyes. It came into the village through the reservoir. No wonder people called it a Demon, it was a monstrous creature, with large claws and fangs that could do things that I dare not even think about, let alone write. If Arthur hadn't have confronted that creature, we would've had to evacuate the village, and lose untold numbers of lives in the process. I envy that man. He had the courage to stand up to that creature, whereas I would've turned tail and run.'

That last paragraph made Toroko's heart grow heavy. Reading about Arthur, her brother, brought back many memories. King rarely talked about Arthur, especially after his death, and no matter how much she pestered him, he would never open up. She searched the book for more entries about her older sibling, but instead stumbled upon a name which made her body go stiff.

'I've just received some disturbing news. Someone reported a large blocky grey creature moving past one of the remote Mimiga settlements. They sent someone to ask me who it was. I know full well who it was. Balrog, a servant of the Demon Crown, which means that someone has taken the blasted thing! Haven't our ancestors suffered under the yoke of that damnable crown for long enough! The only other thing they managed to glean from this encounter was that he kept mentioning someone named "The Doctor". Wasn't that what the research team called one of their members? I knew they meant nothing but trouble.'

After that point, each entry bore progressively worse news as the island succumbed to the Doctors rule. Stories of attacks and abductions grew more frequent as Toroko turned each page. Then, she found a passage which brought back many painful memories.

'Damn it all to hell!!! We were almost out! We almost got the refugees to safety! But he came out of nowhere, and he descended upon us so quickly, we barely had the time to run. If Arthur hadn't turned and fight, we'd all be dead. I could only watch on, helplessly, as he fought bitterly with the Doctor. When we returned, he was already dead, the Doctor long since fled the scene. I can't believe he's actually gone. I still can't get my head around the fact that we're burying him tomorrow.

I still haven't told Toroko yet. Oh God, what am I going to tell her! Arthur was the only family she had left, she'd be crushed. I made a promise to Arthur that I would protect her in the event of his death. I scoffed at him for making such a promise, now it looks like I'm going to have to keep it...'

She remembered when he told her about Arthur's death. It still brings a lump in her throat whenever she thinks back to Arthur's burial, saying goodbye to the last of her family. She continued to flip through the book. Things happened quite quickly after that. Sue's appearance, the scout robots arrival, Toroko's abduction, the arrival of the rest of the research team, and then the subsequent trek into the Sand Zone to foil the Doctor's plans. She then reached the last entry. This entry stood out from all the others. Lashings of blood streaked across the pages, and the handwriting, which was normally impeccable throughout the book, now looked rushed, the words scrawled onto the paper as if it were written by a shaking hand. Tears began to fill in Toroko's eyes once more as she began to read the passage.

'I couldn't even keep his promise, I couldn't protect her...I let the Doctor take her away, like he took Arthur...I've given the scout robot my sword...perhaps he can succeed where I have not...This was all my doing...all my fault...I only hope in the afterlife...my ancestors have the kindness to forgive me...'

"I'm sure they will." Toroko said in a barely audible whisper. She closed the book, and clutched it tightly to her chest, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. And it is there she stayed, for an indeterminable amount of time, in silent mourning for all the things that she had lost...that is, until something from within the vast darkness of the warehouse interrupted her.

"So. You're finally awake." The voice startled Toroko, causing her to turn rapidly and rise to her feet, hurriedly drying her eyes whilst doing so.

"Who's there?" she called out in the general direction of the voice.

Upon those words, a man stepped out of the shadows. "It is only I" he said calmly. He wore a green hooded robe, which covered his entire body, barring his face, which held very plain facial features, and pair of sandalled feet, which protruded from the bottom of his robe. His face had a solemn expression, and his hood came over his eyes, adding a sense of mystique this person.

Toroko backed away slightly, wary of the stranger in front of her. "Who are you?" she said with a degree of uncertainty.

"You may call me, Cthulhu." he answered "You need not fear me."

Toroko's head started filling with questions. Questions that she wanted answered. She wanted to blurt them out all at once, but instead she settled on asking them one at a time. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I merely came here to check up on you." he answered as calm and as steady as before.

"Why?" She responded.

"Does a man need a reason to perform an act of kindness?" he answered in the same even-toned voice as before.

"No...I guess not." Despite his reassuring words, it did little to ease Toroko's anxiety. In fact, the way the man spoke unnerved her. It was almost as if he spoke with no emotion at all. She glanced over her shoulder, at King's remains. "What happened here?" she asked, with a hint of sorrow.

"Several years back, the Doctor came here to gather the red flowers here in preparation for his invasion of the surface world, and to test their potency he had you force fed those flowers. King also came here in an attempt to stop him, and upon seeing you he tried to rescue you, but he was too late. you had already ingested too many of the flowers."

"Then, that means that I..."

He nodded solemnly. "In his anger, King tried to seek vengeance against the Doctor, but he got mortally wounded in the process. Eventually you succumbed to the power of the red flowers, and fell into a fervent rage. It required a grievous amount of bodily harm to subdue you, and if I hadn't intervened in the aftermath, you would have died. But, despite my best efforts, you slipped into a coma."

"How long was I out for?"

For a fraction of a second, he considered giving a different answer, one which would be easier for Toroko to swallow, but instead, settled on telling the truth. "Five years."

"Five...years?" She echoed, not quite comprehending what was being told to her "...how?" She asked, it being the only question she could think of.

"Though the worst of its adverse effects were neutralised, it still required time for the red flowers to be purged from your body, fortunately the flowers also had enough energy to keep you alive without any food or water."

Whilst Toroko was taking in this information, another question flashed into her mind, one which has been at the forefront of her mind since she first woke up. "What about the Doctor?"

"He's dead." He said nonchalantly "He was killed by the scout robot before he could put his plans into action."

To hear that the one which caused her so much suffering is gone. It felt as if a huge weight has been lifted from her mind. She then looked up to Cthulhu, one more question nagging at her. "Do you know the way back to the village?" She asked hopefully.

"These sands shift constantly, so I can't plot a safe course for you, nor can I guarantee your safety." Toroko's heart sank when she heard his reply. All she wanted was to go back home. "But," he continued "I know someone who could. Her house is not to far, about an hours walk from here."

Toroko's eyes drifted back towards the remains of King, resting behind her. "What about him?" she said, a hint of sorrow creeping back into her voice. "I can't just leave him here."

In response, Cthulhu moved roughly in front of her, kneeling slightly so that he was at her eye level. "Well, what do you think he will want?"

Toroko turned her head, but, not quite able to hold his gaze, she settled for looking towards the floor. She mulled the question over in her head for a few seconds, before remembering a small conversation she had with King a while ago. Tentatively, she said "He always said that if he ever died, he wanted to be buried in the village's graveyard, next to Arthur."

Toroko then noticed a small smile tug on Cthulhu's face, it was the first show of emotion that she had seen from him. "I think he will like that." he said. After a brief pause he stood up straight, and moved towards the door, picking up a small brown sack at the room's entrance.

"Here, take this." Cthulhu said, handing the sack over to Toroko. "I'll be outside if you need me."

"Thank you." Toroko said meekly. Cthulhu then turned and left through the door, leaving Toroko alone.

She stood there, her mind wandering to the trials which lay ahead of her. Could she make it back to the village? And even if she did, would they accept her back? Would they even remember her? And now facing a future without King, she even questioned whether she could face these problems alone. She looked down at the bag in her hands, and although she didn't know exactly what to do, she knew that doubting her resolve isn't going to get her any closer to home, so she placed the sack down beside her and set about the task of taking her fallen hero with her.

A/N: I'm sorry about the fact that mot much happens in this chapter. To be honest there wasn't any way of avoiding this, but this chapter should get the ball rolling. The next chapter should get more interesting as I add more characters into the fold. Well regardless, please read and review.