It only took a couple steps through the dark hallway before coming upon another door. Dave insisted that they put their stuff down and go inside to check it out though they just stopped a few moments ago.
"Now let's see what's inside door number two," Dave announced dropping all his things on the ground.
"You're going in first you thinkpanless fucksquatting shitpuppet," Karkat growled. "Last time I almost died."
"I know, that was a few moment ago," Terezi groaned. "And you haven't stopped reminding us of your 'near-death' experience since."
"But Terezi and I promise that you won't died," Dave informed Karkat. Dave turned back to the doorknob and examined it like it was a priceless work of art. He stood up straight and turned to Terezi, "Terezi, would you do the honor?"
"I would love to Mr. Strider," Terezi bowed to Dave. Dave bowed and took a few steps back so Terezi could stand in front of the door. Terezi then pulled out her cane and brought it down upon the doorknob so that it violently flew off the door in Karkat's direction. Karkat jumped out of the way and Terezi cackled, "Sorry Karkles. But Dave, I believe that it is your turn to go in first."
"Thank-you Ms. Pyrope," Dave bowed to Terezi and Terezi bowed as she backed away. Dave nudged the door open with his foot and it ominously swung open to a dark room. Dave reached his hand around the door frame and began to feel along the wall. Once he found what he was looking for, there was a click and the came to life with small screens along the walls producing colorful displays into the dark corners of the room.
"Where is that light coming from?" Karkat asked peering into the door.
"Hhm," Dave thought as Terezi jumped up behind him, wrapping her skinny arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. Dave was the victim of an unexpected piggyback ride but he didn't falter and acted like nothing had happened. "It's an arcade."
Dave stepped into the room with Terezi still on his back. The room was lined with blocky machines and the center of the room was also filled with blocky machines, each of them facing the walkway made of dimly lit square tiles. Each machine had a small screen with colorful pixilated animation and buttons and joysticks to control what was happening on screen. The whole room seemed to buzz with the chorus of multiple electric theme songs echoing from the machines giving the room a feeling as though you were stepping into a virtual world.
Karkat slowly followed in after Dave and watched as Dave went up to a certain game. There was another pointy-face skeleton on the machine, but Dave just brushed it aside saying, "Dead man on the Pac-Man."
"So what is this stuff?" Karkat asked as Terezi hopped off of Dave's back to like the screen of the game right next to him.
"Old arcade games," Dave replied. "Stuff like Pac-Man, Galaga, Mario, all of the good oldies."
"If they're nookhumping braindead sorry sacks of pink flesh monkey shit then why are they on the Meteor?" Karkat asked.
"They're timeless," Dave insisted. "Here, play Galaga. It's simple, you're the space ship at the bottom and you have to shoot all of the guys coming at you. Press the red button really fast and try not to get hit. If you do run out of lives, press the white one."
Karkat growled as Dave forced him to set up at a station and started the game for him. Karkat began to play because Dave wouldn't leave him alone if he didn't at least try. After multiple times dying and almost destroying the machine, Karkat began to get used to the game. He played violently as Dave played Pac-Man and Terezi played Mario. It wasn't until Dave stepped back from his game they were brought back to reality.
"Well, we all just spent an hour playing old arcade games," Dave announced.
"Huh?" Karkat asked wondering how much time passed.
"But the colors taste so good!" Terezi stated nudging the skeleton beneath her with her foot.
"Let's just see what else they have here before moving on," Dave decided. "I want to see as much that we can see before we have to go back."
"Alright," Karkat agreed parting from the Galaga machine. He watched the pixilated animations dance across the screen as he trudged behind Dave and Terezi, tired after playing a game for an hour straight. Dave commented on a four player Avengers game but there was nothing interesting until they came upon another skeleton.
"Shit, look at that fucker!" Dave exclaimed running up to the giant skeleton of a savage tiger with teeth longer than Karkat's arm. It seemed to be in a peaceful position but was still menacing.
"Another skeleton?" Terezi asked.
"A giant tiger this time though," Dave stated. "I wonder where they all came from?"
"Wherever they came from, I don't want to be there," Karkat answered.
"Well," Dave was quickly scribbling in a journal. "Let's get moving. I can check him out when we come back."
They left the room, picked up their stuff and continued to travel down the halls, leaving a trail of chalk and string behind them. The group opened doors to rooms filled with dust or pointy-faced skeletons and did not seem to find anything interesting. At the end of the day they all settled down and pitched their tents in a large hallway.
Dave started a fire and let Karkat take over the process of cooking, since he was the only one of them that could cook. As they ate dinner in silence with the sounds of a crackling fire Dave asked, "Good day, right guys?"
"I almost died," Karkat replied.
"I'll have to teach you how to swim," Dave chuckled. "But think about it. We found a pool, a arcade, two cool skeleton, tons of skeletons belonging to those pointy-faced people. We have a real mystery on our hands. We also have a way to solve our bored."
"But what are we going to do? Walk all the way out here like some horseshitting globefondling idiot and waste our time?" Karkat asked.
"No, I alchemize a golf cart," Dave answered. "It'll cut the time in half because it can do at least ten miles an hour max."
"Sounds like fun," Terezi thought as she chewed on a bone. "But what's a golf cart?"
"A smaller vehicle for transportation that can fit in the hallways," Dave explained. "And it's open to you can fell the wind rushing on your face without even sticking your head out the window."
"Awesome," Terezi answered as she dreamed of a golf cart.
"Well," Dave put his bowl down. "Goodnight. I'm tired."
"Same here," Terezi agreed. "Night Karkles."
"Night," Karkat grumbled as he cleaned up Dave and Terezi's mess.
"Thanks for coming Karkat," Dave told Karkat as he entered his tent and zipped up the zipper.
Karkat silently mumbled a welcome and finished cleaning. Once he was done, he climbed in his own tent leaving the fire to die out. As he climbed into his sleeping bag, Karkat realized that it was actually a pretty good day compared to other days he had and drifted off to sleep.