Chapter 8: Duel

When he emerged in the Sand Zone, he saw himself in a small cave with an opening ahead. He walked out into the opening, stepped into sand, and looked ahead. He drew his Polar Star to deal with any fauna, and stared at what he saw.

A young woman with blond hair, a pink tank top, red shorts, and a munitions belt was looking away, observing something.

What surprised him was that she had green antennae for ears, just like him, and bleach white skin, just like him.

She noticed him and turned to face him. She had sapphire blue eyes.

Quote was hit with an extreme sense of deja vu.

She ran off before he could do or say anything. He pulled out the bubble gun he got earlier and decided to see if it was worth keeping.

He pulled the trigger, and it began shooting bubbles. The bubbles were white, and began to orbit around him without popping. Even if he moved, they followed and orbited him.

He walked out into a larger, upward opening, looked up, pointed the gun at a large insect, and released the trigger.

All of the bubbles popped, releasing a surge of small white lightning bolts that slammed into the target and annihilated it.

Quote made a note to self to never judge a book by its cover.

He saw some small platforms leading higher up into the cave and began to jump up to the top, shooting any flying insects that flew too close.

He jumped up to a small hole in the wall and looked up at the ceiling. It seemed to be made of rubble, so he shot it with the Polar Star, and a section crumbled away. He jumped up and saw a door in a corner with a picture of a wine glass above it.

He walked over to the door and entered. The girl from earlier was standing in the middle of the room, and turned to him, grinning.

"Ooh! We have a VISITOR!" She said viciously, "I know what you want to do, but you'd better wake up! The Mimiga are not the enemy! They're completely harmless!"

He became extremely confused. She thought he was going to kill the Mimiga?

"Too bad for you, but..." She muttered.

She pulled out a shiny red machine gun and pointed it at Quote.

"I'm on the Mimiga side, and I'm not going to lose to you!" She hissed, then pulled the trigger, charging up the weapon.

Quote dashed out of the way before the weapon released a stupid amount of white shots, which hit the wall. He wasn't going to hurt her, not seriously, but he needed to defend himself.

He waited for her to charge up her machine gun again, but was tackled to the ground by four Mimiga.

He managed to get them off and quickly got up, before barely dodging more gunfire.

He waited for her to charge up her machine gun again, and dashed a certain direction. As he'd hoped, she led her shots so they'd be released where he was dashing to.

But, he managed to cancel his dash, although he did take a shot to the chest, but he ignored the pain and rushed forward, before smacking her in the face with the butt of the Polar Star.

She fell to the ground with a cry and tried to get up, but she was caught completely off guard.

He took the chance to put a foot down on her and point the barrel straight down at her face.

She tried to get him off, but he cocked the gun to show that he wouldn't take any more nonsense.

"Okay... you win," She said, "Are you going to dispose of the Mimiga, then?"

He lowered the pistol and shook his head in negation.

"Oh? Really?" She said, then got up.

He nodded again.

"Yeah, there's nothing bad about the Mimiga!" She said, "I'm Curly. Curly Brace."

That name also sounded extremely familiar. Maybe it was because he recognized that name was also the name of a certain punctuation mark.

"What's your name, mister?" She asked.

No answer. He wanted to tell her, but couldn't.

"Not much of a talker, are you?" She said.

No response. He didn't know why he wanted to speak so badly, but he kept his mouth shut.

"When I woke up, I was with these little ones. I don't have any memories before that," Curly explained, and Quote nodded slowly. "Amnesia, y'know," She said, and he nodded.

"I was... probably a Mimiga-killer, just like the other robots," She said sadly, peaking Quote's interest.

Other robots?

Wait, so did that mean they were actually robots?

But if they were robots, how were they sentient?

But, it would explain the pale skin, antennae, and his abnormal strength.

While Quote was thinking of this, Curly, meanwhile, was looking at his Polar Star.

"Oh, wow! That Polar Star of yours is pretty thrashed," She said happily, "Wanna trade it for my machine gun?"

For some reason, he had a feeling that wouldn't bode well for him. He knew he had affinity with pistols and missile launchers, but he knew for a fact that he was incompetent with machine guns, assault rifles, that kinda thing.

He shook his head no.

"Really? Well, if you ever change your mind, I'll be here," She stated.

Quote put a hand to his chest and cringed. Not only had he been basically punched by a giant brick, but he'd also been shot. Fortunately, the latter didn't seem to have actually penetrated, like a bullet would. It seemed Curly's machine gun shot energy, just like the Polar Star.

"You don't look too good. Maybe you should have a rest in the other room," Curly advised, and Quote nodded.

He needed to find the Rose Wrath, but he wouldn't be able to if he was injured, or if he was dead.

He slumped over to the door and entered. It was a small room with a dog sitting off to the side, and he saw a bed in the middle of the room.

He laid down in the bed, and the dog jumped on him, barked, and began to lick him. He just let it happen, and the dog soon calmed down. After that, they both fell asleep.

He woke up an indeterminate amount of time later to a loud crash.

He immediately got up, pulled out his Polar Star, and burst out into the living area.

"Shh! You could've woken up our guest!" Curly muttered, and Quote sighed. She turned to him and smiled timidly. "Sorry about that. But, you know, they're children."

He just nodded and walked back into the room. He knew he needed to find the red flowers or whatever the others had called them, but he couldn't do that if he was tired.

He went back to sleep.

He woke back up again when he heard a large sparking noise, and he ran out into the living room once again. He knew a Mimiga couldn't cause that.

Curly was lying on the ground, and she seemed to be stunned.

"Stupid girl, trying to protect them. The Doctor will have much better use for these little ones. Be grateful that I let you leave with your life," A familiar, feminine, arrogant voice hissed.

Quote looked up, and sure enough, Misery was there, and she had all four of the Mimiga children in bubbles.

He fired off a shot, but she disappeared. He growled angrily.

He then proceeded to kneel down to Curly and offered his hand. She looked up and took it, slowly getting to her feet.

She didn't know what to say.

Seeing the look on her face, Quote just patted her back and gave her a look of sympathy.

However, he thought of something.

Misery was here. That means he needed to find the flowers. Fast. He felt kind of bad, but he ran over to the door and opened it.

"Wait, where are you going?" Curly asked, and he just motioned out into the Sand Zone, itching to get out there. "Well, seeing as I have nothing left to lose... You may want a guide through here."

Quote nodded. Having help would be very nice.

He stepped forward, but heard a bark and felt something tugging at his leg. He looked down and the dog was there, trying to hold him back.

"Oh, yeah, we should probably take that little guy with us. I know his owner... at least, I know who she is," Curly muttered, and Quote picked up the dog.

The dog sat on his shoulder, and they walked out into the Sand Zone. Curly ran up ahead.

"I'll lead, you follow," She ordered, and he nodded.

Quote followed Curly through some rubble walls, but he stopped when he saw two large stones with angry suns engraved into each side. He could peer between them, and saw that if they could be moved, he'd be able to go deeper into the Sand Zone.

"Those are the Sun Stones. They only appeared recently, apparently there's a spell keeping them like that. I've looked to find the source, but I never had the time or the effort to do it," Curly explained, and Quote nodded slowly. That made sense to him. "Come on!" She shouted.

They stepped forward to a thicker wall of rubble, and shot it down. They saw a stupidly large rubble wall in front of them, and a large sphere covered with blades spinning around.

"Shoot those enough, and they'll explode into smaller ones. Be careful," Curly advised, and then tried shooting the wall. The wall was thick enough that the shot barely did anything.

She turned to Quote, scratching her head. "You wouldn't happen to have any... stronger weapons, would you?" She asked timidly, and he pulled out his missile launcher. She stepped back. "Okay, try shooting down that wall, please," She asked, and he stepped back.

She covered her ears, and a lone missile was shot out at the wall, blowing open a large hole in it.

"Woo!" Curly shouted.

They jumped through the wall, and Quote prepared to step down onto some sand, but was halted by Curly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," She said, "Sandcrocs will jump up and attack if you stand on the sand. It's extremely nasty to be bit by one. Shoot that wall ahead."

Quote took in the information and did as he was told, firing off another missile ahead.

Yet another wall lay ahead. Yet another missile was fired to puncture it.

What was ahead? Another wall.

"Surely there aren't many left," Curly grumbled, "The Sand Zone isn't that big."

Quote fired off another missile into the wall, and they emerged into a larger area. A smaller wall of rubble was ahead, which they shot down with their main weapons, and they walked forward into a corridor.

This time, they'd have no choice but to walk on the sand.

"Hope your dodging game is up," Curly warned.

They sprinted down across the corridor, and sure enough, crocodiles came out of the sand and tried to bite them. They didn't try to retaliate, they just kept running, until they jumped up and off of the sand.

Quote peered down at the sand with a bewildered look.

"Weird, huh?" Curly muttered.

They were able to clear away through a pile of rubble and emerged into a large, empty, sandy area.

"I see Balrog failed in his duty."

Misery appeared in front of Quote and glared at him.

"And now you're helping eachother. Wonderful," She hissed, "You seem to be quite a fighter, but you are proving to be nothing but a nuisance. It's time we settled this."

Quote pointed his Polar Star right at her face and Curly loaded her machine gun.

The room rumbled. Misery seemed relieved.

"Oh, there won't be a need for me to get involved. Farewell, you two simpletons," She grumbled, then left.

Their exit was sealed off with stones. Quote turned to Curly, who seemed very much afraid.

"It's... it's..." She whispered, "It's here."

Shivers ran down his spine.

He now had a really bad feeling.