[Author's Note] Hey guys, just a quick heads up: I recently got a new editor! Their name is Dm0418! They don't have any stories as of yet, but they're a really good friend of mine. I hope that from here on, the story will be better than ever! Have a good one, and enjoy the story!
[End Note]
Cave Story - The Written Tale
Written by LordDarkrai
Original story by Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya
I myself own nothing except the words written here.
Chapter 4 - Part 2: Sandstorm of Vengeance
"Did you know that the witch-woman Jenka once had a brother? His name was Ballos. Like his sister, he wielded powers far beyond those of mortals... He used his magical powers to help and guide people, and the people loved and trusted him in return. Even more than they did their own king... The jealous king had Ballos apprehended and thrown into prison, where his punishment was brutal and cruel. Humans can be terrible creatures indeed... Under the extreme cruelty of the torture, Ballos' magical abilities finally ran wild. The king was engulfed in the swirl of magic and destroyed in an instant. In a single night, the kingdom that Ballos so loved was reduced to ashen ruins. Jenka, seeing her brother's madness, confined him to this floating island. That was the most she could do. Even as he was, she could not bring herself to kill her own brother... It was the witch Misery who made Ballos create the Demon Crown. She was subsequently cursed by the crown, forced to do the bidding of all who wear it. If the crown is destroyed, the curse is lifted. However...
We quickly descended, and stopped by Jenka's house. Curly turned towards me.
"We need her dogs. She has two. You have one of them, right?" I nodded. She pulled the other dog out of her own backpack. "Alright, let's go." We entered the house. Inside, there was a small, old woman, with three dogs beside her. Curly went in first, all smiles. "Hey, Jenka! We brought your other dogs!" We set the dogs down. She smiled.
"Ah, Hajime, Nene, welcome home." The puppies bounded over to her and crushed her with licks and wagging tails. I smiled. Curly happened to notice.
"Awww, does the soldier boy love the wittle puppies?" I frowned and looked away.
"They're cute, is all." Curly laughed.
"Ah, soldier boy, you're such a riot." Jenka looked up at us. She frowned in my direction.
"Do... do I know you?" I took this as my chance to ask about the Warehouse key.
"No, but I need something. I need the key to the warehouse where the Red Flowers are stored." She scoffed.
"Absolutely not." I raised an eyebrow.
"I am against the Doctor. That means I must destroy the Red Flowers." Jenka remained firm.
"The Doctor, eh? Is he the new owner of the Demon Crown?" I tilted my head.
"The Demon Crown?" She nodded.
"Yes, yes. It is a less-then-useless crown made by my daughter, Misery." Curly turned quickly at the name.
"Misery is your DAUGHTER?" Jenka nodded.
"Yes, yes. The Demon Crown holds untold power, and most come to find it and bring ruin to the surface world. Well, since you're not Balrog or Misery, I suppose I can trust you." Right then, we heard a great HUZZAH!, and Balrog fell through the ceiling.
"Ah, Jenka!" Jenka nodded.
"Balrog. How is that idiot daughter of mine?"
"She's alright. We have a new master now!"
"Do you mean that Doctor?" Balrog nodded, or did as close to nodding as he could.
"Yep! So, I need something from you!"
"And what would that be?"
"I need the key to the warehouse!" An eerie silence fell over the room.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Balrog."
"Oh, I see how it is. So you've decided to betray us." Jenka was silent.
"You'll be sorry!" He jumped in the ceiling. We waited until he had left.
"Jenka." She turned towards me. "Why exactly is the Doctor after the Red Flowers? I know he wants to overtake the surface, but..." She nodded.
"The war from 10 years ago that you and your blonde friend were a part of but no doubt have no memory of? Yes, I thought you would be wondering about that. Ten years ago, the last time the Demon Crown had fallen to the hands of evil, the owner used the Flowers to make the Mimiga go rabid and attack the surface. The robots they had on the surface were no match for them, as none of them could think, could will, could strategize. So a team of scientists, engineers, technicians, psychologists, and many others banded together to make the most human like robots of all time, so much so that one could barely tell the difference between the two. With these, they destroyed the rabid Mimiga, but the robots were too powerful. They were destroyed, but I suppose that two could have lived..." I leaned back against the wall, taking in what I had heard. I was a member of the new line of robots. I was capable of human emotion. But... but did I really kill Mimiga? I shook the thought for later.
"Thank you, Jenka. Now, we need to get to the Sand Zone warehouse. Can we have the key?" She reached into a pot and handed it to me.
"Here, you'll need this as well." She handed me a pot filled with red liquid. "It's a life pot. It heals anything back to it's healthiest state. It works on robots as well. It can restore all of the components that make up your body." She handed one to Curly, who nodded her thanks. "Now, go! Go and rid the world of these vile flowers." We headed off into the Sand Zone.
Down a bit, I saw a huge hallway with a shallow pit filled with sand in the bottom, and giant birds carrying skeletons flying in the sky. Curly waved me forward.
"Come on! I had to go this way to get Nene!" I stopped.
"How did you get Nene? This way was blocked off by the Sun Stones, and you were with me when they opened!" She smiled.
"I found a secret passageway that led down here. I would have told you, but by then the Sun Stones were out of the way. When I got back to the room where I had left the Colons, Misery took them. Then I found you with Hajime!" I nodded, assuming the Colons were her adopted Mimiga children.
"Alright then, lets go. We have a bit to go if we want to make it to the warehouse on time..." Curly leaped ahead of me, firing her machine gun at anything that moved, blasting a path through the monsters. I whistled softly and followed, backing her up with the Nemesis. We leaped up a wall, me boosting Curly upwards, and then her lending me a hand so I could scrabble over. There were large bone monsters down this path, some firing bones at us. She jumped over them with ease, and I did the same, both of us covering the other from fire. After that path there were some pillars with perilous spikes at the bottom. Curly didn't hesitate and leaped right over them, shooting at a cloud of birds that flew in her way. I pulled out the Bubbler and provided her with some covering fire. We soon cleared enough of them to continue on. We made just a few more jumps, and we were at the door. I immidiantly cursed; There was a Balrog-shaped hole in the door. "Dammit, Balrog." I walked in. I could hear voices: One was very ominous and low [Readers, think Professor Snape from Harry Potter], and the other one belonged to Misery. Misery was the first to speak.
"I have gathered all the seeds as you ordered, sir."
"Good, good. Say, those flowers in bloom over there... Are they the demon flower?"
"Yes... shall I eat one as a test?"
"No, no, that won't be necessary. Let's instead test it on a Mimiga, eh?"
"That's a wonderful idea!" I then heard a shimmering noise, and a soft oof! I froze. I turned to Curly and whispered,
"That's... That's Toroko!" She gasped softly.
"The one that was kidnapped by the Doctor?" I nodded. I had a feeling the deep voice in the warehouse was the Doctor. Toroko let out a cry.
"WAAAH!" it seemed to be coming closer, when I heard a thump, signaling that Balrog had entered the room. I heard muffled sounds of protest, and all of the world closed on me when I heard him yell,
"Eat it! EAT IT" I then heard another familiar voice yell,
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" I ran to the door, and looked in. King was standing over Toroko, after attacking Balrog, who was in the middle of fleeing King's blade. He knelt down.
"Toroko, are you alright?"
"Ki-King..." The Doctor smiled.
"It's no use. Once a Mimiga has ingested the flower, there is no saving them. Toroko is gone." As he said it, I knew it was the truth. The Doctor did not speak like a man who needed to lie. He glanced at King's sword, who had tightened his grip on the handle. "What do you plan on doing with that sword of yours?" King growled, then ran at the Doctor, screaming,
"I'LL KILL YOU!" The world slowed down as Misery raised her staff high above her head, and slammed it on the ground in front of her. Timed perfectly, a lightning bolt rained down from above and struck King in midair, sending him flying back towards the door. Not being able to stand by any longer, I charged in, standing over King and holding the Nemesis and Polar Star in each of my hands. I glared at the Doctor, and he smiled in turn.
"Ah, so you're the soldier from the surface I've heard so much about! I'll allow you two to be acquainted." He gestured to Toroko, and then me. He disappeared, and I screamed, losing my chance to fight him. Misery had already gone. As I watched, Toroko changed, becoming larger and larger, her red eyes searching for something to kill. Curly ran in the room with me, machine gun in hand.
"Anything I can do?"
"Distract her while I talk to King. I need to know why he's here." She nodded and proceeded to jump around Toroko while I knelt down next to King.
"Soldier..." I nodded. He smiled. "I'm glad you came. Please... save Toroko. Do what you must to make sure she doesn't spend more time like that than she has to." He turned his head to his right. "Take my sword... maybe it will come in handy to you... someday." I nodded, and picked up the sword, easily clipping it into my belt. King smiled again. "If there is no way to stop this rabid nature... I hope that you will find a way to end it quickly." I nodded, and took off my scarf, letting him use it as a pillow. I pulled the sword in my right hand, the Nemesis in my left. I joined Curly, jumping around Toroko.
Enter Boss: Rabid Toroko...
I thought back to what King said as I continued to dance around Toroko. Do what I have to do to end it quickly... I took aim with the Nemesis, and shook myself. Goddammit, man, have you gone mad?! You were about to shoot Toroko! How could you! But I steeled myself. There is no cure. This is the only way to end her rabid state... My eyes started tearing up, and I made a direct hit on Toroko with the Nemesis. Curly looked at me, surprised.
"What the hell are you doing?! You'll kill her!" I shot again. She ran towards me. "Stop!" I kept going, almost breaking down. By the time Curly reached me, it only took one more shot to end it.
Defeated Toroko...
I fell to the ground, tears falling from my eyes.
"Toroko..." I looked at Curly, who had a mixture of horror, pity, and anger on her face. I stood up and slowly walked to the door. She was right. How could I just shoot down one of my oldest friend, nay, the first friend I can remember having? I dropped to my knees again, the tears flowing more freely.
"What the hell am I doing, Curly?" She looked at me. "I claim to be the protectors of the Mimiga, doing all I can to destroy the Red Flowers... but I failed to protect King... and I fucking killed Toroko in cold blood!" I slammed my fist on the ground. "I murdered her! I gunned her down like she was just another enemy in my way! Another obstacle to overcome! AND SHE WAS MY GODDAMN FRIEND!" I couldn't hold back my sobs now. They echoed in the empty room, making them louder than everywhere. Somehow, I had managed tears, and now I was out. I stood up with difficulty, and looked at Curly. "I'm a monster, Curly... A Mimiga killer, just like what I was before this whole mess happened..." She shook her head quickly and ran over to me, taking my hand in hers.
"Listen, soldier boy. There was nothing you could have done. If you hadn't have... you know... she probably would have killed us." I looked in her eyes, the eyes of the one person I trusted to watch my back more than anyone else. I looked in her eyes, and saw the complete trust in me, the total forgiveness. I hugged her, then, a huge hug that I used to attempt to covey my feelings of gratefulness towards her. She hugged me back, and we stood for a while. I let go first, and she followed suit.
"Now, Curly... let's go kill the Doctor." I headed towards the door, when she called for me.
"Soldier." I turned towards her.
"Yes?" She smiled and walked closer to me.
"We still don't have a name for you." I frowned and avoided her eyes.
"I know. I still don't-"
"Hero." I looked in her eyes. "You're a hero, so I'll call you Hero." I shook my head.
"A hero doesn't kill his friends..." She put a hand on my shoulder, and I turned to meet her eyes once more.
"A hero does the best he can. Now, come on, Hero. Let's kill the Doctor." We ran out the door together, when I suddenly heard someone yell,
"HUZZAH!" Suddenly, something slammed into Curly, and the force knocked me over. I landed face up, and I heard soft feet land next to me. I assumed that if I acted knocked unconscious, they would probably speak between each other, not expecting us to know what they had said. Balrog spoke first. "Misery, I dunno. We got them now, but they come back real quick." Misery gave a grunt of acknowledgement.
"That is true. It'd be best to get them out of they way. Do you think they Labyrinth will serve our purposes?" Balrog smiled.
"Yes! That'd be perfect!" Misery smiled.
"Perfect. I'll send you too, as a welcoming party." Balrog's smile disappeared.
"What?" In a flash, he was gone. Misery walked over to stand between Curly and I.
"Oh, by the way, soldier, I know you're awake. I'll be sure to make your exiting of the Labyrinth as difficult as possible." I heard a sickening crunch come from where Curly was, and Misery smiled. I opened my eyes fully and glared at her, not caring what she had done.
"You bitch." Suddenly, there was a loud explosion, and everything went black.
Misery wiped her hands on her pants, and held her staff in midair, sitting on it and rising. She smiled, relaxing at the peaceful quiet that accompanied Balrog's absence.
"That did feel good. I need to send more things to the Labyrinth more often." She teleported away to bring news of the soldier's defeat to the Doctor.
I sat up then, taking note of the few other robots in the small room with me. I heard something crash to the ground behind me. Turning to face the noise, I saw Curly. But something was off. When I saw what it was, I felt sick, even though I had no stomach to churn. Curly lay face down in the ground, unmoving.
And she was missing her legs.
The End of Chapter 4
