Chapter 14: Nightmare Made Real
Quote had never been more terrified in his life.
The 'shell' embedded in the wall had opened nine eyes and had detached from the wall, same with its little ones, which had two eyes.
The robot soldier exploded, knocking Quote back, but a piece of it hit Curly in the head and knocked her unconscious.
Poor girl. She seemed to have the worst luck.
But, Quote had far bigger worries than his friend's misfortune. He pulled out the Super Missile, but remembered that it was empty. He cursed under his breath and switched to the Blade and the Polar Star, then jumped forward to face the beast face to face.
He threw a phantom blade at it's center, the one part that wasn't armoured, and it groaned and closed it with a piece of stone.
The little ones began shooting blue boomerang-like energy blades at him, but he was able to dodge and shot their eyes. When they hit, the little things squealed and hid their eyes.
When all four of them were stunned, the big one revealed its eyes again, and he threw everything he had on them. It began shooting out its eyes at him, but they reappeared instantly.
He was surprised and was hit by one, causing it to pop and shower him with acid. But, the room shook and the water level rose, washing away all of the acid quickly.
"What is that thing?" A familiar voice screamed, and Quote saw Curly get up and begin shooting at the center of the beast as well.
The water level fell as the beast hid its eyes.
"I have no idea!" He screamed.
He saw missiles laying on the ground, although he had no idea where they came from, so he grabbed them and reloaded his Super Missile.
He holstered the Super Missile over his shoulder with one hand and held the blade in the other. When the smaller creatures opened their eyes, he retaliated with phantom blades, and when they screeched and retreated, and the main beast opened its eyes, he countered that with a volley of missiles.
Curly felt rather useless in the battle. Her friend had much more firepower, and was way more skilled than her. Or so it seemed, from how easily he beat her back in the Sand Zone.
Regardless, when he grabbed too much attention, she decided to distract it.
"Over here, you ugly freak!" She hissed, and the beast's attention shifted immediately to her.
This surprised Quote.
What on earth was she doing?
He stopped for a minute to make sure she wasn't going to get hurt, then shifted his attention back to fighting the monstrosity.
Eventually, the beast roared extremely angrily.
"It is not happy!" Curly yelled.
The water level filled to the top, and a current emerged in the water that blew them all the way back to the blast door.
When the current disappeared, Quote focused immediately on getting to the top platform to get back to air as soon as possible. Also, he thought that if it was trying to get away from them, then it must've been on its metaphorical last legs.
Something seemed off about this to Curly, and she looked over to the beast. Its nine eyes disappeared, but the shell stayed open, then began glowing white. It turned to Quote as the water fell again.
He had stood up and looked up to see a giant ball of white fire blast toward him.
He knew that fireball was going to burn him to ash before he could do anything.
He felt something collide into his side and fell off to the side, and the fireball zoomed over him. He got up and saw a very concerned Curly next to him. She'd tackled him out of the way.
He knew he didn't have time to thank her, so he just nodded, and they jumped back over to the beast.
The beast seemed to be furious that they were still alive, and released a shrill screech. It and all four of its little ones began glowing white, and columns of light shot out of all five of their openings that seemed to focus on a central point, pointed toward Curly.
They both knew what that meant, and Curly dove out of the way before all five beasts released lasers that focused into a stupidly large laser that zoomed past and slammed into the blast door, turning it white hot.
The laser slowly disappeared, and they knew the beast was tired. Quote readied his Super Missile and unloaded every missile he had left into it.
It released a howl of pain, smashed into the wall behind it, and completely stopped moving. Everything began to shake and rumble.
"We did it?!" Curly shouted uncertainly.
A trilling noise pierced the room, and they looked up to see a flabbergasted Misery appear in front of the beast, completely slack-jawed.
"What in the name of Ballos?! Wh-HOW?!" She screamed.
"YOU!" Curly yelled, "You're that witch that attacked me and sent us here! Are those children safe?!"
Misery turned to Curly with murder in her eyes.
"SHUT IT! Don't act like a mother! Do you even know what this goddamn thing is?!" She screeched.
"Huh?" Curly mumbled.
"Oh my-this is why I HATE SOLDIERS!" Misery snarled, "This is the core of the island! If it dies, the island falls! Is that your goal?! Your 'grand plan'?! To go down with the island in a blaze of glory?! YOU FOOLS!"
Another trilling noise was heard, and the Doctor appeared above the Core and looked down impatiently at Misery.
"MISERY! What are you doing?! Get the core to the lab NOW! There is still time!" He roared with a level of anger Quote and Curly thought impossible given his calm demeanour.
Misery fell to the ground, took a deep breath, then chanted a spell that teleported the Core away. She and the Doctor disappeared immediately after.
With the Core gone, there was nothing left to control the water level in the bunker. It rose to the roof.
But, they had no way out, and it didn't seem like it was going to return to normal, ever.
Quote sighed mentally.
So this is where his tale ends.
At least Curly will live. She can defeat the Doctor and tell his story, should she find a way out.
He held his breath for as long as he could, but it gave out.
He gasped, and took in water.
He sat there for a minute longer, and he began to lose consciousness.
His senses blurred, and the world became dark.