Chapter 14: The Second Soldier
"So, you really didn't know you were a robot?"
"Like I've said twice already: yes."
Quote's entry into the Sand Zone hadn't been a quiet one. Not that he himself was making much noise, but rather that from the moment he stepped into the teleporter Malco had begun chattering. He found the revelation about the soldier's identity unsurprising given that he too was mechanical, but couldn't believe that only he felt that way.
"No wonder you reacted with such surprise when I first began observing things through your eyes."
"It never occurred to you to tell me why that happened?"
"Well, I was under the impression you knew already."
Resisting the urge to reply with something foul, he continued to look around the area. As the name implied, there was sand as far as the eye could see. Loose, shifty sand that made it hard to walk without stumbling every few paces. The only other visible features of whatever crevice he'd teleported into were the cavern walls and ceiling, now looking even coarser and colored an odd green-brown.
"Would you happen to know where we can find these red flowers?"
"My databanks contain information on their properties, but their habitat is unknown. They do generate a rather strong magical energy field, which I could likely track down if one is close enough. I'll keep you informed on that… oh? Look up, I'm detecting an electrical presence right in front of you."
Quote had been looking down at the ground for a moment, and when Malco mentioned that he wasn't alone his head snapped up to see what was there. Or, to his surprise, who.
Amid the haze created by the sandy corridor, it was difficult to clearly make out the details of this person, but he could see well enough to identify a distinctly female humanoid shape mere yards in front of him. The unknown person had long blonde hair hanging straight down to her lower back, with pure white skin (albeit somewhat dirty from all the sand) and blue eyes. She sported a pair of light green devices on the sides of her head, and even from this distance he could make out antennae sticking up from them both.
"She looks… like me!"
The thought had barely crossed his mind for a second before the stranger gave him an odd look. Her eyes seemed to narrow suspiciously, then she turned around and walked away.
"Incredible! That young lady bears a striking resemblance to-"
"I know she does. Who could she be, though?"
Considering how similar she and Quote looked, there had to be some kind of connection between them. Maybe. With so many questions lingering about his background, he was willing to reach for any opportunity to learn more. The red flowers were still on his mind, but he needed to catch up with her as well. She could have held the answers he so badly wanted.
"She may be another android like yourself. Go on! Chase her down and pry from her whatever secrets you desire!"
Something about how Malco had worded that rubbed him the wrong way, so he chose not to think about it and just ran ahead. She was still visible at the end of the tunnel, where it appeared to open up into a much wider (but no less sandy) cave. With a single leap, she'd gone out of sight. It wasn't until Quote made it there himself that he could see where she had vanished to.
The aforementioned cave led straight up to a different area and was largely cylindrical in shape. Lining its walls were narrow ledges and small outcroppings, which the blonde runaway was scaling with relative ease. She jumped back and forth between each rock formation until she'd reached the top, at which point she continued to walk away from him.
"I can't fall too far behind..."
Undaunted, Quote followed her lead. He put his considerable strength and jumping skills to the test on each ledge, climbing up the vertical cavern at an impressive speed. The woman's physical prowess being so similar to his only piqued his interest further. Just who and what was she?
It took him less than a minute to make it up to the higher tunnel (with some assistance from Malco on where to step or jump), and once he'd gotten to the top he weighed up his objectives.
Were there any red flowers nearby? No? Then it was back to seeking out the mysterious person.
"She hasn't had much of a head start. Keep going and you'll catch up in no time."
Quote pursued her until she disappeared inside a small building tucked into the corner of the tunnel. From the sign sporting a wine glass outside, it looked to have once been a pub of some kind. Even more curious as to where she'd gone, he followed her inside.
The woman was standing amidst a group of four young Mimiga, each wearing soft green and yellow shirts. They turned to glare at him as he walked in, surprisingly. As for the person he'd been following, she was slower in her reaction and gave him a sort of half-smile. Without the sandy haze, he could finally see that she was wearing a tank top that was short enough to reveal her midriff, long pants, and sturdy boots (colored pink, maroon, and black respectively). Even her outfit was like his!
"Ah!" she said aloud in a high voice. "We have a visitor, everyone!"
Despite her ostensibly friendly words, the edge she put on "visitor" came across as unwelcoming. It definitely wasn't helped by the abrupt scowl she had on her face.
"I know why you're here. I know what you want to do. Think I'm gonna let you hurt these children, huh? Not a chance! Mimiga are totally harmless, so you'd better wake up and admit that they aren't your enemies…"
Quote was completely unprepared for this reaction. She hadn't bothered giving him a chance to explain himself or even say a word at all, instead opting to point a red and shiny object threateningly in his direction. His eyes widened upon seeing that it was a machine gun, and he tried to process what was happening. Even Malco had gone silent, apparently at a loss for words.
"…or I'm going to blast you to pieces! Everyone, get behind me. I'll keep you safe!"
The woman didn't wait for him to choose between the options she'd presented, instead just opening fire right away. Her rapid shots came out in a short burst that he dodged by less than an inch. Quote frowned at how quickly things had deteriorated. He wouldn't seriously injure her, but if she wanted a fight she was about to get one. Maybe then she'd be more reasonable.
He drew Polar Star from its holster and took careful aim as she lined up her sights for another volley. The Mimiga children were still clustered behind her, so using the Bubbline or missile launcher was out of the question if he wasn't going to harm them. Quote fired back at her, only to see his target duck out of the way with reflexes comparable to his own. They continued to trade shots again and again, neither managing to score a hit. Quote found himself getting distracted by the advice Malco had begun constantly yelling, and at several points the machine gun's energy bullets grazed past him and left a light sting on his artificial skin. He noticed that his opponent never fired more than a burst of six shots at once, with her gun never running out of ammo. Did it have a cooldown of some kind?
During one of the lulls in her attacks, Quote edged his way closer as she dodged his Polar Star shots. If he could just disarm her, then things would hopefully settle down. She stared daggers at him while her gun readied itself for another round.
To the apparent surprise of both combatants, the four young Mimiga rushed forward in defense of their "mother" and began clinging to Quote's arms and legs. They were too small and weak to hurt him on their own, but he noticed in dismay that his foe was about to take advantage of the distraction. He turned slightly so one of the children hanging onto his shoulder was blocking her line of sight. Predictably, she didn't dare pull the trigger out of fear of shooting the small creature.
"A shield tactic! What a clever idea! Use this chance to knock her gun away."
Quote, finally shaking off the Mimiga when he was close enough, sprang forward and came face-to-face with the woman. Before she could open fire again, he drove his knee into her stomach to briefly disable her. A pained cough escaped her lips as she doubled over in shock and dropped her weapon. Shoving her to the floor, he pinned her down with one foot placed firmly just below her neck. The Mimiga watched in fright, too scared to try attacking again.
"Victory! A splendid fight, if I do say so myself!"
"Yield," he said firmly, pointing Polar Star at her face. Obviously he had no intent to actually shoot her, but she had to surrender if they were to get anywhere. Her struggling quickly ceased, replaced by pained wheezes.
"Y-yield… I guess you're gonna wipe out the Mimiga now, just like us robots were built-"
"Will you let me speak for a second?!" he hissed, tired of her not allowing him to get a word in. "I'm not here to hurt any of you. All I wanted was to find out who you were, maybe get some answers about myself."
Quote took his foot off her chest and put Polar Star back in its holster to show he bore no ill will toward them. She hesitantly sat up and looked him in the eyes as if trying to get a better reading of him. Looking back, he noticed that hers were a much brighter shade of blue than his own. Also unlike his, they appeared to express a wide range of emotions.
"You mean you aren't against the Mimiga? That's right, they're not dangerous at all!"
She stood up and rubbed at her stomach where he'd struck her.
"Heh… I guess we got off on the wrong foot there. Let's try again. My name's Curly Brace. Just call me Curly, though. And you are?"
"Quote, a soldier from the surface. I woke up about eight hours ago with no recollection of my own life, and I've been piecing together my past since then."
Curly cracked a small grin.
"You lost your memory too, huh? Guess we're even less different than I thought. Of course, I've been online for three weeks now…"
"What happened to you?" he asked, intrigued as to how her experience had gone.
"I woke up near this building, half buried in the sand and unable to remember much. All I could tell was that I'm a robot and I was a soldier of some kind, but beyond that-"
Quote cut her off mid-sentence.
"Wait a minute, you knew you were a robot from the moment you woke up?"
She looked confused at his sudden question.
"Yeah. Why, did you not?"
"I told you, you should have been able to tell from the beginning."
He considered himself lucky that she couldn't hear Malco speaking and just tried to move on.
"Never mind… you said this was three weeks ago?"
Curly gave one of the young Mimiga a gentle pat on the head as he nestled beside her and fell asleep.
"Uh huh. I found these children all alone without parents, hiding from someone called the Doctor. With nothing else to do, I sorta adopted them. They filled me in on why he's one to be avoided; something to do with fabled red flowers."
"But you also remember being a soldier?" Quote pressed, eager to hear more. If she was as like him as he thought, this could be another breakthrough.
"I don't recall a whole lot, just that it was a long time ago. According to these little ones, the robots that came to this island years ago were savage Mimiga killers… I was probably one too before losing my memory. I don't like thinking about that. Oh yeah, did you know we're on an island floating way up in the sky?"
Quote almost wanted to scream at just how short his end of the amnesia stick had been. Not only did he remember nothing at all about himself, he'd also woken up alone and in a dark system of caves that led to a somewhat lighter system of caves, had to trek all over three separate areas (Mimiga Village, Egg Corridor, and Bushlands), and had to deal with increasingly dangerous creatures as well as the occasional run-in with Balrog and Misery, just to start learning about himself and about what was going on. Meanwhile, Curly Brace woke up with an outline of her memories and already in close proximity to people who were willing to fill her in on the important details.
As intrigued as he was to meet another soldier robot, he began to wonder if fate simply had it out for him.