Trials of Beta
Chapter Four: Betray Your Heart
Before them stood a tall pillar of some sort. It was a dull bronze color, with strange symbols all over it. Beta and Alex were dumbfounded by this discovery. Water dripped down to the floor from over head.
"What is it?" Beta asked.
"Hell if I know..." Alex was closer to it then Beta. He had an urge to touch it, for some reason that he couldn't quite explain, "I'm going to... Touch it." He announced.
"Be careful." Beta advised.
Rubbing his face with one hand, Alex gulped and reached out a hand to press one of the symbols on the pillar. As his hand made contact, the pillar rumbled, and the symbols started to glow!
"Watch out!" Beta shouted, jumping back. Alex took a staggering step backwards, a blue ring of light about 12 feet up on the pillar appearing.
"What... Just happened?" Alex asked hesitantly.
"I have no clue... Let's go on, okay?"
Turning away from the pillar, Alex and Beta walked to the south exit, then noticed a capsule by the door. "Let me." Alex offered, stooping and pressing the play button. Red Ring Rico appeared.
"My first question about Ragol was, "Why didn't any sentient life exist here?" But... Look at this monument! This is identical to the one I saw in the forest! It's NOT ours though... Was there an ancient civilization on Ragol? But these monuments are the only evidence I see... It'd be strange if there was a civilization indeed... Can I decipher the characters with my simple tools?"
Standing, Alex shook his head. "The mystery deepens, and the plot thickens. Just what the hell is going on here?!"
Beta blinked, slightly taken aback by Alex's outburst. "I don't know, but if we want to find out, and rescue Lunehhy and HK, we have to go forward."
"Indeed." Was all Alex said. Here before them was the exit of the second level of the caves. What lay beyond was anyone's guess, but they had to go forward. "No guts no glory." Alex said as he stepped onto the orange pad and vanished. Beta shook his head and followed suit, disappearing from here and reappearing somewhere further below. Unlike the first two levels, this third one didn't even look remotely natural. It looked like a mine. Then it hit Beta. Lunehhy had said they were in a Mine, this must be the place!
"We're close to them! This is the place Lunehhy said she and HK were in! Let's hurry!" Without even waiting for Alex to respond, Beta ran through the door into the next room. Here were two more doors, one to the north west, the other directly across from it. Something told Beta to go through the northwest one. Running full tilt, Beta dashed through the door and nearly fell flat on his face as he brought himself to a halt. Before him, in the hallway, rising and falling from the ceiling, were three pillars. It was a deathtrap, the pillars rising up into the ceiling only to come crashing down and smash anything underneath it, just to repeat the process all over. Beta gulped audibly.
"We have to get through THAT?! Okay, I can do this! Just... Gotta time it... The first pillar hits the ground.... NOW!" As he said this the first pillar slams into the ground, then begins to ascent. Quickly Beta stepped under it. "The second pillar hits now." The second pillar too began it ascent, having slammed into the ground a second after the first one. He was faced with a decision now, as the path split, one way going east, the other keeping north. He didn't have time to think tho, so he stepped off from under the pillar to the east, taking this path. He prayed he took the right course.
"Holy shit!" Alex called out, just seeing the lovely deathtrap.
"Fun, huh?" Beta jested.
"Like a root canal. Shaddup and lemme concentrate..." Alex said as he memorized the pattern of the rising and fallings, then hopped through one, waited for the second, passed this and got to Beta. "Let's hope that's the last of those."
"Couldn't agree with you more." Beta said, turning around and walking down the path. Kilala chirped it's agreement, floating along behind Beta. The hallway spilled out into a wish bone shaped room, one side having an always unlocked door and the other a lockable door. The lockable door was unlocked, that means that Lunehhy and HK-55 must have passed through here recently! "We're close! Come on!"
Holding her Bravace pistol with both hands, Lunehhy peaked around the corner, gazing at the door. She was sweaty and dirty from head to toe. Spinning out from behind her cover and keeping her pistol on the door, she took slow, measured steps towards it, her finger tight on the trigger. Where is she? Show yourself, bitch...
Suddenly, the door behind her began to open, and her eyes went wide. Behind me?! But how?! She didn't think, she didn't look, she only spun around, whipping her pistol to bear and squeezing the trigger as she did so, shooting blindly at the threat behind her, hoping to hit out of pure luck.
"Beta! Watch out!" She heard a man say. Beta? "Hold your fire, damnit!" The man said, standing to his feet after tackling another man in black to the ground, brandishing a blue Saber at her. Lunehhy raised the Bravace, aiming back at him.
"Drop your weapon!" She ordered.
Beta pressed his hand on the unlocking mechanism, unlocking the door. The door opened automatically. No sooner does it open then yellow Photon bullets begin streaking towards him. Huh?! "Beta! Watch out!" Alex said, tackling to FOmar as the bullets sail over them. Alex growled and jumped to his feet, his blue Photon Saber out and ignited. "Hold your fire, damnit!" He had an Autogun in his holster, but he doubted he could get to it in time, so he had to make do with what he had.
Beta was confused, first someone was shooting at him, and the next thing he knew he was tackled from behind, his face in the ground. He then heard Lunehhy's voice say, "Drop your weapon!" It was Lunehhy! Beta struggled to his feet, shouting.
"Lunehhy! Lunehhy! It's me, Beta! Thank the Gods you're alright!" He said, running to her. Lunehhy blinked and then smiled for the first time in days, lowering her Bravace.
"Beta? It is you! You got my message!" She said, hugging him as he came within arm's reach. Alex slowly advanced forward, his Photon Saber doused.
"Of course I did! Me and Alex came as soon as we could!" Beta said, returning the embrace.
Lunehhy looked over Beta's shoulder at the blue haired man. "You're Alex?" She asked. The man nodded and made a little bow.
"None other then the famous Alex D." He said. Lunehhy had heard of the man. He had took a dare to kill a Booma with his bare hands the second day or so after the explosion, got cut across the eye, but he did kill the Booma and won a number of Meseta.
"Thanks for helping my friend." She said, nodding her head slowly. No one except Alex noticed the door Lunehhy had originally approached open. He saw HK standing there, and recognized her from some of the capsules. He nodded greetings to her. Lunehhy released her arms from around Beta, standing back. "There's something I gotta tell you about HK! She-" She never finished her sentence, her chest bursting outwards. A mist of blood sprayed on Beta as the tip of HK-55's Soul Eater erupted out of Lunehhy's chest. The powerful female Android swung the Soul Eater to one side, pinning Lunehhy to the wall. Beta was frozen with shock, his eyes wide.
"I thought I told you not to follow us, weakling?" HK said, then grabbed a Photon Dagger from her belt and threw it at Beta. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as the purple energy blade spun through the air towards him, end over end. I'm going to die? Beta thought. There was a blur of movement, a hiss as a Saber ignited, and Alex swung the blade in an upwards arc in front of Beta, hitting the dagger and deflecting it up. He had already drew his Autogun with his off hand, and began to fire at HK, knowing well that he couldn't hit the broadside of a planet in this stance, but figured the firepower would drive the android away, which it did. The HUcaseal quickly withdrew her Soul Eater from the wall and retreated through the door, getting hit once in the arm by Alex's cover fire.
Lunehhy's body slid down the wall to the floor, leaving a trail of blood on the wall. Beta snapped back to reality, went to Lunehhy's side, holding her in his arms. "Lunehhy?! Lunehhy you're going to be okay, just hold on..."
All the color had drained out of Lunehhy's face, she was losing blood at an alarming rate. She could feel herself slipping, going into the darkness. "Don't let.... Don't let her bring IT back... The terror..." She said weakly. Tears were streaming freely down Beta's face.
"You're going to be okay Lunehhy. Don't go, stay with me." Beta pleaded, then looked up at Alex. "DO something! Can't we do something!?! We have to get her back to Pioneer 2! They can save her!"
Alex shook his head helplessly, his eyes fixed on the door HK had disappeared through. In their rush, they didn't bring any Telepipes, and so far they hadn't found any either.
"Beta... I..... Love......" Lunehhy's body went limp in Beta's arms, her eyes taking on a blank, vacant look as life fled from them. Beta's eyes stung, tears streaming down his cheek. He shook her body.
"Don't leave me Lunehhy. Don't go! Come back!" He pleaded, trying vainly to coax her soul back into her body. Her blood was all over his hands and body. "That... That BITCH!" Beta cursed HK-55, grabbing Lunehhy's Bravace Pistol and tucking it in his item bag. He would use it to kill HK.
"Beta, we have to give Lunehhy a proper burial. It's the least we can do." Alex suggested.
"I know. Just... Give me time... I don't want to leave her just yet..." He said, still holding Lunehhy's still warm body in his arm. He kissed her forehead, realizing now that he too loved her...