Off in a small stone abode within the harsh climate of the Sand Zone within the island, life was still unfolding inside it. A couple of small Mimigas, all wearing light green shirts with brown pants, were running around the small abode's sandy floor, not having much more than a table, a couch, a door to the next room, and a couple of iron girders sticking out of the ceiling; the one in the front clutching to what appeared to be a silver cylindered rose red Machine Gun.
"C'mon Kiron, give it here!" One of the three Mimiga chasing the gun holding one said. "Mama is gonna be mad if her gun gets damaged!"
"Lighten up Hanil!" The one Mimiga holding the gun said. "I know how to handle this thing!" At that moment the Mimiga would trip, the gun knocked from his grasp as it was thrown forward, soon hitting the ground and firing off energy rounds uncontrollably. The four Mimigas screamed as they all ran and ducked for cover at the shots kicked up sand into the air, making it hard to see...
"Make it stop! Make it stop!" Hanil yelled, cowering behind a turned table.
"I-I CAN'T!" Kiron cried, cowering where he had tripped as the shots would just barely miss his fur. The screams and shots would continue for about a good thirty seconds before suddenly it stopped, now a new sound filling the Mimiga's loppy ears.
"Alright, which one of you boys started messing with my weapons?" A new voice said, female in presentation as the sand dust settled, revealing the new figure. It was another humanoid robot, female in design and appearance; she had long blonde hair that came down to about her mid-back and bright blue eyes, along with a green headset in place of where her ears would be. Her plating was white with a bit of interlaced grey on the sides of her torso, albeit it was a bit dirty from the sand kicked up from both inside the residence and outside in the Sand Zone itself. Her clothing consisted of a white-trimmed red sports bra that came down to the top of her midriff, a pair of fingerless red gloves, a set of red cargo shorts that matched her top, adorned with a small green metal patch with a red heart, an orange belt, what appeared to be a magazine bag for a gun, and a set of sturdy maroon, red, and orange combat shoes. The expression adorned on her face was... less than amused.
"Didn't I tell you boys not to be playing with my Machine Gun?" The figure said.
"Sorry mama..." Kiron said, hanging his head as the figure then kneeled beside him, lightly rubbing his head.
"Now look, this is a dangerous weapon, not a toy, is that clear Kiron?" The figure said again. "I don't want to have to punish any of you for misbehaving with a weapon that could seriously hurt any of you, understood?"
"Yes mama!" All the Mimigas said.
"Alright." The female figure responded. "Now, mama Curly has to go rest for a bit to get herself back running at an optimum level. Keep yourselves quiet while I go charge up, okay?"
"Okay mom..." Hanil said, a sad look in his eyes as the female robot, Curly, moved past the two and into the back room. The room was rather small, only having one bed and a bookshelf, along with a monitor with a LCD screen with a heart close to the head of the bed, similar to one that Quote found back where he woke up. Curly would sigh, locking the door as she leaned against it, slowly sliding to the floor as a reading came up in front of her.
/WARNING. VITALITY LEVELS AT DANGEROUSLY LOW LEVELS. RECOMMENDED RECHARGE.
Curly would give off a small smile, soon getting up and sitting on the bed as she grabbed the hem of her sports bra, soon pulling it up and off herself, revealing a simple green colored bra underneath. She would then remove her shoes before she slid off her pants, showing a pair of green panties with a small heart insignia at the front of them, with ties on either sides. She would then move a bit to lie on the bed, taking a small cord from the Heart Monitor and plugging it into the headset she wore, soon closing her eyes as she felt herself power down into sleep mode, the cord from the Heart Monitor slowly coursing red glows through it into the headset, and Curly, as a whole. As she slept, her thoughts would go over the events of what had happened so far...
/CURRENT STATUS: 6 days since reactivation.
/MEMORY DECORRUPTION: Progress of 0.01% in today's timeframe.
/TOTAL MEMORY DECORRUPTION: Progress of 23.47% overall.
/COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS: 95% recovered.
/PARTNER UPLINK: 0% recovered.
The system would go on for a while as Curly slept, slowly but surely recharging. After about a half hour, she would be next to fully recharged before a new notification came up.
/WARNING. UNKNOWN TELEPORTATION ENERGY DETECTED NEARBY. INVESTIGATION ADVISED.
Curly would soon sit up, stretching a bit as she would shut off the notification, soon slipping back into her own clothes as she unlocked the door, stepping back into the room as the younger Mimigas were still playing around. She grabbed her Machine Gun before opening the door and stepping out into the harsher climate. Almost immediately in front of her was a location she called 'The Sinkhole Funnel', a Brimstone and Sandstone bridge held up by chains to the stone ceiling of the area. Curly activated her scanner again, soon tracing the signal to... the bottom of the funnel? Confused, Curly jumped of the side of the bridge and slid down the sandy slope until she had reached the base of the funnel, to see... a tunnel? Odd, she didn't remember there being a tunnel at the bottom of this pit. She approached the mouth and looked down its hallway to see... a teleporter?
"I don't remember that being there..." Curly spoke to herself as she gripped her Machine Gun tightly, ducking behind a rock as she stared down the teleporter... before it fired up, a figure stepping out... that was another robot, much like herself.
Curly's throat tightened as she made a mad dash back for the Residence. In the back of her mind her thoughts were racing as to what she would know as to why another robot would come here.
The Mimiga. It was going to kill the Mimiga.
Quote was... inherently confused as to who he had just seen rush away from behind a rock, but for the time being he decided to shrug it off and make his way through the short tunnel into what appeared to be a large sandy funnel, with him at the bottom. Judging from the smell of hot energy and the recent smoke, seems that girl had fired her weapon off before ascending the large sandhole. However, this only seemed to confuse Quote as it appeared to be that there was no way to get up to the top to even begin with... until he noticed the stone blocks jutting out of the sides of the sand funnel.
He then had a lightbulb moment go off on his head as he drew the Missile Launcher from his back. He had remembered reading something about a 'Rocket Jump' with the weapon, and so he took aim near his feet, jumped, and pulled the trigger...
Quote would soon find himself flying high into the air before he landed onto one of the stone blocks, his boots covered in ash from the exploded missile. He wobbled a bit, not quite used to the kickback from rocket jumping as he looked back up towards the top, seeing what appeared to be a bridge overconnecting two sides of the funnel. After a few more rocket jumps, he'd find his hands clamping onto the side of the bridge, soon hoisting himself up onto the structure, looking back down into the sandy pit. He shuddered; he did not want to have to go through that entire thing again. He kept slowly walking as he approached a door nearby, a sign of a drink above it. Quote couldn't make any sort of accurate identification about it, assuming it to be a rest station of some kind. Soon enough he approached the door, and put the side of his head up to it, listening into the room on the other side. He'd hear whimpering and a hushed female voice speaking for someone to hide, giving him the thought that there might be someone trying to protect someone. He decided to knock on the door. "H-hello?" Quote asked.
The sounds on the other side of the door would stop, supposedly freezing up as if there was no movement inside... before light footsteps ran to the door. "Come in!" The female voice said, which Quote assumed belonged to the girl he saw earlier. Quote would keep his Polar Star holstered as he slowly opened the door, entering into the room, seeing it abandoned...
...before being violently butted in the back of the head by a gun butt. Quote fell to the floor, pain coursing though his head as a new reading came up.
/WARNING. HEAD HAS BEEN DAMAGED 23.97%. AUTO-REPAIRS SYSTEM STARTING...
At that point the boy felt the barrel of the gun pressed up against the back of his head and a foot planted squarely on the small of his back, holding him there as the voice spoke.
"I know what you want to do." The female voice said, angry, pressing the gun barrel harder into the back of Quote's head. "Let's get one thing straight, however. The Mimigas are not your enemies. And if you even dare try to hurt them, I won't hesitate to blow your head off, no matter where you run to."
Quote's mind was racing as he was held there, trying to think of a solution out of this... but sadly, he didn't seem to be able to find a way out without a fight. Silently apologizing to himself for what he was about to do, the boy would twist-roll out from underneath the female robot right as a shot hit the floor where his head was, throwing sand up into the air. Quote would soon unholster the Polar Star and open fire on the female, who rolled out of the way and unloaded a magazine of energy bullets at the boy. Quote ducked behind the couch as the shots tore through the fabric. The boy gritted his teeth as he leaned out from his cover and opened fire at the female, who then dived behind and kicked over the table, using it as a barrier itself. Splinters would fly from the shots from the Polar Star colliding with the table.
The girl gritted her teeth, ducking out from behind the table and unloading another magazine of energy bullets at the couch again. Quote tensed up as he returned fire, an energy bullet from the machine gun barely grazing his cheek, causing him to wince in pain as he fell back, the Missile Launcher hitting the ground and accidentally firing off a discharge and having the rocket bounce all across the room like an out of control toy. Both Quote and the female would get onto the ground, before the missile would then shoot straight for the female.
Quote didn't know what took over his body at that point, but he had made a mad dash for the girl's position and shoved her right out of the way...
...just as the missile collided directly with him, causing a large explosion. A new reading came up:
/CRITICAL ERROR! TORSO HAS BEEN DAMAGED 102.86%. INITIATING EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN FOR MEMORY PRESERVATION.
Quote silently cursed to himself as the light left his eyes and he shut down right then and there on the floor.
Curly felt a sharp jolt to her side before collapsing on the floor, the explosion going off and temporarily blinding her optics. When her vision cleared she saw the boy that had attacked, collapsed on the ground unconscious with a massive scorch mark and twisted metal across his back. Considering that nearly moments ago she was about to be blasted to pieces by a discharged missile and it hadn't given her enough time to throw up her explosives barrier, she was surprised that the other robot had thrown itself in harm's way to save her life. Though for now she put those thoughts to the side as she soon rushed to the unconscious boy, picking him up and taking him to the back room.
"Mama, did you get him?" Kiron said as Curly had brushed past him, setting him down on the bed. "Is he dead?"
"I don't think so..." Curly spoke, soon getting one of the wires out of the Heart Monitor and plugging them into the boy's headset. "He may still be alive, thankfully."
"But you had said that robot was gonna kill us!" A third of the Colons squeaked. "Why are you helping him?"
"I feel there may have been a misunderstanding." Curly spoke. "He saved me from being blown apart..." There would be a bit of silence in the room before Curly spoke again. "Could... could you kids go play in the other room for a bit? I need some time alone to think."
"Okay mama." Another of the Colons said before the four Mimigas shuffled out the door, leaving the blonde robot to herself. She would return to look over the powered off robot, before noting something about him she hadn't noticed during her adrenaline rush in fighting in the other room, but now... she noticed he was much like her in multiple aspects; the stark white metal skin, the green built-in headset where the ears would be... even down to the clothing style and coloration of that similar pale red in them. Maybe... they were both built by the same creator? It might be a one-in-a-billion shot, but maybe...
A thought then occurred to her. Maybe she should check his memory data to see if so? She blushed a bit, a bit embarrassed at the thought of prodding his private data... but, her curiosity would get the better of her as she opened up a side screen on the Heart Monitor, with what appeared to be an old startup screen on it as she typed into a pop-out keyboard from the monitor.
"Wow..." Curly breathed. "Even running on DOS... this can't be a coincidence..." She spoke, soon starting to browse through his memory banks, starting to see his side of what he was going through... and it pained her heart knowing this entire thing stemmed from just a misunderstanding after seeing he was helping other Mimiga. She was about to start thinking about how to apologize before a reading came up on the screen.
/TORSO DAMAGE REPAIRED BY 57.9%. INITIATING REBOOT...
'Shit!' Curly panicked, sliding the screen back in and trying to keep her cool as the male robot slowly reawakened.
"Oooof..." The boy moaned, leaning up as he held his head in pain. "Owwww..."
"Oh, y-you're awake!" Curly said, smiling a bit. "Is your torso gonna be okay?"
"Nnnnghh... I think so..." The boy responded. "How... how long was I out?"
"It's been... about fifteen minutes by now." Curly responded, before looking down. "...sorry about the misunderstanding earlier..."
"What, that whole thing back there?" The boy asked. "...I can understand you were only trying to do what's right."
"As I've learned, so were you." Curly responded. "I... did some peeking around while you were repairing yourself, an-"
"Wait." The boy spoke, a deadpan look on his face. "You looked into my memory banks?"
"...yeah?"
"How much?"
"Well..." Curly blushed, looking away. "...all of it?"
"..." The boy would be silent for a bit before letting out a sigh. "Look, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. I just need to know where th-"
"The warehouse to the flowers is?" Curly finished for him, surprising him. "I know where it is, but I don't have access to the inside. I might know who would though."
"You do?" The boy asked.
Curly nodded. "There's an old mystic in the Sand Zone by the name of Jenka; supposedly she's been around here for centuries as a matter of fact. She might know how to get into the warehouse."
"Alright then." The boy spoke, starting to get up. "Quote." He spoke, extending a hand.
"Curly Brace." Curly responded, taking the hand and shaking it. Though the greeting would be short-lived as they soon heard a blast from the other room.
Needless to say, the two hi-tailed it into the other room, weapons drawn at the ready.
"Aaaaand that makes four!" Misery cooed to herself, having all four of the Colon children trapped in bubbles as they squirmed and writhed in horror. "This is just getting easier and easier by the hour..."
"How many more do you think the Doctor needs?" Balrog asked, looking up at the Mimigas.
"He'll need as many as we can bring or until we're told otherwise." Misery spoke. "Or at least until we can procure the location of those flowers from my mother..."
"You really think Auntie Jenka knows where those flowers are?" Balrog spoke.
"Oh please, that hag is older than dirt at this point." Misery spat. "She'd know everything about this damn floating rock by this point. So after we take these little runts back t-" She was interrupted as a blast came to her backside, the smoke starting to curl off it as she whirled around, glaring daggers at who had decided to interrupt; the smoke coming from the barrel of that familiar cobalt gun and that red hat clicked in her mind, and soon enough she saw red.
"You again?!" Misery growled. "When will you just give up already?!"
"When you give back Toroko." Quote spoke, serious in tone as he directed the gun straight for Misery's head. "Now put those children down."
The witch's eye twitched as she glared at Quote and Curly. "Y-you think you can just order me around like this? You really think you have the audacity to order me to do something when you're not even a bearer of the Crown?!"
"He doesn't need to be." Curly angrily said, aiming her Machine Gun right for Misery as well. "Now give me back my children."
Something snapped in Misery at that point, as she just glared at the two in silence before she spoke again. "Balrog."
"Yeah Mi-"
"Kill them." Misery almost growled, before warping out of the room with the trapped Colons. Balrog would then look to the two in the room, both of which had their weapons squarely aimed right for the gigantic box-thing.
"So... are you sure you guys don't wanna tal-" was all Balrog spoke before Quote blasted him in the face with the Polar Star. Needless to say, Balrog didn't like that before, and he certainly didn't like it now. The box thing lept up into the air before flapping his little nubs of arms as it flew towards Quote and Curly's location.
"You take the left, I got the right!" Curly spoke. Quote silently nodded before the two dodged to either side as Balrog came crashing down; the impact from his landing kicking up dust and white-hot bouncing orbs that bounced around the small abode. Balrog would look to Curly before firing off a barrage of energy spheres, however, he ended up leaving himself open from behind, and the boy took advantage of that, aiming the Missile Launcher right at the box's back. He inhaled, the pulled and held the trigger. A barrage of three missiles fired at once before slamming straight into Balrog's back, knocking him forward onto his face. The box xoon got back up and lept into the air again, this time flying for Quote as he intended to flatten him. The boy dodge-rolled out from behind his cover as Balrog came crashing down, releasing another burst of bouncing orbs as he fired in Quote's direction, the boy barely being able to dodge thanks to his still-recovering torso. However, thankfully, he wouldn't have to dodge for long as Curly dodge-rolled out from behind her cover, now with a new gun as she opened fire on Balrog's back. Seating yellow shots letting out a screeching noise came from the barrel of the new weapon as the shots collided with Balrog's back, throwing him off his guard.
At this point the box started to go into a hissy fit as he kept jumping and stomping, spewing more of the white-hot orbs across the abode. Quote motioned to Curly, and she nodded in agreement. They both needed to get out of there before Balrog brought the whole place down on them. Fortunately, they were lucky in not having the gigantic box's attention as he threw his stomping fit, so they were able to sneak out just in time as the stone residence crumbled around Balrog while they were outside. Both of them collapsed to the ground, panting heavily as the rubble settled.
"Damnit..." Quote panted. "We couldn't stop her from getting away with those children..."
Curly merely clenched her fist, hitting it on the ground in anger. "No..."
"We'll get them back Curly." Quote said, rubbing a hand on her back. "But right now there's more pressing issues. Those flowers need to be found and destroyed or else those Mimiga are not gonna be saved."
Curly would nod, slowly getting up. "I'll do this for them."
"Where's Jenka living?"
"Her house is just a bit further into the Sand Zone." Curly said, heading off across the bridge over the pit. "Just a bit into the Sun Temple we should find the hatch that leads further into the desert, stay close!"
Quote would nod, soon giving pursuit after the blonde robot across the bridge. He may not have spent much time getting to know her, but something about her felt familiar to him. He feels like he's known the robot before, but he could've sworn he had never met her before in his time awake... maybe the two just had good chemistry together? Whatever it was, Quote had a good feeling in his gut that this would help.
Maybe things were finally looking up for him.
Curly had to admit to herself, she didn't fully understand Quote at first, especially since he didn't seem like the one to quip at the ones he fought like she had done from time to time. He usually seemed to remain silent when fighting, which had honestly concerned her a bit since communication was a major part working together in combat, but she figured they can work on that once they get to know eachother a bit more.
Soon enough she reached near the entrance of the Sun Temple and... wait, something wasn't right here. The normal large circular hatch that would be open and leading down into the lower bowels of the Sand Zone was completely closed off, the large gears looking like they haven't moved for some time now.
"That's... odd." Curly spoke to herself, looking at the massive hatch.
"What's odd?" Quote asked, now having caught up to her and seeing the massive hatch.
"This hatch leads down deeper to the Sand Zone and where Jenka lives." Curly spoke. "The problem is right now it's closed. And I distinctly remember it still being open yesterday..."
"Hmmm..." Quote mused to himself, before Curly interrupted again.
"I bet those cretins must've known we were going to Jenka, so they sealed up the way there!" Curly spoke. "Damnit, now how are we going to get through here?!"
Quote would remain silent, before noticing what appeared to be some sort of mechanical seams around the edges of the door. Kneeling down and looking over the seams, a new scanner would activate in his eyes as he'd monitor over the entire door, soon seeing what looked like wires inside the floor leading backwards into the temple-like structure. He'd keep the scanning up until he heard a voice.
"Uhh, hello? Island to Quote, you there?" Curly asked.
Quote blinked, then looked to Curly. "Ah, sorry, was just scanning the thing."
"What'd you find out?" The blonde robot asked.
"Looks like there's some sort of activation mechanism deeper within the structure." Quote spoke. "We throw that, we might just get our way into the lower areas."
Curly would look off in the direction of the temple. "Good point."
"Let's try looking there first. You know the way?" Quote asked.
"Not through the temple." Curly spoke. "I've rarely been in there at all."
"...looks like this'll be a blind experience for both of us then." Quote said, readying the Polar Star. "We should stick close to eachother."
"Not complaining here." Curly said, readying her Machine Gun with the other weapon attached to her hip. "Let's start looking."
Quote nodded before the two started into the temple, heading up the short stairs before passing the columns into the temple itself. Ahead of the two would be rivers of sand, small islands inbetween them made of square stone with enough space for the two of them to stand on. The sand was flowing out of larger archways that gave the scouts a peek into the deeper areas of the temple, showing a complex working of stone walkways over the sand inside there, and large chains hanging from the ceiling, the links bigger than Quote and Curly themselves.
"Yeesh..." Quote breathed. "Well, guess we should start looking." Quote said, soon jumping onto the sand to make his way to the first stone island... but not before being violently yanked back by Curly as a large pair of green toothy jaws burst up from the sand, narrowly missing him as they clamped shut.
"You're welcome." Curly said. "You gotta be more careful around the moving sands here, Sandcrocs are known to hide in 'em."
"Appreciate the tip." Quote said, getting up and looking at the Sandcroc, who was looking back at him with it's only eye facing the two. "Is... is he just gonna sit there?"
"They usually do." Curly said, climbing on top of it's closed maw. "Once these things attack, they usually don't go back into the sand unless provoked."
"So you're safe to just climb up that thing?" Quote asked, feeling a bit concerned for Curly's safety.
"Hey, I've gotten used to living in this area for most of my online time from almost a week ago." Curly deadpanned. "I've got a beastiary in my files on nearly every kind of monster there is out here in this desert, so I know my shit when it comes to all of these."
Quote would shrug. "If you say so..." He spoke, climbing up the Sandcroc as Curly lept to the stone island, Quote following along behind her. The process for the two would be repeated for a bit before Quote noticed something... odd from some of the deeper holes off further in the temple area.
"Are... those embers?" Quote asked, looking at seeing the rising heat particles coming from somewhere down below.
Curly smiled. "Oh man, you are in for a heck of a surprise once we get through!" She spoke, still leading the way towards the deeper parts of the temple. Quote would silently follow for a while before the two came to a larger open room, the sandy floor forming some dunes as there were pillars further back in the entire room, holding it up as light filtered in from a center point in the room.
"So, this where you got that scan for the hatch coming from?" Curly asked, looking around the area.
"This was where those wires were running..." Quote spoke, activating his scanner again as he surveyed the room. "I'm not seeing any sort of switch though..."
"You think it's buried under all this sand?" Curly said. "Dang, and I don't even have a shovel."
Quote would remain silent, still trying to scan the room before a new reading came up.
/WARNING! DANGEROUSLY HIGH ARCANE ENERGY READINGS NEARBY!
"We've got company." Quote said, unholstering his Polar Star and keeping it close to himself as Curly reacted in like, getting her Machine Gun ready. Soon enough both scout robots would hear an all too familiar voice...
"That no-good...! Gggrh!" The female voice growled angrily, Misery appearing high above the two. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted Balrog to take care of this..."
"The gig is up you pale skinned witch!" Curly growled, pointing her Machine Gun right at Misery. "I swear, if you hurt one hair on those kids, I-"
"Calm your circuits." Misery spat back. "I have no use for them myself. Rest assured, right now they're just resting at the Plantation."
"What the hell is your deal anyways?" Curly questioned. "You barge in for no reason, and start abducting Mimigas and children from all across the island!"
"You really think I have a choice in the matter?" Misery growled, landing on the ground. "So as long as I'm attached to that damn Crown's curse, I have no choice but to obey the wearer of it!"
"Then tell your master I don't take lightly to kidnappers, and if he doesn't return those children, I'm gon-" She'd be interrupted as soon a rumbling occurred in a room, throwing all three off guard. "What the?!"
"Well, looks like I won't even need to get my hands dirty for this..." Misery spoke soon taking back to the air. "I'll be back to clean up your scraps." At that point what appeared to be a large rocky egg-like object bursting from the center of the room, metallic workings attached to its underside as two blood-red optics flashed open, staring at the two scout robots before it spoke.
"WORTHLESS CONSUMER MODELS." The gigantic mech spoke before its egg-like top split open, a cannon inside spewing large rocky 'spores' into the air, before it closed up and sunk back into the sand. However, not before Quote got a good scan on the beast.
/SCAN COMPLETE.
/BATTLE CRAFT SGE-123 "OMEGA"
/CURRENT VITALITY 400
/VULNERABILITY DETECTED IN OPTICS
"Go for the eyes!" Quote yelled, before dodge-rolling out of the way as it resurfaced, opening its gigantic maw again as more of the spores shot into the air. Quote readied the Fireball and threw the blazing heat orbs right into the massive mech's right optic. The thing let out loud garbled screeches of speech as the spores would start to descend on them. Curly would wield her Machine Gun as she took aim and opened fire, blasting the spores out of the air as they blew into scrap metal.
"This is like shootin' fish in a barrel! Too easy!" The blonde robot commented. Quote nodded to Curly before the gigantic mech sunk back into the sand. Both Quote and Curly would tense up, feeling for the vibrations in the sand before Omega emerged right from underneath the blonde one. Curly gritted her teeth as she prepared for the maw of the mech to open...
...and once it did she unloaded a flurry of white-hot energy bullets straight into the gaping maw of the gigantic mech. The mech let out more garbled voice prompts before then firing a blurry of spores nearly point black at Curly, intending to get her off it. Curly held her ground, still opening fire at the center of the mech. What caught her off-guard however was when the mech then decided to emerge from the sand fully, leaping up and almost crunching her in its gigantic maws... had Quote not dived and shoved her out of the way, fractions of a second before the maw snapped shut. The two would roll in the sand a bit before coming to a stop.
"Guess I owe ya another one." Culry commented, getting back up before seeing the mech in front of her. "But looks like we're not done yet!"
"ACTIVATION READY! DESTROY! DESTROY!" The mech bellowed as it soon started hopping about the arena, spitting out more of the spores upon each landing. Quote got back into action and started hurling fireballs into its optics again, Curly handling the airborne spores. With one last Fireball throw, Omega's right optic would be shattered, the mech now flying into a metaphorical rage as it lept into the air and slammed into the center of the arena, burrowing into the ground as the sand around them started to move in towards the center of the arena like a sinkhole. Quote and Curly would struggle against the sinking sand as Omega started thrashing its maws, intending to crunch the two scouts into nothing more than shredded circuits.
"I hope you got some sort of idea for this Quote!" Curly yelled as she was still struggling to get away from the the clamping maws. Quote's mind race for a second before hastily pulling out the Missile Launcher, holding down the trigger before firing a burst of nearly seven missiles straight into the maw of the beast. Whatever Quote's knee-jerk action did, it apparently worked as Omega stopped moving, smoke curling off its metallic frame before violently detonating, hurling sand up into the air and burying the two robots under it. It was silent for a while... then the two robots had dug themselves out of the sand itself.
"Oooof..." Quote spoke, holding his head in pain as he was still half-buried in the sand. "You alright Curly?"
"I'm fine, but I've got sand in my servos..." The blonde responded, pulling herself out of the sand. "Whatever that thing was, it gave us a hell of a run for our money."
"No kidding." Quote said finally managing to pull himself out of the sand.
"Still no sign of that switch?"
"Lemme check..." Quote said, activating his scanner again and looking around the room. This time however he did get a reading; a switch right where that gigantic mech had been when they first came it. "Alright, looks like it was here after all. Guess that mech must have been blocking the scan readings."
"Well, you gonna throw it?" Curly asked, putting a hand on her hip.
Quote would nod, before stepping onto the large switch, his weight compressing locking the button into place. A loud creaking sound would be heard far off from the two, causing Curly to grow excited.
"Oooooh, the hatch is opening! C'mon!" Curly said, grabbing Quote by the hand and rushing off with him back to the entrance...
After a drag back through the temple, Curly would bring Quote back to the large hatch in the floor just as it started to creak open, the cogs turning and cranking as the large door parts slowly swiveled open, hot air blasting up into the two scout robot's faces as embers would star rising up through the opening.
Curly grinned widely. "Ready to get a true taste of what the Sand Zone has in store?"
"I... guess?" Quote asked, a bit concerned about the rising embers. "Is something going on down there?"
"Oh there's a lot going on!" Curly said, soon following the stone stairs down. "C'mon! Jenka's place isn't too far from here!"
Quote hesitated a bit before proceeding along with Curly down the stairwell, soon getting a view out into the rest of the desert... his mechanical jaw dropping from the sight of the place. Turns out the Sand Zone wasn't just a desert, it was also part of an active lava crater! The hot molten solid poured out from several undefined points of the ceiling, pooling in several large stone bowl which then poured into smaller ones as well. Across the dunes lower in the area were several skeletal creatures, seeming to fight among eachother, as well as larger stone monoliths and ancient statue pieces, creating some odd platforms over the sand and the lava. Hot embers would be rising up from the larger lakes of the molten iron; if this area would have been dark from the lack of holes, the glow coming off from the magma sure counteracted for that, bathing the entire area in almost reddish-orange glow, accentuated by the rising embers.
"Heh, impressed by the sights, aren't ya?" Curly spoke as the two kept descending the stairs. "We'll be getting to Jenka's place soon, look alive!" Quote would nod before the two would arrive at another blocky stone house; this one being tucked away in an alcove away from most of the glow of the magma. The entrance to the house was of an ancient carved stone archway, leading up to a stacking chimney above it. Sand slightly trickled from the ceiling onto several of the barrels nearby outside the house. To Quote the house was... odd, to say the least.
"She's a bit on the stern side, but you'll warm up to her eventually." Curly said before knocking on the door. "Miss Jenka? Are you there?"
"Is that a Curly Brace I hear outside my home?" An elderly female voice came from behind the door. "Do come in, please! I was wondering when you'd be bringing company!"
Quote was confused; he hadn't even seen this woman and yet she knew that he was coming with Curly? He felt a wave of unease flow through him before Curly spoke to him.
"Don't worry; she's a mystic. She knows when there's more than just me." Curly responded, before opening the door for the two to walk in. The following room was rather dark, only lit by the few candles and the larger red setup of liquids near the back wall, flowing through what appeared to be small tubes and larger clear vats, almost as if it was a chemistry set. Around the abode seemed to be a couple of young dogs, one sleeping inside a chest with his head resting on the edge of the box itself, another gnawing on a moderately sized bone, while the other two seemed to be merely speaking in dog to eachother. Near the larger setup at the back wall, busily working away at the red liquids, was a woman, a bit shorter in stature that Quote and Curly, aging as evident by her silvery-white hair tied into a bun with a red pin and wrinkled skin. She wore black underneath a green outer robe, and her large glasses helped with her poor eyesight. In her one hand she had a redwood cane, a small gem in the top of it that she was using for support.
"Ah, good to see you again after so long Curly." Jenka spoke, not yet turning around to face the two. "Just give me one second, I'm almost done fixing this new Life Pot serum."
Curly nodded and smiled. "It won't take lone, I promise." She spoke, before motioning to Quote. "Meet my friend I met today!"
"Uhm... hi." Quote said, sheepishly waving a bit.
"Hello to yourself, young one." Jenka said, dispensing the red swirling liquid from the larger end vat into a smaller jar, capping it off with a lid before turning around hobbling forward a bit before placing the Life Pot on a nearby shelf. "Now then Curly, what brings you two to my small home today?"
"Well, that's the thing." Curly spoke. "My friend here is on a mission to destroy something called 'red flowers'. We came to you because we thought you would know som-"
"Ah, you're after the Hell's Hibiscus are you?" Jenka responded. "I should have presumed so. Why else would two scout robots from the surface be here asking me about it?"
"Well, ma'am, I-" Quote was about to continue, though a yell from outside the house interrupted him.
"HUZZAH! EMERGIS EXMORTIS!"
"Not again..." Quote grumbled to himself as he whipped around, aiming his Polar Star at the doorway as the familiar shape of Balrog burst through the door again, waking up and alerting the other dogs in the room as they started barking loudly at the box thing. Curly had her weapon drawn on Balrog as well, gritting her teeth.
"Long time no see auntie!" Balrog spoke, completely ignoring Quote and Curly aiming at him. "You been doing okay?"
Jenka would shift a bit before responding. "Well yes, that is, until you made your destructive entrance through my front door." She said before sighing. "You seriously need to find a less destructive entrance..."
"Aw, you can just repair it, right?" Balrog said, prompting a disgruntled sigh from the old woman, pinching her forehead.
"...I see you haven't changed a bit." Jenka responded, before looking back at Balrog. "And how's my half-wit of a daughter doing?"
"Oh, Misery? She's been doing fine, sorta. Seeming to get a bit antsy though." The box spoke, before looking back to Jenka. "Anyways! There's a new master that appeared here nearly a week ago. We're certain the surface will belong to us this time!"
"...you're seriously still trying to do that?" Jenka responded. "Now what could you need to come to me for?"
"The key to the warehouse, obviously!" Balrog responded, holding out one of his fins. "I hope you haven't given it to these two deadbolts, ave you?"
Jenka tilted her head a bit. "Well... no, I haven't given them the key." She spoke. "But sadly, it's no longer in my possession for me to give them."
"What?" Balrog asked, confused.
"Sadly, the poor thing had fallen out of my pocket somewhere out in the dunes of the Sand Zone a while back." Jenka merely said. "Could possibly be melted within the lava here by this point, depending on how the tides here have changed."
"Awwww, no..." Balrog moped. "And here I thought getting the key would have been easy."
Jenka merely shrugged her old shoulders. "Sadly can't be helped Balrog. It's out there somewhere in the Sand Zone, I just sadly can't remember where it could have fallen out."
Balrog stamped his foot in disappointment. "I'll comb over this entire desert until I find that key! Just you wait!" He yelled, before bolting out the hole he had made where the door was. Jenka would sigh again before looking to the two scout robots.
"Apologies, really." Jenka spoke. "That cryptid really has no sense of spacial awareness."
"Wait, so you're the mother of that witch that stole my children?" Curly asked, starting to get mad before Quote calmed her down.
"Yes, sometimes regrettably so..." Jenka spoke, pacing a bit back and forth across the floor. "She just wouldn't listen when I told her not to pester her uncle to make that damn thing..."
"Is there any other way we can get into that warehouse?" Quote asked the elderly woman.
"...you have amnesia, don't you?" Jenka spoke, stepping back over to her set near the back wall. "I can tell it in those vacant looks in both your eyes."
"I can't remember anything before I reactivated earlier today." Quote spoke.
"I've only been active for almost a week by this point, but I'm about as much as in the dark as he is." Curly spoke.
"Listen; amnesia or not, I'm not too keen about handing over the key to the hibiscus to a couple of scout robots." Jenka spoke, sighing as she went back to making another mixture. "What has happened in the past with soldier robots coming to the island nearly ended in a complete genocide of the Mimiga race. They came by the hundreds, serving this old fool named 'Miakid' or something, and outright slaughtered them to get their hands on that crown. With their backs against the wall, the Mimiga had no choice to those infernal petals."
Something clicked inside the two robot's heads as Jenka said the name 'Miakid'.
She would then turn to look back at the two robots, a stern expression on her face. "Do you know what happens when a Mimiga eats a Hell's Hibiscus? Do you know what goes through them when they do so?"
Quote spoke up, but uneasily. "I... I've seen what happens."
"Really now?" Jenka said, pointing his cane at the male robot. "Tell me then, what do they do?"
"Their mass increases to almost three or four times the size of their original body, and... they become enraged..." Quote said. "I... I was forced to kill two of those things not long after I reactivated. They were going to kill me if I didn't..."
Curly was silent, staring at Quote. She knew he had been basically forced to from his memory banks and that with the second one especially, he felt regret upon doing so, but it still felt wrong to her...
"Correct. I'm impressed." Jenka merely responded, turning back to the tubes and vats. "But you see why that warehouse needs to stay locked. Opening it for any reason would only bring about the same tragedy that happened nearly ten years ago. Those enraged Mimiga tore through those robotic invaders like they were made of nothing more than rotten wood. After that they vanished, next to completely, never to be seen again... that is, unless what I think is to be true that some of them made it down to the surface..."
Both Quote and Curly froze.
"I want to you to think of this." Jenka spoke. "If an enraged Mimiga could tear through scout robots like yourself with little to no resistance... what do you think those Mimiga did to the humans that lived down on the surface, whose bodies are much less durable than your own?"
Curly felt like she was going to be sick, her face starting to become a pale blue as her cybernetic pupils shrank, the horror in realizing what the carnage would have been if those Mimiga getting down there were true. Quote's expression of horror wasn't much better.
"...do you understand the grave danger of the hibiscus now?" Jenka spoke. "Do you?"
Both Quote and Curly would nod without a second's worth of hesitation.
"Good." Jenka said, returning to her work as her expression softened a bit. "I understand you two mean no harm, but I simply cannot give you that key to the warehouse. It's merely too much of a risk."
The room was silent for a bit before Jenka stopped, looking over the dogs in the room.
"Hajime, Kekeru, Mick, Shinobu... oh dear." Jenka spoke. "I hate to bother you both, but could I ask you a favor of you two?"
Quote was about to interject with the idea, but Curly spoke before him.
"Sure! What's wrong?" She asked, clearly trying to find something to distract herself from the bad images still in her head.
"It appears Nene is off having one of her naps somewhere in the Sand Zone again..." Jenka sighed, shaking her head. "I'd go myself, but my old bones aren't what they used to be. Could I bother you two to go find her and bring her back here safely? I worry she's going to get attacked by one of those Skullwalkers or accidentally fall into the lava..."
"No problem!" Curly said, grabbing Quote's hand and heading out the door. "We'll bring her back no problem, bye for now!" With that, Curly disappeared with Quote outside, leaving the elderly woman all to herself.
"...she's such a strange girl..." Jenka muttered to herself before returning to her work.
"Okay, what was that all about?" Quote asked, wrenching his hand free of Curly's once the two were outside of the small abode.
"Look, I know you're not particularly fond of the idea of doing a fetch-quest in of itself." Curly said, holding her hands up. "But look at this way; maybe she'll change her mind if we try to get her puppy back for her?"
Quote would think for a second, before determining that they really didn't have much of any other choice at that point. "I guess you're right in this situation..."
"See? We go through with this, we'll get into there and destroy those flowers in no time flat!" Curly said, smiling. "You ready?"
"Hold on, one more thing." Quote spoke. "Jenka mentioned that one name during her tyrade... 'Miakid', right? That name sounds so familiar..."
"Same to me too..." Curly said, starting to think.
Quote's face then told her he just had an awful thought. "What if... what if we were part of that robot battalion he sent to the island those ten years ago?"
Curly fell silent, looking to the ground as she pondered the thought, part of the horrors of what Jenka had described starting to come back before she shook her head. "Even if we were sent here by him, that's in the past. What matters right now is doing what we think is the right thing. And right now, it's destroying those flowers. Now, you ready to find that dog?"
Quote was silent for a bit... then looked at Curly, a fierce determination in his eyes as he nodded. "Let's find it." He spoke.
Curly smiled as the two then took off for the harsh dunes of the lower Sand Zone...
洞窟物語
Cave Story: The Demon Crown Saga
Chapter 3 End