As soon as Quote and Curly had taken a step into the new part of the Labyrinth, they'd be surprised as to how different it'd be compared to the rest of the Labyrinth they'd seen so far. The stone floors were a lot cleaner than the rest of the Labyrinth, however pulsating sacs of some kind would be lining the area. The piping would still be prevelant throughout the area, along with several large wooden crates sitting around the area on hanging wooden scaffolding. Vent shafts would be slowly rotating their fans, allowing some more fresh air to be brought into the tunnel system.
Curly would smile, keeping her Machine Gun at the ready. "Finally, a change of scenery for once!" She commented, looking over to Quote. "You ready to bust outta here?"
Quote would nod, readying the Polar Star before the two set off into the newer tunnels. It wouldn't be far though before they'd encounter some resistance though, a pair of armored Gaudi would begin attacking the two as the got close to them, causing the two to take cover as their blade projectiles embedded into their crate cover. Quote would dodge-roll between the crates, unloading a cylinder to Polar Star shots right into one of the two Gaudi, the blasts knocking it back onto the ground. The other Gaudi would charge straight for Quote, but would be blasted aside as Curly opened fire on it with her Machine Gun. She smirked, twirling the weapon in her hand before blowing the smoke away from the tip of the barrel.
"Now, we're starting to get some action in here!" She grinned, advancing forward. "Bring it on!"
Quote would merely shake his head before going after Curly. Seems like the freedom is giving her a good dose of stress relief as she opened fire on more of the armored Gaudi, all of which continued to fall to her Turbocharged Machine Gun. She smirked, starting to get a bit fancy as she dodge-rolled before leaping into the air over the Gaudi, raining down shots onto them. Quote would just sigh as he still opened fire on the armored Gaudi, the overgrown insects falling to the Polar Star as the two continued to fight their way through the Labyrinth, soon dropping down a long vertical shaft into the next corridor.
The next corridor would have more piping and flooded pools of water, a long wooden bridge leading over the entire thing. The two scout robots would take the bridge over before Quote would notice the darker scorch marks on the plants of the bridge at certain points. Just as Curly stepped onto one of the darker scorch marks, a loud buzzer alarm would sound before Quote would tackle her out of the way, just as a whirl of fire blasted down onto the locations of the scorch marks.
"Ooof, thanks for the save." Curly spoke, before looking up at the aggressor of the fire blast; a cobalt fan-like structure with a single red eye in its center, looking straight at Quote and Curly. Curly would grit her teeth before she shot the thing, the Machine Gun's rounds tearing through the machine before it remained unmoving. Wasting no time, Quote and Curly would progress forward as more purple Critters would start flying in from holes in the walls, soon firing purple shots at the two scouts. Curly opened fire with her Machine Gun while Quote kept his aim steady with the Polar Star, the shots tearing through the Critters like nothing else as they popped like balloons. A shot would graze by Quote's shoulders, but he'd shrug off the pain as the two continued their trek further into the stony corridors, dropping down another shaft before looking on to the next corridor...
The next chamber was partially flooded, water leading from the ceiling as large glowing circles would monitor throughout the area above. Quote and Curly would keep low, making sure not to trigger sight of the floating creatures, though this meant moving through the water of the flooded corridor. Thankfully enough, the creatures didn't seem to have ears as the two sloshed forward below their sight line. The two would make it to the end... only to find something looking like a large valve cover blocking a shaft leading further down.
"A sealed cover?" Curly asked. "Something big must be down that way."
Quote would then notice the computer terminal opposite of the valve cover. Curious, he'd walk over and start typing into the keyboard on it.
"Whatcha trying to do?" Curly asked.
"There may be a prompt to open it in here somewhere." Quote said, sifting through the command list. "Ah, here we are..." He spoke, soon hitting an enter key as the valve depressurized and opened up. Quote would walk to the edge before looking in, seeing nothing but inky blackness below.
"Looks a bit dark up ahead." Quote said, activating his optic's lights. "You ready?"
Curly would hit a button on her headset, her optics lighting up like flashlights. She grinned. "As if I wasn't!" With that, the two robots would drop into the inky dark corridor below, their optics now illuminating the way.
What the found down there made them question if they were even still in the same place anymore. The walls and corridor were no longer made of the usual stone of the Labyrinth, now made of metal and lined with more piping, now cracked and broken. Blood-red spikes would be around several parts of the abandoned corridor, old equipment and exposed wires would be sparking, and probably the most disturbing part, was that it was eerily silent. Dead silent.
Quote was tense as the two robots would slowly progress forward, keeping their weapons at the ready in case something would crawl out and come at them. The eerie silence was definitely unnerving to Curly. The only occasional sound would be the dripping water from the ceiling, splashing in small puddles on the ground below. The lack of enemies in the area would seriously raise the tension of an ambush, something Quote wasn't exactly too keen on. Thankfully enough for the two, they'd soon be reaching the next drop-down shaft as they'd hop down to the floor below, this corridor now leading in a slope downwards towards a new entrance near the bottom, a pool of water around the base of the door. Taking care to keep their cool as the two lept down lower down into the caverns, Quote would keep his gun grip tight before he broke down the door, both him and Curly keeping aim situated around the room as if they were a SWAT Team.
The room they burst the door into was empty, but the roaring sound of a waterfall could be heard as the two would find the source of the sound nearby; a massive pipeline was running through the side of the room, leading down into the depths as an opening in the pipe was merely closed off by a grating, the water splashing out into the room and accumulating a small wet puddle on the ground. Curly would step forward.
"It doesn't look like we can pass through there..." Curly said, looking at the grate. "The water's coming through too forcefully; we'll be torn to shreds."
"We keep moving forward?" Quote asked. Curly merely nodded in response.
"It's the only shot we have." She spoke as she advanced to the next door, appearing much more hi-tech than the one they just broke through. Swallowing hard, Quote followed Curly through into the next room.
The two would soon find themselves in a larger room with multiple decks, a ruined staircase connecting between them. In front of the two would be a massive blast door, one which Curly ended up scanning.
"Woah..." She breathed. "Solid Bendezium blast doors. Whatever's behind there, we're not getting in by blasting it open."
"Let's look around." Quote spoke. "There might be a computer terminal around here that can open them."
"You take the top decks, I take the bottom decks?" Curly asked.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Quote said, before the two split up to begin their search around the abandoned facility. Curly would be scanning around the lower parts, looking between terminal to terminal, but the most she could be able to find was merely nothing more than sparking screens and hanging wires from the ceiling. Loose papers would be scattered across the floors of the place; whoever was working here must have bailed in a hurry.
Quote's searching was proving to be much more tricky; and hazardous, seeing there were massive holes in the upper decks from some sort of decay and rusting... and possibly heavy weapon fire. Keeping as close to the walls as possible, Quote would inch around the side of the walls to prevent falling into the hole below as he'd start searching around on the other side of the hole, soon finding a chest. He'd open the chest, soon finding out it was a munitions chest, finding several more packets for his Missile Launcher. Smiling a bit, he'd stow the extra Ammo clips for it before turning his attention to what appeared to be an observation window, cracked, shattered, and hard to see out of, but Quote could make out a few vague shapes and colors, what appeared to be a scaffold build and... something large and green? That'd strike him curiously, as soon he'd turn and head for the stairway...
...right as the floor gave out from under him and he'd fall through to a lower deck, a reading coming up.
/WARNING! ARMS HAVE BEEN DAMAGED 22.6%. AUTO-REPAIRS SYSTEMS STARTING...
/WARNING! LEGS HAVE BEEN DAMAGED 12.53%. AUTO-REPAIRS SYSTEM STARTING...
/WARNING! TORSO HAS BEEN DAMAGED 34.73%. AUTO-REPAIRS SYSTEM RESTARTING...
Quote would groan in pain as he would soon get up, seeing a faint blue glow coming from a screen nearby. He's slowly limp over to the screen, soon looking at the program open on it. It appeared to be a main control panel, linked up to the blast door near the entrance of the room. He'd type some things in on the terminal before a loud alarm sound came, alerting both the bots as a slow rumbling came through the facility. The two bots would soon meet back up near bottom deck as they saw the blast door opening... then another... then another...
"Oh my..." Curly breathed, scanning. "Four! Four solid Bendezium blast doors in a row!"
"Whatever's back here, they definitely wanted to keep someone out." Quote said, starting to walk forward again before reaching near the back of the hall... only to find ANOTHER blast door.
"Make that five!" Curly said, scanning the next door before her jaw dropped. "Holy shit!"
"What?" Quote asked.
"Th-this door's coming up at least five feet thick of solid Bendezium!" Curly spoke. "What the heck is in there?!"
"There must be another terminal linked to this door somewhere. It didn't open with the others." Quote spoke. "I'll look around a bit more. You keep an eye in case it opens, okay?"
Curly would nod, and Quote set off to start searching around the abandoned facility more. He'd soon find another staircase, this time leading down below into a lower basement area, that was half flooded. The scout bot would steel his nerves before taking a step down into the cold water, starting to wade around as searched for the next terminal to activate. Various supplies and such were floating around in the flooded basement, makign the trek a bit uneasy for the scout as he soon reached the other end of the basement, finding a computer terminal. Typing into it, he'd soon hear a loud creaking along with the yell of Curly's voice.
"Hey, Quote!" Curly had yelled from the floor above. "The blast door's opening! Get your metal butt up here!"
Quote would work his way back towards the stairwell, soon climbing back up towards the main floor and heading for the main blast door. Soon enough he'd find the room would open up into a large open containment room, with a large amount of metal scaffolding around the area of the room, half-covered with aging vegetation. Near the back of the center of the room, Quote would finally see what that green blur he was looking at earlier was; it was a massive body of plant matter, almost ten times the size of the two scout robots, a dark black opening at the front of it as it remained motionless there, held to the grating by many wires attached to it. Around it were several smaller versions of itself, also tethered to the grating at the back, as if they all were chained animals. Destroyed and scrapped robots would be lying around the area in shreds; arms, legs, decapitated torsos, robot heads on sharpened metal and any other array of scrapped scout robots littered the room. The bottom of the room was also partially flooded, the water slightly rising and lowering at irregular intervals.
"Woah..." Curly said, starting to look around. "I-it's like a robot graveyard in here..."
Quote had a feeling wrench his gut. "Curly..."
"Yeah Quote?" The female scout responded.
"These... these are all scout robots..." Quote spoke, as soon a horrified look on Curly's face would appear.
"Oh my god..." She breathed, looking around the room. "There's dozens of them... what did this? There's no way it could've been an enraged Mimiga..."
Somethign would catch Quote's eye as he started walking towards one of the disheveled robot arms sticking straight up, something wrapped around it. Upon the scout robot approaching closer to it he'd see it was some kind of rope; a soldier grade Tow Rope, used for carried casualties of war. Quote would pocket the rope for now; he figured it may come in handy later.
"Hey! Quote!" Curly yelled, grabbing the attention of the male scout as he soon made his way to the female to find her next to a broke, degraded robot near the center scaffold of the room. "I think I found one still functioning!"
"Wait, really?" Quote said as he kneeled down next to the robot, taking off his hat and setting it on the ground next to him. Of course, neither of them would be noticing the cables slowly loosening...
"I think so!" Curly said, indicating to the robot's glowing red optic. A garbled mess would be coming out of the robot's mouth; or what remained of it as it had no bottom jaw. Curly would tap a button on her earphones, ejecting a wire out of the left one as she plugged it into the headset on the scrapped robot. "Here, lemme just try..."
"What are you doing?" Quote asked, the two not even noticing the large plant-like creature from the tethers now free and slowly moving towards them.
"Trying to clear up the static in what he's saying." Curly said, turning a dial on the outer part of her headset pieces, trying to tune in on what the droid was blathering... but soon a message came through.
And it wasn't a pleasant one.
"TEAM 8 TERMINATED! TEAM 8 TERMINATED! CODE RED! CODE RED! TARGET DESTRUCTION IMPOSSIBLE! MAYDAY! MAYDAY!" The robot was shouting, almost in a panicked tone.
Curly's stomach seemed to twist as she heard the message. "Target destruction?"
"Impossible?" Quote would swallow hard. "So... whatever attacked the robots in here... was impossible to destroy?"
Curly would still feel tense, both robots not even noticing the black space on the plant-matter creature opening up, nine blue-colored eyes with deformed orange-black pupils staring right into their backsides.
"H-hey... Quote?" Curly spoke, a slight hint of fear in her voice.
"Y-yeah Curly?" Quote responded.
"I don't think we're alone in here..." Curly choked out, swallowing hard... before both scout robots would turn and see the gigantic plant creature not even a foot from them, all its eyes staring down on the two.
It roared.
Curly screamed.
"Is the progress on the the Hell's Hibiscus study coming well mi'lord?" Misery asked as she warped into the section of the castle that appeared to be a table of some sort. The Doctor would have several petals of the hibiscus spread out across the table, along with several gauges and compression machines.
"Very well indeed..." The Doctor spoke. "These flowers appear to be made of pure arcane energy... its power able to bring out latent abilities, but destroy their sense of reason..."
"That seems fortuitous mi'lord." Misery spoke. "Are you planning on figuring out how to harness its power?"
"Well, of course." The Doctor responded, turning to face her. "I plan to use that energy for myself. However, I do not wish to lose my sense of reason, so if I can harness it's power without losing my sanity, I can ascend myself. I will become an angel, nay, a god amongst men."
Misery would bow. "I wish you fortuitous luck mi'lord." She spoke.
"One more thing." The Doctor spoke. "What happened to those little soldier pests? Are they properly disposed of?"
"They are permanently sealed in the Labyrinth, mi'lord." Misery responded. "There is no physical way to get out of there once you are trapped in it." Although the Doctor wouldn't know this, Misery lied about that last part. There was a way out of there, but he didn't know of it...
"Excellent." The Doctor spoke, turning back to his work. "Dismissed."
Misery nodded, soon teleporting down to the throne room and out of sight of the Doctor. Taking a seat on the massive throne, she was internally hoping the entire plan was going accordingly. She knew there was the very real possibility that Balrog could still potentially screw this up big-time and ruin their chance, but hopefully he wasn't that dumb...
"HUZZAH! EMERGIS EXMORTIS!"
Speak of the devil, there he was now.
Balrog would crash in from the side wall, appearing in front of Misery. "I have returned from my trip to the Labyrinth!"
"Ah, good, I was wondering what was taking so long." Misery spoke, looking at him. "Are those two on their way to the Waterway?"
"Right on schedule!" Balrog commented.
"Excellent." Misery spoke, getting up. "Now, the next part of our plan is going to require a bit of work on our end, so I'll need your help on this, understood?"
Balrog would nod in response.
"Alright, now, head down to the teleporter room in the Plantation and speak to the Droll guarding the machine itself." Misery spoke. "Tell it that if specifically the boy comes through and tries to take the teleporter, to knock him unconscious and toss him into the one prison hold where we're keeping that Sakamoto brat, understood?"
"O...kay?" Balrog answered, confused.
"It'll make sense later, just go do it." Misery spoke, only to get a nod from Balrog as he lept out of the hole he created and headed for the Plantation. "And as for me..." Misery said before she warp, the scenery changing around her to the area of the Plantation, standing in front of a small entryway into holding area. "I've got a Mimiga I need to speak with." She'd walk into the dark cave, approaching a set of bars across the hall leading into a spacious cell, before lightly rapping on it with her staff.
"Excuse me? Miss Sakamoto?" Misery would speak. "I'd like to have a word with you."
"Well I have three for you." The voice of Sue growled from the darkness. "Leave me alone."
Misery would sigh, continuing to stare into the cell. "Look, I don't want to have to do this the hard way." She spoke. "I know that soldier and his little circuit-brained girlfriend are going against the Doctor, as is the rest of your family. So-"
"So WHAT?!" Sue practically yelled, gripping the bars of her cell in anger as she glared at Misery in pure rage. "You want me to just give out where the rest of my family is and let the Doctor have his way with us?! Like some sort of sick science experiment where we're the guinea pigs?!"
"Would you ple-"
"NO!" Sue yelled almost on the verge of tears at this point. "You really think I'm that stupid?! My mother could be DEAD because of you and that stupid Doctor! Why the heck would I-"
"She's alive." Misery spoke, causing to Sue to freeze up in shock. "I would have no reason to kill her."
"..." Sue was silent for a bit before speaking. "...where is she."
"She's hiding somewhere within the Plantation that I can't discern." Misery spoke, leaning forward. "However, that scout friend of yours is going to be here soon. I have a sneaking suspicion that he's going to help your mother. When he gets here, tell him everything you can about what happened here and where you're possibly going once the Doctor summons you."
"And why would I want to do that?" Sue spat.
"Because I know he can kill the Doctor." Misery spoke. "And I want it to happen."
Sue would be silent, contemplating about it... "Alright," She finally spoke, looking Misery in the eye. "I'll do it. On one condition."
"And that is?" Misery spoke.
"Please... just spare the other Mimiga in here." Sue spoke.
"Well, I'm not the one that's going to be doing harm to them in the future..." Misery spoke, soon giving a small smile. "But deal."
Sue nodded, soon moving back into the darkness as Misery left the cell room, heading back out into the Plantation. It wouldn't be long before Balrog would land next to the witch again.
"So, the Droll knows?" Misery asked. Balrog nodded in response.
"It took a bit of explaining to do. Drolls like them don't exactly have the largest brains to work with, but hopefully it got the point across." Balrog said.
"Well, hopefully so." Misery spoke. "Then once those two get out of the Labyrinth, we can finally be fr-" Misery was cut off as a large rumbling occurred in the caverns, causing the Mimiga below to panic and start running around scared.
"An earthquake? Up here?" Balrog spoke. "But this island is floating!"
"The only thing that could shake the island like that is-" Misery spoke, before she went wide-eyed. The realization had hit her like a ton of bricks.
The Core.
The scout robots were attacking the Core.
"Shit shit shit shit..." Misery cursed to herself in a blind panic. "I didn't think this through enough! Oh no..."
"Misery!" The Doctor's voice echoed through the cavern. "What was that?!"
"...crapbaskets..." Misery swallowed hard, warping to the Doctor...
Curly would open fire on the creature in a blind panic, spraying and praying with the Energy shots from her Machine Gun. The creature's opening would close back up into a black void as the smaller pods accompanying it opened up, firing small spinning blue projectiles at the two robots. Quote would draw his Polar Star, taking aim and blasting at each projectile out of the air before opening fire on the pod's eyes themselves. Two of the smaller pods would recoil in pain before screeching, heading straight for Quote. The male scout robot would dodge-roll to the side, out of the way of the two charging creatures as they would crash into the metal walling behind him. Gritting his metal teeth, Quote activated the Fireball again and opened fire, lobbing heat orb after heat orb at the two pods before they caught fire, screeching in pain.
By this point the main pod had repoened its central cavity, its nine eyes reappearing again as it opened fire with a barrage of seething blue projectiles. Curly would roll out of the way before switching out for her Nemesis, unloading a couple shots straight into one of the beast's nine eyes. The eye would burst open, splattering Curly with a disgusting blue goo, the pod letting out a loud pained shriek before another pod would come in and ram Curly to the side. The female scout winced in pain before unloading the Nemesis point blank in the pod, it catching fire and dropping Curly entirely. The main pod would close back up as its smaller pods went back to attacking the two scout robots.
Quote would unsheath his powered-up Missile Launcher before opening fire on the new set of pods that came up, the burst of the missiles completely obliterating one of the pods. The other pods would angrily screech and charge for him, only for Curly to open fire with her Machine Gun on them and draw them away. Quote would merely flash a nod of approval to her before putting the Missile Launcher back onto his back, getting the Blade at his side as he rushed the main gigantic pod.
The pod would open its cavity again, the eight remaining eyes looking to open fire upon Quote as the scout robot came close with the weapon, unleashing a flurry of blue projectiles at the scout boy. Quote would side-step away, one shot just barely grazing past the side of his metal face before he lept up and swung the sword in a horizontal arc. Another flurry of slashes, let by King's spirit, would fly straight for the eyes, taking out two of them as they erupted into geysers of blue goo, splattering on the ground. Quote would leap back as the pod roared in agony before the water in the room started rising, quickly enveloping the two scout robots underneath it as a current started to flow harshly through the room, pushing the two robots back against the sealed door to the exit. The two would struggle to move before the massive creature fired off large searing shots straight for them, intending on vaporizing them. Curly was able to roll away, but Quote was already struggling with the lack of oxygen in his system as he barely managed to avoid it in time, almost blacking out before the water drained, the pod resuming fire on the two. Curly gritted her teeth before opening fire with her Nemesis, another two eyes falling to the blasts before the pod closed back up again, roaring in pain.
At this point the two scout robots were growing desperate, trying to end this fight as quickly as they could before they would obtain serious harm. Quote would motion to Curly to goad the pod into opening its eyes, to which Curly responded with a nod, pulling out her Machine Gun and opening fire on the main pod as the other pods responded with opening fire on her. With the main pod alone, it opened its cavity, the last four eyes remaining as they locked onto Quote. The male scout robot would pull the Missile Launcher off his back, take aim...
...and let loose as a burst of missiles erupted from the barrel of the weapon, slamming into the last four eyes of the creature as they burst into the blue goo. The creature roared and screeched in pain as it shook violently, as if it was having a seizure.
"W-we did it?!" Curly yelled, pumped up on adrenaline. "I-is it over?!"
"You IDIOTS!" A female voice yelled before Misery materialized. "I would have expected you two to escape, not nearly bring down the entire goddamn island!"
"Huh?!" Curly asked, merely gaining an agitated groan from Misery.
"YOU TWO DUMBBOTS NEARLY KILLED THE CORE AND BROUGHT THE ISLAND DOWN WITH EVERYONE ON IT!" Misery yelled, her voice cracking a bit. "What the hell were you two thinking?!"
"Misery!" Another voice yelled before the Doctor materialized. "Move the Core to the castle! NOW! While you still have a chance!"
Quote and Curly would take aim and open fire at the Doctor, only to be met as a red transparent shield formed around him.
Misery's body would course red as she let out a loud roar, soon enough her and the Core disappearing entirely. With that out of the way, the Doctor soon turned his attention to the two scout robots.
"I've had just about enough of you two..." He growled, the red glow on the Crown starting to shine brightly. "Do this Doctor a favor and please DIE." With that, the Doctor would fire off several red lightning bolts at the ceiling, breaking the metal and water starting to flood the entire place. "I'll leave you both to your graves among your fallen 'comrades'." He dryly comment before teleporting off.
"Curly." Quote spoke. "We need to get out of here."
"R-right!" Curly said, both of them rushing for the sealed door as they would try to get it lifted open. Both of them could feel the rushing water coming higher and higher up their bodies as they desperately tried to pry the thick metal door open to no avail. While Curly had an Air Tank to help negate her underwater breathing problems, Quote's situation was far more dire; the Air Tank he had was damaged beyond repair when he had woken up, meaning he couldn't stay underwater for long. For the two, the situation only grew more and more panicked as the water was soon past their waists as Quote beat on the door in desperation, hoping to god it would open as the water would start to go past his head. Quote would still struggle, tears starting to flow from his eyes as he heard the muffled cries from Curly before he lost consciousness...
Quote's mind would be unconscious for quite some time... but he had soon heard a voice unfamiliar to him...
'Did you know... the mystic Jenka had a brother?' The voice said. Quote remembered; Cthulhu had quizzed him and Curly on the fact back in the Sand Zone...
'His name was Ballos...' That name... it sounded... familiar...
'Like his sister... he possessed great arcane powers beyond anyone's wildest imaginations...'
Misery and the Core would warp into the top floor of the castle, where the female witch would collapse to the ground, panting heavily. She'd struggle to hold her own body up as Balrog would soon come crashing into the room.
"Misery!" Balrog yelled. "Are you alright?!"
"N-no..." Misery coughed, a small trace of blood coming up. "Th-that teleportation spell took way too much energy out of me... oh god, my body..."
"Y-you need rest." Balrog said, picking Misery up and carrying her down to the throne room, setting her on the chair in there, Misery's face contorted in pain as her chest heaved. Balrog would soon run off to get a blanket as he threw it over Misery. "Better?"
"J-just give me a bit..." Misery moaned, before looking to Balrog. "The plan might be compromised."
"What happened down there?"
"Th-those scout robots nearly killed the Core and brought the island down with it." Misery spoke, wincing. "Now they're trapped down there in the Core room..."
"So... what do we do at this point?" Balrog spoke.
Misery would fall silent, closing her eyes as tears would start to form, before she uttered a single word.
"Hope."
Quote would suddenly jolt awake, clutching his chest in pain as his eyes frantically darted around the flooded room. Misery was gone. The Doctor was gone. The Core was gone.
Panic was rising in his chest. How was he breathing right now? Shouldn't he be dead? And then the horrible realization hit him.
Curly.
Quote started to frantically look around the room to try and find her, any trace of the poor blonde. The current in the room would be ebbing and flowing, making hard to move... but he soon found Curly, half-floating unconscious in the water, her once-white metal face now blue from oxygen deprivation, her guns merely moving in the light current of the room. The sight nearly brought Quote to the brink of tears. The two had barely known eachother for less than a day on the island... and yet here she was, having given her Air Tank into his systems to make sure he survived. He almost broke down into an emotional collapse... but he steeled his nerves when he saw a small spark in Curly's optics. Now was not the time for mourning; now was the time for action. If he didn't do something now, Curly would definitely die within the room.
Thinking fast, Quote would get fish out the Tow Rope he had picked up earlier from exploring and hastily tie their torsos together as if he was giving her a piggyback ride, keeping her body close to him as he finished the securing. With the newly acquired Air Tank that wasn't even his, Quote, now carrying the unconscious Curly, would leave the Core room, now traversing backwards through the flooded and dark facility, the large mechanical door sealing up behind him... this time for good.
Reaching back to the junction room, he's soon find that the door back into the Labyrinth had now collapsed rock in front of it, and the grating covering the pipeline would have been destroyed, the entry into the pipeline now wide open. With nowhere else to go and no way to go back to the Labyrinth, Quote would tighten the Tow Rope and activate his flashlight optics, before stepping into the harsh current and being dragged into the island's water artery.
Quote's body would be aching as he held Curly close to him for dear life, keeping his boots dragging along at least one of the walls to keep himself slow and able to react to obstacles coming up ahead. Vaulting a bed of spikes, he'd nearly be clotheslined by a pipe of the waterway as he soon was pushed into an open chamber, filled the the brim with jellyfish squishing around. Quote sighed; he didn't have time for this as he unholstered his Polar Star, opening fire and clearing out the room before moving into it. Soon being uncontrollably thrown about before slamming into the wall, his hands gripping onto the edge of a ledge as he barely managed to pull himself up to it, panting heavily. He'd shaking get to his feet, stumbling forward before his hands met a door. Gripping the knob and twisting it, he's stumble into the cabin.
The cabin wasn't much; only having a few bookshelves, a bed, a table with a computer on it, and a small reservoir that led back into the Waterway. Quote would untie the Tow Rope, picking up Curly and laying her down on the bed face-up, her motionless eyes now closed as her face was still blue. Quote would sit on the bed next to her, looking down on the floor. He couldn't help but feel responsible for this; it was his actions that ended up getting her involved in a war he had to fight... one that he was losing, and fast. Tears would start to stream down his face as soon he buried his hands in his face and began to openly cry; the stress from the past several hours he had repressed had finally caught up to him as sobs wracked his robotic body. If he had never met Curly, she wouldn't have gotten dragged into the situation. She never would have been thrown down into the Labyrinth along with him.
She never would have drowned.
Still shaking, Quote got to his feet and started to look around the room, for something, ANYTHING that could help him right now. Anything that could give him back that small glimmer of hope he once had...
Little did he realize upon looking at the bookshelf, he'd find that small glimmer.
A small dusty book sat on the top shelf as Quote picked it up, soon blowing on the cover to remove the dust as the front read, "Surface Soldier Robots And You: Maintenance". Quote slowly felt his heart start to grow again; this could be only shot he got. Rushing over to the desk, he quickly opened the book and moved to the index before turning to the correct section.
"Surface Solder Maintenance: Waterlogged."
"Soldier and Scout Robots manufactured on the surface have limited aquatic mobility. While most models are equipped with a standard Air Tank, this module may become damaged if carelessly not looked after. Should a surface robot become waterlogged, their system will activate an immediate and abrupt shutdown to preserve itself and prevent short-circuiting. Should your model become flooded, the instructions for unflooding are as follows;"
"STEP 1: Remove any and all loose articles from said soldier model. This will include weapons, clothing, etc."
Quote would look to the unconscious Curly Brace, still lying on the bed. He was about to regret doing this one part... but her life was at stake, decency be damned. The male scout would walk over, and slowly start to strip Curly of her clothes and her guns; the bra being the last removed article as he laid the robot back down, her smooth metal frame of white and light grey resting on the bed. Despite her outfit, she didn't seem to possess the means of reproduction, which made sense; she was a robot. With that out of the way, Quote would turn back to the book.
"STEP 2: After removing all loose articles from the model, locate the torso release switch inbetween the midriff and breastplate of the soldier model robot; this will allow you to open the torso cavity and reach the drainage switch."
Quote would return to Curly's side, examining over her body before he found the button; a small circular indent just below her chest. Pressing it, Curly's chest would open up, revealing the complexity of her inner workings and endoskeleton; solid titanium-chromium blend. With the torso opened, Quote returned to the book again.
"STEP 3: Locate the Water Drainage Switch just behind the base of the endoskeleton ribcage, and give it one-quarter turn clockwise. Upon doing so, wait ten minutes for water to completely drain and the system to start its auto-reboot."
Quote would return to Curly's side, looking into the torso cavity before carefully gripping the switch, giving it the quarter turn clockwise it needed before a hissing sounded. All of Curly's joints, barring her head and neck, would stretch out with about two inches of space inbetween each joint, the liquid starting to pour out and onto the floor. With nothing else to do but wait, Quote would have a seat at the desk and sat out what felt like the longest ten minutes since the time he had been activated.
Once that time passed, however... then the magic started to happen.
"Unnnnghh..." A moan came, making Quote jump as he'd soon see it was coming from Curly's unconscious body, the joints recompressing as her body returned to normal. She'd sit up, rubbing her head in pain. "Owww..."
"C...C..." Quote started to sputter a bit before tightly hugging the robot. "Curly... oh my god, it worked..."
Curly wouldn't know what was going on, why she was essentially naked or why Quote was hugging her in such an emotional break down right now, but she wouldn't need the answers right now, she'd merely just hug Quote in response, tears forming in her eyes.
Right now what they needed was eachother.
"So... you gave me your Air Tank, even though you knew you were gonna drown?" Quote asked as Curly was putting her clothes back on.
"I'm not sure what came over me to be honest." Curly said, rehooking the front of her red top. "I guess I was just so worried about your well-being I acted on instinct. I didn't have time to rationalize the thought process in my head."
"Well... it worked, right?" Quote spoke, earning a nod from Curly as she rehooked her belt.
"A question though..." Curly spoke.
"Yeah?"
"We barely know eachother." Curly responded. "So... why would you go out of your way to save my life?"
Quote was silent from this question, thinking a bit before he came up with a response.
"Because honestly Curly?" Quote spoke. "Right now, we need eachother's teamwork more than ever. If it wasn't for our efforts, I don't even think we'd even be here at this point."
Curly would smile a bit. "So we stick together?"
"As much as we possibly can." Quote said, getting the Tow Rope. "Ready to head out?"
Curly would nod as the two got the Tow Rope attached before leaping into the waters and being pulled along by the current. Thankfully, Curly had a better chance at breathing now that she was inside Quote's air bubble as the two held onto eachother as the current flowed around them, carrying them to the big tunnel of flowing water. However, their plans would go awry as they soon heard a loud roar from behind them.
"You heard that, right?" Quote asked.
"Yeah, and whatever it is, I don't think it's friendly." Curly spoke, readying her Machine Gun.
Their answer would soon come as a gigantic green-helmeted fish came charging right past them, breaking apart the walls of the waterway and sending the chunks flying into their path. While the current was still pushing them along, Quote still had some maneuverability as he weaved inbetween the rock fragments before the large fish came into sights of the two again. Quote would immediately shift into his attack mode as he opened fire on the fish, trying to bring the thing down as each energy bullet struck the fish, causing it to growl before it ducked back, opening its mouth and firing off a horde of spiny pufferfish at the two bots. Curly would use her Machine Gun and blast them out of the water before seeing the massive fish charging straight for them.
"Go down!" Curly yelled. Quote would angle the two downwards as the massive fish would whiz by overhead. Quote would unload another cylinder of energy bullets right into the gigantic fish as it'd soon drop back to behind again... before the two would feel a violent tug as the Tow Rope would be caught on something, leaving nothing but the battering currents trying to pull them.
The rope was caught.
"Shoot!" Curly yelled, frantically trying to find where their lifeline was trapped, but it was hopeless; it was trapped at a point they couldn't see. With the massive fish closing in, Curly acted in desperation.
She unhooked the Tow Rope, causing the two to crash into another large rock and be split off down separate tunnels. Quote blacked out as he soon saw several white squids going after the massive fish...
Curly would soon find herself washed up unconscious on the banks of a reservoir in an area she wouldn't even know about, along with Quote's hat. She laid there, inactive... that was, until a certain hat-wearing Mimiga had spotted her.
"Huh?!" Jack said, rushing to the waterside and nudging the robot girl. "Hey, are you alright?!"
"...nnggh..." Curly would merely moan, pained.
"Shoot, she's hurt. How am I gon-" Jack started, before he was interrupted by a green-cloaked figure would soon appear from behind him.
"No fears, furry one." Cthulhu spoke, soon picking up Curly and taking her away. "I know where to put her..." It wouldn't be long before Curly had been set down at her new location; down in a small alcove with a simple bed inside it. Curly would soon regain consciousness, slowly sitting up and feeling the hat on her head.
"Hey, are you alright?" Jack said, looking over Curly. "The Doctor's been enslaving all the Mimiga here to grow those flowers, you think you can help free us?"
"Wh... who?" Curly asked, a blank, vacant look in her eyes.
"The Doctor?" Jack spoke, before Cthulhu silenced him.
"It appears the girl has amnesia..." Cthulhu spoke. "I'll keep watch of her for the time being, you go back to... whatever it was you were doing before."
"R-right." Jack said, scampering away from the alcove. Though it wouldn't be far before he got interrupted at the bridge above, Balrog landing down in front of him.
"Now where did you run off to you little scamp?" Balrog spoke.
"Does it matter?" Jack rebutted.
"Yes."
Jack let out a disgruntled sigh, before walking over to Balrog and whispering into his... place where the ear would be, before the box-thing had a face of shock.
"THE ROB-" He was about to yell before Jack shushed him. "Oh, right... well, you did good, but the Doctor can't grow suspicious. Just come to the Jail with me."
"Fine, fine..." Jack said as Balrog gave him the Huzzah Airlines straight to Jail No. 1.
Quote would hold his head in pain as he sat up, soon surveying his surroundings. The familiar wooden hanging docks were all too big of a giveaway.
He was back at the village.
Panic setting in from the lack of Curly, not even realizing he was missing his hat, he'd soon rush out of the Reservoir and back into the main village, only for his hopes to be dashed.
The village was empty; not a single soul remained.
The further and further he went, the more and more his hope diminished. He'd soon enter into Arthur's house, to find it outright empty as well...
...that was, until Professor Booster and Jenka came in on the teleporter, stepping out onto the house's floor.
"Ah, it's just you, I see." Booster commented, looking around at his surroundings. "By the lack of your friend and the abscence of all the Mimiga, I can assume the scare tactic has backfired."
Quote would sadly nod. "Well... for starters, Curly and I... almost accidentally killed the Core..."
Jenka would merely sigh, shaking her head. "That is on me. I never told you what the beast looked like."
"...all of the Mimiga have been captured by the Doctor at this point. He's amassed the Hell's Hibiscus to feed them." Professor Booster would pause before he spoke again. "I fear that tragedy is inevitable..."
The room would fall silent for a bit before Professor Booster approached Quote and gave him what appeared to be a more highly-advanced jetpack than the one he had earlier. "Had I known these events would transpire out into such a horror story such as this, I would have at least let Sue escape before this could happen..."
"P-Professor..." Quote started, before Booster silenced him.
"Please, just honor my final request." Booster spoke. "If you see Sue, if she's still alive at this point, use my Booster v2.0 and flee from this island. She is Dr. Sakamoto's daughter. She didn't even want to come on this trip, and yet I'm certain her father would be crushed to find out about her dying here... please."
Quote was silent... then he'd nod, soon slipping on the Booster v2.0 before exiting out of the house.
He still had one loose end to tie up first.
洞窟物語
Cave Story: The Demon Crown Saga
Chapter 6 End