One year later...
"Is rebuilding going on schedule?" The lavender furred Mimiga asked as several of the other rabbit creature's worked away with carrying supply loads. "Remember, we need homes for all the ones who lost their during the Doctor incident!"
"Everything should be goin' fine Chaco." Mahin spoke, carrying a large crate of sorts. "We might be runnin' low on food supplies though, might wan-"
"I had just checked the food supplies ten minutes ago Mahin." Chaco deadpanned. "We're not getting the food supply expanded just to satiate your bad eating habits. No ifs, ands or buts about it, understood?"
"Alright alright..." Mahin grumbled, waddling away with the crate as Chaco would overlook the Bushlands area from the new GrassTown Tower that was being built; the year had certainly taken its toll on the terrain of the island's interior caves, several large ground chunks shifted around and shoved out of order. What was once a semi-narrow grassy cavern had opened up into a sprawling foresty paradise, larger trees starting to grow among the large fungus and ruin structures, most of which were starting to decay already. Fireflies flitted around the air of the cavern, and waterfalls poured in from above down into pools, which were then filtered into the new Pipeworks system installed within the island's Waterway.
Though Chaco's main concern would be of how the island still seemed to be shifting every now and then; occasionally tremors were occurring within the system of the caverns, steadily getting worse and more frequent with the passing times. Hell, even last week there was 3 harsh tremors alone that nearly toppled the construction project!
"This is really starting to worry me greatly..." Chaco spoke, pacing left and right on the top balcony of the tower. "What's causing all these... these tremors?"
She thought for a bit... and then she came to a conclusion.
She'd call up the others in the different sections.
Walking back into the top of the tower and grabbing the wired phone on her desk, she called up the first person she knew would respond.
"Hello, Jack?" Chaco spoke. "I need to talk with you and Santa about these tremors. MY concerns are starting to seriously rise." A bit of silence as Chaco listened to Jack on the phone before she responded. "You'll be here in five? Perfect, I'll see you then." She'd hand up the phone before dialing the second number and calling in.
"Hey, Santa, you available? I know the Sand Zone's a bit of a, for the lack of a better term, hell to travel through, but I could really use you over here right now..." Chaco responded, keeping silent as she listened to the response. "...I see. Alright, I'll see you in seven." She said, hanging up before dialing the last number and calling.
"Hey, Zett, I-" She'd stop as she was soon surprised by who answered. "Chie? Oh my, where's Zett? Is he alright?" She'd remain silent as the younger Mimiga on the other end explained. "...I see. Alright, I'll just call you back after I'm done talking to the others so I can relay the information." She said, hanging up right in the middle of Chie trying to say something.
About several minutes pass before a knock at the door of Chaco's 'office' is heard. "Who s it?" She asked.
"You should know who it is." A voice said from the other side, causing Chaco to smile.
"Come in Jack." She said, the familiar Mimiga wearing a green vest and brown hat walking into the office, now sporting a new pair of goggles rather than his usual set of spectacles, and looking a bit soggier than usual.
"Came as soon as I got your call." Jack said, squeezing the water out of his lop ears. "Sorry about the rather wet appearance; the bridge in the Reservoir of the village wasn't finished building, so I had to take a bit of a swim to get to the entrance to here."
"It's fine." Chaco said as Jack approached her desk. "I take it everything's going well in the village since you're the new Number One?"
"For the most part." Jack sighed. "It's been... rough, to say the least, having to fill in for King's shoes."
"I can understand it must be hard." Chaco spoke. "Especially since the special sanctuary we had commemorated for him, Arthur, and Toroko got shifted away from the normal Graveyard..."
"It's been rough all around at the village... but we're slowly recovering." Jack spoke. "The Colons keep wanting to help out and try to help the others feel better in the village."
"Must be rather glum over there..." Chaco sadly looked, until a knock was at the door again. "Hello?"
"It's me again, open up?" A voice on the other side said.
"Come in, Santa." Chaco spoke as the door opened and a Mimiga with bushy eyebrows and wearing green walked into the room. On his left paw appeared to be some sort of orange-ish glove. "Good to see you could make it as well."
"Well, Sand Zone's been gettin' hit the hardest by the tremors." Santa said, walking into the room. "Jenka's not been givin' any sort of a response to tryin' to help with the issues."
"That's certainly not like her..." Chaco pondered. "Were you even able to go see her at all?"
Santa merely shook his head. "Some sort of barrier is blocking the entryways to her house; no one's able to get into her place at all, not even her own daughter!"
Chaco's expression would turn to worry. "Oh dear... that's definitely not good... and there's been no way to get into there?"
Santa merely shook his head. "Misery's been worried sick ever since Jenka's done and sealed herself away in there. Not even her magic is able get through there."
Chaco would think. "This certainly isn't good... and no word from anyone else?"
Jack would merely shake his head. "No one in the Labyrinth is certainly gonna give us a hand; the place is crawling with Gaudi, and their first instinct would probably be to eat us!"
Chaco would be silent, thinking over the current options... before another knock came at the door, catching her off guard. She wasn't expecting another visitor...
"Hello?" Chaco asked, before the door flung open, the pygmy Mimiga rushing into the room and catching her off guard. "O-oh my! Chie?! What are you doing here?!"
"T-trouble at the abandoned Plantation residences!" She panted. "Some... thing, some monster, just came out of one of the old pipes near the top of the plantation, and it started attacking everyone an-"
"Woah woah, slow down there!" Chaco said. "A monster? What'd it look like?"
"G-giant, red and liquidy..." Chie spoke. "And it's eye... it was just soulless! Completely staring at us as it was tearing apart the place!"
Chaco tensed up. "Is everyone already evacuating from there?"
"E-everyone was scrambling like mad before I got here!" Chie stammered. "I don't know if they got out of there or not!"
"Then we have no time to waste." Chaco said, getting up. "Get our defense forces ready for the Plantation; we need to secure that creature before it escapes into other parts of the island."
"Right!" The other three Mimigas said before they rushed out of the room. Chaco would soon follow, sighing. Hopefully others were having an easier time than she was right now...
Meanwhile, in a dark abode in a corner of the Sand Zone, a familiar green-clothed witch is pacing back and forth across her expanded living space worriedly. Things were already going wrong for the day already...
"Dammit dammit dammit dammit!" She cursed to herself, still pacing. "What the hell is wrong with her?!" It was evident enough her worry was growing rapidly. "Why is she doing this to the island?!"
The witch would punch the wall in anger, trying to vent some of her frustrations as small pebbles fell from the ceiling. Soon enough she'd collapse to her knees, gripping the wall as she was panting heavily.
"I'm her own damn daughter... and yet I can't even do shit to try and help her." Misery growled. "And then there's the issue of the island tremors getting worse and worse! The entire place threatens to shake itself completely apart and no one's able to do anything about it!" She grunted in anger as she kicked a pot hard, the object smashing against the back wall of her abode.
She gripped her head in anger. "Why?! Why is it that now of all times I have to feel so useless?!" She'd growl, tears forming in her eyes as she looked up at the ceiling. "Is this your sick way of having the last laugh you uncle fuck?! Taking away my mother after those two scouts killed you?!" She'd scream to the ceiling, before collapsing to her knees again and sobbing openly. "God... dammit... why..." She choked out, still sobbing...
It's been a bit of a hard year for the Sakamotos ever since that fateful trip to the island; not long after they came back, the family was hit with a bombshell of an emotion bomb as Sue found out her father was dead. Several days after that she had locked herself into her room and sobbed away, the pain being too much for her to bear. It didn't help compounded with the fact that over the year, any attempts to try and reverse the Mimiga process on herself and Itoh have ended in failure, either by flat-out not working or by only changing them back temporarily, with the effects wearing off either by a few minutes later or from something as blatantly simple as a sneeze. Neddless to say, most of Momorin's hours when she wasn't spending time with Kazuma and Sue to try and comfort them was working on the machine to try and fix Sue and Itoh. She was just in the middle of working on trying to modify the machine when a knock came from the workshop door.
"Hello?" Momorin asked.
"It's Kazuma, mom." The voice said from behind the door. "Can I come in?"
"Sure honey." Momorin responded, continuing to work on the machine as Kazuma came in with a bit of a worried look on his face. "What's wrong?"
"I... just got a call from the school today." Kazuma spoke. "Sue had another emotional breakdown today..."
Momorin sighed. "What happened this time?"
"More of the other students bullying her today." Kazuma responded sadly. "They just won't leave her alone because of her being a Mimiga."
"Did the school intervene?" Momorin asked, earning a nod from Kazuma.
"They'll be bringing her to the house soon." Kazuma spoke.
"Alright..." Momorin spoke, getting up and heading to the bathroom to freshen up. Kazuma sighed as he walked to the garage to check up on the sleeping Sky Dragon, the large green creature sleeping calmly as it's tail tip twitched.
Soon enough the front door to the house would open before it slammed shut, the angry teary-eyed blue sweater wearing Mimiga barging through emotionally, dragging her backpack behind her before going up the stairs of the house and slamming the door to her room shut, locking it from the inside. Her bedroom wasn't that large, aside from a standard bed, a small wardrobe, and a desk with a computer on it. Angrily, she threw the backpack onto the chair next to the desk before ripping her sweater off and throwing it on the floor, flopping onto the bed and throwing a blanket over herself, bursting into sobs as she buried her face in her pillow. She remained sobbing for a few minutes before a light knock came at the door.
"Sue?" Momorin's voice spoke. "Can I come in?"
"Go away!" Sue yelled, still sobbing into her pillow. A light sigh could be heard from the other side of the door.
"Sue, please..." Momorin spoke. "I know you're hurting from losing your father; we all are. But-"
"I'M JUST TIRED!" Sue yelled, sobbing harshly. "I'm sick of it all! I'm sick of constantly being teased of my being a Mimiga, sick of being reminded of how my father is dead, ALL OF IT!"
"Sue, please, ju-"
"WHY COULDN'T I HAVE DIED ON THAT STUPID ISLAND?!" Sue yelled, before just breaking down into incoherent sobs and sniffles. Momorin would be silent, just staring at the door before she sat down next to it, pained in her heart at what Sue had just said. She was at a loss for what to do...
And then an idea came to her, causing her to get up and go to the phone.
She knew exactly who to call.
It was a quiet day on the lakeside as the quaint house and side-house sat at the edge, overlooking the sparkling water as birds tweeted from the trees... at least, if they weren't squawking from some of them collapsing as the giant box-thing known as Balrog was knocking them down for firewood. Occasionally there'd be a light rumble from the trees hitting the ground, but overall the house would be undisturbed as its other two residents were still alseep inside. The house wasn't very large: a mere two room house with a bed, small kitchen, table for four, and a room for a closet, along with a old TV and a radio on a nightstand next to the bed, a window above the bed to let the sunlight in. And right now, the sun was shining in on two familiar white metal figures, asleep in the bed, Curly lightly embracing Quote.
"Mmmmmmmhhh..." Quote murmured, slightly stirring before his only operating optic opened, the other optic socket bandaged up as if it was an organic injury, even though Quote very well knew he was a robot; the bandaging was merely there to keep it sealed up to prevent dust from getting into his circuitry. He'd look around to see it was almost around noon-time, which didn't really alert him; both he and Curly had been getting used to sleeping in a little too much. Lightly unwrapping Curly's arms from around him, he'd slip out of the bed without wearing anything, showing that the repairs made to him were limited but as best he could; the metal gashes across his arms were welded and bent back into place, keeping the gashes shut and his endoskeleton arm circuitry safe. Sadly enough he couldn't find a replacement panel for his shattered cheek panel, so it was still open for the most part. A the very least being a robot he wouldn't have to worry about indecency as he walked over to the closet and stepped inside.
"Nnnnhh?" The female shot-haired blonde murmured, her eyes slowly fluttering open as she sat up, stretching as her bare frame gleamed a bit in the light. Soon enough she'd slip out of bed, her attempts at recovery showing as well; her open metal gashes were also welded back shut, but sadly like Quote there was no replacement for her missing paneling. The largest aspect, however, was the mismatched endoskeleton forearm on her left arm, looking like it belonged to a different robot entirely. She sighed, slipping out of the bed before she made it back up, having it look presentable, before she started to walk to the closet, trying to open the closet before the handle wouldn't budge.
"One second Curly." Quote responded from behind the door as the bare female scout robot waited to the side of the door for a bit, lightly humming to herself. A few minutes later, Quote would emerge from the closet, his new outfit for the time being shown off; wearing a new black long-sleeve shirt, brown vest and holster belt and signature green scarf, and red cargo pants with his normal boots. On his head was still the regular hat he wore for the past year, and in the holster on his belt was none other than the Spur, one of the most powerful guns he ever used in his life. "Alright, go ahead on in."
Curly would blush. "Thanks Quote." She said, walking into the closet and shutting the door. Quote sighed and walked to the door, looking outside to across the lake and, along with it, the floating island where his whole adventure started. It was hard to believe a year had passed ever since they finally managed to take down both the Doctor and Ballos on the floating island. But with their mission complete, there wasn't really much for them to really do at all aside from enjoying their well earned rest from the action. Of course, that didn't mean they gave up on the action they had from time to time again. More often than not the two robots would usually like to do a bit of hand-to-hand combat training just to keep their skills sharp. Just in case something ever would come up that a call to duty would ever need to arise again.
And then of course there was Balrog, the lovable, if a bit goofy, box-like creature that ended up saving the two that year ago from becoming metallic pancakes on the insides of Ballos's chamber. It was an odd thing, getting to live with a gigantic moving box about as tall as a refrigerator and as wide as a queen-sized bed, but the two managed to make it work in a way, hence the extra space with a Balrog-sized entrance for him to sleep at.
"I'm done Quote, got my new outfit on." Curly said, causing Quote to look over to where she spoke. Turning around, Quote would see Curly in her new outfit; the straps of her green bra were still visible as her original top, since it had been destroyed, was switched out for a tube-top that came down to the top of her midriff, and a newer set of cargo shorts held up by a woven fabric belt, that familiar green metal plate with the red heart affixed firmly across the front as the buckle. Her boots were still the same as ever, secure and ready for rough terrain. What little length of her blonde hair remained after her sudden and unwelcome haircut was tied off as a ponytail near the base of her robotic neck. The most interesting aspect, however, was the change in color for Curly's wardrobe; rather than the dusty red like her previous outfit, it was a stark lapis blue, definitely making her stand out between the two a bit more. Attached to her belt were her familiar Machine Gun and Nemesis. "So... how do I look?"
Quote would blush. "I'll be honest, blue looks good on you." He spoke, receiving a return blush from Curly.
"Thanks..." She merely responded, before a phone rang in the house. Walking over to the phone, she'd soon pick it up and answer. "Hello, this is Curly Brace speaking, who is this?" Soon enough her face would light up. "Oh! Ms. Sakamoto!" She said enthusiastically. "It's been a while, what's been going on?" She'd be silent for a while as she listened to the situation on the other end of the phone, nodding and understanding. "Hmmm... I see... when would you like us to come down?" Another pause as she nodded her head then." Alright, the three of us will be down there tomorrow, I promise." She spoke. "Alright, see you then, goodbye." She finished, hanging up the phone.
"What was that about?" Quote asked.
"Sue's... really not been doing to hot..." Curly said. "To put it bluntly, Ms. Sakamoto said she's been an emotional wreck and she's afraid of it escalating further. So-"
"So she wants us to come down to their home and try and comfort her?" Quote finished, merely earning a nod from Curly. "That... doesn't make a whole lot of sense to be honest."
"Well, think of it this way." Curly said, crossing her arms. "Aside from her own family, we're the ones she's spent the most time with, not to mention the fact you saved her life on more than one occasion."
"Touche..." Quote spoke, rubbing the back of his head. "So, we head out tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow." Curly said, heading for the door. Quote followed and soon met her on the small front porch, leaning on the railing as she looked up out at the floating island in the distance.
"Y'know..." Curly said. "Sometimes I wonder if it's a dream or not..."
"Huh?" Quote asked, walking up and leaning with her. "If what's a dream?"
"That we actually left the floating island." Curly said. "That we actually killed Ballos, and I'm not gonna wake up and suddenly find myself stranded back in the island away from you and everything I had in my life..."
"...you fear that?" Quote asked.
Curly nodded. "It's a nightmare I have every now and then; that everything I ended up earning is going to be rudely and forcefully taken away from me with no chance of recovery..."
Quote would be silent, merely rubbing a small circle on her back as she continued.
"And yet..." She said. "I feel as though something didn't sit well when we left."
"What do you mean?" Quote asked.
"I know our mission was completed and all that jazz..." Curly spoke, a sad look in her eyes as she looked up on the island. "But something just didn't sit right with me when we left that day almost a year ago. Like we still had some unfinished business on there..."
Quote would think for a bit before coming up with a question. "Do... you wanna make a return trip there after we go see Sue tomorrow?" He asked.
"I feel that'd be perfect Quote." Curly said. "Sue's comfort is top priority first tomorrow anyways; I still feel bad she found out she ended up losing her father..."
"It's a hard thing..." Quote said. "But we all just gotta keep our heads up; keep pushing along..."
Curly nodded, a small smile coming to her face. "I know that was for sure when we went through that hell area of the island."
"Which one?" Quote asked. "Sand Zone or that weird Ballos church thing?"
"The latter." Curly said. "I mean, did you see the amount of spikes littering the place when we went through there?"
"Ugh, don't remind me..." Quote shuddered, the painful memory of Curly's impaled arm coming back fresh in his mind. Of course that thought train would be violently derailed as a massive tree collapsed right beside them, just barely missing the house. Curly squeaking in shock as she lept back a bit from the sudden tree-fall.
"Oop- sorry!" Balrog yelled, earning a collective sigh from Quote and Curly. "Was just trying to get trees knocked down for firewood!"
Curly sweatdropped. "We seriously just can't get a moment's peace with Balrog around sometimes, can we?" She giggled.
"Apparently not." Quote chuckled. "Alright Balrog, we're coming!" He said as the two headed over to the base of the tree where the gigantic box-thing was.
"Just next time, not so close to the house, alright?" Curly spoke, earning a nod from Balrog. Quote would grab an axe fron the side of the space that Balrog was living in and began hacking away at the wood, getting a few decent sized logs hacked out as Curly pulled them out from where Quote cut them. Quote was going for another swing on the log, but son his sensors went off.
And it wasn't a good mention.
/DANGER! HIGH ARCANE LEVELS DETECTED NEAR AREA!
Quote dropped the axe, getting the Spur out and having his eyes quickly darting around the area, paranoid now. It had been over a year since he had gotten a warning like that, why is he getting one now?!
"Q-Quote?" Curly asked, confused. "I-is something wrong?"
"Did... did you not just get a reading?" Quote asked, before the same reading popped up on Curly's messages.
"...what the fuck." She mouthed, whipping her Machine Gun out and having her eyes dart to nearly every single spot possible. "How?! How?!"
Quote tensed up, eyes darting around... then felt a sharp pull as he and the other two were thrown somewhere else. His vision cleared in his eye to see they were at... the ruined Egg Corridor?! Back on the floating island?!
"Wh-what the-?!" Curly yiped before Quote felt the sharp tug again, this time the teleportation only grabbing himself and Balrog as he soon crash-landing onto what felt gritty and coarse... and judging from the immense heat filling the area, he knew he could only be at one place; the Sand Zone.
"Wait, why are we-" Balrog started to speak before Quote was flung again, now landing in a small stone room which would have looked all too familiar to him...
He was in Jenka's house, and the old woman was lying collapsed on the floor, shaking in pain with her face twisted into pain.
"H-help... m-me..." Was all that she managed to choke out before Quote felt the violent tug one last time before he crashed down into the last stop that the wild teleporting ride was taking him through. Giving him enough time to catch his bearings, he'd soon shake his head in pain to try and divert it before he looked around, recognizing the blue hues and the wooden structures of the area he was in...
He was back where he originally woke up.
But this time he could definitely tell something was very, very wrong.
Not one to waste time about his perdicament, he'd immediately sit up and tap his comm piece on his ear headset. "Curly, come in, do you read me, over?"
Silence, with a bit of static. Nonetheless, Quote tried again.
"Curly, do you read me? Over?" Quote spoke again.
Again, silence. Quote was starting to become seriously worried now. He tried one last time.
"Curly? Come in, over."
Finally, a response.
"Quote?!" Curly's panicked voice came from the other end. "Quote, are you there?!"
"I'm here, and I'm intact, I think." Quote responded. "What about you? Are you alright?"
"Physically yes, mentally not really!" Curly responded. "What the hell was that?! I said I wanted to come back to the island at some point, but not in this way!"
"Alright, look," Quote said. "It's obvious enough your suspicions are right; something is definitely going wrong around here. And judging from the scrambled rocks all around me, navigating through this place just got a hell of a lot harder. But I recognize where that teleport sent me; I'm somewhere in the first caves near Mimiga Village where I originally woke up. You see any sort of visuals of where you got thrown to?"
"Some sort of long corridor with giant killer beetles and huge eggs?" Curly said as gunfire came from her comms. Quote mouthed a curse to himself; she was stuck in the ruined Egg Corridor, and he had no idea where he could get to there from the village; the Corridor could be on a completely different point in the island!
"It sounds like you're stuck in the Egg Corridor." Quote responded. "Just hold your position, I'll try to get there as soon as I can!"
"Alright, I'll meet back up with you later then!" Curly responded, before the comm link cut. Quote would let out another curse; what a time to have left the Booster off your back at the house...
Quote would take a deep breath, and let it out easily. If he was going to survive and find Curly, he first had to find a way to the village first and foremost. Gripping his Spur tightly, he'd leap to the adjacent ledge to find the familiar pathway now being blocked by a large metal door with hinges. Curious, Quote would activate thermal settings on his eye to soon find out there was a thermal conduit behind the large metal door. Dumbstruck as to how he was supposed to activate the conduit, he'd backtrack down to see the new pathway opened up below, leading down into the cave further.
Gripping his senses, he'd leap down into the new territory of the cave, moving forward a bit before finding a new room behind the original start point, much larger in size as it had wooden scaffolding and hanging platforms from chains on the ceiling. There wouldn't be much of any creatures around as he lept from platform to platform, examining around the larger cave... before noticing something glimmer on a lower platform below. Curious, he'd jump down to see something embedded into the ground around what appeared to be rubble. Thinking it might be something new he'd need, he'd clear the rocks out of around the gun before picking it up; a lavender shaded gun with red indents and a small chamber of what appeared to be fire swirling inside. Not knowing what the new gun was, he used his scanner on it.
/WB-86 SNAKE
/Energy Class Weapon
/Model No. 861986
/No Registration Found
/Case Color Lavender
/No Warranty Applied
/Heat Based Weapon, shots able to phase through walls and activate conduits.
Quote smiled at his luck; just what he needed! With haste, he backtracked to the door from earlier and took aim at the conduit using his thermal scanner, and pulled the trigger of the newly acquired Snake. The shot came out of the front barrel as three undulating purple flames as they phased right through the door, colliding with the conduit and heating it up, causing it to reactivate as the door slowly slid open, showing the old rusty door behind it. Quote shrugged; some things never change. Holstering the newly acquired Snake, he'd get the Spur out again as he entered into the next room.
And it was here he'd find out how radically different the caves had become since his last visit; the First Cave was much more open now, scaffolding everywhere and lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Most of the old piping he had encountered on his first trip here was completely broken up and severed, some of the old lights shattered completely as broken glass marred the floors. The bats were hanging from their roosts, completely asleep as Quote remained silent. Thankfully for him they weren't awake as he proceeded to the left, coming across another large metal door blocking the way to where he knew Mimiga Village was. Knowing the same trick as before, Quote would activate his thermal scanner to find the conduit, located below the door off to the right a bit. Firing off another shot with the Snake, the conduit would activate as the door slowly creaked open, moving upwards into the ceiling and showing the old abandoned shack entrance like last time. Smiling a bit to himself, Quote headed through the door.
He wouldn't expect Mimiga Village to have changed so much since his last visit. The once single-tree village had become something completely new as the walls were now tree-like, as if the tree split down the middle and decided to cling to the walls instead. There was still evidence of the cave system it inhabited, but now it was like a whole new beast of a town to explore, a larger town hall tower sat at the center of the village, the Assembly hall still being up off to the side as usual, and the entrances to the farm and the Graveyard were still all there!
"Woah..." Quote breathed to himself, soon jumping down to the lower ground below, starting to look around the new village layout. He wondered though; was the one house with the teleporter still intact? He could use that and try t- wait... he remembered back when he first got to the ruined Egg Corridor the two dragons had attacked him and completely destroyed it. Quote cursed to himself. Looks like he'd have to find another way around.
"Hey... i-is that Quote?!" A voice said, one of the Mimigas rushing up to him. "Ohmigod you actually came back to the island! A lot of us were wondering when you guys were coming back!"
"Heh, I appreciate the warm welcome..." Quote spoke, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm a bit busy though, is Jack around at all?"
"Y-yeah!" The Mimiga said, pointing to the town hall tower. "He just got back from an emergency call to the plantation not too long ago! He might be in if you go and see him!"
"Alright, thanks." Quote said, leaping down some of the stairway structures and skidding to a halt next to the entrance into the tower. He took a sigh and walked in, just to find Jack apparently telling some Mimigas a couple of other commands of sorts.
"Look, I don't care what it takes, just make sure the Plantation is sealed off, understood?" Jack spoke, seemingly agitated. "I don't know what in tarnation that red goo thing was, but we can't afford having it running around to other parts of the island!"
"Sir yes sir!" The other Mimigas saluted before brushing past Quote out of the main tower, before Jack spoke again.
"Well, don't you just have the darndest of timings!" Jack spoke, looking to Quote. "How's the year been for you and Curly ever since you guys left the island?"
"Well, calm for the most part, until we got forcefully thrown back into here." Quote said, rubbing the back of his head. "What's been going on here?"
"Lotta stuff Quote." Jack answered. "Tremors are ravaging the island like mad the past week or so, and it just seems to be getting worse as each one goes by! And just today we had an incident up at the Plantation where some sort of demonic goo creature started attacking everyone there! Had to seal the damn place off just to prevent anyone else from getting hurt!"
"Yikes..." Quote said. "Anything I can do to help?"
"Well, sadly not around here." Jack spoke. "But I'm willin' to bet Chaco might be able to give you some direction. She's off in Grasstown, but our water pipes have been acting up recently and we can't get to the valve to fix it!"
"Is the valve critical to getting to Grasstown?" Quote asked.
"Yes, actually!" Jack spoke. "Ever since the island's started its tremor cycle, parts of the island started to run into eachother and become connected that way; Grasstown's just past the other side of the Reservoir, but the valve power normally holding up the platform with pressurized water is down completely!"
Quote would think. "Hmmm... might be worth it for me to go and check this valve out."
"Please, help yourself around here!" Jack spoke. "After all, you saved our home that year ago."
Quote sweatdropped, smiling, before leaving the tower. Thinking as best he could to deduce where the Pipeworks would be, he'd see a path leading down towards the bottom of the Village. Guessing this was the path he needed to take, he'd walk down the path, past an old erected Mimiga statue as he entered through the door.
He could definitely tell he was on the right track; the metal piping and running water were giveaways as the corridor stretched out a bit ahead of him. Quickly thinking, he reached onto his back and felt for something.
"Okay, good." Quote spoke to himself. "Air Tank is still there." He said, soon pulling out the Spur again as he started to walk along the path to the valve switch. Nothing would be giving him too much trouble... until he noticed a chest off to the side. Curious, he'd deviate from his path slightly to open it... only to find it was empty, with a note sitting at the bottom.
Hah! Whoever's reading this, you were too slow! Ya snooze ya lose!
-Pignon the Swift
"Pignon?" Quote asked himself, shaking his head and heading back to the main path. Now was not the time for getting sidetracked. He'd continue on until he reached a doorway, moving through it to a new area of the Pipeworks. This room was much more vertical, looking like it extended up quite a ways due to the many stairs around the outside walls of the room. As Quote would walk up the stairs, he'd notice the Mimiga's handiwork in making the room; the piping infrastructure was more integrated into the natural terrain of the landscape rather than just being completely blasted out of the way like other places he had seen. It was a bit of a refreshing touch, to be honest. He'd even notice a group of Critters sitting on one hanging alcove on the center piping pillar in the room, and upon seeing him, all they did was give him either quizzical or happy looks, some even jumping in place a bit. IT refreshed Quote a bit as he soon neared the top of the room to the door, right as a beeping went off on his scanner.
/LIFE TANK DETECTED IN VICINITY
Certainly had been a while since he had seen that prompt, Quote thought. Looking around, he'd soon see where the capsule was; on a small rocky outcropping above the stairwell he was walking on, being gnawed on lightly by a Critter.
"H-hey, hello?" Quote spoke, getting the attention of the blobish creature.
"Ruurrur?" The Critter would stop gnawing, looking down at Quote.
"Hey, uh..." Quote spoke. "Can I have that?" He asked. He figured if the Critters were being docile to him for the time being, there'd be no sense in trying to shoot them if they weren't attacking him.
The Critter would look between the Life Capsule and Quote a bit, seeming to make some sort of connection...
"Rurrur!" It responded, nudging the Life Capsule off the ledge as Quote would catch it in his hands. Quote would look up at the creature, giving a small smile and nod before continuing on, slotting the Life Capsule into his arm as he headed through the next door.
The last corridor he had to travel through required a bit of dexterity on his part as large gaps of water were spaced out inbetween parts of the walkway. Keeping his head level, he'd take the leaps accordingly as he soon reached the other side of the corridor, stepping into the valve switch room.
The room was somewhat expansive, a couple of terminals on the back wall as Quote would approach them, starting to type something into one of them to reroute to the Reservoir when something in his scanners went off just as he was finishing it.
/ARCANE ENERGY DETECTED CLOSING IN! WARNING!
Gritting his metal teeth, Quote would whirl around as he held the Spur tightly, soon seeing some sort of red corruptive energy materialize into the room in the form of a large enraged Mimiga wearing a blue sweater, a red tint across its entire being as it glared at Quote, sharp teeth ready for gnashing. Materializing next to the gigantic Mimiga on either side would be two creatures that would look all too familiar to Quote as Sue when she was possessed, now with only blood-redfilling the eyes of the creatures as the large one let out a roar.
And so Quote tensed up, seeing the two oncoming spinning 'Sues' coming straight for him. The scout robot tensed up as he dodged out of the way of the two oncoming Mimigas, the creatures phasing straight through the wall as Quote would turn to deal with the larger one. The larger one charged up an energy blast in its mouth before letting loose a barrage of energy shots straight for Quote. Quote would duck roll out of the way before remembering something; this was like his fight back in the Egg Corridor with that other giant Mimiga! Meaning...
Quote goaded the hulking beast into firing another barrage again as it opened its mouth, taking a chance with the Spur, he took aim and fired off a Level 3 charge shot straight into the beast's gullet. It shut its mouth and clamped it in pain, squirming around as if it was in pain, but soon enough it returned to looking at Quote with a glare of murder in its eyes. Quote tensed up, but was then caught off guard as the two phantom 'Sues' would cartwheel back into the arena, floating in the air as they looked down on Quote, one of them letting out a silent malicious laugh. The robot gritted his teeth as the large hulking Mimiga would come walking towards him, fists ready to punch. Quote opened fire with the Spur's normal shots, but the creature was completely unaffected by them.
The fist would come down right as Quote rolled to the side, just barely missing him by an inch as he soon reholstered the Spur. Didn't seem like this one was gonna fall for a mouth trick like that again, so he had to think on the fly as the two 'Sues' came cartwheeling at him again. Quote countered with a punch to one of them, knocking it backwards as it staggered, holding its face in pain as the other one went through the floor again.
Just then Quote got an idea. If he couldn't defeat the Mimiga from the outside...
...then maybe he'd have to defeat it from the inside.
Grabbing the Snake off his belt, he'd take aim and open fire on the larger Mimiga as it seemed to double over in pain. He smirked; his thought was right! The Snake could go through organics!
Keeping his fire held on the larger Mimiga, he began to notice it was fizzling a bit as if it was a TV signal, the red starting to take over its form the more and more he damaged it...
Almost as if the thing he was fighting wasn't an actual enraged Mimiga.
With a final landed shot the creature would screech before fizzing out of existence, several more of the 'Sues' popping in and out of existence before a large red mist blob formed in the top of the center of the room. As the last 'Sue' exploded, the mist cloud exploded, the familiar small Mimiga girl wearing a tattered blue sweater falling face-first to the ground, unconscious. Quote immediately rushed to the small Mimiga's side.
"Sue! Sue!" Quote spoke, lightly shaking the small Mimiga girl. "Are you alright?!"
"Nnnnnnngghh..." Sue moaned, struggling to get to her feet. "Owww... w-was it that nightmare a-again? D-did I fall outta bed...?" Sue would sit up, holding her head in pain before starting to look around the area...
"No... nononono..." Sue breathed. "Th-this is all just a bad dream... any moment now, I'll wake up an-" She squeaked as she was hugged tightly by Quote, before just breaking down into a sobbing mess. Quote would just rub Sue quietly as she just let her crying emotions out, not even paying attention to another rumble that shook the island again.
"It'll be okay Sue..." Quote said, picking up the small Mimiga girl. "Just hold on, okay?"
"A-alright..." She sighed, holding onto Quote as the robot took her back to the Village...
"So she's going to be fine?" Quote asked Jack as Sue was being escorted to the Assembly Hall to be cared for.
"Looks like she only had a bit of emotional scarring." Jack spoke, before looking at Quote. "I seriously can't thank you enough for helping out getting that pipeline reopened. Access back to Grasstown should be a lot smoother now."
Quote would nod. "That's where I'll be heading next then." He said, starting to walk off.
"I'll try and talk to Sue for a bit to see if there's any way I can help her for the time being." Jack said. "You just go ahead and talk to Chaco once you get there, okay?"
"Alright." Quote said, starting to walk off towards the Reservoir.
Jack would sigh as Quote left. With all the incidents happening in almost a rapid-fire motion, it was definitely starting to wear on him a bit as he walked out of the tower and towards the Assembly Hall. He figured as long as Sue was back for the time being, he'd explain what's been going on with the island in the year's timeframe. Maybe she'd understand. Upon reaching the Assembly hall and looking in, Jack would find Sue one floor up, rsting next to the old teleporter and wrapped in a blanket as she shivered a bit, trying to keep herself warm.
"Hey..." Jack said with a small wave, grabbing the attention of Sue.
"H-hey Jack..." Sue spoke, still shivering. "Wh-what's going on?"
"Well... a lot of things, actually." He spoke, taking a seat next to Sue and explaining everything that's been going on within the past year of the island after they left; the rebuilding, the worsening tremors, the giant goo monster that appeared at the Plantation... and Sue just took it all in, her shivering slowing.
"It sounds like you've had a hell of a time here..." Sue spoke. "Stress of trying to live up to King's name getting to you I'm guessing?"
"Yeah..." Jack said, rubbing the back of his head. "It's been... pressurizing, to say the least." He'd turn to Sue. "What about you though?"
Sue would grow quiet, looking away from Jack. Evidently it was something she didn't want to discuss.
"Alright, I won't press." Jack said, sitting back after getting the pained look in Sue's eyes. Sue would then look at the teleporter.
"Is that still operational?" Sue asked, looking at it.
"Well, yeah, but-" Jack wasn't even finished with his sentence as Sue would start looking around the teleporter and the computer nearby it.
"There's no data cards in here." Sue spoke. "How are we supposed to link these things up if there's no sort of data cards in here?"
"...good point." Jack said, walking over to the computer and starting to type into it. "Lemme just message Chaco about that quickly. Quote's already on his way there so hopefully Chaco can just talk to her about it."
"Hopefully." Sue spoke, continuing to work on the wiring on the teleporter as Quote made his way to Grasstown...
洞窟物語: ジェンカスの悪夢
Cave Story: The Demon Crown Saga
Jenka's Nightmare Arc
Chapter 1 End