After a hop, skip, and a faceplant across the Reservoir, Quote arrived upon the entrance to the relocated Grasstown. It was certainly different from what he experienced a year ago; what was once merely a grassy cave was now turned into a lush vibrant forest before him, the once ruined owl structures now acting as the basis for homes of the Mimigas that lived within the area. Larger mushrooms would be growing out of some of the homes as natural umbrellas or platforms as some of the homes would also be hanging from the ceilings of the cavern. Several Mimiga would be moving about, carrying large supplies for construction work, meaning the place must have still been in the building process. Ahead of Quote past the trees and some of the other living spaces, he could see a tower that stood above the rest of the houses, along with some blocks leading up into an upper area of the caverns. Keeping himself calm, he walked towards the main tower, passing by other Mimigas that went passed him with other construction supplies, a couple stopping and waving at him, to which he merely waved back as he continued walking.
Upon nearing the tower, he'd come into what appeared to be a small town square leading to other parts of the residences in Grasstown. Rectificed in the center of the square was none other than a statue of both Quote and Curly, looking ready to take on anything. The robot scout lightly smiled at this; the Mimiga definitely seemed to look up to him and Curly for stopping the island from falling. Walking past the statue, he'd soon come to the entrance of the tower. Steeling his nerves, he'd open the door and walk in.
"...alright, will do. I'll keep an eye out for him-" The voice was interrupted as Quote entered through the front door, seeing Chaco talking to a computer screen with Jack on it. "Ah, god-like timing, he just walked in here."
"Uhh... hi?" Quote asked.
"One sec dear." Chaco said before looking back to the computer. "Yeah, don't worry, I'll let him know. Talk to ya later Jack." She finished as she closed out the chat, before turning to Quote. "Sorry about that dear, what brings you here?"
"Jack said you might be able to give me some direction?" Quote asked. "Curly and I got thrown back in here so suddenly without a chance to gather our thoughts, and all I know about her whereabouts right now is she's stuck somewhere in the Egg Corridor... and the teleporter there was destroyed during my first trip in the island. By any chance, at all, is there another way for me to be able to get to the Egg Corridor at all?"
"Well..." Chaco spoke. "There is the Conduit, but..."
"Where's that?" Quote asked.
"Back at Mimiga village, but the problem with that is that it's a straight shot downwards out of the island from there." Chaco answered. "And with howling winds, chances are you'd get sucked right out of the island entirely and fall straight back down to the Surface!"
Quote thought for a bit. "Okay, so that's out of the question." He spoke. "What about the Plantation? I remem-"
"No, absolutely not." Chaco cut him off. "The Plantation is completely off limits after the appearance of what the others are call the 'Red Devil' had started attacking anyone in there." She spoke, serious. "It's 100% sealed off. No one gets in, that thing doesn't get out."
"...duly noted." Quote spoke. "So what can I do to get to the Corridor?"
"Not anything I can think of right now sadly." Chaco said, shrugging. "But you might be able to help out with something."
"And what's that?" Quote asked.
"I had just finished talking to Jack as you walked in." Chaco spoke. "He and Sue are trying to get the teleporters back online to connect to the other parts of the island, and you might be able to help out with the one here."
"Explain." Quote spoke, crossing his arms.
"Well, we're having to deal with a nuisance ever since we started this entire reconstruction process." Chaco spoke. "Large, green, blocky; kinda like that Balrog friend of yours except cross-bred with a snake. That thing has been running rampant around the place tearing the entire thing up as he goes!"
"Let me guess..." Quote said. "You want me to deal with the nuisance?"
"Please." Chaco said. "The room for the teleporter is just above the giant opening above the town. You might need to reactivate the fan circuits to do so though."
"Alright." Quote spoke, starting to head off before Chaco stopped him.
"Oh! One more thing." She said, handing him a key. "Use this to get into the Storehouse on the far side of Grasstown; we thank that's where this thing may be hiding out between its mischief problems."
Quote nodded, then exited out of the tower and looked up at the large gaping hole above the tower. He thought for a moment; it was quite the height off the ground. How was he going to be able to scale such a towering structure to get up through that hole without his Booster?
Then he noticed all the construction scaffolding around the area...
And an idea came to him.
Backing up a bit, he soon took a running start and jumped onto a large mushroom, the bouncy cap propelling him upwards onto a higher scaffolding on the side of the tower. After sticking the landing, he'd look back down below at the ground. "Hope they don't mind me using this for now..." Quote said, staqrting to scale up the scaffolding surrounding the outside tower until he had reached some hanging blocks on chains connected to the ceiling. Backing up and leaping forward, he'd land on the chaned block as it would swing from his momentum, causing it to rock back and forth a fair amount. Eyes quickly darting, he'd notice a hanging stone staircase nearby and used the momentum of his jump to the block to reach the stairs, landing hard on it. Gritting his teeth from the hard landing, he'd get up to find the staircase leasing up through the ceiling hole and into another section of Grasstown. He'd take a deep breath as he walked up the stairs towards the new sector...
Curly was very much mad right now.
Here she was, currently having to deal with a group of unruly beetles trying to get at her, and neither Quote or Balrog were anywhere in sight for her to try and escape from the place unharmed! Gritting her teeth, she'd turn and open fire on the beetles before ducking behind her cover again; stuck in the ruined Egg Corridor with no reasonable way of trying to get back to anywhere!
"Dammit, why'd this return trip have to end up like this?!" She growled, opening fire with her Nemesis on the group of beetles. "It always has to go awry like this!"
She cursed to herself as she thought. Balrog and Quote couldn't be worse off than her, right?
Meanwhile in the heated section of the Sand Zone, Balrog was... face first in the sand pit, his stumpy legs waving back and forth like a lunatic.
"SMMMHWHHNN!" Balrog yelled as he was muffled by the sand. "EHHHNYWHHNN! HHHLLP MMMHHHH!"
Looks like Curly was half-right about Balrog being worse off...
Quote would soon reach the top of the staircase, looking out into the other areas of the expanded Grasstown. The place was heavily under construction up here as other scaffolds were lining parts of the walls and ground to try and build housing up for other Mimigas. Across the hole he'd see a console sitting on an outcropping, along with a small fan right near it. Moving around the large hole, he'd reach the other side of the terminal to see a prompt.
/CIRCUIT FAN A IS SET TO 'OFF'. SWITCH ON? Y/N
Deciding there was no other way to get across to where he needed to go, Quote would set the fan to on. The fan below him would begin to whirr up as it soon started blowing across the chasm in the center of the larger room. Taking a deep breath, he'd leap as the current from the fan caught him and propelled him towards the other side of the chasm, landing on the hanging stone scaffold that held a small building on it. Upon his landing though, Quote could have sworn he heard a 'KHSS' come from the inside of the building.
'Must be that snake thing that's causing the problems...' Quote thought. Gripping the Spur tightly, he'd approach the door with caution before kicking it in, aiming the Spur at the intruder.
At the very least, Chaco's description of the creature was accurate; there was a large green box-like creature the size of Balrog and a snake-like face messing with the teleporter within the room. He didn't even her Quote having broken the door down as he mumbled to himself.
"Ohohohoho, Suto, you've done it again! Oooh!" The creature said to itself, tampering with the teleporter, unaware of Quote's presence. "They're going to be so, so mad about this! Ooohohoho!" Since the visitor didn't seem to be paying any attention to Quote, he did the only logical thing in the situation.
He unloaded a charged Spur shot striaght into the creature's back, causing it to collapse forward in pain. It sa there flailing for a bit before it got back up, turning and glaring towards Quote.
"And just WHO do you think you might be as to attack me so brazenly?!" The creature would hiss, staring down Quote as he held the Spur aimed directly for the creature's face, unmoving and unreplying. "Oh, so some sort of tough guy are ya?! Khss! Robots like you make me sick! I've no time to deal with you!" And with that, the figure would burst out of the ceiling and ran off somewhere.
Quote silently cursed to himself, holstering the Spur as he moved over to the teleporter to investigate it. He cursed to himself; the link card for Grasstown was stolen out of the teleporter itself. Coming to the conclusion he'd have to chase the creature to the storehouse, he left the teleporter shack and started making his way across the grassy caverns, sliding down ruined structures and leaping over pits of the red spikes he had come to grow to loathe. Landing on the other side of the pit, he'd soon find himself smushed underneath one of the Power Critters, the large floppy blue creature trying to nuzzle Quote a bit. Figuring he had no time to deal with this, he lightly shoved the large Critter off him and continue on his way.
Soon enough he'd come to another open part of the cavern, large stone pillars and hanging stone structures adorning the room, seemingly creating a path upwards towards an opening near the top of the room. Looking at the pillars closer, he'd see the pillars and hanging structures were lined with fans, cables running to several computer consoles below the pillars. Quote would think about how to work it... before a familiar voice spoke.
"Ah, kind robot!" The voice said. "You've returned to the island!"
Quote sweatdropped. "Good to see you too Malco..." Quote said, turning around to see the robot endoskeleton, still with that crushed head to one side. "So how've you been?"
"Fine, fine!" Malco responded, it's head tilting a bit. "Just hectic ever since that snake thing showed up! I presume you're heading to take care of it at its hiding spot?"
"Well, yeah, but-" Quote spoke before being interrupted.
"Say no more!" Malco spoke. "I shall help you get up there!" He said, leaping up onto the first pillar.
"Aaaaand... how exactly is this going to help?" Quote asked, crossing his arms.
"Simple!" Malco responded. "The circuit breaker for the sixth pillar's fans are higher up and not on the same level as the other five pillars. Have me get up there, and I can affix them on for you without the need for you to backtrack!"
Quote would think a bit. Malco definitely had a point about that...
"Alright, deal." Quote said, getting near the base of the first pillar on the terminal.
"Alright, now when I yell for you to move, hoof it to the next terminal to activate that one!" Malco said. "These first five fans only stay active for a set amount of time before they shut off!"
"Got it." Quote said, throwing the first switch as Malco was hoisted into the air. As soon as Malco yelled, "MOVE NOW!", Quote took off for the next terminal, throwing that switch and sending the robot up on the next pillar. "NOW TO THE LEFT!" Malco yelled as Quote hurdled an owl block to the third terminal, throwing the switch on that as Malco was again lifted from the fans on that pillar.
"NOW THE FOURTH!" Malco said, and Quote legged it as hard as he could to the next terminal, just barely dodging a set of spikes on the ground as he threw the next switch, the next set of fans activating.
"LAST ONE! DO IT!" Malco yelled, causing Quote to break into a sprint before he hit the switch on the console, activating the last set of fans as Malco soon lifted off the fifth pillar and onto the sixth pillar. "Alright! I shall activate the sixth pillar from here and then be down to repeat the process with you!"
"Alright..." Quote said, leaning against the stone pillar as Malco soon activated the sixth pillar's fans, the air flowing as the robot endoskeleton lept down the other pillars of fans back to the first one, the male scout robot meeting him there.
"Okay, the fans are active!" Malco said as Quote met him back at the first pillar. "Go ahead and get up on the platform!"
Quote merely nodded, getting onto the first platform as he steeled his nerves, clenching his fists. "Alright..." Quote said, taking a deep breath. "ONE!" Soon enough he'd feel the wind blow him upwards towards the set of horizontal fans.
"TWO!" Quote yelled, feeling the fans blow him towards the second pillar as the wind pushed him higher on the second pillar. Approaching the next set of horizontal fans, Quote gave the cue.
"THREE!" Quote would clench his eye shut, feeling the wind continuing to blow him upwards.
"FOUR!" He yelled again, the fans picking up as he ascended higher, clenching his teeth at the upcoming last one.
"FIVE!" He yelled, feeling the last set going as he was soon thrown through the air and onto a stone floor overlooking the pillars before him. "Nnnngghh..."
"Are you okay?!" Malco yelled.
"I-I'll be fine!" Quote said, getting to his feet. "Look, I'll talk to ya later! Lemme take care of business first!" He said, moving away from the ledge and heading forwards into the next room. The stone floor would definitely give the appearance it had seen better days, cracks and erosion everywhere on it as Quote looked to the metal storehouse, adorned with three fake skulls on the outside of it. Unholstering the Spur and gripping tightly to it, Quote kicked in the door, moving in like a SWAT member as he scanned the room.
...No sight of the large green snake-Balrog creature, meaning he was in luck for the time being as he looked around the abandoned storehouse. Noticing a chest sitting out on one of the crates, Quote would cautiously walk over to it and quietly open the chest.
...it was empty.
"Khss khss khss! Thought I'd just leave the teleporter key out in the open did you?" The familiar voice said as the large green creature crashed down in front of the door, blocking Quote's escape. "What do you take me for, a fool?"
Quote would grip the Spur, aiming right for the center of the creature's face.
"Ah, a defiant little shit aren't you? Khss Khss!" The snake creature said. "Well, you'll soon see how far that gets you. Khss!"
Quote gritted his teeth, keeping the Spur squarely trained on the creature.
"I suppose we haven't been properly introduced..." The creature spoke. "I am Suto." A wicked smile soon appeared on its face. "YOUR UNMAKER!"
Quote gritted his teeth as the assailant soon rushed at him, lunging for a bite. Quote would dodge-roll out of the way before firing off several shot's into Suto's back. The snake box would his before opening its mouth, spitting out three small metal snakes as they hit the ground and started crawling towards Quote at an alarming rate. Quote tensed up as he jumped over the snakes as the slithered towards the wall and went up it, colliding with the ceiling and breaking. Quote tensed up as Suto would come running at him again, Quote running at the green block creature and vaulting him as he got close, unleashing another blast into Suto as he vaulted. The green snake block would reach the opposite wall and leap up, spitting out two more small metal snakes that fell to the ground and started crawling towards Quote. The robot tensed up as he shot the two snakes with the Spur, turning them to nothing more than scrap metal on the floor.
Suto seemed enraged by the shooting of his snakes and charged straight for Quote, intending to run him over. The scout robt had other plans as he ducked down and slammed his feet squarely into Suto's underside, sending the large green box figure flying into the air and crashing into a heap on the ground a few feet away. Quote panted as Suto got back up, stamping its foot in anger as it looked at him with angry glaring eyes.
"You wanna play hardball?! Khss khss!" Suto hissed angrily, glaring at Quote. "THEN YOU'LL GET A HARDBALL!" Suto would then spit out a horde of the metallic snakes, all rushing for Quote immediately upon seeing him. Knowing he wouldn't have enough time to charge a piercing shot for the Spur, he'd holster the weapon and draw the Snake, opening fire on the multiple tiny metal snakes and shredding through them with each frantic shot. However, Quote would soon be distracted as Suto charged him and tackled him to the ground, biting hard into his left arm. Quote cried in pain as the large green block creature bit into him, almost feeling like it was going to rip his arm off. Getting desperate, he unholstered the Spur and jammed it directly into Suto's side, pulling the trigger and blasting the block snake off him. Quote got to his feet, panting heavily as he kept the gun trained on Suto, unmoving.
"Khss! Alright, you know what?!" Suto yelled, getting to his feet. "Take your stupid card and get lost!" He would then throw the keycard, conking Quote square in the face and flooring him entirely as Suto escaped from the storehouse. Quote rubbed his forehead in pain as he sat up in pain, grabbing the keycard off the ground. Well, at least he got what he came for...
Getting up, Quote would walk to the door and step out of the storehouse, taking a deep breath in just to grab his bearings again. But he wouldn't even have time for that as the island shook violently again, starting to throw Quote off his balance.
And then his luck would run out; larger cracks started to appear in the flooring of the outside stone floor where the storehouse was situated, growing in measurable size and damage as they shattered entirely...
And then the floor gave out from under him. Quote almost felt his heart stop as the floor collapsed from under him, looking back up at Grasstown as he felt himself falling faster and faster...
The air around him would chill, and Quote knew exactly what that meant.
He was falling out the underside of the island.
Curly had reached the door, panting like mad as she flung it open to get away from the hellish Egg Corridor and the gigantic beetles. She'd lean against the wall, sliding down it until she was sitting on the ground, panting hard and face flushed red; she definitely did not have a good time trying to fight those beetles. Waiting for her strength to return to her, she felt a cool breeze blow by her, as if the cave had open-flowing air. Piquing her curiosity, she'd peak over the edge to see where she was.
Her heart nearly stopped when she saw it was a long, straight shaft down to out of the island, the clouds rushing past just near the bottom mouth of the cave. Curly swallowed hard; she wasn't expecting to be placed somewhere so dangerous! However, squinting a bit, she could make out what looked like a safety platform below. There was the chance she could potentially descend to below and be able to walk away from the fall. She swallowed hard. She'd only have one shot at this though; if she missed that safety platform, she was falling right off the island. And there'd be no way she'd be able to walk away from that.
Swallowing hard, she'd begin her descent by a small leap to an outcropping on the side of the wall. Upon her landing on the outcropping, a few pebbles would chip off and fall down below, still emphasizing the long fall if Curly messed this up. The female scout robot would lightly inhale, keeping herself calm as best she could before she made her next leap down...
The second platform she leaped to cracked and slanted, nearly giving out from under her as she wobbled before gripping hard onto the wall, not wanting to fall. Steeling her nerves as best she could, she slightly moved a bit to get ready for another leap...
...and the entire platform gave out from under her causing her to fall and crash into another outhanging ledge. Thankfully this one was much sturdier than the one she was using earlier. She got to her knees, wincing a bit from the pain of the fall as she looked out at the pit. Only two more jumps she needed to take. Readying herself, he lept to the next ledge...
...and felt it break under her landing as she plummeted to the lower ledge in front of a door. Gritting her teeth in pain as she sat up, she'd look onwards at the door she crashed in front of before turning and seeing the large 'safety platform' in the hole behind her. She sighed in relief, thankful that she made it in one piece as she got up and started walking towards the door... but she heard something behind her. Turning around, she'd see another door on the far side of the gap, surrounded by a red mist-like substance and crackling a bit. Looking at it for a bit, Curly shook her head; she needed to prioritize finding Quote and Balrog first and foremost. Walking to the first door she saw, she'd open it up as a breeze of warmer air blew past her. She'd shudder, feeling the warmer air across her cold metal skin as she walked into the area, closing the door behind her.
Upon entering her new area, she'd see a large body of water in front of her along with a few platforms. Carefully jumping between the platforms, she'd soon climb her way up a small rocky wall to find herself in the Mimiga Village. She sighed in relief as at least she had a familiar location now, but it still raised the question:
Where is Quote?
Thinking she'd get some answers around the place, she headed off for the town hall to try and search for answers. Feeling a chill run up her spine a bit, she'd soon knock on the door to the Assembly Hall, waiting a bit before the door opened, Jack being shocked upon the sight of the female scout.
"Oh jeez!" He said, recoiling a bit before gathering his bearings. "Uh... you've certainly seen better days..."
Curly would sigh. "Not now Jack, I'm looking for Quote. Have you seen him?" She asked.
"Ah, you just missed him!" Jack responded, bringing Curly inside. "He went off to Grasstown not too long ago to talk to Chaco. I'm sure he'll be back soon enough, why not wait here?"
Curly would shrug, leaning against the back wall as she waited for Quote to come back...
Quote could feel the air rushing fast past him as he approached the bottom of the island, clamping his eyes shut and awaiting the inevitable cruching pain colliding with the surface would have... until he felt something hard stop him, feeling like he had just taken a cannonball to the gut as he had hit... an undernaging platform that was across the bottom of the island. Gritting his teeth from the pain, he'd open his only good eye... to see that his Spur was starting to slide towards the edge of the platform, about to fall off. Not even caring about the pain at this point, Quote scrambled to his feet and dived for the gun just as it went over the edge of the platform...
...and caught it in the nick of time before it would fall out of his reach. Quote sighed in relief. That was too close for comfort there.
Getting back up and securely holstering the Spur to himself, Quote began walking across the perilous terrain of the Underside. The entire pathway was being hung by merel chains and girders protruding from the dark-blue rocky face of the island, several Mimiga-like statures would be hanging from the ceilings at sporadic intervals, chains holding blocks with and girders above the swirling cloud vortex below didn't exactly make Quote feel easy as he lept a gap in the pathway, soon climbing up another small rocky bank before coming to... a dead end, the cloud vortex swirling below as Quote looked onwards, seeing another set of hanging earth away from him, way out of range for him to attempt to jump to.
He gripped his fists, angry at his current situation... before the blocks across materialized in front of him, almost completely phasing in from existence. Quote was hesitant; he couldn't be sure if this was a trap or not, so he did a test; grabbing a rock from where he was standing, he underhand tossed it to the platform that had materialized. He was in luck; the rock landed on the platform. Breathing a bit of a sigh of relief, Quote backed up before he ran and lept onto the platform, soon following the path of the girders and blocks across to another secured underhang of the island. Quote began to climb up...
"My my, the witch Jenka must have some sort of belief in you... Genesis usually isn't this predictable..." A familiar voice said, causing Quote to freeze up. Glancing back at another underhang, he'd find none other than the hood-wearing enigma Cthulhu looking at him... from upside down. He was standing on the ceiling. Quote sighed; he really didn't want any more interaction with this guy.
"What do you want?" Quote spoke, distressed a bit from the hooded-figure's presence, doubly-so from his inverted stature.
"A mere word of warning, my robotic comrade." Cthulhu spoke. "The beings that are causing the island's tearing are not to be trifled at; they are powerful, and destructive. And they will kill you should you not be careful."
"Well then what do I do?" Quote said, now not even looking at the Cthulhu as he continued climbing the small rocky wall up.
"Listen carefully." Cthulhu spoke. "Their marks of corrupted red entryways lead to their domains. Their domains shall have you see the same color unless you trust your instincts."
"Trust my... what does that-" Quote would turn around, only to find the hooded figure to have disappeared. "...mean..." Feeling unnerved, Quote continued moving as he soon came across a shack connecting the main pillar of the ground he was standing on to the island itself. Swallowing hard, the scout robot would walk inside the shack, finding it was abandoned, just merely a bookcase and- wait, there was something behind the bookcase...
Catching his curiousity, Quote would walk over and inspect behind the bookcase, finding a chest of some kind. Pulling it out, he'd find it was hidden in the wall. He opened the chest... and found a note.
Wow, can't believe I almost missed this one! This thing's hidden as well as our hideout!
-Pignon the Stealthy
"There's that name again..." Quote muttered to himself as he looked to the other door, stepping out of it and taking a few steps towards the edge again... only for the block he was standing on to start moving towards the next hanging land chunk! Quote nearly lost his balance as the block started moving, keeping ahold of it until he got to the next island hanging from the massive chunk above him. Taking a deep breath and walking to the next side of the chunk, he'd find another Mimiga statue, although this one was rightside up as opposed to every other statue on the Underside. Curious, Quote walked up to the statue and read the inscription on it...
Proceed to the land of those not forgotten...
As soon as Quote read that scripture, a large steel girder would extrude from the platform as it stretched out to another underside of the island, seemingly not stopping. Quote took a deep breath as he stepped onto the girder, walking along its length as he recounted the transpired events within the last two hours, already resulting in him on another twisted adventure across the island's land mass once again. He sighed; things really weren't going his way right now...
Soon enough he reached where that steel girder had connected to; a small obscure underhang of the island housing a single door. Taking a deep breath, he walked through the door into the new location.
The new location Quote had stepped into appeared to be a hallowed ground. The terrain would certainly feel familiar to him as he walked forward... like it was part of the Mimiga Graveyard...
A shudder went down Quote's mechanical spine as he walked along the path laid out in front of him, passing several graves, each bearing some form of name that Quote didn't recognize. A steep slope down led Quote further into this quiet place, this Sanctuary of Spirits, towards another set of unmarked graves off to the side, a small wooden staircase leading upwards as lanterns with dim blue fire barely illuminated the way forward. The soft chiming of a music box could be heard by, keeping Quote from panicking as he continued towards the other end of the large grave-riddled cavern, soon reaching another door at the end.
Slowly cracking it open, Quote would move through to soon find himself in a square wooden room with a single hanging flame in the center of it. Feeling uneasy, Quote would start to move to an adjacent room as he soon found the door slamming behind him. Looking up, he'd see the same flame torch from the previous room.
The fire was following him, sealing the doors.
Taking a deep breath, Quote soon dashed towards another exit and cleared through two rooms. The flame wasn't moving fast enough to catch up and seal off the entryways, and soon Quote had dived through an entryway right as the door slammed shut behind him, locking Quote into the small room. Taking a minute to catch his breath, Quote would move through the only available door...
...and fall face-first to the ground as the door was over air in the Spirit Sanctum. Quote would righten himself onto his rear end, holding his head in pain as his vision started to clear. He could see three graves, one with a sword embedded into it, a wide one, and one of a Mimiga... and a small white Mimiga standing in front of it? Quote rubbed his eye to try and clear his vision. What he saw almost made his heart stop; the familiar green-sweater wearing Mimiga with her back to him was all too familiar a painful sight to him...
Toroko.
"T-Toroko?" Quote choked out, looking onwards at the Mimiga.
"...I thought you were strong..." The Mimiga said, Quote now noticing the tiny will-o-wisps surrounding her body.
"..." Quote started to back away.
"I thought you'd be able to save me..." The Mimiga said, turning to face Quote with its red eyes glaring at him. "But you didn't. You killed me."
Quote was confused now. What was Toroko meaning? He remembered he tried to put her to rest easily...
He wouldn't have time to think though; the will-o-wisps soon surrounded Toroko, transforming her into the large hulking creature that he had been forced to fight before a year ago. Teh enraged spirit Mimiga would roar before leaping into the air, throwing a block straight for Quote. The robot steeled his nerves as he dodged out of the way, charging the Spur as he waited for the spiritual Toroko to attack again. Once she grabbed the block in her hands, Quote would fire off a Level 3 blast right at the spirit Toroko, causing the ghost to rear back in pain before it lunged at Quote. The robot would duck down, driving his feet into the spirit Mimiga and launching her over him, feeling tense as he kept the Spur squarely trained right on the spirit Mimiga... but then she'd grip her head in pain, as if suffering.
"No, no, NO!" It yelled, shrinking back down to the normal Toroko size. "This sin't what I'm supposed to be doing! I don't belong here!"
"Toroko..?" Quote asked, slowly reaching a hand out to her spiritual frame.
"Th-the rage is gone... but I'm still dead..." Torko spoke, fear evident in her voice. "Wh-what did I die for? What did big brother die for? What... what did King die for?"
"...what did we die for?" Another voice spoke, the spirit of King materializing in front of the grave with the sword. "For our people; our home; the island." Toroko would turn to look at the spirit King. "It doesn't matter if its a demon, or that cursed Crown, or... them..." His face would grimace a bit upon saying that. "We lived and died for what we cared about."
"King..." Toroko said.
"It's too late to save us now..." King spoke, looking to Quote. "But he can still save everyone else on this island. It's time to go Toroko..." With that, King would walk back to his grave and vanish, leaving the green sweatered Mimiga alone with Quote.
"I..." She spoke. "I feel peaceful now.."
Quote would nod. "Rest easy, Toroko..."
"I-I will." Toroko spoke, starting to fade. "And... and if you see Sue, tell her... tell her I lived a happy life..." She'd set something down on the ground in front of her, a silver fish locket... "G-goodbye..." And with that, Toroko's spirit disappeared, leaving Quote alone in the small Spirit Sanctum. Walking forward and picking up the locket, another voice soon spoke to Quote.
"She finally calmed herself down?" The voice said, causing Quote to jump. "That sister of mine, always in and out of trouble with King, just like she was with me..."
"Wh-who's there?" Quote said, eyes darting around.
"That would be... me." The voice said as Quote turned around, seeing another spirit Mimiga, this one wearing an orange vest, sitting on top of the largest gravestone in the room. "Arthur. Her brother."
"You're... you're Arthur?" Quote asked.
"Mhm." The spirit Mimiga responded. "And I must thank you for what you've done. For saving my sister; avenging my friend's death. You kept your promises you made to them."
"I..." Quote started, before Arthur raised a paw.
"Please, you don't need to say anything." Arthur responded. "I can understand how you feel right now; confused, maybe even a little bit fearful. However..." He looked to Quote's eye. "I can feel a powerful soul inside that robotic body of yours; an unbreaking spirit. Someone... to continue our legacy."
"Your legacy?" Quote asked, receiving a nod from the orange-vested Mimiga.
"None of us have any regrets for our lives now. We're free to move on." Arthur said. "We're finally at peace... and I could at least meet the one who King and Toroko trusted in their darkest hours."
Quote was silent as Arthur soon continued.
"But this island... this homestead... it has no more use for my memory. It is time for someone else to take the reigns of fate into their hands... one who can steer it to a hopeful future." Arthur would pull a sword out from behind the massive gravestone; it was nearly identical to King's Blade, but this one was a more golden metal, a blue sapphire embedded right into the center of the blade base. "I offer to you my blade."
"R... really?" Quote asked.
Arthur would nod, Quote cautiously taking the sword from Arthur. "Your soul can do no wrong with it..." He spoke as he faded away...
Quote would sheath the blade onto his back, taking a deep breath. He'd start to feel a bit lightheaded though...
Soon enough he'd feel the world warp around him as he felt a surge of heat hit him like a ton of bricks. And judging from the grittiness on his feet, he knew where he had ended up.
The Sand Zone.
Clearing his vision, he could definitely tell he was there; the gritty sand and the rising embers along with the ruins made it all too-evident. What was new appeared to be the foundry equipment and the mining vehicles as they burrowed into sides of the walls. Keeping his head level, Quote would start ascending the Eroding Valve where he had warped into as he made his way towards the top of the room. Small red metal orbs with red eyes would roll past him, heading further down into the area, which confused him, but then he had just assumed they were merely scout drones or something along those lines. Continuing up the sandy slopes, he'd soon find another door leading into the inner parts of the Sand Zone. He'd walk through the door...
...and almost his eyes would widen at what he saw. The new Sand Zone had changed massively since the year's past; the chamber was much more open, hanging structures all around the massive cavern, a humongous pool of lava at the bottom with several sandy reefs in it along with hanging housing from the upper portions of the cavern. Large cast-iron buckets filled with the molten rock were carried across the ceiling of the zone, leading towards separate parts of a gigantic foundry running through the entire heated zone. The normal mobs would still be active, stamping across the sandy bars and the hanging structures of the cavern. Several houses would be surrounding the Zone, but right smack dab in the center of the entire sand Zone, held there by four massive linked chains attached to the walls, was none other than Jenka's home, a red mystical barrier covering the entrances inside it.
"What the..." Quote said, breathing deeply as he was tapped on the shoulder, causing him to jump.
"Jeez kid, it's only me!" The voice said as Quote would turn to see the familiar bushy-eyebrowed Mimiga, elicting a sigh of relief from the robot boy.
"Sorry, a bit on edge right now..." Quote said. "What happened to the Sand Zone?"
"Industrialization, that's what!" Santa said, looking out at the Sand Zone. "With the island collapsing more and more each day, Chaco wanted a foundry set up so we could get us some support girders set up to try and keep the caves from collapsing in on themselves more than they already have!"
"What... what happened to Jenka?" Quote asked.
"I dunno, but she hasn't come out of her home for quite some time now!" Santa spoke, pointing to the barrier. "And we can't get in to see if she's okay!"
Quote would look worried. "Is there any sort of way I can help?" He asked.
Santa merely shook his head. "Not that I know of. But that old Booster guy is living here as well as Misery. If you find either of them, they'll probably be able to help you along your way!"
Quote would nod, turning back to the sights in front of him, trying to think of how he was going to get down there from how high up he was... until he saw the steel cabling, and an idea popped into his head, taking the newly acquired blade he had gotten from Arthur and leaping to the cable, using it as a zipline as he sped downwards towards a platform. Once he was in dropping range, he removed the blade from the cable, dropping to the ground and landing with a thud; time to find Misery or Booster.
Keeping his eyes level, he'd start moving across the hanging sand bank as a few Skullwalkers would start stampeding his way. Keeping the trigger primed, he'd take aim and open fire with the Spur, the laser blasting through three of the Skullwalkers with no effort as another three continued at Quote. The male scout robot would dodge to the side, continuing his run as he lept from block to block. By this point he was really wishing he had asked Malco for that Missile Launcher he returned to him that year ago. Rocket jumping through the area would have made the travel so much easier...
A horde of Terrorkeets would fly overhead as Quote rounded a corner of the hanging sandbank, soon seeing another building up ahead. Skidding to a halt, he'd notice the nearby teleporter. Confused, he'd go into the building. It was a bit dank, which was odd for a building in the Sand Zone; but then Quote would notice the sleeping dog near a chest, instantly recognizing it as one of Jenka's dogs. Approaching the dog quietly, he'd soon freeze up as he stepped on something that snapped. He looked down.
He had stepped on a bone.
The dog had immediately woken up and started barking at him, soon accompanied by two other dogs behind him as Quote felt uneasy, glancing around him and the barking dogs. Then another bark came as another dog stepped out of the shadows, one Quote recognized almost instantly.
Nene.
"At ease my brothers." The dog spoke. Quote had decided that wasn't the strangest thing he had seen upon his return to the island and decided to roll with it. "Welcome back Quote. Sorry the return hasn't exactly been... hospitable, to say the least."
"I can tell." Quote spoke. "What's happened to Jenka?"
"She's fallen ill... worriedly so..." Nene spoke. "She's trapped in a neverending nightmare and she won't awaken from it..."
"Well, how do I help then?" Quote spoke. Nene looked to the other dogs and they nodded, rushing out of the room.
"My friends are getting the teleporters manned for you to use." She spoke. "Booster or Misery can explain it better than we can." She'd then nudge the chest to Quote. "If you need to reset the teleporters for any reason, take this." She spoke. "Just be careful; our ears are sensitive to it."
Quote would open the chest to soon find a dog whistle inside it. Picking it up and nodding, he'd soon walk to the first teleporter and nod to the dog, getting sent off to another part of the Sand Zone.
Stepping out of the teleporter, Quote could see what appeared to be a small workshop just a bit a ways below him. The foundry equipment however, was blocking the way, meaning he'd have to find an alternative route rather than straight down. Giving the Spur a rest and unholstering the Snake, Quote took off West of the teleporter, skidding along a patch of rough sand as several Sandcrocs would lunge out to try and take a bite out of him. Firing his Snake back at them as they dipped back into the ground, Quote would roll under a massive molten rock tube as he moved to the next teleporter, nodding to the dog. It nodded as Quote teleported again.
Seeing no dog next to the teleporter, Quote deduced he was on the right track. Indeed he was; as he rounded a corner, he'd soon see Booster's lab across from the way, past a magmafall. Taking care not to get burned, Quote slipped by the large heated feat and go right into the Workshop.
Unfortunately for him, his timing was way off; Professor Booster was nowhere in sight. Quote sighed, soon looking to the workbench within the shop to see a Booster v0.8 lying on it. Quote sighed, taking the Booster with him for the time being; he'll just have to return it to Booster later. But then he'd notice the open document on the computer screen. Curious, Quote took a look at it.
Measurements confirmed.
Cavern volume increasing.
Island Size increasing.
Mass remains constant.
Analysis: This would explain why many areas are connected now, and can be visited without a teleporter. However, this also means the walls are getting this trend continues, the island will no longer be able to support itself. It will crumble under it's own weight...
A red flag immediately set off in Quote's head; whatever is happening, he needed to find Misery or Booster fast.
Rushing out of the Workshop, Quote would notice another teleporter near the top of the Sand Zone's ceiling. Running back to his original teleporter, he blew the whistle as the dogs reset the teleporters, soon leaping into the one he just got out of and warping up to the upper teleporter room. After he finished warping, he took off across the sands, leaping over a couple of the native mobs to the Sand Zone before skidding to a halt right in front of Misery's abode. Sighing in hope, he'd enter into the abode.
It was a bit darker than the rest of the Sand Zone, the abode lined with several potion brewing stands and the like, a small table and chair off to one side and a bed at the far back of the room. Quote wouldn't get long to search around before a familiar voice spoke.
"Alright, who do you think you are barging into my-" Misery spoke as she warped in, quickly catching herself as she soon saw who was in the room. "Q-Quote?! What the hell are you doing here?!"
"Your guess is as good as mine Misery." Quote answered. "All I know right now is that I've been led on a massive goose-chase around the entire island at this point, something involving Jenka being stuck in a sleeping nightmare."
"...so you heard." Misery spoke, lowering herself to the ground. "I'm surprised you came on such short notice however."
"Didn't have much of a choice there." Quote spoke. "Next thing I know, Curly, Balrog and myself are thrown into different parts of the island entirely. We're all split up across the entire place and I don't know where any of them are!"
Misery would think a bit, then nod. "Well, I do suppose I owe you an explanation for what's going on with my mother..." She spoke. "After my mother succumbed to her... illness, let's call it, two forces had started appearing on the island from my mother's arcane powers and wreaking havoc in their own respective areas; Genesis, a creature who creates up from the ashes of ruin, and Oblivion, a creature who craves for nothing but destruction and the inevitable demise of all things. Together, they have been completely destabilizing the island in its entirety and is risking its complete collapse."
Quote would nod. "So these two creatures... is Jenka controlling them?"
"I wouldn't necessarily jump to that conclusion boy!" A voice spoke as Quote and Misery looked at the entrance, Professor Booster walking in. "Misery has already checked; Jenka is completely unconscious, there's no way she's being able to control them right now."
"Never underestimate a witch's control over something, even unconsciously." Misery spoke.
"Even then..." Booster spoke. "I feel that there's a third party at play here."
"Third party?" Misery asked. "That'd be impossible! Quote killed the only other person it could've been; the Doctor! There's no way he could have survived after Quote and Curly killed the Core with him inside it!"
"Look at it this way." Booster spoke. "Why would Jenka, of all people, actively tear the island apart? Furthermore, do we destroy Genesis and Oblivion to wake her? Or is it a vice versa case, where we have to wake her to destroy Genesis and Oblivion?"
Misery would think. "You have a point... but even then, not even my uncle could do something like this!"
"He can't." Quote said. "I killed him, he's been dead for over a year now."
"..." Booster would think before he spoke again. "Misery."
"Yes?"
"Do you think it's possible... she's mourning Ballos's death?" Booster asked. "That perhaps, that's what's driven her to create these hellish nightmares unleashed onto the island?"
"It's... possible." Misery spoke. "If her nightmares are what's driving her to eliminate the thought of him so thoroughly..."
"...then it's the reason why she's destroying the island." Quote said. "Meaning if we're going to stop this, we can't waste any more time than we need to."
Booster would nod. "I see you already have one of my Boosters equipped." Professor Booster spoke. "If I could get an energy cell from the Labyrinth, I could get it fully complete to a 2.0."
Misery would nod. "We'll try to get in contact with the Mimiga Village about the crisis going on. You focus on getting that cell."
Quote nodded, soon taking off to try and find the entrance to the Labyrinth...
洞窟物語: ジェンカスの悪夢
Cave Story: The Demon Crown Saga
Jenka's Nightmare Arc
Chapter 2 End