The male scout robot would be running across the dunes, trying to look for the exit to the Sand Zone so he could get to the Labyrinth as he rounded another corner. Upon seeing another sandy door at the end of the hanging sandbar he was ambushed by another horde of Skullwalkers, he dodged to the side as he threw a flurry of shots from the Snake, the waving flames ripping right through the marrow of the bony creatures as he continued running towards the entryway. After a few minutes he had reached the entryway, leading into a short sandy corridor with a few pools of lava. The first thing that would be drawn to Quote's attention however was the pair of stubby legs waving out of the sand where it was buried. Quote's hopes shot back up; he found Balrog! Rushing over to the gigantic square, he'd grab the legs and begin pulling, grunting as he exerted his strength tho pull the gigantic box-thing out of the ground. With a final yank, Quote pulled the box out as it landed with a thud.
"HUZZAH! I'M OUT!" Balrog yelled, shaking as he landed to get the sand off him. "I'm not sure how much longer I could have taken in there..."
"Good to see you're alright Balrog." Quote said, hugging the large box-thing. "How long have you been stuck there?"
"I'm not sure." Balrog said shaking a bit more sand off of him. "Where are we anyways?"
"We're back in the Sand Zone on the island." Quote said. "And right now, we don't have a lot of time. Are we able to get to the Labyrinth from here?"
"I think so." Balrog said, ducking down to let Quote climb onto his back. Just hold on while I smash us-" Balrog would then burst upwards slightly, a bit of black smoke rising up. "-out of here?" Balrog would try to fly again, but he couldn't even do that. "Crapbaskets, I think I have sand in my thrusters!"
"Shoot..." Quote said. "That's not good..."
"Well, if I can't ram upwards, I'll just have to ram forwards!" Balrog said, running forward at the wall as Quote fell from his back, landing in the sand as Balrog would soon yell his usual "HUZZAH! EMERGIS EXMORTIS!" before smashing through a wall and then a second wall past that, before finally smashing through a doorway, leaving a gaping Balrog-sized hole in it.
Quote would sit up, shaking his head before getting to his feet, walking after the giant box into the next room. The next room was certainly dank, smelling wet as if there was flowing water within the immediate area. Ahead of the two Balrog spotted a large boulder.
"Oh look at the size of that thing!" Balrog said, rushing up to the boulder. "There's gotta be something on the other side of the of this thing! Wanna help me move it Quote?"
Quote would think for a second, pondering the possibility of the entrance into the Labyrinth being on the other side of this massive boulder. Weighing the possibilities that this was literally the only way he could go, he nodded to Balrog, receiving a large smile from the box.
"Alright, you take that side!" He said, indicating to the left side of the boulder. Quote would nod as he walked over and took the side of the boulder, feeling his servos tense up a bit as he took ahold while Balrog grabbed from the other side.
"Alright, ready?" Balrog said.
"I think so..." Quote spoke, feeling a bit of a sharp tug.
"Alright... one, two, three!" Balrog said as the two flung the boulder into the air... and it came crashing down in front of the door, blocking their only way back.
"...goddamnit." Quote said, facepalming. "Now we're stuck in here."
"Uh... whoops?" Balrog said, shrugging a bit before the sound of something depressurizing came from in the room. Becoming tense, Quote grabbed the blade off his back, his eyes darting the room's corners.
He didn't expect the floor to completely open up underneath the two, whisking them off in the waters.
"BRRIIII CABBBB'T SWBIBIBIBIMBMBB!" Balrog gurgled out before crashing into Quote, knocking him unconscious as he was swept through the waters...
Quote couldn't tell what he was seeing right now in his memories... it was still a bit staticy, but he could make out what appeared to be... a lab? A man of some sort? There was a name tag on the coat... D...
Then soon enough his memories faded into fuzz before he saw Curly and him running across the surface of the island, dodging gunfire and the like...
Another fuzz, now seeing him and Curly in the throne room, Miakid with the Crown on his head across from them. The man would let out some sort of battle cry before charging at the two, large sword drawn at the ready...
One last fuzz, this time he saw what appeared to be a small dark cave in the island, before his eyes shut and the recordings ended. Quote deduced he had just seen the time he had been shut off originally.
And then his circuits would go offline again...
"Quote!" Balrog said, shaking the robot lightly as he tried to get him to wake up. Slowly but surely, Quote would come back online, his optic flickering back online as he started to look around.
"Ahhnnn..." Quote said, sitting up as he held his head. "Wh-what the hell happened?"
"That boulder must have set off some sort of trap." Balrog said. "We're in the Labyrinth now!"
"Nnngghh... well, at least that's good." Quote coughed, getting to his feet. "We should prioritize finding that Energy Cell for Booster. Once we have that, we'll prioritize finding a way out of here." He said, walking to the door of the small room the two were in.
Upon moving through the door, Quote and Balrog would soon find themselves into the largest bowels of the Labyrinth, which received a massive shifting since his first visit; massive conveyor belts shoveling through large heaps of garbage would be prevalent among the walls of the rocky chamber, dumping the large heaps down into the lower bowels of the chamber. On the conveyor belt were large Presses, crushing the garbage on the conveyor belt as other Gaudi creatures would be looking over the processes. Several vents on the parts of the walls would occasionally spew flames, evident of there being incinerators somewhere inside the walls to burn off the garbage flung into the place to begin with. Something would then catch Quote's eyes; what appeared to be a small calico cat scampering along the conveyor belts before disappearing into another corridor off to the side of the massive chamber.
"I think we might have a lead." Quote said, leaping down onto one of the conveyors. "C'mon Balrog!"
"Hey, wait up!" Balrog said, leaping down... and slamming into the conveyor belt, causing the entire structure to shake harshly and almost throwing Quote from the path.
"Easy there!" Quote yelled, hurdling piles of the trash before leaping to another belt, nearing the passage where the cat had fled down. At the last second he lept off the conveyor, rolling onto the cropping where the passage was... as Balrog faceplanted, right behind him, panting.
"Can we... slow down?" Balrog panted. "I'm not used to doing all this running with the sand in my thrusters..."
"I understand Balrog, but we need to keep moving." Quote said, stepping forward, soon finding a large corridor that spread out in front of them. And ahead of Quote would be a not-too-friendly reminder sight... the giant battle tank he and Curly had destroyed was back up and rebuilt, now with... drills attached to it?
"What the-" Quote started to speak before he was pounced on from the side, tackled to the ground as he felt a sharp knife embedded deep into his shoulder, before feeling a gloved paw stuffed over his mouth.
"I'm gonna make this clean cut you little metal shit." The cat said, hissing under her breath as she glared down Quote. "I don't care who you are or what you may have accomplished, point is, you broke my tank last time. And I don't take kindly to that..."
Quote struggled to move, only for the cat to press the knife further into his shoulder.
"Another move like that and you're losing your damn arm!" The cat hissed. "Now if you value your life, you're going to make up for the fact you blew up my ride the last time and help me get the fuel back for it. Understood?"
Quote would try to struggle, only feeling the pain of the knife jabbing deeper into his shoulder.
"Understood?!" The cat hissed louder, receiving a panicked nod from Quote.
"Good." She spat, ripping the knife out of Quote's shoulder. "Now find me the fuel; Critter juice, a secretement held by the gigantic Critter that lives within the walls of this cavern. Bring me some of that Critter secretement, and I'll let you leave here through the tunnel I'm drilling."
Quote got up, glaring at the cat before he stormed off, Balrog following behind him.
"Why didn't you get her off me?" Quote grumbled at Balrog.
"I wasn't expecting her coming!" Balrog said. "If I had been able to predict her coming I would've stopped her!"
Quote sighed, the two moving back into the main chamber. "Well, I'm not going to enjoy this any more than you're going to." Upon reaching the main chamber again, Quote would see a door lower in the chamber, near a lower conveyor belt hauling smashed garbage. Getting his bearings after a bitten arm, Quote lept down to the lower belt, Balrog soon following and nearly causing the entire conveyor to capsize from his impact.
"Aaack..." Quote sputtered out. "Can you please try to be more careful Balrog?"
"Sorry..." Balrog said, sweatdropping in embarrassment as the two continued their walk to the door. Upon reaching the other side, they'd see what appeared to be a large sewer-system like structure spanning through the corridors, pumping toxic sludge and runoff through them into who knows where in the walls. Balrog would gag upon entering the room; he really didn't like the smell in here. Quote could thankfully turn off his scent sensors, so it didn't exactly stunt his lungs as badly. It still caused him to gag a bit from the air's scent; not exactly the best thing for his synthetic lungs.
The two would trek along the smoggy corridor before the two would come to a familiar building to Quote; 'The Pits'. Quote would remember the name; it was here he and Curly got their objective to escape the Labyrinth to begin with thanks to the information from the owner of 'The Pits', Chaba. He thought that if there was anyone that could know a new way out of the Labyrinth, or where that Energy Cell Booster needed was, it would be him. Letting out a deep breath, Quote would enter into the building, Balrog... squeezing through it as best he could.
The cantina wouldn't have changed much from Quote's initial visit a year ago; still a large amount of other Gaudi, Critters, and old robots still enjoying their own times in the company of eachother as the cantina band still played the same tune as they did. Seeing Chaba behind the counter, Quote would smile; looks like he was still around to help. Taking a deep breath, he'd approach the counter.
"Hey Chaba, long time no see, as they say." Quote spoke, taking a seat at the counter.
The Gaudi would look up from the glass he was cleaning. "Ah, the robot boy I met a year ago to deliver that Whimsical Star module to Tetsuzou. Did he get the module proper?"
Quote would nod, unholstering the Spur and setting it down on the counter. "Here it is, the completed weapon in all its glory."
Chaba would take the gun and look at it a bit, his mandibles twitching. "Quite the impressive work he's made. Why do you have it though?"
"Well..." Quote spoke. "Long story short, Tetsuzou ended up giving me the gun after seeing how well I used the Polar Star."
"You a natural sharpshooter?" Chaba asked.
Quote nodded in response. "Anyways... I'm here looking for an Energy Cell for Professor Booster. Would you happen to now where I can find one?"
"Funny ya mention that, I had one being shipped out to the Sand Zone." Chaba spoke. "Though right now, I'm in a bit of a pickle myself."
"How so?" Quote asked.
"Well..." Chaba spoke, setting the glass down. "Long story short, my shipping boys got themselves into some deep shit out into the Revolutinarium, and now the cell is lost out there past the collapsed corridor. The security girl's trying to rebuild her tank and getting too feisty about it."
"I should know, she attacked me." Quote said, indicating to the stab on his shoulder.
"You look like more than her attacked you." Chaba said, looking over Quote. "What in the world happened to you? You look like a wreck."
"Long story." Quote said, leaning on the counter. "The crazy girl said I need Critter Juice or something to power that thing. You know where I can find some of that?"
"Well, deeper part of the Labyrinth oughta help ya out there." Chaba spoke. "There's said to be a massive Critter in the depths that's able to be a source for some. You could try there."
Quote would nod. "Alright, I-"
"One more thing." Chaba said, handing the robot boy a key. "Could you check out my cold storage in the deeper part while you're at it? Someone's been messing around with it in there and I can't find out who."
Quote would nod, taking the key from the large roach. "Sure thing." He said, pocketing the key. "One more question; by any chance do you have a computer somewhere in here with a messaging system?"
Chaba nodded, indicating to the staircase to the one side of the building. "Just up that staircase, first room on the left." He said, returning to polishing his glass.
Quote nodded, looking to the box-thing. "C'mon Balrog." He said, before the two walked off and headed up the stairs. Upon opening the first door on the left at the top of the staircase, Quote and Balrog would come to a computer in the room.
"Alright... let's just try to..." Quote said, starting to type into the computer...
Curly sighed, slowly sliding down the wall with her back to it as she soon sat on the floor, a small twinge of hopelessness setting into her mind and mechanical heart. Shouldn't Quote have been back from the Bushlands' Grasstown by this point? And where was Balrog? Why hadn't she tried using her comm unit at this point?
That last spark hit her; why didn't she try using her comm unit? Raising a hand to her green headset, she'd hit the sync button to try to listen in to Quote.
Static. No response.
Curly sighed. Quote must have been out of the reception area for the comm unit, which wasn't a complete surprise for her; Grasstown was huge, he could've easily gotten lost out there, but she had confidence he'd be able to find his way back.
Sue meanwhile had gotten a bit of a small wardrobe change as she was working on the teleporter; a black sweater to replace her tattered blue one, and a pair of spare goggles to protect her eyes as she worked on the machine, still tinkering with the inner circuitry as she grunted in frustration.
Jack meanwhile was checking over the computer for any sort of new messages and updates, but so far there was nothing at all through the computer. He placed his head on the desk, sighing in frustration over the lack of communication. Where was Quote? Why wasn't he or Chaco getting back to him?
His answer would soon come as an IM ringing would come from the computer. Curious, he'd check the IP address of the call, and it appeared... it was coming from the Labyrinth? Jack was confused; the Labyrinth was crawling with Gaudi. Who'd be calling from there?
He'd get his answer soon enough as a familiar robotic face popped up on the screen accompanied by a large box-thing.
"Quote?!" Jack said, jumping up from his seat, which also grabbed the attention of Curly and Sue. "What in the blazes are you doing in the Labyrinth?!"
"Long story." Quote spoke, shaking his head. "But the point is I'm down here now, but I've got the data cards for Grasstown and now the Labyrinth. Once I ge-"
"QUOTE OH MY GOD!" Curly squealed as she shoved Jack out of the way and took up the screen. "Thank god you're okay!"
Quote would sigh in relief. "Same to you Curly. Glad you could make it out of the Egg Corridor okay."
Curly sighed. "It was hell, but I managed to survive and get out. This island though..."
"I know, it's got quite the change since our year gone." Quote said. "I met Booster while in the Sand Zone. He's got an explanation as to what exactly is going on right now with the island's stability, but it'd be better if he explained it in full. Does Sue have the teleporter linked up to the Sand Zone yet?"
"Don't try to rush me Quote, I'm trying!" Sue yelled from underneath the teleporter. "Just be lucky the Sand Zone data card was already here!"
Quote sweatdropped from where he was. "Look, I already got the ones for the Labyrinth and Grasstown. Once I get back to the village, you'll get the cards first thing, okay?"
"Fine, fine!" Sue mumbled, continuing to fiddle with the controls on the teleporter.
Quote would look back to Curly. "I'm going to try looking for another exit out of the Labyrinth. Keep your comm unit open in case I come back into range, alright?"
Curly nodded in response. "Will do Quote."
The male scout smiled. "Alright, I'll see you guys. Take care." He said, ending the transmission and leaving the group to themselves in the village. Curly would at least rest easy knowing Quote was alive, but her concern would still be apparent as she waited for the male scout to return...
"Alright, that takes care of worries there." Quote said, logging off the computer as he still gripped the Spur to his side. "Now all we need to do is check the Cold Storage for Chaba and get the Critter Juice for the crazy cat girl."
"And then we get out?" Balrog asked.
"Well since your thrusters are jammed, yeah." Quote spoke. "It's the only way at this point."
Balrog would nod as the two headed for the stairs and soon stepped back out into the Labyrinth. "Alright, so..."
"You got any idea where we should go?" Quote said.
"Maybe we should try lower?" Balrog said, indicating to further along down the path of trash. "I mean, there's gotta be a deeper point, right?"
Quote would nod, the two setting off deeper into the trashy corridors of the Labyrinth. Few vents on the sides would be belching embers every now and again as the two descended deeper and deeper...
Balrog would halt, a sound catching his attention. Quote wouldn't notice Balrog had stopped until he was a few meters away from the box-thing; looking back, he'd sigh before calling out.
"Balrog! Come on!" Quote said. "What are you doing?!"
"Hold up." Balrog would look around. "Do you hear that?"
Quote would remain silent as his audio receptors would start to pick up the sound; running water. Free-flowing running water, to be exact. Wherever the two were going, they were headed towards something that probably was going to be rather soggy.
Motioning for Balrog to come, Quote and the box-thing would continue deeper into the dank caves until parts would start looking much more mechanical, with machines lining the area. What appeared to be black sludge would be pumping through the pipes, a noxious smell still filling the room as the two proceeded throughout the cooridors, seeing what appeared to be broken down robots on several sides. Unease gripping at him, Quote continued forward with Balrog before the box-thing would point out something he missed.
"Is that a door over there?"
Quote would turn to see another entryway with a shutter-like door, what appeared to be a lock near the bottom tightly fastening it to the ground. A faded sign was above it that Quote could barely make out the word 'Storage' with his one good eye. Figuring this was the place, the male scout robot would approach the shutter and kneel down, inserting and twisting the key into the lock as the rusted hinges slowly creaked, the scout lifting the entire ensemble up to show the large storage cavern that was behind it; massive amounts of crates piled up and stacked in semi-orderly ways, though it would be evident the few that were seen toppled were more than likely because of the island's tremors.
"Well, here's the Storage Chaba wanted us to investigate..." Quote said, stepping inside. "What exactly that is, I'm not sure... but we'll try." Balrog would lumber in behind him, the dim lights of the storage room lighting the corridors between the crates as the two started to walk through. The atmosphere would be silent, aside from the churning of the filtration machines from just beyond the wall, giving off a muffled, almost eerie pulse. Quote's internal sensors would be scrambling a bit from each pulse, making him feel uneasy as he continued through the corridors...
Something just then caught his eye; what looked to be a forcefully ripped open crate with the contents within it stolen. Moving up to the crate, the scout robot analyzed the pried lid to discover there were teeth marks in the wooden lid itself. That would have been enough to make him tense and switch over to combat mode, but then he noticed something else in the crate; a note, much like the ones he had seen before. Grabbing the note, he'd find it read:
HA. TOO STUPID YOU TO CATCH ME.
ITEM OURS NOW. COME GET IF WANT, WILL WRECK YOU LIKE TRASH.
-PIGNON STRONG
At this point Quote was starting to become seriously agitated by the name; Pignon, Pignon, Pignon... who was this Pignon?
"Uhh... you okay there Quote?" Balrog asked.
"Huh?" Quote said, snapping out of a trance as he looked back to see Balrog looking at him from behind. "Y-yeah, I'm fine..."
"You sure?"
"It's nothing, really." Quote said, looking back to the crate. "Well, at least Chaba was right in thinking the place had been disturbed... so that's one part of what we needed to look at done. Let's find that Critter horde now." Balrog would nod as the two exited the storage room, making their way down the filtration hallway further as the corridor grew darker... and darker... until eventually only Quote's one optic was illuminating the way forward. The churning from the filtration machines would have become muffled and distant, small drops dripping from the stalactites as the two continued downward, the slope becoming slightly steep.
Quote felt his nonexistant artificial stomach churn as he got the Snake from his holster, keeping the Spur for emergency if things got hairy down here. The tenseness got to him as Balrog would accidentally bump into him from behind, causing the robot scout boy to jump in shock.
"Sorry..." Balrog said, keeping behind Quote as the path led deeper into the cavern... before they came across a wide vertical chamber, stretching upwards a fair ways before tapering off at some sort of hanging growth at the top. Light droplets of water would be dripping down from the ceiling above, the light pittering of the water against the cavern floor grazing their ears every so often.
"Dead end..." Balrog said, looking around the large room. "So... what do we do now?"
"Let's try heading back and-" Quote was almost immediately cut off as a makeshift stone door slammed shut, barricading their only exit out of the room. The scout cussed internally to himself, getting the Snake ready...
"Khss Khss Khss! WE MEET AGAIN, DUMB-BELL!"
Goddamnit.
None other than Suto would drop from the ceiling and land in front of the two, just a bit from in front of the center of the clearing. Quote groaned in annoyance; this was not what he wanted to deal with right now.
"I remember that hat from anywhere, yessss...!" He started, before he then noticed Balrog. "Eh? And who's your imitator friend over here?"
"Imitator, excuse me?" Balrog said, lumbering forward. "You're the one copying my body style!"
"Oh please, as if you're so bold as to invent the box-shape style! Khss!" Suto hissed back. "But enough about me; consider me impressed at you, robot boy! A fall like that out of the butt of the island would isn't something minor. Yet you shrug it off like a champ! JUST TO SPITE M-" The snake-box was interrupted as Quote fired off a shot from the Snake as it hit right inbetween the large box's eyes, causing it to fall backwards.
"Shut. Up." Quote growled, keeping the weapon firmly trained on the box as it got back up. "I'm going to make this simple as I can put it; I don't want to see your face in my way again, understood?"
Suto would glare back at Quote. "Khss! You think I have time for your bull?!" He hissed as a low rumbling occurred in the room. Soon enough a large white Critter would drop out from the ceiling, landing right behind Suto. And by Large, it was nearly five times the size of Suto himself. "After all, a big friend of mine would like to have a word with you!"
Balrog would look at the giant Critter. "Is that the queen?"
"None of your business! Khss!" Suto hissed, before looking to Quote. "See, this Critter here and I made a deal. I'd keep the Gaudis and the crazy cat bitch from using her children as food, pets or fuel. In return, she helps me get rid of an annoying pest of my own!"
"...what." Quote deadpanned.
"PREPARE YOURSELF!" Suto hissed as he lunged at Quote. The male scout robot would dodge out of the way before Balrog tackled Suto to the wall, holding him there.
"I'll hold him off, you deal with the giant Critter!" Balrog yelled, holding the green snake block back. The male scout nodded before he turned his attention to the massive white creature in front of him. The large bloby being soon slowly leaped at Quote, the large creature shaking the ground with every small leap it made. The male scout tensed up before dodge-rolling out of the way of the creature, the robot unloading the Snake into the backside of the large Critter. The shots didn't seem to have an effect, as they just fizzled out before even getting through the creature's layered amount of body fat. The large Critter would turn to face Quote before it opened its maw, coughing up a viscerous red substance; instincts kicked in as Quote got away from the substance as fast as he could before it hit the ground, seeping into it and out of sight.
Quote gritted his teeth as he holstered the Snake; he wasn't getting through the Critter that way. There had to be some sort of weakness to it...
Quote noticed the ears of the creature; there were red baubles on the ears... what if...
Grabbing the Blade he received from Arthur off his back, he's soon rush at the giant critter and lept up the massive beast. The white being would start to shake as it tried to force the small scout robot off its body, but it would be in vain as Quote latched onto the ears of the creature and drove the blade straight through the baubles of them. The giant Critter would roar in pain as it struggled and slammed in agony; it really didn't like that. Leaping off after the attack, Blade at the ready, Quote would dodge out of the way as the massive hulking Critter lunged for him like a blob of death trying to smother him. Leaping to the side and planting his feet on the wall, he'd soon thrust off the wall and lunged straight for the baubles again, his sword piercing through one of them and ripping it clean off the Critter's ear.
The beast collapsed to the floor, growling in pain as it writhed while bleeding from one of its ears. Quote would land on the ground back a bit aways from the large Critter as he removed the large bauble from the Blade, keeping at the ready for the gigantic mammal's next move. The gigantic Critter roared as it coughed up the viscous red liquid at Quote again, the robot dodging another arcane toxin soaking as he opened fire on the mouth of the Critter with the Snake. The fireballs shot down the throat of the hulking beast as it winced at the burning feeling inside, roaring again before leaping at Quote, intending to crush him underneath its weight. The scout robot tensed up and dodge-rolled to the side out of the way, but the impact of the Critter onto the floor made a series of spiderwebbing cracks start to spread out across the floor. Quote gritted his teeth; he wouldn't have much time to waste before the entire floor would collapse from underneath the group.
Acting fast, Quote lunged for the other ear, gripping onto the bauble as the creature shook and writhed, trying to throw him off. Gritting his teeth as he held on for dear life, he'd soon pull hard and rip the other bauble off the ear of the gigantic Critter, the creature letting out another roar before it collapsed fave-first onto the ground, unmoving. Quote was panting, Blade at the ready before Suto had thrown Balrog off of him and right at the robot boy. Reacting fast, Quote narrowly dodged out of the way before charging straight for Suto, brandishing the Blade before the green box-snake jumped up and away.
"Dammit dammit dammit DAMMIT!" Suto hissed. "This isn't the last you'll see of me!" He yelled, fleeing into the darkness of the ceiling and out of sight.
Quote sighed as he resheathed the Blade. "I hope to god it is..." He muttered under his breath as Balrog waddled over with a small jar filled with a white liquid.
"Alright, got the juice, let's get back to the crazy cat girl so we can ge-" Balrog started before Quote cut him off.
"Wait... where did you get that?" Quote said.
"What, this?" Balrog said, holding up the small jar with his left fin. "From the giant Critter, of course! The saliva's got more than enough potency in it to power that giant drill-tank-thing!"
Quote was about to question the legitimacy of the claim, but he just sighed; at this rate he really wanted to get out of the damn cave and get back to the village. "Alright, let's head back then..."
"TOOK you idiots long enough!" The feline growled, swiping the jar right out of Balrog's fin. "This amount should be able to get my machine through that wall!"
"It was hell getting this excretement, so it better be worth it..." Quote grumbled under his breath as the cat opened up a hole to a tank on the machine and started to pour the liquid inside of it. The tank would slowly power on as the green exterior lights flickered back into a power mode as the engine started to rumble, a clear sign that the mech was back up and running.
"Alright, now you two idiots get out of the way!" The cat said as it lept up the machine and crawled into an unknown entrance of the large mech. Soon enough the single green eye of the mech would activate as Quote and Balrog got out of the way, the treads screeching as the large machine 'burned rubber' before the drills on the front activated, the mech charging forward and smashing through the harsh rubble of the collapsed wall, rock debris flying in all directions of the walls as it drilled through. Once it got to a good distance away from the mouth of the tunnel, Quote and Balrog would come back out to look at the drilled hole in the wall, now extending several meters in front of them. The robot and the box-thing looked to eachother for a moment before they both shrugged and followed after the large mech deeper into the tunnels...
It'd be a few minutes before they'd catch up to the tank-mech, now stopped as the tunnel was back opened up into a massive room, some sort of large round room with a criss-crossing of platforms and corridors across it, a large orb-like structure in the center of it. The cat girl would be sitting on the tread of the one leg of the mech, smirking to herself.
"Just like clockwork with that Critter juice in it!" The cat said, looking out into the massive cavern. "This is it boys, the Revolutionarium! One of these tunnels should take ya back to where you're goin'."
"Uhh... thanks." Quote said, dropping down onto one of the lower pathways. He internally sighed in relief; at least he wasn't having to deal with the crazy cat girl anymore. Balrog would plop down behind him as the two made their way across the damp corridor through the massive room, seeing other machines whirring along the walls far off from them, a couple of darker colored Gaudi scampering about. "Looks we're on the right track... let me just look..." His scanner would activate as a wireframe formation appeared over his vision of the surrounding caverns... and would soon pick up something laced with energy near the bottom of the gigantic room. "And looking from my X-ray scanners... our cell is at the bottom of the room."
"So all we gotta do is just jump down there, right?" Balrog said.
Quote shook his head. "It's too far of a drop, chances are my leg servos aren't gonna take another major nasty spill like when i nearly fell out of the island. We'll need to descend slower."
"Don't you have a repair system though?" Balrog asked.
"It's not going to be able to repair completely snapped and severed servos." Quote spoke back. "My system diagnostics can only take so much strain before they fail-"
"Shhh!" Balrog said, looking around. "Did you hear that?" Quote would remain silent, keeping an open audio receptor open as he motioned for Balrog to follow him. The two keeping quite, they moved along the pathway until they came to a large stone pillar along the path. Ducking behind it, Quote held the Spur at the ready as he peeked around the corner, seeing a horde of darker colored Gaudi, one at a front of a makeshift stone stage of some sorts... and several crushed lighter Gaudi exoskeletons at the front of the stage.
"Well... guess that answers where Chaba's shipping crew went..." Quote said to himself as the armored Gaudi on the podium spoke.
"NO LONGER will we subject ourselves to being concealed and trapped in this prison cave!" The armored Gaudi yelled. "No more will we be kept in here like insects!"
"But we are-" One Gaudi started to speak before the armored one interrupted.
"WHAT DO WE WANT MEN?!"
"FREEDOM!" The horde of Gaudi yelled in response.
"WHERE ARE WE GONNA GET IT?!"
"FORWARD!"
"TONIGHT WE DINE ON MIMIGA SOUP!" The armored Gaudi yelled...
...and any assumptions Quote had about the Gaudis in front of him would immediately be thrown out the window with that statement as Quote reassigned their threat level to 'extreme'. If what they were saying was true, the Labyrinth exit was somewhere in this room, leading back to Mimiga Village. And if they made it through, the Mimiga would all be slaughtered.
He wasn't about to let that happen.
Having kept the Spur on a consistent Level 3 charge, he'd dodge-roll out from behind the hiding spot and open fire right at the leader. The Gaudi would be knocked off the podium as the others were sent into a frenzied scampering from the sudden attack from the scout robot. He wouldn't let up on his offensive until all the other Gaudi were either collapsed on the floor or fled from the scene. Panting, Quote would reholster the Spur as Balrog came out from behind the cover.
"Was that really necessary?" Balrog asked.
"They were gonna storm Mimiga Village. I wasn't gonna let that happen." Quote spoke. "Now let's get that Cell."
The two would be traveling in silence for a bit as they steadily made their way down the crosswalks and corridors of the Revolutionarium before they arrived near the bottom of the gigantic room. Several scrapped robot parts would be sitting around on the floor of the basin, along with a small pool of water at the bottom. Sitting on a small rock above it was a small container filled with green liquid of some sorts...
Quote would pick up the container. "Undamaged, perfect. Just the condition Booster needs it in."
"Now all we gotta do is find the exit?" Balrog asked.
Quote nodded in response, stashing the Energy Cell as the two would start to move away from the small pool, soon finding a cave route downwards near the corner of the room. Sliding carefully down the incline, Quote would hit the bottom gently... with Balrog nearly landing on top of him from behind, causing the robot to spill forward face-first into a puddle. The robot grunted to himself, picking his face out, the front of his hair and bandaging across his eye soaked. Picking himself up, he'd look ahead to see a small opening near the bottom of the room. Getting close, Quote would kneel down and peer through the opening with his good eye to see a familiar sight; the darker blue cave walls, broken piping and broken lamps... they've came full circle.
"Perfect." Quote said. "Now... how to get through there..."
"Another wall we need to get through?" Balrog asked, getting up.
"Well, yeah, but-"
"No problem, I got this!" Balrog said, getting close to the small hole in the wall. "Just stand back!"
Quote got out of the way as Balrog got close to the wall and...
"HUZZAH! EMERGIS EXMORTIS!"
The wall in front of Balrog exploded open as the rocks fell inward into the new hole Balrog created, and Quote's suspicions were confirmed.
They were now back in the First Cave.
"Perfect. The village is not too far from here now." Quote said. "Once we get through here we should drop back into the village, and regroup with Curly and the others and get that cell back to Booster."
"And then what happens after that?" Balrog asked as the two started into the cave towards the village shack entrance.
"Booster said he'll explain everything once he gets through the teleporter to the village." Quote said, entering the shack and dropping down through the hole into the village. Balrog followed suit right behind them as the two soon found their way to the Town Hall.
What Quote was not expecting was to get tackled to the ground in a bear hug by Curly as soon as the door had opened.
"Oh my god Quote... thank goodness you're alright..." She breathed.
Quote would return the hug, wincing a bit but still keeping the hug. "Same to you Curly, same to you." The female scout would help him up as Balrog entered into the Town Hall. "Has the teleporter gotten fixed so that Booster and Misery are able to get through here?"
Curly nodded. "They're inside right now."
"Perfect." Quote said, taking out the energy cell. "Time to make a delivery."
"Now then," Booster said, straightening his glasses as he set the energy cell onto the table next to the nearly-completed Booster. "I'm quite well aware you all know why we're gathered here right now, with how... dire, the situation has become to put it bluntly."
Quote nodded. "The island, correct?"
"Indeed." Booster spoke. "According to the calculations I've researched, the island's caverns have been increasing in size and volume ever since Jenka had slipped into her unending sleep. However, the pressing issue is that the mass is remaining constant for the expansions; it is nether increasing or decreasing. The constant tremors across the island are from this unnatural expansion of the cave walls; the more the caves are expanding, the worse and more frequent the tremors are getting. And with how the tremors have been getting more frequent and violent within this past week, time may be running out to stop the collapse before its too late."
"Well, how do we stop it, if at all?" Curly asked.
"That's where my information comes in handy." Misery spoke. "From the subconscious of my mother's arcane powers have arisen two beings; Genesis, a being of creation and formation that forms matter from the destruction of the other being, Oblivion, a creature that destroys and obliterates what Genesis creates. The chaos they're wringing has been accelerating the island's collapse process along with the expanding caves. In any case, it might not be possible to save the island from falling at the rate its going."
"Which is why I took the liberty of contacting a third party for evacuation in case the island is unable to be saved." Booster spoke. "Mrs. Sakamoto will be here in five minutes to land on the Balcony for loading the Mimigas into evacuation ships in the off-chance the island is lost. Rest assured, we will find all the residents safe new homes to occupy should this occur."
"Well we should at least hope whatever the main plan is works at least." Jack spoke.
"Is... is it really a good idea for my mom to be coming all by herself with a dropship?" Sue asked.
"Your brother is coming on the Sky Dragon you own Sue." Booster spoke. "He will be rendezvousing with Quote and Curly up at the Observatory once those two have finished their tasks."
"And that would be?" Curly said, putting a hand on her hip.
"You two are tasked with eliminating Genesis and Oblivion." Misery spoke. "You're the only ones that were able to kill my uncle; if there's anyone here capable of fending off those two... things... its you two."
"Alright, but where do we go?" Quote said. "The island itself is huge; it could take hours to find their hideouts, and we don't have a lot of time, if any, to spare."
"Well, thankfully I know of that." Misery spoke. "Genesis and Oblivion's hideouts are manifested through red misty doors, and thanks to Booster, we've pinpointed their locations." Misery would pull a map out from the wall, showing two marked locations. "Genesis has made her hideout located in the Chimney to the lefthand side of Mimia village, and Oblivion has take hole in the Conduit to the right of the island-"
"I think I saw that door." Curly said. "At first I thought my audio receptors were glitching out, but... that was real?"
"Indeed." Misery said. "It's up to you two to take them down. Who goes after who, I'll leave that up to you."
The twin scouts nodded. "Anything else?" Quote asked.
Booster shook his head. "Not at the current time. But our schedule is running short."
"How long do we have before we have to abandon the island?" Jack asked.
"At the current rate if Quote and Curly can't stop the two beings... four hours." Booster spoke.
"Then we'll get going." Curly said, grabbing Quote's wrist and taking him out of the room. But as soon as they got out of the door, Curly pulled Quote to the side around the corner.
"Something wrong Curly?" Quote asked.
"I've... I've been thinking..." Curly said. "Quote... what if all of this is our fault?"
"Huh?"
"Misery... explained to me about the theory Booster had..." Curly said. "And... it's been making me think. I know our prime mission objective was to eliminate the Crown source, but... was it really right of us to kill Ballos?"
Quote fell silent as he contemplated it. Was it really their fault for killing Ballos that now these nightmarish creations from Jenka's subconsciousness were tearing the island apart?
"...Quote?"
"...I don't know." The male scout said. "All I know right now is that we need to stop those creatures. Even if it is our fault, we're righting the wrong we made."
"...are we?"
"I know we are." Quote said, readying the Polar Star. "I'll go after Genesis. You wanna handle Oblivion since you know where the door is?"
Curly hesitated... and then nodded.
"Alright then. We'll use our communicators to keep in touch with eachother." Quote said, before he took off towards the Chimney. Curly sighed before he headed off towards the Conduit...
The drop out of the island below was still nerve-wracking to her as she entered into the Conduit, the howling winds still threatening to blow her out of the island altogether. Steeling her nerves, she jumped across the gap before face-planting on the other side of the gap, near the red door. Getting up and unholstering her Machine Gun, she gripped to it tightly as she gripped the knob of the door.
Upon setting her hand on the door a wave of nausea crunched at her synthetic stomach, the feeling of dread, fear, pain... a whirlpool of emotions started to wash over her as she slowly pulled the door open, awaiting to see what horrors were beyond the door...
The next room was nothing like Curly had ever seen before; not in her memory banks... or anywhere on the island for the matter. It was a gigantic facility, weapons aligning the walls and large destroyed mechs along the floors and walls. Shredded metal, destroyed equipment, hanging broken shutters... the place looked like it wasn't just attacked, it was nearly leveled... the flickering lights didn't help, as Curly's heart started to twist in fear as she slowly stepped forward into the abandoned facility, the broken glass crunching under her boots as she gripped the Machine Gun tightly...
As she rounded the corner, she nearly gagged at what she saw. Blood. Splattered across the walls and floor, and what looked like dead researchers across the floor. Quickly, she ran up and investigated one of the bodies.
The blood was still wet.
Curly froze her metal heart nearly stopping.
Whatever was going on to mess with her head, her new fear took front-stage.
She wasn't alone in that facility...
Quote grunted as he pulled himself up onto the shoreline of the other side of the Reservoir. Soaked from the swimming he had to do to reach this side, he'd enter into the door and soon find himself at a vertical shaft, this one leading upwards without the threat of falling out of the island. Ascending the tall corridor, he was silently cursing to himself for not making that detour to Grasstown to ask Malco to borrow that Missile Launcher again. The Booster v0.8 he wore wasn't bad, but it was a pale comparison to the Rocket Jumping he had gotten used to during his first trip through the island.
Reaching the top of the room, he'd find the door he needed to go through... it wasn't fluctuating or glowing red though, which confused him at first. Cracking open the door, Quote would soon walk into a small corridor, containing a teleporter and another door, this one glowing and crackling red. Quote swallowed hard, approaching the teleporter and taking the data key; he'd give this back to Sue later, before turning to the door. A wave of unease washed over him as he gripped the knob of the door. Taking a deep breath, he'd twist the knob and fling the door open before moving inside without a moment's hesitation.
Then he froze.
The familiar rushing water...
The blood-red spikes...
His stomach dropped, the familiar unwanted haunting memories rushing back to him so fast...
The Waterway.
Why did it have to be the Waterway?
洞窟物語: ジェンカスの悪夢
Cave Story: The Demon Crown Saga
Jenka's Nightmare Arc
Chapter 3 End