Quote's stomach churned as the running water rushed around the area, shuddering as he proceeded forward. The fire in his stomach burned at him as the memories started flooding back to him and invaded his mind, the images of Curly drowned and lying helpless on that bed... her blue face, the currents shifting around her...

A sharp pain entered his gut, causing him to shake his head. He couldn't afford to have his past ghosts come back to haunt him; he needed to focus!

And the sharp splash of pain in his face was what he needed to wake up, as he soon fired back at the offending Gunfish that shot at him. Grittting his teeth, he soon headed off into the watery corridors of the Waterway... to soon be met with how the corridors were now twisting and turning in unnatural patterns, the water now sticking to places where it shouldn't be...

It was as if the laws of physics were no longer being applied to the world around him...

Keeping his nerves steeled, he's slide through the watery pipes before bouncing off of one of the jelly's giant heads, landing across another side of a spiky water pit. The twisting and logic-defying watery tunnels were already starting to make his head spin from what they were doing right now, let alone from the water sticking to the ceilings like gravity was twisted. Quote let the currents push him along, his feet dragging along the ground as it pushed him across the larger tunnel... before he saw the upcoming spikes. Gripping his fists tightly, he'd time his jumps, just barely having enough coverage to clear each set of spikes in his way. Skidding to a halt before bursting out of the water, Quote landed and looked at his surroundings, seeing more of the dark green blocks that made up the Waterway, currents surrounding him on all sides of the logic-defying water... but then he'd notice an alcove just a bit off from him. He'd start walking towards it...

"Genesis' effects are quite the amusing, are they not?" A familiar voice said.

Almost instantly Quote whirled around and pointed the Spur straight at the speaker; none other than the hooded figure himself.

"Manipulation of gravity, the twisting of matter into forms not even conceived by man... it's truly a wondrous feat, is it not?" The figure spoke, once again his sharp toothy grin showing. "But I can sense it in your soul. You are afraid of this place, and not because of Genesis. You have a primal fear hidden inside you..."

"You know nothing." Quote growled, keeping his aim trained on Cthulhu.

"I know more than you think, and possibly more than you will ever." Cthulhu said the robed figure slowly slinking towards the scout robot. Quote's aim never left Cthulhu, but it could be clearly seen his hands were shaking ever so slightly. "Even now, you hesitate to attack, your hands shaking ever so slightly..."

"Shut. Up." Quote growled.

"The scars of your past have not healed." Cthulhu said, walking past Quote. "Should this continue, your fate shall be sealed..." And with that Cthulhu would disappear down the alcove and out of sight. Quote would run after in pursuit... and find he had completely disappeared. Quote grunted in frustration; he should've taken the shot when he had the chance. Looking through the small alcove a bit more, he'd find a small computer terminal on the wall. Cautiously approaching it, he'd hit the small button on the terminal as a small rumbling occurred outside the alcove. Backtracking back out to outside of the alcove, Quote would find one of the floating currents was done, opening the way to a new corridor. Steeling his nerves, he'd hold his breath before plunging into the icy waters of it.

The cold coursing across what little of his metal skin was exposed shook him to his core, he tried to steel his nerves as he moved through the icy waters before being burst out through the other side, faceplanting hard onto the ground. The robot boy groaned in pain as he sat up, new scratches adorning the metal skin on his face as he got to his knees.

"Nnnnngghhh..." Quote groaned, getting to his feet as he held the Spur tightly, slowly progressing forward in the cavern until he had hit another open room, water adorning the ceiling and floor, several gaping holes in this room...

...as if it was an arena.

Before Quote could react the way back and way forward sealed up almost immediately, trapping him in there. Soon enough there'd be something that would appear from one of the holes... looking like a massive metallic maw coated in seaweed. Without a moment's hesitation, Quote fired up his scanner and scanned whatever was attacking him.

/SCAN COMPLETE.

/BATTLE CRAFT SGE-001 "ALPHA"

/CURRENT VITALITY 400

/VULNERABILITY DETECTED IN MAW

Quote silently cursed to himself as he opened fire on the craft, trying to goad it into firing and opening that maw. The mech would let out a loud screech before its maw snapped open, unleashing a massive load of metallic gear blades into the air. Gripping tightly, Quote unloaded a Spur laser right into the maw of the gigantic mech, causing it to screech in pain as it snapped its maw shut, diving back into its watery hole. Quote grit his teeth as his eyes darted between the holes on the ground, looking for the mech... and then was caught off guard as it emerged from a hole in the ceiling, the maw shooting open and now several missiles firing out of the maw at the male scout robot. Gritting his teeth, he'd dodge-roll out of the way of the missiles before unloading another Spur shot straight into the maw of the beast. Alpha roared in anger again as it retreated back into its hole on the ceiling... then Quote's panic would rise as water in massive volume would dump into the room, the flashback starting to take shape in his mind. The last time this happened was...

...was when he lost Curly.

His hands started trembling as the images started to flood his mind again, Curly's pale blue drowned face flashing before his eyes. He shook his head violently, trying to phase the image out of his mind as best he could... to see Alpha emerging from its hole again in the flooded room, eight mechanical tentacles at its base as its maw opened up, a single red unblinking robotic eye staring straight at Quote.

The robot swallowed hard before opening fire on Alpha. The robot squid from hell immediately countered and its tentacles shot out and wrapped around the male scout's body, gripping tightly and pulling hard. Quote could feel literally every part of his body sparking as he tried to stay conscious; he needed to do something to counter or else he'd die in pieces right then and there...

Gripping onto the Spur still, he'd angle the shot just right and charge up another shot, but the strain in his limbs were starting to become unbearable. Not wanting to bear the pain any longer, Quote unloaded the shot...

...and the shot would collide and drill straight through Alpha's main eye and core, killing the robot. The tentacles would release Quote as he slowly floated back down onto the ground, the water starting to sink around him...

Quote would collapse to his knees, panting in pain as he collapsed to the ground, his palms twitching. His face contorted in pain, the pain of his wounds crippling him momentarily...

Weakly, he got to his feet and limped out of the room, and into the door at the other side...

...and found himself in a void of floating white blocks and darkened pathways, cracks showing rushing lavender clouds outside. He merely limped a few steps before collapsing to the side of a stone pole with a light crystal on it, his arms and legs sparking a bit. Weakly, he reached an arm to his comm unit...

"C-Curly?" Quote said. "What's... what's your progress?"

No response. Quote tried again...

"...Curly?"

This time he got a response.

"Q-Quote? A-are you okay?" Curly said, in a hushed panicked whisper.

"I-I think I made it to G-genesis's lair, but I'm hurting a b-bit..." Quote choked out. "My limbs feel like they're about to fail. What's your progress?"

"Horrified, scared for my life, and probably thoroughly traumatized." Curly responded, her voice shaking. Whatever she was going through on her end, it sounded like it was pure hell. "A-are you gonna be okay?"

"I-I just need my repair systems to kick in shortly..." Quote breathed. "I just need a pause."

"A-alright..." Curly spoke. "I-I think I'm close to Oblivion..."

"Please..." Quote said. "Be careful, alright?"

"...you too. I don't want to lose you..." Curly spoke before the comm unit shut out. Quote sat in silence for a while, waiting for his strength to return to him. As he sat there, he started to mull over his thoughts about the situation... and what Curly said to him back at the village. What if it was truly their fault? What if their mission was only to lead into a bigger disaster as a whole? The thoughts plagued his mind over and over again. Maybe...

...would things have been better if Quote and Curly never reactivated in the first place?

The male scout robot shook his head. No. He couldn't think like that; people's lives were saved because of what he and Curly did. If they never reactivated, all the Sakamotos would have possibly died at the hands of the Doctor, as well as the rest of the Surface below...

After a few minutes, his system reading were outputting at 70% recovered. The male scout decided that was good enough as he slowly got to his feet, looking onwards and proceeding slowly... as the pathway formed around him, lighting up and fading out ever so much as the clouds kept swirling by...

'It is a beautiful sight, no?'

Quote froze, looking around. Where did that voice come from?

'And yet you're as confused as ever, like a lost puppy...'

Quote felt unease starting to eat at him as he continued to follow the path towards the end...

'Why do you fear, child? Why do you fear this dream?'

Quote approached the door, gripping tightly to the Spur as he slowly entered into it, everything going dark...

'Why would you want to end this dream? This is the dream of creation. The dream of rebirth. A dream of beginning anew for this island. This world. If you wish to end it, you'll find that your task will not be so easily completed...'

With that, the darkness would vanish from around Quote to find himself among a set of platforms high above the floor below, a set of spikes adorning the entire floor. The platforms looked fragile, something hard and solid could easily shatter them...

Quote gripped the Spur tightly, eyes darting around to see anything...

...and then Genesis appeared. The figure was a white ring as its body and eye, a single red pupil floating in the space in the ring. It had a short tail and a set of sectioned wings on either side of its body.

'I... am Genesis.' The figure telepathically spoke. 'And from your ashes I shall create anew...'

Quote gripped the Spur tightly as Genesis disappeared, small sparks starting to rise up from the spikes and between the platforms. At the same time, Quote's platform started to glow red and start shaking. The scout robot wouldn't hesitate before he dashed and lept off the platform, the platform collapsing behind him as soon Genesis surfaced from where the platform originally was, the pupil glowing red as it fired off a laser straight at Quote. The scout robot retaliated by firing off the Spur at the same time, the two beams colliding in the center and cancelling eachother out as a massive smoke cloud kicked up from the center of the blast. Gritting his teeth, Quote would unsheath the Blade and rush forward into the smoke cloud, using it as cover as he lept from the platform towards Genesis...

...and would soon find the figure had vanished as he skidded across the other platform, nearly going over the edge. The winds would begin howling as large blocks would start materializing out of thin air to collapse down onto the scout robot. Gritting his teeth, Quote made a mad dash across the platforms to avoid the falling blocks, knowing very well that the crushing force would be more than enough to render him helpless...

Diving away from the next block, Quote would unholster the Spur right as Genesis rematerialized again, ready to attack. Quote got the jump though and shot first, the piercing white beam colliding with the beast and knocking it backwards, smoke starting to curl of its wound. Genesis hissed before releasing a volley of red ring-line shots straight for the male scout. Gritting his teeth, Quote made a dive inbetween the dead space of the ring shots, just narrowly grazing the shots as his damage readings came up. He shrugged it off; as long as a major limb wasn't crippled, he could still fight. He fired off another shot, but Genesis disappeared at the last second, the shot harmlessly whizzing by off into the distance.

'You are most interesting...'Genesis' voice echoed across the room. 'Why do you continue to fight for what is meaningless in the long run? Everything comes to an end. And from it, things begin anew. It is a cycle. Why do you wish to break it?'

Quote grit his teeth. 'Don't listen to her, she's just trying to trick you!' He thought to himself as soon the rising sparkles turned red and started speeding directly at him, the robot would barely have time to react as he attempted to dodge out of the way of the sparkles before one struck him directly in the back, throwing him to the ground in an instant as his damage readings came up.

/WARNING! TORSO HAS BEEN DAMAGED 57.6%. STARTING AUTO-REPAIR DIAGNOSTICS...

Quote grit his teeth as he weakly got to his feet, his eye darting across the arena for the appearance of the beast once again... then was caught off guard as Genesis suddenly wrapped it's wings around Quote, constricting him tightly and not letting him go. Quote grit his teeth in pain, struggling to squirm free, but that only made Genesis tighten its grip around the scout robot harder, risking crushing him into a complete metal scrap.

"Hrrrghh... Nnnnggh..." Quote grunted, trying to reach for his Blade...

'Cease your struggling...' Genesis spoke, tightening its grip as Quote yelled harder. 'Your end will be over soon...'

Quote's inner systems were going haywire. 'Just a few more inches...' He thought, trying to reach for the Blade...

"Not if I..." Quote growled, gripping the Blade's handle tightly as a spark ignited in his eye. "...HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT!" He swung the Blade backhanded, the sharp metal cutting straight through Genesis' body, slicing the monster clean in half. Genesis screeched in pain as it started glowing a bright white, a deafening screeching noise filling the room as Quote's sensors were overloaded, a bright white light blinding him...

...then felt a hard slam as he crashed into the ground of the metal structure below, feeling the stinging pain surging through his body. "Nnnnnngghh..." He groaned, struggling to get to his feet as he felt his synthetic legs wobbled... "Owwww... where..."

And then he froze as he recognized where he was.

Back at the Core room.

Back where Curly drowned.

The fear spiked in his chest as the memories came flooding back to him; the Core's deranged roaring, the Doctor flooding the room, being on death's doorstep... only to wake back up and see Curly drowned in the room, sacrificed herself to make sure he lived. Quote dropped to his knees, gripping his head in agony and fear as his whole body shook. The pain of the memories was becoming too much for him...

...to the point where he was easily ambushed.

"VILE MURDEROUS SCUM!" A voice yelled as Quote soon found himself pinned to the ground. Snapping out of his traumatic memories, he'd struggle to get out from under where he was crushed only to feel a blade pressed into the back of his head. "You've killed your last Gaudi today! From now on you're the prisoner of the Labyrinth self-proclaimed heroes! The GAUDSKATEERS!"

Quote silently cursed to himself before he felt a slam to the back of his metal head, knocking him cold...

Curly gripped her Machine Gun tightly, her eyes frantically darting to nearly ever shadowy corner as she slowly stepped forward in the facility, the sparking, flickering lights not exactly helping her nerves as the cracking of glass, with the occasional squishing of blood, echoed on the floors. Curly's hands trembled her fear spiking as her eyes frantically darted across the corridor she had just entered. What she wouldn't give to trade places with Quote right now...

It was then she'd come across a shutter and a nearby computer terminal, the massive shutter blocking her path. Tensing her nerves, she'd go over to the computer terminal to look through it for a switch of some kind. She soon found it, flicking it to begin the shudder opening... but something on the screen caught her eye. A document file, off in the corner of the desktop screen. Clicking on it, Curly would open the file to read:

January 12, 2017

Production is going well. Using the strange red flowers we've harvested from the floating island, our medicinal studies have grown exponentially. The creatures that live on the island, the Mimiga as they call themselves, have developed a strange allergic reaction to these flowers, however, as they seem to get unbelievable sick when they taste it. Studies are being kept for further analysis.

January 18, 2017

Determining the red flowers is the Mimiga's allergen was simple enough. However, the medicines we have attempted to produce from these flowers have shown a volley of negative side effects within human cognative speech and actions. We've ceased the production of these medicines until we can find a proper counteragent to nullify the negative side effects...

January 26, 2017

There was an incident today involving the Mimiga. One of the many Mimiga children living among our researches managed to somehow avoid security detection and found his way into the vault. It had then proceeded to consume copious amounts of red flower petals we had kept safely locked away, and the child became vicious and feral. Any sort of sedative shots or tranquillizers had no effect on the creature at all; we had no choice but to euthanize it.

Curly's stomach doubled-over after reading that last line; she still couldn't believe what she had just read.

"They... they killed a child?" She choked out. "It ate the flowers, but... but..."

At that point the screen in front of her cracked and went black. Any more entries she would have read, she just lost her chance as the terminal broke down. Gripping her gun in fear, she continued on deeper into the facility, feeling the cold, lifeless air hang around her as her eyes darted to every shadow...

...and then she was attacked from behind by a creature she didn't see. Screeching in fear, she unloaded her Machine Gun straight into the chest of the monster without a second though as it fell limp and collapsed to the side. Panting heavily as if her life depended on it, she'd soon look to see her assailant... and her heart nearly stopped.

It was a rabid Mimiga, charcoal black fur and tattered green robe...

Curly ran away from the sight as fast as she could, soon rounding around a collapsed corner and stopping, kneeling to catch her breath and get her synthetic heart rate down. Feeling her hands still trembling, she slowly moved forward as she started climbing up a set of collapsed rubble to a higher floor, soon reaching a walkway above the floor. Continuing to look around, she'd soon see a shutter above the walkway; there must have been a way up. Keeping her gun gripped, she'd roll along the walkways; more of those flame fans from the Labyrinth appeared to be in the ceiling, glitching out of control. Steeling her nerves, she'd soon find another computer terminal, throwing the switch and opening the other shutter.

And then she'd notice another journal document. She'd open it.

February 3, 2017

Negotiations with the Mimiga are at an all-time low. Despite our best efforts, the incident with one of their children has led them to believe we were at fault. There is little doubt in my mind that we truly are. I fear that child's curiosity has sparked a civil war between human and Mimiga kind...

February 9, 2017

The higher-ups have doubled down on security today. Many of my co-workers are showing signs of unease from the amount of increased security drones within the facility. I myself am too stressed by this. I can do nothing but watch, knowing the looming feeling of dread coming next in this acursed place...

February 12, 2017

A security drone shot and killed a Mimiga on sight today; whether or not it was the result of intentional programming or a glitch within its system, I do not know. But my fears are being confirmed; I have applied for leave immediately.

February 15, 2017

There still has been no response on my application. What are the higher-ups doing? Do they see me and my co-workers as nothing more than expendable resources? Why has there been almost no communication?

February 19, 2017

My fears have become all too true now; the Mimiga have become utterly hostile towards humans. One had bit and attacked a member of security; it was immediately neutralized as a result. I can do nothing... nothing but watch as things collapse around me. I need to leave. Leave before things spiral so far out of control...

And then the terminal broke down, just like the last one. But Curly's mind was reeling in horror from what she just read. The words couldn't even find her mouth to describe what she just read.

"Was..." Curly choked out. "Was this an experiments lab for testing on... on Mimigas?"

She felt horrified as her eyes darted around the area. What other kinds of messed up Mimiga monster horrors were going to come out at her? She didn't want to stay around to find out; she darted back for the shutter as fast as she could, going up it without a moment's hesitation as it closed behind her. She felt a chill go up her spine as her eyelights activated.

She soon wished she was just stumbling around in the dark instead.

The bodies of Mimiga and researchers were surrounding her, the smell of blood hanging heavy in the air. Most of the bodies were mutilated beyond recognition, blood splattered across the walls and floor. Curly felt like she was gonna heave, if she could have any stomach contents to heave to begin with. Gripping her gun tightly, she continued onwards through, past the mutilated bodies of human and Mimiga alike...

Climbing up into a higher ledge, Curly found another shutter... but no terminal. Swallowing hard, Curly activated her thermal scanner to find the terminal... and her fears were confirmed as she traced it back in one of the body piles. She swallowed hard... and got out her Machine Gun as she blasted apart the body pile, clamping her eyes shut as she wouldn't want to witness what she was blasting apart. She could still feel small chunklets splattering on her, and she didn't even want to see how badly she was covered in blood or other things. After a few moments she stopped, reopening her eyes and seeing the terminal. She walked up to it, hitting the switch and throwing open the shutter... and then seeing the journal entry. She swallowed hard, opening the file.

February 28, 2017

It has been a month since my application to leave, and still no response from any of the higher-ups. I am trapped here, like a rat. Security robots have been swarming the facility. We can hardly do any sort of research from the amount that flood the halls of this place. I just want to return home...

March 6, 2017

The Mimiga have broken into the vault, and taken the red flowers and the medicines for themselves. Security is at an all-time high, and morale is at an all-time low. There are rumors starting to circulate around that they are going to start 'pushing back' against the Mimiga. They have done nothing wrong here. Who is in charge of this operation, and why are they so desperate to start a war between species?

March 13, 2017

Something horrible is amiss. There are more reports of more and more security robots going rogue and attacking both man and Mimiga alike. My heart is filled with so much sorrow and worry, I can hardly sleep a full night's worth. I've now been filling out applications for leave constantly ever since February. When will I leave this place?

March 20, 2017

They have started a full-on war.

Curly's heart shattered at reading that.

I have been reassigned from research to hands-on medicinal work. Men and women, and Mimiga alike are bloodied and beaten. I can do nothing. Nothing but hope and pray.

March 25, 2017

They have brought in a weapon from outside the facility they gleefully nickname the 'Deconstructor'. I tried to force myself onto the transport before it left, but I was apprehended, and told I'm needed here. I pray for my sanity.

March 31, 2017

They've turned on us now.

Curly froze at that statement. Who were 'they'?

She'd find out just a few sentences later.

Security robots everywhere, some trustworthy, others fiendish. They don't care if we're man or Mimiga anymore. Why is this happening?

April 2, 2017

I've managed to stop the bleeding. I don't have much time left. If anyone's still alive, and they read this journal...

RUN.

And right as the terminal shut off, a bright light would be shining down on Curly, causing the robot to freeze. Slowly turning around to see what was behind her, her pupils dilated. Her breathing became uneven. The Machine Gun dropped from her hands, both of which were shaking in fear at the sight in front of... or more accurately, above her.

The machine was massive, it's single spotlight eye shining down on Curly as she looked up at it. The four legs would be connected to the walls as it stared down at Curly...

It's eye turned red.

Curly hesitantly scanned the machine.

/SCAN COMPLETE.

/DESTRUCTION CRAFT 'DECONSTRUCTOR'

/CURRENT VITALITY 1000

/NO VULNERABILITIES DETECTED

And the last stat made Curly's metal heart start beating faster than ever before.

/CHANCES OF SURVIVAL: MINIMAL

The machine roared, and Curly scooped up her Machine Gun and bolted for her life as if it depended on machine would stomp after her in pursuit as she kept bolting for any cover she could find. She knew she had no chance against the maverick machine at this state; the only option she had was to run. The machine screeched as bay doors on its main body opened up, firing off several missiles right for Curly. The female scout robot dodge-rolled to the side out of the way of some of the incoming missiles, but the blast threw her away and crashed her into the wall. Gritting her teeth, she tried to pick herself up and got out of the way before one of the massive legs came down and smashed right where she was not just a second ago. Panting heavily, Curly was in panic as she still fled from the large machine of death. She bolted through the open shutter, only for the machine to burst through the wall above it, keeping its deadly pursuit. The metal screeched under the feet of the gigantic mech as it soon lunged for Curly; the female scout robot would just barely roll out of the way before it attempted to crunch down on her, and in a feeble attempt to try and fight back, opened fire with the Machine Gun on the machine. The shots only plinked off it's armored casing as it retaliated with another missile barrage, aimed straight for Curly. The female scout screamed as she was soon launched from the blast, faceplanting into the ground.

Scrambling to safety, Curly would see a door upcoming and quickly dived into the inky blackness... and soon found herself falling. Falling into a neverending void...

She then felt a slam, hitting solid ground hard as she struggled to get to her feet. Shaken from her fall, she'd look up to see her surroundings; several stone platforms would be floating in the neverending black void, small pillars jutting out of the ground around them... and the platforms would appear decaying the further and further they went into the darkness.

And then Curly would be jolted from her headset.

"...Curly?"

Jumping a bit from the sudden comm unit, she then answered the response.

"Q-Quote? A-are you okay?" Curly said, in a hushed panicked whisper.

"I-I think I made it to G-genesis's lair, but I'm hurting a b-bit..." Quote choked out. "My limbs feel like they're about to fail. What's your progress?"

"Horrified, scared for my life, and probably thoroughly traumatized." Curly responded, her voice shaking. "A-are you gonna be okay?"

"I-I just need my repair systems to kick in shortly..." Quote breathed. "I just need a pause."

"A-alright..." Curly spoke, glancing around at her inky voided surroundings. "I-I think I'm close to Oblivion..."

"Please..." Quote said. "Be careful, alright?"

"...you too. I don't want to lose you..." Curly spoke before the comm unit shut out. Glancing back to her surroundings, she slowly got to her feet, starting to step forward through the black darkness. Reholstering her Machine Gun, she'd get out her Nemesis, tightly gripping the gun as she walked through the void... and she started to hear soft sobbing... small white orbs starting to flow from under the platforms up into the inky darkness above...

'You see how they are? With their suffering?'

Curly swallowed hard, gripping the Nemesis tightly as her eyes darted around the darkness. Where was that voice coming from?

'Their end is doing them a favor.'

Curly would notice she was drawing closer to the more decayed stone structures, seeing a door entering into a black abyss. Swallowing hard, she gripped her gun tightly...

...and entered into the door. She felt weightless as soon she looked around herself. She was floating in an inky black void, little white specks floating by her.

'All things must end so they may begin anew. Why would you stop me? How can you stop me? Destruction is an absolute. You are powerless to oppose it!'

Curly would open fire as a flurry of blood-red shots erupted from the void towards her. The Nemesis would spit fire as she collided the shots evenly, and then she'd see the large darkened claw-like hands coming from the darkness, each one bigger than her...

And then Oblivion would open its eye, the gigantic blue eye staring down on her.

Curly opened fire on the massive eye, the shots colliding and causing Oblivion to retreat its eye into the darkness as the hands came back, lunging for Curly as if to grab her. The female scout robot would weave out of the way as she felt the hands whiz by her. just barely missing her frame as Oblivion's eye reappeared, staring directly at her. Gritting her teeth, Curly opened fire on the eye, only for it to retaliate with blood-red ring shots headed straight for her. Taking quick action she'd dive through the center of the shots, but then one of the edges of one would clip her arm, sending her systems on the fritz. Clamping her eyes shut to try and endure the pain, she'd fire randomly at the creature in hopes of hitting it, but to no avail as it sunk back into the darkness.

Curly tensed up, before feeling herself gripped from behind by a sneak-attack claw, gripping her tightly and crunching her in its like a stress ball. Curly yelled in pain as she felt her endoskeleton being crunched from all sides, squirming to try and break free...

The crunching would become harder, Curly's struggling becoming fiercer and fiercer as her fear settled into her heart.

'This is your end. You were a fool to think you could take on me...' Oblivion taunted, revealing itself again. 'Now lie down, and die.'

"N...no..." Curly groaned out, still struggling as she reached for her last resort. A fire in her eyes appeared as she managed to wrench free one of her arms, unloading Nemesis shot after Nemesis shot into Oblivion's eye. The creature roared in pain as the grip was released, and soon Curly started unloading both barrels into the arcane being. Then a deafening screech would come from Oblivion as it exploded into a bright white light...

At that moment a loud shattering sound was heard across the Sand Zone as the barrier surrounding Jenka's house had fragmented and shattered completely, exposing the entry points to inside. Misery would have warped in not too long after, feeling the disturbance in the field.

"Th... they did it..." Misery breathed, landing down. "They actually did it..." She took a deep breath, steeling her nerves. "Hold on mother, I'm-" She was cut off as a loud rumbling was soon felt across the island; another tremor, the worst one yet. Misery was caught off-guard as she almost lost her balance... but soon her fears were confirmed as the barrier rematerialized around the house.

"!" She grunted. "NO! We were so... close!"

...Curly would feel herself faceplant to the floor hard as the metal echoed around her. She groaned as she got to her knees, holding her head in pain. Slowly opening her eyes, she could faintly make out her location...

The Core room.

Curly shuddered, the memories flooding back to her of her few final moments before drowning in here... but then her heart stopped at what she saw.

Quote's scarf was hanging off of a disembodied robot arm, not far from where she was. Quickly running up to it, she could see the damage to it; someone had forcefully ripped it off of the scout robot. A fire burning in her robotic heart, she donned the scarf around her neck and took off for the exit of the room, her Machine Gun at her side and her Nemesis securely stationed in her holster. She knew Quote had to be in trouble at this point; he wouldn't just leave his scarf behind like that...

Rushing through the door, she'd find herself back in the older abandoned part of the Labyrinth, back when she and Quote first started their breakout. Keeping her gun steady, she kept along the path, blasting apart any Gaudi that stood in her way, before she was coming back up towards the beginning of the corridor... only to find a sight she wasn't hoping to see. Ducking behind a pillar, she peeked around to get a better look.

Quote was deactivated, tossed into a cage hanging from the ceiling. Several of his metallic scars that were welded shut had been sliced open again, and the bandaging across his eye had been torn off, showing that empty socket once again with the wires hanging out. Below the cage would be four other larger Gaudi, wearing armors of different colors, surrounded by a rallied crowd of other Gaudi.

"The time of arms is now!" One of the four armored Gaudi yelled. "One of the two metal killers of our kind has finally been captured! The other is now helpless against our combined powers!"

"The Mimiga will soon finally be ours for the digesting!" Another of the four yelled. "This island shall become ours!"

A rage ignited in Curly's heart at what those Gaudi said. Here they were, acting high and mighty just because they got Quote, and now they were calling her weak? Powerless? Her rage grew more and more...

And then one of the four said something that caused her to give away her positioning.

"Who would dare try to object our might and power?!"

Curly rushed out from behind her spot. "I do!" She growled, causing every single Gaudi in the room to look at her. The four gigantic Gaudi would glare at her.

"Ah so the coward killer finally reveals herself!" One of the armored Gaudi said. "What could possibly bring you here on such a whim? Decided to surrend-"

"As IF!" Curly roared, pointing her Machine Gun and her Nemesis straight at the four. "I'm going to tell you how this goes. You're going to give me Quote, and we're gonna leave as if none of this ever happened. And if you don't..." Her eye twitched as she kept her aim squarely pointed. "Well, I think we know how we know that'll go down... so I suggest you make your decision carefully."

The Gaudi would do nothing more than laugh at her. "You? Take on us? Get real!"

Curly grit her metal teeth. "Don't say I didn't warn you..." She growled, soon opening fire on the armored Gaudi as the other Gaudi fled in scrambling locations. The armored Gaudi would start throwing blades right for the female robot, trying to impale her limbs and stop her shooting, but Curly wasn't having it, a dark flame in her eyes showing as she continued her rampage. Letting loose a flurry of fire from her guns, she never let up on her shots at all, soon enough taking down all four of the armored Gaudi with almost no effort as she panted heavily, gripping both her guns tightly. The reality catching back up to her now, she quickly dashed over to the cage and lept up to it, ripping the bars away as she rushed over to the fallen male scout, deactivated. Quickly searching over his body, she'd find the activation indent on the backside of his body; a small pinhole-sized hole right above the small of his back. Quickly thinking, she'd look around before finding a small needle on the ground and sticking into the hole in the back of the male scout.

Quote's single optic would flicker on, soon looking over to the female scout. "C-Curly?" He choked out as the blonde hugged him tightly.

"Never... do that... again..." Curly's voice cracked, hugging Quote tightly.

"Curly..." Quote choked out. "I-I can't move my legs..."

"..." Curly fell silent, looking down at the ground.

"Grab the Tow Rope, it's in my back pocket." Quote said. Curly nodded, reaching around and grabbing the rope out of Quote's pocket before lifting Quote onto her back.

"Don't worry Quote, I'll get ya back to the village no problem..." Curly spoke, tying the rope securely around the two before she took off back towards the village route...

"Jeez, you're in real bad shape Quote..." Sue said, taking a look at Quote's circuits on the lower half of his body. "Whatever the hell those Gaudi did to ya, they certainly spared no mercy in what they did..."

"How... how long's it gonna take to repair the damage?" Quote asked.

"Well, thankfully since I'm here and Professor Booster is too..." Sue said, looking up at Quote's face. "Should be no more than half an hour at the least."

Curly sighed in relief. "At least the damage isn't permanent..."

"There is some good news, however." Professor Booster spoke, approaching the group. "While the barrier around Jenka's house has rematerialized shortly after you two defeated Genesis and Oblivion, the island has significantly doubled its time of survival to eight hours, meaning we have a bit more leeway with the evacuation plan. Now... while Quote is getting his legs repaired by Sue, Curly, you need to make your way to the island's Observatory just above the Outer Wall. Now, normally it'd be as easy as returning to the Egg Corridor at the top of the Conduit, however..." Professor Booster's expression would be a bit concerned. "With the harsh winds of the Conduit threatening to suck you out of the island itself, we're having to reroute a detour through another uncharted part of the island."

"Are... are you sure that's a good idea?" Curly asked.

"It's the only chance we have at this point." Booster spoke, taking the Booster off of Quote and handing it to Curly. "Thankfully enough Quote's communications link is still intact, so he can keep in touch with you as you're going through the uncharted route."

"And this is...?" Curly asked.

"Farther up at the top of the Chimney." Booster spoke. Curly would look to Quote.

"I-I'll be fine Curly..." Quote spoke. "I'll catch up with you later, okay?"

"There might not be a need to." Sue spoke. "When I was examining the teleporter, it turns out there's a teleporter up at the Observatory and one all the way up on the Balcony that's deactivated right now. If you can reactivate them, Quote and the rest of us can get up there no problem!"

"Which would make the evacuation process much easier..." Curly said, starting to smile and cocking her Machine Gun. "Alright, I'll head for the Observatory and open the way for you guys." She walked out the exit of the door as Sue continued her repairs on Quote.

"So..." Sue asked. "What was fighting those magic creatures like? Was it as hard as that one you two fought last year?"

"Naaahhh..." Quote spoke. "I've dealt with worse..."

Keeping level with the Booster v2.0, Curly would soon find the ascension past the entrance to the Waterway became a lot more perilous than she anticipated; red spikes were now starting to line the walls, as well as the large instant-disable spikes at interval locations. Keeping her mind focused, she'd soon find her way up to the top of the entire shaft... finding another door, and her sensors went mad.

/DANGER! DANGER! HIGH ARCANE LEVELS DETECTED BEYOND ENTRANCE! PROCEED WITH UPMOST CAUTION!

Curly swallowed hard, gripping tight to her Nemesis...

"Curly, can you hear me?" A voice said, causing Curly to jump. Her eyes darted around the cavern space before she realized it was her headset.

"That you Quote?" She asked.

"Sorry, too abrupt?" Quote responded through her headset. "Either way, I'll be trying to keep an open link with you until you get to the Observatory, alright?"

"Perfect plan to me." Curly said, gripping the Nemesis tightly. "You sure you're gonna be okay without seeing what I see at all?"

"As long as I have a comm link open to you, we can react accordingly." Quote said as Curly made her way to the door. Upon moving through the doorway, Curly was hit with a wave of nausea as she gripped her head, trying to regain focus... and as soon as she saw her visuals, she'd know why.

In front of her was a grassy passage much like Grasstown's passages, but the grass was dead and brown, the owl blocks cracked and broken, some of the chains rusted and corroded as they hung from the ceiling along with more of the lethal spikes lining the cavern. Across from Curly would be another entrance, metal surrounding it like a shack, a skull overtop the door, its blood-red pupils looking right at the female scout robot...

But the scariest part of it all... the place was flourishing with Hell's Hibiscus, the arcane flowers giving off their mind-numbing bitter aroma...

Curly froze.

This was a breeding ground for the hibiscus.

And her only way forward to get to the Observatory.

"Curly?" Quote asked. "What do you see?"

Curly hesitantly responded. "Quote... there's more of them."

"Them?"

"The hibiscus." Curly responded. "The Sand Zone warehouse wasn't the last place where they were."

洞窟物語: ジェンカスの悪夢

Cave Story: The Demon Crown Saga
Jenka's Nightmare Arc
Chapter 4 End