Chapter 40: Refreshed
Earlier…
Curly snapped awake and shot up in the bed, panting as if having been disturbed from a nightmare. Her head was spinning, but aside from that nothing hurt at all despite the extent of her former injuries. Everything felt clear to her, and she could suddenly remember everything about herself. It was almost too much for the soldier to handle, as memory upon memory came flooding back to her. That could be dealt with later, though; she needed to find her friends right away. They'd both visited her while she was still suffering from amnesia, and then they had gone somewhere…
"Ah, you are awake," a snakelike voice said. Standing nearby was Cthulhu, with a pleasant yet still somehow creepy smile. "How do you feel, Miss Brace?"
She looked down at herself again in disbelief. All of her wounds had healed perfectly, and even her clothes were good as new.
"I'm much better now, and my memories are back… what happened?"
The hooded being's grin widened.
"Your friends came back to see you, but you were unconscious by then. While you slept, that other soldier tipped a red potion into your throat for you to recover… they left soon after. I assume the medicine came from the witch Jenka?"
Curly nodded without a word to confirm his suspicion.
"Most interesting. I have heard tales of a special mushroom which can cure amnesia, but have never been able to find it myself. It would appear that Jenka included such a valuable fungus in her potion. Heh heh heh… how lucky."
The soldier was only half listening to him, as her thoughts were mostly on Quote now. She could remember everything, which unfortunately included how he had looked when she was bedridden. Thinking about the utter devastation on his face, and how he'd desperately tried to bring her back to him, was heartbreaking for her. She needed to find him immediately, as in addition to making up for her absence she had something important to say regarding both of them.
"They left your weapon with you," Cthulhu elaborated, pointing to where the Snake rifle sat propped up next to the bed. Curly almost didn't recognize it; aside from its basic shape it looked nothing like the gun she'd been using for a while due to its sleek blue and black coloration as opposed to red. "I took it upon myself to enhance it with the strongest magic I could conjure… I call it Nemesis, if it suits you."
She swung her legs off the bed and picked up the gun. Its raw power due to the magical boost made her skin crawl, and she could tell that she was wielding a much deadlier weapon now. Holding it still felt familiar, though, and it didn't weigh any more or less than it had previously.
"Nemesis, huh? I think I like that name. Thank you. Now I need to find my friends and get back to the fight."
"They were very concerned for your safety…" he chuckled.
Curly hopped off the bed and stretched out her limbs, ready for action at last. Before leaving, however, she turned to face Cthulhu with a question on her mind.
"Quote recognized you from before the Sand Zone, you sent Malco to the Labyrinth to join us, and now you're helping me with magic powers… just who are you, anyway?"
The reptilian person wasn't smiling any more. Under his hood, she could make out a pair of narrowing white eyes and a serious frown.
"…that is of no concern at the moment. Go, find your companions. You must defeat the new owner of the Demon Crown."
Before she could say anything else, he had closed the door to the small room. In the blink of an eye, the entrance vanished without a trace and left her staring dumbly at a blank rock wall.
Not even ten minutes after getting her memory back, she was already confused. Curly sighed and turned to face the enormous cave she'd wound up in. Demon Flowers were everywhere, their revoltingly sweet scent making her nose twitch. Even worse was the sight of countless white specks in the distance tending to them- Mimiga. Once she found her friends, they would probably be able to fill her in on the details… and she could tell Quote all about his past.
The issue of where to find them hardly troubled her, as she realized that Malco had been attempting to make contact for quite a while.
"Hey, can you hear me?"
"C-Curly?!" the robot squawked, clearly not expecting a response from her. "You still may not remember us, but have your wounds been repaired?"
"Yeah, they have. And I do remember; I'll prove it. You and Quote are my friends, and I think we all got separated back in the Labyrinth. Now we can stop the Doctor together."
She swore she could hear him cheering even from the other side of the massive cave in addition to her receptors. His familiar enthusiasm brought a smile to her face
"I'm so relieved you're back! We have little time to spare, so I'll keep this brief: we are looking for Sue and her mother, Doctor Momorin Sakamoto. I think I've found the latter, but she refuses to speak to me without a password of some kind. Quote and I split up to ease our search, and now he won't respond to my communications. I don't know where he is."
Curly tried to keep up with all of that so she could figure out how to help. Hearing the report of Quote being missing in action made her stomach twist around nervously.
"You don't appear to have moved far from where we found you. Quote branched off to the right of that reservoir, while I moved left. I am on the opposite end of the Plantation now, but I'll make my way back toward you now."
"Got it, I'll look for him while you're on your way."
"It's fantastic to hear from you again… over and out."
With that, she was alone again. Curly began her search right away, sneaking through the patches of Demon Flowers. She noticed that the vile plants grew unnaturally fast, sprouting from stems that reached heights taller than her. Their bright red color was all around her, a haunting reminder of what she was trying to stop.
Mimiga ambled around the fields, hard at work carrying bags of seeds and gardening tools. When she tried to warn them about what they were doing, however, none of them paid her any mind. Some even shot her dirty looks as she pleaded for them to stop. Sighing, she eventually gave up her attempts and continued moving. Quote was still nowhere to be found.
"Psst! Over here!"
The whisper sounded like a young boy, with a voice that Curly almost immediately recognized. Turning to confirm who had spoken, her face lit up when she saw one of the Colons- Sammy, she called him- standing behind a small tool shed. The short Mimiga was beckoning for her to come closer, looking around to ensure they weren't being watched. She wasted no time in running over, and to her delight the other three children were with him as well. Their fur was covered in dirt, and they smelled like they hadn't been bathed in days, but none of them had been harmed by the looks of it.
"Y-you're all okay! I'm… I'm so happy to see you again!" she practically squealed. The Colons smiled back at her, but Sammy was making a hushing sound with his mouth.
"Please, don't be too loud! If we're seen talking to you, we could be thrown in jail!"
Curly's expression darkened at the thought. Anyone who dared to lay a finger on her children would learn a new meaning of the word "suffering."
"Why? What's going on here?"
"The Doctor told us that we need to grow these red flowers to help fight the killer robots coming to get us," he said miserably. "We know he's a bad man, but most of the others here don't believe us. They think he's keeping them safe… now we're not allowed to talk to any humans or robots if they get here."
Her heart was ready to break in two at how upset the children looked, but she could also see hope in their eyes. They were counting on her.
"Well… don't you worry, gang. I'm here with some friends, and we're gonna stop him before he can hurt anyone. Alright?"
The Colons let out hushed whoops and cheers, moving forward to give her a group hug. Curly embraced them with open arms, vowing that nothing bad would ever happen to them again on her watch.
"Have any of you seen Mister Quote? You remember meeting him back home, right? I'm trying to catch up with him, since he needs my help."
Another Mimiga, this one a young girl named Mira, chimed in frantically.
"I did! I saw a Droll carrying him away before! He was sleeping, I think."
Quote had been captured? By "sleeping" she assumed he was actually knocked out, which only made her more anxious to find him. The Colons could see the concern in her expression, judging by how quickly they began pointing out which way the jail was. Her eyes traced a path around another group of Demon Flowers and down a small tunnel toward a metal door. One of the orange golem creatures she'd seen wandering around stood guard with the same vacant stare as its kin.
"As much as I'd like to, I don't think I can just blow my way through him without alerting anyone else. Is there any other way into the cells?"
The little girl was suddenly pushing a sturdy shovel into her arms. It was small for her, meant to be used by Mimiga on the farm, but it would have to do.
"Use that to dig your way in! We'll keep him distracted for you."
Curly beamed lovingly at the four children. She hadn't realized just how much she missed them during the adventure with Quote and Malco, and now that they were reunited she would do everything she could to save them.
"Alright, sounds good to me. I want you guys to walk away from here by yourselves so nobody suspects we were together. After that, I'll go save Quote. Please be careful with the flowers…"
Nodding in unison, the Colons scurried off to continue their duties on the farm. It pained her to see them so close to the one plant that they were never supposed to encounter, but she focused on her own task. The Mimiga worked right in front of the Droll guarding the jail, keeping its gaze fixed on them. Gripping the shovel, Curly began to dig into the wall around the corner.
As luck would have it, her makeshift tunnel ran straight into the cell. She was sore from having to crawl through, and her hair was absolutely filthy, but nevertheless she'd finally made it all the way inside. Three Mimiga stared at her in bewilderment, and she whispered for them to escape through her tunnel.
Then she saw him.
Quote was also staring at her, but his expression was less of surprise and more disbelief. It made sense to Curly; he must have assumed she would never remember him. The thought tugged at her figurative heartstrings, but there was no time to stand idly in the cell. She crawled back out through the tunnel, leaving the shovel behind. Once she had emerged from the jail, she helped pull the three Mimiga out with her (having slight difficulties with the plus-sized one who refused to put down whatever fruit he was eating), then extended a hand to do the same for her fellow soldier.
"Malco says he's on his way toward this side of the cave. If he can still see the same things as me then he should be able to find us-"
She was cut off with a gasp as, once Quote had been pulled from the tunnel, he didn't stop moving and instead attacked her with a viciously tight embrace. It was even more passionate than the hug she'd given him back in the Labyrinth. "Unlike him" was a drastic understatement for how much emotion he clearly put into it. His face was buried in her shoulder, and she could feel him trembling lightly as he squeezed her. The three Mimiga he was with were staring at them, but neither soldier cared. Somewhere off to the side, the Colons looked on while keeping the Droll distracted. All four of the children had goofy smiles on their face as they continued to work.
Malco's running footsteps approached from behind.
"Aha, there you are…"
His voice trailed off when he saw them in each other's arms. Curly gave him a smile, happy to see him as well.
"You'll get your hug soon."
The robot held up a hand, shaking his head.
"That won't be necessary, but thank you. I'm content seeing you both safe."
"Don't," Quote whispered, "ever do that to me again…"
It seemed that not even his devastated expression when she didn't remember him reflected how badly her amnesia had affected her friend. He repeated that sentence several more times, not as a command but as a plea.
"Oh, Quote… heh, it's not like you to be so mushy."
She gently rubbed his back to comfort him.
"You really missed me, huh? I missed you too. Hey, I have something important you should know."
They reluctantly separated from one another, yet he still kept her hands in his as if afraid she'd vanish once he let go. Curly found it rather cute but didn't distract herself from what needed to be said.
"I don't just remember you and Malco. I remember everything, even back to the war. We shouldn't talk about it here, though. Those Drolls might find us."
"Sue gave me a letter," Quote replied, "telling me to find her mother's hideout."
Malco cut in after him.
"I believe I've found it! It's on the opposite end of the Plantation, so we can hear your story on the way. Shall we get going?"
Nodding, Curly beckoned for the Colons to follow her. They conferred with each other for a moment, then collectively shook their heads. Sammy rushed over to explain.
"There's already six of you. If we all go together, we'd be too easy to notice. We'll stay here so nobody gets suspicious."
Her heart swelled at their nobleness. She may not have truly been their mother, but words couldn't express how proud she was of them.
"We'll be okay, we promise! Go kick butt for us!"
The Colons all waved at her and left to continue their work elsewhere. Quote, Malco, and the three escaped Mimiga looked to her as she bade them a tearful farewell (minus the tears, since she couldn't technically cry).
"We need to win, for their sakes… for everyone's sakes. Malco, can you bring us to this hideout?"
He nodded.
"Okay, lead the way. I'll tell you what I remember as we walk."
