Endgame: The Way Back Home
"Look!" Kazuma shouted. "The island's stopped falling!"
Malco peered down at it hopefully. Sure enough, the floating landmass was no longer plummeting toward the earth, having stopped at about two and a half miles in the air. He couldn't detect the immense magical energy pulling it down any more, which only meant one thing.
"Quote, Curly… you really did it…"
He wasn't concerned about the extensive damage he'd suffered; that could be fixed easily. In fact, he wasn't concerned about anything at the moment. After dealing with all the island's hardships, their struggles were finally over. Malco knew that most of the credit belonged to his soldier friends, but for just a moment he allowed himself to feel like a hero as well.
"So, how's your head?" Curly asked Balrog. While he was rescuing them from Ballos' chamber, he'd tunneled headfirst through a part of the ground where the tremors had caved in his entryway. It didn't help that she and Quote were sitting on his head, but neither of them had wanted to dangle precariously from his legs while he flew through the air. How he managed that was unclear, as Balrog was only flapping his arms like stumpy wings.
"A little beat up, but I'll be fine," he replied in a cheerful voice. "That was a pretty close call."
"Yeah, I thought we were scrap metal in there! You really saved our necks, big guy," she said with a grin. "Thanks so much, now that's two we owe you after you helped us in the Labyrinth."
Balrog paused for a moment.
"Don't thank me, I saved you because Misery asked me to."
The soldiers shared a look of confusion.
"Misery?" Curly asked, not for clarification but because she didn't quite believe it. "I thought she hated us. I thought you hated us!"
"Not at all!" Balrog replied with a hearty laugh. "Misery's not the cuddliest person, but she doesn't really hate you. We were both slaves of the Demon Crown, and now that you've beaten Ballos we're free to do whatever we want."
Quote had somehow forgotten about that in the chaos of their final battle, but at any rate he was satisfied to have helped the Doctor's former henchmen. He looked around at the bright blue sky and the puffy clouds surrounding the island, feeling a most welcome sense of peace.
Of course, it helped that he and Curly had their fingers intertwined. They traded smiles without a word, each content with the other's presence.
"Look!" Balrog said abruptly, killing the mood somewhat. "Down there, it's Misery!"
The blue-haired witch was standing on the outer steps of the temple they'd battled the Doctor in, waving up at them.
"I think she wants to see you guys. Should I bring you down there?"
Curly thought about it for a moment, eventually deciding that Misery could be trusted now that they'd broken her curse.
"Sure, let's go hear what she has to- eh?"
Quote knew why she had stopped, as his receptor antennae were whirring noisily.
"Malco?" he asked slowly, wondering if he could even still connect to the robot.
"Quote! You're alive! Curly, too! Are you okay?"
They shared a grin at his ecstatic voice.
"Good to hear from you, buddy," Curly said. "We're fine… well, Quote's leg is broken so I guess we're not fine. Where are you?"
"I'm with our human allies. Kazuma rescued Sue and myself with his dragon, and we've been waiting to hear back from you ever since. We're flying just below the edge of the island. By my analysis, I believe you are above us."
"A dragon?" she mouthed to Quote, who was smirking at the memory of the hatchling. He looked down from Balrog's side to see the helicopter and the dragon soaring below them.
"Glad you're okay," Curly continued after a moment. "Balrog rescued us, and we're with him right now. Can you meet us at the Doctor's temple in a few minutes? Misery wants to tell us something."
"M-Misery?!" Malco squawked. "Isn't she one of our enemies? How can we trust her?"
"The Demon Crown isn't controlling her anymore," she said cheerfully. "Just come on and meet up with us again, will you? There's nothing to worry about."
"I don't know if I trust her, but I do trust you. I'll be there shortly."
Balrog descended to the island's surface, where Misery awaited. She had a strange look on her face, not exactly kind but not seething either. Curly hopped off of their carrier's head and helped Quote down, allowing him to lean on her for support. Not long after, Kazuma's dragon swooped into view and touched down a short distance away carrying him, Professor Booster, and Malco. The helicopter landed as well, with Momorin, Sue, Itoh, and the Colons inside. Understandably, all of them were hesitant to approach Misery.
"I wasn't expecting so many people to arrive," the witch hummed in a steady voice. "Listen. After all the harm I've done under the Doctor's command, I don't think I can ever make this up to you in full. I can, however, undo at least some of the damage."
She chanted a short spell, and within the helicopter blue light flashed outwards. Everyone turned to look at it, only to find that where Itoh and Sue had been there were now two very different people. Actually… not different at all. Misery had changed the pair of Mimiga back to their human selves.
Itoh was a tall, rather pale man with neatly combed blue hair and unnaturally wrinkled skin for his age, likely due to his constant stress. He wore a lab coat that had spontaneously appeared with his transformation, most likely Misery's doing to prevent the others from seeing him without clothing.
Sue, meanwhile, bore less of a resemblance to Kazuma or their mother than expected. She was significantly darker-skinned than them, with narrower eyes and a much thinner build. Her hair, which she wore in a short ponytail, was the same shade of dark green. The blue sweater she'd been wearing as a Mimiga was still on her, as Sue hadn't gotten much bigger by changing back into a human.
"Hey, I'm me again!" the girl cheered in delight, jumping up and down.
Misery had the softest of grins on her face.
"There is a mild side effect: you may briefly transform again if you sneeze, but this should only be a temporary condition. In due time, you will become permanently human."
"Thank you for the help," Momorin said, "but why are you doing this now?"
"With the Doctor gone, I am free. And so are all of you. You may leave this place to return home, or remain here to continue your studies. We shall likely not meet again, but I wish you all good fortune with your future exploits."
"Heh heh heh… this is the kindest I've ever heard you speak, Misery."
The entire group snapped their heads in the direction of the temple. Cthulhu was slowly stepping out of it, his scaly hands folded behind his back. He wore his usual twisted smile, but didn't make any gestures other than a short nod at the witch.
"Oh, you're here… I suppose you want me to change you back as well?" Misery asked in a polite voice that didn't quite mask the ire she felt. It seemed that the cousins weren't especially fond of one another even with Ballos dead.
"No, that won't be necessary. I've grown rather accustomed to this body," Cthulhu chuckled, looking down at his reptilian fingers with a toothy grin. "I just came here to offer my congratulations to our soldier friends for their victory. Ah… I always knew they had the potential."
Quote spoke up for the first time, as something had been itching away at his mind ever since they met Cthulhu before fighting the Undead Core.
"Back in the Egg Corridor, when I still couldn't remember anything, you said you didn't know much about me. But you saved me and Curly ten years ago, and you even planned for us to destroy the Core when we woke up… why did you lie to me? You obviously knew MUCH more than you let on, but you sent me through the entire island to find the truth instead!"
Most of the people present had no idea what he was talking about, but Quote hardly cared. He could have received answers at the very beginning of his adventure, and yet the information had been deliberately withheld… it irritated him more than a little to think about. Cthulhu merely smiled at him and bowed his head slightly.
"Had I revealed the truth, you may have not wished to continue your exploration which led to your destruction of the Core. Besides, depriving you of your adventure would have been ever so unsatisfying, wouldn't you agree? You developed a personal motivation to keep searching, to help the humans and inhabitants alike."
The hooded reptilian seemed to ignore the glares coming from Quote, Curly, Misery, and even Balrog.
"I risked allowing you to travel on your own accord," he continued, "and in doing so you managed to obtain stronger armaments and friends to assist you on the way. Not only that, you even managed to defeat a tyrant in the process. You achieved more than I ever expected you to, and for that I applaud you, soldier."
His justification was barely sufficient for Quote, who wondered how much time could have been saved had Cthulhu simply explained everything to him from the beginning. Before the soldier could say another word, however, he vanished into thin air. Misery let out a sigh of exasperation.
"He's always been cryptic… I suppose I will take my leave as well. Goodbye, everyone. Balrog, I assume you'll be able to find me if necessary. You have the nose of a bloodhound, after all."
With another small grin, she teleported away. Curly turned to face the rest of the group, smiling widely as the Colons darted to her side. The four Mimiga children pulled her and Quote into a group hug, even dancing around the soldiers.
"I'm so glad to see you all again. Hey, what do you think of living up here on the surface?"
They responded with a unanimous cheer, but fell silent as Curly spoke up again.
"We may have more people with us this time. Malco, what are you planning on doing now?"
"I need to repair myself," the former admitted as he walked over to them on his rickety legs. "But all of the necessary parts and tools are in the Bushlands outpost where I was stationed. Once that is finished, I wish to remain with you if it's no trouble."
"Not at all! What about you, Quote?"
He didn't say anything, but he felt like he didn't need to. Instead, he gave her hand a tighter squeeze and smirked at the light blush crossing her face. The Colons stared up at him curiously.
"…good answer," Curly said after a moment of silence. "We're gonna need to build a house big enough for all of us, but I'm sure that won't be a problem."
"Hey, um…" Balrog cut in with a hesitant edge to his voice. "Now that I'm free from the curse… can I come too? I don't really have a place to go."
"Sure!" she chirped. "We'll need an even bigger house, but we can definitely live together. It'll be like a big family! Tell you what, Balrog, you can even pick the spot. Just make sure it's somewhere with a great view for us."
"Really?" he asked. "Wow, okay! I'll get started right now!"
With that he lumbered off into the distance to find a good spot. The Colons ran after him as fast as their hind legs could carry them, shouting for Curly to catch up soon. Malco laughed brightly while he watched them take off.
"They're very excited, aren't they? As much as I'd like to help find a good place to live, I really should get myself repaired first."
"Go ahead," Quote said to him. "You can come find us when you're better. How will you get back to the Bushlands?"
Professor Booster spoke up next.
"Kazuma and I got out of the Plantation with a secret teleporter system. We can get him back there, no problem."
"We're not leaving the island quite yet," Momorin added. "We plan on making sure the rest of the Demon Flowers are gone and finalizing our research before heading back to the surface. If possible, we're also going to set up a way to teleport here and back whenever necessary."
Sue nodded eagerly.
"Yeah, that way we'll be able to visit you guys!"
"Sounds great to me," Curly said. "Heh, we might need to make some guest rooms in our new house as well."
"Nothing we can't handle, I'm sure! Well, I should be going now. I'll rejoin you the moment my repairs are complete."
Just before they could depart, Quote called out to Sue. He offered her King's sword, the sight of which made her eyes widen then slightly mist over.
"Get this back to Mimiga Village. It shouldn't stay with us anymore."
"R… right, I'll do that. Jack will know what to do with it."
Waving his one remaining arm, Malco trotted off with Professor Booster, Itoh, and the three Sakamotos. The two ex-soldiers were subsequently left alone.
"Guess we should make sure Balrog and the Colons don't get into any trouble," Curly said after a moment.
"I still can't walk on my leg," Quote replied in dismay.
Rolling her eyes but chuckling nonetheless, his partner lifted him onto her back to carry him along. Nemesis and Spur clunked awkwardly, attached to their waists, but they didn't mind the discomfort. The pair could finally enjoy a casual moment together, idly chatting as they walked across the grassy surface of the island toward their new home and a bright future.
Two days later…
The Bushlands outpost had more than enough replacement parts for Malco to repair himself with, and he felt like a brand new robot- which, given how much of him needed replacing, he supposed he was. Fully repaired and stocked up on additional supplies, he was ready to head back to his friends. He'd even taken a bit of time to create the blueprints for their new home, just so he could have contributed something in his absence. Humming to himself, he grabbed the stack of boxes he would bring and strode toward the same teleporter Kazuma and Professor Booster had used to escape the Doctor. It had already been calibrated to bring him to the Sakamoto's new base camp on the surface.
He paused upon approaching the structure housing it and looked back. The outpost was still save for the resident frogs milling about. It would likely remain that way forever, steadily removing all traces of the war from ten years ago. His photoreceptors landed on the power room he'd been dormant in, and he found he wasn't ready to leave just yet. The door was still burst open after Balrog's transformation, allowing him easy access.
Had it always been so cramped? He hardly remembered his time there, with all that he'd been through. Spare weapon and ammo crates were scattered around the room, which reminded him that he was unarmed again. Malco grabbed another missile launcher and Fireball handgun; their battle may have been over but he decided one could never be too safe.
His focus returned to the main reason he'd come back. Four robots, identical to him, were still offline against a wall. They had accumulated a significant amount of dust in his absence, and one was knocked onto its side. All of them stared ahead lifelessly, their photoreceptors dull. Malco nudged them back into place and did his best to dust them off, then walked over to the control panel at the back of the room.
-Access granted.
-User: RT9_Malco-Class_2
-Password: XXXXXXX
-NOTICE: Signal has been lost from designated leader of Retrieval Team 9.
-Leader is assumed terminated, position will shift to next available unit.
-Next available unit: RT9_Malco-Class_2.
-RT9_Malco-Class_2 has been designated leader of Retrieval Team 9.
He'd expected as much. With his former comrades all either destroyed or offline, and their human leaders having long since abandoned them, by default he was given command of the entire team. After a brief pause, he began to type again, putting his newfound authority to the only use he wanted to.
-NOTICE: Retrieval Team 9's mission is unsuccessful.
-General Miakido has been terminated.
-Demon Crown has been destroyed.
-Any remaining units are to cease hostilities toward the floating island's inhabitants effective immediately.
-No further objectives.
-Retrieval Team 9 is disbanded. Removing [RT9] tag from remaining units.
And with that, the war was officially over. He turned to look at his four identical brethren, still offline. Malco tapped a final command into the keyboard, beginning their long reboot process. The station's old power system had barely managed to reactivate him so quickly; it would take them far longer to wake up.
"This is Unit 2… no, my name is Malco," he said, knowing full well they couldn't really hear him. "I'm sorry to leave you here while your reboot commences. It could take months, or even years, for you to reactivate. The system is out of date, so I can't do anything to speed the process along. I promise, one day I'll come back for you all. I'll introduce you to my friends; you might like them."
Double-checking to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything, he stepped out and made his way back to the teleporter. He'd been away long enough, and Quote and Curly needed help with the house.
The sun was beginning to set, sending a deep orange light over the floating island and the small camp set up on the northern point of it. A pair of dark green tents, generously provided by Momorin's crew, were pitched side-by-side in the open field not far from the early foundations of a house. Given the short time and the fact that none of the people building it were particularly skilled in construction, progress was rather slow. Of course, that didn't bother the group at all as they tirelessly worked, laughing together and sharing stories the whole time. If there was one benefit to their house not being finished, it was getting to stay in the fresh, clear air after spending so long underground.
The ex-soldiers shared one of the tents, while the four Colons slept in the other. Balrog, who as it turned out was physically incapable of sleeping (and was too big for a tent anyway), remained outside at night. He assured his new friends that it was no problem for him; he preferred being out in the open. Due to his lack of fingers he was by far the least helpful in actually building the house, but it didn't stop him from trying. He would fly off into the distance and return with entire uprooted trees to use in the construction. They still couldn't do much without tools, but Malco had promised to bring additional supplies back from the Bushlands outpost upon hearing of this problem.
Quote sat near the edge of the island, watching the sunset and listening to the others chatter in the camp. His broken leg was far from completing its self-repair process, so in the meantime he kept it splinted. As ecstatic as he was that their battles were finally over, he had to admit a life of peace would take some getting used to. Perhaps it was his programming as a soldier robot, but a small part of him missed the adrenaline of a gunfight.
"Hey," a voice said to his left. Curly sat herself down beside him, looking out over the horizon as well. "You've been here alone for a while. Everything okay?"
"I'm fine. Just taking in everything that's happened to us."
"We've been through a lot, haven't we?" she noted with a smile. "It was a hard fight, but I wouldn't trade this for the world."
Quote grinned and pulled her closer to him.
"Neither would I…"
He noticed she was blushing again, looking meaningfully into his eyes. Curly's face lit up in the sun's glow, and he found he'd never seen a more radiant image. With a nervous grin, she leaned forward and placed her lips against his just like she'd done before their final battle. Quote held her close, having deduced that it was a gesture of affection, and returned it as best as he could. The two were perfectly still for a few seconds, enjoying the bond stronger than iron that they shared. Even after they pulled apart, Curly kept him in a tender embrace.
"Love you, soldier boy…" she mumbled into his shoulder.
He was still coming to grips with his own feelings, but Quote knew that he shared her affection equally. His mouth opened to respond, only to be cut off by a familiar voice.
"Greetings, friends! I've returned!"
Malco was trotting toward them, looking good as new. His angular body was in pristine, shiny condition, as if he'd never been damaged to begin with. The ex-soldiers separated from one another with light blushes, but their friend seemed oblivious as to why.
"How long have you been there?" Curly asked with a bashful grin.
"Apparently not long enough. I just got here, have I missed something?"
Quote smirked.
"Not at all. You're looking good."
"Why, thank you! There were plenty of spare parts in the Bushlands outpost for me, so repairs went well. I also brought supplies to help with the house."
In his claws were several boxes of drills, saws, hammers, and other items.
"You're the best," Curly said. "Let's get back to the camp; the others are probably wondering what's keeping us. You can share our tent until the rooms are done."
"Hmm, perhaps not," he replied in a suspiciously satisfied tone. "I believe you two deserve a more private lodging after your long battle."
Quote felt his blush return, and he noticed Curly also reddening. Malco warbled with laughter.
"I haven't properly acquainted myself with the Colons yet. I'll stay with them for now."
"Okay, okay," Curly chuckled. "You get to take care of them, Quote's not that great at it. I'd say he needs some parenting lessons."
He was about to protest, but she just laughed and began making her way to the camp. Quote followed as fast as his broken leg would allow, and Malco fell in step beside them. The three robots walked back together as the sun disappeared over the horizon, reunited at last and prepared for whatever the next day would bring them.
The End
Author's Note: With that, my second novelization is complete. Thank you so much for reading; I hope I've managed to convey the story well enough while keeping things fresh with my own additions.
What's next? I'll continue my Earthbound story, and maybe at some point write another one-shot in this universe. Quote's aforementioned parenting lessons could be amusing, who knows?
Speaking of more Cave Story, er, stories, I'll definitely be coming back here in a BIG way! How big? I'll reveal more about that in the future, trust me.
For the time being, here's one last thank you for each and every reader, follower, and reviewer. Take care, and I'll see you next time!
-MetroidMan101
