Author's Notes: Once again, I find myself unhelpfully tired, having had a friend round all weekend, which lead to me not getting enough sleep before university today XD. But, I managed to get the chapter out on time regardless 8). This chapter is written in a slightly different style from most, as while I could describe each challenge the trio face in depth, or just make them not face many, I think it would be a bit cheap if they improved drastically through too little effort, and I imagine if the next 10 chapters revolve around this dungeon people will find it repetitive. Feedback on the approach is much appreciated, and a thank you to my new reviewers, I'm never sure how much people who review chapter 1 have read, but however much it is in each case, glad you enjoyed it, and hope you continue to do so :). A cookie to whoever gets Arson's reference early on, by the way.
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"Uh, this looks like the place" Arson said, tilting his head and trying a second perspective to double-check.
"So did the last five" Zone pointed out, and while it was a witty remark, the facts were on his side this time.
Reiko studied the map, perusing the scurrying lines that weaved their way across the parchment like drunks dodging traffic. It was complex map, and grudgingly the vampire verified their position on the GPS. "Hm, no this is the place" he finally concluded, folding the map and pocketing both it and the electronic device.
Looking up, he beheld their destination. It was a worn-looking building jutting from the rocky terrain at the edge of the settlement; the curved dome roof fronted by an archway that held foreboding great steel doors, so big that a chariot could fit through. This was the dungeon they had been tasked to overcome by Matier.
Arson joined Reiko on the beholding, appreciating the plain yet ancient grace of the structure, which was but the entrance to the dungeon. Someone somewhere managed to organise a punctual ominous silence.
Zone meanwhile just rolled his eyes, scoffing in disinterest and glancing across to the other side of the path. There a near-identical ancient gateway to some other hidden depths of the island stood, only this one had a triangular-pyramid style roof. Vi Du Marli had so many mysterious dungeons that there was a separate guidebook dedicated to them, and they had seen a considerable number of the foreboding portals; they were scattered about like chalets at Center Parcs. You couldn't turn around without tripping over secluded entrances, the hamster thought with ironic amusement. Still, he chuckled, it's what's inside that counts…
----
The doors closed behind them with a resounding slam, even though it could probably be easily opened again. Reiko, Arson and Zone walked into the chamber, their half-dozen eyes taking in the surroundings.
The roof was a curved dome on the inside as well as the out, and from the centre dangled a gently swaying chandelier bedecked in burning candles. The slight pendulum-like motion of it causes the shadows in the room to sway, as if chanting in some dark ceremony. Some pillars and other architectural features kept up appearances, and at the back, from the perspective of the door, stood a marble statue of a generic feminine Goddess. She held a set of golden scales, and lastly to either side of the statue there was a door in the wall.
"At least she booked us a nice dungeon" Arson said, paraphrasing tourists around the world, save for the substitution of the word "hotel" for "dungeon". They walked up to the statue and Reiko examined it closer.
"Don't tell me, we have to fetch at least two key devices to activate this thing and make real progress" Zone cut off the vampire before he could hypothesise on its purpose. Reiko just sighed and nodded in reply.
"Lets see what's behind door number one!" Arson declared excitedly. He leapt round the left of the statue and barged through that side's door. Reiko looked at Zone, who took his turn to shrug, and they followed.
----
They caught up to Arson in the following chamber, which was a fairly nondescript brick room, save for cells lining the walls on each side, their insides shrouded in darkness, and a barred door at the far end.
There was also a lever in the middle of the room, which Arson was staring at, "Ooh, Edisony" he sighed.
Reiko was about to suggest caution, but then looking around, he reconsidered. There were no other apparent ways out or forwards that weren't blocked. It might be dangerous and daft to pull a mysterious lever just lying there, but they'd have to do it anyway to get anywhere. "Go ahead, pull it" Reiko surmised.
Arson did so, and none of them were surprised when the floor rumbled, or when the bars to the cells raised, or when the animated skeletons carrying crude weapons and wrapped in torture cages came stumbling out.
"Do either of you get the feeling this is going to be a long day?" Zone asked idly, drawing his lightsabre.
Reiko glanced about with calculating eyes, reaching for his staff, ever alert to take a threat seriously. "Perhaps, but only if we survive to the end of it" he remarked, bringing his weapon into a ready position.
"I've never fought a sardine before" Arson commented on the skeleton's cages, tilting his head curiously, then drawing his swords. Zone considered his friends' points of view, and realised this just might be fun…
----
The caged foes weren't tough competition individually, but their numbers were considerable, and it proved a decent challenge for the trio to simply not be overrun. Eventually they whittled the horde down though.
Dragon scythed through the air and met with little resistance as it parted metal bars very much like a hot knife through butter. The blade impaled through the torso of the reanimated corpse, shattering bones. Arson turned and stabbed Phoenix into the leering skull of another enemy opposite the first clumsily trying to gore him with a cleaver. With an acrobatic backflip he twisted the blades inside his foes, dismantling them, and delivered a kick to a third noisily trying to sneak up on the hybrid, who landed and turned to finish it off.
Reiko meanwhile was having a slightly tougher time, as the cages of his targets gave them some resistance to the bludgeoning strikes of his staff. However its wide range and solid impacts allowed him to control the space around him, and he was slowly but methodically eliminating his targets, almost none remaining now.
Turning to check on his friends, he saw Arson was doing fine, and turned to locate Zone. He spotted the hamster thanks to the distinctive red glow of his weapon, and saw that he was being crowded in by several enemies. Seeing this, Reiko shoved away his own foes and made to help him, yelling "Be defensive Zone".
The hamster heard him, and glanced at the vampire who was charging to his aid. However, rather than buying time, he stood his ground, grinning with determined eagerness. One skeleton slashed down, but the small, nimble and hard to hit rodent dodged to the side and leapt up at the now bent over creature. Grabbing the metal cage, he rapidly ascended its torso and began slashing apart everything in reach between the bars.
The possessed corpse was too sluggish to stop him, and it began to fall apart, the magical energies binding it dissipating. Zone kicked off of him and narrowly avoided another blow that would have cut him in half, the blade's passage ruffling his fur with the air currents. Flipping agilely in midair, he swung his blade round in a wide vertical arc, cutting a hole through the metal casing of the carcass that had tried to recruit him. His trajectory carried him through the gap and onto the creature's skull, which he swiftly ran through.
At this point Reiko arrived and cleared the area around the collapsed corpse with wide swings of his staff, Zone squeezing out from between two rungs of the caging as he did. The vampire smacked back another skeleton, not turning away from the fight as he said to Zone, "You should have played safe until I arrived".
Zone looked at him, and twirled his blade around in meaningful gesture. "I can handle myself" he replied.
Reiko glanced at him, and although the rodent was being a little stubborn, he felt a sort of understanding, Zone wanted to prove himself, and to have his own achievements. "I know you can" Reiko compromised, as the ring of enemies closed in, "but we need to learn to fight together, to become stronger" he reminded.
Zone digested this, and realised he was right. "Fair point… OK, I will next time" he admitted sincerely, the cadavers almost upon them. Reiko grinned slightly, proud of the rodent's humility. Then battle resumed…
After they finished off the skeletons, the far door unbarred, and the trio advanced further into the dungeon.
----
Arson was carefully climbing his way up a giant cogwheel, whimpering as the ancient thing creaked under his every motion. Below him, Reiko and Zone were watching on, the former too heavy for the wheel to support, and the latter too light to operate the rusted lever located inexplicably on the wall above the cog.
"Don't rush" Reiko advised, as Arson slowly clambered over another of the large, awkward teeth that lined the circumference of the cog. Zone remained silent, but at his side he had his paws crossed for the hybrid.
Suddenly, there was a twang. Arson froze, his eyes slowly widening in horror as the wheel beneath him groaned, sunk a little, then with a clunk dropped to the floor, and began to roll. "Mommy…" he whimpered.
Influenced by the teenager's weight, the giant wheel turned towards the side Arson was on; the hybrid climbing over the next tooth, which only made it turn faster. Zone and Reiko watched agape as it rolled away from the series of similar cogs it had been part of, Arson scrambling to stay atop faster and faster, feeding its momentum, right towards them. The two slowly turned to look at each other, and then split.
"Where are the breaks?!" Arson wailed, now making long leaping strides in place from tooth to tooth to stay on top of the runaway wheel. The cog wobbled as it rolled across the room, veering this way and that, until finally settling down on a course, aimed right at Zone. The rodent gulped, it was too close and moving too fast for him to get clear of it now. Closing his eyes he tensed up and waited to become even shorter.
The wheel bore down on him mercilessly, steel teeth ready to grind him into a furry paste… And rolled right over him, the tiny rodent being spared as his patch of ground coincided with a gap in the cog's teeth.
Opening his eyes slowly, the hamster blinked, did a quick feel over of his body to make sure it wasn't lacking any vital dimensions, and turned to see the wheel rolling away from him. Suddenly he snapped out of his daze, "Run the other way, you're just making it faster!" he yelled after a highly distraught Arson.
The hybrid glared at the rodent; "I'm not a hamster, I don't know wheels!" he defended himself angrily.
"It's basic physics!" Zone shot back, "Turn around and apply force in the opposite direction bit by bit!".
Grumbling Arson managed, with great difficulty, to turn around so that he was now running awkwardly backwards. Concentrating as best he could, he met each tooth of the cog with some resistance in his step, and eventually it began to slow down. Smiling hopefully, the hybrid looked up from his feet, only to see a series of low arches rapidly approaching him. "Aah! Scene change, scene change!" he cried out frantically.
----
"Was Matier under the impression that one of us could fly?" Zone remarked some time later in irritation.
It was a mostly rhetorical question alluding to the seemingly rhetorical puzzle they faced. There was another lever they needed to operate. The problem was, it was located in an alcove high over a pit of lava.
"Perhaps" Reiko mused, not discounting the possibility, "I don't think anyone could jump that far or high".
Arson walked forwards and curiously peered over the edge into the lava. He winced at the intense heat that rolled up into his face, "Too spicy" he remarked, the superheated liquid dangerous to even the fiery hybrid.
"If only it was a button we could throw rocks at it or something, dumb levers" Zone remarked off-pawedly.
Slowly, Reiko turned to look down at the hamster, who after a bit noticed him staring at him thoughtfully. "That's not a bad idea" the vampire said, rubbing his chin and glancing between the rodent and the lever.
Zone gave him a cautious look, backing away slightly, "What exactly are you getting at?" he asked warily.
The two stared at each other a moment longer, and though nothing was said in that, a silent communication passed. "I won't miss, I promise" Reiko said, leaning down and placing his hand palm-up in front of Zone.
The hamster hesitated, but swallowed his fear and climbed into Reiko's hand, "Better not" he half-laughed.
"I won't" Reiko said, standing up with the small rodent in his hand. Feeling his friend's weight, he was again reminded how small and light he was, and also could feel the warm softness of his fur against his skin. Even clutching his lightsabre, in case anything attacked him or for moral support Reiko could only guess, Zone looked so little and harmless, sitting anxiously entirely in the palm of the vampire's hand.
"Be careful" Zone said, as Reiko held him securely, drawing his arm back slowly and staring at the ledge. He gave a reassuring nod, and then squinting his eyes, threw the rodent with precise force and trajectory.
"Whee!" Zone yelled as he sailed through the air, grinning madly. It wasn't the most profound statement ever, but when you're flying over a pit of lava, you have to say something. He arced towards the platform, and landed, rolled a couple of rotations, and came to a stop, standing up to find himself only slightly dizzy.
"Are you alright?" Reiko called across the gap, able to make out Zone was upright thanks to his good eyesight. The rodent turned and signalled that he was, and then turned back to the lever he had to operate.
Climbing up it, he reached the top of the pole, and thankfully it wasn't badly rusted at all, and a couple of goes of throwing his weight against it got it to shift. Jumping down, Zone turned, and spotted something.
Neatly tucked away in an aside to the alcove, was what looked like a jutting growth of glowing red crystal. Glancing over to the others, he saw they were taking care of things, and so he went up to it to investigate.
"Hm, thought these were only in Devil May Cry 3, guess they're importing" he remarked, recognising it at last. Experimentally he took his lightsabre, and with a quick thrust, broke the surface. Sure enough, crimson energy bled out of the hole, and a grin crossed the furry features of the tiny tyrant. Widening the hole with another stab, he drew his laser gun, and stuck it in, the weapon began to store the crystal's Red Orb energy.
Back with Arson and Reiko, the lever had caused a button to be revealed, and so Reiko pushed it. This in turn made a path extend from a wall at the same height as their platform, bridging over the lava, while at the far end another tiny alcove opened, revealing a shiny object, no doubt one of the keys that they needed.
"Cool, free samples" Arson remarked, Reiko chuckling at how casually Arson strolled to cross a pit of lava.
"Wish it was two for one" he replied, recalling the two doors back in the first chamber, implying two keys.
Arson meanwhile had just set foot on the bridge, which had already cooled, being made of some heat-resistant metal. However another hazard made itself apparent, as the moment he stepped onto it, demons began to emerge from dark portals that began spilling over the length of the narrow, precarious walkway.
"Hey, no cutting in line" Arson complained, but even so he jumped back, not wanting a fight on the bridge.
He reached back to draw his swords. He needn't have bothered though, as behind him, Reiko calmly pushed the button again. Without delay, the bridge began retracting into the wall again, the demons looking around in sudden alarm. Arson stared, then turned that stare on Reiko, who offered a shrewdly innocent shrug. "I think they decided to withdraw" the vampire remarked over the sound of sizzling, Arson giggling.
He extended the bridge again, and Arson crossed it, sniffing the air as he did, "Lets have a BBQ when we're done" he suggested. At the far end, he stopped and picked up the artifact on a pedestal in a previously concealed chamber there. It was a cube with unusual holes drilled through it from all sides.
"Hey, look out below" Arson heard, and looking up, he saw Zone jump down from the alcove directly above him. Pocketing the object, Arson held his hands out and caught the hamster, whose light body meant he was barely shaken by the drop since it was into a soft landing. Together they crossed back over to Reiko.
----
Zone stood his ground as the slavering demon rushed him, and tried to grab his small form; he loved it when they did that. With a quick slash, the hands that were about to crush the life from the rodent were severed, the deceptive range of 4 inches of pure cutting energy literally disarming the attack in its tracks.
As the entity recoiled back, Zone rushed forwards and, leaping up, drew a long rising slash up the beast's underside, splitting it open. The demon dissolved into a pool of dripping darkness, which then evaporated.
Taking a moment to look around, he saw Reiko and Arson were similarly engaged with the enemy hordes, this being the latest in a growing number of battles they'd fought. Zone knew he was the weakest of the group in combat, and accruing the least kills, but he was alright with that now, though he still strove to do better. What mattered to him was that he was contributing, and all things considered doing well personally.
The moment ended as another demon saw him, and grinning keenly, Zone raised his weapon, swinging…
----
… Swinging dizzyingly, the giant pendulum seemed to be trying to throw Arson off as the hybrid clutched on for dear life. Staring down, he gulped as he saw that, unhelpfully, the spike pit wasn't on a lunch break.
Shimming further up the metal trunk, he didn't dare look away to see if Reiko and Zone were doing anything. He did dare a humble peek around his own proximity, only look at things very near to him, as if trying to deny the universe a chance to realise how high up he was, afraid what it would do if it found out.
Seeing his target platform, he waited until the pendulum was at the extreme of its arc, and leapt, reaching…
----
… Reaching into the socket, Reiko smirked as he retrieved the second of the keys they needed. It was like the first, only it was shaped like a triangle-based pyramid. Turning round, he showed it to Arson and Zone.
"About time" Zone said, relieved to have finally gotten both keys, even if the fighting parts were enjoyable.
"The montage really helped" Arson remarked wisely, nodding his head while Reiko and Zone shook theirs.
"Care to open us a door in the fourth wall and take us back to the first room?" Zone replied sarcastically.
Arson tilted his head, giving the hamster a curious look, and shrugged. "OK, if you like" he said helpfully.
----
"You have no shame" Zone scolded Arson, who whimpered and hid behind the marble Goddess statue.
Reiko looked about at the chamber they'd initially come to, and shrugging, took out the two keys and put them each on the scales. The balancing plates wobbled, and then sunk, causing the Goddess's arm to lower.
A low rumble ran through the room, and Zone yelped as the floor jerked beneath him and gave way, sending him plummeting all of two feet. Reiko and Arson watched as a spiral staircase depressed and defined itself in the floor in the middle of the room, Zone sitting a few steps down and rubbing his behind.
"I guess we go down" Reiko said, hoping that this was real progress, and not just a minor step forwards.
"Powerful observation" Zone replied cockily, standing up and peering down the staircase, Reiko and Arson wandering over to do the same. It wasn't inviting, but it was the way, so the trio descended into the dark…