11:50 p.m.
Labyrinth
Quote's journey in the Labyrinth prison went on, fighting against hordes of what seemed to be blade-wielding dogs. Not before long, he ran into Curly again, who needed healing after sustaining an injury, having apparently fallen to the same Labyrinth depths too.
Jo thought by now both Ian and Erik were too drunk to properly prepare a glass of absinthe, so she took a momentary break from the laptop to do it herself.
Ian was up for providing commentary, though. "So. Yeah. This is where comparing to you doesn't quite ... work. Because after the beginning, Curly always needs to be healed or something. And you're not ... like that at all."
That was somewhat odd to hear. Jo wasn't sure whether to feel flattered. But the whole night was turning into a twilight zone of its own.
Absinthe at hand, Jo returned at the laptop. In the meanwhile Ian had played a little further, so that Quote and Curly were at a boulder they were supposed to move aside together. Erik was almost completely catatonic.
"Hey, you go on. I'll enjoy this drink," Jo said.
"Fine. Now, this is almost the best part. But you know it won't last," Ian replied somewhat cryptically.
The Labyrinth went on, and the two robots were now laying waste to the hordes of enemies together. For the most part, Curly seemed to be bouncing around randomly, but she was not hurt by the enemies' return fire at all, so having her around was just an extra advantage.
...
12:15 a.m.
Core
"OK. This is where the shit gets heavy," Ian said. "It was about here when I quit last time. But the absinthe is helping now."
The music had turned quieter and ominous, as Quote and Curly were exploring a deserted computer complex of some kind.
A sequence of switches that needed to be hit, and soon the robots were facing a large, almost amorphous dark-green creature.
"That's the core ... which keeps the island afloat. Or something."
The tune changed to a faster triplet beat. Erik seemed to be jolted awake by this, as it clearly resembled metal, and started a drum beat against the floor. The goth-looking Misery appeared again, taunting the heroes, and an epic fight against the core started.
Before it could get irreversibly damaged so as to cause the island to fall, the Doctor himself returned to teleport it away, and the chamber got flooded. The music stopped, leaving just the air meter to tick down relentlessly.
"So now you drown?" Jo asked.
"Yeah."
The screen went black.
Your senses dim, and the world grows dark...
More text started to scroll on the screen, telling of the witch's brother, and Jo kind of zoned out. Was it to present the feeling of a dying hallucination?
Finally there was a message that the player character could breathe again, and the screen returned.
"I get it. That's kind of sad. And cute," Jo said, as she understood that Curly had given her permanent air bubble to Quote, so that he could go on fighting.
And she had to think ... if Ian was dead-set on comparing them to these fictional characters, surely she hadn't done anything like that in their adventures? But then, if the situation had demanded...? In any case, it was not a pleasant train of thought.
But the game had certainly succeeded in evoking some feels, despite almost everything about it being rather crude, like the games Jo had seen in her childhood.
"So she's finished ... or not?" Jo asked.
Ian's voice appeared slow. Explaining probably took a disproportionate effort now due to all the absinthe coursing in his system. "This is some not-very-logical shit. But basically, when we did a certain decision earlier – we didn't talk to the scientist at the bottom of the Labyrinth pit – there's now something we can use -"
Ian guided Quote to the bottom of the flooded chamber, where he picked up a shiny object, that turned out to be a – tow rope?
And Jo understood that it would become an epic towing adventure from this point on.
...
12:35 a.m.
Waterway
The journey continued through treacherous water currents, with Curly held on Quote's back by the rope.
In the middle of the waterway, there was suddenly a small hut that seemed rather out of place.
"This is another evil part. Which you'd probably miss if not using a guide. You have to stop at this little house right now."
Jo looked on. The coincidences kept piling on. The house contained a bookshelf that just happened to have a manual for treating flooded robots.
"So now she's no longer in risk of dying. But she needs time to reboot," Ian said. Something in his voice told Jo that this was unpleasant – possibly triggering – material. But she wanted to understand, even at this moment, even at the risk of potentially souring the atmosphere.
"So does that compare to something ... in reality, I mean?" Jo asked.
Ian took his time to answer, staring at the screen. "Well. Kind of. The mission to the first pyramid. It's all from there. You remember anything of it?"
Jo had to think. Hard. She possibly remembered – a mushroom cloud? A nuke going off? But it was just a fragment.
"Not much."
"Maybe it's better that way. There's one possibly funny part. There was – like an army of SCEPTRE goons there. We were in disguise but had to get out fast. I - dropped flashbangs and then I used you for ear plugs. And because we're still here, I guess it worked."
Jo was not sure if she felt exactly honored, but certainly everyone could not say to have achieved the same.
"I remember," Erik drawled. "Meanwhile we were on the other side of Patagonia, or whatever. With my leg shot to shit. And Gwen ... she did the most WTF thing I ever saw in my short Agent career. Reprogramming the missile to your location. I was almost ready to strangle her! But ... it worked out."
The words carried the uneasy implication that later, for Gwen herself, things didn't go as lucky. To remain forever on Nibiru, fatally wounded, but managing to arm the Earth-saving nanomunitions.
Ian continued in a very deadpan tone, mostly ignoring what Erik had said.
"But yeah, if it was like ... you rebooting after drinking too much absinthe, and I knew there was actually nothing to worry about, then ... it'd be different, right? Then I could just watch you and sink into some weird world within myself and feel all fluffy, but also hope that the hangover won't be too bad ... Fuck, I should just shut up."
At this point Jo had to close her eyes. It was kind of much. But it was unmistakably a hundred percent what Ian was and could not, or should not, be changed.
...
12:45 a.m.
Main Artery
As the waterway maze was left behind, the music picked up speed, which was a signal that a fight was again about to happen, this time in the water current. Predictably, Erik was roused to more awareness.
"Fucking speed metal again," he said.
The fight involved a school of fish that could occasionally puff up into spiky forms, as well as a robotic boss-fish.
After the fight was over, Curly appeared to drift away, while Quote ended up in a pond, back in the Mimiga village.
"The game's being cruel again," Ian remarked. "But wait. Like I said, I never played past this point myself. But I looked up a playthrough video. Not long, and we'll hit the best music ever."
...
1:00 a.m.
Egg Corridor
At this point Quote had a jetpack of sorts, that would boost him up for short distances. It made things a bit easier. He was visiting the corridor again, now it was very much trashed. Some of the eggs appeared broken. Jo could also pick up the music being different, urgent and almost epic.
"That's the song?" she asked.
"No, not this one yet."
A boss fight against twin dragons followed, being not much of a difficulty.
Then, Quote met a friendly guy (one of the very few actual humans) who offered him a ride out, on the back of a hatched, just as friendly dragon.
"That'd be the first ending. The worst one. But we'll keep fighting," Ian said.
...
1:15 a.m.
Outer Wall
"OK. This is the one. It's called Moonsong. It's just ... emo as fuck," Ian proclaimed.
Quote was now alone, climbing the outer wall of the island with the help of the jetpack, the moon staring at him from the sky.
And Jo listened.
Obviously, it was a minor key song, with very simple instrumentation. It was quite good. Quite emo. But the best song ever? Jo didn't know. Maybe it was a very specific mental state you needed.
Like...
If ... she was climbing some humongous mountain and if she climbed far enough, she might just see Ian again. Or then not. Or maybe not even Ian at all, but her estranged Dad, who at this point could have no idea of the adventures she had lived through.
Fuck. It didn't take much. That was indeed very emo, and she could appreciate the song more now. But now she needed to shake those ideas from her mind. She still had quarter of absinthe remaining in the glass. That should do the trick.
...
1:35 a.m.
Plantation
"Fuck. I can no longer think straight," Ian said, as Quote was lost within fields where the Mimigas were growing crops, apparently under the Doctor's command. The end was possibly within sight now.
"Consult the net?" Jo said, going for her cell phone. It had the same awful 2G net connection, but maybe it would just be enough.
"Thanks, Curly. Just what we need."
Jo submerged herself to one of the several solutions for the game.
"OK. So you need to disguise yourself as a Mimiga. And build a rocket to reach the top ... And ... we're going for the best ending?"
"Of course."
"Then you need to find Curly and restore her memories. With a talking mushroom you need to backtrack to. Fuck. I just realized ... that's ... just like me again."
Erik snapped to half-consciousness.
"You ate a mushroom?" he asked.
Jo hesitated a bit. It was a period of her life she had wanted to forget, when very little seemed to make sense, but she had clawed her way out.
"No ... for me, I guess it was the steering wheel of the Ka. It smelled so bad, it triggered a memory," she answered last.
"Fuck. Can imagine," Erik growled, then went on. "I hated that car so much I wanted to shit inside. But it got burned first."
That was new information to Jo. She was almost amused, but thought of how it had been very much a shit time for all of them. Being an Agent didn't exactly reward. But now things were certainly headed for the better.
...
1:50 a.m.
Mimiga Village
Quote was making his way back to find the mushroom.
...
1:55 a.m.
Graveyard
"OK. Boost yourself up to that door and you should find it. Beware, there'll be a conversation that makes almost no sense," Jo warned. "But I'll walk you through it."
Quote got inside the room at the top of the graveyard and confronted the mushroom.
You got some business with me? it asked.
"Yes to that."
Hm. Amnesia. How awful.
Well then. Do you want me to give you the Mushroom badge?
"Yes."
But in reality, you don't really want it, right?
"No."
You want it that much?
"Yes."
You want it absolutely positively no matter what?
"Yes."
But really you don't want it, right?
"No."
Fine, here you go!
Quote got the mushroom badge.
"OK. That's no use yet. It's just trying to screw with you - you need the mushroom itself. Talk to it again."
Hwahaha! Found me out, eh? That's nothing more than a silly badge!
What? You want to eat me?!
I'll have you know that I am a valuable, valuable mushroom like no other in all the caves!
Grrrrrr! I'm not gonna just let you eat me up! Die!
Jo could barely suppress laughing. "Now you'll have to fight it."
The little mushroom would be completely curb-stomped. To its credit it could do a flying attack, and make rubbish (or even clones of itself) fall from the ceiling, but against Quote's unlimited health, it would not do much good.
Finally, it was all over.
You win...
With the mushroom at hand, Quote exited.
...
2:10 a.m.
Plantation
Jo couldn't deny it was a heartwarming moment when Curly was force-fed the mushroom, got her memories back, and revealed the robots' names and shared history finally.
And now, everything was ready for the final war. To ride the rocket to the top of the plantation, and to whatever horrors waited there.