Rain World: High Voltage

6: The Hydra's Grasp

Free-floating from point A to point B was actually... quite difficult. 

The orange slugcat came to this conclusion as Martyr guided him by the arm through several rooms.  They were sometimes propelled in an entirely unintended direction, and Martyr's grimace would deepen slightly every time it happened, despite his attempts at hiding his apparent frustration.

Eventually, they came to a room that changed his expression into one of worry.

This new room was lined with complex technology with grids that flashed blue and red lights, several curling wires, strange jutting bulks of metal, and coils of thick wire that stretched across their path. Yet the very first thing he noticed were the sturdy, rectangular mesh containers containing a bright blue light. The light within wavered and snapped, filling the air with static. Something about it reminded him of his bright-green light show in the previous room where he met Martyr after completely frying everything in it.

That thing is gonna fry us, isn't it?

Yeah.

The orange slugcat startled. He had forgotten Martyr could do that. Now he was worried about what he had been thinking this whole time with Martyr silently listening in.

"Unless Confidence built you to withstand it, I doubt that even a sparkler like you can withstand sizzling on a shockbox," Martyr muttered grimly.

The orange slugcat choked on whatever strange sound had almost escaped him, "S-sparkler?"

Martyr was gripping onto the pole that were protruding from the access shaft they had entered through and wrapped his tail around it for the extra measure as he turned to look at his companion. "Can I use that as a name for you? Because 'HEY!' is not something I want to be screaming at you when you go barreling into a shockbox." 

The orange slugcat winced at the thought of something like that happening, especially when it wasn't entirely impossible since the scene of an accident like that was literally just ahead of them. Besides that, he didn't entirely desire to be called Sparkler, but he also didn't want to discuss it right now with the impending danger and all that. "Um, sure, but only for now...?" 

Martyr stared for a second before speaking again. "So you don't like it." His expression was one of understanding. "We can decide when we escape this rotten place. How about for now I just call you... Pal or something? Buddy? Friend?" Awkwardness gradually crept into his voice as he tried to come up with a more neutral-sounding name.

...Whatever happened to avoiding discussion?

The orange slugcat gave a small nod, "Yeah Pal. You can call me Pal."

"Sure, um, Pal. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you?" 

"..." 

Pal's face flushed with embarrassment, but it was rudely interrupted at the entrance of the thing he had seen earlier. Panic flipped Pal's speech capabilities over themselves like an omelet as a few terrorized syllables sputtered out of his mouth. "W-w-w-w-ah-MAR-BEHIND-!!"

The same tangle of tentacles bloomed from the entrance behind them, coiling around the poles, attracted to the metal walls around them and emitting popping sounds upon contact. The triad of heads that emerged bobbed this way and that independently, each with a large gray eye that all switched to bright white ones as they approached.  

Pal could feel the pull on his arm, the woosh of air, and the smell of burned dust, but his shock kept him staring at that thing as it became farther and farther away from him. He noticed how the dust around it reflected its harsh light, and the threatening sound of multiple buzzing wings that he had just noticed was protruding outward from the center of its body.

"PAL! Don't be dead meat! Help me change our angle, we are heading straight for--" 

Willing himself to look ahead of them as they drifted away from the creature, he quickly interrupted as he was released from his shocked curiosity. "WAAAAAAH NO NEED TO ASK A SECOND TIIIIME!" Pal desperately made attempts at flinging them away from their path towards a slowly approaching shockbox, but there was no friction, only the flailing of limbs. They needed something to propel them.

Despite his panicked state, an idea still wormed its way into his little rodent brain.

Looking over his shoulder, he gulped in as much air as possible, before releasing it in the strongest exhale he could manage. It barely shifted them, but with a few more puffs of air and Martyr's help, it was just enough for them to cruise past safely.

Glancing behind them again then back ahead of them, Pal had to look behind him once again as he had noticed that the creature was PICKING UP SPEED. Those wings churned the static air in a whir as it approached, tentacles swaying. And to add more spice, the thing was now glowing a deep red. Wonderful fashion choice. Too bad there wasn't an audience to witness this flashy new look.

"Right. Perfect." Martyr seemed to have noticed too. "The only shockboxes we need to worry about now are lining the walls. We just need to drift straight across--"

"--I, I think we need to go a bit faster!"

"Help me steer us away from the walls then!"

Both slugcats were now desperately puffing air behind them as they held hands. As their route began to straighten, they focused on making their trip go faster. 

Stars help me if the next room has more shockboxes.

As they finally reached the tangle of poles and suspended metal blocks attached to them, Martyr and Pal were finally able to get a good hold on something solid. But what Martyr was holding was not a pole. 

Within seconds of acquiring it, Martyr had launched a spear at the creature. The sound of impact echoed through the room, followed by an unearthly roar. Its many appendages danced about in a frenzy as it rolled backward for a stunned moment, its light dimming-- and then flaring up again like an angry beacon as it rolled towards them faster than before.

Martyr choked on a gasp as the two hurried to the next access shaft, entering one after another. But as they emerged on the other side, Martyr held up a finger. "Wait."

Just as the mark on the shaft flashed red, Martyr threw himself back in, yanking Pal along with him.

Pal watched as the specks of light flashed around him. He was finally getting used to the breathlessness and compactness of these shafts, but he could not prevent himself from heading straight towards the bright glow that was quickly approa-- but it passed through them harmlessly.

As they emerged back into the previous room, Martyr winked. "They can't get you in those things. But don't assume that it's dumb enough to not double back. Over here." He gestured to a pipe entrance next to the access shaft. Both climbed in, feeling comfort at the feeling of walls on either side to crawl along.

"We are going to try to find an exit through to the exterior-- I believe we should be near one," said Martyr. Pal stayed close behind, following Martyr's tail through the long and bending pipes.

"What do I do when we leave?"

"Pardon?" Martyr had stopped. Pal couldn't see his face, but he could imagine what it may look like. 

"I... I don't have a home to return to or anybody. But do you?"

...

"No. No, not at all. I... I don't."

"Are you a traveler then?"

"No. I don't-- I don't travel. I'm sure you can... make a home for yourself. After all this."

Somehow, Pal felt hurt by that. But what had he been hoping for?

"What about for us? Why don't we stay together then? Would you mind my company?"

"...This isn't the place to talk about this. Let's do that when you get a scope of what kind of world I am taking you to before you plan ahead like that." Martyr went back to shuffling away through the pipe. 

"Okay," Pal replied before going after him.

When they exited, Pal noticed the bright red light immediately invading his vision, and squealed in realization. He wasn't spared the mercy of escaping as a set of static mandibles took hold of his arm and pulled him away. 

"PAL!" Martyr shouted as the thing's head swung him away, his body flinging outward as he was being towed straight into the mesh of a shockbox.