The Resurgence AU

Test M12

The next day (at least Everest assumed it was, she couldn't really tell what time it was underground like they were), rather early, Everest was woken up by someone messing with the lights, flicking them on and off and creating a completely annoying flashing.
*Click*
*Click*
*Click*
*Click*
*Cli-*
"Y-Yes!? What! What do you want!?" Everest snapped at them suddenly. She had figured it was one of the octarians. They seemed like the kind of braindead idiots to do that. In fact, she knew they were! Boulder, before he was replaced with a monster, would do the same, weakening and empowering the flame in Everest's room's oil lamp with its nob. Usually, he did it on days where Everest's family had to meet with the chieftain of the cult, appropriately named Chief Himalayan. It always ended in a fight and a threat of being banished from the mountains. Everest's parents were embarrassing, probably the most embarrassing things on this planet.
Upon seeing Commander Tartar standing there however, she covered her mouth with wide eyes, "O-Oh! Uh- Tar-.." Everest took a breath in through gritted teeth, "Sorry..." Everest carefully climbed out of a soft, white bed who's sheets had snow flakes on it. Her golfclub sat beside her bed, easy to access and use if ever she needed it. Everest grabbed it as she approached Tartar. It was dressed in its conductor outfit unlike the commander outfit it wore around Mr. Grizz yesterday. Perhaps...Everest should start calling it by its title regardless though.
"Eh," Commander Tartar only shrugged his shoulders, "I don't really mind, I've heard people yell at me much, much ruder things," Commander Tartar turned out of the room and signaled Everest to follow him. Everest tripped over the blanket that clung to her foot as she did before yanking it off of her and following after Commander Tartar.
Everest's white hair almost blended in with the Kamabo Labs's white walls. Her pale white, skin barely made her stand out among them as well. In fact, the only way to know was there was thanks to her amber eyes like candlelight in a dark room. "You've got your first test today," Commander Tartar started, "Test M01. I'm telling you now though, most of them are going to be agility based. I also had CQ install a way for you to easily climb back up into the course if you so happen to fall off like you did yesterday. Just find the closest ladder. But believe me, it'll dock points, okay?" Everest, admittedly, wasn't really paying attention to what Commander Tartar had to say. The surrounding octolings and octarians were being so loud and in trying to tone them out, Everest had toned out Commander Tartar as well.
Until they snapped Everest back to attention by snapping their fingers, of course. They looked at Everest with a lighthearted smile, "This zoning out thing you do is pretty common, hm?" Everest stared up at Commander Tartar. Her eyes flicked down to her fidgety hands.
"Yeah. Uh, it was so easy to tone people out on the mountainside. I didn't really like any of them so I didn't ever care to listen. I'm trying to do that with all the extra voices so I can hear just yours," Everest's eyes left her hands and went to Commander Tartar's expression. It looked a little hurt, admittedly. Everest frowned guiltily.
"Ah, well," Commander Tartar shrugged his shoulders again as the two approached the steps to the exit, "It could be much louder, you should see this place on a holiday! Hm, Halloween perhaps?"
Before Everest could ask what Halloween was, the sound around instantly got just a little to a lot to overwhelming louder. Everest actually had to cover her ears as to not get overwhelmed by the sound! Commander Tartar chortled.
"They love Halloween. It's their favorite holiday actually! I'd honestly like to try something on this coming halloween. Apparently, I made quite the name for myself in my 'prime'. Or people are just stupid," Commander Tartar shook their head disappointingly.
"I went to the store recently to get some food for down here and I found a costume in the clothes aisle titled 'Evil Telephone'! It was so ugly and had none of the style I have," Commander Tartar pridefully placed a hand on its chest, "It was alarming to see at first and I guess an employee noticed my panic because they came over to explain it was close to Halloween and that the store had decided to start putting out Halloween costumes early. I wanted to scare that employee so badly by showing them my real self and insult how crappy and low quality the outfit looked but the store had cameras so there was no way I'd get away with that," Commander Tartar just sighed at the lack of being able to scare someone as it popped open the lab's door.
"Cool uh-, what's Halloween??" Everest quickly looked the prideful telephone up and down. He immediately stopped in his tracks and leaned over and stared at Everest, his eyes the complete devoid of light, "You don't know what Halloween is...?" He uttered. Everest just shook her head and Commander Tartar immediately started to explain as he called up the Outie 5000 again.
Honestly, it kinda sounded fun to Everest and she couldn't help but start to daydream about seeing the costumes, getting candy and playing tricks. It sounded incredibly fun, and all at night? So that the decorations all glowed lovely colors?? Everest sighed happily at the thought of pretty lights. The mountainside was very, very often devoid of color so seeing new colors sounded lovely.
"W-Would the same occur for me?" She eagerly asked.
Commander Tartar tilted their head. "Hm? What do you mean, Everest?"
Everest excitedly finished, "Could I go out without a costume?" Her eyes sparkled with excitement even though she was pretty sure she wasn't THAT excited.
"HA! Ehheehe-!" Commander Tartar started laughing, sparing a glance at Everest's face. It had dropped into a confused frown. Did she tell a joke? Why was Commander Tartar laughing? "Oh! You're serious! Here, let me laugh harder! BWAhahahahahHEHAHEEHAHA!!" Commander Tartar snorted and laughed harder at what Everest had to say, placing its claws on its forehead.
Everest only responded with a huff and crossed her arms.
Commander Tartar bumped Everest's shoulder with his hand, "Ah, lighten up, Everest! Maybe when that cult of yours leaves the mountains, humanity can be restored and you can be outside again," Tartar hummed as the Outie 5000 pulled back up.
The cult leaving the mountain sounded like the literal worst. The only thing that brought Everest comfort with that thought of the hope that Mr. Grizz killed and destroyed that place before it ever got the CHANCE to leave.
Everest looked back at Commander Tartar as she approached the train's doors, having expected Commander Tartar to stay in the station. A stab of panic shot through her when they entered after Everest and sat down on one of the plastic seats, crossing one leg over the other. "You- uh-," Everest sputtered, "You're coming with??" Everest placed her golfclub beside her as she plopped down in one of the seats across from the android.
"Uhm- duh! I need to be there to monitor the tests. CQ is going to be extremely busy today and so, I need to watch over the tests. Especially your tests," Commander Tartar explained, only getting a sarcastic nod from Everest. "Come on, let's go to the private cart I ride on," Commander Tartar beckoned Everest to follow it.
"Uh-huh, sure, and you're not just there to see your 'Human Child'," Everest did air quotes and mocked Mr. Grizz's voice as best she could, "Do tests because you're proud you found a human, Commander Tartar?"
Commander Tartar reacted with a shudder, "Oh please, you don't need to refer to me by my title, Polar Bear, you're not sanitized so you really don't have to." Everest was confused again. She had been taught to always refer to authorities by their full titles, that it was respectful to do so. Tartar only responded by shaking his head, "Anyways, no. The reason I gave is the truth, kid."
Everest nodded as she got comfortable in the seat across from them.
"So how's the sea life down here treating you so far? Good? Bad? Probably bad?"
Everest glanced up, spotting Jelly sleeping upside down above her. "Well, I made a...sorta friend I think. She's uh...super quiet though," Everest only pointed up at Jelly as her colors shifted through the rainbow again, rather fast. She then poked Jelly who didn't react. She didn't even move a muscle.
"There was a a-a ball...thing, bug- thingy, completely chill. He literally couldn't care less that I was human. He's wise. I-In a good way! I...I like him," Everest smiled slightly, "Constantly talks about memories too."
Tartar nodded, muttering, "Iso Parde," under its breath. "He's an isopod." Everest nodded. Iso Parde the Isopod. Try saying that 10x fast.
"There's the big eyed fish. They're neutral about me. Not afraid of me."
"Flashlight fish."
"I saw a blobby, pink fellow, he kept glaring down at me like I was feces on his shoe. I have no idea what his problem was."
"Blobfish. He's about 2 seconds from being kicked off the train because he's creeping on the other visitors and being really aggressive sometimes."
"I saw some other squishyfish- No one down here understands personal space– they kept touching my face, neck and stomach–!! Some of them even had multiple heads! More eyes staring at me!" Everest wrapped her arms around herself with a cold hiss, "I hate them! I hate all the squishyfish!" Everest shuddered.
"Deep Sea Jellyfish. I could've sworn it was the surface world jellyfish with a touching problem. Guess it makes sense though," Tartar rolled his eyes.
"Then, worse people here, the fish with the huge–and I mean HUGE–mouths! They keep repeating themselves and this one comment, 'You're so cute, I could literally eat you up'!" Another shudder went down Everest's back. "I hate them..." Everest whispered in a quaking voice. The fear she expressed was a muted variant of the fear she felt when she saw the Leviathan in her dream (Or a...cousin of the Leviathan??)
"Ah. Gulper Eels," Tartar's voice immediately started seeping with hatred, "You can never trust them. Never, ever turn your back on them. I'd ban them from the trains if I could but that's one of the CQs' jobs. Deciding who...gets to ride and who...doesn't," Tartar seemed to be struggling slightly to find the words, "I'm shocked they haven't been banned yet though. One of the eels ate the last train conductor when I was riding and wasn't paying attention. I nearly tossed them off the train onto the tracks afterwards! They're lucky I know how to drive a train!" Tartar choked the bar beside them.
"Oof...they're worse than I thought," Everest mumbled before noticing that a Gulper Eel was sitting in the same cart as them. They seemed to have been listening in. Everest narrowed her eyes and hissed, "Offense intended." The Eel only frowned and switched carts. "Yeah, you better switch carts, you're not even supposed to be in this one!"
Tartar chuckled at Everest's comment as the train came to a slow halt at her first test. Everest got up from the seat and left through the doors. The test room was brighter than the first test she entered. This one didn't have those weird projection crystals all around. The sounds of a hollow room filled with water filled Everest's ears.
Origami fox heads hovered here and there with that yellowish red color being the clear theme of this test.
Even Tartar was impressed, "Hm! CQ outdid himself with this test. Could tone down the orange a little though," It commented with a proud nod. "What's orange?" Everest looked over at Tartar.
"Okay, this lack of knowledge is just becoming sad. Orange is the color you see all around you. It's a mix between yellow and red."
"..Cool," Everest sat against one of the walls.
"Let's see..." Tartar pulled out its CQ-80 to check something, "Test M01: The Fox Station. 'Dog goes woof, cat goes meow.'" Tartar just cringed at the fact it just read that out loud. "What, did CQ run out of 80s-90s references? I could've swore I gave him more than enough. The Fox was released in 2013 (with a disgusting remake of it being rudely made in 12,013, seriously. No one in this new world has any respect for the dead!). I suppose that could be seen as an old reference nowadays."
"Anyways! Everest, I need you to step on the machine on the ground," Tartar gestured obviously to it.
Everest stared at the strange device with caution. "...Why?" She looked back at Tartar wearily.
"It's a surprise. Go on, just step on! Do not be shy. I was up all night working on upgrades for that golfclub of yours!" Tartar pointed at the golf club to Everest's side, "I also made you a new outfit that will apply for both inside and outside of the tests. I can tell you don't like those current, worn to death rags," Everest messed with the still cold and wet sweater she still had on. At this point, Everest thought Tartar could read her mind!
That, or her expressions and feelings were really that obvious.
"The upgrades to your golf club only apply in tests though," Tartar explained, sounding eager. Everest gave him another anxious look before stepping onto the device. A strange chamber formed around her immediately. Everest's breath caught in her lungs and she completely froze up.
Macheriny closed down onto her golf club and started to attach tubes onto it along with other stuff. Tartar insisted on Everest staying still (even though she really, really didn't want to). Please. Everest did so and when she opened her eyes, she had a backpack on and her golf club had a tube connecting to her backpack. White ink flowed through it as the chamber came down.
Everest also had a whole new outfit that was far better than the poorly made scraps she had before.
Her itchy, cold and tightfitting wool sweater had been replaced with a long sleeve shirt with the only color on it being the Kamabo Co. logo in the top left. The shirt felt so warm to have on despite being thinner than her sweater. Her makeshift cotton pants were now black, soft sweatpants with white string and a stripe of white trailing from the top to the bottom on Everest's left side. Best part, she now had snuggly boots that fit her hooved feet better. They were snow white, snow boots with black soles and cream colored fur-like fluff around the top. She also had white gloves that made her grip on the golf club much better.
Everest looked herself over, taking cautious steps and slowly spinning around. She loved it! She adored her new outfit! This was the best!! And her golf club; it looked much cooler than before!
"Go on, Polar Bear, give it a swing!" Tartar smiled. They looked so proud of themself, just watching Everest's excited little self.
Everest swung her golf club diagonally going upwards. White ink sprayed onto the wall before her and coated the ground under her. "And...you did this all last night?" Everest asked. Tartar looked even more, exceptionally proud of itself. "That I did! It was simpler than expected honestly..." Tartar commented, "Just a few...35 white octarians into a blender but the point is you have an ink based weapon now for tests! The outfit took me forever to make. That's why I was gone until this morning last night actually! I went out to buy food and material," Everest gave her golf club another swing, a little amazed by the white color admittedly. "I thought the color fit your paleness. You're like a little ghost!" Tartar giggled before it pressed its own CQ Card to the machine. The main gate came down.
Everest lit up before running out, not giving Tartar even a moment to mention the last part. Something about ink? Ah, whatever.
The course before her looked a tiny bit crazy to go through but other than that, everything looked perfect and challenging. Exactly what she needed right now to give this new outfit a try.
Everest leapt onto the first platform before her, grabbing onto the ladder before she slipped into the cold water. Tartar stood on the edge of the platform, looking worried about something. Everest took another jump to the next platform, this one was moving slowly and threw her off balance slightly before she swiftly regained it. The next platform had a singular octarian on a strange vehicle of sorts that moved back and forth in a strip of sanitized ink.
Everest took a swing at it, causing it to squeal and spin around towards her. It started to shoot her with that same green blue slime that Everest had already grown accustomed to. The ink coated some of her face before Everest swung her golfclub down and caused the octarian to explode into a small pile of the white ink on the platform.
"Hey! Just a heads up!" Everest looked back to Tartar, "Do not get that stuff into your system! Wipe it off and get it away from your mouth! I don't want you getting sanitized! It is really potent!" Everest nodded back to Tartar and quickly wiped the ink away from her mouth, the smell of mint leaving with it.
Everest smiled back at Tartar who gave her a cheerful thumbs up in return. Everest hopped down the other platforms in her way, taking care of another slow moving octarian on a vehicle. There was a box before her now. Everest tilted her head before swinging her golf club into the box. It shattered into multiple planks of wood...and revealed her first problem.
It was a round orb that pulsated with yellow light. Everest had never seen anything like it before. "Uhh..." Escaped from Everest's mouth. Her amber eyes slowly wandered from the machine over to Tartar who was now sitting down on the station platform, kicking his feet. He just smiled back. Everest couldn't read his expression very well though, from where she stood, it almost seemed like Tartar was fighting the urge to tell Everest what to do. Everest looked back down at the machine
Maaaybe it was ink activated?? Everest swung her golf club near it, coating it in white ink. This motion quickly activated it. A rail pumped out of the machine, connecting to another platform that was further down and had many more enemies. At least 3 or maybe 4. One of the enemies was flying in a circle and flew in a very wiggly way that made Everest feel uncomfortable deep down. "...?" Everest looked worried.
Tartar's voice shouted from the main platform, loud enough to make Everest look over as quick as a bolt of lightning. Honestly, Everest forgot they were even there for a moment! "THAT'S A INK RAIL! JUMP ON IT!!" Everest looked back, seeing them waving their arms and obviously trying to get Everest's attention. Seems they couldn't keep the tips to themself anymore.
"JUMP ON IT!?" Everest shouted back. Oof, her throat already hurts...
"YEAH! You'll be SAFE!! NO NEED TO EVEN LEARN HOW TO BALANCE!!" Tartar was still waving its arms, probably because it's an android and can't feel pain, hm? His voice was also loud enough to get the enemies on the platform the rail was heading to to look over at Tartar and then ready for combat.
'Dang it...I was kind of hoping to sneak up on them,' Everest thought, disappointed. Everest took a deep breath before placing a foot onto the rail. Immediately, her foot started to move down the rail. It was like a small stream..
Everest removed her foot quickly and wiped the ink off of her white boot. She didn't want to get this new outfit messy but then again, her ink was white so really, what was the point in being worried? "Okay, okay, Everest..." Everest backed up before leaping onto the rail. The ink guided her down the rail. It was actually kinda fun! Everest let out a sharp giggle and she soon started laughing from the feeling of the wind in her h-
AUK–!
The rail came to an abrupt end, causing Everest to slam directly onto the ground. The octarians flinched, having not been fully prepared, and started spraying her down with sanitized ink, staining her clothes. Everest sat there for a moment, just kinda...taking it. She soon scowled and got up. Her nose dripped with red blood. The octarians before her all went still, staring at the blood. They seemed all so confused. Everest brought a thumb to her nose and wiped the blood away. The taste of blood was vile. Vile enough to get her to snap back into focus.
Rapidly, any blood from the injury was quickly covered by sanitized ink and white paint. Everest's swings were swift and just like the ghost that Tartar teased her with just before the test. 
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Each swing caused another octarian to pop into large puddles white ink. I mean, Tartar had 10,000 of them with him constantly getting more, it was clear Tartar didn't care about these ones. Not that much at least, if at all. Everest stood on the ink covered platform now, only yawning as she did. Her backpack full of ink beeped softly and looking back at it revealed it was only halfway full now. Eh. This test was exhilarating! Wait, why did she yawn actually? Oh yeah, a taunt!
Everest chuckled before running to continue the course. There were two, tiny yellow cubes. "Hm? Huh, tiny jumps, okey," Everest leapt onto one, quickly discovering that it was a sponge! Yeah, it might've held her for a second but that didn't matter as she fell straight through the tiny cube and into the cold water below. A sharp shudder went through Everest's tiny body.
Golf club and CQ-80. Where were they?
Everest quickly realized that her golf club was connected to her backpack by a clear tube that pumped the white ink into her golf club. She plunged back underwater to grab her golf club before it touched the floor of the pool. Now where was her CQ-80? Hm...oh! There! Lucky for Everest that the water was clear inside of the murky stuff in Test E12. Everest scooped her CQ-80 up from the pool's floor just as it started to ring.
Tartar was either panicked, scared, giving her a hint or doing all of the above. Everest looked at their tiny figure at the very starting platform before answering the call once she got back onto the platform.
"Heyyy, Polar Bear!" Everest was a little annoyed with the nickname but it wasn't causing any harm so...who cared, hm? "Those are sponges, you're gonna want to cover those in ink, causing them to expand, THEN you can walk on them. They shrink though if enemy ink covers them!" Tartar explained. "Also, seriously, be watching your ink, I'm not too sure how you'll be able to restock that if you run out, got it?" It smiled before waving goodbye and hanging up.
"...Oh." Everest spun back towards the sponge and started flicking her golf club at the cube. Rapidly, it expanded into a large, white sponge. Everest did the same to the second cube, climbing onto the first and leaping to it and then the next platform. She could see the pieces of the marker right ahead of her now! This test was great but she was already exhausted.
There was just one problem blocking her path now.
The five octarians before her. There were two single tentacle ones, a flying one, one with two tentacles and a mean glare on its face ('Reminds me of that rude cult member named Patricia. Bleck') and one last one who was positioned behind a long ink weapon with...some green laser coming out of its left eye. Everest just felt defeated before she rushed forward and started taking them all out with mostly ease.
Suddenly, just as Everest turned to the sniper octarian, ready to make it share the fate of the other octarians, a shot of sanitized ink from the sniper hit Everest directly in the eye. There was a loud beeping from behind the sniper and a package of white ink swelled up behind it. It let out a ripple of confusion before the package exploded, covering the sniper with white ink and causing them to die.
...There, now all of the octarians on the platform had been turned into white ink.
Everest sat there, heaving deeply with her hand over her hurt eye. Tchhh...it hurt so much. Her CQ-80 started to ring again and Everest pressed the answer button on it. Her body was shaking at the sound of Tar...Commander Tartar. Denewiah even.
"Go back to that white pad over there. It's called a checkpoint. Gah, I figured that was going to happen but CQ was insistent on having an Octosniper. There's a small device on the checkpoint that should wash that out of your eye," Everest nodded at Denewiah's words and allowed the stream of water to spray her with water in the eye. Slowly, the effects of the sanitized ink were washed away and Everest's brown looking eye regained life and became its blazing amber color once again.
Everest sighed softly and hung up the phone right before Tartar could say the final part.
There was a loud cry from...somewhere and Everest immediately started looking around quickly. Where, who, what???
That was an arrow pointing at the ground near to Everest before something splat down right before her, leaving a splash of sanitized ink in its wake. ...It- it almost looked human- what- what the??
Everest felt her mind racing as she glanced over all of the figure's features. Its pale green skin, its blue eyes, its deep blue fading into neon green tentacles (hair?), how it dressed, its weapon, so on and so forth. They were...kinda pretty actually.
Everest couldn't focus on that for very long though because the human octopus hybrid began to move quickly. The octoman thing ducked under nothing, but didn't shoot ink, running to the left- no, right- no, left! They kept zigzagging like this for a few seconds before skidding to a stop. "Phew... need a better tactic..." it panted in perfect English, confused Everest even more.
Everest stood for a moment longer. This octoman wasn't like the others, obviously. Quickly, she charged at the humanoid octarian, swinging her golf club about and spraying white ink about...until the ink came out with a hiss and...nothing. Nothing at all! She swung again but nothing was still coming out.
Everest's pack beeped each time she tried afterwards and it quickly dawned on her why. She had run out of ink.
Everest glanced back at the platform where Tartar stood. He was still watching. She probably shouldn't let him down.
The octoman glanced back at Everest, quickly noticing that her weapon ran out of ink. They seemed so suddenly excited and took aim with their gun, "Aaah! I get to shoot something!!" The octoman bounced a little bit, it then seemed annoyed and lowered its splattershot, "Ink doesn't work on you, does it? Funnn!!!"
"How did you come to that conclusion? Did Tartar mention it? Or is it that obvious maybe?" Everest asked, swinging her golf club down and aiming for The octoman's head. They dodged easily.
"Ooooh, soo close! I don't actually want to hurt you or anything like that, it's just- there's barely anything to shoot or DO around here, besides listen to Tartar way over there-" they pointed to where Tartar was- "and read. Shooting the others is never satisfying!" The octoman didn't seem to want to fight, oddly.
"You octo weirdos are literally programmed to kill when Tartar wants you to! No mercy! ...For all I know at least," Everest took her eyes off of the octoman for barely a second. She suddenly snapped back to reality to focus on the octoman. 'Don't get distracted, that's kind of what Tartar has been trying to teach you. ...I think.'
"Oh whatever," Everest grumbled and suddenly rushed The octoman again, "Come on- I need to finish the test! I can't be stuck fighting you forever!!" Everest kept swinging her golf club at the octoman before her, growing frustrated as each and every single missed. "Stop that! Seriously! I'm about to throw my golf club at you and I'd assume that would hurt quite a bit."
"Welp, finish the test then. You don't have to kill me. My death is not required for completion. I'll leave you alone." They shrugged. "I'm not ready to be ink just yet, might need a couple more years."
Everest bonked the octoman on the head slightly with her golf club. It was lighter than expected. "...So who and what are you, anyway? I'm not too keen on killing someone who seems so..human."
"Ow-! I'm 7, I'm an octoling, and, could you not do that please?"
"Everest. And it wasn't that hard, suck it up. ..I guess," Everest rolled her eyes before turning to the end goal. At the end was a...strange thing. It was a floating mass of metal pieces surrounded by an electric field.
Everest reached her hand out and touched the glowing object. A shock went through her body and she squeaked and yanked her hand away. A numbing feeling went up her arm and promptly disappeared.
"..." Everest held up her golf club and moved it close to the strange field. "DO-..T!" Tartar's voice shouted a little too late as the yellow casing came into contact with Everest's metal golf club. The shock that went through Everest's body this time was much, much worse than the last one. Bad enough that when Everest finally pried her golf club away, she fell back much farther than she was supposed to.
Fumes that smelt like smoke and mint raised from Everest's clothes. No doubt from them becoming burned as well as the sanitized ink evaporating...she figured. Tartar started to yell something else but all Everest could hear was the loud ringing in her ears. "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!" It screamed, giving Everest a headache.
7, however, did notice Tartar's yelling. "You–...Ink for-...!!!" Neither of them could make out what he was saying.
"What's he getting on about?" 7 asked. "Something about ink..."
Everest paused when she got another call on her CQ-80. She didn't want to answer it but the CQ-80's ringing was really annoying. Begrudgingly answering it, it was Tartar.
"Okay, you can't hear me. You need ink to finish the test. Break those boxes, there is extra ink in them," Tartar pointed at the boxes towards Everest, "Also," Tartar's voice suddenly became harsh, "HAS NO ONE TOLD YOU NOT TO TOUCH ELECTRICAL STUFF WITH METAL!?" They suddenly screamed, loud enough to make Everest cover her ears, "METAL CONDUCTS ELECTRICITY INCREDIBLY WELL! EVEREST! DON'T TOUCH ELECTRICAL STUFF WITH METAL! HUMANS BODIES ARE ALSO GREAT CONDUCTORS BECAUSE THEY'RE 70% WATER!" This was probably the angriest Everest had ever heard of Tartar. "Okie, bye now~," They smiled sweetly and hung up.
Honestly, the world was only just starting to start existing again for Everest. The ringing continued in her ears and she felt exhausted from the shock. This...was no doubt something Everest would remember for her entire life.
Everest finally sat up and held her head. The world around her stopped spinning and the ringing in her ears ebbed away. Her muscles felt sore. She hadn't ever felt like this before, not even growing pains or her trek down the mountain made her feel this...burny inside. Everest tasted her mouth and stretched out her limbs as far as they would go.
"Oof, that looked awful," 7 commented and carefully helped Everest stand up. "It was. I know now though so I will not make this mistake again. This was a learning experience," Probably the wisest thing Everest had ever come out of...well, herself. "Do you still need a moment to rest?" Everest just shook her head and looked up at the boxes Tartar told her about.
She suddenly sprinted forward, shocking 7, slamming her golf club into one of the boxes, breaking it in after just a single. Other than a small, pathetic orange slime ball of something, there was nothing in the box she broke. "Wh- no ink? Either Tartar was lying- which he never does or CQ didn't put anything in the box! Or- at least that box. Then again, CQ can be a petty, little, slimy slug!" 7 exclaimed.
Everest looked at the other boxes and dug through them. Nothing again! Except for a little note scrawled in blue ink with a simple phrase on it.
L + Bozo + You're a human + LMFAO + No Ink
Everest didn't know what those words meant but she was FURIOUS. Everest growled loudly, shaking with enough anger to explode. As she shook, she started to shred the note into tiny, little bits of incomprehensible "I'm going to kill that f*cking sea cucumber..." Everest hissed softly before charging the marker and trying to put it together without ink.
It hurt. Leviathan, every movement felt like it was going to be Everest's last.
Everest's CQ-80 began to ring again on the ground and Everest could already smell the smoke drifting up from her body. Everest ignored the call and kept trying to put the marker together. "EVE— STOP!!" Tartar's voice echoed among the test's walls. It sounded like it was...coming closer? Finally, the marker fell together and stabbed itself into the ground. Everest's entire body was numb and twitchy. At first, she wanted to take a moment to recover from the pain but already, Everest could see the marker start to come undone.
Weakly, she pressed her hand to the marker and completed the test. Cheerful music swelled from the speakers. Music that almost sounded familiar but not quite. The glowing part of the marker glowed as it opened and a small object hovered out.
It resembled a pine leaf, being deep, pine green at the bottom and more orange and dead near the top of it. As Everest reached out to grab it, a few lines of...something came into her head.
'You poke and stab skin like tiny swords'
'Your sap is irritable and gets stuck in my hair as well'
'Yet your cones smell nothing short of sweet and calming'
'So please tell me. Why do you hate me?'
It was...poetic and it reminded Everest of when she was trying to pick pine cones from the tree to trade with local snow forts during the winter and how she constantly kept being stabbed by the thing's thistles. Everest hated that memory. It took her forever to get the sap off her hands and how her parents berated her as they cut the sap out of her white hair.
The object itself however felt rubbery but also rather moist. Honestly made Everest a little hungry as she hadn't eaten a thing since leaving the mountain the day before.
Out of the corner of her eye, Everest noticed 7 approaching, "That's a mem cake," 7 explained and took the cake from Everest's hands, "They're slices of memories compressed into psychical form belonging to Kamabo Co.'s test subjects. Tartar must've taken a few memories from you while you were sleeping to put them into these tests. That or Tartar just made a base mem cake based off of you and put it in this test." 7 handed Everest the mem cake again.
"Well, considering that it reminded me of something when I grabbed it, something tells me it's option 1 which is unfortunate because option 1 is also really, really creepy. Whatever uhm..can...I eat it?" Everest met 7's eyes again.
7 went silent before slowly shrugging, "You...can try, I suppose..."
Everest immediately bit into the Mem Cake as the train pulled up and CQ crawled out. The mem cake tasted sweet and well, like how pines smelt. It made what Everest was about to do to CQ feel even better.
"Oh. Cool, you beat the 1st test, I'm startled!" CQ feigned excitement before Everest suddenly kicked him as hard as she possibly could. He splattered against the wall of the train and slowly slid back down the wall of it. Tartar hopped down onto the platform they were all on. Seems he went through the entire course to try to make sure Everest was okay.
"Don't you dare act all innocent, you slimy pest!" Everest pried the sea cucumber off the train and squeezed them tightly. He squealed and started thrashing around. Everest now started to shake and throw CQ all around like a stress toy!
Tartar ran over, looking horrified and yanked CQ out of Everest's tight grasp. CQ heaved and he was shaking like a leaf in a storm! Pathetic damn thing. "D-Did I not make it clear enough earlier with the gulper eels, Everest!? No attacking the conductor!" Tartar yelled at Everest. They now checked over CQ's injuries (which he had none shockingly).
"He tried to sabotage the tests!" Everest blamed CQ, matching Tartar's yelling, "I broke open the crates and only found a small letter from him. It was insulting me! Called me stuff like Bozo and- argh–!" Everest attempted to take CQ back from Tartar. It only held CQ further away, not yet believing her, "That's why I started piecing the marker together with my bare hands! I couldn't do anything else besides electrocute myself because of that little SH*T!" Everest took a small pebble from the ground and threw it with the speed and strength of a heavy object hitting the ground at terminal velocity at CQ. It practically went right through CQ's body!
CQ coughed and spat the pebble out as quickly as he could, revealing his mouth to Everest at last. No teeth to punch out though. Very sad.
7 spoke up, coming up besides Everest, "Yeah, I saw it. It read like a toxic 12 year old on Finnite! L + Bozo + You're a human + LMFAO +No ink." CQ looked suddenly nervous with an anxious smile on his face. Tartar didn't notice as he shot 7 a disapproving glare, "You're not even supposed to be playing that game!"  7 didn't seem to care what Tartar had to say, "Whatever, I can prove that Everest is telling the truth!"
"Well- uh- where's the note then?" CQ piped up with his tendrils making a stance to make him look like he had his hands on his hips. He then crossed his tendrils with a smirk. Oooohhhh Everest just wanted to give CQ a second dose of her wrath.
No need though as Tartar coldly looked at CQ and pressed a butter knife to his neck, "OH-! Uh– there's no need for that, boss-!" Tartar cut CQ off, "CQ...you do know what happens to unruly sea cucumbers, right? You may be my creation and legally my kin but you cucumbers are not exempt from the blender if you so choose to disobey or fail me..." Everest had never heard Tartar be so cold. The air around them felt like it dropped below 0.
Everest knew at that moment that this was the real Tartar. Cold, calculating, and threatening when they needed to be. The cheer they did when around Everest or Mr. Grizz almost felt like an act now that Everest saw Tartar like this. Tartar's voice even dropped the human sounding voice they made themself sound like, switching it out for a completely robotic voice. Possibly their real voice.
"You'll crawl your way back up but let this be a LESSON!" Tartar suddenly chucked the CQ as hard as it could at the test's wall. Everest watched CQ splat against the side of the chamber with a sickening *SPLATCH!*. Everest winced with discomfort at the sound. Slowly, CQ started to slide down the wall, leaving a trail of light blue slime behind him. CQ's hat fell off followed by him falling away from the wall and plummeting into the test's water below.
Everest felt a little sick for a moment. "That...was a little harsh, d-don't you think?" Everest asked Tartar. Like a light switch, Tartar spun around with its arms out, "Now then! Let's get back to the Central Station!" Its robotic voice had been replaced by the voice Everest knew from Tartar.
"Y-You don't think that was a little harsh?" Everest asked again but Tartar only smiled and brought her and 7 into the train, assuring them that he could drive the train back to the Central Station and to not be worried, completely ignoring Everest's worry. 7 frowned at Everest; she had gotten completely quiet as if scared by Tartar too.
Tartar seemed...so friendly now. Whether this was really just an act or truthfulness, Everest couldn't tell now. ...At least Tartar wasn't going to hurt her though, right? They adored humans after all. She could feel safe with them.
...Hopefully...