Rain World: High Voltage

3: A Sick Neighbor

Behind the little orange slugcat, the three dots that marked the hole he had just traveled through flickered blue instead of white, glowing brighter and brighter.

The big room was shaped like a giant hexagon, six tall walls flickered with electronic lights and hummed with energy, with one teleportation shaft marked with three white lights on each wall. 

The shaft behind the slugcat suddenly flashed a brighter shade of blue before spitting out a blank-eyed blue lizard, a purple dot of light hovering above its head. The same one-eyed, purple worm from earlier popped out of the wall alongside the lizard. 

The slugcat caught a glance of the glowing blue jaws full of teeth behind him and gasped, backing away while keeping his eyes on the beast who stopped in front of the shaft it came out of, returning his fearful gaze with an empty one. 

Behind you said a voice in his head. Twisting his head to look behind him, he realized he was backing into another teleportation shaft that was glowing blue. Leaping backward and away from it, he scrambled to the center of the room and grabbed the nearest pole, which happened to connect to the bottom of the bulky machine, and shuffled upwards until his head bumped into it. The big thing above him seemed to be lying dormant, waiting for the right moment to do something very undesirable, like blow up or something.

Unlikely, whoever was talking to me probably doesn't want me dead yet.

Looking around, the worm of fear in his stomach grew a tad larger as a blue lizard emerged from the circle of shafts in all directions, but not a single one snarled or attempted to climb up to him, but only stayed where they were, staring up at him. Each had the purple worm thing attached to a wall near them. They were popping out of the walls, looking at the lizards, looking at him. So many eyes were directed at him, unblinking.

A speaker from who knows where crackled to life.

Before it could speak, he yelled out with all the breath in his lungs, "I DON'T DESERVE THIS! STOP EXPECTING SO MUCH OUT OF ME!" 

The voice probably won't even care if I deserve it or not. He thought, feeling a pang of frustration.

The speaker crackled again, almost sounding like that unknown somebody was quietly chortling to themself behind the microphone before replying with "If you are planning to try your luck surviving outside rather than being sheltered in my facilities, you should be aware that the ecosystem is almost just as unforgiving as you imagine myself to be. In fact, I am sparing you the trouble of reliving the same events of a few minutes ago over again by holding these lizards back. If you haven't noticed, those vermin aren't quite themselves..."

After a moment of letting that sit in his mind, rolling the words over and over on his tongue. The owner of this voice, they must not be quite themself either. Who in their right mind would laugh at the sight of a creature whose life was in danger? He answered with a voice full of disgust. "You're sick."

"Actually," replied the disembodied voice, "it's the fellow next door who's sick. He won't last long with that rot eating up his innards, and the amount of remaining time he has left depends on me, I am his senior after all."

He plans on using you. said his quiet inner voice, though something about this voice seemed... different.

I'll introduce myself later, but you need to start using that nifty tail of yours on that big thing above you. Said the peculiar voice.

What? Leave me alone, I'm tired of these tests. The slugcat thought back, hoping it would reach the entity on the other end. 

Trust me, I'm with you, not Confidence. 

Who is that?

You're in her.

He gasped, flinching away from the bulky thing his head was touching, as it had suddenly made a deep rumbling noise that went on for about a minute before fading out.

"You are speaking to someone, aren't you?" said Confidence through the hidden speaker. "I feel another presence, my overseers are showing me strange pictures of... a little intrusive critter, it must be removed from my presence!"

Just then, the thing above his head thundered to life, and the circle of flickering bars on the sides of it brightened, showering the room with blue light. The entire room gradually brightened, and things suddenly became strange. He could feel his insides churning, and all at once, he felt quite sick to his stomach. 

Debris and rubble began to lift off the ground, metal sticks spinning in the air, rocks that rolled but never really went anywhere. The blue lizards that surrounded him also levitated, but their blank expressions showed they were not affected by this sudden change in gravity.

Use that tail!

He quickly looked at his tail, glimpsing the two thick claws on the end of his tail, and wiggled them. Looking up at the whirring machine above him, he shifted himself on the pole in order for his tail to reach it. Then, while clenching his muscles, the shiny, black claws on the end of his tail sparked, and a small stream of energy formed between the two with a flash of light and a sharp CRACK! sound. It wavered slightly, radiating static and heat, and somehow felt familiar and comforting to him. Deciding the time was right, he swung his tail upwards, jabbing the eroded metal surface. The electricity traveled quickly, racing across the surface, the machine started to jolt several times before emitting a burning smell followed by a loud series of buzzing. 

Just as the low gravity was giving out, clattering noises along with the pattering of what sounded like... footsteps?

One of the teleportation shafts to his left abruptly flashed dark blue, and a burst of white light shot out of it. As he clung to the pole under the smoking machine, he watched as a little creature skidded to a stop underneath him. A smooth, dark black body, a thick tail, golden eyes... aside from the colors and a couple missing features, it looked a little bit like... himself?