The Beats Go On

Chapter 10: Cobra Captain

🐍Chapter 10: Cobra Captain

So...they were all inside a room. And this room...luckily had glowing mushrooms in it too.

Great.

But the question was, where exactly were they? Had they gotten even more lost from their initial starting point? Were they closer to possible freedom? Well the one thing they knew for sure was that they were NOT going back the other way. Even if they let a single snake in, that could cause a LOT of chaos within the room.

Cho stepped forwards, examining the place. Didn't seem too bad. The mushrooms lit up a path down one way, with no split paths apart from it, so they guessed it wasn't that bad. Following Cho, they quietly walked down the path, unsure about this. They were constantly on guard, ready for some insect to attack them from the ceiling, or for some other beast to strike at them from any side.

They hoped nothing would happen. They expected something to happen. However, they knew they weren't ready for corruption. If one of them got corrupted, they wouldn't know how to cure it other than to enter a battle with them. Even so, they weren't sure if that would actually work, since all of the citizens back at the towns had acted more like zombies than sentient beings with corruption on them.

But nothing happened for quite a while. It took about 5 minutes, but they eventually reached a small open cave area. In it was an asleep corrupted ship creature like Elis, floating in lava or corrupted water. The group had a look around, to see if there were any other paths they could take. To the right of them, they only saw a blank cave wall with a few stalagmites and giant rocks lying around. Pepe spotted another path to the left of them, and so the group began to quietly tiptoe across the gravel and pebbles.

If all else failed and an enemy showed up, they would probably have to run down the path they were about to take. They couldn't go back to the other path, because chances were the snakes were still there, and that would be a dead end. If the path they were about to take was closed off, then they would have to pray those snakes were gone and flee back down their original path. They were just about to reach the exit when suddenly Digo sneezed. He quickly sucked in a breath and held it as everyone's anxiety shot through the roof.

It hadn't been a loud sneeze, but it was a volume that echoed off the cave walls somewhat. The group hurriedly tiptoed to the other exit, not wanting to waste time here or risk anything else. Cho and Pepe made it through first, but before anyone else could follow, metal bars SLAMMED down, blocking off the path and splitting up the group. The group was startled, and the other 6 quickly ran over to the initial entrance. However, upon approaching it, it too locked them out with metal bars. Digo let go of his breath and looked around.

"Well Racu, it seems like we have some visitors who plan on ruining our little corruption scheme~" a voice from above cooed.

The six shapes on the ground scanned the stalactites for the source of the voice while Cho and Pepe desperately tried to shake the bars or find a way to let their allies in. Racu, the boat, slowly woke up, and eyed the shapes.

"Well master, what shall we do with them?" he asked in a rather gruff voice.

"Hmm...I'm not sure. We could offer for them to join us, maybe corrupt them as well" the voice replied.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Ami yelled. "SHOW YOURSELF!"

"Ho-hum, not with manners like that..."

"OH FOR CRYING OUT L-"

"Are you challenging us to a battle?!" Coco called out.

"Oooooh! What a lovely idea! I can battle them instead to see whether or not they're worthy!"

Coco sighed in frustration.

"Okay master. Shall I prepare for battle?" Racu asked.

"No, no, you're not needed. I'll handle them myself!"

And with that, a corrupted snake dropped from the stalactite-covered ceiling, in front of the shapes. This one was WAY bigger than the smaller ones from earlier, and it seemingly had one more triangle at the end of its tail that was going the opposite direction. It held out a medium sized rectangle with its tail as well. The group backed up against the wall, nervous as to what might happen next. Ina nervously approached it.

"Uhm...who are you?" she asked.

"My name..." the snake said as it spun around and struck a pose at the end, "...is Sese."

"A-and what to you want?" El asked.

"You heard me. I plan on spreading the corruption around the world with my master, and NOBODY will stop us!" Sese replied with a cackle.

"Who's your master?" Cas asked.

"That's not important to you weaklings unless you promise your undying loyalty to me and my crew, and JOIN the side of corruption!!"

"Okay, nevermind, I do NOT wanna do that." Cas replied.

"Suit yourself. You all look like perfectly good candidates, it's such a shame I have to waste my time and blade on you, hehehe..."

Sese grinned wide to show a smile with several triangular teeth that aligned perfectly with one another.

"Yeah, uh, no. We're not joining the corruption side" Ami said sternly, gently pulling Ina back and away from Sese. He didn't trust him at all.

"So it must be. Well then, are you all ready to feel true pain?" Sese asked with a rather...insane look.

"Oh please, I've probably felt worse via my own insultings compared to this" Coco mumbled.

"GREAT! So you should feel no pain at all then!" Sese replied with a fanged smile.

"That's not what I-okay you know what, screw it, let's go" Coco said, shaking his head.

"Wonderful! Now..."

Sese tossed the rectangle into the air and caught it with a swipe of his tail.

"Prepare to be washed off the deck!"