The Beats Go On

Chapter 36: Lost Soul

🌨Chapter 36: Lost Soul

The group reached the town entrance, and SPED towards the fountain.

"High tears, of course! The fountain spews out water! And we searched far and wide, but the clue was here all along!" Cho exclaimed.

"The fountain IS pretty beautiful..." Ina said.

"And Rey always stands there...because he lost his friend! Is that right, Rey?" Digo asked while still running.

"How...how did you know?" Rey asked.

"Ah, some shapes were gossiping in the town and we overheard them."

Rey couldn't bear to hear his old friend's name any more, but he knew better than to break down in the middle of running.

"Oh..."

The group reached the fountain, and skidded to a halt.

"Well! Here it is! I don't know what we need to do to get the treeangle piece out, but maybe you can do it, Rey!" Digo said cheerfully.

"Me? Why...why me?"

"Because you stand here all day! It's part of what the riddle said!" El exclaimed.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but...okay..."

Rey set down the groceries he was carrying, and went up to the fountain. This was the moment of truth, to see if those shapes were right. Of course, Rey himself didn't care if touching the fountain did nothing. He slowly reached his hand out to the surface. Just as he was about to touch the fountain, however....

"Not ssso fassst!"

The group looked up as Sese popped out from behind the fountain. Rey didn't see him, but he froze in place.

"What?! How did you-"

Sese held out his tail, only to reveal a chained cage and a beaten up Daisy inside.

"I'M SORRY! THEY FORCED ME TO, THREATENING TO TEAR ME APART!"

"DAISY!"

The group leapt forward to help her, but Sese halted them.

"Ah-ah-ah, if you want her, you'll have to give me Rey!" he hissed.

The group paused. They couldn't do that, could they? Well, they could fight Sese maybe, but...

"No. We'll fight you to get Daisy back, but we're not giving up Rey!" Ami shouted.

"Oh really? Well what if I just force him to become my minion INSTEAD!"

Sese' tail, with the caged Daisy, then rammed into Rey's back, causing him to jolt forward and touch the fountain. Immediately, a bright light began shining from the fountain itself. The water flow stopped, and the fountain encased itself in light. The group shielded their eyes as a flash filled the town for a brief second. After about 5 seconds, the group dared to take a peep at the scene in front of them.

Rey was in front of the fountain, and both him and Sese seemed to be looking up.

"Where's the treeangle?" Cas asked.

"Look there!"

Pepe pointed up and outwards to the treeangle piece.

It was red.

Sese had corrupted it.

The group now realized how dire this situation was. Was Sese truly planning on corrupting Rey? If so, they had to do something, FAST. Could the treeangle pieces they had heal the corrupt one with their combined strength? Was it WORTH taking the risk to show Sese the two treeangle pieces at all??

"Come on, join me and the rest of the corrupted. Forget about your blasted past forever, and have no more troubles!" Sese exclaimed.

Rey hesitated. He didn't know what to think. Those other shapes had already helped him so much, and yet...

"It's my only chance..." Rey mumbled, slowly stepping over the gates around the fountain and approaching the corrupted treeangle.

"REY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" El screamed.

Rey kept going, climbing up the fountain. He reached the top, where the red treeangle floated in place. He stood under it, looking up and accepting his fate.

"STOP! DO NOT HURT YOURSELF!" Ari shouted worriedly.

But it was too late for anyone to do anything. A drop of corruption hit Rey's head, and the transformation began. The group watched as pink corruption began to cover Rey's cyan body, almost like a perfect transition to one color to another. The group suddenly winced as they saw Rey begin glitch out, more pink making him glitch more and more. The group couldn't even see his face anymore, and magenta light was starting to gather around him.

The group slowly backed away, wondering if they should be in the vicinity when the corruption was done. A flash of light happened again, and this time the group didn't have time to react or close their eyes. It didn't matter though, since it was quick enough for the group to then look ahead at what had happened. There in front of them, floated Rey, fully corrupted. His eyes were black with pink pupils, and his supposed "feet" looked more like claws now. Sese cackled with glee.

"Yes, FINALLY! Now you can-"

Rey glared at him.

"NO."

"Wh...what?"

"I don't want to b-"

Rey's face glitched out for a second. For a moment, the group could've sworn they still saw cyan flashing on Rey's body. Was he still in there? Could they persuade him not to fight them? Maybe they could use their treeangles to heal him before the...no. They needed that corrupted treeangle. They had to battle him.

"Pardon my manners, of course I'll-"

Rey then glitched once more, making quick, stuff motions. It looked like it hurt a lot.

"No, NO! That's not the reason! I corrupted myself for my own purposes!" Rey shouted.

He raised a clawed foot and fired an ice bolt at Sese. Sensing that he didn't want to be around Rey for much longer, Sese backed up before slithering off into the town. The group could only watch the whole thing go down, but their attention was turned to Rey as he looked back at them.

"Ahem. What a rude interruption..." Rey mumbled.

What to say, what to say...

"Um...if you weren't trying to corrupt and join the army, what WERE you trying to do?" Digo asked, now concerned for him.

Rey sighed.

"I've missed Erl for too long..."

"Finish me off so I can join him."