The Beats Go On

Chapter 49: Cocorrupted

💗Chapter 49: Cocorrupted

The group watched in horror as Coco was thrown into the machine. It was a long tube leading into a metal box with a small circular window. Looking down the rest of the machine, they saw that it contained more plastic tubes that connected more metal machines. Finally, it lead to a conveyor belt that had some sort of pink light coming from the end. At no point other than the belt was Coco exposed to the air, where the group could try and get him out.

"We have to get him out!"

"Look for an off switch!"

The group flew into a panic as Coco went through the machine. They began checking all the sides of the machine as it ran. Meanwhile, Champion's minions helped get him out of the hole, and he was able to flee to an area higher up ion the large space. Nobody saw it though, as they were too busy trying to find something to turn this machine off. They tried attacking it with things around the place, even themselves, but nothing dented it.

There wasn't an off switch in the room, and Coco kept porgressing through the machine without making a sound. The group had to wonder what was going on in there. Maybe the machines were putting a potion or something on him so he couldn't feel pain, or maybe he was being put to sleep? Well, they couldn't think about it for too long, there still had to be a way to stop this! Maybe they should split up to see where the machine lead to.

Digo, Ami, and Ina all ran down to the conveyor belt area to see if there was something down there that could stop it. It led them to a giant room, with decks for observing and a few doors out. They had a look around to see what there was, but Digo noticed the pink light coming from the side of his vision. He turned around and saw something sitting in a metal claw, with two mechanical arms next to it. 

It was a corrupted treeangle piece! Coco was going to...to...

"We have to find a way to shut off the machine!" Digo shouted. "If we don't, we might have to deal with another corrupted foe!"

"What?!" Ami exclaimed.

Digo pointed to the triangle, and both of them saw it.

"But how?!" Ina cried.

"I don't know, but if we don't do it soon, Coco's going to get corrupted!" Digo yelled. 

"That's not good...uh...maybe the switch is higher up?" Ami suggested.

"There!"

Ina pointed up as the two boys looked up with her. Sure enough, on a ledge, there was a box with two buttons on it. A green one reading "ON" and a red one reading "OFF".

"There's an off switch!" Ina exclaimed.

"But it's too high up!" Digo shouted.

"Maybe if we throw something to it, we can flick it off!" Ami said, looking around for something to use.

"Right!"

The rest of the group had no luck with finding an off button in the other room, and Champion was nowhere to be seen, so they went to join the others. There, they found them frantically looking for something. Digo saw them and explained what they were looking for, so the group helped out. They searched every corner and crevice of the room as the machine kept running. Hearts were racing as they found nothing but empty space.

There were a few empty boxes around though, and the group began digging through those. They didn't find anything that had enough weight to it, as it seemed to be things like rope, lightbulbs, and some paper sheets. None of those would work, and even though the group was considering throwing the boxes with everything in it, they realized it might hit both buttons at once and cause the machine to possibly do something worse. They didn't risk it, and kept searching thoroughly through each box as best as they could. THey were surprised when they heard a shout, however.

"I found a crowbar!" Cas shouted, pulling it out.

"Hand it here!" El shouted, "I'll throw it!"

Cas handed it over, and El backed up until she saw the box. She reeled back, crowbar in hand. Then, with all her might, she threw. The crowbar sailed through the air as the group held their breath. They saw it get closer and closer...

But it missed.

It hit the side of the wall next to the box and stuck there. There was no way of getting it back, and now the group could only pray that the corwbar would fall down in time. Unfortunately, it didn't look like it would any time now. Coco had reached the final stage, where he remained locked into the conveyor belt. The group saw that no damage had been inflicted onto him, but he still looked worried. It slowly brought him over to the corrupted treeangle piece, and two mechanical hands on the side of it squeezed corrupted drops out of it.

"COCO NOOOOO!"

But it was too late. The drops had hit his head, and Coco had accepted his fate. The group watched as he began glitching out, though the pink color remained the same as he went through the corruption. Unlike Rey though, he didn't seem to be fighting it. He almost seemed to be accepting it, as if tryin to make the pain go away.

The machine added more and more parts to him, and a red fog began covering him. The group backed up a little as they heard metal clashing with metal. They were helpless to stop it now.

"No..." Digo whispered.

The transformation was soon complete, and the locks released. Coco was no longer the same, as he now had two horns on his head, as well as robotic arms. He looked up with a cold expression, the mechanical eye hidden behind his hair glinting through. The group took a step back as he approached, all of them preparing for a fight. Champion spoke through a loudspeaker.

"Now...." 

Coco brought his mechanical arms out menacingly as Champion laughed.

"SHOW THEM WHO'S BOSS!"