The Beats Go On

Chapter 68: Ren-ewing Oneself

🔥Chapter 68: Ren-ewing Oneself

"We need to keep moving. Achievements and all are great but the situation isn't growing any better." The square said once again.

"R-Right. Everyone okay to keep moving?" Digo asked.

"We're alright here..." "Mister um-" Ina started, staring at him. "Do you have anything we should call you? We don't have a proper name or anything..."

He stared at her quietly before turning away. "My name is Ren. Now let's keep moving." 

"R-Right! Come on." She said, having the other shapes follow behind.

They mostly walked in silence, mostly from having to keep quiet from the flood of corruption that still wandered the streets.

"Do you think everyone is gonna be okay?" Coco asked.

"My people have been training for this. Though we've never expected it to come anytime soon." Ren replied.

"I-I see..."

Ren noticed Coco's unease.

"You seem concerned."

"I am! Corruption isn't a good thing, you lose all form of sanity, and you'll be lost in that pit unless cured."

"And that is why I'm taking you to that Treeangle piece," He shot back.

"W-Wait, you actually are?" Ina said, looking at the older square.

"Yes..And I must apologize for keeping you all here. I'm not sure if you all know, but we live in solitude. We don't see much of anyone else."

"I don't know if that helps in anyway.." Ami muttered before being nudged gently by Ina. "I mean, ah yes, I see why you'd be willing to put any trespassers in a prison."

"Trust me son, if you were living this way you would feel the same way." Ren said, turning around.

"What do you mean?" Ami asked.

He sighed, looking off to the side.

"Let me tell you why we're so...distant from our fellow realms."

—

Long ago, the mechanics of the shapes were known as strong and unruly members of the community. We used to live in harmony with our fellow shapes. However.. After the first corruption, the groups split. We've been separated for the use of machines that would aid us. Saying we were humane or we weren't traditional. We were cast out for ridiculous reasons. We were cast out for having machines become useful tools for not only living comfortably. Once we found this island, our first leader: a young girl named Ringo, took the stand, hiding us beneath the earth. We hid the Treeangle piece in one of the volcanos that we use for smelting. For years it has stayed there, ensuring us warmth. We've always known one day it would be found by the wrong hands.

"But...I'm glad I've found someone who will take it. And use it for good." Ren muttered in conclusion.

"But...After what you said, wouldn't your village collapse." Ren stared at El as she spoke.

"Ringo...She was a powerful priestess that saw the good intentions of our people during those hard times. She was a Diamond, and she died protecting that piece. Before she did...She said that if anything happened, she wanted us to try and work out a solution with the higher ranks. So I guess that time has come." He muttered, opening a large iron gate.

The group was led through to a giant room, sides lined with non-corrupted lava behind strong, heat-resistant glass. Wendy fidgeted a little at the sight of it, but still kept following Ren and the group down it.

"The door to the treeangle is at the end of this hall," Ren said before continuing onwards.

Ari looked to the sides of him as well, noticing the lava. The place was lit with a soft, orange glow, but it was also fairly hot.

"Why have hot burny stuff on walls?" he asked.

"Eh. I didn't design this place, so I don't know," Ren replied.

"I shouldn't have worn my hoodie," Coco grumbled, struggling to take it off as he walked.

"Here, let me help-"

El went over and pulled the hoodie over Coco's head. It slid right off, and Coco tied it around his waist. Everyone was re-adjusting their clothes now, because it was getting hotter and hotter. Wendy looked at the group in amazement. It felt like they were all friends, even though they were each from different places.

But would they let her into their group was the question. Wendy looked down at Cas, who was looking around the hall in amazement. He was the one that she and her group had seen the most, but now that the others were gone...

"Man, at least this makes up for the mountain adventure where we nearly froze up," Ami grumbled.

"I...I actually didn't mind it there," Ina laughed lightly.

"Well. At least some of our clothing had an actual USE there," Coco sighed.

"It's strange to think that all this happened so quickly....we still haven't found out who that lizard is, and we haven't seen Sese for a while...." El said.

"Well, we'll be on the lookout. Now that we've gotten almost all the rainbow treeangle pieces, the evil forces might be planning something for us. For all we know, they might swipe all the pieces last second or something!" Digo exclaimed.

"Yeah. They might try to turn us against each other, too!" Cas cried.

"Haven't they done that already?" Coco asked, remembering when he got corrupted.

"No-well, maybe, but I mean like...maybe they'll try and split us up and make us fight so we won't agree with each other, and then we'll either get corrupted or lost or trapped or-"

Ren coughed loudly, snapping everyone out of their chitchat and daydreams. In front of the group was a large metal door with a keypad next to it. Ren input something, waited as a laser came out from the ceiling and scanned him, then turned around to the rest of the group.

"We're here."

The heavy metal doors hissed a little before slowly opening, revealing the corrupted treeangle in the room. It seemed to be guarded by sleeping corrupted cacti, but that was no matter. The group probably had to fight them to purify the treeangle. This shouldn't be hard. The group slowly walked in...

And that's when the alarms inside went off.