10-09-2016, 11:38 AM
After a thirty-minute trek from the almost-collapsed tunnel, the group paused in a small cavern that was just a little larger than a walk-in closet. The intent was to provide an opportunity to eat a small snack and gauge where they were inside Mount Escorial.
Unlike a normal group of spelunkers that might rely upon maps or GPS or something manmade, the astronomers pulled out legit crystal ball. Holding the sphere in his broad palms, Julius whispered a few words as his peers watched in silence. With a crackle and a hiss, the formerly inert piece of polished mineral hummed to life like an old television set.
Despite finding the whole thing a bit ludicrous, Seventeen edged himself forward so he could watch the little spectacle as Mr. Peppers waved his fingers overtop the crystal ball. The image generated by the sphere made zero sense to the cyborg, but from the way the astronomers were glued to it, it must have been designed that way.
“Kamek has the same kind of thing,” one of the koopas whispered behind the cyborg. The voice sounded like Seth’s, but Seventeen wasn’t listening intently enough to confirm. His eyes and ears remained entranced by the astronomers reading the gibberish images on their crystal ball.
“We’re drawing closer, it seems…” Julius muttered as he lifted his wiggling fingers. As he did, the image pulled up from the surface of the ball as if it was a marionette bending to his will. Seventeen noted some strange sparkles in the periphery, but just as he was going to turn his head, he saw the glittery mass flicker passed him and calmly come to a stop amidst the holographic projection. “Yes,” Julius said, nodding his head along with the rest of his peers. “Getting closer, for sure. It looks as if the star probably fell somewhere in the vicinity of the magma chamber.”
“I thought this was inert?” Seventeen asked what was probably a stupid question.
Julius turned and nodded his head. “It is, so the magma chamber will just be a bunch of cooled magma.”
“So it’s a rock chamber?” The cyborg retorted, eliciting a grin from the head astronomer and a few of the more jovial members of his cohort.
“We’ll move out in a few minutes,” Julius spoke aloud as he lowered his hand down to the surface of the crystal ball. The moment his palm touched the glowing mineral, the sphere’s light faded back into blackness. “I highly doubt that we’re just going to stroll into the chamber, get the star, and leave this place without some kind of reprisal. To have gotten this far mostly intact is a blessing.”
Although Julius continued his pep talk, Seventeen was distracted by a stout arm poking him in the side of his ribcage. Glancing around, the cyborg saw that Dutch was standing next to him with an uneasy look on his face. The bodybuilding Koopa Trooper took a moment to collect his thoughts before whispering to his troupe leader.
“Have you smelled that?” He inquired. After a pause, he added a clarifying remark. “That sulfurous stench? I’ve been getting whiffs of it for the last ten minutes or so.”
Seventeen twisted his thin lips up as he tried to recall the recent stretch of the expedition. As much as he derided the astronomers for using fancy magic equipment to get along, there was no denying that he also tended to rely more on his sixth sense—his ki sense—than his traditional senses a lot of the time.
Guess that doesn’t make a lot of sense…
The cyborg stifled the self-induced snicker as he shook his head. “I think you have a better sniffer than I do,” he said softly to the stout koopa. “Is it something we should be concerned about?”
Dutch nodded his head. “You remember back when we entered the volcano?”
“Stalkers, you mentioned.”
The koopa furrowed his brow at the word choice but didn’t bother to call out his commanding officer. “Yes, we’ve been tracked inside the volcano. I can only imagine that they’re waiting to make their move.”
“Do you know what followed us?” Seventeen’s question received an answer in the form of a shrug. “You don’t have a single guess?”
The muscular koopa scowled. “Something bad. Something that can survive in lava and pass through rock without much difficulty. I apologize that I’m not an Ashen Steppes zoologist, Boss.”
Seventeen couldn’t tell if there was sarcasm in that last comment, but before he could push the issue, another of the koopas stepped forward. It was Jed Koopa, who had overheard the conversation in its whispered entirety.
“They could be flans.”
“We’re being stalked by dessert?” The cyborg snickered.
Before any of the koopas could enlighten their commanding officer, one of the astronomers made a remark that no one would reflect fondly upon years later.
“Hey… what’s that?”
Seventeen and the koopas turned and saw the male astronomer take a few steps closer to the wall of the cramped room. The man’s focus was on a slowly expanding red-orange mass on the side of the wall.
“Get back!” Jed Koopa screamed as the fist-sized blob of glowing goo suddenly surged forward from the side of the wall like a burst of water from a firehose. The moment the thick substance smacked against the man’s face, everyone heard the distinct sound of sizzling flesh as the screams started from underneath the growing heap of glowing orange goo.
“Fucking run!” One of the astronomers shrieked as they started to flee from the closet-size chamber, leaving their screaming colleague to be devoured by the ever increasing mass of burning sludge streaming out from the wall.
“Can we help him?” Seventeen shouted as he glanced to the koopas.
“We have to move,” Dutch barked as he pointed to a few other cracks in the wall. It took the cyborg all of five seconds to see the orange sludge starting to bubble to the surface. More of the creatures were coming, and in a few moments, they’d be trapped with nowhere to go but back into the cramped tunnels.
“You heard the man!” With that, the cyborg waved for the Koopa Troopers to move out ahead of him. Once the last one was gone, the machine-hybrid stole one last glance at the ill-fated astronomer. The man had stopped screaming a while ago, and whatever was left of him had been devoured by the writhing mass of magma-like sludge that was gradually started to take a vaguely human shape. “Fuck this,” Seventeen growled as he threw a palm forward and fired a burst of ki through the center of the humanoid mass of glowing goo. While the attack opened up a wide hole through the monstrous thing, it made no discernable impact, and after a short pause, the hole started to slowly close. Around the room, streamers of red and orange sludge were pouring through every small fissure in the stone.
“Nope.” Seventeen whispered as he turned and fled.
Unlike a normal group of spelunkers that might rely upon maps or GPS or something manmade, the astronomers pulled out legit crystal ball. Holding the sphere in his broad palms, Julius whispered a few words as his peers watched in silence. With a crackle and a hiss, the formerly inert piece of polished mineral hummed to life like an old television set.
Despite finding the whole thing a bit ludicrous, Seventeen edged himself forward so he could watch the little spectacle as Mr. Peppers waved his fingers overtop the crystal ball. The image generated by the sphere made zero sense to the cyborg, but from the way the astronomers were glued to it, it must have been designed that way.
“Kamek has the same kind of thing,” one of the koopas whispered behind the cyborg. The voice sounded like Seth’s, but Seventeen wasn’t listening intently enough to confirm. His eyes and ears remained entranced by the astronomers reading the gibberish images on their crystal ball.
“We’re drawing closer, it seems…” Julius muttered as he lifted his wiggling fingers. As he did, the image pulled up from the surface of the ball as if it was a marionette bending to his will. Seventeen noted some strange sparkles in the periphery, but just as he was going to turn his head, he saw the glittery mass flicker passed him and calmly come to a stop amidst the holographic projection. “Yes,” Julius said, nodding his head along with the rest of his peers. “Getting closer, for sure. It looks as if the star probably fell somewhere in the vicinity of the magma chamber.”
“I thought this was inert?” Seventeen asked what was probably a stupid question.
Julius turned and nodded his head. “It is, so the magma chamber will just be a bunch of cooled magma.”
“So it’s a rock chamber?” The cyborg retorted, eliciting a grin from the head astronomer and a few of the more jovial members of his cohort.
“We’ll move out in a few minutes,” Julius spoke aloud as he lowered his hand down to the surface of the crystal ball. The moment his palm touched the glowing mineral, the sphere’s light faded back into blackness. “I highly doubt that we’re just going to stroll into the chamber, get the star, and leave this place without some kind of reprisal. To have gotten this far mostly intact is a blessing.”
Although Julius continued his pep talk, Seventeen was distracted by a stout arm poking him in the side of his ribcage. Glancing around, the cyborg saw that Dutch was standing next to him with an uneasy look on his face. The bodybuilding Koopa Trooper took a moment to collect his thoughts before whispering to his troupe leader.
“Have you smelled that?” He inquired. After a pause, he added a clarifying remark. “That sulfurous stench? I’ve been getting whiffs of it for the last ten minutes or so.”
Seventeen twisted his thin lips up as he tried to recall the recent stretch of the expedition. As much as he derided the astronomers for using fancy magic equipment to get along, there was no denying that he also tended to rely more on his sixth sense—his ki sense—than his traditional senses a lot of the time.
Guess that doesn’t make a lot of sense…
The cyborg stifled the self-induced snicker as he shook his head. “I think you have a better sniffer than I do,” he said softly to the stout koopa. “Is it something we should be concerned about?”
Dutch nodded his head. “You remember back when we entered the volcano?”
“Stalkers, you mentioned.”
The koopa furrowed his brow at the word choice but didn’t bother to call out his commanding officer. “Yes, we’ve been tracked inside the volcano. I can only imagine that they’re waiting to make their move.”
“Do you know what followed us?” Seventeen’s question received an answer in the form of a shrug. “You don’t have a single guess?”
The muscular koopa scowled. “Something bad. Something that can survive in lava and pass through rock without much difficulty. I apologize that I’m not an Ashen Steppes zoologist, Boss.”
Seventeen couldn’t tell if there was sarcasm in that last comment, but before he could push the issue, another of the koopas stepped forward. It was Jed Koopa, who had overheard the conversation in its whispered entirety.
“They could be flans.”
“We’re being stalked by dessert?” The cyborg snickered.
Before any of the koopas could enlighten their commanding officer, one of the astronomers made a remark that no one would reflect fondly upon years later.
“Hey… what’s that?”
Seventeen and the koopas turned and saw the male astronomer take a few steps closer to the wall of the cramped room. The man’s focus was on a slowly expanding red-orange mass on the side of the wall.
“Get back!” Jed Koopa screamed as the fist-sized blob of glowing goo suddenly surged forward from the side of the wall like a burst of water from a firehose. The moment the thick substance smacked against the man’s face, everyone heard the distinct sound of sizzling flesh as the screams started from underneath the growing heap of glowing orange goo.
“Fucking run!” One of the astronomers shrieked as they started to flee from the closet-size chamber, leaving their screaming colleague to be devoured by the ever increasing mass of burning sludge streaming out from the wall.
“Can we help him?” Seventeen shouted as he glanced to the koopas.
“We have to move,” Dutch barked as he pointed to a few other cracks in the wall. It took the cyborg all of five seconds to see the orange sludge starting to bubble to the surface. More of the creatures were coming, and in a few moments, they’d be trapped with nowhere to go but back into the cramped tunnels.
“You heard the man!” With that, the cyborg waved for the Koopa Troopers to move out ahead of him. Once the last one was gone, the machine-hybrid stole one last glance at the ill-fated astronomer. The man had stopped screaming a while ago, and whatever was left of him had been devoured by the writhing mass of magma-like sludge that was gradually started to take a vaguely human shape. “Fuck this,” Seventeen growled as he threw a palm forward and fired a burst of ki through the center of the humanoid mass of glowing goo. While the attack opened up a wide hole through the monstrous thing, it made no discernable impact, and after a short pause, the hole started to slowly close. Around the room, streamers of red and orange sludge were pouring through every small fissure in the stone.
“Nope.” Seventeen whispered as he turned and fled.
![[Image: 17.jpg]](http://omniverse-rpg.com/images/17.jpg)