Darling in the Franxx: Cold Blood

Chapter Six: Unlikely Friends

The room connected to three other hallways, though the hole intrigued you more. Looking down the hole, you saw nothing but darkness. Even with the help of your night vision, you couldn't see the bottom. Leaving the hole for the moment, you turn your attention to the hallways. One of them had caved in near the entrance, leaving only two to be searchable.

Starting with the one to the side of the one you entered. You would continue down it until you'd hit a dead-end due to a collapsed tunnel. You did find a few side tunnels however, though you knew better than to crawl into them. Returning to the circular room, you decided to walk down the tunnel on the far side of the room. The walk down the hallway was the same until you stopped at a metal door. Wondering what was on the other side, you slid your hand under it and lifted it open.

You almost jumped back as you saw a Franxx impaled on a pike. The mech was still standing with its weapon acting as support. Other than that there was another intact Franxx, a hand, and the front half of a Klaxosaur. Finding nothing that would be sensed by Hime, you lower the door and walk back to the circular room.

Returning to the room, you knew whatever Hime sensed had to be at the bottom of the shaft. Spotting groves going down the side of the hole, you realized it had to be an elevator shaft. You look around the room for some way to get down. Your first idea was to find a control booth and call the lift up. But as you look around the room, you see what you think is the controls for the elevator. The problem was that the booth had gotten covered in a thick layer of biomass. Studying the mass, you deemed there was no way of removing the biomass without destroying the controls.

With no way of getting the elevator up, you returned to the shaft. Looking down the dark hole, you noticed as far as you could tell, the walls were smooth all the way down. Which gave you an idea, you could latch onto the side of the shaft and slide down it. You'd abandoned that idea pretty quickly when you realized that if there was no control booth down there, you'd get stuck at the bottom. One after another, any idea you had of getting down was dashed until you thought of getting down was impossible. That was until the sound of a failing machine came into earshot.

Turning to the hole, a very rickety and unkempt elevator rises to view. You could tell just by looking at it that it was on its last legs. 'I'm going down on this,' you think to yourself as you test the lift with your tail. 'I think I'd rather jump down.' Though without any other option, you stepped onto the lift. 

As you descended down the dark shaft, you couldn't help find it odd. The lift rising and lowering on its own, as well as the door at the entrance. At the time, you thought it was some automated system to let the Franxx in faster. But now, you believe something else was going on.

Reaching the bottom, you got off the lift and stepped out into the dark cave. Reactivating the suit's night vision, you look around the area for controls to the elevator. Finding it after a minute of searching, you were surprised to see the state that it was in. It had been smashed in, leaving the controls and the surrounding area in ruins. Continuing to study the long rusted and destroyed machinery your radio went off. You thought it was impossible due to how deep underground you were, but the staticky signal was there and it was trying to connect to your suit.

'So, this is probably what Hime sensed,' you thought as you turned to the pitch-black cave. 'Well, at least I have a lead now.' Walking into the cave, you follow the strength of the signal to its source. Though you quickly found that the caves were essentially a large maze. It took you far too long to get going in the right direction. But once you did, the sound of shrieking and stampeding could be heard coming towards you. Thinking quickly and ducking into a crevasse in the wall just big enough to hide in, you watch as a large group of hostile red shapes runs past.