Lemon woke up groggily, the hard floor underneath him cold. He got up slowly, looking over to see where Pierre and Kade were.
They had already woken up, and were chatting quietly. Cornflower was nowhere in sight.
"O-oh, you're awake! Thank goodness..." Kade sighed. "Oh... Your h-hand.." They seemed to shrink away, scared.
His hand was pink. Just the top half though...
"Don't worry about it. If push comes to shove and I get corrupted then I'll make sure I'm a safe distance away when it does happen." Lemon reassured them.
"O-okay..."
Lemon looked around again. They were on a small stone outcropping on the volcano. A sailor and his ship was in the water a few feet away.
"What happened while I was... Unconscious?" He asked.
"Well..." Pierre hesitated. "The big bad guy from earlier corrupted the volcano, and... Everything else. Cobalt is nowhere to be found. Also it's been a whole day since that happened... We were really starting to worry!" She said.
"Oh... Dang. Where do you think they ended up?"
"I-i think they might have fallen in the sea... Like you did. Which means they could also be..." She didn't finish her sentence.
"Typical of them getting into messes... I bet it's even their fault."
"Oh, don't say that! They wouldn't do anything on purpose!" Pierre argued.
She pinned her orange hair into a ponytail, and looked up at the volcano.
"Besides. We have... A job to do..." She gulped looking at the size of the volcano, and the corrupted triangle hanging over the top.
Kade nodded in agreement, and the three waved farewell to the sailor and entered through a cave.
"Pretty sure there's a way to the top from here..." Kade said, fumbling with their jade green bandana.
"Yeah." Lemon agreed. "I've been through here before, I know the way."
They walked deeper into the cave, the area getting darker and darker as they went in. But to Lemon's surprise, there was a dead end.
"What? I could've sworn this was the right way..."
The other two looked at each other in worry. Lemon touched the wall, pushing on it a little. It started to crumble.
"It's fake..." Why would there be a fake wall here? Lemon tried pushing on it a little more, but was interrupted by a low hissing sound. Several corrupted snakes came into view, wrapping around Lemon's legs.
"Agh! Snakes!" He yelled, attempting to brush them off. "Ow! Ow they hurt to touch!"
A tall pink figure walked over before Pierre and Kade could muster up the courage to help, and lifted Lemon off the floor.
"I'm sorry, but that area is off-limits now. King's orders."
Lemon struggled, and the tall snake man summoned pink objects that he used to ward the others off. They tried to get closer, but the pink objects stung incredibly.
While they were busy, the man held down Lemon to examine the pink on his hand.
"Let me go! W-who even are you, anyway?!?" Lemon yelled, failing to escape.
"My name is Vernon. By any chance, are you a guardian?"
"Uh, duh! Why do you care?"
"Oh... Interesting. I didn't know you could get corrupted! I'll have to keep an eye on you." He smiled. "I suppose you can.. Enter."
He dropped Lemon onto the floor and disappeared into the shadows. Lemon looked around as the snakes left, and the pink objects faded. Kade and Pierre rushed over to him to see if he was alright.
He stood up, and brushed himself off. Out of nowhere, a triangle flew over and knocked the fake wall down. It served as a light source for them to move onward. After a half hour of walking, they reached a little gateway. they entered, and music started playing. Pink projectiles flowed to the music, and if they touched it, it would sting, like all the others.
After dealing with a few of these, they came across a mushroom. The little triangle pulled a cord, and the mushroom started glowing. All the others glowed too, lighting up the cavern.
"What the hell?" Lemon gasped.
"This is amazing!" Kade exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Pierre agreed.
Lemon sighed. A snake slithered up to his ankle, and he very gently pushed it off of his foot to discourage it from climbing him. Even so, it followed him as he continued forward. After some time looking around, dodging pink projectiles, and walking, They came to a lake of corruption, and floated on a piece of rock somehow...
On the other side of the lake, Axel was sitting on a ledge.
"Oh! Hey Lemon! Do you know why there's so much pink everywhere?" She asked.
"Something called the 'corruption'. Don't touch it! It will make you pink too. And not in a good way." Lemon said.
"Oh dear! That certainly doesn't sound good..." She replied.
"Yeah. I suggest getting away from the edge."
"Okay!" She said, stepping away from the edge.
After going through the next 'level', as the trio decided to call them, they took a small break. Unfortunately, that break was cut short, however, as the ledge that Axel was on started to crack and fall. She tried to get onto more stable ground, but the rocks fell, right into the corruption, taking her down with it.
"NO!! AXEL!" Lemon yelled.
Suddenly, the Corruption started rising, and they trio had to hop up onto another floating platform. Corrupted projectiles started spewing from the liquid corruption, and falling on the platform, so they had to dodge frantically.
The rest of the encounter was very fuzzy to Lemon. He couldn't process what was going on. The other two had to drag him out of the way of several attacks, as the corrupted version of Axel tried to get them. Eventually, the corruption stopped rising, and they were able to step onto solid ground. Axel followed them, reaching towards them. She yanked Lemon out of the other's grasp, and pulled him towards the corruption.
"N-no please- Axel!" Lemon pleaded, trying to escape. Axel seemed to react to this, slowing down.
She grabbed his corrupted hand, tracing along the uncorrupted skin, dragging the corruption up his arm. "Why don't you want to join me..?" She frowned. "Are you scared, hun?"
"I-i-" He tried to respond, but Kade and Pierre pulled him away from her and out of the volcano before the entrance caved in.
"No! Come back!" She yelled as they dragged Lemon out of sight.
Kade and Pierre set Lemon down under a ledge, as it started to rain, and he was still dazed. The three sat there for quite some time, watching the sun set. Eventually, they tried to sleep.
Lemon was awake for a while after the other two started to slumber, thinking. What had happened to Axel? What did the corruption do to people? Was he going to... to turn out like that? He eventually drifted off into sleep. For a while it was dreamless. But then... there was a large black void.
"Hello, Lemon." A horrifyingly familiar voice said. His own.
He whipped around to face this imposter, only to see himself. A mirror. He reached forward, to touch the mirror. It was cold... solid. Where did that voice come from? Suddenly, his reflection pulled him through the mirror. It was dark inside the mirror, and... as his eyes adjusted... pink? No. It couldn't be. The floor was pink, and there were walls keeping him in. No exits.
"So." The voice from earlier said.
"What?" Lemon looked up at... him. tainted in a pink hue. This.. Imposter, was smiling gently down at him as he stood up off the floor.
Lemon tried to run, but the walls surrounding them didn't budge. He pressed himself up against a wall defensively as the imposter walked forward.
"No! G-get away-"
"Calm down." He said stepping forward. "I'm not here to hurt you, or take your place."
"Then what are you here for?" Lemon said, staying tense.
"I'm here to tell you something." He said, beckoning for him to come a little closer.
"Tell me what..?" He obliged hesitantly, stepping forward. The imposter lead him to a bench, and they sat down.
"Well... i think you might have a hard time processing this... but you're going to be corrupted. And... you'll change. Forever." He leaned back, sighing. "I believe you'd want to call yourself Lychee... don't you think that's a nice name?"
Lemon was about to retort, but stopped. It was nice. Too nice. He really liked it, but didn't know why.
"Lychee..?" He tested it. Was he ready to use a name like that? No. Not yet.
"Take your time. You don't have to change... It's your choice. As well as the corruption. If you truly don't want it, it will go away after some time. Be careful though, denying that you want it can be disastrous." He pulled Lemon into a half-hug. "Watch yourself. And try to be nicer to everyone around you... they are doing their best."
Lemon stared at him in confusion as they and the room around them dispersed. He fell into a deeper sleep, to think about the experience he just had.
---
As he woke up the next morning, he checked his hands. They were still pink, and had spread a little to his elbows. He sighed, rubbing the blurriness out of his eyes. It was still a little dark. He woke up Pierre and Kade, and they headed up to the top of the volcano. There, they saw another 'level'. But this one was... different. They went in, and all of a sudden, corrupted Axel jumped in after them, starting a bossfight.
Lemon didn't want to fight. Especially not Axel. It was putting a lot of stress on him as he dodged her attacks. Eventually, after a few agonizingly long minutes, she slowed down, and the three uncorrupted the triangle on the top of the volcano. The corruption previously flowing from the volcano turned into clean, shimmering springwater, and everything in its wake was uncorrupted.
Lemon helped Axel up, hugging her tightly. She hugged back, and kissed his cheek. The water in the sea surrounding the volcano also was uncorrupted, and it started raining lightly. All the shapes in sight were uncorrupted by the rain, and the four of them relaxed, resting under a ledge as they waited for the rain to stop. Axel held Lemon close, apologizing for what happened while she was corrupted. Lemon forgave her, and they sat in silence cor the rest of the rain.
When it stopped raining, they carefully made their way down the volcano, and to where the sailor was. He took them back towards the tower, and they watched in horror as Cornflower, floating on a makeshift raft, drifted into a large pipe.
They rushed after her, entering into the cold, dark, tunnels of the factory. The sailor had a terrible fear of the dark, so he dropped them off on a dry area and stayed on his ship. The hallway in front of them was dark, but they could see Cornflower's wet footprints on the metal floor leading into it, so that's where they had to go. It was unsettling how cold the place was... There weren't any sounds at all, either. Wasn't this a factory? Shouldn't there be machinery and stuff?
Lemon took a deep breath, looked at his two companions (Axel had stayed at the volcano), and took a step into the cold dark unknown.