Stampy glanced around as they walked through the halls, Elio beside him and Quentin leading.
They were once again seemingly walking in circles. It wasn't until they could hear voices down that hall that Quentin quickly pulled the others into an empty room.
Stampy's ears laid back as he hid but listened making out small words but not a lot of the conversation.
Quentin peaked his head out the door, seeing too large shadows down the hall.
No one could make out what they were saying and they watched as Kala bowed and left and Penny turned to leave.
Quentin's eyes grew wide as Kala began to walk down the hall they were in, the memories of everything the demon did to him rushing back all at once. He quickly popped back inside the room, growing into a bit of a panic.
Stampy quickly moved to try to calm him down while Elio made sure they weren't noticed.
Quentin's breathing grew quick and his heart raced.
Kala stopped in front of their room and turned towards their door and moved towards it, swearing he heard something but stopped when something else grabbed his attention and he sighed and moved along.
Quentin breathed a heavy sigh and leaned against the wall as the footsteps faded away.
"You okay?" Stampy asked him.
"Y-yeah I... H-he's the one who-" Quentin seemed panicked, his angry demeanor disappearing completely.
"Yeah... I know I was there."
"He's the reason I'm here..."
"Yeah... Cause she saved you from him."
Quentin rolled his eyes. "Saved me... I wish he'd have just killed me forever..."
"Kippy..." Stampy frowned.
Quentin sighed. "Sorry... I just... I don't know how much longer I can do this for... I've already been here for years."
"I know. That's why we are trying to get out."
"I know I've said this countless times before but, can we at this point? We've been walking in circles."
"I... I don't know... I want to." Stampy replied with a sigh.
"I do too... We have to..." Quentin glanced over at Elio.
Elio nodded.
"I just... I don't know how..."
"None of us do... But we'll find it."
Quentin sighed and slumped to the ground.
"Do you want to take a break?" He asked.
"We can't, though." He bluntly responded.
"Oh... Um... okay."
"We... We have to find Jason, right? And Elio's friend?"
"Kora." Elio confirmed.
Stampy nodded. "Right."
Quentin stayed on the ground for a moment before slowly getting up. "Come on... let's go."
Stampy helped him up and Elio opened the door.
They went back into the hallway, it's appearance shifting once again. The doors had moved and the hallway was now curved instead of straight.
"Well... It's something different." Stampy commented.
"I guess so..." Quentin added. "But I bet this just leads into another circle."
"Well we can check all the doors we come across this time."
"I suppose that would be best."
Elio nodded. "We best get looking then."
The walked through the hallway, opening every door they came across. Some rooms were completely empty, while others were bedrooms like the one Quentin himself had woken up in.
"There has to be something around here..." stampy muttered
"I guess..." Quentin muttered.
Elio was following them when he stopped, hearing something.
Quentin looked back at him. "Everything good?"
"I hear something..."
He looked a bit concerned. "Is something coming?"
"No... it's coming from over here..." he moved towards one of the doors.
The other two slowly followed his steps.
He pushed the door open and soft music filtered into the hall. It seemed to be singing.
"What the...?" Quentin looked into the door, more confused than ever.
"I recognize it... I think it's Kora." Elio explained.
"Are you sure?"
"... It's not either of Them, if that's what you're asking."
The mudkip seemed to relax a bit at this. "Why would she be... singing though?"
"I... Don't know but... We have to see. On the chance it's her."
Quentin nodded and further opened the door, allowing them to see what was inside.
A glass tank full of water was in the back of the dimly lit room and they could see things swimming around inside.
Elio stepped inside cautiously.
They walked towards the tank, the room getting darker as they went on.
Elio hesitantly lit his hand on fire as they went but froze seeing bars of cages making up pretty much all the walls. Cages were the walls... And there were things inside... Elio gasped.
Quentin's eyes widened in horror, surrounding them where hundreds of the strange human-mob experiments.
Stampy's ears laid back and his tail wrapped around him. "There's... so many..."
Elio slowly nodded but pressed forward a bit more.
"How long has this been going on for?!" Quentin added.
"... I... A long time it appears." Elio commented. "Longer than I've been here."
"This is horrible..." The other added.
Stampy agreed. "Y-Yeah..."
"I'm guessing she's there." Quentin pointed to the large tank. "That's where the sound is coming from."
Elio nodded and hurried over to it before taking a deep breath. "Kora?"
The singing stopped and the room fell silent for a moment.
"...Elio?" A soft voice called back.
Quentin looked through the tank trying to find the source of the voice but couldn't.
They saw something move towards the glass and stopped as she came into view.
Quentin placed a webbed hand on the glass and looked up at her.
A dark blue-green webbed hand placed itself on the glass revealing, a young woman who looked to be a mermaid? She had bright orange hair and eyes, with dark turquoise scales, with orange detailing around the top chest area and orange transparent fins. She also had orange spikes sticking out of her hair and around her elbows.
She looked surprised to see Quentin and Stampy instead of Elio, making her tense until he drew her attention.
"Kora, it really is you...."
She turned to him and relaxed, her eyes softening. "Elio... you're alright... Well... sort of."
Quentin looked over at her but didn't say anything.
"I'm so glad that I found you Kora..." He smiled happily. "Oh! This is Quentin and Stampy," He introduced.
Stampy gave a small wave as Kora turned to look at them.
Quentin nodded at her, looking quite fascinated at her appearance.
"Hello..." She greeted them. "I take it your her prisoners too?"
"Yup." Quentin said. "I myself was a puppet a few hours ago."
She looked surprised. "And you somehow reversed it?"
"Ah... it just kind of started to wear off when Stampy took me out of the room I was trapped in."
"Interesting... I don't think that's the case for us though..."
"She just used magic for me, I'm not sure it was the same for you."
"Heh... I wish..." She muttered, darkly.
Stampy whimpered a little, hiding behind Quentin.
He turned around and placed a protective hand on Stampy's shoulder. "You good?"
"I... Just anxious..." He replied softly, his fur all fluffed up as he kept his arms wrapped around himself in attempt to reassure himself somewhat.
"It's okay..." The mudkip gave him a reassuring pat on the back. "I am too..."
Kora looked at them. "You're lucky she hasn't caught you again. She'd punish both of you most severely."
"She already caught me escaping once... that's when she turned me into... yeah..." Quentin looked away.
"So imagine what she'll do to you a second time." Kora pointed out. "But I suppose all you can do is run and hope you aren't found once she realizes you're loose."
"I mean if I'm lucky she'll just kill me and it'll be over with." He replied half jokingly. "But earlier it seemed like she was busy with something else."
"Probably some other poor soul she has trapped here..."
Quentin nervously looked over at Stampy. "It's Jason, isn't it?"
Stampy sort of winced before slowly nodding. "That would be my guess..."
"I'd say we should hurry, but I bet the hallways will just turn into a circle again..."
Stampy gave a small nod. "Probably..."
Quentin looked over at Elio then back at the tank.
"I doubt she'd let you find them." Kora agreed.
"Stampy was able to find me." He calmly answered. "That had to happen for a reason, right?"
Stampy shifted. "Well... I kind of... Sort of... Escaped without her knowing. So maybe she didn't try to keep me away?"
"I'm not sure if her knowing would've done anything. How would we have found this place if she knew?"
"I... I don't know, everything is so confusing..."
"That's just what this place does I guess..."
"Y-Yeah..."
Quentin sighed and leaned against the glass, gazing back into his reflection in the water.
Kora watched them. "You too should probably get a move on if you are on the run from her... But she also doesn't come in here that often..."
"But we have to find Jason before she..."
"Chances are, you're too late." Kora cut him off.
"That..." Quentin tried to argue but couldn't. "That you could be right about..."
"In which case, you should make sure it doesn't happen to the two of you."
"Yeah but... Jason's one of my best friends. I've known him for years! I can't just... leave him to die here!"
"You don't really have much of a choice sadly..." Kora replied, swishing her tail back and forth.
"I know I don't!" Quentin slumped to the ground. "I know that we're doomed here! But couldn't we still at least try?"
"If you want to risk ending up really trapped here like us, sure."
"What do you think, Stampy?" The mudkip looked over at him.
Stampy's ears laid flat. "I... I don't know..."
"Well we can't just sit here and argue about it, can we?"
"Well... We could but I don't suggest it." Kora replied.
"Then what do we do?!"
"Well, you could look for your friend and risk yourselves, or look for a way out."
Quentin was silent for a moment. "We need... we need to find Jason... I can't have him die because I wasn't there for him..."
"Oh, I doubt he's dead unless he really pissed somebody off but, good luck, I suppose." Kora told them.
"We're looking for him." He stood up and crossed his arms, sounding colder than usual. "If you want to stay here that's fine by me, Just know that you won't be getting out of there anytime soon yourself."
Kora's tail swished and her spikes extended. "Is that a threat?" She asked him, leaning closer to the glass.
Quentin's cheeks lit up a bit as he glared back. "Maybe."
"Be careful who you make enemies here." She warned.
Elio glanced between them. "Guys, please, we aren't enemies here!"
"Well Penelope already hates me, it would make sense that her minions would too."
Kora slammed her hands against the glass, spikes fully extended. "WE AREN'T HER MINIONS! WE'RE HER SLAVES AND TOYS! WE DON'T HAVE ANY CHOICES TO DO ANYTHING ELSE!" She hissed, baring her sharp rows of teeth in anger.
Stampy stumbled back with a gasp.
Quentin didn't budge and his cheeks only grew more, the water in the tank beginning to move.
Kora and several other creatures in the tank looked around in a bit of panic. "STOP THAT!" Kora yelled.
Elio stepped back a little, unsure of what to do to stop them. "Please, don't..."
At this point Quentin was barely aware of what he was doing and the water only continued to move.
Kora hissed. "STOP IT!"
Stampy reached out, a bit uncertain too. "Kippy-"
The water began to move faster, splashing against the sides of the tank.
Kora cried out as she hit the side of the tank.
Elio gasped. "STOP IT! YOU'RE HURTING HER, QUENTIN!" He yelled and blasted a fireball at his back but made sure not to hurt him too badly.
Quentin cried out in pain and fell to the ground, the light immediately draining from his cheeks.
Kora cried out as the water dropped and slowly stilled in the tank.
Elio gasped and stepped back. "Q-Quentin??"
Quentin stayed still on the ground, the back of his suit jacket slightly smoking.
Stampy came over and knelt down. "K-Kippy?"
The mudkip groaned as he got up onto his hands and knees, his arms shaking.
"Quentin, are you alright?" Stampy asked concerned.
"I'm.... I'm fine... W-what just happened...?"
"You spaced out and were controlling the water and Elio had to snap you out of it before you hurt Kora too bad...."
"What...?"
"The water was splashing everywhere..." Stampy tried to explain.
"Ah... I just... I don't know... I could possibly control that much at once..."
Elio slowly stepped forward. "Are... you alright?"
"Honestly... I'm not sure anymore... I think I've totally lost it at this point."
Stampy sighed. "We've been through a lot." he agreed.
Quentin nodded, his body still shaking. The fins on his body were low and folded, he looked scared.
Kora finally regained herself and swam up to the glass looking rather ticked off but said nothing.
Quentin nervously glanced at the tank but quickly looked away.
"You need to go. Now." Kora finally spoke up, arms crossed and spikes still out.
Elio turned to her. "Kor-"
"No, Helios. They need to go. They aren't welcome here." She told him firmly.
Quentin looked hurt by this. "N-no... I didn't mean to-!"
"Oh really? First you threatened me and then you attacked me! Didn't mean to, huh? Bullcrap." She hissed.
"Kora..." Elio tried. "He really didn't-"
"How do you know, Elio?!" She hissed.
Elio stepped back. "I-... I trust him..."
She narrowed her eyes. "Just because you looked up to him back home? You just met him."
Elio opened his mouth to argue but backed down, tears brimming his eyes.
Quentin slowly stood and partially leaned onto Stampy. "I... let's g-go..."
Stampy slowly stood, helping support Quentin before nodding a little.
He looked back at the two kids. "I.... I'm sorry..."
Elio frowned sadly. "I... I forgive you but-" He glanced at Kora who was still tense and watching him. "You... You should go... Good luck... and be safe..."
Quentin grew silent and nodded.
Stampy glanced back. "After we find Jason then we'll come back for you and get you out of here. Promise. We'll find a way."
Kora turned away. "Yeah, right..." she swam off into the tank.
Elio watched her and turned back to them. "Thank you... But please, if you can get out, then get out... There are others who need you more than us."
"We can't leave them..." Quentin muttered to Stampy. "They're only children... We have to come back."
Stampy gave a small nod and waved goodbye to them as they stepped into the hall. "I agree."
As they left the hallway Quentin sighed. "I really messed up, didn't I?"
"Well... you really scared us that's for sure..."
"I have no idea what happened! I think I'm finally starting to break, Stampy."
"Quentin, we've both been under a lot of stress... She wasn't exactly being friendly either so..."
"I know but... She's so young! And I absolutely lost it on her!"
Stampy sighed. "We can't do much about it now... We gotta get looking for Jason."
"Y-yeah..."
"Well... Come on then." Stampy led him down the hall.
They began to walk through the walls once more, the room containing the hybrids disappearing as they turned the corner.
(Hey look, an update! XD -Molly)