[Reaching Mira!] What, you expected a boss fight?

Deeper and deeper the pair of wayward Amicabots travelled. After some time, Scrap's wings and tail feathers were the only light the two had to go off of. For a moment, he started to worry about the warning his newfound companion, Chalco, gave him regarding undersea pressure. That, and the occasional optic glitch weren't making this venture several leagues under the sea any easier on him. Eventually, she seemed to take notice. "Scraps, everything okay?"
"Huh?"
"You're blinking a lot. Is something going on with your eyes?"
"I-it's nothing," Scraps lied. "Just another scratch I'll need to buff out when I get home, probably."
"As long as you're sure you'll be fine for the rest of the trip..."
"...Say, are you sure you know where we're going? The signal definitely came from down here somewhere, but..."
"Just keep following me. We'll get to its source in no time, surely."
Somehow, Scraps wasn't convinced. It felt more like they'd been swimming around in circles. How many times had they passed by the same stalagtites, or that same group of kelp?

But unbeknownst to the two of them, something was lurking in that cave system with them. Poking its head out from a nearby tunnel, it cautiously swam out to find the source of the distant buzzing of conversation. What an odd sight, it probably thought to itself--two figures, one with obvious aquatic adaptations, one without--and the one without was practically lighting up the whole cave. Could these be representatives of the surface it contacted before? Well, only one way to find out.

"Excuse me, you two!" The two Amicabots froze. "Were you looking for me?"
They both took a moment to respond. ...Only for Scraps to approach, a flicker of what looked like foolhardiness in his optics. "You... you're the one who contacted us?"
Just what was this thing? It almost looked like a Predecessor, but... with its crown of tentacles, fiercely hooked beak and mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth, it... almost seemed like a terrible imitation in his eyes. Yet it still addressed them, so it was clearly sapient... "That's impossible," both Amicabots thought. "All sapient life died in the eruption, or shortly after!" Regardless, the creature continued.
"So you two are those "Amicabots" I heard so much about! Welcome! My name is--"
"You don't need to introduce yourself," Scraps harshly interjected. "We know exactly what you are."
"Huh?"
"You're a sea monster! And you probably abducted Caspian and did Restful One knows what with him!"
The creature blinked. "...I'm... sorry?"
"Apologizing won't save you now! Take this!"
Scraps charged forward, ready to wrestle with this creature and avenge Caspian... just for multiple hands to reach for him and yank him back. Instead of going head to head with this horrible beast... he got a face full of angry axolotl.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"I--I thought we were going to save Caspian?"
"We're not going to get anywhere by picking fights! Look, you can clearly see whatever this species this is is capable of reasoning with us! What happened to not causing any harm to sapient beings?!"
"But--"
"Do you realize what kind of a discovery we have on our hands?! We've established contact with a new species and here you are, trying to mess that up for all of us!"
The creature hovered there, just watching the two go at it for a moment, briefly wondering if it should go back to its tunnel. But soon, Chalco shoved Scraps aside and calmly swam up to it. "...Sorry about that," she apologized. "We're here in search of another of our kind, and there seems to have been some kind of misunderstanding."
"It's... alright?" the creature replied, still a little shaken from Scraps's hostility.
"Anyway, erm... if it's not too much to ask, would you mind telling us a bit about yourself?" It seemed for a moment Chalco had forgotten about the mission entirely and went straight into nerd mode, to Scraps's chagrin.
"Oh, no, it's no trouble at all! My name is Mira, it's a pleasure to meet you both--even if you did try to attack me at first."
"Are there others of your kind, Mira?"
"Certainly! If you like, I could take you to the city nearby--"
Oh, Mira, what have you done. The rusted Amicabot's gills were practically stirring up a current all on their own with how they vibrated from excitement.
"City??? You mean there's an entire civilization of your kind that's been right under our noses this whole time? Oh, my creators would've flipped if they knew you existed! Yes, take us there, tell me everything about you and your kind! This is the greatest day of my life!!"
Scraps, in the meantime, seemed to have other ideas. "...Right. Uh... you ladies just keep on talking, I'm going to go try to find Caspian."
"Wait, Scraps," Chalco called, "maybe he's in that city Mira mentioned! You should come with us!"
"Yeah," Mira added, "it might be worth it for you to tag along with us!"
He paused for a moment in thought, before trailing along with a sigh. "Fine. But if we don't find him here, we're looking elsewhere."
"Okay, okay," Chalco grumbled. Who knows? There were probably multiple undersea cities the two could search for signs of Caspian. For now... what wonders did this unheard of underwater metropolis hold?

Submitted By benightedswallow for Reaching Mira ・ View Favorites
Submitted: 3 months ago ・ Last Updated: 3 months ago