Mutation

"'nother Pecha, please," I gurgled.

Di handed it over.

As I downed the damned fruit, we kept on trekkin' through this awful compound. This dark, smelly, feral-laced Compound've junk. Nothin' but rabid wild animals 'n useless relics littered this place. The odd item was a precious one-- hell, it was the only reason we were here in the first place-- but the two've us had only managed to find one, 'n we were constantly facin' that piece've crap getting ripped t' shreds by the next feral we found in no time.

"Stairs," I heard Di say. She'd've said more, I'm sure of it, if ah hadn't spent the last few minutes learnin' how she used me as a damned shield against rocks.

I stumbled towards the staircase she'd already headed towards, tryin' to ignore the risin' bile in my throat, eyes waterin' as ah narrowly missed gettin' my feathers chopped off by some Pawniard--

--before descendin' properly 'n no longer needin' t' worry 'bout such things.

Chemical Compound
13F

"Looks like this is it," Di commented. Her tone was still flat 'n bored. She'd been like this all day, fer reasons I couldn't explain. "I mean-- I can't imagine any staircases fitting into a room this small..."

As she wandered off t' go touch all the ceilin's 'n walls, I tried my best not t' barf while chowin' down on Pecha after Pecha. Di couldn't smell any've this... didn't seem t' be feelin' anythin', neither, given how nonchalantly she'd walked inta some places I couldn't even look towards. I s'ppose havin' no nose helps her plenny, but ah can't imagine her bein' impervious t' the rest of this... awful dungeon sickness.

"...there aren't any ferals here," she whispered. The way she did it made my hair stand on end. Surely, as she said that, some bastard Magneton would come outta nowhere 'n stick us up. I readied myself, lookin' left 'n right, slippin' into a combat stance... but she was right.

Once my eyes fin'lly cleared up, I could see t' the end of this floor. There weren't any staircases. There weren't any ferals, neither... jus' a bunch've countertops, a huge mess, 'n some shattered glass tubes.

"You're lucky you can have an Oran and just shake this off," Di looked back at me. She was still as rough as she'd looked last floor-- I could see her ear-wisps dwindlin', her eyes saggin', her body covered 'n cuts 'n scars 'n various gashes. "At least there aren't any more of those mohawk-wearing stabby things around."

I didn't dare speak. Ah knew if ah opened my mouth any more, I'd inhale loads've that poisonous crap'n be out like a light. The only way I was openin' my mouth again was fer more Pechas. Instead, I chose t' stumble after Diana-- unwillin'ly-- 'n take a look at the stuff that wasn't catchin' her attention.

While Di examined the cracked tubes, I peered over the countertops. I climbed atop the piles've ripped fabric 'n rocky rubble set against 'em, scramblin' onto the smooth slabs've stone at the top of all these cabinets, 'n quickly got to readin'... a whole lot've nothin'.

If I'd had more time t' tangle with Tenna, I'm sure I could'a seen somethin'.

CRRR-SH

Could'a... made some sort'a words outta these ruins. But, as it was... I jus' saw a... a whole... lot've......i'd been forgettin' my Pechas. I threw another one down the hole... but it didn't help. When I saw a cloud've miasma comin' in from my right, I turned t' see--

Lord Almighty.

As... as I struggled t' keep my eyes open, ah saw all manner've strange fluids rollin' down the sides've the cabinets opposite mine. Fountains've broken glass followed 'em, with many've those shards gettin' stuck in Diana's tendrils... 'til she...

My head began swingin' back'n forth. My eyesight went blurry. Mmy... my body felt too big fer my skin, 'n I... ah nearly fell off the cabinet, but stumble backwards into the rottin' wall behind me-- i-if ah was hurt, ah barely felt it.

Shoot. Shoot. Shoot. Shoot...

I danced away from the pile of strange fluids now mixing together on the floor. Whatever those smaller glass tubes were, I shouldn't have been messing with them. I threw my head to the right-- only to see Apollo nearly falling off a cabinet.

I didn't stop him-- hell, I was kind of anticipating the fall, it'd look really funny-- but he helped himself to staying on there anyways. He was too busy looking at the papers scattered atop all these counters. I don't know why... it wasn't like either of us could make them out.

"HEY," he yelled. "Di... c-could you pplease come lllook?"

He was slurring his words. That was less funny, more concerning. I shuffled around in our bag and pulled out the last few Pechas we had. My tentacles brushed up against the empty walls of the messenger bag, grabbing the final four things we had in there and then offering them promptly to Apollo. "Eat these first."

Apollo only ate one, which he barely managed to swallow, before stumbling back over to a specific piece of paper and calling for me again. I was getting tired of the Pechas, so I just dropped the remaining three by his side...

"Ccould... couldja make this out?" I said, hangin' over the weird paper. One've the runes seemed familiar t' me, but I had no clue what it meant. It sat next t' some diagram of a relic... or what I thought was a relic... it looked somewhat like...?

Di gave me a look as I kept squintin' at the thing. "I... no, I haven't got any clue of what this is. It's just runes, Apollo, like the rest of this place. I don't even think there's much treasure for us to loot. Focus on something else."

"This's.... treasure..." I mumbled, starin' at the diagram.

Di shuffled off soon after. Somethin' else had caught her attention. I jus' kept starin'... tryin' my best t' make this out. My eyes started goin' blurry-- the diagram doubled...

I heard a buzzin' behind me. Even... eeven with the state ah was in, as ah could've sworn the... the whatever it was that'd been infectin' the dungeon'd... was startin' to seep in, I tried t' be alert. I...

I managed t' stuff the Pechas into my mouth, tryin' my best t' chow down on them 's quickly 's possible, tryin' to resist the heavy concentration've nastiness'n this here--

bzzz

--this here compound, my brain goin' from zero t' one hundred t' zero again, back 'n forth, pluckin' at berries as ah tried t' find the source've the buzzin', as... as... everythin' fell again, stumblin', swirlin', duplicatin', not... not stayin'... not stayin' still... "...Dddi'na, where've..." where--

--ah scrambled back t' sanity, takin' a big bite've another Pecha, focusin' only on the Pechas, ignorin' wherever Di'd gone'n the way everythin' felt small'n big 'n how everythin' hurt, 'n how ah saw her-- s-saw me with 'nother bit've purple n-near... purple'n white...

Ah hit my head against th' wall, unsure've how else t' snap back t' sanity-- hittin' the rock bruise seemed a good 'nuff bet, 'n it surely worked, for some time 'least, 'n I could see Di across from me, playin' with a pair'a...

"What're those?" I cocked my head, starin' down the buzzin' black.... buzzin' black things...

"I've got no idea. D'you want to find out?" Di looked at me, her face either givin' me a polite smile or some kind'a... blank stare? I couldn' make it out much, my vision was splittin' again.

Did ah... did I want t' find out...

I wracked my dyin' brain t' figure that question out. Ah'd... I downed 'nother Pecha, tryin' to focus. Di still had those shards'n her tendrils, 'n... 'n this had gotten a whole lot worse t' deal with after she'd knocked those tubes over. The horrible pool've multicolored crap on the floor was prob'ly quadruplin' this miasma, this... the horrible whatever-it-was makin' it impossible t' think, makin' it even harder t' do anythin'.

She... she couldn't help me with the runes, neither. She told me t' ignore 'em, t'... t' jus' do somethin' else. Even now, as ah was jus' tryin' to make sure ah could see straight 'nuff t' make out... t' make out my talons properly, even as they were all white'n glowin' for whatever reason, she'd... she wasn'...

"...nnno. No, Di, ah don'... I don't want t' touch anythin' else 'rround here. Jus'... jus' hand over the 'scape orb. We'll... we'll get out--"

BZZZZZZZZ

The entire room lit up like the Electric Arcade past sunset. Paper went flying, any remaining glass shattered, and the air itself was infected with electricity.

I was trying my best to ignore the immense pain I was in, to the point of fighting off convulsions and immediately taking on a defensive forme, dropping the black cables on the ground and grabbing onto the counters in a desperate bid to stay conscious.

I could feel every open wound I had being seared by electric shock, every single avenue of entry being laced with lightning, every little bit of sensation I had all screaming in unison that I was going to die here, this would be the end of me--

--and then it stopped.

Just like that, the electricity was all gone.

Whatever had caused the shocking to stop, I couldn't see it. All I could see was the neverending wall of ectoplasmic smoke rising from my stumpy legs and oversized tentacles, clouding my vision and coating most of the room in cold fog.

I fell onto my knees, every single muscle of mine contracting at once, throwing my tentacles onto the ground stump-first in a desperate attempt to keep me from completely face-planting.

Every single part of me hurt.

And yet... I felt like I had enough energy to run a marathon across the entire City. I felt like I could bust through this roof, right now, and take off into the sky of all places. Like I could just waltz into the Park, blow it to bits, and then make a beeline for the Tower. Like I could take on the world... even as every single bit of logic within me said no.

It was only then that I remembered about Apollo.

Through the fog, I couldn't see anything. If I could eat Orans, I was sure I'd have needed one to be able to get this to stop. I could feel my soul beating in my head, I could feel how close I was to the brink. This kind of smoke had clouded things up back in the Labyrinthine Suburbs, too, after I Countered that one... beggar...

My train of thought was getting off-topic. I needed to find Apollo, and this smoke was getting in the way. I felt around for some papers, trying to hold up as many as I could at once to use as a makeshift fan. I blew away as much smoke as I could--

--only to drop them in confusion soon after. Apollo... wasn't around. Not him as I knew him, anyways.

In front of me, smoke rose from a fainted body. Whose it was would have been a mystery, had there been anyone else here... but, well, I had to assume that this was Apollo. This yellow-and-red, completely fried, far-too-fuzzy bird thing... with arms, thank god... was face-down on the ground. He was surrounded by a giant pile of orange and yellow feathers, mixed in with the chemicals I'd spilled before feeding him the berries, sizzling... and covered in static.

I knelt down to ground level and rummaged around in my bag for any other berries... only to find absolutely nothing. I was only half-surprised. I'd completely forgotten how many things we had taken out purely for this one dungeon. We didn't have any Reviver Seeds, tiny or not, which only frustrated me further. The only thing we had at the bottom of that bag was an Escape Orb... which I didn't want to use, given how little loot we'd gotten from this place... but Apollo was now out for the count, I was nearing the end myself, and this shitty room was the only place left to explore. I was in no position to carry a four-foot nuisance out of this place myself, so I reached for the orb...

...no. I took another look around this room. There was almost nothing of value-- now-fried papers, broken glass, rubble, billboards full of things I couldn't read. Bright colors, weird faces-- I couldn't understand any of it, save for how it irritated me.

There was literally nothing left. Just this crappy, half-ripped golden scarf, and the empty bag that used to be full of Pechas.

What a waste.

I grabbed the Escape orb, wrapping another tendril around Apollo to make sure his fainted body wasn't left behind--

--and smashed it to pieces, warping us both out of there in an instant.