challenge 23: 'Cave' // Phantasy Star II // In the Cave

[tehexile]

Fandom: Phantasy Star II

Characters: Rudo, Hugh, Rolf, Nei

Tags: mazes, catboys, randomly rolled

Word Count: 300

Rating: 12/Gen

"You're absolutely sure that's not the right plant? It looks just like it."

"That's how it protects itself." explained Hugh, "It has lots of plants that look the same as it, like body doubles."

"That's a dumb survival tactic," opined Rudy.

"Never said it worked. There's a reason these are so rare," said the biologist, "It probably did something more sensible a long time ago but there was cross pollination with one of Motherbrain's projects that she didn't spot, or it's even an escapee from the lab, a failed experiment. It's not normal for plants to let you breathe underwater if you eat their resin, you know."

"Figures," Rudo muttered. He knew all about what could happen when the almighty infallible supercomputer got something wrong. They were lucky the plants weren't ten foot tall with acid breath and an unquenchable taste for human blood, "Why's it got to grow in the most complicated cave network I've ever seen?"

Huw shrugged, "It's isolated. People are scared to come near it with such strong monsters inhabiting it. Nobody builds paths, giant burrowing monsters make holes everywhere, the water gets in and erodes it..."

"Why are there sexy cat boys everywhere?"

"Ask the pervy scientists at the Biosystems Lab. I've never worked there, don't blame me."

"Are they related to Nei?"

"Leave my sister alone or this sword goes somewhere sensitive," warned Rolf.

"Are you an honorary cat boy?" asked Rudo, smirking at getting a response.

"Will you all shut up so I can scout and we don't walk straight into another ambush?" demanded Nei, "There are wolves here. I can hear them howling. I don't like wolves."

Rudo shut up. He wanted to lighten the mood. This place got to you, with the wolves and the dripping and the constant getting lost.