Kylie and Slimer had been walking down the left side of the hallway for a long time
now. Kylie couldn't stop worrying about Eduardo and Dr. Spenglar. Slimer couldn't stop
thinking about food. So far, they had encountered nothing, except for a few symbols on the
walls every now and again. A couple of deserted rooms with what seemed to be beds were seen
from time to time, but no creatures, no Eduardo, Egon or Janine.
After a short while longer, they came upon a different room. Slowly, they entered.
Like the others, it was vacant, but this one was different; there was a large spiral stairway
leading up. Kylie walked toward the stairway, was going to climb them, when she heard
something and froze. There was a slight scraping sound, like claw against stone,
getting louder. She looked up the spiraling stairway. Shadows of the deformed Marinzeans
splashed across the walls from the candles on the walls. She ran out of the room into the
hall, looking for someplace to hide, but couldn't find any.
"Slimer," she whispered, "put out those two candles and hope their night vision isn't that
good."
Slimer floated toward the nearest candle on the wall and flew through it, his ectoplasm
dripping onto and extinguishing the candle. He quickly flew over to the opposite wall and
slimed that candle too, darkening a small section of the hall.
Kylie stood very still against the wall, Slimer flattening himself against it next to her.
Two Marinzeans walked out of the doorway, both carrying unconscious humans. Kylie
breathed a sigh of relief as the creatures walked away from her, further down the
hallway.
Kylie looked over at Slimer and motioned for him to follow her. They slowly walked down
the hall, keeping the two Marinzeans in her sight. The creatures stopped in front of a large
doorway, decorated with lots of symbols and enormous arches. One of the Marinzeans
put down their unconscious captive and placed their large, claw-like hand on a slight imprint
on the wall next to the intricate door. There was a slight rumble in the walls and floor as
the door slid open.
Both of the Marinzeans entered, then after a few moments one left, without the human it
had carried in, and continued walking down the hall. Kylie waited a little longer, to make sure
the other wasn't coming out, the started sneaking up towards the large door. She
peeked in; unconscious bodies, still human, were layed out all over the floor of the room.
Much more candles were lit in this room than the others, illuminating the entire area in light.
Kylie looked, had to hold in her sudden intake of breath as she saw Eduardo laying in the
room. She held back the intense urge she felt to run towards him, noticing the Marinzean
in the middle of the room for the first time.
The Marinzean's big eyes were shut in concentration as it growled some sort of
incantation. The bodies began radiating a slight glow. The more it spoke, the brighter
the strange glow became. After a short time, the creature stopped its incantation, although
the bodies continued to glow. Kylie looked on in horrible fascination as all the bodies slowly
turned a light grey-green shade, their bone structures slowly changing. The room
suddenly filled with the sound of bones cracking, changing form, nauseating Kylie until
she thought she'd never hear anything again except for the horrible grinding and growing
sound the bones of the people were making.
Her eyes wandered to Eduardo, his face covered with sweat, mouth in a grimace of
pain. Kylie couldn't stand seeing him hurt any longer; she grit her teeth, charged up her
proton blaster, and charged toward the vile Marinzean, screaming.
The Marinzean barely had time to look up at her before her foot swung around to deliver a
roundhouse kick square in its jaw, sending it to the floor. Kylie decided that for all the
pain it had caused all these people, a simple zap and trap was too good for it. It fell to the
floor from
her kick. She sent another hard kick into its stomach. The Marinzean let out a low growl
of pain and bent over, holding its sore abdomen. Kylie wanted to teach it one more
good lesson before taking it out. She pulled the ghost trap from her back and held it in her
right hand. Winding her arm back like a pitcher, she flung her arm forward intensely
hard, metal making contact with light green flesh. Black-red blood streamed from the creature's
jaw and temple as it flew backwards, landing face first unconscious on the cold stone floor.
"If that didn't teach you," she said through clenched teeth, "maybe this will!"
As the Marinzean growled, regaining consiousness, Kylie shot him with a proton
stream at nearly point blank. The creature, so out of it from Kylie's fierce attack, hardly
acknowledged the barrage of nuclear fire directed at it. Kylie threw the trap underneath
of it and opened it, sucking the creature inside. Nothing was left of it, except for a slight
trail of smoke drifting up from the trap.
Kylie leaned against a nearby wall, trying to catch her breath, finally sliding down into a
sitting position on the floor. Slimer stared at her, amazed by her outburst of aggression.
His jaw dropped five feet to the floor, as he floated over by her side. She put her hand to
the back of Slimer's ectoplasmic head and petted him, kind of enjoying the cool feel of
the slime. She rubbed a small amount on her forehead, cooling off the sweat.
After a short rest, Kylie crawled over to Eduardo's unconscious body. His face and
shoulders looked as if thorns were pushing out it his skin. She grabbed his arms lightly and
shook him.
"Eduardo, wake up. It's me, Kylie."
Eduardo didn't respond. Kylie spoke again, a clear tone of worry now in her voice.
"Eduardo, come on, we have to get out of here. Wake up!"
His eyelids shot open. Kylie looked down at him and smiled. He closed his eyes tight
and winced as the first wave of pain hit him. He cupped his hands over his face and let out
a pain filled scream. He felt the small thorn-like projections on his face and gasped.
"My face! What's happening to my face?!" He pulled his hands away and looked at them.
"Wh-why's my skin grey? I'm one of them! Kylie, help me!"
Kylie held on to his shoulders and looked at him in the eyes. "Just calm down, Eduardo,
you'll be fine. We'll find a way to reverse it. Okay?"
Eduardo was about to answer her when his bones made a loud pop as they continued to
slowly transform. Eduardo's body tensed and he let out a loud scream.
Kylie pulled his shoulders to make him sit up, then put her arms around him and pressed
him to her. Eduardo felt that her holding him close was the only thing anchoring his sanity.
He held her tighter and relaxed, feeling that as long as their hug lasted he would be safe.
He wanted to lose himself in that moment, to never leave or care about anything else. But
he knew he couldn't; they had a job to do. He pushed away from her, noticing her
dissapointment as he did so, and stood.
"Egon and Janine. I know where they are," Eduardo said. A popping sound emanated
from his bones. Trying to resist the urge to just slip from consciousness from the pain, he
went on, saying through clenched teeth and closed eyes, "There's a stairwell through that
door." He pointed to the left corner of the room. "After the incantation is said, they move
the transforming bodies down to our...their master."
Kylie gave him an odd look. "How do you know all this?"
"After the incantation, we're all linked somehow." A wave of pain hit him so intensely
he felt nausious, but knew he couldn't show how bad he felt if he didn't want to upset Kylie.
Kylie walked behind him toward the door. Once he felt she could no longer see him,
Eduardo fell to his knees, holding himself in pain. Slimer rushed over and pulled him back
to his feet, leaving trails of slime running down his vest.
Eduardo followed Kylie through the doorway and down a flight of stairs. He had to stop
more than once to catch his breath. The stairs ended in a dimly lit passage.
After a short while the passage opened into a large cavern, transforming humans laying
all around. Kylie looked at Eduardo, but his attention was focused on the far end of the
enormous cavern; a large Marinzean was standing, slight growls coming from it. Kylie
then noticed the glow; as the human victims continued to transform, a strange glow
emanating from the leader seemed to be glowing brighter. Not only the strange glow,
but the leader itself appeared to be getting stronger.
Eduardo kept on staring at the leader in fascination. Kylie whispered to him, "Eduardo,
what is it?"
"I can hear her. Like, understand her words."
Kylie listened, but could only hear its growling. "What is she saying?"
Eduardo listened for a moment. "Some of what she's saying is an incantation, kinda like
the one used to transform me and the others in that room. This one can give her these
people's life energy as they change."
"You said some. What's the rest?"
He listened. "Laughter."
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