Unknown
The girl ran through the cavern, the sound of her bare feet and heavy breathing echoed throughout the cavern walls, she felt the small pebbles on the ground tear at her feet, creating small cuts as she attempted to run. She was only able to get away because the metal monsters focused on the smugglers, but she… She was afraid, she wanted her momma, Dad, siblings, anyone to come and help her, most of the men died by the time she started running, she didn't know why everyone had to take different routes, why couldn't they be together? Why couldn't her dad be here to fight off the monsters… all these thoughts rushed through her head, she didn't even notice the blood flowing from the cuts on her feet, the light in the cave becoming dimmer and dimmer, or the small rock that would soon trip her, causing her to fall towards the rough stone ground.
"Ngh!" She grunted out as her body hit the ground, the pain in her sore legs and injured feet soon caught up to her, she struggled to get back up, she tried to force her body to keep going forward, the monsters could find her any moment! Yet she froze as she felt something slimy drip on her shoulder, she hesitantly looked up, and saw a large, pale monster on the cavernous ceiling, it's dark, hungry eyes staring down at her…
The monster soon leapt down at her, she closed her eyes reflexively, but when she opened them… she was upside down, inside bucket's shack…
—--
Lemmy
It's been a few months since Bucket, the metal person who fed Lemmy, found her, and they taught her many things… mostly how to read so they could actually talk, but plenty of other things like local plants and animals… though here it isn't always clear what's the difference, apparently a lack of sunlight and large amounts of mana can cause any environment to be a bit weird. Bucket said it had something to do with environmental factors and rapid mutations?
Either way, she supposed it didn't matter, bucket told her there were metal monsters guarding the only way out, but they also told her if she gets stronger, both of them could fight off the monsters together! She quickly got down and landed on her feet, she smiled proudly as she managed to go a full month without landing on her face. She looked around for a moment, before noticing some words written into the stone floor. "Lemmy, meet me at the cavern covered in blood moss." the words said,they seemed to have been drawn quickly, bucket was surprisingly strong despite his thin looking arms… not that Lemmy's arms were any thicker than theirs…
—-
Bucket
It's almost been six months since bucket had found the girl wandering the cavern, and five since she learned how to read. She wasn't exactly easy to teach… almost always getting distracted or even outright rebellious, but at least she was a quick learner, it only took her a month to learn the entire Kalbirian Alphabet, which was mildly surprising considering it was a moderately complex language. Though It was also around that time that they gave each other names, they got tired of calling each other metal person and girl, so they chose to name each other. Bucket could still remember the moment, they decided to replay the memory while they waited for her to show up.
The Machine was writing down on a note, it was running out of paper and hasn't had time to scavenge more out of any of the abandoned caravans around here, hunting anything edible down here takes a lot of time and is extremely dangerous… maybe if they taught Lemmy how to hunt… could she? She was rather young, or at least from what they could tell, yet she was unnaturally strong for a girl of her size. The Machine would think on this after it finishes today's lesson… or at least that was the plan until the girl asked a question seemingly at random.
"Machine, do you have a name? When I think about it, it's weird to call you Machine or metal person all the time…" The bat-like girl questioned, causing the machine to pause for a moment, before writing down on the note. "What do you wish to call me?" the machine questioned, causing her to look down thoughtfully for several moments. She looked up with a smile and blurted out "Bucket!"
The Machine was silent… or well to be more accurate, only responded by tilting it's head.It felt like it should be offended by that name, but yet it also felt like it should listen to why she chose that name first before judging. After staring at her for several moments, she finally realized it was waiting for her to say something. "uuhhh… I think it's a good name, because buckets are full of stuff, and you're full of knowledge and smart stuff, so you're like a bucket for knowledge!" She said happily, though looked a bit nervous, the machine… Bucket lifted it's hand and gentle placed it on the girl's head, rubbing it gently before writing something down. "It's a nice name." Bucket wrote on the note, causing the girl to smile widely. "Now name me!" The girl asked cheerfully, causing the machine to pause for several seconds
What would be a good name for the girl? It knew hundreds of potential names for girls… Though none of them seemed to fit her… looking down at the girl, staring at bucket with anticipation, it felt obligated to come up with something soon. The girl's appearance reminded it of some sort of species of bat, it couldn't remember an exact name… Lemon bat it thinks they were called, or atleast a common nickname, maybe Lemon would be a good name? No, maybe a good nickname but not an actual name… it began to write something down onto the note and showed it to the girl. She narrowed her eyes as she attempted to read it out, "Le-me… Lemmy?" she said, looking up a Bucket to see if she got it right, which bucket responded with a simple thumbs up, causing her to smile and give bucket a hug.
The memory stopped playing, it made bucket feel strange… it never felt this way, it felt like it needed to protect the girl despite only knowing her for half a year… Bucket hasn't had a purpose ever since it killed it's masters, so perhaps it wouldn't hurt to help the girl out. Speaking of which, it soon saw Lemmy approach, her small frame was covered in the same dress that it hastily repaired using random clothes it found.
—--
Lemmy
She looked around the cavern, the deeper inside the cavern she went, the more alien the environment seemed, while she doesn't remember ever seeing the surface she knew both the plants and animals here were far from natural… the way the animals breathed seemed strained, they acted irrationally, and even the plants themselves are slowly changing over time, mostly subtly, sometimes they'd become a different hue, sometimes they became sweeter or bitter, though sometimes… they practically become a new species of plant or animal entirely.
The best example would be the blood moss almost completely covering this part of the cavern, when she first passed through this part of the cavern the moss only covered a quarter of the walls, and was only a light brown. But now? It became a crimson red, and now it looked as if everything around her was covered in dried blood. It smelled heavily of iron, it's surface was extremely moist and it even tasted like flesh… which attracted all sorts of carnivorous monsters.
Lemmy eventually looked over at bucket and hurried along to stand next to them, they were standing next to a sudden drop in the cave, leading to a rather open part of the cavern with a single basilisk resting at the center. The monster had several growths coming out of its body, a few of which covered it's eyes, blinding the monster, however it also made it much larger than a normal basilisk, it looked strong enough to destroy a small building like bucket's cabin, it's black scales stood pit around it's crimson surroundings, and even from here she could hear it's raspy breath slowly pushing air in and out of it's lungs. Lemmy stared at the monster for several moments before looking back at bucket, the monster wouldn't hesitate to kill either of them if it noticed them, so spoke up and began to speak "Why are we-" Bucket placed a hand over her mouth and placed a finger on where their mouth would be if they had one.
Bucket pulled out a small dagger and began to carve several words into the dirt. "Training, tell me, what do you remember about basilisks?" Bucket questioned, causing Lemmy to look back at the monster thoughtfully before whispering as quietly as she could. "Well, they're related to dragons, their eyes can petrify people…" she said as she focused on where it's eyes should be, would it be able to use that ability when their eyes are covered by tumorous growths? Probably not, she thought before trying to remember its other abilities. "... certain subspecies can also manipulate elements such as stone or lightning… though not to the same degree or same way as dragons can." She says, looking at Bucket to see if she was right.
Bucket gave a small nod, though carved more words into the moss they were sitting on. "They also have the highest muscle mass for a draconic species, meaning if they were to encounter a dragon of a similar size, they would win in terms of raw strength." Bucket noted, making Lemmy feel tense simply being near this thing, after several moments of silence, she whispered. "Why are we here?" She questioned, Bucket began writing down something, every word made Lemmy's heart drop with each letter being carved into the moss.
"You're going to kill it." Was all Bucket said before Lemmy froze, a chill ran down her spine as she read those words. She had never fought anything before, she saw Bucket occasionally fight monsters, either for self defense or to feed Lemmy, but the idea of fighting that thing herself… made her heart race, she considered running but… something in her wanted to stay, it wanted her to fight it, like a primal urge that refused to listen to reason, it demanded blood, a challenge, a… Lemmy wasn't sure, she didn't even know if she wanted to know, the feeling felt both familiar yet foreign, natural yet uncanny… She tried to forget this feeling as Bucket patted her on the back.
"Lemmy, you're stronger than you think, your body is… unique. It's practically brimming with power, both physically and magical, you need to learn to control both, yet I am not a mage, so you need to be your own teacher, I shall guide you when I can, but I can only do so much." Bucket wrote down, Lemmy was silent for several moments, she wasn't very confident in herself even after that… speech? She wasn't sure if that counted as one since Bucket can't speak but… that doesn't matter now, what matters is she gets down there and fight the basilisk. She lightly slapped her cheeks before forcing herself to jump down the steep cliff and onto the mossy ground inside the dimly lit cave. Various fungi, smaller insects, and Barlics lit up the cave slightly, though for the most part, her eyes had to get used to making out various creatures in the dark. If it wasn't for the red moss, she'd probably wouldn't even know the Basilisk was here in the first place.
Maybe if she stabs it in the neck, she could kill it before it wakes up? She silently moved over to the sharpest looking stalagmite she could find, pausing whenever the monster began to stir or growl in it's sleep, it's pained breaths seemed far more intense at this distance, and from here it seemed large enough to devour her in only a couple of bites. Lemmy tried to get this over with as soon as possible, she grabbed the stalagmite with her bare hands before digging her fingers into the hard rock, and ripping it up from the cave floor. The basilisk began to move, Lemmy was afraid she awakened it with the noise, she began to rush towards the mutated monster and attempted to jab the broken stalagmite in-between it's ribs, hoping to hit it's heart or something, yet it's thick, leathery skin managed to slow down the rock gunning for it's heart, the monster roared in pain before it's massive tail smacked the girl away, sending through several smaller Stalagmites and into the cavern wall, causing the entire cave to shake as her small body crashed into the mossy walls. "AUGH- Bu- B- BLEGH-" She suddenly vomited out a pitch black liquid from her mouth as she tried to call out to Bucket, it was hot and seemingly burnt the moss that it splattered all over.
She felt a dull pain throughout her entire body, but especially in her chest, she felt as if several things were wrong… broken bones, pierced lungs, torn flesh… yet she could also feel her body trying to fix itself, she could feel every fragment of bone forcing themselves back into place before mending with the rest of her skeleton, organs attempting patch themselves up as fragments of bone and rock remove themselves, she felt awful. She struggled to move as the Basilisk began to crawl towards her, its blood trailing behind it as it's wound was unable to properly close. Yet this situation seemed… familiar somehow, she felt fear, anger, desperation, her heart began to practically burst out of her chest as it began to beat faster and faster with every step the monster took. Blurred memories raced through her mind, images of people she couldn't remember, words that sounded like gibberish filled her head, yet she could hear a single thought through the uncontrollable thoughts.
I DON'T WANNA DIE!
She thought to herself as the small crystals growing out of her flesh began to glow faintly, she suddenly felt her body heal faster, and everything seemed to slow down, even herself… She saw the basilisk raise one of its massive hands as if it was moving in slow motion, before it attempted to cave in her skull. Her body felt slow, yet it was fast enough to dodge to attack, what was happening? Was this the magic power Bucket told her about? It was useful but… not worth the pain, not worth the fear, not worth risking her life over, she would rather be at the cabin right now, napping upside-down, eating something tasty, hell even trying to catch cave flies seemed more appealing than this! She rushed towards the basilisk and tried to hit it, though it's leather like skin also seemed to be covered in some sort of mucus, it was sticky and hard to pull her fist away from, the monster turned its head towards her slowly before letting out a violent "Hssssss" before it spat something at her eyes, she quickly closed her eyes, yet couldn't open them once she felt whatever it was hit her In the face. "Ngh- what is this?!" She questioned as she attempted to grab it with her free hand, it felt equally as sticky as the monster's mucus covered skin, no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get it off her face, soon the Basilisk raised one of its feet and pushed her off, sending her tumbling into the cliff that Bucket was watching her from.
She got up much more quickly this time and gritted her teeth in frustration, she couldn't see anything, not even light sources with the goo on her face. She heard the ground vibrate as the Basilisk began to turn towards her, she began to whisper out "I… hate… this…" before suddenly speaking louder, each word filled with more and more emotion as the monster began to charge towards her. "I… HATE, THIS!" she yelled as she could… hear her voice bounce off the walls, it was as if she could see everything around her using her voice… it was hard to explain, but she wasn't going to question what was happening for now, she just focused on the giant monster trying to kill her as revenge for stabbing it. Her mind was still moving quicker than her body was, despite the monster being only a few seconds away from crashing into her, it felt like almost a minute before the Basilisk was only halfway towards her.
She took these moments to think of every possible thing she could think of before it hit her, maybe stab it with another stalagmite? No she didn't see any sharp enough to kill it, maybe hitting it hard enough? No, that's a horrible idea too… maybe… the more she thought, the more she grew frustrated, why did she have to be here? This entire fight is stupid, she wanted to scream out of frustration… scream… her crystals began to glow more intensely as an idea filled her mind. If she could see things using her voice and ears instead of eyes… maybe she could use it to hurt things instead of just hitting it? It was either that or potentially break her arms trying to punch it more… She took a deep breath, the damp air in the cave filled her barely healed lungs as she prepared to scream as loud as her small body possibly could. "SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" She yelled directly at the monster, it felt like a significant portion of her energy went into that single scream, yet that combined with the echoing coming off the cave wall caused not only the monster to slow down, but also make Lemmy's head feel like it was being torn apart. She wanted to clutch her head, curl up into a ball and cry, but she fought through the mind numbing pain as she grabbed the monster by the neck, using it's momentum to throw it over her shoulder and into the wall behind her, and eventually began twisting it's neck.
"JUST DIE!" She yelled in anger, at first she felt pity for the monster, but now… she hated it, no… she hated being forced to fight it, she began to use more and more force to twist the monster's neck, until eventually she used all the force her body could muster as the monster momentarily began to fight back until she heard a short but loud SNAP before the Basilisk went limp… She heard something drop down from above next to her, before she could react it poured something on her face which hardened the goo, before ripping it off… it was Bucket…
"Good job, you struggled, but It seems you learned-" before Bucket could finish writing in the moss with a blade, Lemmy mumbled something out. "I hate you…" causing Bucket to pause, before tilting their head. After a moment, she lifted her head and stared at Bucket with anger. "I, hate, you!" she said before weakly taking a swing at the robot, but ended up falling, she felt weak, exhausted, in pain… the last thing she saw was bucket catching her falling body before everything went black again…