Garrett followed closely by the elf as the two of them made their way deeper into the Darge. His wounds ached as they went through, but he needed to power through the pain. He still had no Helioxene, so any death would be his last. His eyes darted around, trying to find some weak monsters that he could slay. After some more walking, Cerezie raised her hand, signaling for Garrett to stop. She ducked down and Garrett followed in suit.
"What is it?" he asked, looking for what caused her to react like this. She put her finger over her mouth and then pointed forward.
Roaming around the room was a small metal drone flying around like a miniature helicopter. It was about the size of a football and shaped like an egg. There was a red light coming from the front of it, concentrated like a spotlight. It scanned around the room, looking up and down the walls as it passed by them.
Slowly, Cerezie began to pull out her rifle. She looked down the scope and tracked the movement of the drone. After a few moments, Cerezie pulled the trigger, firing a bullet coated in green energy. It went right through the drone, causing a burst of electrical sparks and the drone to fall to the ground, light fading from it. Cerezie reloaded her rifle and stood back up.
"What was that thing?" Garrett asked, going over to check it out.
"Scout Device," Cerezie said, giving it a good kick. "Army of Prism here. Deeper than thinking." She looked concerned as she stared at the remains of the drone.
Garrett picked up pieces of the drone, looking over it. The parts it was made of were fairly high tech, almost like something out of a sci-fi series. There was a shattered crystal inside, which appeared to function as the power source. It was a small one, and the fragments didn't look like they were salvagable. Still, Garrett put a few pieces of the metal scrap into his bag.
"Who is Prism?" Garrett asked.
"It evil." Cerezie didn't mince any words, or at least as much as her poor Illiman would allow. "Large robot being taken over Western halves of Asuria. How you uninforming?"
"I've been busy," Garrett said, trying to avoid the question. '...Cerezie is definitely the most hostile of my companions so far... What was the place that she said she needed to find?...Honestly... I don't know if revealing that would make her more hostile... She's pretty secretive... I better not play all my cards...' Garrett coughed slightly. "So, you said you have a mission. What is it?" Cerezie glared at him with a cold stare. "Ah, I just want to see if I can help you with it."
"What purposeful be Illima in mission?" Cerezie asked, adjusting her gloves. "I only allowing follow since injury."
"I can be useful," Garrett said. He extended his hand to her. "I never actually introduced myself. I'm Garrett Bates."
She stared at his hand before extending one out. "Cerezie," she said bluntly, gently shaking his hand. "Come. Moved forward or other scouting finder us." She hurried to one of the entrances of the room and gestured for Garrett to follow. He nodded and the two of them kept moving on.
The next room they came across had significantly more scout drones flying around the room. By Garrett's estimate, there were at least 8 of them. "How quickly do those things alert each other?"
"Very quickened," Cerezie said, holding her rifle. Her eyes followed the drones and began to map out their patterns. "Us two not quickly to defeat before alerting more." Slowly, she started backing away.
"Wait, what if there were three of us?" Garrett asked, grabbing onto Cerezie's wrist.
"Mayhaps," Cerezie said, pausing in her tracks. "But where three person?"
"There." Garrett pointed to a corner of the room where a large metal robot stood. Unlike the other drones, this one was inactive and clearly of a different make. It was rusted in a few places, but looked operational. That was definitely Plex. "If we can get to that robot and activate it, then we might be able to defeat them all quickly enough."
Cerezie glared at Garrett fiercely. "You wanting work along sided machine? You must be of craze."
"Trust me," Garrett said, looking at her sincerely. "It can fight. It'll help us."
"If we are the soon dead, I leave behind you. I no go in, only you," Cerezie said, preparing her rifle.
"I understand," Garrett said, gripping his sword. His hands shook as he watched the pattern of the drone's movements. "These things, can they harm us?" He could feel sweat beginning to run down his neck. His shoulder ached from Cerezie's wound, but he had to muster through the pain. He took a deep breath and tried to steady his hand.
"No, scout only scout. But summoner of large attack robots," Cerezie explained, aiming down the scope of her rifle. "Be of quickness."
"Understood," Garrett said as he charged into the room, slashing his sword through the nearest scout drone. It was a lot tougher than any of the monsters he had previously fought, but he still managed to pierce the metal hide and bring it down. To his relief, a small blue orb came from the drone as it tumbled to the ground. He quickly picked up the Helioxene and rushed over to where the inactive Plex stood.
The other scout drones immediately drew their attention to the sudden invader. One of them burst apart as a bullet ripped through it. "Do not have delaying!" Cerezie shouted from the hallway to Garrett. She readied up another shot and fired, taking down another drone. The scouts began to sound a blaring alarm that echoed throughout the cavern. "You of not quickly! Now others soon arrival!" Cerezie took another shot, taking down another drone.
"I'm on it!" Garrett shouted as he approached Plex. Remembering how he awakened him last time, Garrett put his palm on the chest of the robot. "Awaken!"
The robotic body began to creak awake, turning its metal face to Garrett. "WHO... ARE YOU?" It spoke in a deep robotic tone. The green light, which was its eye, stared at Garrett, awaiting a response.