Novels2Search
Endless Excursion [Digimon-Inspired Progression Fantasy]
EE28 - The Flux And Stasis Research Facility

EE28 - The Flux And Stasis Research Facility

BumBum buzzed in the affirmative. Brand was astounded. The large cyborg bee might really be able to lead them to Databeast eggs. This whole excursion was getting weirder and weirder.

“Will you lead us to them?” asked Tommen excitedly. He was practically frothing at the mouth at the prospect of getting a Databeast of his own.

BumBum buzzed a maybe again.

“What does that mean?” asked Tommen to Brand. At some point Brand had become the official BumBum whisperer.

“I don’t know…” Brand said. “Will you lead us there now?” he asked the bee.

BumBum buzzed in the negative.

“When will you lead us to them?” said Brand. BumBum just did his little bum-shaking dance again, the same one he’d been doing when they had met the Databeast earlier. “Are you taking us somewhere else first? And then you’ll take us to the Databeast eggs?”

BumBum buzzed in the affirmative.

“Woah” said Rosie.

“Do you mind, Ravena?” asked Brand. “I don’t want to derail your entire excursion.”

“Of course not. If it really can find Databeast eggs for you guys then we should follow it. Besides, this interaction is extremely interesting,” she replied.

“Well lead the way, BumBum!” said Tommen, full of vigour.

“Don’t get too caught up. If it can speak, it can lie. It might just be trying to convince us to do something for it”, Ravena warned.

BumBum buzzed in the negative.

“We’ll follow you little Databeast,” said Ravena, “but we’ll move slowly, and you keep telling us where the Databeasts are.” BumBum flew in an excited circle around them.

And that was how they progressed, occasionally spotting ruins. BumBum was leading them up and down through densely wooded forest, though even the bee Databeast seemed to be hindered by it. It had changed from giving them plenty of time to prepare, to warning them of attacks just briefly before a Databeast came sprinting out of the woods, or ambushed them from the undergrowth. They were getting a lot of EXP though, and Rosie and Brand had levelled up in no time. They took a break then to celebrate, before setting off again. The cairns they were passing got smaller and smaller as they travelled on. The road was nonexistent.

“Where do you think we’re going?” asked Rosie.

“We’re heading sort of in-line with QBEA,” said Ravena, checking the mini-map. “Soon we’re going to go out of the range of this thing. It doesn’t map this far. There is a little road leading this way though. It was either old even by that time, or it was simply rarely used. I’m starting to think we’re being led somewhere very interesting.”

They continued following the Databeast until it reached a clearing with a large mound of grass covered mud sticking up out of the ground, around the height and circumference of a large house, with a large metal pole sticking out of the top. It had a large round pure white cylinder at its peak. BumBum landed onto the mound and crawled into a small opening present on the mound, just about the perfect size for the Databeast. Then it flew back out and landed near the front of the mound, where it shook its bum again.

“Oh wow,” said Ravena. “That’s an energy gathering array. It takes ambient electromagnetic energy and channels it into the ground. It’s basically free energy. There’s only a couple in QBEA. It must be leading into a building of some kind… One that was intentionally covered in dirt?”

“BZZ.” BumBum buzzed affirmatively.

“Okay. So you’re hiding something in there.

“BZZ-bzz” BumBum buzzed a maybe.

“Do you want us to go in?” Brand asked the Databeast.

BumBum buzzed affirmatively.

The party looked around a little bit before Brand asked another question. “How..?”

The bee Databeast walked up to the large muddy mound and sunk its robotic back legs into the mud. A whirring started up and suddenly the bee was sending mud flying, backing up as it did so. It moved in seconds what it would have taken Brand a minute with a shovel to do. The party stepped back as dirt and grass clumps flew all around them.

Within no time at all, BumBum had built a human sized entrance into the mound that revealed a hard steel door, with the numbers 031 printed in blue.

“Guess that’s how,” said Tommen.

“BumBum… did you build this mound around the building?” asked Brand.

“BZZ!” BumBum buzzed proudly.

“Is this a hive? Are there going to be more of you in there?” asked Rosie curiously, peering about.

“Bzz,” BumBum replied.

“Guess not then. Shame, we could have used a whole bunch of you,” laughed Tommen.

“Is it dangerous in there?” Ravena asked.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“BZZ.” Came the reply from BumBum. Yes.

“Can we handle it?” Brand pondered.

BumBum turned its head to the side as he looked them up and down with its big eyes. “BZZ-bzz. BZZ.” Maybe. Yes.

“If we don’t, is there an easy way out?” He followed up.

“Bzz.”

“But you still want us to go in.”

“BZZ.”

“We might die in there,” said Brand.

“BZZ,” BumBum replied.

“Well I’m ready if you guys are,” said Tommen, hefting his staff.

“Professor Dalton would kill me if I didn’t go in there, so I’m risking death either way,” laughed Ravena.

“We’re not going to die. But if we were, it’s nice to do it close to home,” said Rosie, thinking of her mother.

“I’ll lead the way then,” said Brand. He knew excursions could flip from calm to highly dangerous in a heartbeat, and he was leery of that happening to them here. Especially after being brought to a strange building by an even stranger Databeast.

Brand walked up to the door, twisted the handle and pushed. It took some heft as the door was solid and heavy but when it did open it opened smoothly. It was either very well made or someone was taking care of it.

Lights flickered on as the door opened. A pale blue glow spread throughout the room they were in. It looked like a reception room. There was a large desk in the middle with some sort of terminal on it, though as Brand approached it he noticed the desk was in a state of serious decay. He touched a corner lightly and it crumbled through.

Not so well maintained, then.

The rest of the room was populated by a few sparse chairs and lamps. There were some windows, but all he could see from here was the dark brown of the mud packed tightly against it.

The rest of the party followed him into the room.

“Well this looks civilised,” said Rosie.

“Very well preserved,” Ravena added. “Stasis & Flux Research Unit? I’ve never heard of this. Just where are you taking us, little bee?”

She directed the question towards the Databeast that had followed them into the room. It walked its way over to the only doorway, glass double doors leading both up and down. It planted itself before them and gave a “BZZ” before heading through the double doors and up the stairway.

“I don’t suppose this terminal still works,” said Ravena, pushing a few buttons on it. She poked around a bit, trying to turn it on to no avail. BumBum made its way back downstairs and buzzed at them, before turning back around and heading up the way it came.

“Guess not,” laughed Tommen.

“Did the Databeast just sass you?” Rosie joined in.

“Would you believe, this isn’t the first time…” grumbled Ravena as the party made it through the double doors. There were two different directions, one stairwell leading up and one leading down. The stairs were a hard, shiny metal. Red light hummed over both directions ominously. The clacking of BumBum’s cyborg legs against the metal stairs as it climbed convinced Brand which direction he ought to be heading in.

He hesitated a little, moving slowly on the first few stairs after seeing the state the table with the terminal had been in, but the stairs themselves were pristine. They held his weight perfectly fine, so his confidence in the building had grown a lot by the time he’d reached the top. Here there was another set of double doors, but these had no windows. They were solid metal, with a thick bar laid across them. It’d be easy to lift the bar off, but Brand had a feeling it was sealed for a reason. BumBum stood by expectantly. Brand walked up to the metal double doors and placed his hand on them.

He could almost feel an ominous presence. There was something dangerous on the other side. He wasn’t sure if he was imagining things due to BumBum, but he felt he could feel it through the energy of the door. One thing was certain though, he wasn’t going in there unready.

“Flux,” said Ravena, reading the sign.

“I think the danger BumBum warned about is on the other side of this door,” said Brand to the others.

“BZZ” BumBum agreed.

“I’ll take the front. Tommen will take the side and intercept and control. Rosie, stay behind me until it's your time to shine. Ravena, take whatever shots you can get. I’ve got a feeling this thing won’t be as friendly as BumBum,” said Brand, taking one side of the metal bar as Tommen took the other. Together they lifted it and set it aside. “Ready?” he asked. The others nodded.

Brand pushed the doors open with his buckler, sending the energy from his element stone flowing into it and reinforcing it as best he could.

The doors opened out into a very large room full of scientific looking equipment all around the walls. There was a large central structure of terminals with a pole running through it, the very same one they’d seen from outside. And in front of the pole there was a huddled mass that was now rising on its hooved legs to display its full form. Its face was as that of a horse grimacing, lips pulled back permanently to present a terrifying visage with glowing red eyes and bone stretching at its skin. Its two, bipedal legs were that of a horse also but they led into a well muscled human looking torso, which continued down into its arms. The similarities stopped at the elbow however, as wicked, thick blades sprouted down from the upper arm. Blades that could easily decapitate a person, judging by their size and sharpness.

Brand froze as the horrifying Databeast rose to its full height of nine feet. Its glowing red eyes fixed on him and it started sprinting. Fast.

“Get back!” he yelled, backpedalling out of the door. It had barely been a few seconds but somehow the Databeast had accelerated unbelievably fast and was barrelling towards him at a breakneck speed.

“Tommen, I’ll need you!” he called as he raised his shield and sword. He felt his energy flowing into the shield, reinforcing and reinforcing it.

Tommen had readied himself but he was still unprepared when the living blade burst through the double doors a moment later, smashing them swinging into the walls with a clang in pursuit of Brand.

One dreadful arm stabbed towards Brand’s middle, which he deflected with his buckle. The second arm was alright scything across towards his head. His sword was raised to stop it, but it wasn’t needed. Tommen had acted true to Brand’s orders and had managed to intercept it with his staff, striking the Databeast in the upper arm. Brand used the opportunity and his already raised sword to stab it in its gaunt, humanlike chest.

It roared but its assault was undeterred as it pushed Brand backwards with stabs and slashes like a mad, wild beast. He did everything he could to keep it at bay, and Tommen was instrumental in that, but he was being pushed back against the railing beside the stairs. They were all exchanging wild blows.

“I can’t help!” called Rosie. BumBum was buzzing loudly. It was pure chaos, but Brand’s mind realised the issue. With the creature in the doorway and Brand pushed back as far as he could go, only he and Tommen could get involved, and it was beating them. He needed to get it into the room so that Ravena and Rosie could get involved with the Databeast and they could hit it from all angles.

“I’ll push it back! Get in the room when I do!” Brand called.

“He hunkered down behind his buckler and rushed the Databeast, wildly fending off attacks and getting far too close for comfort. Tommen was assisting any way he could, likely saving Brand’s life several times as Brand recklessly charged forward. His brazen charge managed to send the creature back into the room, and he managed to hold off the wicked blades that arced devilishly towards him, but as he was so focussed on the bladed arms that Brand put up no defence as the horrifying face bit down into his shoulder, horse teeth like tombstones breaking through his flesh. He screamed in pain.