Once we had everything planned out, it was only a matter of getting to the beds so that we could heal up. After that's done, if our calculations are correct, Energy's brain will have grown a fully golden body. Essentially, he'll be an invincible war machine so long as he's inside the Shrine's confines, and although I dislike giving my malefactor such a strong power up, it should be noted that he'll become the most disadvantaged person in Heaven 2.0 the moment he exits the Shrine's barrier.
"I can't wait for my new body." He sounded eager, "I don't know if you've noticed, but your hands are extremely sweaty."
"You sure you're not just slimy?" I bashfully checked my palm.
"I'm a brain made of pure gold, and I can sense stuff from a mile away." He retorted, "So of course I can tell the difference."
...In other news, he can either choose to remain inside the Shrine indefinitely to maintain his invincibility or step out and risk getting killed. I was about to feel bad for the bastard, but thankfully he made not doing so a bit easier with that comment just now. I couldn't care less whichever one he chose, 'cause I'm sure he'll be suffering either way.
"Coast is clear. Nothing's there for the rest of the hallway." He scanned, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we close to the staircase leading down to the fourth floor?"
"Yeah, it's right there. I can see it from here, even." I smiled, a mischievous idea brewing in my head, "Say, gramps, you remember the deal we made, don't you?"
"Hm?"
"Don't play dumb, we both know what that staircase has in store for you."
The grin on my face was so wide, the corners of my lips almost touched my ears. I stopped at the top of the stairs, waiting for him to react.
"Migu..." He let out a nervous chuckle, "Let's talk about this."
"Nope! Rules are rules, get down there!" I chucked the damned brain right down the spiral staircase, "Bon voyage~!"
"Wahhhh!!!"
We did agree that I'd be pushing him down every flight of stairs we saw, whether we're going up or down. Alas, the White parts of his body are all gone, so he won't be feeling any pain from this, but I'm sure just getting him dizzy will suffice. Argh, but if his body does indeed grow back fully golden, then he won't feel anything at all, and it won't be fun! Vastoria, sorry, but I kinda suck at avenging you.
"Hm." I took an awkward breath, "You didn't roll as far as I had hoped. Only a few steps."
"No shit! A brain isn't circular in any way, so why would I!?" He shot back before groaning angrily, "Okay, now that you got that out of your system, let's not waste any more time. Come on, pick me up and carry me to the bottom already."
"..."
"...Migu."
"Yeah, but what if I just..." I gently put the tip of my boot in front of him.
"Migu, don't you dare."
Hup! Gooooooaaaal~! Haha, kicking this bastard's brain in is definitely hitting the spot! It still doesn't hurt him physically, but it gives me some solace at least. Besides, at the end of the day, it's fun as hell to kick him with all my might down the stairs. Thankfully, due to the staircase's spiral design, I can even get a dozen or so kicks in before we reach the bottom.
"Uwahh..." He cried out, "Are we there yet...?"
"Huh? Aww..." I slumped forward once I saw the warm light from the room in front of us, "Yeah, lucky you."
"I'm gonna tear you limb from limb once I get my body back." He threatened.
"Nope, can't do that. You promised I could get away with this because you're making up for killing Vastoria." I reminded him, "By the way, we're gonna be doing this again on the way up, so prepare yourself."
"Tch, it's not even my fault. How could I have known?"
"Maybe so, but I don't care." I kicked him into the room one last time, "Alright, should I try and kick you into your bed? H-Huh...?!"
The room, Yellow and nostalgic on one corner and bleak and unapproachable on the other, lacked the beds associated with it. Darting my gaze around in the hopes of them just being misplaced for some reason proved to be a fruitless endeavor as well. Something's off...
"What's wrong? Migu, I can't see, so tell me." Energy's brain reacted to my shock, "Toss me on the bed, we can't regenerate if we don't fall asleep on them."
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"Energy..." I gulped, hastily picking him up, "The beds are gone."
"The beds... What?" His voice cracked slightly, "Migu, now's not the time for jokes! Come on, plop me down already and-!"
"I don't have anywhere to plop you down, dammit! Are you even listening to me!?" I lashed out, "The beds are gone! Not here at all! We can't...!"
We can't regenerate. Ignoring my own body, which has some notable bruises but is still somewhat capable of limping about, Energy will remain a brain unless we find a way to get the beds back. As for Sheep, he's even worse off than me, essentially having become an invalid with wings. After what Energy did to him on the surface, I wouldn't be surprised if his legs don't work at all. Wait, no... This isn't how this was supposed to go, dammit! We were supposed to be in Heaven! A land where all our wildest dreams were fulfilled, so why did it turn out like this!?
----------------------------------------
***
----------------------------------------
"Migu, what do we do?" He asked me.
"How the hell should I know?" I sat there against the wall, hugging my knees, "This was our only chance. The moment we go back upstairs, we'll get swarmed by those damned bat roaches."
"We might yet be able to evade them before they repopulate." He reasoned before shutting that very same idea down himself, "But we can't. The issue needs to be resolved, and there's no one else who can do it but us."
Is that really the case though? Who cares if we don't eradicate the bat roaches? Sure they'll eventually flood the third floor, but then they'll move on to the fourth and second. Then it'll take a bit more time to flood the first, and finally the Shrine will become to cramped for them. Come to think of it, there's no way they won't eventually suffocate amongst the crowd. Honestly speaking, as far as bugs go, the lack of food would make them cannibalize anyways.
"Our priority should be to leave the Shrine for now." I steeled my resolve.
"No, we can't let these things out onto the surface!" He strongly protested.
"Energy, we don't have the luxury to choose!"
"But we do!" He went off, "Don't you get it, we killed off all but a few of them! If we just jump back in and finish the job, we'll have saved the entirety of Heaven 2.0 from...!"
"From what!?"
"...From the same fate my era was plunged into." He quietly replied.
Oh my Gods, what are we gonna do...!? I can't take on an entire colony of those things all by myself! Even Energy's entire usefulness as a brain radar that would detect any incoming attacks in the distance will have lost its purpose completely because we'll already be surrounded by them! If only there was some way to kill them remotely...
"I got it!" Energy's voice got energetic all of a sudden, "Let's kill ourselves!"
"We're not gonna do that, dammit!"
"But it might return me to my body! And your thigh too, you won't have to limp anymore!"
"I was pretty banged up after your surprise betrayal on the surface, so I'd still be a limping mess anyways." I revealed, "On the other hand, we cleared the third floor, and we don't know what that means for us if we die here and now."
"Why would it be any different?"
"Because..." I recalled, "Throne and Vastoria died on the surface layer."
"..."
If we were to die because of the Shrine, then that would be a different story, but I just can't see myself willfully giving up my life under the guise of it being merely an attempt. There are too many unknown variables at play here, and even the beds' disappearance is making me second guess everything from here on out. We need a plan, and one we can both agree on.
"Let's first list off all of our ideas." I suggested, "We'll work out the answer easier if we have everything out in front of us."
"Then, it'd be best to recount the situation first." He added, "Our issues are thus—I am just a brain, and you have very little battle experience."
"I have only a Flasher and a rapier to my name." I sighed.
"Going back to loot my body could help resolve that a bit." He noted, "But that all depends on your skill with the weapons I had on me."
"I'm even worse with those weird ass items. Sigh, what else? Oh, the beds are gone for some inexplicable reason and so we can't repair our bodies."
"The bat roaches will attack us the moment we go back up to the third floor, so we should maybe find a different way up." He then asked, "The beds wouldn't just disappear by themselves. Someone must've stolen them."
Heh, stolen two entire beds? In such a deep down place as this? There's no way such a heist would ever even be feasible, much less possible. I guess since the number of beds reflect how many people are in the room at the same time, you could argue the bandit only stole his own one bed, but that's still pretty impossible to carry out on your own.
"How would they even do that?" I rolled my Eyes.
"Check for a tunnel in the room somewhere." He sounded confident.
A tunnel... Wait, is he saying there really is a secret entrance to this room?! We theorized about its existence before, but now that I take a look at the situation, it seems like the only plausible explanation for the beds disappearing!
"Right, instead of having to go through the entire Shrine, and then drag the bed back up..." I felt a smile make its way over to my face, "They could just have a separate, straight and safe shot to the fourth floor immediately! It'd be genius!"
"But, is that the case?" He asked.
I paused, realizing we might just be completely wrong about our theory. Running about the room, touching quite literally every surface I could reach, I eventually came up with nothing. No secret door, no lever to reveal a passageway, no hollow walls to break through. It was all just so sturdy and perfect.
"So?" The brain inquired after I sat down beside him.
"Zilch." I went back to sulking, "Guess we were wrong."
"Then at least we know we're not dealing with more adversaries." He tried to cheer me up, "Migu, let's not let these setbacks overpower us. We're better than this."
"Gramps, you're really weird when you're positive." I gently rubbed the wrinkly surface of the frontal lobe, "I don't dislike it."
"I'll take that as a compliment and move on." He chuckled, "Then, we really have no other choice but to prioritize making it out of the third floor and into the second."
The second floor. In other words, the trap infested crystal caverns... Wait, traps?
"That's it!" I sprung to my feet, kicking him up into my embrace.
"Wah, w-what are you doing!?" He fussed in my arms.
"The second floor, of course!" I smiled, "We can eradicate all of them without even entering the base they're coming out of. And all it's gonna take are some explosive traps!"