[ALL BODY SYSTEM ONLINE]

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[SELECTING NEURAL SYSTEM]

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[NEURAL SYSTEM AUTHENTICATING]

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[NEURAL SYSTEM ONLINE]

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[SELECTING NEURAL LOGGING SYSTEM]

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[NEURAL LOGGING SYSTEM OPERATIONAL]

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[AUDIO-VISUAL NEURAL LOG SELECTED]

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[BEGINNING AUDIO-VISUAL NEURAL LOG ENTRY]

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[AUDIO-VISUAL NEURAL LOG ENTRY #2]

*A video feed starts, Alexa can be seen sitting on the floor while packing some canned goods inside a plastic bag*

Akino: Woah, so this visual thing is working?

Alexa: Yeah, better than the text file you’ve made.

Akino: Hey! Don’t insult my typing! It’s hard to type using my mind, you know?

Alexa: HAHAHAHAHHA!

Akino: HEHEHEHEHE-HAHAHAHAHA!

*Both laugh for a while, and Akino faced directly to Alexa*

Akino: You-you should leave those here.

Alexa: Why? We can still eat stuff even we’re like… like something else…

Akino: I mean, if those machines are still there, your food would be wasted. They got guns, right?

Alexa: Yeah, good point. I’ll leave these here.

Akino: I can cook you some carbonara right after if there’s still a working stove in here.

Alexa: REALLY? Thank you, Aki!

*Alexa quickly approached Akino and hugged her*

Akino: Awwww~ You’re so sweet!

*Video indicates that Akino tried to reach Alexa’s forehead, but Alexa let go of her hug*

Alexa: Don’t kiss me, it’s disgusting.

Akino: Hey! Bad girl!

Alexa: No, bad girl! You know I don’t take kisses, I told you that.

Akino: Uggghh…

*Alexa placed her plastic bag of goods on the counter, and dashed towards Akino to hold her hand*

Akino: You ready?

Alexa: Heh, what choice do I have?

Akino: Hey, if this will solve anything, or at least give us even a grain of hint, we’ll do it. Got it?

Alexa: Yeah… Thanks for the pep talk.

Akino: Well, then. Let’s go.

*Video shows that Akino walked while holding hands with Alexa. Both headed to the hallway that has twelve elevators. The wall was full of mosses and lichen, and Akino approached the one at the middle of the hallway, used her hands to wipe the dirty wall and the writings ‘System Core Chamber’ appeared. Akino touched the single button on the right side of, a series of wires began coming out of her arm that connects to the metal pane of the button. The elevator lights up and opens on its own*

Alexa: Can’t you just do the same thing with the flesh monster hours ago? Like the metallic hair thingy? You turned it into a turret?

Akino: I don’t know, kid. Somethings blocking me off on that chamber.

Alexa: Welp, that’s inconvenient. REALLY inconvenient.

*Both entered the elevator, which is suspiciously clean compared to the rest of the surroundings. It has the standard shiny metal wall and gray floor interior, with the white ceiling lights and a CCTV on the top right corner, and another single button on the panel side located at the right side*

Alexa: Is that CCTV working?

Akino: Let me check.

*Akino reached the CCTV by extending her arms, the CCTV was a bit high so her arm literally extended in length, and she hold it for 3 seconds. After holding it, she faced towards Alexa and she did a thumbs down. Alexa then proceeded to press the button, the doors closed, and the elevators started to descend. Both were in silence, but it can be seen in the video feed that Alexa glances at Akino briefly*

Akino: You know what I first told the very first time we met?

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

*Alexa turns her face slowly towards Akino*

Alexa: What is it?

Akino: Its ‘talk to me, kid’. So, if something is bothering you, tell me.

Alexa: Fine, its about that thing I found in your laptop.

Akino: Woah woah woah, not now, kid. NOT NOW.

Alexa: Hey, I respect your tastes, okay? I mean, who am I to judge you?

Akino: Okay! I’ll admit it! I like girls instead of boys! You saw that ‘yuri’ tag on my browser, right?! Yeah, I admit it and I’m proud about it!

Alexa: Oh, I was - I was going to say about the pink bed that you ordered. The one with cute kitty design?

Akino: Goddamnit!

Alexa: Yeah, yeah. I already know about THE other one… naisu! People love and desire things that they lack. Like having thiccness~

Akino: STOP, okay? Just, forget about it.

Alexa: What should I forget? The kitty bed or the big—

Akino: Keep talking and I won’t cook your carbonara.

Alexa: Okay, okay mouth’s zipped.

*Alexa gesturally zipped her mouth. Akino then looked back to the doors of the elevator. Another silence enveloped the place. After three minutes, the elevator stopped, and its doors opened. The way out is a huge white corridor with full bright ceiling lights. The only odd thing was that the floor was covered in brown and red stains*

Alexa: It smells like shit.

Akino: Language!

Alexa: It smells like feces, and blood? Wait, it’s the same thing when I confronted that flesh ball, this same smell…

*Akino instinctively readies herself, her left arm turned into gatling gun and a mini-missile launcher appeared on her right shoulder*

Akino: Get ready kid, I think those machine things are here to greet us.

Alexa: I am always ready!

*Alexa’s skin turned scaly, and her whole body turned muscular, her claws became enlarged, and her hair was covered by kite-shaped plates*

Akino: Woah!

Alexa: Haha! You jelly?

Akino: Shut up! I can do that as well!

*Akino’s whole body, except her head, was suddenly covered in rectangular plates, more like the Kevlar armor. Both readied as they walked down the hallway. It can be seen that the white walls of the hallway suddenly leaks with blood-like fluids. Both of them stopped moving as more of the blood fluids came out of the walls. A metal clunk was heard from the leaking walls, and numerous humanoid figures covered in the red liquid comes out of it*

Akino: Stand back! Stay behind me!

Alexa: Hey! I can handle myself!

Akino: I’m not kidding anymore, Alex! Stay behind me!

*Alexa stays behind Akino. The figure matches the same looks as the one they saw on the last video log of Dr. Heilmach. An 8-feet tall metallic humanoid machine with the writings ‘MC-00’ on its right arm that carries an automatic rifle. But one thing is odd, the red liquid covering the machine moves as if it has its own mind, it enters the head structure of the machine and red plant-like roots started to cover its body. The same thing happened to the other eighteen figures, and all of them started producing ‘ringing’ sounds and then pointed their rifles towards Akino and Alexa, shooting both of them immediately. Alexa’s hair moved quickly and turned into a large shield-like structure, covering both of them*

Akino: What’s the use of our armor if you’re going to cover us with that weird flesh shield?

Alexa: Yeah, right…

*Alexa’s hair turned back, making the bullets the machines shoots hit them. The bullets were deflected by Akino’s and Alexa’s skin armor instead, and ricochets on the whole place*

Alexa: I AM BULLETPROOF!!!

*Alexa charges towards the machines, tearing them in half and smashing the others on the floor, breaking the flooring as she pounds them. Akino was shooting the others with her gatling arm and obliterating the smashed machines with her shoulder missile. A missile accidentally hit Alexa and exploded, but nothing happened. Instead, Alexa stopped hitting the machines and looks towards Akino with an angry face*

Alexa: Hey!

Akino: I didn’t know friendly fire was on, sorry.

Alexa: Can you just auto-aim them?

Akino: I am new to this body functions of mine, okay?

Alexa: Just charge them with a chainsaw hand or something. A huge wrecking-ball would be fine too.

Akino: And what? Break the whole place?

Alexa: Says the one who uses explosive missiles, aiming everywhere.

*The place was covered with the pieces of the machines, but the roots covering their parts started to move on its own, reconnecting to the other broken parts and rebuilding itself*

Alexa: Wait, they can do that?

Akino: Let’s get out of here, we’re going to waste time breaking these things.

*The two ran past the broken machines that slowly reconnects their broken parts while their bodies turned back to normal. After a minute of running, they reached a huge door that has the writings of ‘System Core Chamber’. Akino touched the button panel on the right side, and the huge door opened. The room was brightened with the white ceiling lights and it can be seen the several server machines across the huge room. However, the server machines were covered with the same red roots as the one on the machines they fought off*

Alexa: What the hell is this place?

Akino: It’s the server room. Let me close these doors.

*Akino touched the button panel inside the System core room, the huge door closed and Akino can see Alexa far away in the middle of the rows of the server machines*

Akino: HEY! Come back here!

Alexa: This must be it!

Akino: ‘It’ what?

Alexa: She said to head down here right? There’s a hole here, just a hole.

*Akino rans towards Alexa and saw the deep five-meter-wide hole. There is another control panel right beside the hole, and Akino accessed it*

Akino: Another elevator ride, huh.

Alexa: Let’s just jump in, what do you say?

Akino: Don’t you dare. Just follow my lead and—

*Alexa’s legs morphed into an elongated horse-like legs, and jumps immediately in the hole*

Akino: Goddamnit, kid!

*Akino proceeded to jump as well to follow Alexa. Her legs were covered in metallic plates and very thick spring can be seen protruding on her calves. It took three minutes of falling before she hits the bottom part of the hole, it was dark but she can she a single bright red dot, it was Alexa’s right eye*

Akino: You alright?

Alexa: Yup! Totally fine!

Akino: The hell you did?

Alexa: I jumped?

Akino: Can you see me?

Alexa: Yeah. Apparently, I got night vision. Cool, isn’t?

Akino: Yeah, I’ll activate mine.

*The video feed then turned into grayish sight as Akino activates her night vision. The whole place seems to be circular in shape, the walls looks covered with stains, the floor was flooded with a non-opaque liquid, and a huge floating sphere was on the center of the room*

Alexa: Soooo, that’s the core?

Akino: Yeah, it looks like this is the Alpha thing she was saying.

*Both approached the sphere, as they approach it, the visual of the sphere became clearer. A shiny floating metallic liquid seven meters wide that was suspended in air, so shiny that they can see their reflections on it. Akino tried to touch it, her got suck in as if she was touching water, but nothing happened. She pulled her hand out of the sphere, still not reaction*

Akino: She said we must integrate with it, right?

Alexa: Yeah, but what does she mean ‘integrate’? Like combine ourselves with it?

Akino: Hell if I know… You know what? This is just a waste of time, let’s leave this place.

*Akino and Alexa turned back and walks towards the hole where they dropped off. While walking, Akino saw something moving on the floor, making the video feed focus on the flooded floor*

Akino: Hey, kid. Say you don’t sense something in here, right?

Alexa: Uhmmm, yeah? What do you mean?

Akino: Something is in this flooded floor, and I can’t identify what is it.

*Akino glances towards Alexa, staring at the ceiling*

Alexa: Aki? I think that hole is gone…

Akino: WHAT?!

Alexa: Seriously, it was there! I know it was there!

*Alexa looks to the other direction, as well as Akino. But no holes can be found on the ceiling. Suddenly, an unknown force drags both of them towards the Core. Akino saw a tentacle coming out of the sphere, and it grabbed them both. She tried to cut it with her hand that has turned into a blade, but the blade just passes through the liquid tentacle. She glances to Alexa, and the liquid metal starts to enter her mouth*

Alexa: *muffled screaming*

Akino: God-fucking-damnit! Alexa! I’ll save you, kid! I’ll save—

*At that point, the liquid metal also entered Akino’s mouth. Alexa got dragged inside the sphere first, then Akino as well. Her vision started to be covered with the liquid, and muffled screaming can be heard*

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[ENDING AUDIO-VISUAL NEURAL LOG#2]