Zentroid's Gambol

"Time to go, guys!" Saitori secured her backpack. "We gotta-"

"General!" Cecilius pointed to the sky. "You gotta see this."

"We don't have time to... what the?"

The group spotted a few fighter jets attacking the enormous warships.

"US air force," Saitori said.

"Guess Forroway somehow convinced the politicians to fight back," Cecilius nodded. "Should buy us time."

"They won't last long though. Let's go, now."

"Why? Why?" Dr. Kullian knelt on the ground, screaming and shedding tears as the chimaeras blasted hellfire across the sky. "Evil dogs and a bloody demon were bad enough!"

"Okay, doc," Arius knelt next to Dr. Kullian. "Easy there."

"Ms. Cazeium," Cecilius held Dorian close as she sobbed.

"I… I don't understand, Cecilius," Dorian leaned her head on the glass as her hands continued to tremble. "Why is there so much violence in the world?"

"Look guys," Saitori stammered. "It won't help that we sob all day here! You want the stealth hounds to find us or that the chimaeras kill us all? Huh?"

"How did we miss this?" Magnus cried out. "We sent all our forces to the beaches, only to leave our backs completely exposed! Ugh! So stupid!"

Saitori grumbled as the droid battlecruisers spewed purple fire across the clouds.

"Okay, you nitwits," Saitori stomped to the group. "I know this is sad, alright? It won't help to keep on crying, you big babies!"

"Look, general," Cecilius hugged Dorian. "I think we need a brief moment here."

"A moment?" Saitori lifted her finger. "You hear that?"

The gang stopped to listen to the scampering and howling of the stealth hounds on the floor below.

"That's the sound of death coming for us," Saitori glared. "You all wanna just sit here and mope like kindergartners waiting for death to come?"

"General! Calm yourself!" Cecilius stood up. "These poor friends of ours have never experienced a Federation onslaught like you and I have!"

"Well, it's about time, these people man up! Isrina and I have seen our friends die left and right during the Niang Chronicles! Isrina and I had to keep on going to survive! This is life and death, president!"

"I understand that, general. We all do! But-"

"Oh yeah? You do? Like you had to carry baby Shien in a backpack while running away from the Reaper Squad? You had it easy, Cecilius!"

"Easy? It wasn't any more fun that the European leaders denied my pleas to support the Arabian Separatists. Some even tried to capture me, and I had to run for my life! So, of course, I understand survival! It wasn't easy for me either, general!"

"Really? Have you ever run about the streets covering yourself in hoods hoping that people don't recognize you?"

"Okay, I know that wasn't fun for you, but does that excuse you from being so hostile to our inexperienced friends here? And you should be grateful that I made your lives easier by getting President Forroway to send General Covinski to save us from hell! You're very welcome!"

The rest of the group blankly stared at the two arguing UICA members. The four didn't say a word as Saitori and Cecilius were two titans that released their frustrations at each other.

"Watch it, president!" Saitori spat out. "You have no idea what we've been through. I'd like to see you try to hide from a sphyraena hovertank with a whining baby Shien. We had to feed him cookies as we ran! Thank God Oreic and Rahim had street smarts to keep us safe compared to you dopes!"

"Well, with them along your side, you had the best protection compared to me!" Cecilius clenched his fist.

"Best protection? The best protection, you say?" Saitori snapped. "The Machine Queen was hunting us down! Every time we saw her, one of us died!"

"And who's fault was it for helping Amitonyx build SANDRA?"

Saitori slammed her foot on the ground with uncontrollable fury.

"Guys! Please, just please shut up!" Dorian wailed. "Why are we even arguing? Why is this world collapsing around us? My friends are stuck in a game, and here… we are fighting… each other. Let's just go to the helipad, please. We… we aren't making anything… b… better..."

Everyone was speechless as Dorian cried out waterfalls. Cecilius and Magnus hugged her while Arius helped Dr. Kullian up.

"How about," Magnus proposed, gesturing with his hands. "We just go to the helipad now, and talk about our worries along the way? Alright? Simple solution."

Saitori took a deep breath as Cecilius apologized to Dorian.

"Okay, Magnus," Saitori turned around coldly. "You heard the man. Let's go. But we need to pick up the pace."

The gang hurried across the empty hallway. Cecilius continued to walk beside Dorian, assuring her that there's hope. Meanwhile, Captain Arius and Magnus helped Dr. Kullian walk.

"Gen… General," Cecilius mumbled through the awkward silence. "I… I apologize…"

Saitori didn't answer.

"I know you have already done your best, through all our years together, to build for others' benefit instead of destruction. So, I am truly sorry."

No answer.

Cecilius then scratched his head for a moment.

"The Niang Chronicles weren't fun for either of us," He finally spoke. "And right now, we can't do much about those chimaera things, but all we can do is escape to regroup. Remember, there's hope. Thanks to Dorian, we now know how to free the players! Right? Keep your chins up!"

The group nodded as they walked through the flickering hall.

"Guys?" Dorian looked behind them. "Is it me, or are those lights turning off towards us?"

Everyone looked to see the flickering lights becoming pitch black toward their way.

"It's the devil! He will eat us alive!" Dr. Kullian shook through Arius and Magnus.

"Holy crap," Saitori spun around. "Everyone, run! Run, now!"

"What?" Magnus questioned as he ran with the group. "I thought the stealth hounds were still beneath us!"

"No, something far worse!"

"Huh? Tell us, general!"

"He's coming! We're all gonna die!" Dr. Kullian wailed hysterically.

"Okay, partner. Don't start with that jibber-jabber!" Arius groaned.

"Dolly's face became bloody! Baby rabbits melt blood! Get out of my head!"

"What godforsaken nonsense are you yapping about, doc?"

"Why are you all so scared?" Something spoke.

The gang was frozen with fear as they stared at the darkness slowly coming their way. Everyone felt the ominous chill through their bodies with skin hairs on their ends.

"All I wanted to do was play with you all! Hehehe," A pair of huge unblinking eyes appeared from the hallway's blackness.

Everyone's face turned white as the large eyes seemed to hypnotize them with their playful gaze.

"What… what is that?" Dorian felt her legs shake.

"Come… come on!" Saitori chattered her teeth. "We... gotta go! Don't let… let Zentroid scare you!"

"Wh... what?" Magnus sweated. "That… that thing… has a name?"

Dr. Kullian continued to scream as Arius struggled to make him walk.

"P… partner, I may… may have watched too many… horror movies," Arius shuddered. "But… but I think this… this is the part where we scram from the evil clown!"

The group ran across the hallway as the lights continued to blacken. It looked as if the eyes were coming closer at an exponential rate.

"You all aren't afraid of the dark, are you?" The voice giggled. "Ooo, hi, Lifen!"

"Gen… general?" Cecilius's hands trembled. "Did that… did that thing just call you by your first name?"

"Just ignore him!" Saitori shed a couple of tears.

"Don't leave me, Lifen!" The gang looked back to see a happy face a few feet away from them. "Please come and play with me! I haven't tasted your body yet!"

"No! It's gonna eat us!" Dr. Kullian squealed. "He will kill us all! Aaahhh!"

Suddenly, tentacles pierced Dr. Kullian through the chest before sucking him into the darkness from Arius' grip. The gang looked back to see a huge abdomen open wide to chomp on Kullian's body. As the group squealed before running away, Dorian stood still, covering her mouth. Her cold body felt paralyzed as she witnessed Kullian's death. The happy face became discomforting clusters of mouths and circles.

"D… Dorian!" Saitori wiped her tears as she grabbed Dorian's cold hands. "Go! Go! We... cannot lose you!"

"Don't be afraid! Come with me!" Zentroid spoke. "I know things no one else knows. Let's play a game. It's called, catch with your livers! Hehehehe!"

Magnus and Arius began firing at the rampaging darkness, both with their teeth tightly closed with dread. The shadow of a large pc screen with a huge abdomen stained with blood emerged. Tentacles flailed about the dark as the pc displayed a chuckling babyface. Everyone screamed as the baby's face melted with blood and deformed fangs.

"Oh, Lifen!" Zentroid laughed, bending his voice. "Did you know that babies taste the best? I still wished I could have tasted that baby Niang if it weren't for you. Just thinking about those tiny, tasty organs with the crunching of little bones makes me so wild! Hehehe!"

Zentroid swiped a clawed tentacle at the group. Arius deflected the claw with his fedora before throwing it at the pc screen. It made an angry face, recoiling back as Arius caught his trusty fedora. The group then heard a ghostly female voice singing from the darkness as they scampered away.

"And everyone's screaming when the lights go out," Zentroid's voice quieted with each word as the entire hallway turned pitch black.

"What the?" Arius sweated. "Where… where are the lights?"

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" Magnus almost dropped his pistol. "Where is he?"

"Is this… is this witchcraft?" Cecilius bumped into Saitori. "Ouch! What's going on?

"Just… just keep running!" Saitori exclaimed.

"General! What do we do?" Magnus squealed. "I hate this!"

"Um… Stay calm, everyone!"

"Wh… what's happening?" Dorian held Saitori's hand tightly as she cried. "I'm… I'm scared, Saitori!"

"Uh… I got you. I got you, Dorian," Saitori felt chills crawl over her skin as she hugged Dorian close. "What to do? What to do?"

Damn it! Saitori thought. I designed so many terrifying machines with Amitonyx, and now, Zentroid is here. All because of me. Everyone is now facing the price, even poor Dorian.

"How do we find the helipad, now?" Cecilius yelled from the dark.

Saitori continued to hold Dorian up close, unable to say a word.

"Flashlight? Anyone?" Cecilius continued to shout. "Let's be rational here!"

"Our phones don't work!" Magnus wept. "We're doomed!"

"Maybe," Arius felt his teeth chatter. "Our pistol lights?"

Magnus and Arius turned on their pistol's lights. As they scanned the dark hallway, they found no sign of Zentroid.

"Where… Did he go?" Magnus panicked.

"That's creepy…" Arius felt his pupils shrink with the lights.

"Face… face the light forward," Saitori shook her head in an attempt to put herself back together. "I need to see… how close we are."

The two did what she asked. The pistol lights revealed the next doors ahead of them across the ominously silent hall.

"There," Saitori pointed. "That's the next stairway."

"Bout darn time to get out of this crazy nightmare," Arius groaned.

"Wait, captain," Magnus said. "But… what if that thing comes back? This looks too easy."

"You're…. you're right," Saitori closed her eyes as tears of guilt trickled down. "We just… need to be careful. Zentroid enjoys jump scaring you in the dark. Worst of all-"

"Cecilius?" A voice echoes from the darkness. "President Cecilius?"

"Huh?" Cecilius recognized the voice.

"Wait a minute, partner," Arius shuddered. "Is that?"

"Isrina?" Magnus gulped.

"Dr. Niang!" Cecilius yelled. "Is that you?"

"Yes!" The voice sounded. "Where are you? What's going on? Why is it so dark here?"

"If that thing is on the loose," Cecilius worried. "I'm afraid our Desert Cardinal is in grave danger!"

"Cecilius, I'm afraid. Where do I go?"

"Don't worry!" Cecilius yelled. "I'm coming for you!"

"Please come! There's a creepy robot trying to kill me! I just want to see my little chickadee again!"

"It's going to be okay, Dr. Niang!" The UICA president ran back without thinking.

Isrina could be heard crying far away.

"I wish Jinhai was here! Waahhh!"

"No, no, no! Not this trick!" Saitori tried to catch Cecilius. "President! That's not Isrina!"

Cecilius paid no attention as he ran towards the voice. Saitori stopped the others from following.

Zentroid did this trick to Isrina, pretending to be Jinhai! Saitori clenched her fist. Things can't be worse! What to do? I can't let Cecilius fall for this! But Dorian… This is my fault, this is my fault… Ugh, goddammit! I will have to face my freak design before anyone gets hurt by my errors.

"Captain Arius, take Dorian up to the helipad, now!" Saitori finally shouted. "If we lose her, we lose the players!"

"But Isrina-" Arius said.

"I said that's not Isrina!" Saitori stomped her foot. "Get Dorian out, now! Now! That's an order!"

Arius frantically nodded as he led the tearful Dorian out the stairs.

"Magnus," Saitori instructed. "Come with me!"

"Okay? Okay? What's happening?" Magnus questioned.

***

"Cecilius? I can hear something coming," Isrina's voice said.

"I am right here!" Cecilius spotted Isrina.

"Help me! I'm afraid!"

Isrina could be seen wailing on the ground. Cecilius ran towards her.

"I got you! Stay calm, Dr. Niang! We got to-"

Cecilius bumped into something. Confused, he reached out to touch a solid image with Isrina inside. He gulped as he felt the image move.

"Where are you, President?" Saitori and Magnus could be heard across the hall.

Cecilius paid no attention as he noticed Isrina stand up and look at him. She wasn't crying anymore. Cecilius flinched as he saw Isrina in front of him, who was giving off an unsettling grin as her eyes looked in different directions. He screamed as Isrina's figure blinked into a dark silhouette with enlarged red eyes.

"President!" Magnus' light shone on Cecilius. "There you ar-"

The three stared at the pc image of a shadowy Isrina, which made a high-pitched giggle before a tentacle slashed diagonally across Cecilius' body.

"Ack! Oh god!" Cecilius fell.

"No! Cecilius!" Saitori caught him as Magnus fired at the pc screen.

Saitori blocked another bladed tentacle as she dragged a screaming Cecilius on the floor. When Magnus stopped firing to help, Zentroid's pc screen levitated in the dark as the shadow of his abdomen and tentacles could be seen. The three shrieked at the sight of fake Isrina spewing disgusting circles and mouths around her body as Zentroid's abdomen drooled.

"Tricked you! Tricked you! Tricked you!" Zentroid kept on saying playfully.

"President! Hang in there!" Saitori shouted, taking Cecilius' blade.

Cecilius groaned in pain as Magnus and Saitori struggled to carry him. Zentroid was chasing them at an exponential rate with his tentacles thrashing about the darkness. Magnus shivered as he saw Zentroid's screen portray a large chomping mouth with scattering veins.

"I can imagine your bodily fluids wriggling inside my mouth!" The monstrous droid spoke with a clown's voice. "This game is so much fun!"

Magnus panicked when Zentroid launched his tentacles at them. Saitori fended off the tentacles to protect him. She looked at Cecilius. He coughed out blood as his body was bleeding from the diagonal slice. Magnus took off his gray camouflage jacket, covering up the nasty wound the best he could.

Cecilius is dying because of me, Saitori took a deep breath. I never wanted to see Zentroid ever again, but I must stop him here and now, and I am the only one who knows how Zentroid works. I've made too many mistakes. This is the least I can do to make it right.

"Go on ahead!" Saitori shouted to Magnus, tossing him Cecilius' blade and the backpack.

"But general," Magnus sweated with confusion as he caught the items.

"The helipad is just up ahead! Get the president to safety!" Saitori frantically instructed. "This is my fight!"

"What do you-"

"Don't question your general!"

"Uh! Yes, general!"

Magnus obeyed as he carried the moaning Cecilius.

"Hhhiii, Lifen!" Zentroid displayed a skeletal grin. "You remember me? Hehehe!"

"Great, you're disgusting as always," Saitori gagged. "I hate to accept this, but I knew I would have to face you again, Zentroid Crucifyzoa!"

Saitori took out her sidearm and faced its light at Zentroid, who flinched in response.

"Hehehe, when was the last time we faced each other like this?" Zentroid laughed as Saitori fired at the droid. "Remember that train we were on with all those tasty people? Their screams were so enjoyable! Weee!"

"How could I have forgotten, you freakazoid?" Saitori clenched her teeth in response as she charged at Zentroid. "I may have designed you, but I can destroy you too! You forget, Zentroid. I still remember your tricks!"

"Really? Ooo, what fun! What fun!" Zentroid prepared his tentacles with the veined chomping mouth on his screen. "I remember yours too, Saitori! You really shouldn't have left us. Hehehe! I can't wait to lick off your organs!"

"Bring it! It all ends here!"