You And Me And Mr Skullface Makes 3 (Kouhei+Maia, H Sp Hunt]

Elliot paled slightly. Oh, crapbaskets. She knew? And she was smiling? Elliot's butt was so kicked, wasn't it? The boy nervously stammered as he tried to come up with a proper answer, hoping he'd find something that didn't result in his head and body quickly finding themselves separated. "We were talking about how awkwardly we found the Digital World," he explained, still fumbling for the best way to word it. "She seemed kinda shy about hers, and our meeting was so silly, so I figured it'd break the ice a bit. Figured saying, well, that would help make it even more silly and tension break-y. Also Isaac's just so fun to tease. I swear, even saying your name gets him grinning."

Too much information, not enough apologizing! "I shouldn't have said that though. I'm really sorry, Maia," he finished, head still lowered in sorrow. It was perfectly fine in the moment, but replaying it in his mind made it sound a lot more harmful than he intended it to be. He shook a little at Maia's hand on his shoulder, but quickly eased himself. He was jumpy enough in this isolation chamber enough without physical contact being on the table. Even with it being a friend as close as Maia, it took a bit for Elliot to convince himself he wasn't about to be throttled out of nowhere.

"Please don't be sorry. This is all my dumb fault anyway," he grumbled, wondering how this day got so cruddy. "I wish Isaac was here. He'd know what to do. And I wish I could help you." He was simultaneously the most useless and most useful person around in this situation, and he hated it.

Thankfully, there was something to distract them. Buttons! The boy joined the others at the console, giving it a closer look. Thankfully, the red light illuminating the room was brighter than the distinct lack of light there was before, and more buttons were visible alongside the console. A large qwerty keyboard extended across the base of the console, most of the keys faded and stuck from years of neglect. There was an input jack for some sort of device, likely a microphone, but the actual device looked to be long gone. The same three major emergency buttons from earlier were still primed and ready for a press, the lockdown button Kuu pressed earlier changed from bright red to dull brown to indicate it was already activated. Finally, there seemed to be a row of arrow buttons, two upward and two downward. The first upward button was already pushed inward and glowing, with the others remaining de-pushed. Once more, tattered labels seemed to be next to each button.

^^ _ _ L D || S T _ _ A _ E

^ _ E C _ R _ _ Y || & || _ A _ N T _ _ A _ C _

v _ _ S T || C _ A M B _ _

vv OUBLIETTE

That last one didn't seem very friendly at all. It was clear nobody went there too often, judging by how pristine its label was.

~~~~

This "thing" wasn't a very fun adjective for the Gizumon. It bristled in irritation at Kouhei, letting out a few profanity-like beeps at the boy. That was the thanks it got for bailing these two out? Still, it didn't very much like seeing people get mulched in the test chambers. It'd stick around for these two, if only because maybe it would teach them some gratitude, but it was starting to miss the less gruff half of the quartet. It shined its eye light on the conveyer belts, absentmindedly tracing the cracks caused by repeated smashes of the ceiling traps. That could be these humans, if they weren't careful!

Isaac didn't take Kouhei's hand, instead helping himself up. "Don't worry about it," he said, halfheartedly covering his tracks for any potential rudeness. He still didn't trust this creepy, trigger-happy stranger, but for the time being they were stuck together so it was either get along or get out. With that rubble-crushed hallway behind them, get out just wasn't an option. "Think we're any closer to them, or is it gonna be a maze on our hands?" It seemed increasingly likely that this answer was gonna be maze. Why did Isaac have to put up with life's bullcrap so often? He swore, after he got done with this day he was just going to go home and pass out.

"I think I can handle it. You?" Isaac asked, making sure everything was okay. After all, for all intents and purpose Kouhei was just a normal human for the time being. Unless, of course, he had other tricks up his sleeve. "Got any other Digimon forms?"

"You think he'd be up here?" Elliot stammered. The poor boy's voice was a wreck, between the shivering from the cold and the shivering from his fears, and it likely took Maia a good three or four repetitions of the same phrase for her to adequately hear him. At this point he was doing an atrocious job of saving face and looking strong, but what would be expected of the kid? He was fairly sure at least one of those Troopmon was directly staring him down, reaching out for him slightly. It was most likely a trick of the eye, but it made the boy as eager to get out of this room as possible. He immediately found himself running for the first room Maia suggested, not wanting to stick around in cold storage for any bit longer than he had to.

There was good news and bad news. The good news was that the spirit was right there. Elliot's eyes widened in shock and joy, a huge smile spreading across his face as he ran to obtain it. The bad news was that he promptly found himself smashing right into another layer of the strange, ice-like gel, sending the boy falling right on his butt. Whatever this strange substance was, the spirit was completely separated from the group by a thick wall of it. Elliot tried taking handfuls out, as if trying to destabilize the wall, but it seemed to slip and slide around his fingers and reform back into a perfect cube. Beyond the spirit, the radiant light emanating from it, and the wall of liquid ice, there was really nothing else in the room. Surely there had to be some way of getting past or destroying the wall, right?

With no leads for the time being, Elliot went to the corridor that Kuu indicated. It didn't take long for the action to intensify, however, as a projectile suddenly came hurtling at the Veemon. Making sure it wouldn't impact any of his friends, Elliot leaped up to take it head on. "Hold Fast!" he shouted, smashing the attack with his fist to cancel out it's momentum. It hurt like heck, but it allowed the weapon to clatter harmlessly at his feet. As it landed it didn't make a metallic smash like he had imagined, but instead a strange, fruity thunk.

It was an orange.

Elliot held it up, quizzically, only to start hearing it beep. The boy threw it away in a panic, only to see it explode into pulp and shrapnel against a wall. As the vaguely orange-tinted smoke began to thin out, he saw a strange figure standing in the hallway. It was about equal to Elliot in height, but perfectly round like a ball. While a few black, armored patches stuck out of it's body, most of its body was covered in thick, rindlike orange peel. Its red shades were cracked, and it looked incredibly pissed. An accusatory finger was flung at Elliot, the strange creature practically quivering in its anger.

"You! You'd better explain what the hell's going on here. I am not going through life stuck like this!"

~~~~

Gizumon couldn't say it expected this turn of events. The strange Digimon that weren't Digimon were currently jettisoning down the conveyor belt hallway, the pawn in the front steering and the imp in the back providing extra bursts of speed. Their method was as clumsy and inelegant as they were, but it had to admit they were getting some results out of it. The shield went bouncing back and forth constantly, either through sudden shifts in belt direction or the earth-quaking smashes of the stampers. Occasionally the imp had to frantically swim through the air to spin the shield back into its proper facing. At one point a stamper nearly came down on their heads, and the imp had to push the shield away, then teleport further up the line to catch onto it. They even used a stamper that had fallen onto the track as a ramp! What were these humans thinking?

Still, they made it to the other side, landing on the cold, steel floors in a skid of sparks. Isaac landed as well, dazed and confused from all of the energy he put into their little stunt. After flopping onto the floor, he gently pumped a fist into the air in victory. It might take a bit for the dizziness to wear off, especially with the fear gas heightening the adrenaline of the trip somewhat.

The next rooms of the labyrinth were both shrouded in darkness, but an approach would make each of their identities more clear. To the left, the telltale sound of spikes sheathing and unsheathing. While the room would be strangely plain and empty, a single spike pit, jammed wide open, belied the fact that one wrong step could spell the duo's doom. Who knew if it was even limited to spikes? To the right appeared to be a giant ramp, gentle at first but sloping more upwards with each successive footstep. The end of the room, leading to another door, looked to be completely vertical! Unlike the other room, which was vibrant with noise, this room was almost eerily silent. Frankly, Isaac didn't feel safe around either object. But he couldn't just lie here on the floor all day, could he?

"Yeah, I was a regular fruit smoothie until the furnace went on the fritz," the once and former BomberNanimon explained. "It was in the break room across the hall from here, where that puddle is. Supposed to keep the gearheads warm while they ran all their tests. Must've gotten busted or something, because suddenly WOOSH! It's like a damn sauna in there. Still, enough to bail me out, at least. I'd be careful getting close to it, 'cause it's spewing flames like there's no tomorrow. Got the hell out of there and been trying to find the way out since."

Judging by how torn up the room behind the Citrusmon was, he wasn't having much success. Orange peels and scorch marks littered the place. There was a grate slightly knocked aside, seemingly leading to more maintenance tunnels, but it was a little too flat of a fit for the bulbous orange Digimon. Perhaps Elliot and Maia would be skinny enough to squeeze through it, but who knows? If it didn't work, it could prove very dangerous. Beyond that, the room was quite featureless. It seemed to be a holding cell or storage closet of some sort, and unless Elliot and Maia had interest in rooting through boxes there didn't seem to be much else of import.

"Is it a big furnace?" Elliot asked unsurely.

"Hell if I know. I wasn't getting too close. Look how flammable I am now!" the fruit complained. With it, Elliot saw a few potential options brewing.

~~~~

"We are looking for our next spirits," Isaac said. "With our first ones being in some kind of impact site, it only figures these ones are somewhere way worse." His tone was worn out, as if he was already done with this test chamber's bullshit. It was cold, and dark, and tight, and he was stuck away from the two people who meant most to him. Instead he was left with a guy who, frankly, he didn't trust much at all. Not like it was hard to distrust Tall Dark and Murderous, of course. The look in his eyes, the creepy way he muttered "submit." It all stood at odds with his oddly gentlemanlike personality, and such kindness only put Isaac more at unease. As he and Kouhei entered the room, he noticed a strange plaque hanging at the top of the ramp.

Sisyphus Chamber. Huh.

If Isaac was a myth buff, he'd probably care more. Instead, he paid it little heed and decided to walk and talk. "So. Still would like to know what the deal is with that whole 'tried to stab me and my bro to death' thing. 'Cause I doubt just trying to shank random strangers on the street counts as just testing us," he said firmly. He figured Kouhei at least deserved knowing that he was distrusted, instead of Isaac just letting an awkward haze settle in between the group. At the very least, the boy wanted to finally get some answers. Especially ones better than the wishy-washy ones Elliot kept providing.

Of course, he heard a slight popping sound as he passed over the midpoint of the ramp. As he saw what was about to fall from the heavens, he realized he shouldn't have expected anything else from a giant ramp room. The pressure plate had triggered the release of a giant boulder, which came rolling down the ramp quite speedily. Isaac hopped to the side, shouting "Look out!" to make sure Kouhei got the message. It seemed easy enough, but as Isaac turned to watch the boulder roll past he realized that quite the mistake had been made.

The floor in the back of the room seemed to stretch into a ramplike shape of its own, covering up the old exit and letting a new one stand in its place. They now had two doors to consider, two ramps to climb, and a giant boulder feeding off of its own inertia coming back down for another pass. If before they had time to ponder their next course of action, now each moment's hesitation would force them to dodge the rolling rock yet another time. Perhaps someone more observant would notice a third option, a section of paneling worn down by constant passes of the boulder, but for Isaac it was two doors and time to do or die.