[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/190924/544c85ab5c75bc61a4bb5ce40dc0caa6.png[/img]
[color=salmon]Word Count: 1136 (+2 exp)[/color]
[color=salmon][u]Level[/u]: [b]7[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 69/70
[b]Location:[/b] Edge of the Blue - The Maw[/color][/center]
One by one the Seekers made their way onto the hanging platforms until the Cadet was the only one left, besides those choosing to stay behind. Before making his way up himself the mini hunter went to fetch the other magnet half, where Link caught his attention.

[color=salmon]"Yup."[/color] He looked at the kite curiously, wondering how exactly it would help. It definitely wouldn't aid in climbing. Behind him, some of the catwalks creaked and the chains holding them aloft broke, nearly dumping the children into the drink. [i]Ah, okay I see how this kite could come in handy.[/i] With it, he could take a page out of Link's book and glide. Or so he hoped anyway, the Hylian was scrawnier than him both as a child and an adult.

The Cadet gladly took the item, though he offered one of his own in return. He presented the makeshift shield to Link, the dartboard with the handle he'd attached. The bullseye glared green, red, and black. [color=salmon]"It's not the most sturdy, but if anything dangerous shows up maybe it will help."[/color]

With that he waved to those staying behind and started towards the catwalks. Passing BB on his way he ruffled the minion's tuft of hair and commanded it to stay put before he crawled up the darts and hopped onto the nearest platform. Each path he could see had gaps, holes, or dangerously rusted looking sections. Ace Cadet sucked in a breath, gripped the kite securely, and ran. His strategy was: don't think too hard about it. He didn't want to get stuck in his thoughts again, end up hesitating and then falling. This time he was last out of the gate intentionally after all. He hopped, sidled, and kite-glided his way over the precarious platforms, and when he got to the end in one piece he jumped rather than take the ladder. Once safely on the other side he glanced back at the Kamek, Frog, and Link, flashing them a thumbs up before he disappeared into the door behind those going on ahead.

A quick glance showed exactly where they should go, but the door to the command room was shut. Ace Cadet trotted over to it, and when it didn't immediately open he placed his hands on the metal. Pushing did nothing, trying to dig his fingers into the middle where the door parted did nothing, and knocking was just as useless as everything else he'd tried. Concluding that there was some kind of trick to opening it he turned back to the others and found them talking to a robot stuck to the ground. [i]Or... not a robot?[/i] He listened to Carl talk, then Mirage and Sakura talk about him, but it wasn't really making sense to the red head. Basically, they just needed to help Carl, right? He stepped back to let Sakura offer her friend heart, and when Carl accepted it... nothing happened.

[color=salmon]"Well he [i]looks[/i] better,"[/color] the Cadet said, cocking his head to the side in confusion. He considered Nadia's ghost comment. [color=salmon]"If he was like a spirit stuck in the robot, maybe he went back to his real body...? He said he was a human, right?"[/color] They could speculate all they wanted, but more than likely none of them could actually know what happened. Cadet didn't think it could be that Blazermate was right and the friend heart had the opposite effect it usually did, since it worked on everything so far. Regardless, they had to move on.

[color=salmon]"Connect cables? I can do that,"[/color] he said, taking up the job while some of the others went to the maintenance room. Since this kind of tech was outside of his grasp, the Cadet figured he might as well make himself useful in other ways. Connecting cables was simple enough. [i]I could use a crash course in the weird, advanced technology stuff though,[/i] he thought to himself as he worked, [i]I bet it's easier than it looks! Maybe I'll see if anyone at the Alcamoth can teach me -[/i]

The door to maintenance slammed shut, drawing the Cadet's attention. He shared a look with Peach, considered trying to find a way in just in case the others were trapped, but soon enough the door opened again - along with the one at the opposite end of the hall to the command center. [color=salmon]"Rado-cool, you guys did it!"[/color]

The command center's interior was dark, despite the lights overhead. It also smelled wet. The reason became apparent when they moved further in. The Cadet ran over to the fenced area and wrapped his fingers through around the links, peering into the water. It was as dark and still looking at it now as it was when they first entered this area. He turned his gaze to the submarine hanging above the water. That... [i]was[/i] a submarine, right? It was spherical, rather than the tube-like shape of the Maw, the submarine Abyssals, or even the rudimentary submarines of [url=https://gamingwithabyss.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/submarine-e1617178832438-1024x668.jpg]his world.[/url] Besides the shape, there was also the fact that -

[color=salmon]"It's small,"[/color] the Cadet grumped. Some of them would have to stay behind, maybe even most of them. They'd be splitting the group up more, but at least they wouldn't be too far from each other. Behind the submarine, at the other end of the room, there was a soft light and static noise. It was hard to see through the fence, so he went around the center with the others, finding the strange looking man who babbled, complained, then choked and fell into the water. Again the Cadet peered into the depths, and again it was too difficult to see into the dark. 

[color=salmon]"You guys think that submarine has any weapons, or anything to defend itself? If that guy is really going to turn into a monster, what would stop him from just breaking the sub, or swallowing it whole? Maybe..."[/color] Maybe they'd have to find some way to deal with the guy before they even got the sub into the water, or get some kind of modification for the craft - which the Cadet would gladly leave to their mechanically minded party members. One of said members was already seated in what he'd called a "remote working station. Mirage's eagerness was followed up by Geralt's pessimism.

[color=salmon]"It's not gonna kill him!"[/color] the Cadet exclaimed. It was just a chair, was it really so suspicious? He supposed it did look a little creepy, but whether it was the dull lightning, the shifting noises of the Maw as it traveled, or the fact things looked oversized due to them being kids, pretty much [i]everything[/i] in this place looked creepy. The Cadet watched Mirage hook himself into the chair and added, [color=salmon]"...but let us know if you get stuck or it hurts or something, we can pull you out."[/color]