#below zero event

[septnautical]

Achievement Unlocked: Below Zero

Congrats! You’ve all gained access to Below Zero with Marvin as your guide! You all can ask him questions or tell him places to go or even suggest creatures to encounter and let’s see what he can find out! :)

[septnautical]

Hmm I suggest he goes to a base where there should be a person named Robin that might be able to help him

(I know you meant Robin Ayou from Below Zero but considering how that game ends and this being 100+ years after the games- I took some creative liberty ;3c)

Marvin swam around the shallows more- eventually finding a forest of creepvines, just like home! He grins and swims around them, reveling in the familiar feeling of the leaves against his cape and skin. Though- there didn’t seem to be any stalkers nearby… just those weird white peepers he’s seen before.

But, there is some of those strange White Islands again up on the surface. Hm… since it seemed kinda safe over here- maybe he could get a better look at them.

He warps himself up to the surface and goes to peer more at the strange cold substance. He pokes it more- seeing in some spots that it’s somewhat see through.

“What are you…?” He whispers.

Then, suddenly there’s a splash right next to him and Marvin screams in surprise. But- it’s not a fish or predator.

He’s staring face to face with a… a human…?

The human seems to be a young girl, about the age of the refugee kids. She has tan skin and brownish hair and bright purple eyes. She gasps as she sees Marvin and grins wide, showing off fanged teeth.

“I thought I heard a big fish down here but that made no sense!!” The human giggles, “You’re not a fish!! You’re a hybrid too!!”

…too?!

Marvin gasps and then backs up, staring at the girl with horror. He then warps around quickly, spurring up to the surface behind her to see- yup.. a tail! A blue gray tail with many many fins- what the hell?!

He warps back and pants, and she stares at him flabbergasted.

“That is so cool!! How do you do that?! I’ve never seen anyone ever able to do that!!” She gasps and laughs in amazement.

“Who are you?!” Marvin interrupts with a growl, eyes wide as he stares at the little hybrid before him.

The tiny hybrid doesn’t seem fazed at all. “I’m Penni! But, Robin also says that I’m PH-02 but we all don’t like that name that much!”

Marvin winces- half-expecting his warper information trance thing to take over but… nothing? Weird… wouldn’t Alterra have files on other hybrids in their systems?

“R-Robin…?” Marvin asks.

“Dr. Robin! She’s like our mom! Except also not really. she says that’s apparently not how that works but she says she takes care of us like one!” Penni grins.

Marvin blinks slowly. The hell is a mom? And… “uh… us? There’s more of you?!”

Then, there’s a terrifying roar beneath him that has him yelping in fear. A dark red figure is charging right at him! And are those mandibles?!?

He warps out of the way and down by the sea bed, curling up and hiding his head beneath his arms.

There’s a loud TWACK and a cry of distress and Marvin looks back up in confusion. Whatever had charged to attack him- their mandibles were now stuck in the White Island thing! And now that they’re not moving… it’s another hybrid…?!

“Cora!!” Penni yells and pushes herself off the island, “It’s okay! It’s okay! He’s one of us!”

The other hybrid, Cora apparently, growls at Penni as she tries to pry her mandible free. Marvin can see now this hybrid is also a girl- with very dark skin and fluffy curly hair bundled up into two low pigtails. And both of the hybrids were wearing long wet suit like shirts with Alterra’s logo on them.

Once Cora’s free- she whips around to look down at Marvin, claws drawn and fangs bared. But then she pauses as she really takes a look at him- then her eyes widen. She quickly grabs Penni and pushes her behind her mandibles.

“W-What are you?!” Cora demands, “W-who are you? I… I’ve never seen a fish like you before!”

“I… I guess you wouldn’t have… I think I’m… far away from home,” Marvin admits, “But uh… I’m Marvin and… I’m not here to hurt either of you- I promise.”

Cora seems to deflate a bit- but she still glares at Marvin suspiciously. “…what are you here for then?”

“I… I’m not sure, really…” Marvin says, rubbing his arms and flicking the ends of his tails. “I wanted… answers to some stuff I guess… wanted to find stuff about these things called the… architects?”

Penni perks up from behind Cora and grins, “Oh oh!! Robin knows soooo much about those guys! She studies all sorts of things around here! I bet she could help you!”

Marvin looks back at Penni with wide eyes. He looks between her and Cora then asks sheepishly, mostly asking the more aggressive hybrid of the bunch, “is it… okay if I meet her then?”

There’s a tense beat of silence before Cora eventually sighs and flicks her tail, “…alright. But no funny business okay, Marvin?” She spits out his name like it’s poison.

He winces but then nods. “Okay…”

“She’s up on the ice- not too far.” Cora says shortly, swimming up to the surface by the White Island.

Marvin blinks and follows after, “Oh… is that what this white stuff is called?”

Penni barks out a laugh, “you don’t know what ice is?! The ocean is full of it!”

“There’s nothing like this where I come from…” Marvin admits, his cheeks flushing a bit.

The brunette hybrid laughs more, “that’s so crazy!! I can’t even imagine that!”

As they swim around… Marvin can really tell that these two are.. way younger than him and his brothers. He hadn’t seen baby hybrids since he was one. That means… they must have been made after him and his brothers were. But if that were true… why? And why weren’t there any big signs of Alterra around? Why weren’t these guys in the database?

Something strange was going on here… but he had to admit he’s relieved that Alterra doesn’t have their grubby fingers over here. If he could bring his brothers here…

Marvin is snapped out of his thoughts by a sharp flick of a red tail in his face.

“Look alive, stranger,” Cora growls. “Robin’s right up here.”

Marvin blinks up and then pushes up to the surface, trying to sink his claws into the ice and hoist himself up.

Penni bursts up after him and expertly scales up the ice and pushes herself onto the surface. She waves wildly, “ROBINNN!! We found another hybrid!!”

There’s a woman on the ice- surrounded by a group of strange looking creatures. They have huge eyes on the side of its face and actually have legs! And their heads seem to be giant beaks. The woman has tan skin, a bit darker than Zara’s and brunette hair pushed to one side- the other half shaved. A bright blue strand of hair is braided on the longer side of her hair. And she’s wearing an Alterran uniform. She startles as she hears Penni’s shout and laughs a bit turning to face them, “is that so Penni? Lemme see-“

The doctor’s eyes widen as she sees the sight of Marvin clinging to the ice. “…WH-5…?!”

Marvin gasps back and shrinks down some. “Y-you know me…?”

Robin hurries over to kneel down by the ice and smiles warmly, “Yes! Actually I used to work with the hybrid branch over in the main sector! Oh but I haven’t seen you since you were just a few weeks old! Look at how big you’ve gotten!”

Marvin can’t help but look scared. She’s… a white suit. But, she helped watch over him and his brothers… and she seems… nice. Like the doctors from Ocean’s Arms.

“If you were there then… w-why are you here now…?” Marvin asks quietly.

“Oh I got reassigned to be over here. Or more accurately- I started here but went over there to help with the hybrid project then was sent back here to start prep for our own,” Robin explains. “We aren’t nearly as successful and well… no one really likes to stay working in the cold-“

Marvin shivers as a strong cold wind blows past them. Robin sees this and smiles softly, “why don’t we go talk more at our base? It’ll be warmer there.”

“…there’s no other white suits there… right?” Marvin asks through chattering teeth.

“Nope- it’s just us. I may not have had contact for a while but… I heard some stuff from Dr. Danan. She’s a good friend of mine. I promise- you’ll be safe here. No other Alterrans will know you’re here.”

Marvin deflates in relief at this then nods. “Okay… show me the way.” Then he pauses and finally looks back to meet Robin’s eyes, “oh and uh… b-by the way… my name is Marvin.”

Robin’s eyes shine as she smiles wider, “Marvin, huh? A pleasure to meet you then, Marvin.”

[septnautical]

What if Marvin finds a wrecked sea-truck? He also might find some below zero items, like the mineral detector.

As Marvin swam back to where he first appeared, near the border of where the weird white islands were he saw something strange and white nestled into the sand.

Curiosity took hold as he swam down and took a look. It was some kind of… white suit machine. Kinda like a sea moth but way different too. This was long- like a crabsquid…

“Huh… what is-“ He doesn’t even get the question out before the warper trance overtakes him, “ The seatruck is a modular aquatic navigation vehicle. For fun and function, additional modules can be attached to the back of the main cabin — or detached to evade predators.” He blinks the pink away then tilts his head at the crashed vehicle. “Sea truck huh…”

He swam down to the windows and tried to look inside. They were cracked and covered with barnacles and other sea creatures. Guess this thing had been abandoned for a bit…

He looked around then tried to look for an opening inside. He finds one and slips in. The inside is way roomier than a sea moth looks- but still kinda claustrophobic for Marvin. He swims cautiously through, eyeing some of the white suit stuff laying around. He excitedly sees some things he recognizes though, like a nutrient block! He didn’t even realize he was hungry… he scoops that up to eat.

Then, he happens upon some weird device with a screen. He tilts his head curiously then taps on it and yelps as the screen comes to life. He cautiously peers closer and tries to understand the writing on the screen. It… detects minerals?

He makes a face, “Why would you need to do that? Seems dumb…”

He explores a bit more but- there’s not really much in here that interests him. There is a bed though- which he’s tempted to try out. But… he probably shouldn’t. There’s more he needs to see-

[septnautical]

What if Marvin encounters a titan holefish? Those are my favorite fish in Below Zero :D

Marvin started to swim around, marveling at the new seascape before him. And before he knew it… he was swimming under- what were those?? They were white like white suit bases but looked nothing like them. He swims up to one and gently tries to poke it. Then he darts his hand away- it’s cold! Even colder than white suit metal…

“What is this stuff…?” Marvin muses.

He flinches, expecting that new robotic trance thing to take over but… nothing.

“Huh… I guess even Alterra doesn’t know what this stuff is… that seems weird,” Marvin mutters. “Orrr it’s so basic they don’t have an entry… cool love that for me.”

He starts to swim back down and another strange sight catches his eye. It’s a huge fish…! With a hole right through the center! He immediately thinks of his brothers… he can already hear what they’d say, seeing something like that.

Jackie would go, “Hey Chase! Race you through that hole fish thing!”

Then Henrik would try to warn him his mandibles would not fit- but he’d be stubborn and try anyways- probably getting stuck.

Marvin laughs at the thought. …he should try to swim through- for Jackie.

He casually swims towards the big fish and then squeezes through the hole. He’s greeted by a puff of warm air that has him gaping slightly. This thing made air?? Like what the surface had? How??

Before he can linger on that thought though- something tiny and sharp latches onto his arm and then his tail. He yells and then warps away- which scares the tiny blue and red things off him as they dart back to the hole fish, who seems unbothered. He rubs at his arm, seeing the bite mark of the tiny things.

“The hell were those?” He asks- then immediately regrets it as he stiffens up, eyes flaring pink. “The Symbiote is an aggressive fauna species known for living in a symbiotic relationship with the Titan Holefish.” He then shakes himself off and hums, “oh… so that’s what the big one is called too. And… symbiotic means… they help each other… huh?”

He looks at the Symbiotes swimming around the Titan Holefish and smiles some. “…that’s kinda nice.”

He then shakes his head and starts to warp away- he had more things to explore, right?