A/N: Huh. I didn't think I was ever going to update this, but recently I started to play through Cave Story again, and it gave me a sudden burst of inspiration. I sure have improved since I wrote the first chapter a year ago.

The world seems to fall into place, just a bit more, as he reemerges into the dark cave. He leaps easily across the murky water and the wicked red stones. The Polar Star thrums in his hands. Thrums steadily, like a heartbeat.

This time when the bats swoop he whirls and opens fire. His hands know just what to do. Blasts of energy hit the bats square in their centers, tearing through them so that they hang still inthe air then crash to the ground in small crumpled heaps. He doesn't know whether he's killed them or not. He doesn't care. Maybe he should.

He moves on, jumping powerfully up the narrow shaft. His movements are becoming more and more natural, and when he reaches the wall barricading the tunnel he holds his gun straight and strong and shoots.

Dust billows in the air, sound ripping and echoing through the tunnel. In a few minutes only a pile of rubble remains. Cold, stale air washes over him.

This is it. What lies beyond? Answers, he hopes. The who and the what and the why and the when. He could find anything. Anything. In this moment he is only a boy with no past and no future.

He makes his way over the pile of rocks. Creatures startle in the darkness; one moment he hears them, hopping in his direction, and the next a round furry shape is plowing into him, tearing at him, knocking his weapon away. He scrambles for it and shoots, shoots into the shadows, ignoring the creatures' squeals as he hurries forward. The grond slopes upward and he holds tightly to the Polar Star, keeping it close. As his eyes adjust to the darkness he makes out a curved steel shape ahead. The creatures are massing behind him; he brandishes his gun and rips through the rusted steel with bright white blasts, vaulting through the ruined door and

there is nothing beneath his feet.

Wind whips past him as he falls, the world bright bright bright, shocking searing scorching bright.

He is falling falling falling, can he survive this fall? - he doesn't know - falling into a tumble of sound and light and color.

The ground spins up and SLAM - the impact jars and shudders through every inch of his body - someone is shouting, his vision flickers and he sinks out of consciousness and into the silent black nothing.

He is aware of a distant whirring, and a faraway blur of spoken voices. He is lying on a - something soft, beneath him and tucked around him - a bed. The world slips in and out of focus, finally settling into sharp clarity. He blinks disconcertedly, thoughts starting and stopping abruptly, unable to form fully. He attempts to sit and there is a gasp somewhere nearby.

"He's awake!"

It takes him a moment to decipher the words. A creature ducks into his view, smaller than him but close to his size, covered in snowy white fur. A word floats to him - Mimiga. "That was a big fall you took."

Things begin to connect again. To come together. He takes in his surroundings. He is inside a building, somewhere, lying on a bed. A fireplace crackles a few feet away, flaring and snapping against the cold. The stone walls are covered in boards which are, in turn, crowded with words, papers and diagrams. There is furniture, a table and chairs, and the short Mimiga leaning earnestly over him, and two more, beyond her. A tall, lean Mimiga with long ears and a scowl set deep on his scarred muzzle. And a shorter Mimiga, arms crossed, eyes glaring from behind round goggles.

"Are you okay? Where are you from?" the female Mimiga asks worriedly. "What's - "

"Toroko," the tall one says shortly. "That's enough." Those narrowed eyes swing around to rest on him. "I am King, the leader of Mimiga Village. These are Jack and Toroko." He steps forward, demanding, "Who are you? What are you doing here?! If you're in league with the Doctor, I'll - "

"King! He's hurt! Don't be so mean to him!" Toroko protests.

"He had a gun, Toroko!" King snaps. "He's not harmless, whatever you think!"

He had a gun.

He becomes suddenly aware that the Polar Star is gone. His hands are empty. The Polar Star should be there, it needs to be there. Where is it, what have they done?

King smirks. He turns back to the boy. "Notice it's gone? I won't have you blowing my village to bits! Now answer me. What have you come here for?!"

He opens his mouth. He tries to speak. But the words die somewhere between thought and action. I don't know, he wants to say. I didn't mean to come here. I fell. I don't want to hurt you.

This isn't normal. This isn't right.

"What, can't you talk?" the third Mimiga challenges. Jack.

"You're scaring him, King!" Toroko says.

Scared? He doesn't think he is scared. But something slow and cold is moving through him. This isn't right.

"Well? Can't you?" King growls.

Slowly, he shakes his head.

The leader of the Mimiga turns with a snarl.

"You don't mean us any harm, do you?" Toroko asks, moving closer to him.

He shakes his head no.

"Can you write?" King demands, rounding to face him again.

Write.

He knows what writing is. He recognizes the symbols that plaster the walls. And so, hesitantly, he nods.

King nods, and Jack runs to fetch something. A stick of graphite and paper on a hard board. The boy settles them carefully on his lap. The graphite is awkward in his grasp.

"Where did you come from?" asks King.

The symbols he makes are rough and messy, a mockery of those on the wall. But he manages to scratch out, I don't know.

"You're lying!" Jack pipes up angrily.

But Toroko looks concerned. "Don't you know?"

He shakes his head. Again.

Don't remember, he writes slowly.

"You see, King?" says Toroko. "He's nice! He needs our help. Let him stay for now."

"You're being naive, Toroko!" King growls. "He's probably a fugitive. We don't need another Sue!"

"You leave Sue alone!" Toroko cries. "And besides, he can help us. He can probably protect the village!"

King's eyes narrow. There is a long silence. The boy wants to stay, he hopes he can stay. He can't go back to the dark nothingness of the endless tunnels.

"I suppose he can stay... for now," King grumbles. "But the first sign of trouble and he's out. And I won't have you hiding him away in Arthur's house, either. Even this is against my better judgment, Toroko."

King storms away, and Jack follows him. Toroko turns back to the boy, wearing a smile that is both determined and pleased. "Don't worry, I won't let him throw you out. What's your name, anyway? Do you have one?"

He is about to shake his head no when he remembers the letters on his cap. Quote, they say. He doesn't know why they are there. Or if they are his name. But it feels like something he needs, a name, and Quote is warm and familiar to him, and it is on his cap.

So he copies down the writing from his hat and then, below it, spells out Quote in the symbols of the Mimiga.

"Quote?" Toroko pauses, then smiles again. "That's a nice name."

He nods, unsure what else to do.

"Sorry about King before," she adds. Her smile fades as she continues, "He's really a nice person. He's just trying to protect the village. We're always in danger from the Doctor, you know. The Doctor is a cruel person. Every once in a while he sends his minions to kidnap a Mimiga. Those Mimiga are never seen again..." She trails off sadly and then tries to be cheerful. "I bet that gun could really harm a minion of the Doctor! Maybe King will come to like you if he realizes that."

He absorbs all this new information for a moment. The Doctor, he doesn't like the sound of that. Someone should stop him. Why can't they? Is he powerful? The whole situation seems somehow familiar.

And the gun. His gun. The Polar Star.

Where is it? he writes.

"Sorry. I don't know," she admits. "King took it away and hid it. He'll probably want to use it himself."

The thought of the Polar Star in King's hands is wrong.

"I'm supposed to help Ken in the farm now," Toroko says. She looks regretful. "I'll come back later, okay?"

He nods and watches her bundle out of the building.

As soon as she is gone, he throws back the sheets and tries to stand. The moment he does so his legs crumple beneath him and the hard stone floor rushes up, he throws out his hands but they don't move fast enough to catch him and he slams into it with a loud smack. Several long moments pass as he lies there, dazed, until he musters the strength to push himself off the ground. He moves slowly. Disconnectedly. This is not normal but then he supposes he is not intended to fall so far. He should have checked where the door led but the creatures were swelling up behind him and... he would have had to made the jump, anyway.

He pulls himself back onto the bed and examines his legs. Jagged gashes run up and down their length. And along his hands. One of his feet is twisted awkwardly.

Will he heal on his own? Or does he have to do something? Get help?

He leans back against the pillow and thinks of the Doctor and waits for Toroko's return. He doesn't know what is happening but he can learn.

And maybe, just maybe, he can help.

A/N: So yes, this is essentially a novelization of Cave Story. And while there are hints in the game that Quote can talk, I like to think of him as mute - at least for part of the game. To the question of why Quote can't talk and Curly can - I figure either spending ten years deactivated in a cave or falling that far have scrambled his circuits a bit.

I hope to continue this soon. :)