//------------------------------//
// 4-gotten: Delving Deep 
// Story: The Sparkle in his Eye 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

	Before heading into the railway station, Twilight and the others stopped at another 'lab warp' to solve another critter related puzzle - which proved far more complex than the previous ones, but just as easy for the group to solve - unlocking another part of the mecha that was visible at the end of the lab, this time the right arm.  Once back out, Alister turned to Twilight.  "So...what did you and Nefarious make of the Blitzers?" he asked curiously.

Grinning widely, Twilight lifted one hoof with what seemed to be the same weapon as before...only for the fist of the boxing glove to launch forward on a rocket to slam heavily into a nearby tree before returning to Twilight.

"Rocket punch!" Qwark squealed eagerly.

"It was the best we could do with the resources available," Twilight admitted as she passed out the upgraded weapons.  "I'd have much rather turned it into remote punching drones...but we didn't have enough circuitry to work with."

"This will do," Alister reassured her.  "We have more than enough weaponry as is, after all."

The group then moved forward slowly into the mining station.  As they moved, they spotted another of the larger robots, armed with a heavy mortar launcher.  It attempted to attack them from long range, but the Warmonger rocket launchers proved more than adequate to take it down.

Another shield trap was placed to try and contain the group, but the Smash-Hammers dealt with it - and the robot minions that tried to attack them beneath the dome - quite rapidly.  Before long, the group reached the railway station, finding a platform that - according to Ratchet - would take them directly to Commander Sprog.

As they rode the platform, however, the massive Wigwump burst through a wall of roots and thorns to attack them, biting through the rails the platform rode on and dumping the group into the abyss below, following the Wigwump as it dove.

"Why can't anything ever be easy?!" Twilight wailed angrily as she angled herself to dive.

"Because life doesn't work that way," Alister countered as the others activated their jetpacks to slow their fall.  "If something can go wrong to make our lives more difficult, it will."

"Besides, where's the fun in things being too easy?" Qwark added.

"Going out to buy a dress for my first date," Twilight countered.  "And looking up a few books of etiquette so I know how to act on a date.  And actually having a chance to get excited and nervous about the date!"

Nefarious stared at her in surprise.  "You...you're really looking forward to this, aren't you?"

"Of course I am!" Twilight countered.  "With as crazy as my life has been, for once in my life I'll get a bit of normal!"

"So...going on your first date with your big brother's nemesis who is an evil mad scientist robot...is something you consider normal?" Alister cautiously clarified.

"Well...relatively speaking," Twilight admitted.  "I mean, isn't it normal for rebellious teenage girls to date guys their parents don't approve of?"

"If I thought for a minute that was why you agreed to the date, I might be offended," Nefarious teased jokingly.

At that moment, the Wigwump burst through the side of the shaft they were descending through, its mouth wide as it tried to eat them before spewing a wave of partially digested rock towards them.

"...oh yeah, we had a giant monster to fight," Qwark recalled.  "Funny how things like that can slip your mind."

Rolling her eyes, Twilight unleashed a barrage of her jetpack's stored kinetic missiles, inflicting heavy damage on the Wigwump.  Nefarious and the others quickly added their own barrage, delivering enough damage to finish off the Wigwump.  The carcass slowly descended the shaft ahead of the group, clearing it of obstacles and allowing them to descend without problems.

"So...how long is this shaft, anyway?" Qwark asked curiously.

"No idea," Nefarious replied.  "I can't scan anything past the Wigwump.  We're just going to have to wait until we actually reach the bottom to find out."

"Which could take a while," Twilight admitted.  "We're still a ways above the world's surface, or what's left of it.  I imagine it's highly likely we'll be spending a long time slowly descending after a giant dead purple grub until it hits a solid enough surface to disintegrate."

"So we're just going to have to find some way to pass the time, then?" Alister asked.

"Not exactly going to be easy," Twilight grumbled.  "No other dangerous fauna is going to be living near the burrow of something this massive, all the interesting flora was outside this shaft, the Wigwump is going to destroy anything below us before we can see it, and the entire shaft is boring as heck!  What are we supposed to do to pass the time?"

All four fell silent as they thought about that for a while.  "We could...do weapon maintenance?" Alister suggested.

"The Wigwump's body isn't sturdy enough as is to support your weight without you sinking into its flesh," Twilight pointed out.  "And you can't work on weapons while controlling the jetpack."

"I happen to have several classical music pieces stored in my memory banks," Nefarious offered.  "I could temporarily reconfigure my voice synthesizer to play them."

Twilight thought about that for a time.  "Maybe," she admitted.  "But then we couldn't chat."

"We have to save something to talk about on the date," Nefarious indicated teasingly.

"I know what we can do!" Qwark called out happily.  As all eyes turned to him, he continued, "I spy with my little eye-"

"Wigwump," all three responded immediately.

Qwark stared at them all.  "I didn't even give the letter yet!  How did you know?"

Felinoid hand, robotic gauntlet, and equine hoof met face.