Merowlink Stage 4: Leaning Tower

Merowlink runs for his life inside an abandoned battleship that is sticking out of the ground. In the dark, slanted corridors, Merowlink dodges a falling grenade. He wonders who his attacker is and realizes that whoever it is planned to lure him inside the battleship from the start. He recalls how he was driving through the desert when he was attacked by a mysterious truck and tossed off his combat bike. Merowlink crawls upwards through a narrow tunnel until he spots a tripwire, which causes him to turn around and backtrack to find a new route. He enters another area and is surprised when the ship’s systems activates. He finds that he is in an elevator shaft with an elevator car rapidly approaching. The elevator car slams into Merowlink and propels him upwards. As the elevator speeds towards the top of the shaft, Merowlink breaks the door open and jumps inside the car. He then exits the elevator and finds himself inside the AT hangar. Merowlink spots someone running through the darkness and fires his rifle. As he attempts to reload, the hangar door suddenly opens and the clamps holding the Scopedogs down are released. As the Scopedogs slide down through the hangar, Merowlink tries to avoid being crushed by them. He loses his footing and falls out of the hangar, but he manages to grab hold of the hangar door at the last second. As he begins to climb up, he quickly moves to the side to dodge the last falling Scopedog. Having lost his bullets, Merowlink is left with a single arm punch cartridge for the pile banker. Merowlink continues to explore the ship and enters a room where the door shuts behind him. The room begins to fill with poisonous exhaust fumes, but Merowlink grabs the oxygen container from a dead AT pilot. The mysterious assailant enters the room, but he just as quickly leaves when he hears a noise from outside. Merowlink walks over to the threshold of the door and is grabbed from behind.

Merowlink breaks away from the grip of his attacker and is surprised to see that it’s Keik. Keik says that the man out there has confused Merowlink for him. He explains that he was gambling and cheated on the wrong guy. He believes that that man Golphy set up this trap for him. Merowlink is shocked when he hears the name Golphy. Keik explains that he used to serve on one of these ships and knows how they’re set up. He points out that Golphy is using the dust chute to travel around the ship. Golphy puts his head against a bulkhead and hears noises in the ship’s construction area. He says that he’s not going to wait for Merowlink to come kill him, which is why he’s hunting Merowlink now. He slides through the dust chute and barely avoids falling into a tripwire. He examines the tripwire and sees that Merowlink left a dog tag there. Golphy reaches the construction zone and attacks into the darkness with his machine gun and grenade. Merowlink attacks Golphy with a construction crane, and Keik shoots at him from behind. The crane smashes a hole in the side of the hull, which Golphy uses to escape. He crawls along the exterior of the ship and reaches out for a door, but the handle breaks off and he loses his grip. He slides down the side of the ship and uses his knife to stop sliding. Keik targets Golphy from a window, but he stops when he sees Merowlink coming out of a hatch. Golphy climbs up to the hatch and tosses a grenade inside. He then jumps through the hatch into a dark room. The floor suddenly opens beneath him, and he sees that he’s in the shuttle bay. As Merowlink lowers the shuttle, Golphy jumps onto the shuttle’s wing and enters the cabin. He shoots at Merowlink in the narrow cabin and grazes him in the cheek. He then barricades himself inside the cockpit and waits for Merowlink to open the door. As the handle turns, Golphy fires off several shots. When he approaches the door, Merowlink drives the pile banker through door into Golphy’s chest. Merowlink reminds Golphy that he taught him to strike the unexpected blow. Merowlink crawls out of the shuttle, and Golphy unleashes the docking clamps. Keik reaches out and saves Merowlink. Golphy dies from his wounds before the shuttle slams into the ground and explodes. Afterwards, Merowlink tells Keik that he was Golphy’s real target all along.