New
Oct 23, 2019 12:50 AM
#1
| Just as the title suggests. This thread was created to house fanfics with MAL users as the protagonist(s) in creative writing: Its for just about anyone who: --wants a fanfic created about them --wants a fanfic created about someone else --wants to write a fanfic about another MAL user --wants to write a fanfic about themselves --wants to have the author continue an existing fanfic -- etc. etc. The rules are simple....you just generally follow MAL forum guidelines to be respectful. Even better, if you ask if its okay to write a story about another MAL user or if they request one written for you. If you don't ask and post a story anyways, be respectful with the story, and if the MAL user requests that it be removed, you as the author, must follow their request to cease. ------------------------- Stories submitted so far: SpaceseX Labs (Chapters 1-8)......requested here by @ Fuckery { Post #40 } Snow Falls on the Sleeping Sea Floor (entry #1)...created by @ Tensho { Post #34 } Aye...Eh?!: Reset (Chapters 1-18)........created by @UhOhSPAGET { Post #9 } The Chronicles@ OfDeathandLove (Chapters 1-8).....requested here by OfDeathandLove { Post #31 } Runaway House Servants (Chapters 1-4)....started by RicePounder via FG "What is the above user to you" Top Geese: Ace Squadron (Chapters 1-2)....started by RicePounder via FG "What is the above user to you" Cootharingan Spirits (Chapters 1-4)....requested here by UhOhSPAGET { Post #19 } Miracle Witch Lielaxea (Chapter 1)....requested by mindstate via FG "Confess something to the user above" & submitted here { Post #30 } Peak Through the D.Rapey (Chapter 1-2)....started by RicePounder via FG "What is the above user to you" Monocle Cane Bounty Co (Chapter 1)....started by RicePounder via FG "What is the above user to you" The Mischievous Tome (Chapter 1).....requested by Chaet via FG "Confess something to the user above" & submitted here { Post #41 } Input Username (Chapter 1).....started by RicePounder via FG "What is the above user to you" ------------------------- RicePounder's current Fanfic creation queue. Check back regularly for updates, and/or msg me for requests & any questions! 1) _Minnie......brain-storming...updated on 3/20/20 |
RicePounderMar 20, 2020 8:25 PM
Oct 23, 2019 5:05 AM
#2
| @Ricepounder OH MY GOD THIS WAS AMAZING I really enjoyed reading it! :') That was really creative The best thing I read today to be honest xd Can I add it in my profile as a memory? |
Oct 23, 2019 4:52 PM
#3
Chaet said: @Ricepounder OH MY GOD THIS WAS AMAZING I really enjoyed reading it! :') That was really creative The best thing I read today to be honest xd Can I add it in my profile as a memory? Sure, go for it....and sorry for the late reply. I was busy...didn't have work today, but was out and about running errands. By the way, let me know if anyone else you might know is interesting in getting a fanfic about them OR writing their own stories. |
Oct 23, 2019 8:00 PM
#4
| Sure 🤔 Everyone should get one tbh this is fun to read xd |
Nov 3, 2019 4:33 AM
#5
| Om'gosh this is a great idea! *proceeds to try and think of which of my MAL friends wouldn't get mad at me for writing a story about them* also if anyone's bored/is in need for a subject for their story I'll be here :3 |
 君の声 忘れない 涙も 忘れない |
Nov 3, 2019 1:18 PM
#6
UhOhSPAGET said: Om'gosh this is a great idea! *proceeds to try and think of which of my MAL friends wouldn't get mad at me for writing a story about them* also if anyone's bored/is in need for a subject for their story I'll be here :3 I hope you catch their attention with this and I'm hoping to be able to see what stories other people drum up. |
Nov 3, 2019 6:00 PM
#7
| Story in progress! @Krystifying I choose you! (Hope you don't mind :3) |
君の声 忘れない 涙も 忘れない |
Nov 3, 2019 11:18 PM
#8
| Omg I love youuu. Yaaaaaas! |
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Nov 12, 2019 6:26 AM
#9
| DEKITAAAAAAA!!!!! FINALLY finished! Sorry for the wait, all! I had intended to just write a cute lil short story but then my body became entirely possessed by the writing bug and I somehow ended up writing a 35-page novel. Gomen nasai. Anyways, without further ado, @Krystifying, I present to you: Warning: contains Kanata no Astra and Little Busters spoilers Krystifying stretched with a satisfied sigh as she exited the doors of the school building. It’s finally the summer holidays! she thought to herself, Two whole free months! Finally I’ll be able to just snuggle up in my favourite hoodie and finish Steins;Gate. Or maybe I’ll catch the latest Stars Align. Or the next Dr. Stone. Ahh who cares, I’ve got all the time in the world! Krys was feeling good. As she walked along the sidewalk, a spring in her step, she began to quietly hum the Little Busters theme to herself. “♪ Kimi no koe, wasurenai, namida mo, wasurenai… ♪” “♪ koREEEEEEEEEE kara hajimaaruuuuuu..!” Krys suddenly felt a heavy weight swing around her neck. “Wha--?!” She whirled around, fully prepared to unleash all her martial arts experience upon whomever this mystery person was (cuz watching martial arts on tv was just as good as learning it right?). “Hey! What’re you—wait what?! S-SPAGET?!” And behold, there stood UhOhSPAGET. She held a small paper bag in her hand and looked slightly embarrassed about almost being karate chopped. “Ahaha yeah it’s me.” She struck a heroic pose, “ ‘I am here!’ ” Now Krys had unfortunately not seen BNHA so she didn’t quite get the reference. But Spaget looked decidedly proud of herself so she decided not to say anything on that particular matter. “Spaget! What’re you doing here? Why aren’t you in Australia??” Spaget grinned and rubbed the back of her neck, “Well…after the whole ordeal with the hospital and all, I thought maybe you’d enjoy some company. So I decided to visit! Oh!” she reached into the bag, “And I brought you a gift/peace offering!” She then produced from the bag a small, fluffy plushie of Haru from My Roommate is a Cat. Krys took the plushie. It was soft. And squishy. And very cute. She smiled at Spaget. “Peace offering accepted. I’m guessing you’re gonna wanna crash at my place huh?” Spaget’s smile faded a little. “That…would be appreciated. Seriously, how do not get lost around here?! It’s a miracle I was able to find the school in the first place!” Krys gave off a smug smile and tossed her hair, “It’s a gift.” ----- Later that night, after a grand tour of the house, Krys and Spaget were relaxing on two mattresses in front of the tv, each munching a bar of white chocolate. After some discussion and debate, they eventually decided to watch Anohana, challenging each other not to cry at any point. Needless to say, they both failed. Krys dabbed her damp eyes with a tissue as the final credits rolled and glanced at the clock. “Yikes! 1AM! Hey Spaget I reckon we should probably…wait are you crying??” Spaget glanced over, the slightest hint of tears glinting off the corners of her eyes. She quickly brushed them away. “N-no! Of course not! You know I don’t c-cry in things!” she said, failing to stifle a sniffle. Krys chuckled, “Pfft yeah ok sure, suuuurrrrre. Whatever the case, it’s 1AM so I’m thinking we should probably get some sleep. And then tomorrow maybe I can show you around town.” Spaget let out a long yawn, “Yeah that’s probably a good idea. Wouldn’t wanna be feeling half-dead during the grand tour! G’night Krys!” Krys wriggled underneath the big blankets on her mattress (despite the fact that is was summer), “G’night Spaget!” Krys groaned as she felt the sensation of someone shaking her frantically. “Nggrrg… cut it out Spaget. Lemme sleep in a little longer...” “Get up Miss Krystifying! This’s no time to take a nap!” Krys’s eyes popped open at the sound of the strange voice. Hang on… This guy standing over was not Spaget. And this was definitely not her living room. “Wha--!” Krys scrambled to her feet and took in her surroundings. She was in a strange corridor. People in suits were rushing around left, right, and centre. Krys glanced down at herself and discovered that she was wearing a suit similar to those around her. “Miss Krystifying!” The guy standing in front of her, also wearing a suit, appeared to be no older than she was. He had dark blue chin-length hair and was staring at her, looking concerned. “Are you ok? Do you need to see the nurse?” “N-no I’m fine…I think…” stuttered Krys, still overwhelmed, “W-what’s going on?” The guy looked at her for another second, shook his head, and shoved a large yellow file envelope into her hands. “You have to transport this important envelope to a secure location that’ll be revealed to you once you meet up with the crew. So you need to head down to the station now! There’s no time to lose! This is a Code I7!” “Um…ah…ok um…where do I go?!” stuttered Krys looking around frantically. The guy pointed down the corridor, “Head down that way. First left, third right. You can’t miss it.” He smiled a gentle smile, “You can do this. We believe in you. Now go!” “O-ok!” Krys ran down the corridor, clutching the envelope in her hands. W-what’s going on?! Have I been isekaied or something?! she thought as she ran, Although now that I think about it…that guy bore a striking resemblance to Iori Izumi… ----- “No. Way.” Krys gazed up at the massive structure in the middle of the huge room. “The ASTRA??! There was no doubt about it, the huge thing in front of her was undoubtedly the spaceship she knew as the Astra. And this room she found herself in was undoubtedly a space station. She was still staring when one of the spaceship’s huge doors opened and a girl with a familiar brown ponytail wearing a spacesuit came dashing towards her. Krys’s eyes widened. “S-Spaget?!” “Krys! Thank goodness! I was afraid you’d gotten lost! You have the envelope? Great! Change into this,” she shoved another spacesuit into Krys’s hands, “and meet us in the ship. And hurry! Everyone’s waiting!” ----- A few minutes later Krys was standing inside the Astra, her mouth open and her eyes as big as moons. “No. WAY.” Before her stood…no, it couldn’t be….could it..? “K-KANATA?! KYOUSUKE?! MIT-MITSUKI?!” (she only just stopped herself from calling him MitSOOkie) “Heh, you already know of these guys obviously. Great! Saves having to do introductions then!” said Spaget, clapping her hands together. “No wait hold up!” exclaimed Krys, turning to Spaget, “Why are they here?! H-how are they here?!” Spaget tilted her head at her. “Well we’re not gonna get very far without a pilot are we? That’s what Kanata’s here for.” “And don’t forget the fact that this is my ship” added Kanata, pouting. Next to him, Kyousuke chuckled. He turned to Krys and gave a flamboyant bow. “I’m the strategist,” he said grinning, “Yoroshiku Krystifying.” Mitsuki bounded up to Krys and energetically shook her hand. “Heya!” he said, “I’m the technician. Well, amateur technician. I actually specialize in sound equipment, but I’ve recently learned enough to land a spot on this mission. Nice to meet ya!” Krys smiled nervously, her hand starting to ache from the handshake, “Nice to meet you too, Mitsoo-Mitsuki.” “Ok!” said Spaget clapping her hands again, “Now that we’re all familiar with each other, let’s launch this thing! You definitely have the envelope Krys? Sweet! Hold on to that. And buckle up everyone! Kanata, take us up!” Kanata grinned. “Aye, yeah!” “Ok everyone!” Kanata called out a few minutes later, “We’re now traveling at light-speed so you can undo your seatbelts. We should arrive at our destination in a few hours.” Krys undid her seatbelt and walked over to where Spaget was sitting at the large table in the common area. Spaget turned as she heard footsteps approaching. “Oh hey Krys! How’s things?” Krys smiled. “Heh, alright I guess. Except for the fact that I have no idea what’s going on or why we’re here or what we’re doing.” “Really? You mean you weren’t filled in? Weird… Well I can’t I was given all that much information myself…but I can tell you what I do know.” Krys nodded as she sat down. “That’d be great.” “Ok,” Spaget leaned forward and pointed to the yellow envelope in Krys’s hand, “You see that envelope you’re holding? I’ve been told that it contains some extremely valuable files. A lot of people would pay a lot to get their hands on them apparently. It seems it was decided that it would be better to hide them somewhere secure rather than risk people fighting over them. So our job is to transport them to a secure planet where they’ll be safe.” Krys looked at the envelope in her hand and tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I guess that makes sense. Do you know what’s inside?” Spaget shook her head, “Nope, none of us do. Probably some form of political files or something boring like that.” Krys looked around the room, watching the crew go about their business. She turned back to Spaget. “And…you don’t find all this the least bit strange? Traveling through space? Transporting secret files to a distant planet? With these guys as our crew?? Are you not even a little confused??” Spaget threw her head back and laughed. “ ‘Confused?’ Girl, I’ve been trying and failing to wrap my head around all this as soon as I got here! My head’s still spinning! But then I realized there’s nothing I can do to change anything at this point. So I decided I may as well enjoy it! I mean look at them!” She gestured to the rest of the crew. Kanata was sitting in the pilot’s chair, driving the ship. He had a small, contented smile on his face, as if he’d rather not be anywhere else in the world. Kyousuke was curled up in his seat, completely immersed in the manga he was reading. He was smiling and Krys thought she caught a glimpse of a tear in the corner of his eye. Mitsuki was also in his seat fiddling with some tech thing with his headphones on. His hands occasionally made wild energetic motions as he bobbed his head to the music. He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely. Spaget smiled softly at each of them. Then she turned back to Krys. “Surely I’m not the only one who thinks this could be the trip of a lifetime if we let it. Whaddya say?” Krys was silent for a few moments. It’s true she thought. For better or worse, this is the situation I’m in now. There’s nothing I can do about it. But that doesn’t mean I can’t make the best of it. She looked one more time at the crew, at these guys she’d grown to care for through the other side of a screen. And Spaget’s right, maybe this could be a lot of fun! She turned back to Spaget with a wide grin on her face. “Aye, yeah!” Krys and Spaget spent the next few hours chatting, getting to know their crewmates, and exploring the Astra. “Isn’t this amazing?” Spaget asked Krys excitedly as they walked down one ship’s long corridors, “I can’t believe we get the opportunity to get to know these guys in a way that no one else in our world could!” “Yeah!” said Krys, equally as excited, “I mean who knew that Kyousuke and Rin used to have ‘matching-clothes-Friday’? Or that Kanata has a stuffed lobster on his bed that he keeps there for good luck? Or that Mitsuki and Iori used to put little bows in each other’s hair when they were little?? It’s incredible!” “Hey guys, check this out!” Kanata called over the intercom, “I have a visual on our destination!” Krys and Spaget dashed to the deck to where everyone else was waiting. Kanata pressed a button and a large display screen lowered from the ceiling. He hit another button and the screen flickered to life, revealing a large planet, deep magenta in colour, and surrounded by misty pink clouds. “Wow!” exclaimed Spaget, “It’s so pretty!” “Sure is,” agreed Mituski, “What’s our ETA, Kanata?” “About 30mins. We just have to maneuver through a small asteroid belt before we get there,” said Kanata. Mitsuki tilted his head. “Asteroid belt? You sure you can handle that?” Kanata scoffed, “Pfft, how many times do you think I’ve flown this spaceship?” Everyone glanced at each other. “Um…” said Spaget, “Like twice?” There was silence. Then Kanata’s cheeks began to redden. “S-shush you! I spent 3 whole months in this thing! I can totally fly it through a little asteroid field!” Spaget threw up her hands, “Ok, ok, I trust you,” she said. “I guess,” she added in a low tone. To be honest, Krys was a little concerned herself. Of all the times she watched Kanata and his friends through the screen over her computer, she couldn’t really remember actually seeing him fly the Astra. Maybe once. She wasn’t sure. But she thought to herself, surely he wouldn’t’ve been picked for this mission if he didn’t have some kind of pilot proficiency. Right? Right..? - It wasn’t long before they reached the edge of the asteroid belt. “I think,” said Kyousuke, “that it’d probably be wise for us to buckle up for now. Just in case.” “Yeah,” agreed Mitsuki, throwing a mischievous smile in Kanata’s direction, “Just in case Kanata accidentally flies us right into a giant rock.” Kanata turned to him with a death glare. “Shut up Mitsuki! I’ve got this!” Mitsuki tilted his head and pouted innocently, “What? You think I’m calling you a bad pilot?” Kanata’s cheeks reddened, “You’re calling me a bad pilot??” Kyousuke laughed and lightly smacked the back of Mituski’s head. “Come on Mitsuki, stop riling up Kanata and get in your seat already.” Mitsuki’s pout deepened. But nevertheless, he strode back to his seat. “Y’know I am older than you,” he muttered as he strapped himself in. Krys smiled as she watched them tease each other, her bromantic heart feeling as if it were almost bursting at the seams. As she strapped herself in her seat, she looked over at Spaget. The smile that she had on her face told her that she felt exactly the same way. - As they entered the asteroid belt, it seemed their fears were apparently all for naught. Krys was genuinely impressed at the skill with which Kanata weaved and maneuvered through the asteroids. Yet…she just couldn’t shake the feeling that something felt…off. Then she realized what was bothering her. “Um…hey Kanata? Does it seem to you like the asteroids are getting…closer? Or like…that there’re more of them than there were before?” Kanata was silent for a moment. “Hmm…you may be right, Krys. Although I can only assume it’s because we’re headed towards the middle of the belt where the asteroids are more concentrated. Don’t worry, we’ll be out of the thick of it soon.” Krys leaned back in her seat. “Yeah…you’re probably right.” But she still couldn’t shake off that uneasy feeling… A few more minutes went by without incident. However, it was becoming more and more obvious that there were more asteroids surrounding them than there were earlier. Significantly more, in fact. Some of them seemed to be following the ship as it flew. Some even seemed to stick to it. “Uh Kanata?” asked Mistuki, nervously, “You sure we’re ok? Those rocks look pretty menacing.” Kanata pursed his lips. “Well I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little concerned. In a normal asteroid belt, I’d think we’d be almost out of it by now. And I’ve never seen this many asteroids clustered so tightly before.” “Hey wait a sec!” exclaimed Spaget suddenly, “I only just noticed this, but are those asteroids glowing?!” Now that everyone looked closer the asteroids, they realized they were glowing. They gave off a soft pink glow, barely perceptible. Kyousuke leaned forward in his seat, “Huh?! Radioactive maybe?! No wait, that wouldn’t explain them sticking to the ship…But what else could it be? Unless…” He looked to Kanata. “Is…is it possible that they’re magnetic??” Kanata’s eyes widened. “Now that I think about it…that’s entirely possible. I’ve read about magnetized asteroid belts but I’ve never seen one in real life!” Krys, Spaget, and Mitsuki looked at each other, panic in their eyes. “You’ve gotta turn back, Kanata!” exclaimed Krys. Kanata shook his head, “I can’t! We’re too far in! Turning back now would only spell more danger for us!” “B-but if you don’t…” said Spaget, looking even more worried, “won’t the ship eventually be crushed like a soda can under the weight of the asteroids??” “T-that’s a distinct possibility, yes,” said Kanata. His eyes were fixed on the asteroids ahead. “But like I said, turning back now would be even more dangerous. I can only hope that we reach the end of the asteroid belt before that happens!” The next few minutes were spent in anxious silence as Kanata tried to maneuver through the rest of the belt. But slowly but surely, the asteroids continued to build up around the ship, slowing them down. Suddenly there was a muffled crunch sound. The ship shuddered violently. The lights flickered off briefly before flickering back on. “W-what was that?!” exclaimed Spaget as the ship jolted once more. If they hadn’t been strapped in, everyone would’ve been thrown out of their seats. “Crap! There’re too many of them!” Kanata called, frantically pushing buttons across the dashboard. “Kyousuke! Mitsuki! I need you to grab some crowbars from the equipment room, get to the outside of the ship, and pry some of those asteroids off us! I’m sorry to ask you to do something so dangerous, but at this rate we’ll all be crushed!” Kyousuke and Mitsuki nodded and unfastened themselves from their seats. Krys and Spaget looked over at each other. An unspoken message passed between them and they both nodded. “We’re coming too!” declared Krys. “No.” said Kyousuke immediately, “You girls stay here. It’s too dangerous. Don’t worry, we’ll handle this. You two just stay put.” Spaget’s cheeks reddened and she practically tore off her seat fastenings. “As if we will! We’re a part of this crew too!” “Yeah!” added Krys, also unfastening herself, “And I sure as anything don’t plan to just sit here and wait to be squashed! And eight hands are better than four! We’re coming!” Kyousuke was silent as he looked at the two determined faces staring at him. Then the ship shuddered again and everyone was forced to clutch onto something to prevent being flung across the deck. “Ok, ok!” Kyousuke grunted as he regained his balance, “You guys can come. You’re right, we could use the extra hands. But be careful ok?” And with that, the four of them dashed towards the equipment room. A few minutes later, the four of them were standing by one of the launch doors, their helmets activated, and their suits tethered to a port in the wall. The Astra continued to shudder and jolt and red lights now began to flash at various points around the ship. They had to hurry. Mitsuki pushed a button to open the door, revealing the vast expanse of space. Well at least that was what it was supposed to reveal. What it actually revealed was that there was a giant asteroid blocking the doorway. “Huh-?! No!” exclaimed Mitsuki, “How’re we supposed to get out?!” “No wait, look!” Spaget pointed to the bottom corner of the doorway. “There’s a small gap there! Maybe one of us could squeeze through and move the asteroid out of the way!” Mitsuki and Kyousuke looked closely at the gap. They both shook their heads. “No can-do, Spaget,” said Mitsuki. “Yeah,” added Kyousuke, “There’s no way I’m gonna fit through that. Sorry.” Spaget peered at the gap again. “Hmm…I might be able to fit…but it’d be tight. Real tight. Probably too tight to risk it, honestly.” She turned to Krys. “I’m sorry Krys. It’s gotta be you. You’re the smallest of all of us.” Krys gulped and nodded, putting on a determined face. “That’s ok. I’ve got this!” Everyone nodded. Mitsuki pointed to the crowbar in Krys’s hand. “Ok,” he said, “Once you get out there, you need to jam this end of the crowbar under the asteroid and push down on the other end like your life depends on it. Cuz…well it does. And don’t worry about scratching the ship.” He gave Krys a small smile. “As I’m sure you’ve seen, we have bigger problems on our hands.” Krys nodded. “Got it!” At that moment, the Astra jolted once again, throwing everyone off their feet. “Hurry Krys!” called Spaget. Krys nodded again and squeezed through the gap. It was tight, especially with her helmet, but she just made it through. Once she was out and floating, still tethered to the ship, she turned around and gasped. The Astra was almost completely covered in asteroids. Krys could hardly see the surface anywhere. It was no wonder the ship was beginning to collapse under the weight. They’d have to hurry if they wanted any chance of escaping in one piece. Using the jets in her suit, she quickly propelled herself over to where the asteroid was blocking the door. Using the magnets in her suit to stick to the surface of the ship, she jammed the end of the crowbar under the base of the huge rock and heaved with all her might. And slowly but surely, the asteroid began to give way. “Yes!” cheered Spaget from the other side, “Nice going Krys!” “Thanks!” grunted Krys as she continued to heave, “I could really use some help, though!” “Just push it aside a little bit more and I’ll be able to slip through!” Krys nodded and pushed down on the crowbar harder than ever. “That’s it….just a little more….ok!” Spaget squeezed through the gap and floated next to Krys. Jamming in her own crowbar, they both heaved until the asteroid was completely detached from the ship. Krys and Spaget then shoved their shoulders against it and sent it spinning out into space. “Yeah!” They both high-fived. Kyousuke and Mitsuki floated out to meet them. “Woo!” cheered Mitsuki, slapping both girls on the back, “Nice going, you guys!” Kyousuke nodded, “But we’re not out of the woods yet! Let’s clean up this mess!” Turns out yanking big rocks off spaceships using crowbars was back-breaking work. They’d been at it for about half an hour now, slowly but surely lightening the load on the ship. Mitsuki groaned as he stood up and stretched his back. “Somehow I’m not convinced we’re gonna be able remove all these,” he said, panting. He detached a relatively small asteroid and tossed it to Kyousuke. Kyousuke lifted up his crowbar like a baseball bat and smacked the rock into space. He smiled as he gazed after it. “Home run!” He turned back to Mitsuki. “We don’t have to remove every single one of them,” he said, “Just enough so that we’re able to land on this planet without the Astra caving in on itself. The magnetism of these asteroids actually isn’t all that strong considering we can pull them off with crowbars. That one in front of the launch door was probably the worst one. I’m hoping that once we land, gravity will kick in and the rest of them will simply fall off. For now, it’s just about saving the ship.” They all worked tirelessly for another 20 minutes. Finally, after what seemed like forever, they heard Kanata’s voice through the coms. ”Guys! I can see the end of the asteroid belt! Keep it up just a little longer, we’re almost there!” A cheer rang out throughout the group and high-fives were exchanged all round. “Alright you guys!” said Kyousuke, “Final push! Let’s get as many of these off as we possibly can! “ “Ossu!” chorused the Krys, Spaget, and Mitsuki. - It all happened very suddenly. One minute there were asteroids floating in every which direction and then next minute….space. Beautiful, asteroid-less space. And before them, the huge magenta planet loomed. They’d reached the end of the asteroid belt. Another huge cheer rung out across the ship. “We did it!” cheered Spaget, giving Krys a hug, “I can’t believe we actually did it!” “I know!” exclaimed Krys, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, “I thought we were goners for a while there!” ”Great job you guys!” came Kanata’s voice across the coms, “Now head back up to the deck and strap in! We’ll be landing soon!” “Aye, yeah!” came the reply. A few minutes later everyone was on the deck, strapped into their seats as Kanata prepared the ship for landing. “Soooo…once we land on this planet…” said Spaget, “What then? What’re we supposed to do?” “Well,” answered Mitsuki, twisting in his seat to better face Spaget, “I’ve been told there’s apparently some kind of isolated ice cave on it.” “Umm Mitsuki? I’m not sure that’s the best way to sit for landing…” interrupted Kyousuke. “And according to my little brother, who helped organize the mission,” continued Mitsuki, completely ignoring Kyousuke, “there’s apparently some kind of chest-safe-box-thing deep inside. A good spot for hiding important yellow envelopes.” “Ah I get it,” chimed in Krys, “So our mission is basically to locate this cave, find this chest-safe-box-thing, stick the envelope inside, and then go home, right?” Mitsuki grinned at her, “Pretty much!” “Hang on you three!” called Kanata, “We’re landing!” Mitsuki quickly returned to a proper seating position as the ship began its descent. The Astra soon touched down on the planet’s surface. “We’re here!” announced Kanata, “Welcome to….” He glanced at the dashboard. Then he was silent for a moment. “Well??” asked Krys impatiently, “Welcome to where???” Kanata narrowed his eyes at the dashboard. “Huh…odd,” he said “Here it just says ‘Avenue 13.’” Krys’s eyes widened. She and Spaget turned to each other, an unspoken message passing between them. ’Avenue 13?’ Like Nakanohito Genome’s Avenue 13? This world is getting stranger by the minute! “Well,” said Kyousuke, as he unstrapped himself, “I suppose it only makes sense that a super-secret secure planet would have super-secret sounding name.” Suddenly they heard a loud whump sound come from outside. Spaget jumped. “What was that?!” “Everyone stay here!” said Kanata, “I’ll go see what it was!” Everyone watched as Kanata activated his helmet and exited the ship. Kyousuke and Mitsuki then activated their helmets as well. “We should probably go as well,” said Kyousuke, “Just in case he needs backup.” “It’s ok guys!” came Kanata’s voice from outside, “It’s just the asteroids falling off the ship! But you guys should really get out here! The view’s amazing!” The four of them dashed out of the ship to where Kanata was standing. “Woah…” The view was amazing. The ground was flat and you could see for kilometers and kilometers across the surface. Wispy pink clouds swirled in the sky and the soil was a deep, rich magenta. And off in the far distance, a glimmer of light reflected off something near the horizon. “That’s it!” exclaimed Mitsuki, pointing, “That must be the ice cave!” “Wait, actually?!” asked Spaget. She shielded her eyes, trying to get a better look at the cave in the distance. “Well what are we waiting for? Let’s get over there!” “Hold up,” said Kanata. He was now running his hands along the surface of the Astra. “It looks like the Astra sustained quite a lot of damage thanks to those asteroids almost crushing it. I’m thinking I’m going to have to stay here and repair it before we take off again.” He turned back to the others. “And in all honestly, I don’t think I can do it by myself. I’m afraid might need some of you to stay here and give me a hand.” Krys thought for a second. “Spaget and I could go,” she suggested. She peered over to where the cave stood. “The cave doesn’t look all that far away. We could probably reach it in a couple of hours.” “Yeah!” agreed Spaget, “And that way, you three guys can stay here and get the ship repaired as soon as possible.” Kanata thought for a moment and then turned to Mitsuki and Kyousuke. “That sounds like a pretty solid idea to me. What do you guys think?” Kyousuke nodded. “I think that sounds alright. You sure you girls’ll be okay by yourself?” Krys and Spaget grinned. “We’ll be fine,” said Spaget, “You guys just focus on getting the Astra fixed. Leave the rest of the mission to us!” Kanata smiled at the two of them. “Well I guess that settles it,” he said, “If you guys need anything, don’t hesitate to call us over the coms.” He winked. “And good luck, both of you!” Krys and Spaget had been walking for about an hour now. It had been a pleasant walk, with the two girls happily chatting away about the mission, about the crew, and about themselves. For now, though, they had run out of things to talk about and had spent the last little while in companionable silence. Eventually Spaget glanced at the satchel Krys was carrying which contained the yellow envelope. “Y’know I’d be lying if said I really wasn’t curious as to what’s in there,” she said, “I wonder if it would be so bad if we took a little peek…” Krys laughed and pat the satchel. “I’ll admit, I’m just as curious as you are. But I also feel like it’s probably none of our business. You’d think they’d be called ‘secret files’ for reason.” “Hmm…..yeah you’re probably right,” said Spaget. She pouted. “Still curious though…” They were silent again for a while after that. A few minutes later, Krys glanced over at Spaget and noticed that she was frowning, as if deep in thought. “What’s up, Spaget? Something on your mind?” “Huh? Oh, I was just thinking…” She was quiet for another minute. “Hey Krys…? What do you think we’re gonna do once this is all over? Like once we’ve completed the mission and stuff?” Her frown deepened. “Cuz we still have no idea how we got here or how to get back to our world. Where do we go? What do we do? Where do we live? What about our lives back home?? How are we supposed to go back??” Krys was silent. Amidst all the chaos surrounding the mission, she hadn’t even thought about how they were planning to get back home. As exciting as this world was, she didn’t want to live here. She had a life back home. She had school. Friends. Parents. A little brother. She didn’t want to give any of that up. And she knew Spaget didn’t either. “I…I don’t know,” she finally said, “Like you said, we still don’t even know how we got here in the first place. But who knows? There seem to be a lot of different people from universes mixed into this world. Maybe we’ll be able to find someone who knows something that can help us.” At that moment, she suddenly had an idea. “Like Kyousuke! He knows a thing or two about inter-world travel, right? Maybe we could ask him once we get back from the cave!” Spaget’s eyes lit up. “Th-that could work! Yeah! Let’s ask him as soon as we get back the ship!” She smiled at Krys, “Thanks Krys. I feel a lot better now.” Krys smiled back. “Well that’s what are friends for, right? Hey look!” She pointed to something not far ahead of them, “There’s the cave! We’re almost there!” - About 10 minutes later, the two of them were standing at the entrance to the ice cave. It was made entirely of sharp, crystal-like ice that shone a brilliant blue, almost as if it were glowing. “Woah…” gasped Spaget, “It’s beautiful!” Krys nodded in agreement, her eyes wide, “It sure is! And this is just the entrance! I can hardly imagine what it looks like on the inside!” “Shall we find out?” Krys nodded, an excited smile on her face, “Let’s go!” As they entered the cave, they discovered that the inside was just as beautiful as the outside. The entire interior was a deep aqua colour that gave off a soft glow, lighting up the cave. Icy stalagmites of all sizes rose up on either side of the path they were on, while large icicles hung from the ceiling. Krys and Spaget walked in awe. They gazed at anything and everything as they followed the smooth icy path towards the center of the cave, where the supposed “chest-safe-box-thing” was. Several minutes later, however, they ran into a three-way fork in the path. “Great,” said Spaget, “Now what? It’s not like we have a map or anything.” “Maybe we could just start with one and then turn back if we need to?” suggested Krys, “Except I suppose there isn’t really any way of us knowing whether it’s the wrong one or not, so we’re likely to just get lost that way…” “Well there’s a one-in-three chance of us picking the right one. Should we just gamble it?” “I don’t think that’s a great idea, personally. Then again, we may not have any other options…” As they were debating, they slowly became aware of a faint noise. It felt as if there was something coming towards them. Krys and Spaget ceased their discussion and listened intently. “W-what is that?” whispered Krys. The sound gradually grew louder to the point where they could here what it was saying. “Puni... Puni… Puni! Puniiiii” A large group of small creatures emerged from behind the stalagmites on either side of the path. They were all rather…odd-looking. Suddenly, Spaget squealed and began to vigorously shake Krys’s shoulder. “Krys! Oh my gosh Krys! Look! Look! They’re…they’re…Punitsukis!” And indeed they were. One would think that the small, slime-like creatures with the head of Iride Akatuki would look rather strange to some. Spaget, however, had always found them positively adorable and was now crouching down, patting one of them on the head, all the while saying sweet things to it. The ahoge on the Punitsuki’s head swished from side to side. “Puni!” it said, happily. Krys laughed as she observed the strange scene. She found Punitsukis quite cute herself and bent down to pat one that was bumping against her leg. “I guess they live here,” she said. She turned to Spaget, who was grinning widely and now had about four Punitsukis bundled up in her arms. “Do you think they might know where to find this ice chest?” Spaget’s grin widened even more. “Maybe! Let’s ask!” She turned to face the large group of Punitsukis in front of her. “Hey lil guys! You wouldn’t happen to know of a icy chest-safe-box-thing around here would you?” The Punitsukis looked amongst themselves, seemingly confused. Krys pulled the envelope out of her satchel and showed it to them. “Here. We’re trying to find a place to store this.” The Punitsuki that had been bumping against her leg came around and looked the envelope in her hand. Then, using a tiny slimy arm, it lifted the flap and peeked inside. “Puni!” it said. It then began to move down the path on the right. After a few metres, it turned back to face Krys and Spaget. “Puni puni!” “I…I think it wants us to follow it!” exclaimed Krys. “Well then what are we waiting for?” asked Spaget, excitedly, “Let’s go! Lead the way, Punitsuki!” The two of them followed the Punitsuki as it led them down various pathways. The rest of the Punituskis followed behind them. Well, most of them anyway. Spaget still carried four of them in her arms, while two more were riding on her shoulders. Even Krys carried a couple with her. Finally, the Punitsuki led them to a large doorway. It was made completely out of ice and bordered by small, patterned carvings. The Punitsuki stopped in front of it and turned to face Krys and Spaget. “Puni!” it said, bouncing in front of the door. “I guess it wants us to go in.” said Spaget. She placed her free hand on one of the icy door-handles (her other hand still held the Punitsukis) and pushed it open, revealing the room behind. “Woah….” she gasped, “Get over here Krys! You really gotta see this!” Krys walked over to where she was standing. And the sight that met her eyes was quite the spectacular one. The room was huge and, like the rest of the cave, was made completely out of ice. Only, while the rest of the cave was surrounded by icicles and natural ice formations, this room was supported by tall pillars and the walls were covered with beautiful, intricately carved patterns. And right in the middle, the only other thing in the room, was a large, beautifully made chest of ice. “Wow…” said Krys, “It’s like a secret room out of a video game!” “Puni!” said the Punitsuki, sliding over to the chest and bouncing in front of it, “Puni, puni!” They both walked over to the where the chest stood. Spaget ran her free hand along the smooth surface of the lid. “Well this certainly seems like an ideal place to secretly store something,” she said. She gave a long sigh. “So this is it, huh? Once we place that envelope inside this thing, it’s mission complete. After that, it’s just a matter of whether or not we can find a way to get back home.” “Yeah,” agreed Krys, “It’s been quite the adventure.” She smiled. “Can’t say I regret it, though.” Spaget laughed. “Ain’t that the truth! I mean, how often is it that you get the chance to meet some of your favourite characters and get to know them as people?” Krys laughed as well. “Or the chance to ride in a spaceship?” “Or to pry asteroids off said spaceship’s surface in a life-threatening situation?” “Or to travel across magenta coloured planets in search of ice caves?” “Or to meet real, live Punitsukis!” Krys laughed again. “It’s been one heck of a trip, that’s for sure.” She pulled the yellow envelope out of her satchel. “But now, it’s time to complete the mission.” She opened the lid of the chest and began to place the envelope inside. “It really is a shame we never got to know what was inside,” said Spaget, “I’m sure that’s gonna eat at me for a while.” No sooner than Spaget had said that, Krys felt something on her arm. She looked down and saw that the Punitsuki was trying to stop her from putting the envelope inside the chest. “Huh? What is it, Punitsuki?” “Puni!” it said, gesturing to the flap of the envelope, “Puni, puni! Puni!” Spaget looked at Krys. “Do you suppose it’s telling us to look inside?” She turned to the Punitsuki. “Is that what you’re trying to tell us, Punitsuki?” The Punitsuki smiled, it’s little ahoge swishing. “Puni!” Spaget smiled at Krys. “Well if the Punitsukis say it’s alright, I guess it must be ok!” Krys smiled back and nodded. She opened the flap and slowly pulled the papers out of the envelope. “Wha-?!” “Holy moly!” Inside the envelope was…. “F-FANARTS?!” exclaimed Spaget. However, as they observed, these were not your average fanarts. In fact, these were the most beautiful fanarts either of them had ever seen on their lives. The strokes were smooth and detailed, and the borders were lined with what looked like real gold. The art itself was heart-stopping and the colours seemed to give off a light of their own. “Wow…oh wow. Wow!” Krys vocabulary suddenly seemed to shrink dramatically. “Y-yeah! Wow!” agreed Spaget, “Holy moly, these are stunning!” She turned to the Punitsuki. “Thank you, friend. For letting us see these.” “Puni!” “W-well,” said Krys, finally recovering, “I can see why people would pay a lot for these. They’re masterpieces!” After giving Spaget and herself one last look, she carefully placed them back in the envelope. “But now, it’s time to finish this.” She once again opened the lid of the ice chest. “Y’know?” said Spaget, as Krys placed the fanarts inside the chest and closed the lid, “As eager as I am to get home, I can’t but feel a little sad that the mission is almost over. Despite everything that’s happened…it’s been a lot of fun y’know?” Krys smiled and nodded. She couldn’t agree more. Following what happened in the ice-chamber, the Punitsukis led Krys and Spaget back to the cave’s entrance. It was there that the girls bid the Punitsukis a fond farewell. Spaget hugged each of them tightly. “I’ll never forget you,” she said to them through a thin veil of tears. “Puni!” they said, as if agreeing. The walk back to the Astra was an enjoyable one. The two girls chatted excitedly as they recalled everything that they’d seen and done in the past day. The Astra. Kyousuke, Kanata, and Mitsuki. The asteroids. The cave. The Punitsukis. The fanarts. It wasn’t long before the Astra was in their sights. They could see the crew spread out across the ship, working diligently. As they got closer, Mitsuki looked up from the top of the ship and noticed them approaching. “Kyousuke! Kanata! Look!” he called down to the others, “They’re back!” Krys and Spaget grinned and broke into a run. “Heeeeeeey!” called Spaget, waving as they ran. “We did it!” yelled Krys, “We completed the mission!” By the time they reached the Astra, they were running so fast that Kyousuke and Kanata had to practically catch them in order to stop them from smacking into the ship. “No way!” exclaimed Mitsuki, jumping down to where they stood, “You found the ice cave?! And the ice chest-safe-box-thing?!” Spaget nodded enthusiastically, “We sure did! It was amazing! Like something out of a video game!” “Yeah!” said Krys, “And now that the envelope is safely hidden away, it’s mission complete! We can go home!” She turned to Kyousuke. “Speaking of, we wanted to ask you for some advice on that matter…” Just then, she noticed that the boys' smiles had faded. “Huh? Hey…” said Spaget, who’d also noticed, “What’s up guys? Is something wrong?” They were all silent for a moment. Then Mitsuki sighed and turned to Kyousuke. “Do they really have to go? Can’t they stay just a little longer?” Kyousuke shook his sadly, “You know as well as I do why they can’t.” “But we were all just getting to know each other!” Kanata put an arm on his shoulder, “I’m sorry Mitsuki. It pains me to say it, but it’s time.” “W-wait,” interrupted Spaget, “What are you guys talking about? Time for what?” “Yeah,” said Krys, “What’s going on??” Kanata turned to look at the two of them. “Delivering the envelope…was not the only part of the mission,” he said, “The other part…was getting you guys back to your world.” Krys and Spaget tilted their heads. “Huh?” Kyousuke pointed to the pink clouds swirling overhead. “You see those clouds? They’re actually inter-world transporters. I read about them while I was doing some research after my own…inter-world experiences.” “And now that the files have been safely delivered,” added Mitsuki, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes, “they’re getting ready to transport you back to your own world.” Now that she looked up, Krys noticed that clouds were swirling more violently than before. She also noticed that wispy pink fog had begun to gather on the ground. “But what about you guys?” she asked, “Will you be able to make it back?” Kanata smiled and pat his hand on the Astra’s surface. “The Astra’s good to go. And we’ll be sure to take an alternate route, so we don’t have to go through that asteroid belt.” Spaget then began to sniffle. “I-I’m glad that we can go home and all…” her voice quivered a little, “But…I-I’m gonna miss you guys.” Krys nodded in agreement, tears beginning to creep into her own eyes. Kyousuke chuckled. “Don't worry. We’ll always be around." “Yeah,” agreed Mitsuki, “And anytime you miss us, you can always find us on the other side of the screen!” Just then, the fog began to swirl around Krys and Spaget’s feet. “Looks like it’s happening,” said Mitsuki. He stepped forward and hugged the two of them. “It’s been fun,” he said, eyes glistening, “Stay safe in your world, ‘kay?” Krys and Spaget nodded, tearfully. “We will.” Kanata and Kyousuke came forward joined in the hug. The five of them stayed like that as the swirling fog began to rise around them. By the time they let go of each other, the Astra and the crew were almost completely hidden. Krys and Spaget waved frantically as they began to disappear. “Thanks for the adventure!” they called, “We won’t forget you!” Kyousuke, Kanata, and Mitsuki smiled and waved back. And then… …they were gone. - Krys’s eyes snapped open. She gasped and shot up from where she was lying. She was back in her living room. The morning’s first rays of sunshine were peeking through the window. The clock on the wall read 8:00am. She turned next to her to see Spaget sitting up in her mattress staring into space with wide eyes. She blinked and noticed Krys staring at her. “Krys!” “Spaget!” “You would not believe the dream I just had!” “You would not believe the dream I just had!” They stared at each other in silence for a moment. “Wait…” said Spaget, “You don’t mean…” “The..Astra…?” “The crew…? “The…ice cave…? “The….Punitsukis…?!” They stared each other for another minute. They began to giggle. And then they began to laugh. They laughed until their sides hurt and there were tears streaming down their cheeks. After several minutes, they finally calmed down enough to speak. “W-wow,” laughed Krys, clutching her sides, “I can’t believe it. How is this even possible?!” “I don’t know,” said Spaget, wiping the tears from her eyes, “All I do know is that I don’t ever want to forget it! Ever!” They sat in silence for a minute. “I have an idea,” said Krys, finally composing herself, “How about we go grab a bite to eat?” Spaget nodded, “Yeah…and afterwards, maybe you can show me the store with these adorable rattles that I’ve heard so much about!” They both grinned. Then two of them bumped fists. “Aye, yeah!” |
君の声 忘れない 涙も 忘れない |
Nov 12, 2019 6:29 AM
#10
| @UhOhSPAGET AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH IT'S HERE REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE- I'M SO EXCITED!!!!! Also I love you |
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Nov 12, 2019 6:31 AM
#11
| @Krystifying Back at ya ;) AND NOW it is 1:30am so I am going to bedddd goodnight (- w -) zzzzz |
君の声 忘れない 涙も 忘れない |
Nov 12, 2019 9:49 PM
#12
| @UhOhSPAGET It was a chill inter-dimensional adventure. Hey, if these clouds can essentially "isekai" you into different worlds when you 2 sleep...then you have almost an infinite amount of stories you could drum up with this. Its got great potential to expand on! It was a pleasant read. |
Nov 13, 2019 4:22 AM
#13
| @RicePounder Aiiiiieeeeeeee thank you! (>/ / / /<) Actually, that's true! I didn't even think of that until now! Heheh maybe I'll write a sequel sometime if I feel inspired enough :3 |
君の声 忘れない 涙も 忘れない |
Nov 13, 2019 4:47 AM
#14
| LMAO nice I didn't know this thread was a thing I just so happen to be writing a story for @Maffy right now and HOPEFULLY will finish by the end of nov so maybe I'll post it here too for the curious folks. :P |
 |
Nov 13, 2019 10:21 PM
#15
Tensho said: LMAO nice I didn't know this thread was a thing I just so happen to be writing a story for @Maffy right now and HOPEFULLY will finish by the end of nov so maybe I'll post it here too for the curious folks. :P OOOoooo....please do. I'd love to read other people's stories. I've been posting a lot of short Mal Fanfics on the forum game "What is the above user to you". Since I don't know the people outside of the forums, I made up short stories about how I met them in a fictional setting. My posts over there felt out of place, so I decided to put them in the creative corner. I still post stories on the "What is the above..." - only because there's more traffic over there than here. Once this page gets more visitors, then I'll probably fully transition into writing stories for people. I'm open to write stories upon request or if other people want to post their stories about other MAL forum users, that would be awesome. |
Nov 14, 2019 6:04 AM
#16
| lol an mal fanific would be crazy. I would like it |
Nov 14, 2019 10:42 PM
#17
Hey, if you know anyone who wants a fanfic made of them or if you know of other users who like writing stories, send them here. I'm also open to create things, but no one has asked as of yet (I just kinda make them on the spur of the moment for random people - even if they didn't ask LOL)...they don't really want one...or they don't know/care. |
Nov 15, 2019 2:58 AM
#18
| @RicePounder Haha I'm happy for you to make one of me if you really want to :3 |
君の声 忘れない 涙も 忘れない |
Nov 16, 2019 5:44 PM
#19
| Picture this: We’re on the sunny shores of Horseshoe Bay situated on Magnetic Island, Queensland, Australia. Some would call this place the perfect vacation spot, maybe even “Paradise on Earth”...but this is enough talk about what could have been a great moment, @UhOhSPAGET and I have much more important things to worry about. While I’m busy embarrassing myself in public with this ridiculous attire, UhOhSPAGET is hard at work behind the scenes to set things right. Somehow, I think fate has given me the short end of the stick. Why do I have to do all the heavy lifting and degrade myself while this deity remains invisible and totally unaffected by public scrutiny? I get the sneaking suspicion that she’s actually enjoying my humiliation. *Sigh...* Just what did I do to deserve this? Heck, everything has been happening so fast for the past few days, just how did I even get to this point?... --------------------- “...and over to the southwest is Castle Hill, a landmark pink granite monolith, known for its stunning view and lookouts which oversees the entire town. This landmark has an Aboriginal indigenous name of ‘Cootharinga’. From its peak, you could even peer across to the nearby Magnetic Island. Any questions?” “That’s a strange name for an island, how did it get its name?” “Good question RicePounder! The island’s name comes from Captain James Cook’s account of how the island imparted a strange magnetic effect on his ship’s compass when he was navigating along the eastern coast....Uh oh! It seems our time is up. This concludes the scheduled walking tour. Right now, we’re at Strand Park, the busses will be here shortly to take everyone back to the resort hotel. Here’s my contact information if anyone is ever in need of a local guide.” With the concluding announcement, the crowd of tourists began their exodus onto the busses. I didn’t feel like going back to the resort to lounge around all day. After all, vacations are all about the adventures, seeing new things, and experiencing the culture. Plus, I need to search for suitable souvenirs to take back home for my family, friends, and coworkers. Maybe I’ll drop by Everything Australian and buy some generic stuff. On second thought, that’s too boring of a gift. I need to get something uniquely Australian....oh right, there was the local crafts store in the farmer’s market. ------------------ The farmer’s market had a mix of open air stalls and local businesses hawking their goods. This entire town was a prime vacation spot, so it made sense to set up shop here. I was always into ethnic artwork and thought buying a few crafted goods would make for an interesting story & gift for the one’s back home. One stall stood out from the rest. From what I can assume, it was an Aboriginal man dressed in traditional clothing and selling Puna wood carvings, tree bark paintings, and textile/string art. I probably couldn’t afford the bigger pieces and my original intent was to buy simple trinkets as souvenirs, so I asked the shopkeeper “Excuse me, how much for the small Puna carvings?” The man didn’t speak, but held up a both hands and motioned 1 finger on his right hand and 5 fingers on his left. “You mean $15 AUD? You want fifteen bucks for each?” The man nodded in response to my question. Wow, for a small hand-carved sculpture fifteen dollars is a bargain considering all the labor that went into it. Not only did the man choose indigenous wood to make these with skill, he also lacquered them in a rich dark color to accentuate the natural rings & knots in the wood. These will make do for the souvenirs, but what I personally wanted was the wood carving behind the man. The one I wanted was the size and cylindrical shape of a 16oz tall thermos cup, but with a structural design similar to a sand hour-glass...minus the glass and sand parts, just the outer vertical wood support beams and the flat top and bottom. The center of the wood Puna carving depicted what looked like a nature goddess with various flora as clothes. She stood knee-deep on a wavy ocean, while the top of her head touched the cloudy sky. Her arms were crossed beneath her bosom and her two hands held up the sun and the moon, one on each opposite hand. She had a somber forwards stare with a slight tilt of the head. Despite being a wood carved depiction, the goddess was gorgeous. -------------------- “I’ll take 3 of these small ones...and how much for the one behind you?” The man glanced behind towards the goddess carving. He then held up his hand and gave me a dismissive wave. “It’s beautiful! Why won’t you sell it? I’m sure it’s worth a lot and for that I’ll pay you extra for it.” The souvenirs for everyone else had me stingy on spending; but if it’s buying something for myself, then I’d be willing to drop some serious cash. The man looked left and then right, paused for a few short seconds and looked at me again. I could tell that he was in deep thought – perhaps contemplating on a price or if he really would allow a sale or not. Finally, the man grabbed a piece of paper and wrote $50 AUD. I was still shocked to see how much of a bargain this was. I almost felt guilty buying these carvings for this cheap. Anywhere else in the US, these wood carvings would be 40% more expensive. “Wow...this is great. You know what, here take this.” I produced a $110 AUD. “Since the total only comes out to be $95 AUD, just keep the rest. Think of it as supporting local business and because I want to see you keep making beautiful artwork.” The man nodded and gave me the goods. All-in-all, it was a short interaction, but I kept replaying the event in my head. I wonder why he was so hesitant in selling me that last wood carving. ------------------- It was around 3pm when I finished shopping and had returned to my hotel room. I placed the wooden goddess carving on top of the hotel wardrobe next to the entrance to the bathroom and went in to take a shower. Back in the states, it would have been cold with low humidity in November, but eastern Australia felt like muggy summer. As I walked out of the bathroom while drying off my hair with a towel, my elbow made contact with the side of the wardrobe. *Click, clack, clack!* the wood goddess carving bounced off of the ceramic floor tile and broke in half. “Awgh you gotta be F---ing kidding me! Mother F—Son of a B-“.... The room was now enveloped in a mysterious aura and calm silence. I was pretty sure that I was in my hotel room, but all I can see right now is empty fog ahead of me and the floor looked as if I was peering into a starry night sky. *Yaaawn* I spun around to quickly face the noise behind me and saw what looked like a gorgeous woman in a green and white floral dress. She was stretching in front of me and had a groggy look on her face. As I took in the sight, I was lost for words....Had I died or fallen asleep in the shower? Was I dreaming or is this some kind of hallucination!? Hmm...am I awake? Or is this just a dream? Wait, no....it can’t be! All of that hard work and I’m right back at the beginning!? Curses! The woman collected herself and looked at me. You! W-who are you!? What’s the meaning of this? You better have a good reason for bringing me back to the mortal plane. While ignoring the questions aimed at me, I monologued out loud to myself Wow, I hadn’t had a lucid dream in forever, but I don’t have the time for this right now. Alright Rice, wake the F up – we’ve got a vacation to enjoy! Absolutely no respect...how rude. This is MY domain and you will adhere to my rules. The woman snapped her fingers and shortly after— *Ka-BOOM! bzzzztt* GyaAGH! W-w-what? L-lucid dreams or no joke. H-how realistic..Agh-ow-ouch! I fell to my knees and every muscle twitched in pain. I now gave my undivided attention to the angry woman in front of me. Answer my questions! What have you done to the ancient seal? Do you know the consequences of your actions? Look, lady, this is MY dream and what I say and what I want to happen will happen. So...when I snap my fingers, you’ll disappear and in your place will be a hot naked lady. I snapped my fingers – but nothing happened, how strange. *Snap, Snap.....snap-snap-snap-snap-snap* What the heck? I should probably avoid the water here – I must be tripping out or something. Well then, I hope you finally realize the situation you’re in. So from what I can sense, you’re not from this land, RicePounder, so I’ll take it easy on you since you don’t know what you’re dealing with and who you are speaking to. I am @UhOhSPAGET.....the diety of this land. The one who maintains the balance of people’s hearts and minds – that is...until you just ruined my efforts. Your lack of care has clumsily released the seal that separates the corporeal realm with the spiritual. I’ve used my remaining power to patch the tearing of realms, but minor mischievous spirits have managed to come to this world—“ Uh listen miss ‘trippy lady’, how long is this ‘high’ going to last? I don’t recall doing any illicit substances nor eating anything exotic or raw, so when can I put all of this behind me and just enjoy my vacation—“ *Ka-BOOM! bzzzztt* As I was saying, these mischievous minor spirits won’t do any direct physical harm to the local populace, but they are severely disruptive to order. Since you were the one to break the seal, the only way to contain these spirits is if you bait the spirits into possessing you during the day. Only then can I use my powers to consume / eliminate them at night while I am in your dreams. While laid on the floor and twitching from electrical shock I responded, Alright then, so I’ve determined that this isn’t a dream and that I’m not hallucinating. I can still use logic and reasoning, plus I have all my normal senses. Alright lady, I’m listening now....so what’s your deal again? UhOhSPAGET raises her palm to her forehead and exhales a loud sigh. Were you not paying attention earlier? Y-you incorrigible dunce. Look, I’m only going to explain this one more time—Hey, stop it! STOP running around here, you’re going to clumsily break my holy relics. This explanation will only take an hour....w-wait, don’t you dare run away from me—“ *Ka-boom, plow, zap*..... ----------------- “So what you’re saying is that across all of Australia there are things like standing stones, wood carvings, old clay urns, and other ancient artifacts that contain magic seals – kinda like metaphorical locks on a door?” “Yes, and over time, these seals break. Ancient Aboriginals once maintained these seals through their craft and ceremony. However, in this day and age, all of these traditions are tossed to the wayside. Modern people no longer care about the past and few believe in the spirits of old. So there are only a few seals that remain at present; and those that have been disturbed or have deteriorated will fail to prevent the passage of humans and spirits between realms.” “Well, if they were THAT important, why didn’t the ancients just bury them or stash them somewhere where no one can disturb them?” “The seals require sunlight and moonlight to sustain itself. The energy from sunlight prevents mischievous spirits from telepathically affecting human minds; whereas, the moonlight prevents the spirits from physically crossing into this realm. As I said earlier, with each seal malfunctioning, I have had to sacrifice my own power to mend the tear in realms. No new seals have been replicated to replace the ones destroyed; and since my followers have dwindled, I have no peaceful means to replenish my powers. The power I once had was sacrificed to close the tears – it’s the price I had to pay to restore balance.” “So what do you want me to do about it? I mean, I’m not about to go knocking door-to-door asking people if they’ve heard the word of @UhOhSPAGET and convert them on the spot. Why not just tell the descendants of Aboriginals to make new seals or else the world will end?” *SIGH....* “...look, if I had the power to physically manifest myself onto your realm, I would have done something about it sooner. It’s made worse since you broke that one seal which required me to sacrifice yet another portion of my powers. The only thing I can do now is enter your mind and speak to you in this Dreamscape.” “Dreamscape? So you mean, I’m just talking to you in my mind, but my body is just laying down vacantly & spacing out in the hotel room?” It took a few seconds for me to process how much time had elapsed since our encounter. Oh crap! I didn’t put up the ‘do not disturb’ placard on my door and yesterday I had requested the hotel housekeeper maids to replenish the towels around this time. I gotta get up and get dressed ASAP “Um, hey UhOhSPAGET, can you do me a favor and snap me back to reality. I just remembered that I gotta take care of some business”. “Last I checked, you were just on vacation RicePounder. You should have plenty of time, so stop bickering and allow me to fill you in. It’s important you know what we’re dealing with – and NO, you can’t back out of this since you’re in part responsible for this mess to some extent” Hmm, why is the boy so jittery? He was fine talking to me a few minutes ago and introductions are out of the way. Am I intimidating? Maybe he’s realized the difference in status and given it proper thought. Good then, it’s about time we established who leads and who follows. “Alright, alright....I didn’t mean ‘business’ – as in I had important work or anything; but right before we met, I had just gotten out of the shower and I’m not wearing anything. All I got with me is a towel to dry my hair.” The deity snickered “you don’t have be so concerned about modesty when you're summoned to the Dreamscape. The fog that I summoned obscures everything, unless you’re literally face-to-face with something. Besides, even without the fog, it’s probably too small to—“ -------------------- In the distance of the foggy Dreamscape, a feint voice could be heard “House Keeping! It’s Consuela. I clean bathroom and give towels” *knock-knock..spritz-spritz* “I come and clean.” In a state of panic, RicePounder yelled “Wake me up RIGHT NOW or else this is going to become a bigger emergency than your runaway spirits!” With wide eyes and realizing what was about to happen, UhOhSPAGET started to frantically chant a spell “H-hold on a sec, this takes a little time to prepare the Dreamscape gate and send you back whole. J-just give me a minute and I’ll have you fully back to your senses.” “A minute? We don’t even have a minute, let alone 10 seconds to get this done!” Freaking out and almost in tears of shame, RicePounder started to muttering gibberish to himself. Wake me up, wake me up inside. I can’t wake up. Wake me up inside...Save meeEEEee! “Right. Sure. Okay, go ahead and try to move your arms now. I’ll also grant clear access to your sight & hearing, though it will take about another minute to awaken the rest of your conscious functions”. The granted sight and hearing was presented like an HD wide-screen display on the domed Dreamscape ceiling. The two nervously gazed up at what was happening in front of RicePounder’s real-world line of sight. -------------------- *Spritz-spritz. Wipe, squeak-squeak* “All clean. No more Lemon Pledge. No, no, no. Consuela come back with more.” As if nothing out of the ordinary has happened, the housekeeper Consuela went about her duties until she ran out of cleaning solution. She grabbed her push cart and wheeled it around a naked body on the floor. The only thing preserving the slightest bit of modesty was a towel positioned over the man’s lower half; but none these details concerned Consuela – she just wanted to clean undisturbed. “Are all servants of this era trained so well that nothing fazes them from their duties?” an astonished and amused UhOhSPAGET breaks the long silence. With a thin and devious smile she looks towards RicePounder for a response. Defeated and in a curled fetal position, he dejectedly muttered “She saw it, didn’t she? She’s just not saying anything and keeping a cool face, but when she gets back to the housekeeping office, it’s over for me. I’m gonna be sent to jail in a land far away from home, I’ll forever be branded as a ‘perverted streaker’, and I’ll never be able to find a job or show my face around town...” The self-loathing soon turned into anger as he projected his misgivings. “It’s all your fault you – you obscure goddess that nobody worships anymore. Leaving your delicate-ass artifacts lying around for anybody to just unknowingly grab off the streets – how irresponsible. And now you just had to involve me into your problems and ruin my one vacation out of this year?” UhOhSPAGET retorted with a flurry of counter statements. “What? Hold your tongue, I wasn’t the one who broke the ‘all-important-seal’ and released the spirits, did I? In fact 50,000 years ago, I went through the trouble of making this land safe for humans and what did I get for it? I got sealed away by the humans when I defeated the last of the mischievous spirits. Now that these spirits have returned, you all should be practically begging me to forgive that last betrayal and restore this land’s balance.” RicePounder sat up from where he was once curled on the Dreamscape floor. With a blank stare, he faced the deity “First of all, this 'land' is not my home nor my concern. Secondly, not only are you irresponsible & unpopular, but now you’re also really old”. “Ohh..YOU...I ought to...” The insult made the deity stumble for a brief moment, but then she calmly responded. “So you know, 2500 years is roughly equal to 1 human year”. Just as quickly as she composed herself for a factual response, her tone and aura shifted in an instant. Storm clouds began forming atop the Dreamscape domed ceiling. “Oh, really? This again? Don’t think I didn’t learn anything from the last time you treated me.” RicePounder ran to the nearest object in UhOhSPAGET’s Dreamscape realm and held it above his head to shield himself from a looming threat. “P-put that down right this instance! Or else...” Sensing that he had turned the tables and was now on even footing, RicePounder coyly said “Or else...what?” followed by a smug stare and a few eyebrow flashes. “So you haven’t had your fill of pain then? I’m not a one-trick pony” *finger snap...Swish!* A strong wave of salt water flowed beneath RicePounder and swept him from behind his feet. The wave pushed him towards the deity in an instant. “Tornado KICK!” Rice had not let go of the random object he picked up and had every intention of using it to gain an upper hand. While he was swept towards a fearsome attack, he instinctively held up the object to protect his head at the last second. Take THAT! I can feel his face beneath my heel – this is MY victory. Perhaps this will put him in his place; but what was that crunching sound I heard? I’m pretty sure I went easy on him just to teach him a lesson...unless I don’t know my own strength. *Crunch....pa-ting* something that was not made of flesh shattered and fell to pieces on the floor. RicePounder laid flat facing the ceiling in pain, but he was consciously smiling. “Uuhhh...ahh-ow. Ya’know, violence doesn’t solve everything.” “But it’s certainly enough to teach you – what’s that next to you?” UhOhSPAGET’s eyes began to widen. “I don’t know...I just instinctively used it to cushion the blow.” UhOhSPAGET’s face went pale and there was an awkward silence in the air. When the dust settled, the object that was crushed was a stone tablet which once had intricate inscriptions carved into it. “M-m-my goddess right of passage!” She fell to her knees in disbelief at what had happened and tears began well up from the corner of her eyes. From RicePounder’s perspective, it seemed that the fight had gone too far. Perhaps this particular object was far more valuable than its appearance gives off. At first he felt satisfied with getting back at the deity; but with the outcome played out and seeing the real devastation expressed in UhOhSPAGET’s body language, he felt a bit remorseful. With a timid & apologetic tone, Hey, let’s not fight anymore...and...I-I’m sorry. Let me make it up to you okay. I’ll help fix it or pay for it, or replace it if you just say so – just get up ok? Look, I was being impatient and careless this whole time. How about this? Let me sort out my stuff in the hotel, then I’ll lodge somewhere else to avoid any more misunderstanding with this place and its staff. Then I’ll have all the time to listen to you and help out where I can, okay? *Sniff-sniff, sob* Okay, y-you promise then...that you’ll listen to what I have to say and help me from now on? *Sigh* Yeah, yes I will, so will you just get up off your knees and cheer up? RicePounder extended his arm for a handshake. With a puppy-dog eyes UhOhSPAGET clasped RicePounder’s hand without letting go. She then quickly intoned a spell with a profoundly valiant & voluminous aura of triumph: With this, the conditions are met and the contract of duty established. I hereby declare RicePounder my servant, under the jurisdiction of Coothringa! A blindingly white magical circle shown beneath our feet and a strong wind enveloped us for a few brief seconds. ----------------------------- “Hehehe...Aha-hahaa.” Clearly over-joyed, UhOhSPAGET didn’t even try to hide her amusement as she teared up and her stomach began to hurt from all the laughter. “Wh-what’s so funny and what’s up with that whole act you put up? Seriously, you had me sympathetic to your cause and now I just want to walk away again when you act like that.” UhOhSPAGET got back to her feet and smugly turned away from RicePounder. “That stone tablet wasn’t a deity’s ‘Right of Passage’, it was just some sappy composed letter another regional deity gave me in his attempt at flirting. I can’t believe you fell for such a simple trick RicePounder. If you would fall for something like that, I really do question your ability to handle the mischievous spirits that you’ll encounter in the future. You’re going to be a piece of work, but we’ll just make do with your ability. Let’s get moving my loyal servant - time is wasted!” Surprised and mouth agape, “You...you tricked me!? You know, I was willing to help you a minute ago, but now you just tick me off.” “Don’t worry, I’m known to be one of the kindest deities to serve around these lands. You’ll have perks to go along with your new job. Relax newbie, I’ll show you the ropes.” UhOhSPAGET’s formal/regal tone all but disappeared by now. “Ughh!... let’s just get this over with. Once we finish what we agreed to do, then I’m outta here and we won’t have to bother one another anymore.” “The quality of the job and its completion is for me to decide – let’s see how you handle yourself before we make the assumption that you’ll be free anytime soon”......... |
RicePounderJan 1, 2020 7:08 PM
Nov 16, 2019 9:50 PM
#20
| @RicePounder Holy moly Rice, I think you know more Australian history than I do! A very well-written and entertaining read! And definitely room for more if you ever wanted to! Also that last part made me laugh xD Thank yoooouuu!! |
君の声 忘れない 涙も 忘れない |
Nov 17, 2019 9:13 AM
#21
| @UhOhSPAGET I hope it was at least somewhat entertaining...the beginning of fanfics are difficult to ramp up the tension, excitement, mystery or any other strong thoughts. I feel like the first chapter was necessary for the setup of the story, but it might have been a slow pace for the reader. I was thinking about getting into the meat of the action and humor sooner, but didn't fit it into Chapter 2. Now that the story has an established heroine - that is YOU and the sidekick - the story-telling perspective will bounce back-and-forth between the 2 characters. It will also eventually explain what is currently going on at the blue Prologue text. I'm using RicePounder as sort of an exposition to introduce past events (explained in Ch1 + 2) that lead up to the "present time". Chapter 3 & 4 will catch up to the present time and should get into the more ridiculous bits. |
Nov 17, 2019 2:37 PM
#22
| Sweet, I'm looking forward to it! :D Ganbatte Rice! |
君の声 忘れない 涙も 忘れない |
Nov 17, 2019 5:47 PM
#23
| Bahahahaha I'm loving this xD You're a real talented writer Rice, you do this often? |
君の声 忘れない 涙も 忘れない |
Nov 18, 2019 10:29 AM
#24
UhOhSPAGET said: Bahahahaha I'm loving this xD You're a real talented writer Rice, you do this often? Haha, thanks. I only started writing fanfics when I joined MAL...probably the 2nd week since i joined. I do this as a way to exercise the creative side of my brain, b/c I spend most of my time like a robot at work. This helps cut the boredom when I don't have anything major to do on the weekends. The few light novels that I've read gave me an idea of how to write passages from different perspectives. I still don't know any advanced story-writing techniques though...its all just off the top of my head |
Dec 8, 2019 12:10 AM
#25
| @Mimurona 's story so far...click the Chapter links below to see our previous adventures! It was barely dawn when @Mimurona and I were awoken by the rambunctious conversation between two bounty hunters. Not much light penetrated the deciduous forest canopy and even the animals were not yet active this early in the day. The scout somehow overheard our whispered stratagem and immediately countered with violent force. Mimurona and I weren’t the fighting sort, so we retreated further into the forest interior in a perpendicular direction from the dirt path & the bushes that we spent the night under. The flora was as much of a hindrance to our ability to navigate as it was for the scout and warrior who were initially 10 horse-lengths away when we first fled. We were close enough to hear their shouting, but we never looked back in our panicked flight. Fear and adrenaline clouded our minds – we had no time to think about whether we would get lost in these woods or if there were any forest monsters lurking in the shadows ahead. With a premonition of victory, the scout boisterously taunted. “Just come quietly and save yourself a slow death. Ya’know running will only make your life worse, because I’m gonna eventually find you anyways – what’s the point of it all? I’ll track you down like wounded fawns and flay you like venison! Afterall, we only need your heads as proof...give up now and I might consider showing some mercy! “Are you always so talkative? Chase them down immediately before we lose sight of them in this foliage! Why do you even spare them a moment to react? This could have been over from the beginning if you---“ “Like I keep saying again and again...let ME handle the tracking. If it gets rough, you do your part. Meathead, listen to me and learn something. When you hunt and score a clean shot on your prey, sprinting after it is just a waste of your own energy and pushes the prey further from your grasp. Experts know to quietly follow their trail. The one I shot is probably easy game, so that’s at least 10 gold coins waiting for us.” “I see....Annnd....what about the other one who isn’t wounded? Did you forget about them possibly getting away? So the way I see it is this – if you shot BOTH of them, we would have had 20 gold from the start.” “Ah just shut up and follow me. There’s always the chance that the one on its deathbed will slow the other one down; and remember, with ‘higher sense’, sniffing out the blood would be easier than looking for footsteps and broken twigs through the dirt. We might just have that 20 gold split evenly for the two of us – even though I still think I that I did most of the work this time around. ” “Hey don’t get all cocky you lanky twerp. In that last contract, I did most of the fighting and held them off while you were just taking it easy and shooting at the back--“ -------------------- Mimurona was uninjured and took the responsibility of leading the way. Even so, these woods were unfamiliar to us and one wrong turn or one unfortunate tumble would likely either cost us our lives or result in our capture. We had not been running for long, but the arrow shaft impaling my abdomen was making it increasingly difficult for me to move. With every step, vibration, or tug from entangled brush, I felt the shaft rub against my innards. The arrow going in didn’t hurt as much as the aftermath...perhaps with all that adrenaline coursing through my body, I wasn’t thinking about the full extent of damage that had been done to me. Over the course of our retreat, the searing pain worsened and began to blur my vision. I know without a doubt that I was steadily losing blood. *Pant, gasp..* “Rice, I think we are a good distance away from them. I can’t hear their shouting or footsteps anymore. That scout, I overheard him say something about ‘higher sense’...there’s no way a human could have naturally overheard our whispering at that distance – maybe some other race like the human-beast hybrids, elves, or the like could do that, but a human? They had to have did something to achieve that. Heck, as loud as they were hollering at each other back on the dirt path, it was challenging enough for us to eavesdrop on their careless banter. After catching up to Mimurona’s current position, I leaned against the sturdy trunk of a large oak tree and in a strained voice with shallow breaths “Hey M, could you...read the situation...any better? LOOK at me! Did you... somehow forget?” “No, I didn’t leave anything behind, why, what? Is this one of your stupid riddles?” A few brief seconds passed before Mimurona slyly responded “Ohhh right! You mean the ‘morning wood’ that’s sticking out of you?” “Ha-he—eugh OW! Seriously!? Don’t you think...that it is too soon....you ass...hole. I can’t move anymore. Care to help?” I tried to take one step away from the tree, but my knees buckled and I fell flat on my side. Mimurona walked over to my position and lent a left shoulder to lean on. In the process, Mimurona’s left hand gently grasp the left side of my torso “Eww, you’re all sweaty and reek” “...I’m not sweating. I actually feel really cold.” “My gods! How much blood did you lose? The wound isn’t even that big and you haven’t pulled the arrow shaft out yet.” Mimurona gently laid a hand near RicePounder’s arrow shaft wound...”It’s still warm with flowing blood...we need to do something to stop the bleeding, but if we take it out now, we have no way of closing it. Hmm...look, this isn’t going to sound great, but we just need to try and find our way forwards. Sorry, but you’ll have to try and endure it the best you can. When we were eavesdropping on the bounty hunters, they said something about an outpost along the path, maybe midway through the forest. Rice, just stay with me until we reach this outpost. The guards or whoever is garrisoned there may have a way to heal your wounds. I think it’s the only way, plus news of our bounty couldn’t have reached that far in such short time.” “...mhm...ok then”. I couldn’t see anymore and my hands and feet were getting numb. If it weren’t for me leaning on Mimurona’s left shoulder and their guidance, I couldn’t tell whether I was moving left, right, or in circles around a tree. I was drained of energy and there wasn’t much use in me complaining about my status, so I just focused on moving my legs one at a time. I knew we were now going a turtle’s pace – that I was holding our progress back. For some reason, Mimurona was continuously talking to me about all sorts of random funny things that happened over our career. “...remember that time when I accidently mistook the sugar as salt when we were cooking a feast for a bunch of nobles? I could have sworn we would get a beating, but since we took out all the expensive bottles of liquor first, they got so drunk before the meal that they didn’t even notice. Haha, did you see their drunken faces, Rice?” “...mm” “Or how bout that other time, Rice? Hey, you’re getting really heavy, c’mon now. You gotta put more effort into those legs. I’m tired from running all day too, ya’know. Rice? Hey RICE!” --------------------- Ughh...there’s no way I can carry a limp body to the outpost on my own. We’re already so far away from the dirt path and there’s no way I’m going to retrace our steps to find it again. We lost them for now, but they could be hot on our trail....hell, they could be lurking in the shadows and I’d never see it coming. *Swish-swish* Shit, I need an easier way to move without them noticing. I’m breaking too many twigs, snapping too many branches, stumbling over, and digging my heels into the dirt for what feels like an eternity. I think is almost noon. *splash swish* I really miss the peaceful days of mundane work, a warm meal...our random banters with other servants at the estate. *Sniff, sniff* If I could only go back in time and we never went into that room to clean. If only we never saw that god-forsaken scroll and let someone else pick it up...It have been better to just be left alone in blissful ignorance! DAMN IT ALL and damn the gods! We didn’t do anything to deserve this! *glub, drip, swish splash* Argh shit, keep it together...focus now...just breath. That sound is, it’s gotta be running water. This works in our favor...a gentle pebble stream about 6 horse-drawn carriage carts wide and only knee deep. If it’s running north to south, then we can just follow it upstream and it’d eventually lead us back onto the westward path, a bridge, or some kind of stone crossing. I might even find some help along the way and it’ll be way easier to drag Rice along the stream than it is to trek through the dense forest. This is perfect! Our footsteps would be harder to trace by sight and sound if we walk in the shallow parts. It wasn’t long after walking up stream, I came across an enormous wisteria tree with lush green leaves and bluish to purplish petals. They were native to this region, but this one in particular was double the average size of the normal variety. It was situated in the center of the pebble & rock stream and on top of a miniature green grass island. The wide stream gently ran around the island and carried the windswept petals down a sparkling stream. The entire scene looked like a page right out of a fairytale – I wouldn’t be surprised if fairies called this little idyllic island in the stream their home. This would have been a wonderful place to rest, if not for the situation we were in. Rice isn’t looking good, very pale and cold to the touch, but still alive and shallow breathing. Perhaps this is a good time to lay low on the island and bandage the arrow wound with some cloth – not sure if it’ll do much to help though. There isn’t much time, we’ve got to double our pace. *Slash, slap, crack – rustle* It’s THEM, that’s sooner than I expected...they’ve bushwacked their way to the stream. Figures this would happen though, if you head south in one direction long enough you’d be sure to come across this lengthy body of water. It would be wishful thinking to assume they’d given up their chase so easily or have gotten lost. If anything, people like them are probably more used to these woods than two runaway house servants. Shit-shit-shit...what options do I have...think, THINK god damnit! It’s no use...I have no good solutions and no good answers. All I can do is try my best and all I did was give it my all, but in any case, let me just say that “If you can still hear me Rice, I’m sorry...they’ve backed us into a hard corner---” ----------------------- “Heheh, look at all this trampled ground, it’s like they are aren’t even trying to hide from us...like some brute boar rampaged through the brush straight towards the stream. If it was THIS easy for even me to see evidence of their whereabouts, I can’t say that I’m that impressed with your ability to track. All that gloating, like your skills are the stuff of legends, was all for nothing haha.” *sigh*“Every time you think that you’ve got one over me, you’re wrong. Look, this case is an exception. Whoever these servants are that we’re dealing with probably don’t know a thing about fighting or adventuring through these woods. A dumb boar, however brutish it may be, would have better skill at hiding and navigating these woods than a bunch of sheltered house servants. I have hunted deer that was more challenging to bring down & track than these idiots we’re following.” “Alright, alright, fair point...just keep sniffing the blood trail ya tiny mutt. We’ve got to be close. W-well, speak of the devil! There’s the one you shot leaning up against that big tree.” “No wonder why the scent of blood is all over the place...probably best we don’t drink from the stream for a while. The water has changed tint – oh wait, it’s pointless telling you...you can’t see these details anyways. I don’t smell the other one though...you’re right, I should have wounded both of them to get a blood trail for each.” With a corner of a thin smile raised and a tone of triumph “This is the perfect ‘I told ya so’ moment. I’m not gonna be too angry at you, but I’m not gonna let this go for a while either. If we find the second one, then I’ll forget this little oversight.” “You can be surprisingly generous, ya meathead. Right, let’s walk over and get to business. Let me do the talking as usual and if they pull anything funny, you get rough.” “Just make it quick, I’ll be watching on the side for any threats or clues on the second one.” ----------------------- Huh, did I lose consciousness? I must be dead...this has got to be the afterlife. I’ve never seen such marvelous scenery. By anytime now, I should be seeing sexy angels clad in white silk and gold adornments. Everything was splendid...aside from the thing sticking out from my gut....oh, that’s right. I opened my blank eyes from what felt like a peaceful slumber; but shortly upon regaining consciousness, I was assailed with the dreadful recollection of what had transpired since the morning. In my blurry vision, I saw a skinny figure walk across water and then knelt down next to me. Gooood morning...or actually, it is midday. Did you have a nice nap? Because while you and your friend were having a happy stroll through the woods, WE were busy at work. What did I tell you earlier, if you had just handed yourselves over quietly, you wouldn’t have had to die a miserably slow death AND I wouldn’t be as pissed-off, because you’ve wasted so much of my valuable time – lots of time that I have, and you don’t. So, let me cut a deal with you. You tell me where your friend is and I’ll give you my healing potion, which should stabilize your internal bleeding. *Cough cough* Hah...I’m no adventurer like you, but I’m no fool either. What guarantee that I have that you hold true to your word, that the potion isn’t poison, that you’ll spare either of our lives? Are you THAT dense? Oh...that’s quite rude, actually, it’s probably your loss of blood that’s making you irrational. Look around you, do you see your friend? Your friend left you to die; because instead of the both of you being caught, it was better that you were sacrificed so that the other could get away. From our current position, it only takes about half and hour’s trek northwest to the nearest outpost – you were so close. You know the saying “you don’t have to outrun a hungry bear, you just have to outrun the slowest person in the group”. From where I stand, I’ve got a guaranteed bounty whether you live or die. I can probably convince our employer to pay us even more by bringing you in alive, so the incentive for me is pretty clear. For you, well....you get to live, and you get revenge on your ‘friend’ that decided to leave you behind. What do you say? ....give me the health potion first and then we’ll talk. Otherwise, if I tell you and that potion doesn’t work, I would be double the fool. Do you know what position you’re in? I’m the one who sets the conditions, you take it or leave it. *COUGH-cough* Haha. HAH. Oww! I know exactly where you stand. I never had any intention of dealing with you, because I knew from the start that you were up to some trick. You hold all the advantage, so it makes no sense in you extending a compromise. You said you’d get your bounty with us dead or alive. You would only give me the potion AFTER I told you the information you needed; yet again, it matters not if I die. If you truly intended to keep me alive and cut a deal, you would have stopped my bleeding so that you could extract maximum information. Well, you’ll get nothing anyways. It was fun toying with you and wasting more of your ‘valuable time’ before I die. I might know exactly how to get to my companion or I might not...such a shame you’ll never know and you’ll never be able to catch them. The scout had had enough with the conversation and decided to wrap things up. Hey ya meathead, we’re done here, this person is better off dead! As for YOU. No one gets one over me. In the remaining time you have left in this world, I’m gonna make it a living hell. heehee HAHA! The enraged scout started maniacally laughing and drew a small dagger from his hip. Perhaps it was because I had lost so much blood, my body was numb, and that I was prepared for an inevitable death, I didn’t show any despair or care of what the scout was about to do. This only inflamed the scout further. ---------------------------- *Schwing...splat* UuuaAGHH! The dagger dug into my right thigh. I still felt pain, but it was not nearly as painful as the arrow shaft lodged in my abdomen. It’s a morbid realization that one could compare these sources of pain...only those in perilous straits would ever know. I averted my gaze away from my assailant and looked up at the tall branches of a Wisteria tree. It may have been just my imagination, but I thought I saw Mimurona leap down from the highest branch. *Fwoosh...THUMP!* Guuugh! *Cough COUGH, gasp* H-how..did y-you!? You were here the whole time?....uhh.....The scout drew one last breath before passing. So it wasn’t my imagination, M had just about free dived off the highest branch and landed feet first into the scout’s collar bones. The scout was lying with his back on the ground, but still conscious. The shock of such an ambush and the broken bones left the scout stunned for words and unable to react to this critical blow. Using the momentum of the fall, M lodged a kitchen knife into the top of the scout’s skull. Red and pinkish brain matter seeped out of the crack produced from the still lodged kitchen knife. The island was now stained in the blood of both ally and foe. The kitchen knife was firmly stuck as M tried to yank it out of the skull. On the other side of the gigantic Wisteria tree, the warrior who had stood guard watching the other shore line was alerted to all the commotion. The warrior sprinted around to our side with a flanged mace in the right hand and a small wooden buckler on the left. M had not enough time to dislodge the kitchen knife nor was able to react to the approaching warrior from behind. *Woosh- CRACK* Aaargh!! *Splash splat-pat Mimurona was knocked off of the scout’s crushed chest by the force of the warrior’s mighty blow. M’s body skip 3 times off the surface of the water. *glub-glub, COUGH-cough-cough* The strike from the warriors flanged mace had dislocated the right shoulder. Being knocked into the water and inhaling some had also sapped the stamina from Mimurona. None-the-less, M remained conscious, slowly stood up, but was now in a weakened state. The right should was no longer capable of grasping or moving freely, so the left hand drew another kitchen implement – a rectangular cleaver. You’ll have no unbroken bones left in your body after I’m done with you! You’ve got no more options now that you lost the element of surprise. You think you can best me 1 on 1? HAHA! Let’s go...just try to keep up! The warrior raised the buckler, assumed a low fighting stance, and began to slowly approach M. With each step the warrior brandished his flanged mace and slapped the buckler to signal impending doom. The two were consigned to duel in the knee-deep water next to the tree island. M was in pain and the water made it difficult to dodge the warrior's attacks. You can’t hit what you can’t catch! You stupid servant, I don’t need to necessarily chase after you. Obviously, you care enough about your friend to stick around long enough and do my partner in...so what’s it gonna be? I’m standing between you and your friend...if you leave, I’ll take your friend and get my bounty OR if you fight and defeat me, you and your friend gets to leave. It should go without saying, but if you lose, it’s just more gold for me. You gonna gamble on an ‘all or nothing bet’? Because I LIVE rolling the dice everyday dealing with life & death fights just like this...I’m more in my element that you are yours! C’MON you wannabe hero, show me what you’ve got!” Mimurona was conflicted on what to do and say, but one thing stood out to me as I was observing this fight. M wasn’t ready to abandon me, yet also wasn’t sure about the chances of victory in battle. I knew this was what was going through M’s mind... I hate to admit it, but the warrior spoke some valid statements. This meant only one thing....in order to tip the balance in favor of M.... ------------------- What’s the matter? I thought you were made of more. You took out my partner so easily, but you can’t do shit against me? HAHA. Wooop, a dislocated right shoulder and now a mangled right forearm. I think I’ll break you in order of each limb, then I’ll crack your ribs – don’t worry, I’ll leave your face alone, because I’ll be needed it for proof of the bounty. Mimurona bit the blunt side of the kitchen cleaver to hold it temporarily and then withdrew several smaller kitchen knives (everything from paring knives, cheese knives, butter knives, flaying knives) and threw each of them at the warrior. I’ve got no end to these. What’s the matter? For a tough warrior, all you’re doing is hiding behind a piece of wood...what...are you actually afraid!? Just as fast as the warrior spits provocations, M reciprocates...and just as the warrior swings his flanged mace, M was able to dodge at least 2/3 of the attacks. A battle lasting a few minutes between a house servant and a self-proclaimed warrior was unexpected. The warrior even started to doubt his own abilities since failing to take down this target after so long. This prolonged fight gave me the opportunity to gather what energy I had remaining. Resting by the Wisteria tree allowed me to regain consciousness and the ability to think clearly, but it did not significantly change my fate. Though things weren’t looking good for me, I had one thing that I was confident in – that I had nothing else to lose. The blood loss and numbness was an alarming warning that death was coming, BUT it also meant that pain was no longer a deterrence. Furthermore, the duel between Mimurona and the warrior had made its way back towards the Wisteria tree island’s shore. The warrior had completely lost interest in my whereabouts and was giving undivided attention to fighting Mimurona. This was most likely M’s plan – an impromptu opportunity that was the gamble of our lives. I unsheathed my Mochi-Maker 1000 and gripped it with both hands. The tree island’s shore was about 1.5 stacked wooden beer barrels higher than the stream that eroded it. From this height, I began my painful sprint towards the shore...there wasn’t much distance to cover and my vision was still blurred from blood loss; however, these circumstances were the best that we could create on the spur of the moment. Somehow, Mimura had brought the fight within arm’s reach of this elevated shore and had the warrior’s back exposed toward my position. Instead of pitching another kitchen knife, M produced a small tin canister of fine red powder. The lid was popped open and its contents emptied in the direction of the warrior. The warrior was subtly and gradually conditioned into buckler blocking whatever objects M had thrown. What was not expected was the fine red powder that now clung to every orifice around the stream-moistened warrior. The powder had an immediate effect on the warrior and hindered the sense of sight, smell, and touch. Rice! Let’s make the best damn spicy mochi of our lifetime! It is TIME! HuuuWAaaAH! Predicting that something foul was afoot, the warrior swung a wide arc towards Mimurona to create some distance. The warrior then quickly held the buckler with the left hand for upper torso & head protection, and then swiveled to see what was happening up elevation on the tree island. As the warrior expected, the once incapacitated house servant laying by the tree was up at full sprint with weapon in hand. Having been flanked by both sides, the senses impaired, and lack of support were all tactical blunders that would amount to grave outcomes. Threat priority was thrown off-balance and the warrior’s slight delay in initiative gave Mimurona the chance to turn the tide of battle. M expecting the warrior’s flustered reaction, now took the kitchen meat cleaver with the left hand and flung it at the warrior’s left calf. The cleaver stuck into the unprotected flesh and dropped the warrior into a kneeling position – the left-handed buckler was also temporarily lowered. At this crucial moment, I leapt off the elevated island shore at full sprint and brought down a vertical swing with my wooden Mochi-Maker 1000. My every last bit of remaining energy was brought forth in this final act of insanity. I had no calculated movements, I was not even sure if my swing would even hit its mark, and I was just about out of breath....but all I wanted in that moment was to POUND ONCE MORE. This Is My FINAL POUND! The wooden hammer head came down with the combined energy of the sprint, the centrifugal force of the vertical swing, and the added force of the elevated leap. *Booom!*...*Schhcrack* The hammer head struck the warrior’s skullcap near the left temple and the wooden Mochi-Maker 1000’s handle snapped in the process. Although the skull cap protected the warrior’s skull from fracturing, it did not prevent the neck from twisting beyond the normal anatomical range. The warrior’s body laid limp on its back and was submerged in the bloody knee-deep stream. The head did not face upwards to the sky; rather it was faced down to drown in the tainted waters of battle. I had now lost all strength and laid motionless on top of the now deceased warrior. My consciousness fades once more....such a shame that I could not observe the results of my greatest pounding. If I do wake from this cold slumber, I hope @Mimurona will tell me how it turned out. It is finally over Rice...this ordeal is over. Let’s have a much needed rest. I’ll tell you all about it, so you better get up after you’ve rested, okay? We’ve still got a long journey ahead of us, places to see, stuff to eat, and a new life ahead of us. I better see you up in the next morning, you hear? Remember that bet we made 3 weeks ago, I’m still going to hold you to that, so I better see you back to yourself...you hear me Rice? Rice...Rice! |
RicePounderDec 19, 2019 11:42 PM
Dec 14, 2019 8:35 PM
#26
| I'm curious about what a fanfiction about me would be like... o(*^▽^*)o @Ricepounder (editing this post so my post count can stay at 666) Honestly, making one based on my forum set/profile, and off my vibe in general, sounds good. I have no specific requests, as I'm more curious as to what you'd write with freedom. (❁´▽`❁)*✲ﾟ* |
OfDeathandLoveDec 15, 2019 4:11 PM
Dec 15, 2019 6:19 AM
#27
| @RicePounder Make me one please.~☆♡ |
 サディスティックな考え "JUST KILL ME." サディスティックマインド |
Dec 15, 2019 3:01 PM
#28
| ^^ OfDeathandLove said: I'm curious about what a fanfiction about me would be like... o(*^▽^*)o Would you like for me to attempt one? Just let me know and I'll try and come up with something. I don't really know what genre types you're interested in and what not. My go-to method is to just make something up using whatever info or vibe I get from your profile. If there is something you'd like to steer me towards, I'll instead incorporate what you want into the story. I see it like a chef making a dish with specific requests from a diner...the chef has creative liberties, but is guided by what the diner wants - the end product (hopefully) being something satisfying. -------------------- ^ Sure...first of all, is there anything in particular you want to steer the story towards? Or should I just make one with my usual methods? |
Dec 15, 2019 3:59 PM
#29
RicePounder said: Make it about me telling @Ipreferecchi that I'm a persuader (ESTP) and not an advocate (ENFP) as he says that I am. Here's some info on ESTP:^^ OfDeathandLove said: I'm curious about what a fanfiction about me would be like... o(*^▽^*)o Would you like for me to attempt one? Just let me know and I'll try and come up with something. I don't really know what genre types you're interested in and what not. My go-to method is to just make something up using whatever info or vibe I get from your profile. If there is something you'd like to steer me towards, I'll instead incorporate what you want into the story. I see it like a chef making a dish with specific requests from a diner...the chef has creative liberties, but is guided by what the diner wants - the end product (hopefully) being something satisfying. -------------------- ^ Sure...first of all, is there anything in particular you want to steer the story towards? Or should I just make one with my usual methods? Are energetic thrillseekers who are at their best when putting out fires, whether literal or metaphorical. They bring a sense of dynamic energy to their interactions with others and the world around them. They assess situations quickly and move adeptly to respond to immediate problems with practical solutions. Active and playful, ESTPs are often the life of the party and have a good sense of humor. They use their keen powers of observation to assess their audience and adapt quickly to keep interactions exciting. Although they typically appear very social, they are rarely sensitive; the ESTP prefers to keep things fast-paced and silly rather than emotional or serious.~☆♡ |
サディスティックな考え "JUST KILL ME." サディスティックマインド |
Dec 18, 2019 11:55 PM
#30
| As requested by @mindstate on the FG thread "Confess something to the user above v10" I've posted the MAL Fanfic here. This request wasn't the typical "made to order" custom created MAL Fanfic; but rather, I had this story already written back around October. I had planned to release it as a FG response to @Lielaxea [now named PancakesforAbby] for the FG "What is the above user to you?", but couldn't get the timing right. (the FG rules state you you're to respond to the user above - I couldn't find the right opening to do so...I'll just resort to counting this as a "request from mindstate") Loopholes FTW lol. I'll post the story here for anyone interested in reading...click the Spoiler Tag to open the passage. --------------------------------------- Miracle Witch Lielaxea I did not personally know @Lielaxea when I was alive as a human; but from what I’ve seen, I can say that this witch has many facades. It all depends on how you look at it. From your perspective, you’d sooner believe that the witch is malignant...but the same could be said of you by the victims you’ve taken. Lielaxea’s actions have restored balance between the mundane and the mystical. How so? I merely, offer up my services and THEY decide whether to partake or not. How can I be blamed for a simple transaction? I have what they want; and in return, they must give me what I want. I have been punished for doing no wrong. But you know that it is all a lie...a custom tailored fantasy with no tangible reality. You take away the illusion and the man will be left with nothing, no satisfaction, not even his life. You know this, yet you believe that what you do is fair – that an illusion is of equal value to a person’s life. Do you truly believe that you are completely free of responsibility...that you have done no wrong in this man's death? I see no issue. The man had desires, yet knew that he could never obtain them in his life. What I did was give him a taste of that yearning desire. What is the point of this man’s life if it were long-lasting yet never fulfilling? I gave him a taste of pure bliss, an illusion it may be, but in his mind everything was as real as the mundane world. So you say... Well then, rather than rely on conjecture, I will peek into the flow of time and let others be the judge of your actions. -------------------------------- They say that with sufficient technology, education, and science, humans can understand the world. That given powerful enough technology, everything that exists can be quantified, measured, and logically explained. Perhaps it is best to let them believe that they hold the means to obtain all knowledge...some phenomena are best left in the hands of those who have the ability to understand the mystical realm. Those who willingly deny the existence of the arcane have confined themselves to a mundane existence; and as a result, they have gradually lost their ability to perceive what lies beyond physical sight. It is these circumstances that bring the curious to my door step – it is these very circumstances that justify what I do as a means to profit and to maintain the balance ------------------------------- *clack, fwoosh, Ding ding ling* “It’s a shame the door chimes are so obnoxiously loud. I was rather enjoying the peaceful silence and the flickering of the candle fire.” “Oh uhh, sorry for barging in on you little lady...Hey kid, this IS the ‘Willow Wisp Parlor’ right? My GPS led me here. I’m actually looking for someone by the name @Lielaxea....does it ring any bells to you?” The girl softly exhaled and made to stand. With her hands gently tugging the sides of her long frilled skirt, she made a discreet 'court curtsy' towards the gentleman standing by the store’s entrance. “Mr. Whicker, you’re speaking to the owner of the Willow Wisp Parlor. Please, take a seat. Care to indulge in some of the finest teas, perhaps you’ll try some of our renowned pastries to go with a fragrant beverage?” Clearly flustered at his faux pas, the man reciprocated with an overly zealous 90 degree bow “What? Oh...my apologies! I thought you were uhh a much older lady. Wait, I mean...I didn’t—“ *sigh* “It’s alright, you’re forgiven. I am more disturbed by your state of panic than I am at the misunderstanding. What can I do for you this afternoon, Mr. Whicker?” “Well, you see...” The man paused for a split second, his mouth was moving, but the words struggled to come out. “H-how do you know my name!? I haven’t even introduced myself yet... Wow, you’re really good at this. So my buddy wasn’t lying when he said you’re one of the more convincing spirit mediums.” “To say ‘convincing’ implies that you do not trust in my ability or perhaps you do not truly believe in the mystical. You know, I’m a very merciful witc..uh-ahem..waitress, so I’ll pretend I didn’t hear anything. It seems you know very well the theme of this establishment. You sure have a way of making me break character.” “Sorry, my bad then. I thought you said you were the owner. So you’re my waitress, the owner, AND a spirit medium all-in-one? I mean, I’ve been to some eccentric maid cafes in my time, but this takes the top on ridiculousness. I guess you just gotta do what you must in order to stand out as a business, am I right?” “Sir, what is it that you seek here? If you have no business with me then I suggest you leave, unless you want to experience whatever awful things a witc...a waitress will do in retaliation to your offhand insults!” “Okay, okay, let me just cut to the chase before I unknowingly dig myself a deeper hole. I need some particular advice. You see---” Sensing a long story coming, Lielaxea began serving some tea and plating an assortment of finger-food pastries for her ill-mannered guest. “---I’m not really religious, but I don’t discredit those who believe in things like gods, spirits of the dead, and evil beings.” The man instinctively grabbed the cup of tea Lielaxea prepared just moments ago and began nibbling on a scone while telling his story. “Shortly after my uncle died, I visited his grave twice so far. The first time was 2 weeks ago and the 2nd time last week. Each time I went there, I got this weird vibe – hairs standing straight up, sudden chills, and my peripheral vision gets kind of blurred. It’s not my tears affecting my vision or anything, I just get tunnel vision every once in a while at the cemetery, almost like I’m spacing out. I plan on visiting again today, but wanted to get a different perspective on this issue.” The elegant girl’s eyes flashed with intrigue and her mind went racing; yet she forced herself to display a calm and ordinary image “Oh, I see. Here’s my suggestion sir, and if you will: do not visit the grave for another 2-3 weeks. I believe that your recently deceased, Uncle Barry, may have lingering regrets because he cared so much for you and the family. Give his spirit some time to move on in peace. What you experienced earlier was the cumulative lingering regrets of your uncle combined with the same feelings of the other deceased who were buried on nearby hollowed ground.” “Understood miss. Thanks...I feel a little more at ease already. Hey, this tea combined with these pastries are phenomenal, mmMM!” “Thank you for your patronage Mr. Whicker, and here’s your bill...the full package which includes the tea, fresh pastries, and private fortune-telling session comes to $40. I hope you had a pleasant experience at The Willow Wisp Parlor”. “Whoa, hey, wait a minute. The back of this menu says that if the wait staff breaks character, the customer gets a 10% discount.” Upon hearing the man put up such resistance, the girl’s golden irises began to faintly glow and the interior lighting flickered ever so briefly. She cherubically insisted “Sir, if you will, your total comes out to be $40”. The man blankly stared at the girl for a brief moment and then succinctly responded “Yes. My bill is $40. Please accept this $50 bill and keep the change. Good bye.” The man uncharacteristically proceeded in an orderly fashion, stood up at attention, then tucked the chair back to its original position underneath the table, followed by methodically exiting the store without another word. ---------------------------- “Phew....it is taxing enough on the mind when one must parley with the mundane – let alone provide a profitable service for them just to make ends-meet. I should really charge the man an extra $200 for what I am about to do for him and his bloodline.” Peeking out from the office room hallway, a black cat emerges “Meow—nyaan....Gaghh he’s finally gone. I’m sick of sounding like a cat the whole day because people’s world view is so narrow. I mean, a talking cat here or there isn’t going to result in the town burning you at the stake. It’s the 21st century, no one does witch burnings anymore! They’ll just think that you’re cosplaying and that I’m just a cat with some hidden audio device to sound cute.” “Silence you hairy fiend! You got us chased out of town countless times already. We’re doing fairly well so far, so don’t ruin this for me. Pretending 8 hours a day isn’t going to ruin your mental health – you’re a cat, so what’s wrong with acting & being a ‘cat’. Besides, it’s no different than you faffing about when you could be helping me in other ways”. “But, but...” The cat lowered his posture and gave the most vulnerable teary-eyed feline stare at @Lielaxea. “Ughhh...fine. Here’s the deal RicePounder. You scout out the cemetery where Mr. Whicker’s uncle is buried and tell me what’s going on while I clean up the shop and close it early. I want to know what I’m dealing with in advance. If you prove useful, I’ll buy you that new feather toy and some Fancy Feast for diner.” “Purrr!...Alright, let’s do this!” with renewed vigor, the cat vaulted out of a nearby open window and made haste towards his mission... |
RicePounderJan 1, 2020 7:33 PM
Dec 21, 2019 3:56 PM
#31
| The Chronicles @OfDeathandLove Countless secrets have been tucked away with the passing of people, changes in society, war, natural destruction, and sometimes misinterpretation of the past obscures the truth. What’s really happened, from whose perspective, and just how much information could you pry from the deceased? ------------------------------ The semester at The University of Utah is coming to a close and the ‘20th Century World History’ final exam wasn’t that difficult to complete. When it comes to subject matter that you’re interested in learning, the details are easier to remember and the open-ended exam responses came to me as naturally as Bob Ross paints on an empty canvass. I must have finished my exam a good 45 minutes ahead of the 2 hour time limit; and on my way out, I saw my classmate dfsafsaf still hard at work filling in answers. I guess I’ll have to pick another time to get to know him – no rush though, its summer break and we’ve got 3 months to kick back & relax. Walking 6 blocks to-and-from the university kept me in good physique; and now that it was warm out, everyone was in good spirits. University towns always had something fun to do in the late afternoon to evenings; and every-once-in-a-while, I’d join my classmates & friends for some drinks. Though admittedly, I’d prefer the quieter lifestyle of reading, listening to music, and generally enjoying the great outdoors in peace. I think for tonight, I’ll stay home, eat, and then retire to my room to browse internet before I head to bed. The MAL forum games are mildly entertaining and maybe @RicePounder has written another crazy MAL user fanfic story to read again. Overall, I just want a relaxing night....plus, it’s a bit too expensive to be going out to have fun all the time. My part-time work just barely covers the apartment & living expenses; and because I wanted to experience life independent of parents and avoid being crammed inside a tiny room with a random stranger, this small apartment within walking distance of the university was the right choice. ------------------ I was just about to walk up the outer stairs to my 2nd floor apartment door when— “Pardon me dearie, do you have some time to talk?” a sweet old lady approached me from behind. Oh hi, Mrs. Kitsu. What can I do for you? Oh I’m sorry for bothering you when you’re so busy with school and work. Don’t fret about what I am about to say, but I wanted to check up on you. Nowadays, kids your age aren’t putting enough meat on them bones and you’re always working yourself silly. I noticed for this month you’ve been 2 weeks late on rent. Oh! I’m so sorry about that, I got so distracted with my finals and forgot to send the check through the drop box. Here, let me look into my account and then I’ll write that check for you ASAP. No need to rush dearie, I’ll just be across the road in my office. The old lady made her way back to her dwelling and so did I – the matter of rent needs to be taken care of immediately. I’d feel really bad if I didn’t hold my end of the bargain. The old landlady’s house was a stone’s throw away from my 2nd floor apartment. From past interactions with her, I figured that she’s lived around this area her whole life. The only thing odd about this rental property was that the 1st floor was always left vacant. Even the locals said that they’ve never seen anyone using the 1st floor. Rumor has it that the building is so old that it’s falling apart on its foundations, but I’ve yet to see any evidence of this place crumbling down on my end. The age of the building is probably why renting here is as affordable as it is. At least it’s cheap enough for a university student with part-time money to— Wait, what!? There’s not enough in the account? Shit, the pay week is NEXT week, not this week. Ughhh...it’s embarrassing enough that I forgot to pay on time, but now what am I going say to her?” *Sigh* Every step closer to the old landlady’s house made me nervous about what was to come. I couldn’t think of any great excuse to justify my mistakes nor could I think of anything to mitigate the guilt of it all. I guess, I’ll have to just face the judge and jury on this one. *Knock knock knock* Come on in, please have a seat, I’ll pour some tea for you. Damn it, I regret taking that part-time job as a cashier, it isn’t netting enough money...maybe I should have worked at that sports bar and let loose an extra shirt button, maybe talk ditzy to the guys, and upsell the alcohol. AlphaTranny always gloats about how much he’d make on a busy evening. I hope you like it with sugar & cream. This is one of my favorite blends of English Black Tea. It goes very well with these sugar cookies I baked earlier – have some dear. The old landlady was dexterously preparing her fine china tea set, saucers, and a variety of goods to snack on. Without even acknowledging the decadent refreshments in front of me, I shifted my gaze away from the old lady out of embarrassment and shame. I had tried my best to hide my flushed cheeks and wavering tone... Uhh, thanks, Ms. Kitsu. Um....about that check. I’ve got $700 out of the required eight hundred for rent. I really thought this week was my pay period, but it’s actually next week. I’m REALLY sorry about the delay. ------------------ As if totally unfazed by the young lady’s response, Ms. Kitsu enjoyed a long sip of her afternoon tea and took several nibbles at the cookies on parlor table. Granny knows how it’s like to be a single lady on the streets. There were a couple of times when I had to show some leg and cleavage at the gentlemen’s club to get by. Ms. Kitsu gave a teasing smile and a wink to ease the tension. Just what is she implying? Wait....there’s no way that she wants me to do THAT! I mean, it is one of the quickest ways to get money in a college town full of rowdy & hormonal guys, but... Hmm...how about this... The pause in her thought process was enough to keep me nervously guessing what was about to come out of her flapping gums. I’ll forgive your late rent submission; and instead of charging you the full $800 every month, I’ll give you a 10% discount, for a total rent of $720 per month. But here is the condition: you’ll have to enter the 1st floor of that rental property and tidy it up each evening until it is completely clean. I’m getting too old to do the lifting and moving, but a young lady like yourself should have no problem. In a clearly relieved tone Ah, thank you, thank you. I’ll make this up to you, I promise. For a minute there, I thought you wanted me to work the street corners, haha-- I happily drank the warm tea in front of me to sooth my parched throat. That’s actually not a bad idea. I could have you do that...I mean, I did it in the past about 60 years ago, so I could teach you a thing or two about how to get a guy to— *COUGH COUGH!* I’ll get started on cleaning this evening! I had not imagined that I’d be juggling 2 part-time jobs during my summer break, but what other immediate choice did I have? At the very least, I can handle the cashier work from 10am to 4pm, then come back to the apartment building and be a janitor for a few hours each evening until the place is as good as new. The landlady didn’t specify a rigid time schedule of when she wanted the job done and trusted me enough to give me the keys to the place. I’d consider this an even trade...after all, I’m not going to make the same mistake twice and it’s not like I’ll be a janitor forever. The sooner I get this special job done, the sooner I can enjoy my summer. No time to cook an easy dinner tonight either, I’ll just order a small pizza for myself and continue to work. After all, I was anxious to check the 1st floor to see what mess I’ll be dealing with and to gauge how many days this might take me to finish. Plus, in all these years, no one has ever truly seen what this place looks like from the inside. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t a little curious about this place. I approached the double wooden doors to the 1st floor and grasped a large metallic key that looked like it came straight out of a video game – who even makes these anymore? *Click, ka-ching...Creeeak*The doors were a bit stiff from the lack of use; and as I stepped into the room, I could see the many years of accumulated dust and cobwebs. A quick horizontal scan of the area gives the impression that this place may have been an old tavern or restaurant at some point in the past. The stained walnut hardwood floors, oak bar stools, an old grandfather clock, hanging metal lanterns, brass chandeliers, and tables strewn all about the place were indicators of the time period this place may have operated in. There were almost no modern day objects and the only upgrades that I could make out were the light switch and the bar’s stainless steel sink – these most likely were installed by contractors to keep the building up to municipal code. All of this was a lot to take in at first and it took several minutes to plan out my approach. Welp, let’s start with the pushing aside all the tables and chairs and then sweeping the floors....it’s disturbing when you can see your own footprints from the displaced dust. The first hour of work was most efficient and went by quickly, at the second hour I started to tire, and by the third, I’ve had enough of working. Every few minutes, I’d peek at the grandfather clock by the bar liquor rack to see how much time has elapsed because this daunting task felt like it was taking way too long. Fatigue, hunger, and mostly boredom had my mind wandering, and I was looking for anything interesting to entertain my mundane existence. Ooo what’s this? This leather book looks old AF. Now if it were some kind of historical text with ancient knowledge it would have fetched a pretty penny, but the front leather cover only has the imprinted words “The Lunar Fox Inn”. Ahh, I see, this must be the guest registry book. There’s got to be some interesting people who’ve visited this place in the past. Pfft, what? What a let-down...the registry lines are all empty, it’s nothing but blank pages. Well, at least I can write that ‘I was here’...wait no, that’s too incriminating. If this belongs to the old lady or if it gets sold in some garage sale, I don’t want people knowing I messed with it...maybe I’ll write this instead...hehehe—“ *scribble* As much as I wanted to search this place for more old memorabilia, I had to start making headway with tidying this place up. It was roughly 7pm by now and I had to force myself to focus on the task ahead. To no avail, all I could do was daydream and fiddle around with the leftover items strewn throughout the Lunar Fox Inn. *Sweep-sweep* Euugh...is that rodent droppings? And what the hell is this? From the corner of my eye I spotted a flat & dark grainy mass, about the diameter of a small cookie jar lid. It was laying in the eastern corner of the tavern and right next to the restroom entrances. Out of a mixture of boredom & curiosity, which then shifted into concern, I cautiously approached the writhing mass to get a closer look at what it was. Oh, nothing to be too concerned about. Given how neglected this place is, I was expecting to see something like this sooner or later. It was mildly entertaining watching things unfold...I can just imagine a pompous artist observing this spectacle and using it as inspiration in his latest masterpiece. Mmm...I see this is an impeccable display of nature. I shall call this: The Tiny Tangential Tussle Comrades, tonight our colony will dine on the flesh of our enemies! Steel your resolve and dedicate your lives to the future of an unstoppable empire. CHAAARGE--- General, we’re taking heavy losses, but the giant fiend is also taking massive damage. At our current pace of disabling 2 leg a minute, we can expect it to be completely immobile and disassembled within 8 to 10 minutes time. Though this may be our eventual victory...but at what cost general, at what cost!? Lieutenant! There is a time for all of us, and even I am no different than the next valiant soldier on the frontlines. It is finally time to end this! Tell the Queen – no, tell mother, that it was an honor serving under her. Hiiiyaaaah! GENERAL, NOOO!.....General, you crazy bastard, going straight for the neck before we’ve even taken all the legs out first. I mistook you for a pompous ‘nest-jockey’ all this time and I didn’t know you felt so strongly about the lives of your soldiers. I’m sorry for misunderstanding you! Your sacrifice saved the lives of hundreds, I’ll make sure you’ll be memorialized in the hall of honor, next to the other 1,156 esteemed commanders who have died this season.... Needless to say, I had absolutely no motivation to continue cleaning anymore. I dialed for a small pizza to be delivered, scarfed it down with some refreshing soda, and sat my lethargic-ass on a rocking chair that I cleaned just moments earlier. I sensed a ‘food coma’ coming and shifted into a comfortable position – just a small nap after a nice meal wouldn’t hurt anyone...wait, I mean, I DESERVE this after all the hard work I put in! *Yawn* I think that a 30 minute powernap is all I need *Zzzzz...* *Click, DONG, DONG, DONG* Mm, hm? Wha—ahh. A groggy glance towards the old grandfather clock reads midnight. This is certainly no place to sleep through the night, it’s dirty, unfamiliar, and dark— ...wait a second, did I light that lantern? No that’s not right...it doesn’t get dark until 8pm at the height of summer and I could have sworn that I fell asleep before it got dark out. Or maybe I did light it? I must be getting old, but— WTF!? I didn’t move that bar stool next to the counter, and why are some of these pewter cups out? There’s no way they aren’t dusty after laying on the shelves for so long and I know for a fact that I didn’t move them onto the bar counter when I was cleaning.....Someone must have been here, but WHO?! I had half convinced myself that if it was anyone else who had a reason to be here at this hour, it would most likely be the kind old landlady coming in to check up on my progress. But another part of me was worried that it could be a thief, a homeless squatter, or maybe a frenzied druggy under the influence. In hindsight, it would have been wise to lock the door from the inside and check the rear exit since the start of this job, but it’s too late for regrets now. It wasn’t because I wanted to test my courage, but I had to get a glimpse of who the culprit was so that I could report it to the authorities and the old lady. Otherwise, if I called for help and gave them no evidence nor tangible descriptions, they would sooner suspect that it was ME who was up to no good – that I was the culprit who trashed the place all along. With myself and the old lady as the exceptions, nobody else should be here, and the old lady never mentioned having seen anyone else access this floor. All I had to do was SEE who else was on the 1st floor and then I’d make a run for it. I’m no wannabe hero and this isn’t some story where I’m some badass heroine – no, this could possibly be a real ‘life-or-death’ moment depending on who is present. I can only hope that it was just the old lady wandering about, but I’m going to hedge my bet and take a more cautious approach. ------------------------ In an attempt to generate as little noise as possible, I slowly & gently leaned forwards on the rocking chair before getting off of it. From cleaning this place earlier, I noticed that certain areas creaked when brusquely stepped over, so I also had to gradually distribute my weight evenly as I traversed on the hardwood floor. The gentle glow of a lit lantern could be seen on the western corner of the 1st floor. Beyond this tavern service floor and near the western corner, there was a ramped hallway that leads down to the basement level. There was no door which separated the hallway from the service floor; but instead, a heavy cloth drape with the words “Staff Only” hung from the top of the hallway frame to within 2 inches above the floor. I can only assume that our suspect is below. Before peeking into the hallway, I grabbed a nearby broomstick for self-defense purposes; and in the event that it was the old lady all along, I could just pretend like I was still being productive. The handle end of the broom stick was used to gently prod aside the cloth drape. Peeking through the drapes, it appears that the concrete ramp gradually descends forwards and then makes a sharp right-angled turn. The descending hallway portion at the basement level did not have an inner wall that blocked line-of-sight – you could partially see through the wooden framework and timber support beams. Another dim glow could be seen in the distance of the basement, but no telltale shadows or movements could be observed. A bit of rustling and echoed footsteps could be heard between the rows of highly stacked wooden barrels. *plop, patter. Smack-smack-smack!* Okay, there’s just no logical way that it’s the old landlady moving wooden barrels and pounding on them at this hour. She’s too frail and whoever this is, they could be a considerable threat. All I needed is just one peek across the gap between these barrels to etch an image of the culprit into my mind – that’s all I need to give a legitimate report to the authorities. The culprit just needs to pass by my field of vision and — WaAH! Fu**! As I was crouched next to a cluster of barrels and intently staring towards the feint light-source in the distance, I failed to watch my right flank. This brief lapse in tactical awareness was made apparent when a cold hand laid itself on my right shoulder. I had initially thought that it was just a piece of cold and damp wood from a broken barrel rubbing up against me; but when it moved to shake me into attention, my eyes widened and fear instinctively made me swing my broomstick towards that general direction. I felt the broomstick land a solid blow and immediately leapt back towards the ramp for a hasty retreat. I briefly glanced at the broomstick in hand, but found that the end was cut clean off. I had no intention of confrontation and ran up the ramp as fast as I could, but.... *Swoosh...THUD!* something had obscured my vision and made me tumble forwards onto the tavern service floor. Aaagh! Shit...the f***ing drape! During my upwards escape, the cloth drape had tangled itself around my left leg and foot. A few precious seconds were spent to remove the cloth and I could hear that the footsteps of my pursuer was getting closer. I stood back up and moved my bruised left knee to the best of my ability, but something else on the service floor grabbed my attention. There were now 3 adult men sat by the center of the bar counter. I briskly limped past them while keeping my eyes locked on the three. Oddly enough, the 3 strangers by the bar only stared back at me with blank eyes and a somber expression. They didn’t even bother to confront me – they simply waited, as if they expected bar service. This was a lucky break...I could assume that they didn’t bother with me out of their initial confusion – it is best to let sleeping dogs lie. The path to the double door front entrance was unimpeded. Perhaps I’ll live to tell my tale to the right authorities and to ‘give a piece of my mind’ to that Old La–– *Click, ka-ching...Creeeak* before I could grasp the door handle, the double wooden doors swung open and, to my surprise, the old landlady came barging in. Did she come here to investigate the commotion, did she know about the strangers in the building, OR was she somehow connected to all of this? Something was off about her body language and she did not carry herself with her usual sweet and calming demeanor. At this moment, I couldn’t trust anyone but myself and my objective of escaping. The only problem was that the old lady was blocking the door entrance and snooping around. What’re you doing here Mrs. Kitsu!? We got to get out of here, turn back the other way! What the hell is going on in here? How did a simple cleaning job turn into an impromptu social gathering? Are these 3 your acquaintances? NO! What are you talking about? No one is supposed to be here while I was cleaning the 1st floor! More time was being wasted, so I tried to shove & squeeze past the old lady standing in the middle of the doorway. For as old and frail-looking as she seemed, she actually held her ground when I leaned into her with the force of my entire body. Alright, nobody is going anywhere! It’s time to explain yourselves! Black mist, with the look of starry night skies, enveloped the old lady like a contained whirlwind. I instinctively backed off and distanced myself for my own safety. In the span of 2 seconds, the person that stepped out no longer had the visage of an old lady, but rather a short & slender, young-looking lady, with large animalistic ears, tanned skin complexion, Asian-like facial features, and a black-tipped, grey bushy tail. Her voice changed to a higher octave and no longer carried with it the audial characteristics of old age. In a mix of disbelief, fear, & intrigue, I blurted out YOU...want ME...to explain MYSELF?! Just who’s the one that is more suspicious here?! ------------------- The Fox Lady remained blocking the doorway. The 3 strangers at the bar had now stood up to face us; and a brief moment later, the culprit from the basement came rushing into the 1st floor. For a good 15 seconds, we all stood spread out in a wide ring. Everyone was lost for words in this awkward encounter and intensely gazed to-&-from one another – just waiting for the moment somebody pulls a stunt or drops their guard. As if this wasn’t enough to worry about a flush from the toilets could be heard from the eastern corner of the 1st floor women’s restroom. 2 girls in plain white aprons were chit-chatting unaware of the situation until they too made awkward eye contact with everyone else in the ring. The younger of the two whispered to the older “sœur aînée, who are these strange people next to the chef?”. The older girl gave a ‘shush’ to end the girls’ friendly chit-chat and joined the ‘Mexican Stand-off’ – she brought 2 rolling pins out from her apron pouch. In this moment of silence, I was able to roughly discern what type of people I was dealing with. Assuming that 1) I wasn’t high under some kind of substance contamination in the pizza, 2) this was just fear & sleep deprivation playing tricks on my mind, and 3) this is not some dream, then: ...the Fox Lady is just some cosplaying furry freak, the 3 men must be drunk red-neck country folks who are lost, the basement culprit wearing a white chef’s uniform while holding a kitchen knife is loosely self-explanatory, and the 2 girls from the restroom must be with the chef. Well...this still doesn’t explain why & how the f*** we all got here ...and I know for a fact that I’m not clinically insane – there’s got to be a damn good reason for all this! I might not be able to take them one-on-one in a bar fight, but I can at least stab a ‘mofo’ with the cut edge of this broom stick and slip out in the ensuing chaos. Unexpectedly, ‘the cosplay freak’ was the first to yield a compromise and whispered to my direction. Psst, sweetie, how about we convene outside, while we let the ‘loonies’ settle things on their end? I wasn’t ready to completely trust this Fox Lady, but out of the rest of the bunch, she seemed less frightening with her parlor tricks than the guy with the kitchen knife, the 3 drunk country boys, and the 2 psychotic-looking girls with rolling pins. Though it’s a bit ironic that she so brazenly considers everyone else in the room ‘loonies’, when she’s just as strange in my eyes – but she does bring up a decent proposition. My original objective was to make it outside the building; and even if this Fox Lady was a threat, dealing with one person was better than multiple...I was also confident that I could effectively runaway once I got outside. I reciprocated a response in my best ‘library voice’ Alright, sounds good...but I’ll be watching you, so don’t pull any tricks like you did a minute ago. We both gave each other a subtle nod to confirm our agreement and slowly inched our way to the exit while keeping our eyes on everyone else and our guard up. The Fox Lady exited first, then I followed. Once I carefully made it outside of the double wooden doors, I gave the door a kick to close it, while I held my broomstick close. I had already made some quick mental calculations and formed rough plans for the different outcome that could possible ensue from here on out. In times like this, The Old Lion’s saying was right, “speak softly and carry a big stick”. --------------------- Screw everyone else, you & I need to talk! What did you in there and what did you mess with? Hold on a sec, who are you and what is all of this about? I have permission from the landlady to be here and was sent to clean. Nobody else is supposed to be here and I’m calling the police. They’ll think you’re crazy though, but go ahead and try. Don’t say I didn’t warn you and if you’d just cooperate with me, we’d get to the bottom of this together. Okay, I got the police number ready to dial with a press of the screen, so if you’re bluffing, they’ll be here. With a smug grin and furrowed brows *sigh* Let me give you the brief summary, we’ll hash out the finer details later, but listen to what I have to say before you interject.
With a sarcastic tone and wide grin Oh...oh my goodness, this sounds serious! I’ll get started right away and call the police. *Beep-boop* Upon hearing the dial tone, the Fox Lady rolled her eyes and exhaled Alright, fine...you win. You deal with this mess, I’m out of here...but you’ll be seeing me sooner or later. Heh...is that a threat? Want to stick a while longer until the police show up? --------------------- Pfft, get real, who’s going to buy a load of bulls***t like that? I’m not going anywhere near this place for the rest of tonight. First will be to file a police report, then I’ll have to rely on either Seiya or -Yokai- for a place to stay, until things smooth over— *Crash, THUMP, crack!* A classic western bar fight was taking place inside the abandoned Lunar Fox Inn. I distanced myself further from the entrance and onto the sidewalk. The insides were only dimly lit and I couldn’t make out the extent of damage and casualties, but I could only imagine the amount of property damage taking place....this might be a long night. *WeooWeoo, Bwoop-bwoop* Ahh the cops are here, good.... Are you the one who called for us to check up on this location – dispatched mentioned a fight and trespassers. YES! Thanks for coming, they’re inside...I heard them tossing objects and fighting just moments ago. Alright, stay here with my partner – he’s got some questions for you. In the meantime, the sergeant and the rest of us are going in. Several minutes later... It seems whoever has been here before us either left without so much as a trace OR what you thought you saw wasn’t actually the case. We need to take you in for some questioning. What? But...they were just...uhhh alright. ...... |
RicePounderJan 11, 2020 5:19 PM
Dec 21, 2019 4:25 PM
#32
| @RicePounder Ooo fun! I love stories about the undead!! This is soo great, thank you!! It's clear you really did your research C: |
Dec 21, 2019 4:38 PM
#33
OfDeathandLove said: @RicePounder Ooo fun! I love stories about the undead!! This is soo great, thank you!! It's clear you really did your research C: A tiny spoiler...but I feel like I have to say it....you're right that it deals with subjects of the dead...but its a slow buildup until ch4....I'll produce Ch5 which will get into more action and dialog oriented around the dead. The plan is...I'll do a few chapters for Fuckery...then I'll return and finish a Ch 5 to continue your character's storyline |
Dec 21, 2019 6:43 PM
#34
| Yaayyyy I'm so glad this forum has picked up again :D I'll try and come up with some more contributions to put here at some point too ^^ Also Rice, if you're ever in the mood to continue the story you were writing for me, I'm all ears :3 |
君の声 忘れない 涙も 忘れない |
Dec 21, 2019 9:55 PM
#35
| Oh yeah, I finished writing that story for Maffy the other week and was meaning to post it here for anyone curious enough to enjoy! On Christmas Eve, pillars of lazuline light twinkled, penetrating the swelling ocean. Countless tiny white flakes stained the deep blue, gently fluttering down. Dormant life lay hidden amidst the lethargic meandering of the sea. At the deepest of depths, locked to the sea floor, lay a tiny town encrusted in white frost. Mystery met a pair of detectives gliding into the silent town. On the main street, limestone lamps hung frozen and shop doors were boarded shut, curtains hastily drawn. Only the misty sea rippling around them hummed softly as snow drizzled down, blanketing cobblestone streets and capping roofs in white. “It does look like snow, as reported,” said Maffy. Her partner, Dane, peered around while nodding. “But it can’t snow underwater,” said Dane. “There was a time when people couldn’t breathe underwater, either.” “So, you know why this is happening, then?” Maffy shrugged. Although her mind agreed with the impossibility, it was in her nature to veto everything her gung-ho partner said. Dane leapt up high and somersaulted onto a nearby roof. He scooped up a handful of the mysterious snow and rolled it into a ball before licking at it. His face contorted. “Salty,” said Dane. Maffy ignored her colleague clutching stupidly at his tongue and peered down the stretch of the main parade. She blinked a few times. It wasn’t a long road by any means, but polluted water shielded her view as if there was some kind of white fog ahead. Unlike the usual sea, clean and clear like a glass lens, the snow-mixed azure in this mysterious town was rather disconcerting. Maffy had never witnessed anything like it. Maffy shifted uncomfortably and touched her throat. Even though the misty water rippled on its own and seemed to buzz like it was alive, breathing it seemed no different to the usual Pacific blue. Under the dim lazuline glint from the watery sky far, far above, Maffy strolled down the main road, gazing out at the colourful collection of shops that resembled a picturesque miniature sitting in a snow globe, complete with fluttering flakes that might have painted a pleasant sight if it bustled with the usual vigour and charm that befit a big holiday. The life of the town was painfully absent. Where was everyone? Sharp pain broke into Maffy’s pondering as something hard struck her back. A snowball, no doubt. Culprit? Idiot Dane. She spun around, indignant. Maffy picked up the snowball that had hit her, somewhat surprised that it hadn’t fallen apart and threw it sharply back at Dane standing on the roof. She clicked her tongue in annoyance, cursing her poor aim. Dane simply stood and watched the snowball sail far past him, no doubt about to make a cheeky comment. “Well—” “This is hardly the time for games,” interrupted Maffy. Her partner didn’t reply. “Dane?” With his back still turned to Maffy, Dane only pointed high above him where the snowball had gone. Maffy followed his finger up to looming colossal clouds of white. “The weather looks bad,” said Dane. “Weather, huh…” It was another first sight for the detectives. Storm clouds floating through the ocean. What could be happening? Dane leapt down from the roof and started poking his head around the piled-up snow. “I guess we’ll play it by the book. Let’s look for someone who’ll have some answers,” said Maffy. “Well, go find Pearl.” Dane kicked at the snow. Pearl. Maffy sighed. But where could that child even be? Maffy took out the crumpled letter that had led them here. It was a vague hand-scrawled plea addressed to the Pacific Investigations Department the day before they closed for Christmas. Maffy had hurled it into the bin, like she did with anything that failed to follow the correct reporting conventions, but as Dane so often did, he annoyingly insisted on its validity. Signed at the bottom of the oiled parchment was the enigmatic name “Pearl”. Maffy balled up the note again. She looked at her partner flatly. If this foolish letter hadn’t arrived, she would be on a hard-earned vacation right now. “Well?” asked Dane. “All we know is that she wrote this note. It doesn’t say where she is. This is why we only investigate properly written reports and not some kid’s gibberish.” “Relax. Let’s try hit up those,” said Dane. He pointed at a decorative crowd of small homes sitting beyond the dead main street. Dane marched through the thick snow as Maffy trailed behind doubtfully. He first knocked politely and rang the doorbell, but soon the detective was pounding his fist at the thick wooden frames, hoping to receive any sign of someone home. However, nothing alive ever responded from within. When they reached their fifth home, Dane attacked the door with his boots. His pointless efforts echoed loudly, disrupting the lazy ripples of the ocean. “Look, there’s no-one inside,” said Maffy. Dane ignored her, apparently intent on breaking in. Frustrated, Maffy turned her back to him. Then, Dane gave a heroic shout followed by a painful yelp. While twisting a lock of her hair, she looked back to find him sprawled over the snow and the door standing unscathed. “Are you alright, Detective?” sighed Maffy. She knelt down beside her embarrassed partner. Suddenly, a huge shelf of snow slid from the roof above and buried Dane from waist down. Maffy let out a smirk. The scattered snow mixed with the swilling water. Maffy gripped both his hands with a small smile as he muttered some vague thanks. Then the deep blue groaned. The two detectives exchanged a confused look. Bubbles frothed and fizzled up around them as the milky water trembled. Despite all their experience, the detectives had no conjecture for what was happening and why, but danger always made itself sharply clear. “Get me outta here now!” Dane desperately strained under the mound of snow. Maffy heaved at Dane, but he didn’t budge. “Don’t give up, Watson!” said Dane. “Shut your mouth!” The rumbling water throbbed, and then like an overstretched bow finally snapping, its pent-up energy surfaced all at once. An eruption of foam consumed them, and Maffy was torn away from Dane, tumbling her helplessly into the rushing bubbles. The sea screeched as a sudden white rush flooded out everything in sight. -- Maffy gasped then spluttered. Her throat burned. Someone was slapping her face. She slowly opened her eyes to an out-of-focus Dane. While Maffy lay down, blinking a couple times, she noticed the pale watery sky was no longer visible. In its place were the strange clouds from earlier. The storm had reached town. “How are we even alive?” grinned Dane as Maffy rolled over, groaning in pain. With a cough, Maffy stood up, dusting a fresh coating of powdered snow off her jacket. The eruption from earlier had thrown them into an unfamiliar part of town. Encased in thick white was a town square with a comprehensive arrangement of scaffolding lying around. It appeared something was in the process of being assembled here. “At least we know why the water’s so dirty,” said Maffy, flicking off the remaining crumbs of snow off her. “I didn’t know adding snow to water makes it explode.” Dane scratched his head and then began to walk off, but Maffy gripped his arm. “If you keep leading us around randomly, you’re just going to set off another one of those eruptions or worse.” “What could be worse than getting blown up?” asked Dane. Maffy scowled. Dane glared back. Before the detectives’ stand-off could escalate further, a young girl emerged from beneath a mound of snow like an arctic fox stirring from a long nap. She swept the snow from her tangled grey hair and blinked at the unexpected visitors with cloudy eyes. Maffy bit her lip. There was no such convenient coincidence. That said, their investigation thus far had been defying every one of her expectations. “Don’t tell me…” mumbled Maffy. “Pearl?” asked Dane. “Yes! My letter reached you!” The girl jumped elatedly shaking more snow free from her shirt collar and long coat. If she had a tail, it would surely be wagging happily. Maffy preserved a wise silence, leaving Dane to join Pearl in jumping around joyously. Maffy then noticed an assortment of small tools had dropped from the little girl’s vast coat pockets. “What are you doing with those?” asked Maffy. “I’m building something amazing. Want to see?” Pearl quickly gathered the tools from the snow and then half-turned, eager to show off her creation. “Lead the way, Pearl!” answered Dane. He gave a side glance to Maffy, but she voiced no objection, despite her reluctance clearly showing. Pearl led the duo through the maze of buried scaffolding in the town square, before arriving at a huge transparent capsule that had been dusted off from all the snow and sat on a thin frame, anchored to the ground. It somewhat resembled one of the Pacific Investigations’ Lifeboats, although without the industrial elegance, it had a closer feel to a homemade science project. The submersible did appear to have fittings capable of holding a dozen or more people inside complete with supplies and amenities, so it did appear to be a survival vessel of some sort. Maffy recalled all the incomplete scaffolding in the town square. She did not like the idea of a town building these capsules. What was coming? “This is amazing. Looks like giant sea slug,” said Dane. Pearl gave a little laugh. “Stop it. That’s disgusting,” said Maffy. She turned to Pearl. “You’re telling me you built this all by yourself?” “No, the adults built most of it to hide in when the sea gets angry, but they didn’t finish before they got too sleepy. This is the only one that’s been finished. By me!” Pearl’s recount was innocent enough, but the details prickled at Maffy. “They got sleepy?” asked Maffy. “Yeah. No-one would wake up. They’re going to miss Christmas at this rate!” As Pearl climbed atop the capsule and set about adjusting something, Maffy’s throat ached. Maffy looked at Dane. His elatedness had faded since revelation had finally hit the jovial detective’s intuition. It seemed unlikely that the townspeople would be sleeping while a crisis unfolded. With her throbbing throat, Maffy drew a grim conclusion about the final fate of the townspeople and the fate that was waiting for them. Dane edged closer to Maffy. “Are we going to be okay?” whispered Dane. He gestured to his throat. “Breathing this kind of water any longer is going to end with us sleeping as well,” said Maffy. “But isn’t it just snow?” asked Dane. No. There was only one thing that matched all their ordeals so far. Salty, explosive, like snow... “It’s salt,” said Maffy. “And when you mix salt with all the carbon dioxide on the seabed…” “That’s where our explosions come from,” finished Dane. He paled. Even the frivolous Dane couldn’t put on a smile anymore when they turned back to Pearl, who looked pleased with herself. “Done!” Pearl clapped her hands together. In an instant, the detectives’ goal had transformed from investigation to escape. -- Dane took charge and ushered them all into the capsule at once. Pearl, bewildered, didn’t say anything to the detectives who held grim faces. Outside the salt-caked windows, white rain had begun pelting down. Dane searched for the controls to manoeuvre the submersible, but there appeared to be nothing of that sophistication besides an automatic cabin filter. Maffy realised that the capsule really was just for survival, and they would be at the complete whim of the turbulent ocean if they stayed. They needed to leave now. “Dane!” Maffy shook her head at him. Dane groaned in frustration but regained composure quickly. “Alright, the old swim it is.” The three of them left the capsule and swam through the silent town looking for a break in the storm clouds hailing salt. If there was just a moment where they could swim up and out through the storm… Then. Without warning, the ocean pulsed. A tremendous boom blasted settled shelves of salt from the roofs, scattering it into the sea. The water turned instantly into rumbling, acidic brine. A white concentration ripe for eruption. All of a sudden, peril faced them. “Oh, no,” said Dane. “S—Should we go back to the ship?” Pearl who had been silent until now timidly suggested. Maffy agreed. Quickly. They turned back the way they came, but with the salt now pouring uncontrollably from the crackling cloud above and a sweeping sour blizzard appearing before them, the way they had come was blotted out in the storm. Returning was going to be a task fraught with adversity. As Maffy fought against the ravaging current to their escape, each strained breath of discoloured water caused her swollen throat to constrict further. Dane was doing no better. Pearl’s capsule was all the respite they had while the snowstorm ravaged the town. Outside, the toxic brine would suffocate them, or a salt explosion would mangle them. “W—Where is it?!” asked Maffy while tightly gripping Pearl’s tiny hand. The tumbling currents of the blurry sea continually blinded them while threatening to thrust them violently off-course, vaporising their last chance of survival in an instant. “Over there!” Dane took the lead. Finally, the capsule came into view. The flimsy wire frame it sat on had been torn apart, and it flapped about like a flag high above them. Its tiny anchor stretched thin was the only thing keeping it from being swept away. The three continued to struggle against the current as the ocean boomed ominously. Maffy struggled to keep hold of Pearl whose tiny body flailed about as they were shoved about in the squelching water. But then, Dane was by their side, urging them into the capsule. After the door of the capsule was locked shut, Maffy held her breath against the flood of salty, burning water invading her lungs. A tiny light blinked as the cabin gradually began filtering the water, but Maffy wasn’t optimistic as she clutched her pounding chest painfully. Humans had come a long way since the days of drowning in water, but for the first time in her life, Maffy felt as if she could sympathise with the people back then. Gushing sounds of water clamping against the capsule against the cacophony of the throbbing sea echoed in the cabin. The steel tether groaned sickeningly as the capsule continued to shudder without pause. There was nothing more the three could do but hold each other tight and hope for the best. -- Maffy blinked, and gently pried herself apart from the others. Had she fallen asleep? Or had they all died? Whatever the case, calm had returned. Pearl rubbed her eyes as Dane stretched. It appeared that the deadly water in the cabin had been filtered out and Maffy was thankful for it. “Are we okay?” asked Pearl. “I think so,” muttered Dane. He and Maffy peered outside. Nothing but pure white screened the windows. She didn’t know whether the anchor had finally given way and tossed them halfway across the Pacific or whether they were still at the epicentre of a natural disaster no-one knew existed. Maffy especially didn’t want to think about the fate of Pearl’s home. “How long are we going to have to stay in here?” asked Pearl. It was a tiny complaint, but the others looked relieved. The silence that Maffy had hated while in town before had never been more welcome now. “Well hopefully, not till New Years’,” said Dane. It only occurred to Maffy now that they had spent Christmas cooped up in a tiny floating capsule, fearing for their lives. Certainly, a holiday to remember. Pearl clapped her hands together suddenly. Out of her pocket she took out three white cubes. Dane and Maffy exchanged a shocked expression. It couldn’t be… “It’s my present for you two.” Pearl popped one of them into her mouth before Maffy could stop her. Although Maffy was still dubious and Dane’s jaw was dropped, she steeled her resolve to keep Pearl happy. Dane seemed to think the same thing, eventually. Looking at each other, Maffy and Dane slowly placed the cube into their mouths at the same time. Maffy screwed up her eyes, bracing for the much-dreaded shock of sour salt, but a loving, pleasant spread hugged her tongue instead. It was sweet. Pearl smiled. “Merry Christmas.” |
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Dec 21, 2019 11:35 PM
#36
| @Tensho um exCUSE me this is amazing???? You planning a sequel by any chance? |
君の声 忘れない 涙も 忘れない |
Dec 22, 2019 2:05 AM
#37
hahaha thankss i have thought about it but usually I feel like I have to come up with a story just as worth telling before going ahead with it so rn it's just ideas swimming around :P |
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Dec 22, 2019 4:24 PM
#38
UhOhSPAGET said: Yaayyyy I'm so glad this forum has picked up again :D I'll try and come up with some more contributions to put here at some point too ^^ Also Rice, if you're ever in the mood to continue the story you were writing for me, I'm all ears :3 Sure thing...I'll put you up as the 3rd on my personal queue. ------------------ Tensho said: i have thought about it but usually I feel like I have to come up with a story just as worth telling before going ahead with it so rn it's just ideas swimming around :P I'm interesting in learning more about this post-apocalyptic world. So many questions regarding what's left of civilization, how they adapt, how they live in this environment, and what other phenomena happens under the water. |
Dec 23, 2019 3:56 AM
#39
RicePounder said: I'm interesting in learning more about this post-apocalyptic world. So many questions regarding what's left of civilization, how they adapt, how they live in this environment, and what other phenomena happens under the water. ya that's what I hope to explore more next time IF I do a sequel or smth haha |
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Jan 1, 2020 6:51 PM
#40
| *Edit: made some minor grammatical and formatting corrections SpaceseX Labs Few individuals in our modern world could be considered geniuses by their own right, and even fewer will have their tales engraved into the history books for future generations see. One man continues to pave the way into the future – to innovate and evolve the human species so that it may one day over-populate space beyond Earth like sex-crazed rabbits. His visionary ideas continue to attract brilliant minds to his one-of-a-kind company. A leader he may be, but his successes are equally credited to two of his most trusted & exemplary members of SpaceseX Lab. This is not a story to commend the man himself; but rather, these are accounts that lend credence to the extraordinary advancements achieved by @Fuckery & @Ipreferecchi The odds of me coming into the adult sex business, not knowing anything about ecchi, not having ever built any lewds, I mean, I would have to be insane if I thought the odds were in my favor...but it's OK to have all your doujinshi in one basket as long as you control what happens to that basket. Fuckery & Ipreferecchi, do you know why I called you into my office? Um, no sir, this was so sudden. I came as soon as I got your summons Mr. Muskelon. Good, I meant it to be this way. After all, this idea is still premature – I haven’t even discussed this with finance yet. It’s difficult to put a price tag on innovations whose value is only apparent over a long term relationship. Just like with our previous work, the ‘Big Flipping Randy’ (BFR), it was a huge risk but I just knew that it was worth the effort. We’ve created something that has never been done by anyone else before – we broke free of one-time-use disposables and made the entire thing economically reusable. I have a new project to push the boundaries of the conventional world, and I need you 2 to help me engineer it! We’re going to approach this with the same tenacity and fervor as we did with the BFR; except the technology I want you to develop will be used to carry the human experience to the next level. You 2 have already proven yourselves to be the top performers of your respective departments in SpaceseX. I believe that it is time to give you the reigns and allow you to call the shots in this new project. With the 2 of your minds combined, we can once again show the world what our company can accomplish. If you’re willing to do this, you’ll both be promoted into project leads for ”Project SexShip Mk3”. If it proves successful, then this will bring humanity one step closer to space exploration. aghnn...just hearing this is making me tremble with anticipation~☆♡ ...as long as it gets me one step closer to the perfect ecchi, I’m all in. Excellent! I’ll make some calls and get things started. By next week, I’ll have the funding set up and you 2 can get started with the project. As co-leads, you’ll be in charge of everything from hiring staff, managing material resources, and achieving project milestones. Though your responsibilities fit the role of management, I also want you 2 to take a ‘hands-on’ approach in the R&D process. Your expertise in this is a key component to making “SexShip Mk3” a success. In the meantime you’re free to relax, get accustomed to one-another, and probably start planning things for the project until I tie up loose ends on my side. Good luck, and I’ll see you two again in 1 week. --------------------- “Ahh F***, I’m not going to have enough time to finish my latest MAL forum set while doing this new project for Muskelon.” “Umm...you called for me? What’s this forum set have to do with me?” “No, I wasn’t calling YOU, I said F*** as a figure of speech. *Sigh*...how about this? I’ll just call you F, as in ‘capital F’......as in ‘f**k-face’. That should be easy enough for you to distinguish, right?” “WELL THEN, I was going to call you ‘stank mouth’ for you admitting on the MAL forums - p#7730 for neglecting to brush for a week, but I guess I’ll call you IPE for short. So IPE, what’s a plebe like you working for SpaceseX?” While flipping-the-bird, IPE chuckled “Hah, I’ve got more experience on the tip of this finger than you ever had in your entire life. Before I came to work for Mr. Muskelon, I was working under the social media giant, Fapbook. But even before I was at Fapbook, I was one of the lead designers who created the Fakku-Lust Rift VR headset, which everyone else these days is copying the technology and slapping their own brand name on it to sell. What about you? What mini strokes of luck got you into a place like this?” With a smug expression, F responded “The raunchiest search engine, the most intricate pleasure-finding algorithms, the most ad-revenue grossing company – you’re probably using it every day to search 2D nudes off the net for your sets. Yep, you guessed it...Booble. I was responsible for developing their latest algorithms. They promised me that I’d work with gratuitous amounts of Indian ‘Bobs & Vegana’. However after working for them for a couple of years, I noticed that they were under-delivering on their memes, so quit there and ended up here.” “Alright F, it seems we’re both competent enough to mentally work this out between the two of us; but even so, it’s going to be a challenge rearing this up from scratch. Mr. Muskelon gave us a nice break to transition out of our respective departments and into this new role, but a week is still pushing it.” “Relax IPE, when the boss gets aroused like this, what he says and wants, he eventually gets. Just like his other project, Nyan-Cat Girls, as soon as Muskelon made some calls it only took R&D two weeks to get the approval to start. He’s extremely efficient when it comes to ideas that he thinks has potential. I’d say we take the easy week that he’s given us to rest up before it gets really hectic at the lab.” “True. I’m going to need that full week to prepare myself for having to work with you. I’d much rather prefer going solo, but I’ll cooperate since the boss wanted this.” “The feelings mutual. I’ll savor the week of fresh air before I have to be stuck next to your grocery hole. Let’s meet back up after we see the boss in a week. Laters~☆♡” Project Leaders Fuckery and Ipreferecchi, I hope you’ve had an easy transition from your old departments and into your new laboratory. I went ahead and made some catcalls and it was all good news. Finance approved funding that should theoretically last you roughly 3 years and HR is ready to screen any new candidates you want to fill the team roster with. One thing though, I can’t have you two transferring your old co-workers from your old departments into this project, because they are needed where they are now. We’re going to build this from scratch – everything from brand new hardware, software, and finding new talent to get this done. I’ll leave you with my report detailing the general purpose and direction that I’d like you two to take when handling SexShip Mk3. While I took the effort to draft a basic framework for what I expect from this, I left plenty of space for you to exercise a bit of creative liberty. I won’t be whispering into your ear and micromanaging every aspect of this project, because I’m not like that. I’ll be quite busy overseeing everything else in the company, so pretend that I’m like your cool & rich uncle, take the funding allotted to you, and stay productive. I’ve got a special appointment with Gothic-Lolita Grimes at the Met Gala tonight, so I have to leave early – good luck .... --------------------- “Well F***, that was a really short meeting – just the way I like it. Less pointless chatter means more stuff we can get done. Let’s see that report.” “Sometimes I still can’t tell whether you’re directly talking to me or just speaking your mind out loud. Anyways, I’ve skimmed through Mr. Muskelon’s report during our morning meeting and these were the main points he made about Project SexShip Mk3:
“It makes sense why Muskelon chose us to take on the project. Remember when I told you that I used to work on the Fakku-Lust Rift...well a good portion of this project parallels with what I used to do – granted that what we’re doing now is going to be way more advanced than what I’ve accomplished previously.” “Right...and I’ll work behind the scenes on the algorithms and programming to get this thing to work. It’s going to take an extraordinary amount of effort to create an advanced program that can simulate life-like intimacy.” “Sounds good! I’ll get HARD and you’ll go SOFT; and when we finally combine our work together, we’ll have project SexShip Mk3 finished. I’m going to do things my own way to make a futuristic device that’s so advanced that NNN will be nothing but a dead meme of the past!” “My programing is going to be so advanced that they won’t noticed the difference between a wet dream and a real one-night-stand~☆♡” Having moistened their creative appetites, Project SexShip Mk3 began with the two project leads in high spirits. Each lead began the arduous process of recruiting their own laborers, acquiring materials, conducting laboratory tests, and cycling through several prototype iterations for their own piece of the project. After 1.5 years of hardware development, IPE was able to create a prototype headset device with quantum computing capable of making thousands of simultaneous calculations in only a fraction of the time it would take for traditional computer processors. This new hardware system was also miniaturized, lightened, and made extremely durable with the use of a propriety meshed-graphene material injected with nano-polymers. The entire patented production process of the graphene super material was a feat of material engineering on its own – standing equally as impressive as any other successful invention in SpaceseX. After passing the 2 year mark of Project SexShip, F was able to produce an advanced AI capable of externally integrating with the human nervous system; therefore, it was capable of simulating pseudo sensations of touch, temperature, motion, and pain. This AI also uses complex algorithms to determine a user’s MBTI Personality Type; and using the personality information, the AI is able to create life-like intimate simulations that induces intense user pleasure with each time it is used. *Yawn* “It’s way too early to be so amped up before the sun has even shown itself. Plus, it took you long enough to get this thing done. I was about to temporarily leave Project SexShip and work on my MBTI Blog because I got so bored.” “Listen to me IPE. Mapping the human nervous system throughout the limbs and torso wasn’t too difficult; but once we started mapping out the brain, that portion took the most effort. I finished doing the body after 6 months since we started – all the rest of the time was spent on completing the brain. Even with your quantum computers running at full power, it struggled with mapping the nearly 86 billion neurons and all their combinations of electrical impulses.” “Alright, so I’ve been keeping you up to date with each iteration of the hardware that I’ve been developing, but you’ve been pretty secretive on your end. Now that you’ve rammed through the alpha, beta, and gamma versions of your AI system, what do you have to show for it? Fuckery...if you fail to excite me after this long, I don’t think what you’ve got will impress Mr. Muskelon.” With a glint of maniacal excitement, F dramatically flourished her white lab coat as if it were a cape and announced the research breakthrough in a boisterous tone. *Slap-plunk* “This baby is a one-of-a-kind AI technology that can’t be found anywhere else on this planet. Heck, if we released it for the public to see on TV, they’d think it was another episode of Ancient Aliens on the History Network – that’s how far in the front the technology stands. So with the entire human nervous system mapped, I developed an AI program that can make a person LITERALLY feel what they’re seeing.” “Feel...what they’re seeing? Keep on explaining this F.” “So basically, if I insert my big AI program into your open hardware, we’d have a fully functional D3 system that can make a person experience ‘fun times’ with anyone they could imagine. It could be real-world figures, fictional people or any other imaginable thing – do you want to mess around with a hot elf, a furry, an alien, a robot, Natalie Manport, David Hambeck, George Washington, you name it and the AI program will make it happen in your mind. Of course, the AI system does this by first analyzing your thoughts, then pieces together what your MBTI personality type is, and finally it’ll make the raunchiest scenarios play out for you.” IPE grasped F by the shoulders and intensely made eye contact with her before saying “What have you done, you crazy b**ch!? This...THIS IS GENIUS! We could unintentionally put the porn industry out of business and monopolize it for ourselves! Haha-HA...bwAHAHAHAAA!” The two co-leads began laughing & prancing around the workshop so early in the morning that not a single soul besides the 2 would witness this hysterical display of insanity. It wasn’t until F tripped over a wrench and IPE bump his head on a robotic fabrication arm that the pain brought the 2 back to their senses. Somehow through the chaos, they also managed to knock over a large portrait of Muskelon and its glass cover shattered when it met the concrete floor. Hindsight reflection over the destruction they had caused in the workshop had brought their mindset back to base level. “Tehee. Alright, enough fooling around.” F took a nearby broom and started tidying up the place while continuing the conversation. With flushed cheeks and a timid voice “So...I showed you mine, now show me yours~☆♡” “Fair enough. I’ve been holding back, but now that you’ve proven yourself...“ IPE walked over to an inconspicuous-looking brown box he had shelved in the corner of the workshop. “I remember telling you about what I had been working on over the years, but I hadn’t physically shown it to you until now. Take a good long look at my piece!” IPE grabbed a futuristic-looking headset with a sleek silver and blue color scheme design. He held it to the light to let it shimmer in front of F to see. In his most suave sounding voice, IPE showcased the item: “This is the latest in SpaceseX computer engineering. A ubiquitous design for any futurist and spacefarer who seeks the best technology that’s better than any PC, smartphone, fit-bit watch, camera, or entertainment device currently offered in the world’s marketplace. It boasts:
*Clap, clap, clap* “It’s beautifully impressive IPE...and it’s something that can probably host my new AI system. Word of warning though, the AI system is a power and memory glutton, so I hope this quantum computer is as good as you’ve been saying it is. You said it has a magnetically shielded wireless power charger, but where’s the power supply, and how long does it take to charge, and does it have endurance to last? I don’t want to be disappointed to find out that it’s a one-shot minute man when it comes time to perform.” From the bridge of his nose, IPE pushes up his lab safety glasses as the light reflects off its lens. Here’s the beauty of this headset. Inside the Kemonomimis and the magnetic shield are quantum entangled particles resting in a vacuum – a set number of particles in the D3 headset and a set number in our R&D mock power station. Let’s say that the ones in the headset are called “pA” and the ones at our mock power station are called “pB”. Since these particles have been quantum entangled, a change in the state in one of the particle pairs would result in an identical change in the other. So if I excite pB at the mock power station, then pA would also show that the particles have been excited. This can happen at any distance away from each other, so all we do is excite the particles at the mock power station and the excited particles inside the Kemonomimis will be used to generate power on its own. We also used 1.1 degree twisted graphene sheets and squeezed them closer together to create a super conductor and a separate graphene battery capacitor to store power. The super conductor is microscopic and can pick up charges from anywhere. The super capacitor can hold a charge with energy efficiency estimated at 99.33%. We’re looking at around 8 hours of continuous D3 use without charge. With wireless and self-power generation, then you could go indefinitely as long as nothing fries. This is it...all that is left to do is to combine both our works together and actually test this stuff on people. Then we can find if we need to further optimize the hardware and/or fine tune my AI programming. We need to start looking for test participants for data collection and to see if our tech is operating as intended. So accounting for the 16 different MBTI types we need to observe and the sample size for human research studies, I’d say we would need to collect the data of around 256 participants for our study to have statistical weight. I’d like to see the AI system detect and work with each of the MBTI personality types. It’s finally come to this...*Sigh* I hate dealing with random pubs, but we’ve no other choice. Let’s head over to finance to have them approve funds to advertise for test subjects and setup minor compensation for participants. *Brrrt Ring-ring* Hey, this is Project SexShip R&D lead, Ipreferecchi. I wanted to get approval for the remaining portion of our research funding. We need it to advertise for test participants and to setup small compensation for them..... Wait, what? There’s got to be a mistake. When we started this project, Mr. Muskelon said that we’d have 3 years’ worth of funding! So now you’re telling me that “it was supposed to be a preset amount to be spread across 3 years”? No way, that’s bullshit, you’re lying to me, this can’t be right. – ...alright, I see. Fair point. Sorry for the bother, we’ll call back another time. *Click* --------------------- “This isn’t good, F**k! We’ve been going so hard on this project and moving at nearly double the pace that we blew through our funding. I could have sworn the boss said we’d get 3 years’ of money to cover everything, but what he meant was that we’d get a fixed fund that we’d have to manually portion out for 3 years. Uuugh, F**k!... F**k—F**k—f**kface, f**kface!” Fuckery was peacefully listening to her favorite anime soundtracks and creating Excel worksheets for the upcoming test trials. She was so engrossed in her work that she didn’t notice IPE’s troubled tone and expression. “Jesus Christ, IPE, what’s gotten into you all of a sudden?! Who’s pissed you off now?” “Finance!...A-And YOU – I was talking to you the whole time! Do you even give a shit about what’s going on right now?” “Wait, what? I was busy drafting up our reports for the upcoming test trials.” *Sigh* With slumped shoulders, IPE tried to calmly inform F of the phone conversation he had moments earlier. “There won’t be any trials, you see—......—and that’s the gist of it. We screwed up big time and the only way to stay out of the negatives is to lay off the help we hired for this project. I hate having to do this, but we’re going to have to execute ‘Order 69’ – pump & dump them so fast that they won’t have enough time to flip out on us. We’ll leave the message for them in the meeting room and have security at the ready to escort.” *SIGH!* “Is that who we are now? We’re no better than a bunch of ungrateful pimps who’ve betrayed our most loyal hoes. It’s crazy how far we have to go for a bit of success...I mean, I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes or to have things play out like this.....But at the same time, the 2 of us spent so much of our lives inventing this stuff from scratch that we can’t let it die now!” “F...how much work can we possibly do with just 2 people? If we could afford to keep our staff, we’d be able to test the 256 participants and draft the report by the 2nd quarter of the 3rd year. That would have left plenty of time to relax before Mr. Muskelon personally gives us a final review at the end. With 2 people, we’d both have to gather participant data at 1 person per day just to make it in time. It’s impossible, because we haven’t even advertised for participants, and we’re starting the New Year / 3rd year with nothing!” The duo sat for a moment in defeated silence. IPE was taking this sudden turn of events particularly hard and took a large swig from his flask. Fuckery hadn’t quite given up yet and produced a devilish look of mischief on her face. “Hey IPE...” “Yeah? Can’t I have a moment of peace and forget about this crumbling career?—” “...no one said that we were absolutely required to test a bunch of random people on the streets. What if...what if we tested this SexShip Mk3 Headset on people who work at SpaceseX? What if, let’s say, we test this on ourselves?” *Wink~☆♡* “Hehe...you know, boss did say we could exercise creative liberties and no one would know who we tested it on, because all the participants would be kept anonymous anyways. A few fabricated results wouldn’t hurt. Testing it on employees here would count just the same as if we tested it on some random normie on the streets, but it’s even better because we don’t have to pay them. Hell, I’m kind of interested in using this on myself when I go to sleep or get bored of fapping to my usual materials. AND you know what!? I want to know what you’d fantasize about with this thing on.” “Whoa, hey-hey, let’s take things one step at a time. YOU GO FIRST! You even said it yourself that you were dying to try it out. So how about this? You test the Dream Dive Device (D3) headset first. Then the next day we can upload the results into our data bank for both of us to see. Once we know that it works alright, I’ll go next....and then you can see mine.” With absolute confidence in himself, IPE declared “You got yourself a deal F! I’m not at all shy about my preferences...I think it’d be more of a challenge for you than it is for me. Just getting to see your deepest desires is just icing on the cake after I have some fun with this device.” “W-what do you take me for – some inexperienced virgin? I’m perfectly fine with my own desires. I wouldn’t be ashamed to let the world see what I’m into anyways. It’s probably way tamer than your crazy-ass fantasies.” “Oh, we’ll see about that!” “Okay, I’m going to take this home with me and turn it on before I sleep. I’ll meet back with you at the lab early tomorrow morning to share the recorded results.” “Good luck IPE and sweet dreams~☆♡” Fuckery excitedly waved goodbye with curiosity glimmering in her eyes. Both drove their separate ways to end a tedious day of work. Later in the evening... *Ding....ding* IPE looked over to his bedside table to a bright white smartphone screen. The time read 12:30am and a text message popped up. Hey, are you going to bed yet? Did you strap it on yet? *click-click, tap* Not yet...Well, I was about to ease into unconsciousness until you just woke me up again. Stop texting me so I can get this thing started AND DON’T DISTURB ME THIS LATE AT NIGHT just to bother me about work. F-ing hell, you seem more excited about this than me. You’ll just have to wait to see what happens after we upload this thing onto the lab computer...until then I’m silencing you! Now to get this thing to work...*tap, beep* “Ah, finally, some peace and quiet...” *Zzzzzz* ----------------------- Living near SpaceseX in MarVista, CA, meant that even in the winter, nights only got down to a comfortable 50 Fahrenheit at night. Keeping the window opened a few inches and sleeping under the warmth of my plush blanket was all the peace I could ever want after getting home from the mundane routine of adulthood. As I was about to drift into a deep slumber, I felt a slightly sharp pressure clamp down on my left ear. That’s probably my cat bothering me in the middle of the night again, but something odd was afoot. It kept incessantly pestering me, poking, swiping, and gently rubbing up against me in an effort to grab my attention. I know I fed it dinner and filled the water bowl as soon as I got home, so why is it bothering me now of all times? While irritated and tired, I shift under the sheets further and pulled the bed covers up to shield my head; but in response, the annoying little vagrant approached the opposite end of the sheets and started crawling up from my legs. psst, wake up. ♪ Wakey wakey ♪ Tch...gagh! What now!? In anger I flung off the bed sheets and to my astonishment, some stranger was accosting me in the middle of the night. They were positioned between my legs and was hunched over on my chest. Their right arm moved up to firmly pin my left hand against the bed. It was too dark to discern exactly who was in the room with me. I quickly glanced at my left to see that my window was now wide open. But how could they have gotten up to my 2nd story bedroom window? There’s no evidence of a leaning ladder, no rope, no grappling points to climb up – that side of the house is smooth concrete siding too. How stupid was I to let this happen. Then it had occurred to me...all week, TV news was talking about a string of late night robberies targeting well-to-do areas. Since I’ve never ran into any crime in all my life, I simply dismissed the thought that it would happen to me. Of course I took necessary precautions, but I’d never expected someone to so brazenly come through a 2nd story bedroom window while the occupants were inside. ♪ Hey mister...I’m reeeally drunk & hungry. Can I have a quick...snack? The stranger timidly looked downwards and lightly circled their left index finger against my right thigh. From the sound of their voice, I could only assume it to be a girl. From the weight of her body pinned against mine and the shadowy curves on the moonlit silhouette, it seemed like she is was a young adult of lean muscular build, but still plenty curvaceous. With a somewhat disappointed tone – Oh, so you’re the “dead-fish” type in bed aiy? *Sigh* Fine, I’ll just help myself then. The girl released her grip on IPE’s left hand; and instead, extended sharp-angled protrusions from the tips of her right fingers. She then positioned her right hand palm to cover IPE’s mouth, while the sharp-angled object on her right thumb was pressed gently against IPE’s exposed neck. ♪ Shh...this’ll be over in a few minutes, just enjoy your life for the time being ♪ . Her innocent giggle sharply contrasted with the devilish aura she was giving off. With a muffled voice, What do you want...f-from me? The wallet is..right fff...there! Just ff...take anything you..want and l-leave. Ecstatically amused she teased IPE once more. Rather than remain completely hidden in the shadow, she slowly leaned in closer towards IPE’s face so that the streak of moonlight coming from the window illuminated both of their visages. They were close enough to feel one another’s breath with each word. ♪Eh he-hee, ha-humph♪ Really? Anything...? Hmm, then I suppose – The devious girl wiggled her body forwards so that she could mount herself firmly on top of IPE’s smitten body. Her motions were expertly precise and not one movement was wasted effort. Every bounce, even the slightest shift in the girl’s waist sent a pulse of intense sensation through IPE’s body. His mind began to cloud and the life-threatening situation was soon forgotten. The mysterious girl’s feminine assault had IPE breathing heavily and within a matter of minutes, IPE could no longer take the punishment. His vision whited out in an explosion of euphoria– ------------------- *Snore, COUGH-cough, GASP!* Ughwah! WTF is going on!? With dreary eyes, IPE sprung up from his lying position and frantically scanned the room. The window was still cracked open a few inches to let a cool breeze through, the bedsheets were all jumbled on the bedroom floor, and the SexShip D3 prototype headset was not mounted on his head, but back on top of his bedside table. Closer inspection of the D3 headset GUI display shows that the unit has been on standby since 1:15am, the battery is at 96% charge, and the current time was 6:30am – the sun has yet to rise. IPE tried to recollect the events that he experienced at night; but after just waking up, his memory was still hazy and the finer details were missing. He checked for his wallet, keys, and later inspected his entire house for evidence of a break-in or any missing valuables, but everything was rightfully in place. As if recent events weren’t worrying enough, he was also uncomfortably wet at the waist. A shower and a change of close were in order. Aaghh! I can’t remember whether I had mounted on the headset or not. Shit, I’m just going to head into work early and try to explain things to Fuckery. She’ll understand...besides, we can just run the test again if things didn’t work out as intended. “...what do you mean you might have forgotten to use it? We were talking about this thing all yesterday and I even reminded you at night” “I know, I know....Listen to me for second! After you texted me, I turned the SexShip Mk3 D3 headset on and activated its functions. I’m pretty sure I used it right because I had this crazy vision or some kind of vivid dream come to me last night. I can only recall sparse moments of what transpired, but those few scenes I’ve memorized were vividly detailed. I really thought that I was being robbed at knife-point. It was THAT realistic!” “Whoa, whoa, whoa...hold on a second! It wasn’t supposed to be a threatening or unpleasant time... you’re not telling me the full story, are you? Because based on what you told me, I think you used the D3 headset properly; but after the simulation, you may have subconsciously put the headset back on the bedside table... Like with most dreams, people are in a daze and end up forgetting about them after they wake up. Luckily, my AI system was set to record the data for playback. It can recreate a specific time and the environment a dream took place in with full fidelity. Where some people’s dreams are hazy, the AI system fills in the holes, sharpens up details, and fills in the gaps. The more you use it, the more data the AI system collects, the more samples of user MBTI personality types, and the better the AI system gets.” With a wide grin on his face “Well...I’d be lying to your face if I said that it was nothing but trauma. It was rough at first, but no harm done and I had a happy ending so—” “You aren’t getting off free on this one – remember we need all the data we can get. Plus, while you were explaining yourself, I already had the D3 hooked up and transferred your entire dream to a secure data bank. We can watch it together since your explanation is spotty.” “N-no that’s fine, we can just leave it there as just one minor data point out of the hundreds we’re going to collect. I’m good...I don’t need to review something that I already know what’s going to happen.” With rising excitement in her voice “I’ll be the one to decide and you did make a deal that you’d let me see the results. Besides, what was all that point in bragging about your confidence in your tastes and not being afraid to show it?” Clearly flustered about what was to come, IPE responded “Okay, fine then....but just remember your end of the bargain too. I show you mine, then I get to see yours – don’t you forget that.” ---------------------- “Ugha-a-a..uwu...THIS” *gasp, gulp* “This is SO LEWD...it’s a huge turn-on! I mean, I didn’t get to see your ‘little wood’ or the rest of that succubus’s body, but I bet it must have felt great~☆♡” “I’m not even ashamed about this recording. Hell, this is worthy of some of the best ecchi or hentai around... If I wasn’t a researcher at SpaceseX, I could probably debut with this video and make some extra money on the side.” “Well, at least I know what to expect. I went through the debug log of the SexShip Mk3 AI system and it says you’re matched with an MBTI personality type of ESTP. Afterwards, it searched around all known references on the internet and created a unique character to interact with you. Using its logic, it thought that the best method to pleasure you would be to ramp up the tension and jump right into the raunchy business. ESTP types typically value getting down to business and doing things at present rather than blowing hot air for a long-winded buildup. Biometric scans all indicate consistent elevated endorphin levels, heart rate, and a lot of blood flow to.....to you know hehe ~☆♡. So let me ask you, is it safe to say you had a good time?” IPE turned to face away from Fuckery before responding “Ahem...yes.” “YEAH! My AI system is THE SHIT!” “...and don’t forget the hardware F! That thing was able to handle near real-life graphic details and the millions of process calculations to successfully make this dream happen. This is a huge success...let’s start working on the data now. ” Another routine workday down and 1 piece of trial data processed. The duo worked out the math and out of the 365 days of a year, 252 were working days, with 10 US public holidays, and 104 weekend days. As long as they were able to collect at least 2 trial records per workday and process them as they go, they would be able to finish their research in time and draft a final report for Muskelon by the end of the year. Of course some weekends or holidays could be sacrificed if they fell behind OR they could collect data records over the daily threshold to gain a slight lead. Night fell and the duo parted ways. It was now Fuckery’s turn to test the SexShip Mk3 D3 Headset.... “Alright, IPE...you surprisingly held to your promises, so I guess it’s my turn.” Now that the shoe was on the other foot, IPE was getting just as excited anticipating what he’d be able to see the next morning. “You better be prepared F...don’t be embarrassed if I get to see a little more of you than you want to let out”...he gave a few eyebrow flashes after finishing his words. F responded without hesitation “Pfft HAH! My milkshakes always bring the boys to the yard...but it doesn’t mean they’ll get anything if they come. I noticed in your dream simulation things works just like a lucid dream, just with way more detail. Don’t think that I’ll be as easy as you – I’m going to be prepared when the simulation starts!” “...we’ll see about that tomorrow morning. Here you go, the SexShip Mk3 D3 headset is all yours for tonight.” Fuckery stared at the headset that IPE was insistently thrusting towards her. “Y-yeah, but first, did you wash your hands before handling that. Don’t think that I’ve forgoteen what happened after your dream encounter and what kind of liquidy mess came from it.” “Goddamn it, just take it already!” I had tried my best to sleep at 10pm but the anticipation had my mind racing. After what I saw on IPE’s recorded dream, it’s gotten me excited & nervous about what was going to happen in my simulation. Even though I was the one to program the AI and that I pretty much knew how the system works step-by-step, there was still no way for me to know for certain what scenario the AI would come up with. I’ve taken a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test before, but I never had anyone custom tailor an intimate encounter for me using my own personality type. The thought of near infinite possibilities had me tossing & turning in bed for a good 2 hours until I felt calm enough to drift into a slumber. I shut my eyes for what felt like just 5 minutes when..... *Click, crack...creek. pat-pat* I detected the sound of my kitchen window being pried open and I heard muffled footsteps against the kitchen’s hardwood floor. The layout of my single occupant ranch house was pretty small and contained – typical construction for being in the Mid-City neighborhood of LA – so it was easy to tell if anyone else was in the house by audio cues alone. The kitchen had an open design which connects to my living room; and then from the living room, a hallway leads straight to my bedroom door. Along the left and right of the hallway are other rooms within the house (an office, restroom, laundry room, storage space, and stairs to the attic & basement). I could hear the sneaky intruder slowly rustling through each room – most likely to build my anticipation by purposely saving my bedroom for last. This has got to be some type of foreplay where you don’t know when they barge in to overtake you. This kind of reminds of those ‘jack-in-the-box’ toys. You know what to expect while the music is playing, but you just won’t know WHEN it’ll pop up to surprise you – that’s the essence of its allure. Anyhow I was getting antsy, so I decided to make the first move instead of waiting all night for them to come. Heh-hmm, oh how the hunter has become the hunted. I’m not about to get outdone by my own AI~☆♡ --------------------- So far, the night thief had taken a smartwatch, a silver bracelet, some loose cash, a used pair of panties, and a thumb drive labeled “xxxPwnHub”. All that was left was the last door at the end of the hallway. The intruder gently pushed open the door and stepped inside. The footsteps generated no noise upon entry, because the floor was lined with soft white carpet. Using a dimmed red lens flashlight, the light was shone left to right across the floor to reveal what was inside. The light did not reach past the center, but stopped at the base of a queen-sized bed. Upon directing the flashlight upwards to see what was on top, the intruder mistakenly made eye contact with a woman. She laid horizontally across the bed, deviously gazing forwards with shimmering red eyes – Woah Shit!...ahh phew, it’s just a dakimakura pillow of Yumeko Jabami. The thief’s normally masculine voice jumped a few octaves higher in response to the surprise. He took another step forwards towards the bed, but – Bingo, that’s correct! A high-pitched girl’s voice could be heard from the dark corner on the right flank. *Fwoosh Whack! giggle* I got you now, you naughty weeb~☆♡! You thought that you could just waltz right in and have your way with me, didn’t you? F grinned mischievously and her lustful breaths reached the back of the thief’s neck. The thief was now pinned flat on his stomach and his hands were restrained behind his back with metal cuffs. The perfectly executed ambush has stunned him and all of his stolen goods spewed its contents on the carpet floor. F quickly hopped over to flick the light switch on and took out some plastic cable ties from her night gown pockets. She deftly tied the thief’s ankles together as he yelped and hollered at his unfortunate fate. To quiet the noise, F opened her bedroom’s walk-in closet and took out a rubber gag, some tools, and an assortment of ‘toys’ to experiment with. The thief was knocked unconscious, gagged, dragged across the floor, and moved into the walk-in closet. A wooden chair was placed inside the closet and the unconscious thief made to sit. Everything was within arm’s reach for Fuckery and she made quick work dictating the direction and pace of this late night encounter. Ugh..where am I? What just happened? He tried to move but felt restrained. The object in his mouth disabled any attempt at audible speech and the room was pitch black. *Fwoop, click* The door opens and a bright circular light shone down on the restrained man. From the entrance approached a slender girl with Parisian black laced lingerie. She walks seductively towards toward the pitiful man and in her hands are an assortment of objects: one oblong piece with ridged sides, a Taser, a box cutter, a small pack of rubber bands, a bottle of oil, and the thief’s bag. F had a serious look about her. She walked behind the thief’s field of vision and started speaking into his ear. So you’re a weeb who’s also a thief and a pervert, but now...you’re my prisoner. I see you’ve taken a liking to some of my personal effects. A man who forcibly enters a woman’s private sanctuary to take from her – her INNONCENCE! For every crime...there must be...and equal punishment ~☆♡. I’ve taken stock of what you tried to steal from me: 5 things in total, +1 for you taking away my peaceful slumber, but I’ll let that slide. For you, that means I’ll have 5x the fun with 5x the toys! *giggle* !! Mmmm Nmm. No-mmph!!! Fuckery wasted no time in expressing her creative imagination. Her many weekends had her watching random V-Tube videos of people doing crazy experiments. One of those experiments involved tying as many rubber bands around an object until it burst or broke. Another was soap carving ASMR videos, and one hentai anime featured the use of Tasers.
By the time there were no more rubber bands left to detach, the prisoner was mentally broken and so much of his saliva had trickled down on his shirt that the wet marks had nearly covered the entirety of his front torso. Fuckery tired of her ‘bad cop’ persona and switched to an exact opposite demeanor. She took some paper towels and soap to wipe off some of the prisoner’s sweat, tears, and other bodily excretions. With lascivious body language, she sauntered over to sit on the prisoner’s lap. Fuckery faced the prisoner eye-to-eye and spread her legs around the man’s lap, she inch ever so closely forwards without making contact with the man’s tortured flesh. She could see that he man was flushed red in the face, teary-eyed, and the area that made contact with the rubber bands was throbbing red. She thought to herself ”I can do ANYTHING I want in here! This dream, this world is my oyster!....Ah, but there isn’t much time until morning, and I am starting to feel tired from all of this. Yeah, it’s about time to wrap things up. I feel like there is something off with this simulation though...almost like I’m doing all of the work. Meh oh well, it was fun regardless; and maybe next time, I can be the one to just take it easy while someone else does the work.” After having made up her mind, F slide backwards off of the prisoner’s lap was positioned on her knees. She gently blew on the rubber band-abused area to cool the throbbing heat and looked up to the prisoner’s face with a beckoning smile. The man couldn’t endure any longer and released his built up tension before finally feinting to unconsciousness. Welp, I’m tired...time to throw out the trash and end this. F proceeded to drag the man – chair and all – out to her front door in the living room. The nearby clock read 1:00am and the streets outside remained quiet. She then opened the door and kicked the restrained man out. His unconscious body, still restrained in the chair, flopped forwards until his face eventually crashed into the front lawn. Time for bed again. Nothing to do but to wake up in the morning, get ready, grab some breakfast at the coffee shop, and head into the lab. F walked back into her bedroom, closed the closet door, removed the D3 Headset, and sank back into her soft queen-sized mattress. F got what she wanted in the end – a relaxed, quiet, & peaceful slumber.... *YAAWWN!* “Morning IPE, it’s rare to see you in so early. I’m usually the only one in the lab at this hour” *Yawn* “F, stop yawning, it’s contagious. Anyways, I wanted to see the results of last night, hehe.” “I knew it...after all, the only other times you come in early is if there’s a big meeting with coffee and donuts OR if the boss says we get to leave earlier.” “Hey, this is good reason enough so c’mon transfer the dream records ASAP!” “Alright fine, I’ll plug it in...But it’s going to take a few minutes because the dream file sizes are large – Hold on a second. The computer says there’s no transferable data and that the SexShip Mk3 D3 Headset was active from 10pm to 1pm and went into standby 15mins after – but there’s no dream record!” “What do you mean, F? Our D3 Headset test prototype is always set to record because it’s still the test phase iteration. You even said that it was hardcoded to do so. We’d only turn off the record-keeping after we produce the final set for consumer use, so there’s no way that the AI could decide not to record on its own.” “No record? That’s impossible because I had the most realistic dream last night. I remember all of it!” “Fuckery, you’re joking me right? The D3 works during our sleep cycle, so you have to be in full deep sleep before it kicks in, right? Paraphrasing what you said to me yesterday: when you actually dream, the user eventually wakes up, but won’t have the clearest picture of what happened in the dream. The person using the D3 headset gets to have a good time while in the dream, but should still get their proper sleep. Looking at you know, you’ve got panda eyes and sound tired as shit.” “I know what you’re saying IPE; and believe me, I have my doubts about what happened last night too. Look, I swear that I’m not trying to dodge the deal we made. I wouldn’t do that because we’re desperate to collect enough data anyways. It’s just that when I checked the debug log on the D3 headset, it didn’t even initiate the MBTI personality detection nor went into simulation mode. Yet I swear to the Tentacle Gods that I had a late night encounter of my own!” “Okay, I can excuse the fact that the D3 device might not have worked properly this time – it’s to be expected for brand new, ‘never-before-seen’ technology, but you don’t have to lie to me to cover up for the lack of dream data.” “I-I’m not LYING!” F angrily interjected “Forget about the real dream record data, let’s jump to a quick solution – and just this once hear, me out.” IPE grinned as he began to explain his ingenuous work-around solution: For this one exception, let’s just run a non-human test simulation by manually plugging in an MBTI personality for the AI to work with. It won’t be a perfect simulation, because the AI uses a user’s body feedback to make up scenarios, but you also never said that the AI was incapable of making up a scenario from absolute scratch and the absolute minimum information, right? The way I see it is like this...we’re “stress-testing” the vigor of your AI system + my hardware to see if it can perform under the worst case & most difficult circumstances. It’s all good for data collection and we can still just pretend that it was data collected from a real participant. Fibbing one data point out of the 256 we have to gather won’t be noticeable, am I right? “IPE...thanks, sometimes you have that ‘doer mentality’ that is pretty commendable. I’m still standing by my argument that I’m telling the truth, and I’ll eventually prove it...but yeah, you’ve got a good idea. Where do we begin?” “Well, we can put that D3 headset back on you and have you sleep in the—“ “NO! Absolutely not, I need privacy when I’m using that!” F quickly cut off IPE’s persistence. “Ok, okay, I was just joking. We’re going to do this the old fashion way and I’m going to administer an MBTI test for you. Based on the results, I’ll assign you the MBTI personality type that best suits you.” “Well, I took one a while back and I’m pretty sure I know my personality type, but we’ll go ahead and do this anyways. This shouldn’t take long” --------------------- “I knew it! Fuckery, you’re an ENFP – you sensitive and emotional F**k HAHA!” IPE amusedly teased. “The hell I’m NOT! When I took the test myself, last time I got ESTP, so manually put ESTP into the AI system simulation run.” “Nope, you got ENFP the first time you took this administered test...subsequent tests will have your subconscious biases affecting the results, because now you’re gunning for the result you want, rather than letting it come naturally. It is appropriate to run the non-human simulation as ENFP.” “FINE...have it your way, IPE. But now that you’ve triggered me, I’m going to prove to you that I was right all along – both about last night’s incident AND that I’m a true ESTP. Don’t count your winnings yet, because I’m going to prove you wrong.” “I’m feeling generously amused today, Ms. f**kface. I’ll only admit that I’m wrong IF you can prove everything you said with hard evidence; because right now, all you’re doing is firing blanks at me.” “I’m going to take the SexShip Mk3 D3 Headset with me one more time to properly detect my MBTI and get a true dream recording. Plus, I’ll check the footage of my house’s front and backyard cameras. I swear, that I’m going to prove you wrong by tomorrow morning.” With a smug expression “mhmm...sure-sure. I’ll be eagerly awaiting your findings, Ms. F**kface.” *sigh* “Stank Mouth...I can see your cavities every time you open your grocery hole. At least properly address me as F or Fuckery, you Dirty Dental Disaster”....sensing IPE’s hesitation for a comeback, F sealed the conversation with a mighty DAB. |
RicePounderJan 2, 2020 8:02 PM
Jan 1, 2020 7:25 PM
#41
| *Edit: Separated from OP { post #1 } to better organize front thread page. A story for @Chaet The Mischievous Tome Grandpa always told me that he disliked archeologists, because they disturbed things that they knew nothing about. It’s downright ironic; because if it weren’t for these archeologists, grandpa wouldn’t know the things he knew as a historian. He was a very superstitious man that believed in old-school folklore and fairy tales passed down from generation to generation. Well, he wasn’t a tin-foil hat wearing old coot but he always felt uneasy when it came to talks about spirits and ancient belief systems. This was a strange characteristic of his considering that grandpa was highly educated, respected, and often considered a rational historian by his colleagues. Over the years, dementia gradually kicked in and grandpa passed away. I sometimes reminisce on the cool bed-time stories (maybe more like history lessons for kids) he used to tell me; but I’ll never forget his last piece of advice before he passed “Respect that which is older than all of us. There are ancient things that are incomprehensible to the modern mind.” ......If only I had paid closer attention and recalled his advice that one crucial time. If only I had engraved those words into forethought! ---------------------------- *Ding Dong Ding Doong* “Class, you’re all dismissed. Remember that your reports are due on Monday morning, next week. Y’all have a whole week + the weekend to complete it, so no excuses.” After the brief announcement, students began to pack up and head home for spring break. “Hey Chaet , I accidently dozed off on the last 15 minutes of class, can you catch me up on the notes?” Chaet produced a wry smile and looked over in my direction. “Hmm, I don’t know, I think I just so happened to dose off as well.” “C’mon Chaet, pleeease. Everyone knows you’re the smartest one in class and that the teacher has the hots for you. You’ve got everything going for you – can you exercise some generosity on the rest of us?” I said jokingly, but I was still serious about obtaining the missing 15 minutes of notes. Chaet kept a silent smile and slowly leaned forward on the desk surface. “Hm, how about this, you owe me something of equal value to these notes. So what’s it worth to you RicePounder? What will you trade me for all the times I’ve shared my notes and explained something to you that you didn’t understand? I was nice to you and didn’t ask for anything in return, but ya’know, I’d like to be appreciated every-once-in-a-while.” I gave it a moment’s thought and “Alright, how about this.... I’ll give you a massage” “No!” Chaet’s effective & succinct rebuttal. “....I’ll buy you pizza then...” Before I could even finish my statement, Chaet interjected “Nope, I want the green dragon sushi roll and green tea mochi combo set from your family’s restaurant!” “Gahhh...alright, but that counts as making us even for all the times you’ve helped me so far, okay deal?” My wallet will have seen better days, but it’s the least I could do for Chaet, plus I really didn’t mind treating...and I get excited to hear that someone so thoroughly enjoys eating my sushi rice. Anyways, I’ll just work extra hard at the shop to make up for the cost. ----------------------- I was determined to make good on my promise and we were both hungry; so we made our way towards the shopping district and chose the shortest route to my family’s restaurant. We were walking through an old cobblestone alleyway that I used to play in as a kid. There weren’t many locals that knew of the shortcut through this city block. This was a great opportunity to flex my history buff persona, so I gave Chaet the grand tour while we walked: “See these cobblestones, they were laid back in 1696. This narrow path actually opens up into a round center where people used to trade exotic goods. The center of this block has an old well – it still functions, but nobody uses it since we got modern plumbing” Chaet didn’t seem all that interested and only asked about the history of my family’s restaurant and what else was good on the menu. As we approached the center of the block, a few old-fashioned stalls were set up. “Hey Rice, this looks pretty cool...are these shopkeepers always selling stuff here?” I swear, I didn’t plan this out when I was weirdly flexing my historical knowledge, but I don’t remember any shopkeepers setting up here. It’s always been empty since I was a kid. I’d use this place to play wall-ball, run around, and just laze about. “I’m not sure, maybe I didn’t read the local newspaper....this could be some kind of festival. Normally, people don’t go through the trouble of dressing up in old-fashioned cloths and display these artisan goods every day. It’s probably something the business association drummed up to increase sales or boost this shopping district’s notoriety. I’ll have to ask my parents about it later – they’re part of the business association board.” Chaet responded with clear excitement “I changed my mind, let’s just get some food from these stalls and walk around here a little longer. They’re selling stuff that you don’t normally find around here. Besides, we can always go back to your family’s restaurant anytime.” “oh..uhh sure...” I said in a dejected tone. I was looking forward to Chaet’s reaction at eating my cuisine. I swear, I can make rice so good, it’ll blow your cloths right off! It stung my heart knowing that my food got beat out by the momentary excitement of seeing these old-fashioned stalls. ----------------------- We had visited several food stalls and tried to pay for the street food; but the owners mentioned that during this particular festival, visitors were allowed 1 free dish from each stall. Needless to say, we filled our bellies and didn’t have to spend any money on food. The rest of the non-edible wares had to be purchased though. “Hey Rice, let’s check out that antiques stall...it looks like they got some really cool things. I wonder what items are actually antiques or if this stall is just a ‘tourist trap’”. “Sure, why not, we can kill some time while we digest all this food.” Once at the stall, an old looking leather tome caught my eye. It was beautifully designed with engravings and was in good condition. The tome was opened; yet the pages looked empty from a distance. “That could be a nice souvenir for a novelist or to keep a journal. I might just buy it for myself”. “It’s best you reserved it as a gift for someone, because it’d just be wasted on your crazy fanfics RicePounder” Chaet chuckled. I brushed off Chaet’s teasing remark and approached the tome to take a closer look. “Oh, I thought the pages were empty... there are some fancy gold script if you flip through the tome.” “Ooo, let me see” Chaet shoved me aside and started reading the contents aloud. I lost hold of the tome and gave Chaet a little space between us. Wait...there’s nothing on the pages again, is Chaet just joking around and making some story up to mess with me? No, I swear that when I got up close and flicked through the pages, there was writing...why can’t I see any of it now that Chaet has got ahold of it. I’m too young to be having troubles with eye sight now. Last I checked I was at least 25/25 vision ---------------------------
The sound of wind chimes could be heard in the distance and a gentle breeze enveloped our surroundings. Oh I must have spaced out or something, we’re still at the narrow entrance of the cobblestone alleyway. That’s right....I was about to tell Chaet the history of this block. I was about to flex my history buff muscles, but something strange caught the corner of my eye. There was an old leather tome laid on the cobble stone path no more than a meter ahead of us. “Hey Chaet, you see that? .....Yo, what’s the matter, you alright.....?” |
Jan 11, 2020 5:22 PM
#42
| The Chronicles @OfDeathandLove continued.... ...Like I was saying, I was given permission by my landlady to help clean the 1st floor of the building. After speaking to her and getting the keys to the building, I –.........— and that’s just about everything I know before you guys came. When our boys checked the first floor and the property outside, we didn’t see any struggle, tampering of the locks, broken windows, or anything else out of the ordinary. Though we did notice that the inside was a mess – chairs and tables flipped over, cups on the ground, and a rolling pin wedged inside of a side pocket of a pool table. We left the area undisturbed and took pictures of the scene for record keeping. We’ve known for a long while that the 1st floor was vacant, but this is the first time we were called to investigate this address for any suspicious activity. We didn’t even know that you lived in one of the building’s 2nd story rooms....but we do know who owns the property. Look, it’s about 1:30am and I don’t think the old land lady is going to come out and visit the PD office this late at night to corroborate what you said. Now before I continue further with what I’m about to say, let me state that “I’m just doing my job”. As it stands, you’re our only witness and also our only suspect. So you’ll have to stay with us over night until we can get ahold of – W-what? I’m the one who called you guys in! If I was the ‘bad guy’, why would I intentionally call the police and bring them to me? J-just call the pizza shop...I just know that the delivery guy saw me cleaning in there!! Ma’am, I need you to calm down. Just sit down and we can— Ma’am! I’m going to – *Tap-tap-Tap* Hello? Is this office 3B? The familiar voice of a sweet old granny startled the detective and young girl. The old lady’s presence had an immediate calming effect and the conversation volume returned to an appropriate level. Wha-Oh. Ms. Kitsu, how did you get here so quickly? I only sent out the call maybe 10 minutes ago. Oh, I was already nearby the neighborhood when this computer phone began ringing. I would have gotten here sooner, but it took me a few minutes to figure out which way & how to flick the screen. Ah, technology these days...it’s hard to keep up sometimes, haha. I’m very sorry to disturb you so late ma’am, but it is protocol to inform affected parties as soon as possible. It’s good timing that you came so soon; perhaps you can shed some light in this incident and explain your relation to this young lady here. It would be my pleasure. I’ve got all the time in the world – even better to be able to have some private time to speak with such strapping fellows in uniform. It’s been a long while since I’ve had THIS much attention from the boys, ho-hmm The detective smiled at the sweet old lady’s display of light-hearted charm. Yes ma’am, right this way. This shouldn’t take long to sort out and we’ll have you safely back home and well-rested. The old landlady and detective convened inside am adjacent room for about 15 minutes. Afterwards, the detective came with good news. Between the landlady and your accounts of what happened, everything seems consistent. We still don’t know who might have trashed the place, but the landlady is vouching for you and told us you were allowed to be there. Call us if anything else suspicious pops up and we’ll send a patrol to keep an eye out. You’re free to go young lady, have a safe trip home. ------------------- After signing out of the city police station, it was 2am and no more busses were operating at this hour. Fortunately, the police station was just 8 blocks away from the apartment – but who would want to return to a place that was just the scene of some crime? Confusion of what had happened earlier had me wondering who I could trust. Was the old landlady I saw in the PD the “real” landlady, was it the cosplayer in disguise, or was I going crazy all-of-a-sudden?” *tap-tap-click, brrt-brrt* C’mon pick up, please. You’ve reached the voicemail of...Lollipop...at the tone— *sigh* Maybe I’ll try Korishi, gigaparsec, maybe Seiya – ...they’re all either sound asleep or drunk, IDK anymore...God Damn it! I guess I’ll walk back...I’m so f**king tired of this shit! Walking down the busy streets of Salt Lake City at this hour let my mind cool off a bit. The streets were well-lit along the main roads and the night life during the summer meant that there were cheerful people hanging out late into the night. It was a double-edged sword – on one hand if you wanted peace & quiet you’d have to sound proof your rooms, on the other hand (especially now) having people around was a good thing. The presence of random pedestrians made me feel like I wasn’t alone and that if anything were to happen, someone would have the sense to call 911 or help me. I approached the final stretch of the main street before having to turn into a smaller road. This was 1 of the two side paths that led inside the city block and straight to my apartment building. I wouldn’t have been so concerned if my apartment building was on the edge of the block where there was plenty of lighting and pedestrian traffic. Before the recent incident, the peaceful quiet was a great selling point for me to rent the room; but now, it felt creepy as hell walking through the barely lit side streets to get to an old-ass building. The old lady’s house across the street from my apartment was lit, so I must have gotten back to the neighborhood before she did. Dogs could be heard barking in the distance and the occasional rodent scurries across the light of a single street lamp. I could feel the cold dampness and fog setting in – perhaps it’ll rain tonight. This day has dragged on long enough and I missed the safety and comfort of bed. Ready with keys in hand, I briskly walked up to my apartment door to open it and then immediately turned on all the lights. With the door locked behind me, I did a quick inspection of my apartment to find that everything was in place and no one else was here. When I retired to the bedroom, I had made sure to lock the door as added precaution. I wouldn’t have normally gone this far, but I hated the feeling of being watched or not knowing if there was anyone else around. In regards to the old landlady and the cleaning job, I didn’t know how I’d approach her or if it was best to avoid all contact. For now, I needed to sleep and get ready for the next day – I still have my part time job to attend to. *Burng-burr-burrng*Ugh...is it really worth the few extra bucks when I could just sleep in? Tsk. I woke up about 8am to give myself some time to eat and ready myself for another day of work. As I was about to walk down the stairs and start my commute – Good morning dearie. Do you have a moment to talk? I knocked on your door an hour ago and since you didn’t respond, I assumed you were still asleep. You mustn’t stay up too late, it’s bad for your complexion. The old land lady was standing at the base of the outside stairway. Oh uh, hi Ms. Kitsu. I actually have to head into work today, and I’m sorry but I’ll also be busy for the evening and can’t meet with you for a while. Can we....meet up another –“ While maintaining an outward appearance of lackadaisical patience, the old landlady’s tone changed from her usual soft spoken pattern to that of a rambunctious girl. Listen you cheeky little dunce, we have a lot to discuss and a HUGE mess to fix. So skip your measly part-time job being a mindless convenience store cash box and work for me! The miss-match in voice to the old lady’s image looked straight out of some poorly made ‘abridged series parody’ on Youtube. I was already suspicious of the old lady after what happened yesterday and had made contingencies for moments like these. My hand was already in my leather hand bag and I quickly produced a small bottle of dish detergent. You’re coming with me! The old lady began jogging up the flight of stairs with uncharacteristic alacrity; and in response, I retreated straight back through the 2nd story path, past my own apartment door on my left and several other doors to vacant rooms. I glanced back for a moment... When the old lady reached the top of the stairs and took 2 steps, she slipped on the slick ground, but turned her fall into a classic baseball plate slide. After nearly using up her sliding momentum, she propelled herself up with one arm and continued running after me. I slung my small leather handbag around my shoulder, grabbed the metal railing at the end of the 2nd story path and leapt off. I was confident that the landing wouldn’t be lethal because I knew that at the bottom were a pile of used car tires to break my fall. I didn’t break any bones or suffer any major injuries upon landing, but the impact numbed my legs for a few seconds. Just leave me alone!! I rolled off of the tires and began a sprint along the western side of the old building. The old lady had one thing right – I wasn’t going into work today; instead I’d change my plans and head straight back to the police station. In hindsight, it would have been safer to be held behind bars than it was to be stuck in this hell-hole. *Huff-huff, rustle* My eyes widened, and my heart raced upon detecting the noise coming from behind me. You gotta be f**king kidding me! My curiosity got the better of me and I turned to glance at what was behind me. Hiyah, c’mere you twerp! *Fwip* The old lady swiped at me, but the sudden burst of adrenaline coursing through my body quickened my reaction and I sidestepped to the right just in time to dodge capture. There wasn’t much space between the side of the old building and a tall wooden picket fence. My right shoulder slammed into the course wood, and the pain soon turned my fear into anger. I knew that if the old lady could close the distance between me in such short time, then running would just be a continuous series of hairline dodges before eventual capture. There was still quite some distance before I could make it to the edge of this block and into the watchful eye of society...so I had to find some way to trip her up good or make her reconsider confronting me. The part of the wooden fence where I slammed into had a few loose wooden pickets – so I grabbed one. The old lady crouched into a low tackling stance and dove toward my direction. My back was now against the wooden fence; but instead of running, I ripped off the loose wood and threw an overhead swing to defend myself. The wooden board make solid contact flat against the old lady’s dome, but her arms were now wrapped around my waist. Put me down-n-n-no No NO! The old lady had strength unbecoming of her frail outward appearance, and somehow she managed to pull me away from the fence while reaching around to my back. I’ve seen where this was going – it’s the classic move used in any anime where the fight turns into a grappling contest. Huueeyaah! As she lifted me up, I started to see the morning sky...but I wasn’t about to go down just yet. I took my leather back and held it behind my head to cushion the eventual impact. *THUD* Euugh-cough! I was still conscious but found myself upside-down on the dirt. Through the pain, I had managed to simulate a crocodile’s horizontal death roll to loosen the grip she had on me. This dazed the old lady and we both got up onto our knees. My back was throbbing and I was now in no shape to run. We were both crawling on the ground with vertigo vision. It’s all or nothing now – when worse comes to worst, you kill it with—*Click, spritzzz- WHOOSH* Burn in hell you old hag! I took a bottle of hair spray and a stove lighter out of my bag to ‘MacGyver’ a makeshift flamethrower. *sizzle* Ahh! You crazy b**ch....ah owww! The old lady yelped and began rolling on the dirt to put out the flames. The flames spread across her garments and black sparkling mist began spewing from her body. In a matter of seconds, a short & slender, young-looking lady, with large animalistic ears, tanned skin complexion, Asian-like facial features, and a black-tipped, grey bushy tail, rolled out from the smoky mist. I had a feeling it was you – you stalking e-girl weaboo! Die you cu**! *Spritz – Fwoosh The entire contents of the hairspray was unleashed on the perp still laying on the ground. As if unfazed by the threat of incineration she sat up with a gravure pose – her hands gently wrapped on top of her knee caps and legs crossed. That’s far enough you delinquent. You’ve had your fun. The flames didn’t cling to the Fox Lady, but this time the streaks of fire danced around her like snakes slithering around a transparent globe. She pointed to me and the streaks of flames formed a circular ring around my position. Next she waved the palm of her hand across as if she were batting a fly. Black clouds with the color of starry night skies enveloped us both and we reappeared inside the building’s 1st floor. “Young girl, we need to talk about what has been transpiring within these 2 days. I cannot afford to wait any longer while you live in blissful ignorance of what is happening here.” While still encircled by flames, I did not move from my kneeling position in the middle of the service floor and stared ahead in disbelief. The Fox Lady took a toppled bar stool and repositioned it closer to me. She sat there and started to brush off the residual dirt clinging to her body. She did not wear modern cloths, but some sort of traditional styled single-piece dress with the same color scheme as the strange black smoke she keeps flinging about. “I sent you in here to clean, but no doubt you had to start messing around with what was left over. There’s only a few reasons why things ended up the way it did. I warned you not to get involved with the police or any outsiders, but you just had to go looking for trouble” Still confused and slightly fearful of my life, I mustered the courage to speak up. “Look, I know this is not some dream or hallucination and we’ve met before. So what are you and what do you want with me!? None of what happened makes any sense and I want nothing to do with it.” The Fox Lady clicked her tongue in annoyance “Tsk. Eh-eh-EH! Listen and answer my questions first – have you no respect for your elders, have you no patience?” She held her hand up to signal silence from her single audience. “Let me guess, you got bored of your janitorial job and ended up fooling around, right? Normally, when you clean things, you just sweep, wipe, wash, and organize – NOT vandalize them! You wrote inside the book didn’t you?” I recalled what had happened and couldn’t deny my actions – the only recourse was to speak honestly in hopes of garnering leniency from my captor. “Yes, ma’am...it was just a harmless joke.” The Fox lady hopped off her bar stool and started to nonchalantly pace outside my fiery imprisonment. “First, just call me Kit...you make me sound older than I am. Secondly, your ‘harmless joke’ ended up being the catalyst to something annoyingly complex—”. She summoned a cloud of black smoke in her left hand and shook it. “—here, have a bottle of water. This might take a while for you to understand.” --------------------- “I told you this earlier; but in case you didn’t believe me or listen, here it is again: I’m a Fox Diety born from Shoshone faith and the accumulation of “Boha” – the closest English word to it is probably “mystical magic” or spiritual energy. My job was to guide the deceased towards a peaceful slumber. It didn’t matter whether the people were considered “good or bad” in their past life, my job was to have them move on from their past and enter the “great beyond”..... In the past, it was easy to openly perform my job...the Shoshone people were used to the paranormal. After being displaced and the tribes scattered to the wind, I was left to myself. I kept watch of the new people who established villages, then towns, then turned to cities. In my attempt to continue my work behind the scenes, I blended in with the masses and acquired enough wealth to have this building constructed. The building itself is only used to mask what happens inside...it is the land which is most important. Before this place was occupied by colonists, it was an ancient meeting ground for native tribes. Their many years of worship here left a lasting spiritual effect, and that spiritual energy was what created me. I am bound to this land and its nearby vicinity. Fast forward to present, I’ve since “retired” from my work...but your recent mischief has spurred the arrival of more Wandering Spirits. You see, that leather registry book was purposely left empty to avoid the responsibility of guiding more lost spirits. Now that you’ve tarnished the book with ink, you’re now bound by spiritual contract to help the person that you’ve written in. Girl, I’ve been doing this work for over 300 years. It was easy in the beginning when this place was just an open field; but once the Lunar Fox Inn was established, it has since gained quite the reputation from the dead. Your writing on the registry book was like a resounding beckon of light that says “Hey look, we’re open for business!”. The whole reason why I stopped guiding the lost was because there are more lost spirits than I can handle. ---------------------- But...all of this is YOUR job, not mine! I wasn’t purposely made for this – this isn’t my destiny, this is YOURS! How did the work of some Native American shaman get shoved onto me? I mean, you’re the only one with the sparkly magical powers to be able to do anything about this problem, so why me? Kit paused for a brief second, crossed her arms, and looked to face away from the captive. In a slightly saddened tone she opened up. You’re right kid...it’s supposed to be my responsibility, but I’ve got my own reasons . Kit waved her hand and dismissed the fiery circle before taking a seat on the floor next to her captive. I could go about saving another hundred wandering spirits, but it wouldn’t do you any good. The one who writes on the book is bound to the task of guiding the name on it. This is a curse upon the one who writes it and a blessing on the one who is summoned here. Until you finish the task, you are cursed to see wandering spirits. I am partially responsible for these turn of events, so that is why I’ve been trying so hard to work with you. So what...am I going to be like that kid from the Movie “The Sixth Sense”? Who? I’ve no idea who you’re talking about, but if they could see spirits, then they must be especially gifted or bound by fate to interact with the dead. Nevermind. Whatever is happening, how exactly do I go about fixing this mess? Am I going to be permanently pestered by ghosts and shit? No, as soon as you guide the spirit of the person you summoned with the registry book, the spiritual contract will be released. The specific spirit will no longer walk the realm between the living and the dead. Let me warn you that the longer you wait without completing your task, the more wandering spirits will catch onto your curse that allows you to see and interact with them. The land which the Lunar Fox Inn sits on is particularly saturated with spiritual energy, so the veil between the spiritual and corporeal realms is particularly thin here. You’ll be able to interact with wandering spirits inside this city block as if they were living people; however, once you go outside this block, the spirits can be seen and heard, but cannot be touched. Heh...you don’t trust that I’d fix this, do you? Is that why you told me this or are you just saying this to further back me into a corner, or to make me do your job? What’s to say that some of what you’ve told me were lies or half-truths....what if you’re purposely messing with me? Kit forcefully stood up as if insulted by what was said to her. She brusquely walked over to the counter where the old leather registry book was laying and tossed it onto the hardwood floor in front of her captive. *Ka-plat!* With a stern look in her eyes “The Lunar Fox Inn operates from dusk until dawn – that timeframe is when the veil is weakest and wandering spirits can manifest into the corporeal realm. We’ll be able to see and physically interact with them, but from a normal bystander’s point of view, they’re invisible. From now on, you’re no longer a simple janitor, you’ll be running the Lunar Fox Inn. I’m done with explaining things to you and my patience is wearing thin. When you finally wise up and are ready to do some real work at dusk, come find me across the street – the old landlady’s house. If you do, I’ll work something out with your schedule so that you don’t need to go into your other part-time job. After finishing her parting statement, Kit waved a smoky right hand and boldly barged through the double wooden door entrance and out came a sweet old granny who was out on an early morning stroll. My morning encounter with the old lady caused me to be 15 minutes late clocking into work. The supervisor wasn’t all too happy; but taking pity at my disheveled appearance, she decided to let me off with just a brief warning. The afternoon shift from 10am to 4pm felt unusually long. While I was slaving away at the register and restocking like a madwoman, everyone else was happily starting their summer vacations. Couples would come into the convenience store to grab food & drinks along their travels, kids were with their parents on vacation, and the other university students were happily lazing about the city. In order to be self-sufficient, I had to make additional sacrifices on my free time – the independence comes with a cost. Throughout my shift, I’d find my mind wandering back to my recent spate of ludicrous encounters. I just wanted to forget it all and to wish that I had never chosen to pursue an education in this city. After a grueling day of work, I returned to my 2nd story apartment atop the rundown Lunar Fox Inn. It was 5pm by the time I got home, around 6pm when I finished eating dinner, and by 6:30 I was settled on the couch for a relaxing night of TV specials. Beset by the accumulated fatigue of staying up late, wresting with the old landlady in the morning, working a passionless job all afternoon, and the onset of a food coma, getting some shut-eye was the perfect finishing combo. The TV is where my mind could escape reality for a brief moment – where the background noise would lull me into peaceful slumber – ---------------- *♪Dramatic cinema music♪* Starring Heath Ledger....”I wish I knew how to quit you!” *Footsteps, door closing, boisterous laughter outside” *Inhale* Mm-ugh. EuGHH! Who the hell is making all that noise this late!? From my couch position facing the apartment doorway, I could tell that the noise was close – possibly just outside onto the 2nd floor balcony pathway. It didn’t sound like the old lady and neither did it sound like children playing. Curious as to the source of the noise, I furiously slipped into some regular street clothes, grabbed my keys, and some protection. I swear, I’m going mace the loud-ass motherf***er who’s chosen to mess with me today! Dang it man, I’m ready to go to jail tonight!” I flung open my apartment door as obnoxiously as I could to make a scene and took a step out onto the 2nd floor balcony pathway. ”WHO TF IS MAKING THAT NOISE! HUH? HUUUnng!?!” A few glances to the sides and down to ground level showed empty streets quietly illuminated by the colors of the sunset. From this location inside the city block, only the faintest sound of vehicular traffic could be detected. If it wasn’t someone outside on the balcony or on ground floor, then who could it have been? The old lady never mentioned renting space to anyone else on the 2nd floor; and ever since I’ve been here, I had not heard a peep from that side until now. I made a systematic effort to check the other 7 apartment doors to the left of mine. First, I tried to turn the door knob. Next, I knocked on the apartment door to elicit a response...this was repeated for each respective door; however no one responded. *SIGH!* ”Whatever...I’m done with this shit!” I returned to my apartment and laid back down on the couch. Now that I was riled up, I couldn’t sleep, so I just furiously sat there and stared at the TV. It didn’t matter what movie was on, I just wanted to calm down. The time on the TV read 7:30pm and the channel displayed “Brokeback Mountain”. ”Ehh...it’s a free movie, I guess this will do.” 15 minutes later, boisterous laughter and merriment could be heard passing by. I dismissed it and kept watching the movie to take my mind off of my negative funk. Another 15 minutes had passed and the merriment was now accompanied by instruments – possibly a fiddle and a piano?? ”Okay. I’ve had enough with this nonsense...it’s time to end the lease on this cesspool!” Once again, I exited my apartment, locked the door behind me, and glanced around to gather any possible clues on the source of the noises. When I looked left towards the end of the balcony pathway, I saw 2 drunk country boys leaning against the metal railings while fervently making-out. I quietly left them to their devices and swiftly walked down the stairs to my right, followed by another right turn to reach the eastern side of the building. As I walked down the side, the noise seemed to get louder as I got closer the front of the Lunar Fox Inn. Peering through one of the side windows showed nothing but an unlit tavern service floor; yet there was noise emanating from within. I was getting impatient and angrier with each passing second, so I made a beeline across the street and towards the old lady’s house. It was slightly past 8pm and the sun was setting. Looking from the outside and towards the old lady’s house, none of the lights were on, but I approached her front door anyways. *Knock-knock-knock* No answer...a second series of knocks followed, and no answer. *Bang, bang, bang!* ”HEY, I know you aren’t asleep just yet! And you told me that’d you would be here to talk around this time. You know...I’m really tired of staying here and having to deal with this! You OLD HAG, I’ve decided to end the room’s lea—“ As I was furiously conversing with the door, ”You little cu*t, who are you calling an ‘old hag’?!” The old lady approached from behind and slapped me upside the head. Black smoke with the color of starry night skies enveloped the both of us and we appeared inside her office. ---------------- “You sure took your time getting here.” Kit smiled after she finished her upbeat quip and took a seat across the parlor table. She lit a candle housed inside an ornate lantern and placed it on the center of the parlor table. The resulting light revealed the visage of a young Fox Lady. Her voice had changed to appropriately reflect her outward portrayal. Perhaps it was my piss-poor mood and all my accumulated frustrations, but I did not feel any fear or anxiety this time. Maybe these recent abnormal encounters have desensitized me, and my recent bout with the Fox Lady may have proven that I’m a more capable fighter than I had previously imagined. I thought to myself, pfft, don’t worry, if I had to...I can take her on. Rather than respond with timid body language or flustered words, I wantonly asserted myself by boldly striding up to the chair positioned across from her. I rotated the seat so that the back support was facing towards her, plopped down, and folded my arms across the top of the back support. ”Okay old lady, you called me out to talk – so I’m listening.” I confidently maintained unfazed eye contact with the Fox Lady. Kit’s black-tipped bushy grey tail moved to cover the bottom half of her face so that only her golden eyes could be seen reflecting the candlelight. ”I told you to address me as Kit...the younger generation must not have been taught any manners. Listen here, your anger is misdirected. If you want a solution to your problems, it would be best for us to cooperate from now on.” ”MY problem? You mean YOUR problem! From the way it looks, it seems like you’re more concerned about this than I am, because if I had a choice, I’d just pick up and move. After all, I’m not the one who is bound to this location.” The cathartic response felt satisfying but didn’t stem the growing sensation of anger. For a brief moment, Kit closed her eyes, furrowed the brows, and turned her head to the side. She took a long breath in and exhaled before facing forward again. In a soft voice, ”You remember what happened to you with the police...I got you out of that. You remember before all of this started, I took it easy on you for rent. Remember when I had you restrained this morning, I was being extra gentle, even after you broke a piece of fence over my head. Remember when you didn’t have enough to eat and I–“ ”Okay, okay...I get it. It’s just that ever since yesterday, I’ve been on edge. Things are starting to piss me off and I’M SO TIRED! I-I just want things to go back to normal. I want to have the peace of mind to know that some weirdo isn’t around the corner watching me...or... That I can finally rest from all the hard work and shit that I put up with on a daily basis! I just want to enjoy my summer in peace, like everybody else... I just want to live my own way and be happy...but NOT MISERABLY LIKE THIS!" Sensing the frustration & pain in her voice, Kit reached across the parlor table and touched her hand on the girl’s shoulder. ”Hey...I’m sorry for how I approached you earlier, and the way that I’ve been just taking you without warning. I had not intended for the misunderstanding, and as I said earlier, I admit to haphazardly leaving out something this dangerous without regard to your safety. I know the cliché saying ‘with great power comes great responsibility’, and that is exactly why I want to work with you to fix things. I swear on my followers and what is left of them, that I mean you no harm –that my words are genuine. Please, listen to what I have to say. I will not force you into doing any more than what is necessary to lift the curse. Please, keep me company for a while. I'll put on some tea to relax the mind”... |
Mar 15, 2020 4:14 AM
#43
| @Krystifying THE SEQUEL IS HEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRREEEEEEE! 2-3 months in the making it's finally heeeerrrrrreeeee!! Really sorry for the wait, let's just say it ended up...longer than I anticipated. (And when I say long I mean long asinalmostthreetimesthelengthofthefirstonelong so don't feel obliged to read it Rice) Anyways, hope you enjoy it sis! :D And now...I present to you... Warning: Contains MAJOR Little Busters spoilers and minor Nakanohito Genome spoilers 0000 Krys observed their surroundings, taking in the lush grass and massive trees that surrounded them on all sides. Everything looked the same in every direction, with no apparent way out. There was no other soul in sight. She turned to Spaget with a worried expression. 0000 “Spaget…don’t tell me…” 0000 “I’m afraid so,” Spaget nodded her head slowly, a grim look on her face, “We’re back.” ----- 0000 Spaget wriggled in her seat restlessly and glanced for about the millionth time at the giant screen a few metres away. The screen read ARRIVALS/DEPARTURES in huge letters, just as it did 30 seconds ago. She turned her eyes back to the manga she was reading but, try as she might, she just couldn’t seem to convince the words to make their way into her brain. She sighed, stuffed the manga into her bag and scanned the airport terminal, her eyes once again settling on the screen. No change. 0000 How long have I been waiting now? Is the plane late? Am I too early? Did the plane even make it? What if it didn’t make it?! But the screen says it’s landed… But isn’t technology super untrustworthy sometimes? Could they have made a mistake? Could I have come on the wrong day completely?! 0000 Just as Spaget was about to give herself an internal panic attack, the doors of the terminal opened and a flood of people began stream out. Spaget immediately stood up and began the scanning the sea of faces exiting the terminal, searching for one particular passenger. 0000 After a few minutes the amount of departing passengers began to decrease from a flood to a trickle. Spaget was just about restart her internal panic attack when she spied a girl with a brown, almost black ponytail emerging from the terminal. Spaget’s eyes lit up and she began to wave frantically. 0000 “Krys! Kryyyyyyys!” she called, “Over here!” 0000 Indeed the person who was exiting the terminal was none other than Spaget’s good friend Krys. She looked up as she heard Spaget’s voice and began to search the crowded terminal for the source. Her face broke into a smile as she spotted her practically waving her arms off a few metres away. 0000 “Spaget!” she called as she ran towards her, “Hiiiiiiiiiii!” 0000 The two of them narrowly avoided knocking each other over as they hugged. 0000 “So how was the flight?” asked Spaget. 0000 “It was alright,” replied Krys, “Pretty boring to be honest. Good thing I had my headphones to keep me company, otherwise the entire 16 hours would’ve been an absolute drag.” 0000 “You could’ve slept the some of the way you know.” 0000 “Pfft, what would you know about sleeping, considering how late you stay up every night?” 0000 “Hey!” Spaget pouted, “I’ve been getting better!” 0000 “No you haven’t.” 0000 “Yes I have!” 0000 “No you haven’t.” 0000 “Yes I- ok, no I haven’t…” 0000 The two of them laughed as they set off towards the baggage claim. - 0000 Several minutes later, they were driving down a long stretch of highway in Spaget’s car, “Kago no Naka no Bokura wa” blasting through the speakers. 0000 “Cute car you have here,” said Krys, observing the small, albeit messy, interior of the little car. 0000 Spaget smiled and pat the steering wheel, proudly. “Leo’s a reliable little guy, that’s for sure!” 0000 “Leo?” 0000 “Ah…my family has a bit of a habit of naming our cars…” 0000 Krys laughed, “That’s cute.” 0000 Just then, the song ended, and the Little Busters theme began to play over the speakers. Krys gazed at the little radio and smiled. 0000 “Sure takes me back,” she said, “Y’know… to that time.” 0000 A soft smile tugged at Spaget’s lips. “Yeah. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a year since then.” 0000 About 11 months earlier, Spaget had surprised Krys by unexpectedly showing up in front of her school one morning. While definitely surprised, Krys had happily allowed Spaget to stay at her house for the duration of her trip. The two had had a lovely time watching anime, eating chocolate, and wandering around the city. 0000 However, the event Krys was referring to had nothing to do with chocolate munching or city-exploring. 0000 On the first night of Spaget’s stay, the two of them had suddenly woken up in a totally different universe to their own. A universe of anime characters. It was there that the girls met Kanata, Kyousuke, and Mitsuki. (That is, “met,” as in formally introduced. Both Spaget and Krys had seen all three of them in their respective series from the other side of the screen multiple times.) From there, the five of them had travelled across the universe in Kanata’s ship, the Astra, in order to deliver a rare and important envelope to a Punitsuki-guarded ice cave in the middle of an isolated planet. After more than a few unexpected obstacles, they had completed their mission. It was then that it was revealed that the planet’s wispy, pink clouds had the power to transport Krys and Spaget back to their world. After a tearful goodbye, the two of them had found themselves back in Krys’s living room, wondering whether or not the whole thing was just a dream. While still unsure of the supposed isekai’s cause, the girls had later coined the universe they’d found themselves in that night, the “Aniverse.” 0000 Even now, the memory was as fresh in Krys and Spaget’s minds as it had been 11 months ago. - 0000 “What do you think, Krys?” asked Spaget as they settled into her lounge room for the night, “Series or movie?” 0000 Krys tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Hmmm…. Well it’s already getting pretty late so I reckon a movie wouldn’t be a bad idea for tonight. We don’t wanna stay up too too late do we?” 0000 “Pffft,” scoffed Spaget, “That’s what sleepovers are for, girl! But I agree, I reckon a movie would be better. Just for tonight. Plus I already have an idea of which one we should watch!” An evil smile crossed her face as she slipped a disk into the player and switched on the tv. 0000 “Eh? The Anohana movie?” asked Krys as the monitor flickered to life. 0000 Spaget nodded. “I figured, since we both failed so bad when we tried not to cry watching the series last time, we could try again with the movie!” 0000 “I don’t think I’m gonna be able to do much better, personally…” 0000 “How about a little wager? If one of us cries, she has to buy the other a mango smoothie.” 0000 Krys’s eyes narrowed at the mention of mango smoothies. “You’re on!” 0000 However, try as they might, neither of them was able to hold in their tears the whole movie. The watch-Anohana-and-try-not-to-cry competition 2.0 ended in failure. 0000 “Welp, at least neither of us has to pay for the other’s smoothie now,” said Spaget as she dabbed her eyes and glanced at the clock on her phone. “Well how ‘bout that! Only 11:00! We didn’t stay up all hours of the night this time!” 0000 “Sweet!” said Krys, “So if we go to sleep now, we’ll be all refreshed for tomorrow!” She chuckled. “That is, as long as nothing weird happens this time.” 0000 Spaget laughed, “Can you imagine? But I, for one, have my doubts on whether that’s gonna happen. Anyways, time to get some sleep so we’re all ready to storm the city tomorrow!” 0000 “Aye yeah!” 0000 That being said, they both ended up talking long into the night. 0000 Krys became aware of the warm feeling of the sun on her face. Hnnggg…. Morning already? And I was having such a nice dream… Suddenly she felt a cool breeze brush against her cheek and thought she heard the rustling of trees overhead. Did Spaget leave a window open last night or something? Ah well, if the sun’s up, it must be getting pretty late so I guess I’d better go wake her. She rolled onto her back and cracked her eyes open. 0000 And immediately shut them as a bright light almost blinded her. 0000 Agh! What was that?! It was as if the sun itself was in the roof! She rolled back onto her side and tried again. Thankfully there was no blinding light this time. 0000 There was, however, grass. And a lot of it. 0000 Krys sat bolt upright. It looked as if she was in a clearing in some sort of forest. She was also now wearing a snug green shirt and jeans instead of her pajamas. 0000 A…f-forest?! What the heck?! Is this some kind of hallucination?! Did I suddenly come down with a fever last night or something?! But I feel fine… unless… 0000 She swung her gaze around and spotted Spaget a few metres away. Her pajamas too had been changed to an aqua shirt and jeans. She sprinted over and shook her shoulders. 0000 “Spaget! Spaget wake up!” 0000 Spaget groaned and swatted her hand away. “Mouu… mkay I’m coming, I’m coming…” Her eyes blinked open. Then she gasped as she noticed that this was not the comfy couch she had fallen asleep in. 0000 “Eh-?! Krys! What-?! Where-?! W-what the heck is going on?? Where are we???” She shoved her glasses on and scrambled to her feet. “A forest?? How the heck did we end up in a forest??” She froze. “Wait…unless…” 0000 Krys observed their surroundings, taking in the lush grass and massive trees that surrounded them on all sides. Everything looked the same in every direction, with no apparent way out. There was no other soul in sight. She turned to Spaget with a worried expression. 0000 “Spaget…don’t tell me…” 0000 “I’m afraid so,” Spaget nodded her head slowly, a grim look on her face, “We’re back.” 0000 Krys paled. “A-as in…” 0000 “Yeah. Back in the Aniverse.” 0000 “Are you sure??” 0000 Spaget gazed at the sky thoughtfully. “Well I mean it’s pretty hard to tell when it’s just trees in all directions. But I can’t think of any other explanation. Not unless someone kidnapped us and left us here. But this doesn’t look like any forest I’ve ever seen before in my life, let alone one nearby my house. So I think we can rule that particular scenario out.” 0000 “Which pretty much just leaves the Aniverse,” nodded Krys, “But what are we supposed to do? Wait for someone to rescue us? I doubt that’s gonna happen. But we can’t just stay here!” She looked around again, just in case there was a path and she’d just missed it. No such luck. She was about to turn back to Spaget when she thought she saw movement in some nearby bushes. 0000 “Spaget! There’s something there!” 0000 Spaget swung her eyes to where Krys was pointing. Both of them nervously eyed the bushes as they shook once again. They watched fearfully as they waited for the whatever-it-was to show itself. The bushes began to rustle more violently. They tensed. Finally the bushes parted and something white jumped out. 0000 ”EEEEEEEEEK!” they both shrieked. 0000 ”IT’S A- wait, it’s a…” 0000 “A-a cat?!” 0000 Krys was right. It was a cat. A small, pure white cat. It spotted Krys and Spaget and began to trot towards them. 0000 “Wait, what? What the heck is a white cat doing in a forest??” asked Spaget, regaining her breath. 0000 “I don’t know, but it looks like it has something on its tail…” Krys gasped as she realized what it was. “A note! Spaget, the cat has a note tied to its tail!” 0000 “Wait but that means...!” 0000 “It means it must be from…!” 0000 The two of dashed towards the cat. Then Spaget pet it while Krys untied the note. 0000 “I knew it!” she said triumphantly, “It’s a note from Kyousuke!” 0000 “And?? What does it say?!” 0000 “Find him.” 0000 Spaget stared at her blankly. “That’s it??” 0000 “That’s it.” Krys slumped onto the grass, “Well that doesn’t help us much. How are we supposed to ‘find’ anyone here? We don’t even know where we are! And who is ‘him’ anyways?” 0000 Spaget sighed and stood up, “Well you’re right about one thing. We’re never gonna find anyone in this forest. So our first order of business should be finding our way out of here I s’pose.” 0000 “A task easier said than done,” Krys was just about to stand up also, when she noticed something on the cat’s collar. “Hang on, what’s this…?” She unclipped the thingamabob. “It’s a compass!” 0000 “Wait really?? Kyousuke, you lifesaver!” 0000 Krys frowned, “Still, it doesn’t really help us much if we don’t know which direction we’re supposed to be going in.” 0000 “But!” said Spaget, “If we just go in a straight line, we’re bound to reach the end of the forest at some point right? At least with this, we’ll know we aren’t going in circles.” 0000 Krys’s face brightened, “Good point! Now I guess the only question is which direction do we go in?” 0000 Spaget shrugged, “North I guess? Seems easiest.” 0000 “Alright then, north it is!” 0000 “Aye, yeah!” - 0000 Spaget and Krys had been walking in silence for about 20 minutes now, each lost in their own thoughts. It was Krys who eventually broke the silence. 0000 “Hey Spaget?” 0000 “Mm?” 0000 “Does this forest seem… oddly quiet to you?” 0000 “Quiet? Actually… now that you mention it, it is kinda weird that we haven’t seen any wildlife aside from the cat isn’t it?” 0000 Krys nodded, “And I don’t know about you but I don’t think I’ve heard a single bird or seen a single insect in the entire time we’ve been here!” 0000 “Yeah. It’s as if this place is totally abandoned!” Spaget shivered, “I’m telling you, this forest is starting to give me the creeps…” 0000 They walked on for another 20 minutes, the only sounds to be heard being the rustling of the wind in the trees and their own footsteps. Suddenly another sound joined the fray. They froze. This sound was different. It was melodic. Almost as if someone was… humming? 0000 Krys and Spaget glanced at each other. Then they began to dash towards the sound, shoving stray branches and shrubs out of the way as they ran. The sound gradually began to grow louder. 0000 Finally, the two of them pushed away one final bush and skidded to a stop, their mouths agape. 0000 There, sitting under a particularly large tree and humming a familiar-sounding tune was… 0000 “M-MITSUKI?!” 0000 “M-Mitsuki?!” stuttered Krys, “Is that really you?!” 0000 Mitsuki looked up as he heard her voice. Upon sighting them, he jumped to his feet in surprise. “Krys?! Spaget?! What on earth are you doing here??” 0000 “What are we doing here?!” exclaimed Spaget, “What’re you doing here?!” 0000 “I was trying to find my way outta here!” 0000 “So were we!” 0000 “How did you get here??” 0000 “We don’t know!” 0000 “Eh?! Neither do I!” 0000 The three of them stood in silence for several moments, trying to process the situation. 0000 “Um…” said Krys, snapping everyone out of their shock, “So uh… Mitsuki? How…how about we start with you telling us what happened leading up to you arriving here. Us, we literally just woke up here after going to sleep last night. Did that happen to you as well?” 0000 Mitsuki thought for a second. “Hmm…yes? Well no… Umm…kind of? I was tinkering with the wiring in one the backstage speakers. I thought I had switched everything off beforehand, but I must’ve made a mistake, since one of the wires was still live. There was a bright flash and the next thing I knew, I was here. I even thought this was some kind of weird hallucination caused by electric shock at first.” He chuckled and rubbed his temples. “And judging by this headache I have, sometimes I think it still is. Anyways, after a few hours of walking, I decided that wondering aimlessly wasn’t getting me anywhere. So I decided to sit down for a while and figure out my next step. You know the rest.” 0000 Krys nodded slowly. “I can understand that. To be perfectly honest, I thought this was a hallucination or something at first too. But I think the fact that all three of us are here pretty much nullifies that possibility.” 0000 “Unless we’re all just hallucinating at the same time,” smirked Spaget. Krys stuck her tongue out at her. 0000 “Whatever the case,” she continued, still giving Spaget a death glare, “Since we’re all here, I say we team up and try to find our way out of this forest together.” 0000 Mitsuki nodded. “I’m all for that, but how exactly are we gonna do it? I’ve been wondering around here for hours and haven’t gotten anywhere! As glad as I am to see you, I doubt just having two extra people is going to make a way out magically appear.” 0000 Krys’s lips curled into a smile. 0000 “That’s where you’re wrong Mitsu.” She showed him the compass she was holding. “Ta-da!” 0000 Mitsuki’s eyes widened. “A compass?? How on Earth did you get your hands on one of those??” 0000 Spaget and Krys glanced at each other briefly. 0000 “Actually… we got it from Kyousuke.” 0000 “Kyousuke? Is he here too?” 0000 “Well no… it was on the collar of a cat.” 0000 “A cat? Then how’d you know it was from Kyousuke?” 0000 “There was a note on its tail. And also… well… it’s uh… it’s a long story.” 0000 Mitsuki tilted his head. “That so? Welp, we have all the time in the world it seems, so maybe you two could tell me about it while we make our way out of this leaf-fest!” - 0000 “Wow,” said Mitsuki, “I had no idea Kyousuke went through all that…” 0000 As they walked, Krys and Spaget had told him what they knew of Kyousuke’s story as per what they’d observed from the other side of the screen. Although they tried to hide it, both of them had tears pricking at the corner of their eyes by the time they’d finished. 0000 “He never told you?” asked Spaget, “I would’ve thought that you guys, Kanata included, would know pretty much everything about each other by now.” 0000 Mitsuki shook his head. 0000 “We actually don’t know each all that well. I mean we are from different universes after all. In fact, that time we all spent onboard the Astra was probably the longest time we’ve ever spent with people from different universes. And even then, we were so fascinated talking with you two, who came from an entirely different world altogether, that we never really talked about what our own lives were like before we were transported.” 0000 “Huh…” There was silence for several minutes after that. 0000 “So…” piped up Krys, breaking the silence once again, “What did happen after we left last time? Did you guys all make it back to your world?” 0000 Mitsuki nodded, “Yup! At first Kanata looked a little worried, saying that despite what he’d told you guys, he wasn’t actually sure how we were gonna get off the planet without having to go through the asteroid belt again. But no sooner than he said it, the mist began to surround us again. Next thing I knew, I woke up back in my own bed in the dorm. It was as if the whole thing had been a dream!” He chuckled. “Iori burst out of his room, claiming he’d had a very weird dream as well. He was so passionate when explaining, it was like he was desperately trying to get the others to believe it really happened! Poor guy, he must’ve eaten at least six pancakes that morni- hold up, is that a way out up ahead?!” 0000 Krys and Spaget looked to where he was pointing. Sure enough, there was a bright light coming from a break in the trees straight ahead. It was too bright to be able to see beyond the tree line, but that was beside the point. All that mattered was they’d found a way out. 0000 Krys’s face broke into a wide grin and she began to run ahead towards the exit. 0000 “C’mon you guys!” she called as she ran, “What’re you waiting for? The exit’s right there!” 0000 “Krys, wait!” called out Spaget behind her, “There’s something weird about the ground in front of you! I think there might be a-“ 0000 But Krys never heard the rest. For at that moment, the ground seemed to fall out from below her and she was plunged into darkness. She heard Spaget and Mitsuki call out from somewhere above her. She tried to call back, but instead felt her mouth fill with water. 0000 This is bad! she thought I must have fallen into some kind of pond or swamp that was disguised by all the leaves and plant matter floating on top of it! I’ve gotta get out of here fast! 0000 She desperately flailed her arms and legs, trying to push herself to the surface. But it was no use. By this point, in the total blackness that surrounded her, Krys wasn’t even sure which way was up anymore. And to say she was not a good swimmer would be… an understatement. Her lungs began to burn. She moved her limbs with even more fervor. But try as she might, she just couldn’t find her way to the surface. Slowly, her senses began to fade around her. 0000 And then… she felt nothing at all. 0000 “Ah!” 0000 Krys eyes popped open. She sat up quickly, rubbing her eyes. As her vision cleared, she saw that she was in a small bedroom. Dull ceiling lights cast a dim light over the room. 0000 Huh…? Where am I..? 0000 Suddenly her memories from what seemed like a few minutes ago came flooding back. She gasped and began to franticly pat herself down. Nothing. Not a scratch. She became aware of a dull headache forming, but otherwise… there was nothing wrong with her at all. 0000 Eh?! I’m alive?? But wasn’t I stuck in a pond a few minutes ago?? Wait… unless I am dead and I’ve gone to heaven?! Or maybe this is heaven’s waiting room?! Darn it, if only Spaget had been able to give me that swimming lesson! 0000 As she was having these thoughts, the small door at the end of the room burst open to reveal a panting Spaget. 0000 “Krys!” she gasped as she saw her, “You’re here! You’re ok!” She leaned against the door frame and breathed out a sigh of relief. 0000 “Spaget!” exclaimed Krys, running over to her, “What happened? How did we get here? Where even is here??” 0000 Spaget shook her head. “I’m afraid I haven’t got the foggiest idea. As soon as you disappeared into that pond, I dashed off to grab a branch or something to rescue you. But I tripped on a root! The next thing I knew, I was in the room right next to yours, with no idea how I got there!” She pulled Krys into a hug. “But whatever the case, I’m so glad you’re ok! I thought you were a goner there!” 0000 Krys nodded and pat her back. 0000 “And Mitsuki?” she asked as they separated, “Is he here too?” 0000 “I’m not sure yet. I was just about to check next room.” 0000 “I’ll come with you!” 0000 The two of them dashed out the door and into a narrow hallway with several doors lining both walls. They stopped at the door that was next to the room Krys had been in and went in without so much as knocking. 0000 “Mitsuki!” 0000 Mitsuki was sitting on the edge of a small bed in the corner of the room, rubbing his left temple with a pained expression on his face. He looked up as he heard their voices. 0000 “H..huh…? K-Krys! Spaget! You guys are here too! Thank goodness! What happened? Where are we?!” 0000 Spaget shook her head, “We just got here ourselves. We know as much as you do.” 0000 There was silence. 0000 One could pretty much hear the cogs turning in each person’s brain, trying figure out how they could possibly have found themselves in such a strange place, having been in a completely different place only mere minutes ago. 0000 “Well…” said Krys, eventually, “I suppose we could maybe have a look outside? That may give us an idea of where we are if nothing else…” 0000 The others nodded. Together they exited the room and made their way down the hallway. After passing a few doors they came across a flight of stairs. They descended them to the floor below and found themselves in what looked like an abandoned lobby. There was a pair of medium-sized double doors at the end of the room that appeared to be the entrance to the building. The three of them pulled the doors open and stepped out into the bright sunshine… 0000 … and found themselves in a narrow street. 0000 The street stretched for several kilometres in both directions. Brightly coloured buildings of differing sizes lined both sides of the long, stone pathway. A large tower rose in the distance. There were no other signs of life anywhere. 0000 “Where… is this place?” asked Krys, “I feel like I’ve seen it before…” 0000 “Yeah… same here,” agreed Spaget. 0000 “Guys! Look at this!” Mitsuki pointed to the slightly worse-for-wear sign hanging above the building they’d just exited. It read in big letters: WELCOME TO HOTEL AVENUE 12. 0000 Krys and Spaget’s eyes widened. 0000 “Avenue 12?!” exclaimed Spaget, “How the heck did we go from a forest seemingly in the middle of nowhere to Avenue 12?! And on another note, why not Avenue 13??” 0000 Krys nodded, her mouth hanging open. 0000 “Well,” she said, “If I remember correctly, that pink planet we landed on was also called Avenue 13 wasn’t it? Maybe that has something to do with it? But if nothing else, at least we know which universe we’re in now.” 0000 The universe Krys was referring to was that of Nakanohito Genome [Jikkyouchuu], in which the main setting was a place very similar to this one, known as Avenue 13. However, while its existence was indeed implied, Avenue 12 was a place that neither Krys nor Spaget had ever observed from the other side of the screen. 0000 “Huh?” Mitsuki looked at the two of them, confused, “We do? Which one is it? Where are we?” 0000 Just as Krys was about to give Mitsuki an explanation, Spaget pointed to something down the street. 0000 “Krys! Mitsuki! Look! It’s the cat! It’s back!” 0000 And indeed, just a few metres down the road, was the same milky white cat that had shown up in the forest. Once again, there was a note tied to its tail. As Spaget moved to get closer to it, it walked a few metres down the street. Then it stopped and turned to face them once more. 0000 “I think it wants us to follow him!” exclaimed Spaget excitedly. 0000 “Well then, what are we waiting for?!” asked Krys, “Let’s see where it’s taking us!” 0000 The three of them followed the cat several kilometres down the stone path. As they walked, the buildings began to thin out. While at first the path was lined with buildings squashed together with no space between them, now they were few and far between. And eventually, they disappeared altogether, leaving the stone path surrounded by grass stretching all the way to the horizon. The path then began to lead up a steep hill. It wasn’t long before the three of them were panting from effort. 0000 “He…hey Kyou-cat?” gasped Spaget, calling to the white cat that was still walking several metres in front of them, seemingly unaffected by the steep climb, “H…hah..how much longer?? We’re dyin’ here!” 0000 The cat looked back at her with an expression that seemed to say suck it up, buttercup. 0000 “Just…a little longer Spaget,” panted Krys behind her, “Look…I think…I can see…the top…” 0000 And indeed few minutes later, they finally reached the top of the hill. Here the cat stopped to allow the trio a brief respite. The three of them practically collapsed onto the soft grass, gasping and panting. Once they recovered their breath, they turned to see what was beyond the strenuous hill they just climbed. 0000 A few metres from the foot of the hill was a temple. It was pretty old-looking, as most temples are, and was a simple, rectangular shape. Statues and carvings, riddled with cracks and yellowed with age, covered the temple on all sides. But what was really impressive was the size. Even from on top of the hill, one could tell that this temple was big. Really big. And what’s more, there were no windows, or even cracks, big enough to able to tell what it could possibly be like inside. 0000 “Woah…” gasped Mitsuki, gazing at the huge structure, “D’you suppose that’s where it’s taking us?” 0000 “Well I certainly hope so,” said Krys checking the surroundings. Nothing but grass on all sides. “Doesn’t look like there’s anything else for ages!” 0000 The three of them followed the cat down the hill and towards the temple, finally coming to a stop at the temple entrance. While it had looked big from the hill, up close the whole thing was simply massive. There was a large, yellowed stone sign just outside the entrance that likely had the name of the temple written on it. 0000 “Nyaaa~” said the cat, swishing its tail, which still had the note tied to it. 0000 “I think it wants you to open the note now, Krys!” said Spaget. 0000 Krys nodded and knelt down to untie the note attached to the cat’s tail. 0000 ”Find the shard,” she read. 0000 Spaget groaned. “Seriously? That’s it? Darn it Kyousuke, why can’t you be a bit more clear on what we’re looking for??” She glanced back at the temple entrance. “Well, whatever this shard-thingy is, I’m assuming we’re probably gonna have to go into this temple to find it.” 0000 The three of them walked towards the huge entrance. As they got closer, they saw that the writing on the sign had been worn away almost completely. Only the barely readable word ‘MAZE’ remained. 0000 “A maze, huh?” Spaget shivered. “Sounds dangerous. D’you think it’s booby-trapped?” 0000 Krys shrugged and turned to Mitsuki. 0000 “Maybe you should stay out here, Mitsuki,” she said, “If something goes wrong, we may need you to go in and get this ‘shard’ yourself.” 0000 “Or to come and rescue us,” added Spaget. 0000 Mitsuki nodded. “I will on the condition that you make sure nothing goes wrong.” 0000 “Deal!” 0000 Krys and Spaget then proceeded to climb the short fight of stairs leading up to the temple. As they reached the top, they turned back and waved to Mitsuki. 0000 “If we’re not back by dark,” called Spaget, “Come rescue us!” 0000 Mitsuki gave them a thumbs up. 0000 The two of them turned back to the temple. Due to the bright sunlight outside, it was still impossible to decipher what the inside of the temple looked like. The only way to find out was to go in. 0000 They looked at each other nervously. 0000 “Readyyyyyyy?” 0000 “Ready.” 0000 And with a deep breath, they strode into the darkness. 0000 “GO!” - 0000 At first it was pitch black. Then a line of torches began to burst into flame, one by one, filling the temple with a warm, eerie glow and revealing a long corridor. The girls gulped as they stared down the narrow path. 0000 “Welp,” said Krys, nervously, “Shard-thingy, here we come.” 0000 The interior of the temple wasn’t in any way fancy. In fact, it was quite plain. The stone ground connected to the stone walls, which in turn rose all the way up to the stone ceiling. The only things decorating the walls were the metal torch-holders that were attached to the walls every few metres. Nevertheless, the girls found it fascinating, and found themselves gazing at the stone walls and torch-holders as they walked. 0000 They had walked about halfway down the corridor when Spaget heard a click beneath her feet. Before she could register what was happening, she felt herself being yanked from where she was standing. A split-second later she felt a whoosh go past her cheek and heard something clatter against the stone wall. Her eyes widened as she turned to the sound and spotted an arrow as it fell to the floor. “W-w-w-wha…” 0000 “Spaget! Are you okay??” asked Krys. 0000 “K-K-Krys…” stuttered Spaget, “D-Don’t tell me this maze booby-trapped after all…” 0000 Krys glanced back to where she had seen the arrow-shooting mechanism materialize out of the wall a split-second before she’d pulled Spaget out of the way. She nodded slowly. 0000 Spaget’s eyes widened even further. 0000 “We gotta go back!” she cried, “Shard or no shard, we can’t just blindly wonder around a death maze!” 0000 Krys nodded. “I hear you! Let’s go back to Mitsuki and figure out something else. I have no interest in dying today, thank you very much!” 0000 They began to walk back towards the entrance, carefully scanning the ground for any odd bumps or indentations that could trigger a trap. As they reached the end of corridor, they each let out breaths that they didn’t realize they’d been holding. 0000 “Ok,” said Krys, getting her breath back, “Let’s get outta-huh?!” 0000 “What? What is it?!” 0000 “Th-the entrance… it’s gone!” 0000 “Gone?! What’d you mean gone?!” 0000 “I mean it’s completely disappeared!” exclaimed Krys, “There’s nothing but a solid wall here now!” She pressed her face up the wall. “Heyyyyyyyyyyyy!” she yelled, “Mitsuki! Can you hear us?! Heyyyyyyyyyyyy!” 0000 She sighed. “Nothing. It’s soundproof.” 0000 “No hidden buttons or openings either,” said Spaget as she ran her hands over the wall as high as she could reach. 0000 They stood there in silence. 0000 “So what do we do now?” asked Spaget. 0000 Krys thought for a second. “I guess there’s only one thing we can do.” 0000 The two of them glanced fearfully down the corridor. 0000 “Go forward.” 0000 “Find the shard.” - 0000 Outside, Mitsuki was sitting patiently on the bottom step leading up the entrance with the cat. 0000 “So you’re Kyousuke’s little messenger, huh?” he said as he scratched the cat’s cheeks. The cat only purred in response. 0000 “But surely that’s not what people call you,” he continued, “Do you have a real name?” 0000 The cat meowed and jumped off Mitsuki’s lap. It then began to use its paw to write letters into the dust of the step. 0000 “L-E-N-N-O-N,” read Mitsuki, “Lennon. Huh, well there you go, I guess you do have one. I wonder who named you… was it Kyousuke?” 0000 “Nyaaa~” said Lennon, climbing back into Mitsuki’s lap. 0000 “Too bad I don’t speak cat,” chuckled Mitsuki as he scratched the cat’s ears, “Y’know you’re actually pretty cute. Maybe we should consider getting a cat for the dorm… ahh except that would probably be bad for Riku…” He grimaced as he felt the dull throb of another headache coming on. 0000 Damn these headaches he thought, rubbing his forehead. Maybe once the girls get back I’ll see if the hotel has a medicine cabinet or something. 0000 He glanced back at the temple entrance. I hope they’re doing alright in there… - 0000 Spaget and Krys carefully picked their way along the corridor, being careful as to not set off any traps. At the end of the corridor was a sharp, 90 degree turn to the left. By the time they finally reached it, both girls felt like they’d just run a marathon. 0000 “Phew…” panted Krys, “We did it. We made it past the corridor.” 0000 “Yeah…” agreed Spaget, also panting, “Now let’s just hope the rest of the maze isn’t quite as much of a danger-fest.” 0000 They looked at what now lay before them. They were staring down another corridor, similar to the one they’d just crossed. Only this one was shorter. Only a solid wall stood at the end. And not only that, there were multiple openings along the right-side wall leading into multiple other routes, each different, yet each seeming exactly the same. 0000 The maze had begun. 0000 “Ok!” said Spaget, feigning confidence, “Which way?” 0000 “Uhhh… maybe we should just start with the closest one?” suggested Krys, “Work through this systematically?” 0000 “Sounds like a plan.” Spaget gestured to the first opening. “Shall we?” 0000 Krys nodded. And with that, they nervously began to make their way down the first route. 0000 “Hold up Krys!” said Spaget, grabbing Krys’s shoulder, “That’s a tripwire!” 0000 “Huh..? Oh!” Krys only just managed to stop herself from triggering a wire trap. “Thanks Spaget-wait stop! There’s an indentation in the ground in front of you!” 0000 “Ah! Thanks Krys!” 0000 And so it went. Bit by bit, the two of them gradually made their way through the maze, carefully (and sometimes narrowly) avoiding the various traps set into the stone walls and floor. And after several exhausting minutes, the path split in two, with one branching to the right and one to the left. 0000 “Looks like this is where it’s gonna start to get tricky….” murmured Krys, “What do you think, Spaget? Left or right?” 0000 “Hmm… left I guess?” Spaget shrugged. “And maybe for starters we should just go left at every junction. We’re practically asking ourselves to get lost anyway, so we may as well continue to go as systematically as we can.” 0000 And so it was decided. With every junction they came across they would take the left-most path. Of course, the traps never let up in the slightest, so their progress was still painfully slow. Finally, after a long time of painstakingly picking their way through the various twists, turns, and traps of the maze… 0000 …they reached a dead end. 0000 Krys and Spaget gazed at the solid, looming wall that now stood in front of them and practically deflated. 0000 “Welp…” Krys began, trying to find the right words to express the situation, “This sucks.” 0000 Spaget let out a loud moan. “Seriously?? We just spent ages risking our necks and frying our brains in concentration only to end up at a dead end?! Gah!” She kicked the tall wall in frustration. 0000 And immediately regretted it. 0000 For her foot landed square on a hidden trigger in the wall. 0000 The ground began to tremble beneath them. Then the very foundations of the temple seemed to shake as the stones above them suddenly began to part, forming a huge, gaping hole in the ceiling. Krys and Spaget jumped out of the way just a split-second before a huge boulder twice their height dropped out of the hole with a heavy thud. 0000 Then it began to roll. 0000 Krys and Spaget glanced at each other. 0000 Then they began to run as fast as their legs could carry them. 0000 “A rolling boulder, really?” Krys heard Spaget mutter under her breath as they ran, “These temple designers couldn’t have been any more original??” 0000 Thankfully, due the boulder’s massive size and fact that they weren’t on much of a slope, Krys and Spaget were able to run slightly faster than the boulder was moving. However, they still had to weave their way through the turns and traps they’d navigated earlier, whereas the boulder would just smash through any walls in its path. Which put them at a distinct disadvantage. 0000 But still they ran. Faster and faster their legs moved, faster and faster the boulder rolled. Finally, just when it looked like they were going to get squashed, they found themselves bursting through the entrance of the route they’d just taken and back in the main corridor. They both felt a split-second of relief. Until they realized that due to the fact that they were now in the corridor, they could no longer run forwards. 0000 And the boulder was still closing in behind them, smashing relentlessly through the walls as if they were merely cardboard, as if it knew which direction they’d gone in. 0000 “To the side!” shouted Krys. 0000 The two of them leapt to the side, Spaget to the left, Krys to right. At that moment the boulder sped between them, barely missing them, and smashed through the wall, filling the corridor with the bright sunlight of outside. 0000 The girls sat there, unable to move. After a few moments they heard footsteps coming towards them and a voice calling out. 0000 “Krys! Spaget!” called Mitsuki, “Are you ok? I heard a crash!” 0000 He stopped short at the sight of the massive hole left in the temple wall. He surveyed the pile of crumbling rubble and then looked at the pale faces of the dust-covered girls. 0000 “W-what happened here?” 0000 Krys let out a dry laugh. “Isn’t it obvious? We got tired of walking and decided to rest our legs!” 0000 Mitsuki chuckled and helped them both up. “That’s nice,” he said. Then his face turned serious again. “Now, what really happened?” 0000 Krys and Spaget gave him a rundown on what had happened within the temple. Mitsuki’s eyes grew wider with every sentence, until they looked as if they were about to pop out of their sockets. 0000 “So in short,” said Spaget, “I honestly don’t know how we’re possibly supposed to find this shard whatever-it-is and make it out of this cursed temple in one piece!” 0000 Mitsuki nodded slowly and then turned to look at the horizon, where dusk was slowly but surely starting to fall. 0000 “Well,” he said, “It’s getting dark now. I say we go back to the hotel and try to think up a better solution to this whole thing in the morning.” He glanced at them with a mischievous smile tugging at his lips. “And let’s get you guys cleaned up. You look like hobos who haven’t showered in weeks!” 0000 The next morning, Krys woke up to the warm feeling of sunshine on her face. She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she slowly sat up. She blinked a few times and saw that she was still in the same hotel room she had fallen asleep in. She let out a deep sigh. 0000 Of course that’s to be expected she thought There’s no reason why I’d wake up anywhere else. So why do I feel so deflated…? She sighed again and headed out the door, towards Spaget’s room next to hers. 0000 “Merha!” she called as she knocked, “Morning Spaget!” 0000 “Yahallo…” came the half-enthusiastic answer. Krys opened the door to find her sitting forlornly on the side of her bed. Krys gave her a sad smile. 0000 Spaget, noticing her mood, gave a sad smile in return. “You too, huh?” 0000 Krys nodded and flopped onto the bed with a groan. “I mean it’s to be expected, I know. But I guess.. I just… I couldn’t help but hope that maybe, just maybe…” 0000 “This really is a dream this time and we’ll just wake up in our own beds,” finished Spaget, “Yeah I know…” She let out a long sigh. “Welp, I guess there’s no point in dwelling on it now. Today we gotta focus on finding a way to get outta here, whether it be via this shard-thingy or some other means.” She stood up and stretched. “Right! Let’s go get Mitsuki and brainstorm!” 0000 Krys nodded and the two of them headed towards Mitsuki’s room two doors down. 0000 Spaget knocked on the door. “Yahallo!” she called, “Up and at ‘em Mistu!” No answer. 0000 “Mitsuki?” called Krys, “You in there?” Still no answer. 0000 They cracked the door open and peeked into the room. Mitsuki was still in bed. 0000 The girls rolled their eyes. “Boys…” Spaget muttered. They strode over where his bed stood in the corner of the room. 0000 “C’mon Mitsuki!” said Krys as they got closer, “We have work to do! Hurry up and get up so we can-” She stopped as they reached the end of the bed and got a look at Mitsuki’s face. Beneath his tangled hair, his eyebrows were furrowed and his jaw was clenched as if he were having a nightmare, a light sweat having broken out on his forehead. Krys glanced at the bedside table next to him and noticed that at least three of the headache tablets they’d found in the abandoned hotel medicine cabinet were now gone. She and Spaget looked at each other with concerned expressions. 0000 “Mistsuki!” called Spaget, shaking his shoulder, “Oi Mitsuki! Wake up!” 0000 “Ugn..” Mitsuki grimaced. Then his eyes slowly opened. “Huhh…?” He sat up and blinked at the two of them. “Krys..? Spaget…? Is it morning already?” 0000 Spaget nodded, plopping herself on the bed. “Sure is. We were gonna brainstorm and try and think of a way to get out of here today, remember?” 0000 Mistuki nodded, slowly at first, then more enthusiastically as the fogginess of sleep gradually cleared and the memories of yesterday grew clearer. “Oh… oh right! The temple! The maze! You two almost got squashed!” 0000 Krys shuddered at the memory, then chuckled. “That we did. And today’s goal is to make sure that doesn’t happen again. But before anything else, are you ok Mitsuki?” She stole a glance at the bedside table. “Did those headache pills we found yesterday help at all?” 0000 Mitsuki turned to where she was looking. He sighed and gave her a half smile. “A little,” he said as he rubbed his temple. “Not as much as I hoped, though.” 0000 Krys was about to say something else when they heard a “Nyaa~” coming from the direction of the window. Spaget opened the curtains and saw the Lennon sitting patiently on the windowsill. He had another note tied to his tail. 0000 “Hey guys!” she called to the others, “Lennon’s back! And he has another note on his tail!” She opened the window to let the cat in. He trotted over to Krys, his tail swishing. 0000 “Open it up, Krys!” 0000 Krys bent down and untied the note from the cat’s tail. 0000 “I’m sorry,” she read, “It’ll be different this time. Please try once more.” 0000 “’Please try once more’?” asked Mitsuki, “You mean he wants you to go back into that death-trap maze? I’m not convinced that’s a good idea, personally…” 0000 Krys thought for a second and looked back at the note. “He says it’ll be different this time, though.” She looked back at the others. “And I don’t know about you, but… as much as I hate thought of having to back into that maze, this is Kyousuke we’re talking about. And admittedly I… I’m inclined to trust him.” 0000 Spaget smiled and nodded. “I’m with you Krys. I don’t wanna go back either, but if Kyousuke says it’ll be different, I don’t see any reason not to believe him. So… I’m willing to try again too.” 0000 Mitsuki looked at the two of them, from one determined face to the other. He sighed. 0000 “Ok. But at least let me come with you this time.” He stood up. “Agh!” He brought his hand to his forehead and dropped back down with a painful grimace. 0000 Spaget frowned. “Maybe you should stay in bed today. Get some rest so that you’ll recover from this cold or whatever it is as soon as possible!” 0000 Mitsuki looked at her. “But…” 0000 “Don’t worry about us!” Krys cut him off. She held her fingers up to him in a V for Victory. “We’ll be back before you know it! Now slep!” 0000 Mitsuki looked as if he were going to argue. Then his shoulders sagged in defeat. “Ok. But if I don’t see you back here before the sun sets, I’m coming after you!” 0000 Krys and Spaget both gave him a thumbs-up then proceeded to follow Lennon out of the room. 0000 “’Now slep’?” asked Spaget with a smirk as they closed the door behind them, “You’re using that phrase on people other than me now?” 0000 Krys stuck her tongue out. “It was a special occasion.” |
君の声 忘れない 涙も 忘れない |
Mar 15, 2020 4:17 AM
#44
0000 It wasn’t long before the two of them were back inside the temple. This time they’d opted to enter the maze via the hole left by the boulder, so as to not have to cross the first trap-laden corridor. 0000 “Soooo…” said Spaget as they faced the many routes along the wall, “What now? I know Kyousuke said it was gonna be different this time, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little scared about going down another one of those death-trap paths. And I this case, we don’t even know what ‘different’ means!” 0000 Krys nodded, deep in thought. “Maybe… maybe we’re supposed to go down the same route we did last time? Only this time maybe we’re meant to take all rights? Or maybe there’re actually hidden markers telling us which way is the right way? Or maybe-” She cut off as she saw something flash in her peripheral vision. They quickly turned their heads towards it and saw… something enter into the fifth route. 0000 “What was that?” whispered Spaget, “A ghost?” 0000 Krys stared after the something, wide-eyed. “I don’t know. But it’s something different. I think we should follow it.” 0000 Spaget was silent for a moment, then nodded hesitantly. “May as well,” she laughed nervously, “I mean, what’ve we got to lose, right?” 0000 Carefully, the three of them made their way through the fifth route. The traps seemed to be fewer this time, so progress was a lot faster than last time. Finally, they reached the first intersection. As they were debating which way they should go, they saw the something materialize before their very eyes. Except now they could see it a lot more clearly. It was blurred and transparent, but the shape was definitely humanoid and appeared to be wear kind of… running jacket? Before they could fully decipher what it looked like, it jogged down the left path and disappeared from sight. Krys and Spaget followed it and soon came across the next intersection. This time, the something jogged down the right path. 0000 And so it went. Left, right, left, right, right, left… Krys and Spaget continued to blindly follow the ghost-like being that appeared to be leading them. Finally, they rounded a sharp left corner… and suddenly found themselves inside a huge open room. More touches than they could count lined the walls, filling the large room with a warm, flickering glow. Standing in the centre of the room was a tall pedestal, with a long flight of stairs leading up to it. At the top of the pedestal, something seemed to be giving off a soft, blue glow, contrasting with the reds and oranges of the torches. 0000 “I… I think we made it, Krys!” Spaget shook Krys’s shoulder excitedly and pointed the glowing thing on the pedestal, “That must be what we’re looking for!” 0000 Krys grinned in return. “Well then let’s go get it!” 0000 The two of them began to dash up the steep stairs. They still had to be careful as, like the rest of the maze, the stairs were fraught with traps. But thankfully, Krys and Spaget were quite accustomed to avoiding them by now, so they made it up the stairs without much difficulty. And what waited for them at the top was well worth the climb. 0000 There, floating atop the pedestal, radiating its icy blue glow, was the shard. It bore the appearance of a broken piece of ice, and yet despite the torches burning all around it, it didn’t seem to be melting in the slightest. 0000 “Woah… It’s beautiful!” exclaimed Krys, gazing at its crystal-like surface, “Do you reckon we should take it?” 0000 Spaget shrugged, “That’s what we’re here to do, isn’t it?” 0000 Krys nodded and carefully took the shard from the pedestal. She froze, expecting another trap to be triggered. Thankfully, there was none. She breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the shard in her hand. It was cold. Krys was sure it was going to start melting any second. And yet it didn’t feel wet at all. 0000 “Well,” she said, placing it inside a small satchel she’d found in the hotel, “We’ve got what we came for. Now let’s just hope this ghost-guy can lead us out here.” She looked over at the at the being who was standing idly by the entrance through which they came. He appeared to be checking some kind of invisible watch and was looking more familiar with every second. 0000 The two of them made their way back down the stairs to where he was standing. 0000 “Well?” asked Spaget, addressing the being, “Are you gonna get us outta here or what?” 0000 The being didn’t seem to hear her. He just stood there, occasionally consulting his supposed invisible watch, as if he was waiting for something. Finally, after about a minute, he turned and began to jog back down the maze. Krys and Spaget followed. It wasn’t long before they were led right back to the corridor where they started and the big hole in the wall. It was here that the ghostly being, as suddenly as he had appeared, disappeared from sight. 0000 The two of them stepped out of the temple into the warm sunshine. Then Krys turned back and stared at the spot where the whatever-it-was had vanished. “He seemed… awfully familiar didn’t he…?” 0000 Spaget nodded, “I feel you… If only he wasn’t so blurry and ghost-y, we may have been able to tell who-or what-he was…” She pointed to the satchel slung over Krys’s shoulder. “You still have it?” 0000 Krys opened the bag and pulled out the shard. Even in the bright sunlight, it still seemed to give off a glow of its own. “Right here.” 0000 The of gazed at the shard for a minute, at this thing that they had gone through so much trouble to get, despite not having the foggiest idea of what they needed it for. They turned to each other. 0000 “Pffft-” 0000 “Pfffffffft-hahahahahaha” 0000 They both burst out laughing. 0000 “We-we did it!” exclaimed Krys through tears of laughter, “We got the shard!” 0000 “We did!” howled Spaget, “And we almost died getting it! And we don’t even know what it’s for!” 0000 They stayed there for a few more minutes, all their pent-up tension and relief being released in the form of hysterical laughter. Finally, they pulled themselves together and took a deep breath. 0000 “O-ok,” gasped Spaget, wiping away the tears that were still running down her face, “Let’s get back to Mitsuki and figure out what to do next.” 0000 Still giggling, they began to make their way back to the hotel. As they walked, Krys held the shard up to the sky, enjoying watching it sparkle as the sun reflected off it. 0000 “It really is pretty isn’t it?” she said, “I wonder if we’ll be able to take it home with us…” 0000 Spaget shrugged. “If we get back, that is…” She shook her head. “Sorry. I’m sure we’ll find a way. I mean we’ve got the shard-thingy that Kyousuke asked for, right? I wonder what he’ll get us to do next…” She looked back up at the shard and squinted. “Uh… hey Krys? Is it just me or does that thing seem to be glowing… brighter?” 0000 Krys turned her eyes back the shard. Spaget was right. It did seem to be giving off more light than before. At first it was barely perceptible, but slowly it began to glow brighter. And brighter. Before long it was almost too bright to look at. Even the grass around them was soon bathed in a bright, white light. 0000 Then something resembling a static electricity shock flashed across the shard. 0000 And there was nothing. 0000 Exactly one thought passed through Krys’s mind when she opened her eyes. 0000 This is not the hotel. 0000 She sat up and realized that she was on a futon. Immediately she searched around her, looking for the satchel containing the shard. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found it sitting next her. She slung it over her shoulder and began to scan the new room she found herself in. 0000 There was nothing particularly remarkable about it. The door was a sliding door, and the floor tatami mats. There was a small sliding door wardrobe and a small table with a computer sitting on it as well as a blue-curtained window. All in all, it was your standard traditional Japanese room. And yet Krys felt that there was some just something inexplicably familiar about. 0000 Suddenly it dawned on her. 0000 She scrambled out her futon and dashed towards where she knew this place’s kitchen was, nearly tripping over the stairs as she ran. 0000 She skidded to a stop outside the kitchen and pressed her ear up to the door. She could hear two voices chatting. One of them definitely belonged to Spaget. And the other… 0000 Krys threw the door open, her heart pounding. 0000 Spaget was sitting at the small dining table, pouring herself a glass of fresh orange juice. And there, standing by the stove making fried rice was… 0000 “H…Hah…HAIJI?!” 0000 Spaget turned to the door when she heard her voice. She grinned and waved. “Hey Krys!” 0000 Haiji also waved, making Krys’s heart skip a beat. 0000 “So you’re Krys, huh? Nice to meet you! I’m Kiyose Haiji.” He smiled and gestured to the dining table. “Have a seat! Pour yourself some juice if you like.” 0000 Krys nodded and sat down next to Spaget in a daze. 0000 “S-S-Spaget!” she whispered as she sat, “Is… is that really… are we really in…?” 0000 “The Chikuseisou dormitory? You bet your flipping ponytail we are.” Spaget grinned from ear to ear. “And yes. That really is Kiyose freaking Haiji making fried rice for us.” 0000 Krys gazed up at Haiji, her eyes as wide as moons. Brain does not compute does not compute does not compute does not compu- 0000 “Here ya go!” said Haiji cheerily, snapping her back to reality and placing two steaming bowls of fried rice in front of them. He sat down across from them with a bowl of his own. 0000 “Itadakimasu!” 0000 “So where’s Mitsuki?” asked Krys as they dug in. 0000 “The peach-haired guy?” asked Haiji, looking up from his rice. He gestured upstairs. “He’s still asleep. Poor guy doesn’t look all that great.” He then placed his now empty bowl on the table and looked at the two of them in the eye, a serious expression replacing the cheery one he’d had on his face a minute ago. 0000 “Now,” he said, “Would you two perhaps mind telling me why you’re here and how you managed to just magically appear in our dorm rooms? Would the three of you perhaps have anything to do with all the strange things happening around here lately?” 0000 Krys and Spaget glanced at each other. Strange things? Spaget sighed and turned back to Haiji. 0000 “Sorry man,” she said apologetically, “But we actually don’t know any more than you. So I’m afraid we can’t really answer either of those questions. The best we can do is give you a rundown on what’s happened to us over the last couple of days.” 0000 Haiji nodded and gestured for her to continue. 0000 So then, between the two of them, Krys and Spaget told him all about what had transpired, starting with their adventures aboard the Astra 11 months ago, then about the forest and their sudden and mysterious arrival in Avenue 12, about the temple and the shard, about the mysterious being that led them to it and their equally mysterious arrival at the Chikuseisou dormitory. 0000 “…and now we’re here,” finished Spaget, “But we have no idea how we got here, what this ice-like shard thing is for, or how we’re supposed to get back to our world.” 0000 Haiji sat back in chair and let out a long whistle. “Wow… that’s intense…” 0000 “And what about you, Haiji?” asked Krys, leaning forward, “What exactly did you mean when you said strange things?” 0000 Haiji frowned and looked up at the ceiling, thoughtfully. 0000 “Well,” he said, “It all started a couple of days ago. I was just taking a run like I normally do. But at one point I tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and landed on my MP3 player, cracking the corner. It still worked, thankfully, but some of the wires were exposed so I decided to run back to the dorm to see if any of the guys knew how to fix it. But as I began to run back, it started to rain. Some of the water must’ve fell onto the exposed wires, because I suddenly felt and electric shock running up my earphones. Next thing I knew, I was in my futon back in the dorm. The first thing I noticed when I got up, aside from a pounding headache, was that the dorm was… oddly quiet. So I searched all the rooms. Nothing. The whole place was deserted. I figured that everyone must have gone out or something, so I decided to run down to the store to grab some headache tablets. But as soon as I stepped outside, I knew something was off. There were no birds singing, no insects buzzing, no distant car sounds, even our dog seemed to have disappeared. And it was the same all the way to the store. No cars, no people on the sidewalk, not even a cashier at the store. It was as if I was the only living thing on the planet! So I grabbed the tablets, left some money on the counter, and ran back here. I didn’t see a single living soul. Until this morning.” 0000 He pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket. “This morning I heard a scratching noise and a faint nyaa~ outside the door. Naturally, after living in this total solitude for the last day, I dashed to the front door and threw it open, only to find a small white cat. And as if the sight of another living thing wasn’t enough, this particular cat had a note tied to its tail!” He showed them the piece of paper. There were a bunch of odd instructions written on it. ”Find an open space. Run straight for 20 metres. Turn left. Run 10 metres. Turn right. Run 15 metres. Turn left…” and so it went. 0000 “It almost looks like some kind of weird training regime,” said Spaget, reading the note curiously. 0000 “That’s what I thought too. And considering my situation, I didn’t really have many options, so I went to a nearby open field and followed the note’s instructions. When I finally made it back to the dorm, I thought I saw something move in the window to Prince’s room. I dashed in, thinking that the guys were home, and burst into his room.” He glanced at Spaget, apologetically. “Instead, I almost scared the living daylights out of Spaget here.” He chuckled, “Not that I wasn’t pretty freaked out myself!” 0000 Spaget smirked and turned to Krys. “Fun fact: Haiji screams like a girl.” 0000 Krys laughed while Haiji looked at Spaget with an expression that was a mixture of disapproval and amusement. 0000 “Anyways,” he continued, “Spaget told me that she should’ve come here with two friends. So we searched the other rooms and eventually found you and that guy-Mitsuki was it?-but we decided to let you sleep for now. After that…well, you know the rest ladies.” 0000 They were silent for a minute after that. Krys picked up the note and read through it again. Suddenly her eye narrowed. Then they widened. 0000 She shook Spaget’s shoulder. “Spaget! Look at this! Look at what the note is telling Haiji to do! ’Turn left. Turn right. Left. Right. Right. Left. Right. Right. Left. Wait 3 mins. Turn around.’ Then it tells him to take the same route back!” She looked up. “Spaget! Aren’t those the directions we took to get through the maze?!” 0000 “Eh?! Lemme see that!” 0000 Krys passed the note to Spaget, who then began to read it intensely. 0000 “No way!” she shouted a minute later, “They totally are! But that must mean...!” 0000 Krys looked up at a confused Haiji, eyes wide and her mouth in an O. “It was you who led us through that maze?!” 0000 Haiji just stared at her, looking more confused than ever. 0000 “But-but how is that possible?!” exclaimed Spaget, “This is a totally different universe!” 0000 Krys shook her head. “I don’t know. But after all that’s happened, and after hearing what Haiji just told us, I’d believe almost anything by now.” 0000 She looked at Spaget with serious eyes. 0000 “But there’s obviously something very wrong in the Aniverse right now.” 0000 At that moment they heard frantic footsteps upstairs. 0000 “Krys?! Spaget?! Is anyone here??!” they heard a voice call. 0000 “Down here, Mitsuki!” called Spaget. They heard the footsteps begin running down the stairs. A moment later, Mitsuki appeared outside the kitchen door. He breathed a sigh of relief upon sighting the two girls. 0000 “Phew… for a second there I thought was here all by myself!” He rubbed the back of his head with an embarrassed chuckle. His eyes landed on Haiji. “Who’s this?” 0000 “Kiyose Haiji,” answered Haiji with a nod of his head, “Yoroshiku.” 0000 Mitsuki gave a short bow in return. “Izumi Mitsuki. Yoroshiku.” He sat down at the table next to him. 0000 “What happened?” he asked. He turned to Krys and Spaget, “Did you guys find that thing Kyousuke asked you to get? Where even are we?” 0000 Krys and Spaget gave him a brief explanation of what had happened in the temple. Then Haiji told him his side of the story. 0000 “So what you guys are basically saying…” said Mitsuki, once they were done explaining, “Is that, not only have we mysteriously switched universes again, this guy…” He gestured to Haiji, “…is somehow able to appear in other universes without leaving this one?? How is that possible?!” 0000 The others shrugged. This whole situation was far beyond their understanding. 0000 “What about you, Mitsuki?” asked Krys, “Are you feeling any better?” 0000 “Yeah,” nodded Haiji, “You didn’t look too good in there.” 0000 Mitsuki smiled and gave them a thumbs up. “The sleep did me good. I feel a lot better now!” 0000 Suddenly they heard a familiar nyaa~ coming from the front door. Haiji dashed to get it, the others following close behind. Sure enough, there behind the door was Lennon with another note tied to his tail. 0000 “Quick Krys!” exclaimed Spaget, “Read it out!” 0000 Krys untied the note. Her face twisted slightly as she read it. “Find the second one at the heart Hakone.” She sighed and shook her head. “Classic Kyousuke and his cryptic notes…” 0000 “The heart of Hakone?” Haiji thought for a second. Then he snapped his fingers. “That must be referring to the Mt Hakone volcano! A cave leading right to centre of the volcano was only just recently discovered there! The authorities are currently checking it to see if it’s safe enough to become a tourist attraction.” He tilted his head. “But who’s Kyousuke?” 0000 Spaget waved her hand at him. “We’ll explain later. Can you take us to Mt Hakone?” 0000 Haiji frowned. “Normally we’d be able to take a train there. But with no one around to operate them, I doubt they’ll be running at this time… and since we don’t have a car here at the moment, I’m afraid the only way to get there is by walking…or running.” 0000 Krys and Spaget paled. 0000 “Uh… ” said Krys, hesitantly, “Sorry to break this to you Haiji, but Spaget and I aren’t quite as enthusiastic runners as you are…” 0000 “That so? I suppose that’s fair enough…” He looked back at the dorm. “We have a couple of bicycles you guys might be able to borrow then.” He turned to Mitsuki, apologetically “We only have the two, though.” 0000 Mitsuki smiled and shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m happy to run with you, Haiji.” He turned and winked at the girls, “You don’t make a career out of being in an idol group without being able to handle a bit of exercise!” - 0000 “W…wa…wo…wow…” panted Krys, “I knew… you were fast, Haiji… but… I didn’t realize… you were that fast…” 0000 The four of them were now standing at the base of Mt Hakone. Krys and Spaget were practically falling off their bicycles and, despite his earlier claims, Mitsuki was panting as well. Haiji on the other hand, didn’t seem at all fazed. He looked at the others with a small smile of amusement tugging on his lips. 0000 “Y’know, you guys kinda remind me of the other guys who live in the dorm. Back when we’d just started running.” 0000 Haiji then found himself on the receiving end of a three-way stink-eye. 0000 “Ah… Well uh *ahem* moving on, the cave entrance is just around here.” 0000 The others followed Haiji to the side of the volcano. 0000 “Wow!” exclaimed Spaget, as they came into view of the large, rocky cave mouth, “It’s huge!” 0000 Haiji nodded. “It looks that way, but apparently it gets quite narrow the further in you go. Not that I’ve actually been in there.” He gestured to the tape stretched across the entrance, “Like I said, the authorities have been checking it for loose rocks or signs of instability before opening it up to the public. Mind you, there haven’t been any incidents involving this volcano for five years now, so it should be safe to go in.” 0000 The four of them then proceeded to duck under the tape and enter the cave. 0000 “D’you suppose this makes us criminals?” whispered Spaget to Krys as they passed under the tape. 0000 Krys bit her lip. 0000 “Hmm… probably best not to think about that.” - 0000 Haiji was right when he said the cave narrowed. They had been walking for a while now and the roof of the cave was barely a few metres above their heads, whereas it had towered above them before. It also seemed to get progressively hotter the further they went in. 0000 “Phew!” said Spaget, wiping the sweat off her forehead, “It’s getting pretty warm in here, hey.” 0000 “You think so?” asked Krys, “I think it’s quite nice, actually.” 0000 Spaget glared at her. “Well of course you would think that Miss I’m-Perfectly-Comfortable-In-38-Degree-Heat. I’m saying it feels quite hot for a normal person.” She turned to Mitsuki and Haiji, “C’mon guys, vouch for me here!” 0000 Haiji chuckled. “Well you’re right when you say it’s getting warmer. That’s because we’re getting closer to the centre of the volcano. From what I heard, there’s still a dormant pool of lava there.” 0000 “Lava?” asked Mitsuki, “Isn’t that still kinda dangerous?” 0000 Haiji shrugged, “Well I’m no volcano expert, so I wouldn’t really know. But like I said, it’s been years since there was any activity from this volcano, so it shouldn’t pose any danger.” 0000 They walked on for a little while longer, until eventually they could see a faint orange glow ahead of them. 0000 “Hey look, guys!” exclaimed Krys, pointing at it, “We must be getting close to the centre!” 0000 The four of them picked up the pace and jogged towards the glow, until the cave walls, which could barely fit all of them a moment ago, suddenly opened up into the wide, circular, centre section of the volcano. And right in the centre of the massive space was a large, bubbling pool of lava, with a tall sloped rock sitting in the middle. Above them, the sweltering black walls rose higher and higher, eventually narrowing into a small circle at the top, through which one could see a small patch of sky. 0000 They’d reached the heart of the Mt Hakone. 0000 “Welp,” said Mitsuki, surveying the huge space in front of them, “Looks like we’ve reached ‘the heart of Hakone.’ So now what? Kyousuke told us to ’find the second one’ didn’t he? Do you guys have any idea what he meant by that?” 0000 Krys shrugged. “I’m not 100% sure, but I can only assume he meant another one of these.” She pulled the shard out of the satchel she was carrying and showed it to the others. Its crystalline surface reflected the bright orange of the lava, while still giving off a soft blue glow if its own. 0000 “Ooo…” gasped Mitsuki and Haiji, staring at it with starry eyes. “It sure is pretty isn’t it?” 0000 Suddenly, as they were gazing at it, the shard began to glow more brightly. 0000 “Eh?” said Mitsuki, squinting, “What’s it doing, Krys?” 0000 “I-I don’t know…” Krys answered, a slight look of panic showing in her eyes, “But last time it did this, we ended up jumping universes!” She shook the shard and then smacked it, as if it were a broken TV remote. 0000 “Krys, look!” called Spaget from a few metres away, pointing to the top of the rock in the centre of the lava pool, “I can see something glowing up there! I think it’s another shard!” 0000 Krys looked to where she was pointing. She was right. There, on sloped volcanic rock, a distinct blue glow emanated from the top. She held the shard in her hand up towards it. Both shards glowed even brighter. It was almost as she could feel some kind of energy radiating off them. 0000 “I think you’re right Spaget! And it looks like they’re attracted to each other!” She looked at the bubbling lava and then back at the rock. “But how are possibly supposed to get it?” 0000 The four of them thought for a second. Then Mitsuki pointed to a section of the rock, the lowest point of the slope, that stretched towards the edge of the lava pool. “That section looks like it’s closer to the edge. It’d be dangerous, but could one of us maybe jump for it?” 0000 The others looked to where he was pointing and gauged the distance in their heads. 0000 “Mayyyyyyybe?” said Spaget, hesitantly, “I wouldn’t guarantee it, though.” 0000 “Yeah,” agreed Krys, “Same goes for me.” 0000 Mitsuki narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin, “I’m not 100% sure either. But I reckon I’d probably have a better chance than you two.” 0000 Haiji was silent. 0000 “I…I think I could do it,” he said eventually, “With a good run-up, that is.” 0000 The others looked at him. 0000 “A-are you sure?” asked Krys. 0000 Haiji nodded thoughtfully. “I think so. And being the tallest and the fastest, I probably have the best chance out of all of us anyway.” He gave her a determined smile. “And if getting that thing is the only way to bring my friends back, I’m more than willing to take the risk.” 0000 They walked around to where the rock was closest to them. Haiji surveyed the rock one last time and then backed up as far as he could in preparation for the run-up. 0000 “Wait-!” exclaimed Krys, grabbing his wrist. She bit her lip. “Just… don’t die okay?” 0000 Haiji smiled and pat her head reassuringly, “Don’t worry, I’ll do my very best.” 0000 He turned back to the rock, training his eyes on the spot where he wanted to land. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, breathing out slowly. Then he pushed off the rock. 0000 And he ran. 0000 Like a bullet he shot off from the wall, becoming a mere blur speeding across the stone ground. The others watched in amazement and with bated breath as he reached the edge of the lava pool. 0000 He jumped. 0000 He landed. 0000 He stumbled. 0000 But… 0000 …he’d cleared it. And with room to spare too. 0000 Grinning, he turned and gave them a thumbs up. Spaget and Krys let out long sighs of relief. 0000 “Great job, Haiji!” called Spaget, “Now all you gotta do is climb to the top and grab the second shard!” 0000 Haiji nodded and began to jog up the bumpy slope of the rock. It wasn’t very long before he reached the top. He raised his fist in victory as the others cheered below. He bent down to pick up the shard. A confused look crossed his face. He grabbed at it again. 0000 “Uh… guys?” he called down, looking distressed, “We have a problem. There’s definitely something resembling a shard up here but… I can’t seem to be able to pick it up!” 0000 “What was that?” replied Krys, not sure if she’d heard correctly, “It sounded like you said you can’t pick it up…?” 0000 Haiji nodded. “That’s right! Every time I go to grab it, my hand just goes right through it!” 0000 “Huh?” exclaimed Mitsuki, “How can that be possible?” He turned to Krys and pointed to the shard in her hand, “Can I see that for a sec?” 0000 Krys nodded and placed the shard in Mitsuki’s hand. 0000 And gasped as it fell right through it. 0000 Mitsuki let out a cry of surprise as the shard fell to the ground with a clink. He bent down and tried to pick it up. His hand once again simply passed right through it, as if he were a ghost. He tried again with no avail. Spaget knelt down beside him. She reached towards the shard. Her hand closed around it and she picked it up with no trouble at all. She simply sat and stared at it for a moment. Then looked up at Krys with wide eyes. “ Krys. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it looks as if…” 0000 “As if we’re the only ones who can touch that thing!” finished Krys in astonishment. “But why?!” She thought for a second. “It… it must be because we’re not a part of the aniverse!” 0000 Spaget hit the fist holding the shard into her hand and nodded. “That’s gotta be it! It’s the only possible explanation!” Then her face fell as realization hit her. “Wait… but that means…” 0000 “If we’re the only ones who can touch it…” 0000 “One of us has gotta be the one to grab the second one.” 0000 “So uh… well… how should we decide this?” asked Spaget. 0000 Krys thought for a minute. 0000 “Well,” she said eventually, “I suppose the easiest way would be to see who can jump the furthest by running along the side of the lava pool. And if it’s close, we can have Mitsuki judge who jumped further.” 0000 Spaget nodded in agreement. “Sounds like a plan.” 0000 And so it was settled. The two girls moved to stand side-by-side. Mitsuki stood a few metres away and raised his hand. 0000 “On your marks… Get set… GO!” 0000 The girls shot off, running as fast as their legs could carry them. And as soon as they reached Mitsuki, they jumped as hard and as far as they could. They landed with a thud on the hard, volcanic ground. 0000 Krys whirled around as soon as her feet hit the ground. It was close, but she had jumped just barely a metre further than Spaget. 0000 She took a deep breath. “Well… I guess it’s me the-. 0000 “W-wait!” interrupted Spaget, in a slightly panicked voice, “What… what if that was just a fluke? I think we should try again… just… just in case.” 0000 So they jumped again. And then a third time. There was no doubt about it, Krys’s jumping abilities definitely exceeded those of Spaget, even if only by a little bit. 0000 Spaget sighed in defeat. “I guess that settles it then.” She gave Krys a sad smile. “I don’t like it, but it looks like you’re gonna have to be the one to jump.” 0000 Krys smiled in return, trying to hide her nerves. “Leave it to me!” she said with all the confidence she could muster. 0000 She walked over the spot where Haiji had jumped and backed up towards the wall. 0000 “You got this, Krys!” called Mitsuki. 0000 “But be careful!” added Spaget. 0000 Krys nodded to them and drew in a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. Then, eyes fixed on the rock, and on Haiji who was now waiting for her at the base, she pushed off, running faster than she ever had before. In a flash, the edge was upon her. She jumped, throwing all her strength into her legs. 0000 For second, she felt weightless, her heart in her mouth. She felt her feet touch the rock. For a second, she felt a surge of triumph. But that triumph quickly turned to dread as she felt herself falling backwards. She squeezed her eyes shut, preparing for the worst. 0000 Suddenly she felt herself stop short. She cracked her eyes open. Haiji was standing above her, his hand closed around her wrist. He smiled and pulled her away from the lava. He chuckled. 0000 “Nice jump,” he said, slapping her on the back. 0000 Krys grinned back at him as she regained her breath. “Thanks.” 0000 Haiji then led her up the slope towards where the second shard was. It was a slightly different shape to the one they’d found in the temple, but its reflective surface and icy blue glow were the same. Haiji reached down and tried to grab it. Like what had happened when Mitsuki had tried to touch the other one, his hand simply passed through it. He shook his head. 0000 “I don’t understand why, but I just can’t touch it, no matter how hard I try.” He stepped aside and gestured to Krys “Care to give it a try?” 0000 Krys nodded. She knelt down and picked up the shard as if it were just an everyday object. Haiji stared at her in amazement. “How did you do that??” 0000 Krys smiled mischievously and placed the shard into her empty satchel; she’d left the first shard on the other side with Spaget. 0000 “Oh you know,” she said, shrugging casually, “Just one of the perks of being from a different world.” 0000 Haiji laughed. “I’ll take it,” he said, giving her a high five. He looked back towards the base of the rock, then to where Spaget and Mitsuki were waiting for them. “Think you’ll be able to make the jump back?” 0000 Krys’s smile faded. 0000 “I… I’m not sure,” she admitted, “It didn’t occur to me when I jumped the first time, but with the slope and rocky ground, I’m not sure I’ll be able get up the speed or stability to make it back After all, I barely made it the first time…” Her eyes fell to the ground. 0000 “Hmm…” Haiji thought for a second and once again looked at the gap between the rock and the other side. 0000 “Actually…” he said eventually, turning back to Krys, “I may have an idea.” He knelt down and gestured to Krys to climb onto his back. “Hop on.” 0000 Krys stepped back in surprise, “E-Eh?!” 0000 “I managed to make the jump before with room to spare,” explained Haiji, “And you seem pretty light so… it’d be close, but I reckon I could make the jump, even while carrying you.” 0000 “Are-are you sure?!” 0000 Haiji shrugged. “Mostly. But would you rather attempt the jump yourself?” 0000 Krys looked at the ground and shook her head. 0000 “Well then climb on!” 0000 Krys stepped forward hesitantly and slowly climbed onto Haiji’s back, her cheeks a bright red. Does not compute does not compute does not compute does n- 0000 “Hup!” He hoisted her up and glanced back at her. “Are you ready for this?” 0000 Krys gulped and clutched the shard in her hand. She nodded. “Ready.” 0000 And with that, Haiji shot down the rock. Even with the bumpy surface, the speed with which he ran was dizzying. And the way he skillfully navigated the rocky surface reminded Krys of the asteroid field they’d had to fly through on the Astra 11 months ago, and how Kanata had expertly navigated through them, preventing them from crashing. 0000 The point where they would need to jump raced towards them at a terrifying speed. Krys shut her eyes tight and felt Haiji tense as they reached the edge, preparing to jump. Then, just before they reached lava, she felt him throw himself over the edge, putting every ounce of his strength into the jump. 0000 They soared over the gap. For a moment, time seemed to stop and Krys felt as if she were flying. She opened her eyes as she felt the whump of them landing. 0000 Once again, she felt herself tipping backwards. 0000 But thankfully, Spaget and Mitsuki were there to grab onto Haiji’s jacket and pull the two of them away from the edge to safety. 0000 Haiji let out a long breath as he let Krys down from his back. He grinned at her triumphantly. 0000 “We made it!” he panted, holding out his fist. 0000 Krys grinned back and returned the fist-bump. “We did! I can’t believe it, we really did!” 0000 Spaget and Mitsuki gathered around, congratulating them. 0000 “Dude!” laughed Mitsuki, slapping Haiji on the back, “That jump was insane!” 0000 “Yeah!” agreed Spaget, giving Krys a high-five, “That was terrifying to watch!” 0000 “You thought that was terrifying?! How do you think I felt?!” 0000 “So did you get it?? Did you get the second shard??” 0000 Krys grinned and showed her the gleaming shard still clenched in her hand, “Ta-da!” 0000 “Yes!” whooped Spaget, “Now we’re one step closer to getting home!” 0000 “Spaget…” sighed Krys, “For the last time, will you please stop staring at those things?” 0000 “They’ll do something eventually!” replied Spaget, not taking her eyes off the two shards on the table, “I just know it!” 0000 It had now been several hours since they’d returned to the dorm. Lennon still hadn’t shown up with more instructions, so the four of them now found themselves at loss in terms of what to do next. Mitsuki, with his technological know-how, was upstairs with Haiji, fixing his MP3 player. Krys and Spaget were sitting in the kitchen, half trying to think of a plan, half fighting off boredom. 0000 As for the two shards that were now sitting on the kitchen table, there had been no further activity from them since they got back from Mt Hakone. They just sat there, giving off their pleasant blue glow. 0000 Krys gave another exasperated sigh. “It’s been hours, Spaget. If they haven’t done anything now, I doubt they’re gonna be doing anything anytime soon.” 0000 Spaget tore her eyes away from the shards and looked at Krys with a worried frown. “But they have to! Since Lennon still hasn’t reappeared, these things are our only lead on how to get back! They’ve gotta do something!” She picked one up and shook it. 0000 “Well??” she said to it, “Aren’t you gonna fuse with your little friend here and make a key or use the sun to project a map or portal home or something??” 0000 Krys opened her mouth to say something else, but at that moment Mitsuki and Haiji entered the room. 0000 “Hey guys,” said Haiji, “Me and Mitsuki here were just about to run-” he paused for a second as he corrected his statement, “or walk down to the store to grab some things. If you’re bored, do you wanna come with?” 0000 Krys smiled at him, gratefully, “Yes please.” 0000 Spaget sighed and placed the shard back on the table. “Yeah, I’ll come too. I’m gonna go stark-raving mad if I’m in here with these shards much longer…” 0000 Krys chuckled and grabbed her satchel from where it hung on the back of a chair. She placed the shards inside and slung it over her shoulder. “I’ve gotta take them with me, though. Don’t wanna risk something happening with them while we’re gone.” 0000 “Ah… good point… That’s fine, just keep them outta my sight for a while, ‘kay?” - 0000 “So what exactly are we getting from the store?” asked Krys as they walked through the deserted streets towards the shops. 0000 Haiji thought for a second. “Well… for one thing we’re going to get some fruit and vegetables. Since there’s no one around to replace them, they’ll be going off before long so we may as well get and eat what we can. Other than that, we just gotta get some new earphones-since my old ones got fried-and some more headache tablets.” 0000 Mitsuki chuckled sheepishly behind them. “Somehow, between the two of us, we managed to use up the whole packet… I wonder if there’s some kind of interdimensional cold going around or someth- hey!” He stopped and pointed straight ahead of them, “Isn’t that Lennon up ahead?!” 0000 “What??” exclaimed the girls, “Really??” They looked to where he was pointing. Sure enough, there was Lennon with another note tied to his tail. 0000 Except… something was wrong. 0000 The milky white cat was not trotting towards them, tail held high, like he normally did. Instead, he was limping, seemingly struggling to even stay on his feet. 0000 “E-Eh…?!” gasped Spaget, “What’s wrong with him??” 0000 Krys ran to him and hurriedly untied the note on Lennon’s lowered tail. 0000 She gasped. “What in the…!” 0000 All it read was “A V E”. But while the other notes had been written in small, neat writing, this one had large, messy letters scrawled across it until it was barely readable. 0000 Something was very wrong. 0000 She ran back to where the others were watching anxiously. 0000 “Krys!” called Spaget, “What’s going on?! What does the note say?!” 0000 Krys showed her the messy contents of the note. 0000 “H-Huh?!” cried Spaget, “What is this?? What is ’AVE’??” She looked up at Krys, fear flashing across her eyes. And why is it so… scraggly?” 0000 Suddenly they felt Mitsuki and Haiji stiffen behind them. They whirled around. 0000 They both stood there, seemingly rooted to the spot. They stared into space with blank eyes, their breath quickening. 0000 “Eh-!” gasped Krys, “Haiji! Mitsuki! What’s wrong?!” Just then she heard a faint crackling sound coming from her satchel. She reached inside and hurriedly pulled out the two shards. They were trembling, tiny bolts of icy blue electricity sparking out of them. As if they were malfunctioning. 0000 “S…Some…Something’s…wrong…” breathed Haiji, shakily. 0000 “H..Huh..?? Wrong?? Wrong how?!” 0000 Suddenly the shards sparked more violently in Krys’s hand. 0000 They flashed. And for a second there was white. 0000 Then they were in a grassy field. 0000 Krys blinked in stunned confusion immediately looked around her. 0000 Spaget was there, a surprised and panicked look on her face. 0000 Mitsuki was there, still staring into space. 0000 Haiji was nowhere to be seen. 0000 “H-Haiji?!” she called out, franticly scanning the field. 0000 “Agh!” 0000 She whirled back around as she heard Mitsuki give a pained cry. He fell to his knees, clutching his head. Krys and Spaget ran towards him and sank to their knees beside him. 0000 “Mitsuki!” cried Spaget, “What’s going on?! What’s wrong?!” 0000 “It…it hurts-!” he said, his voice straining, “M-My head…it-it feels like…it’s…splitting-!” 0000 Spaget just managed to catch him as he collapsed completely. 0000 “Mitsuki?! Mitsuki!” Spaget looked up at Krys, panic written all over her face. “K-Krys! What’s happening?!” 0000 “I-I don’t know!” Just then, the shards flashed again. 0000 They were in a school yard. 0000 “Wha-!” 0000 Another flash. 0000 They were on a beach. 0000 Another flash. 0000 They were on a road. 0000 Again and again they flashed. And again and again they found themselves in another location, as if the universe itself was switching through channels on a tv. 0000 Karuta hall. 0000 Spaceship. 0000 Train station. 0000 Their surroundings began to blur from the rapidly switching universes. Krys and Spaget could only watch in shock, the shards sparking and crackling violently in Krys’s hands. 0000 Stage. 0000 Paddock. 0000 Sports arena. 0000 Faster. 0000 Faster. 0000 Reality was nothing but a dizzying blur of colours now. Faster and faster, the colours began to merge into one. Faster and faster Krys watched Spaget, the motionless Mitsuki still in her arms, fade from her sight in the increasingly bright haze of light. 0000 Faster. 0000 Faster. 0000 Then… 0000 Total white. 0000 Then total black. |
UhOhSPAGETMar 15, 2020 4:22 AM
君の声 忘れない 涙も 忘れない |
Mar 15, 2020 4:19 AM
#45
0000 Unngn…Wha…What’s going on… 0000 What is this weird sensation… 0000 It’s kinda nice… 0000 It’s like… 0000 It’s like I’m floating… 0000 Krys’s eyes slowly blinked open. 0000 Huh…? Is this…a dream? 0000 The sight that befell her eyes was like a galaxy. But… not a galaxy. Somehow it felt…different. Like she was in a galaxy beyond the galaxies. And there were stars. But they also felt different, as if they were, in fact, not stars but something else entirely. Perhaps they were just bright particles. Perhaps dots of light speckled her vision. She didn’t know. She glanced down. There was nothing but more of the speckled void beneath her feet. She really was floating. The shards in her hand were no longer spasming. She looked around her and saw Spaget less than a few metres away. She too was floating and taking in her surroundings, a sleepy look in her eyes. 0000 Krys carefully placed the shards into her satchel and floated (floated? swam? swam-float?) over to her. Spaget saw her approaching and rubbed the drowsiness out of her eyes. 0000 “Krys.” 0000 “Spaget.” 0000 “What happened?” 0000 “I don’t know…” 0000 “Where are we?” 0000 “I don’t know...” 0000 “Is this a dream?” 0000 “I…don’t know…” 0000 “Wait!” Spaget gasped, all remaining traces of sleepiness suddenly disappearing, “What happened to Haiji?? And…” she looked down at her now empty arms, “Where’s Mitsuki??!” 0000 Krys shook her head. “I… I don’t know…” She looked around them once again, scanning the vast emptiness. “Wait hang on… What’s that over there?” She pointed to something in the distance. It appeared to be some kind of sphere. Krys and Spaget glanced at each other and nodded. They began to float-swim in the strange sphere’s direction. 0000 As they got closer, they realized that the sphere more bore the resemblance of a large bubble. Not only that, there seemed to be something inside it, though at this distance, they still couldn’t tell what. 0000 Closer and closer they swam, the bubble and its contents becoming clearer with every metre. They stopped short as they finally realized what was inside. They looked at each other in shock and then swam as fast as they could, closing the distance between them and the bubble as quickly as possible. 0000 The bubble was large, it’s diameter a bit taller than Krys’s height. Its walls were thick and shimmered with strange colours. The bubble itself gave off an odd, eerie glow. While the appearance of the bubble itself would’ve been enough to make Krys and Spaget’s jaws drop, it was what was inside that caused their eyes to widen as if they were about to fall out of their sockets. 0000 For there, inside the mysterious bubble, was Mitsuki. 0000 The girls cautiously floated right up close to it. Krys carefully placed her hands on the bubble’s surface. It was smooth, solid, as if it were made of glass. And yet it felt oddly soft. Ripples stretched out beneath her fingers as she gazed inside. Mitsuki appeared to be in a deep sleep, seemingly suspended in midair within the bubble’s walls. She called out to him, pounding her fist on the round exterior. Nothing. 0000 “What’s going on…?” she breathed. 0000 “Uhh Krys?” said Spaget staring at something beyond the bubble, “You might wanna see this…” 0000 Krys floated to where Spaget was staring and gasped. 0000 There, stretching further than their eyes could see, hundreds of the strange, luminous bubbles hovered before them, hundreds of people enclosed inside them. Every single one of them appeared to be in the same state as Mitsuki. 0000 Including Haiji, who was inside a bubble merely a couple of metres away from where the girls stared in astonishment. 0000 “What…What is this place?” said Krys slowly, “What could have possibly happened to make things like this?” 0000 Spaget shook her head. “I don’t have the foggiest idea. Maybe… Maybe we ought to look around a little.” She looked again at Mitsuki and Haiji, as well as the others inside the bubbles, some she recognized, some she didn’t. “That’s probably the only way we’re gonna get some answers.” She gritted her teeth and placed a shaky hand on Krys’s shoulder. 0000 “Readyyyyy?” 0000 Krys took a deep breath and nodded. “Ready.” 0000 “Ok then. Let’s go.” - 0000 As the two girls traveled further and further through the myriads of bubbles, they passed many people they recognized, each one making their pulse quicken and their hearts ache. 0000 “Krys look!” gasped Spaget, her voice echoing into the vast expanse, “There’s Kanata!” 0000 “And over there!” responded Krys, pointing to a bubble several metres away, “It’s Suna!” 0000 “And there! That looks like Sento!” 0000 “And is that Vice Prez over there?” 0000 “I think you’re right!” As the got even further, they also soon began to realize that there were bubbles that contained things aside from people. Many smaller capsules filled with insects and small creatures and larger ones containing groups of animals and all manner of fantastical creatures were scattered amongst the others. 0000 “What happened here?” wondered Krys aloud as they passed a bubble containing a group of butterflies, “Why is everyone like this? Why are they all asleep? Why are we even here? Where is here??” She sighed. “All these questions keep on piling up with no answers…” 0000 Even more questions rose within their minds moments later, as they began to spot a whole different kind of bubble altogether. 0000 These bubbles were only about the size of a basketball. However, they gave off a distinctly different light to the others. Not only that, each of them contained some kind of distinct building or landmark within them. It was as if they contained entire worlds. As Krys and Spaget floated past them, they recognized many of the landmarks contained within these unique capsules. A farm, a swimming pool, a ship, an Kyuudo hall, even the forest they had woken up in. 0000 “Huh…?” murmured Krys, gazing at one that seemed to contain some kind of amusement park, “What the heck…? What are these? World-bubbles?” She touched it. It immediately began to glow even brighter. She quickly pulled her finger away. The glow faded and the bubble returned to the way it was. 0000 “I don’t know…” replied Spaget, twirling a lock of her hair in thought, “But what else they could be…” Suddenly she gripped the lock with her fist, “Wait! W-what… what if…” 0000 “What? What??” 0000 Spaget thought for another second. 0000 “Think about it, Krys. Mysterious bubbles containing different universes…” 0000 “As well as people and creatures from said worlds…” 0000 “All inside a seemingly endless void that looks like space, but definitely isn’t… Krys…I think…” She paused. “How do I put this… I think we may have somehow traveled to the… the…” 0000 “Well?? The where??” 0000 Spaget look at her in the eyes. “The…The centre of the Aniverse!” 0000 Krys looked at her as if she’d grown another head. “The what now?? The centre of the Aniverse?? Is that even a thing?? How would that even be possible?!” 0000 Spaget shrugged. “Who knows. And I don’t know about you but after all we went through, I gave up on that question a long time ago. I could also be totally wrong. But it’s the only possible answer I can think of. And besides that,” She pointed a bubble not far ahead of them, “We have more important things to think about. Look over there!” 0000 Krys looked to where she was pointing. Her heart leapt to her throat. 0000 “K-Kyousuke!” 0000 They closed the distance between them and Kyousuke’s bubble within the space of a minute. Like everyone else around them, Kyousuke was sleeping peacefully inside. His bubble however, was obviously very different from the others. The surface was dented and bent. The colors seemed… broken somehow. Small sparks occasionally jumped up from the bubble’s surface. 0000 Krys stared at it, a lump forming in her throat. “Oh Kyousuke… What did you do?” she breathed, running her hands over the bubble’s misshapen surface, “We’re so sorry. You must’ve worked so hard for this to have happened to this… whatever it is you’re in.” She pressed her forehead against the glassy walls. “Otsukare. And thanks.” 0000 Spaget nodded, her own eyes tingling at the corners. She quickly brushed away the tears that were threatening to make their existence known and turned her eyes to a smaller bubble that hovered right next to Kyousuke’s. This bubble’s occupant was Lennon and, like Kyousuke’s, it looked beaten and irregular. She floated over to it and gently stroked the top. “You’ve worked hard too lil guy. Otsukare.” 0000 She was about to turn back to Krys when she noticed something strange. 0000 “Hey Krys,” she said, gesturing for her to come, “Look at this. There’s something odd about how Lennon is positioned.” 0000 Krys floated over to where Spaget and Lennon were and peered into the bubble. 0000 “It… It looks like he’s pointing somewhere,” she observed. It was true. Every part of the small cat, his paws, his nose, his tail, even his whiskers seemed to point in the one direction. 0000 The two of them followed the direction in which he was pointing with their eyes until they fell upon a particularly bright world-bubble not far from them. It’s brightness and shimmering colours put all those around it to shame. Krys and Spaget stared at it and then looked back at each other. They nodded. That had to be where they were supposed to go next. And with one last glance at Kyousuke and Lennon, they began to move in the direction of the world-bubble. 0000 They were barely halfway there when they could suddenly make out what was inside it, causing their hearts to pound and their pace to double. 0000 The world inside wasn’t like that of any anime they had ever seen. 0000 But they would recognize that magenta-coloured soil anywhere. 0000 “No way…” exclaimed Krys as they finally got close enough to properly observe the glowing sphere. “This… This is the planet we landed on 11 months ago! But why is it so much brighter than the others? And why would Kyousuke… Wait!” She turned to Spaget as realization hit her. “The note! It said ’AVE’, remember?! Spaget, he must’ve meant ’AVENUE 13’! Not the Nakanohito Avenue 13, but the planet!” 0000 Spaget snapped her fingers. “And that would explain why Lennon was pointing here! It must have been a last-ditch effort from Kyousuke to guide us here before… whatever it was that happened back there. It seems like he was using Lennon and his interdimensional knowledge to mess with something… something he wasn’t supposed to.” 0000 “And that would explain why their bubbles look all beaten up as well,” agreed Krys. She looked over the world-bubble curiously. “So what do we do now? Go in? How do we do that?” 0000 “Hmm…” Spaget thought for a second. “We could try… I dunno, touching it? That other one started glowing brighter when you touched it earlier right? Maybe that’s how you get in.” 0000 Krys shrugged. “Worth a shot I guess.” 0000 The two of them cautiously placed their hands on the bubble. Almost immediately, it began to glow brighter. And brighter. And brighter. Soon everything around them was bathed in white light. It wasn’t long before Krys and Spaget had to squeeze their eyes shut just to keep from being blinded. They felt a soft wind blow in their faces. Gradually the wind grew stronger and they could feel reality shifting around them. 0000 When they opened their eyes again, they were surrounded by magenta soil, dark skies, and pink clouds. 0000 “Wow…” said Spaget, “Never thought I’d see this place again.” 0000 “Yeah,” agreed Krys, taking in the view. In 11 months, it hardly seemed to have changed at all. “And yet everything’s the same. Nothing’s changed at all.” Something shiny caught the corner of her eye. She swung towards it. 0000 “And look!” she exclaimed, pointing to something gleaming on the horizon, “There’s the ice cave!” 0000 Spaget looked to where she was pointing and grinned. 0000 “Well then what are we waiting for? Let’s head on over!” she said, “It’s not like we know what we’re doing here anyway. Maybe we’ll find a clue there!” She tried to suppress her excitement, but she couldn’t stop her grin from widening. “And maybe we’ll be able to say hi to the Punitsukis while we’re there…” 0000 Krys smiled to herself. She had suspected Spaget’s Punitsuki-driven ulterior motive the moment she made her suggestion. It was a little odd, but Spaget just couldn’t seem to get enough of the little slime-creatures. 0000 “Hmm…” she said, feigning hesitation, “I don’t know… Like you said, we really don’t know what we’re looking for here. I’m thinking maybe one of us should stay here and look around elsewhere on the planet...” Her eyes brightened and she snapped her fingers, “I know! How about I go to the cave and you look around that area over there!” 0000 Spaget’s jaw dropped. “But…!” 0000 Krys clapped her hands together. “It’s settled then! We’ll meet back here in thirty minutes!” 0000 “But… but Krys! Y-you can’t… you can’t possibly…!” 0000 Spaget looked so distraught that Krys simply couldn’t hold back her laughter any longer. 0000 “PFFFFFFFFT I’m kidding, Spaget I’m kidding! Of course we’re both going to the cave!” She took several deep breaths, trying to control herself, “But you shoulda seen your face!” She burst out laughing again. 0000 “Wha-! Ah…” Spaget’s cheeks reddened, “Right…Yeah I knew that…Totally…” 0000 After that, they began to walk towards the ice-cave. The walk was mostly silent, aside from the occasional “Pfffft” from Krys, coupled with a stink eye from Spaget. They were almost there when they stopped in their tracks. 0000 The ice-cave that they’d been to 11 months ago had been a huge dome-shape. But what they saw ahead of them was definitely not a dome. At least, not a full one. 0000 Krys and Spaget sprinted the rest of the distance and skidded to a stop in front of the cave’s entrance. 0000 “Wha-!” 0000 “No…!” Spaget’s hand flew to her mouth, her eyes misting over. 0000 “The entrance… It’s… it’s collapsed!” 0000 “Oh my g-gosh…” breathed Spaget, staring at the carnage in disbelief. The entrance, once covered in beautiful carving and patterns, was now in pieces. Broken ice was strewn in every direction. “What happened here??” 0000 Krys bent down and picked up one of the broken pieces. “I don’t know. Could’ve been anything. An earthquake, a storm, it could even have been one of the asteroids from the asteroid belt surrounding the planet.” She put down the piece of ice and walked towards the entrance. “For starters, let’s see if we can clear out this entrance a bit.” She then knelt down and began to move some of the bigger chunks of ice out of the way. Spaget knelt down beside her a moment later and began to do the same. 0000 It was hard work and the ice was heavy. But finally they’d dug out a hole just big enough for them to crawl through. Spaget immediately tossed the chunk of ice she was holding aside and began to squeeze herself though the hole. 0000 “Careful Spaget!” called Krys, “We still don’t know how stable it is in there.” 0000 “I know,” came Spaget’s muffled reply, her bottom half still sticking out, “But I just have to see…” She gasped. There was silence for a few seconds. Then Spaget quickly wriggled back out of the hole. She turned to Krys, her face beaming. 0000 “I heard them, Krys! I heard them!” 0000 “Heard what??” 0000 “The Punitsukis! They’re still alive in there!” Her smile faded, “But it’s total carnage. The roof seems to have held up for them most part, but the path is all cracked and there’re broken icicles everywhere.” She peered through the hole once again. “I think it’s safe to go in though…mostly.” 0000 Krys chuckled. “Well, as it stands, we’ve been in more than enough dangerous situations over the past few days anyway. What’s one more to add to the collection?” She gestured for Spaget to lead the way. “Age before beauty.” 0000 Spaget chuckled and stuck her tongue out. She crawled back through the hole, Krys following close behind. 0000 A moment later, they both emerged from the other side. Krys stood up, stretched her legs, and surveyed the inside of the cave. Spaget was right. The place was a wreck. The path was broken and splintered. Pieces of smashed icicles that had fallen from the roof were strewn all over and many of the large stalagmites that pointed out of the ground now lay broken across the path. The cave itself was dark, its soft glow having dimmed with the destruction. Carnage indeed. 0000 “Wow,” she said, “This place is totally wreck-” 0000 “Shh!” interrupted Spaget, looking straight ahead, “Listen! Can you hear them?” 0000 There was silence for a moment. Then, slowly, Krys became aware of a small sound that sounded like a combination of shuffling and squelching. Straining her ears, she could also hear a very faint babbling of ’Puni? Puni puni?’. 0000 “There,” whispered Spaget, pointing to one of the fallen stalagmites across the path, “I think it’s coming from there!” 0000 They tiptoed over to the large stalagmite, careful not to step on any of the scattered broken ice. They stopped once they were within a few inches and knelt down to look at the underside of the huge piece of ice. Both the path and the underside of the stalagmite had smashed when they’d come into contact with each other, leaving a small crevice between them. Just big enough for perhaps a couple of Punitsuki’s to hide. They peered into the small, dark space. The small noises suddenly became silent. 0000 “Hey,” called Spaget quietly, “Punitsukis? Are you there?” 0000 The silence continued for a moment longer. Then, slowly, out of the darkness crawled three scared-looking Punitsukis. They looked at the girls cautiously, ahoges swishing. 0000 “Puni?” 0000 Spaget looked she was about to burst. She gestured for them to come closer. 0000 “It’s ok. Remember us? We were here 11 months ago?” 0000 The Punitsikis stayed where they were, seemingly too nervous to get any closer. Spaget frowned. 0000 “Why’re they so scared? Don’t they remember us?” 0000 Krys shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’m not totally surprised though, honestly. Look around. Their home’s been completely totaled! If I were them, I’d be cautious too.” She let out a surprised gasp as she felt something slimy against her leg. She glanced down. A fourth Punitsuki was looking up at her, curiously. While all of the Punitsukis Krys had ever seen looked exactly the same, there was something decidedly familiar about this one and the way it was bumping against her leg. 0000 “Wait a minute…” she bent down and pick it up, looking at it closely, “You…wouldn’t happen to be the Punitsuki that led us to that secret room last time would you…?” 0000 The Punitsuki’s eyes brightened. “Puni!” 0000 Krys smiled, “I’ll take that as a yes!” She placed it back on the ground and gestured to the other Punitsukis that Spaget was still desperately trying to convince to come to her. “Listen. I don’t know what happened here, but do you think you go tell your friends over there that we’re not gonna hurt them?” 0000 The Punitsuki nodded and made its way past Spaget (who had now resorted to attempting the How-to-Train-Your-Dragon method) and over to where the other three Punitsukis were gathered. 0000 “Puni!” it said, “Puni puni!” 0000 That seemed to convince them. The three Punitsukis relaxed and began to cautiously approach Spaget. She quickly looked back as she felt one bump against her hand. She beamed. 0000 “Thanks Puni!” she said, deciding to give the fourth one, who seemed to be a leader of sorts, a nickname. 0000 Puni nodded and moved back past the two of them and called out to other stalagmites, both standing and broken. 0000 “Puni! Puni puni puni! Puni!” 0000 At that moment, numerous groups of Punitsukis began to peek out from both behind and under various sized icicles. As Puni continued to speak to them, they gradually emerged and began to surround Krys and Spaget, quietly puni-ing amongst themselves. Spaget knelt down to address them. At first all that came out of her mouth was a squeak. She abruptly cleared her throat and tried again. 0000 “H-Hey guys! Not sure how well you remember us, but 11 months ago you all helped us deliver something very important here.” She frowned. “I hate to say it… especially with what’s happened to your home and all… but do you think you could give us a hand one more time?” Her eyes fell to the ground. “Our friends are in trouble. Not only that, the whole Aniverse seems to be in trouble! We don’t know what’s going on or why we’re here, or whether the breaking apart of this cave has anything to do with it. We were led here by someone we trust. But now he’s gone and the only leads we have left are you guys…” she pointed to the satchel slung over Krys’s shoulder, “…and the contents of that satchel. Show ‘em Krys.” 0000 Krys nodded and reached into her satchel. I’m getting déjà vu… she thought as she pulled out the shards and showed them to the Punitsukis. The Punitsukis gasped in unison. Then they all burst out in a babble of excited “Puni! Puni puni! Puni!” 0000 “H-Hey! Woah! Hold up-!” stuttered Krys as they all began to surround her, pointing little slime arms at the shards in her hand. 0000 “Pffft-” Spaget suppressed a chuckle and turned to Puni, who looked just as excited as the others, “You know what those shards are, then? Reckon you could show us what we’re supposed to do with them?” 0000 Puni nodded enthusiastically and pointed down the debris-ridden path, “Puni puni!” 0000 Spaget grinned and turned back to Krys, who was desperately trying to avoid treading on any of the eager Punitsukis. 0000 “Krys!” she called, “Puni says he knows what we’re supposed to do with the shards! Let’s follow him!” 0000 “Really? Ok!” Krys replied, looking down at the Punitsukis, “But um… gimme a sec…” 0000 Once Krys managed to successfully extricate herself from the hoard of Punitsukis, she and Spaget began to follow Puni down the dark, broken path. They both had to tread carefully in order to avoid stepping on any of the broken ice that was littered endlessly throughout the cave. 0000 “Y’know there’s something awfully familiar about all this,” remarked Spaget as she carefully stepped over a particularly large piece of ice. 0000 “I’m not surprised,” replied Krys, “After all, we were here doing almost the exact same thing less than a year ago.” She sighed. “Only this time, rather than just delivering some pieces of paper, it seems like we’re holding the very fate of the Aniverse in our hands…” 0000 Spaget nodded grimly, “And not only that, this cave was all in one piece last time.” She glanced ahead at Puni. “If we fix all this, I hope it fixes the Punitsukis’ home too.” 0000 Krys nodded and turned her eyes back ahead. They narrowed as she saw something up ahead. 0000 “Wait…Is that…? Hey Puni!” she called, “That door up ahead! Isn’t that the same door you led us to last time? Is that where you’re taking us?” 0000 Puni looked back them and happily twirled his ahoge. “Puni!” 0000 Spaget chuckled, “Guess that’s a yes then.” 0000 Minutes later, the three of them were standing in front of the huge double doors that they remembered so well. 0000 I really am getting déjà vu thought Krys as she gazed at it. It looked just the same as it had when they had last stood in this exact spot all those months ago. 0000 That is, aside from massive cracks that reached from the door’s highest points to its lowest corners. 0000 Spaget bit her lip and turned to Puni, who was waiting expectantly for them to open it. “Uhh Puni? Are you sure this is safe…? These doors look like they could collapse at any moment!” 0000 “Puni!” 0000 Spaget leaned into Krys and whispered, “Was that a yes?” 0000 “How should I know?” 0000 They sighed. 0000 “Well,” said Krys, “It’s not as if we have any other choice. We’ll just have to be careful.” 0000 Spaget nodded. The two of them then carefully approached the door and placed their hands on the handles. They winced as the door creaked ominously as they began to push. They took a deep breath and pushed again, slower this time. The door continued to creak and groan, but they eventually managed to open it wide enough for them to slip through without it collapsing on top of them. 0000 The room inside was dark and riddled with cracks. Otherwise, nothing had changed. Icy pillars still rose up to the ceiling and the wall were still covered in now slightly misshapen carvings. The only thing that lay untouched was the ice-chest. Spaget slowly approached the chest and smiled, her own reflection smiling back from the icy lid. She turned to Krys. 0000 “Y’know…since we’re here…I wonder if it wouldn’t hurt to take another peek at what we delivered to this room last time…” 0000 Krys shook her head, “Time is of the essence Spaget! Maybe later.” She looked down at Puni and gestured to the shards in her hand. “Ok Puni. You’ve brought us here. Now what?” 0000 “Puni!” Puni moved over to where Spaget and the ice chest was standing. He crawled behind the chest and began to push some of the carvings that decorated it. Spaget’s eyes widened. 0000 “Buttons!” she exclaimed, “The carvings on the chest are buttons!” 0000 Just then, the room began to shake. Tiny shards of ice rained down from the ceiling. The carvings surrounding the walls then began to light up, one by one. Then, slowly, the back wall began to part. It grinded against the icy floor, causing even more particles to shower down on top of the girls. Slowly, loudly, the walls opened wider and wider in order to reveal… 0000 “No way!” yelled Spaget. 0000 “A-A secret room inside a secret room?!” exclaimed Krys in disbelief, “That’s insane!” 0000 Indeed, what they saw beyond the walls was a whole other room entirely. It was just a little bit smaller than the one they were standing in, with more carvings intricately etched into the cracked walls. A small hole penetrated the ceiling, letting a small ray of sunshine. And right it the middle, dominating the room, was huge cluster of crystal. Clear prisms spiked out in all directions and fragments of ice were sprinkled around the whole room. The crystal itself was dark and dull, as if its very life had been drained from it. Krys also noticed that one of the crystals was chipped in the middle, with a small asteroid lying a metre or so away. 0000 The two of them stared in awe as they stepped into the hidden room. 0000 “Woah…” breathed Krys, “This is amazing!” She turned back to Puni, who still sitting by the chest. “This is super cool, Puni! But what do you want us to do now?” 0000 Puni turned back to the chest and pressed a few more carvings. A tiny compartment popped out from the bottom of the chest, revealing an ancient-looking envelope. He picked it up with a small, slimy arm and brought it over to Krys. She took the envelop and looked inside. 0000 “What is it??” asked Spaget, eagerly. 0000 Krys’s eyes furrowed as she peered at what seemed to be papers that lay inside the envelope. 0000 “It looks like…some kind of document. Like a historical record or something.” 0000 “Well then read it out!” 0000 Krys nodded and carefully removed the old, yet well preserved papers from the envelope. She cleared her throat and began to read. A HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGINS AND WORKINGS OF THIS REALM AS PER THE DECREES OF LORD PUNI This document outlines the workings and operations of this realm, as has been put in place by Lord Puni at the time of writing, as well as a historical record of the proceedings prior. At the time of this realm’s creation in the year 1917 (Anno Domini), the great deity Lord Puni was born with the power to control the nature and operations of the worlds within. At this time, electrical currents known as Eisque, that aided in the creation, ran free throughout the universe, threatening to uproot natural universal balance. Due to the unstable nature of the Eisque that serve as the very framework of this universe, Lord Puni gathered them all and condensed them into Aniice crystals, in order to ensure a safe environment for the realm’s inhabitants, both present and future. The decree that Lord Puni put in place regarding these things is as follows: These Aniice crystals, which represent the order and stability of this realm, shall serve as the focal point of the universe. They shall remain in isolation, protected from those who inhabit the realm, and shall be guarded by those descended from Lord Puni. So shall these things remain until the end of time. Should an outside force, for whatever reason, cause the Aniice to malfunction or take damage, all living inhabitants of this realm shall be automatically and immediately transported to Toumin capsules. From thereon, in order to preserve their safety, they shall all remain in a comatose state until the damage is repaired, if such a thing becomes possible. All worlds that have come into existence since the origin of this universe are as follows… 0000 Krys stopped reading and flipped through the rest of the papers. 0000 “The rest is just more history and statistics,” she said. 0000 Spaget stared at her with wide eyes for several seconds. Then she smacked her fist to her palm. 0000 “Of course! Oh my gosh, Krys! This explains everything!” 0000 Krys tilted her head. “It does?” 0000 Spaget nodded enthusiastically, ponytail bouncing. 0000 “Yes! Well, most of it at least… Listen, here’s what I think: a few days ago, that rouge lil asteroid over there…” she pointed to the small rock lying by the crystals, “…somehow broke out of orbit, crashed into the cave, chipped the crystal, and caused everyone to be transported to those bubbles.” 0000 “Umm…well yeah,” said Krys, waving the papers, “That’s pretty obvious. That’s exactly what says in these documents. But what about Mitsuki and Haiji? How come they didn’t get transported until much later?” 0000 Spaget held a finger up, indicating that she wasn’t finished. 0000 “The document said that the entire Aniverse essentially runs on electrical currents right? Well think about this: what did both Mitsuki and Haiji say was the last thing they remember before things went weird?” 0000 Krys snapped her fingers, “They both said it was electric shock!” 0000 Spaget nodded. “My theory is that both electric shocks just happened to occur at exactly the same moment that the asteroid broke the crystal, causing a glitch in the system. Since Haiji only experienced a small shock from his earphones, he just escaped being transported to the Toomin capsules or whatever they were called. But since Mitsuki experienced the major shock of a live wire in the speaker system, he managed to upset the universe so much, he ended up in another world entirely!” 0000 Krys was listening more intently now. “And the fact that they were both anomalies in the system would’ve had an adverse effect on them. That would explain all those weird headaches they were getting! The universe must have been trying so hard to the fix the malfunction and get them transported, it eventually glitched out on itself, which is how we ended up here.” 0000 “Which brings us to Kyousuke and Lennon… That’s the only thing I’m having trouble explaining…” 0000 Krys held up a hand. “I think I know this one. We both know Kyousuke had manipulated reality in the past right? When the crystal broke, he must have somehow been able to sense what was happening. But since his physical body was stuck in the Toumin capsule, he wasn’t able to fix it himself, so he went against the system and sent Lennon with the notes to help us fix it instead. And he must’ve used his abilities and the unstable reality to allow Haiji to briefly slip between worlds in order to lead us out of that temple. But he couldn’t fight it forever, and the system must have eventually gotten the better of him. And that would be why that last note was so messy and why his capsule was so misshapen.” 0000 “And of course, we can’t forget the biggest anomalies of all: us! And since all these glitches and anomalies made reality so unstable, that must be why we randomly switched worlds so often.” finished Spaget. 0000 They were silent after that, letting everything sink in. 0000 “Wow…” said Krys eventually, “We’ve gotten ourselves mixed up in something way bigger than I thought…” 0000 “I hear that,” agreed Spaget, taking a deep breath. She turned back to Puni, who had been patiently watching them as they had their revelation. “Well Puni, what do you need us to do? How do we fix the Aniverse and rescue our friends from being stuck in those bubbles forever?” 0000 “Puni!” Puni gestured to shards in Krys’s hand and then to the chipped crystal. “Puni puni!” 0000 Krys looked at the shards and narrowed her eyes. “Hang on… do these…?” She peered at them closely and picked one of them up in her other hand. She then lifted them up and brought them closer together. They both glowed brighter. She brought them even closer until they were touching. The broken shapes fit together perfectly. With a bright flash, they fused together into one. Krys looked at the now single shard, over at the broken crystal, and then back at Puni. 0000 “So what you’re saying is….if we fuse this shard to the Aniice and make it whole again, everyone will be released and the Aniverse will be restored?” 0000 “Puni!” 0000 Krys bit her lip and nodded silently. Then she turned back the crystal and started towards it. Both the shard and the crystal began to glow brighter as she brought them closer together. She pulled her hand away just as they were about to come together. She looked at the shard and gulped. 0000 What’s gonna happen once I do this? she thought What’s gonna happen to us? What if it doesn’t work? 0000 Just then she felt another hand on top of hers. Spaget stood next to her and smiled. 0000 “Readyyyyyyyyy?” 0000 Krys smiled back as her doubts were swept away. 0000 “Ready.” 0000 The two of them turned back to the crystal and shouted with all the energy they could muster. 0000 “GO!” 0000 Together they shoved the shard onto the crystal. Almost immediately, the room was filled with a blinding light, a high-pitched sound ringing out from the crystal. The sound continued for several seconds, Krys and Spaget unable to open their eyes due to the sheer brightness. 0000 Finally, the sound began to grow softer and the brightness gradually faded. When Krys and Spaget opened their eyes, the Aniice was glowing a bright, silvery blue and small waves of electricity could be seen sparking and moving within it. Around them, the walls of the cave began to gradually regain the glow it once had. It was a beautiful sight. 0000 The two of them rushed back to the doors that marked the entrance to both rooms. There were still several fragments of ice and broken icicles scattered around, but the path was repaired most of the damage had seemingly disappeared. The entire cave glowed brighter than ever. 0000 They walked back the Aniice in a daze. 0000 “Did…did we do it…?” whispered Spaget 0000 “I…I think we did?” 0000 Puni was waiting for them next the Aniice. 0000 “Puni!” he said, his ahoge swishing more happily than they had ever seen, “Puni puni!” 0000 They ran to him and knelt down. 0000 “Did we do it Puni?!” asked Spaget, “Did we save them??” 0000 Puni took a deep breath. 0000 “Puni!” He puffed a small pink cloud out from his mouth. The cloud then rose to Krys and Spaget’s eye level and began to swirl in a small circle. As it swirled, the area that could be seen through it began to swirl and blur. 0000 “Wait a minute!” exclaimed Spaget in realization, “This cloud looks just like the ones that transported us back home last time!” She looked over at Puni, “Is this one of them??” 0000 Puni nodded and gestured for her to keep watching. 0000 By now they could see something forming within the cloud portal. It looked like a slightly overhead view of a bed in a dark room. The view gradually became clearer until… 0000 “Oh my gosh!” Spaget gasped, “It’s Mitsuki!” 0000 Sure enough, what they saw was Mitsuki sleeping peacefully in what appeared to be his own bed. Suddenly his eyes snapped open and he shot up with a silent gasp. His eyes darted around the room and widened as they landed on the portal slightly above him. He could obviously see Krys and Spaget’s faces staring down at him. He began to frantically mouth something, obviously asking a lot of questions. The girls gestured that they couldn’t hear anything, as the portal was sound-proof. Mitsuki then calmed down and slowly mouthed “Are you okay?” 0000 They both nodded. They gestured to him. He also nodded, indicating that he was fine. 0000 “Is that your bedroom?” Krys mouthed, using her hands to help get her question across. 0000 Mitsuki looked around once more and nodded. Krys and Spaget smiled. 0000 “Then everything’s fine now.” mouthed Spaget. 0000 Mitsuki’s head quickly swung to the side as if he had heard a noise. His face broke into a wide smile. He turned back the girls, the slightest hint of tears in his eyes. 0000 “The others!” he mouthed enthusiastically, “I can hear them!” 0000 Krys and Spaget grinned and gestured for him to go see them. He bowed his head deeply. 0000 “Thank you.” 0000 And with a final wave, the bedroom disappeared, only to be replaced with the dining room of the Chikuseisou dorm. Here, they could see Haiji surrounded by the other dorm residents while wearing a genuinely happy smile that made the girls’ hearts want to explode. They seemed to be having a drinking party, as most of the residents held cans or glasses of beer in their hands, a familiar red blush tinting their faces. Haiji’s smile widened as he spotted the portal in front of him. He waved to them and mouthed his thanks. The girls smiled widely and nodded back. He then joyfully raised his glass to them as the dorm faded from sight. 0000 Krys and Spaget’s eyes were then met with a familiar baseball field that made their hearts skip a beat. 0000 And right in front of them they could see Kyousuke, manning one of the bases. He turned to around as he noticed the portal behind him. He smiled and bowed, deep and low. Then his signature grin broke out across his face and he gave them a thumbs up. Krys and Spaget grinned back and put their thumbs up in return. 0000 After that, the portal diffused completely. 0000 They both stared at the now empty space in silence, silent tears threatening to spill over their cheeks. 0000 “Puni!” said Puni, bringing their attention back to him. While they had been watching the portal, all of the other Punitsukis had gathered inside the large room. Puni gestured to the two of them. “Puni!” 0000 Krys sniffled and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “I guess he’s saying it’s our turn now.” 0000 Spaget nodded silently. She took Krys’s hand and looked at Puni. 0000 “Ok Puni,” she said quietly, “We’re ready.” 0000 Puni nodded and said something to the other Punitsukis. Then, as a group they began to puff out the small pink clouds, just as Puni had. Soon the whole room was filled with almost a chant of Puni…Puni…Puni…Puni… As more clouds appeared, they began to swirl around Krys and Spaget. Slowly, the Punitsukis began to fade from their sight. 0000 “Bye guys!” yelled Spaget, a single tear finally escaping her eyes, “Take good care of this world!” 0000 “Thanks for everything!” called Krys, her own eyes already misting up again. 0000 The Punitsuki’s waved back with their little slimy arms before they finally disappeared completely. - 0000 Thud! 0000 Krys heard this sound at the exact moment she opened her eyes. She spun around to see that Spaget had just fallen off the couch she was sleeping on. Spaget stayed there for a second. Then she quickly disentangled herself from the pile of blankets that had fallen on top of her and looked at Krys. The two of them stared at each other for a what felt like hours. 0000 “Holy moly.” 0000 “Holy moly.” 0000 “Holy moly.” 0000 “Holy moly!” 0000 “HOLY MOLY!” 0000 They burst into something between a laugh and a cry, they couldn’t quite tell which. 0000 “I can’t believe it!” gasped Spaget, “We actually went back!” 0000 “And somehow ended up getting tangled in a universe-wide catastrophe!” 0000 Both girls were now lying on their backs, trying to keep their emotions in check. After a few deep breaths, they finally managed to calm themselves down. 0000 “Wow…” sighed Krys, “That was one heck of a trip. I don’t know what to say…except that I’m so glad we got to see everyone again.” 0000 Spaget chuckled “What else is there to say?” She grinned. “Except for maybe ‘Hail Puni’?” 0000 Krys laughed. 0000 “Aye, yeah!” |
君の声 忘れない 涙も 忘れない |
Mar 15, 2020 7:55 AM
#46
| Sis. Sista. Have I told you I love this? Eh maybe a couple more times I freaking adore this. Everything about this. The fact that you wrote this for me. The fact that you remembered all our lil things from our convos. The fact that this was your special project. The fact that THIS IS SO GOOD. The fact that I demand a Haiji Piggyback™. I love this sooooooo much. <3<3<3 |
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