Chapter 1: Part 1: Dauntless Recruit
Chapter Text
MEGA CITY
REALITY 16
Drift and Catalyst walk into the lobby and sit down on two individual boxes.
They both have the same flat, neutral expression. They are the same person, after all.
“Hey you two! I’ve called you both in here to tell you that we’re getting a new member!” Vi says excitedly.
”Ok.” Drift says.
”Cool.” Catalyst says.
They’re both just tired.
”We’re just uhhh..waiting for them to get here! Heheh….” Vi nervously says.
They were supposed to be here earlier.
Suddenly, beep beep
A message has been sent to Vi.
”Ah! They’re here! With a message..”
Vi taps her mask…hood? hoodie? is it a mask or a hood? or a ha- whatever. She taps it.
A deep, whispery voice plays out.
“HEY. I’M HERE. INTRODUCE ME WITH A BADASS INTRO.”
”Uhh….okay?”
The entrance doors start to slide open. Two pure white circle eyes glow. They’re slanted downwards to make an angry expression.
”Everyone! I’d like you to meet…”
A red polygonal figure steps out from the darkness of the entrance room.
“Vox Hunter.”
Vox Hunter
Agender, Any Pronouns, 6’0, Dauntless Tracker. Age unknown, he’s literally a digital avatar.
“There, was that badass enough for yo-“
”YES.”
(note: the nature of Vox’s voice makes using all caps fit better)
“Just uh, take a seat on that box-“
”NO.”
”Ok.”
”So, I was hoping on giving them a test drive-“
”I’M NOT A CAR”
”>:(“
”And asking Kimiko for an early mission!”
”Hmm…Yeah. That can work.” Drift says.
”Well, ok then!” Vi holds up her messenger.
(Note: each member has their own messenger. They’re all in the shape of the respective gold symbols on their masks. For Vox its the two rectangles on the side of his head.)
She lets go of the messenger. It starts to float into the air.
“WHO’S KIMIKO?” Vox asks.
Drift and Catalyst both shrug.
Suddenly, a BRIGHT PINK BEAM OF LIGHT shoots into the room and dissapears.
”Oh!” Drift says startled.
”COOL” Vox says amazed.
A paper is left behind. It’s in the shape of a picture from an older camera. Y’know, the ones you have to shake to get it to show up.
“So, this is the person we have to hunt down, huh?” Vi says.
”Well, yea. Why else would they be on the paper?” Drift says sarcastically.
Vi looks at him annoyed.
“CAN WE STOP STALLING? I NEED TO KILL PEOPLE!” Vox yells out.
He loves killing those who oppose them.
Vi looks at him very startled and surprised.
”ok”
She snaps, and a rift appears over the 4 of them.
Yes, Catalyst is still here. I haven’t forgotten about her already.
The Weapons Room
“Everyone take your pick!” Vi says.
Vox stares at a Havoc Pump Shotgun, amazed.
“BEAUTIFUL. POWERFUL..YET QUICK.”
He takes it off the holder.
Drift and Catalyst both grab the same kind of AR.
”A classic, and still good.” They both say.
”Wow. We really are the same person, huh?”
Vi grabs a crossbow.
”Old fashioned, yet amazing. So! Is everyone set?” She says.
They all say yes.
”Ok! Vox! You have an amazing database, how about you find the reality this guy is in!” She holds up the photo.
”ALRIGHT. REALITY 7326.”
“Wow! That was quick.”
”THANK YOU, MASTER VI.”
”Master Vi? Huh..I like it! Now, let’s go!”
She snaps, and they all rift to the reality.
ABANDONED AREAS
REALITY 7326
They all land near an abandoned building.
“Hmm…Must be a haunted reality.” Vi says.
”Ooo, abandoned buildings, how scary. Yeah yeah, whatever, let’s just find them.” Drift says sarcastically.
”Wait! I hear something. Everyone quiet!” Catalyst says.
Seemingly human footsteps are heard. They get louder, then quieter, then louder, then quieter.
Suddenly, they progressively just get quieter.
“Hmm…Vi. Use that vision thing on your…whatever you’re wearing to track them.” Catalyst says.
Vi pops off the mask from her hood and puts it on. It has a vision setting that lets her track footsteps.
”Alright, everyone follow me!”
The 4 of them follow alongside her.
Eventually, the footsteps lead to an abandoned sanctum. They slowly walk up to where the entrance would normally be.
A faint noise can be heard.
Suddenly, the noise draws closer and
WOOSH
Somebody flies out. Their flying knocks the 4 of them out of the way and onto the ground.
It’s Sanctum! The- the character. Not like a building. The one from Chapter 1 Season 6. The one that looks like Dri- yeah whatever. It’s him.
They all get up, and Drift gasps.
”Vi! Let me see that photo again.”
She gives him it, and Drift stares in shock.
”YOU!”
”Uh…Drift? What’s so bad about this guy?” Catalyst says.
”It’s Sanctum! My evil doppelgänger!”
”Why are we just now hearing about this?”
”Just- never mind. LETS GET HIM NOW!”
Everybody pulls out their pickaxes and rush him. He teleports behind them.
“What the-“
Sanctum laughs evilly. He then goes to bite one of them. Luckily, they smack him away.
“Ah! God! Metal! It feels like being hit with a water bottle..” He says.
Vox’s blood thirst gets amped up, and he pulls out his shotgun.
BAM!
Sanctum dodges it, and while he’s distracted, Vox slices him with his blades. (Vox Fangs pickaxe)
Sanctum gets back and flies over the 4 of them. Drift and Cat get a few shots on him while in the air.
He takes a jar of fresh blood and breaks it in his hands, which heals him up.
“WHAT?!” Vox says.
“If only these bullets were coated in garlic.” Drift says.
Sanctum then pulls out his own grenade launcher and starts firing. It seems to be handcrafted.
Sanctum shoots at everyone, and they all manage to jump away.
Vox then grabs one of his bullets and throws it back at him. It then just becomes a game of catch.
Vox then throws the grenade upward, and Vi takes a fire arrow and shoots it st the grenade.
Vox then takes the grenade and starts swinging his arm around, faster and faster. Sanctum then gets confused, and Vox throws the grenade at him FULL FORCE.
The grenade explodes on him, and now Sanctum is being burned.
Later, the fire dies down, and now Sanctum is down.
“Vox! Newest recruit, how about you get the final blow as your first kill on the job.” Catalyst says.
“DON’T CALL ME THAT. AND OKAY.”
Vox menacingly approaches Sanctum. His eyes glowing red, the same color as his body.
”Wh..what the hell are you? I’ve never seen anything like you before…” Sanctum says.
”I KNOW WHAT I AM.”
”YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE!!”
Vox then stabs Sanctum with his blades, and he is done for.
Everyone sits down and takes a breather, then they go back to the base.
Fox Clan Base, MEGA City
”Wow! You did awesome, Vox!” Vi says.
“THANK YOU, MASTER.”
“Y’know, for only being a physical being for a few days, you’re doing a damn fine job!”
”Wait, what? He’s only been physical for a few days?” Drift says.
”What? I didn’t tell you?”
”No.” Catalyst says.
”Ah. Well, back then with the old fox clan, he was much more different. He helped us out with our technology and was our personal assistant! He was only digital. And, before they all…”
Vi pauses for a moment to breathe.
“Our old leader was modeling him to be actually physical! After they…y’know…I found his old computer and messed around with it! In the process though, I changed him from being nice to murderous, but now he’s here in all his polygonal glory!”
“WOW. I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THAT MYSELF. AND YES, I TOO AM SADDENED BY THE LOSS OF THE OLD MEMBERS.”
”We’re sorry for your losses, Vi.” Drift says.
”Yeah…I…It just hurts to think about them every day. They were some of the most caring people I’ve ever met…” Vi says.
”Hey, don’t worry, girl. We can do the same things they used to do. Even if its not the same.” Cat says.
”Hey, now that we’re talking about this, there was another member that might still be out there. She wandered off and was never seen since. Kimiko told me that she was cursed, but I’m still not sure.”
“OK, SERIOUSLY, WHO IS KIMIKO?? YOU’VE MENTIONED HER TWICE ALREADY, AND I STILL DON’T KNOW HER!”
”Yeah, who are you talking about, Vi?” Drift says.
”Oh, trust me, you’ll meet her real soon.”
“Okay…sounds ominous, but sure.” Drift says.
”Anyway, I’m feeling a bit tired. Goodnight guys.” Vi gets up and walks to her room down the hall.
“Well, speaking of backstories, Cat! What’s yours like? I wanna know if theres any differences from mine, since we’re the same person.” Drift says.
“Well, I don’t think theres that many things different…” Cat says.
The Spirit Realm
Kitsune makes a barking sound.
”Huh? Oh, yeah. They were talking about you. I still don’t know how to get it through her head that you’re still around. But, oh well, let’s just relax a bit!”
Two chairs suddenly appear behind both of them.
“Oh, I brought some drinks too! What flavor would you like?”
Kitsune barks again.
”Okay! Here.”
They give her the cherry flavor.
”A job well done.”
END OF FOX CLAN VS THE WORLD PART 1.
RANDOM HILL NEAR PLEASANT PARK
REALITY 0
“Huh…what the…where am I? This isn’t the desert…”
Drift
Bisexual, He/Him, 6’0, Underground Grafitti Artist and soon to be Hunter. Age 25 (Age currently 19 during this)
”None of this seems to be the desert…it’s all greenery.”
Drift goes up the hill.
”Well, theres a desert over there, but this is all unfamiliar. Except the burger. No idea how thats here.”
Suddenly, wheels can be heard drawing closer.
“Should…Should I be concerned about that?”
No. You shouldn’t. It’s just some crazy chick, some guy in dino PJ’s, and a girl in a bear mascot costume in a gold cart. Nothing to be concerned about at all.
“Hiii! I’m Brite Bomber! This is Rex! And this is Cuddle Team Leader! Wanna join us on our road trip?!”
”…”
”What??”
”CMON! LETS GO!”
Brite snatches him and puts him in the golf cart.
”Uh- I- ugh, ok.”
“So, Drift. You don’t seem to be from around here! Tell us a bit about yourself!” Rex says.
“(how did he know that?) Uhm, well, I do graffiti art. Have you seen a spraypaint of a kitsune mask around before?”
”Uhm, no. Besides on the Durr Burger head that was next to you. Also whats a Kitsune?”
”Oh, a Kitsune is a bit of mythology from where my ethnicity originates from. Ever heard of a country called Japan? It’s great. Big neon cities and such.”
”No, I don’t think I’ve heard of that place.”
“Also, Kitsunes are basically trickster foxes with multiple tails and godlike powers.”
“Cool! I’d have to visit Japan sometime!”
”Now with that out the way, whats a Durr Burger?”
”YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT DURR BURGER IS?? IT’S THE BEST BURGER JOINT IN TOWN!” Cuddles jumps up and says. “ME AND REX GO ON DATES THERE ALL THE TIME!”
“Jesus! Okay! I get it! I’ll check it out, I guess.”
“Alright gang! First stop, Lazy Links!” Brite says excitedly.
Drift studies the place as they walk in. It appears to be some golf resort.
Brite jumpscares him with a shirt. “HEY Drift! This shirt would look perfect on you!”
Drift takes off his shirt and puts it on. It looks just like his normal shirt, but fancier and long-sleeved.
Brite stared in shock when he took off the shirt, but in a flustered way.
“Huh…cool. Looks just like my normal shirt. So, what are we doing here? Just playing golf?”
”Uh- I- uh… heheh..y-yea..” Brite mustered.
“Hmm…Brite? Are you ok?” Drift said in his smooth voice.
She stares at Drift in the eyes for about 5 seconds in silence. His brown eyes are a beauty.
”Uhhh…okay? Let’s play golf i guess?” Drift says.
They spend about an hour playing golf, at least until its almost sunset.
Drift actually spent most of it riding around the golf cart with Brite.
Eventually, they all find and sleep at a motel, and continue the road trip tomorrow.
Brite keeps thinking about Drift without his shirt. She can’t get it out of her head.
“Why does that image of him keep appearing in my head? I don’t truly like him in that way…right? I’ve been to plenty of pools before…and I like everybody I meet…but this guy seems…different, and unusual from the average person I’d meet. I feel a sense of…love…around him…do I? No..It can’t be…”
She sighs, and goes to sleep, still flustered.
(so real of her)
The next day, they go over to the race track in the desert.
“Hmm…I’m having trouble wrapping my head around this. How did Moisty Mire, a whole swampy area, get turned into an entire sand area from the blue crack in the sky? Not even the place itself, but the prison and a few more stretches of land too??” Rex says.
”I wanna know how Paradise Palms got here.” Cuddle Team Leader says.
“3, 2, 1, GO!” Brite counts down.
“Exactly! It makes no sense! It’s like they just appeared in the blink of an eyAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”
Rex fell off the cart like an idiot.
“OW! God! Redline! What the hell?!”
”Whoops. Sorry Rex. I just love going fast.” Redline says.
Redline works at the race track. She got bored, so she wanted to join them on the fun.
“Also, Drift, why are you wearing one of our hoodies?” She says.
”Oh, I just thought it would look cool.”
”Fair enough.”
“Drift, how are you able to wear all of that perfectly fine? We’re in a desert! Aren’t you hot-“ Brite cuts herself off. “I mean- uh- aren’t yo-“
“Im, uh..fine, Brite. Thanks. A pool would be nice though..”
“Oh! I know a place with a pool! It’s like, literally right next to us.” Cuddle Team Leader says.
Rex is still lying on the ground.
“Paradise Palms! It’s a nice place of…uh…paradise!”
“Paradise, huh? Sure. I love a little paradise. Wanna come with us, Redline?”
”Nah. I gotta stay here and watch the track. Thanks though!”
She gets off.
”Also, uh, can you guys like, grab your friend. He’s still lying here.”
“Oh, uh, yeah.” Drift gets up and grabs Rex, and puts him in the cart.
”Cmon, Brite! Let’s go!” Cuddles says.
She slowly walks towards the cart and gets in.
”Uhhh…Brite? Are you good?”
”I- uh- yeaaaaa!!!!!”
Cuddles hops into the back of the cart to where Brite is.
”Brite? Are you good? You seem off lately..”
”It’s- well- it- I- yeah. I’m good.”
”No, cmon, tell me, whats up.”
“It’s just..Drift. There’s something about him. He’s so…”
”Sooooo what?”
”Yknow…”
”Oh. OH OHHHHHHHHH!!! Now I get it!”
”Shush! Keep it down, okay? He’s just…everything about him. His cute, beautiful brown eyes, his muscular arms, his chest…everything about him.”
”Uh huh…I see. Well, I hope it goes well for you! I mean, look at how far me and Rex have come!”
Rex is still lying face first
”Thanks, Cuddles.”
“You’re welcome!”
They arrive at Paradise Palms.
“Alright, we’re here, everyone.”
They all file out the cart.
”Uh- Rex. Rex get up.” Cuddles tries to wake him up.
”REX”
”AH! GOD! WHAT HUH WHERE AM I”
”We’re at the pool, cutie! Cmon!”
“uhgggg,,,,, ok.”
They all walk into the area.
”Cmon, Drift! Wanna get into the pool with us?” Brite asks.
”No, thanks. I don’t have a change of clothes.”
”Cmonnnnn! You don’t need a change of clothes!”
She just wants to see him shirtless again. Cuddles already catches on.
”Uh, nope. Sorry.”
”Well…okayyyyyy…”
She softly sighs, and goes towards the pool.
“Hmm, Cuddles, I’ve always wondered, how do you swim wearing a whole ass bear mascot?”
”magic”
”Wh-what”
”magic”
”Uh, ok”
Drift lays back in a chair. Suddenly, he hears a high pitched cutesy voice calling to him.
“Hey, hey, Drift!”
”Wh- huh? Who’s calling me?”
”Over here! Behind the building!”
“How do I know to trust you?”
”Cmon! If i was a bad guy, my voice would be a lot more menacing.”
”Eh, true.” He walks to behind the building. Only thing he sees is a shadowy room.
”WAIT! Stop! Don’t walk into the room. I wanna stay anonymous.”
”Uh- ok. Sure.”
”I have a little gift for you, Drift.”
The figure unveils a mask, just like the one in his grafitti.
”What the- how…how is it so on point…it’s just like it!”
“I’ve been a huge fan of your art! I’ve seen it everywhere, and it’s just super cool! So, I made this as a gift. Hope you enjoy it!”
He takes it. “Wow! Uh..thank you, shadowy stranger!”
“You’re welcome! Now, run along now, friend! I’m sure we’ll meet again soon! Quite…soon…”
”Uh- ok, this is getting weird. Bye.” He goes back to the pool.
”Hmm. If the fate is right, then she should arrive on the island in about a year or two. Then they will both join us later. Now then, time to leave!”
The figure tries to leave, but accidentally reveals a bit of themself. It seems to be a fluffy ear.
”Ah. Whoops. Wrong thing.”
Then they successfully leave.
Drift checks out the mask.
”Huh. Wow. Everything is on point…impressive. How am I supposed to wear it though? There’s no strap.”
He holds the mask close to his face to try and wear it. The mask then zaps itself onto his head. It seems to use some sort of pink lightning to stick onto him.
“Wh- how did-“
He takes it off. It comes clean off of his head.
”Huh??????”
He tries to wrap his head around it, but then brite pushes him into the pool.
SPLASH!
Brite, Rex, and Cuddles all chuckle, and Drift slowly walks out the pool.
Brite stares at him, his slick hair down, and his clothes and skin wet. She watches as he slowly walks over to her, with his head facing down.
It seems like he’s about to yell, but he’s rather chill about it.
”Listen, Brite. Don’t ever do that again. Even if it was a bit funny.” He says slowly and smoothly.
Brite freezes, dazed.
”Uhm, Brite? Hello?” He reaches out to poke her, to try and catch her attention.
She faints when his finger touches her cheek.
”Uh- I- did-“
”Don’t worry, Drift. She’s fine. Are you cold from the water?” Cuddles says.
”Uh, yeah. I am.”
A black and gold coat seemingly appears out of nowhere. Cuddles puts it on him.
”There! That should warm you up!”
He hears the shadowy figures voice calling out to him again. “Oh, Yeah, I made that coat for you too! And also that fancy weapon. Have fun with them!”
Drift looks over to where Cuddles got the cost from and sees a long rod, pink, with a diamond pattern down the middle.
“Fancy…weapon?”
”What the heck is that thing?” Rex says.
Drift tries to figure out a way to get it to work. He eventually tries squeezing it hard, and some pink lightning courses out of his finger tips and onto the tip of the rod, activating the scythe.
“WOAH! WHAT THE?!” Both Rex and Cuddles say.
He loosened the grip and it shut off.
” “
”I think we should leave.”
“Yeah….grab Brite, let’s go back to the motel.” Rex says.
They all get in the kart.
As they’re driving down the trail. Rex notices a statue of a dinosaur, and one of his friends near it.
”GUYS! We can take a picture over here!”
”Oh! Good idea!” Cuddles says. She goes to wake up Brite.
”Huh, ok. We can take a picture here.” Drift says.
“Ay! Tricera! What’s up?” Rex says.
Tricera is another person in a dinosaur costume. She and Rex are friends.
”Oh hi! This cool statue appeared over here! I don’t know where, but it’s pretty sick!” She says.
”Well, we’re here to take a picture in front of it! Wanna join in?” Rex says.
”Sure!”
”Oh! Yeah! These are my friends! This is Cuddles! My Girlfriend! You already know her.”
”Lay off of him.” Cuddles says.
”This is Brite Bomber! She’s very happy to meet others!”
”Oh- uh…hi! I’m uhhhhh…Brite…Bomber.”
“Uh…Brite? Are you good?”
”Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”
”And this is Drift! He’s pretty new here.”
”Uh…hi. I’m Drift. Nice to meet you.”
”Hmm…he seems unusual.” Tricera says.
”Wh- well, that’s not very nice. But whatever.” Drift says.
Cuddles goes up to Brite. “Brite! This is your chance! You can take a picture with Drift!”
“OH MY GOD! YES! Ok! I’ll grab the camera!”
She grabs it. “Everyone! Get in your spots.”
Tricera and Rex climb onto the dinosaur statue. Rex goes into the mouth of it and pretends to be eaten by it.
Cuddles bursts out laughing.
Drift does a little dinosaur roar pose. Brite starts the countdown and does the same.
The picture was taken.
Afterward, they go back to the Motel for a bit. Drift puts his clothes in the washing machine. Cuddles tries to hold back Brite from walking in on Drift with his chest out.
Once his clothes are done, they all decide to go watch a movie.
“Where would we even watch a movie anyway?” Drift says.
“Oh! Theres a place called Risky Reels. They play movies all the time over there.” Brite says.
”Hmm…okay then. Do we know what they’re playing?”
“Some space movie. They’ve been playing that for a bit apparently.”
“Well, let’s go, I guess.”
They all hop in the cart. Drift admires all the pretty lights, being that it’s nighttime. Shortly, they make it to the place.
“Hmm. Simple. Screen, cars, and buildings. Nothing fancy.” Drift says.
”What do you mean fancy? I’ve never seen a fancy theater before.” Brite says.
”Oh, uh…nevermind.”
The four of them sit on two cars. Rex and Cuddles on one, Brite and Drift on the other.
The movie beings, and the four of them watch.
Brite slowly moves closer to Drift, as she gets more and more tired. She’s bound to fall asleep at any moment. Eventually, she falls asleep, and her head lays onto Drift’s shoulder. Drift blushes a bit, and everything finally clicks to him.
Brite loves him.
He didn’t truly realize it, until this moment, and he realizes something else.
He loves her back.
He holds his arm around her, and kisses her on the cheek.
Cuddles saw the whole thing.
After the movie, Drift carries her in his arms, and once at the motel, tucks her into bed.
The next day, Brite gets startled awake by Cuddles.
”OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! Brite! You’ll never believe what happened last night!”
”Hgh,,,, what?”
”Drift kissed you! On the cheek!”
”WHAT?! OH MY GOD”
”I KNOW RIGHT”
”HEJROFJFBEKW” she falls back asleep.
”ah”
”Hey, is Brite awake yet?” Drift comes in saying.
”Uh- no. She, uh, fell back asleep.”
“Aw, ok then. Well, when she gets up, we’re gonna go visit the desert. The big blue crack in the sky has been zapping over there.”
“Huh. That’s strange…hopefully she wakes up so-“
”ANOTHER ADVENTURE? YAY!” She immediately gets up and runs out the door.
” “
” “
”Oh, by the way, I told her what happened last night. I saw everything.”
”You wh- ugh, nevermind.”
They all get in the kart and go to the desert. They drive up to the hill where the zappies are happening. They file out the kart.
“Wait, don’t get too close.” Drift says.
Suddenly, another zap happens, but this time, it’s much longer.
”Uh, is it supposed to be happening this long?” Rex says.
The strike turns purple.
”Wait, why is it changing color?” Cuddles says.
A cube begins to take shape.
“What the hell is tha-“
The cube forms, and it sends a shockwave, sending the four of them back a bit.
”What the hell?? Is that a giant cube??” Drift says.
”hehehehe im gonna touch it” Cuddles says mischievously.
”WAIT CUDDLES NO-“ Rex says.
ZAP!
Cuddles gets sent far back.
”CUDDLES!” Rex trails down the hill to help her.
”I feel something…coursing through my veins…” She says.
”Wh-what??”
”I think im turning…EVIL…”
“NOOOOOOO”
”lol jk”
”o”
Drift and Brite stare at them, confused.
Suddenly, the cube begins to move, seemingly towards them.
”BRITE LOOK OUT!” Drift tackles her, and they tumble down the hill. They got roughed up, but at least they didn’t get crushed.
The shockwave from the cube sends the cart tumbling down the hill too.
“ “
”I think we should go.” Drift says.
“Yep. me too.” The others say.
They all hop in the cart and leave.
1 MONTH LATER
”Uh, guys? Why is there a bright purple light outside?” Brite says.
Drift rushes outside.
Suddenly, the island at Loot Lake is rising out of its waters and becomes airborne.
Drift suddenly sees its source. A glowing purple cube. The one on the desert hill. The others notice it too.
”Wait…is that…the cube thing?” Rex says.
It starts glowing bright, and sends purple lightning strikes everywhere. The strikes cause purple zombies to appear. Drift pushes everyone back and slays the zombie that spawned near them with his pickaxe.
He suddenly has an idea. He has his own source of lightning, with its own power.
”Guys, I have an idea, but it’s sorta risky.”
END OF PREQUEL PART 1.
Chapter 2: Part 2: Flipping and Fighting
Notes:
idk how to fuckin write fight scenes
also Vi’s staff is her pickaxe
Chapter Text
Vi walks into the kitchen and makes herself a cup of coffee. Vox walks in too.
”Hi Vox! Ready for another day?” She says, trying to let her optimism shine.
”UH HUH.” He says.
Vi babbles on about random shit to try and prove shes optimistic.
”UH HUH. UH HUH. UH HUH. UH HUH. UH HUH.” Vox says repeatedly, nodding his head.
Vi realizes he isn’t actually listening to her and stops talking.
Drift walks in also. He opens the fridge to grab himself a shield fish.
“Hmm…that’s weird. Where did all the shield fish go? We had some yesterday.”
“Hm. Well, Vox is an avatar, and I don’t like fish, and your sist- uh- Catalyst doesn’t eat fish. Soooooo..”
“Strange. Anyway, where even is Catalyst?”
”She’s probably still sleeping. You know she likes staying up late.”
”Ah, yeah. Do we have any hunts on the agenda sooner or later?”
”Oh, yeah! I had one planned for today.”
”FINALLY!” Vox says.
”I guess after Catalyst wakes up we’ll do it.” Vi says.
”Vi, are you good? You haven’t seem so cheery lately.”
”Yeah, I’m fine. I just decided to start acting like myself instead of being so optimistic all the time.”
”Ah, okay then.”
Catalyst drags herself into the kitchen. She’s very tired from staying up so late.
”Jesus. Cat, how long did you stay up?” Drift says.
”Uhhhhhhhh- Iunno”
“Catalyst, you have to stop staying up so late. It isn’t good for you.” Vi says.
”Ok.”
”Are you even listening to me?”
”Uh huh.”
Vi gets saddened. She doesn’t like it when people ignore her. Catalyst eats her breakfast quickly.
”CAN WE JUST GET STARTED NOW?!” Vox says.
”Yeah. Sure. Whatever.” Vi says.
”YAY!” Vox quickly goes into the lobby, throws his messenger, and snatches the photo out of the beam of light.
He looks at the paper, and gasps…somehow.
Vi quickly comes in. “Vox? What’s wrong? Do you have an evil doppelgänger too?”
She takes the paper, and gasps as well.
Drift comes in. “Oh boy. Who is it now?”
He glances at the paper.
”THE BURNING WOLF?! ONE OF REALITY’S GREATEST HUNTERS?!” Drift says.
The 3 Drift snapshots come out of their rooms.
Driftwalker clicks like a bat.
(Driftwalker is unable to speak normally due to his corruption, so he just speaks in bat clicks, gremlin noises, incomprehensible sounds and snarls)
”Yeah! Whats happening? You’re making me melt a bit!” Snow Drift says.
“How do people yelling make you mel-“ Summer “Drift” says before being cut off.
”Shut up Summer.”
“Ok.”
Vi comes back to her senses. “Quiet, you three. Go get us some supplies as you normally do.”
”APWKENENRKEOEK?” Driftwalker says in gremlin.
”Oh, uhhhhhh…just get us some milk and shield fish please.”
”On it, boss. Let’s go gang!”
(Since the snapshots are lesser members, their job is to just grab supplies)
They leave the base and go up to the city.
”Now that they’re gone..HOW ON EARTH ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BEAT THIS GUY?!” Vi says.
Vox makes a sad expression.
”Uh, Vox? What’s wrong?”
“ITS JUST…BURNING WOLF AND I…HE…”
“He…what?”
”HE AND I ARE EXES.”
” “
Nobody even screams out ‘WHAT?!’, they’re all just confused, yet intrigued.
“MONTHS AGO, I MET HIM, AND HE WAS A REALLY NICE GUY, FOR BEING REALITY’S GREATEST HUNTER. HE WAS ONE OF THE BEST PEOPLE IVE EVER MET, BESIDES YOU THREE OF COURSE. AND A BIT AFTER WE MET, WE STARTED DATING. TWO ROBOTS AS A COUPLE. EVENTUALLY THOUGH, WE HAD A FALLING OUT. IT ALL HAPPENED SO SUDDENLY. AND JUST LIKE THAT, WE STOPPED DATING. NOW HE PROBABLY WANTS ME DEAD.”
“………Wow.” Drift says.
”First off, why are you just now telling me this? Second, WHY WOULD YOU TELL US THAT RIGHT AFTER WERE ABOUT TO FIGHT HIM???” Vi exclaims.
”IM SORRY, OKAY?! LETS JUST GO.”
Before anybody objects, Vox grabs Vi’s phone, and teleports the 4 of them to where Wolf is.
(Vox’s powers only come from his source, which is Vi’s phone)
SOME SORT OF CITY
REALITY 9738
The 4 of them land on some sort of city rooftop, It’s not MEGA City however.
“Vox! What the hell! What are you doing?!” Vi says.
”DOING WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE LONG AGO.”
”That was literally a month or two ago, but okay.” Drift says sarcastically.
Vox hops across the dark rainy rooftops, searching for him.
”WOLF!!!!” He yells out. “IT’S ME! VOX! NO, THIS ISN’T AN APOLOGY. I STILL HATE YOU. COME ON OUT AND FIGHT ME, JACKASS!”
Dead silence. Nothing but dark rain.
Drift turns around, about to say a sarcastic remark. A glowing pink light appears and speeds towards him.
“Alright, welp, he’s not here. Let’s go ho-“
Right before he finishes his sentence, the light launches into the air and slams down its sword towards where he once stood. Drift gets knocked towards the edge of the rooftop.
”NO!” Vi quickly grabs Drift and places him farther away from the edge, but also far from the glowing pink. Drift looks at Vi in a slightly concerned and slightly confused manner. Vi’s shout quickly wakes up Catalyst.
”AH! What?! Huh?! Where am I?”
Vi grabs Cat and Vox and shields them from the light. “Who are you? Show yourself!”
The light shines brighter, showing the rest of itself. A robotic wolf emerges. Vi, Drift, and Cat stare in shock. Vox doesn’t though. He’s fucking PISSED OFF. He breaks through the shield.
”WOLF!! SPEAK UP YOU PUSSY! STOP TRYING TO BE INTIMIDATING, IT WONT WORK ON ME.”
Burning Wolf does a little chuckle. “Heheheh…ok, little fox. I’ll speak, but, you never know. This might be the last time you will ever hear my voice. Or anything, for that matter.”
Damn. He just casually said that.
oh right uh The Burning Wolf
Biromantic. He/They/It. 6’4. One of realities greatest hunters. He worked for that one Midas guy for a bit then dipped.
Everyone is just staring in silence. It’s cool, but also really awkward.
…Can one of you guys do something already? I’m getting bored. Is this a good time to go to the restroom, or will i miss an important scene?
Vox thinks about his past relationship with Wolf. Finally, the anger gets to him, and he attacks first. Wolf manages to catch the attack with his bare robot hand.
“Heheheheh…So, it’ll be like that then, huh? Game on then, little fox. I wish you the best of luck. You’ll definitely deserve it.”
”OH SHUT UP! QUIT TRYING TO LOOK COOL AND FIGHT M-“
Right before he finishes that sentence, Wolf jumps towards him.
The battle has been started.
Before he lands, Vox rifts the others farther away from the scene so they don’t get hurt, and Wolf slams Vox onto the rooftop and lands a cut on him. Before Wolf swings again, Vox kicks him off of him, and sweeps his legs, then lands a few cuts on his chest.
Wolf uppercuts Vox then kicks him down to the rooftop, then he tries to stab Vox repeatedly, but Vox manages to dodge each time, then he grabs Wolf by his legs and rolls off the rooftop with him. As he is falling, he lets go of him, then rifts back to the top of the roof. Vox watches as Wolf falls to his death.
”VOX LOOK OUT!” Vi yells as she uses her staff to shield Vox from Wolf’s surprise attack.
”heheh…little fox. Did you think I would carry only one weapon?” Wolf reveals a long chain from his hands. It’s rusted and corrosive to pack more damage.
”I simply wrapped the chain around a lamppost as i was falling, which caught me, then I slingshotted my way up here wi-“
As Wolf is explaining, Vox tries to catch him off guard and attack him. Wolf dodges it with no hesitation.
”Heheheh…nice try.” Wolf then wraps his chain around Vi and throws her farther away, then wraps the chain around Vox. He lifts him up with it, then swings him around like a lasso.
”Goodbye, little fox.” Wolf launches Vox towards the ground.
“NO!” the other 3 yell out.
Vi zips over to Wolf and stabs him from the back with her staff.
Wolf simply pops the staff out of him.
“You think a puny little staff will kill me right then and there? Heheheh…you thought wrong.” Wolf raises his fist to punch Vi, but as he’s about to, he gets rifted away.
Wolf regains his balance inside the rift, and turns around. He sees Vox, floating there with his arms crossed.
”WOLF. NO, THIS ISN’T SOME CHEESY ‘I’M SORRY FORGIVE ME’ THING. I JUST WANTED TO BEAT YOUR ASS IN A REALLY COOL WAY. YOU SEEM TO HAVE FORGOTTEN ABOUT MY OWN POWERS. THE POWER I LITERALLY USED IN FRONT OF YOU. YOU CAN’T BE THAT STUPID.”
”Wh…I-“
”FORGET IT. DON’T TRY AND DO SOME LITTLE CHUCKLE AND INTIMIDATE ME. THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS. RIGHT HERE AND NOW.”
Vox uses the phone again, and the rift tunnel ends. They land in a different reality. It seems to be some sort of stage. The both of them have guitars in their hands. Vox smashes the guitar over Wolf’s head, knocking him unconscious, then rifts both of them to a different reality. They land in the middle of a baseball field. Vox takes the ball and throws it at Wolf, and it decks him in the head. Then he goes a step further and hits him with the bat directly. Then he goes even FURTHER and throws the ball in the air, then SLAMS it down into Wolf with the bat.
Then they rift to a snowy wasteland. Vox slams Wolf into toxic barrels repeatedly.
Then they rift to a boiler room. Vox throws Wolf into the heat.
Vox keeps rifting Wolf to many different realities, finding a unique way to beat him up further in each.
Cars, Spikes, you name it.
Finally, Vox rifts back to the original dark rooftop, and punches through his chest. He finds Wolf’s off switch, and presses it. The other 3 thought that was it.
Nah.
Vox then OBLITERATES Wolf into a pile of wires, metal, etc.
And he throws it off the roof.
The Burning Wolf has been killed.
The other 3 just stare. They were watching the whole thing. Vox is breathing heavily. Vox uses the phone, and sends the 4 of them back…or so he thought.
Hey guys i’m back from the restroom, did I miss anythiOH COME ON
REALITY 0, THE ISLAND
THE GUAVA FORT
As the 4 of them walk out the rift, they immediately realize where they are. They see a countdown over the whole area. They immediately know whats going on. Before Vi sends the 4 of them back to MEGA City, she decides against it.
”Actually. This place sucks. I wanna watch it be destroyed.” She says.
The other 3 mutually agree.
They rift some popcorn and watch as the mindless idiots kill the zombies for like 10 minutes. Vi then realizes Vox is missing. He rifted over to the giant cube pyramid.
“Vox. Don’t you dare.”
”I’M GONNA”
”DO NOT.”
”I’M GONNA DO IT VI”
”NO!”
“HAHAHAHAHA”
He runs up the pyramid, arms behind his back with blades in hand, and stabs the Cube Queens bubble. The Queen then blasts him off the pyramid.
”HEHE. WORTH IT.” He then crashes onto the ground, but he’s perfectly fine. Vi then rifts him back. She doesn’t even know what to say. Then the queen shoots a giant beam into the sky.
“Oop! It’s happening!” Catalyst says.
A rift appears over the whole island. A bunch of huge alien motherships are seen through it.
”Oh. Damn. This is gonna be some SERIOUS destruction. Want some butter?” Drift says.
“Hell yeah.” Cat says.
The 4 of them continue to sit back and watch as the place is destroyed. Drift has been waiting for this moment for 3 years. Suddenly, a spaceship shoots at the blue cube in the middle of the fort, destroying it and its barrier. They watch for another couple of minutes, until 2 members of The Seven show up, The Scientist and The Visitor. They’re both wearing armor and some visors with red symbols on them. They order the survivors on the land to hop into their bunker. The main 4 decide to do it because what else would they do? Before hopping in, Drift stares at the Visitor for a little bit. He points his eyes at him.
”Everyone follow me to the bridge. We’ll be safe there.” The Scientist says.
“Man, what is with these people? Who even are they?” Cat says.
”Don’t know, Don’t care.” Drift says.
They stop at a door.
“Let me get the door.” Scientist says.
”WARNING. ROTATION AT: 5 DEGREES.”
“Wait…what?” Cat says.
The area rumbles and slides around.
“I uh…I think the island might be turning over?” Drift says.
”I ALWAYS WANTED TO SEE IT BE DESTROYED, BUT THIS, THIS IS JUST BEAUTIFUL.” Vox says.
Everybody runs through more and more hallways.
”ROTATION AT: 15 DEGREES.”
“What are these guys’ plans here?” Cat says.
”They…I…I don’t have something sarcastic to say. I genuinely just don’t know.” Drift says.
More and more running.
”What a day, am I right?” Scientist says.
Vox keeps staring at the giant zombie beyond the glass.
”VOX!” Vi yells.
”OK, OK.”
“ROTATION AT: 30 DEGREES.”
”Why would they even build all this if they knew they could do this?” Cat says.
“This is the Epicenter of the island, guys, we’re safe here.” Scientist says.
”Welp, should we be going now?” Cat says.
”Yep. Let’s go- GOOD GUARDIAN SPIRITS WHAT IS THAT?!” Vi yells.
”It’ll hold. It’s rated for 1000 times atmospheric pressure.” Scientist says.
The giant zombie Vox saw earlier starts breaking the glass.
”WELL WHAT ABOUT THAT?!” Jones says.
Vox stares at the zombie in amazement.
“Get ready to swim!” The Foundation says.
As the glass breaks, Vox cheers.
”YAHOOOOO!!!!!”
The 4 of them manage to make it to the surface.
“Is everyone okay?” Vi asks.
”NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!” The Cube Queen screams before she fucking explodes.
Vox cheers more when she does.
”YEAAHHHHHHHHHH!”
The island finally flips over. Everyone stares at it in amazement. As the island crashes over, a giant wave starts heading towards them.
”Uh, guys. There’s a wave.” Vi says.
”Guys. There’s a wave coming towards us. GUYS. GUYS THERE IS A WAVE COMING TOWARDS US. GUYS! GUYS!”
Right as the wave is about to hit them, she rifts the 4 of them back to the base.
They all flop onto the floor.
“Alright, I think that’s enough for today. Goodnight everyone.” Vi immediately says.
Everyone is just shocked at what they witnessed.
“I’m, uh, gonna…go too.” Drift says.
The rest of them all go to their rooms.
3:47 AM.
Vi gets woken up by commotion in the lobby. She goes to investigate.
It’s the snapshots, and they’ve returned from their shopping.
”Wh…guys. It’s 4 am. How are you just now getting back.”
”Well, that’s a funny story, actually, we-“ Snow Drift says.
”ITS BEEN 12 HOURS.” Vi says.
”Ok, well. We went to the gas station to get the things you said, but blue eyes over here kept getting kicked out, so we had to go to a different station, but it was the same story, so we picked up some sushi from there and left. Then we went to an actual store to get some, but I was melting a bit, so I had to sit in the freezer aisle for a bit. Then Walker kept flying around with his wings and was scaring the other customers, so we had to put him on a leash. He didn’t like it. The store didn’t have any fish, but it did have milk, so we left to go get some fish. Then we ate our sushi, but I guess it was expired or whatever, because we blacked out and woke up in a sewer, and we were surrounded by fish. Sadly, they weren’t shield fish, so we left. When we got out of there, a bear started chasing us, so we got out of there fast. Walker managed to find our ride, and the milk was still there, thankfully. And, don’t ask me how this happened, but next thing you know, we ended up at a mall. And we actually got lost in there. It took us so long to actually find each other. Then we found a Dance Dance Revolution arcade machine and took turns playing it. Then we realized we were wasting time and left. Our ride was somehow in the parking lot, even though none of us remember going to the mall in the first place. We ended up searching around everywhere for shield fish, but there was nothing at all. But, get this, a bunch of them seemingly just rose down from the skies and into our grasp. No, I’m not kidding. So, yeah. We’re back now. What were you guys up to?”
“😦”
”…Ok bye.” The 3 of them go into their rooms.
Vi regrets her choices of reviving the clan. She nabs her phone away from Vox then goes to sleep.
The Spirit Realm
“Yeah. It’s such a shame. No fishies for today, Kitsune. The funny thing is though, I took fish from Drift, then I technically brought it back to him…and the one with the blue eyes.”
Kitsune makes a barking sound.
“I know, I know, but they were taking SOOOOOO long to find some. I had to help them! Look, I’ll take two away from them. They won’t notice two of them being missing, right? Right.”
They snap, and two shield fishes appear next to them.
“Hey, did you see that whole fight earlier? That was so damn cool. The way Vox took Wolf out in the end was amazing! I don’t even know if they’ll even ever need my help with him on their side!”
Kitsune barks.
”Man I am SO good at my job”
END OF FOX CLAN VS THE WORLD PART 2.
Hey, wait, can somebody catch me up on what I missed when I took a bathroom bre-
LOOT LAKE
REALITY 0
”ARE YOU SURE THIS IS GOING TO WORK?!” Brite yells over the rushing wind.
”NO. NOT SURE AT ALL.” Drift says.
“THEN WHY ARE WE EVEN HERE?”
”SO WE DON’T GET MAULED BY ZOMBIES!”
”Rex. If we die. Blame it on Drift.” Cuddles says.
”Way ahead of you.” He says.
“Guys, I’m gonna be honest, I have zero idea what he’s doing. He’s just been trying to attack the Cube for like, 5 minutes.” Brite says.
”Hmm. Maybe if I try touching it…” Drift says.
He flies up with the wind and touches the Cube. It zaps him down to the ground.
”Drift?! Are you okay?!” Brite says.
Drift gets up on one knee. “Yes…I-I think i’m fine.” He periodically keeps twitching, his lightning changing from pink to purple. He notices it happening.
”Hmm…I think my powers might be trying to fight the Cubes power…that means I can destroy it!”
He charges up his power and unleashes a huge zap towards the Cube.
It cracks a little. Reality starts to distort a little.
“ONE!” Drift yells.
”Wait…what was that?” Brite says.
Drift charges up and zaps the Cube again.
It cracks more. Reality starts to distort more.
”TWO!”
“Uh…Drift, I think you should stop.”
Drift charges up and zaps the Cube again.
It cracks way more. It’s almost completely broken. Reality distorts way more.
”THREE!”
”DRIFT! STOP THIS! SOMETHING WEIRD IS HAPPENING-“
Drift charges up one final time, and zaps the Cube.
The cube breaks. Pieces of it and now circling. Reality flickers in and out for two seconds, then returns back to normal.
”YES!” Drift says.
”Wh-what was…that…” Brite says.
The Cube(s) sends out a shockwave, which raises the four of them into the air.
”What’s going on?!” Cuddles says.
The pieces start to circle the lake faster and faster.
Reality statics in and out.
Everyone starts screaming, Drift regretting his choices already.
The pieces explode, and reality shakes.
Nothing.
But the void.
White.
Pure nothingness.
Until…
”Hey! Hey you!”
A high pitched, cutesy voice calls out to Rex.
”Hello there! Seem’s like your friend got you in a pickle, huh?”
”Huh? Who’s there? Where am I?”
He looks around and sees nothing, except for some gray railings way below.
”Relax, silly! Don’t worry! I’m a good friend of Drift, and I’m here to get you out of this place!”
A pink rift butterfly pops out of nowhere.
”Hello!”
Rex is mostly confused to utter words.
”Too stunned to speak, huh? Well, I’ll cut the chatter and send you off!”
It lands on Rex’s fingertip.
“AH! Where am I?! What is this?!” Cuddles says.
”Hello, Cuddle Team Leader!”
”Who are you?!”
”Calm down! I am a good friend of Drift! You can trust me!”
”What do you want from me?”
”Relax! I’m here to send you out of this void! Just reach out your hand for me!”
She does, and it lands on her fingertip.
”Ugh…What is this place? Am I dreaming?” Brite says.
”No, silly! This is reality! Or…well, technically it isn’t since you’re outside of reality…”
”Who are you?”
”I am a good friend of Drift, you see! And I know you and him have something special going on!”
”Hey! How do you know that?”
”I watch over him. It is sorta my job. I’ve been watching him since he first arrived on your island!”
”I…what?”
”Enough chatter! Hold out your hand for me, now!”
She does, and it lands on her fingertip.
”Hello there, Drifty!”
”Who…are you?”
”That isn’t all important right now. But you’ll find out one day! We’ve actually interacted before!”
”Wait…what?”
”Look, my point is, I can get you out of here! Just hold out your fingertip!”
”How should I trust YOU, Pink butterfly?”
”Come on! Just do it!”
”Fine. Whatever.”
He does, and the butterfly lands on his fingertip.
The four of them wake up back where they once were on the island, this time with a beautiful landscape where the cube once was.
”What…happened?” Drift says.
”I-I don’t remember. We were just at the motel until we ended up here…” Brite says.
Before the 4 of them try to wrap their head around it, Rex and Cuddles immediately jump into the waves of the water. Brite admires the landscape.
”Wow…it’s beautiful…” She says.
Drift and Brite join in with Rex and Cuddles.
3 MONTHS LATER, DECEMBER 1ST.
Brite is driving the golf cart until…
”Uh, guys? What is that?” she says.
A giant iceberg is close to hitting the island.
“I think it’s some sort of chunk of ice and snow.” Drift says.
“So…an iceberg?” Rex says.
”Uh. Yeah. That’s what I meant..”
“I don’t think we should worry about it. Some more serious people should investigate it.” Cuddles says.
“Hmm…”
day by day, Brite goes up to Flush Factory to look at the iceberg.
Until…December 6th.
She looks at the iceberg until it’s about to hit the island.
“Wait, OH NO”
She tries to run from the iceberg, and as shes about to be hit, she hears…a voice.
”Hey, Brite! It’s me! That old friend of Drift! Seems like you’re in another pickle huh-“
”STOP TALKING AND SAVE ME!”
”Okay! Sheesh…”
Her vision goes to black, until she wakes up at the motel.
”I- Wha-“
”Brite! That iceberg you were talking about the other day just hit the island! Let’s go check it out!” Cuddles says.
Drift hears the voice calling to him.
”Hey Drift! You should go check out that iceberg, theres someone very special waiting for ya over there.”
”Is…is it you?”
”No, silly! Someone else who is special! They’re at the place FULL of planes!”
”Sure…okay.”
Everybody gets into the golf cart.
”Hey, guys. Have you been hearing voices lately guiding you?” Brite says.
”Well yes, I have actual-“ Drift says faintly.
”No.” Rex and Cuddles both say.
”Huh…weird…”
They all arrive at an area coated in ice. They break through an exposed roof. They study the outside ice until…
”GREASY GROVE?! NOOOOOOOOOO!” Rex yells.
“The Durr Burger…” Cuddles says.
”I mean, they’ll probably reopen someplace else, right?” Brite says.
Drift has zero clue what they’re on about…until he hears a jingle.
”Hey! Uh, guys. How about we go ice skating to take our minds off things?” He says.
”Great idea!” Brite lifts everyone out of the building.
”Wait, how will we ice skate if we don’t have any- WOAAAA” Rex says as he gets pushed by Cuddles.
”Hehehehe!” Cuddles laughs.
”Hey, uh, Brite. I’m gonna go explore the area a bit more. Who KNOWS what’s out there. You 3 stay here.” Drift says.
”Alrighty! Love you!”
”Love you too!”
He walks off.
”Thats it! Keep going that-a-way! To the jingle!”
“Yknow, I’m starting to lose my trust in you, voice. You’re starting to sound really ominous…”
”Well, I can go away if you just ask!”
”Ok, well…please do.”
”Alrighty! Bye”
Its gone.
”Well that was easy.”
He arrives at the place.
”I do see a bunch of planes…”
He walks into one of the buildings, and sees somebody. A woman working at a desk. Drift takes a few more steps until…
”HA!”
The woman backflips out of her chair and superhero lands on the ground. In midair she put on her nano suit.
“Uh…hello?” Drift says.
”Oh. Just some rando.” Her suit deactivates and it collapses into an ear piece. A rather chubby girl with pink hair, glasses, a backwards blue hat and a cat headband is revealed to be under the suit.
“Who are you and what do you want.”
Drift keeps admiring her.
”Uhh…are you looking at my mechanical work? Because I would loveloveloveloveloveLOVE to talk about mechanical stuff with someone! I mean, you don’t even know-“
She keeps talking while Drift stares at her blankly.
“Ehh…anyways uh, I am Lynx! What’s your name, Mr. Lightning?”
Lynx
Bisexual, She/Her, 5’11, Mechanical nerd who loves cats. She has autism btw. Also shes chubby because I said so
”Oh-uh-me? I uh…am Drift. Yep. That is my name.”
Drift
Bisexuoh wait we already did him
“So uh, what brings you here, Drift?”
”Oh, just explor-exploring the new area that hit the i-island.” Drift tries to keep his composure.
”Oh yeah. This whole block-o-ice just hit this place! It was so weird. Hopefully we didn’t cause TOO much of a disturbance…”
“Wait, we?”
”Uh, yeah. Did you not notice the HUGE CASTLE LOOMING OVER THE WHOLE AREA?”
He walks outside and looks up
”WOAH! My god!”
”I know, right?! It’s so weird! So mysterious…I wanna explore it sometime!”
”Maybe…we…we can…uh…explore it to…together? One day?”
“GASP! Yes! We can!! I’d gladly do it! Maybe i can gather more research here…Oh! Have you seen my suit yet?”
”Uh, yeah. For like 5 seconds. That backflip out the chair was really cool by the way.”
”Yeah I have a HUGE love for cats. They’re so cute! What’s YOUR favorite animal?”
”Well…”
”Oh! Yeah. The mask. Yeah I don’t know why I didn’t realize sooner.”
The two of them keep conversing for a while.
Someone opens a door in the back.
”Lynx! We need you for somethin!” Someone wearing a yellow coat and a blue visor comes in and says.
”Oh, welp, that’s me! Bye!! See you on the mountain later!”
”Yeah…I’ll see you…”
Drift nervously laughs.
“AHA! You love herrrrr!” The voice says.
”DIDN’T I TELL YOU TO GO AWAY?!”
”Hahahah!”
The voice leaves again.
Drift walks out the place, and gets reminded of his other love life.
Brite.
He doesn’t know what to do now. How to feel. Who should he choose? Lynx or Brite? I mean, surely Lynx can’t feel the same way only meeting minutes ago, right? What to do…
“I’ll just let things happen naturally…I don’t know how to feel about her just yet.”
Drift walks back to where Brite is.
”Hey guys. I’m back. I did go exploring but I got caught in some stuff over at that place with the planes over there.”
”Oooh! Sounds fun! Lets go see it-“ Brite says.
”Wait! You shouldn’t. There is some SERIOUS business going on over there. You do not want to interfere.”
”Oh, uh…okay. Say, what’s up there?” Brite points to the giant peak.
”Uh…I think its just a big ice mound.” Drift says.
”I see some gray things though-“
”Just rocks, probably.”
”Uh…okay then.”
Later that day… Drift sneaks out of the motel to go to Polar Peak.
”God..that took forever to climb, now where is she.”
Drift turns around looking for her and shes literally right behind him.
”AHH”
”Hiii!”
”Lord…were you behind me the entire time?”
”Yep! As quiet as a cat!”
”…I don’t think thats how the saying goes-“
”too bad”
“So…I guess we should check this place out now. We should be cautious.”
“Alrighty!”
They slowly step into the area.
”Yknow, I’ve always wanted to explore this place. It always had my interest.”
”You’ve seen this place before?”
”Uh…yeah. I was never a resident of this island. I actually lived on a whole other planet. See that moon up there? With the huge hole in it?”
”Uh, yeah.”
”That’s the Ice Moon. My home planet. So, me and the other newbies on this chunk are basically aliens but not green. Anyway, this castle was always near Frosty Flights…that’s the name of the place down there. It was so mysterious…often times I would hear some deep growling coming from it, so I’m glad we get to finally explore it!”
”Huh. I always wondered what was going on outside this island. Nice to know theres other people out there.”
”I felt the same way! I always wanted to visit down here! I could always see the island from way up there!”
They realize now that they’re just going up a pile of snow.
“Aw man! I could’ve SWORN there were was more up here!” Lynx says.
”OH! Wait!” Lynx presses her earpiece and activates her nanosuit. “My suit has some advanced heating! It can heat my body, and also everything around it! We can use it to make the snow melt!”
The snow starts to melt down a bit.
“While we’re waiting on this, I have my own little origin story as well. Although it’s a bit foggy in my memory…”
”That’s fine! I’ll still listen!”
Drift stammers a bit before telling it. “Yeah. Ok. I came from some place outside of this world entirely, I think. All I remember is that I was in the middle of the desert spray painting a burger head. I’m a graffiti artist, by the way. When I was surrounded by blue…it felt like the whole world was crashing in on itself…until…I woke up on some hill. Only thing left of what happened was the burger until…uhh…”
”Until what?”
”Uh, no no. no no no. That’s it.”
“Well, ok then.”
The snow has melted a bit more.
Drift starts to regret not telling her now.
”Uh, wait, there actually…is more. These 3 people on a golf cart showed up. They were on a road trip. I joined in with them, and we became a friend group. But the group tragically broke up…I don’t really like talking about it. It makes me sad just thinking about it…It felt like yesterday, despite it being 3 or 4 months ago.”
“Wow, literally only 3 or 4 months ago? Damn, man. I feel bad for ya. Say…I haven’t seen you take off that mask yet. Are you hiding something in particular on your face? Like, say, a big scar or something?”
”No. The mask is just cool.”
”Ah. I can get behind that. Anyway, it seems like the snow is almost- AH HA!”
She turns and takes the mask right off him.
”Wh-HEY! Give me that!”
Lynx is just staring at him blankly.
Drift stares back too.
As she’s about to take off the head of her nanosuit, the snow finishes melting.
“Ah! It’s done!”
She throws the mask back at Drift and he puts it on.
She zips into the castle. Drift trips over a conspicuous glowing blue rock in the center of the area. It seems to be covering something. He decides against it to uncover whats under it and to follow Lynx instead.
“Wow! This place is so cool-“
”Shh! We don’t know if anybody is in here!”
”Right, right.”
They explore the castle some more, until they encounter a throne room of some sorts. They notice somebody sitting on the throne. Until Lynx realizes.
”It’s the Ice King! I’ve heard stories about this guy!”
”Really? Like what?”
”Oh, I know! Apparently, he froze everybody he worked with and everything they owned because someone wanted to use them to alter realities…”
“Wait…realitIES? There’s MORE places than this one?”
”Nobody really knows. Everyone thinks it’s a theory.”
They hear the deep growling that Lynx mentioned earlier.
”Ok, we should get out of here now.” Drift says.
They slowly make their way out the room and exit the castle.
They both trip on the glowing rock.
”Huh? What’s this?” Lynx says.
”We should find out. Let me push it off.”
Drift touches the rock and harnesses his power, sending the rock completely off the mountain.
”ah.”
The two of them see a glowing blue sword. Drift touches it and it glows pink instead.
“Well, guess this is mine now.”
Suddenly, the floor under them was actually a trap door, and they fall through it, and land in a hidden area under the castle.
”Phew, we’re alive.” Drift says.
”Hey, who’s that?” Lynx says.
She points towards someone with their whole body caged up. Lynx then realizes.
”Hey! That’s the person who wanted to wanted to use the items the king owned to alter realities! Everyone refers to him as the prisoner, but i like to call him the Fire King!”
”Really?” Drift approaches the caged person and feels the air around him. It’s warm.
”Yep. It’s definitely a fire king.”
They then both notice a bunch of dragon eggs around the area.
”WOAH! Are those eggs? The stories never mentioned those!” Lynx says.
Suddenly, a booming echo comes from above.
“GET. OUT.”
”Ok we should leave now”
”yep”
They carve a hole in the wall with the sword and climb down the mountain. They run towards a quaint little town far away.
”Hello, visitors! Welcome to the Happy Hamlet-“
They shove them out the way.
”That was so exciting! Glad I got to finally see all those mysteries!” Lynx says.
”Me too. We should get a bite to eat now before we both head back home.”
They both sit down and eat at a humble little restaurant. They chat about things they like. For Drift, mostly art and foxes. For Lynx, mostly cats and cats. And mechanical things.
They step out of the building and go under a street light.
”Well, I guess this is goodbye.” Lynx says.
”Same time tomorrow?” Drift says.
”Sure! We can go explore more parts of the island!”
”Great! We can meet back at your place.”
”Well, bye, Drift. It was nice meeting you!”
”You too.”
As she slowly walks away, she stops for a bit, then she runs towards Drift, takes off his mask and face mask, and kisses him on the lips.
”…”
”Oh…Oh my god…I-I’m so sorry…I-I don’t know what came over me, I-“
“Hey, It’s okay, I-“
She runs off crying.
”Hey, wait!”
He runs after her.
She goes over to Frosty Flights. Drift finds her crying in what seems to be her room.
“Hey, Lynx! Are…are you okay?”
”Get out! Please! Leave me alone!”
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
”Please! Just leave!”
Drift calms his voice.
”Listen. Lynx. I’m here for you. Can you please tell me, what is wrong?”
Her crying stops.
”It’s just…I…I don’t know why I did that! You didn’t ask for it at all! What was the point?! Ugh! My fucked up brain always makes me do these things!”
”Lynx. Don’t worry…”
”I…I feel the same way.”
Lynx gasps.
”You…you do?”
”Yes. Honest. You are the greatest woman I have ever met. You’re vibrant, smart, and add a colorful cheer to everything you do and say. You have so many creative ideas and I love everything about you. What i’m trying to say is that…you’re everything to me, Lynx. And I love you.”
Lynx starts crying again, but this time it’s tears of joy.
She gets up and tackles Drift, giving him a big, tight hug. They get up and Drift hugs her back.
“I love you too, Drift.”
They sit in silence for a little bit before Drift says
”Alright, I need to head back home now. See you tomorrow, Lynx.”
”See you too…Drift.”
Drift sneaks back into the Motel, and heads to bed.
Over the course of the next few months, Drift and Lynx go around the island, visiting a different place every day, until…
”Hey, why is this place… Wailing Woods was it, so orange?” Drift says.
”Must be autumn time.” Lynx says.
”I don’t think autumn happens in February. And also I don’t think it affects the ground, too.”
“I don’t know then. Say, why is it so hot all of a sudden?”
Suddenly, the ground below them shakes. Cracks appear nearby.
”Uh, does this island have tectonic activity?” Drift says.
”Not that I recall.”
“Strange…we should maybe leave.”
”Yeah.”
They leave the area.
14 DAYS LATER…
Drift and the road trip gang were riding around the island until…
RUMBLE!
RUMBLE!
The whole island beings to shake. Suddenly, a WHOLE VOLCANO rises out of the ground where Wailing Woods once was.
Everyone stares in awe, except for Drift.
”Oh my god CANT WE GO A MONTH ON THIS ISLAND WITHOUT SOME NEW SHIT HAPPENING?!”
Later that day, Drift and Lynx meetup.
”According to research, when we drilled that hole on the side of the mountain, the Fire King eventually was set free somehow, and apparently, that made…” She points to the volcano. “That happen.” Lynx says.
”We’re gonna have to investigate it?” Drift says.
”Yep.”
”Ughh….I’m so tired of this place.”
END OF PREQUEL PART 2.
(sorry drift x brite shippers)
Chapter 3: Part 3: Rivers Runaway
Notes:
sorry if youre a grammar freak im not consistent on it
also schools starting up again, so chapter production will be slowed!
Chapter Text
Everyone is just chilling in the lobby. Drift and Catalyst are sitting on the couch, Vox is sitting on the floor like a child and Vi is on her phone. It’s quiet, and you can only hear the TV. Then, all of a sudden…
CRASH!
Something fell over in the basement.
”What the heck was that?” Cat says.
”Sounds like it came from below.” Drift says.
”IF ITS A CREATURE I AM GOING TO KILL IT.” Vox says.
Vi realizes what it was.
The 3 of them head towards the elevator, when Vi stops them.
”Uh, don’t worry guys! I’m sure it was just the pipes settli-“
“No it wasn’t.”
They move her out the way and go into the elevator.
”Ugh!”
She rifts into the basement.
The clan awkwardly waits in the elevator. Vox resists the urge to press all the buttons. The elevator music is the same as the one that normally plays around MEGA City. Then, they arrive at the basement.
”Now, lets see whats AH GOD”
Vi was waiting right outside the door.
”Don’t worry guys, I checked for you. One of the crates full of old things just fell over. See?”
She slides to the left and one of the boxes was in fact, on the floor.
”Ah. I guess she was right then. Lets go back up i guess.”
They leave the basement and go back to the top floor.
”Phew. The coast is clear now.” She says to somebody hiding behind a shelf.
He gets out of his hiding spot.
“How much longer am I going to have to hide?”
“Either until I tell them, or until we make peace.”
”But, I’m not with them anymore! Why should you have to make peace with them if I’m not associated with them now?”
”Trust me. They’ll still see you as a part of them if you were to meet anytime before.”
“Awwwh…okay…”
“Ill see you soon, now.”
She walks back towards the elevator, and presses the button. The doors open and the 3 others are still in there.
”ah HA!” Drift says. “Who were you talking to?”
“Um, I, well-“
“Actually, lets find out ourselves!”
The 3 of them walk towards the fallen crate and see him behind the shelf. They push it away.
”Who are you?!” Cat says.
”I think its an INTRUDER!” Drift says.
”Ah! Crap! No!” A slightly feminine and raspy voice says.
”Guys! Cut it out! He isn’t an intruder, he’s another one of us!” Vi says.
”Really? Why didn’t you tell us this?!”
“We never tell each other anything.”
”True.”
”PLEASE, can I explain what is going on here, Vi?” The person says.
”Yeah. Go ahead.”
”Okay. I am Stray. From the River Guard. BUT, I decided to leave them because of how reckless my sister was being. I decided to join you guys because of the freedom your faction had to offer. I’ve been hiding ever since. I know you guys haven’t made peace with them yet, so PLEASE don’t make me leave! I’m begging you!”
“…”
The three of them have no idea what Stray is talking about.
”Wait. Vi! You never told them?!” Stray says.
”Uh….yeah..sorry kiddo.”
“UGH!”
”Mizuki is Strays sister. She is the empress of our enemy, the River Guard. Our rivalry began years before even I became a member. Many months ago, Stray seemingly ran away from them and I found him and took him in. He seemed really interested in us and eager to join.”
”Ah. Okay then. Welcome to the team, Stray. Sorry for the misunderstanding.” Drift says. He and Stray shake hands. Stray then gets really cheery.
”AAAAH! I can’t believe it! I’m seeing the real Drift in person! I’ve always wanted to meet you!”
”You’ve…heard of me?”
”Hell yes! I’ve always admired you! You’re an idol to me!”
”Wow…thanks, kid. I’ve never really had anybody idolize me before.”
”You are SO welcome!”
”ITS GETTING HOT DOWN HERE.” Vox says.
”Dude. You’re a robot.” Cat says.
”I DON’T CARE.”
“We should go back up now, Vox is right.” Vi says.
They all file into the elevator and go back to the lobby.
”Say, Stray, mind if I show you your room?” Vi says.
”Of course!”
They go down the hall and stop at a specific door. When Stray walks up to open the door, his name gets written onto it.
”Wow…”
When he walks in, he sees a room filled with all the things he likes. Mostly swords.
“OH MY GOD! How does it have everything I love in here?”
”Magic.” Vi says. Quite literally. “But the main thing is-“
”IS THAT AN ACTUAL KINETIC BLADE???”
”That. Yes! It is! Built just for you.”
Stray grabs it and stares at it in awe.
”Its…amazing…”
“Here, let me-“
Vi tries to grab the sword, but her powers combining with the kinetic energy ends up zapping her and Stray. Suddenly, her powers end up being absorbed into his sword.
“Ah…good guardian spirits…are you okay Stray?”
”Yeah, I’m fine…Woah…”
Stray looks at the blade and its now seeping with pink lightning.
“I think you just put your own powers into my sword!”
”That’s…good! Since you don’t have our own powers, that’ll make up for it!”
Stray then puts the sword back on its holder. He notices pink electricity coursing around him like the others.
”Ha! Guess you were wrong, because I DO have them!”
”What the…how? Hmm…I think that sword zapping the both of us caused you to get some powers aswell!”
”Oh, awesome! Now I can be just like you guys!”
”Oh, one more thing.” She turns around and shows off to Stray his very own mask. “Your very own mask! Now you can be EVEN MORE like us!”
Stray makes a bunch of noises in an excited manner. He snatches it and puts it on.
Stray
Bisexual, Trans FTM. He/They, 5’5. Age 18 (age currently 16). He’s actually meant to be the Special Ops Expert, but Vi doesn’t really care anymore. He has Autism. Special interest in swords.
“You can also change its appearance too! Even comes with its own suit.”
Stray changes what it looks like, and he dons a whole new outfit. The selector says ‘Renegade’.
“Anyways. let’s go. I have an announcement for the clan.”
”Aw man, okay…”
”Ahem, EVERYONE! We will be having a mission today, this time with Stray on our side!”
Stray nervously says hi out of being surprised.
”So, Stray, do you have anyone that you’d like to hunt down? Seek revenge on? Anybody?”
”Hmm…Oh! Yeah! You know Highwire? Well, she’s my girlfriend, and she-“
“HIGHWIRE??”
“LET ME FINISH!” Stray says angrily. “She recently had her body stolen! I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true! From what I found out, a cosmic entity called the Pack Leader took over her for whatever reasons. I miss her a lot, we HAVE to go save her!”
“…Are you finished now?”
”Yea”
”Ok…HIGHWIRE?? She’s the most chaotic person We’ve ever seen! How did you two start dating?!”
”We’ve been friends since we were kids.”
”Ah.”
”Now can we please go! I know where she went, and it isnt far from the city!”
”Yep, lets go guys.”
Stray grabs his sword and the 5 of them walk into the entrance corridor. Drift, Cat, Vi and Vox all go to the surface.
”Uh…” Stray says.
Vi comes back down.
“Oh, right, you don’t know how to do this. Just crouch down with your left foot foward, then jump with your right.”
He manages to pull it off.
”Alright, lead the way.”
Before they start walking, Renzo The Destroyer runs up to Stray.
Renzo The Destroyer
Gay, He/They/It. 6’3. Ageless. Leader of The Unseen. His actual name is literally Renzo The Destroyer. I’m not kidding, the entire thing.
”Hey, Stray. Do you know where Highwire went? He- uh, I mean She’s been gone for longer than usual.”
”I do, but why ask me?”
”Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you’re literally dating her.”
”Alright, alright. She got possessed by some cosmic entity and we’re about to go get her back. No I’m not kidding. Wanna come with us?”
”Anything to get my son back. I mean daughter. Sorry, I keep messing it up.”
”You’re good. It takes time to get used to. Let’s go now.”
They start walking and stop at some field.
“Hey, is that her?” Renzo The Destroyer says.
They see the Pack Leader standing, with its back turned it starts talking.
”I have been expecting your arrival, Fox Clan.” It says in a distorted version of actual Highwires voice.
“Give us back Highwire!” Stray says.
”Oh? Highwire? What do you mean, I AM Highwire!”
”Dude. No you aren’t. Highwire isn’t a wolf.”
”How do you know if that is true?”
”I’ve literally known her since I was a kid.”
“Did you though?”
”Yes. I did. Stop trying to gaslight me.”
”Are you sure you did though?”
”Oh my god YES. I DID.”
”Okay, fine. You caught me.”
”For being a cosmic entity you really aren’t that threatening.”
”Wh- hey! You take that back!”
”Mmm…Nah I don’t wanna”
“Alright, that is it!”
Pack Leader lunges at Stray. He points his sword at it and it zaps her out of Highwires body. Actual Highwire flops onto the ground.
”ARGH! Fine! You win this time, Fox Clan! I’ll be back!” It starts flying away.
Stray grabs it with his electrokinesis.
”Are you sure you’ll be back?”
”Yes! I wi- wait what”
Stray starts increasing the power of his electricity.
“Ah! Cease this at once!”
“nah”
”OW! AGH! PLEASE! I BEG OF YOU! STOP!”
”no”
He then traps it in a electricity bubble.
“Wait, NO!”
He starts to slowly shrink the bubble.
”GET ME OUT OF HERE! PLEASE! ILL NEVER BOTHER YOU GUYS AGAIN!”
”Are you sure you will.”
”YES! PLEASE!”
”Are you REALLY sure though.”
”YES! I AM! PLEASE GET ME OUT!’
”MMM…nah. Die.”
”NOOOOOOOO!!!!”
Stray then crushes it to death.
Everyone is just staring in shock.
”STRAY. THAT WAS BRUTAL.” Vox says.
”…GREAT JOB!”
the ACTUAL Highwire gets up.
“mmgh…What happened? Where am I?”
”OH MY GOD YOURE BACK HIGHWIRE!” Stray runs up and hugs her.
Highwire
Bisexual, Trans MTF. 5’3. Age 18 (Age 16 currently). Adopted daughter of Renzo The Destroyer. Has Autism + ADHD. Special interest in pure chaos.
”Yep! Thanks for taking care of that for me!” She says in her chaotic voice.
(Note, her voice sounds like Twizzly Gummy from Cookie Run, but more chaotic)
Highwire then starts kissing him all over his face. He makes a bunch of flattered noises then faints.
Renzo The Destroyer then goes up to hug her.
”Highwire! I’ve missed you, my little girl…”
”Renzo, how many times have we talked about this? I’m not REALLY your little girl. You just adopted me!”
“Oh, right, right…sorry.”
”…Eh. Actually, i’m okay with it! Changed my mind!”
”Heheh…alright.” Renzo The Destroyer says happily.
Vi gets sad seeing them like this.
“Well, I guess thats it, then?” Drift says.
”Uhm, yeah. Lets go back home now.” Cat says.
Vi goes to pick up Stray, but Highwire carrys him in her arms instead.
”Don’t worry, I’ll handle it!” She says.
The 7 of them walk back to the city.
”Well, it was nice to see both of you again.” Renzo The Destroyer says.
“Yeah! Again, thank you guys for bringing me back to normal! That whole scandal was SO weird!”
”Oh, uh, yeah. You’re welcome. You should mostly be thanking Stray though.” Drift says.
”Huh? Oh, yeah! I was the one who took out that weird thing all by myself!” He says.
”Awwww! Thank you! Doing it all by yourself just for me…”
“Heheh…uh, yeah…” Stray gets all nervous.
”Oh, I know you’re wanting it. I’ll do it for you!”
Highwire pulls Stray closer to her and kisses him on the lips.
Stray makes a flattered noise then says “Thank you…”
“Ah! It’s no problem! I’d do anything for you!”
”I-I love you.”
”Love you too! I have to go now, but I promise ill visit every now and then!”
”Okay…bye bye!”
The clan goes back into the base, and Highwire and Renzo The Destroyer head back home.
A figure wearing a cat helmet, techwear, and spotting blue holographic cat ears watches from afar. She sighs and walks away.
As Stray heads off to bed, he thinks to himself,
”I think this second chance will be way better than the first one.”
The Spirit Realm
“Here you go, madams.” Kayaku says handing them drinks.
“So, what do you think of that new Stray guy?”
Kitsune barks.
”Well, I think he’s very cool! Maybe one day we can hang out with him! Eh…speaking of which, I’m a bit skeptical of Vi right now. I think she might be wanting to see me. Like, SEE me see me. In person.”
”What could madam Vi possibly want with you?”
“Dunno. Also, stop talking fancy.”
”ok :(“
“I guess I’ll have to keep looking over them and see what happens. But, anyways, you guys up for some gaming?”
Kitsune barks and Kayaku happily agrees.
END OF FOX CLAN VS THE WORLD PART 3.
REALITY 0
”Ok…I think its over now.” Drift says.
”God, cant we catch a break? One thing this purple cube shows up, next an iceberg hits the island, then a VOLCANO emerges and erupts, and then a monster shows up and fights a giant robot. Is this island cursed or what?” Brite says.
”Dude that was some of the coolest shit I’ve ever seen in my whole life” Rex says.
”What I wanna know is…why did they use ME as the head piece?” Cuddles says.
…
Is…is Lynx not here with them? Oh whoops, my mistake
“It better be over, I’m sick of all this.” Drift says.
Drift then looks at a floating cracked orb over what was once Loot Lake.
”sigh…guys.” He points at it.
everyone groans.
”When will this END?!” Cuddles says.
“I think we should get off of this drone now.” Drift says.
Everyone glides down off of the drone, and all stop at the monsters skeleton. They all look at it in awe before drift wonders.
”Hey, how come its already become a skeleton? That…doesn’t normally happen to animals that quickly naturally, right?”
”How should we know? There aren’t any animals on this island. Well…besides anthropomorphic ones.” Brite says.
Meanwhile, at Look Lake, a familiar high voice is heard.
”Hmm…if it is true, then she should be arriving quite soon. Heh, that sounded like a rhyme. I probably shouldn’t interfere, things can get quite messy if my power gets involved. I’ll let things go naturally. He’ll survive, I know he will!”
Drift gets a ringing in his ear.
“Ow. Guys, did you hear that?”
”Hear what?” Brite says.
”I swear I heard something weird…probably just another island mystery.”
Suddenly, somebody emerges out of the mysterious orb.
”Ugh…wh, huh? Why am I in the lake? Why is it all…mechanical? This is a way better look for it!” A man in a spiked helmet and red jacket says.
After he gets up, the orbs pulsating and flares get larger. The man gets shockwaved back.
”WOAAAAAAH radical!”
The gang notice the mini-shockwave.
”Sigh…Lets go back home now. I’m sick of this.” Drift says.
They all go back to the motel and head to sleep.
11 DAYS LATER
A more unstable point of the orb summons one final character.
”What…? Is…is this Loot Lake? It surely doesn’t look like it…” She says in her flat voice.
Right after she lands, the orb sends out a huge burst of energy and explodes. Suddenly, time freezes…and then distorts back to a weird point. The island is fine, but some things are definitely wrong…
”Ugh…my head…I should probably head back to the motel before I start losing it.”
She walks her way towards the motel, and looks around at the people roaming the island, they all seem familiar, yet don’t at the same time.
She heads back to the motel, before seeing that people she doesn’t recognize are in there already…except for one, which looks oddly familiar…to herself.
”Wh…” Drift says.
Catalyst just stares in shock at the room.
Drift stands up.
“Give me a second guys, I’m feeling very confused and need to ask some questions.” He says.
They both walk out the room.
“Who are you??” They say at the same time.
”I’m Drift.”
“I’m Catalyst.”
”How come we look so similar to each other? How have we never met before?” They also say at the same time.
Drift has an idea and starts talking.
”Ok, tell me, were you a underground graffiti artist who was about to spray paint a burger before suddenly being pulled into a place similar to this island?”
“…Yes. How did you know that?”
“Oh my god. That happened to me too!”
“Wait…so that would mean that you’re me? But…male?”
“Correct.”
”Wait wait wait wait…hang on. That also means that those people in the motel…are also people I know, but also the opposite gender?”
“Correct…I think.”
”Cool. So we’re, like, the same person. Never thought i’d get to meet another version of myself.“
”Not gonna lie, I’m not even surprised. This place has had crazy stuff going on all the time. Cracks in time, weird purple cubes, icebergs, volcanos, giant monsters and a giant robot-“
”Hang on. All of that has never happened at my place. The most we had was a meteor hitting the island with a space girl in it, her controlling a rocket, and that causing the rifts in time, bringing random things and people—including me—to the island, but thats it. Nothing more.”
”Wait wait wait…what was the name of this so called space girl?”
”The Visitor. Thats all we’ve got of her name.”
”And what was this girl wearing..”
”Some visor with red markings on its screen and armor. At least, from what I’ve heard from others.”
”Cool…cool…good to know..”
”What are you planning?”
”nothing”
”Don’t worry, I totally get it.”
”So, uh, do you wanna…come join us?”
”Sure, I guess.”
They walk back into the room.
”Hey guys. This is Catalyst. She’s me but female.”
”Hi.”
”…What? How can she be you if you’re right here?” Brite says.
”Hmm…when I first got here, I was near some sort of cracked pulsating orb. Maybe that has something to do with it.” Catalyst says.
“Oh, that thing. Yeah, we don’t know what thats all about either. It’s weird.”
Cat studies the room. “…Wow. Everyone here really is the opposite. Brite Gunner, Tricera Ops, and…uh…”
Suddenly, some kind of animal walks into the room and jumps onto Catalysts back.
”Uh, Catalyst, whats that?”
”Oh, her? This is Kitsune. Shes my pet, uh…Kitsune.”
Drift walks towards her to try and pet her, but she bites his finger.
”Ow! God.”
“No! Bad girl! Don’t bite people!”
Kitsune rolls her eyes and frowns angrily.
Drift then turns around and notices something outside. “OH MY GOD.”
Everyone goes towards the window too and sees a GIANT METEOR FROZEN IN THE AIR.
“What is that thing?!” Drift says.
”Ohhhhh, that. Remember that meteor I mentioned? Yeah, thats it right there. Never thought id get to actually see it for once”
“Speaking of which, it looks like…Dusty Depot is back? What the…how?” Cuddles says.
“Hmm…well, its unexplored territory for us. Lets go check it out.” Drift says.
The 5 of them get in the golf cart and drive there.
“I say we go on that meteor first. Ive never stood on an actual meteor before.” Drift says.
“How are we supposed to go up there though?” Cat says.
“Hmm…”
The both of them try numerous ways to get up to the meteor, but ultimately fail.
“Welp.”
Drift snaps his fingers as he moves his arm across himself.
“I don’t think theres any way up there.”
Drift then looks to his left.
“Oh, wait! Theres a crack in time right over there! We can use that to climb up.”
They both climb down then go into the rift.
”Hmm…I don’t remember rifts being pink.” Brite says.
”Theres been stranger things going on, thats nothing too bad.” Rex says.
Drift and Cat then land on the meteor.
”Since when did we have those gliders? That’s weird…” Catalyst says.
”Whatever. There doesn’t seem to be much around here though.” Drift says.
”Hey wait, theres an entrance down there.”
They go inside.
”Still empty…” Cat says.
”Wait, hold on. A pod..” Drift says.
”Hmm…”
”Hey, wait. This looks close to that alien guy with the visor!” Drift says.
”So that means…they’re back here then?”
”Must be.”
“Good to know.”
“Uhm…anyway, I think we’ve seen everything here.”
Catalyst looks over the edge. “Hey, where did everyone go?”
Drift looks over too. He sees somebody walking into the depot.
”Who’s that guy?” Drift says.
They jump down. “Cool. Low gravity. This island is full of surprises.”
Once they land, they study the figure more.
“Wait. Its… HIM.”
“Who?”
”The Visitor.”
Drift takes out his Rift Edge.
“Wait! Hold on, Drift, don’t!”
Drift charges to attack him, but he smacks him away.
”I think you’ve got the wrong guy, pal. Now, don’t try that again. Or else.” He says.
Before anything else, Drift runs towards the side of the building to be out of sight.
“I don’t remember him being that built..jesus.”
“Maybe he isn’t the one youre thinking of.”
“Lets just…forget this happened and look for the others.”
They search around for the others, and find them at the factories south of the depot.
“Hey guys.” Drift says.
”Is that guy gone yet?” Rex says.
”Uh, no. No he’s not. I think we should head back now. I’m getting pretty tired.”
“He got smacked in the face.” Cat says.
”I did not!”
“Yeah, sure buddy.” Cat says.
”Ugh! Whatever. Lets get out of here.”
The 5 of them get in the golf cart and head back into the motel.
”Uh, where am I supposed to sleep?” Cat says.
”Oh. Uh, you can just get a room for yourself.”
“Sure I guess.” Cat walks into a random room and lays down.”
As she dozes off, she hears a voice in her dreams. All she sees is a glowing pink light.
”Hi!”
”AH! Who are you?!”
”Thats not important. I just have a little gift for you! Ever notice that mask and overcoat Drift was carrying around? Well, I have something just like that for ya! …When you wake up that is.”
“Wait, this is a dream?”
”Guess you could say that. Don’t go and start lucid dreaming now. I’m the one in control here.”
”wait what”
”I’ve said too much. Uh, bye!”
Catalyst then wakes up. She looks on the floor and sees a mask just like Drifts, and an overcoat.
“Wh…”
She gets up and puts it on. A message appears on the mask that says “Calibrating…”
“Calibration complete.”
The outfit suddenly becomes a black and purple theme.
“Ugh…this is hurting my brain. I’m going right back to sleep.”
She takes it off and does so.
A few days pass, until a beacon shoots up into the sky and creates a rift. Drift and Catalyst investigate.
”Seems like some sort of technology created by that guy we saw a few days ago. I wonder what he’s up too…”
”Whatever it is, its probably really crazy like most things around here.”
”Heh, yeah.”
They both brush it off and head back.
“Hey, wait. How long have you had that mask?”
”I don’t know. I just woke up and it was just on the floor…”
”Hm. Thats strange. Not the strangest thing thats-“
”Alright I get it! This islands weird. God…”
The next day…
A surge of energy wakes everybody up. They look outside to see that Neo Tilted, where the beacon once was, has turned into an old fashioned western town.
Drift lets out a huge sigh. “I’m not going over there. I’m tired of all this investigating.”
”Yeah, I’m a little burnt out too.” Brite says. “Lets just stay here until something clears this all up.”
Later that day, Drift goes into Catalysts room.
“Hey, Cat. There’s somebody I’d like you to meet.”
They both walk towards the southwest part of the island, the snow area.
“Hey, I just noticed. Your outfits changed colors.”
”Yeah, it does that. It seems that it turns black and purple when in the dark, and regularly colored in the light.”
They step foot into the snow. Her outfit changes to white and blue.
”…And white and blue in the snow, I guess.”
They walk into Frosty Flights.
”Hi Lynx!”
”Drift! Hello! Who’s your friend?”
”Oh, this is Catalyst. Shes also me. Like, were the same person.”
“How does that work?”
”We don’t know, but she’s here.”
“Well, nice to meet you! I’m Drift’s girlfriend, Lynx! I see you’re a fan of cats too?”
”Uh, yea. I am.”
”Cool, cool.”
”…”
”uh…”
”I think we should…stop shaking hands now.”
”Yep.”
“Uh, I guess every Drift is awkward, huh?”
”Y-yeah…This is getting too awkward for me.”
”Uhm…”
”Ok bye Lynx!”
They both run out the room.
”Ah, classic Drift. I love that man so much.”
Over the course of the next few weeks, more and more beacons appear and distort locations. One of them being Greasy Grove, its returned from its icy chamber.
”GASP! Rex! Greasy Grove is back! We need to go now!” Cuddles says.
Before Rex says anything, she drags him along to the place. But to their surprise…
”…Where are the burgers.”
Everything is now themed after tacos.
”They walk into the main restaurant.”
“Excuse me, sir. Where are there burgers this place was once known for?”
A man wearing a taco head ominously turns around.
Rex and Cuddles stand back.
He turns his head down, then he yells…
”ITS TACO TIME!!!!!!!!”
Rex and Cuddles then start to dance uncontrollably with Tacos in their hands.
”NO! STOP THIS! NOOO!! REX WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE”
“I..I CANT MOVE. CUDDLES I CANNOT MOVE”
”ME NEITHER! WHATS HAPPENING??”
”I DONT KNOOOOOOO-“
meanwhile
Drift is walking around Paradise Palms, or, Moisty Palms, its now called. that name fucking sucks btw why didnt they call it paradise mire
”Cool to get a taste of what was once here…even though it kind of sacrificed some parts too. And…lets us turn into objects.”
”This is trippy.” Catalyst says as she keeps crouching and getting back up, turning into random objects in the process.
“I remember Rex telling me the fabled Moisty Merman once lived here. Maybe he moved back in now that the swamps back. Think we should go check it out?”
Catalyst keeps turning into random objects repeatedly.
”CATALYST.”
”What huh yes yeah lets go”
They scavenge around the swamp and even the prison looking for him, but with no sights of him. Suddenly, Drift trips over something.
”Agh! God…what the? A cassette tape?”
“Whats a cassette tape doing out here? Is there even a place we can put this in?”
Suddenly, a jingle is heard. Theyre both confused by this jingle, but have no choice but to follow it. It leads then to Retail Row, which is now infested by zombies. They run in and grab it. The jingle leads them to all of the other affected areas, including Greasy Grove. They don’t notice Rex and Cuddles trapped there.
”Wait, is that..DRIFT! HELP US! GET US OUT OF HERE! COME BACK! PLEASE! NO NO WAIT COME BACK-“
they leave fast enough before the taco time affects them.
”NOOO!!”
The jingle then ends at Tilted Town. A voice can be heard, but its not the one theyre used to.
“You must wait.”
Drift and Catalyst relax for a bit until the next beacon appears. The jingle returns and they go to the area. Then they realize…
”IS THIS FUCKING GOTHAM CITY??”
”WHATS IT DOING HERE???”
“WH…WH…IT-It doesnt matter, lets just grab the cassette and get out of here.”
As they find the cassette, someone appears in front of them.
“Do you two civilians know whats going on here?”
Its the actual fucking Batman
”Uh, n-no Mr. Batman.”
”This city and I were suddenly transported to this island. We have no idea what happened and why, but I will get to the bottom of this, because…I’m Batman. And Gotham needs me.”
While he’s doing his superhero pose, they grab the tape then slowly back away.
The voice returns “There is one left. You must wait.”
Drift and Catalyst run back to the motel and sit down, dazed.
”Woah, what happened to you two?” Brite says.
”We just saw…the actual Batman…”
”…who the hell is batman”
“Also have you guys seen Rex and Cuddles?”
”Nope.”
”Strange. It feels so weird being home alone for once. You two should sit for a bit since youre always out.”
Finally, a week later, the last rift appears.
Drift and Cat go over to the area. They then get hit by falling stars. One of the starts breaks open, but all they see is some glitchy mess. They ignore it, and find the cassette tape.
”Head to the depot. Play the tapes.”
They go over to the depot, and hesitantly put in the tapes.
They listen quietly.
“What the Seven of us are attempting is very risky. I suspect They are not the only ones watching. But it must be done or we lose the Bridge forever.”
”I speculate that no one calculated the formation of the island. That interdimensional matter collisions would resolve rather than push. Now that I witness it first hand, it's obvious that pinching alone made it inevitable.”
“When I hear this again, will it help me remember? Or once Looped will I be just as muted as the others? No matter - it seems the lengthy precautions worked.”
“The..” the tape glitches for a moment. “theorem was a success! I... we arrived outside the loop at the exact moment of expansion. This effectively paused the singularity, giving us time to create the devices needed to synchronize the Junction.”
“What I didn't factor is that the only way to trigger the device was from within the Loop itself. Thus this hasty and primitive recording. And why now I find myself Looped.”
“Activate the beacon at precisely the moment this timer reaches nothing. The Zero Point must be contained once more. If They are correct, it will be the end.”
“…Wh…what? The…the end?”
”What does this…all mean?”
”I’ll tell you what it all means.”
A figure emerges from the shadows.
”…Were you standing there the whole time?”
”Yes, now listen. My name is The Scientist. I’ve been tracking you two. Especially you, Drift. Youve sparked a domino effect here. Remember that cube? And how you destroyed it? That led to a part of the Ice Moon being broken off, and combining with the island. When you and Lynx explored the inside of the ice kings castle, you created an escape for The Prisoner, also known as the Fire King. That led to him being freed and him erecting a volcano. Then the volcano erupted, and destroyed Tilted Towers and Retail Row, and also hit some of Polar Peak. Then reconstruction started, and Neo Tilted and the Mega Mall were built. The devourer then made its escape from its icy chamber, and took the castle with it. Then the singularity built the Mecha Team Leader, and in the process of fighting the devourer, it used the Zero Point, that orb, to power up and slay the beast. That led to the Zero Point becoming unstable. Thus, causing time to distort.”
“I had to devise a plan to put an end to this chaos. I went inside of the loop, and got some parts to build the beacons. It was the only way to get the rest of us here to put the plan into fruition. I recorded these tapes to keep my memory in check, to remember the task at hand. Once in the Loop, you become a blank slate. Ultimately, I caused the island to be broken even more than it was before, but its the only way. The pausing of the Zero Point and the Meteor were all part of my plan. It was the exact moment I could build the beacons. However, they could only be activated inside of the Loop. The moment this timer hits zero, This rocket must be activated. The rifts too. Even if its all over, its the only way to keep the Zero Point contained.”
”Gosh…so what does this all mean? A-and whats the loop?”
“Oh, thats right. You don’t know what the loop is. You’re not from here.
The loop is a time loop of fighting. This loop lasts 22 minutes. This barrier, nicknamed the Storm, slowly shrinks until one survivor remains. This survivor gets to leave the loop. Then, everything resets and the process repeats. Forever. On rare cases, it pauses to watch some flashy event or whatever. The inhabitants of this lose the ability to speak, and memories start to deteriorate. Also, escaping this loop creates a clone of yourself. Since you were never a part of this loop, your snapshots will end up being very messy.”
”So thats why he looks like that…” Drift says.
Once you leave the loop, you arrive in the Extra Loop. Where you are right now. None of the time loop appears here, and you are free to do what youd like. However, you have no memory of where you come from. Again, you’re not affected by this, having come from the outside, as i call it.
I’m telling you this because you and her are the only ones who know about the outside world. Sadly, your lives may end up coming short.”
”Wh…what do you mean by that?”
”This rocket launch may end up being the end for us all. But, its what must be done to contain the zero point.”
Drift and Catalyst are frozen in shock. The end? Its over? Everything theyve known, island or not, is about to cease from their memory? Brite Bomber, Lynx, Rex, and Cuddles. All gone. Just like that.
”There…there has to be another way. Our lives cant just be over like that.”
”There isnt any foreseeable way to circumvent it.”
Catalyst starts to cry and lays on the floor. Drift is just frozen in shock. The Scientist then sends the both of them back to the motel.
”Oh, hey you two! You were both gone longer than usual. What happened?”
” “
”Uh…hello? Drift? Catalyst?”
” “
They both slowly walk into their rooms. They sit on their beds, and wait until they fall asleep.
Over the course of the next few days, they sit in their rooms, slowly going insane. Until…
October 13th.
Brite, all by herself, walks towards Dusty Depot, where the countdown is about to end.
“Really? Another rocket launch? What is it this time?”
The rocket shoots up as normal, and creates a rift, also as normal. Then it takes a turn. The shockwave from the big rift hits the other 6 rifts, lowering the bubbles surrounding the beaconed areas.
“WERE FREE!” Rex and Cuddles say.
”NO! MY PRISONERS! TACO TIME NEVER END-D-D______” The man with the taco head starts to glitch, then freezes. The surrounding area starts to glitch to, flashing in and out the frozen Greasy Grove and the Taco one. Even the original one too.
Rex and Cuddles make a dash for where the main event is happening.
”BRITE! WERE HERE!” Cuddles says.
”Where have you two been for the past few weeks?!”
”Taco hell.” Rex says.
”…I won’t question it further.”
Chaos is now unfolding. Zombies are now walking through the island, every beaconed area is glitching, and the islands life is flashing before everyones eyes.
The main rocket soars above the island, then rifts again. More rockets emerge from the other rifts. All of the rockets then rift away again, then come back. They all start to follow the main rocket, and all rift into a singular rift. They rift behind the meteor, and start spiraling around it.
Everytime they go into the rift, the island glitches. One of these glitches teleports Drift and Catalyst into the area. They don’t say anything, and are still lying on the ground. The rockets continue to spiral around the meteor. The surges cause Drift and Catalyst to return back to normal.
“AH! What the?! What?! Huh?! Who?! Where am I?!” They both say. They look up and notice the meteor.
Everyone starts to glitch into alternate versions of them.
Drift switches from Catalyst, to a fish version of him, to a skeleton version of him, to a version of himself with tactical gear.
Catalyst switches into genderbent versions of those.
Brite switches from a corrupted version of herself, to her in summer clothes, to her in some kind of ruined outfit, and many many more.
Cuddles switches from her in Red, White, and Blue, to her as a robot, to her as a skeleton, and her in many other colors.
Rex changes the least, he flickers from a corrupted version of himself to his normal self.
Then, the rift becomes powerful enough and fully engulfs the meteor.
Everything stabilizes.
“Is…that it?” Brite says.
heh no
The meteor then remerges from the sky. Its slowly falling down towards the Zero Point.
”Wait…the end…” Drift remembers.
”No. NO. NO. NONONONONONONONONONONO.”
Drift then falls to the floor.
”Drift?!” Brite says.
The meteor hits the bubble surrounding the Zero Point. All of the rockets fly away.
Catalyst snaps out of it. “Wait! Wheres Kitsune?!”
As she finishes that sentence, the meteor crashes into the Zero Point, sending everybody into the air.
Everyone loses the ability to speak. They can only watch helplessly.
The Zero Point starts to pull everything and everyone in like a black hole.
Drift and Catalyst start crying. Knowing the truth of whats happening.
Everybody is sucked in, and it all goes blank.
The end.
nothing.
darkness.
all thats left, is a black hole. Spinning for eternity. Some numbers seem to flash, but that seems to be it.
Questions revoked. Things unanswered.
Nothing. Is left.
A glimmer of hope.
The black hole seems to be, retracting?
It shrinks more and more, until it implodes.
Realities.
Realities born, lives created, stories started.
More importantly, the island.
Returning.
Everybody seems to be in one peace. Butterflies move by, and the sun shines. A gentle breeze, pushing.
Drift wakes up.
He is on a hill nearby Pleasant Park.
“Where…am I? This isn’t the desert…”
He gets up, and remembers Catalyst. He runs down the hill to go look for her, and they bump into each other.
“Drift! You’re alive!”
“Catalyst!!”
“W-wheres the others? And Lynx? What even happened? None of this seems familiar to me…”
”I…don’t remember.”
”Me neither. Last thing that happened was that we were in Paradise Palms, but it was more swampy than usual. Then..darkness. And now were here?”
Brite, Rex, and Cuddles walk towards them, this time without the golf cart.
”We’re right here. This entrance would’ve been better with our golf cart.”
”Glad that were all alive and well. Still, I can’t recall what happened.” Drift says.
”Wait, what about-“ Cat says before being cut off.
”Were all alive and well!” Drift says with gritted teeth.
“I guess we’re gonna have to find a new place to stay. There doesn’t seem to be a motel in sight.” Brite says.
“I guess we can stay in Pleasant Park. It doesn’t seem too bad.” Drift says.
”Yeah…lets do that.” Catalyst says.
Later that day, Drift leaves to go to the southwest part of the island. The only major place he sees around the area is a swamp.
”There’s no way she’d be here. Maybe some place with more snow?”
Drift then notices some mountains looming over the island.
”Perfect!”
He scales the mountain, and finds a little campsite, with somebody inside one of the tents.
”L-Lynx?”
”Drift!”
They both hug and kiss each other.
“I thought I’d never see you again!”
”I mean, nothing major could’ve happened though, right?”
”I’m not too sure on that one…”
”That doesn’t matter now. Wanna go explore the island with me?”
”Hell yeah!”
”Lets go then.”
They climb down the mountain, and head off to explore the uncharted island.
END OF PREQUEL PART 3
Chapter Text
Vi, Drift, and Catalyst are walking down the street, having a normal conversation. Until they suddenly rift somewhere, but it wasn’t in their control.
REALITY 0
Vi checks her reality logs, and, as per usual they’re back on the island. They all groan.
”Ugh, THIS place? We can’t be here. We need to get back. Now.” Drift says.
They all return back to the city, confused.
”How did we end up there though? None of us snapped our fingers…” Vi says.
“Don't know, don’t care. That place sucks and we are NOT going back there.” Catalyst says.
”Heh, nice rhymes.” Drift says.
”Oh, didn’t even realize, haha.”
1 week later…
While on a hunt, Vi and Drift get teleported back to the island again.
“Again?! No! Not now! Not when they need us!” Vi says.
”…Why do you make it sound so serious?”
another week later…
Drift is asleep, until he gets sent to the island by himself.
”Wh…huh? The island? This is getting ridiculous…This has to be a dream right?”
Drift moves around and feels the yellow grass, as he slowly realizes that it isn’t a dream. Once it hits him, he falls to the ground, and starts to breakdown.
That morning, the clan is looking around for him, and eventually find him on the island. He’s a mess. He normally hides this side of him, so this is a new experience for them.
“Drift? Are…are you alrigh-“
”GET ME OUT OF HERE! I DON’T WANT TO BE HERE ANYMORE! IVE BEEN TRAPPED HERE FOR 5 YEARS! I HAVEN’T GOTTEN TO SEE MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY FOR 5 YEARS! I NEVER WANT TO SEE THIS ISLAND AGAIN! I JUST WANT TO GO BACK HOME!”
Everyone is taken aback by this. They don’t know what to say, so they just bring Drift back to the base and onto his bed.
“What has been going on lately? We keep being teleported back to that reality out of our control!” Catalyst says.
“Maybe this is Kimiko’s doing. She’s probably just messing with us.” Vi says.
”VI, I STILL DON’T KNOW WHO THAT IS.” Vox says.
”I want to say that i don’t care about whats going on, but this is getting weird.” Catalyst says.
“WELL, I CAN SAY THAT I DON’T CARE, SO HOW ABOUT SOME POETRY, EH?” Vox says. “POINTED AND STRAIGHT, SHAPES ARE GREAT, POLYGONS AND MORE, THEY ARE MY FATE. ITS ABOUT HOW IM MADE UP OF POLYGONS.”
Vi claps. “That was amazing!”
”THANKS. IM STARTING TO GET INTO POETRY. ITS SOME GREAT STUFF.”
Suddenly, everything starts to shake.
”Oh great, another quake?” Catalyst says.
”This isn’t the time for rhymes, Cat.” Vi says.
Once it stops, they go up to the city to check on everyone.
”Is everyone alright?”
“Vi Vi Vi Vi Vi Vi Vi! VIIIIIII!” Evie runs up and says.
”WHAT. WHAT. WHAT?!” Vi says.
”Knotty Nets just dissapeared! The WHOLE ISLAND!”
”What?!”
They go over to where the island should be, and it was all just water.
”All I saw was a bunch of orange crackles and it was just gone! Poor Mystica was so scared…”
”Wait, who?”
“Oh, Mystica! They randomly showed up from another reality one day so I took them in. Thunder didn’t care.”
Mystica walks up to Vi and tugs on her leg. Shes a lot smaller than she thought.
”Arent they the CUTEST! My little space baby…”
Mystica waves to Vi. She waves back.
”Alright, cool, but still the entirety of Knotty is gone!” Catalyst says.
”We really need to rename that island.” Evie says.
”Yeah. I don’t know what we were thinking either.” Vi says.
Drift teleports to the scene.
”Hi. The shaking woke me up. What’s going on?”
”Things are disappearing left and right.”
”Sigh, we can’t have a moment of peace can we.”
The ground starts to shake again, and this time the entirety of Kenjitsu Crossing disappears.
”Ha! Good thing SHE’S gone!” Stray says.
”Oh, hey, Drift.” Evie says.
”Oh. You.”
”Listen, I know we’re not on good terms right now, but please, we can make amends. Even if we can’t be friends, I don’t want to be enemies..”
“Hmm…well, I-“
Suddenly, the shaking intensifies, and orange crackles surround the entire area.
”Brace yourselves!” Vi yells.
A whole chunk of the reality was pulled into a giant orange rift, along with MEGA City and the neighboring town, Steamy Springs. Vi teleports everyone to the ground before they all make a hard impact.
“Is everyone okay?” Evie says.
Drift goes up to a rooftop and looks at the area beyond the city, and sees the yellow grass he was sitting on before. He falls to his knees.
”NOOOOOOOOOOOO” Drift says.
“Oh, great. Everyone, we’re back on the island again.” Vi says.
Everyone groans. “What else is new?” Catalyst says.
All of the other syndicates walk out to investigate.
”Hey Stray!”
”Oh, hi, Highwire!”
”What the hell happened here? I was just cooking up something great before it got all mushed up by this mess!!” Thunder says.
Renzo had just woken up. “Ugh….what happened?”
Cold Blooded Ace, Wild Card, and their lackies appear in a cloud of smoke too.
”Oh, right, forgot they own some of the city too.” Evie says.
”Hey, what is going on here?” Wild Card says.
”NONE OF US KNOW, okay?! Everyone stop asking us! We’ll figure it out eventually! Alright? Alright.” Vi says.
”Why don’t we just cut this short and teleport the city back to where it was ourselves. We can do that, right?” Drift says.
”No, we aren’t powerful enough for that. Plus, its not just the city that wound up here too.”
”Oh, thats right. Three other places wound up here, too. Steamy Springs, that big ominous temple, and that small island.”
“Wait, really? I gotta check up on my stuff!” Evie says without doing so.
Just then, some of the residents of the city showed up too. One of them seemed very familiar to Drift…
”Is that…Lynx?”
”DRIFT?!”
Lynx runs up to Drift and gives him a big hug.
”I never thought I’d see you again!”
”You either! What are you doing here?”
“I was getting bored of the island, so I wanted to find a new place to do more techy stuff in, luckily, this 8-ball guy had just the job offer! Now we live here! This city is the perfect fit too.”
”Uh, Drift, who is this?” Vi says.
”Oh, this is my girlfriend, Lynx!”
”Hello!!” She says. “I don’t think I’ve met any of you before…oh, wait, nevermind. Hi Catalyst!”
”Oh, hey.”
”Well, my name is Vi. This is Vox and Stray. You’ve probably met Snow Drift, Driftwalker and Adam at the bookstore already.”
”Wait, we have a bookstore?” Drift says.
”Uh, yeah. I thought you knew that?”
”Well, it’s nice to meet all of Drift’s friends! Anyway, do you know why the city is now he-“
”NO.” Vi says loudly.
”Heh, Sorry about that. People just keep coming to us asking the same thing.” Drift says. “I love what you’ve done with your outfit, by the way!”
”Oh, thank you!! My favorite touch is the hologram cat ears, they’re so cute!”
Just then, an 8-ball looking guy comes up to Lynx.
”Lynx! There you are! What’s going on here?”
“Oh! Drift, this is 8-ba- i mean, CRZ-8! Pronounced Crazy 8.”
“Ah, nice to meet you.” Drift says.
“Alright, can we stop mumbling about now and get to the bottom of this?” Catalyst says.
”What bottom can we even get to? Lets just accept that were stuck here now.” Drift says.
”Drift, please, stop trying to get out of things we do!” Vi says.
”What have i got to lose? HUH?! I’ve been trapped in this godforsaken realm for who knows how long now! What’s even the point anymore? Why should I join you in your little investigation? Tell me. Tell me why. GO AHEAD. I WANT TO KNOW WHY.”
“Drift, what has gotten into you? You’ve never acted in such a way before!” Vi says.
”Who do you think you are? MY MOTHER?”
Vi gets stunned by this, then continues arguing with him. Catalyst just walks away without a care. Stray runs away and sits on a rooftop. Highwire goes up with him.
”Stray? Are you alright?” She says.
”I…I don’t know. The clan arguing with each other is just making me think about things…”
”Really? Like what?”
”…Hmm…”
”Its okay, you can tell me.”
”Okay…It reminds me of my sister. Mizuki. You know her right?”
”No, but I’ve heard Renzo complain about her.”
“Well, his complaining is totally right. Shes always yelling and just being rude. To anyone. Even me. Even HER parents. Ever since I’ve left her, I’ve considered the clan to be my new family, and seeing them argue like this…It just…hurts.”
Highwire gets on her feet, and brings Stray to his, too, then hugs him tight.
”H-Highwire?”
”It’s going to be okay Stray. Things may seem wrong now, but trust me, things will look up, no matter how long it lasts. When I was kicked out, Renzo took me in, and when I came out to him too, he didn’t even care…in the good way. Theres nothing to be afraid of, Stray. I promise. The clan will come to their senses eventually.”
Stray kisses her cheek. “Thank you. That..really means a lot.”
”Aw, it’s nothing! Now, want to go cause some chaos to destress?”
”Sure!”
”Aw yeah!”
Stray teleports back down to the clan. “Eugh…I’m not getting used to that for a bit. Hey guys! Me and Highwire are going out somewhere. I’ll see you guys soon.”
“Okay.” Vi and Drift both say before they continue arguing.
Evie suddenly remembers that shes meant to be the peacekeeper. “Oh, right.” She breaks up the fight between the two.
”Foxes! Now’s not the time to argue! Right now, we have a mystery to solve!”
“Well, you do it then.” Drift says.
”…What?”
”Yeah, he’s right! We can’t always just be the heroes, can we?” Vi says.
”But, but-“
”Nope. You and Thunder…and I guess Mystica crack the case yourselves. We’re gonna focus on other matters.” Vi says.
”Ok, fine. Mystica, lets go.”
Mystica happily walks alongside her. Thunder mumbles under his breath “I could be cooking right now…”
Vi turns around.
”So what are you guys gonna do?” She says.
”Oh, me? I’ll just go make sure Highwire doesn’t lose her other leg.” Renzo says.
”I’ll be catching up with Drift!” Neuralynx says.
”Me? I’ll just go get some ice cream from Lil Whip. Speaking of which, where did he go?” CRZ-8 says.
”Nyah, guess I’ll go take a catnap…” Erisa says.
”Me and Remedy will-“ Kor says before being cut off.
”Okay, we didn’t ask for everyone one by one.” Vi says.
Just then, an anthropomorphic black cat watching from a far runs out of the city, and to Kenjitsu Crossing, a town with a big castle at the top.
”Boss! Boss! BOSS!” He says.
”WHAT? WHAT DO YOU WANT?!” The boss says.
“The clan won’t be leaving anywhere anytime soon! The peace syndicate is doing the investigation instead! Nows your chance!”
“Alright, cool it! Now leave me be, I’m trying to hack into the MEGA City billboards!”
”Yes, sir, boss!”
”IM NOT A SIR- and he’s gone. Great. Why did I even hire that idiot? HEY STAR!”
A cloaked figure appears. “Yes?”
”Keep an eye out on the clan. I need to make sure they don’t leave the city.”
”Understood.” He disappears without any hesitation.
”I really need more recruits.”
Meanwhile…
”So, Thunder! Hows the restaurant coming along?” Evie says.
”It was coming along nicely until YOU decided to host a peace dinner there.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.”
”There were blades in the walls!”
”Yep.”
”The electricity was burned out!”
”Noted.”
WATER LEAKS! SO MANY WATER LEAKS!”
”Right. I shouldn’t have asked.”
”Yeah, all the fixing is coming along great. Would be better if I had EMPLOYEES.”
“Ugh…Well SORRY that our job is to bring peace.”
Just then, some kind of water humanoid figures ambush them.
“AH!” Evie yells before pulling out her dualies.
Thunder pulls out his cooking knives.
Just then, something snaps inside of Mystica, and they suddenly become the same height as Evie. They then pull out a samurai sword, and slash through all of the figures. The figures collapse to the floor and turn into a puddle of regular water.
”What was THAT?! I’ve never seen Mystica fight like that before!” Evie says.
“I don’t think they HAVE fought like that before.”
“Ah, hello there, Lizard and Human. My name is Mystica. I am the last of my kind and the leader of the Luminaries.”
”The…the what?” Evie says.
Mystica suddenly stops talking and goes back to acting how they did before.
”…What was that?!” Evie says. “I think we should focus on this instead…”
”Okay, sure, whatever.” Thunder says.
Back at Kenjitsu Crossing…
”Oh! I almost forgot! BOSS! BOSS! BOSSSSSSSS!” The black cat says.
”WHAT, AZUKI?!” She yells.
”Your brother! I found him!”
”…brother? What do you mean, brother? I’ve only had a sister…I’m genuinely confused. What do you mean?”
He holds up a photo of someone from behind.
”…Thats just some random guy in armor with black hair.”
“No, no! I’m being honest! If you saw his face, you would see that-“
”Get out of my sight, Azuki.”
”Whatever you say, boss!” Azuki says before running back to where he came from.
Mizuki then comes back to her senses. “Sigh…Manami…where did you go…”
Meanwhile, Vi is down in the basement searching for something.
”Cmon, where are you, ya pesky book. Its the biggest book I have down here, come on!” She says.
Suddenly, the elevator dings, and Drift is inside it. The doors open.
”Hey, Vi, Alli wants to meet you.”
“Who?”
”Lynx’s sister.”
“UGH…okay, fine.”
They both get up to the first floor, and Lynx is there talking to someone else.
”What are you doing here, anyway?”
”Well, duh, I wanted to check up on you! It’s been forever!”
”Oh, this is my boyfriend’s leader, Vi! This whole clan is about hunting down threats and protecting others.”
”Hi.” Vi says.
”Where’s the others?” Lynx asks.
”Oh, right.” Drift says. He goes and gets them.
”This is Catalyst. She’s basically me if I was female instead. We’re the same person but from different timelines. This is Vox Hunter, he’s uh…”
”I AM THE DAUNTLESS TRACKER OF THE FOX CLAN. AND A POET.”
”That. And this is Stray.” He holds up an image of him. “He left one of the other syndicates to join us.”
”Well, nice to meet you all! And it’s great to see you again, Lynx!” Alli says.
“You can go back to what you were doing, Vi. I’ll sit with these two.” Drift says.
”Hey, did I ever tell you about this time I met this buff cat guy? It was so weird, but cute! He was acting really strange around me though, he must’ve thought I was an actual cat! Luckily, I took off my mask. And…”
Vi goes down into the basement, and finds her book.
“Well, I guess I have no choice anymore. She’s the only person who can probably help us…”
Vi recites some text in the book, and the room starts glowing. The Fox Clan symbol gets imprinted into the ground, and then, a BRIGHT PINK BEAM OF LIGHT shoots high into the sky.
The Spirit Realm
”Hmm…something feels off today, but I don’t know what.”
Kitsune shrugs, and lays down.
”Madam, do you hear that?” Kayaku says.
”Uhm, No? What do you mean?”
Suddenly, a hole in the ground emerges, and it pulls in the figure.
”KITSUNE! SAVE ME!”
Kitsune tries, but gets pulled in too.
Kayaku tries to run(?) away.
”OH NO YOU DON’T!”
She grabs Kayaku, and the three of them fall inside the hole.
They travel down the beam of light, until they land in the Fox Clan’s basement.
Mega City
”Did…did it work?” Vi gets up and says.
A five tailed Fox is standing before her.
“GASP! YOU'RE HERE! YOU’RE FINALLY HERE!”
”Oh hey Vi. Whats going on”
The elevator dings, and everyone else is in the basement.
”What’s going on NOW.” Drift says.
Kitsune barks.
”KITSUNE! There you are!!” Catalyst says. She runs up and hugs her.
“Who is that.” Drift says, pointing at the fox.
”Oh, I’m Kimiko”
Kimiko Five-Tails. Aroace, She/They/It, 4’11. Age is about 5000. Guardian of the Fox Clan. She has Autism as well.
”Wait…that voice sounds so familiar…” Drift says.
”Ohhhh yeah I’m was the voice that gave you and Catalyst your masks, coats and pickaxes. and also rescued you from that void. I was the butterfly remember? I also directed you to Lynx”
”Well, this explains everything.”
“I also rescued Kitsune. That reminds me, VI! There’s something you should know about Kitsune”
“Oh?”
”Remember that member that I said was cursed? Thats her! She was cursed into a Kitsune”
Vi grabs her, and studies her. Suddenly, she hears jingling.
”Huh?”
She reaches into her fur, and finds a necklace.
”That necklace…Kana? Is that… you?”
Kitsune barks.
She hugs her.
”I thought you died in the attacks! Its so good to see you again…”
”Yeah, back on Oni- I MEAN back when those attacks were happening, she hid and found one of our old ma- I MEAN found some sort of mask laying on the ground, and when she wore it, she became that” Kimiko says.
Vi side eyes her, knowing what she was originally going to say.
“Oh have you met my assistant Kayaku?”
Meanwhile…
“Hmm…this job might be more difficult than I thought.”
“What is it boss?” Azuki says.
”You know what that beam meant, right? Vi summoned KIMIKO down to join them!”
”Isn’t that the guy our guardian hates?” Azuki says.
”Well, not just him, but yes. I still wish we knew his name…but thats unrelated. I think our plan should be put into action as soon as possible!”
Back in the clans base..
”Oh I think someone needs us” Kimiko says.
The clan goes above ground, and find the rest of the syndicates.
“What happened?!” Evie says.
“You guys remember Kimiko, right? Well here she is!” Vi steps to the side to reveal her.
“Hi”
“Oh, hello! Great to see you again after all this time!” Evie says.
Kimiko looks at Highwire. She snickers at a funny idea she has.
Vi grabs Stray by the arm and pulls him towards Kimiko.
”Stray, you remember Kimiko, right?”
Kimiko stares him down, still keeping her resting smile. She knows where he’s from.
”Y-yeah…uhm…hi! …Please don’t be mad at me..” Stray says.
”Sorry about that, just, yknow.. the whole situation with them”
”Yeah…”
”I can tell you and I are gonna be best friends! Don’t worry”
”…Was she being serious? I couldn’t tell-“
”Yeah, it’s hard to tell what shes feeling. She always has that smile on her face.” Vi says. “So, has ANYONE got any clues about what happened here??”
Evie realizes she forgot all about it while investigating Mystica. “Uhm…no. Sorry, Vi.” Thunder says.
”Damn it!” Vi says.
Just then, the billboards start glitching. Everyone looks up at them.
”Is this thing on?” Mizuki says.
Mizuki. Lesbian. She/Her. 6’2. Age 29. Empress of the River Guard and sister of Stray.
Vi, Stray, Kimiko, and the rest of the syndicates gasp.
”Hello, everyone! You already know who I am, so I’ll cut to the chase. FOX CLAN! I’ve come to make an announcement! The River Guard are ready for an attack, so you better be ready, because we can attack at ANY moment! GOT THAT?! ANY MOMENT!!! ok bye”
”Everyone, be on guard. We need to be ready for when she strikes.” Vi says.
”So…anyway, Vi. Wanna know something cool about Mystica we found out about?” Evie says.
”Sigh, what.”
“When something poses a threat to us, they suddenly just mature in an instant!”
”Cool.” Vi says in a completely flat tone.
”Fine, then. Be that way.” Evie says, walking away. Thunder and Mystica go with them.
”I don’t know what we’re doing standing here, uhh…See ya Stray!” Highwire says.
The rest of the Syndicates leave the scene.
”Renzo, why was Kimiko snickering at me?”
”How would I know?”
Just then, Kimiko appears from nowhere in front of her.
”Hey, Highwire! I have a little gift for you”
“Oh, uh, okay?”
Kimiko pulls out the pack leaders head when it possessed Highwire.
”Do you like it”
Highwire stares at the head angrily.
”Ok bye” Kimiko disappears.
Highwire grabs the head, and chucks it towards the floor, destroying it completely.
”So, what do we do now?” Stray asks.
”I guess we just wait for her to strike.” Vi says.
A few days later, the clan is walking out in a field, looking around the island. Just then, Mizuki shows up. Everyone’s caught by surprise, but not Kimiko. Kimiko grabs her arm. Her face surprisingly changes expression to being furious, and she yells “NO!” And punches her back.
The clan is surprised by this sudden mood change, until her face goes back to her default expression, and she says “Sorry about that! The River Guard’s right over there”
Before the fight, Mizuki signals Azuki and Star to stand down.
“WHERE IS MY SISTER?! I KNOW YOU HAVE HER!”
None of them speak up. She looks around, until she notices a scar on one of their faces. Mizuki stares at Stray. He waves nervously.
Mizuki starts to feel guilt.
Stray backs away.
“Leave him alone.” Drift speaks up and says.
”YOU!” Mizuki says.
”We know how you’ve treated him.”
”It was a different time then, I know better now!”
“Oh, really now? How’s that?”
”Enough of this!” Mizuki says. She charges at Drift before Vi smacks her away with her staff.
Drift and Catalyst throw their pickaxes at Mizuki. She (literally) freezes them in midair before sending them back at the both of them.
Vox pins her to the ground, before she throws a bunch of snow at him, knocking him down. She melts the snow on him, the excessive water messing him up.
Kimiko grabs Stray and puts the both of them in a protective barrier. They both just watch.
Vi charges up her electricity, and zaps Mizuki, electrocuting her. Shes now stunned on the ground.
Drift, Catalyst, Vi, and a glitchy Vox surround her.
“We have you surrounded, Empress. Do you yield?” Vi says.
“I do NOT!” Mizuki says.
Azuki and Star both come in and attack all four of them.
Azuki take out his Nyan Claws (his swords) and have a duel with Catalyst, as both their pickaxes are dual weapons.
Star throws an array of ninja stars from the sky towards Vi and Vox.
“Kimiko, why aren’t you helping them?!” Stray says.
”Because if I do theyll just win, and thats BOOORRRING”
”So what if it’s boring?! They still need your help! You’re a guardian!”
”Trust me, I know theyll win without my help”
Mizuki kicks Drift as hard as she can towards the ground. She rips off his mask before he could teleport and breaks it.
“DRIFT!” Catalyst says.
When she was distracted, Azuki ended up besting her.
Vi was distracted too, but Vox wasn’t.
”Looks like your little friends are too busy to help you now! I’ve been wanting to do this for a long, LONG time. Any last words, little fox?!”
Vox hearing the words “little fox” ends up distracting him, and Star bests the both of them.
Kimiko is still just watching with her blank smile. Stray is screaming out for Drift.
”N-no. I don’t.” Drift says.
”Just as I thought. Goodbye.” Mizuki lifts up her sword to stab him, but just then, the ground starts to rumble. A few cracks appear near the center of the island. She ends up dropping her sword, and the ground stops shaking afterward.
“Strange. Where was I? Oh yeah!” Mizuki reaches for her sword, but just then, she hears screaming from behind her. She looks around to where it’s coming from, and she sees Lynx running towards her as fast as she can. Before Mizuki could attack, Lynx jumps at her and starts clawing her like a cat. Everyone else just watches. Star and Azuki just walk away from the scene. After a bit, Drift stops her.
“You can stop now. I think she’s had it enough.”
Vi stares down Mizuki.
”Well, Empress, it seems like we’ve won this round.”
”UNFAIR! THAT WASN’T YOU! THAT WAS THIS DUMB CAT!”
”I’m a human, yknow.” Lynx says.
”I DONT CARE!”
Before Mizuki could do anything else. Kimiko takes away her fans, and puts her in a cage.
”See, I told you they didnt need my help” Kimiko says to Stray.
“Well, what now?” Stray says.
”Maybe we should go and investigate what those rumbles were-“ Vi says before being cutoff.
”I’m out.” Drift and Catalyst both say in the same tone.
”W-well fine! I guess we aren’t.” Vi says.
Once they step into the city, all of the residents and syndicates point and laugh at Mizuki in the cage.
The clan goes down into the base, and Vi puts Mizuki in the cellar on sublevel 1.
”I’m taking these, by the way.” Vi says, pulling out her fans.
”WHAT?! NO! Those are my powers!” Mizuki says.
”Exactly. Bye bye~” Vi says, going into the elevator.
Mizuki sits angrily for a few seconds before Stray shyly walks in.
”Uh…Hi, sis.” He says.
“Hey, Manami…I’m not entirely against anything here, but, do you mind explaining what…this is all about? Again, I’m not mad.”
“Well, first off, the name is Stray now. Second, I’m a man. Back when I was in school, doing so called ‘feminine things’ just felt…weird after a while. And suddenly, I just couldn’t look at myself anymore. My reflection never felt right. After a bit of research and thinking, I figured out that i was a boy trapped in a girls body. And due to YOUR policies back when we used to live together, I couldn’t do anything about it. I couldn’t be free. Be…myself. After I left, and joined the Fox Clan, I took my chance, and became who i truly was. Which is this. Your brother, Stray.”
Mizuki starts to feel guilt again.
“Listen, I’m…sorry about our troubled past. I never realized what harm I was doing. Its different now, honest.”
”Oh, IS IT now?! Then explain the scar on my face! And-and what happened JUST NOW! You tried to KILL DRIFT!”
”I was being reckless, I-“
”You know what? I’m not doing this. I’ll talk to you again eventually.”
Stray walks into the elevator. Mizuki lays down in the floor of her cell.
June 2023
Down in the cellar, the elevator opens, and Azuki walks out.
”A-Azuki?! You’re here to save me?!” Mizuki says.
”He isn’t.” Vi says, walking into Mizuki’s sights.
”Great. Wh- AZUKI! WHAT ARE YOU EATING?”
”Donut.” Azuki says with his mouth full.
“WH-“
”What? Stray invited me over to Lil Whip’s for some donuts! I can’t pass up a donut!”
“SO YOU’RE WORKING WITH THEM?”
”No. I just like donuts.”
“UGH. Whatever. Is that all you came down here for, Vi? Just to show me THIS?”
”No. There’s more to it. Azuki, you can leave now.”
Azuki goes into the elevator.
“I came in here to check in on you, loud mouth.”
”Why?”
”To make sure you’re still here and alive, obviously.”
”Wh- Don’t ‘obviously’ me! Ugh…when I get my powers back i’ll…i’ll-“
”What? Give me the equivalent of a hot shower with rainwater?”
”GRAHHH!”
“Oop! You’re getting mad~”
“I’M NOT GETTING MAD YOU PINKEYE!”
“I know just the way to make this worse for you.”
”Oh god…fine. What is it?”
“I’ll stare at you uncomfortably!”
”Sigh. Fine. I can handle that. Better than anything else. Go.”
Vi stares deep into her eyes. Mizuki looks back. The both of them start blushing and their eyes widen. Vi’s smirk and Mizuki’s anger slowly fade.
”Uhm…uh…you…you can…stop now…” Mizuki says.
Vi’s zoned out looking at her.
“Wh- Huh- Uh- yeah. Yeah uh…i’ll just leave…now…” Vi says.
She slowly steps away then runs into the elevator.
”What…was that…” Mizuki says.
Vi quickly walks out the elevator and onto the couch.
The clan’s understandably confused.
”Uh, Vi, are you good-“ Drift says before being cut off.
”Yep. Yep. I’m fine. Everything is A-Okay. Mhm.”
Just then, the ground starts to rumble, just like it did while they were fighting Mizuki, and then a loud CRASH is heard.
The clan go up to investigate, and eventually find a GIANT HOLE IN THE CENTER OF THE ISLAND. It’s filled with a muddy jungle biome.
Nobody says anything for a bit, before Drift says
”Fine, let’s go.”
Vi stops him, and says
”Wait. I don’t think we should intervene here. There seems to be some people already in there, and buildings, and…yeah. I don’t think this is really our business.”
While Vi is talking, Catalyst notices a pretty gal inside the jungle. Sporting some high waisted baggy pants, tights, a traditional Japanese hat, a belk skirt, a sleeveless cropped mockneck, disconnected long sleeves, black combat boots, fingerless gloves, and two different kinds of earrings. She also has messy black hair, scars on her face, red eyeliner, and a special looking clock on her waist.
When the clan walks back to the city, Catalyst runs to the jungle unnoticed. She confronts the girl, and the two of them are clearly in love.
“Hey…uh…you seem pretty cool. My name is Dri- Catalyst. What’s yours?”
”E-Era…” Era nervously says while blushing.
Era. Pansexual. Any pronouns. 6’0. Age unknown. Shes at least 23. Time goddess. I forgot about Panera bread when deciding her sexuality i didnt realize until someone told me
”Pretty name.”
”UHM…UH…yours is…too…”
“Say, maybe you could visit the city later. Maybe…join me at Thunder’s?”
“It-it’s a date!”
”Good. Wouldn’t have it any other way. See you there.”
Catalyst runs off.
Era’s nervously shaking while blushing. Lorenzo walks up behind her.
”Hey hey, Era!”
”AAAAH”
”Woah! Didn’t mean to scare ya there, girl. Say, who was that you were talking to?”
”Uh…uh-“
”Don’t worry. I saw the whole thing. Congrats to you! Say, look who I found in the temple!”
”I AM OPTIMUS PRIME.”
”AH! WHAT THE-“
Back to Catalyst, shes breathing heavily. She can’t believe she just did that.
“Okay, now that that’s over, I need to take care of something else.”
Catalyst enters the fox clans base. They're all confused.
”Wh- Catalyst? I thought-“ Vi says.
”Don’t finish that. I need to talk to Ale- I mean…Drift.”
The two of them enter Catalyst’s room.
”Listen, Alexander. I’m tired of being trapped in your shadow.”
”Wait, really? I never knew you thought that way…”
”Exactly. You don’t know anything I feel. Nobody does. Everyone just sees me as ‘Drift but female’, when I’m not just that. I’m my own person. It’s gotten to the point where i’ve almost called MYSELF Drift. Nobody even noticed I was gone! So, I want to make a change.”
”And what is this change?”
”I’m thinking maybe something that can make me stand out more than you. Maybe an alteration of style or something? Nothing too too major.”
”Hmm, well. We can start with this.”
Drift takes off her face mask.
”See? That’s already much more different! Plus, you don’t have those weird markings on your face like I do.”
”Wait, what?”
Drift takes off his face mask, and sure enough, there are face markings printed on both sides of his face.
“I don’t know what they are, but I’ve had them for years now. Even before I ended up trapped here. That’s mostly why I keep this thing on.”
”Huh, crazy.”
Drift puts back on his face mask. ”Anyway, I suggest that you ask Kimiko for changes you could do. She made our masks, right? That could be useful.”
”Alright. I will. Thank you. And thanks for understanding.”
”No problem, Sis.”
Catalyst smiles at Drift calling her his sister.
Catalyst and Drift walk out the room. Nobody notices that her face mask is off.
”Uhm, hello? Notice anything different about me?”
”Uhhhhhh…” Vi and Stray say. Vox doesn’t care and Kimiko already knows what it’s about.
”Listen up everyone, Catalyst here has noticed something. Something awful. None of you pay attention to her!” Drift says. “Everyone just thinks of her as ‘me but female’ when that isn’t true! She is her own person, so thats why shes here to make a few changes about herself.”
”Oh, Catalyst, I didn’t know that how you felt…” Vi says.
”Her point exactly.” Drift says. “KIMIKO! Got any ideas?”
”Hmmmmm” Kimiko says.
Later, Catalyst walks out with a new make over. She’s now much more colorful, with her 3 color schemes (pink, black and blue) sported all over.
Everyone cheers for her, even Vox. Suddenly, her cat mask starts beeping like a watch.
”Oh! I have to go somewhere now, cya!”
She leaves the base.
”Wait, she didn’t say she was gonna leave!” Vi says.
”Why does it matter. You’re not her mom.” Drift says.
”Will you STOP SAYING THAT?!” Vi yells.
”Okay! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to strike a nerve!” Drift says.
Catalyst and Era meet up in front of Thunder’s restaurant.
“Hello there, gorgeous.” Catalyst says.
”Oh, get out of here with that!” Era says.
”What? It’s true!”
”Man…throughout all my journeys throughout time, somehow once I’ve never come across someone as lovely as you.” Era says.
”Wait, huh?”
”Oh, yeah! I’m a time goddess! See this clock?”
Era points at the clock around her waist.
”I can travel through time with it! Here, just hold onto me, and i’ll show you.”
Catalyst holds her hand. Era moves the clock hands foward a few spaces. For some reason it isn’t letting her. The hands keep moving back to the current time.
”Strange. Lemme try going backward.”
She tries going backward a few years, and suddenly they’re in a swamp on another island.”
“Oh yeah, were in reality 0, not 16.”
”How do you know that?”
”Oh…I can travel through realities too.”
”You’re a goddess too??”
”No…at least I don’t think so. Vi taught me that this mask lets me teleport to any reality I want.”
”Who’s Vi?”
”Oh, the leader of the Fox Clan.”
”Sounds familiar…weird…anyway, do you know where the mask itself came from?”
”Oh, do you know Kimiko Five-Tails? She’s the fox clan’s guardian. She made this mask.”
“Kimiko…that name sounds familiar too.”
Suddenly, somebody starts calling Catalyst. It’s Thunder.
”Hello?”
”CATALYST, WHERE ARE YOU?! I’VE BEEN WAITING HERE FOR MINUTES!”
”Uh- I-“
”STOP KEEPING ME WAITING!”
He hangs up.
“Okay, I think we should go back.” Catalyst says.
”Y-yeah…”
They travel back to the present, and walk into his restaurant.
”Woah. That was fast. What can I do for you two lassies?” Thunder says.
“Table for two.”
“Alrighty. And word of advice…if you turn my restaurant into a wreck like you and the other little rats did last time I will hereby ban you and the rest of them from this restaurant for life. Understand?”
“Yea.”
”…Okay! Follow me, ladies.”
”Wh-what happened last time??”
”You know Mizuki from the River Guard? Yeah. We tried to make peace but things kept getting tense.” Catalyst says.
”Mizuki…River Guard…that sounds so familiar too…”
The two of them sit down and get two slurp sodas.
”Man, i’ve never had some of this ‘Slurp’ before. Refreshing stuff!” Era says.
”Wow, really? You’ve never had Slurp before?”
”No.”
”Huh. Who would’ve thunk?”
“Can I get anything for you two lassies?” Thunder says.
“Just some Sushi to share. Do you…not have a waiter or anything?” Catalyst says.
”Evie’s off doing some Peace Syndicate stuff so I gotta do everything.”
”Aren’t there more members to the syndicate?”
”Honestly, we have zero idea where they are. All we have is Mystica, and they’re a child. I…think…”
“You think?”
“Just-whatever. Some sushi coming right up.”
”It’s been a while since I’ve had some sushi!” Era says.
One montage of Thunder cooking sushi later, their food is ready.
”So, Era, tell me a bit more about yourself.” Catalyst says.
”Uh…uh…”
”I mean, you don’t have to.”
”No, it’s just…i’m having a hard time remembering.”
”Really? Strange..”
”For some reason, I remember the past of all the places i’ve been, but not my OWN past…as if I was just created or something…”
”Hmm…”
”Oh, right! Probably because I just reincarnated.”
”You what?”
”Yeah, I’ve changed a whole lot throughout the years! My personal favorite is this one.”
Her outfit changes to a white dress.
”The dress on this one is so cute! And the bandaid, and-OH! Sorry! I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here…”
”No-no-no! It’s fine! You can keep going as long as you’d like.”
”No thanks, we should just eat.”
”Well, now for my story, I’m not actually from here.”
”Here as in…this reality?”
”No. It’s a bit hard to explain. I’m from this place called Earth. Everyone I know besides for my brother knows what it is though. I was just in the desert one day when I ended up in this reality. Or at least, a past version of it. I’d say about July 2018?”
Era pictures the island in her head.
”Oh yeah! That one.”
”Yep. Speaking of my brother, he’s had the same case. He isn’t really my brother, he’s just the same person as me from another timeline, but we still see each other as siblings. Essentially that’s what we are.”
”Fascinating.”
They keep chatting while eating sushi, and eventually finish.
”I had a lovely time, Catalyst…”
”Wait, hang on. One last thing I should mention, my name isn’t actually Catalyst…”
“Oh! Uh…what is it then?”
”Alexis. Only my brother calls me that, but I’d love it if you call me that too.”
”Cute name! I’ve had many names throughout my past lives. I don’t remember any of them though. All I do remember is that one of them had a J in it, I think.”
”Me too.”
They share a kiss, then Catalyst gets an idea.
”Say, before you go, why don’t i show you the rest of the fox clan?”
”Oh, uh, okay! Sure!”
They go down into the base.
”Hey, everyone! There’s someone I’d like you to meet!”
Era walks up from behind her.
”This is Era! My uh…”
”Girlfriend. That’s what we are.”
Vi and Era glare at each other, before Vi asks
”…Do we know each other?”
”I don’t think so, but you seem familiar…”
”Huh..Anyways, great to meet you Era!”
”Era, this is Drift. My brother-but-not-brother!”
“Um…hi!”
Era then notices Kimiko. She seems familiar as well.
“Hi” Kimiko says.
“You seem familiar too! What is going on??”
”I dunno”
“Okay, well, it’s been fun meeting you all, but I really need to get going.”
“Well, bye then. I love you.”
”Love you too.”
They kiss each other again before Era leaves.
August 2023
♪ Man On The Moon - Alan Walker ♪
(2:05-2:57)
I met the man on the moon, he wore his hat to the side.
Vi finds herself on the moon. She’s sitting next to somebody. He seems familiar, but she can’t put her finger on who it is. His hat, similar to her headgear, is tilted to the side.
I met the man on the moon, he asked if I had a light.
The figure asks Vi if she has a light. She doesn’t, and looks at the ground.
He told us to hold it together when falling apart. He told us to light up the world when we dream in the dark.
The figure tells Vi to stay strong when times are tough, and be the light within the darkness. Vi recalls hearing these words before, when suddenly the figure vanishes.
I met the man on the moon.
Vi panics, and paces around searching for him.
I met the man~, we’ll be okay yeah.
Suddenly, the moon itself dissapears, and Vi see’s a familiar island. She tries to reach for it.
Lost,
Before she could, the island vanishes, and Vi starts crying.
All my tears have turned to dust.
Her tears turn into dust in the deep vacuum of space.
Maybe somebody is calling us.
Everything is now gone, and all thats left is Vi, and the empty vacuum.
Man, on the moon, yea~, just a man on the moon. (End song)
Vi suddenly wakes up from her dream. It’s the middle of the night. Suddenly, she hears commotion.
“Driftwalker, you better not be down there agai-“
She turns on the basement lights, and finds a vampire in lavish clothing trying to steal some old fox clan items from them.
”Who are you? And what are you doing with our things?!”
”Ah, I am the legendary Kado Thorne.” He says in his vampire accent.
”…Who?”
”And you, young woman, will do nicely for a mighty fine waitress at my estates.”
”First off, I’m 28, second, no! What are you even talking about?”
“Why don’t you go take a look outside?”
”…were…in a basement.”
”Well, it was nice talking to you, uh…”
”I’m not telling YOU my name.”
”Alright, then. Toodaloo!”
Kado vanishes.
”Did he just say ‘Toodaloo’??”
Later, Vi tells the clan about her encounter.
“He was some kind of vampire, I think. And I believe his name was Kado Thorne?”
”KADO THORNE?!” Era yells. Her hair flashes a mint green color.
“You know who he is?” Vi says.
”KNOW him? I’ve been tracking that guy down for YEARS! He’s caused so much havoc with that time machine he is! He goes back in time to steal relics from the past, and for what? And every time I come close to getting him, he escapes! GRAHH!”
”Oh, that’s why he was trying to steal our items from the basement!” Vi says.
“The NERVE!” Era says.
“Oh, that reminds me, the peace syndicate wanted to arrange-“ Drift says.
“I’ll be right back.” Era says ominously, her hair flashing mint green.
”…Okay. The peace syndicate wanted to arrange another peace dinner between us and the River Guard.” Drift says.
“Oh, uh…sure. Since she’s captured now, we can have a more civilized discussion. Besides, I’ve been meaning to talk to her, but every time I tried, it uh…” Vi says.
”…It…It what?” Drift says.
”UH, NOTHING!” Vi quickly says.
Stray starts to panic. He’s still unsure about what he thinks about his sister, and also vice versa.
Kimiko puts her hand on his shoulder.
”Hey, it’s gonna be okay, buddy!”
Kimiko’s tone sounded actually genuine. Stray smiles.
“Thanks.” Stray hugs her.
”…You can let go now”
”No. your fur is soft and fuzzy.”
Suddenly, Evie calls Vi.
”Heya, Vi! You got my news right?”
“Yeah.”
“Great! So, what time do you want the dinner to be?”
”Just whenever, it doesn’t really matter.”
”…that doesn’t help. Pick a time.”
“FINE. Uhm…”
”8 PM.” Drift says.
”Alrighty! Uh…hi Drift!” Evie waves nervously.
”…Hi.” Drift says annoyed.
Evie hangs up.
”What was that all about?” Vi says.
“I don’t really like her. Especially after the last attempt at a dinner.”
”Well that doesn’t mean you should be so harsh on her.”
Drift ignores her.
”Yknow, Drift, you really gotta work on that attitude of yours.” Vi says.
Drift was about to say something before Stray steps in.
”Please. Don’t argue right now. We can settle this at dinner.”
Later that night, everyone walks into the lobby. Everyone except Vi is wearing tuxedos.
”…”
”…”
”Why are you all wearing suits.” Vi says.
”Uh, duh! It’s a fancy dinner!” Catalyst says.
“It’s a…peace dinner.”
”It’s still a dinner!” Catalyst says.
”CMON VI. EVEN I HAVE A SUIT ON.” Vox says. “I DON’T KNOW HOW I DO, BUT I DO!”
“No.”
”Suit yourself then.” Drift says. Catalyst and Stray laugh. “…Wait. Where’s the dinner at?”
”Oh Good guardian spirits, we forgot to ask her.” Vi says.
”Hang on I got it” Kimiko teleports Evie in front of her.
”WHAT THE-“
”Evie where’s the dinner at”
”KENJITSU CROSSING?!”
”Ok thanks” Kimiko teleports her back.
“Great. It’s at her house. Let’s go guys.” Drift says.
“Wait, what are we driving in?” Vi says.
”…We can…teleport. Why do we even have vehicles anyway.” Drift says.
”Because it’s cool!” Stray says.
”Correct answer. Anyway, let’s go.” Drift snaps and they're all at her place.
”WOAH! Uh…hi.” Evie says.
“Wait…Drift, she’s still in the cellar.” Vi says.
”Oh yea” He says.
Vi teleports her in.
”Oh before we start, Drift I know you’ve been DYING to hear this so I wanted to tell you it”
”Ok.”
”You know how Catalyst’s outfit and mask is much more advanced than yours? That’s because I had more time to make it”
”Ok.”
”As for Stray’s mask I just repurposed an old mask I had lying around”
”Ok.”
”…Okay good talk then”
While Evie and Thunder set everything up, Vi recalls her dream and the familiar feeling of Era. She starts to panic as she tries to figure out what it all means, and why it’s so familiar, and why it all hurts to think about, when suddenly Mizuki calms her down.
”Hey…are you alright?” Mizuki says.
”Uhm…yeah. Why do YOU care.”
”Because, even though you’re my biggest enemy…I think…I still care about you. So, tell me, whats up?”
”I’ve been having these weird senses of deja vu. So many things feel so familiar, and it feels like memories are trying to flood back to me. Old memories…BAD memories.”
”I think I know what you’re talking about!”
”Really? What is it?”
Before Mizuki speaks, Thunder brings them to the table.
“We’re at this dinner to discuss peace, not the past!” Evie says.
”Wait, before we start…WILL YOU LET ME OUT OF THIS FUCKING CAGE ALREADY?!” Mizuki says.
”Not with that attitude.” Thunder says.
“…Please.”
”Now we’re talkin.” Thunder lets her out.
”…Why are they all in suits.”
”I asked them the same thing.”
”IT’S A DINNER!” Catalyst yells.
Earlier that day…
”Hey, uh, boss?” Dealer says.
”Ah, what is it, my henchman?”
”…First off, my name is Dealer. Second, theres some girl with mint green hair outside the front door.”
“MINT GREEN HAIR?!” He grabs Dealer. “YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS, RIGHT HENCHMAN?”
”…No?”
”WHY, IT’S ERA! SHE’S FINALLY CAUGHT UP TO ME AGAIN!”
”…I don’t know who that is.”
“SHE-“
”You know what, I’m not doing this. Bye.” Dealer walks away.
Era punches through the door.
”Kado.” She says.
”…Ah, Era! Glad you could-“
Era grabs Kado by the neck and chokeslams him to the wall. He turns into a bat then reforms behind her.
”Hey, we can talk this out! Maybe host a peace dinner between us, what do you say?”
Era’s hands start flaming green.
”NO! Not fire!”
Era punches Kado, and he gets sent outside of time itself. He then gets thrown back into time, and Era punches him to the ground. She does it in a very casual manner, as shes done this numerous times.
”It’s no use trying to fight! I’ll just keep coming b-“
Era stakes him. He’s dead lol
“Yeah, whatever, man.” Era says casually. She leaves the premises.
Dealer walks back into the room to find Kado dead.
”…I’m going back to running the casino.”
Era grabs his time machine and heads to the jungle.
”Alright, gang! This is our biggest vampire hunt YET! Are you guys ready?!” Joni the Red says.
”Born ready.” Lucien West says.
”Let’s hunt some VAMPIRES!” Helsie says.
Era walks by them carrying the time machine. “He’s dead.”
“…”
“…”
”…”
”DAMN IT! WE WERE SO CLOSE!” Joni says.
”Hey, it’ll be okay, pookie. Let’s just go back to the boba shop.” Helsie says.
”Thanks a lot, girl! Your hair looks like mint toothpaste!” Lucien says.
Era stores the time machine deep within the jungle, hidden away from easy access.
Back to the fox clan, their peace dinner has concluded. They have achieved peace.
”Phew, now that that’s all over, WHO’S UP FOR A TRIPLE DATE NIGHT!” Drift says.
Drift calls up Lynx, Catalyst calls up Era, and Stray calls up Highwire.
”WHAT ABOUT US.” Vox says.
”You can still come with us. It’ll be a bit awkward, but still fun.”
While all of them get in some golf carts, Vi and Mizuki stay behind.
“Hey, come on, there’s something I gotta show you.” Vi says.
The two of them sit on a hilltop. The city is in view, but also the beautiful stars and a full moon.
“Isn’t it beautiful? The neon lights? the shining stars? The glowing moon?” Vi says.
“Wow…I’ve never seen anything like this before. I’ve spent so much time isolated from others I never bothered to just…watch the world.” Mizuki says.
”Those aren’t the only things that are beautiful though.” She turns towards Mizuki.
The same feeling as before rises again. When they stared into each other’s eyes.
“Oh- Uh- We’re doing this? We’re really doing this?” Mizuki says.
”Yes. We are.”
“Tell me, what is this feeling? I’ve never felt something like it before my whole life.”
“Love. True love.”
They hold hands, and Mizuki rests her head on Vi’s shoulder. They watch the night sky. Vi stares longingly at the moon.
November 2023
Vi walks out into a farm and finds two figures talking about some sort of time machine plot. One of them goes inside and pulls the machine out on a wagon.
She listens in on their conversation, and hears something about going back in time to a so called “first island”, to right all of their previous wrongs. But in turn, a new timeline would have to be made.
Vi realizes what this means for the city, and everything she loves today. She panics and heads toward Kimiko.
END OF FOX CLAN VS THE WORLD PART 4.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Feburary 2021
REALITY 0
Drift, Brite, Rex, Cuddles, and Catalyst are all playing in the sand around the center of the map.
”Isn’t it weird how deep this sand actually goes compared to Paradise?” Brite says.
”Yeah. Totally strange.” Drift says.
”I’ve been wondering this, what is that blue ball up there? And why is it crackling?” Catalyst says.
”Some have called it the Zero Point. Very ominous. Something about it seems so familiar though…but let’s not dwell on that!” Brite says.
”Im sure if we don’t mess with it, it WON’T come back to haunt us!” Drift says.
Suddenly, Drift’s mask starts beeping. He’s received a message.
”Drift? Drift. Come in. I know you don’t know who I am, but the fox clan is in trouble.”
”Wh-what? The fox clan? There are more people dressed as animals out there?!” Cuddles says.
“I’m literally right behind you.” Rex says.
The message continues.
“We always thought we were the trackers, but something is tracking US down now. Something old…something…bad.”
Everyone just silently listens.
”They got everyone. I barely escaped…I’m…I’m the only one left.” She says while starting to cry. “Whoever gave you that Fox Clan mask unintentionally made you a target. If you, me, and your friend don’t team up, you’ll be next.”
Drift faces tenses up, realizing the sense of danger.
“They’re closing in! I need to wipe my tracks. Hopefully you received this transmission. If you did, expect my arrival soon enough. I’ll see you soon. I hope.”
The message ends.
”We have to go help her!” Drift says.
”But how? We don’t have some sort of power to bring us to her!” Catalyst says.
Suddenly, that high pitched voice from before returns.
”Hey. It’s me again. You don’t have to do a thing! She’s coming towards you instead. Okay, back to my forever-vacation. I just came back to clarify that.”
It leaves.
”…Okay?”
From the girls point of view, we see her in a desolate snow valley, hiding from what she was running from. She tries to build a place to stay out of the snow, but it collapses.
“Good thing I’m wearing all this. Must be freezing out here.”
She climbs up a tree, and watches the night sky. She then regains her focus, and faces forward, and runs off to find what reality Drift is in.
Drift and Catalyst are just being impatient, waiting for her to show up. Eventually, a pink rift appears, a bunch of rushing water pours out of it with her inside.
“Blech…sorry. That last one was literally just water. Anyways, hello!” The girl says.
”So…whats this whole situation about again?” Drift asks.
”My name is Vi. I am the last surviving member of the Fox Clan. I need you two to come with me to ensure your survival from that…thing. I’m not entirely sure what it is.”
Vi. Pansexual. She/Her, 6’4. Age 26. New leader of the Fox Clan, and last surviving member.
“Why do you need us?” Drift asks.
“See those masks? Like I said, those masks mean you're official members of the clan. So…welcome to the team I guess.”
”So if we don’t go with you, all 3 of us are just dead?”
“Yeah.”
”…wh- okay. I guess we don’t have a choice then.”
“You two will be hunters in the clan. Our job is to hunt down people that pose as threats to us.”
”Sounds fun!” They both say.
”Yes! We move into the city, set up the base and go from there.” Vi says.
”Wait, the city? Do you mean Lazy Lake?” Catalyst says.
”’Lazy Lake’? No, no. I mean Mega City. That’s uh…uhm…where the…fox clan lives! Yeah! The clan lives there! Or…once lived. It’s in another reality from this one.”
”Well, how do we get there?” Catalyst says.
”Oh, right. Your masks have teleportation powers in them.”
”WHAT??” Drift and Catalyst both say. “WE HAD THAT THIS WHOLE TIME?!”
”Yeah. Don’t get frantic with it now! Save that for when we leave.”
”Leave you say?” Drift says.
”Yes. This reality has some hidden dangers to it. I don’t know much about it, though.” Vi says.
”Well, I…I guess we have no choice.” Drift says. Drift turns towards Brite.
“I guess this is goodbye, Brite.” Drift says. He kisses her on the cheek.
“AHEM.” Rex says.
”Oh yeah. Can’t forget you guys too. We had some fun times, but now it’s time to move on.”
“I don’t know you guys as much as Drift does, but…I’ll miss you all too.”
Vi opens the rift to the Mega reality, when Drift suddenly stops.
“Wait. I have uh…some business to take care of first.” Drift says.
Drift runs off to where Lynx is.
”Hey uh, Lynx. It’s gonna be hard to say this, but…I have to go for a while.”
“Wh-what?! What do you mean…”
”I’ve gotten a job as a hunter. But, we can’t stay here in this reality due to some dangers it has lurking around. So…this is goodbye.”
Lynx starts to tear up. They share a big hug.
”I don’t know if we’ll ever see each other again…but hopefully, one day, we do.”
“I’ll…I’ll miss you.”
They kiss each other on the lips one last time, and Drift walks back to Vi.
”Okay, I’m ready. Let’s do this.” Drift says.
The three of them walk into the rift, and the rift closes behind them.
UNKNOWN AREA
REALITY ???
”Oh, I think we rifted to the wrong location. Don’t worry. Follow me and I’ll lead you there.”
The three of them prance around on rooftops before Vi sees a giant bridge far away from where they are.
”…This isn’t the right place.” Vi says, panicking.
“Vi, are you alrigh-“
”WE NEED TO LEAVE. NOW.”
Vi opens a rift and shoves the both of them in.
MEGA CITY
REALITY 16
”Okay, this is the right place.”
Vi gives the both of them an interactive map.
“This place IS pretty big, its in the name, so heres a map of the whole reality.”
They zoom out and realize the whole place is shaped like real world Japan. However, they don’t dwell on it.
”You can make acquaintances later. For now, we have business to take care of.”
Vi dives down into a manhole lid with the Fox Clan symbol on it, becoming a bolt of lightning doing so. She quickly emerges back up.
”Oh, right. You don’t know how to do this. Just put your left foot foward, and squat down with your arms back, then dive down into it.”
They try out what she says, and when squatting they charge up their electricity and dive down, becoming a bolt of lightning before turning back to normal when they hit the ground.
”Now for a quick tour.”
The doors slide open, and they see a big lobby fit for living.
”Down this hall are your rooms. Fox Clan magic is used to fit the rooms to your liking, but you can view those later.”
The three of them go into the elevator, and reach sublevel 1.
”This is the cellar. We keep targets we don’t wanna kill just yet in here.”
They go down into sublevel 2.
“This is the basement. I keep the old Fox Clan items in here. She stares at the computer in the corner for a few seconds before the elevator goes back up.”
”And that’s it. Welcome to your new home. Feel free to settle down. Our first hunt won’t be for a little bit.”
“All this stuff is pretty cool, don’t you think, Catalyst?” Drift says.
”Oh yeah, very! I love it here.”
“Hey, uh, Vi, was it? Are we able to go explore the city?”
”Sure.”
The three of them go up to the city. Vi notices a castle on a hill under construction northwest of the city.
”That wasn’t there before…strange.” Vi says.
While Drift and Catalyst run off to see the City, Vi goes back down to the basement. She turns on the computer.
”Okay, back to this.”
She opens up some kind of software.
”Okay, how do I work this thing?”
After a bit of tinkering, Vi eventually gets what she was going for.
”Okay, hopefully this works. Please don’t be messed up…”
She presses a button, and the project prints out next to her.
”…HUH? WHERE AM I?” The project says.
”Yes! It worked! Uh…hi Vox! Remember me? You were our technology assistant?”
”YES. I DO. WHY DOES EVERYTHING HAVE DEPTH NOW?”
“I turned you into a real being! What do you think?”
”I THINK…I WANT…TO HUNT SOMEBODY!”
”Wait- wh- huh? You’re not supposed to think that! Or even sound like that! What’s going on?”
“DON’T KNOW, DON’T CARE! LET ME KILL SOMEONE!”
“Okay, buddy. Stay down here for a bit. I’ll let you know when you can come up.”
”ALRIGHT.”
Months later, September 2021.
”Alright, you can come up now.”
The two of them enter the elevator.
”CAN I KILL SOMEONE YET?”
”Soon, bud. Just wait a moment.”
The two of them go up to the city.
”Go explore the city a bit, then come back. I’ll tell you when.”
”ALRIGHT.”
After a little bit, Vi calls in Drift and Catalyst to the lobby. The two of them walk out their rooms.
“You got called in too?” Drift says.
”Yep.”
“Okay, you can come back now. Tell me when you get here.” Vi says.
Drift and Catalyst walk into the lobby and sit down on two individual boxes.
They both have the same flat, neutral expression. They are the same person, after all.
END OF PREQUEL.
Notes:
FINALLY IM DONE WITH THIS PART. Ive been waiting to drop this bomb shell!
Special thanks to Phea for help on describing what Era’s clothes are.
Also since it may sound like one, the cracks forming at the center of the island was a reference to the rumbles from season 3, and wasn’t a fat joke directed towards Lynx as she was running up.
See you all in Part 5!