Full-Dive (A Gameoverse Fanfic)

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Prelude

"Where do I leave?" Lucian asked.

The test world was pure bliss. Literally, since it was based on the iconic wallpaper. Gently rolling hills of green stretched beneath bright blue skies. The perfect playground for the movement system.

Skiing down the hills with frictionless ease, climbing to speeds beyond terminal in the real world. It was a freeing experience that gave a soft smile in the face of his current distress.

He launched off from the hills' peaks. Flew across the green sea, the wind brushing against his skin. Scanned the horizon in bullet time, and grappled back to land without losing an ounce of momentum. The boots, engineered to negate the fall.

His white and black suit shifted between full traction and zero friction seamlessly. His turns were steep enough that his hands brushed against the grass. And a grapple powerful enough to be a railgun.

The wonder he and his coworkers had created kept him entertained for hours, long enough that he never noticed the missing logout option or the complete lack of communication.

If there wasn't a menu to exit from, the other option was that the devs placed it in-game. Since, they must have recognized he was stuck, or they somehow didn't care about the comatose body of an intern, or any potential lawsuits after the fact.

The project was on the edge of full-dive virtual reality. A shift from bulky equipment to solely the mind simulating every sense to the fullest detail, except nociception—the more painful parts specifically. A copy and transfer of the mind to the player character.

Fresh out of college and a lover of high-speed movement, he was the first on his team to volunteer. The first to eagerly put on the helmet, and felt what could be described as a flash, and then he remembered being here.

"The irony." He chuckled as he passed back to what he named Ricochet Hills. The hills that still featured the bullet holes when he used the Berserker version of the revolver. It frightened him the first time he powered it up. The red streak every time the round ricocheted between the hills played in his mind whenever he passed that place. He passed it fifteen times today.

He stopped at what he declared was the highest point of the game, even though hills' heights patterned similarly.

The world died the second he stopped moving. The sun never moved, the only sound was the crackle of grass beneath his boots. Only soft grass filled these hills, as not even an insect walked between the blades.

At least, it was comfortable, he noted. The rumble of his stomach and the faint dryness of his tongue signified all the progress he had made for the past however many hours. At least a day by his estimates.

With the marksman variant in hand, he plopped coin number fifteen down on the hill. Loop number fifteen. He lied down on the darker side of the hill, wondering about what was happening out there. Could be panic or something else. He didn't know.

"Just why aren't they communicating?" He spoke to himself. No new assets were hot loaded in. If it was inaccessibility, then the pullback command would bring him back. Unless his body somehow died, but the equipment was not invasive enough to hijack the brain. Data would be visible if something went wrong. Time passing faster here would be plausible, but he's fairly certain they made time past 1:1 for ease.

He kept thinking, until something intriguing lit his mind. A particular idea of the mind, something from a horror game he heard but didn't play. The concept was simple, a copied mind is not a transference of consciousness, but creates a new person with the same experiences.

If that's true.

That would mean...

oh.

He was a clone, his original did not experience any shifts. And they have no idea who he is, except that the full-dive experiment has failed.

Strangely, he didn't feel anything. He was still Lucian, memories and all—except for the mobility part, and the starving part. Born yesterday and still feels the same. He sighed.

With nothing else to do, he let his thoughts wander until sleep finally claimed him.

I wonder what Dave's doing, still complaining about his divorce?

 

[PDBox]

Chapter 1 (Part 1/8)

"Kit, what are we gonna do?" Cried out Kaboodle, the one-eyed walking ball of metal. Outside the Nimble's canopy, The Syntax ship was harvesting Flapper's dead world. It stood still, planning something. Something against a particular obstacle. Them.

The Nimble's interior was baked in the eerie glow of emergency red coming from the float outside. The child-sized magenta T-Rex Gobbles led the now frozen dolphin Flappers away from the canopy, Flappers' fists were still clenched.

She took a deep breath, and focused her eyes, "Link up the evasion route, ensure shields are stable until the jump." Kit ordered, "Gobbles, strap in, we're going back to Farcade."

As Kit moved to scramble communications and plot back up routes, a rumble hit the top of the ship.

"Syntax attack." She raised her hand, "Don't worry Kaboodle, I'll handle this." The sound above groaned heavily. Fold and Miss Information weren't heavy enough for that kind of noise. It was someone else, probably the marine Commander Gorethane. Opening the hatch, she climbed out and heard voice long familiar.

"Here, Kitty-Kitty."

For a second, her heart froze.

She saw her die. The world killed them. Their game was dead. So how in the-

"Kit, you alright?" Gobbles asked.

"Gobbles?" Her thoughts broke, "I'm fine, I'm fine, just get back inside. Just some memories came bac-"

"KIT, LOOK OUT!" Elongated arms reached out just as Gobbles twisted Kit out of the arm's reach. From the top came the despicable duo of Kit & Kaboodle: Malice, the robotic purple cat girl, and Mayhem, the animalistic machine.

Gobbles immediately brought Kit inside the ship, and Kit instantly closed the hatch. "Kaboodle, they're alive! Malice and Mayhem!"

"Well, shit." Kaboodle cursed, still wiring out the shields. "Just make sure they don't get inside. Most of it is fragil-"

The hatch broke open once again, maniacal laughter arose as her arms slithered through the cabin. Wrapping around the consoles and seats as Gobbles, Kit, and Kaboodle ducked and weaved from the arms. Malice soon found a target: the seagull.

She wrapped around the seagull's body, tightening her grip as the seagull attempted to break free. Its beak banging on the segmented bands of metal again and again, as it flapped its wings around chaotically, screaming cries for help. Just as its voice choked out. In came a furious punch.
Flappers'.

The super dolphin's eyes were lit up like a morning star. He wrestled with the arms, pushing and pulling them as the seagull got out. Malice shifted focus to strangling the dolphin, but Kit responded with a blast to the arms, breaking apart the left arm.

As Malice tried to reattach her broken arm, Gobbles ran up and stole it immediately. An ear-piercing screech echoed from the top of the ship and into the cockpit.

Kit and the others covered their ears. Malice took advantage and thrust her unbroken arm towards the still working Kaboodle, but Flappers grabbed it with both arms and yanked outwards, knuckles shearing white with stress.

Just as oil leaked out of the arm, the Nimble rattle furiously, knocking Flappers out of his hold and allowing Malice to grab her broken arm and retreat in the chaos.

"Kaboodle, what happened?" asked Kit.

"Someone is damaging the ship underneath. Definitely the work of Mayhem." Another rumble hits the crew, "If this goes on, the Nimble's drive will be destroyed." Gobbles and Flappers tilted their heads, "That means we're sitting ducks."

Gobbles focused his eyes, "I'll deal with it." He immediately dashed out the Nimble as Kit yelled out his name.

"Huh, good for him."

"Kaboodle!"

"Just go after him, he doesn't know what he's facing."

As Kit charged out, Kaboodle spoke again, "Flappers, ensure Malice doesn't re-enter the ship." Flappers cracked his knuckles in response.

Gobbles climbed downwards to the underside and saw Mayhem. The animalistic machine slammed his fists into the plating, its mouth chomping up and down in gluttonous fashion, unaware of the dinosaur. Gobbles could only open his mouth before closing. His body instinctively backing away.

His mind forgot any previous plans he might have drawn in the face of Mayhem. His only saving grace being its raw focus on the ship. Kit overshot her movement, dodging Malice's strike and drifting into space. She frantically reached for Gobbles.

Mayhem noticed them as Kit touched the ship once again. He charged.

Kit and Gobbles split up. Kit lured away Mayhem while Gobbles rushed toward the damaged panel. Pulling it open revealed a jumble of components tangled in a labyrinth of wires. Recalling what Kaboodle had done the last time Syntax attacked, Gobbles shifted the out-of-place pieces wherever they seemed to fit.

"Gobbles, you move that there." Kit interrupted.

"Oh… Wait, where's Mayhem?"

He roared, charging. Kit dodged past Mayhem as he shot back into space. Malice swung Mayhem back towards Kit and Gobbles.

Kit charged up a shot, pointed it at the savage machine. Her aim was thrown by a meter as Malice's arms restrained Kit. She twisted and turned within Malice's grasp, while Gobbles responded by slamming the ship's plating into the arms. Malice's previous wounds started to open up and she was forced to pulled back. Mayhem finally landed

Kit fired a low burst into Mayhem, pushing the machine onto the left wing's underside.
"Is he gone, Kit?" asked Gobbles.

"No, but it gives time for you to repair what he did." She took the manual from her inventory, "Here, place the nodes to what the schematic tells. I'll deal with Mayhem." Kit darted towards Mayhem's location. Gobbles scanned through the manual with the precision of a copier.

Her eyes saw Mayhem digging his mechanical fingers deep into the wing, snarling in anticipation of her. Right until metallic hands gently stroked his body, moving up and down as tiny currents of electricity appeared between Malice's hand and Mayhem's body. His eye darted around, before lasering on what was behind her: Gobbles.

Kit frantically tried to block his approach. Her fingertips merely brushed against his chassis.

Gobbles was laser-focused on fixing the drive, superficially cleaning any invisible dust on the nodes from time to time. He got to the main node when he heard the snarls. Mayhem reached out towards the tiny dinosaur. Gobbles shielded himself with the node, it cracked.

Mayhem turned around and prepared for round two, right until Kit fired a few blasts, denting his armor and pushing him back to space again.
"Kit, I'm sorry." Gobbles' gaze dropped to the underside as he handed her the cracked node.

"It's fine Gobbles, at least you weren't hurt." She struck the node with her knee, flattening it back to normal, albeit with a few cracks, "That should keep it stable for a jump or two."

Gobbles looked back towards where Mayhem was. Malice swung him towards the wing on the right. "What do we do now?"

She looked at everything around them, "Tell Kaboodle to go now, we can handle those two. We can't handle the entire Syntax." She charged her cannon, "I'll hold them off until then."

Gobbles gave an apprehensive look, but seeing Kit's eyes made him relent. He nodded and returned back. As he climbed, he saw Malice's arm hovering a hair's reach away from Flappers' clenched arms. "Kit says to go now."

"Dammit, guess we're ignoring shields" He ordered the computers to form an alternate route. Charts appeared on every screen, flashing lines across different worlds, the lines growing shorter and shorter as the Nimble took in account range and repairs.

The drive won't handle it, the Nimble would break, that's what it kept calculating. Repeat after repeat of the same failure for moments on end as Kit's clash with Malice and Mayhem echoed from the outside.

"COME ON SHOW SOMETHING USEFUL!" Kaboodle kicked the console.

It then removed five more routes under the count of "inconclusive." Kaboodle cursed under his voice. Flappers looked back at what they were doing. Gobbles, with nothing else to do, explained what was happening.

"Shouldn't you jump once, then figure out how to go back?" Flappers asked.

"Flappers…" Kaboodle stared, "THAT'S WHAT WE'RE DOING!"

Flappers dipped his head sheepishly. Gobbles stepped in, "Why is that world deemed inconclusive? It's closer than any other world."

Kaboodle opened it up. "It says just 'empty planet, zero capability for repairs.'" A bang came from the left side; the ship noted new dents to the left engine.

"We can figure out a way back after we leave. We need to launch now." Gobbles said. Kaboodle grumbled a bit and forced the console to accept.

***​

Outside, Kit was ducking and weaving throughout the ship's left wing, slowly cornered towards the edge of the wing. Malice was thankfully still injured, leaving only Mayhem's feral attack to fend off. She still had to be careful to not make the ship a free lunch for the metal monster.


The port engine was damaged—albeit superficially—the last time she dodged too far, but at least they were now on the edge of the wing.

Immediately, She heard the whine of the engines as their core chambers expanded outwards. Her body started being tugged inwards from the increasing gravity. She knew what that sign was.

It seemed like neither of those two knew it, judging by Mayhem's continued flurry of attacks. Kit jumped, allowing the drive's gravitational field to bring her back from the wing's edge, stunning Mayhem with a blast to the eye—close to it anyway.

She spotted Malice's undamaged arm desperately reaching for her, struggling to properly aim as it was tugged towards the Nimble like metal to a magnet. The arm was extended to its maximum length, wrapping around the ship when it was finally stuck onto it. Kit's body was pinned underneath it.

She felt the weight of the metal arm striking down on her waist, crushing her with a gravitational weight. Malice's hand was far enough to not grab Kit, but she could feel the segmented bands of metal dragging over her as it retracted.

Kit crawled back to the broken hatch, the weight of the arm increasing by a pound a second. She gritted her teeth, the closer she came the more the arm dug into her ribs. Putting all her focus on her right hand.

Slam down, pull-up, slam down, pull-up. That was the motion that repeated in her mind. She ignored the thud that came behind her, and the snarl that came after.

Slam down, pull-up, slam down, pull-up. Nothing else mattered in the moment, not the banging crawl of Mayhem nor the encroachment of Malice's hand. She'll be safe back inside.

Kit could hear Flapper's grunts as he pulled up Malice's arm. It worked a bit, Kit no longer felt her ribs being dug in by metal, it was just crushed by gravity itself. At least Mayhem would have a harder time moving, she thought before going back to the motions. Kit's vision started to perceive a faint blue outline on the Nimble.

The ship was ready to jump.

She was nearly at the hatch when the faint blue appeared. Her movement became more ferocious. She dragged her left arm in front of her, switched it to a sharp claw, and dug deep into the Nimble's metal as she muttered a small apology to the ship.

Left claw dig in, right hand pull up echoed in her mind when she finally saw the broken hatch. Flappers was focused on preventing Malice from putting further pressure down on Kit. Gobbles immediately attempted to reach out before the gravitational field forced him back. He went back inside, grabbing Kaboodle and extending him out.

Kaboodle and Kit grabbed each other the second their hands met, Gobbles attempted to pull on the equivalent of a freight train, panting a bit after the first attempted tug and pulling again. Until Flappers swooped in and grabbed Kaboodle's leg alongside Gobbles and pulled hard, dragging the Kit and Kaboodle back inside, safe and sound—with a ceremonious bump on the front consoles right as the Nimble jumped and the hatch closed.

Kit breathed heavily as she looked back. She took the juice box from Kaboodle's hand and sat down on the other console seat, checking out the rest of them.

Gobbles and Flappers were exhausted, eyes weary and limbs shaking from fatigue. Kaboodle was the only one active, checking the ship logs.
"Looks like those two are still on." He noted. Gobbles tried to ask something but the adrenaline crash left his brain foggy. Kit gave him the juice box.

"Don't worry, those bastards won't be able to do anything. I blue screened out during my jump pressure tests." Kaboodle said.

"Still, Syntax would be tracking them. We got to shake them off once this ends." Kit noted. The Nimble's walls were creaking from the pressure. "Are you sure the ship can make it?" She asked.

"Hey, Gobbles chose it. Besides, it's the closest planet to our location."

"Anything else to note Kaboodle?"

"Well, it's green."

 

[Unoriginal_Nick]

I'm fucking the dog cat.

 

[PDBox]

I'm fucking the dog cat.

Click to shrink...

ehhhhh. Well, I did say comments are appreciated. So... Thanks.. I Guess?

The next part will arrive soon. around EST tomorrow.

 

[DuckQuixote]

I can already tell this is gonna be peak.

 

[PDBox]

Chapter 1 (Part 2/8)

For all the softness the grass had, Lucian was unable to pull a single blade out. For however many days it has been, his stomach had twisted into knots. His body hunched and trembled as he licked his lips and swallowed repeatedly, mind consumed by the excruciating pain. His body burns whenever he goes into bullet time. Even an attempt to bite the grass brought the same result.

Strangely, his body looked fine, arms lean and firm. His pale skin smooth under his fingers, no hollowed cheeks or cracked lips. Yet his skin felt stretched and dry; His mouth ruined. His muscles ached with a weakness his reflection refused to acknowledge. Even if it was mental, pain was also mental.

Another pang in his stomach nearly pushed him downwards. His head spun again but he managed to hold on for it to subside, slightly. He pushed himself forwards, no more of the elegant sweeping turns, the hands skimming across the grass at impossible speeds, the tight swings and slingshots across hills. He could barely bother standing now. He pushed into a frictionless slide to carry him forwards, letting gravity take him and correcting whenever he needed to. He rarely needed to.

"Good news." Lucian swallowed painfully, "I won't die, probably." swallowed again, "I might go insane though." His chuckle was coarse and scraped his throat further.

His revolver was still on his hip, holstered. He had done some experiments with it. Once, he wanted to see if he could ride the Berserker with the grapple hook, but the bullet just bounced off it. Another time he created a pile of coins once with the Marksman variant, taking probably half a day to create what he could call a blanket of coins; It was heavy to sleep under. He also attempted to use the Piercer Revolver to cut down some grass, all it did was create a streak of dirt across multiple hills as it obliterated the blades of grass before going off planet.

And yet, he never tested it on himself, not even feeling the barrel after firing. Every time the thought rose to his mind, he quickly took the gun off his hands, and tried to forget about it. Death was not to be entertained in a place of limbo.

He tried to voice a thought, but only water came to his mind. Theorycrafting and imagination was dead. Any thoughts on whether there was something beyond the sky was replaced with thirst and hunger. He decided to force his body up one more time, his exhaustion tried to pull him back to a less uncomfortable position, but he resisted and could see the sky one more time.

The same as ever, the sun did not hurt in direct perception nor did it burn his skin. That was one of the few good things about surviving here. All his jumps were unable to breach the sky, but he gave up on that long ago. He looked downwards. The place glistened with coins on every hill as far as the eyes could see. The desire to wonder the unknown lit up in his mind, albeit tiny to the flaming desire for substance. He began to relent to exhaustion once again.

Boom

His body lit up, a foreign sound. He slowed down, increasing the friction into a halt. Adrenaline ignored any attempts to save energy as he looked back up. Nothing was seen, it could have been another auditory hallucination.

Swoosh

Another look and there was something new. A hole in the sky with the stars behind, it quickly disappeared. His vision was getting foggy by the second, but the excitement kept the eyes relatively clear.

A flying yellow and white cat head with wings, that was the silhouette. There were two figures hanging on it, figures that were currently being shaken off by the corkscrewing cat head. One of them, a more slender figure, was holding onto the ship. Its limbs were extended to exaggerated proportions in holding both the craft and the other more robust figure. They eventually fell, tumbling into the ground just before the cat went below the horizon and presumably crashed.

The survivors or the ship? He can do both but-

His head ached again. The jolt in his body had subsided and the desire for food and water kicked through once again. Whatever was closest would be his destination and the fallen figures were easier to locate.

He burst into a sliding sprint, only to hit the ground hard a second later. His body still ached for nourishment.

"Ow" Lucian groaned.

***​

"Second time it crashed today!" Kaboodle yelled.

"At least it was a bit more gentle." Kit said. The Nimble was able to land this time, albeit roughly evident with the drag marks behind them. Gobbles was upside down and resting on the front console, while Flappers was currently plastered on the canopy window. The only other good thing so far was losing Malice and Mayhem in that corkscrew. "Did the scan give any more information on this place, Kaboodle?"

"Life sign count is now a question mark." answered Kaboodle.

"So, nothing?" asked Gobbles

"Yes, Gobbles."

"Relax, we've managed with less before." Kit reassured while removing Flappers off the window. "Look on the bright side, Syntax won't be bothering us for some time and we have a game to explore."

Gobbles opened his mouth, and promptly decided not to talk about the last failure, "Shouldn't we stay and repair the Nimble?"
"Committing repairs, Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow." The banging of the Nimble's wrench answered that question.

"The Nimble can get the drive functional enough for the next jump. Ensuring those two don't surprise us again is the priority, so is preventing the win condition here." She added. "Let's see what we're dealing with." Kit opened the hatch.

The game. It was stunning. The sun was bright yet harmless, unable to burn her eyes. Its heat warm enough to only comfort her skin. The grass felt cool and plush, almost like silk. The hills themselves softly rolled through the horizon, populated with only soft grass unlike the jungles that surrounded her village…

The village. They no longer exist.

Her parents.

Scratch.

The pizza parlor.

All of them.

Dead.

Her chest tightened, her eyes averting their gaze; lungs starting to gasp for air, clamoring as each breath grew smaller.

Coral Reef City, dead as well. Flappers world, all of them dead because of her.

She didn't do enough, she was distracted, she was-

"Kit, are you okay?" Gobbles interrupted, placing a hand on Kit.

"Gobbles?" She jolted up, "It's fine, I'm fine."

"Great, so we died," said Kaboodle.

"No, the place is just empty." Said Gobbles.

Flappers flew out and embraced the outdoors, moving around like the sky was water. She tried not to think about Flappers' thoughts, especially when he paused and looked around for something. Gobbles meanwhile, he sat down, brushing his hand across silky grass, reminiscing about his old game—Gobbles & the Learnosaurs. From the metallic floors of the Nimble to the sandy ground of Flappers' world, this place was a comforting familiarity, and so he laid down in a bed of grassy nostalgia.

 

[PDBox]

Chapter 1 (Part 3/8)

Lucian's new movement routine consisted mostly of tripping into a flat slide, getting back up, and repeating that movement all over again. The headache kept him from a stable sprint.
At least I wasn't drunk, he tried to note before head pains took that thought away. Going back to the half-conscious glide would be dangerous, as his eyes kept trying to lull him into rest. He knew something had to be over there, hallucinations aren't that exact.

And so he moved, unable to focus on anything except the destination. The softness of the grass prevented him from being battered and bruised, even though the grass felt like a bed to the starving and thirsty Lucian.

Hill after hill after hill, distance itself lengthened by light-years now that there was a destination in play. The pain only made it feel longer. He was certain he saw their location when he attempted to slingshot into the air. He was definitely going in the right direction, unless he misremembered…

He shook that thought from his head, the grass seemingly nodding in agreement as he fell again.

And so he got back up, saw another hill, and crashed past it.

He got back up, saw another hill, and crashed past it.

He got back up, saw another hill, and crashed past it.

He got back up, and felt metal on his fingertips.

The segmented lengths of metal brushed against his fingertips. The metal was a connector for the figure's gauntlet and arm. The slender figure was lying face-down in the grass, while the other robust figure was face-up and unresponsive. They were machines, steel gray with purple highlights.
Lucian tried to bring the feminine robot up from the ground. He could barely bring her possibly hundreds of pounds of heavy metal up when his arms felt like acid replaced his blood. So he took a second option: percussive maintenance.

Unsure of his control over his own strength, he opted to grab the machine's right claw, drag the elongated arm back, and slam the backside of it down on her. While his head still ached he could see no dent on her, so he continued, banging the arm down before giving a few light taps on her head. The same motion repeated a couple more times, Lucian getting into the repetition of the act.

He would have done the same with the robust one but the feminine machine was closer, and the thought of food and water clouded his mind out of any new ideas. Up and down, sway and out, turn the machine out of the dirt and figure out what to do later, that was the plan his brain could muster.

He tried to mutter something but burning from the throat muffled that immediately. He continued, trying to ignore the headaches from such a uniquely loud sound in a quiet and predictable world: Up, down, headache; up, down, headache; try and push, arms burn; up, down, headache; up, down, headache; up, down, movement.

The arm started moving.

Lucian immediately tossed it, his heart rate spiking. It was a snake waking up, slithering on the grass slowly and stiffly, trying to identify its environment. Lucian's legs gave up from the shock, and his arms relented to the comfort of the soft grass. The snake meanwhile, found him. Its claw finally felt his skin, and began examining him.

It's so cold Lucian realized as it rubbed through his skin. Its tips prickled the skin, just far enough that it did not hurt. His mind panicked into bullet time, he had to turn it off lest his body burns again. Averting his gaze from the claw, he focused on the two machines as the hand clawed its way up him. The slender machine's left arm, the one that felt like it was going to rip when he pulled, was also awakening slowly. Retracting into a normal length. It pushed up, rolling the machine face up. She got up, and stared at him.

The purple and steel gray machine had only one yellow eye with a black square pupil and a mouth fit for a sadistic glee. Her shark-like teeth glistened in the sunlight as she looked over the green and blue environment before turning back towards Lucian. He recoiled backwards from that grin.

Her grin grew wide enough to nearly reach both ends of her face. As she pushed herself upright, her right hand that moved throughout his body. Suddenly wrapped around his chest and then his face. Her claw started to stroke the side of his cheek.

"Identity…" Her voice had a robotic echo yet had a soft cruel tone.

"L-Luci-." His voice suddenly stopped, fear mixed with days of dehydration creating a burning sensation in his throat.

"Lucy… Why approach?" The machine closed the gap as Lucian's breathing became more ragged.

"Water." Lucian gasped out.

She cocked her head, and then snickered before it turned into a sardonic laughter, the stroking stopped. She turned her head towards the still lying figure, before promptly extending her left arm towards it. Lucian's right hand tapped the holstered revolver, thankful that she did not notice it yet, and he would make sure it stayed that way, leaning his body rightwards in order to bury the gun beneath the grass.

While her purple bob-cut hair encompassed a significant portion of his view, Lucian was able to see what she was doing with the other figure, petting it like an animal. She stroked the top of the machine as though trying to wake a sleeping animal. Soon, the machine started moving, the limbs, as wide as the female machine's body, twisted around before placing themselves on the ground. The figure finally got back upright, and it was a literal beast.

Its single red eye glowed brighter than its pupil as its jaw opened tall, ready to chomp on anything nearby. Being far enough, only Lucian's skin crawled and his eyes just stared at the machine and the gleeful laugh the girl gave as it awakened.

"Name?" Lucian tried to ask.

She didn't even glance at that question, instead overriding it with her own. "Hero?"

"Huh?" Lucian said.

"Are you the hero, Lucy?" She asked again.

"What do you mean hero?" He choked out, fear drowning any pain his voice gave.

Her arm started tightening around his body further. "Objective?"

"Water…" He said again.

Her face scowled in frustration, muttering something off to the side before turning back. "Have you seen a Kitty-kitty?"

He shook his head, mouthing a silent no.

"Then, where are we?" Her voice grew louder.

"Green Hills?," Lucian's starved brain spoke, unable to fully recall his mental map of the place.

She hissed angrily through her gritted teeth, closing the gap between her face and him further. "DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING?"

Lucian's voice was glued shut by fear.

He heard her claws extend outwards. He braced. And felt…nothing, except a quick sound of static. The female machine yelped angrily before pausing, and then looked at him seemingly planning something.

"Water…eh?" She spoke.

Lucian decided not to speak.

"Help… and you might earn…" She said, stroking his cheek again.

While his mind starved, survival instincts still overtook the other parts of his brain. Get out his instincts told him. Lucian did not say anything to the girl, only the ragged breathing of fear bellowing out of his parched throat.

"Yes or no…?" She brandished her sharp teeth at Lucian. He nodded his head.

She grinned before backing off. Lucian shielded the revolver with his right hand, steadying his gaze at the machine as her arm untangled from him. He felt her gauntlet touch the back of his gun hand, but it continued its motion, unaware of the gun's existence. Immediately, his left arm was wrapped by it. Insurance.

His head ached as he got up, moving in a way that the right side of his body was minimized from those two. The female machine started walking uphill, and he noticed just how close the other one was to him. It merely stared at him, its red eye's glow illuminating Lucian's clean face and black hair.

He opted to move his hand away from the gun, indifference can hide the significant.

***​

"Uh, do we have any information here?" Gobbles asked. A bed of gold coins lingered in front of him and the others.

"Is this the win condition? It's shiny." Flappers said.

"Who the hell lays thousands of expensive ass coins in the middle of nowhere?" Kaboodle shouted, standing in the pile alongside Kit. For all the emptiness of this game, there were traces of someone present, like this entire pile of gold.

"Should we take some?" Gobbles asked.

"I don't see why not." Kit immediately pocketed a few coins, "In case we find a village or something."

"Right." Gobbles laughed nervously. It has been a few hours at least and the most they found were landmarks of possible battles, random scattering of coins on every hill, and no clue where Malice and Mayhem were. "Kit, we should go back."

"What? No… there must be someone here, someone that made all these." Kit brushed off. "There's no way a game world can be devoid of inhabitants."

"Kit? Are you alright?" Gobbles asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kit tried to reassure. "Our issue right now is finding the hero, we can only hope those two haven't found them first."

"Kit." Kaboodle interrupted. " We haven't found anyone here, nor a win condition—unless those coins somehow count. Besides, it takes ages for them to get to the villain."

"No, we can't let that happen!" Kit yelled at Kaboodle, before covering her mouth. "Kaboodle, I'm sorr-"

"It's fine Kit," Kaboodle said, "You may be right. Hey Flappers, can you scout around again?"

"I can't see that far-" Flappers responded.

"Ya-ya, and you're the only one that can fly. Besides, Malice and Mayhem must have regained consciousness by now." Kaboodle replied.

The dolphin dashed upwards.

"So, what do we have so far?" Gobbles said, bringing out the manual and patting some grass next to him.

Kit accepted and took a seat, "We know there's at least one person here. Judging by the Nimble's native life sign count now being 'at least one'."
Gobbles wrote that down, "Great, anything else? How about you Kaboodle?"

Kaboodle gave an exasperated sigh before sitting down on Gobbles' left, "Malice and Mayhem are probably awake and moving around."
"They'd be in the same situation as us." Kit noted.

"Except a lot more disoriented from that jump." Gobbles added.

"Exactly." Kit said.

"What about everything else in this place?" Kaboodle said, waving his hand across the horizon.

"Well, we do know about a few interesting places here." Gobbles then showed off a picture detailing the hills covered in bullet holes. "A battlefield?"

"Yeah, a battlefield in the middle of nowhere. Destination: the same fucking hills as everything else." Kaboodle sarcastically replied.

"Well, there could have been something important there." Kit said, scratching the back of her mind.

"And nothing is left there? No weapons, no nothing."

"There were coins in the middle of the place." Said Gobbles.

"Great, some buffoon dropped some money. What does it say?"

"That there's money…?" Gobbles said.

Kit shook her head at Kaboodle and Gobbles, "It could be a calling card. Another coin was put where the hills had streaks on top." She pulled it up from Gobble's manual.

"And nobody picked up free gold?" Kaboodle questioned.

"Seems like it. Bad omen, I guess?" Kit said.

"Probably, if there is anyone here." Gobbles doodled on a different page.

"There has to be someone here." Kit responded.

"Sure, but maybe something happened. Kaboodle said, "Maybe the villain won, and there's nothing else here."

"The villain wanted this empty place?" Kit said, taken aback at the implications.

"Hey, just a theory. You know how villains are like. Different." Said Kaboodle.

"Then why are there still marks of a battle here?" Gobbles asked.

"Survivors I guess…"

Kit sighed, "At least it's a decent theory." She looked back at the sun. "Strange, has the sun moved at all?"

Gobbles looked, "Uh, I'm not sure. The clouds feel static as well."

Just what game is this? Kit's mind echoed. "Stay silent, do you hear anything?" Kit ordered. Not even the sound of wind reverberated in the game.

"Nothing makes sense, UGH!" Kaboodle punched the grass, only the sound of the system lock came. "Just what fucking game is this?"

Gobbles stroked his head, Kaboodle breathed deeply, "I'll allow it this time."

"So, what do you have noted, Gobbles?" Kit said, hoping to change the topic.

"Uh, let's see: The game features an environment consisting of rolling green hills under the cover of a bright sun. The game is unusually deserted with the only signs of life we have seen being bullet holes, larger holes that are even more dug in, streaks of dirt, and gold coins along every hill—with a hoard of them right next to us. Main theory is that the villain has won and made the game empty of life. Oh right, and Malice and Mayhem are out there somewhere."

"We haven't checked the game name yet?" Kaboodle popped up, "Kit, what does it say?"

She scanned the place for the game name, "'Test Buildv3I Love My Wife But She left me for some chad please let me see the kids again Claira I promise I wont make Billy smoke an entire carton of cigarettes as punishment fuck your new husband I can beat him in my sleep I bet he cant satisfy you Claira I hate you I love I hat jesus fucking christ Dave why are you typing your thoughts in this the experiment is starting in a couple seconds why the fuck are you now typing what I'm saying' The words after v3 aren't spaced out." Kit added.

"…What in the fuc-"

"Guys, Guys! I think I spotted them!" Flappers swooped down.

"Malice and Mayhem?" Kit and Kaboodle asked simultaneously.

"I think." Flappers said, "They were far away, I couldn't see that clear-."

"Ya-ya, we know." Kaboodle interrupted, "What are those two freaks doing?"

"Going to the Nimble." Flappers answered bluntly.

"WHAT?!" Blurted out Kaboodle.

Gobbles cocked his head out of confusion, "Wouldn't they have known?"

"They blue screened, memories during that time fog out." Kaboodle said.

"Could be a random guess." Kit said.

"It may be, but we need to go. Now."

Kit grabbed onto Flapper's fin with Gobbles on the other. Kaboodle latched onto Kit's back as Flappers dashed away.

"Did you see anyone else nearby?" Kit asked.

"Probably."

"Huh?"

"I thought I saw a third arm behind the big guy."

 

[PDBox]

Chapter 1 (Part 4/8)

Lucian walked behind those two robots, focused on keeping a pace that hid him behind the larger machine. The less they see, the better. He kept quite, letting Malice drive the journey to that crashed ship. He was the one that vaguely knew where that ship was, and now it felt like he was slower than a snail, being dragged by a sadistic robot and her bestial companion.

He still kept his silhouette in a way the minimizes his right side. The big robot helped in covering it entirely from her. And that was all the thinking he could do. Normal walking was painful under his conditions, so much that his brain kept repeating left foot, right foot during the walk.

Lucian stared blankly down at the grass. Vision was hazy all around and the pull of her left arm was his main sense of direction. They stopped again.
"Where." The female robot asked. Lucian hid the gun out of view while scanning the horizon.

"There." He pointed, and they continued. There was a sense of gladness hidden underneath his mind of their dismissal of who he is, instead opting to do something else. Something that he would rather not spend the mental energy thinking about.

If the ship had something of value, then his company with these two machine would be worth it. Water was more valuable than food but at least food had some moisture. If all it had was fancy treasure and gold, he wasn't sure if he could live after.

Think brighter he tried to remind himself. The thought of fresh food or water aired in his mind. At least that's a good thought. Even if those two tried to prevent it, he tapped his contingency again, hard metal pressed on his fingertips.

He looked back up, a weird dissonance emerged again. His brain kept on imagining the sun has set, but the world kept show him the forever noon. Limbo, Limbo, Limbo.
The movement kept going where minutes felt like hours. Nothing happened, but pain kept the time. They moved forwards and forwards, hill after hill, and then they stopped.

Lucian kept on moving a bit unaware of them stopping. The girl glared at him. He stopped immediately.

Lucian looked at the two, trying to see what they were thinking. Did they see it? His mind blared and his heart raced. They weren't look at him, his heart relaxed while his eyes tried to follow their vision. Above the horizon, was the vision of something weird.

A large fish. He looked closer, a flying dolphin, carrying something. He stopped looking and reacted, diving behind the large machine, trying to avoid sight.

The arm that was restraining him immediately stopped holding onto him, and swung up the air. Enemies? Friends? didn't matter, an opportunity arose.

He kept to the larger machine's cover. The sounds of clanking metal and grunts dwarfed the once dead air. He heard muffled voices but didn't dare peek. He knew where the ship was.

The fight muffled the sound of his grapple, and the revolver was back in his hand, the question was when to dash away.

Lucian breath deeply, This starvation and thirst is mental, there is an opportunity to be rid of these. Keep calm and move. He readied his gaze, waiting for his cover to act. And act it did.

A roar rumbled in its chest, and the ground shook.

And Lucian pulled, hard.

As a force equivalent to a jet pulled on his body, he brandished the revolver, Berserker mode, spun the gun, and fired.

Farewell Fuckers!

***​

Flappers' dive gave them an opportunity she and Kaboodle never had against Malice and Mayhem: Surprise. While Gobbles was still clinging onto Flappers, Kit dashed off, using his fin as a boost.


Malice tried to strike. Her right arm overshot, instead hitting Flappers. Who deflected with a punch

Kit rolled onto the grass and fired a few charged rounds, Malice twisted and weaved through them. She swung her left arm at Kit, but she brought her energy shield up, tanking the blow.

Flappers charged in, knocking Malice out of balance. Gobbles let go and tumbled over the grass. Kit turned towards Mayhem, the big brute was a statue for the initial fight. His eyes jolting between everyone in front. Kit knew what he was doing: analyzing.

The beast roared, eyes and mouth glowing deep red. He charged. Kit tried to feint a left dodge, rolling over right. Mayhem swung his arms like a pincer. Kit readied her blaster, rolled back, and-

Ricochet, ricochet, ricochet. Something arrived. Mayhem was hit first. He tried to contain it, but the red round bounced rapidly between his arms and body. He instead released a more ravenous beast before falling.

Kit ducked and turned at Malice's yelp. Her left arm was broken once again, spilling black oil. She tried to reach for Kit, the streak decided to break her other arm in return. The red streak then started bouncing between the two hills, creating a bullet hole a second.

Gobbles tucked in his body—hands over his ears, Flappers flew upwards, while Kit brandished her shield in an upwards angle, examining where the streak was going alongside Kaboodle.

"KIT, OVER THERE!" Cried out Kaboodle.

Kit snapped her shield into position. The red streak crashed against it, ricocheting into space. The battle quieted immediately.

"Well, that explains the bullet holes." Kaboodle said, getting down from Kit. The hill was now riddled with the scars of battle.

Kit looked towards where the bullet came from, her gaze moving uphill.

There, she saw.

A figure moved between the hills. Almost graceful. Almost, as in them tripping, falling, and somehow moving with a level of control. A level of control towards somewhere. The Nimble.

She dashed off.

"Kit! What about them!" asked Gobbles.

She turned and saw the sorry state of those two. "Just keep them away from each other, that person is the priority." And she continued running.
Someone is here! Joy surged through her, filling her with a sudden, almost overwhelming sense of relief. And for one moment, her spirits soared. But that elation quickly faded as darker thoughts crept into her mind, Just what have those two done to them?

***​

Lucian wasn't exactly looking. A mental map of the ship's position filled his vision, obscuring the world around him. He tripped multiple times, but he could sense that it was close. Another shot from the grapple pulled him high into the sky. Once airborne, he retracted the line and scanned the ground below.

There! His mind roared. Across the crash trail, the yellow ship shaped like a cat's head stood still, looking at him. He ignored it. The ship had to have something.

He fired again and pulled down. His legs shook once he hit the ground, falling legs first into the grass. Weathering against another headache, he fired the grapple against the hill in front, reducing the speed of the retraction to getting him back to his feet and up the hill.

Going down, the velocity of his movement and the soreness in his legs made him tumble again, unceremoniously rolling down the hill while the grass cushioned the damage like always. Lucian got up, and saw the ship. It was standing.

It was staring at him. Two mechanical legs and arms, one arm was holding a giant wrench above its head. The ship was acting alive, albeit defensively as it soon brandished the wrench like a sword. He thought he saw its arms shaking and legs moving backwards.

Lucian tried to voice out, but excitement and desperation squeezed out only incoherent noises. Food, water, whatever. Just let me in machine. He steadied his position, no entrance here; go right under the machine and breach whatever door is there. He charged.

The ship-mech-thing swerved to Lucian's left, dodging Lucian as he dived into a slide. Lucian released a low-powered grapple, its tip punching into the earth a few meters between the ship and him. He pulled, changing direction back towards the ship.

He retracted the grapple back and fired again at a high arc. The low-powered grapple flew above and dug into the earth, behind the ship. The ship looked at where the grapple went and stepped to the side.

Lucian still pulled, taking advantage to change direction again closer to the ship's movement. He brushed his fingers onto the grass as he arced into a steep right turn before angling left and arcing the other direction. The motion repeated again and again as he moved closer. Lucian only needed to glance once to see the panic in the ship's body language.

Another left arc before he started braking. Slowing down in seconds as he spun and faced the machine. He charged.

The ship, unable to back away any faster, lifted its wrench up high. Lucian couldn't crack a smile as he saw the yellow glint, a parry flash. The ship swung down.

And Lucian punched. Hard. The world turned red for a split second as the ship cried out, stunned.

Lucian fired another grapple on its head, climbing over it and to its back. And there he saw it. The hatch.

A capsule shaped entry way with an orange trim surrounding it. There was no handle anywhere, only a slightly stepped seam on its bottom-third.
No, no, no. I can't. He banged his fists on the hatch, only dents. He tried to punch, he tripped and hit the grass. Lying face down, he looked towards the grapple on his left arm. And cracked out a small smile.

They say better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

 

[PDBox]

Chapter 1 (Part 5/8)

Kit slid down the hill, out of breath. They move so fast her exhausted mind spoke. The back of her head still held guilt over leaving Kaboodle and the others to deal with those two, but she didn't see a towering Malevolence during her run. Even still, that inhabitant was more important than old threats.

Her heart dropped at first sighting. The Nimble was sitting there motionless. She ran up to it.

"Status: still operational. And very afraid." The Nimble said.

It was only dazed, its canopy shut tight. She gave a sigh of relief. Until she saw the back. Pieces of the hatch laid scattered across the grass, their metal twisted and warped, bearing the telltale signs of having been violently wrenched apart.

Pressing her head against the Nimble, Kit heard the sound of rummaging interspersed with aggressive punches. She tighten her blaster grip.
The inhabitant is inside, searching for something. Did Malice tell them to arrive there? Can't be, they shot those two. Unless… The brash clang of metal startled her. No time for thinking, just hold out your blaster and get them to stop.

Kit charged her arm cannon. And walked in. Sorry.

***
​

Lucian was searching blind. The ship had sealed its windows and extinguished every light, leaving the torn-open entryway as the only source of illumination. He still found nothing.

WIRES, WIRES, METAL. WHERE THE HELL ARE THE BASIC SUPPLIES. His mind kept on crying out. His heart was racing. Fear was all that was left. He was bent downwards, searching underneath the consoles. Punching holes in its underside, reaching his hand through, and only feeling wires.

No, no, no no NO. Lucian felt tears starting to drip down his face. He could look upward, there could be something there. It was dark but he had his senses. He started moving back up-

"Hands up." A female voice arose.

Behind a chair a figure emerged, a bright purple glow in her right arm, and a feline figure. A figure reminiscent of her. He backed away to the edge of the ship as the glow grew closer.

He was now manually breathing.

***​

The light behind Kit could only show the person's shadow. A lean athletic frame, one shaking in panic. They backed away from her, hitting the edge of the ship and away from the sole source of light. She pressed forward, moving to the center of the cramped cockpit while tightening her gaze to the inhabitant.

An unnatural hush enveloped the cockpit, amplifying each footstep until even the slightest movement seemed deafening. She pressed the charged blaster to their face, angling to the side to avoid harm, even if she couldn't harm them.

His face looked smooth. A bit like Dusk with his slightly angular frame. Tear tracks streaked from his brown eyes down his cheeks. His mouth hung open in fear.

"Can you talk?" Kit asked.

His mouth stayed open.

***​

A yellow weapon pressed against Lucian's face, the same shade as the ship. Not like hers. The thought brought a fleeting sense of relief, quickly smothered by fear. Purple light spilled from the weapon, blinding him to the figure standing behind it.

Lucian froze. Hunger, thirst, every desperate need that plagued him moments earlier—vanished in a flood of survival.

That was all that mattered now.

His eyes darted to every part of the interior, trying to find a way out. Everything was obscured by darkness. The light spilling through the torn-open entryway illuminated only the girl, catching her catlike ears and brown hair.

She said some, but fear drowned out her words. The weapon slowly descended, its purple glow sweeping across the rest of his body. Until the purple glow caught the metal of his revolver.

She stopped there.

***​

Now what? Kit asked. He's carrying a gun, he hasn't talked. But he was afraid. Terrified. Asking for it might prone danger.

She brought her search upwards.

"Can you hear me?" Kit asked, her voice now softer. She rolled over her inventory trying to find a flashlight. There wasn't one.

How did we—wait no, Kaboodle has one—how did I forget such a basic tool. Her face furrowed before she breathed in, calm down, he's been with Malice and you're pointing a gun at him… not going great.

The guy tried to utter something. The sounds of dry rasping followed. Nervous much? His body looked fairly healthy in this empty game world where even a drop of water was non-existent. A million more questions popped up in the back of her head, and she kept it there, he was the priority.

What to do, what to do. His eyes were jousting around in the darkness, seemingly looking for a way out. She could let him go, but to where? There isn't anything here, unless he knew something. She needed answers.

She reached out.

***​

Lucian saw a hand approach. Four fingers gloved. Very much unlike the purple gauntlet with three claws. Her hand approached cautiously. There was nothing mechanical about its movements. They were distinctly human, right down to the nervous tremors.

His gaze clung to her outstretched hand. The frantic pounding in his chest subsided, each breath slower and deeper. As she approached, stopping just shy of him, Lucian finally allowed himself to relent.

***​

The guy edged closer. Kit's gently ran her fingers through his short, black hair, surprised by its softness. Her touch drifted downward, tracing the faint creases along his forehead before coming to a halt.

His eyes remained fixed at her hand, perhaps because it was the only thing he could make out in the surrounding darkness.

He needs to trust me, she reminded herself.

She hesitated, considering her next move. Then, slowly, she shifted the light away from his face, allowing the darkness to reclaim his features.

And brought the light to her own.

For him to see.

***​

The weapon and the light started moving back.

Towards the girl.

The purple light reflected off her beige skin—or was it fur, it was hard to say from how short it was—and into her cheery colored irises. Two eyes, unlike hers.

"Can you hear me?" Her voice spoke, softly and slowly.

He nodded. She didn't respond.

He reached out.

***​

His hand approached Kit. She moved the light towards it. It replied with a thumbs up.

"You understand?"

The hand gave another thumbs up.

Her mouth shifted to a soft smile. "Can you talk?"

The hand gave a thumbs down.

She paused, mind pulsing with what to ask. "Are you from here?"

The thumb dipped downwards before stopping, it moved to the middle.

Not much to gather there… "Did you meet a machine like me?"

His thumb moved upwards.

"Did they hurt you?"

His thumb oscillated between up and the middle. Kit waited, he took the middle ground of the two.

She dipped her head slightly, "Did they threaten you?"

His thumb moved up.

"…Are you okay?"

Thumbs down.

"Do you know anyone here?"

Thumbs down.

"Any place?"

His thumb was unsure, placed in the middle.

What do I mean in place?

"Do you have a home here?"

Thumbs down.

Kit paused in contemplation before asking, "Do you need help?"

His thumb dipped a bit from tiredness, but it moved upwards. In a shaky manner.

"What do you need help with?" She blurted out before gritting her teeth in embarrassment.

His hand stayed neutral.

"A place to go?"

Hand stayed the same.

"Information?"

Neutral.

"Someone to talk to?"

It notched upwards.

The place is isolating. If that was one then…

"Food and water?"

It swung upwards immediately.

Her body relaxed. A soft simile reemerged. She went through her inventory.

A juice box.

She unequipped the weapon. The room darkened instantly while she placed the straw in. The gun and the violet light came back, focused on the box. She reached out.

He edged closer. The warm touch of his hand covered her fingers. He reached out towards the drink and-

Roar.

***​

The sound of that machine tore through Lucian's senses, drowning out every conscious thought. His grip hardened as instinct took hold. Time stretched around him, the world slowing until even a bullet seemed to move at a crawl.

Fear gave way to something more primal

Fight.

***​

The guy pulled her arm, trying to grapple her. Kit twisted her body, slamming him into her side. They lost balance immediately.

She lost her grip as they fell to the floor, and the gun fired. A glimpse of red echoed on his chest. System lock.

She tried to pull back, but her hand was locked in a death grip. The darkness only intensified her instinctive attempts to recoil out of his grip. They stumbled sideways into one of the pilot chairs. And Kit found herself under his arm. Headlocked.

She closed her mind, breathing in slowly and relaxing her body and arms. Eyes opened once again, she looked around. In his other arm, light reflected cold metal. The revolver pointed at the light beyond.

Where she saw Mayhem.

And heard the voice of Gobbles crying out.

 

[PDBox]

Chapter 1 (Part 6/8)

Gobbles clung to Mayhem's back like it was a rodeo, struggling to hold on as the massive machine thrashed beneath him. Malice was too injured to do much, but Mayhem was a different story. Dropping on all fours, the machine charged straight towards the Nimble, its enormous frame moving with surprising agility as it effortlessly evaded Flapper's strikes.

Mayhem's metallic bulk dominated his vision, obscuring everything below the horizon.

Flappers? Kaboodle? Where are you? His thoughts cried out. Down another hill he saw the Seagull, it was currently pecking on top of something. The Nimble. They're here.

Gobbles braced for impact.

A force flung him from Mayhem's back, sending him tumbling through the air. Before he could even register what had happened, something caught him.

Flappers.

Mayhem was punched in his side, tumbling away from the craft. He started to regain his posture. The red glow of system lock streaking on the grass he pressed down.

Kaboodle jumped off of Flappers, throwing out a pair of restraining wires onto the beast. He rolled into a ball as the immobile Mayhem switched between tracking his or Flappers location.

Flappers threw a punch. Mayhem rolled away, far enough that Flapper's fingers slid into the wire and pulled it off him. Kaboodle rolled around Mayhem, dodging his attacks.

Gobbles got down from the dolphin's arm. Flappers promptly went to aid Kaboodle. Shifting onto the Nimble, Gobbles saw how motionless it actually was. Its canopy was shuttered off, he didn't know it could do that. He pressed his paw on its surface. "Are you okay?"

"Status report: Intruder inside." Its cheery tone edged with a fractured voice.

"Kit, where is she?"

"Inside."

"Oh no…" His voice trailed off. His eyes caught onto the dark entryway. Moving closer, he could hear the faint sounds of heavy breathing. He looked back at the broken hatch, and then the entryway.

"Kit, are you here?" Gobbles shouted.

"Gobbles?"

"Kit!" He cried out, climbing inside.

"Don't-"

Three shots whizzed high above Gobbles, startling him back onto the grass.

"Kit?" Gobbles asked.

"He's afraid, don't come insid-." Kit said, her voice choking out at the end.

"Afraid of what?" He looked back at the fight, Mayhem.

Far from the entryway, the fight remained at a stalemate. Flappers continued trading blows while Kaboodle darted around, using his small frame to search for weak points. Mayhem's growls and roars disturbed the dead air, made worse by the relentless clashes of metal. Three deep bullet holes from earlier marked the hillside beyond.

Gobbles had an idea.

He ran towards the fight, tripped on Kaboodle before grabbing him.

"Put me down! What the hell are you doing?" He shouted.

"A plan." Gobbles brought him up into the air. Like a fish to bait, Mayhem charged. Flappers slammed into his side again, Mayhem endured and kept chasing Gobbles.

The thunderous stomps echoed behind him, getting louder by the second. Gobbles didn't even dare to look, he used Kaboodle for that.

"He's getting closer!" Kaboodle shouted.

"How close?"

"CLOSE ENOUGH!"

His scales bristled as cold metal brushed against. He was so close, just a toss away. But he tripped at Mayhem's touch, rolling over to see the red eyed beast face first.

"You really doomed us." Kaboodle said dryly, pressed against Gobbles' chest.

Gobbles' eyes widened, glued on Mayhem's widening jaw. "Flappers!" He cried out. Mayhem's fist pulled up, and then slammed-

Into the ground.

Gobbles and Kaboodle wound back in Flappers' arms.

"WOO! I got you!" Flappers exclaimed.

"Thank you Flappers. Can you get us over there?" Gobbles pointed to the Nimble.

"What? I thought we were going awayyyyy-" Kaboodle's words dissolved into a scream as he was hurled through the air alongside Gobbles, like a poorly thrown football. They bounced along the grass, bruised and grunting.

Flappers prepared another blow against Mayhem. Fist pulling back and-

"Flappers, don't!" Gobbles shouted. Flappers switched directions immediately, hitting air instead. Gobbles looked at the entryway besides him and then the charging machine, back on his fours. I hope this works.

The ground rumbled again, growing faster and more intense the closer he came. Gobbles reflexively brought his arm up, blocking his face from Mayhem.

"WHAT WAS YOUR PLAN?" Kaboodle screamed from Gobbles' chest.

Mayhem then jumped, priming his fist against the immobile Kaboodle. Time seemed to slow down at Mayhem's apex, his black iris now covered by its red glow. Gobbles closed his eyes.

Three explosive bursts of gunfire shattered the surrounding stillness. The rounds struck Mayhem's side with an ear-piercing ring. Mayhem crashed into his side. It attempted to get up, but Flappers slammed into it. The dolphin's teeth grinding against each other as he grabbed Mayhem's legs and tossed him past the horizon. Blasting off away.

"WOOO!" Flappers pumped his fists into the air before making a peace sign at two. He jolted, looking around for red. Nothing. He went back to his victory pose.

Gobbles finally released Kaboodle. Who grumbled under his breath. They both looked into the darkness.

"Where's Kit?"
"Inside."

Kaboodle paused, "Give me the manual!"

"I dropped it back with Malice." Gobbles said sheepishly.

Kaboodle made a frustrated sound before opening his backpack and getting his out.

He opened the shutters.

***​

The explosive bursts were quickly overtaken by the environmental stillness as that Machine left the area, leaving only three: A dolphin, a dinosaur, and a robot. That was who was in front of him. Lucian breathed rapidly, eyes glued onto the newcomers.

Light spilled back into the ship. The canopy behind him opened up, momentarily blinding him. He looked at the newcomers, they were running towards him.

Fragmented voices drummed his ears. A gentle vibration stirred against his left arm. The girl was speaking.

He backed away, reaching the edge of the ship. His revolver aimed, finger on the trigger. The beast was gone, but these unknowns crept in. Slowly, then quickly. A dolphin's hand reached into the entryway, then two. A highly muscular dolphin. He fired a warning shot, high above.

The hands retreated. Tears dripped down his face. He could finally see, that there was nothing. Wires strewn across the floor, voices echoed beyond the interior. The person he was holding was now quiet. She was still warm, and she was still thinking. Lucian couldn't.

He turned his attention towards her. Watching. Waiting for her to do something. His mind felt frozen. His breathing manual. The feeling of knives prickled through his skin, and then warmth.

Her hand was upwards, reaching for something. Reaching for him. He paused, accepting her attempt. Unlike before, it wasn't gloved. She attempted the same strokes from before with the back of her hand, before switching to her front. Her palm rested against his forehead, her fingers moving in slow, soothing strokes.

The sounds from outside became muffled. His breathing slowed, once again nearly automatic.

"Can you hear me?" She spoke softly.

He loosened his headlock a bit, no longer fully choking the girl out. She stayed still.

"They're friends." She said, "They won't hurt you." She pulled her arm back.

He cocked his head to her side.

"Lower your gun, Mayhem isn't here. The other machine isn't here. No one can hurt you here."

He brought his revolver downwards, no longer holding the trigger. A sharp right clang from outside jolted him to the left end of the ship. He tried to bring the revolver up. Her outstretched arm blocked it. He did nothing except watch.

The small magenta dinosaur went in first, nervously. He stared at the scene sheepishly before backing away to the other side.

The dinosaur spoke outside, "Hey Kaboodle, you should probably calm dow-"

An aggressive ball of metal rampaged in. It bounced on the seat, before redirecting towards Lucian. He ducked, it hit the consoles behind him before bouncing and grabbing his neck.

"Kaboodle, No!" She yelled.

Lucian tried to shake off the cold metal arms, it held on tight. Yet it seemingly did nothing. He slammed it on backside of the wall, the ball released its grasp and rolled back to where the dinosaur was. One eye with a red iris, it gritted its teeth and furrowed its brow.

Dolphin? His mind asked. A battle cry roared out and a humanly muscular dolphin dashed in, went for an uppercut. And stopped just shy of the girl.
"Pull back Flappers." She said. The dolphin obliged.

"All right, who the fuck are you bitch?" The ball said.

Lucian tried to say something through his rasping throat.

"He can't talk Kaboodle." The catgirl intervened.

"You're talking for him?"

"Yes." She said dryly.

The dinosaur stepped in, "Uh, can you let her go? We won't hurt you."

Lucian just stared at him.

The dinosaur merged back into the group sheepishly. The dolphin's face was on the verge of speech, but a single look at the girl kept the words bottled up.

"Come on, what do you want?" The ball asked.

"You're making him more scared." The dinosaur said.

"He has Kit!"

"Yeah, he has Kit." The dinosaur replied. The ball then stared back at the two. His eye shifted between Lucian's gun to the arm around Kit's neck. His expression turned to horror.

The girl, Kit, then spoke again, "I can handle it Kaboodle." She turned her head as far back as possible towards Lucian, "Put the gun back. They're just as scared as you. I'm here, they will not harm you. Please."

Lucian's breathing was stilted, slow. His hands trembled as he brought it lower, down to his hip. He almost felt, relieved. The revolver went back into the holster. His heart raced further, but his gun hand stopped trembling, his breathing naturalizing; his mouth closed, no longer breathing through his mouth.

Kit gently rubbed his right arm, her palm moving in slow, smooth strokes. His racing thoughts gradually quieted; he thought he could see a thin simile plastered on her face. He looked towards the group in front of them, they were all silent. They were glaring, glancing, or lost in thought. His mind wondered what to do, and then back to why he was here.

The dolphin suddenly posed while he was looking around. Flexing its muscles like it was a bodybuilding competition. Lucian's eyes did a double-take.
"He's distracted, I'll get Kit!" The Dolphin said.

"Flappers, what the-"

The dolphin, Flappers, charged.

Lucian swerved to the side, the dolphin's left hand turned to a fist as it shifted directions, towards Kit. He saw a flash of yellow. He shielded her instead.

He braced his right arm. And saw red, not blood. Red shielded him. His mouth opened in shock, arms feeling nothing.

"What?" Flappers cried out.

"It's system lock, you can't hurt him, you baffo-"

Lucian blinked. Static.

And everything changed. Kit was still in his arm—silent yet breathing meditatively, their place was still the same, but the group was in different locations.

The machine, Kaboodle, sat in the main cockpit seat out front, using the controller. The dolphin was blending in next to the entry point, tucked away sheepishly. The dinosaur, Gobbles, just looked at them, his body was shaking, seemingly frightened from something. The rumbles of heavy metal vibrated beneath him. The view out front was different, and moving. What happened?

"He's awake." The dinosaur said.

Kaboodle turned towards them, opened his mouth, and pulled back. Gritting his words with his teeth.

Lucian looked around for it, nowhere. His mouth was now a desert. His throat burning.

"Kit? What's he doing?" Gobbles asked.

"He's thirsty. I dropped a juice box here."

Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? The floor was still covered in wires, yet it was clean of anything else. He turned towards the dinosaur, staring dead at him.

"I didn't see anything here. It must have dropped."

His throat tightened, his eyes drowned in tears. Nothing, absolutely nothing.

"You wanted water?" Gobbles asked.

Lucian's voice quivered, shook until finally, "Y-yes." His throat burned.

"Kit!"

"Trying." She spoke.

Something then landed on his face softly before hitting the ground. A bottle.

"Here." The machine said.

Gobbles picked it up, opened it, and handed it to Lucian.

He took it. And let go of Kit.