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huffle-dork · 6 months ago

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Glitch into the Hufflverse Chapter 9: Darker Seas

Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs | Read Septnautical | Darker Seas AU

Read SITCV | Read SATCV | GITHV Masterpost

Schneep, JJ and Anti have been swimming for a while. But finally, they seem to enter a new area. It’s filled with floating balls of glowing blue, caught in net like substances that keep them from floating completely off the sea floor. It’s dark down here and kinda chilly.

Wish you could see this place, Schneep, JJ says. It truly is fantastical.

Schneep sighs. "I am starting to get tired of hearing that."

Oh. Sorry.

"No, it is not your fault. Just keep to objective descriptions, yes?"

They swim through large trenches of dark stone, keeping low and towards the rocks. Then, Anti suddenly turns and starts to head down a seemingly random dark hole.

JJ blinks in surprise as Anti chooses this hole, of all of them. Watch your head, he says as he follows Anti through.

"Watching," Schneep says, swimming after the two of them, tendrils outstretched to keep track of the walls of the tunnel.

Anti hurries through and soon enough they enter a huge cavern with even more of those floating blue pods. It’s even darker here though, the glowing pods being the only real source of illumination besides the boys’ bioluminescence. There’s the sound of eerie clicking and screeches in the distance. “…stay close- lots of crabsquids here… but we’re almost there.” Anti says.

Schneep frowns. “I do not like those clicking sounds…” JJ reaches out and holds his hand.

“Yeah the clicking is the crabsquids… they’re more threats to the human subs and shit but.. still not pleasant to deal with. And they taste terrible too.” Anti grumbles.

Curious bright rays swim through the dim water- similar to JJ’s color and shape but they have longer tendril-like wings and a long flowing tail. They make high pitched song-like cries as they circle through the water.

“Oh, those sounds are better though!” Schneep perks up a little.

JJ laughs. They look a bit like me, but with tendrils for wings.

“Interesting.”

Finally, the darkness recedes a bit to show a dark blue colored base hidden amongst the rough tall stones on the sea floor.

There’s movement and then a familiar face to the other boys shows up. It’s Zara. She’s in a darker version of her suit- her hair chopped short and a very stark scar on her cheek like she’s been raked with claws. But, she grins as she sees Anti. “Anti hey! Did hunting go alright? We were wondering-“ then she stops herself as she takes in the sight of the other hybrids. “…woah w-what?”

“…long story.” Anti says quietly, gripping the bag on his shoulder. “…rather explain it all to Danan and Google all at once. …these guys say they want your help though.”

Zara looks surprised by this, “..r-really?”

JJ nods. It’s nice to see you, he signs, the robot translating his words. My name is JJ, and this is Schneep.

Zara’s eyes shine at seeing the robot, “woahhh! That’s some really cool tech…!” She whispers.

Schneep nods. “We are, ah… Anti is right, it might be best to explain everything with everyone there. But basically, we are from far away, and when we arrived here the hybrids took three of our friends.”

Zara shakes out her head and nods, gesturing to follow. “y-yeah of course… follow me.”

She dives down towards the base and Anti swoops down after her. JJ and Schneep glance at each other before also following.

Unlike the last base- this one doesn’t have a lot of attachments or tunnels. There’s a few but… not a lot. Only a few large rooms and no windows- bordered up with dark tints and very little light on the outside.

Zara swims to a bulk head door and knocks something on the metal. A pattern. There’s a pause and then a man opens the door just peeking through, his eyes glowing bright blue. He looks startled slightly then says in a rough voice. “Zara what is..?”

“Anti brought them… and you know he’s trustworthy.” Zara says shortly.

There’s a pause and then the man opens the door. He’s about average height, long messy black hair cut about shoulder length. And unusual robotic eyes shine behind glasses. “…Danan is in the lab.” He says simply then swims down the flooded hall. Zara looks at the others then follows. Anti sighs and follows.

“That’s Tillman… but he asks everyone to call him Google.” Zara says quietly. “…it’s what his brother used to call him.”

Anti is quiet at this, though his face looks a bit pained. Soon enough Google stops and opens another hatch to go inside.

The two of them trail behind the others. Schneep frowns. He leans over to JJ and mutters, “We did not see him last time, did we?”

JJ shakes his head. This whole place is giving him a bad feeling. A dreadful feeling. This place is so small… and Zara’s comment about what Tillman’s brother ‘used’ to do isn’t going unnoticed. He just knows something bad happened here.

Inside is a sparsely filled lab space with a few fabricators, though some look damaged. There’s some energy converters and a small aquarium that’s currently empty except for plants. The boys recognize the face of Dr. Danan as she concentrates on trying to fix one of the fabricators.

She blinks up at the approaching figures and smiles tightly. She looks a lot more worn down and tired then she did before. She floats over to meet Anti. “Anti! Good I was getting worried… what were you able to find?”

Anti takes off his bag and hands it to Danan. “…a few med kits… a couple bladderfishes, a couple good fish from the shallows… I think there’s a nutrient pack in there too…”

Danan busies herself with looking and nods. “Okay… w-we can work with this… S-Stacy is sick and the kids are not looking great either… but this should… should help. Thank you.”

“…sorry I wanted to get more but… I ran into complications…” Anti mutters, flicking his tails, one nudging Danan to look up. She does and then her eyes widen at seeing JJ and Schneep. “…o-oh my stars…!”

JJ waves, trying to look friendly.

"Hello there," Schneep says. "I imagine this is quite a shock for you. Let me explain quickly. My name is Schneep, and this is JJ. Us and three friends suddenly arrived here, and got attacked by those other hybrids. A-Anti has told us about them and Alterra. O-our three friends were caught by them."

JJ nods in agreement. We need to get them back. We need to get home.

Danan’s eyes widen and looks at Anti, “…j-just like…”

“Yeah.” Anti says shortly. “…looks like him too. T-thought it was a sick clone joke but… I don’t think it is. Marv tried to capture them too.”

Danan looks even more surprised. “I… I don’t understand… you have… other hybrid friends?”

“Yeah,” Zara snorts, “I thought they were culling their hybrids. Getting rid of the mindless defective ones. So their fucking pets get their enrichment-”

Anti growls and glares at Zara, “Don’t call them that!”

Zara blinks and then slinks back, gripping her arm. “…sorry Anti I… sorry..”

“What do you mean by home?” Google speaks up, narrowing his eyes. “Alterra has prohibited any unauthorized entry or exit of the planet until they’ve… perfected the hybrid project. So… either you’re from the other bases but… we haven’t had much contact with anyone else lately… and they… only HQ makes the hybrids.”

"Well... what if we were to tell you that we were not from this planet?" Schneep says slowly. "What if we were to tell you that we're from another universe?"

Four different universes, actually, between the five of us, JJ says. Places where things like THIS are possible. He holds his hands up, conjuring a little light show with his magic.

"It sounds incredible, but I promise you, it is true," Schneep says. "The reason we look like the hybrids you know is because we are them, from some other branch of the multiverse. We've been hopping through a couple universes, actually. The last one we were in... was much like this one. Only, the hybrids were not under Alterra's control. None of them."

I know it's unbelievable, but this is not a joke, JJ says, looking very serious.

Everyone’s eyes widen.

“T-That’s possible?” Zara breathes.

“I-I’ve heard of theories but…!” Danan whispers.

Anti zooms up to Schneep and JJ, his eyes wide and desperate. “…t-there’s a world where my… my brothers are safe? Where they’re free?” his voice chokes up at the end, pin pricks of tears in his eyes.

Schneep instinctively swims backwards, but JJ stays where he is and nods. Yes. In fact, I remember them saying that YOU had been caught by Alterra for a while. But they rescued you. And in that world, you're all safe... or, as safe as you can be.

Tears freely fall from Anti’s eyes now as he looks to JJ with a sad expression- but there seems to be the lingering of hope behind his eyes. “…they can be saved…?” he breathes.

"Th-this is why it's so important that we find our friends," Schneep says. "We are not supposed to be here. Th-they all have lives—friends and jobs and families—to get back to." He shakes his head. "I-I know it will be difficult, but we need to find them. And if... Alterra has done anything to them, we have to figure out how to undo it. I-I'm sure you have been working on something like that, even if you haven't been able to do anything yet. Yes? Perhaps with our more unique abilities, we can help."

Danan, Zara and Google all share glances. Zara then grips her arms and looks away, “…my brother is the reason this fucked up process exists… we found WH- …Marvin… I-in the lost river and I’m good with tech and biology and so I… I got Zeke some scans. Marvin was hurting… and I thought we were gonna help him. But… zeke had worse plans. He took my blueprints and made those awful masks and worked with Demerci to make those chips and…”

“…they all got captured… one by one…” Anti says quietly, “…they waited until they found me to test it completely… I saw it happen. I saw them shock the memories out of my brothers until they were all unrecognizable. They don’t even remember their names… or me.” Anti glances briefly at JJ and Schneep, “…they probably did that to your friends.. I.. I’m sorry.”

“Of course we’ve been trying to figure out a way to free them…” Danan says miserably, “I… I helped to raise them. I watched them grow and explore the ocean and… I-i thought Alterra would move on from them… m-maybe leave them alone,.. but I was wrong…”

“They still have Jack too..,” Anti whimpers.

“… we think interfering with their ear chips or their masks if they have them might disrupt the mind control signal the Alterans are using. The technology is based on hive minds found on other planets… but with WH-005’s ability to warp in aid and CH-007’s ability to control the wildlife and.. and the other two's ferocity and speed… we haven’t been able to try.” Google explains.

All this technical talk goes over JJ's head, but Schneep nods slowly, parsing out what he hears. JJ winces. Memories can't be gotten rid of—only suppressed. His signs are slow, and there's a slight desperate expression on his face. I'm sure that there's some way...

Anti’s eyes widen, “…really…? They… they might still remember?” He pauses. “…I can’t hurt them,” He says, digging his claws into his shoulders, “… I know they wouldn’t want to be doing this so I… I can’t. If I fight them I could… I.. I’m too dangerous to be around them…”

“And Anti’s the only one who can even get close to them…” Zara says sadly, “…O-Ollie and Lizzie tried but…”

Google shuts his eyes with a pained look, quickly looking away.

JJ winces. I'm... sorry for your losses. He can't believe that the same kind people they met in the last world did something like that.

"Ear chips and masks..." Schneep repeats absentmindedly. "JJ, did the hybrids all have something like that?"

I think so? I didn't get close enough to Henrik or Jackie to check their ears, but they must have, JJ says.

"So... we must interfere with the signal somehow..." Schneep says slowly. His tail and tendrils whip around, eyes darting randomly as he thinks. "Do you know any magic that might be able to do that?"

I try to stay away from mind magic, but... I could try? JJ suggests. There has to be something about magic against technology.

"I think if they have been caught, you will have to be the one trying to get their chips out," Schneep says. "I will not be able to find something as small as an ear chip—not quickly enough, at least. I can distract them in the meantime. I'm sure that even if they pin me down, I can jump out."

What if they catch you? JJ says, worried. What if they hurt you?

"I can probably jump out," Schneep mutters. "And if I get hurt... well, you'll have to conserve your magic, then."

JJ still looks worried.

“I’m sorry we’ve never heard of… actual magic before. Only ancient stories from our ancestors on earth…” Danan says. “but.. if you all have a power Alterra doesn’t… there could be a chance…”

JJ nods. Magic isn't even well-known where I come from. But yes, it seems like this world doesn't have any. They won't be prepared.

“In the mean time…” Google says slowly, “we are all well hidden here… they haven’t found us yet. We don’t have much for food but… we can at least give you a place to rest and prepare.”

"We would really appreciate a place to rest," Schneep says.

Zara fidgets with her hands and glances about, “…I’ve been trying to work on something… s-something that could possibly affect the chips but it’s still very experimental and I’m a good fighter but.. “ she touches her cheek and shudders, “… I had a bad run in with RL-006… I… I haven’t been able to swim as well since then… but… maybe if you all and anti and me work together-?”

“M-Me?” Anti looks up at Zara and then swims back. “N-No way. I… I’m not getting involved in this anymore than I have!”

You don't have to participate if you don't want to, Anti, JJ says. I’m sure it's difficult for you.

"But at the same time, you would be a good help," Schneep says. "Any combat experience would be helpful."

JJ nudges him.

"What? It is true. I am good, but there will be a lot of them! And I will remind you, I cannot fucking see."

Anti holds his arms and suppresses a shiver. “…Alterra wants me too. Keep telling me they n-need the complete ‘set’. I-If I expose myself to them then I… I…”

“You can’t see?!” Zara shouts in disbelief. “Oh god… that’s- this must be sooo confusing for you. …and strange because uh.. I’m guessing you’re supposed to be SH-003 based on your face and accent but he definitely can see…”

“…he used to need goggles. Like Google.” Anti mumbles.

Schneep laughs. "Oh, so confusing. But yes, I am blind. I used to be able to see, but there was an... incident. And this was the result."

Do you want to talk about that? JJ asks.

"No. Not yet." Schneep shakes his head.

Danan looks at the boys kindly and tries to smile. “Please… rest here as long as you need… I wish we could give you more to prepare but…”

“I-I’ll… I’ll get more food. I won’t leave the reef.” Anti says shortly and then swims towards the tube at the top of this room.

“…give him time… I.. I know he cares, deep down.” Danan says gently. “I can tell he’s worried about your friends… but he’s been through so much with what happened to his brothers…”

No no, we understand, JJ says. Us and our friends have been through a lot, too.

“We’ll help though…” Zara says, anger burning in her eyes, “…I c-couldn’t help to save the boys before but I… I can help now. I can make sure Alterra doesn’t keep taking away the people we care about.”

"Thank you," Schneep whispers to Zara.

There’s a beat then Google asks in a monotone, “…do you all need… beds? Or a… a nest?” He looks confused. “…I don’t know what hybrids sleep on… Anti sleeps on anything.”

“Especially if it’s warm,” Zara laughs. “Like a cat on a heating pad.”

JJ and Schneep glance at each other. Do you think we should change back? JJ asks.

"Well, this place is mostly underwater, so this is certainly more convenient." Schneep absentmindedly touches the bracelet on his wrist. "If we have to move quickly, this would be better."

That's fair. Then... where do we sleep?

Schneep shrugs. "Somewhere to curl up, I suppose? Somewhere soft."

JJ tilts his head. Yes... that feels right, somehow. I have the strangest urge to find some small space and squeeze in.

Schneep laughs.

“Hybrids usually do find themselves compelled to act on their mother species instincts,” Danan laughs lightly. “…Chase used to sing. Henrik collected scrap and made piles…” she cuts herself off, her voice getting a bit choked up. “…d-do whatever you need to make yourselves comfortable.”

“I think there’s some extra dock leaves around… let me get you a pile. Or… maybe some extra blankets.” Google says as he floats back out into the hallway.

JJ nods. Some blankets would be great.

“You said…Change… back, Schneep?” Zara asks with a tilt of her head. “What do you mean by that?”

"Ah... the changing back is complicated," Schneep says. "Let's just say that, in our worlds, we can be human."

Zara and Danan’s jaws drop.

“I.. I haven’t heard of something like that…!” Danan stammers. “I mean of course you’re half human with the DNA but…”

“You can change just like that?! To a human??” Zara gasps.

Well we have to be on land to do it, JJ says. We can't do it in the water. It's these bracelets that help us do that. He indicates his wrist. Our friend Alt made them. He's... one of the ones who got taken.

"These bracelets are surprisingly secure," Schneep mutters. Then his eyes widen. "Ah! W-we should probably talk about our friends, yes? Just—just in case."

JJ nods. Alt, Bro, and Jackie. Alt has magic like me, but more electricity based. Bro is super strong. Jackie... seems fairly normal. Normal in terms of hybrids, I mean.

“That’s… that’s insane…!” Zara laughs breathlessly. “God… Alterra would kill for tech like that…” but her face falls hearing the name Jackie and she swallows shakily.

"What are the names of their fish species...?" Schneep's brows furrow. "Alt is some sort of electric eel, Bro is a shark of some kind, heavy armor, and Jackie is something from a different crater—something called a chelicerate."

JJ raises an eyebrow. You don't remember amp-eel or bone-shark but you remember that long word?

"It comes from the scientific word for that sort of sea crab species."

Danan’s eyes widen, “A chelicerate? Outside of sector zero?? …those are all hybrids Alterra hadn’t attempted to make a stable version of yet… n-no wonder Alterra took an interest in them…”

Google swims back in with a bundle of plush comforter type blankets and sets them down in a corner. “There… I hope that is enough. It was all I could find.”

JJ smiles. Thank you, sir. I think this will be enough.

Schneep swims over, feeling out the blankets. "Oh! Oh, soft. Soooooft." He grins, settling down on the blankets, his eyes turning yellow for a brief moment.

JJ laughs. Save some for me!

"Oh, right, of course." Schneep gets up and starts separating the blankets out.

Danan laughs a bit at Schneep’s response to the blankets. “Get as much rest as you need. We will be around if you need anything.”

JJ looks at the humans in the room. Thank you all so much for your help. And tell Anti thank you too if you see him before we do. You're all so kind, and so brave.

Zara looks touched. “…thanks JJ. I.. I’m gonna try to see if I can improve my device! Maybe it can help you…” she quickly swims out.

Google gives them a slight smile, his lip just barely curling up. “It’s no problem. Give them hell if you can. … for Ollie.”

"We will," Schneep promises, facing Google. "And thank you some more."

“Anti should be back soon… try to rest until then okay?” Danan smiles and her and Google head out.

After the humans leave, JJ settles down to rest as well, pulling some of the blankets over himself. He makes a strange ghostly noise in his throat—which he doesn't mean to do, but immediately regrets as soon as it happens. He rubs his throat, frowning.

"Was that you?" Schneep asks, amused.

Yes. I didn't know I could do that. JJ pauses. Maybe... being in this form so long is affecting us. Back home, a danger of animal transformation is becoming the animal for real.

Schneep frowns. "Well, we are not fully animal. We will... probably just have some strange reactions. It will be fine."

I suppose you're right, JJ says. Well... good night?

"Good night." Schneep settles down on top of the blankets, curling his tail up. "We should sleep well. Tomorrow... I'm sure we'll need the rest."

And it's been a long day, too, JJ says. Good night, he says again, then closes his eyes.

The two of them try to sleep, and slowly, despite their worries, they drift off.

=========

Meanwhile, even as the sun sets on the surface and the ocean turns dark- the new Alteran weapons are trying to sniff out their prey.

“How are we supposed to find these guys anyways?” BS-8 growls, “we don’t know what they look like!”

AE-10’s speaker sounds off, “SD… he is a sea dragon.” he says shortly.

“Oh… well. One of them we know at least. Did they even tell us what the other hybrids looked like?”

CE-9 shakes his head. "No. They didn't. But—they won't be under Alterra control. They'll probably run when they see us." He grins. "And we'll chase them."

“Yess! That’ll be such a thrill!” BS-8 grins too, showing off his sharp teeth.

“…they are most likely hiding…” AE-10 says, “Which means running to them out in the open is unlikely…”

"Right, of course. Hiding, hiding, hiding." CE-9 starts swimming in circles for a moment. "Hiding... where would prey hide? Maybe—maybe deep down. Can we go deep down? Let's go deep down. We need to find a way." He starts diving.

BS-8’s eyes flash and he grins. “Yeah yeah!!” He quickly dives after CE-9.

AE-10 seems to regard them with a bit of annoyance but glitches to catch up. He shakes himself out as electricity courses along his tail in response. “…I suppose that is logical… they were in the… kelp forest.” His gaze becomes unfocused for a second as if processing information then he nods. “If they found a way underground… that leads to the grand reef. Northwards-”

"Northwards," CE-9 repeats, changing direction. He knows which way is north instinctively. "Grand reef? Reef..." He shakes his head. The word isn't familiar to him. This whole environment seems strange to him, actually, but it doesn't matter, does it? There is still prey here to find.

“Correct. Though it is night, now. They could be sleeping. Which will make detection harder.” AE-10 replies.

BS-8 snorts and bares his teeth. “I don’t like just lookin’ I wanna tear something’ up. I’m fucking starving.” He hears a call up above and grins as he sees a large looming creature, long floating tentacles dangling behind it. Spots of green glow underneath it in small clusters. “Ohhh! Think we could kill that??”

CE-9 also starts drifting up towards the creature. He could take that. He knows he can.

“Not advisable BS-8.” AE-10 drones, “Please stay focused.”

“But I’m hungryyy AE!” BS-8 whines.

CE-9 frowns at AE-10 as well. But he's right. They have to stay focused. Even so. "We need to eat, we need to eat to swim," he says, twitching a little. He looks around. "Small things, maybe? Anything. They'll be fast, good practice for fast things."

Oooo, what about that fish with a big eye? CE-9's lock onto it. His throat rumbles with the beginning of a roar.

“…fine. Don’t stray too far.” AE-10 drones.

“Don’t you wanna join AE?” BS-8 asks.

“My mask prevents me. I will get fuel when we return successfully.” AE answers. BS shrugs then grins at CE-9, “Let’s see how many we can kill!”

Then he rockets down into the trench below them, darting out to try to catch the peepers.

They are over a large expanse of ocean that looks very sparse except these trenches and spots of glowing flora. Peepers and Reginalds float around though, good source of food.

It doesn’t look like they’re too far from the grand reef though- there’s spots of glowing blue up ahead.

…and it looks like they’re not the only large creatures attempting to hunt here. Though that is strange.. this place looks pretty barren. It’s hard to see what kind of creature it is through the dense fog- but it does seem to have multiple tails.

CE-9 lunges at one of the peepers, catching it in his arm and immediately biting into its flesh. Once he's done tearing it apart, he looks up, and catches the sight of some tails flicking through the fog. He grins. And instantly charges that way, letting out a screeching roar.

The creature stiffens and then cries out in surprise as he’s suddenly tackled to the sea bed by CE-9. This hybrid has dark green hair and black sclera- kinda like AE-10. He’s got green scales and sharp teeth and claws. He looks like he’ll make a fun fight.

The hybrid’s breath hitches, especially once he notices the gauges on CE-9’s ears. “N-No!”

He panics and then opens his mouth, trying to hit CE with a fireball.

CE-9 shrieks and jerks backwards, trying to shake off the burning fire, unintentionally freeing the hybrid in the process. He shakes his head--and then realizes what just happened. That's not normal prey. That's the target. "Sea dragon!" he gasps. "SD-4!"

Anti looks absolutely terrified and quickly tries to kick up sand with his tails to temporarily blind CE-9 to try to escape.

Meanwhile, AE-10’s head snaps down to see the target and CE. He stiffens getting a message from WH-5, who’s still watching them, in his head. ‘Thats the target. Do not let him get away. Do not fail.’ Yellow pulses in AE’s eyes as he nods and calls out. “BS! We found him!”

BS-8 looks up from where he’s caught a peeper in his mouth, yellow blood sprayed around his face, slowly chewing. He spits out the rest then grins and starts to give chase. AE-10 follows close after, charging up electricity in his hands.

CE-9 closes his eyes and charges forward, grabbing onto Anti, trying to pin him down. He glances back at the others. Have to secure the target! Don't let go, don't let go!

Anti yells out and quickly slips his tails out of CE-9’s grip and tries to scramble away. He quickly breathes out another fireball at CE in his scramble.

BS-8 soars after him but is having trouble keeping up.

AE-10 tries to throw out blasts of his magic but misses as Anti serpentines out of the way. He hurriedly swims north towards the reef, making sure he still has his bag.

CE-9 screeches, letting go and clawing at the space where the fireball hit. Not burning! Not burning! Anything but burning! He drops down to the floor of the sea and rolls in the sand for a bit until he doesn't feel the pain anymore. Then he gets up again, breathing heavily, and darts after Anti, letting out another roar.

BS-8 hears CE-9’s distress and looks back, going up to swim next to him. “You okay CE?”

"Fine!" CE-9 snaps. "Let's go!" He snarls ferally and keeps swimming, determinedly charging forward after Anti.

“Right!” BS-8 grins, his eyes flashing brighter. He hurries after them too.

AE is still trying to get closer, glitching to get further down and trying to blast SD-4 off course. But the sea dragon knows this area better than them- he’s darting behind rocks and places the others aren’t prepared for. AE finally manages to glitch close to Anti to blast an electric ball right into his side. Anti screeches and crashes into a rocky wall, momentarily disoriented.

“Don’t resist, SD-004.” AE-10 growls out, “Capturing you will prove our worth to Alterra. We will not fail.”

Anti spits out sand and glares at AE. “T-they don’t give a single shit about you! J-just leave me alone!”

CE-9 catches up, growling down at Anti. He lunges forward, trying to grab him again, screeching so loudly that it's disorienting.

Anti yells and curls up to try cover his ears, then whips out one of his tails to wrap around CE’s tail and throws him back into the rock before darting away again.

"Ah!" CE-9 wasn't expecting that. He hesitates for a moment, then shakes himself off and lauches himself forward again, mandibles outstretched.

BS-8 shrieks and tries to follow Anti hot on his tail. AE-10 tries to glitch after them.

CE-9’s mandibles catch onto Anti’s tail and pulls him back and Anti screams in fear. “No- no!!” CE-9 growls. He looks back at the others as he tries to pull Anti closer—but that moment of distraction is enough for Anti to wriggle free again, at the cost of scraping his tail on the serrated ends of CE-9's mandibles. Orange blood flies into the air. CE-9 screeches in anger.

Anti hurries away as fast as he can- but a trail of blood follows him through the water.

AE-10 manages to tackle Anti to the ground and pins him down, “WH-5! We need a warp!”

Blue and purple blooms bright behind AE and Anti and Anti sees a flash of familiar pink eyes. He panics and throws AE-10 back and WH and AE crash into each other in a heap. Sparse electricity crackles from AE’s tail and mildly shocks WH and the warp gate crackles with green before bursting into bubbles. WH makes a confused screech and- his blue eyes show through the pink, looking confused.

Anti watches this with wide eyes and hesitates- then he quickly tries to dart away while eveyone is distracted.

AE tries to glitch after him- only causing WH more distress as his body momentarily glitches too.

CE-9 stares at AE and WH in shock for a moment, a little scared of what he sees. But then he remembers the target is getting away. He screeches and swims after Anti, but he has a head start. Even CE-9's charging speed isn't enough to close the distance. BS-9 also stares at AE in confusion but tries to dart out after Anti, nipping at his tail. Then Anti manages to throw sand in their faces again before he slips down into a tunnel and disappears from sight.

WH-5 pushes AE-10 off of him and swims away, looking at him with wide eyes. “T-That was Anti- I… y-you…!” He sounds more emotional than anyone had heard him so far. He opens up his palm to try to make another wrap gate but then his hands crackles with green lightning and he makes a muffled shout, holding his hand. “I-I can’t warp?! What did you do to me?!”

AE-10 trembles back, something flickering in his eyes. Why does this feel so familiar? … this hasn’t happened before right?

"Anti?" CE-9 repeats, looking back at WH-5. Why does that name... make him feel both angry and fond at the same time? He's never heard that name. CE-9 shakes it off and swims over to the tunnel opening. Anti isn't in sight. They lost him. He growls in anger, then swims back to WH and AE. "What happened?! What do we do?!" The electricity seems dangerous, but he starts to reach out anyway. "Wh-what do we do?!" They need—they need direction. Direction of some kind.

“Why am I here?!” Marvin says with a trembling static voice. “W-What is this thing on me?!” He tries to pull at his mask- but it’s stuck on tight.

AE-10 tries to swim up and hold out hands towards WH-5, “Calm down WH!”

“My name is Marvi-!” The warper tries to screech before he suddenly stiffens as a shock goes through his gauges. He then slumps to the ground, head bent over his chest.

CE-9 backs up, suddenly strangely scared upon seeing WH-5's breakdown.

BS-8 swims back towards the group and looks at WH-5 with wide eyes. “W-What happened?!”

Then, all their gauges crackle with static as Demerci’s voice echoes in their minds. ‘Let this be an example of what happens to failures, Hybrids…’

The threat lingers in the air before WH-005 stiffly and robotically sits up, his eyes pink again. He floats up, regarding the other hybrids emotionlessly once more. “…that was a momentary setback. We can still find SD-004. He can’t have gotten far.”

“What will you do without your warps, sir?” AE-10 says quietly.

“We will make do until my powers are fully functional again.”

It's... nothing. It's nothing. CE-9 shakes his head. "Yes. Of course. Surely this is temporary." He turns back to the tunnel Anti went down. "The target went that way. Should we follow directly, or try to circle around?"

“Directly. You injured him. We can follow the scent of his blood.” WH-5 drones and starts swimming forward. “BS-8, CE-9, show me where SD-4 escaped.”

AE-10 hesitates then follows shortly after.

“I didn’t see which way for sure…” BS-8 says quietly, “I-I think CE-9 saw where he went exactly.”

"Yes, down here." CE-9 hovers at the mouth of the tunnel. Once everyone is over, he dives down into the tunnel. "Where does this lead?"

“Presumedly towards the Deep Grand Reef.” WH-5 says and starts to swim through after CE. AE-10 and BS-8 follow close behind. “Either his nest is here or.. we’re on the scent of the rebels.”

#GITHV #glitch into the huffleverse #GITHV darker seas #septnautical #ehhehe writing the brainwashed boys is so fun #i feel like writing this was just a way to torture all my septnautical readers jhbak #im too tired to write all the other tags rn-#im also sick so please read our stuff it would make me so happy #imma go pass out now ahjbka

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anxiously-sidequesting · 1 year ago

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So I've been Sinning because I've been making posts on Malorn and Duncan individually but I don't think I ever really touched up on how their relationship with EACH OTHER would be and that's literally the most traumatizing thing I can think of for either of them

This is like, moreso purely speculation and 🌈 imagination🌈 anyways because I don't think there's like any canon material on the two of them interacting and their arcs and backstories are as small as bacteria in the first place but literally those two on their own could have their own fucking show with how much UNTAPPED STORYLINE that can come out of "Borderline child prodigy forced into and struggling with important position" Malorn and "Troubled child with undiscussed emotional issues and a jealousy complex borne from said position" Duncan

Idk about any type of interaction or relationship these two might have had before Malistaire became the Joker, but I can imagine there's ALREADY some type of rivalry (at LEAST one sided) between two guys in the same school in the same class, one of them is blatantly better than the other at everything they do and it's not the guy who says he is. (Like, idek how Malorn himself feels about him being the best in his class, but from what we've seen he doesn't brag about, mislead, or exaggerate about it like Duncan does. And the insane thing is Malorn AT LEAST would have a BASIS on his claims and attitude even if he was being a jerk about it)

But the thing is, Malorn back then as a regular student would not have been in any position to be up close and personal with Duncan in any meaningful way during school hours. Like they're classmates, at best they get grouped on a project together, but Malorn and Duncan being together would not be required and important until AFTER Malistaire dips and Malorn is now Duncan's PROFESSOR. Now in a totally more complicated and intimate way than before, Malorn and Duncan HAVE to interact with each other, speak and work with each other because now Malorn is the new Death teacher and he has to handle the brunt of Duncan's education and progress. GIRLS YOU NEED TO READ THAT LAST PART AGAIN BECAUSE THAT IS SO IMPORTANT!!!!!!!

Malorn and Duncan literally CANNOT escape each other if they wanted to do their jobs (good, unbiased educator and student still receiving education respectively). Yeah they may not be like, personal tutor and student but Duncan is in MALORN'S class now, and just that position alone puts a type of pressure on both of them to still maintain their respective roles and civility while dealing with the person who Does Not Make You Happy on a more personal level than before. That sucks actually

Like, Duncan couldn't even lie to Malorn about how "well" he's doing in Death class when he can SEE his papers. Duncan can't hide his grades papers from his professor, Duncan is no longer able to pull the wool over Malorn's eyes like he does with EVERYONE ELSE. Duncan already had some type of issues with being second best, but imagine one of the people that was threatening Duncan's spot as first place becomes his superior. His superior that can SEE that Duncan is in fact, not the best. Duncan can't even PRETEND that Malorn isn't better than him anymore because it's been proven, when Malorn was made Professor instead of him, and Malorn himself now has an inside view of Duncan's insincerity. What little ""power"" Duncan thought he had was now ALL taken away from him

AND THEN MALORN DOESN'T HAVE IT MUCH BETTER, because here's this little shit that just seems to hate him for no reason???? Idk if Malorn ever knew about Duncan bragging about himself or his jealousy of him in general before Malistaire left, but whether or not he did before he most likely knows NOW. With his new position and him having to care for Duncan as a student rather than a peer, now suddenly Malorn is in Duncan's DIRECT line of fire and he has no wiggle room to step aside or remove himself because in order for Malorn to be a good teacher *he has to be there for Duncan*. He no longer has the luxury to just "ignore" Duncan or even put him in his place if that's what he really wanted, because now Malorn has to be a certain type of responsible and not abandon or get into fights with students that give him any issues (looking at you Malistaire and Mabrose 😒)

Yeah ofc Malorn could always discipline Duncan or smth but what's the use if this one student is just adamant on causing issues? It seems like Duncan has more of a 'hands off' type of technique when trying to get what he wants (using other people to finish his homework for him), but it's super easy to imagine Duncan just doing little or petty things to undermine Malorn's authority in any way he can. Nothing evil but just like challenging or questioning Malorn's lessons during class, mouthing off whenever he can, things that are used to blow off steam and stick it to Malorn in what little way he can definitely sounds like some shit Duncan would do. And what are you supposed to do when this kid, someone who is YOUR AGE but is still essentially supposed to be listening to YOU, is lashing out at you and disrupting class every chance he gets? Discipline him for the hundredth time?

Imagine how this grates on Malorn's nerves how on top of everything else, on top of everyone else already being jumpy and snippy around him, in addition to his entire lifestyle being turned around, even with his tutor and someone he looked up to betraying him in the worst way, even with ALL OF THAT, this *ooooooone* person decides to go out of their way to continuously punish you for it. Malorn is doing his job, what he's expected of no matter how unfair or tiring or unrewarding it may be, and he is being persecuted by someone for a job *he never even asked for*.

Malorn did not plan or hope for ANY of this to happen. Yeah being a Professor sounds cool and shit at first glance but like I've said once before Malorn at that time is still like 12 years old and the change is so absolutely sudden and jarring that Malorn couldn't have even possibly PREPARED for this situation. Whether or not Malorn is actually good at his job now does not push aside the fact that Malorn may not have even WANTED to be in that job in the first place!! We have no way of knowing if Malorn was seriously like "man I wish I was a teacher right now" at ANY point of his life, but it's safe to say he most likely DID NOT because Malorn was never flaunting or showcasing his talent to everyone like Duncan was!! Perhaps the one person who wants this THE LEAST is being unfairly judged by the person who wanted it THE MOST

AND THAT ^^^^^^^ is getting to the core of this Malorn VS. Duncan thing going on here. Two opposites, two extremes that are forced together unwillingly and they're both unnecessarily suffering for it.

And at the end, when The Wizard is trying to do shit and Duncan pops up like "aaayyyy 🤪🖕" and is defeated in 2 seconds, how does that affect them both? Does Malorn ever like, know this about Duncan? Did Duncan even graduate before he was manipulated into a literal cult?

Imagine how messed up Malorn would feel if he ever found out. Would he take it personally, even though none of it was his fault? Would he still FEEL that it was his fault, that the one person who hated him sooo much it became the catalyst to his downfall? Would Malorn feel responsible for Duncan and all the hurt he's caused and all the hurt he's felt even though he shouldn't?

And the saddest part is even if Malorn did suffer any type of way from knowing how Duncan turned out to be, his responsibilities wouldn't leave him that much time to mourn before he had to go back to work. The saddest part is that even though Duncan was told over and over that he was alone and that nobody cared for him, he had Malorn by his side the entire time more than willing to support him. Their relationship is so interesting to me because it's so tragic and multifaceted when ultimately things could have been at least moderately better if the world hadn't let them both down

#loooooooooong post #very long post #but seeing that art of them by ghostcond i was like ''THIS IS IT. THATS IT THATS EXACTLY WHAT IVE BEEN MISSING''#im actually crying for two little kids rn like LMAO #once again 90% of this never really happened between them LMAO but it could have and THATS WHATS MOST IMPORTANT #kingsisle really had a goldmine here with these two characters and theyre never connected or expanded upon #understandable because the game's not about them but im still mourning what he could have had #nobody can take this away from me. these boys are Traumatized and that is how they will be to me #im such a loser for young children being thrusted into positions of immense power all of a sudden and theres like so much of that here #morganthe. malorn. duncan. us. like bro #we're all like the sides of a weirdly four-faced coin #i just love how stories delve into people so young being screwed over with the power they dont know what to do with and how it effects them #malorn may not have become like the rest of us in terms of sheer power level but his professor status is a position of power #that he WAS NOT READY FOR #i havent slept in like 6 hours lmao so imma stop these rambling tags but ANYWAY. cry for them #wizard101 #w101 #wiz101 #malorn ashthorn #duncan grimwater

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