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radioactivepeasant · 9 months ago

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Snippets: Free Day Friday

Trespasser, In Which Jak Gets Another Bad Idea

When he'd hastily redressed and stumbled out of the garrison locker room before anything else could happen, Jak quickly found himself confronted by that Strom guy again.

"An hour? Really?" Strom pursed his lips disapprovingly. "You think we have some magic supply of water to spare?"

"Lay off, we weren't washing for an hour -- much as I'd love to," Daxter argued, "The big guy fell asleep!"

"In the shower? Isn't that dangerous?"

Jak shrugged. "How would I know?"

Strom decided after a moment that this fell under the category of "none of my business". He sighed and waved for Jak to follow him.

"The king says we're to put you up in the barracks for now." He eyed Jak's face, somewhat startled by how much younger he looked under the dirt. "How old are you?"

Jak shrugged. "Midway through seventeen-ish. I think. My "guardian" wasn't exactly a reliable source."

More things to file under "none of my business"

"Oh...kay..." Strom did his best to move past one or two odd questions surfacing in his mind. "Well that narrows down which dorm you're in, at least."

"How so?"

They stepped back out into the late afternoon heat, onto the main road through the Gate District. The burning sun barely touched Jak, deflected by his wet clothes as if he were wearing his own air conditioning. He decided to pretend it had been intentional. Just in case someone asked why his clothes were all wet.

They were led towards the end of a row of houses built into the city wall, leading to an impressibly high flight of stairs into some kind of coliseum. Strom did his best to explain as he led them up the stairs, but he wasn't usually the guy they called for rookie orientation for a reason.

"It's um. So- okay look. The Arena sublevels are divided into three floors: the hospital, the armory, and the barracks. Barracks are split between militia, citizen candidates, and teenage Squads."

He didn't explain Squads.

"You're going to end up in that last one -- probably Dorm 4, that's where they put orphans or unregistered foundlings."

"Orphans?!" Daxter chirped indignantly. Then he paused. "I mean. I guess it's accurate, but you didn't have to say it!"

They didn't end up in Dorm 4.

The Resident Advisor took one look at the slightly dusty, slightly soggy, boy and ottsel and assigned them to an empty bunk in the second hall, Dorm 2. Jak was handed a canteen and a folded set of sheets before being unceremoniously ushered down the hall and into a sparse dorm room holding two bunk beds. For the moment, it was empty.

"Lights are out at 9 bells, no exceptions unless you got a case of the screaming meemies," the RA said gruffly. He pointed at a bottom bunk without sheets -- Jak's, apparently.

"You're responsible for keeping that bunk at least clean enough to pass weekly room checks. Check the schedule on the wall if you want to know when mess hall is open. If you miss that, you can hit the markets, but you're on your own for paying for it."

Jak eyed the bunk uncomfortably. He was responsible for maintaining this bed? He probably wasn't even going to be here that long! He cringed when the RA pushed a twelve by six metal box across the floor with a terrible scratching sound.

"That's your footlocker. If you want a lock, get it yourself. You kids keep losin' em and now we're out." The RA snorted. "But most of the squad in your room is on home rotation this week, so you only have to worry about maybe Sam stealing your stuff. He won't, by the way. Too busy training."

He turned to go, then turned back quickly. "Oh. Gotta confiscate your gun mods, so don't lose your marbles when you get your gun back plain."

"The rot you do!" Jak protested, "I earned those!"

"Don't care." The RA shrugged. "None of your dormmates have and I don't want 'em getting ideas about "borrowing" em."

With a stern warning not to start any fights, and to not miss allotted mealtimes if he didn't want to go hungry, the RA keft Jak alone with Daxter. They stood in the center of the room, blinking incredulously.

"Well..." Jak said after several seconds, "It's not a cell."

"Or an alley," Daxter agreed.

He hopped down and examined the mattress. Nothing fancy, but it was miles better than they were used to.

"Here, gimme the fitted sheet."

"What's a fitted sheet?"

"The one with the stretchy corners." Daxter pointed. "That's the one that goes on the bottom. Wraps around so it don't get pulled off if you roll around a lot."

"...oh. Weird."

Jak handed the thing to Daxter and watched in fascination as his friend set about attaching one corner at a time. It looked difficult.

Before he could offer help, his talk-box activated. That was a bit of a surprise. They'd been traveling for two days already and nobody had made a peep. Daxter had thought they'd have noticed the first time he turned off the location tracker!

"Jak! Jak, where are you?!"

Samos. Jak's stomach churned.

"Don't know," he answered flippantly. "I think we just got put in an orphanage."

"Don't be ridiculous! Get out of whatever nonsense you two knuckleheads have walked into and get back to Main Town! Something is going on, and I need time to investigate without those blasted Deathbots shooting at me!"

"Life's hard."

"What did you just say?"

Jak scoffed, feeling a little of the bubbling anger of dark eco in his core.

"You can't handle a little gunfire? You didn't have an issue making a couple kids walk into it daily. You'll figure it out."

"How can you say something so horrible to me?! I raised you to be a hero, Jak! You sound like that mercenary!"

Jak snorted."Well good. Sig's the only adult in that city I still trust."

Samos sputtered for several seconds in helpless, bewildered anger. Then he gathered himself.

"Get over yourself, Jak! Lives are at stake! I don't care what you're playing at, you turn around and get back here before something worse happens!"

Jak rolled his eyes. The sage sounded like Ashelin. He tossed Daxter the top sheet and studied the foot locker, wondering if he should use it.

"Nah, can't."

"What do you mean "can't?"

Jak shrugged as if Samos could see him. As if Daxter hadn't placed a piece of tape over the lens when he got tired of the spying.

"Oracle says I'm not done out here. Wherever "here" is. Lay off, wouldja? The Precursors sent me out here!"

He listened to Samos's stunned silence a moment before dryly asking, "Did you think they only spoke to Onin, or-?"

"But-" the old sage stammered, "But why would the Precursors send you from us when our need was greatest?"

"Probably because yours isn't the only city in the world? There are other people out there, Haven can get over itself," Jak flung the sage's words right back at him.

"What makes you think there's anything beyond the walls other than ruined wastes?"

"Those eco shipments for Praxis were coming from somewhere," Jak reasoned. Then his voice darkened to match his mood.

"There's no law that says I can't investigate. Sandover may have turned into Haven, but that doesn't mean I'm chained to it. You people already tried that, remember?"

"Jak!"

"I think the Precursors want me to find out who else survived," Jak said, though he wasn't sure that was it at all.

"I'll let you know if I find any sages."

"But Jak-!"

"Have to go, Samos. That hall monitor guy didn't say comm calls weren't allowed in the dorms but I need this thing, so I'm not taking chances."

He ended the call before Samos could make more than an outraged cough. When he looked down, Daxter was watching him with a funny expression.

"What?" he asked, a bit defensively.

"Nothin," Daxter said, unconvincingly. Then he gave a bittersweet grin. "Just never heard you stand up to Loghead like that before."

Jak looked away. "Should've been fighting him from day one. Like you. You knew he was bad news from the start, didn't you?"

Daxter rubbed his arm ruefully. "I um. I don't got a lot of memories of my folks. I was pretty little when the shark got em. But I remember my old man saying "Never trust a man who won't apologize to a kid", and then Samos came through dragging you. An'...an' you cried that whole first day, kept pointing to the sky and making a circle with your arms. And Samos ignored you."

Jak swallowed hard. "I don't remember that," he said softly. "Or much of Sandover at all now."

He sat down on the floor next to Daxter. The thanks he'd given Samos just weeks ago sat sour in his stomach. The real person he should've thanked had been right there beside him and he'd overlooked him just like Samos always did.

"Daxter?" he said gravely, "Thank you. For everything. All of it. I wouldn't be here without you."

Daxter leaned against his shoulder. "Well duh," he joked, trying to lighten a somber moment, "Heroes don't leave their sidekicks with weirdos! It goes against the bro code!"

Then he sobered.

"For the record, I don't blame ya for not knowing he had his hooks in ya. He um. I mean, you were real little, y'know? I think you maybe stuck with him at first because he was the only familiar face, and he used that against ya."

Jak laughed bitterly. "I wonder if I'd have had the guts to say all that if he was actually here?"

Daxter recognized the beginning of a spiral and elbowed him hard in the ribs.

"Well he ain't! And we're not gonna will that into existence with what-ifs!"

He scurried up onto the bunk and spread out in the middle of the mattress.

"Ahhhh! Hey, are you gonna know which morph gun is ours when we get the key to that gun locker?"

Jak pushed him to one side and, after a moment's debate, unlaced his boots.

"The stock on mine looks striped because of all the tally marks on it. The others are completely blank."

"Oh! Didn't see that!"

Reluctantly, Jak took off his goggles and gauntlets and dropped them into the foot locker. At least if it didn't have a lock, he could get them back out at a moment's notice. His knife and amulet he kept on him.

The Call hadn't subsided. He still felt it, and he still didn't know what it meant. So for now, that seemed to mean staying in this hostel/barrack/orphanage combination with more Wastelanders than he'd ever known existed. At least they were Wastelanders and not soldiers. He would've slept on the streets before letting them put him in a dorm with soldiers.

The wall schedule said that the cafeteria didn't open until 6 bells after noon. That left roughly an hour before they could find out if they were allowed to take anything from it.

For a time, Jak occupied himself by polishing his channeling ring with his damp scarf. Daxter tried and failed to braid Jak's hair, but the condition it was in was just too poor.

"Pal," Daxter said reluctantly, "I don't think these mats are comin' out."

Jak sighed in resignation. He'd wanted to avoid this -- the only haircut he could remember had been a traumatic buzzcut because a KG accidentally spread bugs through the cell block -- and got himself a spot in the cell two doors down from Jak when the bugs spread to Errol. (Who was absolutely hideous with a buzz cut, and was in utter anguish about his "beautiful hair". Couldn't have happened to a nicer person. It had been the absolute highlight of Jak's entire year.)

Jak took his knife, sheath and all, from the back of his belt and held it out to Daxter.

"Do what you gotta do," he groaned, "Just don't cut it all off."

The roommate who wasn't on "home rotation", whatever that was, came back midway through the haircut. In his state of exhaustion, he didn't actually see Daxter.

"Your...hair is falling off," he mumbled in confusion.

"It's on purpose," Jak said.

"Oh."

Sam leaned against the door to pry off his boots, then blinked.

"Wait, what?"

"He's getting a haircut, doofus!" Daxter sniped.

"Ohhhhkay, the kangarat is talking." Sam dropped his boot and stared with very wide eyes. "Cooooolll coolcoolcool everything's cool."

"Ottsel, not rat," Jak corrected. "Daxter is sensitive about that."

"...uh-huh..."

Sam swung a gear bag up over the top of the top bunk bed post. With little effort, he swung himself up the ladder after it. Apparently he shared the bunk Jak had been assigned.

"Are you new? I don't remember you," he yawned.

"First day here," Jak admitted, "still dunno what's going on."

Silence for a few seconds. Then, "So...does that mean you came from Outside?"

"I guess? Don't know how I got here from Haven, but I'm not complaining."

"Oh."

Sudden Sam was leaning over the rail of the bunk, spiky blonde hair falling in his face.

"No kidding? Me too! I mean, I ran away from Kras, but. Stowed away on a cargo ship and got caught at the docks."

Kras. The name was familiar. Something to do with racing, but Jak hadn't been paying attention.

"So you planning on the Arena too?" asked Sam.

"I still don't know what the Arena is," Jak said pointedly. "Is it for races?"

"See, that's what I thought at first!" Sam exclaimed, "But apparently the only races they do in there are Leapers. It's kinda a community place? Big meetings, festivals, executions, games, theater, combat trials-"

"Festivals?" Jak was mildly intrigued.

"Executions?!" Daxter was not.

"Yeah man. Though to be fair, there's so many ways to die normally outside the walls that it takes a lot to get the death sentence around here. You have to do something really bad for Lord Damas to kill you himself. Like "engaged in the slave trade" or "abused a kid" or "betrayed the city to enemies" kind of bad. Stuff that dishonors a warrior's name for life. Otherwise he gives you a chance for pardon in combat trials."

Jak squinted up at their temporary roommate. "How...does that work, exactly?"

Sam rolled back onto his mattress with a noncommittal sound.

"Depends on whatcha did I think. Smaller offenses you gotta fight a metalhead. Bigger offenses get you more than one metalhead. If it's bad but not death sentence bad, you fight other Wastelanders who already know how you fight."

"Remind me not to get on these guys' bad sides," Daxter stage-whispered.

"So then why would I enter the Arena if I didn't do anything wrong?" Jak pushed.

"Oh yeah, that's the other thing. Civvy candidates who want to be permanent residents gotta prove they can survive the three main dangers of the Wasteland: enemy shooters, treacherous terrain, and lava. So the king makes us do combat trials simulating those conditions until he's satisfied that we won't like. Immediately die if he lets us outside."

Jak considered this for a moment.

"Fair enough," he decided.

"No??? It's not??" Daxter finished slicing off the last mat and gave Jak an appalled look. "Precisely none of that is normal!"

Jak swept the clumps of hair onto the floor and leaned back to let Daxter continue braiding what was left.

"So...you prove you can handle yourself, and they let you stay?"

Sam reappeared over the rail. "Well, you also gotta prove you're willing to work. They don't like lazy people out here, everybody does at least one thing that keeps Spargus operational, even if it's just sweeping the sand out of the stables -- which is about all they let me do on account of last time-"

"What happened last time?" Daxter asked as he finished tying off three fishbone-braids.

They could almost hear the wince.

"I...kind of...failed so hard at wall patching that I dropped an entire bucket of wet clay on a district representative. He got a concussion. It was bad."

There was a chagrined silence, but then Sam rallied. "So yeah, I'm not allowed near construction equipment anymore and I can't switch chores yet. All kids get maximum one job a day, but you get to pick what you do once you either turn nineteen, or get through the third trial."

Wheels were beginning to turn in Jak’s mind. He'd never given much thought to the future, but what if he just. Didn't go back to Haven? What if the crisis ended and he didn't go back? Might be nice to have a place like this on standby.

"So that what the grouch-in-chief said you're training for?" Daxter asked.

"Yep! Already got my first amulet and gun mod!" Sam said cheerfully. "First full trial hurts like a son-of-a-cob, but at least Scatter rounds are non-lethal."

"No they're not?" Jak sputtered.

"Yes they are?" Sam wrinkled his nose. "Scatterguns are what they give kids and civvy candidates because it's not live ammo?"

"No," Jak argued, "You can definitely kill with Scatter rounds. It just takes like six shots."

Sam stared at him with wide eyes.

"What the rot, dude," he whispered.

"What?!"

"You're telling me you've killed people with a practice gun?!"

"Well- well Haven doesn't know they're practice guns!" Jak defended.

"Okay..." Sam grimaced. "Well. Don't do that in your first trial. Only way anyone is supposed to be able to die is if they try to prioritize hunting an opponent over avoiding lava."

"None of this is making me want to try this Arena thing!" Daxter complained.

"What's the second trial?" Jak ignored Daxter's complaints.

Sam looked a little unsure suddenly. "Yellow eco trial. That's um. That's going to be my first combat to the death. And not many candidates signed up for this month's trial so it's just me and three others against a Marauder crew they captured."

"Marauders?"

"Colonists from the mainland," Sam explained. "They're wannabe Wastelanders and I'm pretty sure they're all insane because they run around out there with no shirts, ever. They also run most of the slave trade between Haven and their colony."

Jak's eyes darkened.

"They're slavers?"

"Yep." Sam shuddered. "I've seen some of the survivors brought back when the Wastelanders raid their camps or when Marauder defectors start a riot. They've been through it. And like half the Arena Guard are survivors of the Marauders, so the ring isn't where you wanna end up if you're a blood merchant."

"It's not the guards they should worry about," Jak muttered darkly. Before Sam could ask what he meant, he looked up. "So if you get through three trials, then what?"

"Full rights as a citizen, same as if you were born here."

There was a glint in Jak’s eyes that only Daxter could see, and it Concerned him.

"Ja-aak, nooo-" Daxter groaned, but he knew it was useless.

"I'll go in with you, when they do the trial," Jak offered. "World could always use one less slaver."

"For real?" Sam raised his brows. "You've only been here a day, dude. You need to do some training before you're ready for that."

"Haven's an active warzone," Jak retorted, "and I got forced onto the frontlines for a year. I'll be fine."

"I mean. If you're sure," Sam relented, "I wouldn't mind the company."

"I would," Daxter grumbled under his breath. "I have some objections!"

So, it turned out, did Damas.

#Trespasser Jak au #Trespasser au #fic prompts #writing prompts #free day Friday #long post #jak and daxter #dadmas #king damas #Jak and Daxter and the adventures of dorm life #samos hagai #every time i worry that I'm character bashing Samos i re-watch the games and nope he's in-character #yeah Jak is NOT supposed to be anywhere near that Arena because he hasn't even been cleared by a medic yet #Damas had a very amusing reaction when he saw that gremlin in the ring #he is heard to constantly mutter over the next few months 'I'm either gonna kill him or take him as an apprentice'#he keeps warning Jak that if he pulls too many death-defying stunts in public he's going to end up with a legal guardian as a consequence #jak thought he was bluffing. he was not bluffing.

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empressgeekt · 5 months ago

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Trolls/Sonic the Hedgehog Crossover - "The Grey and the Black" AU plot.

So, I have been on a sonic kick since I saw the third trailer, and I haven't posted in a while so I thought I would throw y'all a bone. THe basis premise for this AU, is that Branch dies as a teenager and is reincarnated as Terios the Hedgehog, or the original concept art/character for Shadow the hedgehog. I'm assuming folks had basic knowledge of both fandoms for this au summery. Don't like, don't read.

Let's get into the plot!

We start with a seventeen year old Branch. He's working around the river one day, and is being careful due to a risen chance of a flashfloods from a storm upstream. He finds the snackpack nearby swimming, and is not impressed with their reaction when he warns them about the flood risk. They ignore him as always, however this time his paranoia paid off. A Flash Flood does hit the stream. Almost everyone makes it into the trees in time, except for Creek and Poppy who get stuck on a rock. With the waters rising, Branch leaps in to save them. He gets Poppy to safety no problem, however Creek's caught on debris, Branch manages to free him, but is hit by an unexpected wave and dragged away. Post flood, Poppy gets everyone too look for him. Creek finds Branch's body, drowned and pale, and he's never the same. He tries to put it out of his mind, but he can't. He watched a troll die saving him, he heard Branch's last scream just before he was pulled under. Creek and Poppy eventually find their way into the bunker, and while they are not going to go full survivalist, they still read Branch's journals, and Creek carries a dart with Velvet Bee venom in his hair from then on, since there's no one else left to keep the village safe.

However as much as they try to remember, Branch is forgotten by the rest of the village, as are all the dead.

Now let's jump over to what happened to Branch. All he remembers is choking on water. Then something grabs him, but as they yank him away he feels to light. Something whispers words of comfort but he can't pay attention. He starts chocking for a second time, but the water felt warmer, and the limbs he flails feel unknown, there's a sharp pain in his eye, and his memories start to slip from his mind like fine sand. Branch catches one glimpse of the world before it goes dark, it's an elderly human with a fantastic mustache yelling at someone.

Now on the other side of the Portal, Professor Gerald Robotnik, currently lives in a constant state of anxiety. Between his work and Maria's ever fluctuating condition, he has a lot to worry about, however recently he had made strides in PROJECT SHADOW, two hedgehog/Black arm hybrids had been successfully maturing over the passed year, and the were in the home stretch. After the disaster with the biolizard this is probably the first time he can take a breath. Only for him to walk in on some of the interns freaking out near one of the growth tanks. Specimen 2ERS (Two - Extraterrestrial Roaming Specimen) or Terios as Maria named him, pod malfunctioned, making it appear as if the growing project was flatlining, and in the panic of trying to save their hard work some lab techs somehow accidentally damaged the pod and the ceiling, releasing Terios early, along with a broken electrical wire striking the full grown newborn in the left eye, permanently blinding it. The next few hours Gerald spends trying to stabilize Terios, hooking up the hedgehog to external life-support and treating the eye wound, and firing "incompetent scientists".

When Maria is told what happened, she is terrified. In between medical testes and her education she would spend time in the lab talking to the growing hedgehogs, even naming them. Growing too attached as some of the less friendly scientists would grumble. The moment that Terios isn't being worked on, she demanded to see him. Even if the scientists and even Abe, grumble about it, they can't stop her. Not only is her grandfather the head of the project, but she knows how to play up the part of the sweet angel like child who is cursed with a horrible sickness, she would make any one who tried to stop her feel horribly guilty for it. She spends those first couple days talking to Terios and giving a sleeping Shadow updates on his brother.

By some miracle Terios pulls through. He's weak and barely conscious for a few days, but resilient after nearly a week he's able to breath on his own. Maria and the hedgehog get alone swimmingly, and as Gerald observes their interactions he starts to get worried. Yes, Terios is fully capable of walking and is well on his way to speaking fluently, however, he still is a damaged product. His left eye never regained vision suggesting his healing factor isn't what they were hoping it would be, GUN might not like that kind of defect, and order his termination. Gerald is also disappointed by this fact, a cure for Maria couldn't be found in a being with little healing ablitliy, however he can't terminate Terios. The Hedgehog is functional, and healthy beyond his limited sight. And maria had already grown quite attached to Terios, His granddaughter was already suffering Gerald couldn't bare to make it worse. So, in order to protect his creation he labels Terios as dead from the lab incident, in his reports and altered any other file his coworker make in order to make it seem that way.

Terios meanwhile, wakes up in the lab confused. He feels like he should be some where else but he's not sure where. Maria is the first person he meets and he quickly becomes attached. He can't talk himself for the first few days of consciousness and that kind of worries all the other humans. However, they quickly figure out that his vocal chords are fine he's just shy. The first thing he clearly says is, "Where are we?" And to that Maria goes on this long explanation of the ARK, and while Terios is amazed at this place he can't help but feel like he should be somewhere else. Maria thinks she gets it, she wants to be on the planet below with her family, but Terios's problem isn't like that, he feels as if he shouldn't have been born, but he doesn't voice it. Besides, after telling him all about the ARK, Maria starts telling Terios about his brother.

Shadow is released from his pod a few days later, with only Gerald, Maria and Terios present. The moment that Shadows stumbled out of his pod onto the cold floor, Terios feels attached, something in his mind solidifies and he's not sure what. All he knows is that he's supposed to have a brother, be a brother, and from there the twin ultimate lifeforms adventure begins.

The time spent on the ARK is the most wonderful era in the brothers' lives.

Their education starts, both of them proving to be extremely intelligent. However, while Shadow tends to slack on basic assignments (AKA turning in his homework, but still scoring high on tests), Terios is much more conscious about turning things in. He also appears to have much more anxiety, then Shadow, who yes has issues with his creation and the fact they can't cure Maria yet, Terios is just straight up concerned everything will fall down. He stashes food in small places around the ARK, needs to have everything organized, is constantly asking about how equitment works/emergency procedures, and does not trust anyone beyond his family. This last fact does not mix well with the fact they live in the research facility. Often he would have to be sedated before being handled and he never wakes up from the effects peacefully. Even Gerald get frustrated over this issue, since it makes research into a cure for Maria's NIDs take longer and it makes Terios feel guilty. He tries to explain how being handled by creatures who are larger them him and separated from his family, makes him nervous, and the sedation does not help him calm down, but none of the scientists listen. He starts getting twitchy with his hands after a while, channeling the nerves through clenching and unclenching fists, but everyone write it off since they don't want to believe their weapon is on the spectrum (it was the 50s man).

Though, while there were struggles there were still good moments. During their free time, Maria would drag Shadow and Terios for games and mischief around the ARK. They would have hide and seek tournaments, read story books, and seek into the food pantry to steal Gerald's coffee beans, which both young hedgehogs get hooked on. For her 12th birthday, Maria is gifted a record player, and she eagerly plays it for her brothers. Terios is initially spooked by the device but eventually he warms up to it, and enjoys the music. On her good days Maria tries to teach Shadow and Terios how to dance, but only Shadow really needs the lessons, Terios takes to dancing like a fish to water, and quickly grows to love music. He isn't sure what made him start singing, but he finds he enjoys it even more, though he only does it in private at first. Maria and Shadow first catch him in the act, and they are astonished by how good he sounds. Most of the Scientists don't bother with the talent, they aren't trying to make the Ultimate singer. Gerald just finds it ironic, since the Black Arms, being a telepathic race, have no concept of music. Despite the mixed reaction to his gift, Terios continues to sing for his family, especially Maria when her condition acts up and she's bedridden.

However, good things never last for long, and Terios' peaceful beginning to life ends with the GUN raid on the ARK. The day starts out peacefully enough. Maria was feeling strong, and they had no schedule school, so they fired up the record player and were dancing when the alarms went off. Gerald runs in telling them to get to the escape pods, but they are intercepted on the way. The soldiers are under the impression that only Shadow is abord the ARK, so Terios is a rather big surprise. It's enough to get the drop on the soldiers and makes Terios realize that those "agility tests" were really combat training. Gerald gets separated from them, and they are cornered in the escape pod bay. Maria preps the pods when the soldiers run in. One throws a grenade, and while Shadow gets away and pushed Maria, Terios is hit. He didn't see where the explosion landed due to his eye, and gets thrown across the room. Maria grabs him while disoriented, placing Terios in a pod. Terios watches, as Shadow get forced into his own capsule. Maria presses the launch button and is shot as soon as the count down starts.

For ten horrifying seconds Terios is forced to watch as his sister bleeds out, and his brother beats against his own pod to get to her. His head is ringing and he can't move. In his mind there is the echo of a phantom scream, some part of him feels as if he's failed to protect someone he loves for a second time. The pods are launched, and on the decent, Terios is put in hyper-sleep. However his pod is knocked off course, landing him in the middle of a lake, keeping the capsule intact, keeping him in hyper-sleep. Shadow lands and wakes up only to be re-captured by GUN. By some small miracle, despite what the witnesses claim, there is no record of a second ultimate lifeform on board, so they don't search for Terios.

Gerald snaps after the loss of his Granddaughter and creation. He doesn't tell his captures about Terios, there's no point, he's likely dead. He's legacy can only happen through Shadow, and he will make sure the world knows his pain. Shadow is sealed away with false memories, a promise for revenge and a dead brother.

50 years pass. When Shadow is woken up by Eggman, he has a second reason for taking out prison island. He remembers Terios dying but he doesn't want to believe it. He searches the island and ARK for his brother, but Terios is not there. When Rouge confronts him about not being the true PROJECT SHADOW, he lashes out say even if he isn't the ultimate lifeform, his brother certainly was. Since he could make Maria smile even on her worst days. Rouge presses him about his brother since he was never mentioned in any of the files she found. This just serves to make Shadow more angry, how dare the humans try to erase his brother's memory, he unwittingly tells Rouge Terios' name before stalking off.

After the Biolizard, and Shadow Falling, Rouge would look a the remaining inhibitor ring Sonic gave her, and think of what SHaodw said about Terios. The second ultimate life form was believed to be dead or it never existed, however, Rouge wasn't so sure. The professor lied to shadow about Maria's wish, why not add to the pain by telling him his brother was dead too. She had to find him, if only to tell him that Shadow has been laid to rest. She gets Sonic and Tails involved since, she's not quite ready to go to her employers with this information. It takes a few weeks, and hacking into a GUN satellite, but they find Terios. The pod is a bit banged up, but it kept the hedgehog inside safe. They take him back to the Tails' workshop.

Terios wakes up in an unknown place, with unknown people. A world with out his family. Maria is gone. He watched. Gerald is gone. He was old. Shadow...Terios struggles with his brother's "death" the most. The loss is horrifyingly familiar, but he doesn't know from what. The world around him is beautiful. The forest and sun give him so much peace, but he has to discover it alone. Rouge gives him Shadow's ring, and he wears it on a string around his neck. Later, he joins Rouge on her missions, Popping in and out of Sonic and Tails' lives. No offence to them, but Sonic and Tails reminds him of Shadow and Maria in so many unexpected ways. And the loss is still to fresh.

The Events of "Sonic Heroes" roll around. Terios is with rouge when they find Shadow and Omega. He spends the entire adventure trying to get Shadow to remember him. Shadow doesn't, and it gets pretty ridiculous in Terios opinion. Like he can hear Shadow's heartbeat, his brother is not a robot, and the robots have yellow stripes! Shadow doesn't recognize him until Team Dark camps out, and Terios is unable to sleep, so he tries singing to himself. Shadow sits up and finishes the verse, and there's a small look of recollection in that set of red eyes. It gives Terios hope.

Shadow 05, coming into play now, and the first Black comet invades the earth. Terios does not trust Black Doom in the slightest, freaky eye tells you the time of reckoning has come and do this? Yeah no, you don't trust that. However Shadow is desperate for the rest of his memories, and Terios hasn't been able to jog anything after that camp out. So in search of the past, they follow their bio father, and eventually kill him. The trip is actually really enlightening in some ways, Terios finally getting a reason as to why he felt like he could read his brother's mind, they could! Shadow's memories are restored, but with them is the grief he feels for Maria. Grief that he pushes deep down and away. He doesn't want to think about her cause it hurts. Terios had a similar reaction when he woke up, but he had to face those feelings when helping Shadow with his memory, since the only person he knew could get through to Shadow was Maria, and had to think about what she would do. Also, the whole forget about it mindset bothers him for some reason.

Life goes on. Team Dark gets an apartment, they join up with GUN, Rouge is banned from the kitchen, Abe is old now, and then the planet splits apart. However that's nothing they need to worry about, since there is now a second Black Comet was invading. Yay! The mission is simple at first, nuke the space rock! However it gets a lot more complicated when Shadow comes across, Eclipse the Darkling. The twins biological half sibling. Shadow goes to scout the Black Arm base, while Terios stays with the group, however he knows the moment something is wrong, when Shadow is suddenly panicked and stressed on his side of the mental link. The new leader of the blakc arms, Black Death takes control of Shadow's mind, making them work for their side, however they were unaware of Terios involvement in the mission. Black Doom never considered Terios his despite the mental link, due to his appearance and the blindness in his eye, so Black death never learned of Terios' existence. Once Shadow is freed from the control, Terios demands and explanation and Shadow reluctantly tell him about their youngest sibling. Teri does not react well, after making sure Shadow can handle Black Death, Terios goes after Eclipse. He does the math in his head, Eclipse claiming to have been born after Black Doom's death, meaning at most he was couple months old, and well the whole comet was rigged to blow up. He couldn't let a child, his family die like that.

Black Death loses to shadow, and in his final moments, He sends Eclipse away. Terios following and sneaking aboard the escape shuttle as the comet explodes from the nuke. The dark hedgehog finds Eclipse mourning over the limb dead, eye of Black Death, and immediately feels bad. He knows what it's like to wake up in a world all alone. Comforting is not possible, since Eclipse does not want either Terios or Shadow right now. And a fight breaks out aboard the shuttle, eventually the controls are accidentally smashed and Teri notices they were going to crash on Angel island. The landing is rough, since Eclipse won't listen when Teri tries to warn him about the impending crash, still Teri tries to protect his younger sibling. A piece of rubble gets stuck in Terios side, but Eclipse and Four of the dark arm eggs on board walk away with bumps and scratches. With his slow healing and wounds, Eclipse ties up Teri and keeps him prisoner while taking care of the dark arms. Terios is sending mental signals to Shadow as to where to find them. All through out his imprisonment, he's playing two arguments, trying to convince Shadow not to murder Eclipse on sight, since he's kid, and trying to convince Eclipse that world domination is no longer needed nor is possible. All while his far too slowly healing wound is getting infected. By the end of it, he somehow reangles his younger siblings into a truce from his fucking hospital bed, and Eclipse comes to live underneath his older brothers care due to being a minor.

Maybe Maria is revived as a Hedgehog to make this trio a Quartet, but I'm not sure if it would work in this scenario.

Now let's jump back to the other side of the portal. TBT has rolled around for the trolls, with Creek never betraying his tribe since he managed to escape from Gristle's mouth using the venom dart he always carried around since Branch's death. So he's there when Poppy tells John Dory about his baby brother's demise. It's the news of Branch's death that manages to get Brozone to actually talk and heal, since they don't want to die alone too. Barb is the one who asked, while intoxicated, if they had looked for Branch's reincarnation, since her tribes believe in it if two trolls are born with similar sounding singing voices. This sends the brothers (mostly JD and Floyd) down a rabbit hole trying to find whomever had their brother's soul. Poppy and Creek tag along, Poppy for the adventure, and Creek because he feels bad for how he treated the troll who saved him and wants to apologize. Somehow this search leads to an old funk troll who's a little on the crazy side, zapping the group (brozone, Poppy, Viva, and Creek) into a portal.

When they land on the other side, it's kind of a shock, since they are all suddenly hedgehogs, not that they know what kind of creature they were turned into were called that. They are a lot bigger then they were a couple of minutes ago, and their hair has been swapped out for quills. The forest is unfamiliar and it takes a while for them to get their barring's. Unfortunately the Forces War is in it's fifth month, and they are hit by a brigade of shadow clones. John takes the offense real quick, his machete still in tact from the trip, but the clones, even if a fraction of the real thing's power, are still stronger. Thankfully, just as when the chips appear down, when a scaly creature and darker colored creature like them who was blinded in one eye and covered in scaring, leap into the fray.

Shadow was captured by Eggman not long after Sonic, and Teri and Eclipse had been looking for their brother ever since, teaming up with Tails since they both have the same goal. Find their family, and save anyone who hasn't been evacuated yet, per request of Amy Rose. The group of hedgehogs they save are a little weird, though only Teri notices that these guys don't really act like hedgehogs. Terios is at first a little pushy wanting to get them out of the danger zone so he cna continue the search for Shadow. However, John and Floyd aren't having it, claiming they aren't going anywhere until they find their baby brother. Reluctantly Terios allowed them to join, since well, he's looking for a brother too, though he misinterprets their situations as a kid who got separated during initial evac of the situation. The group meets up with Tails, whose stress repairing Omega, the Fox only wants to know if Teri or Eclipse heard Shadow through the hivemind, since he's hoping Eggman will keep Sonic and Shadow together and finding one would mean both.

From there our group bonds. John kind of sympathizes with Terios, being the eldest sibling with no parents around, even if their situation is very different then from Young Brozone. Bruce is ticked off when he meets Tails, this is an 8-12 year old on his own looking for his teenaged brother with no parents around, like who lets this happen to kids (completely forgets that this was Floyd's situation at one point). Clay is just impressed with how intelligent tails is, and they talk math when they can. Floyd doesn't interact, he wants to find Branch's soul. Eclipse is just chaos incarnate when he gets with Poppy and Viva, the three of them are all high energy and trouble prone. Creek is civil, but Eclipse and Teri unnerve him, they aren't that colorful, but he's trying not to let that get to him, it's hard though when Eclipse mentions the Black Arms used to eat people.

On the side I do think that Poppy is feeling some form of attraction to Teri, like he's dark mysterious, but a total softy when it comes to Eclipse, Tails, and the dark arms. She actually gets him to open up a little about his past, and is promptly horrified, but she recognizes his loyalty and love for his family (minus black doom). Terious is also feeling something with Poppy, though he isn't sure what. The idea of a relationship never crossed his mind, he was too busy taking care of his family, and keeping his sister's promise. Eclipse recognizes the mutual attraction right away, though he's very blunt about it, and doesn't understand having a mate beyond the purpose of having kids, so he says a lot of things that nearly get Terious kill by Viva's hand or makes a bunch of people uncomfortable.

Eventually they run out of ground bases to search for Shadow and Sonic, and look in other options, eventually hacking the Death Egg and finding old security footage of the hedgehog in question. The resistance is down for a mission now that they have the coordinates for the space base. Most the trolls group have gotten close to members of the resistance by this point and are down to help. Everyone but Floyd. He's looked through every member of the resistance, and all the refugee but still hasn't found someone that could be his brother's reincarnation. Branch was a sweet happy and ever loving little brother in blue, and no one here fit the bill. He doesn't want to get wrapped up in the mission stuff, he wants to keep looking even if it meant leaving the safety of the resistance base. Floyd stays behind, with Bruce and Creek there to make sure he doesn't run off.

On the mission, John is on the infiltration team that finds and frees Sonic. The moment he sees the Blue hedgehog with a gleam of happiness in his eyes, he mistakes the hedgehog for Branch's reincarnation. Sonic's a little out of it, dirty and exhausted from his imprisonment, but he's really happy about the save. This John guy is really nice too, even if he's a little clumsy and doesn't know how to curl up for a spin-dash properly.

Poppy and Viva are on the team looking for Shadow, with Terious and Eclipse. Shadow's containment cell was more heavily guarded and the Black Hedgehog was one a constant stream of drugs to keep him docile. Eclipse and Teri are clinging to their brother the moment they can. Eclipse is just focusing on trying to get Shadow to wake up, while Terious is taking note of the IV and the odd energy signature that Shadow is giving off. It's not chaos, no it's more like what the clones are made of. What did they do to his brother.

The two rescue teams meet up on the way out. Sonic is happy to see Teri and the others, though worried about Shadow. He remembers hearing the black hedgehog screaming whenever that new jackal Eggman was working with entered his cell. Terious and Eclipse are horrified, when he mentions this. They needed to get out of there. They meet up with the ground team outside after fighting for their escape, Clay and Tails with them. John tells Clay he thinks Sonic is Branch, and Clay can't help but agree. Blue and perky, that's their Bitty B, they just need to hear him sing to know. Tails is clinging to sonic full trip back to the main resistance base.

The infirmary takes both recently freed hedgehogs immediately. Sonic goes willingly knowing how worried Tails was. Shadow had been out the whole trip back, but had started mentally stirring by the time of there arrival. John and Clay tell the others about their theory and they rush to meet sonic. Floyd runs up to this Blue hedgehog with so much hope, and is severally disappointed when Sonic only stares awkwardly as Floyd slings to him and tries to get Sonic to join in a song. It's in this awkward silence that Shadow wakes up. But between the months of drugs and psychological torture done by the phantom Ruby, he's disoriented and doesn't think anything is real, lashing out at the medical staff and causing a scene. It almost turns deadly but Terios rushes in and pulls a trump card to make Shadow calm down. He doesn't sing unless in private but he needs Shadow to stop panicking.

For Brozone its enough. The voice is deeper then they remember, but Terios isn't a baby, Branch grew up. Still it's that falsetto of gold they were looking for. There brother had been infront of them this whole time.

Shadow calms enough to ask for confirmation that this is real, which Terios asures that it is. Eclipse joins the hug, and Shadow passes back out from exhaustion not long after. The moment Terios takes a step back and lets the doctors work, Floyd is running into him hugging hard, and calling him Branch.

The rest of the plot would be the Brothers coming to terms that Branch is dead, and Terios is his own person. Floyd being the hardest to convince, he still wants to take Teri back to the troll world to build the waterslid in the bunker. John and Bruce come to the realization quicker then the others, they see Teri as his own person since they talked the most before the reveal. Clay is somewhere in the middle, he's angry that even after death Branch still doesn't have peace, to which Terios tells him to shut up, yes his life is hard but it's one he chooses and he isn't alone. Creek gets his closure, by apologizing to Teri even if he says it isn't necessary. Viva was just along for the ride. Poppy finds away to keep in touch with Teri, though I'm not sure how long the relationship would last, as they would both be needed in each other's worlds.

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Well this was dumb! Lol I hope yall enjoyed. Questions are now once more welcome! My gap year is about to start!

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mmelete · 10 months ago

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~ ~ introduction ~ ~

I'm obsessed with The Legend of Zelda and Linkeduniverse and a lot of Links-meet AUs (Bonus-Links, Link-Between-Links, and Linked Maze), so be prepared to see that here! No creeps allowed. I also love tag games

TAGS:

#lu fandom ----- this is for basically anything related to LU. Other people’s LU art, mostly. Sometimes its funny drawings/memes (although I do have a specific #lu memes tag for this), writing snippets, thoughts, etc. There's also #lu headcanons, which is...self explanatory.

#not my art is for anybody's drawings that aren't mine, and aren’t related to loz aus. Majority of the art is still loz-related, though.

#miscellaneous loz ---- ONLY legend of zelda things (thoughts, headcanons, etc)

#the guy ever—LU Four and Warriors related content. Ravio is also there sometimes

#xplodes—my rambles and chaos. #this is for basically anything, mostly things I find relatable.

~ my ao3 ~ (mmelete)

~~~ Last updated: April 14th, 2025 ~~~~

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tarisilmarwen · 3 months ago

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"I See The Light" and "A Splintered Path" for the WIP game!

Some more from the same scene (I'm on a roll lol):

"Ohhh no, I don't do backstory," she said, putting hands up as she backed away. The kid apparently had no respect for boundaries, physical or emotional, because he was immediately closing the distance, nose in her face curiously. "Why not?" "Trust me, that is a story that is too depressing for a nice day like this," she told him.

And from "A Splintered Path":

The Outer Rim farming world was a wash of alabaster. Tan stucco and clay buildings, amber grass, warm brown dirt. It made the harsh gray of the hulking Imperial Complex stand out like a blight against the horizon.

WIP Ask Game

#askbox #meme #WIP ask game #star wars #star wars rebels #sabezra #fanfiction #prompt fics #ezra bridger #adventures in writing

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fanovember · 7 months ago

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How are your inktobers/drawtober/drawing challenge going? Remember if you want to keep drawing, even though fanovember is about fanfiction, you are more than welcome to participate in our fan based challenge with whatever kind of art you make! We're still working on the list so stay tuned

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mechazushi · 6 months ago

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youtube

Long story short on the video, it's just a breakdown about mummies in history as it correlates to the history of its media as well. It's still a good and informative break down (Definitely check it out and support the channel), but as it got to the point of breaking down the tropes seen in movies about mummies and how many of them were seen in previous novelizations, I got to thinking about a story idea of my own.

It kinda revolves around the whole distinction between mummies that are powerful sorcerers that get the benefit of looking like a human and less powerful mummies that are forced to shamble around and be stuck in their bandages. It also dips into the "The mummy is looking to brink back their dead lover who just so happens to be reincarnated." trope as well as "bandage mummies only exist as servants/violent body guards".

So it takes place in the height of England's Egypt Craze where tomb "Unboxing" was still a thing and some British f*cks as well as their ✨gorgeous female assistant✨start poking around in a tomb. It's a lesser known tomb and everyone makes it clear that this was dedicated to some high ranking guard that made a noble sacrifice or something so they decided to make the guy's funeral a little more special. The British guys write it off and go see if there's a bigger tomb to plunder investigate (I feel like I should also mention one of these guys is supposed to be the female's betrothed love interest that immediately gets ntr'ed once the actual green flag walks, or should I say shambles, into the picture.)

Female Assistant sticks around to explore the first chamber more deeply and shenanigans happen. She reads some passages on the wall that has foreshadowing bits into it, maybe translates a scroll or two by candle light because she can't sleep due to the ✨visions✨ or some shit, and ends up accidentally resurrecting the noble guard from earlier. It's initially the lower tier type of mummy, the type that's somewhat mindless and still wrapped in bandages. Shit goes down, maybe it tries to kill the other tomb raiders explorers but it doesn't pan out (personally, I see it as a loony-toons type moment with the Mummy trying to kill them, the Assistant foiling every attempt, and the British guys none-the-wiser) Eventually it's discovered that the mummy seems to recognize the Assistant as someone he once knew and now only obeys her commands.

The Assistant uses that to her advantage and manages to drag it/him back to their lodgings. I have nothing specific for this part, other than that the next third and over of the movie (I see this as a movie. Or a webcomic if you wanna torture yourself.) is just Tarzan and Jane antics where they fall in love with each other. It's also happening alongside a side plot where the mummy is slowly gaining memories/intelligence/the ability to speak as it/he slowly sheds his bandages in the process. (I don't picture him losing all of the bandages. I still like a little bit of monster left to f*ck with. And yes, it's handsome.) Basically he slowly starts reverting back to the noble guard he once was as he remembers why he sacrificed himself in the first place and why the Female Assistant looks so familiar to him.

The last third cuts back to the British guys and them getting to meet the monkey's paw consequence of their hubris. They do the same thing that the Assistant did, only they end up resurrecting an ancient and powerful sorcerer that was sealed away for humanity's greater good. Maybe they strike a deal with the guy, maybe they run like the little b*tches that they are, who knows. Anyway, the mummy guard's spider sense pings and he realizes who ended up getting reawakened. Come to find out, the sorcerer also thinks the Female Assistant looks pretty familiar and does some wibbly-wobbly magic to confirm that, yes, she is some reincarnation of a long dead princess(/competing sorcerer maybe? It would be a nice double twist if you're into that sh*t)

Big fight ensues, the good guys win, and the Female assistant rides off into the sunset on an Excelsior Model 19 with the Mummy boyfriend.

The End.

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howtobeapersonwithfibro · 8 months ago

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Story Writing PART THREE

Our friendly bog witch, Hagatha, has recently woken from a years-long sleep due to a potion mistake. Her hut is a dank, dusty mess with several small animals having taken the opportunity to share her residence, and the outside is covered in overgrown plants. But she doesn't have time to clean yet, because she's starving.

Time to harvest some ingredients. The top three will be the ones she finds enough of to combine into a stew. (She also gathers some berries to eat on the side).

#poll #story poll #writing #writing poll #my post #writing prompts #choose your own adventure #writing game

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lullydoesstuff · 28 days ago

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Hello! I am Lully and this is my blog where I share with you ideas if you want to write but you don't know what to write and if you want to read but don't know what to read! My DMs and ask box are absolutely open so if you want to ask me something do it! 🩷

🎀 WRITING & READING

Writing methods

Books suggestions (Dystopians)

Creating a Demon Slayer OC

🎀 THEORIES

The world outside Panem (Hunger Games)

Doma's real story (Demon Slayer)

What's up with Kokushibo's face (Demon Slayer)

Questions about Tender is the Flesh (Tender is the Flesh)

🎀 HUNGER GAMES ARENAS CONCEPTS

The Plagues (76th Hunger Games)

Satia te sanguine, quem sitisti (76th Hunger Games, AGAIN!)

"Eden" (based on Annihilation)

#fanfic #horror #books #aesthetic #writing #writing prompt #help writing #masterlist #writing advice #writing adventures #kimetsu no yaiba #the hunger games

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imelht · 2 years ago

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Metadede Week. Day Two. First Meeting.

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“… … …”

Silence. Save for the wind which blew. Save for the king’s thoughts, which weighed heavy on his mind.

“… … …”

It was an abnormally cloudy day in Dreamland. Shadows fell over and about buildings in unconventional fashions. No one seemed to be outside at the moment, despite it still being early in the day… no one at all, but one.

The penguin king stepped outside, on a rather generously sized balcony which stemmed from the side of his castle. He peered over the mountains which so surrounded the mighty establishment, alone with only his thoughts to nag him. The golden circlet which held his crown together lacked its usual shine, much to the doings of the thick, dark-colored clouds above.

He stood silently. Not a word to himself, not an utterance to the scene about him.

Nothing.

This was King Dedede, the courageous, the fierce-some. The mighty penguin king of Dreamland.

He stood tall, tugging at the band that bound his stomach lightly. Feathers a rich azure blue in hue, his eyes were of a corresponding color, while his feet and beak a dandelion yellow in contrast. By looks alone the man was of a royal caliber. (Or perhaps that was only due to his routine.) Though, in contrast to his royal, tip-top nature, one might come to recognize the undeniably prominent southern tint to his voice, and his rather… gluttonous and boisterous aptitude, though, despite this, he was still very much a king at heart. Coincidentally, the king came to be dressed in a sumptuous red robe with a lofty, cloud-like accentry, his very insignia he sported on both the back of his robe, and on his mallet, which he’d always on hand.

Over the years, he would come to be a kind, and empathetic king, and he would grow to love each and every single one of his loyal subjects, those being the Waddle Dees. He’d countless of the orange, horizontally asymmetrical, mouth-less creatures. Each one he’d grown to love, and for any one of them, he’d sacrifice his very well being…

Though at this moment, that was not of principle concern. The clouds were dull in color, sharply contradicting the multitudinous, and spirited colors of Dreamland. The King knew something was up, and it was not just those clouds in the sky…

He knew what he had to do, and he had to do it now, or never.

… … …

Late into the night, the King had snuck out with deft footsteps, and managed out of the grandiose castle. The city of Dreamland was now at utter rest, the lights of homes put out, not a soul in sight. All were asleep, all but one… that one being King Dedede, and he’d taken a visit to the legendary Fountain of Dreams.

The fountain ran with its usual waters, however, the fountain’s activity seemed off to the King. King Dedede had taken many a trip to the fountain, especially when his mind plagued him. He was no new face to possession, namely by the forces of Dark Matter. The King sat on the lip of the fountain, his sights on the Star Rod as it sat upright in the center of the monument.

He averted his sights and peered into the waters as he normally did, allowing his thoughts to rush his mind like a flood, though this time the waters, opposite of stagnant, rippled. They betrayed a scary sight, a wizard with sharp spectacles and a whirling body. He’d sharp fingers, and a sinister demeanor. The wizard smiled with his teeth, each sharp but perfectly locked together, and he pulled his cape about his body to conceal it. Dedede, who would rather have not set his sights on the wizard, attempted to pull away, but instead, was seized in the wizard’s powerful mental hold, and physically brought forcibly to the water’s surface.

When his hands did not feel the usually shallow bottom of the fountain… he freaked out.

He felt his heart as if a lump in his throat, and in his stunned state he couldn’t bring himself to speak. He flailed his arms, seeking out of the water as he was near pulled in entirely. The wizard himself did not verbalize anything, rather, he stared… he stared deep into what was the King’s soul, and the King could almost feel himself again being pulled into the rippling waters of the now dark fountain.

He shouted, or… he thought he did. He felt himself begin to sweat, or was that just the water that had splashed into his face during the ordeal…? His breathing hastened as he corrected his pose, managing his arms out of the water after he’d been pulled physically towards it. He struggled against the mental snare of the Wizard with shallow breaths, as the taunting grin of the wizard seemed to remind him of how weak he was... The wizard beckoned Dedede to him, and the King could feel himself losing again what control he’d over himself.

He loathed losing his mind to some outside entity… to Dark Matter. He hated the torment it brought. To lose the will but not the conscious… it was utterly petrifying for the King. He strived to fight against it, but the external forces always managed to trump his will…

He wanted to cry out again in the midst of it all, but he remained determined. He grit his teeth, though he felt his mind once again facing a slip. He tensed up with the rest of his remaining strength, until he was pulled away from the fountain by a pair of hands at his sides, his pupils were wild, his feathers, bristled, his crown lopsided from his earlier tumble. He turned promptly, wide-eyed to the one who’d managed him away from the wizard’s unrelenting hold on him…

His eyes widened a tad further when he laid his sights on the one who had practically saved him. He was met with a short, masked, orb-shaped puffball. His skin was dark in coloration. He’d amber eyes and a steel mask, which covered the entirety of his face, save for a visor which permitted his eyes to see through it. He had pauldrons and sported a flowing red cape which he held across his body in one hand.

He looked like a little knight. The King tilted his head, now calming down from the previous events that had transpired.

“W-Who… are you?” The King stammered, his voice shaking a slight bit, but his nerves soon faded.

The mysterious man spoke up, in a much deeper tone Dedede would’ve thought.

“My name…? Well, if I may, I insist on keeping it in the down low.“ He responded, hesitantly.

“Do you… have a name?”

The swordsman was silent.

“I’ll take that as a no, for now.” *He paused, eyeing the swordsman before him. “It’s no matter. I’m sure ya know who I am at least.” He assumed, the arrogance laced in his tone and radiating from his newly stricken pose.

After a moment of silence he was met with a quiet, “I am unaware…” from the bystander.

The King’s jaw nearly dropped at this. He turned back to him, a more honest face, this time.

“You seriously don’t know…?”

“Why would I?” The swordsman replied, not without a genuine lack of knowledge.

“Well… I jus’ assumed you would… is all…” The King mumbled, though he perked himself back up. “I’m the King of these lands, Dedede is my name.”

“A pleasure to meet you… King Dedede.” The swordsman accompanied this acknowledgment with a bow, his red cape catching in the breeze.

“It’s nice tah meet you as well, mister swordsman.”

“You may just refer to me as sir, for now.”

The King laughed lightly. “Right right.” Then he’d a thought. “Ah! You uh… you saved me back there…”

“I did, in fact.” The swordsman affirmed.

“Well… what brought you ‘ere?” Dedede questioned, tilting his head.

“I heard your scream.” The swordsman stated, as a matter-of-factly.

“Well, yeah… but…” He tried to think of something else to ask the mysterious swordsman for the sake of learning more about him, even if it wasn’t much, but found nothing, so he offered his thanks instead.

“Well, I thank ya… truly…” He replied, cutting of his prior train of thought.

“Don’t mention it.” Was all the small swordsman said in reply before simply walking away.

That was, until Dedede called him, with a slightly begging tone.

“Wait!” Dedede implored, as he honestly didn’t want to see the mysterious man go. He’d found himself oddly captivated by him. He was much different from the rest of Dreamland’s usually bubbly citizens. Something struck him as… different. Many a thing, actually.

The pleading tone of Dedede’s voice struck something within the swordsman. He halted, turning around to face Dedede.

“What is it?” He replied, his deep vocals monotonous.

“Maybe we could… talk some more?” Dedede took a slightly shaky breath. “Ya know… it wouldn’t hurt to have someone to speak with.” He pointed out, feeling a bit of his honor nag him at the admission, though he saw no harm in the idea. After all, he’d just been shaken by what he’d seen in the fountain, and… this man before him struck him as a rather serious fellow, so he’d wager his chances with him.

A moment of silence passed before the man replied, only saying one word.

“Sure.”

“Great!” Dedede’s face lit up a bit with the affirmative answer. He scooted over on the lip of the fountain (as if by habit) and offered the man to sit down with him.

The swordsman clutched his red cape after only a moment of hesitation, and approached the lip of the fountain. Climbing (not without very slight struggle) to sit on it, he sat a fair distance away, but still in reasonable speaking distance. He folded the cape neatly in his lap, and turned towards the much larger man.

“Ready.” He announced. Though Dedede thought there was no need. The man had intriguing habits, but he didn’t implore further regarding them.

“Well…” Dedede started, “Are ya new here, by chance? To Dreamland?”

“No. I have been living around here for a bit of time already. We just have not happened to meet, until now.”

“Oh? So… you just so happened to decide to come here? To the Fountain of Dreams?”

“Well, yes…” The swordsman admitted.

“So… you came ‘ere, not because of me, I know that… so… that means it musta’ been by your own whim, huh?” Dedede rose a brow, though this gesture was not in accusation.

“Well, yes… I actually visit this Fountain on a reoccurring basis.”

“Then… why ‘aven’t I seen ya?”

“It must have simply been chance.” The swordsman stated, his tone still bland of any change whatsoever.

“Hm… I guess so.” Dedede conceded, agreeing with the very slight chance that which the swordsman said was right. It seemed most probable.

“…and you? Why are you here?” The swordsman questioned, his tone alone did not betray his curiosity, rather… the slight tilt of his head did.

Dedede sat back a bit, hands still holding tightly the rim of the fountain.

“I… I came here to act somethin’ out. A plan.”

“Hm?” The swordsman hummed in slight confusion, clearly not getting what very vague “plan” Dedede could have possibly been alluding to.

“Well… you see…” Dedede hesitated.

“I was going to take the Star Rod, and break it.”

“And… why would you do that?” The deep voice rang out again, monotone, yet… subtly questioning.

“Ya see… earlier I noticed somethin’ was up with the clouds in the sky. They were awfully dark. It was highly unconventional of Dreamland’s usual.”

The swordsman stayed quiet, not betraying whether or not he too noticed this phenomenon.

Though in the midst of this silence Dedede pressed on with his plan.

“So I came ‘ere to check up on the Fountain, and… it turns out it’s been corrupted.”

“Corrupted, you say?” This captivates the swordsman, despite his utterly dead tone.

“Yes. Or so I believe… I did see an entity I don’t usually lurkin’ in the waters…” The King drew a deep breath, recalling the figure.

“That was before you saved me.” He added, looking at the swordsman, who was clutching his cape, staring right back at him with his dull yellow eyes from beneath the mask. Dedede could almost… feel his interest in the whole thing. This prompted him to ask what was on his mind.

“So… have ya any sort of knowledge on what’s goin’ on?”

“Maybe I do.” The swordsman paused, before speaking again.

“Tell me about the “figure” you saw in the waters tonight. It seemed to have quite the effect on you, King Dedede.” He spoke as if he was speculating something.

“Well, it was some wizard with… sharp glasses and a starry cloak. He’d a taunting smile and wicked fingers…” He answered, turning to the swordsman.

“Have any idea?”

The swordsman was silent, before speaking.

“That which you saw in the fountain… it was undeniably Nightmare. He is a powerful wizard with dark magic at his disposal, not to mention mind manipulation and corruptive tendencies.”

This was what Dedede was looking for.

“Oh really? So ya know about that guy?”

“Well… yes…” The swordsman fessed, fidgeting with his cape a bit.

Dedede, utterly oblivious to the swordsman’s slight restlessness regarding the topic, dwelt on the matter at hand. “Hm… that’s better than nothin’ I guess! I appreciate the information.” Dedede replied, jumping up slightly, pressing on with his idea.

“So, as I was sayin’, I was going to take the Star Rod and divide it amongst some trusted members so that we might be granted a chance against this… “Nightmare” guy.” He continued, looking back at the swordsman every so often, to keep his interest.

“Mhm.” The swordsman nodded, humming in acknowledgement of his plan.

In analytic thought, he nodded, seeming content with the King’s plan.

“What you have devised proves not unsound.” The swordsman admitted, a hint of respect in the way he worded his admission.

“Why, thank you.” Dedede seemed proud himself, and he stood up, hand on hip, his robe trailing gently behind his massive frame.

“Now… just to getting to the Star Rod…” He took a pensive look at the clouded waters, and bit his beak a bit in slight nervousness.

“Is everything… alright?” The deep voice inquired suddenly. It caught Dedede off guard.

“Oh! Uhm… yes… sorry…”

“No need to apologize.”

“Ah! Right…” Dedede chuckled nervously.

The swordsman watched as Dedede turned to step through the waters, his foot managed to touch the shallow flooring of the fountain… and he found it odd how his hands couldn’t locate it earlier during his struggle. Nonetheless, he managed to the Star Rod, and claimed it off the center of the Fountain, though, as soon as he did the waters gained a more violent tendency, and they rippled, crashing about him, drenching his torso’s feathers and his robe. He yelped at the feeling of his movements increasing in difficultly as the waters tried to keep him, and he trudged through with strain. The King felt as if the water was gripping at his feet, attempting to pull him into the dark abyss that seemed to overtake the fountain. Slipping, his nerves overtook him, but a gloved hand caught his, and yanked him from the waters.

Again, Dedede gathered his nerves on hands and knees, turning his head to see that the swordsman had saved him once again.

“Thanks…”

“No need to mention it.” The swordsman dismissed. “I am simply doing what is fitting of a knight.”

Dedede’s eyes seemed to betray his loss of concentration on outwardly matters… he entered a bout of thought, pondering the knight before him…

“Knight”. He’d not any of those yet… he wondered what it would be like to have a knight in his kingdom. He’d loyal subjects and soldiers sure, but a knight? A real knight? No… not yet, at least… not yet…

“Hello?” The deep voice yet again caught the King off guard, causing him to snap out of his bout of thought.

“Ah. Er… sorry again.”

“No need.” The swordsman dismissed the apology again, with a light tone.

“You are alright though, yes?” He wanted to make sure.

“Yes.” Dedede confirmed. “…Thanks to you.” He added.

The swordsman’s cape caught the wind slightly, and danced in it.

“No need to mention it.” He replied, again, not letting emotion seep into his vocals.

“Yeah yeah…” Dedede droned lightly, smiling. Then he had an idea.

“Hey… uh… you know what…? Maybe…” Dedede paused, holding the now fragmented Star Rod in one hand, then looking up at the swordsman.

“Do you want to be a keeper of a piece?”

“Me?” The swordsman’s tone betrayed very slight… surprise.

“Yes you. Do you want to hold one of the pieces for me?”

The swordsman dwelt on his decision for a second. Instead of further questioning him, he took up the role.

“It would be an honor.” The swordsman clearly meant every word, this task, to him, was now regarded with utmost seriousness.

“Then the piece is yours, swordsman. Keep it safe from Nightmare, and let it never be reconnected with the shards of its kin.”

Dedede paused, ensuring the weight of the moment.

“Do you promise to keep it safe for me?” Dedede asked, his eyes a bit wide with seriousness.

“I promise.” The swordsman said in reply, clutching the glowing shard in his hand.

“Good. Then… farewell to you, swordsman.”

“… … …”

“May we meet again.” King Dedede dismissed, and the two went their separate ways.

END.

#decided to write for this prompt #i put the ‘keep reading’ to shorten the length of the post #this evidently takes place in kirby’s adventure. im not too too familiar with the game. but i hope ive done right by it’s plot #the unnamed ‘swordsman’ here is evidently meta knight #i just played on the fact he’d no name at the time. though in this case he simply refuses to say for the sake of both himself and dedede #dedede has a small ‘panic attack’. just to give a warning. its nothing too much though #methinks i should write more often. i enjoy writing a good piece here and there. i am just too nervous to ever share what ive written #anyways. enjoy #mtddweek2023 #metadede #IMELHT’s fanfictions

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