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huffle-dork · 4 months ago

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Swap Beyond the Crystalverse Chapter 21: Resurgence

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs

Other Multiverse Stories: SITCV | SATCV | GITHV

SBTCV Masterpost

The group makes it out into the hallway without incident. And down towards the elevator without incident. And Schneep presses the button to open the doors without incident.

"...this feels too easy," Jackie mutters.

Alt is glitching with anxious energy, “Yeah… way too easy…”

“Maybe it will actually just be easy for once?” Bro tries to say hopefully.

“That’s a dangerous sentence, Chase…” Huffle says nervously.

The elevator arrives.

"Well... are we going in or not, then?" Schneep asks. "Because I do not think that there is another way out of here."

"That's a fire hazard," Crystal mutters.

Alt takes a deep breath then glitches onto the elevator.

Bro chuckles, “It is isn’t it? I-I’m sure it’ll be fine!” He follows Alt in. Huffle gives Crystal a nervous look before following them too.

The elevator doors close as they all pile in, and Schneep presses the button to send it upwards. They feel it start to go... And then they feel it stop.

"Ohhhh no," Crystal whispers, eyes darting around. "Oh I don't like this." The light above turns red.

“Shit!” Alt curses.

“Nooo I didn’t mean to jinx it!!” Bro whines.

Huffle presses up against Alt and Crystal in fear. “Ohhh no- w-we’re not gonna get trapped in here a-are we?!”

"Trapped?" A voice says. "Not if I have anything to say about it." An image forms in front of the elevator doors, grinning.

"That's him!" Crystal gasps. "That's Rift Anti!"

The other Anti forms in front of the group. "Alt!" he shouts, looking back and pulling his eye-patch off. "Glitch the others out of here!"

Bro gasps and tries to push in front of the others. Alt doesn’t hesitate once inverted Anti appears. He grabs eveyone as quick as he can then concentrates on glitching out.

"No!" Rift Anti shouts— But then they're gone, Alt having taken them right outside the van.

"W-we gotta get out of here!" Crystal stammers. "We—we can outdrive him, I think?"

Chase opens the driver's side door. "What happened?"

“Rift Anti is here!” Alt shouts, pushing the buds towards the car first. “We need to book it!”

"Rift Anti?" Chase repeats.

"Fuck! That must be the other guy!" Marvin curses. "Go go go go!"

“W-What about Anti?! Not rift the- inverted one!” Huffle asks as they clamor towards the van.

“…h-He’ll catch up, I’m sure of it.” Alt says. “Just go!”

Bro helps the buds inside then hops in himself. Alt stays outside the car until everyone is in.

"Alt, get in!" Chase shouts, turning the engine on. He starts speeding down the dirt road.

Alt hurriedly runs after them then glitches in. He quickly stuffs the TRVLR in his backpack then looks out the back window as they start to speed away.

The car radio turned to static. "He's coming!" Inverted Anti's voice says.

"He's here," says another voice in the back of the van.

Chase's body suddenly stiffens up. "G-guys?! I can't—I can't let off the gas!" The car is continuing to speed up. "I-I can't let go of the steering wheel, either!"

“What?!” Bro shouts in surprise.

“W-What’s happening?!” Huffle cries in fear.

“Fuck! H-Hang on Chase!” Alt calls. His brain scrambles for what to do.

“Alt! Glitch me outside!” Bro suddenly shouts. Alt looks at him with wide eyes. Then he nods and glitches them both outside- right in the path of the car. Bro’s eyes light up bright blue as he holds out his hands and concentrates all his power on trying to stop the car.

The van comes straight at Bro but he doesn’t budge. It slams into him and for a few scary seconds it seems like it might overpower him. But Bro grits his teeth and digs his feet into the ground, pushing every ounce of strength into stopping its momentum. And finally the car grinds to a stop. Bro breathes heavily, not letting go as he hears the tires still trying to turn.

Alt takes this time to try to glitch next to Chase and grabs onto his shoulder, trying to find rift Anti’s energy and drive it out.

At the same time as Alt does that, Jackie reaches over and forcibly moves Chase's leg to the side, pushing his foot off the gas pedal. Chase's hand shoots to the side, punching Jackie in the face. He yelps as his head snaps back but grabs onto Chase's arm, holding it.

It's strange. At first, Alt can't find any sign of a foreign presence in Chase's body. But then he feels it. A slippery lightning pressed against Chase's nerves, blending into what's already there.

Chase makes a choking sound, and then words come out of his mouth that aren't his. "Do you think you're so great, Alt?" Rift Anti asks through Chase's strangled voice. "Do you really think you can stand against me? When the most powerful Anti you knew couldn't?"

Alt feels dread pool in his gut as he shudders, looking at Chase momentarily in fear. Then he narrows his eyes in determination and tries to push more magic in. “I-I have to- it doesn’t matter if I think I can! I can’t let you keep hurting innocent people! I can’t let you destroy our universes!”

The energy is hard to reach, slippery as it is. Chase's eyes roll back as he lets out a wet growl, like he's gargling on his own saliva. Alt feels something try to grab onto his magic, but it bounces off easily, like it was no more than a balloon.

"Innocent people always get hurt," Chase's voice says, accompanied by a voice coming from all their phones. "It's the way of the world. Of all of them. That's why they must be destroyed."

“You’re wrong!” Alt growls, “It’s only people like you that cause that hurt! T-There’s so much good in every world! You’re just too blind to see it!”

"THEN WHY DIDN'T ANYONE COME?!" Rift Anti shrieks, Chase's voice cracking as he forces him to shout so loud that Bro can hear it clearly through the car windows. "Where was your 'good' then?!"

Alt feels panic well up in his heart though as he hears the pain Chase is in and feel something try to grab his magic. He’s supposed to be able to stop rift Anti right?! Why can’t he stop him?? He still tries- something has to give… but what if he can’t?

Chase's body jerks as Anti resists Alt's push against him, but then slumps. Anti is gone and Chase is left gasping. Alt jolts backwards, staring at Chase with wide eyes as he lets him go. He just stares, trying to think of how to respond but… Anti is gone.

Bro rushes to the window and tries to get the car door open, “Other me! Are you okay?!”

"I'm fine," Chase says, and he coughs and rubs his throat. "God, that always sucks. Fucker made me shout so hard it hurt." His voice does indeed still sound raspy.

Bro sighs in relief. “I-I’m just glad you’re not more hurt…”

Huffle is curled up in the back and looks at Crystal with wide eyes, “Cry- what do we do?!” She whispers. “T-there’s gotta be something we can do right?”

Crystal stares back, mind scrambling to remember everything they can about the Rift universe. "Oh!" They gasp. "I remember! A thing I had pl—a-a, um, possible future for his world! W-we have to—if it's possible, we have to, um... this is going to sound crazy, but we have to get him to the area between worlds."

Huffle looks confused, “Between worlds?”

Alt looks back towards Crystal then glitches to be in front of them. “the space between worlds?” He knits his eyebrows in thought. “… do you know how his control works? He can do multiple people at a time… b-but maybe it’s harder to hold others down….?”

"Oh! I guess that makes sense," Marvin says. "A space between worlds... in a way. If you have a space, then you have a space outside that space... am I making any sense here?"

"Absolutely not," Schneep says. Crystal nods.

"H-he can only do about three people at once. I, uh, don't know about others being harder, I didn't... maybe guys with powers are harder? I was... thinking about that... being a thing..."

Alt swallows shakily then nods, “…maybe I can… I can try to bait him… k-keep him in place. Until Anti can get us to the space.”

“Alt you can’t use yourself as bait!” Huffle cries.

“I can’t let him control more of you!” Alt argues. “Especially not you two!”

"Alt, I don't think—I-I don't think you'd be good enough bait," Crystal whispers. They swallow a lump in their throat. "After all... h-he's ultimately after me."

“I dunno h-he’s been after us for a couple worlds now…” Alt tries to say, but he doesn’t sound as confident.

“I am not letting him get, Cry! He’ll fucking have to go through me first.” Huffle says with slightly glowing teal eyes.

"Huffle..." Crystal whispers, their eyes wide as they look at her.

"We are not using anyone as bait," Jackie says firmly. "There has to be another way."

“Jackie’s right! There’s always another way!” Bro says.

The car radio whines with static. Inverted Anti manifests, sitting in the space between the driver's and passenger's seat. It would be a tight squeeze if he wasn't all static, in a ghostlike state where the others can pass through him. "Whatever we do, I can get Sam to open us a rift to the Space In-Between. We'll have to be fast about it."

Alt opens his mouth to argue but then Anti forms. He huffs and then grips at his wrist, “t-There has to be someway to contain him right?“

Anti frowns. He glances at Crystal. "You're the expert here."

"I-I am? Oh yeah, I guess I am." Crystal pauses. "I, uh... Th-the thing about Rift Anti is that he's just a mind, no body. What's that Slay the Princess quote...? Solitary lights in an empty city, thoughts without connections, a dim and nascent network."

"Nascent?" Chase repeats, eyebrows raising. "What's that?"

"It's like, uh, something that's appearing and forming. That part of the quote doesn't really apply, uh..." Crystal's mind scrambles. "But, uh... since he's a mind, maybe mental magic will have an effect? Magic doesn't really exist in his world, h-he might not be prepared for it."

“Mental magic…” Alt says slowly. “…I.. I don’t use that often but… maybe…?” He doesn’t look too comfortable about that. “… it’s worth a shot.”

"More of a plan than we've had so far," Anti says. He looks at Alt, expression softening a bit. "I'd offer to do it, but I don't think I'd be able to. He'd be able to reach out and drain my power again before I got too deep."

Alt nods, narrowing his eyes in determination, “…I-I won’t be like Mag if I do this… I-I’ll be doing it to protect people,” He says quietly, like he’s trying to convince himself.

"We haven't known each other that long," Jackie says softly. "But I agree. You won't be a villain, Alt. This guy... he wants to do terrible things. And he won't stop until someone makes him. And, uh, hey, you won't really be hurting him. I-I don't think a mind can feel pain without a body."

Marvin nods. "I-I know what it's like to... worry about that," he says quietly. "You have to trust in yourself. And trust that your friends will be there for you. To watch after you."

You still might feel bad about it, but remember, it's different than what your villain does, JJ says. You're right. You'll be doing it to protect others. Not for your own selfish desires. You're not the same as him at all. He smiles. I knew from the moment I saw you that you were different than those villains out there.

Alt looks back at the others with wide eyes, obviously touched. He gives them a small determined smile and nods. “…thank you. I… I can do this.”

“Yeah you can!” Bro cheers, “Let’s kick some ass!”

Huffle smiles proudly at Alt.

“Hate to ruin the moment, but we’ve been sitting in one place for a while,” Anti says. “He’s going to come back.”

Alt nods, “R-Right… let’s try to lead him away from the car, then.” He looks gratefully at all the others before glitching back outside.

Bro furrows his brow in worry, “…what about the rest of you? Are you gonna try to get out of here?”

“Yeah, of course,” Jackie says. “We don’t want to be anywhere near IRIS when they figure out what we did to their machines.”

JJ frowns. What DID you do?

“Shhh, I’ll explain later.”

“I dunno about you guys, but I want to go home,” Chase says, looking back at the others. “See the kids again before he probably shows up.”

“We’ll protect you, Chase,” Marvin says fiercely. “We promise.”

Bro’s face softens and he nods, “Yeah dude… go see your family.”

Crystal grabs their backpack of stuff and gets out of the van. “Do you guys mind if I come along? My going-back device is still on its timer.” They glance back at Huffle. “I mean, unless you want to stay with these guys. But I think we should go with them.”

Huffle blinks then nods, “Yeah I… I want to stick with you…” she says, slipping on her own bag and hopping out. She looks back to the others and smiles. “It was so fun to meet you all! I hope… everything works out for you guys.”

Alt looks back to the van and nods, “Yeah… thanks guys… for uh.. everything.”

“No, thank you for everything,” Schneep says, smiling. “We may not have gotten Chase back without you two. Or at least, not with his memories.”

Sam waves their nerve-tail, saying goodbye.

“Good luck to you guys, too,” Chase says.

“Maybe we’ll see you again,” Marvin says.

“Yeah! Hopefully we can come visit!” Bro says brightly,

“I’m so glad we could help.” Alt smiles too and nods,

“Be safe you guys.” Huffle waves, grinning.

The others all wave. “Well… heading out.” Chase puts the van into gear again. “We’ll see you around!” The guys continue to wave as Chase drives away. Alt and Bro wave too.

Anti manifests next to Bro and Alt. “He’s definitely coming,” he mutters.

Once Anti appears, Alt’s expression hardens and he nods. “Okay… we gotta lure him in then… is Sam ready with a rift?”

Anti nods. “When we’re ready, it’ll appear right over there.” He points to a spot in between two trees. “Easy to remember.”

Huffle presses up close to Crystal and goes to hold their hand, squeezing it slightly. She looks nervous.

Crystal squeezes Huffle’s hand back and takes a deep breath. “Oookay. I guess—”

The sky seems to darken above them, a shadow being cast by no cloud. Alt and Bro get into defensive stances, Alt collecting magic at his fingertips.

“—I guess that’s him, then!” Crystal says, eyes wide. The temperature seems to rise. Everyone feels the hair on the back of their necks stand up—and a red lightning bolt darts towards Crystal and Huffle.

Huffle screams as the lightning darts towards them and closes her eyes, going to try to protect Crystal. A teal shield of sparkling magic blooms to life right in front of them, deflecting the blow.

Alt blinks in surprise, “not good at magic my ass!” He calls to Huffle.

Huffle blinks her eyes open in surprise and stares at the shield. “I-I didn’t mean to do that but- t-thank god!”

A hiss echoes through the air, like an angry cat being filtered through a broken radio. Rift Anti's image forms in the middle of them, glaring at Huffle and Crystal. "Ever hear the phrase 'death of the author'?" And above them, a storm of red lightning forms in the air, bolts connecting to each other, a web of electricity. Another bolt slams down, aiming for Huffle's shield.

Huffle pales and holds more onto Crystal, trying to hide her shaking. She screams again as the lightning strikes- but surprisingly the shield stays put. A slight crack appears on its surface.

“Hey leave them alone!” Alt shouts. “Your fight should be with us, fucker!”

Rift Anti laughs. “Why? You can’t help me the way they can. But alright, if you insist.”

The lightning storm above brightens, and three bolts dart down—one for Alt, Bro, and the other Anti.

Inverted Anti glitches out of the way easily. Bro quickly duck rolls out of the way, almost getting hit and lands back in a crouched position.

But, Alt doesn’t glitch away, he stands firm.

“Alt!” Bro shouts in panic.

Alt holds up a hand as the lightning strikes- and then he grits his teeth as the red lightning courses around him- but doesn’t shock him. And it quickly turns green blue as he absorbs the power- eyes glowing brightly and magic sparking wildly around him. He grins a bit unhinged. “Thanks for the power boost~!” He smirks.

“What?!” Rift Anti’s image, usually so stoic, breaks into surprise. The lightning storm falters. Then increases. “You already have your own power! Don’t take mine!”

“I-it’s not even yours!” Crystal shouts.

“Shut the fuck up!”

Another bolt heads for the two of them, but Inverted Anti leaps forward, taking the blow instead. His body jitters but he doesn’t falter. “Alt!” He shouts. “Use that boost!”

“Right!” Alt builds up magic in his hands and then- a bright spiral of soft blue greens and whites appears behind him. “Hey fuck face! Try to fight this!”

"Try to fight what, you fucking fool?!" Anti's image turns around. "You think you can scare me with a bunch of lights?! A bunch of... swirling lights? Lights that are... are..." His voice slowly fades away. The image fades as well, becoming half-translucent, and the lightning storm above flickers, the electricity dying down.

Alt smirks at Rift Anti, “I was an apprentice of Magnificent, bitch. You think he wouldn’t teach me a couple tricks?”

Huffle gapes, “I-It worked!”

Bro watches with wide eyes.

“You have to get him all together," Inverted Anti says. "He's spread out right now--but he needs to be in one place."

Alt blinks at Inverted Anti then furrows his eyebrows. He seems nervous before he looks at Rift Anti and shakily orders, “F-Form back together.”

There's a slight crackling in the air. The lightning storm and Anti's image slowly disappear. But Alt can feel something forming, something coalescing. Purple light appears in front of him, and he recognizes the feeling of Magnificent's magic--this must be the magic that Anti stole from him, forming into a vague shape of a person. Other than that, there's no indication that Rift Anti is here now. Only Alt's connection to his mind lets him know that there's a full person here.

"Do we--do we go now?" Crystal asks nervously.

“I-I think so-“ Alt says, wincing as he feels Mag’s power.

“We should hurry! W-what if he tries to break out?” Huffle says nervously. But she tries to concentrate and the shield covering her and Crystal disappears into vague colored sparks of magic.

"Hurry is good!" Inverted Anti says. "Sam!"

In between the two trees he pointed out earlier, green lightning unzips the fabric of the world, forming a rift.

"You two go first!" Anti says, gesturing at Huffle and Crystal.

"Oh god," Crystal says under their breath, then grabs Huffle and pulls her towards the rift. "Let's go!"

“Woahhh!” Huffle gasps, then eeps as bit as Crystal pulls her. But she quickly catches up with runs with them into the rift.

“You next, Chase-“ Alt says, looking to Bro, “I’ll momentarily let him go… and get him to follow us in.” Bro looks hesitant then nods, hurrying after the buds.

"Be careful, Alt." Anti glitches over next to the rift.

Alt nods, “I will.”

"Don't worry about me. I can get there on my own without an entrance. I'll make sure he goes after you." And his form dissipates into barely-noticeable pixels.

Alt feels Rift Anti stir beneath his magic. Not pushing against it, but starting to notice it there.Then, Alt breaks the magic and stares back at Rift Anti with glowing eyes, “How’d that feel, fucker?!” He smirks. “Betcha can’t catch me~!” He taunts before glitching behind him then back into the rift.

The purple form of a person disappears. "You--what--how--?!" Rift Anti's voice says. "You took them with you?! Get back here!" And he chases after them.

After he disappears from this world, the rift disappears, and Inverted Anti goes as well.

#SBTCV #swap beyond the crystalverse #SBTCV resurgence #resurgence #SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER LETS GOOO #Rift!Anti is back! can they all figure out how to stop him??#oh yeah uh more c!huffle lore she's very close to marvin and he's teaching her magic aghvjba #and we have a thing where creativity is a realllyyy powerful magic in of itself #which is partially why rift!anti is after them- but also cuz he knows c!cry and c!huffle write these universes #the only ones who dont know that are alt and bro #if alt knew i wrote his stories he would kill me 1000% GHVJBK

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