Guardian AU Chapter 1

Orange feathers rustled as a humanoid figure propelled himself forward. A sharp turn around a corner and a loose hand tapping the door in front of him had him at his destination. Davesprite hovered, tactfully silent as the sprite he'd become closest to laid back on a bed, just as tactfully avoiding eye contact. It was like a game the two played every time they saw each other, and whoever spoke first lost. Clearly though, Davesprite didn't really care about it right now.

"What's yours like?" Came Davesprite's question, and he ignored how the corner of Hal's mouth turned up just a little. Hal shifted slightly from his position on the bed. He clearly wasn't ready to sit up and fully acknowledge Davesprite yet. However, that didn't impede him from responding.

"What, no 'Sup, asshole'? Where's the usual greeting?" Davesprite resisted an eye roll at his words. He was used to it by now, and clearly, Hal's attitude towards him wouldn't change just because of today's events. Davesprite crossed his arms as he hovered over the clouds that made up the floor.

"Okay, sup, asshole. Now stop fucking stalling. I want to know about yours." Davesprite demanded, and to his relief, Hal turned in the bed and sat up. Finally.

"I've already told you a little about Dirk, when I got him a few months ago. What's yours like?" Came the response, and Davesprite looked to the side. He was quiet for a second, before speaking.

"I haven't checked mine out yet." He said the words like they were an admission, and in all senses, they were. Hal paused at that, his white 'skinned' hands folding over themselves. He looked at Davesprite then, and watched his face. Davesprite didn't even try to hide what he was feeling. Hal would know anyway. That's how best friends worked. The sprite that glowed red didn't let his equally red eyes widen too much as he came to a conclusion, instead swapping the reaction for a snort.

"And you said I'm stalling?" It was rhetorical, and Hal didn't leave any space in their conversation for Davesprite to be forced to say something. "My charge is a boy, and still a baby. I got him on the third of last year's December." Hal saw the orange sprite shift to lean against the wall, his wings flat and arms still crossed. Had Hal been anyone else, he would have thought Davesprite was at ease. Of course, he knew that Davesprite wasn't.

"Cool. Is the lifespan good?" By now, Hal knew that Davesprite was actually nervous, and anxious. It shouldn't have come as a surprise. But at least, Hal understood why his best friend was trying (and failing) at acting at ease. He still remembered how Davesprite acted when he learned that he was going to become a guardian sprite. It was a job, and he decided early on that he'd be as nonchalant about it as possible. Other soon-to-be guardian sprites were more than excited to receive their charges, and nervous about it. Of course, Davesprite would never outwardly admit that he was nervous. So, he took the attitude that most of the seasoned sprites took when they guarded their charges for a while. He would do his best, but this was just a job. A sacred duty… but just a job.

"He's supposed to live until he's 74." Came Hal's response, and Davesprite nodded, letting out a breath that Hal was sure he didn't know he was holding.

"That's good. Above average." Came Dave's words, and Hal nodded along in agreement. "I hope mine lasts until they're like, 80." Davesprite paused. "Not that it matters." He added, and Hal rolled his eyes.

"You know, I hate to be too direct, because I know emotional confrontation is a bitch for you, but it's not bad to be nervous about this, bro." Davesprite made no response, but Hal knew he heard his words. "It's okay if you want to give a shit about something, for once. You're going to be watching over every aspect of this kid's life, whoever they are. It's not a bad thing to care about it." He added, and Davesprite sighed.

"I know." He responded, and Hal looked at him.

"But, it is a bad thing to put off learning about your sprite and let them die before you even get a chance to see them." Davesprite looked away. He knew that the red sprite was right.

Being a guardian was a weird job, to be sure. It was more than just getting a human, and watching over them from a viewing point. First, a sprite's job was to keep them alive, and that alone was hard. Without a sprite's almost constant guidance, a human charge tends to make horrible decisions. A sprite's only goal is to keep their charge alive until they're supposed to die. Usually, by then, they'll have lived a long, fulfilling life. When sprites didn't do their jobs, their charges died early. Those charges never got to accomplish all they were meant to do. More often than not, a sprite that lets their charge die ridiculously early, like in their teens or late childhood, is just one that doesn't care about their sprite. Either that, or sprites get distracted at the wrong times, and their charges make decisions without any input from their sprite. As a creature that didn't need sleep, there weren't many times when a sprite was really excused to stop watching their charge anyway, but some sprites left their charges unattended for short periods of time. Usually, it only happened when they were asleep. It was a shame that sprites didn't realize how often people got nightmares, and often died in their sleep because of a lack of attendance like this.

But of course, that wasn't the only weird thing about being a guardian. Usually, sprites would begin to look like their charge as well. If theirs had green eyes, the sprite's eyes would start turning green, among other things. As a charge's life progressed, a sprite and a charge would become like perfect twins. Sprite's bodies changed too- they would begin to look like the age of their charge, but still have the entire brain capacity of a sprite. The ones that really took the job seriously would be so in tuned to their charge that they would share their charge's quirks, or clothing style of choice. Davesprite never expected to get that far into guarding his charge, but he knew he'd at least begin to look like his charge- that was a necessary part of being a sprite.

"What do you think they'll look like?" Davesprite finally questioned, moving his useless wings. He didn't know why he had them- sprites could hover naturally, without wings, but he didn't dislike the feathery weights on his back either. Hal's red eyes narrowed now.

"It'll probably be a boy with… I don't know, red hair from Europe or something." Davesprite swallowed.

"Do you think the lifespan on mine will be good?" At that, Hal was done letting him stall.

"Alright, that's enough. If you want to know all this, go figure it out yourself." He said, standing, and beginning to usher his best friend out. "Seriously, you already know that now's the time for you to find him. Go get your charge already." Davesprite's eyes widened in alarm.

"But, Hal-"

"No. I'm not going to let you sit here and fucking stall for the next hour. So, pull out your magnifying glance, become Sherlock Bromes, and learn about your charge by reading the sheet of paper that will literally tell you everything you need to know. I know you're anxious, but everyone does this, okay? You can do it too. Actually, you know what? You're not allowed back here until you can tell me their name and eye color, okay? I actually have to watch over my own charge now too. So bye." Davesprite was out of the door now, and given no more time to stew over his own insecurities.

"Wait! Do you think I'll start changing immediately?" Hal's red eyes flattened.

"You'll be fine. May the force be with you, see you later, bye." The door to Hal's living area closed immediately after that, leaving Davesprite hovering outside of it. The orange sprite sighed, but knew Hal was right. It was time to go see his charge.

When Davesprite finally had the courage to return to his room, and pick up the piece of paper with basic information on his charge, who would have been lying if his hands weren't shaking, just a little. He purposefully skipped down the page, and found the basic instructions for turning on his viewport instead. Once he'd turned it on, it zoomed in on the room around Dave's charge. The viewport was nice, because he could see through walls when necessary, and turn to view things above his charge's perspective, or around them.

Davesprite forced himself to see the room around his charge first. He could see a pink tree, along with light rain through a hospital's window. So, it was spring. Of course, he knew the date- April Thirteenth, but he'd only just realized that it was springtime. He saw a doctor, and a man in a hat, along with the charge's mother. A little relief surged through Davesprite- he had two parents. That would definitely make things easier on him. The doctor was smiling, always a good sign, and the father looked relived. They said his charge's name a few times- John. This was John. Davesprite's sprite tail flew up behind him and curled as he looked at the human baby in the mother's arms, staring at him curiously through his viewport. He was so… small. The orange sprite couldn't help the surge of some protective emotion that went through him. The baby looked perfectly normal, and even had wisps of black hair at the top of his head. Davesprite looked at the orangey blonde of his hair and frowned, but he couldn't say that he really minded that it would turn black soon.

Then, it happened. The newborn, who'd been sleeping somewhat peacefully, seemed to stir. Davesprite watched, rapt with fascination. The mother continued a conversation with the doctor, and the father did as well. Davesprite's eyes were on his charge though- and then he opened his eyes. The orange sprite nearly fell back with shock. They were so… blue. It was like looking at the area around skaia, except it was bluer. And, attached to a charge. Davesprite blinked once, and then a smile found itself on his face. He wouldn't mind having those. Despite himself, a delighted laugh came from his lips. This was his charge! He was so small, and cute. Davesprite didn't mind protecting him, heck he wanted to. He couldn't wait to watch this little baby grow, and change, and learn. And he'd be right there, growing and changing and learning right above him as well. Davesprite would teach him what was right, and wrong, and he'd discover new things about this world while he did it. He wasn't just ready, he was excited.

"Some 'job', huh?" Came a voice from behind Davesprite, and he turned. It was Hal, who'd clearly seen his entire reaction. He was smirking, but clearly happy for Dave. "Where's all that nonchalance?" He questioned, and Davesprite shrugged. He didn't care that Hal was being difficult.

"Up your ass." He responded, watching John fondly. Hal smirked, and leaned over his viewport with him.

"What's his name?" He asked, hovering behind Davesprite, whose hands were spread over the screen.

"John." He said the name caringly. "Or Johnathan Jacob Egbert, but John. He's not going to go by J. J, I know it." He added, and Hal clapped an arm on his friend's shoulder.

"Congrats, bro. So, is the lifespan good then?" He asked, and Dave's eyebrows lifted.

"I haven't found out yet!" He said, turning away from the screen to read the paper. Now that he'd seen his charge, he wanted the lifespan to be like, infinite. "Let's see. His parents are Jane and… huh, Jacob Egbert. Creative middle name, guys. Okay… He's from Washington state, in the United states." Davesprite paused. "Hey, that's the same country as your charge!" He noted, and Hal nodded.

"Yeah, but Dirk's from Texas. What else?" He asked, and Davesprite read the page.

"Uh, his sign is Taurus, his hair's black and his eyes are blue, he's in the… hm, upper middle class? Nice. And the target age is…." Davesprite paused, but his eyes widened, then narrowed. "That can't be right." He said, looking at the page in distress. Hal looked surprised.

"What? Is it really old?" Davesprite shook his head, and Hal looked at his best friend before his voice turned somber, and quiet. He could tell that Davesprite was not happy, with the way he looked at the paper. "…How young?" Davesprite was silent for a second. "Bro? How young?" Hal asked again, his voice quiet. Davesprite mumbled his answer. He looked up, and knew Hal didn't hear him, so he had to say it again.

"He's supposed to die on July 21st, in 2016." Wheels turned in Hal's head. If today was April 13th, in the year 2000, that meant- "He's only going to live for sixteen years, bro." He muttered, and Hal's face changed from shock to dread. No one ever had lifetimes that were that short. One unfortunate sprite got twenty, once. But Sixteen? People died accidentally at sixteen, but this? That was when his life would be complete? Hal saw Davesprite turn back towards the viewport, and he felt terrible for his best friend.

"I'm so sorry." He said, carefully not touching Davesprite. Normally, low target ages were 50, and 40. But sixteen? It seemed like the type of thing to be a mistake, but no. It wasn't, they didn't make mistakes when it came to this. He heard Davesprite let out a long sigh and his hangs hung uselessly by his sides.

"It's fine." He said it shortly, and almost angrily. The orange sprite noticed his tone, and changed it. "It's fine." He said again, and looked away from Hal. "Makes the job easier anyway." He added, and started hovering towards the exit of his own room. Hal's eyebrows crinkled together, in worry.

"Davesprite…"

"Hey, Hal. It's fine. Actually, I think I'm gonna go check in with John's parents' sprites. They should probably know about this." He said, and Hal swallowed.

"But what about John?" He asked, and Davesprite looked down.

"He's fine. He's literally in the middle of a hospital, and with his parents. I think I can take a quick break, Hal."

"But, D-"

"Hey." He cut Hal's worried words off. "I'm going to do my job. Dirk's asleep, right?" He asked, and Hal frowned. He didn't like the question, but answered honestly.

"Yeah?"

"Watch John while I'm out." He said, and offered Hal a sarcastic smile. "I can't let him die yet, can I? He's still got sixteen years." He added, darkly, and before Hal could respond, the sprite was gone. Hal couldn't even hear John's thoughts, but he hovered over to the viewport anyway. He looked at John, sleeping again in his mother's arms, and sighed. Davesprite didn't deserve this, but there was nothing anyone could do. Davesprite's first charge, John Egbert, was doomed to die at sixteen.

A year passed. At John's first birthday, Davesprite had been half-assing his job. He was clearly still upset that his charge was doomed to die so soon. Hal advised him to care anyway, even as the sprite's body began to change. Davesprite noticed Hal's white hair turn blonde, and his eyes slowly became more and more orange. Meanwhile, Davesptite didn't change much, but that was expected for the first few years of a charge's life.

By the time John's second birthday rolled around, Hal was the size of a two year old, and Davesprite was as well, but the orange sprite never grew blue eyes or black hair. Regardless, both were busy. Davesprite seemed to get over his apathy a little, and ended up watching John constantly- which was appreciated, since John's 'terrible twos' were a difficult time to get through. Davesprite couldn't count the times when he'd suggested (through John's subconscious, of course) not to chew on a certain toy, or explicitly warned Jane's sprite to warn Jane not to buy the tiny toys that John could choke on.

Watching John learn to crawl, and eventually walk, was as endearing of an experience as it was a sad one. Davesprite knew it wouldn't be long before John was learning to drive too, but he wouldn't be able to enjoy the skill for long. Regardless, Davesprite watched over John day and night, and genuinely enjoyed it. When other sprites (even guardians) left to go have skaian events or talk, Davesprite was at his viewport. John, despite his death that was sure to come soon, was growing on Davesprite. The sprite enjoyed watching over his charge, and checked daily for black hair or blue eyes.

By the age of three, Hal pretty much was Dirk. Davesprite saw this, and hoped he'd be like John soon as well. He just looked like a three-year-old version of himself, and while he was certainly cute, he wished to look like John. By three, everyone started to look like their charge in at least some way. Dirk- sorry, Hal, had the same bone structure, and everything, as Dirk.

Just before turning four, John's mother died. It left Davesprite feeling more worried and upset for John than what was probably normal. He was not sure if John's lack of a mother would lead him to whatever caused his death when he turned older. When he met Jane- not Jane's sprite, but the dead Jane, she had thanked him for all he had done for her son. Somehow, dismissing it as 'all part of the Job' no longer felt right for Davesprite. He was beginning to care about John, immensely. Throughout John's time as a four year old, Davesprite noticed John's father sitting alone, at the piano bench, for hours at a time. Dadsprite- aka, the sprite of John's father- had no clue what to do. The man's head was so fogged with grief that he could hardly get through to him, and both Davesprite and Dadsprite knew it would have a bad effect on John.

Oddly enough, Davesprite solved the problem. The orange sprite indirectly helped John's father with his grief through John. By the time John hit five years, John's dad was coming out of the periods of depression caused by the death of his wife, and teaching John to play the piano. The man was finally able to hear his own sprite again, which took a lot of stress off Davesprite. Dadsprite was beyond grateful for Davesprite's help, and encouraged John's father to try dating again. The orange sprite hadn't left his own viewport once in months.

Hal almost began to worry about Dave, with how seriously he was taking this "job". Of course, everyone could see that it was much, much more than an occupation for the sprite now. Being a guardian was his life, and his charge was only six. Hal also noticed Davesprite's growing frustration, with the lack of changing physically. All he did now was age like John. While he liked his own body, he desperately wanted to undergo all the changes he was supposed to go through too. He marveled at the complete attitude change that Davesprite underwent when it came to his work, but Davesprite was almost always too busy for them to talk about it.

Halfway through John's time as a seven year old, his father remarried. The woman he'd proposed to was beautiful, smart, and kind, but Davesprite questioned her past. When the orange sprite investigated her a little more, he'd found her sprite, and was negatively surprised by her history.

Apparently, this sprite had been really half assing their job, when it came to certain facets of their charge's life. When she was younger, this woman (he'd learned that her name was Roxanne) had a fairly quiet, if lavishly rich upbringing. She was homeschooled her entire life by ridiculously rich parents in New York, and had a quiet, un eventful, and for the most part, friendless childhood. However, the woman's life seemed to take a turn at eighteen, just after she'd left for college. Both of her parents died, leaving her a gigantic home and endless supply of money. With both of these assets, no parents to keep her on the path of the 'straight and narrow' during her first experience with freedom, and the grief on not one, but two dead parents, she turned to drinking in college. While she completed her studies (sometimes) by day, she drank and partied often by night, and didn't have any real consequences until she had her baby, who she'd christened with her own name. She ended up dropping out of college in an attempt to care for her kid. While Roxanne and baby Roxy were fine in the financial department, Roxanne lacked the maturity to parent correctly, and didn't have anyone to ask for advice on the matter either. The result was a disastrous mockery of an upbringing for little Roxy, and it sparked a hatred for the mother that truly had no clue what she was doing.

As the years passed, Roxanne's sprite intended to get her life back on track by helping her pursue a career, but along the way, she'd had another daughter, named Rose, around the same time as John was born. Soon enough, Roxy (her first daughter) grew old enough to take custody of her younger sister, and got a restraining order from the woman. After losing her entire family, Roxanne finally quit drinking and pushed her efforts into her studies of biology. Once she pulled herself together, along with the help of a few friends along the way, Roxanne attempted to reconnect with her daughters. Roxy and Rose wanted nothing to do with Roxanne, and Roxanne respected their wishes. She simply offered them the house her parents had given her as a child, along with some means to survive, and decided to move across the country for a new job and a fresh start. After working as a biologist in Washington State for a while, she met John's father. They got married a couple of years later, and she became John's new mother.

After learning Roxanne's story, Davesprite approved of her enough as a role model for John, but told Roxanne's sprite to work hard at her job, for John's sake. Said sprite understood, and Davesprite felt a little less stressed, now that John had another parent to take over the role of guiding John throughout his childhood.

When John turned eight, Davesprite still didn't look like his charge, and he couldn't figure out why. He was certain that other sprites were just as confused on the matter as he was. Davesprite's response was to work out the confusion. At this point, he didn't move from his viewport, ever. John received a computer for his eighth birthday, and the only way Hal, his best friend, could tear him away from watching over John was to give him a plan to help John befriend Dirk, online. Dirk, who always seemed to be perfectly in tune with what Hal wanted for him, befriended the other eight year old easily. They became close internet friends, and Davesprite focused on expanding John's social circle as well. While Dirk befriended more people on the internet, and John shared most of the people Dirk befriended online (notably Rose Lalonde, who John didn't know was his half sister), John also began to make friends in person. To Dave's delight, John was gregarious, and after a quick background check on "Karkat Vantas", the loudest kid in John's third grade class became John's protective best friend. If Davesprite wasn't watching over John he was talking about him, and vice versa.

A few more years passed, and thankfully, John never strapped on a football helmet or placed basketball shoes on his feet. Sports were dangerous. Even without sports, he was healthy for his age. At thirteen, Dirk successfully wrote an auto-responding program, and named it "Lil Hal", or auto responder.

"Hal, come on, how did you make that happen?" Hal would only smirk at Davesprite in response.

"No comment." He'd said, and Davesprite jokingly teased him about 'hacking the system'. Davesprite started to refer to him as Auto-Responder sometimes, and called him AR, for short. It made his time away from caring for John a lot more eventful. Still, his eyes lingered on John with an unseen confusion as he thought about John's imminent death. Davesprite was so good to him that the sprite didn't even understand how John could die. Of course, John still made mistakes, like all people did. He asked Vriska to date him after he turned thirteen. That didn't work out well, at all. But the mistakes John made never seemed to be dangerous enough to land him in a situation where he'd die. Later in his life, he started making most of his friends through the internet. John met this one girl through pester chum that lived on an island, but Davesprite quickly shut down any thoughts of him sneaking away to go meet her. He never allowed John to wander into danger, so he couldn't understand why John would be doomed to die so young.

Time passed, and Hal could see Davesprite's stress as John neared the age of sixteen. He never rested, or hung out, because he was endlessly busy with his charge. Hal wasn't jealous, of course, but he was concerned that Davesprite was putting too much of himself into caring for John. Still, there wasn't a way for Hal to artfully approach that topic with his best friend, so he never shared his worries. When John turned fifteen, Davesprite worked his ass off to make John happy. This was the last full year of his life, after all. The sprite (who still never looked like John, to his chagrin), helped him end up with perfect grades, perfect friends, and helped him learn to drive. John was happy to be alive, and woke up every morning with a smile on his face. There were days, when out of nowhere, John would just thank 'whatever was up there' for giving him such a great day, and it would always make Davesprite feel unbearably bittersweet.

When April 13, 2016 rolled around, Davesprite felt despair. John was due to die within months. The sprite himself grew sad and lonesome. He didn't speak to Hal at all after that, and Hal understood. Some days, his spritely best friend would drop by his room and tell him he was doing a good job with John, but of course, it wasn't enough. John would die soon. Every sprite in Skaia knew something was wrong with Davesprite, especially those who he'd helped with their own charges. Davesprite, the master of advice, the epitome of care when it came to John, and the one oddity that never looked like his charge, was a little… depressed. Maybe that wasn't the right word, but he certainly wasn't a happy sprite. Of course, it never showed in his work. John was always happy, and everyone who knew about John's tragically short lifespan sent Davesprite their regrets.

At one point, somewhere in the middle of one of his final exams for the year, even John noticed. Davesprite was advising him, mentally, to not pick answer choice D. Oddly enough, John tended to be weirdly receptive to Davesprite's words when he was taking tests, which helped him to do well. Davestprite usually had an even toned, calm suggestion voice for when he told John an answer on a test. However, he suddenly remembered (like he'd ever forget) that John was doomed to die. He heard John's thoughts, and he was choosing, carefully, between two answer choices. Somehow, Davesprite managed to sound sad when he mentally told him to 'pick C', and John registered it, as if he could really hear him. Davesprite noticed John notice him (heh), and tried not to freak out, because no human was supposed to be that receptive.

"If you can hear me clearly touch your nose." Davesprite suggested, seriously, but John didn't hear him. He breathed out a sigh of relief at that, and decided he'd ask Hal about it later.

"Probably a fluke, or something. Maybe he just got an idea in his head, and wanted to entertain it. I wouldn't worry about it. You'll meet him soon anyway, right?" Hal asked, and Davesprite frowned.

"I guess so." He still never stopped thinking about it.

And then it happened. It was during the summer after John turned sixteen, and a new app hit the world markets. Thousands of people signed up to play, and it soared to the top of the app store. Parents approved of it, because it forced their kids to exercise, and people of all ages adored it, since it gave them the chance to do one thing they never thought was possible in real life. They could become real life trainers, with the attractive Professor Willow to guide them on their journeys. That's right, John started playing Pokémon Go.

And the second he downloaded it, Davesprite knew this app would be the death of John.

It started innocently. John felt so focused on catching that one rare or coveted Pokémon that he would walk into a sign, or almost hit a branch. Karkat would laugh at him, and encourage him to play a little more safely. John would hear stories, from Dirk, about how he'd hacked the game to make Pikachu his starter, or something else. Then, it escalated. John would legitimately consider breaking into private property, or spend money because 'Pokémon were for paying customers only'. Only with Davesprite's constant vigilance and screaming in his head did John make it for the first few weeks. Eventually, he started walking across busy roads while catching pocket monsters, and received more than an angry honk or two in the road when he tried to throw Pokéballs in the streets.

Finally, the day came. It was July 21st, and John was walking the streets of his hometown, playing Pokémon Go. Davesprite watched his viewport with dread, and knew what would happen. John, blissfully unaware of his imminent death, saw a Dragonite across the street, of all places one could be. Davesprite followed his thoughts and realized how valuable it was, in John's mind. After all, those things were only supposed to be in Santa Monica, and he'd recently received a great ball. John noticed the walking sign had less than five seconds on it, and was prepared to do the sensible thing and wait. Davesprite relaxed a little as John decided to wait for the light. At least he could catch a rare pokemon before he died. For a while, everything seemed fine, until John saw her. Another Pokémon Go player (or a stranger with an Ash Ketchum hat was excitedly dodging strangers and looking down at her phone, but what were the odds?) was closer to the Dragonite than John, and she looked prepared to catch it. So, with less than one second on the walking sign, John decided to sprint across the crosswalk.

Davesprite's eyes widened as John began to dash across the street, until he saw something as well. It was the car that would end John's life. The world seemed to move in slow motion. This was it, Davesprite knew. This was how John was supposed to die. He would have lived a short, but happy life. Davesprite pretended to accept that John would die young years ago, when he read today's date on that stupid sheet of paper. No one lived longer than that day, ever. He should have accepted John's death. This was how it was supposed to happen.

And suddenly, Dave realized he couldn't accept it. John couldn't die! He had too much to live for, and Davesprite had worked his entire life to keep John happy. Dave looked at John, about to run into that car, and something clicked inside of him. He didn't care that John was supposed to die at sixteen. Dave wanted John to live. The sprite felt something in his body surge, and though he had no clue what he was doing, he screamed John's name, and thrusted his hand forward, desperately.

That was when the world froze.

Though Davesprite was alone, sprites from rooms over could hear Davesprite desperately scream John's name. Everything on the entire planet stopped- except for John. John continued running across the street, his mind completely focused on locating that dragonite, until he realized that everything was silent. It was only then when John realized that the world was still. The boy looked around himself as he saw the blurs that the cars made as they prepared to go by him, but they were stopped in time. One almost hit him, or got very, very close. He was awestruck more than anything, unable to form cohesive thoughts, until he heard it.

"Wait, what the fuck?" Davesprite cried, and though it was unknown to Davesprite, John looked up, as if he heard him. Time restarted 'seconds' later, and Davesprite looked down in shock. John, completely forgetting about the dragonite, gasped as motion continued all at once and looked up at the sky. The sprite looked down at his hand in horror, and awe. What had just happened? Hal was inside Davesprite's room in seconds. With wide eyes, he looked at Dave, who still stood above his viewport in shock.

"Bro, what the hell did you do?" He asked, and Davesprite stared at his hand, as if it were some separate part from his own sprite body. When he finally looked up at Hal, he uttered the impossible.

"I-" He paused, because he couldn't accept what he'd just done. No one could do what he'd just done.

"You?" Hal asked, urgency surging through his tone. With a shaky emission of a breath he didn't know he was holding, Davesprite finally spoke.

"I think I stopped time."

AN: Okay, so here this story is. I would LOVE to continue this, but I've gotta finish Johns are Friends Not Food first, so until then, this is a oneshot. I guess it would serve as a prologue, but when it updates (probably semi far in the future) I hope you guys check it out! With that, I'm going to sign off, but here's the start of this little story. As always, thank you, thank you, thank you for Reading and Reviewing (Or commenting if this is AO3)! I adore your feedback, and since I'm writing this one as I go along, any story inputs and ideas (and theories?) would be wonderful. So, thanks!

*****UPDATE!******

(from semi-far in the future)

Hey guys! So, I finally finished Johns Are Friends Not food, which means I can start another project: AKA this. I re-wrote the first chapter to augment the new storyline I've created, and I think it's going to be pretty fun! I don't have anything planned out chapter by chapter yet, but this is definitely chapter 1 (Though I may have a prologue later) and I already have the characters and detailed plot decided. So, I hope you enjoy this, because I think this AU is pretty cool. I am posting as I write, and not prewriting, so sorry if the updates come slow, but I certainly hope it's worth it.

~ST Out!