Brick slowly opened his eyes, wincing from the new light. His vision seemed to be glazed over with a blue tint which caused him to panic. He raised his hand in front of his eyes, noticing the Goosebumps coating his bare arms. He couldn't hear anything; the silence seemed to bounce and echo around his ears. That's when he noticed the strange muffled conditions and pushed his arms upwards. He let out a stream of air upon touching the cool glass, and his breath was visible on his reflection.
"It's freezing in here…" Brick thought to himself as he steadily recovered from his deep slumber.
He pushed harder onto the lid of the casket, feeling the door begin to unhinged. With a nice solid shove it flew up, revealing him to the outer world. He crawled out of the pod, looking around the foreign room. Duplicates of his pod were lined up perfectly and orderly against the walls. The room was big; the size of two large gymnasiums, and filled with rows of blue and white pods. Looking closer into this science lab, he realized that these pods all contained something. As Brick took a cautious step towards a casket, prepared to unleash whatever was inside, a loud noise of pressurized air escaping a tube made him jump and whip around.
A familiar face had emerged from a pod, coughing and hacking up the smoke that came with their release. Two feet softly touched the tiled floor as the coughing ceased.
Brick's eyes widened in shock and embarrassment and his face reddened.
Buttercup stood fully naked in front of him.
She stared at him as if he had sprouted two heads before her eyes traveled down his body. She screamed and wrapped her slim arms around her own face, causing him to view himself too. He jumped upon seeing his bare body, causing him to fall onto another casket. He looked down to find his youngest brother as clothed as the both of them were. He flew away again, choking on a scream as another pod opened up somewhere.
"Brick, what are you doing!? Put on some pants man!" Buttercup shouted while blocking her virgin eyes. Her voice was dry and hoarse. "Me!?" He retorted; his voice just the same.
"You haven't looked in a mirror now, have you!?" He concluded, bringing her to examine herself. Buttercup opened her mouth, but the high pitched squeal was not her own. The two turned to see Bubbles pointing directly at Brick's behind.
"That's not right!" She exclaimed, dramatically gasping and slapping her hands over her mouth. He scoffed, staring her down over his shoulder. "If you're gonna stare at it you might as well take a picture!" He said, trying to maintain his manly pride despite his face being equivalent to a tomato. "It'll last longer…" He muttered under his breath.
Surprisingly she didn't hear it, but instead reacted to the pod next to her swinging open with a pop.
Out came the last person anyone would want to be naked around.
"Whoa, dude! That thing right there- yeah, not cool to wake up to!" Butch said as he arose from his pod as if he woke up on an average day. Buttercup attempted to cover herself by hiding before her chauvinistic counterpart laid eyes on her.
He grunted at his young sibling as more pods began erupting like volcanos.
"Oh my- dear goodness! For the love of God, Brick!" Blossom's voice rang out from a distance. Immediately he snapped.
"Why is everyone so focussed on me when there's like, five other naked people standing right beside them!?" He screamed.
"Maybe your butt is the biggest?" A new voice responded. Brick closed his eyes in frustration and sighed before continuing.
"Shut up, Boomer."
"What are we doing here?" Bubbles pondered as the sextet wondered aimlessly throughout the building. "What is 'here' anyways?" Buttercup joined as she moved closer in with her older sister. Blossom's hair had served the girls as a towel; they shielded themselves from the boys undoubtedly behind them.
Brick, on the other hand, would not let anyone touch his long flowing locks, for he was pissed off about his hat not being there when he woke up.
"-Got me beat." Butch added, inserting himself in their conversation. Buttercup turned around and glared, sparking Butch's infamous cockiness. He smirked suggestively. "Like what you see, babe?"
She blushed and scoffed at him, stopping in her tracks to punch him. Blossom pulled her without missing a beat and Brick did Buttercup's dirty work for her.
As the back of Brick's hand grew familiar with the back of Butch's head, he protested, explaining his need for some fun.
By this point, Brick's backhand and his skull were well acquainted.
Suddenly, Bubbles cut a sharp hastened turn into a room that caught her attention. Blossom nearly called her back but was hushed by the sight. There was a giant window, cracked and broken in some areas, and it took up an entire wall. Bubbles slowly approached the glass, her eyes watering in an unblinking awe. Everyone ran in after her.
The sky was a dark shade of orange, and the clouds were smoky and brown. Buildings were old and crumbled, lying in heaps of rubble. The streets were dented and covered in potholes and craters. The cars were piled on each other, or veered off in random angles all across the street. It was dirty and decaying, and the breeze that flew in was lukewarm.
"What happened?!" Boomer was the first to break the silence with his shriek. Questioning outbursts and gasps filled the rotting room as they all backed away from the new image of Townsville.
"Where is everyone?" Butch exclaimed, kneeling onto his knees. Surely this wasn't the town they grew up in.
Buttercup dashed out of the room, her feet creating soft pitter-patter trials back to their origins. Everyone followed, curious to see what she was up to. She made her way back to the original room; the room where they all took their first breaths in. She stumbled a bit since it was hard to walk, much less run, and threw open the lid of nearest pod.
As the others scrambled in one by one Buttercup took a few steps back to reveal to contents of the chest.
Inside lie a person; a female, seemingly older than they all were.
"She hasn't gotten up…" Blossom slowly voiced, stepping slightly closer to examine the woman. "Maybe you should check for a pulse?" Boomer suggested, unsure of what to make of the situation.
Buttercup responded by grabbing the woman's wrist, only to turn back shortly after and shake her head. "…Nothing."
Everyone frowned, mourning for the woman in their own ways.
Steadily, the group opened each case, splitting up for better coverage. Inside almost every pod was a person, but not a single being with a live pulse.
"I think they're all dead." Brick admitted, rejoining into the group. Everyone stood awkwardly, waiting for a sign of what to do next.
"Do you think anyone is here?" Bubbles chirped whilst pointing to the exit. "Some of the pods were empty, and in the most random places…" Blossom nodded, agreeing with the facts at hand. "Um… can we find something to cover ourselves with first?" Butch interrupted. "As much as I enjoy the view…" he made emphasizing eye-contact with Blossom, earning a gag of disgust from her and a deadly glare from his counterpart.
"He's right. I don't know how much longer I can bear with this… feeling." Boomer squirmed.
Blossom stepped ahead of the group, placing her hands on her hips. "Alright then, let's go search."
Brick's eyes twitched at the sight of her. He could feel the growl forming in his throat, but as he opened his mouth to speak Butch's profanity soiled outburst cut him off.
"What the hell's the deal!?" He cried, glancing back and forth between his hands. "What?" Bubbles asked, moving in a tad bit closer. "My powers; I can't fly!"
On reflex everyone attempted to exert their abilities, only to have it blow up in their faces just the same.
"Oh you're kidding me!" Buttercup screamed, seeming on the verge of actual tears. "What do we do now?!" Boomer yelled, backing up in fright as if there was an invisible enemy.
"We fucking walk." Butch spat with venomous anger and disappointment, exiting the room on foot.
"Our powers are gone…" Bubbles sighed sadly. "Thanks for the update, Captain Obvious." Brick retorted, as he stormed out to the hallway with his brother. Blossom and the gang followed suit.
"How in the world are we gonna find clothes in this building? Without our powers who knows how long this'll take!" Blossom announced, running her hands through her orange hair.
"It's getting chilly too!" Boomer whined, rubbing away at his arms. The goose-bumps were visible from a mile away.
"Oh what the-!" Buttercup stormed into a room, scoffing and face-palming as she took in her surroundings. Everyone had a similar reaction upon their entrance.
Inside were racks and closets filled from the ground up with clothing. It was as if a shopping mall had been compressed into a large room. Boxes of fabric were scattered, stacked and turned over.
"Well, that was convenient." Bubbles sheepishly grinned.
R.U.I.N.E.D –Let There Be Light— pg2
Yay! Second chapter is up! I hope the wait wasn't too long! This chapter was fun to write, especially since it was one of the funnier chapters in the original version of the Ruined series. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it! Please leave feedback; read and review!It helps a bunch!
Thank you! Chapter 3 will probably be way longer! I am currently working on it right now! (PS. Be sure to check on my profile regularly! Soon I will be posting pictures that I've drawn for the story, as well as other cool things, like the official release of a Manga I'm making! I'm almost done drawing "Fire in the Sky", which captures the stand-off between the Reds that you witnessed in the first chapter! Hope to see you there!)
BYE!
