So in this fem!Youtube AU, I've made quite a few Game Grumps stories, but now I think I'll be working on making more general Let's Player stories ("general" as in Let's Players who don't really belong to a group like Pewds, CTKen, JackSepticEye, etc.). Hell, I might even try my hand again at The Late Night Crew.
Also, for those who are reading Steam Train, Steam isn't the same as Bullet Royale.
Bullet Royale: a virtual combat game of "laser tag" almost, in which the players hit their opponents with pixelated bullets. This is one of the many games on the Game Orb server.
Steam: a virtual place that holds many games of different genre types (shooters, puzzle, horror, etc.). Although Steam members never fight one another in the combat Steam levels, the community turns in into a sport and compete to get the best stats and scores.
And lastly, Steam hardly affects the plot of Steam Train at all. Bullet Royale, on the other hand, still has a lot more mystery than you think...
"This isn't gonna work," the bitter piece of Felicia's conscious chastised.
The blonde was sitting cross-legged on a floating platform with her fingers anxiously paddling on her knee caps. A bright blue hologram of a gun barrel hovered beside her. She wasn't sure what to get when she browsed the Bullet Royale Inventory, so she tried to get one that matched what she had seen the hooded woman use in their first encounter.
One of Felicia's hands would occasionally linger to the golden fist emblem dangling from her neck, as if fearing Tabetha's fingers would reappear to snatch it off of its chain this time.
"It's not like I've figured out how to use this thing anyway," she thought "But I have to try something, anything! This is the only place I can settle the score."
Felicia blew a lock of hair out of her face, growing more relaxed as uneventful minutes passed by "Hardly anyone comes to this server…" she muttered.
Ironically, just after she had finished her statement, the all-too-familiar voice boomed: "Player Two has entered the arena."
Felicia's blue eyes snapped open in alert. She steeled herself before panic could set in and crouched down on her block, listening intently.
Once the blonde heard the whirring sound of a new player materializing into the server, she darted her head in the direction from which she heard it. Down on the ground beneath her, a petite figure could be seen; a skinny build, but still feminine. Her purple cloak was absent, revealing a blue and green ensemble and her low twin pigtails.
"It's her!" Felicia's mind screamed in premature victory.
Flicking her tongue over her lips, the blonde took hold of the gun barrel in her hand and took aim.
"T-set..." she whispered to unlock the safety cap.
As she watched the girl stand in place, seemingly taking in her surroundings, five blue bullets fired from the barrel and made their way to the girl. Felicia refused to be lenient.
As expected, a shrill cry escaped from the woman as she was knocked down on impact and hit by every single bullet.
"Player Two has suffered 20 damage points."
With a satisfied huff, Felicia lept off of her block and descended down to the girl's level.
"Alright, no more fooling around," the blonde threatened as she approached the slouched figure "I'm not about to waste time dealing with your Drive-Bys anymore. We're gonna settle this now-"
Felicia paused.
The fallen woman was wearing silk green stockings with a pair of blue shorts. A form fitting sleeveless top wrapped around her torso and matching blue ankle boots adorned her feet. Her two ponytails were thin and a much more vibrate brunette color and her head adorned an indigo baker boy cap.
"This isn't her…"
The panting brunette caught sight of Felicia, her gunmetal eyes widening. She immediately scrambled to face Felicia and brought out her gun.
"No wait! Please!" Regardless of the pleas, a pair of large bullets struck Felicia, sending her on her back in a pile of dispersed pixels with a harsh thud.
The blonde shook her head to gather her bearings, but was immediately faced with the end of a large double barrel gun when she opened her eyes. She then shot her gaze up at the woman, whose youthful features were twisted in irritation.
"If that's how you want to play it, then fine!" her voice was shrill and had a notable Irish accent laced in it "I'm not afraid to play dirty!"
"Wait, wait! I thought you were someone else!" Felicia spat, hoping that would save herself from an immediate Game Over (and more pain).
The woman blinked in confusion, but carefully pulled her gun back "Tch, and who were you trying to get shooting like a maniac?" she snorted.
"This girl named...damn..." Felicia groaned, genuinely annoyed by the girl's anonymity "I don't know who she is, but she's been pulling me into Drive-By Bullet Royale matches and trying to kill me."
The irritation washed off of the Irish woman's face and was replaced with concern "Kill you?" she asked, lowering her gun. She then approached Felicia and helped her stand up "How? You can't actually hurt someone here."
With a sigh, the blonde said "That's something she doesn't seem to understand," she paused when she noticed just how short the woman was compared to the hooded figure. She couldn't have reached nearly five feet tall "I don't know what else is the point of these Drive-Bys, but she looks just like you."
At that, the woman gasped, her gunmetal eyes widening "Is she the one framing me?!" she asked, grabbing Felicia's arm as if to shake the information from her "Is she toting around as me so she doesn't get in trouble?!"
Nettled by the tiny woman's extreme reaction, Felicia could only stutter "W-What?"
As if that was the answer she was looking for, the woman released Felicia and began muttering to herself "Ugh! I knew that's why I got banned from Bullet Royale! I told them it wasn't me! I told them!" she paced around in frustration as she gripped her hair "This is crazy!"
Felicia watched the scene in distraught "This is worse than I thought. Not only is this chick trying to kill me, but now she's impersonating people to shift the blame?" she shook her head "What is wrong with that girl?"
"What's this lassie's name?"
Felicia barely registered when the tiny woman returned to her with the accusing question, practically standing on the tips of her toes just to lean in closer to the blonde.
"I-I don't know. I haven't even seen her face," Felicia hesitated, memories of her past few days in Youtube flashing through her mind in lingering strokes "I'm starting to think it's my teammate, Tabetha. They sound pretty similar and have the same braids, but I'm just not sure."
The Irish woman straightened herself out with a huff "Well I'll tell you now that I'm no Tabetha," she declared "My name is Siana, but everyone calls me Jamie."
Raising a perplexed brow, Felicia asked "Why?"
"It's my screen name," the Irish woman said "JamieSepticEye."
However, this only further confused Felicia "Jamie, septic, eye?"
"Well, my dad's screen name was "JackSepticEye" back when he was in Youtube. So when I was born, they already set-"
"Wait, wait, wait," Felicia interrupted, pushing out her hands as if to stop the woman's flow of words "Your father was a...Youtube Legend?"
With a proud grin, the Jamie nodded "Yup!" her past frustrations seemingly subsided.
Taken aback, Felicia opened and closed her mouth in search of the right words, far too many of them rapidly flowing into her mind before she could sew them into a proper sentence. Finally, she was able to get out "Then why aren't you in Youtube with the rest of us?!"
Jamie furrowed her brow curiously ""Us"? You're a-"
"Descendant, yes," rushed Felicia "But why aren't you signed into Youtube yet?"
The brunette sighed "Because I need to stop whoever's been framing me. I can't leave until I do."
Felicia couldn't help the groan of frustration that passed through her gritted teeth "What?! That's your reason?"
"Of course!" said Jamie "I can't leave knowing someone is dirtying my name."
Felicia brought her hand to her forehead in a loud slap "What's so damn important about Bullet Royale, anyway? It's just a stupid video game!" she moaned.
Now it was Jamie who was left flabbergasted, her jaw dropped open in a soundless gasp "Do you know what's at stake, lassie? Do you realized how priceless victory is around here?"
Felicia snorted "What? A stupid "MLG" title? Is that what's so "priceless" around here?" disgusted, she waved off Jamie "Look, you can stay in here for all I care. As far as I'm concerned, we don't need a video game junky holding the responsibility of Platinum Web in her hands."
The further she spoke, the more Jamie seemed to be offended, her cheeks reddening in anger and her features contorting into a sneer "Fine! Go ahead and waste your chance. See if I care!" she spouted out in a rather childish manner before turning swiftly to disappear into the Bullet Royale landscape.
After losing sight of her figure, Felicia assumed the woman had gone into a different server, seeing nothing of any worth in this one. She shook her head in disappointment "This wasn't what I was hoping for at all."
Kendall yawned into her hand before stretching out her arms high above her head "I hope you got a better night's rest than I did," she said, leaning against the door.
"Surprisingly, I did," Felicia's muffled voice said from the other side of the door "And I couldn't be more grateful. What happened to you last night?"
"I think I outdid myself when I was training with Lieutenant Marceline in the weight room," answered Kendall "I was so stiff I could hardly get to sleep."
"It was that intense?" half of Felicia's question became clear as she stepped out of her dorm, fully dressed.
Kendall snorted "Nah, I could keep up with her just fine. But a new workout is never easy to slip into."
That didn't do much to convince Felicia. Even though she had seen Kendall's skill on the battlefield and in practice firsthand, she couldn't imagine going up against Marceline. If she was fit enough to become a lieutenant, that must have made her a difficult opponent to go against.
"Hi guys," chirped the soft voice of Crystal.
Both women turned to see the smaller female standing at Kendall's side.
"G'morning, sweetie," lilted the tall brunette as she gently ruffled Crystal's black hair.
"Hey Crystal," greeted Felicia with a warm grin "You seem to be in a good mood."
After Kendall removed her hand from the shorter woman's hair, Crystal said "Oh, that's because I have great news from the lieutenants."
"So early in the morning?" queried Felicia.
"It's never too early for good news in my book," hummed Kendall, crossing her arms over her heavy bust.
Crystal continued "Another descendant joined us!"
Both of the elder girls' reactions were that of disbelief.
"Another one?" gasped Felicia.
"Shoot, how many are there?" Kendall asked.
Crystal shrugged "I don't know. Lieutenant Ariana said they started out with five," she said "They're still helping the girl set up her dorm room. They told me to tell you that they'll be ready by around breakfast time."
"They sure work fast," commented Kendall, glancing at a nearby wall clock "Breakfast is in just another hour."
Crystal nodded, humming in agreement "Well, I should wake Tabetha up and tell her the news, too."
As the smaller woman scampered off, Kendall called out "We'll meet you two at the cafeteria."
However, Felicia wasn't so pleased with Crystal's decision "Crystal, wait…" the blonde warned. She paused, remembering that Kendall was beside her and suddenly became self-conscious of the fact.
Crystal halted "Yes, Felicia?"
The blonde pursed her lips, her crystal blue eyes darting from Crystal to Kendall in a discreet fashion "Would Kendall believe me if I told her about Tabetha?" she thought, pensively "No, she has more sense than that. She wouldn't just agree to an accusation based on my own paranoia."
"It might take some patience to wake her up," said Felicia "Don't be afraid to walk in if she doesn't answer the door right away."
Crystal curiously tilted her head at the odd statement, but didn't oppose the blonde "Okay," she agreed before continuing down the same path again.
Kendall also raised a suspicious brow at Felicia's subtle lie "Is she really that heavy of a sleeper?" she asked.
"Yeah," Felicia drawled with a shrug.
After Crystal branched off into a different hallway, she was no longer near Kendall and Felicia. Only a few fellow female soldiers would stroll past her every so often as she made her way to Tabetha's door. The skip in her step didn't fade, the bliss in the woman's body very much evident.
Upon reaching the selected door, Crystal lightly rapped her knuckles against it "Tabetha..." she called softly with a lilt in her voice "The lieutenants have some important news for us."
At best, Crystal had expected blatant silence or a sleepy groan of displeasure. However, as she inclined her head towards the door, she noticed what seemed to be frustrated, near frantic scrambling.
"Tabetha…?" she questioned wearily "Tabetha, i-is something wrong?"
The petite female did not receive an answer, nor any indication that she had been heard at all. Her concern rose as she wondered "Why does she sound so panicked? What could be going on in there?"
Crystal then remembered what Felicia said: "Don't be afraid to walk in…"
The rest of her statement was disregarded as it didn't necessarily apply to the situation at hand. With that in mind, Crystal reached out and pulled on the safety handle, which was purposely put on every door in the building in case a scenario like this occurred.
With a shy huff, Crystal murmured "Excuse me for barging in, Tabetha, but…"
The black-haired woman stopped when she realized that her presence wasn't even acknowledged.
Tabetha had been pacing around on the other side of the room wearing nothing but her white uniform pants and an undershirt "Where is it? Where is it?" she muttered under her breath, her layered, disarrayed hair swayed with her steps like an ocean tide.
She began to run her hands through the clutter on her desk, clothes and pajamas falling to the floor in heaps. With a pause, Tabetha's shoulders went lax, seemingly having found whatever she was looking for. With ecstatic relief, the brunette took the tiny golden sword into her hand and brought it to her lips. As soon as she did that, a long-sleeved green shirt replaced her undershirt and her hair was tied into two braids.
Tabetha then pocketed the trinket and turned around to leave. That's when she made eye contact with Crystal.
Crystal, who had stayed silent the entire time, knew what she had just seen wasn't natural. Not only was personal technology not allowed in Youtube, but what Tabetha had was something she had never seen before. Before Tabetha had used the sword, her hair was a much darker shade of brown and wasn't as straight and glossy as it was now.
The taller woman clearly knew what she had done due to her wide eyes staring back at Crystal. Her gaze practically shrieked "You weren't supposed to see that."
"Don't move," she said sternly, instead.
Crystal hadn't even noticed that she had even made any movement to indicate that she had planned to leave the room, even though every fiber of her being was screaming at her to do so. Although Tabetha's demand was firm, Crystal could see worry in her features, panic almost.
"Crystal…" Tabetha said "I need you to promise not to tell anyone what you saw."
Almost instinctively, the shorter woman asked "Why? What was that?"
Tabetha sighed and pulled out the sword from her pocket again "It's my Talisman," she said, her voice soft "You've seen it before...in Bullet Royale."
Slowly, Crystal's eyes widened as realization dawned upon her. She remembered the hooded figure holding the sword against her opponent. She remembered watching from her hiding spot as the two dueled until the hooded figure came out victorious.
Crystal stiffened as Tabetha's hand reached out to touch the edges of her soft black hair like she had in the office. A warm smile was spread upon her pale pink lips "I told you I noticed your haircut," Tabetha said.
This time, Crystal allowed the brunette to continue gently stroking her "You...you were the one in the purple cloak?"
Tabetha nodded, the smile still present.
"But h-how?" asked Crystal "How did you know I was stuck in the server? How did you know how to get me out?"
"The guy who trapped you in there had a rather big mouth," Tabetha answered, shaking her head as if the thought of him disgusted her "I was able to figure out his hack. Once I undid that, all I had to do was get you a Game Over so that you could leave," she then snorted "And then Felicia showed up."
Upon hearing the blonde girl's name, Crystal remembered another quote from the girl: "I think you should steer clear of Tabetha."
She frowned sadly at the thought "Tabetha, I really think you should tell Felicia what happened."
"I can't do that," said the brunette, who stopped stroking Crystal's hair "This is much bigger than you think it is and I'm taking a risk just by telling you, alone."
"Does it have to do with you disguising yourself?"
Both Crystal and Tabetha were caught off guard by her confrontational question. For a moment, Crystal doubted that the question even passed through her lips at all.
Regardless, Tabetha answered "Yes, it does." Her hands found themselves on Crystal's shoulders, gentle and shy "Crystal, I don't want you to believe that I'm the bad guy. What I'm doing may not make sense now, but that's only because I have not told you everything," she looked up into the black-haired woman's eyes "Can I trust you with this secret?"
Crystal licked her lips as she stared back at Tabetha. She had only seen the brunette as cold and calculating. Everything she did was precise and deliberate based on the facts, but now she was speaking to Crystal with emotion that she had never seen before. Her grey eyes were filled with a startling cocktail of desperation and fear.
Maybe she would regret it later if Felicia's intentions turned out to be right, but that didn't stop Crystal from saying "Yes."
