Hey guys, it's Blox here. Long time no see, I know. I apologize for the long hiatus between episodes, I've been out of town and away from home for about 2 weeks in a row, and I have had no time to write any chapters for Manifesttale. Oh well.
I hope you enjoy!
About 3 Months after the Attack on the Pioneer…
[Bryan]
"BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!"
"Urrghhh!" Bryan slammed his hand onto the top of the alarm clock, effectively shutting it up. He groaned as Kurt opened his bedroom door and walked into his room.
"Master Bryan, you have to get up now. Sleeping in is not a possibility at the moment." Bryan rolled back over the other way and wrapped the sheets around him.
"C'mon Kurt, just another few minutes…" muttered Bryan. Kurt, with an annoyed expression, grabbed the sheets and ripped them off the bed, leaving Bryan lying on a plain mattress.
"What the heck Kurt?!" Bryan rolled off the mattress and fell on the ground with a plop. He sat up slowly and rubbed his head.
"Sir, there's something that you need to see. Come on." Bryan's expression suddenly perked up and he got dressed into his normal clothes: a blue t-shirt and brown travel pants. He tied his dad's white scarf around his neck and slid his sneakers on. He quickly shuffled out the door, where Kurt was waiting.
"I will be waiting in the control room." One of the robotic travel tubes opened below Kurt, where he slid down. The opening quickly sealed itself. Bryan began to walk briskly down the hallway to his right, since the entrance to the control room was on the opposite side of the inner ring. He turned back to make sure his room was tidied up, and it was. The curtains on his internal windows were closed, and the door was locked. As he walked past Peter's room, he saw him lying on his bed reading a book. Nathan was in his room practicing in his simulation extension, firing a fake replica of his own gun at incoming enemies. Evan was nowhere to be seen, his purple covers neatly arranged on his bed. He was most likely in the workshop. Bryan turned back forward and kept walking down the hallway, where he ran into Ink.
"Good morning Ink," said Bryan. Ink waved his left hand, a can of folonium paint in his right. He was walking out of the paint lab (he had requested it be built in the empty room), with a fresh batch of folonium paint.
"Bryan, there's something Evan wants you to see immediately," remarked Ink as he passed Bryan.
"I know." Bryan kept walking as Ink disappeared around the bend. The overhead lights were glowing as his steps reverbed throughout the ship. Pretty soon, he came to the mess hall, where sure enough, Sans was chugging down a couple bottles of ketchup, like usual.
"hey kiddo, whatcha doin?" shouted Sans.
"I'm checking something new out!" replied Bryan. Sans grabbed a couple bottles of ketchup and teleported over to Bryan.
"well, I have nothing new to do, so i guess i'll tag along." Bryan and Sans kept walking down the hallway, also watching the mini Sanses walk down the green tubes and take care of their own business. Eventually, they reached the main hub for the inner/first ring, and they turned left and headed down the hallway that connected all the rings of the Shooting Star. Bryan used his badge to unlock the control room doors, and stepped into the all familiar darkness that was the hub. The normal windows showing various characters and world statuses were there, but Evan and Kurt were standing in the middle, looking at an object Bryan couldn't see from that angle.
"Hey guys," interrupted Bryan, "you wanted me to see something?" Evan gestured him to come over and Bryan slowly walked over next to Evan. He held a gold ring with seven gems distributed around the edge of the ring in a pattern. There was an amethyst, aquamarine, citrine, emerald, ruby, yellow topaz, and a sapphire. A small arrow was attached to a small track located on the side of the ring.
"What do you think it is Bryan?" asked Evan. Bryan shrugged, but Sans shoved past him and inspected the ring.
"that's a soul compass," said Sans.
"A what?" said everyone else.
"a soul compass," explained Sans, "they're extremely rare. i remember seeing one of them before all of this crazy stuff happened, but that was a while ago. i haven't seen one since. they should allow the user to help locate other humans based off their soul colors. it can also help determine the strength of that specific soul, since every human has a different distribution of soul traits."
"Please explain," said Bryan.
"lets take bryan for example," said Sans.
"Why me?"
"shut up." Sans rolled his eyes. "as i'm pretty sure you all know, there are supposed to be seven humans, one of each soul color, who are destined to defeat an ultimate evil."
"I didn't know that." Evan facepalmed himself.
"God Bryan, have you been paying attention in the debriefings?"
"Not really…"
"well, short story short, there's a prophecy that states seven humans, one of each soul color, will defeat an ultimate evil and restore balance to the multiverse. however, they are not alone, as manny has told me that nathan and peter are both destined to help this cause, yet they are both justice. he wouldn't explain more, because he said that would be 'over interfering in the course of history'. that means, logically, other humans are destined to assist the main seven in defeating the void."
"Okay I get it now," said Bryan, "but what does this have to do with Soul Concentration and stuff?"
"well, you see, all of you possess every soul trait to a certain degree. however, the most prominent trait is the one that you are represented by. however, some humans have an extremely high concentration of a certain trait, rather than relatively weak concentrations of all traits. i'm assuming the main seven will have extremely high soul concentrations of their colors." Sans snatched the soul compass twisted and turned it a bit in his hands. He turned a small dial.
"if I remember correctly, if i turn it right, it should…there we go!" The compass arrow suddenly started to spin around the ring, and the gems began to glow dimly. Sans waited for the compass to calm down and pointed the arrow at Bryan.
"analyze." said Sans. The small gems began to glow brighter and more colorful until they suddenly concentrated into beams. Small numbers projected by each of the gems appeared in their respective colors. They were percentages.
"Analysis complete," said the compass. "Analysis shows that the subject has a Bravery Soul. 45% Bravery, 15% Perseverance, 13% Determination, 9% Kindness, 9% Justice, 7% Integrity, 2% Patience."
"holy crap kid, you actually uh…have a really powerful bravery soul. that concentration is extremely high. a lot more than the average." He pointed the compass at Evan. The gems began to glow dimly again and got brighter.
"Analysis complete. Analysis shows that the subject has a Perseverance Soul. 38% Perseverance, 20% Kindness, 13% Integrity, 12% Patience, 8% Justice, 6% Determination, 3% Bravery." Sans shrugged.
"evan's soul is still pretty powerful, but it isn't as concentrated as bryan's." He handed the Soul Compass to Bryan, who put it in his backpack.
"hold onto it. it's an extremely useful tool." Suddenly, Kurt walked up behind Bryan and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Maybe sir, it's finally time for us to go on another mission. It's been three months since the Attack on the Pioneer, and there's been reports of disruption in Space Sector 18. Peter says his recon team detected no signs of Void armadas in the area, so maybe there's a chance it could be another human." Bryan pulled out his sword hilt and activated the sword, swinging it dramatically.
"Well, what are we waiting for? I'm going to assemble a strike team to investigate the area." Sans raised his hand.
"count me in kiddo. i know i'm lazy, but i'm actually starting to get sick of sitting around all day, mainly because manny keeps nagging me with constant stories."
"You know Bryan, I'll come with you too," said Evan.
"But Evan, I thought you were more comfortable away from the front lines."
"I want to see this thing in action Bryan. I'm going to do some field research with it. I'm gonna get Nathan." Evan hurried out of the room, the doors closing behind him.
"Sans, go get ready." Sans nodded and Bryan rushed back to his room, filling his backpack with his field supplies. Finally, after three months, something interesting was happened. However, Kurt opened the door and trudged into Bryan's room.
"Master Bryan, I just wanted to warn you," said Kurt. "I've crunched the numbers, and there's a chance that you could run into…" Kurt trailed off.
"Run into who?" inquired Bryan.
"It's fine, never mind," said Kurt. "Just…be prepared to potentially be shocked." Bryan shrugged.
"Don't worry Kurt, after about a year of Manifest time, there's very few things that could shock me." Kurt began to walk out of the room.
"Good luck sir." He shut the door behind him and Bryan finished getting ready. He snapped on his watch and shield grip and walked out of the door and to the second ring, where the Starspeeder was waiting in it's hangar. Evan and Bryan had upgraded the ship to include a second gunner spot, allowing it to seat four. Sans, Nathan, and Evan were waiting by the wall. Nathan was prepping his ammo clips, Evan was messing with the compass, and Sans was drinking ketchup.
"Took you long enough," muttered Nathan, strapping his assault rifle to his back.
"I had a bit of stuff to do," said Bryan. "Nathan and Evan, you two take the turret spots. Sans, you take the co-pilot seat." Everyone climbed into their seats and put on their headsets. Bryan initiated the takeoff sequence, closing the airlock to the hangar and opening the hangar bay doors.
"This is Bryan Concord, requesting departure from Hangar 5," said Bryan.
"Permission granted. Have a great mission," said Kurt. Bryan pushed the red lever forward slightly, and the ship took off. Bryan pressed the hangar button on the ceiling, closing the hangar doors.
"Wow Bryan, I never realized that your ship went this fast," said Evan. "To actually be in it is something else." Bryan input the coordinates to Sector 18 and pulled the hyperspace lever.
"Sector 18 here we go!" The stars around them began to blur and speed up, and the surrounding space turned blue as the Starspeeder jumped into hyperspace.
[The Void King]
The Void King was sitting down analyzing maps when one of his grunts came in.
"Sir," said the Void Soldier, "it seems that Bryan has taken off from the Shooting Star and jumped to hyperspace. He's headed for Space Sector 18." The Void King chuckled.
"It seems our trap has worked," said the Void King. "Are the troops hidden and camouflaged?"
"Yes sir, but there seems to be a bit of a problem," said the soldier. "An unknown force seems to be hindering our progress slightly. I think it's another human."
"Well find them and kill them, before they can alert the MDF of our presence and join them."
"Yes sir." The soldier marched out of the room and the Void King sighed. They had made significant gains in the last three months, but the fact the MDF hadn't made a single move worried him. Maybe there was a trick up their sleeve he didn't see.
"Bah, what do I have to worry about?" said the Void King to himself. "The trap is perfect, as long as our troops can capture that pesky human before the MDF arrives." He turned, his dark purple cave waving, and walked out of the room.
[Bryan]
The disturbance was coming from an Earth-like planet located in the eastern part of the sector. It seemed to be completely covered with ocean or giant forests, and Bryan orbited around the planet a couple times.
"There doesn't seem to be anything here," said Bryan over the headset. There were various grumbles and discussions between the other three before Evan spoke up.
"Let me try the compass," said Evan. He turned the dial on the compass and the gem lights started flashing.
"Detect," said Evan. The lights began to glow dimly and three of the seven gems went out. The other four had a number above them.
"Wait, that's not right. There's only three humans among us, and that accounts for the citrine, amethyst, and topaz. But the aquamarine is also projecting a one as well, just more dim than the others." A light bulb went off in Bryan's head.
"That means there has to be a human on the planet. Come on! Let's go!" Evan lightly touched the aquamarine, and the arrow suddenly started to spin. As Bryan neared the planet, the arrow began to move more and more.
"Bryan, let's try and land close to who or whatever is causing the disturbance in the compass. Follow my directions." Evan used the compass arrow to direct Bryan in the direction of the disturbance. They touched down in a clearing, and the four got out of the ship.
"Okay, follow me," said Evan, still staring at the compass. Bryan closed the cockpits and locked the ship, then drew out his sword and shield. Nathan quietly readied his rifle and Sans summoned a bone katana. The four trudged through the wilderness, giant oak trees towering above them, trying not to make a sound.
"Guys, I don't really like this," said Nathan. "It's too quiet. There should be life here, yet I don't hear a single animal. I'm also sure that a single human cause the forest to go this quiet."
"But the report said that there were no Void armadas here," said Bryan.
"No visible ones," said Nathan. "There's a slight chance they are all camouflaged…and this is a trap." Suddenly, Evan held up his hand, signaling everyone to stop.
"Wait, I just heard something…" whispered Evan. Not a sound was heard until a stick cracked behind them.
"Oh crap," said Evan. Right then, about fifty camouflaged Void soldiers jumped down from the trees and held their guns at them.
"You walked right into our trap," said one of the soldiers. "We knew that you would investigate any mysterious disturbances nearby, so we hid and waited for you."
"Told you Bryan."
"Shut up Nathan." Suddenly, they heard a girl scream in the distance.
"I was right! There is another human here!" shouted Evan. He backed up slowly as the soldiers got near him.
"She's a bit of a nuisance, but it's too late. We've almost cornered her, and you guys have nowhere to go." Bryan turned back to look at Sans, who was kneeling on the ground. He looked up slightly.
"i can distract these guys, while you three go and look for the human." Bryan gave a subtle nod and turned around as Sans transformed into his Manifest Forme.
"C'mon, let's go!" Nathan, Evan, and Bryan ran towards the direction of the scream as Sans had fun tossing around a bunch of Void soldiers like ragdolls. They kept running until they heard other footsteps near them. They hid behind a bush and Evan checked the compass.
"This is it," said Evan. "We're here." Bryan took a small peek over the bush and looked over at the group of soldiers. There about twenty-five of them, and they had surrounded a girl. She was about sixteen, and had long dirty blonde hair tied in a ponytail. She wore a light-blue t-shirt with black shorts, and her brown eyes were darting around nervously. Sweat was beading on her forehead and there was a glowing bow in her left hand.
"Oh GoD sHeS HoT!" muttered Bryan.
"Shut up man, you're gonna give up our location," said Nathan. Evan handed the compass back to Bryan, who put it in his backpack.
"Okay, here's the plan. I'll attack them from here. Nathan, you try and flank them from behind and Evan you get any of the stragglers who try to escape in this direction. Got it?"
"Got it," said Evan and Nathan. Nathan disappeared into the bushes and Evan crouched lower in the bush.
"I hope your plan works," said Evan. Bryan activated his sword and shield.
"Yea, me too." Bryan stood up and ran towards the Void soldiers.
"Hey idiots, you forgot to look for humans behind you too!"
"Grr," muttered the Void soldiers, who began to fire purple lasers right at Bryan. He was narrowly dodging them and deflecting them with his blade.
"Woah, these guns are different than before," shouted Bryan, "they are more powerful than the last time we fought." Bryan rushed in, his shield up, and jumped in the air and prepared to slash down on the soldier, but he suddenly disintegrated, throwing off Bryan's balance. He faceplanted into the ground. When he looked up, the purple lasers weren't behind fired at him, but at the girl, who was dodging the lasers with ease. Every once in a while, she would pull the bow string back and fire an energy arrow, which would hit a Void soldier in the head and kill him instantly. Bryan got up groggily, and narrowly dodged another laser. They were back at attacking him too. He tried to activate his sword, but realized it was no longer in his hand, but in the middle of the fight. He was holding his shield up, blocking the lasers. He was helpless otherwise. The girl was now taking cover behind a tree and Nathan hadn't shown up yet. His sword hilt was by that tree, and on the other side of the skirmish. The girl suddenly darted out from behind the tree and grabbed the hilt.
"You might need this!" she shouted. She threw the hilt across the field and Bryan caught it with his right hand, activating it.
"Thanks!" He rushed back in and did a somersault, then slashed a couple of the Void soldiers down. Nathan had finally arrived in the fight, and was picking off some of the soldiers from above. The girl still had no trouble fighting them, picking them off one by one with energy arrows. Within the minute, all of the soldiers had turned to dust, and the three were breathing heavily. Evan poked his head out from the bush.
"No hostiles detected, the area is clear," said Evan, slowly getting up. Everyone looked around, making sure none of the piles of Void dust were trying to reform into a soldier. The girl twirled her hair around her finger and pressed a button on the bow, turning it into just a bow grip. She turned to Bryan.
"Thanks for the help I guess, but I could have taken them on my own," said the girl. Bryan shrugged.
"It didn't seem that way."
"Yeah, and look who lost his weapon about thirty seconds into the battle. And look who killed about half of them." The girl rolled her eyes and offered her hand out. He shook her hand.
"My name's Bryan. Bryan Concord," said Bryan. Evan and Nathan were now talking to each other quietly, watching the conversation. The girl's eyes widened.
"You're Bryan? Wow. I'm Gracie, and I think I'm your twin sister." Bryan's eyes widened as well and he blinked a few times. He could hear muffled laughs from Evan and Nathan in the background, probably laughing because Bryan had just, five minutes ago, wanted to flirt with his own sister, even though he had no idea.
"Uh, I never knew I had a twin sister," said Bryan. "Where were you all this time?"
"I never knew that you existed up to this point either," said Gracie, twirling with her hair. "Mom never said anything about you. She was gone so often too…" Bryan put his hand on his chin and thought for a moment. Nathan walked up to the two with a serious expression.
"I know you guys are having a long lost sibling reconnection sorta thing going on here, but we have more important things to do right now. We have to get back to the Shooting Star. As well as pick up Sans, who is probably sleeping now."
"MDF? What's the MDF?" asked Gracie. Bryan took a big breath and wiped some sweat off his forehead.
"Well sis, there's a lot I need to catch you up on, and vice versa," said Bryan. Gracie shrugged.
"You know, I always wondered if I had a brother, and apparently I do. Unfortunately he's super reckless and doesn't think things through all the time. So unfortunate."
"That's what I said!" shouted Evan.
"Shut up Evan!" Evan laughed with Nathan. When they came back to the landing area, they found Sans sleeping in the cockpit, recovering after using his Manifest form.
"C'mon, let's get back to the Shooting Star. Unfortunately, there's not enough room for you on the ship, so Evan will escort you back using our badges." Evan grabbed her shirt, causing her to jolt back.
"Don't worry, I don't bite. Ha." He grabbed his badge. "Shooting Star!" Gracie and Evan began to glow brightly and disappeared in a bright light.
"Nathan, let's take the ship back," said Bryan.
"Sure thing bro." Bryan hopped into the pilot seat, and with Sans sleeping soundly in the back, took off back into deep space.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter of Manifesttale.
If there's ever an AU you want me to include, just ask and I'll see what I can do.
Credit for all characters besides Peter, Bryan, Kurt, the Void King, Manny, and the Elite Squadron belong to their respective creators in the Undertale Community.
I've decided to start another side book called Manifesttale: Mini Adventures! They will be short one-shot stories that take place in between the storyline of Manifesttale, and each will focus on a different character! Please go ahead and check that out when the first is released! It will be worked on at the same time as the main Manifesttale!
If you liked this story, hit that fav or follow button, I really appreciate the support and knowing that someone out there wants to read more helps motivate me to keep writing. Also, if you want, you can check out my Manifesttale forums, where I can answer questions about this story, and potentially host events there. The link to it is in my profile.
Well, I guess I'll see you all in the next chapter!
-Blox