"We broke in two
Busted through
Broke in two"
"Broke In Two" from The Spine by They Might Be Giants
Vince quieted his breath as best he could with his heart racing, hiding under a particularly thick and low bush. After chasing him down to tag him, he'd managed to narrowly lose Ampaw by taking several turns and weaving around multiple trees, now taking a short respite at the edge of the forest. He closed his eyes to better listen for Ampaw's approach, but his heartbeat drowned out any crunching of grass or leaf under paw. Right as his pulse began to almost stabilize, he felt a gust of air on his face. He opened his eyes to see Ampaw's sly grin. The surprise took a hair-split of a moment to set in before Vince tried to bolt away, immediately halted by Ampaw tackling him to the ground. The two rolled over each other several times, both fighting to end up on top of the other, tugging, pulling, and throwing their weight around desperately to push the other to the ground. In the end, Ampaw used his weight advantage to come out on top, shouted, "Tag!" as he delivered a shock to Vince and dashed away. It didn't take even a breath for Vince to right himself and pursue the pikachu; he started running fast as he could, but fatigue quickly turned his sprint into a run into a walk that grew slower and slower until he stopped moving entirely and lay down on the grass. He rationalized that he just needed a short rest to keep going, but when Ampaw showed up next to him and started nuzzling him, he knew playtime had ended. He rolled over onto his back and Ampaw lay down next to him, the two gazing up absentmindedly at the clouds. "Your electricity strong, you," Ampaw paused, and Vince noticed a hint of regret appear in his voice, "evolve soon."
Not quite sure of the source of Ampaw's distress, Vince just cuddled closer to him and pressed their cheeks together, saying, "Thanks!" As his mind wandered, he couldn't help but speculate a bit about evolution. Becoming bigger and stronger alone had him excited; maybe that extra maturity would make it easier to control his constantly fluctuating emotions, too (crying as much as he had been the past few days bothered him more than a little bit). But he wondered how evolving would affect his mind. It completely alters the body (limbs grow larger, fur pattern changes, tail and ears change shape), what would it do to his brain? Unable to answer his own worrisome questions, he tried to let it go and let the heat of Ampaw melt away his worries. With any luck, he wouldn't be a pichu long enough to worry about evolving.
A steady, soft crunching of footsteps started towards them, so Vince tilted his head back to see Chris approaching. Too tired to get up and meet him halfway, Vince just watched him approach. Ampaw wasted no time getting up and stepping between Vince and Chris. "You two done?"
"Yeah," Vince squeaked in response.
Noticing the pikachu's placement, Chris stopped a safe distance away. "Ready to show me where you found the orb?" Vince nodded and forced himself to stand up, only able to manage a quadruped stance. He hobbled over to Ampaw's side, partially so he could lean on him for support. "Need a ride?" He nodded with enthusiasm, but Ampaw responded to Chris trying to pick up Vince with a very aggressive objection, growling and charging enough electricity to make sparks bounce off his cheeks. Sufficiently terrified, Chris jerked back, shooting Vince an apologetic glance and shrug. With a wave towards the forest, he said, "Lead the way."
Letting out a resigned groan, Vince began the trek through the forest. Ampaw followed him in lockstep, a great comfort once the trees loomed over him, accompanied by the ambient sounds of the forest. If he were alone, he couldn't dream of entering the forest. His fear and exhaustion alongside no stimuli other than the random sounds Vince had to convince himself weren't vicious predators made this short walk feel like an endless journey. In a desperate reach for a distraction, Vince tried to start a conversation. "S-so, Chris!" he started, desperately searching for a topic. "Have you ever been he—"
"No, I've never really been interested in these woods," Chris interrupted. While he knew Chris listened to his thoughts and not his voice, having his question answered before he'd finished asking was really strange. Although, if Chris couldn't understand his actual speech anyway, he wondered if he needed to talk at all.
"If you understand my thoughts, do I really need to talk?" There was a distinct silence before Chris answered.
"Interesting point," he chuckled, "Yeah, I can hear your thoughts, but you're also always thinking." He began to explain. "Most of the time, your thoughts are too quick, or disjointed to really understand. When you say them out loud, they slow down enough to be understood." Vince nodded along, desperately grateful for the prolonged distraction. "The same goes for other people, but they speak English, so I can actually tell when they finish talking and not interrupt them. Sorry."
The forest began to grow denser, confusing Vince. There hadn't been any areas this thick before, none that he could remember anyway. To make it worse, the canopy seemed to be blocking more light than even the extra density would suggest. Yet, even when the trees completely obscured the sky, there somehow remained just enough light to see. "I don't… remember this." The unfamiliar territory put Vince even more on edge. The sporadic sounds of the forest had completely ceased, silence taking over. A shiver pulled Vince even closer to Ampaw. "Did it get colder?"
Both chus stopped in sync. Chris stopped shortly after. "Danger. Go back." Vince wanted to agree.
"How long until that clearing you mentioned?" Chris asked
Already so different, Vince knew his memory of the forest wasn't to be trusted. "If the woods hadn't changed so much, we'd be really close. But I don't know anymore."
"Should we go just a bit further? See if at least the clearing is still there?" Vince and Ampaw both looked up, completely flabbergasted. Was he oblivious or just stupid? "Calm down, you two. It's just the forest, there's nothing to be afraid of." Before either chu could argue, he headed deeper in. "Come on, if we don't find anything soon, we'll turn back." With all objections stuck in his throat, Chris disappeared behind a tree before Vince could argue. Taking a deep breath, he forced his paws to run after him, leaving behind the comforting warmth that had brought him this far. Fear pushed his paws faster, exhaustion all but forgotten. The roots of a particularly dense set of trees sent him tumbling, rolling head over tail several times before colliding with the back of Chris's leg. A hand immediately helped him back up, followed very shortly by a pair of paws brushing him off. "You all right?" the two asked in unison.
Vince shook his head, trying to dispel the dizziness muttering, "I'm fine, I'm fine." He didn't feel any scrapes or bruises; at least, none that hadn't come from the play session earlier. Looking up revealed Ampaw and Chris next to each other, both looking worriedly down at him. "I'm fine," He repeated. The two let out a sigh of relief. Looking around revealed completely foreign surroundings.
A circle of trees enclosed a massive clearing with a pedestal surrounded by six square stones, each a few feet wide and long, in the center. The trees extended into a dome-like canopy over the enclosure that completely obscured the sky, light somehow still able to peak its way through the branches. Only oddly vibrant, uniform grass coated the floor. Curiosity pulled Vince to the structure in the center. He stepped past Ampaw and Chris, only taking a few steps upright before shifting to all fours. Once he got to the first stone, he immediately recognized it was made out of the same material as the orb. "Chris, come look!" he called, turning to see Chris already on his way. Ampaw followed, looking around with anxious concern.
While Chris knelt to examine a few of the stones, Ampaw nestled up to Vince. "I don't like this." Vince tried to ignore him but couldn't help feeling the same unease. The top of the stone was just barely below his eye-level. He put his forepaws on top of it and pulled himself up. It felt smooth, so smooth he worried about slipping, yet taking a few careful steps on top of it presented no issue. "Get down. Let's leave. This place is weird."
"Vince, check this out." He looked up at Chris holding the orb next to the pedestal. "This podium thing has a crater in it the same size as the orb." After examining the pedestal for a few more moments, he dropped the orb into it. A low light began to emanate from all the stone platforms, the pedestal in the center let out a faint hum, and Vince felt a small amount of electricity coming from the platform beneath him. He became so infatuated with the platform below him, he didn't notice Chris walking to the platform across from him.
"We need to leave!" Ampaw yelled, but Vince didn't even hear him. Once Chris stepped on top of his platform, the electricity began to arc from the platform to the pedestal, at first very low, but quickly growing in intensity. Before he could resist, his own electricity got pulled into the mix and the increasingly powerful energy began arcing through him. More and more began flowing through and from him, a dull ache growing into a burning pain. He tried to hold back his own electricity, tried to resist being pulled into the flow, but this only resulted in a sudden explosion of shocks bursting out of him. The pain far beyond his capacity to handle, he began to scream as the smell of scorched fur surrounded him. Just before he passed out, someone smashed into him with a tackling embrace, pushing him out of the field. A massive, concussive blast followed shortly after.
"I would go back to the top of the day from scratch
If I thought that this thing could be fixed
Though sadly I'd do exactly the same thing as when"
The moment Chris came to the edge of consciousness, a splitting headache assaulted his awareness. He clutched his head with both hands, desperate for some relief. Headaches had become painfully common the past few days, but this one was particularly agonizing. He fumbled into his backpack and pulled out the bottle of painkillers he'd picked up yesterday, downing double the recommended dosage (hoping for double the recommended effect). Dumping some water down to chase it, he opened his eyes. Once they adjusted to the bright day's light, he saw Vince sprawled out on the ground several feet away.
Not a pichu. Vince.
He dashed over to his (miraculously clothed) friend, headache all but forgotten, and immediately grabbed him by the shoulders and began shaking him awake. "Vince, Vince, Vince!" Vince remained unresponsive, Chris kept shaking and shouting. Slowly, Chris began to notice some coherent thoughts surfacing. But they weren't in English. At all. Sure, playing with Ampaw had made English thoughts more sparse, but not nearly to this level. Chris steadied his shakes and lowered his voice, pulling Vince up to a sitting position. "Vince, you there? Come on, wake up."
After a minute that felt like a century, Vince squinted his eyes open. His face immediately contorted into confusion and he blinked several times as he glanced around himself, eventually pulling his hands up to rub them. Eventually, he pulled his hands away and opened his eyes, shock exploding onto his face. He instantly began to examine his body, looking at, feeling it, tugging on his clothes, skin, hair, nails, worry growing as he continued, ultimately looking at Chris with wide, scared eyes. "Chu?"
"You said 'I'm gonna run you down'
I heard 'I'm an orangutan'"
Vince's entire body ached, his head especially. He didn't even want to open his eyes, but he felt a cold nose poking into his side. Letting his eyes flutter open, he turned towards the prodding to see Ampaw's worried face. Forcing himself up, he looked around and saw a familiar clearing in the forest, Chris and the strange structure nowhere to be found; only a jagged half of the orb remained.
A/N: First time I've used the lyrics to separate segments and I think it turned out well, at least. Though, much more important than my opinion is yours. I'd love to hear what you think, so please review! It helps me out a lot.
I am planning on reworking a lot of the earlier chapters so that they flow better. I don't intend to change anything plot significant, though, so don't worry about having to reread to understand what's going on. There's just a lot that can be/needs to be condensed, chapters that can be combined, and a litany of typos. If the chapter numbers get funky at some point, that's why.
Review Response:
LucidAura42: If I'm being entirely honest, Vince saying Short Circuit when he's trying to say his name is essentially a retcon. Though, I will say, I don't think I would have done it differently if I had realized the contradiction sooner. As for chapter titles, I am trying to make them related to the chapter's contents, but it won't always be what is literally happening (This chapter, I'll admit, is a bad example of not being literal). It'll probably take a while before I've got the hang of it.
