Heyy... hey... how y'all doin?
So, this unfortunately isn't the COMPLETE chapter 48 but think of it as a two parter. The second half will be uploaded on this same doc in early December.
I originally wanted to have Trust Shattered/Trust Restored uploaded this week, but realistically there's no way I could complete that. This segment alone took me two months to write. College and driving an hour to/from campus Tues/Weds/Thurs eats most of my time sadly.
Even still! Been working on smol things here and there, including a short story where I meet Cody for the first time called "Commander, Meet the Cat" that may start appearing next week. It definitely won't be the usually level of Shadow Magic but I'm enjoying it so far :D
Hope everyone is doing well, and Happy Halloween! Enjoy this chapter segment! Chaos as usual and another Maxy appearance!
"So. Do we just…?"
"Feet first would be best."
"We should not jump into a situation without first considering the danger."
"Says you, who has zero self preservation."
"Well, we gotta do something," I said, staring down into the gaping hole.
While I expected it to be harder than just walking in, I did not expect the damn glacier tunnel from Ice Age.
Smooth ice coated the walls and snaked down into the tunnel before turning a corner. A slow descent was absolutely out of the question; the moment we started down the tunnel, it was a one way trip to the Vault.
But we certainly weren't gonna get anywhere by just staring at it.
"You've never been here, have you?" Hunter asked, hovering over my shoulder as he peered into the tunnel. His hand rested on my back briefly before his fingers slipped through the base of my mane.
"Nope," I replied, absentmindedly curling my tail around his leg to let him know I didn't mind the contact. "Those info dumps I used to get? They were telling me about the planet because I only woke up in this universe about an hour before I met you."
"What?" Tech exclaimed, whipping his head around to stare at me. "But the residents knew you, you had an established room, your guns-"
"Realm Walker magic, I guess," I sighed. "And my room was personalized because, somehow, that was my actual room. From my reality. It… transfers with me. Did it for the Tintin excursion too."
"Tintin?"
"That's the sailor fandom," I replied as Hunter continued to mess with my mane. "They're background characters."
"You got somethin' against main characters?" Wercker joked, elbowing me playfully.
I punched his shoulder in reply, dislodging my tail from Hunter's leg. "I like y'all well enough! 'Course your portrayal in your show isn't super close to when you were introduced in the first show, but I digress. I could rant for hours about that."
"So are we like the… first show?" Wrecker asked. "Now?"
I looked them over, scanning Hunter, Tech, and Wrecker's faces and the back of Crosshair's semi-shaved head as he poked at the ice tunnel entrance. "Sorta? You're more along fanon lines."
"Fanon?" Tech chirped.
"Fan-canon. Your physical design is certainly different, especially Cross and Tech." I frowned thoughtfully and flicked my tail. "Remind me when this is over to show y'all your canon appearance."
"Are we hotter like this?" Wrecker laughed.
I grinned. "I'd say so!"
A loud thunderclap split the sky, making us all flinch and causing my tail to poof twice its size.
"Was that Trevor?" Hunter growled, glaring at the clouds as he rubbed his ear.
"Could be," I said, grabbing my tail and smoothing the ruffled multi-color fur. "But I don't know why he'd…"
A low, train-like rumble ruffled my inner ear fur.
Oh I know he did not!
"Avalanche!" Tech yelled, yanking on his helmet.
"Oh come on!" I spat as the others followed Tech's example. "Alright, one two here we go in the tubes!"
Jumping in after Crosshair, I just hoped there weren't any jagged edges. I'd had enough injuries to last me for a while. The boys close behind, Wrecker cackling with manic glee at the chaos as snow poured in behind us, I tried using my claws to steady myself instead of haphazardly sliding around. While it helped me stay upright, I still found myself half-way up the wall on some of the tighter corners.
Wonderful.
Weight lending me speed, I slammed into Crosshair and sent him sliding halfway up the opposite wall before he crashed on top of me with a "Sorry".
Wrecker joined our pile, still laughing as he grabbed onto us and pulled us in. "This is fun!"
"Hardy!" Crosshair spat, angrily trying to detach himself from us.
"Stick together!" Hunter barked, grabbing onto Wrecker's arm with one hand as he held Tech's ankle with the other.
"Copy that!" Wrecker replied, wrapping his arm tighter around Crosshair much to the sniper's displeasure.
"Let go of me!" Crosshair snarled, smacking his batchmate's limb.
"Sarge's orders!"
Managing to right myself, I shot a glare at Tech as he yanked my tail a little too hard. "Hey! That's attached to me!"
"Apologies!" he replied as he dragged himself close enough to grab my arm and hook a leg over mine.
Hellfire this was a mess.
Not that that designation was a new one for this mission.
A collective mass of armor and fur, we somehow managed to stay together for a few turns until we hit a bump hard enough that we separated into two groups; Cross and Wrecker then me, Tech, and Hunter. With a firm grip on my tail, leg, and arm, the two commandos managed to stick close as the batchmates spiraled away.
"Hang on!" Wrecker said over the sound of Crosshair's hissing. Kicking the wall, Wrecker sent himself and Crosshair back over to us. Overestimating his strength, Wrecker's impact dislodged Hunter from my arm and sent the Sarge spinning ahead of us on his stomach.
"Wrecker!"
"Sorry, Sarge!"
A bad feeling taking root in the pit of my stomach as I watched Hunter slid up a ridge, I called, "Brace for it!"
"For what!?" Hunter yelled, struggling to get off his stomach as he slid backwards over the ridge.
"I don't know, but brace!"
We soon found out why.
Opening up to a large cavern with a funnel leading to a hole in the icy floor, the ice slide suddenly dipped down and we picked up speed.
"How is this even possible?!" Tech yelled, now firmly attached to my side.
"Good question!" I replied, trying to slow our descent with my claws but having no luck.
Now we're in Polar Express, lovely!
Hunter hit the funnel first, spinning on his stomach as he slid around the rim. Tech and I hit the funnel next, soon followed by Crosshair and Wrecker. Stabilizing myself with my claws, I pulled Tech in tighter.
Wrapping his arm tighter around my waist, Tech yelled, "What's under us?"
"Hopefully a soft landing!"
"Hopefully?!" Hunter screeched, nearly at the drop and again sliding backwards.
"I ain't gonna lie!"
A disappearance and yell later, Hunter called, "Soft landin'!"
At least that went right.
Dropping into the soft snow, I wrapped my arms around Tech and kicked us to the side, rolling us out of Wrecker's landing zone. Coming to a stop beside Hunter with Tech laying on top of me, I barely took a breath before Wrecker and Crosshair joined us, along with the rest of the snow.
One obstacle done.
Hopefully no more to go.
"You ok, Techie?" I asked, looking up at the engineer with my arms still wrapped around him.
Arms braced on either side of me, he nodded. "Had a soft landing," he replied, eyes scrunched in a smile.
I playfully flattened my ears. "Who you callin' soft?" I retorted, shoving him off me. Sitting up and shaking snow from my ears, I jumped as Wrecker erupted from a large drift.
"Wooo! Yeah! Who's up for round two?"
Crosshair beat me to it and smacked him over the back of the head. "Di'kut ner'vod…"
Taking off his helmet, Tech emptied it of snow and shuffled to my side. "Are you alright?"
I nodded. "Yeah, bit sore but I'll live," I replied, curling my tail around him and bumping foreheads with a purr.
His hand found my shoulder and he pressed his forehead against mine. "I'm glad."
"Hey… fellas? And Shadow? May want to see this!" Hunter said, standing at the crosssection of a tunnel.
Helping Tech up as Wrecker hauled a very indignant Crosshair out of the snow, I trotted over to Hunter. "What's up-" I saw what he'd been staring at. "Sarge…"
The path may have changed.
The location may have changed.
The original fate of our journey may have even changed
But the Vault?
That certainly hadn't.
A colossal chamber, light shining down from a hole high above, a pedestal in the center of the room, a sleek orb of stone hovering in the center of the pedestal, ivy coating the walls, ferns dotting the edge.
Just like I'd seen in the Outpost via the infodump when I first woke up.
"Woah…" Tech breathed as he joined us, standing on my other side.
"What's so- WOW!" Wrecker's yell echoed around the cavern as Crosshair joined him.
"How's it tropical there and not here?" the sniper grumbled, dumping snow out of his helmet.
"Good question," I muttered, slowly walking towards the pedestal with Hunter and Tech closely following me. I shook my head at them. "Stay back. Don't know what this thing's gonna do."
"Not leavin' your side," Hunter said firmly.
"Nor am I," Tech agreed.
My tail twitched. "Guys, I'm serious."
"So are we."
"You're not about to do somethin' reckless again, are you?" Crosshair growled. The slide and agitation must have reopened that Canned Cantankerous-ness.
"When do I not?" I said with a tired laugh.
Crosshair didn't seem to find it amusing, his scowl deepening. Marching to my side, he grabbed my arm. "Quit throwin' yourself in the line of fire for us without lettin' us do the same for you."
Ah… right. I had taken a bullet for the man. Which hadn't ended well… Couldn't blame him for getting antsy if it looked like I was doing it again
Meeting Tech and Hunter's gaze, finding the same reproach to varying degrees, I sighed. "Alright." I gripped Crosshair's hand as I turned my gaze to the sniper. "Stay with me. Wreck, get over here too."
Crosshair just nodded and gripped my hand tighter.
"Oh, are you gonna do magic again, Squeaky?!" Wrecker gasped, hurrying to our side.
"Not sure." I looked at the orb. "Let's go find out."
The boys flanking me, I carefully walked towards the center, ready for anything.
Hunter suddenly gasped. "Shadow. Your… your markings…"
I glanced down at my arms, shock rippling through me at the rainbow of colors shimming across my fur. "That's… new." Turning my attention back to the orb in the center of the pedestal, I took a deep breath and reached out.
"A new hand touches the beacon!"
I screamed at Trevor's loud disembodied voice, hand clutching my chest as I slammed into Hunter. "You trollin' son of a bitch!" I screeched.
Echoing laughter. "Had to!"
"No the fuck you didn't!" I spat, heart still racing and fur bushed out. Hunter's steady embrace from behind and Crosshair's hand on my shoulder did little to ease my shock. "Come out you bastard so I can break your face!"
"Doesn't sound fun for meeeeee," Trevor sang, his voice bouncing around the room.
"Good!" I hissed, pulling myself from the commandos' grip. "Now, where the hell are you?!"
"No where, and everywhere!"
"Trevor!"
"I'd come out if I could, but dad wanted me to stay away for this ceremony!"
"Dad?" Tech asked.
"Me."
At Maxolyn's voice, we all turned. Except, instead of a Taika Waititi look alike, we got…
"What is that?!" Wrecker gasped, looking over the tauroid creature standing at the cavern entrance.
"That…" I said slowly. "Is an Ancient."
Instead of horse and man, some oceanic creature amalgamation stood in its place. Blue, green, and black scales resembling a shark's bore a truly beautiful pattern; large hollow spots on the back, dark stripes lining the sides, limbs, and face, and a paler underbelly to compliment it all. Four short legs with webbed and clawed toes, a sleek yet stock body, a powerful tapering tail, strong arms bearing a multitude of tattoos, a long snout, and two fins; one on the crest of the head and another on its lower half's back.
"I'm not that old," Maxolyn chuckled, showing rows of serrated teeth as he grinned. Walking forward, his heavy tail dragging along the cave floor, he circled around and stood across from us with the pedestal and orb between us. "Glad you finally made it."
"Would have been easier had we been teleported here," I said, still mesmerized.
I'd made Ancient's awe-inspiring creatures even in their smallest form but…
To see one in person…
"Ah, but I wasn't designed to make things easy, was I?"
I flattened my ears. "Guess not."
"You… made Maxolyn?" Hunter breathed.
"Aye. He's a character, just like Trevor." I looked back at Max. "So, how's this work? I just poke it?"
He smiled and indicated the orb with a sweep of his hand. "Why don't you find out?"
I looked from him to the orb, to him, and back to the orb.
"Well…" I said, taking a deep breath and reaching out as the boys huddled closer to me. "Here goes nothing."