Yayaka
Like a few times in my life before, I was pretty surprised at the fact I could wake up at all after… what had happened again? It took a second for it to come back to me. The world of puppets, being on a stage, fighting stuffed animals and giant toy dogs…
I blinked, trying to make sense of my surroundings. Shouldn't the ceiling be a black void? Why is it grey? I tried to raise my left arm up to rub my eyes, only to scream as a sharp pain ripped through it.
"Yayaka!" Someone nearby cried my name. Yuyu? …No, that's not Yuyu's voice. A blurry figure with silver hair ran into my line of sight. "Shouldn't move!" They said, their voice sounding almost as heavy as Salt's, but not weighed down. It sounded more like this person had trouble breathing.
"Toto?" My voice came out, quiet and cracked. Although I was kinda groggy, my brain was working enough to realise, "You shouldn't be here… Go back to Flip Flap…" I raised my right arm, which felt a little weak, and tried to bat him away.
"Am at… Flip Flap."
"…What?" But how…? It was then that I realised that my back wasn't against a wooden stage floor, and was instead resting on a soft mattress. And that explains why the sky isn't black… So I'm at Flip Flap… "How did I get here?" I asked.
My question seemed to puzzle Toto, but only for a moment. He looked down at an object he was holding in his hand. I had to blink a few times to try and clear my vision. What my brain could only make out as a long cylinder of syrup slowly became clearer, until I realised what it was. "Yuyu's arm?" How the heck did that get here?
"Tell me… what happened… in Pure Illusion…"
I found it a bit strange to have him demanding information from me, but I couldn't exactly blame him for it. To him, I must have appeared from nowhere at all, and I have his sister's arm even though I swear I haven't encountered her… It must look pretty suspicious. Maybe if I go over things, I'll get some answers too.
So, that's exactly what I did, staring from when I woke up after fighting the Ray. I told him how I fell into a tree in the land of metal leaves, which took me somewhere else entirely. How I ended up living through some of Papika's memories, encountered Mimi, and explained how she'd tried to speed up time on me to help heal my ribs, before sending me to another part of the world where apparently my shadow was.
"It ended up being some weird puppet world. One of them tagged along with me the whole time, and then there was a fight with a stuffed cat, followed by a giant dog which dropped unicycle clowns on me…" Even if Toto was more expressive, it didn't surprise me that he didn't think anything that'd happened to me was strange at all. If I'd said it to anyone else outside of Flip Flap, they'd probably be sending me to an insane asylum after the 'falling into a tree and teleporting' thing.
"After that…?" He asked.
"Not a clue, I blacked out from pain, and woke up here," I said, about to shrug, sending a shock of pain through my left shoulder all over again. Toto continued to stare at me as I'd finished speaking, which I found a little odd. Going over the events in his head? That's what I would have guessed, but Toto should have registered every single detail the instant I said it. …Unless staying in Pure Illusion so long has affected him more than I thought…
"Describe… the puppet."
His request was a little odd, but I did as he asked and went into detail. "Well, there were other puppets in that world too, but the one that followed me was nowhere near as well made as them. Its hands and feet were red, its body with a few careless splashes of black paint, and its left arm was a different colour to the rest of it—" I stopped, as my eyes fell on Yuyu's metal arm again, realisation slowly dawning on me. "It looked an awful lot like that…"
I'm an idiot.
The puppet was Yuyu.
And she's all alone in Pure Illusion now.
All of my grogginess was gone in an instant. "How long have I been out cold here?"
Toto's eyes looked down at the floor, away from me, knowing I wouldn't like the answer. He almost seemed guilty as he said "…Two days…"
"Two days?!" It was hard not to scream after hearing that. My heart was pounding quickly with panic. I've been gone far too long! I need to get back to her! I tried not to let the worry on my face show. If Toto works out what I'm doing, he might not let me go. I can't stay here; I need to help her! "Is Nyunyu around?" I asked, trying to sound as neutral as possible.
Toto nodded. I got up from the bed at that point, and began to make my way to the door. I'd almost gotten there, when Toto suddenly seemed to work out what I was trying to do, and I felt a cold hand close over my wrist.
"Let me go, Toto!" I said, forcefully.
"You need… to rest…" He countered. I could barely hear him. My brain was going into overdrive with anxiety.
"Yuyu could be in danger right now, fighting for her life!" I said, "Last time I saw her, she was a puppet that could only move when obeying an order. She can't defend herself like that! What if my shadow finds her and attacks her?" I tried to pull my arm away from his hand, but his grip was tight. Okay, now I'm mad. "Let go of me!"
"Yayaka…"
For frag's sake… "Toto, I need to go save her. This whole mess is my fault. I said she could come along, and now she's alone—"
"Sent Cocona… and Papika… To assist… as soon… as you arrived…"
"And have you heard from either of them, since they left two days ago?!" I roared, turning to look at him. Toto recoiled, as if I'd physically struck him after that sentence, and I felt guilty for being so harsh. I opened my mouth about to apologise, but he beat me to speaking:
"Not heard… From them…"
His mood seemed to fall at that moment, just as much as mine had, and he let go of my wrist. While he was quiet, I took the chance to say, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get mad—"
"You're worried… I'm worried too... I understand…" Toto interrupted. His eyes looked sad, but there was a small smile on his face. "I forgive you…" I thought that line was going to be the end of it, but he said something that really caught me off guard, "Try and learn… to forgive… yourself, too."
My eyes went wide. Learn to forgive myself? What a weird thing for him to say... But… to be honest, the words sorta 'hit' me, more than I felt they should. I sorta realised then, just how much it meant for me to hear that from someone, and in that same moment, just how much Toto meant to me. It's like having a little brother…
In an attempt to look like what he said hadn't had any impact on me at all, and that I was a tough badass commander, I looked away from him, hoping he couldn't spot the light blush that'd probably coloured my cheeks. "Shut up, you softie," I said, before I turned to leave the room. "Come on," I said more forcefully, as I gave the order, "Help me find Nyunyu."
Although Toto kept insisting, I should stay behind and rest, he couldn't really deny that someone should go to Pure Illusion and see where Yuyu, Cocona and Papika had gotten to. He said he would have tried to go with Nyunyu himself, using Buu again, but apparently Hidaka was busy looking over the robot, (apparently when Toto used Buu to catch me when I fell during my fight with the Ray, he's managed to damage the robot's wiry arms somehow. Hidaka was working on repairs.) It took a while to find Nyunyu, not just because Flip Flap is a maze, but because Toto could only walk so fast. I kinda wish I didn't need him with me to guide me around the base, so I could get all of this done a lot quicker, but I didn't really have a choice. If I wasn't with him I probably would have found everything except Nyunyu and the kitchen sink* (and even then, the only reason I doubted I'd find a sink in here was because Hidaka would have scrapped it for parts long ago, if there ever was one in here in the first place.)
It didn't take too long to find Nyunyu, in fact, she was watching Hidaka work on Buu, fixing him up, both of them wearing welding masks. Neither of them really acknowledged us being here. The most we got was a glance from Nyunyu, her oddly-cut hair bobbing as she did so, before she returned her attention to the blue sparks flying as Hidaka held a blowtorch over the little yellow robot.
"Hey, Nyunyu, we need you in Pure Illusion," I said, turning my back on the room, waiting for her to follow.
"Not coming!" She replied.
"What?!" I spun around, right away. I would have thought she'd leap at the chance to go to Pure Illusion again!
"I'm helping Hidaka!" She said in response.
I growled, annoyed. "Nyunyu, you're not even doing anything, you're just watching!"
"Can't go!"
"Why not?!" She might have been about to speak and give me a reason, but I didn't have time to listen to that right now. "Nyunyu, it's urgent. I'd ask Toto if he wasn't gonna be on the verge of death the moment we get there, but I can't do that. Come with me!"
"Nope!"
Oh for… "Nyunyu, Cocona's in there! Flip Flap hasn't heard from her since she went into Pure Illusion two days ago. She's your sister, isn't she? Don't you wanna make sure she's okay?"
At that point Hidaka turned to me. I tried not to get even madder, upon seeing his white lab coat and magenta hair poking out from behind his welding mask, which was hard, because it was basically instinct for me to hate everyone who worked in a lab.
"I need Nyunyu with me because we're close to getting results for an experiment, and she plays a vital part in it. If it works, it'll be a great help to the amorphous children." Hidaka said. Hearing the word 'experiments' I felt my hands heat up and they curled into fists. I don't care if you're working on some stupid magical cure for Toto's sickness right now, Yuyu, Cocona and Papika have been stuck in Pure Illusion for two friggin' days, and none of them have contacted Flip Flap! Why does no one seem to get that?!
Hidaka continued, "We might not have heard from them directly, Yayaka, but I've been monitoring them since they've left." He turned the blowtorch off and picked up a tablet from the desk nearby. The screen of it showed… an incredibly patchy map. Or at least that's what I think it was. The background was black, and there were white lines, as if representing landmasses in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some cut off suddenly, and some looked like complete outlines. Each of them seemed to labelled with a string of letters and numbers… Coordinates? It was then that I realised exactly what I was looking at. This is a map of Pure Illusion… In one section, near a very long white rectangle (The puppet's stage world?), was a trio of coloured dots in a line, pink, red, and blue, in that order. It took me a while to work out what they were exactly. Papika's pink hair, Cocona's blue hair, and the red is the colour of the stripes on Yuyu's armour… I wanted to relax, as it appeared the three of them were together again, but it didn't quell the anxiety over the situation I still felt. If anything, looking at the screen made me feel worse. Cocona, Papika haven't been heard from in two days, and there's a red dot there… Just like the one me and Yuyu have been chasing all through Pure Illusion…
I shook my head, getting mad at myself. I'm wasting time! I ran from the room before I really knew what I was doing. "Yayaka!" Toto called after me. I heard his footsteps as he tried to catch me. I wanted nothing more than to get away from there as fast as possible, but I could hear Toto's already heavy breathing get even worse as he tried to catch up with me, so I stopped right in my tracks, to allow him to catch up.
I hated that he was so sick because of his recent journeys to Pure Illusion. I hated Hidaka for not seeming to show a shred of care about the fact Cocona and Papika and Yuyu have been gone for days, which yeah, might only have been a few minutes in Pure Illusion, but it could also easily equate to ten years in there… And I hated myself for spending so long talking to Hidaka, when the situation could be getting worse in there as we spoke.
I slammed a kick into the wall of the corridor in frustration, denting my boot, and agitating my damaged body. For frags sake, what the hell am I doing?! What is anyone doing?! I kicked the wall a few more times, and threw in a few punches with my better arm for good measure, trying to work this emotion out of me.
"DAMN IT!" I yelled, with one final punch. I would have kept going, but I was tiring myself out, bad. I then felt guilty for breaking my promise to Toto, saying I wouldn't push myself. Here I am punching a wall, probably making myself worse… I'm such a stupid mess…
"Yaya… ka…" Toto was panting so hard he could barely say my name. Whatever he was going to say, I had no idea. My brain kinda shut off from words, as I got a little lost in my own thoughts. I cursed myself for staying there for so long, but I couldn't muster the energy to move, or the will to really do anything. Even if I did, I can't go to Pure Illusion without Nyunyu… Not safely at least. I could drag Toto with me, but I'd practically be killing him, just to try and save his sister, and find the others…
Suddenly, I felt an arm slip around my shoulders, pulling me away from the wall. A cold, but not clammy, hand touched the side of my face, and soon I was looking into his blank face. Toto… He has to feel just as bad or me, or maybe even worse. His sister's trapped in Pure Illusion, and he can't do a single thing to help… His red eyes were oddly calm though, as he looked at me, despite all the worry he must be feeling. His eyes are red, just like his sister's but the stripes on his armour are green instead…
Green? That word stuck out to me. Green… Nyunyu's oddly-cut hair… The image of a fat green rabbit, sitting on Nyunyu's head, chewing her hair, entered my mind. Euxkull… Euxkull made it to Pure Illusion somehow, and he survived the trip there and back…
There's another way I can get there!
It must have confused the heck out of Toto when I suddenly jolted to alertness, demanding to know if Cocona had a room in Flip Flap's base, and if so where it was. He tilted his head to the side in confusion, but then righted himself, and nodded, before guiding me to a place that was only, thankfully, a few rooms away. I was a little torn as my hand was on the door handle. Part of me wanted to leave it alone and back away. It's Cocona's room. She might not be in there, but I shouldn't exactly go wandering in without her permission… But the other part of me was still alive with thoughts. I need to go in there. I need Euxkull to come with me! He's our only hope!
I pushed the door open and didn't really pay too much attention to Cocona's room. There were a few photos on tables and things, (almost all of them containing photos of Cocona and Papika together in various poses. I noted a couple of pictures: one of a grumpy Doctor Salt, standing next to his daughter, and a photo of Mimi looking exactly how she does now. The only thing that betrayed its age, was the fact it was poorer quality than the others.) but I found what I was looking for: Euxkull's cage. I was a little surprised Salt let her keep him in the base, where he could chew on any wires he could find if he escaped, but right now, I wasn't complaining. I rushed over to the cage (and tried to ignore a red-eyed reflection of myself I caught sight of in one of the photos. Cocona wouldn't be happy if I broke one of them), opened the door, and grabbed the green blob of a rabbit. His fur was a little ruffled, but he didn't seem too bothered by me picking him up and taking him with me. He sniffed my hands, and blinked curiously, before licking my fingers. At least he seems to like me. I hope that's enough of a bond for both of us to get to Pure Illusion… "We have to get to the Thomasson," I said out loud to Toto.
It was odd being in that cramped space again again. I was squished up at the bottom of it, and no one was in the upper section this time. I was holding Euxkull close, even though he made no attempts to escape. I felt a little silly in there to start with, and that feeling only grew as I sat there. I'm sitting in a cupboard, waiting to go to another dimension with a pet rabbit. How the hell am I going to connect with this thing to even get there?
"Yaya… ka?" I heard Toto's voice from outside the Thomasson.
"I'm still here," I said.
I was expecting him to speak again, but instead, he opened the door to the Thomasson, and placed an object in there. The door shut again, leaving me in darkness, so I couldn't really see what it was, but feeling at it, and feeling five metal 'fingers' I realised it was, "Yuyu's arm?"
"Interdimensional… communications…" Toto said. "Want to know… you'll be… okay… May also aid… getting to Yuyu…"
I… hadn't thought of any of those things. Hell, if it wasn't for the fact my only thought was to helping the three trapped in Pure Illusion, I didn't even think about what'd happen if that didn't get me there and ended up in another world. At least that way, if that does happen, Toto can help me out with that. "Thanks, Toto."
"Be careful… Out there…"
"I will," I called back, my voice a little wobblier than I expected it to be. All the emotion I didn't work out of me must be catching up… I waited for a little while, hoping I'd feel a shift in the atmosphere here, the tell-tale sign we were about to head off, but all felt was my impatience growing, and with it, annoyance. Try and calm down. Toto's here. Talk to him for a bit. "How are you?" I ended up saying.
"Worried…" he replied. "Want to help… But can't…"
"Hey, that's not your fault. You're sick after all," I said. Actually, while he's here… "Do you know what's up with you exactly? I mean, when you go to Pure Illusion, you're effected in some way. What happens?"
There was silence on the other side. I wondered if I'd asked something wrong when Toto spoke up. "Reverting to… original form…"
It took me a second to work out what he was saying exactly. "Wait… You mean you're turning back into amorphous?"
Toto nodded. "For me… Internal… For Yuyu… Unknown… But assume… the same…"
Turning back into amorphous? That… was a terrifying thought. I remembered once when I was talking to Cocona and she told me about how a monster from Greek mythology could turn people to stone instantly, just by looking at them. I found it hard to imagine being alive one moment, then, BOOM! Being a statue the next. It just seemed impossible to me… Well, okay, it was a story, but still. I started talking out loud, wondering how that would feel if the process was slower, and you could feel it as it happened. Your limbs solidifying as they turned to cold, hard rock... Cocona said a string of words I didn't understand at all.
"What?" I asked.
"What you're describing. It sounds like a very rare disease. 'Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva'"
"Wait, it's a real thing?"
"Uh-huh. Only, instead of a body turning to stone, instead, the person's muscle gets replaced with bone. It's very painful, and eventually you lose the ability to move. People with the disease at one stage have to choose if they want to spend the rest of their life sitting or standing."
"That… Sounds like hell."
I felt a stab of… I don't even know what, but all I could think was that something similar has to be happening to Toto, or have been happening, the more time he spent in Pure Illusion. And even though he could have been feeling like that the whole time in Pure Illusion, he stayed with me all that time and didn't leave during the fight with the dragon, until the very last moment… Even through all that pain… "Hey, Toto?"
"Yes…?"
"You be careful too, okay? You might not be in Pure Illusion anymore, but don't push yourself if things become too much."
At that point, the weak bond between me and Toto flared up a little. It was still small, and honestly, I'd forgotten the damn thing was there, but feeling it now was… kinda nice. It also told me that he was smiling on the other side of the door, even though I couldn't see his face.
It occurred to me then, that I should have asked him about the red dot data I sent him to examine all that time ago, but the atmosphere in the Thomasson began to change, and the thought went out of my mind. I grabbed hold of Yuyu's metal arm tightly, and thought of her, Cocona and Papika, as I held Euxkull to me. It wasn't long before there was a VWHOOB! And a Hole opened up to take us away to Pure Illusion…
Authors note: *'everything but the kitchen sink' may just be an English phrase/idiom. To explain it, imagine someone moving house. They want to take all their furniture and items with them. All their collectible figures, all their books, all their movies, all the food in the cupboards… pretty much anything and everything. You'd say "they're taking everything but the kitchen sink" to mean everything imaginable". It's meant to be a humorous phrase, which I've sorta tried to adapt to another situation. I have no idea if it works or not, hopefully it does.
Also, sorry about the long wait for posting a chapter. I hadn't written for around 17-18 days at least, because I was reading through both my fics and checking for... certain things. I was hoping looking back through might give me some direction of where to go next, and I have ideas for things later in the fic, but it's a question of getting to them. This chapter was…. Difficult to say the least. Every time I thought I had something, my brain derped and I couldn't focus on that idea anymore. It's annoying when that happens. I don't THINK there's too many mistakes or anything in here... I'm hoping now I've gotten this out of the way that working out the next parts of the story will be easier.
