"Welcome to my humble abode, narf, hahaha" Pinky exclaims as he unlocks the door and steps aside for Dot, Yakko and Brain to enter.
Brain sighs heavily as he stares at Pinky a few seconds, debating to whack his brain with something heavy right here, right now but the circumstances call it otherwise.
"It's my house Pinky, you just get to stay with me and help me at hopefully one day, take over the world." Brain stretches his back a few times and scratches his head. "Still haven't found the perfect plan yet."
"Or someone keeps fooling the plan…am I right?" Yakko demands as he smirks and lifts his right hand to hide his amusement. He knows that Pinky is generally the sole reason that the world isn't in the grasp of Brain.
"Well…yeah…" Brain looks back again to Pinky one last time before stepping ahead, the group following really close behind. "So, as I was saying, when I looked at the list of all the participant, Wakko wasn't on it so I decided to do some investigation. I won't lie, even for a brain like me, it took me a while to actually find him."
The group arrives to a large and spacious room that serves as a laboratory for the mice judging from the piles of paper on tables and the floor. At the opposite side of the entrance, a huge computer screen is displayed. Brain walks up to the screen and double taps it which makes screen boot up. After the classical password entry, Brain boots up a VPN software. "There, now we are safe to proceed. Can never be too careful." Brain open his web browser and three tabs are already saved and ready to go.
"Careful of what?" Dot asks gently. She feels the atmosphere in the room dropping a few degrees for a few seconds then raise again. It is a strange sensation and she can't pinpoint why or where it comes from.
"Let's just say that I'm in a website where I shouldn't be. Had to hack a few accesses to find what I wanted to find. The backdoors were a pain in the ass to find as well."
"Backdoors were a pain in the ass indeed…narf…" Pinky says with a dirty undertone behind it before laughing his heart out; followed by a face palm from Dot.
"Mouah, good night everybody." Yakko stares at the audience and winks as he waves good buy.
The joke takes a few seconds to enter Brain's brain and when everything finally clicks together, he grinds his teeth together in sheer annoyance.
"Pinky, I swear you are going to get a nice whack on the head later for this alone. So, here's what I found. Wakko lives now in Los Angeles and works as music producer. He is also doing martial arts; there are a few registries mmm. Taekwondo, Capoeira and Kickboxing. Here is the full address. There is not much about him, he really stayed under the radar." Brain hold his chin with his right hand. "The thing is, someone as popular as he is should have much more information."
"Do you think he may have deleted a few info when he left?" Dot wonders out loud.
"It's a possibility…if he knew he could do that. A lot of people do not know about this website." Brain answers back.
"Do you think on my profile it says 'I'm cute'?" Dot's eyes seem to twinkle slightly.
"Please Dot, not now. We all know you are the cutest of us all." Yakko instantly comments and run his hand in Dot's hair to emphasis what he is saying which Dot bites right into it.
"I know I am."
'Still works like a charm.' Yakko smiles and turns his attention back the screen. Something does not seem right with Wakko's bio. The lack of content is disconcerting for sure but why isn't there more to it?
"Well, how do we approach this situation? It's not like we can simply show up at his front door." Dot runs her left hand through her hair.
"I think this can be the only thing to do Dot, pretty straight forward." Yakko turns to face her sister. "We say what we have to say and we will have done our part."
"I guess…I just wish that we could maybe a more…comfortable way of reaching him."
"I'll be with you alright? I'll try to ease up the tension if it ever goes out of control." Brain continues typing on the screen and a window opens up displaying a map and at it's center a blinking red dot. "Well, looks like I found his phone and current location. He is about an hour away from here in a forest and looking the pace he is going; he is up for a little jogging session."
"Through the woods? He is leaving the main path." Yakko scratches his head, surprised.
"You know Wakko, always up to some crazy shenanigans. He is probably taking a shortcut." Dot smiles and stares at his brother for a reaction.
"Well…yeah…I guess so."
The group remains silent as they stare at the screen for a few more seconds before Yakko finally breaks the silence.
"Ok, you know what? Maybe I'm going to see him right now. I know where the area is so I can portal jump without any problem." He says as he reaches for a black hole in his pocket. "I think a better approach would be a one by one scenario."
"Uuuummmm guys?" Pinky stares at the green besides Brain, dumbfounded.
"Yes Pinky?" Dot answers back.
"He's gone."
"What do you mean he is gone?" Yakko looks at the screen and sure enough the red dot no longer was there. "He is no longer on the map…I'm still going, maybe he has some problems."
"Alright, keep your phone very close to you, just in case." Yakko nods and stretch the black hole enough for him to go through. He lands softly in the clearing and looks around for any signs of his brother. There is nothing in sight or so he though at first as he notices fresh footprints disappearing into thin air. 'What the hell?'
Wakko and Avael arrive in an area similar to the area they were just a few seconds ago however, the land is rocky and bare. There is no grass, no trees, nothing but rocks extending as far they could both see. The sky is really dim and has an extremely dark purple hue to it, giving a spooky atmosphere.
"I thought your lan…I mean world was into pure darkness and yet I can see…barely but I can." Wakko turns to Avael and gulps slowly.
"It is…or it was. The light of your world is coming through which gives our world this purple hue. Follow me, we are very close to The Source. It's not that far. We have to be quick though, your presence will bring unwanted attentions." Avael says as his eyes turns to a shade of blue cyan and his body morphs slightly, ten little red crystals growing out of his back on his spines.
"So, this is your true form?" Wakko admires Avael's appearance as he follows besides him.
"Yes, it is. My eyes' true color is blue cyan and not gold. My body reacts differently to light."
"Very interesting, also those crystals look quite painful and heavy."
"Nah, they don't bother me in the slightest. I'll explain to you what they are for another time. We are arriving at The Source."
Right in front of the duo, a pitch-black rift pulses ejecting dark smokes in waves and seems to extend for miles and miles.
"This is The Source, looks quite threatening to me. Are you sure it's not a black hole or something lethal instead?" Wakko wonders if helping Avael was a great idea to begin with. "uumm, I think I have second thought about this…"
"No time for this Wakko, the longer we stay here, the more dangerous it will be for you…and me because I brought you here in the first place." Avael nearly hiss half frustrated and half scared. "You have to jump in The Source and when it's all over, I'll get you the fuck out of here."
"Do you even have any idea what will happen to me or how my own body will react to it?" Wakko stares at the rift and takes a step forward as he extends his right arm to the rift, a chilling feeling flowing through it. "agh…it feels cold…freezing I should even say."
"Yes, it can be quite the trip of feels, now…jump in." Avael calmly tilt his head to the right, his eyes fixed on the rift. He quickly looks around to make sure no one can see them both.
Wakko makes a step forward again and looks at Avael one last time before jumping in the rift. His body freezes in place as darkness overtakes him. 'oh goodness…it's freezing in here….' The toon looks around but do not see any shapes or light. His body suddenly starts convulsing and warmth in his body increases as well as pressure in his chest, preventing him to breath. As much as Wakko tries to breath, he could not do it and panic takes over. Wakko closes his eyes and silently praise that he survives the ordeal and make it out safely. The pressure in his chest decreases, making him gasp desperately for air. The warmth dissipates and a bright light out of nowhere blinds the disoriented toon back to rift of The Source where Avael waits seemingly in a hurry.
As soon as Wakko reappears, Avael grabs gently the toon's hand teleports them back to earth, a few meters from where they were a few hours ago. Wakko nearly collapse on the floor, his strength giving up without warning but Avael's reflexes prevents the toon's head from colliding with the ground.
"Not feeling well Avael." Wakko whispers.
"Yeah, I can see that. I never saw someone react this badly to The Source. Yet again, you are not made to be in contact with it."
"I though was going to die, I couldn't breath for a few seconds." The toon holds a hand against his chest, remembering the sensation. "There was to much things going on at the same time."
"You are alive and that's what matters. We have to find you a spot where you can rest properly and we will continue tomorrow."
"Continue what?" a voice speaks behind the duo.
"Well, your traini…" Avael turns around and finds himself facing a Yakko holding a massive mallet on his side. "well this is…awkward."
"What the hell did you do to my brother?" Yakko growls, taking a step forward and steadying his mallet over his shoulder. "If you don't want to be malleted into the next millenia, you better answer me right now."
Wakko groans and feels his strength growing back enough for him to get up but yet, he cannot find the strength to turn around and face his brother.
"It's fine Yakko, I'm fine." Wakko finally says after releasing a long sigh, still looking away from his brother. "What are you doing here anyway?" He asks, his voice sounding almost bitter.
"uuuuuhh I'm here because…it's a bit of a story…" Yakko turns his attention to Wakko, sensing hate rising from his sibling but the older brother ignores it. He approaches Wakko cautiously and decides to stop at an arm's length. He wants to say everything right here, right now but the tension in the air would probably make it worse. 'What should I say?'
"What in the world are you doing here?" Wakko asks again, this time he doesn't hide his irritation and turns to face his brother. "Or I should say, how in the world did you find me?"
Yakko is taken aback from the animosity his brother but at the same time he knows that it is justify. Before he couldn't answer back, Wakko takes a step forward and looks like he could mallet his sibling at any seconds.
"Fine, you don't want to answer my question it seems."
"I can only tell you that Brain helped me to find you. Dot and Pinky are also following." Yakko gulps.
"I bet you have a lot of things to say to each other but I think here is not the proper place to do so." Avael interrupts the duo, trying to ease the tension. "How about we go somewhere more…cozy?"
"hhmmm, yes, my place will do." Wakko grumbles but deep down, he is glad to see his brother being well.