The group was following Lizzie through the hallways, Lizzie chancing glances back at the group over her shoulder as she led them along the beautiful- if not slightly shadowy- hallways.

Jesse let a faint smile twitch over her lips as she spotted Lizzie peeking over her shoulder at her once again. "You do know we don't bite, right?" she asked the pink-haired girl teasingly.

Lizzie's head snapped back around to the front, her cheeks flushing pink- probably from embarrassment.

Jesse's smile faded a bit when she spotted the reaction, and she reached up and rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, although Lizzie couldn't see the movement. "Ah... I'm sorry. Bad joke." There was a long pause, before the grin returned, a bit more teasing than before. "Hey, y'know what we call an undercover spider?"

Lizzie glanced back over her shoulder at the spider hybrid, a question dancing in her clear blue eyes.

Olivia's eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen. "Jesse-"

"A spy-der." And the spider hybrid gave Lizzie finger guns, an amused grin spreading over her face.

There was a long pause onscreen and in real life as everyone just kinda processed the pun she'd just made, before Onscreen-Lizzie's lips twitched.

A moment later, she snorted a little, and then burst out laughing. "Really? That- wow, that was horrible- hahaha," and she dissolved into a fit of helpless giggles.

Both Real and Onscreen-Jesse looked very pleased that she was laughing at the (awful) joke she'd just made. Lukas was slowly recovering from her intensive flirting attack, slowly propping himself back up and crawling back into a more cozy position, wrapping the blanket back around the two of them. Because, y'know, creepy dark mansions in the middle of a thunderstorm are always better with a blanket.

The rest of the audience was torn between groaning with a repressed grin on their face, shaking their heads, or laughing as well.

"What does a spider do when it gets mad?"

"Uhh... I'm not sure. What?" Petra asked, because Lizzie was giggling uncontrollably now and didn't look like she'd be stopping anytime soon.

"It goes up the wall!"

More mixed groans and laughs. Onscreen-Lizzie was laughing so hard that it was reaching a hysterical level now.

"Jesse. Stop. Please," Ellegaard told Jesse, but the fact that she was laughing hysterically really did quite a lot to make her request rather ineffectual.

Onscreen, Lukas shook his head with an amused smile, before they turned the corner and he suddenly flinched and clapped his hands over his nose. "GAH!" he yelped, squeezing his eyes shut tightly.

All of them whipped around to look at him, the ocelot hybrid's shoulders slightly hunched as he kept clutching his nose. "What? What? What just happened?" Ivor asked, looking slightly disoriented.

"Yeah, why did Lukas just- double over like that?" Petra asked, gesturing at the screen.

"Are you okay, Lukas?!" Jesse asked, turning around with wide eyes.

Lukas nodded and slowly straightened up, coughing a bit as he cautiously removed his hands from his nose. "Yeah, yeah- give- give me a second- who's wearing perfume?!" he hacked out, cyan eyes watering a little bit.

Petra, Jesse, and Ivor blinked slowly in perfect unison, exchanging rather puzzled looks at that. "Someone's wearing perfume?" Petra asked, blankly.

"Well, it's not me," Lizzie said, putting her hands up in surrender.

"Yeah, you'd imagine that he'd have had the reaction the minute she walked into the room- not about like, three minutes after," Gill reasoned, leaning forward a bit and accidentally leaning on Maya. She jabbed her fingers into his ribs playfully, making Gill recoil with a high-pitched laugh and yelp.

Aiden leaned over to see what had happened, remaining silent for a minute.

"Poke him under the arms, he's really sensitive there."

Maya's eyes lit up with evil excitement.

"Wh- no-" Gill let out a shrill yelp as Maya grinned evilly and started poking him under the arms. "Aiden you traitor how could you do this to your friend?!" Gill nearly wailed between his hysterical giggles.

"I'm attempting to get back in Maya's good books," Aiden joked.

Maya glanced up. Upon spotting the faint smile on Aiden's face, she grinned back. "And that lovely act you just performed has definitely gotten your name written halfway in."

"Oh, sweet."

Half of the audience was now in stitches from this playful byplay.

"Yeah, quite a bit of it too." Lukas sniffled a bit, grabbing the end of his tail and wiping his eyes hastily. "I'm used to it now. It was just a little too heavy a few seconds ago when I first got a whiff of it."

"Lizzie, hi!" Lukas looked back up, slightly distracted, and the screen switched around to show CASSIE ROSE walking over, WINSLOW strolling along next to her. "Did you see all of these new- oh!" Cassie blinked, looking surprised at the sight of all the newcomers. "You've got them with you."

Lukas waved at Winslow a bit, the calico cat tilting his head and purring at the sight of the ocelot hybrid.

Onscreen-Jesse blinked a few times.

"Now Jesse could smell the perfume, too, but it really wasn't as heavy as Lukas had made it out to be. He must have quite the sensitive nose," the narrator- well- narrated, making Jesse's eyes flick up a bit before back down.

"I think this is the first time the narrator's actually narrated instead of just making sarcastic or, uh, inappropriate comments," Gabriel remarked, leaning his elbow on the couch.

"Well, except for that one time at the very beginning of the last episode," Otto corrected.

"Oh, yes."

Aiden blinked, glancing at Cassie. "Oh. That's why it smells a lot like roses whenever I'm near you."

"You just realized?" Cassie asked, grinning teasingly at him.

Jesse stepped forward slowly, Cassie and Lizzie backing away together to let her past, shooting the hybrids anxious looks. Jesse removed her eyes from them- and then her eyes widened, making her take a sudden step back. The screen slowly zoomed out to show huge portraits on the walls, long ones that showed the full body. The really surprising thing was... there was a portrait of Jesse staring back at her. Extra arms, red eye and all.

"Whoa!" Axel blinked rapidly. "That's seriously weird."

"You're telling me..." Lukas mumbled, leaning forward.

"Whoa... it's... us," Petra said, slowly, staring at the portraits on the wall. There was a short pause, before Petra tapped the corner of her lip. "Flattering how well they captured our likenesses...!"

"But we just arrived in this world," Real-Petra frowned. "How would the Host have even known what we looked like?"

Real-Jesse was staring at the screen uncomfortably. "I'm... not entirely sure that I want to know the answer, to be honest."

Jace was just silently staring at the screen and wishing he could get Petra's picture.

Of course, this didn't go unnoticed (though it did go unnoticed by Petra). Jesse arched her eyebrows at him teasingly, and the two of them had an inadvertent mental conversation.

Jesse: You've got it baaaad, don't you?

Jace: I have no idea what you're talking about.

Jesse: Sure ya don't, Jace. Suuuure.

Jace: Oh yeah? You're the one sitting in Lukas's lap.

Jesse: I could say much the same for you, but with Petra.

Jace: ... shut up.

Jesse smirked victoriously, argument won, and returned her attention to the situation at hand.

Cassie rubbed her head nervously onscreen, giving the group a weak smile. "At first... it was just the people that were already here. And then... poof! You guys."

"Well, this is... unexpected," Jesse said at last, sounding rather uneasy as she kept staring at the portraits on the wall.

Petra's lips twisted a bit, her pleased smile falling into a more anxious look as she continued regarding the portraits. "Yeah, no kidding..."

Ivor was staring at his own portrait, one eyebrow raised. "I mean... it's a very nice portrait... but whoever this 'Host' is somehow seemed to know our likenesses beforehand. That, uh..." He frowned at last. "That's more than a little disconcerting."

Onscreen-Lukas frowned at his portrait for a moment longer, before there was a meow and he looked down to see Winslow peering up at him curiously. He let out a slightly amused sigh, crouched, and started playing with the calico cat.

"Aww, he likes you," Cassie said, grinning at Real-Lukas.

Lukas grinned back.

He liked cats, alright?

Onscreen, Jesse finally put her hand on her hip, raising her eyebrow. "Okay. This is flattering, yet... ridiculously creepy." She paused, thinking about it, before tacking on, "If something can be both at the same time."

Cassie adjusted her glasses, nodding rapidly. "Right? At first I was like, 'Oh cool, fan art! Flattering.' But the more I thought about it... 'creepy' is definitely the right word to use here." She shuddered a bit, before going over to where Winslow was, smiling nervously down at Lukas. "I'm glad to see you like my cat."

Lukas stood back up hastily, Winslow having crawled into his arms and now meowing quite a bit. "He's bored," he reported, before Winslow meowed again and he added, "and he's hungry. I think. I dunno." He batted at his ear a bit with his free arm, making a bit of a face. "Normal cat talk is a bit different from ocelot talk. It's like... a different dialect or something."

Jesse thought about that for a second. "So, like how some people in like one section of the country have one variation of a language, and then you move over half a mile and it's totally different?" she suggested as an example.

"Yeah, like that, only with... y'know. Cats."

Several members of the audience couldn't help but grin at that statement.

Onscreen-Jesse snickered a little bit at that, before she tilted her head back- and then paused, eyes widening a little bit. The screen switched to show TorqueDawg's portrait... with a massive, slightly dripping red X drawn through him.

Sparklez's smile fell. "I still can't believe he's... gone. Just like that!"

"Yeah, we were talking just half a minute before and then... poof!" Jesse splayed her hands out slightly, before letting them drop back into her lap, Reuben letting out a pleased snort as she patted him on the back. "He's just... gone."

"Yeah, I mean... I didn't like him that much, but still," Stacy sighed, leaning forward a bit. "Tipped arrows... that's a nasty way to go. No one should have to die like that..."

Unnoticed by everyone else, Cassie uncomfortably shifted in her seat.

"That's... not a good sign," Jesse said, slowly. Lukas followed her gaze to the painting, before the sound of Sparklez' voice came back on, and Jesse turned to look, the screen coming to a halt at a set of double doors.

"C'mon, everyone. Let's huddle up in the dining room." And he came through, a small group of people coming up behind him.

Petra frowned a bit, gold eyes narrowing a bit. "Wonder if he told them yet..." she mused, quietly.

"Can't wait to hear the big news," DANTDM said, the brown-haired boy with his goggles resting on his head twisting around to see STACYPLAYS, the brown-haired girl nodding.

"I know!"

The screen switched to show Jesse watching them curiously, before glancing up. Her eyes widened, and the background seemed to zoom in, while she remained still. (If... that makes any sense whatsoever.)

The screen switched to zoom in on Dan and Stacy's portraits.

"Whoa!" Dan blinked rapidly. "Yeah, that's- that's definitely us."

"I wonder how this 'Host' knew we were coming..." Stacy mused, eyes narrowing. "For that matter, I wonder how we received our invitations."

"Yeah, that's a good question." Jace scratched his cheek a bit. "Like, did they get it off of that huge tombstone, or did they get it in the mail or something?"

"Oooh, I hope there's cake," STAMPYCAT said cheerfully, his orange cat hoodie resting on his head. The screen panned up rapidly to show his portrait.

The screen switched back to Petra, who scratched her chin with a faintly awkward look on her face. "Guess not."

Suddenly, there was a loud yelp, and the screen spun back around to see Stampy literally leaping into Dan's arms in fright, Dan flinching and somehow managing to catch Stampy bridal-style without dropping the orange-cat-hoodie-wearing boy like a sack of potatoes or getting knocked over. "GOOGLIES!" Stampy squeaked.

Stacy stepped back, a wary look coming over her face. "Whoa- are you guys- are you guys half monster, or- something?" she asked nervously.

"Oh boy. Here come the explanations," Magnus mumbled under his breath.

Jesse put up her hands in surrender, all six of them coming up rapidly and making all of the YouTubers flinch a bit. "Ah- I am, Petra is-" And one of her lower arms pointed in the Blaze hybrid's direction, Petra waving a little bit. "And Lukas is," another lower arm pointed at Lukas, who was still communing with Winslow.

Lukas looked up, distracted from the conversation. "No I'm not, I'm half ocelot!" he protested.

"And, uh- Ivor's normal," and Jesse used one of her middle arms to gesture at Ivor. The black-haired man bowed, slightly sarcastically.

"So- so you're not here to hurt us or anything?" Dan asked, sounding a little out of breath as he staggered under Stampy's weight and then fell over altogether, letting out a little squeak as Stampy accidentally landed right on his stomach.

Real-Stampy sent Dan a sheepish, rather apologetic look. Dan grinned back.

The spider hybrid shook her head, letting all of her arms drop back to her sides. "Um- no, not at all. We, uh-" One of her lower arms fished out the invitation. "We got an invitation from this 'Host' as well, whoever they are. I- I guess we're just here to not die a terrible death by zombie and- maybe to find out what's going on?" She trailed off, as if thinking, before giving her head a furious shake. "B-but, that's not my point- my point is, we're not here to hurt anyone. Cross my heart and hope to die." Her upper arms automatically did her signature 'oath' thing, and Petra grinned at the sight of it.

The group still stared at them warily, before Sparklez moved over. "Guys, they're telling the truth- they showed us the invitation. And if they wanted to hurt us by now, I'm sure they already would've done it."

"Yes, so please stop looking like we declared ourselves to be a murderer, produced an axe, and then went chasing after you all with said axe," Ivor replied to the group, sarcastically.

Soren stifled a laugh. "Ivor!" he exclaimed, a huge grin on his face.

"What? It's a valid request," Ivor replied, with a perfectly straight face.

Harper hid her smile. Despite his rather grumpy behavior, Ivor definitely had a deadpan sense of humor to him. Sometimes not intentional, but he definitely had it.

Jesse stifled a loud snort at that, and Petra very surreptitiously delivered a sneaky punch to the ribs, making Ivor yelp and flinch away a bit. Lukas's lips twitched at that, but he fought to keep a straight face.

"Hahaha!" the narrator laughed, voice suddenly dropping into a more amused feminine voice- the one from before. "Lovely. I like him!"

Jesse raised her eyebrow a bit, but didn't say anything about it at that moment.

"Erm..." Stampy coughed a bit, crawling off of Dan and standing back up, although he was still trembling a bit. "Well, perhaps we should go to the dining room, like Sparklez said?"

Stampy winced a bit. "I don't think we trust you guys that much yet... sorry that we're still scared of you."

"No problem," Jesse replied immediately. "We just met, and we're hybrids. It's totally normal that you'd be a little less trusting of us."

The YouTubers exchanged rather relieved smiles.

It was kind of a good thing that Jesse was such a sweetheart.

Onscreen, Jesse shrugged, all of her arms going up a bit and making her shudder a bit. "Notch, I'm still not used to that," she muttered, shifting a bit, before lifting her head and giving Stampy a friendly smile. "Sure, I'm up for that."

And with that, all of them started making their way into the dining room, through a different set of double doors. Jesse stepped aside, allowing the others to go past her, before raising her eyes to look at the ceiling and dropping her voice to a lower volume. "So, you're a girl?"

"I am of the female gender, yes."

"So why did you disguise your voice as a guy, then?" Jesse mumbled, continuing forward.

"Why not?"

"So why switch back to being a girl?"

"Because boys are stupid."

Every male in the room straightened up indignantly. "HEY!" they all chorused.

Every girl in the room repressed a grin, snickered a bit, or bit their lips. A few of them developed an extreme interest in something on the ceiling.

"Oh really? So you don't like any boy?"

"Nope. I just like f*ckin' with 'em."

Jesse stopped in her tracks, blinking at that new bit of information. "Uh... okay." With that, she moved through the door to the dining room, the screen blacking out in her wake.

There was a short silence as everyone processed the fact that the narrator was apparently a girl.

Finally, Magnus asked, in a rather wondering voice, "So, when she says she likes f*cking with boys, does that mean she likes to mess with them, or does she actually-"

"Magnus, if you finish that sentence, I will smash my sword into your head."

"Oh, y'know what, I actually forgot what I was about to say there. Haha."

"Good," the entire audience chorused.


A/N: Fun fact: One of the only things Azira and I have in common is that we're both asexual panromantics. (Meaning we don't want to have sex with anyone, but we fall in love with personalities instead of gender. I say that I'm panromantic because I've developed a crush on a girl or two, and they all had similar personalities.) She's just horny to embarrass people.

So, for Hybrid, my plan at this point is this:

I will be publishing a sequel to Hybrid that corresponds with Season 2, though it will add on another three 'episodes' like the original first season. (Remember the DLC episodes?) Y'know, to flow into Recode Reality. At this point, I don't know how many 'episodes' the final product of Hybrid and the sequel combined will be- but you can expect that the final product will be pretty damn lit. xD

The end of Hybrid AND the beginning of the sequel might remain the same, though. Not sure.

Anyway, with HCM though, I changed my mind- I actually WILL be including the sequel in HCM in general. I'm not telling you what's happening with that, because I'm not sure yet, but you can expect that characters from Season 2 will be popping in when they appear.

RQTC: Do you have friends that you would pretty much do anything for?

Yep. GirlOfMyOwnWorld, Toni42, TheRealRedGaming, Emily the Avenger, and LunarStarsMoons (otherwise known as ForeverFairy on DeviantArt).

LunarStarsMoons: Lol, yeah, that'd be unfortunate if you did xD / (grins) / (shrugs) Meh.

sailor . mikuchan: ? Sorry, that was kind of unclear, can you explain that?

S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: (laughs) He's fixed now. / Hahahaha xD / Mm, I see.

AquaK13: (laughs) / (laughs) Yeah, she doesn't seem the type, right? / Hehehe xD / Lolol / Yeah, she's smooth af sometimes. / Hahahaha xD / (shrugs mildly) / Actually, not really... xD I just wanted to make a sequel. I had a slight plan, but not enough of one. / Kewl :3

homework: Build up our machine you die tonight! Tonight... build up our machine you die tonight! ... So you found all the pieces, to initiate the pain. / (Yes, I did that middle bit which is just repetition. xD) / (laughs) I guess not. / What, you mean regarding PAMA? / I've watched both lol xD / Mm. / Yes, I have xD / I see!

TheRealRedGaming: Red, stop spoiling things, and stop giving me ideas like that. I do have a plan for how I want the story to go, and the ideas don't fit in. I can't respond to a good deal of the rest of the review because that would be spoiling things, so PM me on Twitter or here if you want a full response.

the indecisive bird: Kayyy~ / Lol xD / I see.

BeliTheGhoti0304: (laughs) True. / Cassie didn't curse in the last chapter? I think you were talking about Isa. / Hehehe. / ?

LittleAngelbun: Hahaha x3 / Okay. / Cool xD

RapidSammi: (squeals with you)

J.M.M.: Thank you! x3

Kaos Ruin: I see. / (eats the banana.)

Jack638: Ah, I see. / :3

LegoGirl794: I see. / Thank you! / Luckyy, I still have two weeks.

InsaneAcrobat: (cracks up) Usually she only messes with Lukas. / No, the hotel is actually still just teasers. Once I actually publish Phantasmagoria I might consider making a crossover for funsies xD / They kind of have to... / Lol I might just make that a separate extra story for funsies. I'll ask the question next chapter and see what other people think.

Rabbits rule: Go ahead and encourage the puns, there'll be plenty more xD

Emily The Avenger: Only the first bit, tbh xD / Mmm.

DarkPrincess2001: Jesse says "Never" xD

RWBYSTRQ: (laughs) I'm glad to see you enjoy it! The narrator wouldn't break, but Lukas definitely would (grins wickedly)

Bai!

x.X. A.L. X.x


"Hello."

Lukas blinked. "Hello?"

Jesse raised one of her non-gauntlet-clad hands (the gauntlet was surprisingly heavy for such an efficient-looking design) and waved the small device that Stampy and Stacy had described as a 'phone'. They were apparently new in this world, but the one in her hand looked as if it had been used for at least two years. "No, I opened up the phone and that's what's on it right now- a messaging app."

She glanced down at the phone as it buzzed again. "And whoever's sending these messages is very persistent, if not efficient," she added.

Lukas took a look over Jesse's shoulders. On the phone screen came a single word, the same one, over and over again.

Unknown: Hello?

Unknown: Hello?

Unknown: Hello?

"Have you replied yet?" Lukas asked.

Jesse made a face. "It's not my phone. Should I?"

"Well, it might help you find the owner quicker," Petra suggested, adjusting her half-on armor. She'd adopted this style after she'd realized that moving around without a ton of heavy armor on suddenly became way faster and way more efficient, if not a little less safe.

Jesse accidentally lifted her gauntlet-clad arm and winced a bit as the weight dragged her hand down. "Gosh, this gauntlet is heavy."

"Yeah, well, you're the one who decided to put it on."

"I didn't think it was just gonna get stuck on my arm!"

"Oh, yeah, and it's cursed too, so smart idea, Jesse."

"Haven't you heard that curiosity killed the cat? I should know," Lukas added, frowning at the black-haired girl.

"Satisfaction brought it back," she was quick to counter.

The phone buzzed, reminding her why this argument had started. "Hang on, I'm going to see if I can contact this person."

It was a bit hard with a giant glove on her hand, but she managed to type out a response.

Who is this?

There was a long pause. Jesse was about to repeat the message when the phone buzzed, and a new message appeared from the (extremely persistent) sender.

Unknown: Are you Jesse?

"They responded," Jesse said, quickly (or, as quickly as she could with this huge glove on her hand) tapping out another bit of the message.

Yes... who are you?

Unknown: If you're reading this, you've discovered the phone I left for you. Right now, this is the only way we can communicate. Hopefully I can find a better way to contact you soon... I need your help.

I won't help you if I don't even know your name. Who. Are. You?

A long pause. Jesse stared at the screen intently until a new message popped up.

Ariza: You can call me Ariza Luca, I suppose.

Call you? Is that your real name?

Ariza: Not by a long shot, but it's what everyone knows me as. But Jesse, that's not my point right now. I need your help.

What do you need help with?

Ariza: Jesse, if you're reading these text messages and responding, then that can only mean one thing.

What do you mean? What are u talking about?

Ariza: We have a huge problem. One that might be a bit bigger than I had anticipated.

If you keep beating around the bush I won't help you. What's the problem?

There was a pause, before the next message popped up.

Ariza: This conversation isn't supposed to exist, Jesse.

[HHHHHHHHHHHHH]

Lol you thought the review responses were the end of the chapter, didn't you?

A (maybe) teaser for Hybrid's sequel/Season 2! Guess one letter per chapter to find out what the title is. :3 I'm only using the letter 'H' as a stand-in.