The Red Eyed Guy
An unusual feeling swept through the trio as they walked through the newly created entryway. It felt tingly, almost like static, and all three of them balked. Sketchbook jumped slightly on Tony's back, before whispering, "I think you can put me down now."
Tony complied, and to his surprise, found that Skechbook had sprouted legs. The two of them looked at each other uncertainly, before finally facing the hallway ahead, and hurried to follow the green guy, who had not stopped when they had.
He lead them into a large auditorium, where several shadowy figures were working rapidly a large machine. In the center was a raised stage, with a large red velvet chaise longue sitting in the center under a spotlight. Lying on the longue was none other than:
"Colin!" Sketchbook cried out.
Colin seemed to take no notice of the sudden outburst. He was in his digital form, lying on his back, his floating head leaning against the back part of the chaise longue. He ran his fingers down his keyboard, making an obnoxious strain of clicking noises. Suddenly, he jumped to his feet.
"I've got it!" He yelled in triumph, before pressing several of his keys, causing a few sentences to appear on his screen. "It's absolutely perfect, oh just wait till you hear it darling!"
He reached behind the chaise longue and, to everyone's ever increasing surprise, pulled out Laptop. She was in her digital form too, and she looked at Colin with a forced smile as he placed her on the longue. "What is it?" she asked.
"Oh just the most perfect poem for you!" He cleared his throat before continuing. "Ahem, Your beautiful hardware is as soft as the most luxurious felt, my love! Your pupils are the deepest shade of the most beautiful sharpie marker, my sweet! Your wallpaper captures the most pure beauty of nature, my little sunshine! And your programming contains all of the best properties of kindness, my jewel!"
"Aww, Colin, that so sweet." Laptop replied, in a not too convincing tone. Colin seemed unable to sense her hesitation, however.
"Thank you, my adorable little pixel!" he squealed, before picking her up and kissing her on the forehead. She gritted her teeth into a painful looking smile.
Sketchbook was the first to snap out of her shock. "Colin, what the heck are you doing!?" she yelled. Colin finally took notice of the three of them, he turned toward them, placing Laptop back on the longue.
"Oh, hi sketchbook! And Tony and Yellow Guy! Long time no see!"
Tony was the second to snap out of his trance. "Long time no see!? It's been barely a few hours! We thought we had lost you back at the Universe's house! Or worse, that you were dead!"
"Well, not to worry, not to worry. As you can see, I am perfectly fine!" Colin declared.
"You don't seem fine!" Sketchbook yelled back. "Since when do you write uncreative poetry, and call call Laptop your darling, or kiss her for that matter!"
"Simple," he replied. "I have been enlightened to my love for my sweet darling!"
"You told me you didn't feel love, because you were a computer!" Sketchbook was practically screaming now, and Colin seemed caught off guard.
"Well, you… see… I, um…" Colin's stuttering response was suddenly cut off. With a soft pop, his screen turned off. He stood dazed for a moment, blinking his eyes, when suddenly they started glowing red. His jaw fell slack and a frighteningly familiar voice came out, despite the fact that he clearly was not speaking.
"Sorry I took so long," said Shrignold, his voice slightly digitized. "I was dealing with a… a love crisis."
"I should have known." sighed Tony, as Yellow Guy tried, unsuccessfully, to hid behind him.
"Shrignold! What have you done to Colin!" Sketchbook demanded.
"I thought he told you," said Shrignold, quizzically. "I enlightened him."
"He told me computers couldn't feel love!"
"Computers can be reprogramed," he said, sternly. "Or in this case, the program can be loaded onto the computer." Shrignold turned Colin's head slightly, and revealed that there was a flash drive sticking out of one of the ports on the side of his head. The flash drive was labeled: Love. Sketchbook gasped.
"Well, if I makes you feel any better, he did put up one heck of a fight," mused Shrignold. "We had to plug him into the main power grid and give him a couple of surges. He screamed bloody murder, but it got him under control. He couldn't even raise and arm after that."
"You monster!" yelled Tony.
"Says the guy who rotted his students alive." Shrignold laughed, an altogether too happy sound.
"It was an accident!" Tony feebly tried to defend himself. He knew it was no accident, but he was unable to control his power if his students missbehaved. He had grown used to it over the years, but it still always filled him with an angry disappointment. Why wouldn't they just stop asking questions? It would be so much easier for all of them if they did.
"Isn't it always?" Shrignold scoffed. "But please, we're all teachers here," He paused, directing Collins glowing red eyes toward Yellow Guy, who shivered. "Almost all of us, anyway. So let's handle this in a civilized manner." He raised Colin's hand and snapped his fingers. Several of the shadowy figures ran over and put mugs of steaming hot liquid in each of the trio's hands, before retreating back to the dark corners they had sprang from.
Yellow Guy stared down at his with suspicion. It was brown, and smelled sweet, but he was not sure he could trust it. He took a careful sip. It was hot Chocolate! The taste of the sweetness hitting his tongue was enough to remind him that he had not eaten since the previous day. He drank it greedily.
Tony took a sip of his, and found, to his surprise and delight, that it was a smooth, rich tea, with just a little honey, exactly the way he liked it.
Sketchbook was the only one who had not tried her drink, she looked up at Shrignold/Colin with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm made of paper, remember?" she asked, bluntly.
"Pft, you're in the digital world now, I'm sure you can manage." replied Shrignold. "Or did you think you just sprouted legs of your own accord?"
Sketchbook tentatively lifted the cup to her pencil drawn mouth. She succeeded in taking a sip, but immediately spit it out.
"Blea!" she gagged, examining the cup more closely. "Is this just water with green food coloring?"
"Humm?" Colin robotically came over to take a closer look. "Huh, indeed it is," he looked to the side. "And what do you know, so is everyone else's."
As Colin returned to the stage, Tony leaned over to Sketchbook. "Here, try some of this." he said, giving her his own mug. She took a sip of it too, but spat it out once again.
"Ugg, nasty." she sputtered. "Why can everyone else taste it and not me?"
"Well, you certainly seem to have the strongest mind of the three of you." Shrignold contemplated. "You seem to be fighting the power of the digital world, whether you mean to or not."
"Really…" said Sketchbook thoughtfully. She stared hard into Colin's glowing red eyes. Suddenly he shook and twitched, his mouth moving of his own accord.
"Help… me…"
"Wow, Impressive," Colin's mouth fell open again, Shrignold's voice once again coming through. "But are you sure you want to take this head on?"
"Bring it!" yelled sketchbook, dropping her mug on the floor; it didn't break.
"Wait!" Tony put and arm on Sketchbooks shoulder. "He's right, I can see you're powerful here, but this could backfire badly."
"I can do this, I know I can!" said Sketchbook, shaking Tony off and locking her eyes once again with the red ones.
As they stared at each other, Colin began to twitch again, and his mouth once again fell under his control.
"Help… me… can't… fight… can't hold him… Sketch… please… don't… you must… save yourseeeeEEEEEEEE...!" the last word faded into a scream as the whites of Colin's eyes pulsed red. Sketchbook and Colin were blown backwards by an unseen force, with Sketchbook falling into Tony's arms.
"Sketch?" Tony asked uncertainly. "Did you win?"
"I… d-definitely won," Tony sighed in relief, before Sketchbook continued. "I won enlightenment!" she flipped around in his arms, planting a passionate kiss on his lips. He dropped her in surprise, and she fell onto her back on the floor. She stood up, in an almost robotic way before walking over to the mug she had dropped earlier. She picked it up and took a sip of the replenishing liquid.
"Mmmm, citrus tea!" She sighed in happiness. She turned to face Shrignold/Colin, who had managed to get back on his feet, his eyes still glowing red. "Thank you for teaching me the ways of love, Shrignold!" she said.
"My pleasure, honestly." He replied. "Now, what brought you here in the first place?"
"We came here searching for Roy, master." replied Sketchbook.
Tony leaned over to Yellow Guy. "Did she just call him 'master'?" He asked. Yellow Guy shrugged.
"Oh, is that all?" Shrignold laughed his too happy laugh. "Well, take them to him. You should know the way now."
"Yes, master." she replied, putting down the mug and heading toward one of the many branching halls exiting the room. She beckoned the others to follow, and blew a kiss at Tony, who grimaced.
"See you all soon I'm sure." said Shrignold. Colin's jaw closed, and he blinked rapidly again, the red gone from his eyes. His computer screen booted up again, and displayed a picture of a heart.
"What was I doing again?" he asked himself, he looked at Laptop who was still sitting on the longue, her hands on her face in what seemed to be a prolonged facepalm. He seemed to not notice. "Oh, well," he sighed. "It doesn't matter as long as you're here with me!" He picked her up again, placing one hand on her side and one in her hand. "How about some digital ballroom dancing?" A rose appeared in his mouth, and he began to waltz her around the room.
Walking down the hallway, Tony listened as the techno waltz music faded away in the distance.
Author's Note: This was actually the first chapter I ever wrote for this fanfiction. For some reason, I just couldn't get the image of Colin as the red eyed man out of my head, so I wrote it down and the rest of the fic fell into place around it.