This was it. It was years in the making, but all those years finally were coming together. He had a trusting army that was none the wiser. He had the power. He had the brains. He knew this would go according to plan.
"Deploy, Exor!" Smithy barked from his own dimension.
"Yes, father." Exor boomed from the opposite side. Due to the sudden growth, his voice gained an echo that traveled miles. He hurdled through space, and found his target: the Star Road. This was the barrier he was told to break. With a deep stab, the Star Road was completely shattered into seven pieces, and he landed sharply into a castle. He could hear the screams of others being flung out, and he knew it was completed.
"Smithy Gang, fall out!" Smithy commanded, as his children headed out of the void, heading off to their different places around the kingdom. Smithy stayed behind, "for the defense" as he put it. In secret, he was clutching onto one of the pieces of the Star Road. With the road broken, wishes would never come true, and he would be able to have his way, with no one to interfere.
"Hello? Is anyone here?"
Mack had found his star piece already, but he was confused on what to do next. He was actually afraid. He always depended on his family for most of his problems, due to being the baby of the family. In fact, he had just turned ten not too long ago. While he wanted to prove he was a big boy, he had no idea how to by himself, with no one else to teach him.
"Is anyone here?" He called out again, hopping around on his pogo knife.
"I'm here…" Someone from the shadows called out, shocking Mack.
"W-who's there?" He asked, trembling a little. He believed the lie of the dangers of these creatures the most, and was convinced that they were the most vicious and evil looking things ever.
"I am." The voice said, coming out of the shadows. It was a little boy, a bit younger than Mack. His entire body was covered with a red robe, with brown shoes, a brown belt, and a white mask with only two eyeholes and a mouth hole. However, the mouth hole moved when he spoke, and his eyeholes seemed to blink and show emotions.
"Who are you?" Mack nervously asked, clutching the handles of his pogo knife tighter. "In fact, WHAT are you?"
"My name's Shyster! I'm a Shy Guy. I've never seen you around here. I like your pogo stick."
"First off, it's a pogo KNIFE. Second off, why aren't you attacking me?"
"Why would I do that?" Shyster asked, slightly giggling.
"Because you're one of the evil monsters!"
"Evil…monsters…?" Shyster asked, this time confused. "Who told you that?"
"My father. He says that everyone in this world is evil, and will attack any stranger that comes into their land!"
"That's silly!" Shyster said. "I don't want to attack you! I want to be friends!"
"…Friends?" Mack asked, a little confused.
"Do you have any friends?" Shyster asked, his mask showing a look of sorrow.
"…No…" Mack sadly admitted, looking down to try to hide his sad face.
"Well, I'll be your friend." Shyster offered.
"Okay." Mack said, his face now happier. "Hey, Shyster? You know how to use a pogo knife?"
"Nya, boring this is getting."
Bowyer was lost. He had found a forest, and started to look in it, but it had so many twists and turns, that he got confused. Right now, he was in the middle of the forest, but he couldn't find the star he was supposed to be looking for. He sent out one of his Flunkies, one of many arrows with a slight amount of sentience that Smithy gave for what he claimed was his birthday gift. In reality, it was his weapon: they would be used to attack and paralyze anyone that got in his way. So far, he shot at a few citizens, ones that Smithy had described that they kept "poisonous spores in their innocent looking caps".
In reality, he had tried to ask the citizens about the star, but they just shunned the teenage bow. He asked as nicely as he could, but they seemed to ignore him, or give him misleading directions. He could even hear others laugh about the way he spoke behind his back! He just wanted help…
He haphazardly shot his Flunkies out, hoping to land a hit. He was broken out of his trance by a sound that lifted his spirits: rustling of bushes that showed the treasure one of his Flunkies had: a star.
"Why did it have to fall in there? Why there, of all places?"
Yaridovich's luck just went down the gutter. He had been set up at a seaside town, and just to his luck, the star fell in the middle of the sea. He knew he couldn't swim anymore, and his fear of water didn't help at all. He kindly asked one of the citizens if they would help.
"Excuse me?" He asked, tapping one of the mushroom-capped citizens on the shoulder. "Could you do me a favor?"
"…You look like a stranger." The citizen said, turning only her head back at him. "Strangers don't stay long here…"
Without getting an answer, the citizen walked off. In humiliation, he slunk out of town, but then came up with an idea. Using his shape shifting powers, he was able to disguise himself as one of the citizens. True, his fake body looked very ashen and sickly, but he hoped that could benefit him. He went over to a different citizen, and tried his tactic again.
"Excuse me-" He started, tapping the other citizen, but was stopped midsentence with an angry glare.
"What do you want, you slickly freak?" The citizen crossly asked, as the citizens that were near him turned around as well. This was a gang!
"Um, I was wondering if you could-" He started, but the gang leader grabbed his new vest's collar, and pulled him close to his face.
"Look, you weakling. Just beat it! I take requests from NO ONE! And that especially goes for ones that couldn't even hold their own weight against me! Now beat it!"
The leader then simply pushed Yaridovich to the ground, as he walked away with his other gang members, all of the cackling. Yaridovich sighed to himself. If he couldn't get a citizen to help him, maybe he'd just need the help of another stranger…
"Hey, Red? Do you know where we're supposed to find this star?"
"No clue, Green. I'm just going with the wind."
"Do you even really know how to DRIVE Blade, Red?"
"…Sure, Black! Yeah! No problem! Right, Yellow?"
"Huh? Sorry, I didn't hear you. I was thinking about burritos."
"…Right, Pink? Pink?"
The Axem Rangers had gotten permission to use Smithy's battleship, Blade. It was currently flying over the water, but they were completely confused on what to do. They had two jobs: find the star, and pick up Yaridovich from his own spot. At the moment, job one wasn't completed.
"PINK!" Axem Red finally yelled, exasperated.
"WHAT?" Axem Pink yelled back, lifting her head up from what she was currently doing. To her brothers' shock, she wasn't doing what she normally did that made her ignore them. That was putting on her makeup. Instead, she was looking off of Blade's edge, just staring at the water.
"What are you even doing?" Axem Red asked.
"Just looking at these weird creatures." She said, returning her gaze to the sea. The blue water was clear enough to see different sea life. Cheep-cheeps jumped out of the water every so often, and Blooper Nannies swam with their Baby Bloopers in tow.
"Those ARE weird." Axem Black said, as he walked over towards the deck's side, and looking down. "But they're sort of cool."
"We don't have anything organic in Factory." Axem Green added, as he joined the two, while Axem Yellow, and even Axem Red, who ignored his post, walked over to watch them. "It's almost mystifying to see these creatures. I don't see what father meant by their dangers. They don't seem to want to attack us…"
"…And here I am, stuck in the middle of this town, with no lead at this so called 'star piece'"
Bali was assigned at a neighboring kingdom known as the Beanbean Kingdom. Smithy never told her the dangers of the Beanish citizens, so she had no idea of their "dangers". So far, any citizen she asked had been at least a little helpful, by simply being honest on the fact that they didn't know of any star piece.
"I guess I just need to retrace my steps and try-"
"MOMMY! WHERE ARE YOU?"
Her train of thought was interrupted by the cries of a young Beanish girl. Out of pity and alarm, she quickly rushed over to the little girl.
"Excuse me; do you need some help, little girl?"
"Can you help me find my mommy?" The little Beanish girl asked, wiping her eyes free of tears.
"Well, what does your mommy look like?" Bali asked, trying not to choke up on saying "mommy".
"Well, she wears glasses, and she has curly brown hair." The young Beanish girl said.
"Could you please tell me your name?" Bali asked, dropping down from her flight. "It would make finding your mom easier for me."
"My name's Pennie." The little girl said, clutching onto Bali's outstretched hand. "What is your name?"
"I'm Bali. Don't worry, Pennie. I'll help you find your mom."
"Okay, Miss Bali." Pennie said, as the two of them walked towards the kingdom's town square.
"HELLO?" Bali called from the middle of the town square, still clutching onto Pennie's hand. "IS ANYONE MISSING A CHILD? HER NAME'S PENNIE!"
"I know her mother!" A female Beanish called out. "She runs the town bookstore!"
"Thank you so much!" Bali said in return, a very grateful smile on her face, and then turned to Pennie. "Pennie, let's go see your mom."
"MOMMY!" Pennie happily said, as she ran into the arms of her mother. "Miss Bali helped me find you!"
"Oh, I am so glad you are all right!" Pennie's mom said, clutching onto her daughter. "Thank you so much Bali!"
At this point, Pennie's mom hadn't looked up to see Bali, but when she did, her eyes went wide in awe.
"Oh, my…" She said, her voice becoming a little breathy. "A machine…"
"…Is there a problem, ma'am?" Bali asked, a little nervous.
"No, don't worry Bali." She told the panicked butterfly knife, who breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm just so amazed to see a machine in real life. I've read so much about your dimension. You have to tell me everything!"
"Well…" Bali started, flying up a little closer. "I was wondering if you could tell ME everything. Because I'm not so sure about my own dimension now…"
"So, you're a daughter of Smithy?"
Bali was now sitting down on one of the chairs in the bookstore, her wings tucked in so she wouldn't puncture the fabric. She was also given a cup of coffee, which she had never tried before in her life. In fact, it was the first organic food she ever tried!
"Well, I'm adopted. All of my brothers and my only sister are adopted as well. We're all different weapons, and we all were dropped off at the orphanage for different reasons. But I just don't get why."
"I think this will help you, dearie." Pennie's mom, who insisted going by Mrs. Castor, said, as she placed down a very large book. The title said "The Dimension besides Ours: A Look into the Factory Dimension".
Inside told Bali everything she needed to know…
The Factory dimension has many parallels to the Mushroom Kingdom. Like our many species, the Factory dimension has many mechanical life forms that are designed to look and function like different weapons. The Factory dimension is completely metallic, with the only organic life coming from accidental rips in the fabric of dimensions via the Star Road. However, these rips are small, and only tiny creatures can normally fit, such as insects and small mammals and reptiles. Despite this, water is abundant, and life threatening thunderstorms are a risk in both electrocutions and rusting.
One of the most seen species is Axe creatures. They have an almost octopus-like face on top of a short body. A fair amount of children are normally born at the same time. Names are normally created by placing the family domain first, with an extra name based on the child's metal coloring. They are very skilled with their axes, and will commonly team up with their siblings. Unfortunately, they refuse to separate from each other a good amount of times, which can leave reproduction rates low, so for safety, many Axes are sent to orphanages, to separate them from their siblings by artificial adoption. The success rate for this is high, though there are a few failures in this process.
Balisongs, also known as butterfly knifes, are similar to the butterflies in our own dimension. They travel together in large groups to different areas to live, and pack up when the seasons start to change. Many of them never have a true home, as they will always find a different place to live depending on the conditions. Many balisongs are very poor, and make a living in traveling entertainment. Due to this, they sometimes give up sicker or weaker children up for adoption so they can live a better life.
Spear creatures are a very scarce species nowadays. Corrosion outbreaks years ago depleted much of their population. Many spear creatures are a common silver color, with the only color found in their brightly colored ponytail- like fringe and their eyes, which are normally a slightly metallic shade. They have the ability to remove their heads to use as weapons when needed. Those that were able to survive the outbreaks were normally due to being adopted by a different species, and kept away from contagious members of their species.
Bows are considered the most agile creatures in Factory. The thin wires that attach their heads to their tail-like extensions let them shoot different objects out towards their enemies. Despite their speed, they are very susceptible to being injured, especially in their head, which can easily cause brain damage, which can mess with both their sanity, and sometimes speech. While some parents choose to attempt to reteach their children the correct ideas, others find this controversial, and let them live their lives the way their newfound way, while some, who chose a different route, send their child off to an orphanage, in hope that someone else will tolerate them.
Swords are the largest and strongest species in all of Factory. Despite their lack of legs, they are able to maneuver themselves by simply hopping around on their blades. Even though they are strong, swords are very easily motivated, and, if left with a different family, will imprint on the parents, and give all their trust to them, which can lead them into very dangerous situations. Help should be consulted if a sword is seen treating the ornament of their hilt as a living person, and will start to talk to them.
Knife Demons, named after their commonly red colorization and horn-like growths, are one of the smaller species found in Factory. While not a true weapon of their own, they commonly carry a knife on person. While the adult normally favor using a standard knife, children sometimes use a pogo stick-like knife, which can also function as a mean of transportation. Children should be placed in social situations early. Failing to do so can lead to a cranky and rude disposition in later life.
Katana creatures are a very rare sight to see in Factory. An entire extended family will live together, and all depend on each other. However, their extended family doesn't extend to just their blood relatives. Any close friends, neighbors, or adopted relatives are considered family in their eyes. Katana creatures have a code of honor that the entire species shares: "My allies are my family. I shall protect my family." Katana creatures are considered to be the first ones into battle, and the last ones out. Being outside of their family can lead to an antisocial personality.
Bali couldn't believe what she read. All of these things she had been told, and all the things her siblings believed. They were all lies. Lies by someone that couldn't even be considered a true father. She had to warn her family about this, before they all made a huge mistake.
