Disclaimer (again): I own nothing but the first-person. XxSanitariumxX deserves a plug for inspiring this story. If you think I owe you money, I'm afraid you're mistaken.
I'm gonna upset some people with this update...
Son of a bitch.
I couldn't help the thought. I was exhausted, sore, bruised, and stuffed into the nearest locker myself. That's the last time I help Eli, I thought.
They'd caught me without too much trouble. I may have been able to outrun them if they were human, but that wasn't the case. The bull ran faster than I could hope to in a straight line, and the goat could turn corners better than the bikes from Tron. Together, they managed to catch me, hit me a few times for good measure, and stuff me in the nearest open locker. I began to bang my head on the inside of it, just to force myself to understand how stupid I'd been.
Stupid lockers, don't even open from the inside.
I heard a bell ring, and realized I'd only have a minute to get to class before being tardy. That meant less people would be walking the halls, and I'd be stuck here all period. To punctuate my frustration, I hit my head harder and harder. Maybe I'll get enough of a concussion to wake up outside of this universe. If only it worked that way. Sure, I could use a Sin to get out, but I decided against it for the moment. Besides, after about five minutes of this, I'd probably do it anyway.
"Hello?" someone asked. I snapped my head up abruptly, hitting it on the back of the small locker. That voice. "You need any help?"
"Please," I said. I heard a few beeps from the other side, and the door abruptly opened. I tried to get out and stretch slowly, but instead, I sort of just fell out of the locker. I had somehow managed to maintain my footing, and I stretched after making sure I wouldn't fall.
"Are you okay?" the girl asked. She was an awfully cute blue fox, and I knew her name already. But I didn't exactly want to seem like a stalker, so I didn't say it aloud. Thanks, Krystal.
"Yeah, now. But I need to get to class."
"Oh, no you don't. You need to see the nurse," she said after seeing what few bruises she could. I'd made sure not to let my left sleeve slide up.
"I'll be fine," I protested. She wouldn't have it.
"Are all boys so stubborn? Come on," she said, latching onto my right wrist. She proceeded to drag me through the hall, but I had the vague feeling she didn't know where she was going. I confirmed it by bringing up the school's map.
I managed to get a better look at it this time, since the labels were in English. This building was apparently the main one, which included most of the classes. The nearest building to this one was called the "B building", and after fiddling with the interactive map, I found that it served as a gym. The third building was a cafeteria called "C building". And I managed to do a search for the nurse's office, right here in the A building. She was taking me in the opposite direction.
"The nurse is that way," I said, pointing in the direction we'd come from. She turned to look at me, and then noticed the map, and before I could object, she took it off of my arm and began to lead me again, this time in the right direction. I heard the second bell ring, and I shook my head slowly.
How can she be here? I wondered. She's not supposed to meet Fox until much later.
"How did you get here?" I asked. She ignored me. Oh, right. My translator. Man, I don't think I've messed up any timelines this badly yet.
"Xocce?" I asked, using the dinosaur language from the first game she'd appeared in. She didn't respond. So, she really hasn't been to Sauria yet. Ah, well. At least she didn't gawk at the human.
This time, it was her turn to say something. Once again, I had no idea what she'd said, and I tried to tell her that.
"I have no idea what you're saying."
She turned back to me with a confused expression, then looked at my bare wrist, and finally, back at my translator. She said something else that may have been an apology before handing it back to me.
"So how did you get in that locker?" she asked once I got it attached.
"A couple of bullies. I tried to help a friend of mine, and he ran when they turned on me. I guess they were faster than me."
"You were trying to help a friend?" she asked. Don't you do it, a voice shouted at me. Don't you dare make a move on Krystal. You've got people in at least three different universes that will have your head.
"Yeah," I said, ignoring the voice. "He managed to get away. Still, I'm not so sure it was worth it."
"Helping your friends is always worth it," she said. I didn't make it evident that I disagreed in this situation. I'd been stuffed in a locker, and for all I knew, so had he. But that brought up another thought.
"How did you open the locker?" I asked. "It couldn't have been yours." No matter how much this universe hates me, that can't be coincidence.
"No, it wasn't. You can make the lockers open from the inside. Someone showed me a little while after I got here," she said. Oh, so they do open from the inside.
"And how did you get here?" I asked, glad that she'd brought it up. I could vaguely remember the map, and I thought we'd be getting close.
"What do you mean?" she asked. Crap.
"I mean...what, were you born here, or did you come on a rocket, or what?"
"Nobody uses rockets for space travel anymore," she said, laughing at me. "You're just a few centuries too late. But no. How I got here...this is going to sound crazy..."
Try me.
"Oh, look, we're here," she said. Dang it! So close!
"Thanks for the help," I said, waiting for her to leave. I had no plans on actually going into the room.
"I'm not going to leave until I know you're going to be alright," she said. I resisted the urge to think up another string of obscenities.
"If you insist," I said through clenched teeth. Thankfully, she didn't notice. She walked into the room, and I followed after a long sigh. I wouldn't even want to make a move if it was anyone else. It could've been a pig. But no. She just had to be Krystal.
Fortunately, the nurse, who was either a dove or a swan (with my knowledge of animals, I'm lucky I ruled out a pigeon), couldn't do very much to help. She looked at my right arm, and after seeing only a few small bruises, decided against looking at the other. I contained my relief. But Krystal had decided to stay in the room, which made me more than a little uncomfortable.
It's not that I didn't like her. Almost the opposite, actually. There was just something about these anthropomorphic animals that I couldn't place. Maybe that's what they call being a furry, but if that was the case, I was dreading the day I get put into Tamriel. With my luck, I'd drop down straight in the middle of Elsweyr.
"So, how did you get here?" I asked when the nurse went out of the room to do...something. The question had been nagging at the back of my mind since she neglected to answer it.
"Oh...umm...I don't really know."
"What?" I asked.
"I just sort of showed up. One day, I was on my home planet, Cerinia, and the next, I was here."
"H-how long ago?" I asked. If she says a week...
"I think it was about a week ago." SON OF A B-
"A week?" I asked. Okay, so her appearance is related to mine.
"Yeah," she said, staring at me. "I just sort of showed up. I saw some kind of portal, and before I could get away, I fell through." Okay. So something's seriously messed up. I show up here unaware, which never happens, with my iPod, which never happens, in the storyline of something that isn't a videogame, which never happens, and just my being here majorly affects the universe, which also never happens. Are they all related? What the heck is going on?
"You're all set," the nurse said, walking back into the room.
"He's alright?" Krystal asked.
"Yep. Just a few bumps and scrapes. He'll be fine, if he stays away from any more lockers." I plan to.
"Thank you," I said, standing abruptly and leaving. I hadn't intended to be rude, but I wasn't one for lengthy good-bye's.
"Wait!" Krystal said, coming after me. Yeah. This universe hates me. "I never caught your name," she said.
"Oh. Uhh...I'm Ditto." (No, she didn't comment on the odd nickname. Remember, I'm only omitting my name for privacy's sake, meaning I told her my name.)
"I'm Krystal," she said. Of course, I resisted the urge to say "I know".
"Okay, Krystal. Well, it was good meeting you," I said, not-so-subtly trying to get away from her and go to my first class.
"Hold on," she said, standing right in front of me. "I don't really know my schedule yet."
Oh, for the love of – yeah, sure enough, there was no communicator on her arm.
"How'd you get into the school?" I asked.
"Well, a family found me and took me in, and they got me in here."
"And they didn't give you a communicator?"
"Come on, Ditto, a communicator isn't exactly the kind of thing you give to everyone who shows up on your doorstep."
I thought about the mark on my wrist. It's not like I can buy her another one, I thought. But first, let's see if she can just get it on a piece of paper.
"Let's go find the principal's office," I said. "Maybe they can help you."
"Okay," she said cheerfully before walking alongside me. I opened the map again, partly to see where we'd have to go, and partly to avoid glancing her way.
"Thanks for your help," she said.
"Thanks for getting me out of that locker," I replied, hoping to avoid an awkward situation.
"Well, I couldn't just leave you in there."
"And I couldn't just leave you back there without a schedule."
She didn't respond immediately, and I silently thanked her for that. I kept my map open much longer than necessary, trying to memorize the school's layout. It didn't work very well.
"So," she began a little after we passed the halfway point, "you never told me how you got here."
Hot damn. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try me," she said, staring at me. I made the mistake of making eye contact, and I turned off the hologram. I knew that less people knowing the truth about me would probably be better. I also knew that she probably wouldn't believe me. But I couldn't look in her eyes and lie to her at the same time. I mean, to be fair, she does become a telepath at some point. She may have known if I'd lied. And whether or not she knew it, she was making puppy-dog eyes. I, unfortunately, didn't have a chance.
"Something like what happened to you," I eventually said, looking forward again. "I was minding my own business," sleeping, "and I just showed up in the middle of the road. Police were called, I was arrested, and then I found a foster family to take me in."
"Arrested?" she asked. I tried to ignore the sympathy in her voice. Although, in retrospect, I could have been imagining that.
"Yeah. They thought I was a spy or something."
"Oh..." she said. I almost sighed my relief when she didn't ask when I'd appeared.
"So what about that tattoo on your wrist?" she asked. Okay, universe. You win this round.
"You saw that?" I asked.
"Just a glimpse. Can...can I see it again?"
"If you really want to," I said, holding up my arm. She pulled back the sleeve and stared at the mark. It was clear that it wasn't a result of self-mutilation; it was going parallel to my forearm, and it slightly glowed besides. It was also too thick to have been caused by any knife.
"So why'd you get it?" she asked, tracing the line with a clawed finger. "Did it hurt?"
"I got it because I felt like I needed to. And yeah, you have no idea how badly."
"What do you mean 'you needed to'?" she asked. We were getting close to our destination again, but not close enough for me to ignore the question.
"I don't know," I said. "I just wasn't thinking straight. But I don't regret it."
"Is it symbolic?" she asked.
Yeah, of my lack of foresight. "Not really. But we're here," I said, nodding toward the doors at the end of the hall.
"Oh. Okay...thanks again for your help," she said, taking a few slow steps toward the doors. Another choice came to mind. I could've just gone on my way. That would've been the smart thing to do. But "that teenager sure made the smart decision" said no one ever.
"It wouldn't hurt to make sure you get everything okay," I told her, standing beside her. She smiled and walked through the door, and I hesitated a moment. Y'know, technically she doesn't know Fox. And when I leave, the story will go back to normal, like I was never here. So if you think about it, I can't actually hurt anything.
I shrugged and followed her through the doors. I wouldn't consider cheating to force her to like me. But if, for whatever reason, she wanted to be my friend...it isn't like I could stop her.
I'm sorry if the increasing profanities are bothering you. Once I get it in my mind that it's okay, I start doing it more and more.
Oh, another thing. I do have an explanation for how Krystal got onto Corneria. And it's somewhat relatable to the original storyline.
EDIT: The first-person is not me, contrary to popular belief, and my own assertions. His personality can change based on his actions, which I'm not a part of. If he went through CoD, he'd be a better marksman, whereas I can probably not even reload a gun properly.