As the three Nix Fixers flew through the tunnels that connected the Mines to the Mountain City, Voyd was as elated as a little child, Umbur was freaking out in excitement, and Kybosh…he felt like he was going to throw up. While he could just go ahead and blame it on the twists and turns of the terra-made slide, in reality, everything was just dawning on him until it was time for the stop at the final journey…
Go in, get the Cubit, get out. Go in, get the Cubit, get out. It was as simple as that. As soon as that cat-eared Nixel stepped into the mountainous domain of the Electroids, he could feel and hear things that would never be found in his home. Through his shell, there was a fuzzy feeling, as if he was growing dukgoosebumps directly on it.
And then, there it was, clear as day, as if it was waiting for him. A yellow Cubit. Sure, it was paired with Cragster grey over the standard purplish-blue that normally synced with an Electroid Cubit, but it was a Cubit nonetheless. Adjusting the tiny backpack that was on him, he prepped to grab onto it.
…And nothing happened. He grabbed onto it no problem, and zipped it into the pack. He swore he could feel some weird shuffling around behind him, but he blamed it on the static in the air. So, off he went, just walking back to Nixels Land, with his mission accomplished. Imagine that, he'd be the first Nixel to ever accomplish his mission! Maybe he'd be awarded with a high rank. Maybe he'd get a dull grey metal to commemorate the event. Maybe he'd even get one of those awesome mustaches that the highest-ranked Nixels got!
The possibilities and limited imagination for this Nixel were endless! He was so wrapped up in the what could be, that he wasn't bothering to realize the what was. And soon enough, he bumped into two yellow figures. Peering up revealed them to be two of the Electroids. One was short and cycloptic, with a long tail tipped in purple lightning bolts, while the other was slightly taller and wider, with a shock of a hairdo that stood on end and electrified purple fingernails. The two of them grinned down at the little Nixel, though, unlike the malicious grins expected, these almost seemed…kindly?
"Well aren't you a little lozzzt Nixel!" The cyclops saccharinely said, the static in the air expanding his S sounds to sound like Zs.
"We better get you back home to wherever you came from!" The other added, just as syrupy as his brother.
Before the Nixel could react, the cyclops of the two pulled out an Electroid Cubit, which the other grabbed onto, forming a Mix that shared the qualities of both of them. The tail that the cyclops originally had now bore the fingernails of the taller one, turning the tail into a hammer-like whip.
And with a whack and a shock of lightning, the Nixel was zapped straight into the ground. Sure, this sent him back to Nixel Land with the Cubit…but it also sent him back with the baggage that would harm him and his brothers for the remainder of their squared-off lives.
Before Kybosh could dwell on this further, the loop of the tunnels had spat him and his brothers out, launching them slightly up in the air and landing them on the ground with a soft thud. Voyd and Umbur both landed on their feet thanks to paying attention, though Kybosh had a much rockier landing thanks to lacking this hindsight, with the ground's sights on his hind. Already the familiar tingling feeling in his skin was coming back, bringing the memories back even faster.
"Welp, we're losing daylight here just standing around!" Umbur said, as Kybosh slowly lifted himself into a standing position. "Guess we better track down these Electroids!"
"Let's not be hasty!" Kybosh said, trying to sound composed, though the slight crack in his voice was starting to give away his fear. "I mean, there's a lot of ground to go through, we have to scour every location in this area, they probably didn't prepare for us, we-"
"Found them." Voyd said, pointing in the direction of three yellow Mixels.
"Let's go!" Umbur happily said, as both he and Voyd grabbed onto one of Kybosh's wrists, dragging him to the Electroids, giving each other knowing grins, while Kybosh tried to dig his heels into the ground to slow his younger brothers down.
"Howdy, neighbors!" Voyd happily called, waving with his free hand, as the Electroids turned around and walked to meet the Nix Fixers.
"You fellazzz aren't from around here, are you?" The tallest of the three, sporting an even taller lightning rod on his head asked, as Kybosh attempted to wrench his hands out of the grip they were contained in.
"Nope!" Umbur happily said. "We've been scoping the area, and Krader sent us here to meet you guys!"
"A friend of Krader'zzz is a friend of ourzzz!" The middle-sized one said, his shock of hair and his purple fingernails bringing back bad memories from Kybosh.
"Hm…" The shortest one, the cyclops, didn't say anything to them. Instead, he pondered. "I swear I've zzzeen you guyzzzz around here before…"
"NOPE!" Kybosh suddenly yelled, finally yanking himself free from the grip of his younger brothers. "We're just new Mixels, haven't seen us around before at all!"
"Uh-huh…" The cyclops said, sounding a bit wary. "Well, my name'zzz Tezzlo, and thezzzze are my brotherzzz, Zaptor and Volectro."
"Hey!" The tallest one, Zaptor, said, waving.
"Yo!" The middle one, Volectro, added on, shooting some quick finger guns that sent small static shocks into the air.
"So, yeah, this is great and all…" Kybosh suddenly tacked on, still sounding a bit panicked. "So, I can definitely see that you folks are busy, so we'll just-"
"VOLECTRO!"
Suddenly, the piercing voice of an unknown source came from a nearby location. It was high pitched, slightly raspy, and whoever it was, made it seem like Volectro was going to freak out just as much as Kybosh was.
"…I thought you told him to zzztay hidden." Teslo suddenly sighed.
"I did!" Volectro protested. "I've been telling him that for weekzzz!"
"Well, whatever you're telling him, it'zzz not working!" Teslo argued back.
As Volectro and Teslo continued to squabble back and forth, with Zaptor trying to shield himself from the embarrassment of being caught between the argument, all the Nix Fixers could do was try to avoid staring. Kybosh's panic was starting to lessen, but this was probably out pure confusion on his part now. The chaos and confusion had gotten so muddled up at the moment, that no one noticed a black cube crawling onto Volectro's shoulder until it was in full view of everyone.
There, plain as day, with no complaints or means to attack…was a Nixel. He seemed like a standard pointed-top Nixel, only with an extra band of plating separating his ears from his armor. But everything else was there. The crazed eyes, the sharp shapes, the pointy teeth, the…earring and collar? Yes, for some reason this Nixel was wearing what looked like a collar meant for a Mixamal. It was the same shade of bright yellow that the Electroids bore, along with a golden tag with a lightning bolt engraved into the front. On his right ear was what appeared to be a ball bearing-like earring, studded thick into his shell. It was the same purplish-blue tone as the electricity-bearing sections of the Electroids, and it appeared to be constantly pulsing with a tone of light, easing in and out with its brightness, something that not even the Electroids were doing.
"Hey." The Nixel calmly said, giving a half-hearted wave. This was enough to get the attention of everyone, as the Electroids scrambled to hide the newfound Nixel, while the Nix Fixers could only wave back in stunned silence. There, clear as day. A Nixel. A talking Nixel. A talking Nixel that seemed to be living with these Mixels.
"H-hi." Kybosh stammered out, finally gaining a voice, feebly waving back.
"None of thizzz izzz happening!" Teslo suddenly shouted, waving his arms up and down, as if he was trying to hide the view of Volectro, only for the Nixel to pop up behind him.
"Yeah, it kinda is happening." The Nixel suddenly said, popping his viewpoint slightly above Teslo's shoulder, his tone of voice surprisingly dry.
"We're dead." Zaptor dryly said, suddenly sticking his arms out, his wrists limp, as he turned his head away, closing his eyes. "Might azzz well lock uzzz up right now, harboring a Nixel, throw away the key for us."
"You're so dramatic." The Nixel sighed, crawling off of Volectro's shoulder onto Teslo's, and then jumping off, walking over to the Nix Fixers, who crouched down on instinct, as the Nixel stuck out his hand to shake. "Name's Nixie."
"A minion Nixel that can talk." Umbur said. "Now I've seen everything."
"Call me a minion again and I'll pop you one." Nixie snarked. "I'm more of, what you could say…"
"A pet?" Kybosh dryly asked, pointing at the Nixel's collar.
"…I prefer roommate." Nixie said, sounding defensive, as he pushed Kybosh's finger slowly away.
"I like him!" Voyd happily said, rapidly shaking his hand, thus shaking the Nixel up and down.
"L-l-likewise!" Nixie shuddered, his voice vibrating as he did, giving a sigh of relief when Voyd stopped.
"Well then." Teslo sighed, the cynicism dripping from his voice. "Thizzz wazzz fine and dandy. But now Nixie hazzz to go back to Volectro'zzz and you three can't talk about him to ANYONE. You got that?"
"Scout's honor." Kybosh dryly said, still cocking a suspicious eyebrow at the Electroids, as he sarcastically saluted.
"You're zzzzuppozzzed to be inzzzide." Volectro sighed. "We talked about thizzz, remember?"
"I know." Nixie said, as he started to crawl back on top of Volectro's shoulder, propping himself up. "But you said you'd just be "a moment", and last time I counted, a moment is supposed to be short. This…whatever meeting…isn't short!"
"That may be…" Volectro sighed, as he picked Nixie up off of his shoulder and placed him back down on the ground, despite the Nixel trying to wrench himself onto the Electroid. "But it izzzn't a zzzafe idea for you to be walking around outzzzide alone like thizzz. You never know what-"
"NIX NIX NIX NIX!"
"…And third time's the charm." Umbur sighed, spiraling his wrist in a fake bowing motion. "Give them a hand, ladies and gentlemixes."
"Nixie." Volectro said, dropping all casualties. "Inzzzide. Now."
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Nixie yelled, as he dashed away towards Volectro's house.
"Voyd, why don't you Cubit up Kybosh?" Umbur asked, a smug grin growing on his face.
"You really don't have to, I insist!" Kybosh said, waving his hands in the direction of Voyd, who was pulling out a black hole. "Honestly!"
"Aww, come on!" Umbur said, trying to sound like he was sighing, though the ooze of sarcasm and joy he was having in the situation was obvious. "Isn't it time for our leader to have a life-changing field trip with a Mixel tribe?"
"I don't think I filled out a permission slip for this!" Kybosh retorted back, as a rainbow Cubit was pulled out of Voyd's dimension, which was soon popped back into nothingness.
"Catch!" Voyd yelled, as he suddenly flung the Cubit towards his older brother, who, out of pure reflex, caught onto it.
"You need to give a fair warning when messing with these things!" Kybosh angrily said, shaking the Cubit in Voyd's direction with the hand holding it. "These things are touchy!"
"Which izzzz why we act fazzzt!" Volectro said, as he suddenly grabbed onto the Cubit.
"Wait, what?" Kybosh said, reacting in confusion, as the Cubit burst out of the hands of both of the Mixels, transforming into a large fan, which, instead of pushing them away, pushed them towards it, slicing the two of them up to ribbons and fusing them into the Mix.
"MIX!" The two yelled, once again against his own will with Kybosh. Soon, after the dust cleared, the Mix was formed.
He had a rounded black and white face that looked like Kybosh's, complete with his ears. However, his jaw and teeth were made up of Volectro's, along with the Electroid's golden shock of a hairdo. He had Kybosh's collar and body, with half of Volectro's arms attached to it, the other half made up of Kybosh's. He bore Kybosh's hands, only with cuffs like Volectro's and the signature blue fingernails of him as well. Finally, his legs and feet belonged almost entirely to Kybosh's, including the triangular points on his ankles, though Volectro's toes capped off Kybosh's normally blank ones.
"Now, where are you guys?" The Mix muttered to himself, having Volectro's voice, but the electric stutter entirely gone.
As if on prophetic cue, the chants of the Nixels started to grow louder and louder than the drone that it was currently at, as, yet again, the hoard of black and white cube creatures started to rampage into the Mountain City.
"Let's see what this baby can do." The Mix said, cracking his knuckles, as he thrust his hands out towards the Nixels.
That seemed to do the trick. As soon as the hoard started to approach the Mix, thick bolts of lightning shot out of his fingers. The shocks covered the entire hoard of Nixels, stopping them dead in their tracks as they all shrieked.
And then…nothing. The Nixels were still there, looking exactly like they did before the attack. No smoke, no injuries, nothing. The Nixels looked themselves over, and once they realized the same thing, their nervous expressions grew in to malevolent grins, this time aimed at the Mix. They all took one step forwards…
And then, a gigantic puff of ash coated the army. It seemed to come out of nowhere, as the Nixels were heard coughing and choking from it. Soon, the black dust cleared, and all that was left were…white circles? Yes, it turns out those ashes weren't exactly ashes, but rather burnt Nixel armor, zapped so thoroughly that it shattered into dust. Now armless, armorless, and, most embarrassingly, indecent by Nixel standards, the hoard quickly rushed off back to Nixel Land as the Mix split up.
"That should be the last of them for a while." Kybosh said, as he and his brothers tried to hide the secondhand embarrassment blush coming from their own faces. Shaking it off, he turned towards Volectro, giving an eased grin, much calmer than he originally was. "Great job out there."
"Zzzame!" Volectro shot back, grinning huge and giving a thumbs up.
"So glad I wasn't in that boat!" Nixie's voice suddenly said, as he walked back into view. "Jeez, that was embarrassing. But good riddance to them!"
"…You better not have just been hidden the whole time watching that." Teslo sighed.
"Can't prove that I was or was not." Nixie sassed back, grinning.
"You zzzeriouzzzly need to keep a hold on your pet, Volectro." Teslo sighed again, crossing his arms and staring at his brother.
"ROOMMATE!" Nixie yelled back.
"Whatever." Teslo shrugged, turning towards the Nix Fixers. "I zzzwear I've zzzeen you guyzzz before, but you're cool. Krader doezzzn't lie when it comezzz to truzzzt, I can tell that."
"Likewise." Kybosh said, grabbing the Electroid leader's hand and shaking it.
"Tezzzlo." Zaptor suddenly said, tapping Teslo's shoulder and pointing at the giant lightbulb in the sky.
"Huh, that late already?" Teslo said, staring at the lightbulb and then turning towards the Nix Fixers. "Zzzorry to cut today zzzhort for you guys, we've got to turn off the zzzzun for the night."
"So that's how it works." Kybosh said. "Guess we better get heading out anyways, we've had quite a day meeting new tribes, and we've got more to meet tomorrow."
"Catch you guys later!" Voyd said.
"Later, dudes!" Umbur called out, as the Nix Fixers started to walk away in the direction of Mixel Mountain, with the Electroids and Nixie saying various goodbyes at the same time as well, waving them off.
"Now that we're away from guezzztzzz…" Volectro said, once the Nix Fixers left, he grabbed Nixie to get him at a better viewpoint and started to glare at him slightly disapprovingly. "What were you thinking? You're lucky they didn't zzzeem to care that you're a Nixel just out in the open, but zzztill, why did you do that?"
"I dunno." Nixie shrugged, this time sounding earnest instead of half-hearted. "Something drove me to them. Couldn't put my finger on it. That tribe, they just felt…sort of familiar."