(Sheesh, this chapter ended up being looooong! Eight thousand, five hundred words! I hope you guys enjoy the awesomeness! Oh, and make sure to inform me of any major errors. Also, one little thing I'd like to mention; at one part, the story reads 'his rear paws claw for purchase.'. I heard the term from the novel series, "Escape From Furnace", and it means to try to grab onto something. Just wanted to explain that. Enjoy!)
Simon fumbles around the darkness on all fours, cramped up in the tiny space that is the tunnel he now finds himself confined to. Just ahead of him, Bloodnick crawls, claws, and busts his way through the narrow space, tossing dislodged rocks behind him every so often as he moves along.
After a time, the carnivorous chipmunk halts, "Hold up!"
Simon stops in obedience and confusion, "What is it?", he questions, suddenly more alert than before.
They stay there, motionless in the silence for about a minute, listening for any sign of life...but there is nothing.
It takes a fair length of time before Bloodnick shifts to get a better grip of the rock and continues onward, "It's nothing. Let's keep moving.", says Bloodnick, breaking the perpetual silence.
The two of them return to their work, carefully making their way through the twisting tunnel. After a few moments, they approach a split in the cave at a wider spot just big enough to comfortably harbor them both. With a lone crystal shining dimly over the rocks for light, Simon navigates up alongside Bloodnick and rests against the wall, sighing in relief for the extra space, then eyes the two tunnels.
"Which should we proceed through?", Simon asks.
The two tunnels fork off of the current tunnel at absurd angles, one being a straight plummet to the right, while the other is off to the left, curving and twisting frequently in a steep, skyward motion.
The two chipmunks glance at each other, then revert their attention to the tunnels as Bloodnick speaks, "We'll take the top one. Downwards is a sure way to find ourselves trapped in a volcanic cavern. Upwards is tougher, but we'll likely get out quicker."
Simon nods in agreement and allows Bloodnick to climb up. The burly chipmunk jumps up into the hole, catching onto a terse ledge while his rear paws claw for purchase. He succeeds and kicks against the rock, pushing him a little further up before pulling himself the rest of the way up into the black, gaping maw in the rock.
Simon takes in a deep breath...exhales, purging some of the stress that had been slowly building up again, and sits up. He poises himself in a crouching position beneath the hole...then jumps. Being significantly lighter than Bloodnick, he easily clambers up into the hole, a void of light, pulling himself up by rock after rock.
"H-hey, Bloodnick?", Simon calls out, his voice echoing down the seemingly endless tunnel network.
Bloodnick grunts as he hoists himself up another foot by one paw before placing his rear paws against the sides of the tunnel to hold himself up, "*Huff* *Huff* Yeah?", Bloodnick replies, panting.
"What's going to happen when we get out of here? I recall you said we were heading somewhere to train, but we've been doing all sorts of strenuous things to get there."
Bloodnick hesitates to reply, "Wait...I said what? This is your training.", he climbs up another foot before stopping again, "Well...I suppose I some how managed to get mixed up some how, but you're training as we speak."
"Hm. This just got kinda awkward."
The duo begins climbing again, making the light of the crystal weaken more and more.
While they continue upward, Bloodnick speaks again, "So, since we will likely be climbing this thing for a while, ", Bloodnick grunts as he pulls himself up on a very high rock, "I'd like to ask you a question."
"Ask away.", Simon replies.
"What was that you were doing earlier when we first got into this stupid tunnel?"
Simon laughed at his remark, "Yeah, this tunnel's a pain in the butt. Uh, what I was...do you mean my singing?"
"Singing?"
"Yeah. I guess you don't have anything like that here...honestly, that's shocking. ", Simon stops talking for a moment as he makes his way past the high rock as Bloodnick had, "But yeah, I was singing. Me and my brothers did that a lot back in our world."
"It was...uh...n-niiice.", Bloodnick says slowly, trying out the word, "Ugh, that sounds weird coming from me."
"No no! It's ok to like it. Millions of pe-"
"Shut up!", Bloodnick hisses.
"Wha-"
"Quiet!"
They both stand there, frozen with their paws locked onto the unseen rock, and perpetual silence surrounds them once more. Tension builds up in Simon's aching muscles, ready to propel him to safety at the first sign of danger, and his breathing becomes shallow and falters with each escaping breath.
Simon slowly looks up at where he thinks Bloodnick is and whispers, "What is it?"
In response, he hears it. A faint rustling of rock and gravel, and the distinct clang of metal, echoing deep from where they came from.
Simon's eyes widen as he reels back against the rock with an exceedingly sharp gasp that nearly collapses his esophagus. Heart pounding furiously, Simon begins climbing faster than he ever thought possible, all four paws acting on their own in a hysterical fashion bent on fear.
Bloodnick's voice tears from his throat like a bullet from a gun, "CLIMB!"
It is too late, however. As they make their way up several more feet, a screech bellows out from below them, followed by a few strained coughs, each feeling like a blow to either chipmunk's head. Simon is racing up just after Bloodnick, scraping himself and crashing into jagged rock among the darkness in his desperation to escape their pursuer, but his mind cares of nothing but survival now, blocking out all thoughts and pain and replacing it with strength and utter horror fed by adrenaline. Suddenly, Bloodnick slips and falls a foot, grunting in pain as his back smashes against the wall to stop his fall. Simon feels a breeze fly just by his head that tumbles against the tunnel walls in its decent until ending with the sound of smashing rock. A guttural scream of pain then booms through the air, nearly blowing out Simon and Bloodnick's ear drums.
Hyperventilating, Simon can barely think enough to speak, "Quick! Do it again!", he shrieks before clambering up the rock and past Bloodnick, who without reply, grips a rock that juts out beside him and tears viciously at it, breaking it free before letting the massive chunk of stone plummet into the traitor.
Bloodnick hastily continues his ascent...but stops and looks down. The rock never broke. Through his enhanced eyes, he sees the monstrosity of a traitor, larger than any he had ever seen, and in its one intact but terribly deformed paw, the rock sits. With a gurgling and mad-driven cry, the creature drives the rock up with unrivaled power, sending it right at Bloodnick. It glances off a sharp edge along the way, splitting in half as one part spirals about before falling while the second half ricochets up. The razor edge of the broken rock runs across Bloodnick's leg, cutting deep into it before smashing to pieces on the tunnel wall beside him.
Simon stops cold at the sound of screaming far below him and quickly looks down in alarm. Just barely, he can see the dim silhouette of Bloodnick, now grunting in agony from every movement as he slowly climbs.
The injured chipmunk looks up at Simon, "Keep going! NOW!", Bloodnick yells.
Simon stares for a moment, hesitating, then turns to climb further. As Simon ascends, adrenaline still coursing vigorously through his veins, he listens both in mental and through physical pain to a mix of gurgling growls, labored breathing and moans, and paw, claw, and steel on rock, anticipating the moment he would hear the sickening squish of metal through flesh and guts. But then, Simon noticed the glimmer of light.
About twenty feet above him, where with the illumination Simon can see the tunnel flare out into a large and jagged crevice, orange light cascades in flickering floods into the tunnel. Discovering new found strength and determination, Simon ignores his aching body and overwhelming fear and climbs faster, leaping from rock to rock on either side of the tunnel. Over that final minute of climbing, Simon continues to carefully listen for any sign of his partner's failure to escape, but with each passing second, the same unsettling moans and claws on stone fill the damp cave air. But then, at last, Simon reaches the peak of the tunnel.
He claws desperately at the last few feet before falling out belly down onto the soot coated earth. Simon chuckles and sobs from a rush of relief that sends chills up his spine as he struggles up onto his knees and paws and shuffles forward, away from the cave and the traitor. Simon crawls away until he reaches a rock only about five feet away and sits up against it, now facing the crevice.
Behind the crevice, a massive tree looms over the clearing Simon finds himself in, blazing furiously. Simon ignores it, knowing the danger isn't quite gone yet, and averts his attention to the crevice.
"Bloodnick...come on. You can make it.", he quietly says to himself in exhausted anticipation.
Not much time passes before Simon notices the familiar grunts of pain that had been ravaging his mind, but with it, a guttural screech of anger bellows out from the cave. The blue-clad chipmunk quickly stands in response and hides behind the rock, allowing the tiniest bit of his head out into the open to see what happens.
From the crevice, Bloodnick's paw materializes and claws at the dirt, pulling himself up into view, and he proceeds to get up to his feet and hobble away. As he stumbles away from the crevice, Simon sees the terrifying gash in his leg. Among the swollen tissue, blood, and puss, a thin glimpse of dingy, reddened white runs deep along the middle of the gruesome injury.
Simon's expression contorts into horror at the sight of his injured friend and gags, suddenly feeling bile rise up in his throat. Simon swallows the burning lump and quickly waves to Bloodnick to get his attention, and notions for him to follow him. Bloodnick sees Simon and limps over to him, joining the exhausted chipmunk behind the rocks.
As Bloodnick painfully sits down onto the dirt, propping his injured leg up on a stone as he does so, Simon pulls a loose bunch of dead shrubbery from nearby and places it by the rocks, hoping to expand their little hideout for when that thing catches up to them. Simon promptly attempts to take a look at Bloodnick's leg, but Bloodnick shakes his head violently when Simon goes to approach him.
"You've gotta let me me help you! You'll bleed to death with that kind of wound!", Simon hisses at him in frantic irritation.
Just then, both chipmunks' ears perk up at the sandpaper sound of shifting sand and rocks, and Simon crawls over to the edge of the boulder that conceals them and peaks around it, hidden within the cover of the bony shrub. A massive arm ascends from the crevice, and out from the bowels of the cave rises the traitor.
In the light, its terrible three foot tall figure is revealed, dwarfing what had seemed like a large clearing. Furless, pink and purple skin covered in bulging blue and red veins and deep scars from lacerations coat the traitor. Its right eye sits in its socket, still intact, while the left hangs from an empty, black cavity, and where its left paw should be, like traitors before, a long, sharpened strip of one inch thick metal juts out from a mass of grotesque flesh, but its right paw is also intact...and deformed beyond recognition. Rather than five fingers, there are four, each capped with a gruesome talon, brown with old blood stains. The entire paw is fleshy and without texture, as if it is coated in a thin layer of plastic. The traitor spins about on swollen and purple hind paws, revealing the stump that was once a tail as it scans the area.
The traitor turns around again and bends down onto its good paw with its bladed paw suspended straight forward in the air, then inhales deeply. Its eye darts attentively from crack to pebble to shadow, while its ears rotate and twitch to catch every sound.
Simon retreats from the shrub to look back at Bloodnick with a dread filled look in his eyes and is taken back to find that the wound in his companion's leg is no longer a deep, gruesome gash, but a thin slit that runs along his thigh. Simon grins in silent but not yet fearless relief and crawls over to Bloodnick.
Simon whispers almost inaudibly, "Can you move now?! We have to get outta here! That thing is still after us!"
Bloodnick takes his leg from the rock and places it on the dirt, then puts pressure on it. He stands up into a crouch, and nods to Simon.
"We're really pushing our luck with this break of mine. Come on, before the traitor finds us..."
Simon carefully follows Bloodnick as he crawls along the dirt, over and around more boulders, rocks, and dead bushes, away from the nightmare they'd just endured. After a minute or so, the two of them decide it's safe to stand and run the rest of the way, all the while Simon hears the angry scream of defeat of the traitor left behind.
*SCENE TRANSITION*
"Could I have your attention, everyone!"
The corrupteds all turn their heads to the scythe bearing green-furred chipmunk.
"Yes, very good. Have any of you seen either of two small chipmunks; uncorrupted, not even a foot tall, skinny, puny, weak, anyone? Come on. Show of paws."
Several corrupteds awkwardly raise a paw in the air, and one speaks up in his slightly high pitched, gruff voice, "One named Alvin was here about two hours ago, bu-"
"Ah, was here! The point of this inquisition is to locate him, not to get a report. Now where is he?", says Gutdrench in a darker tone.
"He's headed off to the camp just west of here. He said he wanted to find some whore named Brittany. I think I should inform you however, he-"
"Hey, now hold up a second! You just...let him walk off?! You ignorant worm!", Gutdrench's eyes abruptly form into black voids, into which the corrupted's vision seems to be sucked into. The corrupted's vision shakes violently, sending him into vertigo, and he sees a glowing red maw and red eyes that flare up and let out a deep and multiplied voice that screams demonically, "SUFFER! CRY IN AGONY! DISGRACE! DIE IN BLISTERING FIRE, WORTHLESS WORM!"
Gutdrench instantly appears normal again, and the corrupted falls back onto the dirt, his eyes burned out of his skull, dead.
The corrupteds all stare in silent shock, but keep their composure. Gutdrench glances at the startled corrupteds, then vanishes in a black entanglement of energy.
*SCENE TRANSITION*
As the red-clad chipmunk approaches the camp, he scans the area, taking in his surroundings.
The camp is typical. Same raggedy stone huts, same desolate atmosphere. The camp runs along the edge of a mountain, which claws at the high heavens, high enough for the peak to reach the vast clouds of black and grey that therefore shroud the peak of the mountain, and embers and bits of soot flutter down from the sky. At the left side of the path, a river of bubbling lava slowly inches along. Past this, and on the right side of the path as well, the expanse of the world looms over Alvin. Volcanoes, jagged mountains, fissures, wastelands, forests of stone and seas of lava stretch out seemingly forever.
When Alvin enters the camp, he immediately approaches another corrupted, who is leaning against the side of a hut with his eyes closed, "Hey! You!", Alvin barks, his voice no longer the flawless high pitched sound he was used to, but now a lower pitched and weathered voice.
The corrupted, a very large one at that with scars everywhere, opens his eyes and looks at him in irritation, "Ugh...Can't you see I'm tryin' to sleep?! Go bother somebody else!", yells the corrupted before closing his eyes again.
"I'll speak to you when ever I want. Now, have you seen a chipette named Brittany?"
The corrupted opens one eye to look at Alvin...then leans forward away from the hut and gestures for the red-clad munk to follow.
The corrupted leads him through the camp, circumventing huts, going down criss crossing paths, passing bonfires, and eventually stopping at an opening in the side of the mountain, which is covered by a flimsy cloth that ripples in the air. Above the passageway, the word "tavern" is carved into the rock, accompanied by several obscene carvings.
The red-clad munk pushes the cloth aside and pads down a torch lit hallway, leaving the other corrupted behind. As he continues down the path, echoes of laughter fill the hall, louder and louder and louder as Alvin treks further inside. Alvin turns a corner, and finally finds himself in a small cave, with a stone bar and stone and iron tables and chairs. Corrupteds litter the place here and there, drinking God knows what from wooden cups and gorging themselves on revolting looking dishes of "food". However, what catches Alvin's attention most is the chipette at the far left of the room, who lies pathetically on her side with a chain trailing from her ankle to the wall, and a corrupted kneels by her side, grinning with evil satisfaction as his left paw holds her by the throat, and the other rests between her legs. A tear streaks down her face then falls and disintegrates on the ground, and she lets out a whimper of disgust and fear. It's Brittany.
Alvin glares at the assaulting corrupted and walks up to him. The corrupted notices this and goes to stand up and puff out his chest with a glare of his own and a curl of his claws. He's about to say something but Alvin cuts him off as he shoves him by the shoulder to spin him around, then reaches around and locks his paw on the corrupted's throat and squeezes...hard. The other corrupteds whip their heads over to Alvin and several scramble over to stop him, screaming in rage. Balled up paws land onto the red-clad munk and a corrupted grabs him by the shoulders and tries to jerk him away from the corrupted that now finds himself so helplessly trapped. Despite their efforts, Alvin doesn't budge, and with the sickening sound of the wet, tearing of flesh and an unsettling gurgle, blood seeps out from between Alvin's fingers as they sink into the corrupted's neck, then they rip out the chipmunk's throat, showering its chest and Brittany below in dark crimson. The corrupted collapses atop the violated chipette, and Alvin lashes out at the corrupteds behind him with a swinging claw enveloped in red energy. His paw cleaves through a chipmunk's belly like a hot knife through butter, spilling the chipmunk's intestines. The other two corrupteds that attacked him back off quickly, but one isn't fast enough. Alvin's paws shove the chipmunk down to his knees with strength that dwarfs its resistance to nothing, and Alvin exchanges his right paw to the kneeling chipmunks neck and forces him to look up at him, into his eyes that now glow blindingly, yet darker than a black hole. The chipmunk lets out a blood curdling scream of agony as he is engulfed in wisps of black energy that are siphoned from its body and into Alvin, and the corrupted's eyes turn black with blood that gushes down its face. Alvin lifts the corrupted up by its throat and tosses it to the side, where it hits the corner of a steel table with a spray of blood before toppling over it and onto the ground.
Silence invades the tavern with nothing but Alvin's heavy breathing and the faint sound of the last corrupted's foot falls that echo from the hall. The red-clad chipmunk tilts his head to the side, releasing a crackle, then inhales deeply...and exhales through his nose.
The hiss of frantic breathing starts up behind Alvin, and turning around, he sees Brittany desperately clawing at the rock floor to get away, all the while her eyes are glued in horror on the profusely bleeding corrupted that lies on top of her.
The chipette's eyes dart over to Alvin as she continues to struggle, "G-get away from me!"
Alvin ignores her and pads up to her, lifts up the dead chipmunk and sets it to the side, then helps her up to her hind paws, where she then gasps in pain as her right leg collapses beneath her. The russet furred chipmunk quickly catches her and lifts her again, but this time carries her, and with a single swipe of his right paw, the chain at her ankle falls from her to the ground with a loud, rippling clang.
As she is carried into and down the orange glowing hall in arms, the tormented chipette speaks to Alvin, "Who the heck are you? W-why did you save me?", Brittany inquires. She looks down at the large A emblazoned on the russet-furred chipmunk's chest, "E-ev-even more, w-where did you get that hoodie?", asks Brittany, her heart beginning to rise into her throat.
Alvin replies simply, "It's mine."
Alvin carries the chipette up to the fluttering material at the end of the hall and moves into it sideways, and the fabric glances over and around his body as he passes through and out into the hot air outside.
As Alvin continues walking, Brittany grabs at his collar and tugs on it, "No, just...stop for a second", she says.
Alvin does as she asks and looks down at her, "What do you want?"
Brittany stares into his eyes, as though she might find an unknown truth by doing so, but what she finds are the red eyes of a heartless murderer; eyes devoid of emotion or care; eyes hungry for the slick reds of death and the desolate blacks and oranges of destruction; eyes bent on causing nothing but pain. And yet...somewhere among all that evil, she sees a glimmer of happiness; a bit of mischief; a grave of emotions that once thrived. She sees someone she once knew, "A-Alvin?", Brittany says with hopeful eyes.
"Yeeees?"
"Is it really you?", the chipette's mouth is ajar with anticipation.
Alvin raises an eye brow, "Yeah, it's me."
The next thing he knows, Brittany has her paws on his head and she pulls him down into her lips. Her fingers run through Alvin's fur and she moans in bliss for reuniting with the red-clad trouble maker she loves like a rose and for having been spared of her agony. She tries pulling him closer, but a paw that grabs the scruff of her neck cuts her kiss off shorter than she prefers.
Brittany struggles in Alvin's grip for a moment before giving up, "A-Alviiiin!", she pouts.
"I understand you've been through a lot, but now isn't the time for this.", explains Alvin, his voice monotone and emotionless.
Brittany hesitates, then, "Fine..."
As Alvin continues to carry her through the camp, "How'd you break your leg?"
"Oh God...don't remind me..."
"Hmph. Very well. And your tail?"
"Th-they cut it off..."
Alvin remains silent.
Alvin reaches the end of the camp and proceeds onto the path he came from. Just as he is leaving the camp, an orb of swirling black energy materializes in front of him, then fades away, leaving a corrupted in its wake. A green furred chipmunk steps forward and sets the butt of its scythe on the dirt.
The corrupted looks up and down Alvin before speaking, "I do not recognize you. Who are you?"
"I can say the same thing to you.", Alvin answers.
"You don't have the right to question me, corrupted worm!"
Alvin gently sets Brittany on the ground without taking his eyes off of Gutdrench, "And what makes you so special? If you feel like you're above me, prove it."
Gutdrench doesn't hesitate. In the blink of an eye, he covers the distance between them, and his scythe, curdling with a purple aura made up of plague, disease, and poison, arks towards the russet-furred chipmunk. Suddenly, a wave of distortion in the air explodes in between them in a blur of red. Gutdrench flies backwards with his scythe in splinters and hits the ground hard. Enormous flickering red claws, crooked, long and terrible, elongate from Alvin's paws. Red and black wisps of energy circulate through the translucent claws like blood in veins and radiate up his arms.
The green-furred chipmunk stares in shock and slowly gets up to his hind paws, "You...y-you're a corruptor! Like me and The Cataclysm.", Gutdrench says in awe.
Alvin rolls his fingers in the air and his ethereal claws vanish, "What do you mean, like you and The Cataclysm?"
"You're the first corruptor in centuries! There have only been two. The original, The Cataclysm that is, named after its intentions of utter destruction, and me, Gutdrench, but...now you!"
Brittany shifts awkwardly between this sudden conversation that was a battle not long ago, and asks, "What does it mean if he's a corruptor? I thought there were only corrupteds."
"Hm, I recognize you. Brittany I assume. I watched your arrival. But, what it basically means is he is very powerful, almost immortal in fact, and cannot be controlled by other corruptors or corruptions."
"So...Alvin has, like, super powers or something?"
"Alvin?", Gutdrench reverts his attention to the red-clad chipmunk, "You're Alvin?!"
Said chipmunk speaks, "Not anymore."
Gutdrench's expression becomes somewhat solemn, "I found your brother, Theodore. I was trying to find you and the third brother too...before it was too late. Removing a corruption from a host body is one thing, but...you ARE the corruption!"
Brittany's ears perk up, "You found Theodore?! Is he ok?!"
Alvin feels his pulse accelerate at the sound of his youngest brother's name. It is faint, but he cares, "Where is he?"
"Safe for now, but that leaves the third brother...um..."
"Simon.", Alvin says.
"Ah, yes. He should be at the camp east of here."
Gutdrench holds out his paw, "Pick her up and take my paw. I can get us there quickly."
Alvin nods and lifts Brittany once again into his arms and pads over to the outstretched paw, which moves to Alvin's shoulder. Abruptly, their vision distorts immensely and a rush of chills like ants crawling under their skin washes over them, leaving them with a strange numbing feeling of detachment from themselves. The blurred world shakes, twists, and spirals and...everything is normal again.
Brittany lies limp in Alvin's arms, a little dazed, while the other two of them scan the unfamiliar camp they now find themselves in the center of. The place is abandoned, riddled with utter silence and dying embers from the fires.
"Ooookeeey...this is unusual.", says Gutdrench, "This is an active camp for the corrupteds. It...shouldn't be deserted like this."
Alvin speaks as he begins to slowly pace around, examining the huts and strewn items, "Any reason they would leave?"
"No, of course not...well...yes, but that couldn't possibly be the cause! Not yet that is."
"But what if it is?"
"If that were the situation, we would need to traverse to the base of Mt. Oblivion."
"Then let's go there!"
Gut drench lowers his head and rubs his forehead, "Very well...but I wholly doubt the corrupteds would be there. Come. Take my paw again."
Brittany shuts her eyes tight in anticipation, "Oh, not again..."
Once more, their world distorts around them and their skin crawls with the numbing, and in an instant, it ends.
Everywhere. Thick crowds. A deafening uproar. Corrupteds, corruptions, and...The Cataclysm, and Alvin, Brittany, and Gutdrench are in the center of it all. At the Mt. Oblivion path way entrance, The Cataclysm towers over everyone, translucent with blindingly glowing white eyes. Looking over the crowd and towards the camp nearby, the three chipmunks see thousands upon thousands of corrupteds, a brown and black veil over the barren land that stretches out for miles.
Gutdrench staggers back, "It's happening! The invasion is beginning!"
Brittany's already nervous expression morphs into that of horror, "I-invasion?! You're attacking our world?!"
"Unfortunately for you, yes! B-but, The Cataclysm wanted to wait until we had at least five corruptors! Why would he attack now?!"
Alvin cuts him off with a sharp bark of a word, "HEY! Are we gonna stand around talking, or are we going to find Simon?"
Gutdrench nods, "Ehhh...ugh, you're right. We should."
"Here. Hold her while I go look for him.", Alvin commands Gutdrench as he hands over the frightened chipette to him.
"Heyheyhey! Why do I have to carry her?!"
His words fall on deaf ears, for Alvin is already gone.
*SCENE TRANSITION*
It isn't long into their journey away from the caves that Simon and Bloodnick find themselves pushing their way through heavy masses of corrupteds, with Bloodnick still leading the way while Simon follows close behind.
"What in the hell is up with all of these corrupteds?! OUT OF MY WAY!", Bloodnick screams in frustration.
"What the heck happened? We were just alone in a desolate wasteland not long ago!", exclaims Simon.
"Don't know, don't care."
Suddenly, the two chipmunks break through into a small opening in the crowds next to a hut.
Bloodnick leads Simon over to the hut and situates him beside it, "You stay here for now. I'll come back for you later. I want to see if I can't find out what's going on here."
"You're leaving me? But what if one of these corrupteds attacks me while you're gone?!", Simon yells.
Bloodnick remains silent in hesitation...then leaves the clearing, dissolving into the heaving crowds.
The carnivorous chipmunk navigates his way through the pulsating mass of corrupteds, pushing, shoving, side stepping and ducking as he goes along. It's after a while of this that everything around Bloodnick begins to blur and merge into one image as time drags on and his focus eases off to simply finding something that might provide answers. His movements become second nature and he picks up the pace. Brown and black blurs fly by and...a red-
Bloodnick smacks hard into a solid object and staggers back with his paw up to his nose. He takes away his paw and glances at it to find only his brown fur, then violently shakes his head to rid of his daze. Bloodnick looks up to find a slightly bigger russet-furred chipmunk in a filthy red hoodie with a giant A on the front. They lock eyes for brief instant...then quickly break contact as they continue on their way.
A few moments later, Bloodnick breaks through into another clearing, in which he finds a familiar green-furred chipmunk, along with a small golden-furred chipette.
"Gutdrench!"
"Ah! Bloodnick, you're here! That's excellent, because we needed someone from your camp. Do you know anyone by the name of Simon?", Gutdrench greets and questions.
"Simeon? Yeah, he's back there in a small gap in the crowd.", Bloodnick gestures behind him, "Why?"
"Simeon? No, it's Simon. We must get to him. I've located his brothers and their friend here. They may finally flee to their world!"
"You're helping them too?"
"Uuuuh, one named Theodore...persuaded me. But that's despite the point! Show me the way to Simon!"
*SCENE TRANSITION*
Simon hugs the wall of the flimsy hut with his heart beating ever faster. Dark red clouds of despair roll across the black sky, and the screams, chants and growls of the corrupteds begin to over whelm him. They stomp their paws and raise their fists in the air, tormenting the pathetic chipmunk. Simon falls to his knees and falls back, leaning against the wall in sudden dread and hopelessness. In the distance, the furrowed, glowing white eyes of some massive entity seem to siphon everything good from him, leaving him as an empty shell with only the bad to feed his emotions.
Simon lets his head fall limp to the left, his mouth agape with an expression of depression...and finds a small, sharpened sliver of metal, wrapped about its base by a blood stained cloth. He reaches over and grasps it in his paw and examines it, marveling in grim interest at how incredibly sharp it is. Simon knows not why, but he slowly brings the blade to his other paw, clenches it tightly, and slides the metal out from his paw's grip. Blood oozes out from the gash along the palm of his paw...and he chuckles a little to himself. He then takes the metal again...and aligns the blade skyward under his chin, giggling insanely with a demented excitement.
Alvin suddenly bursts into the clearing, shoving a corrupted to the ground as he does, and sees a blue-clad chipmunk sitting in the dirt, a blade in hand that gingerly presses up with a growing trickle of blood, and a corruption kneeling beside him with a pitch black paw stroking the small chipmunk's head fur, whispering into his ear.
Alvin forces his paw out into the air in front of him, and the spot just in front of his paw simultaneously ignites with a bright red flash as a red bolt of energy fires into the corruption. The black chipmunk lets out a demented ear piercing screech and fades into a shadow nearby.
Simon's eyes widen with an expression of fear and pain, and he winces as he pulls the tip of the sharpened metal from his chin and looks at it in horror. Simon hastily throws it to the side and simply sits there staring at the dirt, paralyzed and shaking.
Alvin pads up to him and kneels down to his level, "Simon, can you stand?"
Simon's frightened face turns to the grey face before him, "I-I a-alm-most killed mys-self!", he stutters.
"You were under a corruption's influence. Now get up!", Alvin yells and grabs Simon's arm to pull him up to his feeble legs, "Follow me!"
Simon follows the russet-furred chipmunk, not knowing who he is, but carrying on merely on the fact that he just saved his life.
Not far into the crowd, they stop suddenly, and Alvin clears several of the surrounding corrupteds from the spot as Simon sees Bloodnick and a green-furred chipmunk approach them. In the latter's arms...is Brittany.
"Brit! Are you ok?!", Simon exclaims.
Said chipette absentmindedly rubs her noticeably swollen leg, "Not exactly, but...I think I'll live."
Alvin brings his fist crashing into the jaw of a corrupted that didn't take too kindly to being pushed around, breaking its neck from the sheer force of the hit with an audible crack, and reverts his attention to Simon and the others, "Alright. We've got them both together now. Let's go get Theodore and end this.", says Alvin.
Bloodnick turns to him, "Wait a sec', I saw you earlier. You're in on this too? And who are you anyways?"
Gutdrench steps up between them, "None of this is relevant now. We can all get properly acquainted once I get you all back to Theodore and his brothers' world.", he turns to Alvin and abruptly shoves Brittany into his arms, "YOU carry her! Ugh, now everyone place your paws on me."
They all do so, and in a vortex of black light, they are gone. With another disorienting trip, the five of them materialize on the other end of the portal. When they look about themselves at their new surroundings, tensions lower as they find that they now stand in a cold cavern, dimly lit by an orange light that glows in the distance.
The cave isn't like the one Bloodnick and Simon went through. It's massive. Pillars of rock form by the connecting of stalagmites and stalactites that line the edges of the cavern, and a few strays stand alone in the middle. As the cave before was, this place is slick with moisture, and a cool, damp breeze brushes their fur.
Bloodnick and Simon pair off and walk towards the orange light far ahead, while Gutdrench and Alvin, who carries Brittany with him, split up in different directions that also lead to the light. The green-furred chipmunk smirks slightly in amused anticipation, but feels a pang of worry in the back of his mind.
"I hope they didn't over do it...", he whispers to himself.
The cavern narrows at a point, making the chipmunks converge before the cave opens back up into a smaller but still large cave. On either side of the cave, large pits encircled by rocks flicker with the orange glow of a fire. In the cave center at the far wall, a stone slab encrusted at the edges by burning candle like items lies there. Above the stone slab, hanging on the rock wall, is Theodore, with the skin of his belly splayed out and nailed to the wall along with several organs, while his intestines hang down, dripping black liquid onto the slab.
Everyone freezes in utter shock; everyone but Gutdrench, who yells out frantically, "Ok, guys! Shut it down! Shut it down! Enough!"
Almost instantly, black mist washes briefly over the room, and the gruesome image is gone, leaving Theodore sitting unharmed on the stone slab, fiddling with some pebbles with a bored expression, while two corruptions stand at either side of him. The two black creatures stalk away and fade into the shadows.
Simon jerks his head over to Gutdrench, "What the fuck was that?!"
"Those two corruptions are mine. I created them, so they obey me, but they can get into unauthorized mischief if they aren't allowed to go about some sort of disgusting business. I told them they could cast illusions while I was gone. So...yeah.", answered the green corruptor.
Theodore, having heard them talking, looks up at them and smiles in excitement. He scrambles up to his paws and runs on all fours over to Simon and crashes into him in a big hug.
Alvin speaks up, "Alright, we're all together now. How do we get back to our world?"
"I can generate a gateway here. Just give me a moment.", says Gutdrench, who then proceeds to pad over to the stone slab to go about his preparations.
The rest of the group stands there in silence for a moment, until Bloodnick breaks it, "Well...now that we have some time to talk.", he turns to the red-clad chipmunk, "Who are you? I've never seen anyone like you before."
"My name's Alvin."
Theodore and Simon's eyes widen, "What?!", they exclaim.
Simon continues, "Oh, God! What happened to you?!"
"I was corrupted, obviously.", Alvin says harshly, "Although, I'm not a corrupted. I've become a corruptor."
Bloodnick raises and eye brow at this, "You're a...you don't mean like Gutdrench and The Cataclysm, do you?"
"I do. Gutdrench told me."
Simon sighs and sits on his haunches. He places his face in his paws and simply rests there, coming to terms with everything.
Brittany speaks, "What kind of name is Gutdrench, anyways? Did he just think of a nick name and the first superficial gory thing that came up was that?"
Theodore waves a paw at Brittany to get her attention, "Actually, he said there is a reason. He just doesn't want to talk about it."
"Wait, just hold on guys, "says Bloodnick, "I'm having trouble grasping this. You, Alvin, some random chipmunk from your world with nothing special about you what so ever, are a freaking corruptor?!"
Simon jumps to his hind paws and yells at this remark, "HEY! You don't know us and have no right to say that! We're all famous in our world, and we are some of the only sentient chipmunks, so think before you speak!"
"Famous?", Bloodnick repeats incredulously, "My ass. Hm, and here I was thinking you and I had miraculously become friends. You would have never survived without me!"
"Oh, bite me!"
"Hey, maybe I will! And I'll eat your whore next!"
"You leave Brittany out of this!"
"Nononono, you called me a what?!", exclaims said chipette, now trembling with anger in Alvin's arms.
"Brittany, just be quite.", quickly says Simon.
"No, shut up, Simon! Bloodnick, I dare you to say that again! Call me a whore!"
"SHUT UP!", Alvin screams. His voice shakes the ground, and everything goes dead silent. Gutdrench glances behind him, then goes back to work.
"You're acting like fools! You have to get along!", says Alvin.
"And what if we don't?", asks Bloodnick with a cross of his arms.
"I'll suck your corruption out. You'll die in the process. And you, Simon, aren't safe just because I'm your brother. Brittany, I could simply drop you!"
Simon swallows a lump in his throat and his eyes and ears fall to the floor. Brittany lies limp in defeat with her mouth sealed shut.
"So. After all we've been through, we're still fighting.", says Theodore, "After all we've had to go through here...we still can't get along. Has this experience not drawn us closer?", Brittany and Simon both look over to the small green-clad chipmunk, their expressions now that of guilt, "Even you, Bloodnick. Has none of this affected you? Saving Simon was your mission. YOU made it your business to fight against all the evil here. And guess what. You won! You've saved him! He probably wouldn't be here with us without you. Doesn't that make you happy?", Bloodnick's expression softens, but remains emotionless, "Have you ever heard of the saying, 'to have heart'? It's a metaphor, and means that through thick and thin, you stay strong, and you care about others more than yourself or what possessions you have. What you have that matters is your family, friends, and the good deeds you've done. It doesn't matter if you don't have a heart.", Bloodnick lowers his head, but quickly raises it and tries his best to keep his composure, "Alvin."
The red-clad chipmunk contorts his face in confusion, "Me?"
"You may have been transformed on the outside...but you're still the same on the inside. You've lost nothing from this experience. You've only grown and matured. I know with all my being that you've still got your feelings and emotions. You just need a little help finding them."
Alvin stares for a moment with his cold, red eyes...then sighs. His voice wavers as he speaks, "You're right. About everything. I..."
Theodore smiles, "I knew you'd get it. You'll be your old self in no time!"
"Eh, I don't know about that.", Alvin replies with a chuckle, "I kinda have the body of a hellmunk now."
Theodore, Simon, and Brittany all laugh at this. Bloodnick just stares in astonishment, "I've been at this for over fifty years. Fifty years of keeping up my act to convince those freaks I'm evil like them, all the while trying and failing to help the chipmunks they bring in, and on top of it all, trying to remember how to feel or care again. Yet here you've only just been corrupted, and you seem to be happy."
"But you're wrong!", says Theodore, "You've always cared and had feelings! You obviously cared enough to help us, and you care about stopping The Cataclysm."
"You care about avenging your brother. You still love him! Even if he did submit to The Cataclysm.", Simon adds.
"And we care about you...Nick. You don't have to be the monster you've been playing the role of anymore. You're free!", says Brittany.
Bloodnick is dumbfounded by all these positive things; the encouragement of their words. He coughs and gags, struggling to hold back a burning sensation in his throat and face that is bound to turn into something humiliating for him. He clenches his teeth and grunts as he brings a paw up to face, trying to hide a few tears that have welled up in his eyes. Everyone stays silent for a minute, allowing Bloodnick to recuperate. Over time, the carnivorous chipmunk's silent sobs dissipate into puffy, red eyes and matted down fur from his tears, and he lets his paw fall by his side. He bears a slight smile.
"I-, ", Bloodnick cuts off with a wipe of his eyes, "I cried. Haha, I actually cried!"
Everyone takes a step back from him, "Um...you ok?", asks Simon.
"Ok?! I CRIED! YEESS!", Bloodnick yells out and jumps with his paws in the air, "I still have emotions! Hahahaha ha haaa!"
"What the heck did you guys just do to him? Sheesh, I think I want to other Bloodnick back.", Alvin comments.
"I...certainly didn't expect him to be like this. I-it's not bad though. No harm in it.", says Simon.
"Ok, ok, calm down! You're being...you know what, I don't even know. HEY! GUTDRENCH! Is that portal ready yet?!"
"Just...about...just gotta...shit, that doesn't go there...", Gutdrench replies.
Alvin pads over to him, "What's taking so long?! I don't know if you noticed, but one of us just lost it."
"You would too if you spent an eternity trying and failing. Now make yourself useful and weld this."
Gutdrench points to a metal strip that encircles a new scythe, similar to the one Alvin destroyed, "Oooooh...uh...alright. Let's just get this done with."
Alvin's claws begin to glow white and they distort the air with red particles drifting off from them. He runs a claw along the seam of the two ends of metal that Gutdrench holds together, instantly fusing them.
"Is that it?", asks Alvin.
"Yep!"
"Finally! Guys, get over here!"
The rest of the group quickly gathers around Alvin and around Gutdrench, who picks up his scythe and feels it for a moment, testing its sturdiness, "Perfect! Ok, everyone. Stand clear for a second.
Everyone does this, and Gutdrench climbs up onto the stone slab. He brings the scythe back, then swings it in a wide ark over head. The blade cuts through the air and pierces space and time, leaving a hovering gash in mid air that expands into a quivering ring of distortion and darkness, and the center reveals a rippling vision of their world, like looking at a reflection in rippling water.
Theodore jumps onto the slab and walks up to it, "Whoooaaa!", he says in awe.
"Nonono! That's an aerial view from ten thousand feet! You don't want to go through yet.", Gutdrench quickly explains, making Theodore freeze in his tracks.
"Hey...w-what's that?", Simon asks and points off to the far right of the vision.
Far below, barely visible, a thin mass of purple light runs along the earth.
"That, ", answers Gutdrench, "is a portal of The Cataclysm. It is unleashing his forces onto your world as we speak."
A grave silences falls over everyone.
"Unfortunately, this means your journey is not yet over. Once you return, you will still have to defend yourselves."
"They don't stand a chance against me and the Human military.", Alvin states firmly, "I'll wipe them from existence."
"You may stand a chance, Alvin, but a large portion of The Cataclysm's army is corruptions, immortal beings that can only be imprisoned, not destroyed or killed, and that isn't a problem for you. The humans on the other hand are defenseless against them! And so is your family!"
"It doesn't matter how strong they are! I WILL destroy them, what ever the method, and they will never get the chance to harm my family. I promise you. All of you. I...will...stop this. Now change the destination to our neighborhood in California."
Gutdrench hesitates, then reaches down and gently touches Theodore's forehead. He lets go and immediately touches the center of the portal with his scythe. The current vision dissolves into the front entrance of Alvin and his brothers' tiny neighborhood, at ground level.
"There it is. All we have to do is go through this portal, and we're home.", says Simon.
"Let's go, guys. We've been gone for too long. I have a world to save.", Alvin says, and steps up to the portal.
As he passes through, the others still see him as he stands on the other side. Without turning back, Alvin carries Brittany forward, and the others follow, filled with unfathomable relief as they once again stand on healthy, decayless ground.
(And so, their journey in the dimension of The Cataclysm concludes. But now, the fight continues back in their own world! *Sigh* Guys...I'm not entirely sure how to proceed from here. I do know there will be a serious problem to deal with involving Theodore, as in the chipmunks deal with it of course, not me, and what the chipmunks' reunion with Dave will be like...uhhh, and the conclusion of the story...that's about it. I need suggestions for a course of action. I can't just say that the army wipes out The Cataclysm's army, Alvin destroys The Cataclysm, the end; No. That'd be ridiculous! What do you think I should write? Make sure to include your ideas with your opinions in your review of the chapter, or send me a pm with your ideas.)