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Tales of the Multiverse Bit 174
There should be a nice place for us take some photos!
Nico Yazawa, alongside Hanayo Koizumi, Maki Nishikino and Rin Hoshizora, are seen walking around in a park somewhere in Neo-City and unbeknownst to them, the little imp of Muse is about to get some unpleasant surprise.
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As the members of Grand Empire's Team B, consisting of Bubbles Utonium, Darkwing Duck, Dib Membrane, Golem Head, Hinomaru Izumo, Johnny Test, Mahoro Andou, Poppy the Popplio, Tadakuni and Zoe Orimoto alongside Ran the Warrior and Paletta, continues to walk around Green & Blue Town and at the same time, they decided to talk to the town folks that consists of voodoo doll-looking creatures and black & white rabbits.
"Oh! Hello, children! Are you the one collecting the shards? I didn't realize that you were actually children!"
Drake placed a hand on his face and then sliding it downwards, "I'm getting sick of being referred to as a child." he grumbled.
"We feel you, Drake." Ran sympathized.
The group then approaches more citizens.
"Princess Chroma... I miss you..."
"Princess... Princess..."
"Who is this? A new challenger? Welcome to our town! Yes, there are not many of us but there's a lot of flowers, at least? These are Sivale Flower. Pretty, eh? They're often found near bodies and graves and they spread very quickly! For such cute flowers, they prefer weird places to grow in."
"Hello there! Welcome to our town! We don't get that much visitors ever since the death of the king. Which is a shame, we we're hoping not to use the gravestone we made him for a long time ago."
"If you had noticed... a lot of graves can be seen outside this town. That's because a lot of people here die on a daily basis. Ain't it interesting?"
"Who the hell would be interested with people dying?" Dib questioned in disbelief.
"Sick people are the first ones that comes to mind." Hinomaru answered.
Golem Head then sat on the ground in a fetal position, "Just what the heck is this town?" he uttered out loud, "Why a lot of them often talks about things that are related to death?" he asked while rocking back and forth.
"Stop being so paranoid, GH!" Dib exclaimed in annoyance.
Bubbles looks around, "A lot of people here looks the same." she commented.
"Yeah." Johnny uttered in agreement, "Everyone looks like dolls and rabbits." he described when he noticed something, "Except for those two." he clarified with a finger pointed forward.
Everyone then turns their heads towards the direction where Johnny is pointing and they saw a pair of children, a boy and a girl to be exact, standing on a black makeshift stage in the middle of the plaza.
The boy had a petite appearance and green-colored skin tone, he had short bowl-cut green hair and he had green-colored eyes. He wears a green shirt with black flat collar and a green band wrapped around his midsection with black buttons, green shorts with pockets on each sides, white socks with grays bands and black loafers.
The girl had a petite appearance and blue-colored skin tone, she had a neck-length blue hair with straight cuts & bangs, and she had blue-colored eyes. She wears a blue dress with black flat collar, black band wrapped around her midsection and white frills, white socks with grays bands and black loafers.
"Could they be the ones holding the shards in this town?" Zoe assumed.
"What gave you the idea?" Johnny questioned with raised eyebrow, "The fact that they look different from the rest or that they had different color schemes?" he pointed out which earned him a slap at the back of his head by Zoe.
"Let's go talk to them and find out." Mahoro beckoned.
And with that, the group made their way towards the makeshift stage in the middle of the plaza, the pair of children then took notice of their presence.
"Is this the child?" the boy questioned towards Paletta.
"Is this the kid?" the girl followed towards Paletta.
"Have you come to take our shards?" both of them asked at the same time.
"This is Rie." the girl introduced the boy.
"This is Bre." Rie introduced the girl.
Shards of Grief and Fear
Bre and Rie
"We're ill." Bre and Rie revealed at the same time, "Cure us and we will give you the shards." they said and everyone looks at each other in confusion.
"Are you confused?" Rie assumed.
"We only ask for you to cure us from our illness." Bre and Rie reasoned, "We cannot grow." they shared, "We cannot live." they added.
"These shards are our illness and we need you to turn us back to normal." Bre stated.
"They say that the moon sent you." Rie mentioned, "If that's true, then surely you will be able to help us." he beckoned.
"Cure us and we will give you the shards." Bre and Rie repeated.
Hinomaru rubs the back of his head, "They said that they want us to cure them." he mentioned, "But how?" he questioned, "None of us are doctors or even had a healer in our ranks." he pointed out, "So, how are we going to help them?" he asked.
"How about asking the people in this town?" Bubbles suggested.
"That worked wonders before, so let's do it." Mahoro beckoned.
And with that, the group began walking around the town while asking people on finding a way to cure the twins.
"A cure, a cure! To cure them, you will need a handful of gold!"
"Hehe."
"A cure! You need so many things, oh, you better get started right away! You need soup that has been brewed for 30 moons, to detach the shard."
"How to cure Bre and Rie? You will require five different kinds of flowers. Remember to keep them fresh!"
"To cure them, yes, you might need a hand. It's so hard to do everything alone. I hope you all kind that hand."
"To cure them, I know that you will need a pint of shapeshifter's blood. None of those here, I wonder where you can get something like that?"
Johnny thought about it, "From Yellow Town?" he answered, "Should I head back there and a get a few cups?" he suggested.
"We're not harming any residents from Yellow Town!" Ran chastised.
"Who said about harming them?" Johnny argued.
Drake took off his hat and scratched the top of his head, "This is troublesome." he commented, "We've asked every people in this town but all of their answers are so different, it's so hard to figure out which is the correct method." he stated.
"And some of their answers are no help at all." Bubbles added.
Tadakuni frowned when a thought came to mind, "I don't think this is right." he voiced out, "Guys!" he called out, "Listen to me for a second?" he beckoned, "I fear that these children's illness is not something we can cure." he pointed out, "We might have to find some other way to get the shards." he stated.
"What do you propose we should do?" Dib asked, "Steal it?" he suggested.
Tadakuni frowned deeper, "Listen..." he uttered, "... I know stealing is frowned upon but we got no choice at the moment." he stated, "And I'm pretty sure that even if we told them that their illness can't be cured, they won't hand the shards to us." he reasoned.
Drake tips his hat, "I see your point." he acknowledged, "How can we take the shards from them?" he asked.
"The shards of joy had the ability to put someone to sleep." Tadakuni answered before turning to Paletta, "You should use the aforementioned shard to put Bre and Rie to sleep, and gently take the shards from them." he instructed.
Paletta nodded in response while bringing out the shard of joy before activating it and in instant, a wave of light is spread across the town which puts everyone to sleep including Bre and Rie.
"Oh, God, Paletta just did an AOE in the entire town!" Johnny exclaimed in awe.
"I'm surprised that we're not affected by it." Ran admitted.
Paletta then walked towards the sleeping Bre and Rie, she then gently took away the shards from their hands and upon doing so, there was brief flash of light and the next thing everyone know the whole town gained its color and everything are now sporting a bright green & blue color, much to everyone's surprise and awe while Bre and Rie disappeared without a trace.
"Wow! Now I get why this town is called Green & Blue Town." Johnny commented.
"What's your first clue?" Zoe questioned in annoyance.
"It's kinda creepy in a way." Bubbles commented.
Suddenly, both Tadakuni and Paletta heard the Moon speaking through their minds, "You should leave, everyone." it beckoned, "Leave fast!" it insisted.
"What?" Tadakuni uttered in confusion when suddenly they heard an ominous sound of a bell ringing.
"Huh? Is the Undertaker in town?" Johnny assumed.
"Man, guys." Golem Head spoke with a finger pointed towards the townsfolks walking towards them, "Look at those people, walkin' around like a zombie." he described, "Like they lookin kinda spooky man." he added, "Hey the townsfolks are after us!" he exclaimed, "RUN!" he screamed in fright.
On cue, everyone made a run for it across the town while dodging and evading every citizens on their way, Hinomaru and Mahoro would kick down a few that blocks their paths.
After a few minutes of running, the group managed to get out of town and arrives in a middle of another bleak-colored forest where they decided to take a break and catch some breaths.
"What was that all about?" Dib questioned.
"I guess they don't approve of us taking the shards from them." Drake replied.
"I know stealing is bad but the shards doesn't belong to their town to begin with, so it is what it is." Zoe stated.
Tadakuni and Paletta looks at each other for a minute and then sharing a nod, "Hey guys!" the former called out to which got everyone's attention, "Paletta and I are going have a talk with the moon for a bit if you don't mind?" he stated.
Drake nodded in response, "Sure, go ahead." he allowed.
And in a blink of an eye, Tadakuni and Paletta found themselves back in the strange area which consists of a white and dark-blue colored schemed walls with white flowing curtains, and down below them is a long flight of stairs.
But the difference this time is that the color yellow, blue and green are added and Rosa is now joined by Auri, Bre and Rie.
"Well, that was certainly something." Moon commented, "I'm glad that everyone is safe." it expressed in relief, "The children, Bre and Rie." it mentioned, "They seem to be fine now." it pointed out, "Their town couldn't handle two shards like that." it shared.
"Sorry, Moon." Tadakuni apologized, "It was my idea to take away the shards with a different method, I wasn't expecting to end up that way." he admitted.
"It's alright, Tadakuni, I'm glad you did that." the Moon reassured, "It's better like this." it accepted.
Tadakuni and Paletta then approaches Rie, "That was weird." the green boy commented, "The last thing I remember clearly is seeing the colors disappear, and a shard flying towards us." he shared, "Sorry." he apologized, "We hadn't realized how bad it was." he admitted, "I just..." he uttered, "I just wanted to help my sister get better." he said, "We couldn't grow, we couldn't eat or sleep, everyone around us felt stressed and sad." he listed off, "This is better." he admitted, "Thanks." he expressed in gratitude.
Tadakuni and Paletta then approaches Bre, "Hello, children." the blue girl greeted, "Thanks for his." she expressed in gratitude, "No, really." she insisted, "My brother is a lot happier here than back in that town." she pointed out.
Tadakuni and Paletta then approaches Rosa, "That was scary." the pink woman commented, "Auri was shaking the whole time." she mentioned, "They're so small." she uttered, "I wonder it would be okay for me to pet them?" she thought out loud, "Bre and Rie seem a lot better now." she pointed out, "The shards really made them hurt." she said.
Tadakuni and Paletta then approaches Auri, "I'm so glad that we're out of there!" he exclaimed in relief, "I wasn't scared, at all, but that wasn't fun." he admitted, "I have never seen dolls act like that..." he furthered, "The twins seems better now." he pointed out, "It seem like the shards really affected them." he added, "Back when I had the shard, everything seemed cool." he shared, "Life was good, y'know?" he said, "I was filled with overwhelming happiness when happy things happened." he stated, "It was a good feeling but also scary, now that I think about it." he described, "And if the same goes for these two, then overwhelming grief and fear..." he trailed, "Uh..." he uttered, "That isn't a good combo in my humble opinion." he declared.
And with that, Tadakuni and Paletta climbs down the stairs and in a bright flash of light, the two are gone from the Moon's interior.
A/N: Inspired from someonestupED, damnlastwords, Jamesdean5842, Hope the Victor and Ace Neptune. All OCs and concepts not created by moi were given permission for me to use by it's respected creators.