NecoJi and his team had been preparing themselves for the day's sweep. A routine check on a routine world. He, and his two team mates, all inspected their own attire before stowing their sweepers on the backs. NecoJi's team members all squeezed by him to enter the gate room, whilst he spent a few seconds looking expectantly behind him. Eventually his patience wore thin. Turning and entering the gate room himself.
NecoJi's team found themselves already climbing the stairs in the centre of the gateroom, whilst NecoJi slowly followed behind; looking over his shoulder. His team mates stopped and twisted to look back at him. 'I wouldn't bother, Necs' One said to him. 'If Blinx wanted to be here, he would be' They continued.
NecoJi kept looking over his shoulder. The look of worry building on his face. 'Yeah. I guess you're right' He replied. Finally looking ahead of him and beginning to climb the stairs.
The clumping of footsteps started to sound through the door of the gateroom, growing louder and louder, until the cause entered the room. It was Blinx, sprinting as fast as he could, running across the promenade and up the stairs, stopping about halfway up, where the rest of the team had stood and watched. 'Nice of you to join us' the unintroduced sweeper snidely said to Blinx.
'Sorry' Blinx replied, gasping from the running. 'Jimmy threw me through the laundry machines for a second time.' Blinx took in one last breath before returning to normal breathing, and mumbled to himself 'He said I still had stains. But I could swear I saw him laughing as I spun'
The unintroduced sweeper looked at him in confusion. About to ask him a question, but abandoning the effort. 'At least you made it. NecoJi here was worried'
Blinx smiled a wide, yet shallow grin. 'Well, thank you for the concern'
'I said NecoJi' the sweeper replied. 'I was quite content with the idea of not having a new member drag us down' both the sweeper and their silent team mate turned and continued to walk up the stairs, with Blinx and NecoJi behind them.
'They're quite friendly' Blinx said to NecoJi, his words dripping in sarcasm.
'Don't worry about them' NecoJi assured. 'They may come round. They're both still a little shocked that Hunter left the corps.' NecoJi pointed to the sweeper who derided Blinx. Matching the team motif, the sweeper wore all greens, their ears bolted straight up, open angled to hear all of their surroundings. Their hazel coloured eyes always giving an uninterested stare. Their build was tall, slender and toned. The uniform tight enough to not leave loose folds of fabric. Beneath the clothing bore a light beige coat of fur all over. 'That's Zander. He's our acrobat, so to speak. You need him to climb, weave, or squeeze? He's on it' NecoJi's finger then pointed to the other side of the stairs, onto the silent sweeper.
The silent sweeper stood at just below average height, with an average build in pretty much all regards. Their fur was a murky grey, with their ears slicked behind them. Coming out from under their uniform, and draping over the back of their collar appeared to be a black hood. Their eyes were a shade of light orange, and seemed to default to a slightly wider look. 'And this is Koli, they just randomly appeared one day. Turns out they have really good aim, so we haven't got a reason to get rid of them' NecoJi explained.
The four sweepers reached the top of the stairs, and stood over the ledge, staring into the portal gate. NecoJi jumped in first, falling feet first. After him, Koli stepped off the ledge and plummeted to the portal, Zander would follow after Koli, jumping a little higher to squeeze a slow back flip into his dive; and finally, Blinx waited for the other sweepers to clear the portal before leaping in himself, falling in a stomach first drop.
The other side of the portal lead to a bright, sunny coastline. a calm sea on one side, and a pure white, chalky cliff on the other. Blinx crossed the portal and almost immediately slipped on the small pebbles on the beach. NecoJi and his team looked back at Blinx nonchalantly and rolled their eyes. They all focused on a long, winding passage dug into the cliff. along the path, a couple of crystals, both of them purple and blocky, glistened in the sun. the other side of the passage stood a set of ruins, weathered and eroded.
'Looks like a thunder run. Maybe Koli should stay behind on this one and keep their last retry' Zander said to NecoJi, devoid of emotion. NecoJi nodded and hummed an agreement.
'Seems like it'll hold to me' Blinx protested. Still looking out at the ruins, the team watched as a large chunk of the ruins crumbled and fell into the sea. 'Nevermind'
The four sweepers scaled the dug in passage and swept up the crystals without issue. The passage would soon end, with a sheer cliff edge where the passage ended and a clearly fallen bridge below them. The gap across to the ruins seemed out of reach to Blinx, and he saw NecoJi stand still as well. Blinx slowly built up the urge to speak up on the situation, yet was interrupted by Zander. 'Well, that's a bust' He said, pulling out his wrist communicator. 'Operator. we need a rough estimate on how many more crystals are in this world'
The operator of the world chimed back almost immediately. 'You're looking at about six crystals, all in one spot' Zander looked out at the sea, perplexed, and thinking.
The chunks from the fallen bridge gave way, and burst out from the middle. A large, purple and yellow time monster rushed from the gap, and floated in front of the party. The monster resembled an octoballoon, yet was much larger. The balloon was shaped like an airship, twenty feet long and roughly the same distance as its circumference. the monster underneath the balloon had red eyes with horizontal, rectangular pupils. the mouth shaped like a large horn, with four fanged tendrils positioned around the mouth. the body behind the head seemed segmented like an insect, and all but the front tentacles were the length of the balloon, with the front pair nearly twice that length. The ends of the front tentacles bulged into a spade shape, with large talons on the tips.
Blinx, Koli, and Zander all stood frozen in fear. NecoJi gasped and yelled out the name of the monster. 'It's a Squeppelin!'
The Squeppelin shrieked out and pulled all of its tentacles out and behind it. Koli's body flashed red as they looked at their sweeper and started to wrestle with clock face. Blinx eyed Koli's red flash and panicked to himself, looking all around for the danger. Suddenly, the Squeppelin swung one of its front tentacles around the cliff and into the dug in path. The large talon crunched into the inner wall, the bottom of talon leaving enough clearance to the floor for the sweepers to lie prone. The Squeppelin pulled the tentacle back toward itself. NecoJi and Zander both dropped to the floor to miss the talon, while Blinx watched in horror as Koli remained oblivious to the danger. Blinx grabbed Koli's arm and dropped to the floor, but the talon caught Koli before they could hit the floor themselves, instead they ended up being pulled off the cliff edge. Blinx, still holding onto Koli, was dragged over the edge, clawing onto the tip with all his might.
Blinx held himself up with one arm, and still had Koli clasped with the other. Koli held onto Blinx in turn, and still desperately gripped their sweeper with the other hand. NecoJi and Zander both arrived at the cliff edge and grabbed Blinx's wrist, trying to lever his body back into the dug in passage.
Recoiling its tentacles, the Squeppelin shuddered and pulled its mouth towards its body. Zander looked up at the Squeppelin, and instinctively dropped Blinx, leaving NecoJi to hold onto Blinx's sleeve. Zander reached behind him and onto his sweeper. Activating a Pause time control. Shrouding the surroundings in various shades of blue. The Squeppelin froze still, a projectile moments away from leaving its mouth. Zander, as soon as he triggered the time control, slammed himself onto his stomach, dangling his chest over the edge of the cliff, grasping Blinx by the fabric just underneath his collar, and pulling him up. NecoJi waddled backwards as Blinx slid up and over the edge, back onto the path. Still holding onto Koli as he was lifted. Once Blinx was safe, he, Zander, and NecoJi all grabbed Koli and yanked them up and onto the path as well. 'Come on! We need as much distance as we can get!' Zander yelled, sprinting back down the passage and away from the Squeppelin. NecoJi followed closely behind, leaving Blinx and Koli a few seconds behind them, Koli at an arm's length away from Blinx.
The time control expired, and the Squeppelin fired its projetile into the passage. Koli peeked over their shoulder to see a sixteen ton weight fly towards them. Koli reacted by pulling Blinx out of the way, with Blinx being unaware of the weight until the second it brushed past his arm, and crashed into the ceiling of the passage. Blinx thanked Koli, who replied with a simple nod. The passage started to let out loud cracking and crumbling noises. Blinx and Koli eyed the crack lines in the ceiling with a realisation of threat and sprinted out of fear, catching NecoJi and Zander as they reached the end of the tunnel. Behind them, a loud rumble as the passage started to cave in behind them.
The Squeppelin followed the party as they traversed the tunnel, its canon mouth still aimed at the sweepers. Once outside and on the pebble beach, Koli waved to Zander. Zander looked back at Koli and used his index and middle fingers to point to his own eyes.
Koli swirled their right hand in the air at about eye level, before pointing over behind them. Koli then angled their fingers inwards, pressing them against their chest, before pointing at the caved in passage. They finished signing by holding their left hand out, palm to the floor, and then sliding their right hand under their left
Zander looked back at Koli and understood. 'Okay, Necs, Blinx, help me lure the Squeppelin away from Koli' He called out, jodding on the loose ground. Everyone apart from Koli spread out, still running the opposite way to the collapsed passage. Koli slowly moved back towards the rubble. The Squeppelin, as planned, drifted towards the three sweepers running away.
Koli, once in cover, pressed on the clock face of their sweeper, desperatly trying to twist it. Until it suddenly gave way, and rotated. Koli screwed the clock face off, and pulled out a round, red tube, large enough to grip with their whole hand. They put this tube in their pocket, rummaged around a little further, and pulled a second tube out, this one a dark murky silver. Koli slotted it into place and screwed the large clock face back on. Koli looked out across the beach to see their teammates flail and run about, constantly trying to keep the Squeppelin's attention whilst avoiding its large projectiles, of which three sat nestled in the pebbles. Koli looked back down and with similar strain, clicked the clock face back in place. Tight, and secure. They took a deep breath and charged for the Squeppelin. Once they were almost underneath, Koli opened fire, sending a sixteen ton weight back at the time monster.
The Squeppelin's body careened into its airship balloon, sending a projectile off its target, and into the distance up the beach. It flailed for a breif amount of time before steadying itself. Koli aimed and fired their sweeper for a second time, but nothing left the barrel. Checking the capacity, the sweeper's cartridge read 'Empty'. Koli drooped their shoulders, lifting their head and cringing their face. The Squeppelin sung one of its front legs, hitting Koli in the gut and throwing them a fair distance, their sweeper landing a few feet behind them.
Zander yelled out Koli's name, catching the Squeppelin's attention, and making it float towards him. Zander walked backwards, too scared to turn away, he drew his sweeper, but found no ammunition inside it had been stored. The loose stones gave way under his boot, causing him to slip onto his back. He gasped, wide eyes, and pressing himself into the floor with a mortified look. The Squeppelin's mouth retracted once more, charging a shot. Zander slammed his eyes shut and prepared for the worst.
All Zander seemed to experience was a loud crash and an even louder shriek. Looking back at the Squeppelin, he saw its balloon deflate, and drop to the floor, before dissolving into time crystals. Behind the Squeppelin stood Koli, with a subdued anger on their face. They held together for a while until they dropped their sweeper and clenched their stomach, grunting in pain as they did so. Zander scarmbled to his feet, throwing pebbles behind him as he did, and ran towards Koli, catching them just before their body hit the beach. 'Koli! Koli! It's okay, it's over. Let's get you home, yeah?' Zander sputtered, panicked and desperately holding together.
Blinx and NecoJi swept up the freshly dropped crystals and quickly crowded around Zander and Koli. Blinx asked if Koli was alright, and NecoJi unzipped their works jacket. Koli wore a block hoodie underneath, soaked with blood. Insinctively, NecoJi pulled his orange beret off, and threw it to Blinx. 'Put pressure on their core, bear hug them if you have to. Zander, You get the shoulders, I'll get the legs' Zander and NecoJi lifted Koli between them, and the team all entered the returning portal together.
Blinx found what happened between the gate room and the infirmary ward to be a blur. A rush of nurses, doctors, and sutures to stabilise Koli; and after all the mayhem, there they laid. Resting in a hospital bed. Zander sat anxiously beside the bed, with NecoJi leaving the room to speak to Blinx, who was stood looking from the outside in. 'Hey, umm, thanks for looking out for Koli back there'
'It was nothing' Blinx replied. 'A team should look after their own.'
'That's true. I just hope they will look after you in the same way' NecoJi added, before turning and walking away.
Blinx sighed to himself and looked to the ground. Behind him, a familiar sweeper approached. Short, long eared, and scarred. Blinx heard his name called, and turned around. Greeting Skitch as he arrived, with a worried look 'I heard about the Squeppelin. You're not injured, right?' Skitch said
'No, no, that was a team mate' Blinx confirmed. The two looked into the room, and Skitch recoiled.
'Ooh, that looks like a month to heal, and another two in rehab' Skitch analysed.
'Hmm' Blinx gave in reply. 'How was your first day?' He spoke, neutral in tone. Skitch looked back at him and tried to pull his thoughts together.
'I doubt you'd believe me if I told you' Skitch responded. Blinx folded his arms and smirked. 'Okay, okay, you got me... Let's see now...'