A light breeze fills the grey town, dead silence as people walk to work in the same suit, to the same jobs. Towers like light poles poke out of the ground, with what look like vacuum cleaners where the lights should be, watching as people pass by.
"I-I don't know what to do. Don't you feel it coming? That urge to do what you want?" A shaking man says, brush in hand as he sits on a grey bench. His canvas had been knocked over, paint splattered on the ground with splotches on the man's drab suit.
"How much do you value it? This dream." A calm, bored man replies. "Is it worth risking everything? Your life, well-being, even the safety of our town?"
"No… but why can't I follow it?!" The shaking man springs up, stepping around with wide-eyes. "I've heard what the bandits say. Don't you think they're onto something?"
The bored man clicks his tongue. Those bandits, don't they understand how much danger they're putting us in?
He tries to approach the panicking man, extending a hand. "Calm down. The life you have is fine, if you push too far…"
"Our dreams, our happiness…" Steam exits the man's body as he interrupts. "Doesn't it matter more than this?" The steam engulfs his body as the figure of a monster grows bigger.
Sirens blare as the steam rises. "Breakout detected! Breakout detected! Evacuate the are immediately!"
"Another one, it's getting more frequent." The bored man says as he backs away.
The vacuum cleaners suck the steam away, revealing the monster inside. A mismatch of colors and shapes, with a brush for its arm. The monster swings the brush around, the paint eating away at anything it lands on like acid.
"Calm down! What will this accomplish? Destroying everything around you won't change anything." The man says.
"This town needs more color. I'll paint until there's nothing but color!" the monster roars.
A mix of robot and human soldiers surround the monster, getting in front of the man to protect him. "It's dangerous here, leave." One soldier says.
Thought I could bring him back before things escalated, but it didn't work. One of these days I'll find a way. The man thinks to himself.
He backs further away, but keeps watching the soldiers fire at the monster. Multi-colored blasts crash into the ground from above, as three figures drop down.
It's them.
"I thank you all for your service, but it's time we take over." One of the figures says as the dust clears up.
Before the man and soldiers stand three armored warriors. One in a white suit, covered in splotches of pink. Some of the spots puffed out like blown-up balls. They're holding a red gun. A glass-sphere filled with gumballs attached to the top.
"Crack, I trust you can handle the monster?" The pink one asks.
"Leave it to me." Another one of the warriors says.
This one is almost like a knight, with different shades of brown armor protecting a black under suit. They wield a sword with a blade that looks almost like chocolate, exiting a torn wrapper attached to the hilt.
"No fair! What am I supposed to do?" The last warrior asks.
A mix of light and dark green. The suit looks like it's corroding and tearing apart. They have no weapon like the other two, instead; they have gloves that almost look like they're dripping with some kind of liquid.
"Sizzle, sizzle." The pink one shakes their head. "Go wild."
Without another moment passing, the pink warrior fires their gun at the crowd of soldiers, aiming for the robots. The monster tries to splash the soldiers with its paint, but Crack gets in the way. It eats away a tiny bit of their suit before they slash at the monster. Sizzle already entered the crowd of soldiers as they grab the robots, their bodies corroding from their touch.
"Don't let them get away!" More soldiers approach.
"Would you hurry it up back there?!" Sizzle shouts at Crack. "We would've been outta here already if it were me."
"Patience." Crack says as they cut the monster's brush, pressing a trigger on the hilt of their sword.
It covered their body in a chocolate casing as they prepare to strike with their sword. The monster swats at them with their broken brush, but the moment they touch the casing, it shatters open and Crack slashes through the monster. It turns into more steam, being sucked away by the vacuum cleaners as the man's body falls from the steam.
"Gotcha." The pink one grabs him as he falls. "It's been fun, but we've got dreams to save."
Soldiers fire at the three, but the bullets don't do much as they run away. They got away with the victim again. Don't they understand? These antics are only hurting us. The bored man thinks to himself. Kamen Riders…
—
"Sizzle, have we lost them yet?" The pink rider asks as the three run.
"Like they'd catch up to me! We lost them the moment we ran." Sizzle replies.
"Yes, Pop. We lost them." Crack says.
"Alrighty then, we're taking the entrance on the right." Pop says. The three continue running before turning into an alleyway.
Pop kicks open an entrance in the ground, handing the body to Crack. "Make sure no one sees us." Crack says.
"Yeah, yeah. Get down there already." Pop replies.
Crack drops the man into the entrance, sliding down into the abyss. "Me next!" Sizzle says, jumping in without warning.
"That kid…" Crack says.
"Let her have fun. Did she get hurt at all during the fight?" Pop asks.
"No. Don't worry, I'll keep her safe if it ever looks like she'll get hit." Crack says before jumping down the entrance. Pop follows soon after.
Sounds of the man screaming get louder as Pop goes down what feels like a slide, followed by Sizzle's voice. "You've heard right. We're the evil candy bandits. And we've thrown you into our lair. Mwahahaha!"
"Quit it." Crack says, lightly smacking them on the head. "We only brought you here to save you from those soldiers." They say to the man.
"I-I just wanted to paint. I didn't want to hurt anyone." He says, backing himself into a wall.
Pop finally comes out the end of the slide, flying through an already opened door into a room filled with bright and vibrant colors. So much so that it hurts to look at. Containers filled with different types of candy, and multiple doors like the one they flew through filled the room.
"You don't have to explain anything to us. We know it's not your fault. Our dreams can drive us wild, especially when they're dangled in front of us." Pop says.
"But they'll fix me, right?" The man says. Pop looks at him closely as little bits of steam still float off his body.
"You can take that chance, but have you ever seen a breakout victim return after that?" Pop says.
"It must be a long process." The man says as he looks around, still trying to understand his surroundings.
"More like an infinite process. Those bozos aren't helping anyone!" Sizzle gets right up to the man's face. "Don't you think it's weird? For all that fixing they talk about, we've never seen them actually 'fix' anyone."
The man stumbles back against the wall. "W-What about you three? How do I know you're not trying to trick me?"
"We can't. It's up to you to decide who you'd rather trust." Crack says, holding one hand to a door at the center of the other doors. "You could trust us and go to our safe house for the victims were protecting." He moves the hand around the room, hovering over the many other doors. "Or you could take your chances out there. It's up to you."
Without hesitation, the man walks over to one of the many exit doors. "I'll take my chances. I'd rather trust the town I live in than a bunch of hoodlums." He opens the door before going through the slide-like tube, shooting up as he vanishes.
It's silent for a moment. Pop walks over to one of the containers, kicking it, wrapped candy spilled onto the ground. "Idiot."
"Who needs him, anyway?" Sizzle says before Crack puts his hand on her shoulder, shaking his head as she looks at him.
Pop sighs before pointing, holding her gun out and taking the glass sphere off. The suit vanishes to reveal the pink-haired woman underneath, wearing a basic button-up shirt with a pulled-down black tie.
"You're on café duty, Reese." She says to Crack.
He snaps his chocolate blade, pieces falling to the ground as the wrapper automatically wraps itself around the broken blade. His suit vanishes. The quite boring man underneath looks back at the woman with a smile. Wearing a long-sleeved black shirt with a blue-grey scarf as he pushed up his glasses.
"It would be my pleasure. Don't get into any trouble, alright, Penny?" He asks.
Penny mocks him with a talking motion from her hand as he speaks. "Don't mess up any orders." She looks around the room before finding a box, pulling out a grey wig and contacts.
"Yeah, Reese. I bet you'll run this whole place into the ground in one day." Sizzle says, putting her hands on the belt attached to her waist.
The gloves stick to the belt, her suit fizzling away as the green-haired high schooler pops out. A smug look on her face as she mocks Reese.
"Jes, don't you have homework to do?" He says.
"I can do it tomorrow. Mind your own business." Jes says.
"Sorry, kid. You're gonna go home and get that work done, not like there's much to do here, anyway." Penny says.
"Aw, but…" She pouts for a moment before giving up. "Fine, I'll go home." Jes leaves through one of the exit doors surrounding the room.
Penny puts her wig and contacts on, tightening her tie and putting a bored expression on her face as she turns to Reese. "Like I said, you've got café duty. I need to run some errands."
Reese nods as she walks through a plain door separate from the others in the colorful room. As she walks through, Penny enters an empty café, turning the closed sign to open for when Reese comes out. Reese exited out to the bland town, grey, beige, filled with colors that'd drive anyone insane out of boredom. People walk the street, most almost as boring as the town itself.
Penny looks to her right, far into the distance at a wall blocking off the town. We'll be coming for you soon, don't worry. I'm not letting this town or its people get ruined anymore. She thinks to herself, staring at the skyscraper that towers over the wall and town. Penny turns away, walking away as she blends in with everyone else.