"I can't believe it! Gwhaha, you four are some of the best employees I've ever had!"
Vista supposed that if there was one silver lining from that mess of a Salmon Run shift, they had set a new record for golden egg collection. Three-hundred and seven eggs, compared to the company-wide previous record of one hundred and seventy-seven. An amazing haul, by all metrics.
"We aim to please!" Marius chirped back, happy as a clam.
Sometimes, she just wanted to punch him. How could he be so happy? Doesn't he realize what they had done, bringing that thing to the mainland?
"Erm… what I think he means is, 'thank you.'" Celia said, putting an authoritarian hand on his shoulder. No doubt she was embarrassed by his antics, but then again, everyone was.
Bombastic chucklehead.
Still, it was Celia and Marius that did the talking for these types of things. She and Rio would usually go and change back into their everyday clothing during their whole spiel. This evening had been no different, and they had gotten back to catch the end of Mr. Grizz's antics.
They had all agreed beforehand not to mention anything about the Stranger. Clearly, he wasn't affiliated with Mr. Grizz, and with the former being the ruthless capitalist he was, would have a field day if he got his hands (or paws?) on any of his equipment. She did not want to be the one responsible for any more of those terrifying inkless chargers being created, or the knowledge that such weapons even existed getting out, for that matter.
It was another can of shark bait Inkopolis didn't need opened.
And if any of her theories surrounding this mystery person were correct, her position here could become quite… worrisome. The last thing Inkopolis needed was a potential tragedy waiting to happen.
The stranger may have been just one person, but who knew who he was affiliated with? Anyone armed and armored like him had to be up to something nefarious, and she didn't want to be tangled up in another disaster.
Did their goal have something to do with the Salmonids, or perhaps he was actually a pawn of Mr. Grizz? Why else would he be at the Ruins of Ark Polaris? While she had only caught the last of Marius and Celia's conversation with Mr. Grizz, he seemed surprisingly nonchalant about them breaking the highest golden egg haul by at least one hundred and fifty eggs, or the crashed mothership, for the matter.
Did he even know about that?
How could he not? It was where they got most of the eggs in the first place. Mr. Grizz was many things, but a fool was not one of them.
Rio shook her shoulder, bringing her out of her thoughts. "You spacing out on me, V?"
"Oh, I was just… thinking," Vista answered, shaking her head slightly.
"I see…" Rio nodded sagely, "Well, while Celia and Marius are getting out their gear, did you wanna go grab our pay?"
"They're done talking already?" She looked around; Marius and Rio had vanished, and Mr. Grizz's radio had gone silent.
"See?" Rio quipped, "You totally spaced out."
Vista rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah. Let's just see what we got, eh?" With that, Rio dragged her out into the cold air of the night. Fiddling with the kiosk built into the office's front gave Vista several reward capsules, while Rio inserted a card into the machine, which beeped cheerfully after a second.
While Vista opened her various capsules, Rio checked her phone, and upon doing so, gasped. "Ohmygosh, one-hundred thousand coin! Holy shell, holy shell, holy shell!" She hopped from one foot to the other in excitement, "I gotta tell the others!"
She rushed back into the office, leaving Vista outside in the cold night.
Her own payment consisted of sixty-four thousand coin, alongside a few meal tickets (redeemable for over-fried fast food, bluh), and a voucher for a pair of rain boots. She couldn't help but smile at her bounty. Despite the… complications of the evening, this certainly was a sight for sore eyes.
They were going to be fine for quite a while with this haul, that was for sure.
Granted, she would have preferred the pure cash payments her friends got, but she wasn't a full time Grizzco worker yet. Still, she did need a new pair of boots, and a few free meals certainly wouldn't hurt. Maybe she could trade them with Celia, or something.
Vista couldn't help but feel a bit of apprehension over their gains, though. It'd all come at the cost of letting him escape. They should have kept a closer eye on that stranger when they got back to the waterfront, but hindsight is a bag of barnacles. There were a lot of things she wished would have happened differently, but she supposed there wasn't much point in crying over spilt milk
Besides, she knew what they would say if she started complaining, "Vista, don't worry about it. I'm sure it was nothing. Just, please, stop obsessing! Let it go!" Shell, the last thing she needed was their carp.
She glanced nervously at the darkened street and alleys of the rundown district around her. He had to be out there somewhere. Watching, waiting…
A shudder ran down her spine, as she crept back inside to rejoin her crew.
"Y'know, I was thinking…"
Huh?
Why did everything feel so… surreal?
He looked over to his companion. She was sat against a lichen covered log, beer in hand. Her dirty blonde hair was in a neat ponytail, laid against the wood. Above them, the canopy of the thick forest blocked out the cloudy sky.
"Have you wondered what would happen if the world ever, y'know, ended?"
"There isn't much to imagine, honestly." he muttered. He was leaning back against his own log, taking a sip of his own alcohol. The taste was less than stellar, not helped by the lukewarm temperature.
"And by that you mean…?"
"Well, how do you think the world will end?"
"Eh… that's a tricky one. Some super weapon being cooked up by the Eurocorp? Bioweapons?"
"C'mon, be a little creative!" he shot back, "We might as well have a bit of fun with this."
"Fine," her brows furrowed, "how about… infinitely reproducing nanites? An alien invasion? Killer fish swarms from the seas?"
That last one… it threw him off balance for whatever reason.
"That's it? You've gotta have some more than that."
She sighed, "I'm thinkin', I'm thinkin'."
He couldn't see her face behind her cap, but a small smirk played across her lips.
"How about nuclear annihilation?" he suggested, "Only real way I see us all dying."
She shook her head, "...Nah. Not these days, no. Let's stick to realistic options, hm?"
"And nuclear annihilation isn't realistic?"
She laughed, "Haven't you seen the Emplacements?"
"I mean… Meh, fair enough. But still. I mean, we could survive everything else. But mutually assured destruction? I don't think we'd recover from that."
He snorted, adding, "But I bet it's the only way we'll be seeing peace again, huh?"
The familiar stranger chuckled. She brought a hand to her mouth, trying to suppress her mirth. Soon, gales of laughter broke through her hands, "Amen to that!"
A hand came to his own mouth. Despite his best efforts, a small smile cracked through. The crack in his defenses soon split further, allowing laughter of his own to ring out as well. The two sat in that clear, howls of mirth echoing throughout, their shoulders shaking.
Eventually, though, the laughter petered out, leaving a comfortable silence. What to talk about, what to talk about…
...oh. Right.
"Listen… there was something I needed to tell you."
"Hmm?" she grunted, sitting up straighter.
"Well… God, there isn't any easy way to say this… but, I-I've been given an opportunity."
"Oh? And that is?"
"I've been offered a job with Polaris Tech, over in Japan."
"..."
"Listen, I know it's a lot to take in, but… I really can't turn this down! Would you turn down working for NASA… Um…"
He looked to her, searching for anything in her expression. She stayed stoic, staring at him almost blankly.
"C'mon, uhh…" ...what was her name?
He nervously took another sip of his beer, tasteless to his tongue, "Look, I'll… well, I won't need to keep working for Aurora. I'll get to leave Seattle. Leave the country. See the world. You know I can't refuse!"
She took a long sip of her beer, smacking her lips.
"That's what I was gonna say…" she muttered, looking away.
"What?"
"About the whole 'end of the world' thing. You told me to come up with a more realistic option, yeah?"
"Oh…?"
"How about… I don't know, a flood?"
The bottle he had been holding fell to the forest floor. A stab of emotion went through his heart, leaving a dull ache behind. What was that? Why did that…?
"P-pardon?"
She lifted her head, staring at him. Piercing blue eyes stared into his green.
He… didn't recognize her.
"You heard me. A flood."
She stood up, her form imperceptibly wavering. Distantly, he became aware of some… other feeling. He couldn't describe it. Like… something being broken, somewhere.
"A flood, swallowing up everything and everyone you care for?" she said, slowly approaching him.
He felt… wrong. Like he wasn't supposed to be here anymore.
But this was just a nice outing after work, what was-
"Hit too close to home, huh? Y'know, I wonder, despite our combined efforts, our so-called mastery of the world, why would we fall to such a simple thing? Would it be divine intervention, maybe? Punishment for our fuckery with the noosphere?"
She stood right in front of him. Her words carried a poisoned edge.
For a second, he swore he saw a gun in her hand, fire in her eyes, wreathing her form in a rusting doorway. How did that get there? Wasn't this…?
"And why would I of all people be spared, huh? What would make me deserving? What sets me apart from the rest? Surely an omnipotent prick like you would know the answer, huh? Doubt you'll ever tell me, though."
The world shimmered and shook around them. He had no time to protest, and neither did he feel like he even could. Something was holding him back.
"That's okay. I already know. I was lucky. I beat your odds. Out of billions of souls, I won the goddamn lottery. There's nothing 'special' about me. I'm not preordained. The stars for my survival aligned, not because of destiny, but because of sheer dumb luck."
Gone was the clearing. Now, it was dark, and cold. Metal and concrete all around, but not a sound to be heard. And yet, the woman remained. A constant, in whatever nightmare he'd found himself in.
"I… I'm not-" he tried, hoping to get anything out. Nothing came out right. Why couldn't he…?
"I want you to know something, alright?" she growled, as the world changed once more.
Corpses in cryopods, the lights flickering as dozens convulsed within, cryo-shock warnings flashing on the few displays still lit. Flames jetting from a hole in a reactor, seconds before detonation.
"There's no hope left for humanity. You're gonna sit and deny it, as much and as hard as you can. I know. I did, too. Then, I saw the bodies. Saw all the flatlines when emergency power came back."
The clearing returned, hazy scarlet skies behind the distant silhouettes of coastal Emplacements and familiar mountains. Something drew his eyes away from the sea, back towards the forest.
"Then, I saw your new little freaks waiting around outside, thinking they were hot shit for killing everybody I worked so damn hard to protect. Y'know what I did? I did what was right."
An unfamiliar pickup truck idled outside a viciously burning hole in the earth, its owners splattered across the scorched grass and dirt around it. There she stood, watching the fire burn.
She huffed, turning to look back at him.
"I don't know what the hell's wrong with you, thinking lil' ol' me would be your new post-apocalyptic champion, singing Kumbaya with your little squid freaks or some shit. I'll tell you right now, I've got no intention of playin' your game. Not anymore. Not after that."
All he could do was stand there and stare at her. It felt like something was… Something was holding him in place, keeping his jaw locked firmly shut.
"Not going to say anything, huh? Gonna cry about it? Smite me? Wake some other doofus up from cryo to be your bitch? What'll it be, God?"
The woman scoffed, striding towards him with fire in her eyes. He couldn't act, trapped in this loop of just staring at this schizo maniac conjured up by his mind. He just wanted to wake up!
"Maybe you'll just stand there looking at me like I'm fucking crazy. That's okay."
With impossible strength, she lifted him to his feet by his shirt collar.
She chuckled, "Y'know, I've waited so long to do this."
Her fist cocked back, and all he could do was stare.
WHAM!
He bolted upright with a yelp, covered in cold sweat.
He thrashed against the dark pressure surrounding him, flailing about in pitch black. As memories of the past day rushed back to him, he eventually calmed. He floated back down to the watery floor, breathing heavily. The stress bled out of his mind, slowly but surely.
Just a dream… Just a dream…
Already, the details of it were fading from his memory. He shook his head in confusion.
Nightmares, man.
But, that didn't explain why he was underwater.
Last night was a hectic blur. He remembered being chased, but blanked out beyond that. Did he fall off of the waterfront? Had… had he really slept here all night?
…Judging by just how much better he felt, the answer was obvious. And, it seemed to be beneficial as well? It would've shaken off his pursuers, and presumably he could sleep here undetected; the ERA suit's oxygen recycling systems were simply divine. Even with them, however, there was little point in staying down here any longer.
He gently kicked off the bottom, swimming up to the surface. With a soft splash, he broke through, lightly treading water to stay afloat. He emerged just next to a wooden dock jutting from the waterfront, the moon shining down on him.
He was still hungry and hurting, but it certainly was a refreshing sight, even if it was night. Which was… concerning.
Sweet Jesus! How long had he been asleep?
Definitely over his usual eight or nine hours of sleep. That would explain why he was feeling so, so much more energetic. His, well, everything still hurt though. and that nagging hunger and thirst, as well. Not fun.
He swam to the dock, and found a point where he could pull himself up. It took a moment to get on, the residue water quickly falling off of the ERA's hydrophobic oversuit, benefits of modern technology and all. Amazing stuff it was, the fantastic results of the collective effort of hundreds of technicians and engineers. Too bad he couldn't rely on that same webwork, though. Mainly because they were all… dead.
Oh… right. That… was still a thing.
Humanity was still very much dead, he was still very much cut off from Polaris, and he was still very much paranoid of everything around him after the revelations the warden AI gave him back there.
…oh god, was that what that dream was about? It was blurry, but he could remember just enough, maybe?
He forcefully pushed those thoughts away. It was just a dream, nothing more. Being basked in the pale moonlight was doing wonders to calm him down; it was still the same moon from his past, a constant. He reached up to remove his mask, but froze.
It might have been night, but...
There were a few of the pseudo-humans clustered on the waterfront, their outlines visible from the glow of a few shoddy buildings. Talking, drinking, if the roars of soapy mirth were to be believed. From his position on one of the unlit, wooden docks, he was practically invisible.
But, not silent.
The group's talk ceased at the splashing disturbance. Quiet mutterings came from them. With his eyes better adjusted to the dark, he could better make them out. Not sailors, per say, but… laborers, perhaps?
Well… that wasn't good.
Sure, they were probably underpaid dock workers, but they were eyes and ears that he didn't want to be picked up by regardless.
He quietly walked along the dock, onto the waterfront proper. The group saw him immediately. Their mumblings ceased. Without even looking at them, he walked past. He hoped they didn't notice how much he was shaking.
Act strong when weak… act strong when weak…
One of them shouted something at him, heckling him, perhaps.
He didn't spare a glance. Now's not the time for talk, pal.
Keep walking…
From the corner of his eye, he saw one of them start forward.
And run!
His boots pounded against the concrete underfoot, as he tore across the ramshackle harbor in the general direction of the city he'd fought so hard earlier to get to. Adrenaline surged through him, carrying him across containers, pallets, and all manner of fences and railings in his rush to get away from the docks.
The world around him became a blur, as he continued his sprint through alleyways and narrow city streets. He'd probably long lost the dock workers by now, but he didn't care. What mattered most was getting as far away from them as humanly possible.
…
Finally, his legs all but gave out on him, after what felt like an eternity of running. He stumbled to a halt, collapsing against a wall in some nondescript alleyway somewhere in a nondescript part of the city.
Great.
He wished he could have taken off his ERA (it stuck uncomfortably to his skin from the sweat, water reclamation capabilities were never properly implemented), but that simply wasn't an option. He couldn't even take off his mask, for fear of his face being seen. He could've passed, perhaps, but he couldn't bring himself to take that risk, especially if it triggered a country wide game of 'hunt the human'. Of course, walking around wearing what amounted to a hazmat suit in the middle of a city could be considered much worse, but it at least hid his identity, and more importantly, his species.
Besides, he probably smelled terrible.
But still, it was night, and he was fairly sure he had passed out at that same time.
How long had he been out exactly?
At least a full day, if he had to guess. at least, as he felt surprisingly rested. Unfortunately, the many aches and pains and such of his body, plus a near ravenous thirst and hunger may as well have nullified that rest.
He took another deep breath. For now, he supposed it didn't quite matter. Regardless of what transpired the previous evening, he was ok. Physically, maybe not. Mentally… up for debate…
…he was still alive, though. That was something, right?
Little thanks to those four.
Right, those four… He couldn't help but feel a bit guilty about ditching them, but it was nothing personal. He just couldn't trust any of them, whatever their intentions. Even if they resembled humans, he couldn't trust that they thought like him. Because, similar appearances aside, they were an entirely different species. But he had already gone over that line of thought.
Death, dismemberment, interrogation, etc. Usual things one species would do to another, entirely alien species to them.
This city was presumably filled with others like them, if his run-in with the ones by the docks was any indication. As mind-bendingly mad as the idea was, as if he were in a dream, he knew it to be true. He'd somehow accepted the grand tragedy that had fallen onto his shoulders, and the potential consequences it may have had on this new post-human race, but this situation he was in… this was something entirely new.
Two and a half weeks ago (from his perspective of time), he was living a normal, ordinary life, and now...
He was stuck in this future, humanity potentially dead (how else would this species exist, not to mention the warden's freakouts about Borealis?) and he was now stuck in, for all intents and purposes, a potentially unfriendly city populated by sapient non-humans. He couldn't be quite sure, but if the scenario was reversed, as in a lone pseudo stuck in a human city, they would be hunted, detained, interrogated, then dissected if not useful. Who said they wouldn't do the same to him?
…
He may or may not have been freaking out a tad.
Sure, he could probably pass as one of them from a distance, but he had no chance up close. And who said they didn't have any other identification methods? Some sixth sense?
He pushed down the fledgling doubt in his gut. Regardless of all the crazy stuff going on around him, he still had a job to do!
…even if he had no idea of how he was going to accomplish it.
With a groan, he struggled back to his feet, using a nearby railing as support.
An abandoned street greeted him, as cracked and worn looking as he felt. Well, not entirely abandoned, if the fairly decently maintained bits of infrastructure and buildings around him were any indication.
He seemed to be in some sort of lower-class commercial area, not far from the docks judging from the amount of fishing gear and fishing-related signage there was around him. Great. Not as far as he'd like to be, but far enough to have at least lost the dock workers. Now, he was hopefully alone, in some weird facsimile of the city he'd used to live in back before the flood.
The hell was it even called, anyway? Nagasaki? Chiba? Chibasaki?
…
Whatever. Didn't matter much, anyway - whatever city was here before the flood was no doubt completely gone, as with the rest of his species.
Where did his life go so wrong? He could've been at home with his family, together and happy with them as the flood waters took everything away.
He could've hid out in one of Great Uncle's prepper shelters, then maybe… God knows, maybe just keel over dead from starvation or get murked by a schizophrenic gun toting maniac or something. Definitely not anything to do with going outside, that was for sure.
Whatever the case, dying with his family back in the Dakotas could've been a much better end to his story than this.
But, of course, the universe had other plans for him.
Of course he had to take that job offer with Polaris Technologies. Of course he had to move to Japan, living out of a cheap apartment as he slaved away at all manner of crazy top-secret shit in that sprawling complex of theirs he worked at.
Of fucking course he had to be part of the unlucky ones, the poor techs and engineers who got shuffled into cryopods after weeks of preparation at the bottom of the goddamn ocean.
And finally, of fucking COURSE he had to be the one woken up after it all, twelve thousand years later in a future he had absolutely no hope surviving in!
He groaned, forcing down an imminent panic attack. Not wasn't the time for negative bullshit - focus on the positives! Think something good about yourself, for Christ's sake!
Out of all his colleagues, he probably was the youngest and hardiest, and if nothing else, had actually fired a gun in the past (amongst other things. How he passed the background checks, he would never know). Not that it was such an accomplishment to be the best at those activities in his chosen field; the bar was rather low.
Seriously, while everyone was in their forties and fifties, he was in his late twenties. He was fairly certain they only kept him around to move heavy lab equipment and press buttons; His degree was wasted. Sure, there was the occasional chemistry work he could do, but when moving carts took up almost eighty percent of his shifts, things got boring quick.
But, despite his lack of expertise in diplomacy or whatever, the warden did choose him for this, and he was never one to disappoint, even if the thing he would've been disappointing was a crazed AI… who may have chosen him for his "expertise," now that he thought about it.
Thanks Great Uncle. Looks like your schizoid training sessions actually paid off.
Regardless of the reasons behind his awakening, he had some hellish expectations to live up to, and… it was intimidating...
It was a new world out there, literally speaking. Where to start, where to start…
Maybe he'd have a bout of inspiration while looking around, or if nothing else, a chance to familiarize himself with this city. Human or not, he'd probably be here for a while.
He was not looking forward to this, but as long as he was careful, this could work. Maybe. Hopefully. He'd have to see, honestly.
Now out on the sidewalks, he made it a point to stick as close as he could to the buildings, where the light from the streetlamps worked hardest to reach. Not that it helped much, but every solitary advantage he could get was desirable. Soon enough, he had managed to wander towards a more populated looking area of the city.
He wasn't quite sure where he was going, but as foreboding as that thought was, there was a kind of charm to wandering to his heart's directions.
One street after another, all in that pseudo-Japanese style he'd been accustomed to since the days before the flood. There was a distinct amount of American influence, sure - what with all the normal brick buildings and notable lack of tile everywhere.
(Seriously, what the hell was up with all the tile on Japanese buildings? It gave him a headache every time he tried to figure out a reason why everything looked like it was covered in friggin' bathroom tile.)
He had also begun seeing more of the pseudos out and about. Not too many, but enough to show that the city was actually populated, rather than a facade that looked lived-in. At this hour, thankfully, he only really ran into a few teenagers and a few punk looking pseudos. They gave him a nervous, wide berth, as he figured they would.
It was still freaky to see them at all, but he couldn't help but laugh a little at their skittish reactions. Lord knows he would have done the same if he were in their shoes.
Only in Florida...
Of course, he wasn't one to ordinarily wander about in the dead of night. Tonight was special.
By then, he had wandered into what was presumably another residential section. Like the docks, it was older, faded, and industrial in its setup. Rather than individual houses, a few apartment complexes, red brick and mortar, rose up around him, and like their surroundings were quite derelict. It wasn't absolutely derelict like that fishing district he'd walked through earlier, but it definitely wasn't middle-class housing.
If nothing else, the space wasn't boxed in; rather carrying the feel of a more open area. Hell, they even had a few trees. Trees! It was good to see trees again.
There was even a little one of those koi river things, too. It was nice, until he remembered fish in this new world often carried cookware and were out to kill him. He stepped away, giving the big multicolored fish a wide berth. Everything still ached from the frying pan beatdown…
Walking around in the night, once he managed to get over the trepidation of being seen by a few others, was rather peaceful. Even with the light pollution of the city, the moon was shining brilliantly down on him. Even after all this destruction, upheaval, and fishy insanity, the moon was still the same.
He leaned against a light post, eyes still fixed on the celestial body. As odd as it was to him, he took a strange solace in its presence. It had been too long since he had laid eyes on it. It took him back to better, more carefree nights before the flood. Before Polaris…
Light pollution, man. The stars would have completed the picture, but alas - the advent of electric lighting and its consequences have been a disaster for sky-watchers worldwide.
He couldn't stare slack jawed at the moon forever, though. He had to keep moving. The more he stopped, the more eyes he could feel on him.
And the more eyes on him, the worse his night could get.
With their combined jackpot of two hundred thousand coin, plus the extra from their previous shifts, the thick tension that had pervaded the self-titled Grizzco Gang™'s apartment over the past three weeks had finally lifted.
For once, they could all breathe easier.
From that one shift, they had easily made this month's rent and utility with plenty to spare. The air of the apartment was one of hope, not despair for once.
After the events of the previous night, on top of the sheer amount of shifts they'd worked over the past month, they had elected to take a few days off to rest. Today, for once, was not a team day doing odd jobs out in Inkopolis or a grueling series of Turf Wars, but rather, a rare, lazy day, doing what they wished.
Not all good things last forever, however. The evening had come soon enough, and they had all returned to the apartment to settle in for the night.
Marius was passed out in the corner of the room, curled on a cheap, carpeted floor. Rio was bent over on the old, wooden table in their small dining room-slash-kitchen area, painting a kind of inane kaleidoscope of colors onto a sheet of thick paper. Vista was on the other end of the table fiddling with a Squiffer, a small set of fine, steel tools off to her side. Celia lounged on a dingy couch they had gotten from a garage sale, asleep. A wall clock in their small kitchen area stated the time to be one in the morning.
It was a careful balance, one cultivated over a multitude of months and supported by their high spirits. Granted, the balance was easier when Marius and Celia were asleep. Without them (mostly him) it was much quieter around the apartment, which lent well to Rio and Vista's miscellaneous late-night activities.
With a flourish, Rio put a final splatter of paint on her masterpiece, "And finished!" She declared proudly, albeit quietly. Waking the others would be quite the travesty.
Vista looked up from the Squiffer, stifling a yawn, "Oh, good, good. Let's take a look." She got up from chair to glance over Rio's shoulder, "Yeah, that's very… good." In truth, she had no idea what Rio meant to create; it was just a random blur of colors to her, nothing that could be given higher meaning.
"Thanks! I really think it turned out well, if I do say so myself!" She paused, blinking her bleary eyes at Vista's Squiffer, "What about your little project there?" She blinked again, trying to clear the tired fog from her mind.
Vista nodded, rubbing an eye, "It's definitely been a-" she stretched, yawning, "-enlightening thing to mess with."
"Of course. Though why are you toying with it? Like, am I wrong in saying that you've always just experimented with rollers? Or am I just…" Her head fell into her hands. Rio got up from chair, leaving her picture out to dry.
"Y'know, I'm just… trying to, y'know, broaden my horizons," Vista turned to put away the Squiffer for the night, but Rio stopped her, curiosity gleaming in her eyes, tiredness temporarily forgotten.
"Is this because of what happened last night?"
Vista couldn't help but wince, "No, of course not."
A raised eyebrow from Rio, accented by a hand on a cocked hip, made her blush slightly, "...don't tell the others."
She hadn't been able to get the Stranger out of her head. Everything she had seen, both baffling, and a mystery to her trained eye. Not even Celia seemed to care anymore; rather, she had written off as another odd quirk of living in Inkopolis.
Vista, on the other hand, felt like they had brushed against something significant and serious. As if they had seen something that they weren't supposed to. The cusp of a conspiracy.
"Listen, "Rio started, "I know we were all freaked out and all, but really, I… think it's not something we need to worry about."
"That's because you and Marius were all chummy with it!" She hissed, anger seeping into her voice, "Rio, I can't just ignore this! Not this time!"
Just as quick as her anger came, it dissipated, "Look…?" She swayed slightly before catching herself, "I… really don't think I could explain this right now." Her body sagged slightly, struggling to beat off the fatigue she felt.
"Vista… just… we're here for you, ok?" Rio said, turning to head off to bed. She had almost left when Vista spoke up.
"I can't go back. I can't, Rio."
"Oh," Rio said, understanding entering her eyes. She turned back to Vista, giving her a small hug, "Don't worry. We won't let anyone take you back to the Valley."
"Yeah… the Valley," Vista muttered, leaning against Rio's shoulder. It wasn't what she'd been thinking of when she said that, but it was an answer Rio was satisfied with nonetheless. She didn't need to know what really had Vista freaked out. Not tonight, anyhow.
It wasn't the Valley, or the Octarians she was concerned about.
With a soft pat on the back, Rio soon let Vista out of her grasp, a small smile on her face soon cut off with another yawn.
"I'm just... going to bed now. Sleep well." Rio said. She turned off the dim light in the room as she left for the second small room in their apartment, leaving Vista in the dark. Only the moonlight streaming through their solitary window let her see.
She moved to close the blinds, and caught a glance onto the street under them. They really didn't have much of a view, save for the adjacent building. They weren't even too high up, only being on the third floor. As such, it gave her the perfect view of the street below. It really was a beautiful night out.
Wait…
Was that…?
She shot back, stifling a shout of surprise. She nearly fell backwards, but managed to catch herself.
Someone was standing under a streetlight, not far from their apartment. An all too familiar someone.
Him.
What was he doing here!?
...was he here to silence them?
Need for sleep momentarily forgotten, she slowly approached the window once again. Peering out from just above the bottom frame to stay hidden, she was greeted by the sight of an empty street.
She blinked her eyes rapidly, rubbing them for good measure.
Wha- Where did he go!?
Even after, he was still absent, as if he had never been there. Or… had he even been there in the first place?
...Shell, she was seeing things now. Maybe… Rio did have a point, after all.
While this Stranger certainly was a threat, maybe she should loosen up a tad, at least enough to the point where she wasn't jumping at shadows. It had taken her years to break that habit the first time, and she didn't want to reactivate that particular tic.
Vista finally closed the blinds and made her way to her sleeping space in the other room with Rio. They hadn't bothered with beds when they first moved in, rather using sleeping bags, and the practice ended up not being uprooted.
Climbing into her sleeping back, she drifted off to an uneasy sleep and equally uneasy dreams, shifting to and fro in the dead of night.
Someone had to be following him, there was no other explanation.
He had long since moved away from those apartments, but for all intents and purposes, he hadn't made any meaningful progress. Progress being, of course, anything that could help him.
He was walking through the presumed downtown of this city. Streets upon streets filled with restaurants and storefronts, so he could potentially find something to eat… well, steal something to eat. There were barely any pseudos around, but that didn't mean he was about to go rooting through trash cans for scraps of food.
Yet.
At his current pace, he was just sort of wandering, not much of a plan in mind. He… really didn't have any idea of what to do, if he was being honest.
Back on that island, he had been convinced this city held the answers to every problem that plagued him, but now that he was here… it was nothing more than a mirage.
Well, on second thought, it wasn't a mirage. A mirage implied something that didn't exist. This city very much did exist, but it was causing more problems than it solved. He was a total outcast here, confined to the shadows, and if he were to be discovered… well, he had already gone over the likely outcomes.
And now he was being tailed. His first night, and he'd already attracted enough attention to gain a stalker. Dammit!
His follower was one of the pseudos, obviously, but even from a distance, her slim, short build designated her as girl. He couldn't make out many details (she was a good distance behind him), but that fact lent itself more to the torn, yellow high-vis hoodie she wore, concealing much of her face. For some inane reason, she was wearing shorts in this cold weather, not to mention carrying a bag of groceries. At two in the morning?
Who the hell would be up at this hour? And grocery shopping, no less.
(And wearing shorts in cold weather. Some constants never changed, it seemed.)
He'd held his composition long enough to walk around a full block, but she was still behind him. Maintaining that mid range distance… like a coyote, stalking her prey before coming in to devour him. He always hated coyotes.
…Just who was this person, then?
The question filled him with an odd sort of trepidation. Sharp fear, balancing his mind between control and panic, but panic was winning. Tightness constricted his sternum, forcing his breath to come in short, flighty gasps. His empty stomach fluttered to and fro; no he was not ready for this why God why was he in this situation shitcomeupwithaplandammittohell-
His legs turned to jelly, dumping him onto his knees. A hand clutched his heart, which he swore he could feel through the layering of his suit. Incomprehensible gibberish ran through his mind, nothing he could rationalize, just sheer noise.
thegirlhadtobeafuckingFEDofcourseWHYELSEWOULDSHEFOLLOWME-
-breaths, deep breaths…
C'mon, deep breaths. In, then out.
Calm dow-FUCKFUCK SHE GOT CLOSER-
His pace quickened to a jog, as his thoughts threatened to override what little logic was left in his brain. They were only coming faster and faster, forcing their way through his weak resistance to them. They refused to stop, instead growing into a crescendo of terror.
Distantly, he registered stumbling and collapsing to his knees. He was losing himself.
He couldn't do this, HECOULDN'TDOTHI-
Something tapped his shoulder, enough for him to feel through his panic attack. He jolted at the touch, instinctively shooting to his feet.
Whoever touched him recoiled at the action, squeaking in surprise. He quickly spun around to confront his unknown assailant, only to find that she was the same person who had been tailing him (obviously, looking back), and that she had fallen on her ass, dropping the bag of groceries in the process. The tables had turned in the space of a second, effectively reversing their initial positions.
Her hood had fallen off during the exchange, letting him finally make out her face; tan, a full, black mask around her eyes. A lone bandaid was plastered under one eye. Short, yellow tentacles framed her face, bobbed at the sides underneath a black beanie hat. Her face held a cocktail of emotions; surprise, a bit of fear, but a steel of defiance behind it all, all enshrouded within anger.
Quietly, he bent down, and without breaking eye contact snatched up her groceries. Two, full bags of succulent, delicious food-
The pseudo-human girl growled, causing him to quickly step back. They both stared at each other; the emotionless, intimidating countenance of his ERA mask against her angry, defiant snarl. A stalemate.
It didn't do much to assuage his fears, but in a sense, she had broken his panic. He had unintentionally gained the upper hand in this little scuffle, and it felt good, triumphant even. He leaned in a tad closer; even now, she was still scaring him a bit, but… he was intrigued.
This was, in a way, his first direct, close look at these pseudos. Even back on the ship, he didn't have much of the chance (or a direct line of sight) to study them properly.
Hmm… a bit of a wider face, eyes… a bit larger than a human's; were the pupils different? They had contracted slightly, some of the anger gone, replaced by a kind of confusion, and perhaps a bit of fear? The anger remained in full force, however.
He still wasn't quite sure what they were, but they were definitely not natural. He was sure they were related to marine life somehow, but why the human shape then. Wh-
A dull glint near her waist caught his attention. Her hand was there, pointing a phone at him WAIT SHI-
PLAN B!
His boot lashed out, smashing against her hand. She let out a yell of pain, fire in her eyes as she made to get to her feet. Her phone flew away, impacting against a nearby storefront a moment later.
He didn't bother waiting to see what happened next. In a flash of desperation, his boot slammed down onto her foot. Hard. While she hopped and howled in pain, he vanished, running back into the night.
Just like earlier - alleyway after alleyway, side street after side street. He tore down them all, body straining past its limits to get him as far from the city as possible. Left turns, right turns, the occasional U-turn, anything to keep that girl from chasing him down easily.
He couldn't stop, but he slowed down, eventually. He wanted to keep running, keep pounding on the pavement to get away, but he couldn't do it forever. Exhausting himself was death.
Only one thought ran through his mind, over and over and over.
He needed to get out of this city.
Get out and pray they didn't follow him.
/ REWRITE A/N: /
Hey, Falk here once again!
This chapter's rewrite was real fun. Granted, we did kind of massively rework the dream sequence to be almost totally different, but I can't say why here because that's also massive spoilers for those of you new to the fic. For those of you who've already read ahead, this rewritten one should hopefully connect certain future things up a little bit better. I'll explain more when we get around to updating that chapter.
As for non-dream-sequence related things, it was really fun to update all the city stuff with new descriptions and better transitions between scenes. I might've been watching a lot of those Japanese 4K HD walking videos to get inspiration for this, which also simultaneously makes for great background noise. Polarisguy (working name) getting to reminisce about home as well as get to espouse a tiny bit of backstory looking at stuff is great, and much better than what was there originally.
A key philosophy behind these rewrites is to not rewrite, but rather update what's there - what's already happened in the fic still has to happen, because it'd be stupid to make long-time readers have to come back and reread everything to get any new plot points. While sure, it wouldn't hurt to come back and give it a reread, we're making sure it won't be necessary - that new chapters in the future won't need you to go back and reread all this stuff.
Other than that, there's not a whole lot to really talk about here, so I'll instead go ahead and turn this back over to Piston from the end of 2020. With that, we hope you're enjoying the fic so far, whether you're a first time reader or a returning fan! Have a good one!
/ ORIGINAL A/N: /
This is probably going to be a longer Author's Notes.
So…
I have done it! Finally! A chapter that didn't take two full months to write! Yes!
This was a rather strange chapter, in a sense. Finally, our protagonist made it to Inkopolis, but what now? It's definitely been a learning experience trying to put that feeling into words, and even now, I don't think I quite succeeded. But what can one do? Well, aside from spending another month editing it that ultimately proves to be fruitless. Not like that's ever happened... hehe.
I'm sorry.
In other news, it appears AncientDuelistDragon will be sticking around as a beta-reader/editor now. He's been a very big help getting this chapter ready, amongst other things. I must say, the last thing I was expecting when I started this story was to get one of those. Does this make me a real fanfiction writer now?
And on that note, this will probably be the last chapter for 2020. Originally, this story didn't have much of a plan when it was started, and at the moment, it doesn't have a well-constructed one. As such, I'll be taking some time to get that in order, as well as perform some edits on previous chapters to both fix the story/errors and just improve the quality.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this new chapter, and if not, I understand. It definitely is a bit janky in some sections, and even after some fixes, it still feels a bit strange. Or maybe that's the point? I would love to hear what you think about it!
It's been a good ride so far, and I'm hoping you guys stick around for it! Thanks for reading, and see you next year!
