Zenix frantically ran down the busted wood pathway, shoving a couple villagers out of the way as he tried to find his mentor. Zenix soon noticed Garroth in the distance, like he was waiting for something. "Garroth! Garroth!" Garroth looked behind him, noticing the frantic tone in his apprentice's voice. Zenix stopped right in front of his mentor and tried to calm himself down. "Garroth, we have a massive problem!" Zenix exclaimed, clearly still frantic.
Garroth looked at Zenix for a moment. "What seems to be the issue now, Zenix?" The apprentice took a deep breath and tried to process what he needed to say, but Zenix was stumbling over his words, it was like he couldn't get a single comprehensible word out at all. Garroth could see that his apprentice was in distress, and decided to lead him back to the lookout building. "Come along, Zenix, you should eat something. You might just be seeing things due to a lack of proper nourishment, and a lack of sleep." Garroth said, helping his apprentice along.
Zenix tried to argue, but Garroth had already started leading his apprentice down the pathway. Garroth opened the wooden door, and sat Zenix down on a chair, despite his resistance. "Come on, Zenix, it's time to rest for now. The sun is going down, but no monsters have shown up as of yet. Relax, the village is safe tonight, as long as I'm on duty." Garroth reassured.
Zenix was frustrated, he couldn't utter a word. It felt like everything was shutting down. As Garroth left the lookout and continued to patrol the village, Zenix growled as he remained seated. Either way, Zenix knew that the shapeshifter wasn't going to stand a chance against a beast of that caliber, even with his ability to change forms at his leisure.
Zenix leaned back, closing his eyes as he removed his helmet, revealing a curly cascade of brown hair as a devious smirk formed on his face.
The pair continued through the hallway, noticing that the way forward was getting dimmer. "Apparently Zenix never heard of depth perception, or making a light source." Emmalyn remarked.
Frank pulled out a torch from the backpack and stuck it to the wall, lighting the way a fair bit more. Frank steps forward until he notices the texture of the ground changes. Cautiously, Frank backs up and notices that a dark teal substance is sprouting veins onto the stone. He pulls out another torch and sticks it onto the wall, only for a bunch of the same odd substance to be revealed in the midst of the dark. It was growing across the ceiling, the walls, and the floor, like some kind of infectious growth.
Frank was weirded out, but Emmalyn seemed fascinated. She was grossed out, sure, but she happily took a couple small samples of the substance anyway, clipping some off with a set of shears she had on hand. "Interesting. It looks like some type of underground vegetation, but judging by the pulsing spots on it," Frank takes notice of the glowing spots fading in and out at random. "It's likely this stuff evolved to mimic the night sky, even mimicking the stars. There's got to be a reason for this." Emmalyn remarked.
Frank shrugged his shoulders and stepped down onto the odd substance that caked the stone floor, while Emmalyn seemed hesitant to move. "Well, what're you waiting for? Let's keep going!" Emmalyn tried to step onto the substance, but retracted her foot quickly as she clung to the wall, trying to stay away from the stuff. "Are you kidding me? You took a couple snippings of this stuff, but you're scared to step on it?!" Frank remarked.
Emmalyn sneered at the shapeshifter. "Give me a break, it's my first time underground! Just give me a minute to-AHH!" Emmalyn shrieked as Frank walked over and pulled her onto his back, making the librarian very scared as she tightly clung to the stranger. She knocked him over the head with her hand as she hid her very red face, all while Frank kept a firm hold on her so she wouldn't fall. "Y-You jerk! You're nuts for suddenly grabbing me like that! I-I-I would've eventually gotten through on my own, you know!" Emmalyn exclaimed.
The sound of the sensor goes off, getting Frank's attention. As the pair goes further into the infested mineshaft, they both take note of the fact that the mineshaft was almost completely infested with those dark teal veins. Frank carefully places another torch, illuminating the area as more of this strange stuff becomes more and more visible. "This stuff sure is weird, and coming from me, the guy who can turn into weird monster-alien things, that's saying a lot," Frank kept his grip on Emmalyn as he stepped onto more of the infested substance. Before he goes any further, he notices some kind of minecart with a large chest inside it. Curiosity getting the better of him, he sets Emmalyn down onto the floor, much to her disgust, while he opened the chest. Inside it was not a whole lot, just a couple gold bars, some kind of red dust, a lot of string, and miraculously, an apple. "Wonder who left all of this behind... probably worth something to bring it back." Frank remarked.
As Frank looted the chest of its contents, the sensor seems to go off yet again. This time, something seems to respond. Something skitters across the ground, and in the darkness up ahead, more of those large spider things come crawling out, but they seem different. They seemed to be infected by this odd substance, parts of their bodies were caked in that dark teal stuff, the way it ingrains itself into their bodies was horrendous, their beady red eyes were now a bright, yet lifeless teal.
Emmalyn's eyes widened as she shrieked in terror, the sensor responds and so do the infected spiders. Emmalyn pulls out her wooden sword, only for Frank to jump into the fray, pulling out his hunting knife and swiping away at the infested arachnids, trying to ward them away. "I've heard of spider infestations, but I've never heard of spiders having an infestation!" The spiders backed away, only to start spewing some kind of illuminous webbing from their mouths. They weren't attacking, but rather, making a wall to keep the pair from venturing further. Once the web wall was made, the spiders seemed to retreat back into darkness, leaving Frank very confused. "Oookay... not gonna lie, I thought they would attack us. Why're they on the defense, when they had us outnumbered?" Frank questioned.
Emmalyn shuddered and climbed back onto Frank's back. "Who cares, let's just keep going!" Emmalyn encouraged.
Frank sighed, feeling rather frustrated and confused by this woman's insistence. "First you collect samples of this stuff, then you don't wanna step on it, now after seeing those spiders be infested with this stuff, you still wanna keep going? You are either very indecisive, or the most bipolar person I've ever met." Frank remarked.
The librarian huffed. "Just because all of this stuff is understandably gross, disgusting and dangerous, doesn't mean I won't let it stop me from learning more about it... I'm just a bit rusty, is all," Frank raised an eyebrow at the woman, but decided to not prod any further. "Besides, like you're one to talk. How come you didn't transform into any of those creatures when those spiders showed up?!" Emmalyn questioned.
Frank sighed. "I only use my transformations when the situation calls for it. It may sound hypocritical, when I used Water Hazard to fill up that new well, but I already got the well constructed on my own, plus, I was eager to see what other forms I had. And as we saw with those spider things, they didn't seem that intent on attacking us, just blocking the path, like they were protecting something," Frank carefully approached the web wall and pulled out his hunting knife. "I can probably cut through it, but I still don't want to risk using the watch, not unless I really need to. Besides, the watch has to recharge every time I use it." Frank explained.
Emmalyn wasn't convinced, but Frank didn't seem too worried. Frank swung his knife at the web, tearing and cutting a large hole in it. Frank tore at the webbing and opened the hole more, tearing off the webbing and tossed it aside, all while tearing the webbing off his blade. Emmalyn held onto him as he continued to venture forward, more of this odd substance was becoming more and more prevalent. There was another hallway to the right, yet the dark space in front of them was also an option.
Frank looked back at Emmalyn, and despite the spiders not being hostile, he didn't want to push his luck and get her hurt. The pair went to the right, putting up a couple more torches as they ventured forward.
Somewhere deeper within the caves, the same armor clad figure reappears in a puff of smoke. They reach into their pocket and pull out what looks like an amulet, it was purple with a gold chain.
The figure rubs it, causing it to glow. "Hey, you there? Operation Poke The Bear was a success. It's always exciting to see a Warden wake up from their slumber, especially when they're breaking through all of that Sculk," The sound of faint humming and whispers could be heard from the amulet, which makes the figure scoff. "What? No, I'm not being reckless! I'm just stirring up some trouble, can't wait to see this pathetic village be either torn to shreds, or completely infested with Sculk. It's gonna be hilarious watching those fools fight amongst each other, all while they perish." The figure remarked.
The figure walks forward, stepping across the darker gray stone beneath his boots. "Trust me, Sasha, Gene will be ecstatic to know that a Warden will be causing chaos, leaving many too distracted to worry about the Shadow Knights. Now, if only I could get ahold of Vylad, see what that moron's up to-" The figure stopped in his tracks, noticing how quiet it was in the caverns, the smell of death was rather potent, yet there didn't seem to be any signs of life anywhere. "Hmm... strange, there isn't a creature in sight. No creepers, zombies, skeletons, endermen, not even a single spider, bat or slime... where did-" The figure turned around, finally noticing a creature that was intent on making him its prey. "...Nevermind, found one of them. This... is unexpected, but at the same time, this could work in our favor. I'm coming back, there's a lot to explain." The knight stated.
Before the unknown creature could attack, the knight was once again gone in a flash of light and a puff of smoke, leaving the creature to screech out in anger, triggering tons of sensors, and alerting numerous beasts within the dark, covered with the Sculk.
As the pair continued to venture through the sculk infested mineshaft, it was becoming more and more obvious that there was a feeling of danger. More of those strange sculk spiders were continuing to block the way, but by this point, Frank just wasn't having any of it. He used his hunting knife to slice and cut through the webbing, descending deeper and deeper into the depths. The trail of torches they left behind was their only means of finding their way back, especially if things were to get worse.
Emmalyn clung to Frank, keeping herself on his back as they descended further. "This is both terrifying and mildly fascinating, at this rate we'll find a cavern in no time. Hard to believe all of this was underneath the village, must've been from a time when Phoenix Drop was first founded," Frank kept moving, but took some stock in what Emmalyn was saying. Underneath a bunch of this odd substance was wooden planks and old rail tracks, covered in thick layers of dust and seemed to be splintering. "These mineshafts were likely made by the first few miners that dug into the ground for resources. Coal, Iron, Gold, jewels, Phoenix Drop was most likely a kingdom before it fell into reckless and ruinous abandon... how has most of this stuff survived for this long?" Emmalyn questioned.
Frank stopped moving, seeing a surprising amount of darkness up ahead. He placed a torch, but the area wasn't lighting up. Upon further examination, the mineshaft had abruptly ended at a distant wall made of a darker stone material, leaving a large hole big enough for many people to fit in that lead straight down to a place far below, something they couldn't see amidst the shadows of darkness. "Well... that's a problem. Tell me, genius, how're we getting down there without your powers?" Emmalyn remarked.
Frank looked at the stuff he had, wondering if anything he had on him could work, but then the sound of heavy footsteps could be heard, like metal clashing against stone. Frank turned around for a moment, but he didn't see anything, he just felt something push him into the hole, with Emmalyn still clinging onto him. The pair scream as they careen down into the dark depths, seeing the world pass them by as they rapidly descended. "Let it be known, I blame you for this!" Emmalyn shrieked in terror.
Frank made his way to the librarian and pulled her close, holding onto her as he tried to dial in one of his transformations. Just as Frank found the one he was looking for, a light could be seen below them, and before they knew what happened, they fell into a large pond of water, the splashing of the water coated the grassy floor that surrounded it.
Back on the surface, the sun had long since set hours ago. There still wasn't any monsters around Phoenix Drop, but there hasn't been any word from Frank or Emmalyn, either. Garroth sighed and descended the ladder, looking directly at Zenix, who seemed to be in a more calm and rational state of being. "So, are you ready to tell me what happened down there?" Garroth questioned.
Zenix nodded his head. "Yeah, though keep in mind that this is a very delicate subject. Do me a favor, and try not to overreact, Garroth, alright?" Zenix cautioned.
Garroth nodded his head, though he did seem curious to Zenix's word of caution. "I doubt it could be that bad, unless it's something dangerous and likely destructive, like that blight that befell Phoenix Drop long ago." Garroth remarked.
Zenix clenched his teeth and hung his head low. "It's exactly that, Garroth... Phoenix Drop hasn't dealt with that blight in centuries, and now it's in that conjoined cave system underneath the village. We need to do something about this, or this could end in devastation," Garroth slowly nodded his head, but it's clear that Phoenix Drop, in its current state, wasn't fit to deal with this blight, not again. "Garroth, what's the plan?" Zenix asked with concern.
Garroth turned away and approached the front door. "We will have to venture into the caves and seek out the shapeshifter. I'm well aware that you've tasked him to look into this situation, and miss Emmalyn has gone in there with him. Night has fallen onto the village, and while no monsters are present, we can't run the risk of leaving the village unguarded tonight. Once the sun has risen, we'll make our way into the mines and get to the bottom of this situation." Garroth explained.
Zenix put his helmet back on, but he didn't utter a word. He just focused on keeping his hand on the hilt of his blade.
Back underground, the pair find themselves submerged beneath the water, both in shock about nearly losing their lives. Frank held his breath for as long as he could, but Emmalyn was struggling to get air, and was fading in and out as she flailed beneath the rippling waves, air bubbles and muffled screams echoed out beneath the body of water. Frank quickly pulled her close, and pulled himself out of the water, with the both of them coughing and spitting up water as they gasped for air.
Frank shook his head, sending drops of water everywhere, while Emmalyn shuddered and pushed her wet hair out of her face. "Well, we're alive, I think... but I don't know how we're getting out of here now. That was a long fall, and it'll be a long climb back up. We might be better off finding another exit, if there is one," Emmalyn spat up a bit more water as she slumped against Frank. "Hey, you alright? Emmalyn?" Frank asked.
The librarian sat on the ground, clinging to Frank's leg to keep herself up. She was shaking a lot, it was rather concerning. Despite the fact that there seemed to be some proper foliage and plant life in this cavern, it was clear that Emmalyn was shook up from the fall, likely cold from being so far deep within the depths of this cave system, and the sudden soak she got in cave water likely wasn't helping anything. She looked pale, either from fear or from how she nearly drowned.
Frank, without much warning, quickly took off his jacket, despite how it too was drenched and wet, and took off the drenched and crumbling leather chestplate that clung to Emmalyn's torso. After removing it, he tosses it aside and then immediately covered Emmalyn up with his jacket, in hopes that she'll get a bit warmer. "Here, keep yourself warm with this. It's a bit damp, but it should still have a lot of my body heat to keep you going," Emmalyn looked up at Frank, his purple t-shirt was now a much darker hue, likely due to being drenched. She couldn't get a read on this guy. The shapeshifter looked around, noticing how much darker and rougher some of the stone and rock seemed to be, as well as the stalactites and stalagmites on the ground and ceiling. "We seem to have ended up in a much deeper part of the cave system, someplace that strange stuff hasn't reached yet, maybe that's a good thing," Frank looked over at Emmalyn, she looked like a wreck. He walked over to Emmalyn and put a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe you should just stay right here for the moment, give yourself some time to recuperate. I'll scout ahead, see if I can't find a way out, or something to make this whole trip worth the trouble." Frank remarked.
Frank was about to walk further into the cave, but then he felt a hand on his wrist. Emmalyn pulled Frank back, clearly shaken up and concerned. "N-No please, don't leave... I-I don't want to be alone, especially down here..." Frank sighed and pulled Emmalyn up to her feet, all while she slipped Frank's jacket on and held onto him, to keep herself on her feet. "Just keep carrying me on your back, and be extra careful... The torches we had in that backpack, they were snuffed out when we fell into that body of water, and yet something is providing some kind of light source for this place." Emmalyn pointed out.
Frank stopped for a moment and looked around, there was in fact some kind of strong light source keeping this part of the cavern illuminated, but he couldn't pin point where the light was coming from. Eventually, Frank noticed the vines growing off the stone walls, each one had some kind of bright orange fruit growing. Frank felt his stomach growling, the pain was indescribable, he's been working for a bit and hasn't eaten anything since he's gotten here, and he needed to eat something now.
Without much hesitation, Frank climbed along the rocks and readied his hunting knife. He noticed one of the vines was within his reach, and carefully cut a couple of the strange fruits off the vine. Frank examined the odd fruits. They looked like large orange cherries, but he doubted that something like cherries could grow this far beneath the surface, and all without proper sunlight, or even be orange.
Regardless, he was starving, and he wasn't sure how Emmalyn was handling things, so he decided to hand her one of the sets of cave fruit to her, but held a hand out in caution. "Let me try this first, just in case it's poisonous," Emmalyn watched as Frank carefully pulled the two fruits apart, then carefully bit into one of them, taking a sizeable chunk out of the strange fruit's tender flesh. He carefully licked the juice off of his lips, it was the strangest thing he's ever eaten, but it wasn't bad. It was kinda tart, a bit sweet, a wee bit earthy, but very citrusy and clearly edible. Frank swallowed down the bite he took and gave a thumbs up. "It's edible, just be careful when you bite into it, it's a bit tart and earthy, but it can be eaten." Frank stated, taking another bite of the fruit.
Emmalyn cautiously bit into the fruit, and much like Frank described, tart and earthy was a key part of that flavor profile, but it also had an underlying hint of sweetness, but coupled with all of that citrus, it was rather easy to stomach. "So, we've got a little bit of time to rest. How's about we get to know each other a little better, that sound good?" Emmalyn looked at Frank, and could hardly believe that he was being serious. After nearly plummeting to their deaths, only to miraculously survive, talking was the last thing she wanted to do. "Look, I get that things haven't gone our way since we went underground, I wholeheartedly understand, I get it, but like it or not, I do plan on sticking around in this village for a while. It's not like I can go home, I don't have one anymore, so any place I can stay is as close as I can get to having a good night's rest, and even then, I don't have that luxury, at all." Frank stated.
Emmalyn continued to not say a word, and continue to eat her fruit. "Just so we're on equal footing, I'll tell you a bit about myself. My name is Frank Decade, but my friends call me Frank. When I was growing up, life was a struggle. My family could barely make ends meet, so by the time I turned thirteen, I got a job at a fast food restaurant called the Burger Shack. I worked there for thirteen years of my life, enjoyed every bit of it, and used the money I saved up to go to college, and then some time later, I dropped out to continue working and pay off my student debts." Frank started.
Emmalyn tried to ignore the shapeshifter, but he kept talking. "I'll spare you the sob story of how everything went wrong in my life, but I can tell you what I know about this watch on my wrist, let's start with how I ended up with it. A couple days ago, I ended up homeless and decided to live in the woods. Suddenly, this weird space pod made of gold falls from the sky, and inside it is this watch," Emmalyn was mildly confused. She wasn't expecting such a complex device like that watch to just fall out of the sky, especially within the vicinity of someone like Frank. "When I reached out to get it, I must've passed out or something when it latched onto me, because when I came to, I found myself in a part of the woods I didn't recognize, with this watch now stuck to me. The only other thing I know about the watch is that it can turn me into one of ten different alien monsters, and after I've transformed back, it recharges for ten minutes," Emmalyn wishes she had a book and quill on her, just so she could write down what he was saying. "Keep this in mind, I haven't turned into all of them yet, I still have seven other transformations to try out, and with how things have gone so far, I might just have to use one of them sooner than I thought." Frank explained.
Emmalyn was rather intrigued, not by Frank, but by how the device strapped to him seems to function. "Incredible, it's like magic, but it's all controlled and concealed within one singular complex piece of machinery," Emmalyn moved over towards Frank and grabbed his wrist, getting a closer look at the device, seeming almost entranced by its design. "It's intriguing and frustrating that you got your hands on such a thing by sheer luck." Emmalyn remarked.
Frank chuckled, confusing the woman beside him. "Believe me, luck wasn't on my side that day. With how shit my luck was before I got my hands on this thing, I desperately needed a change of pace. A chance to start over..." The man let his mind linger on his words. He wished on what he thought was a shooting star, to have a clean slate, to start over anew, and lo and behold, he's stuck in a world he knew next to nothing about, with power he didn't understand. "...maybe I got my wish, after all. An opportunity to help others and build myself back up to a semblance of stability, though the shapeshifting powers are relatively new, I'll probably get used to them in due time." Frank stated.
Emmalyn just stared at Frank, whether she was impressed or dumbfounded, it didn't seem to matter, she's never met anyone like him before. She knew very few individuals in the village who didn't drive her nuts, aside from Garroth, Zenix, Dale and someone else she knew, but besides those examples, Frank had a refreshing air about him. She had expected this man to be a fool with power he didn't understand, and to an extent, she was kind of right, but Frank's sense of optimism, combined with how level-headed he's been about their situation, it's left her confused, more than she's ever been before.
Frank looked at Emmalyn, his purple eyes and her blue eyes locked into a silent gaze. They stared into each other's eyes intently, as if waiting for someone to make a move. Frank smiled, pulling Emmalyn into a side hug. The librarian's face was flushed, becoming rather pink as Frank let her go. "Come on, let's keep going and see if we can't find anything worthwhile to bring back up to the town. We could make history if we actually found something down here, what do you say? I'll let you ride on my back the whole way, if you still wanna keep pushing forward. You don't have to worry, I got your back." Frank offered, giving the librarian a goofy, yet excited grin.
Emmalyn wasn't sure what to think of Frank, but if he was still willing to push forward, she wasn't going to back down now, not after that fall, and certainly not after surviving what she thought was a near death experience. Emmalyn smiled and climbed onto the shapeshifter's back, ready to keep going.
Frank carefully stood up as Emmalyn locked her legs around the man's waist and kept her hands on his shoulders. "T-Then let's get a move on! We may not have torches, but the dark of the night hasn't stopped Zenix or Garroth from protecting the village! Let's do this!" Emmalyn stated, letting a slight smile form across her lips.
Frank laughed. "There's that confidence, just don't clam up if we run into more of that odd stuff, and we'll be alright!" Frank started marching forth towards the darkened shadows that led deeper into the cave itself, only to then see a bit of glowing spots up ahead. Soon enough, a strained, echoing growl could be heard, setting off another sensor nearby. The pair freeze, seeing some kind of Sculk-covered zombie, with a sensor sticking out of its head and back shambling towards them from the shadows. It's sickly undead skin was no longer green, but now a dark faded turquoise. "...or maybe not, what do I know." Frank remarked, slightly disgusted by the undead creature's sculkified form.
Soon enough, a few more creatures began to appear, all of them affected by or completely taken over by Sculk. One of them was a skeleton, bound together by sculk veins, more sculk spiders, one of those tall towering teleporting creatures, now having an open glowing teal hole in its stomach, and both of its purple eyes now meshed into one large bright teal eye, and another one of those four legged exploding creatures, now completely infested and overwhelmed by sculk, with two sensor like horns sprouting out of the side of its head.
Emmalyn was terrified, and Frank was trying to get the watch on his wrist to function. "Oh man, this is just unlucky..." Frank muttered, brandishing his hunting knife and slowly backing away from the slowly encroaching sculkified monsters.
As the hours went by, nothing seemed to be wrong in the village. The sun would eventually come over the horizon, once again signaling to Zenix and Garroth that the monsters seemed to stop coming around, as well as the continued absence of Emmalyn and Frank.
The two guards stood in front of the cave they ventured into, and looked at each other. "This could be very risky, Zenix. Are you sure you're ready to face the Sculk?" Garroth inquired.
Zenix nodded his head, keeping a tight grasp on his blade. "Y-Yes, I am! On my honor and responsibility to this village and it's people, I won't let this blight take Phoenix Drop!" Zenix stated firmly.
Garroth nodded his head. "Good, now let's get going. I was able to convince Dale to lay off the ale and take lookout duty, so... we might wanna get a move on before he starts drinking again." Garroth advised.
Without a moment to lose, the two guards ran into the cave, all while the red armor clad figure watches them vanish into the barely illuminated cave entrance, chuckling in a sinister manner as they walk towards the large hill. "And now, to play the waiting game... once those two are finished and finally out of the way, I'll gladly strip them of everything they got, and annihilate this village before anyone can realize... it's perfect." The figure remarked.
To Be Continued...
Author's Note
Part two! A bit more focused on talking, as well as exploring how the sculk seems to find hosts and turn them into makeshift guards, but I do like what I have set up right now.
I also wanted to explore the characters' personalities a bit, kinda showing that Emmalyn is a bit of a shut-in, and despite loving her books and recording information not previously known to many scholars and publishers, she also has a bit of a hesitance in doing a lot of the discovery stuff herself, especially if it means facing dangerous monsters and very threatening people.
She's not an adventurer, a warrior, or a guard, but she is capable of taking care of herself, if need be, hence the leather chestplate she had. But, she does have a bit of a mean streak, likely due to Frank being new in town, much like how Aphmau was in MCD: Reborn, but the mean streak is a bit different from how I'm handling it.
In the start of Season 1, Emmalyn and Aphmau didn't have a whole bunch of chemistry when they first met, and Aphmau did hit Emmalyn a couple times in the original Diaries series (such damnable misclicks), even if it was to save her from the monsters at night, while in Reborn, Aphmau threatened to destroy her books (oh the humanity), and then became Emmalyn's unwanted roommate...
In Frank's case, Emmalyn doesn't know how to view him. She doesn't hate him, and Frank hasn't hit her (thank god), so there's that, but Emmalyn in MCD: Reborn just seems like a shut-in who doesn't have that many friends, and loves her books, so that's a bit of an extension of her original character. Plus, there's some minor jealousy that Emmalyn likely harbors within herself, just because a device like the Omnitrix ended up in Frank's hands, just by sheer luck. To her, it feels like a missed and wasted opportunity.
With Frank, I wanted him to try and get to know Emmalyn, in hopes of making a friend, maybe get her to slowly open up and trust him. Much like how Aphmau wanted to get to know the villagers better at the start (and failing in most cases), Frank's more focused on getting the job done and earning his keep, more-so focused on making sure their well-being is primary, before focusing on interacting with the villagers, and regardless, Emmalyn was the one to take notice of him and interact with him upon regaining awareness, even introducing herself.
I think I'm handling their interactions and their dynamic well, but that's for you all to judge for yourselves. Don't be afraid to give me any feedback, I'm curious to see what you all think so far, despite this story being in its infancy.
That being said, I also decided to hold off on Frank using the Omnitrix this chapter, simply because I wanted to focus on Frank's capabilities when he's just himself.
Part three will be out soon, so I hope you enjoy this chapter, and stay tuned!